Thanks for reviewing, and hope you will enjoy this chapter too… And Merry X-mas!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto


In silence Hinata found herself sitting right before him by a table in the canteen of the hospital. Awkwardly she watched down in her coffee cup, not being able to look into those sky blue eyes of him. She was almost drowning in the thick silence, but Naruto didn't feel much better in her presence. He twitched nervously at the chair.

"Well… How are you?" as soon as the question was asked, he regretted it. Seeing as she sat curled up in the wheelchair sickly pale she didn't look fine at all.

"Fine." Hinata was a bit taken aback that she didn't stutter at all, but ignored it. Instead she took a sip from her cup and ignored the eye contact.

"I am sorry." He murmured, a bit taken aback by her curt response.

"It is f-fine." Hinata repeated, even though she didn't know what he apologized for.

The clock ticked and broke the silence between the two of them as they both sat and nervously tried to find a subject to talk about. Hinata started to wonder if Naruto's reason to meet her was any good at all… And finally he sighed and broke the silence.

"About that time when you protected me from Pein you told me it was because you loved me…" he started. And Hinata felt how her heartbeats accelerated, there was maybe still a small hope after all… "I couldn't answer to you then, I was sent away to Octopops and then there was that war. Then you were comatose and Sakura-chan didn't let me come near before today she wanted to be sure that you could handle visits."

As she listened to his voice she recognized a sad tone in it, making her heart beat harder, by nervosity.

"I am sorry… I do really care for you, but as a precious friend." He continued looking very guilty and stressed as he twitched uncomfortably at the chair.

The shock eased, but still her heart pounded hard like it was about to break. When she had told herself that she would be ready for this, she had never guessed that everything had been a lie. Here she was, recovering from the hole in her heart that just had opened. The newly open wound Naruto had given her. Hinata swallowed a lump in her throat and forced the tears away from her eyes.

"I do really wish I could had given you a chance…" Hinata felt a spark of hope inside her again, but it disappeared as soon as it appeared, and it felt more like an illusion, when he continued to talk.

"I have thought about it many times, but still… We would not fit together. We are too… different. While you are innocent and shy, you are also eager to please me with everything, you would only strain yourself even more afraid of making me disappointed…"

Hinata was about to interfere, but he interrupted her. "And I am brash, and often tend to go too far. While you are not the person to tell me off, I wouldn't be able to be myself at all, afraid to hurt you. The relationship would be strained, and we both would end up hurt. Would you really be happy in that kind of relationship?" he eyed her skeptically wanting her to answer, but all words were lost.

They both sat in silence, drowning in the suffocating atmosphere. He waited for her answer… She wished to be far away… She wished to sink under a rock and disappear forever. To somewhere nobody could find her.

"I don't want to live in that kind of relationship. I am sorry… seeing how you are now, I don't want to bring more pain to you." He gestured towards her wheelchair and sighed like he blamed himself for her condition and that was something Hinata couldn't stand. Even though it was about other's pain and suffering Naruto would always blame himself, even though it wasn't his fault at all.

"To me you are a very important friend and I hope that we will remain so in future." Knowing Naruto, he would really do anything to keep their friendship.

Hinata should be happy, but on the inside she had fallen apart, that was what she felt like. The dark deep hole she had fallen into had grown bigger and deeper, and she wondered if she ever would be able to crawl out, feel joy a last time before it was too late.

In her life there had been three important men, and to all of them she had done everything to prove herself. Her father, who never acknowledged her, her cousin who died for her in the war, and the last one who gave her all inspiration to continue her dream, but in the end decided to stamp on her heart. She lost them all…


Hinata rolled her chair back to the dark ward. She wished that he never left his room. If there was a chance that she could turn back the time to the moment she sat and healed the Uchiha man, her attacker, she would have used the chance. Being afraid hurt less than being put aside by one she loved.

"To me you are a very important friend and I hope that we will remain so in future"

Was she never good enough? Everything she had done for him, still it wasn't enough. All the times she watched over him… All the times she cheered for him… In the end it didn't help how much she even tried. She was never enough, not to Naruto, not to her father, not to anyone.

Hinata swallowed a warm lump in her throat before the door to his room creaked open.

This time Obito lay on the bed, his back against her and the door. Observed from the calm breaths he seemed asleep.

In silence Hinata rolled herself closer to his bed, afraid of waking him up. Who knew what he would do when he was awake? She shuddered to every possible scenario that would have happened.

The tray was still full of untouched food. Hinata sighed guilty, thinking of Sakura's encouraging words. She had promised her friend to get him to eat, but she had broken the promise. Hinata had not only broken a promise, she had also mishandled one of her patients.

Tears dropped.

She was useless after all. She couldn't even take care of her patient. No wonder that her father couldn't acknowledge her. Maybe he knew that she was that kind of person to let her patients starve?

Hinata's sobs were stopped when she heard a groan. Her jolted, and looked into two empty mismatched eyes. Obito was awake and studied her tiredly.

"Y-y-you… should h-have eaten." Hinata stuttered, pointing towards the tray.

"Why?"

Hinata watched him silently, trying to figure out if he was offended by her ordering him around, or if it just was an innocent question. But his stoic face was unreadable, making her frustrated.

"To live…" she mumbled shyly.

The moment the words were uttered, his eyes looked hollow and his look fell. With a hoarse voice he asked: "Tell me… What is there to live for?"

Hinata watched the raven haired man wordlessly. The way he looked, like an empty shell made her realize one thing. He was broken… With no memories of whom he was and what he once had lived for, there was no wonder he had lost interest in life. If he ever would regain his memories, he would be dragged to jail... and lose everything again.

What could she say to him? What could she do for him?

In silence she picked up the photo of Kakashi's old team picture and gave it to him. If it could make him feel better, he would maybe start to care for his life again… Hinata didn't like the way she felt sorry for the man, but still she couldn't help it… He was her patient and it was her duty to make him healthy again… that was what she told herself.

"Does… does this picture t-tell you anything?" she asked.

Obito stared at the picture a long time, tried to remember to whom those faces belonged to. Where had he met them? What kind of connection was theirs?

He had a feeling that he had known them before, but the feeling was vague. How much he tried to remind himself the more impossible it was. He sighed and gave up, eyes shifting over to the woman sitting beside his bed.

"You knew my name and had a picture of me," he looked at her like he was in deep thoughts, trying to remember something before continuing "did we know each other?"

That moment there was a sharp pain in her chest and Hinata moved her hands towards the area trying to keep in a sharp breath… But failed fatally.

The Uchiha watched her, face unreadable… Reaching out for her, which made her blood cold.

She backed away, as painful memories leapt across her mind. The unbearable pain as his arm had plunged across her chest, crushed her vertebrae. The metal-taste in her mouth as the blood started to flow.

As she backed away, Obito let his hand fall down without touching her. Again she remembered that confused look, he sent her earlier. Are you afraid of me? Yes, she was afraid of him. But why she was, he wouldn't know. He had no memories of knowing her, nor of hurting her.

"N-not really. W-we met once before. That was all." Hinata answered, and tried to distract him from what just happened. It was easier since the ache in her chest was forgotten.

"But you know things about me," he stated. A moment he looked like he was in deep thoughts. Hinata shuddered as a sinister smirk crept on his lips: "Here is the deal: I will eat, if you help me to get my memories back."

She was taken aback. Mostly due to the frightening glare he sent her, secondly due to the fact that he had almost forced her to research about him. She had no clue of whom he was before and what had changed him…

Obito Uchiha had forced her to help him, in exchange that he would continue to live. The idea of cooperating with the very man who almost caused her death, didn't really appeal to her. But what choice did she have? She had promised Sakura to help him and it was her task. And now it had become a promise to the Uchiha man…

"Um… O-okay."

Much to Hinata's dismay as she shrunk under his gaze, afraid of what she done. Afraid of what he would do when… if he ever regained his memories. Her hand on her chest trembled as she wondered what he would do to her after that part of his memory was back.

That was it for this time

Hope you enjoyed the chapter… Pardon for any grammar errors. And well Naruto's rejection, I know I might get some flames for that… But I won't care.

As for the questions in the reviews:

-Will Obito learn what he did to Hinata? Will he apologize?

Obito will learn what he did to her, but not too soon and you'll see how he reacts

-Can Hinata use her legs?

I'll answer that in next chapter, look forward to it :-)

Please, leave a review and thanks for reading