Dragged from her reverie by the firm knock at her door she grumbled as she headed for the front door, stopping momentarily as her gaze landed on the photo she had drug out last week. Itachi grinning, full fledged happiness paused inside that frame. She laid the picture down on its face before jerking the door open.
Her eyes widened and her lips popped apart. She went rigid and her mouth dried out quicker than a fish bowl in the Suna desert. She breathed out, her chest tightening at the sight in front of her.
Hinata couldn't believe he was right there, in her doorway, his body disheveled and hair matted with blood. His body battered and broken as he heaved heavily. She still found herself breathless in his charm.
His sharingan was activated, his eyes tearing blood. He had successfully disbanded the Akatsuki, making several dangerous enemies, and his hard work did not go without sacrifice.
She watched as his eyes rolled, his knee's giving out from underneath him. Quick and steady she caught his heavy form against herself. She grimaced as mixed emotions erupted. She buckled under his weight, stumbling back with a firm grip on him. She dragged his dead weighted body to the center of her living room. The carpeted floor was going to be difficult to remove the stains after this but she couldn't lift him onto the couch by herself.
Making several seals, she set a barrier and then sealed his chakra so it wouldn't be detected. She grabbed her medical supplies in the bathroom. Maybe it was the way she still hoped he was the same person she married, maybe it was the fact he trusted her enough to come to her in this defenseless state, or maybe it was still the love she kept locked away for him. She didn't know if any or all of these were the reasons she was ultimately committing a treason that would sign her death warrant. All she knew for sure was she couldn't let him die in their home like this.
She grit her teeth as she healed the deeper flesh wounds with her own chakra, biting her lip as she concentrated. She ripped his shirt to reveal the large gaping wound in his side. The sob caught in her throat as she realized he shouldn't even be alive here and now. He should have died on site with this kind of wound. The blood pooled onto her carpet, saturating the fabric. Another hand sign as her byakugan activated so she could see the damages easier.
Slowly she worked diligently and carefully; mending the shot and exposed organs, then pulling the muscles back in place, and tediously sewing veins and arteries together. She panted softly, perspiration collecting in beads among her brow with the energy and chakra she was expending. She forced herself to continue while running dangerously low on chakra. She huffed as her chakra slowly patched the skin, stretching the soft flesh over the large, should-have been fatal, injury.
She looked him over, noticing at least his breathing was evening steadily. The pool of blood had stopped creeping larger. He was extremely pale, his lips white, and his eyes sunken in but it did look to be that he was somewhat better. Even if it was just slightly, which was a marvel in and of itself. She gave a shaky breath.
She was startled awake by the sound of someone knocking loudly at her door. She cursed under her breath as she realized she must have blacked out. Judging by how dark her house was it had to have been close to midnight. Who would want her at this hour? She looked over to see that Itachi still laid in his own pool of blood on the floor. She looked at her hands, covered in his blood. She scowled slightly before jumping up.
Cracking the door so whoever could only see a sliver of her face, she scowled.
"Let us in," Ino whined, hanging onto her former teammate, Kiba.
As she stood at the door, refusing to crack it open even slightly more as an open invitation, Kiba and Ino whined. But Kiba could smell it. The blood she was covered in.
"You forgot, didn't you?" the blonde cried out.
"Sorry Ino, I'm dealing with some things right now. We'll go another time."
"What's going on?" Kiba's raspy voice resonated in her ears as it clicked, he could smell the blood and she was a fool.
"No worries, Kiba. Just a training incident. Please, just go," her voice although soft and polite, held a threatening resolve and Kiba knew better than to push her further.
"But Hina-"
"It's fine, Ino, we can always reschedule. She's probably tired and needs rest," he plastered on a fake smile as he cut off Ino, his sharp eyes focused on Hinata.
Ino's cool blue eye's studied the two. She didn't know either of them the way they knew each other but she instinctively something wasn't right between them. Kiba turned and stalked off with Ino following as she shut her door again. She knew that Kiba knew who's blood she was soaked with. She is just thankful he decided against making a scene about it just then but she knows the situation with Kiba was not over.
She sighed and turned back to the still figure on her floor. She shook her head before whispering fondly to herself, reminiscing of the day's he would purposely pull pranks and put her in embarrassing situations, "Already causing problems, eh, Itachi?"
She bent over him, contemplating what she should do next. She decided on cleaning him up to find any other injuries that would need some help to heal. The rag did nothing to take the dried blood from his skin.
Lifting his weight onto her shoulders proved difficult but she eventually was able to drag him to the shower, causing the blood that had been pooled beneath him to streak across her floor all of the way to the shower. She nearly toppled into the tub with him as she attempted to lower him gently. She ended up dropping him.
She ignored the apologetic feeling that welled up and just adjusted the temperature of the water before pulling the nozzle down and starting the shower. In nothing but his under shorts now, she let the water soak him. Enthralled she watched the red swirl down the drain.
She drug him out of the shower with major difficulty but managed it without dropping him this time. Now cleaned of the blood she was able to see the small cuts and bruises that would heal on their own. For the broken ribs she would just have to bandage for now as she needed her chakra to repair the damage done to his eyes. His color was coming back rather quickly now that she had stopped the bleed out. His face still seemed sunken in but that would take a day or two before he looked more like himself and not a hallowed out version.
She tugged him onto the bed, disheveling the sheets as he was drug up. She grimaced and fell beside him to catch her breath momentarily before she adjusted him properly; his head on a pillow, the sheet tucked around his hips covering his legs, and his arms placed on either side of him. She lifted him and let his upper body rest against her as she wrapped his chest firmly with the cloth to keep his ribs in place as much as possible.
Moving to his eyes as she activated her byakugan she gasped. The damage was severe and she doubted her abilities to heal them, if they could even be saved.
"Itachi..." she whispered sadly.
