Summer Snowflake
By x.Nanako-chan.x
xxx Author's Note xxx
WEEEEEE!! Seven reviews :D That makes me happy
Big thankies to: Sora Tsubasa, TheFirstHokage, Bathories Slave Kuri, Evanescences AngelKaylyn0706, and Rikori
I also need your help for who Hinata should be with…. I already got a request for Hitsugaya and Hinata but I'll let the readers pick – I'll post up a poll on my profile so go vote on it!
xxx End Author's Note xxx
Chapter 1: Hollows
I heard a small noise beside me. I winced as I tried to pry open my eyes. Turning, I realized the Hyuuga healer, Meroko, was sitting in beside of me, tears running down her old, wrinkled face. She cried for another minute before she started choking back her quiet sobs. She and I knew each other very well – I always visited her after each 'training' session with father or Hanabi.
This scene… it was so sad. Was my body so battered it made her cry and feel make her feel this way? I reached out to touch her. I wanted to try and soothe her pain but my hand fazed through her body.
What…
Her sobs ceased and she looked down. I followed her eye-line and stifled a gasp as I reached where she was looking. She was looking at a corpse. My corpse.
I balled my hand up and placed it on my chest and I heard a light clatter and felt something cold on my chest. I looked down. It was an iron chain was jotting out of my chest. I felt for my face. Nothing. There were no injuries but my body at my feet was battered and bruised. My head snapped back as I heard Meroko speak.
"Hinata… Hinata… oh, Hinata," she stayed like this for minutes stifling her cries and quietly murmuring my name.
She then stood up and looked back down at my body, letting all the venom seep into her words she snarled out, "Hiashi, the bastard."
She ran, the light taps on the floor fading into the background. She was on her way to the Hokage tower.
I stood there, dazed and simply staring out of the door she had exited. Then, I realized where I was. My corpse! My corpse was down there and I was up here.
"What in Kami's name is going on?!"
After awhile, I simply sat in the room, dazed and confused. Was this what happened every time someone passed away? Was there no paradise my mother talked about? Were all souls simply doomed to walk the earth and watch over those around them?
After a couple of minutes I heard quick sharp sounds coming closer and closer to me. Several ANBU guards and even the Godaime herself walked into the room. She let out a long, hard sigh. She ran her hands through her blonde hair. She shook her head.
"This is so wrong," were the only words she uttered.
An ANBU agent then removed my body and walked out the door. I hastily followed them – The brought my corpse to the Konohagakure morgue. I followed then stuck around – I had nowhere else to go anyways. I simply watched my teammates and the rest of the rookie 9 and Gai-sensei's team come to look at my body and say a final farewell.
Neji… he looked so angry. His usually stoic features were twisted into a grimace of disgust. I've never even seen him that way before – not even when his father, Hizashi, died.
Unconsciously, tears rolled down my cheeks. It was never supposed to be this way! I was supposed to become heiress an prove my father I was strong! I was supposed to live a long life, fighting battles alongside my comrades… and maybe… get Naruto to finally notice me as more than a friend.
I watched as the rest of the group exited the room, it was obvious they didn't care as much as the people who were close to me but they had come out of respect for a fellow shinobi.
Huh. Respect. I've always wanted that… and now that I'm dead I get it? How ironic.
My teammates left after ten more minutes of quiet, sincere murmurs about how I would've been a great leader and a strong kunoichi and soon everyone had left.
But one last person stayed – Uzumaki Naruto.
He walked over to the table where my body lay and removed the sheet that covered my body. I saw him wince at my shattered jaw – they hadn't fixed up my body yet.
He touched my forehead and he let his tears fall onto my face, "Gomenasai, Hinata-chan."
Chan huh? Even though it was a sentimental moment I couldn't help but point out how in all my life I had wanted him to call me that and now in death that's where I hear it. Funny.
He placed the sheet over my body and walked out of the room giving the body once last glance before he turned off the light.I sat there in the dark room for an hour. What was I supposed to do now? Haunt the place? Yeah right.
I walked out of the room and wandered aimlessly through the forest when a shrill roar was heard outside of the gates. I ran off and I saw a huge creature – it looked like a demon. It was colored entirely black, excusing the lines of sharp colors that ran across its body and its thick bone mask.
It turned and looked at me and in a deep hollow voice he spoke.
"My, you do look tasty - and your reiatsu is abundant. You'll be a magnificent feast for today."
A large purple tongue leaked out of his mouth and licked its thick black lips. How could I fight something like this?
I activated my byakugan and stared at the thing in front of me. His system was odd – there wasn't any charka in it but I could see bright red rubes circulated through his body, all connected to a large red ball.
Before I knew it, the thing started to charge towards me but I didn't have the will to run away. I felt weak, dizzy. The closer it got to me the more I felt like fainting; I slumped to the ground and deactivated my byakugan. I knew it was a stupid thing to do but I felt so vulnerable. My breath came out in short, shallow pants. I felt like I was being drained.
I felt the rumbles in the ground when it took a step and its shrill roar filled the air once more. The thing then opened its mouth and revealed sharp, ivory-white teeth with shreds of fleshy meat still clinging to them.
I closed my eyes in anticipation – the feeling of pain surging through my body, feeling cold once more, and the color red surrounding me…
But it never came.
Instead a girl clad in black shikahusho robes ran in front of me and pulled out a long, sharp, black katana and muttered something along the lines of, "Flutter, Haruchou!"
I watched as the girl drove her katana into the ground, shattering the blade – but something odd happened. They sat on the ground, pieces of black metal; they looked like they were in the form of steel butterflies. She jumped back a couple of meters, the broken pieces of steel just sitting there on the ground, almost forgotten.
The girl stood there in her fighting stance holding only the red hilt of her katana. Whilst the hilt was still in her hand she started moving her fingers and arms in complicated patterns.
I activated my byakugan once more and my eyes widened as I saw red beams jutting out of her fingers, about ten red thin strings per finger, connecting with the lifeless insects.
I traced the red beams and I realized the butterflies were almost coming to life. She was manipulating the butterflies, much like how a puppeteer manipulates his puppets, excuse the fact that they could only manipulate a puppet with a single hand whilst this girl had ten strings jutting out from each finger.
The girl started whipping her fingers and the butterflies fluttered over to the ugly creature that had stopped to examine the newcomer.
"A shinigami hmm? Well this feast will be even more delicious than I had planned!" he rasped out.
The girl in front of me smirked and all of the butterflies flickered over to the monster and formed a long thin line. The line of metal cut clear through the demons long leg, making the thing topple over.
"You bitch!" it roared.
The girl furrowed her brow obviously not liking the language the thing was using.
Her eyes narrowed and in a menacing tone she scoffed she said, "Shut up you bastard!"
She withdrew the butterflies and started thrashing her arms and fingers around again.
The girl sent another wave of steel towards the 'hollow'. The butterflies embedded themselves deep into the creature and thick, dark red blood leaked out of the gashes The demon sent a string of curses towards her before its bone mask cracked and it lifelessly dropped to the ground. After this his body seemed to disintegrate and I was sure the girl in front of me had defeated it.
The girl smirked and pulled her fingers and created a fist with each hand and soon, the black butterflies stacked onto the sheath and created the same black steel katana she had been holding before.
She turned back to me and I was able to take full view of her appearance. She wore black shihakusho robes with a red sash tied around her waist. She then strapped the katana onto her back. I squinted to get a better look of her. The girl had a-little-longer than black shoulder length hair, with her bangs pushed to the right side of her face. Brown eyes interlocked with my lavender tinted ones and I drew attention to the rather large purple star tattoo she on her cheekbone.
The girl smiled at me. It was warm and inviting – I haven't felt that feeling ever since I died.
"Are you alright kid?" she asked stretching out her hand for me to hold.
I instinctively grabbed it and the girl pulled me up.
"I-I'm fine. A-arigato f-for saving me. A-Ano… I'm H-Hyuuga Hinata," I said giving a slight bow.
"No need for the formalities," she grinned, "Hoshi Nanako. Nice to meet your acquaintance."
Before Nanako could go on I shyly spoke up, "Um… P-Pardon m-me, but what w-were those red strings c-coming out of your f-f-fingers when you fought the…. A-ano…"
The black haired girl cocked her eyebrow, "You saw those strings? Odd… And kid, it's called a hollow."
"A-Ano, h-hai. The h-hollow, and I-I d-did see t-those strings, i-in fact the h-hollow h-had something l-like t-that in its b-bbody. W-What is t-that?"
"That is spiritual energy, kid," she said while smiling.
I looked a little puzzled. It was terribly annoying of this girl calling me 'kid' when we were about the same age.
"A-Ano… kid? W-We're about the s-same age…"
The girl gave out a laugh, "Looks are deceiving darling!" she visibly cringed at her choice of words, "I'm about 75 years," she said while putting a hand on her hip.
I couldn't hide her shock before screaming out, "H-Hontoni? S-Seventy-five?!"
Nanako nodded, "We don't age much in Soul Society… wonder why? Maybe I should've paid more attention at the academy…" She gave a thoughtful pause and put her hand on her chin.
Now I was really confused, "Ano… S-Soul S-Society?"
"Oh yeah!" she laughed at herself a little, "I should be sending you there right about now! It's kinda like a 'heaven' for you mortals. That's where everyone who has passed away goes to. "
I nodded at the older girl thought I was still mildly confused.
"Hmm… I can't send you the normal way… You seem to have a gift that could be useful to us… I mean, not many people can see spiritual energy so freely…"
"Ano, t-it's b-because I h-have the B-byakugan…"
"Byakugan?" Nanako inquired.
"It's a b-blood limit p-possessed by the H-Hyuuga family."
Nanako closed her eyes again and regained her thoughtful pose, "Well… taicho did say I need to gather information on this place… Most shinigami haven't been here before… I guess I could use you!" she added joyfully.
Before Hinata could react Nanako had grabbed her left arm and ran through a paper door in the middle of the field.
'Since when did that get there?'
xxx Next Chapter xxx
:Soul Society:
"So," I began, "there are more than one type of d-dimension in total?"
She gave an absentminded nod, "There are five planes of existence in the universe that we had discovered so far. One," she lifted up her index finger, "of which is Soul Society - where we are located as of now.
Two," she lifted another finger, "is the human world, where mortals different from yourself reside.
Three, "she lifted up her ring finger, "is the bridge between these two worlds and yours. It's called Hueco Mundo - where the hallows hide in fear of us Shinigami.
Number four is Hell," her voice became distant and grave, "An awful place. It's where souls too evil and impure go when they are slain by a Shinigami's zanpukto.
And five," she lifted her thumb, "is your world. The new world of which we have just discovered.
xxx Author's Note xxx
Neji: Hey! You didn't make me cry in the dit D
Nanako: Because… Even if it would be cute if you cried for your cousin, it OOC
Neji: True, true. I would never cry for Hinata.
Hinata: Y-You w-wouldn't c-cry for m-me Neji-nii-san?
Neji: ...
Naruto: Hey! You didn't make me an ass in this fic :D
Nanako: Oh yeah… Well you really arent' an ass. I jus thave this weird nartue as to where I make people assholes just so I can bash them… haha! Speaking of which, I need to go do my daily Sakura bashing! –grabs a nearby bat- Sasuke-kun, you coming!
Sasuke: -grab another bat- Yup, I'll be right there.
xxx Author's Note xxx