In Another Life

Chapter 4

Hinata's eyes fluttered open and she frantically searched the cave for her cousin, her heart dropped when she realized he wasn't there. "Y-you left me here.... all alone..." she whimpered and stood, pushing herself to her feet against the wall of the cave. She wanted to cry, run to Neji and beg him never to leave her alone again, but she knew it needed to be done. He knew she would follow him wherever he went, so he left early before she could wake up and find out where he went.

She grabbed her things and listened to her feet as she took slow tentative steps out of the cave once more. She heard the crunching of leaves turn to the colliding of pebbles and she sighed as she had stumbled upon the river. She crouched by the river and began plunking pebbles into the river one at a time. Everything was so hard to take in...Sasuke had cared for her...Madara betrayed her...Neji had just abandoned her...

She had no idea where to find Hashirama, and she doubted he would send a search party to find her. She sighed and willed herself not to cry, but despite her best efforts, tears fell upon the smooth rocks by her feet. "Why must it be me who is left alone? Why couldn't I know where to go? Neji-nii always seems to know where to go..." she asked through her sniffles and the water rippled in front of her and an image of a beautiful woman appeared in the surface of the water. Hinata gasped and fell backwards. "W-what?" she asked as she stared at the woman in the river.

"You are special Hinata..." the woman said and Hinata's eyes went wide. "H-how do you know my n-name?" she asked frantically and the blonde woman smiled serenely. "I am a goddess of course. I was the one who brought you and your cousin to this time." She said; her voice wavered with the ripples of the water's surface. "You? Why would you bring us here?" Hinata asked as she leaned forward to look at the reflection of the woman. "Because there is the small fact that time is an unending circle of repetition. I would prefer that my attempts succeed this time...Save the Senju, and save the Uchiha. If one of those boys die, my attempts would be for naught and you and your cousin will survive to see what happens when those boys are failed to be protected...time is an unending paradox which confuses and excites and brings about new things each time it circles around. Maybe you and your cousin can save the future from the mistakes of the past." The woman said and Hinata looked at her hands.

"T-that sounds like an awful lot to h-handle for someone like me." Hinata whispered and the woman's bell like laughter echoed from the surface of the water. "You can do it, believe me! I wouldn't have chosen you if there had been another who could have done it. I promise, little Hinata, you will figure this out!" she said and her image faded from the surface of the water. Hinata felt a bit of warmth fill her, the goddess had given her a bit of courage, but she still didn't know where to go...

Hinata shrugged lightly, grabbed her bag, and walked in the direction that she had seen Hashirama and his family walk off. The forest thinned out the further she walked and when she reached the edge, she was looking over a Cliffside. A moderately large compound resided within a small circle of trees. Carved on the large wooden gates, was the odd symbol of the Senju clan. She smiled despite herself, she had found the compound.

She felt a spike of chakra from behind her and she turned in time to see Tobirama and a younger male with white and black hair coming at her from above. She flipped backwards off the edge of the cliff side and they followed her down. Her feet skidded along the curve of the bottom of the cliff and she flipped backwards once more to avoid where the two boys landed. The moment their feet hit the ground they lunged for her. She realized that if she didn't fight back, they were going to kill her.

Her hands skimmed over her hip pouches and pulled two kunai from each. She threw one from each hand then spun the others around her fingers to use in defense of their blades that came at her. They deflected the kunai and the younger brother with the multicolored hair lunged for her first. She deflected each hit of his blade and when he knocked the kunai from her grasp she bent back to evade one particular swipe and she tossed her legs over her head to prevent herself from being defenseless for too long. She landed in a crouched position then she lunged forwards and both of her palms struck the boy's abdomen and he was sent flying backwards with a pulse of chakra that wasn't enough to severely damage, but temporarily incapacitate.