I'm back! But more importantly, IT'S BACK! Guys, I know it's been a minute! But here's the thing: Kindle Vella ended up closing down long before I even fully got to finish editing 'Raven Song' for that platform. So, I got to thinking; what better Christmas present to give then to bring Raven Song BACK TO YOU, ALL MY FAITHFULL READERS? Now, it is going to take me a bit as I'm giving this story a slight overhaul – a polishing of sorts – so stay tuned for updates on 'Raven Song' Revised Edition!
Xx!
Chapter 1-Enough
"Hah," With a loud cry of exertion, her palm struck the target dead center, splintering the wooden pillar into shards. Spinning gracefully on the sole of her foot, she met the next target, open palm hitting the center and once again splintering the dummy into countless shards that scattered to the ground.
She repeated this action several more times, hitting each of her targets with graceful poise yet deadly precision until the last of the wooden posts exploded into splinters.
Sweat poured down her face, neck and shoulders but she ignored the sticky, uncomfortable sensation as she picked up four Kunai and took off across the training grounds at lightning speed.
Pushing off with her left foot, she leapt into the air, spinning, flipping and twisting her body flawlessly as she threw the Kunai at her hidden targets.
Her Shiinguai technique Byakugan, activated in the next second, and her lips pulled into a small smirk of satisfaction—each one hit its mark, perfectly.
Landing softly on her feet, she straightened and looked at her hands. They were bruised, and some areas were cracked and beginning to bleed.
But she didn't care.
She had to keep going.
She had to push herself to her limit.
She couldn't afford to stop now, or else negative thoughts would start pervading her mind again…
The thoughts were so excruciatingly painful, it felt like a Kunai piercing and twisting in her chest.
Taking off once again, she slipped a few shuriken from the pack at her waist, pirouetted and flung the Shuriken at the hanging targets above her head just as she pivoted her body into a graceful backwards handspring.
Each Shuriken struck the bull's-eye, save one which landed a good four inches to the left.
The Hyuuga heiress' brows furrowed as she landed in a crouch, eyeing each target with Byakugan eyes sharply focused.
Something in her movements had been off—her pirouette could have been slightly off-balanced or even how far she'd drawn back her arms to cast the shuriken…it could be any number of things, but Hinata was exhausted and therefore, her critical thinking wasn't on par.
Heaving deep, labored breaths, she rested her hands on her knees and forced herself to a standing position.
Now the palms of her hands were bleeding, layers of skin having been scrapped off during her latest vigorous maneuver, and the pads of her fingers were sore and very tender to the touch.
She hissed from the stinging sensation that shot through her fingers when she lightly flexed them.
This was bad. At this rate, her hands would be torn and mangled before sunset and tomorrow? The pain would be exceedingly worse; she'd doubtlessly need to lather them in her signature healing salveandwrap them if she hoped they'd heal within a few days…even then, with the extent of damage she'd caused, her hands would most likely be hurting for a good week or more.
She glanced to the sky. She'd been here since noon and now, the sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon…she should be heading home soon.
…and yet...
Poised in a defensive stance, Hinata set her jaw firm and breathed in. "Taiga no sen sutoraiki (Tiger's thousand strike)!" Her hands were a ferocious blur of sharp jabs and strikes as she executed the technique. She'd put a little of her own twist to it, but it was still just as effective as Neji's technique.
…Neji….
Her concentration broke only for a second, but it was enough. The momentum of her palms flying, threw her off balance and out of position. She hit the ground hard, the remaining momentum sending her rolling and tumbling for a few feet until she mercifully came to a stop.
Everything hurt…but nothing hurt more at the moment than her arms and hands which had once again, suffered the brunt of her fall. Grimacing and grunting painfully, she struggled to push herself up on her hands and knees. Her arms shook with exhaustion and sharp pain shot through her hands as they pressed to the unyielding earth, but Hinata gritted her teeth, finally managing to raise herself to her hands and knees and remain there.
The full exertion of her aggressive training session, hit her hard and her whole body trembled from overwhelming exhaustion as she gasped for air. She felt so weak. Even after all that, she still felt like she was less than amicably strong. She cursed, slamming a small hand on the ground, then yelped in pain—she'd momentarily forgotten the extent of her injuries.
It's been a year since the war, yet I still…I still can't…c-can't catch up to him.
There it was. The painful thought she'd been literally fighting so hard to ignore, had seeped into her consciousness and it was left there to fester and grow until the very essence of it was painfully seeping into every fiber of her trembling body.
One crystalline drop fell, landing on the back of her pale hand.
Then another fell, and another until rivers of tears streamed down her porcelain cheeks and dripped off the end of her chin, staining her hands and muddying the ground beneath her body. Whimpers followed and soon, the Hyuuga was hunched over, her body shaking with the force of her cries that had morphed into sobs.
Naruto…
Naruto…
Another sob racked her body.
It had been such a long day—and lunch had been miserable. Her team members had decided to gather for lunch at the barbeque and it wasn't even half-way through, before Naruto had stood to his feet and glancing fondly at the vibrant pink-headed woman seated beside him, made the announcement that he and Sakura were officially courting.
Everyone's eyes widened, there was five seconds of stunned silence and then the group had erupted with howls of approval and joyous exclamations of congratulations.
Every member of "Rookie nine" as they'd affectionately dubbed themselves, had bright smiles that reached all the way to their eyes as they shook hands and embraced the pair…all that is, except Hinata.
She'd sat in stunned silence for a good five seconds before she pulled herself together long enough to plaster a smile on her face and politely wish the couple the best. After that, she'd made up a plausible excuse that she had to go and after bidding farewell, she'd fled from the restaurant and headed straight for the training grounds.
She'd been here ever since, working out her anger, hurt and frustration with every ounce of her strength until she'd collapsed from exhaustion.
She barely had any strength left. Yet here she was, crumbling to the ground and weeping profusely. She'd bottled everything up for so long—today, it'd been hours but really, years of built-up emotion; everything had been carefully locked away and she'd born through it with all the grace and poise that befitted the Heiress of the powerful Hyuuga clan.
…But today had been the last straw and she couldn't take it anymore.
She'd had enough