The guardian chronicles : Nirvana (Todoroki Shoto x Uzumaki Naruto)

Chapter 24

Why am I in Konoha's hospital?

Naruto curled her lips into a frown and flickered her eyes around the hospital room. The room looked familiar too, almost like the same room she stayed in after her battle with Sasuke. But she left Konoha when she was thirteen. So why was she here again? She should be inside her small apartment in Japan. Not in a cold hospital room, where her only company were a bunch of orange lilies and a young blond-haired girl, who stared at the wall like a dead person. Her hand clutched her chest, tracing it in a pattern that looked almost like the chidori scar Naruto had on her chest.

Tilting her head, Naruto glided over and blue eyes grew wide at the sight of herself staring back at her. Where was she? Was this a dream? Or a memory? If it was a dream then she could grab control of it, right? She nodded, raised her hand and slapped her younger self on the face...only for her hand to go through it.

What the hell was happening?

The door to her hospital room slid opened and Hinata stepped through, her hands wrapped around a pair of orange lilies. When did Hinata-chan visit her? Did Hinata-chan visit her in the hospital? Naruto nibbled her lips as Hinata sniffed and rubbed her eyes. Did Kiba act like an inconsiderate asshole again? She reached out to hug her best friend, only to stumble as Hinata walked through her.

The blue-haired girl took a deep breath, removed the orange lilies from the vase and replaced new ones. "The boys are getting better, Naruto-chan. Neji-niisan's surgery was a success and Kiba-kun is almost ready to be discharged. I told Kiba-kun since he is better now that he can come visit you with me...but he refused. He still feels guilty for what happened."

Her dream self doesn't smile, doesn't even puff her chest and calls Kiba a whimp. She just stared blankly at the wall like nothing seemed to matter. This had to be a dream. If something like this happened then it would be in her memory. She bobbed her head. This didn't happen because Dog Breath never felt guilty. If he felt guilty then he would have visited her. Yup, this never happened.

Hinata frowned, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Are you really not going to answer me, Naruto-chan? You won't even talk to me. Please just say something to me, Naruto-chan!"

Her dream-self clutched her chest even harder and gazed at Hinata. Blue eyes shone with so much grief that Naruto itched to slap her out of it. Hinata-chan was going to cry and the girl lying on the bed wasn't even trying to reassure her that she was fine. Naruto grinded her teeth, launched herself again at her twelve-year-old self but only to crash against the wall.

"I don't even want you to talk, Naruto-chan!" Tears began leaking out of Hinata's eyes and pain erupted from Naruto's heart at the sight. Her fingers reached out to wipe the tears, to hug her but she brought her hands down. Right, this was a dream. "Do something! Cry! Just let me know that you are listening to me.'

Hinata never cried. Not when her father acted like an asshole and not when Neji kept putting her down, her best friend always kept her composure. But this was not the Hinata that Naruto loves and knows. Hinata was crying, snot dribbled down her nose as she hugged her against her chest.

Hinata was stronger than this.

'You are stronger than this, Naruto!' Hinata hiccupped and looked around the room while her dream self just didn't respond to these accusation. 'This isn't you.'

"That isn't me, Hinata-chan!" Naruto yelled. She swirled her head at her dream self. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Hinata-chan is crying and demanding for you to get back up on your feet. No way in fucking hell did this happen."

Hinata was right because Naruto always picked herself back up. But she didn't exactly pick herself back up when Sasuke shoved the chidori up her chest, did she? She knows it wasn't the best time. Sometime during the battle, her heart broke into a million pieces. She chewed on her bottom lip. Was it possible that this happened? No. She gritted her teeth. She picked herself back up after the incident.