Sunrise (Riko x Kuroko) no. 1
It was early in the morning, and the petite coach was still asleep in bed. She stirred as she mumbled in her sleep. She drooled into her pillow, having dreams of being the coach of the greatest team in the world, standing on a mountainous victory with her boys by her side and the crowd cheers playing as sweet music in her ears. But something became strange, the crowds of the cheers slowly turned into a loud, blaring nose in the beat of a metronome. The blaring became louder and louder until it was too loud for her dream to handle. Her eyes shot open and she sat up, her chest expanding twice the size with each heavy breath she took. To her right was the source of the blaring noise that interrupted her dream: the alarm clock.
She pressed the snooze and got out of bed to begin another day of her normal life as a high schooler. After changing, she walked to the kitchen where her father, Kagetora Aida, was already up and moving.
“Good morning Riko-tan!” Kagetora said, making his way over to her with arms wide open and lips puckered to plant her a large kiss on her forehead.
“Good morning, papa.” Riko stuck her first out and planted it on her father’s forehead, preventing him from getting any closer. She quickly made her escape and made herself a quick breakfast, then left the house as quickly as possibly, before her father could try to show any affection again.
As Riko made her way to school, she had many thoughts going through her mind, but only one was big enough to penetrate through the rest and completely dominate her mind. Tomorrow morning was the day of her own personal holiday named Sunrise. It was obviously self explanatory, she’d wake up early in the morning, when the stars are still out, and watch the sunrise that she always watched with her mother on that very day. She has watched this sunrise for the past few years and decided not to tell her father. This was her own personal method of mourning her mother.
Throughout the day, she bored through class after class, watching the second hand on the clock but only to be disappointed when the hand seemed to be going slower after each tick. The teachers’ lectures slowly morphed from words to long mumbles that went through one ear and out the next.
The school day finally came to the ever awaited end, and the brunette coach arrived at the gym where basketball practice always took place. Her team practiced the drills she created for them and the ace Kagami Taiga had his own set of personal drills. As Riko was watching the team practice, she heard a soft voice speak her name in front of her, in which she responded to rather dramatically.
“The ball got a flat.” Kuroko said, holding the deflating basketball in his hands.
“I see. I’ll fix it for you.”
Riko took the ball from Kuroko and walked to the equipment closet to find the air pump. Once she spotted it, she was able to fill the ball once again. She returned it to Kuroko with a smile.
When Kuroko received the ball from her, his finger tips gently brushed against hers which caused a shock of heat spiral down the coach’s spine. The heat returned to her face where she felt her cheeks go pink. Kuroko only smiled and returned to practice. Riko began to feel warm inside. Why? Because Kuroko made such small physical contact with her? The heat was too much to handle, so in result, she took off her sweater and laid it against the wall behind her. Practice soon came to an end.
“You guys did a great job today. Kagami, you’ve improved on your legs drastically.” Riko commented. The team put their hands in and called it a day.
In a rush to get home, Riko quickly cleaned the gym after everyone has left and gathered her bag. She felt a presence in the gym with her, but shook it off and left the gym. When she walked home, she decided to take the route where the large tree was located. She gazed up at it, with memories of her mother and her flashing back.
“K-Kuroko? What are you doing?”
The quiet, blue haired teen held her sweater in his hands, neatly folded.
“Oh! I did, thank you.” Riko said, taking the sweater from him. Their fingers brushed once again. The warmth returned.
“This is a big tree.” Kuroko said, gazing up.
“It is. My mother and I used to climb it early in the morning to watch the sunrise.” Riko said softly, “I’m going to watch it again tomorrow morning in memory of her.”
Kuroko didn’t say anything but offered a comforting hand on her shoulder. He smiled. And with that, he dissapeared which left Riko shocked yet surprised.
The night was as long as the school day for her. She tossed and turned as she struggled to sleep. The hours passed by ever so slowly. But finally, the clock read 5:30 and Riko rushed out of the house.
She arrived at the tree. With a flashlight in her hand and a jacket wrapped tight around her, she steadily climbed up the tree and reached the familiar branch. Once she sat there, she patiently looked out at the sky.
Riko grabbed the branch beneath her for she was about to fall. She turned to her left and breathed heavily, trying to catch her breath back.
“Kuroko! What-what are you–”
“I didn’t want you to be alone here. I’ve…never watched a sunset with someone myself. I thought it would be nice to share the moment with someone.”
Riko was speechless, but she calmed. A small smile crept up her lips.
The two sat in the tree, patiently watching the sky. The cold air became piercing and Riko shivered a bit. A sudden arm was put around her shoulders and Riko jumped, eyes full of surprise.
“You’re cold.” Kuroko said. Riko noticed he was wearing a rather thick jacket himself; thicker than hers. Riko snuggled closer to the surprisingly warm body next to hers which lead to Kuroko tightening his grip on her.
The warmth of his body on hers made Riko feel a thousand shades of heat in her body, yet at the same time, she felt only the same heat from his body on hers. Every time she breathed in, she received a noseful of his scent. This made her feel warmer. After a while of resistance, she gave in, and collapsed her head on his chest. Kuroko gently stroked her hair.
When the time passed, little hints of a deep orange emerged from behind the mountains that slowly grew bigger. The star’s began to fade and was replaced by a bigger and brighter, yellow orb that peeked out from the mountaintops, from underneath the blanket of orange. The sight of the sun waking up was beautiful, but Riko was partly distracted by her current position: curled up right into Kuroko.
“Thank you for coming, Kuroko.” Riko said.
“It was my pleasure, we should do this more often.”
She couldn’t see it, but she felt the shadow’s smile.
