Many thanks to my wonderful Beta Readers kairi-chan and spacerune! This fic has been in the making for more than six months, and without your never-ending patience and encouragement, it would never have seen the light of day. Love you, girls!

...

It was around midday two days later when she received a phone call from the hospital of one of the neighbouring towns, Pebbles, and she almost dropped the phone. Her chest tightening in fear when she heard what the nurse had to say.

As soon as they finished the conversation, she rushed to the Hokage tower. With her heart hammering in her chest, she stormed into her brother-in-law's office without knocking.

"Lord Seventh, I just heard—" she started, but stopped herself when he looked up from the stack of documents in front of him and gave her a quick nod and smile, unbothered by her unconventional entrance.

"Hanabi-chan," he greeted. "I assume the hospital reached you? I gave them your number."

"Yes, they did. I—"

"Want to go there?"

She blinked at his straightforwardness and nodded slightly.

"Sure," he continued. "You have permission, but didn't they tell you? Once they finish patching him up, he's being transported to Konoha."

"Yes, they did. They told me the rural hospital he was taken to doesn't do larger surgeries, especially since it's only a few hours from Konoha. I just…"

"I get it. You go. You'd probably arrive before he leaves. And—" Naruto stopped himself, scratched at his neck, sighed, and shook his head. "Tell him to be a little bit more careful, will ya? Or else I'll put him on front-gate guard duty, permanently. Wish him well from me, 'kay?"

"I will. Thank you," Hanabi answered and with a quick nod she turned heel as soon as she finished.

When she arrived, she was appointed to the waiting room and told he would soon come out of the theatre after being examined and healed.

His teammate was there—Fuumi was her name Hanabi had to remind herself. She really was cute, Hanabi thought before pushing all nasty thoughts down. From what Hanabi had been told over the phone, she was the reason he was alive right now.

Hanabi thanked her for everything she had done for Konohamaru and asked if she could tell Hanabi what had happened.

"Ah, please don't mention it, Hanabi-san," she said nervously, flailing her arms in the air in a dismissive manner. "I only hope that he'll be okay. When the building collapsed on top of us, he got struck by a huge bearing bar. It hit his shoulder and pinned him down. Then more debris fell down, and he was covered in cement pieces. It was just lucky that I'm an Earth Style user. I got to him and used brought up a Rock Shelter around us, and when everything was finished, I helped free him from the bar. I brought him here as quick as I could. He was conscious the whole time, I think that's a good sign? But disoriented and confused, so I think he might have a concussion..."

"It sounds like he owes you his life. I'm grateful." Hanabi finished and dismissed the girl's awkward denial of her part, accompanied by more hand flailing.

She really was a child, Hanabi thought. Still just a teenager, and an awkward one at that. But she was skilled and had helped Konohamaru, and Hanabi meant what she said, she truly was thankful.

It didn't take long until a doctor showed up and told them that he was in recovery and that he soon would be transported to Konoha Hospital. Hanabi asked if they could see him and the doctor nodded, though adding that they usually only let immediate family into the recovery room to limit disturbance for the patients who were waking up. Fuumi quickly nodded and said that she completely understood and sat again.

Hanabi was shown to the room. It was filled with nurses moving in and out, and a couple of other patients as well.

The doctor explained that he had a concussion, a badly fractured shoulder and scapula, a large gash on his shoulder, and extensive deep tissue damage where the bar had struck. He had three broken ribs and had lost a lot of blood and received a blood transfusion to make up for it.

On the positive, no punctured lung.

They had patched him up temporarily, but as Hanabi could see, it was a smaller hospital which didn't have the facilities to accommodate larger surgeries, nor the medical-nins to help out. Since Konoha Hospital was only a couple of hours away, standard procedures included all major surgeries being transferred there and his shoulder definitely fell under that bracket.

He looked awful, was the first thought that ran through Hanabi's mind when she saw him, and the knot in her stomach tightened when she walked closer. His head was wrapped in bandages, and what wasn't hidden underneath the gauze was bruised and scraped.

His shoulder was wrapped up too and put in a sling, and from what she could see, the better part of his chest as well.

She swallowed and walked up to him. Reaching out and taking his hand, she couldn't help but try to remember the last time she had touched him like that. She wasn't sure, but she knew it had been a while.

As the doctor had promised, it didn't take long until his eyes fluttered, and he frowned, and let out a small groan.

A nurse came up to check up on him when she noticed he was about to wake up and checked his vitals before asking if he could hear her. Despite not having opened his eyes yet, he nodded slightly and Hanabi's throat closed up seeing him at least semi-conscious. The nurse gave the approval to move him to the ward, and they made their way there.

It took several minutes for him to properly wake up. He blinked a couple of times before his eyes fell on the hand holding his, and his gaze travelled up to meet hers.

"Hanabi?" he asked, his voice groggy and with more than a hint of pain infused with the disorientation.

She didn't think she could form a coherent sentence, so she simply nodded.

He gave a small smile in return before closing his eyes again, paling.

She squeezed his hand. "Can I do anything? Call the nurse? Get you some water, maybe?" she asked, but he just shook his head slightly.

"Feeling sick?" she asked, seeing how pale he was, and he gave a short nod.

"Mm, a bit. Pretty dizzy," he admitted, and slowly opened his eyes again. "Where am I?"

"Oh, at Pebbles Hospital. You got hurt on your mission, remember?" she asked and tried not to let it show in her voice how his confusion worried her.

"...Right, the building. Yeah, I remember," he said, and she sighed in relief. He was just groggy.

She heard someone approaching and looked up to see his teammate in the door, giving a small, awkward wave when Hanabi spotted her.

Konohamaru noticed her as well after following Hanabi's gaze. He cleared his throat and gave another smile.

"Hey, Fuumi-chan. I think I owe you one helluva thank you," he said, prompting the young woman to flail her hands in the air and deny all involvement again.

"I'm just happy you're awake, Konohamaru-san. How do you feel?"

He snorted and winced slightly as his wounds made themselves known at the unexpected motion. "Like someone just dropped a building on me," he muttered wryly.

Hanabi couldn't help but roll her eyes at his failed attempt at a joke. At least his terrible sense of humour was intact.

Fuumi laughed nervously before throwing a glance between him and Hanabi. She explained that she had really wanted to stay until he woke up but that she would return to the employer now to explain what had happened. She wished him a quick recovery and said goodbye before leaving.

"Jittery little thing, that one," Hanabi couldn't resist commenting, prompting a chuckle from Konohamaru—and another wince.

"Well, what do you expect. Not many can withstand the glare of the infamous Hyuuga Hanabi."

"Funny, very funny. Since you're in such a joking mood, perhaps you don't mind telling me how you got hurt?" she shot back sarcastically. He was clearly more awake—some of the colour on his cheeks had returned, and she really wanted to know what he had to say.

He closed his eyes again. A small gesture that reminded Hanabi that he had hurt his head too. As if his gauze-wrapped head was not enough.

Keeping them closed, he swallowed, and she couldn't help wondering how nauseous he really felt.

"Well, we were supposed to investigate—"

"No, not that part. I've been informed of that. I mean how you were unable to dodge a falling bar. It should have been child's play. So, what happened?

"Oh, um…I was focused on—"

"Not buying it."

"What is it you want, Hanabi? Another fight? Here? Now?" he asked, voice low and eyes narrowed.

"...I—no, I don't want to fight," she answered, memories of their last fight flashing by with the added agony of knowing that had things ended differently, the last thing she would ever have told him was that he was a coward-for trying to make her feel better. "I—I just need you to be honest with me."

Konohamaru sighed and opened his eyes slightly to look at her. "Don't know what you want me to say. I got sloppy."

"No, that's not it. You were tired, exhausted. Weren't you? Do you really think I don't know that you're barely sleeping? You shouldn't have been on the mission in the first place."

"Yeah, that'd definitely go down well. Sorry, can't take any missions today. I need a nap," he said sarcastically and closed his eyes again, either from sensory overstimulation or simply because he didn't want to talk to her anymore.

Hanabi couldn't stop now though, couldn't let their first real conversation in months end like all the others.

"Konohamaru, when they called from the hospital I was so afraid that I almost threw up. Knowing that you-I don't want to fight. I'm just trying to make you see reason. You can't keep taking missions when you can barely keep your eyes open. You're a danger to yourself and your teammates,"

His eyes softened when he heard her. "Well, it isn't like I'll be going on any missions in any foreseeable future now anyhow," he said and nodded to his mauled shoulder.

They didn't get any further in their conversation before being interrupted by a knock on the door, and the same doctor who had shown Hanabi to the recovery room entered. He greeted them both and explained to Konohamaru what he told Hanabi earlier, and that hospital transportation was ready.

Two paramedics wheeled him away, and her gut twisted when she watched him grit his teeth and clutch the sling with his uninjured hand against the slightest jolt of the stretcher.

The thunder train to Konoha had a special section in the middle for medical transports. She was offered to come to ride either at the front or in the middle with him and the other paramedic, on the condition that she remained seated the whole ride.

She chose the back.

She hadn't been on this route before, the line being a fairly new construction, but she had to admit, this was by far the smoothest ride she had ever been in. Despite that, Konohamaru quickly paled and tensed at even the slightest rattle and jerk of the train, and Hanabi only realised when they finally arrived that she had balled her fists so tight during the trip that her nails had left crescent-shaped marks in the palm of her hand.

Once they arrived he was moved into an examination room, and soon Sakura popped her head in.

"Okay, I've read the report from the medical-nin who performed the initial healing of the superficial wounds and stitched the larger one on your shoulder, but let me take a look at you as well?" Sakura asked, and moved her hands over his shoulder to investigate the damage when he nodded.

Sakura frowned and hummed thoughtfully to herself as the green light glowed and she moved her hands around. When she was finished, she put them down and looked at him.

"Well, you managed to stuff yourself up pretty good. The scapula—the shoulder blade has several severe fractures extending to the scapula neck and the socket itself as well. The broken ribs underneath I'm not too worried about. They are fairly clean fractures and will heal on their own with a few healing sessions, same with the concussion. Your shoulder, on the other hand, requires surgery as you were already told. We will set everything back in place with screws and plates to hold while several consecutive healing sessions will mend the damage done. You'll become a cyborg!" she finished cheerily, flashing him a bright smile.

Konohamaru blinked.

"Say what?" he asked, and Hanabi swore that if he hadn't already been so pale, he would have lost all the colour on his cheeks.

"I said, you are going to become a cyborg!" Sakura repeated with even more glee than before. Then she cocked her head to the side, dropped her grin and looked at him with a serious expression. "Honestly, from my understanding of the events, Konohamaru-kun, you should consider yourself lucky. If your neck or spine had been compromised, then you would be far worse off."

Hanabi shuddered as Might Gai popped into her mind, and was grateful for the injury being relatively easy to fix, and seeing Konohamaru's expression, she suspected he was thinking the same. To give him something else to think about, she returned to the subject of cyborgs.

"Doesn't it sound amazing, Konohamaru? A cyborg! I wonder if you'll be magnetic? Or if you encountered a magnetic user, they could pull you in?"

Yepp, that did the trick. He looked at her with an equal mix of annoyance and exasperation. "I think I preferred it better when you were quiet."

"Pffft, when have I ever remained quiet?"

"Sakura-san, can't you ask her to wait outside or something?" he whined, giving her a look of pure suffering.

"Hm? Oh, no. The immediate family, you know. She is allowed in here," Sakura answered and winked at Hanabi.

Konohamaru pinched the bridge of his nose with his uninjured hand and groaned, and Hanabi grinned smugly at his morose expression. He was outnumbered, and he knew it.

Not long after that, he was wheeled into surgery and Hanabi set to wait. His teammate came to the hospital, and Hanabi greeted her with a quick smile and a short update as the young girl sat down to wait too.

The sun had since long set before Sakura came to find them in the waiting room, and explained that the surgery was successful—not that Hanabi had ever doubted it—and that he was in recovery. He would soon be moved to the ward, but he wasn't going to wake up until tomorrow.

They thanked her, and as Hanabi walked into recovery, his teammate went home.

"You should go home too, Hana-chan. It's really late and he won't be coming out of sedation until morning. I made sure of that," Sakura said a little while later. She had changed out of her scrubs and into her usual attire. She seemed to be headed home when she popped her head into the ward.

"Oh, I'm okay. I'll stay."

"Listen, nothing is going to happen. He is fine, and he will be in here for a few days at least. Yes, he managed to get himself into a bit of a mess and will have a couple of rough weeks ahead of him. But with time—and some physiotherapy—he will be okay. You should go home and get some rest."

"Thank you, but I think I'll stay anyhow. If that's okay?" Hanabi asked, and Sakura smiled understandingly.

"I'm heading home now then but will be back tomorrow morning. If it's anything, please don't hesitate to contact any of the nurses, okay?" Sakura said, turning to leave.

Hanabi chewed her lip. With the day's events playing in her head on repeat she wanted to say something.

Talk to someone.

If she didn't do it right there and then, she didn't think she ever would. "Sakura-san," she said, stopping the pinkette in her tracks, "I—um, I was wondering if I could ask you a question?"

"Yes. Absolutely," Sakura smiled and Hanabi took a deep breath, hoping he wouldn't resent her for doing this.

"Do...do you and Sasuke-san ever fight?"

"Oh, um. Well, yes. It happens. I think all couples fight sometimes. For many different reasons," Sakura answered in earnest. She watched Hanabi fidget in her chair and throw quick glances Konohamaru's way and smiled kindly. "Were you two fighting?"

"I—we, yes. A lot. And just before he left for the mission. I said some horrible things..."

"...I see. And now you feel guilty?"

Hanabi felt her throat close up at the last question. Biting her lip again, she absently noted that if this kept up, she wouldn't have a lip left to chew on soon, and nodded slowly.

Sakura sighed and sat down next to her. "Do you want to talk about why you fight?"

She looked away, it was too hard to face Sakura's gaze, as kind and inviting as it was. "Isn't it obvious? You know everything that's happened in the last few years."

"It kind of is, yes. And if you don't want to say it out loud, that's okay too. But perhaps it would do you good?"

Hanabi sighed. "We've been falling apart. Growing more and more distant. He's been avoiding me, or perhaps I pushed him away, I don't even know anymore."

"Hanabi, do you love him?"

Hanabi looked up when she heard the direct question, but Sakura didn't seem like she was mocking her. She had cocked her head to the side, looking genuinely curious. The answer came without hesitation.

"Yes."

"And do you want to fix it?"

Another easy question to answer.

"Yes."

"Then you will have to find out if he feels the same way. And if he does, then you have nothing to worry about. You two will work it out. In your own time," Sakura said, still with a kind smile on her lips. She stood and gave Hanabi a hug. "Perhaps this could lead to change?"

Then you'll have to find out if he feels the same way. She knew he did. He made that abundantly clear during their last fight, and she still pushed him away. But perhaps Sakura was right. Perhaps they could get a new start?

He had shown her where he stood. Now it was time for her to show him.

An hour or so after Sakura had left, Hanabi heard a knock on the window. When she saw Boruto waving from the outside she rolled her eyes.

Boruto gave her another quick wave as she let them in. "Hi, Big Sis. How is he?" he asked as he jumped in through the window before padding over to Konohamaru, closely followed by his two team members.

"He is okay, but sleeping and won't wake up until the morning. Which I'm sure your mother already told you," she answered, addressing the latter sentence to Sarada—the last to enter.

In contrast to the other two, Sarada at least had the decency to blush at the late intrusion.

"Hi, Hanabi-sensei. We're really sorry to disturb you so late. You are right, mum told me about the accident and that you were here, so I just had to tell the others, and we decided to come and see him."

Hanabi threw them all an unimpressed look. "It's—" she glanced at the clock, "Well past one am. You should have come tomorrow."

"But, Big Sis, we came to keep you company and watch over him."

"You did what—? Absolutely not. Sneaking out in the middle of the night is not fine. You guys come back tomorrow. Don't make me call your parents!"

"Hey! I'm almost sixteen!" Boruto argued, a protest slightly diminished by him lifting his hands in the air and waving them placatingly.

"You still live at home, don't you? Are you really going to make me call your mother?" she threatened, and Boruto paled.

"Okay, okay. We're leaving. Don't call her!"

They said goodbye to them both and left the same way they came. Once Hanabi closed the window she shook her head and sat down next to him again. Only those three would come up with the idea.

It was sweet of them though, she had to admit.

The hours went by slowly, the monotony only broken by a nurse silently sneaking into the room a couple of times to check his vitals. They smiled at Hanabi and whisperingly asked if she was okay. When she nodded they left again. She wanted to stay awake until he woke up, and somewhere around four, she wished she had something to read.

She woke up with a start.

First, she didn't understand where she was, or why her neck was so sore, but then she felt someone squeeze her hand and she looked up to see Konohamaru sitting upright in bed, watching tv without any sound on, not to disturb her no doubt, his legs crossed and grinning at her happily.

"You're finally awake. Good morning, sleepyhead," he teased, smiling at her so brightly that something twisted in her chest.

It had been so long since he had looked at her like that.

She rubbed her eyes and threw a glance at the clock, it was almost eleven. No wonder he was wide awake.

Ignoring the teasing, she smiled back.

"You look a lot better today."

"Yeah, I do feel a lot better, a lot less dizzy and sore. Admittedly, that's probably the healing session they've squeezed in, together with the painkillers. And I…uh...might have thrown up a bit," he said, his cheeks taking a pinkish hue with the admission, "so they gave me some tablets, and it really helped."

Hanabi smiled back at him and said that she was glad to hear it when something caught her eye on the small table next to his bed. A 'Get Well' card.

He followed her gaze and gave a sheepish grin when he saw what she was looking at.

"Ah, yeah. Boruto and the others were here earlier. I suspect the card's Sarada's doing. They told me they were here last night, but that you went full parental on their asses and chased them outta here," he explained before his grin grew wider again. "Oh, and Boruto wanted me to tell you that drooling in your sleep isn't very ladylike," he finished, obviously fighting hard not to show his amusement at her sour expression.

"...I'm actually going to skin him this time," she muttered, though something in how he bit his lip to stop himself from grinning made her suspicious. "Or are you just making that up?"

"Me? I'd never! Don't kill the messenger," he defended himself laughing and held his good arm up in the air in a placating manner, though it didn't completely convince her. She would have to get the truth out of one of them at some point. It would have to wait until another time though, as both a shadow clone of Naruto and Fuumi popped their heads in. Fuumi had just left the report with him and he had suggested them to visit.

It was close to lunch before they left. Konohamaru was scheduled for another healing session so Hanabi snuck out to get a quick bite and then sat to wait again.

Later in the afternoon, after school had finished, a group of teachers from the academy came to visit and see how he was doing.

This year's genin exams were nearing and he had been meant to help host it. Now Moegi was going to take his place instead so they talked about that for a bit.

Not long after the teachers had arrived though, she saw him tiring. It was evident in how the small wrinkle between his brows deepened and how he, despite still chatting, had lost colour significantly compared to when she first saw him that morning. She was grateful when Moegi nudged the others to leave and suspected Moegi had noticed the same as she had.

Once they were alone again, she sighed and smiled at him saying that he should rest for a bit, but instead of agreeing, he frowned.

"In a little while. Listen, I don't think we can ignore how we left things forever," he said.

Her chest tightened. It wasn't as if he was saying anything outrageous, but she hadn't expected him to bring it up so soon. He was breaking his own pattern, but perhaps that was a good thing too?

Swallowing, Hanabi nodded. "Listen, I said some horrible things. I'm not sure you can forgive me, but—" she bit her lip, unsure how to proceed. She had been going over the fight in her head over and over more times than she could count, and she knew what she wanted to say, though getting it out was something completely different. She took a deep breath. It was now or never. "But please, know that I'm sorry. For everything." She hesitated for a moment, dropping her gaze to find the right words. "I—I don't want to keep fighting."

He smiled softly. "Neither do I. I wasn't fair either and should have controlled my temper better," he admitted and grabbed her hand to squeeze it tightly. "How about we leave it behind us? And regarding the rest. What comes, comes?"

"Yes, I'd like that," she returned the smile. Sakura had been right. Perhaps they weren't completely fine yet, but they would get there, in time.

Hanabi convinced him to rest for a bit and snuck home to have a shower and a change of clothes. The next couple of days were mostly spent at the hospital, with a couple of trips home in between. Come evening on that first day, Konohamaru exasperatedly talked her out of staying another night, and virtually ordered her to go home instead.

He was discharged on the fourth morning, under strict conditions to come back once a day for a week for subsequent healing sessions, and not to remove the plastic brace covering his shoulder until Sakura gave her approval, lest she'd drag him back in there again.

Having very little doubt that she would make a reality of her threats, he obediently agreed to the terms. The mental image of Sakura dragging him back to the hospital by the ear would be sure to brighten Hanabi's day for months ahead.

...

As soon as he stepped in through the door, Konohamaru unhinged the brace and let it fall to the floor, letting out a heavy sigh as he massaged the sore muscle underneath. Hanabi snorted at the sight. It looked like he had longed to do that for a while.

"You are going to put it back on, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. In a moment. Do you have any idea how uncomfortable that thing is? And how itchy the skin gets underneath? And how hard it is to sleep with it on? I can't wait until Sakura-san gives me the okay to ditch it completely," he pouted, eyeing the plastic brace grumpily.

"All I hear is childish whining." Dismissing his complaints with a quick wave, Hanabi went silent for a moment. "I was thinking. Perhaps you should take some time off. After the shoulder heals, I mean."

"Hm? Where does this come from?"

"Oh, I just thought of it when you said it was hard to sleep with the brace on. The reason you are in this mess, to begin with, is because you haven't been sleeping properly, right? So why not take some time afterwards to just relax?"

"...Thanks for the reminder, but I'll be fine. I mean, it's not like I can do anything right now, but I'd like to return to duty when I can," he smiled and plonked down on the couch.

"Just think about it, will you?" she asked and sat next to him. "You don't have to go back to work straight away once the shoulder heals. I meant what I said, setting aside the obvious injury, you need sleep. The accident was a direct result of slowed down reflexes due to sleep deprivation," she argued before her lips quirked upwards slightly, "and besides, it's not like we need your salary."

"...You just managed to insult both my professional pride and my pride as a male in a single sentence. I think that's a new record," he commented wryly but couldn't completely stop the grin from spreading across his face. He knew just as well as she did that what she said was true. Her position as clan leader ensured them a comfortable living. She was just teasing him about it. "You make it sound like I'll be going back to work tomorrow. Something that's not going to happen. I'll have plenty of time to rest up and get bored doing nothing. Or do you have some ulterior motive for keeping me in the house?"

"Other than making sure you come back to the said house again, you mean? No, none that comes to mind," she teased, though the dismissal didn't deter him.

"Oh, none comes to mind, you say?" he leaned in closer and whispered in her ear, tickling that sensitive spot just below her jawline with his breath. "Then let me see if I can spark some ideas."

She found herself breathing faster at the mere thought of what he would do to 'spark some ideas.'

It had been far too long.

When he gave her a small, tentative nibble she bit her lip to stop herself moaning. He noticed, of course, and grinned against her skin before beginning a slow descent of kisses along her neck.

Not thinking, she grabbed onto him and pulled him in closer, only to quickly let go when she felt him tense and clutch his shoulder, pressing his arm close to his body. He dropped his head and groaned in pain, and a stream of apologies fell off her lips as she steadied him the best she could. How could she have been so thoughtless?

"Son of a—that hurt, Hanabi," he complained once he'd gotten control of his vocal cords again and looked up from his half curled up position. Their eyes met, and when the corner of his lips twitched, so did hers.

Strict orders to rest and no strenuous activities, oops?

Once they both had gotten over their initial laugh over the mishap, she sent him to the bathroom with strict orders to have a shower, and a shave.

He looked at her incredulously. Clearly, the dark shade on his cheeks had been the least of his concerns lately. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, you heard me," she laughed. "That stubble doesn't suit you in the least, and it tickles!"

"Hey, do you have any idea how hard it is to shave using your non-dominant hand?" he complained, and she snorted.

"Tss, I know precision isn't your strongest suit, but I also know what you can do with both hands…" Neither her teasing nor the insinuation went over his head and a blush spread across his cheeks.

"Oi, that was one time," he grumbled. "And it wasn't my fault! The tech wasn't working properly."

"Oh, stop whining. I'll help you, but the beard's got to go!"

"Fine," he relented pouting, then he grinned, "Shower sounds good though. Join me, ey?"

Resisting the urge to whack him with her shoe, she chased him into the bathroom. Once there she helped him take his shirt off, chastising him for not keeping still and shushing him when he complained about her heartlessness. She had just gotten it over his injured shoulder when she caught a glimpse of his back below where the dressing stopped.

She had seen parts of his chest in the hospital—what wasn't wrapped up—but this was the first time she had seen his back. All along his right side green and purple bruises bloomed, darker in the middle and beginning to fade around the edges—something he had the healing sessions to thank for, she assumed. Knowing that what she was looking at was only the tail-end of the injury, the rest still hidden under the dressings, the earlier banter left a sour taste in her mouth. She moved her hand to touch the dip of his lower back, noticing how close to his spine the diagonal bruises extended, and Sakura's words popped uninvited into her mind.

He twitched slightly at the unexpected touch and looked at her. When he noticed what she was staring at, his gaze softened.

"Hey, c'mere," he mumbled and pulled her into a hug. "Don't worry about it, it's not that bad, honestly, and I have nothing but myself to blame, right? Hey!"

She managed something at least faintly resembling a smile, even though it tasted bitter to know that he considered it his fault—something she didn't agree on—and wordlessly helped him off with the rest of the shirt. Steeling herself, she unwrapped the bandages around his chest—telling herself that it was better not to dwell on it—and tried not to let it show how much she hated the sight.

Leaving the plastic dressings over his shoulder and upper back to be removed and replaced afterwards, they both stepped in under the shower. She pretended not to hear him wince when the hot water first touched the deep bruises and torn skin but turned down the heat and pressure and pulled him into another hug under the cascading water. Swallowing deeply to rid herself of the lump in her throat, she hugged him tighter when she felt him sigh wearily and drop his head to rest on her shoulder.

They stood so, silently, for a little while before he lifted his head again and gave a tired lopsided grin. She returned the smile and moved up to capture his lips in a gentle kiss he met halfway.