Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Kuroko no Basket!

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...

1st year – Too Academy

When the weekend was over Mac forced herself up and gathered her courage to start a new day and face the reality of her new situation. She was surprised at how much the breakup affected her. She felt a loss and while she knew that she couldn't keep holding onto Kiyoshi she still found herself wanting to see him and talk to him. Even before they got together he had been someone strong and reliable for her to lean on.

She grimaced as she saw herself in the mirror. Now she understood Taiga's expressions much better seeing how she looked like. In short; she was a mess. Her hair even messier than normal, there were shadows under her eyes that made her look sick. She really needed a shower.

Freshly showered and freshened up found her looking better, but still not like she normally looked. Her face was drawn, but she forced herself to smile and loosen her face up again. She wasn't going to let this stop her, she had to keep going.

"Come on, Nao," Mac said when she finally was happy with the way she looked. "It's time to go and see Professor Sato and have our magic lesson for the day."

Nao barked and jumped up into her arms and snuggled close. She smiled slightly, the first real smile since the break-up. She was so lucky to have Nao with her.

She said the words activating her Port-Key and felt the familiar hook behind her naval pull her away and had her landing at her professor's house.

...

Sato's house

"Good morning, Potter-san," Sato greeted her.

"Morning, Professor," Mac murmured back.

"Take a seat," he told her and watched her as she did.

Mac pulled out her Defence book and he nodded pleased before he started the lesson. She wrote down notes and asked questions even as it was harder to focus on the lesson, but at the same time, she felt herself being pulled into something normal and her thoughts were finally distracted from her break-up.

"Good, Potter-san," Sato finally said ending the lesson. "Now, I want you to take a break and then we'll focus on your practical defence after the break."

Mac nodded and got up.

"Oh, and I forgot to tell you," Sato said when she had reached the door leading to the gardens. She turned to look at him and saw him looking a little concerned. "Granger-san is here with Sachi. They have a long weekend at their school."

Mac hid her reaction behind a blank mask, but nodded and walked outside feeling the fresh air hit her making her inhale deeply as she closed her eyes. She felt tense and her thoughts circled back to where they had been all weekend.

She sighed and walked further into the gardens lost in thought. She spotted a broom and before really thinking about it she reached for it and it met her halfway. She blinked before pushing the strange occurrence out of her mind. She mounted it and kicked off feeling the freedom coming from being in the air right away.

Nao barked from the ground but she kept flying higher and faster, needing to feel the air around her as she felt her mind disconnect as she enjoyed the flying. She flew for a while before she finally landed and immediately was jumped on by a very unhappy fox that seemed to be scolding her.

"Ah, sorry, Nao," Mac said.

"Can you understand him?" a voice asked and Mac tensed as she looked up to see Hermione watching her.

It was clear that she must have been watching her for a little while, hidden in the shadows.

"Were you spying on me?" Mac frowned at her.

"No! I was just going outside to watch the gardens," Hermione defended herself. "It was a coincidence that you were here already!"

Mac scowled and turned away from the bushy-haired girl and put the broom back where she found it. She wasn't in the mood to deal with the nosy girl today.

"You're a good flier," Hermione said having followed Mac.

Mac stared at her without saying anything and Hermione swallowed nervously, but instead of going away like Mac hoped she would she seemed determined to talk to her.

"Your dad was a good flyer too, you know," Hermione said. "He was a good Quidditch player. He was on the team from his second year at Hogwarts."

Mac had frozen when she heard Hermione talk about her dad and something inside of her tightened in pain.

"What?" Mac whispered and looked at the British girl who stopped talking. "How do you know that?"

Mac took a step forward and glared at Hermione unable to stop the reaction.

"Read it in one of your precious books?" she sneered. "Huh? Did you?"

"N-no," Hermione shook her head. "I-I didn't! Promise!"

Mac clenched her fists and fought to control her temper. She just wanted to snap at someone and Hermione made it so easy, but she tried to control herself.

"Then where did you learn that?" Mac asked.

"His name was on the trophies in the trophy room at Hogwarts!" Hermione said her eyes wide and worried as she took another step back. "I remember reading his name on one of the badges there! Promise!"

Mac stared at her for a long moment before she exhaled and looked away from her. She tried not to let the other girl see her lose more of her composure, but right now her control over her emotions and actions weren't the best.

"Please…just…stop," Mac whispered defeated. "I can't take it. Just…stop."

"What?" Hermione asked.

Mac looked at her and didn't notice that both Sachi and Sato had come outside and was watching with concern, well in Sato's case while Sachi was just rolling her eyes at the dramatic scene. Sato was about to interrupt when Mac continued.

"You think I like it that you and everyone else seem to know my parents better than me?" Mac asked. "Do you think I like being…ignorant about their lives, about who they were? Do you? I never knew them; I didn't even know their names until a couple of years ago! Do you think I like it?"

Hermione gaped at her and Mac turned away from her to hide the pain and tears in her eyes. She hoped the other girl would leave now; she had to get control over her emotions again. She had to keep herself together.

"Then why won't you go back and talk to someone who did know them?" Hermione probed. "There's many at Hogwarts that knew them, Potter."

"You don't understand, do you?!" Mac snapped at her turning again and glared at Hermione. "Why would I go back to them? They left me with people who hated me! They never did anything for me! Why should I go back to that? I won't! I won't leave my friends! I won't leave the ones who actually care about me and not about the girl-who-lived or whatever! Stop thinking that you know everything!"

Mac breathed harshly as she gave one last glare at Hermione and walked past her and ignored her professor and daughter standing there but felt bad that they had seen her lose control like that. She hadn't planned on saying any of that, and definitely not to Hermione Granger. She walked into the office used as a classroom and felt herself breathing harshly and her hands were shaking.

...

Too Academy

Mac was still in a bad mood when she arrived at her muggle school. Her professor had sent her home telling her to take some time to cool off and she had left without saying anything. She really didn't want to attend school, but she had to. She couldn't just skip the entire day, not now. She would go crazy just sitting at home anyway.

The classroom was filled when she arrived and she saw Daiki already sleeping at his desk with his head resting on his arms leaned over the desk. She swallowed as she tried to remain calm at the sight of her best friend. She wanted to run to him and throw herself at him asking him to take all the painful feelings away, to make everything okay again. She wanted him to hug her and tell her that she was okay like he did when they were kids.

Then she remembered what Kiyoshi had said and implied and she felt uncomfortable and a strange feeling had her stomach twisted in knots. She inhaled deeply and forced her face to take the blank mask she had worked so hard to make perfect back when she was still living with the Dursley's.

Mac sat down at her desk and pulled up her books before she turned her head to stare out of the window. Her mind drifted as she stared unseeingly out of the window and didn't really notice when the teacher came and started to class.

Somehow Mac managed to get through the day, and she was careful to avoid Daiki as much as she could. She was in luck that he was preoccupied with Fujimoto and she ignored the way her chest hurt as she watched her best friend walk away with the other girl. He was smiling and she wanted to keep seeing his smile even if it wasn't the usual smile, the smile before the change.

"Oh, um, eh, Mac-san," Sakurai looked nervously at her and she blinked and blanked her face again as she looked at him. "Imayoshi-Captain told me to tell you that you don't have to come to practice today. He said to take the day off."

Mac frowned and opened her mouth to protest, but Sakurai was already bowing and apologizing and suddenly her protest fell away. She sighed and nodded and gathered her things together.

"Ok, thank you, Sakurai-san," Mac said. "Tell Imayoshi-Captain for me as well, ok?"

Sakurai nodded and Mac turned her attention away from him again.

...

Mac looked around the empty apartment. It felt cold and silent without her cousin or uncle at home. Well, her uncle was often away on business trips lately so it was mostly just her and Taiga here. Yet, it was better than being alone or with the Dursley's. She frowned as the thoughts about her relatives appeared again for the second time that day. It was a long time since she had really thought about them. It was Hermione's fault for bringing up her father, it had her thinking.

"Stupid," Mac muttered and Nao barked at her making Mac apologize to him.

She sat down on the sofa and leaned back resting her head on the pillow behind her and closed her eyes. She felt exhausted and she just wanted to rest and forget everything that had happened the last few days.

It was hours later that she was startled awake and jerked upright on the sofa as she tried to catch her breath. She looked up and saw Taiga watching her with a concerned look on his face, she sighed and grimaced. She should have gone to her room.

"Are you okay, Mac?" Taiga asked.

"I'm fine," Mac said sitting up properly and moved to get up.

Taiga sighed and turned away. Mac felt bad so she opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She closed her mouth and dropped her head.

"Come on, I've brought you some food from Maji," Taiga said. "I was there eating with Kuroko after practice."

Mac looked up and blinked at the gesture and she got up from the sofa and followed him to the kitchen. He was in the middle of placing the burger on the plate and the fries were in the paper holder that they normally were in.

"Eat, Mac," Taiga said pushing the food toward her and gave her a look.

Mac sat down and started to eat the burger. It was hard to eat as her throat was thick with emotions as she thought that Taiga was really different from Dudley. Dudley would never do something like this for her. She blinked furiously a few times trying to keep the tears away and bit into the burger forcing the tears back and swallowed.

"Why don't you call one of your friends, Mac?" Taiga asked a little awkwardly and when Mac looked up she saw his cheeks were red and he was not looking at her. "They will help you."

She swallowed the last bite of the burger and looked away from him again.

"I can't," she whispered. "I…just can't."

"Why?" he asked. "You need them."

Mac shrugged, "they'll overreact."

"About what?" Taiga asked. "Look, Mac. You're my cousin and, well, that makes you family. We've lived together for a long time now. I…um, I want to help you."

Mac looked back at him and while he still looked awkward and embarrassed, he also looked earnest and genuine. She felt some of her resolves start to fade and the need to talk to someone was getting too much. She bit down on her lower lip as she stared at him. He was a part of Seirin even if he hadn't met Kiyoshi yet, but he was also her cousin. Perhaps that meant that she could talk to him about it, he had already proved that he cared. He had made her eat when she didn't want to. He had all through the weekend made sure that she ate and had enough to drink.

"I…Teppei broke up with me," Mac finally said her words stumbling out of her without her really making any conscious decision to tell him. She saw his eyes widen a little and then he scowled.

"What?" he asked. "Why?"

Mac looked out of the window to avoid looking at Taiga and sighed. Nao was lying in her lap and she absently stroked his fur with one hand.

"It shouldn't have been such a surprise, really," Mac said quietly. "I knew…I knew something was different, but… I didn't want it to end. I…really liked him, but… lately…. I…"

"Mac?" Taiga's voice was softer than normal and she glanced at him. She saw the worry and confusion on his face.

"He noticed that my feelings for him had changed," Mac admitted looking down, "before I did. I guess…we just grew apart."

Taiga sighed and leaned back in his seat. He had no idea how to deal with someone who had just broken up with her boyfriend. From what he could tell she wasn't dealing very well and she probably was blaming herself for whatever had happened. He could tell she was trying to keep it all together, but she was struggling under the weight she put on herself.

"You haven't told anyone?" he asked knowing the answer.

She shook her head.

"Why?" he frowned.

"I told you," she said and looked up at him. "They'll overreact. They'll blame Teppei and I don't know what they'll do."

"They'll find out eventually anyway," Taiga pointed out. "I thought you trusted them."

"I do!" Mac frowned at him.

"Then why are you keeping something like this from them, Mac?" Taiga asked. "Are you really worried that they'll overreact, or are you worried about something else?"

Taiga got up and cleared the table while Mac was left sitting there lost in her own thoughts. Was there another reason for why she didn't want to tell her friends about the breakup? There wasn't…was there? She didn't want to tell them because she knew Seijuro and Daiki would get angry and unpredictable in their actions, she didn't want them to seek out Kiyoshi or anything… but why not tell one of the others, her mind whispered in her ear. They would tell Seijuro, she knew they would. But… there was something inside of her that was sparked by Taiga's question and she felt unsettled and worried.

You're not worth worrying over.

They have all forgotten about you by now. They're busy with their new lives and teams. Who would want to be bothered with you?

That's not true, Mac snapped at her thoughts but a cold laughter reminding her of her uncle Vernon had her cringe. She tried to push the thoughts out of her mind, but it was like it had taken root inside of her and played on her doubts and insecurities.

"Mac," Taiga was suddenly in front of her and she blinked confusedly. "You ok?"

Mac nodded and swallowed, "I'm fine Taiga."

"You look pale," he said concerned.

"I was just thinking about what you said…" she said. "And…you're right. I might be worried that…they won't have time for me or will think that I'm a bother."

Taiga didn't really know what to say; again he stared at her without a proper reply. He sighed at himself and tried to think about the many rants Alex had gone into and while he had mainly been interested in the basketball talks he knew she had ranted about a boyfriend or two… just what did she say that helped her? Taiga suddenly wished that Himuro was there, he was so much better at remembering what Alex was saying… Ice-cream!

Taiga walked to the freezer and pulled out a box of chocolate ice-cream and hoped that it was a good choice. He took a spoon and placed the ice-cream on the living room table before he dragged a confused Mac to the sofa and sat her down.

"Taiga?" she looked at him confused.

"I heard Ice-cream should help," Taiga said not looking at her.

Mac blinked and looked from Taiga to the ice-cream on the table before she smiled a little. His care was evident and she felt her tears fall from her eyes without her permission.

"Eh? It wasn't supposed to make you cry!" Taiga panicked. "Please, stop crying! Shh, it's going to be ok… I won't force you to eat the ice-cream, okay? I'm sorry…"

Mac barely heard his panicked ranting and if she had been more alert she would have found his panic adorable and amusing. She found herself reaching out and grabbed his arm and pulled until he was next to her having stopped panicking, but was now staring at her wide-eyed like she was going to snap any minute.

"Please," she whispered having calmed down a little. "Just…sit with me?"

Taiga nodded and she curled up on the sofa and he leaned back toward the pillows and felt her lean against him. She reached for the ice-cream and started to eat it without really saying anything. They sat in silence and Mac felt a little better.

"You're not a bother, Mac," Taiga suddenly said staring at the TV that Mac had turned on a few minutes ago. "They don't think that I'm sure."

Mac cuddled closer to her cousin in response but otherwise didn't say anything. It was the first time she had really felt this relaxed in his presence and she felt better knowing that he was there. She smiled slightly and focused on her chocolate ice-cream.

"Thank you, Taiga," Mac whispered when it was dark outside and it was time for her to go to bed. "Thank you."

He smiled at her and nodded, but he seemed to have used all of his abilities to talk about emotions and stuff so he remained silent.

...

The next morning (after a rather tense day of magic lessons) she was sitting outside the school by herself. It was still thirty minutes until the classes started and she was among the first ones there. She stared at the blue sky and the sun when her phone started to ring.

Mac stared at her mobile and the ringtone was growing louder as she stared at Seijuro's name on the screen. She grimaced and felt a little unsure before she remembered Taiga's words from the night before.

"Hello Seijuro," Mac answered the phone.

"What's wrong?" he immediately asked and Mac wasn't sure if she felt warmed by the immediate concern from her friend or exaggerated that he could read her voice that well even over the phone.

"Well, hello to you too, Mac, how are you? I'm doing fine," Mac said sarcastically.

"Mac," Seijuro warned and she sighed. "Why does it sound like you've been crying?"

Mac grimaced and cursed his superb observation skills and the fact that he knew her. She leaned back slightly and stared at the sky again as she deliberated what to say.

"I guess you could say something is wrong…" Mac admitted finally letting herself confide in her friend. She had to stop worrying about everything else from there on and just focus on what she could do. She told him everything that had happened with Kiyoshi and how she had handled it. She didn't tell him about Hermione, but right now that wasn't what she needed to talk about.

Seijuro was silent for a while as he listened to her talk and Mac felt her leg start twitching as she waited for him to say something.

"I'll hurt him," Seijuro said his voice dark and she could almost feel the dark aura through the phone.

"No! Seijuro, that's why I didn't say anything!" Mac protested. "Please, just… leave Teppei alone. It wasn't his fault… We just changed, ok? Don't blame him."

"He hurt you, Mac," Seijuro snapped. "I don't approve of anyone hurting you!"

Mac sighed, "I know and I appreciate your concern, Seijuro. Just, please, listen to me on this. I don't need to worry about you going after Teppei or anyone else, ok? I just need you and your support. You're doing enough just being here, ok?"

She heard him grumble something, but he consented after a while. She noticed that there were more students in the schoolyard now and she could make out several from her team from where she sat. They were talking with each other or other friends as they crossed the yard. She saw Susa and Imayoshi come toward the school from the dorms and remembered Susa telling her that he was living there.

"School starts soon," Mac sighed. "I'll call you later, Seijuro."

"Ok, and Mac…" he paused, "call me if you need to talk, ok?"

"Thank you, Seijuro," Mac said smiling slightly and her insecurities settled some.

...

Seijuro scowled as he hung up the phone after talking to Mac, he wished he was closer so he could go and see her. He knew she must be very upset and he could hear the sadness in her voice as she talked. It was burning in him the need to go and make it right. Mac was meant to be smiling, she was meant to be happy and have everything she wanted. He wanted to destroy Kiyoshi for breaking her heart, but of course, Mac had forbidden that and (while he didn't like it) didn't want to upset her and had promised to not do anything to Kiyoshi.

This was why she should have come to Rakuzan with him! If she was here he would have known something was wrong much sooner and he could have done something about it! Instead, she was at Too with the clueless Daiki and suffering because she was keeping things to herself. Scowling he walked into the classroom and fumed as he forced himself to remain in his classes for the day.

"Idiot," he muttered out loud if he referred to Daiki or Kiyoshi no one knew.

Seijuro narrowed his eyes as he saw Hayama and Mibuchi bicker as they walked into the gym and turned back to his phone as he was about to call Daiki and demand to know why he hadn't let him know that Mac was upset.

"…Akashi." Daiki's lazy voice sounded and Seijuro narrowed his eyes even more.

"Daiki," he said coldly and he could almost hear the other boy straighten up and swallow nervously. Any other day he would have taken enjoyment out of the reaction, but right now he was too angry to really care.

"What do you want, Akashi?" Daiki asked.

"What I want is to know why you never thought to let me know that Mac was struggling!" Seijuro snapped. "I thought you were looking out for her, Daiki! That's why I didn't fight her when she said she was going to Too with you! You're supposed to be looking out for her and protecting her, so why are you letting her deal with her break-up alone!"

Seijuro felt the anger rise as he talked and he's barely aware that his teammates are eying him with wary eyes even if they can't hear what he's saying from where they are gathered. He glared at them making them scramble to start the practice.

"Eh? What are you talking about, Akashi?!" Daiki demands from the other end of the line.

"I talked to Mac this morning and she let me know that she and Teppei have broken up," Seijuro said. "She's been crying, Daiki. He hurt her and you let it happen."

That was unacceptable.

"What! She didn't tell me!" Daiki said angrily. "How dare he…! I will…. But Kenzie never said…"

"You should still have seen that she was upset," Seijuro was not inclined to let him off the hook. "You better make it better, Daiki. I will not tolerate anything hurting Mac, not even you."

"I will never hurt Kenzie!" Daiki snapped back.

"You better not," Seijuro ordered before hanging up.

...

Daiki eyed the phone warily as if worried Seijuro would somehow find a way to jump out of it and strangle him or something. Daiki wasn't a complete idiot, no matter what others said, he knew Seijuro had wanted to attack him and right now…he wasn't sure if he would actually put up much of a fight.

Daiki had been on the rooftop trying to sleep ("don't sleep at school, Daiki!" he could hear Mac's scolding in his mind, but he did it anyway) when Seijuro called. He had been apprehensive from the moment he'd seen the others name on the caller-id, but he had to answer. Not answering didn't promise anything good, so it was best to just face it and talk to his former Captain.

He had known that something was wrong with his best friend, but she had been avoiding him and he…had let her. Guilt and worry filled him as he scowled at the phone. Just why did it have to be Seijuro who had called him and more or less ordered him to fix it? He didn't doubt that the other boy was now plotting to have Mac come to Rakuzan, and that was something Daiki didn't want.

Daiki got up and grabbed his bag as he made his way down the ladder from the top roof and jumped the last meters down to the lower part of the roof. The door was just beside the ladder and he opened it, he didn't really care that he wasn't supposed to be up there. He liked the quiet he got when he was there. So far no one had come to disturb his naps.

"Ah, Aomine-kun!" Fujimoto smiled and waved when he walked past her in the hallway, but he hadn't any mind to stop to talk to the girl. He had to find Mac and see that she was okay; he wanted to know if what Seijuro had said was the truth. Well, he didn't really think that Seijuro was lying…

But why hadn't she said anything to him? Why hadn't she told him? When had they broken up? Why had they broken up? Daiki had thought that Mac really liked Kiyoshi and that Kiyoshi liked Mac… How dare Kiyoshi hurt her? How could he! Daiki had warned him and he felt hot scolding anger fill him.

He wanted to go and find Kiyoshi and demand to know how he could break-up with Mac…or was it she who had broken up with him? Seijuro hadn't exactly been very clear in his angry call. Anyway, it didn't matter. Daiki was still angry, but right now he had to see Mac. He knew she was most likely to be at basketball practice even if she was upset.

He made his way to the gym and pushed the door open and stepped inside to see the practice having just finished if the way they all seemed to be stretching and stopped running around. His gaze soon found the one he was looking for at the side of the others. She was pale and even from a distance he could see the sweat running down her face and her t-shirt was wet with the sweat. He took a moment to look at her face and saw the lack of smile or any emotion really as she was staring straight ahead as she was stretching one of her legs, but it didn't look she was really paying any attention to what she was doing or what was going on around her.

Daiki noticed that some of the others were glancing over at her like they were worried, but they didn't attempt to go and talk to her. He mentally scoffed at that, but in a way, he could understand why. She had probably already dismissed them with her regular "I'm fine".

"She's been working herself hard today," Imayoshi suddenly spoke up beside Daiki and he jumped slightly not having noticed the older boy coming up to him. "I wonder why…"

Daiki stared at him and saw that it was very clear that he did know why. He scowled at him.

"I wondered where you were," Imayoshi smiled lazily. "I would have thought you would have been a shadow to her now…like an overprotective little puppy…"

"What… you bastard!" Daiki snapped glowering at his sempai.

"Oy, oy," Imayoshi laughed holding up his hands in a disarming manner. "Just an observation, Aomine-kun."

Daiki gave him a final glare before he marched over to Mac who still hadn't noticed him. He sighed inwardly and stopped right in front of her watching as she startled and her eyes snapping up to look at him.

"Daiki," she said quietly.

"Kenzie," he answered in kind. "You should take it easy."

Mac blinked at him and shook her head, "I wanted to think about something else."

"I know," Daiki said simply and her green eyes snapped to him with a searching look and he noticed how they widened slightly behind her glasses and her mouth opened.

"You…" she whispered. "Seijuro called you."

Daiki twitched slightly, but he nodded.

Mac closed her eyes for a moment before she turned away from him and he fought the need to physically turn her to look at him. He wanted her to look at him; he wanted her to open up to him. He…

"Go and change," Daiki said gruffly.

"Eh?" Mac said.

Daiki sighed and grabbed her arm and pulled her past the watching team (he glared at them as he passed them causing them to at least attempt to look busy) and over to the locker room that Mac used. He ignored the fact that it was a girl's locker room and dragged her inside. He sat her down on the bench and opened the locker that she was using and noted the bag and the neatly folded uniform inside of it. He took out the bag and placed it on the bench and pulled out the towel and threw it at her.

"Shower, change and then come outside," Daiki ordered making her blink at him. "If you're not out in twenty minutes I will come back inside. Got it?"

Mac nodded and Daiki turned and left. He ignored the looks he got from some of the passing first years when he leaned against the wall next to the locker room.

Exactly twenty minutes later the door opened and Mac stepped out looking slightly better and he noticed that she had her bag over her shoulder. She looked at him and he nodded before grabbing her hand again and pulled her out of the emptying school.

Mac followed without saying anything and Daiki knew that right now there was no need for words between them. He wasn't sure how to approach the subject or even how to help because he felt lost on what was the best course of action. He could see that she wasn't fine, and he was upset with himself that he hadn't seen it before and…he was upset with her for not coming to him. She should have said something…

Mac was watching Daiki as they walked through the streets and toward the bus stop further down the street. She was a little taken aback by his sudden appearance, but she realised that she shouldn't have been. She was angry at herself for not realising that Seijuro would probably call Daiki and she felt guilty for not being the one to tell him. She should have been the one to do that.

She could tell he was angry and that he was probably planning revenge in his mind, but the fact that he was there and clearly had come to see her first instead of going off on his own to seek out Kiyoshi meant more to her than she'd even be able to explain. So she followed him onto the bus and sat down on the free window seat with him beside her.

...

They ended up at the street court near his house and Mac sat down on a bench while Daiki paced in front of her and she let him know he needed to move to work off some of his anger. She watched him silently and waited for him to say something.

"Are you okay, Kenzie?" he finally asked and turned his deep navy blue eyes to her and looked searchingly at her. She saw the genuine concern in them and knew he was worried about her. Mac looked away from him and stared at the basketball hoop.

"No," she whispered honestly even if she didn't want him to worry about her she knew she couldn't lie to him. She had to tell him. "I'm not."

"Why didn't you come to me, Kenzie?" Daiki asked the hurt clear in his voice. "Why did you not let me know and let me act like a fool not knowing that you needed me?"

Mac's head snapped to look at him and saw the guilt and upset on his face. She could tell he was upset with himself and seemed to be blaming himself for something.

"It's not your fault, Daiki," Mac said. "I just… I can't keep running to you everytime I am upset."

"Why not?" Daiki frowned at her. "You try to do too much by yourself as it is, Kenzie. I want you to come to me when you're upset or need me. I don't care."

Mac felt a small flipping sensation in her stomach but she dismissed it as she stared at her best friend. He walked over and sat down on the bench beside her and reached over and took her hand in his.

"I don't…I don't want to be a burden to you, Daiki," Mac whispered.

"You'll never be a burden to me, Mac," Daiki said. "Talk to me. I know I'm not good at this stuff… I don't know what to say or do, but… I can listen."

Mac smiled slightly and glanced at him.

"You're better than people think," Mac told him and he smiled at her and reached out to ruffle her hair. She smiled before it slipped away and she remembered what Kiyoshi had said…

I'm not the one you can't let go off.

Being there with Daiki she knew she didn't want to let him go, but what did that mean for her? He was her first and best friend. Of course, she didn't want to let go of him, he was hers. Yet, what exactly did that mean? She wasn't sure and she wasn't sure she was ready to figure it out either. Right now she was just sad because she had lost the first boy she liked.

"I thought I would like Teppei for a long time," Mac finally said and Daiki glanced at her but didn't say anything. "I thought we would be together and happy for a long time, but… it has been strange lately. I should have seen it coming, but I didn't. Not really."

Daiki hummed and she sighed. She let her emotions out and told him about her last few days and this time she also added her meeting with Hermione and the following confrontation. She saw the anger on his face again and the way he turned red as he listened.

Finally, she was all talked out and had no more to give and Daiki seemed to realise that because he didn't press her to talk anymore. He got back to his feet and pulled her up with him and started to walk. Nao (who had been let out of her bag) followed behind them with happy barks, having relaxed now that Mac seemed calmer.

Mac wasn't even surprised when she found herself at Daiki's house being hugged by Shiro and Sayuri as they talked excitedly about everything that had been going on since she'd last seen them. She was pulled to the sofa and Shiro was almost bouncing next to her as he told her about the goal he had scored the match the day before. He grinned happily when she promised she'd come and see him play the next one.

Ayano hugged her warmly when she saw her and Mac could tell the older woman picked up on her state of mind when the hug lasted a little longer than normal and the concerned eyes scanned her face, but she didn't say anything. &o

Takehiro gave her a playful grin and teased her like he teased the others and she felt instantly back at home in the house and warmth filled her as she looked around on the people she knew were a family to her. This was one of the reasons why she wouldn't go back to Britain even if it was to find out more about her parents. She wasn't prepared to give this up.

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AN: Thank you for reading!