Itachi has blood on his hands.
She can see it.
It is their- her parents.
Her clan's.
Hinata cannot tear her eyes away from the sight.
She is next.
She knows it.
There is a cold frisson of fear before a heavy sense of acceptance seeps through her.
If she cannot die of age, she will die by the hands of a loved one.
Hinata almost wants to spare him the pain.
To pick up a kunai and join the rest of her kin.
But she cannot.
He has trapped her.
She cannot tear herself away from the images.
Because she sees it, over and over again.
She can see their murder.
But what he cannot know she sees - because he would never show it to her - is the truth.
She sees her parents' wary but proud faces.
She sees their sparing Itachi of the burden of killing them.
She sees him promise to take care of her.
And she understands.
Her parents must have done something terrible.
Because there is only one thing Itachi loves more than her:
Konoha.
She doesn't want to believe that her parents could do something against the village, against their home.
But she doesn't want to believe Itachi could kill their whole clan to test himself either.
The Uchiha must be traitors.
And as she tries to escape from her brother she screams it at him.
Abruptly, the images falter.
She is right.
Itachi puts a single finger to her lips, pokes her once in the forehead and leaves.
But Hinata doesn't want that to be their ending, cannot allow it, so she follows after him.
He is tall, taller than her and a trained nin so the only reason she catches up to him is because he allows her to.
She tells him - begs him really - to write to her.
She hasn't forgiven him.
She hasn't even begun to hate him yet.
Right now, all she knows is that her older brother is leaving.
He leaves.
That is when Hinata finally allows the grief to overtake her.
She cannot hold on any longer.
When Hinata wakes up, she is still among the rubble.
Among her dead kin.
Her hair is stained red with blood.
It is not her blood.
But she is not prepared to deal with it.
She grabs the first kunai she finds - sharp and stained - and cuts it all off.
She cannot bear to look at it as it drifts off towards the ground.
Then slowly, unsteadily, she begins to build a pyre.
Her parents taught her the Uchiha death rites.
She may not have wanted to be a Shinobi but she knows how to perform the fireball technique.
Every Uchiha must.
She was no exception.
It takes her a long time.
Even longer when she spots a familiar face or something she had loved.
She can feel the eyes watching her.
But they do not do anything.
So Hinata, six and raised as a civilian, drags the bodies onto the pyre herself.
She drags the logs to their rightful places and heaves the bodies on top.
And even though there is more than her and the bodies, she barely registers it.
And then she prepares the technique and blows.
She is crying and she is fairly sure snot is coming dangerously close to her mouth but she chants the words that have been engraved into her memory since she was young.
She cannot feel any eyes on her.
In this, at least, she is given privacy.
She watches the flames grow and they are captivating.
She begins to consider joining them, allowing herself to be no more.
Would the ANBU stop her?
Or would they let her join the rest of her clan in the glorious blaze?
She is ashamed to admit she doesn't think of Itachi in those moments.
Nor of what her parents would have wanted.
For there is only her, the fire and the lifeless dead.
The fire - scalding but soothing.
Warm, alive.
She feels cold and hollow.
They say opposites attract.
It would be so easy.
To step up and let herself be consumed by the warmth.
Because she is aching cold and she craves it.
But slowly, the fire dwindles and she misses her chance.
She is not sure whether she regrets it or not.