Sasuke knew she was going to ask eventually. He hoped she would remember something while he told her, but the doctors told him it was unlikely. The house not jogging her memory was making him lose hope.
He glanced over at his wife. She had her head laid to the side on top of her knees with her arms wrapped comfortably around her pale legs. Her hair draped everywhere and floated in the water.
He expected her to reject him entirely when he brought her home, but now that he thought about it, if that was who she was, he wouldn't have married her. They wouldn't have even been friends, and he would likely be dead.
This shy little woman, who had saved his life and rebuilt it from debris and dust, didn't know who he was. He had nothing else. If she rejected him now, he wouldn't have handled it well at all.
He loved nothing else, all he did anymore was for her.
And he couldn't deny her story, despite it not being a romantic one in his opinion.
"I insulted you the first time we met in the village." He started.
Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets and growled at the wind that was making him shiver. He didn't have a coat. He didn't have anything anymore.
He had finished his task, learned the lies of his life, and yelled his lungs out already. He had been dragged back to this damned village by those that called themselves his friends but didn't know him anymore. He didn't have anything left. He didn't even have the will to keep running from them.
The Uchiha compound was empty and cold, waiting for its lone inheritor to return. He didn't want the damn ghost town. He had found the smallest house he didn't recognize to live in and kept his head down when he passed the rest.
Despite the cold, he didn't want to go back to it.
He wandered around the village as he shivered and sulked. He knew he was sulking. He knew people knew. He just didn't care anymore.
He heard a soft voice directed at him, breaking him from his self-loathing. He fully intended to tell the fangirl off, but when he turned, he realized he recognized her.
"Are you okay, Uchiha-san? You look cold." Hinata repeated.
"What do you think?" He growled at her.
"I think you're shivering." She told him with a frown and started to take off her scarf.
He frowned. "Keep it."
"You're cold. You don't even have a coat on." She told him, offering it. "It's not much, but please take it."
"I don't need your charity." He glared deeply at her calm pale eyes.
"Then I expect you to return it." She replied with a slight smile and a tilt of her head.
He huffed at her taking the thick light-colored scarf roughly, and threw it around his neck. It still had warmth from her body. The isolated heat gave him goosebumps around the base of his skull.
"You'll catch a cold out here." She added.
"I'm sure you are concerned." He mumbled sarcastically.
"I am." She countered.
"Because of the idiot." He rolled his eyes.
"No. Naruto-kun has nothing to do with it." She looked genuinely confused. She was a good liar.
"No more hero worship?" He asked with smug annoyance.
"We are just friends." She noted. "I hope to see him go far, and I hope to be near to see it, but I don't want to be the one at his side anymore. It's not my place." She noted her smile didn't look so pure and happy anymore.
"And what is?" He wasn't interested in the answer.
"I don't seem to have one." A small, sad smile washed over her face, and he was hit annoyingly with a feeling of familiarity.
Poor little rich girl. "You have the Hyuga."
"No, I haven't." She sighed, pulling her coat closer. "Most people aren't supposed to know, but I guess the Uchiha was similar in its ways." She started. "I won't be heir much longer, my sister will be replacing me, and once that happens, there won't be any need for me. Not that there was before."
She glanced up at him, and they met in a shared miserable moment before she bowed her head slightly. "Please stay warm." She noted before hurrying off.
"My scarf?" Hinata asked him after listening to his story.
Sasuke nodded. "I didn't think much of the incident at first, but that's where it started."
"I wish I remembered." She whispered, closing her eyes.
"Don't fall asleep in the tub." He told her with fake annoyance.
She let a shy smile spread. "I think I want to get out now."
"You usually do the cooking, but I can make rice without burning it now," Sasuke told her as he rolled her chair to the kitchen.
"I'm fine with just tea for now." Hinata fiddled with the cloth of the unfamiliar sweater he gave her when she mentioned being cold. It was too big to be her own, but it was comfortable, and she liked the light masculine smell that survived the wash. She wondered if he consciously picked his sweater.
"That's another thing I can make." He nodded. "I have to clean out the fridge. I'm sure what was in there has gone bad."
"We can go grocery shopping." It felt weird talking so idly about mundane things like what was in the cupboards, but what did she expect?
"Yeah." He sighed, leaning on the counter.
"Sasuke-san?" She asked.
"Just Sasuke." He said, giving her his attention.
She paused and nodded. "Sasuke. Thank you." She pressed her lips together, slightly rolling the knit fabric in her fingers.
"For the sweater? You stole it all the time." He noted with slight amusement.
"For keeping me." She whispered. She could feel the room go cold.
She didn't look up, but she heard what he had been holding clatter to counter as he made his way to kneeling in front of her chair.
"Don't. You stop that, now." He growled, taking her hands looking up at her seriously.
She flinched, surprised with the reaction. She hadn't expected him to be mad.
Sasuke looked directly into her eyes. He softened. "You don't know it now, but you are all I have. Even if you don't know me, I will keep you until you send me away." His eyes held rimmed tears threatening to spill. It was raw and overdue. "Just don't send me away." He whispered, lowering his face to her hands. She felt tears drip onto her skin, and she let her own fall.
"I won't." She promised to the stranger, tightening her hands on his.
Sasuke sighed. "Rice and tea." He sat them in front of her. "How do you feel?"
"Much better than this morning," Hinata answered truthfully. "It helps you release tension as well." She added.
He nodded. He didn't look embarrassed. He did look much less pale. She wasn't sure what was a healthy color to him, but the sickly worry had been lifted with her promise and a good cry.
"Would you hate being left for an hour so I can go to the market before it closes?" He asked, looking at the garbage now that he had cleaned out the bad food.
"I guess it would be trouble to take me." She had kinda wanted to see how else the village had changed.
"No." He told her quickly. She wondered why he answered so hard. "Not trouble, just…" He looked off to the side. "I know people will come up to ask you how you are, and I want to keep you away from that until you at least started therapy. "He glared at the floor and continued." and there are a few things we still need to talk about before it gets out that you don't remember me."
"Like?" Hinata asked cautiously.
"Like." Sasuke took a deep breath. "No one approved of our marriage. No one. Some accepted it, but they made it clear they didn't approve either." She frowned, seeing the point. If they had disapproved before, what would they say now that she had a 'clean slate.' That was horrible, but she knew he was right. There would be someone to say it, and no, she didn't want to hear it. She had enough trouble dealing with the new life. She wanted nothing to do with people's skepticism of how they got here. "I can't and won't keep you in here forever." He promised with a frustrated ruffle his hair, he added. "They would think I'm keeping you held up against your will." She felt like there was a reason he said it like that. Had he been accused of it before? "Just until you feel a little better and more grounded."
She gave him a reassuring smile. "You're right." She nodded.
He gave her a relieved look. "Where do you want your chair?"
"Actually, can I just have a nap? I would ask for a book, but.." She twirled her fingers on the sweater.
He nodded. "Shouldn't try too hard to read with the concussion." He wheeled her to the bedroom and stopped at the vanity, grabbing a hair tie and handing it to her.
She took it and rolled it between her fingers. Oh. She pulled the still damp hair to the side and braided before he realized she had hesitated. She had usually tied it back when she went to bed, but she must always know that she shared the bed. He must be used to that habit.
Habits she didn't remember having.
He left her chair there, stripped the bed, and put on another set of sheets and a spare comforter that looked more well made. "I'll wash these tomorrow." He took them out of the room and reappeared. He then lifted her easily without asking, not that she minded, and sat her on the edge of the bed.
"Thank you. I'm sorry that I can't..." She trailed off when his face hardened.
"Stop apologizing. You have been taking care of me for far too long. I can do some housework." He grumbled. "Take your nap. I'll wake you when I get back."
She nodded, laying down and lifting her legs into place. He covered her and leaned down before straightening back up. He was going to kiss her. She frowned as he quickly left.
She was the cause of his misery.