Sasuke arrived as soon as he could. He was out of breath – covered with sweat, but he was finally at the hospital. He had received word that Hana was awake – but she was suffering from memory loss due to her incident with Sumi. Nari was waiting outside, and as soon as she spotted him – she broke down in tears.
"Oh, Sasuke!" she exclaimed, "it's terrible, she just randomly forgot about you!"
Sasuke gulped back the tears. He didn't want to show weakness around Nari, or anyone for that matter.

"It's alright, I'll head inside" he said, moving passed her and entering the hospital. He ran so fast up the steps after asking a nurse where she was, that he almost tumbled down them a few times. Bursting into her room, he spotted Hana sitting in the bed – humming a tune to herself. He ignored it, it wasn't important.
"Hana, I'm here" he said softly. She turned her head to look at him, tilting it to the side.
"Oh, a visitor."
"It's me, Sasuke."
"Who?"
"Your older brother" he replied. He gulped back the tears once more.

"Oh, okay. I'm sorry, I don't remember you being my brother. I don't remember you at all."
She gripped onto her head, making a pained face.
"It hurts to think."
"Then don't!" he exclaimed, rushing to her side, "Hana, stop trying to remember me."
"But I feel bad!" she yelled.
"It's okay, It's okay" he shushed her, sitting on the edge of her bed.
"Can't you bring that man to me?" she sighed, "maybe he can help us out."

"Who?"
"The man from my dreams" she said, biting her nails, "he was quite handsome, you know?"
"Um?" Sasuke was confused, very confused.
"Nari wouldn't tell me who he was. Said it was a bad secret, and you would be mad at me if I brought him up."
Sasuke's face fell. Was she talking about – Itachi?
"What did he look like?"
"He looked like you" she said, "and me, I guess. Black hair, tied in a ponytail. He was wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it. Oh, and he had our eyes."

"Hana – you shouldn't talk about him."
"Why not?"
"Because he's evil, he killed our family."
Hana's face fell, then.
"He did?"
"…He did."
"But, he didn't seem like someone who would do that to us."
"He's our brother, and yes – he would. Because he did. You don't usually talk about Itachi."
"I don't? Weird."

Sasuke hid his anger. It wasn't her fault, but even the mention of Itachi's name made him so, so angry.
"Hana…have you met this man recently?"
"No, just in my dreams" she said, shrugging.
"Good, because you shouldn't be near him at all. He's a very bad man."
Hana frowned, "I don't even remember any of this. I don't even remember – my mom or my dad."
Tears formed in Sasuke's eyes. She really was different.
"Hana…"

She clung onto the bedsheets, tears also forming in her eyes.
"I wish I could remember my old life," she said, turning her head to look into his eyes, "would you forget everything that has happened to you if you could?"
Sasuke hesitated. He wasn't sure how to respond to that question – despite knowing the answer immediately. So, he chose to answer her the best way he knew how.
"No, because then I wouldn't be able to get my revenge on Itachi."

A flicker of a memory. Revenge. That word seemed to spark something in Hana's mind. Sasuke noticed this.
"Revenge…" she whispered.
"Um, yes. Revenge on Itachi, for annihilating our clan."
"Our clan."
There it was again, that look in her eyes.
"Hana, please remember" he said, taking a hold of her hands, "you're not the same."
"But…I can't!" she said, those tears that formed in her eyes sliding down her cheeks.

"How about this, then?" he asked, inching closer and closer to her until their lips were pressed against each other. It was a desperate move, but it was all he could think of. Maybe kissing her could help her regain her memory. When he pulled back, her face was filled with shock.
"Wh-why did you do that?" she whispered.
"Isn't it obvious?"
"No, not really. They said you were my brother. Are brothers supposed to do that? No."
It didn't work.

"Hana," he started, squeezing her hands, "I need you to be the way you were. I know I'm your brother bu-but, I love you. Not Sumi."
"Sumi…brother…" her face scrunched up in pain as she tried to remember, those flickers of memories appearing in her mind once more.
He pursed his lips, hoping for the best.

"I'm sorry, I can't. I can't remember anything!" she yelled, throwing herself back until her head hit the pillow. Sasuke nodded over and over again, trying to come to terms with this new reality. Not only did he now have the cursed seal, he had lost his sister as well.
"We'll give it time" he said softly. He had been hoping the kiss would recover her memory. Maybe their feelings for one another weren't valid after all.

Maybe his plans to leave Konoha were the best thing to do after all.

|| Hi, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Do let me know what you think of the story so far and how it's progressing. I'm going to go a bit off track with the anime from now on because I want this to be as original as possible. With that being said - a timeskip is incoming. Which means there will be more mature themes, which is a yay lol.

I have a question for my readers. This won't impact the storyline in any way (we'll just have to see how it progresses) but who do you ship timeskip Hana with?

Itachi or Sasuke? Do let me know in the comments. 3