My One In A Million
Chapter Eighteen:
They've met in that same booth for so many days now that by the time it's dusk in the horizon, the staff would have their usual order on the table before they had time to take their jackets off.
Having something laid back scheduled everyday was a good change of pace, that way even if he was sore and bothered after hours of training and rehab, he'd still have something to look forward to once he's done. And on those nights when he couldn't sleep, when the voices were too loud or the images too vivid, he'd grab the book and read about the silly misadventures of a girl who didn't exist, so he can rant about his wasted time the next day only to be told it would be worth it once he read the rest.
It was an addiction, and it was exactly what the doctor ordered.
Two weekends later she was late for the first time. He waited at their usual table by the large windows looking out to the busy street, his teacup empty and her order of cinnamon buns untouched.
She'll be here, he thought as he flipped through the pages without really seeing the words, she'll be here in a bit.
But why would she?
It wasn't like they've made an agreement to meet here every day, she probably didn't have too much time on her hands today and thought she could skip. All they had were one or two hours, it shouldn't be too hard to keep up with so little demand, but then again it's not like she was paid to do it, she didn't have to show up every day.
He had things to do, too. Naruto always needed a sparring partner, there were things to move to and fro in the old archive offices, his -her!- apartment hadn't been vacuumed in a few days, the tomatoes in his fridge were going soft.
He was busy too, alright, it wasn't like his sanity depended on this or anything.
But it did, he knew it did; every time the shop door opened he would look up, every person that walked by the frosted glass resembled her silhouette, he needed the distraction and he needed it to be consistent.
Just when he'd gotten the hang of not looking up when someone walked in, the girl dropped into the seat before him and proceeded to yank off her thick scarf and coat. "I'm so sorry! I got caught up and I couldn't run as fast because there was sleet on the road!"
Sasuke shut the small book and set it aside to fix her with a disinterested purse of the lips. "Oh? Is it that late already? I hadn't noticed."
Her bright eyes dimmed down a notch but her smile remained pasted in place. "Yes, my father was um… Never mind. Thank you for ordering."
"I didn't order anything, they just bring them out and expect us to pay."
She pulled off the soft gloves and set them aside to rip a roll from the basket and eat it, there were drops of rain hanging on the ends of her hair, her breath was deep and quick as if she'd ran all the way here anyway, a permanent blush glowed in her cheeks and nose from the cold.
It startled him to realize he'd been contemplating how disgustingly sweet her fingertips would be if he kissed them now, so he changed the topic. "What did your father want?"
"It's a long story…"
"I'm sure I can catch up."
A particularly glossy speck of sugar clung to the corner of her mouth, it disappear when her lips pressed together. "Well… He was at a meeting with Hokage Sama, and he doesn't usually talk about it at home but today he said the council decided something important and I needed to hear it. I'm sorry; did you have somewhere you needed to be? It's already dark outside."
"It's fine." Sasuke rolled his eyes and sat back in his seat to cross his arms and pray for patience.
"Oh, okay. Well, he said because Naruto kun was so famous and the wedding was going to attract a lot of people from all over the countries, there were going to be a lot of feasts at our house. It's- well, there were a lot of times when things were okay, but he knows about me and um… Naruto kun, you know… And because there were times when some hidden villages tried to steal the secrets of the Byakugan… Eventually, he said it was okay if I wanted to move out again, that Hanabi could use some time away from the formalities."
Sasuke studied her intently, his brows knotting until she found it harder and harder to continue. "You're telling me to move out."
"Huh? No! Not at all!"
He leaned forward, "You're telling me you and your sister are moving in?"
"No! I was going to ask you if you know anyone who can help me find a nice place! You really don't think of me like that, do you? I'd never…" She had to order a fresh cup of tea and some water to wash down the suddenly dry pastry. "The village is really big and there are a lot of vacancies, I'd never ask you to move out for my sake."
"I'd rather you move in with me, actually." He said simply, startling both her and the waitress. "What are you looking at?"
Hinata kept quiet until the frightened waitress scurried off to fetch the order. "It's not proper."
"No one cares about being proper anymore, you think couples wait to get married before moving in together? Or men and women don't have casual encounters? Have you not been near the red light district?"
Her face reddened, she was suddenly glad the shop was new and nearly deserted. "Still-! I'm- I'm the eldest Hyuuga daughter, there's rules! And people will talk, it will effect even my father and my sister's reputation, and that's really important for them!"
"Is reputation important for you?"
Her eyes widened like saucers. "Of course it is!"
Her answer caught him somewhere between impressed and aggravated. "Are you refusing because I'm a man, or because I'm an Uchiha?"
The words caught in her throat, she had to set aside the second cinnamon roll before it could drop into her lap. "Sasuke I don't care about the history between Uchiha and Hyuuga, it's because I want to do everything i can for my sister to become a good clan leader. I also want to move out, too. It gets really claustrophobic when there are a lot of banquets, I don't know how my father tolerates everyone for so long."
"Isn't he doing it for your sake?" He glared at the silent waitress who approached carefully to set their order on the table. Warmth ran down his throat at the first sip of fresh tea, with it the awareness that if he kept this up, Hinata will start feeling boxed-in even in his company. "Where will you go?"
Subdued, she just shrugged and stared at the bottom of her tea.
"You want your old place?"
"No."
"I'm moving out anyway, you might as well take it back. The rent is paid for the next two months but the contract expired, you'll have to renew." Her surprise amused him, "I never planned to stay here long, once Naruto goes back to the Rain I'm packing up and going somewhere else."
"Eh?" Hinata held her breath, as if waiting for him to laugh and say it was a joke. "Really? Why?"
Wait… He didn't expect her to sound so concerned over it. "Why not?"
Rain was thick outside, the glaze on the cinnamon rolls went hard and stale, her fingertips were pink as they held tightly to the cup. He saw everything, the tightness around her mouth, the thin line between her brows that hid under straight bangs, even the recently-trimmed ends of the hair that framed her face danced with her rapidly blinking eyes; he saw her distress but it didn't mean anything if it went unaddressed.
His fingers splayed over the book cover curiously, "So when does the Lord's mother stop plotting against Tsubaki?"
"Hm?" she snapped out of her thoughts, it had been a good twenty minutes of thick silence and his voice startled her out of her thoughts. The discomfort in the thin vein that connected her temples to the corner of her eye relaxed away. "Are you sure you want me to spoil it for you?"
"No, I just don't want to sit here and wonder what you're thinking. Tell me why you look so annoyed, tell me you don't know what to look for in an apartment." And then with less urgency, "Tell me not to go."
Her voice whispered so lightly he nearly missed it. "I don't have the right."
"You planted friggin daisies on the remains of my old house, you didn't have the right to do that!"
Her sip of tea was more to clear her throat than quench a thirst. "I'd leave too, if I could… I want to see the world we worked so hard to protect, I want to read books written in other countries, I want to see the ocean and not worry about a mission's deadline, I want to collect flowers that don't grow in this climate. I don't blame you for wanting to leave, I just wish I could go, too…"
"So let's go."
She smiled, hopefully at first, and then apologetically. "I can't, you said so before; my father is only letting us move out because he wants us to be safe. I can't just leave when he needs me to protect her, at least not until the wedding… No, even then I can't go anywhere. If the Hyuuga elders knew, they'd seal me so I wouldn't betray the secrets of the Byakugan to the outside world…"
He exhaled through the nose and directed his scrutiny to the wet, glowing world outside. "Becoming a missing nin doesn't sound like a bad idea..."
"I try not to think about it that way… There must be a reason why I was born here, why I was born a Hyuuga, that I survived the war when so many didn't. I must be useful to someone out there, a god or a spirit or an instrument of fate, I know I am. I have to be…"
He knew at least one person she had been useful to. "How long do you plan to live for others, exactly? Because last I checked, people like us could die in a blink. Literally."
Sasuke pulled a few notes from his pocket to pay for his share –they'd agreed to pay for their own orders for fairness' sake- she watched him gather his book, pull on his coat and walk the short distance to the door.
Outside, under the just-opened umbrella, she caught his arm and whispered, "Please don't go."
"I have an arrangement with the physical therapist, I don't want to be late."
"Please don't go. Please don't leave."
And just like that, his desire to be somewhere else –the desire that had been dwindling anyway- diminished altogether. "Don't be late tomorrow, or I'll spoil the book for you."
She sniffed. "I already finished it."
"And come find me when you're ready to look for a new place, even if most of them are poorly made."
"Thank you."
"Actually, go grab your coat, there's a vacant complex just around the corner. I'll take you to it on my way to rehab."
"Thank you." she surprised him by hugging him tightly for two seconds before running off to get her things.
It would have upset him that she was sending mixed signals so early after her public heartbreak, only he didn't really care what she did as long as she wasn't making that sad face anymore.
Hmph. The irony.
The magnificent hawk was bowing his head for a little singing bird.
It wasn't as terrible, come to think of it; his neck had gone stiff from years of looking up anyway.
The building was relatively new so the only apartment ready for viewing was the one on the second floor, polished wood flooring and a relatively modern scheme for the kitchen and dining area.
It was no surprise when she liked it right away, it was just like her previous apartment -the one he hated because of all the corners.
"Wow! There's lots of space for meditation in front of the window! Do you think it would get a lot of sunshine in the morning?" Hinata asked, but there was no way he would know. Her feet took her to the corridor straight ahead, it was split into three doors, two on either side for separate bedrooms and a shared bathroom in the middle.
There was no laundry room, just a small shower and bath cubicle with minimum storage space for towels and soaps.
The kitchen comes with the basic necessities, she couldn't wait to buy cheerful tableware and that corner looks like it could use a plant and oh! The oven doubles as a microwave!
"It's great! I love it!" She gushed, the boy was unimpressed so she tried again. "I just need Hanabi to like it and we're good to go!"
"Aren't you gonna look at others before going with the first thing you see?"
"I like it so it's ok…" Her lips pouted, an expression she'd never shown him before. The face of the kid who wanted to have the thing. "It's near the shopping district, too, the main gates and academy are at equal distance from here, so…"
"And it's far from the Hyuuga houses."
"Yeah."
She hung around for a moment longer, inspecting the finer details because he suggested she did; the piping, the heating and air conditioning, if they allowed pets. Everything was brand new and in mint condition, pets were not allowed.
On their way out, the sight of the open apartment on the bottom floor distracted him from whatever pain had been pulsating in his left ankle, "Was this door open when we got in?"
Hinata glanced at the door in question and hummed. "I don't know, I hadn't noticed."
Sasuke had never bothered to look at any of the other vacancies, the whole complex looked like it was made up of identical layouts after all. Beyond this door was a proper genkan and shoe rack, surprisingly different from the marble and wood in the apartments above. As if drawn by a magnet, he crossed the hallway and pushed the door open all the way, the mud room led to a hallway lined with straw mats that stretched into a lit spacious receiving area, illuminated with quiet, subtle lights.
He kicked off his sandals and went in regardless of the girl's reluctant whispers that they were probably intruding.
The massive room at the end of the hallway was lined with barely-treaded tatami and was probably meant to double as a living and receiving room, the rice-paper doors were left ajar for the air to circulate, the paper was going yellow around the edges and had holes here and there. Beyond the frosted glass of a sliding door was complete darkness as it was night, no doubt it led to a patio or garden. The sound of night crickets was hard to ignore and there was ice in the ridges, this door had been left open far too long, the straw in the mats will rot. The ceiling was lined with wooden beams and for a moment he had to remind himself that the second and third floors were made of industrial cement, so the wood must be for aesthetics. There was no furnishing or signs that it was occupied save for a paper cup of tea in a corner.
The living room was large enough to run through, the kitchen had a proper curtain, even the groaning sound the doors made as they slid in their tracks was nostalgic. The persistent scratching at the walls of his mind finally registered like a water balloon suspended in the air and then popping all at once: the memory of sunshine and dry grass and home.
His mother chatting voicelessly as she whipped cake batter in a bowl which he licked later, her straight back as she hung up the laundry on a sunny day while he watched from the living room table over crayons and paper, her graceful hands pouring green tea for them on the porch one rainy afternoon. His father joined them sometimes when he wasn't working overtime or chasing a criminal, the sleeves of his hakama dancing in the wind as he sipped from his special white cup. Itachi hated the smell of bell peppers that clung to the tatami after curry night, but loved the aroma of mint tea when it spilled and soaked into the straw. Mother's soft hands on his when she taught him how to connect the dots to outline the dinosaur in his coloring book, the warmth of the noon sun on his belly when he laid down on sleeping dad's arm to take a nap, his very first sip of disgustingly bitter sake at new year's, the creaky step in the stairs, the holes he and his brother poked in the doors when they had a mysterious guest in the middle of the night.
And then a person he couldn't recognize, running her fingers through his hair and curling her lips to tell him it'll be okay, safe and loved in her arms, the scent of flowers in his nose and the lull of ocean in his ears.
"Sasuke?"
He jumped in start, having forgotten that someone else was there and allowing his heart for a split second to lay down the walls. Pinpricks spread across his arms and neck when he saw before him the distorted image of the girl with gentle hands and stringy hair, donning a white trench coat that had him blinking three more times to make sure it hadn't been a summer dress.
Her standing there, real and complicated, reminded him that everything he'd clung to had been an illusion. The simple girl in his dream, his ambitions, his family, all of it no longer existed.
It would never again be a family member to call his name, just as he would never again be back home, his real home.
He wanted to hide in her arms and cry himself dry.
Hinata's smile faltered when she saw the expression on his face. "Are you okay?" the raw pain in his eyes startled her, she'd seen him annoyed and angry and mischievous, but never unguarded…. It was frightening.
She wanted to hold him, but she'd already bothered him once already so she didn't.
The tension that held his body rigid dissolved and he reverted back to a neutral flat expression and a slanted hip. He looked away and towards the glass doors, to the darkness that beckons outside. "I didn't know there was a traditional apartment in this building. I would have spent less time in your pink one if I'd known."
"But technically it's lavender, a lighter shade of purple…"
"I know purple, I like purple, that isn't purple."
"What the…" They turned to the old man who walked in with a surprised arch of the brows, he smiled when he recognized Hinata's heritage. "Ah, Hyuuga sama. Are you interested in renting a place?"
Hinata bowed respectfully. "Sorry for the intrusion! I'm curious about the apartment on the second floor, the one open for the public."
"Oh, yes, of course. Hyuuga sama can have any place she likes." He smiled and bent over to drop and unlock a scroll case with a simple jutsu. "How long would you be staying with us?"
"I'm not sure yet. Two months for now, is that okay?"
Sasuke spread his arms to gesture at the wide room they were in. "And I'm taking this one, while you're at it."
Hinata and the landlord had identical expressions of confusion. "You probably couldn't afford it." The man shook his head no.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "I own a district!"
"You mean an empty district; you're a fool if you think empty land will sprout profit from the ground. Especially earth with that much bad luck intact." He mumbled to himself, definitely not a fan of the Uchiha. "Build some shops there, boy, or sell the land. What's a single guy wants with a place this big, anyway."
Sasuke made a face that people read as 'this is mildly annoying' but the girl knew it was the last face people saw before they got punched in the teeth. "It's not your business. I'm taking it."
Landlord had to exchange glances with the anxious girl, unaware of the danger he was in right now. "You don't get it, do ya? I don't want you here."
Sasuke seethed, Hinata shook her head no and hoped he would listen.
With a sneer, he tried again. "I'll buy the whole complex, then."
The old man's face swam in wrinkles. "With that attitude I doubt anyone would even look at the brochure."
"Now you're just stating opinions." Sasuke uncrossed his arms and stared long and hard into those wrinkly tight eyes, working out the many ways he could swindle the property off the old man without getting caught. If only those all-seeing eyes would stop staring at him like a match about to catch fire. "So are you selling or not?"
The old man looked between the two powerful, young war heroes who could give him a good deal with their family's fortunes. "How much do you have?"
"How much do you want?" Sasuke flashed a rare smile of triumph when the landowner begrudgingly bent to bring out the required paperwork. "Rejoice, princess, now you can have your pink furniture back."
"It's purple!"
Her apartment was too small, he refused to let strangers into his, so their housewarming party –that Naruto and Hanabi decided was a rite of passage- was at their usual pub. The business flourished whenever the rookie nine gathered, people liked a noisy place and the administration liked the way the excitement drew the crowds. This time there were more people than usual, Hanabi's friends and team, Hyuuga teenagers, some of Hinata's acquaintances from the Sand who had been over for a delivery mission.
It had been a noisy, chaotic half hour before he noticed none of Hinata's teammates made it. The girl was sitting with another group and seemed to enjoy listening more than talking. No, she didn't look like she was enjoying it at all. As if by telepathy, she glanced in his direction and smiled politely at his prolonged stare.
With an understanding scoff, he raised his hand and motioned for her to come closer, and when she did, he edged aside in the booth to make room. He had been the third wheel to Naruto and Sakura for a while now, it's only fair he made them as uncomfortable as they made him.
Hinata was just as stiff, apparently having to greet Naruto for the first time since the rejection. "Hello, N-Naruto kun, Sakura chan."
"Yo!" Naruto knocked his drink to her glass of water. "Congrats!"
"Hi! Congratulations on moving out! Did you pick out your furniture yet?" Sakura grinned even when the answer was a hesitant yes, "Let's go together next time you need anything, it'll be fun with more people!"
"Okay…" Hinata glanced at the boy sitting next to her, hoping to hide how embarrassed she was that just when she found the courage to don a kimono, he showed up wearing a turtleneck and black pants. Even Hanabi laughed at her for wanting to wear it, saying that 'it's six months too early for the fireworks festival!' while they tried to figure out how their assistant managed the sash situation back home. "How are you?"
"I'm not drunk enough if that's what you're asking." He poured himself another shot of sake and knocked it back, grimacing as it rolled down his sensitive throat. This was the first drink he took since the hospital, it tasted as fresh and terrible as the very first time.
A squeak of restrained laughter escaped her throat, she took the bottle and refilled his next shot. Holding back her sleeve with her free hand, easing the liquid into the container without knocking the ceramic together, rolling her wrist to make sure the last drop didn't splash; she'd done it so many times for her father and cousin that it never occurred to her how graceful she looked. "I'm glad you're having fun, but it's not what I was asking about."
Huff. "Can't complain, there's ups and downs but it's better than being dead." Thanks to the noise, nobody could hear anything from their hushed conversation, not even Naruto who had been busy asking Sakura to refill his cup only to be told it wouldn't fair to compare if she messed up so she refused. "You drink some, too."
"I don't like it."
"You're not missing out on much, if you ask me." He forced down another shot and gasped at the sharp sensation that went straight to his head, it was a sign that he was going too fast, so he put the cup down and leaned back to catch his breath.
Her flushed fingers brushed condensation off the warm pottery. "But how are you, really? How are your eyes? Your chest, does it still hurt? Do you still have headaches in bright light?"
It usually annoyed him if someone saw right through his dodges, strangely, he wasn't as annoyed with her right now. Maybe he was hoping someone would ask him this genuinely, or maybe the alcohol was starting to fog his senses. "It's alright, It's not as bad unless it's really cold, or the first few minutes I get in the hot bath, I can handle that much. You didn't tell me, where's the dog?"
With a bright smile, she pinched his cheek to remove a lash and blew it away. "They're in the land of Snow with Neji nii in my place. I couldn't go because it's so cold and they're staying for a while…"
Sasuke popped a salted cashew nut into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "Is that why you hung out with me? Nobody else was available?"
"Yes and no…" she started, but never got to finish because her sister smashed a huge bottle of wine over someone's head.
It was like a circus, there was blood and booze everywhere, Hanabi nearly popped her top at the medic who tried to help Konohamaru from the glass shards in his hair, Naruto got involved and had frothing beer poured all over him.
Sasuke picked up his jacket and left when it turned into an all-out food fight.
Hinata was a little ways behind. She followed silently a few paces back and only caught up when they rounded the last corner. Sasuke frowned at the unstable asphalt under his totally stable feet. "Didn't want to get your kimono dirty?"
Her sigh spoke volumes. "In a way…"
"You can't just say yes, can you? Not having an opinion isn't cute in this century. Say yes if you mean yes, and no if you mean no." He slipped his hands in his pockets for warmth, already his breath in the air was white, it's only a matter of time before everything was covered in snow.
He hated snow. "Or is that how you get guys to like you? It is, isn't it? One step in front, two steps aside, is that how it goes…?"
Hinata fought a smile but didn't try to prove him wrong, the boy was smashed.
"Why didn't you tell Sakura you already have everything? You brought most of it from your pink apartment, didn't you? She's just looking for someone to keep her company on a boring errand. Maybe she's rubbing it in your face that she's moving in with Naruto, that slug needs some salt…" He pursed his lips when the girl just nodded. "You're gonna leave your sister behind?"
"She's old enough to apologize for her own mistakes."
"Merciless." He sucked in a big breath, the world was swimming before his eyes, it was just a little ways to his apartment and then he can crash in bed all night. "I think I drank too much… Did you drink?"
Hinata decided to step a little closer, he was starting to lose balance and there were pebbles everywhere. "No, I don't like alcohol."
"Hn, it was awful anyway. You're not missing out on much. Wait, that sounds familiar…"
"I wonder why." Watching him trip on his own feet urged her to stop joking and hold his arm up the few steps to their building, his door was left unlocked because, really, who had the gall to break into Uchiha Sasuke's apartment?
The boy tripped on the threshold, nearly ripping himself from her grasp and landing face-down into the marble of the genkan had she not caught him in the very last second. She slipped out of her sandals and helped him inside with his arm over her shoulder, through the bare living room and to where she assumed was the bedroom.
It wasn't, he went straight to the bathroom.
Particularly, to the toilet.
Two bottles of water, three towels and a hundred backrubs later, he was curled miserably on the floor with the nearly-empty tissue box within arm's reach and sweat acting as adhesive between his forehead and hair.
Hinata came back from the bedroom to help him to bed, it was a simple futon and pillow that he'd stuffed carelessly into the empty cupboard, the rest of his living quarters were just as unfurnished as his living room. A low table here, a sitting cushion there, nothing else.
It was like that with the pink apartment, too. When she went there to gather the old furniture, she found everything exactly how she'd left it. Lotion bottles on the dresser were lifted to reveal clean rings on a layer of dust, the bed still smelled of her shampoo, and most of the tableware in the kitchen cupboards was unturned. It wasn't about the money, he obviously had the funds to buy whatever he needed, but maybe it was that he didn't need much.
Or anything at all.
He tried to take his shirt off the moment his head hit the pillow, she was able to convince him to abandon that quest by pulling the covers over him and asking him to sleep; he was surprisingly obedient. At first she tried not to look, but the quieter he was the more she felt it safe to notice the scar on his chest, the darkness around his eyes, the grey still peppering his hair. Even his hands and wrists were tight with barely any fat between the skin and tendons. Where civilians had tattoos of their ex's name or a life-changing realization, his wrists were inked with summoning seals purely out of necessity. Prior to his hospitalization and having seen him in a short-sleeved hospital gown, she'd assumed he covered his wrists to hide them.
No one can look at him and guess his real age, it was sad to think that even his youth had been stolen from him so early on.
"Hinata." He sighed, his breath smelled like rice wine and vomit. "What's the know?"
She had no idea. "Try to sleep, we'll talk tomorrow."
His hand caught the end of her colorful sleeve, his weak fingers could only hold it for a few seconds. "What was the yes or no? What no?"
Oh… "Never mind, it was silly…"
"Tell me."
Hesitantly, she uncapped a bottle of water and poured some on a towel to press to his eyes, redness was starting to roll out of his lashes, he probably needed rest more than he needed a chat. "I don't even remember what we were talking about."
"Why don't you like me?" He tried, and a dim notion told him that wasn't it. "No, wait… Why do you like me? Because the dog isn't there? Is that it? Am I the dog now?"
She hoped he couldn't hear her fight back a chuckle, what ill-timing her sense of humor had! "You're not a dog. I just like talking to you, I like who I am when I'm with you." as if saying the words made her realize it, she decided it was alright to let it out and hope he wouldn't remember it tomorrow. "Even if they were here it's- well, they've known me for so long, they still worry about me like I'm ten. I couldn't show them my weak face, there's nothing they can do to help, really, not this time… But you, you don't expect anything, and you don't try to push me when I don't want, so I… I guess, I feel safe, maybe?"
He was quiet, she wondered if he was the kind of drunk who was philosophical once the alcohol hit.
"I know I shouldn't be, you don't like it when people aren't afraid of you, but I can't help it… You know, my father is using it against you, he didn't like it when he knew you own this complex now, that I'm living next door to you. I think he's planning to make us go back once the festivities die down. But for now he's letting it go because he thinks nobody would be brave enough to come here without running into you. And if there's a rumor about us, nobody would travel all the way to pose as suitors for Hanabi and I, so that's one less thing for him to worry about. Self-involved, isn't it? I'm sorry he's using you in this way."
When his mouth opened, a small snore escaped. He startled himself into waking long enough to roll to his side only to go back to sleep in a more comfortable position.
Hinata observed that half-exposed back, broad and pale and sprinkled with faded war injuries, she pulled the covers to keep the drafts out and eased off the flood. "Oyasumi." A low rumble in his chest told her he had tried to respond on some instinctive level, the smile on her face remained stubbornly in place while she turned off the lights, flushed the toilet one more time for safe measures and shut the main door behind her.
Wiping the smile off as best she could, she found Hanabi in their new apartment's kitchen, nursing a bruise just above her right eye with a bag of frozen peas. The glossy-eyed girl sniffled, "Are all boys this confusing?"