"Being a captain is not as easy
as you think. Coming up with brave
speeches, filling out certain papers,
and practicing myself. It's tiring actually.
Until I met this one person, my
opinion changed slightly, but he still
annoys me greatly. Being a captain
granted me the experience I never
wanted." -Kasamatsu Yukio, Kaijo High
Basketball Team captain

Chapter 2: It Starts Again

There was nothing but the sound of a ball being dropped and 'bump, bump, bump'. "K-Kise, y-you just did that to me. How could you do that-"
Kise did it again, leaving poor Yukio Kasamatsu flabbergasted once more. "Kise, s-stop doing that! I'm your captain and you're not allowed to do this!," he reminded him. He was blushing bright red; he never felt this way before. The gymnasium lights were all turned off, the only light illuminating the room came from the open door. Papers were spread out all over the ground, some half written on, some blank. "Bye Kasamatsu-senpai," Kise said as he started for the door, but his friend with black hair tugged the back of his grey blazer.

"Stay… with me for a while. He-Help me fill out s-some of these p-papers," the captain mumbled nervously. Kise turned around to face his teammate staring at him embarrassed and rudely. "Well? Answer me!"

The blonde blinked twice, assuming that Kasamatsu just got flipped upside-down or something like that. He never asked him that especially when he had a lot of work to do. Besides, this was Kise's chance to confess after he almost already did a few minutes ago. "Okay then," he responded zealously. He took off his blazer and walked towards the scattered piles of forms, applications and equipment orders. Such a serious face on his face (hah) stunned Kasamatsu knowing that he was just joking with the whole help me out thing. Suddenly, his captain-ness got the best of him.
"Hey, pile those papers into three different groups by type: applications, orders and forms. Make it quick; it's already midnight."

Kise glanced at his watch and chuckled, "So what? That doesn't mean anything. We can spend all the time in the world here, right Kasamatsu-senpai?"

Kasamatsu turned on his usual stern expression. "What are you talking about? After you do that to me, now you want to stay here? You're out of your fuckin' mind, Kise. Remember, I'm your captain." He marched to where Kaijo's Ace resided and searched through the piles. "You've done a good job… so far. Grab a pen and begin to fill these out carefully. You know my handwriting, so make sure I don't catch a hint of yours inside or else I'll hit you. No one else is supposed to do this but me. Wakata*?"

Kise smiled and stood. "Yes, senpai." He ran over to the shelves secretly stacked in the corner and took out five red pens. From then on till 1 am, Kise and Kasamatsu switched positions from writing to resting to bathroom break. When it was Kasamatsu's turn to write, he realized that something was wrong. "What the hell? We're done? That was fast- Hey Kise, did you let me rest longer and took a double turn?!"

Kise rubbed his nose and fidgeted with his earring. "Uh, um… yes. I did take double turns."

"Why would you do something so stupid?! It's supposed to be fair." He slapped the blonde on the head and before he could fold his arms, Kise grabbed his arm unintentionally. "W-What are you doing? Let go now or I'll hit you again!"

"I don't care-ssu. I did it for you. As captain, you work way too hard for the team. You're losing sleep constantly, so I thought if I let a little more time slip by for my turn, you could knock out." He used Kasamatsu's arm for assistance to lift himself up.
Kasamatsu started to laugh maniacally trying to mock Kise, then stopped to get serious. "For me? Are you serious? I told you that I'm fine! I regret doing this in the first place; get out of here. He pointed his index finger at the door behind him and grimaced.

"But we're finished. We can leave together," Kise said.

Kasamatsu shook his head and fixed his hands on his hips. "I appreciate your concern, but no. There's something else I want- uh, have to do. You can't help me with this. I can manage on my own. Go home."

"Tell me what it is. I may be able to help out." Kise put his hand on his shoulder and the captain smacked it away. "What damn part of you can't help me don't you understand? Leave me alone sometimes, okay? Let your captain do his job and you go home!" Kasamatsu directed his fist at Kise's cheek. With quick reflexes, Kise dodged it and did the unthinkable. No matter what his friend said, he would never give up this feeling. He took Kasamatsu into his arms and pulled him close, tightly squeezing him.
"Your hair smells good. What did you use?"

The smaller boy tried to ply away from the taller one, but Kise wouldn't let go no matter how hard he tried. It only made him more uncomfortable and nervous. "Don't sniff my hair- *sighs*- I use Sousooki Shampoo. Happy?"

"I thought so… I use it too. Cucumber scented. Your hair smells so good I can stay here forever and hold you."

"Let-go-of-me and go home!" He attempted to headbutt Kise on his chest, but Kise purposely tripped him and they both fell on the cold hard ground with a thud.

"Kasamatsu-senpai, have you ever thought about what others thought about you?
"No, I don't need to worry myself about such things."

"Then you should start… Kasamatsucchi." Impulsively, Kise's warm lips met his comrade's for five seconds. A cool breeze came from the open door; luckily no one was there to see them. When Kise opened his eyes and loosened his grip on Kasamatsu to let him go, Kasamatsu didn't budge. He laid there in shock, staring at Kise's innocent face. Then he started to chuckle madly. "I never thought you could be such an idiot, Kise. Forget the papers; go home." He got up slowly, but he fell back down with a tug from Kise and their lips met again.

Just what on earth was going on here? Is Kise crazy? Will Kasamatsu approve of his tender feeling towards him? More minutes passed by slowly as the two of them remained on the floor, playing with a basketball. Kise confessed to Kasamatsu, and he just shook his head. Truthfully, he wasn't sure about what to say since this was the first confession he received from the same sex obviously.

"Kise, I understand your feelings about me. It's just that I don't know whether to accept them or reject them… since approaching the level of being gay sounds awkward. Being a captain is not as easy as you thi-"

"So? That doesn't mean I can't love you. For all my time spent on Kaijou's basketball team, I finally found what I was looking for. Love. And it was you. Only you. " It was then that Kasamatsu realized that was what Kise had meant earlier when the blonde pecked him on the forehead. It was a surprise, really, and he had dropped his ball with a bump bump bump.

Throughout the rest of the night while Kise departed as he had wished, the poor captain kept pondering about the source of the ace's happiness. It couldn't be me, can it, he thought to himself quietly. A hue of pink fell on his face as he traced his lip with his finger. The taste of Kise's lip remained there, wanting to cling to it's lover. Aware that there was only a few hours left until sunrise, Kasamatsu packed up his belongings and rushed out the gym door, still thinking about the best experience he had as Kaijou's captain. The source of his now acclaimed boyfriend, Kise Ryota's, happiness.
"It all starts again, huh?" he said, walking through the cold, misty air of the night.

Killer: I think this was a short chapter don't you think? It took me years to finish this chapter since I didn't have much spirit left. Eh, anyways, please review!
Credit to Wings of the Valkyria for giving me the idea to add a dialogue at the beginning of a chapter. Her fanfic is a Yu-Gi-Oh! one called Forbidden Dance. Thanks!

Chapter 3: The Horoscope and the Bastard [Midorima x Takao)