Blossom

Chapter Eleven: A Fix Up

"I really do hate to be a bother." She groaned as she leaned back against the couch. Hinata closed her eyes, her eyebrows knitting together in satisfaction.

"It's the least I can do." He glanced up at her for a moment as he resumed rubbing and massaging her legs.

She's been limping around all week, ignoring how much pain it was just so she could take care of Sarada when Sasuke was busy with work. Today, her feet got too swollen to ignore, so now she was couch-ridden until Sasuke deems it okay for her to continue being her busy self.

"Is the baby okay?" Sarada came bounding down the stairs, her colouring books hidden behind her workbook that she had to finish as homework for the weekend.

"She's okay." Hinata smiled and patted the spot next to her, "she's just getting heavier every day. Did you bring your things?"

"Oh." She looked at Hinata's stomach curiously, "I did. I'm almost finished but I'm having some problems with this part." She opened her workbook, successfully hiding her colouring book from Hinata's gaze.

"You have more homework these days." Sasuke noted, pouring more oil in his hands and heating it up before continuing his task.

"Teacher Ino didn't come to school this week. A new teacher is here and he's giving us a lot of work." She pouted, nodding along as Hinata pointed at the questions.

"That's good, practice makes you better." Sasuke listened as the two spoke about math.

"Not necessarily." Hinata disagreed, she watched as Sarada did the questions with some hesitation.

"Care to explain?" He stood up and stretched. "I can still hear you in the kitchen." He said as he went to wash his hands.

"Practice means nothing if you can't understand what you're practicing. If you don't understand a concept but you keep practicing it, you'll never really get better at it. Well, you'll get better at the wrong thing. It's why I don't understand homework being provided once a student hasn't grasped the meaning of a concept."

"Is this right?" Sarada showed her the five answers she wrote.

"That is, keep going and you'll be done before lunch." She nodded in encouragement.

"Hn."

"You were one of those who got what the teacher was saying instantly, weren't you?" She looked at him knowingly.

"Perhaps, I didn't have difficulty if that's what you're curious about." He joined them back in the living room, flipping on the television but lowering the volume so Sarada can focus.

"I suppose everyone has their own way of excelling." She shrugged. "I was never one for academics anyway."

"I can see that." He scrolled through his phone, occasionally glancing up at the movie that was playing.

"What does that mean, Uchiha?" She turned to him after correcting Sarada who listened to them talk with interest.

"The artist is curious as to why I agreed that she isn't interested in things like math, science or the other subjects besides the creatives." He raised his eyebrow.

"Oh? So you do know." She smiled, "why didn't you offer any help?"

"You didn't ask for any, and there would be no way that I could. Have you seen the colours, or the lack of colours, I surround myself with?"

"Are you colouring something?" Sarada perked up, "can I help?" She handed Hinata her workbook once she was completely finished.

Closing the little book, Hinata pouted, "it's a surprise..."