The smell of perspiration filled the gymnasium as the basketball club practiced, much to the dismay of the only female in the gym. The sound of dribbling, shouting, squeaking shoes and the occasional blowing of a whistle was the majority of the sounds that came from the gym, making it almost impossible to have a small conversation in the active room.
Emi's bright blue eyes watched from the stage as she watched the first string and the other members practice. It never ceases to amaze Emi how good the regulars were, even if they were just practicing, she knew they were all monsters on the court.
The girls eyes move from one member to the next as she watched each one do a lay up or practice a fade-away or some other type of shot. Not, that Emi really cared what the other kind of shots were called, she's lost her passion for basketball in middle school anyways.
The sound of the coach blowing thw whistle and then shouting,"Fifteen minute break." Brought Emi back to what she was suppose to be doing before she started to watch the players.
The young girl set the towels out on the edge of the stage for the players to wipe the sweat from them and placed some cold waters out as well.
Emi moved from her spot and sat at the edge of the stage, away from the sweat smelling boys as they crowded around for the things she had put out. A small smile threatening to develop as she heard some of the guys talking about how exited they were for the up coming day off. Who wouldn't be exited for a day off after having to be stuck in a smelly gym for hours almost everyday after school.
"Hey Emi!" Hayama said loud and excitedly as he rushed towards the short girl. He put the towel he had grabbed around his shoulders as he looked up at her. "Hi, Hayama-senpai." She said slowly, wondering what the energetic upperclassmen wanted from grin that was on his face, caused the girl to frown slightly, he was planning something.
"Can we make a bet?" He asked, a childish grin on his face. Emi gave him a unsure look, glancing over at the rest of the guys before she looked back at the older boy. "A bet? What kind of bet?" She asked him as she shifted a little uncomfortably as she watched Hayama's expressions. His childish grin only grew larger as he heard her question. "If I can shoot ten basketballs into the hoop, in a row, I get a kiss from you." He told her, thinking the idea was the best thing he's ever came up with.
Emi on the other hand, felt her cheeks turning pink as the blood rushed to them. She knew that the boys liked to tease her since she was the only girl in the gym, but this was going a little far. "I-I uh." She stuttered as she glanced over to the rest of the guys, hoping that Akashi was near them and heard what the upperclassmen had just said to her. Unfortunately, he wasn't, he was conversing with Reo about something.
Turning her attention back to the hyper boy in front of her, Emi gulped as she tried to turn him down. "I don't think that's really appropriate." She said as she nervously put her hands in her lap and looked at the orange head. "Ah come on, it'd just be a quick peck anyways. Not like it'd be a make-out session anyways." He explained to her. His little explanation wasn't helping though, the whole idea about kissing someone was just making the young girl too nervous. "I don't want to-" She was going to turn down the bet, when Reo and Akashi finally saw how nervous the young girl was getting.
"What's going on here?" Reo asked calmly as he looked between a grinning Hayama and a blushing, overly fidgety Emi.
"We were making a bet!" Hayama told the two who had joined them, receiving a arched eyebrow from Reo and a not so pleased look from Akashi who crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. "What kind of a bet?" Akashi asked as he looked between a blushing Emi and a grinning Hayama.
Being asked about the bet by the captain, made the upperclassmen finally fidget. "Just you know, if I make ten baskets in a row that I'd get a kiss." He explained to Reo and Akashi. Both boys frowned at the bet and Akashi's gaze was shifting between anger to uncertainty, to amusement.
"That's horrible Hayama, you can't just push that kind of thing onto a girl." Reo scolded his teammate and hit him upside the head.
"Deal."
The three other's in the little group all froze and looked at the red haired captain. "W-what?" Emi asked, surprised that her childhood friend was going to let this sort of thing happen. What happened to putting up a good example for his subordinates?
"Hayama makes the ten shots, he get's a kiss from Emi." Akashi told the other three as he walked over to a hoop. The other three, watched the red head as he walked away. Reo, not liking the idea at all. Hayama, getting exited that he might actually get a kiss from a girl and Emi just lowered her head, her hope of her best friend saving her vanishing out the window.
"Yes!" Hayama said, glad that he wasn't going to be scolded by his captain. Then the orange haired boy ran over to where the balls were kept and grabbed one.
"This is so unfair." Emi mumbled as she slowly looked up to watch Hayama make the shots. He was one of the uncrowned kings, so of course he was going to make all of the shots. "Not really." Reo said calmly as he leaned against the stage and watched the overly exited orange haired boy.
"What do you mean? I never agreed to anything." Emi said as she looked up at the taller boy. "Do you really think the captain would let him do something so stupid?" He asked as he glanced at Emi and then looked out at the court. Bright blue eyes looked up at the dark haired boy for a moment before she slowly looked at Akashi and Hayama. She still wasn't very hopeful, but she hoped that the taller boy was right. She hoped Akashi wasn't just by the hoop to pass the overly hyper boy the ball back.
Hayama dribbled the ball for a moment and then smirked as he looked back up at the hoop. Emi could feel herself getting even more nervous as the anticipation for the start of the one sided bet to start. Her bright blue eyes watching as the upperclassmen got into position and then threw the ball. Her eyes followed it as it traveled in the air, spinning as it made it's way to it's destination.
Emi felt her breath hitch as she watched the start of something that'd lead towards her first kiss. An to someone she had no romantic feelings towards as well.
Then, it was so sudden that Emi hadn't even realized that it had happened. She wasn't paying that close of attention, she was watching the ball to closely. She hadn't even noticed that Akashi had jumped into the air and stopped the ball from going into the hoop.
The orange ball fell to the ground, the loud bounce echoed in the now slightly quieter gym. It only took a few moments for everything to slowly fell into place. "So, that's what you meant." She said quietly, to what Reo had said earlier. She watched as Akashi walked over to a spirited crushed Hayama, ball in hand and then hit the poor guy in the side of the head with it.
Loud gasps echoed in the gym as they watched what had happened. Emi, covered her mouth with her hands as she watched what Akashi had just done to one of his regulars. She watched as he said something to the now injured player before turning to the stunned spectators and ordered everyone to start the second half of training.
Practice was finally over, and thankfully there was no other miss-haps. Which made Emi feel a little bit relieved, she really wasn't that happy when she saw her once sweet hearted best friend almost break one of his own teammates jaw over a little bet.
Now though, she was walking home with said best friend, her eyes glancing at him nervously every now and then. Though, he really didn't seem like he noticed that anything was wrong. His hands were at his side as he casually walked down the deserted halls of the school, since they were the last ones to leave.
Emi's eyes looked away from her friend for a moment before she glanced back at him. She frowned slightly, a little bit worried that he was still a little tensed from earlier. She wasn't even sure that he knew he had hit his teammate in the first place, since sometimes he seemed like a completely different person at times.
Slowly, Emi stopped walking and looked at the red head nervously. "Hey, Seijūrō?" She said quietly. She watched as he stopped walking and turned slightly to look at her. His miss-matched eyes glowing slightly from the way the dim lighting shined on them. "Are you okay?" She asked him, her voice was quiet, as if she was scared he'd get angry if she talked any louder.
The red head just turned his body fully to face the shorter girl. His eyes studying her for a moment before he slowly walked the few steps that were separating them, only stopping when she was arms length away from him. "I'm fine." He said, short and sweet, it was all that her question required anyways. There was little to no need to elaborate on a simple question like that anyways.
Emi looked up at her taller friend, the height difference was still something she was getting used to. She missed almost being the same height as him, sadly he grew and she hadn't.
Her eyebrows furrowed slightly at Seijūrō's reply. Although, it was something that she had expected from him.
"Then, what did you say to Hayama after you hit him?" She asked her second question. Emi watched as her childhood friend narrowed his eyes at her, like she had pissed him off some how. Then they returned to normal in a blink of an eye as he arched an eyebrow at her and smirked. "You want to know what I said?" He asked, making sure he had heard her question correctly.
Emi gulped, not liking the look on his face but nodded her head anyways.
The smirk on Seijūrō's face grew slightly as he grabbed Emi's right wrist tightly and pulled her towards him with force. A small squeak escaped from her as she looked up with wide eye at her friends face. Her breath hitched in her throat as she realized he had lowered his face towards hers as well.
"I told him." He started as he lowered his head even lower, his lips brushed over Emi's lightly for a moment, barely making it considered a kiss. "Next time he tries to touch something that belongs to me, I'll kill him." An with that, Seijūrō released his harsh hold on Emi's wrist and stepped away from her.
Emi on the other hand, stood there frozen. Her bright blue eyes watching Seijūrō for a moment as she tried to comprehend what he had just said. Next time he tries to touch something that belongs to me, I'll kill him. "What do you mean, belongs to you?" She asked him quietly. Emi's eyes widened slightly, she wasn't suppose to say that out loud. That was only suppose to be in her head, only for her to hear.
Her bright blue eyes looked up at Seijūrō, his expression was hard to read. Almost like he had expected for her to understand, much to his disappointment. In stead of saying anything to her directly though, the red head turned and started to walk down the hall to leave again.
"You'll find out soon enough." Sounded quietly down the abandoned halls, leaving the stunned girl even more stunned and speechless then before.
This chapter, was exhausting to write. :P Haha, so much I wanted to happen to pick up it's slow pace. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed it. Please leave me a comment on what you think and don't forget to follow and favorite it! :D
