HI! I'm so sorry this took so long to post... i think i wrote a grand total of fourty seven pages for this chapter, cuz i couldnt' get the bloody thing to work! But now its working...mostly, cept for a big solid chunk in the middle that i hate and the fact that i trip over some plotline stuff, but whatever, it's a good enough chappie as i've posted. please be gentle!
Read. Review.
-inky
Can't find a light, can't find a light… shadows, darkening, pain, suffering. Can't find a light, can't find a light… Tripping, scrambling, listening to the whispers of voices she knew, the panic in their tones making her turn and turn in the darkness. It invaded her, ate her from the inside, a fire that was making her heart beat faster.
Can't find a light, can't find a light.
The voices kept talking, speaking, whispering, but the whispers sounded like shouts from a distance, echoes of an emotion she could not understand.
She needed to find them, needed to hold them. All those voices, they had names that came with them, and each name she loved dearly, despite their faults, despite their hurts and aches and the injuries that they had forced upon her heart. She loved them.
Can't find a light, can't find a light.
Searching, blind and suffocating by the feeling of darkness. The feeling of panic and mistrust that you get when you can't see but you're sure you're breathing in something bad, something horrid, sure that you're breathing in the very darkness that your eyes would have been able to see.
Something had taken her eyes away, taken her hearing away too, all she could sense was the touch… sometimes, warm hands, cold hands, cool water on burning flesh.
Oh God… Why can't I see…? Why can't I see anything?
Voices, whispers, soft breaths against her ear, but no words came through, only a distorted confused sound that reminded her of 'gomen'.
Gomen for what she did not know.
She was the one missing, she was the one in the distance unable to reach them all, hold them all. Could she really protect them all?
No, she knew she couldn't. But she would try…
And he… she would try… because he had tried.
Can't find the light… can't find the light.
He had tried. That was enough.
Ah… there was the light.
"Hinata!" A shriek, Sakura's sob as Naruto ran into the clearing, carrying her on his back, both of them bloody, covered in grime and bits of one of Akatsuki's own flesh.
Naruto slid to a stop beside Sasuke, panting, wide eyed.
"Sasuke! Sasuke! You're bleeding!"
Sakura scrambled off of him, moving awkwardly on the ground to reach Hinata, already crying. Her leg was at an odd angle, the flesh around her knee already bruising darkly. Something had broken her leg.
"Sasuke!" Naruto snapped again, grabbing the young man's shoulders. The Uchiha ripped his hands away gently, panting heavily, pressing against Hinata's wound with trembling fingers, trying to quench the bleeding. Good God, there was just so much blood. It was in the air, filling his mouth with the metallic taste, it's sticky smooth substance covering his rough hands, making them slick.
Please… Please, Oh God… stop bleeding, stop bleeding…
"Hinata! Hinata!" Sakura was sobbing it again, her words distorted by the tears. There was just so much blood everywhere. Sasuke wasn't even moving, aside from the trembling that was overtaking his whole body. She pressed her hands over his fingers, her tears pouring down her face, leaving spots of white liquid against their blood stained flesh.
"I'll close it! I'll close it, I swear- I'm sorry, Hinata, I'm sorry!" she sobbed, her whole body shivering with each breath, the green glow of chakra beginning to spread from her hands. But there was little of it left within her, little for her to spare, and so much blood.
"Sasuke!" Naruto gasped, finally beginning to rip his favorite jacket, ready to wrap them around his friend's torso. "Goddamnit! Answer me!" but he wasn't trying very hard to get his attention. He tore the material in his unsteady hands and crouched behind the dark haired avenger, shakily beginning to wrap the wound gushing blood out of his side.
Sasuke didn't feel it, breathing in and out unsteadily, eyes focused on Hinata's face, the small frown between her brows, her mouth opened slightly in an attempt to breathe, her lips lined with blood.
If she died…If she died he would-
"Sasuke!" Tenten was suddenly there, the vaguely unfamiliar face forcing it's way between him and Hinata. Her hands were against his shoulders, pushing him back, tears rolling down her own cheeks, but her voice was steadier than everyone else's.
"Sasuke- you're going into shock! Look at me!"
He couldn't… His hands fought against her slowly, but roughly, bruising her wrists as he tried to pull her away, get her out of the way of Hinata.
But other hands were suddenly dragging him backwards, Naruto, Tsunade-sama. He recognized each voice but couldn't factor it, couldn't 'think'. His eyes took in the blood, the blood that was so goddamn familiar.
It had pooled just like that on his floor, on the living room floor, where his mother and his father had-
Suddenly he was aware of his own voice, repeating her name, over and over, a chant, it was going so slowly, so delicately that he hadn't really heard himself.
But the others heard it and amidst their own fright, their own panic they realized his sudden state of mind, and the ache behind his eyes.
"Enough!" Tsunade's voice cutting through, like a whip, her face in his way again, somehow he had gotten rid of Tenten before.
Roughly the hokage pressed her fingers against his forehead, looking worriedly at him despite herself.
The worry there didn't register. She shouldn't be looking at him at all, she should have been working on Hinata, on making her blood stop flowing.
Suddenly he saw the darkness eating at the corners of his vision, a sensation he was so disturbingly familiar with that he knew what was coming. There was something comforting in knowing he wouldn't be able to fight it and wouldn't be able to do anything thereafter.
It was someone else's problem now.
But not Hinata… please not Hinata…
If she died… If she died he would-
If she dies, I'll throw Itachi and myself into the depths of hell's fire…
I'm so sorry… Hinata.
Wind chime bells, and a breeze, soft and tangible as it reached her ears. Giggling children, a whisper of voices past a wall.
Her ears worked carefully, identifying each noise, making her frown slightly as she lay in darkness, watching the colors behind her eyes dance.
A door opening, a door closing, footsteps, quiet footsteps…. The wind chime bells sighing again, as if amused by her listening, they tickled her ears, made her want to open her eyes and see what they were laughing about.
But everything hurt so much.
The realization that she was aching came slowly, dragging itself over her body, a steamroller of sudden signals crowding her mind.
Her throat ached, swallowing was a problem, there was a throbbing sensation all over her torso, she could hardly breathe properly, and the weights on her eyelids were heavy enough to keep them closed. It would be a battle to open them… even curiosity couldn't force her to yet.
But that wasn't what kept her attention, slowly it was drawn to the overwhelming wariness that was sitting on her, a pound of it on her body. Lead bones, the description bounced around in her confused mind. Lead bones and frozen muscles.
Taking a deep unsteady breath she decided she would open her eyes, the wind chimes were giggling again.
It was a struggle, and she could hardly deal with it right then and there. Somehow the idea of 'struggle' was something her poor mind was not in the mood to attempt to fathom, but curiosity being the strongest of human traits she pushed on, opening her eyes slowly.
The bright light was what greeted her, a shocking flash of it that made her close her eyes faster than she had opened them, letting out something of a moan despite her best intentions not to. It was like her body had refused suddenly her commands, deciding it would do what was right for it even if she didn't want to.
But someone else was there to hear her and suddenly her hand was being gripped tightly, a gasp making her want to open her eyes again.
"Hinata! Hinata-chan!"
A groggy voice within her stirred, confused.
Tenten? Ano…hai, that's Tenten-chan…
Sighing softly the Hyuuga steeled herself for another try at opening her eyes, struggling again until she could see the flash of bright sunlight through her lashes. She squinted groggily, wishing she had the strength to lift her hand up to her face and block the burning light away.
"Hinata! Oh thank God- Tsunade-sama! Nurse! Miyuki-san, she's awake! She's awake!"
Hinata shifted slightly, forcing her hand up to block the light, finally catching sight of Tenten letting go of her hand and rushing to the door on the right side of the room, flinging it open to yell out into the hall, calling for a nurse, for Tsunade for anyone.
"…Tenten-chan…" she sighed softly. "…Tenten-chan…please stop yelling…."
"You're awake, but you're awake." The kunoichi cried, coming back to her. Something about the way she was walking made Hinata study her carefully, noting the cast around her ankle with some difficulty and the bandages around her shoulder and head.
"I'm so glad…" Tenten smiled, looking down at her like any older sister would, just about ready to start crying.
The door flung open and Tsunade stormed in, followed by a handful of nurses scrambling with clipboards, hands tingling with chakra ready to use.
"Quiet, Tenten, step out of the way." She murmured, dark circles lined her eyes and her lips were pale as she leaned over Hinata, pressing her cool hands against her forehead, looking at her with an obviously relieved expression.
"Look at me." She murmured, blocking out the sun with her body. Hinata focused on her slowly, letting out a breath.
"Tsunade-sama…" she murmured, blinking slowly. "…what's happening?"
"You're waking up." Tsunade laughed, the sound marred by the emotion of relief heavily weighing it. "You've been asleep for two weeks."
"Asleep…?" Hinata started, struggling to get her mind to wrap around the feeling.
Asleep?
Her body throbbed again, making her flinch.
"Look at me." Tsunade murmured, turning her face gently. "Can you move your hands?"
Hinata nodded, sighing deeply, struggling to move, to sit up. She hurt so much.
"Don't sit up quite yet." Tsunade scolded softly, pushing her back down. "Can you move your toes?"
Again there was a slow nod, but her eyes were closing, making her wish she could just sleep.
"No, you can't go to sleep yet." Tsunade muttered, as if reading her mind, forcing her to look back at her face. "Look at me." She stated, professional fingers beginning to pour chakra right into her. Other nurses were suddenly around her, their clean cool hands pulling the warmth of her covers away, revealing her heavily bandaged body.
"Do you remember anything?" the hokage murmured suddenly, looking up at her with worried blue eyes. Hinata only looked back at her, confused.
Do I remember?
What is it that I should remember?
"…N…no?" she began slowly, confused by the question. "What are you talking about?"
The blonde shook away the question, out of the corner of her eye Hinata managed to see Tenten's hands rise to her face, her eyes widening with something like surprise… perhaps worry?
The nurses were undoing bandages, revealing slits of bruised flesh and a long twining gash sowed up tightly.
Hinata felt her breath knocked right out of her body at the sight of the wound, gasping she stared.
"N-n-nani?" she began, tears starting to pool in her eyes, making her gaze glitter as she turned to look at Tsunade, startled, confused.
"W-what's happening? What happened?"
"Shss." Tsunade whispered, purposefully ignoring her questions. "Take those stitches out, she's tore them in her sleep, redo them and then I need one of you to speed up the healing process, one good shot of chakra should do it for the bleeding to stop." She stated thinly, her hands pressed against Hinata's neck gently, warm and glowing with the chakra she was pouring into the smooth flesh.
Bruises, yellow and black were still there, fading quickly, but the necklace of them was still obvious enough. Itachi's grip on her neck had been close to enough to break it.
She had escaped death one too many times in the few hours that she had faced the Uchiha.
"Tsunade-sama…" Hinata finally sobbed, panic starting at the base of her throat, as she scrambled to remember. The nagging sensation that something could be horribly wrong was driving her insane. There was something she was supposed to do, someone she was supposed to hold, a name- many names…
"Bring the shot." Tsunade stated suddenly, her voice strained. Tenten gave a soft sound, a strangled whimper of discontent and fear and wariness that made Hinata look at her, ignoring the sticky feeling of her tears rolling down the side of her face.
"Nani? Tsunade-sama! What's going on? What happened?"
Suddenly the name was sitting on her tongue, a face, the feeling in her chest blooming so quickly that it hurt, it ached worse than all the other wounds combined, making her wince.
"Sasuke! Where's Sasuke?"
The bite of a needle in her arm made her turn sharply to see one of the nurses emptying a shot into her flesh, the young girl biting her lip, looking at her worriedly.
"You remember?" Tsunade started, pulling her face back to look at her, but the darkness was already eating at her vision.
"Sensei… Sensei is Sasuke all right? Is he all right?"
Tenten rubbed her face in the corner, looking at her friend, so pale and confused with sad eyes.
"He's fine, Hinata." Tsunade sighed, putting a hand on her forehead gently, looking directly at her eyes. "I promise you, he's fine."
There was nothing but her word to give her any assurance, but she did not seem to be lying. Swallowing heavily, Hinata let her eyes close again, let herself slip back into the coolness of sleep, the comfort of it dulling the agonizing pain of having raw stitches pulled from her side.
He was all aright… that was all she needed to know.
He was all right.
It didn't even occur to the young Hyuuga to ponder if she was all right herself.
They had been taking turns for what seemed like months, though, it was only truly just about two weeks and a half.
The few of the Rookie Nine that had not been seriously injured spent the days at the hospital anyway, talking to their comrades, or sitting in Hinata's room, waiting for her to wake.
She had woken once, in two weeks, and had had to be sedated. Tsunade had said nothing more to anyone else and the nurses present had been instructed to say nothing about the matter to the others, something that had left most of the team bitter.
Neji had been removed from the hospital days after being stabilized by Tsunade, he was the only one of the team that did not spend day and night there, sitting by Hinata's bedside or that of other team members, just to enjoy the silence of each other's melancholy thoughts.
Most of the wounds had not been fatal, though near fatal was common enough. Ino had been knocked out completely, one of her arms had been shattered by the impact of a blade hilt, she had also had a clean slice to her thigh and had not Shikamaru and Choji been there her throat would have been ripped out by one of Akatsuki's less amused members.
Kisame had managed to tear right into Kiba, irritated by the dual potency of his canine friend Akamaru. The sword had slashed into his side and upwards, fracturing several ribs. He had lost enough blood to be in intensive care for the whole two weeks as well, though he regained consciousness soon enough.
Shino too had had a wrist dislocated as he was thrown from one side of the clearing to the other, the strain on his sinew and nerves had left his hand weakened and useless. It would take months to heal.
Sakura had had her leg broken, one ankle dislocated, and though Naruto had taken the worst beating of them all the Kyuubi inside of him kept him strong. Tenten, Lee, Choji and Shikamaru were the only four to leave the fight with only minor injuries. But none of the Rookie Nine even thought that they had won the fight, or even tied.
Akatsuki had withdrawn, later they realized it was because Itachi had been heavily wounded by a combination of Hinata and Sasuke's efforts.
If they had stayed, it was almost certain that none of them would have walked out, or if they did, their condition would be that of the Uchiha and Hyuuga who had fought so hard.
The first week was chaotic. There didn't seem to be enough medical shinobi in the village to stabilize all of the wounded fighters. Tsunade had taken on most of the work, but even the Hokage had her limits.
Still, all of the Rookie Nine that were awake had told her to work on Hinata…
It had probably saved her life.
The wounds themselves had been grave, but not fatal, though the loss of blood if not stopped by Tsunade's wise hands might have resulted in the loss of the heiress.
But that wasn't what worried everyone. Hinata's chakra levels had hit a record low. They were nearly gone, and chakra could not be transmitted like blood. Tsunade had worked continuously for days, sleeping little, eating when she could.
Like all the other Shinobi the idea of loosing Hinata had left her startled, frightened into action by the possibility.
The next two weeks after the exam had been spent in near silence, the only member of the team that never left the hall in which Hinata's room resided was Sasuke… though he never entered it after the first time she woke.
Sitting on the ground, back leaning against the wall he would meditate, or sometimes doze, but he never left.
Tsunade commanded the other nurses to leave him alone. His wound had not been grave, within a few months the young man would probably be well enough to face training and possibly missions. He was the one recovering best, aside from Naruto who had been good enough to leave within five days.
It wasn't uncommon to see them sitting by her door, in complete silence, the raven haired avenger and blonde future hokage, staring off into space, more melancholy than the whole hospital put together.
Aside from perhaps Sakura and Ino who shared a room across the hall…
Though no one could exactly make out what was happening inside Sasuke's mind there was certainly a feeling of puzzling detachment in the way he was dealing with everyone else's injuries…
Naruto could not understand it, but after a time everyone came to the decision that something had happened during the fight that they would not know about unless Hinata got better. The cold avenger didn't seem like he was going to consider talking about it.
It was only Sasuke that didn't know if he really wanted her to.
Soft steps down the hall made him open his eyes, looking sideways out of the corner of his vision at the Hokage's shoes and painted toes without actually taking it in.
"Ne, Uchiha." She murmured, looking down at him tiredly, though her hands were on her hips as usual.
"Haven't you been moping around here long enough?"
The young Avenger sighed tiredly, saying nothing in return.
Echoing his sigh the Hokage leaned against the wall, arms crossed, then slid down to sit by him.
"She asked for you." she murmured, looking straight ahead. "The first thing she remembered was to ask for you."
The Uchiha closed his eyes, straining not to clench his hands, or punch a wall, or run into the room and kiss her…
"What happened?" she murmured, turning to look at him. As Hokage she had been able to keep Anbu from harassing her patients with grueling interrogations, but that would not last long. They needed to investigate the situation, and the Rookie Nine were the only ones that could possibly know what had happened, as the Security Team they should have been able to prevent the situation.
Something had gone wrong.
"…what do you mean, what happened?" Sasuke enquired quietly, his voice rough from lack of use. Tsunade felt her chest lighten slightly, relieved that he was talking, if only a little.
"Why were they here?"
"Are you asking for a report on the mission?" the question was cold, so detached it felt liked a cold wind.
"Yes." She retorted, just as coldly, turning to look at him and breaking the possible fellowship that had been constructed feebly over the last few weeks.
"Naruto submitted it."
"Naruto wasn't fighting Itachi." Tsunade grunted irritably. "I need to know what in the hell this is." She lifted her hand, letting a small necklace swing there. The cord was simple leather, at it's center was a stone of some kind, deep black, so black it reflected the light.
Sasuke frowned at it over the rim of his high-necked shirt, struggling to remember where that was from.
"…I don't recognize it." He lied, hands clenching.
"Hinata was holding it." Tsunade murmured. "Anbu only gave it back to me after they had finished trying to find out what it was and if it had some sort of jutsu imbedded into it. They found nothing."
"Then it is nothing." He replied shortly, aching to reach out and grab it. Hinata's essence lingered over it. She had held it, clenched it. It probably meant something to her, if not to the village.
And if it meant something to her it meant something to him.
"I'm sure that's not the case." Tsunade replied, reaching the necklace out towards him. "Hinata doesn't waste her time on 'nothings'." Her eyes focused on him. "Kind of makes me wonder why she's still hanging around you." she teased, though it was much softer than anything else she had said over the last few weeks. Everything had been so strict and to the point, no laughter anywhere.
He stared back for a moment, silently agreeing with the comment though he'd never say it out loud.
"Here." She finally muttered, extending the necklace out to him. "If it really is nothing, give it to her."
He flinched, the visible movement surprising them both. Suddenly he didn't want to take it.
"No…" he murmured.
Tsunade frowned at him slightly. "…you're afraid of talking to her…"
Sasuke didn't reply, looking silently at the wall, hands clenched into tight fists that made his knuckles look white.
No one would understand, even if he explained it to them. No one could possibly understand the shame of being unable to protect her when that was all he wanted to do. Of all of them she had pushed herself the most… and there was still the chance that she wouldn't recover. She had woken, and seemed stable, but if her chakra levels didn't return to what they used to be her career as a shinobi would be gone. And her chance at being part of her clan would vanish…
And it was all his fault.
"I'm not about to push you to do anything." She muttered, dumping the necklace on his lap. "…but she asked for you." her tone took on a colder hue. "Don't be selfish."
The sound of her steps fading echoed in his ears, but he didn't move, looking down at the necklace on his lap. There was certainly something familiar about it, but he couldn't think of when or where he had seen it.
But if he really wanted to find out, he'd have to talk to her…
There was a time before, when she had been smaller that waking up in the darkness of her room had been rare. Her mother said that the only way to wake to a bright day was to have the windows open, with the sun to pour in and caress her face.
As a child she had followed that instruction, waking each day when the sun rose and when the birds began to sing, white curtains letting the warm touch of it's light seep in through the cloth.
There were memories of being comfortable, warm, safe, knowing there was nothing that could harm her, that everything would be okay.
It was the same feeling she was living with at that moment, breathing in the scent of rose petals and bleach, listening to the bird song coming from around her somewhere.
She wanted to open her eyes, because she could feel the sun kissing her face, its warm touch making her skin tingle with delight, but the weight on her eyelids seemed too heavy for her to deal with, slowing her down despite her best attempts.
Slowly she blinked tiredly, eyes half closed as she stared out past her lashes at the blurred fuzzy image of a window set in a white wall, the shutters open, letting the summer sun flood the room with light.
Too tired to think too much of it she turned her head, sighing softly as she did so to stare out into the mainly empty room.
White sheets covered her, the white washed walls were plain except for a single picture in a corner at an angle she could not see.
On a nightstand beside her was a single rose in a slim glass vase, it's petals spread wide to let it's scent escape.
She stared at it for a moment. The little thing was so out of place, dark rich red within the pale room of off whites and grays.
Unable to think she closed her eyes again, unaware of just how pale she was as well, her skin just a touch darker than the blankets she was under.
Dark circles lined her eyes, and her lips were pale and thin, but without moving she felt nothing other than utter wariness, as though it didn't matter that she had been sleeping for what felt like weeks. It felt like she hadn't, like the opposite had happened and she had done nothing but push herself for weeks on end.
Oddly enough she knew, somewhere in her mind that the reality was that she had probably been sleeping for a long time. Tsunade-sama had said so… she just didn't know how long anymore, the last time she had woken Tsunade had said two weeks. This time it could be longer.
Somehow that didn't worry her, the light flooding the room was cheerful enough, and laying down and just sitting there with nothing to worry her was enough.
Her sensei's words were ringing through her mind repeatedly, of how Sasuke was fine.
It was good to know that, though… she wondered where he was.
Turning to look back at the rose she sighed, smiling despite herself. It really was a beautiful flower…
Maybe Ino had got it for her…
As if thought could summon her the door opened softly and Ino stood there, looking back into the hall, unaware of Hinata's smile spreading across her face.
"Ne…this one is really good…I'll put it in her room." She turned, her hands coming up with a lily, bright white and beautiful, drawing Hinata's attention away from Ino's face curiously, wondering who she was talking to.
The blonde however closed the door quietly, studying the lily before looking up and freezing, staring at the girl in front of her in shock.
"Hinata-chan!" the cry was loud and she rushed forward, grabbing her into a hug that made both of them flinch in pain as their broken bones reacted to the roughness.
"Ow, ow… damn, gomen! I didn't mean to-" Ino began, listening to Hinata's soft laugh followed by a cough as she struggled to breathe.
"Ne, ne, Ino-chan, I'm so glad to see you."
The blonde stared at her a moment, as if shocked the words, her lower lip trembling slightly. "Ne… you are?"
Hinata blinked, surprised by the question. "Nani? Of course I-"
And Ino was hugging her again, crying that time, her sobs shaky. "Hinata-chan, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry- I know before I was all sore, I'm sorry, you didn't deserve it… and then you were almost dying, and I didn't know if I'd ever be able to live with the things I said, you were right, I couldn't fight at all, Shikamaru and Choji, they had to save me… I would have died-"
"Ino-chan…" Hinata whimpered, struggling with the pressure to her torso, flinching, listening only half heartedly to Ino's long rant.
"Oh god, sorry!" The blonde gasped, pulling back slowly, rubbing at her eyes already poofing with redness.
"…we all missed you, a lot." She admitted, sniffing softly, studying the ground. "…there's always been someone here, all the time, waiting for you to wake up. I was just changing with Choji-kun."
Hinata started, shocked by the news. Had she missed Sasuke? Had he been there, watching and waiting for her to wake?
"…how is everyone?" she asked quietly, struggling not to ask about Sasuke directly, for some reason she didn't want to seem too overbearing.
Ino sniffed, rubbing her cheeks dry with the back of her hands, still holding the lily. "Half of us are still here." She pointed down to herself and the bandaged torso under the loose shirt she was wearing.
"I'm in the room across from you with Sakura, but Sakura only stays here because it's easier for everyone. She has a broken leg but nothing very harsh."
"…so everyone is okay?" Relief washed over Hinata's face, her heart lightening rapidly. Ino nodded quickly. "Hai, everyone is recovering pretty well. I got it the worst, technically speaking, aside from you and Sasuke…" she flinched.
"How… how is Sasuke-kun?'
Ino's blue eyes flickered to the door and then back towards the Hinata rapidly. "He's fine… he's…outsi-Ne, he healed pretty well, from that gash in his side and the mental strain." Her gaze shifted away, towards the rose in it's vase. Quietly she walked over to the flower, ignoring Hinata's confused gaze on her.
"…where is he, Ino-chan?"
The blonde fidgeted, taking the rose out carefully, placing the lily in the vase instead, her back to Hinata.
"I don't know."
Hinata stared at the blonde's back, studying for the first time the many bandages over her friend. There were some on her elbow, and a cast that stretched from her forearm down over hand. She could see more strips of cloth wrapped around her throat like a turtle neck, supporting her exposed flesh, and a make-shift bandage was strapped to her cheek.
Had she been wearing something short she would have also been able to see the bloody wraps around her thigh. Frowning, both from the reaction and from the heavy amount of visible wounds the Hyuuga stared, silent waiting for some sort of reply that would actually answer her question.
But none came, and Ino simply turned to look at her patiently, smiling. "Ne, look at those flowers, Hinata-cha. They're beautiful."
"Hai." Hinata nodded, forcing a smile to grace her face. "Arigato, Ino-chan."
The blonde smiled. "No problem, the least I can do is put them in their vase."
Blinking confusedly Hinata drew herself from her confused thoughts to stare at her. "Ne…where did you get them?"
Ino shrugged. "I didn't. Sasuke did."
The Hyuuga froze, looking at Ino impassively for a moment.
He brought the flowers…
Rapidly her eyes shifted to the door, staring out into the hallway. He had stood there, he had stood there, just outside the doorway.
A bitter sweet sensation slipped over her, making her whole body shiver with the mixture of delight and confusion.
He obviously needed time…
And even though she missed him, and it left her a little sore not being there, with him, she'd give him the time he needed. For both their sakes.
Bubble gum wrappers littered the whole floor, Hinata strained to chew the mass of chewing gum, giggling despite herself as Kiba, Shino and Ino sat around her room, laughing as well, Shino more smirking slightly than laughing, but it was close enough.
"Okay, okay." Ino said thickly past the wad of chewing gum in her own mouth. "Now, you have to spread it over your tongue, like… a bandage, kind of." She mumbled, working the gum around.
Hinata began to laugh again, unable mold the bothersome material despite her best intentions, her hands up to her poofed out cheeks, pink from the strain and the giggling.
"If she chokes, I'm blaming you two." Shino mumbled from the corner of the room, arms crossed, looking out the window.
Kiba and Ino just laughed some more, watching Hinata strain with the bubble gum. "Come on, even Tsunade would have to admit that it was our duty as her friends to teach her how to blow a bubble." Ino cried, not loud because of the amount of 'stuff' in her mouth.
"It's disgraceful, seventeen years old and unable to blow a bubble." Kiba scolded, sounding ridiculous with the mouthful of gum to obstruct his deep voice.
Hinata burst into giggles again, munching on the gum as best she could, but there was a lot of it.
"Okay, now that you've got it somewhat spread over your tongue- actually let me see-" Ino instructed, putting a hand on Hinata's knee over the covers of her bed. The Hyuuga blushed but opened her mouth.
Nodding, Ino grinned. "'kay. Now, pull your tongue out of the gum and kind press the gum against the rim of your lips."
Laughing again at how weird it sounded Hinata nodded, making Kiba burst into uncontrollable laughter as she strained with the bubble, a sad little thing appearing over her mouth for a few seconds before deflating and making her lips all sticky.
"You absolutely suck at this!" Ino giggled, wiping tears of laughter from the corner of her eyes. Even Shino was chuckling despite himself, watching his friend laughing the way they hadn't seen her do so in weeks.
It had been nearly a month since the Chuunin Examination and three weeks since Hinata had begun to wake regularly each day. Now able to sit up and have visitors the Hyuuga often spent her days with one or more of her friends, talking, or reading or as it so happened, attempting to learn to blow bubble gum.
"I do absolutely suck at it…" she admitted, trying to wipe her mouth and failing miserably. "I can't believe I'm so bad at it!"
"Can you blow soap bubbles?" Ino stated suddenly, deadly serious, making Hinata blink at her and Kiba stop laughing for just a second.
"No…"
At this even Shino started to laugh at loud, amused beyond reason at the look of shame that dared to cross her small face, embarrassment making her blush.
"Ne, ne! Where was I supposed to learn this stuff anyway?" she smiled, taking the wad of gum out of her mouth and dumping it in the garbage can, rotating her jaw slightly to loosen it up.
"I dunno, preschool maybe?" Ino smirked, following her example and getting rid of the massive amount of gum.
"Well that just figures." Hinata laughed. "I was privately tutored at the time."
"Can you just see your tutor trying to teach a three year old Hinata how to blow bubbles?" Kiba laughed. At the comment Hinata burst into uncontrollable laughter, rubbing at her eyes to get rid of the amazing amount of happy tears. "Oh he was such a cranky old man, he'd never!"
"I bet!" Ino laughed. "You can't be taught that by anyone other than your peers, it's unnatural, ya know?"
Hinata nodded, as did Kiba, looking out the window with Shino to see if Akamaru was all right outside still.
"Kinda like kissing too, I guess." She admitted, cocking her head, looking thoughtful.
At the word the still shy Hinata blushed and stared up at the ceiling, asking some god above why her friend was so oblivious.
"Hey, Hinata!" Ino cried, turning to look at her sharply. "Do you know how to kiss?"
The silence that followed was deafening, the sound of her blood rushing to her head so loud she thought the others could probably hear it too.
"N-n-nani?" she stuttered, letting out a nervous little laugh. Ino smirked. "You don't, do you! Kiba here should be able to teach ya, ne, Kiba-kun?'
"The hell!" Kiba cried, blushing and twitching at once. "It'd be like kissing my sister! No offense, Hinata-chan, demo-"
Laughing again Hinata shook her head. "I agree, it'd be weird, like kissing Neji-san."
At this both Kiba and Ino allowed themselves a collective "Eww." While Shino closed his eyes distastefully.
"Oh, I didn't think I'd be THAT bad." Kiba grunted, wrinkling his nose.
"Ah! Demo- he's my cousin!" Hinata cried, surprised by their reaction.
"He's been more grouchy than before 'our' Chuunin Exams." Ino grumbled, rolling her eyes. "I don't think even Tenten can put up with the guy, and she's half in love with him as it- Oops!" gasping Ino threw her hands over her mouth, staring at the others with wide eyes.
Hinata laughed, shaking her head. "Ino-chan… you're not very good at keeping secrets…"
"Good thing I don't tell you anything as it is." Kiba grunted, giving the blonde a very meaningful look, earning a glare in return. "It's slipped out!" she cried, allowing her hands to drop from her mouth a few inches.
"Tch, I wouldn't want anything else to slip out." Shino retorted, quirking an eyebrow. Ino stuck her tongue out at him. "Ne, ne, there's nothing to slip out now, it's not like I keep records of all the people who like one another or anything, cuz if I did then you're know about Misa and her fanclub starting one for y- oh DAMN!" again she slammed her hands over her mouth while Kiba and Hinata almost fell over laughing, watching Shino twitch repeatedly in shock.
"Misa? As in Sasuke's Fan Club Misa?" he stuttered, looking about ready to jump off a cliff. Ino stared back at him, wide eyed, ignoring Hinata and Kiba's loud laughter. "I don't know anything!"
The door opened into the scene of loud giggling and Tsunade-sama could only roll her eyes, smirking slightly as she walked in, closing the door behind her.
"Well, she seems to be recovering quickly." The Hokage muttered, quirking an eyebrow at Shino's pale expression as she walked over to Hinata, who straightened and forced herself to stop laughing, smiling at the Hokage warmly.
"Hello, Tsunade-sama."
"How are you, Hinata?" Tsunade enquired, putting a hand on her forehead thoughtfully, amazed by the quick recovery of the girl's chakra over the last month. She was getting well quickly, she could already stand and walk around for a few minutes three days after waking the second time. Three weeks after the exam she was just another patient healing a slash to her side.
"Fine." The girl replied truthfully, ignoring the nagging tightness that was constantly biting into her side from still sore wound. Other than that it was like her strength was seeping back slowly but surely, no more worries there.
"Good." Tsunade nodded, then she turned to Kiba and Shino, who were already standing, heading towards the door.
"Bye!" Hinata waved, knowing they were leaving so Tsunade could do a proper examination of the wound. It stretched from her hip across her torso almost between her breasts, and they knew so. It was less humiliating if they just left.
"See ya later, Hinata-chan!" Kiba called, Shino just waved, his eyes smiling over the rim of his shirt as he closed the door.
"You're been laughing a lot." Tsunade noted thoughtfully, waiting for the Hyuuga to remove her hospital shirt.
Ino walked over to the window and pulled the blinds, humming all the while, moving to shift the rose sitting in it's respective vase by the bedside.
Sasuke was still refusing to enter Hinata's room… and had stopped lingering outside in the hall. But he still went to the receptionist every single day and left a flower of some kind, as well as an answer as to how he was doing, because every single day Hinata would enquire about it to someone.
It was an odd confusion relationship that no one but the two involved really understood. Or so Ino and the other Rookie Nine supposed, though the truth was neither Hinata nor Sasuke knew what to do.
He had wanted to see her for so long it seemed like he'd never actually get to, as if the person in the room was nothing more than a ghost he remembered.
And she had wanted him to enter for so long that she was starting to think if he had forgotten her. Though the flowers contradicted that every single day too.
It was a confusion bitter sweet reminder of how being caged in the hospital would have driven her mad if her friends didn't visit her so often, even after they had recovered from their own injuries.
"We were teaching her how to blue bubbles." Ino said to Tsunade's statement, caressing the rose thoughtfully. "The girl had no fun as a child."
Tsunade smirked slightly, studying the white strip of flesh across Hinata's torso thoughtfully, glad to see improvement in the muscle.
"It's getting much better. You should be able to leave any day now… Maybe even tomorrow."
Hinata stared at her, shocked.
"It's only been about a month…."
"A month and a week." Tsunade nodded, examining her ribs in turn. "You wont be able to train for another month or so, but then you can start off slow."
A little worried, Hinata fiddled with her hospital bracelet, frowning at it. "Will I be well by my next birthday?"
Ino and Tsunade looked at her silently, recalling the importance of the Hyuuga's next birthday.
"…I should hope so." Tsunade admitted, frowning slightly. "This had put you a step back, has it not?"
"Not too badly." Hinata lied, smiling slightly. Slowly she glanced up to look at her. "How is Sasuke-kun, today?"
Tsunade stared for a moment, always surprised by the diligence of Hinata's question. "He's good… I saw him training. I believe he moved to a different house while the other one is repaired." She smirked slightly. "It's got a bigger kitchen."
Blushing slightly Hinata looked down at her hands. "I'm glad to hear he's all right."
Frowning in confusion at the Hokage's odd tone Ino cocked her head, her blonde mind attempting to piece together something that felt disturbingly obvious.
"…So, I may leave, tomorrow?" Hinata enquired suddenly, making Tsunade look up at her again from studying the bruised side of her ribs where the bones were still healing.
"I believe so. If you don't strain yourself you should be fine. Where will you be going?"
Hinata's eyes flickered left and right, nervous. She had not thought of that.
"I would have to think about it." She mumbled, sounding sheepish. Tsunade laughed, sitting up, handing her her hospital shirt again.
"You've a whole day to do that. Anyway, your ribs look fine, however, I don't want you running, or so much as lifting anything any heavier than a book, do you hear me?"
Hinata nodded, wide eyed, staring at her sensei with utter respect.
"And if I hear of your having anything to do with training and or working in the next few months, so help me I'll find you." she glared.
Laughing nervously Ino stepped in, patting Hinata on the head. "No worries, with Sakura, Tenten and I around to beat her into submission she won't be lifting a finger for the next few years if you ask me."
Tsunade smirked, pulling back her gaze softening slightly. "Good."
Waving over her shoulder absently she stepped out the door. "Make sure you tell the receptionist you're leaving tomorrow." Without another word she closed the door behind her.
Hinata blinked, a bit puzzled by the situation. She was excited… no ecstatic to be leaving, to be able to step outside and feel the fresh air… and of possibly seeing Sasuke… if he wanted.
But that always made her nervous too. What could she possibly say… what could she possibly do?
"So…" Ino began, watching her friend's dreamy expression curiously. "Are you going to be staying with Sasuke again? I mean… my mom and dad might make an exception if you don't feel like it…"
Hinata started, turning to look at her sharply. "Ano… I don't know quite yet, Ino-chan." She murmured, frowning down at her hands. "I'll tell you tomorrow?"
Ino nodded, rubbing her arm thoughtfully. "You could always stay with Sakura too, ne? I hear you two patched things up?"
Hinata smiled then, nodding. "I suppose you could say that."
The blonde scoffed, flicking her long pony tail over her shoulder. "She told me all about how she apologized repeatedly and asked you to forgive her." She muttered. "Pinky is very emotional."
Smiling at the hypocritical remark Hinata nodded. "Hai. But it was nice, to know she didn't feel good about the situation."
"What're you two gonna do about Naruto? Has he come to visit you, by the way? The baka-mono has nearly vanished off the planet."
"He came a few times." Hinata nodded. "Because we're all hurt he's taking more missions than usual."
"Heh!" Ino laughed. "That ought to whip his rear end into shape. But anyway… what are you two gonna do? Just battle it out for the big goof?"
The Hyuuga giggled, shaking her head. "No… I-I… I'm not interested."
At this Ino frowned, lowering herself onto the bed in front of her, looking directly at Hinata's face, startling the heiress slightly.
"Let me get this straight." She began slowly, looking deadly serious. "You miss Sasuke, you're going to try to move in with him again, you're letting Sakura have Naruto…." She stared at her.
"I may be dense… but I'm not that dense…"
Hinata stared, wide eyed. "N-n-nani? What are you talking about-?"
"Come off it!" Ino squealed, jumping to her feet. "You like Sasuke!" she pointed at her friend triumphantly, looking more excited than a child in a candy store.
Shushing her as quickly as she could Hinata looked around, waving her hands to get her to be quiet. "No! No, I don't!" she gasped, shaking her head.
Ino stuck her tongue out bending down to her level. "You can't lie your way out of this one, Hinata-chan. Either you like him or you loooove him cuz you-" Ino stopped, watching Hinata suddenly look seriously at her, even though she was blushing slightly.
Her jaw dropped.
"You LOVE him?!?!"
"Ino-chan! Be quiet!"
And there once more showed up the unchained feline.
I think this was a lil less intense than you guys expected, but i thought it was the best way to go. more intensity and you might all explode.
Also,t his is quite a bit less of a cliffhanger. i was getting SO tired of those things, lol
hopefully you all like... the whole Sasuke-emo thing is gonna be addressed in the next chappie, so dont you all start complaining that he's acting weird, i havent given him his chance to talk yet, ya know?
anyway. please read, and review!
-ink