Kiss 009

"...and lastly, Kuroko-kun and Kagami-kun will clear out the storage room." said Aida Riko with finality. The way she crossed her arms over her chest and swept her all-seeing, stern gaze over each and every member of the Serin High basketball team left no room for objections.

A clean-up-the-club-building day had been announced, again.

Naturally, the air was heavy with wordless complaints, although none was actually voiced. Everyone looked positively depressed, with the exception of Kiyoshi Teppei, who let out a boisterous laugh and elatedly thumped a dark-faced Hyuuga's back while exclaiming that "cleaning's just another way of healing body and soul" as they sauntered off towards the locker rooms.

Kagami let out a weary sigh and glanced over at Kuroko. He had a nagging feeling he was at a disadvantage, being paired up with him. The blue-haired boy seemed unperturbed however, and was probably the only one not muttering profanities under his breath as they dissolved with the rest of the team members, each assigned a more or less tedious cleaning task.

No one in their right mind would disobey a direct order from Aida Riko - although Kagami certainly felt the urge to do so, upon taking a proper look at the gym storage room for the first time. A variety of sports equipment, forgotten clothes, boxes containing god-knows-what, and a great deal of objects which could not be described as anything but plain rubbish, encumbered every nook and corner of the room. There was a hundred things he would rather do after school than clearing out this mess.

He had almost forgotten about Kuroko, and was a little startled when the smaller boy shuffled past him into the messy room. The Seirin Ace stared at his back, hit by a ticklish foreboding. Lately, he tended to become strangely self-aware in Kuroko's presence, especially when they were alone. It was troublesome, but his heart reacted to the thought alone, making a small, uneasy jump in his chest. Damnit, this is ridiculous. Sighing, Kagami decided to just stop thinking. It was what he did best, after all.

He walked into the storage room, eyeing the mountains of garbage resignedly. Now, where the hell did they start? It looked like quite heavy work, too. Kagami unzipped his tracksuit jacket and threw it aside, thinking he should use the opportunity to at least work off some tension. In the meanwhile, his shadow was looking around the room silently, before nodding to himself.

"It'll take Kagami-kun at least a couple of hours to finish this."

"What do you mean 'Kagami-kun'?! You're as much a part of this as I am, don't make it sound like it's my pain alone!" Kagami sputtered, his fuse ablaze within a split second.

Kuroko acted as if he did not hear him, as he absently turned his back to his teammate and squatted next to one of the questionable boxes, proceeding to idly poke the contents around. Kagami was pretty sure he heard him mumbling "why's it only old stuff in here... No books..." and had to muster up all his willpower to refrain from promptly walking over and throttle the little bastard on the spot.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Forget about self-awareness, anger management was obviously the first thing he needed to learn if he was to spend time alone with Kuroko. In order to prevent himself from committing a crime, he stalked off in the different direction, continuously fuming. He was immediately faced with a shelf practically sagging with the weight of old barbells and weights. In lack of anything better to do, the Seirin power forward set to removing them. In any case, physical work was normally known to soothe his prominently bad temper.

It was then he felt something scratching softly against his leg.

Kagami Taiga froze up inwardly as a rising feeling of anxiety spread its cold wings within his chest. No. Not possible. It should not be in here. It was only me and Kuroko just now, so... He slowly turned his gaze downwards.

A pair of round, sky blue eyes bore into him mercilessly, accompanied by a tail wagging excitedly against the dusty floor. A small pink tongue stuck out of slightly parted jaws as it panted... Hungrily? No, no, no... Softly. Expectantly. Definitely. Not. Hungrily.

Irrational as it may be, his dog phobia was far from cured. He had admittedly gotten a little more used to the fluffy creature lately, and was more or less alright as long as he was not forced to be in its immediate presence, but that did not change the fact it freaked him out each time it just popped up out of nowhere. Kagami had no trouble imagining where the little monster had picked up that extraordinarily bad habit, or from whom.

Tetsuya #2 lifted a small paw, which looked twice the size and possibly deadly in Kagami's eyes, and placed it in a sort of matter-of-factly way on the tall basketball player's foot, effectively preventing him from moving. That had to be a calculated move. Kagami felt a cold-sweat breaking out, brain cells scurrying all over the place in undignified panic, as he stared down at the dog in terror, both hands glued to the wall behind him.

"Kuroko!" he hissed urgently, not tearing his gaze from the possible-assaulter at his feet.

"Hmm?"

The boy emerged from behind a pile of boxes, blue hair slightly disheveled as if he had been lying down - I'll kill him later - and a book, looking suspiciously like a manga, in his hand. He took in the scene impassively, looking from the dog to the tall boy plastered to the wall.

"Nigou likes Kagami-kun," he stated.

"No freaking way, he just wants... That's not the problem here!" Kagami snapped, increasingly distressed as the little beast had inched even closer, or at least he thought he had. "Just do something!"

"Do what-something?"

Innocent blue eyes looked at him unblinkingly.

"Don't look at me like that!" Kagami bellowed, desperation creeping into his voice, as he tried to keep an eye on the dog and his teammate simultaneously. "You know what I mean, damnit! Get it off me!"

There was an unexpected silence.

Kagami's eyes questioningly flickered towards Kuroko. His shadow did not move, as he regarded the scene with what appeared to be indifference, although one corner of his mouth was gently tilted upwards. The red-haired teen was struck by the terrible suspicion the other boy was actually enjoying this.

"Kuroko," he growled threateningly through his teeth.

No reaction.

"Woof!" The bark startled Kagami bad enough to cause him to almost jump out of his skin, and involuntarily emit a muffled whimper as he pressed into the wall behind him so forcefully the wood creaked in protest. The dog was on all fours now, the white dots over its eyes lifted expectantly...no, menacingly? Damnit, damnit, damnit.

Shaking his head in dejection, the tall boy took a deep breath.

"I beg you... Kuroko. I - I'll do anything, I swear."

Kuroko cocked his head to the side. Tetsuya #2 mimicked the gesture.

"Anything?"

"Anything damnit, I don't care, just get it off, off!"

Kuroko wordlessly reached down and picked the dog up. The offensive furball did not protest in the slightest, as it went limp and obedient in the arms of its namesake, happily nuzzling his cheek.

The red-haired teen observed them warily, still pathetically glued to the wall in fear of what would happen if he made a run for it.

Kuroko's next move sent his heart straight up his throat. The boy bluntly stretched out his arms and held the black-and-white little fiend out in front of him; disquietingly close to Kagami's horrified face. All thinkable escape routes were blocked.

"A kiss." Two identical pairs of oval-shaped blue eyes stared into his soul. "I want a kiss."

Kagami's brain cells took a pause from whatever sort of activity they were engaged in (which was, for the greatest part, just aimlessly wandering around). Some were nervously twiddling their hands, others intently furrowed their brows as if they attempted to seriously mull the situation over, but most of them just looked downright stupefied, blinking in confusion. No help there.

The only thing comprehensible about the situation was the need to get out of it. The light of Seirin let out a shaky sigh, stubbornly averting his gaze.

"Whatever."

With a small nod, Kuroko backed off. He gently put the dog down on the floor, giving it a pat on the head and a nondescript look Kagami could not read, but which the Siberian Husky seemed to understand perfectly well. It might have been his imagination, or his out-stressed brain playing a trick on him, but it actually seemed like the dog gave a sort of affirmative nod before it scampered off.

Finally.

Kagami was torn between the impulse to helplessly crumple to the floor in relief the moment the dog was out of sight, and the overwhelming tempestuousness flooding his senses. The latter won him over in an instant, as he caught Kuroko guiltlessly peering at him over his shoulder.

"You..."

It was all he managed to formulate verbally, the rest was his body talking.

Kuroko was violently yanked in by the fabric of his jacket, spun around and trapped between the wall and the taller boy's looming frame, their roles reversed within a heartbeat. Half-blinded by surging adrenalin, Kagami's eyes hazily swept over the blue-haired boy's unexpressive face for the shortest of moments. It was no doubt satisfactory, and at the same time strangely arousing, the sight of the little tormentor pinned against the wall, unable to escape even if he wanted to.

Latent predatory urges within Kagami came in to play at this point, and if there was any reasoning present to begin with, it was left behind as he leaned in and relentlessly crushed his mouth against the other boy's. Kuroko's soft lips felt oddly unmoving against his for a second, as if the sudden move had actually surprised him greatly, before promptly falling into rhythm, obligingly answering to Kagami's angry-heated assault.

Which eventually turned into nothing but plain heated.

It was something about Kuroko Tetsuya. His sheer existence would always amaze and befuddle him in equal parts. In this, the boy was the dry sheet of paper added to glowing charcoal, causing slumbering flames to wake up, roaring and licking heatedly against Kagami's insides. His heart raced uncontrollably in his chest, fueled by this nameless ferment that was Kuroko's vaguely sweet scent, his tantalizingly smooth tongue, his quiet-borderline-inaudible whimpers, his small hands gripping his jersey with surprising ferocity...

A loud thump on the door.

"Oi! Kagami! Kuroko! What're you doing in there?! Nigou won't let us enter! He's...ow!"

"Woof woof!"

Hyuuga's irritated voice and Tetsuya #2's barking jerked Kagami back to reality, and he pulled back dazedly, breath coming out hard and heavy. He stared blankly down at the blue-haired boy for a confounded moment, wondering distantly why his heart roared with such intensity. Kuroko looked up at him in silence, eyes glazed with something closely akin to lust - Kagami was too riled up and too stupid to tell exactly. He did, however, perceive the blunt curiosity Kuroko radiated as he brought a hand to his lips, touching them thoughtfully without dropping his gaze.

"Oi, listen! Get out of there already! Nigou is seriously out of his mind! Kuroko!" Their captain sounded like he was close to the boiling point, and voices of other team members were now mixing with his noisy yelling. Someone, Koga in all likelihood, was knowingly advising Hyuuga to squat and approach the dog with a 'calm-assertive energy'. ("Say tssssst, rather intensive, kind of short and snappy... They listen to that.")

A loud crash was heard, followed by a muffled shriek and Hyuuga's increasingly agitated voice.

"Don't tell me some random shit from the Dog Whisperer!"

Kagami stared at the door dumbfounded. Why don't they just enter? A new series of wild barks and shouts broke out behind the door, as Tetsuya #2 was presumably getting fed up with the talking. Slowly stepping back, letting go of the other boy's jacket which he unconsciously had been gripping, he glanced from the door, to Kuroko's deadpan expression, and to the door again. He narrowed his eyes.

"Just before...you said something... I mean, you looked like... What- what did you tell it- Nigou?"

Kuroko blinked, looking slightly puzzled as if Kagami was asking him to state the obvious.

"To stand guard, of course."