As children, they were best friends. After the accident, he despised her. After long years of pain, he finally noticed her again. After the second accident, she didn't remember him.
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Two or three sets of steady beeps were the first sounds the indigo-haired sixteen year old heard as she slowly woke from what seemed like an incredibly long slumber. Her breath still even, she decided not to open her eyes. Not that she could, for that matter. Each eyelid felt as if it were glued shut... how long had she been asleep?
She uttered a small, hoarse cough as one set of beeps gradually sped up. No matter how much she tried to block it out, it was still there, and it wouldn't go away. She attempted at rolling over, but her entire body was acting like dead weight. Even her attempt at lifting her hand was useless. Why wasn't her body responding?
In search of some answers, she willed her eyes slowly open. Her eyelids fluttered as bright light shot crept past them, and within a minute she had her bleached purple orbs half open. After her eyes adjusted to the invading light, she slowly glanced around the room. Many tall machines with lights, buttons, lines and switches were the sources of the rather annoying beeps, she noticed, as they towered over her on one side. She appeared to be in a bed, but that didn't make any sense to why she couldn't move.
Flicking her eyes with more speed to her other side, where there were no extremely-tall creepy beepy machines, she saw a familiar girl with short pink hair, and a doctor's apron on. What was the girl's name? Wait... what was her own name? Surely she should remember!
She shut her eyes once more, digging through her mind for her name. As she struggled to find it, the other girl's eyes batted open as she also woke up.
The pink-haired kunoichi glanced warily at the body on the bed, scanning it for any movements. Sighing when there was no motions, she stood up and quietly walked over to the biggest of the vital sign recording machines, noticing a recent change in the scribble-like line pattern. What could that one little rise mean...?
To her left, the brain signal machine's beep went out of control.
"Oh, gosh!" she yelped, dashing but a step over to check out that machine's results. Just like the other, there were new lines -longer lines- going up and down upon the screen, as if there was actually something going on in the bed-ridden female's mind.
"Ah! Tsunade, come here! Hurry!" the kunoichi yelled, dashing to the door and stepping out into the hall. Hearing a distant reply and many pairs of footsteps heading up the stairs, the pink-haired girl dashed back to the bed.
"Hey! Are you... are you awake? Hinata!?"
The sleepy girl on the bed stopped racking her memory. Had she just heard... that was it! Hinata! Her name was Hinata! She attempted a smile in this newfound victory, forgetting about the hint until she attempted at understanding the rest of the pink-head's question. Maybe... just maybe... she should open her eyes again.
The lavender orbs peeked open once again, and all Hinata could manage was a light grumble from her throat, so strange-sounding that she almost couldn't believe it was her own cracked voice. The pink-haired girl was leaning over her, smiling and appeared close to tears. Why should she be crying? She wasn't the one who was totally mortified that she couldn't even move a finger. Trying to attempt that just one more time, Hinata verified that she was still unable to do so.
The girl above her sniffed. "You're back... I'm so happy... Hinata... Hinata..." she cried. Behind her, the indigo haired girl saw three more people come barging into the room. In the lead was a green-and-grey clad, blonde-haired lady with an incredible bust.
"Doctor, tend to the machines. Shizune, get the girl some water, and lots of towels and nutrition. Great job, Sakura, thanks for letting us know. Now, please get out of the way." the lady commented quickly. Hinata merely looked up at her.
"Yes, ma'am." Sakura whispered, quickly moving aside as the huge blonde lady ran up to the side of the bed.
"Hinata! Hinata Hyuuga! Can you respond?" whispered the lady as she peered into Hinata's white-ish eyes. "Damn, it's hard to tell if a Hyuuga is unconscious or not, their eyes are always the same."
"No, ma'am, she opened her eyes and looked at me, she's awake..."
"... I see. Okay, Hinata, can you move your head? Nod if you can." noted Tsunade.
Hinata glared at Tsunade for the comment about her family, though she had no idea what the lady meant by it. Shutting her eyes temporarily and ignoring the comments made when she did so, she put all her willpower into tilting her head upwards, letting it drop back to her chest, lifting it up again, and dropping it. Finally, she opened her eyes once more, nearly out of breath from the small movements.
"That's... interesting. Well, can't blame you if you've been in bed for a year. Ah well, doctor, pull out the cords. Sakura, please go use the phone and call the Hyuuga Clan line. They need to know that their leader has finally awoken."
A white-masked man who Hinata didn't recognise nodded, and Hinata felt a small, sharp pain in her arm, followed by many bandages. She attempted at saying something in protest, but managed no more than a few high-pitched sharp squeaks. Focusing back on the lady's previous words to block out the pain, she nearly gasped as she understood.
The were calling her Clan. Her Clan. Hadn't the Tsunade lady just called her a leader?
But... that must mean that her father was... dead...? In shock, she tried to picture her father, but the image came up blank. She tried to picture anyone from her Clan... to no avail. She couldn't remember...
"Mi-" she squeaked. Coughing as a way of clearing her throat, she tried again. "Ma.. my.. my... cla... n?She choked, forcing out the words as mere syllables, trying to get her voice used to the strange sounds.
Tsunade and Shizune (who had just entered the room, and heard Hinata's wavering voice) paused where they were, exchanged nervous glances, and looked at Hinata.
Shizune drew a shaky breath. "Um, we'll get to that later, okay? You need to eat." the black-haired woman muttered, glancing away as she and her teacher went back to what they were doing. Tsunade shuffled over to Hinata once more.
"Okay, girlie, let's get you sitting up." she sighed. The large woman snuck a strong hand under the weak kunoichi's back, and pulled her upright. With a small amount of force, Tsunade then pushed her back so that she would be propped against a mound of plush pillows. Caught off guard by the sudden switch of position, Hinata nearly flopped back down like some sort of rag doll. Using her small amount of strength, the dreary-eyed girl forced her body to stay upright against the mountain of pillows.
Sakura dashed back into the room, a half-kimono folded neatly over one arm.
"They said they're on their way, and when I asked how many, they said three, possibly four. I brought a top for Hinata, anyhow, because she might want to be wearing more than just a fishnet top in front of the guys." she exclaimed, rushing over to Tsunade and Hinata with a white covering top. Looking down self-consciously, Hinata noticed with a faint blush that she was indeed wearing only a fishnet top with black material across her bust.
"Who... who is cah... comin'?" the young girl squeaked at Sakura, eyes wide.
Sakura paused for a moment, noticing the arrival of her former companion's voice. "Ah, Neji, Hanabi, the Elder, and possibly Kiba if they can get a hold of him. Do you remember?"
Hinata looked at Sakura blankly. "Uh... re-mem-ber... Ki-ba, yes." Hinata croaked, smiling and attempting a nod. All three of the other females in the room once again paused and looked at her, waiting. Sakura gulped.
"Hinata... what about the others? Do you remember Hanabi, or Neji, or the Elder?" Sakura asked her quietly, although the other two female ninjas could probably guess the question.
The pink-haired girl's eyes widened after a long pause from Hinata, and Tsunade cursed out loud, moving Sakura away for a minute.
"H-Hinata... dear god, tell me you remember your family..." Tsunade said in a barely-audible whisper. The look on her face made Hinata's eyes swell up in tears. Was there someone she wasn't supposed to forget? 'Think, brain! Who are those people!?' she mentally yelled at herself.
She went back to thinking of Kiba first. Where had she seen him last?
'It hadn't been that hard of a mission. I was returning with my group... yes, Kurenai-sensei, Kiba, Shino and me... we had just finished that mission with the tracking of Jiichi, the cloud-ninja.We were merely returning home.
That's it! It was then those four creepy ninja in black coats jumped us... so close to home.. we weren't even paying attention. Kurenai and Shino were in front of me and Kiba, who was showing me how Akamaru could now say my name. I had laughed, looked up, and saw... him jumping... at me.'
"Aaaaaaaaagggghh!" Hinata screeched, the memory flooding her. That's all she could remember of that night, before having gone sub-conscious with many pains ripping, tearing through her small body. They had picked on her, the weakling of the group. What had happened to the others? Sakura rushed back to Hinata's side, shushing the bawling Hyuuga girl and comforting her the best she could.
"Wha... what hap-pen to Shi-no an' sen-sei then?" Hinata sniffed. Sakura nearly choked back tears herself at these few words said by Hinata.
"I'll let Kiba explain... that." the kunoichi said, turning away as Shizune walked up to Hinata with a warm, sugary blend of fruits in a cup with a straw. Hinata let her thoughts trail off to different ideas while sipping the mix, then eventually came up with some questions that really wanted answers.
"Whe-re amI...?"
"The hospital."
"What da... day is't?"
"Umm... it's Thursday, I think. March 28th." Sakura thought hard. "Yeah, sounds right."
Hinata's eyes widened. "M-March? How long ha-ve I bin' here?" she asked, stunned, her voice slowly returning to normal.
Tsunade smiled sadly. "Hinata, you've been here for eight months. Since August... Hinata, you've been in a coma."
"C-coma?"
"Comatose state, so you can't eat properly, drink properly, breathe on your own, or be woken up until your body decides to either let you live once more, or... you die."
"Oh..."
"Yes, but, Hinata, you're okay. Once we get your muscles moving and stretched out, and after we help you remeber everyone and... everything, then you'll be back to normal. Okay?" Tsunade said, a bit of hidden discouragement in her voice.
"Oh, o-kay." Hinata replied, smiling and still sipping her drink.
There was a knock on the door.