Hinata followed Sasuke to his apartment. With Kisame having to work after school the first day that Itachi was out of the hospital, Sasuke offered to take her to see Itachi. He spent most of the walk complaining about the fact that Itachi refused to go back to their parent's house so that their mother could look after him, so now she came to the apartment regularly instead.

"Here we are," Sasuke put his key in the lock, and opened the door to a high-end apartment. A little to put together for two teenage boys. He dropped his keys and kicked off his shoes, then waited for her to do the same. "His room is down the hall on the left," Sasuke told her as he walked back down the hall.

Hinata hesitated only a moment before she followed him. Sasuke knocked on the door, before opening and nudging his head in.

Itachi lay, sat up in the bed with a book in his lap and his glasses sitting on the end of his nose. He looked like an old man in a hospice bed bidding his time. He set the book and switched his glasses out for the one on his bedside. "Hinata, come in."

Hinata hesitated again. Sasuke gave her a small shove and waved at her as he disappeared down the hall. Traitor.

Itachi waved her forward, patting the edge of his bed. "Sit." Hinata sat down, finding a spot on the comforter's stitching to stare at. Itachi reached for her, taking her hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. Hinata looked up. His face was still soft. "Sasuke told me you stayed outside the hospital all night."

"I've spent too long in hospitals," Hinata admitted.

"Me too." Itachi smiled at her. "Thank you for staying."

"Shouldn't you be mad at me?" Hinata asked.

Itachi pulled her hand closer to himself. "Protect him for me."

This lie had gone too far. "Sasuke doesn't…"

"Not him, Kisame." Itachi interrupted with a smile.

What? "Kisame-san?"

Itachi's smile got wider. "Kisame doesn't see a lot in himself. He thinks he doesn't deserve anything but the hardships that he faces. When he wants something, he will watch it go by and never even reach for it." Why would Kisame need to be protected by her? "He won't reach for you. You will have to do it first," Itachi smiled. "You'll understand eventually."

Did that heart episode do something to his brain?

Lunch was weird without Itachi, he missed it before, but it was more somber being reminded why he was missing it. They didn't know if or when he would be coming back to school, but they were welcome to see him as much as they wanted. As long as he was feeling well enough to see him.

"Sasuke's not stealing you away today?" Kisame closed his bento.

"I don't think he needs to act as if he likes me when Itachi's not here," Hinata wiped off her chopsticks. "And Itachi-san is being cryptic."

Kisame raised an eyebrow. "Cryptic?"

Hinata made a face. "He wants me to look after you." Hinata slid down, putting her head on the desk in front of her.

"You gonna look after me, mouse?" Kisame lowered his head down to her level.

"I can't even keep you out of trouble," Hinata whined.

Kisame put a large hand over her head. "You didn't have a chance anyway."

Hinata pushed his hand off. He put it back. They fought, but Kisame was clearly stronger. Eventually, with him adding more force each time, Hinata couldn't even push his hand back with both hands, but she was laughing.

Akatsuki meetings without Itachi were even weirder. There was a void where no one talked about him, just like no one talked about Hinata's leg. They all knew to some extent that they shouldn't talk about it, even Hidan. And if he was keeping his mouth shut, you know it was grave.

"No, you're missing the negative." Hinata circled the dropped negative a few lines up in Hidan's work. He cursed and started erasing so hard that he ripped the paper. "Here, just start over." Hinata offered him another sheet.

Hidan grumbled and took it, not happy to start over.

"You ready to go, mouse?" Kisame asked, closing his notebooks. "Your cousin's arbitrary curfew is coming up."

"Give me a minute." Hinata leaned over Hidan's page to make sure he got it this time. "We have a math test this week I want to make sure he gets this."

Kisame continued to put his books in his bag before folding his arms on the table and putting his chin on his elbow.

Hinata threw him a smile, fully aware that he was lying in her personal space to make sure she didn't forget. She tucked her hair behind her ear as she pointed with her pen to explain why Hidan's math didn't work. She patiently waited for him to complain and eventually get back to solving the problem.

She was really sweet. Something Kisame knew he took advantage of, but it was hard not to. He just wanted to puddle at her feet to watch her smile. Kisame blinked. Where did that come from?

Kisame sat back up and stretched to put some distance between him and her. He really needed to get in a good fight or something. Get this mood beat out of him. But then she would get that adorable worried pout on her face as she tried to be mad at him.

God, he was in trouble.

"Dance?" Hinata looked over the poster Deidara held up proudly. Sasori designed it up Deidara got to print them and plaster them around the school obnoxiously. "I can't dance."

Deidara deflated. "You don't just dance at a dance. You get a date, hang out, make out." Hinata made a face.

"Watch girls run to the bathroom to cry because, for some reason, more relationships begin and end in the four hours when everyone is in one room than any other time of the year," Sasori mumbled dully.

"That's the best part." Deidara took offense to Sasori's distaste.

"They always smell like hormones and bad perfume." Kisame crinkled his nose.

Hinata shook her head. "I don't know. It's not really my thing."

"Aw… we wanted to make you a dress," Deidara whined.

Now she felt bad. "Maybe…"

Sasori pulled a drawing out of his books. He was just as much in on this as Deidara was. Deidara lit up to tell her about it.

A school dance. Hinata had never been to one. She never even thought to ask her father. She knew his answer, but they couldn't be all that different from a Gala or other events that she would have gone to for the company when she was younger. They would dress their best, but there was a lot less dancing unless it was formal.

All that time her father spent forcing her to learn to waltz was wasted.

Her old school had them. People buzzed on about who they would ask for it. She knew that it was fine not to have a date. And as Sasori pointed out, just because you came in with one didn't mean you left with them.

Who would she even go with?

Kisame.

Hinata blinked. Losing all focus on what Deidara was trying to show her.

Hinata's felt her face heat up. Why was that her immediate answer? Yeah, Kisame was her best friend, and you could take a friend, surely, but Hinata couldn't lie to herself that was absolutely not where her mind went.

Now she was recontextualizing everything and way too fast. Did she lean on him too much? Was that inappropriate? Did she make him uncomfortable? She didn't touch Itachi and Deidara like that. Kisame carried her home, but she never thought of it that way. He held her all evening outside the hospital because she panicked. Did that make him uncomfortable? Was she forcing all this on him?

Hinata must have worn all that panic on her face because when she came back to focus on Deidara's face, he was blinking at her. "Is it that bad, uh?"

"You okay, mouse?" Kisame moved his hand to her shoulder. Hinata flinched.

Kisame's hand hovered just shy of her shoulder as he stared at her. A pit fell into her stomach.

"I'll be back." Hinata got up, tripping herself on her desk leg but catching herself on a neighboring desk. Deidara reached out to brace her, but she waved him off and made her way out of the classroom to try to get her head and face straight before she came back.

"She just freaked out." Kisame waved his hands. "One minute, she was fine, and then she looked like a bunny in headlights and bolted." He shook his head. "And now she's not talking to me."

Itachi sat back on his pillow. "What were you talking about?"

"Deidara and Sasori wanted to make her a dress for the dance." Kisame rubbed his temple. "Doesn't really make sense why she would break down over that. She seemed fine with it at first. She told them they could make it when she got back."

"But she's acting weird?" Itachi filled.

"She didn't want me to carry her home, then she insisted on walking the rest of the way back herself when we passed my place." Kisame face went from exasperated to crushed. "And she's… flinching when I touch her. Do you think I hurt her? I mean, I could have put too much pressure on her, or maybe I just bumped her too hard."

Itachi collected his hands on his chest. Kisame was never going to see himself as anything more than this big brutal monster. "I doubt you hurt her without noticing."

"But she's tiny." Kisame shriveled into himself. "I knew I shouldn't have…"

"Let me talk to her." Itachi offered. "I'm sure it has nothing to do with you."

"She's not flinching when anyone else is around." Kisame self-destructed. "She used to sit right next to me. Now she's moved herself the whole way out to the edge like she's afraid of me."

Itachi sighed. There was really nothing he was going to be able to say until he knew what was going on, but there was no way Hinata was suddenly afraid of him. She knew he started fights. She wasn't afraid to scold him for it. The only thing Itachi could think that would make her act like that was that her cousin finally got to her in some way, but why would it happen in the middle of a conversation, not just one morning when she came in for school?

**Lavender-Long-Stories**
Not sure if anyone is interested, but I have been posting to my tumblr regularly, so I will drop it here. Lavender-Long-Stories