Thank you my reviewers Sarah and especially Kaiser! I'm afraid that I may have to update a little slower because of school. I have literally had no time to write since school started and I only have stuff to update with because I wrote it in the holiday. Fortunately, all I have to do now is to fill in the blanks (since I already have a plan) instead of thinking of new things. Sarah and Kaiser and all you readers I hope you like this chapter (:

The next chapter is sexy. I'll get it out soon! Yeah... I don't like this chapter either... but, it is necessary.


Part IV. Kiyota Who?!

"Kiyota Nobunaga? You mean the one from Kaina-?" Ayako asks, wiggling an eyebrow at them in confusion. She is immediately silenced by the sound of smothered laughter (Rukawa smirks), as the guys she's talking to wonders just how that happened, and she leaves to supervise the new first-years training, rolling her eyes as she goes.

"Seriously, though, what if it is him?" Mitsui asks after they're done. "I knew I knew that guy from somewhere! Any of you know anyone from Kainan? Maybe he got expelled, or his family decided to pull him out-" This results in another round of laughter, because seriously, who would want to pull out of Kainan?

"Dude, he's in the first year," Sakuragi says, jabbing a finger at the now-worn label (from so much finger-jabbing). "Says so right there. 1-F. You think that monkey was too dumb for school? Ha ha, like you, Mitch-"

"Shut up!" Mitsui's voice is suddenly louder, and his eyes are twitching. Sakuragi realises (at last) that this is a touchy subject for him, and, being his friend, decides to retreat. "Sorry, man, that just came out," he offers as an apology ("Do'ahou," Rukawa says).

"We can ask Anzai-sensei," Miyagi says hastily right after Rukawa, to prevent a fight. "Maybe he brought him to Shohoku, because he does all the recruiting stuff as you all know." Having not heard the insult, Sakuragi is grateful for the change of topic and nods before asking, "Where the hell is that old man today, anyway?"

"Don't go being rude to Anzai-sensei, you hear?" Mitsui tells him off immediately. "You know he's always busy the first few weeks of school! He trusts us to practise properly while he's off doing other things!" He pauses for a while, and then adds, "And I can talk like this to you, because I'm still your senior!"

"For how long?!" Miyagi shoots back teasingly, but this time everybody knows it's a joke and they all laugh again.

"But you know, I don't want to wait a few weeks just to see if it's really that wild monkey," Sakuragi finally says. "Does he not know there's practice today or something? Why the hell would we need to look for someone in Kainan when we can just look for him ourselves?"


If he wasn't so angry, and focused on looking for Jin, Kiyota wouldn't be where he was right now, enduring whispers from the students streaming out of the school. He's still in his black Shohoku uniform, and he's leaning against the gate, waiting for Jin to come out. He'll wait as long as it takes.

And there he is.

"Kiyota!" Jin says, surprise etched all over his pretty little face. He looks the same as ever, his doe-like eyes as gentle and friendly as they had been last year. He looks a little more tired, and there are slight bags and black circles under his eyes - but, otherwise, he's just the same. "I haven't heard from you for ages! How've you been?"

"Rotting at home waiting for you, senpai, and then I decided that that was too sad!" Kiyota snaps at him, and Jin's face falls.

"Chill, Kiyota, I told you I was busy with classes! It's not like you called me either, so why are you so angry?"

"Angry? Who's angry!?" Kiyota says testily, unaware that he's yelling. He is just frustrated that Jin isn't understanding what he's trying to say. The crowd that's gathered around the two starts to murmur, something interesting is going to happen! But only Jin notices them, and he tries to pacify Kiyota uneasily.

"You look like you want to kill something," Jin says with an uncertain smile. "What's eating you? Did I do something?" Did he do something? Did he do something? Kiyota takes a deep breath, and is about to give Jin just what he asked for, when – he realises that he doesn't want to lose this friend.

"No," he says sullenly, scuffing at something on the ground with his shiny new shoes. "Not you." The crowd was expecting something slightly more explosive, and you can hear it in the disappointed tone in their voices. Kiyota hears them now, and he turns on them.

"What're you looking at?!" he snarls, and is that a clenched fist? Jin cannot believe that this is really Kiyota Nobunaga in front of him. Where is the earnest, eager, puppyish boy of last year?

Later, when they've escaped the crowd, and are just sitting on a park bench, sipping drinks they bought from that drinks cart opposite, Jin says abruptly, "You've changed." He immediately regrets saying it when Kiyota turns to him with a malevolent glance, although it disappears quickly and his handsome features return. Kiyota gives a deep sigh, and seems for all the world to be a million miles away. Then he straightens up and aims his empty can at the rubbish bin, scoring it with all the ease of an ace.

"You tell that to Teruo and Kumai, and we'll see who has," he says darkly, spitting out the names of his former friends, and turns to leave. "I have to go now. It was nice seeing you."


"Where were you, Nobu?" his father asks as he enters the apartment, and Kiyota replies with a noncommittal grunt before heading up the hall to his room. This apartment is so much smaller than the house they'd had when he was still attending Kainan, but his parents had insisted to move here 'because it was so much closer to Shohoku'. If everybody who went to Shohoku lived in such bum places like this it was no wonder that almost nobody famous came out of this school! Before he can disappear, though, his father stops him.

"Nobu." His voice is soft and he sounds tired, although Kiyota does not notice that. "Your mother and I have noticed a change in you, and we're not sure if we like it."

Kiyota snorts, and immediately stops. He didn't mean for the snort to come out, but it's now too late. His father is standing up and is walking towards him. Kiyota realises that his heart is thumping hard, and he looks back to see his father raise a hand...

His eyes widen in fear, and the elder man falters... and withdraws. Kiyota too takes a step backwards, deeper into the dark depths of the hallway, and father and son stare at each other, speechless.

Have I really changed?

Kiyota panics, and runs into his room, speeding like the devil himself is after him. His mind is in a rare clarity after being smothered by a poisonous mist all day and now it hits him he'd just done. He'd run away from his father, who had only love for him! He would never have hit him. What had he been thinking?! Why did he run away? He sits on his bed, still and untouchable as an ice stalactite, and he can hear his parents talk. His father sounds disappointed and sad, and his mother tries to console him. It's only a temporary phase, she tells him resolutely. But is it?

Kiyota decides to ditch his homework and go to sleep. He just wants to get away from the world and go back to the times when he was just the Super Rookie of Kainan, liked by everybody and with no problems in the world except school. Just like everybody else. What Kiyota would give to be like any ordinary Kainan student now – any ordinary Kainan student with enough talent to be in the basketball team, that is.

How did things become this way?!


Ah, emo emo kid don't cry. Spoiler: Kiyota is going to cut his hair and get an emo haircut next chapter. I hope you didn't believe that.

Seriously, tell me if you hate any part of this fic. Language (tedious?), antihero (annoying?), tense (difficult to follow?), vocab (boring?)... la la la...