A/N: Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me very happy.
Warning for this chapter: mention of blood and death. I hope it's still within the rating. (If not, let me know.)
Enjoy!
My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.― George Washington
Behind all your stories is always your mother's story. Because hers is where yours begin. ― Mitch Albom, For One More Day
‚I loved my mother too,' I said. 'I still do. That's the thing - it never goes away, even if the person does.' ― Anna Carey, Eve
There is something about losing your mother that is permanent and inexpressable - a wound that will never quite heal.― Susan Wiggs, The Goodbye Quilt
You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice. ― Bob Marley
I love you every day. And now I will miss you every day. ― Mitch Albom, For One More Day
She went around with a broken heart, and she wasn't sure who'd broken it. She thought it was herself, mostly. ― Ann Brashares
We are made of all those who have built and broken us. ― Atticus Poetry, Love Her Wild
The day after the argument with Aomine, Aya was feeling strange. They didn't talk and he avoided her, or so she felt. He skipped practises – it wasn't unusual, but still… She managed the dancing club with Taiga's help, this time not stepping on his feet, but they didn't talk much either. Regular lack of sleep was catching up with her. When she got home, she went straight to bed, without doing her work. Thankfully, she could afford it this time.
Her dreams that night took a strange route. They were all memories, replaying in her head.
"I want to be like mama! Ballerina!" Tiny Aya proclaimed and spun around, falling on her bottom in the process.
"Ooh, you…" A woman with black wavy hair caught her into her arms and snuggled with her chubby toddler. They spun around together. "Of course you will!"
"Me too, me too, mama!" Taiga was jumping up and down trying to get mother's attention.
"Of course you too. Come." She opened her arms and scooped him up too.
"You really do enjoy dancing around, don't you?" Father's loving voice reached them from a couch.
"Papa too!" Aya stuck her hand out, calling out to him.
With a deep chuckle he got up and joined them.
###
"I want to do Latin dances!"
"Didn't you want to become a ballerina?" Her mom asked with a surprised expression.
"I don't wanna! The music is boring and slow! I want other, fancier dress too!"
"Hmmm…" She thought about it. "Okay, but you'll keep at it twice a week."
"…" She thought about it for a while. "Deal."
"Oh my. She'll be a good negotiator one day." An old man chuckled as he watched the child. She was one of the best students he had ever had. "I can teach her, if you'd like, Keiko-san."
###
"We are moving to America, Shiranui-san. I'm sorry, I'm taking her away."
"You got an offer, right, Keiko-san?"
"Yes. Haruka is looking for a job too. He might even get a season or two in the NBA. It's one in a lifetime opportunity. For all of us." She sparkled with joy and optimism. Aya loved her mother; in fact she loved her the most when she was happy and cheerful.
"Hmmm… Please, don't let her compete yet. I know she wants to, but it still has time. She's too young to enter that world."
"I'll see what I can do. But my Robin is too competitive. Taiga in comparison… I just hope he will get sharp elbows thanks to her one day."
"They are twins, they are better together than apart, Keiko-san."
Adults' conversations were boring, and impatient Aya was fidgeting around, looking for anything she could do. "Oi, wait! Let's play outside, Pinky." She ran after a pink-haired girl, whose face she couldn't see clearly.
- The scene disappeared before she caught up with the girl. -
"Next time, I want to conquer the world! Mwahahaa!" Aya laughed victoriously after winning her first local competition. "I'll be like you mama!"
"Slightly different, sweetie." She chuckled and kissed Aya's forehead.
###
"I don't wanna go there!" Aya cried crocodile tears; crouching in the changing room, squeezing a tattered dress in her small palms. "They say I'm a monster, mama!" She sobbed.
She opened and closed her mouth, unable to comfort her daughter.
"You wanted to conquer the world?" Taiga laughed at her. "And you cry like a little baby over a dress?"
She threw the dress at him. It wasn't just about the dress. "Go to hell!"
"Oi, Robin!" Mother tried to scold her, but it was too late and they were already in each other's hair. When she finally tore them apart, they both stuck out their tongues at her.
"Now. You, young lady, are not gonna complain, and you will go out there. And you, young man, will dance with her, since Raymond is not going to come today."
"In what?" Aya asked. "We don't have the costumes."
"Mom will figure it out. Trust me." She winked at her kids mischievously.
###
"Mom, mom! Look at that park! Let's go in!" Aya pulled at her arm dragging her towards a park. "It seems fun."
"We said we were going home. I'm very tired." She said.
The past month, or more, she was looking extremely tired and strained, sometimes in pain. Aya didn't know what was happening, but she wanted to make her smile and laugh again. And playing in a park was usually enjoyable for everyone.
"Pretty pleaaase!" They said in unison, knowing she couldn't resist their double cuteness.
She sighed. "Only for an hour."
They were running around with some other kids that were in the park, playing cops and robbers, climbing trees. Aya wanted to climb the highest. To show Taiga that there was nothing to be scared of.
"Come on! It's simple! Look!" She hung upside down, on only one leg. "See?! Ea-" The branch broke with a cracking sound and Aya fell down, with a scream and a loud 'thud'.
"Easy?" He finished her sentence and laughed. She glared at him. Then he helped her up. "You okay?"
"Yeah…" She grumbled. Thankfully, nothing felt broken, only scratched. "Don't tell mom– Sssss…" She hissed in pain, and reflexively reached to touch the left side of her waist. She could feel the torn fabric of her new dress and something warm and sticky.
"Blood!" Taiga shouted, and pulled her.
"Oii! Don't make mom worry! It's nothing!" She yelled at him, but he was already running and dragging her towards where their mom was resting on a bench after she had played with them for a while. Aya tried to struggle, but it was pointless.
"Oh dear." Keiko sighed after she looked at Aya's scratch. It wasn't as bad as it looked. "It's just a scratch, but we should go see a doctor. I fear it might leave a scar, Robin. We don't want that, do we?" Her kind smile and soft palm, stroking Aya's head almost made her forget her fear of hospitals. Almost.
"No. U-uh. Not going." She said stubbornly, shaking her head.
"Robin, we need to have it cleaned up."
"U-uh."
"Taiga can tell you there is nothing scary. We'll be there with you. Right?" She looked at her son, who was staring somewhere past them. "Right?"
Instead of answering, he pointed his finger over Aya's shoulder. A man standing there looked scary. "Look–"
"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" The man shouted, waving with a machine gun at a woman who was playing with her little child only a few meters away. "YOU DARED TO DITCH ME LIKE A DOG?!"
The woman immediately stuck her child behind her, but before she could speak up, before anyone could react, he started shooting around randomly.
BRA-TA-TA-TA-TA…
Aya suddenly screamed out again. It was a horrid sound she made. Blood gushed out of her left shoulder, when a bullet grazed it tearing her skin and damaging the muscle.
Taiga cried out in pain a second later, as his right hip got grazed by another bullet.
Their mother's face twisted in fright, shock and panic. She grabbed both of them, forced them down, and covered them with her body, shielding them the best she could.
It all happened so quickly. Yet it took so long.
The sound of a rifle was ear tearing. It wasn't stopping at all.
"It's gonna be okay. Mom will protect you." She was whispering to them in a shaky voice, holding onto them desperately. "It's gonna be okay. Mom loves y –"
Her voice suddenly stopped.
Her body became heavy.
"Mom?" Aya asked. She couldn't move. Their mother held them too tightly. She couldn't get away. "Mom!"
"Mom!" Taiga tried too.
Shooting stopped.
"Mom!"
They both struggled to get out of her embrace. She fell to the ground. Not moving.
Blood pool started to form beneath her.
"Mom!" Aya shook her shoulder, not understanding what was happening. She was talking to them just a moment ago.
"MOM!" Tears started to flow down her face.
"MOM!"
"MOM!" Aya sprang up on her bed breathing heavily. She was covered in cold sweat. Her heart was beating frantically, hurting. Tears were staining her cheeks even in her sleep.
"No way…" She breathed out and clutched at her covers, her left shoulder, anything.
She was rocking back and forth, trying to calm down, to not think about that day. But she couldn't stop her tears. If she hadn't dragged her to that park…
She didn't know how much time had passed. How long she'd remained in her fetal position.
Her door creaked open. Taiga slipped into her room, his eyes already adjusted to the darkness ruling in their apartment. It wasn't her scream that had woken him up. He simply got up, as if sensing her panic and distress. He gently touched her shoulder. He wasn't used to seeing his sister like this... Like this, Aya seemed so fragile.
"It's okay." He said in barely a whisper. "It was just a nightmare."
Aya stopped rocking. She didn't look at him, but her nails dug into her scar.
"I dreamt 'bout mom." She said quietly.
Figures… By her current state, he knew exactly what she had dreamt about.
"It's been almost eight years…" He hugged her around the shoulders and rested his chin on top of her head. "It's not your fault." It still hurt him too. He had cried a lot too. But…
"If I hadn't forced her to go to that park…" Her voice broke.
"Mom was sick, Aya. Even if you hadn't suggested the park, she would have died a couple of months later." It was a fact. They had overheard their father talking with medics and police. Keiko had been hiding her disease from everyone. She hadn't wanted to worry them. Taiga came to terms with it a long time ago.
"She could have had a couple more months…" She sniffled.
He hugged her tighter. Back then Aya had been the first one to get over it – or at least she'd pretended she was over it, in order to keep father and him from depression. Their father had changed and so had Aya. She felt like she had to protect their family in Keiko's stead. She had entered competitions and world championships again, only a few months after the shooting. And she had won it for the first time. At that time, Taiga had even hated her for that, for every smile she flashed, for her trying to substitute mom. It was much later when he finally understood how painful it must have been for Aya. But she'd never complained. When she had cried she had done so alone in her room.
"Painful months full of struggle. She protected us, Aya. She decided to protect us, because she loved us." His voice broke too. He wasn't the type to cry, but this was… Every time he remembered the love with which she had shielded them… The love she'd given them. Always… "Mom would have never blamed you for it."
"…"
He subtly cleared his throat. "It's not your fault." He repeated. And he was willing to repeat it over, and over, and over again, until she would understand.
She sniffled again. But she didn't retort anything.
Minutes went by, as they both remembered her.
They did so in silence. No words were needed.
Eventually, Aya sighed. She was feeling much better with Taiga by her side. It was safe, and comfortable. He could understand her without words.
"Oi… Don't get your snot on my t-shirt." He pulled away when she rubbed her face against his chest.
A small smile appeared on her face.
Taiga reached out and took a handkerchief, forcing her to blow her nose. "Good girl." He patted her hair after she was done.
She growled at him.
He chuckled. Hm…
Suddenly he grabbed her head and rubbed the handkerchief – with its snotty content – all over her face.
"OI! STOP!" She fought back – pointlessly. "Stop it, idiot! It's disgusting!" She yelled, but chuckles escaped her here and there.
When she managed to escape his hold, she went to wash her face off, mumbling curses all the way to the bathroom and back.
"I'll get back at you, Taiga." She said threateningly, and he could feel her glare.
"Yeah, yeah." He said stretching on her bed. "You laughed, you know."
"It was still disgusting."
"It was yours."
"Hate you."
"Love you sis'."
"Sure." She climbed over him, to get onto the other side of her huge double bed, near the wall. She didn't forget to press her hand and then knee into his stomach.
"Urgh." He groaned. "Mind where you crawl."
"What was it? Your crotch next time?"
"Good to see you are fine already."
She sighed and he could already guess her answer. "I'm trying."
"We all are."
"I know… I miss her."
"Me too."
"Will it get better?"
"I don't think so. We can only get used to it."
"We already had almost eight years for that."
"We weren't only grieving for eight years. We had lots of fun too, made lots of friends… And… You've got dancing. I've got basketball; well you too now. We've got each other. Seems manageable, don't you think?"
"Behold, spark of wisdom from Bakagami Taiga!" She said in a storytelling voice.
Taiga kicked her leg. "You are Bakagami too, so shut it."
She was giggling, but his words got home. It was nice having this dork for a brother. She'd never change him for anyone else – most of a time.
"Thank you." She said seriously after a moment of staring at the ceiling.
"Thank you too."
"Love you, you big dork."
"Love you, you stupid witch." He said and sat up.
"Stay." She pulled at his wrist like a little kid. "I don't want to be alone."
He sighed in exasperation. "What a big baby." But he didn't have the heart to leave her alone, even though he knew that he wouldn't get much sleep.
So he laid down and turned on his right side to face her.
She was smiling softly, already drifting off to sleep. She took his hand and held onto it, squeezing it tightly. He squeezed back, closing his eyes to get some sleep too.
Next morning, she was staring at her reflexion in the mirror.
She took a deep breath. "You are balanced, happy, a little bit crazy, cheerful young lady. You are gonna nail it like you always do. Everything is as it is supposed to be. You are over all that shit."
"Nice pep talk." Taiga walked into the bathroom with a yawn, to brush his teeth, when he spotted her talking to herself.
"Of course it is! It's mine."
"Yeah, yeah…" He mumbled and took his toothbrush, ready to leave.
"Wait!" She grabbed his wrist, almost causing him to fall backwards. "How is it?" She asked and pointed at her bruised cheek, which was perfectly covered up with make-up.
"Eh?! Where did the bruise go?!" He blinked at her with wide eyes, yet again. This was magic for him. Magic he never understood, and his sister seemed so experienced in using. Witch.
She smiled and patted his shoulder. "Away, poof." She made fun of him.
"Idiot." He rolled his eyes.
"I suppose I did a good job." She mumbled a praise to herself and left.
"Come to see me during lunch, Robin. I should receive the matchup for the preliminaries, and I need to discuss the competition itself with you. Okay?" Katsunori asked her after the morning practise.
"Sure. I'll come." She nodded, as she was finishing her daily report. "When are the preliminaries supposed to start?"
"In two weeks on Wednesday, but we'll know the exact dates and times after the official announcement. And prepare for a hell lot of paperwork." He said; happy that this year, he didn't have to be the one dealing with it.
"Well thank you!"
After cleaning up the gym, she changed into her uniform and headed towards the shoe lockers, to change her shoes.
One neatly folded note was awaiting her on top of her indoor shoes.
Another 'confession'? She thought.
But when she opened it, her heart sank. She was used to numerous rumours circling about her back in America, but there was none here. Yet…
'Basketball team's whore…'
She read it a couple of times and then she smirked. Whore, huh? Well, thank you for announcing that you're jealous of my team.
Bad things were slowly piling up, and she was feeling down. Still, she pushed the aftertaste of that message to the back of her mind. She tore the paper to shreds and threw it away. It wasn't worth her attention.
######
Satsuki came over to the class 1-3 during lunch break. She didn't have time to talk with Aya-chan in the morning and this was important. To her surprise, the classroom was almost empty, only Aomine - sleeping on his desk - and a few others stayed behind. The others probably didn't have the heart to wake him up – or they didn't care.
Aya came in a minute after Satsuki.
"Ah! Satsuki. I got the official matchups from Katsu- coach." She said. "What's that?" She asked, looking at a file Satsuki held at her chest.
"It's for you!" She placed the file on Aya's desk. "I thought you could use some help."
"Eh? For me?" Aya asked and picked it up, quickly paging through the file.
It concerned detailed information about various schools with strong basketball teams. Aya had talked with Satsuki about checking out several schools and asked her what were her thoughts, because Satsuki definitely knew more about good high-schools in Japan than Aya.
"I listed and analysed the schools we talked about and some more, just for your information. Personally I think Kaijo would suit your friend the best, but…" Satsuki shrugged. Out of all the guys, Ki-chan was the friendliest one and could help a newcomer fit in – if he came to like him that is.
"Wow. That's awesome. Thank you very much." She genuinely admired Satsuki at the moment. Doing all that in a couple of days was remarkable. "But I don't think Kaijo is an option."
"Why not? Ki-chan is the friendliest of them all."
"Exactly." She said. "I don't think Tatsuya and Kise could mingle well. Not as friends and definitely not as teammates… Plus he wants to be as far away from Tokyo as possible…" Aya rolled her eyes; thinking about the stupid argument between Tatsuya and her brother.
"Why?" Satsuki asked curiously and took over Sakurai's seat – currently vacant.
"Tatsuya is… similar to Kise in a way. He isn't all smiles and sunshine, but… He has his poker-face nature, which can be both appealing and infuriating at the same time. He is a top-notch shooting guard, usually an ace. Kise and he would probably hit heads; two suns on one team. Not a good combination." Aya shrugged. She'd known Tatsuya for years. "He'd make a good team with someone laid back, who wouldn't pressure him much and give him space. His motto is 'Keep a hot heart, and cool head, always think before you act.' And he really keeps to it, but..." She rolled her eyes. "Urgh… Sometimes I wanted him to choke with those words…"
Observing was one of Satsuki's strong points and Aya wasn't even trying to sound discreet. "I sense a love story there." Satsuki squealed with hearts in her eyes. If anything made her happy it was a love talk with girls.
The pinkette glanced at Aomine, who, surely awake by now, kept pretending to sleep and playing indifference, but she would swear he was listening.
"Yeah. Uh… Didn't work out quite well." Aya said with a shrug and a soft smile. She wanted to think positively about it, even if it had hurt her before.
"How come? What happened?"
Aya raised an eyebrow at her. This one shouldn't hurt, she had told Kiku about Tatsuya already, so... And Taiga was right, she probably needed to talk. Satsuki was a good start. Plus that dream…
'Get to know me…' you told her. Aya thought.
"I'm not exactly a definition of a 'laid-back' person, am I?" She chuckled. "Well, let's say that I loved him. We were not exactly dating, or… Urgh, who am I kidding here?" She snorted, she wasn't sure how to explain things to Satsuki. There'd been years of friendship before they had fallen in love… "We were dating, secretly? I can't explain it well? It was complicated..."
"Eh? Why don't you start from the beginning then?" Satsuki suggested, hoping for an answer, but not expecting it.
The beginning huh?... Aya looked around, realising that Aomine was there – sleeping, which meant that rooftop was vacant. "Uhm… I suppose I need to take a walk. It's easier to organize my thoughts when I'm moving."
"Oh." Satsuki immediately got up. Serves you right, Dai-chan. I've done what I could… "Sure. Let's go." She said and headed out of the class 1-3.
Aya took the file and her phones and followed after Satsuki. Her lunch would have to wait till later.
They strolled around the hallways a bit and for once, Satsuki was trying to be patient, but Aya could feel her burning curiosity. They ended up on the rooftop – Aya liked it there. When Aomine wasn't occupying it, she sometimes climbed up alone, to enjoy the calm spring breeze and watch clouds.
They climbed to the upper part, above the door. Aya was sitting on the edge, kicking her legs in the air.
"Tatsuya was our childhood friend. We met in L.A. and eventually the three of us, Tatsuya, Taiga and I, became best friends, almost like siblings. Taiga and I are not exactly composed, we act before thinking at times, so Tatsuya's calm personality was something we needed. He completed us, forced us to slow down sometimes. It was good."
Satsuki was all ears. She noticed that Aya had a short temper and struggled to control it at times. Usually she was good at controlling it, but sometimes she'd just blow up, without a second thought. The pinkette didn't want to interrupt her, and wondered what had caused Aya to talk to her. She was starting to think that she was the last person Aya would ever trust…
"Tatsuya got my brother hooked on basketball, something no one else could have done before. He was like an older brother to Taiga, to both of us. But more to Taiga... He was my friend, and then he was like a family and then not like a family at all. It was all so confusing for me. He made me feel self-conscious at times. I started noticing him more. You know…" She was playing with the file, opening and closing it, rambling out her thoughts.
"Falling in love with your brother's best friend… It's … Weird… Complicated… Uhm… We never explicitly said we were dating, you know… But we did date. We hung out very often, or whenever I wasn't out for competitions, because it was normal. We used to hang out without Taiga too. And I argued with Taiga over it, real bad. I was stealing his 'brother' away…" When he caught us making out… And then that photo… She added inwardly. "And so… eventually, it got even worse and then I broke it off. Not just because of the arguments with Taiga, there was more to it. Tatsuya's father never liked me much... I didn't want to ruin their friendship? I didn't want to ruin my relationship with Taiga? It was the wrong timing? I had lots of other things to deal with? Tatsuya wasn't the one? I don't know, but now when I think about it I have a feeling that we wouldn't have lasted either way."
Satsuki was devouring every word Aya was telling her. It could help her to understand the enigmatic redhead a little bit better. "Weren't all those just excuses so you wouldn't hurt yourself?"
"Oh, trust me Satsuki, I hurt myself plenty by rejecting him. It was a shitty period of my life in general. And being in love with Tatsuya didn't help it. We were better off as just friends…" She sighed. "I came up with many reasons after we'd broken up, to soothe my broken heart I s'pose." She chuckled. It sounded as if she said How-stupid-right-?. The look in her eyes wasn't sad or hurt, more like she was levelled with it.
"You are fine now." The pinkette stated, bewildered. She felt this was of a huge importance to Aya and that there was much more behind the story – things Aya preferred to keep to herself for now. Was that 'shitty period' what made Aya so grown up? How could a person transform in a couple of months? Satsuki wished to know. And she wished to know the previous Aya too.
"It took time and I think leaving America helped it... And when he called me to help him out the other day... I didn't miss him and it didn't hurt. I realised that I'm already past it."
"Don't you regret it?" Satsuki asked. She was in love with Tetsu-kun, he most likely knew about it, but were they dating? No. Did she have the guts to actually confess? No. Still, it was her pestering him with her presence most of the time, knowing he wasn't the type to send her to hell in Aomine-ish way. It was all she could do. But gods she wanted more out of it.
Aya raised an eyebrow in a question. "Regret what? Falling in love with him, breaking up, or getting over it?"
"Uuuuhm… All of it?"
"Hmmm… I've never thought about it in this way. I had 'what if' thoughts, but… I don't think I regret it, any of it. We talked it over, and I think it's fine on both sides." She shrugged. "Hot heart, cool head, remember?"
"You remained friends?" She asked curiously.
"It's not the same as before, but yes. We are still friends. The boys though… they had a big quarrel anyways – not involving me, thank gods, and they are not talking at all now. I got told off, that it's a men's quarrel. Whatever… They are both idiots if you ask me." She chuckled good-heartily. "I only hope they will eventually resolve it."
Aya wouldn't say more than that – her tone made it clear – and even that was more than Satsuki had ever expected. She was thinking back about Aomine they'd left in the classroom. She so wanted to know his thoughts about this.
"Hmm…" Aya looked into the distance, and then looked at the pinkette curiously. "Have you never thought about dating Aomine?"
"Eh? Why would you ask?" But Satsuki knew it was only fair to be questioned after she had finished her questioning.
"You said there were rumours in your middle school. And you are childhood friends who know each other well. I'm curious. And let's face it, he is hot."
Satsuki's eyes almost bulged out. So Aya-chan thought he was hot? "Hot, huh?"
"Aah, well… Doesn't mean I have a crush. Nope. Just stating the facts." Aya rambled out.
Satsuki giggled. It was a bubbly, pleasant sound. Then she quieted down and thought about Aya's question. The redhead wasn't pressuring her; she was patiently waiting for an answer.
"I have. For a while." She chuckled, thinking back. "I mean they all talked about it… But it was only platonic, before Tetsu-kun appeared with the popsicle stick and swooned my heart. I was never really in love with Dai-chan. And neither was he. He was too preoccupied with basketball to bother himself with girlfriends. Or rumours… Or me. I loved that passion of his, but he was never my type, physically-wise and all... and when he changed… Well…" Satsuki might have never been in love with Aomine, but she worried about him enough to follow after him into high-school. Just like what a sister would do. She fumbled with the hem of her skirt, and it was obvious she didn't want to talk about it more.
"Popsicle stick?" Aya looked at her in confusion as if she overlooked the rest of what the pinkette had said. "What are you talking about?"
The way Satsuki fumbled with the hem was so familiar! Aya felt that it was important, but she couldn't remember it in the slightest. The little girl from her dream flashed in her mind, but Aya refused it immediately. Not possible.
"You know the popsicles with winning sticks in them, when you get another one for free? He gave me his prize! It was so romantic!" Satsuki held palm over her heart.
Romantic? Wow. That sure was simple. Aya thought and smiled softly at Satsuki's excitement as she told her the entire story of how she fell in love with Kuroko Tetsuya, she hadn't yet told her.
The class started to slowly fill with students again. Aya and Satsuki returned sooner than the others, so Aya could eat something from her lunchbox. Satsuki was excitedly telling her about the upcoming preliminaries, when Kano's loud voice interrupted her mid-sentence, and she sent him a glare.
"Aya-chan! You should have come and played with us!" Kano said with a wide grin, when the boys – surprisingly with Kiku at tow, returned from the outside courts.
"I would, but by the time I came back from Katsunori you were long gone." She pouted a bit.
"What did the coach say? Do you have the preliminaries matchup? When does it start? What block are we in?" Hideki flooded her with questions.
"Whoa there!" Aya stopped the overly excited Kano. "One question at time." She smiled at him and took out the sheet with matchups – Satsuki had had one since the previous Friday and had shown it to Aya – but didn't want to give it out to the boys before it was officially out.
The managers had already started with data collection about the other teams too. Aya really wanted to know how Satsuki acquired and worked with all that personal data, and what she could do. Having a manager like that when she had competed would have been awesome.
"Here's the sheet." She handed him the paper. "Prelims starts in the last week of May. We are in the block B. And no, you are probably not going to get your 5 minutes of fame."
Kano gasped with teary eyes. "Did you have to shoot me down like that? Did you, missy?!" He played offended, but they both started to laugh soon after.
"Yeah! to motivate you…"
It was the first time Satsuki experienced the atmosphere of those four in their classroom. It was nice, slightly crazy, but very friendly. Aya used to banter with the guys in this cosy manner often.
"I envy you this, Aya-chan." Satsuki said whining-ly and sighed. "Hasegawa-kun is so distant towards me. Like he doesn't want to admit that we are on one team!"
"Y' 're annoying. That's why." Aomine grumbled, rubbing his eyes as they had woken him up.
"Aomine-kun!" She scolded him. Her pink eyes were warning him. "Don't say that!" Or-I-won't-tell-you-about-what-I-discussed-with-Aya-chan.
The message got through. "Tcs. But it's true…" He looked out of the window.
"Don't worry 'bout it, Satsuki." Aya smiled at her. "Hasegawa-kun doesn't talk with me much either. Maybe we just don't vibe well with him. It happens." She shrugged. "He talks with the others, so it's fine by me."
"Even Oyama-kun would be better to talk to." Satsuki pouted.
######
"Are you not gonna ask about Aya-chan?" Satsuki asked curiously when she was walking home with Aomine.
"I don't care."
"Wha-?" She looked at him incredulously. "Last Friday you asked me 'bout her cup size!" Her tone was very disapproving and frustrated.
"That does interest me."
"Not telling. Ask her yourself, perv." She huffed and rolled her eyes.
"Tch." She won't tell me.
When he kept quiet, she asked. "What happened anyways? Did you argue with Aya-chan?" It worried her. Yes, those two argued about petty things on a daily basis, but it was usually only small banters they forgot within hours, if not minutes.
"None of your business."
It hurt. When he told her off in that way, it hurt, and she wanted to smack him. The only thing she managed was: "Aomine-kun!"
"Don't call me that." He grumbled. They were alone, so why the fuck would she still address him like that?
"Well I do. So get used to it."
"…" Aomine didn't bother himself with answering.
Thought of Aya dating some other guy weighted on his mind ever since those two had disappeared onto his rooftop – he was sure they had ended up there. He heard Aya's short description of his personality – polar opposite of him – and he so wanted to know what had happened, but he didn't want to hear it from Satsuki. As childish as it may be, he wanted the flamboyant girl to talk with him, even if they argued and yelled at each other. He didn't care. He wanted to corner her. Now it was a matter of his pride, to make her tell him whatever he wanted to know. Easier said than done, genius. You are avoiding her…
"Ki-chan! We have a problem!" Satsuki sounded impatient, pouty, and irritated.
Kise knew it was a dangerous combination when it came to Satsuki, so he tried to sound calm, but very interested in whatever happened and what she called 'a problem'.
"What happened, Momocchi?" He asked.
"Dai-chan and Aya-chan are not talking to each other! He avoids her. And he didn't want to know what we had talked about – Aya-chan's ex-boyfriend, who–" She immediately bit her tongue, after spilling that out, but she'd already said it. "Anyways… He refuses to tell me why!"
"Have you talked with Ayacchi, about it?" He kindly overlooked the ex-boyfriend comment, because he noticed how abruptly Satsuki had stopped mid-sentence (though he certainly stored it in his memory).
"Eh? Uhm…" Ki-chan caught her by surprise. "I didn't get a chance to ask her. She ran for her dancing club and said something about going to the ocean or what…"
Dancing, huh? He smiled and what they had witnessed with Aomine, was finally giving some sense. Now he could alter the plans for the goukon. "You weren't listening." He stated, because he knew that once Satsuki was too preoccupied with something, she tended to shut out everything else. And if he was correct, she was most likely gathering and processing the data about the teams they would face in the preliminaries – distraction of a year.
"I-I-I… Hm! I need your help, not accusations, Ki-chan!" She whined and he could imagine her pouty face.
"With what exactly?"
"Find out what happened! Dai-chan might talk to you. And the goukon… Wait, is it decided yet? You've never called me!"
"Oooh… I'd swear I called you! It must've slipped my mind. I was so busy with work and all, that I forgot to report to you, Miss Chief." He said sweetly, to hide the fact that he simply wanted to avoid Aominecchi or Ayacchi figuring out they'd meet there.
"Kise-kun. It's not funny!"
"Momocchi." His voice sounded firm and it did shut her up. "Don't overthink this. It's a goukon, nothing has to happen, they might not talk at all if they so choose. We can't force them. And anyways, why don't you let them deal with whatever happened on their own?"
"Because! Dai-chan is an idiot when it comes to girls! I worry!"
"True, but… I am going to be there, so it's okay. And Ayacchi will handle herself too. I'll let you know how it turned out, but I'm simply creating an opportunity. Please, keep that in mind, Momocchi."
A/N: Slightly depressing chapter, but it needed to be. I was thinking what could have happened to Taiga's mother, since according to knb wiki, he only has a father. And I had this idea the moment I decided to write this story, so... (That's why Aya's scar was mentioned before - now it's explained). Characters with tragic past are a bit cliche, but in my opinion it fits the Kagami twins and their close relationship.
/sentence structure, grammar minor wording changed on 12.4.2021/
Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.
-S.