The silence of his tears rang louder than anything in that room.

Chapter 7: closer

"Hows the dango Hinata?" Sakura asked as they ate in awkward silence. Being on a mission with the Hyuga was one thing, but Sakura couldn't recall a time that the two of them had interacted without a big group.

"It's good!" Hinata told her.

" um, not that I am not glad you asked me out for an early breakfast but can I ask why?" Sakura asked her voice laced with mild confusion.

She watched as Hinata chewed slowly before answering. They were sitting in a small café just on the edge of the village. The café was empty because of the morning rush.

"well… I asked you out to breakfast because I didn't want you to feel like I was trying to encroach on your space when it comes to the medical team. Or that I was trying to show you up. Lady tsunade called and I answered. you are a great medical ninja sakura and I don't want you to feel like I am trying to replace you. I just wanted to help."

Sakura sighed and her shoulders lowered all of her offense out the window.

"I won't say I didn't feel offended when you showed up out of the blue. And jealous that you noticed something I didn't. Lady Tsuande and I had been examining that patient for weeks and yet you solved what we needed within minutes. It just made me feel like all my hard work went out the window and yet I couldn't be more grateful for your eyes. but … I appreciate what you're saying. I know you didn't mean anything by helping. I just had no idea Lady Tsunade's mentor was training you. I've only seen her once and a while and she's never spoken a word to me. What made her reach out to you?"

Hinata shrugged.

"Well, there were some circumstances that required Lady Koharu's attention and once we spent some time together, she offered me to become her apprentice. I will be helping on the battlefield as a medical nurse. My eyes can be of use."

Sakura was taken aback. Helping out with patients was one thing but becoming a medical nurse in under a year was practically impossible.

"w-what?" Sakura stuttered. "that's impossible Hinata. I have studied under Lady Tsunade since I was twelve years old. That's five years of rigorous training! You can't just do it overnight."

"your reasoning is valid Sakura however because of the war, our village is in desperate need of all the people they can get. I am grateful that Lady Koharu wants to teach me. I just want the two of us to get along and work together as comrades."

Sakura bit her tongue and managed to speak kind words. Hinata had never done anything to frustrate or be mean to her. She had been nothing but kind to Sakura every time they bumped into each other

"and" Hinata continued " I was hoping for help on some of the things I am struggling with when it comes to being a medical-nin. Is that alright with you?"

Sakura was taken aback. That was the last thing she expected Hinata to ask.

"uh..wow...I would love to help you Hinata."

"thank you, Sakura Chan. Now if you don't mind, I am going to order more dango."

…

Three hours later, Sakura and Hinata emerged from surgery. The two girls smiled as they cheered their victory.

With Hinata being able to see the blockage, Sakura was able to remove it in a timely and safe manner.

"you know Hinata… we make a great team!" Sakura smiled as they scrubbed out.

"yes, yes we do." Hinata smiled tiredly and yawned.

"you should probably go home and sleep. You look exhausted."

"I am tired but I am glad we did a great job. let's report back to Lady Tsunade." Hinata offered.

As soon as their report was done, Hinata exited the tent taking a deep breath of fresh air.

However, what she didn't expect was to see her husband leaning against a nearby tree, a picnic basket in his hand.

"Hello, my young flower. I believe you requested lunch."

…..

"How did the surgery go?" Itachi asked as they ate the onigiri and salted fish.

"it went smoothly. Thank you for meeting me for lunch tachi.I thought you weren't going to show up."

"well after everything you have done for me, I didn't think lunch would be such a bad thing, and as you can see I was right." He told her as he pulled out a chocolate-covered strawberry.

Hinata's eyes widened as he motioned for her to open her mouth. She did so and hummed with happiness as the chocolate and strawberry overwhelmed her senses.

"ah..tachi ..how-"

"I made them myself, ok that's a lie, lady Koharu helped me. she said something about strawberries and chocolate being a good aphrodisiac not that we need it," he smirked.

Hinata couldn't help but laugh.

"your right, we don't need it not with these two !" she gestured to her stomach. "we're two months in."

"I was thinking of baby names.." Itachi began.

"I have to! You go first."

"I was thinking Yuto for a boy and Fumiko for a girl, now you," Itachi told her.

"I was thinking harumi for a girl and…Itachi for a boy."

Itachi held her gaze as an intense emotion showed on his face.

"you would do that? Name our son after me?"

"I would." She told him.

He swallowed hard and looked up at the June sky.

"you… think too highly of me Hinata.."

"And I think you think too lowly of yourself Itachi.."

Itachi finally met Hinata's eyes. shades of lavender looking back at him. he couldn't help but kiss her.

Calloused hands cupped soft skin, as his wife moaned into him.

He needed to pull away before he couldn't contain himself. As soon as he did, his wife groaned in displeasure.

"We can continue that a little later. However, I think we need to continue picking out the names of our children. Come on, let's take a walk around the village."

….

"so we have agreed on the names then?" Itachi questioned as he put a few tomatoes in the shopping bag.

To Hinata he was Itachi, but to others, he was a simple brown-haired normal civilian.

"yes, yuto and Itachi if they're both boys. Harumi and Fumiko if their both girls. If we have one girl, her name will be Fumiko and the boy will be named Itachi." Hinata agreed.

"as you wish wife." He smiled as he batted her hands away when she tried to pick up a bag of fruit. He took it from her and placed it in the shopping bag.

Hinata was going to argue but before she could a voice called out to her.

"Hinata? Is that you?"

Hinata who had her arm in the crook of Itachi's elbow turned around to see Team Ten approaching her.

"ino, shikamaru, choji. Hello, how was your mission?"

"troublesome.." Shikamaru responded.

"the war is getting closer. We will be on the battlefield before you know it." Choji announced.

"ok, that's enough you two dunderheads. Hinata who is your friend? Did we interrupt something?" Ino giggled as she quirked an eyebrow at the couple.

"You did." Itachi said, " and we are running late for a significant meeting. Excuse us."

Hinata waved goodbye to her friends, squeezed Itachi's hand as they hurriedly paid for their items, and hurried off.

"My apologies." He said lowly. " I wasn't trying to be rude but Nara was staring at me a bit too hard. I think he knows something is up. of course, I would expect nothing less from the Nara clan. Let's hurry home."