青い骨の美 - The Beauty of Blue Bones

Chapter 6

Winter
Saturday—10:13AM

"You're healing well." Hinata muttered as she examined the still very pink flesh that surrounded the stitches. "Even though you ruptured them a few times, they're not causing an infection." She used a pair of forceps and a cotton pad drenched in rubbing alcohol to clean the dried blood on his skin. She didn't slow down, or flinch as she heard him hiss under his breath, no doubt trying to put up a strong face despite the pain he was feeling.

Sasuke watched her through lidded eyes, sweat caked on his forehead as she poked and prodded the stab wound. He hated sitting there and doing nothing. He hated being at her mercy every time he fell in and out of consciousness over the past few days. "You're not a medic." He finally managed to say as she replaced the gauze and plaster before sitting back to discard the gloves she wore. He's been meaning to say those words for two days now once he realized exactly why she was checking his injury so much instead of doing the Mystical Palm technique he's seen Sakura use.

"No." She answered, using her palm to rub her tired eyes. She avoided his gaze, never giving him enough time to actually look at her beyond quick glances. Hinata knew she didn't look presentable, something she was ashamed of if she was being honest with herself. She had allowed herself to slip into her fear since she lived alone, but with him currently occupying the space in her home, she couldn't find it in herself to show him that she was weak.

"I thought all kunoichi knew the art of medical ninjūtsu." Sasuke resisted the urge to cross his arms as he sat up, pain erupted in his side at the smallest movement even days after she had patched him up.

"That's a little sexist, don't you think?" She raised a slick eyebrow, letting him see her annoyance as she gathered her supplies and stood up. "I was not allowed to learn medical ninjūtsu even though I saw it as something beneficial."

"Were you too weak?" He didn't mean for it to sound so condescending, but he couldn't take it back now that he said it. Sasuke watched her falter in her steps for a second, he saw the way her hands shook and her body flinched.

"You can say that." She shrugged and left him alone in the living room. Hinata returned a few minutes later with a tray of food for him to eat.

"How far is Konoha from here?" He didn't thank her as he picked up his chopsticks and poked at the egg rolls on his plate.

"A mile or two? I never pay attention to that kind of information unless absolutely necessary." She sat down on the couch in front of him, yet turned her back to him as she stared outside the large windows, watching the snow fall.

"Are you some sort of retired ninja?"

"What's with all the questions?" She frowned as her eyes narrowed. He couldn't see it, but Hinata was watching the spirits of dead children play with the snow. She looked up to see her own companion staring at the children with what she could only decipher as envy swimming in their pitch black eyes.

"Humour him." They turned to her with a smile. "It doesn't hurt to answer him sometimes."

"That's none of his concern." She whispered harshly as she closed her eyes.

"Who are you talking to?" Sasuke gave her a skeptical look, weariness going unhidden as he took a sip of his tea.

"Nobody." She bit back quickly, pulling her knees to her chest as she closed her eyes and rested her forehead on them. She was so tired; between checking up on him, feeling the cold caresses of the demon that followed her around, and being scared to close her eyes—she had not gotten any decent sleep for two weeks.

Things weren't supposed to be this way.

She thought that she would enjoy her life outside the village, outside the walls of her compound, away from her family [especially her father], but that hasn't been the case for a while. It hasn't been the case since she started getting migraines—since they started showing up one by one. Perhaps it was the house that was doing this; maybe it was the house that was haunted.