She couldn't see or hear anything. Blackness and silence were her only two companions. Instinctively, she reached out, but there was nothing to reach out with. Her limbs, if they even existed, no longer felt as part of her body.
She tried blinking but didn't know if her eyes were open or closed, as only darkness surrounded her. A numbing emptiness haunted the void in which she was trapped. This place, if it could even be called a place, felt menacing – it threatened her current and future existence.
Time passed in this dreadful bubble of nonexistence, that much she could tell, though she had no idea exactly how long ago she had been tossed into this vacuum. Had it been minutes, hours, days, or years? She wasn't sure, but it could've easily been an eternity.
Stagnantly and sluggishly, time passed bringing back distorted fragments of memories.
Only a few moments ago, the concept of memories was foreign to her. It felt natural in this strange place to know nothing and to be nothing. But, in a moment, a wave of memories gushed into her mind. She wasn't nothing. She was someone. A person. A human being with connections and loved ones.
She remembered her name was Hinata. She kept repeating the name in her head to get used to the sound of it. She was Hinata, but Hinata who? The name Hyuuga Hinata swung into her mind, but it didn't feel quite right. She had been Hyuuga Hinata somewhen for sure, but she was certain she had another name now.
She spent long hours echoing the name Hyuuga Hinata in her head and repeating it as a mantra brought glimpses of long-past events. She, Hyuuga Hinata, playing with her sister. She, Hyuuga Hinata, bowing to her father. She, Hyuuga Hinata, crying at the funeral of her mother.
Suddenly, another name bubbled up from somewhere deep inside the recesses of her mind. Uchiha Sasuke. But who was Uchiha Sasuke to Hyuuga Hinata? What did he look like? Hinata tried to search through all the small shards of memories in hopes of finding something about this man named Uchiha Sasuke.
By now, Hinata had a wealth of images in her head, but they all seemed immensely unimportant.
She remembered holding an ointment in her hand. She remembered squeezing a black rod in her hand in a futile attempt to pull it out of a pinned body. She remembered the feeling of being wrapped in something red. She remembered holding two large sunflowers in her hands.
But these fragmented recollections seemed insignificant as they offered no answer to the identity of the mysterious man called Uchiha Sasuke.
The memories in her mind kept being replayed in front of her eyes as if she was watching the same movie over and over again. Finally, she spotted something that hadn't caught her attention before – a tall figure with a pair of dark eyes. They were black… no, red. They were red in one moment and swiftly switched to black in the other.
The red ones frightened her.
That red gaze stared into Hinata's soul and instinctively, she wanted to shake her head to get rid of it, but the memory had stubbornly latched itself onto her mind. Giving in and letting go of resisting, Hinata allowed herself to be lost in the redness. Oddly, the more she kept glaring into those blazing pupils, the more protected she felt.
She shuddered but pushed the false sensation of peace into the back of her mind. She wouldn't want to get accustomed to the impenetrable blackness.
A faint hint of happiness tingled up inside Hinata's stomach as the stream of memories brought her to tiny humans, two with raven black hair and one with indigo. Two boys and one girl. Hinata couldn't voice their names, but their faces were painfully familiar.
The mental picture showed a little girl standing in between the two dark-haired boys. The taller boy, his hair as black as the feathers of a raven, had his hands over the girl's shoulders, pulling her into a loving, but protective embrace. The other boy, the only child with indigo hair, squeezed the girl's hand while wearing a wide grin on his face.
Hinata's gaze lingered on the girl. Her hair was long and black, but her eyes were somewhat odd. Her left eye mirrored the blackness of the boys' gazes while her right eye shimmered like an opalescent pearl.
When Hinata looked into that single pupilless eye, she was suddenly struck with familiarity, so much so that it bolted through her entire being.
She had borne these children.
After the shockwaves sent by that piece of information calmed down in her mind, Hinata started wondering about her own age. She had three children, the girl seemed to be the youngest, around four years old. Hinata had a hunch that the black-haired boy was the oldest of the three, but she couldn't determine his exact age. Although, he didn't look older than ten. Hinata assumed the indigo-haired boy to be around seven. Judging by the approximate ages of her children and of what she remembered of the social standards of her land, she shouldn't be much older than thirty.
The longer Hinata spent thinking, the more faces she could recall. She saw glimpses in her memories of pink and blond hair next to black locks and she watched a memory unfold in front of her eyes. The pink and blond heads were turned away from her, but when the black-haired figure motioned in Hinata's direction, they both looked over their shoulders. Jade and cerulean blue eyes sparkled up with joy upon laying eyes on her.
Looking at those faces brought Hinata an inexplicable stab to the heart.
She also remembered the faces of two boys, one wearing odd glasses, the other having some triangle-shaped tattoos on his cheeks. A voice in Hinata's head echoed the word 'teammates', and the names Shino and Kiba barged into her mind.
However, the name Kiba brought sorrow, something similar to the sensation she felt while looking at the pink-haired girl and the blond boy.
For Hinata, it seemed like years had passed while ruminating on the same fragments until the last memory of her life outside of this strange place finally resurfaced. The scene with her three children hugging each other quickly distorted into a jolt of fear and urgency, as Hinata heard the frightening sound of a devastating jutsu being released.
Directly in front of her eyes, the figure with the flickering black into red eyes spun around as he got bypassed by the attacker. He was screaming a name. Aiko.
In this memory, Hinata snapped her head to the right where she caught sight of a little girl, trembling in terror. Her own flesh and blood. Aiko. Hinata could recall the desperation she felt when she realized the enemy had aimed his lethal jutsu at this little girl – her daughter.
Acting on pure instinct, in a fraction of a section Hinata jumped in front of Aiko to protect the little girl. She had never been as fast before as she had been in that moment. While reliving this memory, Hinata could almost feel the deep breath of cold air that she had taken in when she understood there was no time to jump away from the attack.
She vividly remembered pulling the tiny body into her arms and turning her back to the incoming assault, hoping to shield Aiko with her own being. Hoping against all hope that it was enough for her dear girl to survive. Hinata was fully aware there was no way she herself could come out of this alive, but her daughter still had a chance.
The memory of Aiko tugging at her clothes while crying in fear made Hinata's heart race with panic. In her memories, she pulled Aiko as close to her chest as she could, covering each part of Aiko's fragile body with her own in her last ill-fated attempt to save her precious child.
Then, everything faded and all that existed was the never-ending nothingness Hinata was currently trapped in.
Was this death? If so, it was far from pleasant. Hinata had hoped she at least would have an idea if she had been successful in saving Aiko, but clearly, life wasn't that kind. She didn't even remember Aiko's name up until now.
Hinata relived her last memory in her head repeatedly, trying to find as much as a single clue about her sweet, innocent daughter's fate. Hinata lived through the last few moments of her own tragedy-filled life at least a thousand times before she felt something changing around her.
The first sensation she became aware of was the sun warmly shining onto her face. Feeling warmth after such a long time made her want to tear up, but yet again, her body didn't follow her will. It felt like her mind was awake, but her body wasn't, so she had no choice but to accept and allow the pleasant warmth to completely engulf her. At least it was somewhat similar to the eternal peace she had anticipated from death.
"Mama?" Hinata distantly heard the high-pitched scream of a little girl.
Aiko? No, it wasn't her voice, but it sounded similar. A little girl must be here. The idea of a child being in this dreadful place made Hinata desperate to find her. She needed to help this child, whoever she was.
Her maternal instincts gave Hinata the power to twitch her index finger on the right hand. It was only a tiny motion, but it felt like she had moved mountains after staying completely still for such a long time.
"Onii-san, something happened to Mama," yelped the same youthful voice, clearly terrified.
Hinata was wondering who the young child was talking to. Could there be someone else besides her and the little girl here in the void? Before Hinata could solve the mystery though, she heard something similar to a puff of wind.
She heard it again. She couldn't help but wonder why it sounded so familiar.
"You get Sakura-san from the hospital. You find Dad and bring him here. Tell them something is wrong with Mom and they should hurry."
"Roger," two voices answered simultaneously. Weirdly, all had the same voice. A voice that Hinata couldn't recognize.
"Mom," Hinata heard the same voice again, but it sounded like it had moved closer, now speaking somewhere above her head. Guessing by the tone of it, it must be a boy's voice, but she just couldn't place it anywhere in her memories. But the voice just called her mom, so it must be one of her boys, right?
But which one? Hinata focused on the voice but couldn't associate it with either of her sons. Their names suddenly resurfaced from the back of her mind. Hiroki and Kosuke, but which one was speaking to her? She couldn't explain why, but she had the impression it was neither. Their voices, the ones from her memories, were different than this one. There was something different about this voice. It was unique, from the treble to the pitch. Although, this meant that the poor child must be mistaken; Hinata couldn't be his mother.
While pondering on the identity of the young but masculine voice, Hinata slowly became more sensitive to her surroundings. Her limbs didn't feel as numb as before. She sensed prickly grass under her body and a warm breeze on her cheeks. Small hands were squeezing her left hand and slightly bigger, but still small ones were gently shaking her shoulders.
Just one last time, Hinata attempted to open her eyes. To her utmost surprise, she succeeded. The world was too bright though and she immediately closed them back. She wasn't prepared for such a mix of colors after spending an eternity in the darkness.
"She's awake," came a hurried whisper from the boy. "Mom, look at me. Can you see me?"
Hinata obeyed the voice and forced her eyes open again, this time expecting all the vivid colors tinting the environment around her. She searched for the boy's face in confusion before she realized she wasn't looking at the sky. She was looking into cerulean blue eyes.
Hinata had seen these eyes many times before. In her younger years, she could pinpoint them anywhere.
The boy leaned back a bit and Hinata seized the opportunity to inspect his features. His appearance brought back memories about a certain blond. Memories that had been buried deep inside Hinata for such a long time. She never wanted to remember them because she never wanted to feel that soul-crushing pain again.
It was a blessing that these memories didn't resurface during Hinata's time in the limbo world because she knew she would've gone insane.
Hinata blinked to make sure she wasn't hallucinating, but the ghost didn't go away.
"Naruto?" she managed to force out the name, but her own voice sounded alien to her.
"I'm Boruto, Mom. Boruto," the boy repeated as if he wanted to make sure she understood.
Hinata did understand but… who was Boruto? She knew it was silly to think this boy could be Naruto, but he looked almost identical to him and she wanted to hold onto even the faintest hope that it was indeed Naruto. The young man she once loved with all her heart.
Naruto, a hero. The only one who could've helped protect her three children. But that was a wish only granted in an ideal world and the world she remembered was far from ideal. It was downright infernal.
"Boruto, what happened?" a woman's voice cut into Hinata's thoughts.
With a stiff motion, Hinata turned her head in the direction of the familiar voice. When her eyes finally located the newcomer, they instantly widened upon catching sight of yet another ghost running toward her.
It seemed like all Hinata's deeply buried misery came back to haunt her. Her memories flowed back into her mind about the pink-haired kunoichi. Haruno Sakura. Medical ninja. A victim of an ill-fated day that occurred thirteen years ago.
"I don't know, Sakura-san. Himawari and Mom came outside to water the flowers and after a few minutes, I heard Hima screaming. I ran out to see what was up and Mom was just lying there, unconscious," the blond boy explained with rushed words and wide gesticulations of his hands.
"Mama collapsed and I couldn't wake her up." The little girl, whose name was Himawari if Hinata had heard it correctly, was sobbing while squeezing Hinata's hand. It hurt Hinata a bit, but she didn't want to upset the girl even more by pulling her hand away.
"She will be okay. Don't cry, Himawari-chan," Sakura cooed as she patted the girl's head before she kneeled next to Hinata.
Sakura took a penlight out of her medical bag and gently turned Hinata's head toward herself to be able to check the pupil reaction. Or at least some reaction in her eyes as Hinata didn't have pupils due to her Byakugan. Sakura was an experienced medical ninja though, so Hinata guessed she knew what reaction she should search for in an eye with this special kekkei genkai.
"Hinata, can you recognize me?" Sakura asked as she switched off her penlight and started examining her body with her hands, searching for any injury.
Hinata forced herself to nod. Of course, she could recognize her pink hair anywhere, but she still didn't believe Sakura was real.
Hinata concluded this wasn't reality. This must be a cruel play of her mind. Or she was dead and the immortals in heaven or hell were playing a dangerous joke on her.
As Sakura placed two fingers on Hinata's neck to check her pulse, she gauged the Hyuuga's cognitive capacity through simple questions, "Can you say my name? Do you know it?"
"Sa-Sakura," Hinata whispered, her voice sounding raspy.
Sakura hummed approvingly and a green light appeared around her hands. "Fine. You're going to be okay, don't worry."
Distantly, Hinata heard the two children gasp in surprise.
"Why does she need healing? Didn't she just simply faint?" demanded the blond boy as he moved a bit closer. Boruto, right, Hinata remembered his name.
Sakura bit on her lower lip as though she was contemplating if she should answer, but she eventually spoke up, "I thought the same at first, but her chakra pathways seem to be heavily damaged. I don't know what exactly could cause this out of nowhere, but honestly, it's a miracle that she's awake and can answer questions. I need to give her some emergency first aid before we take her to the hospital."
Sakura became quiet as she concentrated on healing up Hinata to the best of her ability, but when she noticed the fearful expressions of the kids, she gave them a small, reassuring smile. "Don't worry, she will be okay. She's strong."
Hinata was dwelling on what Sakura had said. Her chakra pathways being torn was most probably the result of that attack she had bodied. Although, it was pretty odd for your chakra pathways to remain destroyed even in death. Not that Hinata had much experience with death, but it didn't seem logical.
Suddenly, the image of a crying Aiko popped into Hinata's mind. It hurt to move so she just screened her surroundings with her eyes without moving her head. She didn't see Aiko anywhere, or any of her children for that matter. Good, then that heightened the likelihood that they were still alive. She could be at peace knowing that at least.
Hinata focused her eyes on the two children in front of her. If they were here in this afterlife, that meant they were dead, just like her. How had they died? They were so young. Hinata noticed that Himawari and Boruto shared some of their facial features: their blue eyes and the whisker marks on both cheeks. The blue eyes weren't odd, but Hinata couldn't wrap her mind around the whiskers. It was such a unique trait of Naruto, yet these two children also had them.
While Hinata was being healed by Sakura, Boruto gently stroked Himawari's hair, trying to comfort her. This beautiful shade of blueish hair reminded Hinata of her own mother.
Abruptly, Hinata noticed the boy was wearing a Konoha headband and she let out a rabid moan of shock.
"I'm sorry," Sakura apologized as a bead of sweat streamed down her forehead. She must've interpreted Hinata's surprise as pain. Hinata didn't answer though, just stared attentively at the headband.
At that moment, a vague realization hit Hinata in the head and she believed she had finally figured things out. This boy looked so much like Naruto, but that meant he also greatly resembled the Yondaime, Naruto's father. He must be a Namikaze, even though Hinata had never met one, but she imagined they would look exactly like Boruto.
If this truly was the afterlife as Hinata believed it to be, then it could be possible that souls here didn't age. Boruto might've died long before Hinata. He could be a Namikaze from the First Hokage's era or even from before that.
It would explain the presence of the young girl, too. Himawari could also be a shinobi, although she didn't wear a headband. She could be some long-dead, very distant cousin of Hinata's mother. It would explain the unique hair color.
Hinata was content with her theory for now. It didn't explain the whiskers though, but she figured she would have an eternity to understand everything.
"Hinata!"
Hearing this voice sent a shiver down Hinata's spine. She had been anticipating it ever since she had realized she was in the afterlife. It took him long enough to get here, but Hinata was grateful he did eventually come to see her.
She turned her head to smile at him, but when she caught sight of the figure, her smile froze on her face even before she could start curling up the corners of her mouth.
It was Naruto, but… it wasn't? Hinata had expected to see a nineteen-year-old Naruto, but instead of the young adult she remembered him to be, she was greeted by a grown man. He still somehow looked the same, but he was surely not nineteen. And what was he wearing, a cloak?
Hinata parted her lips in bewilderment, but no sounds came from her mouth. She had just figured souls didn't age in the afterlife, so why did Naruto?
Not caring for the pain, Hinata snapped her head to the other side to take a second look at Sakura. She realized this woman wasn't the nineteen-year-old Sakura she had last seen either. She still looked young, but she was visibly older than someone in their late teens.
Hinata darted her eyes back and forth between Sakura and Naruto. Was this just a game of her mind? Was her brain trying to show her how they would've looked like if they lived to be thirty? If so, it did a damned good job in aging their features.
"Looks like she doesn't recognize you," Sakura told Naruto in a fatigued tone.
A frantic Naruto dropped onto his knees next to Hinata. "What happened to her?"
Hinata could see Sakura's lips moving as she most probably explained the situation to Naruto, but she couldn't clearly hear the words being spoken. Her brain was numb. His presence was too much for her weary mind to process.
Sakura let out a faint grumble before she looked at Naruto with eyes squinted from tiredness. "I'm going to stop with the first aid. I patched her up as much as I could, but we have to take her to the hospital. I waited for you to arrive, but we can't wait any longer. Hinata needs immediate surgery. She might lose consciousness when I stop but don't freak out. She will be okay."
Naruto nodded and even though Sakura wasn't talking to the kids, they also bobbed their heads up and down.
"Hinata, don't worry," Naruto loomed over her and stared deeply into her lavender eyes with his otherworldly blue gaze. He clasped her hand between his palms in an affectionate squeeze as he enunciated, "I love you."
Hinata didn't know if it was because Sakura stopped healing her or because the ghost of her first love told her he loved her, but she fell into the darkness once again.
Thank you for reading through the first chapter, I hope you enjoyed it! Reviews are always appreciated, so don't be shy to share your thoughts with me.
Also, I would like to seize the opportunity to thank my amazing beta reader and great friend, Wonzy98, who carries the burden of weeding out my grammar mistakes and helps me tremendously!