Notes: A little bit of a filler chapter; the next one will be much more action packed, and longer! Hope you enjoy, nonetheless!

Chapter Four - Fourth Hour

Haruka watched as his friend moved over to the door, a blush evident in his cheeks. Feeling more than a little subdued after the conversation they'd just had, Haruka couldn't even work up the curiosity to question what Makoto was doing. Instead, he just watched, mind blank of any thought that wasn't mostly depressing. Sometimes, Haruka truly wished he could just turn his thoughts off and have a little bit of silent time in his head.

Wouldn't that be the day.

Makoto was crouching over his bag which had just fallen over, revealing a basketball. He'd been carrying the thing around all day. Haruka found it kind of annoying. Basketball was such a boring sport anyway; you just threw a ball into a hoop and that was that. Maybe it was more exciting if you were like Makoto and tall enough to make a real impact on the court. Damn Makoto. Who asked him to be so tall anyway?

That repetitive dripping sound of the showerhead was now being dominated by the horrible sound of the ball dribbling on the tiled floor. It made an odd sort of echo, managing to irritate Haruka on each and every side of the room. Just when he'd thought nothing could get worse, Makoto had to remember his ball! Why had Makoto been thinking about it anyway? Not for the first time, Haruka baffled over the way other people's minds worked.

Makoto was avoiding his gaze now, which he wouldn't have minded usually, truth be told, but now he couldn't understand it. True, their conversation followed by an unreasonable amount of staring had been more than just odd, but he was completely overreacting if he was going to ignore him now. Makoto always managed to get shy over the silliest things.

"Do you wanna play a game, Haru?" the tall boy asked after a while of bouncing the ball aimlessly.

Haruka deigned not to answer, turning his head away. Why would he want to play basketball? And they couldn't in such a space. There was barely six paces lengthways across the room, and there were no nets. Makoto's urge to constantly suggest games and ideas was starting to get on his nerves, honestly. Couldn't he just sit in quiet and wait for Nagisa and Rei to come back. Surely it would be any minute now. He was still stubbornly holding onto the belief that they wouldn't leave them there for twelve hours. What would they eat?

Makoto was looking at him with his head cocked to one side, as if trying to figure out what he was thinking. Haruka averted his eyes once more; staring out of the corner of his vision managed to strain sometimes, giving him a headache. The last thing he wanted with all the annoying noises was a headache.

He heard a sigh from the other side of the room followed by more hits of the ball on the floor. That sound was going to drive him insane!

"I thought you liked basketball, Haru." Makoto's voice was quiet and very gentle. So he wasn't angry, or even embarrassed, if he sounded so calm. Why had he been blushing and ignoring his look then?

He shook his head to the unspoken question, slowly turning an inch so he could see the brunet without hurting his eyes. He kept his chin up high in a way he only did when he was making it very obvious that he was going to be stubborn. Makoto would know it well.

A hum was the only response he got from the other boy. It was a bizarre idea for Makoto to have. Haruka had never shown the slightest interest in basketball except for when Makoto had thought of joining that club instead of the swimming one. But, Haruka hadn't wanted to join it for fun. Makoto must have known that Haruka didn't want to swim without him there, which is why Makoto had eventually changed. Simple logic.

The sound of the ball's bouncing had changed from a reverberating, almost empty, tune into a fuller as Makoto began to hit and throw it to the wall.

"I think Kisumi will be worried," Makoto said after a time. His tone was still quiet, but an edge of worry had eaten its way into it. "We were meant to meet up after school and play for a while. About an hour ago. I'd forgotten though, which is really bad of me." He sighed sadly, apparently really troubled by the fact he'd not remembered a stupid basketball game because he'd had bigger concerns.

Haruka narrowed his eyes momentarily, and stood up. There was no chance he was going to sit and listen to Makoto whine about Kisumi. So he had to distract the other.

"Fine, I'll play," he said, kind of already regretting his words. That was what happened when you didn't think before speaking.

However, when his friend's face lit up exponentially, he felt quite a bit better about it. Anything that made Makoto happy couldn't be a bad thing, could it?

Listening to Makoto explain the rules of their impromptu game took a couple of minutes. They were to stand on either side of the room, Makoto by the door and Haruka by the wall opposite. Those were the 'halves'. The ball would be in the middle, and on the count of three they'd run to get it. The goal was a specified spot above the door for Haruka, and on top of the wall where Haruka had started for Makoto. It wasn't a well thought out game by any means, but then they had their limits. A lot of limits.

As they stood facing each other, Haruka took a moment to just look at his friend. Sometimes when he looked at Makoto, Haruka just couldn't believe how big he'd gotten. When they were little, and Makoto had been afraid of everything, he'd always hidden behind Haruka's slightly taller stature. He still did now when he got scared - looking absolutely laughable in Haruka's opinion. One day, the larger boy was going to have to look out for himself.

But now, Makoto stood almost half a foot taller than he himself; making this game so completely pointless. How was he meant to win when he could be so easily blocked by the other boy?

This was going to be so embarrassing for him.

"Okay," Makoto called out. "On three. One. Two."

Haruka looked to the ball, trying his best to concentrate. Although he didn't really care at the outcome, he'd still give it his best. There was no use in doing anything half hearted.

"Three."

They both leapt from their places, Makoto reaching the ball first after only a step. Damn! Haruka went to defend his 'goal' but only managed to serve as background scenery as he watched Makoto jump and throw, the ball sailing straight over his head and to the point which counted as a goal.

That had taken less than ten seconds.

Makoto grinned guiltily as he caught the rebound. "Sorry," he apologised. A hand had gone behind his head to rub the back of his neck again. Had Haruka ever told him that the action made him irritated? Probably not. Why would he tell him when it was such a petty annoyance, and one for which he had no reason to be irritated by?

They reset the 'court' and replayed a few more times. After another five easy goals by the obviously better player, Haruka noticed that Makoto had begun to make a conscious effort to let Haruka win the ball at the beginning. And when even that didn't help much, he started to defend lazily. All in all, it just made Haruka angry, eventually he thrust the ball down in a temper, it flinging back up to hit him in the face.

Grasping his face as it throbbed painfully, he shrugged off the flapping Makoto and sat back down on the bench. Damn that basketball. And damn Makoto. He was too tall! Haruka had been doomed from the start!

"Haru, are you alright? Do you need ice or something? We don't have any ice, but, um, I have some water!" Makoto was worrying enough for about thirty mothers and grandmothers put together, which wasn't improving his mood. Haruka just wanted some quiet, why couldn't Makoto understand? Usually he read him so well, but lately... lately everything had been changing.

He slapped away Makoto's hand once again, with a snap, "Makoto, stop!" Immediately the fuss lessened. Peace at last!

He opened an eye - the other closed due to the pain. Since when did a ball to the face hurt so much?! - to find Makoto knelt in front of him, staring up with eyes wide. A smile replaced any bad expression he'd been holding as soon as he looked at him, though.

"I'm really sorry, Haru."

Haruka tsked. "Why are you sorry? I threw the ball. Stop trying to take responsibility for my own actions, Makoto. You don't control everything I do."

Makoto looked down at the floor at that, seemingly hurt by the comment. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "I didn't mean to do that. I didn't even know you felt... I'm sorry for making you play. I knew you didn't like basketball. I just thought that... it would be fun. Sorry."

Reaching out a hand to rest on Makoto's cheek, Haruka let the other boy know that he hadn't meant to be mean. Green eyes sparkled up at him with unshed tears.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to also apologise for the way he'd been for the past few hours, voices appeared outside the door. Both heads turned quickly, Makoto's with a frown. Haruka wasn't exactly sure what his face looked like, but from the way Makoto smiled wryly at it, it was probably a physical depiction of 'I told you so'.

They both made their way to the door, Haruka finally lowering his hand from his face. The stinging had reduced to a faint burn now; still painful, but not tearfully so. He hoped it wouldn't bruise, not wanting to deal with all of Makoto's worrying and apologising.

Makoto already had an ear to the door so Haruka refrained on copying.

"I can definitely hear Nagisa's voice," Makoto said, confirming Haruka's suspicions. Of course they weren't going to leave them locked away for twelve hours! "I can't make out Rei," Makoto continued, "but I think he's just being quieter. I dunno."

"What are they saying?"

Makoto shook his head, moving back from the door. "I'm not sure. I could only hear a faint murmuring, even from Nagisa. I don't think they meant for us to hear even that."

Haruka resisted the urge to sigh, instead fixating his intent stare to the door. Rei and Nagisa were in big trouble as soon as they were let out.