Hinata felt her chair jerked back, and she slammed her hand down on her wheels to break. She looked behind her at an older man, who then ignored her glare and grabbed an item in front of her. She pushed down the anger and the urge to ram her chair into him.
People seemed to forget manners when it came to a wheelchair.
Hinata hated going for groceries. People constantly asked if she needed help, others rolling their eyes if she asked for help reaching something. People got in her way, people moved her, people acted like her chair was an inconvenience to them. There was rarely any plain courtesy. People either treated her like a child or a nuisance. No one could just let it be.
Hinata sat there seethed while the guy got his things and left without so much as an apology for forcefully moving her.
She looked down at the now crumpled shopping list and sighed. She just wanted to go home.
Hinata was so set in her frustration and determination to get this over with that she ran into someone who stepped in front of her. She stopped just as quickly as she started and looked up to a curious-looking Sasuke holding an empty shopping basket with his only hand.
"Do you need something?" She asked, now suitably confused by his presence and his equally confused look.
He looked over her, seeming to abandon what he had originally meant to ask. "Are you okay?" For once, the question seemed genuine and in the now. He could see there was something wrong.
She felt her eyes well up with tears as she was hit with a wave of comfort. She actually felt comfortable in a way she hadn't felt in a long while. "Uh, just frustrated." She felt her voice crack. "People don't really treat someone in a chair with any kind of respect. It gets to you sometimes." She wiped her eyes quickly.
He nodded, giving her the minute she needed to compose herself before sighing and looking to the side. He held up the empty shopping basket between them. "I was going to suggest you carry my basket, and we can help each other shop."
She felt a small smile break.
Cripple teamwork.
"Alright, if it gets me out of here quicker." She agreed.
They did their shopping, she pointed to what she needed. Sasuke filled her bag and his basket. She was surprised by the amount of pre-packaged food he ate. She would have thought that living alone for so many years, you would have picked up some cooking skills. Maybe not. It would be hard to learn now with just one hand.
It would be hard to do with just one hand.
After he set a hand full of packages of instant rice in the basket. She picked up one of the rice packets and looked at the back. These couldn't be good for you.
He sighed, grabbing it out of her hand. "They're better than burnt rice and day-old pre-packed rice balls." He told her to drop it back in the basket.
"Don't you like rice balls?" She pointed up what she needed.
He nodded. "I just haven't had a good one in forever. Store's are always stale."
She considered it. "You can't make rice balls with one hand."
"Nope." He told her flatly. "Not easy to make much of anything with one hand."
She nodded, understanding.
"Grab me some seaweed strips then." She pointed to the dried seaweed. "I'll make you some."
He stared at her.
"I wanted to thank you." She clarified.
"For what?" He asked.
"Making dinner with Naruto is less awkward. I enjoyed your company." She looked to the side. "I didn't want to go. It was a deal to get him to stop trying to transfer me."
"He talks about that a lot. Does this mean he'll shut up about it?" He asked as he filled the rest of the basket with tomatoes and tomato bread. She noticed the premade curry he got was also tomato.
Hinta frowned. "I didn't know he talked about me so much."
Sasuke shrugged. "I normally tune him out, but he always rambles on about your missing meetings and how he 'feels bad' that you're buried in paperwork." He looked back down to gauge her reaction. He still had no idea what had happened between them, but he might have guessed right.
She set her jaw, looking annoyed, down at his basket. "Of course he does."
He thought so. He was pretty sure he knew what it was about now.
Naruto being Naruto.
"I'm done. Do you need anything else?" He asked.
She looked over her list. "Uhm, no, I think that's all for me too."
They paid and headed outside.
"Thank you." She told him, bowing her head slightly. "I can make rice balls and have them sent over to you tomorrow."
He looked back at her and considered the opportunity. "I'll just come down to your office for lunch."
She looked up at him, surprised.
"I'll bring drinks." He said before heading on his way, hiding his smirk.
Hinata glanced at the bag she brought with her for the hundredth time. She hoped he liked them. This was the first opportunity she had to cook for someone in a long time. She missed cooking, it was difficult to cook anything nice just for one person, and she didn't really feel any drive in making it look nice just for her. She couldn't make food for anyone she knew because they would all feel so guilty she had put in all this 'effort,' and she would be 'exerting' herself.
She sighed, looking back at her pile with a small smile. She should get back to work.
Sasuke looked down at the bag in his hand. He didn't know what she liked. He grabbed a couple of drinks from the corner store, more than they needed, but he didn't want to risk getting something she wouldn't drink or would be too polite to turn down.
"Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto waved from the end of the hall. "Come eat with me." He stated. Sasuke frowned. He never asked.
"Can't. I'm already on my way to meet someone." He waved a hand heading back to the hall.
Naruto pouted at him, deflated. "Who?"
"Someone who can make a good rice ball, I hope." He called back.
Sasuke glanced in Hinata's office. Her desk was a mountain of folders on both sides. She looked so small, bent over her writing, he could kinda see why she might look so fragile to Naruto. He knocked on the door frame.
She looked up, he held up the bag of drinks. She smiled, leaning over, picking up two bentos, and setting them on her desk. He sat in the chair across from her desk and waited for her to move her work before unloading his drinks.
"You got so many." She opened the bento.
"I wasn't sure what you would drink." He shrugged.
She looked over them. "I like sweet and coffee."
"Good." He separated the sweet juices and coffees away from the vegetable juice and tea. "I like bitter and tea."
She nodded, sliding the bento to him. She had made him a line of rice balls and something he didn't recognize, but it was red and smelled good. "It's tomato curry. You had some in your basket."
He nodded and took some offered chopsticks.
It was good. Sasuke couldn't remember when he had last had good homemade, non-store-bought, or restaurant overdone food. He missed simple, pure flavors, restaurants all had personal flairs, and corner store food all tastes like salty plastic.
"What do I have to get you to make these again." He joked dryly.
"Come back tomorrow." She mumbled, opening a coffee.
Sasuke wasn't expecting that answer. He looked back up at her, and she had gone back to her food with redness to her cheeks. Maybe she was feeling the same way he was, that it was nice to have someone just silently understand. Someone who didn't make a constant fuss.
Then again, he could be fueling another annoying fangirl.
She offered a hand out to him. She was pointing at one of his drinks. Oh. He nodded, and she opened it for him.
It was quiet, and it was nice. They ate, he thanked her for her time, and he headed back out. He turned before going through the door. "So vanilla coffee tomorrow?"
A little smile came to her lips. She nodded. "Would you like chicken or beef tomorrow?"
"Chicken." He answered, giving a wave as he disappeared down the hall.