Considering my last chapter, I wanted to personally thank you all for supporting this fic and my writing (and for as long as many of you have been). I've finally hit a milestone that I've never hit before – over 100 favorites and follows since I started writing this KnB fic.

With stress of being in college for so long, knowing that you all have come to review my story, and give me feedback in your support for my writing, makes me feel so happy, and I thank you all so much for staying on this journey with me. I know my updates are inconsistent, but it makes me so happy to see that there's still a lot of interest in my work.

Also a little shoutout to NinjaPenguinLover for the very kind review. I am sooo happy you're enjoying everything.

I hope you all enjoy the next chapter!

Also, apologies if anyone is a little too OOC in this chapter, but I think it still works for the KnB-verse.

Disclaimer: {Kuroko no Basuke, conceptually and character-wise, does not belong to me. I do, however, take credit for my OCs, specifically Yuki, Kimi, and Suzuki Rio. The quote is from Alfred de Musset.}

Chapter 14: These are Not the Arms I Want to be Held In

"I don't know where my road is going, but I know that I walk better when I hold your hand." – Alfred de Musset

"I was unaware I was tutoring a gambler, but after the recent events, I'm starting to think it all makes perfect sense."

"Midorima-san," she practically hears herself whine out. She hadn't anticipated this conversation during their after-practice study sessions, and so in hearing it, Yuki's mood soured drastically. They'd been working at their same table for over half an hour – peacefully Yuki thinks – before Midorima decided to ultimately kill the vibe.

She sees the light flash across his glasses' lenses once she glanced up at Midorima's face. He continues on with, "Your entire life seems to result in a gamble. It's gotten to be concerning, really. Yet you have no faith in Oha-Asa's horoscopes."

As expected, he'd find some way to connect everything back to Fate and his beloved Oha-Asa. She rolled her eyes, annoyance evident on her face. While she'd love to humor his devotion to the stars any other time in her life, today was not that day. "I'm contemplating paying someone to get your head checked."

Midorima grasped his lucky item, a brilliant Kelly-green stuffed frog, while remarking, "That was unnecessary."

Yuki shook her head and repositioned her textbooks to avoid staring at him and his stupid lucky item. Why did it have to be something so cute? She wants to demean him for it, but Yuki suddenly can't imagine Midorima without an incredibly cute stuffed frog. She feels a blush blooming across her cheeks.

After a tense five-minute silence, Midorima decides to push Yuki for information again. "You're not going to enlighten me about the meeting between yourself and the coaches, are you?"

While Midorima had been working himself up to asking that question, Yuki had been trying to make sense of a math problem, specifically the same math problem she'd been working on since they started their discussion. She could not stop staring at it and then threw her pencil down in frustration. Why he felt the need to keep pestering her with questions was beyond Yuki. "Akashi-san was there. If you cared as much as you're making it out to be, you could ask him."

"I did."

Their gazes met. "So, you know, then." Yuki sounds dejected.

Midorima shook his head, the forest green hair barely moving with the motion. "As if. You know you have to earn things from him."

She looked at him, confusion splayed across her features. "So, did you try to at least get an answer?"

"Naturally," Midorima heaved a sigh. "He challenged me to a game of shogi. I think you see where this is going."

"Sheesh, that's harsh." From that one time she played Akashi, Yuki knows beating him in shogi is nearly impossible.

"He told me it was better to hear it from the source anyways." Midorima looked at her pensively. "So, I gave you some time; I even saw you at the hospital. Not a single word."

"Didn't think the entire team needed to hear it."

"I thought we were above secret-holding."

Yuki glared at him. "Why are you acting like this? Are you offended I didn't mention it to you?"

Midorima placed the lucky item on the seat before crossing his arms.

"Are you serious right now?" Yuki splutters out in annoyance.

"How am I any different from Satsuki, Aomine, Kise, or Kuroko?" He asks her quietly. From his body language and the eye contact, Yuki can tell that she's hurt Midorima's feelings in some way; however, she never anticipated he would be jealous of her relationships with her friends.

"I-I mean . . . I wouldn't say you're 'different,' I guess? I just didn't think you'd want to be bothered with the, uh, . . . trivialities of my life."

"I sit here at this same table – practically every day," Midorima pauses to reposition his glasses. "I prattle about math problems to you for hours after long, arduous practices. I hear your complaints about the most mundane things.

"Yet something major occurs in your life, and I'd suddenly view it as 'trivial.'"

The silence was deafening after Midorima's admission. She'd yet to even enlighten Satsuki about every single detail Yuki'd discussed with the coaches, Haizaki, and Akashi, so to hear such a comment from Midorima threw her off guard.

"I apologize for making that assumption then."

He glared at her before harshly asking, "Do you believe me to be an idiot as well?"

Yuki blinks a few times at him in confusion, trying to piece together where he could have come up with that question. "And where is this coming from?"

"The school festival – Haizaki grabbed you from the classroom that day."

She practically flinches from the memory of her encounter with the upperclassman. She'd tried to keep it away from her thoughts, but somehow even in the peace of her studies, Yuki could never truly evade Haizaki. "How did you come to that conclusion?"

Midorima's staring directly at her, his brilliant green irises burning deep into her own dark eyes. "Fear," he gauges her reaction from his comment – Yuki uncomfortably moving in the chair – before he continues, "Your behavior that day was irrational. Bizarre, if you will."

"Can't really help that I wanted to cry – could you blame me?"

"Running from this issue won't solve the problem."

She snaps at him, surprised tears brimming in her eyes, "Oh, like you could solve it!" Yuki's arms are tremoring slightly, her hands clasped into fists. However, just as soon as her mood ramps up, she suddenly forces herself to calm down, relaxing her hands as she remembers she's in the library, before asking him, "Why is everyone on this team so emotionally manipulative?"

"Morine-san," he begins, while also pinching his nose in thought.

Yuki cuts him off, "You, Akashi, Haizaki, those coaches – all of you like to play games, on and off the court. Every decision made is for some expected outcome – I hate it." Her comments started as a mumble and ended in a biting tone. "And for some one supposedly 'so close' to me," Yuki creates quote signs with her fingers, "You'd think you'd have asked to start calling me 'Yuki-san' at this point."

After what seeming like an eternity, Midorima tells her, "It's a two-way street."

"Well, sometimes it feels like only one of us is walking on it."

"Y-Yuki-san," the pause is miniscule; Midorima plays it off well, but there's a slight resistance to him saying her name. She'd never admit this to anyone, except for possibly Satsuki, but hearing her name out of his mouth gave her an undeniable sense of satisfaction. So much so that she almost missed Midorima state, "At least tell me briefly what's going on for my sake."

"What for?"

He sighs. "You might not see him every practice, but the rest of us have to deal with Haizaki when he decides to show up."

Yuki tilts her head a bit. "Has there been a problem?"

"His attitude has somehow gotten worse."

She feels bad after his comment. Yuki'd had no idea that she'd be impacting everyone on the first-string so drastically. "I had to make a couple deals with the coaches." She gazes up at Midorima before continuing. His blush has paled, but only slightly. "I haven't even told Kuroko this yet, but they've moved the deadline for him to show off his efforts."

Surprise flashes in his eyes. "How much have they moved it up?"

Yuki puts her face in her hands, the stress finally showing itself. "To next week."

Looking at her now, Midorima can tell this deadline is weighing heavily on her. Yuki is wound up and exhausted looking. "They've cut off almost three weeks of time."

"Akashi's suggestion," she glares at the table. "And to make matters worse, this is just for Kise to join the team, but it doesn't mean they'll keep him. Some sort of event concerning him and Haizaki in the future, I believe."

"Two birds, one stone."

"Like I said," Yuki grinds out pointedly. "Everything is a game for someone else's benefit." She sighs, rubbing her face with her hands. "I'm an awful person and an even worse friend."

"I don't think anyone would have anticipated this."

"I should have," she fires back. "I should have, and I wish I did. I-I hate feeling this way – the things people love in my hands." Yuki runs her finger through her hair.

Midorima watches her unravel partially in front of him. He can tell she's close to having a full-on breakdown. "It's in Fate's hands."

She says nothing, but inwardly, Yuki's debating screaming. She opts to change the topic of discussion instead. "Can we talk about literally anything else?"

"Do you often travel with random individuals to the hospital?" He slightly tilts his head at her.

Yuki lifts her hands from her head before shaking it. "You heard her story – she knows my family well. Sought out companionship."

"Hn."

"Well, if we're going to be asking each other questions: why do you volunteer at the hospital?"

"Is it really considered volunteering if I'm at the hospital for my father?" Midorima looks at her pointedly.

"Middle school is pretty young for that, no?" She can't resist asking him questions like his does to her when he's confused about her actions.

"Surely you must understand the need to work hard for your parents."

Yuki crossed her arms, but nods. "To an extent, yes." However, the longer Yuki stares at Midorima and then down at herself, the more she starts to think about how young they are – like Kimi likes to remind her. "You really like basketball though, right?"

His eyes start to look a bit harsher than they did previously. She's blatantly touched upon a topic that Midorima would much rather not think about. "It looks good for schools. We're expected to join a club; you know this."

"So, he likes it a lot." Yuki thinks, a small smile appearing on her face. What she says to Midorima is a bit different. "It's too early to be thinking that far ahead though. Wouldn't you much rather enjoy the present?"

Yuki feels an impulse to grab Midorima's hand, which also happens to be dangerously close to the cutest lucky item he's brought to their studying sessions yet, but she restrains herself. While she fights the internal battle, her eyes flicking from his lucky item to his left hand, and then ultimately to her hand, Midorima can't stop himself from thinking about how dense she can be at times.

And how obvious.

"Have you no goals yourself?"

Her internal battle is over; she places her palms on the table and breathes in deeply before giving Midorima a large smile. For as serious a topic as the two had been having, all Midorima can think is that she finally looks at ease.

"When I find mine out, you'll be the first to know, Shintarou-san."

Despite the frustration tutoring session from the previous day, Yuki had been in higher spirits. The school day seemed to fly by without complication.

Well, until Yuki was running a bit late to practice after class. Her teacher held her up after class to inform her that her efforts afterschool seemed to be paying off.

Good news; bad timing.

After thanking her teacher for the recognition, which certainly felt like a relief after all the insanity she's been through, Yuki practically sprinted from the room before fast walking as quickly as she could down the halls.

Something that always troubled Yuki was the after-hours of school; the halls were less active with less students present. Most of the students were outside practicing if need be for their respective sport, other clubs were quiet in their rooms.

There was another, newer reason as to why Yuki was troubled during the after-hours. Haizaki. While the team, the coaches, and Yuki herself recognized his efforts to come to practice often – one of the main reasons being Yuki – Haizaki still had his moments of ditching to go and do who knows what in his newfound free time. Despite Nijimura's repetitive actions – namely beating Haizaki up – Haizaki still found ways to weasel his way out of being a dedicated ball player.

She couldn't fathom how any of the teachers actually dealt with Haizaki. The instances on and off the court were enough to drive anyone crazy.

What troubled Yuki the most was that ever since her first run-in with him in the halls, she'd grown terrified of any repeat offenses of seeing him.

As she continued to rush through the halls, from what Yuki could see, no one was in front of her, especially no one tall enough with silver-gray hair to block her path to the gym. She heaved a sigh of relief, and slowed her pace, the gym doors just barely in sight.

"You're so fast, Yuki."

She almost stopped breathing. She refused to turn around – to look at him.

She'd jinxed herself.

He whispers in her ear again, goosebumps shivering down her arms, her legs, her spine. "I was thinking that we could finally go on that date."

"N-not during practice, Haizaki-san," she says with a slight stutter, staring straightforwardly.

He turns her around gently, directing her over to the clock on the wall. If she focuses her entire attention on the clock, Yuki can slightly hear it ticking away.

Slowly, Haizaki moves to block her field of vision. "Well," he drawls out, clearly enjoying the look of terror in her eyes. "I thought the same, but then I really got to thinkin'. I'm late," Haizaki points to himself, a smile lighting up his features in a way that makes Yuki go cold. He then points to Yuki smugly, "And you're late. So, what's stopping us from just not showing up?"

He might have asked a question, but Yuki can tell it's purely rhetorical. She's starting to realize that nothing stops Haizaki and she's got no other options to outsmart him with now.

Haizaki brings his left hand to his face and licks his finger arrogantly. Yuki's seen this behavior before, too. Before she can say anything, he stops her. "Ahhh, I forgot. You like to play by the rules."

The confusion must have been blatantly obvious on her face because Haizaki starts laughing.

"I don't see what's funny," she grumbles out at him before attempting to walk away. He thwarts her progress by standing in front of her again.

"Come on, Yuki, don't be like that," Haizaki grins wolfishly at her. Her goosebumps won't leave her alone. "I got an idea."

"I have one as well."

He tilts his head, "And what's that?"

"Leave me alone."

Yuki knows it's the situation, but she can't help but feel that the hallway has dropped a few degrees since Haizaki started speaking with her. His face still wears a smile, but she can see how angry her comment has made him simply from the way his eyes seemed to grow more crazed looking.

He lowers himself to her eye level, probably an attempt to instill more fear in her, but all Yuki can think is that he's mocking her based upon her size. "Pretend you don't feel well."

"Excuse me?"

Haizaki places his hand on her shoulder and gives her a light squeeze. "You're feeling sick. I don't care about what exactly you come up with, but we're going to walk into the gym, and we're going to let the team know you're out of commission today."

"I feel – "

"You might feel fine," he locks his eyes with hers before moving in closer, "but you certainly don't look well at the moment." Haizaki positions himself behind Yuki, placing one hand on the small of her back, and one hand rubbing her left arm. He's doing anything he can to make himself look like a kind, caring upperclassman.

"You'll tell them you're sick. I'll let them know I'm assisting in getting you home. You get it?"

Yuki can feel what she assumes to be bile rising in her throat. She might have been fine before, but she definitely feels sick now. Yuki barely nods before they walk into the gym. Her face is pale, almost ashen, whereas Haizaki dons a mask of what can only be considered to be worry.

Yuki knows eyes are on her, especially based upon the close contact she's engaging in with Haizaki. She figures that if she looked up, she'd meet the eyes of a very intrigued, red-eyed boy, a concerned blue-eyed one, and a put-off green-eyed one. What she doesn't realize is that she'd miss the controlled, but jealous look of a different upperclassman – not directed at her, but at Haizaki.

"Hey, Cap'," Haizaki flags Nijimura down. "Saw her in the hall; wasn't feelin' too well."

Yuki can sense Nijimura's approach, but she refuses to look up from the floor. "Morine-san," Nijimura speaks to her directly, ignoring anything else Haizaki is saying beyond the fact that she feels unwell. "Would you like me to pass a message along to the coaches that you won't be attending the rest of practice?"

She attempts to find her voice while Haizaki increases the pressure on her left arm. Yuki slightly nods, before a raspy, "Yes, please," leaves her mouth. The pressure on her arm subsides, but the feeling of a weight keeping her head in place never dissipates.

All she wants to do is look at Nijimura's face, but she knows the minute she moves her gaze from the floor to his face, she'll start crying.

"So, you'll go tell the coaches then?" Haizaki asks the captain. Yuki can only assume Nijimura nods in response, but she wishes she looked at his face to gauge his reaction. "Well, then, I think I'll help her on her way home."

All noise seemed to leave the gymnasium. It was so quiet, Yuki felt like she shouldn't even breathe, or she'd disrupt whatever energy had crept into this part of the building. She feels multiple pairs of eyes on her, but she refuses to look at any of them.

Had this been a different time when she was stronger and more confident in her abilities, she might have been able to tell Haizaki off – or at least praise him for having the ability to come up with a plan like this just based on the coincidental timing of them in the halls together. However, Yuki felt nothing but fear as she hears Nijimura walk away, Nijimura having missed Haizaki's final remark about taking her home.

"You're looking pale, Yuki. Should I help give you a lift?" Haizaki whispers near her. His hair tickles her cheeks as he starts to move away from her.

Before she can even respond, Haizaki has her in the air, having tucked his arms underneath her armpits and knees. The motion causes rifts in her stomach. "If you wanted me to be sick before, you're really doing an excellent job now," she hisses out.

He ignores her, but she can tell he's enjoying himself. Yuki closes her eyes to focus on her breathing while Haizaki begins to steer the two of them back towards the way they came. She wishes Momoi was in the first-string gym today instead of herself. Yuki can just imagine her rushing over, yelling out for "Kiki-chan!" and she smiles at the thought before frowning again at her current predicament.

"Haizaki." It's Aomine's voice, that much is certain. She can't see him as her view is obstructed by Haizaki's shoulder, but she's sure that he probably doesn't look so happy from the tone.

"Yeah?"

"How 'bout you let someone else take her home?" Aomine asks gruffly, and all Yuki can think is that if she really were ill, she'd definitely prefer Aomine to take her.

Haizaki repositions Yuki a bit while turning slightly to look at him. "I got this; you should practice."

"I think you should practice, seein' as you rarely show up."

The atmosphere is so tense. Yuki knows she's not the only one anticipating a fight.

"You underclassmen say the nerviest shit sometimes, I'll give ya that," Haizaki says while looking at Yuki. "I'm not gonna practice; I'm helping out our dear assistant manager here." She can see how annoyed he's getting in his facial features and can only imagine how much worse it'll get the longer this drags on. Nijimura's nowhere in sight; Yuki can't seem to see any of the coaches whatsoever.

"Knock it off," she mumbles out.

"That better not be directed at me." Haizaki says that to her lowly before he turns more towards Aomine, and suddenly the entire rest of the gym is in her sights. Aomine's the closest with his arms crossed but a wrathful gleam in his eyes, then Midorima and Akashi behind him, with Kise and Murasakibara taking up the rear.

"Muu~ look at how pale Morinecchi is!" Kise bursts out at Akashi.

"I'm sure someone's presence is helping to make her feel worse," Midorima stated testily.

Haizaki starts laughing, "Man, you all got something to say, huh?"

Akashi, ever the diplomat, approaches Haizaki and Yuki. "I think you should put her down. One of us will take her to the nurse's office and we'll move from there."

"I agree."

Everyone ceases whatever they were doing or about to do. Haizai turns towards the head coach, while the rest of the colorful-haired players moves closer to hear him.

"Come on, Coach, don't be like that."

The lights flash across his glasses as he glares at Haizaki. "Were you not coming to practice again today?"

"I was helping this one," he lifts Yuki a bit higher. "Lost track of time."

"Someone with a better track record should take her to the nurse's office. You and I will be having a word, Haizaki." He turns around and begins to return to his office before turning to give one last long glance at the upperclassman. "Now."

Haizaki starts squeezing Yuki's shoulder and leg harshly, but he seems to be deep in thought. She refuses to cry out, but he's seriously starting to hurt her again like the last time. From how tense his jaw is, Yuki knows there's no reasoning with him at this point, though she does try to kick his upper right arm, which only seems to infuriate him more.

"I'll take her," Nijimura approaches calmly. She can tell he's unhappy with his fellow teammate, but that he's also trying to put on a relaxed face for her sake. "Haizaki."

"I heard ya the first time."

"Then give her to me."

As much as Yuki would love to be held by her first long-term crush, she can't help but feel mildly disturbed at how she's been reduced to nothing more than an object that the two are "sharing."

"How about I just go myself?" She asks softly. "Save everyone the trouble."

"Nah."

"No."

Yuki rolled her eyes. "The coach is waiting for you, remember?"

Haizaki squeezed her leg again, plastering a malicious smile on his face. "How could I forget?"

"Then you should probably get over there before he makes us all run extra laps," Nijimura grinds out, his eyes taking on a steely look.

"Maybe it would help the team out if you all ran, huh?"

"Don't do this, you moron. Just go. Save me the trouble for once, would you?" Yuki can hear the strained tone in Nijimura's voice. She cannot imagine how many times that he's had to get Haizaki to do something, or at least try and listen to directions.

Yuki senses a shift in Haizaki's behavior before he drops her in the most magnificently unkind way possible: straight down, landing on her right hip. For someone so "gentle" with her before, Haizaki certainly makes Yuki feels like a sack of rotten potatoes now.

As Haizaki walks away, Yuki gingerly rubs her hip, wincing as she does so. If she needed a reason to go to the nurse before, she has plenty a reason now.

Nijimura "tsks" at Haizaki before moving closer to Yuki. He's clearly angry at his fellow teammate's behavior, but he doesn't seem to want to drag Yuki down with his mood. Nijimura bends down partially – seeing as he normally dwarfs over her small stature – and offers her a hand. "Never expected him to just drop you."

Huffing slightly in pain, she grabs his hand graciously. "If I had, I'd have tried to remove myself before that point." Standing on her legs, Yuki is shaky, and her right leg hurts due to the injury Haizaki has caused her. "I feel like such a problem. I'm sorry, Nijimura-senpai."

"Well, don't be," he tells her. His tone perplexes her. Nijimura seems to be trying to talk to her calmly, but Yuki feels she's annoyed him in some way. "Let's just get you to the nurse."

"What's the damage?"

Teikou's nurse, Suzuki Rio, had just finished looking over at Yuki's leg. Nijimura had stayed the entire time, probably to take notes back to the coaches to further Haizaki's punishment. Based on how he looked earlier, Nijimura's going to be out for blood – far beyond just beating Haizaki up.

The nurse, an individual Yuki could only describe as beautiful, with her chestnut waves and chocolate-colored eyes, let out a "hm," before responding. "Definitely some bruising of the right leg that I anticipate lasting for a while. The smaller bruises are less concerning than the one on the hip."

"Smaller bruises?" Nijimura asked her in surprise. He looks over at Yuki, "Did you fall earlier?"

Yuki pales slightly. The last thing she wants to tell him is that his teammate not only harassed her and dropped her, but he also bruised her with his own hands. Not that she had anticipated marks appearing from Haizaki squeezing her.

Suzuki intervenes on her behalf, "I doubt that they're from a fall. You probably banged into something without realizing." She pauses to grab a notepad from her desk. "I'll write you some time intervals to put the ice on the largest bruise for today, and then you can repeat based on your pain levels."

Yuki coughs lightly, before asking the nurse after she hands her the sheet of paper. "Am I all right to stay for practice? Or should I head home?"

Suzuki looks up contemplatively. Yuki can see her thinking about the alternatives based upon her facial features alone. "I anticipated giving you an ice pack so that you could use that on the way, but I'm realizing you'd need to stay here until someone could help get you home."

Yuki thinks about it for a bit before realizing her parents wouldn't be able to get her at this time, so she'd be sitting for a while. They usually wait until Ayako gets home before venturing too far from the house.

"I'll take her."

"Eh, Nijimura-senpai?"

He stares at Yuki before looking back at Suzuki. "I had to leave practice earlier anyways; I already talked about it with the coaches, so this works for me. I just gotta let them know about Yuki's leg before we head out."

Suzuki nods at the two of them. "Then we'll wait here for you."

Nijimura walks quickly out the door, heading back towards the gymnasium. Yuki watches him go in shock.

She sees Suzuki move to her desk out of the corner of her eye. Sitting down, Suzuki crosses her legs and turns to watch Yuki. "I think he likes you."

"Absolutely not." Yuki's face is so red, she can feel a burning sensation across her face.

"Mh-hmm," Suzuki beams at her, the light from the room only accentuating how brightly she's smiling at Yuki. "That's what everyone says when they're in denial. He seemed so concerned."

"He's just helping me, really."

"Rightttt~" Suzuki chuckles to herself. However, after she checks her notes again, a frown dons her face. "How did you get those smaller bruises, Morine-san? They looked like handprints."

Yuki shakes her head, before clamping her lips shut. She knows Suzuki is just doing her job, but the last thing Yuki needs is there to be yet another altercation concerning herself and Haizaki.

Taking her silence as an indicator for a more serious problem, Suzuki wheels her chair over, rolling across the floor in a fluid motion. "I promise I won't let what you tell me leave this room." Suzuki places her hand on Yuki's to assuage what Suzuki can only assume to be Yuki's fears.

Yuki's mouth is dry, and her response comes out scratchy. "Please don't tell Senpai."

"I won't."

"The reason I have an injury to my hip is the same reason I have bruises on my arms and legs."

"Your arms as well, huh?"

Yuki nods. "I have a very mean upperclassman on the basketball team."

Suzuki crosses her arms, looking upset. "Is that so?"

She receives a nod again, but this time, Yuki's gone quiet.

"How long has this been going on for, Morine-san?"

Yuki shrugs. Her hair covers a portion of her face – thankfully in Yuki's opinion. She doesn't want to show the nurse how vulnerable she feels about things like this.

"Am I the first person you've told?" Suzuki sounds calm in her questioning, but Yuki can imagine she's unhappy at the potential prospect of Yuki not disclosing this information to anyone.

"About the physical harassment, yes," Yuki's voice cracks slightly. She knows she's been hurt on purpose, but vocalizing it breaks her a bit. Yuki understands this isn't normal but talking about it seems like more of a bother to other people than she's willing to trouble them with. "A few of my friends are aware he targets me." She sighs, "We all know he is a bully, Suzuki-sensei."

Before Suzuki can ask her anything else, Yuki flinches slightly. "That isn't leaving this room, right?"

"I did say that, yes, but I think this goes beyond – "

"Please, please don't tell anyone," Yuki stares at Suzuki dead-on. Her face appears fearful, but her eyes look determined. "I want to handle this my own way, not by having the adults do it for me."

Suzuki looks at her for a long time without saying anything. Why a child would ask her to refrain from helping a student in need confounds her. She'd be an awful adult and an even worse nurse if she allowed an injured student to continue on this path. At the same time, Suzuki understood that look – that was the look of a fighter, not someone that'd given up. She wanted nothing more than to nurture that strong spirit that existed within the girl.

She rested her forehead on her palm, her chestnut hair falling around her arm gracefully. Even while she was disturbed, the nurse was still flawless, or at least that's how Yuki felt. Yuki could her Suzuki sigh before the two made eye contact again.

"If I go along with this, you realize I'm allowing you the opportunity to get hurt again?"

Yuki nods, "I know."

"Well, you have to promise me something then, Morine-san."

Yuki stares at her expectantly, clearly surprised by Suzuki's comment.

Suzuki takes a moment to organize her scattered thoughts before she gives Yuki her ultimatum. "You have to check-in with me on a weekly basis. We'll say it's for your 'fall,' but it's for you to give me updates on this classmate of yours." Suzuki pauses so that Yuki can think over what was said.

"Do you agree?"

Yuki nods.

"I also expect you to tell this to the boy that was in here with you a bit ago."

Yuki's jaw drops in shock. "To Nijimura-senpai?! I couldn't tell him." She starts to shake her head, panic evident in her eyes. "He's the last person I want to share this with."

"Is he not the captain of the basketball team?"

"He is! That's why I can't let him know; it'll cause more issues for that other player."

Suzuki glares at her. "If I only can check in with you one day a week, I need someone else to make sure you're taken care of all the other times."

She can tell Yuki looks distraught, but Suzuki knows the potential dangers of dealing with darker situations alone. She doesn't want to see one of the students walking that path.

"It's either him, or I tell the coaches."

"I asked you not to tell Senpai, Suzuki-sensei."

"And I'm not," Suzuki pauses to point at Yuki. "You are. You are going to tell him, and you're going to have to come together to figure out ways to ensure you're not alone with your harasser."

The two can hear footsteps approaching the office. They both figure it's most likely Nijimura returning from his conversation with the coaches.

"Last chance, Morine-san."

Yuki nods, giving in to Suzuki's demands, before frowning at her hip.

For someone so attached to basketball, why is the ball never in her court?

Nijimura wasn't happy with her, that much was evident based upon his reaction to the revelations she provided him with. However, she knew he was downright livid with Haizaki. In all his time of playing with Haizaki, Nijimura had never expected him to pull something like this.

He'd surround himself with girls, that much Nijimura had seen for certain, but he'd never seen his teammate behave violently towards one. To think that he'd take out all his frustration with the team on Yuki was unacceptable, and had the circumstances been different, Nijimura would probably knock him out for it on the spot.

What Nijimura couldn't believe was Yuki's flat-out refusal that anything be done about him. She'd begged Nijimura to not tell the coaches beyond what was seen by the other teammates today. They both had no other proof – save for Yuki's word – that Haizaki was the one that hurt her anyways.

So, while walking, keeping in mind Yuki's injured hip, the two planned. They thought up and organized ways in which she'd be with someone at all times. She'd have to run it by a couple of the players, namely Kuroko and Midorima, but based upon the ways in which they'd seen Haizaki react towards Yuki, Nijimura anticipated them coming to her aid without complaint.

It was later at night after a few hours at home. The crisp night air blew into her room from her slightly ajar window. She could the trees moving outside, the rustling barely audible.

There were a myriad of reactions awaiting Yuki when she arrived at her house with a new, mysterious upperclassman, and it took everything in her power to resist having a breakdown halfway through the conversations that her family – and Kimi – decided to drag Nijimura into.

Naturally, Kimi and her father cornered him into answering questions about basketball, his position, how he knew her, so on, so forth. Her mother was more interested in his life and his studies – of course, Yuki had thought earlier. That's all her mother ever cares about.

And then there was Ayako. Her sister was enthralled with the idea of an older, attractive student taking home her clueless sister. Yuki watched the cogs turn in Ayako's head the entire time she pestered Nijimura with questions concerning his relationship with her sister.

Yuki was almost grateful when he said he had to leave, even though she was sad to seem him go. However, Yuki couldn't help but feel that her family removed any potential romance from blossoming between them with how embarrassing they were acting.

What haunted her the most as she stared out the window at the night sky was the last comment Njimura had said to her privately before he left,

"You don't have to always do everything alone."

A difficult comment to hear when that's all she'd ever known.

Entry #6: Lost

I haven't written in a while, so I apologize to you, my pseudo-Pillow Book. I had hoped that even when everything got bad, I could still write my updates, my entries.

I talked to Kuroko and Kimi. I'm basically out here asking for miracles, but Kimi keeps telling me not to worry. Midorima would probably continue to talk about everything being in Fate's hands.

Maybe it is? Who knows?

The only things I know for sure are that I still hate math, Haizaki is probably going to come after me yet again, Kuroko's got one shot at making the first-string, and I cannot stop thinking about Nijimura-senpai.

My priorities are a mess and I've seriously been in a losing battle with Time for so long. I have no idea what the future holds, and I can only put all the feelings of determination, hope, and care that I can and send them Kuroko's way.

Is this all a mistake? Or is Midorima right? I wish his blessed little stars would answer me some time so I could figure this all out.

Despite all the drama with Haizaki, some things never changed in Yuki's life.

Like her friends.

Satsuki wants ice cream.

Translation: Aomine wants ice cream, and everyone else is invited.

Satsuki's random phone call was the initial domino in her plan to eventually invite Kise, Midorima, Kuroko, and Yuki to get ice cream after the disaster with Haizaki and the success in having Kise on the team.

Unfortunately, a certain dessert-loving giant got the memo and decided he was going as well – something along the lines of wanting a sweet treat.

Somehow, Satsuki even got Akashi to accept, leaving Yuki with potentially the wackiest group of people to go and eat ice cream with.

Out of fear of being alone with her pink-haired friend, a snack fiend, a psychopath, a basketball nutcase, a living ghost, a Fate-lucky item worshipper, and a model, Yuki decided to ask the most normal person she could knew to come along with them – Nijimura.

She would have never had the confidence to do so, especially after the chaotic disaster that was Nijimura's introduction to her family, but she was desperate.

And if there's a will, there's certainly a way.

"Ice cream?"

Yuki nodded.

"With that lot?"

She nodded again.

Nijimura smiled at her before snarkily replying to her. "Not in a million years."

It took everything for her to refrain from pouting at him. She couldn't help but want to see him outside of classes – outside of the gym. It was devastating that he'd turn her down.

"Why not?"

He crossed his arms at her, before leaning against the wall. "Beyond maybe Satsuki and Aomine, that's an insane bunch of people to hang out with, you gotta admit."

"That's why I invited you."

He looked at her and laughed a bit. "Trying to push the crazies onto me, are you?"

"Well, I really can't stand that purple, lumbering giant," Yuki replied, her tone coming off almost grumpily to Nijimura.

"That's brutal. I'll have you know that 'purple, lumbering giant' is a great ball player."

"With an awful attitude."

Nijimura waves his hands in surrender. "All right, all right, fair enough." He starts moving away from the wall. "I really can't make it though."

"Not at all?"

"You know I've been busy recently." She affirms his comment with a nod. "I've got some stuff to do this weekend, or I might have considered it."

Yuki sighs and repositions her bookbag. "I doubt I'll survive this adventure, honestly. This might be the last time you see me."

"Well, you're too stubborn to drop dead at this point." He's poking fun at her now. She rolls her eyes at him. If she wasn't dealing with an upperclassman, she might have been tempted to smack him on the arm.

"Kind of hard to not want to drop dead when the most normal person there is myself."

Nijimura only gives her a passing smile before starting to walk away. As he rounds the corner, she sees him turn around partially, "Hmmm, you know what would have made me go?"

She motions for him to continue with a wave.

"If you asked me to go with you alone, Yuki-san."

A/N: So much dialogue going on in this chapter, I don't know why all the conversations carried on for so long, but they did. I wanted to flesh out some feelings that a lot of character had, which was why there was such a big focus on Midorima initially, then Haizaki and Nijimura. Some of my dialogue choices are probably a little too OOC, but I felt like it was necessary to flesh them out the way I did. I think it works for most of them, but if you all feel it doesn't, definitely let me know.

I'm having a lot of fun making Yuki's decisions impact real canonical events that we see happen in KnB, so I hope it's all aligning well for everyone. Obviously, in the case of Haizaki, it might be strange that I've decided to have Yuki ensure that people keep quiet about it – and of course, there's no way a school nurse would allow physical violence to recur on a student, but Yuki's really stubborn, and I wanted to emphasize that point to the farthest extent that I could. I also want to show that she is strong enough mentally despite a lot of the events thrown at her.

As always, thank you all for reading. Please leave a review if you like.