Saving The Inner Self
Chapter Three: Dream Worlds and Nightmares
The next morning, everybody got up, ate breakfast and broke off into two groups for training. The boys went with Koei and the girls went with Onami. Onami decided to give Kurenai a break and offered to take the other girls. Kurenai agreed, but only after much persuasion and headed off to take a nap. As everyone left, Hinata waved good-bye smiling.
~***~
"Alright boys! Take two laps around the forest, running of course. The lap includes the beach; you will be running along the beach and then turn off back around the forest. Ok?" he asked smiling.
"No! We'll die!!!" shouted Choji while waving his arms in the air hysterically.
"Smart boy! What's your name?" he asked laughing.
"Choji Akimichi." He answered looking confused.
"Heh, you're right Choji, you'd probably pass out so you get 4 rest stops, 2 for each laps. The faster you get to the rest stop, the longer you get to rest. The last person to the rest stop only gets a 3-minute break. I'll run ahead to the rest stop and find everything. If you can keep up with me then you'll get to rest longer. Ready? Ok. Start when I leave." He said smiling still.
"If you want a tip, by focusing all the chakra into your feet, you tire less than you would if you were just plain running, though you do use up chakra, you go faster." Neo said looking at them all in a friendly manner.
"Let's go." Kyoji growled as he watched his teacher leave.
Neo nodded and put his hands together focusing his chakra into the soles of his feet. His eyes quickly snapped open and he was off like a bullet. The others followed his demonstration.
By the time they got to the rest station, most of the people were half-dead. Neo and Kyoji admitted they were breathing heavy, but everyone else was lying around trying to calm their breathing. The only ones that were still standing were Shino, Neji, Kyoji and Neo, but they were still breathing heavily.
"Oh man!" Naruto said when he'd recovered a bit. "I hate this! And Choji cheated! He turned into that ball thing!" he said pointing at Choji accusingly.
"That's not cheating. That's using your abilities to their full potential and finishing no matter what." Koei said while sitting on a stump and sipping his water. "In any case, you all did better than I expected. Maybe tomorrow, if you stay here, we'll time you." He said smiling, again.
Everyone's mouths dropped.
"Are you kidding?! We'll die!" Kiba shouted in protest.
"Arf!" Akamaru seemed to agree.
"It's really not that hard. We just need to train your lungs and maybe work on your chakra control a little more. Which we will do after lunch, by swimming, I hope you can all swim. If you can't, learn fast." Koei said before taking off again.
"Oh joy. Here we go again." Kyoji said his voice dripping with sarcasm. He focused again and he too was off.
Everyone else was running as well, seeing that they had regained their breath. This continued 3 more times before they started heading back to the hut hanging off one another.
~***~
Hinata went back into Aya's room and watched her. She looked content but in mental pain. Something was drawing Hinata to her, she was now on her knees, reaching for Aya's hand. As soon as she touched it, there was a flash of white light and...
...She was in a big white room. The first thing she noticed was the master bed, it was huge with light drapes hanging down the sides. The second thing she noticed were two large windows, one displaying a happy with a blue, and the other was dark with thundering rain clouds. Then she noticed Aya, standing by the happy window and looking outside.
"So you're the one that has a kind enough heart to enter my realm? Interesting... what's your name?" Aya asked while turning and looking over at Hinata.
"Hyuga Hinata." She said timidly.
"Shy aren't you?" Hinata nodded. "Well, come look at these two contrasting pictures." She said while holding out her hand for Hinata to take.
Hinata walked over while taking Aya's hand and looked out the window.
"I'm Inner Aya, the real Aya. The one on the outside is just a mask; another put there to hide the true self. You are here, in my memories, my mind. I like to call this place, time heart. This is my dream room, my dream world. Now look here, this is the Aya that might have been if Nago hadn't destroyed her village and well, did the other stuff to her." They looked out at a happy Aya playing in the field then running back to her parents.
"And here..." She said leading Hinata to another window. "Is the Aya that would be if she hadn't met up with Neo, Kyoji and Koei." The Aya there was dark and angry. She picked up a man and squeezed his neck until it exploded sending blood splattering everywhere. She walked on and shot an energy blast at a small house completely destroying it. Hinata gasped. "If everything had happened this way, she would have destroyed everyone until it was just her and Nago, then there would be one last battle. Between Nago and Aya, Aya would probably win, and then she'd destroy the earth and die in the process and that would be the end of humanity, as we know it.
But that never happened did it? No, this is what happened." She said leading Hinata to a window that she hadn't noticed. "This is the Aya that be, the one everybody else knows. She sits there reminiscing on how to kill Nago, after she kills Nago though, she doesn't know what she will do, and may even try to kill herself. Which means good-bye for all of us." Inner Aya said her face never flinching once. They watched the Outer Aya sit there and watched as the air around her changed considerably. It darkened and Nago appeared in a puff of smoke, she kicked him and stabbed him and his illusion disappeared. Then Neo and Kyoji came over and lifter her off the ground carrying her over to their teacher. When they all fell down they started laughing, even Aya was laughing. "This is how things should be. But after what happened recently, Outer Aya might change. I can't say though, I don't control Outer Aya; I am only Inner Aya, waiting to be shown to the world. But this is not what I wanted to show you. Follow me."
Hinata followed slightly reluctant. They walked down a giant staircase that wound down into the main hall. Then they walked over to a big black door. "This leads to the basement of memories, my hatred, all these things are locked away but not forgotten. Follow me down." She said hanging onto Hinata's hand; she led the smaller girl down into the depths of darkness. "Try to move as little as possible, but down talk, just watch." Hinata nodded.
All of a sudden, an image appeared. It was Aya at the age of 4. She was sitting on the ground crying.
"Oh Aya-chan. I told you to put your shoes on." Said a 9 year old Nago. "Let me help you." He took a bandage and wrapped it around her foot. This Nago looked much like Shino to Hinata. He had the same looking coat and hair and he had a hitai-ate with an odd symbol on it. The symbol looked like a crescent moon with vines on either side. Hinata didn't understand the symbol but asked no questions.
"I wanted to go pick some flowers for grandma!" said the younger Aya. "But my foot got hurt when I stepped on a stick." She sniffled.
"Just where your shoes next time, ok? How 'bout I carry you to go get those flowers?" Nago asked smiling.
"Ya! Thank you Nagi-niisan!" She said huggin him. Hinata looked confused. 'Nagi?'
'Nagi' laughed and picked up the little Aya and carried her on his shoulders. The two walked off disappearing in a flurry of cherry blossom petals. But, standing behind one of the trees, was what looked like, another Nago.
There was pitch black for a minute but Inner Aya kept watching so Hinata did as well. The next image was of the two Nago's leaving what looked like a large mansion.
"Bye Nago-niisan! Bye Nagi-niisan! Bye! See you after your ninja school!" A 5 year old Aya shouted waving and smiling.
"Bye Aya-chan!" The two 10 year old's chorused.
Aya giggled and watched them leave. She kept waving until they were gone over the hill. There was a flash of light and the image changed again. This time it was not so happy.
"Nago what are you doing?!" shouted an 11 year old Nagi with blood dripping from his mouth.
"Displaying my power. See? I am stronger than you Nagi my twin! I am!" he shouted laughing insanely.
"Nago-niisan!!! What are you doing?" cried the 6 year old Aya as she hid behind Nagi.
"Oh Aya-chan, do you not know power when you see it?" Nago asked softly.
"Nago this is insane, stop it now." Nagi said stepping forward.
Nago gave Nagi a look that said 'you're kidding me' and then stabbed his hand through Nagi's chest and brought out his heart still beating slowly. He then crushed it splattering blood everywhere. Aya screamed and felt hot tears pouring down her cheeks. She then fell to her knees where her older brothers' dead body lay.
"Nagi?! Nagi wake up!" she shouted shaking his body.
"Nagi's gone Aya-chan." Nago said coming up behind her.
"No! Why did you do that?!" she sobbed. Hinata felt tears running down her own cheeks as well but made no movement to wipe them away.
"He had it coming. And he would not listen to me." Nago said bending down and pulling little Aya towards him. "I love you Aya-chan. I did not mean to do that. Please help me. You are all I have left." Aya sobbed into his kimono shirt but he could tell she nodded. "Come on, Nago-niisan will carry you." He said bringing her with him. Hinata wanted to yell at the little Aya not to go with him but she couldn't talk as she remembered, so she just watched in pain. The two left out the door and as the door shut behind them, it was once again pitch black.
Next they were in a forest and it was snowing.
"Nago-niisan? Where are we going?" asked the little Aya shivering.
"Don't worry, you'll be warm soon." He said looking ahead through the snow storm.
They soon came to a hut and inside was a man. A grubby looking drunkard with messy brown hair and angry red eyes was inside waiting for them.
"Mr. Kawada, this is my baby sister, Aya-chan. Aya-chan, Mr. Kawada." Nago said quickly. "I'll be back in a bit." He said leaving. "Be good for Mr. Kawada, do whatever he says." Nago said softly into Aya's ear. Aya nodded obediently. Then Nago left.
"So, you're the boys little sister. Lovely little thing." He said smiling.
"Thank you Mr. Kawada sir." She said politely.
"Come here." He said and as soon as she was in his grasp he started taking off her clothes. Aya tried to scream but Mr. Kawada sent a bruising kiss to her lips.
Hinata watched in horror as the man raped the little 6-year-old girl. Then Nago got back.
"What have you done?!" He boomed loudly as Aya ran to him crying.
"Yes, I did that. She wasn't bad. She still needs some breaking in." He chuckled but his little laughter was cut short because Nago had shot him through the heart with an energy laser.
"I'm so sorry Aya-chan." Nago said hugging her close.
'Ya right. Hinata thought bitterly.
"Nago he hurt me!" she cried loudly.
"I know, I know, I'm so sorry." He said while stroking her hair tenderly.
The scene disappeared in a gust of snow. Hinata shivered and hugged herself with one hand while shielding her eyes with the other. As the snow brushed away and Hinata stopped shielding her eyes, they watched the last scene Inner Aya would show her.
"Nago-niisan? What are you doing?" Aya asked softly.
"Aya-chan. I want you to stay here. I will be back to get you. If I'm not back, try to find someone to help you ok?" he asked stiffly.
"Yes Nago-niisan, but you will be back right?" She asked pleadingly.
"Yes I will be back unless I die. If I die you will know, ok?" he asked sternly.
"No! You can't die. Nago-niisan don't leave me!" she shouted but Nago was already starting to leave. "Nago-niisan!!! You said I was all you had left! So why are you leaving?!" she shouted and began chasing him even after he jumped into the trees. She kept chasing him until she tripped over a stump and lost track of him. "Don't leave me..." she whispered and the tears came back.
Inner Aya took Hinata's hand and gently guided her out of the basement. When they were back in the great hall, Hinata started crying again.
"I'm s-s-sorry." She stuttered through her tears. "Y-you must t-t- think I-I-I'm a c-cry baby be-c-cause y-you haven-n't s-s-shed a t-tear and h-here I-I am c-crying enough f-f-for both of-f us." She sniffed.
"No, it's ok. I expected you to break down much sooner actually. You are much stronger than I thought. The only reason I don't cry is because I have seen those memories enough to stop me from crying. But Outer Aya would cry at these memories. Hinata?" she asked holding the smaller girls' hands in her own. "Will you be my friends?" she asked softly.
"Of course!" Hinata said hugging Aya. At first, the hug caught Aya off guard. Then she hugged Hinata back.
"Thank you for that." Aya said wiping away a small tear. "It has been so long since I have actually hugged someone. And the last time I did, it wasn't a real hug. Now Hinata, do not tell anyone about this. Only people you are sure that you can trust not to tell." She said with a pleading look in her eyes. "Please?"
"Of course." Hinata said hugging Aya again. "I'm glad you showed me this. I think I have gained more courage. Watching these memories has brought a new light to my blinded eyes. You, you stand here in this large plain mansion, all alone, watching what could happen, what should happen, and what might happen. Everyday, just watching, never doing. I promise I will help Outer Aya release you. I will be strong for you and I'll try not to be weak. But I promise to help you get out of here. I promise." Hinata said softly into Aya's hair.
"Thank you Hinata-san. Thank you so much." Aya said letting the tears of happiness flow freely. "That is the best thing anyone could ever give me. Just the promise of being free brings my spirit up. Now go out the main doors and you will walk back into your consciousness; people are trying to wake you up." Aya said waving.
"I promise." Hinata whispered as she stepped out the door and turned to take one last look at the Inner Aya, but she felt a light grab her and she felt herself being thrown somewhere. She couldn't see and suddenly...
... She opened her eyes slowly to find everyone around her, staring at her.
"Oh hello. I must have fallen asleep." Hinata said wiping her eyes. She had cried in her real body as she had cried in her Inner body. She looked at them all smiling. There was something different about her voice. There was no stutter, she was more confident and she could feel it. Hinata looked down and noticed she was still holding Aya's hand. "I promise." She whispered softly, and as soon as she did, she was sure she felt Aya squeeze her hand in return.
"Hinata? Are you ok?" asked Sakura snapping her out of her trance.
"Yes I am fine Sakura-san. How are you?" she asked smiling and letting go of Aya's hand. "With the training of course. Oh! I was going to make you all lunch and then I drifted off. I'll go get lunch ready now." She said smiling and leaving them all staring at the air she'd just a minute ago, occupied.
"Hinata-------------a!" Sakura shouted.
"Yes!" she shouted back.
"What have you done with Hinata? Hinata doesn't sound like that! Hinata stutters!" Ino shouted.
"Hinata has changed and made a promise to a dear friend. Hinata mustn't be weak, she must be strong for her friend." Hinata said after a clang of dishes were heard. Minutes later they heard water boiling and the smell of ramen and dumplings were drifting through the air.
~***~
"Aya's shown her." Kyoji said leaning against the wall.
"Indeed." Neo murmured.
"Then Koei was right, it's because the Hyuga's a girl." Kyoji said sounding irritated.
"Maybe. But she is a kind girl as well." Neo said smiling.
"Whatever." Kyoji snorted.
"Let's go eat, we can worry about this later." Neo said walking off. Kyoji followed a few minutes later.
Chapter Three: Dream Worlds and Nightmares
The next morning, everybody got up, ate breakfast and broke off into two groups for training. The boys went with Koei and the girls went with Onami. Onami decided to give Kurenai a break and offered to take the other girls. Kurenai agreed, but only after much persuasion and headed off to take a nap. As everyone left, Hinata waved good-bye smiling.
~***~
"Alright boys! Take two laps around the forest, running of course. The lap includes the beach; you will be running along the beach and then turn off back around the forest. Ok?" he asked smiling.
"No! We'll die!!!" shouted Choji while waving his arms in the air hysterically.
"Smart boy! What's your name?" he asked laughing.
"Choji Akimichi." He answered looking confused.
"Heh, you're right Choji, you'd probably pass out so you get 4 rest stops, 2 for each laps. The faster you get to the rest stop, the longer you get to rest. The last person to the rest stop only gets a 3-minute break. I'll run ahead to the rest stop and find everything. If you can keep up with me then you'll get to rest longer. Ready? Ok. Start when I leave." He said smiling still.
"If you want a tip, by focusing all the chakra into your feet, you tire less than you would if you were just plain running, though you do use up chakra, you go faster." Neo said looking at them all in a friendly manner.
"Let's go." Kyoji growled as he watched his teacher leave.
Neo nodded and put his hands together focusing his chakra into the soles of his feet. His eyes quickly snapped open and he was off like a bullet. The others followed his demonstration.
By the time they got to the rest station, most of the people were half-dead. Neo and Kyoji admitted they were breathing heavy, but everyone else was lying around trying to calm their breathing. The only ones that were still standing were Shino, Neji, Kyoji and Neo, but they were still breathing heavily.
"Oh man!" Naruto said when he'd recovered a bit. "I hate this! And Choji cheated! He turned into that ball thing!" he said pointing at Choji accusingly.
"That's not cheating. That's using your abilities to their full potential and finishing no matter what." Koei said while sitting on a stump and sipping his water. "In any case, you all did better than I expected. Maybe tomorrow, if you stay here, we'll time you." He said smiling, again.
Everyone's mouths dropped.
"Are you kidding?! We'll die!" Kiba shouted in protest.
"Arf!" Akamaru seemed to agree.
"It's really not that hard. We just need to train your lungs and maybe work on your chakra control a little more. Which we will do after lunch, by swimming, I hope you can all swim. If you can't, learn fast." Koei said before taking off again.
"Oh joy. Here we go again." Kyoji said his voice dripping with sarcasm. He focused again and he too was off.
Everyone else was running as well, seeing that they had regained their breath. This continued 3 more times before they started heading back to the hut hanging off one another.
~***~
Hinata went back into Aya's room and watched her. She looked content but in mental pain. Something was drawing Hinata to her, she was now on her knees, reaching for Aya's hand. As soon as she touched it, there was a flash of white light and...
...She was in a big white room. The first thing she noticed was the master bed, it was huge with light drapes hanging down the sides. The second thing she noticed were two large windows, one displaying a happy with a blue, and the other was dark with thundering rain clouds. Then she noticed Aya, standing by the happy window and looking outside.
"So you're the one that has a kind enough heart to enter my realm? Interesting... what's your name?" Aya asked while turning and looking over at Hinata.
"Hyuga Hinata." She said timidly.
"Shy aren't you?" Hinata nodded. "Well, come look at these two contrasting pictures." She said while holding out her hand for Hinata to take.
Hinata walked over while taking Aya's hand and looked out the window.
"I'm Inner Aya, the real Aya. The one on the outside is just a mask; another put there to hide the true self. You are here, in my memories, my mind. I like to call this place, time heart. This is my dream room, my dream world. Now look here, this is the Aya that might have been if Nago hadn't destroyed her village and well, did the other stuff to her." They looked out at a happy Aya playing in the field then running back to her parents.
"And here..." She said leading Hinata to another window. "Is the Aya that would be if she hadn't met up with Neo, Kyoji and Koei." The Aya there was dark and angry. She picked up a man and squeezed his neck until it exploded sending blood splattering everywhere. She walked on and shot an energy blast at a small house completely destroying it. Hinata gasped. "If everything had happened this way, she would have destroyed everyone until it was just her and Nago, then there would be one last battle. Between Nago and Aya, Aya would probably win, and then she'd destroy the earth and die in the process and that would be the end of humanity, as we know it.
But that never happened did it? No, this is what happened." She said leading Hinata to a window that she hadn't noticed. "This is the Aya that be, the one everybody else knows. She sits there reminiscing on how to kill Nago, after she kills Nago though, she doesn't know what she will do, and may even try to kill herself. Which means good-bye for all of us." Inner Aya said her face never flinching once. They watched the Outer Aya sit there and watched as the air around her changed considerably. It darkened and Nago appeared in a puff of smoke, she kicked him and stabbed him and his illusion disappeared. Then Neo and Kyoji came over and lifter her off the ground carrying her over to their teacher. When they all fell down they started laughing, even Aya was laughing. "This is how things should be. But after what happened recently, Outer Aya might change. I can't say though, I don't control Outer Aya; I am only Inner Aya, waiting to be shown to the world. But this is not what I wanted to show you. Follow me."
Hinata followed slightly reluctant. They walked down a giant staircase that wound down into the main hall. Then they walked over to a big black door. "This leads to the basement of memories, my hatred, all these things are locked away but not forgotten. Follow me down." She said hanging onto Hinata's hand; she led the smaller girl down into the depths of darkness. "Try to move as little as possible, but down talk, just watch." Hinata nodded.
All of a sudden, an image appeared. It was Aya at the age of 4. She was sitting on the ground crying.
"Oh Aya-chan. I told you to put your shoes on." Said a 9 year old Nago. "Let me help you." He took a bandage and wrapped it around her foot. This Nago looked much like Shino to Hinata. He had the same looking coat and hair and he had a hitai-ate with an odd symbol on it. The symbol looked like a crescent moon with vines on either side. Hinata didn't understand the symbol but asked no questions.
"I wanted to go pick some flowers for grandma!" said the younger Aya. "But my foot got hurt when I stepped on a stick." She sniffled.
"Just where your shoes next time, ok? How 'bout I carry you to go get those flowers?" Nago asked smiling.
"Ya! Thank you Nagi-niisan!" She said huggin him. Hinata looked confused. 'Nagi?'
'Nagi' laughed and picked up the little Aya and carried her on his shoulders. The two walked off disappearing in a flurry of cherry blossom petals. But, standing behind one of the trees, was what looked like, another Nago.
There was pitch black for a minute but Inner Aya kept watching so Hinata did as well. The next image was of the two Nago's leaving what looked like a large mansion.
"Bye Nago-niisan! Bye Nagi-niisan! Bye! See you after your ninja school!" A 5 year old Aya shouted waving and smiling.
"Bye Aya-chan!" The two 10 year old's chorused.
Aya giggled and watched them leave. She kept waving until they were gone over the hill. There was a flash of light and the image changed again. This time it was not so happy.
"Nago what are you doing?!" shouted an 11 year old Nagi with blood dripping from his mouth.
"Displaying my power. See? I am stronger than you Nagi my twin! I am!" he shouted laughing insanely.
"Nago-niisan!!! What are you doing?" cried the 6 year old Aya as she hid behind Nagi.
"Oh Aya-chan, do you not know power when you see it?" Nago asked softly.
"Nago this is insane, stop it now." Nagi said stepping forward.
Nago gave Nagi a look that said 'you're kidding me' and then stabbed his hand through Nagi's chest and brought out his heart still beating slowly. He then crushed it splattering blood everywhere. Aya screamed and felt hot tears pouring down her cheeks. She then fell to her knees where her older brothers' dead body lay.
"Nagi?! Nagi wake up!" she shouted shaking his body.
"Nagi's gone Aya-chan." Nago said coming up behind her.
"No! Why did you do that?!" she sobbed. Hinata felt tears running down her own cheeks as well but made no movement to wipe them away.
"He had it coming. And he would not listen to me." Nago said bending down and pulling little Aya towards him. "I love you Aya-chan. I did not mean to do that. Please help me. You are all I have left." Aya sobbed into his kimono shirt but he could tell she nodded. "Come on, Nago-niisan will carry you." He said bringing her with him. Hinata wanted to yell at the little Aya not to go with him but she couldn't talk as she remembered, so she just watched in pain. The two left out the door and as the door shut behind them, it was once again pitch black.
Next they were in a forest and it was snowing.
"Nago-niisan? Where are we going?" asked the little Aya shivering.
"Don't worry, you'll be warm soon." He said looking ahead through the snow storm.
They soon came to a hut and inside was a man. A grubby looking drunkard with messy brown hair and angry red eyes was inside waiting for them.
"Mr. Kawada, this is my baby sister, Aya-chan. Aya-chan, Mr. Kawada." Nago said quickly. "I'll be back in a bit." He said leaving. "Be good for Mr. Kawada, do whatever he says." Nago said softly into Aya's ear. Aya nodded obediently. Then Nago left.
"So, you're the boys little sister. Lovely little thing." He said smiling.
"Thank you Mr. Kawada sir." She said politely.
"Come here." He said and as soon as she was in his grasp he started taking off her clothes. Aya tried to scream but Mr. Kawada sent a bruising kiss to her lips.
Hinata watched in horror as the man raped the little 6-year-old girl. Then Nago got back.
"What have you done?!" He boomed loudly as Aya ran to him crying.
"Yes, I did that. She wasn't bad. She still needs some breaking in." He chuckled but his little laughter was cut short because Nago had shot him through the heart with an energy laser.
"I'm so sorry Aya-chan." Nago said hugging her close.
'Ya right. Hinata thought bitterly.
"Nago he hurt me!" she cried loudly.
"I know, I know, I'm so sorry." He said while stroking her hair tenderly.
The scene disappeared in a gust of snow. Hinata shivered and hugged herself with one hand while shielding her eyes with the other. As the snow brushed away and Hinata stopped shielding her eyes, they watched the last scene Inner Aya would show her.
"Nago-niisan? What are you doing?" Aya asked softly.
"Aya-chan. I want you to stay here. I will be back to get you. If I'm not back, try to find someone to help you ok?" he asked stiffly.
"Yes Nago-niisan, but you will be back right?" She asked pleadingly.
"Yes I will be back unless I die. If I die you will know, ok?" he asked sternly.
"No! You can't die. Nago-niisan don't leave me!" she shouted but Nago was already starting to leave. "Nago-niisan!!! You said I was all you had left! So why are you leaving?!" she shouted and began chasing him even after he jumped into the trees. She kept chasing him until she tripped over a stump and lost track of him. "Don't leave me..." she whispered and the tears came back.
Inner Aya took Hinata's hand and gently guided her out of the basement. When they were back in the great hall, Hinata started crying again.
"I'm s-s-sorry." She stuttered through her tears. "Y-you must t-t- think I-I-I'm a c-cry baby be-c-cause y-you haven-n't s-s-shed a t-tear and h-here I-I am c-crying enough f-f-for both of-f us." She sniffed.
"No, it's ok. I expected you to break down much sooner actually. You are much stronger than I thought. The only reason I don't cry is because I have seen those memories enough to stop me from crying. But Outer Aya would cry at these memories. Hinata?" she asked holding the smaller girls' hands in her own. "Will you be my friends?" she asked softly.
"Of course!" Hinata said hugging Aya. At first, the hug caught Aya off guard. Then she hugged Hinata back.
"Thank you for that." Aya said wiping away a small tear. "It has been so long since I have actually hugged someone. And the last time I did, it wasn't a real hug. Now Hinata, do not tell anyone about this. Only people you are sure that you can trust not to tell." She said with a pleading look in her eyes. "Please?"
"Of course." Hinata said hugging Aya again. "I'm glad you showed me this. I think I have gained more courage. Watching these memories has brought a new light to my blinded eyes. You, you stand here in this large plain mansion, all alone, watching what could happen, what should happen, and what might happen. Everyday, just watching, never doing. I promise I will help Outer Aya release you. I will be strong for you and I'll try not to be weak. But I promise to help you get out of here. I promise." Hinata said softly into Aya's hair.
"Thank you Hinata-san. Thank you so much." Aya said letting the tears of happiness flow freely. "That is the best thing anyone could ever give me. Just the promise of being free brings my spirit up. Now go out the main doors and you will walk back into your consciousness; people are trying to wake you up." Aya said waving.
"I promise." Hinata whispered as she stepped out the door and turned to take one last look at the Inner Aya, but she felt a light grab her and she felt herself being thrown somewhere. She couldn't see and suddenly...
... She opened her eyes slowly to find everyone around her, staring at her.
"Oh hello. I must have fallen asleep." Hinata said wiping her eyes. She had cried in her real body as she had cried in her Inner body. She looked at them all smiling. There was something different about her voice. There was no stutter, she was more confident and she could feel it. Hinata looked down and noticed she was still holding Aya's hand. "I promise." She whispered softly, and as soon as she did, she was sure she felt Aya squeeze her hand in return.
"Hinata? Are you ok?" asked Sakura snapping her out of her trance.
"Yes I am fine Sakura-san. How are you?" she asked smiling and letting go of Aya's hand. "With the training of course. Oh! I was going to make you all lunch and then I drifted off. I'll go get lunch ready now." She said smiling and leaving them all staring at the air she'd just a minute ago, occupied.
"Hinata-------------a!" Sakura shouted.
"Yes!" she shouted back.
"What have you done with Hinata? Hinata doesn't sound like that! Hinata stutters!" Ino shouted.
"Hinata has changed and made a promise to a dear friend. Hinata mustn't be weak, she must be strong for her friend." Hinata said after a clang of dishes were heard. Minutes later they heard water boiling and the smell of ramen and dumplings were drifting through the air.
~***~
"Aya's shown her." Kyoji said leaning against the wall.
"Indeed." Neo murmured.
"Then Koei was right, it's because the Hyuga's a girl." Kyoji said sounding irritated.
"Maybe. But she is a kind girl as well." Neo said smiling.
"Whatever." Kyoji snorted.
"Let's go eat, we can worry about this later." Neo said walking off. Kyoji followed a few minutes later.