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?

21. Chapter 21: Birthday party

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

Enjoy!

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Some days are just bad days, that's all. You have to experience sadness to know happiness, and I remind myself that not every day is going to be a good day, that's just the way it is! – Dita Von Teese

Understand who you are as a woman in a way that radiates to men that you are one of one, not one of many. ― Rob Hill Sr., For Single People Who Still Understand The Value of Relationships

Make your mistakes, take your chances, look silly, but keep on going. Don't freeze up. ― Thomas Wolfe, You Can't Go Home Again

Don't limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve. – Mary Kay Ash

When someone shows you who they are believe them; the first time. ― Maya Angelou

Strong people have a strong sense of self-worth and self-awareness; they don't need the approval of others. ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

---

"Hi everyone." Aya greeted her team as she walked into the changing room on Friday morning.

"Aya-chan! How were the matches yesterday? Did Seirin win? And Seiho? And how was your practise?" Kano flooded her with questions before she could close the door and have a look around.

"Woah there…" She raised her arms to stop him. "Slow down please." She blinked at overly energetic Kano. Unlike him, she hadn't slept a minute, because of some urgent work she had to finish for her father.

"Dancing practise?" Satsuki asked, confused. Then understanding hit her and she whipped towards Aya.

"Aya-chan! You –"

"Yeah, yeah. I forgot about it. You don't need to rub salt into my wounds." She interrupted Satsuki mid-sentence and sighed.

"I thought –" Wakamatsu started, but both Tada and Imayoshi elbowed his ribs from both sides, shutting him up. 'I thought you loved dancing more than anything! And you forgot?' – he wanted to say.

The blonde coughed and glared at his friend – he didn't dare to glare at the captain. "Just shut up Kou. Leave her be." Tada hissed in a whisper.

"Don't rile her up with stupid comments." Imayoshi added, equally quietly. Kouta had asked him to keep an eye on Aya, because she tended to overwork, but at the same time, she could act all fine and good, until she'd reach a breaking point. It was only after Shiranui-senpai's warning, he started to notice it.

"Anyways!" Ishii jumped in, trying to save the situation, which was getting more and more dangerous each second. He glanced at the ace. Thank Gods Aomine is keeping his mouth shut! "Who won?"

Aya smiled widely, catching on. "Which match?"

"All of them?"

"Hmmm…. Seirin, Seiho, Shuutoku. And then Kirisaki Daiichi from our block."

"I knew he'd win!" Ishii said happily. He believed in Kagami Taiga.

"What do I say? He is improving." She sounded proud.

"And he is your brother…" Kano added with a wink. "That speaks for itself."

"And what about your match?" She asked, and realized, she hadn't spoken with Satsuki about Touou's match at all. She'd assumed they had won, and hadn't asked anything.

"We won of course." Imayoshi said, omitting the fact that Aomine hadn't played at all. Aya didn't seem to know and if Satsuki decided not to tell her, he wouldn't either.

"Of course." She chuckled. "Good to see you here, Honey-bun." She chirped and nodded to Aomine. He was already in his jersey… Too bad.

Aomine smirked, as if reading her mind. "If only you weren't late, Sweetheart." The look he gave her spoke on its own.

He'd caught her staring only a day ago, and yet, his eyes were threatening to drown her. This time, she wasn't willing to blush. "Too bad for me~" She smirked, knowing that openly flirting with Aomine was dangerous, but she didn't care at that moment. "Anyways… Where is Katsunori?" She looked at the captain again.

"He said he had something to do. He should be back any minute."

The door opened right when Imayoshi finished his sentence and Katsunori walked in, his eyes searching for something, or rather someone.

"Robin." He said seriously.

His stare and voice made a shiver run down her spine, but uneasiness didn't display on her face. "What have I done?"

He shook his head. "I've just talked with Masako. We are going to Hiroto's after the matches, we need to talk." At first, he wanted to talk it out then and there, but all the boys were staring at him in curiosity and he assumed that talking about Aya's ex-boyfriend wouldn't be the best course of action. He doubted Aya told them anything.

Masako? Aya didn't understand what he was talking about. "Uhmmm… I don't like the sound of that, coach." She was suspicious.

That she addressed him as 'coach', gave away she was more worried than she'd like him to believe. "You haven't done anything in particular, don't worry. I want Hiroto's insight on this matter." He sighed and drove his fingers through his hair. "Taiga can join us too, of course." As a former member of Japan's national basketball team, Hiroto's opinion was highly valued by Katsunori and he would go to his friend for advice whenever he needed. Sometimes they would even play some, 'like two old idiots' as they liked to call it.

She nodded, still completely lost in what Katsunori might want. She felt that she should know the name 'Masako', but she wasn't sure who it was. It's not like you to forget names…

"Okay now!" He clapped and turned his attention to his team. "We have two matches today, and this time I'm not rotating players. I want the usual regulars to play in both matches, full time. That's Imayoshi, Susa, Wakamatsu, Sakurai and Aomine. It's going to be taxing. But I want to see how you can cope with it."

"Ossu!" They nodded seriously. Well, Aomine yawned; he wanted to sleep.

"Let's go."

First to leave were those who would go up to spectators' area, then the coach, managers and bench warmers, and the last were captain with the starting line-up.

"Are you comin' or not?" Aomine's voice shook her out of her thoughts.

Aya blinked and realised everyone was out already, only Imayoshi and Aomine were waiting for her to move. "Sorry." She said and hurried out.

Aomine stared at her as she walked by his side. "You okay?" He asked; it wasn't like her to behave like this all of a sudden.

"Yeah, sure." She said quickly. Get a grip… "Anyways, what are you doing tomorrow?" She asked out of nowhere.

Aomine raised an eyebrow. He had no idea how her mind worked; it was changing like a quicksilver. "…nothing in particular…" He said carefully. "Why? Wanna hang out?"

Imayoshi, walking behind them, was observing carefully. He had to smile at the straightforwardness of the two.

"Hang out you say… More like I want you to see something."

That sounds interesting… "Like you in your underwear?"

Aya rolled her eyes. "Dream on, Honey-bun. I want you to come watch a basketball match of Seiho from the A block with me."

That was unexpected. "Why me?" He asked suspiciously. Truth to be told, he had no intention of watching other matches. He wasn't interested in it whatsoever.

"There is something strange about Seiho's basketball. I can't explain what it is; neither could Satsuki, when I showed her a video of the yesterday's game. I want your opinion; maybe you'll know what it is." She shrugged. "And watching a real match should be better than watching a video. Considering it's the fourth round for Seiho, the match should be more enjoyable, and the opposing team should be stronger."

"Hmmm…" He rather wanted to spend the time with his dogs, but if Kagami was asking him, if she wanted him to see it… "Fine. I'll go."

"Great." She smiled happily, and Aomine wondered if she was aware of how beautiful it looked. If not, it was damn unfair, because that smile warmed his heart.

"Aya-chan!" Kano waved at her, holding a door to the spectators' area for her.

"Comin'!" She parted from Aomine and ran towards the rest of the team.

"Oya, oya, Aomine-kun~" Aomine shivered at the sound of Imayoshi's voice, when the captain aligned his step with him. And it made Imayoshi smile contently. Feeling threatened by me, Ace? Good~ "Going out with Aya-san? Sounds like a date to me~"

"Don't spout nonsense, captain. It's not like you." Aomine grumbled in annoyance, and entered the gym. The comment, however, remained in the back of his mind.

######

There was nothing she could say when it came to the Touou's first match of the day. They were working as good as any other time. They didn't play like buddies, or friends, but everyone was aware of their role, and everyone respected that.

Aomine was playing like he should, though he was holding back a lot. Sometimes, she felt as if he was playing out of obligation, not out of his own will. I still love his style… She thought and small smile tugged on her lips.

"This is difficult to watch…" Kano muttered during the fourth quarter when the score was 156 – 49 for Touou.

The other team had given up long ago. They were moving around just because their coach had ordered them to. Other than that, they wanted to wrap it up and leave. It was indeed unfortunate for everyone in their branch that they had to compete against Touou.

"I think they gave up the moment they heard they'd face Touou with Aomine as the ace." Aya sighed in disappointment. "They blocked themselves."

"Blocked?" Kano asked curiously.

"It's simple." Naito joined the conversation. "If you say it's impossible, it probably is. Like you and Math. It's not that you don't know it, you just persuade yourself you don't."

"But I don't know it!"

Naito rolled his eyes. "That's not… You know what, forget it, you are stupid. We all know."

"Now, now." Aya chuckled. "You don't need to argue, do you? But yes, when you block yourself, you can't win no matter what. And it's sad, because those guys are not that bad."

"But not good enough to match up to Aomine either, right?" Ishii asked.

She just nodded.

The match ended, with Touou winning, by a huge margin. All those who didn't get to be on the court were about to join the rest and have lunch and rest before their afternoon match.

"I think it will be the same in the afternoon's match."

Aya's work phone rang. "Huh?" She blinked at the screen, she sure didn't expect a call from Europe – it was past midnight there. "Sorry. I need to pick this up." She said, already answering the phone.

The three friends exchanged glances, after hearing Aya-chan's French. At least they thought that was it.

######

"Work?" Katsunori asked her, when she joined them an hour later with a loud 'congratulations' to their victory no one really cared about.

They were eating outside, so she sat on the patch of grass and crossed her legs. Unlike Satsuki, she was wearing jeans and their club's t-shirt instead of the uniform. It wasn't that she hated the uniform, more like she didn't like wearing it more than necessary.

"That too, it's already dealt with." She shrugged and then she turned her attention towards their shooting guard. "Anyhow… There is something we should discuss… Right, Sakurai-kun?"

"Y-yes?!" He straightened his back immediately. "I'm sorry for whatever I've done!"

Aya sighed again, this apologising of his... "You haven't done anything. But… How is your ankle?"

"Eh? Ah… Uhmmm… I'm sorry!" He looked away, biting his lower lip. He twisted his leg during the match; he'd stepped on his right foot weirdly. It hurt a bit, but more than anything it felt strange, almost funny. Like there was a pressure welled up in his ankle, but he had no idea what to do with it.

The others turned their questioning eyes on Sakurai. They didn't notice anything.

"You didn't answer. Does it hurt?" Aya reminded him.

"No! Sorry! It's fine! … fine! Sorry!"

A vein popped on her forehead. She was trying to tolerate this, but… "Sakurai-kun… For every unnecessary 'sorry' you let out of your mouth in the next two hours, you'll do 10 push-ups. You don't need to apologise for everything. Now –"

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you angry, Aya-san. Sorry!"

"That's 20~" She cut him off, feeling a bit guilty for doing this. "Now tell me, how does the ankle feel?" She eyed his right ankle.

"Sor–… Uhm… Weird…" He said, staring at his foot as well. "It doesn't hurt, but it's weird."

"Weird how?" She probed further.

"Like there is a pressure in it. It doesn't hurt, I guess. I don't really know… Sor–" He closed his mouth shut to stop the apology, he was about to utter.

Aya exchanged looks with Katsunori.

He couldn't really suppress his urge to apologise. "I'm sorry!"

"30!" She said immediately. Then she outstretched her arm "take off your shoes and let me have a look."

"Errr…" The boy blushed and looked away. His feet were sweaty and probably stinky as he played in the match. He breathed in to apologise, but he didn't get the chance.

"Come on." She urged him, leaning forward to grab his right foot, and take off his shoe herself, if she had to.

Sakurai sprang forward, undoing his shoelace on his own. He was so embarrassed he was found out, and that everyone was watching.

"The sock too." She said, and when he did so, she gently touched his ankle.

He winced at the touch. It didn't hurt, but it was so embarrassing. Aya's fingers ran over his entire ankle, trying to find out if it hurt, where it hurt and during what motion it hurt. Sakurai's ankle felt warmer than the rest of his foot and calf, so it was certainly damaged, or at least overworked. The boy was obviously in pain when she gently twisted his foot to the right.

"The outer side is somewhat hurt. Not sprained, but definitely stressed and tense." She said with a sigh. "I'll bandage it for you, but you should probably sit out the next match."

His eyes widened. He didn't want to sit out. "No I… Sorry, I wanted to... I mean, it doesn't always hurt, right? I can still play… No? Ah… Sorry."

"50." Aya said, shaking her head. "If it feels weird, it could very easily become an injury. You don't need it, do you?"

"I'm s–" He started, but Aomine slapped his hand over Sakurai's mouth, saving him from another 10 push ups.

"Just sit out and watch, Ryou." The ace said with an annoyance in his voice. Then, as if realising his almost protective gesture, he added, "you're not needed."

"Sorry…" He muttered, and looked down to hide the tears that burnt in his eyes. He stubbornly refused to let them out. Aomine's words were harsh, but the ace was right. He wasn't needed.

"60!" Entire team said in unison. And there was Satsuki's irritated 'Aomine-kun!' echoing as well.

Aya glared at Aomine. Those were definitely not the words Sakurai needed to hear. She took a bandage and a stress-relieving ointment Satsuki handed her and started treating Sakurai's ankle.

"Really, Sakurai, we won't bite your head off if you stop apologising for breathing!" Wakamatsu added.

"So? Who'll play a shooting guard now?" Aya asked curiously. She knew that Tada-senpai had had the position before Sakurai turned up, but she wondered if Katsunori would really let him play.

"But Tada-kun, of course." Imayoshi said without a second thought. "He might not have such a quick release, but he's been playing the whole last year, and he has his height advantage." He explained, for the first years, because no one else would question it. Tada was the obvious choice, and he would have been the vice captain if he hadn't refused.

"So it seems… You can rest at ease, Sakurai-kun." Aya smiled at him and finished the bandaging.

He nodded, not looking up at her. He was still feeling down, and he was wondering if those 60 push-ups were meant for real. I should probably stop saying 'sorry' so often…

After they were done with lunch, they had another few minutes of spare time. Aya's phone buzzed and she ran off again. Katsunori sighed seeing it. The girl sure works hard… Satsuki was discussing their second opponent with the captain and Tada-senpai.

As there was nothing for him to do, Aomine got up and left to get some juice from a vending machine nearby.

"You didn't have to say that to Sakurai-kun." Aya's voice came from behind him, and he startled, almost dropping his juice.

"Do y' have to do this to me?" He asked in an annoyed tone.

"It's funny." She shrugged and looked him in the eyes. "It doesn't change the fact that you hurt him."

"I don't care." He didn't care, but seeing Ryou turn his face away from everyone wasn't a pleasant sight either. There was nothing else he could have come up with to shut the boy up and force him to sit out the next match. The harsh truth was always better than sugar-coated words in his opinion, and Sakurai with an injured leg was indeed useless.

Her reddish eyes narrowed and she stared at his face for a couple of seconds, burning a hole in his head, and making him shift weight from one foot to another in slight nervousness. Then, as if satisfied with what she saw, she nodded. "Sure you don't." She said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"…" He wasn't sure how to ask her details about their planned meeting, especially after the scolding. But… What about tomorrow? The next match was almost starting, and he knew that the moment it would be over, she would be gone…

Aya seemed to read his mind, because she smiled and her posture relaxed. Her eyes weren't burning him anymore. "About tomorrow. The match takes place close to my house, so come pick me up at 10. I'll send you the address later on, because I doubt you'll remember it if I tell you now."

######

Aomine was right. When the second match was over (Touou won by a huge margin once again), Kagami and the coach left almost immediately, leaving Imayoshi to lock the changing room and hand in the key.

Aomine had slacked off in the second match. He might have been the ace, but even he would get drained of energy after two full matches. He was dragging his feet behind Satsuki, wondering what the coach wanted to discuss with Kagami.

"Ne, Aomine-kun…" Satsuki started.

"Hm?"

"… Thanks for playing in both matches today." She muttered. It was really unusual for him to obey the coach.

"The ol' man would kick me out if I didn't." He grumbled.

"Oh? So threats do work on you!"

He grunted, but didn't comment on it further. "Do you know what he wants to discuss with Kagami?"

"Dunno… But 'Masako' he mentioned is probably Araki Masako, the coach of Yosen. If I'm correct, then it might be related to Aya-chan's ex. Though it's only my assumption, I might be wrong." She shrugged. "Aya-chan said she had no clue either."

Aomine frowned at that. Kagami's ex was popping up quite often recently and he didn't like it.

Satsuki was curiously looking at him and then she smiled. "If it bothers you, you should ask her tomorrow. I think she will answer if it's you."

His eyes widened momentarily. "How d' y' know?"

"I have my ways, Dai-chan!" She chuckled. It was amusing to watch the two of them circling around each other like two idiots. She decided not to butt in, at least for the time being.

"Tche." The sound he made was closer to a snort than a laugh, and his lips twisted into a smirk. His old nickname was back, even if it was only for this once. "What a busybody." This time, he didn't mean it as an insult.

---

When Aya got up, she realised she was sleeping in her room. She sat up and blinked at the clock. It was around 9AM, so she still had about an hour until Aomine should arrive. Not that she believed he'd be on time.

When did I fall asleep? She asked herself. And why am I in my room? She remembered falling asleep in the living room, curled up in a fluffy blanket, after she had returned from Hiroto's bar and had finished the urgent work.

She stared at her work laptop, resting on top of her desk, closed up with a small note Taiga attached atop. 'All done & sent!' She smiled gently at the note. It meant that he must've carried her to the bed and checked if she had sent her finished work to their father.

With a yawn she stretched her back. She wasn't willing to leave the warmth of the blanket yet. So she tugged it closer to her body and flung her legs over the edge of her bed. She yawned again. Coffee time.

She slowly dragged her bare feet towards the kitchen. She turned on a coffee machine to warm up a coffee Taiga had made before leaving for the match. The scent of coffee tickled her nose, announcing it was warm enough.

"Aaah… I love the scent." She sighed comfortably and sipped the black liquid.

What do I need next? Take a shower…She sniffed her hair and grimaced at the cigarette smoke and the scent of alcohol that lingered on it. And definitely wash my hair. Fridays at Hiroto's were always full, and he was working behind a bar in a smoking area.

Then she glanced at the clock again, and shuffled towards a couch. I still have half an hour. And so she laid down and closed her eyes. She wasn't nervous about meeting Aomine today; on the contrary, she was calm and excited, looking forward to it. She wasn't asleep anymore; she was just enjoying doing nothing, thinking about nothing. It was a nice feeling.

######

Aomine left his home too early. Probably. He had no idea how long it would take to get to Kagami's place. And it was the weekend, which meant that most trains and buses had different schedules. Not that he knew their usual schedules either. When he took a bus, it was usually Satsuki who checked the time. Another thing was finding a way from the bus stop to Kagami's apartment building. He actually had to look it up on google maps.

This should better be friggin worth it…

When he finally found the building, he was surprised by how modern it looked. There was a glass door, opened by a motion sensor, and they actually had a reception? Talk about classy living… He walked in, and if he was intimidated by the place, it didn't show. The hall was spacious with some couches and a small cafeteria to his right. A woman sitting on a couch was sipping tea and reading a newspaper.

There was an old man sitting behind the reception desk. He looked up at the youngster in cargo pants who seemed out of place. "Hello. Who have you come to visit?" He asked politely.

Aomine nodded in greeting. It was a rude thing to do towards an older person, but he didn't care. He felt strangely uncomfortable in this place, and he didn't want it to show. "Kagami." He answered confidently.

The old man looked him up and down, with an unreadable expression, then he looked at his watch he had on his wrist. "Hmmm… Aya-chan mentioned someone was to come pick her up around ten. I suppose 9:20 is acceptable." He mused, and then looked at Aomine again. The boy had something animalistic and wild about him, and the old man wasn't sure it was safe to let him up…

Aya-chan?! Does she really know all the people around her? Aomine's patience was running out when the man's staring got too long. It would be funny, if he couldn't get inside. He was about to say something when…

The old man shrugged. His shift would end at 10, he wanted to go home, eat and sleep. And if Aya-chan told them to let a young man, her schoolmate, in, who was he to hold him up? "Apartment number 148. You need to take the staircase on the left and go to the very top floor. The last apartment is Kagami's. They have a nametag. Sorry, but the lift hasn't been working since mid-March." He shrugged again. Sometimes he admired the young twins, when he saw them run up and down several times a day – mostly when they had been moving in and renovating the apartment.

A classy place without a lift… Tch… How many floors is it? He wondered, but didn't want to ask the man.

"Thanks." He said and walked towards another door. The old man held a button to open it for him, and he found himself in a relatively narrow and dark corridor, with stairs leading up on both sides. He reminded himself to go left. When he ascended to the first floor, he was outside. So an outside staircase. The natural light was appreciated.

When he dragged himself to the last floor his heart rate was slightly quicker than when he had arrived. 14 floors were 14 floors, after all. He walked towards the very last apartment, and lifted his knuckles to knock. It was only then that he got nervous. He was about to barge into Kagami's apartment more than half an hour sooner…

Oh well… better than waiting outside. He thought and rapped on the door.

For a moment there was nothing happening. Then he could hear a quiet thud. He raised an eyebrow at this.

The door opened. And her voice reached him, before she could see him. "Did you forget some–" Her voice trailed off and she stared at Aomine with wide eyes.

She was standing in front of him, curled up in a fluffy grey blanket, with bare feet and her hair messily tied up, sticking out on all sides. He would swear she was still in her pyjamas. And some very short pyjamas, because what he could see of her legs was only her bare skin. Not that he didn't appreciate the sight.

Definitely worth the trip. He thought and a smirk formed on his face.

"Did I wake you up, Sweetheart?" He asked cockily. And the question served its purpose.

A blush found its way to Aya's cheeks, and she looked away, tugging the blanket closer to her chest. For a moment she considered slamming the door at his face. He noticed the small motion her left wrist made, and which she stopped. Then her eyes drifted towards something to her right.

"I thought you were Taiga. You are way too early." She said a bit grumpily. "I still have half an hour." His soon arrival startled her, because she'd expected him to be late, not early. And to top it off, she was still in her pyjamas, with smelly and messy hair. But it didn't matter anymore; he was there, standing at her threshold with that typical expression of boredom and laziness. She took a deep breath. Then she shrugged and her blush vanished. "After you've conquered those 14 floors, you might as well come in."

She stepped aside and let him in. He was curious what was going through her head, because most of girls would probably slam the door, Satsuki included. He proceeded to take off his shoes, while her reddish eyes scanned him in the dim light of the hall. He could feel her gaze on him, and it sent electricity through his body.

This style suits him more… She thought when she studied his choice of clothes. Loose cargo pants, comfortable, simple grey t-shirt and sneakers. It fitted Aomine's personality the best. Not that she minded the way he'd dressed up for that goukon.

He straightened up, and looked at her curiously. Well… what now?

Aya turned around and soundlessly walked further into their apartment. She said nothing, and he followed her.

The corridor was relatively long and dark, but not too narrow. There were two doors to his right and he wondered if it were rooms, or bathroom or what. On the wall to his left were one door and various photos hanging on the wall, but he didn't have time to properly look at them, as he didn't want to make a fool out of himself. At the end of the corridor a huge open space of the kitchen and living room opened up in front of him. It had lots of natural light. The kitchen was to his right, at the corner of the room, divided from a sort of dining room by something that looked like a bar, serving as a table too. To his left was a living room twice or thrice as big as the kitchen with several couches, a wooden coffee table, a small library, a stereo system with six speakers, and to his surprise they had a screen and a projector instead of a TV. From the huge open space there were two doors leading to a balcony, or a terrace, he had no idea and it seemed that there was another corridor leading from the living room, and he suspected it led to the separate rooms. If he was right, the apartment was U shaped and humongous, with the living space almost as big as their house, if not bigger.

All the walls were painted white and instead of tatami they had grey wooden floors. Everything else was matched in shades of grey, white, orange and navy blue. There were also several flowers in pots. He could smell freshly brewed coffee and fresh laundry, which was hanging on a dryer in the far left corner.

Aya watched him as he was looking around, mapping their living space with his eyes, that widened at the sight. She couldn't resist a smirk, because she could see it surprised him a lot. He knew they were rich, he just didn't know how much. And this huge apartment was probably a good presentation of that. Aya never cared about it; she loved big open spaces that could be easily turned into dancing areas. They didn't own that much furniture and nothing here was that expensive. But with a way they arranged it, it looked modern and very exclusive.

The apartment was surprisingly neat, considering that only two teenagers lived in it on their own. Well, the cushions on the couch were not neatly arranged, and the coffee table seemed to be pushed out of its place. His eyes narrowed at this and he looked back at Aya. If he wasn't that shocked by the size of the apartment, he would've probably behaved like he owned the place.

She had an amused expression on her face. "Done with looking around? Yes, our rooms are on that second corridor on the right and another two rooms on the left of it." She said as if reading his mind.

"I… Uhm… I wasn't…" He stuttered, which wasn't usual for him, then he sighed in defeat, yet again. "It's huge, okay?!"

"Well… it used to be four of us living here, not two." She said with a half-smile, still curled up in the blanket. "Do you want something? Tea? Coffee? Juice? …?"

"Nothing… I'm fine."

"You'll be here for the next half an hour, I need to get ready, and since you've come super early, you'll have to wait." She shrugged. "We have a marble cake, if you want."

"Oh?" His eyebrows went up. "You bake too?"

"Sometimes, but this one's on Taiga. Don't worry though; he is as good in the kitchen as me. If not better… Anyways, the cake goes well with milk, if you're not lactose intolerant." She wasn't sure why she was talking so much. Right now it was probably her way to cope with this rather awkward situation. She'd love to run and hide in the bathroom, and get out when she was ready. But Aomine was a guest in her house. Uninvited, but still a guest.

"I don't have any allergies." He scoffed. "Gimme some."

"Sure. Have a seat wherever you want." She smiled, and he wondered how in the world she could cope with this situation, because he felt like an intruder.

He chose a high chair at the bar-like table, because the couch seemed somewhat… He didn't want to be sitting alone in such a huge open space. The place was cool, but when a person was supposed to be there alone, it was kind of... Lonely? Impersonal? Too big? He wasn't sure how to describe the feeling.

Aya shrugged off the blanket, suddenly feeling cold and too exposed. But if she needed to cut the cake and pour a glass of milk, she needed both of her hands free. She rather refrained looking at Aomine, but she could feel his eyes on her. He was staring. Did he feel like this when I stared at him? She wondered.

He'd seen a lot of Kagami's skin at the dancing party, but this was different. Her pyjama was visibly oversized with an owl pattern. The shorts were barely hanging on Aya's hips, showing the upper part of her hip bones. The top was wide, but relatively short, with shoulder straps slightly wider than one inch. It managed to cover her naval but not her lower belly. At the back it showed everything from her shoulder blades upwards, but at the front, it barely showed her collar bones. He could see she wasn't wearing a bra, but the top concealed the exact shape of her boobs. How unfortunate…

When she stretched to get a glass, the top slid upwards, showing more of her skin. Tch… She bit her lower lip to fight the embarrassment she felt and the blush that was rising to her cheeks. There is nothing to be embarrassed about, it's not like you are naked or anything…

Aomine's eyes were tracing those exposed places. He wondered how her skin would feel under his touch... probably soft. Then he noticed the scar on her shoulder wasn't masked at all, and he noticed another one, a small one, on the right side of her lower back. This girl has too many scars on her… He thought and frowned at this new discovery. But by no means did it disgust him; he was just curious and he wondered if there were any more hidden under her clothes. He wanted to know. When he had asked Satsuki if she had noticed any scars on Kagami, the girls shared a changing room after all, she answered negatively and it surprised him.

Those few moments she spent preparing the cake and milk felt freaking long for Aya. "Here you go." She set the treat in front of Aomine, with a smile on her face, but even she could tell how fake the smile was.

"You got a new chain?" He shot out a question, when he noticed the ring hanging on her neck. It seemed like he was surprised by his own words.

Aya blinked at him and chuckled; her hand unconsciously touching the ring. "Yeah. I bought it some time ago actually."

He nodded. The conversation wasn't flowing naturally, and he was starting to feel antsy and awkward. Just how awkward it must have been for Kagami?

"Oh well," she started cheerfully. "I'm going to get ready. Snoop around if you want, Honey-bun."

Teasing was the best way to cope with an awkward situation for both of them. He got the message and smirked. "Heee? Will I get to see you in your underwear?" That's what he said the previous day too, but he never would have thought it might be a real possibility.

Aya's eyebrow went up and she chuckled. "You've got to see me in my PJs. Trust me, that's more precious than seeing me in my underwear." She winked at him, and walked towards the corridor, he couldn't explore, then with a handful of clothes she passed through the big open space again, and disappeared in the bathroom.

When she finally closed the door behind her, she pressed her forehead against it and exhaled sharply. Craaaaaap! I should've gotten ready when I got up! She could feel her cheeks heat up as she imagined Aomine, who was left alone in her apartment. She knew he probably wouldn't snoop, but damn, this situation was crazy. She shook her head, undressed and stepped into the shower.

Aomine wasn't the type to snoop around much, but when he finished the cake, which was better than he'd thought, and heard the running water, he got up and walked around the big room. The library caught his interest and he wanted to know what the twins read, plus there were some photos he wanted to see. He didn't dare to go back to the corridor, because it would look like he wanted to spy on her. It wouldn't be that much of a lie, but he didn't need to make this whole situation more awkward.

The majority of the books were in foreign languages, and he recognized only one or two titles anyway. At the bottom, there were some magazines, mostly basketball, dancing, volleyball or surfing related. No dirty magazines, but he hadn't expected a girl to have some.

He straightened back up to see the two photos. One of them was a photo of the twins and a black-haired woman with a similar face as Aya, their mother, he presumed. Another was a photo of three kids, the twins and a boy, all grinning and wearing matching necklaces with rings. First of all, he was surprised that Kagami had short hair in the first picture; second of all… she wasn't lying about 'the token of their friendship'. But he had to wonder if this black haired boy was the same person as her ex.

Aya was out in fifteen minutes, completely ready to go. She was just rubbing her red mane with a towel, so it would dry faster. She usually didn't blow dry her hair.

"You're faster than I thought." Aomine pointed out lazily, staring at the books neatly arranged in the library. Or maybe was it the photos he was staring at?

"And I thought you didn't read."

"Tch… I don't." He said; too proud to admit that in reality, he enjoyed good stories as well. But the image he had created for himself, didn't allow him to admit this.

"If you say so." She shrugged, but for some reason, she felt he was lying. "Was the cake good?" Her eyes darted towards the empty plate.

He nodded hesitantly. Talking openly about his likes and dislikes, or talking casually in general, was kind of hard for him ever since his middle school friends had become alienated. He had problems talking like this with Kise, and that was his friend. And Kagami… Kagami was his crush. Suddenly, he felt self-conscious. God what am I even doing here?

Aya smiled, and this time it was the gentle smile he rarely saw. She understood. Aomine Daiki had his protective shell, and he hated coming out of it. Well, too bad for him, because Kagami Aya was an expert at smoking people out. And she wanted to get to know him. But she knew it wouldn't be for free.

"Is it warm enough for me to wear knee-length shorts?" She asked casually and looked out of the window. Sun was up, but she hadn't seen the forecast.

"What is 'warm enough' for you?"

"Everything above 26 degrees Celsius."

"Then it's warm enough." It was almost June after all; temperatures during the day were starting to rise. He noticed a bruise forming on her knee and his eyes narrowed. "Did you hit yourself?"

"Hm?" She asked and looked at her knee as well. "Oh…" Then she noticed the coffee table was displaced. She remembered tripping and falling, but it didn't hurt. At least she didn't feel it.

"Did you fall when you went to open the door?" He asked with a teasing undertone. "I didn't know you were so excited to see me."

"I didn't know it was you. And it startled me!" She huffed. "I tangled into the blanket, and fell, yes." She moved the table back to its place and adjusted the cushions too.

"Are you a klutz?"

She rolled her eyes and hung the towel on the dryer. "Sure am. That's why I won that race against you."

"That won't happen again."

"We'll see about that, Honey-bun."

"I'll take you on anytime, Sweetheart."

"Really~? Tuesday's morning practise seems like a good day for a small race."

His smirk widened. "As you wish." Then he looked at the clock on the wall. "When do we need to leave?" He asked, because he had no idea when the Seiho's match would start.

"In ten minutes I s'pose. It's a 20 minute walk from here… Which means… I still have time for breakfast." She headed to the kitchen and cut a piece of the cake for herself.

"You haven't eaten yet?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope. I just had a coffee. The only reason I didn't slam the door in your face." She cleared for him. "And if you are going to stare at me eating, I'm probably gonna choke, so…" she cut another piece of the cake for him. "Eat too."

Having a sweet tooth wasn't a trait that would describe Aomine, but a good cake was a good cake. So he accepted the plate again.

When they were done eating in a slightly awkward, but still comfortable silence, Aya washed the dishes. Aomine automatically took a dish towel hanging on a chair and started wiping the dishes dry. He wasn't even thinking about it.

Aya looked at him with a raised eyebrow; she didn't expect him to help her out and she was pleasantly surprised. "Well, thank you! You didn't have to do this."

Instead of an answer he just shrugged, and she would swear he had a faint blush on his face, but because of his darker skin tone, she couldn't be sure. She smiled. No matter how brash and unapproachable Aomine appeared, he had this soft side to him, which he showed on rare occasions; mainly around her, but Aya couldn't know that. She just felt she could trust him.

She thought she was smiling a lot today. Despite the stress of the past few days, she was feeling happy. She cut another piece of the cake and wrapped it into a napkin.

"Who's that for?"

"Whoever's sitting at the 'reception desk' downstairs."

Of course she is Aya-chan for them… He rolled her eyes when she wasn't looking.

When he was done putting his shoes on, she asked him to hold the cake. She opened the shoe cabinet and took out a pair of sandals and skin coloured tape. She sat on the ground and taped the sides of her feet at the front, and at the low inner side of her ankle, where she knew the shoes would damage her skin if worn for a longer time. Then she took her small, cross-body leather bag.

"I s'pose we can go."

She locked the door and he followed after her. To his surprise, he had trouble keeping up with her, because she was running down the fourteen floors, sometimes taking the stairs by two or three; and always jumping down at least five stairs when she neared the bottom of each staircase.

"Ever broke your leg this way?" He asked when they reached the bottom of the building.

"Nope. Just sprained my ankle once… or twice."

"Aya-chan!" An old man, different from the one Aomine had seen earlier, greeted her with a smile.

"Chiba-san." She nodded in greeting. "I didn't see you around for the past two weeks. Did something happen?"

"I took a vacation." He smiled and his wrinkles were more visible. The man was in his sixties, but his eyes were sharp and humorous. Unlike the one that had been there before him. "I went on a hiking trip in New Zealand." He said to Aya with a proud smirk.

"Good for you! You'll tell me the stories when I come back, okay?" She said enthusiastically, with a curious sparkle in her eyes. "This is Aomine Daiki, my friend. I believe he didn't introduce when he came in."

"Oh?" The man stared at Aomine for a moment. The boy was tall, muscular, with a distant almost annoyed look on his face. But if he was here with Aya-chan, he couldn't have been bad. "I started my shift ten minutes ago… Tsubaki-san was here before me."

"Don't you change shifts around 7 in the morning?" She asked confusedly, but then shrugged. "Never mind. Oh. I have something for you!" She handed him the cake.

"Aya-chan! Do you know how hard it is to keep in shape at my age? If I get fat, it's on you."

She laughed. "On Taiga, actually."

"That's admirable! He'll be a good husband to someone one day." He teased and laughed, which made Taiga sneeze, wherever he was. The sound of his laughter was rich and bubbly, but when his eyes fell on something Aya couldn't see, it died out. "Aya-chan…" He said almost sheepishly.

She tilted her head in question. "Yes?"

"…Your father called us fifteen minutes back." He said hesitantly, he didn't want to disturb Aya's happy smile, but it was better if she knew.

She froze for a moment. Then she refused this information to foul her mood, "Interesting. I believe everything is fine." But her voice was suddenly void of any warmth.

"You can't be angry with him for checking up on you, Aya-chan. And everything is fine, we have your back." He referred to all of the receptionists, who were very fond of Kagamis ever since they had first moved in, mainly the two little rascals. "We told him you behave. You know… coming back by ten, no strange or too often visitors, only Harasawa-san at times… The usual. We didn't mention… Aomine-kun, we thought it was better that way."

She exhaled through her nose, and smiled again. "Thank you for that. I'm not angry. It's just… I called him three hours ago." She wasn't angry, right? Just disappointed for the lack of trust. What was I expecting?

The man blinked at her. "You get up so soon on weekends?" He asked, glad she unconsciously offered him such a good way out.

"Huh? No? I go to sleep then!"

Chiba-san had a totally baffled expression, blinking at Aya, then at his watch, and back at her. "You should sleep properly! When my daughter was a teenager, she slept for at least 9 hours a day! It's not healthy, Aya-chan, and you know it."

She just shrugged. "I have weird sleeping habits and lots of energy, don't worry 'bout me." Then she glanced at her wristwatch. "And we need to go if we want to find some good spots. See you later." She turned around, grabbed Aomine's forearm and dragged him out.

They could hear the old man grumble something like "Let's hope your energy won't run out one day…"

What was that about? He wanted to ask, but he wasn't stupid, Aya's family situation was probably complicated. They weren't dating, and they weren't good enough friends for her to confide in him. Yet. So instead… "So you feed them sweets?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and aligned his step with hers, she already let go of him.

"Occasionally." She nodded; happy he didn't question her father. "Do you know how Sakurai's ankle is doing?"

"Why would I care?"

"Aren't you two friends?"

He gave her incredulous look. "He brings me lunch sometimes. ' doesn't make us friends."

Aya sighed exasperatedly and bit her tongue to not say anything biting. Then she lured Aomine into a random conversation about school. Though it was mostly Aya talking, she got some reactions out of him at least.

He wanted to know what she'd discussed with Harasawa the previous evening, but he didn't know how to ask. Satsuki probably didn't have a problem interrogating Aya, and for a moment he regretted not involving the pinkette into this.

When they entered the gym and headed upstairs to the spectators' area, he could hear gasps around him.

'Aomine Daiki.'

'What's he doing here?'

'Does it mean those teams are good?' '

's that his girlfriend? – Nah, I don't think so, he has a pink haired girl always hanging around him, no? – Are you sure? She looks hot. - She is, but I tell you, it's that pink haired girl for sure. - Just look at them. That's definitely his girlfriend. Or maybe he is two timing.'

There were other bits and pieces of surprised murmurs and whispers as they passed around people to find good spots to watch the match from. He frowned and an unapproachable aura emanated from him. That's why he hated small scale matches of preliminaries. He ignored it all. But did people really think he was dating Satsuki? Brrr… He shuddered at the idea.

"Hee? Someone's pretty famous around here." She commented with a smirk.

It was only natural that the generation of miracles was well known in a high school basketball sphere, mostly in those prefectures where they attended their high schools. Of course there were those who didn't know them or didn't care, but the five were interviewed in basketball monthly twice or thrice. All five of them, not just Kise, were relatively famous.

"Tch. I ain't a goddamn Kise." He grumbled in a low voice.

"Certainly not. It's not girls flocking around you after all." She chuckled. "But it gets annoying when people who don't know you and don't have the guts to come and talk to you make up ridiculous gossip!" She said out loud enough for those around them to hear.

Then her reddish eyes found, and glared at the two particular boys who had been discussing whether she was or wasn't his girlfriend, and what she did with him, to have such a bruised knee. It annoyed her to no end.

Aomine heard it too, and he'd been ready to snap at them, but once again, she managed to handle it gracefully. He glared at the boys too, just to see them avert their eyes and sheepishly fidget with embarrassed blushes on their faces. Serves them right…

"You really take no shit from others, eh?" He asked so only she could hear, when they found a good spot to watch the match which was about to start in a few minutes.

Instead of answering, she shrugged. "I hate when people whisper about you when you are right there! It's friggin' annoying. Like… don't they have their own business to deal with?"

He snorted in agreement. "So? What do you want me to see here?" He asked, knowing nothing about the two teams which were about to play.

"Seiho. The team with the black jerseys. There is something about the way they move. When I watched them play I was thinking they might cause problems for Touou, shall we face them in the future." Noticing his raised eyebrow, she added: "…well, maybe not for you, but for the rest definitely. And maybe even for you, at least during the first minutes of the game."

"Hmmmm…" He leaned against the railing lazily and decided to pay attention to the match. Kagami's judgement was usually spot on and she wasn't underestimating anyone.

The Seiho didn't look nervous at all. They were patiently waiting for the game to start; confidence radiating from them. Aomine narrowed his eyes at this, he was this confident, his former teammates were this confident… and apparently Seiho's entire team too. He couldn't help a smirk.

"Told you they are interesting." Aya said and leaned against the railing next to him.

"We'll see about that."

The tip off went to the other team, but they didn't score right off the bat. Seiho stopped them, playing their usual defensive game of whole court man-to-man defence.

Aomine was carefully observing them. Kagami was right; their movements were strange, but not unknown to him. He just never saw it integrated in basketball. He knew he would win against their best player, who seemed to be the number 10, yet, deep down he wanted to try it out. Playing against Seiho. Maybe they could entertain him for several minutes until he could find a way to defeat them.

In this match, Seiho seemed to be the absolute winner. The other team couldn't break free from Seiho's defence.

"It's martial arts…" He said, during the 10 minute break in the middle of the match, when he was absolutely sure about it.

"Huh?" Aya turned her reddish eyes at him.

"They are using martial arts." He repeated. "Their stamina seems good, and they don't make any unnecessary movements, they keep their calm and don't overexert."

"To think you would praise someone…"

He shrugged. "Decent is decent." He realised that Touou would indeed have trouble facing a team like Seiho, but on the other hand, it was exactly a team like Touou that could find an easy way to defeat them. It would simply turn into five consecutive one-on-one matches.

"How long do you think it would take you to learn how to get past that number 10?"

He frowned, thinking about her question. "Considering I've faced him before… 3 minutes, top. Depending on my mood."

"You faced him before?"

"In middle school. He gave Kise some real trouble, but I wasn't matched up against him then."

Oh… that's why… She smiled, noting the spark deep inside Aomine's stormy eyes. He was surprisingly calm and talkative that day. "Can you tell me the patterns they use? I know there are some, I just can't see them. If it were dancing…" She bit her thumb's nail, thinking.

"Why d' y' wanna know?"

"Curiosity. And Seirin will definitely face them in the semi-finals next week. I'm probably gonna help them with the research." She explained. There was nothing wrong with her wanting to help her brother and his team.

The second half of the match started.

"Let's see…"

Aomine ended up explaining all the little nuances taken from martial arts to her. He wasn't sure if he noticed all the 'patterns', he wasn't an expert in martial arts after all, but he was surprised by how many there were. Habits that were hard to form, but once learnt, a person didn't need to think about them at all. Knowing about it was one thing, getting used to it and reacting to it in time was another. Someone of his level wouldn't have a problem reacting through sheer instincts, because he was skilled in both basketball and martial arts, but anyone else...

"That must be some rigorous training regime." She mused, and admired Aomine's ability to pick those tiny differences and explain them to her. Well, sometimes he struggled with words, and looked away in embarrassment, but it was only more entertaining for Aya.

He nodded. "I can imagine."

"… But isn't it also their weakness?"

"Hm?"

"I mean… Once you crack their system of movements and get used to it… You can read them like an open book and predict everything, because well… If a habit is hard to learn, it's just as hard to get rid of."

He tilted his head and stared at Kagami in amusement. She was as scary as Satsuki, if not scarier. Turning someone's strength into their weakness… "Imayoshi would be proud of ya." He teased, the captain's face popping up in his mind.

"He sure would." Aya laughed. "I'm seriously interested in how Seirin will cope with this." She added more seriously, just when the buzzer went off, and the match was finished; Seiho winning 98 – 36.

"They'd rather win, they have Tetsu after all. And with your help… If they lose then they are just a bunch of weaklings."

"Wanna come and watch with me? If we don't have our match at the same time, that is…"

"Wanna spend your free time with me, Sweetheart?" He teased. "That's unusual."

"Why? I like your company." She blurted out without really thinking about it. Then she suddenly blushed and turned away, glad he did the same and couldn't see her reaction. She had a problem keeping her guard up around this guy. You sound like you are chasing him, dammit! She bit the inside of her cheek.

He shrugged as an answer.

This straightforwardness of hers was killing him, and he didn't know what to think of it. She didn't want to date him, right? Heck, he didn't know if he wanted to date her! Touching her all over, that he definitely wanted, but a real commitment? He wasn't sure. Yes, he liked spending time with her. It was oddly soothing when they weren't bickering, and even that bickering was refreshing. She wasn't preaching, she wasn't whining, she could actually talk with him normally, like a person, and not in a way those screechy fangirls he saw gathering around Kise did… Is this more than a crush?

He cleared his throat, and asked: "What did the coach need to talk with you about?"

They were walking down the stairs to vacant the spectators' area. Aya froze in the middle of her step. A person behind her bumped into her, and she staggered. Her hand shot up to grab onto the railing, but other people were already pushing her, and she panicked for a second; almost stumbling down the stairs.

Aomine's hand instinctively grabbed her elbow to stabilize her and he pulled her in front of him. "Careful, Sweetheart, or I'll start thinking y're a klutz in disguise."

"Very funny." She rolled her eyes, and started to continue in her descent.

"You still haven't answered my question." He reminded her when they were safely out of the crowd, and away from the stairs.

"We discussed Tatsuya. The guy I mentioned to you during the training camp, remember?"

So it was her ex… What d' ya know? Satsuki's instincts were right again… But officially he shouldn't have known anything about the guy. He opened his mouth to answer, but…

"You know." She said; his answering time was too long, so he must have known about her former relationship.

"Know what?" His eyebrow quirked up and he managed to play indifference and boredom. Inwardly, his stomach tightened uncomfortably. Those reddish eyes were so intense.

She gave him a 'don't-play-dumb-with-me' look, and then she shrugged. "That I dated him. Well whatever, that's not important anymore. We discussed his transfer to Yosen… Katsunori wasn't thrilled about it."

"Why?"

"Because Tatsuya is that good. Katsu thinks that I should've persuaded him to come to Touou, or some not as strong school as Yosen, and that I definitely gave a very skilled player to Araki-sensei on a silver platter." She explained. "I think that giving him to Araki-sensei is the real problem, but the truth is that Yosen has quite an unfair advantage now, as they have two aces. If we consider Murasakibara-kun as an ace."

"Harasawa wanted Touou to have two aces?"

"With your late arrivals and ditching practises, you aren't that reliable, right?"

"One. One late arrival." He reminded her.

"I don't think it was the first and the last…"

"So why didn't you?"

"Didn't what?" She understood his question, but she wasn't sure she wanted to answer, so she tried to get away.

Aomine already knew her ways. It was surprising that he picked it up in only two months. "Persuade the guy to come to Touou."

"If you wanna know, buy me a juice."

His eyebrows went up, and he smirked. "Bribing?"

More like buying time… "If you want to call it that." She shrugged and headed towards the park close to her home.

Their short walk was silent. Aomine didn't want to talk about anything else, because he was aware that Kagami would make him forget his original question. And she was thinking how she was going to explain her reasoning, without needing to explain her past relationship's background.

He sat next to her on a bench and handed her the mango juice she wanted. "So?" He asked and opened his tea.

"So… Touou isn't a team for Tatsuya."

"Is this about team play again?" He grunted and leaned against the bench, spreading his arms.

"No. Not at all. It's not about team play." She sighed, she should probably explain Tatsuya's abilities. "Tatsuya is a shooting guard. Top notch shooting guard. If you ask me, he is ten times better than Sakurai-kun. Maybe on par with you five. He can't shoot the freaking high-arc three's like Midorima, but in one-on-one against Midorima… Maybe he would even win."

Aomine's eyes widened. "Oh?" He didn't want to believe it, but… Was there a guy like that?

"You don't believe me."

"There is no one better than us."

She rolled her eyes. Seriously? Then she took out her phone and searched for something. "In Japan, probably not… But… Here. The black-haired one is Tatsuya." She handed him the phone, to watch the video she had sent to Araki-sensei

"Heee… interesting." He said with something close to respect and determination shining in his eyes, as he watched the video.

This Tatsuya guy was indeed decent. Very decent. Interesting. A shooting guard? He wondered, because this guy could very well be a power forward as well, a bit shorter, but… Tatsuya's style was a complete opposite of his own, orthodox basketball polished to perfection. "Midorima would definitely have a problem with this one…"

"I know." Aya said with a smirk.

"Why not Touou? Maybe I would come to practises more often if there was someone like this." He said arrogantly, but he was really considering it an option. If there was someone like this in Touou's team… Not that I would lose…

"We'd destroy him, Aomine." She raised her hand to shut him up, when he was about to question her. "Be it just you, or just me, he would manage. He isn't that weak. But the two of us… I've known him for seven years, I know how he thinks. He always compares himself."

"Self-esteem problems?"

Aya nodded seriously. "He isn't a prodigy. He acquired his skills purely through hard work, because he loves basketball, but he doesn't have the talent the five of you possess. Maybe he does, but he never believed it. And he is limiting himself. Plus injuries… If he tried to keep up with you, which I guarantee he would, he would over train." She shrugged. "I don't want to see him crumble again, he's been hurt enough."

He blinked at her, and then looked away. The tone she used and the face she made – a mixture of nostalgia, protectiveness and something soft, he couldn't quite grasp – were enough to shut up any mocking comments he might've had. He had no idea what had happened there, and even if he'd known, there was no way he could relate, not to a relationship drama.

"And anyways, I think it's for the best to be apart, at least for the time being."

"A bad break up?"

She shrugged. Tatsuya wasn't the only one who had ended up hurt. "Could've been worse. I don't want to repeat it and being in one team together for three years… I don't know how I'd behave, we know each other all too well and it's not easy to keep up the boundaries which were once erased. Mainly if you don't hate the person." She said honestly, staring at the ground.

Aomine wouldn't say that he was good at reading people, or good at handling those who played with words like Kagami. But for some reason, he could read her. Or it was her who was forgetting to keep her walls up around him. He couldn't be sure.

It's not easy to keep up the boundaries which were once erased… He frowned. She's playing with the words. "You slept with him." It was the only explanation he could come up with, and he blurted it out before thinking about it. Almost immediately he blushed and looked away, not able to face her reddish eyes. Awesome topic to discuss with a girl… Your crush… Just awesome. He rubbed his face in embarrassment.

She spit out the juice she was about to gulp down. She was staring at Aomine in disbelief for a moment, but she shouldn't have been surprised… Though, his reaction was way too cute. Who would've thought that Aomine Daiki was so innocent…

And then, to his surprise she laughed.

"That's one way to interpret it, indeed." Her tone was humorous and he had to look at her.

What a mistake. Her cheeks were flushed, her smile was slightly crooked, but she wasn't feeling ashamed; he could tell that much from her eyes. God, this girl could make so many faces, and he wanted to see every single one of them…

"But no, I didn't." This was definitely not something she wanted to discuss with Aomine. It was none of his business… But he was someone she liked, right? So she definitely didn't want him to have the wrong idea. And he was talking with her, not with Satsuki, or anyone else. She appreciated this.

She looked at her feet and frowned. "Well, we did stuff, yes, but I never had sex with him." She said explicitly, just to avoid any misunderstanding (because she had shared a bed with Tatsuya, but they had both been sleeping). "The gossip and rumours were inevitable. And with my personality and choice of friends… let's say not many people believe me on this." She sounded bitter, her eyes darkened, and the cute blush disappeared. When it was Aomine, she wasn't trying to hide her emotions. Why so? He could figure her out anyways.

She's been hurt. 'Basketball team's whore.' – said one of the bullying letters she had received. She'd made fun of it then. Even though no one in the team believed it, maybe it got to her more than she was willing to admit. And when Aomine thought about it, then yes, Aya's personality could play against her and her choice of friends… close friends… Satsuki and Kiku and the boys – lots of them. He knew she kept them at arm's length, so he had no reason not to believe her. But still…

"Not that I care." She added, unnecessarily.

"Sure. That's why you're explainin' yourself to me…" He blurted out sarcastically, without thinking. Not really knowing what outcome it could have.

His remark served like a whiplash.

And there she was, trying to open up a little. You're an idiot, Aya. Idiot. "Sorry, I thought you were asking." She said coldly, her mood making a 180° twist, and she shot him a burning angry glare, trying very hard to hide the hurt. But she couldn't hide all of it.

"I –" He tried to save it somehow, but she didn't let him.

"I need to go, I have other things to do." She crumpled a juice pack she was holding and stood up. With a smooth flick of her wrist she threw the pack into a litter bin. "Thank you for coming today, and sorry for bothering you with my personal drama. I won't do it again."

She turned on her heel and left. With her head held high and her back straight, she didn't look back.

This scene was all too familiar.

Aomine stared after her with wide eyes. Things had been going quite well. It wasn't a date, at least not officially, but… To think it could twist this way in basically a few seconds… That his stupid mouth could twist it this way. She'd explained herself, because he'd asked – maybe not directly, but he'd had. She'd trusted him enough to explain herself. To open up. Even before... she'd been trying to reach out to him… At least that was the feeling he had. They were friends for god's sake. And what had he done? Mocked her for it. He hadn't wanted to, but…

"Tch. Fuck!" He swore and punched the poor bench, which earned him a nasty glare from an old lady walking her small dog.

#######

Aya felt so stupid. What the hell was I thinking? What was I expecting? It's Aomine. I've just tried to open up to Aomine. She laughed inwardly. I'm a stupid idiot. She though in disbelief, cursing herself for doing it.

Her feet led her home.

"Aya-chan. Okaerinasai. How was your date?" Chiba-san greeted her enthusiastically. He wasn't sure if it'd been a date, but he could as well call it that.

She immediately smiled widely. Chiba-san didn't need to know that she was feeling down. "Tadaima. Aomine is just my friend. And it was good. We've seen the match, talked some. You know." Her voice was warm and cheerful. Or she hoped it was, but Chiba-san seemed content, so she assumed she was convincing enough. "But you talk! How was your vacation?"

He didn't need more encouragement to start talking. "You see…"

She sat down next to him, behind the reception desk and listened carefully. At least she would come to different thoughts.

######

"Date gone wrong?" Daisuke looked at his son over a book he was reading. He had a free day, unfortunately, his lovely wife had a shift in a hospital, even though they usually planned their shifts so that they could spend their free days together.

"It wasn't a date." He grumbled and threw himself on a couch.

Shiro immediately buried her head in Daiki's stomach, demanding him to scratch her. When he complied, she made sounds awfully similar to purring. Daiki closed his eyes and sighed. This time, he realised his mistake. I'm such an idiot.

"Are you going to talk to me or not?" Daisuke asked with a raised eyebrow.

He opened his eyes to look at his father. Facing those icy blue eyes required a lot of courage, mostly when his father stared at him so intensely. "Do I have to?"

Daisuke thought for a moment, and then he said: "No, but I might help you."

"I don't think so."

He shook his head and sighed. "A-ah, you're at the age when you think you know everything the best…"

"Tch. I don't! I'm clueless when it comes to Kagami! I messed up! I did! I just don't think y' can help me!" He threw his arms up, losing his temper.

Shiro huffed, offended by the sudden anger of her master.

To think that his son would admit his mistake… He's maturing. "What did you do?" He asked carefully. Knowing his son and his temper, he couldn't fully exclude the possibility that Daiki pushed the girl against a wall somewhere… Though he believed Daiki would never do that.

Oh, he knew that look… "Nothin', if y're asking whether I pushed her against a wall." He said irritably. He wasn't some unsettled douchebag to do that.

Daisuke sighed in relief. "Sorry. I know we've taught you better, but one can never be too sure." He shrugged apologetically.

Daiki grit his teeth to withhold the retort he wanted to spout, and rubbed his face. He was angry, angry that his father had doubted him, and most of all, he was so angry with himself. "I said something stupid… When she was finally talking with me."

Daisuke understood that whatever the girl had been telling his son, it'd been important to her. That she'd shown him trust and his son had, in a way typical for him, crumpled it. He hoped they'd get over it, because he really wanted to meet this girl, who made his son come out of his shell. But for now, he needed to find a way for Daiki to let out his anger. And there was one very effective way to do that.

"Wanna spar?"

"Huh?" Daiki blinked at him and then his lips curled up into a dark smirk. "I ain't gonna lose this time."

"If you say so…"

######

After playing in two matches, Taiga was totally drained, nevertheless he helped Aya with grocery shopping, and even with planning the little party for that Daiki-boy, who admired Kuroko so much. When they were done, he went straight to bed, falling asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. So what if it was only 7PM?

Aya, who slept only for a few hours, couldn't seem to go to bed. She was restless, shuffling around the house, practising some ballet, reading a book. But she couldn't focus, nor go to sleep. She hadn't talked with Taiga about Aomine; she'd avoided the topic like a plague and Taiga knew better than to push her. She finally decided to take a bath before midnight.

She stared at a box of cigarettes in one of the kitchen drawers for a moment, before grabbing it, and heading out to the balcony. She knew she shouldn't smoke. It tasted terrible. She knew it was bad for her health, all the more so considering her age. And yet, she couldn't think of any other way to calm down. Tch… for a few stupid words…

She was sitting on a cushion on the ground, leaning against the wall with her knees bent. She was staring at the smoke going up and disappearing in the night's air. The red tip of the cigarette was glowing in the dark and she stared at it as she tapped the ash from it into an ashtray.

"You know, you shouldn't smoke, right?" Taiga's sleepy voice snapped her out of her thoughts, but he didn't startle her.

She didn't answer; she simply looked at him, and patted the ground at her side.

He yawned and slumped down next to her, bumping his knee against hers. "I can't sleep when you're like this, you know…"

"Don't tell me, my vibes woke you up."

He shrugged. "I have no idea how this twin bond works, but the fact is I can't sleep while you're restless and getting yourself lung cancer."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not. It shouldn't kill me to smoke once in a while..."

Well, she wasn't smoking regularly, and she was indeed avoiding it as much as possible… and yet. Coffee and cigarettes. He could imagine that would be Aya's death one day. And he feared the idea. "Don't you dare kick the bucket before me, you understand, stubborn mule?"

"Hai, hai... I'm not planning to."

Taiga sighed and looked into the night. "What's eating you up this time?"

"Who, would be more fitting."

So Aomine again. It'd been some time since his sister fretted over a guy. "What has he done then?"

Aya deeply inhaled tobacco fumes, letting it out through her nose – it stung all the way down and back up – and started explaining. Unbiased opinion of someone who wasn't involved always helped. Then again, Taiga wasn't exactly unbiased…

"He is an idiot!" Taiga said fiercely, throwing his arms up – accidentally hitting Aya's shoulder. "Why did he even come up here?! I mean… Why'd you let him in? And your 'I don't really care…' or whatever. It wasn't really needed. Urgh. For fucks sake! Of course you care! Every normal girl would care, in one way or another. You act as if it doesn't affect you, but I bet it'd take a lot of courage to actually have sex with someone. Even for you." Then he corrected himself, "Especially for you."

His reaction made her laugh. Their topic was serious, but the way he said it, with all the feelings involved… "I love you. You know it, right?"

"Eh? Yeah? Why d' you need to say it?" He asked, confused, because he expected some retaliation.

"Just because." She bumped into his shoulder. Taiga's insights always made her problems or worries seem easier to deal with. She was so lucky to have him. "So what now?"

"How 'bout writing him a message? Something like 'I'm smoking because of your stupid remark, take it back!' and an emoji, or punch him next time. Yeah, that might be more enjoyable."

"Very funny, Taiga."

"You are laughing." He said with a proud smirk. "It'll be okay. If he doesn't apologise, I'll make him do it. It's not like you to talk so openly with just anyone."

"I'm still not sure if the two of you don't start fighting the moment you spot each other." She sighed. "You can be awfully similar."

"Brrr… Heck no. Don't even joke about it."

"Well you are a thickhead! And I believe you'll mess up a hundred times while chasing a girl of your liking."

"Ooooh? Is he chasing you then?"

She burst out laughing again. "No? Why would he? We're friends. And anyways, guys don't like self-confident women. Generally speaking." But sometimes… Sometimes she thought that maybe he was chasing her… in a way typical for Aomine.

"We do. Self-confidence is sexy! But sometimes we just lack the guts to handle you or we don't have enough confidence in ourselves. Tatsuya is a good example of that."

"Right." She spat out, Tatsuya was indeed a good example of that, and she took out another cigarette.

Taiga snatched it away from her. "U-uh. No more. You've already had two. That's enough for the next 2 months at least."

"I won't promise that." She said and sighed, staring at the sky. "It's so bad we can't see the stars."

"When we go to grandma, you can watch them all you want."

She nodded and leaned against Taiga's shoulder. They stared at the black sky in silence for a couple of minutes. "Ne Tai?"

"Mhm?" He was slowly falling asleep there.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

"Ugh… Why?" He didn't really mind, but she tended to kick or slap him in her sleep.

"I don't want to be alone?" She made puppy eyes. "Pretty pleaaaase! I won't kick. I promise."

"Whatever. But go brush your teeth and either wash your hair, or use the perfume. I don't want to sleep next to a cigarette."

She rolled her eyes, but complied. Smelling like a cigarette wasn't something she liked either.

---

The sound of their doorbell woke them up. Aya rubbed her eyes and glanced at Taiga's alarm clock resting on his night table. It was 10AM.

"Shit! We've overslept!" She crawled over Taiga, and got out of the bed.

"Yeah, so? It's probably the girls, right? Kiku and Satsuki…"

"But I'm in my PJs!"

Taiga rolled his sleepy eyes. "Aomine saw you yesterday, don't fret over it. Go and let them in. Or should I go?" He asked teasingly, as he wasn't wearing a pyjama's top.

"Hell no. Kiku'd probably faint." She laughed. "And put the t-shirt on if you're to greet them in PJs too."

He saluted and shoved her towards the opened door of his room.

She shuffled to the entrance to let the girls in; they were supposed to bake cupcakes for Kano Daiki's birthday, and since the party was taking place in the park it was best to use Aya's apartment.

"Welcome!" She greeted them with a wide smile. "Sorry, we've overslept." She apologised for her sleepy appearance.

"Hello!" Both, Kiku and Satsuki, greeted her with flushed cheeks. "Why don't you have a lift here?" Satsuki asked with a pout. "Conquering fourteen floors is harder than it sounds."

Aya chuckled. "Let's hope you'll have to repeat the ascent just one more time… Come on in."

"Sorry for the intrusion." Kiku said in a quiet voice, as she took off her shoes.

The girls, just like Aomine, were looking all around them. Aya-chan's apartment was huge. They followed after her, curiously looking at the photos in the hall.

"Is that you?!" Satsuki asked, staring at one particular picture. Two little red-haired kids, not older than four, were standing in the middle of the former national basketball team of Japan. Satsuki could recognise Harasawa-sensei – he looked so young, and she could also recognise other coaches she already knew. The current coach of Teiko was in the picture too. And the famous twins of the former team. Now when she saw Aya and Taiga there (and they looked exactly the same at that age) it clicked in her head, but she needed confirmation.

"Hmm?" Aya followed Satsuki's gaze and nodded. "Yes."

Satsuki whipped towards Aya with wide eyes. "Holy crap! Your father is the Kagami?! The former member of the national team? The ace?! Wait… Which one is your father?" She couldn't distinguish between the identical twin brothers. And she'd read that they used to swap and tease the others.

"Kagami Haruka. The power forward. Katsu was his substitute and took the position when father retired from the team." Taiga's voice reached them from the kitchen. "Kagami Kyou, the center, is our uncle. Shouldn't you be the research specialist?"

Satsuki huffed at his jab, it sounded like something Dai-chan would say. "How should I know? I thought it was just the same name! And Aya-chan didn't say anything!" She pouted.

The girls came out of the hall and into the huge open space. Taiga was standing behind the counter, preparing breakfast. "Did you have breakfast?" He asked the two girls.

They nodded. Taiga shrugged; the more food for him and Aya then.

"And why would she say anything? It's not like many people remember the former team; even among those playing basketball. My team doesn't know either."

Aya nodded. That is the success of our father, not ours to boast about. She could see the displeasedness on Satsuki's face, but the pinkette didn't have any good argument; she could've put two and two together, the Kagami twins she knew looked so much like the original Kagami twins…

Satsuki felt she should've known… Heck, Dai-chan should've known! Wait… Has he not realised this?!

"Uhm…" Kiku peeped, she didn't know of this either, but she could understand the twins' reasoning. Maybe she should change the topic, so the pinkette wouldn't overreact. She was dragged towards the bookcase, like any proper bookworm would be. "Do you only read in foreign languages?" She asked going through the books.

Aya joined Taiga in preparing their meal. "Most of the time… I still have slight problems with kanji. Anyways, the top two shelves are in Japanese, and there is another shelf of purely Japanese books in my room."

"Do you think I could handle a book in English?" Kiku knew her English wasn't perfect, but she was hoping to improve.

"I suppose. With a good vocabulary… You are improving a lot." Aya praised her. It wasn't only Aomine she was helping with English.

After the breakfast, when they talked about school and the afternoon party, Aya showed the two to her room, where they would stay the night. Taiga went to take a quick shower and started preparing ingredients for cupcakes they were planning to bake. It was the first time he would help with making cupcakes, so he was interested and wanted to start with it already. When Satsuki offered her help to him, he refused – he had been warned – and so he gave her a task to call everyone involved, to be sure everyone knew what was going on.

Aya, Kiku and Taiga were all skilled in the kitchen. Kiku quickly adapted to the twins' rhythm and admired their sync. Satsuki was enviously watching them, she so wanted to help, but she knew she was useless. She could barely prepare tea right.

Aya's private phone rang.

"Who is it?" She asked Satsuki. Her hands were covered with flour, and she didn't want to dirty the phone.

"It says Takao Kazunari." Eh? Shuutoku's point guard?

"Oh!" Aya quickly dusted off her hands and grabbed the phone. "Takao-kun, hello." She greeted him, and then quickly went over the plan with him. "You can join us too. Daiki might freak out a bit, but… If you have to keep an eye on Airi, it can't be helped."

"I won't bite his head off." Takao chuckled. "And we have a gift for him, so no worries."

"And you are interested in the other players as well, right?"

"Ahahaha… Yeah. You read people well. Shin-chan wants to know too, but he refused to join us."

"It's Daiki's party… Too many unknown people and it would be strange, even if there were gifts."

"True, true. We'll be there on time. Bye bye." He hung up.

"They'll be there." She said happily. Only these two, or rather, only Airi was an uncertain guest. Takao had promised to let Aya know in time whether they would arrive or not.

Taiga smirked. He was already aware of the boy's crush on Takao Airi. "Good for Daiki."

Satsuki stared at Aya until the redhead cleared the situation for her. Then she squealed in surprise and happiness. She was involved in someone's drama and she could help! And she would get to see Tetsu-kun! She was so looking forward to this party. She wanted it to begin already.

######

"Hide-nii?" Daiki asked, sitting on his bed and watching his brother getting ready. "What's going on anyways? You are acting all weird." He had no idea that there was a party they had been preparing for him.

He'd never had a birthday party before, simply because he never had any close friends. As usual, they went to eat out with their parents, and then spent the rest of the day lazing around, eating sweets and watching movies. But today, Hideki decided they had to go out and play some basketball. With everyone. For Daiki it meant he'd see Ishii and Naito, and he'd have to watch over little Kenta, as they took the young ones too.

"Am I now?" He laughed nervously. The entire surprise depended on his ability to keep his mouth shut. "Could you check on Kenta?"

"Why? Mom's getting him ready."

"Because –"

"Shima! You bastard! Give it back!" Aki's angry voice reached them.

In a second the door to their room flung open and Shima ran in, looking for a refuge in the room of his older brothers. "Please hide me!"

The two exchanged exasperated looks and shrugged. "Do what you want." Daiki muttered, and did nothing to help. If they wanted to fight, he didn't care.

Shima jumped under Daiki's bed right on time.

"Where is he?!" Aki ran into the room, her face was red from anger. "He snatched and hid Usagi-san again!" She cried out. Whenever Shima took her favourite plushie, there was mayhem.

Hideki shrugged, and remained quiet. He didn't like being involved in his younger siblings' fights.

"I know you are hiding him! Where is he!" She stomped her foot. "Where is Usagi-san!" She yelled and tears filled her eyes.

"Urgh… This again?" Daiki rolled his eyes in annoyance. As per usual, he was the judge. "Shima, why do you keep hiding her plushie?"

"Because it's atrocious! A pink rabbit, blergh." He said from under the bed.

"It's Usagi-san! It's mine!" Aki was now crying.

He sighed. "Aki is right; it's none of your business, Shima. So? Where is it?"

"Won't tell!"

"I hate you! MOOOOOM!" Aki yelled her lungs out.

Daiki facepalmed. "Urgh. My head is so gonna hurt. You sure you wanna take 'em out?" He glanced at his brother who was rolling his eyes as well, both ignoring their crying sister.

"I asked Aya-chan to join us too. She should handle them well enough."

"Aya-san?" He asked suspiciously.

Oh crap… Hideki thought.

Fortunately for him, their mother barged in, to scold the young ones. Well, she scolded everyone in the process, even Daiki and Hideki for not dealing with the problem. Then she saved Usagi-san from the freezer and handed him back to Aki. Only then did the girl stop crying, but she swore she would get back at Shima, which was highly dangerous as they shared a room.

######

"Teeeetsu-kuuuun!" Satsuki ran towards Kuroko and hugged him immediately. She didn't care that he was talking with Naito about something.

"Momoi-san, I didn't know you'd be here." He said surprised, but didn't snake out from her hug. He was too baffled by her presence to do that. "Ah, hello everyone."

The three nodded to him. Taiga was holding a big box with cupcakes, Aya was carrying a gift and Kiku was taking care of a basketball.

"I helped with organizing this. And baking cupcakes!" Satsuki exclaimed proudly. In the end, the three had let Satsuki help with decorating the cupcakes. They were carefully watching over her, and there wasn't much she could mess up.

Kuroko, not knowing all this, paled and shot a terrified glance at Aya. He'd seen Satsuki's attempts at cooking several times…

Aya laughed. "Don't worry, Kuroko-kun. We've kept an eye on her."

Satsuki huffed.

"So your kitchen didn't blow up?" Naito asked dryly, checking his nails.

"Naito-kuun!" Satsuki groaned. "Of course not!"

"I see you're having fun~" Takao's voice joined in. He arrived with a small girl, half hidden behind his back. She'd been so stressed about all this. She wanted to see Daiki-kun, but meeting all the people involved was scary.

"Hello!" Ishii arrived right after them. "Hideki and the lot will be a bit late. Some Usagi-san drama." He shrugged; he was familiar with the Kano family dynamics.

A necessary round of introductions took place. Airi was a cute girl, short, timid and very polite. She had shoulder length black hair, and the same metallic blue eyes as her brother. She was shy, not as shy as Kiku had been, but when the redhead confronted her with a wide smile and the friendliness typical for her, Airi was very surprised.

Kiku talked with Airi easily as they were similar. They were shy around each other, but as fellow bookworms, they had a lot to talk about.

Takao started chatting with Naito and Ishii. There was quite a high probability they'd face Touou at some point, so it wasn't bad to check them out, though it disappointed him that neither of the boys was a regular.

Kuroko kept close to Taiga, Aya and Satsuki, who didn't want to let go of him. Either way…

"Kagami-kun."

"Hm?" Taiga asked.

"If we happen to play… I don't want to play against Takao-kun." He said. The boy was friendly, but he made Kuroko feel uneasy. "We should play with him."

"You don't want him to observe you, right?" Aya asked.

Kuroko nodded.

"I think he shouldn't observe Taiga-kun either." Satsuki peeped. "And everything I'll see, I'll use." She reminded both Seirin boys.

"This party sure turned out to be dangerous." Aya chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll keep you occupied, so you won't have the time for any analysis."

"Oi, Hide-nii!" They could hear Daiki's grunt as he fell. "Be careful!"

They all turned to face the Kano siblings as they were dragging blindfolded Daiki towards the court. Takao was fighting laughter, this was amusing.

"Sorry, sorry." Hideki laughed, and winked at the others.

Aya rolled her eyes and took the box filled with cupcakes from Taiga. She fished out two candles depicting the numbers 1 and 4 to make up Daiki's age. She stuck them into the two prettiest cupcakes, decorated as basketballs, and lit them.

"Aya-neee-tan!" Kenta jumped and hugged Aya's thigh.

She wavered, almost dropping the cupcakes. "Hey, little one." She smiled at the boy, and started walking towards Daiki with Kenta glued to her leg.

"Pfffft!" Takao couldn't hold it in anymore. "This is hilarious!"

Hideki took off his brother's blindfold.

Daiki blinked a couple of times, and when his eyes adjusted to the light, he was greeted with smiling faces, and the two cupcakes with lit candles.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAIKI!" They all wished him in unison and it made him wonder whether they rehearsed it, or not. Even Aki and Shima were grinning. The little devils! Daiki thought and a wide happy grin settled on his face, as he blew the candles.

They all clapped. Only then he noticed Airi-chan, and he blushed. But he didn't have the time to analyse his feelings…

"Me too! Mee too!" Kenta shouted and stretched towards his older brother.

Daiki tilted his head and sighed, picking Kenta up. "Could we?" He asked and pointed at the candles.

Taiga chuckled. "Sure." He took out a lighter to light the candles again.

"Uhm… take out just those two cupcakes." Daiki said, shifting his hold of the little munchkin, staring at the cupcakes in delight. "He might accidentally spit on it…"

Satsuki took out a small paper tray, so she wouldn't hold it in her hands, and placed the cupcakes there. Taiga put the box on a bench.

"Should we wish you 'happy birthday' too?" Aya asked.

The little boy stared at her with his green eyes. He thought about it in a way only a three years old could. Then he nodded seriously. "Yesh!"

"Okay." She held the cupcakes high enough so Kenta could blow the candles.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Kenta tried to blow the candles, spluttering some in the process. When the small fires died out, Kenta clapped his small hands, delighted by his success. Everyone joined him in his childish glee. It was so cute.

Those who didn't know each other were introduced, gifts were given and Daiki decided to open them up at home.

The teams for the first match were decided. Daiki, Takao and Ishii, against Hideki, Naito and Taiga. Shima was a referee, with Aya's help in case of fouls.

"He is improving…" Kuroko mused, when he noticed Daiki's improved passes. "He can avoid holding the ball now."

"Takao seems to be surprised by this." Aya noticed. "He's probably never played with a player of this type. But he is adjusting quickly." Very quickly…

Airi was watching the boys with interest. So far, she's never seen Daiki play, because he wasn't a regular, and his team didn't let him play in any matches. It made her angry. She couldn't understand why his own team would leave him out, when these senpais respected him and enjoyed playing with him. She was happy for him.

Satsuki tried to watch. However, it was difficult, with little Kenta in her arms. The little boy was very interested in her pink hair colour, and so he kept playing with it and tangling it. Satsuki tried to persuade him not to do it, but she wasn't that good with children.

As the afternoon progressed, they rotated the teams and played in different formations, though Kuroko always avoided going against Takao. When he played, he played with Takao on one team. And Taiga was holding back.

All the cupcakes were eaten. For some reason Aki started chasing Shima around the park. No one really understood the reason, but Hideki and Daiki ignored them, so the rest assumed it was nothing serious.

Kenta circulated between Aya, Satsuki and Kiku, who kept playing with him. When he asked for Daiki, he was taken from Satsuki.

It didn't take long for the girls to join the small basketball games and they were trying to teach Kiku how not to trip over her own feet, which was more difficult than it seemed.

"Daiki!" Takao called out to him. "Come teach Airi, we can't seem to speak the same language!" He huffed and approached the boy. "I'll keep the little one occupied."

"Dai-nii, noooo!" Kenta cried out and held onto his brother like a leech.

Takao made a pained expression. "I'm so saaad…"

"Why?" Kenta asked curiously.

"Because you don't want to be with meeee…" He whined.

Kenta was blinking at the seemingly sad Takao. Then, reluctantly, he patted Takao's cheek. "Don' be shad!" He said.

"Will you play with me then?"

He thought about it, and then reached for Takao, nodding seriously. "Kenta will!"

"Good boy, I'm so glad!" Takao grinned and winked at Daiki. Good luck.

######

"Tetsu-kun!" Satsuki found the ghostly boy slightly away from the others.

When they took out fireworks and sparkles, Kuroko drifted away – he wasn't in the mood to be surrounded by the group. Aya-san was enjoying it, as it was her first time trying it, and Kuroko admired how she could be 100% present in a moment. The same for Taiga. He was sure that the twins had their problems, they just didn't talk about it, yet they could be like this. And there he was, still worrying over his former teammates, not really able to fully enjoy the party.

"Ah, Momoi-san." He expected her to hug him again, but she didn't. Instead she handed him one small sparkly firework and sat next to him.

He lit it from hers, and stared at the sparkles.

"Why aren't you with the others?" She asked curiously, though she could guess the answer.

"I could ask the same." He said, and then he sighed. "How is Aomine-kun doing?"

"You know how he was... after he'd changed. It's something like that, except when Aya-chan is close by. Then he tends to shift to his former self."

Kuroko chuckled. "She is exactly someone who could do that."

"Yeah, she is really awesome, though I feel left out sometimes. Not because of Aomine-kun, but she just gets along so well with everyone." Maybe not everyone but… She shook her head. "So… Is Taiga-kun your new light?"

"Mhm. He reminds me of Aomine-kun a lot. But you already know that."

"You like your new team, right?"

"They are all great players." He said with a smile. "Did you really help with the cupcakes?" He asked to change the topic. He didn't want to talk about the upcoming matches; he didn't want to hear they had no chance from Satsuki, because he believed Seirin would win.

"Yes!" She said proudly, and then added: "Only with the decorations though…" And mine were not the prettiest.

"They all looked very nice." He praised her.

Satsuki felt like flying. Kuroko's praise felt the best. "Thank you!" She squeezed him into another hug, her boobs pressing against his arm. "You know, it's not as easy as it looks!" She said cheerfully and started describing the whole process of baking and decorating cupcakes.

And Kuroko was patiently listening to her. Satsuki had always been like this and he'd never opposed her. Maybe he didn't really mind it.

"Ah…" She chuckled nervously. "Sorry. I must be boring you." I'm doing it again…

His fireworks died out. "Not at all, Momoi-san. It's interesting. I've never baked in my life."

"Neither have I! But you know I can barely prepare tea."

######

"Do you think she'll ask him out?" Taiga asked his sister when he noticed Satsuki and Kuroko chatting on the bench.

"I doubt it." Aya frowned. "She thinks she is overly pushy."

"Kuroko definitely won't make a move himself." He hadn't known Kuroko for that long, but he was sure it was like this.

"Yeah, I think so too…" She agreed. "Wait… You think they should be a couple?"

"You don't? He is probably the only one who really listens to her rants."

Aya stared at her brother for a moment. How do you know that?

"What are you discussing~?" Takao asked, and followed their line of sight. "Oh, those two as well?"

"As well?" Aya tilted her head to look at him.

"Airi and Daiki." He shrugged and pointed to a side with his head, where Airi and Daiki were laughing and staring at the fireworks. "I give it 10 more minutes and they'll be kissing."

"They suit each other." Aya shrugged. "Or are you worried for your sister?" She teased.

"Who wouldn't? I know exactly what those youngsters are thinking."

"Not everyone has to be like you~."

"Aya-chan!"

She laughed, and picked up the ball. "Come on, Takao-kun. Let's play some more."

######

"I couldn't do it!" Satsuki groaned into her pillow after they were done discussing the successful party. "I'm such a coward!"

"What happened?" Kiku asked, almost frightened by Satsuki's reaction.

The girls were all lying on top of Aya's huge bed, though Aya'd said she'd go to sleep to Taiga, as she was kicking and tossing a lot in her sleep. They were all in PJs, and talking.

"Ask Kuroko-kun out!" She whined. "Who knows when am I going to meet him again…"

There was nothing to say to make Satsuki feel better.

"If it'll make you feel better, than I ran away from Aomine again." Aya said with a shrug.

"What?! What happened? What did he do?" Satsuki had known about the plans they'd had. But she had no idea it could go wrong somewhere. It was just watching a match! Well, it's Dai-chan… "Tell us everything!"

When Aya was done with recapitulating the events of the previous day, Satsuki facepalmed. "He's an idiot! I swear I'm gonna kill him one day!"

Kiku was blinking at both, and blushing. To think that Aya-san would discuss such topics with Aomine-san was unbelievable. She had problems discussing it with girls, let alone someone she had a crush on. Why the hell did Wakamatsu's face appear in her mind? And why was she thinking about him, when the girls started talking about their crushes? No… what Aya and Satsuki were discussing were more than just some crushes. She hid her face in her palms. Was she really in love with the huge and loud Wakamatsu-senpai?!

"Kiku?" Aya asked carefully. "Are you okay?"

Kiku nodded.

Satsuki turned questioning eyes towards Aya. She didn't interact with Kiku enough to know about the inward processes going on in Kiku's head.

"Do you not want to talk about this?"

"I-i-i… It should be fine, but… I…" She peeped.

"Thinking about Wakamatsu-senpai?" Aya asked teasingly.

Kiku immediately raised her head and shot a glare at Aya. It was the first time Satsuki saw a reaction like that coming from Kiku.

"No!" She exclaimed. "I'm not… It's not like I… No!"

"Eeeeeeh?!" Satsuki understood. "You like Wakamatsu-senpai?!"

Kiku grumbled something incoherent and hid her face again.

Satsuki was blinking at Aya. 'Really?!', she was asking wordlessly.

Aya nodded. 'Really. Just don't butt in.'

Satsuki pouted, but nodded in agreement. "But Dai-chan sure didn't mean it." She continued in their previous topic. "He probably blurted out whatever he thought at the moment. Sometimes his mouth works before his brain, Aya-chan."

"I don't know if I should care about it, Satsuki. I really don't know."

"But you do like him, right? Why don't you start dating him then? I believe he would behave differently!"

"I have my reasons, for now anyway… Besides, we decided on being friends, I don't think he would want to date someone like me. And dating would not work like a magic spell to erase the attitude. Not on Aomine."

---

A/N: A lot of things happened in here, a lot of new info came to light, but I hope you liked it.

/sentence structure, grammar minor wording changed on 22.8.2021/

Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated but never necessary.

-S.