I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

A/N: Hello my lovely readers! It seems that I won't be able to update weekly from today onwards since I will be very busy with my finals. I hope you all understand, Love y'all!

The Caged Raven

Chapter 7: Awakening

Hinata groggily cracked her eyes open. The blinding light made her teary eyes squint.

'What...'

Alarmed by her surroundings, she shot out of her sleeping position. She was sitting straight in alarm while scanning the room for any sign of danger.

A dark shadow could be seen outside the paper screen door. Someone was coming in.

Her entire body went rigid when the figure stepped inside.

It was a man, a very handsome man; tall and lean. Now was not the time to examine this eye candy. She shook her head mentally in an attempt to make herself focus. She needed answers now.

Her mouth was about to open when the stranger ran towards her, falling on his knees. His expression was filled with surprise.

Who was he? Does she know him?

Warm arms encircled around her waist, tugging her towards his exposed chest. She resisted the urge to blush but to no avail.

"Thank goodness, you're finally awake...I was so worried about you!"

Now she was really confused. What the hell is going on? More questions started running through her mind, but the last one puzzled her the most; who was she? Why can't she remember anything? Her mind was like a blank sheet of paper.

Delicate hands pushed against his hard chest in an attempt to get out of his hold.

"E-excuse me, but who are you? What am I doing here? Who am I? Why can't I remember anything?"

More questions spilled out of her mouth.

The man looked at her with disbelief.

"Can you really not remember anything... at all?" he asked.

She shook her head.

Onyx eyes were down casted to the floor. He seemed to be upset about something.

"Well, you were hurt pretty badly on your head; we were lucky enough that you even woke up."

His voice was small, almost breaking. Why was he so worried about her?

"Please tell me what happened. I need to know everything! I feel so lost right now, I-"

Callused yet gentle hands caressed her cheeks, preventing her from finishing her sentence.

"Just relax. Let's take things slowly there's no need to rush. I'll tell you everything you want to know."

She took his advice, taking a deep breath to calm herself.

"I'll grab some tea, you must be thirsty. Wait for moment alright?"

"..Alright," she squeaked.

When his presence had left the room, Hinata noticed that there was a full body length mirror standing in one corner of the room. She took a glance at it to study herself.

Was this what she looked like? Her eyes travelled up to study her facial features. She nearly screamed when she saw her eyes.

'My eyes! Why are they such a strange colour?'

It was frightening at first, but she soon realized that she liked the colour of her eyes. They were pearly lavender; it was pretty.

She smiled at her own reflection.

While preparing Hinata's tea, Sasuke was running through the cover up story in his head. He had come up with all the possible questions she would ask and he had all the answers. All he needed to do was to thread them together to make a believable story. He could do this; he had been preparing for this moment for the past three hours.

Noticing that the kettle started whistling, he grabbed the pot to fill it up. The warm tea should make her more relaxed as well as quench her thirst. He had completely forgotten to give her any drink while she was unconscious.

When Sasuke returned to the room, he noticed Hinata sizing herself at the mirror. Did she forget how she looked like? He knew his sharingan had the power to erase memories, but he didn't know to what extent. He would need to narrate her new life like writing a new story in a blank book; even her own identity.

He inwardly cursed, Sasuke wasn't aware that it was going to be this hard.

Seeing his reflection on the mirror, Hinata averted her attention towards him.

She shifted herself into a more proper position on her futon. The tea was kindly settled in front of her. Hinata hadn't realized that she was so thirsty until she took a long draught from the cup, ignoring the scalding heat.

Once satisfied, the cup was settled back down. Pearly lavender eyes looked at his onyx ones expectantly. She was ready to listen.

"First, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Sasuke," he started.

He continued on telling her about his age, birthday, hobbies, and so on but hadn't disclosed any information about his clan. He hadn't intended to disclose any information about hers either. It was better if he kept everything simple.

After he was done with his introduction, he moved on to her story.

"Your name was Hyuuga Hinata, but you're an Uchiha now since you're married to me."

A small gasp escaped her lips. Seeing her disbelief, he summoned their marriage contract as proof.

"You're twenty one now and we've been married for nearly two years. We live in the poor outskirts in Fire Country; born into shinobi families. About two days ago, a rogue ninja broke into our home when I was out. You injured your head while struggling against them, but I managed to make it in time before they managed to deliver a finishing blow...I was so relieved. I couldn't even bring myself to imagine what would happen if I really did lose you."

"I managed to kill a few, but not all so escaping was the only option. Our home was nearest to Bird Country, so I decided to take you here to seek medical attention as soon as possible. In case if you're wondering, we're now living in a remote area deep in the mountains of Bird Country. Because of our rare bloodline, a lot of people have been after us, like those rogue ninjas. It would be harder for them to detect mine, but yours was very obvious."

"What are our bloodlines?" she asked curiously.

Sasuke activated his sharingan for demonstration.

"Both our bloodlines are ocular jutsus. Mine is the sharingan and yours, the byakugan. In the shinobi world, many fear the power we possess, therefore a lot of shinobi countries have been after the Uchihas and Hyuuga clans for our eyes. Which was why, we were keeping a low profile by living a minor's life in the outskirts."

He continued to explain about how both their bloodlines function. Hinata was worried that she couldn't remember how to use them. But, Sasuke had kindly assured her that with time, her body will remember naturally. It was in her blood after all.

She was given a box of black coloured contact lenses, telling her that it was to disguise her distinct eye colour.

"What happened to our clan?"

"They were all killed."

Hinata couldn't decide whethershe should feel sad for them. They were her family, but she can't bring herself to remember them at all. To her, they were complete strangers.

Small hands were wrapped in large calloused ones. The onyx eyes of her husband darkened.

"Hinata, I have to warn you about something. We are wanted shinobis so we absolutely can't trust anyone except each other got it? Never give out your true identity unless I say so. Never give your maiden's name or my last name. Always keep your contacts on unless we're at home."

He was warning her and she knew she had to take it seriously. Their safety was on the line.

"O-okay..."

Suddenly, he noticed the change in her attitude when she started to fiddle with her fingers.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked.

Her pearly eyes seemed to be darting in different directions, as if she was contemplating about something. Then, a pretty blush bloomed on her cheeks.

"U-uhmm...H-how did we fall in love?"

Sasuke inwardly smirked; this was easy to answer since whatever he was going to say was going to be partially the truth anyway, at least on his part. Perhaps a little bit of exaggeration too?

"Actually, it was more of me falling in love with you."

Her cheeks reddened even more at his words.

"H-How?"

He leaned slightly back, striking a thinking pose with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Well...when we were younger, I used to be the biggest heartthrob in our little village. There were always those annoying stalkers chasing after me. There wasn't a single girl who hadn't fallen for me."

His gaze drilled into hers.

"Except for you. For some reason, you were the only one who hadn't fallen for me. Out of all the guys, you had your eyes set on the village's number one loser."

Hinata giggled.

"Who?"

"Don't remember." He shrugged uncaringly.

"Anyways, we were in the same class in the academy at some point. I never really paid much attention to you until that one time, when I accidentally made eye contact with you. Your eyes were so beautiful that I was mesmerized. I was curious about you, so I started asking people around. They said you never had many friends and always spend your free time training alone."

"One day, I happened to stumble across your training ground. I was awed at how hard you trained. When I saw you, I see myself... We were both striving to be acknowledged by our clans, we were always afraid to be left behind; we were the outcasts in our family. That was when I fell in love with you because I admired your determination. No one may have realized your inner beauty back then, but I sure do."

Hinata felt remorseful that she hadn't felt love towards her own husband. To her, he was another stranger. This man must be a devoted husband who loved her very much. But sadly, she couldn't feel much of anything towards him.

"S-Sasuke," the name sounded foreign as it rolled off her tongue.

"I-I'm sorry to say this but, I can't remember the love I felt for you."

Tears started trailing down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry! I can't love you right now, everything's so confusing. You probably loved me like no other and you probably had sacrificed so much for our love, but... I..."

Now Sasuke was at loss.

"Great, now what do I do?"

Without realizing it, he embraced her tightly. He tried to say anything that would come up from the top of his head.

"It's not your fault. Even if you have forgotten the love you felt for me, I'll just have to make you fall in love with me again right? We can make new memories together."

She fisted the back of his shirt tightly.

After her sobs had died down, Sasuke released her albeit, reluctantly. He suggested she rest for a bit more while he prepares their meal.

"You must be hungry. I'll fix us something to eat."

Hinata hadn't realized how hungry she was until her stomach made a loud embarrassing sound which made her blush.

Sasuke chuckled, he would never get tired of her blush; it made her look cute.

Dinner was awkwardly silent for the couple. Sasuke was enjoying his fish until he nearly chocked at Hinata's words.

"Have we had sex before?"

What the hell? Since when had shy timid Hinata become so blatant? Maybe she lost a part of her personality too?

This wasn't a usual topic that someone would casually bring up, especially at the dinner table.

Sasuke cleared his throat in an attempt to recompose himself.

"No."

"So we never had children?"

'What the hell is wrong with her?'

"None."

Hinata was starting to feel suspicious. They've been married for nearly two years, but they never had sex before? Was she not appealing enough? Was there something wrong with her reproductive system?

"Was there something wrong with me?"

Losing his appetite, Sasuke settled his half empty bowl down.

'Why is she asking all these questions?'

Realization dawned upon him.

'Damn!'

A couple who had been married for two years and never had sex? That's overly suspicious. He better come up with an excuse before she starts to realize that there were some missing holes in his story.

"Love, it's not that there's something wrong with you. You're a perfectly functional woman who could bear me all the children I ever wanted. It's just that..."

'Shit! It's just what? I can't come up with any good excuse.'

The man was desperately trying to rake his brain for any kind of reasonable excuse.

He had to think fast.

Sasuke sighed in pretend defeat.

"Actually, I lied. We've done it before, very frequently in fact. I lied because I didn't want to startle you. I was afraid that if I said yes, you would feel that you've been violated because I'm just another stranger to you. We never had children because you weren't ready yet so we took contraceptive measures. Back then, you said you needed more time to think about it."

She nodded understandingly ignoring the shiver up her spine. So they had done it.

"That was very thoughtful of you. Thank you."

A shy smile was directed at him, making him relax.

'Good, she bought the story.'

They did the dishes together, yet silence had befallen between them again. The only sound made were the clanging of the bowls and utensils. Hinata was lost in her own thought.

Being an amnesiac was very frustrating for her. She was starting to be emotionally unstable.

The bowl in her hands slip onto the floor, making her jump in surprise. Shards of porcelain punctured her soft skin. A small hiss escaped her lips.

Her husband abruptly stopped rinsing the dishes, turning fully alert. Dropping the dish into the sink, he quickly kneeled down to the floor.

"Hinata, you should be more careful!"

She winced at his outburst.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

Grabbing a nearby stool, Sasuke assisted her to sit. He tentatively plucked each shard out of her skin. Hinata bit back the urge to whimper. The bleeding wound was evenly cleaned with the soft dab of wet cloth.

"Wait, it's alright. I can heal it."

Heal? Of all things, she could only remember her medical jutsu? Well, that was useful in a way.

"So you remember how to heal?" he asked.

Her hand made a motion to place itself above the wound. Soft glowing chakra was emitted. The opened wound was starting to knit back together, as if time was being reversed.

"I don't know, it just came to me all of a sudden. Strangely the only things I remember were my healing techniques and how to make salves. I think it was my hobby to gather different herbs for making them."

Sasuke gave a small smile.

"You used to work at the local hospital. Your strongest ambition was to help others; you wanted to be as useful to others if not for your clan. I guess the things that are most important to you are hard to forget."

"But I forgot about you and my family," she countered.

Sasuke shrugged.

"Maybe you loved helping others more than anything."

That does sound reasonable to her.

She was back on her feet like nothing ever happened to it.

"I'm fine now. Thank you for worrying about me."

His hands dusted off the invisible dust on his pants as he stood up. It was getting late, it was about time he prepared her a bath.

Once she was told to prepare for a bath, Hinata smiled in appreciation before going back to her room to get a fresh set of clothes. She wasn't expecting the contents of her wardrobe. Was this her usual garments? How odd... She was even more startled when she saw her lingerie.

What in the world were these?

Her face flushed immensely. The only conclusion that came to her mind for having this sort of lingerie was probably it was either her hobby or it was to seduce her husband into bed.

The thought was harshly shoved away. After hastily grabbing a towel, she ran for the bathroom.

It took her a while to find out where the bathroom was since she hadn't taken a tour around the house yet other than the bedroom and the kitchen. The sound of water running could be heard from outside the bathroom door.

Sasuke stepped out of the bathroom, telling her that her bath was ready. Before she could stop herself, she blurted out something rather embarrassing.

"What about you?"

"What? You want to take a bath with me?" he asked teasingly.

"That's not what I mean! What I meant was, is it really alright if I take a bath first? I might take a long time so..." she trailed off, flustering.

A low chuckle rumbled.

"It's alright; I'll refresh myself by the waterfall."

She looked at him apologetically.

"Okay."

Tensed muscles relaxed when they made contact with the warm water. Noticing a window by her tub, she slide the wooden panel open. The sight marvelled her.

Their home appears to be in a dome within a cave just like Sasuke had described. It was beautiful. Feeling the cool damp breeze against her warm skin was bliss. Both elbows were perched by the windowsill; with her chin resting on top them. She knew there were rare medicinal herbs which grew in caves. Perhaps there were a few in the field.

'He said he'd help me make new memories.'

Her mind wandered off, slowly bringing her into a daze.

Sasuke was leaning against the rocky walls of the waterfall with his head held low. The cold beating water helped him think.

"What the hell have I gotten myself into?"

He shook his head fervently, grabbing some soap to scrub his skin raw, then took a bottle of shampoo.

Yes, he loved Hinata, but he needed to take things slowly with her from scratch. Even he, himself was new to this sort relationship, especially with the opposite sex. The problem would be, how would he get Hinata to fall in love with him? She was never in love with him in the first place. Despite him being the village's heartthrob, the only girl he could never seem to catch was her. Well, he had her now, but from an underhanded method. If Sasuke would never want to initiate the first move, he would let Hinata take care of that. It was an Uchiha pride sort of thing.

Hinata was in distress; her towel was missing. No doubt she had dropped the towel somewhere along the corridor by accident while she was on her way. Since there was no other way to dry her hair, she wrung the excess water out of her scalp.

Deciding to forgo the towel, she instead put on her lingerie; they felt clingy and uncomfortable against wet skin. Alternatively for her, it was a better choice to take them off instead, she fastened her yukata securely. It would be convenient to run straight into the bedroom and immediately dry herself before putting on her undergarments.

Thus she ran into the corridor, heading to the bedroom. The room was only a few meters away, until her wet feet gave away beneath her on the polished wooden floor.

Sasuke happened to walk back to their bedroom when he saw Hinata running towards his direction. Noticing her slip, he instinctively ran towards her.

Both figures crashed onto the floor with lingerie littered across. Limbs were entangled in an awkward position.

Sasuke's back made contact with the cold floor and winced. He held onto her head against his chest, while he had his legs in between hers. Realizing their embarrassing position, Hinata bolted up.

It was noticeable that his face was slightly flushed while looking at a certain area. Apparently, her yukata had slipped off her shoulders during the fall, giving him a perfect view of her nicely shaped bossom. Clutching the gap of the yukata closed, she screamed.

"Look, I'm sorry. I was trying to save you but somehow, we ended up in that weird situation."

There was no reply.

They were now in the bed room with Hinata fully dressed and burying herself beneath the sheets. There was a nice pink hand print imprinted on his left cheek like a stamp on a paper.

"Hinata..." She only buried herself deeper.

He ruffled his hair in frustration.

'Alright then, let's try this...'

"You know… it's not the first time I've seen your bare body. Besides, you've showed me yourself willingly plenty of times."

He could hear soft sniffles. Maybe that wasn't the right approach.

There was nothing he could do right now, they would have to sleep it away and pretend the incident never happened.

Hinata felt the futon sink slightly with the new added weight next to her. Her body slightly tensed.

Luckily the futon was large enough for Sasuke to give her some extra space while facing the opposite direction. The tension in the air was thick. Both of them knew that it was going to be a long night.