AN: A short epilogue.
Disclaimer: If I owned it, Rin wouldn't have been fridged.
When Hinata has to fumble for her keys outside the door of her apartment, it brings home just how tired she is. She's a ninja, and a Hyuuga, precision is supposed to be what she's good at – she cuts that thought off as the key turns in the lock, telling herself, you're tired and you just completed an A-rank and on top of that you're getting the bounty for the missing-nin you disposed of in the process. You don't need to worry about precision. If you really want to improve it you can train in the morning.
(She's learned to take that tone with herself. It sounds a bit like Kurenai-sensei and a bit like Sakura-chan, and perhaps even a little like the mother she can barely remember, the warm voice that calmed her when her father's disapproval sent her into fits of silent tears – but most of all it sounds like herself, like the small quiet stubborn part of herself that has never consented to the way others have made her feel.)
Still, she is tired, and exhaustion has a tendency to leave her feeling melancholy if she's not careful. She stumbles into the apartment, locking the door behind her, and takes her shoes off on autopilot. The moment her bare feet sink into the carpet she feels as if she could just stand there forever and never move again. "I'm home," she calls, unable to muster the energy to raise her voice.
Around fellow ninja she doesn't have to raise her voice. "Welcome back," Sakura says, coming out of – the bathroom? – in a half-run to meet her. Gentle, skilled hands come up to cup Hinata's face, and Hinata closes her eyes in relief as their lips meet. Sakura's kisses can be intense, sometimes, but at other times they're just like this one: tender, undemanding, reassuring. Closeness.
"How did it go?" Sakura murmurs.
Hinata shrugs, looking down for a moment. "It was all right." She really doesn't feel like talking about it right now: it was gruelling, even if it did go well, and it's all still too fresh in her mind.
Sakura picks up this, just like she always does. "Come on," she says, instead of asking further. "I've run you a bath."
Hinata sincerely regrets not having the energy to thank her profusely: as it is, all she can manage is a sort of incoherent thank-you noise, and then a long groan of satisfaction, as she sinks into the warm water. She can feel muscles begin to relax that she didn't even know were tense. Her eyes seem to close of their own accord.
When she opens them, Sakura is still there, sitting cross-legged and balancing a makeshift desk of books on her lap, on which to do her paperwork. Hinata blinks. "You're still here?" she mumbles, too tired to attempt politeness.
Sakura laughs, unoffended. "I don't want you falling asleep in the bath!" That's a fair point. Hinata feels as though she could, any second. "Besides," and here Sakura's eyes turn warm and oh god Hinata can feel the blush coming on, "you just got back, and I like spending time with you."
Hinata can't think of anything to say to that, so she sends a tired smile over Sakura's way and relaxes into the bath. They both sit quietly for a while, Hinata letting the tension drain out of her, lulled by the warmth and the sense of closeness and the sound of Sakura's pen scratching on the paper. She's always got paperwork to do. That's the price of being a top medic at the hospital and the Hokage's trusted apprentice, Hinata supposes. Occasionally Sakura complains about it, but never to the extent that most other ninja seem to. Hinata thinks maybe she finds it sort of satisfying. Tedious, but it needs a little intellectual output, and it's something to do. Sakura likes that sort of thing: she's told Hinata it's partly why she got such good grades in maths at the Academy.
She doesn't mean to start dozing off, really… but suddenly she feels Sakura's hands on her shoulders, and Sakura is saying, "Hinata-chan, you should know better than to fall asleep in the bath," in a voice full of amusement and affection, and Sakura is helping her out of the bath. "You're half-asleep on your feet," and oh, she feels the towel rough-soft against her skin and Sakura is drying her off, gently but efficiently, and. And this. This is what she comes back to, this sense of warmth and welcome and home.
She stands there blankly as Sakura leaves the room for a moment, catches the pyjamas thrown at her on instinct. She's so tired that it's only instinct that allows her to put them on. At Sakura's soft prompting, a hand pushing at her shoulder, she stumbles into the bedroom and sort of quietly collapses onto the bed. Oh, she thinks, Sakura-chan changed the sheets. The feeling of the fresh clean sheets against her still slightly-damp skin is… somehow it's incredibly comforting.
She blinks up at Sakura. "You're staying up?"
"I have to finish this paperwork before tomorrow," Sakura says ruefully. She smiles. "I'll come to bed soon, don't worry." Hinata smiles back: she knows Sakura is aware of how much Hinata worries about her lack of sleep.
One goodnight kiss – chaste, lingering – and Hinata is closing her eyes, and falling into the warm dark.
AN: so I wanted happy baths and beds for my ninja ladies SO SUE ME