Warm hands roamed over her shivering body making her skin burst with goosebumps. Both panting at the intimacy as they were sprawled on her bed, limbs tangled with each other's.

Amami was half naked on her bed, gasping for air as she felt lips placing soft kisses on her bare stomach. The action made her look downwards, staring into red eyes who were staring right back at her.

She slid her fingers through bright red hair before clenching it tightly when he gave a playful nip with his teeth on the sensitive flesh of her belly.

She hissed out in pleasure at the unfamiliar assault of the man who had now placed himself above her. Cold red eyes piercing hers now with the intensity of a lion. It was then that his left eye suddenly flickered into a golden hue.

"Guh!" Amami woke up with a start, her heartbeat beating so loudly she barely could hear anything else.

She was alone in her bed, her body damp with sweat as she slowly started to realize what just had happened. She had a dream of Akashi, quite the sexual one at that, making her thoughts fly all over the empty room she was currently in.

"What the hell.." She grimaced, grabbing her phone that was neatly placed on her nightstand as always. She hissed at the bright light burning her eyes when she checked the time, which indicated it was five in the morning.

She placed the device back on her nightstand while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Her body had calmed down meanwhile, but her brain was still flustered. She felt awkward at the entire situation, she just had a sexual dream involving one of her best friends. If that wasn't bad enough, the fact that she must've mistook the red eyes and hair for Kagami at first was just adding insult to injury.

She looked around her room, feeling the damp sheets from her sweat cling unto her limbs in an unpleasant way.

"Might as well get up and prepare the picnic basket.." She muttered to no one in particular as she got out, slowly dragging her feet towards her bathroom.

Today was the day when she had promised Takao and Midorima to go to the park for their Hanami party. Ushio, Miki, Kotarou and Akashi were also going to join them, having missed Amami a lot during the past half year.

"So, are we goin' to meet the others at the park, or did you guys actually plan something more concrete?" Takao asked Amami, placing his chin on the seat in front of him.

"We're supposed to meet up at the southern entrance in about.. ten minutes, Kazu." Amami swiftly darted her eyes from the road to check the time before answering her friend.

"Mmm.. aren't we late then?" His voice teasing as he locked eyes in the rear mirror with hers.

Amami showed him a confused frown. "What are you talking about.. we still have ten minutes?" Her foot subtly lowering on the pedal to gain some speed.

"T-Take the time you need Amami, just drive carefully!" Midorima who shared the backseat with his lover shouted out abruptly, panicking at the sudden movement the woman was making.

"Yes, yes.., I'm always safe Mido-kun." She gave Midorima a quick wink over her shoulder before making a sudden turn to the right causing the men in the back to lurch to their left.

Takao fell on Midorima's shoulder as the other was squished against the door. The man simply wiggled his eyebrows when he cast a devious smirk up towards a very disheveled Midorima. This earned him a haughty "Stop that and go back to your own seat!".

"By the way Seo-chan.. you're looking rather cute today.. any particular reason for that?" Takao questioned not so innocently, focusing entirely on his next victim.

"W-What do you mean with that, Kazu? I don't look particularly spe-" She started, glancing towards her attire which had indeed been pretty normal for her.

"My my, it's alright to admit you dressed up cutely for Akashi today." His grin became wider when this caused the woman to frown and stare in utter disbelief at the man through the rear mirror.

"You need to stop that Kazu. This is normal and nothing special for anyone.. why do you always have to bring up Akashi-kun like this?!" She breathes an exasperated sigh.

Takao didn't really expect this kind of response from his friend, she always seemed to have taken it in stride before, why the change? He glanced towards his lover next to him who was too focused on clenching his seat belt to participate fully in the conversation. "Well.. wouldn't it.. ya know.. be nice -for you two..-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Kazu. Honestly.. this is all because of you, the way you always have to bring up Akashi when we meet up. As if you're expecting anything to happen between us, which.. is not going to, I might add.. If you didn't I wouldn't have..-" She abruptly stopped herself, but it was already too late. Her eyes widened slightly, realizing that this would only stir up the raven-haired friend further. This caused her to look through the mirror to look back at a very intrigued smirk.

"You wouldn't have.. what? Could it be..?" Takao already started to run through a number of possibilities, each one turning his smirk into a full blown grin.

"K-Kazu, seriously stop it! It's nothing like what you're thinking.. I just.." She sighed in defeat, knowing the man wasn't going to let up any moment. The conversation even had made Midorima pay closer attention towards them, instead of panicking by her driving abilities. A blush spread on her cheeks as she was trying to think of a good way to explain what had happened to her this morning.

"You just...?" Takao leaned his chin back on her chair from the back, too amused with how things were developing suddenly.

"Fine.. I'll tell you, but I'm warning you: it's nothing special, there are no special feelings that you hope may be there. I.. had a dream.. about Akashi this morning.." She hesitated, not sure if she should really tell her friends about it, she was embarrassed enough about it already. "..of the sexual kind." She quickly finished the sentence before he could pester her, opting to go for the quick pain.

"..."

"..."

Midorima shoved his glasses up his nose a little too brash, trying to hide the blush of second hand embarrassment while staring out of the window. Takao could only stare back at his friend, slowly registering the information given to him.

"Was he good?" He gave her a toothy grin.

"No, it was even scary, now shut up about Akashi in that way already. If you wouldn't always nag about him I wouldn't have had that dream to begin with." She nodded to herself, remembering her phone call with Takao last night. Sure that must've been the reason, he had been teasing her as usual, so that's why, right?

Takao burst out in his typical laughter, his hands clenching his midriff. "How is any of that my fault? And what do ya mean with scary? What exactly did ya dream of, Seo?!" Takao threw some playful accusing stares at her while trying to refrain from bursting once more into a laughing fit.

"It's not funny.. and barely anything happened, so stop thinking about weird stuff too. But.. his eye.. it suddenly turned golden, while staring at me. It was.. like in high school.. At any rate, it was pretty.. startling. I still blame you for all of that, however." Amami just glared at her friend in the mirror who was too caught up with guffawing through the entire ordeal.

Later on the group had found each other and were now all sitting on multiple blankets on the grass while enjoying the atmosphere that a Hanami party always seemed to have. Takao had stopped ribbing Amami about the dream when they exited the car, not wanting to torment the woman any further. Perhaps the chastising glare Midorima had sent him was also the reason why he let up.

"Mmm, I don't really see anything wrong, Amami-san, Kotarou looks very healthy to me, nanodayo." Midorima had been staring thoroughly through the kid's mouth, checking his throat for any kind of indication of inflammation or infection.

"Ah, I guess you're right.. sorry to have bothered you, Midorima-kun." Miki, who was holding Kotarou on her lap softly smiled. "I guess I worry too much.."

This caused Midorima to give the mother a fond smile before patting Kotarou's head gently. "It's only normal for a parent to be worried about their child, nothing to be sorry over. I don't mind it either."

Miki smiled gratefully before her gaze landed on her son when he suddenly started to trash in her arms. His chubby arms reaching out in front of him as if he was trying to grab something.

"Oh, I think he wants to go to his aunt." Miki giggled as the kid was now trying to wriggle himself out of her lap.

"Is that so, Ko-chan? Come here then.." Amami held out her arms, gently grabbing the small upper body before firmly placing him on her own lap.

Kotarou let out a small squeal of excitement and started to talk some gibberish, as if he was trying to communicate with his aunt.

"Oooh, you sure are talkative suddenly, Ko-chan. How many words do you already know uh? As a fellow Amami it's up to you to keep up with the legacy, you know." Amami looked sternly while poking the plump belly of her nephew which caused the little one to giggle and gurgle in delight.

"He actually knows quite some words already, lately he's been blurting out more and more." Ushio fondly looked upon the scene in front of him, chest full of pride for his son.

"As to be expected! Can you call my name? Say auntie Seo.. aaauntieee Seooo.." Amami spoke out clearly and in a slow way for Kotarou. "Auntie Seo.. come on, you can do it.."

"...Sippy!" He reaches out his fist in glee as he blurts it out.

"S-Sippy.. that's not even close.. aaaauntieeee Seoooo..." Amami tried once more to get Kotarou to call her name.

"Ah, I think he's thirsty.. hang on..." Miki hands Amami his sippycup with juice, pointing at it sheepishly. "Sippy." The mother smiled apologetically towards her sister in law.

"Oh.. sippycup huh.." She just smiled a little, defeated by 'Sippycup'. Amami brought the cup towards Kotarou's mouth, offering him the drink he desperately wanted.

Both chubby hands latched on the two handles on the side of the cup when the kid was sucking the beverage from the cup. His light brown eyes sparkling with contentment as he did.

For a small moment it was quiet in the group as they all fondly looked at the little one enjoying his juice.

Akashi's gaze lingered on the two next to him, both aunt and nephew enjoying their time together. A fond smile slightly curved his lips as he saw Amami smile at the little one in her arms. "You'll have to practice together some more, Amami-kun."

Amami looked to her left towards Akashi who was giving them a charming smile. "Ah, we'll have all the time in the world for that, isn't that right, Ko-chan?" She looked back towards her nephew who was done drinking now.

The boy's eyes wandered from his aunt towards the low voice of the man next to her. His gaze taking in Akashi as if it was the first time he really saw the man. "Uaaah.." His eyes widened when his gaze lingered on the man. His small hands started to reach out to him. "Up..up..!"

"What, already tired of your aunt? Want to sit on Akashi-kun's lap?" Amami let out a deep sigh while chuckling at an even bigger defeat this time. The incessant squirming prompted the woman to give up. She looked towards Akashi who now resembled a deer in the headlights, unmoving as the thought was surely being processed in his mind.

"I-I don't think that's a good idea Amami-kun..." He nervously let out, eyeing the child who became more intrigued by his appearance by the second.

"Don't be silly, Akashi-kun. Here, I'll help you." Amami shuffled closer towards Akashi before gently placing the toddler on the redheads lap. One arm supporting her nephew while the other urged the man next to her to hold Kotarou like she had before.

It took a while for the three to come to the conclusion that Kotarou wasn't intent on sitting on his lap. Instead he seemed to be more interested by the man's face by the way he was dead set on standing wobbly on the man's legs, gazing at Akashi. This caused the group to snicker and chuckle at the sight of a very scared and nervous Akashi doing his best not to drop the toddler while Amami was supporting both Kotarou and Akashi throughout the awkward position.

*Click*

Amami glanced over her shoulder, rolling her eyes as she saw Takao taking pictures of them with his phone.

"You guys look so adorable, right Shin-chan?" Midorima let out a small smile, quite amused by his former captain in this position.

"Up..!" Kotarou was now pointing towards Akashi as his feet were trying to climb against the man's chest. "Up...!" The voice becoming more urgent when he realized he couldn't reach his destination.

"Up? You want to go higher?" Amami raised her eyebrow at her nephew before pushing Kotarou a little higher against an already protesting Akashi who was now far out of his comfort zone.

It's then that a loud squeal of joy burst out of the toddler as he took a handful of red strands in his fist, clenching it.

Amami started to laugh at the scene right in front of her. The Akashi, captain of both the Generation of Miracles and Rakuzan, son and heir to the Akashi corporation and highly respectable businessman, being tormented by a toddler who seemed to have a fascination for his hair. "I think he's fond of your hair, Akashi-kun." Her glee and laughter bringing her body closer towards the two in her grasp, trying to support herself as the others were laughing at the poor man's expense as well.

Akashi's brain entirely shut down as the nervosity was too much for him. He could only stare and blush, holding the toddler firmly in his grip while feeling the woman's body pressed up against him in order to prevent her nephew from falling, the way the boy was overreaching just to grab his hair made his aunt a little wary.

"A-Alright.. that's enough.. lower him a bit before he falls, Amami-kun." More of a plea instead of a demand, his eyes sending a panicked glance towards the woman.

Amami noticed she had indeed pushed her luck and did as was told, lowering her nephew while carefully disentangling the man's hair from her nephew's fingers. The toddler once more just standing wobbly on his feet, his hands placed against Akashi's chest for balance.

Disappointment clearly made its way on the little one's face, but he quickly stopped fussing about it. He was now just staring owlishly at the man's face in front of him. His eyes blinked a few times before a small grimace took over. Before anyone could respond, Kotarou vomited on Akashi.

Akashi instantly froze up, his eyes wide flickering between the child on his lap and the small smudge of toddler-puke that was slowly dripping down his jacket.

Thankfully the people around him immediately acted upon the little incident and before he knew it Kotarou was already being pulled away by his mother and his father profusely apologizing.

It's when he felt his jacket being shrugged off carefully by Amami that he snapped back to reality, muttering a soft: 'It's alright, it's just a jacket.' towards the slightly horrified parents.

"I'll quickly go to the restroom a little bit further in the park and clean it up as much as I can Akashi-kun." Amami gently squeezed his shoulder to gain his attention since it seemed he was still a bit shell-shocked by the mini ordeal.

"That'd.. be wonderful, thank you Amami-kun." He nodded gratefully.

Amami didn't linger longer, she immediately dashed towards the restroom, not wanting the clearly very expensive jacket to have a permanent stain.

She was carefully rubbing the fabric with a clean, moist handkerchief of her own when she suddenly heard Takao call out from outside the restroom.

"Seo-chan, your brother gave me some special towelettes to help clean up the stain.." He casually yelled through the door, making sure he covered his eyes with his hand. Not wanting to scare the possible female crowd inside.

Amami managed to clean it up as much as she could with the special tissues Takao had handed her, she was pretty sure there would be no permanent damage. The jacket simply needed a regular cleaning now. She sighed in relief since she had felt guilty for being the cause of this all. Well, she still felt a little bit guilty for pushing her nephew in Akashi's lap, but she tried to make up for it by cleaning up the puke. When Amami, satisfied with her work, exited the restroom she immediately bumped into Takao who had been waiting on her.

"Did it work?" Takao asked her earnestly when she looked up to him.

"Mhm.. one puke-free jacket, coming up!" She grinned back at him.

"I still can't believe yer nephew threw up on the Akashi, ya know. But his face.. pfffthahah.. priceless! I regret not making pictures of that.. bwahahaa." He slung his arm over Amami's shoulder, needing the support as he kept on guffawing.

"You're such a mean friend, you know?" Amami tried her best to scold her friend before she burst into laughter herself.

They both continued laughing for a few moments, having to stand still to recover.

"You know.. you guys looked good together though.. well before your nephew decided to ruin it of course.." Takao tried to keep the rising chuckle at bay as he pulled out his phone, showing the pictures he made of the three of them together.

"Kazu..." Amami sighed deeply before looking at the pictures on the small screen. A fond smile emerged on her lips as she saw the expressions of Akashi while holding Kotarou.

"I know what ya gonna say Seo.. but.. don't ya think it's high time to.. you know.." Takao gestured with his hands in the air, not wanting to say it out loud.

When Amami filled in the rest of that sentence herself, she cast her friend a sorrowful glance. She understood what he meant, heck, even some part of her agreed with him.. "I get what you mean Kazu.. I really do.. but.. I really don't see anything happening between Akashi-kun and I. He's a good friend of mine and is truly dear to me.. but.. that's all there is to it, I'm afraid."

"Is it because of him? Are ya still thinkin' of him after all this time? Even after what he did to ya?" Takao frowned when Amami didn't meet his gaze with hers now.

"We were both wrong back then Kazu.. I shouldn't have given up on him so easily. I should've.. worked something out. He kept reaching out to me and I kept pushing him away, too hurt to have a clear mind at the time." Her voice slowly became weaker as she kept on speaking. "So yes.. I'm still not over him, even after all this time. But now that you guys made me realize how wrong I've been this entire time.. well.. I'd like to think I could start going forward now. Accepting the situation and eventually moving on, but it'll take some time.." She demurely looked over the small lake they stood next to, her eyes slightly watery while she fiddled with her necklace.

"Well that's.. something I guess. Once that's done, you could start fallin' in love with another man, uh?" Takao's gaze filled with pain as it landed on the necklace she was clutching in her hand.

".. It won't be Akashi-kun though. As much as you hope for that to happen, for some unknown reason. It's not going to happen, Akashi-kun and I are too alike in a way.. I doubt that's going to work out in the long run. What's more important, he's a close friend, I couldn't bear to lose him as well." She weakly shrugged as she finally looked up to her friend.

Takao hugged his friend tightly against him, not liking the forlorn look she was sporting. He was already thankful that she recently had this breakdown, which led the woman to start mending the cracks of what had been broken so many years ago.

"He won't leave ya, neither will we Seo-chan.. we'll be there for ya no matter what. I'll drop the Akashi-topic as well.. take yer time for this." He squeezed her body a little more than was necessary, wanting to show the sincerity behind his words. She was one of the most important person in his life, he only wanted to see her happy, so he'd do as she asked him to and stop with the teasing.

They stood there for a while, embracing each other closely, both needing this affection.

A little further away, Akashi stood behind a tree. His eyes fixated on the ground in front of him. He had heard it all, he didn't mean to eavesdrop. He honestly didn't, but when he wanted to check up on his friends, he heard them laughing at his expense and when the topic turned around to both him and her, he couldn't help it, something inside of him told him he had to hear what was going to be said. Perhaps it was because deep down inside he knew what she would say, maybe it was his mind forcing him to hear what he needed to hear in order to move on himself.

One small tear rolled down his cheek past a small bittersweet smile. "I can't seem to win against you.. Kagami.." His whisper so weak he could barely hear himself. "Guess we'll both have to move on, Amami Seo..." He breathed in unevenly, trying to regain his composure now that his heart was broken.

He should've seen this coming. Hell, he even knew that this was bound to happen. Why didn't he avoid this from the beginning if he knew? He suddenly remembered the conversation he had with Midorima earlier this year. That's right.. he couldn't. He had tried not to grow these feelings for the woman, but he failed miserably. It's then that Midorima's words rung through his mind when he talked about his own relationship. "Opposites attract.." He numbly repeated his friends' words. He instantly thought of Amami's words a moment ago. 'Akashi-kun and I are too alike.' He scoffed without much strength at the thought, his hand quickly drying up the trail of the lone tear.

When he deemed himself calm enough, he made his way towards the two friends who were still enjoying their small moment.

"Ah, Akashi, yer jacket has been successfully cleaned!" Takao exclaimed, having noticed the redhead approach the two.

"I'm glad to hear that, you have my thanks Amami-kun." He gratefully bowed his thanks before looking at the woman with a warm smile. His impeccable mask covering up the hurt and sadness behind it.

"No, it was my fault to begin with, Akashi-kun. I shouldn't have been so pushy with Ko-chan. I'm truly sorry, if I can do anything to make it up to you, just name it." She bowed in return before handing the folded jacket over to its owner.

"That won't be necessary, Amami-kun." If his heart was being shredded in a blender at the moment, he wouldn't show it in his expression.