105Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
~1 Corinthians 13: 4-8
Ch. 8: The Past Long Forgotten
Hinata was sitting in the cafeteria at school her sophomore year with her best friends, Sakura and Ino. The two of them were chatting about Sasuke and Shikamaru and how they hoped the two boys would ask them out soon. Hinata smiled at her friends. She loved moments like this. Just sitting with her friends and just being able to blurt whatever was on you mind without worrying that they would think any less of you. She loved them as she knew they loved her.
"So, Hinata…how are things with Naruto?" Ino asked with a smirk on her lips. Hinata's face turned a bright red before she could stammer out her reply.
"N-nothing w-we a-are j-just f-friends." Hinata stuttered out. Ino always had the ability to catch her off guard, or maybe it was that the topic of Naruto always made her nervous. Of course it was with good reason. After all she has been in love with him since their elementary days. Ino gave her a knowing look. Hinata knew that she and Sakura were about to talk to her about saying that. They would always say that Naruto really liked her and was going to as her out soon, but she didn't believe them. She could tell that the ever-familiar conversation was about to start when she saw the boys of their group. Hinata sighed in relief. She had never been so glad to see them all.
"Hey girls!" Kiba said as he plopped on the left side of Hinata. Hinata smiled at her guy best friend as Naruto sat on Hinata's right side (that Sakura conveniently vacated upon seeing Naruto). HInata could feel her face heat up as Naruto spoke to her.
"Hey, Hinata-chan, I finished writing a new song and I wanted to know what you thought about it, so would you like to come over today after school?" Naruto asked with an almost unnoticeable blush on his face. Hinata felt her vocal chords constrict and merely nodded as her answer. "Sweet! See ya then! Sasuke-teme, Shikamaru, and me have to get to bio lab so I'll see ya afterschool!" Naruto said with a face splitting grin. The three boys vacated leaving Sai, Choji, Kiba, and Shino with the girls.
"Well we have to get going too! Right, Sakura?" Ino asked. Sakura nodded, she had almost forgotten that today she had chemistry lab. She sighed; Ino always took so much time getting the chemicals ready for their lab. Hinata smiled as she stayed with the remainder of her friends. She had gym next, but she still had plenty of time.
Hinata walked into the gym and noticed how eerily quiet it was. A chill went down her spine; she had such a bad feeling about this. That was when she spotted a senior that usually kept to himself and gave off a psycho vibe stood in front of a small group of kids holding a gun towards them….his name was Kabuto. Hinata covered her mouth to stop the scream she could feel wanting to come out of her throat. She looked around and saw that she was not too far from the door, and maybe, if she was quiet enough, she could slowly sneak out of the gym and get some help. She was about five feet from the door when it seemed that Kabuto came out of his own little world and spun around to face her. Hinata froze with fear evident in her eyes. Hinata couldn't breathe. She was too scared to make any kind of movement.
"Get over here!" Kabuto commanded in a tone that sounded like desperation as he held the gun pointing towards her. Hinata nodded ever so slowly and made sure not to make any sudden movements as she walked towards the group of kids, that were just as scared as her.
"Attention students, get to your classrooms we are going into a code red." Principal Tsunade said over the loud speaker. Code red meant that there was a threat in the school, and Hinata had the pleasure of being in the same room as the threat. Kabuto laughed in a crazy fashion as he swung the gun to point at the loud speaker and fired a single bullet at it. The loudspeaker bursted into a small flame with sparks coming out of it. Kabuto smiled in a satisfied manner before turning his attention to his roughly ten hostages.
"Ok we are going to play a game…the game is called Timed Reaper. This is how we play. For every hour that they don't meet my demands I will shoot one of you dead. Sounds like fun, no?" Kabuto said. No one answered him or asked what his demands were. They were all scared to draw attention to themselves.
-
It was almost the end of the first hour. Everyone was tense; they feared for their lives and wondered who would Kabuto shoot at first. Their answer came soon.
"Well first hour is up! Let's see….which one of you will die? Hmm…I know! You stand up!" Kabuto said as he looked at a girl Hinata knew from gym. The girl was scared stiff and couldn't move at all.
"I SAID GET OVER HERE, BITCH!" Kabuto yelled at the top of his lungs with so much anger. Hinata slowly stood up in front of him she could feel the fear take hold of her as she stood in his line of fire.
"What the hell are you doing, Hyuga?" Kabuto asked as Hinata stood in the way of his target.
"Kabuto-san, w-why are you d-doing t-this?" Hinata asked as confidently as she could. The girl quickly grabbed onto Hinata's hand as tight as she could. Hinata gave her a reassuring squeeze back even though she had no idea if she could even save the both of them.
"WHY DO YOU CARE? NOONE CARES!"
"I do." Hinata said. Kabuto looked at her, and saw the sincerity in her eyes. He looked down before looking back at her.
"Do you know what it is like to be me? Well, let me tell you it is a living hell. My parents abandoned me on the streets when I was five. I had to trust the kindness of a stranger when I was at the verge of starvation. That stranger is my current guardian, Orochimaru! He is a psycho and uses me for his sicko experiments! I have the scars to prove it!" Kabuto said as he lifted up his shirt to show an angry red scar that took up his entire chest. "I'm just lucky that I am a fast healer otherwise that day I would have died. Maybe I should have…So when I started to come to school, I thought that this would be my safe haven. For eight hours, I don't have to see my crazy caretaker. But was I wrong. The kids here are horrible. They laugh at me and humiliate me day in and day out. I have been stuffed in lockers, garbage cans, and closets more times than I could ever count. Don't you see? Everyone here deserves to die. THEY TREAT ME LIKE I AM DEAD, SO I WILL DO THE SAME!"
"NO DON'T!" Hinata yelled as she held up her hands. Kabuto looked at her with a craze look in his eyes. "Y-yes, p-people can be c-cruel and h-harsh, but there is still some good in them. You just have to go looking. I believe there is good in you too, Kabuto-san"
"I don't think you are right." He points the gun hesitantly at Hinata and is about to pull the trigger. The girl behind Hinata lets out a little scream of fear as she tightly shuts her eyes.
"Drop your weapons and put your hands up!" a policeman said as he and a group of policemen had their guns trained on Kabuto.
"Do you think you could stop me?" Kabuto said as he turned to face the two girls and fired his gun. The police fired a shot as well aimed at Kabuto. Screams could be heard coming from the hostages. The police stared in horror, as not only does Kabuto's body fall to the floor, but the poor hostage, Hyuga Hinata. The police noticed that the second girl was also on the floor, uninjured. The girl began crying saying that she should be the one with the bullet through her not Hinata. The girl was pushed by Hinata while Kabuto was distracted by the police in order to get the girl out of Kabuto's line of fire.
"Check and see if they survived!" The police chief called out as paramedics began entering the gym.
"The girl is still alive!" the police officer said as he saw Hinata bleeding profusely from her bullet wound that was on the left side of her chest. Paramedics put Hinata on a stretcher and quickly sent her to the hospital where they hoped to save her life. Some paramedics went to the girl who was hysterically crying and racked with guilt in order to calm her and check for any possible injuries.
Hinata opened her eyes in the ambulance truck and could not feel anything. She saw blood, and lost of it. She saw paramedics trying to stop her bleeding while hooking her up to various machines in the ambulance. Hinata recognized one as a heart monitor. She watched as the green line went up and down in a sporadic matter. She could tell her heart was over working to keep her alive. She could feel tears in her eyes as she realized her life was coming to an end.
She would never see Hanabi go into high school or get her first boyfriend.
She would never see Neji go to college or ask out Tenten.
She would never have father-daughter moments with her father anymore.
She would never have sleepovers with her Ino, Sakura, and Tenten.
She will never know if Ino and Sakura get asked out by Shikamaru and Sasuke.
She will never see Shino or Kiba again.
She would never see Naruto again.
She would never be able to tell him that she loved him…
She looked at the monitor one more time and she saw the pace of her heart slowing down. She could feel her eyes getting so incredibly heavy. She could heat the paramedics yelling out commands in order to save her. She felt tears well up in her eyes as she said what she had always wanted to say out loud but never had the courage to.
"I love you, Naruto." She said in a longing whisper before she left this world to join up with God in Heaven.
Hinata slowly opened her eyes to see Naruto, Gaara, and Gabriel staring at her. "Hina-tenshi, thank God, you are alright!" Naruto said as he hugged her tightly. Hinata gave a little push away from Naruto. Naruto let go of her in confusion. Hinata looked like she was so confused and like she was slowly realizing something.
"Gabriel-niisan, I'm not an angel, am I?" Hinata ask as she looked at Gabriel with a serious look on her face.
"No."
"I see."
"Just what the hell is going on?" Naruto asks. Gaara nods in agreement. Gabriel looks at them and back to Hinata.
"Naruto-kun, my real name is Hyuga Hinata. I am the same Hinata you knew when she was alive." Hinata answered. Naruto looked at her and shook his head in disbelief.
"But that's impossible…" Naruto began to say but was cut off by Gabriel.
"It's true and you know it. I can see it in your eyes. You knew from the start, but didn't want to believe because if you lost her again the pain would destroy you. So you thought denial would be a better method to handle the situation. I can't really blame you though…losing someone you love would make anyone hurt like you did. But I can tell that you held onto the fact that she was alive somehow. I can tell. That's why you look at her picture every night, right?" Naruto was dumbstruck. He could not deny anything that Gabriel said but how could he respond to it? How was he supposed to react in this situation?
"Naruto-kun" Hinata said as she looked at Naruto with watery eyes.
"Gaara, I think this is our cue to leave." Gabriel said as he left the room. Gaara nodded and followed the angel out of the room and shut the door. Naruto looked up at Hinata and smiled.
"I am so glad it's really you, Hinata-chan. I can't even begin to tell you how much I missed you!" Naruto said as he held Hinata. Hinata began crying into his chest. She never thought that she would ever see Naruto again. She didn't know what to say. There was so much to say, but what could she possibly start with?
"Hinata-chan?"
"Hai?"
"Do you remember that I invited you to come to my house so I could show you this new song I wrote?" Naruto asked. Hinata nodded as she tried to wipe the tears from her eyes. "Can I play it for you?" Hinata nodded yet again. Naruto smiled as he pulled out his guitar. Tou-chan always said "When words fail, music speaks." Let's hope he is right.
HEYYYYYYY it's been awhile hasn't? Well I actually had some time this weekend to work on some of my stories. I hoped you like this chapter. It took a lot to write it cause at first I wanted to have Hinata go to gym with someone, but I couldn't decide what character, so I decided that she would have gym by herself. Anyway what did you think about Kabuto? I tried to make him have a dark past (I just realized that this fic has some pretty dark parts).
Anyway the next chapter will have Naruto's song and some other fluffy stuff before the battle begins! YAY! So look forward to that and please review!
Lexar