Chapter 10

Kaoru closed the door to the hospital room behind him, navigating the room easily even though all the lights were off and it was pretty dark. That just came from the amount of times he had been there. As he placed the small box he was carrying on the little table by the bed and grabbed the vase of flowers that was there to water them from the tap before placing them back on the table. Finally he glanced at the bed, where Sasuke was already passed out.

He only smiled slightly and did a few more chores around the room before wishing good night to the boy on the bed and walking out. The box still sat on the table, untouched and in the reach of Sasuke.

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"Don't you have a competition coming up with weekend?" Kaoru nodded to Naruto, not looking up from the toast he was eating for breakfast. "You're jumping, right? Is Sasuke going?"

"I am and he isn't. I didn't even tell him about it since he should be focusing on getting better first so he can come back sooner." He took one last bite before throwing the half he didn't eat back down on his plate and pushing it towards Naruto. The blonde picked it up and ate the whole thing in two bites.

"You should at least tell him about it so he can watch it on the TV. It must be pretty boring all day at the hospital." Kaoru only shrugged before taking his empty tray and walking towards the drop-off for it. "Hey! Wait for me!" And Naruto was jumping after him, running with his own tray to catch up with Kaoru. The younger boy only continued to walk, not reacting to him at all and definitely not stopping.

By the time they got to the classroom, Naruto was talking to nothing. Sasuke's rubbing off on him. I have to fix that.

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"I brought your schoolwork." Kaoru sat down in the chair next to Sasuke's bed and threw his bag down at his feet, bending over to unzip it. He pulled out a large stack of books and papers and placed them on the edge of Sasuke's bed. "I was asked to help you if you need it."

Sasuke opened the folder on top to see the list of assignments he had to complete. Barely holding back the groan at it, he looked at the first math piece. It would probably be the easiest. "Do you have my notebooks?" Kaoru searched in his bag for a minute before pulling them out. "Thanks. You can do your homework or something, if you want."

"Yeah. I have a project due this week and I've done nothing on it yet. Ask me if you need any help." A laptop was pulled from what Sasuke figured was a never-ending bag and Kaoru opened it on his lap, typing away in seconds. Soon, the only sounds were Sasuke's pencil on the paper and the clicking of the keys of Kaoru's keyboard.

An hour and many math assignments later, Sasuke leaned back in the bed, his hand cramping up from the pages of writing he was doing. Kaoru looked up while still typing. "Do you need help?"

"I'm taking a break. My hand is killing me." It was silent for a few seconds and even Sasuke could feel the awkwardness. He had to break it. "Can you put on music or something?"

"What do you want?"

"Anything. It's just too quiet. Put on your playlist or something." Kaoru stopped typing and clicked a few things before music started to filter into the room. The volume was turned up a little, and Sasuke couldn't hide his surprise completely. Hinata listens to punk music? I would have thought it would have been classical, or maybe a little pop, but punk?

"I can turn it off if this bothers you." Kaoru's hand hovered over the mouse pad, but Sasuke shook his head.

"I like this. I just didn't expect you to." He picked the pencil back up, but didn't go back to writing yet, instead watching Kaoru as he typed away on the computer, almost completely focused on it.

"Why? Am I not allowed to like good music or something?"

"No… I just would have expected you to listen to classical music or maybe some pop, but nothing like FAKE?. Maybe A-Peace." Sasuke started to write again, but kept glancing at Kaoru to see a reaction. All he got was a shrug.

"They are pretty good too. I just have different playlists for different things and this is my homework playlist." After a few minutes of typing and writing in silence, Kaoru stopped out of nowhere and looked up at Sasuke. "How do you know who A-Peace is? They aren't all that famous around here." Sasuke was silent, not giving any reaction, and Kaoru smirked a little. "You listen to them, don't you?"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. You don't need to know." But Kaoru did know. The boy only nodded and went back to typing, but they were now discussing bands as they worked, finding a common interest neither would have expected the other to have.

"Do you know Super Junior? They're from Korea."

"Yeah. I haven't really listened to them, and if I have, it's because they were on the radio or something, but they aren't bad. I've just never really listened to music I can't understand." He shrugged, before glaring at the one problem he was stuck on. "What do I have to do on this?" He pushed the paper towards Kaoru for the younger boy to see what problem he was on.

Kaoru looked at it with a glance, before launching into a step-by-step explanation without looking up from his writing again. Sasuke did all the calculations with the actual numbers while Kaoru only gave an overview, but in the end, he surprised Sasuke once again. "You should have gotten one hundred twenty-eight point five three seven. Correct?"

"Yeah… Were you doing that on the computer or something?" Kaoru shook his head. "How'd you figure it out?"

"I'm good with mental math. You can give me a list of ten numbers just flashing by and tell me to add them and I can from memory. So remember when you asked me if I needed help on my math work when I was new at school? Seems pretty useless now, right? I thought so then." Kaoru shrugged but flashed Sasuke a smile. "I still thought it was pretty cool of you to ask me if I needed help. I thought my roommate would have been extremely rude with my luck."

"No problem…" Sasuke was focusing on another problem, before sighing and closing the math book. "I can't concentrate on math any more. Can we take a rest for the day?"

"Sure." Kaoru closed the window he was working in on the laptop. "You've been working on that for over an hour already. I'm almost finished with the project."

"Well aren't you lucky," Sasuke muttered, before glancing at a calendar on the wall by his bed. "Isn't there a meet this weekend? Are you jumping?"

"Yeah. I'm taking your place, remember?" Sasuke just nodded, not really listening.

"Do well in it." The way he said it made Kaoru figure Sasuke wouldn't go, which was all for the better, so he nodded.

"I will."

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But imagine Kaoru's surprise when he cleared the bar for the last time to take first place, and found himself looking right at Sasuke, sitting there in a wheelchair, by the rest of the team, clapping for him as everyone else was, but with a smile on his face. I thought he wasn't coming.

"What are you doing here?" Kaoru sat down on the ground across from Sasuke, greedily drinking from a water bottle. He still had to run in a little bit.

"I can't miss my perfect trainee take first place again, can I?" Sasuke smirked at Kaoru. "You're doing better than anyone would have thought. Those guys couldn't seem to believe a kid like you could beat them."

"Well, they should. I did." Kaoru laid back on the fake turf grass, staring up at the clouds in the sky as he rested for his race that was coming up shortly. "I'm running in a while. Two races."

"I heard. You better win, or it will look bad on me."

"No promises. But I'll try." Kaoru went to drink some more water while still lying down, succeeding in pouring it over his face instead of drinking it. He didn't react, and Sasuke chuckled slightly before throwing a towel onto Kaoru's face. "What was that for?"

"You plan on sitting there soaking wet?" Kaoru didn't respond and just used the towel to dry off his face as he sat up. His hair was wet from the water, so he shook his head like a dog does to dry off. "What races are you running?"

"Hundred meter sprint and then two-mile." He glanced at a timetable sheet and then to his watch before sighing. "I still have over a half hour until my first race."

"I'll still be here. I got approval to stay in the dorm for the weekend."
"You're not going to like that." Kaoru gave Sasuke a sheepish smile. "Naruto's dorm got roomed with ours after a pipe burst or something so Naruto's been in our dorm for a while. He isn't as clean as we are, and I've given up on straightening up the dorm when he messes it up again. It's hopeless until he leaves."

"Kick him out for the weekend. It won't hurt him to sleep on a couch for a night. I just want my own bed back." Sasuke squinted at Kaoru through the blinding sunlight, watching the boy as he laid back down on the fake grass to cloud watch. "And make him clean up his own mess. You shouldn't be doing it."

Kaoru only nodded, closing his eyes and enjoying the sun on his skin before he had to run again. Sasuke fell silent, looking over the boy he was sure fell asleep, and together, they sat like that until it was Kaoru's next race.

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"I can't believe I came first in all the events I competed in. Why are the competitors so weak?" Kaoru placed his three newest medals on the shelves that had once been Sasuke's trophy case, but were now slowly being taken over by him.

"They aren't weak. You're just better than them. When I get back on my feet, I'm going to kick your ass." Sasuke wheeled around the corner of their room before stopping short to look at the mess across the floor. "Did he release a tornado in here? Where is Naruto? I'm going to kill him…"

"Soccer practice. He'll meet us at dinner. Kill him then and we can steal his food as well. I'm starving…" Kaoru opened the fridge to find something to eat before sighing and closing the door again. "He took the last of our food… I'm going to have to go shopping tomorrow."
"Make him pay for it."

"It's fine." Kaoru only shrugged before throwing himself down on the couch. Sasuke navigated the room in his wheelchair as carefully as he could, kicking things away with his good foot to make the path clear.

It took a while before he finally reached his thankfully-clean bed, and in seconds, was climbing out of his wheelchair to sit on it, smiling slightly at the comfortableness compared to the hospital bed. "I'm still making him clean the room."

"That's fine." Kaoru glanced at the clock by Sasuke's bed before sighing again. "I'm going to shower and then we can head to dinner." Sasuke nodded as Kaoru stood up to retrieve his shower basket. A few seconds after the bathroom door closed, Sasuke could hear the water running and figured Kaoru was getting into the shower.

"You've been living in a dorm with just Naruto for weeks, Hinata? I would have never thought you would do something like that," he muttered, before looking around the room again. "He's such a pig." But he still stood up on his one good foot and hopped through the mess of a room to his dresser, pulling a sweatshirt out of it to put over the thin t-shirt he was wearing. It was always so cold in the cafeteria to him, so he knew he would need it.

Next he pulled out a few new shirts and shorts and threw them onto the bed, followed by a few pairs of socks and other clean clothes. After a small pile formed, he hopped back to the bed and stuffed the clothes into a random backpack he found by his bed to bring back to the hospital when it was time.

When Kaoru walked out of the bathroom after his shower, he was already dressed in new clothes and drying his hair with a towel with one hand while the other carried his basket. "Just give me a minute and we can leave." He nodded in Sasuke's general direction, confusing the older boy when the nod wasn't directed at him but a wall, and raced up his stairs, tripping a few times. Sasuke could hear the basket being put down and then Kaoru scrambling for something, cursing when he couldn't find it at first.

But a minute later, Kaoru came back down the stairs, a hat on his still-wet hair and glasses perched on his nose. Sasuke glanced at him curiously as they left the dorm, but didn't saying anything. Kaoru didn't explain either. It wasn't until they were already halfway to the cafeteria that Sasuke broke the silence. "What's with the glasses?"

Kaoru blushed a little and looked down at the floor while rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly; a habit Sasuke was noticing a lot more now that Naruto and Kaoru were hanging around each other more. "I dropped one of my contacts down the sink and I don't have any left. I get more in a few days, but until then, I need my glasses to see. I'm not used to them either."

Sasuke vaguely remembered Kaoru wearing the glasses when he had woken the new boy up in the early morning at the beginning of his time at the school. "They look good on you. Wear them more often." Kaoru's blush only got brighter.

When they reached the cafeteria, Kaoru held the door open for Sasuke. "Just go to our table and I'll get your dinner."

"I'll do it myself. I'm not having you do everything for me." And Sasuke wheeled his chair in front of Kaoru to be before the younger boy on line. Kaoru sighed but allowed it. Sasuke had no trouble getting his tray, but after that, things were too far for him to reach, and Kaoru had to continuously lean over to grab them and place things on Sasuke's tray. Thankful but still a little annoyed that he was proven wrong, Sasuke only rolled along. "Thanks."

"No problem." But there was one thing that was annoying Sasuke more than being proven wrong. Most everyone was staring right at him, without even trying to hide it. But for Kaoru's sake, he didn't do anything. Yet.

They made their way to the table they normally sit at, and Naruto was already there. "Yah! Why is my dorm a mess from you?"

Naruto whipped around to face the duo with a smile on his face at Sasuke's voice. Jumping up from the chair, he tried to race towards Sasuke, but the blackette held out his good foot to keep the boy away. As Kaoru tried to steady Naruto with his free hand, Sasuke got a glimpse of something sliding from Naruto's pocket into Kaoru's sleeve, and then into the younger boy's pocket once he stepped back from Naruto and relaxed. Sasuke could only smirk a little at the plan Kaoru must have brewed up at some point before this. "Don't touch me. Now why is my dorm a mess when I haven't been there in weeks and Kaoru is a clean freak?"

"Um… Why don't we sit down and eat our dinner? I'm starving." And Naruto was back in his chair, shoveling food into his mouth like no tomorrow. Kaoru took a seat and moved a chair for Sasuke to be able to sit at the table as well.

"I expect it cleaned by the time Kaoru and I get back." Naruto only nodded, shoving the last bite of food in his mouth before standing with the empty tray.

As he walked away, he reached into his pocket for his wallet, but felt nothing. "Where's my wallet?" He looked at the ground around the table before shrugging. "Maybe I left it in the dorm." And then he was off to save his skin from Sasuke's wrath.