Sykoe: Finally, after deliberating over my other stories for a while... I'm back to "New World"!

You poor, poor readers... starved of pirate-Sasuke/Hinata goodness..

Well, there IS a special reason that I'm updating, too: I lost a bet... so now I have to update every single one of my unfinished stories!!!

... all four of them. Within the span of 3 weeks. Do you know how bad that is for me? Procrastination is in my blood! But you people that read my stories will enjoy it, right? My toiling over a hot laptop will not be in vain :D

Enjoy!

Chapter 8, Empty Piece

No matter how many hugs and kisses you give, or how many times you repeat yourself, it's never enough. Because when you miss somebody, you can never fill that little void that opens up in your heart, and doesn't close until you have them in your sight again, to be able to touch and smell and feel them in your heart once more.

That's exactly how Hinata felt as she trudged through the forest, picking herbs and inspecting new plants that were only found in this strange new continent. Her heart was heavy with the memories of the beginning of her voyage, but she had to pick medicines for her sickly fellow villagers.

But with eyes clouded over by emotions, you can only go so far until you end up picking something wrong. Something that burns your skin to the touch with an itch that doesn't alleviate until your arm looks like the face of an acne-infested teenager."D-darn rash... DARN PLANTS! WHY DON'T YOU SHUT UP!" Hinata shouted at the red spots on her wrists and the dried plants on her lap and in her basket. She was rubbing on some lotion to cool the burning sting, but what was the point...

Her mind always wandered, to different places and times, but there was one person to which it wandered to the most.

She didn't know why her mind was so obsessed with... with that person. Maybe living life on the continent made her more lonely than she thought. Being the only girl her age, aside from Tenten - who was always taking care of her mother and siblings anyway- Hinata was alone in her village.

She passed away her time exploring the forest, though it was frowned upon by many villagers.Who knows what a young girl could be doing in there? All women had the potential of witchcraft.

So, she snuck out. Lord, if anyone knew what she was really doing when she was supposed to be "gathering herbs" or "helping with housework"... she would be hanged, burned, or worse... this was a new city, new laws, and new torture methods. She did not want to think about it.

Nobody must know she left into the forests. Whenever she snuck out, Hinata made sure nobody from the village followed her.

But that didn't mean she was alone.

"This is hell. This is really hell." she mumbled to herself, stumbling over tall grasses and raised tree roots. "I don't fit in anywhere... none of the village girls will accept me, and all of the villagers look down on me as some strange girl that doens't quite really know her place. I'm too shy to socialize with anyone, so I have to spend my time going to this forest, but I can't even ennjoy THAT! I have to do it SECRETLY! God, sometimes I wish I could just die... or maybe jump into an ocean. Maybe then I'd be able to at least see Sasuke again, even if I was drowned. I'd attach my spirit to my body somehow, damnit."

Sometimes, Hinata just wanted a reason to STAY in the forest.

"Hey..."

Hinata froze in her tracks. Voices. If they were from the village... she would be discovered! She could be hanged, tortured, or worse!!

And if they weren't from the village... they could be savages! Rapists! Murderers! Hunters!

She frantically searched for a place to hide. Usually a great protecting place where she felt alone and isolated, the forest now exposed her more than ever.

Sykoe: EEE!! Yes, 2 down, 2 to go!!!

Oh my dear forsaken stories and abandoned readers; alas, I have not left you to rot! Hopefully, this hopeful chapter brings hope to the hopeless.

REVIEW! I am so ecstatic for updating this... inspirational. I'll write more, now review more. :D