Forget Me Not
Summary: After a mysterious attack on Konoha, the one man who knew the attackers loses all recollection of the event. Left to heal in the Hyuuga compound, under the care of a young girl, can the daughter of the clan leader revive his lost memory? Hinata/Kakashi.
Disclaimer: Misashi Kishimoto and me are tight. He would have let me have the characters if I asked. I just thought I'd be nice and let him keep them. I regret it every day…
A/N: Hey guys, sorry its been so long since an update, again...well I can only say sorry and humbly bow before you in apology. I'm sorry!
Chapter 4: Development
The quiet was starting to get to Kakashi.
He had tried a few times to alleviate his boredom but every time he had gotten out of his bed to go for a walk around the compound he had been quickly ushered back, very politely but firmly, into his room with strict orders not to move around. He had been vetoed from any mobile movement for the time being and he was very close to becoming insane at the thought of anymore time in this silent, spartan room. The only distraction came in the form of a lovely, young Hyuuga woman.
He started to crave those moments the most, when Hinata would come into his room and bring him some sort of relief from this damn quiet and monotony. The Jounin looked to the clock on the wall opposite him, she should be coming in soon with his breakfast he knew, she was like clockwork but that didn't cure his need for something to free him from this tedium that he was experiencing right now.
He was almost on the edge of begging for some kind of noise to interrupt his day, when he heard a commotion in the hallway near his room.
"Oi! Sasuke! Hurry up! Why are you so slow?"
"Dobe, shut up. You only think I'm slow because you're always running everywhere."
"I do not!"
The silver haired man grimaced slightly as he heard the commotion and recognised the somewhat deeper voices of his team.
"Baka! Be quiet Naruto! Kakashi-sensei might be asleep!"
There was a large slap and the Jounin heard a loud moan outside his door. Kakashi smiled; at least you can count on some things to never change.
"Oi Sakura-chan, why did you have to hit me so hard?"
"Because you're yelling, you fool!"
"Sakura, you're yelling as well."
Silence filled the hallway outside his doorway as he heard their footsteps come closer towards his door.
"Sorry Sasuke," A sheepish voice answered after a while.
Kakashi started to rethink on his wish for noise as he felt them halt outside his room.
The door finally slid open and the silver-haired shinobi was confronted with the sight of his team standing there looking different but oddly the same. They were all wearing dissimilar clothes and the three of them all seemed to exude a confidence that Kakashi could swear was completely missing only a few weeks ago.
He felt something scratch at his memory and he tried to catch hold of it but it flew away from him before he could extract any meaning from it.
"Hello Kakashi-sensei," The pink-haired kunoichi said, all the while beaming at the Jounin, "I hope we didn't wake you?"
Kakashi shook his head, smiling back at his team, "No Sakura-san, I was already awake."
Naruto bounced in from the doorway and sat on the edge of the bed, narrowly missing Kakashi's feet.
"Oi, Kakashi-sensei, ba-chan said you can't remember anything, that you'd been hit on the head." The blonde ninja put his hand to the back of his head and took on an expression of bewilderment "She said you'd lost three years worth of memories."
Kakashi simply nodded at his young charge. Naruto removed his hand from his hair as he adopted a look of cunning. Raising his eyebrow, he leant in to whisper loudly in Kakashi's ear, "Want me to fill you in?"
"Usuratonkachi," Barked Sasuke as he stood at the foot of the bed, cutting off Kakashi before he could deny the young man, though it hurt to do so, "We're not supposed to say anything."
"But why," Complained the ever optimistic boy as he sat back up on the end of the bed, "When he's going to remember soon anyway?"
"Because," Sakura cut in patiently, more patiently than she would have when they were younger, "Kakashi-sensei has important information locked somewhere in his subconscious and if we were to force memories back on him before he was ready it wouldn't bode well." The young woman smoothed a piece of hair behind her ear before she fixed Naruto with a harder look, "He could forget anything of value." Sakura then turned to Kakashi apologetically, "We need to know who was going to attack us and you're our only source of information – no matter how unforthcoming your mind is at the moment."
Kakashi waved his hand in the air, "Don't worry about it Sakura-san, I understand the ramifications and consequences," he sighed, his head falling a bit to his just, "I just wish I could remember."
The Jounin was blown away by these three shinobi and he tried to remember something of how they had changed in the last three years, what hardships they'd endured and what achievements they had accomplished.
"Well," Naruto started off, interrupting Kakashi's assessment of each one, "Do we look any different?"
Kakashi's eye crinkled up in a smile that they knew so well, "Not at all," He goaded them.
"Nani!" Shrieked Naruto, "But in the past three years I've become so much stronger!" Naruto took on a look of depression, "You mean, you can't tell?"
Sakura smirked behind her hand as she looked on Naruto's pale face. Sauke leaned over to the pink haired kunoichi before she could laugh at their teammate anymore, "That means you too Sakura."
Sakura, stopped smirking, glanced down at her chest quickly and met the laughing gaze of her teacher. Her face went pale and she hit Naruto on the head rather forcefully.
"Ow!" Screeched Naruto, clutching the large bump forming on the back of his head, "Why did you hit me Sakura-chan?"
"Because I can't hit Kakashi-sensei."
"I'm only joking," Kakashi sensed when the joke had run its course and quickly changed tactics, "You've all matured so much from when I remember. I hope my memories come back soon so I can remember how you got to be where you are."
Kakashi watched as the three teammates talked back and forth, arguing and joking over the smallest things and watched the dynamics between them shift and coalesce. This was the team that he had wanted when he first took them on. They fought and bickered between each other but they cared for one another and that was all that mattered.
The Jounin turned his head from the entertainment when he sensed someone at the door and felt his mood perk up even more at the familiar presence of his favourite nurse.
He looked on as he watched her slide the door open quietly and slip into the room with his breakfast tray. She was wearing a formal kimono today and it looked lovely on her, the blue and white stripes matched her colouring quite remarkably and her hair was swept back off her face and neck, leaving her looking fresh and very different.
Continuing to watch her and nodding with a smile in her direction he was surprised when no one else in the team had seen her yet. She really was quite good at remaining undetected, that is until he took matters into his own hands.
"Ah, Hinata-chan," Kakashi said loudly, breaking into the argument between Naruto and Sasuke over who was stronger, gaining their attention and a light blush from the girl, "You've brought my breakfast, how good of you."
The Copy-Nin smiled smugly as he saw shock and then sheepishness on the faces of Sakura and Naruto. The blonde haired boy raised his hand to the back of his head and bowed lightly in apology, "Gee, sorry Hinata-chan, I didn't see you there. Good morning."
Where once Kakashi expected to see a blush cover the whole Hyuuga's face and maybe a fainting fit, he now saw a calm and composed girl reply back without even a stutter, "Good morning Naruto-san. I hope you are well today, you too Sakura-chan and Uchiha-san." She bowed to each one.
To say that he was surprised would be an understatement. He could only watch in amazement as Naruto smiled warmly at her before turning his attention to her tray. Sasuke gave her the briefest of nods and Sakura smiled taking the flowers from the tray and put them in the vase by Kakashi's table.
"I just came in to bring you your breakfast Hatake-san," The young Hyuuga said, placing the tray on his lap as she talked, "I have lunch with father to attend to later on so someone else will bring you your food then."
He simply nodded and watched as she bowed to his visitors, "Sorry to interrupt you," She said, her voice full of nothing but genuine feeling, "I hope you all have a good day and I will see you later on if you choose to come by again."
Sasuke was the one to talk which surprised Kakashi to no end.
"We will probably come around tomorrow as well Hyuuga-san, we will see you then." Hinata's eyes glanced up to meet the Uchiha's and quickly swept down to the floor, "Hai, I will see you tomorrow then."
As Hinata started to walk away, Kakashi felt like he needed the last word, like he needed something else from her. Just as Sakura was about to open her mouth she left it hanging open as the silver haired shinobi whipped out his hand and grabbed the Hyuuga's wrist, making her stumble lightly into his bed.
She turned to him with wide eyes, trying to understand what he wanted. Pulling her in a little closer, Kakashi looked up with questioning eyes, "You'll be by later after lunch though, yeah?" His voice brooked no argument, "Maybe sing me that song again?"
The shy heiress blushed prettily and nodded as she stuttered out a light, "H-hai." Dropping her wrist slowly, he watched as she turned around and all but ran from his room.
When the door had closed his room exploded with sound.
"What was that about hey?"
"Kurenai isn't going to be happy"
"I haven't seen her stutter in a long time."
"She's cute when she blushes."
The trio looked to Kakashi as he spoke the last line; he crinkled his eye up in a smile and raised his hand to the back of his head in mock humility, "Too far?"
The room exploded again, with even Sasuke's voice added to the melee.
Hinata couldn't seem to keep her blush down. There was a time, especially around Naruto, when a blush would have been common place on the Hyuuga's face but now this was not so. In response to that, everyone was starting to talk about what on earth could have resurrected the shy heiresses blush and stutter since she had talked to one of the branch members after leaving the room of the injured shinobi.
Gossip has a way of expanding so when the gossipers discovered who she had seen today they all began their own theories of who the Hyuuga liked. Some said she had fallen for the blonde haired shinobi again, others scoffed at that idea and said it was more likely that she had finally followed the crowd and was after the cool and collected Uchiha. Still others had said that she was in love with the pink hair kunoichi but none but a few thought that it could be the reputable Jounin that she had been nursing. She had been looking after him for a while now and had never shown signs of a blush before so why would he be their first guess?
The maids and servants of the Hyuuga compound quickly latched on to this new piece of gossip and it came as no surprise when at the lunch she was having with her father, sister and cousin, it came up.
"So Hinata, who do you like?"
Hinata all but choked on the noodles that she was eating. She quickly wiped away the mess with a cotton napkin and looked up into the eyes of her father.
"W-what was that otou-san?"
Her father flicked a quick, angry gaze over her in response to her stutter, "The Hyuuga walls are filled to the brim with gossip over who the new love interest is for the next Hyuuga head." He fixed his unbending gaze on his eldest daughter who matched him evenly when a few years ago she would have hidden her head in a deep bow, "You realise, of course, that you cannot bring disgrace upon us. If you want to start a relationship with someone we must discuss it at once."
The young heiress shook her head, never letting her eyes drop from her father's, "It is just gossip otou-san, nothing more. I would have told you."
Her father grunted and she finally looked away and picked up her bowl to continue to finish her meal. Her cousin and sister picked up their chopsticks and continued to eat from where they had left off at the startling question, while Hiashi watched her carefully.
"If it is just gossip, then what has brought about your stutter again? Hmm? I thought we had cured that a while ago now?"
Couldn't he let this go? Hinata took the last bite from her meal before placing her utensils down in a show to the staff that she was done with her meal. As it was being taken away, the Hyuuga wiped her mouth clean and looked to her father, "It is of no matter, I have not been sleeping well and it has made me slower than usual."
It wasn't easy lying to her father but the alternative was not attractive at all.
Hyuuga Hiashi simply shrugged and finished his meal, all the while not giving Hinata permission to leave.
"There is one matter that I need to bring to your attention daughter," Hiashi rumbled, his voice clear and his eyes assessing her form as she sat on her knees waiting for his next words, "You are of marriageable age and have been for a while. There is a union that I have been made aware of recently that would benefit us greatly." The head of the Hyuuga watched as tell tale signs of distress were made apparent in his eldest daughter's appearance at his words, "It would please me greatly if we could enter into this arrangement as quickly as possible. If you do not have a suitable partner soon then I will take it as you agreeing to this communion."
Watching as her body stiffened and her hands went white at the knuckles, Hiashi knew that he had given her enough to think on, rising to his feet, he gave the three that sat before him permission to leave but none moved.
Walking to the door, he turned back to look at Hinata, her eyes following him, "When you would like to discuss this, my door is open to you." When the servant had opened and closed the door behind him Hinata unsteadily stood up. Her cousin and sister came quickly to stand on either side of her.
"Don't worry nee-chan, it will be ok, I'm sure we can find someone for you by that time." Hanabi spoke up, her voice slightly cracking.
Neji watched, concern covering his face as his cousin walked haltingly to the door away from their protective hold.
Neji and Hanabi looked to each other, they knew that something like this could happen but neither one of them wanted it to happen to her. She didn't deserve this but it was what came with being a Hyuuga, you could be sold and bought as easily as cattle no matter who you were.
They stood there, resigned to watching their sister and cousin as she made her way out of the room and into the hallway towards her bedroom. Hopefully she'd feel better soon and hopefully she'd be able to find someone who made her happy and wasn't just marrying for convenience or even worse, for her eyes and the talents that lay within.
Neji felt his protective streak, which ran a mile long, tighten inside of him, he would try everything within his power to make sure Hinata was alright and happy. She deserved at least that much from him.
Hanabi stared up at her cousin as her sister walked around the corner and out of sight and watched as his jaw tightened and his eyes gleamed for a moment. She knew her sister was safe if Neji was around so she would support him in whatever he thought was best for her sister. He would be there and Nii-san always knew best.
The young girl found herself walking down the same hallway that, only in a few days, she had come to learn to love. At the end of this hallway she would find a release from her troubling thoughts and just a moment with the enigmatic man inside seemed to clear her head and make her smile again.
Holding the tray with the new and improved dinner on it, Hinata came to the guest room and slowly slid it open. Already the troubling thoughts that she'd had since lunch vanished at the thought of the man inside.
"Gomen Hatake-san," she said her eyes only just rising from the floor in case he needed a second to ready himself for a visitor, "I couldn't come earlier to see you but I've brought you-" her last words weren't uttered as she dropped her tray and smashed the bowl on the hard wooden floor.
Kakashi had been trying to walk around the room before the heiress had come and wanted to try and surprise her and maybe get her to tell the others that he could leave by way of his amazing recovery. He hadn't banked on the fact that she wouldn't come till dinner time and he certainly hadn't thought that his legs would give out just as she walked in.
He watched as she took him in, his masked slightly skewed, but thankfully not off, his breath panting slightly and his legs folded underneath him as he had one hand to his side and rested his head on the side of the bed. He raised his tired head to greet her after the tray had dropped, not looking forward to see the admonition that he knew he deserved.
Instead, the Hyuuga flew to his side before he could give her warning about the shards littered all over the floor and checked his face.
"Are you all right Hatake-san?" She asked, her voice worried and unsure, "Can you stand back up?"
Nodding, Kakashi lifted one hand to his bed and put the other on the floor as he tried to stand on his own two feet. Finally at his full height, the ninja shifted slightly and before he could register anything, he felt the warmth of a small kunoichi under his arm, steadying him and guiding him to that dreaded bed.
"You have to rest Hatake-san," Hinata spoke softly, not chastising him but speaking with care, "No one wants you to hurt yourself."
"Please don't do that," He spoke through clenched teeth as he felt the pain in his side double after the adrenaline had gone from his body.
Surprised, Hinata stood back once he was back in bed without the covers over him, "Don't do what Hatake-san?"
"That," He replied, still clutching his side.
Hinata saw a light pink stain spread through the Jounin's undershirt and sprinted to the other side of the room where the bandages were kept. Coming back to his side, she slowly inched the shirt away from the wound that had reopened from the fall and took away the old wrap and tied a new one around him.
Stepping back, Hinata turned to look at the mess on the floor. With a sigh, she stooped to pick up the larger shards and placed them on the tray. Stepping over the mess, she started to walk to the door.
"Where are you going?" He hated the tone in his voice that almost sounded like he needed to know the answer.
She turned around a little startled, "To get you another meal of course," she shifted her weight to the side and sighed, "It's a shame too, I made something different for you."
The Copy-Nin grinned through the slight pain, different was good.
"But now it'll just have to be broth," she spoke softly to herself as his smile fell, "I knew I should have made more than one helping."
She opened the door sightly before she turned back to the silver haired man who was watching her, "I also have to get someone to check up on you, that wound didn't look good and we need someone to clean up this mess." She spread her free hand, indicating the puddle of noodles and soup, and, was that beef? Kakashi groaned softly.
Seeing that she was leaving he spoke up as his head hit the pillow, his eyes on the ceiling.
"Don't call me Hatake-san. It's Kakashi. Just Kakashi."
The wide eyed Hyuuga whirled around as he turned to meet her questioning gaze with a slow smile, made apparent by his crinkling eye.
Nodding, Hinata turned back to the door and slid it all the way open. Just as she took one step forward she heard him ask her one last question.
"You're coming back right?"
"Of course Hat-Kakashi-san." She paused and wondered at her own words that she spoke next, "I'll always come back."
Kakashi leant back in to his bed with a sigh and a smile as he heard her walk down the hall.
That was good to know.
A/N: I have a feeling that you should not be holding your breath for these chapters but this story will of course end...one day, that I can guarantee...maybe.
Yours,
Jaggarte x