A/N: My entry for Naruto100's 'Somewhere I Have Never Travelled' challenge.
Last Trip Home:
It is raining, when he leaves her. He is all smiles, laughs, jokes, but she can see through him. She has always been able to see through him, even though he is able to close his heart as easily as one can close a fist. His eyes give everything away to her. They speak louder than his voice, which is bright with happiness no matter how his eyes are screaming.
He's never been to the country of clouds, he says, scratching the back of his head as he stands on their porch, a sheet of rain pouring off the roof behind him. It will be fine, he says. He'll bring her back a souvenir when he finishes his mission. Maybe a nice kimono, or a set of porcelain, thought he laughs when he says this, and says they'd probably break on the way back.
She is silent as he speaks, her hands clenched before her as she fights an old habit to twiddle her thumbs. There is a feeling, a gut feeling, that his mission is more dangerous than he wants to tell her. S-Class, surely, for he is a jounin, a candidate for Hokage someday, and he and his team are known as the best Konoha had. But he tells her it will be easy, one week at the most, and then he'll be back, he promises. He promises her with a smile, and a thumbs up, and she knows he means to return to her.
Sensing her unease, he embraces her, just holding her quietly for a moment, the only sound around them is the rain and the mingling of their breaths. But the moment passes all to quickly, and he is ready to leave, his team is standing at the steps, the dark haired Uchiha leaning against the fence and the pink haired medic standing near with an umbrella over them both.
And then he is gone.
It is another week before he comes back in a body bag. When the ANBU come to their home and knock on the door, she is silent again, for she knows what lies in the black bag they carry. He is not as… damaged as the rest of his team, and they will allow her to see him one last time. His name will be put on the memorial, and she will receive the stipend of a widowed ninja's wife. But she isn't listening to them.
Looking down at him, his cold body laid out on her porch, she cannot see his eyes. They are closed forever, and she dares not open them. They would be lifeless, and he was anything but that. The hole through his stomach doesn't bother her, she's seen worse. His arms are crossed over his chest, and she holds them gently, wondering why they seem so small. And on the day Naruto was brought home to her for the last time, Hinata noticed that it was raining again.