Hinata took the bento from Shino, curious. "What's this for?"
"I am sick of watching you eat instant meals," Shino commented. "Do you cook anything at home?"
Hinata blushed. No, she didn't. It was something Itachi commented on from time to time, but much like his comments on how he didn't eat, he eventually stopped putting so much effort if it was just repeating himself.
The bento was simple, but still more than she could do. Hinata frequently committed the sin of buying precooked rice, so she didn't have to fight with her rice maker. Food was something that she ate because she had to, not because she wanted to.
Hanabi used to make fun of her when she would try to make bento for an outing. Hinata had a distinct memory of Hanabi holding up a sausage Hinata tried to cut into an octopus, but its legs were uneven, and its face just looked like someone stuck a fork in it, but it made Hanabi smile, and that's all the matter really.
"You should eat more food groups, or it's going to affect your health eventually," Itachi commented over her shoulder.
"Thank you, doctor, know it all." Hinata hissed at him.
Itachi snatched a package from Sasuke's hand and put it back on the shelf. "No junk food."
"But they're tomato crisps," Sasuke grumbled.
"You need to eat more food groups." Itachi stopped the cart so Sasuke could climb onto the front to pout. "You can't live off of crackers and tomato soup."
"You became less fun when you became a doctor." Sasuke made a face.
"Really?" Itachi sped up the cart down the aisle to hear Sasuke giggle.
Sizzling irradiated an amazing smell through the kitchen. Hinata leaned on the fridge to watch Itachi work. He had watched her cook plenty of times and corrected her a fair amount, but he had never taken it upon himself to cook for her.
He seemed to know what he was doing, or may this was all just basic things that she never learned.
Itachi reached toward the pan. Hinata scrabbled to stop his hand before she realized he wouldn't feel the heat, but the sizzling oil made her snatch her own hand back. He caught her hand before she got it far, and the prickling oil burns disappeared. "Be careful."
Hinata felt her face heat up. She was trying to protect him, and she made herself look silly. She took her hand back and flattened herself more fully on the refrigerator until he needed to get into it, then she resigned herself to the couch to stay out of his way.
Itachi set a bowl in front of her. "You need better groceries."
"Are you going to keep doing this?" Hinata wondered. Itachi stared back as if his answer was implicit. "Why?"
Itachi tilted his head. "Why do you feel like no one should want to take care of you?"
Hinata bit down on her lip and picked up the chopsticks to keep from answering. Sometimes she just wanted Itachi to give her a straight answer.
"Hey, you're late." Kisame's voice bellowed through her living room, making Hinata jump. He looked huge outside, but in her tiny living room, he looked massive.
"I'm coming," Itachi answered.
Kisame face flattened, looking past Hinata, but all she found behind her was her sister's shrine. "Come on. We have to go."
Itachi gave Kisame a look not to rush him before he stepped forward to pull Hinata's head toward him to kiss her forehead before he disappeared with Kisame. Hinata felt like that action was pointed at Kisame.
Had Itachi ignored his signal to finish her meal? Was she keeping him from the job?
Maybe she should learn to cook.
Itachi frowned at Kisame sitting in Hinata's kitchen. He didn't think he needed to be here, but Hinata invited him. She felt bad for 'keeping him' from his work, but she wasn't the one who made the decision. She didn't ask Itachi to stay. He didn't even tell her that he knew he was meant to go.
Kisame took the offered bakery pastry that Hinata bought to apologize. Kisame was forgiving, but the food would certainly help. "How do you know that girl?" He nodded his head at Hanabi's shrine.
Hinata turned her head. "Oh… that's my sister."
Itachi gave him a look that told him to shut up, but Kisame's reaction was confusion. He tilted his head at the picture, shifting his eyes to Hinata before stuffing the rest of his treat in his mouth. "I am going to get going. Thanks for the food." Kisame patted her shoulder heavily. Hinata's face lit back up. Kisame pointed at Itachi. "Don't make being late a habit."
Itachi glared at the space Kisame was standing in after he disappeared.
"He eats." Hinata teased as she turned to him. "Are you okay?"
"Fine." Itachi straightened his face.
Hinata stumbled into the shop with a box under her arm and turned on the lights. She set the box on the counter and close the door. Opening the shop always had a strange feeling to it. It was always a little colder, a little stale, and a little eerie, like going to the basement by yourself when you were a kid hoping that no one closed the door behind you and trapped you in.
Hinata turned on the rest of the lights and took her coat off, and smelt a waft of ash. Itachi was completely gone this morning when she woke up, which was so rare now it was weird waking up to find her bed empty.
"You have a lost soul asking for you." Itachi nodded his head toward the window.
Hinata turned to see a woman waving from the other side of the street. "Asking for me?"
Itachi tilted his head at the lost soul that disappeared in fear after looking him in the eye. "She says she will go willingly if you do her a favor."
"How do they know?" Hinata wondered.
"I don't know. It wasn't my soul." Itachi eyebrows knit together.
Hinata looked at the time. "I have a while before the shop opened." She waved her hand for him to leave so the soul could come in without fear.
"Who is telling them?" Itachi wondered before he disappeared.
Hinata stood up and clapped her hands with the rest of the crowd and waited as the sea of parents rushed their children. The lost soul stood behind her daughter with heartbreak in her eyes as they sat alone in their little costume, picking at the edges.
Hinata approached her holding out a bought of flowers. "Mirai-chan?" Mirai looked up and accepted the flowers curiously. "Can I take a picture?" Mirai nodded, posing with the flower and a smile. Hinata got lower to make sure she would get her mother in the picture, but Hinata knew that she wouldn't show up in the developed film. After a few pictures, Hinata held out the disposable camera. "You did great."
Mirai held the camera and watched Hinata leave as her mother smiled and disappeared.
Shino shifted the box on the counter. "Do you know what this is?"
Hinata looked up from her sewing. "Oh! I'm sorry that's for you, I had to leave before we closed yesterday, and I forgot."
"Did you say where you had to go?" Shino tilted his head.
"No," Hinata answered, forcing her eyes down.
Shino didn't comment just opened the box and pulled out the contents. "I told you I need my pocket fixed. I didn't need a new coat."
"Think of it as a return gift for Christmas." And not telling Kiba about her birthday. Hinata offered. "And technically, it's not new."
"Can you still fix my pocket?" Shino took off his old coat and put on the new one.
"Sure." Hinata held her hands up to catch his old coat.
Itachi eyed the coat. "I thought you didn't celebrate Christmas?" Hinata side-eyed him as she went back to work.
Hinata waved at Shino as he ducked his face into his new coat and headed in the other direction. Itachi dipped his hand into her pocket. Hinata looked up at him. "Did you feel left out?"
"No." Itachi lied.
Hinata giggled at him and opened the bag she had with her. "Don't worry. I made you something too." She flung the red fabric around his neck twice and patted it into place.
"I don't need a scarf," Itachi explained. "I can't feel the cold."
"No, but you always look cold." Hinata pulled him down by the scarf to kiss him. "I'll burn it for you."
Itachi rubbed his hands together and shivered. Closing, his hands hurt, and felt like all of his ligaments might snap.
"Why are you always cold." Sasuke took off his scarf and pulled it over his head. The fabric held the heat from his little healthy body.
"It comes with age." Itachi lied.
"You're not that old." Sasuke stuck his tongue out.
Itachi grabbed at his tongue to make him snap it back in his mouth. "Mental age."
The boy bowed his head with the adults that were with him and placed the folded coat into the metal basin and drizzled something on it and dropped in a match. "I want him to have a coat. He's always cold."
One of the adults, presumably a parent, kneeled down to hug him, holding back the trembling of their lip behind a smile. "That's very sweet, Sasuke. Let's go."
"I hope Itachi likes it." Sasuke's voice echoed in the distance.
Itachi tilted his head at the boy's back and then back that coat as it burned. Was this for him? He didn't know who the child was. He didn't even know why he came here today.