Another day, another chapter. The plot finally starts, slowly but surely and Karen your birthday gives me nightmares because I'm just so really slowly with the pace. Convince your parents you were born on another day, please.

Big thanks to CopraMeow, SamTsui and BDDB. I'm glad you liked the previous chapter; it was pretty short, haha.

I still got a bit stuff to do, so I'll make it short. Thanks again for the follows, favorites and reviews. It makes me really happy that you like the story even though it's all very slow. I suck, I know. I hope you'll enjoy it anyway.

DAY NINE

"Ah." Mia blinked at the blackboard in front of them as a thought hit her.

Her table neighbor slowly turned away from the window to face her, his expression filled with the boredom he felt since he had slept the past few lessons and his body refused to take another nap for now. The monotone voice of the teacher filtered the air and left nothing but silence behind. It was a surprise that at least half of the class still tried to contribute to the lesson.

The two of them in the back had already given up.

"Isn't some basketball tournament coming up?" She whispered quietly, not once looking away from the blackboard, where now a few notes were written upon. The orange-head was certain she had heard about it in PE. A few guys had been talking about it.

InterHigh.

Though she wasn't sure if it had already started or not.

Aomine shrugged with his broad shoulders. His eyes watching her pencil as it moved with every letter she wrote into her notebook. "Yeah...whatever."

Surprised the girl stopped taking notes and turned towards the basketball player who still looked at her hand which had now stopped moving. She hadn't expected such a tone coming from him. Well, yes, he was always bored and rarely sounded agitated. Expect when he laughed. And her inner voice and mind had already agreed that this sound still gave her the creeps. If someone had a serial killer laugh and grin then it was the teenager next to her.

"Aren't you excited?" She whispered while furrowing her brow. "A tournament is a big thing, right?"

"They are all too weak." Aomine grumbled. His eyes darkening as he started to glare at her pencil.

Taken back Mia blinked at him for a few seconds. That was very same expression and sound which had terrified her in the past. The nasty glare in his eyes, the frown on his lips as if he was ready to start a fight the very second someone provoked him. She felt suddenly very lucky that he chose to sent the daggers of death towards her pencil and not her face. She probably would have suffocated on the tension he created.

A bit awkwardly the girl shifted on her seat. Her fingers drumming a low beat onto the table before she mustered enough courage to speak up again.

"Is basketball difficult?"

Her soft spoken question eased the grimace on his face away. And his gaze finally lifted, ever so slowly that it made her squirm a bit, until it reached her eyes. It was a relief to see that the twirling dark emotions seemed to have disappeared - because she couldn't handle serial killer Aomine for sure - and were replaced by something else. An idea.

"I can show you."

"What?" Surprised Mia stared at him as if another head had grown on his shoulder. But quickly she broke their eye contact to make sure the teacher hadn't heard her. That offer had sounded too surreal; she hadn't even bothered to keep her voice down. Although it seemed that the old man had lost track of time and passion himself, his eyes were glued to the book he used to write a handful of notes onto the board.

"I got nothin' to do anyway." Aomine continued as if she hadn't stared at him as if he was crazy.

Well.

That was not what she expected. But it was all the more better than having him look like he was about to lit something on fire. She was free after school, too. Nanami had to go to her Literature Club today; they wouldn't be able to hang out anyway. But...the girl bit her lip, her eyes were scanning the blank, if not still bored expression of Aomine who stared her down.

It would be a public place.

Enough witnesses if all hell broke loose.

"...sure." She agreed after a long minute. "Why not."

The light twitch which nearly pulled the side of his lips into a grin was something which unsettled her.

Was that positive or negative?

"I was never in this park before..." Mia looked around the green scenery. She had never bothered to check the area around their school before. All she did was walk from the station to the school. And from the school to the train station, the only detour she managed was to visit the diner who was on the way between point A and point B with Nanami together.

It was certainly a nice surprise to find an entire park here. Filled with trees, well-made paths to walk on and flower beds scattered around a few open meadows which definitely served as a picnic place in summer. Who would have expected that Aomine knew of such a place?

He leaded her further through the park, their conversation had been rather short since it was a bit awkward for both of them, she guessed. To talk in a classroom was definitely not comparable to talking with another out of school.

"Here." He finally said which drew Mia's attention towards the place he had found.

Oh, a real basketball hoop was there. The ground became even, a firm texture in a bright bloody orange had been spread over the earth to promise a tight grip for the shoes. The teenager in front of her set his bag aside and pulled a brand new basketball out of a sachet he had gotten from somewhere in school. Before he approached the playground any further however, he quickly shrugged off his blazer, pushing the sleeves of his snow-white shirt towards his elbows.

"You know the basics?" He threw over his shoulders as Mia still stared at the contrast of the color of his skin and the uniform's shirt. It gave him a more casual appearance, making it more obvious that right now that they weren't at school.

"Well...you have to dribble the ball all the time, right?" She tried as the blue haired guy started to do the exact same thing she mentioned.

"Yeah. And you can't hold onto the ball forever either. Or you get a violation."

"What?" Mia drawled out as she placed her bag besides his, her fingers brushing out the ends of her sweater. She was actually glad she didn't wear her school's blazer today as the sun was shining brightly in the sky. Summer was slowly but surely approaching them. Or maybe she could already call it the early start of it. "Where did you get the ball anyway?"

"Basketball club." Aomine replied without missing a heartbeat while changing the hand he used to bounce the ball with. "They had practice today, so I just grabbed one of them."

The dark eyes of the girl widened and she opened her mouth terrified. "You have practice today? You can't skip that!"

Her classmate snorted at her weak attempt at telling him what to do and what not. He turned away from her, forcing the ball to bounce with him with every single step he took until he stood in front of the basketball hoop. Mia, on the other hand, couldn't understand why he was able to just brush it off like that. Yeah, sure, Nanami mentioned that he was well-known in the basketball area. But everybody needed practice, didn't they? And if she remembered how lazy he had always been in the lessons up until now, he couldn't tell her that he didn't need it.

"I don't need it." He argued with her last thought without knowing it. And with every syllable she could literally taste the confidence he spread.

Mia pursed her lips, unsatisfied with his attitude which was far from perfect. Although she was in no position to tell him otherwise, he had really sounded angry back then when he mentioned that the others were too weak...maybe there was something to that statement. At least from his point of view, in her opinion he was still lazy and sucked in school.

"Well...if you say so..." The orange-head gave in.

"I do." Aomine agreed, throwing the ball at her which she barely caught with both of her hands. "So let's start with dribbling."

"O...okay."

Carefully she weighed the ball with both of her hands; the smell of rubber surrounded the object. A scent which fitted it strangely well, she observed. She never really had one in her hands before, only sometimes in PE. It took a few moments before she dared to try her first attempt at dribbling. And quickly she realized how easy he had made it look like. The ball barely stayed on one spot, forcing her to shift with every bounce it took.

It made it only worse as even Aomine started grinning. "You need to keep your hand steady; next to your chest is the best way for a starter." He explained lazily while swiftly gesturing what he meant.

Oh.

Trying her best to ignore his obvious amusement at her clumsy start, she followed his instruction. She was still far from perfect, that was a fact, but at least the ball didn't try to jump into every direction anymore. It actually felt like an achievement.

The tall teen crossed his arms, still grinning at the expression she wore which was filled with concentration. He hadn't expected her to be this determined. Doing what he said to improve. Aomine leaned back onto his left leg, watching Mia continue to dribble awkwardly for awhile until he spoke once more.

"Want me to help you with the shots, too?"

Immediately he could feel the scowl of the girl who glowered at him from her position. She maybe would have said 'yes' if he wouldn't sound so...how could she call it. Arrogant. Yes. That was it. He made it sound like as if he had invented the sport. She knew he was already a bit on the 'I love myself' side but she certainly had to change the tune he used.

"No way." Mia argued. "I bet I can take you on already, Mr. I don't need practice."

The basketball player chuckled quietly, his grin shrinking into a sinister smirk. Whatever button she had pushed, she regretted it already. She thought he would laugh it off or make another snarky comment. But she didn't expect him to look at her like a lion who was laughing at his prey.

"Try me. One-on-One"

He opened his arms, challenging her and too stubborn to go back on her word she bravely approached him. Feeling lucky enough that she didn't lose the ball on her way, Mia found herself facing the tanned teenager whose eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

She was doomed.

She knew that right after she blinked once, ready to try and charge forward, only to realize that the ball had disappeared in an instant. Mia's eyes widened as she tried to find the basketball on the ground, it could have slipped from her grasp - but as she lifted her gaze she barely caught the tall figure of her classmate who jumped into the air and dunked the very ball she missed into the hoop.

"Wait, what?" The girl breath confused.

"Wanna try again?" His cocky grin burned in her eyes as he caught the ball and turned back towards her.

"How did you even-" Flabbergasted she pointed at him. She could have sworn he hadn't moved a single centimeter. He was right before her; for god's sake she had only blinked once and he was already all over the damn place! Was he able to teleport? He must be! "-one more time!"

Mia caught the ball, her eyes narrowing in determination to not let him teleport once more. And as she slowly started to dribble the ball again which actually felt a bit easier on the second try she could sense the familiar intimidating vibe, the blue haired guy gave off as he stepped in front of her. With her eyes wide open she tried once more to take a step-

Just to lose the ball again.

His hand had barely moved but he somehow got hold of the ball anyway. In terror Mia could only watch his body nearly fly over the ground, his movement smooth and swift as he ran towards the hoop. And just like before, he jumped effortlessly into the air, dunking the ball into the hoop.

Was that even possible?

Was he even human?

Mia stared open mouthed at the teenager who caught the ball again, walking towards her with a grin which was just as horrible as the one before. Oh that damn, stupid, lazy guy who was magically able to suddenly run as fast as lightning.

"Again?"

"One more time!" The orange haired girl replied immediately, reaching for the ball in his hand.

She must wipe this damn grin off his face. If her life had ever needed a meaning then the girl was certain this was it. It was her mission to break that damn annoying grin which was plastered all over his face. She didn't care how she did it; she only knew that it must be done. Somehow.

Slowly Mia started to dribble again, her dark eyes flying from left to right. There was no way in hell she got past him. She just needed to breath and think 'Hey, I should move towards the right.' and the ball would already be stolen by Aomine in an instant. There was no way, she would be able to jump over his head or crawl through his legs, not while bouncing the ball up and down anyway.

Aomine's grin widened as he saw her struggle.

That alone caused the blood to rush into her face out of frustration. Blended by his arrogance Mia cursed and took a step back before throwing the ball blindly into the direction of the hoop. Her tall classmate had at least the manner to blink at her surprised before his blue eyes followed the flying orange orb which crashed against the wooden board behind the basketball hoop.

Both of them stared at the ball as it fell onto the edge of the metal ring, the net beneath it shaking with force before the basketball bounced out of it and landed on the ground. Slowly it rolled to halt, leaving nothing but a broken dream of a girl behind.

"Oh, damn it!" Mia hissed, throwing her hands into the air. "Did you see that? I'll never get so close to scoring a point ever again! Never!"

Aomine turned back around to her, watching her throw a fist in frustration before he started to laugh. And if her ears didn't lie to her, it actually sounded quite genuine. Or at least not as sinister as the previous ones...

Slowly the orange haired girl stopped whining. Her eyes landing on the tall teenager who surprised her with his laughter; she hadn't expected that. She had always disliked seeing him grin or laugh because it always sounded so mean. But this time she couldn't complain. This was only time up until now, she actually liked to hear him laugh, Mia realized.

"Not, bad. Not bad." Aomine said after he had calmed down again, his eyes still glinting in amusement. "But ya really need to work on your aim."

"Oh, shut it." The girl grumbled, feeling the blush spread across her ears and neck. He really had to destroy everything with his attitude. "Better show me how to shoot properly..."

Her tall classmate chuckled quietly to himself as he quickly went to fetch the ball again. Mia waited obediently in front of the hoop until Aomine approached her side, holding the ball with nothing but his fingertips in front of him.

"At first you need to hold it like this..."

She nearly drowned out his voice as her hands tried to copy his. The determination returned full force to understand this sport better. Maybe because she still wanted to wipe his grin off his face. Or maybe even because it had actually made him laugh for real...

Mia didn't know which one.

Although she didn't care either.