Chapter 39

Someone rushed to pick Hinata up and carry her more quickly than she'd been walking, obviously Kakuzu. Pearl-colored eyes were half-lidded but seeing nothing. She could comprehend the sounds around her a little bit, though. Familiar voices fell in and out of focus as she clung to her consciousness with everything she had.

"Call Kisame and…our way. We need….immediately!"

"...think it…new leader's orders? Why did….now of all…?"

"...transfusion…."

"Lay them here so I can…."

Suddenly, Hinata's consciousness returned, and her eyes crept open slowly, but it was hard to keep them that way, so the woman allowed them to close again. She hadn't even realized she'd passed out.

"...Hidan…?" She asked, knowing at least one person had to be around to hear.

"He's in better shape than you. Just rest."

'Is that…Kisame or Zetsu? I can't tell.'

Swallowing slowly, the woman winced. Her throat was unbelievably dry, and her entire midsection hurt like hell, the epicenter of the wound at the hip. That said, it was evident some sort of drug was running through her veins because if it wasn't, she wouldn't have been able to remain quiet. It was more manageable than it'd been in the alleyway.

Though she felt more than a little out of it, Hinata opened her eyes again, "Please, can I…water…."

"Figures you'd be polite even when you're high as a kite. Here, sit up a little," the same voice said, but it was clearer this time.

'That's not either of them. Who is it?'

The woman hissed, wincing as she aided their efforts to place an additional pillow behind her so she'd be propped upright a bit. She sighed sleepily, looking over to see Itachi standing there, holding a glass of water with a straw and frowning. It took too much energy to hold back, so tears fell freely, slowly down her cheeks as she drank, averting her gaze downward rather than at him.

'How long was I out? Did they find out who tried to kill us yet? This bed is uncomfortable.'

Itachi set the glass aside once she was done, sitting beside the bed and crossing his arms, "When are you going to stop getting yourself hurt like this?"

Hinata ignored the question, "Where's Hidan? Is he okay?" The water helped further wake her.

He gestured across the bed wordlessly. Her eyes followed it, only to widen when they landed on Hidan, who was asleep in his own bed, but he wasn't hooked up to an IV like she was. From what she could see, he was shirtless and had bandaging wrapped around his shoulder and upper arm. His back was turned to them.

Tears flooded Hinata's vision, and she sniffled, weakly wiping at them with the hand not hooked up to the IV, "H-Has he woken up yet?"

"Fucking worry about yourself," the man in question's voice was low and didn't have its usual aggressive undertone.

She frowned, too high on painkillers to be filtered, and mocked the tone he'd used, "Fucking shut up." It was all very uncharacteristic of the petite woman, at least when she was in her right mind, calm and sober.

Before Hidan could respond, Itachi scoffed, "Why don't you two rest instead of arguing?"

The door to the room opened, Kakuzu and Kisame entering, but Hinata replied to the Uchiha man with a glare on the silver-haired man's back, "That jerk only got hurt because he shielded me. If anyone should be mad, it's me, but he's the one pouting and cussing over there."

Kisame snickered, but Hidan sat up and turned around to fix the irritated girl with a scowl, "And you stayed like an idiot instead of running like I told you to. What if you'd died? Then I would've done all that for nothing!"

Hinata's eyes narrowed, and she winced while trying to fully sit up to rebuttal, "Hey, that's not-" "Alright, you two, that's enough. Lay back down and shut your mouths," Kakuzu interrupted, sounding exhausted.

She fell back against the pillows, breathing heavily with closed eyes as her midsection throbbed with hot pain.

"Does it hurt?" Kisame asked, his voice sounding nearer than before.

The woman nodded, pushing her hair away from her sweaty face with one hand, eyes reopening. 'How long will it take to heal? It's not the abdomen, so it shouldn't take as long as it did Itachi, but I can't imagine walking around or even sitting up alone right now.'

Not much time could've passed since the incident, or else they'd likely have been moved out of Kisame's house already. She recognized it from the time he'd patched her up after fighting Orochimaru.

The veterinarian handed her some medication, holding the water glass for her to drink from again, "I wasn't sure if you'd wake up today, so I didn't use much. These shouldn't take long to take effect; bear with it until then."

She winced with her free hand squeezing the thin blanket and a red face as she breathed through the pain after taking the pills, "...This is nothing."

Kisame grinned, "Nah, of course not."

For the next ten to fifteen minutes, the makeshift doctor explained that it could take upwards of three months for the wound to completely heal because of its location, but there was a chance it could be longer because he didn't have the equipment to run all the necessary tests to confirm every bit of internal damage. All he could say was that she'd survive.

Toward the end of that conversation, the blue-haired man gave her a precise look that needed no further elaboration. It sent debilitating concern through the poor woman.

'The bullet hit near my pelvis. One of the things he can't verify is if any reproductive abilities will be affected.' Hinata nodded, tears in her eyes, so he'd move on. After that, she didn't really hear a lot said. All she could think was, 'What if I can't have children because of this?'

She'd never in a million years want to take back what she did, saving Hidan, but that didn't mean she wanted such an awful thing to be true.

That night, after being informed that they'd stay at Kisame's for a few days, Hinata and Hidan were left alone. She felt relieved the others had finally left, but kind of wished the silver-haired man had gone, too, because she wanted very badly to cry to her heart's content. The strong painkillers, luckily, worked well.

The woman turned onto her side, back turned to the room's other resident, so tears could fall silently down to the pillow. It was all she could do to not completely lose her composure, 'Hidan's over there blaming himself for all of this. I know he is. That's why I can't let him see me cry. That's why I-' "Thank you."

Pearl-colored eyes opened in surprise. Hinata tried to keep her voice steady, "What?"

Suddenly, she felt a weight behind her on the small bed. Her brow furrowed as she winced, carefully scooting over so there'd be room for the both of them, 'Is he really coming over here? I thought I'd have to try convincing him for weeks, if not months!'

Hidan didn't cuddle her. No, he lay on his back as she remained on her side with her back to him, but this was more than she expected anyway. "I said thank you. I wish you'd have just left me there, but that doesn't mean I'm not grateful."

Gone was the man's fierce, confident aura and his curses. Instead, he sounded worn down and unable to maintain the facade that everything was fine.

'I did tell him it was okay to be like that when we're alone if he ever wants to. I swore to keep it to myself, and I meant it. He's just never fully done it until now.' There were times he came close to it, like after they returned to the hotel room upon running from the cops and his father in Yugakure, and the man apologized to her from the other side of the bathroom door.

Hinata wanted to join him in being sincere, making the bottle on her fearful tears crack but not yet break. She covered her mouth and nose with one hand to stifle the sound of her sniffling and crying, eyes squeezing closed.

"I love you."

The bottle shattered at the man's quiet sentiment, and her shoulders shook as she quietly sobbed, somehow responding, "I love you, too."

At some point, Hinata fell asleep, but she was cuddled into Hidan's side when she woke. Her fingers rested against his bare skin, feeling his chest steadily rise and fall with his breath. A strong arm, the uninjured one, was around her, the man gripping a handful of her shirt so it lifted enough that the bandages on her side were uncovered and unbothered.

She wasn't sure if that was on purpose but didn't mind either way. Hinata was just relieved he allowed her to get this close again, so she kept her eyes closed and her breathing even in an attempt to enjoy it longer.

"I still can't believe that was the same woman who cried because she saw a cute dog video," Nagato's amused voice came in a whisper.

Hinata knew he was talking about her because she had, indeed, burst into tears maybe ten days ago over a video about puppies. She'd been about to start her monthly cycle and was emotional because of that.

"It was crazy, right? How'd she manage to drag him so far while wounded? I thought she'd die before we made it here, for sure," Zetsu responded quietly, his voice monotone as though he was zoned out in deep thought.

'The way they're talking…is Hidan still asleep?'

"She almost did. Didn't you hear what Kisame-" "Please, stop talking about it," Hinata whispered, her eyes creeping open enough to see that it was, indeed, Zetsu and Nagato, but Kakuzu was there, too.

The latter frowned at her, so she elaborated, glancing at Hidan's face to ensure he was still asleep. He was. "I-I don't want him to hear any of this."

"Did you get a good look at the shooter?" Kakuzu focused on business rather than addressing her anxiety.

Hinata replied, still whispering to not rouse the sleeping silver-haired man she was snuggled up to, "They were about the same height as Sasori and had dark eyes, maybe brown? That's all I could tell, though. They wore a hood and a mask."

Zetsu mused, "That doesn't sound like any of the members we have data on."

"Maybe it wasn't them after all," Nagato offered.

The green-haired man made a negative sound, eyes narrowing, "Who else would target them out in the open like that?"

A long silence followed as everyone pondered the question, but Nagato soon offered Hinata a soft smile, lowering his voice, "Seeing as you're where you are, can we assume you two have finally stopped being so stubborn?"

The Hyuuga woman blushed, unconsciously inching closer to Hidan, "I…I'm not sure if he wants things to go back to how they were."

'Ever since we returned from Yugakure, he's punishing himself. I get it, to a point, but he can't keep it up forever.'

"He'd be a fool not to, and you're a fool for questioning it," Kakuzu grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"You fuckin' nosey bitches. Mind your own business," Hidan's chest rumbled as he cursed in a tired, barely awake voice.

'Oh, they're definitely going to leave now. Will we finally talk about things?'

Kakazu uncharacteristically sat straighter in his chair to fix the exhausted man with a glare, "You two literally tried to die for each other yesterday. Get back together already. Everyone's tired of seeing you sulk."

'I stand corrected. Apparently, they're fed up with us.'

"You old fuck, I'll-!" Hidan tried to sit up, only to freeze when Hinata hissed, her injury having been jostled. Then his brow furrowed, and he laid down again before cursing, "Get the hell outta here, then."

Once the three men went upstairs and left them alone, Hinata squeezed her eyes closed and her head down so he couldn't see her face, 'Please don't tell me to get off of you. I just want to be close like before.'

"You've already fuckin' forgiven me, haven't you?" The way he said it informed the woman that he knew the answer.

He paused, but not long enough for her to respond, "I'll kill whoever did this, and I'll kill my bastard of a father. Then…." "Don't." Hidan said nothing, so Hinata continued, "D-Don't convince yourself you have to do those types of things to make it up to me. That's not what I want."

"What else can I do, Hina? You almost-!" His breath hitched, and he closed his mouth.

The woman struggled to sit up. The muscles of her abdomen burnt like they'd caught fire, and a soft, pained gasp passed her lips. Tears slowly rolled down her cheeks. Hinata fumbled to grab Hidan's hand when he sat up and tried to force her to lie down again.

She firmly said, "You can choose me instead of revenge."

The panicked glint in his magenta eyes fell into bitter understanding, but she continued, sliding her hand away from his and up his arm to cup his cheek, "You can kiss me."

Hidan frowned, leaning absently into her touch, "And when they come after you again?"

Hinata moved her hand back into his hair, guiding him to lean closer and glancing between his eyes and lips, "Then we'll handle it together." When he didn't meet her halfway, she pouted, searching his face, "Every time we fight, it's because there's a misunderstanding," tears continued to drip down her face, but she kept on, "So, I'll say it clearly."

"I still want to be together. I know so much has happened since then, but I feel even more strongly about you than when you came over during Christmas."

The man's eyes widened slightly, his jaw flexing, "You don't mean that."

Hinata nodded, fingers tightening in his hair so she was almost pulling it, "Yes, I-I do. …Will you tell me no? Are you saying I can't have you because of something someone else did?"

"That's not what I'm-" Hidan's eyes narrowed, and he cut himself off, sighing defeatedly. The tiniest hint of warmth met his expression, "Have I ever been able to tell you no?"

Then, he kissed her.

Finally, he kissed her.