...Where am I?
Hinata was at a complete loss. The boy with white hair, the shinigami boy, had told her she would wake to find herself in heaven. And heaven was supposed to be a wonderful place full of fluffy clouds and beautiful people with golden wings and curly hair, wasn't it?
What Hinata was nothing like the heaven she'd been told about while alive. It was a dirty, miserable place that resembled feudal Japan, with people wandering around bare-footed and pulling carts. And they all seemed...anxious. Their eyes darting from left to right as though expected top be attacked at any moment, while they clung to their possessions.
The street was dirty, the people were dirty, and everyone was on edge.
Now Hinata understood why he said heaven like he did.
Because he didn't even believe this was heaven!
Hinata let out a soft sigh before walking out of the ally, her steps slow and cautious. The mood of place was affecting her, it seemed, because almost immediately her eyes were flickering from side to side in search of a (possible) hidden enemy. She swallowed and tried to calm her fluttering heart. This was heaven. It couldn't be that bad...right?
"AHHHHH! LET ME GO! LET ME GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"Shut up, bitch, I own you!"
"NOOOOOO!"
Go figure. Hinata whipped round and found herself staring at a big man with a head of curly black hair and tiny grey eyes. His nose was huge and his chin was incredibly square. And his huge, grimy hands were restricting the arms of a girl the size of Hinata, and she looked frighteningly small compared to the man. She was built like a twig. Her arms were scrawny and her legs lacked any strength at all. Her hair very, very long, reaching her ankles, and was bright red in colour.
The poor girl struggled against his grip. Her sharp nails didn't leave any marks on his tough skin. And her struggles were meaningless to begin with. There were two other men there, too, and a woman, but she didn't look weak at all. She had muscles as large as Hinata's head and didn't seem to have intention of helping Red-head.
"Stop moving!" Black-hair growled and tightened his grip. Red-head squealed and struggled harder. "I SAID STOP!" He raised his hand and Hinata's heart stopped. He was going to hit her!
Hinata sprang into action. Using all her knowledge of taijitsu, Hinata flung herself forward and appeared beside the men and women before Black-hair had the chance to bring his arm down. And Hinata kicked the man, hard, in the shin and allowed herself a small, somewhat-smug smirk when he let out a howl of pain and fell to his knees, clutching his injured knee.
Hinata was small. True. But weak, physically? Wrong!
"You-you bitch!" Black-hair wailed.
Hinata barely registered his insult because the other men, one with a head of dirty-blond hair, the other with an eye-patch, had dived at her the moment they realized she was there. Dirty-blond flashed a knife and jabbed for Hinata's arm. She dodged easily, and skilfully tripped Eye-patch over in the process. Dirty-blond cursed and gave chance as Hinata did some fancy foot work, building space between her and him. He covered it easily, with his long legs, and was attacking Hinata again, his knife sparkling in the sunlight.
Hinata dodged a forward thrust, then grabbed his shoulder and threw herself over him. He stood for a moment, dazed and confused, and though he only stood there for a second, it was more then enough time for Hinata to activate her byukugan and hit the pressure point in the centre of his back. He let out a 'guch!' sound, then stiffened all over and collapsed. Paralysed.
"Shit!" Black-hair scrambled to his knees and snatched Red-head's arm, who had been standing stupefied at the side lines while Hinata fought. At his touch she woke to reality and screamed again and made it as hard as possibly for him to drag her, which was what he was trying to do. Trying to drag her away, away from Hinata's strange eyes, and out of sight.
But nothing escaped the byukugan. Hinata saw his movements through the back of her head and as soon as Dirty-blond was defeated, she was on him like a hawk. She hit several pressure points in order to ensure he wouldn't get up again too soon. He crumbled to the floor and his grip on Red-head vanished, only to be replaced by Hinata's.
"C-come on, let's go!" Hinata ordered, giving her a gentle tug, and she unconsciously deactivated her byukugan. Red-head's emerald eyes sparkled with tears and were dimmed by confusion. She couldn't understand why Hinata had saved her because this was the first time they'd met, and she wasn't sure whether she should trust her.
A roar from Bad-woman decided for her. She risked a brief glance over her shoulder to see the muscular lady racing towards them, her face twisted in rage. She nodded frantically to Hinata, who nodded quickly back and then took off.
Hinata hadn't realized just how fit ninja were till now. Together, they ran through several speeds at a hard pace-well, a hard pace for Bad-woman and Red-head. For Hinata, it was a peace of cake. But the other souls were panting and gasping after a few minutes, and Hinata feared Red-head could faint from exhaustion if she pushed her any further. The girl was clearly under-nourished and as far from fit as you could get.
Hinata took a sharp turn that made the Red-head splutter and found herself staring at the edge of a forest. The road crumbled, giving way to soft dirt before the forest appeared. Excitement shot through her and suddenly Hinata was remembering Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, her village. The village in which she would still be had that hollow not picked her and then killed her.
Hinata dashed for the forest and didn't slow down till she was well under the canopy. She slowed slightly and then some more, because she glanced at Red-head and almost cried out loud, she was so shocked by how pale she looked. They needed to stop, and soon, or the poor abused child was definitely going to faint.
Hinata activated her byukugan again. She saw the woman plundering through the undergrowth, but in the completely wrong direction! What's more, she looked tired as all heck and sweat ran down her face like rivers. Hinata shut off the byukugan and let out a sigh of relief. Bad-woman wouldn't find them, let alone catch them, for some time.
Just as Hinata began to stop, the trees suddenly thinned and then disappeared all together, leaving them in a spacious clearing consisting of soft green grass and a gentle stream that flowed from one side of the clearing to the other. The clearing rose in a easy hill, barely noticeable to the untrained eye, and a wooden house sat atop it.
"You c-can rest, now." Hinata said gently, and led Red-head to the stream, where she collapsed to her knees and began to scoop up water and lap it desperately out of her hands.
"Th-thank you!" She gasped. "For saving me."
Hinata just smiled. "I-I'm going to l-look a-around the hut."
Red-head looked up, saw the hut, nodded and then went back to drinking. Completely convinced that whatever laid in wait, Hinata could handle. After all, if you could beat up three full-grown guys, one with a knife, what couldn't you handle?
Hinata climbed the hill quickly and approached the house slowly, cautiously, and just peered inside rather then walk in. What she saw wasn't pleasant. The room was in total chaos, the table turned over, food scattered around the floor, the doors bashed down. Seeing the food, Hinata realized how hungry she was, and was immediately hit by a stab of hunger. Then she suddenly felt guilty. Thinking about eating, when someone had obviously been attacked!
Hinata wondered if she would find a body, bloodied and beaten, somewhere among the damage. The thought terrified her and almost made her run back to the stream. The thought that kept her feet rooted to the ground was that they needed shelter, especially Red-head, whom Hinata doubted could survive a night under the stars in the dead of winter. So, taking a deep, shaky breath, Hinata forced herself to move inside the room.
And suddenly something hard and heavy hit her with such force that she was sent flying across the room!
She rolled painfully across the floor and came to an abrupt stop when her back slammed again the wall, and she was momentarily dazed with pain. When she blinked and her senses returned, Hinata found herself staring at a woman standing over her, hair wild and grey, with a hunting knife raised over her head!
And Hinata's eyes widened in pure fear as the knife was brought down-
"NO!"
0-0-0
"Welcome back, Shiro-chan!"
Twitch. Guh. Not that name again! Hitsugaya Toshiro looked up from his desk and glared at the brown haired vice-captain that had just skipped into his room, bringing with her a huge, welcoming smile and a sparkle in her hazel eyes. She saw the world through daisies and roses and never stopped to think he might be working and didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment, not even her.
Toshiro forced himself not to shout and straightened, forcing his already cramping hand to release the inky bush and place to carefully beside the document he was filling out. The said document was actually about the new found world he had just visited, the 'Ninja World' as it was called, and he had been up to listing the souls he'd sent on when Hinamori arrived.
"Hinamori, I'd told you to stop calling me Shiro-chan!" He snapped. "It's degrading." Hinamori just giggled.
"You're too stiff, Shiro-chan!" And she jumped over and placed a sweet kiss on his forehead.
After Aizen's disappearance, Hinamori clung to Toshiro like glue, desperate for the company of someone she was completely at home with, and as the days turned to weeks and the weeks turned to months, this grew. Matsumoto called it 'romance'. Toshiro called it 'uncomfortable'. He still saw her as his childhood friend, as his Bed Wetter Momo, and whenever she kissed or hugged him, some part of his brain always translated it as friendly. Nothing romantic about it. He knew it was different in her mind.
"I'm not stiff." He argued as he pushed his chair and himself out of lip-range. "I just don't want to be known as Shiro-chan for the rest of my life!"
"Okay, okay," Hinamori rolled her eyes. "Hitsugaya-kun, then."
He was tempted to argue but knew this was probably the best he'd get so he settled for sighing in a disappointed fashion and gesturing for Hinamori to sit in the currently unoccupied chair beside his desk. "What did you want to say?"
Hinamori's smile grew. "How was the new world?" She was obviously bursting with curiosity.
He shrugged. "It wasn't very impressive."
"No flying cars?"
"No."
She frowned. "Ahh..."
"Why does that even matter? Hmph, don't tell me. I don't understand how your mind works. Anyway, it wasn't too impressive. But the people were." Hinamori's eyes brightened. "They were Ninja and could preform all sorts of interesting jutsu."
"Like?"
"They could create clones of themselves easily, and I saw some breathing fire."
Hinamori's eyes grew massive. "R-really? That's amazing!"
He just nodded.
And so Hinamori jumped alone the topic line. "Were there any hollows?"
He nodded again. "Only a few, though." His face darkened. "Much less then I expected, seeing as there aren't any shinigami over there...hardly any souls, too..."
"Hmm...Oh! Did you send any souls here?"
"Yes."
"How many?"
"Only five."
"Remember any?" She looked about ready to dance, just to releave herself of the energy her curiosity was brewing up.
"Four of them were adults in their thirties. But one was just a kid, about twelve or so."
Hinamori's eyes grew wide, but not with excitement. With sadness and disbelief. "Only twelve?"
"Something like that."
"How horrible...What happened?"
"She was killed by a hollow. It would've killed her friends, too, but she managed to save them."
A sad smile touched the vice-captain's lips. "That's a good way to die, saving friends."
Again, he just nodded.
Hinamori was starting to feel depressed, so she once again changed the topic. "What are you filling out?" She tapped the document on his desk.
"A report on the Ninja World. Nothing special."
"So, basically, despite going to the most recently discovered dimension, your day has been boring as all heck?"
"Yeah, basically."
Hinamori couldn't help but laugh. She jumped off the chair and wrapped her arm's around Toshiro's neck and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. He tried to move away but she caught him before he could. She pulled back without noticing his reluctance, and gave him a little wave as she skipped out the door.
He swallowed. He didn't love Hinamori. He knew it. But did Hinamori love him? How long could he go on, lying to her and letting her kiss him, when it made him feel dirty? He sighed and picked up his pen. When in doubt, it was best to loss yourself in the annoying and painstakingly large work of paperwork.
And then he felt it.
The brush fell from his hand and his head snapped up instinctively. He'd felt her!
0-0-0
Hinata let out a gasp of shock and Red-head balled into the old lady and knocked her over. The two wrestled violently on the wooden floor and Red-head managed to rip the knife out of the old woman's rip and throw it away, where it lay useless on the floor. But the woman was stronger then she looked-where as Red-head was as weak as she looked-and hit the girl in the stomach with her feet. Red-head flopped back and gasped as the wind was knocked out of her.
The old woman scrambled to her feet, staggered, and then let out a hiss of pain. Hinata's lavender eyes widened as she saw that the old woman was wounded, a bloody, but not fatal, gash on her side and...and ice cutting into her palm? How had that gotten there?
Hinata didn't have time to wonder because the old lady charged at her, screaming in rage. Hinata jumped to feet and caught the lady's fist, a fist that had been aimed to punch her jaw, and held it tight so the woman could not pull away. She did the same with the next punch and forced the lady to listen to her.
"P-please, stop! We're n-not here to h-hurt you!"
"I don't believe you! You stupid bandits, you can't take my food! I need it! You can't have it!"
"Please!" Hinata was aware of how desperate to sounded. "Please calm down! W-we won't t-take you f-food! Please, miss, please!"
Somehow, Hinata's words seemed to reach her. The old lady's breathing began to slow and she visibly calmed, her shoulders sagging and her strength disappearing. Suddenly her legs gave way and she fell to her feet, gasping and sweating. Hinata dropped to her side.
"A-are you alright?" She asked worriedly.
The old woman nodded. "Y-yeah."
Hinata nodded and then looked for Red-head. She was crawling towards them, her arms shaking slightly. "Are you o-okay?"
She just nodded when she reached them, too exhausted to speak.
"Miss," Hinata began, turning to the old lady. "May I m-make some s-sort of m-meal...? M-my friend is..."
"Go ahead." The old lady mumbled, her small blue eyes falling over Red-head's small frame. "She needs it more then I do."
"Th-thank you." As Hinata stood to fetch some ingredients, she heard the said red-head mutter something too quiet for her to understand. When the Red-head saw her questioning look, she managed to raise her voice.
"Kimi. My name is Kimi."
!I own neither Bleach or Naruto!
Hello, and Merry Christmas! Thank you so much for the reviews. I couldn't believe I'd gotten six only a day after posting, and I'm glad you all like the way I write *happy face* I hope you enjoyed chapter two.
I apologize to anyone who dislikes original characters (OC). But I didn't want to have all these Naruto characters suddenly dying and tagging along with Hinata, so I decided OCs would be better.
I also apologize to HitsuMori fans. I have nothing against HitsuMori, it's just how I think Hitsugaya-kun would react, as Hinamori-san is his childhood friend. And plus, I don't really like them as a couple -_-
Thank you for reading!