"Tadaima," she whispered, shutting the door close behind her. She was greeted by the flashing light of the television, its volume turned down low and Hinata turned to see Neji and Ten-ten sleeping on the pillows, huddled close together. A pang of guilt cut through her as she looked at the couple.

Padding to her room, she got out extra blankets and went back out, gently covering the both of them as they snuggled into the new found warmth. Yawning widely, she collapsed on her bed, too tired to even take a shower, figuring that she'll do it later, since it was a weekend after all.

Hinata woke up to the delicious smell of someone cooking, and her stomach growled in appreciation. "Ugh." She sat up as her head began throbbing. "Not now..."

Stumbling to the bathroom with a towel draped across her shoulder, she went out of her room to see Neji sitting in front of the TV eating a bag of chips. She was about to turn away when he called her back.

"Morning." He greeted, taking in the sight of a very dishevelled Hinata, whom he was not used to. At all.

Hinata tried smoothing out her bob cut as it stuck out each and every direction possible. "Morning," she croaked, her voice hoarse from sleep. The girl tried clearing her throat, but it was too dry. She pointed in the general direction of the bathroom. "I'm gonna shower."

"Don't let me stop you," Neji raised his hands.

Fifteen minutes later, a more refreshed looking Hinata came out of the bathroom, and Ten-ten jumped in front of her with a plate of freshly cooked okonomiyaki. "Try it!" she exclaimed, forking a piece up to her lips, and she opened them as the morsel slipped in. Hinata thought she had died and gone to heaven; she was so hungry.

"It's really good." She told Ten-ten, who looked at Neji with a smug expression. "Neji! Did you hear that? She said it was good!"

"What she says doesn't count," came the voice from the hall.

"Yes it does. She lives here." She said, as if it explained everything. "Come on Hina-chan, let's eat." She was about to pull Hinata into the kitchen with her but the girl held back, and pointed at her wet clothes.

"I'm going to change into a new set of clothes. These are dirty."

"Ok. Come back quick!" she carried the plate back into the kitchen.

Just then, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it." Neji uttered, and headed for the door. He wondered who it could be, as he knew that Hinata didn't have a lot of close friends. The door opened and a certain blonde haired blue eyed boy greeted him with a basket of fruits.

Naruto stared at Neji as he stared steadily back.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked finally.

"What are you doing here?" the long haired boy threw the question back at him.

"What do you mean what I'm doing here? Hinata invited me over. She said I could come whenever I liked." He finished, sounding a little proud of that fact. "And you?"

"My girlfriend stays here," he gritted out and smirked as Naruto's eyes widened.

"Hinata? Your girlfriend?"

At that moment, Ten-ten came over, wondering what the hell was taking Neji so long to answer the door. "What's wr-" she paused and noticed Naruto. "Oh. Hey there. Looking for someone?"

Naruto looked dumbfounded, and checked the address scribbled on his palm. "Is this even the right house?" he muttered to himself, and checked the door. Yep. It said No. 5. "Where's Hinata?"

Ten-ten's mouth widened into a smile as she ushered Naruto in. "Oh, you're Hinata's boyfriend! Why didn't you say so earlier? Come in!" a glass of juice was thrust in his hands as he was sat on the kitchen table. "I was just cooking some okonomiyaki. What toppings would you like?"

"Uh, teriyaki chicken?"

"One teriyaki chicken okonomiyaki, coming right up!" metal tongs flashed as she went to work.

Naruto turned and glared at Neji, who was sitting opposite him, sipping coffee insouciantly. "That's your girlfriend? Very... effervescent."

"She is, isn't she?"

Hinata came into the kitchen, wondering what all the noise was about. "Ne, Ten-ten, what was all that ruckus about?" that was before she laid eyes on Naruto, whose face lit up as soon as she saw him.

"Hi, Hinata-chan! Ano, I was wondering if we could head down to the library to do some research?"

"Uh... Sure, why not? Let me get my things and we'll get going." She started for her room but Neji stopped them.

"I don't think so. Not until Hinata eats something. She hasn't had food in her system the whole night yet."

"I-I had dinner last night..." the girl with dark blue tresses pointed out, not sure if she should be pleased at the concern she was getting from the normally aloof boy.

"What would you know about what she has eaten or not? If Hinata says we're going, we're going." Naruto growled.

"Okay! Your chicken okonomiyaki's ready! Please eat up while it's still hot!" Ten-ten chirped, setting the plate in front of Naruto with a loud twack. The boy looked from the plate to the cook, and felt compelled to eat the dish in front of him. Somehow, he didn't want to incur the wrath of the girl; she might be dangerous for all he knew.

"Um, Hinata? Do you want to split this with me, if you're hungry?"

Hinata set down her things and looked at the Japanese pancake.

"Oh no. There's no need. I've already prepared a seafood one for her!" another plate appeared miraculously in front of Hinata, and she raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"How did you know that seafood's my favourite?" Hinata asked.

"You've got him to thank." Ten-ten nudged her boyfriend, who was looking at anything and everything except her.

"Oh. Thank you." Her voice was soft and meek.

Twenty minutes later, the bundle of energy that was Naruto and Hinata were out, on their way to the city library.

"What shall we do today?" Hinata asked, never one to really propose anything.

"I was thinking of reading up on our topic before taking relevant notes and putting them on powerpoint slides." Naruto suggested, looking at her for some form of affirmation. Hinata nodded. "Yeah. So basically it's just a lot of reading up to do. Don't worry, we'll get through it." He smiled, lifting Hinata's spirits up a little.

They spent half a day looking through the numerous books on the old wooden sturdy shelves, flipping through pages after pages until all Hinata could see were words swimming around her. She squinted at the words of the book she was currently holding, and stared at it blankly as her vision blacked out suddenly.

She'd thought her heart had stopped, and her breathing hitched, dropping the voluminous book on the floor wincing as it hit her toes. She grabbed for something, anything, and her small hands found one of the shelves and she clutched at it, willing her vision to return. When it was apparent that her sight wasn't going to come back soon, she sank to the floor, feeling tears well in her eyes. She was too afraid to venture out of the deserted corner of the library, and waited for Naruto to find her. Speaking of him, he was probably grabbing a bite to eat at the cafeteria located on the 3rd floor of the library.

Hinata was not sure how much time she had spent on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest and crying silently when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She lifted her face, which must be red and patchy from crying, and grabbed the warm, wide hand with her cold and trembling one.

"Naruto?"

The person who she thought was the blonde didn't reply, and at that moment she knew it wasn't her partner. Wiping her tears away with the back of her hand, she tightened her grip on the boy's hand and asked for help to stand.

She was pulled up to her feet easily, leaving their entwined hands laying by their sides. Hinata only felt gratitude for the stranger who had 'saved' her, and thanked him profusely. "Ano... if a blonde boy comes around here, could you tell him to come here and get me? I-I'll just wait here." She tried her best to sound unaffected and calm, but that plan failed as her voice sounded tremulous to her own ears.

"Hinata." The stranger stated, and the girl's eyes widened in shock.

"S-sasuke?" her midnight blue hair swished as she turned her head away, hiding her face behind a curtain of hair. She had never felt so humiliated in her life.

"Where's Naruto?" she had expected him to ask something along the lines of 'what the fuck was going on' but this unnerved her, and she began to fidget.

"He'll be back soon. He went to get something to eat. Uh, fancy meeting you here." She said, feeling the urge to start screaming hysterically. This situation was too calm and she was feeling anything but right now.

"Project, remember? You're not the only one with an assigned question. Although ours are due after yours, Hiroe figured we might as well get it over and done with as soon as possible." She thought she heard his voice turn slightly wry as he mentioned Hiroe, and imagined a slight, almost imperceptible smile across his lips. After a beat, he finally asked the question she was dreading. "What happened to you?"

Hinata bit her lip, and shuffled from side to side. She dropped his hand to grip her skirt tightly instead. "I've no idea myself." She responded truthfully.

"I'm sending you to the hospital. Come on," he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards the general direction of the exit. Hinata resisted, pulling back her arm for all it was worth.

"I can't. Naruto will be back soon, and I don't want him to worry." She looked like a lost sheep and a surge of annoyance ran through Sasuke.

"You're the one going blind and you're worrying how Naruto would take it? Stop acting the angel and get your arse moving already," he hissed in impatience. Hinata was jolted into action, hastily following him out of the library, and he was decent enough not to let her bump into anything.

As they got into the car, Sasuke could be heard mumbling to himself as he dialled a number one-handed on his mobile. "Hello? Hiroe-chan? Well... really? That's great. Listen, do you think we could postpone our research at the library? Something urgent came up and I had to go. Um, I'm going to the hospital. No, nothing serious. It's just... one of my staff got injured and I'm heading down to see how he is. Yeah. I will. You take care too. Love you. Bye," he pressed another button to terminate the call, and let out a breath of air.

Hinata couldn't see Sasuke's expression to tell if that breath was one of relief or exasperation. "You lied to your girlfriend," she pointed out helpfully. "That's not very nice."

Sasuke chuckled bitterly. "'Not very nice'? Yeah. You think I don't know that? It's for her own good. She's a great person, and what matters is that I'm truthful in everything important." He said, swerving the car to the right as they hit an intersection.

"How convenient." Hinata mocked, growing increasingly chafed. She hated liars with a passion, no matter how justified their reasons were. "And what if she finds out?"

"Then I'll deal with her when the time comes. Anyway, she has this jealous streak in her, which can be really terrifying at times. I told a little lie which couldn't harm anyone. She wouldn't find out anyway." The car rolled to a stop at the traffic light. "Can we stop talking? I'm sick of explaining myself to you."

Hinata shrugged, used to Sasuke's frankness. "Okay."

"You know," he started a minute later, "You're awfully calm for a person who's just lost her sight. Why's that?"

"I was crying when you found me wasn't I?"

"But girls would usually be hysterical. You were just weeping. That isn't normal."

The girl shrugged. "Maybe I knew it was coming all along."

They reached the A&E department of the hospital and checked her in, signing a ton of papers before someone would come out to look at Hinata.

"She doesn't seem to be bleeding in anywhere serious," the medical staff pointed out, glaring at Sasuke contritely.

"If you hadn't noticed, she's blind." Sasuke waved a hand in front of Hinata's face as if to prove a point.

"So?"

The spiky haired boy felt like he could kill someone. "So! Her eyes were working fine just yesterday! If this isn't an emergency I don't know what is." He returned a look of his own at the man wearing the white lab coat and both engaged in a glaring match to the death.

"If I may say something?" Hinata raised her voice and the two men looked at her.

"What?" came the instantaneous reply.

Hinata cringed. "Actually, I think Doctor Tsunade has been expecting me for quite some time now. Just tell her a Hyuuga Hinata's here to see her about her... condition." She said softly.

The medical staff scoffed and turned on his heel, stalking back into his office, while Sasuke was left behind with Hinata.

He narrowed his eyes at her, and gritted out, "A doctor has been expecting you? Why didn't you say so earlier?" his said, voice carefully controlled so it seemed as if he was talking about a dead bird instead of something more serious.

"Well, it wasn't as if I could see where we were going. I thought we were heading to the receptionist to ask for an eye doctor or something. Um. I had also made an appointment a few days back to go today." She looked guilty at the last statement. "It was a coincidence, I swear!"

"Teme... you're unbelievable, you know that? So where's that doctor?"

"Doctor Tsunade is on the 15th floor of the next building. I've confirmed with her your appointment which was supposed to be at 3 this afternoon. Since it's already 230, you might as well see her now." The medical staff supplied.

Hinata thanked him and the both of them worked their way into the other building into Tsunade's office. Pushing the glass door open which triggered off the doorbell, the receptionist turned her head towards them with a bright smile.

"Hi! Hyuuga-sama? Tsunade-san's waiting for you. Please go in," the vivacious receptionist chirped.

Sasuke raised his eyebrow at the honorific, but let it pass. "Do you want me to go in with you?" he asked in a low voice, his breath brushing the shell of her ear.

"No. I'm facing this one alone. Thanks for bringing me here, Sasuke." She smiled at him. "You might want to go back to Hiroe before she calls to ask what's wrong. And don't worry. I'll be coming to work on Tuesday."

"You sure about that? I meant the work part. Your eyes..."

"I'll be okay by then, trust me."

"You're going to have to explain it to me until I understand every single word of it, you know that don't you? One of these days, that is." He said. "When you're feeling better." He was about to open his mouth to say more but Hinata had already turned the knob of the door to go in.

"Are you Hyuuga-sama's boyfriend?" the receptionist asked in a deceptively innocent voice, causing Sasuke's hairs to stand on end.

"No."

"Oh." She sounded unusually happy. "Want to go for a drink after my shift's over? My treat."

Sasuke took a good long look at her, and thought her to be not bad looking. She looked to be in her early twenties, long brown hair interlaced with blonde highlights and done up in a haphazard twist, looking oddly suited to the shape of her face. Her almond shaped eyes were framed by long lashes, and the fact that she had put on minimal make up scored a point in Sasuke's book.

"I'm attached." Was his reply, which didn't seem to affect the lady at all, in fact, her smile widened as her expression turned to a cheeky one.

"Who says I'm trying to scoop you? It's just a friendly get-to-know-you kinda drinking session. It isn't a crime making good looking friends is it?" The girl stuck her hand out, perfectly manicured nails glinting under the bright light of the clinic. "Kagome Chika."

"Uchiha Sasuke." They shook hands.

"Well, think about it. I'll give you my number. Here," she scribbled onto the back of Tsunade's namecard and passed it to him. "Later." She gave a little wave, and sat back down in her seat, flipping through what seemed like the appointment book.

By the time he had stuffed the name card into the back of his jeans pocket and exited the medical building, Kagome Chika has been totally erased from his mind. That goes for working at a place where one gets hit on all the time. He checked the time and decided to call Hiroe before she starts going crazy.