There was a fog in Hinata's mind like she had dipped her head in marshmallow. It was thick and sticky and had got in her eyes and ears. Shapes and color danced around as she opened her eyes painfully. Voices she couldn't identify were forming words she couldn't make out.

She could barely make out the syllables of her name.

The bright white background where the colors were flashing in front of, told her hospital. The pain told her she was the patient. Hinata brought her hands to cover her face to ward off her nausea and block out the colors.

Hinata focused on the voices, hearing her name more properly. "I'm going to be sick." She slurred as she was guided to something she could empty her stomach into. But she found she had nothing in her stomach. Acid burned her throat as she heaved, yanking the edge of her empty stomach, stretching the muscles around it painfully.

Someone rubbed her back. She was offered water from another direction.

Hinata focused her senses on the figure that sounded familiar. Tsunade, she hoped. As her eyes focused, she was glad she was right. Hinata reached out to her.

The older woman took her hand into her much more stable one. "How are you feeling?" Tsunade asked with a gentle smile on her painted lips.

"Not well," Hinata replied, covering her eyes again as well as she could, trying to prevent more gagging. She was becoming aware of IVs and tubes. She must have been here a while.

"I would guess so. You got hit pretty hard, and you have been out for a while. You have a concussion that is treatable, but I am more worried about other effects." Tsunade explained, looking over her clipboard.

"I don't remember being hit." Hinata offered, though it was difficult to think at all right now.

"That's what I'm worried about," Tsunade told her wearily, patting her hand. "Can you tell me your name, age, and what month it is?"

Hinata felt a trickle of fear, missing memory? "Hinata Hyuga, nineteen, and uh, I think it's mid-summer."

Hinata flinched as she heard a loud crash in the corner of the room. She uncovered her eyes. The room had gone dark. The blinds had been closed in the time she had her eyes covered. In the now dim room, she could make out a shattered lamp and a male she hadn't seen in the dancing colors. She thought she hadn't seen him in years.

"Sasuke, don't make me remove you. I told you it was a possibility," Tsunade snapped.

"Three years!" Sasuke barked. "THREE YEARS!? She won't remember me at all!" He slammed his hand flat into the wall like he was trying his best not to do more damage but still take his anger out on the surface. Sasuke leaned on the wall he had abused, trying to control his temper. It seemed to deplete quickly, being replaced with a tired slump to his shoulders.

"Sasuke Uchiha?" Hinata asked, bewildered.

Did she know him? He thought she should. When had he even come back?

Sasuke locked eyes on her, and they were hurt, lost, and pained. Her not remembering him meant something to him. Hinata could feel the rising panic in him, or was that just her own? She slowly took in, she didn't remember three years of her own life.

What do you do when you can't remember three years?

"I don't know if I should trust you to explain." Tsunade frowned at him.

"You don't have much choice in that regard, do you," Sasuke growled back.

Tsunade pointed a finger at him dangerously. "Watch it, kid. Hokage or not, I can still physically kick your ass out of this damn village." Tsunade wasn't the Hokage? Noted. The ex-Hokage sighed, and her voice went soft. "Do you want me here?" Tsunade asked Sasuke with a rub of her temple.

"Quite honestly, no." Sasuke crossed his arms, he still glared dangerously, but it was hurt again.

Tsunade turned to her, slipped her hand from away, and patted her leg. "I won't be far if you need anything, okay?"

Hinata nodded in response. She was intensely curious about what the Uchiha avenger had to say to her.

Tsunade pointed another scolding finger at him as she left the room with a last glare. "She will be confused. Take it slow. No big bombs to start with. Let her put it together."

Now alone with him, Hinata chewed her bottom lip slightly. Not helping her growing anxiety, she was now the center of attention. She looked down at her hands. Nausea came back up, but she breathed evenly to attempt to make it pass as the Uchiha crossed the room.

As the fog in her head began to dissipate, she had a lot of questions.

What had she done for the last three years? Where was her family? Shouldn't they have been here when she was woken up? How did she get hit? Who hit her? What was she doing? Had she passed on her title yet?

Her hand flew up to her forehead.

"You're not sealed," Sasuke told her as he sat where Tsunade had been at her bedside.

"Why not? If I'm 22. I should have passed my position." Hinata fumbled, looking up at him, then quickly looked back at her lap to avoid the direct gaze.

"There are several reasons, but the main one was Hanabi." From what Hinata last remembered, she and her sister had just started getting along well. Had they got so close that Hanabi had fought for her freedom? Had she never stepped down?

Hinata stared at her hands as questions piled up. Despite having stared at them for the last couple of minutes, she missed what was odd out there, two rings on her left hand. The questions washed away to one.

Hinata could feel the Uchiha watching her as she lifted the hand closer to her face and turned her hand over. "When did I get these?" Hinata didn't think he would know, she wasn't sure why she said it aloud.

They weren't well-made rings. They looked like they had been made by hand. The non-precious metals of both rings had tool marks, and the one held a dull common lavender pearl. They were well taken care of, but showed some signs of wear, scratches on the underside from working with her hands while wearing the rings.

They seemed sentimental rather than fashionable. Had her father let her wear these? He would hate something like this.

Hinata was brought out of her thoughts when Sasuke held out his hand. She looked up at him and hesitantly placed her hand in his to show him what she was talking about. His face held poorly masked pain. His eyes were shadowed with it as he gazed directly at her fingers. His hands were warm and much larger than her own. It felt so personal for her hand to be sat in his like this.

Sasuke thumbed over the rings. First, the one with the pearl. "I gave you this one just under two years ago." He explained in a low tone. "And this one, I gave you four months later. I have one to match."

Hinata watched his softened face. Sasuke frowned at the two rings as he touched them gingerly. He was gentle with her hand, so much so she hadn't realized he had fully engulfed it in both hands as he leaned his elbows on the hospital bed. He did have a similar ring on his left hand.

It clicked, and her face turned red as the panic set in fully.

"We are…." Hinata gasped.

"Married," Sasuke confirmed bluntly, not looking up from her hand.

"I, but I don't..." Hinata didn't remember meeting him after he left at all. When had he come back? She guessed it would have been about three years since that's how long he had been concerned about. His hand tightened on hers comfortably like he feared she'd pull it away, or maybe it was because she began to shake. She was too shocked to react violently either way.

"You don't remember me at all." Sasuke's voice was low and pained. Hinata realized that this wasn't the same Uchiha she went to school with. He wasn't hard, cold, and arrogant. He was depressed and hollow, and she was sure it wasn't just because she didn't remember him. Something deep-rooted that she couldn't remember was there in his eyes like his life stopped holding meaning. It hurt to look at.

His eyes slid up to meet her, and he gave her the hollow look directly.

"I'm sorry." Hinata felt the bubbling tears. She was missing such a huge chunk of her life, and she wasn't even the one suffering. She had known him well enough to marry him. She had to have loved him.

Where was all that? Why couldn't she remember that?

"It's not your fault." Sasuke's eyes hardened on her. "Don't feel bad for me. That's how all this started."

Hinata sniffed as the tears dropped from her cheeks, and his face softened again. He swore. He brought a hand up to her face to wipe her cheek, and she was surprised. She didn't flinch. She didn't feel any familiarity, but his familiarity to her and the unguarded looks of pain convinced her she could trust him, and she should.

Hinata opened her mouth, then closed it feeling it tremble. She wondered what questions to ask first. They piled up, which ones were more important, what could wait? One bubbled to the surface as she thought about getting out of this horrid hospital bed. "Where do we live?"

Sasuke's face flattened, surprised by her first question. After a moment, something like relief washed over his face. "I built you a house in the Uchiha district." He then frowned. "I hope I didn't ruin your garden while you were away from it."

"I have a garden?" Hinata asked, then she got the context. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Three weeks before you were stable enough to wake. They told me it was possible you'd slip into a coma, and you might never wake up." Sasuke's hand clenched over hers. It didn't hurt physically, but she could feel the emotional pain. He was surprisingly gentle with her. "Before that, you were gone for one week on a mission."

Hinata nodded, filing the information. "When will you be able to take me… home." It was a new feeling thinking her home wasn't the compound. Wait, did he say he built it? "You built me a house?" Hinata blushed at her confusion and oddly sequenced questions.

A light smirk came to the side of his lip. It was refreshing to see some light on him. "Yes. You were surprised the first time too." Sasuke then frowned as the meaning of his own words hit him. "Not sure when I can take you back."

"Well, I just came to talk about that." Tsunade's voice came from the doorway.

Sasuke's face threw up a barrier and glared at the woman. Hinata noted the change. "Well?"

"If you follow strict guidelines, increase her dietary intake, and come in for ALL her checkups and therapy," Tsunade told him pointedly. "I'll let you take her home tomorrow afternoon. She'll need lots of rest. Go easy on her."

Sasuke looked relieved, his hands over hers gently squeezed like a reflex to tell her how he felt. What closeness was she missing?

"Now I have a few more tests to run, and I'll explain the restrictions," Tsunade said. "So if you can be patient for a few more hours and she feels comfortable with the situation, you can take her home in less than 24 hours."

***Lavender-Long-Stories***

**I know it has been done before. I hope not to hit the same beats or any annoying cliches and just make a sugary sweetheart bleeding story of Hinata rebuilding an understanding through Sasuke's stories of their first relationship.