Immediately following Kaijō's victory over Fukuda Sōgō, Aomine left a bewildered Satsuki behind and made his way down to the change rooms. He couldn't say what possessed him to go, but it was insistent and Aomine found himself unable to dismiss the pull.
He paid no heed to the 'no access to civilians' sign and proceeded down the hall with a purpose he wasn't aware he had. When he arrived at Kaijō's locker room he contemplated waiting for them to emerge on their own, but grew impatient in the act of thinking about it and made to grab the door handle. His fingers skimmed the surface before it swung inward by itself, revealing Kise and the captain of the Kaijō team.
"Don't be an idiot, Kise! You're going to get it checked out tonight so that if anything is seriously wrong we can fix it as best we can before the match with Seirin-" Kasamatsu rattled off a few more reasons why Kise was an idiot and how it would be in his best interests to learn to listen to his elders, but Kise only grinned and shook his head.
"It's fine, it's fine. My leg's in good shape, I'll definitely be able to manage." When Kasamatsu remained utterly silent he glanced back to question what was wrong, and nearly ran into Aomine in doing so.
"Aomine-cchi?" Kise tilted his head to the side, perplexed. To his left, Kasamtasu finally started to react. His eyes widened and he took a step forward, craning his neck to look up at Aomine. There was something almost protective in the movement and it conjured up a feeling of annoyance in Aomine.
"What are you doing here?" The captain stared up at him suspiciously.
"I'm here to talk to Kise." He responded, slowly shifting his gaze from one player to the next. Kasamatsu remained oblivious to him and remained stolidly between he and Kise, but fortunately Kise seemed to catch his drift and set a surprisingly gentle hand down on Kasamatsu's shoulder. His eyes didn't leave Aomine's for even a moment.
"I'll meet up with you guys upstairs." He stated firmly, guiding Kasamatsu out of the way. There was some unsatisfied grumbling on his part, but after catching a glimpse of the intensity in Kise's eyes Kasamatsu relented and trudged away with a few leery glances thrown back in their direction.
And then they were alone, wading through a silence that had become abruptly clumsy. Kise used the moment to lean back against the opposite wall and observe his ex-teammate while Aomine remained tense with his hands at his sides.
"So how's your leg?" Aomine asked after a short pause, rubbing the back of his neck to keep his hands occupied.
"You saw that, huh." Kise smiled sheepishly, looking up at Aomine through his lashes.
"Everybody but the damned ref saw it." He retorted quickly. "Now how is it?"
Kise shrugged, averted his eyes and said, "Fine."
Aomine promptly punched him in the shoulder.
"Ow!" Kise rubbed the wounded limb, pouting at him in response. "It's fine, really! It'll be a little tender but-"
"You're shit at lying, Kise." Aomine stared him down with foreign intensity, the kind Kise hadn't seen directed his way in a long, long time. It was the kind of intensity that used to get the adrenaline thrumming through his veins and encouraged him to work harder to be the one who challenged Aomine. He briefly saw it when Kaijō went up against Tōō during the Interhigh tournament but that had only been for a moment and it hadn't made him feel like it used to.
"It's nothing I can't deal with," He shifted his eyes away again. He wasn't lying, but he also knew that facing Seirin with an impaired leg was a quick recipe for failure. Aomine knew that too, and something about the fact that Haisaki had been the cause made him angry. Maybe it was just the old feeling of protectiveness lingering from their days as comrades, but it made him uncomfortable all the same.
"Well, whatever. I just came down here to make sure you weren't crippled or something." He turned and headed back the way he came, motioning for Kise to follow. "Haisaki seemed pretty careless by the end of the match. Did he say anything to you?" Recognition flashed across Kise's face. "He did, didn't he."
"Nothing I'm concerned about." Kise shrugged, and turned his head away. "Anyway, I'm more curious about why you're so involved in this." He was grinning brashly when he looked back over at Aomine.
"I already told you, dumbass. If you were crippled you couldn't keep trying to challenge me." In light of the atmosphere Aomine played along, if only for Kise's sake.
"Really? And here I thought I was being replaced by Kagami." He was really only half-joking.
"What, that idiot? Nah, it's only a matter of time before I surpass him completely." Aomine stuffed his hands in his pockets, ignoring the skeptical look Kise shot him.
"You know that's funny, because I could've sworn-" He stopped short and winced, leaning against the wall to relieve the pain in his leg. "I'm fine, I'm fine." Kise dismissed his nonexistent queries of worry with an offhanded wave and tried to take a step forward.
It was a very short, graceless fall. Aomine turned back at Kise's quiet hiss of pain and raised an eyebrow doubtfully.
"You sure you can handle that leg?" He asked again, earning himself an annoyed snort.
"Like I said, I'll be able to manage." He attempted to stand, but the moment weight was put on his injured leg he yelped and was forced to drop down again. Aomine looked on passively. "Somehow." Kise added, pursing his lips and bracing himself against the wall behind him.
"Should I get one of your teammates or-"
"No!" Kise interrupted, gritting his teeth. "I mean... just, let me handle this." He took a deep breath to try and calm himself down. He tried and failed to stand up again once more after that before cursing under his breath.
"You really don't wanna let them down." Aomine noted, squatting down beside him. It wasn't a shock to find out that Kise had grown attached to his new teammates, but it did settle as a strange piece of information in the back of his mind. Maybe he hadn't let Teikō go yet, or maybe it was weird that Kise had surpassed him for once – even if it was only in the ability to let go of the past.
"Of course not. I'm their ace. If I let them down, I let myself down." He replied, sounding more confident in that one sentence than Aomine had ever heard him sound before. He was smiling almost bashfully too, which was an entirely foreign expression to see on Kise's face.
"Kaijō really found itself a good ace, then." Aomine replied, standing back up and offering Kise a hand.
Kise paused, considering the open palm before slowly placing his own over it.
"You know," Kise began, still sat on the floor and staring intently at Aomine's outstretched hand overlapping his own. "I wouldn't have minded if you were the one to help me up back then."
Aomine didn't have to think twice about what he meant. Back during the Interhigh tourney he had the choice to help Kise to his feet or allow his teammate to do it. Aomine had gone by his own experience with losing a game and decided against it. Losing after giving it your all to win was painful, but having your rival feel sorry for you was just adding insult to injury. Aomine figured he would avoid it; he figured it would be less heartrending for Kise if he just let bygones be bygones.
The situation vaguely reminded him of a similar confrontation he had with Kuroko only a few days earlier, after he had tasted defeat at the hands of Seirin's sheer grit and determination.
"You and Tetsu really don't let anything go, huh." Aomine commented, pulling him up with a heave. Kise, for someone so compact, was surprisingly light.
"What does Kuroko-cchi have to do with this?" Aomine was never very good at reading the emotion in tones of voice, but he could have sworn he heard apprehension in Kise's just then.
Unsure of how to explain himself Aomine shrugged and instead pulled Kise's arm over his shoulder, providing him with something to lean against while they made their way forward. When he nearly slipped again as they reached the stairs Aomine wound a sturdy arm around his waist and pulled him closer than was probably necessary. Kise, however, did not utter a single complaint. He might have even pressed a little closer, and so Aomine let his grip stay as snug as it was. He also remained acutely aware of Kise's extreme warmth the entire journey back to the lobby. He found himself a bit unsure over whether that fact should concern him or not, but he didn't have time to deal with such petty worries anyway.
When they neared his team, Kise somehow found the strength to support himself and present a strong image to his teammates. Aomine felt vaguely proud of him for that. He heard Kasamatsu pick up right where he left off scolding him, this time around with renewed annoyance over injuring himself further. Apparently Kaijō's captain had sharp eyes where subtle injuries were concerned.
Aomine, in the meanwhile, discharged himself from the scene and set off to find the cause of Kise's injury for himself. He had some loose ends to tie up with the bastard anyway.
A/N: Had to write it.