Dreaming On - Kuroko no Basket

┆10┆Three Weeks Left┆

            "Since I was in elementary," I replied vaguely.

            "Why did you say that your otosan's going to kill you?" Kasamatsu continued.

            "Because we made a deal and because of you two, I'm dead meat."

            "Why is it because of us?!" Kise screeched. "It's not like we did anything wrong!" He huffed angrily, puffing his cheeks out.

            I sighed, feeling tired of this argument.

"My otosan and I made a deal a while back. After my nii-san died, otosan didn't want me to play basketball because it reminded him too much of nii-san. But that was the only way for me to stay close to nii-san. We already lost my kaasan, and now nii-san? Otosan wanted to move to America to start anew. I had to go with him.

After I finished my middle school years in America, we moved back to Japan. I was already a famous prima ballerina and a successful pianist. Not to mention, I led my basketball team to nationals in middle school and won in America, being number one. Moving back here to Japan, otosan made me a deal – I could continue playing basketball as long as I didn't injure myself. I need my fingers for piano and my body for ballet. I can't get injured or else I have to say goodbye to basketball.

Hitomi-sensei is my ballet instructor. I just landed the lead role of my play, and I have rehearsals tonight. Our first performance will be in a month, in front of the prime minister of Britain. He's coming to Japan to watch the performance and I can't disappoint."

The two boys said nothing but continued to walk. Within a couple of minutes, we stopped in front of a three-story house – it was huge! I stared at the house in awe while Kise bounded up the steps with me still in his arms. Kasamatsu opened the door for us.

"Kaasan, I'm home!" Kise shouted. He made his way up the stairs only to stop when a tall blonde poked her head through the doorway from the kitchen.

"Ryouta, you're – what did you do this time, Ryouta?!" She demanded upon seeing me bleeding in his arms.

"I uh, uh... kaa-san, it's not what you think!"

"Kise-san, Kise accidently hurt his friend so we're cleaning her up," Kasamatsu smoothly replied.

"Ah, I see," she replied before disappearing. Kise breathed a sigh of relief, continuing his way towards his bathroom. He set me on the counter before leaving to find the first-aid kit, leaving me alone with Kasamatsu.

He shifted around nervously, not meeting my eyes once.

"Kasamatsu," I called out. He flinched. "Are you still afraid of girls?"

"Eto...ano..." I watched amusedly at his uncomfortableness as I recalled the first time I meet him when I asked the same question. "I'm just.... Not used to females." I grinned at him, leaning a bit forward to tease him.

"You don't have to be afraid of me," I teased. "I won't bite...that hard." I laughed, watching his reaction. At that moment, Kise burst through the bathroom waving around a first-aid kit.

"I found it! I found it Masamicchi!" I gave him a pointed look.

"Well then, bandage me instead of waving it around." He grinned sheepishly at me replying, "Hai!"

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            It was well past midnight when Kise and Kasamatsu decided to walk me back home. I was wearing one of Kise's sweatpants to cover up my bandaged leg. I tucked my hands into the pockets of my hoodie, hoping that I could climb the tree next to my window to avoid otou-san.

            "So..." Kise dragged out, trying to start a conversation.

            "What?" I sighed.

            "I just remembered that I have played you before. Like before we played that practice match against each other." I didn't say anything.

            Kasamatsu decided to save Kise by interrupting him. "So, is Seirin ready for Inter-High? There's about three weeks left before the first game." I grinned, enjoying where our conversation was heading.

            "Of course! We've been training pretty hard. I think Riko is actually trying to kill us all first though..." I trailed off, shuddering.

[Flashback]

            "Minna! Are you ready for practice?" Riko shouted excitedly. We all stopped warming up and faced our coach, who seemed very devious at the moment. An evil glint shone in her brown eyes, causing the second-years to sweat-drop. I knew something bad was going to happen.

            "Alright! I created a very very helpful regiment that will improve your stats without a doubt! Now, run twenty laps! Last one has to clean the gym. Alone." Then she started cackling like a maniac. In a heartbeat, we all started running laps around the school, determined not to be the unfortunate soul who has to clean the gym. After our tenth lap, our teammates began to drop to the ground like dead flies. Only Kagami, Hyuuga, Mitobe, Izuki and I were still running.

            "We'll never forget you, friends!" Izuki cried out dramatically as we passed by a couple of our dead members.

            "Keep running! All you kids who dropped are also punished!" Riko's laughter was heard from outside the gym. The five of us paled considerably as we continued to run, panting. "Good job! Now, we will be working on upper body strength! 100 push-ups in 10 minutes or else you'll die!"

            I swore I saw our souls leave our bodies.