The line between life and death A/N: I'm so proud.... TT.... I don't think anyone actually reads these things because they aren't really funny... but... hey, who cares? XD
ONWARD HO! La la la.... twiddles thumbs so.... Where'd the story go?? Lol.... Just kidding... coughs and looks around ehhhh..... oh, yeah, and I promise this isn't the end. -.- despite what you may think! It's just the beginning of the end!
Oh yeah, seriously sad... TT... I guess it's convincing... yeah, and ! .- despite what you may think, I don't do this for fun, I do it for the reviews! :D so review please!
Gaara jerked his head away, making a terrible decision.
"Na-" he started, confused as he turned around, his eyes wide in horror as it had gone. For once in his life, it vanished.
His sand had gone.
Where? And why? When he looked up, it was too late to turn.
Everything seemed slow. Hinata's feet pounded into the ground, throwing herself in front. But she was too late. Only two kunai were embedded in her skin. One in her arm and the other in her leg.
Six kunai buried themselves in Gaara's skin, and Gaara blinked at the sharp pain.
'Is this what people feel...? This is just physical pain.... But.... Emotional is said to be much worse... how can they stand it?' he thought blearily, swaying slightly as he fell backwards from the momentum. Two in his left arm, one in his chest, and three in his legs.
The pain was so numb.... Blood soaked his shirt. The kunai were buried deep, at least several inches in. If he could see it, it would have been like blue lightening cracking throughout his body. But he didn't really need to see it. Feeling it was well enough. His shoulders tensed, and he groaned. His hand jerked slightly.
A moment later Hinata was there, tears spilling out of her tormented eyes. Her beautiful, white eyes looking at him sadly as if he'd died. What if I die? Gaara frowned a little. Who'd take care of-
Pain... it shot down, and his leg twitched slightly.
"Gaara! Oh, Gaara..." She was shaking as if she was having a miniature seizure. She felt coldness wash over her in panicked waves, and her stomach was ready to get rid of her breakfast.
"H... Hina...ta..." Gaara chocked out, blood dripping out of his mouth. She looked at him, her eyes red and puffy.
"Gaara!" She said, holding on to his slightly limp hand as he faded away before her. Her arm was bleeding horribly, in between her elbow and shoulder. She ignored the jarring pain and cupped his cheek, still shaking.
"Gaara... please don't die," She whispered.
He chuckled with some difficulty. "I-I want to tell you s-something." He chocked on some blood, knowing it was coming soon.
"What? Gaara?" Hinata panicked. He couldn't die, wouldn't die!
"I-I l-love-" he collapsed in a heap of blood and flesh. Blackness scorched his vision as his eyes closed and for one fleeting moment, he thought he saw his mother. Standing beside him, across from Hinata. She smiled, her soft blue eyes identical to his... her hair black as night.
"Gaara, don't worry about her." She smiled thinly. "I know everyone will take good care of her!" Her soft voice grew into a roar. To Gaara's horror, she turned into a monster, blood dripping from its sharp, jagged teeth and claws, the stench familiar. It was like a banshee, face whiter than his own, claws each a foot long, thick black stitches with disgustingly rough black yarn attaching arms and legs. And the neck. Gaara shuddered.
The monster laughed, throwing its head back.
"Gaara, I regretted you the moment you were born!" The voice turned scratchy and old. And dead, mixing with her soft tone.
"You, a monster more than I, was brought into this world. And a terrible mistake it was." It laughed again, just before Gaara disappeared into the darkness.
Hinata was crying, shuddering and shaking.
"Oh Gaara, you'd better be okay.... Please.... Please!" She shouted, the air chilling slightly. Small rain droplets tumbled down, soon turning into dime sized droplets, splashing onto Gaara.
From afar, Itachi laughed within his host's body. Oh yes, one down... just a two more to go... blood... delicious, soothing blood... crimson tears.
Hinata and Neji had pulled Gaara into the cover of a tree, and Hinata closed her eyes and turned away, closing off her ears as Neji pulled out the sharp blades from the only one she'd ever loved.
As soon as he was done, Hinata turned back, pulling his head on to her lap. Softly stroking his cooling skin, she begged him not to go.
"Don't leave me alone... please don't go away..." She whispered, running her fingers through his wet, red hair. She touched his face and realized with shock that his body was turning cold.
"NO! GAARA! DON'T LEAVE ME LIKE THIS! PLEASE!!" She slid down the base of the tree, whimpering and begging him. Blood from each kunai spread out, staining his clothes three inches in diameter.
Neji said nothing, just looking out at the silvery white rain that washed up in sheets, thunder booming.
Loud and bright lightening jerked Hinata up, and she looked at the tree with worry, and even more at the harsh rain.
"Gaara, please come back... I can't move without you..." She whispered, her trembling fingers lightly touching his other cheek.
"Don't make me come after you..." Hinata whispered, and bent down, giving him her very first kiss...
Gaara didn't move. His face was turning cold. She shook.
Hinata was crying softly, her tears blurring her vision and wracking her lungs. As she gasped for air, she laid down next to him, her bloodied right arm protectively over his bloody corpse.
And every thought vanished as she knew Gaara was dead.
She closed her eyes, her heart aching with dull, never ending pain that shook her legs and arms. She rolled gently on top of him, his face looking at hers.
"Gaara, if you can hear me, I'll be with you soon. Don't worry." She curled up on Gaara's chest, no heartbeat or slight rise and fall of his chest.
"You've gone away... and now, I have no point in living," She whispered to him, clutching at his soaked clothes and his soft scarf.
The gourd was with Sasuke, but the rains had washed the sand away. It was empty, and crumbling because of the moisture.
Hinata closed her eyes, a little sniffling sob out of her and she put her arms around him.
"Gaara... I love you." She said, kissing him again. "It doesn't matter what world you're in... it doesn't change how I always will feel about you." She gently traced over the kanji.
"It's true, Gaara. I love you." Hinata sighed with a little sob. "Even though all you've left me is alone. Please come back, Gaara. I'll do anything.... I... I'll be with you," She smiled. "You're my only one. The one. You can't go yet. Not without me. And not without knowing how I feel about." Hinata's leg was numb, and she cried.
"I'll give it up for you. I'll give you anything. Take it. Take my life..." Hinata placed her cheek against his cold one.
"And I'll go the way you went." She stood up, and picked up the bloody kunai. Neji looked up sharply.
"Don't. He left this world unwilling and that isn't the way you're going," Neji said. Sasuke didn't even look up from the diminishing pile of the gourd. Sand ran away in trickles of water.
"I don't care, Neji. I'm going with him." Sasuke snorted at this, but kept his opinion to himself.
"T-tell Kakashi-sensei that I've gone, okay?" Hinata smiled at the kunai, old blood still dripping. Neji shook his head.
"Why don't you take revenge on Kakashi?"
"I doubt it was supposed to happen like this," Hinata said, and then turned back to Gaara. A thought came to her, and she smiled.
A crack of thunder and the forest lit up like day.
"Let's go back to Kakashi sensei." Hinata looked at her watch. "It's nine forty five." {A/N: Yeah, yeah... I know, unrealistic... but you never know! XD}
Summoning up her chakra, she picked Gaara up, and was surprised by his weight. He barely weighed anything at all... Hinata shook her head softly, and they leapt away, Neji bringing the dismembered kunai and the destroyed straw body.
He was sure this wasn't part of the lesson.
They headed back, not running into anyone familiar. Hinata looked down at Gaara...
'What a mess... oh Gaara... don't worry, I'll be with you soon.' She smiled softly.
That went well. Itachi laughed inwardly.
This is getting fun.
Looking at Hinata, Itachi's inward smile grew wider.
Let me help you with your love...
Hinata looked up as they were at the end of the forest.
"Kakashi-sensei," Neji shouted. He looked up, frowning at Gaara.
Neji threw the body and kunai at Kakashi.
"Na.. nani?!" Kakashi stifled a soft gasp.
"He's dead," Hinata said, looking down. She set him down, and kissed him, her arms around his neck.
Kakashi looked up, worried. How many would die?!
Other teams came, proud and some glum. But none were dead.
"There's been a terrible mistake," Kakashi said to the other Jounins, most of them rather ashamed with themselves.
"Wha-"
Kakashi shook his head and pointed to team eight.
"Dead." They stared at him, not comprehending.
Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the forest.
Neji twitched slightly, turning to Sasuke again. Sasuke used Sharingan again, searching the forest. Neji looked again at his eyes.
Three dots in each. Neji snarled in his mind. That wasn't right. He only has two! HE ONLY HAS TWO!
Hinata stroked his cheek gently. "Gaara..." she smiled softly. "Soon. When they pay." Her other two teammates jerked their heads in her direction.
"They'll die for taking you away. No, wait, they'll be tortured... for as long as their ever shortening lives will allow." A wave of determination washed over her. Hinata took out a kunai and a mirror. Bracing herself, she carved the kanji that stained Gaara's forehead and placed it on her own. At the end, she gasped in pain. Blood trickled down her severely colder face.
"Gaara... no one will get away with soiling your name or mocking you. Because I'm going to kill them all." She said, playing with his hair. Two drops of her blood fell on his pure skin. She wiped it off, not touching her own blood stained face. The entire left side of her face was red.
"I'll study hard... and I'll come for them. They'll die. Every single one of them," Hinata said softly.
"Punishment." She lightly kissed him, and stood up. She walked over to Kakashi, confidence in her stride. Neji and Sasuke stared after her with slight amazement.
"Kakashi-sensei, do you know who did it?" She asked calmly, secretly proud she didn't even stutter.
"Orochimaru." He said, hate staining his words. He pointed at the name on the box inside the straw body, still intact.
Hinata simply nodded, turning around.
"Does it hurt?" He asked, not turning around from the straw body and bloody kunai.
"More than if it was me." Hinata said, and continued back to Gaara.
She softly traced over the puncture marks.
"Now I'm on my own. But I will get revenge. You won't die in vain."
And she picked him up.
"Kakashi-sensei, permission to go home," She asked in more of a statement.
"Yes," Kakashi said, swallowing hard at the cold expression on her face.
Two other teams came late, breathing hard. They also had dead bodies.
Kankuro and Temari. Their bodies were covered in kunai also, blood dripping from their mouths. They all had an indifferent but slightly pained expression. . Hinata closed her eyes, but only kept walking. People stopped to gawk at the blood dribbling down her face, staining her hair. And at the kunai in her leg, trailing blood. The gash in her arm was turning cold.
"What are you looking at?" She demanded, not stopping or turning around. They turned away. Hinata walked slowly around the village, going to the base of a mountain. She walked through forest and the sky was black, littered with tiny stars.
Hinata looked up, smiling icily.
The moon was full. Clouds were nonexistent, hovering on the horizon. Hinata reached the base. Looking up, it looked so tall. The huge mountain looked down at her. Hinata shifted Gaara to her back, tying him to her back with his scarf.
"You know, it feels like you're not dead yet." Hinata stated, smiling quietly. She walked up the mountain, climbing with difficulty.
"I wouldn't worry. I'll be right with as soon as I kill Orochimaru. He'll pay. With his life. You didn't have to die. You haven't done anything. I really don't understand why it couldn't be someone else. Like me. Or no one at all." Hinata shook her head.
"You're innocent. But now I'm alone again. Please wait for me." She smiled at him.
Only when the sun was rising did Hinata reach the top. She breathed hard, but smiled at the sun rising.
"Can you see that? Look... it's beautiful... she smiled at the colors that painted the crisp blue sky. Hinata started digging. With whatever she could find, broken wood, dead trees. She finally had a sizeable hole. She couldn't bring herself to bury him. So she took dead wood and looked around for something...
With a little groan, she knew there wouldn't be any nails or anything...
"You know, I have some glass," A voice said behind her. Turning around, she looked relieved.
"Neji. Will you help me make a glass coffin?" She asked, pleading.
"Hai. Come on, we have to go, though." Neji said quietly.
"But I can't leave him here." Hinata said stubbornly.
"Alright," Neji said, shrugging.
"I'll be back with the glass." He said, and left. Hinata was left with Gaara.
Smiling, Hinata told him stories. Little stories of when she was only a little girl. She laughed.
"You know, I think I'd be closer to you when you're alive... but... I guess it doesn't matter..." Hinata chuckled softly. "There's just a little line between live and death..." Hinata smiled at Gaara.
"Just give me some time. And I'll be by your side." She hugged his dead body to her.
"I love you, you know?" Hinata laughed. "Even if I've just seen this side of you... you are so.. yourself..." Hinata laughed again. "I miss you already."
"Miss you already..." Hinata's voice echoed in Gaara's head. He held his head, sitting up. Hinata? He turned down, and jerked back, surprised.
His body laid down on the ground, unmoving. He looked at his body.
A ghost.
Shit.
"Hinata," He said, hoping she heard him.
But she continued to cry onto his body, talking to him sadly, softly touching his hair.
"Kami sama," Gaara breathed, surprised. He tried to touch her.
His hand slipped through her shoulder. Hinata shook violently, holding her "C-cold? Gaara?!" She stood up, eyes wide. Gaara smiled. She was so smart. He stroked her hair, and froze as he saw the bloody kanji.
"Hinata..." Gaara blinked as Hinata stood up.
"Gaara? You can hear me?"
"Spirit... Hinata..." Gaara looked around quickly, and grabbed a stick. But his hand passed through it.
"Oh, Gaara!" Hinata looked around helplessly, and Gaara got an idea.
It was insane, but it might work. He turned around and slowly settled into Hinata's body.
Had it worked?
Hinata? He thought, and Hinata smiled.
'Oh Gaara!' an image of Hinata hurtled herself at him. He held her. She was so warm... he closed his eyes to the blank gray space.
They pulled back, and Hinata touched his solid face.
"I love you." She said, her head in his chest.
"I love you too." Gaara said, and blinked at the truth in his words. Love... warm enveloped his heart. They looked around. There were desks around them, rows and rows. They were all steel, and marked by day.
They looked around, poking in and out of the moving files.
"Ah!" Hinata said triumphantly, and Gaara peeked over her shoulder. She held a file of them.
"I'll protect you." The Gaara in the file said, and Hinata smiled at him.
They looked around, and Hinata jerked a little.
"I think Neji's back," She said, and Gaara looked confused.
"With glass to build your coffin." Gaara nodded, staying in her mind. She disappeared.
Hinata woke up, blinking a little. "Neji?" She asked curiously.
From behind her, he said, "Hai. I have glass, nails, and two hammers. I think we can make a glass coffin with a wooden mantel piece."
"Arigato, Neji-kun," Hinata said, smiling. He said nothing, simply starting to put the glass together.
"I also have things for a fire to seal the glass together." Neji said, not looking up as he started the fire with dead wood.
"Thank you so much." Hinata smiled, and got to work making a spot for two.
"Make the glass big," Hinata added. Neji looked up, slightly confused but then realized what she was saying.
He nodded simply, quietly working on the glass as Hinata started building the bottom piece.
It would be a comfortable space for them to sleep eternally. She was slightly absent as she returned to Gaara.
They headed to the eyes, so he could see what they were doing. Neji had out several glass pieces, and Hinata had absolutely no idea how he'd managed to get them up the mountain.
Hinata had finished half when the sun had gone down. But darkness didn't stop them, it spurred them on. The fire was still lit, and Neji was sweating and breathing hard as he finished fusing the last piece.
Polishing the burn marks, he was nearly done. He looked at Hinata, blinking when he saw she was almost complete with her job. It should have taken a longer time, but he reminded himself that Hinata was not the more normal of people. She nailed on the last piece, and got to finely sanding the wood. Hinata was focused, but smiled from time to time.
Neji inspected Gaara's corpse, and turned back to Hinata.
Finally, when the sun was up again, Hinata placed Gaara inside the wooden part. He was on the right side, but when Hinata seemed to think a bit, she moved him to the left. Gently placing the glass on, Neji was a little puzzled at the small smile Hinata wore.
"It's done," Hinata said softly, her fingers leaving a slight mark on the glass from the heat.
But it disappeared.
"Until I am back, Gaara," Hinata whispered.
The last time she'd been at a funeral, she'd seen this particular jutsu. Repeating the seals, she placed the spell on the coffin.
His body would last.
Hinata kissed the glass softly, before she set to digging a trench around the coffin, putting wooden stakes there. The fall would be about six feet, because it would be too hard to do anything less. Channeling the chakra to her feet, she jumped out, pleased with the doughnut like shape.
Gaara floated on his own piece of land, his eyes forever staring at the back of his lids.
"I'll be back," She said, covering up the trench with light, dead branches and covering the ground with the dirt she'd dug up.
Neji said quietly, "He isn't gone forever, you know."
"Yes." She smiled brightly at him, her last real smile. She walked away slowly while talking with Gaara, Neji leaping ahead of her.
Around noon, Hinata walked back into the village. People stared, as dried blood stained her hair and the stench of blood emitted from her. She didn't limp, despite the bleeding leg.
Her clothes were stained with Gaara's blood, as well as her hands. Her dark blue hair was slightly stuck together, and Hinata smiled softly and with obvious faked happiness. They backed out of her way, seeing all the blood on her.
"Hinata?" An astonished and familiar voice asked from behind her. Hinata didn't stop.
"Hinata! What are you doing?" a different, but disgustingly familiar voice.
Hinata turned around and gasped.
Gaara jerked out of his sleep, gasping for air.
A nightmare... he told himself, shaking. Just a nightmare... he looked around him. Hinata laid by him, on his left, her futon and his own separated by a space of a foot or less. He felt extremely confused.
Kakashi walked in, smiling at Gaara.
"You got hit on the head pretty bad. Are you alright?" Kakashi looked slightly worried at Gaara, who was sweating and breathing hard.
He swallowed. "How long?"
Kakashi laughed. "It's been about half a day. It's almost past noon."
"Why is the room dark?" Gaara asked in a whisper, not waking up Hinata. The only light came from the corridor that Kakashi stood against.
"Because the windows are closed." Gaara looked confused. What windows? Then turned to his right, and blinked at the window he'd not noticed.
"Are Temari and Kankuro okay?" Gaara asked, fearing the answer.
"Yeah. They've stopped here a lot." Kakashi smiled. Gaara collapsed in relief.
"Why? Bad dream?" Kakashi asked.
"Yeah." Gaara shook his head slightly.
"The last thing I remember is Hinata screaming my name, right?" Gaara asked, slightly unsteadily.
"Yeah."
"...so we ARE in the middle of training, right?"
"Yeah." Kakashi smiled. "You hungry?"
Gaara nodded, as if suddenly starving. His stomach rumbled softly. Gaara looked curiously at it. He'd never missed a meal in his life.
"I'll just be a second," Kakashi said, and walked out to the kitchen.
Gaara wondered if this was Kakashi's house. The room was slightly small, but big enough for Hinata and Gaara to be comfortable. There was a small desk, in the right corner. The window seemed to be dark, but when Gaara peeked out, his eyes hurt with the bright sunlight that stung them.
Blinking, he pulled back in, rubbing his eyes slightly. Hinata slept peacefully, a thin blue blanket covering her, the blue wave pattern matching the blue futon. His own was green, with a leaf pattern.
Kakashi stepped back in, with a tray. He placed it by Gaara, and Gaara looked curiously at it.
"Miso ramen, water, and teriyaki." Kakashi said proudly.
"Is this your house?" Gaara asked, poking at the meal before eating it slowly.
"Yup. Nice old place. Tell me when she wakes up," Kakashi said, smiling.
"I'll be in the room down the hall to your right at the end. The bathroom is just across the hall." Kakashi stood up, wanting to ruffle the tangled red hair. It made him look like such a child.
'How kawaii,' Kakashi smiled, then left, leaving the door open so he could see.
Gaara gave a sigh of relief as he saw Hinata breathing.
'That nightmare was the last thing I needed.' Gaara thought glumly.
A/N: That scared you, didn't it?!?!??! - Review, since you're done reading.
ONWARD HO! La la la.... twiddles thumbs so.... Where'd the story go?? Lol.... Just kidding... coughs and looks around ehhhh..... oh, yeah, and I promise this isn't the end. -.- despite what you may think! It's just the beginning of the end!
Oh yeah, seriously sad... TT... I guess it's convincing... yeah, and ! .- despite what you may think, I don't do this for fun, I do it for the reviews! :D so review please!
Gaara jerked his head away, making a terrible decision.
"Na-" he started, confused as he turned around, his eyes wide in horror as it had gone. For once in his life, it vanished.
His sand had gone.
Where? And why? When he looked up, it was too late to turn.
Everything seemed slow. Hinata's feet pounded into the ground, throwing herself in front. But she was too late. Only two kunai were embedded in her skin. One in her arm and the other in her leg.
Six kunai buried themselves in Gaara's skin, and Gaara blinked at the sharp pain.
'Is this what people feel...? This is just physical pain.... But.... Emotional is said to be much worse... how can they stand it?' he thought blearily, swaying slightly as he fell backwards from the momentum. Two in his left arm, one in his chest, and three in his legs.
The pain was so numb.... Blood soaked his shirt. The kunai were buried deep, at least several inches in. If he could see it, it would have been like blue lightening cracking throughout his body. But he didn't really need to see it. Feeling it was well enough. His shoulders tensed, and he groaned. His hand jerked slightly.
A moment later Hinata was there, tears spilling out of her tormented eyes. Her beautiful, white eyes looking at him sadly as if he'd died. What if I die? Gaara frowned a little. Who'd take care of-
Pain... it shot down, and his leg twitched slightly.
"Gaara! Oh, Gaara..." She was shaking as if she was having a miniature seizure. She felt coldness wash over her in panicked waves, and her stomach was ready to get rid of her breakfast.
"H... Hina...ta..." Gaara chocked out, blood dripping out of his mouth. She looked at him, her eyes red and puffy.
"Gaara!" She said, holding on to his slightly limp hand as he faded away before her. Her arm was bleeding horribly, in between her elbow and shoulder. She ignored the jarring pain and cupped his cheek, still shaking.
"Gaara... please don't die," She whispered.
He chuckled with some difficulty. "I-I want to tell you s-something." He chocked on some blood, knowing it was coming soon.
"What? Gaara?" Hinata panicked. He couldn't die, wouldn't die!
"I-I l-love-" he collapsed in a heap of blood and flesh. Blackness scorched his vision as his eyes closed and for one fleeting moment, he thought he saw his mother. Standing beside him, across from Hinata. She smiled, her soft blue eyes identical to his... her hair black as night.
"Gaara, don't worry about her." She smiled thinly. "I know everyone will take good care of her!" Her soft voice grew into a roar. To Gaara's horror, she turned into a monster, blood dripping from its sharp, jagged teeth and claws, the stench familiar. It was like a banshee, face whiter than his own, claws each a foot long, thick black stitches with disgustingly rough black yarn attaching arms and legs. And the neck. Gaara shuddered.
The monster laughed, throwing its head back.
"Gaara, I regretted you the moment you were born!" The voice turned scratchy and old. And dead, mixing with her soft tone.
"You, a monster more than I, was brought into this world. And a terrible mistake it was." It laughed again, just before Gaara disappeared into the darkness.
Hinata was crying, shuddering and shaking.
"Oh Gaara, you'd better be okay.... Please.... Please!" She shouted, the air chilling slightly. Small rain droplets tumbled down, soon turning into dime sized droplets, splashing onto Gaara.
From afar, Itachi laughed within his host's body. Oh yes, one down... just a two more to go... blood... delicious, soothing blood... crimson tears.
Hinata and Neji had pulled Gaara into the cover of a tree, and Hinata closed her eyes and turned away, closing off her ears as Neji pulled out the sharp blades from the only one she'd ever loved.
As soon as he was done, Hinata turned back, pulling his head on to her lap. Softly stroking his cooling skin, she begged him not to go.
"Don't leave me alone... please don't go away..." She whispered, running her fingers through his wet, red hair. She touched his face and realized with shock that his body was turning cold.
"NO! GAARA! DON'T LEAVE ME LIKE THIS! PLEASE!!" She slid down the base of the tree, whimpering and begging him. Blood from each kunai spread out, staining his clothes three inches in diameter.
Neji said nothing, just looking out at the silvery white rain that washed up in sheets, thunder booming.
Loud and bright lightening jerked Hinata up, and she looked at the tree with worry, and even more at the harsh rain.
"Gaara, please come back... I can't move without you..." She whispered, her trembling fingers lightly touching his other cheek.
"Don't make me come after you..." Hinata whispered, and bent down, giving him her very first kiss...
Gaara didn't move. His face was turning cold. She shook.
Hinata was crying softly, her tears blurring her vision and wracking her lungs. As she gasped for air, she laid down next to him, her bloodied right arm protectively over his bloody corpse.
And every thought vanished as she knew Gaara was dead.
She closed her eyes, her heart aching with dull, never ending pain that shook her legs and arms. She rolled gently on top of him, his face looking at hers.
"Gaara, if you can hear me, I'll be with you soon. Don't worry." She curled up on Gaara's chest, no heartbeat or slight rise and fall of his chest.
"You've gone away... and now, I have no point in living," She whispered to him, clutching at his soaked clothes and his soft scarf.
The gourd was with Sasuke, but the rains had washed the sand away. It was empty, and crumbling because of the moisture.
Hinata closed her eyes, a little sniffling sob out of her and she put her arms around him.
"Gaara... I love you." She said, kissing him again. "It doesn't matter what world you're in... it doesn't change how I always will feel about you." She gently traced over the kanji.
"It's true, Gaara. I love you." Hinata sighed with a little sob. "Even though all you've left me is alone. Please come back, Gaara. I'll do anything.... I... I'll be with you," She smiled. "You're my only one. The one. You can't go yet. Not without me. And not without knowing how I feel about." Hinata's leg was numb, and she cried.
"I'll give it up for you. I'll give you anything. Take it. Take my life..." Hinata placed her cheek against his cold one.
"And I'll go the way you went." She stood up, and picked up the bloody kunai. Neji looked up sharply.
"Don't. He left this world unwilling and that isn't the way you're going," Neji said. Sasuke didn't even look up from the diminishing pile of the gourd. Sand ran away in trickles of water.
"I don't care, Neji. I'm going with him." Sasuke snorted at this, but kept his opinion to himself.
"T-tell Kakashi-sensei that I've gone, okay?" Hinata smiled at the kunai, old blood still dripping. Neji shook his head.
"Why don't you take revenge on Kakashi?"
"I doubt it was supposed to happen like this," Hinata said, and then turned back to Gaara. A thought came to her, and she smiled.
A crack of thunder and the forest lit up like day.
"Let's go back to Kakashi sensei." Hinata looked at her watch. "It's nine forty five." {A/N: Yeah, yeah... I know, unrealistic... but you never know! XD}
Summoning up her chakra, she picked Gaara up, and was surprised by his weight. He barely weighed anything at all... Hinata shook her head softly, and they leapt away, Neji bringing the dismembered kunai and the destroyed straw body.
He was sure this wasn't part of the lesson.
They headed back, not running into anyone familiar. Hinata looked down at Gaara...
'What a mess... oh Gaara... don't worry, I'll be with you soon.' She smiled softly.
That went well. Itachi laughed inwardly.
This is getting fun.
Looking at Hinata, Itachi's inward smile grew wider.
Let me help you with your love...
Hinata looked up as they were at the end of the forest.
"Kakashi-sensei," Neji shouted. He looked up, frowning at Gaara.
Neji threw the body and kunai at Kakashi.
"Na.. nani?!" Kakashi stifled a soft gasp.
"He's dead," Hinata said, looking down. She set him down, and kissed him, her arms around his neck.
Kakashi looked up, worried. How many would die?!
Other teams came, proud and some glum. But none were dead.
"There's been a terrible mistake," Kakashi said to the other Jounins, most of them rather ashamed with themselves.
"Wha-"
Kakashi shook his head and pointed to team eight.
"Dead." They stared at him, not comprehending.
Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the forest.
Neji twitched slightly, turning to Sasuke again. Sasuke used Sharingan again, searching the forest. Neji looked again at his eyes.
Three dots in each. Neji snarled in his mind. That wasn't right. He only has two! HE ONLY HAS TWO!
Hinata stroked his cheek gently. "Gaara..." she smiled softly. "Soon. When they pay." Her other two teammates jerked their heads in her direction.
"They'll die for taking you away. No, wait, they'll be tortured... for as long as their ever shortening lives will allow." A wave of determination washed over her. Hinata took out a kunai and a mirror. Bracing herself, she carved the kanji that stained Gaara's forehead and placed it on her own. At the end, she gasped in pain. Blood trickled down her severely colder face.
"Gaara... no one will get away with soiling your name or mocking you. Because I'm going to kill them all." She said, playing with his hair. Two drops of her blood fell on his pure skin. She wiped it off, not touching her own blood stained face. The entire left side of her face was red.
"I'll study hard... and I'll come for them. They'll die. Every single one of them," Hinata said softly.
"Punishment." She lightly kissed him, and stood up. She walked over to Kakashi, confidence in her stride. Neji and Sasuke stared after her with slight amazement.
"Kakashi-sensei, do you know who did it?" She asked calmly, secretly proud she didn't even stutter.
"Orochimaru." He said, hate staining his words. He pointed at the name on the box inside the straw body, still intact.
Hinata simply nodded, turning around.
"Does it hurt?" He asked, not turning around from the straw body and bloody kunai.
"More than if it was me." Hinata said, and continued back to Gaara.
She softly traced over the puncture marks.
"Now I'm on my own. But I will get revenge. You won't die in vain."
And she picked him up.
"Kakashi-sensei, permission to go home," She asked in more of a statement.
"Yes," Kakashi said, swallowing hard at the cold expression on her face.
Two other teams came late, breathing hard. They also had dead bodies.
Kankuro and Temari. Their bodies were covered in kunai also, blood dripping from their mouths. They all had an indifferent but slightly pained expression. . Hinata closed her eyes, but only kept walking. People stopped to gawk at the blood dribbling down her face, staining her hair. And at the kunai in her leg, trailing blood. The gash in her arm was turning cold.
"What are you looking at?" She demanded, not stopping or turning around. They turned away. Hinata walked slowly around the village, going to the base of a mountain. She walked through forest and the sky was black, littered with tiny stars.
Hinata looked up, smiling icily.
The moon was full. Clouds were nonexistent, hovering on the horizon. Hinata reached the base. Looking up, it looked so tall. The huge mountain looked down at her. Hinata shifted Gaara to her back, tying him to her back with his scarf.
"You know, it feels like you're not dead yet." Hinata stated, smiling quietly. She walked up the mountain, climbing with difficulty.
"I wouldn't worry. I'll be right with as soon as I kill Orochimaru. He'll pay. With his life. You didn't have to die. You haven't done anything. I really don't understand why it couldn't be someone else. Like me. Or no one at all." Hinata shook her head.
"You're innocent. But now I'm alone again. Please wait for me." She smiled at him.
Only when the sun was rising did Hinata reach the top. She breathed hard, but smiled at the sun rising.
"Can you see that? Look... it's beautiful... she smiled at the colors that painted the crisp blue sky. Hinata started digging. With whatever she could find, broken wood, dead trees. She finally had a sizeable hole. She couldn't bring herself to bury him. So she took dead wood and looked around for something...
With a little groan, she knew there wouldn't be any nails or anything...
"You know, I have some glass," A voice said behind her. Turning around, she looked relieved.
"Neji. Will you help me make a glass coffin?" She asked, pleading.
"Hai. Come on, we have to go, though." Neji said quietly.
"But I can't leave him here." Hinata said stubbornly.
"Alright," Neji said, shrugging.
"I'll be back with the glass." He said, and left. Hinata was left with Gaara.
Smiling, Hinata told him stories. Little stories of when she was only a little girl. She laughed.
"You know, I think I'd be closer to you when you're alive... but... I guess it doesn't matter..." Hinata chuckled softly. "There's just a little line between live and death..." Hinata smiled at Gaara.
"Just give me some time. And I'll be by your side." She hugged his dead body to her.
"I love you, you know?" Hinata laughed. "Even if I've just seen this side of you... you are so.. yourself..." Hinata laughed again. "I miss you already."
"Miss you already..." Hinata's voice echoed in Gaara's head. He held his head, sitting up. Hinata? He turned down, and jerked back, surprised.
His body laid down on the ground, unmoving. He looked at his body.
A ghost.
Shit.
"Hinata," He said, hoping she heard him.
But she continued to cry onto his body, talking to him sadly, softly touching his hair.
"Kami sama," Gaara breathed, surprised. He tried to touch her.
His hand slipped through her shoulder. Hinata shook violently, holding her "C-cold? Gaara?!" She stood up, eyes wide. Gaara smiled. She was so smart. He stroked her hair, and froze as he saw the bloody kanji.
"Hinata..." Gaara blinked as Hinata stood up.
"Gaara? You can hear me?"
"Spirit... Hinata..." Gaara looked around quickly, and grabbed a stick. But his hand passed through it.
"Oh, Gaara!" Hinata looked around helplessly, and Gaara got an idea.
It was insane, but it might work. He turned around and slowly settled into Hinata's body.
Had it worked?
Hinata? He thought, and Hinata smiled.
'Oh Gaara!' an image of Hinata hurtled herself at him. He held her. She was so warm... he closed his eyes to the blank gray space.
They pulled back, and Hinata touched his solid face.
"I love you." She said, her head in his chest.
"I love you too." Gaara said, and blinked at the truth in his words. Love... warm enveloped his heart. They looked around. There were desks around them, rows and rows. They were all steel, and marked by day.
They looked around, poking in and out of the moving files.
"Ah!" Hinata said triumphantly, and Gaara peeked over her shoulder. She held a file of them.
"I'll protect you." The Gaara in the file said, and Hinata smiled at him.
They looked around, and Hinata jerked a little.
"I think Neji's back," She said, and Gaara looked confused.
"With glass to build your coffin." Gaara nodded, staying in her mind. She disappeared.
Hinata woke up, blinking a little. "Neji?" She asked curiously.
From behind her, he said, "Hai. I have glass, nails, and two hammers. I think we can make a glass coffin with a wooden mantel piece."
"Arigato, Neji-kun," Hinata said, smiling. He said nothing, simply starting to put the glass together.
"I also have things for a fire to seal the glass together." Neji said, not looking up as he started the fire with dead wood.
"Thank you so much." Hinata smiled, and got to work making a spot for two.
"Make the glass big," Hinata added. Neji looked up, slightly confused but then realized what she was saying.
He nodded simply, quietly working on the glass as Hinata started building the bottom piece.
It would be a comfortable space for them to sleep eternally. She was slightly absent as she returned to Gaara.
They headed to the eyes, so he could see what they were doing. Neji had out several glass pieces, and Hinata had absolutely no idea how he'd managed to get them up the mountain.
Hinata had finished half when the sun had gone down. But darkness didn't stop them, it spurred them on. The fire was still lit, and Neji was sweating and breathing hard as he finished fusing the last piece.
Polishing the burn marks, he was nearly done. He looked at Hinata, blinking when he saw she was almost complete with her job. It should have taken a longer time, but he reminded himself that Hinata was not the more normal of people. She nailed on the last piece, and got to finely sanding the wood. Hinata was focused, but smiled from time to time.
Neji inspected Gaara's corpse, and turned back to Hinata.
Finally, when the sun was up again, Hinata placed Gaara inside the wooden part. He was on the right side, but when Hinata seemed to think a bit, she moved him to the left. Gently placing the glass on, Neji was a little puzzled at the small smile Hinata wore.
"It's done," Hinata said softly, her fingers leaving a slight mark on the glass from the heat.
But it disappeared.
"Until I am back, Gaara," Hinata whispered.
The last time she'd been at a funeral, she'd seen this particular jutsu. Repeating the seals, she placed the spell on the coffin.
His body would last.
Hinata kissed the glass softly, before she set to digging a trench around the coffin, putting wooden stakes there. The fall would be about six feet, because it would be too hard to do anything less. Channeling the chakra to her feet, she jumped out, pleased with the doughnut like shape.
Gaara floated on his own piece of land, his eyes forever staring at the back of his lids.
"I'll be back," She said, covering up the trench with light, dead branches and covering the ground with the dirt she'd dug up.
Neji said quietly, "He isn't gone forever, you know."
"Yes." She smiled brightly at him, her last real smile. She walked away slowly while talking with Gaara, Neji leaping ahead of her.
Around noon, Hinata walked back into the village. People stared, as dried blood stained her hair and the stench of blood emitted from her. She didn't limp, despite the bleeding leg.
Her clothes were stained with Gaara's blood, as well as her hands. Her dark blue hair was slightly stuck together, and Hinata smiled softly and with obvious faked happiness. They backed out of her way, seeing all the blood on her.
"Hinata?" An astonished and familiar voice asked from behind her. Hinata didn't stop.
"Hinata! What are you doing?" a different, but disgustingly familiar voice.
Hinata turned around and gasped.
Gaara jerked out of his sleep, gasping for air.
A nightmare... he told himself, shaking. Just a nightmare... he looked around him. Hinata laid by him, on his left, her futon and his own separated by a space of a foot or less. He felt extremely confused.
Kakashi walked in, smiling at Gaara.
"You got hit on the head pretty bad. Are you alright?" Kakashi looked slightly worried at Gaara, who was sweating and breathing hard.
He swallowed. "How long?"
Kakashi laughed. "It's been about half a day. It's almost past noon."
"Why is the room dark?" Gaara asked in a whisper, not waking up Hinata. The only light came from the corridor that Kakashi stood against.
"Because the windows are closed." Gaara looked confused. What windows? Then turned to his right, and blinked at the window he'd not noticed.
"Are Temari and Kankuro okay?" Gaara asked, fearing the answer.
"Yeah. They've stopped here a lot." Kakashi smiled. Gaara collapsed in relief.
"Why? Bad dream?" Kakashi asked.
"Yeah." Gaara shook his head slightly.
"The last thing I remember is Hinata screaming my name, right?" Gaara asked, slightly unsteadily.
"Yeah."
"...so we ARE in the middle of training, right?"
"Yeah." Kakashi smiled. "You hungry?"
Gaara nodded, as if suddenly starving. His stomach rumbled softly. Gaara looked curiously at it. He'd never missed a meal in his life.
"I'll just be a second," Kakashi said, and walked out to the kitchen.
Gaara wondered if this was Kakashi's house. The room was slightly small, but big enough for Hinata and Gaara to be comfortable. There was a small desk, in the right corner. The window seemed to be dark, but when Gaara peeked out, his eyes hurt with the bright sunlight that stung them.
Blinking, he pulled back in, rubbing his eyes slightly. Hinata slept peacefully, a thin blue blanket covering her, the blue wave pattern matching the blue futon. His own was green, with a leaf pattern.
Kakashi stepped back in, with a tray. He placed it by Gaara, and Gaara looked curiously at it.
"Miso ramen, water, and teriyaki." Kakashi said proudly.
"Is this your house?" Gaara asked, poking at the meal before eating it slowly.
"Yup. Nice old place. Tell me when she wakes up," Kakashi said, smiling.
"I'll be in the room down the hall to your right at the end. The bathroom is just across the hall." Kakashi stood up, wanting to ruffle the tangled red hair. It made him look like such a child.
'How kawaii,' Kakashi smiled, then left, leaving the door open so he could see.
Gaara gave a sigh of relief as he saw Hinata breathing.
'That nightmare was the last thing I needed.' Gaara thought glumly.
A/N: That scared you, didn't it?!?!??! - Review, since you're done reading.