Dreamcatcher
By Airyo
Sunrise, Sunflower - 7
When she opened her eyes again, it was dark. But Hinata could feel the cool breeze on her skin, could smell the of dew and lush forest growth. She thought she could even see the lazy twinkle of fireflies.
"Mind turning on the light, Hinata-san?" Inoichi's voice was gentle beside her.
At the mention of light, the moon peeked from behind an inky cloud, illuminating the clearing with a pale glow. Hinata stared. The leaves of the central tree swayed gently with the wind, rustling in whispery welcome. A sign with the Uchiha sigil swung on one of the lower branches, declaring the training ground private property.
Unconsciously, she relaxed. "Where are we?"
"This is your mindscape," Inoichi explained. "Every mind is slightly different, but we all tend to organize it based on a place where we feel most safe." He wisely didn't point out that her mindscape wasn't the Hyuuga complex, but an Uchiha training ground.
"It's beautiful," she whispered.
"Most minds are," Inoichi agreed. "Now do you know what is the nature of the memory you are looking for? This is your mindscape, so I can guide you, but ultimately you are the boss here."
The gauzy memories of childhood were hard to pin down. "My nightmares started when I was five, right after Hanabi was born. My mother had just died…"
Inoichi nodded. "From what I can see, your mind is organized concentrically instead of chronologically. The less recent memories would be further away from the center, this tree."
They walked to the edge of the clearing. A bubble floated near them as if in greeting, bouncing off Inoichi's arm in its eagerness to get to Hinata. An image flickered across the surface - a young Neji, his forehead clear, smiled slightly at her as Hizashi held his hand. Hinata started to smile, until the progressing images showed her exactly which day it had been.
"That's when Neji got sealed," she whispered and bowed her head. "They demonstrated what the seal could do on his father." In the bubble, Hizashi fell to the ground, clutching his head in pain as dark hair spilled across the floorboards like blood. Hinata swallowed back the lump in her throat and averted her gaze, wishing the memory away.
The bubble dimmed, and blended into the background of the shadowed trees.
"You…" Inoichi stared at her in shock. "Did you do that on purpose?"
Hinata frowned. "I didn't want to think about it. Am I not supposed to do that?"
Inoichi shook his head in wonder. "Unique circumstances indeed. It's a pity Hiashi has gotten so strangely private and cautious since that mess with the Cloud." Hinata didn't like it. Yet another reason why she wasn't normal.
"It's a very remarkable ability you have there, Hinata-san," he continued to say. "Most people can't suppress their memories on command - the Pink Elephant effect in layman's terms. Generally, I only see this in high-functioning shinobi who have been forced to compartmentalize the horrors they've seen. Such as your Itachi. Hatake Kakashi was another one who had a very neatly organized mind…" Inoichi blushed and shook his head. "Though that has changed since he picked up his Icha Icha habit. Never again."
Hinata giggled, feeling much more at ease as they continued their exploration of the fringes of her mindscape.
"What about this one?" Inoichi walked towards the shadowy trees. Hinata hadn't even seen it until he pointed it out. The bubble, if it could even be called such, was unlike the others. It held no gleam, no light. If the pale pinks of the other bubbles indicated health, the sickly purples of this one could only mean disease.
He reached for it. He's a bad man, an intruder, mustn't tell. Don't let the Bad Man see. Instinctively, Hinata jerked, her nerves pulling tight like ninja wire.
"No, Yamanaka-san!"
It was too late of a warning. His fingers brushed the edge of it floating mass before he pulled his hand back. The surface of it warped. Then it it bulged, as something were trying to fight its way out.
The awful screech of grinding earth filled their ears. The world trembled as gray stone walls rose out of the ground between them.
In an attempt to dodge the wall, Hinata lost her balance. She fell into the mass of memories, her mouth open in a silent scream.
Mustn't tell...
AN: Tbh, I didn't even think the previous chapter was a cliffie. Now here's a real cliffie….it's a closet full of cliffhangers at this point. Sorry. (But not really, because I'm evil. :D)
But to sooth your wardrobe troubles, I wrote a thing. It's KakashixAyame. If that's your kind of thing, you should go investigate in my stories tab. ;)
Also, this is the worst possible time, but I'm going to be really slow with updates over the course of the next few weeks. Work, this funny concept that pays me money, is picking up. And the holidays means it's family time, not Airyo-hunched-over-her-laptop time.