A/N, or more likely, Warning.
Imayoshi Shoichi x Sakurai Ryo, if you squint. If you do not squint, just plain friendship between a senpai and a kouhai.
Lots of my headcannons was used in this, since Tou Gakuen guys don't really show up a lot, unless they have a match with Seirin and other schools. What seriously is it like when they're training?
Anyways, I think Imayoshi is kind deep in his heart. He's just a twisted blood type AB guy that wants to put on a poker face for fun. And I think Sakurai, despite being timid, would be somewhat calm personality when he doesn't decide to apologize. Even thoughtful and serious, sometimes.
And I really like Imayoshi's Kansai-ben, (Kansai dialect), but I can't possibly translate it to English! What, should I make him speak with Texas accent?
Oh, and since I'm an Asian and whatnot, the way I see school life in Japan and stuffs might be quite different from Western view. From my own personal experience, the two are like just way too different.
By the way, I'm pretty sure that most people know senpai means an older student. Kouhai means the opposite.
And a sincere apology if I've ignored any verbal tics that any of the characters have. Translated versions of krbs that I've read has a bit messy English translation, so I've got no idea about the verbal tics, unless it's Midorima's 'nanodayo'.
Well, here goes my first krbs fanfic.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry that I couldn't take care of Aomine-kun, and I'm so sorry I was born…!"
"Nah… I told you it's enough… And, it's kinda getting annoying…
A boy with silky light brown hair apologizing so much that he's practically head banging without stop. Sakurai Ryo.
A boy with messy black hair sighing as he give up trying to stop the other, and instead just watch the slender figure in front of him with a complicated look. Imayoshi Shoichi.
This is the story of these two on one particular day, the story that might bring a small change in their future.
On this day
Imayoshi x Sakurai
Sunday, not so long after the summer break was over. The day that students all sleep in to replenish their energy after the restless week of getting adjusted to school.
Tou Gakuen basketball club, however, has morning practice. As always, that is.
"C'mon, everyone, the winter cup preliminary ain't that far away now! Wake up and get on with the laps!"
"Shut up, you're one lagging behind!"
"Ehh, but I'm too old for harsh training~"
"You're just a year older than me!"
As a warm up for the 1st and 2nd string, everyone started running laps around the school gym. While Wakamatsu went around yelling at every single thing, Imayoshi, as the captain, stayed behind others as if to take a look at his teammates' conditions. And upon realizing that they were one player short, he gave a long sigh before turning to a pink haired girl sitting down on the bench.
"Momoi, any luck with Aomine?"
"No, he's still not picking up his phone…"
"I'm so—"
"Sakurai, shut your trap and run!"
Wakamatsu pushing Sakurai's back had successfully stopped the younger boy from carrying on his usual apology routine, though he began screaming instead as the blonde continued on pushing him, making him run faster than he could manage. That scene brought laughter from other teammates, but Imayoshi, while still putting on a naïve smile, sighed once again inwardly. Aomine not coming to the practice was one thing, not that it really surprised him anymore, since this member of Generation of Miracle had never been bothered to show up for the practices once a week. But the other 1st grader, Sakurai, having such low self-esteem that he couldn't stop apologizing was another.
"Captain, I think I'll go check on Aomine-kun's house. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, maybe pick some ice creams for us on the way back~"
Shaking his hand cheerfully, Imayoshi watched the girl skip her way out the gym, and brought his attention back to running. His team, without their ace, was not that weak, of course. He himself was a pretty good player, and others too were more than just above averaged. But still, the one that he would count on the most would be Sakurai.
"Sakurai, you seriously can't be exhausted after 15 laps?!"
"Wakamatsu, maybe you should stop bullying Saku—"
"I'm so sorry I'm this weak! I'm sorry!"
"…See? You got him started again."
Sakurai's voice, erratic and out of breath, rings loudly in the gym along with the sound of the shoes grazing the gym floor. Facepalming, Imayoshi speeds up a bit to catch up with rest of his team, or to be exact, the youngest boy among them. Said boy seemed to be on the verge of crying as he forced his legs to move while yelling his apologies desperately. By now, the captain of this team was starting to wonder if this excellent shooting guard of theirs had some kind of trauma that has to do with apologizing. Sakurai sure can be quite scary when in clutch time, but otherwise, he's simply so wimpy that Imayoshi couldn't help feeling sorry.
"It's okay if you're exhausted. I'm beat up already too."
"Captain, you're kidding!"
"I told you to shut up."
The young brunet seemed to be way out of breath to answer properly, so Imayoshi took his chance to keep the blonde's running mouth in check. As Wakamatsu finally gave a pout and took the head of the group, the captain turned his gaze back to the younger boy struggling next to him. Though this was not the first time he realized this, Sakurai might be somewhat tall (well, taller than the disappearing kid in Seirin), but he was too thin for his good. Maybe, he's not eating enough? But surely, with his amazing cooking skill, he should be able to make himself a decent meal even if there was no one else to cook in his house.
Crap, I get so worried when I'm near him…
"Wanna take a quick rest before finishing remaining laps?"
"N-no, I'm fine… I can't… be burden to every…one else…"
No one thinks of you as a burden. That's what Imayoshi wanted to say as he stared at the burning passion in the boy's eyes. This gentle boy, who'd only stutter while watching Aomine steal his lunch, make honey soaked lemon despite that he himself is a player as well, and never blames anyone but himself… He had such strong will power to overcome his weakness. Sakurai certainly trigger Imayoshi's interest. And not only that, it seemed like he, one of the most wicked players in Japanese high school basketball clubs, seemed to have grown soft spot on the boy.
"Phew, y'know what? Let's just stop running now."
"Wha-?! Captain, we only ran 20 laps!"
"Well, I thought we should loosen up a bit today since we've been practicing hard the whole summer."
Eventually, Imayoshi cut down the goal of today's running from 40 laps to 20. It was true that they had been practicing quite hard these past weeks, and taking it easy for a bit would do some good to relax their tensed body. But more importantly, it was getting harder to see Sakurai trying staggering along with the others every lap they ran.
"It's not like this practice is official anyways, right? Look, even the coach isn't here."
"What does that have to do with runni—"
"Wakamatsu, if you want to run so badly, then please suit yourself. Finish the remaining laps. And for everyone else, five minute break before shooting practice."
Smiling ever so brightly, Imayoshi clapped his hands as if to say that this was the end of the conversation. Wakamatsu resumed running, practically burning with both irritation and enthusiasm, while others went to sit down on the bench and get their drinks. Imayoshi was about to grab his bottle too, but these kouhai these days really know no manners, taking up the bench when not just an elder student but a captain was standing, looking at his water bottle that was right between two of the bulkier players sitting down leisurely on the bench.
"Ah, if you forgot your bottle today, I got another one."
He was just about to show those younger ones how to treat their elders when a bottle suddenly came into his view, and he turned around to see Sakurai offering it with an apologetic smile.
"O-or, did I just rudely butt in? I'm sorry, I thought you didn't have a water bottle today so I—"
"Thanks, I kinda forgot mine. But do you always carry another bottle with you?"
"Almost always, just in case Aomine-kun decides to show up and demands one."
Imayoshi's eyes narrowed slightly while listening to the younger boy, but Sakurai was laughing sheepishly that he did not notice the subtle difference. The captain then took the offered bottle, giving up on getting his own, and had few gulps, and beamed an exaggerated smile as he went on about how fresh the water tastes after all that running. Nevertheless, his squinted eyes never left the brunet in front of him as if Imayoshi was planning to read Sakurai's mind.
"By the way, why do you always try so hard to please Aomine? I know he's the ace of this team and all that, but you could seriously ask him not to bully you like he does, can't you?"
Casual voice, a fake gentle smile plastered on, Imayoshi's disguise was as good as ever; he knew how to keep his emotions hidden so that the subject of his question would not grasp the true reason why he was asking.
But really, why am I asking this? Because of sheer curiosity?
"Well… I guess I look a bit lame, doing everything he tells to do. I'm sorry about that…"
"Nah, I didn't ask that question to hear another apology from you."
It seemed like Sakurai didn't suspect anything from the older boy, though it'd be funny if he knew the reason that even the questioner himself did not. For a moment, the brunet tilted his head to left and right, a finger on his chin as if he was thinking deeply, and hell, Imayoshi was eyeing how thin his wrist was… Even he was thrown off guard when Sakurai opened his mouth again, feeling the wave of self-consciousness sweeping him as he realized what he had just been doing.
"I guess it's because he is kind of like a friend… I'm not the most social guy in my class, and it's not like any of the classmates from my middle school came to this school. So, Aomine is the one that's closest to friend. After all, stealing lunches and a punch every now and then are what friends do, right?"
Looking at the bright smile that Sakurai had on while answering, Imayoshi was tempted to ask where that weird definition of friend came from, but refrained from doing so. It seemed like this wimpy boy was doing pretty okay in this team full of weirdos after all. Even when Imayoshi retires after the winter cup—
Retire… huh.
"Ah, captain, it's been more than five minutes already."
"…Eh? Seriously?"
"U-uh, yeah… O-or maybe not, I'm sorry I interrupted your thinking, I'm sorry!"
Watching Sakurai apologize frantically once again, Imayoshi slowly turned his gaze to look around the gym. Wakamatsu was still running around, yelling some obscenities, but everyone else was giving him worried look as if they were thinking their captain was sick or not. It surely was rare for Imayoshi to be that spacey.
"What are y'all looking at? C'mon, get on with shooting practice."
Despite the usual smile, people could definitely see the irritation from the slightly twitching lips, so quietly and quickly, they went to continue their practice. Sakurai was no exception, though he apologized few times more before finally grabbing a ball and going to practice his 3-pointers. And even Wakamatsu was back with everyone else, though he looked like he was on the verge of just passing out right then and there. Watching his team get on with their practice with such serious eyes that seemed to reflect their determination to win, Imayoshi's smile became a bit wider. The thought about his coming retirement must have put him in more sentimental mood than usual, for he even felt pride as he watched his team. It's the team that he had been leading on, precious comrades that he had fought along with. It would be a lie if he said that he was completely at ease on leaving the team in Wakamatsu's hand, but he believed in his kouhai and the rest of the teammate to make this team even stronger than it is now.
"Captain, are you all right?"
The shaky voice had brought his wandering thoughts back to the gym, and he found Sakurai looking up at him with worried eyes, the ball in his hand. Since he had been practicing right next to Imayoshi, he must have seen the blank expression on the older man's face and stopped his practice to check on him.
"Yeah… Just thinking about stuffs. Y'know, I'll be graduating soon."
Without even realizing, Imayoshi had put on a fake smile not to worry the brunet, and reached out to take the ball from him. He then gestured with his empty hand for Sakurai to go stand a bit further away, so that he could give him a pass. Sakurai obliged without a word, but his big eyes that resembled shallow pool were clearly still full with worries.
"Graduation exams coming up, applying to universities, and stuffs like that. It's just too much hassle."
"It must be hard to get those things figured out…"
Sakurai's serious face made it look like that he was the one who had to worry about graduation, not Imayoshi, and the captain laughed quietly at his kouhai's concern. This boy was too kind for his own good. After dribbling the ball for a moment, Imayoshi made a quick pass toward the younger one, who caught it and made a 3-pointer in one swift motion. The sight had always made Imayoshi gape his mouth in awe. Such smooth movement made Sakurai look more like a dancer than a basketball player. The slender body moving like a gentle stream flowing… Imayoshi would surely miss that. Leaving him in his thoughts again, Sakurai went to get the ball, which was bouncing about near the goal, and as he returned to his previous spot not so far from the black haired boy, he mumbled in rather quiet volume. Imayoshi had to strain his ears to catch what he had said, but once he did, he couldn't help opening his eyes widely from surprise.
"I hope you things work out well for you. But to be honest… I'm going to miss captain a lot."
Sakurai had a smile on his face, but not the kind that Imayoshi had seen before. Not the happy smile like the one he had shown when the team had won the first game of the year, nor the apologetic smile that he puts on whenever he's done with his routine of apologizing and bowing for five minutes.
He looks… sad.
"Mmh, well, I'll miss you too."
"I'll miss you /a lot/."
"Uh… Can I ask why?"
Surprised once again at rather serious voice of the younger boy, Imayoshi slid his glasses up to hide his curiosity and the vague feeling of contentment that he felt from hearing Sakurai say that he'd miss him.
"I was… kind of lost in thoughts when I realized that this team has rather… um, how should I put this… rather individual motives and goals, that it doesn't make us feel like a true team. But you see, even though we're all scattered about, it was always captain that brought us together. We might not be the team with the best teamwork, but now, I feel more comfortable being with everyone, and though we still go about our own ways, I still feel the bond between other teammates."
Listening to this surprisingly complicated thoughts of the young boy, Imayoshi could only think of one thing; his heart was throbbing in the most uncomfortable way ever. It made him want to hold on to this person in front of him and whine about the pain, hoping that he'd get his attention. He didn't want to leave the team even more now. He wanted to have this boy around him all the time, be surprised from how deep his thoughts are, stop him from apologizing, and count how many different smiles that he can put on.
"I think Wakamatsu-senpai will be an awesome captain too, since he's so hardworking and strict, but… I'd still—"
"You're not talking behind my back, are ya, brat?! What the heck are you doing anyways, get on with your practice, dammit, you're the only one slacking! And captain, you too!"
Speaking of the devil, Wakamatsu came stomping from the other player that he was criticizing, and started giving a lecture, or more like a yelling feat, to the trembling 1st grade.
"I'm so sorry I was slacking, I'm so sorry, I'm—"
"Just get on with your practice!"
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I was born…!"
Sakurai, busy uttering apologies, returned to his practice, shooting balls after balls, which all made through the goal. And Wakamatsu, busy as well with still yelling about diligence, was looking at Sakurai and passing the rebounds to the younger boy. Thus, both of them did not see the vein around Imayoshi's temples thicken with anger. Just a little bit more, he wanted to listen to the brunet's addictively sweet words, and this damn blonde had to ruin it.
"Wakamatsu."
"What, cap— wh-whoa, what's the matter…?"
The dark aura of anger and wickedness was clearly visible around Imayoshi when Wakamatsu turned to look at him, thus making the captain-to-be take few steps away from the man. But what scared him the most was not that aura that seemed to choke him to death, but the widest smile on Imayoshi's lips that he saw today. The man looked like a ghost from old literature books.
"Another 40 laps. Go."
Though Wakamatsu had urge to complain about the unfair order, he changed his mind and quickly went to do as he was told; he'd rather die running laps than to be killed by that man.
"Okay, let's wrap things up for now. Good job everyone, go home and rest this afternoon. Resting is important, right? I'll kill any of those that I catch on the street hanging around."
Imayoshi was in bad mood ever since Wakamatsu had cut Sakurai's words, and everyone could see that from the smile on his face and the killing intent that surrounded his figure. Looking more scared than tired, they all rushed to get out of the gym and headed to take a shower before escaping the grasp of their captain. Sakurai too had hurriedly got out of the gym, leaving Imayoshi standing alone near bench, gazing at the door that led to the locker room and shower.
What the hell's wrong with me?
After slowly shaking his head as if to get rid of his thoughts, Imayoshi looked around the place to see if there was anything else to clean. All the equipments were back to the storage and the floor was practically shining like it was new. So, he turned around to pick up his bottle, which was left on the bench for the whole practice, and head to the locker as well, only to see a folder right next to his bottle.
"Ah… Momoi never came back, come to think of it."
Imayoshi mumbled to himself and picked up the folder, thinking that he'd put it in the club room so that it'd be safer. He didn't really expect Aomine to show up anyways, so he wasn't mad about that. Still, he was slightly annoyed that he'd have to walk all the way to the club room in the main building from the gym. While enjoying the air, slightly cooler than his body, heated and sweaty from the practice, slowly cooling his body down, Imayoshi decided that if he was going to walk to the club room, he'd as well as check the folder while he walks so that his trip wouldn't be so boring. After all, Momoi's folder had quite a lot of interesting, with all those statistics and strategies.
By the time Imayoshi reached the club room, he had briefly went through all the recent articles that Momoi had put in the folder. He had skipped some papers that he had seen before, and saw that at the back of the folders were the application sheets that all the club members had to write. There were some basic information that were required as well, and Imayoshi hadn't read this part of the folder at all before, so he decided to take a look at some of these papers.
"Heh, Wakamatsu's blood type was A. I thought it'd be B, since his personality is—"
Imayoshi was sneering as he read the old application sheet that Momoi had found in the club room, the folder slipped out of his hand and fell on the floor, making him groan. He kneeled down to pick it up, and saw that the pages flipped while falling, thus showing him the application sheet of Sakurai, not Wakamatsu. And in the middle of picking the folder up, Imayoshi froze with his mouth open with surprise, looking at the particular part of the paper.
"…His birthday…"
That was all he mumbled before tossing the folder on one of the desks in the room and rushing out, almost forgetting to lock the room before sprinting back to the gym.
Why didn't he tell anyone?
Sakurai had just come out of a bakery with a cake in his hand, his still drenched hair swaying at the gentle breeze of late summer. Imayoshi had really scared him at the end of the practice, that he had only taken a quick shower before carelessly drying himself and escaping from the school; the whole process didn't even take ten minutes. But he did not go straight to his house. In fact, he headed to the opposite direction, where his favourite bakery was located.
Alone on my 16th birthday, huh…
His parents had to go abroad for their work, which happened quite a lot. That was the very reason why he knew how to cook well. And since he wasn't the most social person, it wasn't his first time spending birthday alone. Maybe, he even liked it that way; he'd not rather bother other people by inviting them to his birthday. As long as he had a cake from that bakery, he was pretty much fine on his own… though he certainly thought a companion or two sounded nice on a day like this. He would have taken a longer route to his home to enjoy the scenery and liveliness of the street, but since he was already not following Imayoshi's order by goofing around on the street instead of going straight home, he was planning to go home right away. And now, since he was back on the usual route to his home, he surely wouldn't meet his captain on the way…
"Sakurai!"
Or not.
"C-captain?!"
"F-found ya…!"
Imayoshi was plainly running toward the younger boy, panting as if he had been sprinting for a while, but to Sakurai's eyes, the man seemed to be rushing toward him to kill him since he had been caught with a cake in his hand, clearly showing that he had not gone home straight.
"I'm sorry I didn't go home right away, I'm sorry I didn't follow your order, I'm sorry so please don't kill me!"
"What the… heck are you… saying…?"
Frozen on the spot, Sakurai screeched apologies while his face turned as white as sheet. Unlike his expectation, however, Imayoshi just stopped in front of him and bent down to catch his breath for a while, not getting why the boy was apologizing; he had completely forgotten about his threat due to the frantic running. When he was finally able to speak without much difficult, Imayoshi stood straight and simply covered the other's mouth with his hand to stop him from apologizing further.
"It's your birthday today, right?"
At the straightforward question, Sakurai blinked his eyes few times in surprise and nodded, unable to say anything with the senpai's hand on his mouth. Imayoshi then pulled his hand away, to which Sakurai, without even realizing, felt disappointed to lose the warmth on his lips.
"And I assume that that cake… is your birthday cake?"
"Y-yes…"
"…You are much more lame than I thought, buying your own birthday cake."
Imayoshi blurted out his thought without much thought, and Sakurai just gave embarrassed laughter before bowing again
"I-I'm sorry I'm lame, I'm sorry I was born—"
"No, don't say that."
Once again, Imayoshi reached out to cover the boy's mouth with his hand, this time more firmly. His black eyes, not squinted like usual, too showed sincere seriousness, which was something that he rarely did, even during a basketball match.
"Sorry about saying that you're lame. But seriously, you shouldn't say such thing on your birthday. Think about your parents, kiddo. And not just them. Your friends, your teammates, and me. Yes, me. As your captain and your senpai, I'm pretty damn happy that such fine shooting guard and kouhai was born."
Imayoshi never really liked saying his honest feelings that much. He liked hiding stuffs, seeing how people react when they realize his true intent, and just annoying people like that. Those surely were fun stuffs. But right now was not a time to do the same. This was the first and the last birthday of this little boy that he'd be able to spend with him as his captain and senpai. Next year, who knows what he'd be doing? What Sakurai would be doing, whether he would spend his birthday alone or with other friends? And surprisingly,
Being honest kinda feels nice.
"So… Don't say that you're sorry that you were born. It'd be better if you can stop apologizing excessively all together… but since that might be a too big of a step to take at once, let's start with not being sorry that you were born, especially on your birthday. How does that sound?"
With Imayoshi's hand still clasped over his mouth, all that Sakurai could do was to nod again. Still, the boy didn't even do that; he was just looking at his captain with his eyes wide open, blinking slowly as if to show that he was still processing what Imayoshi had just said. Something that the older boy said had definitely made him feel happy, the unfamiliar and intense warmth spreading from his heart. He now knew that Imayoshi was thinking of him as a friend, a teammate… and perhaps something more? But what else was there? Before he could figure out the answer to that question, said man moved his hand, forcing the younger boy to nod. Then, the captain beamed a satisfied smile and finally pulled his hand back.
"That's a good boy. Now, do you, by any chance, have any plan to eat that cake with anyone? …Though, I can pretty much tell the answer by the fact that you've bought your own birthday cake."
"Uh… No. I don't. …I'm sorry I don't have many friends…"
Feeling really lame, Sakurai gazed down on his feet and murmured another apology, making sure that he didn't apologize for being born; though he had been half forced to make that promise, he'd still try and keep it for the captain who seemed to worry about him. But then, a sudden weight on his shoulder startled him, and he saw a hand patting him encouragingly.
"Nope, no need to apologize about that either. Because I, the heavenly senpai and the kindest captain, decided to treat you."
Sakurai had always thought that Imayoshi was the kind of person that, for some twisted reasons, did not like to express his feeling. But the delighted look on his captain's face seemed so sincere right now that the brunet, without realizing, was smiling as well, ever so happily and gently.
"So, anywhere you wanna go? Karaoke? Or maybe we should have a lunch first."
"I'm fine with wherever captain wants to go. I don't really know much about where high school students hang out with friends… Sorr—"
"I'll just simply have to teach you then. Before I graduate, I'll teach you all kinds of stuff that high school brats do. And maybe, in return, you can treat me something nice when I get into a college."
Sliding his arm around the boy's shoulder, Imayoshi started leading the way towards the downtown. Sakurai followed him with a smile, small yet immensely bright.
"I'd miss this when you graduate."
"Idiot, I'll come and bother you when I'm free. Especially every 9th of September. So be a good boy and practice hard. I'm gonna tell Wakamatsu to sack you right away if you start slacking."
The boy who was ever so timid to spread his wings now confidently smiles.
The boy who never bothered to express himself shows his true colour. With each other, they have power to change themselves, as well as their future.
And they took their first tiny step together this very day.
OMAKE ＼(^ q ^)/
Oh god, never meant this to be this long...
And I think this is a damn crap, even though I've been pretty confident about writing in general, since that's what I've been doing for more than 5 years already.
Who the heck are you guys, I've never seen such characters in krbs. OTL
Come, Kuroko, give me a nice ignite pass on my head. Or even on my hand, so that I can never write again.
Anyways, happy birthday, Sakurai-kun