Memories {NaruHina}

{Chapter 10}

{Chapter 10}

Hinata felt so many things all at once: angry, used, betrayed, made a fool. Mostly, though, she felt disappointed, and whether she felt this way towards Naruto or towards herself, she wasn't sure. Maybe a little bit at both.

She thought Naruto was a nice guy. She thought she could trust him, and honestly, she couldn't bring herself to hate him, not even in the slightest. Whether it had been his charming smile, his dazzling blue eyes or just his awful contagious tendency to try to help her this whole time, something about Naruto made her completely drawn towards him, even though right now, she wanted to stick one of her knitting needles into his arm.

She groaned impatiently, as she realized, very frustratedly, that she had managed to tangle her fingers into the red yarn yet again. Somehow, she was worse at knitting than she was at ninjutsu, as if that were even possible. She had been hoping that by attempting to knit, her skills would somehow awaken, and that at least she would be able to bring that little part of her old self back. But so far, all she was able to do was a big mess of tangled yarn.

"Why can't I do it! I followed Hanabi's instructions. Something must be wrong with this thing..." She eyed the yarn suspiciously from the corner of her eye, as she heard someone's footsteps approaching her. "Hanabi, I really need your—"

"I'm afraid I'm not Hanabi" she was surprised to hear her father's voice, as her gaze immediately lifted from the yarn to meet his pale eyes. "But I could go get her, if that is what you wish."

"Father. Uh... It's fine. I was just trying to knit something, but... I guess it's kind of pointless if you don't remember the first thing about knitting, huh?"

Hiashi simply smiled, something Hinata hadn't seen him do at all since she lost her memories. She could easily tell that he wasn't that big of a "smiling" person. "Well, give it some time. The first time you started knitting, it also took you a while to get the hang of it."

"Well, yeah, but I supposedly already know how to do it. Or at least, my fingers knew how to do it," Hinata frowned, briefly staring at her hands.

"You lost all your memories, Hinata. You must be patient. Don't be too hard on yourself."

"But aren't some things too important to forget?" Hinata said, as she sighed heavily. "Like... My fingers should be able to remember how to knit. My eyes remember how to blink, my lungs remember how to breathe..."

"And has your heart forgotten who to love, too?" Hiashi asked all of a sudden, and Hinata had to try her best to hide her blushing cheeks with her hands. "Hinata, I don't really know what happened between you two. If I'm honest, we have never had the most communicative relationship, exactly, you and I. But I know you love him. Even if you don't remember him."

"How can you love someone you don't know?" Hinata snorted. "Someone who lies to you."

"Naruto Uzumaki is a lot of things. I've known him for a very long time. He can be loud, stubborn, clueless and reckless. But he is most definitely not a liar. Whatever he didn't tell you, I'm sure he never intended to hide it from you."

"How can I trust him again?"

"Well, trust takes time, Hinata. And nobody has built trust in Naruto like you have, my daughter, for your entire life. You've waited your entire life. What's a bit more waiting going to do to you?" Hiashi's voice was soft, but stern.

Hinata could tell her was a wise man, probably someone who had gone through a lot. From what Hanabi had explained, Hiashi had pretty much had to dealt with raising both his children on his own, as well as taking care of his entire clan. If someone knew the value of the word 'patience', it would most definitely be Hiashi Hyuga.