*sobs* there's so much I need and want to apologise for, the first being: sorry for keeping everyone waiting, sorry for the really short chapter one, sorry for the not-as-short-but-still-kinda-sad-looking chapter two...
Yes, well. I suppose I can sum everything up in the following sentence and hopefully you guys won't bean me on the head with tomatoes and stuff.
"Here's the second chapter, my beloved readers T_T Tada! Enjoy!"
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
*cues hiding under bed*
Chapter 1: February
The next day he sees them again, Satsuki and the Middle-finger-C-cup girl, conversing in the hallways.
"I'm sorry about yesterday. Dai-chan can be rude at times." Momoi is saying apologetically.
Huffing, he stomps over, his bag slung carelessly over his shoulders.
"Oh look." the orange-head says, wispy plaits glittering in the light, "It's the rude basketball gorilla."
"Oh look." he retorts. "It's the C-cup girl."
Oops. That came out louder than he intended but hell, it was true. She's as C-cup as C-cups can get—Aomine can tell. The hallway suddenly quietens down as everyone stares at them, crickets chirping in the background.
One.
Two.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! YOU PERVERT!"
All hell breaks loose as she brings her textbook down his head, whacking him again and again as a demonic fire burns in her eyes. She's not human, this orange-head. If Aomine wasn't of this build she probably would've already pummelled him into pulp where he stands.
"How did you know that—I mean, I'M NOT C-CUP!" she yells in a pathetic attempt to cover up.
He doesn't think she notices, but between the winces and grunts, he is snickering.
"Alright." Satsuki says as she lugs him by the ears into her classroom. "I've had enough of you and Ko-chan flirting and yelling around."
Aomine splutters. "We do not flirt—"
"I have to introduce you guys properly!" she huffs. She always did have a knack of taking things too seriously but what can Aomine do?
It's amazing how they're in middle school now, and he's a good head taller than she is but she can still boss him around the way she did when they were kids. (She was 6 centimetres taller than him then and every bit as overbearing, and when they were playing pirates she whacked him on the head for making her walk the plank and as punishment he had to piggyback her all the way home.)
He finds himself dragged ungracefully and plopped into a seat facing the orange-haired girl who has insulted him and beat him up.
"This is stupid," he begins but Momoi taps the table impatiently and says, "Let's get started, you two."
This is like some matchmaking thing, Aomine thinks in irritation. I didn't sign up for this.
"Dai-chan," Momoi says firmly, grabbing her childhood friend's cobalt hair and steering his face towards the orange-haired girl. "Meet Ko-chan."
"Basketball gorilla." the latter smirks. Evidently 'Ko-chan' isn't complying, and why shouldn't Aomine do the same?
"Middle-finger C-cup girl." Aomine returns. Momoi twitches.
"Enough with that! Dai-chan. Ko-chan. Dai-chan. Ko-chan." With each utter, Momoi points at them respectively, perhaps hoping furtively that they might ingrain the other's name into their minds with this silly routine. "Dai-chan. K—"
"Ko-chan, yes, we get it." Aomine interrupts impatiently. "Whatever. Can I go play basketball now? I have a one-on-one with Kise today."
"That's good!" Momoi claps her hands, like an instructor teaching toddlers 'ABC', "Next, Dai-chan, you can introduce yourself, then Ko-chan can do the same."
"What, is this some ice-breaking thing?" the tanned male furrows his eyebrows incredulously. This is starting to feel very stupid, not that it wasn't ten minutes ago.
Momoi smiles, a glittering, positively-evil smile. Aomine swears to god she can be perfectly devilish sometimes. "Precisely." she says, fixating those sparkling eyes on him.
Aomine swallows. "Fine. Damn this." he fixes his eyes on 'Ko-chan', musters his best 'I didn't want to be here, look at me, I'm being threatened at knife-point to do this shit, don't judge me' voice, and says, "Aomine Daiki. My height was 175cm the last time I bothered to check. Born on 31th August, I'm a Virgo. I play basketball."
This goes like a normal introduction. Aomine simply repeats the things he said upon entering Teikou, when he was forced to introduce himself to his new class. It goes very well, as far as he can remember.
"Is that all, Dai-chan?" Momoi forces out, another glint in her eyes that Aomine can't quite decipher. This is as far as he goes, Aomine decides, he really can't find the motivation nor inclination to put in more effort after this.
And so it goes, the silent two-second battle of eyes and will, before Aomine, as always, gives up.
He scowls, and adds for the good measure, "I like teriyaki burgers."
Momoi seems more or less pleased with this humble addition. "That's nice, Dai-chan. Why don't you go next, Ko-chan?"
The orange-head eyes Aomine testily, and complies. "Kimura Koharu. I don't know my height, but I'm around 160cm I guess? My birthday is on 14th November, and I'm a Scorpio. I...read, and I like miso."
With this, she comes to a halting stop, and looks at Momoi, who smiles and says, "Go on, Ko-chan."
Sighing, Kimura forces out, "Nice to meet you, Aomine Daiki-kun."
Aomine nearly snorts at how the look on her face completely counters her words. Instead, he says, "Fine...whatever."
"This went well, Momoi-san." a placid voice interrupts whatever Aomine has to say.
"AAAAAAAGH! TETSU!"
"Hello, Aomine-kun." the phantom six man says calmly, sipping on his milkshake.
"HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN HERE?!"
"Since Momoi-san dragged you in."
The next few days pass in relative silence; he sees no more of that orange-head than normal. It's as if that little ice-breaking session has amounted to nothing, but Aomine senses a lingering pair of eyes on his back whenever the two of them pass by in the hallways. It's not a nice feeling, but not stalker-like either, so Aomine has no idea how to feel about it.
Toleration? She hasn't made any move to befriend him, nor are they irritable nemesises so perhaps they've come to a stalemate; some sort of reluctant truce.
(That thought makes him laugh, because it just sounds like they've engaged in war with each other.)
It's on the second week when it happens, nearing the end of February where he is deep in practice one afternoon when he realises a pair of tangerine eyes following his every move across court.
He tosses a ball at her and deliberately misses to show that he's already long-noticed her unwarranted presence.
"What is it?" he says, a little rudely, but this is someone who dislikes him, so he sees no point in trying to be polite. Without waiting for her reply, he picks up another ball and shoots it, a high, high arc that would've made Midorima proud. He has no qualms that it will enter, and he keeps his eyes focused in her.
She jumps a little, and tenses like a terrier which is acting tough; all teeth and claws but with no power to deal any damage whatsoever.
"I'm just here to say," she breathes in, hard, and clenches on to her bag a little more tightly. "I meant what I said, the other day."
Aomine's breath catches in his throat, and the basketball arches towards the hoop and falls in, thumping onto the ground and into the darkness. He doesn't bother to go after it.
"What did you say?" he asks.
She pauses, before holding out a hand. "Nice to meet you, Aomine Daiki-kun."
He stares at her outstretched palm, glancing down at the lines criss-crossing them. They're surprisingly rough-looking for a girl's; he'd expected them to be smooth and white like Satsuki's, but these fingers are slender and scarred, like a man working in the fields.
The light in her eyes falter for a moment, and she tries to retracts her arm hastily. Before she can though, Aomine reaches out and takes them into his hands.
"Nice to meet you, Kimura." he says, and tries not to smile.
He walks her home that day, and for the following days to come.
They don't really talk alot, but Aomine isn't a man of many words; he prefers action and impulse over well-measured conversations.
Still, it doesn't stop him from asking, "I thought you hated my guts."
Kimura Ko laughs out-loud, a merry tintinnabulation that sounds light and free to his ears. In the sun her ember hair blazes brighter than ever, as if a kitsune has curled around her head and sent it flaming.
"I do hate your guts." she grins, and it's a beautiful grin, enhanced tenfold by the brilliant sun and the spark in her eyes. "But you're not that bad a person. I can tell."
Aomine thinks back to those times where he has had the prickling feeling of being watched. "You stalker." he says, but his voice is teasing and not at all harsh.
"Rude."
They walk like this, Aomine and her, down the street to the crossroads without word. Unconsciously, the gap between them decrease, and by the time they pass the park their shoulders are touching. Kimura says nothing, and Aomine is too busy fiddling with his wallet to care.
No one can miss the light blush on her cheeks though. It's like the sun rays have lighted up her cheekbones along with her hair. She looks godly, almost ethereal, as her hair glimmers in the midday light, like a thousand diamonds polished anew.
Their companionable silence is broken by Aomine's offhanded comment, "So...about that middle finger the other day..."
Koharu blushes deeper, a deep crimson that looks befitting to a girl like her. He fights back the urge to touch her flaming cheeks, and instead, focuses and trampling the gravel under his feet, the uniform crackle resounding in his every footstep akin to the military one-two beat of his heart.
"A-are you still hung up over that?"
"No, but I'm just saying...that took guts." Aomine smiles, a real, genuine smile. This is the first time Koharu has ever seen him like this. It brings a certain warmness to his face, and she likes it.
He looks so perfect like this.
"Thanks...I guess." she stammers.
(They don't talk for the rest of the way home, but when they part they are both smiling, and Aomine keeps the smile on until he sleeps that night.)
February 28th signifies the end of the month where it all began, but like some cliché soap opera (he really should stop watching those), Aomine thinks it's a start of a new friendship.
.:extra:.
"PFTHAHAHA!" Kise won't stop laughing. Momoi giggles a little herself, as she watches her childhood friend walk her best friend home. She never thought she would enjoy matchmaking, but this is too perfect to be true.
It's like watching the soup opera live and even Kise is relishing in the utter chemistry.
"Aominecchi is really cute!" the blonde snickers, looking torn between laughing some more and peeing his pants. "Shush, Ki-chan!" Momoi places a finger to her lips. Kise bits down hard on his bag strap to keep from laughing, and nods.
"I agree with Kise-kun." Kuroko says, and the pair of them jump.
"Don't just appear, Tetsu-kun!"
"But Momoi-san, I was here all along."
Before any of them can counter that statement, from the bush pops a Midorima, lucky item and all. He coughs and adjusts his glasses, trying and failing miserably to look calm and dignified. It's a little hard to, with a sprig of leaves stuck on his head like a leafy extension of sorts.
"AH! MIDORIMACCHI! How long have all of you been here!?"
"I was merely passing by."
"In a bush?" Kise can be smart when he wants to. It's not really hard, it's just that Midorima is a little foolish sometimes. "Riiiight."
"Be quiet, all of you. Dai-chan is coming this way!"
-And thus ends the (un)successful stalking session of the GoM save Murasakibara and Akashi-
I swear I be the queen of slow updates. Just...I hope I sorta satisfied everyone by a little. I won't lie by saying the next chapter will be up soon, because I haven't even started on it *cries* but I will, don't worry!
Meanwhile, I hope I kept everyone relatively in-character, but please feel free to criticise! (but not flame TAT)
Review, and thanks so much to all my readers! Just seeing that people appreciate this makes me all fuzzy inside *blushes*