22 July 2006
A word from Starry: Sorry for not posting the last two days, but I was a bit busy with life. Anyways, the important thing is that I'm here now and updating! Very happy to know that people are enjoying this fic very much! Thanks, you guys make it possible. I hope you guys continue to like it. I think this story might be ten chapters or less, I don't know yet, but I'm 75 percent sure that it won't exceed ten chapters. Anyways, enough talk! Go read!
Oh! Before I forget... I think I need to put up a warning? This chapter contains a semi-pervert Naruto (but not really) and Hinata taking a bath. I don't think it's that big to worry about since I don't go into details and I'm not that kind of writer (yet -snickers-)... But there are a few people who would prefer to be warned, so I'm doing this for you!
Summary: "I hope he remembers me," she thought, dropping her gaze to the ground. "Remember me," he said softly, as he watched her walk towards the river. First love is never forgotten, right? So will she be able to remember him?
'Thought'
"Spoken"
Past/Memory/Jutsu
Disclaimer: Can't draw, so it's not mine.
Remember Me – Chapter Four
After Naruto had walked out of the small house, Hinata had tried so hard to not shed one single tear. A few moments had to pass before she was sure that when she opened her eyes, no clear liquid would leak out. She opened her eyes and looked out the window. Naruto was no where in sight, something she was glad about.
"Was I someone he hated?" she asked herself, as she moved her lavender gaze to her hands that were now resting on her lap. Maybe that was the case. She had been someone who Naruto had hated and the only reason he saved her was because she was someone he knew and didn't want to see her die? "You're making no sense, Hinata." She wanted to lie back on the bed, but her back would start hurting and she'd have to call Naruto back and they'd have to speak. It was something that she didn't want to do at the moment because it would just put them in an awkward situation.
If he had hated her, she didn't think he would have gone through all that trouble of fighting the enemy ninja just to save her. Okay, he didn't hate her, but she was definitely not someone special to him. "I'm not like, Sakura-chan," she said bitterly.
It was evident that the pain she had felt in her chest when he had talked about Sakura-chan was the proof that she had liked Naruto in her old self. Also, the continuous blushing and accelerated heart beat as well as the nervousness and the not looking at him straight in the eye thing was another clue of that crush.
"I don't understand why I would fall for someone like him, but you can't fool the body or the heart." She sighed before looking out the window once more. She spotted the river flowing and a smile appeared on her face. If she could just get out of this bed and walk over there, she would be able to take a bath and be clean! It would probably reduce her headache and she'd be much more comfortable.
Hinata looked down at what she was wearing and saw a white nightgown with a few herbal stains on it. She also needed to wash this and wear clean clothes, plus, she needed to wash her undergarments as well. She might have lost her memory, but it was common sense the need to be clean. That was something that was screaming at her. She needed to go to that river and quickly!
Naruto was no where in sight, so that was a good thing. Hinata swung her legs over the bed and felt the cool floor meet her feet. She slightly shivered before using her two arms to slowly push herself off the bed. The pain in her head and back grew a bit as she stood up on her shaky legs. She immediately grabbed onto the dresser that was next to the bed and used it as support. It was going to be a difficult task to walk over to the river without a stick or any type of support.
Her eyes scanned the house for anything that would help her, when she spotted a broom not far from where she stood. A big smile appeared on her face and with excitement; she began to slowly move towards it. Sure she almost fell flat on her face, but the window drapes had helped her stay up. Hinata finally got the broom and the smile that had rested on her face was now bigger. She was going to get clean!
….
Naruto was outside, on the other side of the house. The side that wasn't facing the river, because he knew the window that Hinata would look outside with was in that side. "Hinata," he said out loud. "What happened to you?" She was different, very different. He knew that she had lost her memory, but it was just weird talking to her like this.
The old Hinata wouldn't ask him these sorts of questions or keep looking at him as he spoke to her or even have the guts to touch him! Sure he had wanted her to do that before, but now that she was doing it… it was just all too weird. She was Hinata, but she wasn't.
"Hinata!"
"Naruto-kun?"
Naruto looked down at a tired Hinata that was in his arms, with a smile on his face. "Hinata! That was an amazing technique! You're really amazing!"
"Naruto-kun!" A blushing Hinata said. Happy that the person she admired the most had finally acknowledged her.
That was the Hinata that he had wanted to return to after his search for Sasuke. That was the Hinata that had not been there when he had arrived to Konoha. That was the Hinata that would probably never have the feelings that he felt for Sakura.
The blue eyed boy punched the rocky ground in anger and ignored the pain that immediately followed. He also ignored the small amount of crimson liquid that began to drip from his knuckles to the dirt below. Everything was complicated, he was confused and he didn't know why he had just punched the ground.
"Damn it!" He got up and began making his way back to the house. He would apologize to her for acting like a jerk and drink some of that pain killer tea that the old lady had made before leaving.
As he walked into the house, his eyes widened as he noticed the empty bed where a wounded Hinata was supposed to be. The blonde boy ran over to the bed, his heart pounding hard against his chest. "Hinata!" he called, as he searched under the bed. No sign of her, he looked around the house but didn't see her. Great! He lost Hinata.
Suddenly, a movement caught his attention and he turned his head and looked out the window. Hinata was walking away from the house. He smiled a bit. From here, she looked like the old Hinata… the one who knew who he was. "Remember me," he said softly, as he watched her walk towards the river. What he saw next made his sky blue eyes widen and his jaw to drop. Hinata was taking off her clothes!
Naruto gulped as he watched her hand go down to her underwear waistline. At this, his conscious kicked in and told him he shouldn't be doing this. Quickly, he closed his eyes and buried his face in the pillow on the bed. What was wrong with him! He shouldn't be doing that to Hinata's privacy! How the hell had she gotten off the bed and walked over to the river? A peek wouldn't hurt… right? Besides, this was probably some hallucination of the pain in his hand. It just had to. I mean, Hinata can't be taking a bath in the river! Who takes baths in the river?
"Hinata." He had sat up and was now looking out the window again. Hinata was standing with her back towards the house. Her long hair covered her backside, so Naruto couldn't see if she had taken off her underwear and bra. He mildly cursed at the hair, because he wanted to see, but half of his brain was happy it was like this. He didn't want to be perverted like Jiraiya.
Hinata bent down and cupped water with her hands and began throw water over her body. She'd found a few things that were needed in a bath so she could get clean. She grabbed the blue sponge with her right hand and the soap with her left hand. She slowly began lathering the sponge with the soap before beginning to rub it over her arms, chest, stomach, legs and so on.
Back inside the house, Naruto was biting his lower lip to keep himself from yelling at her to get her hair out of the way. Why did it have to be that long anyway? It reached the ground! Couldn't she cut it? He wanted to walk out and go around the house to see if maybe he could see her from the side, except his damn conscious was holding him back. Perhaps it had been a bad idea to train with Jiraiya. Oh well, Naruto was a guy and well everyone knows how some guys are when they see a naked woman. Especially if the girl looks to have a nice body.
His thoughts were interrupted when he saw the dark haired girl raise a hand in the air. That looked familiar, he thought, as he noticed she was turning around. Then he saw it. The memory of the time he had gone out on a mission with Team 8 for the search of the Bikōchū and he had wanted to go for a restroom break the first night. The same thing he was now looking at was something very similar to what he had seen that night. A beautiful girl dancing on the water by the waterfall, and here was Hinata, dancing on the river.
"No, that girl can't be Hinata! Hinata was sleeping in the tent," he said, continuing to watch Hinata as she bathed herself.
"What are you doing?"
Instantly, after that question, Naruto felt something heavy land on his head followed by a slap to the face and someone grabbing his feet and pulling him off the bed and onto the floor.
Naruto's heart had almost jumped out of his chest when all of this happened. No one had ever done that to him. He opened his eyes and saw the person responsible for him being on the floor. "Granny Kashikoi! What was that for?" he yelled, getting up and rubbing his body. This lady was strong!
Kashikoi walked over to the window and closed it, before turning around and walking towards the small stove. "Stop being a pervert, boy. That young lady needs privacy and you were hogging it up with your goggling eyes and dripping saliva."
"I was not!" Naruto cried out defensively. "I was on the watch to see that no one harmed her." He rubbed the top of his head and winced as his fingers came back down with red liquid at the tips. "You almost killed me!"
"That was not my intention, but if I see you doing that again… it will be." Kashikoi paused herself from the cutting of the plant she had brought back, and glared at Naruto with death before turning around and resuming her activity.
The ramen loving boy shuddered and made a mental note to himself to not spy on Hinata again while the old lady was around. He got up and walked over to the counter to get a napkin to tend to his head injury.
"Let me see your wound," Kashikoi told him, as she walked over to him with a handful of squiggly looking things.
"What is that?" Naruto asked, scared of whatever she was planning to do. "Don't get near me! You were the one who hurt me."
"If you don't come here this instant, I will give you another wound that I will not heal and you will die from the loss of blood." She stopped following him and began moving her foot against the floor impatiently.
Naruto gulped and nodded. "Fine, but I'm only doing this because I don't want to bleed to death. You don't scare me." He began walking towards her.
Kashikoi smirked and took out a weird looking rock. She raised it in the air, as though she was going to hit Naruto on the head again.
The little perverted young man noticed this and abruptly jumped onto the bed. "Hey! What are you doing?"
The old lady began laughing. "You're not scared of me?"
Naruto stared at her with a raised eyebrow. This lady was really weird! First, she was nice, then she was mean and last, she was psycho!
"I was just kidding about that. Besides, you're not hurt and you're not bleeding." She turned around and continued cutting up the herbs.
"Not bleeding? Of course I'm bleeding! It's all over my hands! YOU ALMOST KILLED ME!"
"Calm down, Naruto, it's only tomato sauce. I hit you on the head with a bag full of tomato sauce."
He lifted his hand and sniffed his fingers. Yep, it was tomato sauce, but his head still hurt! And now, he stank of tomato… which meant… he needed to bathe! He piped up at this and walked over to the door. "I smell. I need to wash my head." He was about to open the door when…
"There's a bucket of water behind the stove. Stick your head out the window and throw the water over your head. It will wash that out and you'll be alright for a few hours. When that girl comes back in, you can go outside and bathe." Kashikoi put the herbs inside the steaming pot and closed it before walking around the stove to get the bucket. She handed the bucket over to a gloomy looking Naruto. "Cheer up, I'm sure she's almost done."
Naruto mumbled something under his breath and angrily took the bucket. He stuck his head out the window that faced the other side of the house, and poured the ice cold water on his head.
Hinata finished washing her body and hair, which had taken forever, and was now ready to dry herself off. She carefully stood up with the support of the broom and grabbed the navy blue towel that lay on one of the rocks and began drying herself. After she was nice and dry, she wrapped the towel around her body and bent down to pick up the things she'd used. Her underwear and bra were wet, so she had to hang them somewhere to dry. She spotted a perfect spot and slowly walked over to the small tree and hung them up on the side where no one would notice them. After gathering the things and hanging up her undergarments, she made her way back to the small house.
"Ah! You're done." Kashikoi rushed over to Hinata and grabbed her hand to guide her over to the bed. She turned towards Naruto and merely glared. "Go and take a bath! NOW!"
Naruto didn't need to be told twice. He bolted out of the house and into the river. Once inside the water, he began talking to no one about the way he was being treated by those two women.
Back in the house, Kashikoi was asking Hinata questions.
"So you don't remember anything?" She looked at Hinata with her brown eyes, searching for the answers.
Hinata shook her head. "Nothing. I've tried so hard to remember, but when I do that, my head begins to hurt and then my back begins to burn." The cool river water had calmed that pain a bit and made her feel refreshed and clean. She was still in a towel, but she wasn't uncomfortable as she had been before taking a bath.
"All I can tell you is that you belong to a very important family and you need to go back to them as soon as possible." Kashikoi, while shopping in the market, had overheard the village people talking about the missing Kazekage's wife from the Hidden Village of the Sand. This had peaked her interest since she had a girl in her house with an unknown past. She had learned that this woman had a child and a worried husband who had sent out a few groups of ninjas and villagers to look for her. She'd also learned about the poison that had been used to wound Hinata in the back.
"I belong to an important family?" Hinata asked, surprised and happy at the same time. She would be able to find out who she was and maybe, just maybe she would be able to find out how important she was to Naruto.
"I bought this dress for you, dear." Kashikoi got up from the stool she had been sitting on while talking to Hinata and walked over to the bag that she had brought with her. She took out a smaller bag and walked back to hand it over to Hinata. "Open it. I'm sure it'll fit you fine." She smiled at Hinata.
With shaky fingers, Hinata opened the bag. Her fingers came in contact with a very soft fabric. "It's soft!" she said, as she continued to open it. The bag fell to the ground and as the eldest Hyuuga raised her arms, a beautiful blue dress fell into life. Hinata stared at it with awe. This was beautiful!
"Put it on. I also bought you undergarments. I figured you'd need some." Kashikoi handed over Hinata over another bag before getting up to close the windows. "I'll now leave you to change." The old lady then walked out the door, leaving Hinata all by herself in the house.
"Oi! Old Lady, why are you outside?" Naruto asked, as he walked over to where Kashikoi was. He was dressed in another change of clothes, black t-shirt and orange pants. His blonde hair was dripping wet and his forehead protector was no where in sight. If any girl saw him right now, they'd probably faint to see how handsome he looked.
"Hinata-sama is changing, and you better not think of walking into the house. She'll tell us when she's done." She sat down on a small chair that was outside by the door.
Naruto glared at her before walking over and sitting on another chair across from the old lady. "Did you bring the medicine to cure her wound?" He had been wondering whether or not she had found it. It was already two weeks after the incident and that wound would not heal!
At the mention of this, Kashikoi's expression changed into a sad one. "I need to talk to you about that…"
She was finally done putting the dress on! It fit her just fine! The dress was simple. The straps that it had were each tied over her shoulders, so there was a bow over each of her shoulders. The dress went all the way down to her knees and it wasn't too tight or too loose. She smiled at her reflection on the mirror on the dresser beside the table. She noticed how her long hair was still wet and how long it was. She frowned. It had taken her a while to wash all of her hair and it had annoyed her.
"Why does it have to be this long?" she asked herself, as she began searching for something. She finally found it by the table. "I think I can use this to fix the problem." She lifted the object and with her other free hand, grabbed a chunk of her hair. Right when she was going to cut off the locks that she had in her hand, Naruto walked in with Kashikoi.
"Hinata! What are you doing?" He ran over to her and took the knife out of her hands. He dropped the cutting object on the table and gently squeezed the other hand that he was holding. "Why were you doing that?" he asked, looking into her eyes.
Hinata couldn't speak. It was as though she was in a trance and it wouldn't let her go. She wanted to answer but she couldn't. Everything went black… except for those blue eyes…
"Hinata!"
"Naruto-kun?"
Naruto looked down at a tired Hinata that was in his arms, with a smile on his face. "Hinata! That was an amazing technique! You're really amazing!"
"Naruto-kun!" A blushing Hinata with short hair said. Happy that the person she admired the most had finally acknowledged her.
Her lilac colored eyes widened, making her lips form an 'o'. "Naruto-kun," she whispered, before a torturing headache. She screamed, letting go of Naruto's hands and lifting them up to her head to grasp and see if she could pull the pain out. Her legs gave out and she sunk to the floor on her knees. The pain was killing her! She screamed again and this time, big fat drops of tears began leaking out.
This had surprised both Kashikoi and Naruto. Another scream awoke them from their paralyzed position making them begin to rush and help Hinata.
"Hinata!" Naruto fell on his knees and hugged Hinata tight. "Hinata! Hinata!"
Kashikoi ran to the stove and was glad to see that the herbal tea was now ready. She got a cup and in a swift movement filled it up before rushing back to make Hinata drink it. The blonde boy helped her and they didn't relax until Hinata collapsed onto Naruto's arms.
After picking Hinata up, bridal style, Naruto laid her down on the bed and covered her with the covers. He then went to grab a chair and placed it beside the bed and sat down. Kashikoi noticed this, but didn't say anything. A small smile appeared on her face before turning around and walking out of the house, leaving the young couple alone.
Hearing the door close, Naruto knew that he and Hinata were alone. With his left hand, he lifted it and took Hinata's right hand. He began rubbing the top of her hand with his thumb while looking at her sleeping form. What had happened? He asked himself. He remembered her facial expression before saying his name and falling onto the ground. So then it was true, what Old Lady Kashikoi had told him?
"Remember me," he whispered, right before leaning down to place a kiss on her cheek. "Please, Hinata, remember me."
Starry: This chapter required me to get into the characters and sense their emotions. So I had to act out a bit of the pieces to get to know how they were feeling and how they wanted to portray the emotion and stuff. Does it make sense? If not, well yeah... I'm probably just confusing yourself. Anyway, later on we'll find out what Kashikoi told Naruto and what other things she learned while shopping out for Hinata's herbs! Also, we'll see what happens to Hinata. I'm sorry if I confused anyone, once again, if you have questions... don't hesitate and ask! Thanks! Please review and tell me what you thought of this chapter:)
