This story is a companion piece for my main story A Sign That You Were Here. I like to call this one a mirror story as it shows what exactly is happening on the other side. A lot of readers were curious about it and after lots of thinking, I decided to make it a multi-chaptered story instead of one POV chapter. There's a whole new dimension to explore, after all.
For those who aren't familiar with the main story: Fear not! I plan to make this story understandable without any knowledge about the main story. Although, I recommend checking it out because that's more in my focus.
For those who are familiar with the main story: Even though this story mirrors the main storyline, it will not be as detailed and long as that one. I'm mainly writing it to give you all more insights about canon Hinata's experiences in the other world. And of course, I would like to show more of the Uchiha kids and the alternate world I created for this story. But it's entirely optional—if you like the suspense of not knowing what led to the current situation in the main storyline, you can just skip all these chapters without a problem.
Where are the flowers?
The thought blasted through the emptiness, splitting the darkness in two as if it was a bolt of lightning.
What flowers?
She didn't have an answer.
Nothingness wrapped her in a cold embrace, and until this very moment, her consciousness didn't exist. Awareness seeping in, the numbness started vibrating inside of her, and a desire to live shook her world.
She suddenly longed for the ability to exist.
If she'd had limbs, she surely would've felt goosebumps running up her arms. However, her body seemed to be nonexistent—she was nothing more right now than a spirit, levitating in a dark void.
The abrupt and out-of-place thought of the flowers bothered her, and she spent her seemingly endless time pondering on them. Petals of various colors came to mind. But what kind of flowers were they? Tulips or roses, perhaps sunflowers? She wasn't sure, she just knew that they should've been here.
Flowers didn't fit her barren environment though. Nothing could survive in this bubble of hollowness. And still, she knew that the flowers were missing.
The imaginative petals of a daffodil sluggishly swirled into an ocean-blue blossom. Before, she was unaware of the concept of memories. Right now, that particular shade of blue made her mind do something that it didn't do for such a long time that it felt like a literal eternity—she remembered.
That blue flower wasn't just some exotic plant—it was a living being with limbs and skin and cerulean irises.
I should have limbs, too.
The strange thought prompted her to dwell on her own existence. What was she? A spirit? No, she was definitely more than that. She was a person, a human, someone who shouldn't feel so calm without an identity.
Who was she then? The question juddered around her like an annoying bug that wouldn't leave her alone.
Shino.
The name was and wasn't right at the same time. For some reason, she was certain that she wasn't Shino, but the name Shino felt important to her. As no other names popped up, no matter how hard she tried, she decided it was worth investigating who was behind the name Shino.
The awfully long perpetuity she spent mulling over this person didn't feel like wasted time—in this blankness, time didn't exist. And she finally could link Shino with other words: team, village, and animals.
Content with this result, she turned her attention back to herself and the faceless being with cerulean irises.
Himawari.
The remembrance was followed by a heartbeat. Then another one. And then, many more.
Inside her chest, the faint drumming accelerated. She didn't have a form until now, but this particular order of sounds shaped an organ inside of her chest. An organ that was beating in rhythm with the name.
Hi-ma-wa-ri.
The lilt slowly changed, and slightly different syllables started pounding inside her mind.
Hi-ma-ru-to.
The seemingly wrong chords suddenly chained together, and her heart now danced to a different, but not less beautiful melody.
Bo-ru-to.
The names Himawari and Boruto gave an answer to who she was in an unexpected way. She was a mother. Her own name didn't matter at this moment when the faces of her children had just formed in front of her.
Boruto stood there with his hands on his hips, his wide grin and blindingly blond hair shining through the darkness. Himawari appeared next to him with her hands behind her back and a gentle smile occupying her features. Her indigo hair blended with the dark and stood out of it at the same time.
The glimmering blue irises and the whisker-shaped marks on their cheeks sent waves of love through her spirit.
Their features slowly merged, and they formed a new face that was so similar to theirs, but still so different. Boruto's blond hair overpowered Himawari's indigo one as the details of a new person slowly took shape. He had three whisker marks on each cheek instead of two, and on his face, the two children's blue irises mixed into an even more striking shade of blue.
Na-ru-to, her heart sang.
And the name Naruto brought a myriad of colorful memories with itself.
Two little boys, one with blond and one with black hair, fighting in the backyard of the academy. A mischievous grin shooting in her direction while she was hunching over an exam paper. Giant toads with a tiny tuft of blond hair on top of one's head. Tanned hands dropping an amber stone into feminine hands. Intertwined fingers above a light, orange-colored blanket.
The glimpses made her mind feel as if it had just awoken from a dream that lasted forever. The tingling sensation of self-consciousness suddenly unfolded the mystery of who she was—Uzumaki Hinata, the wife of Konoha's beloved Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto, the former heiress of the prestigious Hyuuga clan, the mother of Boruto and Himawari.
If she'd had lips, she would've smiled.
Her mind wandered back to the flowers. She couldn't find the relevance of them, and still, she vividly remembered waterdrops on a wide, white petal. Tearing her gaze from the beauty of nature, she turned her head to the right and caught sight of Himawari, kneeling down and sniffing into a plant with a hearty giggle.
The importance of the flowers finally clicked into place—the last thing she did before she inexplicably found herself in the middle of nothing was watering the flowers of her garden with her daughter.
The memory flew through her soul with a pleasant tingle.
Someone's hand touched Hinata's shoulder for a moment. Gasping upon realizing she could feel parts of her body and she wasn't only a pile of consciousness anymore, she turned her head back with a smile. She expected to find Naruto there, but she only stared into deep nothingness.
Glancing back to Himawari, Hinata was met with the little girl's blinding blue eyes. The more she looked into them, the dizzier she became.
Himawari's lips parted in a chuckle, but instead of some breathy laughter, the vexing sound of crying filled the air.
Hinata's heart dropped, and she instinctively reached out toward Himawari. The sobbing noise felt out of place as Himawari's eyes were still filled with happiness and a grin spread high on her cheeks. She was the only one present in this strange place besides Hinata, but a girl, someone other than her, was surely crying.
Himawari's figure suddenly faded as if it had been blown away by a strong wind and Hinata's lips parted in a muted shriek.
The smell of burnt trees crept inside her nostrils. The unexpected urge of using one of her senses again caused her head to hurt.
Pain.
The feeling of pain caught her off-guard. Especially because it wasn't concentrated solely in her head—the pain was running up and down her entire body and there was no part of her that didn't ache. It was so agonizing it made her stomach turn and she wondered if it was because she had spent an eternity without feeling absolutely anything or if she had sustained such a bad injury sometime.
Either way, the agony was quickly overwhelming her, and she wouldn't have been surprised if it killed her the next moment.
The corners of her eyes twitched as she became aware of a tiny, shaking body that was wrapped in her arms. The sound of crying was even louder than before and Hinata quickly realized why—it came from someone pushing their face against her bosom.
A child.
Instinctively, she pulled the little human closer. Moving her limbs felt as though her veins had been set on fire, but all she cared about was soothing the unknown toddler. Small fingers tangled themselves into Hinata's hair without any carefulness, but the added pain mostly went unnoticed—if the motion gave comfort to the child, she could've pulled all her hair out and Hinata still wouldn't have made a sound.
She forced one of her eyes open and caught a glimpse of long, dark hair. Could this girl be Himawari? Hinata quickly concluded that this little girl was someone else—her body was too small to belong to a ten-year-old. She must've been much younger than her daughter, someone around four years old at the most.
"Aiko, Hinata, hold on tight," a deep voice of a man spoke from above Hinata's head, but she didn't have the strength to look up to find out who it was.
She only noticed he had hooked his arms under her body when he lifted her from the ground with a strange mixture of hurry and gentleness.
The world started spinning around her with such speed that she had to close her eyes. Obeying her first instinct, Hinata pushed the little girl in her arms even closer to herself. She placed one hand on the child's head to protect the fragile bone from any possible danger that could've been brought by the crazy spinning of the world, but the whole sensation only lasted a few moments.
Her body met with something soft and Hinata guessed the man laid her on a bed. Her eyelashes fluttered open to confirm her suspicion, but the room she got transported into was only dimly lit and her irises couldn't adjust fast enough.
She felt the child's—Aiko's, as the man called her—weight disappearing from her chest.
"No," she yelped.
Instinctively, she reached out her arm to hinder him from taking Aiko away from her. Even though Hinata wasn't familiar with this particular little girl, her motherly instincts screamed at her to protect her.
Instead of grabbing a toddler's body, her reaching-out limb got clasped between two small hands. Her eyes steadily getting used to the faint light, she could recognize the outline of a child just a few years younger than Himawari.
The boy pushed a quick kiss on the top of Hinata's hand as he hurriedly whispered, "Don't worry, Mom. I will take care of Aiko-chan."
Mom?
It was dark, but still bright enough for Hinata to see that this child couldn't be her son. Her son's blond hair and blue eyes would've chased away the darkness in the room, but this boy's dark hair and dark eyes perfectly melted into the place.
Hinata didn't have a chance to protest though because the kid was already out of sight.
"Hinata," the voice of the mysterious man called out to her softly.
Candles were lit, and the light drew Hinata's attention toward him. The reflections of the tiny flames danced in two different colored irises.
Gasping, her eyes grew large when she finally could identify the person who had taken her to this unfamiliar place. "Sa-Sasuke-san?"
His eyes narrowed as he leaned over her. "How are you feeling?"
Hinata's lips parted to form words, but even just moving them sent a piercing pain down her spine, prompting her to bite on the inside of her cheeks.
The corners of Sasuke's eyes twitched. "Can you move?"
Even the slightest movement of her muscles burned her entire body like fire and the only solution she could come up with was to stay completely still.
Sasuke mumbled something under his nose that sounded too much like swearing.
"Father," a young boy appeared in the doorframe.
Hinata only saw him from the corner of her eye, but one glimpse was enough to determine that this child was a different child from the one that had called her mom before. This boy was a bit older, possibly the same age as Himawari. Curiously, his sharp features bore a striking semblance to Sasuke's.
To Hinata's utmost surprise, Sasuke turned toward the boy as if he listened to the word father.
If the muscles in Hinata's neck hadn't pounded with a straining ache, she would've shaken her head to clear her thoughts. Sasuke must've only turned because he had sensed the presence of the kid behind him. That was the only plausible explanation because Sasuke had a daughter, not a son.
At least Hinata wasn't aware of any sons of his.
"Hiroki, stay on alert. I need to get Karin, but I will be back right away."
The boy called Hiroki pushed his lips together and nodded.
Sasuke's Rinnegan flared up with a purple blaze and a portal appeared in the middle of the room. Shooting one last worried look toward Hinata, he stepped through it, and the mass of energy shrunk into nothingness.
Hiroki marched next to the bed and grabbed Hinata's hand. The touch prickled at her skin as if her palm had been pierced through with a thousand senbons all at once and she let out a loud hiss from the sore sensation.
Mumbling an apology, the boy let go of her hand and stiffened his body. Hinata longed to tell him he did nothing wrong, but the paralyzing pain muted her. Instead of verbal reassurance, she softened her features as much as she could and stared into the child's regretful black eyes.
Her gaze wandered from his dark irises to his black, shoulder-length hair and Hinata found herself believing in the preposterous possibility that Hiroki was indeed Sasuke's offspring. Although, the kid didn't resemble Sasuke's wife at all.
Her heart suddenly ached for her friend—did Sakura even know about this child?
"Don't worry," Hiroki spoke up. "Aiko is alright, she's just really scared. She has a few bruises, but Kosuke is taking care of her. You will be fine, too. Right, Mom?" his voice thinned at the end, but he quickly swallowed to hide it.
She was contemplating how to tell him that he was mistaken and she couldn't be his mother when a dark portal started forming in the same spot where Sasuke disappeared only a few minutes ago. A woman with fiery red hair stepped out of it, followed by Sasuke himself.
Hinata knew the woman from a few of Sakura's stories from the time when she gave birth to Sarada. She herself had never met her, but there was no doubt that it was Karin who arrived with the man.
Instinctively, Hinata compared her features to Hiroki's who was now standing in silence in the farthest corner of the small room.
"I have no idea what they could've come up with this time," Karin told Sasuke as if she was just continuing a conversation they had already started. She adjusted her glasses with two fingers as her searching gaze stopped on Hinata.
"It was something new. I have never seen anything like that. They aimed it at Aiko, but Hinata bodied the attack," he answered as the portal behind him dispersed. "She seems disoriented and as I gathered, she isn't able to move."
"You would be disoriented as well if you endured an attack like that. But it's surely nothing my chakra isn't capable of healing." Karin kneeled beside the bed while cuffing up the right sleeve of her shirt. "Hi, Hinata. You don't look too good. Do you know that?"
Karin smiled at her, but Hinata stubbornly pushed her lips together. Her smile faltering, Karin showed her index finger to her. "Can you follow this?" she asked and started moving her finger slowly from left to right, then back.
Hinata pinned her eyes on the woman's long nails while pondering the absurdity of the situation. One moment she was in her garden, watering her flowers with Himawari, the next she was following Karin's finger in a place that eerily reminded her of an underground hideout.
She must be dreaming. This couldn't be real. The sun had been shining too hot today—she probably didn't drink enough water and fainted. Himawari would shake her awake any moment now, Hinata just needed to concentrate on waking up.
"Don't close your eyes," Karin warned as soon as Hinata tried focusing on ripping herself away from this nonsensical place. Karin clicked her tongue and Hinata obliged her request. "Good. How many fingers am I holding up?"
Hinata squinted at the woman's hand, then breathed out, "Three."
"Yes. What clan are you from?"
"Hyuuga."
"Do you know how old you are?"
"I'm thirty-two," Hinata's voice was silent and raspy, but Karin still nodded confidently.
"Alright. As much as I understand, there's no sign of permanent damage to the cognitive functions. The disorientation should pass after we heal your body. Here," Karin said softly and put her forearm close to Hinata's mouth.
Confused, Hinata bit on her lower lip, the small motion sending vibrating waves of pain toward the back of her neck.
Karin peeked at Sasuke, noting the obvious, "She doesn't know what to do."
His eyebrows furrowing, Sasuke stepped closer and lowered himself to the bed. "Hinata, you have to bite Karin. Her chakra will heal you. You did this many times before."
"I…" Hinata tried putting her racing thoughts into words. "You…"
Without any warning, Karin pushed her arm between Hinata's teeth. "Bite it, Hinata, or you will most probably die in around an hour. I can feel your chakra signature being… strange, to say the least. Your chakra pathways must be torn."
Hinata's eyes grew large.
Death.
What if this, by any chance, wasn't a dream, but reality itself? What if something had happened in the village and she got caught in the middle of it? What if she really got attacked and Sasuke brought her here as per Naruto's request?
If this was real, she couldn't die until she was reunited with her family. Right now, she should be surrounded by Himawari, Boruto, and Naruto, not by Hiroki, Karin, and Sasuke. The strange fact that her own family wasn't with her when she had, apparently, sustained an injury prompted Hinata to find some explanation. And the only believable reason she could come up with was that something must've happened to them.
However unbelievable life seemed at this very moment, Uzumaki Hinata would never abandon her family in times of need.
Gathering all her strength, she closed her eyes and sank her teeth deep into Karin's skin.
Warm chakra filled her mouth. The tasteless, airy substance flowed through her body with such a dizzying force that it dulled all her senses. She didn't even notice when Karin had pulled her arm back, she just abruptly realized the lack of warmth.
Looking up, trying to find the healing arm again, her gaze locked with Sasuke's mismatched eyes that stared down at her with concern. Icy chills ran through her spine when he reached out and tucked a strain of hair behind her ears.
"You will be fine, Hinata," he reassured her.
The dark room speedily became even darker despite the flames of candles still flickering strongly. Invincible lassitude wrapped itself around Hinata's mind and even though she fought with her consciousness to stay awake, she was slowly slipping into the hollow void of unconsciousness.
Voices were talking above her head, but she couldn't distinguish anymore which belonged to who.
"What's happening to her?"
"Don't worry, Hiroki-kun. My healing chakra puts her to sleep. She will wake up in a few hours."
"Are you sure there's no permanent damage?"
"I'm not a medical ninja, Sasuke, and you know Orochimaru can always surprise us. But as far as my knowledge goes, she should be fine. There's something strange though."
"What do you mean by strange?"
"Her chakra signature… it's not exactly what I'm used to, but I can't put my finger on the difference. Might only be the effect of her damaged chakra pathways."
More hurried words were exchanged, but Hinata's brain was too tired to understand them in context. Nothing they said made any sense anyway.
After all, this couldn't be the reality because the last thing that reached her ears was Sasuke's voice, whispering an impossible I love you to her.
