READ ME: I just realized thanks to a reader that "Yuki" isn't short for "Yukari". I'm not sure how I got that planted in my head that it was. Let's just say it's a nick name. Enjoy the continued chapter. Love you all. xx
Chapter 7: Surprise, Surprise
"Did you think I'd let just anyone grab ya' ?" he says, as his grip tightens, showing that he was growing protective.
"A-Aominecchi," says Kise-kun, who's voice came out small and shocked.
Kise-kun took the words right out of my mouth.
"Kise. Seems yer' still the same," says Aomine-kun, as he let's go of my hand.
Averting his gaze, I slowly walk to Kise-kun, standing beside the blonde haired man.
"Here," I mumble, as I hand him the shirt I had just taken off. Looking at me, he begins to laugh loudly, the sound so full of light it seemed he was trying to ease off the tension that had suddenly formed.
"Yukitten, I didn't know you cared about me that much," he jokes, a certain tone to his voice as he suddenly loops his index finger through a strand of my vanilla locks.
I watch mesmerized by his actions, the way his finger skilfully entwines further into my hair, almost growing lost.
"I-I just don't want you catching a-"
"Keep it. The colour black against this skin," he murmurs, as his finger slowly begins to trail in a tantalizing motion down my neck, stopping at my collar bone. "Is something to be in awe of," he finishes, as he flashes me a small, hesitant smile. As if he wanted to say something else. Something that was on his mind.
But as I'm about to ask him what was wrong, his hand is swatted away from me. Aomine-kun steps in front of my body, while physically pushing me back with his other hand.
"Kise, don't tell me you want to lose that hand of yours? Let's face it, how else are ya' gonna copy your opponents?" says Aomine-kun, his voice a little too threatening than playful.
"Aominecchi, don't say hurtful things like that," jokes Kise-kun, as he scratches the back of his head. I watch as that sad smile from before disappears, Kise-kun reverting back to his normal, happy self.
"Kise-kun!" yells a heated voice from behind. Taking a step to the left, I watch as a running Kasamatsu-kun, Kaijou's captain, comes running down the hall with a sour look.
"Ka-"
"Come on. You're wanted by the coach, now."
With that, Kasamatsu-kun runs down the hall with Kise-kun being dragged down with him. In my hands still lay the large shirt I had offered him. Well, at least back in his room he'd wear some proper clothing.
Aomine-kun peers down at the large piece of clothing in my hand. Without hesitation from him, I watch shocked as he begins to take off his own black, sleeveless shirt. He stands in front of me, now shirtless. Here I was, flustered and acting like a middle schooler when I had seen Kise-kun half naked. But looking at Aomine-kun and back at Kise-kun, Aomine-kun was something to be feared of. It seems as though the God's had taken extra care when it came to Aomine-kun's physique.
"Hm? Aren't you gonna offer me the shirt now?" he says, while snatching the black t-shirt from my hands.
I watch much to my dismay as he puts it on, handing me his black shirt in return. He takes a whiff of it, a small smirk making it's way up to his lips.
"Smells just like you. Put mine on," he orders casually, as he watches me with his intense, sea blue eyes. I stare back just as intently with my vanilla ones. He wasn't serious? He might've apologized to Satsu-chan about the whole picture incident but I still needed one as well!
"You're not-"
Oh, he was serious. Taking the shirt from my hands, he orders for me to put my hands up. When I don't, he does it for me, putting his black shirt over me. While he slides the fabric over my head, I can't but shiver as the warmth from his body had travelled along with the shirt, comforting my chilly frame. Afterwards, he looks at me with a content look. Aomine-kun leans down closely to my ear, whispering words that made every inch of my skin burn.
"Kise's right. Black does look good on you, I guess. But I'd much rather see you on my bed without anything on."
With those more than flirtatious words, I watch as he walks away from my frozen form and down the hall. I don't try to stop him. I don't call his name. I don't even tell him what I'm thinking. That I want him to hold me warmly into his body, smother me in his words, kiss me goodnight and good morning. But instead, I stand like a statue, trying desperately to stop the rush of emotions that course rapidly within me. What on earth just happened?
I wake up the next morning, changing into a fresh new pair of clothes. Today was an early morning practice for Seirin. I tried my best to avoid the colour black, but it didn't help considering the only coloured shorts I brought with me were that colour. Digging through my bag, I pull out an old, red sweatshirt that had my eldest brother's basketball team's name on it. Brushing my tangled, wavy hair, I tie it up in it's usual pony tail. But as I stare into my reflection, all I can picture is Kise-kun running his soft, warm hands through it. Something I didn't want to be thinking about. I begin to tidy the room Riko-senpai and I were sharing until I made my way to the court for today's practice. Picking up an unfamiliar shirt from the ground, I realize it's the one I had shamefully fallen asleep in. Aomine-kun's shirt. Much to my dismay, I can't help but fold it neatly and safely, making sure I didn't cause a tear. But as I turn it over on it's back, my face immediately begins to burn.
On the back of the shirt had a big, red number 5 printed neatly in the middle. Seeing that, I wouldn't have made anything of it until I read what was underneath it. "I © AOMINE DAIKI."
I-I had been strutting around the resort wearing that on my back all last night. No wonder some of the other resident's had been giving me strange looks. They probably thought I was some type of crazy fan-girl!
Hiding the shirt deeply under a pile of clothes, I lock the door and gloomily walk to the basketball courts, thinking of Aomine-kun. Now he had two things to apologize for.
Opening the exiting door, I find myself arriving in the middle of an argument. See, the resort only had 2 basketball courts. But there was 3 basketball teams staying here. It seems that Touou was the first team to arrive, so they automatically had right over one court, leaving the other left. Right now, Riko-senpai and Kaijou's coach were in a middle of an argument about who should rule over the last remaining one.
Walking over to Kuroko-kun, I begin to brush my hand gently through his hair. Combing it out.
"Your bed head," I mumble, as I try to tame his incredibly weird hair. How did Kuroko-kun manage it himself?
"Yuki-chan?"
"Yes?"
"Why were you wearing a shirt yesterday that said 'I love Ao-"
Covering Kuroko-kun's mouth, I grab his arm and drag him to the corner of the courts, away from everyone else.
"You saw that?!" I whisper unhappily, as I scratch my ear in discomfort. If Kuroko-kun saw, then that means the whole team must've seen!
"Don't worry. I was the only one who saw it," he says, putting my suspicions to rest.
"Kuro-kun, I don't know what to tell you. It all-"
"That's fine. It was my idea after all," he says casually, as he begins to walk away from me.
"Wait, wait, wait," I say, a small laugh to my words. I grab his arm, pulling him back in front of me.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Aomine-kun had said that since I'm always with you, he wanted to know what you liked. So I told him that out of school I see you wearing shirts wear you state that you love-"
"Wait. Are you talking about that one time when I wore my, "I love New York" t-shirt?" I ask incredulously, as I recall that time Satsu-chan and I had bumped into Kuroko-kun and Kagami-kun at the burger joint. I only owned that shirt because when I went to visit my brother in New York, he had bought me one to wear when I was in Japan in case I ever missed him.
But that was only that one and only time.
"Yes. So I told Aomine-kun to make a similar shirt and give it to you. Why, did you not like it?" he asks, his voice stained with a little hurt because it was his fabulous idea.
Burying my face in my hands, I talk to myself through a muffled voice.
"Why can't boys be normal and give me chocolate?"
"That's what I told Aomine-kun. But he told me that he thought that it looked like you had already had enough," says Kuroko-kun, as he begins to once again walk away back to the team.
Shooting up, a blank expression overcomes my face. He thought I was fat. Well, let's just add that to the list of apologies. Walking back to the team with a slight frown, It seems as though a final conclusion hadn't been reached.
"Why don't we each use half court?" says Kagami-kun, an impatient look on his face as he spins the ball expertly on his finger.
Riko-senpai and Kaijou's coach give each other a look before they agree to Kagami-kun's solution.
"Smartest thing you've said all week," says Hyuuga-senpai, as he pats him on the back.
Kagami-kun shoots him a look before running off to our side of the court. Well, it seems as though practicing would be hard for today. I could tell that neither teams here were willing to show off their new skills, saving them for the Inter-High preliminaries. It was odd, Seirin was on one end while Kaijou on the other. And then beside us there was already a practicing team of Touou. From here, I watch Satsu-chan intently watch the players, analyzing and critiquing everyone's movements.
"All right, with the limited space we have, let's all warm up with some stretching and then shooting," says Riko-senpai, as she sits down on the nearby bench.
I begin stretching, minding my own business when a ball rolls towards the back of my legs. Picking it up, I look around to see where it came from. Across the court came running an over exuberant Kise-kun.
"Yukitten!" he yells out, as he calls my overly embarrassing nickname. I watch shyly as everyone on the court looks at me with a strange look. I could even tell that Touou was looking over as well. What kind of nickname was it after all?
"Don't yell it out," I mumble quietly, as I slam the ball up against his chest.
"Ah, is my Yukitten in a bad mood today?" he says, as he begins to laugh and pinch my cheeks. It reminded me of our first encounter where he had done the same thing.
I feel bad for not warning Kise-kun as I watch Kasamtasu-kun kick him back towards their side. Well, that was one way of sending him back.
Right now, I was proving myself to everyone that I was quite useless. Everyone time I had went in for a shot from the 3 point line like usual, I missed. Every time for the past hour. I heard a few guys from the neighbouring teams snicker whenever I did. Today was not my day.
Grabbing the hard pass by Furihata-kun, I dribble the ball through my legs, looking for an escape route. I was finally able to run full speed with possession of the ball. Well, subtracting the few mishaps where I lost control though.
Glancing around, I notice that no one's open, forcing me to score myself. I could score at the 3 point line, but Kagami-kun up ahead would easily deflect it unless I found a distraction. So that left me no choice but to bob and weave my way to the hoop, going in for a lay up. Continuing to dribble the ball, I jump and dodge the swatting hands and bodies coming into my way. I come to a dead end when Kagami-kun towers over me, with his partner in crime Kuroko-kun behind me. I could get past anyone. Anyone but these two.
I try to dribble past Kagami-kun, but his long hands threaten to smother my body. My only chance was to shoot from here, but he'd deflect it. Unless I bounced it behind- no, Kuroko-kun would quickly misdirect it. Gritting my teeth, I look around quickly to see if anyone's open. They're all struggling against each other. There was one way I could get back to the 3 point line and try my luck there. But I'd only done this technique once in middle school when I was trying to get my lucky ball away from these guys trying to take it from me. Well, anything in basketball was worth a shot. Dribbling the ball a couple of times, I jump up, faking a shot. Immediately Kagami-kun jumps up as well, ready to deflect it. But instead, I shoot up wards, trying my best to flick my wrist at the appropriate angle. For a second, I panic because I don't remember if I was supposed to flick my wrist to the back left or back right. I chose the back left. Luckily for me, I was right. The basketball flies high in the air, making an arch as it begins to fly back. As soon as my feet touch the ground, I race to the 3 point line, grabbing it as it bounces once on the ground. Without hesitation I position myself for a 3 pointer, praying it goes in. And it does. For the first time today. Closing my eyes, I breathe a sigh of relief as Riko-senpai blows her whistle after a few seconds.
I was really worried for a second. What if I had done the technique wrong and it hit someone on Kaijou's team? That's why I rarely used it. One needed to have the proper focus and technique in order to have it land wherever they wanted to on the court. Suddenly, I notice the dead silence around me. Cracking an eye open, I notice that everyone of Seirin watches me with astonished eyes. Looking beside us to the next court over, I stand up properly as Touou's team even stopped to stare at me.
In that moment, I felt so-
"Waah, that was amazing," says Kise-kun, as he covers my eyes from behind. Blinded, he holds my body into his chest. I don't do anything to break free. I understood what he was doing. He knew how I must have been feeling scrutinized, so he covered my eyes, hiding everyone's looks. I couldn't had thanked him enough.
"That's enough for now. You guys can head in for today," says Riko-senpai, as she calls the practice to an end. Strangely enough, the other two teams call an end to their practices as well. Seems as though they were waiting for the other to go before calling their own games off.
Kise-kun slowly uncovers my eyes, but he still towers behind me.
My team mates all tell me that they'll be expecting me in the room, their voices all a bit apologetic. I assumed it was because of the strange looks from earlier. I couldn't blame them. Twisting the ball to land in that motion shouldn't had been possible.
Kuroko-kun is the last to walk by me, but Kise-kun stops him.
"Kurokocchi, how about you and I hang out and go-"
"Sorry, Kise-kun. But Kagami-kun and I are heading to the indoor gym."
Kuroko-kun walks away, catching up to Kagami-kun. Kise-kun runs his hand through his hair in dejection.
"My, my. Getting rejected like that hurts."
Kneeling down to tie my shoe laces, I look to my side and find Kise-kun doing the same. Although his didn't need any lacing up.
"Say, how about you and I hang out?" he says, as a large smile overcomes his face. I quickly glance at him, but that proves to be a mistake. Looking into his gleaming eyes that had just been rejected by Kuroko-kun, I shake my head in disbelief.
"Fine," I mumble, as I stand back up. He does the same, as he shyly rubs the back of his head.
"Great, let's meet here in an hour. We can take a walk to the nearby town."
"That sounds-"
"I'll come too," interjects a chilling, familiar voice. Not bothering to look up, I already knew it was Aomine-kun.
"Not a-"
"Aominecchi? When did you get here?" asks an oblivious Kise-kun.
"What do you mean? You saw me standing behind Yukari?" he mutters irritated, as he digs his hands into his pockets. I shoot Kise-kun a look, but he quickly looks away.
"Alright, I guess you can come. But bring your own money. I'm not paying for you," he says, as he begins to walk away, leaving Aomine-kun and I on the court.
"Are you going to apologize?" I ask, as I look up at him with an unhappy look.
"For what?"
"The photo? The shirt? What else am I missing? Oh, how about when you told Kuro-kun that I didn't need anymore chocolate?" I list, as I cross my arms defiantly over my bust. Giving him a hard look, I force him to apologize.
"Sorry. But I only know one way of apologizing," he mutters, as he kicks the air in front of him.
"And what's that?"
Aomine-kun gives me a blank look, before it slowly turns into a warning smirk. Now I wish I hadn't asked. Taking a cautious step back, he grabs a hold of my red sweatshirt, pulling my body closer to his. Trying to struggle free, he continues to reel me in like a catch.
Suddenly, I watch as he begins to lean in, his lips spiralling closer towards mine. Nervously I stand frozen, unsure of how to respond. As he draws closer and closer, I close my eyes in anticipation. He was so close. It was going to happen. But suddenly he stops, whispering into my ear.
"Baka. As if I'm in the wrong. I never apologize for anything unless someone forces me too," he says, his voice heavy with lust, as he grabs my hand, placing it underneath his shirt. I wince as to how hard and toned his abdomen felt.
"So, go ahead and force me," he mumbles, as he intentionally breathes his warm breath into the nape of my neck.
Without hesitation I push him away, giving myself some air. Gasping, I hold the side of my neck, looking up at him through nervous eyes.
I want to yell at him. Hit him. Tell him how he's such an idiot and shouldn't be doing weird things like that to a girl.
"AHOMINE!" I yell out, like an immature child before I stomp away back to my room. I had to get dressed considering I had just agreed to hang out with the two guys who had been causing me quite a bit of stress.