CHAPTER 3

Kizuna had grown used to the routine over the past week. Get pulled out of bed by an unusually hyper Sakura at 6 AM, make her breakfast and meet up with Rikako, drop Sakura at school, endure the torture of high school, see off Sakura to Shintaro's house, make the boys grovel at practice, pick up Sakura and politely decline Mrs. Midorima's offer to let the siblings stay over. And go home and cry at the tonne of homework she picked up from various classes over the day. She barely had any time for herself as she'd drop on her bed as soon as she could, her eyelids buckling under the weight of overexertion. The weekend came as a pleasant relief to her as the coach suggested she take the weekends off when the team worked on the basics of passing and shooting. And that's why when Sakura Saito continued her morning routine of wrenching the covers off her sister, she cursed and groaned at the middle schooler at the foot of her bed.

'Damnit Kura! It's 6 in the morning and I want to sleep. Leave me alone! It's Saturday for god's sake.' Kizuna hissed at her sister in a raspy voice, throwing a pillowy soft mass at her head.

'It is a Saturday which is precisely why you need to get up right now, Zuna.' The younger Saito smirked knowingly as she shoved the contents of her sister's late night study session back into her bag and zipping it up with a look which clearly read, 'You're lucky to have me.'

'Leave my books outside, Kura, I need to stud- Oh shit.' She smacked her head as she remembered. Weekends were her tutoring sessions with Shintaro. And as someone who continually harped on about the importance of punctuality and time sense, she couldn't very well show up hours late.

'Now get dressed and get out.' Her sister pushed her into the shower and pressed a pair of clothes into her outstretched hands before whirling off into the kitchen as she caught the scent of burning toast. Kizuna heard a couple of shrieks, presumably at the sight of her breakfast burnt black and an overexaggerated sigh coming from their kitchen, followed by the smell of more burning.

'My drama queen sister,' she thought to herself, smiling, as the water poured over her, washing away the layers of anxiety, tiredness and fatigue, 'What would I do without you?'

Midorima tapped his watch as he waited for Kizuna outside the school campus.

'That Kizuna,' he muttered under his breath, 'she always harps about being punctual and she's the late one today.' He caught sight of himself in the glass window of a nearby shop and unconsciously smoothed out his shirt. 'Don't get so worked up about how you look, damnit, it's just Kizuna.' He tried to scold himself for getting flustered over his classmate but was interrupted by the sight of the very same running and skidding around a corner, panting for breath.

For a second his eyes widened and heart fluttered. Her cheeks were red with exertion and she had brushed the hair that usually covered half her face out of the way. Kizuna had dressed simply, she wore a pair of light blue jeans and a sand coloured shirt whose sleeved she had rolled up for her own ease while writing. She looked different from the girl he'd known at school who would hide her face and would stay away from the popular groups.

He shook his head, trying to clear his now fogged up mind as he jogged over to Kizuna and extended a hand to steady her know off balance body which swayed slightly from side to side, showing signs of toppling over any instant.

She forced out a, 'Sorry Shintaro' between her pants and seeing how she clearly wasn't in a position to jump into academics at the moment, Midorima brushed off her apologies with a wave and walked her to a cool drink dispenser. Inserting two coins in the slot, he retrieved a soda can and a can of red bean soup. He threw the soda to the blonde who had settled on the bench nearby and seemed to finally have caught her breath as he flicked the cap open, sipping his drink.

'Kizuna, are you okay? D'you need some water or something?'

'No thanks mate, I'm good with what I've got now. Thanks for the drink, though. Sorry again for the delay.'

'What?'

Kizuna giggled at the sight of how baffled he looked at her speaking in English. She got up and as they walked back towards the library to study, she explained, switching back to Japanese. 'I thought we'll start off the dual tutoring session by me teaching you conversational English. My Japanese isn't as bad as your English, so it couldn't hurt to teach you first.'

'O-okay.' He replied, stammering and awkwardly, but at least it was a start.

'Oh-kayy', she corrected as the pushed the doors of the library open to begin their three hours of hell.

'No, Shintaro, English has an L, unlike Japanese. LUH! Not ruh!' She banged her head on the table, it really was impossible to teach this boy.

'Ing-uh-ri- no, no, ing-uh-lish?' Shintaro looked to her for confirmation and breathed a sigh of relief as she nodded excitedly.

'Right, so your English isn't as bad as it was this morning. Get what I'm saying now?'

'More or less.'

When Midorima finally finished up on the English assignments Kizuna had scrawled haphazardly and pushed over to him, Kizuna punched the air in excitement and gave a cry of victory, only to be angrily shushed and threatened by the librarian who she had never seen with a more menacing air about her.

Realising that she could only congratulate him silently, Kizuna smiled at him, the most genuine smile she could muster.

For a moment, Midorima's jaw relaxed and threatened to hang out. He couldn't explain what it was, but there was something about here, in that moment that made her breathtakingly beautiful. After a few seconds of flustered deliberation, he finally understood. the smile. He had never seen her smile before. She had given him sarcastic smiles, and tired smiles, but never one like this. He always assumed that Saito would smile only around Rika, and for a second, he was jealous of Rika and how she'd get to see this much beauty. In that one moment, he didn't see her as Psycho Saito, he didn't see her as baka Saito and neither did he see her as his demonic manager with her hellish practice routines. He saw her as Kizuna. just Kizuna. But just Kizuna was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

He hadn't realised that his has was embarrassingly red until he felt a hand on his forehead. Feeling himself go even redder, his eyes widened at the fact that her hand was on his face.

'Shintaro, are you alright? You're red and really hot.' Kizuna asked in a concerned tone but when she saw a hint of a smile playing at his lips, she blushed and smacked her forehead.

'I didn't mean you were hot,' she faltered and fumbled to find the right words, 'but no, you are extremely hot, b-but I wasn't complimenting you.' She frowned exaggeratedly as he continued to smile at her.

Finally giving up, she threw her hands in the air. 'Goddamit Shintaro, you're cute as heck and I can see that clear as day, but I'm trying to say you're burning up and I'm worried about you!'

She brushed aside his attempts to decipher what she just blabbered as fast as she could and proceeded to pack up her things, brushing all her books into her bag in one graceful sweep of her hand.

'Wait, we aren't done with your bit of the studies, how come you're packing up?'

'Two things, Shintaro. One, my Japanese isn't as bad as your English and therefore doesn't need as much attention, and two, you look like you have a fever. You need some rest and I know you're tired from all the practice.'

'But-'he wavered for a second, deciding whether to argue or to give in and finally agreed, 'Ah, alright. I'll drop you home, though, it's getting late.'

'Ooh, quite the perfect gentleman, are we now?'

'Quiet, Kizuna, or I'll leave you behind.'

Giggling to herself, she followed him out of library and into the now, dusk tinged streets of her city.

'Say, Kizuna,' Shintaro asked as they could just barely see her house through the twists and turns of the winding lanes, 'What is it about your mother that bothers you so much? Saachi told me Sakura is close to tears whenever someone brings it up?'

Kizuna shoulders went rigid as she stopped walking. Her teeth were gritted and it seemed to be a great effort just to bring herself to talk on the matter.

'It's a long story and not one I want to discuss. I'm in an unusually good mood today after a rather pleasant day with you and I'm not going to let Marianne spoil everything just like she's always done. Just tell Saachi not to bring that woman up in front of Kura. I've always tried to shield her the best I could from her and she's too young to bear anymore.' She tried her best not to be rude but the sheer venom with which she spat her mother's name horrified Midorima, who taken aback, decided to not press her for anymore.

They walked in an awkward silence after this and the silence was only broken by Sakura catching sight of the two from her window and waving. Giggling slightly, and breaking the eerie hush, Kizuna waved back, the pain and rage on her face replaced by genuine laughter.

Midorima couldn't help but smile at the two sisters in front of him and immediately reverted to his usal tsundere self when Kizuna turned to look at him.

'I-It's not like I find your relationship cute or anything, n-nanodayo.'

Kizuna cocked an eyebrow and gave him a wry smile; she now knew this tsundere only too well to find the compliment hidden in his statement. Assuring him she could walk the fifteen steps to her house without his assistance, she gave him a one armed hug before skipping off towards her waiting sister.

'I-It's not like I find her cute or anything, right? Well maybe a little. Okay, a lot.' Midorima whispered to himself under his breath, thinking she wouldn't have heard.

'Oh, you tsundere Shintaro. Whatever am I going to do with you?' Kizuna whispered back quietly as she caught a whiff of his words, with just the slightest hint of a blush on her cheeks.