A BedTime Story

Spoilers for the Teiko arc of the manga

"Dad, can you tell me a story?"

"Do you want a fairytale?"

"No, that's too boring. Can you tell me something interesting?"

"Well how about a story about basketball?"

"Basketball? Please tell me, Dad!"

"Quiet down and I'll tell you the story."

Many years ago, there was . . .

"Dad! You have to start with once upon time. That's how all fairytales start."

"Well this isn't a fairy tale, is it?"

Some years ago, there was a little boy with hair and eyes the color of the clear skies.

"Like Uncle Kuroko?"

"Yes, just like Uncle Kuroko."

The boy was a very polite and kind person, but he was born with a sad fate.

"What is it?"

He had a very weak presence. He could be standing next to you and you would probably never even notice him until he spoke up.

The little boy grew up very lonely. He had no friends because no one could see him and his parents were never at home.

One day, when he was at a streetball court he met another boy.

"That's great!"

They became good friends, bonded by their mutual love of basketball.

"Was the boy good at basketball?"

"No, he was a horrible player. He couldn't shoot and he had no stamina at all."

"Well then why is this story about him?"

"Be patient. It will come later."

Later, the little boy's friend had to move away and they made a promise. They would become a starter at their middle school basketball team and would play each other.

So the boy's friend moved away and the little boy entered middle school where he wasn't really a little boy anymore.

At first the boy was very bad, he was one of the worst players in the club. However, he would stay after school for hours to practice and that was there we he met another boy with dark blue hair the color of the night sky.

The new boy was one of the strongest players on the team. He was the boy's age, but he was naturally talented at the sport.

He began practicing with the boy, but the boy was still very bad at the game.

"What happens next? How can he keep his promise if he is so bad."

"Listen."

The boy was thinking of quitting the club, but then he meets a boy with hair the color of blood.

The red haired boy tells the boy that he can use the sad fate the boy had been born with to shape his basketball.

"So the boy began making a style of basketball just for him. This was why the boy is so amazing, son. He used his sad fate to make his own future."

"How did he play basketball?"

"It comes in right now."

He used his lack of presence to pass the ball unseen. He became a shadow. A shadow that will make the light around him shine brighter than before, this style made the players around him stronger.

"Now it is important for me tell you about the people on his new team."

There was the boy with hair the color of the night sky; he was the boy's light. He was the strongest player on the team and he could even shoot with his back parallel to the ground.

"That's amazing!"

Then there was a boy with hair the color of the leaves. He believed in fate and destiny. He can shoot from anywhere on the court and make it in.

There was a sun colored haired boy who was always smiling. He could copy any move that he sees without even practicing.

There was a boy who was a titan among his peers with purple hair. He could block any shot.

"Why don't you have a weird saying for his hair color?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't think of an analogy right."

"Well it doesn't sound cool."

"Do you want to hear the story or not?"

And the blood haired boy was the captain of the team and was very intimidating.

"Are these kids even human?"

"No, their power was far more than human."

They never lost for two consecutive years, but by their third year they grew out of control.

"Huh?"

They became too powerful; they treated their opponents like trash. They became monsters and until only the boy with the sky blue hair was still human.

The boy hated what they had become. He had realized what monsters the kids had grown into, but he still played for them because they were his only friends and he truly believed that he could change them.

But, then the boy's team did something unforgivable.

"What did they do?"

"Do you remember the boy's promise to his first friend?"

The boy was injured and couldn't play in the match. He asked his captain to play a fair game against his old friend and not underestimate them.

"What did his team do?"

"If you can stop bouncing up and down, I will continue. You are suppose to go to sleep after this."

They rigged the score so that the score 11 to 111, the boy saw his "friends" score against themselves to rig it. This team that the boy loved so much; destroyed the boy's promise. The boy's old friend left him and refused to talk to the boy.

The boy gave up basketball after that with his heart broken into a million pieces. The team split up as well. They wanted to test their new found power against each other and each went to a different school.

"Is that the end?"

"No. It's far from the end."

The boy with the sky blue hair put together his broken heart with pure willpower and declares that he will beat his former teammates. That he will show them how to be human again even if he will be destroyed in the attempt.

"Now go to sleep. I'll tell you the rest tomorrow."

I have two more chapters of this coming up. This was at first meant for my one-shot series, Shining Memories, but I felt like it was a little too serious. So now it is its own fic. Please review if you enjoyed it!

-SWP