Gaara flinched. It wasn't bad, but it was more bitter than he was expecting.
Hinata sipped her tea from her home, closing her eyes to disappear into a happy state of comfort. This was important to her.
Gaara looked into the cup she shared with him. She had a limited supply of this. Why give it to him?
"Do you not like it?" Hinata hummed into her cup.
"It's… not what I am used to," Gaara answered.
Hinata sat back. "Growing up in my home, we drank this at every meal."
"Hot drinks at meals?" Well, maybe in a colder climate.
"It's good for digestion." Hinata nodded. "My family is traditional. Old customs like drinking tea with meals and home remedies were more common there than it was in the rest of the village."
"What would the rest of the village drink for digestion?" Gaara wondered.
Hinata tilted her head. "Well, yogurt drinks were popular. I never liked them much. They were too sweet."
Interesting. Did his home village have something like that? Maybe Temari could find him something like that.
"There used to be a corner store my team would go to after training. Kiba-kun would always get meat sticks and a dog treat, and Shino-kun liked veggie chips." Hinata sipped her tea and looked past him to think.
"What would you have?" Gaara wondered.
"I wasn't allowed to have snacks." Hinata's eyes shot down into her cup. "But Kiba-kun would sometimes buy himself something he knew he wasn't going to like and give it to me to make me eat it."
"You weren't allowed? Then why did you go?" That didn't make sense.
Hinata shrugged. "I went because I liked my team."
'Stop it.' Shukaku growled at him. 'You're going to upset her.'
Gaara ignored him. "What was it like to work in a team?"
Hinata finished her cup and put it aside. "Well, every team is different. I was on a tracking team, so most of our missions were trying to find and retrieve things or people. It was a good use of all our skills. We saw less combat than most teams, which I guess was a good thing because I was always dragging behind my peers in skill level." She forced a smile. "I guess that doesn't matter much now, does it?"
Shukaku growled angrily. Gaara understood his upset. He was upset with himself, too.
Hinata sat on her bed and looked at her headband, slowly accumulating dust on the nightstand. Why did she even leave it out?
All those years of trying to prove herself, and now, it didn't even matter. She wasn't sure it was even going to matter. Her father didn't care how hard she was trying or what she was achieving. There was always someone better, and if she couldn't be the best, then what was the point? She wasn't sure what the end goal was or if there was one to meet. It was possible that the post was moved every time she got close to it.
Or maybe she was trying to make herself feel better when she was just never close to meeting expectations.
Hanabi could do it.
Hanabi.
Hinata tried not to think about her sister. Hanabi wasn't even home when Hinata was sent here. She didn't have a chance to say goodbye, but knowing Hanabi, she may not have cared much.
Or maybe she would have kicked up a fit. Hinata was never sure where she was with her sister. It changed weekly while Hanabi was in her hormonal teen stage.
Hinata's heart clenched. How long had it been now? A few months? Was Hanabi happy she was gone? Part of her hoped so. If Hanabi were glad to see her gone, then she wouldn't miss her, and that would be the thing that would break Hinata's heart the most.
Her team went their separate ways before she left. Kiba retired when he decided to get married, and Shino had started teaching. Hinata assumed with her team gone, her father would have no choice but to bring her home to become head or decide what he was going to do with her if he was going to deny her that right.
… He decided.
Maybe that's what made sending her here so easy. It was a convenient deal for him.
Gaara sat outside Hinata's door. She was usually out in their usual spot with her pile of blankets right now, but she hadn't left her room. She had barely left her bed.
This was his fault.
'It is.' Shukaku agreed.
Gaara kept quiet, staring at the wall, wondering if she would move to the other side of the door. Maybe she went to sleep?
As Hinata's feet hit the floor, Gaara moved away quickly as she dug through her closet and dragged something out. She dragged it down the hall to where he had resettled himself. It was a big mat like the ones Temari and Kankuro slept on when they visited.
"You won't mind if I sleep out here, will you?" Hinata unrolled the plush mat.
"No," Gaara answered. "But why do you want to sleep out here?"
Hinata paused her prep to look at him. "I'm feeling lonely." She admitted.
'Interesting that she wants to spend more time with you despite you being the one that is to make her lonely.' Shukaku sneered. 'But if that brings her out, maybe you should exploit it.'
Gaara wasn't going to do that. "You want me to sleep out here?"
"If you don't mind… it wouldn't be the first time we didn't quite make it to bed." Hinata went back to collect her big blanket and pillow. "Though if I slept out here alone, it might be a bit cold."
Gaara nodded. She liked to be warm when she slept.
Hinata sat on the end of her made-up mat. "What do you want me to draw today?"