Messing with the Middle

What could've been?

Hinata wasn't quite sure how to explain what she was seeing. She knew she died, that much was obvious. She had a feeling Sasuke and Naruto were still alive so that's all that mattered.

There was a brief moment of darkness before something akin to a screen appeared before her. She saw herself? As a child, a very young child, about 7 to 8 if she had to guess.

Was this her life flashing before her eyes?

She watched as her young self figit with a small box in hand. She watched her slowly head over to a certain Uchiha who looked dead on his feet.

Ah, she remembered this, this was the start of her relationship with Sasuke.

Only this time when young her handed the Uchiha the box, he didn't accept, he didn't hug her, she didn't make a new friend. No. Sasuke glared at her, he grew angry, he threw the bento box away and she watched as her younger self ran from the Uchiha.

What was this? She was pretty sure she would remember if that had happened. The scene changed. There was snow on the ground. She watched as a group of boys bullied her younger self.

She remembered this too, Sasuke came and helped her... only Sasuke never came. No it was Naruto who rushed out of the bushes and charged the boys head first. She watched him lose but saw Naruto hand the young Hyuga his red scarf....

What is this? What is happening? More scenes like this continued to show.

She watched as she was placed in team 8 with Kiba and Shino instead of team 7. She watched as Neji continued to bully her, she watched as she lost the Chunin exams, as she was borderline obsessed with Naruto.

But this wasn't her life.

It continued, she watched herself grow up, she still died to Pein but she came back, she watched as she was dragged into a war, as Team 7 saved the day once again. She even watched her and Naruto get married. Have two kids, but she wasn't happy.

Hinata was weirded out. What was this? This wasn't her life, a life without Sasuke it just looked.... odd. She wanted to go back to her life, the one with Sasuke, Gaara, Haku and Naruto. The one where she has a crush on sasuke, the one that feels right.

Then slowly everything changed.

It was her life... she was with Sasuke, she saw the life she remembered. She saw herself much older, about early 40s, she saw her with 7? Kids, with Sasuke smiling.

Do you want what could have been? Or what will be?

Who said that? Hinata looked around, she payed careful attention to see if she could hear anything. The voice was deep, unnaturally so. It was scratchy and left an echo after every word.

Well?

It continued.

"I want to be with Sasuke," She answered sternly. She wanted to be with the man she loved. And while Naruto was a fun person he was her brother more than her lover.

The voice chuckled. It sounded amused as if they expected no less.

Very well, look after him.

She was blinded by the sudden brightness. She pushed the white blanket off her face and sat up grasping her head. She looked around and saw other civilians and Ninja alike doing the same.

Hinata looked around, there was no sign of Sasuke or Naruto. Heck even Haku wasn't around. Did Sasuke leave? After she died Did he just leave? No, she knew him better than that.

Standing up on wobbly legs, she looked like a new born deer.

"You're alive!?" A voice yelled.

Hinata looked over and saw a girl with glasses and red hair. Next to her stood a man with white hair and sharp teeth on one side, on the other was a broad man with unruly orange hair.