Chapter Text
Hinata stood alone in the training ground trying to repeat the work-out Sasuke had given her. He was clearly trying to tweak how she was moving, but she wasn't sure that there was much more she could do to tweak the technique that was actually going to give her an advantage, at some point it came down to speed and skill, and she was never the fastest. She was never going to be the fastest. Especially out of the two of them.
And she was sure he knew that, so he was trying to change her skill set instead, but she didn't think he understood that his level of skill was so much higher than hers that the idea of them sparring, especially when she had stopped hard training for over a year, was laughable.
But she agreed.
And it did feel good to not have her muscles waste away.
She turned her hand over… She could live without the blisters and calluses, though.
Hinata let herself through the door and slipped her shoes off, and she stepped up and stumbled as she had realized she had nearly missed Sasuke's slippers missing by the door. She had found herself noticing them stagnant every day that she came in, she was surprised that she hadn't immediately noticed them missing.
She found herself oddly eager to see him.
Walking back the hall, the shower was running so she took a moment to go to his room to collect the clothing he packed. His door was open and his clothes were in the same place they always were. Collecting his laundry, she paused to find blood soaked into the shirt that was laid to the side, the shirt he probably came home in.
Was he wounded?
Did he at least go to the hospital before coming home?
She tilted the shirt in her hand as she headed out of the room, trying to determine if it was superficial blood or not, but as she got to the doorway, she found it solid.
She squeaked as she realized what she ran into was not the door.
Sasuke stood in the doorway, dressed in fresh clothing, but his hair was still damp and sticking to his face.
Hinata flushed. “Sorry!”
Sasuke's eyebrows knit together, confused why she was there, but then his eyes dropped to the clothes. “I would have put them in the wash if you would have waited.”
“I… I don't mind collecting them, it's just… it's become a bit of a habit sometimes. I didn't see you between missions, so I would grab your clothes and… change them out before you…” Hinata felt herself stumbling over her words.
“Another habit.” Sasuke's eyebrow twitched up.
“I'm going to go put these in the wash.” Hinata decided to get herself out of the conversation, squeezing past him.
She put them into the sink to soak the ones that had blood and, as she paused, she pressed the back of her hand to her face to feel how hot it was.
She felt like she got caught doing something she shouldn't have, even though he had never complained before, and he wasn't even complaining now.
Maybe she had just been alone in the house for too long and him startling her was just a little too much for her right now.
Sasuke pulled the collar of his shirt back up to his nose. This smelled right, so it wasn't just the soap. He was glad to have the smell of the road off of him as soon as possible and get back into his clothes since that had been bothering him the whole trip.
Heading back out the hall the moment Hinata heard him coming, she did what she always did.
“Are you hungry?” Hinata wondered.
“I didn't eat, but I am not sure how much I want to.” There was a feeling of post mission hangover that he remembered that he used to have but had lost in the year that he was gone, now he was feeling it again.
Hinata already set to work anyway, and before long she had a plate of cut fruit and a cup of tea, rather than a full meal.
“What is that you do with the laundry?” Sasuke wondered.
“Oh, I am soaking them to get the blood out.” Hinata gestures back to the hallway.
“No.” Sasuke shook his head and tugged at the collar of his shirt. “I mean, like, the way they smell.”
Hinata blinked. “Sorry, do you not like the way that they smell?”
Why was she jumping to the conclusion that he didn't like it? “No.” Sasuke waved his hand now, getting a little frustrated because she was misunderstanding him. “How do you get it to smell like this?”
“What do you mean?” Hinata finally asked a question rather than assuming.
“I mean, it doesn't smell like the soap that I had on the road, and I took that from the laundry room.” Sasuke jabbed his thumb back at it.
Hinata thought about it for a moment, looking confused before it seemed to hit her what he was talking about. “Oh you might be smelling the eucalyptus I hang when I dry them. It keeps bugs away.”
“Eucalyptus. That is what it was.” Sasuke brought the collar of his shirt to his nose again, now that he knew that was what it was he could identify it.
“Does it bother you?” Hinata prodded for an answer, even though he thought at this point that it should be obvious.
“It was bothering me that I didn't know what was making it different.” Sasuke shrugged.
“Sorry.” Hinata mumbled.
Sasuke felt his face twitch. “You keep doing this thing where you apologize for something I didn't say was a problem.”
“Sor…” Hinata stopped herself from doing it again and just stopped all together. With nothing to say, she just walked back to her room.
Sasuke sighed. Good job. He couldn't even get through an hour being at home without causing problems.
Sasuke opened the back door and let himself outside, where Hinata was already sitting on the porch, like she always was, wrapped in a blanket, leant against the pillar. “How did you sleep while I was gone?”
Hinata glanced at him before returning forward. “Fine.”
Liar. “Why don't you ask your sister to come stay while I am not here?” He asked as he sat down.
“I haven't been talking to my sister all that much.” Hinata hummed.
“Why not? I thought she was over the whole not being told about the marriage thing.” Sasuke was under the impression they weren't super close, but that they were at least talking.
“She has been busy.” Hinata said that in the same way she made excuses for him, so it was probably more than that. “But even if she wasn't, sleepovers aren't really something that my family… does.”
“Just because you don't normally do it, doesn't mean you can't.” Sasuke countered. “I mean ,you are in the same compound, it's not even that far.” He waved his hand vaguely in the direction or the rest of the compound they were on edge of.
“I think that is just more reason to head home at the end of the day, when your own bed isn't that far.” Hinata's voice was becoming a low hum.
“Yeah, if you ignore the whole reason you would be asking her to stay in the first place?” Were they even having the same conversation?
“I wouldn't tell her that I have trouble sleeping.” Hinata shook her head barely. “I don't like inconveniencing other people with my own problems.”
Stubborn. “You are just inconveniencing yourself more and probably others down the line.”
Hinata's face scrunched, she didn't agree or disagree, she didn't say anything.
Sasuke retracted. “That wasn't meant to sound like a lecture.”
“It's fine,” Hinata voiced.
Sasuke fell silent for a moment, then felt the need to fill it. “I hadn't even made it in the report before Naruto asked me to go out for drinks.”
“You should have gone.” Hinata told him.
“I just wanted to come home and get a shower.” Sasuke denied.
“You could have gone out after if you wanted to.” Hinata clarified.
“I didn't want to.” Sasuke answered flatly.
“Oh.” Hinata adjusted her blankets. “I didn't ask, were you hurt?”
“No.” Sasuke shook his head.
Hinata nodded. “I saw the blood, that is why I wondered.” She was getting droopy with each nod.
“Wasn't mine.” Sasuke assured her.
Hinata nodded again.
Sasuke laid back on the pillar and looked at her. “I got used to this.” He must be tired because he was being a little too honest. “I think I got so used to it that I had trouble sleeping on the road unless I sat outside first, and I couldn't always do that.”
“Sorry.” Hinata mumbled barely awake.
“For what?” Sasuke could almost laugh, every time she got this sleepy he always wondered if this was what she was like drunk.
Hinata got more comfortable against the pillar, giving in to closing her eyes. “I have seemed to transfer my bad habits to you.”
Sasuke snorted. “I don't think that is it.”
“Mm.” Hinata hummed.
“Alright.” Sasuke got up. “You need to get to bed, you are falling to sleep on me.”
Hinata nodded and pulled herself off the pillar but had her eyes closed for a long moment, like she was going to fall asleep even just sitting up right, but she pulled herself out of it and started to get up, tripping over her blanket as she did.
Sasuke caught her from stumbling face forward into the deck and pulled her the rest of the way up.
“Sorry.” Hinata dipped her head and rubbed at her eye with the edge of the offending blanket.
“I think your first word might have been sorry.” Sasuke commented dryly, pushing her into the house.
“Maybe.” Hinata yawned.
