It sometimes happens that memories rush back when you sleep and they become nightmares. Fortunately, Hinata and Naruto are always next to each other.

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Written for NaruHina week 2019 - Day 6

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She was on the battlefield.

Never had she felt such an amount of chakra gathered at the same place by Naruto's diehard strength.

Never had she witnessed so many lives cut short by Death, intransigent during these days of war.

In the thick darkness of the endless night, hundreds of bodies were laying around her, no more signs of emotions on their faces now pale forever.

But she couldn't care about that right now.

The priority was to save the shinobi world and it was only after that came the importance of keeping her war comrades alive.

In front of her, stood the huge wood statue that a part of the Shinobi Alliance was trying to fight back.

Next to her, still covered with the warm and bright chakra of the Kyuubi, were her precious friends still alive.

The Sandaime Hokage had just saved all of them by sending the statut's jutsu away from the ninja tropes.

"Oh Kami... that was close..." Ino sighed.

"Oi, don't underestimate us, Sandaime!" Kiba exclaimed, ready to fight again.

However, despite their good will expressed by her lifelong teammate, Hinata could feel that Shikamaru was worried.

She could see that Sakura and the medical team started to run out of chakra. Chakra they needed to continue to support the fighters.

But at least, all of her friends were ok. She comforted herself with this thought. They were going to make it. It wasn't the time to have doubts.

If there was a thing she couldn't do, it was giving up.

Not now.

Naruto was still counting on her.

"What, Ino?" asked Shikamaru as he noticed that his friend was suddenly tense.

Hinata's attention stayed focused on the enemy before her, giving her friends the opportunity to collect themselves and to develop a new plan of action. The formation Ino-Shika-Cho was too important on the strategic level in this war for the Shinobi Alliance to allow itself to lose them.

Therefore, Hinata had made team eight her priority after she parted with Naruto a few moments earlier.

She had let him go ahead again for the well-being of the entire world.

He was their hope.

But...

"Naruto" Kiba said while sniffing the air.

"What?" Hinata asked as she looked at them.

What Naruto? What was happening?

She didn't want to panic.

She couldn't panic.

And yet the atmosphere became eerie. Something other than the fear created by the enemy was heavy on their shoulders that had already well weakened throughout these three days of intense fighting.

Suddenly, whispers were heard between the different groups of the Shinobi alliance when a sand platform flew above them.

"It's Gaara-sama!"

Hinata looked up.

Piercing the shadows, a point dashed to somewhere with great speed.

They were right.

She recognised Gaara thanks to his red hair. He seemed to be alright, but what was this shape lying next to him?

Hinata felt a shiver of horror going down her spine. A bad feeling seized her body covered with dust, sweat and blood.

They saw, in the distance, Gaara's sand stopping next to the medical team. A gathering of ninjas formed around them to be able to protect them in cas the wood statue decided to attack again.

Hinata turned her head towards her friend with his overdeveloped sense of smell, not understanding why he had said Naruto's name. "Where is Naruto-kun?"

"What? Over there." Kiba said. "Can't you see with your Byakugan?"

"Did he defeated Madara?" Shino asked.

Hinata didn't hear the answer.

She turned her head away and activated her Byakugan. Her chakra swelled her veins. Her sight extended forwards, but for the first time, she felt like what she wanted to see was taking forever to come into her field of view.

And yet, she still had a good reserve of her own chakra, plus some of the Kyuubi's chakra.

Finally, a clear picture of the situation came to her.

Her Byakugan went beyond the human barrier and landed on a scene that turned her blood cold.

Sakura, her delicate features disformed by worry, was leaning over Naruto lying on his bed of sand, his face expressionless.

The same face the dead around her had.

Hinata's whole body froze as she felt her breathing get stuck in her lungs and a knot formed in her throat.

What's happening?

Don't freak out, she was telling herself while scrutinising the teenage boy.

It's at that moment she noticed Naruto's heartbeats.

They're slowing down , she understood with horror.

Without having second thoughts, she ran in his direction.

But what could she do?

Her ninjustu skills weren't as good as Sakura's. But she didn't care. She wanted to be next to him. She wanted to help the person who was going to be in charge of Naruto. With her Byakugan she could help, right? And even if she wasn't helping the doctors, she could lend a hand to the ninjas who were protecting their flame of hope flicking dangerously to the point that it could extinguish at any moment.

No, it couldn't happen!

She intended to protect Naruto like he had done for her. Like they had done every time they needed each other.

Hinata didn't want to cry because she knew he was going to make it. He had always managed to get himself out of complicated situations while keeping his smile. She wasn't going to allow him to give up.

Naruto-kun. You have to be ok.

She didn't want to lose him. Not right after losing Neji. She refused.

Unfortunately, without the will of fire to light her way in the dark, even the purest or the most powerful Byakugan lost its functionality.

The fatigue from the battle suddenly fell on her shoulders, turning her body heavy. The young girl lost her balance on her weak legs and she hit the ground, unable to hold herself back.

"Are you ok?" someone asked next to her.

And there she was. She couldn't speak, didn't have the strength to stand up.

Her lips were shaking too much. Her head was spinning too fast, but her fists clenched in the ground soaking with her companions' blood to fight back the darkness' claws trying to drag her in a world without hope. Her eyelids were closed shot, preventing her tears from rolling on her cheeks.

She felt her heart ache so bad.

She was so scared.

Neji-nii-san, I'm begging you, protect Naruto-kun.

Hinata woke up with a start. She was sweating and breathing fast. The smell of blood still embobbed in her nose and the sound of fights persisted in her ears.

Surrounded by the dark, she felt like she was still on the battlefield.

What was happening?

Where was she?

Something was wrapped around her legs, her arms, her body, preventing her from moving. She might well struggle, she couldn't get rid of it.

Panic grew again and again.

Was she still trapped by the Divine Tree?

So, team seven had failed to win.

Everything she had lived until now was in fact nothing but the fruit of her imagination influenced by the genjutsu technique. By the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

She burst out in tears but it did nothing to calm her state of destress and of solitude.

She had failed to protect her loved ones. "Boruto! Naruto-kun!"

"Hinata!"

Two powerful and well-known hands held on her shoulders then freed her from her prison of satin. Golden locks of hair followed by blue irises appeared before her.

The misunderstanding gleam she could read in his eyes forced her to calm down in order to tell him that she was ok. To ask him how he was feeling.

Unfortunately, fear kept tightening her throat despite his large tanned hand caressing her cheeks to wipe her tears. She then tried to focus on his softness, the sensation he was giving her.

His body was warm. He was here.

Everything was fine. He was here.

"Hinata," His voice was calmer than earlier but still charged with worry. "Whatever you saw, it's just a nightmare, ok?"

Despite her round belly, she almost jumped on him and wrapped her arms around his neck. When he hugged her back, her tears were still falling like never before.

Those very same tears she had held back that day she had watched powerlessly Naruto die.

Not understanding what had exactly happened in her nightmare, Naruto waited for her to speak while caressing her back. He knew Hinata was more sensitive than during her first pregnancy. A tiny bit could make her laugh, mad or cry.

But right now, he felt it was completely different.

He was sleeping when he had heard movements from Hinata's side of the bed. He thought she had just got up to go to the bathroom or to drink a glass of water. So he hadn't opened his eyes. But, he had listened like always with an attentive ear, just in case.

But instead of hearing her coming back in their bedroom, it was a scream he had perceived. Not a small gasp like she had done before when their daughter would gently kick in Hinata's belly.

No.

It was a scream of terror and suffering.

Naruto had immediately panicked, still believing it had something to do with their second child.

He had opened his eyes before turning toward Hinata to unknot the bedsheets with which she was strongly fighting all the while calling her name for her to wake up.

He had thought that seeing her pearly eyes would've made him feel better, but it was the opposite. He met her irises filled with fear and torment.

Everything that Naruto didn't want to see in his wife's eyes.

He tightened his protective arms around Hinata who continued to cry, preventing her from explaining what was going on.

But Naruto had deduced what had happened.

He too had had to fight his fears and his darkest demons during this state of vulnerability that was sleepiness. He knew this sensation of being powerless, of suffering and of waiting for someone to come free him from his memories mixed with his dreams.

Long ago, he relied on Kurama to do it when he hadn't decided to stay awake during the whole night.

Now, Naruto had Hinata.

And Hinata had Naruto.

She felt her husband's familiar touch in her hair while she was wetting and crumpling his pyjama t-shirt.

"It's ok." he murmured. "It was just a nightmare." He repeated. "I'm here."

Hearing his voice got rid of the last effects of the frog turning her numb, and brought Hinata back in the present.

Everything was ok.

He then asked her if she wanted to check on Boruto. She nodded, knowing well that seeing that her son was out of danger was another anchor point.

It was their own way of reminding them that everything they had done wasn't a dream, and was the reality they were living in everyday.

The war between the five great nations was over. It was a time of peace.

Next to their sleeping first child's bed, they would always feel free from their worries. Admiring the peaceful look he had gave them an enormous feeling of relief.

Hinata's mind lightened when she caressed oh so gently and tenderly her Boruto's hair. Feeling the heat of his body loosened the grip around her heart.

He was ok. Her little daughter was ok. She was ok. Her Naruto was ok.

It's with those good thoughts that she climbed back on the bed.

Slowly, she felt Naruto helping her lie back on the mattress without never letting go of her. He even came closer to her.

She looked up at him and even in the darkness of their bedroom, his blue eyes brightening with a warm vitality that was impossible for her to feel indifferent about. She instantly felt better, but she still placed his arm around her waist to keep him close to her.

Laying on his side to keep their eye contact, Naruto soothed her with his caresses and his voice.

He was telling her that everything was fine, that she was strong, that he was here with her, that she had nothing to be scared of, and that their family, their children were all safe.

Feeling stress fly away thanks to Naruto's sweet words and soft touch, Hinata let herself fall back in a more resting and calmer sleep at the sound of her heart beating in unison with the love of her life's heart.