Hinata slept soundly under his arm. He lightly kissed her head, careful not to wake her. She cried her heart out at his more miserable moments. He could only imagine what she was hiding before at that very moment she had found him letting himself die. He couldn't remember the moment he gave up, but he dug his way back out with her hand clenched tightly to him, and she needed to know what she did for him.
After her nap.
Sasuke was going to prove he could still live. He didn't know what he was going to do with the new life, but he was going to live.
Hinata, on the other hand, looked worse. She didn't hide it. She came to him to stop hiding how miserable she was feeling. She told him what she could about what her family had made her do over the years to 'prove herself,' she only ever barely passed their tests with the help of her cousin trying to keep her head above it all.
Her sister realized that they were being purposely pent against each other and was feeling remorse, but it was too late. All they could do now was patch their relationship.
Hinata would let out her frustration with fidgeting, pacing, and wringing her hands until they were raw. She would end it all with a few tears and an apology. Sasuke would sit and listen and comment coldly about the Hyuga's treatment, but what made her light up was when she noticed he gained a pound back or she could notice the effects of restarting his training, or he told her Naruto came by, and he simply sent him away.
That was his new drive. He didn't have anything else to work for, so he would ignore the codependence until he found something better.
Hinata giggled as Sasuke flinched. "You should know better. It's just a little sprain from overworking it."
He frowned, digging his face into his arm to hide his embarrassment. He had hurt himself doing children's training.
"Starting from scratch means stretching properly. You're not in any shape to jump into action." She reminded him.
"Yeah, I get it." He grumbled.
Her eyes lit up with amusement at his childishness.
"You are doing much better, though. Your muscles are recovering better than I thought they would." She told him, finishing her minor healing on the pulled muscles.
"You look better." He noted, not looking at her.
"My sister went on a rampage today. She wants to stop my sealing, nii-san let it slip that they threatened to blind me. It's nice to know she cares, though I don't think it will go over well if she brings it to the council." She smiled warmly, helping him sit up.
He rolled his shoulders. "They deserve a scare for a threat like that." He shrugged.
"As far as the village knows, I will be stepping down peacefully." She tilted her head to the side, prodding his shoulder.
"I'm head of my clan, not all that fun." He shrugged and smirked as she touched his shoulder more lightly.
"I feel like the therapy is only making nausea worse," Hinata pulled her head from the bucket.
"Trust the doctors," Sasuke rubbed her back.
"I know it will get better. It just feels worse." She sighed, laying back.
"You still look adorable." He smirked, tucking her tangled hair out of the way.
She closed her eyes, turning red.
"Bath?" She nodded.
Hinata laid her head back as she washed her hair.
"At least you're waking motor processes," Sasuke noted as he handed her things out of her reach.
She chewed on her lip and glanced back at him as she rinsed her hair. He kept his eyes on her shoulders. She opened her mouth and forced out what she thought before she could overthink it.
"You should wash up too." She squeaked. She frowned. She made it sound like he hadn't been. That's not what she meant.
He looked at her for a second before a smirk spread over his face. "You sure?"
"It's a waste of water if we are bathing separately." She faulted back on, looking forward.
"Okay." She sighed as he agreed. He helped her into the tub before he undressed and washed. She kept her eyes averted and curled into her knees once more.
"How did we start… dating?" She asked.
"You're getting impatient with the story, aren't you?" He mused as he joined her. She felt the water level rise with the addition of his body mass.
"Get lost, moron. I'm not fighting with you anymore. I'm done. You won." Sasuke tried to flick the hand off his shoulder. He couldn't fight him right now, even if he wanted to.
"You were gone for weeks. I didn't see you out. You didn't answer your door. Anytime I came by, you were sleeping. You look thin. Are you okay?" Naruto asked.
Yeah, now he notices.
"Fine, just done with fighting. I don't want a job. I have money. I don't want new-old friends. I've got all I need." Sasuke grumbled.
Sasuke was actually on his way home with the groceries hanging from his arm. Hinata was making him cinnamon rolls with less sugar and no glaze. Which he was relatively sure was just cinnamon bread. She thought otherwise and insisted, trying to get him to like her favorite dish. She was going to find out the hard way he hated sweets.
"Sakara-chan hasn't seen Hinata around, and she… runs off on me," Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "How's she doing?"
Sasuke sighed. "She's fine. Tell Sakura to leave the girl alone. She has other things to worry about."
"Why? What's going on?" Naruto asked, taking a step ahead so he could turn to walk backward.
"Clan stuff." Sasuke shrugged. "She just doesn't need shit from the village noisiest nurse added on."
"Hey, don't insult Sakura-chan..." Naruto defended. "I mean, I guess she's harsh, but..."
Sasuke sighed. "Hinata is honestly more stubborn than you think. She will just be quiet about it."
"I'll mention it," Naruto mumbled. "Are you okay? You were getting on the ragged side for a while."
"I'm fine now." Sasuke nodded, turning the corner leaving Naruto behind.
"No." Hinata giggled at his confusion. "No, that one is a weed." She pointed as she turned back to pick her herbs.
"This is why you shouldn't have left me with the wretched plants," Sasuke grumbled. "I told you I would kill them if I did this." He grumbled, pulling the right stem.
"I'm sure I trusted you could do it, even if I might have been wrong," Hinata assured him, filling the basket with ripe plants.
"Yeah, you trusted me not to punch your cousin too." He countered.
"What?" She squeaked.
Hinata came in with a particularly large container. He knew something was wrong. She had her eyes down on it as she unpacked its contents in his kitchen, which had become her kitchen.
"What happened?" Sasuke asked, looking over the contents. She was making sweets. Something about her then.
"Council." She grumbled, dumping ingredients in the mixing bowl with an unsettling calmness.
"Okay." He noted, watching her slowly but surely make a dough and knead it with deliberate speed, she covered the bowl to raise, and he dropped off his stool. "Come with me."
She dropped from her controlled state, following him out the back of the house with curiosity. He yanked off his long sleeve shirt tossing it and taking a stance.
She looked over his stance with confusion. "I can't fight you. I don't have that kind of skill."
"I haven't done more than self-training since I started gaining the weight back. If you have a chance, it's now." He urged.
She fidgeted and sighed, taking off her jacket, setting it with his discarded overshirt, then taking her stiff Hyuga stance.
He lunged, staying just out of range of her hands. If he didn't get hit, he didn't have to worry about the force. He moved in a non-pattern around her, never striking more than to distract her. "Sasuke-san, I don't need target training." She continued to strike at him, missing only by a hair.
He smirked at her and her brow furrowed. She took a hard strike for his shoulder. He slipped behind her, caught her arm, tucked it behind her, and forced her leg forward, forcing her to catch herself with her free forearm as they both fell forward.
She huffed in frustration, bucking back on him. He quickly raised his hands in the air, mock in surrender with another smirk. The veins on the side of her face pulsed, and she jerked forward. He had pissed her off, and he wasn't quick enough. She slammed a hand in his chest, slamming him into the ground. "I don't like this game!" She squeaked at him as he bounced on the ground.
He coughed, holding his numbing ribs. "Feel better?"
She dropped her hands and stared at him.
Her eyes filled with tears, and she dropped to her knees by his side, releasing the numb sensation. He forced a barely feeling arm around her shoulders, and she gladly buried her face in the fabric over his shoulder.
"Turn down the burner." Hinata pointed.
Sasuke quickly finished pushing her wheelchair to the side and reached over, fixing the temperature, and looked back. "I'm going to burn everything if you put me in charge of the stove."
She giggled at his frustration as she continued to chop vegetables. "The sword by the door is yours, right? Have you tried knife work?"
"If the recipe calls for a potato, it's going in." He said. "Whole."
"How did you survive all those years out of the village?" She giggled.
"Soldier pills and dumb teammates that were infatuated with me." Her smile dropped. "It was a joke."
She pouted. "It's not funny."
"Yes, it is." He leaned over the counter, making her force down a growing smile.