Title: Unexpected Encounter

Writer: Amariys

Words count: 4622 words

Fandom/Characters: Kuroko no Basket/Aomine Daiki, Kise Ryouta, Momoi Satsuki.

Pairing(s): Actually none, but pre-slash AoKise to be safe.

Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basket is not mine. No trademark infringement or profit meant from the writing of this story.

Rating: T

Summary: A request fic from kisescryingface on my tumblr. It's the weekend after Kaijou vs. Touou match in Interhigh. Kise still feels like a crap, but he has modelling job to do. Fate just like to mess with him and decide it's a good idea if he meets Aomine (and Momoi) while working.

Warnings: self-edited.

A/N: I apologize beforehand if it took me a really long time to write, dear kisescryingface. I apologize again if it's not up to your expectation. I hope you and any other readers still can enjoy this story, though, and thank you for giving me prompts.

It was not yet morning when Kise opened his eyes. The sky outside was still dark. Even the sun was still too lazy to come out from its hiding place. But Kise simply took his cell phone to turn the alarm he had set last night off. 4.30 AM. It might be too early for most people, but it was the regular time for Kise to wake up. After all, he had so many things to do before starting the day.

The cold almost-morning air made him shiver and for a second, he was tempted to stay curled in his blanket, but he had never been one to ditch exercise, so Kise forced himself to sit up on the bed with a groan. All the muscles in his body still felt sore from the last Interhigh match between Kaijou and Touou just two days ago and when he stood up, Kise couldn't hold the pained hiss back. He had almost forgotten about his injured leg, but the searing pain was more than a reminder for him.

Taking a deep breath, Kise closed his eyes as his mind recalled all that happened in that one match. He bit his lips to fight against the familiar mixture of desperation, frustration, anger, sadness and disappointment that welled up within him. He had given himself enough time to wallow in self-pity. He should have been able to forget all about it now.

Steeling himself, he finally managed to take slow steps towards his bathroom. His leg was still screaming protests at him whenever he moved, but Kise ignored it; just like how he would always ignore his own exhaustion at practice. After brushing his teeth, Kise changed his clothes into a simple white T-shirt under a thick, dark blue sweater and black jogging pants. He then took a small clean towel, his cell phone and iPod before heading out of his room.

The whole house was still quiet in its slumber when he slowly get out of his room and made a quick journey to the kitchen. There was a small waist bag with a bottle of water inside prepared for him with a note from his mother telling him to not forcing it. Kise smiled faintly before taking it and walking back towards the front door.

It was a routine for him to start the day by jogging around the familiar street of his house complex to warm his body up and by now he had remembered the route that sometimes he didn't even realize he had returned back to his house. Usually, it would be a walk in the park for him, but in his condition right now, jogging seemed to be more painful than anything. Halfway through, he was already sweating profusely, but not from the exercise. His head hurt from the sharp pain sent to his brain with each step he took until finally he decided to cut the jogging short and made a short way back to his house. His leg was killing him and Kise knew forcing it more than this would only make him incapable to follow with his schedule for today.

Stopping in front of his house, Kise took a while to catch his breath. His leg was shaky and it felt as if thousands of needles were piercing right through his flesh. He gritted his teeth, hating himself for being weak-for losing against Aomine even though he had pushed himself far beyond his own limit. The pain on his leg was a proof that he was still not good enough to stand in the same court with Aomine and, in a moment of despair, he wondered if he would ever be good enough.

xXXx

After doing his usual beauty routine, Kise opened his personal organizer and almost groaned when he saw that today he had work to do. It was a work scheduled before Interhigh and he had almost forgotten about it. Biting his lips, he almost considered ditching this job, but he knew it would only make him look bad in his client's eyes, so Kise took a deep breath and readied himself to receive Kasamatsu's kicks tomorrow because he couldn't come to their weekend practice.

Besides, the job was important. He had been chosen as the icon for a famous clothing brand, The Burberry, for their next Autumn collections and he was scheduled to appear at some well-known malls in Tokyo starting from this afternoon until early night. With such an important client and the contract binding him to their agreement, he couldn't escape this job. Not that he wanted to. It was actually a nice distraction from basketball right now, because to be honest, he wasn't in the mood to play with his leg condition.

So Kise sent a message to Kasamatsu, detailing his job and apologizing profusely to his strict captain. The reply arrived minutes later just as Kise was about to get out of his home. As expected, Kasamatsu seemed quite irate for Kise's absence, but then he gave Kise his permission. Kise couldn't help but to chuckle after he read the message. Kasamatsu-senpai could be so adorable sometimes.

xXXx

"Dai-chan! It's already noon! You have to get up now!"

The shrill voice of Momoi Satsuki didn't even make Aomine sit up on his bed. Lazily, he flicked his gaze towards the girl who was standing in front of his room's door with a scowl between her brows. Aomine only gave Momoi an insolent eye roll before he turned around on his bed, giving his back towards the woman.

Not one to give up easily, Momoi marched inside Aomine's room. She then sat down atop of her childhood friend, ignoring the pained huff Aomine released at that, and crossed her arms on her ample bosoms. "I'm serious, Dai-chan. Your mother asked me to drag you out of this room and that's exactly what I will do. You'd better get up and take a shower right now unless you want me to burn all of your porn collection."

"Get off, Satsuki! You're heavy! Besides, can't you let me sleep in for today?! I think I deserve as much after the last match!"

"I am being lenient to you! The others have already started practicing right now and you are already being privileged for skipping practice, so I don't want to hear any excuses! Do as I told right now or you can say goodbye to your beloved Horikita Mai-chan."

Aomine threw his childhood friend a dirty glare. But then he ground out, "Fine," before sitting up on the bed. Momoi immediately moved away from above him as he get off of the bed. Still grunting under his breath, he walked towards the bathroom, knowing perfectly well Momoi would go through her threat if he didn't indulge her.

Momoi grinned as Aomine finally moved his lazy ass, but the grin was short lived. Once he disappeared behind the bathroom's door, a pensive expression took over the girl's face. She sat on the bed edge, idly playing with a loose strand from the bed sheet (and inwardly thinking Aomine really should change his sheet soon). Aomine was in foul mood. Everyone close to him could see it clearly. Sure, it was not a rare occurrence for him to skip practice, but never had he been so dispassionate about everything. Momoi had a good guess for the reason behind his bad mood, but she didn't have the heart to confront him about it.

The match against Kaijou was different. It was far more intense than any matches they had ever had before—even the match against Seirin wasn't that intense—and it was painful for Momoi to watch it. Because she knew how close Aomine and Kise were back in Teikou and she knew at the end of the match, it was not only Kise who regretted the outcome. Aomine might hide it better, but Momoi had seen the pained expression her childhood friend showed for second after Kaijou's captain gave Kise his hand.

Despite the change he had went through, Momoi knew deep inside, Aomine still cared about their former team members, especially those close to him like Kuroko and Kise. That was why he sulked. That was why she decided to come here and drag him out of his self-implied solitude to take his mind off of things.

Dealing with Aomine's moods was a challenge more often than not, but despite everything Momoi would still be there for the Touou ace. Because she knew Aomine couldn't really do anything if he was left to his own device.

xXXx

"... You must be fucking kidding me."

"Dai-chan, language!" Momoi scolded without looking at the tanned man. "And I'm not kidding! I've been wanting to buy a new coat for the upcoming autumn and besides, there's a saying that shopping is the best cure for bad mood!"

"That's a stupid saying that only works for girls! Do I look like a fucking girl to you?!"

A giggle answered Aomine's rhetoric question and it really wasn't helping his mood at all. He crossed his arms and scowled mightily, half thinking to plant his feet firmly where he was standing and let Momoi did her shopping by her own. Sadly, Momoi was taking none of it. Still giggling, she took hold of Aomine's arm in surprisingly strong grip before half-dragging him into the mall. Against her persistence, Aomine could only groan in dismay.

It was only when he finally entered the mall and saw posters of Kise Ryouta in what seemed to be every corner, nook and cranny of the big building that Aomine actually considered running away as fast as he could. He actually stopped dead cold on his track this time, forcing Momoi to come into a halt too. He pulled Momoi until she turned around and faced him, almost expecting her to grin guiltily, but she looked as surprised as he was by the posters.

"Dai-chan, I have no idea about this, I swear." Momoi said before Aomine could accuse her of anything.

The scowl on Aomine's face didn't disappear or even lightened up at all, but he could hear the sincerity in his childhood friend and figured there was no use to be mad at her. "Can't we go shopping in another mall then?" Aomine felt quite pathetic as he asked that, but at the moment, he'd rather ditch his pride than facing the possibility of actually seeing Kise.

"But ... Dai-chan, just because there are posters, doesn't mean Ki-chan will be here, right? I mean, he's the icon for this brand, so of course he will appear in their posters, but he's in Kanagawa, remember? I think the possibility of him actually being here is slim to none. You don't have to be so worry."

"There's still the miniscule chance that we will actually meet him," Aomine pointed out with a faint growl. "And with my luck, I don't think that's impossible right now."

"Okay, so that possibility does exist, but that doesn't mean you can keep running away from Ki-chan! I don't ask you to become friendly with him—not after everything—but the least thing you can do is stop being a coward who can't face his own problem!"

The words hurt. Both because of the truth in it and because Aomine's pride certainly didn't take well being called a coward. His glare darkened, but Momoi just returned it with equal force until finally Aomine snapped, "Fine! Let's just do this stupid shopping and be done with it!"

And just to prove how wrong Momoi was about him being a coward, Aomine stalked forward first, leaving the pink haired girl behind him. For a moment, Momoi just watched the back of her childhood friend who seemed so far away with sad eyes. Then she shook her head imperceptibly. Oh, well, as long as she was there to look after him, Aomine wouldn't do anything too stupid—or at least, that was what Momoi hoped for.

xXXx

It was tiring to keep smiling and standing there while the fans swarmed about him, asking for photograph or autograph. It was even more tiring because his leg was still hurting as hell but he couldn't very well let his pain showed on his face. Cold sweat had started to make his body feel uncomfortably damp and the cold air made him want to shiver. But Kise endured all of that as he put on his professional face while subtly glancing at his wrist watch. He only had 10 minutes left until this last session is over. Surely he could last that long.

"Ryouta-kun, please look this way! Can I have your photograph, please?"

Another fan screamed at him and Kise, almost automatically, turned to face her with a bright smile. "But of course! This will be our last photograph session though, because unfortunately I will have to leave you lovely ladies soon," the smile turned slightly apologetic at the disappointed yell from the girls. "yes, I do apologize. It has been a pleasure to meet you all and don't forget to buy our autumn collection for you and your special someone!"

The squeal that could be heard after that was deafening and for the last ten minutes he had, Kise was surrounded by his fans like he was fire and they were the moths. He was almost overwhelmed by it, but he kept the bright smile on his face. Thankfully, the event organizer kept true to their schedules and after ten minutes, they gently but firmly ushered the fans to move away from him. Most of the fans obeyed and walked away with happy smiles and waves, which Kise returned, but some still lingered stubbornly. Kise gave them cursory glance, not interested in playing his model part anymore, when his eyes caught sight of someone he knew quite well. A genuine smile curved Kise's lips immediately.

"Momo-cchi!" he called out to the girl, waving his hand to catch her attention.

"Ki-chan!" Returning the wave just as enthusiastically, Momoi then walked towards the model. She could see some of the waiting fangirls giving her evil glares, but she just replied with a sweet smile. "I didn't expect to see you here! And wow, you look gorgeous!"

"Thanks! This is the latest autumn collection from the brand I'm representing. What about it, Momo-cchi, do you want to buy one too? They have similar clothes for women too!" he grinned teasingly before striking a ridiculous pose just for her. His eyes glinted with delight when she giggled at his antics. He had always loved to make people laugh, especially when that people were his friends. Still, he knew Momoi was sincere when she flattered him and even he himself felt quite good in his clothes.

He was wearing a white turtleneck under dark brown leather coat that went to his thighs. The coat was cut in body fit so it hugged his lithe muscles in the most complimentary manners. He also wore dark grey trousers and high boots of the same color with his coat. Warm sand brown gloves protected his hands from the cold air and to complete his look, he wore a dark blue hat on top of his head. His appearance made people turn their head to just look and Kise took pleasure in seeing their awed look.

"I'd love to, but I'm not sure I have enough money to buy such an expensive cloth like that," Momoi answered with a wistful smile. "It is very nice though. It'll be a nice birthday present for Dai-chan. It's about time to retire his old coats."

The smile on Kise slipped, but he was quick to hide it. "A ha ha, I can only imagine. I'm sure he's still sleeping in his home, huh?"

"Who is sleeping in his home?"

A familiar deep voice cut in their conversation. Kise and Momoi both looked up to see Aomine walking towards them with a rather big paper bag in hand. He was scowling in irritation as he addressed Momoi, "The line was fucking long. It took me ten minutes just to pay your stupid stuff. You'd better repay me for that!"

"Ah, thank you, Dai-chan!" Momoi took the plastic bag from Aomine's hand. "I was curious of the crowd and look who I found! It's Ki-chan! Apparently he's here for some modelling work. Don't you think he looks handsome?"

"Ah?" Aomine finally turned his attention towards the blond who was standing awkwardly behind Momoi. His dark blue eyes raked Kise's body from head to toe, taking in the clothes he wore and inwardly he admitted the blond looked like a fucking gorgeous model from some magazine. He had always known Kise was not some skinny man-model, but the coat he wore currently accentuated his lithe muscles, making him look well-built but not in an overwhelming way and he looked nice enough to make Aomine's heart skip a beat. But of course, what came out of his mouth was, "He looks stupid."

Hurt immediately warped Kise's expression and he wasn't fast enough to cover it with a smile; Aomine saw it clearly. He saw it and it sent a painful twinge in his chest too. So, of course Aomine just had to run his mouth again.

"What are you doing here, anyway? Shouldn't you be training more with your precious teammates? After your pathetic lost against me, I would have thought you would stop doing this stupid job and start focusing on your basketball skill. No wonder it was so easy to defeat Kaijou; their ace still has trouble splitting his attention between basketball and his work, after all! You will never be able to surpass me if you don't take basketball seriously, Kise."

Kise staggered back as if Aomine had punched him. His face as white as the sheet and the eyes staring back at Aomine was so full of hurt it managed to make him feel like the worst scum in the world. The expression lasted for few heartbeats before a bitter smile appeared on Kise's face.

"You're right, Aomine-cchi. You're absolutely right," honey brown eyes flashed and for once it almost looked as if Kise actually hated him. "I can't defeat you. Not in my current state and perhaps not in forever. So, congratulations! Your prediction is right. The only one who can beat you is you. Good luck finding another you for that." The smile Kise gave was sharp as if it was meant to cut Aomine in half. "Well then, I need to change my clothes now. See you later, Aomine-cchi, Momo-cchi."

He turned around and walked away before either Momoi or Aomine could say anything. As soon as Kise was out of hearing range, Momoi turned around to face Aomine with teary glare. "I hope you're happy now, Aomine-kun," she hissed furiously, jabbing a finger at Aomine's chest. "I hope you're happy for being such a bastard. Ki-chan doesn't deserve those words. He is working hard despite his injured leg and he deserves better than that. Now, for the love of the God, I hope you're still a decent enough person to apologize to him or I won't even waste my time with you anymore."

Shame made Aomine unable to return Momoi's gaze. He gritted his teeth, hating himself for the hurtful words he had said to Kise and hating Kise for taking it just like that. He had never seen such a painful expression on his ex-teammate's face before. For as long as Aomine could remember, Kise was always smiling. Although not all of the smiles were sincere, but it would always curve his lips nevertheless. So to see such a pained look on Kise's face was shocking to say the very least.

"Tsk," Aomine curled his hands into tight fists. The familiar feeling of guilt and regret started to consume him once again. His expression twisted into that of regret. He wanted to run after Kise. To apologize for his words and everything, but he didn't think he had the right to do that. He had messed up so many time already. There would be no guarantee he wouldn't mess this one up too.

"Dai-chan," a soft voice called out and Aomine gazed down to where Momoi had touched his arm. She was no longer glaring. Her anger dissipated and replaced by sympathy once she saw the conflicted look on his face. When her eyes finally met with his navy blue ones, she smiled gently. "It will be alright. You still can fix this. However, if you stay here, everything will be too late and you will regret it forever. So, go and chase him, Dai-chan."

There was a reason why Momoi had become their manager. It was not only because she was an expert in gathering information, but also because her advises usually were spot on. And Aomine didn't have a reason to doubt her. Without saying any other words, Aomine ran pass her. He just hoped he would be able to catch up with Kise before it was too late.

xXXx

His leg was shaking when he finally sat down on the cab his manager had called up for them. Kise closed his eyes with heavy sigh, leaning back against the seat. His lips were pulled down, his expression clearly screaming annoyance. From beside him, his manager kept throwing worry glances but nevertheless didn't say anything. It was a rarity for Kise to look annoyed and his manager knew the best way to handle his bad mood was to leave him alone.

"Good job for today, Ryouta-kun. I am sorry you have to skip your practice today."

"Ah, it's not a problem. I've gotten my captain's permission for today. Although I'm sure he will make me work twice as hard in the next practice." Kise offered with a weak smile.

His manager chuckled politely at that. "Kasamatsu-san really is strict, isn't he? But he's kind. How's your leg, Ryouta-kun? What did the doctor say about that?"

The smile on Kise's face turned grim. "I'll be fine." He answered shortly, turning his face away towards the window. "It's not that bad. I just need to take it easy for a while and I'll be fine."

It was not completely true. While the doctor did say that he would be fine after a while, that there would be no permanent injury left, but even now his leg was hurting so badly. Kise knew he should stay at home and rest until his leg was better, but he couldn't afford to do that. He couldn't spoil his self like that. His meeting with Aomine today made him remember the bitterness of his defeat and the ace of Touou was right. Kise should work even harder if he wanted to defeat Aomine and so he didn't have the luxury of taking a break. He didn't care if he couldn't walk afterwards, but Kise would be damned if he never beat Aomine even once.

Angry tears started to fill his eyes as he remembered the hurtful words Aomine had thrown at him and he hastily wiped them away. He hadn't expected to meet Aomine today—of all the malls in Tokyo, what was the chance Aomine would actually go to the one mall where Kise was working at?—and the meeting had went almost as good as what Kise had expected. He hadn't expected Aomine to praise him, but he didn't think he deserved those painful words either. And perhaps he was an idiot because he couldn't truly hate Aomine despite everything.

Another mournful sigh escaped from his lips. Kise lazily leaned his head slightly on the window, wishing the cold from the glass could calm his chaotic mind down. He was tired and hurt and the gentle sway of the cab as it went through the road slowly lulled Kise to light dozing. He was almost completely asleep when suddenly his cell phone rang.

Startled awake, Kise fished his phone out of his pocket. His eyes widened when he saw the caller ID and he hesitated before answering the phone.

"Hello."

"Kise? Thank God. Where are you?"

From the other side of the line, Aomine's voice sounded breathy, as if he had just ran for miles and was trying to catch his breath. Against his will, Kise's heart started to thump faster in his chest.

"I'm in a cab, on my way to the subway station," Kise heard rude curse at that. His brows furrowed. "What's wrong, Aomine-cchi? Why are you calling me all of the sudden?"

Sudden silence answered Kise's question, followed by faint scuffling sound and Kise inwardly imagined Aomine fidgeting on the balls of his feet. "Shut up! Are you telling me that I can't call you anytime I want?"

"That's not what I meant," a tired sigh. "it's just rare for you to call me and we had just met ... right?"

"I just—! Uh, y-your leg! How is your leg? I didn't have the chance to ask about it when we met."

"Oh," so Aomine was only worried about his leg. Perhaps he wanted to make sure Kise could still play basketball. Strangely, Kise felt quite disappointed. "It's fine. I'm fine. Is there anything else, Aomine-cchi? Because I'm really tired and I want to rest now."

Kise knew he might sound too harsh, but he didn't have the heart to care right now. He truly was tired and hearing Aomine's voice was not helping at all. "Well?" he prompted when once again Aomine fell silent.

Aomine grunted, "I'm sorry."

Kise's eyes flew open. He almost didn't believe his ears. "What?"

"I said I'm sorry, okay?!" Aomine repeated harshly. "I'm sorry for what I said back then. It's unfair for you and I didn't mean them—not really. You had worked hard, I know that. But—uh, I'm just sorry. I didn't think."

The apology came stuttered and so awkward it hurt Kise to listen to it. Still, Kise couldn't stop his lips from lifting upwards. This awkward apology perhaps was the best Aomine could come up with and it was a miracle to even receive one from the prideful formless shooter.

"Yeah, I figured as much. Aomine-cchi never is smart enough to think before he speaks."

"Oy! That's not a reason for you to insult me!"

Kise laughed, all of the sudden he felt relieve. He had thought the Aomine he knew had truly gone. He was glad to know he was wrong. "I know. I'm sorry and thank you, Aomine-cchi."

"Why are you thanking me, idiot?" a loud huff made the static noise sounded louder. "Anyway, uh, that's all I want to say."

"Okay," came the easy answer. Kise waited for Aomine to end the call, but when that didn't happen immediately, he lifted his brows in curiosity. "Aomine-cchi?"

Aomine cleared his throat. "About what I said before ... it's all a lie. I'm ... looking forward to face you in a match again. After all, you're the only one who can copy me perfectly. I hope your leg gets better soon!"

The connection ended abruptly after that, leaving Kise who could only stare at his cell phone in disbelieve. Slowly, the corners of his lips lifted higher until he couldn't help but chuckle lightly. His manager turned to look at him worriedly, but Kise just waved him off. He was alright, just pleasantly surprised.

Still chuckling, Kise leaned back on the cab seat. His eyes were still glinting with happiness. After what Aomine had said to him, now all that he wanted was to play basketball.

"Ah~ I can't wait to practice tomorrow!"

—End.