Teiko, a Middle School Basketball team that won every single game because it contains extremely gifted players. Each team member possessed a unique gift in basketball. Emperor eye, formless power, extreme defense, copying abilities, and the ability to shoot everywhere. 5 prodigies. But have you ever heard of the phantom member? He is the 6th player of team.
"No way! There are only 5."
Mmm. Actually there are 7 if you wanna get technical.
"Man, after beating Kise, I feel really confident in defeating all the members of The Generation of Miracles." Taiga Kagami curled his fingers into a ball with a satisfied grin. He was a very tall red headed man who had just come from America not too long ago. This lad was on the way to the gym with his basketball team to meet with their coach and train for the big basketball tournament coming up.
"Don't get too cocky." A timidly short light blue haired boy, named Tetsuya Kuroko, replied. Kagami was a little shocked to see Kuroko next to him. "Out of all of them, I think Kise is the easiest to beat. The others are very strong. Most likely even stronger than when I was with them."
Kagami looked at him from the corner of his eyes. Then he gave a little grin. "No Kuroko." He patted the little shorty. "Out of all the Generation of Miracles, you're the easiest to beat."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kuroko jerked his head toward the tall one. But before Kagami could explain himself, the team captain, Junpei Hyuga spoke.
"Say guys, we've been traveling for about a mile now." The black haired team captain turned to them.
"What, you want to rest?" A team member teased.
" No!" Hyuga retaliated. "It's just…"He turned to face the wall next to them. "I don't think we ever saw the end of this wall."
That's when the team noticed the massive block between the sidewalk and the other side. The wall was about 10 feet tall and stretched out sideward as far as the eye could see.
"Hyuga's right." Shun Izuki, the teams on court tactician, agreed. "This wall stretches for miles." The other team members were astounded. What kind of facility was being protected here? Why did it need such a huge barrier!
"Ha! You guys don't know?" Shinji Koganei, the team's all round shooter with a so so accuracy, smirked.
"Shinji, you know what this place is?" Kagami turned amazed at the cat like team mate.
"It's an elite High School." He pointed to the wall with pride. "Japan's richest kids go here."
The team members were mesmerized.
"What's its name?"
"Hmm." The cat player cupped his chin. "I think it was called…Ouran Academy."
Instantly, the group heard a familiar sound emanating from the other side. It was the swooshing sound of a ball when it scored into the hoop. The group immediately directed their attention to the great wall.
"Is that?"
"It has to be."
"But I've never heard of Ouran having a basketball team." Shinji frowned.
The sound of dribbling filled their ears. There was definitely a small basketball game happening on the other side.
"Maybe they do have a basketball team." Hyuga shrugged, the others turned their attention to him. "But because they are rich kids, they play in international leagues."
Suddenly, a person on the other side, leap into view. Everyone's eyes widened. But it was Kuroko's which were the widest. But just as the individual came into sight, he disappeared back down into the mysterious barrier.
"Did that guy just leap above ten feet!" Hyuga exclaimed in amazement. Kagami felt a bead of sweat trickle down his face. He had just learned he was able to jump higher than average basketball players and thought he could definitely use this skill to defeat the generation of miracles. But that single leap from the stranger over the wall obliterated his confidence.
But there was a silver lining to this discovery. Didn't Shinji just say that there was no basketball team for this mysterious school?
The person appeared again, this time with a basketball in his hand. He was in the form of a three point shooter. But because he was so high up, the person had to look down onto the hoop before he scored. Then just for a quick second, the person's eye darted to its corner and stared into Kuroko's before they sank back down behind the wall.
"Tim." Kuroko uttered under his breath. Kagami jerked his head toward his team mate.
"What! You know him?" He suddenly lost feeling in his legs.
"Huh?" Kuroko slowly turned his head toward his new buddy. "Oh yes. That's Tim Desny. He was part of my basketball team."
"You mean the Generation of Miracles!" Kagami exclaimed.
"I guess you can say that." Kuroko answered. Kagami felt all the air escape from his lungs. "He was always benched."
This notion struck Kagami by surprise. "But the guy can leap!"
"I didn't know he could do that. " Kuroko shrugged.
"Kuroko!" A voice from above called out. There was a hint of an American accent in it. The group looked up and a silhouette of the same person fell toward them. But his polished black shoes landed on the wall's top. "It's nice to see you again." The person said in Californian English. Under the sun's glare, the lanky uniformed student seemed glorified.
"Ohiyuo Tim-kun." Kuroko waved back maturely. The orange haired being gave a sincere smile. Besides Kuroko, Tim was probably the only other member of the Generation of Miracles that seemed friendly. Kise was also an option but after his evil smirks in the practice game, he was crossed out of the list. Then again, maybe this guy was humbled due to his lack of court experience.
"I've been looking all over for you, man." Tim crouched to get a better view of the group.
"Have you now?" Kuroko gave an inquiring smirk.
"Well…sort of. I searched 5 schools and when I didn't find you in any of them, I sort of gave up." Tim scratched his head and gave a nervous giggle.
"New record." Kuroko teased.
"Hey, gotta give me props for trying." The crouching student shrugged. "And me trying, is a rare occurrence." He nodded suggestively. The 2 of them chuckled and by the time, they finished, they had polished the rusty bridge of their friendship that had been left alone ever since the Teiko team dismembered.
"I didn't know you were rich." Kuroko changed the subject.
Tim gave a mild chuckle. "Haha, I wouldn't say I'm rich. My mom just knows a great deal of important people here in Japan."
"What!" Shinji's eyes widened. "So you were just recommended here? You're not even on a scholarship!"
Tim shrugged. He found Kuroko's new troop very interesting and amusing, although, it was a bit irking the way they liked to yell. "Same reason how I got to join the Teiko basketball team."
"You mean you're part of the Generation of Miracles?" Hyuga frowned apparently having not heard Kagami and Kuroko's conversation.
"The what?" Tim raised an eyebrow.
The team blinked. "You know." Shinji shook his head "the Teiko basketball league of prodigies."
"Is that what we're called now, Kuroko? Wow that sounds awesome!".
"Not you. Just us court players. " Kuroko corrected.
Tim's heart sank. "Of course." As he was indirectly taught long ago, bench players had little significance in the team, especially a team with talented players.
"But you should have been up there." Kagami broke Tim's depressing train of thought. Tim and Kuroko turned to him rather amazed. "I mean look how high you can jump! That's inhuman." Tim's eyes widened.
"Oh." He stood up. "You mean this?" With no warning the student plunged to the ground backwards. The team members were compelled to rush to his aid if they hadn't been barred by the colossal barrier.
Suddenly, they witnessed Tim soaring back in the air and coming back down in a repeating fashion. It seemed like he was bouncing. "I'm playing basketball on a trampoline." Tim grinned brightly back at them. From no disturbance in their conversation, Kuroko guessed he was probably playing alone. "Do you wanna join?" the bouncing person asked.
Hyuga was the first to respond. He excused the team explaining that they had to meet with their coach at a local gym. He also added the fact that it was possible commoners weren't allowed in the school. Tim frowned at this answer. These Japanese were always putting their elite on a high pedestal. Just because the rich had most of the nation's currency it didn't make them Gods. Although from most of the students he had interacted with in this school, they bought into this ridiculous status.
"Oh come on." He said as his body was air born. "It's almost time to go anyway and my day already ended 45 minutes ago. Plus, I'm great friends with the security guard. He'll let you in."
"Ok" Kuroko immediately answered. The team was taken aback. But Kuroko knew Tim had a deep craving to play basketball ever since he was benched on the tournaments. And just out of curiosity, he wanted to know what the benched player was capable of beyond the seat. Besides, Kagami did promise to beat all the players of the generation of miracles. It wouldn't be fair if they skipped out on the reserved member.
"Great!" A wide grin spread on Tim's bouncing face. "I'll meet you at the gate!" At that last drop, the team heard a huge crash onto the floor, followed by a, "daijubu! (It's ok! I'm fine!)", then sounds of shoes scurrying off into the distance.
"Kuroko!" Hyuga yelled in a scolding manner. "Why did you agree to this!"
The light blue haired lad turned to him with a sincere face. "Why not?"
"But- what will coach say!"
"I don't know." Kuroko shrugged. The team let out a huge sigh.
Kagami sneakered "I guess we have no choice. Show us the way to the front gate Shinji." He tapped the cat like player. But the guy slowly shrank.
"What's wrong?"
"Eh- well, I'm sure we'll find it if we just circle around the wall's parameters." He said rather embarrassed.
"You don't know where the front gate is!" the team chorused.
Tim jogged towards the front gate with a huge grin on his face. Then he brushed by a dark haired student with oval glasses. Tim stopped on his tracks and waved back at the school mate. "Hey Kyoya!"
"Where do you think you going in such a hurry?" He heard the student say in English. The dark haired student didn't bother to turn back. Tim knew this person very well. The guy's family owned a private police force that had to retrieve Tim a few times in the current semester. He may have tried to skip school once or twice. "School is not finished yet."
"I'm just inviting some friends over." Tim shrugged.
"You're inviting commoners into this school?" Kyoya turned to him with concern.
Tim shrugged. He saw nothing wrong with this endeavor . "We're just going to have a little game of basketball. They'll be gone after that."
Kyoya fixed his glasses. "I'm a bit concerned that you underestimate the credentials needed to enter this school. Our reputation presides us because this school only allows the best and the richest to attend. Mr. Fujioka is here because of a scholarship and you are here because your mother is a very good friend of the administrator. If commoners were to waltz in here willy nilly, then we wouldn't be called a prestigious facility."
Tim blinked for a moment. "Well they're not waltzing in, they're walking in through the front gate."
Kyoya smirked and fixed his glasses again. "Fine. Just don't let them stay for long." With that, the blue blood student put his hands in his pocket and walked away.
Hyuga panted as he grasped the black barred gate. His sweat trickled down onto the ground continuously. "We made it. We're finally here" He gasped. The others were also panting right behind him. Why they had decided to jog here was beyond their tired minds. "You guys alright?" He looked back at his team. They gave effortful nods. "Ok." He stood up.
"Hey! What are you doing here!" The guard inside the gate ran up to them. Hyuga choked on his saliva and wasn't able to answer.
Just in time, the student that had invited them over came to the rescue. Unlike them, he was not perspiring at all. But he seemed to be trying to maintain his balance.
"It's ok, Ray." Tim waved. "They're friends. I invited them." He looked up.
"Woh, Tim are you alright?" Ray the security guard ran up to him. Tim immediately grabbed hold of his shoulder and steadied himself "Yah, I just… ran for a couple miles and… I'm not very fit." Tim sniffed and straightened himself out. The guard gave a relieved and more relaxed look, and turned to open the gate. "We'll if you say so."
The majestic barrier creaked as it swung open. Tim bowed as he gestured the basketball players come in. "Welcome. "
"I don't know why, but Akashi never let me off the bench" Tim kicked a rock that hit one of the school's pillars.
"Maybe it's because you don't exercise beyond one push up." Kuroko raised an eyebrow.
"Well, he doesn't exactly stop me from walking away." Tim snickered. They rounded a corner into an expanded field of grass that was outlined by the wall and the school building. " Anyway, after the team split, I realized that I didn't get to play at all. I envied you Kuroko." Tim smiled as they walked back to their original meeting place. Kuroko gave a small grin as he reminisced the little instances he spent with the benched member. He realized, during those moment's, he actually looked forward to sitting down in the second quarter and conversing with Tim. And he always felt rejuvenated when he went back on the court.
"Tim, do you like basketball?" Kuroko asked as they stopped at the trampoline. Tim picked the grounded ball up and gave him a questionable look.
"Um, yes? Why else would I join the basketball team?" He passed the ball from one hand to another.
"Fair enough." Kuroko eyed it as it went to and fro. Instantly the ball skidded out of Tim's left hand and rolled a few meters away from them. The men eyed the sphere waiting for a reaction by either Kuroko or Tim.
Tim let out a huge groan. "Aw, man." He flicked his wrist in the direction of the ball. "I'll get that later."
Kagami was taken aback by this reaction. "What? You're not picking it up now?" The lazy Ouran student turned toward him with a defensive face. "I mean-" Kagami felt a little ashamed of his outburst. "It's only a few meters away."
"Geez dude, I didn't say I'm not picking it up at all. Besides, the Janitor can do that for us, or I'll do it after we play our game. Whichever comes first." Tim shrugged. An awkward breeze passed through making the atmosphere uncomfortable and the local snail shiver.
"You're as lazy as ever." Kuroko broke the silence.
"Am not!" Tim exclaimed. "Wow, if it bothers you that much I'll pick it up now." Tim raised his hand to the direction to the ball and stood still for a few minutes. Another awkward silence gladly entered the atmosphere.
"What are you doing?" Hyuga asked.
"Using the force." Tim said with much unneeded concentration.
"Oh my gosh!" Kagami groaned and stomped toward the ball.
"See, if I do this long enough, someone will eventually give the ball to me." Tim explained to the player with glasses.
Unbelievable, Hyuga thought. Then with a thud, the ball plopped on Tim head and into his hands.
"There's your stupid ball." Kagami huffed and grabbed Tim by the back of his collar. "Come on, the sooner we play, the sooner I can overthrow another member of the generation of miracles." He started to march into the school building dragging Tim along the back.
"Overthrow? You think I'm actually worth something?" Tim spoke in English as he looked up at his heaver. Kagami's eyes widened. Coming from America he had understood Tim's foreign and un relatable words. Basketball was everything for Taiga. It was his motivation. It is the reason why he wakes up every morning. But this guy, maybe it was because he's benched, or maybe because he is lazy, either way, he had found no self-worth. What is a person to do if he thinks he is not worth anything?
"Why'd you stop? If you want to go to the gym, we're heading the right way." Tim blinked and looked up at him with a smile.
"Hey, what are you going on about? Everyone is worth something." Kagami frowned down at him.
Tim's face went red and looked away. "Well that's embarrassing…you speak English."
Shinji turned to Tsuchida whose eyes were, as always, closed. "Tsuchida. You're good with English right? What are they saying?"
The English scholar scratched his head. "Uh well, let's see…"
"I transferred to America when I was little. So I know more than I need to know." Kagami reasoned.
"He said he was little when he transferred to the United States. So he should know more…or something like that."
Tim smiled "How do you find the place?"
"And how do you find a place…wait."
Kagami gave a goofy smile "Well let's say I'm still getting used to the small portions here in Japan."
"…I'm… accustomed to small portions here in Japan …Wow, their vocabulary is definitely different from the ones we learned."
Kuroko patted Tsuchida's shoulder. "It's ok we get the gist."
Tim stood up and spun the ball in between his palms. "Jah. Let's go to the Gym." He reverted back in Japanese.
Walking down the halls the Seirin team felt a bit small as they viewed the convexing walls of the corridors. The Doors were just as huge. They felt like they were in a western palace and felt deeply that they did not belong. Tim looked back at them with a reassuring smile. "Guys, it's ok. It's like any other place" He turned back to face the front "Just… bigger."
Instantly Tim bumped into a woman who was crossing their way. "Oh sorry, pardon me miss." The maiden looked up and her eyes automatically lowered in a condescending fashion. "Tim." She leaned to her side to see his parade of commoners. "Who are these people?"
"Friends." He grinned.
"Commoners?" She looked back at him at the corner of her eyes. "You brought commoners to this school? You really are good for nothing, aren't you?"
"Well, may you trend upon a dessert of legos, too. " He winked at her kindly.
"Get out of my way." She marched off.
"Bare foot." Tim nodded as the aristocrat disappeared into the deep hall.
The Gym was not at all just a little 4 court area divided by a net with a wall dedicated for rock climbing. It was a stadium. Seats were ascending 50 feet above them and the court was big enough for 2 games of basketball occurring at the same time.
"Gym my ass." Kagami sneered before receiving an admonishing punch from Kuroko.
"Yah, I know. It's too small." Tim added acting a little disappointed. "Them sweat shop workers, man. They just can't do the job right." He received a few laughs.
Hyuga's eyes arched over the enormous structure as if judging it's features. Then he looked back at the bench player. "It'll do." Tim let out an appreciative chuckle while Kuroko grinned
"Let's play."
Now dressed in their jerseys, Tim and the Seirin Team headed to the middle of the court.
"So is this going to be the usual 5 on 5 people?" Taiga asked.
"Um." Tim answered. "I guess. Do you guys want to spare me a couple of team players?"
"What about your team?" Kuroko inquired.
Tim shifted his weight. "Ok. So there's a slight problem to that. It's really very minor, it can be totally evaded. But ah… my basketball team is training in Europe." He attempted a grin. The Seirin team hung their mouths open. "But if you want, you know. I could call them over and they'll be here in a flash." The visitors were getting ready to faint. They were beginning to think Tim was part of this obscured aristocracy. No one normal calls their team members from the other side of the world just to bring them back here to shoot some hoops for fun.
"Ok. Is there anyone else you know who can play?" Hyuga asked rationally. He was unsure if skipping training for this was a good idea.
"Well, there are other people that I do know of…" Tim thought out loud. "Although I'm not sure if they do play basketball…and they're sort of…weird."
Music room number 3, an abandoned room that has been remodeled to fit the needs of the current users. As Tim opened the doors, the entrance filled with rose petals and sparkles. A white light silhouetted seven individuals who calmly welcomed Tim's crew of Kuroko, Taiga, and himself into the room. They stood at the entrance awkwardly staring at 7 men choreographically positioned in appealing stances.
"You know we still have the option to turn back now." Tim suggested. Kagami was busy flicking the petals off himself.
"I second that motion. Let's go." Kuroko nodded. The three began to leave when a voice called out.
"Waite!" They turned their heads to see the centered male stand up. He was a blond pretty man. " That's sort of rude of you to come in like that and not receive the host clubs proper greeting." He flicked his bangs and winked. Then for a second, the trio could have sworn they saw a twinkle in his lips.
"Aren't host clubs a thing in the past?" Kagami raised an eyebrow.
"I agree." Kuroko nodded "Let's go." He proceeded to walk off until he saw Tim wasn't moving. "Come on Tim. We'll lend you some of our players."
The bench player smiled back at him. "It's not a proper game if another school fights for me."
Another male in the group smirked and fixed his glasses. He walked up next to his tearing Host king and patted his shoulder. "Don't take it personally Tamaki. They're commoners and obviously don't have a sense of class. We shouldn't waste our efforts on them."
"Excuse you." The shortest male of the bunch huffed.
"Oh no Haruhi, not you! You're special. Remember? You're a hero among commoners!" The blond man grabbed the sulking short student and embraced him in a tight squeeze. "It's ok. Mean old Kyoya won't harm you."
Kyoya put his hands on his hips and turned back to their uninvited guests. "So, Tim, what's your business here?" The lucky commoner gave him a friendly smile and asked if the Host club wanted the play basketball with them.
Suddenly a huge cranking sound of gears rumbled under their feet and a giant stage emerged leaving Kagami and Kuroko to stare in awe. Surprisingly, Tim was also amazed. That was followed by a high shrilling laugh coming from a female. From under their feet, emerged a lady in a cheerleading outfit on a rising stage.
"Ohohoho." She laughed high and elegantly.
"Renge." The host club chorused.
"A lady just appeared in front of us! You rich people are nuts!" Kagami pointed at the said Renge.
Tim sighed and stuck his pointer into his ear. "Man, Kuroko your friends are really loud."
"Kagami is just excited." Kuroko answered.
"This is a lovely scenario of the underdogs!" Renge cheered. "I can see it now. The commoners are begging for extra members. But because they are eternally cursed with no extra bills in their pockets, they are forever scorned by the upper class."
"Umu…" Kuroko poked her. Renga jumped at the sudden presence beside her.
"Holy cra- get off my pedestal." She pushed him off her 10 foot stage. Kagami rushed to catch his shadow partner. "How on earth did you get up here!" She said a little irked. The other characters also were a little curious as to how the blue haired lad mysteriously appeared up on the stage.
"He climbed." Tim frowned. He too was a bit irked. But he wasn't provoked by Kuroko, it was Renge that irritated him. "You could have hurt him. If you wanted him off you could have just asked."
"He appeared right in front of me!"
Tim didn't understand the magic behind Kuroko's vanishing technic. In fact, if Tim had never started the rumor of a phantom member in the Teiko basketball team, then Kuroko would have never been recognized. Being always on the bench and watching the game, Tim always knew where Kuroko was. He knew where everyone in his team was. It also helped that his team mates had primary colors and pigments for hair. Therefore, the exaggerating rumor of Kuroko's lack of presence seemed absurd to him.
"We only need 4 more members to play basketball with us." Tim decided to say. "Nothing more…"
"We'll definitely play with you! Right Takashi?" Haninozuka said excitedly. He was the little shota of the Host club up on a tall man's shoulders. The tall man grunted in agreement.
"Awesome!" Tim nodded and dribbled the ball slowly. "Then we'll meet you at the Gym?"
"Sure." Haruhi answered pushing her abusive hugger away from her.
"Yay!" Hani climbed onto Takashi's shoulder. "Let's go Takashi!" with that, the 2 host club members marched forward out of the room.
"Hikaru, Kauro. Why don't you join them." Kyoya turned to the twins who resulted in playing a PSP game of Animal crossing.
"No thanks." Hikaru answered. His fingers mercilessly mashed on the arrow keys on the console.
"We don't even know how to play basketball." Kauro added looking over his brother's game. Hikaru just finished hulling a huge digital fish out of his town's bridge.
"Do you have anything better to do?" Kyoya's glasses flashed toward them. The twins slowly exchanged glances and as a response, they got up and walked out of the room to join the players.
"We should head out too." Kyoya turned to the remaining host club members. Then he diverted his attention to Renge. "My dear, would you mind spreading the word that the host club will have a special game of basketball at the gym after school?"
"What are you planning Kyoya?" Haruhi looked at him suspiciously.
"This lovely inconvenience might turn out profitable for us." He answered leaving the room.
Tim explained the rules to the playing host club members as they got dressed in their jersey for the game. "Objective of the game is simple. Shoot the ball into the other team's hoop. Don't hurt the other team's players. That includes shoving , tripping, pushing and any other hurting contact. If you do, you will be penalized."
"So how do we steal the ball?" Hani asked.
"You smack it out of their hands or while they're dribbling."
"Are there any positions that we need to represent?" Mori raised his hand. Tim found that adorable.
"hmm…" Because he was always seated, Tim never realized there were positions needed. But he did know of offence and defense. "I guess you could be more on defense. Mori." He said, noting Takashi's height. "Everyone else can alternate from being offence to defense. Whichever you feel is right for the occasion."
His team seemed a bit unsure of this endeavor. Tim sighed. He was going have to appeal to them, something he inherited from his mom.
"Hey, It's going to be ok. This is just a game for fun."
"No it's not." Hani intercepted. "Kyoya probably made this in to a host club event. If we don't win, we'll probably lose customers."
"We have to win now." Hikaru added.
"And I have no doubt we will." Tim smiled and patted Hani on the head. " I've seen you guys in action. Yes, we may have no experience in basketball. But the only difference will be our forms. They will expect usual basketball moves, but we have the element of surprise. Hani, I'm sure some of your fighting styles will be useful without coming in contact with the other players." Hani gave a broad grin and giggled, being able to see Tim's point. Evading tactics began to flood his head. " You too Mori. Plus you're added height is good for basketball." The tall man grunted in approval. "Hikaru, Kauru, I can definitely see use for yourwhich one is Hikaru game in the court." The twins gave a sly grin. The game suddenly became interesting. "Jah. Let's play."
The Ouran players approached their opponents. All of them lined up to be Taiga, Hyuga, Kuroko, Izuki, and Mitobi. The referee was evidently Shinji.
"Alright! Let's have a clean game." Shinji held out the ball. Kagami and Tim stood at the jump starting position. All attention and focus went to the orange sphere.
"And don't forget to have fun." Shinji winked. Then with a huge amount of strength, he thrusted the ball up high in the air and the jump starters began to climb.
Tim couldn't help but smile. It was the first time he had ever played in the court. As exciting as watching the game was from the bench, it was nowhere near the adrenaline he was now experiencing. He already predicted Taiga was going to reach the ball first. He was already beginning to fall, but Kagami was still climbing. But just as the red head touched the ball, a tiny blur of yellow swooped it from the air, flipped over Kagami, and landed on the ground with a steely gaze. Tim and the Seirin members were astonished.
"Yush." Tim nodded as he saw the little blond player race through the court.
"Is that against the rules?" one of the seated players asked.
"Forget that! I didn't even know that was possible."
"Hani can be a bit scary sometimes." Tamaki nodded and sat beside them. "But what do you expect from a dojo master?"
"Dojo master!"
Hani zipped passed the still awestruck members. He passed Hyuga without a struggle and was about to shoot in the 3 pointer lane with a position that was questionable, when all of a sudden, the ball was smacked out of his hands by Kuroko. Hani's heart skipped a beat. He would have normally noticed anyone's presence near him. Kuroko however came out of nowhere.
The ball bounced into Izuki's hands and moderately made its way to the other side of the court. Izuki's eyes darted from the right to left repeatedly as they examined the most efficient outcome. When he saw Kagami open, he didn't hesitate to pass.
The pass was clean and successful, Taiga caught the ball and was instantly crowded by Tim and one of the twins. He smirked. Kagami acknowledge the challenge the other team had against them. The steal by Haninozuka definitely took him off guard. The leap was of tremendous height that it reminded him of the action movies he watched about ninjas. But his mind was back in the game now. He faked a right turn which fooled Tim and passed by the twin with ease. But instantly, the ball was snatched away by the same twin's hands. No wait, it was the other one! The other twin was hiding in the shadow of the defending twin! Because they were so symmetrically balanced, Taiga thought the defending twin had instantaneously grew another pair of arms and multiplied. Is that Hikaru or Kaoru? Taiga could not tell at all. Either way, the ball was stolen by the 2 and they were heading back to the other hoop.
The twins smirked at each other as Kaoru dribbled the ball he had just stolen. In between members of the opposing team, they passed the ball to each other as if it was a fast game of pong. Instantly, in the midst of the last pass, Mitobi snatched the ball in between them, passed it to Kuroko, who punched the ball to Hyuga. He shot the ball from the three pointer line. It went straight into the hoop and scored 3 points for the Seiren team.
Tim immediately saw the scorn in his team mates' faces. He went over to each of them and patted their backs. "Hey. The game just started. We can do this" The players didn't know why, but at that moment, their sense of discouragement evaporated in Tim's supporting smile.
The seated students cheered including the Ouran students. It was the first hoop of the game but everyone was already sweating except for Tim. He was also not out of breath like everyone else. The bell rang to signify the end of the school day but students crept into the gym to get a glimpse of the game.
"Looks like Renge lived up to her expectations. " Haruhi looked up.
Kyoya grinned as he came to her side with a translucent box filled with money. "I also sold tickets to people who wanted to see the little game."
"You're unbelievable." She sighed.
"If we're going to have commoners in this school, might as well generate some profit." Kyoya smiled. Then he bent over and picked up a mobile concession stand and draped it around her. "Now would you be a dear and sell these to the audience?" Before Haruhi could object, Tamaki intercepted.
"I'll help you! Come on my little Haruhi!" He pushed her to the stairs.
"Looks like we're gaining an audience." Hyuga looked up at the filling seats.
"You better pay attention!" Hani passed him giggling. Hyuga almost toppled over when he realized that he had missed the little senior dribbling the ball away from him. Then he saw Kagami run his way. "Did you already rebound?" Hyuga ran with him.
"Yah. That midget can jump." Kagami shook his head. "He's like a ninja."
"Kuroko!" Hyuga's voice entered. Kuroko turned to see the ball being passed to him. Then he realized that Tim had never held the ball since the game started. With one swift smack, the ball zoomed toward Tim.
This is your chance Tim. Show me what you can do.
The ball slammed into an astonished Tim's hand and spun in place before it bounced away and out of the court.
"What the heck Tim! That was literally a gimme!" Hikaru scolded as the bench player walked over to the ball and picked it up.
With a small sigh and a tired grin Tim said "Wow. I didn't think Basketball would be this hard."
"He's worse than Kuroko." Taiga said a bit astonished.
"I heard that." The blue haired player looked up at him seriously.
"And what's with you? Did your hand slip or something?"
Kuroko turned away "No."
Tim sighed again. Pondering if he should quit or not. But his decision was made when more people poured in to be an audience. Ok. Better make this pass count. He looked at Hikaru and Kauru who were awkwardly leaning on each other waiting for him to pass the ball to them. Then he reverted his attention to Hani who found fun playing with a little dust ball a short distance away from their scoring hoop. Then there was Mori…who was standing under their own hoop.
Gripping the ball tightly, Tim devised his plan. He thrusted the ball down at Hikaru's foot. The ball bounced of the corner of Hikaru's shoe and flung 45 degrees into the air. The ball hurled down toward Hani as he was just getting up from his play date with the dust ball and bounced off his head and into the hoop from the 3 pointer line. This tied the scores.
Both teams and the audience were astonished. It was like a choreographed pinball game. There was neither running involved nor any struggle. It was just a guided path for the ball to take.
"Ow." Hani started to tear up as he rubbed his head. Mori's eyes flared with anger. As if the Seirin team was not surprised enough, with sudden adrenaline, Mori darted toward Tim, and smacked him across the face sending him flying toward the wall behind and cracking a hole in it.
"He hurt Hani!" one of the girls in the audience yelled. Mori made his way across the court and took Hani onto his shoulder.
"Are you ok Mitskuni."
"Yah." Hani wiped away a tear.
"Amu." Kuroko abruptly pardoned beside them. "Don't you think that was a little farfetched?" He pointed toward the visible legs of the knocked out Tim.
"He hurt Mitskuni." Mori answered matter-of-factly.
"He scored for you." Kuroko frowned.
The Nozukas turned toward the score board to see the tie. Then for once, they heard the mutter of the audience. Some were astonished by Mori's sudden act of violence. Those were mostly boys. The girls were concerned about Hani's head.
"Takashi." Hani turned to his lovable tall guard. "I think we should apologize."
Mori nodded and walked toward the broken wall. Now conscious, Tim was sitting and rubbing his bleeding head. Mori stretched out his hand to offer help. Tim stared at the hand for a while as if registering the gesture in his traumatized head.
"Is Hani ok?" Tim looked up at the tall man. Mori's eyes widened by the sudden concern for his master. It was Tim who was flung through the wall and bleeding as they spoke. But instead, he was asking about the health of Haninozuka who was just bumped on the head by a ball to score for their own team.
"He's fine." Mori nodded. Tim smiled, took the hand, and pulled himself up.
"Ja. Let's play." Tim patted Mori's back as they headed back into the court. Although bleeding excessively, Mori found the bench player walking normally and maintaining his composition.
The Seirin team rushed toward them, asking about Tim's state. When they saw the river of blood streaming on his face, they were a little hesitant to continue the game, especially when he wiped the liquid off and a new stream started to flow.
"No I'm ok." Tim insisted.
"You're losing pints by the second!" Kagami yelled.
Tim sighed and stuck his pinky in his ear. "Ah, Kuroko. You're team mates are so loud."
Kagami exploded in a series of scolding and self-defense. But he was immediately halted by a snap emanating from Tamaki.
"Kyoya, call my head surgeon." The king ordered. Kyoya didn't hesitate to pull out his flip phone and dial the number. "The game will continue…For the sake of Tim and our viewers! For now Tim, we'll substitute you with Haruhi." He gestured toward his little host mate.
"Ok." Tim said lazily as he plopped himself on the bench.
Kuroko looked at Tim with concern. Instantly the bench player was crowded with medical authorities and all Kuroko could see were the backs of their lab coats as they applied antiseptics Tim's head injury.
"Kuroko." Taiga called him over to the court. "The game's not over yet."
"Don't worry." Tim's voice intersected. The bench player peered toward Kuroko between the curtain of lab coats. "I'll join you when I'm all patched up. Ja?" he smiled and Kuroko's worries suddenly evaporated. The phantom player smiled, nodded, and ran toward Taiga.
The game resumed and the first quarter ended with a 16 point gap between Seirin and Ouran with Seirin in the lead. The majority of the spectators, who were Ouran students, were a bit upset. Some boasted that if their actual basketball team were here, then the commoners would have been beaten in a millisecond. Others complained that the Host club was leaving Tim out, the only basketball player on the school's team.
"Kuroko. Do you want to sub out?" Shinji asked.
"No." Kuroko answered, his eyes searching for Tim who resulted in watching the game with 12 stitches on his sliced forehead underneath some concealing make up.
"First you pass him the ball, now you're not subbing out, what's going on? I thought our goal was to beat the generation of miracles not to help them out." Taiga raised an eyebrow.
"I have a feeling winning is a minor issue." Kuroko turned to him. Taiga frowned at this comment. Winning was their one and only goal. But ever since they came to this school, their perspective on everything was changing. Before today, Taiga thought rose petals only appeared in gardens and sparkles on emanated from fairies. In the real world, gyms were smaller than this arena and tiny people couldn't leap higher than he could. He also noticed the tempo of the team had been more laid back lately. It wasn't a problem in fact they were scoring more easily because of this atmosphere. Although there was an audience, it felt like this was just an innocent game of basketball Taiga used to play when he was a kid.
"Hey, what's with the frowny face, bushy brows." Tim smacked Taiga's back and sent his train of thought flying into an abyss of nothingness. Taiga turned to him with eyes widened with inner euphoria. The bench player gave a friendly grin and said. "Come on. Let's play."
Then it hit him. Throughout the day, Taiga was trying to figure out the guy's specialty. He watched Tim walk to the center of the court positioning himself for the second half. Hidden under the lack of strength, speed, and practically anything useful for basketball was a strong manipulative power of transferring bliss. So powerful, that just with hand contact or verbal expression, Tim could make anyone feel at ease no matter what the circumstances were.
The ball was passed to Tim, who, not surprisingly, dropped it with his clumsy hands. But no one complained, there was a sigh here and there by his team mates but other than that, it seemed like an innocent hiccup. The sphere rolled out of the court and it was that time again for the bench player to pass it to someone from outside of the court.
Taiga became attentive. This was the other piece of the Tim puzzle he had not figured out. Out of the court, Tim was a healer and motivator. But in the court he was a useless lazy player, until the time came when the ball rolled out of the court's boarder.
Tim made the action of a three pointer aiming at the hoop. Taiga frowned, no one can shoot from that far a distance, that move should also be against the rules. But the ball went at a 60 degree angle and halfway its distance from the hoop, it started to fall. Kagami smirked, this was his chance. He raced for the ball just to see it come in contact with Mori's palm for a moment as the tall man thrusted the ball into the hoop like a setter for volleyball. Swosh. Ouran scored one point.
"Aw Mori sepia." Tim sighed. "You should have stood in the three pointer line." Kagami was appalled. The original plan was to get three points with that bizarre system of passing? Instantly, he heard a calm serious voice.
"Kagami-kun." Taiga turned and saw the ball blast its way into his palm. He looked toward a grinning Kuroko and didn't hesitate to zip to the unguarded enemy hoop and regain that point. Instantly a familiar blur of yellow dashed passed him and the ball vanished.
"Takashi!" Hani yelled lunging the ball at the unsuspecting tall man.
Haruhi observed the game as she caught her breath. Sweat dripped from her face continuously.
"You're a pretty modest player." Kyoya approached handing her cherry flavored Gatorade. She thanked him and held the container against her neck for a moment before drinking it and putting it down.
"I used to play Basketball during my gym class in middle school." She swallowed a clump of saliva and continued panting.
"Hmm. But I guess you're not good enough." Kyoya fixed his glasses.
"Is that why you came here?" She turned to him rather annoyed.
"Partially." He smirked and held out 3 photos of her playing the game earlier. Haruhi felt her privacy rights were stripped from her ever since she joined the host club. "You've gained some fans." Kyoya gestured to a few girls at the row closest to the court. "They wanted you to sign these for them."
Haruhi came to a sudden realization. "They took those photos?" She asked timidly.
"Hmm? What? You think I would take such poorly formatted shots?" Kyoya raised an eyebrow. Haruhi scowled at him before taking the photos and signing them.
"Whatever."
Miraculously, the scores tide by the end of the 2nd quarter. Kuroko's lack of presence had diminished and Tim was ready to collapse though he barely broke a sweat.
"Ok. I think that's enough basketball for a life time." Tim planked on the bench.
"But you walked all the time we've been chasing the ball." The twins said in union wiping each other's sweat away. "And you don't fight for the ball at all." Hani panted as Mori held his water bottle.
"You do need to participate more on the 3rd quarter." Haruhi added to the conversation.
Tim didn't answer. He silently continued his ritual of planking. The buzzer beeped for the 3rd quarter. Tim didn't budge.
"Is he serious?" Hikaru lowered his gaze as stood up. "He's the one who started this. He could at least try to finish it." He made his way to the court with his twin.
The twins met with the playing Seirin members. All a bit annoyed by Tim's decision to sit this quarter out.
"Come on." Taiga frowned. "Even Kuroko decided to play, and he's practically useless now that he used up his misdirection." The others could a have sworn Kuroko's eye twitch at that comment. But he remained composed and turned his attention to the planking Tim.
"So he's not playing?" Kuroko asked nonchalantly.
"We don't know." The Twins shrugged.
Haruhi sighed and turned to Hani and Mori. "I think he fell asleep. You guys go on ahead, if I can't wake him up, then I'll sub for him if you want." She instructed. They replied with a smile and a verbal thank you before heading toward the court. She shifted her attention to Tim who still hadn't moved from his position. "Well at least he doesn't snore." She conceded. Haruhi walked up to him and poked his side. "Hey, you wanted this game. So you have to stick through till the end."
Nothing.
She felt a little irked for being ignored. "Come on." She moved to poke his head. Then she noticed a red liquid expanding from his head. "Tim?" She asked a little concerned. The court suddenly felt cold and eerie. "Tim!" She lifted his head. The stiches on his forehead had snapped and the wound had reopened. He wasn't sleeping, he was losing consciousness from blood loss! "Tamaki sempai!" Haruhi yelled.
"Guys! Help! He's bleeding out!" The players heard her from the court. They immediately rushed to her side just as she flipped him over belly up.
"What happened?" Kagami frowned.
"His stitches snapped. He's losing blood really fast."
" Well with his injury earlier, he shouldn't have continued playing at all." Kyoya flipped his phone open. The audience began peering from their seats to see what was happening. Hani felt Mori's grip on his hand tighten.
"Don't worry Takashi. He'll be fine." Hani reassured.
"But it will be my fault if he doesn't make it."
"Man, why'd you have to go smack him so hard!" Kagami yelled at him.
"Kagami-kun calm down. Starting a fight won't help." Kuroko scolded.
"It's his fault for over reacting!"
"You're over reacting now too."
"That's not the point!"
"You're yelling efforts will be useless to this situation."
"Well I'm right aren't I?" Kagami raised his voice.
" Sheesh, Kagami, don't you ever just chill out?" Tim's voice inserted softly into the heated conversation. The players and host club slowly turned to the bench appalled. They were greeted a yawning Tim who sat up and noticed his drenched face. "Oh, dude, what the heck is this?" he held out his dripping hands. Then he smelled and licked his fingers before realizing everyone's face was filled with confusion and shock. "Did we win?" he blinked.
...
"Tim- kun. Are you ok?" Kuroko broke the appalling silence.
Tim chuckled mildly amused. "Am I missing something?"
"You're covered in your own blood and you're acting like nothing happened!" Taiga exclaimed.
"Cherry…Gatorade." Tim corrected holding out his fingers.
Shinji tasted the red liquid on the bench. "He's right."
"Indeed." Kyoya agreed approaching an empty Gatorade bottle rolled on the side of a wall. "It appears Haruhi didn't close the lid tightly when I gave it to him, he placed it on the side, and when Tim plopped himself on the bench, he spilt the container and snapped all of his stiches open."
"So there's no blood?" Hani asked.
"No." Tim checked his wound "I have a healing factor that would make Wolverine jealous." He chuckled. But no one joined him so he abruptly stopped.
"Looks like my little Haruhi, called wolf."T amaki smirked.
The Newest Host club member turned red out of embarrassment and stuttered in defending herself. Lucky for her, Hyuga's phone rang. When he answered it, it was an erupting coach angrily demanding them of their location.
"Well I guess our game ends here." Kuroko made a small smile. Tim returned it with a grin.
"You wanna finish it sometime later in the future?"
"Na. I think I know my place in the game now." Tim shook his head . "Maybe the next time we see each other, I'll have perfected a technique that requires little to no effort in playing the game. "
Kagami's eyebrows raised. It seemed Tim was unaware of his masterful lazy skills on the court.
"Until then" Tim continued "Tim no Basket." He said in English.
FIN
Hope you liked it :D