Home Made Basket Ball Love
Two
I was amazed at how easy the first string players made this workout seem. I knew exactly what it was; it was a method used a lot in Track. My coach called it 'countdown' but Momoi called it the buzzer beater.
Basically there was a series of exercises that you had ten minutes to do-and believe me ten minutes isn't a long time. If you didn't finish the exercises in ten minutes you had to do suicides for five minutes.
Then there'd be a small break, just enough to catch your breath and the workout started all over again-this time you had nine minutes, then eight minutes and so on and so forth-as the time decreased the exercises decreased as well. Tetsu completely blew me away; I never realized how strong and enduring he was.
"Great job guys!" Momoi cheered while walking to the water fountain for a quick drink. I stood next to a stroller stacked with basketballs; the guys came up to it. Tetsu took one and smiled at me.
"How'd I do?" my eyes practically sparkled, I was too impressed.
"Awesome!"
"Whoa Kurokocchi, I didn't know you had a girlfriend" the blonde was the one who spoke; he slung an arm over Tetsu's shoulder and gave him a silly grin.
"We're close friends" I said, passing the blonde a basketball-which he caught with an impressive reflex.
"I'm Kise," he said flashing me a warm, and rather adorable, smile. My brows scrunched, that smile is familiar.
"Murasakibara" the skyscraper player said, placing his enormous hand on my head. I swapped it away, and had to crane my neck way back to see his eyes. He stared down at me.
"Jeez, your massive" Murasakibara smirked.
"Well don't leave me out" we all looked to the green-haired boy with the glasses.
"I'm Midorima" I passed him a ball as well. I looked to the crimson haired boy with the different eye colors. His eyes met mine and a strange spark of annoyance flashed in them.
"Mana Kinjo" Tetsu stared watchfully at the red-haired boy.
"You're the fastest middle school student in this region" I nodded my head nervously, hating that he brought up the topic. The last thing I want to think about is track.
"Wow, that's incredible" Kise conveyed loudly
"But I bet you can't beat me in a race" I gave Kise a courteous grin. Murasakibara and Midorima were watching the red head boy as well. Tetsu's expression went completely blank-to others that is probably normal, but whenever Tetsu's around me he has some kind of facial impression.
I knew something either bad or unexacting would occur. The red head stared firmly at me, as if trying to reach behind the boundaries of my eyes and into my soul. I stared back cautiously-and he didn't seem to like that at all from the way his red eye flickered like a flame. With a dissatisfied grunt he said.
"I will acknowledge you for now but you are not my follower so don't cross the line"
After basketball practice ended the first string players headed home. I waited for Tetsu to gather his things and sat patiently on the bleachers of the gym not thinking of anything in particular.
"Your not really dating Tetsu, are you?" Momoi said, sitting next to me. I looked her way and was shocked to see jealousy written all over her face. Her brows were raised and her eyes grimaced. Her lips were shut tight.
"No no, I swear we really are just friends. I really do love Tetsu, but there's no way I could imagine dating him-n-not that he isn't good looking. But I just can't see him an any other way than as a friend" Momoi exhaled deeply; apparently she'd been holding her breath.
"Thank God, I really like Tetsu and I was so surprised to see how close you two are. Why hasn't he ever brought you around before? I never even seen you at a game" should I tell her that I'm on the track team? The basketball matches and track meets usually were on the same days, and whenever I did have free time-this was when I used to go to practice-I was dead tired. These past two months Tetsu hasn't had any games.
"Know what, I'm being way out of line. You can tell me whenever you feel comfortable. I mean, we've only known each other for a few hours" it was my turn to exhale.
"Thank you"
"I'm ready, Mana" Tetsu said from out of the blue. He looked to Momoi and smiled. A streak of pure sanguine colored the bridge of her nose.
"It-it-it was really nice-nice meeting you Mana, you-you should come by again" Momoi stuttered seeming completely flustered all of a sudden. So this is how much she likes Tetsu.
As usual I walked home with Tetsu, and for a while there was silence. The clouds had turned a dark grey and the air grew ever colder. It would probably snow soon.
"I'm glad he's accepted you" Tetsu broke the silence. I knew he meant the red head boy.
"Yeah, for now" I said.
"Akashi can be pretty scary sometimes. But he really isn't a bad guy…" anyone that has different colored eyes can't be too good.
"He doesn't scare me. There's just something about him that makes me uneasy" we reached the intersection. A strong gust caught me off guard and I stumbled a little. Tetsu grabbed my arm and held me steady as the wind passed by.
"I guess it'll snow after all," Tetsu said,
"Try not to think about him too much. He's a complicated person"
I saw that boy again, the one named Aomine. He was in the same place-in the basketball court just half a mile from my house- but this time he was not shooting-or rather flinging-the basketball into the hoop. He was staring at the ball in his hands, in deep concentration. It seemed like he couldn't decide whether to shoot or not.
"What does your heart say?" I said, bringing him out of his daze. He stared at me, his dark eyes paled.
"My heart?" he stared back at the ball.
"You love basketball, don't you?" I held onto the metal fence that kept us apart.
"I…I'm not sure…who are you again?" he didn't say in a mean way, his tone was blank and straightforward yet his eyes were obscured in an icy vapor of confusion.
"Mana...I'm in your class, you took me to the infirmary" Aomine's eyes lightened in recognition.
"Oh! That's right" He ruffled his dark hair, his brows burrowing.
"Your not from here…are you?" I was used to these kinds of questions. My mother is from Kenya and my father is solely Japanese. How the two met, I'd never know.
"I was born here, and have always lived here" Aomine grinned.
"Well, even I am a little mixture of something. I don't know what though" his eyes searched into his mind for an answer but gave up too soon. Without a thought he simply flung the ball and it went into the hoop-flawlessly. His bodily expression loosened.
"I don't mean to intrude. I like to take walks from my house to here, and sometimes, you happen to be here and I just watch" Aomine walked up to the ball and jogged back to the three point line, taking another shot-the ball went in.
"Well I don't come too often, since it's fucking cold" he said. The sound of the ball dribbling on the concrete, oddly enough, was soothing to me. Perhaps I was just used to listening to it, I liked to watch Tetsu practice basketball as well.
But this was different, the sound was like a heartbeat, and my own heart beat, somehow was in tune with it. Aomine started playing with the ball: twirling it around his wrist, rolling it up and down his arm, throwing in to the air catching it with his fingers precisely.
"You have a gift," I said. He laughed nonchalantly,
"Gift?" he spat the word as if it were a curse. The gate to the court was a few feet away from me, and I entered through it-Aomine's eyes followed me.
"Not everyone is born with miraculous gifts. So you should cherish it" he sucked his teeth and flung the ball at the hoop-it went in.
"You don't know what it feels like, to hate something you love" he didn't run up to the ball, as it bounced away on the concrete. I sighed heavily, I knew the feeling too well.
"I love to run" I began, walking up to the abandoned ball and holding it in my hands. It was larger than my head and felt extremely rough but it was really warm.
"Since I was a little girl I always ran. I ran everyday for hours, and the more I ran the more endurance and speed I gained. When I entered Teiko, I joined the track team and became the best instantly-no one on the team could beat me in anything. Whenever we went to meets, I boggled our competitors-and sometimes they'd just give up because they thought they couldn't beat me. I became so good that there was no one worth competing against. I ran for a high school team, one time, and I even blew their minds away. Eventually my own teammates began to despise me. I'm not sure why they do. But I haven't been to practice in two months, and the only time I'm on the track is during meets" I stared directly into Aomine's eyes.
"I do understand your feelings, only I seem to have fallen into a much deeper hatred". His eyes were wide in surprise, as if he finally found what he was looking for all along. I passed the ball back to him, and he flung it at the hoop.
"How unlucky are we?" he said as the ball swished into the net and the white dots slowly fell from the clouds.
"Very"
