Who Waits For Love

Chapter 25: Waltz

Hinata hummed as she combed through her hair; she was working to braid it, but its length was not ideal for such a style, so she settled on a hair band that she was gifted by the nurses. Her mood was elevated today, simply because she was stepping out of the hospital — although not quite since she would just be sitting outside.

She missed being outside; from being confined to her room and Orochimaru's 'lair', to the hospital room, she was very excited. The forecast for the day said that it would be sunny, just a little bit chilly, but she didn't care about that bit at all.

"Are you ready?" There was a knock on her door, and when she turned around, she saw him leaning against the door with his arms crossed and a small smile on his face.

"Mhm." She nodded and grabbed her walker. "I hope I don't look too much like a patient." She tried to joke as she approached him.

"You do." He held the door open.

"Oh, shut up." She hit him on the way out of her room.

"I'm glad to have you back." He mumbled as he followed her to the elevator.

Hinata turned to Sasuke and tilted her head to the side, "what do you mean?"

"You're making jokes again." He glanced at her and then looked away. She didn't know it, but her little habit of tilting her head in confusion — something he picked up as well — made him want to hold her face.

"I always make jokes." She stepped into the elevator.

"Not...Nice ones."

"It's called dark humour." She shrugged, "Sakura says it's a coping mechanism of some sort, and it makes me laugh sometimes, so it doesn't matter."

"I'm sure she did." Sasuke grunted.

If he was being honest, sometimes he did not like Sakura, simply because she was a little bit too privy for his liking. He understood that it was her job, and she was looking out for Hinata, but whenever she stopped him in the halls to talk, it seemed as though she was trying to get to know him more as a person rather than just Hinata's friend.

He shivered.

"What are you thinking about?" Hinata couldn't help but notice the displeased look on his face. "Was my joke really not that funny?"

"No, I just thought of a certain pink haired woman." He answered truthfully.

"You really don't like her." Hinata pressed the handicap button and waited for the main doors to open.

"I don't hate her either, I'm just not used to..."

"I wasn't either."

"You should leave that to me, it's weird having you dislike someone before I do. I'm supposed to be the one trying to convince you that they're an asshole, or that they're insanely annoying."

"People change; now I dislike everyone."

"Including me?"

Hinata rolled her eyes and nudged him. "you were always a given. How else did we become friends?"

"It was me who disliked you first, which brings me back to my first point."

"Yeah, yeah, Uchiha. It's time for some role reversals, I'll be the big, mean, scary one, and you can be the soft spoken person."

They came to a stop in front of the hospital gardens, admiring how...barren it looked with all the flowers out of their beds.

"Seems as if they're renovating it." Hinata muttered.