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The door creaks open, and Kotoha sees the bi-colored hair of the boy she's grown to care for. “Morning, Sakura, I have a new dish I want you to try.” She sits it down in front of his usual seat at the bar. She looks back at him and notices that it seems like he’s in deep thought. Sakura has always been fairly expressive and this time is no different. His brows are slightly burrowed and his lips are in a thin line. He stares at the food in front of him but he hasn’t even grabbed his fork yet. “Yo! Sakura?” Kotoha snaps her fingers in front of his face, causing him to almost jolt out his chair.
“W-What was that for?!” He yells, obviously being caught off guard. “You haven’t touched your food at all, is something wrong?” She crosses her arms and raises a brow at him. He settles back in his chair and the same look on his face returns as he looks at his plate. “Hey, what did I say about looking at me?” She says softly, trying to be careful with him. He looks back up at her, light blush spreading on his cheeks. It looks like he’s fighting words from coming out. “You know that you can tell me anything.” She gives him a reassuring smile. He sighs and starts fidgeting with his hands. “H-how…. Ugh- I want to show my class that I appreciate them! But I have no idea how I can do it! They’ve been so warm and so supportive of someone like me and I just want to show them in some way that I’m thankful!” He rambles out, gripping his hands and slaps them together. Kotoha's eyes widen and a smirk spreads on her face. ‘Oh I get it now….”
“Aww, Sakura, that's so sweet!” She starts laughing a bit, making the other glare daggers at her. “Hm well that’s a good thing. Do you want me to give you a suggestion?” Sakura’s face lightens up a bit and he nods slightly, shifting in his seat uncomfortably. Kotoha ponders a bit before snapping her fingers. “Why don’t you try taking care of them after fights? It’s not an everyday thing and I’m pretty sure you know how to deal with injuries.” Sakura stops fidgeting and his eyes widen. “I think that could work….” Sakura mumbles, visibly relaxing. Kotoha just grins.
The conversation they had has stuck with Sakura for a couple days now. It’s not like the guys in Furin get hurt a lot in the first place so when Anzai can back for lunch after his morning patrol with a pretty bad gash on his arm, Sakura saw his chance. “I told you to look out bro!” Kurita laughs, punching Anzai lightly in the shoulder. “Yea, yea, I know…. This sucks but I’m too hungry to worry about it right now.” Anzai sighs and plops on his chair. Sakura stops eating and stares at the gash on Anazi’s arm and sighs before pulling some wrap bandages and a small towel from his pocket and getting up. “Sakura-kun, where are you going?” Suo says in his usual teasing voice. “Give me a sec….” Sakura mumbles going over to Anzai. He taps him on the shoulder, making the other turn. “Oh What’s up captain!” He gives Sakura a toothy grin. “Hold still.” Is all he gets as Sakura starts cleaning the area around his wound and starts wrapping it up.
The whole class has gone completely silent but Sakura hasn’t seemed to notice and is focused on the task at hand. “Start being more careful-“ Sakura raises his head and gets startled at all the eyes on him. “W-what the hell are you guys looking at?!” He shrieks out, getting red in the face. Anzai can’t help but feel bubbly about the care their dear captain has shown him. “Thanks man! You’re the best!” He smiles brightly at Sakura, who has calmed down at his words. “No problem, I guess…” He grunts.
The dust clears from the fight. Kiryu and Sakura were caught up in a gang fight that ended up with all the gang members unconscious on the floor. They were mostly fine but Kiyu was recently recovering from a cold. Sakura was adjusting his jacket when he noticed that Kiryu seemed more tired than usual. “Sakura-chan~ impressive as always!” Kiryu gleams at him but Sakura can see how he stumbles a bit side to side. He thinks for a moment before walking over to the pink haired teen, who looks at him confused. “Let me carry you back.” Sakura says it like it’s not up for discussion. Kiryu’s eyes widened a bit. “No, no I’m fine Sakura-chan! You must be tired as well!” Kiryu tries to brush it off.
“Kiryu, you either get on my back or I’m picking you up and throwing you over my shoulder.” Sakura says blandly before turning around. Kiryu hesitates for a moment before hopping onto the others back, wrapping his arms around his neck. Sakura grabs Kiryu’s legs and starts walking back to Furin. “What a gentleman!” Kiryu can’t help but giggle at this whole situation, hugging Sakura a bit closer and stuffing his face in the other's neck. He can feel how hot Sakura has been and see the flush go down his neck. Kiryu can’t help but feel so grateful for his friend.
The classroom door slams open and a clearly angry Sugishita storms in. He goes to his desk and rests his head on it, seemingly going to sleep. The class stares at him before going back to whatever they were doing before, beside Sakura. “I wonder what happened to him?” Nirei says quietly. Suo hums before looking at Sakura, who seems worried but trying to hide it. Suo turns to the seemingly sleeping giant. “Hey Sugishita! You should tell Sakura-kun what's bothering you! Our poor captain seems worried!” He calls, causing both Sakura and Sugishita to jump and Sakura to turn completely red. “I didn’t say that!” The flustered teen yells. They hear a grunt from the other, an obvious no. Suo gets an idea. “I know Umemiya would be so disappointed if you kept your feelings from your classmates~” Suo laughs a bit about how Sugishita’s head immediately snaps up and glares at him.
Sugishita looks at Sakura and begrudgingly motions for him to come over. Sakura does so, acting like he could care less. He sits in front of the tired teen and waits. “Got hit with a metal pole in the head… not a big deal, but my head kinda hurts.” Sugishita mumbles before he huffs and lays his head back down. Before he could he looks at the captain who seems furious. He takes a breath and stops death gripping the desk. “Did you get the guy?” He mutters. Sugishita just nods, a bit taken aback. “Can I uh try something?” Sakura stumbles over his words. The taller one raises an eyebrow before placing his head on his desk. “Do what you want…”
There’s a split second of nothing before surprisingly gentle hands start massaging his head. The fingers move softly through the strands of hair and gently rub his scalp. Sugishita freezes before deciding that he’s too tired to act like he hates this. He completely relaxes, letting out a sigh of relief and leans into the other's hands. Sakura is pleasantly surprised at this and can’t help but smile softly while he continues to play with the long hair. They both don’t realize that their classmates were staring wide eyed at them, before complaining and jealous mumbling starts. “I want a head massage from Sakura! This isn’t fair!” Takanashi complains loudly, with a string of agreements following behind him.
Sugishita snaps his head, glaring at them, making all of them flinch and shut up. Hands cup Sugishita’s face, making him go wide eyed from how close Sakura’s face is to his own. Sugishita can see how blush has bloomed on the shorter teens cheeks. “If you keep doing that, I’ll stop.” He stutters out, his eyebrows furrowing. Sugishita just huffs, grabs the others hands, placing them back on his head, and goes back to laying on the desk. Sakura grins, like he just won a fight, and goes back to playing with the others' hair. Suo and Nirei laugh at the scene that just happened. “Looks like Sakura has tamed the beast.” Suo says softly to Nirei in his teasing tone. “I guess so.” Nirei laughs and smiles softly.
Suo seems off today. His smile has faltered more than once, he hasn’t teased Sakura as much, and is slightly more quiet. Sakura has noticed this and it’s bothering him. So he decided to drag the red-head into an empty classroom. “Is something wrong, Sakura?” Suo smiles, but it’s not reaching his eyes. Sakura stands there with his arms crossed, trying to figure out how he wants to start this. “You- are you okay?” The question takes Suo off guard. “Oh Sakura-kun, are you worried about me!” His smile becomes real and a bit wider, he leans closer to the now flustered teen. “No- no wait! Yes, I am!” This makes Suo feel like he got slapped. Did Sakura just admit he cares? “You’ve been acting weird all day! Something is obviously wrong and I just want you to know that you- that you can talk to me Y’know!” Sakura points his finger at Suo's chest.
“Well if you really want to know, the Chinese spirit in my eye is trying to attack everyone and it’s bothering me!” Suo says dramatically. Sakura glares at him, obviously not believing him. His face scrunches up like he’s thinking and Suo finds it adorable. He seems to come to a conclusion and takes a slight step towards Suo. “Does…. Does your eye hurt…?” Sakura asks softly. Suo stops completely, and his smile drops. “Ah, it seems you caught me.” A smile comes back but now it seems bitter. “It’s just fairly itchy and it slightly hurts.” Suo sighs leaning back on the wall. He stares at the floor and is just about to make an excuse so they can get back to class when a hand lifts his head up. Sakura cups his cheek and uses his thumb to gently rub circles on top of the eyepatch.
After getting out of the shock, Suo sighs and leans into the touch. He brings his hand up and places it on top of Sakura’s, stepping closer. “Thank you.” Suo mumbles softly. “Whatever….” Sakura grunts, more focused on the task at hand.
This goes on for a while, Sakura helps patch up Nirei after he tripped down the stairs. Sakura makes Tsugeura ice his cheek after he gets punched in the face. He makes sure everyone gets their injuries looked and fixed after fights or when they randomly get hurt. Other Furin members can hear the students in Class 1-1 gush about how Sakura has fixed their injuries, the rumors start spreading until they reach the ears of the four kings. Sakura hasn’t realized but now he has become the first person most of the class goes to when they get hurt. “Captainnnn, a cat bit me really hard and it’s bleeding.” Kakiuchi whines and holds his hand up to Sakura, who immediately patches it up. “How many times do I have to tell you to stop bothering stray cats?” Sakura scolds him. After he’s done he sits on the floor in front of the window. Suo and Nirei come to stand in front of their tired friend.
“Aw, Sakura-kun, you're such a good captain!” Suo laughs, patting Sakura’s head, and gets swatted away. “I agree! You’re really kind for doing this for everyone!” Nirei smiles happily at him. Sakura just huffs and starts to drift off to sleep, but is unable to after the door slams open. This causes Sakura and the rest of the class to snap their heads to the door. They see Kaji there, swaying slightly, staring at the floor before making eye contact with Sakura and speed walking to him. Before the other can ask what’s wrong, Kaji collapses, his head landing on Sakura’s lap and passes out. The bi-colored teen goes completely red and completely freezes as he sputters non sensible sentences. Before anyone can make sense of this, they hear running down the hall, and see Hiragi stop at the door. His face goes from worried to relieved after seeing the blonde sleeping.
“Sorry, Sakura, I guess I was worried for no reason.” He walks into the classroom while rubbing the back off his neck. “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened?” Suo raises a brow but can’t help but grin. “We were on patrol, some guys were talking smack and it pissed him off. He was already tired and it kinda set him off more than usual. So after we beat them, he told me he was ‘gonna go blow off some steam’ and ran back here.” Hiragi explains looking over at Suo and Nirei, who is excitingly writing down things in his journal. “I was kinda worried he was gonna try to spar Sakura but I guess I was afraid for nothing.” A smirk appears on his face. Sakura notices that Kaji’s knuckles are slightly torn and bleeding a bit. “Suo.” Suo looks down at Sakura. “Can you hand me the cloth, my water bottle, and wraps?” Suo just smiles before grabbing and handing him the supplies.They watch as Sakura grabs Kaji’s hand and starts cleaning the wounds.
Hiragi’s eyes widened a bit. “Damn, so the rumors are true.” He crosses his arms and smiles amusedly. As Sakura cleans his hands, Kaji jerks his hand away, grumbling about how it stings. “If you keep moving, it’ll make it worse.” Sakura says annoyed but uses a hand to massage the other's head. That seems to make Kaji relax and Sakura is able to wrap up both his hands. A pat on the head catches him off guard. “Thanks for helping him.” Hiragi sighs. “Whatever….” The flustered teen looks towards the wall.
Sakura doesn’t expect anything in return for all of this. He’s just glad that they want him to stay, but he still doesn’t want them to worry about him. So as he stumbles through the alley towards his apartment, gripping his side, trying to put pressure on the stab wounds. He slams against a wall and pants heavily. He’s close to Furin and he could probably try to text the group chat but he doesn’t want to bother them with this. ‘They probably have better things to do,’ He keeps telling himself. A hard hit on his head causes him to fall to the ground. One of the guys he was fighting hit him with a bat, so with the last of his strength, he sweeps the guy's legs and kicks him dead in the face, knocking him out. Sakura bites his arm as he tries not to scream in pain. He drags himself to lean against the wall, he’s kinda getting tired. He knows he probably shouldn’t fall asleep but his brain isn’t working properly. He starts to lose consciousness, but before he does he can vaguely hear his name being called.
The sound of steady beeping is the first thing he hears. He tries to open his eyes but the bright lights cause them to squeeze close before trying again. He groans and opens his eyes. Sakura is met with bright white lights, a hospital… Shit. Sakura hates hospitals a lot, he had always gotten dirty looks from nurses and the doctors ignored him. He sits up in the bed and is met with the sight of letters and a ridiculous amount of flowers. On a small desk next to him is a giant cat plushie and it’s kinda cute. He reaches out, grabs it, and puts it on his lap. He still feels a bit woozy still so he can’t help but smile and hug it. The door slides open and a nurse walks inside with a clipboard. “Oh goodness! Hello Dear!” She quickly walks over to him. She checks over him and everything seems fine.
“Y’know your friends caused a lot of fuss.” She laughs a bit. Sakura just tilts his head slightly. “Those boys have caused this whole place such trouble. They’ve refused to leave multiple times, even though it’s after visiting hours.” The nurse sighs but it’s fond. Sakura eyes widen. “Really?” The nurse just walks to the door. “Yes, dear. Actually a few of them are here now, let me go get them now.” She walks out and Sakura grips the plushie tighter. They really care for him? The sound of running and yelling come from the halls. Tsubaki stops in front of his room, panting slightly with tears in his eyes. “Sakura!!” Tsubaki crashes into him with a hug, not as tight as usual but it’s still kinda hard to breathe. “Oh we were so worried about you! Why didn’t you call us for help?!” Sakura hesitates before hugging him back.
“Please don’t hurt him more, Tsubaki-chan.” Hiragi appears out of nowhere. “You gave us quite a scare Sakura!” Umemiya pats his head, and that pulls a grunt out of Sakura. He gets jumped on once again by a crying Nirei and his hand gets grabbed and held by Suo. “Sakura-san! We thought you would never wake up, it's been so long!” Nirei cries into his side. “It was only three days, Nirei but yes Sakura we were extremely worried about you.” Suo grips his hand a bit tighter for a second. Sugishita just stares at him behind Umemiya and nods at him. “I just didn’t want to bother you guys, I probably would have dealt with it…” Sakura mutters, and the words hang heavy in the room. “Nope! Nuh-uh! None of that!” Tsubaki starts shaking Sakura violently, and he gets hit on the head by Sugishita surprisingly lightly.
“I don’t know how many times we have to drill it in your head that we care about you just as much as you care for us!” Nirei raises his voice slightly. Sakura flushes red and his face scrunches up. “Yea, I know….” He huffs out. They want him to understand them and for them to understand him more. Sakura knows this, but it’s hard after everything he’s been through. But he knows that they’ll help him