Casmir Pulaski Day

Chapter Three: Father and a Golden Rod

A/N - Goodness. I thought I was being to mean hoping for 10 reviews, but I was so excited to see it come true. I feel bad to ask people to review, but it just helps me know that some people enjoy it enough to review it. (: Thank you all. Please enjoy this longer chapter as your reward! Sorry it came so late. (Also, the stupid document thing was working.)

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In the morning, he hadn't awaken when the doctor quietly shuffled into their room, his white sneakers slinking along the placid tiling of the floor. The shoe strings were tied neatly, no hurry was needed. He went to the young woman adjacent from the sleeping man's bed. She was up, her lovely, ivory eyes looking downwards at a book. Her sorrow seemed to be seeping into the paper of the book as she pursed her lips into a careful smile.

"Otou-san," she blinked and swung her legs over the linen, the cloth brushing it's soft, detergent sheets against her legs.

"Hinata, come. I have to hurry with you so I may attend my other patients." The man before her was tall and strong. His shoulders were squared off as his high-defined cheek bones made his intense white gaze even stronger. His large, calloused hand offered her a hand so she maybe be able to get off the high bed.

"Otou-san, I'm getting stronger. You don't need to help." She said it so softly as she slid off on her own.

"Ah." He briskly turned around and walked quickly out the door. Hinata bit her lip while a stubby finger twirled a silk strand of hair. She closed her eyes for a second before inhaling largely and walking out the frame to catch up to her father.

Sasuke had slept through the arrival of Hinata's father, and the departure of Hinata's presence. When he did get up, he was instantly was greeted by a yelling man at a nurse, Hinata was no where to be found.

The male nurse was looking up through his mask, his facial expressions hidden as he took the verbal beating.

"Why did I hire you, anyway?! Can you not do such a simple job as change my daughter's bedding?"

"Sorry, sir. I'll do it right away."

"Sorry?! Yeah. You better be. It's days like these that I realize why your father did what he did."

With that Kakashi looked coldly at the flustered man, whose cheeks were puffed out and rosy with anger.

"Sir," he so placidly responded, "My father chose to die; your daughter on the other hand doesn't even have a choice, nor is she aware of it. But you are just afraid of what's to come. My father was brave. I'm proud of him."

"Just change the sheets, Kakashi."

With that being said, the male nurse walked icily across the room and went out to fetch the bedding. A long, deep sigh emitted from the older man's mouth as he slumped onto Hinata's bedding, his hands buried his face as he began to sob silently, not aware of the not-so-sleeping Sasuke gawking at Hiashi.

He let a hand run through ebony tresses, trying to think of away to confront the dejected man. His thoughts were quickly leaving his mind, his heart racing.

Something was wrong with Hinata. A girl he had just met. How could such a stranger make his heart feel as if it was suffocating him.

"I don't understand, Hyuuga-san," his voice croaked out, coughing slightly to clear the salvia building up from nerves.

Bright, white eyes widen at the male on the bed. He quickly regained his composure, but no amount of self-will could not hide the anxiety and the age that had been wrinkling away his skin.

"Uchiha-san, why would you care?" And with that, the doctor left the room swiftly, his shoulders squared off, a strong stride hiding the pain.

"Why...do I care?"

Sasuke looked down at his white hands, staring in contemplation. He frankly could care less what happened to her. Really.

But it was when she came into the room that he began to worry.

It was when she smiled at him and walked over to him that he began to question.

It was when he felt her weight on the bed that he felt the moisture rise to his eyes.

Sasuke never cried in his life. He sure as hell wasn't going to now. He didn't even cry when his father used his first picture ever as tinder for his fire.

But when he saw her eyes look down at him, he didn't cry. He lightly smirked, for he couldn't smile for her. It wasn't the time for that.

"Hinata, how did your check-up go?"

"Oh," she blinked rapidly, her legs swinging off his bed, "Otou-san told me I had to stay a bit longer. I just feel light-headed sometimes, but otou-san is very protective. It shows me that he loves me." She giggled slightly, happy that a year ago she understood how her father showed his love.

"Ah."

They sat comfortably in the silence; Hinata swung her legs, Sasuke staring out the window next to his bed.

Hinata couldn't help but feel excited around the guy beside her. This was a time for her not to be the mousy Hinata. No, she wanted to be a new person around the stranger. She wanted to start over. She had to be careful, for one stutter could set her back. One pitiful thought would make her less happy.

And if she wasn't happy, she was sad. If you are sad, then you are weak. If you are weak then you aren't strong. And being strong is what her father always told her to be.

"Sasuke-san, how are you feeling?"

"Eh?" He shifted his weight so he could face her. "Fine, I guess; My arm is still...broken."

"How did you break it?"

"I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Oh."

The look sent from him wasn't a pleasant one as he looked towards the window. She wanted to badly to have a friend and would do anything to open up with Sasuke. Not because he was special, but because he was convenient. Right there beside her. She got off his bed and looked over her shoulder before she went to her own bed.

"Sasuke-san...I'm a bit sleepy," she yawned, "I don't know why...but...I've been so tired lately." Her voice faded out as she closed her eyes, a soft smile from her face could barely be seen, but that was enough for Sasuke to see.

And the questions began to rise again from his mind.