Her mother was singing.
It was a soft song that she used to always sing to her. It reminded her of winter, not because it was a cold melody, but because it had the elegance of falling snow and twirling ballerinas. It danced through the air, and when she was younger, Hinata would dance with it.
The words were inaudible, but the song was there, and Hinata smiled and hummed along with the melody.
The room was warm. The bed fit snug under her back. Hair fell in her face, but her mother brushed it behind her ear, laughing.
It felt so nice.
She missed her so much.
But then she blinked her eyes and stared out at the darkness enveloping the room, and her mother was gone. Never there in the first place. Nothing but a cold and empty room to greet her, and Hinata, suddenly awake, sat up and rubbed the sand and sting out of her eyes.
Chapter 18
I Feel Like Something Follows Me in That Cabin
The quilt around her shoulders licked at the back of her heels as Hinata padded to the kitchen out of habit. It was only when she checked a few empty cabinets that she remembered that, of course, there was no food there, and when she went back to her suitcase to fish out a few snacks she had brought with her.
She woke up late; the sun was not even in the sky, and she doubted anything around was open. So she ate her food slowly, quietly, listening to the creak of the woods as the wind rushed past.
Sasuke was nowhere to be found. His ever-present heat was gone, and Hinata pulled the quilt closer to her small body. Outside, beyond the wind, she heard crickets chirping and owls hooting in the trees. The roar of boat engines was gone, and by the untouched lake, a sleepy town stayed quiet.
Then – knocking.
Two, small taps on the front door. Quiet. Hinata nearly missed them.
Instantly, her skin rose in scared bumps, and she peeked around the corner to see if she could make out anyone through the window. Maybe it was Sasuke, though she found it strange that he would knock when the window in her room was … still …
Oh, God.
Jumping to her feet, Hinata rushed into her room and quickly slammed the window shut, the glass rattling at her sudden movements. She took a quick peek outside, saw nothing of any danger, and snapped the curtains shut.
"Calm down," she whispered to her racing heart.
It was the dark. It was the cabin. Her being here, alone, at night was nerve-wracking, and when she tried to click the lights on, nothing came. Not even a subtle buzz of electricity. Hinata returned to her suitcase and pulled out a flashlight, clicking it on and lighting up the living room.
The chirping outside went silent.
Where did the crickets go? Were they too scared to sing?
With her flashlight, Hinata went to the basement. It felt safe down there, for some reason, and there were no windows to worry about aside from the glass doors that led to the backyard.
Which … were … open.
Okay, Hinata finally told herself, shutting and locking the doors, something is happening here. Something is wrong.
And if she was at all optimistic, she would say it was her mother's spirit wandering the halls of the cabin, searching for her daughter to hold.
But it was that sort of thinking that got people killed.
That, and … the shadowy reflection she saw in the glass behind her didn't look anything like her mother.
Yelping, Hinata stumbled back to the glass doors, ripping them open and running out into the yard. She didn't hear anything run after her, but she also didn't have the courage to look back and make sure she was correct. The light of her flashlight blinked as she weaved through the trees, ignoring the pain in her bare feet as she rushed through needles and sticks and rocks.
"Wait."
A sudden voice was to her right, frightening her so much that she tripped and fell against a tree. She didn't know that voice. She didn't want to know that voice.
"S-S-S –" Her vocal cords were frozen as she snapped her light about the place, trying to find the figure who owned the voice. But there was nothing. No one was there. Either she was crazy or – "SASUKE!"
There.
She saw it.
Dark eyes and a young, pale face glowing in the yellow light.
Then another figure came barreling from overhead and landed right in front of her. Heat washed over her entire body, but her fingers were still frozen. Sasuke was haunched in front of her, lips twisted back in a sneer. He growled at the figure, then stopped, shoulders relaxing and back straightening as he stood upwards. Her heart was still racing as her left hand searched for a big stick to defend herself with, but when Hinata finally looked past him, she saw why he stopped.
It was just a kid.
A young boy, no older than six.
Was that … who was knocking on her doors and in the cabin?
Hinata dropped her flashlight slightly so that it did not shine directly in the boy's face. Her arms pushed against the trunk of the tree she had stumbled in, helping her find balance in her feet once again.
"U-Um." Feeling embarrassed for getting so worked up over a kid, she turned to him. "Do you … need help?"
But the boy did not look at her, instead staring straight in Sasuke's direction. There was a strange focus in his eyes that no one else had when they looked at him. It was as if he could see –
"Itachi?"
Huh?
Hinata looked at Sasuke, who had said the name.
Does he know the boy?
The boy gave a heavy sigh that did not seem to fit him, somehow. "Good," he said, "you recognize me."
"Why are you –" Sasuke stopped and stared at the boy – Itachi. His eyes widened as his jaw dropped an inch. "That – you have a soul."
"It's strange," Itachi continued. "It happened so quickly, but I will try to explain it to you." He then turned to her, and she did not feel like she was looking down upon a young boy. He somehow seemed much older. "And this must be your human. Hi-na-ta."
Sasuke tore his eyes away from Itachi and looked down at her.
"How do you know him?" she asked, looking between them. "I-I don't understand."
His gaze slid down her legs and to her torn and battered feet. His gloved hands reached out and lifted her so that she sat on one of his shoulders, moving her hands to his horns so she kept a good grip on him. Then, he looked down at the boy, hesitated for a moment, and held his hand out to him. Itachi took it, and they made their slow trek back to the cabin.
"Itachi is my older brother, believe it or not," Sasuke explained. "You humans call him Death, as he was in charge of delivering souls from the body to Judgment."
Hinata glanced down at him. "A boy … is Death?" It was hard to believe, even if Sasuke did not make it a habit to lie to her.
"This has not always been my body," Itachi explained, and despite the lightness of his child-like voice, his cadence was smooth and wise. A small hand went to his chest, and his lips tilted in an aged frown. "And I have never had a soul before."
When they got to the cabin, Sasuke would not let her to the ground, and she had to bend forward to keep her head from knocking into the ceiling. He took her to the bathroom on the upper floor, sitting her on the sink, and she told him to pull out the box from the cabinet so that she could clean and bandage her feet.
"Explain it to me, Itachi," Sasuke said as he watched her apply ointment to the small scratches on the soles of her feet. "When the crows told me, I could hardly believe something had happened to you."
Hinata took a moment to look back at the boy, who stayed in the doorway, small face shadowed in the darkness.
It was all so strange.
She could hardly believe it.
"It happened quickly," he whispered, and there must have been something in his voice that she did not hear, as Sasuke flinched next to her, "and I barely understood anything. But I know what I saw – I know what happened." Again, his hands curled around his chest, and the room went from sweltering to hot. "This is my soul. When I went to this boy, the soul sucked me in, and now I'm stuck here."
Chapter 18 - End
