青い骨の美 - The Beauty of Blue Bones

Chapter 37

Summer
Monday—5:15AM

The churning of her stomach was awfully reminiscent of when she had felt sick of herself nearly a year ago; training her body in the silence of the night while the compound was asleep because she felt better in the safety of her room rather than in the dojo or anywhere else for that matter.

Hinata opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling, half expecting to see the floating figure of her sister or that of the Shinigami, only to be met by the wooden panels above instead. Should she have been grateful for the moment of quiet and tranquillity? Sure, but the pits of her stomach had soon hallowed out once she blinked back the sleep in her eyes.

The arms wrapped around her were loose, belonging to both men whose legs were entangled with her own. Her hair acted like a double blanket for them, and it was saddening to leave them alone for a bit, but she would be back soon.

Slipping out from under their hold, staring at them with tired, love filled eyes, she stretched and sighed as the air bubbles in her spine briefly popped.

Her footsteps were quiet as she entered her closet and pulled out a large sweater which was promptly thrown on. Again, she glanced at the two men occupying her bed, currently wrapped around each other with her absence, before she pulled out an old oil lamp as well.

The sun wouldn't be rising for a few more minutes so she had to make it quick.

Looking through the pantry, Hinata pulled out a box and tucked it under her arm as she walked out of the small storage room. She proceeded to fill the box with two items which she hid the day before, and made sure that she had everything she needed.

It was cool outside unlike the blistering heat the summer days were known for. The early morning mist had already begun settling, dew brushed her feet as she walked through the grass. She didn't need to put on her shoes seeing as she didn't need to go very far, so she appreciated how soothing it all felt. At least it helped with the wave of nausea that currently hit her.

Opening the shed door, Hinata set the box down momentarily in search of a shovel. "Where did he put it?" She frowned, rummaging through the other gardening tools. "That Naruto, always leaving things somewhere without returning it." She said fondly, and settled on using the small, hand held shovel she used for her herb gardening instead.

With a puff of air, and a shaky hand running through her hair, Hinata left the shed and made her way to the depths of the forest. Her byakūgan would have been great to see where she was going, yet she didn't activate it knowing that—even without her reluctance to rely on her family's technique—it would cause a miniature chakra spike that Sasuke would undoubtedly pick up on.

The part of the forest she stopped in was extremely dense; the leaves were thick and the bushes were plenty. No animal was out and about at the moment, but she could picture the likes of deers frolicking in this space.

Falling to her knees, Hinata began digging two holes within a few feet of each other. When she felt that they were deep enough, she opened the box and pulled out a blue yukata and a quilt.

Folding them carefully, she placed them within their respective holes and grabbed a sheet of parchment paper from the box. Writing on it carefully, she lit them on fire and watched as they burned just as the sun began to rise.

"Please, rest well." She muttered, letting the burning papers fall onto each hole. She didn't look up when the pale feet of two children appeared in front of her, nor did she flinch when they touched her head and disappeared completely.

Filling the hole back with dirt , she planted two seeds to cover up what she had just done and said another prayer.

Returning back to the house was a struggle; her world began to spin as the feeling of throwing up continued to grow. Hinata blinked back the dots in her vision once her home came into view.