AnimeCrasherz: Sorry the last chapter was really really short. I felt guilty for not posting, and I wanted to post SOMETHING. But I tried to make this one longer.

And those of you who are waiting for Sasuke already... me sorry, he will be here soon. : )

Chapter 6, Unexpected

I awoke to complete, undisurbed silence. Being the morning person that I was, I had risen before all of the other travelers. Expect maybe the Indian guides, I was the only alert being in the campground.

Yawning, I sat up and wriggled slightly out of the tangled blankets, immediately regretting it. The darkness of the forest made it seem almost like night, but I knew it was about the time of the morning when the icy-blue sky reflected the biting temperatures that sent shocks through me, for I was still warm from body heat and blankets.

I glanced around, trying to remember the names and faces of the sleeping bodies surrounding me. There was Father and Hanabi sleeping next to me, Father looking as if he was a dead body in a coffin, and sister curled up in an abundance of stolen blankets.

Leaning back onto the ground, I crossed my arms over my stomach and stared up into the canopy of leaves, trying to fall asleep agian. But my stressful thoughts and worries prevented me from closing my eyes in peace.

I realize, I still miss Sasuke and the others...

About the time everyone else I awoke, I stood up- and realized just how sore I was. My muscles felt like they were mashed into painful, gory pieces... Many others came to this frightening realization too, their pain revealed by the grimaces plastered on their faces. After much complaining from the children, we trodded on in our large procession.

We had to make do with only a couple of wagons and oxen; they would only slow us down, anyways. Everyone was forced to walk, everyone except the few with life-threatening illnesses or injuries that got to rest on the wagons.

And you know who I got stuck walking with? A blonde and a... pink-haired girl. I tried to hide my face, turning away as if that would make me invisible to their mockery. But, no, they see what they want to see.

First, they tried to trip me. They masked their actions with innocent smilings dripping with false diabetic sweetness until they succedeed. Then, in helping me up, they make some sarcastic cracks and remarks about me, then about me and sailors.

But... what could I do?

I really want to get to that village now.

And I thought the ship was hell... how much more of this did I have to endure? At least then I had friends!

Tenten would probably be the only friend I have now... but she's always helping her mother with Hinako. (I still feel proud whenever I hear that name...) It's hard to be alone here. The forest itself is like a never ending cage. Imagine crawling through a tunnel that pushes down on your shoulders and up on your stomach so that you have to shimmy through, and imagine that it was pitch black, with no end in sight...

But we often spoke of the beautiful city, it was named after and described to be a kingdom from heaven, with gates laden with jewels and rays of sunlight warming the golden towers.

After I had lost count of the days we had traveled, the trees began to thin just the tiniest bit. Sunlight began seeping through as it was in the beginning. The progress was short, small and gradual, but apparent. We were close. A day after that, another night morning and afternoon, we saw it.We were standing on a hill, the sky mostly exposed. What we saw made the preacher and the people sink to their knees in prayer.

A thin, dark gray wisp of puffy smoke broke an evident line through the blue sky. As I too sunk down to the ground in exhaustion, the preacher's words reached my ears.

"With gates laden with jewels... and rays of sunlight warming the golden towers and buildings of this promise land... we are here... the Kingdom of Heaven... "

And I saw it, the golden glare of the sunrays reflecting off of the million jewels blinded me for a sheer split second before I sank down completely and fainted.

"Hinata! Hinata, I... Hinata?" the voice of a woman...

I shifted a little bit, surprised to find I was lying down. I sat up, and cracked my eyes open. There was a bright, almost fluorescent light, and I shut my eyes and looked down immediately.

The light was surprisingly warm. I felt like I was out in the sun. Rubbing my bare arms, I gasped. The forest was so cold, I remember having on a thick dress... Breathing heavily, I grasped a handful of the cloth covering my legs and torso. It felt so soft and weightless, it might have belonged to an angel.

"Hinata, dear? Are you okay?" a warm hand squeezed my shoulder, reminding me of a light kitten's little paw.

Slowly, caution and fear causing my eyes to go wide, I turned around. My hands trembled, still grasping the soft clothing...

"M-Mom...?" The word stumbled out of my mouth and a lump like swallowed ice formed in my throat. The image of a still young, fair-complexioned, beautiful woman smiled at me with a light that could blind my poor mortal eyes. Mother had died a young woman, if she had become an angel, could it be?

Her pale image began to flicker and fade, like in an old movie. "Hinata, when you're ready, I'll be waiting..." she stood up slowly, the hem of her pinkish white dress brushed against my cheek like flower petals. Her dress was pastel, like the inside of a shell, but there was white behind her... Were those feathers?

"B-but mom..." I made a wild grab for her dress again, only to have a bunch of it slip through my fingers. "Mom!" Shrieking her name, I got up and ran.

Mother, now just a speck of pale pink and wings, was flying towards a bright orb of luminescence. I ran towards her desperately, forgetting everything but that smile...

Suddenly, I stumbled on something large jutting out from the filthy ground I was now chained to. Another voiced called out to me again, this time from the sky. It seemed to come and go with the wind, getting louder and louder...

"HINATA! Hinata, whatever you do, STAY AWAY FROM THE LIGHT!"

I opened my eyes again, but this time there was no light. What I saw was Tenten, sitting down on my stomach and grabbing my collar, pulling my head up off of the bumpy oxen wagon I was lying on.

"Hinata, are you okay now? Does anything hurt, did I break anything?" she let go of my collar, happy that I was awake and realizing she didn't need to pull on it anymore.

"What am I doing on an oxen wagon?" I asked, rubbing the bump on my head that I must have gotten when I fainted.

"What do you mean? You passed out on us, you had me worried sick!" she almost shouted.

"O-oh..." well, at least I was in my pilgrim clothes again. That dream... it made my heart heavy with a strange feeling of... need? "Oh, that reminds me! Tenten, are we at the village yet?"

My eagerness caused her expression to falter a bit into disapointment. "Actually Hinata... I have bad news. It's still a few days before we get to the village."

"Yeah, and now that you're awake you'll have to walk again." Hanabi piped in from alongside the wagon.

I sighed, and jumped back down onto the dirty trail whose texture I long-since memorized. Even with the village in sight, it's still going to be a long, grueling trip.

AnimeCrasherz: The village isn't named "Kingdom of Heaven" exactly... couldn't think of a better name to call it instead of the original name in Witch Child, "Beulah", and so... I need to think of a real name... And now Hinata has had a weird dream with her mother in it... she almost died, poor little pilgrim girl.

I somehow think this chapter didn't come out very good... I guess the dream came out okay, but I think the writing might be a bit choppy.

Please, REVIEW! Or I will sic my small, fluffy dog on you...