Chapter 4: Amnesia

After her coffee with Sasuke, she couldn't stop daydreaming about him. Images of his smiles and his eyes forcefully invaded her mind as she kept replaying their moment together in her head over and over.

She was still surprised by this side of him. From what she had seen of him at school, she'd thought that he was intimidating, unapproachable even. He'd only talk to few individuals despite plenty of people trying to get his attention, and his default expression was an impassive gaze. There was also his huge popularity and what was said about him and his assets. However, she realized during their discussion that he wasn't anything like that, on the contrary…

She chastised herself for thinking so much about him -she didn't want to read too much into their encounter, desperate not to catch feelings and get hurt when he'd ignore her at school. Just like that her day was ruined, a bittersweet taste lingering on her tongue.

"Are you alright Hinata?"

"Y-yes Kurenai-San"

"You looked quite happy when you came back earlier"

"I… I was just thinking a-about a difficult math problem"

Kurenai didn't seem convinced but she tried to distract Hinata with idle chit chat as they kept cooking.

It was around 11:00 p.m., she was getting ready to go to bed, when she heard it. Bang! Without warning, her window suddenly opened. Her muscles locked as waves after waves of shudder racked through her. She waited, squeezing her chest more and more painfully as every second ticked by. Nothing happened.

Maybe it's the wind, she thought, trying to calm her nerves as much as she could.

Hinata walked slowly to her window, her muscles still tense, ready to spring into action in case of anything happening. When she finally gathered the courage to close her window, she noticed that there was no breeze outside. Not really reassured, she lowered the blinds which she was sure were closed moments ago. Uneasiness made her check the bolds of her windows thrice.

It was eerily quiet, but nothing changed.

Hinata turned around.

She quickly slammed her palms on her lips, choking on her scream – a reflex from her childhood that kept her scream from rousing her godmother. Despite her eyes being tightly shut, recognition sunk in: the nightmarish ghost from the cemetery was in front of her. It was the first time since she'd arrived in Konoha that a ghost intruded into her house, let alone her room.

Several minutes went by, violent spasms rock her body as she waited, holding onto her mouth. Nothing happened.

"W-w-w-who a-re y-you?" she managed to articulate, "w-w-what d-do you want?"

"I don't know ..." the specter said in a gloomy voice.

She tried, in vain, to slow down the beating of her heart which was pounding so hard in her chest that it hurt.

"Did… Did you open m-my window?" She asked despite knowing the answer.

The ghost nodded at her. The woman didn't seem aggressive at all. Yet, Hinata was not at ease. She remained glued to the cold window. The silence stretched for several minutes, with the teen still glued to her spot and the ghost remaining quiet and inert.

Time passed, the idea that the specter might not be there to harm her sunk in, but the dark-haired girl's mind wasn't at peace.

"W-what… happened to you?" Hinata asked, trying to find out what the frightening ghost's goal was.

"I don't know ..." She repeated.

Hinata's back straightened. Her anxiety sunk, if only a bit, and let observation take its place. As much as the specter looked terrifying, she seemed more confused and lost than hostile. Hinata watched the woman closely until her anxiety menaced to kick back in.

"You don't know anything about yourself?" Hinata continued her questioning, marking a pause after every few words.

"… it's been a long time since I died."

"And… where did you die?"

The door to the teen's room opened suddenly, which made the specter disappear. Hinata realized then, that she's been holding her breath. Her body tensed harder automatically.

"Who are you talking to, Hinata?" Kurenai asked, worry slightly altering her sleepy eyes.

"To ... No one ..." the girl said, taken a little by surprise.

"Ah… O-k" Kurenai replied. Hinata noticed the suspicion lacing her godmother's voice as the old woman looked around her room before meeting her eyes again "say, could you give me a hand at the store this week, please?"

"Yes, of course" Hinata accepted, so as not to make the conversation last. She hadn't fully recovered from both the previous encounter and her door being suddenly opened.

Kurenai seemed satisfied though. She wished Hinata a good night and closed the door.

When the older woman left, Hinata laid down in her bed, pulling her blanket up under her chin, and turned off the light. After a few seconds in the dark, she turned the light back on. The nameless spirit did not reappear, much to her relief. Her eyelids grew heavy and she finally fell asleep much later, having nightmares about a woman being brutally murdered.

It's been three days. She had been having the same nightmare every night, her hours of sleep had drastically declined, and she had been helping her godmother in the shop after school as promised. On Wednesday, she found herself helping at the store once more, trying her best to smile at clients and reassuring her godmother about her lack of sleep.

Kurenai was in the back room making calls and putting away new products while Hinata helped customers. Karin had stopped by briefly before her yoga class to bring some cakes that her adoptive father had made. Kabuto, quite passionate about cooking, always did too much so his daughter would take care of getting rid of it. She distributed it all over the neighborhood. Kurenai readily accepted them as one, she had a sweet tooth and two, they were delicious. Hinata giggle as she knew they'd fight over those later.

Despite the heavy rain that day, several people had come to get teas and cold syrups. There was among other things the middle-aged man who had saved Hinata from being crushed by a speeding car the other day. The man recognized her, lectured her like last time wasn't enough, then chit chatted a bit. He asked for several ointments against rheumatism and Hinata offered him a plastic bag to carry the tubes of cream. As she tugged on one of the bags, she pulled a little too hard, which tipped the box of paper rolls beside the cash register. They scattered behind the counter. She finished serving the man and crouched under the cabinet to collect them. It was at that moment that someone smashed the bell which was next to the cash register. The noise surprised her so much that she abruptly got up, banging her head violently against the furniture.

"You didn't need to hit the damn bell so hard!" someone said, their voice sent her heart in a frenzy.

"Hey, had to make sure someone actually hears me" another boy answered back defensively, "seems like there's no one around."

"Sorry! I'm here" Hinata said, stepping out from under the counter, massaging her aching head "what can I do for you"

She'd got up to find a pair of clear, cerulean blue eyeslooking into her own pale amethyst ones from a tanned face. Looking at his right, her gaze met a set of two deep dark eyes.

"Oh! You're Hinata, right?" the blond guy asked. He was standing closer to the counter while Sasuke was much further back. He looked ready to go at any given moment.

"Naruto…" Sasuke sighed, massaging his nose bridge as he mumbled something.

"Y-yes, uh, what can I do for you?" Hinata asked. She tried to hide her surprise by the fact that Naruto knew her name.

"Uh, can you give me what's on that prescription?" He asked, handing the paper over. Hinata frowned a bit.

"This prescription has expired" she told him, reading the sheet.

"Really?" He wondered. His tone seemed strange.

"… Yes?" Hinata answered with a bit of hesitation. She wondered what the hell was going on "for a month anyway"

"Damn ... uh, it's just that I really need it." He tried to convince her.

Hinata bit her lip. It wasn't that she didn't want to help him, but not being an expert in the field, she wasn't allowed to go beyond a prescription – that also applied to expired prescriptions. There was also a part of her which felt that something was off. It was then that Sasuke decided to intervene.

"You can always give him something close enough that doesn't require a prescription" He suggested.

"Yeah, exactly!" Naruto added

"Sasuke?"

The three teens turned their head simultaneously to look at Kurenai as she entered the shop, a smile stretching her red tinted lips. Hinata and Naruto then looked at Sasuke, who looked at the dark-haired woman as impassively as usual.

"Oh my! It's been a while" Kurenai chuckled a bit "How have you been?"

"Fine" Sasuke answered, seemingly unaffected by the woman's warmth.

"Nice to hear. Since you're all grown up now, you've forgotten all about auntie Kurenai uh?" Kurenai lamented, but amusement was written all over her face. Naruto snickered a bit with vicious eyes.

"Been kinda busy" Sasuke didn't look once at his friend.

"Such a shame! You should come by more often" Kurenai turned to his friend "hello Naruto, how are you?"

"H-hello Kurenai-san!" Naruto laughed awkwardly as he hid the prescription. Hinata lightly frowned.

"What is that you're hiding?" the older woman asked with a smile. She crossed her arms over her red apron and arched an eyebrow.

"Naruto wanted something for his back pain" Sasuke quickly answered.

"Oh, really?"

Hinata was confused by what was happening under her eyes. Not only did Naruto hide the prescription in his back pocket, but he was a stuttering mess. He even hesitated as he explained about his various pains. From what she had witnessed at school, he was far from shy and never once stuttered. Even with teachers, he was still loudmouthed, impish, even borderline insolent on some occasions.

Wondering what was going on, Hinata turned to Sasuke who was smirking at Naruto. Sasuke had moved closer to the counter during the exchange between his friend and her godmother. She leaned forward, ignoring the thunder in her chest.

"Is there something wrong with Naruto-kun?"

"Nothing at all" Sasuke shrugged then faced her "you seem to do better"

"H-how so?"

"You looked quite pale last time"

"A-ah… well, it was too cold then" Hinata grimaced

"You don't like the cold" Sasuke supposed.

"Oh, I do! I love winter. The snow, the festivities… it's my favorite" Hinata ended on a shy note.

"Hey bak- Sasuke. We're done"

Sasuke, who was about to say something, just sighed. Their conversation was abruptly interrupted, but the desire to keep talking burned her raw. She coughed a bit to hide how she felt when Sasuke looked back at her. She forced a small smile, which Sasuke returned with a smirk, and a 'next time'.

She watched them go, vaguely registering the fact that Naruto was angrily whispering to Sasuke, or that Kurenai was talking to her.