Slam Dunk Fan Fiction ❯ This Way ❯ Part 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Part 5

I sit up so fast I almost fall off the bed. "Y-you…what?"

"I…" Kiyota doesn't get any farther than that. Once I get my bearings I see him still sitting cross-legged on the floor, staring at a patch of carpet. I realize I probably haven't given the most encouraging response. But I am completely lost.

"You…told Mitsui…you wanted to date me?" He nods wordlessly, not looking at me. This is…unexpected. "You…why? Are you gay? Or bi? And why me?"

He finally looks up and whispers, "I don't know." I bite my lip and slide off the bed to sit next to him. He looks away again. "I just…I don't know. It's weird, because I was thinking, you know, for most of the time that I've known you, you've been having problems and not been very happy. But then I thought more about it and started thinking, were you *ever* happy since I've known you? Were you actually happy when you were laughing and bragging and taunting other people?"

I shake my head. "Sometimes, but when I was happy I was pretty quiet about it."

Kiyota nods. "Yeah, that's what I thought. And then…you tell me that you're happier when we spend time together, and I got to thinking…I like that. I want you to be happy, ne? And I guess I selfishly decided I oughta be the one to make you happy."

I gaze at his profile for a while as he shifts nervously and studiously attempts to ignore my stare. When he starts blushing I finally speak. "So…what does all this mean? You *do* make me happy. Is there something more?"

"Well, I suppose there must be. Because this doesn't seem like enough to me." Kiyota stops fidgeting and glances up before putting a gentle hand on my arm. He finally stops avoiding and looks into my eyes with the most serious look I've ever seen on his face. "Even when I get those weird urges to tackle you or play around like little kids, that doesn't even seem like enough."

I feel my heart rate speeding up. I know what he means, but at the same time I don't. I know because I've felt the same way. It makes me feel secure to know he's around. But I feel the same way about Mitsui. So what does that mean? But…I always seem to push Mitsui away when he touches me or gets too close. With Kiyota, I don't. I even provoke him, knowing what will make him get feisty. Is that the difference?

As I'm busy pondering things, Kiyota sidles up closer and kind of puts his head against my shoulder. "Do you think I'm acting weird?" he murmurs.

Somehow I feel the need to wrap my arms lightly around him. So I do. He nuzzles my cheek with his nose and I suppress a giggle. "I've probably been acting weirder." After a few more moments, I lean back to lie on the floor, bringing Kiyota with me. He ends up lying on his side next to me, our arms tangled around each other. "Is this better?" I ask softly.

"This is nice," he muses, snuggling his head against my chest. I thread a hand through his hair and glance down to see he's closed his eyes. I'm kind of disappointed. I like looking at his eyes.

"Nobody would ever believe this," I giggle, pulling him closer. "I keep thinking back to freshman year of high school. Could you imagine if Akagi saw this? He'd have a freaking heart attack. And then when he got out of the hospital, he'd take me for drug counseling." Kiyota laughs. "I'm serious, when I first met you, I thought I was gonna kill you within half an hour."

"Shut up," Kiyota says cheerfully, lifting his head and climbing on top of me. "Ne, Hanamichi, um…" He falters, biting his lip.

"What is it?" Strangely, my body seems very aware of his muscled form touching mine. Stretched out all along my body. It's strange because I don't recall feeling this aware of another person's body before, certainly not a girl's…I even slept with one girl last year, and never really messed with girls too much after that…it didn't seem to be as big a deal as people made it. So why now was I anxious to feel this skin on skin?

"Is this hurting your back?"

"Um…" I smile sheepishly. He gives me a disapproving look and gets up.

"You want me to give you a massage or something?"

After long moments of contemplation, I agree. Soon enough I'm face-down on my bed, shirt off, with my friend Kiyota Nobunaga giving me one of those pleasantly painful massages. It's strange…it's both relaxing…and not.

"Mmm..ow! Ahh, ne, Nobu-chan, I really appreciate this…" I sigh, nuzzling my face into the pillows. "Ow!"

"Don't call me that, Hana-chan." I can just hear him smiling. It surprises me how strong his hands are…surely he's getting tired of this. My whole back gets the treatment, and everything is starting to feel loose and relaxed. I sigh again and then twitch a bit when he starts kneading my lower back with his fingers.

"Does that tickle?" he asks softly.

"Um…no, it's just…" I twist again, feeling his fingers pressing hard right above the waist of my pants. "It just feels…different?" Indeed it does. Other parts of my body that have no business being involved in a massage are apparently enjoying it nonetheless.

After a few more moments, Kiyota's hands leave my back and move to my shoulders. I groan gratefully as he squeezes the tension out and then moves down my arms. When he stops, I turn over to see him flexing his fingers as if to work out some kinks of his own. "Daijoubu?" I ask. He nods and I reach out and gently stroke his fingers with my own. He just stares at me and then threads his fingers between mine.

I just watch, as docile as a puppy, as he leans toward me, his hair falling in a curtain over our faces. I lean up a bit to expedite the meeting of our lips. It takes a few seconds for my eyes to drift shut, and I lean back comfortably on the mattress as Kiyota's full weight covers me. I'm surprised how soft his lips are…I'd expected it to be very different from kissing a girl. And I suppose it is. I like it more.

When he takes a side trip to kiss along my jaw, I fumble around for the discarded camera. I grin and then pull his head down with one hand, lazily sliding my tongue against his lips. As soon as Kiyota opens his mouth, I blindly snap a picture with the camera held out to the side. He pulls away and gives me a squirrelly look. I giggle and turn the camera on so we can see how the picture turned out. I'm pleasantly surprised to see it turned out well. My face warms up as I see the tiny digital image of myself and Kiyota, eyes blissfully closed, my hand tangled in his hair as our tongues snake together.

"Wow," he says softly. "You're even sexier than I thought." I blush even more at that.

"Ne, lemme take another picture of you," I breathe, pushing him up. I pull his shirt over his head and just look for a few moments. My whole body seems to be waking up for the first time in forever and I really want to run my hands all over his muscular chest. But I gently encourage him to lie on his stomach. I push his hair aside slightly so I can see the tattoo that I know is on the back of his shoulder. It's the same tattoo that the whole basketball team got last season when they won the prefectural championship. It's the kanji for `muteki'…'invincible.'

I sit up on my knees and murmur, "Look up here." Kiyota turns to look over his shoulder at me. I smile and take the picture. "You look great," I tell him somewhat bashfully. Again I set the camera aside and climb over him to straddle his hips. After a moment's thought I sit on his ass and begin tickling my fingers down his back. Then I lean over and place a kiss between his shoulder blades. I can hear his soft sigh, so I take that as encouragement. I rub my cheek against the skin of his back and let my lips drag across the warm flesh.

I drink in the soft sounds that Kiyota makes as I kiss and lick my way down his apparently sensitive back. He squirms at certain spots, certain touches, and I just smile and continue on my way. When I get to the waistband of his jeans, I raise myself up and turn him over. I'm greeted by a rather dazed face. With a growing enthusiasm, I sit on his legs and lean over for a wet kiss.

I don't linger for too long before I let my tongue slide out of his mouth and let my mouth drift across his jaw, to his neck. I press softly-sucking kisses as I slowly move from the soft underside of his jaw toward his rising pulse. "Mmm…ahh, Hana…" A tremor goes down my spine at hearing Kiyota's husky voice softly moaning my name.

I can't begin to comprehend why this excites me at all. Shouldn't I know by now if I was gay? Why would I have slept with a girl if that's not what I wanted? Yet…I don't think it *was* what I wanted. Not truly. And I realize now that I've always thought Kiyota was cute. Not just that…but he makes me feel like someone cares. And I care about him too. I don't know what the extent of that `caring' is, but I'm starting to think it goes a whole lot deeper than either of us could've imagined.

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