~Prologue~

A gurgling stream treads its way through well-worn rocks accompanied by the chirping of wild Pidgeys and Spearows. Magikarp mindlessly splash in and out of the water, and it was with the unfortunate but common occurrence that one had misjudged its abilities, landed outside the stream and most thoroughly soaked the unlucky person who happened to have decided to take a small break on the stream bank. The person in question, more accurately a young boy, sighed and with practised ease placed the gulping Magikarp back into the stream. Shaking out the water from his baby blue hair, the boy stood up and began walking away when he noticed a most curious thing. A fluffy pink contrasted with the evergreen of the Lum berry bushes… a tail? Blank round blue eyes blinking twice, the boy approached the strange appendage, when floating pink legs, followed by a head and eyes presented themselves to the inquisitive young boy.

"A Pokémon? I've never seen one like you," the boy mumbled quietly, eyes gentle, "you can't be a wild one, look how well groomed you are. Your owner must be very happy to have you."

"Do you have a Pokémon?" an unknown voice cut through.

The blue haired boy turned around, eyes widening, and came face to face with a boy quite possibly the same age as him, sporting crimson hair and fiery feline eyes. The pink Pokémon flew towards the mysterious stranger, settling around his shoulders.

"No, no I don't," answered the blue haired boy still recovering from the shock that someone had managed to sneak up on him, who had been dubbed as the Phantom by the townspeople.

"Hmm, is that so," he responded with a voice that held so much authority that was usually reserved for someone so much older.

Brief silence ensued, followed by a fleeting change of expression to a mixture between curiosity and interest.

"Would you like a Pokémon?" the scarlet haired boy intoned softly.

"…Well, yes, it would sort of be like having a best friend," the blue-eyed boy replied with caution.

"And if I were to say, that I could give to you a Pokémon, and a high level one at that, would you accept?"

"No."

Silence. 'Magikarp' 'Magikarp' accompanied from the background the blank noise between them. Red feline eyes had widened slightly as he continued to scrutinise the boy whose blue eyes betrayed no emotion. When most unexpectedly the sound of laughter broke through the tension.

"You," the crimson haired boy smiled, a smile that reached the eyes, "are most interesting. Would you mind telling me the reason why you refused my offer?"

The blue eyed boy surprised from the outburst of amusement, took a moment before responding, "I just think its more fun to train a Pokémon yourself, and by sharing those moments of battling and levelling up together, you also grow more closer together. Also by giving me a Pokémon it might mean taking it away from its best friend and that would be unfair to it."

Scarlet eyes softening, the other boy looked at the blue haired boy with something reminiscent of fondness, mouth slightly quirked up at the ends "What's your name?"

"Kuroko, Kuroko Tetsuya"

"Tetsuya… In a moment a black haired man will pass by here, I must take my leave now but I do hope we'll meet again. You have been most fascinating to talk too."

And with that the scarlet haired boy vanished after murmuring a command to his pink feline Pokémon, but not before once again smiling at Kuroko with warmth.

Exhaling from what Kuroko decided was a tense and strange encounter, he gratefully sat himself down on the grass. He wondered who that mysterious boy was; he definitely wasn't from around his hometown, when once again something emerged from the Lum berry bushes on the opposite side of the stream.

Kuroko stared in disbelief and in exasperation as a tall raven-haired man carrying a satchel bag emerged covered in leaves, he looked to be about 15 or 16 years old, why were there so many strange people today. The raven-haired man looked as if he was trying to cross the stream, stepping on protruding rocks and balancing to walk across. He hadn't noticed Kuroko yet; perhaps he ought to give this second stranger a scare Kuroko inwardly smiled.

Just as the raven-haired man was about to complete his crossing to the other side of the stream, too observed in remaining balanced to avoid falling into the water, Kuroko murmured a blunt "hello."

Ebony eyes met with large round baby blue ones, before a yelp from the raven-haired man was heard followed by him toppling over backwards into a stream and a Magikarp had found itself uselessly splashing on his head.

"Ha..haha..ha, first I lose the young master and now I'm soaking wet. Wonderful," he grumbled.

"Excuse me," Kuroko inquired, "are you alright?"

The raven haired man stared in incredulity, "How long have you been here?"

"Since you started crossing the stream."

"You scared me."

"So I noticed."

The man stared at him with a forced smile and made his way out of the water, "you're a cheeky brat aren't you? The name's Nijimura, yours?"

"Kuroko, Kuroko Tetsuya"

"Say Kuroko, have you seen a kid around your age with a pink Pokémon, acts really arrogantly, has red hair?"

Just recalling the words the crimson haired boy had uttered before leaving, Kuroko replied, "Actually he just left around 5 minutes ago"

"What are you serious?! When I catch up to him…!" Nijimura vented.

"He told me that you'd be coming," Kuroko inquired curiously.

"Oh did he now," Nijimura raised an eyebrow, "how interesting. Hold on a sec."

Bending down and setting his bag on the ground, he gently pulled a Lillipup out and handed it to Kuroko. The Lillipup was black and white, not the usual beige and cobalt fur others of its kind sported, it must have been a shiny. There was a bandage around one of its legs, and when the Lillipup opened its eyes there was a striking resemblance to Kuroko's own blue eyes.

Too focused on the Lillipup in his arms, Kuroko did not notice that Nijimura had already packed and gathered his things once again into his bag.

"Here's a poke ball for the little guy," Nijimura places a red and white ball in Kuroko's empty hand, "well I'll be off then before the young master gets me into more trouble."

"You're leaving? What about the Pokémon?"

"Eh its yours now, take care of it, maybe one day we'll meet again," and with that the raven haired man strolled past Kuroko, following the path of the stream, one hand raised up lazily in an half hearted attempt of a wave.

The Lillipup gave a small woof, drawing Kuroko's attention back to the Pokemon who looked like it was smiling at him.

Smiling back at the dog pokemon Kuroko sat down once again, careful not to jostle the creature in its arm, "well I guess it's just the two of us now."

Voices filtered through the trees bordering the riverbank, and two children appeared out of the forest, pink and cobalt heads a noticeable contrast with the blended green hues of trees, and began running towards Kuroko.

"Tetsu!"

"Tetsu-kun!" their overlapping voices called Kuroko.

"Tetsu there you are! We were worried about you," the tanned, cobalt haired boy exclaimed.

"Geez Dai-chan, I told you that he would be here, if you hadn't run off so fast we wouldn't have lost him," the girl pouted at the tanned boy, "Tetsu-kun I'm so glad you're alright!" she exclaimed as she hugged him.

"Ah thank you Momoi-san and Aomine-kun for coming back to find me," Kuroko fought to breathe, "but please be careful there's a Pokémon on my lap."

"Huh?" Momoi released him, and looked at the Lillipup on his lap and registered the similarities, "HE LOOKS JUST LIKE YOU TETSU-KUN! KAWAII~!"

As Momoi continued to squeal due to more cuteness then she could handle, Aomine took a closer look at the Pokémon in Kuroko's lap.

"Eh, where'd you get it from Tetsu? Have you given it a name yet?" he asked.

"A name, I haven't not yet, and I got it from this weird man."

"Hmm," Aomine thought this over but then his eyes flashed brightly, "well it's great you've got a Pokémon now, we can have Pokémon battles now!"

"Hold on," Momoi interjected, "I know what you should call him, Nigou. Cause he looks exactly like you Tetsu-kun!"

"…Nigou," Kuroko tasted the name on his lips, "I like it, yes your name is Nigou now"

Kuroko flashed one of his rare smiles, Momoi nearly faints, Aomine blushes, and Nigou happily barks.

"Well we should head back now, its going to get dark soon," Momoi stutters, still trying to recover from the beautiful brilliance that is Kuroko's smile.

"Yes, yes we should," Kuroko replies.

Omake

As fanfic won't let me put images on, here's the link to the omake on my Tumblr: post/110250977924/fic-share-this-journey-with-me

Author's Note: This was inspired by a kuroko pokemon art post I saw on Tumblr, which I think has been removed since I can't find it anymore T-T Anyway I hope you enjoy :) My tumblr account is kandalice if anyone wanted to know.