Courting You

Who Am I? - Akashi Seijuro x Reader

Sequel to Lack - Akashi Seijuro x Reader.

Okay, I lied about Lack being the last part ._.' . I got a pretty good idea on how to continue it and boom, now this series is a trilogy! I probably will write at least one other part since now I don't feel like this series is complete. Just be patient for it though.

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This was a first. Akashi Seijuro had lost. In the Winter Cup, he was handily defeated by Kuroko Tetsuya and the rest of Seirin's basketball team. The failure should have left him completely distraught and truthfully, it partially had, leaving a terribly bitter taste in his mouth.

However, Akashi was not one to give up. There was no way he was just going to lie down and stay down in shameful defeat. No, he would continue to evolve and adapt as his life went on. These events changed him for the better - he returned to his normal self, both eyes becoming a pure, untarnished red once more.

Surprisingly his mindset felt clearer than it ever had been, defeat ironically granting him the freedom he had once waived away. Of course, his father was none too pleased with the results of the Winter Cup, suggesting that Akashi drop basketball. After all, what was the point of continuing to play the sport if he did not win? Nothing - there was no point. Those were the terms they had agreed upon.

But another first occurred as Akashi rebelled against his father and refused his orders for him to quit basketball. The teenage boy had heavily insisted upon keeping the sport in his schedule much to his father's dismay. There was a certain spark in the redhead's eyes that the older man had not seen in Akashi since the boy's mother died. The flame could not be sated and thus the head of the Akashi family reluctantly allowed for him to continue his basketball activities.

Akashi continued his studies and extracurriculars as vigorously as before, although sometimes unsettling apparitions would flicker in his mind's eye. At the gym, flashes of (h/c) would invade his view and vibrant shades of (e/c) shone before disappearing in an instant. Intense, heartwrenching emotions flooded his senses, leaving him gasping in anguished despair, but were then completely gone and forgotten in a matter of seconds.

He was haunted in his dreams as well. Heavy rains fell, inundating his mystical surroundings, the water tasting salty like tears. Bandaged hands reached out to him pleadingly only to then wrap around his neck, tightening their hold on him and choking him until he was awoken from his slumber, breathing hard, verging on hyperventilating.

There was also talk in the school as well of a new transfer student in class 1-C, a genius rivaling even his own intellect. The girl had gotten into the prestigious high school with a scholarship, which was practically unheard of since the Rakuzan placement tests were notoriously difficult. Now Akashi no longer was the sole person to receive first place each time on the school assessments, instead tying and sharing his number one ranking with-

"Sei-chan?"

"Ah, I apologize, Mibuchi." Akashi smiled weakly, standing up from the bench. "I cannot afford to be distracted at a time like this." No, it was very unbecoming of him to grow complacent during a practice game.

"She's watching again." Reo stated, looking inconspicuously at the infamous genius first year sitting in the front of the bleachers. "It's almost stressful playing under her watchful eye. It's kind of like we're prey being closely examined and carefully dissected by her."

"Never mind that now, Mibuchi." Akashi muttered, before giving several kind and helpful pointers to the other members of his team. "We're nearly finished now. Let's take the game."

Rakuzan won the basketball game using teamwork, a type of play that Akashi had recently decided to employ in his strategies. Hayama and Nebuya began high fiving each other and requesting them from Reo and the others. They even managed to get one from Akashi, much to their surprise. The rest of the Rakuzan basketball team still weren't completely used to the change in their friendlier and no longer heterochromatic-eyed captain.

Akashi turned his head, gaze locking onto the back of the female transfer student that had come to see every basketball game of Rakuzan's after the Winter Cup. Although she too was a first year, she was in a different class from his and so he never interacted with her. He had never actually gotten a good look at her face either, but the uniquely styled (h/l) (h/c) hair distinguished her from other pupils. Akashi Seijuro also struggled to remember her name despite often seeing her full name next to his on the placement rankings for first place on Rakuzan tests.

Just who was she? Never in junior high nor high school until now had another student been able to tie with him, let alone get anywhere close to his constantly perfect scores in every subject.

"Sei-chan, I got some notes on the game from that transfer girl." Mibuchi Reo called, diverting Akashi's attention from the mysterious first year to his black haired teammate. "It's pretty bold of her to give us something like this when she's not on the team, but maybe that means she wants to become our manager."

Akashi took the papers from the older basketball player and read the contents. The packet was filled with brilliant game plans, frighteningly accurate diagnoses on the Rakuzan team members' playing styles, very detailed notes on the players of the opposing team, and carefully planned out basketball routines for practice. Akashi was rather impressed - the whole assemblage of basketball strategies and observations was absolutely perfect, meticulous, and professional... except for one thing that made his stomach churn.

There was a little sticky note at the end of the stack of papers with a little drawing of a heart, only the image was messily crossed out. It was obviously not intended to be included in the packet and must have gotten stuck to the stack by accident. There was something eerily familiar about this sticky note and it produced an action from him that he could not have predicted nor controlled. Akashi had no idea why he was doing this and even believed that he was probably overreacting and looking like a fool, but he was running after the girl.

Her (h/c) hair swished as she walked away, but he caught up relatively quickly. For some odd reason all the people in the hallway had cleared the path for him and the enigmatic transfer student. Akashi had assumed that it was because all the peers were still intimidated by him and his past negative reputation, but he realized that they were not looking at him at all.

"Who... are you?"

There was a heavy sense of foreboding. He should have expected things to go wrong from how all the students were staring at the female. There was an interesting mixture of fear and awe in their eyes, an expression he was all too used to seeing directed at him.

"Who am I?" The girl asked, turning around to face Akashi Seijuro whose eyes widened and mouth opened in a subtle gape. Heterochromatic eyes, one (e/c) and one gold, pierced into his two red ones.

"I'm (Full name), of course."