Kuroko no basket: sweeter than marshmallows

-04-

Why I agreed to do this is a mystery. 

We are currently standing on the basketball court on the terrain, nobody is watching us, so that's good. 

The Titan is standing beneath the hoop with his hands behind his head. Himuro just shot a three pointer. 

I have the ball now, it feels weird in my hand. "What am I supposed to do with this?" I frown. 

Himuro-san laughs a little "just aim for the hoop and shoot"

It sounds easy when you put it like that. I give it my best shot but the ball bounces off the hoop. The Titan catches it with ease and throws it back to me "relax. It's not a game." He says annoyed. 

I take a deep breath and try it again. And again. And again.. It doesn't work, meanwhile Himuro-san never misses. 

It's frustrating as hell. 

Himuro-san passes me the ball and I throw it the second I got it. I'm done with this. It's stupid.. 

"How did you do that?" Himuro-san asks me with wide eyes. 

"Did what?" I frown. 

"You scored." The Titan throws the ball to me. 

"Really?" I can barely contain my happiness "yay" I laugh "I'm gonna try it again." 

We played like that the whole week, I even joined the basketball team as their manager after Himuro asked me to. It's been a lot of fun. 

"Runi?" The coach looks down on me and I nod.

She starts explaining everything I have to do, I start zoning out after the first five minutes.

"Why did you want to see me coach?" It's between classes, she doesn't normally asks me to do anything until after school. 

"I'm glad that you ask." The coach says with a sweet smile "I want you to look after Murasakibara Atsushi. He'll be your responsibility."

"He'll be my what?" I frown.

"Your responsibility" she says it as if it's the most normal thing in the world "you two are in the same class, you'll be looking out for him and such."

"I don't think that's a good idea." I whisper, thinking of the Titan and how lazy he was during the school trip.

"Why not?" The coach asks.

"He doesn't seem to like me, or at least he acts like I annoy him." I sigh, it doesn't feel good at all.

"He'll get used to you." She says before getting up "classes are starting soon. You should get going." 

I nod and leave the gymnasium. 

The following days mostly contain me running after the Titan, trying to make sure that he goes to class, listens to the teacher and goes to practice on time. He hasn't been talking to me at all, he does tolerate me, at least I think that he does. I've seen him glare at others a lot since I started following him around.

The Titan doesn't seem to notice my presence at all when I'm walking behind him, trying to catch up with his tall legs. I've called his name many times already, he looked over his shoulder after the third time I called his name but I guess that he didn't see me.

"Mu-ra-sa-ki-ba-ra" I try it again and nearly trip over my own feet while walking down the stairs to keep up with his pace.

He continues walking, a group of girls walking up the stairs quickly step aside for him but push me out of their way when they pass me.

A jolt of pain goes trough my ankle and a small scream leaves my lips when I fall forward. I can clearly hear one of the girls chuckle... I close my eyes and prepare to hug the ground or something but instead of my face hitting the ground I feel something hitting my stomach, forcing the air out of my lungs.

But I stop falling down.

I open my eyes in surprise and frown when I see the stair under me, along with a pair of shoes, huge shoes to be exact.

"It is rude to push people of the stairs" the Titan's voice sounds from above me "you should be lucky that I caught her, she could have snapped her neck or something." He continues while walking down the stairs.

How is he holding me up like this? I take a look at my stomach and see his arm, his hand has a hold of my side, probably to make sure that I don't slip of his arm and fall on the stairs anyway. He doesn't seem to struggle with it at all.. What is he? A monster?

He puts me back on my feet and looks down on me, his violet eyes meet mine for a couple seconds before he turns around and walks away. Not giving me another glance.

I try to run after him to catch up but the pain in my ankle stops me from running, or walking in general. I must look ridiculous...

The bell rings and people start walking in the hallway to go to their classroom, bumping into me in the process.

A sigh leaves my lips and I limp back to the classroom, there's practice after school again today. But I doubt that the Titan will go, class already started when I enter the classroom, the teacher gives me a disappointed look but doesn't say anything when I sit down.

The Titan is already sitting in his seat, munching on some candy bar.

I stare out of the window until class is over and gather my things the second that the bell starts ringing. I'm already wal-limping to the door when I hear the teacher call my name.

"Uyeno-san! Take these to the teacher's office." He points to four boxes next to his desk "that's for being late."

A couple girls start chuckling and I sigh, putting my bag tightly around my shoulder before limping to the desk, I grab one of the boxes and nearly fall to the ground because of the weight. What are in these boxes?! Stones?

The teacher chuckles a bit as well when he sees me struggling to keep standing. What an asshole...

I put another box on the first one and lift them, I can't possible walk four times.. The teacher's office is on the first floor and I'm on the third. And it's on the other side of the building.

I bite my lip when I start walking, ignoring the pain in my ankle and wrist. It's almost impossible to see where I'm walking, why is our teacher such an ass? He obviously saw me limping when I entered the classroom.

"Murasakibara what do you think you're doing?" The teacher yells after I exit the door. I just continue limping towards the stairs.

Some weight disappears from my hands and I frown when I look besides me, the Titan is carrying three boxes and still manages to look over them. He doesn't even give me a glance but he continues to walk besides me, clearly slowing down his pace to match mine.

"Thank you for helping me.." I say after a couple moments of silence "and thank you for catching me earlier.." It could have ended way worse than it did..

He stays silent.

And that's how we continue walking, in complete silence.