"Alright, I'm going to go get them!" Ryo dashed out of the gym…
Only to return seconds later, "BE FRIENDLY, AYACCHI!"
"I'm always friendly!" I shot back and turned back to Kasamatsu who was tucking his uniform shirt inside his shorts.
"Hey, Kasamatsu," he turned his attention to me "I'm always friendly, right?"
The blue-eyed captain's cheeks reddened and he dropped his gaze to his shirt, re-tucking it "Yeah…"
"Dude, you are so lying to my face." I said.
He jumped in his place, his eyes darting to his teammates, who bluntly ignored him "I, hum, huh…."
"I promise I won't be mad."
"Well…" He began.
"Yeah?"
"You sometimes glare." He admitted, still not looking at me.
"What do you mean, I glare!? I don't—" I cleared my throat. "Do I glare?"
"As I said, it's only sometimes." He said, this time looking at me — or rather glancing at me than actually looking. But it was good enough, I guess. I didn't particularly dislike Kasamatsu; he was a nice guy and a good captain... Still, the fact that after this much time he still couldn't talk to me properly was incredibly annoying. The way this was heading the dude was never going to get a girlfriend.
Then he mumbled something I didn't understand "What did you say?"
"N- nothing. I didn't say anything." He laughed nervously, and I shot at dude-just-spit-it-out kind of look. "Okay I said, I said you were… glaring when you… asked me if you glared…."
"SENPAIIII!"
"Oh look, Kise's here!" And in a second he was sprinting towards the coach; I rolled my eyes and went to sit down on the bench.
I leaned my elbows on my knees, burying my face on my hands; I let out a long, frustrated sigh. My head throbbed like thunder in the sky and I was pretty sure I was about to puke my guts out.
And Ryo said seeing Tetsuya would be good for me. What a load of bull.
The bench trembled once, twice, and then a third time. An arm slid up my back, rubbing up and down. Shielding my eyes from the lights that were bothering my head, I lifted my head.
"Are you okay Ayacchi?" Oh, it was just Ryo.
"Yeah, I'm just tired. I didn't get enough sleep last night." Which was true. Though to fully explain how I felt, I would have to yell at someone and maybe break a table or two. It could've been worse though. We could be playing my stuck-up ex-boyfriends. Yes, plural. I had that kind of taste in men, I guess…
"Is it nightmares?" Moriyama asked with furrowed brows.
"No, it—
The shooting guard took my hands in his and kneeled down in front of me "Whether it is nightmares or some loud neighbor, you can come to my house! My bed is warm and fluffy! It might not be very big but if we cuddle—
Kasamatsu bent down and slapped the back of his head "Shut up and warm up." He said nonchalantly.
Moriyama rose to his feet, a solemn expression adorning his features "Oh, Aya-chan why must you be so beautiful!? Now I also have to fight Kasamatsu over you! WHY, WHY is life so cruel!?"
I put a hand over my mouth trying to muffle the laughter that came with the thought of Kasamatsu going down on one knee and asking me to be his girlfriend like Moriyama did every day.
"Shut up!" The captain shouted with reddish cheeks, but the black-haired teen paid him no mind and repeated the word 'why' very loud in English, his voice resounding through the gym.
"Hey Moriyama," as he heard my voice, he immediately stopped his complaints and kneeled again in front of me, clasping my hands together in his. I gave the shooting guard a gentle smile. "How about if we're both still single at 40, I marry you?"
His eyes watered and he kissed my hands, then fake-fainting on the ground.
Kobori and I laughed while Kasamatsu sighed, resigning from trying to talk to Moriyama. When it came to girls the shooting guard was blind and his captain ought to know that by now.
"No fair, Ayacchi! What about me!" The blond complained, his eyes watering.
"Well, I can't marry you both." I laughed.
"And she's already said yes to me, may I remind you!" Moriyama – who was up on his feet before I knew – said, dramatically throwing his arms up in the air.
"Kasamatsu-senpai!" The blond went to the blue-eyed boy with his arms open wide "Ayacchi won't—
Kasamatsu punched him in the gut before Ryo even got to finish his sentence "That's enough. From all of you. Kaijou is not a team that fools around this close to a match! GO WARM UP, YOU MORONS!"
"Chill Kasamatsu," Moriyama finally listened to his captain and started stretching, as did the rest. "It's just some team that was formed last year." The shooting guard's lips curved upwards a little as he spoke.
"But they have Kurokocchi! We can't forget about Kurokocchi!" The blond grinned.
"Kurokocchi? Who's that? Hey, Kuroko, is he related to you?" Kasamatsu inquired, though I knew for a fact Ryo had told him a few times already. It was understandable that Kasamatsu hadn't heard, however. More than most, I knew well how tiring Ryo could be.
"You're so mean, sen—
"He's my little brother." I said nonchalantly.
"I didn't notice anyone who looked like you, Aya-chan. Are you sure he came too?" Moriyama said.
"We are nothing alike. And yeah he's here," I said with no particular emotion in my voice. "You probably won't notice him until the game starts, though."
Before anyone could ask anything else about Tetsuya, there was a yell that resounded through the entire gym "CAPTAIN THEY'RE READY! LET'S BEAT THEM! YEAHHH! LET'S SHOW 'EM WHO KAIJOU IS!"
The captain sighed too tired to tell the brown-haired teen to shut the hell up. Honestly, Kasamatsu was about done with everyone today.
…
The game had just entered its first time-out, requested by Seirin High.
The first years watching hurried to get mops and started cleaning the court.
As Coach yelled at them, the Kaijou regulars chugged down water, towels hanging around their necks or atop of their heads. Coach was pissed, and at the same time perplexed at how an unheard-of team was keeping up with the national-level Kaijou. To be honest, I was surprised as well. That hot-headed player from the other day was scoring most of the points with my little brother's help. The shadow's new light wasn't half-bad.
Nobody could figure out how to stop the duo – except Ryo, of course. Ryo wasn't concerned.
"What the hell is up with your brother, Kuroko? One minute he's not there and the next he steals the ball."
"Call me Aya." I said.
"Isn't he amazing, senpai? Kurokocchi is—
Kasamatsu punched his side "Don't be so happy! We're barely winning, moron!"
"Don't worry, senpai," Ryo declared as he removed Kasamatsu's clenched fist away from his own body. "The balance will tip soon enough."
Kasamatsu looked confused, "What do you mean?"
"He won't be able to use his misdirection after 40 minutes." I said.
"Misdi… what?"
"Misdirection." I repeated.
"You see, Senpai…" Ryo began to explain how my brother's lack of presence helped him pass in the games.
"Watch me." Ryo grabbed the ball with one hand and threw it back, Kasamatsu's eyes following the ball instead of looking at Ryo, though the captain only realized that fact once the blond mentioned it. "See, you're not looking at me."
"It's simple but not everyone can do it," he continued to explain. "For example, look at Ayacchi. Ayacchi and Kurokocchi are exact opposites if you think about it. Whereas Kurokocchi has an extraordinary lack of presence, Ayacchi is incredibly hard not to notice."
"True." Moriyama said.
"OH MY GOD! YES! IT'S TRUE! WE ALL NOTICED AYA THE FIRST TIME SHE WALK—
Kobori slapped the back of Hayakawa's head before he could finish his sentence. Kasamatsu nodded in approval of Kobori's actions and the center nodded back.
"After a while you get used to it though." Ryo mentioned.
With my eyes narrowed at the court, I said "Soon he won't be so invisible and you'll be able to stop him from stealing and passing. Seirin's defense never stood a chance. Without Tetsuya, Seirin High will crumble like a house of cards."
"Ever Victorious." The blond stated with a smirk and stood, handing me his bottle and towel.
"Ever Victorious." I repeated and mimicked his expression.
"What's that?" Captain asked as he pulled up his knee-high socks as high as possible.
"It's the Teikou Middle School motto." Coach replied, leaning his elbows on his knees, his fingers laced together as he gazed upon the court.
"You know about it, Coach?" I asked
"Of course. Every high school basketball coach knows Teikou's motto." He paused. "You know Kise, I don't know if I've ever told you this, but I watched all of your games."
"Really, Coach?" Ryo stared at the older man in awe.
"Yeah… Now get your asses in there and win this game, morons!"
The time-out ended and the game resumed only Coach and me remaining in the bench.
…
Ohasa said Gemini would have terrible luck today… I thought that was my headache... Holy crap…
Kaijou High said goodbye to Seirin High and then first years started mopping the court to resume practice. Most of the boys were surrounding Kise, kicking him and slapping his back, teasing the first-time looser who was beginning to smile again.
Far away from everyone, I was leaning on a wall staring down at the floor with my arms crossed in front of my chest.
"We lost." It came out as a whisper though I did not intend it to, and cracked. It didn't sound like my voice. It was as if someone had stolen my usual confident, witty voice and replaced it with this weak, fragile thing.
Tears began to well up in my eyes, blurring my vision, but I rubbed them off with the back of my hand. I wasn't going to cry for just a practice match.
I am not going to cry. It's just a frickin' practice match for Christ's sake! I told myself and slapped both of my cheeks, trying to focus on that pain. It doesn't matter. It was just a practice – a stupid, good-for-nothing practice match.
"Hey… Are you crying?"
My eyes darted to where the voice came from and my gaze set on the blue-eyed captain. He looked concerned. Well, of course he would, right? Here I was worrying about a stupid-ass practice match that didn't count for shi—
"Is this your first loss as well?" He asked very serious, without stuttering or blushing at all.
"I didn't lose! You lost. You were the ones playing. You should've defended better, score more! You should've…" I stopped talking as a tear streamed down my cheek and I stormed off, leaving the gym and Kasamatsu behind.
"I didn't lose. They did. If I was playing, they wouldn't have lost. If only—
"You lost." Looking straight ahead, I kept walking, ignoring Kasamatsu's voice.
"I did not. I wasn—"
He grabbed my arm and turned my body around. He looked mad. He should be. After all, he lost to some unheard of team! Weren't they supposed to be national-level champions!?
"What is basketball?"
"What? Have you gone stupi—
"Answer the goddamned question, Aya." He tightened his grip around my arm.
"Let go!" I struggled to get away but he was stronger than me, and pulled me closer to him, making sure I wasn't going anywhere.
"Answer the question." He shouted.
"Basketball is a sport played by five players and the purpose of the game is to put a ball in a metal ring. See, I'm not stupid. Happy now?" I tried to pull away again, though without much success.
"Aya, it's a team sport. You're our manager. Actually you're more than that, aren't you? From the moment you walk through those doors every morning you don't do just do what managers do. You play with us on the court. That means you're a player in our team," He declared. "That means you lost."
He was right…
More tears streamed out of my eyes.
Of course he was right…. I was being a sore loser.
"Okay, I lost. I lost to my useless little brother…" I was yelling…. He let me yell at him for a few more minutes… about my brother… about him… I basically blurted out everything I was pissed about.
"Are you done?"
"I guess…" He let go of my arm and threw me a towel with his other hand. (I had not noticed the towel yet.)
"Good. I would've hit you by now if you were a guy, you know."
"I know." I muttered looking at the floor.
"You didn't lose to your brother. You lost to Seirin. That won't happen again. And until I retire as captain, we won't lose again." He said and then his lips curved a little upwards. "We'll be just like your beloved Teikou."
He was right, this was my first loss.
That was a practice match, but still. It counted. I wasn't just being a sore loser; I was being a little shit.
And I was going to stop now.
"You better keep that promise or I'll be the one hitting you." I said trying to muster a smile.
"Clean those tears, Kuroko. Come back to the gym," He returned to calling me by my last name, meaning he wasn't as serious anymore. "When practice ends I want a one-on-one with you." He turned around and started walking away.
"Why?" I asked, following him closely.
"Because I want my underclassman to repent for being incredibly rude to her captain."
Sorry for the really long wait, guys! School has been crazy! I'm done with that now, though I still have two exams - on the 17th and one the 27th if anyone wants to know when I will not be updating anything... Probably...
I think I made Aya a little bit too bicthy in this chapter... oh well, even fictional charcters have bad days... though it's much better than what I was going to write... I revised 3 times, but tell me if you find any mistakes!
Also, it seems when I wrote the first chapter I though Kasamatsu was a second year. Since it doesn't really mess up the story I think I'm going to leave it like that.
I hope you enjoyed!
Chapter 5 is already being written by the way. Don't know when I'll publish it since I'm working on a new fic. Prob One Piece though I was thinking of starting a new KNB one.
