[open]

[gentlestep]

Who: Hinata and YOU
When: 05/11 ooc; 07/05 icly;
Where: Various
What: Hinata returned from her canon update! She's scurrying around trying to figure out who all is still here and maybe get her cousin a birthday gift
Rating/Warning: None expected!



It felt as if time had moved in the blink of an eye. Hinata remembered being home, finally bringing Hanabi back from the moon. Everything since then made her feel strangely detached. Had they gone home? Was Naruto still with her?

You see the colors merge together, billions of pixels painting the image of your home -now a wasteland. Explosions flank your sides, the body of loved ones lie at your feet, and you -the main character- are left to run through the final level, dodging attack after attack. They come in all forms, shooting at you from the sky, clawing at your legs, waiting at every check point until you reach the boss.

A single figure stands there, a familiar silhouette. An enemy perhaps? A rival? A foe? An entity that haunts you. It's your choice now whether to defeat them or walk away, but it will be instant game over if you do.

That's when you concentrate every last effort to destroy them completely, but it's not over yet.

Even with a trophy floating in front of you, announcing you've won, there's still a disembodied voice telling you it's only the beginning.

She comes to and it isn't long after the power point that Hinata is let loose again. Everything came back in flashes - Hikari, Lee, Leon, Neji... so many people were there when she had left. Just the realization sets her moving, practically running until her legs can't move anymore. Her long black hair billowed behind her, whipping in long dark strands against her bare shoulders and back. If anyone ran into her that knew her they'd realize she was different - her hair was longer and she was only a bit taller. She was definitely older than her last visit.

Hinata moves through the city, searching anywhere she could think of to find her friends. Worry kept her feet moving. She didn't want to think that they had all disappeared like she had - like Naruto had disappeared. Nothing felt right. If their home was gone why had she been able to go back? Why was she able to live two more years? She remembers seeing Naruto older, just before she'd left. He had been the last person to see her, truth be told.

Neji must be frantic with worry. How long had she even been gone?

"Ah- this is no good... I hope everyone is alright." Stopping, Hinata pushes her long hair back away from her face, looking around for any sign of her friends. Her Byakugan is active now. There were other chakra signatures but she was able to spot what she hopes is a familiar one not far away.

"There!" She begins jogging, frantic all over again.

Comments

[givesalittlewhistle]

There was something...different.

It wasn't just the clothes. It couldn't be; people changed outfits all the time. Or the hair. No, it was something Hikari couldn't help notice when she first caught sight of the older girl. Something that...couldn't quite be placed into words just yet, but was enough to warrant calling out to her:

"Hinata-san!"

[gentlestep]

"Hikari-chan!! You're still here." It was a mixed blessing, really, because she wanted the girl to be able to go home and yet - she still couldn't be sure whether any of them had a home to go back to. It was all so confusing. Hinata would hug her were it not so embarrassing. Hanabi would have flung herself at her.

"I'm sorry if I was gone a really long time." Hopefully no one worried too much?

[givesalittlewhistle]

Her brows rose. She knew she hadn't seen Hinata in a while, but it hadn't dawned on her that...it could have been for a reason beyond their paths not crossing for several days.

"Where did you go?"

[gentlestep]

"Uhm... well... I thought I went home for a while. At least I remember being home. Then I came back here but before that I forgot about this place! I'm sorry... I didn't mean to go back or to forget you or the others." She tries to give her a reassuring smile as if to say 'it's alright now!' as a big sister would do for her little sister.

"I remember there were robots. Are those gone now?" She looks around, noting that there didn't seem to be any differences in the city that she could discern.

[givesalittlewhistle]

Home.

Hikari wasn't an overly expressive child, but nor did she hide her strongest emotions. Several of them washed over her face all within the span of a few seconds. Surprise. A touch of guilt, for not having noticed sooner. Relief that Hinata seemed to have done well for the experience. Sadness that she was brought back here from a place that clearly meant something to her. Sheepishness when she realized the older girl was doing her best to comfort her in the moment, and--

...and then she brought up the robots, and all that melted away into a far more complicated look in her eyes. Which promptly turned downward.

"Yes. They're...gone now."

[gentlestep]

Hinata wasn't the best at reading people, not like Ino or Sakura, but she wondered if something had happened with the robots. She wouldn't press the topic, however. Hikari could bring it up if she liked.

"Did anything else happen while I was away?" Hopefully, no one else disappeared while she was gone. She didn't want poor Hikari to have to carry that weight on her. It was lonely, wondering what happened to people you cared about.

[givesalittlewhistle]

...aside from Hikari locking herself up in her room for several days after? Until she finally came out long enough to make a little memorial mound for her robot as a way of dealing with her guilt?

...

...

...actually...there was one thing....something that might even make Hinata smile.

"I heard Tailmon and Patamon in the hallway not too long ago. He'd gotten her a whole bunch of apples to cheer her up."

The though of the two digimon becoming friends even thought a smile to her face, and it wasn't an act.

[niceguypose]

[You'll find one familiar chakra signature at the gym; Rock Lee is doing push-ups with a small pile of weights on his back. It seems like he's shutting everything out except for his own workout. After all, not only is the guilt from the robot disaster fresh on his mind, but he's trying to cope with the loss of Hinata and other dear friends. He wonders - in the end, did he fail them all?]

omg gmail how could you eat this thread >:O

[gentlestep]

[Lee hadn't seemed to change at all, between when she last saw him back home and now. That haircut was definitely the same and the crazy exercises were definitely the same.]

Ah - Lee-san, you're still here!!

how dare it

[niceguypose]

[Rock Lee gasps and immediately cuts himself mid push-up as he hears that voice. He springs to his feet alertly.]

Hi... Hinata-san?! You are back!! [He was afraid that she was gone for good. So he is overcome with emotion and runs towards her.]

I will always be here for you! Are you well?!

[gentlestep]

Yes! I just returned, actually. I'm glad you're still here...

[She gives a bit of a smile, happy to see him.]

Uhm- was I interrupting? You were doing push-ups.

[niceguypose]

I am happy that you are back! [He quickly shakes his head.]

Whatever I was doing before this moment is unimportant! All things are unimportant, when faced with a dear friend!

[gentlestep]

I-I see.... thank you.

[She feels so glad that Lee is there. It's exactly the same way - all things were unimportant when she had her friends with her.]

Are you sure I'm not interrupting, though?

[niceguypose]

N-no, of course not! Not wen you are here!

Did something happen to you, Hinata-san?! Is... everything alright?! [It's not often that someone disappears like this, after all. And he's not sure if he's imagining it, but some things seem different about her. Was her hair that length - was she that tall?]

[gentlestep]

Is- yes! I think so! I'm not hurt, but I think I came back... different. I remember more. More time feels as if it passed.

[She's older, for sure.]

[niceguypose]

M-more time? I see... [He pauses uncertainly as he wonders what exactly to make of that.]

Er, what is the last thing that you remember from home...?

[gentlestep]

N-nothing important!!

[You know just... kissing Naruto. Totally not vital information.]

But it's been two years since the war... if that helps give you an idea.

[niceguypose]

Two- two years?! [Lee is flabbergasted!] Ah... Y-you... you are from the future?! [He's used to being the furthest in the timeline!]

[gentlestep]

Yes!! And a lot about the village has changed too!

[You know finishing rebuilding things, adding new things.. Kakashi had become Hokage too which was sure to surprise Lee.]

Everyone is still the same, at least.

[Albeit older. So maybe not exactly the same.]

[niceguypose]

It has?! [He takes a moment, but he starts to settle down.]

I... I see. ...You certainly seem to be the same pleasant friend that I recall, Hinata-san!

[tuishou]

[Either he'd taken a far too early shift at work or he'd gone and dismissed himself before it was even noon- who even knew with him. But the fact is, Neji's wearing what is (in his opinion) that gaudy, tries-to-be-traditional Chinese garb that the people working acupuncture do. Not that the word 'Chinese' meant anything to him and not that it couldn't look respectable if it lost some of those touches of gold. And not that any of this mattered, really-- if anything, people got out of his way because he was absently fiddling with some needles as he walked. A Hyuga was still human, after all, and Neji could pick up habits as easily as the rest of them.

And something he'd come to learn was that habits liked to rear their head alongside worry.

Not that he was worried.

He'd spent the first day worried, and hating himself for not having figured out what he couldn't possibly have known: Hinata hadn't gotten back to her apartment. She hadn't answered the two calls to her CereVice. Why? The second day he'd lost himself searching and now, the third, Neji was simply quiet.

Had her absence extended to a fourth day-- well, who cared about what ifs anyway. It was a lazy street he'd found himself in and so the sound of someone running _{(jogging, same shit)} made him turn, always on guard when it came to what was around him. Instantly, he starts- eyes widening and confusion open and clear on his face. And-- no, he won't meet her. He'll stay cemented in place, as if wondering if the lady will direct herself at him at all or if she'll simply jog past.] Hinata-sama?

[gentlestep]

[Luckily for Neji, Hinata wouldn't keep him in suspense. It had been two years since she'd seen him and reflexively she throws her arms around him, almost slamming bodily into him. To hell with politeness. To hell with being proper when she had grieved for two years for the loss of her cousin. He'd died along with other good men in the war so that she could live. He was here now and she was so overwhelmed by that fact that she could have cried on him.]

Neji Nii-san...!! You're still here.

[Stepping back after that abrupt surprise hug - hopefully he wouldn't be upset by that - Hinata smiles warmly and nods.]

Yes, it's me. I-I'm sorry I disappeared for so long. [She wonders how time works here. Was it two years for him too? he hadn't changed a bit.]