"Go easy on you," Kuro shook his head at her as he shook her hand. He was also grinning, despite the loss. Kenma's face told a completely different story, though.
"You got me," was all he said. Kitsuna knew that was huge, despite the simplicity of it and his quiet delivery. She smiled at him and squeezed his hand before leaving. They had to line up, but Kitsuna was struggling to get across the gym and nearly tripped over her feet until Ennoshita propped her up.
"You gonna need to be carried out?," he said half-jokingly.
"Don't you dare," Kitsuna growled back. The others had to stifle their laughter as they bowed to the other team.
Next was cool downs, which they did in a more empty section of hallway. Kitsuna was feeling more tired than usual and slacking off a little bit. Or trying to, but Daichi was keeping too close an eye on her. The others finished before her, and some started to wander again or head to the stands. Kitsuna leaned back against the wall, tucked in beside a decommissioned vending machine. Something fell over her head again, and she recognized the smell of coffee and sugar. Pulling it off her head, she spotted Suga who was holding a hand out to her.
"Could've just let me sleep," she groaned as she took his hand and pulled herself up.
"Figured you might not want to sleep in your contacts again," he smiled back at her, completely disarming any further protests.
She walked with him, mostly just trailing along wherever he wandered. There were a few more whispers and glances as they wandered, though Kitsuna didn't acknowledge it anymore. They ended up outside without her realizing it, at a spot between the two buildings where not a lot of people passed by. There was one person who spotted them and pointed, getting hushed by her companion.
"That's…annoying," Suga finally said something about it.
Kitsuna, who had been pulling out a cigarette mostly out of habit, stopped and lowered her hands to her sides. Her face was scrunched up just slightly, and not just because she was tired or it was too bright outside with the hints of snow that lingered in the brown grass.
"Sorry," Kitsuna's voice was light, and heavy all at the same time.
There was just silence to answer that apology, as the breeze made them retreat further into their jackets' raised collars and toyed with the hair that hung over their faces. Kitsuna heard the crunch of the grass as Suga moved closer, then saw his pale yellow shoes just in front of her own black ones in the same style. She wouldn't look up at him, she refused to. She was suddenly stricken with some horrible fear and felt the sting of salty tears tease her eyes.
"Hey," his voice was barely over a whisper, but it made her flinch anyway. She saw his hand extend, then pull back slowly.
"You'll get caught here. I guess we need to go somewhere a little further from the path."
"Huh?," Kitsuna's utterance of her confused surprise was barely audible at all. She looked up and blinked at him, partially to get rid of that extra moisture and refocus her vision. He was looking toward the entrance, where the sidewalk wrapped around into a huge semicircle of concrete in front of the stadium's doors.
"Right," she chuckled weakly and followed him a little further around the corner of the building. There was another, smaller arena, beside the first. They were tucked between the two, behind a large sign where it would take a bit of straining to actually spot them against the stone and steel wall.
"You know Daichi doesn't like this," Kitsuna gestured vaguely at what they were doing. Hanging out just out of sight while she lit up an already half-burned cigarette. They shared a nervous giggle and then went quiet again. That silence was starting to feel less and less comfortable for Kitsuna, but she couldn't tell how Sugawara was feeling about it from his face. She slid down into a sitting position, flicking the cherry of her cigarette in the dry dirt. She pulled one leg up, resting her arm on her knee. She was restless, more than usual, and trying not to think about just how close Suga was standing. Or about what she could do in this situation. Or how he would react. She got so lost in that internal struggle of what ifs and maybes that she didn't notice Suga joining her down there on the ground, or leaning into her just a little bit when the breeze kicked up again. She finished her cigarette and half buried it in the soft dirt.
"You make that look kinda cool. Makes me curious," he started up a conversation finally. A weird one, but it was something.
"What?," Kitsuna finally gave him a good look, with a stark expression on her face that made him laugh.
"I mean, I know it's bad and all that. But I am curious what it's like, y'know? Maybe I'll try one on one of these breaks," he joked.
"Dude. No," she jostled her shoulder against his and laughed. It was finally a good laugh, and he smiled at that. They went back and forth for a while like that, poking fun at each other and exchanging light blows. Things settled down after a while, the two of them listening to the cheers from inside or the musings of others walking between the buildings. Kitsuna picked at the tape on her wrist a little bit then gave up on it with a huff.
"Here," Suga picked up her hand and pulled at the edge of the tape. It was stickier than normal, and didn't want to let go at all. He got it started though, and gingerly unwrapped it. As the dark fabric slid off her wrist he got a real good look at the scars there. A rough one from the side, wrapping partially around. With jagged edges and weirdly void of the usual wrinkles that formed around joints like that. There were others, a couple small incision lines. More on her hand itself. A long, crooked one from her first knuckle to about the middle of her hand. Several small ones on the backs of her fingers. He slowly turned her hand over, and spotted one on the palm just below the gap between her ring and pinky fingers. He traced over it with his thumb, and her fingers curled in for just a second before relaxing again.