This chapter came quick because for some reason I couldn't wait to write it. Anyway, enjoy!
Please review if you can. Thank you for all of the great feedback and comments!
Listened to: Basically OSTs from the anime Le Portrait de Petite Cossette. Yuki Kajiura FTW!
~M.o.t.C
Hinata was up with her new "patient" all night applying stitches, dressing wounds, having the next door neighbor (who just so happened to be the only doctor in the small town) put the wounded ninja in two casts, one for each leg and then washed his hair. Hanabi had long since gone to sleep. She, for a long while, had insisted that she stay up and help her older sister, but after much debating, the young girl went upstairs defeated.
Hinata dried her hands on the towel she used to dry Uchiha Sasuke's hair after a thorough washing. She smiled slightly at the product of her hard work.
"S-Sasuke? I'm done now. Y-you must be t-tired. There's a r-r-room across the foyer that you can sleep in. W-will you be alright there?"
The raven-haired soldier held back his anger. This was all just happening too fast. One day, he was one of the most feared members in his battalion, crushing enemy forces five times more than your average soldier and then one day you're being carted around in a wheelchair by a timid woman who's only true purpose in life is to take care of fallen soldiers and do work best suited for housewives.
The way he made her job sound, you think that the pity should fall on the caregiver. Her body was frail but toned and it had been evident that she worked out often. Being the observant person he was, Sasuke noticed kunai strewn about on the floor. Being this good with medical supplies and knowing apparently a lot about the human anatomy and not being a certified doctor...she had to be a medic-nin. Not to mention, she had the Byakugan. Hyuuga's were ninja. All of them. It'd be such a waste of optical kekkei genkai if they weren't. She had to be a kunoichi. Or at least, she used to be a kunoichi. If that were the case, why wasn't she a ninja anymore? Why wasn't she fighting in the war?
Nonetheless, you probably would think that a retired ninja who was probably only eighteen years of age who was taking care shinobi that are so helpless they can't even bathe by themselves would be the one deserving pity.
But no, she isn't the one deserving of pity. I am. Here I am attacking her about what she chooses to do when I've made so many bad choices...when she's the one helping me.
Sasuke was taking out his anger on her. He was angry that he couldn't walk, that he could do anything without her being there, that he, the high-and-mighty Uchiha Sasuke, was helpless.
"I know you're mad," Hinata said as if she had been reading his mind that entire time, "I-I bet your feeling upset that I ha-have to help you with things...I'm sorry about th-that. I just want you-you to know that I-I'm not here to judge you or make you fe-feel any worse than you pro-probably already do. So, so, you shouldn't either."
Sasuke knew she was right. There was no point in making this experience any more negative that it already was. But, his already bruised ego couldn't allow him to get over it. It was almost laughable how Hinata seemed to understand his situation better than he did. But then again, she lived and breathed situations like this probably everyday. This simple notion popped a question into the Uchiha's head.
"Hinata...how many people like me do you get each week?"
Hinata started wheeling him through the house to the room in which he was to stay. The wheels rolled smoothly against the wood floor, yet made small creaking noises every so often. She had mumbled something and Sasuke was about to ask her what she said but then the petite caregiver turned on a light in a small bedroom. It was plain, like the rest of the house, with wood floors but came with an equally boring queen sized bed.
Hinata pushed Sasuke further into the room. Getting a better view of the room, the shinobi could see a small closet on the left wall and a dresser on the wall across from the bed.
"I-it's really boring but...it's all I've got," she said once they were both inside.
"It's fine. Thank you so much for this," Sasuke thanked gratefully. Hinata nodded.
Hinata started to leave after helping Sasuke get into the bed and tucking him in like a little boy. She walked to the door and placed her hand on the light switch. With her back to him she said, "I-if there's anything you need, just ask, o-okay?"
The injured shinobi mumbled a "hmm" and Hinata turned off the light.
"Oh, and S-Sasuke?" Hinata called for him before shutting the door behind her, "T-to answer your question from before: I only have received one person like you. And th-they are you." She turned and flashed the boy a quick smile before taking leave, shutting the door behind her.
Once alone in the darkness, Sasuke help but relieve himself of a small little chuckle.
It took her that long to come up with a corny thing to say like that?
"Did you sleep well?"
Who the hell...?
At first, the Sharingan user thought that the voice he was hearing at that moment was Hinata. But, this voice was younger. It maintained child-like pitch; the deepness of a voice changed by puberty was not existent in this girl's tonality. Yet, it was more... forceful than that of the capricious Hyuuga. It was demanding and completely emphasized self-confidence. Whoever this was, she was the complete opposite of Hinata.
Sasuke turned his head to face the little girl who seemed to be so unlike the person he was expecting to see first. It was indeed Hyuuga Hinata's little sister. The injured Uchiha couldn't place the little girl's name; too much pain and fatigue and not enough shit to give this early in the morning to care about what her name was. (Because Sasuke never gives a shit about anything that has nothing to do with him.) Her face, though cute and pudgy from baby fat still present in her cheeks, was hard...cold even. The look in her Byakugan eyes was a little playful but serious and was a look that commanded obidience as well. She wasn't much like Hinata at all, Sasuke gathered just from her face and the words she had just spoken only minutes ago. Hinata would have greeted him with a smile, a stutter or two and about a million other questions.
The wounded nineteen year old started to realize that he was just staring at her. He hadn't answered her question or made any move to speak at all. He opened his mouth to speak, but then shut it. Maybe if he didn't talk she'd go away. Little girls like her were always chatty, no matter how mature they acted.
"Did you sleep well?" the little girl asked him again. But this time, her voice had a hint of...what was that? Was that annoyance Sasuke just heard?
It took everything within the man'spower not to activate his Sharingan and throw her into his Tsukiyomi genjutsu. He didn't like the fact that this little girl was copping an attitude with him.
"No," he answered. It was true. He had a monster headache that night and his arm and legs ached like crazy. He supposed the adrenaline that helped him through that little trek to this town had long since worn off and now he was feeling pain all over.
"My sister's gone out for the moment," the brunette haired girl explained, completely ignoring his statement about his discomfort, "you're going to have to deal with me until she gets back. Is there something you want?"
Yeah, you out of my sight. Sasuke thought to himself.
"No," he said out loud.
The girl shrugged, spun on her heels and started to walk out of the room. She stopped at the door and said, "I bet you're hungry though. Hinata left some breakfast for you. I know you need the wheelchair but I can't help you get in that thing and then push you around...I may be strong but I'm not that strong so...If you want it, I'll bring it here for you. Just call me."
Sasuke mumbled a "Hn," and turned his head back up so that he was now looking at the tiny dots on the ceiling that the eggshell white paint made.
As the little girl left the room, the wounded shinobi could have sworn he heard her say something like, "He just had to make things so difficult! How the heck do you break both of your legs? And then he has the nerve to ignore me!" from the hallway.
Sasuke sneered. He would show her how you can break both of your legs!
It was official. Hinata Hyuuga would probably be the best housewife this world has ever known. It isn't because of her unbelievable hospitality towards people, it isn't the fact she was a natural born caregiver or that she somehow made a small house like hers look enormously big. It was the simple fact that Hyuuga Hinata was one damn goodcook. Maybe it was the weeks and weeks of being served plain oatmeal stale toasted bread and milk everyday of the week in the army talking, but this was the best breakfast that Uchiha Sasuke had ever had. Period. He hated to admit it to himself, but this even put his mother's cooking to shame.
"Do you like it?"
Sasuke froze, a fork still in his mouth. Where the heck was this girl coming from all of the time? First he wakes up to her voice and now, while he's eating he has to be listening to her questions again?
"Yes," he responded flatly, "your sister is a good cook."
The girl nodded, her head kept low. Maybe she was just...curious about him? Sasuke was not one to enjoy scrutiny, especially by little children. But, he decided that since she look pretty lonely, seeing as Hinata wasn't here still, he'd entertain her for a little.
But then she spoke, "You know, you could have called me by my name. I have a name, you know."
Earlier, before the shinobi got to enjoy this delicious meal, he first had to call the small girl to get it for him. As mentioned before, he had no idea what her name was (nor did he really care) so he had called her by a simple title, "Hinata's sister". Apparently, being known to someone as "Hinata's sister" was not something the child liked.
"You neglected to tell me your name," Sasuke reminded her.
"You neglected to ask," the girl shot back, "How would you like it if I called you 'Boy who is a cripple'?"
Ah-ha. So she's using jokes now, eh? Two can play at that game. Two could play at that game, rather. But, unfortunately for the little girl, Sasuke did not like games.
"Are you really saying that me calling you 'Hinata's sister' is as degrading as being called a cripple? Your voice and the way you looked at me told me that you feel that they are equivalent in rank." he said, raising his eyebrow sarcastically. He was really just talking out of his ass, he couldn't read body language as well as the girl probably thought he could.
The girl's eyes widened in shock, her face grew pale, "O-of course not.I w-was j-just pointing o-out..." she stuttered for the first time that day.
"Are you ashamed of your sister? What for?" the crippled boy pushed her. This was entertaining, might as well milk it for all it's worth.
Maybe he pushed her a little too far because before he knew it, she was shaking and whimpering, her head was down. Maybe she was trying to hold back tears. She looked only about eight after all and he was already mentally challenging her.
The two enemies heard a door slam shut and heard bags being dropped on a table. The little girl's head shot up, her eyes dry. She had effectively avoided crying, but the pain of his words were still in her eyes. Sasuke knew then that she knew he was right. The girl was ashamed of Hinata. But what for?
"Hanabi!" they heard the timid caregiver call for her sister,"I'm back with some of the th-things you wanted!"
"Why are you ashamed?" Sasuke asked Hanabi again.
Hinata had walked into the room after looking for her little sister in hers. She knew the girl liked to meet the new guests when they arrived. She stepped into the room with a smile on her face, "Good morning, Sasuke! G-good morning, H-Hanabi-"
Be she could properly finish her sentence, the younger sibling ran out of the room with her head down. She had knocked a confused Hinata out of the way to do so.
"W-what, w-what happened?" Hinata asked the shinobi once she collected herself.
"I don't know," he lied, "I just wanted to know her name."