.:Inerasable Error:.
All Hiashi had ever wanted to be was a good father. When he notices her daughter drifting away, he believes it is of her own choice. When she is about to leave, he realizes of the mistakes he made and he was the one drifting away. By then, it was too late...
.:Present Time:.
(Hinata currently eighteen)
"You've wanted to get rid of me ever since I was born. This is your chance. Let me go and I'll be out of your life," his daughter spoke.
He opened his mouth to deny her statement. But she was not pleading with him. She was stating the facts. His daughter was leaving him and it was his fault.
.: Fifteen Years Ago :.
(Hinata currently three)
"Otou-chan?" she asked shyly, clutching onto his clothes.
Hiashi's hand rested protectively on his daughter's head, as he tried to ignore the swell of pride he felt. "Let's start training," he suggested.
"Hai Otou-chan!" she agreed brightly.
He couldn't be prouder of his daughter. Even though he hadn't witnessed what she was capable of yet, he was still proud of her. She was young, yet she was full of determination. She was his daughter.
He saw the look of concentration on her young face as she began training with him. True so far she made mistakes, but each time he corrected her, she would look him in the face and chirpily agree.
Back then, he couldn't be prouder.
.: Fourteen Years Ago :.
(Hinata currently four)
With the death of his brother, he saw the need for Hinata to train harder.
After a year, she was still clumsy and nowhere as talented as her older cousin Neji. This is ridiculous. Hinata was the child of the Main House. He trained her. She should be the one excelling. As she made yet another mistake, his frustration rose. If she could not be stronger, she could be kidnapped again.
"Correct your stance Hinata. Neji, who is only one year older than you, far surpasses you," he called harshly.
In that instant he saw something in her features change. As usual her head turned towards him, but now her eyes were downcast. "H-Hai-" A stammer, a falter, then, "Otou-san." He felt surprised at the foreign name, Hinata had always affectionately called him 'Otou-chan' but now in a soft murmur, she had called him 'Otou-san'. It was only a subtle difference but he noticed it.
True his daughter was shy and stammered and faltered often around those she was unfamiliar with, but with him she had always been confident and was rarely shy. She was treating him like a stranger.
Back then, something changed.
.: Thirteen Years Ago :.
(Hinata currently five)
As time went passed, she seemed to be learning less in training and her cousin was shooting far ahead of her. Why was his daughter so weak? Truth by told, he wouldn't have mind taking time to train her, if only she was a slow learner but that wasn't the reason.
She didn't seem to care about her mistakes as much, she didn't even make a huge effort to correct them. Even worse, she was treating him as an utter stranger. Now when he corrected her mistakes, there would no longer be any stammer in her voice but she would never look at him, even her face would be tilted away from him as she murmured an agreement.
From the name "Otou-chan' it had changed to 'Otou-san' which he accepted since she was growing up, but now it was 'Otou-sama'. She was treating him as an utter stranger, with total formality except there was no shyness or stammer.
With the birth of Hanabi, he was more than grateful for an excuse to turn his attention away from Hinata.
.: Ten Years Ago :.
(Hinata currently eight)
Despite having Hanabi, he could not train her all the time as she was far too young, although he could tell the youngest sister would be far more skilled than his older sister.
Raising Hanabi was more of an exact task than Hinata he was careful to show only a little affection, made Hanabi used to a harsher life. But he was grateful he did not have to go out of his way to keep Hanabi away from her older sibling. Even though it was clear than Hinata cared about her younger sister, she spent very little time around Hanabi.
In a way he should be pleased about that, but the feeling his daughter was drifting away only grew stronger. She rarely spoke to him anymore, or more rather he rarely held a proper conversation with her because she would always stammer and address him all too formally.
So that year he enrolled her into the Ninja Academy, true a heiress like her should learn the techniques at the compound, but he saw that as another excuse to isolate his elder daughter from him. If anything, she seemed more grateful at his decision, which only made his fears of her no longer caring about her family grow.
His daughter was drifting away because of his decisions.
.: Six Years Ago :.
(Hinata currently twelve)
When she was chosen into teams, the elders wanted him to make Hinata move out of the compound.
Part of him wanted to rebel against the idea because Hinata was his daughter, but in the end he agreed with their decisions because Hinata didn't seem to care. So then he decided to put Hinata into the care of her sensei. He felt guilt as he impersonally said he didn't care if Hinata died in a mission, but that guilt disappeared when he saw Hinata happily calling her teacher 'Kurenai-sensei'.
His daughter barely knew the woman, yet Hinata was acting as if she was closer to her teacher than she was to her own Father. Now she was gone, his daughter was no longer around the compound. He no longer had to tolerate the fact that she didn't look at him as a Father. Even in the streets, if he saw Hinata he would ignore her because she would pretend not to notice him.
It was probably because she was hurt that he showed little care towards her existence but back then, he didn't see it that way.
When he heard she entered the Chuunin exams, he felt a surge of protectiveness towards his daughter. She was so fragile, so much weaker. He feared for her life. When he saw her in the hospital unconscious, when he heard the doctors tell him that her internal chakra system was extremely badly damaged, he felt so much guilt.
It was then he realized that he wanted nothing more than to repair their broken bond.
But when she finally awoke, he started to realize it was too late.
She no longer saw him as a Father because he never acted like one in all those years. She was polite to him during the time he visited but apart from that she said little. He wanted to believe it was because she was still injured, but he had seen her around her teammates, around her younger sister.
But he wasn't ready to give up just yet, as Hinata reached a more stable condition, he moved her back to the Hyuga compound, but he could see she did not want to be there. The only reason she stayed was because she had still not fully healed. That only lasted for a month, because she went to watch the Chuunin exam.
But she did not sit with him and Hanabi, but rather with her own teammate. Then there was the attack, he feared for her life then because he was aware her eyes could see through that genjutsu but she was still injured. He was more than relieved when he saw her unharmed after the invasion, but then again he was frustrated that she was fully healed.
Someone had healed her apparently, and now she had no more reason to stay at the Hyuga compound. He watched her hastily pack her bags the week after, and all but run outside where her teacher was waiting. He saw the smile on her face, the one she never wore around him.
She still visited and stayed over every once in a while, but he knew it wasn't because of him but rather for her younger sister. But he was content with that, as long as she was still around, it was a chance for him to repair their bond.
Even though part of him knew it was too late, he was determined to try.
.:Present Time:.
(Hinata currently eighteen)
"I did not want to get rid of you," he admitted, in a softer tone.
"But you did. You said before than you didn't care if I died in a mission. Basically you want me out of your life. But this time I am volunteering to be out of your life, I won't be dead but I won't be here in Konoha. You can finally get rid of the burden of your clan," Hinata murmured.
He could feel his blood freeze over. It was too late. It was his own entire fault. He caused this.
"Would you be happy if I let you go?" Hiashi asked.
She gave a nod.
"Then go," he dismissed her.
With the eyes of his clan, he watched her rush to her room to back her bags before all but running outside. The situation reminded him of when she left to live in the care of her teacher, but this time he knew he would not see her again.
This time, instead of a red-eyed woman of Konoha waiting for her, it was a red-haired man from Suna waiting. But the smile fixated on her face was still the same. It was the same as that time when she rushed to her teacher, it was the same as when she was with her teammates, it was the same when she was younger and still called him 'Otou-chan'.
It would be too late to repair the bond between his daughter and himself but he seriously hoped his daughter would be happy.
.:End of IE:.
A/N: This was written when I was fifteen.
2006-07-02 - Inerasable Error published.
2011-02-13 - Slight update to replace line breaks. This one didn't need much formatting to be honest.
-Demeterr