Hinata hummed as she combed through her hair; she was working to braid it, but its length was not ideal for such a style, so she settled on a hair band that she was gifted by the nurses. Her mood was elevated today, simply because she was stepping out of the hospital — although not quite since she would just be sitting outside.

She missed being outside; from being confined to her room and Orochimaru's 'lair', to the hospital room, she was very excited. The forecast for the day said that it would be sunny, just a little bit chilly, but she didn't care about that bit at all.

"Are you ready?" There was a knock on her door, and when she turned around, she saw him leaning against the door with his arms crossed and a small smile on his face.

"Mhm." She nodded and grabbed her walker. "I hope I don't look too much like a patient." She tried to joke as she approached him.

"You do." He held the door open.

"Oh, shut up." She hit him on the way out of her room.

"I'm glad to have you back." He mumbled as he followed her to the elevator.

Hinata turned to Sasuke and tilted her head to the side, "what do you mean?"

"You're making jokes again." He glanced at her and then looked away. She didn't know it, but her little habit of tilting her head in confusion — something he picked up as well — made him want to hold her face.

"I always make jokes." She stepped into the elevator.

"Not…Nice ones."

"It's called dark humour." She shrugged, "Sakura says it's a coping mechanism of some sort, and it makes me laugh sometimes, so it doesn't matter."

"I'm sure she did." Sasuke grunted.

If he was being honest, sometimes he did not like Sakura, simply because she was a little bit too privy for his liking. He understood that it was her job, and she was looking out for Hinata, but whenever she stopped him in the halls to talk, it seemed as though she was trying to get to know him more as a person rather than just Hinata's friend.

He shivered.

"What are you thinking about?" Hinata couldn't help but notice the displeased look on his face. "Was my joke really not that funny?"

"No, I just thought of a certain pink haired woman." He answered truthfully.

"You really don't like her." Hinata pressed the handicap button and waited for the main doors to open.

"I don't hate her either, I'm just not used to…"

"I wasn't either."

"You should leave that to me, it's weird having you dislike someone before I do. I'm supposed to be the one trying to convince you that they're an asshole, or that they're insanely annoying."

"People change; now I dislike everyone."

"Including me?"

Hinata rolled her eyes and nudged him. "you were always a given. How else did we become friends?"

"It was me who disliked you first, which brings me back to my first point."

"Yeah, yeah, Uchiha. It's time for some role reversals, I'll be the big, mean, scary one, and you can be the soft spoken person."

They came to a stop in front of the hospital gardens, admiring how…barren it looked with all the flowers out of their beds.

"Seems as if they're renovating it." Hinata muttered.

"The bench is still available." He rested his hand on her lower back, avoiding the look she gave him as he ushered her to the bench. Sasuke sat down and leaned back as she joined him. "And role reversal is weird, because I'm still the 'big, mean, scary one' in front of everyone else."

"But me."

"But you."

"Some things never change." She mused as she sighed and combed her hair again.

They sat in silence, one that was slightly awkward since they did not know what to talk about. A conversation did not come as easily as it once would — not since his confession and her proposal to learn how exactly to love him and herself again. He'd play with the ring on his finger, one she gifted him for his birthday, and she would twist her sweater in her hands.

Both of them would take small glances at each other, as if a conversation topic was thought of, but quickly disappeared once they realized who was at their side. How were they going to advance their relationship, whether platonic or romantic, if they couldn't even face each other without being overcome with the silent love they had for one another?

"Are you hungry?" Sasuke asked after some time.

"Not really." She answered. "Are you?"

"No."

Hinata itched her hand. "Can we try something? I've been doing it with Sakura during therapy, and occasionally with Mister Might and his assistant."

"What is it?"

"Hold your hand out." She instructed as she bit her lip.

"Like this?" His palm faced up as it rested on his lap.

"When I squeeze it, please let me go." She nodded as she slowly rested her hand in his own. Her fingers curled around his and she closed her eyes as she breathed deeply. "It's exposure therapy, because I hate being touched, if I initiate it first, I usually have a better reaction than if someone else did. Since it's hard with Sakura, I thought that maybe…if I did it with someone I'm used to it would make it easier."

And she wanted to hold his hand, but she didn't say that but.

"Okay." He allowed his fingers to curl around her hand as he focused on how warm it was.

Sasuke wondered if she could feel his heartbeat in his fingers, or if his hand was getting sweaty. He has held her hand countless times over the years, but none of those times meant anything beyond just a regular hand holding for a few seconds. Now, it meant something more. She was doing it for herself, but even he could tell that she wanted to try it for a whole different reason.

He felt her give his hand a soft squeeze, and was about to let her go instantly, but she held him tighter.

"Your hand is surprisingly warm." She muttered. "Sakura's hand is usually cold, and I can feel her bones — no doubt, she could feel my own as well. Yours…it's nice, I never noticed it before."

"Is that a compliment?"

"Of course." She giggled and opened her eyes. Her cheeks were pink, and her face felt hot, but she couldn't find herself pulling her hand out of his. "This is the longest I've lasted with someone touching me for a period of time."

"Would you like to stop? We can take a break." He didn't want to let her go.

"Do you want to?"

He hesitated as he shook his head.

"Then I don't." She leaned her head against his shoulder.


Sasuke opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling of his bedroom. He looked to his side to see that the bed was empty, and the ghost smell of Hinata tainted his nose as he closed his eyes again. He had a dream about her, one that was not plagued by the threat of danger. She was smiling, and laughing more freely. They would exchange soft kisses before she would go back to smiling. It was a dream he didn't want to end, but he did not complain.

Today, he had to go to work after avoiding it for a week to hang around with her whenever she wanted. His family didn't find an issue with it, not at first, but his two day absence extended to eight days (weekends excluded) and that annoyed Itachi.

It wasn't his fault really, he just had a really bad habit of losing track of time whenever she was nearby.

Rolling out of bed with a soft grunt, he dragged his feet to his closet to take out his suit before he went to take a shower. With his hair washed, his teeth brushed, and a few pats to his cheeks so he did not look like a walking skeleton who was annoyed by the thought of work, he grabbed his things to leave.

Pausing at the entrance of his apartment, his eyes caught the camera that sat on his shelf. Grabbing it quickly, as well as the coupon for some cinnamon rolls he had saved, he left his apartment.

Would it be bad if he stopped at the hospital first? Would being late be bad? Itachi wouldn't mind if he was late, would he? At least he would be there…

Speaking of the devil, his phone rang loudly since it was connected to his bluetooth speakers.

"What?" He answered, his plans on taking a detour immediately gone as his brother sighed on the other end.

"Are you coming today?" Itachi asked. There was some shuffling and muffled speaking on his end of the call, Sasuke figured that he was probably getting ready for a meeting.

"Of course."

"You're not lying, are you?"

"Does it sound like I am?" He came to a stop at a light.

"You can say that you are but you wouldn't show up at all."

Sasuke couldn't help but smirk, Itachi did have a point. "I am coming today, but I will be leaving around…" He looked at his watch, "seven?"

"I don't even care if you leave early, just get your ass here, I need you."

"That's a first, what's going on?"

"Father, is what's going on."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"He comes back every few months and all hell breaks loose, you'd think that everyone would be used to it by now." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I'll be there within the next ten minutes." He hung up.


"It's good to see you after so long." Hinata welcomed her family into her room.

"You're doing a lot better, what changed?" Hanabi teased as she placed down a jar of flowers on the windowsill. "Does she not look better, father?"

Hiashi sat down on the couch and nodded in agreement. "Is it because you can finally walk around without needing someone at your side?" He guessed.

Hinata smiled and shook her head. "Perhaps? I'm not quite sure."

"It's Sasuke." Neji said bluntly as he sat down. m

"Who said that?" Her eyes widened as she stared at him curiously.

"You two have been behaving the exact same way for the past few days. I've seen him, I've heard the complaints from his brother, and you seem no different. What happened between the two of you?"

"Did he confess?" Hanabi blocked her mouth quickly after realizing what she blurted out.

"Confess?" Hinata played dumb as she blinked.

"Oh shit." Hanabi turned to Neji and hit him, "this is your fault."

"How so?" He raised his eyebrow, "I didn't say anything."

"You instigated!"

"I did not."

Hinata laughed, making them look at her in confusion. "He did."

Hanabi's face burned red as her shoulders became slack, she hated being made a fool, but she couldn't be mad at her sister since she was laughing so freely. She couldn't help but laugh as well. "I was waiting for you to realize that he liked you."

"Did everyone know that?"

The three sitting in front of her looked at each other before nodding slowly.

"Since when?"

"Since you were kids?" Hiashi mumbled.

"Eh? I didn't notice until maybe last year." Hanabi's mouth was agape. "How about you, Neji?"

"Hm…Since their high school graduation."

"Oh! When he carried her home." Hanabi laughed.

"She has the picture as her lock screen, I've never really paid attention to Sasuke's phone, but I'm sure he has a picture of her somewhere." Neji nodded.

"Hinata, how come you've never realized?" Her sister teased.

"I…I don't know?" She itched her cheek. "I assumed he was just…ya'know?"

"We don't." Hiashi shook his head.

"I thought he was gay." She looked away.

The room erupted in laughter.

"Guys, it's not that funny." She pouted. "He just never dated anyone."

"Because he was in love with you and he didn't even know it!" Hanabi slapped her knee and wiped a tear from her eye.

"Yeah, I know that now." She smiled.

"So, do you like him back?" Hiashi asked, causing the room to quiet down.

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" He repeated.

"I just experienced the worst thing of my life, love isn't exactly on my radar, but I want to try for Sasuke…We did hold hands recently, and it wasn't hard to do at all."

He nodded in understanding. "As long as you're moving at a pace you're comfortable with, and he stays. I might break his legs so he can go to therapy with you."

"Father!" Hinata laughed.