Sasuke sighed, setting the groceries on the counter then putting them away where she liked them to be. It was her kitchen. Everything in her reach, things they didn't use much, were put where he could get it if she asked, or she would crawl up on the damn counter.
He bought their usual stalking, though he realized on the way home that most of these ingredients were for things he couldn't cook. Maybe she could tell him how she did it, and he could botch it out. He missed her cooking. He hadn't eaten much more than taking out and pre-packaged convenience food for nearly a month.
He missed all the little things she did when she was away, but he would trade them all for her just being here and alive, remembering him or not. Her self-esteem was never high, and she probably didn't know how highly he held her before. He would have to make sure she knew. He couldn't watch her go on, not knowing how much she was cared for.
He had cried in front of her already, completely broke down. He had before, but she didn't remember that. She had taken it well, and it seemed to make her feel better. He had been guarded since she woke up. He would have to fight the feeling to shut her out to protect her. She always told him she hated it when he did that.
She had turned red at his teasing. She didn't shut down or reject him. She just got embarrassed. She was always so cute.
Everything in its place, he started tea and placed one of her favorite pastries on a plate. It was pre-packaged, but something to make her feel better and add some sugar to her system.
He looked around the dust-layered house and noted what she liked clean before going to their room.
Still their room.
He leaned over her. She managed to look even calmer in her sleep. He resisted the urge to kiss her temple to wake her. She no longer gave him that kind of permission. He would have to earn it again. He rested a hand on her shoulder, and she woke instantly, always the light sleeper.
"Hmm?" She asked. He could see the full range of confusion to understanding run through her eyes before she settled on him and rubbed her eyes. "How was your errand?" She asked as he had her sit up.
"Only stopped by everyone and insulted twice." He joked dryly.
"That's horrible." She looked up in slight horror.
"I was joking, sorry." He mumbled.
Hinata shrunk into herself. He offered her his hand, and she took it. She did it without thinking. Was she remembering, or was his trust making her trust him?
He tossed her arm over his shoulder, easily lifting her. He took a brief look at the wheelchair but proceeded out the door setting her in a chair at the counter. The Hinata he knew didn't like feeling like she couldn't do a thing for herself, and that chair wouldn't help. She never refused a helping hand, though.
He rounded the counter and leaned on it, and huffed.
She picked up the tea-sipping on it before she noticed the pastry. "Cinnamon roll?" She asked, seeming surprised.
"Your favorite." He noted. "I like your recipe better."
"Am I allowed to eat it?" She wondered.
"You need to increase sugar, sodium, and calories. Tell me a better way." He smiled at her.
She smiled shyly at him as she picked it up. He loved that smile. The smile she tried to hide because she thought her joy was in some way unwarranted or shameful. It made him want to give her the world.
She licked her fingers to clear the cream, and he turned his eyes away. Not the time to be turned on by your wife that doesn't remember sleeping with you.
He got her a napkin, and she took it with a thank you before finishing her tea.
"I don't know how to cook." He admitted again.
She filled in the extra information. "Is there any way I could do it with your help?" She asked.
He felt a smile creep across his face, and he rounded the counter to picker her up and set her upon it.
Hinata curled up on the couch she didn't know with another cup of tea. Sasuke joined her, and they looked at each other.
"I want to cover some topics with you before we go to bed. Just so we know we are on the same page." Sasuke started.
She nodded.
"I came back because I was dragged back and didn't have the motivation to keep running. I didn't have anything left." He started. "My mission was done. I killed my brother. I learned that the massacre was a lie, and he had been under orders of the village."
She covered her mouth, wide-eyed. "I… that's horrible. How... Why?"
"We can talk about that later." He stopped her, she nodded, filing the information. "I was miserable, and I didn't care who knew. I was a lost cause, and everyone knew it. So when you decide to care… no one liked it, and everyone had an opinion." He said with irritation, glaring past her.
She took the pause and added. "I'm worried about that." She noted. His eyes examined her carefully. "If I decided to marry you, it was because… I cared, and I wanted to." She chewed her lip. "I didn't even consider the idea of leaving you when I realized we were married. It wouldn't be fair to you and… I didn't want to lose what I just didn't know I had." She whispered. "I don't want to be told I am wrong before I find out for myself." Her eyes filled with tears. "I don't want to go. I want to know who I married." She sniffed.
"I won't let them take you from me." He growled.
Hinata smiled through the tears and held out her hand hesitantly, asking for physical comfort. He took it into his own without hesitation, gripping it comfortably. She could see he needed it as much as she did. They sat there like that for a while. The silence was filled with shared comfort before he started again. "You are disowned from the Hyuga clan but have remained unsealed because you handed your position down willingly and have caused no trouble. Your sister used it as political fire. She will want to see you, and she can explain it." He paused to judge her expression. She nodded for him to continue. "As for our positions as ninjas… we have no real need for money. I am the sole inheritor of the Uchiha accounts, and I'm not trusted even now, so I usually refuse missions. This mission you were hurt on was your last serious mission. You were going to start teaching to stay in the village because..."
He paused, and he closed his eyes, his fingers gripped over her hand, trying to find wording. She searched her mind for reasons she would stop taking missions. "I'm pregnant?!" She asked, her hand flying to her stomach, and she gasped.
"No." He shot his other hand out to her knee in comfort. She sighed. "But… we were talking about it."
She chewed her lip, looking over the pain. He wanted children? Did she want children? Did she want children with him?
"I..." She whimpered.
"It's not important right now." He told her the look was honest from what she could tell, so she nodded.
"Okay..." She whispered, shrinking.
He rubbed his thumb over her covered knee. "I'm not sure what's going to happen, but I don't care as long as it's what you want."
She felt her miserable face twitch a smile.
Sasuke wanted to hold her, to tell her everything was okay, but would she let him? It wasn't his place yet. She placed her hand over his on her knee as she made that face she did when she was thinking.
"We don't talk to Naruto and Sakura anymore. Your cousin hates me, obviously, but will come to see you when he can sneak out. Your team wants me dead. The bug master was willing to support your decisions. The dog does not." He listed off, watching her eyes try to file the information. He could see her frustration as she tried to keep it straight. This concussion was making her struggle. "Wait." He got up and came back with a pad of paper and a pencil for her. "To help you remember what I tell you."
Her eyes lit up, and she took it, opening it to the first page, titling it' relationships' and writing down what she was just told in simple notes. He glanced over her neat handwriting and noticed she had written him on his page along with 'husband' and 'kind' and then flipped the page to write the others, leaving the rest of the space for further notes.
He continued when she looked up. "Your sensei supports you, doesn't like me, but asks you to babysit sometimes. The kid adores you." She smiled and scribbled down the information. He thought what else was directly relevant.
"Who's Hokage?" She asked, looking down where Tsunade was written along with 'not Hokage.'
"Naruto." He told her. She nodded, adding a note to his name.
"Ino-chan?" She asked.
He cringed. "Hates both of us." He ran through his head of the teams. "She married the guy who replaced me on team 7, might be pregnant, not sure. Shikamaru married the Kazekage's sister not long after. She lives here now. Not sure what the last one does, think he's married now too." He stopped keeping tabs a long time ago.
"Nii-san's team?" She wondered.
"Lee loves everything. Tenten was on the list of the few who didn't have any strong opinion on me and supports your decisions." Hinata nodded. "Am I missing anyone?"
"Not sure." Hinata looked over the list, rubbing her forehead.
"We can return to it." He noted, standing up. "I know you took a short nap, but..."
"I can go to bed." She answered, setting the notebook down.
Hinata's head swam with new relationships, mostly negative. She could look at it tomorrow. Sasuke had settled her on the bed before leaving the room to change. She curled around herself, trying to clear the fog in her head.
Three years, gone, possibly forever. Everyone she knew hated her and those who didn't merely tolerate her. There was one person that cared, and she didn't even know why. She buried her face as she felt tears.
A hand slipped over her shoulder. "Hinata?" He asked carefully.
She had been crying all day. Couldn't it just stop? "I..." She didn't know what to say. He didn't know.
He sighed, not annoyed, just as stressed as she was. He slid down into the bed, and she felt a hesitant hand flatten over her side and paused. He was asking permission to hold her. She turned and curled into his warmth and let tears fall as he wrapped his arms around her back protectively. The stranger she married thumbed over her back and breathed evenly, calming and comforting her. The stranger didn't get frustrated with her confusion and general uselessness.
She fell asleep on the stranger that loved her.