A small crack in perfection

A small crack in perfection
by eternalshiva

I do not own Naruto or any of the characters portrayed by Masashi Kishimoto, nor do I make any monies off this fanfiction.

AN- Lucky! I was still in AU mode and wrote chapter two. Don’t get used to it, I’m going back to Twice Shy after this chapter ;p Hope this story is worth the wait in the long run since I have no definite real clue as to where it’s going and how it’s going to end. OH GOD I HAVE NO PLAN OF ACTION. Don't mind me, I'm catching my retarded mistakes as I re-read this. I -will- find you beta. I WILL.

Beta found – Jolly Green ;D Thank you for the beta, Jolly.

Chapter 2
Her origin in robotics

The meeting was going fairly well, to Naruto’s relief. They had already agreed on the amount of money the projects would cost and picked the different sites for the gardens. Now they only had to look over several minute details before they could call the meeting to an end.

“For the internal gardens that the Hyuuga Corporation is commissioning from your company, I wish to have specific flowers present in all of them.” Hinata gazed over at the opened files in front of Naruto. He picked up the bundled documents she was referring to and had begun to thumb through them. These flowers were pricey.

“This will cost a fair amount of money to have them in all eighteen designs.” He didn’t look up, but he could sense that she had already suspected as much.

“I’m aware. They have special meaning.” Her voice didn’t falter as his blue eyes glanced up from the paper and settled on her. His left hand had come up to his face and scratched lightly at the swelling and she noted a visible wince when his fingers brushed the strange scars. She focused there a moment and something in the back of her mind tingled. They seemed familiar.

“Ok, I will draft designs for these for your approval. I will need photographs of the areas you intend to convert and measurements. I will also need access to the sites so that I may personally see them to plan better.” He set aside the bundle of documents and picked up the next file, this one was for the design of Hinata’s personal garden at home.

“I will give you a pass that will allow you to come as you will through the necessary buildings. Once your staff has been chosen, they will be outfitted with passes as well,” she said, nodding.

Naruto pursed his lips in thought. He’d never been so formal in a meeting before, it was getting kind of over-the-top annoying. This woman was completely different from what he remembered. She'd had an insatiable stutter and a terrible blushing habit when he was a boy in elementary. This woman here was in total control of herself. It was almost unnatural. The more he studied her, the more he wanted to crack open that shell she was hiding under and break that control.

“Is something the matter?”

Her question broke his train of thought and he raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Oh! No, I was just thinking on the designs,” he quickly covered up. “Once I start designing your personal garden, I would like to visit your home,” he casually mentioned. Hinata blinked. Had he offended her?

“Naruto likes to design the gardens to reflect the personality of the owner; he usually meets with his clients on a frequent basis to get to know them better and to see what would work best in the gardens.” Kiba interjected, sensing that Naruto had entered forbidden territory with Hinata. Naruto barely held his look of confusion in check and Hinata merely nodded.

“That is acceptable.” She picked up her files and stood up; indicating that she had said what was intended. Naruto followed suit and led her out of the office. He decided to take a chance on breaking the walls of formality between them. This could backfire on him and he would lose the fifteen million dollar deal, but... she was worth it. He hoped that at least Kiba would understand if this failed miserably. He didn’t really know what the rest of his staff would say.

“Ah, Hinata.” Naruto spoke in a very low, intimate tone; without thinking he placed his hand on the small of her back as he guided her. She could feel his breath on her cheek and she blinked at the sudden intrusive sensation. She had never let anyone within her personal space and she was shocked at his eagerness to touch her. No one had so casually touched her since her accident when she was thirteen.

“Yes?” She tried to say it firmly, but it came out as a breathy whisper instead.

“Don’t be too hard on Sakura; she didn’t mean any harm when she ranted about you last night.” He smiled very slowly at her, his eyes danced with amusement and she was a little dumbstruck by the feeling of his unwelcome warmth.

“Sakura?” Her brain had muddled. His presence had invaded her very tightly knitted sense of personal space and for the first time in thirteen years she was feeling cornered, vulnerable. This was not a pleasant sensation.

“Yes. I know you remembered my complaint this morning in line when I offered the reason as to why I was painted like a clown. She’s just a little put off that you don’t remember her. From what she says, you two had been very close as children.” He continued to watch her, his face tilted indicating he was paying full attention to her.

“Ah, I will keep that in mind. To be honest, w-well, I don’t remember much of my childhood. I was in an accident that caused memory problems. My father has spent much time rehabilitating me throughout my teenage years.” Naruto had to suppress the urge to laugh as the whisper of a stutter came out of her. She wasn’t too far away. “I’m afraid I do not recall Sakura - or you for that matter,” she added, her gaze meeting his, almost in apology.

“Oh, is it permanent memory loss?” Naruto asked, concerned for her. She shook her head lightly.

“No, but from what I am told, my former self was a shameful sight. My father has refused to aid me in the recovery of those memories.” She played with her hands idly, not knowing where to put them. “He’s made sure that I’m not exposed to anything in my previous life to avoid resurfacing the old unwanted personality.” She wasn’t quite sure what to make of his current expression; it looked mixed with anger and disbelief.

“Shameful? What? Are you serious?” He shook his head and rolled his eyes a little. “You were a little shy, you blushed quite a bit and you had an insatiable stutter, but you were nothing to be ashamed of.” She could see him thinking, bringing back the little memories he had of their time together. She almost felt a little jealous; there was a part of her locked away in his head that she wanted to see - to pull it out herself if she could.

“Well, I wouldn’t know,” she retorted, a bit annoyed at herself. Why was she revealing all these things to him? She was not one to dwell on old things she had no control over. It had been drilled into her for several years that the past was the past and she could only control the present for a better future. She shouldn’t let her childish fantasies of her memories push her to let her guard down this way. ‘This man in dangerous’ she decided. He was unsettling her, invading her. He was smearing her hard earned perfection.

“Well, it seems to me the past has found you.” Naruto let his smile turn into a grin. She narrowed her eyes slightly, confused.

“What do you mean?”

“Well your assistant was your best-friend and unfortunately for you, she happens to be the most stubborn woman you’ll ever meet. She’ll probably be talking about how it was ‘back-in-the-day’ non-stop to make a point. Don’t forget that we also went to school together.” Something devilish almost gleamed in his face. He was hiding something; she could feel that it was potentially very embarrassing.

“It’s been several years since my accident, I’m not even sure my memories can be recovered,” she stubbornly argued. Naruto sighed and pressed the button to the elevator, letting his hand slip away from her back. The heat dissipated fast and she was partially relieved that he had stopped touching her. She could finally put a complete sentence together in her head.

She was unsettled with his close proximity. She hadn’t really paid close attention to his face before, but even with the bloating from the allergy, he was rather striking and she felt exposed to his blue eyes. They threatened to dig deeper into her past. She could feel it and she wasn’t sure she was able to deny his access.

“True, but never say never to an Uzumaki. That’s challenging them and they’re never one to ignore a challenge.” He watched Hinata as she stepped onto the elevator and she tilted her head slightly, her interest in the man increasing.

“And I would have to say that you, Hinata Hyuuga, are a challenge I’m interested in taking.” He let another lazy smile cross his lips while he spoke the words at a very low decibel, meant only for her to hear. The doors had barely shut and she realized that again, for the second time in thirteen years, Naruto Uzumaki had managed to bring out a habit she had forgotten. She blushed, deeply, and sputtered out an incoherent sentence of shock.

‘Found you,’ Naruto thought as the elevator began its decent. He turned and walked towards the meeting room to discuss the plan of action for this very lucrative deal with Kiba.

* * *
Hinata hadn’t contacted him since their little tête-à-tête a few days prior. Instead of worrying about if he’d cross the line with her, he focused on studying the photographs provided and the flowers Hinata wanted without exception in her gardens. He was intrigued further once he'd thought on the meaning behind the plants. Her list was short, but very meaningful: Butterfly Orchids suggested that someone was on her mind, the Lavender Heath spoke of isolation. The White Heath called out for protection and wishes.

She also wanted Lily Daffodils, which meant pride. The Galax represented encouragement and the Sword Lily shouted strength of character. But the one that had him the most perplexed was the last set she requested. This one had a star next to it, meaning she wanted the most of: the Purple Hyacinth. It represented sorrow and to be forgiven. She was surrounded with a mist of mystery that was slowly entrancing him. He wanted to take her apart, lick her wounds and put her back together again. He was intrigued and he hadn’t been intrigued by a woman since the first time he’d met Sakura.

“Do you think she’s a robot?” Sakura asked idly, her spoon tapping on her lips while she leaned in the leather chair towards him as she pulled her feet up on the small magazine table. This pulled him out of his thoughts, which were dangerously turning smutty. She looked at him expectantly.

“Who? Hinata?” He raised an eyebrow in wonder as he scratched his head with the dull end of his pencil. His face had gone down in swelling, but his skin had begun to peel and the itch was making him insane. He had resorted to scratching his head as a placebo to satisfy his need. Sakura could barely look at him; he was like a leper.

“Yes, her.” She stared at him with disbelief. “Who else would I be complaining about?” She rolled her eyes at his lack of attention.

“No…” He had to resist laughing as he continued, “I’m pretty sure she isn’t.” His eyes rolled slightly before returning to the sheet in front him and continued to ignore the girl. He wasn’t really interested in her debunked theories.

“She has to be. Never in my life have I seen someone so… detached.”

“You’re just mad she doesn’t remember you because of her accident,” he mumbled out as he picked up his ruler, laid it down on the draft paper and marked the distance between one mass and another.

“I am not!” she tried to argue, but Naruto glanced up, half-lidded, and she slumped. He’d won the battle before it even had a chance to start. She hated it when he did that. Someday she would win the glare battle and it would be a glorious day indeed. In fact, she even had the victory dance worked out step by step in her head.

“Well, ok. Maybe. Though it’s kind of weird how she’s so... robotic. I wonder what happened to her?” She sighed. He shook his head and groaned, wondering if she was paying any attention to what he was saying. Didn’t he just say she lost her memory in an accident?

“Well she did say that her father 'rehabilitated' her and from what you’ve informed me, he was a complete prick and was never happy with her. She probably got brain washed into it.” He brought his attention back to his draft, thinking he was the only one in the room with the ability to think logically.

“Wouldn’t it be easier if you did those on the computer?” she asked. Naruto hummed a moment before answering her; he was on a roll and didn’t want to break his train of thought on the design.

“Yeah, but I like to hack it out on paper first. It helps me think it through more clearly. Once I’m happy with the drafts, I give them to Sai and he’ll have them ready to be seen by the robot.” He grabbed for the eraser and glanced up when she leaned back on the chair she was sitting on, digging out her lunch. That’s when he fully realised that she was sitting in his office, in the middle of a work day.

“Ah.” She thought about what he said and started to laugh, realising he’d been calling Hinata a robot. She paused when he gave her a weird look.

“What are you doing here anyways? Don’t you have a, you know, what do you call it?” he pressed his pencil to his lips, tapping them slightly to draw Sakura’s full attention. “Ah, yes!” he exclaimed, pointing upwards as though he had a brilliant idea. “A job?” She shrugged.

“It’s lunch time and Ino wasn’t there.” She bit a carrot and munched slowly. “I certainly wasn’t going to ask Hinata to eat with me and Chouji would just eat my lunch. So I came here instead.” She bit on her sandwich and chewed slowly. Naruto shook his head and went back to his drawing.

‘Why me? WHY?’ he begged to whatever force was watching over them and as if she’d heard his cry of misery, she perked up with a “you're practically married to your job. I knew you’d be here” and nodded. He secretly stuck out his tongue at her in retaliation and hoped she’d leave soon; he had a deadline.

“I mean, not recalling all those times she slept at my house? Seems a bit unbelievable,” she continued to rant. Naruto considered putting on his earphones to block her out, but he knew that was a no-no. So instead, he decided that Sakura had selective hearing and resigned himself to the fact that she’d ignore anything he had to say in defence of Hinata’s memory issue.

“When we were seven, I gave her one of my clean pair of panties when she had peed in the bed! I was traumatised; there was so much of it. Who knew she had such a big bladder.” Sakura had this complete flabbergasted expression on her face and he could only respond with a quick lift of his eyebrows that clearly stated ‘and this is important for my vast array of knowledge on your childhood because…?’

She huffed; clearly insulted he didn’t know the meaning of sharing panties when you’re a young girl. Boys. Time to educate him on a few small secrets of understanding a woman’s thinking.

“It’s very important! That’s like a rise in status of friendship, like the equivalent of you, let’s say…” she thought of what was meaningful enough to Naruto to think twice on sharing. “...lending Kiba your favourite porn.” She pointed at him, thinking she made herself clear. He smirked and rolled his eyes. Ok, so they had been very close. That example didn’t make any sense though.

“I highly doubt lending your Hello Kitty panties at seven leads to the same intent, or meaning, as porn.” He barely had time to dodge the remainder of her sandwich that flew towards his head. She then walked out of his office, huffing. He laughed as he heard Kiba say hello to her and she retorted with an embarrassed “Shut up!”

Kiba walked into Naruto’s office, still looking towards Sakura’s retreating form with a thoroughly confused expression. “What’s got her panties in a bunch?” he half-wondered out loud. This, of course, had Naruto doubled over in laughter. Kiba raised an eyebrow in confusion and decided to not delve into the matter any further.

“How far along are you on those designs?” Kiba peered over his partner’s shoulder and looked at what he’d come up with.

“I just started the third one.” He handed over the two that he had managed to finish that morning before Sakura had barged in. Kiba took them and nodded, appreciating the complexity and detail.

“I’ll get these to Sai. He’s been itching to start this project.” His partner picked up the sheets and carefully rolled them up before sending a grin towards Naruto. “You’re putting way more effort into this than any of your other projects.” Naruto ignored him.

“Ok, get those to Sai and give me a report on the other projects. I can’t be there to help until these are all done.” He heard his friend let out a snort before leaving with the finished sheets in hand. Naruto grabbed his pencil, ideas swirling on how to finish the third design when his cell-phone rang, interrupting him again. He considered ignoring it, but once the number flashed on the screen, he smiled.

“Hello?”

“Naruto?”

“Ah, Hinata! I was wondering when you’d call.” He let a lazy smile cross his lips. He’d been anticipating her call for a few days now, but he hadn’t realised just how much he’d anticipated it. There was a pause at the end of the line for a moment. He wasn’t entirely sure what it meant.

“I have the passes for you. Can we meet after work so that I may give them to you?”

“Sure, you want to grab a bite to eat, too?” he asked, trying his luck. Worst she could say is no. The contract was already signed for the deal and as a result he couldn’t lose the money agreed on even if he got on her bad side. There was a pause again.

“No, I don’t think that’s appropriate. I just want to give you the passes,” she added quickly. He had managed to surprise her again. People generally avoided her since she gave a very good and solid impression to be left alone, but he didn’t seem to get the hint.

“Well, I’ll be bringing food. So what do you want to eat?” he pressed on and heard her sigh. “Come on, you’ll be hungry by then, I’m positive.” He waited, and there was silence at the other end of the line. He almost thought the call had been dropped but she finally caved to his very light demands.

“Hot cinnamon buns.”

He grinned again. She hung up, feeling defeated.

He had won the second round.

* * *

She was beginning to feel very exposed. Hinata stared at the phone in her hand and a million thoughts swirled in her head. There was something about that boy’s determination that was really getting to her. He was picking at her carefully built wall to keep people away and to her dismay, he was starting to break off pieces of it.

‘Emotions are an object of weakness; they will encumber you. Deter you from the path of our success. You must never look away from anyone; always look ahead, never to the ground.’ Her father’s words resonated in her head as she tried to bring herself back into check. She couldn’t allow him to shake her. She wouldn’t allow him to shake her.

“Miss Hyuuga?”

Sakura’s voice brought her back. She watched the pink-haired woman poke her head though the door.

“Yes?”

“The item you requested has arrived.” She showed her the thick envelope.

“Ah, yes.” She motioned for Sakura to come in. Sakura approached the desk and handed her the envelope. She turned to leave, but Hinata’s small cough forced her to turn, facing the heiress. Pale eyes weighed heavily on her assistant causing Sakura to fidget, feeling nervous.

“A-anything I can help you with?” she barely managed to get out; the petite woman could be intimidating at times. There was an awkward silence between them and Hinata seemed to struggle a moment before answering her. Sakura could have sworn she saw a flash of doubt or uncertainty in the unusual eyes of her boss.

“Ah, do... do you think you could stay a little while?” A light blush formed on the heiress’s cheeks and Sakura blinked. She doubted that the dark-haired woman knew she was tinting red and that the air had shifted between them. It had changed from uncomfortable to pleasant.

“With what?” Suddenly eager, the girl stepped closer, curious to know what was in the envelope. Hinata pressed her fingers against the envelope and tore the lining off. She pulled out the first book of five and bit her lip. Why was she nervous?

“Well, as you know, I’ve lost most of my childhood memories.” She glanced towards Sakura and weighed her options. Maybe she shouldn’t involve the woman; she didn’t really know her.

“Yes I know, Naruto told me so I wouldn’t make a pest of myself.” Sakura blurted out. Hinata frowned; the two were a lot closer than she had anticipated. What was their relationship? Sakura gave her a strange look; she couldn’t read her boss’s expression.

“I inquired on my elementary yearbooks. I would like you to help me identify some of the...” she was cut off by Sakura’s shout of excitement.

“Are you serious? I’d love to help you! You want me to dig out the old pictures from our sleep over too? My mom kept all that old stuff.” A flurry of words came barrelling out of Sakura’s mouth and completely overwhelmed the petite woman. She had pictures of them?

“Uh...” was all she managed to say before Sakura had pulled a chair next to her and grabbed the first yearbook out of her hands, flipping quickly through the pages. Hinata tried to absorb all the names and faces Sakura pointed at, all the activities and the stories, but she was having trouble grasping the quick speech.

There was one glaring thing she noticed in all the pictures she found herself in; her father had been correct: she was unnoticeable, inverted, and her obvious lack of confidence was an insult to the Hyuuga. The more she looked at the pictures, the less she wanted to remember and she felt a deep shame creeping in.

“Oh, I love this one.” Sakura pointed at a picture in her final year. Hinata followed Sakura’s index finger and noticed a young boy with his arm around her shoulder, grinning and giving a peace sign with right hand. Her younger self was a deep shade of red, her eyes wide and shocked while her classmates looked like they were laughing. She reached out and touched the image, her index finger tracing the faded marks on the cheeks of the boy.

“This is Naruto?” she half whispered. Her mind had begun to work hard suddenly as she tried to recall this specific moment. They were in their gym outfits.

“Yeah, this was during the Athletic Meet. You and Naruto were partners for the Martial Arts competition. You guys lost the last round against some older kids that year, but he didn’t mind. In fact he...” Hinata couldn’t hear Sakura. All she could hear was the childish voice of a boy.

“Don’t let it get you down, Hinata! You did great! You were amazing! Keep your chin up, Hinata! Don’t let what your dad just said bother you, we’re not losers!” The boy’s blue eyes had showered her with pride and she had felt the blood rush to her cheeks when he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. Her heart had overflowed with joy, pushing out the shame she felt at losing. Happiness. She had felt happiness.

“Why are you blushing?” Sakura was dangerously close to her face, fascinated by the strange occurrence. She hadn’t seen her boss in a full-on blush since she’d taken over and realised that, with this new development, it meant that Hinata wasn’t a robot. Sakura was almost disappointed; her theory had been thrown out the window. This potentially meant one thing and she felt a bubble of excitement pop.

“Did you remember something?” Sakura raised her eyebrows, Hinata looked away. “Oh ho!” her assistant shouted. “You remembered something, and I bet it was about Naruto.” She wiggled her perched eyebrows, a lecherous grin slowly forming on her face.

“Are you keeping some important information regarding Naruto from me?” Hinata asked, a little intrigued since he had the same devilish gleam a few days ago.

“Maybe. I’m not sure I should say anything since you thought it was a well-kept secret.” Sakura leaned back against her chair and smiled. Hinata was a bit miffed the woman was holding her private information hostage. Sakura could almost see her old friend coming back up to the surface. She was starting to shed some of the layers, but a question kept picking at her and without thinking, she opened her mouth.

“What happened for you to be so cold? Where’s our Hinata?” she asked instead of answering the question. The heiress blinked and stiffened at the question. This wasn’t something she wanted to discuss and she felt that she had let her assistant get too close to her.

“It’s none of your business,” she cut sharply. The thick air of discomfort drowned out the pleasant feeling that had descended earlier. Sakura was taken aback, the disappointment apparent on her face when Hinata glared at her. She had definitely said the wrong thing.

She sighed as she watched her friend sink back into the depth of the Hyuuga Heiress persona. The previous warmth in her eyes was gone, her personality smothered under a thick layer of self-erected walls. The Bitch had successfully resurfaced.

“I’ll let you be, Miss Hyuuga,” she said, putting emphasis on the name, and picked herself up off the chair, quickly walking out of the office. Hinata watched the girl’s retreating form. Her vision clouded and something clicked inside her head.

The two girls giggled under the blanket. ‘I-I-I’m s-s-sorry about your b-b-bed...’ the smaller girl whispered before she could feel herself drift off to sleep. ‘Don’t worry about it, Hinata. Naruto pees in it all the time, too. My mom has a special plastic on the mattress because of him.’ The warm hand of her friend wrapped around her own and she was comforted. ‘Friends forever, ‘k Hinata?’ A small pinkie reached out and hooked into the small one of her own hand. ‘F-f-friends for e-e-ever, Sa-sa-sakura,’ she had stuttered out.

Hinata leaned into her hands, clutching the sides of her head. ‘No. No. I don’t want to remember. I am not a slave to my emotions! I am not the shame of the Hyuuga! I. Am. Not. This. Pitiful.’

* * *

Sakura collapsed in front of Ino’s desk. The blonde didn’t bother to look up.

“You were in there a really long time. What did you do?”

Sakura sighed and pressed her fingers to her temples, trying to avoid a headache. Getting this woman out of her shell was way harder than she anticipated.

“I didn’t do anything. She asked me to help her with something.”

“Huh. Why so glum then?” Ino watched her reaction. Sakura only shrugged indifferently.

“I will probably get fired. I think I said something that triggered a memory and she’s all anal about it.”

“Anal?” Ino knitted her brow together in thought. “What did you say?”

“I asked her what happened to her and she shut me out.” She sighed as she sunk further into the chair. Her phone rang and she dug it out of her pocket, grinned when she saw the number, and flipped it open. Instead of hello, she made a moaning sound. Ino snorted.

“Stop that,” Naruto grumbled out. Sakura grinned.

“What can I do for you?”

“Since you barged into my office today and distracted me from my work, I need you to get me some of those cinnamon buns from the bakery near your work. I won’t make it there before they close.”

“What? Why do you want those things?” she grumbled. The baker always commented on her lack of chest and it bothered her to even go there. Naruto was well aware of this.

“I promised someone. Please?” he used his puppy tone and she crumbled. Damn it, he knew all her weaknesses!

“Fine, but you owe me.” She sighed when he let out a shout of gratitude.

“Kiba will pick them up before he comes back from Sai’s,” he looked at his watch “should be soon considering he’s been gone almost an hour. I’m sure Sai’s done torturing him by now.” Sakura laughed.

“You still use him? He’s creepy, and he’s got that strange obsession with men’s penises.” She thought about the first time she met Sai. He had mentioned that Naruto’s penis was not worth her precious worshipping time. At the time they were still dating, so she had hit the man quite hard across the face. Naruto had only laughed, saying that Sai was just a little bit socially dysfunctional. That was putting it the lamest terms possible.

“Yeah, but he’s good at what he does. I’ll put up with him. Now, get the cinnamon buns!”

“Yeah, yeah. Oh, I managed to get under Hinata’s skin today; I think she may have remembered a few things.”

“Oh yeah?” he had stopped listening to her, digging through his pile of drafts. She sighed when she noticed the tell-tale signs he’d sucked himself back into work.

“Nevermind, I’ll get the buns. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Ok. Thanks again.”

Sakura sighed as she hung up. Ino looked at her from her desk and raised a brow.

“I think he’s seeing someone,” she half-wondered out loud.

Ino laughed.

* * *

Kiba eyed the box on Naruto’s desk. He could smell them and his stomach groaned in protest, wondering why Kiba hadn’t torn the box open to devour the damned things.

“Why did I get cinnamon buns for you again?”

Naruto pulled on his raincoat and gave his friend a smirk. “They’re for Hinata. She’s coming over here soon to give us the passes to the sites.” He heard his friend snort.

“Are you studying her for the garden project or just trying to get into her pants?”

Naruto shook his head. He hadn’t been with anyone since Sakura and he wasn’t sure if he was even that interested in Hinata yet. At this point, she was just a challenge he had the urge to crack.

“Garden project,” he mumbled, though his voice didn’t sound very convincing, even to him. He knew Kiba didn’t believe him since he shook his head.

“You have that look.” Kiba gave him a half-lidded glare. Naruto frowned.

“What look?”

“The Look! That look you get when you’ve found something challenging. This only means trouble with a capital ‘T’.”

Naruto rolled his eyes slightly, sighing. Kiba had too much imagination and, obviously, he had to give the man more work to keep him from hurting himself by thinking up misleading scenarios between him and a client.

“I’m serious, Naruto. That woman’s more than you can handle. Hell, she’s more than what I can handle,” he huffed. Naruto ignored him.

“It’s not like that at all. She’s an old friend who has a few issues.”

“Split personality issues, you mean,” Kiba corrected. He knew the amnesia types, they weren’t any better than the ones who were normal.

“She does not,” the blond retorted. He walked over to his desk and picked up the still cooling buns, took a quick glance at his watch and as though on cue, his phone rang.

‘Punctual,’ he thought before answering.

“I’m on my way down, Hinata. I got your buns.” He smirked, but apparently the joke was lost on her since she did not respond.

“I will give you the passes, meet me at my limo.” She hung up. Naruto blinked. That was unusually cold, even for her.

“I've got to go Kiba, don’t burn down the office.” He heard his friend snort again before stepping onto the elevator. Before the doors closed, he made sucking sounds with his lips to catch Akamaru’s attention to say good night. The large dog was sleeping in Kiba’s office and ignored the sounds. His partner liked to keep the mutt with him when he worked late and Naruto didn’t mind. Whatever pleased his workers to keep the business rolling, he would allow it.

Once the elevator arrived on the first floor, he waved good night to the guard at the entrance and stepped outside. He groaned as the rain poured, drowning out the sounds of the city. He noticed Hinata’s limo and made his way to it. She opened the window and poked her hand through, handing him the cards. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

“Did something happen?” he dared to ask. She avoided his gaze and merely shook her head. He quickly realised that the Heiress was in full control of the Hinata driver seat and he didn’t know this girl. This was not the Hinata he’d manage to pull out of her shell a few days ago.

“Hey.” His voice held a command she couldn’t ignore and against her will focused her eyes on his face. He noticed that her gaze was devoid of emotion again. He carefully grabbed the cards from her waiting hand and let his fingers brush her skin, trying to bring back the shyness. She pulled her hand away as though she’d be shocked and placed them on her lap.

“What happened?” he asked softly. The pitter-patter of the rain was deafening, but she heard him clearly. Again, his voice held an intimacy that made her heart skip a beat and it frightened her. He watched her intensely; she could read the silent questions in his eyes. They were trying to break in again and she tried to convince herself that she would resist them no matter what. She should have known better.

Not even a few seconds had gone by and she knew right away it was futile. She was mesmerised by his eyes, his scars, and the way the water ran down his face and dripped off the tip of his nose. She had to suppress the urge to wipe the water off his face. She could feel goose bumps at the nape of her neck when he spoke. The luscious tone of his voice made her want to listen to him all day.

She wondered if he would get offended if she recorded it and put the device under her pillow at night, just to hear the comforting sounds in her isolation. ‘What a girlish fantasy, this is not becoming of a Hyuuga,’ she thought half-heartedly, bitter at her own sense of unrelenting pride.

Forgotten feelings were surfacing the longer she was in their presence. She was afraid of the old and new sensations merging inside of her; and she was terrified of what it meant. She didn’t want to remember, she didn’t want to be close to them.

“Stay away from me,” she whispered. Naruto blinked, not sure he heard her correctly. The window closed and the limo pulled away. He sighed and watched the limo disappear. ‘Back to square one.’

“Fuck.” He looked down at his hands, pressing his lips into a thin line.

She didn’t take the buns.

* * *

Oh noes! AU cliché alert: memory loss! Hope you’re not disappointed, I’m enjoying this plot. R & R if you want - Yes, I know this chapter is a bit short. I’m going to try and finish chapter 13 today but I’ll probably just procrastinate again and write something else lawl.

Oh that panties thing, it was inspired by my daughter. She told me the importance of sharing panties with your friends and I have to say I was entirely ignorant. I’m still sure she’s full of bullshit but I’m not one to argue with seven year old logic. I dare you to try!

- Beta’d June 30, 2009 by Jolly Green.