A/N: So I've decided to do another SasuHina, I think this one will actually have an ending though. Bear with me, I just started my first week of college.
Summary: A part of Mint Pizza Queen's 1000 Theme Challenge. A fic inspired by Natasha Bedingfield's song Strip Me, I guess you could call it a song-fic. SasuHina
Disclaimer: If only, if only . . .
Strip Me
By: kitsunekitsunebi
Chapter1:
-Everyday I fight for all my future somethings . . .
Here she was again, face to face with the man that should have loved her, that should have cherished her, that should have been standing beside her, not against her. Eyes as hard as stone and heart as cold as ice, Hiashi Hyuuga stared down at his first born.
While his face was expressionless, Hinata could feel the disgust, resentment, and maybe even hatred rolling off of the man in front of her. The dark-haired teenager simply ignored the ever-present hurt in her heart and stared right back.
She hadn't even known this meeting was coming; or perhaps she had been ignoring the feeling. Usually her father would avoid speaking to her directly, leaving her out of family events and focusing on his youngest and, as he put it, much more promising child. It was not as if Hinata had done anything out of the ordinary. Training, missions, and more training were all a part of her regular routine. The whole situation was quite baffling really.
"Hinata, I have called you here to discuss your future. Your 18th birthday is quickly approaching, and while it is clear that you will not be the next clan leader, you will contribute what little you have to offer to both your clan and your village. Come December you will be of marrying age and will be wed to whomever I see fit. The union will strengthen the existing bond we have with the clan, if we can find anyone who will take you that is. Several have already refused and no one seems to be stepping forward. It looks like you have failed before you have even begun." He spoke as if she were nothing more than an item at auction.
She was a piece of flesh that could build bonds and bare children; nothing more.
Not his daughter, not his first born child, not the product of his love for his late wife; nothing.
Hinata could not help but become teary-eyed as her father spoke of her failures, never once acknowledging her many achievements. Like her skill with the byakugan; it was the farthest reaching in the clan. Or her ability to use offense as a defense. He hadn't even congratulated her on her recent promotion to jonin. It was as if he was stuck in the past.
'He is stuck in the past' she thought to herself remembering the day her father took a turn for the worst.
~Flashback~
It had been a cold, cold day when her mother died.
Freshly fallen snow covered the ground in a thin blanket and the sun hid within the clouds, trying to stay warm itself.
She had been taken to the hospital by a branch member of the clan, a kind woman she was, to visit her mother. Her sister, still an infant, had been at home with another kind-hearted branch member. In fact it had been a few months after her baby sister had come home that her mother had fallen ill.
Chills ran up little Hinata's spine as she walked hand-and-hand with the older woman. The grave look on her face had not gone unnoticed by the small, excited, child.
Why did everyone look so sad? Today was her birthday and nothing could make her happier than seeing her mother again. She wanted to hear her mother shout 'Happy Birthday, Sunshine' like she did every year. She wanted to jump in her arms and tell her about her day. She wanted to hear her say 'I love you'.
But she never did.
When the pair made it to the hospital, they received the news.
'Mrs. Hyuuga is no longer with us' is what he had said.
"I want to see mommy and daddy" she said running through the door to where her mother should have been waiting for her.
She didn't understand that her mother was long gone.
Inside the stark white room Hinata saw something she would never forget. Her mother lay in the hospital bed still, motionless, staring off into heaven where her soul had surely ascended. Beside her lifeless, no, soulless body sat her father, his back turned to her. She called out to both her mother and father and waited for a response.
Till this very day Hinata wishes she hadn't.
The look on her father's face as he turned to face her was heartbreaking. He was crumpled, broken, and torn like a flimsy piece of paper. He was hunched over in his chair and even the small child in front of him could see the despair in the depths of his eyes. His tear-stained face was blank for a few moments, before he finally broke down at the sight of his eldest. Pitiful sobs racked his body as tears began to stream freely down his face for a second or third time. Hiashi's body shook as he looked at his now motherless child.
A father is strong.
A father is indestructable.
A father is protection.
To see such a man break down and cry is something no child should see. The shelter Hinata had sought in her father's arms was no more.
"You look just like her." he said and smiled. It was broken and torn but a smile nonetheless.
It was the first time she saw him cry.
And the last time she saw him smile.
A/N: So what did you think? I felt a bit weak towards the end.
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