Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.
Special Thanks: goes out to Guest, ridwah, Tsuchigumo, Sachiko Heiwajima, Danish78, xHinaLovex, DivineGlory, mangetsu no hime, Tamani, Dbzgirl1011, SahelTheWaltzingDinosaur, sasuhina gal, ZukiShi, and DUH BOMB for all your reviews! Also thanks to everyone who's added this to their favorites and follows lists!
Author's Note: My favorite parts of this chapter are the glimpse into Hinata's childhood, and the end. I like the whole chapter, but those two are the parts I liked writing most. I hope you all enjoy, and thanks for reading!
*~Chapter XL~*
~Flash~
The way Hinata sat curled up on her side of the car on the way to the hospital, her slender body occasionally trembling with barely repressed sobs, made Sasuke want to turn around so he could punch Hyuuga Hiashi's lights out. Instead, when not up- or downshifting, he kept his right hand on her left shoulder, fingers gently massaging the knot of tension he found there. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked quietly.
She shook her head slightly. "Not - not right now," she answered so softly he almost didn't hear her. "But thank you."
Sasuke chewed on the end of his tongue to keep from saying something which probably wouldn't help the situation; something like how, in his opinion, her father was a complete and unmitigated jerk. He'd heard the tail end of the argument as he was coming up the stairs to her condo, and the look on the man's face as Hinata left made a dangerous sort of shiver go up Sasuke's spine.
It was the look of a man who typically got his way - and hated it when he didn't. Which, clearly, was what had just happened when Sasuke showed up.
He gave her another quick look out of the corner of his eye. She looked beyond pale and exhausted. Sasuke wished he could just take her back home, kick her father (literally) out of her condo, then put her to bed and guard her so she could sleep however long she needed. But he knew how much her cousin and his wife meant to her, so he parked the car just a few spaces down from where Naruto and Minato had left it earlier, and escorted her inside.
The ICU waiting room was, surprisingly, still empty when they halted next to the intercom. Either Mr. Nakamura was still in with his wife, or he'd gone to get something to eat. Hinata hesitated for a moment before stepping closer to Sasuke and wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. "Thank you for bringing me," she whispered. He folded her close against him, sensing she was in deep pain, but unable to do anything about it.
"Are you sure you're up for this?" he couldn't forebear asking. "You're even whiter than you were when we left a while ago. Maybe I could sit with Neji, and you could go home with Tenten and rest while she does."
"That's sweet of you, and I thank you, but I'll be okay." She slowly drew away from him. "I'll call you when I'm ready to leave."
"No need." Sasuke tenderly brushed a stray strand of hair from her face. "I'm staying right here until Tenten gets back and I can take you home. I've got your mother's translation in my pocket; I'll read it while you're in with Neji."
Hinata's forehead puckered slightly. "You don't have to sit out here all that time. It's not the most comfortable place to be."
"Shsh. I want to. And I won't be any more uncomfortable than you." He gave her hand a squeeze. "Trust me, I'll be so lost in your mother's book, I won't even realize where I am."
"Okay. I'll see you later, then." Hinata's fingers slipped from his as she turned to press the call button on the intercom. After she identified herself she was admitted into the ICU.
Sasuke entered the waiting room and immediately went to check out the coffee pot. Barely a cupful covered the bottom of the carafe, and it smelled old. Dumping the dregs into the sink, he quickly rinsed out the glass container and soon had a fresh pot brewing. He inhaled deeply, savoring the invigorating aroma. Despite his dragging tiredness, he hadn't been able to sleep for more than an hour; he was still too wired from all that had happened, which was one of the reasons he'd shown up at Hinata's condo a little early.
That thought triggered a memory of her father standing at the head of the stairs glaring down at them as they left. The short hairs on his neck bristled again, every protective instinct he possessed stirring into fresh life. There had been something verging on the crazed about the look of frozen fury he'd directed at them; something bordering on outright hatred. Sasuke frowned at the brown-black stream of liquid rapidly filling the coffee pot. He had never been what could be described as close to his own father, but even though he knew he'd disappointed his paternal parent by not being more like Itachi, Fugaku had never blasted him with the cold contempt Hyuuga Hiashi displayed toward his elder daughter.
"Sasuke?" A soft, uncertain voice penetrated his dark thoughts. He looked around to see Tenten standing a few feet away from him, the expression on her tired face hesitant. Only then did he realize his own was twisted into a scowl, which he immediately smoothed out.
"Sorry, Tenten. I just had my first encounter with Hinata's father, and it did not go well," he said. "How's Neji?"
The worry with which she'd been regarding him faded, replaced by a brief, wry grimace. "Hiashi tends to have a negative impact on people he's not doing business with," she said dryly. "And Neji's doing about the same. They're keeping him really sedated this first day because of the amount of pain he'd be in if he were awake. But his vitals are all holding steady. I just wanted to thank you for running Hinata back and forth from home to here and back again - not to mention what you did in getting her home from New York so quickly." Stepping closer, she gave him a brief one-armed hug.
Even though he liked Tenten well enough, Sasuke automatically stiffened slightly. True, he'd noticed earlier that the female Hyuuga felt no discomfort in displaying their close affection for one another; he just hadn't expected to be included in it by anyone other than Hinata. Although she instantly stepped back away from him, he appreciated that she didn't make a big deal of his awkward reaction. She just gave him a faint, understanding smile and said, "I'll see you in a few hours, then. Thanks again."
"Rest well, Tenten," he replied. "Be careful."
Alone again, he poured a cup of coffee for himself and settled into the chair he'd previously occupied. After several sips of the strong, fortifying brew, he reached into one of the many pockets of his khaki cargos and pulled out the book Hinata had given him. He hadn't had a chance to read it before now, though he knew Hinata really wanted him to do so. Now he had plenty of time, so he opened it to the first page and dove in.
Hinata's mother's handwriting was very neat and easy to read. It didn't take him long to get engrossed in the story, and the rest of the world around him disappeared. Sasuke, who had spent his childhood listening to his own mother bring the old stories of the Uchiha's Japanese roots to life, had no problems imagining this one. It was a breathtaking story, full of intrigue and danger, romance and heartbreak. And while he could have shrugged it off as being a very good work of fiction, but just a made-up story nonetheless, he couldn't.
Because he recognized the Uchiha with whom Hyuuga Harumi had a child. Seiji had given his life to save his master's during an assassination attempt - and Sasuke had a matching set of personalized sai displayed on the wall of his living room, a posthumous gift from the emperor to Seiji's grieving family, to prove it. Seiji had existed, and apparently Harumi had, as well. Mikoto had never told Sasuke any stories about Seiji falling in love or having a child, but he thought it likely his mother wouldn't have had any way of knowing such a thing. Clearly the rest of Seiji's family didn't know about the child, only a select few of Harumi's. And to protect herself and her child, she wouldn't have allowed word to get out to the Uchiha, or anyone else.
At the end of the book, Sasuke very carefully closed the cover and ran his hand across the supple leather. Such a fantastic story those pages held, beneath their ordinary-looking covers.
Sasuke remembered a conversation he and Hinata had had back towards the beginning of their acquaintance, when she made a little joke about her ancestors and his being some sort of eternal enemies. He'd laughed it off, knowing how astronomical the chances were of their families ever really forming a connection. But in his hands he held the evidence of such a connection, and not one either of them had expected.
His mind raced ahead, images bursting through in time with his beating heart. With his supernatural novel finished (or, at least, as good as), he needed to turn his mind toward his next project. (And Sasuke was confident both Jiraiya and his fans would be begging him for another book.) The old trope about authors writing what they knew drifted through his mind, and though Sasuke usually rolled his eyes and refrained from comment, this time he wondered.
What if he did write about something he knew this time? What if Sasuke took the stories from both his mother and Hinata's, and made them into a novel? With Hinata's permission, he could not only bring their ancestors' incredible story to light, he could also memorialize both their mothers.
It was perfect.
Sasuke closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall behind him. Not that long ago, he'd considered giving up his writing. He'd considered retiring and never putting pen to paper (or his fingers on a keyboard, as it were) again. But then Hinata had come into his life, and rekindled his creative side. And he realized, with a sort of breathless awe, if he had stopped writing, he might never have met her.
And, if he'd never met Hinata, she would never have given him this book, this gift of an idea that would bring honor to both of their mothers, so tragically lost - and both of their families.
He was, momentarily, overwhelmed by the enormity and rightness of it all. I can't wait to tell her!
Hinata decided she hated hospitals. With a passion.
Bright lights, swishing machines, dripping liquids, hushed voices, and the smells all hit like a punch to Hinata's gut. She eased down into the seat next to Neji's bed, her eyes skittishly moving toward and away from him. He looked wrong, so unlike himself - so still and pale and weak. No wonder poor Tenten had looked like she'd just seen a whole legion of the undead. Neji wasn't a particularly excitable person, but there had always been a quality about him which made him seem so vibrantly alive. Seeing him like this, so close to death's door...
It was a hard pill to swallow.
I should have been here. Hinata curled into herself and stared at Neji's face. She knew, logically, even if she hadn't been in New York when Neji was shot, she couldn't have done anything to prevent it. But, if she'd been home, she could have come to the hospital sooner. She could have been here for Tenten and Hanabi, as well as Neji, unconscious of her presence (or lack thereof) though he remained. In a way she felt like she'd abandoned her family, and it was not a feeling she liked. It made her feel too uncomfortably like her father. (Even though she knew he did it by choice, and she hadn't. That knowledge, however, did not make her feel any better.)
Her migraine pulsed sickeningly behind her right eye and temple, but Hinata refused to give in to the pain. Tenten had questioned her a little sharply on her pallor, but she'd put it down to the confrontation with her father. She refused let on how miserable she really felt, knowing Tenten would insist she go back home; and she couldn't do that. She hadn't been here before, but heaven help her, she would be here now, whatever the cost to herself.
Just as Neji had always been there for her when they were children, well up into their teens. She remembered in particular one time when she was fifteen and he sixteen, and he missed a martial arts competition at school to take care of her when she had a mutant cold. He had brought her soup and tea, medicine and tissues, read books to her and turned on all her favorite funny movies to try to help her feel better.
She had never had a chance to repay him for that, though she had thanked him a hundred times. Now she could finally make it up to him, and Hinata refused to let her own weakness make her bow out. She would see this through to the end - whatever it might be.
The hours passed slowly. Hinata, despite her best intentions, fell into a kind of shallow doze, napping without completely closing her eyes. The sound of the machines helping her cousin cling to life acted as a sort of macabre lullaby, helping her drift in the outer reaches of sleep as she listened and prayed for some positive break in the monotony. Her headache worsened, intensifying in spikes of pain as pointed as the green line ones on the heart monitor and sending nausea swirling through her mostly empty stomach. But still she persisted, clinging with all her strength to the belief that her cousin would live. To ensure that, she would reach down into the depths of his psyche with her own life force and shake him back into living if she had to do so. She refused to acknowledge the possibility of any other outcome.
Hinata jolted back to awareness an indeterminate time later at the soft touch of a hand on her shoulder. Squinting through the sickening pain in her head, she stared up into Tenten's half-accusing, half-worried brown eyes. "You do have a migraine, don't you?" she demanded in a whisper.
"Yes." Hinata saw no point in denying the truth now that she'd accomplished her purpose. She noted with a distant sense of relief that her best friend looked appreciably better than she had earlier. She now wore jeans and a tee instead of the loose sleep pants and top she'd originally worn, and her chestnut hair, still damp, was neatly put up into its usual twin buns. She also had some color in her cheeks she'd lacked before.
Standing up, Hinata sent one last gaze toward her cousin, allowing her eyes to give him the hug she wished she could give him in person. She turned back around to take her leave of Tenten, and only then did the continuing look of deep worry on her face penetrate the fog of pain clogging her mind. Apprehension stirred sluggishly within her already unsettled stomach. "What is it?" she whispered in sudden dread. "Did Father actually follow us to the hospital? Did he and Sasuke get into it?"
"No, no, nothing like that." Tenten cast an anxious look at her seemingly-out-of-it husband, then put an arm around Hinata's shoulders and guided her closer to the door. "It's- There's a crowd of newspeople camped out around the main entrance to the hospital. They didn't give me a second look as I came in, they're obviously waiting for someone to come out: You and Sasuke being the likely targets."
The world briefly spun around Hinata as horror rocketed through every cell of her body. She swayed, and fought to stay on her feet and conscious. "What?" The word came out as an aspirated whisper. "How?"
"We don't know, but someone somewhere noticed that the doctor involved in the shooting here has the same family name as you, and put the pieces together. I am so sorry, Hina. Sasuke thought maybe the two of you could wait them out, but with you feeling so awful..."
Hinata thought about sitting in the ICU waiting room for several more hours, and nearly cringed. But thinking about running the gamut of the hovering paparazzi was even worse. She drew in a careful breath, and put her shoulders back.
"That might be the best plan," she said with as much confidence as she could muster. "But whatever we decide to do, don't waste any energy worrying about us. Just concentrate on Neji, okay?"
Tenten gave her a searching look before drawing her in for a quick hug. "All right. You take care, though, whichever way you decide to go."
"We will. But really, though," Hinata smiled weakly as she took hold of the door handle, "what's the worst that can happen? We wind up as the lead story on the morning editions again? I'm almost getting used to that."
With that, she left Neji's room. After saying a soft, "Good night," to the staff at the nurses' station, she slowly made her way to the exit, and into the waiting room.
Sasuke was already on his feet when she came out of the double doors to the ICU, his eyes seeking hers with anxious intensity. "Tenten told you?" he asked, his voice tight.
"Yes." The word came out on a long sigh. Hinata put a hand to the doorframe and fought to keep her knees from wobbling underneath her.
In three long strides, he crossed the space between them and gently took hold of her arms just below her shoulders. "'Nata? What's wrong?" His dark eyes looked probingly down into hers. "It's more than knowing they're out there waiting for us, isn't it? What is it?"
"I - have a migraine," she confessed in a small voice. It hurt too badly to keep looking up at him; against her will, her head drooped under another crushing surge of pain. "I'm - sorry."
"Oh, sweetheart." Sasuke's arms carefully enfolded her as he stepped closer to her. "We need to get you home. You have pain medicine there you can take, right? But how, with those vultures camped out at the entrance..." His voice trailed off, and even through her pulsing misery, she felt him thinking. Finally, he said hesitantly, "I could go get the car, bring it up to the entrance, and get you in as quickly as possible. Do you think you could do that?"
A shudder of dread went through Hinata. Gathering all her wavering strength, she said, "Tenten told me about your idea to try to wait them out. I - I'm okay with doing that."
Sasuke cradled her a little closer. "I'm not. That's another five or six hours you'd be stuck here, suffering I can't even imagine what kind of pain. In fact, I probably should take you down to the ER to get some help now. Do you want to do that?"
An even stronger shudder shook her at the thought of going to the scene of Neji's shooting. "No!" she rejected the idea quickly. Trying to sound brave and in control, she added, "After all, it's only pain. It won't kill me; I - just won't enjoy living very much for the time being."
Sasuke breathed a choked-sounding chuckle into her hair. "Oh, my sweetest love, you really are something else. How about a compromise?" With one hand, he smoothed a soothing circle between her shoulder blades. "If I remember correctly, the ER entrance is at the front of the building, just down from the main entrance. If we wait until full dark, and the vultures are still circling, maybe we can slip out that way, and make it to the car behind their backs, so to speak. That's a couple of hours away. Can you make it that long?"
"As long as I'm with you, I can because I have to." She forced herself to pull away slightly so she could look up at him, and saw the look of indecision lingering on his face. "I really don't feel like running even an abbreviated version of the gauntlet. I think that might truly be more than my head and my stomach could handle."
He lifted a hand to smooth her hair back from her face. "All right then, we'll go with Plan C."
Hinata allowed him to guide her to the second couch. Once they were seated, she nestled in the circle of his arm while resting her pounding head on his shoulder. Closing her eyes, she wished she'd thought to turn off the overheads before they sat down, but was loath to part from Sasuke long enough for him to do it. Instead she settled in to continue to endure what she had to endure, sometimes not just minute to minute, but heartbeat to heartbeat. From time to time, whimpers would rise up to press against her lips; but she fought them back.
The seconds crawled past with agonizing slowness. The migraine progressed to the point where white-hot lines of pain zinged across the right side of her head, making her want to double over when two or more of them intersected. At some point, she dimly realized Mr. Nakamura had returned to the waiting room when she head a muted conversation between him and Sasuke. The fluorescent lights went off, replaced by the much dimmer glow of one of the table lamps. She unconsciously sighed at the relief from the harsh, hurtful glare.
Finally, though, Sasuke dropped a couple of feather-light kisses on top of her head, and whispered, "Night's fallen, 'Nata. Are you ready to try to get out of here?"
"Mm-hm." She couldn't keep from wincing as she straightened and then let Sasuke help her to her feet, where she swayed unsteadily. This time a faint whimper did escape her despite her best efforts to restrain it.
Sasuke put a strong, supportive arm around her. "We'll take it as slow as you need us to go," he promised, and suited his actions to his words. At what felt like a snail's pace, they left the nearly-darkened waiting room to traverse the more brightly lit hall to the elevator. On the downward trip, the motion almost made Hinata heave, but she fought it back. Once they reached the ground floor, she barely noticed when he detoured them away from the main entrance and skirted the waiting area for the emergency room. He steered them to a halt just to one side of the automatic doors, and peered out through the glass wall towards the main entrance to their left.
She felt his arm tighten around her shoulders. "Still there," he reported. "Hopefully even if someone looks this way, they'll just think we're ordinary people leaving after visiting the ER. But if they do make us, I'm going to pick you up and make a run for it, okay?"
"Okay," she agreed faintly as he tucked her even closer against his side while pulling his keys out of his pocket with his other hand. Then they were in motion again, exiting the hospital into the security light-pierced, suffocatingly humid darkness of the night.
At first it seemed as though they were going to make it to the car unscathed. But halfway there a shout of, "There they are!" shattered the night. Sasuke muttered a curse and, true to his earlier words, gathered Hinata up into his arms. His strides lengthened until he was practically running, the jolting sending waves of intense pain and nausea roiling through her. She put her arms around his neck and grimly hung on.
And then eye-searingly bright lights honed in on them, as rapidly approaching footsteps and voices chased after them. "Sasuke, is it true you and Hinata got married last night in New York?"
"Hinata, did you have to cut off your honeymoon because a member of your family was seriously injured here?"
"Sasuke-" "Hinata-" "Hinata-" "Sasuke-" "Hinata-Sasuke-Sasuke-Hinata..." The voices began to blend together in a kind of demonic chant which made her want to slap her hands over her ears and scream at them all to shut up and go away! Hinata shrank into Sasuke's protective embrace as he curled himself around her and charged ahead of the descending horde of reporters like a football player headed for a tournament-winning touchdown. She tried to bite back her sobs, choke back her tears, as they ran for his car, but her fear clamped a cold fist around her throat and squeezed off her breath.
Time seemed to stretch into nightmarish slow motion. Just as at least two dozen reporters and camera people reached them, they made it to his car. Sasuke hastily bundled her into the passenger seat and locked the doors long enough for him to shove his way around to the driver's door, his face set into granite lines of cold, hard fury. He didn't say a word as he unlocked his door, slid inside, and then locked it again as he slammed it shut. Hinata watched silently as he jammed his key into the ignition and gunned the engine as it rumbled to life.
Hinata dimly noted that the parking space in front of them was blessedly vacant. "Get out of the way!" she heard Sasuke mutter under his breath as he put his car in gear, alternating the gas, the brake, and the clutch until the reporters scattered enough for him to drive away. He tore out of the parking lot, going a little faster than he probably should have been. She clung to the edges of her seat, her heart pounding double-time in her throat and her head, her stomach churning and tumbling over itself until she thought she might be sick all over his sleek black leather upholstery. "Hinata, are you all right?" He shot her an anxious look, and added, "You need to put your seat belt on."
She numbly fumbled with the contraption, getting it fastened around her as she mumbled, "You, too." She watched as he one-handedly clicked it into place before shifting to a higher gear. "Th-thank you for getting us out of there so quickly."
"You're welcome. How are you holding up?" He reached his right hand out to touch her very gently on her left arm, which was tightly clamped across her diaphragm.
Her right hand shook very badly as she lifted it to swipe at her wet cheeks. "I - don't know. Not well," she replied, her voice barely audible even to herself. Against her will, she curled forward in her seat and cradled her head in her hands, shielding her eyes from the blasts of light emanating from the streetlights, alternating with bands of darkness. "I need to go home."
"I'll get you there as quickly as I can," he promised. As she struggled against the mindless agony threatening to engulf her, she felt the car accelerate sharply. What seemed like a pain-filled, nausea-wracked eternity later, she realized they'd come to a stop just before Sasuke gently touched her shoulder and said in a low voice, "'Nata? We're here at your condo."
"Oh, thank you," she breathed fervently. While he came around to her car door, she feebly rummaged in her purse for her keys, managing to drop them on the floorboard of Sasuke's car. Fresh tears trickled down her cheeks as she tried to bend forward to pick them up, something mysteriously and frustratingly preventing her-
"Shsh, you're still wearing your seatbelt. Let me release it for you." Sasuke reached around her to do just that, then scooped her keys up into his hand. A second later his arms closed around her again, this time so he could pick her up in them.
"I can walk," she tried to protest faintly, but he only held her closer to his broad chest.
"Shsh," he said again. "I'll put you down when I unlock the door. But I'm not letting you climb these stairs on your own." Once at the top, though, as she waited for him to open the door, she heard him give a soft grunt of surprise. "It's already unlocked."
A weak laugh spurted out of Hinata, tinged with more than a little bitterness. "Father probably didn't think it worth the effort to even turn the doorknob lock when he left." Passing through the portal Sasuke held open for her, she reluctantly flipped on the foyer light, flinching at the instant stab of pain it cost her. Behind her she heard him mutter something under his breath, the only clear word of which was, "jerk," and found herself agreeing with that assessment.
"Where do you keep your pain pills?" he asked as she wove an unsteady path towards the kitchen.
"In here." Crossing to the stove, she turned on the light under the microwave and pointed to the cabinet between it and the refrigerator. "Tramadol with-" she struggled to remember the other word "-with acetaminophin. They're orange." And truly wonderful when she got a sick headache like this. It didn't happen often, but when it did, she felt like she was going to die.
She sensed Sasuke standing close behind her. "You probably shouldn't take them on an empty stomach. What do you want to take them with?"
The said portion of Hinata's anatomy gave a threatening lurch, even though she knew he was right. "Hot tea and a slice of toast," she said, then covered her lips with the fingers of one hand. She wobbled a quarter turn, and had to catch her balance with her other hand on the edge of the stove.
Warm, gentle hands came to rest on her shoulders. "Tell you what," Sasuke said. "Why don't you go get your pjs on, while I fix the tea and toast for you. Okay?"
Coming to the conclusion that getting to a bathroom was a very good idea, she murmured her agreement and headed in that direction. She retained just enough presence of mind to close both bedroom and bathroom doors quietly behind her before a round of gut-wrenching dry heaves consumed her. Feeling as though her head was going to explode from the pressure, she leaned weakly over the commode, her mouth burning with the bitterness of bile, the only thing in her stomach to come up. As soon as she was able, she pushed uncertainly to her feet, washed her face, rinsed her mouth, and put on her sleepwear. By now barely able to see past the blinding flashes of light in her right eye, she somehow made her way back to the kitchen, where Sasuke was just setting a mug of tea to steep.
"What do you want on your toast?" he asked softly as she collapsed into a chair at the table. "I found honey in a cabinet, and apple butter in the fridge."
"Honey, please. Same for my tea. Did you find the butter bell next to the toaster and breadkeeper?" She rested her forehead in her cupped palms and closed her eyes.
"Yes, though I didn't know what it was at first. Neat idea." The fragrance of steaming tea reached her nostrils as a soft click let her know Sasuke had just set the mug in front of her. From across the kitchen, the scent of toasting bread came to her. Her stomach twisted again, but she made herself take very slow sips, willing them to settle the tempest in her midriff. By the time he brought her her toast, she was able to take tiny nibbles of it and swallow the pills he put into her hand. Then all she could do was wait for them to take effect.
After a while, as a drugged haze began to form between her and her pain, she felt Sasuke's arms gently encircle her, and he lifted her from her chair. Hinata wanted to protest, to insist she was perfectly capable of walking, but his arms around her felt so secure, so warm and loving and protective. So she rested her head on his strong shoulder, her aching forehead pressed against the curve of his neck, and let him carry her through the condo to her room.
She let out a relieved sigh as her familiar bed - with its soft mattress, light-as-air pillows, and comfortable duvet surrounded her. "Thank you," she breathed, reaching out one unsteady hand to grasp the front of Sasuke's shirt.
She felt something light brush across her forehead, as gentle as a butterfly's wing, before his warm hand squeezed hers and gently disengaged it. "Sleep, sweetheart," he whispered. "Sleep now, and you'll feel much better in the morning."
He was right, she knew. He was always right, drat the man. "All right," she tried to say, but she thought it came out sounding more like "Eight." She heard him chuckle before he squeezed her hand again and rested it next to her hip on the bed. His soft footsteps retreated across the room toward the door.
She opened her eyes, then, remembering something else she wanted to say. "Sa'ke," she said, garbling his name. But he turned and looked at her, his dark eyes warm, expression concerned. Smiling sleepily at him, she said clearly, "I love you."
His responding, "I love you, too," wrapped her in a warm blanket which supported her all the way down into deep, dreamless, restoring sleep.
*~To Be Continued~*
Author's Ending Notes:A tough chapter to write, in many ways. But it turned out just the way I wanted, so I'm happy. Poor Hinata, though, with that migraine. They're awful, and having to deal with everything just made it all the worse - but she's a fighter! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, thanks for reading, and I hope to see you again for next week's update!