Red eyes with the intensity of a wild animal. A muscular frame that has more than enough power to block my shots if I get careless. A temper that'll burst if I make light of his abilities. The desire to compete, to win and continue winning.
Sweat dripping down the side of his face, falling to the ground as he takes a step. His chest colliding with my side as I try to keep the ball away. Long arms that reach for what I cannot release. Heavy breathing that forces his chest to rise and fall rapidly. Determination oozing from every pore in his body. I grit my teeth. There has to be a way for me to escape the corner I've been pushed into. It doesn't make me very happy, but I begin to observe and note things in an effort to escape. I never was originally a basketball player.
I bounce the ball awkwardly out of his reach, and out of mine, before sliding past the tall redhead and snatching the ball back. I barely manage to shoot before Kagami's right back at it again, pushing the limits of my aching legs. I don't want to lose. Not here. Not now. Not to anyone. I might not be going all out, but I'm still tired. I shouldn't have run as much as I did, especially if I wanted to play today. I hadn't been planning to see Kagami again until Saturday, but this is fine with me. It's a good opportunity to push the limits of my physical abilities.
My heart is racing now as adrenaline builds in my blood. There's no way I'm going to lose to Kagami. If I can hold my own effectively against Daiki, I can sure as hell beat this redhead who hasn't even gotten into the Zone yet. I'm not infallible. I'm tired, and sore, and weary, but I'm more than ready to push this body beyond the limit to win, even if this is only a friendly match. Somehow, the red in Kagami's eyes tells me that he knows this, too. I always did dislike my competitive streak.
Kagami changes his stance slightly. I don't know if it's a conscious decision or not, but it's to my benefit. It's a little awkward, not at all natural, and too low for him to run properly. "Going lower won't help you." I say with narrowed eyes. "This is my territory. Games of height pose no challenge to me." Kagami's eyes widen as I race past him, dodging the awkward stretch of his arms with ease. I manage another basket.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Kagami asks as I double over slightly. My chest feels strange, and I can't identify what it is that I'm feeling. I nod my head.
"Of course." I reply, standing upright once more and giving the redhead an even stare. "Why wouldn't I be? I'm just playing basketball with you." Kagami gives me a doubtful glance before grabbing the ball from where it's rolled away.
"Let's take a break for a bit." Kagami suggests, narrowing his eyes slightly. I don't want to stop playing. I want to kick and claw and bite my way to another basket, but the aching of my lungs and the unsteady beating of my heart tell me that it's time to take a break. I grimace and look away.
"Fine, if that's what you want." I reply icily. Kagami gives a snort of amusement before grabbing the water bottles I'd taken from the nearest convenience store. He downs at least a quarter of it in a single gulp before screwing the lid back on and settling down onto the bench. I hesitantly join him, a sigh struggling to push past my lips. The sigh loses force and dissipates as I look up to watch the sky. After a while, I sip my water, breathing deeply as I calm back down.
I don't know why I suddenly got worked up. Maybe it was because I thought I might lose, even if it's a foolish fear. This is, or at least was, a friendly game of one on one. I can't use Kagami as a way to vent, even if it's him who makes me angry. I sigh silently in defeat, wondering if I should apologize to Kagami and Satsuki, and try to make it up to both of them somehow. I understand why she pulled me out of practice, although the logic is twisted and backward in every way I think about it. Satsuki is just worried about me, and all I did was throw that right back at her face, along with all my pent up frustration.
"You calmed down yet?" Kagami asks, downing yet another mouthful of tepid water. I turn to Kagami.
"Yeah, sorry. I don't know why I lost my temper, so I'm sorry if it seems like I took it out on you." I reply, stretching leisurely. "I got my head screwed on right, now. It won't happen again." Red eyes look at me with a calculating glint, narrowed and wondering if I should be believed. "You still wanna play?" Kagami's lips curl into a smile.
"Yeah, but I gotta get my homework done. The seniors will kill me if I fail any of my classes." I laugh with amusement.
"Understandable." I say with a grin. "I gotta make sure Daiki doesn't fail, or Satsuki really will kill him this quarter. I'm kinda tired anyway. Let's call it a game for now." Kagami gives me a grin before standing with ease. I remain on the bench, watching him wearily.
"Oi, wanna go to Maiji Burger?" He asks, glancing down at me before awkwardly looking around the empty court. My eyes widen as I look up at the tall redhead. For a moment, I wonder if he's always looked this way- tall and bashful and predatory.
"Sure." I say after a heartbeat or two. "I'd love to." Kagami turns back to me as if startled before he grins once more and extends a hand to me. I grasp it gingerly, feeling the many years' worth of calluses on his hands rub against my wrist and palm. It's warm... and gentle. His grip is easy and firm, and somehow, trustworthy and reassuring. He pulls me up with ease.
The end of my ponytail swishes against the nape of my neck as I bounce up and down slightly. I grab my jacket and my backpack before gulping down some water. "Hey, Kagami, how'd you meet Kuroko?" I ask, slipping the jacket on before I have the chance to get chilled. "You two seem pretty close. Your teamwork is really amazing."
"Hm? Oh, through basketball." Kagami replies. "He's also in my class." I nod slightly, my lips curling into a smile.
"I thought so." I respond lightheartedly. "I'm glad you two get along. You're well suited for each other." Kagami gives me a strange glance as we continue to walk down the street. The sound of my shoes is silent compared to Kagami's footsteps. After a while, I notice that the distance between us has gradually becomes smaller and smaller, to a point where our arms will just barely brush past each other. My face is warm as I blush slightly at the sudden realization.
We walk into Maiji Burger chatting about how different teams are doing in the NBA and in baseball, which Kagami doesn't seem as interested about. His interest is piqued, though, when I mention that I can't swim but have been meaning to learn how. "I'll teach you, if you want."
"Really?" I ask in surprise, my eyes widening. Kagami nods a few times before ordering his meal. I order after him and move to pay, but he stops me.
"Ah, I got this." Kagami says, paying for my meal. I look at him in shock.
"T-Thanks." I say with surprise. I don't notice the unusual way the cashier looks at us, or the giggle she emits before she gives Kagami the receipt and hands me my meal. I take the food and follow him to the tables beside the windows.
For a while, all here is around us is the sound of other people chattering and crappy background music. Kagami is preoccupied with eating his million burgers, while my one is more than enough to grab my attention. My usual shake is replaced by a soda this time, which is probably best. Shakes make me feel sluggish afterward, and it's like liquid ice cream trickling into my stomach. Soda is much more water-like, so I don't get as lethargic. "So you really can't swim?" Kagami asks in surprise.
I nearly choke on a mouthful of french fries before I can breathe again. "Yeah." I say, trying not to wheeze from my short-lived dance with death. "I never liked water. I'd like to learn just so it's one less stupid way to die."
Kagami laughs in that unusually rough way of his before grinning. "Is that so? Well, I know the best way to do that." I raise an eyebrow in question before finishing off my burger before it gets cold.
"Really? I'll have to take your word for it." I reply with a smirk. "How would you know something like that anyway? I never took you for the swimming type." Kagami gives me another of his signature grins.
"I surfed when I was in LA." I blink in surprise.
"No way!" I reply with a grin. "For real? In the ocean?" Kagami nods proudly. "That sounds awesome!"
"Oi, you're from California, too. Didn't you swim in the ocean?" I laugh awkwardly before scratching the back of my head.
"I'm afraid of water." I say. "Actually, it's more like I'm afraid of the ocean and big bodies of water. I feel like I'm going to drown just by walking in the shallow parts." Kagami's eyes widen slightly.
"For real?" He asks, leaning slightly closer. I nod my head.
"Yeah, but don't tell Daiki! He doesn't know and I don't want him to make fun of me for it..." I reply hastily. "He might do something stupid, like dump water on my bed or throw me into a pool or take me to that river near the subway station..." Kagami's face tells me something is amiss.
"What is it?" I ask, narrowing my eyes. "Did I say something, or-"
"You're coming with me." Kagami says as I reach for another over salted fry. Just as I move to stuff the small fragment of heaven into my mouth, Kagami snatches the rest of the carton and holds it high above my head. I blink with surprise.
"You should know that games of height are useless. I can jump as high as I want." I reply with a scowl. "Give me back my fries." Kagami gives me a boyish grin before darting from sight. With a growl pushing past my lips, I give chase, eyes narrowed in irritation. My stomach gives a grumble of hunger as I pick up my speed. I finally catch sight of Kagami's red hair as I turn left. I hope to god he hasn't dropped my fries, because he'll owe me a few meals if he has.
For all my running earlier today, I'm surprisingly energetic. Not enough to want to catch up to Kagami right away, but enough to maintain a good pace behind him, slowly gaining ground. It takes me a few minutes more to get within grabbing distance, and another step to not fall head over heels as he makes a sharp right that nearly sends me crashing into a wall. He dashes indoors, and I have no choice but to follow the dimwit inside.
I dart down the hallway, toward a door with kanji I can't read, only to find myself in a rapidly darkening room. There's some shimmery stuff near the center that doesn't look too good, so I stick to the dark cement beneath my feet. "Kagami?" I call, listening intently. "You in here? This place is kinda creepy..." A crash from behind me nearly makes me jump right out of my skin. "K-Kagami?"
My eyes adjust barely enough for me to see that the cement is flat and there are windows up near the roof. I can see a few benches well enough to not bump into them. The faint scent of fries barely reaches my nose. "Kagami, this isn't funny anymore." I say nervously. "I can't see at all..."
A few scuffling noises sound on the opposite side of the room. I move a little closer, and shiver as cool air rises from below. "K-Kagami, enough already... I-I'm going to leave!" For a moment, just the smallest moment, I hear an intake of breath behind me. Before I can turn around, however, I'm slammed into the shimmering substance I can now definitively call water.
Needless to say, I scream on impact. Bubbles escape my mouth before I clamp it shut and stiffen. Water everywhere. I can't hear... I can't see... I can't breathe! How am I supposed to get to the top when all I can feel is this water sloshing past my fingers? I'm sinking! S-i-n-k-i-n-g! Kagami! Kagami, help me!
For a moment, my heart feels like it's stopping as my feet tap the bottom of the pool. I wish I could swim. After a few heartbeats, I push up from the bottom, trying to reach the surface as I open my eyes slightly. The chlorine makes them burn and tear up as I look at my shimmering reflection. Then my head breaks the surface as my body tries to go limp, and I cough out mouthful after mouthful of water, my chest aching and my eyes burning as air finally hits my face.
I get pushed under water a few times as I try to tread water. It doesn't really work all that well, but I somehow manage to keep my nose out of the water as my lungs cease to burn. My limbs are tired from doing this, and after another handful of moments, they simply stop working. I slip under water for longer than my oxygen holds out. It's kind of peaceful down here. Sorry...
I have no idea what happened next, but one moment I'm thinking I'm going to actually drown, and the next I'm clinging onto Kagami with all my strength as I gasp for air. "Kaga...mi!" I choke out, my arms thrown about his neck and my legs wrapped around his waist. "Kagami..."
"Sorry, Alex." Kagami says as he stands in the water. "I didn't think you'd tire out like that. My bad."
"You i-idiot!" I say. "I didn't tell Daiki because he'd do something exactly like this, except he'd probably let me drown for a while longer." I can't fix this burning hunger for air. "I really... thought..." There's the longest silence as I try to finish my sentence, but I can't even finish the thought itself.
"I'm sorry." Kagami says as I rest my head on his shoulder. I shiver slightly as his breath ghosts over the back of my neck. All I can hear is my raspy breathing and the sloshing of the water on the pool's sides. "Will you try something?" I shake my head, holding onto the redheaded idiot tightly. "Just let go of me with your legs. You can still hold onto me with your arms, okay?"
I don't move for a long time as I summon the courage to release the silent boy. The water calms, my breathing slows, and I'm assured of the air that fills my lungs. Slowly, I let go of the redhead's waist and let my legs dangle toward the bottom of the pool. My toes brush his shins ever so slightly. "See? It's not so bad, is it, Alex?" Kagami says in a gentler tone of voice. I don't say anything, but I also don't pull my legs back up to his waist.
I know my fear of water is irrational. I know that if push came to shove I'd be able to reach something to cling to, but it doesn't make the feeling any better. Water is always too cold against my skin, slimy and unwanted, and it makes me lose track of what I'm touching and where parts of me are. It's stupid to be afraid of water. Yes, it can drown me, but it won't seep out of the ground just to crush me. Well, it won't in most cases.
My fear of water came when I was about five, I think. At least, that's what my parents told me. Before we moved out to California, we lived somewhere in Washington near a big river that I used to play in all the time. After a particularly heavy snow during winter, spring apparently melted ice in the mountains a little too quickly. We had a flash flood one day, and I had my typical bad luck and got swept away for a couple miles. I don't remember much of it other than water crushing me against trees and a couple rocks and the mud that filled my mouth, but I got caught in a tree and was lucky enough to be found after half a day.
Every since then all water has seemed slimy and suffocating, cold and cruel and unwanted as images of dark water whirling things away flash in the back of my head. "Alex?" Kagami says with concern, his arms wrapped around my waist. "Alex, are you okay?" I nod my head slightly as I grip him tighter. I think my arms might break if I hold Kagami any closer, but he isn't complaining. "I think that's enough this time. Next time I'll do it properly. I was taught to swim the right way, but a few of my friends were taught by pushing them into a pool and refusing to help them until they could swim out themselves. I thought it might work, but..."
I laugh slightly, refusing to budge as Kagami sloshes toward the edge of the pool. He lifts me up and places me on the edge of the pool before dragging himself out of the water. I try my best to help him out as I retract my legs from the water and wring my hair out. "I think it's the thought that counts." I say, glancing at him for a moment before trying to dry my shirt out a little. "At least, that sort of thing applies to you... it's a good thing I hav-" I scowl.
"We forgot them at Maiji." Kagami says dejectedly. I nod, water running down my face from my dripping bangs.
"Yep." Something warm and dry hits me in the head.
"Here. You can wear my jacket. Maiji isn't that far, so we can get our stuff and go home." I look at Kagami in surprise.
"But you-"
"Don't worry about it." Kagami says. "Just put it on." Hesitantly, I slip my arms into the sleeves of Kagami's jacket. It's too big and hangs off me awkwardly in various places, but it's warm and will keep the wind out.
"Thank you." I say, my face flushing.
"Don't mention it."