A/N: Thanks to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It makes me really happy!
I can't believe it's been a year since I started posting this fic. I'm really thankful for all your support and patience :) There are some more chapters until we get to the Interhigh but... I hope it will be worthwhile. I'm sorry if I'm dragging the story too much, I just like all the side characters and so on...
Enjoy! :)
I still get nightmares. In fact, I get them so often I should be used to them by now. I'm not. No one ever really gets used to nightmares. ― Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves
Who am I kidding? I have no reason for being here other that the fact that I want to be near her. ― Simone Elkeles
It's not possible to experience constant euphoria, but if you're grateful, you can find happiness in everything. – Pharrell Williams
Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses. – Ann Landers
Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body. – Martha Graham
The next morning she arrived at school sooner than usual. She'd had a poor, intermittent sleep, waking up every couple of minutes, so there was no point in prolonging her misery. She felt much better after the hug and all, but as the anniversary of their mother was approaching the occasional nightmares were becoming more frequent, more vicious.
It surprised her when she saw Aomine already leaning against the changing room's door, waiting for whomever had the key. Seeing him the first thing in the morning made her feel better. A smile appeared on her face when she approached him.
"Mornin'." She greeted him. "So you're coming to morning practises too?"
He shrugged. "Couldn't sleep properly." A yawn escaped him. He'd spend the night replaying the hug and the peck he'd received and thinking of a way to deal with Aya in everyday school life.
"Me neither." She was looking him up and down, feeling self-conscious and strangely out of place. How was she supposed to behave? 'Tough and uninterested', huh? Not quite possible…
Jumping to the conclusion that her lack of sleep was because of him would be way too convenient and he already knew better. "Bad dreams?" He asked even though there was no indication of that.
But her reaction confirmed his guess.
Her eyes snapped at him in surprise. She'd expected some sort of teasing... Taiga had spilled something about her nightmares to the team the other day, but to think that Aomine had remembered was presumptuous. She nodded after a moment and answered truthfully.
"And they'll get even worse… I either need to exhaust myself to the point of passing out or get drunk to have a dreamless night." She commented with an exasperated sigh and a crooked smile. "Or possibly both."
"What do you dream about?" He asked carefully, not sure how far he could push the subject.
She hesitated and avoided his gaze. She didn't want to talk about this, but the sooner she gave him some answer the sooner it would be over. "Mom's death… most of the time. That kid sometimes. Burning alive or drowning… There's lot of weird things… Uhm… Anyways! I have the key, if you want to go get changed." The key jingled as she pulled it out of her bag, clearly signalling that the dream talk was over.
"Wanna play some one-on-one?" He asked when she unlocked the door for him.
She blinked at him. "To hear that from you… Sure, why not? I need to exhaust myself, remember?" She chuckled and vanished into the girls' changing room. So he is being considerate all of the sudden…
######
No one was really surprised when they found their ace and their manager playing one-on-one in the gym. It was strangely calming to see them acting fine around each other again. After the match against Seirin they were all worried.
"Good to see you full of energy!" Katsunori called out to them, interrupting Aya's rhythm and making her miss. Well, not that she could make it with Aomine as her opponent.
"Sure. Thanks for you assistance." She muttered sarcastically.
"You're welcome." He answered with half smirk, not fazed by her retort. He assembled them in a line. "As you all know, in two weeks, just before the summer break you have the final exams. Because of that, we'll hold a practise on Saturday and Sunday, and I'll give you the next week practise-free, in order for you to study." He watched all boys carefully. "For participation in the Interhigh, I need you all to pass. You too, Kano. I won't be able to excuse you from the remedial classes this time."
"Hai!" The boy shouted guiltily. "I'll study hard! Promise!"
"I hope so." Then he looked at Aya. "If you have any other projects unfinished, I recommend you to finalise them as soon as possible."
She nodded. "You don't have to look at me specifically, we'll manage just fine."
"So I heard." He nodded and shifted his gaze on Aomine, who nodded slightly.
######
"Aya! Wanna play some more basket during lunch?" Kano asked cheerfully. An involuntary glance at Aomine escaped her and she didn't manage to hide it. A wide grin appeared on Kano's face. "Well, we don't want to be a bother… right?" He turned to his friends.
"What?!" She snapped at him. "It's not like that! I just…"
With a timid smile, Kiku patted her shoulder. "There's no escaping." She said teasingly.
"Oh, go to hell, all of you." Aya rolled her eyes; of course everyone was jumping into conclusion. And by the corner of her eye, she could see Aomine turning his face away and acting like he wasn't there. "I'm just tired, okay? I didn't sleep well." She admitted.
"Excuses, excuses." Kano shook his head in pretended disappointment, but Kiku frowned.
The little girl knew much more about Aya than the boys. And she certainly didn't like the sound of that. She watched Aya with concern and then she grabbed Kano's forearm. "Excuses or not, wouldn't it be nice of us to give 'em some privacy?"
"Just go already." Aya groaned in exasperation, but winked at the girl in understanding.
"Hai, hai~" Kano sang and the three of them departed, leaving Sakurai to his absent minded drawing, and the two, now flushed, teammates to their own business.
"They're annoying." Aomine muttered.
"And it can only get worse…" We aren't even dating… "So?"
"Rooftop?"
She nodded. "Rooftop." They took their lunches and walked out off the classroom.
"Tell me, what business is between you and Katsu?" She ambushed Aomine the moment they stepped onto his rooftop to eat their lunches. She'd been wondering about it the whole morning.
"Nothing much." He shrugged and sat down, leaning against the wall.
Her eyes narrowed at him. "I'm not stupid. What was the meaning of that project talk? I know he knows we've done near nothing to write it yet… Now that I think about it… How come you haven't forgotten?"
He shot her a sideways glare, not answering. His expression gave out that he was insulted.
"Okay, okay, sorry." She chuckled. "But… It's not like you to remember homework."
He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, staring at his food. "Uhm… Actually… I have a page or two written down already."
There was a long silence. Then she leaned to him, touched his forehead and nodded seriously. "No fever. That's good."
He blinked at the sudden proximity and frowned at her. She was just teasing him. "Would you stop it?" He shoved her hand away.
"I'm shocked. Doing homework is like waaaay out of your character, no?"
He thought about it for a moment. "True," he shrugged and smirked, "but I like history." And I'm doing it to help you.
"That's new… But I s'pose I should've noticed that you have better results from history than from any other subject." She took several bites and then lowered her bento; she didn't feel like eating more. "Still… what's your business with Katsu?"
"You won't let it slide, will ya?"
"No."
"…Not telling." He had to look away to fight off a blush threatening to heat up his face.
She sighed, "Whatever, I tried…", and looked at the slowly passing clouds. "So? When are we going to work on the project together? I can't let you do the entire thing."
"When do you have enough time?"
"Not this week or weekend. The work has piled up while I was away…"
"Next weekend then?"
"That's way too late, but we don't have much of a choice. It should work. And where are we gonna do it?"
It… He stared at her with a cocky smirk and a raised eyebrow.
"The project! What else could there be?" She filled in immediately, her cheeks heating up. "And there you were freezing up after a peck on the forehead." She grumbled under her nose.
He heard and it made him flush slightly too. "Wha-? That was… an underhanded attack from you."
Good to know. She thought, not daring to say it out loud. "Okay, where are we going to work on the history project?" She asked specifying everything.
"You can come over to my place… if it's okay with you." He shrugged, he had books relating the topic at home and he didn't feel like going to school on the weekend when he didn't have to. Plus his mother had been nagging him she'd wanted to meet Aya and he knew his parents would be at home… "My parents will be at home…" He added just in case.
Going to Aomine's place and meeting his parents… When did it turn out like this? She was hesitating, but then she nodded. Can't hurt… "Fine but uh…"
"But?"
"Do they know?"
"Know what?" He asked without thinking, even though he could read the question in her eyes. He hesitated and that hesitation gave him out. He couldn't lie his way out anymore. "Yeah." He mumbled. "I kind of…" His voice trailed off guiltily.
She exhaled sharply and closed her eyes. She didn't like the idea, but she talked with Taiga about everything too. So for Aomine to talk with his parents; it wasn't strange at all.
"Fair enough. Uhm… Are they okay with it?" She asked quietly.
"They are a policeman and a nurse… There's not many things they haven't seen." He gave her a small reassuring smile, his ever present frown fading away. "And hey… They are my parents, which means they can handle me."
She liked that unusually soft expression he had right now. "That's sure comforting."
His eyes zoomed on her half-eaten lunch. "You not going to eat that?"
"I'm not that hungry." She chuckled and handed it over to him. "Help yourself."
"You sure you don't want to go to sleep?" Taiga asked her sleepily, rubbing his stomach. "You've been up for three days straight, it's not healthy."
Aya turned on her chair to face him. "The work won't do itself, Mr. worrywart." She said with a sigh and rubbed her eyes. "Besides I don't want to sleep."
"But you need to sleep." He grunted and shuffled to her bed, where he stretched himself.
"I'll sleep when I pass out from exhaustion. That way I won't dream about anything, okay?"
He yawned. "I'd say okay, but you won't be at home during the weekend. What if you pass out in the middle of the practise and injure yourself? And what if someone calls you an ambulance? I doubt you'd like to wake up in a hospital…"
"I'll last during those two more days."
"I'll call Katsu if you don't take at least 20 minute nap now." He warned her.
She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're a terrible brother, you know it?"
Taiga knew she was giving in, so he moved to the wall and patted the bed beside him. "Yeah, I love you too, and you're welcome."
She shot him a glare, but crawled into the bed. "Wake me up in 20 mi-" She was cold before finishing the sentence.
Taiga chuckled and shook his head. "'I don't want to sleep', huh? Hai, hai. You need to leave for the morning practise in an hour anyways…"
######
"Aaaah, weekend practises are such a pain." Kano whined as he dragged himself there, accompanied by Naito and Ishii.
"Did you have a date planned or something?" Ishii asked teasingly, knowing that he was the only one of the three who actually had a girlfriend.
"He won't ever find a girlfriend." Naito uttered dryly. "Not with that stupid hairstyle."
"WHAT?! What's wrong with my hairstyle? Girls like longer hair!"
"Where in the world did you get that from?" Ishii asked with a raised eyebrow.
"What does it matter?!" He tried to defend himself, but then he gave up. "You know what?! I'll ask Aya-chan!"
Aomine's barking laughter reached them from behind. He didn't feel like joining their little group, but he heard everything. "I want to see that."
All three turned on their heels to stare at the ace incredulously.
"Aomine? Why are you here on Saturday?" Ishii asked.
Aomine yawned and shrugged. "Why not?"
"Wanna see Aya-chan riiiight~?" Kano teased.
The teasing was starting to get on his nerves, so he decided to change his attitude. "And what if I say yes?" He asked with his typical smirk.
Kano just blinked at him. He surely hadn't expected Aomine to agree. "Really?" He blurted in surprise, which made Naito sigh in annoyance.
"Loss of words?" He jabbed his childhood friend. "I want to see you asking Aya-chan about the hair though. Well… If you have the balls to actually ask her."
"Urgh! You're so mean to me!"
Naito wasn't fazed by the accusation in the slightest. He just shrugged. "You're making it easy for me."
######
Aya was a few minutes late, so she ran into the gym. She wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings as her mind was still going over the presentation she'd prepared for their father. "Hey! Sorry I'm la–"
A stray ball laying on the ground tangled under her legs and she braced herself for the harsh impact.
Aomine being the closest to her and seeing her course took a few steps and caught her around her waist to stop her fall. For a moment she was completely hanging on his forearm.
"– Urgh." She let out a grunt, immediately gripping Aomine's arm to steady herself. "Thanks." She muttered with a blush as he set her back on feet.
"Watch your step, clumsy." He smirked at her, but it surprised him how her muscles tightened and how she curled herself around his arm to soften the impact. For her, it was probably an instinctual reaction engraved by the years of practise.
With an eye roll she looked up at him. "Very funny." Despite his smirk and the usual air of arrogance, he had a slight concern in his eyes.
'You okay?' He asked wordlessly; he'd caught her pretty harshly after all.
She stared at him for a moment. Was it just her delusion, or was Aomine Daiki softening up? That he came to the weekend practise was a miracle of the greatest level. 'I guess.' She nodded slightly and tried to read out his reasons for helping her, instead of laughing at her fall.
Their staring got a bit too long and a bit awkward for everyone in the gym. With a smirk Imayoshi approached them. "Have you seen each other for the first time?"
Aya blinked at the captain. "Ah? No… Wait, what?" She shook her head confusedly and blushed slightly. Urgh… Keep it together for god's sake!
He chuckled. "Nothing at all. If you're fine, let's start the practise."
"Yeah, sure. Sorry."
Imayoshi shook his head amusedly and ran towards Tada and Susa. "They have it bad~"
Tada rolled his eyes. "Just leave them be, you sly fox."
"I'm not plotting anything, Tada-kun. It's nice seeing them flying on their high cloud like that." He said in a pleasant tone but then he frowned. "Let's just hope Aomine won't lose his edge in a game."
"You're painting the devil on the wall here, captain. If anything, she makes him come to practises, which means he is getting even better."
"But she's also feeding that soft spot he still has."
"I don't think it's a bad thing. Thanks to that he is somewhat helping Kano and Arai to get better."
Imayoshi didn't mind the growing affection between the two, as long as Aomine wouldn't start losing his demeanour.
######
"Haaa… I'm tired." Aya sighed when she slumped onto the bench after practise.
Tada sat next to her and handed her a water bottle. "You don't have to run around with us, Aya-chan, you know that right?"
She took it gratefully and smiled. "I want to. Besides, it's not that terrible."
"Well, I must admit you don't fail to surprise me with your stamina and agility." He smiled at her encouragingly. Their managers were cute, but he liked Aya a bit more, and no one would kill him for a little innocent flirting. Aya had eyes only for Aomine after all.
She laughed. "Keep your compliments to yourself, will you, senpai? Or I might grow wings and fly away from all the praise."
"Didn't you want to ask Aya-san something?" Naito asked his friend casually, making sure that Aya would hear it too.
"Hm?" She turned her head to the first years.
"Kano here wanted to ask you something this morning, if I'm correct." Naito said with a perfect poker face and nudged Kano.
"What is it?" She turned her gaze to Kano, who blushed immediately.
"Ah… that's… No… It's nothing. Real nothing." He stammered, shaking his head desperately. Traitor! He felt mortified.
She frowned. "Uhm… Did something happen?"
"No, no, no. It's just… Shouhei is an idiot. Forget it." Kano pouted biting the inside of his cheek to fight off the embarrassing blush.
She stared at him for a moment and then shrugged. "If you say so. Buuut… feel free to ask whatever. If you want."
"No, no. It's really nothing important."
"I knew you wouldn't have the balls to actually ask." Aomine teased when Satsuki let him go after another long lecture of how to not slack off.
Aya's eyes ran from one to another. "Seriously now. What's going on?"
"It's nothing! Really! Get off my back already!" Kano snapped and stomped away.
"Now you've done it Shouhei." Ishii was shaking his head dejectedly. "Hideki rarely gets angry."
"Oh please. It's such a stupidity really…"
"Will anyone tell me what was this all about?" Aya asked desperately searching for any indication of some explanation.
Aomine shrugged. "Something about what hairstyle girls like or not. Hmmmm… Whether the girls like longer hair or what. Right?" He asked nonchalantly and turned to the two friends, now staring at him in utmost surprise, for confirmation. He didn't feel anything about asking such a trivial thing. It'd never interested him and it was Aya. She was fine with all weird questions and if she didn't want to answer she could avoid it easily.
"Errr.. Yeah, I guess." Naito nodded. They wanted to tease Kano, but they wouldn't have asked either. And there he was, nonchalantly doing just that.
"Naito-kun speechless." Aya chuckled. "I didn't think that was possible."
He cleared his throat and blushed at losing his composure like that. "So?"
"So what? Wanna know if girls like longer hair?"
They both nodded. Aomine slumped to the bench next to Tada and they both watched the exchange in a silent amusement.
Aya burst out laughing. "You teased Hideki for that? While you both actually wanna know too? That's mean!"
"We need to tease him a bit. And he isn't making it particularly difficult." Ishii pointed out.
"He won't find a girlfriend with that bed head full of hairpins." Naito added dryly.
"Hey! That's just mean. And not true, Naito. You don't have to like his style, because you're not dating him, right?" She gave him one of her annoyed glares. "I don't know what girls like, I can speak for myself, and I think his hairstyle suits him. So stop teasing him, you're not kids anymore."
"So you like longer hair?" Naito asked teasingly.
"I haven't said that. I don't have a preference on that front. Depends whether it suits the person or not." She shrugged. "But it feels awesome when you can dive your fingers into your man's hair~… or pull at it~" She added with a foxy smirk.
"Aya-chan!" Tada gasped, acting totally scandalized. "An innocent girl saying something so suggestive with such a straight face. Tcs, tcs, tcs."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "You have no right to be judging anyone, senpai."
Tada smirked in agreement and bowed his head to her. Then they both stared at flushed Naito and Ishii, and started laughing again.
"Someone's in a good mood~" Imayoshi strolled to the bunch. Most of the boys were gone already, and he'd gotten curious.
"Sure we are, captain. Just one more day of practise and we'll have a study week." Tada answered him with a smile. He didn't need to drag Imayoshi into their previous conversation. "Is there anything you need?"
"I wanted to discuss the summer training camp with Aya-chan."
"I haven't discussed it with Satsuki yet, so I don't want to say anything. Buuut… I have an idea already." She smiled at the captain.
"Tell me whenever you want. Do you at least have a date? So those of us who are living in the campus can plan their trips home and back?"
"I'm leaving right after the Interhigh, and I'll be back on 22nd August. So… We were thinking some late August. 20th to 27th maybe? And I'll join you a bit later? Or according to my situation."
"Sounds good. Can we get to planning it next week?"
"Wednesday after school?"
"Deal, Aya-chan~ I'll come to fetch you with Wakamatsu then."
"Sure thing."
######
The exchange between Aya and Tada was weighting on his mind, so instead of running off, Aomine decided to stay a bit longer and wait for her. Well, technically he was waiting for Satsuki, but the pinkette disappeared to gods knew where. And so, he was leaning against the wall near the changing rooms and staring into nowhere.
When Aya came out, she was too immersed in typing some message on her phone, so she wasn't paying any attention to her surroundings. Aomine didn't do anything to alert her of his presence. He was actually enjoying the view. The hot and humid weather meant a trend of less clothes and more bare skin, and Aya wasn't an exception.
Because it was the weekend she left her school uniform at home and gladly wore a short denim shorts and a loose linen shirt with rolled up sleeves. She tucked the front of the shirt into the shorts and left the top few buttons opened up. In combination with her long messy French braid and the boyish ring around her neck she was an image of leisure and a bit of mischief.
Aomine could contently stare at her for the entire day and he wouldn't get tired of it. He liked her style, he liked the way she walked, heck he liked the entire her. But when he thought he might not have been the only one…
"What was that about?"
"Shit!" She gasped and the phone jumped out of her hands.
It was Aomine who managed to catch it before it could crash down.
"Careful, Sweetheart." He said with a smirk as he handed her the phone. By the corner of his eye he tried to check out what she was typing, but the only thing he noticed was that it was some kind of a list.
She yanked the phone out of his hand and glared at him. "Do you have to sneak up on me?!"
"I wasn't sneaking up on you. It's not my fault you're daydreaming."
"About you of course." She said venomously. "And what was what about?"
He raised an eyebrow at her biting reaction. "The flirting with Tada."
"Huh?" She blinked at him in shock. Anger flashed in her reddish eyes, but she explained herself nonetheless. "I was in a good mood, and Tada-senpai is actually cool with something like that. He won't get the wrong idea."
"It sure looked that way." He muttered sarcastically before she could finish whatever she wanted to say.
"And what's that to you anyways?!" She flared up, the lack of sleep and work stress taking their toll on her. "It's not like we're dating or anything. And jealousy scenes are not something I need right now."
"Tch, yeah, right. Not like I'd get jealous."
"For that you'd have to care enough." She barked, and regretted it immediately when she noticed the hurt which flashed on Aomine's face, and which he hid behind his frowning mask and dangerous glare. "Sorry, I didn't mean…"
"Whatever. I don't care anyways." He shrugged looking somewhere in front of him. Her comment served like a good aimed slap. It hurt. He had no idea that Aya would take his question so badly, when she'd had so much patience with him before. Her apology sounded sincere, but essentially, she was right. They weren't dating or anything; her flirting was none of his business, though he sure hated witnessing it.
She took a breath to say something more, but her phone rang.
"What?!" She barked at whoever it was on the other side. "I'll send you the list when I can. Can't you wait a bit more?! It's not like the order won't wait." After a second she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Oh god… I'm so, so sorry, Hiroto. I just… Yeah, I'm still at school. The practise has just ended and… … Mhm, sure. Give me two more hours, please. I'll ask Taiga if he wants something specific when I get home. … Yes, definitely. I'm sorry for delaying your order. … Thanks, you're great. Bye."
She drove her fingers through her hair and sighed desperately. "I'm an idiot. A complete idiot." She let out a disgruntled whisper.
Then she looked up to Aomine who was observing her by the corner of his eye. "To you too. I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have said that and not in that tone." She bowed her head slightly. "I'm kinda out of it, 'kay? I'm happy for any jokes and friendly distractions now, so yes, Tada-senpai and the trio were the suns of the day for me."
He was considering her apology, and then he decided he didn't want to argue with Aya and nodded in acceptance. "What's going on?" He asked.
"Hiroto is ordering alcohol for his bar, and he asked me to give him a list of what we want. Well… I was supposed to send it to him yesterday, but I had no time to think it out properly let alone to finish it. I know what I want, but then there's Taiga, and what Katsu might want when he comes over or the others… Too many things and different tastes to consider and I just didn't make it in time. And then I had the nerve to get angry at him… What do I say? I'm an idiot." She rambled out her explanation, as if the previous little fight had never happened.
He blinked at her; her mood- and self-control were crazy. I didn't actually mean that but oh well… I'll ask again later. "You order yourselves alcohol?"
"Legally, it's not quite possible, but Hiroto does it for us." She shrugged nonchalantly.
He raised an eyebrow at her, the fact surprised him indeed and he must've made some disapproving grimace because, she sighed and deepened her answer.
"Yeah, yeah, you can legally drink here when you're 21." She rolled her eyes. "But come on! My other grandparents own wine yards and a self-sufficient farm in France. We've been tasting wines since we were 7. As long as we're not getting drunk or drink on daily basis, which we're not, it's fine. And a good food with a good wine is priceless after a long difficult day. Honestly… I'm surprised that you disapprove, out of all people…"
"I haven't said anything."
"You didn't have to." She muttered.
"Aya-chaaaan! Aomine-kuuun! Wait for meeeee!" Satsuki's voice reached them and they stopped at the school gate, where they'd wait for her anyways. "Haaaaa…." She bent forward to catch a breath when she finally caught up with them.
"Maybe you should start working out." Aomine suggested mockingly. "You're way to slow, Satsuki, and have a terrible stamina."
"A-and you're mean!" She puffed her cheeks. "What were you talking about?" She asked, but didn't give them a chance to answer – she expected them to lie anyways. "I hope it was the ice-cream shop at the station! They opened it right next to that café we went to the other day! It should belong to the cafeteria if I have the right info!"
"And what's with the ice-cream shop?" Aya asked, not quite understanding what the pinkette was getting at.
"What is… Is that we're gonna check it out tomorrow after practise!" She announced with a sparkly eyes.
"Uuuhm… I have some other plans already. Like sleeping and sleeping." Aya said with an apologetic smile.
"Only for a few minutes Aya-chan! Pretty please! And Aomine-kun's coming too!"
"What?!" He barked at his friend. "I'm going straight home too."
"No you're coming with us!" She said in a commanding tone and puffed her cheeks again. "We need to discuss the summer training camp before speaking with Imayoshi-taichou, and we need your insight!"
"Tch. I don't even need to go there."
"That's what we need to talk about. We need some motivation for you, so… You're coming."
"Tch." He rolled his eyes, but didn't protest further. Once Satsuki decided something like this, he would either bail with a slight remorse, or survive a terrible few minutes with her until he'd bail without any remorse. And if Kagami was going to be there, he could survive those few minutes.
"Great! So you're coming too, right, Aya-chan?"
She sighed and smiled at the pinkette. "Sure. I'll go."
"Are you really okay?" Katsunori asked her again, when she'd wavered during a mini game again. It wasn't usual for Aya as a point guard to miss a free pass, or to confuse her teammates. And there was a moment when she'd looked ready to collapse. But being a Kagami, and being her, she laughed it off as 'tripping over her own legs'.
Such a thing didn't happen to Aya. And Katsunori knew it better than anyone.
"Yes. Sorry. My mistake." She apologised with a shallow bow.
"Could you please come and take notes for a moment? I need Satsuki to go refill the bottles."
"Ah, I can go and do it. Let Satsuki deal with the notes." She ran off the court, swapping with Naito, and went to grab the bottles. "And I'm really fine, Katsu."
"You don't have to play it 'fine' with me, you know that right? I think I know you pretty well."
She frowned. No, Katsu didn't know her that well yet, and there was only one person, who could possibly tell Katsu to keep an eye on her. "Taiga?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
Katsunori sighed and pulled at his fringe. "… Taiga." He admitted begrudgingly.
"Traitor." She muttered. "Tell him to mind his own business the next time."
"He is just worried for you, Robin. So am I. You need to rest." He said softly.
She couldn't be angry when he was talking to her in such a consoling and calm voice. And he used her nickname. Yes, it was definitely the nickname's fault. "Okay." She sighed. "I'll go refill the bottles, and then I'll be taking notes with Satsuki."
"And you'll rest when you get home." He added.
"Promise." She said with a smile and headed out.
######
"I am so looking forward to that ice-cream shop!" Satsuki exclaimed blissfully, while they were changing.
Aya had to agree with her. The weather was surprisingly hot and humid during the weekend. "We deserve a treat after the entire week of nonstop practising."
"And working! In your case." Satsuki added with a frown. She'd noticed Aya's well hidden fatigue and despite her own excitement, she didn't want her friend to force herself. "Are you sure you don't want to go home and sleep it off?"
"No. I can handle a few more hours. Anyways… We need to plan the camp. And you got Aomine into it too, we can't disappoint him."
"You can't, you mean?" The pinkette teased her.
"Not you too." She groaned in exasperation and pulled her A-style short dress over her head. "We're friends, okay?"
"You sure give him a special treatment for being 'just friends'. And you wear a dress!"
Aya frowned at her. "What's wrong with the dress? Is finally warm enough for me to wear them and they're my favourite too." In the morning she ran to school in her sportswear and she wasn't really thinking when she stuffed the change of clothes into her bag.
"Nothing at all. They suit you."
"I wouldn't have bought them if they hadn't." She chuckled and pulled a tight piece of sleeve over her left shoulder to hide the scar. It was in the same colour as the dress, and even if people stared at it, it was still better than showing off the scar itself.
Suddenly her world spun and she tried to blink it away. The exhaustion she thought she could handle for a few more hours was knocking on the door. Oh, come on! At least keep awake long enough to get home! She bit the inside of her cheek, as if the pain could help her fight the piled up fatigue and exhaustion.
"What ice-cream are you gonna try?" Satsuki asked, but Aya could barely hear her.
"I…" She tried to answer, but she felt too tired to finish the sentence. Too tired to move, or do anything.
Her world went black and she fell asleep on her feet. She couldn't hold it back anymore. It was like someone had switched her off. A sudden black out.
######
"Aomine-kuuun!" Satsuki ran to the school gate, where he was waiting for them.
"Huh? Where's Kagami?" He asked, because they were supposed to leave together. He had a bad feeling about this.
"Th-That's the thing." She wheezed and bent forward to catch her breath. She so wasn't used to sprinting that fast. Maybe I really should start practising a bit… She thought bitterly. "A-aya-chan pa-passed out in the changing room, haaa, and I c-can't wake her up." She stammered out in panicky voice. She was close to tears.
His heart missed a beat and he wasn't sure what scared him more: Satsuki's panic or the actual situation. "What?!" He didn't wait for the further explanation. With Satsuki trying to keep up with him, he ran towards the changing rooms. They were the last ones left there.
He yanked the door open and saw Aya lying on the floor, curled on her side. In a second he was at her side checking if she was all right. His mother had taught him the basic first aid, and how to check if the person was stabilised enough. But… Satsuki should've known too.
"What happened?!" He barked at wheezing Satsuki.
"I-I don't know! She was talking with me normally, and the next second she went to the ground!" And she'd panicked. "I barely managed to catch her so she wouldn't hit her head."
Aomine forced himself to take a deep breath and calm down. Panic wouldn't help them. "She seems to be just sleeping." He said in a more composed voice.
"S-should we call an ambulance or something?"
"…" After a moment of thought he shook his head. "She told me something about tiring herself out to the point of passing out. So if she didn't hit her head…"
"Are you listening to yourself?! There might be something seriously wrong with her?!"
"Stop yappin'! That's not helping." He boomed at her.
Satsuki flinched at the commanding voice.
He made an apologetic grimace almost immediately. "Call her brother, if you have a need to call someone. You have his number, right? He might know if this is fine or not… And put him on the speaker when you're at it."
Satsuki was shaking her head in disbelief. "How can you be so calm, dammit?! It's Aya-chan!"
"Phone! Now!" He reminded her. His insides were tight with worry and helplessness. He had no idea how to help her now, but he knew that panicking would definitely not help her. With clenched fists, he focused on counting the rings of the call.
Taiga picked up on the fourth ring. "So she finally passed out?" He asked immediately without any greeting.
"Eh?! How do you know?!" Satsuki's eyes almost bulged out.
"First of all… Calm down, Satsuki. She hasn't slept more than 20 minutes a day for the past five days. She was expecting it, I just hoped she wouldn't cause anyone a heart attack with that switch off of hers." His voice sounded a bit tight. "She didn't fell off the stairs or anything dramatic, right?"
"N-no. She fell in the changing rooms. I-I managed to catch her, before she could hit her head."
Taiga let out a sigh of relief. He was worried when he saw Satsuki's number on the display. "That's fine then. She just needs to sleep."
"Uhm… Does it happen often?" Satsuki asked, finally feeling a bit better, but not less worried. "Shouldn't I call an ambulance? Just in case–"
"No! Definitely no ambulance! Aya'd kill you for that." He sounded very persuasive, almost terrified by the idea of an ambulance. "Look… It happens. Sometimes… Very rarely… But it's the bad time of the year for us… And the past two weeks were crazy for Aya. Anyways, where am I supposed to come get her? I don't think you can drag her home without hurting yourself." He chuckled at the idea of Satsuki struggling with Aya's dead weight.
"Ah… You don't have to. Aomine-kun is waiting for us. I can ask him to help me."
There was a pause. "I don't like the idea of him coming over, but… It'd be quicker I s'pose… But! He'd better not do anything to her while she's helpless!"
Aomine rolled his eyes at that. "Tch, I wouldn't take an advantage of an unconscious girl, idiot. There's no fun in that." He barked at Taiga.
"Hah?! You there?"
"Greetings." He said cockily.
"Glad to hear you're sane." Taiga commented, and they could literally see his eye-roll.
Aomine sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He wasn't in the mood to argue with Taiga, while Aya was passed out (read: sleeping on the floor). "I'll get the idiot home safely. Bye, big-bro." He said irritably and hung up.
######
Shit… Taiga rubbed his face desperately and slumped onto the couch.
Satsuki had called him right when he was about to check up on Aya. He'd had a strange feeling and needed to hear her… The twin thing is really creepy. He stared at the black screen of his phone for a moment, not believing what he'd heard and how calm he'd managed to sound.
"You're crazy Aya. Worrying everyone like that!" He let out and shook his head. "I shouldn't have let you go to that practise. Dammit!"
He threw the phone into the pile of cushions, got up and started pacing around the room like a caged tiger. The only good thing about this situation was the fact that it was Satsuki and Aomine who were with Aya at the moment. Be it anyone else, she'd probably end up in a hospital and Taiga would've had to do some serious explaining, which neither of the siblings wanted.
If Aya trusted the two enough, he should probably try it too. But Aomine coming over… He didn't feel like seeing his rival at all.
The dinner he'd been making was not important anymore. He had no idea what to do with himself. Waiting like this was the worst. He needed to do something. He stared at the pack of cigarettes Aya'd forgotten on the table, and then he shook his head. He'd never smoked and he wasn't about to start now.
Well… When he paced around it for the third time he grabbed it. Trying it won't kill me. He thought and went onto the balcony. He lit one cigarette and inhaled the fumes carefully. The immediate first reaction was cough and tears.
"How can she smoke this?!" He coughed out, but gave it one more try. When it didn't taste better than the first try, he crushed it in an ashtray and continued with his absent minded pacing around the apartment.
######
It'd been some time since he'd last carried someone on his back. He'd sent Satsuki home, or he'd kill her for yapping and worrying. And she'd taken his bag. Otherwise, he had Aya's bag around his neck and Aya herself on his back. She wasn't as heavy as Taiga made it sound. He didn't mind carrying her like that.
People were giving him strange looks, as if he was carrying some corpse, or kidnapping someone, but he ignored them. They knew nothing and no one dared to actually ask him something. And he couldn't blame them; Kagami really wasn't moving or shifting at all. The only thing that indicated she was alive was her calm, sound breathing he could feel on his neck. He didn't mind the feeling, but it didn't change the fact that he worried.
When he reached the apartment building where the twins lived, he was relieved to see at least one familiar face. The old receptionist he'd met some time ago was there, and waving greetings to him the moment he'd noticed him.
"Hello, Aomine-kun, what happened?" Chiba-san asked anxiously, eyeing the two teenagers.
He nodded in greeting. "Err… Kagami kinda fell asleep on her feet. I'm just delivering her home."
The old man dejectedly shook his head. "So her energy ran out…" He sighed. "I've been telling her that for weeks, but would she listen? Of course not. You youngsters risk your health waaay too much."
Daiki had to bite back a retort, "I should take her up."
"Yeah, yeah, Taiga's at home, he'll help you with her. The lift is still not working, but I guess you can take those stairs easily enough." He looked him up and down again, assessing the youngster's muscle stock.
Without any other comment he headed towards the door, hoping that the old receptionist would open it for him. He wasn't good with this small talk and socializing like Aya. He simply wanted to get her home, without any delays. But crawling up the 14 floors with circa 60 kilos of deadweight on his back felt like a never ending ascend. When he finally got up his legs and knees felt like jelly, and his thigh muscles hurt from the effort. It didn't matter that he was the ace of the team in the slightest.
He banged on the door several times, not gently at all.
Taiga yanked it open almost immediately. And before he could even see the guests he said: "I heard. No need to take down the door."
"Then hurry up." Daiki retorted, still catching breath.
"How is she?" He asked, ignoring Aomine's venomous tone.
"Sleeping. I guess…"
"You guess… How reassuring." He said sarcastically and stretched his arms to take Aya off Aomine's back. "That's gonna be some interesting news that you gave her a piggyback ride home…"
Reluctantly, Daiki handed Aya to her brother, who took her in his arms like a little kid. Her legs dangled at Taiga's hips and her head rested against his shoulder. "Okaeri', sleeping lil' devil." He said jokingly but softly at the same time. He had no intention of showing that to Aomine, but he didn't particularly care in the moment. Aya was safe and sound. Just sleeping deeply. "You have no right to scare me like that."
"Mmmhm…" She mumbled and snuggled against Taiga's shoulder. She felt safe and protected. Even in her deep sleep she knew she was home.
"Let's get you to bed." Taiga shook his head and turned to take her into the apartment. "And no drooling on my t-shirt." He added in a warning, not like Aya could oppose.
"Yeah. I'll put her bag in and I'll go." Daiki muttered, surprised by the exchange between the siblings. Besides that one time in the park and when Aya had yelled at them and the changing room exchange, he hadn't seen the twins interact much. And now he felt like a third wheel.
"No. You, come on in." Taiga looked over his shoulder and jerked his head to invite Aomine in.
"Why? I just brought her. No reason to go in."
"I need to talk with you." He said with an eye roll and a lot of self-denial.
His eyebrow shot up in surprise. "Like what about? Can't handle the loss?"
"Yeah, like you can't handle 14 floors with a little baggage." He muttered.
"What?!" Daiki snapped at him.
"You heard. Now get in and close the door." Taiga said in a rather harsh tone and left Aomine in the entry hall.
Daiki blinked at the redhead in surprise. He never expected Taiga to be so commanding, definitely not after he'd beaten him like that. He is a Kagami, all right… He thought and shook his head to get rid of the strange feeling he had.
This time, he stopped by the photos hanging in the corridor for a moment. There was indeed one of the former national team and the two rascals. On that picture he couldn't say which one of the two was Aya; they were that similar. It made him wonder when the 'looking the same' period had ended. And he noticed another picture of Aya holding a baby with a tuft of red hair, she couldn't have been older than ten… Who's that?
He heard a crashing sound and Taiga's swearing, so he let it out of his head and continued in his way into the kitchen-living-dining-room. When he didn't see either of the twins so he continued into the other corridor, to figure out what had happened.
There were two doors to his right and three to his left, but the only open door where the first to his right. He assumed it was Aya's room. He peeked in just to see Taiga holding his foot and swearing continuously.
"Kicked your pinky toe?" He asked with a short cackle.
"Oh, shut up." Taiga hissed and sat on the edge of Aya's bed.
Daiki leaned against the door frame, not daring to go in uninvited, and stared around. Aya's room was smaller than he'd expect, but it was cozy. She had a huge double bed, big desk, build in wardrobe and several shelves with books. There was some heavy looking wooden box in the middle of the room – probably the source of Taiga's misery, judging by the glare he was sending it.
"But what the hell were you doing moving the box, hah?" He snapped at sleeping Aya, and then sighed and looked at her anxiously.
"You sure she doesn't need to go to a hospital?" Daiki asked a matter of factly. "She didn't hit her head – at least Satsuki claims it – but this is not normal. Even if she said she needed to 'pass out'."
Taiga ran his fingers through his hair and looked at Aomine, who was surprisingly not trying to argue. Maybe we do have something in common… he thought. "I'm not sure at all. But I wouldn't do that to her. She can't handle hospitals. And besides, she just needs a good long dreamless sleep. It's not the first time it happened." He gave her one last glance and got up. "We should let her be." He covered her with a fluffy blanket and left the room, followed by Aomine.
"So?" Daiki asked as he sat on the couch, noticing the package of cigarettes on the coffee table, but not commenting on it. "What do you want to tell me?"
Taiga blinked at him. "Err… That's… Do you want anything?" He sounded a bit strained.
"To go home. Make it quick."
"I really don't get how she can deal with you." He sighed and slumped to the ground opposite Aomine.
"We get along quite well, thanks for the concern, big bro. So?" Gee' this is awkward.
"For your information, she's the older twin. But that's not important, look…" He was unconsciously playing with the ring hanging on his neck. "Thanks for bringing her home."
In an utmost shock Daiki just managed to nod. He'd expect anything from Taiga, but thanks were the last thing on his list.
"Oi! Don't stare at me as if you saw a ghost." Taiga grumbled awkwardly. "The fact that I'm gonna beat your ass next time doesn't change, but this is about Aya, not us."
"Dream on. But otherwise..." When it wasn't about basketball, Taiga was surprisingly manageable and Daiki felt he could tolerate him without much trouble. The prickly rivalry was there, of course, and he didn't like him, but for these couple of minutes he'd bite his tongue and listen, because he felt there was something Taiga wanted him to know.
Taiga nodded, biting back a retort. "Look, I don't know what exactly you know, or don't know. She decided to trust you with those articles and nightmares stuff, and I trust her, so... I'm glad it was you and Satsuki who found her, otherwise I don't know what I'd do –"
"Yeah, yeah. Enough with the gratitude. I heard that you have a shitty father, and there was something about some driver… from the bartender and Harasawa." He said, so Taiga would know.
He nodded again. "I thought so, but she probably wouldn't tell you that. Anyways, I have a favour to ask of you."
"I'm listening."
"Mom's anniversary is in less than two weeks. July 15th."
Daiki frowned. "We have the presentation of the project on that day."
"I know. She told me… It'll be 8 years, since that day. Look… My sister is tough, she doesn't complain and she can handle about anything, but she hasn't really gotten over that loss. The nightmares are not a daily issue, but they reappear whenever she's distressed or something bad happens, and during this time of the year."
"Why? It's been eight years."
Taiga shot him a glare. "Ask the PTSD or whatever it is. Our mom died in a shooting incident when she was shielding us. And Aya feels it was her fault. She blames herself for dragging her to that place. Even though she knows and understands it's not her fault… in her head, she can't help it. For now at least."
Daiki's eyes widened in shock. Taiga told him what had happened harshly and without any sugar-coating. His mind went instantly blank. "I didn't…"
"Of course you didn't know. It's not something she would announce, right?"
"Why telling me?"
"Because she needs someone to know and at least try to understand. It seems she trusts you the most, so why not? Plus you're arrogant and self-centred enough that you won't start pitying her or walking on eggshells around her."
This time it was him who ran his fingers through his hair. He felt wronged by Taiga's assumption, but he couldn't really blame him. He had behaved like a total trash during their match, after all. "I'm not sure about that. I mean… You've dropped a bomb on me!"
Taiga shrugged. "Someone had to, and she wouldn't want anyone, least of all you, to worry about her."
Daiki frowned, there was something slightly suggestive in Taiga's tone… Least of all me? "And you do?"
"I don't think you have the capacity to worry about anyone but yourself. Besides, you look more like a person now." He smirked, and ignoring Aomine's glare he continued: "That, and she is going over to your place next weekend. That's what the favour is about…"
"And?"
"And I need you to let her stay over for the night. Or maybe two."
"WHAT?!"
"Not like you wouldn't want that… But I have to go for a torturous study session at my coach's place again. From Friday to Sunday, two nights. I don't want her to be home alone."
He snorted. "Don't try to tell me she's afraid to stay home alone."
"No, but if she has one of her worse nightmares, it's better if she isn't home alone. I could ask Katsunori, but he's a teacher and could have problems for it, even if we are family. Hiroto isn't here, Hikaru would probably cause some ruckus and I don't feel like explaining the situation to Satsuki or Kiku, and I don't think they could handle Aya if she had a night terror."
With closed eyes he took a deep breath to align his thoughts. "What exactly is the difference between a nightmare and a night terror?"
"Simply put… If she has a night terror she can very well punch you with her eyes open and not remember a thing when she wakes up. And trust me, she can throw a really good punch."
"Will you explain this to her? Because I have no idea how to do it." He admitted begrudgingly. "And does she even know you won't be at home?"
"I learnt about it today, and as you can see, I can't tell her now… And I don't know. Ask her, maybe she'll agree without further probing."
"Wait… Am I supposed to act that I don't know a thing?"
Taiga rolled his eyes. He'd been doing it a lot while talking with this dumbass. "No. I'll deal with that – she'll try to kill me – but that's nothing new. Just don't tell her this stay-over thing was my idea, or I'll be pushing daises for real."
"No one would miss you."
"Least of all you. So?"
"Yeah, fine! I'll try to lure her into staying over."
"Urgh… You'd better not do anything to her."
"Like what?" With a really dangerous smirk he raised an eyebrow and stared at Taiga, who blushed at the idea of what Aomine might've been thinking about.
"Get lost. Shoo. Out!"
"Oooh… A sister complex?"
"Fuck no! Get your stupid ass outta here. Now!"
"Hai, hai." He cackled shortly and got up to leave. "I can see myself off."
######
Daisuke returned home late at night. The house was eerily quiet and it felt empty. Michiko was at the hospital, but Daiki should've been home. Over the years serving in the army and police force he could feel when he was alone. Maybe it was partly Akari's behaviour that indicated the emptiness of the house; she didn't run off to greet the other two, but remained standing near him.
"What is it girl?" He asked softly. "We're home, go and rest."
Akari looked up at him with her intelligent eyes, sniffed the ground and went to look for Kurome and Shiro. Daisuke followed her to the back porch, where the two other dogs were curled up next to his son, who didn't seem to notice him. They must've been outside for a long time. It was nice and warm, but Daiki seemed to be thinking deeply about something. Daisuke knew that look on his face, he'd seen it so many times during the past year when Daiki'd stopped practising.
"Can I join your brooding?" He asked his son.
"Hm? Oh. Okaeri'." Daiki looked up at him. "I'm not brooding. Just thinking." He said with a shrug and his eyes lingered on his father's gun, still attached to his belt, for a moment.
He took that as an invitation and sat down next to Daiki, leaning against the wall. "Tadaima." He greeted him and watched Akari sprawling over the other two as if she was saying 'I'm back!'. Shiro made a sound of displease, she'd felt so comfortable before Akari jumped on her.
"You missed mom by two hours." Daiki announced him.
"Yeah, I was held up at work. An old lady lost her little granddaughter who ran off by the river. You can imagine the shock and panic she was in."
"Did you find her?"
"Akari did. The girl climbed a tree and was too afraid to get down, so she was crying up there for several hours… But I had to take the old lady home and explain the situation to her daughter and then the paperwork. Sometimes I think we should just give the paperwork to the criminals, it would be punishment enough."
Daiki chuckled curtly at the idea. But he couldn't help thinking about Aya. Was she ever scared of climbing trees? He wondered. There were so many things he still didn't know.
Daisuke wasn't sure if it was wise to ask his son anything, but he was burning with curiosity. "What happened that you're thinking on the porch in the middle of the night?" There were two possible options of Daiki's reaction: 1. He'd get up and leave. 2. He'd actually answer. Daisuke hoped for the option no.2.
There was a moment silence. "Have you… uh… seen anyone die?" He asked carefully, in a softer voice than usual.
He blinked in surprise. "… Why'd you ask?"
"Forget it." Daiki snapped immediately and started getting up, but his father's hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down.
"No need to overreact, Daiki. If I answer your question, will you tell me your reasons of asking it?" He'd never had this conversation with his son. When Daiki'd been a kid, he'd admired him but he'd never asked questions this serious, and Daisuke'd been glad for that. Because he wasn't sure he wanted his son to know everything yet. But he also knew that Daiki wouldn't have asked without a good reason.
With a sigh he nodded and waited for his father to answer. He hoped it would be something deeper than 'yes' or 'no'.
"Yes I have. Couple of times, and it's never easy to deal with. If you want to know something specific, you'd have to ask directly."
Daiki blinked at his father. There was an edge in his voice indicating that he didn't want to have this conversation, which made Daiki even more curios. "It's..." He sighed and drove his fingers through his short hair. Without explaining the situation, he wouldn't get a proper answer. "… Kagami's mother died… in a shooting… shielding them. Uh… the twins. She's still having nightmares… I just… I don't think I can understand."
Be glad you can't... "… and she told you that?"
He snorted. "No. 'f course not. Her brother told me when I carried her home after she'd fallen asleep after the practise. He said something about Aya blaming herself… The anniversary is in less than two weeks… He wants me to let her stay over the next weekend, because he is going to study with his friends and he doesn't want her to be home alone. What do I do?" He explained, feeling that it was the longest speech of his life.
"Those two sure don't treat you with gloves. But I guess no one treated them with gloves either. What do you want to do?" Maybe all Daiki needed at the moment was to talk about it, and not getting answers.
"I don't mind her staying over…. If it's fine with you, but I don't know how to ask her without making a fool out of myself." A blush of embarrassment creeped onto his cheeks... Why the hell was he telling all this to his father? Didn't he just want some answers?
"Tell that to mom and just ask Aya-chan to come over to study on Friday too. I think your grades are bad enough and she'll agree to help you. No one can resist Michiko once she starts pleading."
Having this conversation with his mother scared the crap out of him even more. Aya wasn't his girlfriend, but he felt like he was just going to introduce one to his parents. What if they didn't like her at all? There was nothing not to like, but… With all that baggage she was a difficult person.
"Why is she still having those nightmares after 8 years?" He asked his father to distract his thoughts.
"Seeing your mother die like that is a huge trauma. It's true that kids tend to deal with traumatic events better, but… It takes years to deal with something like that. And everyone's different. From what you told us already, she's a very tough girl, so she must've been trying real hard to deal with herself too…"
Daiki raised an eyebrow at him, asking 'How do you know?'
"Mom and I lost a very dear and important person too. Your mom… she still has nightmares too, sometimes. Rarely… And that's been more than 10 years ago." He said with a sad smile.
"What are you talking about?"
"That's a conversation for some other time." He yawned and crawled up, his knees cracking. "Urgh, I'm starting to get old." He muttered.
"Hey! You don't say something like that and just leave!" He protested.
"Oh, but I do. Worry about explaining the situation to mom."
After Aya woke up from a beautiful, dreamless, 22-hours long sleep of the dead, she felt revived. But almost immediately, she sprang up to sit on her bed, remembering the last bits of conversation with Satsuki and then nothing… She blinked and looked around. She was home. In her own bed. What the hell happened?
She grabbed her phone to check her messages, and there were dozens of text from Satsuki, two from Kiku, some from the boys, and one from Aomine. It was the first message she opened.
'You alive?' It said.
She smiled at that. Curt as ever. Aomine rarely used his phone, which made her think that he owned one just out of obligation.
'Revived and ready to practise. Sorry for scaring Satsuki.' She typed back.
Well now… She quickly answered all the messages, and got up to take a quick shower and head for the gym. She had an overwhelming need to dance, but Senri cancelled all the practises for the week, so she'd have to manage on her own.
Her stomach rumbled loudly and she laughed. "Food first."
She shuffled to the kitchen, still wearing the dress she'd been wearing yesterday and began searching for something to eat. Taiga must've left something for her. And she was right. What a dear brother to have. She thought as she munched on one onigiri out of several different types and tastes.
######
After a little match with Kiyoshi, the strange senpai, Taiga felt out of it. Two weeks of not practising and worrying about Aya, he wasn't in the mood to play goody-goody with his team. He simply tuned them out and did whatever he wanted. He was healed, and even if Riko protested and tried to hold him back several times, the little coach had no power over him in a sour mood.
While stomping home, he was wondering if Aya'd been awake already or not. He'd just typed a message to Katsunori, explaining the situation, but otherwise he'd let her be. She needed that rest like a salt.
He was passing by the gateway leading to a small yard where the dancing club's gym was situated. Having no idea why, he turned left towards the gym.
The door was wide opened and he could hear a music playing inside. He recognised the tune; it was Tchaikovsky's swan lake. (The only reason he knew the classical music was because of their mom.) And Aya was dancing the black swan's parts alone, without a partner, torn out of context and adjusted accordingly, and yet, he was awed.
Aya'd practised ballet for years, but it wasn't her main expertise, and still… all the figures, of which names he had no idea, all the steps and every move of hers were enchanting. He had a vague idea of why she chose the black swan, considering their mother danced the Odette, but he wouldn't dare to voice it. But this version Aya was creating on spot, was the black swan as he'd imagine it. He could clearly see the story and intentions of tempting and teasing; the malevolence in her smooth and well chosen moves. He had no idea how his sister could convey emotions so well through her body movement.
She was moving around on her pointe shoes in the improvised routine, with her eyes closed the entire time. No audience was needed nor expected; she simply wanted to be on her own. To enjoy the dance on her own.
"Hey." She greeted him without stopping and did another round of fouettés.
"Hey. This is awesome." Taiga answered with a smile and sat on the ground watching her. "How do you know it's me?"
She opened her eyes to look at him. "I do. And 'awesome?', please, I don't have the figure to be a typical ballerina."
"Not true, and you know it." Well, maybe Aya's thighs were a bit bigger, and ballerinas usually had calves stronger, while thighs slimmer; and maybe her chest didn't fit the ballerinas' standards, but besides that, Aya was a perfect dancer. Ballet or whatever else…
She waved her hand at that, in a way it wouldn't imbalance her. "So?" She stopped her pirouette and stood back onto her entire feet. "What got you this… angry?"
"Wha-?! I'm not… That's not."
She raised an eyebrow at him and stopped the music. "You are angry, or irritated at the very best. What's up?"
"The new guy joined the club… well new… A senpai… Uhmm…" He couldn't remember the name.
"Kiyoshi?" Aya asked in surprise and sat down to him to take off the pointes.
"Yeah! That's it!" He clapped. "He challenged me one on one. I won of course but… There's something about him that creeps the hell out of me."
"I want to come to one of your practises to watch. Would that be possible? I want to meet him."
"Why? He isn't that good…"
"He's better than Wakamatsu, I give you that much. And I think you are misjudging him. Kiyoshi is very close to 'the generation of miracles', in fact, if he hadn't been a year older, or if those five had appeared a few years later, he definitely would've been labelled as a miracle too."
Taiga frowned at that. Maybe that was the source of the strange feeling he'd had about Kiyoshi. The other second years seemed to know him very well and like him too, well… despite the captain. "Have you rested enough to be practising?"
She groaned in exasperation. "22 hours of sleep is more than enough. I need this."
He was giving her the look. It said 'I don't buy it'.
She rolled her eyes accompanied by another groan. "I'm fine! Really! Sorry for worrying you, I won't do it again."
"Oh, you would… And just so you know… It was Aomine who brought you home yesterday. He gave you a piggyback ride home. Too bad you don't remember. I bet you drooled on his shirt too."
A scandalised grimace found it's way onto Aya's face. "Oh god!" She covered her blushing face. "No way!"
"Yes way!"
She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're pulling my leg."
"No. Ask him. I had quite a conversation with him too."
"Kagami Taiga, if you're making fun of me, I swear–"
"I'm not! If he's off court he can be surprisingly not as annoying. And besides, he seemed pretty worried though he played it cool and all…"
"Taiga, what have you told him?" She asked seriously and her tone had a warning edge to it.
"About mom." He could see the colour draining away from her face and she took a breath to yell at him, but he was quicker. He covered her mouth and held her at place at the same time. "BEFORE, you make a scene, let me explain. THEN you can kill me if you want. BUT… If you kill me, there'll be no one cooking for you when you're out of it… So think twice about it."
After several seconds of glaring at him, she nodded and yielded.
And Taiga got to his explaining. Of course he omitted the part where he asked Aomine to try and persuade Aya to stay over at his place, as well as the fact that he actually threw him out after the 'sister-complex' comment, which was definitely not true, but which could get Taiga really annoyed. And he also left out the part where he thanked his rival, because his pride would take a huge blow if he'd had to admit it.
"And how do you think I face him tomorrow?! He must think I'm a psycho! God, Taiga! Can't you at least think a bit about the stuff you tell people?! Maybe I should inform your team as well, don't you think it would be just fair after this?"
"Ah…" He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "I thought that –"
"Then don't! Fuck!" She slammed her fist against the wooden floor and got up to pace around the gym.
"Sorry? You can punch me all you want?" He tried.
She glared at him. "Your legs are fine, you say?"
He shuddered under her scary glare and then nodded reluctantly.
"I need to go over the choreography for the competition with Kouta, and then another one for acro with Senri. Go get changed, you're helping me out. THEN and ONLY THEN, I might not kill you."
"Yes ma'am."
A/N: As usual, I hope I didn't overdo it, mainly the Taiga/Daiki conversation. I'm not sure how that would go, but... And I really hope I'm keeping Aomine in character as much as possible given the situations (that's my constant worry)... Ah well...
Let me know what you think and remember, reviews are appreciated, but never necessary.
-S.