Teiko's basketball III: Three's a charm

Three life lessons

Akira stared white faced at Sora who entered the court again. Yukiji had talked her out of fleeing the spot but Akira was still quaking. Sora made no effort to maintain eye contact.
"Memories are weird aren't they..." said Sora softly. Akira gulped and braced herself for impact. Sora turned and Akira saw that her reaction was something worse than she expected. She simply looked hurt. Akira felt like she couldn't have chosen a worse moment to lie.
Sora opened her mouth to say something then reconsidered. "Go." She sat down on the bench with her head in her hands, immobile.
Akira looked at Yukiji who shook her head and mouthed 'This one's on you'. Akira was coming up with a plan A and plans ending with a few more letters when Akashi walked in.
"Midget!" said Akira before biting on her lip. "Why are you here?"
"Thank the stars that I'm not in a mood to bicker with you, Tamotsu," said Akashi. "I heard. Plus, her hair looked horrible, so I assumed..."
Akira made a shooing motion. "Go. It's already bad without you interfering."
"Consider yourself subbed out," said Akashi.
"Oh yeah?" began Akira.
"Earth to aliens... At least take your fight outside," said Yukiji.
"You're right," said Akashi carelessly. "I'm expending energy."
"Freak..." muttered Akira.
"Well, excuse me," said Akashi sitting down next to Sora on the bench. He began to arrange her hair. Sora looked up when he began but simply ignored him after.
"Why do I feel like I should be walking out now?" said Akira.
"I never did have a taste for romance," remarked Yukiji.
"Tsun tsun..." muttered Akira earning a whack on the head.
"Let's go," said Yukiji.
"Yeah, I need to puke," commented Akira.

Akashi finished his job and leaned back with satisfaction. Sora hadn't looked up since the start which rankled a bit. "Who died, Sora?" he said carelessly.
"Your uncle...."
"Which one?"
Sora gave an irritated sound. "Later?"
"I may be busy..."
"Seijuro!"
Akashi held up his hands. "Fine. I know why you're in this condition."
"You're the emperor, aren't you?" said Sora suddenly. Akashi eyed her wearily since it was never a good sign when she called him by that handle. "I..." he began.
"Can you take a fish and turn it into a hawk or something?" said Sora moodily.
Akashi sighed with relief. "Still capable of metaphors I see... So you really don't feel that bad."
"Of course," said Sora. "It's just that, this is going to be such a pain. And it's all going to be for what? Nothing."
Akashi smiled suddenly. "I'll offer you a choice now. I will either make you feel better or teach you three life lessons."
"Eh?" said Sora.
"Choose."
Sora considered. "Okay, I'm curious. What are those 'life lessons'?"
"Good," said Akashi approvingly. "You went with the more interesting option."
"Can we cut to the chase please?"
"Okay, close your eyes for a minute."
"What?"
"Just do it."
Sora obliged and Akashi took her hand in his. He began to draw circles in her wrist. "Imagine whatever I'm saying...."
Sora groaned and Akashi shushed her. "I'm not messing with you. I promise this is not some joke."
"I already know the answer!" protested Sora. "You escape from the building with no fire exit blah, blah, blah when you stop imagining."
"Quiet, neko," said Akashi tugging at her hair. "This is a true story."
"And it just keeps getting worse," muttered Sora.
"Sora?"
"Hmm?"
"Not another word."
"I'll try."
Akashi sighed and continued. "A few weeks ago at practice, I was shooting hoops, minding my own business..."
"You never do that..." muttered Sora. Akashi chuckled and placed his finger on her lip. Sora froze but remained still. "The point is, I'm approached by someone and he says that he is not satisfied with his position and wants to specialize to be a shooting guard when he can hardly put in three pointers. How would I have reacted?"
"You would have thrown something sharp at him," said Sora confidently.
"Internally, yeah. I did imagine that," confessed Akashi. "But in reality..."
"Let him play in that position once so that he would realize how messed up his situation would be?" said Sora.
"Good one... But that's not exactly what I did..."
"What did you do?" said Sora curiously.
"I, ah, put in my next shot rather forcefully."
Sora chuckled. "In the hoop or..."
"Hoop," assured Akashi quickly. "But he seemed to catch the drift."
"That's my emperor!" said Sora laughing reaching out to ruffle his hair but ending up touching his shoulder because her eyes were closed. Akashi smiled and placed her hand on his head. "So, what did you learn?"
"Nothing?" ventured Sora.
"Fair enough," said Akashi. "I think I lost track. But this isn't the most important point anyway."
"Nah... Go on. You're giving me multiple opportunities to mess with you."
"Well, people always don't pick what's good for them."
"Meaning?"
"You and I need to learn a little patience that's all," he said.
"Since when did I join your club?" demanded Sora.
"What I'm trying to say is, mortals always realize they're wrong in the end. You just have to wait."
"It's the wait that I'm worried about," said Sora.
"Sora... People say some day that they're determined that they're going to do something but it doesn't take long to wake up. Sometimes... They need someone to wake them up. The thing is... Are you game enough to handle their morning face?"
Sora laughed. "I'm not the only one obsessed with metaphors here!"
"True," said Akashi with a smile. "But I don't see any other way to drive my point. If I hadn't woken up the stubborn woman who hated basketball, you wouldn't be here as the captain of the girls' team. Think about Tetsuya. If he hadn't been brave enough to take his current route, he would still be in the third string. Everyone has something they're good at. Sometimes they aren't willing to accept it. Your job as captain isn't making them play basketball. It is to guide them. No matter what their path is."
"That was unexpectedly deep," said Sora.
"I told you I wasn't messing around," said Akashi. "Besides, you can only teach fishes to swim better. Not to fly."
Sora quivered. "Seijuro!"
"What?" said Akashi concerned at her sudden outburst.
"I owe you one!" exclaimed Sora. "I think... I think I can manipulate this in such a way that it's not an entire waste of time..."
Akashi smirked. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Shut up..." said Sora.
"I suppose that I should have expected my empress to bounce back quickly," mused Akashi.
"Well, yeah. Otherwise I obviously can't manage those kindergartners.... Hold it! Did you say something?"
"Never mind. Now that you've regained your composure, you can open your eyes."
Sora complied. "Okay, what about two and three?"
"You'll know," said Akashi with a smirk. "Let's go."
"What? Okay..." said Sora trying to get up but falling back with a sharp cry. Akashi had used the time she had closed her eyes to neatly braid some of her hair and tie it to one of the rails near the bench. "You..." began Sora.
"Life lesson two is all about survival," interrupted Akashi. "Try not to follow whatever I say implicitly even though you may be blinded by trust."
"Excuse me?" said Sora acidly trying to swat him. Akashi caught her hand with a laugh. "Lesson three; it's useless to fight someone who has at least some knowledge in aikido."
"Just wait till I get up!" said Sora frantically trying to release her hair.
"You can't," pointed out Akashi.
"I don't care. I'll cut this out and then come and break your fingers if I have to!" said Sora.
"Now that's a problem," said Akashi sounding genuinely worried. Sora blinked in surprise. It looked as if he actually seemed afraid of her threat.
"Don't damage your hair," he muttered working on the knot he'd made on the rail.
"Shouldn't you be more worried about the second half of my threat?" said Sora exasperated.
Akashi smiled. "Refer life lesson three." Sora scoffed. Akashi twisted a strand of her hair. "You are free to test the theory though," he whispered.
"Bakashi! Just finish your job."
"So be it...."