Chapter 8
"You're telling me this kid is going to jump against us?" Kaoru looked at the locker room floor and away from the other three competitors in front of him, trying to ignore them as they spoke like he wasn't there.
"Apparently Uchiha's been training him." Laughter followed the statement.
"Ignore them. They can't jump above 2.25." A hand on Kaoru's shoulder caused him to jump, looking for who it was. It was a surprise to find Sai standing there. "Come on." He pushed Kaoru forward and out of the locker room, stalking away without saying anything else after doing so.
Sasuke had been waiting for Kaoru and hobbled towards the boy as fast as he could when he finally came out of the locker room. "What took you so long?"
"Nothing. When does the competition start?"
"Five minutes. We should get over there." Without waiting for a reply, he started to lead the way across the large track field and through the many events set up. By the time they reached where Kaoru was competing, the bar was just being put on and the boards set. Sai was already sitting on the bench with Gai standing beside him, and Kaoru sat next to the older student while Sasuke sat down carefully next to him and rested his crutches next to him. As the time ticked away and other events ended, the other jumpers came over and attention slowly shifted to the set up.
"Only competitors can sit here, Uchiha. Get up." His crutches were kicked from beside him, yet Sasuke managed to catch them before they fell to the ground. He didn't say anything but stood, making his way quickly around the little bench to stand behind Kaoru then. The trio chuckled at him, but Sasuke only ignored them. "You've taken to training a little kid?"
"Don't underestimate Kaoru or me." That was all he said, leaning on his crutches more and kneeing Kaoru in his back to get his attention. "Win this."
"I will." And then an announcer was there, speaking into a microphone to get the crowd's attention and starting the competition. Sai went up first and Kaoru watched as he cleared the bar easily.
Then it was his turn and cameras from different reporters all stilled, not finding the new face interesting compared to the people they had been following for years. Kaoru could only smirk as he took off and cleared the bar easily. The other three did the same and the bar was raised for the next round.
It continued with all of them clearing it until that bar reached 2.22 meters and the first of the three couldn't clear it. At 2.23, another gave up. With Kaoru in the top three, he gained attention, but still not enough for the reporters to watch him closely. Yet.
The final of the three missed the jump on 2.25, leaving just Sai and Kaoru. As the bar got higher, the first few pictures of Kaoru were taken, but still not nearly as many as the other four. Even Sasuke had more pictures than him. At 2.30, Sai clipped the bar and it fell.
"You can do it." Sasuke pushed Kaoru off the bench for his turn and the boy walked to his starting mark, pictures suddenly being taken at a much faster speed. The other contestants and much of the crowd watched Kaoru closely as he took off, his form perfect, and jumped.
Flying through the air, Kaoru closed his eyes, afraid of the outcome of his jump. It wasn't until after he hit the mat and rolled over that he opened his eyes, but the flashes of the cameras were too bright to see at first. As his eyes adjusted, he understood why pictures of him were suddenly so wanted. The bar was still standing. In his first competition, he had beaten the competitors who had been older than him and more known.
Sasuke's face was the first one he actually saw after the camera flashes had died down slightly, standing at the edge of the mat with a rare smile on his face. "I told you that you could do it." And he had. "Come on, off the mat." He acted like he was going to help so Kaoru went to grab his hand to climb off the mat, only for it to be dropped and him to stumble. Sasuke only chuckled before hobbling back over to Gai and the others and having Kaoru follow him.
Already, reporters were trying to get closer, Kaoru suddenly more interesting than the other jumpers. Sasuke nudged him as they walked, leaning closer to whisper in Kaoru's ear. "Smile and let me do all the talking unless they ask you specifically. And stand straight. Drink some water too." Kaoru was more than willing to listen, straightening his back as he grabbed a water bottle and sipped at it.
"Sasuke! Is it true you are training him?"
"How do you feel about his placement in his first competition?"
"Are you giving up on jumping?" The questions were fired one after another, the flashes from cameras not stopping, and Kaoru was suddenly very thankful that Sasuke was handling everything.
The older boy only smiled at the reporters, years of practice taking over. "Yes, I am training Kaoru. I know I am proud of his placement in this first competition, but I wouldn't have expected anything less from him." He smiled at Kaoru, playing a nice senior student.
"Are you giving up on jumping?" The question that had been ignored was asked again, but Sasuke didn't visibly react to it.
"No. I wanted to be here to see my friend compete and after I am going to get my foot looked at by a specialist and find out what needs to be done so that I can get back to jumping as soon as possible. Until then, Kaoru will be taking my place in competitions. But I look forward to the day we compete against each other." More questions were asked, some about his injury and most about Kaoru, but Sasuke took care of all of them, until the first was directed at Kaoru.
"How do you feel about taking the place of our country champion in competitions?"
Kaoru almost choked on his water at the question, but still answered. "I-I'm honored. I mean, to take the place of Sasuke when there are other high jumpers in our school who have practiced much longer than I have."
"Then why are you taking Sasuke's place and not one of them?"
Sasuke cut in now, saving Kaoru. "Because in the first time I was training Kaoru, he could jump my record. By the second time, he was beating it." That fact caused the cameras to click faster and pens scratched against pads, writing down what was definitely going to be a headline the next day, if not by later that day.
Before anymore questions could be asked, the next event was starting, and the reporters were running off to the area for the start. Kaoru sighed and relaxed his back, slumping over slightly, while Sasuke only leaned on his crutches a little more. "I'm going with Kakashi to the hospital right after we get back."
"I know." Kaoru couldn't figure out just why Sasuke was telling him what he already knew, but he had a feeling there was a reason behind it.
"Wi-will you come too?" The question surprised Kaoru, but Sasuke continued on quickly. "I mean, it will be hard for me to understand everything they are saying and Kakashi probably won't really care about how I feel about everything and will just look at it from the best way to get me back to jumping and-"
"I'll come if you want me to." Kaoru cut off Sasuke's ramblings, realize that despite looking almost indifferent on the outside, he was afraid of the whole thing. "We should go watch the race. Neji and Gaara are in it." That ended the conversation quickly, letting Sasuke calm down his fears of the whole thing, and the duo made their way to the rest of the KAA team to watch the race.
On the way, however, the three jumpers that had been tormenting Kaoru in the locker room got in the way again. "Are you doping or something? You expect us to believe a kid like you could beat jumpers who have been practicing for years?"
Sasuke focused his stare on them. "Says the person who has just been allowed to come back to jumping after using steroids freshman year. And I still beat you then. Kaoru, ignore them." Sasuke went to walk around them, but one of the boys stuck his foot out, catching it on Sasuke's crutches and tripping the boy. Sasuke fell, hitting his injured foot on the ground and screaming out in pain. Around them, people stopped to turn and look at the boys who were now horror-stricken and Sasuke on the ground holding his leg close, Kaoru already next to him trying to help.
Officials and coaches ran forward, Gai one of the first. A circle around them built, pushing the three boys that caused all of this back, only for them to be grabbed by another official and led off while Sasuke was taken care of. Kaoru was the first helping him stand, supporting him as he balanced himself once again on the crutches, still in excruciating pain. Gai was already calling Kakashi to come and get Sasuke to the hospital while the others tried to sort out what happened and what to do.
"Kaoru, you and Sasuke are going to go with Kakashi to the hospital. He'll be here within a half hour. Just get yours and Sasuke's things and meet him out front." Kaoru nodded to Gai before turning to Sasuke, who only nodded, and ran off to get their bags from the locker room. When he came back, Sasuke was sitting on a chair someone from their team had brought over and waiting for Kaoru. He hadn't even gotten close and Sasuke was starting to stand.
"We're waiting in front of the school. I can't stand these reporters taking pictures of me and trying to talk to me any longer." He walked right past Kaoru and the younger could do nothing but follow after him, slinging their bags over his shoulder and holding the pair of sneakers he was going to put on in his hand, walking after Sasuke in just his socks.
When they finally reached the front of the school, Sasuke sat down on a bench and carefully pulled his leg up next to him. Kaoru only glanced at the space he now couldn't sit in before sitting down on the ground next to Sasuke to put his shoes on. "You did well. You should stay and get your medal."
"What's a hunk of metal to me when a friend is hurt? It's not like not getting it is going to kill me." Kaoru leaned back on the concrete, looking up at the sky as he talked and relaxing in the warm sun.
"It was your first competition. You should at least get something from it."
"I won. That's something. And I'll always be able to get another medal." Sasuke went silent after that, leaning back on the bench to look at the sky that was entertaining Kaoru so much. "That cloud looks like a rabbit."
"And that one looks like a turtle." Sasuke pointed out the one in front of the bunny cloud, a slight smile on his face. "It looks like it is beating the rabbit in a race."
Kaoru started laughing at the statement, and Sasuke eventually joined in. After calming down, the two continued to stare at the clouds until Kakashi eventually pulled up in a school van, startling the two. "You don't even do anything in the competition and you manage to get hurt."
"Blame whoever tripped me." Sasuke sat down in the van he was coming to know too well, Kaoru helping from beside him. The smaller boy crammed himself into the back to give Sasuke as much room as possible to put his injured leg up for what was going to be a long ride.
"Kaoru, get the icepacks from my bag and put them on his foot." Kaoru immediately did so while Kakashi pulled the van out of the parking lot, pushing the speed limit and going over to shorten the ride slightly. "Are you going to press charges against them?"
"Definitely. I'm not taking their crap." Sasuke tried to seem tough, but Kaoru could tell the part he hadn't said was weighing heavier on his mind. They could have just cost him jumping ever again.
"I already talked to the doctor. They are going to get you in as soon as we get there and take you for another x-ray. It's going to be decided from there what is going to happen next, but it is possible you might need surgery." Sasuke paled at the last part, only to jump when Kaoru put the finally cold icepacks on his ankle, hissing from the contact.
"Sorry." But he still didn't let Sasuke kick them off, holding them onto the older boy's ankle while perching himself over the seats.
"I'm not even going to bother telling you to buckle up." Kakashi glanced at Kaoru in the mirror, but the boy didn't listen to the warning hidden in his voice, causing the older man to sigh but ignore it.
They rode in silence for a while before Sasuke turned on the radio in the back, putting on at least some noise in the background. When a story about what had happened at the competition came on, he sighed and pushed it off once again. Kaoru was already there, holding out his iPod that Sasuke took without saying anything, stuffing earbuds into his ears and turning the volume up as high as it would go. With him lost in his thoughts and the music, Kakashi's eyes flickered to Kaoru. "I heard you won." Kaoru nodded but didn't say anything. "Congratulations."
"If I hadn't won, the kids from the other school wouldn't have been angry enough to do this."
"If you hadn't won, Sasuke would have looked like an idiot training you. There are always different ways to look at things. And it's not all your fault that some people are immature in doing things." The van turned suddenly, pulling onto a highway and going even faster.
"But it is partially my fault that this happened. If he can't jump again, it's my fault as much as it is the ones that tripped him." Kaoru glanced out the window and the van fell into silence. By the time they pulled into the hospital, the conversation Kaoru and Kakashi had was history, but it was still floating through Kaoru's mind, even as he sat in the waiting room by himself after being kicked out of Sasuke's room while tests were being done. It is my fault. All my fault.
