Shattered - Never shall she give her heart to others anymore, only to pick up the shattered pieces alone.

Shattered

Never shall I give my heart to others anymore. Only to pick it up the shattered pieces alone- Hyuga Hinata

He called her name softly.

White eyes snapped to his direction before they became unfocused. She wasn't listening anymore, not to him, not to anyone. Humans are created to lie and deceive. If she didn't let any of them close, it wouldn't hurt when they betrayed her. She wouldn't make the same mistake anymore.

"I am sorry," his voice cracked with emotion.

She vaguely heard the words but the meaning did not sink into her. They would only surface with unwanted emotions. She would not let them. She sunk deeper into the welcoming darkness of the abyss. She wasn't listening anymore. Not to him. Not to anyone.

When she finally came back to her surroundings, he was gone and the ground beside her was cold. She didn't mind. She would much rather prefer it if she had never met him in the first place.

I am supposed to be a protector. But I failed in that duty. I failed her - Hyuga Neji

It hurt.

It hurt to see his cousin in that state. It was his duty to protect her and yet he failed her. He let that bastard hurt her and now she was left in this state.

He wanted to help her pick up the shattered pieces, almost everyone did. But she let no one near him, not mentally anyone. It didn't matter whether he was in a different building, or in the same room. Deeper down, they were miles away. He couldn't get close to her. He couldn't get past the barriers she had created.

He felt anger and betrayal when her cousin fell into this state. He felt furious when he realized that he could do nothing. His cousin needed protection back then, but now it was too late.

It hurt to see his cousin like this. Hinata used to so happy, and grudgingly he admitted that she always used to be smile around that jerk. Not the soft shy smile that she would usually wear if someone were looking at her, but an actual happy one that would reach her eyes.

Now her eyes were empty. Empty of the hope and joy they usually held and he felt partially responsible for that.

He had failed his cousin.

She was the silent pillar of support. But now she has crumpled alone - Hyuga Hanabi.

She was confused.

All her life Hinata had been the silent pillar of support. Something she could always rely on. But the day her sister crumpled, she crumpled alone with no one for her to rely on.

It pained her to see her sister in this state. It pained her the most that she just stood by, that she read her sister incorrectly. She thought her sister would be strong no matter what. So seeing her sister in this state... it hurt.

She didn't try to get close to her sister. Not now. She couldn't stand being in her presence. The guilt. Every time she looked at her sister, a weak shell of her old self, she felt guilt that she didn't try to comfort her. She felt guilt every time her cousin returned from seeing her, looking depressed.

She didn't know what to do anymore. One of her foundations of her life had been crumpled. But she knew that the empty feeling she felt was nothing compared to what her sister would be feeling.

She wished she could be the silent pillar of support for Hinata now. She wished that. Her sister would not let anyone past her barriers; she had been hurt too badly. The first and last time she had visited her sister, she had not been noticed. Her words had been ignored; her sister did not so much as even glance at her.

It hurt her. It confused her. Her older sister had crumpled and it was entirely his fault.

With sleep comes hope. But she didn't want false hope -Tsunade, Godaime Hokage.

She wasn't sleeping.

Hinata was not sleeping as much as she was supposed to. That was evident by the dark rings around her eyes emphasized by her pale skin. Poor girl. She gave her heart away and she had been left alone to pick up the shattered pieces.

In a way Hinata reminded her of herself. Once her heart had been broken but she had picked up the pieces and fixed it. But Hinata was alone, although some wanted to help her, she would let no one close to her heart again, not after the pain she went through.

She wanted to help Hinata, tell her that she felt the same before. But that would be a lie. Her heart wasn't shattered in this way. The fact that someone would actually do something like this to Hinata of all people. Hinata was innocent and fragile in her own way; she wasn't supposed to be treated this way.

She had tried to help the girl. Speak to her. Encourage her to eat and sleep. Hinata listened in her own way, picking slowly at her food. Mid-way through, her usually blank eyes focused on her and she finally spoke.

"With sleep comes hope and I don't want false hope," Hinata had said softly, so softly that for a moment that she had thought she had misheard her.

For the sake of her family, she did not tell them that Hinata had spoken. She did not want them to try to get to Hinata when she did not want them. She would give Hinata time and hopefully she will recover on her own.

Porcelain dolls aren't meant to be treated roughly. 'Cause if they do, they break - Inuzuka Kiba

He didn't know what to feel.

He was like an older brother to her, and he should have been there for her. One day she had been all smiles, the next the smile was wiped from her face and it looked as if it had never been there.

She was the sunlight, but now the light had disappeared into dark abyss. When he saw the empty look in her pale eyes, and he had heard from Shino the reason, he had wanted to bash that bastard up.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. He had always imagined Hinata the one living happily ever after. That seemed like the only ending that fitted with the innocent kunoichi.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Now he didn't know what to feel.

I wasn't needed. So I stayed in the abyss - Hyuga Hinata

She wasn't needed.

No one wanted her. Not her family, not the people she believed to be her friends. No one. She wasn't wanted so she took cover in the dark abyss, to be detached from the true world, to just forget for the time being.

No one needed her. Some believed that they could have done something, but afterwards they just stopped visiting. They stopped caring. They didn't need her anymore. They didn't understand how she felt.

She wasn't needed. So she stayed in the abyss.

"Hinata," a soft voice called, strained with emotion.

She didn't respond, pale eye fixated at the sunlight escaping into the room.

"Please. I can't stand seeing you be like this. No one does," the voice urged.

When she again did not respond, the speaker spoke again.

"Onee-sama!" she cried, sounding more urgent.

At this, Hinata's eyes seemed to focus, settling on her. "What is it Hanabi?" she asked softly.

"Onee-sama," she repeated, eyes blinking to hold back tears.

Sympathy crossed Hinata's face as she leaned forward to embrace her younger sister. "Shh, it's okay. Onee-sama is here now," she hushed.

"Stay here. Stay here in the light. Stay with me. With Neji. With your team, that dog-boy, bug-boy and the genjutsu teacher," her sister ordered fiercely.

The foundations in her life were repairing and she would support them. There was no longer confusion. Hinata was her silent pillar of support but she would support her sister as well.

He looked startled upon seeing her, even though she still had the dark rings on her eyes, those were barely noticeable by the smile that lit up her face as he entered.

"H-Hinata-sama," he greeted as calmly as he could. Despite the fact that Hanabi had told him that 'she was back', he did not completely believe her.

"Neji," she answered in response.

There was no added 'niisan', but he did not blame her. Not after what she had gone through. So long as she wore a genuine, if not hesitant smile on her face, he would be content. She had recovered this much, he would protect her.

He was the protector. He would not fail her again.

That girl had gotten better. Apparently during the visit from her younger sister, than Hinata finally returned to normal, or at least as close to normal as she could be.

A week later she had returned, the dark rings around her pale eyes had been gone. Not a sign of them ever existing. She was finally healing. She didn't know whether it was because Hinata was mentally strong, or was it that her friends and family were supporting her.

With every day she was getting close to whom she used to be, even though it was evident there would be some changes. But her physical condition was fine, she was sleeping well enough and she was eating. Time will heal the rest of the injuries.

She was back to normal.

It was as if she had forgotten him. He felt thankful but he knew he shouldn't be feeling those emotions. Hinata couldn't recover that fast. She must still be bottling some emotions inside.

He did not question her for the fear that it would trigger unwanted emotions and send her back to the state she was before. He would wait. He would not open her wounds for her.

He would give her time. He would let her heal.

She stood on the grassy hill, ignorant of the rain falling around her. Calm eyes were fixated on the dark blue stone, pale fingers tracing a name upon it. There were audible footsteps as her sister ran up to her, an umbrella clutched in her hand.

"What is it Hanabi?" she asked softly, gaze shifting from the stone to her sister.

Similar white eyes looked at her, except they were filled with worry. "Neji-nii-sama was worried about you," Hanabi answered absently, glancing at the monument.

She gave a small smile and walked to her sister. "You shouldn't worry too much. I'll be fine. The life of a kunoichi is filled with death. All of us have gone through emotionally training," she murmured.

"Training is different from real life experiences," Hanabi insisted.

Hinata only gave an amused smile and returned to the compound with her sister.

-Flash Back-

She looked down upon him, blood-tainted hands glowing green as she attempted to heal him. A pale and equally bloodied hand stopped her, pushing her away.

"Hinata..." he called softly.

Horror filled white eyes soon became unfocused as she shifted away from him, turning her head so she no longer had to look at him. Humans were created to deceive and lie. He promised he would remain with her forever. But he couldn't. Not anymore.

"I am sorry," his voice cracked with emotion but he continued. "I'm going to die Hinata. I'm sorry that I am leaving you behind. Take care of yourself won't you?" he asked in desperation.

The two remained silent until several jounins found them. One bent over to check for his pulse but found nothing.

"Hinata-sama?" Neji asked cautiously, as the other jounins took away the body. "He's dead Hinata-sama. Uchiha Sasuke is dead," Neji insisted softly, trying to get her to respond.

She remained unmoving, not even aware of her surroundings, not even aware of him.

Many minutes later, her eyes finally focused on the empty but bloodied spot beside her before shifting to her worried cousin. "Let's go back, Hinata-sama," he urged.

It was then that he decided that he hated Uchiha Sasuke for dying and leaving his cousin in this state.

The End

2006-03-10 - Shattered published.
2011-02-13 - Slight update to replace line breaks.

-Demeterr