Prologue: Rainbow
Returning to the place you grew up after having been away for a long time is always a strange experience, Shuzo Nijimura thought. His grandparents had asked him and his younger siblings to visit over winter break (even if he still failed to see how Los Angeles' colder season could qualify as winter) and they had agreed. He had only one wish for his first visit to Japan in a year and a half.
Please don't let me run into those Teiko freaks. I can't even imagine how bad they are after Akashi started running their circus. But the Winter Cup will be happening while I'm there, and I don't think it'd kill me to watch the finals, at least. He should be there, too. I hope he is. It'd be good to see Tatsuya again.
Nijimura could kick himself for not realizing he was in love with Tatsuya until after he went back to Japan. After that, it seemed like every other week, Tatsuya was dating someone else. It was a roughly even split between males and females, but either way, he'd still feel the burning ember of jealousy in his stomach. He wanted to be the only one dating him, even if they lived thousands of miles apart. Maybe they could go to college together.
Isn't that a little crazy, making college plans revolving around someone who doesn't return your feelings? But it could be said that the real crazy part is how I ended up meeting that guy in the first place. Everything else is just extra.
The first few days had Nijimura readjusting himself to Japanese time, almost a full day ahead of the western United States. Annoyingly, his younger siblings seemed to be jet lag proof, forcing him to go to all of their old spots when they'd normally be sleeping.
As it stood, he was only able to get away long enough to see the last day, with the final four facing off. First was Midorima's team, facing off against some other team- oh, there's Kise on the bench. Both teams played well, but without Kise, that other team wouldn't prevail. Overall, rather standard fare.
The second match was more interesting. Akashi being in the final was no shocker, but he had expected Aomine or Murasakibara to be on the other team. That is definitely the light blue hair, not the dark. Kuroko was on the opposing team, along with that guy he was apparently dating- the big one with the red hair who was friends with Tatsuya on Facebook.
Probably the most unexpected part of the whole thing was that Kuroko and that guy had won. Kuroko worked better with him than he had with Aomine.
Now to find Tatsuya and say what I need to before I run into anyone from-
"Nijimura? What are you doing here?"
-Teiko.
One: Black
How exactly did I just happen to run into the winning team of the Winter Cup? Knowing Kuroko, it has to be on purpose, but still, it shouldn't be this easy. But I won't complain. If I have to meet anyone, it's best to start with the most inoffensive one first.
"Kuroko. Good to see you're handling yourself well."
"Why don't you have a tan?"
"Excuse me?"
"I thought everyone got spray tans in LA. Or maybe that was just Kagami."
"Hey! My tan's natural!"
"Do you know Himuro Tatsuya?"
"Yeah, he's a childhood friend of mine."
"Do you know where he is right now? I'm looking for him."
"I'm sure he's still in the stands somewhere, picking up after that lazy purple menace-"
"He's with Atsushi?"
"Yeah, they go to the same school."
"That'll make it a lot easier, thanks!"
"Aren't you going to introduce us?" An average height guy in glasses looked annoyed. Based on his number, Nijimura could only assume he was the captain.
"Okay, sure. Guys, this is Nijimura Shuzo, my old captain at Teiko. This is Hyuga Junpei, Izuki Shun, and Kiyoshi Teppei."
"This guy went to Teiko? There's not nearly enough psychosis present for that."
"The man from Teiko couldn't take-o our victory!" Nearly everyone on the team groaned, with the captain seeming ready to rip every hair out of his head individually.
"I'm glad Kuroko had at least one normal person around."
"It's good to see that he's being taken care of."
There wasn't time for these kinds of pleasantries now, but he'd be damned if his Japanese upbringing would be lost after a year in America! Apparently, all he needed to do was find Murasakibara, and he'd find Tatsuya, as well. But where to look next?
"Huh? What's Nijimura doing here?"
He'd know that voice anywhere.
Two: Blue (and Pink)
Daiki Aomine stood, all 76 inches of him looking like he was simply waiting to be praised.
"Hey, brat. I see you didn't make the final four."
"Nah. This isn't really my scene."
"Don't lie, Daiki! We lost to Seirin, and you know it!"
"Good to see you, Momoi."
"It's nice to see you too, Nijimura. Is your father doing well?"
"Yeah, he's hanging in there. Which one of you is the captain?"
"He is." The tall blond pointed to the guy who squinted, even though he wore glasses. He looked like someone who should never be crossed.
"What? Me? I'm not captain anymore, Wakamatsu. I made you captain, remember?"
"Do you know how to keep this idiot in line?"
"I've mostly followed the advice Momoi has given me- threatening to burn his photo books, both Mai Horikita and Ryota Kise varieties, using his weaknesses to my advantage, things like that."
"Tell him you'll put bees in his locker if he doesn't come to practice. He hates them. He almost cried when one got into the gym during practice."
"So what? I took out Haizaki. That idiot didn't even know it was coming."
"Haizaki was here?"
"Yeah. His team played against Kise's in the final eight. Kise won, Haizaki was pissed, and he was going to attack Kise, but I stopped him. No one's seen him since, so hopefully he went back to Shizuoka where his school is. Apparently he beat up Kagami's sexy basketball teacher and that mole guy from Yosen too, I don't remember his name."
"Himuro Tatsuya."
"Yeah, that's the one. Do you know him?"
"We met in America. He's the one I'm looking for right now. I met the sexy basketball teacher, too. Anyway, good job on protecting your boyfriend."
"How did you know that? Please don't tell him about that. I don't want him to know that Haizaki was going to come after him unless it happens again."
"You know we are friends on Facebook, right? I see everything Kise posts about you. 'Oh, I have another date with Aominecchi!' He posts pictures all the time. How could I not know?"
"We meet again, Shuzo." Can't anyone from Teiko just address people normally, from the front?
Three: Red
"What did you just call me? Respect your elders, you brat. And address people from the front. We talked about this." It was then that he noticed that one of Akashi's eyes was gold, rather than the red it was supposed to be. "You aren't Akashi, are you?"
"Of course I'm Akashi. Who else would I be?"
"The Akashi I know would have addressed me properly like an underclassman should."
"Former underclassman."
"Sei-chan, where'd you go? Coach wants us to go over the game- who's this? He's cute."
Nijimura watched as Akashi's eye changed from gold back to red. "Mibuchi, this is my former captain, Nijimura. He lives in Los Angeles, but right now, he came to see us. Isn't that right?"
"Y-Yes, of course. You all played wonderfully. It's no surprise that you went to a school with three of the Uncrowned Kings, but I admit I was a little shocked when I saw that you were the captain." He didn't really want to talk to Akashi, even less than he wanted to talk to everyone else at Teiko.
"Anyway, I was really surprised to see that Murasakibara that you said you'd dated. I never would've guessed he'd be your type- someone over a foot taller than you, with that untidy hair and the candy. I was expecting someone more like Kuroko and Mayuzumi, to be honest." Mibuchi had made eye contact with Nijimura and nodded, making it clear that this would be a good time to make an exit.
"There's something I still need to do here, so I'll be going now. It's been good to see you again." Oddly enough, he found himself meaning it. Akashi had the potential to rebuild his life and do whatever he wanted with it. Whatever it was, he felt it would be the right choice.
He had made the mistake of looking back, however. As Mibuchi rambled on, he saw Akashi's eye change for a split second before it went back to red.
That guy would have to go first.
Four: Yellow
Nijimura had begun regretting his decision to even go to the game around this point, given the crazy personalities he had encountered thus far. There couldn't possibly be any more surprises-
"Nijimura! It's been so long!"
He really needed to learn how to stop tempting fate.
"Dammit, Kise! Stop calling out to everybody!"
"But Kasamatsu, this was my captain back at Teiko! Before Akashi, I mean."
"I don't know, this guy looks too normal. Glad to see someone in that asylum had any common sense."
"Kurokocchi has plenty of common sense!"
"Then why doesn't his hair color match the color kanji in his name? For that matter, why doesn't yours? I mean, I'm sure you're glad you don't have rainbow hair, but this is the type of thing that keeps me up at night."
"Stop that! You're going to go bald if you keep this up." That wouldn't be the reason why, but leave it to Kise to be oblivious about his own part in the situation. "Anyway, it's really weird that Haizaki isn't around, not that anyone cares either way. Have you heard anything about that?"
Don't say it. Don't say that Aomine beat him up or that he cried all the way back to Shizuoka like a little bitch. "I hear that Aomine knows something. I'd ask him." That's what he gets for trying to hide things like that. Either they'll break up or he'll get a thank you blowjob.
"Really? Thanks!"
"It's nothing. Congrats on beating him."
Five: Green
He wasn't even surprised when he found Midorima and that guy he was always with near a vending machine.
"Shin-chan, they're out of the red bean soup. Pick something else. It's surprising that anyone else would drink that shi- wonderful beverage, but apparently they do." Apparently, his laughter gave him away, because that guy turned back to Midorima and said, "Do you know that guy? He's just standing there, laughing at us, and it's kind of weirding me out."
"Yeah, he used to be my captain. Nijimura, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be in California."
"My grandparents wanted to make sure I haven't forgotten how to be Japanese. I think they thought I'd come back and not know how to read kanji anymore or something. Anyway, enough about me. Isn't that your boyfriend? He sure has a cute name for you. I never thought you'd find anyone who'd put up with you, but I guess miracles are real, after all."
"Sure am! I'm Takao Kazunari, Shin-chan's boyfriend! He acts all prickly, but he's a teddy bear deep down!"
"That's enough nonsense, Takao. Nijimura doesn't want to hear about this."
"Sure he does. He's laughing his ass off again. Well, whatever, he's leaving anyway. Maybe one of the other vending machines will have red bean soup."
Six: Purple
It was a stupid idea, really, coming to a super crowded basketball game to find the person you were in love with, in the hopes of getting a date. Not that a relationship would be possible, anyway, with him in Akita and you in America, and he was so beautiful and mysterious and he would never like plain old you.
And besides, for being about the easiest person in the world to spot, it was almost impossible to spot-
"Hey, Murochin, I'm going into the store, alright?"
Murasakibara. Talking to-
"Make it quick, Atsushi. We have to go back to the hotel."
Tatsuya. How exactly did he manage to get even more beautiful in the few months since they'd last seen each other? He was right across the street from his goal, and yet it seemed like literally every person in Tokyo with a car had suddenly decided to drive on this street right now, keeping him from his target and most likely laughing at his expense.
Finally, he managed to find an opening to cross the street just as Tatsuya was starting to look restless outside the candy store.
"Hi, Tatsuya."
Epilogue: Ice
I need a cool line, one that'll make him want to be with me despite everything.
And then, before he could stop himself, "You look beautiful." Good one, Shuzo, he thought sarcastically.
"Don't hear that one too often. Mostly it's 'Kya! Himuro-san, you look so hot!' with girls. With guys, they're more straightforward, so it's more along the lines of 'Hey, wanna fuck?' I don't even like dating around that much. I just do it to forget about… things."
There's no way this conversation could be going in the direction I hope it's going. Cautiously, he asked, "What kind of things?"
"Well, there's this guy I met in America that I really like. He has a serious personality, and he's kind of hot blooded, but he has a caring side to him, too. He doesn't really think much of himself, but he really is great. His last name means 'rainbow gathering,' but I mostly just call him Shuu."
"Oh, really? I hear that he likes this guy who acts all cool and mysterious, but with a dark side, too. He's the whole package- intelligent, beautiful, doesn't take bullshit, killer basketball player. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
Tatsuya smiled, but it still seemed sad. "It's not like any of it matters when one of them lives in Japan and the other lives in America."
"I'll probably come back to Japan for college. I don't know if I'll ever get attached to America. I mean, unless you want to come back to America. I wouldn't blame you, since you have spent the majority of your life there. I admit, I'd probably go along with whatever you decided to do."
Tatsuya laughed, looking more genuine than before. "You haven't changed since the first time we met. However, if you had a really strong preference, you might be able to bend me to your will." Tatsuya had started touching his arms and his chest, and the sexual undertones were not lost on him. "Come back to the hotel with me. I'll show you something really good."
Nijimura felt himself freeze in place. Tatsuya wanted to… with him? He knew it would be difficult, but he had to refuse. He knew Tatsuya had probably had sex before, and it upset him to think that Tatsuya could believe that all Shuzo wanted out of him was a fuck. When he was worth so much more than that…
"Can't we just talk, like we did the first time we met? I mean, we can't stay out here all night, and you'll probably get in trouble if you don't go back. Anyway, won't you get in trouble if you bring me?"
"Probably not. Araki doesn't really care. Atsushi's brought Akashi over a few times, and she never said anything. I'm pretty sure she'll just watch TV and eat ice cream in her room tonight. But I have to say, this is the first time anyone's ever said no to sex with me."
"We have plenty of time to have sex. We found each other twice now, it can happen again. Tonight, I just want to talk… and kiss. We can kiss, too."
"We can start right now." But, just as their lips were an inch apart, a voice loomed over their heads.
"Huh? Nijichin, what are you doing with Murochin?"
"Shuu and I are…" He nodded to Nijimura quickly, cueing him into the conversation.
"We're going back to the hotel together. Hope that's alright."
"Araki won't care. We all stayed out all night one time and she never said anything. She mostly pretends to be asleep when Minechin's and Kisechin's coaches come to see her."
Nijimura had no idea how to respond to this, but luckily, Tatsuya saved him. "Isn't curfew coming up soon? We really do need to get going."
To this day, Nijimura was still amazed that a chance encounter like theirs could become something as wonderful as this. As Himuro placed his arm around his shoulders, he knew there was nobody else he could be with, no matter what country they lived in.
I 100% believe Murasakibara was watching the two of them, waiting for the most awkward moment to interrupt. Also, I'm sure Himuro is related to Sakamoto somehow. He's really unfair here, teasing Nijimura while knowing just how weak he is.
Next time is about Moriyama and Izuki!
Thanks for reading!
~Aurora
