Fiorire
Chapter Song: Anatu - Bleach
Hinata was convinced she was dead.
So, why she could smell lavender, she didn't know. None of her other senses had returned to her quite yet—she only knew she could smell lavender.
The smell of lavender was not something foreign to the Hyuuga; it was the smell she was greeted with every time she was graced with the luxury of waking in her own bed; a thing she only truly recognised as a luxury once she had to live under the conditions of a ninja at war. The faint scent of it and the feel of her silk pillowcase against her own soft skin was all she had longed for during the weeks of war.
Hinata could smell lavender.
She wasn't yet conscious enough to process anything other than that, or what her circumstances could be, only that she was either alive, or she wasn't. She only knew that she felt…at peace.
Hinata was convinced she was dead.
(Conviction is a fickle thing.)
She smelt lavender, and nothingness consumed her again.
. . .
When Hinata awoke again, everything was a haze. The pounding in her head only served in further disorientating her and making her feel as though she was spinning. But, even despite this, and the fact her eyesight didn't seem to be focusing on anything, she was able to faintly make out the blur of the figure that loomed over her—as well as the pink hair on the top of the figure's head. Her consciousness wasn't quite there to comprehend the fact she was seeing when she shouldn't have been able to, just what she was seeing. Or, rather, what she was struggling to see.
"Sakura?" She croaked, barely any noise escaping her. She attempted to cough, and that was when she became aware of the stark dryness in her mouth and throat, and the awful metallic taste of blood that still lingered on her tongue and stuck to the insides of her cheeks. Even her lips nearly split as she spoke, which was an odd sensation to the Hyuuga, given that she was so used to having a fresh layer of lip balm applied at all times and had never experienced quite a severe lack of their usual moisture.
The first clear thought in Hinata's mind was that she desperately needed water.
"I'm afraid it's not quite the right time of year for the cherry blossoms to bloom." The figure responded, and Hinata's heart constricted in her chest as the foreign voice reached her ears. And, it was in that moment the Hyuuga became horribly aware that this person was, in fact, not Sakura Haruno.
Ignoring the pain that pulled at her muscles and the blurriness of her sight, Hinata allowed instinct to takeover. She was sure that, for a moment, the world went dark as she leapt from her bed—most likely a result of the blood loss and low iron levels—but that wasn't enough to stop her from launching herself against the nearest wall, even though she tripped as she did, nor did it stop her from bending into a defensive Kata, no matter how much her body ached.
She scanned the room as much as her vision allowed. She didn't know why she could see, but it wasn't time to ponder. She didn't know who this person was, or where on earth she was. Or how the hell she was alive. Her priority was to try and make sense of the situation or not and assess whether the people she was with were a threat.
"Where am I?" She questioned in the sternest voice she could muster, her hoarse throat fading ever so slightly. But still, the strain remained evident.
The room was stark white from what she could see. There was outlines of some hospital beds and curtains, as well as a few cabinets. The room was too small to remind her of the Konoha hospital, or even the Hyuuga compound medical room—and the Hyuuga clan was repute for just how clean and minimalistic they kept things. No, this seemed oddly…new. Which meant, she had either been asleep for a very, very long time, or that Hinata was somewhere she had never been before.
Or, perhaps, it was her eyes—her damaged and unfocused eyes—deceiving her.
The woman remained in place, seemingly unbothered by Hinata's sudden outburst. Hinata could see now that, despite the woman having pink hair, she definitely could not have been Sakura. The woman's stature was different; she was taller than Sakura could ever have been. And she didn't have the green orbs Hinata expected to see a blur of, but rather red (and Hinata could've sworn she was overcome with nausea just at the mere thought of red eyes) and the clothing was not like anything she had seen Sakura ever wear. Nor any ninja at all, for that matter.
And her voice; Hinata's ears weren't graced with the sound of Sakura's sweet voice, laced with its usual ever-present tone of concern, but a voice which seemed to belong to someone older, and unfamiliar to her. Although, she couldn't tell if the woman was, in fact, older or not. Her vision didn't allow her to do so.
The sheer frustration of not being able to see was beginning to truly get on Hinata's nerves. Not only was it distracting her thoughts, but it meant she was vulnerable. And she had no idea whether it was permanent. Or whether they were even her eyes. Everything was overwhelmingly and vexingly blurry.
"You should rest." The woman spoke again, her tone sounding unnervingly nonchalant to the panicked Hyuuga as it cut through the tense silence of the room. The woman had entirely ignored Hinata's question, which only caused her suspicion and unrest to grow. Hinata's lips pursed as she kept her gaze on the woman (as best as she could) analysing for any threatening behaviour—analysing for anything she could be missing.
The woman took a step forward, and, instinctively, Hinata attempted to activate her Byakugan.
She hadn't expected it to work.
The room shifted into shades of black and white, the sensation of having 360-vision momentarily overwhelming the unsuspecting Hyuuga. Her knees buckled, causing Hinata to let out a soft gasp. Quickly deactivating her eyes to stop herself from collapsing, and the far more incessant pounding against her skull from activating her dojutsu, Hinata's stomach bubbled with giddiness. She felt her cheeks redden with warmth as she forced herself to stifle the smile that tugged at her lips, instead choosing to focus on the confusion of how or why—mostly how—she still had her byakugan. She did not want to falter any more than she already had.
She knew she was dangerously vulnerable in this state.
"Where am I?" She repeated, attempting to assert dominance in her tone.
"Like I said, you must rest." The pseudo-Sakura spoke again, once again avoiding Hinata's question. "Your eyes need rest if you don't want to damage them permanently. I couldn't quite figure out what you'd done to strain them so much, but I've been able to fix it. However, all my work will go to waste if you don't rest. All will be explained once you're in a stable state. You are certainly not in the state to be fighting, of all things."
Her response did nothing in satisfying the Hyuuga heir. Hinata slumped against the wall slightly, falling from her stance. The woman hadn't made any attempt on Hinata's life yet, despite her weakened state. She had every opportunity to, yet she didn't. The woman didn't seem to be a threat. Or, at least, she hadn't revealed herself to be one quite yet. Hinata knew it was smarter to pretend she could fight rather than lower her guard, but she felt too close to fainting to really care. The dejection had begun to set in, heavily. She was at the mercy of her captor—or saviour. She didn't know.
"If you're not a threat to me, please just answer the question." She pleaded monotonously.
None of this made sense. She should be dead. They were in the middle of a war. This was too nice and personal to a be a war type medical tent. This was a room, in a building of some sort, and this woman did not look like a medic. And, while Hinata didn't exactly feel great, she felt too good to have been dead—or, on the cusp of death if she had been saved—however long before this. She felt too put together. Her body should've been unsalvageable, even for the likes of Tsunade or Sakura.
The woman sighed. "You were found in the middle of a field on the outskirts of the city by some guild members returning from a job. You were covered in blood and seemed extremely injured. However, when I got here and looked over you, we couldn't find a source for any of it. Well, there's a relatively fresh-looking scar across your abdomen, but that's all. Your muscles are strained and slightly bruised in place, and your eyes are healing, but, other than that, all you require is medicine and rest. Which, currently, you aren't."
That at least explained her given circumstances, to a very small extent, but it certainly didn't explain where she was, why she wasn't dead or severely injured or, again, where on earth she was. And, 'guild members'? What on earth was a guild?
"My name is Porlyusica,"—which sounded awfully alien to Hinata, only causing her anxiety to grow further in her chest—"You're at Fairy Tail. I'm sure you've heard of it. I mean, given their notorious reputation of their habit of wrecking everything around them, so I'd be surprised if you haven't." She joked scathingly, a sardonic tone making itself apparent.
Hinata just stared blankly at the blur of a woman. She could feel her fear growing with each passing moment, as well as her confusion, but she didn't know exactly what she could do. Every foreign word caused her to catch her breath, and her heart to skip a beat.
It was in that moment, Hinata felt she had failed as a ninja. She was at the complete mercy of the potential enemy in front of her, incapacitated, and utterly aware of her surroundings if anything this woman spewed was even remotely akin to the truth. The Hyuuga heir felt as if she was in a daze, trapped in a delusion of some sort, and the belief that she was dead slowly crept back into her mind. None of this made sense.
"What about the war?" She asked weakly, dread setting in her chest.
"War?" Porlyusica spluttered, clearly panicked by the statement.
(And completely unaware, Hinata noted. There was no war here. She didn't know of any war.)
Porlyuscia let out a pensive hum. "I forgot to ask, what's your name?"
Hinata saw no reason to hide her identity. Her eyes already gave her clan status away, but she had a hunch that this woman was completely unaware of that, or simply didn't care for that factor. And the Hyuuga was already positively exhausted and confused. "Hinata. Hinata Hyuuga."
The sobering Hyuuga allowed the ringing in her ears to drown out the noise of the woman's questions. She could make them out vaguely—did she know where she was or how she got here—to which she just shook her head. Did she know the city or country she was in—and she just shook her head again.
Hinata Hyuuga was well and truly lost.
. . .
Porlyusica didn't understand. She hadn't detected any head trauma, so she hadn't expected the girl to be suffering from amnesia or memory loss. Yet, here she was, seemingly with absolutely no knowledge of where she was, or even what a guild was. She at least remembered her name, which was always a good sign, but she had absolutely no idea of what war the girl spoke of. There was no war. Not anywhere near Magnolia, anyway. There was a possibility the girl was delusional, but Porlyusica wasn't convinced.
Or maybe she was from Edolas, and the situation had become truly disastrous there.
The girl also wasn't blind, as Makarov had thought her to be when she was slipping in and out of consciousness and he had managed to catch a glimpse of them. Porlyusica had insisted that her eyes simply looked that way, but Makarov couldn't imagine someone having white, near pupil-less eyes and not being blind. It turned out she was the one that was right, which meant Makarov had lost the bet. She wasn't entirely sure what she'd do with 50,000 jewels though since she didn't leave her home often unless summoned by the Fairy Tail fiends.
She could tell she was struggling to see—the way she frantically scanned the room and kept squinting her eyes as if to focus them suggested as such. Porlyusica knew she was lying to herself if she didn't admit she was a little scared by the way the girl—Hinata—had launched from her bed so quickly, despite looking slightly like a baby deer while doing so. She was disoriented and weak, and somewhat sheepish in her mannerisms even when trying to be intimidating, no doubt due to nerves from being thrusted into a completely unknown environment, but Porlyusica couldn't help but notice the trained fighter within her.
She didn't hold herself like a mage, but rather she held herself as if she had been trained in martial arts. It was almost ninja-esque, especially with the speed she had down so. But it was the wrong time for her to be musing about the girl. She looked completely helpless, staring at the ground as if the entire world had been swept from under her. It was almost as if she were traumatised and, given the amount of blood that had covered her original clothing, there was a high chance that she in fact was. It had. It was almost shocking, really. It painted her face, yet there was no source. Her clothes were torn and tattered, yet here body was only bruised. There were all the effects and symptoms of damage, yet no damage at all.
Well, except for the scar that stretched across her abdomen. That had shocked her too, because it was evident that that scar wasn't a product of merely magic or a fight—it had been an attempt on her life. She had tried to act nonchalant about it in an attempt to calm the girl, but, in all honesty, Porlyusica didn't understand how a wound like that hadn't killed the girl. Albeit she couldn't see just how deep the scar ran, but it was undeniably large, and the scar tissue around it was rather considerable. But, somehow, the only evidence of damage was external. Nothing was wrong internally.
There was another scar too, but this was older. Oddly, it was in a shape of a circle, as if she had been pierced with a tube of some kind. It was unlike anything she had quite seen before but, again, not something caused my magic—those scars were distinguishable from those caused with actual, physical objects.
Porlyusica couldn't quite fathom the things this girl had possibly been through, just from her wounds. And now she spoke of a war. And the look on Hinata's face told the medic that this girl had experienced things that hadn't just scarred her body.
And her eyes—she thought they were unsalvageable for a moment. She had never seen eyes so bloodshot. It was worse than fixing Erza's damaged eye. And, if the girl wasn't blind before, then Porlyusica was convinced that whatever had been done to them would make them so. But, somehow, she had managed.
It was a gruelling two hours.
Levy's team were the ones who found her in a lavender field on the outskirts of Magnolia, of all places, and then Jet had turned up to her house to whisk her off to Fairy Tail. Or, the newly constructed Fairy Tail, should she say, since this was the building that had been propped up following Phantom Lord's ruining of the previous guild building. It was very clean and pretty, but not the same building she was used to. The small medical ward was usual, she supposed, but it still wasn't what she was used to.
"Hinata." She spoke, causing the girl's head to prop up. Her eyes truly were odd. "As I said before," she said perhaps a little too harshly, "you need to rest. I can help you gain your bearings after, but before that you need to focus on getting some sleep. Your muscles and eyes need time to heal."
Heal, from whatever or however they were damaged.
M-my eyesight will definitely get better?" She asked. The older woman couldn't help but notice how soft the girl's voice, almost meek. She also didn't miss how the girl looked hurt when she looked at her, as if she were meant to be seeing someone else—as if Porlyusica was an awful reminder of something. When the girl had called her "Sakura", she knew Hinata thought her to be someone else. She tried to lessen the chances of startling her by making a joke but obviously that didn't in exactly go according to plan and, in hindsight, probably wasn't the best idea. She had never been awfully good at socialising though.
"Yes. They will." She replied plainly.
And, wordlessly, the girl rose to her feet, navigated herself back to her bed, and climbed into it, looking positively defeated. Porlyusica took that as her cue to leave. Hopefully, the girl wouldn't do anything stupid like try to escape through the window. As the Edolas woman exited the room, however, she was met by a shorter blue-haired girl with her hand hovering over the doorknob.
"How is she?" Levy asked hopefully.
"She just needs some rest. You can keep an eye on her if you'd like. Just don't wake her up!"
Levy smiled brightly, clearly giddy at the prospect of watching over the girl. She had been shaken the state they had her in but had relaxed considerably after learning the blood on her wasn't actually her own. Or didn't seem to be, anyway. Porlyusica still couldn't quite get over that, nor the worry as of whose blood it was.
This girl had every potential to be a threat, and a considerable one of that. Perhaps even a killer. And she knew the Master might be stupid enough to accept someone who has killed even if they seem to be looking to 'reform'.
However, the girl's eyes—her nervousness, and near meekness—made Porlyusica think that there was no way on earth she could be a killer. That perhaps she had been caught in the crossfire, or that she possessed some kind of magic that healed her wounds, because she couldn't imagine a girl like that was a murderer. But it wasn't entirely out of the question. She just hoped she wasn't about to be misled by her potentially premature impression of her.
"Makarov." She caught the attention of the tiny Master who sat at one of the tables of the newly constructed Fairy Tail. He was caught up in his usual activity of drinking, perhaps a little more than usual, but Porlyusica could understand that (somewhat) given the stress of reconstructing was now over. Plus, he'd most likely have to dread with the impending return of Natsu and his team, given the chaos they seem to cause.
"Any updates on the girl?" He tried to ask seriously but focused mainly on swigging his beer.
"She's in stable condition—requires rest. Levy is looking after her. I suggest she have someone with her until she is fully healed, which should only be a day or so. My part is done." She began to take her leave, before stopping in place. A possibly overly large smirk formed on Porlyusica's face, and she proclaimed: "Oh, and she isn't blind."
Makarov nearly spluttered his drink.
. . .
Hinata awoke once again and, this time, it didn't feel as though her head was spinning.
But she was once again greeted by a person with oddly coloured hair—except, this time, she could see them perfectly. Her eyesight wasn't doomed, she noted.
But, it seemed a substantial amount of time had passed since she was previously awake, since the blue haired girl sat next to her was fast asleep with a book in a script Hinata could not understand sprawled across her legs, looking as if it were about to fall off. That, and the fact it was night-time now, rather than the broad daylight she had awoken in.
The girl seemed slightly younger than her, potentially. Or just underdeveloped. Hinata wasn't really sure, but the way she was dressed didn't particularly make the Hyuuga believe she was a ninja—if anyone here even was, wherever 'here' is.
Almost instinctively, Hinata reached for the book to place it on the cabinet next to her bed. Sometimes, Hinata wanted to scrutinise herself for being too nice. She was sure that her father had been the one who conditioned her into doing that, though. He criticised her so much as a child that she grew up second guessing everything she did.
She didn't have to be a ninja all the time, she reminded herself. She was a human too. Especially at times like these when her ability to be a kunoichi remained far more restricted.
It seemed the book being moved from the girl's legs was enough to startle her, however, and cause her to jump awake. Hinata froze, and the girl's brown eyes stared into her own white ones.
"Wow." The blue-haired girl said, almost breathlessly. Hinata couldn't quite figure out what she was so amazed at, and only looked back in bemusement.
"A-ah! I'm sorry!" The girl flustered, "I'm Levy! I'm sorry, that was probably super creepy..." She trailed off, laughing nervously. "Your name's Hinata, right?"
Hinata smiled sweetly and nodded, her own nerves melting away a bit at Levy's presence. She was kind, and not intimidating at all. She supposed if she were going to be thrown into a completely unknown place, she'd rather it be with the company of someone like Levy, rather than someone with a Tsunade like presence.
She liked Tsunade, but the hokage very much had the capability of being extremely scary.
"W-where are we?" She finally asked, albeit hesitantly, no longer able to hold back the question. Hopefully, this time, it would actually be answered.
"Huh? Oh, Fairy Tail!"
Despite the pride in Levy's word as she said the—what was it, guild?—name, Hinata couldn't seem to muster any type of reaction. Whatever nightmare this was, it was real. She really was in a place she had never heard of. She really was...dead? Well, not really. Not actually dead. She was very much alive and breathing, but in a place she had never heard of before. In a place that she had no awareness of ever existing. Could it be possible that this, this was somehow…
"Is this the afterlife!" Hinata uncharacteristically blurted out, feeling her blood rushing to her cheeks from her embarrassment. She could practically already feel the girl's judgement—what type of a question is that? What afterlife had hospital beds and the need to recover? She scolded herself mentally, but it was already too late. The question had been asked.
Levy's head tilted to the side, her smile fading only to be replaced with a look of confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I died, Levy-san. I'm meant to be dead. I felt myself die. T-there, there was nothing. Everything went black and there was nothing. There was a war and I had my eyes ripped out and m-my stomach slashed open and all my bones broken and, and I hit my head so hard and I couldn't move and o-oh god I was d-dead."
As Hinata began to break down, the shock finally fading and the realisation setting in, the girl next to her began flailing, desperately looking around the room before she found some tissues to offer Hinata.
Hinata sheepishly took them from the blue haired girl's hand and attempted to wipe her tears. Hinata wasn't a loud crier; she had trained herself not to be, and to not show weakness, and to not gain the attention of her father in her moments of weakness, but even now she couldn't contain the few whimpers that escaped her—even if she was biting down on her lip so hard she began to draw blood. Nor could she help how she was shaking, or how the tears didn't seem to stop flowing no matter how hard she shut her eyes together.
It took about twenty minutes before Hinata found herself able to find her composition again, reducing her tears only to watery, bloodshot eyes and sniffles. Despite the fatigue she felt wash over her, Hinata was determined to stay awake. She was determined to get answers—even if they didn't make sense.
"Please," she began, her voice still shaky, "tell me everything about this world."
It was an odd request but, even without asking for further explanation, Levy did anyway.