"Sasuke-kun didn't come again" Sakura sighed the next day, when classes started and the boy did not appear.

Hinata glanced down, worrying her lip. Was Sasuke still sick? He looked pretty bad when she went to visit him yesterday. She should go visit him again, just in case.

Just in case… he was still sick. She remembered he didn't have any food left in his kitchen. Perhaps she should buy something before going to visit him. Although she didn't have a lot of money on her, only what her father gave her as allowance.

"I wonder if I should go visit him…" Sakura pondered, mirroring her thoughts, a finger on her lips, before frowning and glancing down. "Probably all the girls are thinking the same" she said, her tone acquiring a hostile undertone. Hinata only smiled awkwardly. She hadn't thought of that. It's true the girls might want to visit Sasuke. That wouldn't be good. Hinata knew how much he loathed when the girls got all over him. And he was sick. It would just make things worse.

"I-I think if Sasuke-kun's sick… we should leave him alone…" she started, slowly. Sakura looked at her with a frown. "I mean… he needs to r-rest, right? And he couldn't do that… if we bother him… right?"

Sakura pursed her lips, and she looked about ready to protest, but then she seemed to think better of it, and nodded slowly, returning her sight to the front.

"You're right. He needs the rest… I'll make sure all the girls know that too!" she proclaimed suddenly, standing up and walking down the aisle towards the group of girls huddled over on the front. Hinata blinked, not having expected that, but felt relief flooding her. Even if it was likely only because Sakura didn't want the other girls to get a chance to get closer to Sasuke, if she managed to convince them not to visit him, it would make things all the better.

For a moment, she wondered if she should also desist of the idea, but dismissed the thought as soon as she remembered the boy's words from last night.

I was expecting you to come sooner.

At least he wanted her to be there, she thought.

When Sakura was finished warning the others, she got closer to Hinata again, beaming happily. With the girls looking annoyed and despondent, Hinata could only assume her friend had been successful in convincing them not to visit Sasuke.

"That was fun! Anyway, Hinata-chan, did you know?" she said as she sat down, looking at her with eager eyes. "My mom really liked you. She said you're invited to come again anytime you want!"

"R-Really?" she asked, unable to keep what she heard at that time out of her mind. Sakura nodded enthusiastically.

"She said I have to tell her in advance though… so just tell me when you want to come and we can meet whenever!"

"I see… thank you, Sakura-chan, I-I'm looking forward to it" she answered, smiling shyly.

Once class was dismissed, Hinata made her way to the market, and bought a few things. Her pocket money wasn't much, so she had to choose wisely. A kilo of rice and some eggs would likely get Sasuke through the day, until he could go out again on his own to buy his own food.

In front of his door, she ringed the doorbell and waited, fidgeting in anxiety even though she had no reason to. She believed she had enough of a good relationship with him that he wouldn't be bothered that she had bought some food for him. At least, she hoped so.

However, time continued to pass without Sasuke coming, and Hinata became a bit worried. She activated her Byakugan, and was surprised to see that the apartment was empty.

At least that meant he was feeling better, right?

Without anything else to do, she left the food in front of his door, although on second thought, maybe it wouldn't be such a good idea to leave the eggs outside… it was becoming warmer and warmer every day, it wouldn't do for them to go bad, right?

"What should I do…" she wondered, worried. The food was for him, but maybe it would be better to just take it home. She could leave the rice though, so at least he had something to eat, but…

"What are you doing here?"

Hinata squeaked, closing her hands in fists and hugging them to her chest, turning around only to see the boy she had been thinking about standing there, a bag hanging from his hand while the other was tucked in the pocket of his shorts. He raised an eyebrow, before glancing down at the bag of groceries in front of his door. "You brought me something? Shouldn't have bothered…" he dismissed easily, walking until he was next to her and taking out a key from his pocket. He opened the door and, without another word, went in.

Hinata just stood there, still trying to calm her frantic heart.

"Are you coming or not?" the boy asked loudly, somewhere inside where she couldn't see him. Hinata squeaked again, before quickly making her way inside.

She found him in the kitchen, putting away his groceries.

"I-I see you're feeling better… that's a relief" she said, the hand that wasn't holding the bag hovering over her chest. Sasuke hummed noncomitally. Hinata bit her lip. "I… I bought something for you…"

"As I said, you shouldn't have bothered" he told her while putting away the last of his food. He folded the plastic bag and left it on a box full of other bags on the floor, before turning to her. "But I appreciate the gesture" he added, likely seeing the awkwardness on her face.

Hinata nodded slowly. "You could… you could still take it" she offered while taking a good look at him. He definitely seemed better. His skin was no longer sickly red, and his eyes were sharp and awake, unlike the misty and tired look he had yesterday. When Sasuke took a step closer to look at the things she brought, she said; "you didn't come to school today again."

"In the morning I wasn't feeling so good yet, but around ten I started feeling better" he took out the bag of rice and the eggs, and put them on the counter, before staring at them with a frown. "Were you planning to cook for me again or something?"

"N-No?" she said, a little surprised at his assumption.

"So you were just going to leave this to me, and hope for me to cook while sick?"

Hinata sputtered. "I-I…!"

"Didn't think you would be so thoughtless."

"You're not sick anymore!"

"You didn't know that."

"But…!" Hinata continued, just before she saw the tiny, very small smirk curving the side of his lips. She huffed with annoyance. "D-Don't make fun of me…"

"I'm not" he said, obviously lying. He had a serious face but he was still holding back a smirk. Before Hinata could retort, he looked away and frowned. "Hey, can you show me what you learned today and yesterday? I want to get up to date as soon as possible."

"Ah" she blinked, nodding slowly and forgetting about what she was going to say. "Of course. I have my backpack right here…" she started taking it off, before Sasuke stopped her, telling her to better move to the living room. She followed him and put her notebooks and scrolls on top of the low table. "We didn't learn anything new… j-just a review of what we did last week…"

"Let me see" Hinata gave him her notebook, and Sasuke read her notes attentively. She couldn't help but blush slightly at him looking at what she wrote. She hoped her notes were useful. She hoped her writing was legible enough. After a while, he put the notebook down and grabbed a scroll. "You're right, there's nothing new, but it's still important I review this."

"Y-Yes, of course."

She sat there, saying nothing as Sasuke poured over her stuff. After what felt like forever, but was most likely just half an hour at most, he put everything aside and nodded to himself.

"That should do it. We should go training now" he stood up. Hinata gaped at him. Was he being serious?

"But you just got better! You need to r-rest a litte more" she protested. Sasuke huffed.

"I need to train every day. I don't have time. It's bad enough I missed it yesterday" he said, determined. Hinata pursed her lips. So he was being serious.

"Weren't you the one that t-told me pushing your body when it can't a-anymore will only make any training m-meaningless?"

"That was different" the boy defended, glancing away. "Your hands were hurt. I am not hurt. I only had a small fever yesterday and…"

"And you need to rest. I w-won't train with you" Hinata declared, causing the boy to grit his teeth.

"Fine. I don't need you. I can do it on my own" he started to walk away, and Hinata quickly followed.

"Sasuke-kun…" she called feebly. Had she made him mad? But, it really wasn't a good idea to train now. One more day couldn't hurt, right?

As if pulled by her voice, Sasuke stopped just under the doorframe to the hallway. "You don't get it" he said, his back to her. Hinata looked at him, a few steps behind. "I… it all depends on me. I need to become stronger, so one day I can…"

He didn't continue, and she didn't ask. She thought she had an idea of the reason Sasuke was pushing himself so much. On some level, she could understand. But that didn't mean she agreed with it.

"I…" she gulped. "I-If you go to school tomorrow, then we can train in the night. We can t-train longer too. I just…" she glanced down, feeling shy despite the fact that Sasuke still wasn't looking at her. "I worry about you."

It was the truth. Sasuke had become such an important person to her. Even if she seemed overbearing, even if she annoyed him, she wanted to take care of him.

Because he didn't have anyone else.

Surely he could see that too?

After a long while, the boy let out a sigh, and slowly turned around. He was glaring at her, but his shoulders weren't as tense as before.

"What if I want to train until morning?" he asked, challenging, but Hinata knew this meant he had listened to her. She was relieved.

"W-We have to sleep because the next day is a school day, b-but we can do that this Friday…" she offered. Sasuke clicked his tongue and glanced away.

"Whatever. Cook something for me. I'm hungry" he ordered as he returned to the low table and sat down. Hinata raised her eyebrows, but said nothing, instead going to the kitchen to do just that, happy that he didn't seem to be going anywhere yet. She prepared the rice and some tamagoyaki and presented it to the boy, who ate it without a word. After he was done, he refused her offer to wash the dishes and instead told her she better go back home before her family started wondering where she was. Hinata made him promise he wouldn't train that night, and only after he did she finally left.

In the Hyuuga compound, her father was waiting.