A/N: Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited and reviewed! I've never dreamt of having so many followers! Thank you all! This chapter is slightly shorter.
Enjoy! :)
It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter. – Marlene Dietrich
A woman knows by intuition, or instinct, what is best for herself. – Marilyn Monroe
A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love. – Saint Basil
I go with the flow. Whatever music you play for me, I'll dance. – Gael Garcia Bernal
Aya was woken up in the middle of the night by her phone buzzing. Because it was her personal phone, she reached over and blindly picked up.
"Yeah?" She asked sleepily, suppressing a yawn.
"Hey, Aya. It's been a long time." A familiar voice greeted her in English.
"Tatsuya? What the hell? It's the middle of the night here." She complained sleepily, switching to English immediately. Saturday nights were the only ones when she could sleep the whole night so she was a bit grumpy when someone dared to interrupt it.
"Sorry for waking you up. Can you talk now?"
"Are you asking me if Taiga is near?"
"..."
"Yes, I can speak. He is sleeping." She sighed and sat up. It was dark in her room, but she didn't bother to switch on the lights. "Why can't you just solve this stupid argument of yours?"
"It's between men, Aya, it's not that simple." Tatsuya could almost see her rolling her eyes and he chuckled softly. He missed her.
"Whatever. Why are you calling me?"
"If I say that I just wanted to hear your voice..."
"I will hang up." She said firmly. "We might have had a few good make out sessions and dates, but that's it, Tatsuya. We didn't vibe well as a couple." Well I did love you… But you know it.
"... Yeah, I know." He sighed. 'A make out session' you say… It was much more than that, Robin. I loved you.
"So? What do you need?" She asked expectantly, knowing that Tatsuya surely had a good reason to call her.
"My father is being transferred back to Japan. I can choose to either stay here with mom, or go with him. So I'm considering going to Japan."
She blinked in surprise. With his father? Seriously? "Okay. When?"
"After I finish the first year. Sometime in late June."
"And you want me to...?" There must've been something he wanted and it sure wasn't a dissection of their former relationship.
"I've been looking at several schools, but I don't want to be in Tokyo. So uhm..."
So schools out of Tokyo, huh? "You want me to check out some schools and give you tips?"
"Yes. If you could do that, it would be awesome. Preferably some school with dormitory and basketball courts." He specified.
"Is it a problem if you transfer into first year again?"
"Not much. I'll probably be the oldest, but I don't care. I'll need to catch up anyways. The curriculums are surely different."
"And you don't want to be anywhere near us. I presume?" She asked, reading too well in Tatsuya's roundabout ways.
The conversation was like talking about business and she didn't mind. Tatsuya was, or had been, her brother's best friend and by extension hers too. The friendships those two had had, was something she hadn't been willing to damage. That was one of the reasons she had broken up with him back then, not the only one though. And it was irrelevant now, since the boys had managed to leave their friendship in tatters just fine on their own. Although, she'd taken Taiga's side back then.
"Or my old man..." He suddenly realized how badly his statement could've been understood. When it was Aya, he could never pick the words carefully, and in the end he always blurted out whatever was on his mind. "Ah, I didn't mean it like that." When they'd broken up, it broke his heart. As the time passed, he realized that Aya must've been hurt much more than him. And she'd been right, they were, and always had been, better off as just friends. And yet, he still couldn't get over her, no matter what he tried.
She laughed. "I get it. And, you don't want to face Taiga yet either, right?"
"Something like that." He shrugged. "So?"
"I'll help, don't worry. Just e-mail me the schools you've been looking at." Her smile could be heard over the phone. No matter what had happened, Tatsuya was still an important person for her. If she could help, she would.
"And if you could... Don't tell Taiga about it. I want to meet him in some competition... Ah... Does he even play basketball now?"
"Don't worry about him. He is not going to quit basketball, just because of some stupid argument. And he's found himself a good team."
He sighed in relief. "That's good to hear."
"How are you doing? 's your shoulder okay?" She asked with a certain level of worry.
"Yeah. Much better. I play with Alex and the others."
"Very well. Tell them I send my regards." She yawned. "Sorry, but I really need my beauty sleep now."
He smiled softly. "Sure. Sweet dreams, Robin."
"Thanks." She hung up.
Aya lied back and snuggled into her covers with a smile on her face. She hadn't heard from Tatsuya in almost half a year so it was strangely nice to know he was doing fine. The fact she wasn't sad whenever thinking about him anymore, was a sign she moved on. It was a pleasant realization for her. Broken hearts do heal after all...
On Monday, she was surprised that there were no rumours. No strange looks, nothing. Aomine wasn't trying to burn a hole into her back either. Aya reached a conclusion that this time, Satsuki had truly kept her mouth shut.
"What is this?" Aya asked when they returned to the classroom after lunch. There was a letter on her desk with no name on it. She picked it up carefully, not sure what to do with the piece of paper.
Kano looked over her shoulder and smiled foxily. "That, my dear, is a love letter." He hummed.
"Say what?!" Aya turned at him with an incredulous expression. "Someone still does this?"
"Apparently." Ishii mused. "Open it up, maybe it's just some prank."
"Most likely." She was shaking her head in a mixture of disbelief and astonishment.
It was a simple note in a handwriting she didn't recognise.
- Meet me on the rooftop after school. I'll be waiting, beautiful. -
"Ooooh, certainly a confession!" Kano said happily. "I told you. A love letter."
"Where on earth is 'love' in this one?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
Kano got easily excited about things like this, so he was amazed more than Aya. "You should go and find out who it is. Who knows, maybe you'll start dating someone!"
"Ugh. No." She shook her head and crumpled the message.
"Eeeh? You are not going?" He asked, shocked by Aya's reaction. Most girls would be happy to receive such a message.
"Why should I? If he..." She thought about it for a moment, "or she has something to say I'd appreciate they face me head on. This roundabout way is just cowardice."
"What if they are too shy? Like Kiku-chan." He thought out loud, dragging Kiku into the conversation.
"I-i-it w-wasn't m-me." She said anxiously.
"I know, silly. You talk with me normally." Aya assured the tiny girl, who sighed in relief. "And why does this matter to you, Kano?"
"Ah..." He scratched his cheek sheepishly. "I've done something like this several times, because I was scared to talk to those girls; they were always surrounded by people, so it was weird."
"Heh, what a coward you are." Aomine snickered. He eyed the letter suspiciously at first, but he had a feeling Aya would react somehow like this. After the little incident with Aoyama he'd figured out that she wasn't interested in stubborn chasers.
"Oi, what was that?! I ain't coward, it's just..."
Aya rolled her eyes and went to throw the message away, leaving the boys to bicker as much as they wanted. She was a little bit interested in what kind of a person would do this, but it was not enough of a reason to go. If the person couldn't manage to come forth and talk to her normally, how could they expect to handle her in a relationship?
######
Since Mondays were no training days, Satsuki had already left to visit her father at his job, and Aya went home to prepare for her practise. Aomine was not sure what to do. He didn't want to go home yet and there was nothing in particular he wanted to do.
His legs automatically led him to his rooftop refuge, where he had his dirty magazines stashed, because no one would search for it there. He opened the door and saw someone leaning against the railing. It was strange because no one ever came here.
Oh... Aya's admirer. He remembered, but it was too late for him to turn around and leave.
The boy turned around with a hopeful expression, which died immediately after seeing Aomine.
Aomine looked him up and down and assumed he wasn't particularly interesting. The boy was plainly looking, probably the same height as Aya. Maybe he wasn't bad, but Aomine couldn't picture Aya with this type of guy. Judging by his indoor shoes, he was a second year, so Aomine had no idea who it was.
He couldn't help but smirk. "Kagami went home already."
"And what are you doing here?" The boy asked, sounding almost offended.
"This is my rooftop." He shrugged and climbed the ladder to the higher part of it. "If you'd come to check your date spot, you'd have known."
"Someone's cocky for a first year, eh?"
Aomine snickered and laid down to watch clouds. "She is not a girl for you."
"With all due respect, what do you know about her?"
"Certainly more than you, Mr. Admirer." He said lazily.
The boy huffed, and left the rooftop. He had no intention of arguing with that wildly looking first year.
Aomine just snickered. "What d' ya know? She was right about the coward."
"Kagami-san!"
Sugihara came to her desk after classes, just when she was trying to explain physics to Aomine, because the idiot had sent Ishii to hell, when the latter had patiently tried to explain it. Not that she was much better at it, but she still knew more than Aomine. She usually listened to Ishii and then repeated the same things to Aomine. That way, he would at least act that he was listening.
"What is it?"
"Irihata-sensei called for you. Something about boxes, or what. I didn't understand half of it, sorry." He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.
"Ah. Right! I'll go in five minutes. Thank you." She smiled and turned to Ishii, who was just leaving to go to practise. "Ishii, could you take my bag to the gym, please? I have something to take care of before I come to practise, 'kay?"
"Sure, no problem." He took her bag, and threw it over his shoulder.
"Thank you!"
"What was that about?" Aomine asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, so now you listen!" She said exasperatedly. "The uniforms have arrived, I believe. Now, to finish this..."
######
In ten minutes she ran down the stairs, leaving Aomine in the class. Not that she expected him to help anyways.
"Took you long enough, Kagami." Irihata-sensei was tapping her feet, annoyed that she had to wait 10 minutes for Aya to arrive. She didn't like the girl. Partially because she knew English better than her, the teacher, and partially because she was Katsunori's niece and that guy got on her nerves every time she saw him.
"I'm sorry, Irihata-sensei, I was helping Aomine with physics." She smiled politely. "Are the uniforms here?"
Instead of answering, the teacher just pointed a finger towards the three huge boxes. Then she turned and left, mumbling something about insolent brats.
Aya stuck out her tongue after the leaving figure and then looked back at the boxes.
"Oh shit..." The only good thing was that she didn't have to conquer any stairs with them. Other than that...
With difficulty, she lifted up two boxes. It covered her vision, but she could hold it up at least. The third – the heaviest was the biggest problem.
It wouldn't be Aya if she didn't find a solution.
She was kicking the heaviest box in front of her and balancing the other two in her arms. She prayed she wouldn't ram into anyone. The probability was, thankfully, low. Most of the students were either gone or attending their clubs, so hallways were vacant. The golden week was also starting, so many students were leaving for training camps, or they simply wanted to be at home and relax.
When she was passing the staircase leading to their floor, she didn't see a yawning person going down until it was too late.
He tripped over the box she was kicking and almost hit his head against the opposite wall.
"Tch! Look where you are going, damn it!" A familiar voice grumbled angrily.
"Aomine?" She peeked from behind the two boxes, surprised to see him there. She thought he'd be on the rooftop, or sleeping under a tree in the school garden where he used to go at times. "I didn't see you. Sorry. You okay?"
"Eh?" He stared at the girl fighting with the weight. "Yeah, fine." He said, sounding less angry now, when he recognised her.
"Uhm... Will you stand there all day, or will you let me pass?" She asked with a slightly mocking expression.
Geez...Why hasn't she asked anyone for help? He thought. He sighed and scratched the back of his neck.
Then he leaned forward to take the boxes from her arms. In the attempt to get a good grip he brushed her hands and almost pulled away as the electricity shot through his body. It was similar to what he had felt when she had taken his measurements. Get a grip, stupid. His mind growled at him. The girl doesn't even look your way.
When Aya felt Aomine's calloused palms brush hers, she almost dropped the boxes then and there. It startled her. The electricity that ran through her startled her. He was the least person she thought would help her. She annoyed him, pushed him to study – or tried to, she beat him in running... What the...?! She couldn't believe it.
The weight was suddenly lifted from her arms as if the boxes weighed nothing. For him, it was probably like that. He bent down and took the third one as well. Aya didn't mind the weight as much as the size of those boxes... It was difficult to move around with them.
"Thank you... I guess..." She said, suddenly unsure of her ability to speak. Since when did that happen around Aomine?
"You guess?" He smirked. "Why haven't you asked for help?"
"I thought it was only one box..." She shrugged. "And I could manage myself."
"Sure. You had it completely under control."
"Yeah. If you just looked where you were going!"
He couldn't help himself and smiled. He was following her, because now it was him, who had his vision covered by the top box. "What's in it anyways?"
"The sports' uniforms, sports' bags, jerseys. You know, the messed up order."
"Oh, that one. They hurried up." He vaguely remembered Satsuki mentioning it before.
"I hope everything is okay this time." She said hopefully. "You're coming to the training camp, right?"
"Yeah. Satsuki would kill me with her nagging if I didn't." He rolled his eyes. "But I won't practise." He added quickly.
Aya chuckled at this. "Figures." She hopped and spun around on her foot playfully, all the while trying to stay out of Aomine's way.
They were almost outside, when Aomine tripped over a doorstep he had forgotten about.
"Fuck!" He swore when the top two boxes tumbled down from his arms. At least he didn't fall and made a complete fool out of himself.
"You seem to trip over a lot today." Aya turned around with a half-smirk and hopped back to him. She picked up one box, she knew was lighter than the others, to help him.
"And whose fault that is?" He huffed, picking up the other one. Walking was certainly easier now, when he could see.
"I guess I should've warned you." She hummed. "Sorry." She spun around with the box in her arms chuckling for herself. She was in a really good mood that day.
"Something good happened?" He asked curiously, though he had already noticed that whenever there was a dancing practise in her schedule, she'd be like a little sun.
"We have a little competition ready for the kiddos today as we won't train during golden week. I'm really looking forward to seeing how they can cope with it." She didn't know why she told him, maybe he wasn't even listening. But she was happy. She wanted to share it.
He could hear her gentle smile even though she was walking in front of him. He shook his head, trying not to think about anything and just enjoying the little of the warmth she was emanating. And there he had originally thought it had been annoying.
######
"Aya-chan! The uniforms arrived as they should?" Satsuki asked when they entered the gym.
They put down all three boxes. "They've just arrived minutes ago and I haven't checked it yet, so I hope there won't be a problem this time."
"Aomine-kun! How nice of you to help Aya-chan." Satsuki exclaimed happily and loudly, giving him a 'good boy' look.
"Oooh, so that's how it is~" Kano hummed teasingly.
Urgh, why? Aomine thought, feeling like running away. If they came to the conclusion he had a thing for Aya it would be a hell lot of teasing.
"What are you talking about?" Aya asked, understanding the situation and trying to calm it down, unlike Aomine. "I asked him to help me in exchange for my notes from classes he slept through." She explained nonchalantly.
"Hmmm... So that's how it is... So boring." The boy was quick to lose interest.
Satsuki started going through the boxes, handing out the stuff that arrived. The boys were suddenly too preoccupied and excited about the new uniforms and bags, chatting vividly about how helpful they were.
"Why did you say that?" Aomine asked quietly, not interested in his uniform much since he'd already had one.
"Do you want them to cause mayhem and tease you to no ends?" She asked with raised eyebrows.
No, he didn't. But admitting it was like admitting defeat. "Tch."
"Because I certainly don't." Her eyes peered into his. "It wasn't a lie either. I will give you those notes."
"You don't have to." He said pridefully.
"Hai, hai." She chuckled and went to take her new bag and t-shirts with Touou's logo.
######
She got home a bit later than usual. "Hello." She greeted Taiga.
"Yo. You took long enough." He was watching some reality show on TV. It didn't interest him that much, so in the meanwhile he was reading magazines.
"Sorry. The uniforms were finally delivered without a problem, and there was another mini match." She was talking very quickly, running around the house and packing her bag for the golden week, all the while taking off her uniform to change into more comfortable clothes for the dancing practise.
"Are you taking everything with you?" He asked unimpressed by her half nakedness.
"Yeah. I'll go back to school right after practise." She stopped for a moment to actually look at her brother. He was pretty much ready to go. "You will take the sweaty clothes back home. By the way, don't you have a training camp as well?"
"More or less, but we are not staying over. Thank gods, I'll sleep in my own bed." He mused and put away the magazine. There was no way he could keep reading while his sister was running around doing at least three things at the same time and still managing to talk with him.
"Right, you don't like sleeping at new places. But I think that with your coach, you'd be worn out enough to sleep wherever." She mused and tied her hair up into a messy bun.
"That's highly possible. The other first years were puking today again." He laughed at their misfortunate lack of stamina. When he looked to where his sister was supposed to be, she was already gone. "Unbelievable." He shook his head.
"Don't you have Tuesdays off?" She came back again to take her laptop and charger.
"Only the afternoons..." And she was gone once again.
"What did you do?!" She shouted from her room, where she was stuffing her clothes into her new sport's bag.
"Power training mostly!" He shouted back so she could hear him. In the back of his mind he was wondering whether the neighbours could hear them too or not, and hoping that they couldn't. "It was so boring!"
"I hope you have enough stamina to continue all evening! We have improvs ready for today and a little competition at the end." She came back again, wearing capri leggings, a sports bra and loose top for dancing. She usually changed there but today, they would be glad if they managed to get there on time.
"You packed already?" He asked in surprise.
"I s'pose." She shrugged.
"15 minutes."
She sighed. "Still not the record."
"What was the record?"
"10 minutes and 15 seconds. We were packing for a trip to Cuba I guess." She laughed.
He chuckled at the memory too. "Oh yeah. And we decided we had to catch a plane that was leaving in two hours."
"Two idiots, what else is there to say?" She smiled and took her two bags. "Let's go."
"Oi, give me one." He said, reaching for the bigger one.
"What a gentleman."
"Hn. You are my sister." He huffed as if it explained everything and stepped out of the apartment.
They were walking towards the gym in a quick pace. "I hope you won't bring too many girls over while I'm away."
Taiga just rolled his eyes. "Who do you think would go with me?"
"Uhm. I believe there is quite a lot actually."
"Why are you teasing me?"
"Teasing?" She shook her head and laughed. "You are freakin' hot, dear brother. I'm surprised you don't have girls lined up at the doorstep."
"WHA'?! " He blushed at the idea. His sister was crazy. Real crazy witch.
When they arrived at the gym five minutes before the practise should start, most of the attendees had already been waiting outside.
"I'm really sorry for being this late." Aya bowed down and immediately unlocked the gym.
"It's all right Aya-chan. We are not hurrying anywhere." One of the old ladies, Hiiro-obaa-san said with a smile. She was in her late seventies and she started dancing with her husband for fun. And they seriously had some good skills already.
"Glad to hear that. I've prepared something special for you today. I hope you'll enjoy it." She and Taiga entered after everyone was inside.
Around twelve pairs and one individual little girl showed up. The boy she danced with was down with a cold, but she wanted to come anyways.
"Taiga, you'll dance with Nana today." Aya informed him.
"What? She is seven, and like 120 cm tall. You do realize the height difference, right?" He asked incredulously.
"It's gonna be cute, so get over it." She said and showed him the music list for the day.
His eyes almost bulged out when he saw the list of twenty songs. "It's an awfully lot of songs for one practise. Don't you usually go with two, maximum three? And you want a competition at the end too?"
"Ah well. I want to see them dance spontaneously, without me telling them what to do. You know, they'll hear the song for the first time and they should know how to cope with it. Like at a party, you don't know the playlist, you just dance and enjoy it." She explained.
Senri had never done this and she truly wanted to see all those people dancing on their own. To see how they moved naturally, without her continuously correcting them. As she'd expected, when she introduced the plan to everyone, they were very reluctant about it. Suddenly being left alone to do whatever, without Aya explaining the steps and the rhythm was scary. But at the same time it was the reason why they had started dancing in the first place. The kids got slowly excited about it, and the older ladies quickly caught up as well.
Not all the songs she had prepared had Latin rhythms and not all were easy to dance to.
As she watched them dancing, alone or in pairs, she felt satisfied. She had taught them how to relax and be more spontaneous. When Nana approached Taiga with a lot of fear but also admiration in her eyes, to ask him to dance with her, Aya took out her phone to make a video out of it. You don't see a 190 cm tall giant dancing with a 120 cm little girl often.
Soon, Aya joined the group and danced with them. Anytime they would stop to watch her, she would stop. It wasn't her intention to show off.
When her 20 songs ended, they were all soaked in sweat, but with huge happy smiles on their faces. They hadn't been perfect, their technique might not been good at all, but they'd been allowed to just enjoy the music and move their bodies.
The competition afterwards was really short. Aya divided them into three groups. Each group had one song they had already known, to which they had to dance simultaneously. She, Taiga and Nana were the judges, who picked a winner from each group and those winners danced in a final round.
Those three winners were then given chocolate medals, the size depending on the place, and the overall winner got a special coupon to a chocolate shop, next door. It was cute, not expensive, and they could try out what a competition felt like.
When the practise was over, she took a shower, grabbed her bags and headed to Touou, leaving Taiga to lock up.
A/N: Tatsuya appeared! And Aomine can be sweet as well. I've always thought of him like that. If anyone seems OOC, then sorry. And we saw Aya's dancing practise! (Note that I do not dance - I'm terrible at it, and all I know comes from either research, or my friend who does dance.)
/sentence structure, grammar minor wording changed on 5.4.2021/
Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.
S.