Chapter 8: A name at last...

As Kin screamed at the top of her lungs, Hinata kept her mouth shut. They stepped back in unison, far enough to no longer have the nightmarish vision in front of their eyes.

A dead body…

… what she had been expecting to find but didn't dare to wish. She knew that a ghost implied a dead body and a dead body meant an identity for the ghost, but she was human enough not to rejoice over the discovery of a decaying corpse.

On the contrary, her stomach heaved multiple times. Turning completely away from the car, she found back a sense of control.

"Kin-kun, give me the radio." She asked in a feeble voice.

Her demand was met with silence. Hinata eyed Kin, finally realizing that her companion didn't hear her -the girl was still petrified with fear. It was in a trance of her own that Hinata retrieved the device from Kin's hands and called their teacher in a choppy voice.

Half an hour passed between her call and the arrival of their teacher with the police. Quickly enough, the area was no longer accessible to the public as Hinata was pulled aside to be questioned.

"What is your name?"

"Hyuga Hinata"

"Alright." He jotted down before speaking again "I'm officer Zetsu Koriyama, and I'm going to ask you a few questions." He waited patiently but Hinata didn't say anything. "Do you agree?" He inquired.

"Yes" she articulated slowly.

"Alright. Can you tell me what happened since you've arrived in the Canyon?"

She stared at him without answering, going over all the images that had built her environment several minutes ago.

"When we arrived, Ebizu-sensei divided us into groups of two. I found myself with Kin. We walked for a fairly short distance and then ..." Hinata trailed off. She realized too late that she hadn't come up yet with a sounding reason to justify her descending the slope.

"After that?"

"I ... uh ... in fact ... uh ... I slipped and landed in the bed of the stream." She hoped her stutter would pass off as anxiousness upon her discovery -not that she had to fake looking as white as a ghost. "And that's when I saw the car. That's it"

"Ok. Thank you. You can go back to your classmates." He said as he moved toward Kin.

Hinata returned to the rest of the class, praying that Kin wouldn't tell him that she actually got off on her own instead of falling. Kin being Kin however, she made it about herself without mentioning anything about her. Her acting was so obvious Hinata breathed a sigh of relief. She found Karin waiting for her a bit further from the other students.

"So, it's your ghost in there?"

"Yes. Actually, she's the one who brought me to the car"

"You've got answers to some of your questions." The redhead said "you know where she died and how."

"Yes. She might want her name though"

"You'll find out soon. The cops have to break the news to someone"

"I hope so…"

The news had circulated around the village in less than a week. Even in Anoyo, the nearest town, they'd heard of the Canyon corpse.

During that time, Hinata's days had been good and bad.

Acceptable because, despite working six days a week, her godmother had new arrival of products and customers. Tolerable because Karin'd come here and there to help and chat.

Awful because at night she was tormented by images of putrefied bodies. Unbearable because she was waiting for the ghost's identification. Insufferable because Sasuke was nowhere to be seen and that sickly worried her. She couldn't reach out to him, and remembering that she didn't have any of his personal contacts reminded her where their inexistent relationship stood. She decided to suck it up… until she decided to drop by the cemetery on Sunday to catch a glimpse of him, barely avoiding yet another wandering ghost. Still nothing.

Hinata went back home.

She was a moping cloud of despair, barely paying attention to the road; she didn't even notice the woman coming her way.

"Hello dear"

The voice startled her out of her head. When her eyes focused on the lady, a warm smile stretched her lips.

"Hello Nekobaa-san" Hinata greeted as she moved toward the old lady.

Hinata couldn't imagine any other nickname for their neighbor, except 'Queen of Gossip'. Three words could describe Nekobaa: cats, gossip and cakes. Those were what she liked to get and share the most -well, except for her cats.

Since she didn't have any basket at hand, Hinata guessed her reason to be there -her godmother must have gotten an earful, and from her facial features, Hinata concluded that a young lady must have been 'inappropriate' yet again.

"You seem quite happy" the old woman frowned, clearly disapproving.

"Oh no, no. Excuse me" Hinata's smile faded "there's a problem?"

"Didn't you watch the news? Or read the newspaper? Kids nowadays" the woman clicked her tongue, a deep frown marring her wrinkled face "they announced the identity of the woman you've found"

Her neighbor looked at her with sharp appraising eyes. She tried to keep calm, not to let the senior see what was happening inside of her: dread, apprehension, adrenaline. It was like waiting for her last math test she hadn't prepared properly all over -just ten time worse.

Hinata tried to catch her breath to no avail.

"So soon?" she whispered to herself, hearing her heartbeat thundering all around her "what… is her name?"

"Uchiha Mikoto" Nekobaa leaned further "she's the mother of your classmate, Sasuke. He once came here with Naruto"

Hinata felt it, in her belly, in her chest, in her head. She felt cold, yet sweat beaded on her forehead. It didn't make any sense. It couldn't be.

The dark-haired girl tried to remember any information she had on Sasuke's mother, anything that could counter what the old lady was telling her.

"Are we absolutely certain of the result?"

"This is the Uchiha family we're talking about. A DNA laboratory wouldn't mess with them. No one would" the old lady shook her head, wondering how she had to explain something so trivial.

She didn't hear the rest of the old lady's little rant.

At some point, Kurenai gave her the rest of the day.

She hardly registered entering her room…

Hinata had been staring at her wall for hours then. Sasuke couldn't get out of her mind. She wondered what he was doing, what he had felt, done or said when they told him about his mother. She wondered how hurt he was, whether he was still stoic as ever or had cracked. She wondered if after all those years, he'd still hoped that they'd find her somehow. She hoped that wasn't the case, that he'd expected a not so happy ending. Few things could be worse than having such hope being crushed to nothing after all.

Kurenai knocked lightly on her door before entering.

"Oh, Hina" Kurenai sat on the teen's bed "I'm so sorry you'd to go through this"

Hinata didn't say anything as Kurenai tenderly massaged her left knee.

"Did you know her?" the dark-haired girl asked after a few minutes.

"… yes, I did."

"How… how was she?"

"Mikoto was quite reserved at first, but once you got to know her, you realized how friendly she actually was… she loved her sons so much" Kurenai smiled tenderly, bitterly.

"I remember the day Sasuke came by…"

"Ah, yes. She used to visit the shop with Sasuke. He'd pout a lot and whine after being there for only ten minutes." Kurenai giggled a bit, "he just wanted to go back home and play with his big brother. Oh, the poor boy…"

"I … I'm so sorry for him"

"You should call him when you feel better"

"I don't have his number"

"I've got the Uchiha's mansion landline phone number. I can give you that"

"o- okay" Hinata replied, unsure.

Kurenai came back with a little piece of paper with a number written over it, and 'Uchiha mansion' beneath the number. Hinata stared at it after the older woman's departure. She hesitated. A part of her really wanted to know how he was doing, and tell him that she was there for him. Another part felt it was inappropriate -they weren't friends, they'd never even talked at school, let along hang out or anything close to that.

She debated with herself for a long time, until his last visit came to her mind. With febrility, she composed the number and waited. Hinata was about to give up when someone answered the call.

"Good evening"

"G-good evening" her voice was meek but she couldn't help it. The deep voice and the curt greeting of the other person intimidated her.

"Yes, I ... I wanted to speak to Sasuke-kun."

"I'm sorry but he isn't available at the moment" He replied in a polite tone which somehow felt void of any regret. She wondered if it was just an excuse. Her courage fizzled a bit.

"I see... I- I heard a- about Mrs. Uchiha and I wanted him to know that I'm sorry for… his misfortune."

"Thank you. I'll tell him." His tone somewhat warmed.

Hinata slapped her forehead lightly with her palm, then glided it along her face. She felt so stupid, so indelicate. Her interlocutor had to be one of Sasuke's relatives or someone close to the family to answer the phone like that.

"I'm so sorry. I've been inconsiderate. I'm sorry for your loss too"

"Thank you." He said again "don't worry about it. You couldn't know who was on the phone"

"I'm Hyuga Hinata. I'm a classmate of Sasuke-Kun. I was in fact the one who found the car and called the police. It's really awful. I… I'm so sorry, I-" Hinata stopped talking, shame crippling her for a second "sorry"

"If it weren't for you, we might've still been holding onto a false hope." He answered in his previous polite tone "so, thank you again"

"Uh, uhm, I… I'm really sorry you had to discover what happened to Mrs. Uchiha that way" Hinata knew she was stalling, so she quickly spoke again "I, uh, can I leave a message for Sasuke-kun?"

"Sure" He assured her. "What is it?"

"Please, tell him that I'm really sorry for him… and for you too; that I understand how he feels. And if he needs anything, I'll be there"

"Ok, I'll let him know." He promised. Once again, his voice wavered, if only a bit. She guessed he was really close to Sasuke. Maybe an older cousin.

In the end, she thought she did pretty okay. She even thought herself to be lucky that Sasuke wasn't the one who answered the phone after all.

Time passed and the day of the wake came at last.

Kurenai had found time to take Hinata to Anoyo to buy her a black dress with low heels of the same color. Hinata'd begged her not to take those heels but it went in deaf ears, much to her chagrin.

Around five o'clock, she started dressing.

Casually looking at herself in the mirror, she surveyed the dress for any flaws, patting or pulling here and there when tissue stuck out. She liked the oily texture of the dress and the lace covering her neck and arms, but wished the dress was a bit longer than her knees. Facing her black heels, she sighed. Once she had all the basics on, she set aside a leather jacket and her bag.

She worked on her hair at last. After contemplating different hairdos, she went for a simple low pony tail she laid over her left shoulder. The sudden exposure of her cheek and ear made her realize she lacked jewels. Never a fan of those though, the few ones she possessed were gifts from Karin or Kurenai. She decided on amethyst earrings and the watch she wore every day at school.

Around seven o'clock, they took the road to the Uchiha's mansion...