She slept soundly under his arm, he lightly kissed her head careful not wake her. She cried her heart out at his more miserable moments. He could only imagine what she was hiding before at that very moment she had found him letting himself die. He couldn't remember the moment he gave up, but he dug his way back out with her hand clenched tightly to him and she needed to know what she did for him, after her nap.

He was going to prove he could still live. He didn't know what he was going to do with the new life, but he was going to live.

She, on the other hand, started to look worse. She didn't hide it, she came to him to stop hiding how miserable she was feeling. She told him what she could about what her family had made her do over the years to 'prove herself' she only ever barely passed their tests with the help of her cousin trying to keep her head above it all.

Her sister was starting to realize that they were being purposely pent against each other and was feeling remorse but it was too late. All they could do now was patch their personal relationship.

She would let out her frustration with fidgeting, pacing, and wringing her hands until they were raw. She would end it all with a few tears and apology. He would sit and listen and comment coldly about the Hyuuga's treatment, but what really made her light up was when she noticed he gained a pound back or she could notice the effects of restarting his training, or he told her Naruto came by and he simply sent him away.

That was his new drive, he didn't have anything else to work for so he would ignore the codependence until he found something better.

She giggled as he flinched. "Y-You should know better, it's just a little sprain from overworking it."

He frowned digging his face into his arm to hide his embarrassment. He had hurt himself doing children's training.

"St-starting from scratch means stretching properly, you're not in the shape to jump into action." She reminded him.

"Yeah, I get it." He grumbled.

Her eyes lit up with amusement at his childishness.

"Y-You are doing much better though, your muscles are recovering better than I thought they would." She told him finishing her minor healing on the pulled muscles.

"You look better." He noted not looking at her.

"M-My sister went on a rampage today. Sh-She wants to stop my sealing, Neji-nii-san let it slip that they threatened to blind me. I-It's nice to know she cares, though I don't think it will go over well if she brings it to the council." She smiled warmly helping him sit up.

He rolled his shoulders. "Well, if you were a clan and their favored heir threaten outing information like treating one of their own with blindness to get what they wanted." He shrugged.

"M-Maybe, as far as the village knows, I will be stepping down peacefully." She tilted head to the side prodding his shoulder.

"I'm head of my clan, not all that fun." He shrugged and smirked as she touched his shoulder more lightly.

"I-I feel like the therapy is only making the nausea worse." Hinata mumbled pulling her head from the bucket.

"Trust the doctors." He mumbled rubbing her back.

"I-I know it will get better, it just feels worse." She sighed laying back.

"You still look adorable." He smirked tucking her tangled hair out of the way.

She closed her eyes, turning red.

"Bath?" She nodded.

She laid her head back as she washed her hair.

"At least you're waking motor processes." He noted as he handed her things out of her reach.

She chewed on her lip and glance back him as she rinsed her hair. He kept his eyes on her shoulders. She opened her mouth and forced out what she was thinking before she could overthink it.

"Y-You should wash up too." She squeaked. She frowned, she made it sound like he hadn't been, that's not what she meant.

He looked at her for a second before a smirk spread over his face. "You sure?"

"I-It waste the water if we are bathing separately." She faulted back on looking forward.

"Okay." She sighed as he agreed. He helped her into the tub before he undressed and washed. She kept her eyes averted and curled into her knees once more.

"H-How did we start… dating?" She mumbled.

"You're getting impatient with the story aren't you?" He mused as he joined her. She felt the water level rise with the addition of his body mass.

"Get lost moron, not fighting with you anymore. I'm done. You won." He tried to flick the hand off his shoulder. He couldn't fight him right now if he wanted to.

"You were gone for weeks I didn't see you out. You didn't answer your door, anytime I came by you were sleeping. You look thin. Are you okay?" Yeah, now he notices.

"Fine, just done with fighting. I don't want a job, I have money. I don't want new-old friends, I've got all I need." He mumbled.

He was actually on his way home with the groceries hanging from his arm. Hinata was making him cinnamon rolls with will less sugar and no glaze. Which he was rather sure was just cinnamon bread, she thought otherwise and insisted, trying to get him to like her favorite dish, she was going to find out the hard way he hated sweets.

"Sakara-chan hasn't seen Hinata around, and she… runs off on me." Naruto mumbled rubbing the back of his head. "How's she doing?"

Sasuke looked over seeing the first sigh the blond was going to not force him into a fight and sighed. "She's fine. Tell Sakura to leave the girl alone, she got other things to worry about."

"Why? What's going on?" He asked taking a step ahead so he could turn to walk backward.

"Clan stuff." He shrugged. "She just doesn't need shit from the village noseyest nurse added on."

"Hey, don't insult Sakura-chan..." Naruto started. "I mean, I guess she's harsh but..."

Sasuke sighed. "Hinata is honestly more stubborn than you think, she will just be quiet about it."

"I'll mention it." Naruto mumbled. "Are you really okay? You were getting on the ragged side for awhile."

"I'm fine now." He nodded turning the corner leaving the blond behind.

"N-No." She giggled at his confusion. "N-No, that one is a weed." She pointed as she turned back to picking her herbs.

"This is why you shouldn't have left me with the wretched plants." He grumbled. "I told you I would kill them if I did this." He grumbled pulling the right stem.

"I-I'm sure I trusted you could do it, even if I might have been wrong." She assured filling the basket with ripe plants.

"Yeah, you trusted me to not to punch your cousin too." He mumbled.

"Wh-what?" She blinked.

She came in with a particularly large container, he knew something was wrong. She had her eyes down on it as she unpacked its contents in his kitchen, that had really become her kitchen.

"What happened?" He asked looking over the contents, she was making sweets. Something about her then.

"C-Council." She mumbled dumping ingredients in the mixing bowl with an unsettling calmness.

"Okay." He noted watching her slowly but surely make form a dough and knead it with a deliberate speed, she cover the bowl to raise and he dropped off his stool. "Come with me."

She blinked at him, dropping from her controlled state, following him out the back the house with curiosity. He yanked off his long sleeve shirt tossing it and taking a stance.

She blinked looking over his stance with confusion. "I-I can't fight you, I don't have that kind of skill."

"I haven't done more than self-training since I started gaining the weight back. If you have a chance, it's now." He urged.

She fidgeted and sighed taking off her jacket setting it with his discarded overshirt then taking her stiff Hyuga stance.

He lunged staying just out of range of her hands, if he didn't get hit, he didn't have to worry about the force. He moved in a non-pattern around her, never striking more than to distract her, making her huff. "S-Sasuke-san I don't need target training." She continued to strike at him missing only by a hair.

He smirked at her and her brow furrowed. She took a hard strike for his shoulder. He slipped behind her, caught her arm tucked it behind her and forced her leg forward, forcing her to catch herself with her free forearm as they both fell forward.

She huffed in frustration, bucking back on him. He quickly moved to mocking his hands in the air in a surrender with a smirk. The veins on the side of her face pulsed and she jerked forward. He had pissed her off, and he wasn't quick enough. She slammed a hand in his chest slamming him into the ground. "I-I don't like this game!" She squeaked at him as he bounced on the ground.

He coughed holding his numbing ribs. "Feel better?"

She blinked, dropping her hands and staring at him.

Her eye filled with tears and she dropped to her knees by his side releasing the numb sensation. He forced a barely feeling arm around her shoulders and she gladly buried her face in the fabric over his shoulder.

"T-Turn down the burner." She pointed.

He quickly finished pushing her wheelchair to the side and reached over fixing the temperature and looked back. "I'm going to burn everything if you put me in charge of the stove."

She giggled at his frustration as she continued to chop vegetables. "Th-the sword by the door is yours, right? H-Have you tried knife work?"

"If the recipe call for a potato, it's going in." He mumbled. "Whole."

"H-How did you survive all those years out of the village?" She giggled.

"Soldier pills and dumb teammates that were infatuated with me." Her smile dropped. "It was a joke."

She pouted. "I-It's not funny."

"Yes, it is." He leaned over the counter making her force down a growing smile.

***TheUnstableLiz***

I can not answer questions of guests. If you have a specific question please log in and PM me or use my tumblr. I will answer any and all questions!

I will point out I am not sure of and will not be following the timeline of the show anything that seems out of place is a result of that.

I will also point out that anyone who is out of character by a lot is the fault of me not knowing the character well enough and I apologize for that.

I apologize for spelling and grammar, I am a computer scientist, not a writer.

My tumblr to speak to me directly and where I put thoughts and sometimes updates and sneak peaks: /theunstableliz.