This is supposed to be a darker, bit more serious story than my other's tend to be. Basically something inspired off of that one fic "World of monsters" featuring a gender-bent Hinata.

"Maybe, just maybe, there is no purpose in life… but if you linger a while longer in this world, you might discover something of value in it." – Orochimaru

I coughed up blood, hands shaking as I tried to remove the kitchen knife from my gut. My gaze flicked over to my murderer, their face held nothing but cold hatred. I could feel myself fading, my legs were like jelly, and I struggled to keep my eyes open. To keep my eyes on the person who cut my life short. Their face was familiar, scarily so. I tried to laugh but ended up groaning in pain. I really got killed by this loser? How pathetic, oh wait, they're talking.

"Maria will grieve, and I'll be there to comfort her. No-one will know that I'm the one who delivered righteous justice upon-" I tuned out his ranting and focused on dying quicker so I wouldn't hear his annoying voice anymore. Doesn't he know that forensic science is a thing? He didn't even wear any gloves, and I'm pretty sure he's not going to take the knife back. I struggled to look up at the ceiling from my hunched-over position on the floor.

"Everyone you ever wronged will be singing my praises-" A quiet sigh left my lips, and my body was starting to go numb. I was losing too much blood. He was probably going to be caught like the next day, and again I sulked that someone as lame as he managed to get the drop on me. He broke into my house while I was getting a nice midnight snack, tried to sneak up on me, then stabbed me when I turned around to face him. I'm not even sure what the reason for offing me is- well, it could be a multitude of reasons I supposed. I smiled a rueful smile, it was a good run.

Finally, and I mean fucking finally I lost consciousness. I found myself in some sort of park, the trees were gray, and I was sitting on a random stone bench. Everything was in grayscale, and it was hauntingly quiet. I guess this was limbo or something. I looked down and saw a newborn wrapped up in a soft blanket lying in the ashen colored grass in front of me. It was a pretty thing, with dark navy, almost purple hair and pupil-less eyes.

I blinked at that, then felt compelled to comfort the thing. It was squirming but went still when I picked it up gingerly, cradling it against my chest. We stared into each other's eyes for a second, then I felt a horrid burning sensation racing across my skin. I screamed, this hurt way more than when I was stabbed. I dropped to my knees, still clutching the child. I felt like I was dying for real, the pain became unbearable. My body couldn't process all these sensations and I fell unconscious, darkness swallowing me up once more.

My lungs burned, they needed air. I gulped in mouthfuls while tears pricked my eyes. Everything around me was blurry, dark shapes flitting about my vision. They were so noisy, annoying. I want them to go away. My body betrayed me and I started screaming, yelling, anything to make the ringing stop. I screamed until my throat went raw, and felt myself being lifted and cradled against someone. A face lowered down into my blurry vision, I could make out their features.

It was a beautiful woman, with hair as dark as ebony and lovely lavender eyes. My breath caught in my throat, why was she so large compared to me? Drowsily the pieces clicked together in my mind. I was just so tired. So tired just from screaming. I felt annoyed that unconsciousness was becoming a running trend, while my eyes fluttered closed and the darkness provided much-needed comfort.

The first year or so of my life was a living hell. All I did was sleep, soil myself, and stare up at my dull ceiling. My own thoughts occupied most of my time, my new mother the rest. Sometimes the man I thought to be my father would come to me, I really liked that warm look in his eyes. They spoke Japanese, so I had no idea what they were saying most of the time since I never really bothered to properly learn the language. What struck me most was their unusual pupil-less eyes, which just isn't a thing back in my old life, at least to my knowledge.

After a while of racking my brain, a horrible realization dawned on me. My parents are anime characters from Naruto, from the Hyūga clan, from a world were they send children off to war to die. I realized my father was Hiashi Hyūga, and I can only assume my mother was Hitomi, rightfully. I didn't see any evidence of a sibling, so I could say with some confidence that I was born in place of Hinata. The thought made me hyperventilate, giving my new parents quite the scare.

Eventually, I resigned to my fate, that's what people do after all. Endure the things they cannot change. Gah, I sound like Neji. One thing that humiliated me beyond measure was having to scream or cry to eat or get changed, or any prompted comfort. Most of the time I cried, blubbered, screamed my frustrations out. That year and a half left me emotionally exhausted. What irked my barely constrained anger, the emotion that I felt the most after my tears dried, was there was no time to enjoy myself. No time to be a regular child, not if I wanted to survive the coming war that is.

My mother came into my room again, smiling warmly at me. I was currently in my room on the floor, reading the few baby books I was provided with. Most of them taught young children how to recognize and understand simple kanji, which was helpful. She picked me up gently, cradling me to her chest like I was the most precious thing in her world. "Haruki, let's go play with the other kids, hmm?" I simply cooed in response, and yes, my name isn't Hinata. I'm still male, which I'm grateful for. During my time in this new world, I'd been avidly listening and piecing together the spoken language. Being multilingual helped, as I knew both fluent Spanish, and English, and was in the process of learning french when my time was cut short, literally.

She carried me out the door and out of the clan head house. We passed servants, branch house members mostly, and soon found ourselves in a spacious room, full of other toddlers and babies. I inwardly cringed, I had no need nor want to bring myself down to the level of a normal baby. "Kaa… Kaa-tan." I tugged at a lock of her lovely hair, cooing at its softness. "Yes, Haruki-chan?" She questioned softly, rubbing soothing circles on my back.

"Do I really have to play… with the other kids?" My tongue had trouble pronouncing some of the words, making me curse to myself quietly in English, which Kaa-chan just wrote off as baby-talk. "Yes Haruki, I'm sure you're bound to make some friends, you need them anyway. You can't stay cooped up all day in your room." She lightly scolded me, smile still soft and warm.

"Either people change or they die before they do. It's one or the other." – Orochimaru

"No one cared who I was until I put on a mask." – Obito Uchiha

This was an unfinished chapter, which the majority of these muses will be, sadly. I still include the quotes because I like quotes, no matter the occasion.