"That's it, Hinata."

She let out a huff, her legs shaking as she looked down at the mat below her that taunted her. She looked up to see her physiotherapist, his name was Mister Might, but he preferred to be called 'Gai'. The first time she had met him, she couldn't help but stare at his all green attire that frowned out the whites of his coats, that and his bowl cut and pearly white smile. Gai had an assistant, who was currently at her side in case of her falling, his name was 'Lee'.

"You're doing a really good job!" Lee grinned at her, his fingers hovering over her waist, but never touching her. "Just a few more steps."

"Can I stop?" She asked as she looked at him with pleading eyes. Her legs were hurting, and it felt as though a thousand pins were being inserted into her skin without plans of stopping. "I don't think—" She swallowed and stared at her weak legs and back at the small distance she still had to cover.

"Are you sure?" Gai looked up from his clipboard, a pen held firmly in his hand. "If you finish today, you won't have to worry about doing it again tomorrow. I know recovery is hard, it's never really easy, but you've come so far."

Lee nodded in agreement. "I used to be the same way after my accident!"

"You had an accident?" She took another step forward.

"Motorcycle. It was pretty bad, I crashed into a truck and was really lucky that I didn't break any major bones — besides snapping my femur and my arm — which I guess is bad now that I say it." He laughed and itched his forehead, giving her a wide smile, "it took me months before i was able to walk again, and I still had to use a crutch anyway."

"That's…amazing." Hinata finally let herself fall as she got to the end of the mat. A towel was thrusted in front of her face, which she took with a nod of gratitude as she began patting her face dry.

"Yeah, so don't feel too bad that you're now using just a walker instead of that stupid old wheelchair of yours." He grabbed her a water bottle. "You're not going to be staying here every day soon."

"How do you know that?" She stared at the swirling liquid in the bottle. It's been three months since she's been in the hospital, and there wasn't any sign that she would be discharged soon anyway.

Even if her injuries were healed, there was still a lot of work that needed to be done — mentally at least. She would just be moved to another department, that's all, and then her family would still be too busy to visit, and Sasuke…

Hinata hummed, looking at Lee with her owlish eyes; she had missed what he said, but did not ask him to repeat himself. Nodding along despite her cluelessness, she waved slightly at the nurse who arrived to take her back to her room and get her freshened up before it was time for dinner.

"How was it today?" They asked as Lee left the both of them alone to help Gai with their next patient.

She shrugged, "the same." She wiggled her feet into her slippers and grabbed the handles of her walker. The first few steps were hard, but that was only because she was tired, still, she did not complain as they walked to the elevator.

The entire ride back up to the twelfth floor was spent deep in her thoughts. It wandered back to the Uchiha who had caused her to tune out Lee's acute observation of her recovery; she frowned as the elevator doors opened. Again, it had been a few days since she last saw him, and she had an inkling why.

Perhaps he thought she didn't hear him, or knew that he visited, because he had not returned since then. She heard him, of course she did, and she didn't turn around to face him as he struggled to voice his words. His voice was just above a whisper that night, scared to wake her, and scared to hurt both her and himself.

She did not turn around to comfort him, because she knew that she would hurt him. There was no way it could happen, no matter how much her heart had clenched, and her fingers became clammy at the words he muttered, she knew that it wouldn't work.

"Hinata?"

She looked up, realizing that she had stopped walking to stare at the door of her bedroom.

"Is something the matter?"

She shook her head and put on a soft smile. "I was just thinking." She took a step into her room and closed the door behind her. "Can we use lukewarm water today?"

"Not up for your usual hot shower after therapy?" The nurse joked as they gathered a clean pair of clothes for her.

"Not today, I might fall asleep before I can eat." She lied as she went to the bathroom to wait.

Inside, she took the liberty to take off her large shirt and struggled with her pants a little bit. Once they were all off, she stared at her legs and arms with a frown. No one wanted to say it then, and no one would say it now, but she was deathly skinny when she first arrived. At least now there seemed to be some weight gain: her thighs weren't as big anymore, nor was her stomach pudgy, or her upper arms slightly flabby — gone was her thick yet curvy figure, what replaced it was a mere shadow. Coming her hand through her hair, she pulled her legs shut and itched at her arms.

The phantom feelings of needles had disappeared over time, but they did return occasionally, especially if she wasn't monitored well. It was the only improvement — besides her weight gain and mobility — that she had noted. Perhaps Lee was right, she might not be staying in the hospital every day anymore. Maybe one or two checkups a week, then once or twice every month, to once every three months…until she no longer had to come back and she could resume her life as Hinata Hyūga: daughter of Hiashi, sister of Hanabi, cousin of Neji, and friend of…

Friend?

Lover?

Stranger.

She wouldn't burden him with herself. She wouldn't make him hurt because she was hurting.

Sasuke stood outside room 1207, peering through the small window at the woman who sat on her bed with her hands folded carefully on her lap and her hair brushed behind her ears. She did not look at him, nor did she shift from her spot to look at anything besides the window. Not even as he opened the bedroom door and took one step in did she turn her head.

He sat down on the couch to the side, and swallowed hard as his eyes went from studying her pale skin, to catching her eyes as she looked away quickly. A greeting teased his lips, his tongue felt heavy in his mouth as all he could think about was the confession he had muttered two weeks ago. She should be angry, maybe she was, he did not come visit her after that.

Was she mad at him?

Sasuke set down the bento box he had helped his mother prepare for her; as an apology, for what? He tried to believe that it was for not visiting, but it might have been because of those words he said. He was going to tell her that he was joking, that he didn't mean it, that he was practicing his confession in front of her for someone else — yes, that's what he was going to tell her, but he couldn't. Because then he'd be lying; to himself, to his heart, but mostly to an already broken woman.

"Hinata." Her name came out in a croak, his cheeks flushed a light shade of pink from embarrassment. "I'm sorry that I couldn't visit." He looked down at her hands, not his own, he'd be too distracted by how pink they were from digging his nails into his palms.

She tilted her head.

Was she not going to speak today?

"That's okay." She whispered, and went back to staring outside the window.

There was something in her eyes, something that made him frown as his eyebrows furrowed in his attempt to decipher what it was. "Are you mad at me?"

"For what?" She did not look at him, but her lip got caught between her teeth as it began assaulting it.

"For disappearing."

"You have a life to live, Sasuke, I'm not angry that you've continued it while I'm sitting here. I'm fine." Was she trying to convince herself or him?

"That's not an excuse to not—"

"I'm used to it." She turned to him again. "My family barely visits, it's no different if you don't either." Her fingers were curled into the sheets.

"No, it has to be different. I want it to be different." He moved closer to the bed but still remained planted on the couch.

"How so?"

He frowned. "As your friend—"

"You don't want to be my friend." When he put his hand on the bed, mere inches from where her foot rested, she shifted away slightly.

Sasuke froze. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean." She was hurting and she wouldn't let him hurt too. "I can't be your friend anymore, Sasuke."

"What?"

Bullshit. She was lying, he could tell, he was always able to tell.

"I can't be—"

"You know you're lying, Hinata." He stood up and approached the bed. "Do you really…"

"I can't be your friend anymore—"

"Why?"

"Sasuke—"

"Why can't you?"

She looked away. "I just can't."

He lifted her chin, a small touch that had both his fingers and her skin feeling hot. "Tell me why."

"Because…"

"Because?"

"I…I…" She shook her head, "I don't want to be your friend anymore."

"That's not a reason."

"What do you want from me?"

"The truth."

"About what? I told you already."

"Hinata—"

"I don't want you to be my friend, and I don't want to be your friend, because you'll get hurt the longer you spend time with me! You're going to hurt yourself if you love me!" She pushed him away and pulled her hands back to her stomach. "You're going to get your heart broken because of me, and I don't want you to feel any less than you are, so I can't be your friend anymore."

He stood there, staring at her as her lips quivered and tears formed in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke. I heard you…I know you stayed away because of it, and I want to keep it that way because you'll hurt less."

He clenched his fists. "Who are you to decide that?"

Her eyes widened as she caught his gaze.

"Who are you to decide what hurts me? Being away from you does that. Seeing you suffer alone does that. Leaving you alone hurts me, Hinata. Hearing you cry every time, seeing you get frustrated, being there as you try to fix yourself for the next person to break you again; so many things hurt me. So don't you dare think that you're doing me a favour by pushing me away — don't you dare think that I would stop being there just because you're scared."

"I can't love—"

"I'm not asking you to."

Her shoulders shook. "You shouldn't—"

"I will."

"Sasuke, I'm not fit for—"

"Bullshit."

Tears fell past her eyelashes.

"I…Will you teach me again?"

His stance relaxed, the stinging in his eyes from holding back tears of frustration and fear began to subside. "Teach you what?"

"To be strong…To protect myself…To love myself and the world." She wiped her face vigorously. "Maybe you can teach me how to love you like you love me. I just don't know, Sasuke. I don't know and I know you don't either…but…" A choked sob left her mouth, her head was bowed as her hands were hidden under the sheets. "I'm just scared to hurt you because of what's happening up here." She pointed at her head.

"I will." He came closer, and sat at the edge of the bed. "I'll try."

"You can't promise that it will work."

"I can't."

"Does that not scare you?"

He nodded.

"Then why are you so adamant on moving forward?"

"It's with you — it's always been with you, since we were kids. We promised, even if we hated each other before, that we'd be there when the other is in trouble."

"This is different."

"How so?"

"We promised as friends…"

"If it's friendship you want, I'm okay with that too…"

"It's not what you want though."

"If it's what I can get then I won't complain." He lifted his fingers and she moved back with a frown on her face.

"You can't do that because you're not leaving." She covered her forehead.

"You remembered?" His hand fell and he smirked.

"You fought with Itachi about it, it's what led to you sleeping at my house and Hanabi putting hair dye in your shampoo. You hated it when he did it to you because of what it meant, so please don't do it to me." She frowned.

"Should I do the other one?"

"Other one?"

"Is it okay to touch you?"

Hinata looked at him curiously before slowly nodding her head.

Sasuke's smile was faint as he brought up his hand again. Expecting him to poke her forehead regardless of her previous request, she closed her eyes and waited. His hand held her neck as he pulled her closer before he pressed his forehead against her own.

"Is this alright?" His breath tickled her eyelashes.

She peeked at him, and felt her face heat up as she nodded. "Is this the 'other one'?"

"Hn."

"I like it better."

"I like you."