Disclaimer: I don't own 'Kuroko no Basuke'. Yasuka is mine.

LOVE AND WAR

Electric shocks ran like lightening across her skin, her heart beat an echo of the music throbbing in her ears. It was hardwired into her body, into her bones. She would not be forgetting such a night for a long time to come, where the scent of rain was still fresh in the air and the high from such a concert still left her buzzing. Yasuka Nakamura had never felt so aware of just how alive she was.

She honestly felt as if she could live off the energy of a concert. Even in the coolness of the night, the sweat from standing in the pit, pressed against all those bodies, had yet to wear off. Her makeup was smudged, black around her angular eyes, while her lipstick had long since faded. In the glow of the streetlight, her emerald gaze wandered the street.

The crowd was dwindling, the traffic lessoning. Paper littered the street in front of the venue, while Yasuka waited against the dirty brick wall. The alley around the corner led to the male toilets, into which her friend had disappeared a few minutes ago. Obviously, she could not follow, and neither did she feel any inclination to.

Daiki Aomine could do whatever he wanted, and would always be none of her business.

Yasuka promised herself that she did not care one bit, but her cheeks already burned red at the thought of him. Among the blur from the concert, she had been well aware of how close he had been standing behind her. His arm would sometimes wrap around her waist, keeping her from getting separated in the crowd. Her nose wrinkled as she tried to push away such thoughts.

The distant conversation between a pair of men reawakened her senses. Yasuka opened her eyes once more, relaxing against the wall as she caught sight of the oncoming strangers.

Two men were chatting enthusiastically to each other, both looking young enough to still be in school. Perhaps they were third year students, like Yasuka and Aomine were.

"Just make it quick," the brunet said to the black haired man, "I wanna get home quickly."

"Yeah, I know." The other assured, grinning. They had just reached the corner Yasuka stood at when he turned down the alley. "Back in a second." The dark haired man assured, darting down towards the toilets.

The brunet failed to follow, instead standing to the opposite end of the alley. Yasuka watched him from the corner of her eye, pursuing her lips as she appraised his figure. He was certainly attractive, especially with those chocolate curls hanging in front of his eyes.

As if noticing the attention, the man turned to stare directly at her. Yasuka averted her eyes to stare across the street instead.

"…Waiting for your boyfriend?"

This time, as if accepting an invitation, Yasuka turned her full attention to the brunet. He fixed her with a friendly smile, but she only crossed her arms defensively.

"My friend, actually." She answered carefully, wary of any man who approached her on the street. At this hour, too, he could mean nothing but trouble.

"Same here," the man replied, before laughing shortly, "But I guess you already knew that."

"I did." Yasuka agreed shortly, lips quirking. She didn't want to smile, but his own expression was charming enough to convince her otherwise.

"That was some show though." The man persisted, shuffling his feet.

"They killed it," Yasuka agreed, before adding on a whim, "I wish we could've snuck around to meet them."

"Hm, yeah, that would have been awesome." The stranger agreed, grinning.

As Yasuka's tension eased from her posture, turning just slightly towards him, the man took a few steps forward. When the distance between them was covered, he leaned his shoulder onto the spare wall beside Yasuka. Just like Aomine, he was about a head taller than her and she had to crane her neck to meet his eyes.

"Kenji Matsumoto, nice to meet you." He introduced himself at last.

Yasuka flashed him a brilliant smile, playing the part of a bubbly teenage girl. "You can call me Yasuka."

"What? No last name?"

"Lost it in an accident," Yasuka quipped playfully, "I'm joking, by the way."

Kenji smirked down at her. "Cute and funny." He murmured, eyes travelling down her body.

Conscious of his gaze, Yasuka pulled her jacket tighter around her. Though she wore only plain clothes, a loose crop top, jeans and lace-up shoes, she was well aware that his attention lay in the curve of her hips and toned waist. She sighed bitterly as she realized he was just as sleazy as she had first thought.

"So," Kenji began again, "Do you live around here?"

"And you're asking because…?"

"Why?" he echoed, eyes glinting darkly, "I thought I already said it – because you're cute."

His hand snuck across the distance between them, gripping her waist and turning her towards him. The sudden pressure of her hip caused her to freeze up, eyes wide until she glanced down and understood what had happened. The change in his demeanour was not at all pleasant to her.

Yasuka was never one to wait for the rescue. She was perfectly capable of handling herself, and this was not the first creep she had ever dealt with. Resolving herself, comforted by the knowledge that Aomine couldn't be too far away, Yasuka brushed aside Kenji's hand.

She then turned to face the other end of the street, staring ahead impassively. "You know what, I just changed my mind." She muttered.

"What?"

She offered him nothing more than a scathing glance, peering through the dark strands of her un-brushed hair. "I'm not interested in someone like you." She told him bluntly, dropping all pretences of friendliness.

"Hey, come on…"

"No."

That one sharp word was followed by a thud, as Kenji's palm slammed into the wall beside her head. Yasuka backed up as far she could, back entirely against the wall, but there was no escaping such an oppressive presence. He loomed over her, fixing her with an aggressive glare entirely contrary to the manner he should before. It seemed Yasuka wasn't the only one who wore a mask.

"What is it with you bitches always leading guys on?" he growled, pressing closer against her.

Yasuka narrowed her eyes, acting tough to help calm herself down. At least her sharp tongue wasn't lost amongst the fear, as she retorted, "Or maybe the problem's you."

Just as he was about to inch closer, in the seconds that there were before he touched her again, Yasuka held her breath and her silent prayer was answered with a harsh, "Hey, what the fuck do you think you're doing?"

With a sidelong glance, emerald eyes lighting up with relief, Yasuka caught sight of a tan-skinned, blue haired man. His head was tilted, expression haughty and threatening. On anyone else, such a look might have made her even more scared, but on Daiki Aomine, she could only smile as her words caught in her throat.

He didn't glance at her, blue eyes narrowing in on the situation before them. He might not know the full story, but he understood Yasuka well enough to know the pleading look she had given him. It was enough incentive to spur Aomine forward, as he crossed the distance and his hand collided with Kenji's chest.

"Well?" Aomine barked, glaring down at the man as he caught his collar in his grip and dragged him forward.

"Just talking!" Kenji lied sharply, smiling vaguely.

"Didn't look like that to me."

Yasuka, sensing the rising tension, found herself interjecting with a soft, "…Aomine."

The only indication he heard her came when Kenji's shirt slipped through his fingers. A moment later, and he had jerked back around to face her. His expression was very much the same as usual, irritated and exasperated. "Fine," he said, an answer to a question she never asked, "Let's go."

He caught her wrist as he stormed past, not giving her a choice in the matter. Yasuka had to resign herself to stumbling along after him, almost running to keep up with his long paces. He didn't speak to her, and she didn't speak to him. It was typical of them, and Yasuka was loathe to break the silence first for the feeling that if she did, he might explode. It was all she could do to look forward, not affording Kenji a single glance back.

They kept marching in silence. Two figures passing under streetlamps like shadows, and even though Aomine eventually slowed, he didn't let her go. Yukio bit her lip to keep from blurting out her impatience, even ignoring the pain of how strong Aomine's grip was.

When they had first started out at friends, forced to spend time together simply for being mutual friends with Satsuki Momoi, it had mostly been like this – irritable and filled with awkward silences. The three years that had passed since were mostly spent insulting each other and avoiding every topic of discussion that could possibly bring them closer.

Yasuka hated being alone with Aomine, if only because her feelings for him became so much more unavoidable.

At last, turning on to a new street empty of people, Aomine at last drew to a stop. In a second, he spun around and fixed his glare on her.

"How the hell do you manage to be so stupid all the time?" was the first thing he asked her.

Yasuka shrugged, and that only added to his annoyance.

"You realise what could have happened?" Aomine continued angrily, one hand gripping each of her shoulders, "Why the fuck can't you just stay out of trouble for five minutes?"

"I wasn't in trouble-!"

"Like hell you weren't! Jeez, you're such a pain in my ass, Nakamura. What did you think was going to happen when you started talking to a creep like that?"

She stared up at him, taken aback. Beyond simple annoyance, the feeling that fuelled Aomine's words was something so much more potent. She couldn't understand why, for the life of her, he gave a crap about any of it. 'Friend' was just a label in their case. She hadn't ever imagined he actually gave any thought to their relationship – to her.

"If I hadn't been there!" Aomine continued to shout, his fingers tightening around her arms ever so slightly, "Assholes like him piss me off more than anything, you know, but right now you're about a close second – it's like you want to get into shit!"

"You were there, though," Yasuka retorted angrily, unable to keep her words in check, "I knew you'd help."

"That's such a bullshit reason for doing stupid shit," Aomine spat, his facing inching closer, "God, you piss me off."

"It's not my fault some guy decided to be an asshole baby who couldn't understand what no means." Yasuka cried, stomping her foot.

For as much as Aomine continued to force her back, she pushed forward. Shorter in height, smaller in frame, Yasuka would still give everything in a fight and there was no way she would ever give up and let Aomine, of all people, win. To her, he was the idiot for overreacting.

Her palms fell against his chest, fingers curling into the soft material of his jumper. It kept the space between them when Aomine pulled her a step closer, shoes scuffing against the sidewalk.

As he stared down, studying her freckled cheeks and the defiance in her expression as she pressed her lips firmly together, something strange seemed to weigh in his chest. A peculiar sense of possessiveness, a wish for her to never spend time with any other guy the way she did with him. Unorthodox as it was as a relationship, he valued Yasuka for always prompting him to step in the right direction.

"If I wasn't there…" Aomine muttered, a myriad of emotions flitting across his expression.

Yasuka failed to read a single one of them, so used to his impassivity. Perhaps if she had caught on, she might have made any move. Step backwards or forwards, it didn't really matter as Aomine would have followed and kissed her anyway.

The sensation shot through from her head to her toes. In her bones, in her heart beat, all very much alike to the thrill of the concert and the music that made her ribs shake. Yasuka wondered if she was dreaming, but it was a fleeting thought dismissed by how determinedly Aomine continued to kiss her. His hand snaked around her waist, pulling her firmly against him until Yasuka accepted the kiss as a part of reality.

Daiki Aomine, kissing her – Satsuki was going to faint when she found out.

When they broke apart, nothing much around them seemed to have changed. It seemed impossible, but everything seemed so much sharper. The stars in the sky were brighter than usual, and breeze that pulled on her shoulder-length hair was cool and refreshing against her skin. Nothing had changed, she only felt like it had.

Yasuka couldn't help but blush. Aomine glanced to the side, still wearing his familiar scowl.

"Aomine," Yasuka began, testing her words, "…Do you like me?"

"You're so full of yourself," he muttered, before turning his attention fully to her. "You annoy me so much that I can't stop thinking about you. And when you smile, I feel sick, and I absolutely hate how pretty you are. I almost didn't come with you to the concert because being alone with you pisses me off so much and I-"

His confession was ended abruptly by Yasuka bursting out into laughter. Her shoulders shook against him, but he still didn't let her step away. He would probably hold Yasuka for as long as it took for her to point it out and embarrass him for it.

"Okay, I get it," she giggled, coming to rest her head against his shoulder, "But doesn't all that just mean you like me?"

He kept one hand around her waist, the other curling around her shoulder. "Does it?" he replied rhetorically, receiving only silence in reply. He didn't need Yasuka to tell him the truth, as he had figured it out long ago. Knowing that was how he felt about her, however, didn't stop him from resenting it.

He could have stood there for hours and not cared about the passing of a single second. It was an unrealistic desire, but he would give anything just to enjoy her company in silence. The impracticality of those whims was enough to make him glower at himself for thinking about them in the first place.

"We should keep walking back to the hotel." Aomine pointed out at last.

Yasuka sighed, her breath warming his skin. "True. It is after eleven."

He pushed her back with a hand on either shoulder. Yasuka assumed he would step back and the two of them would resume their usual distance. That Aomine felt anything for her, which she could only guess he did, was never certain to change anything between them. If she knew anything about him, pushing him to admit his feelings would never bring about anything she wanted. Luckily, Aomine seemed willing to take that first step himself.

Yasuka had just turned forward, half way through her step, when his hand pushed up against hers. Aomine took her hand in his, awkward at first, but irrefutably warm. He didn't say anything about it, and neither did she.

The continued down the street in silence. The pounding of her heart drowned out almost every other sound, and an inexplicable sense of anxiety unfurled in the pit of her stomach. Yasuka wasn't sure if she liked feeling like this or not.

"Turn left here…?" Aomine muttered, glancing down each turn off on the intersection.

Yasuka was still so out of it she didn't hear. The unusual quiet prompted Aomine to look down, studying her face through the locks of dark hair that fell forward over her expression. The weight of his stare caused her cheeks to burn.

"Something wrong, Nakamura?"

"No." she replied firmly.

He found a smirk winding its way onto his lips. She was lying, giving herself away by squeezing his hand tighter.

Aomine spun her towards him, which such ruthlessness that Yasuka stared up at him in surprise. The look on her face, blushing under her freckles, her lips parted at the seams, only made his smile grow. The expression she wore now was so much cuter than all of her fake smiles put together.

"You like me," Yasuka blurted without thinking, unnerved by his smile, "So, do you wanna know how I feel about it?"

"Not really. I could guess." Aomine shrugged with one shoulder.

"Really, Aho-mine? Because I like you as well."

Now was his turn to be stricken by surprise. When she said it so resolutely, unwavering in her gaze, he couldn't help but believe her. There were none of the usual telltale signs of a lie, a pleasant change in their relationship. He hated her dishonesty more than anything.

This time, Aomine was smiling as he kissed Yasuka.

"So," he muttered, pulling back and feigning nonchalance, "The hotel's to the left, right?"

"Yeah." Yasuka agreed, nodding along.

He took a step in that direction, arm stretched behind him as he refused to untwine his fingers from her. Whether stubbornness or for some other reason, Yasuka was defenceless against her own smug smile.

"Don't let go of me," he ordered, "I don't want you running off into any other guys."

"Why would I need to when I've got a boyfriend like you?"

Aomine's grip went tense. "Hey! Who said anything about that?"

"I did." Yasuka replied dryly.

"Yeah, well…" His eyes wandered to her.

Yasuka met his eyes, emerald eyes sparkling in the light. The silvery glow of the moon lit up her skin, the dark curtain of hair drifting like wisps of shadows around her. Each freckle may as well have been a star, as Aomine realised that she was the night to eclipse anything and everything. Her lips were pushed into a pout, a sulky look that swayed him to indulge her.

"Maybe." He said, knowing that he really meant always.

In celebration of KnB's third season, I thought I'd write a little more about the characters. This was an attempt a reviving an OC pairing I wrote about so long ago that I've thought about that story long enough to start hating it. I hope Yasuka makes a decent character, but please don't hold back on your criticisms if you leave a review!

I hope you enjoyed reading this oneshot :)