Gaara had been shielded from wounds all his life. What injuries he did sustain were rarely not healed by the time he made it to a medic. Other than the pains Shukaku inflicted on him purposefully, he rarely experienced pains other than his migraines and emotions. Arguably, both were caused by Shukaku.

He hadn't felt this extraction, though afterward, his body did ache and feel worn.

This is why he concluded that this was possibly the worst pain of his entire life.

From what he understood of the process, they were rerouting chakra veins back where they should be by squeezing the leaking veins that had formed. He understood chakra, but not on a level where any of this made sense to him. He always thought of chakra about his sand, a wave or wall, or a stream. In a way, it felt like he was having sand shoved through a vein. Hinata held his hand and clenched her other hand over his wrist. He was sure he tightened his hand too much to be comfortable, but she never complained.

Hinata's eyes were closed, and she was silent. Gaara focused on her hands when he could no longer distract himself from the question of if this was the worst pain he ever had. This was only the first day.

"Alright, that's all we can do for now."

Hinata looked up from her husband's face. His clenched look had long since gone slack. He lost consciousness, which she knew was going to happen. You could not mix that much pain and chakra loss and hope to stay awake. At least he couldn't feel it anymore.

This was what it was going to be like for the next couple of weeks, and she could not let his pain get to her. The stress would hurt the baby, and if she started to get sick or if the development started to show signs of difficulty, she was sure she would no longer be allowed to be by his side for these, and that would be hard to explain.

Hinata brushed the hair out off his forehead, thumbing over his scar. This must have hurt too, but it was nothing compared to chakra rerouting. She had some vein damage from careless training when she was in her early teen years. Small and would have probably fixed itself with a few weeks of not using it, which was the treatment most people would take as chakra rerouting. Without Hyuga, vision could be extremely dangerous, but it was in her palm. Her father made her get it fixed. It was the most painful thing she could imagine for any amount of time. Only a minute and her hand was in so much pain she just stopped feeling it. Her medic explained that if she stayed awake past the point, it stopped hurting, and it was normal for people to succumb to the pain.

"This room was prepared for you." Hinata fell out of her thoughts to the medic. A set of futons, a bathroom, and a table were prepared for guests. "We were sure you did not want to try to carry the Kazekage back to his tower in his state."

Hinata nodded, thanking her as she left. She hadn't thought about it, but it was probably best she didn't try to have him carted through the village in his state. She would have to go to the council and explain that not only was the Kage not going to be staying at his tower, but he was also going to be out of commission and at the mercy of Hyuga doctors. The best part was she got to explain why they were not consulted for any of this.

How was she going to keep the stress down when she had to stand between her husband and his judgmental, demanding council?

Hinata pushed the extra futon over to her husband's, making one big sleeping area, and tucked herself next to him. She could have a nap. She was sure she needed one.

Aching, that's what they called it. It would be constant in the areas they worked on. Gaara curled around a pillow with his face buried into the soft fabric. His wife gently laid her hand over his head. Touching any other part of him right now would have hurt.

Gaara was not looking forward to more of these treatments.

"He looks terrible." Gaara heard Temari as the door closed behind her.

"He's not very comfortable." Hinata hummed.

"How long will these treatments need to be done?" Temari asked. Gaara raised his head from the pillow to see his sister sit down at the low table in the room.

"At least the rest of the month. They can't do it all at once," Hinata explained as she pet his hair. He put his face back into the pillow.

"It would kill him, right?" Temari asked.

"Yes, doing the amount of chakra repair he needs in a short amount of time would not only take multiple people but doing it all at once would be horribly dangerous if the new paths didn't take. He could speed up his regression rather than get better." Gaara didn't like the sound of that, though he didn't like this either. He knew it was necessary for the pain for him to get better, but it was hard to subject yourself to something you knew was going to hurt so much.

"I honestly didn't think I would ever say it, but I'm glad your family is here," Temari admitted. He agreed. Somewhat.

"I am pleasantly surprised at the pleasantness of those who came. The council is rather understanding, and the medics are much kinder than any I was worked on as a child." Hinata admitted.

"You met with the council here the other day, didn't you? You didn't say what it was about." Temari wondered.

Gaara already knew the answer she was going to get. "Clan matter, sorry,"

"That has to be a pain, doesn't it, keeping secrets for Suna and the Hyuga?" Temari whined.

"It's not all that terrible. I have been doing it most of my life. You have to be extra careful when you are unsealed." Hinata explained

Gaara struggled to understand how the healing process benefits out ways the damage. He was trying to focus on the thought to distract himself from the pain. It was getting hard, and the ache in his back started to get worse. "Hinata."

"Yes?" Hinata leaned over him.

"Look at my back." Gaara bit down as the pain got worse.

Hinata activated her eyes. She lightly touched his shoulder, moving him, which hurt immensely. "The rerouting is taking. Your main chakra is going where it should. Does it hurt more?"

"Yes." Gaara gritted.

"I think it's meant to, but I can get the medic." Hinata offered.

"I'll go." Temari hopped up and stepped out of the room.

Hinata sighed, closing the door behind her. Gaara was finally asleep. The pain kept him up, but he finally gave in to the tiredness. She was sure he didn't have much energy with that much chakra movement.

Hinata laid her head back on the door. She was tired, but she had to check on Kankuro.

"Hinata-sama? Are you sure you should be up? You have taken on a lot of stress. With the status of your health, you should be resting." Hinata silently thanked the woman for being discrete.

"I need to check on my brother-in-law. There were some projects the Kazekage was working on. I want to make sure that he is up-to-date with it. I also want to make sure my assistant can take on my work for the time being."

Hinata was sick. She hadn't told him.

There was something Hinata was hiding about her health because his health was degraded. He didn't know how he should handle it. From what he heard, it was likely that stress would add to it. Asking her about it would no doubt stress her out, especially if she didn't think he should know. The Hyuga medic knew, though, meaning that she was at least getting treatment. Temari mentioned that she was seeing a Hyuga doctor for her injuries. Was there something that the Suna medics could not treat, or was it something that only the Hyuga could get? If it was something that endangered the Hyuga secrets, she would not be able to tell him, and that always upset her.

Gaara would stay silent for now and hope that she would tell him if it was something he needed to know.

Now that he thought about it, she had not looked all that well today, but he thought it was his health that was making her disheveled. Maybe that was all the Hyuga medic meant by it.

He was in too much pain to think about it anymore.