"So Shiracchi, are you excited?" Kise questioned me as his chest pressed against my face for the upteenth time in the hour.
"Ask me that when we're not in an overcrowded train, I can't even think straight I'm so annoyed," I said grumpily.
"That's not a good attitude on a day as important as today," Kise whined.
"Who's bright idea was it to have us head out to Kanagawa during rush hour?" I asked, ignoring him.
"Seito's," Sakura said beside me.
I scoffed, "Figures, that man has no sense of reality."
"On this I have to agree," Sakura squeaked as she almost got knocked down by someone pushing past her, "What's our schedule again?"
"Today we'll visit Kaijo, stay the night in Kanagawa, and head to Kyoto tomorrow," I answered her.
"OH MY GOD! KISE-KUN? IS THAT REALLY YOU?!" I heard a voice squeal.
Both Sakura and I looked over to the girl, and watched as Kise conversed lightly and gave her an autograph, "Jealous?" Sakura smirked at me.
"Yeah," I said.
Sakura's eyes widened, "Really?" she asked me.
I nodded, "She gets this really fake, nice, polite, calm Kise. If only I had that, and then she could deal with the whiny brat he really is," I scowled.
Sakura chuckled lightly, "I think your personality perpetuates that in Kise even more."
I sighed, "Don't say such depressing things, if that's true then there's no escape."
"I INSIST!" the girl practically screamed.
Kise chuckled nervously, "I really couldn't."
The girl smiled and blushed, "No, I'm getting off on this stop, so I have to get up anyway."
She then proceeded to stand up and motion towards Kise to sit as she walked away. Kise sat down with a reluctant look on his face that was immediately extinguished when he turned towards me with with a smile and patted his leg, "Shiracchi-"
"No," I said quickly.
"Shiracchi," Kise began to whine.
"Have Sakura sit on your lap, she's smaller and lighter," I said.
"But I want you to sit on my lap-ssu," Kise pouted while he wriggled around in his seat, much to the chagrin of those sitting around him.
"Fine, just stop making such a scene," I said grumpily and sat on his lap.
"We go from largest to smallest," Sakura said as she sat on my lap.
Kise rested his chin in the crook of my neck, "And Shiracchi's the perfect size isn't she? Like the filling between two cookies…"
"Has the soul of MurkySaladBanana replaced your's?" I asked.
"What?" Kise asked.
"You just called me cookie filling," I said.
Sakura laughed, "I meant it as a compliment, most people like the filling way better than the cookie! Some people only eat the filling!" Kise said defensively.
Sakura laughed harder, "Kise Ryota, basketball superstar and famous model, can't muster up a compliment better than that?"
I would've laughed harder if I wasn't too busy trying to keep my blushing in check. Due to my extensive map of Kise's behaviors and actions, I was aware that Kise was only smooth offhandedly, and when he was genuinely trying to get something across to someone he was revealed to be a confused five year old. Therefore, while Sakura was laughing, I was fully aware that Kise was making a concerted effort to say something nice to me.
Any bashfulness I was feeling went away as soon as I felt Kise's hands approach my waist, "Kise. If you even attempt to tickle me it is over. It is over for you. It is over for Sakura. It is over for everyone on this train." I said ominously.
Kise retracted his hands and laughed, "Sorry Shiracchi, it's just so tempting-ssu."
"The thought of killing you is also tempting, but you don't see me standing over you with a knife," I said.
"Because that would be wrong," Sakura said.
I looked down at her, "No, because there are too many witnesses right now."
Kise laughed, "Anyway-ssu, are you excited to be going back to Kaijo?" he asked.
"Of course," Sakura answered.
"I guess," I said.
"Shiracchi," Kise whined at me, "How can you not be excited to go back to your old high school."
"I only went there for a year remember? I spent most of my time at Fukuda," I answered, purposely omitting that the main reason I wasn't all that thrilled to be going back was because my last few months at Kaijo was spent in turmoil over my issue with Kise.
Kise rested his chin on my head, "I suppose that's true," he mumbled.
"This is our stop," Sakura said as the train came to a halt.
"I told Seito to forgo the hotels in Kanagawa and Akita and just pay us more," I said as we got off the train.
"Are we staying at your place?" Kise asked me.
I nodded, "You should visit your parents while we're here blondie," I said to him.
"I haven't been gone long enough for them to miss me," Kise pouted.
I chuckled, "Bullshit, you're their youngest. They probably still dust your room every week in hopes you'll come back."
"Hey Shiracchi, if we're going that way, do you want to stop by the ice cream shop?" Kise asked.
"There's an ice cream shop around here?" Sakura asked.
Kise nodded energetically, "Right by the station, Shiracchi and I went there one time."
I sighed, "It's nine o'clock in the morning, but what the hell."
When we reached the shop, Kise ordered vanilla, Sakura had strawberry, and I was caught up in the dilemma I had every time someone asked me to pick a flavor of ice cream. I had read each flavor and it's description carefully, narrowed it down to ten flavors, but was stuck on which to choose. As my hands began to go numb from the cold glass they were resting on, I heard Kise chuckle, "I see Shiracchi is as indecisive about her ice cream as ever."
"I don't see what the problem is, just pick a flavor," Sakura said.
I glared at her, "You can't just pick a flavor."
"Now now," Kise said ushering us outside, "I'll pick a flavor that you love and be right out, k?" he said with a wink.
He came back with this vanilla, caramel, and nut concoction that I gave a tentative lick. "So, do you like it?" Sakura asked as we walked to my house.
"I...like caramel," I said turning my face away.
Kise laughed, "See? I know what Shiracchi likes!"
"Shut up, we're here," I said as we approached my house.
I walked up the steps and unlocked the door, "Wow, it's so quiet in here," Kise observed.
"Yep," I hummed in agreement, "My parents don't really have to be home that much since I've moved out, so they're rarely home."
"Do they travel together?" Sakura asked.
"Sometimes, they usually like to meet up in these exotic locations and then spend time together, my dad says it's the secret to their marriage," I answered.
"That sounds nice," Kise commented.
I shrugged, "I never really understood it, I'm the type of person who would want to be around the person I love all the time."
"What's the secret though? I'm not getting it," Sakura questioned me.
I cocked my head and sighed, "My dad once explained it like this to me, "'Shi-honey, your mother is a bird. A violent bird. She needs to fly free to be happy. I am her nest, when she gets tired of flapping around the world then she comes home to me."'
"Your dad's great at analogies," Sakura said sarcastically.
I snorted, "I know right, he should write a book."
"What time are we supposed to be at Kaijo?" Kise asked suddenly.
I looked at my cellphone, "Hmm...about fifteen minutes ago?" I said.
We looked at each other, "Our train came in late," we said in unison.
"If I ever rob a bank I'm picking you two as my partners in crime if we can get our story straight that easily," I said as we sped out the door.
"Oooh, what will or roles be?" Sakura asked.
"Easy," I said, "You'll be the cute decoy, I'll be the force, and Kise will be the safecracker."
"Why does Kise get to be the safecracker?" Sakura asked.
"Because of the copy thingamajig, we can just show him a couple Youtube videos and we'll be all set to go," I explained.
"That's for basketball," Kise said.
"Well, we won't know unless we try," I snapped.
Sakura laughed, "Senpai, we're here, could you please stop talking about criminal activity? We're here to encourage students to pursue an education."
"That may be what you're here for, I'm here for the paycheck," I said as we walked into the school.
The classroom to classroom thing was the same as always. Girls fangirled over Kise, guys flirted with Sakura and I, and I almost always got dragged into conversations with the long term suffering teachers. It was only until we got to the gym that things got a little more interesting and relaxing. After we clawed our way through Kise's fanclub, Kise was again immediately assaulted, but this time by over excited teenage boys who screamed for their ex captain. "He really did end up becoming captain huh?" I asked Sakura.
"He was the only first year who was a starter so he sort of won by default," Sakura said.
"That makes sens-" I started to say before I caught sight of something.
"Senpai?" Sakura questioned.
Something snapped inside me once I caught a glimpse of what lay beyond the throng of teenage boys huddled around Kise and I knew I had to push past them. I quickly maneuvered my way around the crowd and latched onto my target, wrapping my hands around him (or attempting to) and nearly crying in joy. "Shiracchi?" I heard Kise question me.
The room went relatively quiet and I heard the boy closest to Kise ask, "What's going on? Why is she hugging coach like that? I want an attractive girl to hug me like that. Was he handsome or something a couple years back?"
I looked up, "Sensei," I whimpered, "I missed you so much."
"Shiracchi," I felt a hand on my shoulder, "Are you okay?"
I looked at Kise, "No I'm not okay, he's horrible! I never knew I had it so good with sadist sensei, not until I had to work for...Satan! I can't go back to that!" I cried into Takeuchi sensei, who slapped me on the back and guffawed, "Hah, so you're still working under Seito! He's a hard one to handle, my nephew, I still remember when I had to babysit him when he was a child."
"I can relate," I deadpanned.
"Why don't you come cry on my shoulder," the boy next to Kise asked in an attempt to be smooth.
"Because she was my manager, not yours," Kise said quickly.
"Sorry kid," Sakura said to the boy, "Kise's got a monopoly on Shira."
"We should really just focus on the presentation," Kise said staley.
When we were done, I was reluctant to let go of Takeuchi-sensei, "I don't wanna," I pouted.
"Shira senpai, it's Kise and I's job to be the petulant children, you're our adult," Sakura said.
"I have an adult already," I said tugging on Takeuchi-sensei's arm.
"Come on Shiracchi," Kise said as he hoisted me up on his shoulder, "Bye bye sensei!" he shouted as we exited the gym.
"Don't be sad," Kise said as I hung limply, "Here," he said walking over to a vending machine and putting some coins in, "What do you want?" he asked, setting me down.
I threw myself onto the vending machine and proclaimed, "I want sensei."
"Sensei's not a drink," Kise said.
"Taking me away from him is a sin that shall not be forgiven," I said darkly.
"Shi?" I heard a voice say and it made my heart skip a beat.
As I slowly cast my gaze to the left of me I saw who I expected to see. No matter how much I wished I was just hearing things, my ears knew his voice far too well to be mistaken, "Haizaki," I said.
I could feel Sakura and Kise burn their questioning gazes into my back as Haizaki-nii looked at me with a mixture of confusion and sadness, "Can we talk for a minute?" he asked.
I removed myself from the vending machine and sighed, "Okay," I turned to Kise and Sakura, "You two should go on without me."
"Shiracchi," Kise started.
"Go, I'll be fine," I said.
They walked away, "Haizaki," I said.
"Shi, I'm sorry," he said.
"I figured," I said stonily.
"I understand that we won't be friends or anything, but I want to apologize to you for trying to force myself on you," he said.
"Then I forgive you," I said, "But we're not friends."
Haizaki-nii nodded, "So, you work at Kaijo?" I asked.
"Yeah, I teach here," he said.
"What made you chose Kanagawa?" I asked.
Haizaki-nii smiled softly, "I don't know; I think maybe I took this job in hopes that I'd see you again, so I could make things right."
"I understand that feeling," I said.
He sighed, "That sort of ends our obligatory small talk doesn't it? Goodbye Shi."
"Bye Haizaki," I said and walked away towards my house.
As I got onto the main road, I was surprised to see Kise waiting for me, "What are you doing?" I asked him.
Kise began walking with me, "I was worried about you."
"You didn't have to be," I said.
"Who was that?" Kise asked.
"Haizaki's older brother," I answered truthfully.
"And my middle school ex boyfriend," I added.
"Turned big brother to me," I added on.
"Although that wasn't how he felt," he mumbled.
"You guys didn't seem friendly with each other," he commented.
"We used to be," I said.
"What happened?" Kise inquired.
I looked at him, debating on whether to tell him the truth or not, "He tried to sleep with me at a time when I wasn't feeling too good."
Kise stopped with wide eyes before turning back to the school, "No Kise," I said tugging on him.
"SHIRACCHI, THAT'S NOT OKAY, I NEED TO PUNCH HIM!" Kise yelled and pulled at me.
"No," I said before mumbling to myself, "The day has come where I am preaching against violence, oh lord."
"Shiracchi," Kise whined at me.
"It happened over two years ago," I said, taking his hand and pulling him away.
"Two years ago?" Kise asked.
"Yeah, so don't do anything stupid okay?" I said.
Kise nodded slowly, "That's the pinky promise thing between Daiki and I," I said.
"What?" Kise asked.
"I ran into Daiki right after it happened, that's the pinky promise he made to me, not to tell anyone," I explained as we came upon my house.
I saw Kise ball his fists, "Hey, don't worry about it," I said.
"I'm really angry," Kise said and I shot him a questioning look before he continued, "I'm fucking pissed because you didn't call me but I know why you didn't."
That was it. The first time since we had reunited that he had ever mentioned what happened between us. There was a long moment of silence before I broke it and said, "Maybe you should go to the store and get some things for dinner."
"Yeah," Kise said in a low voice and then walked off.
Sakura came out and looked at me, "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah…" I said.
"That was convincing," she said sarcastically.
I looked down the road, "You know how many times I came to visit my parents and I looked down this road; knowing that he was a five minute walk away?"
Sakura gave me a pitiful expression, "I used to wonder if he ever thought the same thing."
The trip to Kyoto and Rakuzan was one that was mostly made in silence. Everyone seemed to have a somber air about them, and the snooty people at Rakuzan didn't help. Things got better when we went to Akita though, mostly in part because I was excited to see my brother. "Is it really okay for us to stay here?" Sakura asked me as we approached the house.
"Yeah, he doesn't have a family or anything so it's okay," I said smoothing down my hair.
"Nii-chan!" I shouted as I walked into the home.
"Shira," my brother said walking into the living room.
"Do I look cute today?" I questioned him as he walked up to me.
He smiled, "You always look cute," he said giving me a hug.
"Good answer," I said as I nuzzled my face into his chest.
"I have the guest room set up for all you guys," he said.
"We'll get unpacked and then head to Yosen with you," I said, leading the way up the stairs.
I threw my stuff onto one of the beds as I pondered how weird it was that the memory I associated most with this room was how it was my hideout when I was upset about Kise, and now here I was, with Kise, in this room. "We should hurry," Sakura commented.
All I have to say about Yosen was that it was a gigantic school that sucked the soul out of everyone and made us stay there until late in the afternoon. We were all but exhausted when we got back to my brother's and only had enough energy to eat and go to bed. "Oh no-ssu," Sakura and I heard Kise groan.
"What?" Sakura asked.
"My phone's dead," he whined.
"So?" Sakura asked.
Kise looked at me and whimpered like a scared puppy dog, "That also means his nightlight is dead," I explained.
Sakura gave Kise an apathetic look, "You're eighteen years old Kise, I think it's time you start sleeping without a nightlight."
Kise glared at her and I sighed as I pulled out my phone and started searching through my apps, "Let me see..let..me..see...Ah, there," I said holding out my phone to him, "Why do you still have this?" he asked looking up at me.
"Because deleting it would've taken effort," I said.
Kise laughed, "Be grateful you dimwitted banana," I growled.
"There's only two beds, so I guess we're sharing senpai," Sakura said crawling into my bed.
"Alright," I said getting into bed with her as Kise got into the other one.
It lasted seven minutes. I counted. After 420 seconds I threw back the covers saying, "I can't do this."
I saw Kise rub his eyes groggily, "What's the matter Shiracchi?"
"She has her leg over me and she's too close and I can't deal with this," I said hastily.
Kise smiled as he walked over and relocated Sakura to the other bed, "See Sakura, Shiracchi has to be cuddled a certain way," he said getting into the opposite side of my bed, "Like this," he said sliding one hand under my head while the other wrapped around my waist.
"Whatever," Sakura said, "It's always different when someone you're in love with does it, and by the way Kise, you're really annoying and this is why I quit your fanclub."
"You quit his fanclub because I punched you in the face and he was mean to you," I said through my blushing.
Kise laughed lightly, "That's true," he said resting his head in the crook of my neck.
"Shi-chin."
"Shi-chin."
I slowly opened my eyes as I felt someone poke my lips with a pocky stick. "Stop trying to feed her, she's asleep," I heard another voice say.
One poking me with food. Murasakibara. One telling him to stop. Himuro. "Why are you here so early?" I asked Murasakibara.
"I wanted to see you," Murasakibara answered.
"Oh, well, I'm tired," I said.
"I'm tired too," Atsushi said, and then proceeded to squish his huge frame next to me and Kise.
"Atsushi, I think they were having a moment," Himuro said.
"Ah yes, the most romantic moments are those that happen during REM sleep," I said sarcastically.
"Do you want to go downstairs," an already awake Sakura suggested to the probably irritated Himuro.
"Sure," he answered and went out of the room with her.
It must've been sometime later when Kise woke up and asked me, "Why is Murasakibaracchi in bed with us?"
"How do you even say his name like that? It's like seven syllables," I asked him.
I felt Kise shrug, "I came to wake up you and Shi-chin, but I got tired," Atsushi answered.
"Why did you want to wake me up?" I asked him.
I heard the crinkle of a wrapper opening and Atsushi said, "I wanted you to go with me when I visited auntie Haizawa."
"I see," I said getting up, "Well, let's get going then, I'm always up for cake for breakfast."
My cousin was excited to see everyone to say the least, or should I say she was excited to feed everyone. We weren't there five minutes before everyone had a plate of pastries and candy placed before them. "Kise, Sakura, it's nice to meet you," my cousin said sitting down.
"It's nice to meet you as well, this is delicious," Kise said with a full mouth.
"So nice," my cousin swooned, "I wished Shira would get a boyfriend like you."
Enter an extremely uncomfortable silence between everyone, "Did I say something wrong? Do you two not like each other?" my cousin asked.
"Ehh? But Kise-chin and Shi-chin made up right? I just assumed when they were sleeping together," Murasakibara said offhandedly.
Another more uncomfortable silence. I forced a smile onto my face, "You know Atsushi, if you weren't so cute I'd slap you."
Hey there! I wanted to thank the people who read/favorite/follow this and of course the lovely people who leave reviews. To amy1945, it is true that Kise shall never
be safe with Shira and her "occasional" pervertedness. Poor little blonde cinnamon roll, poor child. To ThatOneHeffalumpInTheCorner, this fic was written for my
need to torture Kise because while Kise is bae, he is that bae I felt like I needed to check (and to be honest he's just so easy to pick on) and I don't think Shira will
ever lose her denseness when it comes to Aomine if that was what you were referring to. To WaffleeLi, I would definitely classify the OC in the Aomine fic more in
the category of precious child more than sassy and Aomine's feelings for Shira shall be completely revealed in the next chapter, so just a little bit longer on that. To
Xrupa, the fluff is my favorite thing to write and I pray to the fluff gods every night and thank you for your well wishes, I'm fully recovered and totally ready for the
final lap of this fic. You're fondness of Kise should completely return by the next couple chapters because he gets a lot better.