Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine.
08. Injury
Sasuke is just about finished with putting on his leg bindings when he hears her name mentioned through the open door of his hospital room. He rises up from his position on the bed to investigate and sees two figures walking away.
"Man, I hope Hinata gets better soon. Training isn't the same without her." One, who he vaguely recalls she referred to as 'Kiba-kun', complains.
Sasuke doesn't hear if her other teammate, the one with the glasses, replies or not. In any case, his interest is more piqued by the fact that Hinata is also here in the hospital. He turns his head in the direction the two came from.
Kakashi had said that he'd pick Sasuke up in the afternoon for their training but knowing the jounin (who could now be preoccupied with some thing or another, or maybe busy giggling over his perverted books) he would come three hours late.
So he has time yet.
Mind made up, Sasuke exits his room, closing the door firmly behind him, and makes his way towards the direction he had seen her two teammates come from.
He had a bit of difficulty finding her room among the many other similar looking ones in the hallway. In the end, he had to resort to asking a passing medic for directions. The medic had given him a suspicious look at first and asked him what his purpose was (Sasuke couldn't help but roll his eyes at this, honestly, did he look like someone who had evil intentions?) and finally relented when Sasuke had told him that he's her classmate back at the academy.
Now he stands in front of her door, feeling uncertain if he even wants to get involved in her business. She had given him a bento, sure, but that was because he had given her advice. And she had also given him a flower because…well he doesn't really know, maybe she's just weird like that. The point is, whatever may have happened to land her in the hospital isn't really his concern.
Sasuke frowns, bringing down the hand he had poised to knock. He should just go and wait three hours for Kakashi to tear his eyes away from Icha Icha long enough to remember that he's supposed to pick him up.
A throat clears from the side. It's the suspicious medic again, giving him the evil eye. Sasuke glares right back and before he could think any more on it, his hands grab the knob and twists.
He finds himself inside her room in the next second.
Hinata is lying on the bed and hear head turns to the sound of his unannounced entrance. She blinks owlishly at him.
Sasuke takes a moment to survey her condition, noting the various wires, and IV drip, connected to her skin. There is a sickly pallor to her normally fair skin. He guesses he probably looked the same during his brief confinement.
"U-Uchiha-san," she wheezes, as if the action of speaking hurt. Which it probably does, he thinks.
"Hyuuga," he mumbles by way of greeting, and invites himself to sit on the chair in front of her bed.
She watches silently as he makes himself comfortable. "I h-heard from Kurenai-sensei that you w-were also confined h-here." She gives him a weak smile. "I'm s-sorry that I c-couldn't come visit you."
Sasuke gapes at her incredulously. Is this girl really that kind or is she just that stupid? He couldn't make up his mind at the moment.
"You're the one still bedridden," Sasuke points out grumpily. "Can you even sit up?"
She looks sheepish. The absence of her usual blush is also very telling. If she's too weak to even manage that, then she's really in a bad way.
Sasuke sighs. "What happened to you?"
"I was…" she pauses, as if searching for a delicate way to put it, then finally settles on, "…weak."
He could believe that. It's cruel to think, but he hadn't really expected her to win in a match against the other genin (except, perhaps if she went against the Dobe, but then again she might just faint or forfeit if that, crush and all).
"Well that goes without saying." He says, not unkindly. "I meant, why are you here? Broken bones?"
She shakes her head. "The nurses say my heart s-stopped."
His eyebrows rise in surprise. She went into cardiac arrest?
"A-And I have internal b-bleeding," she continues, "th-they're still m-mending my chakra p-pathways."
That must have been some fight, Sasuke thinks. Kakashi had told him the names of the finalists for the exam. He wonders who among them Hinata had fought.
"Shino-kun mentioned th-that finalists are given a m-month to train," she is saying in her wheezy voice. "A-Are you going to train with N-Naruto-kun, Uchiha-san?"
Her statement arrests his attention. Sasuke forgets about asking her about her opponent, because for some inexplicable reason, something about her using the Dobe's first name, and him his last, bothered him.
It's strange really, because he never cared before.
He frowns, feeling more and more uncomfortable. He chalks it up to his inexperience dealing with shy females. Aggressive ones (like Sakura and Ino) are easy to handle, he just ignores them and eventually they'd go away. Like flies. But girls like Hinata, who would sooner rather avoid him than talk to him, leaves Sasuke feeling disconcerted. He couldn't decide which treatment he prefers. But both annoy him in equal measure.
"Sasuke," he finally grumbles after a period of silence. "Call me that."
His statement, apropos of nothing, makes her stare at him in bewilderment.
But because she is what she is (annoyingly accepting and tolerant), she merely agrees without question. "O-Okay, please c-call me Hinata th-then."
Her charitable offer irritates him further.
They bask in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, she trying to avoid his eyes, and he trying to meet them in order to glare at her.
He exhales. Whatever. Who needs this aggravation? It's better to stop thinking about it altogether.
He sighs again. She finally looks at him and smiles uncertainly.
"I'm going to train with Kakashi for a while." Sasuke directs the conversation back to their topic. "I don't know about Naruto. He could be drowning in the river for all I care."
"Th-That's not very n-nice," she scolds, but her lips twitches anyway.
"When you get out of here, make him more of that sweet soup. He likes that."
"I'd rather give him rice and t-tomato, it's h-healthier."
Sasuke raises an eyebrow. "It won't make a difference if he's already dead. He drowned, remember? It's for offering."
Hinata covers her mouth to smother the smile on her lips. A smirk tugs at his own. And they lapse into comfortable silence. Sasuke stands up after a while and makes his way towards the door, intent on going back to his room.
She stops him just as he is about to close the door behind him. "Thank you, S-Sasuke-san," she stutters at the name, "for visiting…and for c-caring about Naruto-kun."
He feels his ears heat. He wants to deny it, he doesn't care about Naruto. It's just that the Dobe is his teammate and…
Instead, he only scowls back at her. "Whatever. Don't kill yourself over it."
An infuriatingly gentle smile is the only answer he gets.
.
.
.
A/N:
Thanks for reading! To those who have added this story to their alert/favorite list, drop a review and let me know what you think :) It is always nice to hear from different readers.
A great many hugs go to my faithful reviewers. You guys make my day! There are so many things I want to say to you guys, but I won't say it here since I don't want to make a habit of writing long author's notes. I'll send PMs instead (with an exception to unsigned reviews), so expect me to message you if you have questions or comments that got my attention.
MissLuppi – You got that absolutely right! I'm always for the thrill and suspense in romance :) You know, I'm also now getting into SS/HG. Have you seen the archive for that fandom here in ? They're very well written. In fact, I find that most crack pairings involving HG are so well written it hurts. I haven't read that many SS/HG ones but I think I've read everything there are for DraMione. Check them, maybe we'd make a convert of you yet :) Thanks for the review! Oh, and we have another thing in common aside from love of crack pairings, English also isn't my mother tongue.
Thanks to UchihaMistress723, FallenRaindrops, MissLuppi, Saki-Hime, ProjXPsyClone -psyiNoheart, Hinata6, and Mitternacht!