One Love

~5~

Yaku was quick to get up in the morning and replace the bandages that wrapped around his arm. Apparently some of the clients had complained about the past few days and Yaku's father took it out on him.

Yaku's arms now had burn wounds up and down them but there was no way he was going to miss morning practice because of this. He needed to get out of the house.

Yaku was careful to be quiet as he prepared for school. If his father woke up then there would be consequences for bothering him and Yaku didn't need that.

Silently Yaku slipped out the front door with his bag slung behind his back. He had decided on long sleeves since he didn't feel like having anyone question him. He needed to act like everything was normal and he was fine. The burns didn't hurt as bad as they did yesterday and he could just come up with a lame excuse to take it easy during practice.

The scent hit his nose again before Lev showed up at the front gate. Instead of grabbing his hand like normal the taller boy seemed uncomfortable. He smiled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck without saying anything.

Suddenly Yaku remembered what had occurred before the weekend. He had been so focused on getting out of the house that he had forgotten all about this giant idiot.

Yaku decided the best action was, again, to act like nothing had happened. It was best to just ignore all of his problems and live life like normal. At least that way he could pretend to be happy.

Yaku couldn't help but notice Lev's disappointed, yet relieved, face as he walked past him. Yaku sighed, he knew what the younger boy wanted but he couldn't give it to him.

You have to stop this before it starts. It's bound to go nowhere anyways.

Yaku didn't want to hurt the silver haired boy anymore then he probably already had.

Yaku and Lev quietly walked into the club room. Kenma was the only one in there and he quickly took note of how uncomfortable the two boys looked. Lev was silent and sad. Yaku was nervous and awkward.

Kenma eyed them carefully, processing everything, before he turned back to his game. Lev changed quickly and headed into the gym before Yaku even began changing. He didn't want anyone to see his bandages.

Assuming that Kenma was going to continue not paying attention to the world, Yaku pulled off his shirt and grabbed a long sleeve practice shirt.

"What happened to you?" Kenma spoke, shocking Yaku.

"Um...Uh... I just scraped my arms in a bad fall. I was practicing my receiving and messed up. Nothing really bad." Yaku knew for a fact that Kenma didn't believe him. Kenma was way too smart for that but he was also smart enough not to push the subject.

Yaku jerked the practice shirt over his arms and head as he heard the clubroom door open.

"There you are Kitten! Oh Yakkun! I have a question for you." Yaku pulled his shorts on and stared at his captain. This question had a fifty-fifty chance of being either about volleyball or Lev and Yaku didn't know if he could handle the latter right now.

"Could you work less with Lev today? His receives have gotten better but now he needs to work more on blocking." Yaku breathed a silent prayer to the heavens.

This would give him the chance to let Lev get over what had happened. To forget all about him.

"Sure. Shibayama could use some more practice anyways." Yaku replied. Shibayama was actually doing great on his receives but Yaku needed to make an excuse if he wasn't doing a lot during practice. If he was coaching Shibayama then he could do less work with his arms and let them heal.