Kisame leaned back in his chair, pushing his notebook away. That was enough studying for the night.
Hinata curled around her book. Her shoulders rose and fell with each breath. The mouse was dead to the world. Kisame looked at the time with a yawn. He could let her sleep, but he needed to get her home before her cousin's arbitrary curfew, not that there were consequences for missing it more than a few missed calls and a scolding from him.
"Come on, mouse," Kisame slipped her book out from under her head.
Hinata only moved enough for him to remove the book and curl around her head more. Gently as he could, he pulled back the curtains of hair that came loose from the braid that she tucked it into to keep it out of her way. Small white scars littered from her jawline to under her ear, back to her shoulder, and her neck. Maybe from shattering glass.
Hinata had quite a few scars he saw for the first time at the pool party. It felt wrong for someone so pure to be so marred. It seemed unfair. He deserved it. He got into fights. He liked his fights. She didn't deserve these.
Kisame tucked her books in her bag. He got her awake just enough to get her to lie loosely on his back and slug both bags over his shoulder, hooking her cane on a strap.
"No, really, she only has one leg." Hidan was shoved by Kakazu not because he was telling everyone but because he kept telling everyone despite no one believing him, and at this point, everyone more getting sick of him saying it.
"Sure." Someone passing said.
Hinata covered her lips with her fingertips as Hidan looked back at her in disbelief, waving his arms out. Hidan would have probably tried to prove it to everyone if Kisame wasn't physically twice his size and glaring at him.
"He's going to get himself hurt doing that, yeah," Deidara commented.
Sasori idly looked up from his homework. "Bets on him lasting the week without being decked?"
Hinata waved her hands. "That might turn into an incentive."
Hinata laughed at Kisame's after-school antics, but her face dropped cold when she looked at Itachi. "Are you okay?"
Itachi was pale, leaning forward, grimacing in pain, clutching his chest. He pressed his lips together and squeezed his eyes shut. He shook his head.
Hinata reached for him. Itachi responded by leaning on her, gasping quietly, trying to get in any air, but he was struggling to take even short breaths. Hinata looked up at Kisame with panic. Kisame grabbed his phone. "I'm calling an ambulance."
Hinata nodded furiously, pushing back Itachi's hair. Itachi face turned red as the breaths got shorter. "Here, lay back." She helped him lie down in hopes that it would help him breathe. "I'll have Sasuke meet us at the hospital." Hinata grabbed her bag and her own phone.
Itachi grabbed her hand. "Don't tell Sasuke."
Hinata fought his grip. "He's doing to want to be there. Your parents too."
Itachi shook his head furiously.
"You can't keep pushing them away." Hinata didn't want to lecture him while he was in so much pain that this wasn't the time to hide his condition from his family.
"Don't." Itachi pushed in a gasp.
Hinata shook her head. "You can be angry with me after."
Hinata rode with Itachi to the hospital. Kisame worried he would be too big and in the way of the emergency services. She watched Itachi be taken away by the doctors before she found Sasuke in the waiting doubled over, his head in his hands, abusing his hair. Hinata laid a hand on his shoulder.
"How is he?" Sasuke asked weakly.
"I don't know. He said his chest hurt, and he was having trouble breathing. I think the ambulance staff was thinking he was having a heart attack. They didn't have to jump his heart in the ambulance, so his heart didn't stop if he did have one. He was still awake when they took him back." Hinata pointed back to the hall, but her eyes lingered.
Sasuke sniffed, and his face scrunched painfully. Hinata reached for him. He took the hug and held her there. She wished she was crying too. The sterile white walls felt like they were closing in on her, and she couldn't think about his pain. She wanted out of this room. She pushed it out of her mind. She needed to focus on Sasuke.
Sasuke backed up and wiped his face, sniffing. "Thanks for letting me know."
"He didn't want me to," Hinata told him truthfully.
"I'm sure." Sasuke huffed. "He would let himself die and make sure I didn't know until the funeral if he had it his way."
"Kisame-san called your parents. They are heading in too. He's on his way." Hinata rubbed her hands together. She felt uncomfortable. She should stay for Sasuke and Itachi, but she wanted to leave. She didn't know what was stronger, but the urge to bolt was getting stronger.
"You don't look good either." Sasuke caught on. He didn't need her emotional baggage too. "Are you okay?" Sasuke's shifted to concern.
Hinata tried to smile, but it didn't feel right. "I'm fine. I just don't like hospitals."
Sasuke put his hands up. "You don't need to be here. I'll let you know if they get anything."
Hinata pressed her lips together. She wanted to be here for Itachi and for Sasuke, but she felt sick looking around the sterile waiting room and listening to the quiet sound of people occasionally coughing. She used to sit in one similar to this for hours, waiting for her father. He never picked her up on time and would drop her off in her chair hours before her appointments.
"Really." Sasuke pushed. The look on Sasuke's face made her feel worse. Hinata didn't need to add to his stress. She nodded her head and headed for the door.
The closer to the door she got, the more the walls mocked her. Her breathing got strangled as she reached the glass door just as Kisame entered it. "Hey, mouse, how's he doing?" Kisame noticed her discomfort too. "Is it bad?"
Hinata waved her hands, feeling her chest restrict with each breath. "He… He was responsive when they took him back. It's po… possible he had a heart episode of some sort." Why couldn't she talk? Each breath came faster, and she couldn't stop it. Her fingers twisted into a fist to keep them from shaking. "I need out…"
Kisame moved out of her way.
Hinata pushed herself outside, stumbling as her prosthetic tried to keep up with her pace. She took a few heavier breaths, but her breathing didn't slow down. Panic washed over her, even with the room on the other side of the doors. She was outside. Why wasn't it going away?
Hinata stepped back and forth. Where did she even go? Did she sit in the courtyard? Would Sasuke know where to find her? Should she stand out here? Would they ask her not to stand outside a hospital lobby?
Hinata's spiral was stopped by Kisame holding on to her shoulders, lowering himself to look into her face. "He's gonna be fine. Sasuke just talked to the doctors. They have him stable, his mother's going to be here in a few minutes, and we will find out what happened."
Hinata's chest rose and fell with each hyperventilated breath.
"You're not okay," Kisame concluded, kneeling down.
"I don't really like hospitals." Hinata hiccuped as she realized. "I can't stop."
"It's okay," Kisame assured her, pulling her into his chest.
Hinata buried her face into his chest and tried to focus on the weight of his arms around her. It was the only thing distracting her from the burning of her chest and the spinning of her heart.
When she could take a full breath, she realized Kisame sat them down on the concrete against the wall, curling a heavy protective arm around her to shield her from the world. The fog lifted, and Hinata realized was had happened. She had a panic attack.
Hinata hadn't been in a proper hospital in a long time. Her uncle took her to a small specialist who was used to elderly and war veterans, so his office was quite comfy. She didn't realize it would give her such a violent reaction just to see the waiting room, the emergency room didn't give her that reaction, but she barely remembered the emergency room.
Hinata sniffed, wiping the tears from her face. Her chest hurt, but she could feel the adrenaline wearing off.
"You okay, mouse?" Kisame lifted his arm to look at her.
Hinata nodded.
"I can take you home," Kisame told her.
"You should be here for him," Hinata just wanted to sit here under his arm. Her body felt like lead.
"He'll understand," Kisame told her.
Hinata shook her head on his shoulder. "He's going to be upset with me. You should be here, especially because Sasuke-san is."
"How about we both just sit out here until we hear something?" Kisame suggested. Hinata wiped her face with her sleeve and nodded. "That can't be comfortable to sit on." Kisame shrugged off his jacket and lifted her to tuck it under her. Hinata curled around her legs and leaned into him, hoping his arm would stay around her side.
Kisame looked down at her, pressed into his side, and wrapped the warmth around her, sliding her flush to his side like he was hiding her. She felt selfish. Itachi was the one that was hurt. She shouldn't be demanding this attention, but she could still feel her hands shaking.
Kisame pulled his bag closer to him. "I think I have that pack of cards."
Itachi's mother found them and was surprisingly sympathetic to the situation. They learned Itachi had a heart episode, something like a heart attack, just less severe.
Sasuke came out for a while with some sweets for the cafeteria. "He's got a damaged valve from his condition. There isn't much they can do without a donor." He explained. "And he's not even eligible for the list because his condition is listed as terminal."
Her father didn't even let them donate her sister's organs.
Hinata told her uncle where she was and what was happening, that she was okay, and that she wanted to say for a while. Kisame played cards with her until it got dark. "We need to get you home, mouse." He told her. "You think you can see him?"
Hinata pressed her lips together. Her going in wasn't the only issue. "He's not going to want to see me."
"He's been asking about you since he was free of the doctors," Sasuke added. "He's a little annoyed, but he'll live. Well, for now." He said grumpily.
Hinata wasn't sure she wanted to go, even if Itachi did want to see her. The hospital put such a pit in her stomach, and just thinking of going back in was bringing it back.
Kisame's eyes flickered on her face. "We'll visit him when he gets home, mouse." Hinata felt the pit in his stomach grow. She was wearing all this on her face, wasn't she?
"Don't worry. He's way more mad at me than he is at you right now," Sasuke tried, but it didn't assure her.
Hinata was quiet on the walk home. She curled her face into his back and was so still he thought that she might have fallen asleep, but she was alert enough to reach for her keys when they got out of the elevator. Kisame set her down. She was as pale as she did when they left the hospital. He hoped the cold evening air would make it look like she had some life in her.
Hinata apologized again before disappearing to her room. Kisame watched it close, feeling a weight in his chest. Hopefully, she would feel better after a bath and some sleep. A girl like that should have some peace.
"Will the Uchiha boy be okay?" Hizashi asked.
Kisame nodded. "Yeah. Itachi's health hasn't been the best. I don't think that they want that getting around."
Hizashi waved his hands. "I understand. They did the same with Hinata's mother when her health was deteriorating." He looked at Hinata's door. "How is she?"
"Spooked," Kisame admitted. "She was the one who noticed he was struggling, and then she got really freaked out at the hospital. She couldn't stay inside. We sat outside the whole time because she was feeling anxious just being in the lobby."
Hizashi's face scrunched painfully. "I'm not surprised. Her time in hospitals was not pleasant. I try to make her appointment as painless as I can because I thought this might happen." So this wasn't new, she seemed surprised that she had such a bad reaction, but maybe this was the first time it was this bad. "Thank you for taking care of her. I'm glad that she has friends she can lean on."
Kisame felt uncomfortable being praised, not something he was really used to. He nodded politely and headed out on his way.