Imperfect match // Daiki Aomine (Kuroko no Basuke)

7. Training regime

The following day, she has recovered attending class and shows up for practice.

"What are you doing here?" He captain asks, hands on her hips.

"It's been two days. Surely I can come back."

She's not keen on letting Satori back so soon and calls the coach.

"Hey there. You can practice but pace yourself please."

"Sure." She says bowing respectfully, thankful to be able to practice.

She look over to the basketball side and can't see either of them so she goes to the changing room and once out she has no time to waste as she starts to warm up.

After a few drills she is ordered to go sit on the bench along the dividing net where she has a drink.

"Hey!" She hears from behind.

"Kise."

"How do you feel?"

"Good. Just taking it slow."

"I'm glad. You look better."

"Must be that soup. It was delicious. Thanks."

"Haha! Told you." He says now shy.

"Is... Is Aomine here?" His expression changes hearing Satori mentioning his friend's name. "I wanna say thank you."

"Satori! You're up!" She hears her teammate call from the side.

"He is, just talking to the coach."

"I gotta go. See you later."

"Yeah!" His smile radiates and takes her off guard.

Is this all an act? She could have sworn that he'd be the jock kinda guy, having all the girls swooning for him. Looking at the rest of the basketball team, they'd all fit in that category. Was she being too quick to judge, generalising on stereotype?

Definitely! What kind of person is she to make such conclusions so quickly? Not very open minded for sure. And that after Aomine came to her rescue twice now.

Kise definitely surprised her. She let her guard down a little and was actually enjoying the short interactions with him. He's a nice guy. Is he loud? For sure. Arrogant? Obviously. But he's not a bad person and cared enough to bring her soup.

Now, the guard is not completely down. She doesn't know him and doesn't know if he has an ulterior motive for being that nice.

Unfortunately, she experienced both in secondary school and high school bullying because she didn't fit in the right category mostly because of her height and studious nature. Guys saying they were interested in her and making her little teenager's heart beat faster, just to humiliate her, to make themselves feel superior.

Although university is not somewhere where bullying is common, and she's now an adult having learned to thicken her skin and be cautious, she's with people like her, athletes, 'monsters' in their field. It feels like home, somewhere safe with peers.

Practice finished, she picks up her bag and heads towards the exit. Seeing Aomine waiting at the door, reassures her.

"Hey." He says handing her a bottle of energy drink with an authoritative look.

"Hi." She says picking it off his hand, knowing that if she refuses, it will only start an unnecessary argument. "Thanks."

"Sure." He says taking a sip of his and walking towards the Sports science building.

Following him after taking a few sips herself, she catches up to walk alongside him.

"You left early the other day at the medical centre and I didn't get a chance to thank you." He looks at her sideways. "The others said you carried me all the way from the gymnasium?"

"Oh yeah. It's nothing."

"It's not nothing. I'm not a lightweight."

"I said it's nothing." He says irritated, visibly uncomfortable about her thankfulness.

"Sorry. Sure. I mean... whatever." She adds realising that he's probably not comfortable with this situation.

They continue to walk quietly until they reach the training room.

"Hey Satori! How are you feeling?" Jordan greets them.

"Yeah, I'm good now. Just taking it slowly this week but I'll be back to normal on Monday."

"So you decided to come back at the same time as Satori?" Jordan asks Aomine.

Surprised that he would have missed sessions too, she suddenly turns to him.

"I'm really sorry you missed your session because of me!" She feels mortified that this may have affected his potential improvement.

"I decided to take you to the medical centre. If I was that desperate to train, I wouldn't have. Sorry Jordan."

"No! No! Satori's health is way more important. Speaking of... what the hell Satori! If training was too much you should have said."

Aomine walks away towards the equipment as if he anticipates that she may feel embarrassed to speak in front of him. It's also none of his business and he knows it.

"I had exams and didn't sleep enough, forgot to eat... all that nonsense! My training regime is fine, but I need to move apartment. It's too noisy, I can't rest."

"I see. But eat for Pete's sake! If you're pushing yourself and not resting enough, it's skewing my research too. I mean I'm also worried about you and your health by the way." She chuckles at his worried face.

"I know. I know. Shall we start? Just not as hard core as usual today though."

"Come on, follow me, I know exactly what to do with you."

Training goes like a breeze and after that, she stays behind to talk to Jordan further. It's getting late and she decides that she'll shower at home.

She doesn't want to risk being in the shower block next to Aomine and get all excited again.

Once outside, he's there, leaning against the stair rail. Surprised that his hair is only wet around his forehead from the sweat, obviously not having had a shower, she stares at him as he now stands straight.

So he was waiting for her again?

"What? Something on my face?" He asks.

"N... no."

"Ready to go home?"

"Were you waiting for me?"

"No! Yeah. I mean, you seem to attract trouble at the moment so... it's on my way home anyway so don't get all excited." He scoffs before walking down the few steps.

As they walk quietly out of campus, she says nothing but smiles at herself. She feels safe when he's around, calm. There's no lying about that.

She doesn't see herself as weak or needing a man to feel valued but there's something about his presence that feels nice, even though he is cold and not particularly chatty or friendly, he's real and you get what you see.

"Thanks." She says as she walks towards her building door.

"What for?" He asks confused.

"Walking me home."

"I'm just walking that way. I'm not walking you home."

"Sure you're not." She says obviously unconvinced with his disinterested attitude. "See ya!" She adds, waving cheerfully.

"Yeah." He answers rolling his eyes.

Why does she have to be so cheerful? She passed out two days ago and it's as if nothing happened. Does she have any idea what it was like for the people around to see her lifeless like that? They didn't understand what was happening! They were so worried... he was. Flashes of her peaceful face as he was carrying her in his arms pop into his mind.

She was beautiful. Her hands were warm and so soft.

Shit! No! No time for a crush. Focus on basketball.