Would you dare?

by Sonya06

What if Kagami Taiga had a twin? And what if that twin happened to be a challenging girl, who decided to attend Touou Academy as the second manager of the basketball team... Is she capable of managing the problematic ace? And is he capable of handling her?

9. Chapter 9: Golden week training camp

A/N: Thanks to everyone who followed and favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy.

Enjoy! :)

---

When I dance, I forget everything else and just feel completely happy. – Katherine Jenkins

One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning. – James Russell Lowell

It's difficult working with someone who is not a team player. – George Takei

Share your smile with the world. It's a symbol of friendship and peace. – Christie Brinkley

Don't give up now. Chances are your best kiss, your hardest laugh and your greatest day are still yet to come. – Atticus

There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven't yet met. – William Butler Yeats

I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying. – Michael Jordan

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. – Albert Schweitzer

When a body moves, it's the most revealing thing. Dance for me a minute, and I'll tell you who you are. – Mikhail Baryshnikov

---

Tsuchiya-san let Aya enter the school building. She was the very last member of the basketball team to arrive. The building was dark and quiet. Darkness of the empty school building was scary. The only source of light were exit lights and vending machines here and there. The classrooms where they'd sleep were on the second floor, relatively far from the entrance. Aya walked through the empty hallways as quickly as possible, refusing to look back. She wasn't scared easily, but the schools' atmosphere at night was eerie. She expected someone to jump at her any moment.

When she finally heard a chorus of chatting boyish voices, she knew no one would prank her and she sighed in relief.

"Hello." She greeted the boys. They were crammed into one classroom, where they moved the desks and chairs to one corner to spread futons on the floor. The lights were still on, and they were talking in small groups, or playing cards. Only Aomine was staying aside, not talking with anyone and Sakurai was next to him drawing something into his notebook. Aya had noticed that Sakurai kind of kept close to Aomine, but never truly dared to speak openly with the grumpy ace.

"Hello Sunshine!" Kano greeted her with a wide smile. "We were just talking about you."

"Hm? Sunshine?" She blinked at him in surprise.

"Yeah! Have you seen yourself in a mirror?"

"Uuuhm... No... I didn't have time for that. Do I look weird?" Aya asked and looked at her reflexion in a dark window. Oh, that's why 'Sunshine'; her eyes were shining, her cheeks were slightly flushed from quick walking, her hair was still wet and unbelievably messy because she hadn't dried it or combed it after washing. Well, she was too happy to be bothered.

"Was your practise good?" Tada-senpai asked with a kind smile.

"Why do you...?" She had only told the first years about her practises. 'We were just talking about you.' Right... of course you did. Then she shrugged, whatever. "Yeah! It was awesome! I love working with all those people. And I think I've taught them something important over the past two weeks I was in charge."

"You taught?" Ishii asked and all the boys were suddenly interested.

Aya entered the classroom and sat down among them. "Well yeah. Haven't I told you? Senri, the coach and a very good friend of mine, was out on a business trip; his partner's leg is broken and she can't train and so the club ended up on me. Though, I can't complain. I enjoy it." She was sparkling with joy that evening.

"What kind of dances do you do, Aya-chan?" Imayoshi asked, testing how much he could get out of her. The captain could make her feel uneasy.

"I started with ballet, then switched to ballroom, both Standard and Latin, but also acro, a little bit of hip-hop and you can go on. I love Latin dances the most, but I want to try everything, really." She explained, but she had no intention of telling them about the competitions. It wasn't something they needed to know. "Anyway, did you have some training tonight, or are we starting tomorrow?"

So she smoothly changes the topic whenever it gets uncomfortable for her... "Tomorrow, of course. The afternoon practise was enough. We returned here sometime around seven and had an assembly meeting to explain the schedule. I believe Momoi-san will inform you about everything once she's done discussing with the coach." The captain explained.

"Oh, okay. Sorry I wasn't here."

"You have your responsibilities." Wakamatsu jumped in, this time not as loudly as usual. He was somehow admiring the girl and everything she was handling. A great manager. "And it's not like it was that vital."

"I'm glad then." She smiled and her eyes zoomed on the book Naito had placed next to his futon. "What is that book about?"

"You don't seem to be a reading type..." He teased her with his usual calm expression.

"I prefer talking to people, true, but I do read too... So?"

Aomine couldn't take his eyes off of her. Waves of positive energy were emanating from her. Kano had said it right, she was like sunshine. Warm and confident, and overwhelming, she was beautiful; even if her hair was a total mess and she was wearing an oversized hoodie. Or maybe exactly because of that... Naito's comment hadn't put her off in the slightest and she continued with her questions. She didn't pay much attention to him as she chatted with the others and he was glad for that. It was better if she didn't catch him staring. He wasn't sure he liked the feelings that were slowly but surely developing in him.

######

"Aya." Katsunori peeked inside the classroom after he'd overheard a familiar voice.

"Yo. I've just arrived." She said with an innocent smile. It didn't matter she was there for a good half an hour, currently playing cards with some of the boys.

"Certainly." He wasn't impressed, she looked too relaxed to 'have-just-arrived'. "Go to your... 'room' to discuss the week's events and the training regime with Momoi-san. I'm certain you know that you are close to the cafeteria on a different hallway."

"I don't get why you make such a big deal about girls and boys being on different hallways. It's not like we would cause troubles." And you wouldn't check on us anyways, Katsu... She added inwardly.

"You can never be too sure." His grey eyes were giving her an 'I-know-you-you-little-devil' look.

"Hai, hai." She got up, took her bag again and left to look for the 'girls'' classroom.

---

Aya slept for around three hours, so she would be able to work on L.A.'s time.

Because the girls were in charge of food, Aya had the keys from the cafeteria and the kitchen. She didn't want to wake Satsuki up by turning on the lights in their 'room', so she turned the cafeteria into her working base, where she spread out her papers and reports.

With a big cup of black coffee, she was working on her tasks all the while making phone calls or sending e-mails to their business partners and clients.

######

Aomine could never sleep well at new places. Not to mention he was in one room with another 24 boys, who were tossing around, snoring or mumbling in their sleep. He gave up trying to sleep around four in the morning. He got up, changed from his sleeping-clothes and went for a stroll. He'd have plenty of time to sleep while the others practised.

The lights in the cafeteria got his attention, so he went to check it out – very carefully, because he remembered how Tetsu had scared the shit out of him the last time he had gone to check a suspicious gym with the lights on. There had been strange rumours that time, but it should be safe now.

He walked in quietly and saw Aya with a lot of papers spread on the table, looking for something while talking with someone over the phone in English. She had her back towards the door, so it was his chance to get back at her for those times she had managed to scare him.

When the call ended, Aya leaned against the chair and sighed. She was done for the day.

"Exhausting night?" Aomine's voice rumbled next to her.

She almost jumped out of her skin. It took her a lot not to scream.

"Are you an idiot?!" She hissed at him, standing on the other side of the table.

"Just got back at ya." He smirked and slumped into a vacant chair. "What's this anyways?" He asked, taking one of the papers to look at it.

Aya snatched it from him. "Work. What else?"

"What work?" He asked and took another paper.

"None of your business." She snatched it away again, but he took another. "Would you stop making a mess out of my papers?" She frowned at him.

"Gee' someone's grumpy in the morning." He yawned.

"Hmph." She folded all the papers and wanted to turn off her laptop, when she remembered something. "Do you know where your former teammates from Teiko have gone to?"

"Hm?"

"Which schools do they attend?" She rephrased her question, knowing he didn't keep in touch with them, but hoping he knew.

"I don't care. Ask Satsuki." He shrugged and his stormy eyes looked at Aya. "Why?"

"Curiosity." She said with an innocent look in her eyes, but he knew there was more to it.

"I don't buy it." He was staring at her as if he could read her mind.

Aya was slightly surprised. Since when could Aomine see through her? Or rather, since when did she let her guard down around him? She stared back... "Friend of mine is returning to Japan in a month or so. He is an excellent shooting guard and asked me to help him find a suitable school. I suppose he could be on par with you five, so..."

"On par with us, huh?" He looked at the ceiling with a sigh. "Why not Touou, then? If he is that good?" There was a hinge of bitterness and arrogance in Aomine's voice. Why was he even talking about all this with Kagami was beyond him...

"He doesn't want to be anywhere near Tokyo, for some reasons." Aya shrugged. "Oh well, if you don't know, then you don't know. I guess I should start making breakfast."

Suddenly, Aomine paled.

"What is it?" Aya asked curiously.

"Don't let Satsuki in the kitchen." He said gravely.

"Why?"

He shook his head. "Trust me. Don't let her in."

What the...? Aya thought and disappeared into the kitchen. Cooking for 28 people wouldn't be easy, and it would take a lot of time. She wanted to practise with them at least a bit if possible, so she needed someone to help her with food. Why would she willingly cut off an important help?

She soon found out why...

######

The morning practise was more intense than usual. Even some second years had problems keeping up, but Aya was, as usual, in the lead. Unfortunately, she had to leave earlier to prepare lunch. She grabbed Satsuki, to go with her. The pinkette had spent the whole morning looking for Aomine, who had been ditching and must have found a new hiding spot, so when she finally got to the practise to take notes, she needed to leave again.

"I'm going to kill him." She complained. "This is a training camp! Aomine-kun, should participate!"

Aya wasn't surprised by the ace's absence. It got on her nerves too, but it was his choice. And she could understand his logic. "He warned us he wouldn't."

Satsuki thought about it for a while, but she didn't get Aya. Not really. "And you are okay with it?"

"Well... It's his choice. I don't think he hates basketball; otherwise, he wouldn't play at all. But I think we should leave him be. If he wants to practise he will come."

"You are unbelievably tolerant, Aya-chan."

"I wouldn't say that... More like I can understand his logic." She shrugged.

The girls arrived at the kitchen and started preparing ingredients.

"Was there a time when you wanted to quit?" Satsuki asked while preparing rice. It was the easiest thing to do, so she hoped she wouldn't mess up like she usually did. "Dancing, I mean."

"I've quit competing, right?" Aya chuckled. "But no. Quitting dancing is not possible for me. I've always loved it and you don't give up on the things you love. True, I loved competing too, but it started to be too much to handle."

"Do you consider going back?" Satsuki turned on a rice cooker, hoping she did it right.

"I don't know. Maybe. But first I want to finish high-school peacefully." As Aya was cutting vegetables, she looked at Satsuki by the corner of her eye. The pinkette was in charge of preparing rice, but she looked lost in the kitchen. And there was something so familiar about the way she was looking around that it made Aya ask: "Have you ever danced?"

Satsuki jumped in surprise. "Why would you ask?"

Aya narrowed her eyes. "Have you?" She repeated.

"A little. I was not good at it and I quit after three years. It was years ago. Before I met Aomine-kun."

"Hmmm..." She wanted to ask what type of dances, but she didn't want to push her luck and there was something else that caught her interest. "Why do you address him so formally, anyways? You've known him for years."

"Ah well..." The pinkette scratched her cheek. "If I called him Dai-chan, people would talk, as they did in middle school, I don't like it."

"Dai-chan, huh?" Aya snickered. To call the big, frowning and usually grumpy guy 'Dai-chan'... "How cute. I don't think he'd particularly mind you call him that."

Something started to smell like burning and Satsuki looked around to find the source of the smell, because there was nothing on the cookers yet. Aya was further away; she couldn't smell it yet, and Satsuki didn't want to alert the girl.

In a couple of minutes, it was too late for that.

Aya suddenly looked up. "What is that smell?"

"I don't know. It's probably not from here." Satsuki said, trying to sound nonchalant, but she fidgeted nervously.

"Satsuki...?" Aya asked in a dangerously low voice, but before she could continue she noticed smoke coming out of the rice cooker. "Oh shit! Turn it OFF!" She yelled at Satsuki, but the girl panicked and didn't know what to do. She jumped away from the rice cooker and hid herself.

Aya left everything as it was and hurried to turn it off and unplug it, but before she could get there the cover blew up.

The entire kitchen was covered in a half-burnt, yet sticky mush of rice and water. She immediately unplugged it and opened up all the windows.

The smoke alarm went off.

"Fuck!" Aya swore and started to throw the mass off of her arms. It was everywhere. Thank gods it wasn't hot enough to burn her skin. She had rice in her hair, and she was covered in the mush; unlike Satsuki who managed to hide behind the counter in the last second. She turned off the annoying beeping sound too (good she knew where it was) and looked at Satsuki. There was not a scarier person in the world for Satsuki at that moment.

"What have you done?!" Aya asked, suddenly understanding what Aomine meant when he had warned her to not let Satsuki into the kitchen.

"I don't know." She squealed timorously, keeping the counter strategically in-between Aya and her, because the redhead seemed ready to strangle her.

"How can you blow up a rice cooker?! It's not even cooking!" Aya was so pissed off at the moment and her voice was gradually rising. "If you didn't know how to use it, you should have fuckin' said so!"

"I didn't mean to..." Satsuki teared up almost immediately. She didn't cope well with people yelling at her.

"You didn't mean to?! URGH, COME ON! Do you know what could have happened?! You could've gotten injured, stupid!"

The situation could be laughed at, but for Aya it wasn't funny at all. She was shocked too. She'd never seen a rice cooker blow up, until today, She hadn't thought it was even possible, not to mention being in its range. Still, she was more scared that something could have happened to Satsuki instead of her. She was yelling due the shock more than anything else.

That it was the school's property was not in the question at the moment.

"I-i-i'm s-s-sorry." Satsuki sobbed.

Aya took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "Get out of the kitchen."

"Huh?" Sastuki blinked at her with teary eyes.

"Out." The redhead pointed at the door. "You are banned from setting a foot in here." Her voice was coldly emotionless now.

Satsuki ran out of the room crying and Aya sat on the ground to rest her head on her knees for a minute. Then she looked at the mess and the time she had left to prepare the lunch. With a low grunt she got up and washed her hands and face. Nothing to be done about the hair at the moment. She went out of the kitchen and headed towards the gym. There was no way she would be able to finish the lunch on time on her own.

######

All the boys stopped when the gym door opened with a brute force. They looked at Aya, covered in something indescribable and snickered. Their smirks were quickly washed away when they realised the redhead was pissed off beyond herself.

"Who can cook?" She asked firmly.

"Errrr..." They hummed collectively.

"Okay, let me rephrase it." She started again. "If there is none of you willing to help me, you are not having lunch today. So?" She sounded calm, but there was a murderous aura around her.

"I can." Sakurai said. "Sorry, but I'm not that good at it."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "You are a regular; I can't take you away from practise."

"Sorry, I'm so sorry. I would help." He bowed several times and Aya rolled her eyes.

"Anyone else?"

"What in the world happened?" Katsunori asked.

Aya shut him up, by raising her arm. "Don't ask. I'll tell you later." Then she scanned the boys again. "So? Time is ticking."

"I'll help." Arai Souta from the first years volunteered with a gulp. He suspected he was going into the demon's den. In reality he'd been avoiding Aya as much as he could. She looked so intimidating.

"Good. Let's go." Aya grabbed him by his t-shirt and started dragging him towards the kitchen.

"That looked like kidnapping." Kano mused.

"No shit." Naito snickered. "Now move you ass, Hideki, we have to finish the drills."

######

When Souta saw the disaster in the kitchen he whistled, momentarily forgetting the redhead. "What on earth happened here?"

Aya blinked at him. The boy was usually shy, rarely talking with the others. He was around Sakurai's height, but skinnier and weaker. She'd never talked with him much. "Beats me." She said with a crooked smile. "But we need to tidy it up and start cooking real soon. And we don't have the rice cooker anymore."

"Right." He nodded. "Could I go change? I don't want to cook in these sweaty clothes."

"You have ten minutes. I'll start tidying up."

"Osu." He ran up to the boys' room and took a change of clothes. He took a very quick shower and hurried back to the kitchen. It was almost tidied up.

"You are quick." He mumbled.

"There is no time to spare." She threw him a wet rag.

"Thanks." He nodded and started cleaning the parts which Aya hadn't gotten to yet.

They finally got to cooking, and it was easy for both of them; they worked in efficient silence. Arai was quick in cutting and he knew when the timer would go off a second before it actually did. Aya was pleasantly surprised by the boy's skills in the kitchen.

"Could you help me during the whole week, or would it be a bother?" She asked hopefully.

It meant getting away from practises sooner and avoiding embarrassing vomiting caused by him trying to keep up with everyone... "Yeah. I don't mind."

"Great! Thank you, you're a lifesaver." She smiled at him, her anger already gone.

And for the first time he realised that maybe their manager wasn't as scary as he had originally thought.

######

After Satsuki had been banned from the kitchen she ran away. She didn't want to go to practise and face everyone, because they probably knew what had happened. Tears were streaming down her face and she was more frustrated by her inability than actually hurt by Aya's yelling.

There was a quiet place where Aomine used to sleep under a tree so she went there, knowing she'd be alone. She sat down and brought her knees to her chest.

"What've you done?" Aomine's voice rumbled from somewhere above her.

"Eh?" She looked up where Aomine was lazily sitting on a wide bough. He yawned and rubbed his sleepy eyes. "That's where you were!" She exclaimed angrily, pouting her lips.

Another hiding spot discovered. He sighed inwardly and jumped down. Crouching in front of Satsuki he tilted his head to look at her teary face. There was a mixture of anger and hurt and frustration. "So? What've you done?" He yawned again. At least he'd gotten some sleep in the tree.

She frowned at him and looked away. "I blew up the rice cooker." She mumbled. "And Aya-chan yelled at me."

"You what?!" He blinked. That was a new one.

"I blew up the rice cooker." She repeated louder.

"You haven't burnt the whole kitchen down, right?" He teased.

She crossed her arms over her chest, still pouting, but she wasn't crying anymore. "Of course not! I don't get what Aya-chan's problem is. It's not like I destroyed that much. It was just a mess."

"You look awfully neat for someone causing a mess." He pointed out and tried to imagine the situation, but it was too surreal. He'd never heard of anyone blowing up a rice cooker before.

"I hid behind the counter." She said and there was a hint of guilt Aomine knew all too well.

"And Kagami?"

"She hurried to unplug it when it blew up. She was covered in the mush." Satsuki explained looking at the ground and pulling at the grass.

That could've been a funny sight, but now he understood why Aya got pissed off. Good she didn't get hurt. "And you still don't get why she got angry? Just a mess and one destroyed rice cooker? Has it never crossed your mind that you might've gotten seriously hurt?"

"I didn't do it on purpose! And what should I do? I was scared too!" She threw her arms into the air.

Aomine sighed. Satsuki could be so self-centred and annoying at times. He shook his head. This conversation was going nowhere, so he got up and headed towards the kitchen to check out the situation there.

"Aomine-kun, wait! Where are you going?!" Satsuki got up and ran after him.

"Kitchen! It's time for lunch."

######

Katsunori came to the kitchen when the practise ended and the boys hit the showers. He wanted to check out the situation. It was silent, but a nice smell of food was spreading through the hallway. Inside the cafeteria, Aya and Souta were already placing plates full of delicious looking food on the tables.

"I see you've managed." He said nodding respectfully.

"Of course we have. Who do you have us for?" Aya asked with a raised eyebrow.

"So? What happened? Your hair looks terrible." He was looking around searching for clues and remains of whatever mess which had happened.

Aya looked at the strand of her hair glued with the rice mush. She could already imagine what hell it would be to get rid of it. "The rice cooker blew up. More precisely, the cover was blown off."

"Was it your fault?" He asked with doubts. Aya wasn't new to cooking; he knew she wouldn't make a mistake like that. And was it even possible for a rice cooker to blow up?

"Errr... Let's say I should have checked it." She said instead of blaming Satsuki. She'd already yelled at her enough.

Katsunori understood it. How typical. "Did you clean up?"

"What we could reach, yeah. But the ceiling was too high for both of us."

"The ceiling too, huh?" Aomine's voice reached them. "Good job, Satsuki." He said sarcastically with a smirk on his face.

"Oh." Katsunori looked at the two, Satsuki hiding behind Aomine's back, nervously peeking out from her hiding spot. Based on this he assumed that there was one more thing which blew up, not just the rice cooker. "Well, Aomine. Since you didn't show up for the practise, you might as well clean the ceiling. I believe you are tall enough to reach it." He said with the calm of an Englishman.

"What?!" His eyes widened in shock.

"You heard." Aya chuckled. "Order from the coach."

"Tch." He frowned, already forming a plan how to get away without tidying up. The food looked good, so he went to take a seat. Satsuki followed him, using him as a protective wall between Aya and her.

"Enjoy." Aya said to the duo and opened up the door, because she heard voices coming their way.

The boys rolled up chatting loudly; all of them already drooling hungrily. When they spotted the lunch already distributed on the tables, their eyes sparkled in bliss. It took less than ten seconds for them to sit down and start eating. Mess they'd been originally interested in was long forgotten.

"It was delicious, missy! We didn't know you could cook that well!" Kano exclaimed happily with a broad grin.

Most of the boys were sitting at their chairs with dreamy smiles, patting their full stomachs. For the second and the third years it was the first time when their manager cooked for them. So far they had usually persuaded some girls from the cooking club to come over, but their creations had not always been safe to eat.

Aya chuckled. "I wouldn't have managed without Arai-kun's help, so thank him too!"

"Thank you very much, man. Without you we'd stay hungry!" Kano bowed to him exaggeratedly.

The boys hummed collectively in agreement.

"OI! Ahomine!" Wakamatsu shouted the moment he spotted Aomine. "Where the hell have you been the whole morning?!"

Oh boy... Aya thought. Here we go.

"None of your business, Bakamatsu?!" Aomine said with a yawn. "Now then..." He got up and headed towards the door to find another quiet spot to sleep at.

"What did you call me?!" Wakamatsu hissed already standing and ready to get into a fight with this first year bastard.

"Bakamatsu." Aomine repeated. "Anything wrong with that?" He asked arrogantly.

"You –" The chair behind him almost fell down, but Ishii grabbed it.

Imayoshi caught Wakamatsu's t-shirt once again and held him back. The center had more strength than the captain, but he also respected the said captain. Imayoshi sighed; this was only the first day and those two were already at each other's throats. Well, Wakamatsu was pissed off, and Aomine was just provoking him. "Stop it, Wakamatsu. We agreed to avoid any conflicts within the team, right?"

"He is not a part of the team at all!" Wakamatsu protested. "He just pops up when it fits him."

"If you are better than me, I'll come to practises. But that's not happening any time soon, is it, senpai?" Aomine smirked.

Wakamatsu glared at him, but there was nothing he could retort. The ace was far superior than him in basketball and the blonde was much aware of it.

"See?" Aomine turned on his heel to leave. "The only one, who can beat me, is me alone. So have nice practices losers." He added and waved them goodbye.

"Huh." Aya was the first to break the stunned silence that followed Aomine's leave. "Interesting mantra." She said with a thoughtful expression and one hand on her hip.

"Arrogant bastard." Wakamatsu growled in gruff voice. "He doesn't deserve to be a part of the team."

Satsuki wanted to defend her friend, but she didn't want to go against those boys. They were fundamentally right to be angry with Aomine. It was hard to respect someone who didn't respect them, nor the work they were doing. She could understand, but it hurt her. And after the incident, she wasn't ready to speak up around Aya for some time.

"He is still the strongest." Imayoshi reminded his vice-captain calmly. "We didn't choose him to be his buddies. We chose him to win the matches. That's what you need to remember, Wakamatsu. Though, I get why he pisses you off."

"Okay." Aya clapped her hands getting everyone's attention. "I guess we've had enough of anger and negativity for today. How about you look past his behaviour and enjoy your training camp? You came here to practise and become stronger, not to fight each other. If he doesn't want to practise, then so be it. There's no reason for you to lose your temper." She looked at each and every one of them, Satsuki included – the pinkette averted her eyes guiltily and a little bit huffily.

Once again they hummed in agreement. The charisma Aya had was priceless in situations like these and Katsunori was glad. Even with messy hair, no make-up on and sporty clothes, she had an unwavering air of confidence surrounding her like a protective barrier. So far, he hadn't regretted asking her to come to his team once.

"And now, gentlemen." She walked through the cafeteria and into the kitchen, which was separated from it. "Please take your dishes and bring them over here." She said and opened up the window that served this specific purpose.

######

"Tch. What was I supposed to clean up?" Aomine's head peeked into the kitchen after dinner.

Aya was the only one who stayed behind to wash the dishes and clean up. She sent Arai to go and have some rest. He had helped her a lot. And Satsuki didn't dare to step into the kitchen anymore. Everybody else was on their way to take a shower and sleep. The first day was unbelievably exhausting for everyone.

"Oh. Aomine. How unusual to see your face in here. Or... at all."

"You missed me?" He teased with his usual smirk.

She rolled her eyes and continued with washing plates. "Nothing." She said, ignoring his teasing.

It confused him. "What?"

"You don't have to clean anything anymore." She repeated. "We asked Wakamatsu-senpai to do it after lunch before it could become a permanent decoration of the kitchen."

"Oh."

"Oh." She repeated. "Be proud. You've managed to avoid yet another responsibility."

Kagami's voice sounded annoyed but more than that, she sounded disappointed. And that served like a slap for the ace. "That stung." He said and leaned against the door frame.

She dropped the plate into the sink and turned to look at him, her reddish eyes burning. "You know. I don't mind the arrogance; the teasing or whatever. I can cope with a lot of things, Aomine. But your best friend makes a mess, we ask you to help, because unlike us, you do have the height to reach up there," she pointed at the ceiling, "easily, and you ditch practises anyways. And you just..." She shook her head and sighed without finishing her sentence. This was not worth her energy to explain. "Nah. Forget it. It's pointless."

"I'm here, right?" He tried defending himself; by this point, he realised he'd screwed up. Not that he would apologise.

"Yeah, right..." She turned back to the sink and continued with her task. "The thing is; I don't need you here now. You can go and enjoy your evening."

"Tch." Serves you right, stupid. He thought and sighed. Angry Aya could be scary, but she was manageable. Disappointed Aya was something he hadn't encountered until now, and he didn't know what to do. But sure as hell he wasn't happy about the fact that the redhead was this cold towards him. Pointless... That word bugged him the most. He didn't want her to give up on him completely.

Why am I even bothered by it? Without saying anything he took a dish towel and started drying the dishes.

Aya didn't comment on it, but she smiled for herself. Just like Taiga when he messes up... She thought. Well, Aomine was clumsier in the kitchen than Taiga, and definitely not in sync with her, but whatever; he was at least doing something.

"Just how many dishes are there?" He mumbled under his breath after good ten minutes of his monotonous activity.

"A lot." Aya mumbled back. "You know... I didn't ask you to do it."

"Tch." He clicked his tongue and frowned at the pile of clean plates. Then he took another one and started wiping it dry.

######

He returned to the boys' room and slumped into his futon. He hoped Kagami wouldn't be angry with him for too long. Not practising meant he wasn't as tired as the others and he was even considering going out for a run or something. He'd usually be out with their dogs at this time anyways.

"Arai!" Kano approached the quiet guy with almost scary enthusiasm in his eyes. "You've talked with Aya-chan. Finally! I thought you were afraid of her or something."

"Wha –, I wasn't!" He protested and leaned away from his overly curious teammate.

"Get away from him, Hideki. You are making Arai uncomfortable, stupid." Naito told him emotionlessly over his book.

"WHAT? I'm not! Am I making you uncomfortable? Am I?!" He asked and pushed Souta even further away. Confused, Arai didn't answer, so Hideki interpreted it in his way. "See, Shouhei? It's fine."

"Whatever you say." He didn't have the energy to argue with Hideki, it was pointless anyway. He read another few lines and then turned towards his other childhood friend. "Ryuu, this book is boring. It's obvious that the killer is Madam Red."

"Eeh? How do you know? It took me by surprise that time!" Ishii looked at him with wide eyes.

"Simply..."

"Oh well. These first years will sure cause a lot of ruckus." Susa shook his head as he watched them.

"This will be exhausting, but they are not bad guys." Wakamatsu agreed.

Imayoshi raised an eyebrow and looked at the vice-captain. "You are the one to talk."

"WHAT?! I ain't..."

Aomine rolled his eyes and got up to go get some drink from the vending machine or something. Watching them was exhausting. Was this bunch really his current team?

---

"Are you still angry?" Satsuki asked when Aya crawled into the futon the next evening after another day of the exhausting practise.

She laughed, happy that Satsuki started to talk to her normally and not just about the training regime. "No. I was more shocked than angry. Like, what the hell were you thinking?!" Her voice was cheerful, gossipy even. "You really should have asked how to use it."

"Am I allowed into the kitchen then?" Satsuki asked hopefully and turned to her side to look at Aya.

"Well... As long as you don't touch anything, then it's fine."

Satsuki huffed and pouted her lips, but after what she had done, it was better not to negotiate.

Aya laughed again. "Don't be pouty. You have a great story you can laugh at with your friends and anyways, it's better for you. As the first manager you can watch them all the time."

"Or look for Aomine-kun, as I did today. Again." Satsuki sighed. She knew that Aya was trying to make her feel better.

"Just let him be. I'm sure he will come to practise eventually. Pay attention to the others too, or they might start thinking you are not interested. Plus, that's how the gossips started. It's not just 'Dai-chan' nickname, it's all those little things you do without realizing." Aya knew that those two had a sibling-like relationship, and that Satsuki cared for Aomine the way she cared for Taiga. So she understood why Satsuki wanted to help the grumpy ace. But sometimes it was better not to push things.

"You think?"

"He is your childhood friend. Do you think he will be able to do nothing for five more days?"

"You sure underestimate his laziness, Aya-chan."

Was she? "I don't think he is lazy." Aya said and rolled over to stare at the ceiling. It was true, she didn't think Aomine was lazy, or stupid, or a bad guy. He was just... strange and lost.

"Do you, maybe... like him?" Satsuki asked foxily.

"WHA –?!" She abruptly sat up with her eyes wide. "Why would you think that?!"

She fidgeted and turned over to stare at the ceiling rather than Aya. She started playing with her fingers folded over her belly. "I think you can see through that façade of his, you can understand him only after a month, you usually stand up for him if the others badmouth him, you can cope with him during classes... It's the little things," Satsuki threw Aya's words back at her. "...and it's just my feeling, but you suit each other."

"Hmph... You think we suit each other?" It was obvious Aya didn't trust a word of this. "Just because I can understand where he is coming from, doesn't mean we suit each other. And besides, I don't think I can fool around." She said quietly.

The room quieted. It wasn't just the boys who were tired after a full day of practising and running.

She didn't deny it. She didn't say 'No way!'. I wonder if she realizes that. Satsuki mused observing the dark room illuminated only by the crescent moon. So you, 'Can't fool around', huh? Why is that?

So we suit each other, huh? Aya turned her back to Satsuki and snuggled with the covers. She could only get a few hours of sleep and she wasn't wasting any. Thoughts about Aomine didn't leave her mind though. Could he be the one who wouldn't end up running away? Who would dare to take her on? She didn't know and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out.

And then there was that...

---

Aya was up before the sunrise. She wasn't sure if she was already up, or still up. She was sleeping for two hours per night at most, and she was starting to feel the deficit of sleep. Mornings were still chilly, so she grabbed her jacket and headed outside with a big coffee in her hand. The fresh air and gentle breeze felt nice. Summer could be smelled in the air and she smiled. She loved summer.

A movement on the running track caught her attention. She squinted to see better despite the darkness that still ruled the outside world. Huh? Aomine? She blinked in surprise. And he was running! Alone, without being noticed, he was running before the dawn.

It wasn't that he was hiding it, more like he didn't want anyone to bother him. And he couldn't sleep either way. No one was up at this time, except Kagami, but she was too preoccupied with her work, or cooking, so he thought it was a good idea to go for a run. He avoided practising basketball, but falling out of shape too much, was not an option.

After watching him for a few minutes, Aya went inside. She quietly walked into the boys' room; she didn't want to wake anyone up. She took Aomine's jacket, and left. That Imayoshi was up and observing her, went unnoticed. On her way out she grabbed a water bottle from the kitchen and with the coffee still in her hands, she headed out again. She approached the track so he could see her and wouldn't get startled yet again.

Damn he looks good when he runs. She couldn't stop the thought, as she was silently waiting for him to have enough.

He stopped. His daily run was finished. The morning chill was the only thing he didn't like. The moment he stopped moving, it bit into his skin. It took him a moment until he noticed Kagami standing near the track. She was snuggled into her Touou jacket holding a big coffee. She wasn't saying anything, just watching him. He braced himself for numerous questions, or scolding, as he approached her.

"Don't catch a cold." She said and threw him his jacket.

He grabbed it, wiped his face with the hem of his t-shirt and then put it on. The next thing flying his way was a water bottle – filled.

"Help yourself." She said, turned on her heel and left. She didn't need to question his running. She understood. And she was still a bit angry for his not-helping.

The next morning and all following mornings, a water bottle was awaiting him near the door. With a note attached 'Don't forget the jacket, stupid.'.

######

"You are unbelievably skilled with knives!" Aya praised Arai after watching him for the two days they'd been working together; usually in a comfortable silence.

"Ah..." He raised his eyes from vegetables he was preparing. "Thank you."

"You cook often?" She asked curiously, because she knew near nothing about the boy and she was interested in this shy and quiet person, who was keeping such a distance from the team.

He averted his gaze away and then peeked at her again, checking whether she really wanted an answer. The encouraging smile she had, made him feel at ease.

"Yes, my family owns a small diner restaurant. I help there all the time." He explained shyly, avoiding eye contact as much as he could. He thought she would make fun of it; like they had used to in his middle school. A cooking boy; what a disgrace it was.

"Wow! That's awesome! No wonders you are so good at it!" She exclaimed loudly.

"Eh?!" He looked at her, looking for any dishonesty, but all he could see in her sparkling reddish eyes was a genuine excitement.

"I mean..." She noticed his scrutinizing look. "Your cooking skills are no fun. You work very efficiently, quickly and even know the timing by heart. If anything, it's awesome."

"T-thank you." He looked back at his hands and blushed. That was way too much praise he got. "I'm not really that good. I'm just used to it."

"That's good too, no?" She chuckled. "You help out alone, or do you have other employees? You said it's small, but I'm interested!" By now she was aware that Arai was a closed up person. That he didn't like talking with strangers and answered only when he got excited or felt at ease.

Be it anyone else, he'd feel like being interrogated. Aya was different. She wanted to know him, befriend him. He could see it in her eyes. And for some reason, he didn't find it that difficult to talk to her anymore.

"Only my family. Mom, dad, me and my siblings at times. But in the kitchen... I help out the most." He shrugged and continued preparing the vegetables.

"Hmmm... How many siblings do you have?" She asked, because no one from the team was in Arai's class and no one knew anything about him. Not that she would tell them.

He smiled to himself. "Four. One older sister, two younger brothers and the youngest sister." He explained. Having a big family wasn't that bad. Sometimes they were ready to kill each other, but sometimes it was very handy to have reliable allies.

"That must be loud." She said with an understanding nod. "Oh... I didn't mean to offend or anything!"

Souta chuckled quietly. Kagami sure was a piece of work, but she was also open-hearted and kind of wacky at times. "It's true. It's noisy and troublesome, still... It's nice."

"Tell me about it. I have only one brother, but sometimes we fight like idiots."

"A twin, right?" He remembered it from the other day; just because he wasn't talkative, didn't mean he wasn't listening.

"Yep."

They continued with their little talk until the team arrived. Everyone was surprised that the usually reserved Arai was talking and even smiling. Their second manager must have used some witchcraft, because they didn't think it was possible.

After lunch and another dinner, the team figured out that Arai wasn't as weird as they had originally thought. He was quiet and introverted, but not a creep. Especially Naito found a not-so-annoying-friend (unlike Ishii and Kano) in him.

---

Aya was smiling to herself when she saw Arai talking naturally with the others. Mission accomplished. No one's left out anymore. She thought.

"What did you do?" Katsunori asked her quietly, dragging the attention of Satsuki and Aomine, who happened to sit at the same table, to Aya.

"Nothin', I talked to him with a genuine curiosity." She winked at the coach and continued with her breakfast.

"I'm surprised no one's blamed you for witchcraft yet." Katsunori mumbled and shook his head.

Aya laughed. "Who was it who said you have no sense of humour?"

"Everyone, Robin. You included." He answered dryly, which made Aya roll her eyes.

"Uhm..." Satsuki spoke up, looking at the coach. "What does 'robin' mean?" It'd been bugging for a long time, but she'd never found the right moment to ask.

Instead of answering Katsunori pointed his thumb at Aya. "She is Robin. It's a nickname. Robin is a little bird living in Europe. We know it as 'akahige' here, but it's slightly different from the European one."

"Eh? So it's a bird, but... Why?" Satsuki asked, turning her pink eyes to Aya.

"Beats me." She shrugged and continued with Katsunori's explanation. "Symbolism says that Robin as a bird is known as a divine bird, bringing good luck, passion, patience and wisdom or renewal – because they are spring birds. But I have no idea why or when or who started calling me that. I guess I've always been called 'Robin' by my family."

"Keiko gave you the nickname, when she first took you to her parents, because robins kept coming to you, resting on your cradle." Katsunori said it, like announcing the weather and continued reading his newspaper. "And she believed you'd grow wings one day."

Aya almost dropped her chopsticks. Her shock and hesitation lasted only for a split second, but Aomine sitting opposite her noticed it. He didn't understand her reaction so he searched for some clue at Satsuki. But the pinkette was just as surprised.

So it was that reason, huh, mom? Aya cleared her throat to wash away the surprise. "Really..." She smiled gently. "I didn't know that." She mumbled and focused on her food, deciding to sit with someone else for the next meal.

With that, no one dared to ask anything more. Katsunori half-smiled at something and looked out the window, which made Satsuki and Aomine feel like they were disturbing a family discussion.

######

After four days of avoiding practises, hiding away, and going running only when everyone else was asleep, Aomine wandered to the gym in the afternoon. He felt like playing some basketball and he was bored out of his mind.

He stopped at the entrance and watched the mini matches in shock.

Aya and Satsuki were actually playing. About Aya, he knew, but he hadn't seen Satsuki play in years. The two teams were made out of the first years and Tada, and the girls played on opposite teams, both in point guard positions. Tada was on Satsuki's team, probably to balance out Satsuki's mistakes.

He had no idea something like this would occur. If he'd participated, it would've probably been him on Satsuki's team.

Mapping the entire gym, he noticed that no one paid attention to him. The coach was focusing on the second vs. third years match on the other half of the court, and the rest of them were too drawn into their game.

It was an opportunity for him to observe Aya while playing. He hadn't had a chance to look at her from the sidelines, yet. She was wearing really short shorts, so he had a good view on her leg muscles which surprised him; mostly if she got that from dancing – and he couldn't quite imagine that. Unlike the time she had gone out with him, she wasn't wearing a tank-top but a t-shirt with sleeves reaching her elbows and no cleavage. It made him remember the scar and wonder about it again; then her reaction from the morning. Who was Keiko? Her mother? The more he learned the more enigmatic Aya appeared.

Her movements were more streetball now than when she'd played against him. He was curious if those strange moves she'd used back then, had been meant to confuse him. Interesting...

As if feeling his steady gaze, she looked in his direction and their eyes met. There was an undeniable surprise on her face that quickly changed into a wide grin.

"Oh, if it isn't Aomine?!" She clapped, stopping their mini game for a moment, and gave him one of her knowing looks. "Got bored on your own?" She asked with a smirk, provoking him, which basically meant she wasn't angry with him anymore.

"Tch." He clicked his tongue. "Just wanted to see what the losers are doing." He crossed his arms over his chest in a defensive gesture. But yeah, he got bored. And her little act of kindness made him want to check out what the rest of them were doing.

"Want to join?" Tada asked, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Truth to be told, I'd like to swap out. I'm beat."

"You sure are a weakling." Aomine rumbled, looking down at his senpai.

Tada rubbed the back of his neck and laughed lightly. "Not everyone has your skills or bottomless energy reserves like Aya-chan here, Aomine-kun."

"Tch." Aomine gave him a scolding glare, but he approached the court to swap him out anyways.

"Aaand I win!~" Aya sang and slapped Ishii's and Kano's shoulders. Both boys winced at the impact and whined afterwards.

Satsuki blinked at Aomine and then turned to Aya and the boys with wide eyes, realization hitting her like a train. "You had a bet?!" She asked with an accusatory tone.

"What bet?" Aomine looked at the trio, frowning, but questioning them at the same time.

Aya chuckled. "We made a bet when you are gonna show up." Because Aya knew it wasn't a question of 'if' but rather of 'when'. "And I won~"

"Oh maaan! You could've waited till tomorrow!" Kano whined. "I don't want to do the dishes for the rest of the training camp."

"Oh?" Aomine raised an eyebrow at Aya, who was grinning happily. He'd helped with the dishes before; he knew what kind of job it was. He smirked. "Good luck with the dishes, losers." And with that he entered the court.

"It's only a couple of days now, boys. You'll manage." She chuckled.

With Aomine in, the game quickly paced up.

Satsuki's passes sucked, but he could manage. Most of the time he was playing against Ishii and if he held back enough it was actually an interesting play. Ishii wasn't half as bad as he had initially thought. But nowhere near 'good enough' in Aomine's merit. Sometimes he would specifically pick up on Aya, to test her. At those times the others watched in astonishment, because those two had the air sparkling with electricity. Their focus was amazing. Aya was trying to figure out how to slip past Aomine, her movements changed. There were moves and steps she wouldn't normally use; as if she would pull them out only against Aomine. And he was trying to find a pattern in her steps, because he'd seen it before and there was no way he, the ace of the generation of miracles, couldn't figure it out. But it was difficult, when he didn't know what to look for.

Satsuki watched it in awe. I told you... You suit each other... Aya seemed like she was having fun playing against the strongest guy on the team and he didn't seem to mind entertaining the flamboyant girl. He even seemed to have fun too. His eyes had the spark they'd used to have while he was still enjoying the basketball. She couldn't believe it. This one girl, pulling out the old Aomine without him realizing it. Even if it was only for a short period of time, still... Unbelievable.

And Satsuki wasn't the only one who noticed the very subtle change in the ace's behaviour. "Sooo, he can make a face like that, huh?" Kano noted, wiping off his sweat and watching the one-on-one show off between Aya and Aomine.

"Apparently." Naito shrugged; glad he could rest for a while. His legs were giving out after the four days of continuous running around. "He is just a teenager like all of us. Why would that surprise you?"

Ishii gave him an unimpressed look. "Do you always need to act like this?"

"Like what?"

"Like an all knowing asshole." Kano filled in.

"But I am." He said with a half smirk, knowing it would piss off his two childhood friends. No, he didn't like Aomine, but he also didn't think Aomine was that bad.

Suddenly the ball came flying to them and hit Ishii straight in the face. He fell over.

"Headshot!" Kano laughed at his friend before helping him up.

"What the...?!" Ishii asked as he got up.

"What are you doing?!" Aya shouted at him from the other side of the court. "I passed to you!"

"Aaand, never take your eyes off the ball, genius..." Naito reminded him and stole the ball for his team.

---

"Today, we are having only the morning practise. You'll take your time to rest in the afternoon to avoid any injuries." Katsunori announced at the morning assembly. For the boys it meant they'd do drills and muscle training, but no mini matches.

"Ossu!" They nodded collectively. It was Wakamatsu's turn to lead their drills and the first years were already seeing stars of exhaustion.

"Oh. And because you have the afternoon free, today's lunch will be postponed a bit. I want Aya to lead the second part of the drills."

"What?" She looked at Katsunori with a questioning look. "You want me to lead the practise?"

"Yes. They need training focused on balance and flexibility. I believe you can teach that better than anyone else here." He explained, playing with his hair.

"Osu." She nodded. "Good luck to you all." A smirk she had, sent shivers down their spines; they could already feel the hellish practise she'd give them.

"Oh, I'll go look for Aomine-kun then!" Satsuki said enthusiastically and sprinted off to look for the gruff, who was ditching. Again.

"I don't think..." Satsuki was already gone, so Aya finished the sentence for herself, "you'll find him..."

If Wakamatsu's killer practise wasn't enough; Aya's finished them off completely. When she ordered them to take off their shoes it left them confused and curious, but what came after... were two hours of merciless torture, or so they had thought. She did give them several breaks or some other activities to relax their muscles a bit but the training itself was unbelievably difficult. Who would have thought that standing on your tiptoes and passing the ball around could be so difficult?

When Satsuki returned dragging Aomine with her, all the boys were already done, laying on the floor and crying tears of both: joy – because it was over and pain – because their legs and feet were dead. Some of them were massaging their calves and feet. Only Aya seemed to be doing fine distributing water bottles and praising everyone.

"What happened here?" Satsuki asked curiously. She missed seeing Aya's training regime.

"Her training methods are torture. I can't believe she can still stand, she did everything with us!" Kano whined.

"That was dancing inspired, Kano!" Aya explained from the other side of the gym. Her hearing was scarily accurate. "And I modified it for you too. It could've been much harder."

After hearing this, many of them winced. They didn't want any more of this.

"I'll go prepare lunch now. It shouldn't take too long." She announced, taking her notebook. Arai stood up to go with her. She looked at his pale face. "Are you sure you can help?"

"Mhm. I guess." He nodded.

"Very well then. You lot, rest for a while, don't forget your stretches and I have a small treat ready for you for all the torture I've done to you." She winked at them. "Don't worry, it's gonna be nice."

With Arai at tow she left the gym.

"Coach, please don't do this to us anymore." Wakamatsu cried out. His huge body wasn't supposed to be as flexible as Aya had proved it to be.

"I won't promise that, Wakamatsu. Aya is the best when it comes to this sort of practise. And that was only a very light insight on what she's been able to do since she learned to walk."

"What kind of dance inspired that?" Imayoshi asked curiously, already doing his stretches.

Katsunori didn't mind explaining things to this bunch of boys as long as they were genuinely interested. "Ballet. And I myself am surprised she managed to adjust it for basketball purposes on such a short notice."

"I'll never make fun of ballet dancers again." Wakamatsu muttered. "...or any dancers for that matter."

"That's a wise decision." Tada answered to his rhetoric statement. "They need an unbelievable strength to do what they do."

"I didn't know Aya-chan does ballet." Satsuki tilted her head in question.

The boys were no longer listening, as they started stretching, and slowly dragging themselves to the showers.

Katsunori sighed and closed the distance between him and Satsuki, who was still holding Aomine by his t-shirt. "She did when she was little, but she didn't keep to it. She's always had her own head, so once she decided ballet wasn't 'energetic' and 'lively' enough to suit her tastes, she switched to ballroom dancing and Latin. However, for sentimental or whatever reasons she's never quit ballet completely." He explained, not sure how much he could give away about his god-daughter. "You could have attended, it would've helped you too." He gave one of his unimpressed look to Aomine.

Aomine gave him an incredulous glare. "Me? Trying ballet? Did you hit your head ol' man?" He grumbled in response, feeling insulted by the thought of doing anything connected with dancing.

Katsunori frowned at the boy's rudeness, but before he could say anything, Satsuki was already scolding him: "Aomine-kun! Apologise! You are way too rude!"

"Tch." No, he wouldn't. Not in a million years.

She rolled her eyes and apologised to coach in his stead. "Besides!" She turned back to him. "No one asks you to become a ballet dancer, Aomine-kun! But having an insight wouldn't hurt you now, would it?" Satsuki started her rant and Katsunori rather distanced himself from them again. "It's not like she was teaching them dancing. She just gave them balance training inspired by it. It wouldn't hurt you."

"Still glad I ditched." He snorted and turned on his heel to leave.

"... because you wouldn't keep up." Wakamatsu provoked.

Aomine didn't even turn to answer. "Shut your trap, Bakamatsu! No one asked your opinion."

Before the vice-captain could run after Aomine, Tada grabbed his collar. "Now, now. We don't need to be an uncivilised bunch of cavemen. Go hit the showers." He said, calming down the blonde.

In situations like these, Imayoshi was glad that someone like Tada was Wakamatsu's classmate and best friend. It meant he didn't have to keep an eye on the blonde all the time.

When they dragged themselves to the cafeteria, the food had already been expecting them. Aya and Arai were just finishing distributing the food around the tables. Both of them were changed in their casual clothes already and the team wondered how they'd made it during that short period of time they had. After the lunch they all went to their room and slumped into their futons. The weather outside looked like there was a big storm coming, so no one felt like going out. Some were discussing a possible 'torture' awaiting them in the future; some were playing cards or reading.

"Okay everyone." Aya barged into their room, not caring about disturbing them or waking them up. "I have a small treat for you. Come on." She motioned her hand as a sign to follow her.

"What is it, Aya-chan?" Kano asked curiously.

His question was soon answered when they entered a short corridor near the cafeteria. Chairs were aligned near the wall; each had a bucket of water in front of it and a towel on top of it.

"It's a feet bath that helps to ease the pain. There is one for each of you. The question is what essential oil you want. I have lavender for calming effect and eucalyptus for cooling effect. Both of them relieve pain and stress to some extent. It's up to you which scent you prefer." She explained, while the boys sat down and tried if the water was warm. "Satsuki and I then decided to give you feet and calf massage, so... A little treat from us."

Some of the boys teared up after hearing the good news. If this would follow after every Aya's torture-training they wouldn't mind it at all. It was so good to have managers!

She started asking for oil preferences and mixing them up with warm water, so they could enjoy their short spas.

"Where is my chair?" Aomine asked, annoyed that he didn't have a spot.

"Did you practise with them for the entire five days? Are your feet sore?" Aya asked him with a raised eyebrow. "I don't think so. But if you bring a chair and a bucket for yourself you'll get the same treatment as the others. It's up to you."

"Tch. Don't need it..." He grumbled and left.

"He was annoyed." Satsuki noted.

"Good he was." Aya nodded. "Even though I don't like doing this, it's a sad consequence of his decision to not practise." His running, it doesn't count as practise much.

"Maybe he'll learn from it."

"Forget that, Momoi-san. He probably isn't capable of that." Wakamatsu snorted, when Satsuki mixed the eucalyptus oil into his water.

"Oh, stop already." Tada rolled his eyes. "We get it; he gets on your nerves. Now, shut up, and enjoy the attention you are getting."

"How did you manage to prepare this?" Imayoshi asked, because he hadn't expected such a royal treatment from Aya. It surprised him and once again confirmed Aya's resourcefulness.

"I asked Tsuchiya-san for a little help." She shrugged and when half of the boys gave her confused glances she explained: "The janitor. He is there every morning at the school gate and takes care of the school grounds."

"Why doesn't it surprise me?" Imayoshi shook his head. He knew both janitors, because he was the captain of the club and sometimes had to ask their help. But for a manager it wasn't necessary to know such a thing...

"How do you know about the recipe for relieving the pain?" Naito asked curiously. So far he hadn't had any interest in home remedies.

"Naito-kun, if I haven't known how to treat sore feet, who would? You can't imagine how many times I used this, or other remedies to treat sore, injured and callused feet. It's not fun to dance seriously." She smiled at him.

He nodded thoughtfully.

After their spa time had ended and they received their massage, they felt like flying back to their room. Getting so much attention from their two beautiful managers was priceless.

Little did they know about another surprise Aya had prepared for them at the end of the training camp.

---

Kiku was surprised when received a phone call from Aya, who'd asked if she was willing to do her a favour. Nonetheless, she was happy she could be useful. So on the very last day of the golden week she came to school with a big box full of cookies.

The weather looked like it was going to rain again.

Coming to school when it was officially closed was strange; for Kiku it was the first time she did it. There were a bunch of boys from another school at the entrance, and she was scared to pass by them to get in. Then she noticed Aya chatting with another girl from the same school as those boys and a guy with glasses wearing Touou's t-shirt. The guy was probably Imayoshi-senpai, Aya had mentioned before.

Aya's eyes trailed off and she noticed Kiku shyly standing at the side.

"Kiku! Glad you came! Come on." She waved at her and Kiku couldn't hide anymore.

With her eyes glued to the ground she approached her enthusiastic friend.

Imayoshi looked at the shy girl with a question in his eyes and examined the box she was carrying.

"Oh, this is Imayoshi Shoichi, the captain of our club." Aya introduced him.

"How rude of me." He smiled at the girl. "I should have introduced myself. Nice to meet you."

"Ah. I-i-i'm Ohno K-kiku." She startled and looked up at the tall boy, her thick-framed glasses almost falling off. "N-n-nice to m-meet y-you, I-imayoshi-senpai." She stuttered and bowed deeply. Her cheeks were burning in embarrassment, because everyone from the other school saw her pathetic introduction. She wanted to find a hole and bury herself in it.

Aya placed her arm around Kiku's shoulders in a protective gesture. "Kiku is out of your league boys." She said to those, who were eyeing the cute little girl. "You are here for the practise match, not getting girlfriends."

With that said and one threatening glare, she turned around and started dragging Kiku away.

Kiku, as clumsy as she was, stumbled a couple of times, but Aya's arm always steadied her and the box she was carrying.

"T-t-that was embarrassing." Kiku muttered; still red in her face.

"What are you saying?" Aya asked with a smile on her face. "I dragged you out from your hiding spot, despite knowing you don't like being in the centre of attention. It's fine, you did great."

Kiku's cheeks reddened even more. "T-thank you."

"It's okay. Do you want to watch the match?" Aya asked, letting go of Kiku's shoulders.

"If it's not trouble..." She fidgeted, "I'd like to."

"Sure! They'll be glad to have another girl caring for them." Aya winked at her and entered the gym, inviting Kiku in.

She made a few tiny steps and fidgeted again, too shy to walk in there like Aya did. After all, she was just an outsider. A few deep breaths gave her the courage she needed to take that last step and walk in.

When a thunder rumbled outside, she jumped in fright, turning around and ramming her back into someone.

"Oi! Watch your step." Wakamatsu turned around to see who it was hitting his back.

"I-i-i'm s-s-sorry." Kiku stammered and hugged the box closer to her chest. She felt like running away. The big boy looked scary and he was frowning at her.

Wakamatsu's eyes widened when he noticed the small girl, staring at him with wide, frightened eyes of a roe deer. "You again..." He said, trying to lower his voice, to not scare the girl any more.

"Eeek." She took a step back recognizing the blonde. Two weeks ago she'd stumbled while going down the stairs and basically fell on him, dragging him down. She had no idea he was on the basketball team, or what his name was. Now it was official – she felt like hiding in some hole and never coming out or dying of shame – not sure which option was better. "I-i-i'm r-r-really, r-really sorry." She bowed deeply, closing her eyes.

"O-oi... It's fine, you don't have to do that." He said awkwardly, not sure what to do in this kind of situation.

Kiku shot up and blinked at him then looked around at several curious boys watching the show. Her cheeks turned even redder. Being around so many people wasn't good for her heart. It was beating so strongly in her chest; she thought it would burst out. It was overwhelming her.

She wanted to run away.

Another thunder rumbled.

She took another step back, her back hitting something solid once again and she froze, too scared to turn around.

"So you're here, huh." Aomine's husky voice rumbled above her head.

"S-s-sorry." She lowered her head under Aomine's gaze. She wasn't good at dealing with this boy.

"Tch. That scaredy-cat attitude of yours pisses me off." He said and walked to Satsuki to announce his presence.

Tears stung in Kiku's eyes at Aomine's harsh words. She shook her head to keep it in.

"Oi, Aomine!" Wakamatsu turned on his heel to catch up with the ace and make him apologise.

"Kiku!" Aya stopped at her side. "Sorry I had to prepare the water bottles. Is everything alright?!" She asked with a slightly panicky voice, because she noticed that the girl was on the verge of tears. "Did he say something rude?"

Kiku shook her head no, because he was essentially right. She was way too scared of everything.

Aya sighed, prepared to interrogate Aomine later. He was very aware of Kiku's personality...

"Come on." Aya caught the girls arm and gently pulled her towards their classmates. With her head down, Kiku followed.

"No one here wants to hurt you, okay. Those guys are not bad; they are just not used to having shy and cute girls around." She was talking to Kiku in a comforting voice. "Everything will be fine."

Kiku nodded and a small smile appeared on her face – it made Aya sigh in relief. She'd expected Kiku to panic, but she'd hoped it would turn out just fine.

"Kiku-chan!" Kano greeted her and inspected the box. "What's in there?!" He asked curiously with his eyes sparkling.

"Y-you'll see later." Kiku chuckled and hid it behind her back – out of Kano's reach.

"Not fair." He pouted. "We are friends, aren't we?"

Aya shook her head. Good, the familiar faces of her classmates helped Kiku calm down. She looked around and found out that Tada was scolding Wakamatsu for something and Satsuki was lecturing Aomine. Did they argue again?

There was no time to figure it out, as the other team strolled into the gym, already changed into their uniforms and eyeing Touou with curiosity and determination.

Kiku was sitting between Aya and Tada-senpai, who had a kind look in his eyes, which made her feel at ease. It would be her first time seeing Touou's basketball team play. The scary blonde, Wakamatsu Kousuke-senpai as she'd learned, was Touou's choice for the tip-off. He was the tallest of them, so it was probably for the best.

Aomine was put in the game from the start. For the last two training days he actually practised – only the mini matches, but it was still a huge surprise for everyone. Although he wasn't quite in the mood to play a full match, he decided to crush his opponents from the very beginning. He knew he wouldn't enjoy it, but man he needed to let out some steam.

Wakamatsu got the ball for Touou and the game started.

The opposite team wanted to take it easy and test the waters first.

How foolish of them.

Aomine got the ball first and took the first points for Touou in an instant, leaving the opponents stare at his back in bewilderment and awe.

The entire game was one sided.

Aya was explaining Kiku the rules, while keeping an eye on the game. Whenever she would look at her boys, she'd unconsciously follow Aomine with her eyes. The ace was everywhere and no one could possibly stop him. When the opposite team tried to triple team him, he got past it with a snicker, or the free players of Touou would score instead.

It was visible how determination of the opposing team slowly evaporated into the thin air. The storm raging outside matched the mood of the game perfectly.

"I-i didn't know they were this good." Kiku whispered to Aya, so the boys wouldn't hear her. It wasn't like she underestimated them; she just didn't expect them to crush the other team this much.

"Actually... Me neither. And we are in the top eight teams of Japan." What they were doing exceeded Aya's expectations. She exchanged glances with Satsuki and understood the pinkette had similar thoughts. "But I don't think they are enjoying this." She continued gloomily. "Just look at their opponents, do they seem like they're having fun?"

True Wakamatsu yelled at the opponents to not give up or something along the lines, but it had no effect at all.

During the last two minute break between the third and the fourth quarter Wakamatsu wanted to kick something. "Why don't they even try? They are not that bad!"

"Hah." Aomine snickered. "Look at the score, genius. You think they have a reason to try?"

Wakamatsu frowned at the ace, but looked at the scoreboard. It showed one-sided results indeed: 145 – 42, for Touou. "That's not the reason to give up! It's just a practise match!"

Kiku shot another curious glance at the blonde. Her eyes were strangely following him the entire game. She found herself admiring his coordination and mental support he was offering to his opponents. Maybe he wasn't as bad and scary as his first impression gave out. This spark of curiosity didn't go unnoticed by both, Aya and Tada-senpai. They exchanged glances and nodded, already plotting how to befriend Kiku and Wakamatsu. Who knows, maybe it could turn out well.

"Want me to sit out?" Aomine asked, staring at Wakamatsu, challenging him to confirm that he considered him a monster too. They'd need Midorima shooting constant threes to close that gap. He thought. And even that, with the remaining time, might not save them.

"No." Katsunori jumped into it, pulling at his fringe. "This is Touou's current strength. You'll finish the match in this line up. Only if they demand another match I might consider changing the players, so the others would get to play too."

"Tch." Aomine clicked his tongue in annoyance. He wanted Wakamatsu's answer, not the coach's meddling. "As y' wish."

This game was one-sided from the beginning to the very end.

The last ball was handled by Aomine who dunked a buzzer beater with such a brute force that he broke the hoop. It came off with a terrible ripping sound.

The opponent team stared at it with fright in their eyes. How could a single fifteen year old brat have such brute strength that he managed to rip out a hoop?

Aomine Daiki was a monster.

Even Aya's mouth hung open for a moment. That Taiga broke a hoop with rusted bolts was one thing, but Touou had recently renovated the gym. There was no way the bolts could have been rusted and Aomine even tore off a part of the wooden backboard.

"Oh..." He looked at the hoop in his hand with a wild expression. "It came off." His eyes travelled to look at Aya's face, just when she shook off the initial shock. "... Sorry, I s'pose." He shrugged.

To Aya, his eyes had an unbelievably agonized expression for a split second. Maybe no one else had noticed it. It tugged on her heart and she didn't know what to do. She wanted to go to him to comfort him and tell him it was okay and at the same time she wanted to yell at him for destroying the new hoop.

He threw the broken hoop into the corner, where it landed with a clank resonating in the entire gym. Then he turned around and left. It didn't seem to bother him that it was raining cats and dogs outside.

Maybe she should have yelled at him to lift the heavy atmosphere he had created... She quickly glanced at Satsuki but the pinkette seemed frozen on her spot and close to tears. Almost everyone, coaches included, was frozen in shock.

"See? A monster. I told you." Yamaoka muttered victoriously to the other third years sitting on the bench, when he blinked the shock away. "He definitely did that on purpose."

That comment made Aya's blood boil instantly, bringing back her own stinging memories. Now it wasn't just for Aomine, it was personal. She got up and made a few steps towards the third year, who was sticking in her gullet since the day one.

Before Katsunori could stop her, the sound of a big-ass slap resonated throughout the gym, breaking the stunned silence.

Yamaoka instinctively touched his stinging red cheek. His huge shocked eyes were staring at Aya with a mixture of hatred, anger, shock and fear. Usually the girl would scold him, but so far she'd never slapped anyone. "What the hell you bi-"

"You've crossed the line, senpai." She hissed, not letting him finish the insult.

"How dare you-"

"I've told you something about calling others 'monsters', haven't I?!" She interrupted him again in a threateningly quiet voice. Her eyes pierced him and he suddenly felt like a little boy. "Or maybe you can't comprehend something as simple?"

"Aya!" Katsunori admonished her.

"Right." She shook her head and calmed down. It was only natural that she had a great self-control – it rarely ever slipped to this extent. "I'm sorry." It was obvious she didn't mean it. If she could, she'd probably slap him a couple times more. "I apologise for causing a scene." She turned around to face everyone and bowed. When she straightened, she was already smiling. "Anyways. Why don't you play some more with our other players? I believe it could benefit both parties." She said to lift up the heavy atmosphere she didn't quite help with her little outburst.

"I-i don't think so." The captain of the opposite team stuttered, staring at the score dejected.

"Oh come on! If you don't try you don't learn! It's as simple as that. You want to get better? Then train your asses off, play against strong opponents and don't run away after one defeat." She said with hands on her hips. "It's a practise match! And I don't remember we've agreed to have a practise match with a bunch of sensitive princesses. Or am I wrong?"

Her words were harsh, but it was exactly what they needed to hear. The redhead wasn't looking down on them, none of the boys sitting on the bench behind her back was. The captain took a deep breath and then looked at his team. "What do you say guys? Want to play some more?"

"OSU!" Those who hadn't gotten their chance previously shouted in unison.

"Due to the broken hoop, we will continue on the half courts." Katsunori quickly caught up. "That way we can have two matches at the same time and rotate players. What do you say?" He looked at the other coach, who nodded in agreement. It was a good opportunity to evaluate the other players at Touou's disposal.

The boys started chatting vividly, forgetting about the slap incident (all except Yamaoka). Even Kiku was pulled into a conversation with Satsuki. But when they turned to where Aya was supposed to be, she was gone.

Satsuki sighed. "She probably went to look for Aomine-kun. I suppose she is the only one he listens to."

######

Where did that idiot go? Aya was fuming inwardly. After checking Aomine's favourite spots, she was drenched from the heavy rain and had no idea where else to go. Then she noticed a huge tree in the backyard of the school. She never wandered there before, so maybe...

Bingo. She smiled when she saw a dark figure sitting on the grass below the tree.

Aomine had his eyes closed and face turned upwards, letting the heavy droplets fall on his skin.

"So here's where you've disappeared to."

He flinched, because she caught him by surprise – again. But this time he kept his reaction under control. He cracked open his eyes to look at her. She was pathetically drenched, with her clothes sticking to her skin and strands of loose hair sticking to her face. He wanted to tuck it behind her ear. Instead, he closed his eyes again.

"Came to lecture me?"

Aya sighed, seeing him like this, she couldn't possibly be angry anymore. "No. I came to clear my head before I kill Yamaoka." She sat next to him and leaned against the trunk. "But in the meanwhile, yeah, I looked for you too."

"What did he do?" He asked. Anything that would distract him was good enough.

"It's more about what I did..." She chuckled. "I slapped him, because he had another remark..."

"He called me a monster again?"

She turned her head to see his face, but she couldn't. "Yeah, but it wasn't just that. I take this sort of comments personally. Gosh, I seriously can't stand that guy."

He snorted. So she took that personally. "That's what happens when I take it seriously. You still want me to come to practises?" His voice sounded off, almost sad. And it wasn't the truth either. He hadn't taken the match that seriously, just a little bit more than usually.

"Sure." She said and then punched his shoulder.

"Oi! What was that for?!" He shouted.

"You held back while playing with me! That's not fair!" She accused him.

He rubbed the sore spot. She seemed weak, but her punches sure had strength in them. "If I hadn't, it wouldn't have been a game now, would it?"

"I've never asked you to hold back." She said and her voice sounded gentler. "You know, I was shocked, but it's not like I saw someone breaking the hoop for the first time. Taiga broke one at the practise match against Kaijo and there was that guy back in the States – huge as a mountain who broke a hoop off the metal board in one street match..."

"What are you trying to do?" He asked suspiciously.

"What, you say... I'm trying to make you feel better, stupid! You had that agonizing look in your eyes when you ran off. As if you were saying 'I've never asked for this'." She imitated his voice. But before he could interrupt she continued her rant, letting her emotions take over. This wasn't the Aomine she knew and it caught her by surprise. "Or what? You'd rather have me yell at you in front of everyone for being a stupid idiot and breaking new hoop?! Yeah, maybe I should have done that and everyone would have felt better. Because you are a stupid idiot for breaking it! It was new! And do you have any idea how much the repairs cost?!" She stopped to catch her breath.

"You're kinda amazing, y' know..." He muttered under his breath and a small smile cracked on his face. She got angry, emotional, and a little bit crazy. Because of him, for him. She slapped that stupid third year; and punched his shoulder for not playing seriously with her. That rant just now... It really made him feel better. It was different from Satsuki's never ending lecturing.

Eh? What did he just say? Aya couldn't believe her ears. Getting that sort of praise from Aomine... Unbelievable. Yet she knew he always spoke up his mind. And this time probably wasn't any different. A rosy hue coloured her cheeks for a moment.

"Yeah, I know!" She informed him, unable to come up with anything better. To get away from his comment, she needed to change the topic... "But seriously, did you do it on purpose?"

"Breaking that thing?" He asked to confirm and rested his head against the trunk gain. "No. It's the first time I held a hoop in my hand. It's bigger than I thought."

That made Aya burst out laughing.

"What?!"

"That's..." She couldn't answer him through the fits of laughter. "Tai... Taiga, ahahaha..." She was holding her stomach.

Somewhere at Seirin Taiga sneezed and grumbled something about Aya being stupid...

He leaned away from the tree to look at her. She was already crying, holding her hand up to stop any questions. Honestly, laughing Aya looked so amazing. Her cheeks were flushed even in the cold rain and her laughter sounded beautiful. He caught himself staring and averted his gaze, a blush creeping onto his cheeks too. At times like these, he was glad for his darker skin tone which, he believed, could hide his embarrassment from the world. But even if it couldn't, Aya wasn't looking at him in the moment.

"M-my brother said the very same thing after breaking the hoop at Kaijo, which was 'past expiration date'." She imitated Taiga's voice.

"Do hoops have an expiration date?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh come on! You can't be serious!" She rolled her eyes, but a chuckle escaped her again. "I don't want another laughing fit."

"Better than lecturing me." He looked away. "Sorry for breaking it." He said genuinely. Why was he even apologising? It wasn't like him at all... When Aya was around, he wasn't like himself at all. What the hell?

She rolled her eyes. "Listen..."

When he didn't look at her, she slapped her palms against both of his cheeks and forced him to look at her. Her fingers were icy cold from the rain, but her reddish eyes were burning. He couldn't look away from them, it felt like they could burn his skin and strangely, he wouldn't mind if they did.

Aomine's skin was hot under her fingers and she couldn't believe he managed to keep this temperature in the cold rain. She wasn't really thinking about her actions, she just needed him to listen.

"Yeah, you broke a hoop and that's expensive but whatever. Your basketball is enchanting, silly. Being too good is not a reason to stop enjoying it, or quit, or whatever. I enjoy watching you play and if they consider you a monster, then so am I. Trust me." She sighed, her eyes ran over his entire face and then settled on his eyes. "... I don't want to ever see you lose Aomine, but maybe that's exactly what you need." Then she narrowed her eyes at him. "And... Next time we play; don't you dare go easy on me. You hear me?!"

His stormy eyes were staring right into hers, threatening to drown her. If she was honest with herself, she wouldn't mind it. Not really. But she couldn't fool around. And so she blinked the strange, but not unknown, feeling away.

He nodded, too stunned to muster up any retort.

With a satisfied nod she let go and stood up.

Aomine remained staring at the spot where her reddish eyes had burned with so much care and something else he couldn't decipher, it left him speechless. He could still feel her cold fingers on his cheeks.

"Come on. Let's go back. It's freezing." She offered him a hand to help him up.

He didn't need it, but he gladly accepted and let her pull him up.

She frowned and grabbed his right palm again turning it over. "Of course this would happen." She hissed when she saw a bleeding scratch and bruise on his palm.

Aomine instinctively pulled his palm out of hers. "It's nothing."

"Sure it's nothing. But I'm still going to have a look at that nothing later." She said and headed towards the gym.

Her ass sure looks hot in drenched clothes. He thought as he followed her. Then he stopped for a moment and blinked. Why didn't he check out her boobs while her clothes were completely soaked?! What was happening to him?!

When they reached the gym, matches were still in a full swing. Those who didn't play were looking at the two curiously.

"Aya-chan! You disappeared on us! Oh, you are so drenched. What were you thinking going after that thickhead? You can catch a cold. Look at those blue lips!" Satsuki was fretting over Aya's appearance, not looking at Aomine once.

He knew his lecture was coming later. But really... Did Aya have blue lips? He took a good look and it was true. Aya was shivering even though she was trying to hide it.

"Idiots don't catch colds. Don't worry, Satsuki, I'll take a hot shower and I'll be as good as new." She smiled.

"Yes! Go and take one!" Satsuki ordered in a motherly tone.

"Hai, hai. Keep an eye on Kiku for me, 'kay?"

Satsuki nodded. "You bet. I can't leave such a cute girl with a bunch of wild boys all alone now, can I?"

Katsunori watched Aya from across the gym with narrowed eyes. So she went after him... What an idiot... He hoped she'd be okay.

"Aomine-kun." Satsuki said and turned to him with dangerous eyes. "If Aya-chan gets sick because of you, you'll have a serious problem. Is that clear?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"And don't you dare catch a cold. Go get changed. Now!"

"Didn't you hear, Satsuki? Idiots don't catch colds." He repeated what Aya had said.

"Now!" She pointed at the door.

Geeez... He turned around and followed after Aya, leaving pools of water behind him.

Aya was leaving trails of water behind her too. Once he entered the school building he could see where she went. It was tempting to go and spy on her... He was playing with the idea in his mind, he was a curious teenager after all, but Aoyama's face flashed in his head, and no... He wouldn't go down to that idiot's level.

He headed towards the boys' room and took out fresh clothes. Shiro's white hair stuck to his pants. He chuckled at it and took it off. After this he would finally sleep in his own bed and see his dogs. Just when he headed towards the showers he realized it was right next to the girls' one. Aya's water trail was leading towards the door, so she was already inside. He couldn't hear the water running yet though.

Maybe one peek won't get me killed. He thought and quietly approached the door. When Aya's phone rang inside the room, he almost got a heart attack. Nope. You're not risking your life any more...

Aya picked up the call and turned the speaker on. "Hey, Senri! What's up?"

"Yo. Just wondering how did you manage the club?" A manly voice sounded from the phone and Aomine frowned. For some reason it made him uneasy.

"Without any problem. Seriously, what did you expect?"

"Who did you use as a partner? I promised I'd pay him for helping out too."

"As if you need to ask... Taiga of course. There aren't many men who can lead me well." She said and Aomine could hear her squeeze the water out of her clothes. He leaned against the wall and decided to eavesdrop a bit. He knew he shouldn't, but it was too tempting in this case.

"He is your twin. Of course he can lead you well. Probably even predict your movements. And read your mind." Senri pouted.

"He certainly can't read my mind, but... Yeah, he can predict me, read me, but that's not it either. Taiga has one quality most dancers lack... He isn't scared of me, Senri."

"... Am I scared of you?" He asked curiously. This wasn't why he'd called her, but whatever.

Aya laughed. "Sure you are. I can feel it in your every step, every touch, you are intimidated by me. You are not sure how to lead me, or if you can. I bet you're still wondering why I am in your club, helping you out."

Senri chuckled through his nose. "It's true. I never thought you'd ever come back. And we both know I'm nothing that special when it comes to dancing. Of course I'd be insecure when dancing with a world champion. I mean... I'm not like my carefree, bold brothers and it's not like I can ever match up to you."

Aomine's jaw almost hit the ground at that very moment. 'World champion...' The words rang in his head. After hearing this conversation, he understood why the coach had assumed they were similar. So that 'Senri' guy was afraid to dance with her, because she was a world champion... Then of course she could sense it... If she was as good at dancing as he was at basketball... So many things suddenly made sense. Why would she keep that a secret though?

"A former world champion, if you must." She corrected him.

Senri chuckled. "Not true. There've been no world championships since you quit. So you and Ray still are the world champions."

"Urgh... I won't participate this year, so I'm not the world champion anymore... And stop distracting me from the real problem here! Honestly... You are leading the club! You have no reason to doubt yourself. I agreed to dance with you, because I wanted to. Which , in other words, means I trust you and your lead, stupid. I wouldn't help you if I didn't want to. So, man up. Get over it. You are old enough. And I'm not a unicorn."

"Ouch... Harsh as always." Senri wasn't sure whether to take that as a pep talk or a scolding.

"Of course! So... Why are you really calling me?" She wanted to hit the shower already and not deal with Senri's insecurities. It'd never crossed her mind that Aomine could be sitting outside listening to everything.

"The business trip will last till next Monday. And I don't feel well..."

She rolled her eyes at Senri's roundabout way. "You want me to take over the practises for the next week or two as well, right?"

"If it wouldn't trouble you much..." His voice sounded almost apologetic.

"Whatever. You know I don't mind. Now if you excuse me, I almost froze in the storm outside, so I want to take a nice hot shower. I'll call you when I get home."

"Ah... the training camp. Sure kiddo. I didn't want to bother you. Bye." He hung up.

Aya sighed. "Talk about responsible adults... Taiga's gonna kill me for this."

When all he could hear was the running water, he got up and went to the boys' showers. The phone call was stuck in his head. And he was jealous, though he didn't know how to call the uneasy feeling he felt after overhearing her conversation with the man he didn't know.

######

"You going back?"

"Shit!" She almost jumped out of her skin when she heard Aomine's voice coming out of the boys' room she had to pass if she wanted to head out. "Do you want to kill me?!" She hissed with a hand over her heart. "I though no one was here."

"You do the same to me, Sweetheart. Just my payback."

"Oh right. I really appreciate it, Honey-bun..." She said sarcastically.

He flinched at the nickname; he really didn't like it. His eyes wandered all over her figure. So this is a body of a world champion, huh... No wonders she had such a bottomless stamina.

What do you wanna know now? She thought desperately, but ignored his wandering gaze. "I want Kiku's cookies and to say goodbye to the other team. You should come too, ace."

"Nah... I pass. I don't feel like getting drenched again."

"Why do you think I have this?" Aya waved with an umbrella she had. "Come on. Don't be a kid."

"Tch."

After some banter as of who was supposed to carry the umbrella, they stumbled into the gym, successfully avoiding any unnecessary attention, because it was just about time the opponents were leaving. No one noticed the duo until they popped up near Satsuki.

The pinkette looked at them curiously. "Glad you came back."

"Of course! I want those cookies." Aya whispered to her. "Kiku's sweets are heavenly!"

"What a sweet-tooth you have."

They said their goodbyes and the other team ran towards the changing room to hit the showers and then sprint to their bus without getting too drenched.

"Okay guys!" Aya clapped her hands to get her team's attention. "Before you start cleaning up, there is one more thing we prepared for you. Now Kiku, if you would..."

Kiku took a few steps forward to stand next to Aya. She was carrying the box – already opened, and everyone tried to get a peek at what was inside. Happy whispers spread among the boys.

One step before her desired destination she tripped over her own feet. The least thing she wanted was to embarrass herself like this, and yet.

A strong hand caught her elbow and the box before they could fall. She looked up at the person to thank him, only to meet Wakamatsu's hazelnut eyes. "You sure trip a lot." He said, scratching his cheek that turned slightly pink.

Kiku blushed too. "I'm sorry. Thank you!" She said, surprisingly without stuttering.

Aya and Tada-senpai exchanged knowing looks, which didn't escape Imayoshi's attention. "I feel some schemes." He said, so only Tada could hear him.

"No way captain. You are imagining things." He whispered back. We have to include Imayoshi later on, he sighed inwardly.

"Uhm..." Kiku stood next to Aya, and the redhead smiled at her encouragingly. "A-A-Aya-san asked me t-t-to prepare a treat f-for y-you... Y-you did a g-g-good j-job." She stuttered and stuck the box out in front of her, as a sign for everyone to take cookies from it.

The boys teared up. They were exhausted and tired, and this cute little creature would bring them sweets.

"THANK YOU!" They shouted in unison and bowed in gratitude. Then they proceeded to take their treats. There was a package for everyone.

Kiku had tears of happiness in her eyes. Good she held her head down, so they couldn't see. It was the first time in her life that schoolmates thanked her for something she'd done. It wasn't like she deserved it or anything. She was glad she could be of use.

"I believe I have good news for you too." Katsunori announced, getting all the attention. "Since we need to repair the hoop, there won't be practises on Thursday and Friday." He was considering giving them the next two days free anyways, but it was good he could blame it on the hoop.

"Yes!"

They couldn't get any luckier for them.

"Thanks man!" Kano patted Aomine's shoulder. "Good job on that one." He grinned widely.

Aomine shrugged, but he couldn't believe it.

"See? Not everyone thinks you are a monster..." Aya said from behind his back only to him and then went to talk with Kiku.

######

"Ne, Satsuki?" Aomine asked her on their way home. Of course she forced him to carry her stuff as a punishment for running off in the storm.

"What is it?" She asked curiously. Her hands were clasped behind her back and she was enjoying the few sun rays that escaped from behind the dark clouds.

"Did you know Kagami is a world champion?"

She could see he was very perplexed about it; not sure what to do with that information. How cute. "Yup. She told me the other day. What about it?" She asked calmly.

"I can't believe it..."

"No, you can't wrap your mind around it. The girl you thought was full of talks, has actual results to back her every word."

He frowned at Satsuki. It wasn't true and she knew it. "I never thought that, I just... Why isn't she bragging about it?"

"Who knows? She isn't you?" Satsuki shrugged and teased him. She chuckled at his annoyed glare and continued. "Aya-chan isn't the arrogant type, even though I believe she can be if she wants. And she probably has her reasons to keep it secret. Something must've happened that forced her to quit, maybe? Obviously not an injury."

"... Even you decided to keep it a secret..." It occurred to him that Satsuki must have known for a longer time, since when? The practise match? Probably. And she didn't tell him anything.

"How did you find out?" She looked at him with a suspicious glare.

"I overheard her talking on the phone in the showers. She had the speaker on, so I heard the entire conversation." He explained.

Suddenly, Satsuki jabbed his ribs; the second girl attacking him that day. "OI! What was that for?!"

"You went there to spy on her! Didn't you?! Admit it! Pervert!" She accused him. "I was so stupid to send you away, knowing Aya-chan would take a shower in the same building. You don't have any delicacy, Aomine-kun. What were you thinking?..."

He tuned Satsuki's voice out after a couple of seconds of her rant. He felt like his head would hurt the next morning.

At home he avoided his overly curious mother, who would've definitely interrogated his bandaged palm – Aya had forced him to have it treated. He went straight to his room, followed by Shiro (Samoyed) and Kurome (Black Labrador retriever) to snuggle with them. The third one, Akari (Belgian Malinois) was working with his father at the police station. He missed them so much. Scratching their heads lulled him into a deep dreamless sleep. The training camp was surprisingly eventful even for him.

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A/N: This is my idea of how Touou's training camp might look. Can a rice cooker blow up? - Pressure pots can, otherwise, I have no idea, but I liked it, so... Aomine might've been a little OOC when it comes to breaking the hoop, but there had to be the first time it happened, and even for the arrogant prick it would be pretty shocking, I believe. And is that Kiku crushing on Wakamatsu?

/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.