Sorry for the delay in updating! I caught a nasty bug and had to do nothing for a week while my body recovered. I know this one is a tad short but it's better than nothing at the moment. Again sorry and enjoy.

~*One Sided*~

Music played as kids ran around chasing each other. One bumped into Mira, almost sending her crashing to the ground. She grabbed on to Kanika to steady herself, shooting an annoyed glare after the kids who hadn't seen her. How anyone could move in a yukata was beyond her. The thing was a tad constricting and required a certain bit of delicacy to be able to walk in the sandals. Once she had her balance back Mira let Kanika go.

"I swear I'll never wear this damn thing again as long as I live." Mira complained.

"Oh stop being such a wet blanket West-chan. It looks cute!" Momoi complimented. She was sporting a sky blue yukata with Tsubaki flowers on it.

"It's not often we get to enjoy girly things like this. Take advantage of the chance." Riko seconded. She had on a yellow yukata with fans.

"Hard to enjoy when I can't walk." Mira shot a glare at the two who hid behind their fans.

"Hang on." Kanika made a few adjustments before stepping back. She herself was in a teal yukata with cherry blossoms like Mira. "How's that?"

"Better." Mira noted. "Still don't like it. But better."

Kanika knew the real reason Mira hated the outing. She was out of her comfort zone majorly. The girls had all taken part in getting Mira ready that night. Kanika had helped Mira to put the yukata on, Riko had styled Mira's hair into a cute sideways ponytail look, with Momoi adding just a subtle hint of blush colored gloss to her lips. Mira had never really seen herself as a girl. She always saw herself as one of the guys. Tonight however, Kanika was going to make sure Mira was one of the girls. She'd even made sure to take a group picture to commemorate the event of their girls' day.

"I see the guys!" Riko called out, waving to them as they made their way through the crowd.

"Do I have to?" Mira whined for what felt like the tenth time that night.

"Yes." Both Kanika and Momoi answered. They looped their arms through Mira's and forced her forward.

"There you are." Kiyoshi grinned down at Riko who moved to stand near Hyuga.

"Is that?" Takao asked, rubbing his eyes to make sure he was seeing correctly.

"Mira?" Kagami asked with a dumbstruck look on his face. Kuroko jabbed his light in his side to remind him of his manners.

"It is a good look for you." Midorima complimented while fixing his glasses.

"You look lovely Mira." Himuro tacked on.

"You look like a girl for once." Aomine, with no tact, yawned loudly. Kanika shot him a look as she puffed her own cheeks out in annoyance. The boy balked, trying to figure out what he'd done before receiving a jab from Kuroko himself.

Mira shuffled there awkwardly. She didn't mind having the attention on her as long as it was for basketball. She didn't know how to act in this type of situation. She knew the look wasn't her usual style. But did it really seem so weird? Once Kuroko and the girls had gotten the guy's attention they began to head for the food stalls. Mira began walking, but cursed when she began to stumble again. Midorima offered her his arm, keeping his eyes forward as he did so. She nodded in thanks before grabbing on to him for support.

After getting over her initial embarrassment, Mira found herself having fun. She played in the games, enjoyed good food, and was eventually figuring out how to move in the yukata. The festival was quite fun. She wished that their whole group could've come and had fun with them. Akashi and Murisakibara were too far away, even though Himuro had made the trip to enjoy time with his surrogate family. The Kaijo boys had other plans and Mira didn't know what Kise was doing since he hadn't bothered to respond to hers or Kanika's txts from earlier that day. And Mira's friends had things to take care of in regards to school paperwork.

'I wonder if I should get them all a souvenir?' Mira thought to herself as she stopped at a stall selling all kinds of trinkets.

Mira had finally settled on keychains for the guys. She paid for the items and turned to see that she'd lost sight of her group. Mira clicked her tongue in annoyance as she wandered around trying to find them. You'd think Kiyoshi would be easy to see. Or at least Aomine's, Midorima's, or Kagami's hair would stand out some. Mira grunted to herself as she just fell in with the flow of the crowd. She placed the keychains in her small hand bag before reaching for her phone to see if she could call someone. Mira looked up then to see something that caused her to freeze where she stood. Kise was wandering through the crowd in a cross direction. He had a smile on his face and was laughing about something. With him? Yuri. She was dressed in a gorgeous lime green yukata. Her hair was done up fancily with a beautiful pin to hold it in place. Light touches of makeup adorned her face and gave her an air of maturity. Mira couldn't help but think that the two looked good together. Like they belonged together.

'…I'm such a fucking dumbass…'

Before the tears could fall Mira turned and forced her way out of the crowd. She broke free and pulled the bottom of her yukata up as best she could so that she could move faster. To get farther away from the festival. To run away from the scene that she'd just seen. To escape the crushing feeling threatening to knock her to the ground. Mira didn't want to face the truth. She didn't want to face her growing fear. Mira liked Kise. And there was no way he would ever return her feelings.

A sandal snapped then, sending Mira crashing to the ground. She landed hard on a grassy patch. Mira let out a his as her old bruise on her side flared up with vengeance. She didn't try to pick herself up off the ground. Mira gripped the grass hard as the tears finally came as well as realization. She liked Kise. Cared for him deeply. Wanted to be the one by his side. She wanted to be the one he would laugh with. To be the one to smile with him. To be the one to say Kise was hers. The weight of her feelings bared down hard as Mira sobbed into the grass. She'd been stupid to let herself believe that Kise would ever see her as more than a friend. She'd been stupid to think that his touches, the way he'd looked at her, how he'd held her hand….these actions hadn't had the same meaning to Kise as they had to Mira.

"Mira?" A breathless voice called out.

The red head pushed herself up off the ground to see Himuro staring at her with wide concerned eyes. He'd been the first to notice when Mira had been separated. When he'd found her he'd been about to call out until seeing the look upon Mira's face. Pain, anger, jealousy, and inadequacy. It had taken all Himuro had to not lose Mira as she'd ran like her life had depended on. To escape whatever she'd seen to cause her so much pain.

Himuro slowly walked to Mira as he struggled to regain his breath. Sweat dripped down his face and neck and his usually calm demeanor was shaken. Had he chased her down? Mira didn't care. A fresh wave of tears overcame her as she looked away from Himuro. The boy wasted no time in closing the distance and wrapping Mira in his arms. He held her tightly as Mira wailed into his chest. With Himuro she didn't have to be strong. He knew the real her. He was one of the few she could let her guard down around.

"Shh…It's okay. What's wrong?" Himuro asked softly as he leaned back to wipe her tears away. He held her face gently between his hands as Mira stared into his grey eyes.

"I'm an idiot Tatsuya. I was stupid for believing…." Mira shook her head softly as she leaned back into him. She gripped his shirt tightly as Himuro knew exactly what Mira was trying to say. He was no fool. He knew Mira had been hoping someone else would join their group that evening. He'd seen her looking for him. And Mira had found Kise. If she was in this state, then it meant he'd been with another girl.

"Can you stand?" Himuro asked gently as he looked to the broken sandal. He knew Mira didn't wish to be there.

"I think I twisted my ankle." Mira sniffled. She reached to her ankle as a dull throb finally made itself known.

"There's a nearby river. Let's soak your foot there." He offered with a tender smile.

Himuro gently got his arms under Mira's body and carried her. The red head pulled herself closer to him as the last of her tears began to fall. Anger shot through Himuro as he spared a glance back at the festival. First Kise had ignored Mira and now he'd caused her pain. Again. If Mira hadn't been hurt, he would've gone back and confronted Kise. Himuro could see exactly what Mira thought about herself. She thought she wasn't good enough. That she was lacking something. That she was missing some kind of feminine gene that made her desirable.

He gently set her down on the bank before moving to take off her sock. Mira winced a bit, too proud to show any more weakness in front of Himuro. He chuckled lightly before gently lowering her foot into the water. It was ice cold but would help to kill the swelling. Himuro moved closer to the girl and wrapped an arm around her body in a comforting way. Mira let her hair fall back down before resting her cheek on the crook of his body and arm.

"Don't worry. I won't tell the others." Himuro promised. This was how the two had always been. He'd always known just what Mira was thinking without having to look at her to know.

"Thank you." The last of Mira's tears had finally dried. She was just left with a dazed feeling.

"I know what you're thinking. It's not you. If he can't see that then he'd a bigger jackass than I thought." Venom slid into Himuro's voice as he tightened his grip on Mira.

"How is it not me? The only two guys I've ever liked both rejected me." Mira tried to make light of the situation, reminding Himuro of his own screw up in the past. It was time to right that wrong.

"Mira, would you like to know a secret?" Himuro asked playfully in a way he knew would get her attention.

"What's that?" She glanced up at him as he pointed up in the sky.

"Did you know this is a perfect spot to watch fireworks from?" He grinned, feeling her irritation rising.

"That's your secret?" Mira snapped in annoyance. She turned her upper body to face him with her eyes narrowed the boy.

"No. The secret is that I like you." Himuro admitted with a gentle smile as the first firework shot into the air.

Taking advantage of Mira's shock, he leaned in and kissed the corner of Mira's mouth. He wasn't so worked up as to steal her first kiss, but he would make his intentions know. He kept his lips pressed there for a few seconds before slowly pulling away. Mira's eyes were wide as she tried to struggle to understand what had just happened. She finally figured out how to move again as she looked to Himuro for an explanation.

"I know what I said to you a couple years ago. I only said that because I knew I was returning to Japan and you deserved to try and find happiness without me ruining things for you. To my surprise, you showed up here." Himuro chuckled lightly, wiping away a smudge of dirt from earlier off her face.

"Why now?" Mira whispered. She could feel Himuro's hand over hers as he locked gazes with her.

"I could see you had an inkling of something for Kise. I promised myself that if he was what you wanted I would stay out of the way. Then he hurt you. You still wanted to believe in him though. I told myself that if he hurt you again I wouldn't stand by this time. Mira—I'm serious. I like you. I won't stay on the sidelines any longer. I refuse to hand you over to anyone else." He grasped her hand lightly and brought it to his lips. He kissed her knuckles lightly, never breaking eye contact with her. Showing just how serious he was.

Mira didn't know what to think. Too much had happened in one night for her to process. All she knew now was that her body was tired and she needed rest. Even though the partial kiss had caught her off guard, it wasn't enough to deter Mira from relying on Himuro. She leaned into him once more as he held her against his body. It was then Himuro's phone went off. It was Kagami. He answered and quickly relayed that he had Mira and they were near the river where she was resting. He hung up shortly after that and put his phone away. Himuro spared a glance at Mira to see she was starting to fade off as her eyes struggled to remain open. He pulled her body into his lap, making sure to get her foot out of the water in the process. He pulled off his cover shirt and tore a piece off to wrap her ankle up and proved some kind of compression. Once that was done he drew Mira back to him, glad to see that she didn't try to fight him. The minute she leaned against him again, her eyes fell shut and she was asleep. Himuro gently stroked the face of the sleeping girl against him. Even after his sudden confession and kiss, she still trusted him enough to let her guard down like this around him.

"Tatsuya!" Kagami called out as he and the others came rushing over. With the addition of one more.

"What happened?" Kise asked with wide worried eyes. It didn't escape the notice of the observant ones how Himuro completely ignored the boy.

"She's fine. Mira tweaked her ankle and couldn't walk so we were resting here. It'd be best if we got her home." Himuro said as he managed to stand up with Mira in his arms.

"I can take her if you'd like." Kagami offered as the others were relieved to hear that she was fine.

"It's fine. I don't want to wake her. Besides, Mira isn't that heavy." Himuro chuckled lightly as he adjusted his grip.

Takao glanced up at Midorima, the two sharing the same thought it seemed. Himuro looked at Mira as if she was something precious, something special, something that he was lucky to have. He looked up to see Kise attempting to move closer to see Mira. Himuro's posture changed to a protective stance as he openly glared at Kise. The message was loud and clear. 'You aren't needed.' Midorima may be a tsundere when it came to himself, but with others he could be almost as observant as Kuroko. He had a younger sister himself. He knew what tear stained cheeks looked like. Even if most of the evidence had been wiped away. He also knew what the protective older sibling stance looked like. Himuro had displayed it many times before. That was not the case this time.

"Shin-chan?" Takao questioned the megane.

"I don't know. There's more than what we're seeing." Midorima watched as Himuro turned and began heading back before Kagami. The red head thanked the group one last time before jogging to catch up to Himuro. "Things are going to get a bit sticky from here on out though."


Tatsuya finally makes his move! For anyone who had been guessing, yes he'd once had a thing and turns out he still has feelings for Mira. As for where this will go...even I don't know at this point to be honest lol. But it does make for an interesting love triangle later on down the road. For now let me know what you think. Till next time!