Only Time Can Tell

DREAMS

CHAPTER 37

DREAMS

HINATA UZUMAKI

It was a long night. An unbelievably long night. Sakura did everything she could. Naruto kept quitting on her, but just as the sun began to rise, he stopped. Something had clicked inside of him and he stopped failing. In fact, Sakura told me that his heartbeat was growing stronger. Though I don't know if that was true or just to cheer me up. My eyes were so heavy, like liquid lead was slowly melting over them, keeping them closed and impossible to open. And so I dreamed.

I stood in a cavern, a cave maybe? The air felt thick and full of moisture. All around were objects that made my heart go cold. Bottles full of organs and eyes. Pulsating objects...the entire room had a greenish glow. My heart went clunk when I saw who was on the table. My son.

Boruto, his blonde hair full of dirt and blood, his eyes closed tight in pain. His fists were clenched and bound down to the table. His back arched off the table in agony. Tears poured out of eyes. Embedded in his chest...

Orochimaru stood over my son, his snake eyes glinting with evil. His oily black hair falling slick over his back. His hand was embedded in my son's chest. All along his arm orange and blue chakra flowed out. His turned suddenly to stare at something off to the side.

I ripped my eyes from my tortured son and looked to see Sarada, weakly clinging to the wall. But her eyes...she had wrapped bandages all around her eyes and forehead, but blood had begun to soak through. What...I turned to stare at Orochimaru in horror. What had he done to her?

"Please! Let him go!"

"Oh no! It's very rare to have a specimen with chakra like this, it's very interesting. There's no way that I'll just let you pass. This will definitely help with my research." Orochimaru smiled, his grip tightening around my son's heart.

Boruto howled in agony, his feet curling in pain. More chakra pulsed up Orochimaru's arm. Slowly more tears fell. I wanted more than anything to reach out to him, to catch his tears and to wipe them away. To rip Orochimaru's hand out of him. To save him, to keep him from this pain.

"Sarada..." My son whispered his lips trembling uncontrollably. "Go." I tried to reach out to him, but I seemed to be stuck right here. Unable to move I watched helplessly as he screamed again, his back arching off the metal table. It was like I could feel his pain.

"Boruto...what did you do to him?!" Sarada screamed, stumbling forward, her hands stuck out in front of her, unable to see. "Please.." She murmured her voice breaking.

"What is it about your boyfriend that I find so interesting? His chakra." There was a hissing noise and then an agonizing scream. "It's too bad that forcibly removing all of it is so painful." He smiled maliciously. ""With this, I might be able to control the power of the Nine Tailed Fox. Bottle it all up and I'm sure it will become very...useful."

He turned his eyes back to Boruto, and his grip tightened again like he was slowly squeezing the life out of him. Boruto's face turned white suddenly and a hollow wail escaped him. He was running out of chakra to give. Any moment now he would die.

"Boruto!" Sarada screamed. She extended her hands forward hopelessly reaching for nothing. She couldn't see anything. She took another step and then another. "Let him go!!!"

"That would be awfully wasteful of this opportunity. Don't worry, it won't take very long." I felt my eyes prick with tears, watching these children, my child. They're suffering. No..they're dying. Boruto screamed again and his entire body shook all his muscles clenching, then his eyes opened and his body collapsed clunking against the metal. He had nothing left. He was empty. His eyes glazed over and his fists began to unfurl. His head rolled to the side. And in that moment, his eyes met mine.

I screamed something that I knew he couldn't hear, and in that moment I forced my hand to reach out to him, extended in midair, desperately reaching for something that was far too far away. One more tear rolled down his face and then...slowly as he closed his eyes again...he smiled at me.

"BORUTO!!!" I screamed jolting upright, my hand extended ahead of me, reaching for the hospital window across from me. My face seemed to be wet with tears and as the overwhelming cold of the dream crashed over me like a wave, I succumbed to it again and I began to cry.

"Hinata!" I heard Sakura yell her footsteps pounding down the hall. She came wheeling around the corner and terror in her eyes she knelt to me. "What's wrong?!" There were huge bruised bags under her eyes. I was surprised that she had managed to run down the hallway, let alone stand up. She had been awake for hours, using every last bit of her chakra to keep Naruto from dying. I remember that in one of the last moments Sakura had asked me to pray. When Naruto finally stabilized she had hardly been able to climb off of him she was so weak.

"I..." I couldn't think of the words to describe what I had just seen. I quickly wiped away my tears. "I had a dream. That's all." I had never had a dream as shockingly real as that though, a giant wad of lead seemed to be lodged deep in my stomach and I couldn't seem to shake it.

"Really?" Sakura said her eyes becoming less panicked but the concern never leaving them. "Do you want to talk about it?"

A flash of my son's face before he died kept my lips tightly zipped. "I can't really."

"Vague, huh?" Sakura's face softened, taking a seat next to me. It was anything but vague. It was far too vivid for comfort. It couldn't have been real. There's no way.

"It wasn't."

"Oh?" Sakura calmly.

"You're going to think that I'm crazy."

"No. I won't. I've had some very weird dreams. I had a dream right before the night the fight with Toneri that Sasuke was coming home. It was only after we had come back to the village that I had heard from Kakashi that he actually had. And believe me," Sakura smiled. "I've probably had weirder dreams."

But this was anything but a dream of good news. "It looked like one of Orochimaru's hideouts. And Boruto...he was..." I took a deep breath collecting myself. "Orochimaru was doing horrible things to him. And Sarada was..." I looked over at Sakura whose face was clouded with concern again. She's a mother too. If I told her about what I had seen concerning Sarada... "was there too. In the doorway. She was helpless to stop what he was doing to Boruto. He said that he was going to use Boruto's chakra for experiments. And then..." My voice cracked. "I watched him die." I looked over at Sakura, my eyes pricking with tears. "He was in so much pain Sakura. And I couldn't do anything!"

"Hinata..." Sakura said touching my shoulder. She was quiet, I don't blame her, I was still processing the dream myself. I looked over at Naruto, his breathing steady, his hands just beginning to warm in mine. My heart always throbbed looking at him.

"Naruto..." I bent down, gently kissing the top of his hand, my tears leaving their moisture on his skin. I closed my eyes and began to pray, letting my chakra move from me into him. It slowly traced up his arm and into his body. I would give him all the power I had if it meant he would wake up. I would do anything to see his eyes again. I would do anything to see him carry Boruto home on his shoulders again. I would even do anything to see him come to dinner late. To see him play with Himawari. To feel him kiss my head before I fall asleep. To see him again. As he was. I gave him all of my chakra.

And then...as I opened my eyes again, I watched in astonishment as his hand tightened around mine.