"My name is Yuki Ayano." The small girl stood at the front of the class, twirling to the edge of her skirt. She seemed nervous but her eyes said otherwise. Her eyes were focused and lazy and strangely alluring. They flicked around the room effortlessly, seeming to take everything in.
"I came from Tensho Elementary." Her dark hair flopped over one of her eyes. Her uniform was way to big for her, probably a hand-me-down.
"I like to read."
Her eyes finally landed on a rather small blue-haired boy. His large blue eyes flickered a bit and his whole face turned bright red. He peered over the edge of his book.
She was standing in front of the class, but no one was paying attention to her. They were walking around and talking. She looked down at her feet before she began to move again. But within a blink of an eye, she was gone. The blue-haired boy was a bit surprised, seeing as she was no longer standing in front of the class.
"Hello." He almost jumped completely out of his seat. His face was still hot and he stumbled over his words.
"H-hello." His legs twitched recklessly.
"What's your name?" The girl asked.
"I'm Tetsuya Kuroko."
"I'm Yuki Ayano."
"I know. I heard."
"Oh. I thought you hadn't. It seems no one else did."
"Did you come from second grade?"
"Well yeah, dummy. I wouldn't be in here if I didn't."
"Where is Tensho Elementary?"
"All the way on the other side of Japan."
"That's really far."
"Yeah. Like this far." She stretched her arms out as wide as they could go, which at the time wasn't farther than a few feet.
The two giggled.
After that they got to go outside and play for a while. Kuroko showed her all of the things he could do on the monkey bars and how high he could go on the swing without anyone pushing him and Ayano showed him how to draw flowers and showed him her favorite books in the library. Most of them were really hard to read and made Kuroko's brain go funny. There were big words like "accomplished" and "comprehend" and "documentary".
"This is my favorite book." Ayano held up a gray, tattered book with gold lettering. But it was a big word that Kuroko couldn't read. He pouted and squinted at the book.
"T-rer-risk-tilion?" Kuroko sounded out.
Ayano took a look at the book and glanced at him and began to giggle. Kuroko turned bright red and slouched over, crossing his arms.
"That's not fair. It's a big word I don't know."
"Triskelion, I think." She smiled and opened up the book. There were lot of hand drawn pictures with a lot of spirals and shadows.
"What's that spiny thing." Kuroko pointed at the swirling lines that seemed to start from one place and end in all different places.
"That's a triskelion. A celtic one to be accurate." She smiled, tracing the swirls with her finger.
"Acc-ur-it?"
"Precise."
"Pur-sice?" Kuroko looked up.
"Exact."
"...?"
"There are certain types of triskelions. So to describe a certain one, like the celtic triskelion, is being more exact or precise."
She flipped a few more pages until she came to a picture of a castle. It was under ground and there were a lot of things like toys and things.
"This is a SIDHE. It's an underground palace."
"But how is it underground?"
"Magic."
"...?"
"I wanna see one one day." she sighed.
Kuroko didn't say anything. He couldn't. He wanted to take her there, but he knew he couldn't. He had no idea how. And to promise something to her and then not being able to do it would break her heart.
They spent the rest of recess reading and talking about stuff. Dumb stuff. Like their favorite colors and songs and cartoons and at some point they got the great idea to make a book tower which fell over every so often to Kuroko's dismay. But Ayano just laughed and laughed, which in turn made Kuroko laugh, and soon they were in a giggly pile, surrounded by books and drawings.
Kuroko lay there, eyes shut, nearly breathless. His chest heaved, but he smiled anyway. After a while, he felt a light pressure on his hand. When he opened his eyes, he was shocked to see her hand on his. He could feel his face getting hot again, but he really wanted to hold her hand too.
"We're friends right?" she asked.
"Of course."
"Promise?"
"Mhmm."
"You gotta promise."
"I promise."
"No you gotta do the secret promise."
"But I don't know the secret promise."
"Then I guess we can't be friends." she sat up.
"BUT...!"
"Do the secret promise."
"But I..."
"Do it."
"But..."
"DO it."
"But I don't...
"Do it or we're not friends anymore."
Kuroko's face was hot. He could feel tears beginning to form in his eyes. His chest began to heave and his nose began to get stuffy.
"B-but...I don't know th-"
Ayano stood up and dusted off her clothes. Then she turned and walked away.
Hot tears streamed down Kuroko's face, his lungs unable to let him breathe. He sniffled and snorted and rubbed his eyes. He stumbled up and ran out after her. He followed her and saw her walk outside. At the top of the steps he wiped tears and opened his mouth.
"But I don't know it!" he cried. The tears drop off his chin and began to stain the concrete. She didn't turn. He stomped and cried and whined.
"Alright, stop it." When Kuroko opened his eyes again, he saw a blurry image. But he knew it was Ayano. He nearly tackled her, but resorted to grabbing her arm tightly.
"Please be friends with me." he stuttered, still trying to wipe tears from his cheeks without letting go of her.
"Yeah I will."
"Promise?"
"I super secret promise."
"Promise promise?"
"Cross my heart and hope to fly and eat a whole bunch of pie." She said. He giggled, but was hesitant to release her arm.
"Hey it's okay. I'm your friend." she nudged him but he shook his head and snuggle closer.
She smiled and led him over to the grass where she collapsed, taking him with her.
They lied there for a while before Ayano began to talk again.
"Okay. Here." she held up her hand. It seemed to block the sunlight. After another long minute Kuroko released one of the hands that gripped her arm and let it trail up to meet her hand. She locked her fingers with his and took out a marker.
"...?"
"This is the secret promise, okay?" Kuroko nodded, rubbing his nose.
Feeling the marker touch his skin, he looked up to see what she was doing.
K + A
She drew a circle around the letters and let go of his hand. He looked down and looked back at her.
"Kuroko and Ayano forever." she said tracing the circle around it.
Kuroko blushed.
Forever? He thought.
Forever was a long time.
He looked back at Ayano. The way she looked up at the sky. The way the sunlight framed her face.
"Everything's okay." she smiled.
Kuroko let his eyes slip shut and...
Kuroko shook and shot up in bed. He could feel the hot sweat rolling down his skin and the tears moving down his cheeks and onto his chin.
Why did he have these dreams? These horrible dreams that brought back these saddening memories. These nightmares.
He wiped the tears from his chin and the sweat from his forehead.
He sat back in bed and let a hand slide behind the desk nearby. His finger tips traced the odd carving in the old wood.
A circle and three figures.
"K + A"
Forever.