Work Text:
“What’re you doing?”
Kabuto jumps as the unexpected voice echoes off the bathroom tile, fumbling the roll of bandages from his stiff fingers for about the dozenth time. He curses as it bounces off the rim of the sink and rolls away along the floor, coming to rest against one of the small dirty sandals in the doorway.
Tayuya squints at him from beneath her messy bangs as she picks it up, frowning, her lips self-consciously pressed closed over her newly lost front teeth.
"What does it look like?” Kabuto huffs in reply, cheeks hot with the embarrassment of being interrupted. The little redhead just scowls harder at him.
“It looks like you need help.” she says snippily, coming fully through the door and letting it close behind her. She clambers first onto the closed lid of the toilet, then from there up to the counter, settling herself down in front of him and grabbing his wrists to pull them toward her - “Lemme see!” - examining his tender palms and fingers with a serious air.
Kabuto almost snaps at her (He’s eleven! He can bandage himself! He certainly doesn’t need help from a little kid with an attitude problem…) but then Tayuya straightens her back, pins him with her most annoyed look, and parrots his own often-said words back to him.
“So, you want to tell me what you did this time?” she asks, with such a spot on accusing inflection and total seriousness that Kabuto suddenly finds himself struggling not to laugh.
“W-what?” he sputters, trying not to snicker, and his failure to fully smother his amusement is noted by Tayuya, who huffs in irritation that he is not playing along.
“What did you do, Glasses?” she demands again, shaking his arms insistently, and he relents.
“I just overdid it in practice.” he says, elaborating with a smirk when she seems unsatisfied. (Although she likes to call his interests creepy he sees the way she leans in with fascination while simultaneously yelling about how gross it all is.) "I’m learning how to form fine chakra blades from Orochimaru-sensei.”
“For surgery stuff you mean?” she asks, like she's chatting to a schoolmate about a project, picking up his right hand and starting to undo his haphazard wrapping job to be replaced.
"That's right." He says, and Tayuya nods as if she understands on a personal experience level, lining up the bandage with his wrist the way she was taught and beginning to wind it evenly around his arm.
Kabuto can't knock her technique, after all it's his…
"Well, you've done enough for today I think." She scolds - a favourite Orochimaru phrase this time - as she weaves the bandages neatly between his fingers. "You should probably just sit for a while. Read or something."
Kabuto raises a brow, suddenly catching on to why she is here, why she is being so nice...
"Reading huh?"
"Yeah." She nods as she knots the wrap and picks up his other hand. "I have a good book if you don't have one to read."
"What’s it about?" He asks, even though he knows, and she looks at him very seriously as she explains.
"It's about a snake and a frog and a slug that are friends and they sing a friend song."
"Oh that book."
"Yeah." Tayuya glances up at him through her bangs, working very hard at appearing not to care how he responds. "I was gonna read it by myself but you can share with me, if you need a book."
"Would you?"
"Sure!" She ties a neat knot on the back of his hand, then claps hers together like she is dusting them off. And then there it is, the imploring look from those big brown eyes.
"Since I'm sharing and helping you and stuff, maybe you'll read it out loud to me?"
Kabuto sighs, looking over his hands one more time.
"Alright sure."