Hinata giggled at his face. Did he do this every time he went shopping? "The thin one." She offered, covering her amused smile behind her fingertips.

"How should I know that!" He growled low at her, glaring at the grinning face.

"That's a local eggplant. The massive purple bulb ones are foreign, and they don't work well with pickling." She held out the basket so he could drop a few in.

"It stupid." He grumbled. She couldn't imagine a man that easily aced the academy exams couldn't remember the difference between vegetables.

"Should I dare to let you pick out the cucumbers again?" She asked, trying to straighten her smile in vain.

He frowned very deliberately at her, and she could hold out the burst of laughter that came to her. "Yeah, you think it's real, funny. Ha. Ha." He grumbled.

Sasuke puffed out an annoyed burst of air and took her shoulders under his arms. At least she was laughing.

"I'm sorry." She giggled, looking up at him with her big bright eyes.

"No, you're not." He grumbled.

"You're adorable.." She continued her grinning.

"My life's ambition." He sighed. "What's next? He looked at the list." He frowned. "What's fennel?"

"I think I can handle the vegetables from here. How about you look for the fruits?" She giggled and moved her finger down the list, pointing to where she had the fruits.

He swore she was putting fake things on here because he told her the story about cucumbers. "Whats a fig?"

"Did you live off tomatoes all the years before we married?" She asked.

He frowned. "No, but I don't cook. What are you making with all this weird shit."

"I'm making some pickled vegetables and then some preserves with the fruits." She pointed to jars that were on the list to purchase.

"Why?" He wondered.

"Though it would be nice, I haven't had them in a long time." She hummed. "At least that I can remember."

Sasuke looked at her face through the mirror. Black bruising littered her face from the blow she had sustained in her mission. She yawned, and she sighed. It was clear she just wanted to sleep, not go in to get it fixed.

"Go get that healed." Sasuke looked on from the door. He leaned against the frame in his loose night clothing and surely messy hair.

"You didn't need to get up." She went over to him, curling herself around him warmly. She was still cold for the trip. He held her comfortably, not too tight he didn't want to aggravate any other injuries. "It's okay. It doesn't hurt. I put salve on it."

"Just go to the clinic. I know it's late. Just go get it looked at." He told her lazily, curling around her.

She leaned her head back to look at him with a confused look. He couldn't expect her to ignore a demand he had never pressed before.

"When you wait, the nurses think I've been causing the bruises when you get home rather than during the mission." He admitted rolling his eyes.

Her head twitched back. Her face changed to offended. "What?"

"Sakura..." He started.

"She had no reason to think that." Hinata's face darkened in anger.

He didn't think that she would be so upset by it. "You went in for bruises hours after you reported back."

"I was tired. We had traveled for 20 hours non-stop to make it home on time." She explained. "We all gave in our first reports and decided to go home, sleep, and come back in to make our detailed reports and have our injuries checked. All of us waited for treatment." She pulled herself away from him abruptly and picked up her discarded shirt from the hamper.

"What's wrong?" He asked, capturing her arms gently to keep her from running off the door.

"She had absolutely no reason to confront you like that. It's unprofessional and rude. If she had a concern, she should have asked me! I refuse to let you think this is acceptable!" She demanded.

He shrugged. "I'm surprised that I haven't had the accusation before."

Her eyebrows furrowed in irritation, and she pointed at his chest. "That, that acceptance of this is the exact reason why I am going to Tsunade-sama! This is ridiculous, and the worse part is you think so little of yourself that you accept it!"

She moved out of his grip and grabbed her jacket. He watched her head or the door and huffed. "Wait." She turned her hair flying in a curtain with the force to give him another argument, but he waved his hand, telling her not to bother. "I'll go with you."

Sasuke wasn't sure what was going to come of this, but he certainly wasn't going to stop her, especially because she so rarely got angry, and he wasn't sure what he would do and not get the tail end of it.

Hinata's hands twitched into fists in their place on her lap. Sasuke wasn't sure he deserved this fuss.

Tsunade came out looking like she was at the end of her day and dead tired. "Come into my office." Tsunade beckoned with a sigh.

Hinata got up, but he made no move. "You should hear what I have to say, as well." He looked up and shrugged, getting up to follow her.

With the door closed behind them, Tsunade sighed, sitting at her desk. "So, what is it that you need me for?"

"I would like to make a complaint about Sakura-chan's professionalism," Hinata said calmly, but the irritation was by far loud and clear. Her face was strongly set in a hard frown.

Tsunade's face turned from tired to worried confusion. She sat up, looking far more awake. "What do you mean?"

"I came in to have treatment for wounds sustained during my mission last week after going home due to fatigue." She started.

"Your whole team did." Tsunade agreed.

"Sakura-chan felt that my injuries were sustained after I came home." Hinata built.

Tsunade's face twitched back in confusion. He sighed. Yeah, it sounded bad.

"She felt, instead of asking me, that she should confront Sasuke about her concerns and accuse him of hitting me in the market." She explained.

Tsunade nodded, her lips came into a line. She sat back, looking down for a moment, and looked back up.

"I believe the correct course of action would be to ask the patient, and if you still had suspicion, report it to your superior. I do not believe the correct course of action is publicly accusing my husband of abuse." She stated coldly.

Tsunade nodded. "Your right. She didn't come to me about it, and if she was concerned, she should have. She most definitely should not have taken patient information and taken it to the spouse without notifying the patient, and she has made it worse by doing so in public." She rubbed her temple. "I have no idea what has gotten into her. That's completely unacceptable."

"I'm not sure what the fuss is about. It's not true," Sasuke shrugged.

Hinata opened her mouth with frustration, but Tsunade got to it first. "The problem is that no matter the patient, you can not just use information that is confidential like that or speculate with it even if it was happening. There are rules in place for a reason." She moved her hand, flicking her wrist to the side to make her point. "If there was a situation where there was an abuser, by confronting them, you could cause more abuse and scare the victim into believing they have to hide it further." She explained. He twitched his head in a nod understanding that. "I am annoyed that Sakura did this to you of all people."

He raised an eyebrow at her. Hinata crossed her arms in agreement.

"She has a history with you, being on her team. She knows your current situation well enough to know that you are already under unneeded speculation. She should not be trying to kick up dirt on you. If she was concerned for Hinata's health, she should have come to me." Tsunade looked apologetic at Hinata. "I'm sorry, I'll make no excuses for her. I know she gets upset anytime she sees either of you, and she lets her emotions get out of hand. It's unfair to you. What she said in the past has been pushing it. This is unacceptable."

"I'm not sure what the big deal is," Sasuke mumbled.

"You should, you may have an undesirable past, but you are a nin. No, nin I let pass, the academy would have the disrespect that they would use their power against someone who is not an enemy or in a training situation, especially their spouse. Of all people, no matter what you have done in the past, I am offended anyone would think you would abuse Hinata. To be honest, if you had, I don't think you would be able to move right now." He nodded.

"I don't like how you have just accepted the accusation. You didn't even tell me until today." She frowned.

"I don't think that it's that surprising that someone thinks that people thought I was forcing you to stay home." He shrugged.

"Stop thinking this is okay!" She demanded.

He frowned.

"You were pretty pissed about it," Sasuke explained. "I honestly think that might be the longest you have ever been mad at me. You gave me looks for the next two days at least."

Hinata nodded. She would be angry now if someone had something like that. Sasuke just accepted it. He wasn't even upset. Taking no action was one thing, but just thinking that people should think that because you have no self-esteem.

"I get it now, of course. I guess I didn't think I was worth the fuss. I probably wouldn't get as mad as you did now, but I would be a little more upset that it was a blow to my honor." She nodded.

"What happened to Sakura-chan?" She wondered.

"I think she got scolded and maybe a strike on her record. Tsunade was pretty upset, so she probably chewed her out unofficially, and she kept away from us for a good amount of time." He explained. "What do you think now?"

"I think that she shouldn't have done what she did, but maybe I overreacted. I probably shouldn't have gone to Tsunade-sama while I was still mad." She frowned. "What do you think about it now?"

"You're not going to change my opinion of her at this point. I think she was digging purposely looking for something she could blame me for." He grumbled.

"Do you think she wants to hate you but doesn't feel like she has a good enough reason, so she looks for reasons?" He raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "I mean, all of her accusations, even the ones directed at me, have been pointed at you, right down to the comments on us having children. She wasn't bothered with me baring but you being a father. It seems like she is trying to convince herself, not me, that you are horrible."

"I guess that makes sense, but the only problem is she has reason to hate me." He rolled his eyes back, thinking off examples. "Treated her like shit while we were teammates, never returned her feelings, she tried to stop me when I left, tried to kill her, wouldn't ask forgiveness when I came back, married without her blessing since she seemed to think I needed it, oh I'm sure I am forgetting something."

She giggled at his dry humor. "Maybe she doesn't think any of those reasons are enough to not forgive you. She's very forgiving, so if she doesn't want to forgive you and feels she needs a reason, then she would have to find one."

"Like how I would run off on my wife after she becomes pregnant, I think that was one of my favorites." He rolled his eyes. "I'm a murder and traitor, but I'm not a monster."

She giggled.