Hyuuga Junpei.

1. Junpei looks nice in green.

He absolutely abhors wearing the colour, but, according to Izuki's sister, Mitobe's mother, and one too many girly, ridiculously flirty girls, he looks great in the colour. This revelation comes, in the form of an accursed, forest green yukata, which is thankfully several boxes deep within his closet.

The only reason he has it, is because Riko may have, sort of agreed to wear a kimono if they, the basketball team wore yukata to Seirin's first school festival. And his naïve, fifteen year old self had found it perfectly fine to follow his hormones, so he let's her buy his yukata.

He spends all of two hours in the itchy, cheap green clothing, before the tick on his forehead becomes prominent. Too many girls come up to him and Izuki that night, too many boys find him weak and what the Kami-sama's name is wrong with Kiyoshi's eyes. That damned creep watched him all night.

Junpei has only one reason for why he doesn't burn the wretched thing. Kagetora-san gave the money for it and there is no way he has the balls to burn anything Kagetora-san buys, no matter how unintentional.


2. Kiyoshi annoys him before their first real conversation.

Okay, this one doesn't really have a reason. Something about his bright hazel eyes and that stupid grin annoys him. He also gave off this attitude that the then brooding Junpei does not appreciate and their's something about his eyes that make Junpei curious. Like people say, first impressions a worth the world and Junpei's first impression of Kiyoshi Teppei just isn't that good.

That doesn't mean he doesn't hold Teppei throughout his grandparents death, two years after the first time he met the creepy eyed idiot. Teppei might annoy him, but Junpei's not heartless, so he holds the idiot whose smile is gone and eyes are holding back tears so valiantly. If only, because the idiot wouldn't let anyone else do it.


3. His first kiss was when he was nine.

Sometimes he dreams about it. He doesn't clearly remember who it is, mostly because that morning he'd broken his glasses and wouldn't get another pair until the next week. But, there are still fragments, like the feel of her fingers lingering on his skin, or the joy in her shy voice.

A wisp of long, crimson like hair here and eyes that peered into his very innocent, nine-year old soul there. He remembers a soft voice, "Jun-kun.." , a cute, joyous giggle that brought a crimson flush to Junpei's face. Milky hands ruffling through his spiky hair. The bounce of a basketball long forgotten.

Junpei had lived in Okinawa then, they'd live there for six months, and it was a week before they left, he'd met her. He can't recall her name, only a whisper in his mind. Really, he's not sure whether or not he made the almost perfect girl up. Still, he never forgets those deep pink eyes.

Surprisingly, he's nineteen and very, very drunk when he kisses her again. It's Satsuki's soft, milky fingers running through his hair that informs him she was his childhood love.


4. Contrary to popular belief, he does have more than just basketball on his mind.

Art. Coloured finger tips, callous fingers and paint splattered clothes. Aerosol can smell, the feel of pastelled fingers, the squint of his eyes when he sees the shading is horribly wrong. These things run through his mind when he sits in his room at midnight, too relentless to sleep, art products scattered around him. Junpei thinks about this, as he adds more detail to his bookshelf, which was drawn out of pure boredom. Thoughts of lighter shades, when he exchanges his paint brush for a pencil, the peach just a half a shade lighter than his paint, working perfectly to divide the two textures.

Thoughts of art run through his mind, the perfect soft stroke repeated, to add darker elements, helping him relax when too high-strung to focus on a game. He thinks of penciled crosshatching shades, that give more drama to his work, when he's too stressed by exams and studying to think properly. He thinks of inks and tattoos as a future prospect and takes pride in making a masterpiece on Tsuchida's face, when the rebound-freak is too deep in a dream to feel the tickle of a marker.

When he hears about Shun, which is fucking bullshit, because Shun is the only one who wanted to go pro in their year, and fuck it is so unfair; so Junpei has to releases his tension into a blank canvas, that bleeds black and navy blue, that was spotted in green and there were no words to explain the pain in this picture. Only water-colour paint, dripping ink from broken pens and spotted pastel crushed against the gesso covered canvas.

Art is the only way Junpei could possibly say anything, without it seeming like a threat or an order.


5. He may or may not be desperately in love with Riko.

So, he meets Riko when he's twelve and it all kind of starts from there. It, is nothing but friendship and hidden glances on Junpei's side. Actually, he couldn't tell you if or even when he started feeling more than content with her presence, when nerves are too high and he starts blushing at her skirt, which is short to allow movement. But, somewhere along the way, he notices her soft, sculpted calves and forces down her terrible food, and teaches himself to lose the dark flush that her pouty lips invoke.

Then, there are times where he resists the urge to smack her over her stupidly cute head. Like when she tries to drag them to karaoke, or when her training is just plain demonic, he knows his eyes aren't drawing back to watch her, but to glare at the she-demon his Kantoku is. But, Junpei knows that Kantoku, who forces ridiculous training regimen upon them and forces five time too many food down their throat, is different from Riko. Riko massages Kiyoshi when the idiot trains an hour longer than needed, that held his hand at the funeral and stays up until two texting him because she's worried about him, but will never say it.

He loves Riko and barely tolerates Kantoku. There are moments, when he wonders whether or not he loves her and Junpei questions his lingering gazes and the feel of her bare skin against his. He questions the hurt in her eyes, the ache etched within his heart when she leaves and the sting of his cheek.

And when he does stuff of, proportions such as the one that just happened, he wonders if he loves her or putting her through pain, because that's all he is good at when she's involved.


6. Izuki is undoubtedly his best friend, Kiyoshi is doubtedly his closest.

He meets Izuki when he's five and they're pretty close. Like, the type of childish close that only a children have, everything was sunshine, rainbows and all that girly shit that pisses Junpei off now. But, when Junpei moves back to Tokyo when he's twelve and he is coincidentally neighbours, it doesn't take long for Junpei to once again warm up to Izuki. It's not hard for Junpei to do this, when Izuki is the clingiest person he has ever met, but their friendship is pretty great in Junpei's opinion.

Kiyoshi... That is a completely different story.

Junpei can tell Izuki to shut up and not worry about if it affects him, because Izuki won't take it to heart. He can tell Kiyoshi to shut up and not care, because Kiyoshi will just smile it off. He's allowed to worry about what those boys who had teased Izuki had said, to intimidate people who he thinks will harm Izuki and to give long-suffering stares to Izuki's possible love intrest.

But, whether he likes it or not, Kiyoshi is his closest friend. He thinks it has something to do, with the fact that Kiyoshi is eerily open. Someone who you can't help, but talk to. It's this stupid openness, that makes Junpei open up to him. Or maybe it's the way Kiyoshi's skin is unnaturally pale,but he still manages to smile and lie to Riko.

But, when Junpei's angry, he's angry and he sees straight through the weak lie. So he berates Aho-oshi and little by little, with every visit, he opens up to the recently injured basketball player. By the time Kiyoshi is back at Seirin for his second year of school, he knows too much about Junpei for Junpei's liking and by their third year, he can mentally admit to himself, that maybe Kiyoshi is in fact his friend.

Of course, it takes him well in to his adult years to realise, it was the fact that Kiyoshi was strong enough to hold all the burdens that Junpei didn't think Izuki could handle, that made him open up to the creepy, idiotically happy friend of his.


7. He isn't as observant as Izuki, but Junpei notices more than he lets on.

Unlike Shun, whose Eagle eyes are sharp and can always see so much or Aho-oshi whose creepy eyes had this small, knowing glint, Junpei's near-sighted eyes were pretty useless. But that doesn't mean he doesn't see things. He's a captain, it's his job to know about his team.

Junpei is the one to hold Koganei back for a talk, when he is the only one, other than Kantoku, who notices his slight limp. And holds Koganei when their jack of all trades, tries to, shakily push it off as nothing but a trip down the stairs, then smack him for not mentioning the bullying.

Their captain is the one who pulls Kawahara out of practice, when he notices the second year is slightly shaky in practice and Junpei pushes away all the worries from the crew-cut hair styled teen.

He lays a hand on Kantoku's shoulder after their ridiculous lost against Touou during his second year, reassuring the slightly shivering crush of his, that they would just pay back the favour in the winter cup.

Brown eyes shift suspiciously when Kiyoshi's smile falls a second too soon and once again, he's dragging another one of his team to talk, watching the stocky third year breakdown and letting him run amuck in the boys changing lockers.

His eyes, brown and dull, are pretty useless when trying to squint at the equations on the white board or watching the different hangul characters scrawled on his kouhai's notebooks, but they see a lot more than he lets on. He isn't a captain, if he doesn't even bother to notice what's troubling his team.


8. Okay... So yes, he knows it's pretty weird, but when she's just too cranky to walk, Junpei... Buys Riko's tampons for her.

Riko, is by default the cruelest girl his age he know. Junpei sees the glee in her eyes when her boys are gasping for air from tripled trainging menus' and he doesn't believe for a second that Kise was mysteriously swarmed by fangirls before he could bother Seirin's practice once again that week. Because, Junpei's known this conniving, vindictive, totally innocent looking girl since she was eleven.

But, she's also the only girl, who doesn't play basketball, that takes the game seriously. So, when her annoying, fourteen year old self had asked him to buy her tampons, he can't protest. Mostly because she is swearing into the cell, threatening to kill him if he doesn't get her some 'fucking tampons and some decent fucking comfort food, also not those granny ass pads shit either you four-eyed idiot, tampons'. Blustering and completely terrified at this new side of coach, he runs to the closest store and, not even watching grabs four to five different tampon boxes and tries desperately hard to remember her favourite foods, because he knows his life is at stake. The cashier looks down at the boy amusedly, mentally cooing at the distraught adolescent.

Of course, after this, when he arrives at Riko's, she laughs at him, thanks him then promptly closed the door on him. That cruel she-demon doesn't even bother to thank him properly, she spent most of the time laughing at his irritated, flushed face to let out more than a passing thanks. And of course, for the next five years that follows, if she runs out or is experiencing immense period pains, he has to get the, Because apparently asking your own damned father is too awkward.

It's during another one of these 'tampon runs', that he meets an unexpected face in the same aisle. He's scowling at the objects in front of him, wondering when Riko would put someone else through this torture, when he sees a dark hand reach for the same brand as the one Riko had so persistently explained, were absolutely perfect, because they were silky soft and they had wings to catch everything and sometimes he wishes he wasn't her best friend.

Anyway, when he looks up at the obviously male, vaguely familiar person now holding the same brand tampon as him and just as much comfort food, he snorts at their bad luck.

"Momoi?"

"Mmh, she's a clingy crybaby if I don't get her this specific brand,"

"Aida-san?"

"Hai. If I don't get these to her soon, then I'm afraid you'll be responsible for finding my corpse,"

"Yikes, good luck with your she-witch,"

"You too."

Biding the unfortunate Aomine farewell, Junpei sighs.

Yes, this is the misfortunes that happens when you become, best friend material.


9. Him and Riko don't last.

It's not that they aren't perfect for each other, he loves her, she loves him. Logically, it should have lasted. But, then Shun happened and everything kind of hit the fan. So, by the time his second year of university is over, so is their three and a half years long relationship.

Junpei, is the one that starts it, when he's too emotionally unstable to actually be in his right set of mind. First, he starts skipping classes, then, he starts ignoring phone calls and at one point it turns into drinking.

One night, he's drinking at someone's house, who he's not sure, maybe it's some former high schooler he played ball with, because he's pretty sure he sees Kasamatsu-san, Reo-san and some other old rivals. Then, along comes Momoi who probably just had a fight with her boyfriend, if the red rimmed eyes say anything. Then, their pain kind of fuses into one, until it's a blur of sweaty bodies, pink and black hair and heavenly groans.

When Riko finds out about this, which isn't hard because Junpei mightn't be emotionally stable and it might have just been a one night stand, but he knows if he doesn't tell her, he'd regret it more than if he did. His heart aches when she stars yelling at him, then ripped to shreds when she calls him every derogatory term she could think of, eyes shining nearly shed tear and breaks when he hears through the grapevine, that she slept with someone else. Especially when he hears who that someone else is.

Eventually, eight months of pain and angst has been washed aside, when they see Shun again and fuck relationship problems; because Shun is healthy and good and a years worth of relationship problems isn't worth sacrificing nine years of friendship. So him and Riko don't last as lovers but they are pretty great friends.


10. He becomes a tattoo artist and freelance artist when he finishes university.

It's not an encouraged idea, especially by his policemen father. His friends, positive as they have always been, encourage him to follow it if he wants to, even if he sees the slightest concern in their eyes. He loves his job, because basketballs fun, but Junpei knowns he's not fit to go into the pros, like Ray Allen and Michael Jordan, he's no Shaq and is most definitely not a Ahomine or a Bakagami, but, he could become a Leonardo Davinci.

The first person he tattoos, is surprisingly Tetsuya. He does it free of charge, because if he'd butchered it, then he doesn't think he'd get money out of Tetsuya anyway. It comes out decent, as far as first tattoos go and he's just happy that he didn't completely kill the kanji, to even wonder why Tetsuya wanted the kanji for nakama of his wrist.

A week later, Teppei strolls in, visiting from his Akita, smiling and heavily implying he wanted a tattoo. Two hous later, Kiyoshi Hana and Kiyoshi Seinosuke are forever etched over Teppei's heart. They were harder than the four other tattoos he'd done so far, but, Tepei still smiled his too wide, creepy eyed smile and treated Junpei like they were best friends. Which, they may have, possibly, slightly, undeniably been.

The next and last free tattoo he ever does, is Riko's. It's simple, it's all completely Riko. It's a basketball, just below her hip bone and she squeals with delight when she sees it. He doesn't see anything totally breathtaking about the tattoo, but he knows that the sentiment was all she really wanted, so he smiled back.


Hi. Thanks for reading this, if you liked this story, more so the set up, I have another one if you wanted to read it. Also, note how I'm trying, oh so very hard to stick to cannon and not butcher Fujimaki Tadatoshi's characters. Though, I've probably stuffed up a lot with this currently short series. Also, this refers to fact No.4 , gesso, is like a hardening paint, that helps make a canvas or paper both harder and smoother, when applied properly.

#2 Hyuuga Junpei.