Chapter 7

Hurt (noun)
To feel distressed or to suffer a mental pain.

"Is Asa-chan going to be okay? What if she doesn't wake up?! She'll miss out on Christmas!" Hotorou's voice trembled as he breathed uncomfortably close to my ear. I groaned stiffly as I felt my head pound and spots of light appeared before me. Why can I smell peppermint?

"Asa-chan, please wake up!" I heard a sniffle and felt a weight beside me. I groaned and rolled over onto my side and blearily opened my eyes to find myself looking directly into the bright eyes of Hotorou. What happened? I slowly opened my eyes and looked around; beside my bed was Akita who was watching me with concerned eyes. Where's my mother?

"Hotorou" I groaned "Please, you're sitting on my arm and it's hurting"
At the sound of his name, Hotorou jumped off the bed with a surprising amount of speed and let out a flurry of apologies. I waved off his apologies and pushed myself up into sitting position so my back was against the cold wooden headboard.

"Asami, don't sit up too quickly. I've called a doctor and they'll -"

"Is she really pregnant?" I cut Akita off before she could start lecturing me on how 'I should take better care of myself'. I kicked of the blankets that I was bundled in and swung my legs over the side of the bed, looking directly at Akita with wondering eyes. What is she even doing here anyways? She should be at the hospital and not here, giving me those eyes that make me feel as if I'm a small little child again.

"Asami, she's pregnant" Akita sighed and rubbed her own stomach with a sad look on her face. I waited for the words to sink in before standing up and pushing the hair out of my face. I need to get out of here, fast. I walked past Akita and threw open my cupboard door; I don't have the energy to handle this bullshit. Akita watched me and quietly told Hotorou to go downstairs so she could have a talk with me – he obeyed silently and left with one last fleeting glance in my direction. As soon as he left, Akita turned to me and cleared her throat. And I'm just about ready to cry. I could hear the faint pattering of Hotorou's feet hurrying down the stairs and I could also hear the muffled voices of my mother and stepfather coming from downstairs – they sounded as if they were eating dinner. I hope they choke on it, the bastards.

"Asami – I know it's difficult to comprehend that your mother is going to have a child but-" Akita waddled forward and tried to place a comforting hand on my shoulder. I brushed her hands off and continued to shove as many clothes as possible that were able to fit into my Nike bag.
"But what?" I slammed the cupboard door shut "Just ignore the fact she's left me here to fuck off and get pregnant?! To have a fucking kid and expect me to be okay with it? Be okay with the fact that she's so happy with the news of her child but she didn't even fucking want me"

"You need to understand that she had you when she was young -"
"I DON'T CARE! YOU HAD HOTOROU AT THE SAME AGE AS WHEN SHE HAD ME!" I swayed for a second as I felt my head ache again and my stomach lurch, I held onto the cupboard door to hold myself up. I crouched down and pulled out bundles of clothes, I just really need to get out of here and I don't have the patience to stay here any longer.

"That's enough, Asami!" Akita's voice was low and steely "You're almost sixteen and I know this is really hard for you but you need to understand that your mother is having a baby. And that baby will be your sibling and you need to be the mature person that I have raised you to be and you need to accept it because there is nothing else to do but just that"

I sighed and looked away; I know she's right but this isn't at all what I was expecting. I don't understand how she can leave me and then come back with this new family and just expect me to be alright with it. She can't just come back into my life and demand that I play house with her and pretend like everything is just like it was before because it's not and I wish that it could be but it can't because she left me and now she's come back so that she can have that 'perfect little family' that she's always wanted but it doesn't work like that.

"I really appreciate everything but I just need to get out of here – I'll be at Atsuki's for a while" I slung my bag over my shoulder, threw open the door and hurried down the stairs – ignoring my mother's calls for me to come back and talk to her.

I just want to get out of here.

"Don't try and call me" I cut her off before she could try and persuade me to stay "And please don't tell my dad"

She opened her mouth (no doubt to scold me) before closing it once more and turned to look away with a sombre expression. She gave me a small nod; I responded with a weak smile and slung my messenger bag over my shoulder and brushed past her. I really can't stay here any longer – I slowly made my way down the stairs, trying to ignore the pounding in my head and my less than perfect vision.

"Asami, you're awake!" I ignored the cry of delight that came from my mother's mouth and with one last glance over at my mother's large bulging pregnant stomach and a small ruffle of Hotorou's blonde hair – I was out of there.

"Wow, you look like crap" Atsuki greeted me cheerily, as she opened her bedroom door which I had been incessantly banging on for the last several minutes "What the hell happened to you?"

I ignored her greeting and pushed past her and jumped onto her bed, resting my cheek against her bed. Her blue bed sheets were warm against my cold cheek as I buried my face deeper into them, inhaling the sweet scent of lilac. I shrugged my bag off and threw it onto the ground beside a heap of clothes that were scattered across the room. Atsuki huffed as she kicked the clothes to the side and pulled up a blue stitched sweater before throwing it to the side and looking over at me.

"Gonna tell me?" She poked my sides softly; I pushed her hand off and squeezed my eyes shut. Please don't badger me about this for the whole entire night – I'm really not up for this right now. Instead of voicing my thoughts I only just coughed and spluttered and tried not to move too much.
"When I'm ready" I groaned as I felt my headache pounding in the side of my head. I really need a hot shower and a bag of red liquorice. No, make that two bags and a packet of Hershey's kisses.

"Did my dad let you in?" She sighed and sat beside me, I nodded slowly, not lifting my head from her warm blankets "I'm going to watch Shintaro-kun's game today. Do you want to come? It'll probably get your mind off stuff which I'm sure, you'll tell me about later"

Right, Seirin and Shutoku are playing today and I told Ryota that'd I'd go. Well shit. I was really looking forward to watching Kagami play as well as Kuroko but my head feels like it's going to burst any minute now. I pressed my palm against my temple as I tried to soothe the throbbing that was slowly spreading to the rest of my head.

"I'm going to get ready" Atsuki rubbed my shoulder before sighing again "You should have a long hot shower, your hair is still kinda wet and you look sick and I have some tablets if you have a headache or whatever"

"Eugh" I groaned, rubbing my eyes blearily and rolled over onto my back to see the painted ceiling above me. I can still remember the day Atsuki painted her ceiling, it was two Christmases ago and she had been bored with her plain white ceiling so she went all out and painted her ceiling as if there were no roof and you were staring straight outside to night sky. She had even gone so far to have bought glow in the dark stars that shone brightly against the dark blue paint. Her room always fascinated me, her walls were painted a deep blue navy with one wall scattered with small patterns that she had drawn herself. There were paper lanterns hanging from the corners of the ceilings, illuminating the photographs she had of everyone.

"I can't decide if I should wear the blue sweater with the stitching at the back of neck or the red sweater that has double knots along the side" Atsuki snapped me out of my thoughts as she picked up the two sweaters and examined them closely "I would go with the blue one but then I'll have to wear a necklace with it since the neck dips but I don't want to wear a necklace since it'll clash with my studded shoes. Unless I wear my pumps but –"

I tuned out before I could hear the rest of her 'fashion crisis' – the last thing on my mind right now is basketball. What the fuck am I going to do with myself? I'm a mess, my mother's pregnant and my dad isn't even here. Why didn't she just stay away? I'm sick of all this bullshit that she's pulled in my life, is it really that hard to just fuck off and leave me alone? I let out another exasperated groan and looked over to Atsuki who seemed to be now contemplating whether she'd wear the blue sweater or the green sweater now.

"The green matches my eyes but my Jade necklace would look nice but then again, I can't wear green on green" Atsuki sighed once more before looking over at me with concern "Please don't tell me you're wearing that"
"Why were you and Kagami together?" I decided to ignore her comment and instead steered the conversation to inquire about exactly why she was with Kagami (and how).

"Huh? Oh, I just happened to run into him at Majii Burger" Atsuki shrugged and threw the green sweater to the side and picked up a light blue dress "You know, like how I ran into you"

"But you never go to Majii Burger" I stated, deadpanned "You think their vanilla shakes are overrated"

"I think the real question is why exactly you kicked Yamahiro Katsu in the shin and stole his bag" Atsuki threw back at me, she dropped to the ground and stuck her hand under her bed and pulled out a cashmere blazer "This would be alright"

"How do you know Yamahiro?" I pushed myself into sitting position and crawled over to the side of her bed to look down at her "And I kicked him in the shin to distract him while I ran away with his bag 'cause Kazu needed to ask out his younger sister – Yamahiro's sister not Kazu's because that'd be weird and incestuous-"

"I hope you know, I have no idea what you're talking about" Atsuki chimed in, pulling a pair of black jeans from behind her drawer "But you can continue if you feel like this will help you let everything out"

"But I stuffed it up but I didn't want Satoru to blame everything on me so I had to do something drastic because there was no way that I'd be the one to mess the mission up" I continued, letting out all my crazed thoughts "So I ran and it was pretty much raining down the whole fucking pacific ocean and then I tried to hide behind that asshole, Aomine but then –"

"Wait, as in Aomine – the one who saved your life?" Atsuki's head popped up and stared at me with a smile on her face "What are the chances of that, huh?"

"He went on about how flat chested I was so I ran from him and then Rei pops up with his shiny haired new make out partner or whatever and he wanted to throw a party to initiate me into the 'crew'" I ignored Atsuki's raised eyebrows and just kept talking "But then Akita called me and threatened to kill me but I always wanted to die like on Lion King but I was too freaked out-"

"You seriously make no sense at all right now"

"And then I see my mum and her new boy toy or whatever the fuck he is-"

"So he's cute?"

"And it turns out; she's got a fucking foetus in her fucking uterus"

"Oh" Atsuki looked shocked for a second before shrugging her shoulders and pulled a scarf out from her wardrobe. Wait, did she just 'oh'? As if this isn't that much of a big deal?

"What do you mean 'oh'?"

"I mean 'oh' as in 'oh'" She shrugged again and picked up a towel that was hanging on her door and threw it over at me "Don't get angry at me. Just have a shower and clear your mind. And please, change out of those clothes. I have no idea what you were thinking when you wore that shirt with those pants"

"Fuck off" I threw a pillow at her which she dodged with a quick duck and she quickly scurried out of her room. What does she mean 'don't get angry'? What the hell am I supposed to be angry over when I don't even know what she's talking about. She just made me feel like I need to be angry thanks to her saying 'don't get angry'.

I let out a frustrated scream before I snatched up the towel she had thrown at me and stalked off to the bathroom.

"Asami, are you angry at me?" Atsuki called from her kitchen, most likely eating everything she can get her hands on.

"Why the fuck would I get angry at you if I don't even have a reason to be angry for fucks sake" I yelled back before slamming bathroom door shut.

"Okay, good!"

I rolled my eyes at her response and turned to look at myself in the mirror. My straight black hair was damp at the tips and my eyes were red. My pale skin seemed even paler; I brushed a loose strand away from my face and huffed. Maybe watching this basketball game will clear my mind and (hopefully) get rid of the painful headache that was all but attacking my temple. It's not like anything can make my day any worse than it already is.

"I'll find us some seats and you can go buy some food" Atsuki squinted, tip toeing to look into the crowd "If you hadn't had a tantrum, we could've gotten here earlier to get better seats"

"Throwing a hairbrush at you doesn't equal to a tantrum" I rolled my eyes "And I wouldn't have thrown it if you didn't stop bugging me about my mum being pregnant"

"Just please, Asami" Atsuki sighed "Get a lot of food – I'm starving"

"It's not like you ate before we came" I muttered under my breath but snatched the money from her outstretched hand "Just text me our seat numbers later"

"The canteen is on your left"

"Really? I thought the sign saying 'canteen on your left' meant that it was on my right" I spun on my heel to head towards the canteen before Atsuki had the chance to finish off her complaint about me being a 'pain in the ass'. Like she can talk. Carefully making my way down the steps and trying my hardest not to growl at everyone who even made eye contact with me. Obviously, I'm not in such a great mood.

I kept my head down and shoved my hands deeper into the pockets of my hoodie. Fortunately, I was able to fight Atsuki off when she tried to make wear a cardigan – a pink one at that too. Speaking of fighting off, I really wonder who'll come out as the victors tonight. Atsuki has decided to stay loyal to her family and she's obviously rooting for Shintaro-Kun but as for me, I'm going for the underdog. Kagami seems to be a ferocious player, both on and off the court and Kuroko is a bit of a wildcard in my opinion. I know that they won against Kise in a practice match so-

"OWWWWW" I was suddenly pushed back to the floor beneath me as a cold hard hand was sent flying to my forehead. Upon impact, I closed my eyes and groaned as I landed with a thud right on my ass. Well that hurt. A lot.

"Shit, sorry" I looked up to meet a pair of blue eyes "I didn't see you there, you okay?"

She stretched out her hand (not looking at all that sorry in the first place) and raised an eyebrow as I did nothing but glare at her fiercely. My foul mood seemed to spike as I watched her huff, obviously becoming impatient about the fact that I wouldn't accept her hand. I stared at it a bit longer before huffing and hitting it out of the way to stand up on my own.

"I didn't realise that this hallway was your fucking training room" I narrowed my eyes, looking down at her "How about you walk like a normal person so this doesn't happen again"

I could feel my bottled up rage and I watched as she looked taken aback for only a moment before her face hardened into a deep scowl.

"Look, I said sorry so you don't have to be a fucking bitch about it" She gritted her teeth and glared at me.

I opened my mouth the spurt out another insult at her lack of grace but was cut off quickly by a familiar yell that echoed through the entire hallway.

"ASAMICCHI!" I felt as if my head was going to explode when I heard Ryota's loud voice boom off the walls and into my ear "YOU'RE HERE!"

"Don't talk to me right now" I didn't bother turning to meet his eyes "Look, I'm just going to the canteen, leave me alone"

I brushed past the girl roughly (although she remained unperturbed much to my dismay), I was about to go on my merry own way when Ryota suddenly grasped my shoulder tightly, making me wince.

"Where are you going?" He spun me around to face his pouting face "And why were you yelling at Mizuki?"

"You know this chick?" The blue eyed girl, who I assumed name's Mizuki almost snarled as she glared at me from the side. I wanted nothing more than to turn around and kick the scowl of her face. What's it to her if I know him?

"Yeah, he does" I all but growled "Why do you care?"

"Yah, Asamicchi" Ryota reprimanded "This is my uh… friend, Mizuki"

"Well, you've never had the best taste when it came to picking out friends" I shoved his hand off my shoulder and pushed passed Mizuki once more who looked as if she was about to explode in anger. She bit her lip harshly and only let out a huff of anger before pushing Ryota away from her and walking the way I had just come from. I rubbed the spot where she hit me and hissed in pain, that's definitely going to bruise.

I continued on my path to the canteen and didn't turn back when Ryota continuously called for me to go back and talk to him. In less than a minute, I was standing in line for the canteen which smelt strongly of hot dogs, making me wrinkle my nose in disgust. Meat has never really appealed to me.

"What are you doing here?" A deep voice from my left made me jump in shock, my jaw almost dropped when I realised who it was. A small smirk played at his lips as he watched me in interest, his hands deep in his pockets.

"Kain?" I almost spluttered in surprised "You're watching the game?"

"Yeah, I came with Alex" He tapped his foot against the floor, nudging me to walk forward as the line went on "You look like shit. Did Yamahiro catch you?"

"Thanks" I rolled my eyes at his blunt remark "And as if he caught up, he's a slower runner than you"

"So, why do you look like you're going to pass out any moment" He asked, pushing me forward once more as the line shortened "I don't remember you being this ugly"

"Don't talk to me like we're best friends, Kain" I pushed a strand of hair behind my ear and glared over at him "Look, we hung out for what, a couple of hours? That doesn't mean shit to me, I don't know you"

"Don't be such a bitch" His voice held no anger or malice, it was as if he were just commenting on the weather, it was so casual "I'm just a curious person"

"Kain, what do you want?" I sighed "You hated me about three hours ago"

"A lot has changed in three hours"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, like your appearance" He glanced down at me "You seriously look like you just rolled out of bed then jumped in a dryer and then got hit by truck. There's a giant red spot on your forehead"

"Some chick punched me" I rubbed the spot again, hissing as I felt the stinging sensation "Look, I appreciate you trying to be nice or whatever but I don't feel like talking right now"

"Do you want a cigarette?"

"No"

"It's your turn to order" He looked pointedly at the smiling cashier who was batting her eyelashes cutely at Kain.

"How can I help you?" Her high pitched voice made me wince, I felt my ear drums were about to burst.

"My girls gonna order first" Kain bumped his shoulder into mine and smiled over at me cheekily. Okay what; did he just smile at me? Dark, brooding and mysterious Kain smiles? Did he just call me 'his girl'? I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously, what is he playing at?

"Oh… what can I get you?" The cashier's voice dropped as she looked at me lazily. Her once piqued interest disappeared as soon as her gaze met mine.

"Can I please get four – no five hotdogs, two sodas, a bag of popcorn and a bag of black liquorice" I listed off; not paying any mind at Kain's raised eyebrows.

"Can I get six hot dogs and four sodas" Kain tapped his fingers against the counter softly, glancing up at the large menu and reading through slowly "And two chocolate bars and two bottles of water and a large popcorn and two muesli bars"

"Uh, are you two paying together?"

"No-"

"Yes, we are" Kain smiled (although it kind of looked like a smirk) and snatched the money that I held tightly in my hand and pretty much threw it over to the cashier. She took it without so much of a moment of hesitation and quickly gave the change and walked off to the back to start on making the food we had just ordered.

"You are such a jerk" I pushed Kain's shoulder harshly but he seemed to have gone back to his old self and only shrugged in a casual manner.

"I don't have any money"

"I can't believe the audacity of you, really" I huffed indignantly; it wasn't the fact that he used my money; it was the fact that he pretended to be so nice to me and actually care about why I was so upset. Wow, he really has no limits to his asshole-ness. I ignored his presence for the rest of the time we had to wait and quickly snatched up the food I had ordered and hurried away, not wanting to stay near him any longer.

"Asami, why are you in such a rush?" Kain caught up with me moments later, his voice laced with amusement "Let me guess, you're mad because I pretended to be interested in why you were upset?"

"No-" I immediately began to deny his accusation, a small blush spreading across my cheeks, is it really that easy to read me?

"I know exactly why you're upset" Kain rolled his eyes, placing a soda back into my arms as it almost slipped from my grasp "Something happened with you and your parents. Trust me, I know"

"Seriously Kain" I started but was cut off yet again as Kain began to speak again.

"Whatever it is, I won't ask because I truly, really don't care" He shrugged again "You should really just get over it. Don't be so dramatic and just calm down about it"

"Listen here Kain" I began heatedly "You have no idea what you're talking about so don't even begin to think that you can just go around telling me what to do-"

"Trust me when I say this, Asami" Kain didn't look angry when he turned to me, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips "Don't take anyone for granted. Grow up and stop acting like a child, I don't know what's happening in your life but it can't bad enough for you to avoid everyone"

"How do you know I'm avoiding everyone?"

"I know everything there is to know about people like you" Kain snorted, taking a bite of his hot dog.

"What do you mean people like me?"

"You're annoyingly stubborn and you seem to always be angry" Kain chewed his food slowly and shook his head "I'm in a good mood today so I won't keep going on. Like how your hair resembles a rats nest and your face looks like it went under a rolling pin"

"You're a real asshole"

"And you're not original" He shrugged his shoulders once more and then walked off, probably towards where he was sitting with Alex. I watched his retreating figure and shook my head, confused. Kain, that didn't even seem like him – it wasn't that he was nice it was that he was just so… open? It was like he was still cold yet at the same time he was warm and in a really weird way, comforting. I shook my head once more then made my way to where Atsuki told me we'd be sitting.

I watched the game in silence and was nowhere near as interested as I should've been. My head continued to pound and my forehead still stung. Throughout the entire game, Kain's words echoed repeatedly through my head. Once the game came to an end I nodded and followed Atsuki as she pouted, sad that her cousin had lost his game.

"Let's go" I followed after her, rubbing my temples tiredly. Just as we walked down the last step, a small hand shot out and stopped me from following after Atsuki. I followed the thin arm and held back a small sigh as I came face to face with Aida Riko, who had a serious expression plastered across her mousy face. I quickly deflected her arm and continued on walking past her, ignoring her indignant squawk of anger.

"Yah, come back!" She called out huffily "You said you'd come and train with us! Yah, COME BACK!"

"Um, Asami?" Atsuki asked hesitantly "Aida-San is trying to call you"

"I can hear perfectly fine" I replied icily, my hearings just as good as anyone else's "I don't want to talk to anyone right now. I'm tired and sick and I want to eat"

"Oh, well…" Atsuki murmured slowly, looking unsure of what to say next "We can get a quick meal from Majii Burger then we'll go home. I can always talk to Shin-chan later"

I only nodded in thanks as we made our way to the exit, the rain poured down, stopping us from straying far from beneath the shade that the large building provided us with. I stifled a wince as another pang of pain seared across my temple, I tried to soothe the stinging sensation by gently rubbing the sore area but it was to no avail, if anything, the pain only became more unbearable. I pulled my jacket tighter against my frame, shivering as a strong gale of wind came our way. Atsuki didn't falter in her steps; the cold didn't seem to bother her in the slightest, even though her shirt was noticeably thinner than mine.

"Hey, is that Shin-chan?" Atsuki stopped in her tracks as she squinted through the rain "That is him!"

I opened my mouth, about to ask her how she could possibly know that was him when you could barely make out figures through the rapid rain that seemed to be going a thousand kilometres an hour. She didn't even let me start my question before she grinned widely and sprinting across the road towards the supposed person that she could somehow see in the rain. I pulled my hood up and followed after her, the rain seeped into the tips of my hair but it didn't drench my clothes.

The glare of the light emitted from Majii Burger made me throw my arm up to stop the light from blinding my eyes. My eyes finally met with Atsuki's figure as I saw her happily conversing with her cousin who looked as if he wanted to do nothing more than tape Atsuki's mouth shut.

"It's okay, there's always the next game!" Atsuki's encouraging words looked as if they weren't doing any good as her cousin only nodded, still looking as dejected as he did in the beginning "You played really well though! Asami and I were watching!"

At the mention of my name, she pulled me towards her and smiled brightly – pushing me forward to introduce myself. I glanced back over my shoulder at her to give her an annoyed scowl but she only smiled even wider, nodding encouragingly as if to say 'you can do it'. I think I'm going to kill her in her sleep tonight.

"Ohayo, I'm Asami" I muttered, not bothering to bow and only sent him a swift nod. He raised his eyebrow at my impoliteness before bowing back.

"Midorima Shintaro" He pushed the rim of glasses on the bridge of his nose and looked down at me "It's nice to finally meet you"

"Yeah" I shrugged before brushing past and walking into Majii Burger for the second time today. I walked past where I had been sitting less than four hours ago – I still can't believe that happened. I should've stayed a little longer to see the look on Satoru's face when he realised that I pretty much saved the whole 'mission'. He would've looked like a complete-

"Uzuki-San, did you watch the game?"

"What the fuck?" The sudden call of my name made me jump back and squeal in surprise. Before I even opened my eyes, I knew who it was, only one person could possibly lack that much presence.

"Kuroko-Kun" I growled "Stop doing that"

"I'm sorry, did you watch the game?" He asked again, moving over in his seat, making room for me to (assumedly) sit beside him. I shrugged before joining him and Kagami who didn't even notice my presence due to the fact that he was trying to down two burgers down his throat at once. I can definitely see him and Atsuki getting along well. I coughed in disgust, watching as he chewed quickly, to fit another bite in. He looked up at the sudden noise and gave me what looked like a wave of his hand.

"I thought" He swallowed first, thumping on his chest to get the food down "you were going to train with me"

"Maybe some other time" I answered, still disgusted "I said I would and I keep my word but I'll do it when I want to"

"Are you even that fast?" He asked, in a non-malicious way but rather in a genuine and curious tone "Are you even a good basketball player?"

"I'm sure your coach wouldn't have asked me if I was a shitty player, now, would she?" I rolled my eyes at his stupid questions. Am I fast? Wow, he's really something.

"ASAMICCHI!" I didn't bother to turn at the call of my 'name'. I only threw my aching head into my hands and groaned "HEY!"

I didn't even get to take my hands out of my head before he all but shoved me to the side to make room not for just him but that girl he was with earlier- Mizuki, that's it. She gave me a cold glance and looked away, looking as if she didn't want to be here in the first place, no doubt she was forced by Ryota to come.

"What are you doing here with Kurokocchi?" I didn't answer and instead pushed past him and stood up, a tired look on my face.

"I have to go" I really can't stay here any longer, I feel like my head will fall off and I just need to think for a bit "Kagami-Kun, I'll practice when I want to so tell your coach to fuck off, Kuroko-kun stop fucking scaring me every time I see you. And fuck you"

I directed the last part of my farewell to Mizuki whose arm Ryota gripped on to as she made a move to stand up after my last comment. I turned on my heel, I'm ready to leave. I need to think. I walked out the door and walked past Atsuki and Midorima who were still in deep conversation. I walked past the courts where I had been playing. I walked past the tall buildings where I had run past before.

"Yo, Asami" I didn't look up to see who was suddenly walking past me, I knew who it was.

"Rei" I greeted, even though we're kind of recently made friends, I felt comfortable with him. He's one of the… realest people I've ever met; he's just so comfortable to be around.

I looked over at Rei, he looked different without Satoru grappling at his neck. He quickly explained that he was just passing by since Satoru was hungry so he was going out to buy some food ("I'm not stalking you, I swear"), I nodded and continued walking, trying to get to the bus stop as fast as possible.

"Kain said that you were upset because of your parents" Rei suddenly said, his voice casual.

"I never told him that" I huffed "He assumed that"

"Trust me, he knows"

"What is your obsession with my parents, huh?"

"We're not; we just know a lot about people like you and parents and just shit like that" People like me? What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Really?

"Just stop please"

"It's okay to be hurt"

"I'm serious, you don't know me" I gritted my teeth "You don't know shit so just stop"

"Look, this is my stop" Rei stopped as we came past a large food mart "Just listen to Kain's advice"

"Fuck off" I shot back easily "I don't want to hear your useless advice and how you think you know me after one meeting"

"He knows what hurt is"

"So do I"

With that I turned my back to him and continued to walk past. I just kept walking. Thinking about Atsuki's words and Kain's and Rei's. I didn't have to wait long before my bus pulled up, my usual bus driver opened the door to reveal a nearly completely empty bus.

"Where are you off to today, Asami?" His smile was warm and content. I looked up at him and blinked once.

"Take me … home" I stepped on the bus "To my house, please"

"Of course"

I glanced back out the door and sighed, taking a seat the back of the bus. I need to go home. I need to stop and just clear everything up. I need to grow up and I need to fix things. I'm tired of being hurt.

a/n: I know this is late and lame but I'm sorry. It's late because I'm lazy. It's lame because I'm trying to just show a bit more of Asami's growth as a character. Kain and Rei seem weird but all will be explained. Leave reviews and stuff. I'm sorry again (I KNOW IT'S ALMOST BEEN A YEAR AND I'M SORRY OK AND IT'S REALLY SHORT TOO I'M SORRY). okay (also this hasn't been edited so sorry for typos and such)