"I'm sorry. There is nothing more we can do."
It was the nail in her metaphorical coffin. Hinata had been considered useless before, but now there was no question that it was true. Her career was over. She had less than zero value to the Hyuga council. She was dead weight. She couldn't even stand for her long-held crush when he became Hokage.
She couldn't stand at all.
"I'm moving out." She told her father.
Hinata's forehead bore a seal now. It was required when they decided she could no longer protect herself. Of course, her father could have stopped her from leaving if he wanted to, but she knew he wanted nothing to do with his useless disabled daughter. He didn't even want to look at her.
Neji had protested, but he wasn't going to change her mind. He begrudgingly helped her move across town as far away as she could manage. If nothing else, it was an excuse for not visiting.
People stared. A former nin in a wheelchair was a sight to see. She got used to it. What she couldn't get used to was people forcefully helping her. No one could take 'no thank you' as an answer, but she knew getting mad at them would only make her look upset she couldn't do things for herself.
She could. Just because she couldn't move her legs didn't mean she was helpless. She had learned quickly that she could pull herself up on the counter. She could now easily pull her entire body weight up with one arm if she needed to. She was a nin. That training didn't disappear with the use of her legs. She wasn't going to stop training just because she couldn't move her lower half.
People tried to visit, but she stopped answering the door. Her team felt guilty. Friends and acquaintances all treated her like glass. She couldn't pretend she didn't hate the pitying looks and constant offers of help.
Sometimes she wished she would have died instead of being forced to live in this chair. She would have been a hero for dying in the field. Instead, she was a wounded warrior and inconvenience.
It would have been easier for everyone if she had died.
Sasuke growled as his cart turned on him again. He got one with junk wheels again, and it was hard to steer with only one hand. He gave it a hard tug to get straight again, and it responded with an awful screeching sound.
"Rest on it." Sasuke heard from behind him. He turned, seeing no one immediately, but his eyes fell to a woman in a chair on wheels with a basket in her lap. He couldn't recognize her with her head turned toward the shelves. He wasn't even sure it was her who spoke.
"What?" He asked as he tried to remember her name.
She looked up at him and leaned one arm on her basket, bracing her forearm across it, demonstrating. "Lean on it with your whole arm. It will give you more control."
Hinata Hyuga, a seal, proudly displayed on her forehead, only covered by her bangs. She wore civilian clothes, with pants that showed how thin her legs were at the ankle. She had a backpack on the back of the chair and her hair tied back loosely out of her way.
Sasuke had heard what had happened to the Hyuga heiress but also heard she didn't come out of her home often, so he hadn't seen her since he got back.
"Could you reach that for me?" She asked, breaking his thoughts.
Sasuke followed her finger up to a box, two shelves above her highest reach. He grabbed a box and set it in her basket.
"Thank you." She nodded, looking at her list.
His curiosity got the better of him. What happened to the shy girl that followed Naruto around? Was she as sad and pathetic as everyone lovingly described? She looked perfectly well off, healthy even.
Why did he always hear about how sad it was?
"You need a hand with your shopping?" He asked idly.
Hinata's face visibly twitched. "No, thank you." She gave him a forced smile.
"Well, it would have only been one anyway," Sasuke mumbled, heading back to his cart. He heard a small laugh that grew. He was surprised to turn back to see her giggled into her list.
"I think that is the first disabled joke I have heard since I ended up in this chair." Hinata grinned at him.
"Well, you're rather far down. Maybe they go over your head." He shrugged.
She continued laughing, far too hard for how funny the joke was. "I like that one." She wheeled herself down the aisle by him.
When was the last time anyone joked with her if she thought HE was funny?
"You should come out drinking with Naruto, his never get old." He rolled his eyes.
Her face changed, losing its smile. "We aren't that kind of friends."
He had the feeling there was a lot more going on than he needed to know.
"Have a good day." She told him not to wait for an answer as she quickly wheeled herself down the aisle.
Sasuke watched her until she turned the corner and frowned. He leaned over his cart like she described finding his weight did make it easier to steer the janky cart.
Sasuke dumped his groceries on the kitchen table and rolled his shoulders. How come training didn't make him as sore as bringing home groceries?
He started putting food away. His diet was simple, so it was mostly just large portions of the food he liked, mostly to keep from only eating take-out.
As he finished, he rolled his shoulder a few more times. Maybe he injured it during training, or maybe it was leaning over the cart. His daily life was hard enough with just one arm. He would prefer if that arm worked.
His mind wandered back to Hinata Hyuga. She had it worse than he did. He was still useful as nin. His handicap didn't hinder him in combat anymore, but being confined to a chair made her useless at anything more than a desk job or possibly teaching.
A few years before, he might have dismissed her as completely useless to society in her current state. However, after suffering his own handicap, he understood the feeling of uselessness even if he was still functional.
That did press the question, what did she do now? Naruto complained that he could never catch her on her way home, so he knew she must work in the Hokage tower.
She was no longer an heiress judging by the seal, but she was doing her own shopping, so she no longer lived in the compound.
Sasuke ruffled his hair. Her face twitched when he asked if she wanted help. To be fair, she probably got 'help' forced on her all the time. However, he didn't think she would be the type to laugh at a joke about disability, let alone her own.
He got it all the time. Naruto wouldn't shut up about it. It was constantly the punch line of his jokes.
Hinata said she and Naruto weren't friends, but the way Naruto talked about her, he seemed to have a different idea. Of course, Naruto didn't know when to leave people alone either.
Maybe he would listen to the next time Naruto went on and rambling. He might pick up some information.
"... and then Hinata canceled another meeting." Sasuke's ears perked up. Naruto had been rambling about his day for the better part of dinner, but it may have paid off.
"She does that a lot?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto didn't seem to wonder why he was interested. "Yeah, she usually sends a message saying what we have to talk about 'doesn't require a meeting and that a message would be sufficient.'" He pouted.
Sasuke found the very diplomatic 'fuck off' amusing. "What is it she does?"
"Paperwork. Endless paperwork, I tried to get her something else, but she says she doesn't need it." Naruto rubbed his head. "I just feel bad. She's down there digging through endless requests for missions when she can't go on any of her own anymore."
"Hmm." Sasuke considered the information.
Hinata was avoiding him. Naruto was just not getting the hint.