Naruto sat opposite of Sasuke as they looked at the non-moving body in the hospital room. Hinata was lying there bandaged from head to toe and was hooked up to multiple machines. Her eyes gauzed and wrapped tightly. Still they could see little spots of red seeping through the material. Tsunade said Hinata would be okay. Physically she was fine, apparently she was more skilled in lightning than she gave herself credit for.
Naruto would argue mentally that Hinata was not okay.
The image of Hinata practically committing seppuku in front of Naruto and Sasuke would permanently be in the two young men minds forever. Finally not being able to take the scene anymore Naruto manhandled himself from Sasuke's grasps and the two sprinted to Hinata in speeds no one knew they possessed. Naruto and Sasuke worked together perfectly. Sasuke absorbing the lightning like barrier, taking in as much of the impact as he could, while Naruto reached for Hinata.
Naruto was still getting severely seared by the lightning, but he was able to push his chakra out and into Hinata to overpower and stop her, thus stopping her from further hurting herself. The fear of this also saving Zetsu came into everyone's mind, but by the time Sasuke and Naruto got to her Zetsu was nothing more than an afterthought. It was dead. Hinata got her 300.
At what cost?
When Naruto got Hinata's body over to Sakura they were able to really take a look at the damage. Her body was in shambles, some parts of her skin were just black and unsalvageable. The only thing probably keeping her still breathing was the fact Zetsu was the outer layer that got impacted the most.
Chakra is internal, but she was pushing it out to destroy Zetsu from the outside and the other half of Zetsu's body from across from her. Since she was already practically covered by Zetsu from the outside none of her vital body parts were damaged yet. Had Zetsu covered more of her body, she would have had to attack more of her own body, and she would have been in much worse shape.
Time was still of the essence, Hinata had to get back to Konoha to get treated. Naruto ripped his black shirt in half at the bottom and immediately started to cover Hinata's eyes. They were swollen around the eye area and bled profusely. The image of not even seeing her lavender-grey eyes and the fact it was just pure white and bleeding created a fear Sasuke didn't know he had.
She looked like a dead angel. A fallen angel. One that had their wings clipped and they've fallen from above. One that reached for help from this disgusting world and the world just demolished her.
God they just wanted this to be a nightmare and for everyone to wake up.
Looking at the defeated look on Naruto and his brother's faces, Itachi used up any other ounce of chakra and strength he had left and had Hinata on a summoned crow within seconds. With only her and Sakura, who was providing emergency aid to Hinata to keep her breathing long enough until Tsunade could see her. The crow was moving full speed back to the village and it arrived at the village before Naruto, Sasuke, and the others.
After Hinata was admitted Naruto had thanked Sakura probably a million times for keeping Hinata live. He knew it probably took a lot out of Sakura considering she was badly drained and injured herself.
Now, the only sound between Naruto and Sasuke in the hospital room was the loud clock ticking on the wall. For the most part Sasuke focused on the giant bouquet of flowers that littered the room. Courtesy of Hinata's father and cousin, who Sasuke felt spent almost the same amount of time in the hospital as him and Naruto.
When Hiashi saw Hinata the day after Naruto and Sasuke arrived back the man needed Neji to help support him because he looked ready to faint. Tears threatened to fall from the older Hyuga's face, but instead it came from Hinata's little sister.
Hanabi screamed. She looked traumatized at seeing Hinata how she always thought Hinata was for four years. Dead. Naruto believed this was the first time Hanabi might have seen the real side effects of being a ninja. Seeing her sister teetering between the living and the dead.
Neji stayed silent as he looked at Hinata in the state she was in. When Hiashi took Hanabi out the room and Neji stayed behind he looked at Naruto and Sasuke before looking back at Hinata. A small smile graced his face as he looked at her. Like he knew something Naruto and Sasuke didn't know, "She looks as graceful as ever. I never could understand how she always managed to look so perfect. Even when I caused her pain. This moment. What you two are feeling right now will pass. She's worth the wait. Yes?"
Neji was met with two angry men that were upset that he would even ask such a dumb question. He smiled at this, "I thought so." He then turned around to go back with his uncle.
That moment with Neji was two weeks ago. Now Naruto and Sasuke were still silent as they waited for Hinata to wake up. Naruto sat in the forever uncomfortable hospital chair. Chin resting on his interlaced fingers. Elbow resting on his knees. Sasuke looked at Naruto from his standing position against the other side of the wall. Naruto was bouncing his leg as a means of coping and was just staring at Hinata's fingers that were resting on the hospital bed. Fingers that were also wrapped up, a constant reminder of the nightmare that became a reality.
Naruto hadn't spoken much the whole journey back. By the time Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and Itachi arrived back to the village from the help of Naruto's toad summons, Hinata was already being catered to by Tsunade.
Naruto spoke nothing of what happened between him and Hinata when they first encountered Zetsu. He spoke nothing about it in his mission report and he was still not speaking about it now. It was driving Sasuke absolutely insane.
The young Uchiha looked almost unscratched from the whole ordeal. Even with the fact that he touched Hinata's lightning, he was so skilled and trained in the element it did nothing to him. Naruto looked untouched as well, but emotionally he looked like he's been through hell and back.
"Naruto."
The young blond still just sat there bouncing his leg, but his eyes moved to Sasuke as a means to tell him to continue. Sasuke closed his eyes to take a deep breath and to calm his temper from rising from Naruto's lack of being informative. This prevented the both of them from arguing with one another. Sasuke opened his eyes and could see how Naruto looked like he was on the verge of tears.
Sasuke almost just dropped the whole conversation. He couldn't see Naruto messed up like this. Just looking at Hinata like this was worse enough, Sasuke couldn't handle Naruto in this state. It was killing him inside.
"What happened? Talk to me Naruto."
At first Naruto looked like he was about to talk. He stopped bouncing his leg and opened his mouth like he was going to say something. He then closed his mouth again and made a face like he was angry. Naruto looked like he was confused why he was even angry. He then went back to bouncing his knee.
Sasuke wanted to be a lot cruder to his other half, but he realized that would get them absolutely nowhere. Instead he walked over to Naruto and stood behind him. In a rare display of affection he reached over Naruto and wrapped his arms around Naruto's broad shoulders and pulled him into his embrace.
He could feel Naruto start to take deep breaths like he was trying to control himself. Believe it or not, Naruto had almost the same amount of anxiety Hinata carried with herself. Naruto's had his fair share of anxiety attacks, especially when trying to build a relationship with the nine tails.
Hinata was the first to bring to Sasuke's attention that Naruto suffered from such a thing and Sasuke had only witnessed it one time and decided he didn't want Naruto or Hinata to go through another attack alone.
Right now Naruto was putting up a big front until Sasuke whispered into his ear to, 'let it out' and the blonde shoulders crumbled, and Naruto held onto Sasuke's forearm as tears started to fall freely.
"She has so much pain Sasuke. She's hurting. She's ashamed. That fucking Danzo…he was there. He was about to kill her, and she was going to LET him. I was so scared I was going to lose her! I was fucking terrified. I can't lose anyone else, especially not Hinata or you!"
Sasuke hugged Naruto tighter and let him get a series of emotions off his chest that he knew Naruto kept bottled up the moment he saw Hinata light herself and Zetsu up like a firework. Naruto screaming Hinata's name still a vivid memory in his mind. Sasuke momentarily frozen watching his world fall apart.
For the second time in his life.
When Naruto settled down he gave Sasuke's arm a light squeeze showing that he was ready to talk to him and make more sense. Sasuke let Naruto go and went back to the other side of Hinata. He pulled the uncomfortable chair up and sat opposite of Naruto. Mainly because he wanted to be closer to Hinata.
He looked at Naruto until Naruto gave him eye contact. "Now. What about Danzo? He was there?"
Naruto gave a disgusted face for a moment before he spoke, "His corps was there. That thing, Zetsu, had control over Danzo's corps. I don't know if it was Zetsu speaking to Hinata or really Danzo but, he said things. About Hinata's past. Clearly it fucked with her mind. Danzo reminded her of all her mission assignments. The men, women…the children."
Sasuke's jaw clenched but he didn't make any other sign of discomfort. "Well. We knew she did some horrid things. We knew this came with her. You forgave me for my sins-"
"And I would have done the same for Hinata! I already did! I get it. She wasn't in a good place. She just had to share this shit with us. It would have worked out ya know?! Everything I said to her in the past, I…I didn't understand her back then. I didn't mean any of those fucked up things I said to her! I told her that! I'm fuckingsorry!"
Sasuke held up a hand quietly and gave Naruto a look to calm down. "I know that Naruto."
Naruto ran his hands through his hair and looked back at Hinata's bandaged face, "So why didn't she know that? She should know how much I need her. How much I love her."
Sasuke leaned back in his chair and looked at the parts of Hinata's face that was revealed. He was sure she had burns littered on her body. Some may recover and some may leave permanent scars. He reached up and touched the one cheek of Hinata's that wasn't bandaged.
Just lightly. Gentle, because Hinata would be just as gentle with him if he was in this situation.
"She carries a lot of sorrow Naruto. I understand what it feels like to carry guilt. Me and Hinata both carry it and we both struggle with handling it. How…how do you so easily accept us?"
Sasuke looked at Naruto and was met with anger, "It's a legit question Naruto."
"How can you two look at yourselves like no one would want you. Everyone wants you. Everyone wants a piece of you. You and Hinata. People love you two. Since forever.Me? That has never been the case my whole 18 years of living except for the past few months and that's because I'm everyone's 'HERO'. If I could sit here and say that anyone in this world has seen me in a way where they could love me and be with mebeforeany of this hero shit happened. I could honestly say it was only you and Hinata. Through all my flaws. You two have cared about me since the beginning when I was a nobody.That'show…you damn bastard."
Sasuke blinked at Naruto and said nothing for what seemed like forever, "I always wanted to know."
Sasuke then blinked again because while he thought those words he didn't say them. Him and Naruto both looked at the sound of the voice and saw it was Hinata. Her eyes were still bandaged, but her head was facing the ceiling clearly showing she didn't want to look at them anyways.
The two looked at her vitals monitor and was happy to see she showed signs that she was fully alert and understood everything going on and not in a comatose state anymore.
Both men couldn't help but smile. Even if they were angry with her.
Sasuke was the first to come back to reality and his hand stiffened around Hinata's face, "What were you thinking out there? You decide to try out your lightning element in the middle of a fight like that. Are you insane?"
Hinata's head drifted to Sasuke. She followed the sound of his voice and she knew the difference of his touch compared to Naruto's. She faced him for a moment before going back facing the ceiling, "Yes Sasuke. I think I must be. Wouldn't you think I am?"
Hinata yelped when she felt a pinch to her sore cheek. She would have jumped but her body was screaming for her not to move because it hurt all over. Instead she resorted to a yelp and her head snapped at Sasuke.
"Sasuke!"
"Yeah well shut up if you're going to keep talking like that."
Sasuke refused to give Hinata any affection and sympathy if this was how she was going to act. Hinata continued to face Sasuke and had a sour look on her exposed face. She could feel his glare and could tell he was not sorry what so ever for what he had done.
Slowly her head drifted over to Naruto when she felt him lay his head on her bed near her thigh and start to play with her fingers. She immediately retracted the angry look and again faced the ceiling with a platonic face.
"Naruto."
Said person didn't stop playing with her fingers, "Yeah."
"I'm…sorry. About everything. About not telling you. Not telling Sasuke. I'm sorry for not telling you I'm a…really, really bad person."
Naruto looked up from Hinata's fingers and stared at her, "You're so…fucking you Hinata. It's so like you to just think of yourself as absolute shit. Would you have done any of those things if you were not in ROOT Hinata? I'll answer for you and say no, because when you get in moods like this, everything is your fault and you cannot see things as not being your fault. You were in a shitty situation Hinata. If you would have refused Danzo's missions than he would have definitely had you killed a long time ago."
Hinata's jaw clenched and she grinded her teeth. Like it was hurting her to say something. She could feel the stinging of her eyes and figured it was tears finally forming in her damaged eyes. She didn't even know if she could see anymore. If she was going to heal fine. This was all so much to bare right now. Finally she unclenched her mouth and spoke.
"But I WANTED to do the missions. Danzo-sama was right. Lady Tsunade was right. I knew right from wrong. I knew who was innocent and who wasn't, and I still wanted to complete my missions. I didn't care. About anything or anyone. They were all a number to me. Now they won't leave me alone…"
Hinata bit back a sob and took a deep breath to calm down. It hurt to even be emotional right now. Naruto looked back at her fingers. Even though she was in pain she gripped his fingers tightly. Scared that he would let go and leave her. Sasuke leaned closer to her and gently rubbed her exposed hair, face and neck.
"That's why I put in for retirement from ROOT. I couldn't do it anymore. I was so weak minded I couldn't keep pushing myself. I thought if I just completed some insane number like 300 missions I could impress Danzo-sama and leave ROOT before the damage was done on me. Before I started to hate myself. I should have known after the first mission it was too late. All I do now after finding out about Lord Danzo and his LIES is go over my missions. The life I left behind with my family because I was a coward. I don't…I don't know what to do anymore. I feel like I'm falling apart."
Sasuke laid his head on her shoulder lightly and Hinata let out a deep sigh. It was a thankful sigh, like she was relieved. She was dying to just tell them about this part of her life. She didn't think they could have a stable relationship if they never found out.
Naruto eyes shifted from her grip on him to her face again. He took her hand that was holding his and brought it to his lips and kissed it. Even wrapped up Hinata could feel the contact and she turned her head to Naruto with trembling lips.
She was pleading for love, affection and for them not to reject her.
"You do what we all have to do now Hinata. You just have to live. I don't want you to worry about it this time though, I'll show you."
After being in the hospital for another three months. Tsunade finally was confident in letting Hinata leave in the shape she was in both physically and mentally. She had to undergo skin grafting three times. Hinata would like to say those were the most painful experiences in her life.
The first time she opted for pain numbing anesthesia and morphine to drown out the pain since she didn't want to be put under. The thought of being put under and not being in control of her body gave her too much anxiety too soon. It reminded her of the short moment she wasn't in control of her body and she almost hurt someone she loved.
Hinata's plan. Yeah, it didn't work. Sasuke said he could hear her down the hall from the surgery room trying to muffle her screams. Naruto said even Tsunade came out the room after the first session was done with puffy red eyes because she said Hinata was breaking her heart. Hinata could admit there was no amount of numbing the body while awake for such a procedure.
So, yeah. The second and third time she opted to be put to sleep.
The recovery was just as brutal. The medical staff said it was supposed to be a good 1-2 weeks of recovery and then she could advance to the second surgery, but by her second surgery Hinata was still feeling horrible pain. Everything hurt. It just made her feel like there was no real finish line. It was pain every single day for about two solid months and that was with the best medical staff working on Hinata around the clock and using medical ninjutsu from the best of the best.
Tsunade let Hinata know this was just going to suck. No amount of medical ninjutsu or medical care was going to make the pain physically and mentally go away so fast.
She told Hinata to be thankful she wasn't blind. When Tsunade was alerted Hinata was awake the first thing she did was check her eyes. Like Tsunade thought and Hinata feared, she lost her eye sight. Naruto was relieved to see at least her pupil-less eyes were present again compared to them being a solid white eye ball. Her eyes were barely, but they were there.
Sasuke asked if it was permanent. Itachi was nearing the doors of being permanently blind at one point, but Tsunade was able to give him the right medication and put restrictions on Itachi and his usage of the Sharingan. If Hinata did get her eye sight back, Sasuke would just make sure she had the same restrictions. He'd make sure she didn't suffer like this again.
To the relief of Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata with 20 minute medical ninjutsu sessions, 5 times a day for two weeks straight Hinata's eye sight returned perfectly normal again. Tsunade personally made it her goal to perform ninjutsu on Hinata's eyes and temples to heal the fried eye sockets. Only side effect Naruto would say were her eyes didn't look grayish-lavender anymore, more like whitish-gray.
Hinata didn't like the side effect, but Naruto told her she looked beautiful. In return she told him it reminded her of her mother's eyes when she faded away from her family the day she died.
So, Hinata's first skin grafting was done blind and that was an experience for the books for her. In the long run Hinata's two toned body now had a story to tell and she looked as if she survived one of the ninja wars.
Hinata wouldn't be wearing any two piece bikini's anytime soon either. She was already very shy and self-conscious about her body and now she had burn scars all around her stomach, thighs, back and a little around her neck. Just not something she'd want to show to the world.
She was fine with that because there were two people that thought she was beautiful.
During Hinata's stay at the hospital, to the point of being beyond annoyed by the young Uzumaki, Tsunade gave Naruto and Sasuke the pass of staying late nights in the hospital. Here and there she would allow overnight stays, but typically she only let them stay until about two in the morning.
Plus this was all good for Hinata. Skin grafting is painful. Removing dead, burnt skin is painful. Having to sit a certain way, bathe a certain way and the lack of skin contact from people you love would drive a normal person mad.
Oddly enough this was kind of up Hinata's alley, but Tsunade didn't want Hinata to fall back into her old habits.
Sakura and Tsunade gave Naruto and Sasuke quick lessons on how to care for burn patients. How to look for emotional distress. How to help them cope. Tsunade didn't think with Hinata that Sasuke and Naruto would be able to pick up on any of this considering she was so good at hiding it.
However, she was just starting to see how in love the trio really was. They could all read one another like an open book. It was amusing really. Seeing Naruto dig in the female Hyuga's ass for not vocally saying if something hurt and how Hinata's cheeks would puff in silent frustration. How Sasuke would smooth it out by whispering enduring words in her ear or he would tailgate with Naruto and push Hinata out her solitary box she made for herself.
Don't get it fooled. The two males could be nice when it was needed. In the beginning, when Hinata had lost her eye sight they treated her like she was made of glass. They took a lot of advice from Neji and gave Hinata the help she needed. It was important for someone with lost vision to strengthen their other senses so Neji pointed out it was important to not baby her.
Sasuke understood. He's pushed his eyes multiple times and multiple times he had messed up and had to walk around with severely blurred vision for hours or a few days. So he understood to let Hinata do certain things herself.
Naruto…Naruto was not having it. Were they crazy? Hinata was fuckingblindwith severeburnsto her damn body. She deserved to be spoiled. She deserved to be babied. She could barely fucking move anyways. Naruto was passionate about this. He didn't want Hinata to struggle while she was recovering, while she was in the BURN unit.
Hinata didn't say anything about Naruto's rebelliousness while Tsunade or any of the medical staff were in the room, but when they left to let Naruto and Sasuke give her a bird bath she comforted him in private. Hinata waited for Naruto to get close to her neck and pat her skin and she would raise her sore arms and circle them around his neck.
Naruto didn't know how she knew it was him at first and froze up when she whispered in his ear that it was okay. That a little tough love wasn't going to break her and for him to trust Tsunade, Neji and Sasuke's advice. Hearing her soft voice against his ear and feeling her lips against his skin for the first time in ages turned him into goop.
Clearly this wasn't Hinata's first rodeo with blindness and she did indeed know how to do basic things of taking care of herself if no one was around. Sasuke grinned at Hinata's quirky methods that could simmer Naruto's temper. When she let go of Naruto she looked at Sasuke and even though he knew she couldn't see him, he knew that she could SEE him.
At night. When it was just the three of them in Hinata's hospital room. When Hinata was done with her all her skin grafting sessions and when she had her eye sight back. When she was just focusing on healing and was finally able to move on her own and stand. She would stand in front of a mirror on her own and look at the damage she had done to herself. These would be the times that she needed Naruto and Sasuke the most.
She would look in the mirror in only her bra and underwear. Both cotton and loose to the touch because she was still recovering. She would look in the mirror at her permanent scars. When she would turn her head slightly to look at her neck and see the skin grafting scar from her armpit, up her neck to her jawline and up to her right earlobe, she wouldn't make any expression of being upset at the visible imperfection.
Maybe this was a good thing. Maybe this was a worthy punishment for her sins. She felt like it was a light punishment really. She was blessed with her eye sight back, she needed some sort of punishment.
The dark thoughts clouding her mind at night didn't have to show on her face for Naruto or Sasuke to know that it was there. Naruto would come up behind her in the mirror and trail kisses on her shoulder. His fingers would lightly caress her scarred stomach and he would look in the mirror to look in her eyes and the look in his eyes made her feel like she was on fire.
It took her breath away.
Sasuke would walk in front of her and when she would make eye contact with him, he would give her a rare smile. Hinata loved his genuine smiles. They were beautiful. Sasuke would touch her thighs that had just recently healed from the skin grafting and for some reason had to be the most damaged. He loved it though.
She looked like a warrior.
Sasuke's hands would travel from her thighs up slowly until he touched her fingers that rested beside them. Her hands, of course due to her method of fighting, were the first to be treated. The tip of her fingers were tanner than the rest of her pale hands and her palms were patchy and discolored.
Naruto would whisper in her ear that she was beautiful and Sasuke would hold her hands and kiss her. After being in the hospital for three months it was growing to be hard to control themselves, so Naruto and Sasuke were beyond grateful when Tsunade finally discharged Hinata.
Hinata could walk on her own just fine, but that didn't stop Naruto or Sasuke from walking close beside her. Letting literally no one make contact with her, like they were afraid the general public would damage her skin or something.
To keep things regular so Hinata would be comfortable Naruto and Sasuke kept up with Hinata's apartment. While at the hospital though they talked heavily about moving out of their apartments and getting a nice, spacious place for themselves. For now though, just until things got a little better, they would all stay with Hinata.
When Hinata came into her apartment she immediately noticed the flowers in a beautiful vase on her kitchen counter being from the Hyuga garden. A note clearly written in Neji's hand writing telling her to rest and recover. Telling her that her family loved her.
That chip that was on Hinata's shoulders was still there in regard to her family, but after everything that has happened to her, she was slowly rethinking how she carried life. What if she had died? Did she really want that hatred of her family going with her to the afterlife?
"Would you like me to make dinner?" Hinata looked at Naruto and Sasuke and waited for them to answer. She did not have a smile on her face and that was fine. While in the hospital Sasuke told her if she really didn't have a desire to smile it was OKAY. She didn't have to fake smile. Not to him, not to Naruto and he begged her to stop doing it around the nursing staff. He felt like he had to tell Naruto and Hinata that all the time.
It was OKAY not to smile. Who cares if people got offended or upset that you're not smiling in their damn face. Fuck them. Sasuke was a pro at not caring about these things.
Hinata had more similarities to Sasuke then she'd like to admit to. She just wasn't a 24/7 happy go lucky person. When she was happy, it was beautiful to see her smile and giggle and just be free. However, not all the time was someone going to feel this way and Sasuke told Naruto and Hinata that it was OKAY.
Naruto gave Hinata a skeptical look, "Are you sure? You literally just got out the hospital from taking major damage from a critical mission. It's okay if we just get some take out ya know."
Hinata scrunched up her nose a little and walked into the kitchen. She rolled up her sleeves to her loose fitted lavender sweater she wore and immediately went to see what ingredients she had that were fresh. She was sure if anything Sasuke kept the food stocked up and fresh in the apartment.
He didn't disappoint either.
"I like fresh food. I like to cook. Let me make the people I care about a meal." With that she busied herself in the kitchen. Pots and pans were heard clacking. Water running. Cutting board being taken out and food being cleaned and prepped. She was in her comfort zone and Naruto didn't want to ruin such a thing.
Hinata made tea while Naruto and Sasuke waited and the two men sat on the couch. Already the empty apartment was coming to life and smelling like a home again. The trio was in a comfortable silence and while Sasuke most definitely enjoyed it, Naruto wouldn't be Naruto if he didn't do something to make Sasuke twitch.
Sasuke watched as Naruto took the opportunity of Sasuke looking to be taking a nap and he slipped and went into the kitchen with Hinata. Sasuke frowned at this. The two agreed that when they reconnected with Hinata again it would be together. So kisses, intimate touches and anything else sexual was reserved for later that night with all three of them.
It would seem like Naruto couldn't wait.