Chapter Thirteen

Crap. It felt as if his blood was slowly turning into ice as it flowed through his system, paralyzing him. Immediately he felt tiredness falling upon him, slowly draining his energy. He watched helplessly as his rasengan faded into his hand and disappeared.

I can't believe it. I can't believe it's over! This is Naruto, he can't be beaten this easily! I refuse to believe this.

'Well, well', Yushiro said dryly as he was getting up. 'It seems you make fatal decisions in the heat of the moment, judging from the way you jumped down and attacked me. As daring and courageous as it seemed, it was fairly stupid as well.'
Naruto gritted his teeth, and Yushiro smiled seeing this. He had caught him in his technique so quickly, he hadn't been able to fight back and safe some muscle control, as Hinata apparently had been. He knew that the fact the boy now wasn't able to say anything back, tortured him on the inside. And Yushiro liked to torture people.
'You're very easy to read you, you know. You attack bluntly and without thinking. You're clearly not cut out to be a shinobi. If you would have observed the situation some more, you could have meant something to you friend over there, but now? There's no chance. You blew it.'

Hinata felt heat burning behind her eyes. He's already meant so much to me…

'It is wise to spy on your prey a little before attacking, as I've done, isn't it?' Yushiro continued. 'This taken in consideration, I know a lot more about you than you do about me, since you've just met me and haven't had the opportunity to gain knowledge about me by spying on me. I'll give you a moment to think that over now.'

The atmosphere of the battlefield had changed the moment the young boy had arrived, and Yushiro was aware of that. But he had reckoned with him, and as far as he knew, the yellow-haired ninja would not be much of a problem as soon as he'd show his trump card. Which he had the moment he'd activated his rasengan. It was a very powerful weapon indeed, but nothing Yushiro couldn't deal with.

'Now, which one of you shall I kill first? Oh, I know!' He picked a kunai from his holder and, rotating it around a finger, he walked towards Hinata. 'How about I kill her in front of your eyes? Not that there's much left to kill, she's pretty much a wreckage already.' He sounded as if he was about to slap a fly, not kill a human being.

More gritting teeth. The pupils centred in the bright blue eyes of the boy had changed into slits, his eyecolour had turned red.

Yushiro smirked. It's so easy to lure him out, and a lot of fun too. But this playing has taken too long now, it's time to end it.

Within the glimpse of an eye, he disappeared from Hinata's side and appeared at Naruto's. The eyes of the latter grew bigger in shock. How'd he do that?! But there was no more time to think, because the kunai that was originally meant for Hinata, was now at Naruto's throat.

Hinata stopped thinking. Now that the moment was there that Yushiro was going to kill the one person that meant the world to her, her mind shut down, as if protecting her from processing the scene she was about to witness.

The moon was caught in the glittering of the metal as it slit Naruto's throat and ended Hinata's world.

And, like before, everything went black.

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Darkness…

Darkness enveloped her head, her mind and her soul.

Where am I? Wait, I? What is I? Who is I? Am. I am. I am what? What am I? Where am I?

All she knew was she felt something was not right in this world of blackness, and as consciousness struggled to return to her, she tried to figure out what it was that made her feel uncomfortable.

She missed something. Something she'd had before, was now missing, but why?

A jolt went through her mind as she felt a rag of her memory was returning, then frustration took over when it disappeared only shortly after. It was as if she was back in her childhood again, climbing a tree but just not able to reach the branch she was trying to grab.
She tried to hold on to her memory, but just when she felt she had firmly grabbed, it slipped between her fingers again.

Wetness. It seemed to be caused by the feeling of uneasiness she was experiencing, and somehow it was a familiar feeling.
She could feel it gliding down her….her….what was it called again? Cheeks? Cheeks. But then, if she had cheeks, she must have a….a face. And a body. She had a body. Since when did she have a body?
But no more time to think anymore, the darkness came to claim her again.

…

…

…

Naru-…to….-kun….A whisper.

…

The whisper grew louder. Naruto-kun.

…

It was now more like a scream. Naruto-kun!

More screaming. NARUTO-KUN!

NARUTO-KUN!

Darkness again.

…

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She was being moved again. Again? Why did she know this was not the first time? It certainly went much smoother than before, though. Somehow she remembered herself being carried on something that bumped a lot. Wait, did I just remember that? And did I just realize that? Wait, what's happening?
She slightly moved her eyelids. A flash of light worked its way through her eyes to her retina, followed by a piercing pain waving through her head.
'Uhhhh…..ooaahhhh…..' Her lips felt dry.
'Oh! Sakura-san! She's awake!'
She stopped moving. Trying to ignore the pain, she opened her eyes some more. After a few confusing seconds, she managed to distinguish a face hanging above her. She'd seen it before.
'Bring me some water!' The face shouted to someone, then it looked at her again. 'Hey there. How are you doing? Feel any pain?'
That's an understatement. She felt as if she'd been crushed by a whale. A pregnant one, too, but all she could bring out was 'ugh…gnnnn.'
The water was brought in. The face put a hand under her head and brought the glass to her lips. She drank it greedily and gratefully.
'Easy there, Hinata! Now relax, it'll be fine once we've operated on you. We're going to the OR this very moment.'
'Uhu'
'Hinata-san?'

'She's lost consciousness again!'
'Then let's go! Move it!'

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She was awoken by sound. Someone was talking to her. Someone she apparently knew, because she knew the person's voice. She opened her eyes. A white ceiling. The hospital? She looked sideways and recognized the face to which the voice belonged; it was the same girl who had given her water, years ago. Sakura. She was checking her charts and temperature, and talking to her while doing that. That same moment she became aware of the pain she was feeling and uttered a soft moan.
The green eyes looked up to her. 'Hinata, you woke up! How do you feel?'
Hinata? O, right, that's my name, I remember. She's called me that before.
She opened her mouth to speak, but no words passed her lips.
'O wait, let me help you.' The pink-haired girl helped her sit up and made her drink something. Hinata coughed. Whatever it was Sakura'd given her, it was incredibly nasty. It smelled (and tasted) of burned leather. She probably made a face, because Sakura laughed and said: 'That's the medicine I'll be giving you for the next two weeks. I know it's not very tasty, but it ought to make you feel better very soon.'
Hinata cleared her throat and ignored the dizziness caused by sitting straight up in bed.
'Thank you…Sakura-san….' She managed to say.
The girl smiled to her and wrote something down. 'No need to call me that, you know. Just 'Sakura' is fine.'
Hinata narrowed her eyes. Someone had said that to her before.
'Sakura?'
The girl looked up from the paperwork she was holding.
'What's wrong with me?'
'Well, let's say you've been very lucky. When you were brought here, almost all your chakra reserves were completely gone and your internal organs had suffered great damage due to that. Luckily you've made it here just in time for us to be able to save you. We had to restore your chakra flow immediately, but normal chakra injection wouldn't have been fast enough to save your life, so we had to open you up to blend our chakra directly into your system.'
Hinata touched her side but quickly pulled her hand back. 'Aaah'
'Yeah, I would leave that wound alone for a while if I were you, it has to heal on its own.'
She probably saw Hinata's startled look because she added : 'Don't worry, we did it with precision, so it'll only be a small scar.'
But that was not what she was worried about. The same uneasiness she'd felt before was making it's way up from her stomach to her chest. As she closed her eyes, things were coming back to her again.
She leaned her heavy head against the wall behind her bed and concentrated.
Jumping. Running. Searching? Looking. Moving. Screaming. Screaming? Yes, I remember, I remember.
Herself being caught by Yushiro, Naruto coming to her aid, Naruto getting killed by Yushiro. Naruto getting killed by Yushiro...
It can't be! Struggling against her tears as well as against her memories she faced Sakura.
'Is he…Is he….dead?'
In the heavy silence that followed, she hoped for her memories to be false post-surgery illusions so badly, had it been possible, the intensity of her wishing would have made it so. But inside her head she knew they were real memories, that she would have to carry them with her until her mind would fade away, and for a moment, she wished for the darkness of the past time to come and take her in its blissful ignorance again.
Sakura sighed sadly, the worst possible answer. Hinata bowed her head and watched her hands to restrain the tears from coming until she would be absolutely sure all hope was gone.
'He was killed.' Sakura said almost inaudible, as if speaking to herself, and left.

author note: sorry guys, this hás to happen. Read it closely. You'll see what's happened in the upcoming chapters! Thanks to all my reviewers!