In the middle of the party, Sasuke noticed his unusually dolled up wife now responding to Naruto engaging her, struggling through her shyness to look him in the eye. She's not giving up. He uncomfortably tried looking back at Sakura who insisted on his attention. Most guys at the party kept checking her out, and now Naruto dragging her away and going on and on... It was becoming irritating, as if they were insulting Sasuke himself and she wouldn't just stay by his side and make this simple. Hinata has changed how she dressed within the last few years, going from only baggy outfits, to tight fitting ones she would occasionally wear. Her previous style made sense, since her body shape was one to draw immediate attention as soon as exposed. Attention was the last thing this girl wanted, but Sasuke now realized she wasn't in fact oblivious to it. She was quite aware of the looks and seemed like she's constantly struggling with her need to hide from the world. It wasn't just a pathetic attempt to attract Naruto. Though that part was obvious, this parading in a cute little dress... It was her way of trying to change herself. Sasuke felt a level of admiration for this unassertive person who couldn't even speak to most people without blushing. He himself found prying people annoying. That's why he understood that when she looked away for a moment, she didn't need Naruto bending down and grinning into her face as his mouth runs without stopping.

Sakura who realized she's talking to herself here turned around and noticed Sasuke's irritation was caused by Naruto and Hinata talking. She inhaled embarrassed and after a moment of trying to say something to this guy who made her feel like an idiot for the last time, she shut her mouth and stomped off into the crowd. Sasuke who thought the conversation was over, not noticing why Sakura left, just moved in on Naruto and Hinata's conversation covering her eyes with one hand from behind. "Dumbass I need to talk to her." He wanted to drag away Hinata who, just before he covered her eyes, looked like she'd pass out.

"Sure." Naruto looked confused at nervous Hinata who put both her hands on Sasuke's fingers, feeling his palm, confused by what he's doing. Sasuke released her and pulled her away to the side of the room where no one could bump into them.

"What is it?" She asked, her voice once again calm like he heard it home.

"You can't pass out."

"You saw that."

"…"

"Thank you." She blushed.

"I just want to get out of here early."

"But Ino will blow out the candles in a minute."

"After that."

"And open presents." She looked at him nervously hoping for agreement.

Her puppy eye game was strong. Sasuke focused his gaze above her head for a second, refusing to be softened by this. "I'm not your nanny. You're on your own." He looked at her to make sure she knows to better hurry up. She smiled blushing at him, still grateful for Sasuke's help, something only her friend Kiba was perceptive enough to do in the past. "And stop that." Sasuke quickly added, his eyebrows furrowing with frustration.

The smile disappeared from her face and she stared confused. "Wh-what?"

"The eyes.. Nothing." He walked off looking a bit confused himself, and moved into the crowd to find Shikamaru who has been successfully evading him this whole time.

„Clear the podium!" People were making room for a big, three-story cake for Ino. She smiled talking to someone and then pulled Hinata and Tenten's hands out of the mystery crowd, surrounding herself with all the girls.

„Alright girls! Help me out, will ya'?!" She called.

The crowd behind her approved in cheers, except Hinata who just smiled, but made absolutely no sound. Sasuke observed her intently before caught himself doing it again. She was his ticket out of here and he was sure it simply was important to make sure she's close by to get a hold of. He explained away his irrational need to jump to her aid again.„Uchiha we're working here." Temari remarked trying to walk past him focused on the tray in her hands. A light blush appeared on her face when she squeezed by him. The superficial crush on Sasuke Temari had for so long amused Shikamaru who found it ridiculous. He observed her smirking as if about to laugh at her, which irritated Temari in turn. Truth was, she really blushed because she saw Shikamaru notice them as soon as Sasuke got near. Yes she found him attractive, but Shikamaru laughing at her for it was the really embarrassing part. It would make her happy if he would just be a little jealous for a change. But now that he was mocking her again, she began to plot her revenge.

People were still dancing and a slightly buzzed Naruto was trying to spin Sakura into his arms. She tried to hurt him, but he evaded and basically drew her into dancing by dodging her, keeping his head a millisecond away from a black eye as they moved. She eventually laughed at the whole thing along with Naruto. Hinata moved sideways away from the dance floor, the shine gone from her face, trying to look away from the two dancing.

But worse was about to begin.

„What sweetie, I can't hear you!" Ino yelled at embarrassed Hinata over the loud music.

„Ino uhm I... I think I got m."

„GOT WHAT?!" She screamed in her face again. Sasuke's head turned noticing them for a moment, enough to make sure Hinata is still in his view. He's had his eye on her indirectly the entire evening.

„Period!" She said as loudly as her shyness allowed.

„You're bleeding?!" Ino yelled back twice as loud.

Hinata nodded. The date was on point for her bleeding to start, but she was so nervous about dressing up that she completely forgot.

„Bleeding?" Medical shinobi behind them turned around alarmed only to see an empty space where the two girls used to stand. The man who spotted him asked: „Is someone injured?!"

„Injured, are we being attacked?!" Third girl looked at them.

„Intruders?! Where?!" Fourth person grabbed their kunai.

„Intruders?" Knifes were clinking, the music was shut in a matter of seconds and dead silence took over the room. Sasuke's sharingan lit up as he proceeded to scan the room. Nothing. Naruto signaled a few people and they were already outside surrounding the area. Everyone quiet, waiting, listening.

When Hinata and Ino entered the room again, all eyes were on them. Ino looked around confused. „What happened here? Who killed the music?!"

„Did you see anyone bleeding?" Worried Naruto broke out at the head of the crowd and asked Ino.

She immediately looked to Hinata who froze on the spot. „Well..."

„Well?... Hinata?" Naruto looked at her as well.

No. Please no. Please Naruto. Don't pass out... Look away! Hide me! Hide me!

Suddenly a shadow was cast over Hinata, breaking her out of the thoughts that normally led into passing out. „Just say it." Sasuke was standing right in front of her so close she could feel the warmth of his body. A familiar smell reminding her of the calming darkness where she slept these last few nights.

She slowly looked up into his eyes and the words slipped out past her lips as fluently as a reflex. „I got my period."

The room was dead silent and people began to look at one another awkwardly, mostly grateful for the false alarm.

„We're leaving." Sasuke said loudly enough for a few people to hear, leading very embarrassed Hinata out of the room by the hand.

"He couldn't wait to be out of here." Naruto stared at the closed doors Sasuke disappeared behind with annoyance.

Winter coats on, somewhere out in the dark streets, surrounded by blissful silence and finally out of view, Sasuke was still holding her hand. He made sure everyone can see him doing so, but at this point it wasn't about that. Her hand felt right in his, where it should have been from the start. He could feel her slowly relax and eventually stopped paying attention because he was smugly smiling the whole way.

"Thank you." She finally got herself to say it and looked at Sasuke. He caught her gaze and seemed like was about to burst out laughing. This made Hinata blush all over again and squeeze his hand as tight as when they first left the house and stepped a bit back, trying walk at an angle. Which also amused him because she was technically hiding behind him… form him. In the quiet moments, where only sound was the cold fall wind howling in the dark, Hinata relaxed again and Sasuke snuck glances in her direction. Hinata was no civilian. He couldn't get away with it. So she smiled and this in somehow made Sasuke nervous as well, who started to fear she's rubbing off on him.

Dun! Dunndundun!

DUN!

The alarm South-East canons were fired.

Village was under attack.

The battle ready sharingan and byakugan met before the two shinobi ran in opposite directions.

-...Ino's house; same moment...-

For the second time, the music was stopped. „Nooo..." Shikamaru complained lazily. He finally got a chance to stretch out on the couch, only to hear the cannons go off in the next moment.

„Shikamaru." Naruto shook his friend as he walked by and was the first at the door with people lining up at the exits waiting for his signal to leave the house.

He breathed out feebly lowering his arm, knowing he has to go.

„I'm sorry buddy." Naruto responded as he existed and now the house was being abandoned in rapid succession by everyone there.

-...Anbu headquarters; 00:02 am...-

„Sakura." Sasuke nodded as he entered the interrogation room. The information-extraction technique used was of the highest degree in intensity and in such situations, only medics of her level could be trusted with keeping the prisoner alive. Five Yamanaka with Ino among them and Morino Ibiki at the head were surrounding the table breaking down the spy's barriers, trying to get information without triggering a last-resort level seal that would allow the spy to commit suicide by releasing the chakra using nothing but their mind.

„How long?" Sasuke approached her.

Ino who secretly hoped she was being invited as a medic, and not an interrogator, felt jealous hearing Sasuke call Sakura's name, asking for expertise Ino was sure she herself had as well.

„A few minutes at the most. We still can put him in a coma Sasuke." Sakura hoped he would allow her to prolong the man's life by disabling him from killing himself.

„That practice does not apply to spies ." Ino objected. She wanted to be acknowledged as an equal here.

A dog masked ANBU and a crow masked one entered the room removing their masks immediately. They stood there silently waiting. Soon enough the glowing light over the prisoner was out and Sakura checked his pulse one more time and then examined his head. She the looked at the clock on the wall. „Time of death 1205."

Guilt bit Ino for acting the way she did just now.

Ibiki who has stepped away took his notebook. „He was sent here by an anonymous network reaching as far high up as the capitol, my recommendation is that the hokage establishes communication immediately. Rest I got are fragments, but the words we read clearly were: kill Uchiha."

This was a full scale attack by a whole organisation, well planned and executed, they came very close to taking out some high ranking shinobi, number of injured uncounted. Whole of Konoha was mobilized. Upon finding out that he himself was the target Sasuke felt relief. He finally had a handle on the bait, if nothing else.

Sakura who was suspicious of what he intended to do from the moment he heard this new information, ran out after him. She knew him well enough in the end.

-...Konoha Gates; 00:10 am...-

„Sasuke you can't!" Sakura yelled running out of the ANBU headquarters after Sasuke and Kakashi.

Kakashi turned to look at her and Sasuke ignored her while handing over his identification along via a small blood sample.

"Go back Sakura."

Sakura closed her mouth, her eyes watering.

He was at this point genuinely repressing his irritation with her. She was a precious friend, but Sakura seemed to have made it her mission in life to constantly rescue him from himself. By stepping out as bait, Sasuke may as well have been surrendering himself to political imprisonment, torture, or even death if they are successful at immobilizing his chakra. She knew that.

"Why do you always do this?!" She shook with sheer frustration and helplessness. She's lost him way too many times.

Sasuke looked at his teary eyed teammate. She hasn't changed much. He thought, feeling his annoyance mix with gratitude for all those times she's worried like this. "Annoying." He smirked.

„You know Sakura... He's not the only Uchiha in Konoha." Kakashi who was next in line to be checked for identity approached the gates.

Sasuke stared at Kakashi fear spreading across his face. Could they have tricked him?! "Find Hinata, tell everyone she's the target." He looked at her.

"Sas.."

"Get her back to the village. Now." He gave the order urgency clear in his voice.

"Hinata?!" Sakura finally snapped. To her it was obvious it was Sasuke they wanted. "Sasuke, they killed stronger than you! Their medical technology..."

"Enough!"

Her voice dried up. For the first time in so long she felt fear around Sasuke. A fear she's almost forgotten about. Forgotten this person was once capable of being her enemy.

"It's a good idea to do that." Kakashi calmly agreed with his pupil. Sasuke just turned away suppressing all other words and moved out towards the capitol.

"Don't worry." Kakashi said gently tapping Sakura's shoulder as he walked by.

The girl just stood there frozen, staring at Sasuke's back.

-...Daimyo's Hall, Main Capitol Building ; 6 am...-

„Hokage refuses all negotiation and that is our final answer. The contracts your ancestors created were honored for a hunderd years and we don't see a reason to break them." Kakashi calmly explained his stance for the 5th time.

„The age of shinobi has passed." A chubby daimyo sat on his pillow threatening one of the strongest shinobi in the world, while chewing on a dumpling, nonchalantly turning away from him.

„It may be true, we do not know. And may we never be needed like we were Daimyo. But what remains of us will not return to what brought us into war in the first place, we cannot let ourselves serve interests of lords who fight over land outside their borders. It's what our contract was meant to establish."

„We were the ones to get you in line, or maybe you don't remember?"

„We never aimed to take your power Daimyo, with all due respect your lack of trust is unwarranted."

„We are offering you the peace you always talk about. Take it while you can." One of his advisers, a lanky man sitting on his right with a long face and sly look in his eye spoke up.

„Well if you say so..." Kakashi took one look at him when he came in and knew this was a former shinobi. The really worrying part being the fact that he didn't come out of Konoha. So he finally got up bowing to the council with Sasuke following his lead. He decided to bring this conversation that has been going around in circles for hours, to a conclusion. „Thank you for your time." Sasuke followed Kakashi out of the room.

„Feel free to rest in one of our finest hotels Kakashi." The daimyo added smugly.

Once they were out of the room. „They'll try to poison us." Sasuke received the information a little earlier.

„They may already have." Kakashi responded referring to the food placed for them, but neither shinobi touched during the negotiations.

„I wasn't the target." Sasuke reported the news.

„I have spies to relay messages to, tonight. You go back to Konoha."

Sasuke barely held his composure until now. He realized he's not ready to carry on a diplomatic conversation like that. „He actually thinks any shinobi would bow down to him!"

„He believes we are his to rule by right Sasuke. It's how his ancestors have proclaimed to have done it for generations."

„It was never true."

„He knows, he wishes to make it true." Kakashi nodded.

„This is your room, enjoy your stay." The woman leading the way far in front of them bowed and left them alone in the hallway.

„Naruto gave us direct orders, you're alone." Sasuke warned.

„I am the mission leader, you'll do as I say."

Sasuke was obviously straining, not wanting to return to Konoha.

„Go." Kakashi smiled gently at him.

Further arguing over how he is needed was not permitted at this point, and Sasuke knew that. He turned to leave. His argument with Sakura and pulling Hinata out of combat... He feared Hinata is the reason he was being returned to Konoha. Kakashi always had a soft spot for his comrades, especially those with families, that he was more and more willing to indulge as he aged, even becoming creative with mission plans he so respected in his youth. „May I ask why?" Sasuke was genuinely nervous about the answer, deep down fearing he'll hear Hinata's name.

„No." Kakashi saw so much of himself in Sasuke and felt fatherly affection for the young man as a consequence.

-...Woods South of Konoha; 1 am, 5 hours earlier...-

„Kiba!" Hinata screamed to warn her teammate about the impending threat, but the 5th shuriken jutsu came as if out of nowhere finally taking him to the ground. He struggled to get up, while at least fifty bodies suddenly surrounded Tori, Hanabi and herself. An ambush on us?! Why? Hinata gathered all of her strenght with sight of her little sister and her teammate preparing for a hopeless battle next to her. „I want you to run. I can give you 150 meters of clearance if you leave now." Team captain was passed out on the ground and she was the natural second in command with the two genin by her side.

„Yes ma'am." The boy responded while Hanabi's face grew incredibly tense as she got into the battle stance in order to leap. Duty over family is how she was raised, yet the love she felt for her sister dwarfed it all.

„Now!" Hinata dropped to the ground and spun so fast an incredible chakra air current was sent throughout the woods activating 20 traps they set up when they began the scouting mission. This is a „safe zone" meant for exactly these kinds of situations. She repelled her attackers and their weapons one after another as they came after her. A Hyuuga after all was hard to get close to using weapon, or hand, even for people more highly trained than that particular Hyuuga. But these people were no ordinary shinobi. Their skill level indicated lifelong training and ranks above chuunin each and every one of them. It was surely a high level jonin to use a deadly precise Earth style technique that got her off her feet and dealt the biggest blow to her stomach. Mid-fall she impregnated her body with chakra making sure she cannot be grabbed, before she finally collapsed drained and injured onto the ground. Hyuuga can easily self examine when suffering internal damage. She knew she was bleeding abdominally and suffered kidney failure, quickly going into shock. Her vision was becoming blurry and her protective cloak was shutting down. Her opponents were now slowly surrounding her careful of any additional traps. And just before the dark took her, a little black bug landed on Hinata's nose.

-…Naruto's apartment; 4:00 pm…-

"Wha? Sasuke?" Naruto slowly opened his eyes to see his friend sinisterly standing over him like the grim reaper.

"Daimyo was stalling." Sasuke got to the point immediately.

"Get out you lunatic… I'm sleeping." Naruto protested covering his blonde head with the blanket.

Sasuke quickly pulled the whole thing off.

"Hey!" Naruto sat up really irritated.

Sasuke was on the window ledge about to leave his room. "This isn't over. We made a mistake."

"We don't even know anything you jackass! It's contained, so let me sleep!" He grabbed his blanket off the floor and went back to bed.

Sasuke went back in and pulled it off again, immediately leaving with it, causing Naruto to jump on the window frame after him. But just as he was about to follow Sasuke who stole his blanket and took to the Hokage mansion, on the floor he noticed a folded piece of paper. He picked it up.

Status report

3 deaths 47 severely injured 5 missing

Hinata Hyuuga; heavy injury, chance of survival currently at 80%; Location: Konoha Hospital, ICU, Room 305

-…Shikamaru's apartment; 4:56 pm…-

Sasuke rang the doorbell.

"Nhnnn. Make it go away." Shikamaru mumbled to his girlfriend who was lying in bed next to him.

"Pfft!" Temari laughed not even having the decency to wake up to mock him.

Sasuke rang once more.

"What is it?" Shikamaru opened irritated with the dark haired jonin in front of his apartment door.

"It was a diversion, Daimyo isn't negotiating."

"Sasuke we need rest, I just came in from an overnight mission."

"Take something."

"Did you wake Naruto too?" Shikamaru was genuinely bewildered by this irritating behavior. He didn't know Sasuke to be impatient.

"He's waiting."

"This can wait, no one will attack us now."

"They almost got what they came for." He referred to Hinata who was saved at the last second.

"Did you go visit her?" Shikamaru began prodding, quickly doubting Sasuke was in fact as calm as he looked.

"You have 10 minutes." Sasuke responded plainly refusing the discussion.

Shikamaru waddled back to his bedroom pulling out work clothes.

"Who is it?" Temari mumbled annoyed, rolling on her back. The commotion disturbed her sleep too much at this point.

"Sasuke."

"What does he want?"

"Revenge."

"Again?" She laughed.

"Well..." He pulled the shirt over his head. "His wife is in the hospital and it's mostly my fault." Shikamaru kissed his girlfriend before he left.

-...Hokage's Office; 5:19 pm...-

„I sent Shino only after Sakura arrived back." Shikamaru confirmed.

„I would have done the same." Naruto tried to stand up for Shikamaru who weighed all the possibilities and decided to cover Hinata later, causing her to almost get killed.

„We don't actually know why she was targeted. All lines of communication have been cut off with the capitol." Shikamaru added sitting on Naruto's desk.

„Then pull her off active duty." Sasuke finally delivered his agenda.

„Sasuke she's a Konoha shinobi, it's not so simple. If we reacted to incidents like this by pulling people off duty..."

„This is not a regular battle incident. We don't know what's going on." Sasuke insisted.

„And it still doesn't warrant what you ask. Hinata is strong, what she did out there was a feat worth..."

„She almost died." Sasuke cut Naruto off, his anger finally seeping trough.

"Sasuke this is more complex, think how she will feel..!"

„I can fire her from under you using clan sovereignty laws." Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto.

"What?! I won't let you do that!"

"I'm not asking Naruto."

"Shikamaru?" Terrified Naruto looked at his advisor not believing what he just heard.

Shikamaru who was already sick of this meeting shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah he can do that." He knew Sasuke had an agenda. He wanted to make sure he stops her from getting out of the Village again in case he's not here when she wakes up.

"How?!"

"Clans as sovereign units within unified Konoha have a right to prevent their members from working for Konoha as shinobi. They however still do not have the right to employ them as shinobi privately, leaving all the military power with the Hokage office.

"Why didn't you tell me that?!"

"I did. You need to study more."

-…Anbu Headquarters; 11 pm…-

It just didn't make sense. Daimyo has absolutely no investment in taking Naruto down. If anything, the council that is tying his hands has more bad blood with the Daimyo rule, than any of the young generation. Why would Daimyo go after Hinata then? And why refer to her as an Uchiha? Was that the trap, was that spy a sacrificial lamb?! Sasuke didn't sleep this night either. He's grown increasingly restless and the air of tension could be felt trough the entire Village. Their enemy has never been this elusive. He prepared a few missions, but nothing that needed him personally. It was way too quiet out there. The only thing he could do is go through his reports again and again and again… and make sure Hinata is safely off the field until this starts making sense.

She's in the hospital, of course she's safe. Sasuke dismissed his anxious thought after throwing away the same report for the third time. The sleep deprivation was getting to him. He needs sleep, it was ridiculous by this point. He picked up his jacket still telling himself he first needs to get some sleep…

Before he ended up standing in front of the hospital gates.

-...Konoha Hospital; 11 am...-

High security my ass. They didn't even close the windows. Sasuke thought annoyed as he observed Hinata sleeping in the hospital bed. All the hairs on her arms were standing up, even her breasts crowned with erect bumps showing trough the flimsy hospital gown she was wearing. Sasuke shifted uncomfortably avoiding the view and went to close the open window. He knew how much she sought him out for body heat and it gave him a great deal of discomfort to see she was left in this cool room. He covered her with the thin hospital sheet, hoping it would help.

He could hear someone coming down the hallway and technically, he broke in. Hiding was the worst option, for if the person noticed something is off, he'd needlessly raise an alarm in here. What am I..? Checking for security? Now when he tried to come up with the explanation, it sounded ridiculous. Whole of Konoha is a secure fortress. Sasuke panicked for the first time in his life and before he knew it.

„Sasuke?" Sakura came in surprised to see him.

„Sakura." Of course...

„What..What are you doing here?"

„I wanted to see if she'll live." He looked at Hinata with his usual blank mask. A blatant lie of course, given the fact that he's had a full report on his desk hours before, letting him know she's in good condition. Sasuke didn't even know what to tell himself, let alone others.

„She will." Sakura was confused still staring wondering if she's ever seen Sasuke in here without wounds. „She pulled trough, she should wake up soon and be done with healing in two weeks tops." Sakura forced a smile. She hasn't shaken what happened before he left.

„Thank you." Sasuke responded and walked out.

Sakura couldn't even look at him now, she didn't feel like smiling. You didn't even have to try... Her eyes filled with tears. She hated the fact that she couldn't even get mad at her injured, vulnerable friend for eliciting this much of Sasuke's attention. Then she snapped out of it and noticed the girl is covered. „Wait...Who covered her?! I just got her body temperature down for the procedure!" Sakura readjusted the blanket down to sleeping Hinata's waist and applied a cold towel to her forehead. „Akino, open the window, we need fresh air circulating in here!" She called the nurse while quickly taking Hinata's temperature.

-...Mountains behind Konoha; 2 days later, 9:45 pm...-

Sasuke and Naruto were sitting by the cave at the top of the mountain in torn up, dirty clothes, bruised, tired out and out of breath. Sasuke collapsed lying on the grass.

„What's with you today? You're going all out."

Naruto took one bottle of water out of his backpack and threw the other one next to Sasuke.

Sasuke sat up with the intention to continue this. „Get up."

„I will if you can!" Naruto laughed at him.

Sasuke sat back down on the grass and opened his water. He could barely stand and realized further fighting would just turn into fists. He was out of chakra and high end jutsu were forbidden lest they end up blowing up Konoha.

„By the way, Hinata's been released already. Did you go home?"

„..." Sasuke's has been avoiding it, even spending the night in the ANBU headquarters. Returning to an empty house alone now caused him even more frustration, so he made his work an excuse to stay where he was. He had no idea Hinata was home and a sense of relief came over him when he looked at Naruto surprised, giving away the answer. It was now obvious Sakura spoke to Naruto, since he had that information and was starting to prod.

„Sasuke you can't just assume she's the target."

"I won't change my mind." Sasuke started to pack up.

„How would you feel if people stopped you from going on missions because you could be the target?"

Sakura definitely spoke to him. He smirked refusing to answer.

„I killed myself worrying about you the same way you know."

Sasuke completely ignored him.

„But you don't see me acting like a bitch about it." He was trying to provoke him, but Sasuke was done fighting for the day. "Hey!"

„Give up dumbass." Sasuke responded before he disappeared downhill with that weird smile still on his face.

-...Uchiha household; 10:00 pm...-

Sasuke walked out of the shower silently moving around the house, trying not to wake Hinata. Eventually he went around her bed so many times he had to acknowledge she wasn't at all like him, or he'd have woken her up by now. In the corner of his eye he saw a shiver shake her under all those blankets the medic placed over her. Her forehead burned under his palm…

-...Yamaaka household; 10:05 pm...-

Sasuke banged on Ino's door.

„Coming! ... Oh Sasuke…"

„She's burning."

„Yeah she's sick." Ino responded sarcastically. Sasuke stared at her irritated refusing to go into a long conversation. „You do know to put a cold towel on her, right?"

„Take a look at her."

„She's fine."

„Ino take a look." His lids lowered, he didn't at all look like he came to discuss this. Before Ino could start a rant he took her arm and pulled her out, causing a blush to break out on her face. „I'm not a nurse you know, I'm overqualified for this!" She complained as she quickly slipped her shoes on while being dragged by Sasuke.

-...Uchiha household; 10:21 pm...-

„I changed her bandages for now, gave her a small dose antipyretic. There is no infection." She spoke to Sasuke who was waiting outside the bedroom. „She's day two post op, this is normal. Just give her the shot yourself if she doesn't wake up within the next hour."

Sasuke nodded.

„You're a good husband. Who would have thought?" Ino teased, studying his serious, blank face. He stared at Hinata and she smiled suppressing a laugh, deciding to discreetly walk herself out.

-...Uchiha household; 11:25 pm...-

Sasuke was sitting by Hinata, his scrolls and papers all over the bed and floor around them. She now had mild fever and his presence felt comforting when she opened her eyes. „Morning…" She said quietly looking around. It was night, how long was she out?

„It's almost midnight." Sasuke responded without looking at her, busy with something he was reading.

„What is…that?" Hinata tried to lift her head, but the nausea from the anesthesia was still present.

„My job."

„Can I help?"

Sasuke then looked at her raising an eyebrow and Hinata turned red, pulling her blanket up over her mouth. She remained quiet for a while, but wide awake. Sasuke folded the papers and got up to find something else when he saw her staring at him. "What?"

"I-I'm thirsty." She confessed.

He smiled and turned around returning with his scroll and a glass of water. When he stood there offering the glass, Hinata tried to get up on her own, but failed. After a a few moments of waiting, he spelled out. "Ask."

"Hm?"

"Ask. You stared at the back of my head for half an hour because you wanted water." He scolded her.

Hinata turned completely red. "C-can you please lift m-me?" She tried to be as clear and as loud as she could. It somehow amused Sasuke who placed his palm on her head and neck, helping her drink.

"Ask for anything else, and don't stall." He added putting the glass on her nightstand.

Hinata blushed and nodded. He packed up his stuff and removed everything from the room. Hinata was still feeling nauseous, but sleep was taking her again.

"You can ask me to sleep in the study." He leaned placing his fists on the bed, hovering above drowsy Hinata who was almost out.

"Why?" She half opened her eyes.

"Why? You're sick."

"I'm happy you were here." She said before she woke up and now quickly turned red when she saw the surprised look on Sasuke's face. She meant that being sick and having someone to help, around you, was comforting. But explaining all that felt even more embarrassing, than what she just blurted out. "I-if you don't mind…" She added hoping he'll just stop staring.

"I don't." He picked up his pajama and went to change.

When under the blanket, he placed his arm over the girl's hip bones to avoid pressure on her stomach, loosely hanging it off the side, his face parallel with her temple.

"I-I'm sorry if I move." She whispered when she realized he didn't use anything to immobilize her.

"If you don't go to sleep now, I'll wrap you in rope from head to toe."

Hinata nervously shut her mouth, but he could feel her pulse and heartbeat. He lifted his head to check if she's awake. Their eyes met and she quickly said. "I'm thirsty."

After giving her water the second time, Hinata's head fell back to her pillow. "You don't have to sleep h.."

"I do." He put the glass back down.

She nervously observed him walk around the bed, feeling guilty for being a chore to Sasuke who had those big eye bags again. "I'm asking y..!" Sasuke covered her mouth and those bright, round eyes just peered at him as if they could speak instead. But he didn't care. He finally got to lay down in peace and get some rest.

For an hour.

She pushed him awake when she rotated in her sleep.


- Author's Note -

I published this chapter a few days ago, but had to redo it because a disappointed reader reminded me to and I'm truly grateful. I hope I did better, because I almost forgot what it means for characters to be in my story.

Especially in a fan fiction where they don't even belong to me. I don't call the shots, they do.

Thank you for reading.