Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Neverwhere ❯ Far and Close ( Chapter 1 )

Have fun trying to figure out who's who, idiots.

 

Italics are flashbacks/dreams/etc.

 

Chapter 1 - Far and Close

 

 

“Open your eyes.”

 

Hinata's eyes flickered to life and she groaned. Everywhere ached. A nauseous spasm racked her body, shocking her into total consciousness. She rocketed to her feet, eyes wild - someone's finger pointed her to the bathroom - and she hurled herself into it, not even bothering to flick the light switch as she knelt over the toilet bowl. Bile hit the roof of her mouth and she choked it out, coughing.

 

Click went the switch, on went the lights.

 

Hinata, stomach emptied and feeling weak, began to feel an acute throbbing pain that hammered her skull. She leaned back, and was relieved to discover a wall there and not the tile.

 

A boy stood in the doorway - tall, lanky, pale and dark. Slanted black eyes, angular face.

 

“S-Sasuke-san?” she mumbled, too drained to be scared. He gave her a look. She averted her eyes to the floor. Her head was pounding.

 

“Okay, quick quiz: What is your name? How old are you?” he interrogated, leaning on the doorframe.

 

“H-Hyuuga H-Hinata. Twenty-eight years old. I th-think,” she stammered. He crouched suddenly, expression unreadable.

 

“How many fingers am I holding up?” was the next question demanded of her.

 

“Three?” Hinata answered hesitantly.

 

“I think something's wrong with you,” he finally said.

 

She was shaking now. Things filtered in through the gray haze… things she didn't want to remember.

 

Dappled light hushing through leaves overhead and the drip drip dripping of drizzle. Somebody sounds far away, but close.

 

Hinata slid backward now, away from him. The panic began to set in. What…?

 

“I'm not Sasuke,” he said. “Whoever the hell that is.”

 

“Name…?” Hinata squeaked weakly.

 

“Nikkou Kanaye.”

 

“Wh-where am I, Nikkou-san? What village is th-this?”

 

“If you're pulling some kinda prank, I'm gonna fucking kill you,” he growled, leaving Hinata speechless. So he continued. “I'm getting mom. She's the nurse, she'll know what the hell to do with you.”

 

He sauntered off, leaving Hinata alone with herself. Muffled shouting soon accosted her hypersensitive ears and she covered them. She gagged as her stomach tried to force more liquid up her burned esophagus, but nothing came. She was empty.

 

A ruffled-looking Kanaye returned soon enough, tailed by a beautiful woman in her mid thirties. The scowl on the woman's face quickly melted into an air of concern as she caught sight of Hinata. Her eyes tallied the hurts and then she knelt next to Hinata and put a comforting hand on her trembling shoulder.

 

“Looks like you've had a nasty concussion to your left temple. Good job it wasn't your right. Bruises all over, but you should be fine in a week or two. Now let's take care of that gash on your pretty face,” she clucked in a motherly fashion. She immediately began to bustle around the bathroom. Kanaye backed up, trying not to touch her as she unpacked an arsenal of first-aid.

 

The sting of some healing salve distracted Hinata, but she sat still and did not whimper. A good ninja shows no pain.

 

After the gentle hands had been retracted and a sizable wad of gauze pasted to Hinata's skin, Kanaye's mother helped her to her feet.

 

This was to no avail, as Hinata's legs fell from under her as she gasped at what she saw in the mirror.

 

A young, dainty girl with olive skin and eyes of see-through blue; choppy mahogany hair framing a delicately curved chin - and not more than sixteen years old.

 

Kanaye's stone eyes burned holes in her head.

 

-------------------------------------------

 

Somebody sounds far away, but close. I can feel them holding me.

 

Hinata's rigid body shot straight up and the forgot to breathe as the cold sweat set in. Panicking, she groped for a body beside hers, one that wasn't there.

 

Then she remembered where she was.

 

In the patterned shadows, faint outlines of foreign furniture appeared. She silently thanked Nikkou-san's mother for allowing her to stay the night at least. Hinata stood easily, the blanket falling free of borrowed pajamas. The living room was frigid and forsaken; the floor carpeted and comforting; but what she was most curious about was the way sharp sounds filtered in through the walls of the apartment. The window would answer her questions. She pulled back the drapes and heaved open the glass barrier, exposing the gray light of pre-dawn.

 

It was a good thing she didn't fear heights. No building in Konohagakure would have risen higher that she right now, and the buildings around her were taller still. Strange boxes on wheels roared and honked as the inched past on the street below. Florid, gaudy signs hung tall as trees on concrete walls, advertising the world over. Hunched people ghosted down sidewalks and somewhere a dog barked.

 

Hinata slid to the ground and curled up.

 

There's no place like home.

 

Creak-squeak. Creak-squeak.

 

Up went the black-haired child and down she came. Hinata, elegant in her simple navy kimono, gave another push to Nariko's back so the little girl would fly higher on her swing set. Wind whispered in the trees aesthetically arranged around the Hyuuga estate. Nariko laughed, blank white eyes aglow.

 

RIIIIIING. RIIIIING.

 

Hinata turned towards the open door, leaving Nariko to come back to earth. Carefully, with small steps, she made her way up the wooden veranda and through the open paper door to pick up the phone. Nariko hopped off the swing and followed her in to tug at Hinata's skirts and listen.

 

“Hello? . . . . . .Oh, Naruto-kun. How is the mother-to-be?. . . . . . .I am sure Sakura-chan is handling it. . . . . .Neji and I are fine. Nariko is doing well in school.”

 

Hinata paused, her attention focused on the voice at the other end - Nariko tugged harder on the kimono, wanting attention. Hinata's free hand absentmindedly brushed the black hair back from Nariko's eyes. Then Hinata's hands started shaking and she nervously tangled her fingers in the phone cord.

 

“I-I-I. . .I'll be right over, N-Naruto-kun.”