Forever.

That was what happened when the sky met the sea and they spun off into infinity. The horizon, forever and a day away.

Always looking straight ahead, hand slightly raised, wanting to touch the heavens, grab a fistful of golden light in one palm and damp, heavy cloud in the other.

Always looking forward, never looking back.

The cocoon of the God Tree unravelled and the Infinite Tsukuyomi faded from her mind.

Hyuuga Hinata rubbed sleep out of her eyes, stood straight, and clasped a hand to her chest.

And then her stomach leapt out of her abdomen and joined her heart.

He was bleeding, battered, bruised, right arm lost to oblivion, leaving the stump of his shoulder forlorn.

But still...

"Oi." A Kiri ninja next to openly gaped. "Are those...Naruto-san and Sasuke-san? And Sakura-san and Kakashi-san?"

"They're SMILING!" someone else shouted.

"Yeaaaah, they did it! They kicked Madara's ass!"

"They threw Obito into outer space!"

"They destroyed this huge tree with their BARE hands!"

"It was Rasengan!"

"No, it was Chidori!"

"Fool, clearly Sakura-san punched someone in the face!"

"I've got some sake!"

"All right! Gimme some!"

"Why did you have sake with you during a war?"

"Ah, never mind that, let's just have a drink."

She caught his crinkling eye.

He caught hers.

And she turned away to hide a smile.

Then someone gasped.

"Oi, is Naruto-san all right?"

She whipped around just in time to see a small crowd form around Team 7.

Screams broke out.

"Naruto-san! Wake up!"

Her heart hammered in her chest as she frantically craned her neck, hoping to catch a glimpse of blonde hair through the crowd.

"Please wake up!"

"Wake up!"

A harsh ringing exploded in her ears.

No way. No way. It was too sudden. She'd just –

"Wake up!"

She was supposed to protect him. That was her job. This war, it was to protect him. Save him.

The ringing, it wouldn't stop.

Hinata reached out, slammed the alarm clock's button, and burrowed deep into her blankets.

Her throat was a painful, clumpy mess all over again. She swallowed down the contents of yesterday's meal.

Every few nights, the dream was the same.

Maybe one of these times, her heart would no longer spasm.

Maybe.

"...Hopes are high after the trade agreement signed with Iwagakure..."

Hinata strained her ears desperately, fighting against the lullaby of Kakashi-sensei's low, calming voice. Her aching eyes blinked shut, her vision occluded by dark eyelashes. Shino didn't notice, absorbing every detail of Kakashi-sensei's weekly briefing. Kiba and Akamaru were too busy having a staring contest with Pakkun.

"And we hope to sign many more..."

A yawn escaped her mouth even faster than light. Her body lurched foward. This time, Shino discreetly caught her by the shoulder before she could fall face-first into the Hokage's desk.

She was hoping for a long, long mission. One that involved staying up for guard duty or night watch. Something that would wear out her muscles and make her bones ache with exhaustion. She would sleep so deeply that dreams could not reach that oblivion.

"But in the meantime..." Kakashi-sensei gave her a sideways glance. He was bearing good news. But for some reason, his brows were furrowed, his eyes not curved into their usual happy crescents. "I think Team 8 should have a vacation."

Her stomach plummeted.

"Yahoo!" Kiba pumped his fist into the air, showing off his sharp, pointed teeth.

"That is certainly unexpected, Kakashi-sensei. Why? Because – "

"Because we're doing well enough to give you three a break and I don't want you to miss out on the hanami next week!" Kakashi-sensei's face disappeared behind a copy of Icha Icha Tactics.

Oi, Hinata, Naruto's voice whispered playfully into her ear. Did ya know that Kakashi-sensei uses the Sharingan to memorize those books? So that the words can be burned into his mind forever. He's so funny.

Her throat tickled. Explosive coughs threatened to escape from her mouth. She chewed her lip viciously, not letting the smallest breath of air leave her lungs.

She didn't know what was up with the coughing fits...but she was not about to look bad in front of Kakashi-sensei.

"Anyway, get-together at Training Ground 3 in one hour! Don't be late, Hinata, Shino!"

A butterfly landed on her bare arm, a bee on her palm. Shino's kikaichuu buzzed around her in apparent curiosity. Ticklish. They were so ticklish, like the flutter of eyelashes against skin. They crawled around, proboscides lapping gently on the tips of her fingers, trying to get something out. Akamaru leaned his head on her chest, right over her heart. She wrapped an arm around his neck and he pushed his nose into her arm. A low rumble resounded from his throat.

Hinata smiled softly. They were kind, very kind, Shino's bugs and Akamaru.

She leaned against the rough bark of a tree, grateful for the comforting shade. She glanced up at the green-yellow canopy, at the mix of sun and leaf-shaped shadows criss-crossing onto the ground.

Days stretched on forever when you didn't sleep well. Days stretched on forever and ever lately, just like when the sky met the sea and they spun off into infinity. But that was a different kind of forever, the kind that she used to anticipate with sweaty palms and racing heart. The kind of forever that seemed like the slow blink of an eye and the warmth of a smile.

"Hinata, you doin' all right?" Kiba asked.

That was the second time someone had inquired.

"I'm fine."

Her teammate leaned in so close that she could see his canines and the stubble growing on his jaw. He took a deep whiff of the air around her.

She batted at his arm. "Kiba-kun, don't do that."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kiba asked again, completely ignoring her admonishment. "Because Akamaru doesn't think so. He says you're breathing funny."

The dog barked in response. Hinata scowled at him, betrayed.

"I also do not think so," Shino piped up as he spread out the contents of their team's bento. "Why? Because you have dark circles under your eyes. And the kikaichuu are trying to remove harmful chemicals from your body. Clearly caused by lack of sleep."

"Shino-kun – "

"Yeah!" Kiba interjected. "And I can't believe we had to hear this from Shikamaru instead of you, but he said you were really sick when Kakashi-sensei sent you off to Suna – "

"That was because of a sandstorm."

"That mission was two weeks ago! And you're still sick!" Kiba put a hand on her forehead. Hinata shrugged him off.

"Kiba-kun. Shino-kun. Akamaru. Kikaichuu. I'm not sick. I can't be weak – "

"You are mistaken," Shino said, and a great wave of something ugly swept over Hinata again. "Why? Because none of us have ever suggested that you are weak. None believe that except yourself. Not Kiba, nor I, nor your cousin, nor Kakashi-sensei, nor..." He and Kiba exchanged a strange glance. Usually at loggerheads, today completely in sync. "...Nor Naruto."

Her stomach plummeted again, and silence hung in the air, light as a feather, heavy as a mountain all at once.

Hinata tucked her arms around her knees for the first time in years. Akamaru whined, dislodged from his position.

"You're wrong about that, Shino-kun. Because...because if I were strong enough, he would have been here too."

Suna had a Great Naruto Statue, Kumo a Great Naruto Tower, Iwa a Great Naruto Cave, and Kiri a Great Naruto Harbor.

Konoha had the cemetery. Formerly, it had been a quiet, desolate place. Now constant chatter made the air hum and vibrate, and Kiba could never come in without going into a sneezing fit, so many flowers everywhere.

Hinata preferred to visit in the dark, hours after sunset, in the early morning, especially during weekdays. The air was crisp and cool and she didn't have to worry about anyone but the screech owls seeing her.

It was better that way.

Naruto's grave was ludicrously easy to find, even for newcomers.

Shikamaru liked to leave cigarette lighters on Asuma-sensei's grave, and Asuma-sensei liked to leave smoking pipes on the Sandaime's grave. Jiraiya-sama's memorial was never bereft of sake, and once, months ago, Hinata had spotted Sasuke leaving skewers of dango at his departed brother's stone.

Naruto's grave was always buried under piles of cup ramen. Parents would bring out water and flowers and incense sticks and thank him with clasped hands for keeping their young ones safe. Those same young ones would rub their thumbs on his grave marker for good luck.

She didn't know who started that rumor, that somehow rubbing one's thumbs on his grave would grant good luck.

But she smiled as she glanced at the orange thumbprints, whorls and loops and tented arches imprinted all over the stone, ladling out water to wash it clean, lighting fragrant incense. The sunflowers in her hand swayed in the breeze, a friendly splash of yellow in the green-black night.

"Ah...good evening, Naruto-kun," she began, quietly, gently. "I...see that you've become very popular lately. You know, you're world-famous now."

That telltale lump in her throat began to form again. She swallowed it back down. She had come here to visit her friend, tell him everything he couldn't see, to be his eye and see the future for him. The future he'd created for her, for Konoha, for Suna, for the world.

He didn't deserve the tears of a crybaby ninja.

"Sakura-san has opened a hospital for children. She must have already told you, but I just wanted to make sure you knew, so forgive me if you've heard this before." She moistened her dry, cracked lips. "And Sasuke-kun has gone on a long journey. He says he wants to understand the bonds of love that hold the world together. The bonds that you taught him to treasure, Naruto-kun. And...and Tenten-san, she and Neji nii-san...I found them hiding out together in a broom closet the other day...it's a good thing my father wasn't there to see it. He would have fainted, he's so old-fashioned..." She hid her mouth in her hand. "Well, please don't let them know I've told you so."

The night breeze slowly ruffled her hair. Hinata took a deep, shaky breath and forced herself to continue.

"Kakashi-sensei...he reads Icha Icha when he should be doing paperwork. I don't think he'll ever forgive you for leaving him without a successor. But...but I think the village will be fine. You know that the Five Great Nations have signed a treaty promising ten thousand years of peace?"

Hinata waited and waited. Waited for something she couldn't put her finger on. Her chest tightened excruciatingly, the pressure as sharp as thorns.

"There's...there's so much I still have to tell you." The dense mass in her lungs expanded and she fought down a wave of nausea once more. "But...you remember what I said to you that day? That day I faced Pain? That I'm doing this for my own self-satisfaction? You saved me so many times, and I wanted to save you too. But I...I can't tell you e-everything yet, b-because..."

Her Byakugan wasn't activated tonight. The world faded into a watery, crystalline blur.

Foolish, crybaby ninja.

"Because...I'm not satisfied. So please forgive me. Again."

She put her sunflowers into a vase and bowed deeply to the person who'd changed her, inside out, upside down.

"A...anyway...please keep waiting for me."

Frogs croaked somewhere off deep into the night, and Hyuuga Hinata was gone.

A/N: More to come...

Hinata's symptoms getting progressively worse. I know maybe people expected more dramatic puking (don't worry, it will happen again), but there are other ways hanahaki could get more intense.

Please leave a review, I really would like to know how I'm handling this so far. I usually write humor/heartwarming, not angst/heartbreaking. But I want to be versatile and know if it's working. That's where you come in, dear readers. :)