Chapter Three

Kaijou basketball team had been practicing for two hours, fine tuning the weaker areas of their game and were now in the middle of one of their practice matches. It was just after he had completed his 7th dunk of the game so far when Kise felt the first twinge in his abdomen. It took him that much by surprise that he almost lost his balance when he landed. The pain was quick and sharp and over just as fast as it had come on. Kise rubbed his stomach, shook himself back together and regained his position. The slightly paler complexion of Kise at that moment in time had not gone unnoticed by Kasamatsu.

The match continued without much incident with Kise ready to shoot a three pointer from the three point line. Kise crouched into position and stretched, ready to release the ball from his grasp. However just as the ball brushed off his fingertips, his arms still stretched above him, Kise was hit with another sharp pain shooting through his abdomen making him quickly drop his arms and wrap them around his middle. And just like before, the pain disappeared, although this time it took a little longer.

"Are you alright Kise?"

Kise, still bent over clutching his abdomen, looked up at Kasamatsu, "im fine. Just think I stretched a bit too much that's all." Kise stood up, trying to ease the sneaking queasy feeling in his stomach.

"Are you sure? You look a bit pale?" queried Kasamatsu, not overly convinced by Kise's statement.

"Really, im fine. Stop worrying about me. Like I said I just over stretched myself that's all. Now are we gonna finish this game or what?" replied Kise trying to hide the shakiness in his voice. Kasamatsu looked at him suspiciously, "ok as long as you're sure."Kise nodded and ran to his position in the centre of the court. The matched concluded without further incident.

That night when Kise returned home he went straight to his room and flopped on his bed. He was exhausted. In fact he had never felt so exhausted after a practice match before which was weird as he always considered himself as someone with very high stamina. He even felt a bit nauseous and even though he hadn't experienced any more twinges, a dull ache resided in his abdomen. He lay on his bed rubbing his stomach hoping that the ache would be rubbed away. He hoped to god he hadn't contracted food poisoning or something. That would just be sods law. Kise felt himself dozing off so he quickly pushed himself up, planning to get a shower and an early night. Nothing was going to stop him from making tomorrows match. But as he jumped off his bed he got light headed and felt himself go dizzy, his vision momentarily blurring. He grabbed the bedside table, shut his eyes and waited for the dizziness to pass. And once it did he headed towards the bathroom and ruled that weird occurrence down to his getting up too quickly. He felt slightly better after his shower, albeit still extremely tired. After a quick phone call with Aomine (he didn't tell him what had happened cause he knew that Aomine would leap to some stupid conclusion about Kise being too ill to play and would probably resort to locking Kise in his own room), he switched off his light and climbed into bed. It was only 8 30pm and his dad had just come home from work. But the minute his head hit those pillows, Kise was out like a light.

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"Oh good morning Aomine-kun"

"Good morning sir. Is Kise here?"

"No he isn't, he left a little earlier today. Did you have plans to meet up?"
"No we didn't actually, I was just going to meet him there, just figured he wouldn't have left yet and it'd be nice to walk together but it is no problem. Are you going to the match?"

"I am indeed. Got the afternoon off so what better way to spend it eh?" beamed Kise's dad. He didn't often get to see his son play but he would never pass up the opportunity when it presented itself.

"Tell you what," proposed Hiroshi, "let me grab my coat and we can head there together. If you don't mind walking with this old man"

"ha not at all Hiroshi-san!" and with that, Aomine and Hiroshi headed towards Kaijou High School.

Kise had woken up that morning feeling much better despite the dull ache in his stomach. He didn't feel queasy and there was no substantial amount of pain. Kise narrowed it down to the fact that he must have pulled something in practice yesterday. He'd left his home early to get in some extra practice before the match, making sure he could throw the ball without experiencing any twinges. He didn't want to give Kasamatsu (who was already keeping an eye on him) any excuse to withdraw him from the match.

The match against Seijou was taking place at Kaijou High School. They may have the home advantage but the team knew never to overestimate their opponent. Defence and teamwork was key against these aggressive players. After their sweeping victory last week, the team had been working on strengthening their core defence, knowing that it would be vital during todays' match.

It was 11am and almost time for the match to begin. Both teams were in their locker rooms having last minute prep talks with their coaches. Kise was sat on the bench listening tentatively, trying to ignore the very present ache in his stomach. He was tapping his foot rhythmically as if to mask the uncomfortable feeling. Kasamatsu, who was sat next to him, glanced at Kise. He appeared better than last night (Kise left looking like he was about to pass out), but there was still something not quite right. Kise seemed nervous and his hand was constantly pressed against his abdomen. Something wasn't right but after being dismissed several times by an increasingly annoyed Kise everytime Kasamatsu asked him what was wrong, the captain had decided to let it drop. The first sign of Kise pushing himself too much however, then Kasamatsu would tell the coach and have Kise benched.

"so is everyone clear?" asked coach Takeuchi.

"Yessir!" the team replied, with gusto as they all got into a circle, arms round each other.

"Lets go Kaijou! FIGHT" encouraged Kasamatsu.

"FIGHT!" responded Kaijou. And they left the locker room ready for their match. Kise was the last to leave. He took a deep breath, fighting mercilessly to keep the creeping urge of unease and queasiness under control. Once composed enough, he opened his eyes and left the locker room.

Aomine was sat with Kagami and Kuroko in the stand. He had bid farewell to Hiroshi at the entrance once Kise's dad had spotted one of his old friends. Kagami, Kuroko and Aomine had all agreed to make a day of it, and support the guys. The three were talking animatedly about basketball and the upcoming match, each one placing their bests as to how much Kaijou were going to win by. Kagami was just placing his bet of a complete landslide for Kaijou, when the announcement of the teams coming onto the court caught their attention. Both teams were met with applause with added whistling from some, including Aomine. He spotted Kise and instantly noticed the pale pallor of his boyfriends cheeks. He watched as the teams bowed to one another and kise took his position. The whistle blew and the ball was tossed in the air, followed immediately by Kise slapping it to his right sending it straight into Kasamatsu's hands. Kise landed with ease and instantly made his way up the court. Aomine didn't completely dismiss Kise's pale complexion but the first goal of the match, scored by Kise, pushed it to one side as he cheered with everyone else.

The minute the whistle blew, Kise felt the fire light beneath him. All thoughts and worries about what was happening to him were put aside as he proved to everyone why he was the ace of the team and the rightful owner of the label as a Generation of Miracles. The adrenaline of the match fuelled by the crowd and playing basketball with his team mates made it very easy for Kise to forget the pain and discomfort he felt in his abdomen when he came onto court. Right then he felt great.

Kise continued to feel great all the way up until the final quarter. Kaijou were up by 40 points with Kise making 80% of the shots and he hadn't used his Perfect Copy once. Having just been passed the ball, Kise was at the three pointer line ready to shoot when he felt the sharp pain shoot through his abdomen for the first time since the match began. And this time it was a lot more painful. He still managed to make the shot, adding an extra three points onto Kaijou's leading score but found himself bent over, grasping his middle trying to catch his breath. The pain only lasted about ten seconds but to Kise it felt like a good few minutes. As it began to subside and he regained his composure he saw his captain looking at him with highly suspicious eyes. Kise smiled and waved him off, signalling that he was ok when he clearly wasn't. Whether Kasamatsu believed him or not, Kise couldn't tell but play resumed without any delay. Kise swallowed and tried to steady his slightly shaking hands. There was only 15 minutes left, the match would be over soon and then he could go home and sleep. He was sure after a VERY good nights' sleep all would be well again. He just had to make it through the last 15 minutes.

It was 5 minutes away from the end of the match and from where Aomine was sitting Kise did not look good. In the last 20 minutes or so, Kise's colour had all but vanished and he seemed to be slowing down. Aomine also noticed that when his hands weren't on the ball, one of his arms was almost always wrapped round his abdomen.

"Hey Aomine…. Is Kise ok?" asked Kuroko.

"yeah he does look rather pale" commented Kagami.

Aomine didn't answer. His eyes were glued on Kise. Although there was clearly something wrong his play wasn't really that affected. Or more like, Kise wouldn't let it affect his play. He was still making his shots. But Aomine also noticed that the team wouldn't pass to Kise as much as they usually did. They too had obviously spotted the change in their star players' behaviour. Aomine looked at the clock. 30 seconds left. Kise had the ball and he was making his way towards the basket. However Kise's hold on the ball didn't last long as it slid from his fingers as he grasped his stomach with both hands. The ball was immediately picked up by Kobori and thrown into the net. The whistle blew and the match was over. It was Kaijou's victory. However the team wasn't celebrating. Instead they were running up to their captain who was helping Kise up off the floor.

"Are you ok Kise?"

"What happened?" The kaijou members were worried. Kise did not look well at all. He was deathly pale, shaking and had to be propped up. Kise had no idea what was wrong except that on that last shot the pain in his stomach had tripled. The pain was now eventually subsiding and he felt himself gathering his breath back, slowly recovering from the shock of it all.

"Are you ok Kise?" asked coach Takeuchi.

"Yessir im fine. Think I just over did it a little bit. Obviously not as completely recovered as I thought I was" kise panted in reply.

"Ok well let's get the line up over and done with so Kise can rest up. Great match guys".

And with that, and with the aid of Kasamatsu, the team lined up and bowed thanking their opponents and everyone else. Then they headed into the locker room.

The previous events hadn't gone unnoticed by the people in the crowd, least of which by Aomine who, along with Kagami and Kuroko was on his way down to the male locker room, determined to find out what the hell was going on.

In the locker room, Kise was seated on the bench, his head in between his hands, taking slow steady breaths. The ache in his abdomen was not easing whatsoever. His teammates were regarding him with worried eyes.

"Maybe we should go get a doctor?" suggested Moriyama.

"no, im fine honestly!" came Kise's same response

"Kise you're not fine you idiot, you're shaking like a leaf!" said Kasamatsu, voice raised.

"I just need to sleep it off. Tell them coach!"

The coach didn't look too convinced either, "maybe you should get looked at Kise"

"No, I just need to go home. Last time, I slept and when I woke up this morning I felt fine!"
"Last time? You mean last night? I KNEW there was something wrong with you!" yelled Kasamatsu.

"Im telling you im fine." And as to prove his point Kise stood up and walked towards his locker. But what happened next proved that Kise was far from fine. In fact, he couldn't be any worse.