青い骨の美 - The Beauty of Blue Bones

Chapter 39

Summer
Tuesday—7:20AM

"Just remember to come by for your checkups or I'll have to come knocking on those doors at ungodly hours." Sakura smiled as she filled out the forms for Hinata who was leaning against the desk with a tired look on her face. "You can always just stay a little bit longer until you're completely okay."

"No thank you, I kind of hate the hospital and there are some things I need to handle personally. This place isn't going to stop me from doing it." She rubbed her eyes and signed in the spots that Sakura pointed to.

"Don't push yourself too hard, Hinata, I'd hate to see you back here again because you got hurt. I don't know what you three are up to, but please be safe?" She nodded as she straightened the papers and placed them into a white folder to store away later. "It's been a while since we saw you in the village, the others were a little bit worried now that I think about it."

"Oh, yeah? Why didn't anyone reach out?" She raised one slick eyebrow, the fading dark bags under her eyes made the purplish hue of her iris pop out. The question wasn't really meant to be mean, or have a bite to it, but judging by the way Sakura's face flushed in embarrassment, Hinata knew that her tone had been a little bit cold.

"We didn't know where you were or how to reach you. Knowing that Naruto was with you all along, we could have asked him about you." She tucked her hair away, "speaking of...How are things between you two?" She wiggled her eyebrows. "He kept staring at you all morning."

Hinata puffed out her cheeks and turned to look at Naruto who was busy talking to Sasuke as he leaned against the wall. His habit of using his hands while speaking made her smile softly. "Everything's fine."

"Fine? What do you mean by 'fine'?"

"Let's just say that whatever issues we seemed to have had during our mission were settled. We're in each other's good books now."

"Oh! And Sasuke? I didn't think either of you were the type to gravitate to each other. You're practically the opposite except for the quiet attitude."

"We're...friends." Hinata smiled. "I should get going, they've been waiting for a bit and we need to pick some stuff up to stay at Naruto's place."

"Wait, I never asked why you were going to stay there instead of at the Hyūga compound. Did something happen with your father?"

She pursed her lip and gave her a firm nod, "I would rather not talk about it. I've been out of the village the entire time, so for convenience sake, I'm going to stay with him until you think it's okay for me to leave again."

"Ah, I hope you figure things out with your father. I know parents suck sometimes but...What am I saying? The relationship I have with my family doesn't really help me understand stuff from your point of view. Sorry, I'm overstepping and rambling, I'm trying to stop that."

Hinata placed her hand on top of her own and gave it a small squeeze, "it's okay, I don't mind. I've tried to fix things with him for years, it's just not really meant to work out. I'll see you for my checkup tomorrow morning, have a good day, Sakura. Tell Lady Tsunade I said 'thank you'."

"I will!" Sakura squeezed her hand back and watched as Hinata joined Sasuke and Naruto.

The both of them turned to her before she opened her mouth, whatever they had been talking about was quickly put aside to check her over once more before they looked at Sakura. She gave them a quick wave, and watched as they all walked out of the hospital while speaking to themselves.

The walk to Naruto's apartment was somewhat eventful. The villagers, having seen that Naruto was actually back while seeming as if he was staying for longer than a few hours, kept greeting their blond counterpart while waving a little to Hinata. The reception to Sasuke wasn't as warm, many acted as if he didn't really exist but the Uchiha didn't quite mind.