Soulmates

A/N First of all I just wanted to thank everyone who favourited, followed, and reviewed my story. I'm surprised that even one person liked my first chapter. You all are amazing, and deserve an unlimited supply of strawberry pockii!

I would also like to give a shout out to my sister for her input in this : )

I know Kasamatsu gets very nervous around girls, and may or may not use words such as 'hell'. Since I haven't seen him interact with any girl in the manga so far, the way he is acting in this chapter is truly out of my own perception of his character when nervous.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kukoro No Basket or any of the characters in this story other than the characters I made up (i.e Mei).

Chapter 2

~In which Mei wants revenge~

Fidgeting with the bun on her head, Mei tried to think of what to say. Just tell him you thought he was someone you know she thought. However when she looked at the boy she felt butterflies beat in her stomach, and she started to get nervous.

"Umm…well…you see…"She began

The moment Mei spoke the boy started to shake. He realized that the person in front of him was a…a…girl. He averted his gaze to the floor, and started to walk backwards until his back was pressed up against the lockers.

"Wh-why did y-you hug m-me?" He shakily asked her.

There was a touch of curiosity in his voice.

The only explanation that Mei could think of from his sudden change of behavior was that perhaps he thought that she was going to harm him, and he felt powerless to her, and thus was left in a shaking resolve. She wanted to assure him that she was not going to harm him.

"Look…I know what I just did was weird but I mean no harm. Mr. Takeuchi sent me here…"

"Coach told y-you to…to h-hug m-me?" He replied while shaking vigorously.

There was a touch of confusion now in his voice.

I am barely over 5 feet, how threatening can I look? She thought to herself.

"No, no he did not. He-" She tried to explain

"T-then w-why did you h-hug me?" He said cutting her off

Mei felt pity for him. Never in her life did she see a boy so uncomfortable from an embrace from the opposite gender. Maybe he is not scared of me, and instead he is utterly disgusted by my appearance and that is why he is continually averting his gaze and shaking. Taking another look at him, Maybe not. Whatever the reason was she wanted to him to stop shaking.

"Look…"She said walking towards him.

"N-no s-top!" He said covering his face

She continued walking, and once she was close enough she put her hand on his shoulder. She just wanted to comfort him, and tell him why she was here. However she was unable to do so because of what the boy did next.

"I s-said don't touch m-m-me" he yelped.

The nervous boy then wriggled himself free from the girl's grasp and ran to the other side of the room. He quickly picked up his bag, and…a clipboard, and then ran out the door.

Everything happened so fast that Mei was left speechless for a few seconds. Then remembering that he took the clipboard with him, she ran out after him.

Thankfully the aforementioned hallway light was pretty dim so it did not hurt her eyes very much when she adjusted to it. She looked to the right, and there the boy was, running to the front foyer.

Mei began to run as fast as she could. Though she was not an athlete she was able to catch up to the boy rather easily since he was worn out from today's game. As she caught up to him she grabbed his right hand, stopping him from running.

"I need the clip-" She started to say

He did not let her finish as he said in a voice, much too loud for her liking

"St-top, stop touch-ing me, a-nd fol-lwing m-me"

"I am not trying to hurt you, listen to me I need the clip-" she tried to explain herself again.

Interrupting her again, the boy now yelled in a squeaky voice

"S-top, s-top, let g-go of m-me!"

Just to Mei's luck a security guard that had been minding his own business, and was walking to the employee's lounge, heard the commotion from the boy. He turned around and walked towards them.

"What in the world is going on here" he asked diligently

The boy looked helplessly at the security guard and exclaimed rather nervously

"S-shes ha-ra-rassing m-me!"

"No I am not…" Mei began to explain, but she realized that she was still holding his right hand, and whatever she could possibly say would not be believable as she was forcefully holding his hand.

Letting go of his hand she tried to explain herself.

"Sir you see I was told to get-"

However she was interrupted by the security guard.

"You work here?"

He eyed her name tag as he waited for her response.

"Yes but-" She said to no avail as he interrupted her again.

"I see what's going on here" he said all-knowingly.

Was anyone going to let her finish talking today? She thought angrily.

Looking at the boy the security guard said seriously

"You see sir, people like her, are the reason why we are so selective in our hiring processes. We often get many teenage girls, and odd times boys, apply for a summer job here so they can get up close and personal with basketball players. She is just one of those cougars. Not to worry I will report her for you"

Cougar?! Mei thought angrily.

"Excuse me?! Look sir I was just trying to get the clipboard" She said through seethed teeth

"T-then wh-y did you h-hug m-me?" The boy asked nervously

Why are you still shaking ?! she thought.

"She hugged you?!" the security guard asked

He took out a notepad and a pencil, and then said while writing it down

"Victim was hugged"

"You have got to be kidding me" Mei exasperated

Totally ignoring her the security guard looked at the boy and asked

"What else as she done?"

"Well she touched my shoulder in the locker room and-" the boy began to say

"She came into your locker room?! No employee of the opposite gender is allowed to go into the locker room if it is occupied!" The security guard said alarmingly, interrupting the boy.

Alarm bells went off in Mei`s head. She was never informed of that.

This was getting ugly very quickly.

"No, no, noo! Well yes I went inside, but Takeuchi-sensei told me too! You can ask him! He told me to retrieve the clipboard"

"You mean this clipboard?" The security guard said while pointing to the clipboard in the boys left hand.

"Yes that-"She said but was interrupted for the umpteenth time by the security guard who said

"Likely story. You are in serious trouble, come with me"

"No please sir listen to me-" She tried to no avail

"I did not want to use force" The security guard said sighing.

He grabbed her right hand and began to drag her away. He stopped momentarily, and looked at the boy and said

"She will not be bothering you any more. You can relax now"

With that he started to drag the girl again. Why is this happening? The girl thought helplessly.

"Please sir, listen to me…" She tried to plead with the guard

"I think you have said, and have certainly done enough" he responded

Mei tried to free herself from his grip but he was far too strong for a girl as small as her.

The boy she thought. Even though I scared him, I did not do anything serious to him, so he would vouch for me right? With hope she turned her head around trying to look at the boy.

However what she saw only made her stomach churn. The boy looked… relieved, and had stopped shaking. Was I really that unpleasant? She thought with rage. The butterflies, and all the good feelings that she had gotten from the boy started to turn into frustration, and anger.

15 minutes later, a very frustrated, small brunette was seating at the base of a rather big, oak desk that belonged to a man that was rather small.

Mei remembered sitting in this chair two weeks ago. Mr. Izumi, the man in charge of hiring had congratulated her then and had welcomed her to the center with a cheery smile.

However this time the same man looked very disappointed, upset and rather confused.

There was silence for a few minutes and then he said

"Oh dear, well I did not see this coming. I am so… shocked to say the least." His voice was rather big for someone of his small form.

Seeing that Mei remained silent, he added

"Nonaka-san, do you know why I had chosen to hire you over the 100 applicants I had gotten?"

No she thought bitterly. However instead she gave a slight nod, averting her gaze to the floor.

"It was not because of your academic record, which is very excellent; it was because you had this look to your face. You looked like a very level headed, and hard working girl that had no care or concern for the athletes, but exclusive concern for her job."

Feeling hopeful, Mei pleaded

"Sir if you hired me for that reason, then please listen to me!"

The small man looked dismayed, and said quietly

"I am sorry Nonaka-san but the security guard that brought you in, Mr. Ishida, is a very honest and trustworthy man. I have total faith in him. So unfortunately nothing you can say will change my decision"

A few pregnant seconds went by, and then he added

"You are fired. Please retrieve your belongings from the employee's lounge. We are a respectable basketball center. If word got out that one of our employee harassed an athlete and was still allowed to work here…well than you can understand how that would affect our reputation."

Mei could not believe this was happening.

"But sir…I need this job…I need the money" She said quietly

"Do not worry we will mail you your check for this week. Thank you for this past two weeks, I am sorry that it had to end like this"

"Me too" She whispered

Realizing that there was no way to undo this situation she said

"Well I will go now. I do not want to bother you any more. Good bye"

She got out of her seat and walked out of the door before he could respond. As soon as she was out of his office, she leaned against the wall and did some deep breathing. I reached out to someone and this is what happened. Her head hurt. Rubbing her temples she walked to the employee's lounge.

As she approached the employee's lounge she could hear the security guard, talking about her.

"…Yeah she was holding his hand when I found them!" He exclaimed.

This security guard is really asking for it she thought. She then opened the door and walked straight to her locker, not paying a lick of attention to the guard, or the people he was with.

She retrieved her bento box,water bottle, and a chemistry workbook she had brought along, in case she was finished with physics. Then she walked out the door, and into the hallway.

As she was leaving, she could hear the security guard say

"That's the girl!"

She felt like she was going to explode with anger, and so as soon as she got outside she sat on the nearest bench, trying to calm down.

However she could no longer hold in her tears. This is my first time crying since that day.

Zzzzzz. Zzzzz. Zzzzzzzzz. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Something was buzzing in her bag. Furiously wiping her tears she grabbed her phone, and attended it.

"Hello?" She said wearily

"Sis?! Is everything all right? You're not home yet!"her brother exclaimed. There was a lot of anxiety in his kind voice.

"What time is it?" She asked him

"6:45…where are you?" He asked with more worry

Mei was punctual. Very punctual. She was always home by 6 pm, and then she would start dinner at 6:05 pm.

Rubbing the last bit of tears away she said

"Oh sorry Koji, today was very busy. I am fine. I am going to bring some take out home. I hope you are not too hungry" she said in a voice that she hoped sounded like her usual one.

Please do not worry about me Koji she silently pleaded

"It's okay sis I am not that hungry. Just come home soon, 'kay?" He said sounded relieved.

"You got it, see you then" she said with a more cheery voice.

"Be safe! Bye bye!"

"Bye"

She hung up the phone and held it tightly in her hands. Her little brother was her responsibility, and because of that stupid boy she had almost forgotten about her brother.

That boy had somehow broken down the wall Mei had so feverishly encompassed herself in. Then he had injected her with emotions that were very foreign to her such as 'anger', and 'hurt'. Her calm, stoic resolve, that had been in place for so many years, had been compromised in one day.

Her violet eyes glowed with rage. She could not explain the events that had happened today, or the feelings associated with them, but she knew one thing.

She wanted revenge.