"Tick Tock"
Summary: Right after winning the Winter Cup, Kuroko sprained his wrists and legs and suddenly becoming incapable of doing his vanishing passes, shots and drives. He has become incapable of playing basketball. No one knows what to do except maybe…for the Generation of Miracles?!
Chapter One:
The Teikou Middle School Basketball Club. An incredibly strong team with over one hundred members and three consecutive championship wins. Amongst their brilliant record, there was a generation of five prodigies known as the "Generation of Miracles". Despite being relatively unknown and lacking a game record, there was one more member recognized by the five prodigies. A phantom sixth man.
"There's still twelve more seconds!" Everyone from Seirin shouted and tried to get the ball from Akashi Seijuro's , Rakuzan's captain's, hands. They tried to catch him as he ran towards the other side of the court. But everyone was blocked by the other team members marking them. Everyone except Kuroko.
He ran as fast as he could. Faster than what he ever did. Ran the fastest he did in his entire life. "I'll catch you, Akashi-kun, whatever the cost!" Kuroko shouted and forced his feet to run.
"Tetsu," Aomine murmured as he watched his former shadow catch up to his former captain. He could see the small boy forcing himself, overexerting what little energy he had left. He was overcoming the wall infront of him. Yes, Aomine's proud of Kuroko but…
"Kurokocchi…" Kise mumbled as he worriedly watched two of his former teammates play inside the court. It was the most intensive match for this year's Winter Cup. Kuroko's overcoming Akashi yet…why does he feel that something bad will happen?
"Kuroko." Midorima whispered before pushing his glasses. He rewinded Oha-Asa's horoscope for Aquarius for th day. "Aquarius, you're the second of the luckiest for today but beware, there is a price to pay for everything and so does your luck." It said. "This will end in both good and bad ways." He concluded.
"Kuro-chin," Murasakibara removed the lollipop in his mouth, which he seldom does, and blinked. Something's not right, he can feel it. Kuroko catching up to Akashi…with a price…there'll be a consequence…a trade…but what?
"GO, KUROKO!" Kagami shouted even though, he himself knows that there's something that will happen…something very very bad.
"Tetsuya, you-!" Akashi turns back and continues running.
Kuroko pants as he counts his remaining time. Eight more seconds. His whole body feels numb as he runs and runs and tries to catch up to his former captain. He eventually reaches the same pace as Akashi, and made his almost numb arms snatch the ball from the other's hands. The teal-haired boy knew he was at his limit—he made his form and shot the phantom shot which Akashi could not block in time.
5—4—3—2—
One.
The buzzer blares.
Rakuzan: 129; Seirin: 130
Rakuzan's members were left astounded and unmoving as Seirin's members jumped in joy. They hugged one another, celebrating a victory that was not easily obtained, and yet won.
"Assemble!"
Kagami took a deep breath to recover from his fatigue and approached the unmoving Kuroko, who was still standing all alone on the other court. His head was bowed and his breath uneven.
Aomine wordlessly ran down from the highest part of the audience's area—leaving Momoi behind as she too ran.
"Kurokocchi!"
Kise exclaimed before jumping from his seat towards the nearest stairs downstairs. The other Kaijou players stared after him, puzzled.
Midorima's eyes widened and placed his lucky item at Takao's hands. "Hold thisfor me." He ordered and ran as fast as he could downstairs.
Murasakibara handed his bag of snacks to Himuro.
"Where are you going?"
"To Kuro-chin, he's in trouble." Murasakibara replied and ran down the stair s by threes.
Kagami tapped Kuroko's shoulder. "Oi. We need to assemble at the middle of the court now."
He felt the smaller boy flinch.
The Seirin ace raised an eyebrow and bent down to examine Kuroko. His eyes widened. Kuroko's wrists were bleeding. His leg muscles were swollen too.
"Ku—"
He was interrupted by the appearance of the other members of the Generation of Miracles. They looked worried, and just as Akashi reached out to touch their ex-sixth member, he collapsed.
"Kuroko!/Kuro-chin!/Kurokocchi!/Tetsu!" Everyone shouted.
Blue eyes opened, the owner almost blinded by the glaring fluorescent lights above him.
He slowly adjusted his eyes to the brightness and blinked. There were many different colors above him and after a while, he realized that they weren't just colors but hair. They were the colors of his friends' hair.
"Hey,"
Kagami was there, with all the other members of Generation of Miracles…even Akashi.
"…Domo…" He mumbled and glanced at Akashi who is looking at him with his usual impassive face.
"Akashi-kun?"
Akashi sighed then smiled slightly. "No, Tetsuya, I'm not mad. I follow good sportsmanship. Yes, I am disappointed to be defeated by you to be honest. But let's put that aside for now - how are you feeling?"
"Woozy."
He had tried to sit up, but settled for lying down after seeing the room spin. Kuroko looked at each of his friends' faces. They look kind of…disturbed? Bothered?
"Is something the matter?"
They quickly shook their heads.
"All right, what is it? Don't lie, all of you are too obvious." Kuroko stated.
Aomine glared at the crying Kise. "You-! Sheesh!"
Kise looked at him and pouted. "Hey, why are you always blaming me?!"
"Because you are so obvious."
"Now, you are also obvious, Aominecchi!" Kise countered.
"Why you-"
Akashi took the knife he was using to peel the skin of some apples for Kuroko, and threw it at the sidetable where it stabbed the drawer neatly.
"Silence, Ryouta, Daiki."
The two of them rapidly hid behind Murasakibara and Midorima. "Scary," they mumbled.
Akashi sighed. "You collapsed due to fatigue, and have been sleeping for over two days. Both your wrists are sprained as you did too many of your special moves. Your legs gave in at the end of the game because you overexerted them. It was a good thing nothing important tore – else you'd need an operation. So no basketball, no training, no form of physical exercise for two whole weeks…understood?"
Kuroko looked away. "But…"
"UNDERstood?"
Kuroko sighed in defeat. "Yes, understood."
"Good. That was all I needed to say. I'll be taking my leave then. " Akashi waved as he left the room.
"Waah! Kurokocchi!" Kise cried and hugged Kuroko tight.
"It hurts, Kise-kun…"
Kise quickly let him go. "Ah, sorry!"
Aomine punched Kise's head. "Stupid."
Kise huffed and rubbed his head.
Aomine ruffled Kuroko's hair. "You idiot."
Said boy bowed. "Sorry."
Murasakibara petted Kuroko's head. "Kuro-chin~"
The shorter boy felt his annoyance at his messed up hair go through the roof and whacked Murasakibara's hand away lightly. "Please stop that."
"Aw, he's angry again. Gomen nasai, Kuro-chin."
Kuroko sighed. "It's fine. Sorry for making you worry, Murasakibara-kun."
Midorima placed a dictionary at Kuroko's lap.
"Er…?" Kuroko mumbled.
"That's your lucky item for today so you can be assured that you'll be safe for the rest of the day. Stop getting injured because you're troubling other people." Midorima responded.
"Ah, arigatou and gomen."
"Hn."
One by one, the other members of the Generation of Miracles left until only Kuroko and his taller teammate was left in awkward silence
Kagami lifted a fist. Kuroko blinked before lightly bumping fists with him.
"You did a good job, but that was pure stupidity you know."
"I needed to do what had to be done. I had no other choice."
The 'light' hummed. "I could find so many rebukes against that statement, but at least you're fine now."
There was a short bit of peace before sounds of stomping could be heard outside the door, with said door nearly knocked torn off its hinges by the worried Seirin members when they came in. It took nearly fifteen minutes before their female coach could even be called remotely calmed.
All was pretty good.
But it was not to last.
Weeks later…
Kuroko hesitatingly flexed his wrists to the left, then to the right to double-check if he was in shape to play now. Nodding to himself, he took a deep breath and opened the door of the gym. Unsurprisingly, no one noticed him even though the door creaked. He just went inside and stood beside their coach.
"Ok, break!" She shouted.
Everyone stopped and went to get his drink. "Aw, I was expecting to see Kuroko today too."
"Looks like he's still recovering."
"Honestly, I'm missing him."
"Yeah, having no one to unexpectedly appear is quite odd compared to the usual routine."
Kuroko raised his hand. "Ah, anou…I'm right here."
Everyone turned to him and gasped. Hyuuga spat his drink at Kiyoshi's face. Izuki accidentally dropped his bottle of water at the ground. Koganei accidentally threw his piece of banana which made Tsuchida slip as he backed away in surprise. Mitobe clutched his chest. The three first years clung at one another. Kagami stumbled backwards. Nigou just barked.
"Waah! Kuroko, how long have you been there?!"
"A few minutes before you were given a break."
"Ah…"
It has been a while since that happened. My poor heart. Each of them thought.
"Are you sure you're fine now?" Riko asked, for reassurance.
Kuroko flexed his wrists again. "I should think so…besides, I have been absent for almost two weeks now. That's too many days of slacking off."
Riko and Hyuuga exchanged looks.
"Alright then, we'll restart after the break. Please change now."
Kuroko nodded.
"Yes."
OUTSIDE…
A certain blonde made nearly every girl's head turn to him as he took long strides towards the Seirin gymnasium.
A dark blue haired guy together with a pink-haired girl, spun a basketball on his index finger as they walked towards the same gym.
Right after a rickshaw stopped at the faucets' area, a greenhead alighted and started walking to the Seirin gym as his fellow basketball player, Takao, stayed behind and sighed.
A crunch was heard as a violet head bit on his potato chip. He looked at the sign on the outside of the building: Seirin Gymnasium. He nodded to himself and continued on his way.
Everyone who passed by the redhead shivered as each of them felt his intimidating aura. He looked up at the name of the building and smirked before going on his way.
Riko whistled and everyone gathered on the court to test how Kuroko's wrists were.
It was second years versus the first years.
Kagami got the ball at the tip off for his high jump and passed first to Furihata who passed it to Fukuda then to Kawahara. Panicking, Kawahara passed it to Kuroko who quickly saw Kagami running towards the other court to receive the ball. Kuroko quickly tapped the ball, it missed and was passed instead to a surprised Hyuuga who shot it into his ring.
Everyone froze. That was rare. Kuroko Tetsuya…missed?
"Sorry. I missed. Let's try again, please."
The game restarted. Kagami passed it to Kuroko who was guarded by Mitobe. He got into position to make the phantom shot but right after he unleashed it, Mitobe simply countered and passed it to Izuki.
Kuroko blinked and stood his ground in spite of his growing shock. What's happening?
He flexed his wrists once again and they felt…the same as before. Like nothing happened.
Riko frowned.
"Kuroko?"
"I'm fine, coach. I think my wrists are just adjusting. I've not been playing for about half a month after all."
Kuroko was lying. The coach bought his excuse, however.g for about half a month after all.r be called remotely calmed.
said door nearnly
This time, Furihata passed the ball to Kuroko who was being guarded by Kiyoshi. Not knowing what else to use, he took a deep breath and tried the vanishing drive but…Kiyoshi just backed away and blocked him. It caused them to collide and fall.
Even the vanishing drive? Kuroko gasped in his mind.
"Kuroko, are you really alright?"
"Please, let me try again. I need to do this or else." He begged and nodded at Kagami who also nodded back.
The game resumed but Kuroko continued missing his passes– he would either pass it to no one or pass it to the wrong person—and his phantom shots were either blocked or they missed the ring. Also, his vanishing drive could not be used. He tried and tried but all ten times…
…he failed completely.
"Kuroko, what's happening?" Kagami demanded.
Kuroko saw his teammates looking worriedly at him then looked at his hands which were shaking terribly. He did not even know they were shaking.
"I…"
"Just as we thought…Tetsuya did lose his abilities." A cold voice mumbled from behind them.
They all turned and gasped as they found the members of Generation of Miracles standing on the door. Some students started gathering to see the famous Generation of Miracles.
"Wow! Are those the famed Generation of Miracles?"
"Waaah! Sugoi!"
"They look so cool!"
"Wait, I thought they were no longer together?"
"What are they doing here then?"
The murmurs continued.
"Seriously, Tetsu, I'm still quite disappointed with the team you chose." Aomine sighed. "They still do not know how to limit or how to fully utilise your talent."
"Well, they haven't been with him as long as we have." Momoi replied.
"May I know what all of you are doing here?" Riko asked.
"Kuroko is experiencing some kind of trauma. His wrists and other parts of the body experienced a lot of pain and exceeded their limits so…they are not responding to what Kuroko's mind wants. They're not responding correctly and…he's incapable of playing at the moment. This has happened before when Haizaki Shougo was still part of the Teikou Basketball Club." Midorima explained as he ignored the fuming coach.
Everyone in Seirin just shot each other puzzled looks.
"Is there some way to reverse this?" Kuroko asked as he clenched his fists which are still trembling.
"Well…we think there is, like Akachin said." Murasakibara replied.
"Well then hurry and tell us damn it!" Kagami insisted.
"Since we, the Generation of Miracles, were the ones to discover his talent, then perhaps there is a way we can re-awaken Kurokocchi's abilities." Kise grinned.
"Well then what are you waiting for? Do it!"
"This is gonna take a lot of time, you idiot. Something once missing cannot be found that easily. Besides, there's only a 50-50 chance of success here." Aomine retorted.
Kise nodded.
"Yeah, yeah besides—"
"It might take…I don't know." Midorima answered.
"Hey, why did you interrupt me?!" Kise complained.
"What, Kuroko Tetsuya? Generation of Miracles?"
"Kuroko Tetsuya? Who is he?"
"Is that the guy? Never seen him before…"
"Look at what you did! You're too noisy for your own good!" Aomine retorted to Kise.
"Eh? I'm no—"
"One more word you'll be bungee jumping from the sixth floor, Ryouta." Akashi threatened.
The blonde quickly shut his mouth.
Aomine sniggered.
"You too, Daiki. Stop or I'll force you to hear the sound of chalk screeching on the board for a whole day." Akashi added.
A sputtering Aomine was rapidly dragged to corner by Momoi.
"Like what we're sayi—"
"So you're saying this is going to take a lot of time…are you implying something?" Hyuuga asked, interrupting Akashi.
Oh, shoot. He just INTERRUPTED Akashi. Does this guy have a death wish?The former members of the Generation of Miracles thought.
Akashi raised his eyes and glared at his fellow captain. "If I remember correctly, I am still in the middle of speaking."
The bespectacled senior froze and beckoned for the other to continue.
"If you really want Tetsuya to be back to his normal self—you must let us have him for a month or so until his skills are back. If we can't do it within that time, he'll be back as a bench boy and I will personally see to it that he leaves the Seirin Basketball Team."
"You can't do that, Akashi-kun."
"I can and I will. Are you not aware of the dangers of playing in your current state? Are you saying you're willing to give everything up for a simple injury?"
Even Kuroko gulped with what Akashi just said.
"You don't want that, do you?"
The shorter boy exhaled and shook his head.
"No…I don't want that."
"Good. I'm glad you understand."
OMAKE:
Kise watched the other members of the Generation of Miracles hide as he arrived.
"Eh, what—"
Aomine sighed. "Why do I need to see you today of all days?"
"That's mean! What do you mean by that, Aominecchi?!"
"I do not want to see you."
Aomine even emphasized on the word "you".
Kise pouted. "I don't want to see your face even more!"
"I—"
Akashi suddenly stood between the two. They stiffened. "If you two want to be lovey dovey, then I'll help you be lovey dovey." Akashi pushed both of their heads towards each other, but the two boys squirmed and turned their heads away.
"Shintarou, Atsushi, help me with these two, will you?"
Midorima tried pushing both of their heads as well but failed too.
Murasakibara lifted both effortlessly and, as if they were dolls, leaned both their lips against each other.
After that, the green-head, violet-head and red-head left both guys outside as said guys mourned the loss of their virgin (nah not really) lips.
A/N: Hope you like this other story of KnB of mine!
Sorry for any mistake!
Thanks for reading!
PLEASE REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!
SNEAK PEEK:
"Try passing the ball here!"
Kuroko, still unsure, passed the ball to Aomine.
"That's quite good but do your stunts."
Aomie passed it back to Kuroko. Midorima guarded Kuroko as Murasakibara guarded Akashi and Kise against Aomine. With a blink, Kuroko disappeared from Midorima's view. Akashi went past Murasakibara and suddenly found Kuroko near him. Kuroko tapped the ball and Aomine barely caught it.
"Yataa! You got it."
Kuroko froze.
"Kuro-chin?"
"My hands are trembling. They are numb." Kuroko stammered.
"Ah, so Tetsuya has become weaker…LOSER!" A familiar irritating voice teased.
They turned and found Haizaki Shougo outside the court, grinning.
Kuroko, as he saw the braided head, trembled more and slumped onto the ground.
"Cannot do your stunts? That's because I stole them."
Once Haizaki steals your move, it is quite impossible to get it back.
"Damn it!"