Her father kept giving her bentos, and Hinata kept leaving them in front of Sasuke's door before running away all throughout summer. When his birthday came, Hiashi gave his daughter a piece of cake along with the customary bento to give him, but even then Hinata never gathered enough courage to see him face to face.
As the end of August was approaching, two months from the Uchiha massacre, as it was being called now, had already passed, but Sasuke didn't seem inclined to leave his apartment except for groceries and the occasional visit to the hospital. Every time he was outside, people would look at him with pity and talk among themselves about how unfortunate he was. Hinata managed to catch one of these moments when she was outside accompanying Ko for one of her father's orders at the armory.
Sasuke stood in front of a food stand. He didn't seem to know what to buy and so the vendor slowly and with care helped him through the process. She could see he was uncomfortable with the way the older man was talking to him, even though he was being nothing but nice, only to realize later that it wasn't only the vendor, but practically the entire street had stopped what they were doing in order to watch the rumored sole survivor of the Uchiha massacre.
Hinata quickly averted her gaze when she realized she was one of those persons staring and decided to wait for Ko a little farther down the street, not noticing the pair of dark eyes glancing at her as she did so.
Finally, after two months of vacation, the academy returned and Hinata was a little excited about it. After all, she had not been able to see her favorite blond in all that time, and going to classes was the sure way to get a glimpse of him, even if it was only from afar. In some part of her mind though, she also thought that if she went back to the academy her father wouldn't ask her to bring bentos to Sasuke anymore. How wrong she was.
The first day of the second school period arrived along with Sasuke, and not only the entire class, but the entire academy was agape with his return. When Hinata lay eyes on him, she was also surprised, but not because she hadn't seen him before.
Gone was the boy with the dead eyes and the disheveled appearance. In his place, an elegant boy with crisp clothes proudly displaying the fan of his clan on his back showed up, and the girls were immediately all over him, talking, giving condolences Hinata wasn't sure they truly understood, and trying to touch him. But while Sasuke had never liked girls clinging to him, it was the first time she had ever seen him actually being violent towards them. When Ino took a hold of his arm and pressed her nonexistent chest against it, in an imitation of a seductive pose she probably didn't know the real meaning of, Sasuke didn't even look at her before grabbing a chunk of her hair and pulling. Ino cried out, releasing his arm while looking at him confused, and when Sasuke finally turned his eyes to her, his expression was so cold and dark it gave Hinata, who was far away from the scene, chills.
"Don't ever touch me again" he warned before releasing her hair and roughly pushing her away, making his way to his desk ignoring Iruka's warning not to be so rough with his classmates. He sat down, placing his elbows on the surface of the desk and letting his chin rest on top of his knuckles, and no one else dared bother him for the rest of the lesson.
Hinata was surprised at the change, but at the same time she had expected something like this. After seeing his family murdered by the one he loved the most, it was obvious he couldn't be the same cheerful kid, but this, this aura of darkness that deeply indicated the buried violence in him was in a complete different level. For the first time, Hinata felt not only intimidated, but genuinely afraid, so when that day after coming back from classes her father gave her a new bento, for the first time she refused to deliver it to Sasuke.
"Did something happen, Hinata?" her father asked, his voice calm and not judgmental, but even so the girl felt small and insignificant, and so she had to lower her head and stare at the tatami floor to give voice to her reasons. Hiashi heard her from beginning to end, giving a small murmur at the end to signal his understanding. He put down the bento and nodded. "I understand. Today, then, you don't have to do it."
"T-Then…?" Hinata asked, understanding her father's mercy was only for that day.
Her father's next words confirmed her fears. "Tomorrow you will give Sasuke the bento box. And this time, Hinata" he looked directly into her eyes, and Hinata felt like something very bad was about to happen, "I want you to speak to him."
So this time, it was no longer an option.