Healed and feeling much better in the new chair, Hinata was ready to be back at work. She got a few questions about her health, but she lied that she had had a cold and that she just hadn't wanted to give it to anyone. No one seemed to notice the new chair, and she was happy that they were ignorant of the change.

Hinata would never be able to explain the feeling of being able to roll herself down the street, let alone around her apartment with ease. She was so happy to see the desk and get back to work that she hadn't noticed how long she had been working until someone knocked on her door. She looked at the clock. First, it was just before her normal lunch, then to the door, she expected a familiar male face, but she was surprised to see a female one. She let her face drop.

Sakura noticed. She, too, frowned.

"Do you need something, Sakura-chan?" Would Sasuke be upset that she was here?

"I heard you weren't feeling well. I just wanted to check on you." Sakura said, stepping in and leaning on the chair across from her desk casually.

"If I felt it was bad enough, I would have come into the clinic." Hinata defended, maybe a little colder than she had meant to, but she guessed this is what she got for lying.

"I was just worried if you were ill enough, you wouldn't be able to make it," Sakura admitted.

Hinata suppressed a sigh. In all fairness, it was a legitimate concern for the majority of her low mobility clientele, the usually weak and elderly.

"I mean, you have no one to check up on you." Hinata resented that far more.

"No, I do. He came and checked on me Monday after finding out I called in sick." Hinata said defensively.

Sakura looked surprised.

Hinata realized her mistake.

Sakura knew too much about her family situation to know that it wasn't Neji.

"Who?" Sakura asked, excited. "Is he cute?~"

Hinata looked down. What did she say? Hinata didn't want to tell Sakura of all the people that Sasuke had come to her house. She had already given too much information. She couldn't claim it was a random civilian. "I'd rather keep that to myself, thank you."

"That's so sweet." Sakura cooed. "It's so nice to see you find someone to help you out."

Hinata tried not to make a face at the wording. She was just trying to be nice. Hinata tried to remind herself.

Hinata sealed her lips to keep her increasingly sharp tongue.

Sakura looked over at the clock. "When do you take lunch? I'm on mine. I can go and pick up something."

Hinata shook her head. "Sorry, I already have lunch plans." Hinata was worried that he would show up any minute.

"With this mystery guy?" Sakura asked coyly.

Just as she said that, she saw Sasuke appear at the door. Hinata made eye contact with him and nudged her head to the side, telling him to hide.

He raised an eyebrow at her and disappeared just as Sakura looked behind her.

"Someone waved, sorry." Hinata blushed, feeling increasingly awkward about hiding Sasuke.

"Oh, well, I'll leave you to your lunch date." Sakura giggled, heading toward the door and waving on her way out.

Hinata didn't even get the chance to correct her.

A few moments after the coast was clear, Sasuke reappeared, amused with her struggle.

"Mystery guy? Lunch date?" He asked, setting down his usual bag of drinks.

"I don't know how she got that from, 'checked on me when I was sick,' and 'having lunch.'" Hinata grumbled.

"Maybe because you weren't willing to tell her who." He sat down, finding this far funnier than she was.

"I didn't want to tell her that you came to my house when I told everyone all I had was a short cold." She whined.

"Why did you even mention it?" He wondered.

Hinata frowned. "She implied that I should be checked in on. I was trying to make the case that I do not need a wellness check. Somehow she jumped to this conclusion."

"Could have told her it was me." He handed her a drink.

Hinata opened them angrily. "Not after she already made that conclusion."

Sasuke shrugged, accepting his drink. "I don't care what she thinks."

"I don't either, but I don't think I should have to tell my doctor about my personal life, so she feels better about my situation." She reached down for their lunch.

"To be fair, when she does find out, it gives you a good reason not to have told her." Sasuke excused digging in.

Hinata wasn't so sure it would blow over that well.

Naruto looked up at his opening door and smiled. Sakura held up the take-out and brought it to his desk. "Sakura-chan! I thought you were going to have lunch with Hinata-chan?"

Sakura smiled. "Actually, she has a date."

"A date?" He wondered.

"Yeah, she met some boy who checked up on her when she was out." She said cheerfully.

Naruto thought about it for a minute. "Hm? Good for her."

"I was worried when I heard she had been out sick. If she can't get out of bed, then what would she do?" Sakura sighed.

"Well, she sent out that she was sick, so I assume she would have just done that." Naruto shrugged. "She's still a responsible nin she would have sent about it before she got too sick."

"And if she couldn't?" Sakura asked.

"Sakura-chan, it's only her legs. She's a healthy nin. She is just as likely to get sick at home alone as any other nin lives alone." He wasn't sure why he felt he should defend this point.

His dinner with her and Sasuke had stood out to him on how much he had been babying her and how much she seemed to dislike it.

Sakura seemed displeased with his answer. "When is Sasuke due back?"

"He came back yesterday." He dug into the food she brought.

"Really? Why are you having lunch with me then? I thought you would have gone with him." She wondered.

"I would have, but he brought some massive package back with him to deliver to this new friend he has." He explained.

She stopped eating. "New friend?"

"Yeah, he asked for a mission for the express purpose of bringing something back from a village for them. That's the mission I had him on last week." It was surprising for him to go out of his way.

"He went out of his way to get something for someone? What did he get?" She wondered, looking increasingly confused.

"Don't know, it was a huge box, though." He shrugged.

"Who was it?" She asked.

"No clue, he didn't say. Probably a civilian, he doesn't get along well with any of the nin." He was just now realizing that he didn't have any details on Sasuke's new friend. "He has been having lunch with them all the time, so they must be on rotation."

Sakura looked at her food for a moment. "Do you think he has a girlfriend?"

Naruto didn't know how he was meant to take that. They had been together for some time now, but it always lingered as a possibility. Sakura had said before that she had given up on Sasuke, but things like the way she asked that question always made him wonder if she would someday break his heart for another chance at her first love.

"Sasuke? I don't think so. I'm sure it's just some local farmer that is slipping him all the tomatoes he can eat." Naruto chuckled.

Sakura sighed and shrugged.