Five times Riko had to deal with Kuroko's Terrible Friends
Walking into the bath, she saw that Midorima was already in there, the long wet dark ropes of her hair spread over her shoulders as she sighed in the bath. As expected, Shuutoku's practices were just as intense as Seirin's. Riko had even gleaned a few useful tidbits, such as, if they're not throwing up, they haven't run enough yet, and why walk when you can sprint? It was very educational.
She turned her head to the entrance at the sound of the door. "Kuroko?" she murmured. Midorima was apparently blind without those glasses, which Riko stored away as a fact to further needle Hyuuga-kun with and said, "No, it's Aida."
"Seirin's coach," said Midorima, as though there was an abundance of girls in the inn at the moment. Her shoulders flexed just above the water, and Riko caught herself staring- D? E? and those muscles, smooth under her skin. Some of the boys had trouble building that much muscle tone. The stats climbed quickly in Riko's eyes, incredible.
"Kuroko will be along after she stretches," said Riko, settling in to soap herself. They staggered the shower times somewhat, to avoid overwhelming the inn with sweaty teenage boys. She'd left the boys to their stretches to wait out Shuutoku's deluge and Kuroko was still with them. It was nice to have another girl along, even a girl like Kuroko, who never talked and passed out immediately on her futon from exhaustion.
Midorima stood up, and Riko really did stare- her figure- the slow gradients of gold up her long limbs from training in summer- Teppei might have been onto something, when he'd said that Midorima was pretty, blinking steam from her eyes.
"I'll scrub your back," she announced, squinting as she located a washcloth and advanced on Riko.
"What?" said Riko.
"You're older than we are," said Midorima, which Riko supposed- yes, but-
"Midorima-san," she said, calmly but firmly taking hold of her hand with the washcloth and relocating it. "That's not my back."
"Really?" said Midorima, coming in close to try and focus.
"Really," said Riko, and bit back anything further.
"I… notice you are getting sunspots on your shoulders," said Midorima, after a pause. "You should watch out for that. It's very unattractive to have happen."
"…what?" said Riko, turning to look into Midorima's squinted-up face, examining her back.
"You should be applying an adequate amount of sunblock for summer training," Midorima said, going to adjust a missing pair of glasses. "It's simply a matter of being conscious of your health."
"I-" said Riko. "I see."
.0.
Relaxing in the water, Riko sighed at the noise the boys were still making. Honestly. Trying to peep on the women's bath. It was like nudity made them all kids again, even Hyuuga-kun, even Teppei. Boys. Riko could not locate Kuroko in the steam, and did not try.
"You mind?" muttered through the shadows, familiar.
"Ah, no- EH?" said Riko. "You're Touou's-"
Touou's ace turned her head and look at Riko without comprehension. "What?" she said.
"…Seirin," said Riko.
"Oh," said Aomine, and then clearly thought very hard while Riko continued to stare at her. "Oooh, the coach. Aida, Momoi said. Seirin's here?"
Riko jerked a thumb to the wall, where the boys were yelling again, and Aomine said, "Huh."
Riko's mind raced. Aomine's stats were staggering, amazing. She rolled out her shoulders and they flexed in ways that made Riko's head spin. And her chest- Aomine was tall, and sitting in the water she-
"We just came from a practice match with Josei," said Aomine, aware that there was probably some flag-flying she should do here for Touou. "We won. You're kind of flat. Maybe you don't eat enough."
"What?" said Riko. How did that even follow- oh, that Josei boy. The pervert. But she didn't have to take this. Kind of flat? Just because Aomine was-
"I mean, even Kuroko's- wait-" said Aomine, looking around. "If you're- then isn't Kuroko-"
Kuroko's limp body bobbed to the surface, and Aomine and Riko emitted faint, but perfectly synchronized squeaks of horror.
"KUROKO DON'T SLEEP," roared Aomine, and scooped the other girl out of the water as easily as a ball.
.0.
"Teppei," said Riko warningly, calling Kiyoshi to heel. Kiyoshi had a brand new pack of candies not yet opened, and he offered them to Murasakibara with a smile and to the sound of Kagami's friend murmuring something frankly unkind about strangers with candy.
Murasakibara stared intensely at the pack and then glared at Kiyoshi. Riko didn't blame her. Hyuuga-kun had the same suspicious stare when it came to Kiyoshi all the time. She took it, then held it as Kiyoshi beamed at her relentlessly. "What?" she said.
"Nothing," said Kiyoshi, still smiling.
"Is it your last pack?" said Murasakibara, unwilling to let go of it now that she had hold of food.
"Yup!" said Kiyoshi. You'd think that anyone would have more sense than to bait someone where her team of muscular athletic boys could see him, but apparently not.
"We'll buy you some more later," said Riko, exasperated, coming up to his elbow to tug him away.
"Okay," said Kiyoshi brightly, finally letting go of the candies.
Murasakibara stared at Riko, and then fished out a snack from her pile and gave it to her, apparently working on the principle of equivalent exchange with anyone not Kiyoshi. She returned to her team and their coach shared a speaking look with Riko about difficult players.
"Er," said Riko to Murasakibara's back. "Thank you." She turned it over and read the packaging.
When Teppei leaned over her shoulder and read, "With collagen for improved ski-" she punched him in the gut.
.0.
Akashi swept right past Kagami's prone form and Riko met her gaze. She didn't doubt that Rakuzan's Akashi knew who she was, and that Seirin intended to face- and beat- Rakuzan in the finals. If she didn't know now, she would by the end. They were ready for it. If Akashi-san- no, wait, there was no need to add the –san, she was a first year brat like the rest of them, and Riko had her pride- if Akashi thought she could scare them by so obviously dismissing them and being perfect and beautiful even right in the middle of a match, then she had another think coming.
Then Akashi's gaze… slipped downwards, and Riko's followed, automatically. Ha. Ha ha ha. Ha-ha. Rakuzan's golden girl was flat as a board. Riko knew it was petty and beneath her, but Akashi had looked first, and the moue of her perfect little lips would linger on in Riko's memory as a small hot coal of satisfaction for hours, even looking at the terrible score on the board, and Rakuzan's tense focus.
.0.
Kise dug into her bag, sparkling, as behind Riko and Kuroko the boys scrambled into the corners shrieking about their maidenly virtue like idiots. "I almost forgot I wanted to give this to you- Kurokochi, you should really use that mask, it's a sample and I can always get more for you if you want it, okay?- but Riko-san, this would be way better for wrink-"
Riko shuts the locker room door in Kise's face.
Kuroko/Kiyoshi; love letter
When the time came for Kiyoshi to turn up behind the school at the abandoned gardening club area, almost every single Seirin club member was already there, hiding with varying bits of success behind bits of greenery and the crumbling masonry.
"I know that Kiyoshi is stupid," said Hyuuga, "But I'm not sure he's this stupid. He's going to notice. Why are we all so nosy? THIS IS STUPID."
"Of course he's going to notice," hissed Izuki, laid out nearly flat behind a water feature, getting moss all over his uniform. "If you keep noising around."
"Shut up," said Hyuuga.
"What are we doing here," said Kagami in an undertone to Furihata, pressed nearly cheek to jowl behind the basins, peering over the top. His back hurt from crouching. Mitobe tried to attract Nigou, but the dog rolled around on the grass, ignoring his imploring gestures.
"Someone sent Kiyoshi-sempai a love letter," he said. "Said to meet here, after school."
"What's a love letter," said Kagami, blank.
"It's like a…confession," said Kawahara. "Um, you send it anonymously to your crush, and then you fix a time to tell them you love them and would like to date them."
Kagami stared at him uncomprehendingly. "Words came out of your mouth," he said. "But they didn't make any sense."
"It's a beautiful love tradition for our delicate springtime of life," snarled Hyuuga from across the yard. "Go be American and unrestrained somewhere else."
"Kiyoshi's coming!" chirped Koganei from around the side of the building. "Hide, hide!"
Kiyoshi ambled into the yard and smiled benignly at what everyone hoped desperately were the plants, growing with abandon and very very green against the blue and black of their uniforms. In one hand was the light blue envelope which had fallen out of his shoebox that morning, directing him here for a private conversation.
"Kiyoshi-sempai," said Kuroko, nodding in greeting.
"Oh, Kuroko," said Kiyoshi. "You're here?'
Every single watching Serin member choked as one. When did she get here, their collective eyes shot to each other. Has she been here all along? Doesn't she know to hide?
Is….is she here because she SENT THE LETTER, emitted Mitobe's eyes first, alight with concern that they had intruded into the feelings of their most private and withdrawn member. They immediately recoiled, repulsed by their thoughtless actions.
"Kiyoshi-sempai," said Kuroko, very serious with her hair blowing about her face, as Nigou chased butterflies and Izuki desperately tried to keep the dog from noticing them. "I…I came to Seirin because of you. I followed your progress after you graduated from middle school, and I came to Seirin because I knew that Iron Heart was here."
Kiyoshi made one of his stupid faces, and kicked his feet. "Well," he said. "It was more complicated than that, you know."
"I know," said Kuroko, and looked at him straight and pure. "I wished to quit basketball too. But in the end… I'm so glad I came to Seirin. I'm glad you didn't quit basketball." She paused. "I wished to tell you that," she said. "Before you returned to the hospital."
Kiyoshi smiled at her, soft and sad and sweet. "I'm glad you didn't quit basketball either," he said gently.
Kuroko nodded, and then walked off, her business finished. Nigou yawned, pawed at Kiyoshi's pants, and then followed, tail wagging briskly. Kiyoshi put his hands on his hips and let out a sigh, then nodded one more time around at the greenery and followed them in the direction of the clubhouse.
Everyone else stayed exactly where they were, choking back their tears and clutching their hearts, digging their fingers into the earth and having feelings everywhere.
"Couldn't she just have told him that at practice?" said Kagami bluntly, standing up and wincing as his back protested. "We're going to be late, now."
"Shit we're late for practice," said Hyuuga jumping to his feet, then falling over onto Izuki because his legs were numb, eliciting a squawk of pain.
"No," said Riko, arms folded, the air crackling behind her, "Really, are you?"
Tagged: #she actually signed her name on the letter #it's just that none of them noticed it