A/N: I'm not quite sure I like this chapter but I hope you guys enjoy it anyway! Enjoy, read, review, follow and/or favourite! xxx
Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko No Basuke!
The week following the match between Kaijo High and Too Academy was intense. The guys practiced harder than ever, motivated by the match between Too and Seirin. After seeing the way Too performed, they knew they had to push the limits to their capabilities. Ana spent a lot of time in the gym with the guys, helping out whenever and wherever she could. When she wasn't at the gym, she would be up early in the morning, accompanying Kise on his early morning run. Seeing as her stamina is nowhere even close to his, she was usually trailing behind and after a while, she'd stop to sit nearby, waiting for Kise to finish, handing him drinks and his towel. Alternately, she would accompany him to the gym to work out. The both of them probably spent the most time together then in the entire time of them knowing each other. Out of all his work out regimes, she liked this one best. She would pick a stool to sit on while she watched silently as Kise lifted weights, do sit-ups, run on the treadmill and the whole works. There's something to be said about watching his muscle tensed and untensed as he lifted weights, or one of her favourites, watching the slow trail of droplets of sweat making their way down his chest and abdominals as he worked out.
"Anymore drooling from you and we are going to have our own personal indoor pool in here," he teased after watching her ogled him.
"If you don't want me to stare, maybe you should put a shirt on," she stuck her tongue out at him, still staring at him unabashedly.
He laughed and continued his sit-ups, his washboard abs really were a sight to see. After the timer hit 30 minutes, he stopped, only slightly breathless. He lay unmoving on the sit-up bench, eyes closed. She made her way towards him with towel and water bottle in tow. When she was less than a foot away, his arm shot out and grabbed her arm and pulled her down for a kiss.
"Nooo, you're sweaty," she complained half in jest.
"You weren't complaining when you were looking at me earlier," he said.
"Looking and having your sweat all over me is a different matter," she said, dropping the towel over his head.
"Whatever. If it makes you sleep easier at night, keep telling yourself that," he said, drying his hair with the towel.
Her and Kise had been dancing between the fine line of platonic relationship and romantic relationship for a long time now. He did say before that he dislike girls that tie him down and wasn't looking to be in a mutually exclusive relationship so it works out well for Ana. Even though they were 'affectionate' with each other, he sometimes goes on dates as well. It wasn't like he tried to keep his going out with other girls a secret from her. Ana was much more interested in being best friends than anything else. As long as the girls he casually dates doesn't come between their friendship, she could care less if he'd dated one or ten of them. But she had to admit the reason why she had not slept with Kise was due to the numerous girls he already had in his bed. And to be completely honest with herself, recently she'd been revising her opinion. She had suddenly found herself not too averse to the idea of having a boyfriend. It wasn't like she had to have one immediately, but she used to be against the idea but recently she thought that if(big if) the right person showed up, she might not be too indisposed towards the idea.
"Anyway, it's almost dinner time! I'm starving. Shall we go to Mercato for dinner?" she asked, reading the messages from her phone.
"Eh! I though you didn't like that place," he looked at, surprised she suggested the place she has repeatedly turned down whenever he suggested it.
She lifted her phone up, turning the screen to him,"It can't be helped. Kasamatsu-senpai wants to meet there."
"Ehhh, that's weird. Why didn't he text me?" he checked his phone to verify that he indeed did not receive any text message from Kasamatsu. "That's mean. Are you dumping me now for Kasamatsu?"
She laughed and patted his head,"Not if you behave yourself and you do know that you're not the only one I'm friends with on the team right?" she said. "In all seriousness though, I was the one who asked him to come out with the rest of the guys. Don't you think he's been acting a little tensed since Interhigh began? I think he needs to relax a little. And oh yeah, you're right, I don't like Mercato, therefore you guys can have a boys' night."
"Yeah, thanks for asking for my opinion," he said sarcastically.
"Why? I know you'll agree to it anyway," she said, packing her things up and giving him a wave before heading out the door.
Where are you?
Hello to you too. Kanagawa. Heading for dinner. Why?
With Kise?
No, I sort of set up a boys night out for the team to blow of some steam. Again, why?
That Aomine was really getting on her nerves. After getting whatever it is he wanted, he just stopped replying. She fumed inwardly, adjusting the strap of her bag as she made her way across the school to the school gate.
"Yo," she heard him say before she saw his form leaning against the school gate.
Mouth agaped, it took a second before she composed herself. "What are you doing all the way here in Kanagawa?"
"Satsuki insisted that I came along on her data gathering mission on your team. She won't listen to me even though I said we don't need it to win," he shrugged.
"I beg to differ and too bad for her that none of my boys are here. Is it necessary for her to come all the way here anyway? Can't she just re-watch old videos?" she grumbled to herself.
He raised an eyebrow,"Your boys?"
She waved him off,"Figure of speech. Anyway, where is she?"
"She's somewhere off figuring out where your boys went." He fell in steps next to her.
"Huh...If she thinks it's going to help then whatever. What about you?"
"Dinner."
"Hah?"
"You said you're off to dinner right? I'm coming with," he said in a voice that brook no arguments.
"Presumptuous much? What if I was on my way to a date?" she asked indignantly.
He looked her up and down, taking in her oversized sweater, skinny jeans and sneakers. "No wonder you're single if you go to all your dates dressed like that."
"Excuse me, I'll have you know it's by choice," she said giving him the evil eye.
"By choice? Whatever the hell for?"
"Because I really don't think any romantic relationship at this age is going to last. We are all hormone drivened. I just don't see the point. If I wanted to feel loved, I have my family and friends for that. And we are still young, we should take the opportunity to explore our options. And, errr, if I wanted the physical side of a relationship-"
"You have Kise for that," he cut her off, finishing her sentence. "I don't disagree with you but you don't have to expressly go out of your way to avoid it."
"Like I told you before. Kise is different. He's my friend and also my, errmm, friends with benefits," she said defensively.
"You're so full of sh-"
This time she cut him off,"To be honest though, I find myself reconsidering my opinion recently. I don't think it's that bad an idea if I do get a boyfriend," she laughed, "Even the word boyfriend makes me cringe."
"So why the sudden change in opinion?" He walked into a fast food restaurant while continuing the conversation.
She bit the bottom of her lip, thinking ,"I don't know exactly know why but I guess when I see certain people or even couples, it doesn't seemed like such a bad thing. In fact, when I see you with your girlfriend, it honestly makes me think being in a relationship is not that bad. And," she lowered her voice conspiratorially,"This is really weird, and you better not tell Kise but when I see people like Kasamatsu-senpai, it makes me feel like having a boyfriend like him wouldn't be so bad." She blushed prettily at her own confession.
"HAH! You like your captain?" Aomine said pretty loudly.
She clamped his mouth shut. "Oh my God. I don't like him, idiot! I'm just saying, hypothetically, if I wanted a boyfriend, someone like Kasamatsu-senpai would be okay with me."
He helped her carry their tray of food to the table as the conversation continued,"Not Kise?"
"Hmmm. If I hadn't gotten so close to Kise platonically in the beginning, it might have been okay, I guess. But he doesn't even want a girlfriend as of yet so that point is moot."
"Kise that bastard sure do have a lot of girls around him. And he used to brag about it in this annoying subtle way back in middle school."
"He still does. Not so much to me but you should see how Kasamatsu-senpai deals with him." She laughed as if recalling something funny.
The conversation faded to a comfortable silence as both of them focused on eating their food. She finished her food first seeing as Aomine ordered a significantly larger amount. Her hands slowly crept towards his tray and she sneakily tried to steal some French fries off his plate but his lightly smacked her hands away.
"Get your own," he said, still continuing to eat.
"Don't want to. Anyway, I was just testing your reflex."
He looked at her doubtfully. "I'm sure that was what you were doing."
"Anyway, I'm sure you can find your own way back. I'm off. I had a long day today," she said, gathering her things.
He grabbed her arms and pulled her back down to her seat. "Oi! Can't you wait for a bit."
She sighed and resigned herself to waiting for him to finished his food. "Would you hurry? Where's Lena anyway?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm almost done. She's got Student Council meeting that ran late. She's mostly busy with a lot of school stuff. A little bit of an over achiever that one," he said fondly.
She had nothing to add to that so she kept quiet waiting for him to finish the last of his food. After he was done, he stood up stretching. "Where are you off to now?"
"Home? Unless there's somewhere else you want to go?"
He checked his phone,"Satsuki's supposed to call me once she's done. So I've still got a little time to kill."
"Ermm... We could go to the park I guess."
With the decision made, they both walked to the park in companionable silence until Aomine suddenly said,"Who was it?"
"Hah? Who was what?" she asked, dumbfounded.
"I've been thinking. All you said about not wanting a boyfriend. Someone made you that way. So, who was it?"
Surprised by his astuteness, she contemplated if she should tell him. After all, it had happened only less than a year ago. "This guy from my old school. It's totally cliched. Caught him with my best friend," she said lightly. When he didn't say anything, she continued, "My best friend, Rei, she was really smart and really pretty so I've always sort of had this inferiority complex when it comes to her. Doesn't help that a few guys that I had a crush on, all liked her as well," she paused, "Then, Sho, that's his name, he was the most beautiful thing ever, and he was kind and he liked me. Or so he said. Long story short, I fell head over heels for him. I was young and stupid, I thought by giving up my virginity, it would be enough to make him stay. It wasn't enough anyway," she smiled bitterly.
"Tch... You really are a bad judge of character," he said flippantly, not looking at her.
"Jerk. That explains why I'm hanging around the likes of you doesn't it?" she countered.
"He's an idiot for what it's worth," he said quietly, sitting down on the bench.
"Mmm... I'm over it. The fact that I'm even considering getting a boyfriend proves that right? That's why I'm really thankful for the boys from my team. They really are a bunch of good people. I see them and I realized not all guys are jerks."
"Oi! Aren't you forgetting someone?" he said indignantly.
"Pftttt... Sorry, but you're an ass. You kissed me while your girlfriend was less than 10 minutes away from where we were."
"I told her. I couldn't lie to her." His voice was low and gruff.
"Did she asked why you did it?" she asked. What she meant was Why did you kiss me? She was sure he was gonna bolt. The conversation they were having were heading into dangerous territory.
"Honestly? I don't know. I thought you were okay looking in the beginning. You're infuriating and annoyingly childish sometimes. You act tough like nothing fazes you but a small bump on your nose made you tear up," he said referring to the night when she literally bumped into him, "You're hot and then you're cold. You are a hard ass but sometimes I see how soft you are towards your teammates. You have a friend with benefit but at the same time you're a prude. You are incredibly astute yet at the same time completely clueless. Really, I can't figure you out at all...But I'm glad we worked things out and are able to be friends." he said gruffly, embarrassment clear in his voice. He didn't look at her and was rubbing the back of his neck.
She doesn't think he realized the kind expression he wore on his face as he described her. It made her entire body warm and flushed, her heart beats were skyrocketing and her skin was buzzing with electricity and she could hear ringing noises in her ears. She wanted so bad for him to say he likes her. She wished with all her heart that he does not have a girlfriend. It wasn't an epiphany because subconsciously she had known all along that she likes Aomine Daiki. But it was the first time she'd let herself admit it.
"Oi, are you even listening to me?" he made a move with his hand but she quickly smacked it away.
"Don't touch me," she said quietly.
"Hah? Are you okay? Stop being a brat."
"I like you. So, don't touch me," she said in an eerily calm voice.
She saw his eyes and mouth widened and she saw him quickly close his mouth.
"I don't think it's going to work out. Us being friends," she said. To be honest, it didn't really hurt, it felt just like how it was before. Slightly melancholic. Before, she could stay friends with him because she wouldn't admit that she likes him. But know that it's out in the open, she can't with good conscience continue hanging out with him. Not when he has a girlfriend.
He didn't say anything but she could hear his silent agreement. They sat there in silence for a long while before she quietly stood up and walked away. He didn't ask her to stay and she didn't expect him to. So she walked away and she didn't turn back.
