Hidden Sight

Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry (again) for the late chapter! Hope you enjoy!

It was cold.

A mist concealed the land. Nothing was visible and nothing was tangible. Hinami floated in a hazy cloud of ethereal gray. The misty fog swirled and the sun, invisible under the clouds, spread dull light around her. Warm light reflected off the water, and rainbows danced in the every-moving fog. 'Where...where am I? ' Hinami was groggy with sleep. She rubbed her eyes in an attempt to wake up, and looked around herself in confusion. She did not remember leaving her room. Last she remembered, she was crying. And then it went dark. Curious. Where was she? She tried to move, and found herself gently afloat. She glided through the air as the pearlescent haze lazily swirled in circles around her.

Out of nowhere, a wispy light appeared. And then another. And another. In all shades and colors of the rainbow, they seemed to dance in the ever swirling cloud. Bright colors of yellow, blue, pink, purple, and so many more seemed to appear before her eyes.

'What are those? ' Hinami was eager for knowledge. The blobs seemed to dance and sway, chasing after each other playfully and spinning circles around her.

She reached out to touch one, and it leaned into her touch. It was warm, but almost intangible. And then, the world changed.

Red dripped from the top of the sky, dyeing it into a world of crimson. The light behind the clouds seemed to flicker before dying out, and engulfing the world into shadows. The mists quickly seemed to be corrupted by black goo, and became sticky and viscous. Hinami let out a scream at the change in atmosphere.

Then, the cheering blobs of color seemed to wink out too. One by one, they lost their luster, their glow, and disappeared. In a matter of seconds, the last one winked out, and her source of light disappeared. She was plunged into a world of shadows and blood.

The air grew chilly and she shivered. A growl echoed across the area. More joined it. Hinami was frozen in shock, and started to shake. Suddenly, a black hand shot up from the darkness below and grabbed Hinami's leg, dragging her into the depths underneath. Hinami screamed, and stretched her hand out to the sky as she was dragged below. And then, it was gone. She woke up with a start shrieking. Her hand, still outstretched, came into focus as the rapidly blinked tears and sleep out of her puffy eyes. She was breathing heavily and sweating. In a panic, Hinami quickly searched for something familiar in her surroundings only to find that she was in her room. She was positioned on her bed on top of her covers. Her pillow was stained wet with tears. Her brows furrowed, and she looked for something, anything that was wrong.

'Nothing ' Nothing was amiss. It was silent in her room again, and she was surprised that she had not disturb her mother. 'I guess my mother was fast asleep ' For once, she was thankful her mother was always tired and slept like a rock. Silver moonlight slipped into her room under her window curtains. She sighed and grumbled to herself, "Why did I have to wake up?"

Falling back into her bed, she snuggled up to her pillow, and her consciousness faded again.

. . . . . . . . .

Birds chirped in the background and Hinami began to gain her bearings again. Bright light shined through the curtains, and creeped across her carpet. A warm glow seemed to like up her room like a lightbulb.

Groaning, Hinami stretched her arms and got out of bed. It was the weekend. A fine Saturday with the perfect weather for the beach. The sun was already high in the cloudless blue sky as Hinami rose out of bed. By the time she was up, her mother was long gone to work. Hinami found a note on the polished stone counter.

"I'm out on a work trip. Be back late tomorrow evening. Breakfast is in the fridge, and I asked Mrs. Hart to watch you while she can.

Love you, Mom," it read in curly handwriting.

Hinami frowned. Her mother's writing was not curly. It was blocky and full of lines, but Hinami chalked up the difference to the fact that her mother was not on good terms with her.

Seeing the note, Hinami confirmed her mother was definitely still upset with her, and wanted to take her mind off it with work. Lots of work, apparently, as she would not be back for 5 more days. Hinami let out a deep breath, and rolled her eyes.

'So much for being a family. Guess nothing was the same after father abandoned us.'

Draping herself over the white couch in the living room, she closed her eyes. Her father had left their family when she was young. 'I was maybe around 6 years old ' she reminisced about her father.

He was a proud man. Coming from a wealthy family and moving here to live with her mother was something that had not gone as hoped. Her mother told her that he was a good person, but just did not like the countryside villages, but she thought that her father was just a dirtbag.

'What good father would leave his wife and child for the sole reason that he did not like where he lived,' she reasoned with herself and nodded to herself in agreement. 'Besides, why would mom marry someone like that? Some person who would leave her without a second thought, though,' she huffed at the idea and crossed her arms over her chest.

Opening her eyes, she flinched at the bright light and blinked rapidly in order to let her eyes adjust. 'That was a bad idea. Note to self: don't close your eyes for a long time and then look at a bright light. Nice going, Hinami. '

She always chided herself, and now was no exception. Rubbing her eyes to momentarily soothe them, she opened them again. Moving to a shadier area of the couch, she closed her eyes again, recalling last night's events. It had been a blur, but she remembered her overwhelming emotions. Being angry, then afraid, and sad, and guilty. She was still bleary from last night's events.

"What happened?" she wondered aloud, racking her brain for the previous night's events. Her mom came home, and she found her talking about her aunt being murdered--

"Murdered?!?!" Hinami shouted, and shot up off the couch in a panic. That was right, her aunt was killed in cold blood. Hinami steeled herself, and remembered her goal. She wanted to find out who murdered her aunt. She was no detective, but she was sure she could figure it out.

'Afterall, it can't be that hard to figure out this mystery. There are a few people who saw Aunt Hana before she died, so I have limited suspects. This could be simple...'

Right?

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please feel free to leave a comment or suggestion for the story. Or if you have any questions for me, feel free to ask. Have a nice weekend!