A New Adventure (Sakusa Kiyoomi )

Chapter 21

Word Count: 1096 

I was at the gate of Itachiyama yet again. My final days in Japan were going by quick. I got up extra early today because I wanted to ride the train with Bokuto and Akaashi to Fukurodani. I didn't go in the school, of course, I just wanted to see the two again before I had to leave tomorrow night. I walked into the fancy school, going my usual path to the gym, plopping myself next to the normal audience. Spotting Sakusa immediately, I looked around for my brunette friend, but I was surprised to not spot him. My favorite libero! Gone! I sighed, but I kept all my attention on Sakusa, the giant scoring point after point. The Tokyo Qualifying Tournament was going to be interesting, for sure.

The short coach blew the final whistle, signaling the end of practice. I crutched over to where Sakusa was after the others had left. He stared up at me.

"Oh," he said blankly, "Komori's at a doctor's appointment today. You should go home." I sighed.

"You're so mean to me Sakusa! Don't even wanna spend time with your friend!" I pouted.

"Abby, I'm telling you to go because I'm going to continue to practice."

"Oh," I said dumbly, but then I tilted my head in confusion.

"You do realize I could help you right?"

"What? How"

"Simple, Sakusa. I can still stand upright so if you want, I could hit you with a few of my serves for you to work on your receives. It'd be some real good training!"

"No thanks." he said. I sweat-dropped.

"What? Why?! Do you not think my serves are worth it?"

"Yes."

"Sakusa I will hurt you!"

Before he could stop me, I hobbled over to the ball cart, grabbing a volleyball and walking to the line. I dropped my crutches on the ground to my left, before realizing I couldn't do a jump serve.

"Sakusa I realize now why you said what you said. But, you still underestimate me."

I grinned, before throwing the ball up in the air, and hitting it with my left hand, curved in an odd way. The ball went far to the left of the other court, before quickly drifting right so It landed more towards the center of the court. I smirked at Sakusa, who stood there blankly like always. He walked over to the other side of the court and bent his knees, a signal he was ready. He smirked at me, ready for the competition.

In the beginning, I kicked his ass by switching between curve and no-curve and left and right hand, but he got the hang of it, his reaction time adapting. I was...proud? of him? We ended with a score of 27 service aces to 29 receives. He wanted to keep going till he beat me, as expected. My arm ached so I decided to call it off.

"You've got qualifying tournaments coming up. Go stretch." He nodded and walked away from me while I went to go get his water for him.

I came back to see Sakusa sitting down with his legs out, his legs almost forming a 180 degree angle. I stood there in shock, looking at his flexibility.

"Stop staring," he commanded, and I shook myself out of it.

"Sorry, sorry. Hey, Sakusa, can you do the splits?"

"I've never tried, why?"

"No reason, you're just really flexible so I was surprised." Something glinted in his eyes at that and he bent over, pressing his arms against the ground. What I now noticed though, what the fuck were his wrists doing? Since when could he bend his wrists that far down? It was like an animal tucking their paws!

"Woah!" I shouted, "Holy shit! That's really cool!"

He smirked and continued bending his wrists down. I walked over and sat down to watch his wrist, enamored by the unique trait.

"Can I touch them?" I blurted out. I smacked my hand over my mouth realizing what just came out of there. I bent down, blurting out apologies.

"Sorry! That was stupid! I know how you feel about touching! Sorry sorry sorry!"

"You can," his quiet voice spoke up. My head snapped up to him in shock and I began to scoot over.

"Please clean your hands first. You better have gotten your flu shots." I nodded my head and  reached into my bag, grabbing the lavender hand sanitizer, spraying it all over my hands. I inched my way back over to him, shaking with nervousness. I didn't want to upset him at all. I took a big breath in and exhaled, still frozen and not knowing what to do. He slowly reached his right hand out to me, and I hesitantly put my hands around it, pulling it closer to my body.

I stared at his wrist, beginning to twist and turn it around, fascinated by its almost fluid movement. Twist up, and down, to the right, now to the left. It had so few limits to its movement. I turned his wrist around, observing his hands. He had huge hands compared to mine, covered in callouses. I traced my finger through the lines on his palm, not noticing Sakusa's breathing rate increase beside me.

"That's enough," he said firmly. I immediately let go and nodded.

"I'm really sorry if that made you uncomfortable. I would've been fine if you had said no."

"It's okay," he nodded, standing up and grabbing his bag. I attempted to stand up, only to slip on the smooth floor. I winced at the sore ache in my foot. Sakusa turned back towards me and walked over, hesitantly reaching his hand out. I gently grabbed his hand with mine, him using his strength to lift me up. I tilted my head in a bow at that, blushing too much to speak. Why was my face this red? Sakusa was just being nice? He's just a friend. He handed me my crutches and we walked out of the gym silently. We reached the gate shortly and I turned towards him, breaking the silence.

"Thanks for being so kind to me, Sakusa, I know it's really difficult for you, and I appreciate the effort."

"Kiyoomi," he said.

"What?"

"Call me Kiyoomi." I beamed at this, knowing that was a sign of trust and friendship.

"Alright!" I nodded, "See you tomorrow, Kiyoomi." He turned and walked away, his stoic exterior coming back up. My face heated up again as I approached a taxi. Do I like Kiyoomi? Why was he so kind to me? Why did it make me feel this way? What product did he use in his hair? I giggled at my stupidity, hopping into the taxi to take me back to the hotel room.