Tsundere Trying

(Wednesday)

Something was wrong with Takao.

Not that Midorima cared or anything.

He just . . . well, noticed. She had been quieter in classes that day. Her smiles had been slower. No, actually, she hadn't smiled at all the entire day, at least not that Midorima saw. She hadn't even greeted him when they first saw each other that morning like she always did.

Then she was late to practice, when usually she was the first one out in the gym, even before all the boys, and her eyes had been red like she'd been crying.

Midorima tried to think of a way to broach the subject and find out what was wrong all during practice. Not because he was worried. No, it was because he was . . . annoyed. Yes, he'd go with that. Takao's melancholy could affect the rest of the team and that would be detrimental toward their success.

"Hey, Midorima, what's wrong with Takao?" asked Kimura in the locker room after practice, his concerned look proving Midorima's point. And yes, Midorima had failed to figure out a way to ask her despite trying to think of one the entire practice.

"How should I know?" asked Midorima.

"Obviously you shouldn't know. Kimura just mistook you for someone who'd care," snapped Miyaji, and he fixed Midorima with a look that cut right to his conscience.

"She was not forthcoming with details," huffed Midorima, and he looked away.

"And obviously you couldn't be bothered to ask," muttered Miyaji.

Midorima could have argued that he didn't know how to ask, and that he was still trying to come up with a way to, but that would have given people the wrong idea about his and Takao's relationship. They were colleagues, nothing more. Her problems were her own. As his problems were his own.

"Hopefully whatever is wrong will be cleared up by the time we leave for training camp next Monday," said Ootsubo, who was getting dressed nearby, and had overheard.

(Thursday)

The next day, Takao was no better. If anything, she seemed worse. Her eyes, usually so filled with mischief, were still empty, with dark circles beneath them. She was operating like she was on autopilot during the school day. Again, she didn't greet Midorima in the morning, and didn't smile at all.

He decided that enough was enough and tried to hunt her down at lunch time, deciding that the best course of action would be to demand that she tell him what was going on because it was affecting her performance at practice. But he couldn't find her. She was in none of her usual hangouts, which included their homeroom, the clubroom, the corner of the cafeteria where the prettiest and most popular freshman girls claimed two tables as their own, or the highest part of the roof.

Maybe that was for the best because her performance at practice that day would have made it obvious what he said was a lie. Takao might not have even cracked a smile, but she threw herself into basketball like she was playing for her life. Her passes were perfect, and every play she made was gold. Whatever was bothering her was clearly motivating her to get even better at basketball. Midorima would have almost thought that was a good thing, but he couldn't really approve of anything that changed Takao's personality like this.

Not because cared about her, of course. But because of the potential for a breakdown that could leave their team without a point guard. Yes, that sounded like a good excuse. Midorima would go with that one if pressed.

"Maybe she's just on her . . . you know," said one of the non regulars in the locker room.

Instantly Kimura, Miyaji, and Ootsubo fixed him with cold stares. Midorima looked at him in confusion.

"On her what?"

The non regular looked nervous at the question, since the three seniors were still glaring at him.

"Just . . . you know," he said, starting to sweat.

"No, I don't know, if I did I wouldn't have bothered asking. What exactly do you suspect is wrong with Takao? Tell me now!" he snapped despite himself. (Because this was getting rather wearying. Not because he was worried about her or anything.)

"I think she's just having her time of the month is all!" the non regular blurted out, avoiding eye contact with the seniors.

That didn't help.

"Put your gym clothes back on and go run thirty laps," ordered Ootsubo.

"But –"

"Sixty."

The nonregular put back on his gym shirt and fled without another word.

Which was good, because Midorima's knuckles were white from clenching his fist by then, and in another second or two, he might have lost control and punched that fool in his stupid face.

(Friday)

On the final day of school before the summer break started, and two days before the team left for their training camp on the following Monday, Takao seemed a little better. Her eyes were still red, and her smiles didn't quite meet them, but she did wish Midorima a good morning that day, and found it in her twisted little heart to be a little bit annoying during classes.

At lunch she was nowhere to be found again, but Midorima managed to corner her just before practice to get a word in private.

"Huh? This isn't like you, Shin-chan. You look almost worried," said Takao, smirking at him. It was a pretty good imitation of her usual smirk. But she had clearly been crying not too long ago, and Midorima wasn't fooled.

"Don't say ridiculous things," said Midorima angrily.

"That's like telling me not to say anything at all. So mean, Shin-chan!"

Midorima glared at her then looked away.

"I'll give you a ride home after practice."

"Huh?" Takao looked floored.

"You clearly haven't been feeling well this week. If your physical condition deteriorates, there will be problems during the training camp. In order for the camp to be most beneficial to us all, we need all the regulars there. So, I'll give you a ride home in the rickshaw after practice," said Midorima, hoping he wasn't blushing too badly.

"Aw, Shin-chan. You're sweet. I wish I could take you up on that offer. But I'm going home with a friend and staying over for the night tonight," said Takao.

Midorima tensed up.

"What?"

"We're having a girl's night. And she's meeting me here after practice, so unless you want to give both of us a ride to her house . . ."

"Are you sure you should be spending the night at a friend's and staying up late, when you haven't been feeling well lately?" asked Midorima sharply.

Takao gave him an indulgent smile – a real smile.

"Shin-chan. I'm touched that you're worried about me, but you know I haven't been sick this week."

Midorima turned his face away and took off his glasses to clean them.

"Be that as it may, stressing oneself out can cause a person to become physically ill. You should not tempt fate by wearing yourself out more," he said.

Takao didn't say anything. Midorima waited and waited, but finally he could wait no more. He put back on his glasses to see what sort of expression she was wearing. Then he was rewarded by one of Takao's usual brilliant smiles, which grew even wider when she took in his flustered expression.

He expected her to start teasing him then. Instead she just gave a jazz hand wave, fluttering her fingers playfully before turning away.

"We need to get ready for practice, Shin-chan. I'll see you there."

"Right," said Midorima, ignoring the uncomfortable thumping of his heart as he watched her go.

Takao was extra intense in practice again that day, but this time she was in better spirits, smiling and telling a few jokes. She wasn't completely back to normal, but she was clearly much better than she'd been the past two days.

"In the end we never did find out what was wrong with her," sighed Kimura as they left the school once practice was done.

"It would have been nice to be able to help her for a change," said Miyaji, looking slightly dejected.

"Why bother if it was something she was able to handle on her own?" asked Midorima, right before he ran into someone who'd been standing just outside the school's main gate.

"Ouch."

"Pardon me . . . Kuroko?!"

"Hello, Midorima-kun," said Kuroko.

Midorima wouldn't have recognized her if not for the fact that he'd run into her due to her lack of presence. She looked nothing like the little girl he'd thought had been a boy in middle school. Kuroko was dressed in Seirin's summer uniform now, its short pleated skirt showing off her smooth, slender legs, and she'd let her hair grow out, so it was a little longer than Takao's chin length hair now. Added to that was the fact that she'd . . . developed a little bit in the past year. Now that she wasn't in gym clothes, there was no mistaking that she had a woman's figure.

"Takao-san is not with you?" asked Kuroko, looking amongst Shuutoku's male regulars and failing to see her friend.

"No, she's either already left, or still changing. You're Kuroko? That girl from Seirin?" asked Miyaji, staring at Kuroko with bulging eyes, barely able to recognize her as well.

"Yes. I am Kuroko Tetsuya. It is nice to see you again." Polite as always, Kuroko gave a graceful little bow.

"Wait. Are you the friend Takao said she was going home with today?" asked Midorima as it clicked in his mind.

"Yes. Thank you for helping her so far this week. Please entrust her care to me for tonight," said Kuroko.

"Wait, do you know what was wrong with her?" Kimura asked.

Kuroko looked confused.

"Do you not know? Did she not tell you?"

"She didn't say what was wrong. We didn't know whether to ask or let her have some space," admitted Ootsubo.

"Takao-san and her boyfriend of three years broke up on Tuesday night," said Kuroko.

The Shuutoku boys stared. Midorima felt like he'd just been hit with a taser.

"Takao has a boyfriend? Or she had a boyfriend?" amended Kimura, voicing what Midorima couldn't.

"Yes. For three years. Until last Tuesday," said Kuroko.

"Why did they break up?" asked Miyaji.

Kuroko's gaze flitted to Midorima, then away quickly.

"It was complicated," she said blankly.

"Then uncomplicated it," ordered Midorima.

"Takao-san punched him in the face."

"While that doesn't necessarily surprise me, it doesn't explain anything. Why did she punch him in the face?" growled Midorima.

"Because he tried to punch her in the face."

Midorima tensed, his fists clenching so hard that his knuckles instantly went white. Around him the other Shuutoku boys went on full alert as well.

"He missed because he was, in Takao-san's words, 'a pansy-assed tree hugger.' But he tried to punch her in the face because she slapped him in the face," said Kuroko, whose attempt at simplifying a situation was not very good at all.

"Why did she slap him?" asked Kimura.

"She slapped him for giving her an ultimatum if she wanted to keep being his girlfriend."

"And what was the ultimatum?" asked Ootsubo.

Kuroko was quiet for a moment.

"If Takao-san didn't tell you, maybe I should respect her decision not to," she said finally.

"I can respect you trying to be a friend to her. And for helping her you have my thanks, but she's a member of my team. If some punk attacked her, this is something I need to know as her captain as well as her friend. If some bastard is giving her ultimatums, I need to know," said Ootsubo.

"He's out of the picture now, permanently. Takao-san wouldn't date someone who would treat her as horribly as he did at the end."

"Kuroko. Tell us," said Midorima.

He took a deep breath when Kuroko looked at him blankly, and he could tell she wasn't swayed.

"Please."

Kuroko looked a little bit conflicted but then nodded.

"Her boyfriend had been on the same team as her in middle school, and quit after being beaten so badly by Teikou. He didn't like her being teammates with one of the Generation of Miracles. He told her to stop passing to you or else to quit the team, or he'd break up with her. So Takao-san slapped him."

Midorima felt like he'd just been drenched in ice water.

He remembered Takao's declaration to him about wanting to make him acknowledge her. But he hadn't thought that her loss to the Generation of Miracles back in middle school had affected her or her teammates so negatively. He tended to overlook how unique her cheerful outlook and ability to bounce back from anything were. The thought that not everyone could have recovered from such a crushing loss hadn't occurred to him – or that the loss might still be having negative effects on Takao's life.

For someone to use it against her now she had become his teammate, the very thought made Midorima's blood boil. Well, maybe part of that was the idea of someone like that dating Takao. Or anyone dating Takao. They were freshmen in high school, too young to be dating, anyone who would try to underhandedly gain her affections at this age clearly had ill intent! How had he not known she was dating someone this whole time? It was almost as shocking as finding out that she was a girl all over again. Though all this paled in comparison to what this bastard had done to Takao, and what he'd tried to do.

How dare he raise a hand to her? How dare he try to hit her?

"Name and address," barked Midorima.

"What?"

"Give me this bastard's name and address."

"Yeah," agreed Miyaji.

"I'm going to have him arrested for assaulting a woman!" continued Midorima.

"What?" asked Kimura.

"No, idiot, we're going to go give him a talking to!" snapped Miyaji, cracking his knuckles.

"Get him arrested, what are you, a grumpy old man?" muttered Kimura.

"I would consider it a personal favor if you'd tell us this boy's name and address," said Ootsubo.

Kuroko tilted her head back to look up at Ootsubo, and whatever she saw in his face convinced her. She took out her phone and quickly sent a text. A second later, Midorima's phone chimed to signify it had received a text.

"I sent his name and address to Midorima-kun. Please don't get yourselves arrested."

"We won't. We're just going to make it perfectly clear to him why he is never going near Takao again," said Ootsubo firmly.

Midorima still would have rather gotten the bastard arrested. Or . . . no. He wouldn't think about things like that. Things that were illegal, and messy, and probably what Miyaji and Kimura had in mind, since they were still cracking their knuckles. Midorima was not like that, he most certainly did not want to crack anyone's skull open, or break all their fingers, or throw them into heavy traffic. Not at all. Besides, Ootsubo was the one in charge amongst them. He would abide by what the captain decided.

"Kuroko-chaaaaaan!" Takao suddenly came flying out of nowhere and gave Kuroko a glomp worthy of being delivered by Kise or Momoi.

"Hello Takao-san. Are you ready to go?"

"Yep! Yep!" sang Takao, linking her arm with Kuroko's.

Then she looked at her teammates who still all had varying degrees of fury on their faces.

"What's the matter? Did something happen?"

"No, nothing's wrong," said Kimura.

"Nothing that can't be fixed anyway," added Miyaji.

"Even Shin-chan looks like someone peed in his rice bowl. You can't be mad that I'm spending the night at Kuroko-chan's. We've been friends since middle school, and I've known her longer than any of you!"

"That's not it at all. We seniors just realized something we need to take care of before our training camp begins. Midorima's annoyed that we're dragging him along with us. That is all," said Ootsubo.

Takao glanced at Kuroko out of the corner of her eyes then chewed her lower lip.

"Is it something you need me for too? Kuroko-chan and I already made plans . . ."

"No, no, we seniors have got this. You two have fun at your pajama party," said Miyaji, and he reached down to ruffle Takao's hair.

"We'll see you Monday, Takao," said Ootsubo, giving her an indulgent smile.

Kimura patted her on the shoulder and waved as they departed. Midorima hung back for a moment.

"Shin-chan?" questioned Takao when he didn't immediately leave with the others.

There was a lot that Midorima wanted to say right then, but he couldn't manage to voice any of it. He also wanted . . . he wanted to touch her, like Miyaji had done so casually when he ruffled her hair, or Kimura when he passed her, but Midorima didn't know how to pull something like that off. Casual touch was never something he'd done, but . . . he realized with something like horror that was what he wanted to do now, to straighten her hair, brushing the stray strands out of her eyes, and maybe let one of his fingers graze her cheek accidentally as he did so and oh gods, what was this feeling and why wouldn't his heart stop pounding against his ribcage like it was trying to escape?

"Shin-chan?" Takao asked again, when he only stared down at her. She tilted her head to one side like a little bird and peered up at him with growing concern.

"On Monday, don't be late," said Midorima finally. Then he literally fled after his senpai.

(The title of this one's based off a book called T-Rex Trying, which is all these cartoons about a T-Rex trying to do things T-Rexes can't do on account of having ridiculously tiny arms. Like jumping rope or painting their house. It's pretty funny.)

(The Seirin/Shuutoku Training Camp will be starting soon)

(Please review!)