Dreamcatcher
By Airyo
The Guardian - 4
Light glinted off a long blade, blue and deadly.
"NO!" she yelped, pushing him, rejecting him. The attacker slashed at her face. She fell back, ground jarring her wrists painfully.
The world turned pitch black.
Hinata froze, unable the shake the sense of deja vu. She could hear her heart thundering past her ears, yet never drowning out his voice.
"When the nightmares come, rather than run away from them, try to fight, to conquer it."
Hinata curled in on herself, squeezing her eyes shut and pulling at the courage she wasn't sure she had.
"You are stronger than you realize."
She opened her eyes. She looked up at the masked man.
You do not belong.
She could feel her limbs tremble. She stood and settled into the most basic ready stance of her family taijutsu, hands raised in a deceptively relaxed stance.
The masked man attacked, blade arcing towards her. Hinata leaned to the side, just as her father had taught her. Her muscles were weak, but the memory was still there. So was the memory of running away. Terror liquified her knees.
She hesitated, and the sword nicked her cheek. Hinata cried out. But she didn't run.
She faced her attacker.
"You are stronger than you realize," she reminded herself. She had the force of Itachi's belief behind her.
This time, the sword sung past her harmlessly. Hinata twirled and charged, unsteady on her feet like a newborn colt - half falling, half running, kept upright only by her own momentum.
Begone.
Chakra lit her fingers for the first time in years and her rusty coils itched with new circulation. She traced his tenketsu with an artist's touch. The man stumbled, fell, and then dissipated into smoke.
Hinata opened her eyes, again, and the lines of her ceiling framed her vision. She stared up, breathing unsteady and sheets sticking to her skin uncomfortably. This time, it wasn't because of fear, but because of triumph. A heady victory.
She reached a hand to her cheek in wonder, soothing the pain of the phantom cut on her face.