Ch. 17 The Tree
Hinata woke up early that morning to the early rays of sunlight hitting her face. She smiled and got out of her bed and stood on the floor in her cream colored pajamas. She stretched and yawned. She walked into her closet and started shuffling through her wardrobe.
"What to wear, what to wear." She said to herself. She pulled out a cream colored jacket and blue pants and a blue shirt and stared at it. "Too, unoriginal." She said tossing it behind her. She eventually made it to the back of her closet and stumbled upon an old outfit.
"This will do." She said. She pulled from her clothing rack a black kimono that had a cut in the form of an upside down "V" in the front; it was a short sleeved kimono with grey trimming. "How could I ever forget this old outfit? I would wear this all the time when Don and I hung out."
She slipped on her kimono. "Wow, fits just like it did a couple of years ago. Man this feels comfortable, I miss the feeling I got from this outfit." She said happily. She walked out of her home and headed to Don's tree. "Wow, the tree seems to be full of life more than it has ever in my years of visiting it." She said to herself. Its magnificent branches seemed to have grown and stretched further, and the shade seemed to have a feeling of life to it.
Hinata sat underneath the tree and was consumed by its comfort. The cool shade and the soothing pleasure from being under this special tree, made her at ease with herself. Eventually she lost consciousness and drifted off into her slumber.
Hinata opened her eyes to find herself in an unfamiliar place. She looked up at tree above her. "This is the same tree, but, where exactly am I?" She stood up and looked around. She found it strange that the tree she was sleeping under had a special looking tie around it which usually referred to spirits of any sort like ghosts.
She looked around her and saw not too far in the distance was a stone stairway leading up a grassy hill. At the top of the hill was a rather large house. She made her way to the base of the steps. She looked up the stairs to see how much of a climb she had. She began to walk up the steps and look around her. The whole area, as far as the eye could see, was nothing but forest. The sun was shining and it almost felt like home.
She reached the top of the steps and found herself infront of the large house. It was quite nice, the steps had two large stone bears guarding the passage to this area, and around the house was a garden. She stood motionless and observed her area. She sensed the presence of someone inside the house, but couldn't clearly identify them. Just then she sensed the person was coming outside to where she was, then she quickly dashed behind one of the statues.
A boy around her age opened the sliding door to the house and stood on the small porch that wrapped around the house and yawned while stretching. "Man, I love this place, I get a good night's sleep and it's so peaceful." He said. "I wonder what Hinata is doing?" he said and walked to a nearby fish pond that had been placed in his garden.
"That's peculiar, I can't seem to find her anywhere." He said to himself. When Hinata heard her name she accidentally let out a small squeak in surprise. Just then the boy kneeled to the ground quickly and pulled out a sword and then broke it in two. "Who's there?" he shouted.
Hinata peered around the stone slowly. "Hinata, is that you?" the boy asked. "D-Don?" she stuttered. Don opened his arms and Hinata ran up to him for a hug. "That explains why I couldn't find you, how did you get here, more importantly how have you been?" Don asked.
"Oh, I don't know, I just remember waking up this morning and putting on this old outfit…" "I remember that old outfit; you still look great in it." Don interrupted. "Oh, sorry, please continue." He added. "Anyway, I changed clothes and headed you your tree and just sat back and started to relax, next thing I knew, I woke up here. And I am doing just fine thanks for asking."
"That's fine." Don said. "Well if you are wondering, you are in the spirit world, sort of. This is more or less a dreamland only accessible by spirits and those people who are asleep, like you apparently. Let's go inside and I will make you some breakfast." Don said.
Hinata's stomach growled. "That would be nice. I miss your cooking." She replied. They went inside Don's house. It looked exactly like his house in Konaha. She sat down at his open kitchen countertop and watched him cook. The two of them ate breakfast and socialized.
"It's so nice out here Don; do you really live out here all by yourself?" Hinata asked. "Yep, isn't it beautiful? It's peaceful and quiet. I have plenty of time to myself to train and stuff, and also of course to sleep under my tree." Don replied.
Hinata looked a bit puzzled. "Train? Why would you still need to train you're dead." She said. "Well about that I'm…" he started and there was a moment of pause. "Well you know, Hinata it does get a bit boring out here and training is one of the things that helps me through my day." He replied. "Oh, well that makes sense." She replied happily.
"You know what is so great about living out here Hinata?" Don asked. "What is that?" Hinata asked. "Come with me." Don said and he led her outside and extended his hand introducing her to the landscape. "All of this land, as far as you can see, is all mine." Don said. "Really?" Hinata said in amazement. "Yeah, isn't that awesome?" Don asked. Hinata nodded.
"Hey Don, do you ever watch over me while you're here?" Hinata asked. "Well yeah, you are my closest family, of course I do." Don said walking her to the small fish pond. Don then pointed down into it. "I usually spend my day watching you, it looks like you and Naruto are still doing well, right?" Don asked. "Yes, he's treating me well, he's getting stronger by the day, you know. I think after you beat the crap out of him at the chunin exams, he just wouldn't let that go. He told me so one day." Hinata replied.
"Oh, really now?" Don asked. "Yah, and he told me it only made it worse that you died, he said that he wanted to become stronger so he could fight you again and beat you. With you gone, he lost a bit of hope, but I always encouraged him that he should keep fighting, keep getting stronger so when that day does come and he does see you again, you two can fight." Hinata replied.
"Well, that's good. As long as he is getting stronger. You know, me and Tsunade had talked about him many times in the past. We both agree he could be Hokage someday. He has heart, he may be rash and not all smart but he has the heart of a true leader, one that Konaha needs. I have faith in him." Don said.
"Yeah, I hope his dream becomes a reality." Hinata said. "I know he will do it, one stubborn way or another, besides you've always have faith in him, ever since we were kids, remember?" Don asked. Hinata nodded.
"Oh, I guess it's time I checked up on Rain and Gazu." Don said. He made a hand sign and the water showed the image of Rain and Gazu together being followed by a strange boy. "Who is that?" Don asked. "I don't know." Hinata said. "Well, let's watch, maybe we will learn something." Don replied.
The strange boy followed Rain and Gazu. "Come on guys, tell me where you two are going, I want to come." He said. Rain turned to him. "Why should we, you are not apart of this squad. You do not rightfully deserve the place you are filling." She shouted at him. "I am apart of this squad, I was assigned to it, so you have to deal with it." The boy said. "Dan, would you shut the hell up? You do not belong to our squad, you are not Don." Gazu said.
"Dan, what the hell kind of name is that?" Don said. "Shhh." Hinata said. "Just saying, it's such a rip off of a name." Don mumbled to himself.
"Oh, you guys are talking about that guy named Don, wasn't he your squad leader, well since I'm in his place, I guess that makes me squad leader, so you have to do what I say and I say tell me where you guys are going." Dan said.
Rain and Gazu, who had been walking as this was said, immediately stopped and turned around and glared at Dan with the most certain death in their eyes. "Ok, you've had this coming for a long time you little twerp." Rain said. "You are going to get it worse than you have ever gotten it before for that smart remark." Gazu said.
The two of them approached and bombarded Dan with powerful blows, it got to the point where Dan was coughing up blood. It finally ended with Rain and Gazu hitting Dan into the air, then appearing above him and slamming him in the back, sending him hurtling to the ground. Rain and Gazu walked off leaving Dan to have his blood soaked up in the hot sand.
"Wow, they really must be having it hard." Don said. "I had no idea, though it makes me happy that they still miss me and keep the standard of our squad high." Don chuckled. "Yeah." Hinata said. "Hinata, you should go visit them. Give them good regards from me. You can take my old room at Temari's place; I know she'll be more than happy to have you stay with her."
"You think that would be a good idea? I don't want to intrude." Hinata said. "Hinata, I watch you and everyone important to me every single day. I know Temari is lonely, besides, my family in Suna loves you. Besides, they could use a little comfort right now." Don said.
"Oh, wow, it's already almost dark. Well you should be getting home. Tomorrow, I want you to get up early and head straight for Suna, ok?" Don asked. "Ok, I will." Hinata replied as she ran down the steps. "Oh, wait, how do I get home?" Hinata asked. Don pointed to a shrine gate near the tree. "Walk though that." Don said.
Hinata went though the shrine gate and found herself back under the tree in Konaha that she fell asleep under. She headed home and went to bed.