The flickering light from the candles around her made shadows dance across the walls and the ceiling. Hinata's hands were folded neatly on her stomach, and if anyone were to pass by, they would think of her as a corpse. Her eyes remained trained on the patterns that the lights made, the humming of the room's heater making the songs for the shadows to dance to. She turned her head to the side to see him asleep on the couch.

His body was covered by a blanket, and nothing made it past the thick fabric besides his outstretched arm and the black tussle of hair that moved slightly every time he shifted.

Sasuke had arrived a few hours ago wearing his work clothes. He claimed to not be tired, but she could tell by the way his eyes would remain closed for a few seconds longer every time he blinked that he was exhausted. Life had resumed for him — much like it resumed for everyone beside herself. He still made it his duty to visit her all the time though, even if that meant sleeping at the hospital at two in the morning until he had to leave for work again.

She smiled softly and turned her head again to watch those shadows above her flicker playfully. Her mind created images of her; her younger self running around, following Sasuke cluelessly because she couldn't be alone for more than a second before bursting into tears.

'You're such a big baby.' He would roll his eyes and grumble, yet he would reach for her hand and pull her close as they navigated the world together. Never once has he ever let her go, not until she was confident enough to untwine their hands and walk away.

That was such a mistake.

Whenever she thought herself to be prepared for what lay ahead, she would be forced to acknowledge that she was indeed a 'big baby'. Hinata wasn't made for this world. She gets hurt easily, she stutters whenever she feels overwhelmed, she cries at the slight change in someone's voice, and she just always finds herself in trouble.

He would come to her rescue every single time; dusting her hands and knees carefully before patting her on the back and telling her to keep going. He never left her, but she always left him every time she thought she was ready.

Digging her fingernails into her arm, she glanced at him again. "Sasuke?" She whispered.

He did not move.

She flung the sheets keeping her trapped in bed to the side, her feet dangling from the tall bed as she moved. "Sasuke?" She called out again.

He stirred in his sleep, but he still did not open his eyes nor did he make any noise to indicate that he heard her.

Her feet touched the cold tiles and she hissed at the unfamiliar ground. Using the side handles on her bed, she stood up on shaking legs and took one step forward. "Sasuke, can you hold me?" She stuttered. "I want…I want you to hold me, like when we were kids and there was a thunderstorm."

Thanking the heavens that the couch was not far from her bed, and mentally sending her regards to her physiotherapist, she made it just in time for her legs to give out. That seemed to have startled him as he shot up with his eyes narrowed, ready to find any sort of threat, and then his eyes settled on her disheveled form that sat at the edge of the couch.

"You're not supposed to be out of bed." He relaxed. "Did you have to use the bathroom?"

Hinata shook her head, "can I lay with you?"

Sasuke looked down at the place he was currently occupying. It wasn't big enough for more than one person, but then again, Hinata was small enough to fit in the remaining space. "Are you sure?"

He did not want her to have a harsh reaction to touching him again. She had had a hard time dealing with it, and if it wasn't for Sakura — who had reached out in the first place — he wouldn't know that something as simple as touching Hinata's hand would cause her to spiral.

"No…" She answered honestly.

He took the blanket off of himself and held it up. "Would it be better if you couldn't feel my skin against yours?"

Her eyes widened, the thought of using another sheet, or anything really, as an extra layer of skin to protect herself never crossed her mind before. She smiled, this time it reached her eyes, as she let him wrap her with the blanket.

Sasuke laid back down, pressing his back to the couch, giving her enough room to lay down in front of him. Hinata held the blanket close, closing her eyes for a second as she felt his warmth spread from him to her. The blanket also smelled like his favourite cologne.

He was awkward at first, unsure of where exactly he could put his hands, until she moved again. Pressing her back to his chest, she sighed as he finally understood that she was okay for the moment. Holding her was alright. Sasuke swung his arm over her waist and pulled her closer.

"You can go back to sleep." She muttered.

"You need to as well." He closed his eyes.

"In a minute."

It was silent for a few minutes, her eyes were still focused on the flickering lights of the candle as she counted each of his breaths to keep her mind from wandering into the dark abyss that resided within her.

"Do you remember when Hanabi changed your shampoo to hair dye?" She spoke to herself. "You were mad, but it was really hard to see the change in your hair unless the sunlight hit it at the perfect angle. Itachi found it funny…"

"So did you." He whispered back.

"You remember?"

"You scolded her, but you couldn't stop laughing. It was the last time I decided to sleep at your house."

"I miss laughing."

"…Why can't you?"

She shrugged, "I can't do a lot of things anymore. I'm too scared…I'm a big baby." She let out a choked out sob. "I could be doing so many things, maybe opening another chain of my bakery, or moving on to some other guy who I think is the perfect one."

Sasuke listened.

"I could have had children. I could have trained my employees to take over while I take care of my family. I could have been married and…I wouldn't have to feel disgusted in myself. I'm a big baby." She turned in his arms to face him. "I'm a big baby scared of the thunder again. Of the bullies. Of the thoughts. The screams. The touches. Myself."

He lifted his hand and cupped her cheek, his thumb tried to brush away every single tear that slipped past her eyes, but they never stopped. "Is this okay?"

"I'm too upset to care."

"You can still do those things…"

"Even you don't believe that."

"I do."

"No one would want me, Sasuke. Naruto left already. Father can barely look me in the eye, Neji sees me and gets angry, and Hanabi…Hanabi keeps crying whenever I look at her. No one out there would want me either."

"I do."

"Yeah, because you're my only friend." She closed her eyes.

He did not refute her statement, even if his mind was telling him to shut her up and have her listen to him. A friend? Being referred to as such hurt him more than he thought. That's what they were, weren't they? Childhood best friends. Nothing but friends.

"Is that all you see me as?" The question left his mouth before he realized.

"I—"

"Go to sleep, Hinata."

She frowned and pulled away from him slightly, letting his hand fall from her face. "Okay." The last thing she felt before she closed her eyes and finally let slumber find her were his fingers against her forehead.

He did not return after that.

Hinata sat in front of the big windows of the hospital's cafeteria, staring out at the rain that fell heavily. The parking lot was barely visible through the thick fog, but she had always found it easy to see through it. His car never passed by, and whenever she thought it did, it was someone else. She wondered if she said something wrong that night, or if she did something that angered him. Perhaps he didn't like seeing her anymore.

She frowned at that thought.

"I'm glad to see you out of your room." Sakura set a tray down in front of her. She wasn't exactly invited to join her but Hinata didn't make any sort of protest. "It's raining really hard out there, isn't it?"

"Yeah." She picked up her smoothie and took a sip.

"Are you sitting here alone?"

"No…My family is supposed to meet me here." Hinata answered, going back to focusing on the cars that drove by in the parking lot. She wished Sasuke would come visit her again.

"Oh! I guess I should let you be then." Sakura picked up her tray and stood up. "Sorry."

"It's alright."

"I'll see you on Wednesday."

"Mhm."

Silence followed quickly after [besides the pitter patter of the rain, the bustling cafeteria, and the occasional announcement over the PA system], and Hinata found herself hating it as it pursued. Just as she was about to ask for the help of a passing nurse to take her back to the twelfth floor, she spotted her cousin's car.

She straightened her already straight posture, and patted her hair down as if she was having a meeting with a higher up and not her family. Her mind may be a mess most of the time, but she had to remain presentable physically.

She counted to one hundred three times before her family appeared in the cafeteria, and she had just gotten to thirty five when they sat down around the table.

"Hinata." Hanabi moved in to hug her, but remembered her sister's previous reaction, so she settled on a smile and a wave of her hand. "I hope you didn't wait long, Neji was taking his time in the shower this time."

Hinata smiled, "I haven't actually. I got down here a few minutes ago." She's been sitting in the cafeteria all morning, but they didn't have to know that. "How is school?"

Hanabi waved her hand in a dismissive manner. "The same old. Miss Yuhi did ask me to say 'hello' for her."

"She still works there? I thought she would have retired by now."

She wanted to point out that Hinata always knew that Kurenai still worked at the same high school, but figured that it wouldn't be a good idea to tell her that her memory is lacking. "Yeah, she had a kid too."

"I know about Mirai."

'But not Kurenai working at…' Hanabi hid a frown behind her hand as she looked around. "Have you eaten? Should we get something to eat?"

"No need." Neji finally spoke up, his eyes downcast and looking at everything but Hinata. "I made you some stuff." He pulled out a lunch box and opened it.

"Shouldn't you guys eat as well?" Hinata watched as he placed down some boiled eggs, stir fry, a small portion of stewed pork and a cinnamon roll.

"We ate before we came." He smiled. 'We want to see you eat.' Was the message he did not want her to receive.

"That's a shame, but I'm not…" She picked up her smoothie and showed it to them. "This makes me full very fast." Hinata didn't miss the frown on their faces. "But I think I can eat the cinnamon roll."

"Those were always your favourite." Hiashi crossed his arms. "How have things been? Are they treating you well?"

'You would know that if you visited often.' Hinata stared at him, and faked a smile as her thoughts began to attack the people in front of her for being dismissive and scared to face her. "Yeah, things are great. I started therapy a few weeks ago."

"That's not hard, is it?" Hanabi pouted.

"Is therapy ever easy? I'm handling it as best as I can. Between spilling my secrets and learning how to use my weak legs again, there's only so much I can focus on. How hard it is doesn't really matter in the long run." She picked at the cinnamon roll and ate it slowly.

The family fell into a moment of silence as the atmosphere became bleak. There was nothing to really discuss, and that was most likely the reason they didn't come so often. Hinata couldn't blame them, even if such a revelation hurt her, she knew that the sight of her current state wasn't at all welcoming.

"Sasuke apologized." Neji closed the remaining containers of food that she did not attempt touching.

"What for?"

"He couldn't make it since he has a meeting to attend to."

Since when did that ever stop him from visiting?

"That's okay."

It wasn't. She wanted to see him.

"He looked upset the last time I saw him, as if he was dealing with something really bad." Hanabi shared. "Did he say anything to you?"

Their conversation came to mind.

"No."

"Maybe it's stress from work." Hiashi sighed and flicked his wrist as he took a look at his watch. "Fugaku is back, you know how that goes."

"Right." She finished half of the cinnamon roll and took a sip of her smoothie again. "I'm glad you guys could visit."

"We're happy to see you, Hinata." Hanabi reached across the table, forgetting for a second that her sister didn't want to be touched. She held her hand and smiled. "We'll be back next week."

"Okay." Hinata nodded and blinked, staring at her sister's hand. She closed her fingers around it and nodded again. "Alright.