Hey guys!

I hope you are all doing well.

I want to thank, yochan123, for the lovely review. I'm glad you like the two of them together. I obviously do too.

I also want to thank, AlexisHard, for the lovely review. I'm so happy to hear you like her playing with them. I think it's a big part of their friendship and what might evolve later. They will definitely miss her but I'm not planning on separating them for too long. You're absolutely right. This bracelet will become a painful remainder but it will also become a metaphor on the individual relationship she has with all of them. Anyways, you will have to wait and see.

Thank you to everybody who comments so frequently. I really love and appreciate all of you taking the time to write these reviews. They help me a lot and never fail to make my day.

Enjoy Chapter 26!

Chapter 26: Snow

"Psssst Midorin." I heard someone say. "You're going to wake them up."

"That's what I intend to do." Another voice said sounding annoyed.

"But look at them they are so cute."

These words didn't immediately register in my head.

I was simply to comfortable wrapped in the warmth of my blanket.

I snuggled deeper into it.

But something was off.

Slowly I realised that it wasn't the only thing wrapped around me. I started to register the presence of two long arms wrapped around me and I could hear someone breath next to my ear.

I opened my eyes confused by the entire situation and was met by a grinning Momoi and an annoyed looking Midorima.

Akashi and Kuroko were standing next to them. Both looked highly amused.

Murasakibara was nowhere to be seen but when I the scent of food hit me, I assumed he was in the kitchen.

Which only left Aomine.

I was about to get up when the two arms wrapped more firmly around my body.

Momoi was grinning even wider and then I finally realised what had her smiling like that. My face felt on fire and they started to laugh upon seeing my reaction.

I felt Aomine stir behind me.

"What's this noise all about?" He asked.

I remained silent unable to speak and the others were still too busy enjoying the situation to explain it to him. But he seemed to put one and one together faster than me.

"Oh." He said and he let me go.

"Morning." Akashi said grinning.

I took my pillow and threw it at him.

Of course, this didn't really do much because he dodged it skilfully.

I got up and glared at my friends standing in front of me.

"Emi-chin." I heard Murasakibara call from the kitchen.

I got up, passed my friends while ignoring their sniggers and joined him.

"Yes, Atsushi?" I asked.

"I made you a coffee." He said and I hugged him.

"Did I ever tell you that you're my favourite?" I said loudly so the others would hear it.

"Emi-chin is my favourite too." He said and I smiled brightly at him.

I helped him put the dishes on the table and the others came walking over, Aomine still looking half asleep.

Momoi leaned closer to me and said

"You sure Dai-chan isn't your favourite?"

She was giving me a sly smile and I decided to ignore her.

"Did everybody sleep well?" I asked trying to sound casual.

They all nodded even though some of them had a hard time hiding their amusement.

"Good." I said. "I wanted to thank you again for making my birthday so special."

"Nothing to thank us for." Midorima said and the others nodded in agreement.

"So." I said sounding enthusiastic. "What do you want to do today?"

"Emiyo." Midorima said sounding serious.

"Yes?" I asked not understanding what he was getting at.

"Have you looked outside?"

I furrowed my brows in confusion.

"No, why?" I asked.

"Nothing." Momoi said immediately giving the boys an alarmed looked because they all looked like they were about to tell me.

"Let's just eat first." Momoi said in an overly sweet voice, which made me only more suspicious.

"Alright." I said still figuring out why she was behaving so strangely.

The others also seemed confused by it, but they decided to let her be and we ate breakfast.

"Ok." Momoi said clapping into her hands in excitement as soon as we were finished.

"Now you can go and look." She said to me.

"Okey." I said a bit hesitant.

I got up still casting her a confused look but she simply smiled widely at me.

I walked towards the window.

"Why didn't you want to tell her?" Midorima asked immediately when I was out of earshot.

"Because of this." She said pointing at me.

I had reached the window and when I looked outside all I saw was white.

Snow.

I began to squeal excitedly and jumping up and down on the spot.

"It snowed." I said loudly grinning from ear to ear and Momoi chuckled while the boys exchanged a surprised look between themselves.

"Let's go everybody." I said running towards my friends.

"We have to go outside."

"It snowed." I said loudly while turning on the spot and then running into my room.

"Emi-chan wouldn't have let us eat if she had realised before that it had snowed outside." Momoi said explaining the entire situation to the stunned looking boys.

She chuckled seeing them like this.

"You better get dressed because once she comes back and you aren't ready to go you won't hear the end of it." She said in her singsong voice and immediately a screeching of chairs could be heard as they hurried over to their bags to get dressed.

Momoi laughed but when she saw me return to the room fully dressed her eyes widened in alarm.

"Coming." She said hurrying as well.

I continued to bounce around my apartment in excitement until everybody was ready.

"Emi-chin is excited." Murasakibara said to me when we left my apartment and I could touch the layer of fresh snow that was covering the entryway.

I nodded.

"Do you know what snows means for me?" I asked smirking mischievously.

He shook his head looking interested to find out.

"Snowball fight." I said while throwing one at him, which I had been forming in my hand without him noticing.

My eyes widened in amusement when I saw that it hit him on his chest.

I started to giggle loudly and Murasakibara narrowed his eyes.

The others looked between the both of us and they all waited for him to react. Murasakibara took a step towards me and a smirk was forming on his face.

"Uh oh." I said quietly the realisation hitting me.

"You know what I better go." I said before I turned on my heels and began to run away from my friend.

"You're not going after her Muk-kun?" Momoi asked.

"I'm giving Emi-chin a head start." He said and they laughed.

When he deemed my head start wide enough, he began the chase after me.

When I spotted him, my eyes widened and I ran even faster. I reached a park and entered it, trying to take refuge behind some large trees when two long arms wrapped around me.

I squealed in surprise.

Murasakibara lifted me from the ground and I began to laugh even harder.

"Atsushi." I said trying to plead with him.

"You don't want to do this."

"But Emi-chin." He said and I could hear by his tone that he was fully enjoying this.

"I do."

And the next second he had brought a handful of snow over my head.

I squealed when the cold hit my face and I tried to wiggle my way out of his hold.

But no chance.

My protests had no effect on him as well. Suddenly he lifted me even higher up and a moment later I was hanging over his shoulder.

He began to look for something.

"Atsushi what are you looking for?" I asked.

"A place to dunk Emi-chin in." He said calmly.

"What?" I said loudly immediately being highly alarmed.

He was about to repeat what he had been saying when I noticed that we were watched.

I met the gazes of my friends who all looked highly amused at my dispense but neither of them seemed to have the urge to come help me.

"Really?" I said sounding exasperated.

"Nobody is going to help me?" I asked sarcastically which only increased their amusement.

I tried to heave myself up from his shoulder and when I managed, I was towering over Murasakibara who looked at me in surprise while holding both my legs tightly so I wouldn't fall down.

"Atsushi." I said giving him the sweetest smile.

He immediately narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"I have an idea." I said quietly so only he could hear me.

"How about we form an alliance and attack them?" I said nodding towards my friends.

He looked at me and then at my friends and when he nodded, I grinned widely.

I looked at them and I could see that some of them have stopped laughing and now looked alarmed.

"Ok." I said leaning closer to his ear. "We're going to do the following."

I whispered my plan into his ear and he nodded ever so slightly so that only I could see it.

He gave my body a slight tug and I fell back over his shoulder. I squealed in protest when he ran off with me.

"Maybe we should help her." Momoi said looking at our disappearing figures.

"Is Murasakibara-kun really going to dunk her into the snow?" Kuroko asked quietly.

"He might." Aomine said. "But it's not like she didn't put herself into this situation." He added smiling amused.

"But Dai-chan." Momoi said tucking on the jacket of his coat.

"Shouldn't you be the one saving her?"

"Why me?" Aomine said looking confused.

Momoi facepalmed.

"Oh Dai-chan." She said in a pitying tone.

"What?" He exclaimed.

"Come." She said dragging him behind her.

"We go help her. Kuroko-kun you too." She said and the three figures walked into the direction we had gone.

"Am I the only one who is not trusting this entire situation?" Midorima asked sounding alarmed.

Akashi chuckled.

"Oh no." He said. "She has most likely planned an ambush."

"So, you think so too." Midorima said while trying to locate two purple haired figures.

"Absolutely." Akashi said.

"Emiyo is a cunning girl. But that's what makes her such an interesting opponent." He said before walking after the others.

Midorima sighed before walking after him.

Murasakibara and I had positioned ourselves behind two large Oak trees. We had found a field which was surrounded by them and we had chosen the perfect location to see the arrival of our friends.

"We need Shin." I said to Murasakibara.

"But I really want to throw one at Mido-chin." He said pointing at the pile of snowballs we had already formed.

"You can always accidently hit him with one." I said giving him a cunning smirk and he smiled widely.

He nodded.

"Great." I said. "I think I hear them." I looked towards the voices and Murasakibara peaked from behind our hiding spot.

"I will sneak along the trees and find Shin. Then I will convince him to join us and as soon as I do, we come back here and attack."

I looked at Murasakibara and he simply nodded while forming even larger snowballs.

I chuckled.

"For who are those?" I asked.

"Mine-chin." He said and I had to stifle my laugh.

"Oh, I can't wait to see that." I said.

I looked towards the field, which was still empty.

"Alright, I better go." I said before I left our hiding spot.

I crouched down and began to walk fast but quiet towards the source of voices. My heart sped up from the excitement and I couldn't help but to grin widely.

I hid behind a tree and I smirked when I could hear every word they were saying.

"Where are they?" Momoi asked sounding worried.

"I don't know Satsuki." Aomine said. "It may be better if we continue to walk. I can see a field over there."

"Good idea." I heard Kuroko say.

I heard three muffled footsteps walked away from me.

Where are you Shin?

Just when this thought crossed my mind, I heard two other pair of footsteps approach.

"These idiots are going to walk right into the trap." I heard Midorima say.

I smirked.

Good. So, he expects something.

"What do you think we should do?" I heard Akashi speak up.

"Don't know." Midorima said. "Part of me wants to see them get ambushed."

I tried to stifle my chuckle. I knew he would be a good ally.

"Oh Shintaro." I heard Akashi say.

He sounded amused as well.

"How about this? I go after them and you look for them? They will most likely be hiding."

"Fine." He says.

I heard Akashi walk away and I held my breath.

I needed to know in which direction Midorima was going to walk off to. To my utter surprise I heard him coming towards my hiding spot.

I smirked.

That was working just fine for me.

I crouched down even lower and waited for him to make an appearance. It didn't take long for him to pass my hiding spot. He was looking around and I knew that he was expected me to show up any moment now.

So why keep him waiting?

I sneaked up on him and when I was near enough, I jumped on his back, while wrapping my legs around his waist and simultaneously covering his mouth with one of my hands.

Lucky for me that I did because he let out a surprised gasp.

"Shin, this is going to go either one of two ways." I said smirking slightly. "You either join me and Atsushi and help us take on the others or you're going to get ambushed just like them."

I had still my hand over his mouth and I could feel him slowly recover from his initial shock.

"So, what do you say?" I asked quietly and I removed my hand.

"Did you have to give me a heart attack?" He asked scowling at me.

I shrugged and climbed down from his back.

I walked in front of him and he was still giving me a hard look while I was smiling innocently at him.

"Was much more fun that way." I said grinning.

"So, what do you say?" I asked and he sighed.

"Why me?" He asked.

"Because I always want to have you on my team." I said calmly.

It was the simple truth.

He looked surprised by my statement.

"You do?" He asked.

I nodded.

"Not Akashi? Or any of the others?"

I shook my head.

"I have told you ages ago. You never miss. Besides I love being in a team with you. You were my first friend I made at Teiko. It's only natural I want you by my side."

"Emiyo it's a snowball fight. Not a fight of life and death."

"You sure?" I asked smiling challengingly.

"We're up against Sei and Daiki."

"Mhm." He said appearing to be thinking about my statement.

"You may be right."

"Of course, I am." I said smiling smugly. He shook his head in amusement.

"So, was I right to come find you and recruit you as my ally?"

"You were." He said and I gave him the biggest smile.

"I knew I could count on you."

He returned my smile and I led him back to Murasakibara who has been forming an enormous pile of snowballs since I left him.

Midorimas eyes widened.

"There they are." I said nodding towards the center of the field.

"They are in perfect position. We can see them but they can't see us."

"Ready to attack?" I asked looking at my two friends. They exchanged a look before they began to smirk and nod.

"Great." I said getting hold of one of the snowballs.

"Together?" I asked and I stood up.

They nodded once again and took hold of the snowballs on their own.

"Who is targeting who?" Midorima asked.

"I don't care." I said. "How about we just fire snowball after snowball?"

"Works for me." Midorima said while Murasakibara said

"On your signal, Emi-chin."

"On three." I said and I began to extend my arm.

"One, two…" I said.

"Three."

We all released the snowballs at the same time.

We looked after them and I began to laugh in utter pleasure when I saw all three snowballs hitting a different target. Our fours friends looked around in confusion trying to locate our position when a second batch of snowballs came flying.

They immediately ran out of harm's way but we all had anticipated such a reaction and altered the course of our snowballs accordingly.

I laughed in delight when I managed to hit Aomine perfectly.

He was still looking around trying to locate our exact spot when I heard Akashi beckon him over. Standing next to him were already Kuroko and Momoi.

"Akashi is organizing a counter attack." Midorima said telling out loud what everybody had realised.

"Any ideas?" Murasakibara asked.

"Mhm." I said trying to think about what Akashi was most likely going to do.

Or it was more of a deliberation about what he thought I would do and then doing the exact opposite.

"We remain where we are." I said.

The two looked surprised and I decided to elaborate my reasons.

"He knows where we are but I think he counts on us to scatter and therefore give them the perfect opportunity to attack us one by one. If we remain here, we can restock our pile of snowballs while also building a wall that will give us some cover."

They both looked thoughtful.

Midorima looked back into the direction Akashi and the others were standing before he looked back at me. I was looking at them expectantly waiting for any kind of answer.

"I say we stay here." Murasakibara said and I smiled at him.

"Your plan better work." Midorima said addressing me and I shrugged.

"We will have an epic battle sooner or later."

"Don't look so happy about it." He said and I simply laughed while starting to build the wall.

Midorima continued the work of Murasakibara and restocked the pile of snowballs while Murasakibara helped me build the wall.

We needed to make sure it would cover all of us. We worked in silence while keeping an ear out for the arrival of our friends.

We didn't have to wait long.

I looked at the wall and was a bit disappointed that it wasn't higher but it would do.

We all exchanged a look before we got hold of some snowballs and hid behind the wall. We heard the muffled footsteps and the breaking of branches.

"Satsuki look where you step." I heard an alarmed whisper clearly belonging to Aomine. They were nearer than I had expected them to be.

"I do Dai-chan." Momoi said back forgetting to whisper.

"Be quiet Satsuki." Aomine whispered and I heard a squeal coming from Momoi which could only mean he had put a hand over her mouth.

I exchanged an amused look with Murasakibara and Midorima.

"Ready?" I whispered.

They nodded and we exchanged one last look before we stood up and bombarded them with snowballs. I released my snowball and hit Momoi on her back.

She immediately turned around and her eyes widened when she saw more snowballs flying towards her.

Aomine had found some cover and he sent some snowballs flying back, which only hit our wall.

"I have never seen you aim so badly Aomine." Midorima said in utter delight.

I laughed when I saw the annoyed look on Aomines face.

He appeared from behind the tree he had been hiding and the look on his face meant nothing good for Midorima.

He released an enormous snowball and managed to hit Midorima in the chest.

This momentarily distracted him and Murasakibara and I hit him with two snowballs.

"Guys." I said a bit out of breath. "Sei and Kuroko-kun are nowhere to be seen."

"Oh no." Midorima said. "This is a distraction."

He was right.

Suddenly snowballs came flying from different directions and some of them curved strangely.

Kuroko.

He was misdirecting the snowballs, which were most likely coming from Akashi.

"Duck." I said while getting hold of both of my friends. We crouched low but the attack wasn't stopping.

"If we remain like this, they will be able to come nearer Emi-chin." Murasakibara said.

"I know." I said thinking hard about what I should do. Then an idea was coming into my mind.

"Ok." I said looking at my friends seriously.

"I will leave our hiding spot and direct their attacks on me. This will momentarily distract them and you will have the chance to spot them and then attack."

"Emiyo that's stupid." Midorima said sternly.

"I know." I said grinning widely at him. "But you can't stop me so you better not miss."

I winked at him and before he could say anything else I stood up and jumped over the wall.

I was immediately hit by snowballs but I continued to run into the direction I thought Akashi was standing.

Of course, I was going into the entirely wrong direction.

"Other side Emi-chin." Murasakibara called and I turned around and snowball after snowball hit me and I had a hard time navigating.

Finally, I managed to hide behind a tree and I peeked from behind my hiding spot.

I saw Midorima and Murasakibara firing in one specific direction.

I smiled.

It had worked. They were holding their own and now we knew where they were.

I decided to sneak along the trees and attack from the outside. But of course, that wouldn't go without anyone interfering with my plans.

I was sneaking along the trees, concentrating on being as quiet as possible, when I was suddenly pinned against a tree.

My mouth was covered by a large hand and my heart immediately sped up.

"Where do you think you're going?" Aomine asked smirking.

I was still recovering from my shock and my heart didn't want to calm down for some reasons.

Aomine was standing closely and I had no way of escaping him. He slowly lifted his hand from my mouth but his hand remained close to my face when he placed it right next to it on the tree, he had me pinned against.

I looked into his deep blue eyes and my entire body began to tingle.

"Nowhere." I said in a whisper.

He began to chuckle.

"Yeah, right." He said.

"So, what are you going to do now?" I asked looking challengingly at him.

"Have some revenge." He smirked and I squealed when a moment later I was lifted up in the air.

Aomine began to navigate his way between the trees and we soon reached what seemed their base camp.

"You found her." Akashi said smiling satisfied when he spotted me hanging over Aomines shoulder.

"I did." Aomine said sounding smug about it.

"Yeah yeah. Well, done." I said in a sarcastic tone and they began to laugh.

"Looks like you're not happy about it." Momoi said looking worryingly at me.

I noticed the look she gave me and I had a hard time hiding my delight. She would be my way out.

Aomine lifted me from his shoulder and put me gently on the ground.

"Momoi look after her." Akashi ordered. "We need to take care of Shintaro and Atsushi."

"Hai." She said and she sat down next to me.

"Where is Kuroko-kun?" I asked quietly to the others wouldn't hear me.

"Oh, he is running on the field in front of your camp redirecting the snowballs coming from Akashi-kun and Dai-chan." She said in a good nature tone.

"His lack of presence comes in really handy sometimes."

I smirked.

So, I had been right and she just gave me valuable information.

"These boys are so into this fight." Momoi continued. "It's ridiculous. Have you heard how Dai-chan has scowled me for stepping on a branch?"

"He has?" I asked trying to act clueless.

She nodded seriously.

"You should have seen him." She said pouting slightly. "And now they ordered me to look after you."

I leaned back on the tree trying to look like I would make myself comfortable and not go anywhere.

"Boys." I said and she immediately agreed with me.

"You know what." Momoi said slowly getting up. "I will go and tell Dai-chan what I think about his attitude towards this snowball fight."

"Do that." I said trying to sound encouragingly and not too excited.

"I will." She said and she marched right over to where the two boys were standing.

I didn't waste any more time.

I got up as quietly as possible and disappeared behind the tree. As soon as I passed it, I began to run.

I heard Aomines voice and he didn't sound happy, which meant he must have had realised that I was gone. I immediately sped up and soon I reached my two friends again.

"Hi there." I said while trying to catch my breath.

"What happened Emi-chin." Murasakibara asked. I told them what had happened since I left them and where our biggest opponent was.

"We tried to spot him." Midorima said sternly. "But we couldn't."

"We have to try again. His lack of present should soon wear out."

"What do you mean?" Midorima asked sounding surprised.

"Why do you think Kuroko-kun isn't playing the entire game?"

"I thought it's because he can't keep up with us." Midorima said shrugging.

"Well." I said. "That's one aspect but the other aspect is that Kuroko-kun can't use his misdirection for the entirety of a game. It wears off."

Midorima looked shocked hearing my revelation. But the more he thought about it the more he realised it was true.

"Then we should be able to see him now." Murasakibara concluded.

I nodded.

"On three?" I asked.

They nodded and when I counted to three, we stood up and began to fire again.

Snowballs came flying from every direction but I spotted some light blue hair on my left.

"He's over there." I said while firing a snowball at him.

I managed to hit him and I saw Kurokos eyes widen in surprise.

"Let's get him." Midorima shouted and I laughed seeing him this fired up.

Soon the others came from behind their cover and it was an open battle.

I left our hiding spot and I stood in the middle of the field firing snowball after snowball. The other two joined me as well and I had a hard time holding my laughter back when Murasakibara "accidently" hit Midorima with a snowball.

This of course turned into a fight between the two of them.

I managed to hit Akashi in the back and when he turned towards me my eyes widened already knowing I had made a big mistake.

He walked towards me but I couldn't move.

I was frozen on the spot.

All I could see were his crimson red eyes fixed on me. When he was standing in front of me, he smirked delighted.

"You are a worthy opponent Emiyo." He said and the next second I was sitting on the cold, snow filled ground.

"What?" I muttered.

Akashi laughed giving me his usual charming smile and I immediately relaxed because for a moment I thought someone else was standing in front of me.

He held out his hand to help me up.

I took it but instead of getting up I managed to pull him towards the ground next me.

When he hit the ground, he looked momentarily taken aback.

The snowballs fights had stopped and everybody was looking at us, curious how Akashi would react.

To my relieve he began to laugh full heartily. I soon joined into his laughter.

"You're a worthy opponent, Sei."