~Give me love~
~Chapter 10~
Hinata woke up in her plush bed in Sky Castle. Around her were all of her old toys and drawings, and a picture of her and her mother on the bed stand beside her. Her furniture was composed of golden swirls, and the walls were decorated with a gradient of pastels. She lifted herself from her bed and looked behind her...and gasped to find that her wings had returned! She stretched them out, long and thoroughly, then gave them a couple of test flaps. She could feel a tear run down her cheek as she felt herself gently lift into the air.
"I'm home..." she whispered to herself.
With her fight returned, she soared in a circle around her room, giggling with glee.
"I'm home, I'm home!" She shouted cheerfully as she opened the door and glided out into the hallway.
"Mama! Papa! Neji-nisan!" she called, bouncing around the corridors to the main hall.
"Mama, I missed you so much...Papa..."
She turned the corner to the main hall, and froze solid. Her eyes widened.
In the middle of the great hall were her parents, lying lifeless and drenched in crimson. A figure stood between the two, with hands as dark and bloody as his victims. The figure turned to Hinata, revealing himself to be Shino. His eyes were dark, soulless pits.
Hinata clasped her hands to her mouth. Shino lifted his arms, and out came swarms and swarms of horrible, buzzing beetles. They bled from his fingertips, and poured from his empty black eye sockets to feast on the flesh of her slain parents.
Suddenly, Hinata felt a presence behind her. As she turned, she found Neji, dark-eyed and sinister, and gripping onto her wings in a painful pinch.
"Neji...no..."
Hinata screamed in agony as Neji yanked and ripped her wings clean off her back.
~o~
Hinata sat up in Sakura's bed, screaming and soaked in cold sweat. Sakura burst through the door not two seconds later.
"Hinata! Are you okay?!"
Hinata gripped herself and tried to catch her breath. Sakura sat beside her and rubbed her back.
"Calm down sweety...it's okay, it was just a bad dream. Just take nice slow, deep breaths."
Hinata closed her eyes and did her best to follow her instructions. After a few seconds, she was able to calm down. Sakura followed up by hugging her around her shoulders. Then the tears came again.
"I've been going about this all wrong..." she whimpered through shaking vocal chords.
"What do you mean, Hinata-chan?" Sakura asked, still holding her.
"I...I can't...it's too hard to explain."
How could she tell Sakura all that troubled her? To Sakura, Hinata was just some homeless peasant who'd been picked up by the local weirdo. How could she explain who she really was? What events had occurred to lead her to this situation? Would she even be able to advise her on what her next step was?
Sakura pulled away and looked at her with a comforting half-smile.
"Hey, it's okay. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to, but you know I'm willing to listen, if it will make you feel better."
Hinata remained silent.
Sakura shook her shoulder lightly. "Hey, you know the Festival of Love is tomorrow, right? Why don't I take you down to the shopping district and get you your very own yukata to wear?"
The words washed over her like the icy mist of a forgotten memory. She knew there was something she had to do...but what?
Hinata remembered the warm feelings of shopping with Sakura and Ino. In the past few days, it was the only time she remembered feeling worry-free. Yes, that sounded nice. She turned to Sakura with wide, sad eyes. All she could muster was a humble little nod. Sakura smiled and patted her head.
~o~
The day was generally peaceful for Sakura and Hinata. They spent a good two hours picking out the perfect yukata...a light grey with beautiful light blue embroidery. It brought a lovely tint of color to her otherwise entirely gray eyes. Afterwards they had a light lunch, then swung by Ino's flower shop for a while. When Ino suggested Hinata buy herself a bouquet of flowers, she looked at her curiously.
"Isn't someone else supposed to buy you flowers?"
"Sometimes, but you have to know when to spoil yourself. Sometimes after working hard, you deserve to buy yourself a gift." Ino cheerily remarked with her trademark wink.
Mid afternoon, Sakura and Hinata returned home. As Sakura was setting Hinata's new spoils down at the foot of the guest bed, Hinata realized how overwhelmingly exhausted she felt. She couldn't remember a moment where she had felt even close to this level of tired. In fact, she was having trouble remembering almost everything.
"You alright, Hinata-chan?" Sakura asked before leaving.
"Just...tired. I think...I'm gonna lie down."
"Hmm...alright. Hollar if you need me."
As soon as Sakura left the room, Hinata curled up on he guest bed, rubbing her temples. What was she doing again? Shopping...with...Sakura. We bought a yukata. For the festival...right, the festival...wasn't there...
...wasn't there something I needed to do?
She didn't even remember falling asleep. She thought she heard a knocking, then a muffled argument. Was she asleep? Her body jerked back to conciousness for a moment. She saw the walls and the frilly decor of Sakura's room, then faded out again. So...tired...
She dreamed of moths, fluttering against her cheek.
Hinata? Are you awake?
She felt hands on her shoulders. She dreamt of a kiss. Of warmth.
You're burning up...
No I'm not, I'm cold. I'm freezing...I'm in the cave again. What cave? Where is he? Did he leave me again?
I'll get you some water and an ice pack.
Everything is so fuzzy...I don't want more cold. I want him...
She dreamt of the pressure between her legs. She was drowning in heat. But she was so cold! Why wasn't he here?
The sudden splash of cold on her forehead yanked her from sleep.
"Ahh!" She gasped, sitting up. She immediately felt Sakura's cool hands on her.
"Whoa, calm down honey, it's just me. You have a nasty fever, so we need to break it. Here, drink this."
The glass of water was so cold, it numbed Hinata's fingertips as she grasped it. When she brought it to her lips, a chilly little serpent slithered down her throat. She coughed, and the water spilt all over her chin and lap.
"Oh no...I'm...I'm so sorry."
"Hey, hey...don't worry about it. Trust me, I've dealt with worse. You just worry about getting better."
Hinata grabbed the side of her head, where a nail was suddenly being hammered into the side. She tried desperately to recollect her thoughts.
"I thought...I thought I heard talking..."
Sakura steadied Hinata and held the icepack to her forehead. "Mmm...Shino showed up about an hour ago..."
Hinata's heart felt as if it was suddenly seized by an iron fist.
"He really wanted to see you. I told him you weren't feeling well and wouldn't appreciate a visit. He reluctantly left, but he insisted that I give you a book. It's over on the bedside table over there if you want to have a look at it."
Hinata swerved her head over to the object on the other side of the bed. It was neatly wrapped in the most ordinary brown paper she had ever seen. The pain was squeezing her head.
"Agh...S..Sakura-s-san...my..my head."
"You poor thing...hang on...I'll see what I can do."
Sakura placed her delicate hands on either side of Hinata's face. An earthly smell leaked from her hands and a warm glow appeared, then within moments, Hinata's migraine began to reside.
"You're an angel..." Hinata whispered gratefully.
Sakura giggled. "You know, you have that same aire about you, Hinata. You're quite a mysterious little lady."
Hinata smiled gently at her. Something she said had reminded her of the trail of some sort of memory...a happy one, maybe? It was hard to say.
"I'll go get you some more water. You rest easy now, okay? You have the fortune of being under the care of the Hokage's personal apprentice."
"Thank you, Sakura-san."
When she left the room, Hinata gave a glance at the book. An odd feeling swept over her as she reached out for it, but she stopped. Instead, she turned around and buried herself in the sheets.
She was too tired to deal with any of that.
~o~
Hinata slept the entire day, only waking to Sakura to ensure she had a proper amount of fluids. Right as the sun was beginning to set, Hinata finally stirred into conciousness.
She sat up and gave herself a good stretch. For the first time in hours, she felt like she could actually think. She looked out her bedroom window and noticed that the day had turned dark. How long had she been asleep?
She slid out of bed, then reached down to touch her toes, just to stretch out the last few bits of grogginess. Afterwards, she made her way to the living room, where she found Sakura quietly reading a book and drinking tea. Strewn across her lap was her enormous, lanky teacher, snoozing away soundly. Sakura had a single hand woven through his thick tuft of silver hair. Hinata smiled to herself, but couldn't for the life of her think of why it made her so happy.
Sakura looked to Hinata as soon as she entered the room.
"Oh Hinata, you look positively bright-eyed and bushy-tailed! Looks like that big day of sleep did you a lot of good."
Hinata took a seat opposite of the couple, doing her best not to disturb the slumbering beast.
"Yes," she said softly, "I can't thank you enough for taking care of me."
Sakura stroked the gruff, bristly cheek resting on her lap. "No worries, Hinata-chan. It's what I do."
A moment of silence passed between them.
"So," Sakura said suddenly, "Are you up for attending the festival?"
~End of Chapter 10~