She could not even move one muscle, too paralyzed was she from the scene in front of her own eyes. A trace of red graced the pavement and the sight of the color made her stomach churn.

This was her fault.

A crowd had gathered around the boy, called him to wake him up but he wouldn't wake.

This was all her fault.

Hinata looked up from her book briefly and let the warm sunshine lighten her face.

Spring had arrived and banished the gloomy streets of Konoha, thereby providing its warmth and brightness.

The morning was loud from the passing cars and the line of students on their way to school, chatting about their weekend. Nevertheless it was a pleasant day that made Hinata's body feel like getting energized again after the cold winter.

Her ears caught fragments of her two friend's conversation and she smiled when it turned into a light bickering between them. The backs of them always gave her comfort and feel at home.

Kiba and Shino were pretty much her only friends. It wasn't that people didn't like her, she just wasn't very good with strangers and making new friends. Hinata was quiet and timid and she knew that that didn't make it easy for other people to approach her. But she was pleased with the way things were and happy with the life she had.

Additional to her boringly normal and unspectacular existence she had the unexpected ability to reverse time. It was odd and totally didn't suit her tranquil life style. It seemed out of place and too far from reality to be true. But it was.
How often had she questioned this fact and tried to convince herself that this was just a fantasy from a wild dream. But it turned out to be real, which had taken her quite a time to get used to.

No matter how extraordinary this was, Hinata had refused to use it in a large scale. She gave herself extra minutes in the morning when getting ready for school or made up for some of her clumsy mishaps. Never more than that.
It scared her a little bit, that she was able to reverse the time like that and she was sure that she wasn't the right person to have this power.

Her ability was a well kept secret, that she was too frightened of to abuse it any further and tried to keep her distance with other people. Hinata believed that humans shouldn't have this capability, so she did her best to hide that she had it and pretend that she hadn't.

"Naruto are you even listening to me?" Sakura narrowed her brows and gave her blond friend a skeptical look.
But he didn't show any signs of comprehension, instead continued to mindlessly watch the light blue sky and the clusters of fluffy clouds.
She thrust him in the rips, finally receiving his attention after he grunted in pain.

"What?" His eyelids were still heavy and the expression that had settled on his face made it appear like he had suddenly been roused from his sleep. Waking up early for school would probably never be his thing. Every of his muscles felt like it was sucked of energy.

"Forget it." She sighed and looked away. "I don't want to deal with your sleepy self." If it was any other time Naruto would have protested to know what she wanted to say but right now he didn't have the power to do so, too much did he wish to be in bed again.

The group of students, headed to the school, briefly stopped at a red light, where Naruto took his time to look around. The students who joined them at the crosswalk greeted him or gave him a pat on the shoulder. He tried to counter them with the same cheery expression he usually bestowed.
Then he distracted himself with another look around the lively neighborhood. The roof of his school peaked behind the for anew blooming rows of trees.

Naruto didn't notice the turning green of the traffic light until Sasuke resounded from the other side of the street, Sakura standing next to him and waving.

"Naruto, what are you doing? Hurry up." His best friend rarely raised his voice and even now, when his volume was louder than normally it was impossible for Sasuke to lose his cool. His face still mirrored the calmness it always did and sometimes Naruto asked himself how he had the skill to do so.

Students already passed him from the sides and Naruto interrupted his immobility, making his first step in crossing the street. Sasuke and Sakura turned around, the girl whipping out her cellphone, and proceeded their walk in a speed that made sure that Naruto would easily be able to catch up to them.

But when Naruto saw something dropping from a girls bag he came to a standstill. He leisurely picked up the item, that appeared to be a pendant from her bag. He briefly observed the plastic flower with a tag on the other side before he rose his gaze again, in search for its owner. He discovered her in a fair distance, oblivious that she had lost something on her way.

"Hey, you with the book!"

Hinata instinctively turned around when she heard the voice, not noticing the screeching of tires from an advancing car.
The boy who had called her curved his lips into a smile when she locked her gaze with his and visibly lifted the flower tag that usually graced her shoulder bag.
She halted when she realized that she was indeed the person he had called.

The sudden appearance of a black vehicle disturbed her view when it mercilessly hit Naruto with its terrifying speed.
Her surroundings turned into slow-motion, as the boy rammed the cars windshield and rolled over the roof, roughly dashing against the asphalt.

The sounds of the the impact echoed in her ears and she lost the grip of her book. And suddenly it appeared like the whole world stopped its doing to watch him hit the hardness of the ground.
Her eyes widened as if they didn't believe what just happened.

Her environment blended into a dull noise of screams and screeching, making her head pain from the discomfort caused by it.
People rushed at Naruto's side, quickly passing her and bumping into her in their hurry. It felt like her heart had stopped beating and slit down instead. Hinata saw how people opened their mouths widely but she couldn't hear a word they said, her senses only fixated the boy, whose fair strands of hair had taken on a red color, spreading its shade on the ground as well.

A crowd had gathered around him, seemingly blocking her view but between the gaps of their legs Hinata could see that Naruto didn't open his eyes no matter how much they shouted. They didn't dare to touch him but huddled down pure shock and fright reflecting on their faces.

Someone shook Hinata's shoulder and called her name but she didn't dare to avert her eyes from the happening. She was paralyzed but still trembling in her shock.

"No," she murmured and softly shook her head in disbelief.

This wasn't suppose to happen.

Despite the haziness of her mind and her inability to think straight she firmly squinted her eyes. She told herself to breath again but somehow she wasn't able to. She rather squinted her eyes harder. Her skin hurt at the amount of strength she put into this little gesture.

The ringing in her ears disappeared altogether and she felt the revival of her beating heart. For a short moment her surrounds felt quiet and light, as if everything was at peace. And when she opened her eyes again the brightness of the sun welcomed her.

"Hey, you with the book!"

The familiarity of the exclamation made her flinch and when she turned towards Naruto this time she heard the speeding car, in the knowledge of what would happen next. Quickly she made one step after another, at the same time panicking that she didn't reverse far enough.

Naruto widened his eyes in surprise at the sight of the girl running towards him with a tense and scared expression on her face.

When he felt an overwhelming ache in his back he realized that she had tackled him down. His hands, which had tried to decrease the impact of his fall, bruised terribly.

Hinata had firmly embraced him, wounding her arms when they met with the ground. She knew that her knees hurt but she was able to block out the pain. She pressed herself tightly against Naruto's body, like she wanted to make sure that he wouldn't be able to escape her hold even if he tried to.

It took him too many seconds to process what had happened. He recalled the earsplitting sound of screeching tires and when he saw the black car, that stood in the middle of the junction his brain regained the ability to put one and one together.

The girl loosened her grip on him but still refused to completely let go.
When he sat up they locked their gazes. Hers staring at him in worry and his in a stunned manner. Her already big eyes were widened and blinked vigorously and her brows were knitted together.
Naruto watched her facial features for awhile and noticed how they soothed again, not realizing the calling from people around them.

Their heavy breathing slowed down again, making it possible for him to open his mouth. But he wasn't able to utter a single sound and instead reacted with silence when someone quickly helped the girl up and steadily took her away from him.

After they had already greatly distanced themselves from Naruto, Hinata recognized Kiba's and Shino's grab on each of her arm, asking her questions while they roamed their eyes over her body in search of a grave injury. She didn't understand what they said but nodded spiritlessly.
The pain in her knees reappeared again and, although her friends supported her, she wondered how she was even capable to walk on her own feet.

When she turned her head around, she saw Naruto still sitting on the ground surrounded by a group of people, from which some had kneeled down next to him.
He didn't give them any of his attention but rather looked after Hinata with widened eyes and an agape mouth.