Caught in the Darkness

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: You Can't Run Anymore

The wind swayed the curtain in Sasuke's hospital room. Hanako decided she would visit the young Uchiha. After what had happened with Kabuto, she didn't trust in leaving the boy alone. Hanako smiled and closed her eyes, remembering what had happened the day before. Itachi had been with her one last time before leaving, and they made a promise to be together again. Hanako covered her face when she felt the heat rushing into her cheeks. She bit her lip but still couldn't take the smile off her face.

Sasuke fluttered his eyes open when he heard a soft chuckle from beside him. His head was throbbing but still, he managed to turn his head around and look at the origin of the sound. Hanako was standing near the window, looking into the empty space. She had a bright smile on her face and her cheeks were colored in scarlet as she tried to cover her expression. The boy frowned. "Does me being in the hospital amuses you, Hanako-nee?"

When Hanako heard Sasuke's weak voice, she jumped slightly. Her eyes darted towards him in surprise. "Sasuke!" she yelped, hiding her hands behind her back. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "How long have you been awake?" she asked softly, looking away in embarrassment. "I haven't been muttering things, have I?"

Sasuke couldn't help the smirk that reached his face. "Why? Did you say something I wasn't supposed to hear?"

The colors in Hanako's face became more intense. "No... of course not..."

"And why are you wearing men clothes?" Sasuke arched a brow. Hanako was still wearing Inabi's clothes. She had gone to her apartment to shower and change her underwear, but Inabi's clothes had suddenly become too comfortable to take them off. Maybe not comfortable enough for missions, but they were for training. The clothes hung loosely around her body and it was easy to attach several weapon pouches along the pants' waistband. She hadn't put her warmers on her forearms. Instead, she had covered her summoning tattoos with bandages.

"They are comfy," she confessed as she looked down at herself, "and I might have assaulted an Uchiha household." She pressed her lips as she approached him. "Anyway, how do you feel? Tired? Revived?"

Sasuke closed his eyes as he let out a sigh. He rested his head on the pillow. "I've been better," that's all he said.

"That works for me," Hanako nodded and started to disconnect all the cables from Sasuke.

When he realized what she was doing, Sasuke looked at her with a frown. "What do you think you're doing?"

"We're leaving," Hanako said as if it were something obvious. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I can see that," he said. "I mean, where? Shouldn't we wait until the hospital discharges me or something?"

"Well, congratulations, you qualified for the third test of the Chuunin Exams. Did you forget that?" Hanako raised an eyebrow at him. She had stopped what she was doing, but Sasuke finished detaching the cables himself.

"No, I didn't," he frowned. "I haven't missed the test, have I?" His face didn't say so, but Hanako could hear the concern and worry in his voice.

"Not yet, the participants were given a month of training before the finals. From which, we have already been slacking for at least half a week so.... Chop chop!" Hanako clapped her hands before widely opening the window. Then, she pointed to the closet at the other side of the room and smiled at Sasuke. "Get dressed, we only have a couple of minutes left before the nurses' next visiting round."

* * *

Sasuke had changed from his hospital clothes rather quickly and, along Hanako, they left the hospital in less than a few minutes. Hanako took him to train outside the village. She didn't want to train in a place where everyone could see them. She had considered for a moment taking him to the spot where she and Shisui used to train, but she decided against it when she realized the number of grim memories that might come back to her.