#bat knb

The boys stood around the girl as she lay in the mulch and dirt. Laughter rang throughout her ears. She looked at the dirty, red popsicle in front of her, then up at the cackling boys. When she looked back at the popsicle ants were beginning to crawl to it. Tear stung her eyes and her lip quivered. She couldn't eat it now... She choked out a sob and the tears fell down her cheeks.

“What, you're crying now, Kalie?” one of the boys taunted, “You're a cry baby! Cry baby!” The rest of the boys laughed even more. They began to chant the new nickname. “Cry baby! Cry baby!” That made the little girl cry even more. She got up and ran, the howling of the bullies fading into the distance.

Kalie ran around the corner so the playground was no longer in sight. She sat on the steps and cried. Today was Free Popsicle Day, when during recess you got to have a popsicle. She had been looking forward to this day, and now... She sniffled and tried wiping her face, but she was still sobbing and the tears wouldn't stop. Maybe she really was a cry baby...

“Here.” Kalie jumped and lowered her hands from her eyes. In front of her knelt a boy. She recognized him from her class, but she didn't talk to him much. A popsicle hung out of his mouth as his drowsy eyes stared at her. He was holding out a wrapped popsicle. The girl blinked at him for a moment.

“Oh... Th-thanks,” she said, taking the popsicle from him. She stared down at it and sniffled. Her tears had stopped. She wiped her wet cheeks with the palm of her hand.

“It's gonna melt if you don't hurry and eat it,” the boy mumbled, frowning at the popsicle in her hand. He took his own out of his mouth and licked at it.

“I-I know that!” Kalie quickly opened the wrapper to reveal the blue popsicle. Her eyes widened. Blue was her favorite! She looked at the boy, who was still looking at her popsicle. “How did you get two?” she asked. He raised a brow.

“Hm~? What do you mean?” he said.

“Two popsicles. I thought we could only have one,” she said, frowning with confusion. The boy tilted his head to the side.

“I just asked for it.” he stated.

“Asked? But...” Kalie looked back down at the popsicle in her hand, “But it's Free /Popsicle/ Day. Not /popsicles/.” The boy shrugged and pointed to his own popsicle.

“This is my third one,” he said before giving it another lick. The girl gasped. Third one?! You could have three?! He noticed her shock and smiled. “Eeeh~? What's with that face?”

“I didn't know we could have that many...” Kalie said, embarrassed now. She licked her popsicle. “Why did… you get this for me?” she asked. He looked down at his popsicle.

“Mmm... Because you dropped yours,” he said, giving his another lick, “This is such a rare day. It'd be a shame if you didn't get to have one.” He frowned a little, then looked up and eyed the girl's face. He reached out and wiped a wet spot on her cheek that she had missed earlier. As his hand brushed against her, her cheeks turned pink.

“Um, well... Thank you... Mura-.....Muraaa-...” Kalie scrunched her face up. What was his name? It was something long, “Murabubla...bla...” The boy's eyebrows furrowed and he pouted out his bottom lip.

“Murasakibara Atsushi,” he stated, not sounding very pleased.

“Murakasa-... That's too long! I can't remember that!” she said. She gave him a stern look as she looked him over. He raised a brow. “I'm gonna call you Murakun,” she declared, finally taking another lick at her popsicle. It was beginning to melt and she hurried to lick the drips before they reached her hand. Murasakibara blinked at her, tilting his head.

“Hmm~?... 'Murakun'?” he said thoughtfully, “... I guess that's a pretty cute name. I like it.” He smiled.

“Good, I'm glad!” Kalie said, smiling back.

“Then I'll call you Kay-chin,” he said. The girl blinked. Kay-chin?

“That's kinda weird, but okay,” she said.

“Eeeh? You think it's weird? I think it sounds cute,” he said. The girl tilted her head in thought.

“Mmm... Yeah, I guess it's cute,” she said, lapping at her melting popsicle again. Murasakibara was just finishing his. He stood up. Kalie looked up at him. He was taller than most of the boys. Not by too much, but he was definitely tall for his age.

“I'm gonna get another popsicle,” he said, “You wanna come with me?” He held out his hand for her. She looked down at it, then noticed something else about him. He had a tubby belly. Her face lit up.

“You have a belly!” she giggled, poking it. He jumped a bit. A light blush spread across his cheeks. He put his hand on his stomach to try and shield it from her.

“Y-yeah, so?” he mumbled.

It was early. School hadn't started yet, but the grounds were covered with children as they waited for the bell to ring. Squeals of laughter echoed over the various chattering groups. One voice in particular stood out to the boy standing by the classroom door.

“Servant!” the little girl called. She ran up to him, a smile spread across her face. “Today we're not going to just play princess! I'm going to /be/ a princess!” The boy tilted his head. He opened his mouth to ask her what she meant, then closed it. Servants only spoke when told. The little girl pulled her unzipped Pikachu bag around and rummaged through it. “I have it in here!... Where is it?...” As she searched, her smile faded.

“S-Sashi?...” the boy's voice was barely above a whisper. She didn't seem to hear him. She turned her bag upside down. A small notebook, a pencil, markers, and Baba the sheep fell to the ground. The boy hurried and picked up Baba, brushing off any dirt.

“W-where's my crown? It was in my bag!” Sashi cried, “Mitobe, do you see it?” Mitobe's fuzzy eyebrows shot up. She never called him by his name. She must be really upset... He looked at the ground, but didn't see any crown. He shook his head and held out Baba for her. She took her friend with her small, shaky hands. Tears welled up. “I-if I can't find my crown I can't be a real princess,” she said before she choked out a small sob. The tears ran down her cheeks. She rubbed her eyes with the heel of her palm.

Mitobe frowned. He reached a hand up to comfort her, but stopped. Was he allowed to touch her? He still saw her as a princess, whether she had a crown or not. That didn't matter to him. He thought she was beautiful and liked doing things for her. It made her happy. It made her smile. He loved her smile... He took his hand back. Even if he saw her as a princess, she saw him as a servant. He couldn't touch her, but still... He took a deep breath through his nose. He wanted to tell her that she was a princess, with or without the crown. He opened his mouth to speak when--

“We have to find it! It probably fell out of my bag!” she exclaimed. Her fists were clenched, some of her usual flare was back in her eyes. Mitobe's shoulders dropped. The confidence he built up had gone. He nodded and suppressed a sigh. 

They spent the rest of the morning searching for the crown. Mitobe searched under bushes, benches, behind trash cans, and even glanced /in/ trashcans. They asked teachers and students along the way if they had seen it. In the end, there was no sign of the crown anywhere. The bell rang, signaling to  students that they had five minutes to get to class. Sashi covered her eyes with her hands. Mitobe saw the tears drip down her chin, his eyebrows knit with worry. He couldn't just stand there watching... He reached his hand out to her again, hesitating a bit when he was about to make contact, then placed his hand on her back. As soon as the boy did that, Sashi clung to him. She sobbed into his shoulder. Mitobe stiffened. He wasn't expecting that. After a few seconds passed he relaxed and hugged her back. He looked up from the sobbing girl. Classmates were walking into the classroom as the teacher held open the door for them. Mitobe patted Sashi on the head and led her into class. She sniffled the entire way.

__

The children left the lunch room, ready for recess. Mitobe looked at Sashi. The girl had stopped crying since the morning, but she hadn't said much of anything. During lunch she frowned at her food. Mitobe had expected her to cry again, but she didn't. Now he watched the other kids run out to the playground, squealing and chasing one another. He looked back at Sashi. She was looking at the ground, her little lip quivering. The boy took her hand and walked her over to the bench. He wanted to stay with her, but there was something he had to do first. When she sat down he pointed towards where the bathrooms were. She blinked at him for a moment, tilting her head.

“... Do you have to poop?” she asked. Mitobe's cheeks turned pink. He didn't have to /poop/, but he had to go number one... Sashi smiled a little. “Okay, I'll... wait here.” Mitobe frowned, she sounded so sad... He nodded and headed for the bathroom.

When the boy was done doing his business he left the restroom. He was about to turn the corner  when he heard the obnoxious laughter of a certain gang of second graders. They sounded like dieing donkeys. The younger boy was going to ignore them, until one of the three spoke.

“Look at me, I'm a pretty princess!” he cackled. Mitobe turned around to see the older kid wearing a white tiara. His eyes widened. That must be Sashi's crown! The three second graders didn't seem to notice Mitobe at all. They just laughed like a bunch of idiots.

“Where did you even get that thing?” one of the other boys asked. 

“I dunno, I found it on the ground this morning,” the first one said.  Mitobe frowned. They had no right to take her crown! His little hands balled up into fists. He wanted to go up to them and take it back, but they were a lot bigger... No, this was for Sashi. His princess. He had to get it back for her.

Mitobe walked up to them. When they saw him they raised a brow. He stopped when he was close enough and pointed up at the crown on the taller boy's head. 

“What?” he laughed, “You wanna play princess too?” He looked at his buddies, who were howling as if that were the funniest joke in the world. They stopped when Mitobe nodded. “Are you serious?” the boy walked up close to the younger one. Mitobe held his ground, his brows furrowed with determination. “You want the crown?” he took the crown off his head, “Fine, you can have it.” He shoved Mitobe, causing him to fall on the ground, then tossed the crown at him. “Whatever, sissy boy,” the second grader called over his shoulder as he and his friends left, sounding like a pack of hyenas. 

Mitobe blinked at them as they left, then looked down at the crown. He smiled. He got her crown! He sprang up, not bothering to brush the dirt off. When he saw Sashi she was still sitting on the bench, looking at the ground and kicking at a rock. He put the crown behind his back as he approached. She looked up at him.

“That took you pretty long, wh--” her eyes widened when she noticed him covered in dirt, “Wh-what happened?!” Mitobe shook his head, smiling from ear to ear. He brought the crown around and placed it on her head. Sashi froze. She brought her hand up to the crown and poked at it. She plucked it off of her head to get a better look at it. “M-my crown!! Y-you found my crown!?” she looked up at Mitobe, who just smiled at her.  Her eyes got teary again. She lunged at him and hugged him tight. “Th-thank you, Mitobe!” He patted her head. She pulled away after a few seconds had passed. She cleared her throat and placed the crown back on her head. It was time to stop crying. Princesses did not cry.

     Dribbling echoed throughout the gym as the Touou basketball team practiced. Cody sat on the bottom bleacher. She watched the dark skinned player stroll about the court. Her eyebrow twitched. What a lazy ass. Still, she was surprised Aomine was practicing at all. He glanced at her and she snapped her head down to look at the book in her hands. Warmth crawled across her cheeks. She glanced up just as he was turning away, but she caught the smirk on his face. Asshole. She couldn't believe this guy was her...boyfriend. It was still hard for her to come to terms with, even after a week. She shook her head and returned to her book. She didn't want him having the satisfaction of catching her staring twice.

____

     “What kind of woman reads a book while her boyfriend is practicing in front of her?” his voice jolted Cody from her book. She looked up at him and raised an unamused brow.

     “This kind? And oh please, you were hardly doing anything out there,” she said. She noticed Aomine was cleaned up and looked out at the empty court. She hadn't realized practice was over. Most of the guys were already leaving the locker room. She was really into that book.

     “At least I did something,” Aomine muttered. Then he grinned. “Oi, and don't act like you were totally unimpressed. I caught you staring.”

     “N-no I wasn't!” Cody said. Her cheeks were warming up again. She slammed her book closed and shoved it into her bag. “You said you wanted to go out to eat or something today, right? So hurry the hell up so we can go.” She stood up, looking flustered. Aomine's grin widened, but he shrugged.

     “Yeah, yeah,” he said, suppressing a chuckled. He bent down to grab his school bag, which had been next to Cody on the bleacher.

     Time slowed down. Cody's eyes locked onto it. His ass. Damn he had a great ass. She reached out. She wanted to stop herself but it was too late. She had grabbed his ass. Aomine froze. Cody was too horrified to move, her hand still on his ass. Aomine turned his head around. His brows were furrowed and his eyes were wide. Bewilderment written all over his face.

     “... What the hell are you doing?” he asked. Cody gaped at him.

     “U-uh.. I... S-sorry,” she let go of his butt and gave it an apologetic pat without thinking. “Ah!! Sorry!!” she shrieked, retracting her hand. Her entire face burned. What the hell was she doing?! She covered her face with her hands. Aomine watched the girl and grinned.

     “Oh, so that's how it is?” he chuckled. He straightened up and hoisted his bag over his shoulder. Cody turned her back towards him. She couldn't face him. He wrapped an arm around her. “I never figured you for a butt girl,” he said, amusement drenching his voice. Cody frowned up at him, her face still tomato red. Their eyes met and she looked at the ground. She mumbled something incomprehensible. “Wha? Couldn't hear ya,” Aomine said, leaning down. She mumbled again. Aomine blinked. “... If you have something to say, say it so I can hear y--”