Sasuke was making his way over to the fight where Naruto and Sakura were when Hashirama called out to him. Sasuke turned to Edo Hashirama in confusion. "You...you and that white eyed girl...you are the key to winning this war." He began and Sasuke looked at him oddly, waiting for his explanation. Hashirama sighed and looked up at the young Uchiha. ."You look just like Izuna so there is a possibility you could get close...while she...she looks exactly like Hinata." Hashirama squid and Sasuke blinked.
"Hinata...that is her name..." Sasuke bit out bitterly and Hashirama furrowed his brow. "Hyuuga I presume?" He asked and Sasuke nodded, eyeing the dead man with calculative eyes. "Take this Jutsu...and when you have her with you, you have to-" he began and Sasuke's eyes narrowed as Hashirama finished his statement. "Why should I do that?" He asked and Hashirama eyed him wearily. "If a shinobi values one life over all lives, there would be nothing to protect." He said and Sasuke frowned. "But why must it be her?" He asked and Hashirama frowned at him. "She is the only one who can." Hashirama said and Sasuke grit his teeth and looked at his hands. "I don't have to-" Sasuke began but Hashirama shook his head. "No...I could never force you to..." Hashirama said and Sasuke glared at the ground. "But either way...there is no other way...is there?" he asked and Hashirama shook his head.
"Just know...I will never forget...Never." Sasuke ground out, the pain in his eyes was even noticed by the Senju male that sat pinned to the ground. He then allowed Hashirama to transfer the Jutsu. Then he sped towards where he had last seen Hinata. He landed in front of her and she blinked and stumbled back a bit, surprise I n her wide white eyes. "S-Sasuke-San." She stammered and Tobirama landed beside her. "We...we need your help Hinata." Sasuke said and explained the reason Hashirama wanted her to help him since she nodded.
"Alright." She said softly and the two males nodded. They took off running towards the newly revived Madara who had already taken the bijuu from Naruto and Bee. When they got him in their sights Sasuke reluctantly shoved Hinata right into Madara's back while he had been fighting someone off. Hinata hit the ground shaking in fear. Her eyes were wide and filled with that pure unbridled fear that usually gripped one's entire being and forced the air from their lungs. He turned to the side a bit and his eyes narrowed as he took in her appearance from the corner of his eyes. "A female shinobi...a weak one..." He muttered before he had even fully looked at her. She grit her teeth and she forced herself to stand. He raised a brow at the fire that found its way to her eyes. "I am not weak... I'm just mousy..." She muttered and his eyes widened a fraction.
"It couldn't be..." He muttered and she blinked and stepped forward. "Madara..." She said softly and he furrowed his brows as he made an attempt to reach out to touch her, as if to see if she were real. "You can't be...that's impossible! I watched you die..." He ground out as his rough padded fingers trailed over her cheek and eye. "I put roses on your grave. I buried you! I watched you die, Hinata!" He said and her eyes went wide as his thumb brushed over her lips, so this was why Hashirama said it had to be her that he saw first...gathering her confidence she raised a hand and paced it on his cheek with a tenderness she didn't know she could hold for a man who had killed so many, so easily. The way he looked at her was the way she had always wished Naruto would look at her, eyes filled with relief, worry, passion, and...and...and they held the slightest bit of love in them as well...He thought she was the one he had lost...his lost lover...
Her eyes fluttered in confusion at her sudden pain. "W-what?" She stammered as she looked down. Her fingers tingled and she shakily looked at them as she began to touch the red that quickly began to stain through her dark green vest. Her fingertips were stained the dark red that her vest was stained with. She looked up at Madara with fearful, shaking eyes; his eyes were wide as well. It hadn't been him that had hurt her...so who? Her eyes shakily scanned around them, but she didn't see anyone.
A red line made itself known as it drew itself in Madara's bare abdomen in the same area as where Hinata's had begun to bleed, her vest had torn not long after the blood began seeping through. "No...not again..." He managed to growl as he reached out to Hinata as she fell to her knees, blood flowing from her open mouth as her eyes fluttered shut. He held one hand over the injury in his abdomen as he hit one knee. "Hinata..." He ground out, running his fingers over her cheeks once more. He then forced himself to stand once more.
Sasuke landed in front of him as Tobirama appeared behind him from using his flying Raijin slash in an attempt to take both him and Hinata out. He had only taken her... Madara shoved his blade right into Sasuke's chest on the left side. He chained Tobirama down and the moment Tobirama was down a blade found its way through the left side of his own chest. Blood made its way up his throat and he felt his heart begin to slow around the blade...
He looked down to see Hinata with the blade held weakly in her grasp. She had one eye closed in pain; blood coated her lips and lower jaw. "Follow me...follow me to Izuna..." She said and Sasuke's clone exploded as two more blades found themselves in Madara's chest. "So I was just a distraction...and...I was just bait..." She whispered as she watched him fall forward onto the blade in her grasp. He and the three blades hit the ground beside her and his red eyes stared straight through her as she stared back at him sadly. She smiled as she looked up to the calming blue sky. "I'm coming, Neji-nii..." She said as her eyes fluttered shut for the last time.
:-:-:-:-:
The Kyuubi agreed to return to being within Naruto, but he was curious as to where the blonde's dark haired friend/ brother had gone to. He had agreed to return to konoha, but when the konoha shinobi were preparing to head home with their lost loved ones, he was nowhere to be found. Naruto looked at the ground when he stumbled upon his friend. "Sasuke..." he called and the raven haired male looked towards him with red eyes. Those were not Sharingan eyes, but the puffy red eyes of a man who had lost someone dear to him.
Naruto frowned and walked over to sit by his friend, who held Hinata in his grasp. "It was ruthless." Sasuke bit out and Naruto's eyes filled with tears as he grit his own teeth. "But...Hashirama said there was no other way to get the jump on him...he never said she would have to die...not once did he say she had to die...he said Tobirama would hit Madara." Sasuke bit out through his tears as he hugged her limp form closer to him. Her silky indigo hair fell over his arm and he began running his hands through her hair as his tears splashed onto her face and streaked over her cheeks.
"She...she thought she was just a distraction...just bait to get to him...She was not supposed to die dammit!" Sasuke yelled and hugged her tighter. "Sasuke..." Naruto started once more and his friend looked at him once more. "She loved you...she died for you...she died to protect you...she died thinking I used her as a tool..." Sasuke said and Naruto frowned. "Maybe...just maybe...you will see her again someday...maybe she will understand...maybe she will love you too...and maybe...maybe you two can live a life together happily in heaven..." Naruto offered and Sasuke hiccupped while trying not to let a sob escape his lips.
"Uchiha..." Hiashi's voice rang out and Sasuke looked up at him. "I know my daughter's death was not what the plan had in it...I just wish that this had not happened the way it had. But..." he began and Sasuke clung to her body, refusing to let her leave his grasp. "I would like for you to carry her home..." Hiashi said and Sasuke stood and held her body close to him it looked like he was struggling not to start crying once more. He held her bridal style and held her as close as possible.
News of her death spread swiftly, and not everyone had believed that Sasuke hadn't used her; not until they saw the tear and blood stained Uchiha carrying her with Naruto and her father by either side of him. Sakura and Ino ran over to him and Hinata. Sakura and Ino both attempted to pump chakra into her body to try and save her...but it was too late...she had already gone. Tears streaked down over everyone's faces. Tenten held Neji on her back while Sasuke held Hinata. They had lost both of them...Both of their remarkable Hyuuga friends were gone...
"Her last words were...I'm coming Neji-nii..." Sasuke said after a bit. Everyone looked up and saw that the tears flowed down his face like a broken dam. They all felt sorry for him, while they were all still weary of him as well. "Sasuke-kun...did you love her?" Lee asked suddenly and Sasuke grit his teeth and looked down at her with sad eyes. "What Uchiha didn't? Itachi...he loved her, despite being older than her...he... he had always told me to protect her...I didn't know why...but...I know why. Apparently Madara loved her too..." Sasuke managed to get out before glaring at the ground. No one had ever seen the Uchiha cry...but every emotion he shared with them...every tear he shed over Hinata...was another step towards forgiveness.
They continued on to the village, Sasuke had allowed them to wrap her body and set her on a stretcher. He was in the front and he held one side of her stretcher, while her father held the other side in the front, Kiba and Shino held the back ends of the stretcher. His eyes trailed over to see Gai-sensei holding the back left side of Neji's, Lee was on the back right, Tenten held the front left side while Sakura held the front right side. His eyes drifted over to see Shikamaru holding Ino close while they both held konoha headbands, the only thing that had been left from their fathers were the metal parts of their headbands, their names inscribed in the back with kunai. Shikamaru held another lighter within his grasp, Asuma's...and his father's own lighter.
Sasuke frowned, so many had been lost in this war that originated with his clan. He wondered if there would ever be anything different...if things could ever change. He wondered if the Kami had it in them to change this horrid time from what it is...he looked up to the sky and his eyes shined with unshed tears. "If the Kami cared...this would never have happened." He growled and everyone watched him with sad eyes...
They never knew that this was part of the Kami's plan, they needed Hinata's soul and Neji's as well but for what...that was not to be mentioned to the living...even though part of it they already knew, they didn't realized that what Hashirama told them was far more important than they would ever realize, when someone from the past tells you that someone is special...you believe them.
:-:-:-:-:
Hinata's eyes fluttered open and she looked over to her left to see a familiar face. Her eyes went wide as she shot up from her place on the ground. She hugged him and her eyes blurred over with tears, that's when she realized that a heavy khaki jacket was what he was wearing, that heavy jacket and shorts. Her eyes went wider and he nodded to her silently. "You're wearing your old clothes too Hinata, but we aren't with Naruto and the others." He said and she looked around with wide eyes.
"Welcome to the past, before konoha was ever created." He said and she continued to look around with brilliant amazement in her eyes. "Wow! Does this mean we can change the future Neji-nii?" she asked and he shrugged. "I'm not quite sure but I surely hope so." He said and she smiled. "That way no one dies..." she said and he nodded. "Sasuke loved you, you realize this right?" he asked her and she blushed deeply. "No nii-san...he...he..." she began but his eyes said he spoke the truth. "You wouldn't believe how much he cried...I'm quite surprised he managed a tear at all." Neji said and she managed a weak glare.
"He got me killed..." she said and he shrugged. "We were meant to die anyways...the Kami said so. There was no way you were going to get out of that war alive and neither was I..." he said and she frowned. "But why return us to life here? Why as kids?" she asked and Neji pointed over towards the riverbank. "every few days...Madara and Hashirama show up there and talk...or so the Kami said they will. We are supposed to meet them the same day they meet." Neji said and she nodded hesitantly.
"Now...shall we go attempt to learn to skip rocks by the river?" he asked and she blinked. "Why?" she asked and he smirked. "Why else, we are free. No clan to force us to be prim and proper and cold. No clan to put us down when we make a mistake...besides, we still have our abilities from the future, and this only means we can learn more." He said and her eyes lit up. "Not a single person to bully me? no one to tell me I'm weak? But what does that have to do with rocks?" she asked and he smiled. "Freedom...and those two are going to bond over lost brothers and rocks...weird huh?" he asked and she smiled.
"Sounds like what a kid would do..." she said and followed him over to the river. They were fourteen again...this was so weird...it had been weird the first time, but to have to go through it again and still have more boobs at the age of ten than half the girls did at sixteen? Really awkward... Neji rolled his eyes as he watched her look over herself repeatedly. "Yes we are kids again, can we get over this fact? In this world, I don't have the curse mark...I never will, and that cursed mark will never be created." He said and she blushed and nodded.
"It is so weird though..." she said and he chuckled. "You are weird Hinata, you are weird." He said and she giggled. He began skipping rocks across the surface of the water with ease and she frowned. She clumsily made an attempt to throw it and it plunked right into the center of the river. Neji laughed at her failed attempt and she blushed in embarrassment. She didn't give up though; she just continued to throw the stones with the same silly look on her face. They spent the next few days by the river, skipping rocks and catching fish to eat and they even swam a bit.
Hinata stuck her tongue out and reared her arm back and threw the rock, it skipped twice then plunked under the surface of the water like the hundreds of stones before it. She frowned and glared at the water lightly. Neji just laughed at her as she made yet another attempt to send a rock skipping over the surface of the water, and failed once more.
"You're looking at the rock wrong." A new voice said humoredly. Hinata blushed and turned to face the newcomer along with Neji. "Then Mr. almighty, why don't you show her how to skip a rock all the way to the other side." Neji chuckled at the newcomer who glared at him. "Fine! I will!" he said and his wrist twisted to the side and he attempted to skip the rock but it plunked right in the same place as Hinata's had, which made Neji laugh and Hinata giggle lightly. The newcomer blushed lightly and glared at Neji.
Neji then skipped a rock and it almost made it to the other side, but one shot past it and it made it to the other side. The three turned to see yet another newcomer. He scratched his head nervously and looked away from them. Hinata smiled brightly and the brown haired boy blushed. "That was amazing!" she said and the blue-black haired male glared at her lightly. "Hn." He grumbled and she looked at him with a frown. "You did good too..." she said and he blushed a light shade of pink and turned away from her glaring.
"I wasn't asking for you to complement me!" he grumbled and she frowned. "I'm sorry..." she said and her eyes began to water from him yelling at her. He blinked and looked behind him. He saw her beginning to cry and he frantically tried to figure out what to say. "Uh...I'm sorry!" exclaimed and she sniffled loudly. "I didn't mean to be so mean to you I'm sorry...uh...." He said and she wiped her eyes. "Hinata..." she whimpered and he sighed in relief as her tears vanished.
The short brown haired boy thwacked him in the back of the head with a rock. "It's not nice to make a lady cry!" he snapped and the dark haired boy glared at him. "My name is Neji." Neji said interrupting the two quarrelling boys. "Madara." The darker haired boy said, his spiky hair gave his identity away. "Hashirama." The brown haired male said and Hinata smiled at him. "No one asked you!" Madara growled and Hashirama looked at the ground depressed.
"They didn't ask my name...sorry for butting in..." he mumbled and Madara glared at him. "No one asked you to show us up either!" he snapped and Hashirama hit his knees and a dark aura surrounded him. It felt really depressing and Hinata frowned. She walked over to him and ruffled his hair. He looked up at her with sad eyes. "It's alright Hashirama-kun." She said and the brown haired boy blushed at her. She just smiled at him and Madara turned away from her with a glare.
"Madara-kun, please be nice to Hashirama-kun..." she said pleadingly. He sniffed arrogantly and shook his head no. her lower lip quivered and she began to sniffle again. He cracked one eye open and looked over at her with surprise. "Oh please don't cry again!" he pleaded and she sniffled louder. "Fine! I will be nice!" he said and she beamed at him and hugged him. He looked away from her with an angry blush on his cheeks. Neji watched how she got them both wrapped around her fingers faster than she had gotten Itachi, Sasuke, Kiba or Shino. The girl had a knack for making people adore her, even if she didn't know it.
They spent the rest of the day talking about family, although not going into detail, they played games and acted like children act. They had fun without anyone telling them that they weren't allowed to do so. They just continued to be children for just a while longer, until they all had to go home anyways. Go home and return to being strong shinobi fighting a futile war...
I hope you all liked this!