Disclaimer: Not mine.
Warning: Grammar mistakes, misspelling, typos. Possible Ooc-ness. I don't have a beta so possible headaches as well. ^_^ ^_~
Note: Hi! First and foremost I didn't really plan on posting or even writing this idea for a reason that will be discussed below. This idea stubbornly penetrated my entire system that I can't help but write it in the middle of class. Gaaah! I ignored it but failed. T_T.
So, this fic is solely based on the fanfic "Naruto" by FASTFORWARD. It was a NaruxSasu pair which is one of my most favorite pair. Haha. The story itself is a masterpiece and the author did a very fanyastic job to write the piece. You can try it! Man, I am soooo in love with her story. I was doubting to post this knowing that everyone was aware of her story, so please, please, please, don't compare this story to her 'masterpiece' because it was nowhere near as great to her story. Also, I didn't ask for permission from the author for writing this, I'm not sure if I need to. But if any case she won't agree. I will immediately delete it.
Additionally, the title might change because still don't know the right title to use. If not, it only means I started to love it haha.
This is an AU yet not an AU, haha. You'll probably understand later. Anyway, I won't hold you up anymore. Hope you enjoy reading. ^_^
"I'll be this way. See you tomorrow!"
A fifteen-year old teen waved his friends goodbye as they all split at the corner going to each of their home, idly humming a happy tune that completely resembles his mood. He fought the urge to produce a huge grin to avoid any stranger to think he had lost his mind, but let loose a small yet cheeky smile to rather announce that he was fairly well excited.
Yes! He was excited, too much indeed. Furihata couldn't contain his happiness as it was illuminating his entire facial expression, skipping in the process. For after two months of excruciatingly waiting, his favorite manga will finally release a new volume today.
Finally!, he yelled inwardly.
He will go to the store he frequented with to buy the Kuroko no Basuke manga. That manga is fantastic. He was so excited to arrive and buy the thing.
He was not the usual 'otaku' or anything like that but it doesn't mean he did not have mangas he enjoyed, more like he had several to mention if asked. But this one is his topmost favorite, and he's going to retrieve it sooner rather than later.
He'd liked Kuroko's character since the beginning of the series for he bear a cool technique and style in basketball, and yet still didn't get enough attention because of his poor presence which is, in any case, a good thing when it comes to basketball.
He also admire his positivity of not giving up easily in any situation; not only on oneself, but, as well as on his team mates he believes in, especially his so-called Light - Kagami.
Similar to the character 'Kuroko', Furihata was a point guard himself (although Kuroko's position can be quite difficult to decide) but not as good as the guy. He was more of an average type of player that has no special skills but be ordinary.
According to the manga though, there was someone much greater of a point guard than Kuroko, and that is the great captain of the Generation of Miracles, Akashi Seijurou. He had no idea how Akashi's character works though since they were at the earlier points of the Teikous arc but surely today's volume will probably reveal a lot more than he wanted to know. Yep, surely, biting his lip from grinning.
Upon reaching his loved rendezvous, Furihata halted his tracks. The bell rang as he pushed the trasparent door open announcing his entrance, and pasting a grin upon spotting a man reading behind the counter.
"Good evening Mayuzumi-san, has it arrive?" he asked quickly when standing in front of the counter, excitement evident on his tone. He's a frequent customer thus he had quite known a few store-clerk of the store. One is the white-haired young man in front of him, though he wasn't very sure of his age, but he does look young. Why his hair is white? He did not ask. Maybe later.
Mayuzumi looked up upon hearing his name being mentioned and stood from where he seated to attend him, closing the book in the process. Also, the guy has this very little presence sometimes he would forget he was actually there. But fortunately having that unique hair really is a big help.
"I'm afraid we have no stock yet Furihata," the whitehead said already aware of what Furihata was asking. "We accidentally got a problem with our delivery which apparently cause them to arrive late. I'm pretty sure in two days time we'll have the new volume," the taller man explained as patient as possible, trying to console the man by the assurrance of its arrival.
Furihata's smile fell upon hearing the information. His excitement instantly disappearing like a lamp being turned off illuminating in pure darkness.
He needs to wait another two more days again? He almost groaned.
Mayuzumi saw the shift of emotions, and it didn't feel good. Even though the delay was not his fault seeing the other teen's excitement fading made him feel guilty nonetheless. His quick mind made him think of another posibility to appease him. "I'll reserve you one with a discount once the item is here," he said, but doesn't seem to help the situation.
The brunette was glad about the offer, thankful if asked. He knew it wasn't the taller male's fault, but still, the heavy feeling won't easily leave.
Calming himself, he nodded at the male, "It's alright Mayuzumi-san. There's no need to do that. I'll wait. I've been waiting for two months adding two more is not that long," he jeered and pasted a smile. He can wait.
"I'm sorry Furihata. When you come back it'll be here in half a price," Mayuzumi apologized and offered again, staring straightly.
"Don't joke Mayuzumi-san, I might take that offer seriously," blinking at him and chuckling in the process.
"I do no joke," his mouth curled up slightly to form a small smile. Noting the situation lightens, the whitette felt relief.
This is another thing he noticed about Mayuzumi-san, despite being handsome he rarely showed any expression at all. There is one though, mostly boredom. Always blank and boredom, and seeing him smiled to him even a little made Furihata smile as well. Having interacted with the other a lot of time though, he was sure the other was a good person. And Furihata never have been mistaken when it comes to his deduction or instinct.
Eyeing him, "You promise?" seeing the white head moved his head to nod, "Then I'll take it...if you insist," he chuckled now with a tint of mirth, adding the last sentence as joke.
The other only nod in response. Taking that as his answer, he readied himself to leave, "I'll get going then Mayuzumi-san. Thanks for the offer," he mumbled his goodbye and thanks as he exited the establishment. Disappointed but at least he got a good offer.
Furihata resigned to his fate however disappointing it was. He could only sigh. Clutching the strap of his messenger bag, he ran to home.
—
He sighted his house and was about to enter the gate when his eyes caught something on the left corner of their gate. He lifted it off the ground to inspect. It was a navy blue shoulder bag.
He frowned, squinting. There were words written in a paper attached to the strap, it read 'To Furihata Kouki'.
It was for him?
Letting it slide for a moment, he stepped inside. Upon entering their house, he slipped off his shoes and wore slippers inside.
"I'm home!" he greeted loud enough for anyone in the house to hear.
"Welcome back, Kou-chan," a woman in her late-thirties emerged from the kitchen, with his similar brown tresses. "Go change, dinner will be up in a minute," she informed.
He nodded with a smile. Upon reaching the staircase he then remembered the bag in his hand.
"Mom," he called her to stop from returning inside kitchen. "I found this outside, at the gate, do you perhaps know who left this?" he lifted the bag to show her when she stopped and gave him her attention.
Her mother frowned in confusion, seemingly thinking.
"I arrive late than usual today Kou-chan but I never notice such bag outside. So it must be left when I was already inside. No one visited or rang the bell since I came," she explained in a concern manner. "What is that? And for whom? Let me look first."
"No need mom. It was address to me, don't worry. I'll check it in my room," he answered with a smile to assure his mother.
"Are you sure? It might be dangerous," she added as she came closer to where he was.
He chuckled and shook his head. His mother and anxiety will never be good partners.
"No worries mom. It doesn't seem like that. I'll be upstairs!" he instead yelled, started ascending the stairs and began running towards his room.
"Fine, but come downstairs when you're done," she shouted for him to hear when he was closing his door.
"Will do!"
Behind closed door, he flung his bag at his desk and plopped down on his bed with suspicious bag on his right hand. He opened it cautiously. His brows furrowed when he saw a book. He was expecting anything but a book. What the-? Why would someone give him a book?... And who could be that someone that would give me? Geez!
Raising an eyebrow, he fished out the object to inspect, it was clearly thick, like those books in the library that he rarely read, but much smaller in size. As he took a good look at it, he immediately froze and gasped. The thing in his hand was definitely not a book but a manga.
A MANGA. A manga of his favorite series - Kuroko no Basuke. He quickly scanned it and discarded the bag. He almost cried upon reading the first few pages. It was newest release volume of KnB that he's been waiting for long painful months. He embraced it like a price possession and laughed loudly while letting his body fall to the bed. He was so happy.
Rolling to his stomach, he braced his body by his elbows while flipping the cover open.
He balanced it between his palms to start reading. Before he could proceed though, there were written words that caught his attention that was apparently doesn't belong to the manga itself. It was written by pen at the bottom of the page. His eyes squinted. The words were orderly and elegantly written as "Enjoy my present Furihata Kouki".
His mouth opened in half as he frowned in bewilderment.
Right? He forgot that it wasn't his bought piece but a thing that was placed outside their house. Now, that's weird. He looked at its front cover, searching for something that he could use to know of where or whom it came from but saw none. Aside from its hard cover and letters being more prominent than normal nothing else seems to be strange. The pages were the same, the drawings and the story itself.
Remembering the bag, he snatched it off the ground that he made no notice fell off the bed, to inspect it. He checked it inside out but to no avail. There was nothing to reveal the sender. He bit his lip in concentration. Who could someone be generous to give him this as gift? It's not even his birthday. He thought of other possible holidays that would connect to this surprise but nothing seem to be of it.
Before he could contemplate further, two knocks from outside startled him.
"Kou-chan your brother and father is here. Come downstairs, dinner is ready baby," his mom's muffled voice entered the hearing range of Kouki.
"Stop calling me that!" he groaned at her mother's teasing of the word 'baby'. He was not a child anymore. He heard a giggle but no response instead steps walking away from his door was heard. His mom probably went downstairs.
Sighing, he glimpsed at the book. He huffed, "Whatever," he shrugged it off. He left the questions off his mind and changed his clothes before going down to their kitchen to eat dinner with his family.
—
Later that evening, Kouki was completely engrossed to the story he was in. After coming back to his room, he pondered over his situation again, of who gave him the manga. He never believed he had an admirer. That was impossible. But he never dueled with it too much and instead let himself be guided with his happiness first. He'll think about it later.
He was halfway through reading, he suddenly realized that he'd been reading the manga without stopping. Normally, a few chapters and it was finished, and yet this new volume seemed to be longer than the other book they previously released. Looking to his bedside, his alarm clock strikes 12:30 am, yet his mind is still widely awake. Not caring too much, he shrugged the thought.
Teikou's arc is full of different emotions. One thing you feel happy for their friendship, and then despair as it started to crumble. One moment you were proud of what they've achieved the next you were depressed at their changed of attitude. But a big part of you knew why. It was a whirlwind kind of emotion, especially how Kuroko Tetsuya's character handled his situation. It was admirable yet heart wrenching. He could feel himself tear a few times at the story. Despite being a guy, he was a big baby when it comes to break-up friendship. Plus, Kuroko's situation is quite hard.
Akashi Seijurou's part of the story though was admirable albeit a bit scary. The part where he wanted to be in control and yet his authority and power have been questioned which quickly altered his personality. It was heartbreaking. The redhead could be scary but he was one of the most admirable character in the story. He'd become his most favorite after the Light and Shadow duo.
It was at the end of the Teikou's arc and the beggining of Rakuzan's game that he all of a sudden felt his eyes feeling heavy. He don't know why but it felt like being lulled suddenly by the air, as if he was being lifted and carried by something. His mind was very active still and yet his eyes were being forced to shut closed. He forced to look up at the time on his clock. It was exactly 1:00 am when his vision swirled around as darkness enveloped him and led him to unconsciousness.
—
His eyes felt like lead. It felt so heavy. But he forced his eyes to flutter open. The first thing he recognized were the brightness and noise that he couldn't comprehend what of. He tried to clear his foggy mind and blurry eyes to focus to his surroundings. When cleared, the first image he saw was a white cieling. Where am I?
He forced his brain to recall the events the previous night, the reason why his body was so sluggish and tired. Searching didn't help though as he only remember falling asleep in his room, and he was sure his cieling was not white.
Slowly, his eyes shifted to his right to survey around, but only the sky blue curtains was met by his eyes. He brows furrowed in confusion.
"He has awakened."
The sudden voice startled the brunette who was still trying to understand his surroundings. He followed the sound and was greeted by a handsome mien of a person, sitting on the left side of his bed. Heterochromatic eyes connected with confused brown ones. He blinked. Who is this man?
He has this beautiful white skin. His red hair perfectly framed his small pointed nose and eyes that shares amazing different colors - red and yellow. Is that even possible?
And why does he seemed to be familiar?
The blinds opened from outside and there entered a woman in white coat.
Slowly, he motioned his body to seat up from laying. The woman, seems to be a doctor, walked closer and helped him.
"Don't move yet. You have quite a fall so we need to check you up first. Is there any pain? Are you okay?" she settled on the right edge of his bed.
He did a slight nod. "Uh, yes...I'm okay," he responded, voice still raspy from sleeping. After a moment, he coughed, "What happened? Where am I?"
He don't really know what occured that resulted him in this what looks like a hospital, but what his last memory supplied him was reading and falling asleep on his own bed not on this unfamiliar place.
"You're in the infirmary. This fine young man have found you at the bottom of the stairs and brought you here..." the doctor glanced at the guy on his left for a second before continuing checking him.
He was puzzled. Fall? Bottom of the stairs? What stairs? He looked at the red haired male beside him who only stare back.
"Stairs...where?" was the only words that he could produce.
"Yes. You're at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium and he found you unconscious on the floor. We believed you slipped and fell off the stairs. What's your name? Age?" she stopped from checking and looked at tenderly.
He gazed back at the doctor. Now looking closely, the woman seems to be in his late tweenties or early thirties. Her black tresses were complementing with his black eyes which looked at him with pure concern. She was pretty. Her warm smile emphasized his beauty even more.
"Furihata Kouki. 15."
She nodded in understanding, "Do you remember what happened to you?"
"I...I don't..." his response, "The last thing I remember was sleeping in my room," he added with difficulty. It was so confusing. Then something registered in his mind, looking at the doctor with puzzled eyes. "Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium? Why am I here? I don't remember coming here, I don't even remember falling." he said, a bit rattled. Why was he here?
"It's probably because of the fall, you've not really grasp the situation yet. But other than that nothing is wrong. Physically, everything is functioning. If you ask me, I was glad that nothing major happened especially with you being a player. Injuries tends to happen at a very crucial moments. Rest for now."
He wanted to be greatful for being okay but he was still confused to be concerned. The doctor excused herself to go outside the blinds.
He nodded.
"When did I come here? Why would I?" he asked to oneself despite having no answer, forgetting that he wasn't alone. He was jerked out of his thoughts when someone spoken.
"Your team mates will be coming here any minute. You can ask them if you want answers. I already inform them of your situation."
"My team mates? Why them?" He know my team?
"Because I know you were a Seirin player and Tetsuya was the only person I know on that team that probably know you," he said in a matter-of-fact tone.
Furihata wasn't sure if the other was getting irritated. He discreetly shuddered at the gaze the red haired man was giving him. He avoided his eyes and looked elsewhere.
...Seirin? Tetsuya?
"What's the name of the team I was in?" added softly.
"Seirin," was the curt answer.
He was about to ask again but the commotion outside caught the duo's attention. He couldn't question any further as several males whisked the curtains abruptly and entered the space, startling them.
"Furi!"
"Furihata-kun!"
Several unknown, tall men flooded his vision immediately, crowding him with concern faces.
Who are these people?
All he could do was stare at them questioningly. This has become more confusing.
"Are you okay Furihata?" the tallest brown haired man in the group asked first. He was on his right.
Slowly, he threw a nod at the tall brunette as reply. Most of the males are brunettes and ravens, aside from the tall red-dark haired (probably the second tallest or same height with the brown head beside him) and a blue haired teens which he really believed their hair color to to be bleached. The red-dark haired's eyebrows are somewhat weird, was it split?
A brunette teen girl, which he just noticed, spared him a quick glance before making her way to the doctor, who at that moment had followed the crowd. She stood a feet away in front of his bed with the red haired male that was beside him earlier. The doctor's hands were hiding inside her coat's pocket, looking at them.
"Is he alright Dr...?" the younger tapered off intentionally, not knowing her name. The other guys also waited for the answer.
The woman looked at her, putting a smile. "Fujioka. Dr. Fujioka. He's okay. It's fatigue from the game. A rest for one to two days would suffice. Fortunately, there's no major problem that hinders him to play. His memory is a bit unstable but he does remember his name except for what happened to him earlier. It was probably because of his fall. He was rattled, but physically, everything is perfect. He can still play all he wants if he wants to, but let him rest for the rest of the day."
"No injury?" it's more of a statement than question, but the doctor still responded.
"Yes. There's none."
The younger female nodded, relief flooded her face similar with the other male.
"What the hell Furihata? Where did you go? We were only watching the game but you suddenly disappeared from the bench after leaving for toilet and never returned, and the next thing we heard you were in here. What happened?" the guy with glasses had asked, a bit sternly which surprised him.
"Wha...?" he couldn't answer his queries for he doesn't have any idea what to say and why is he being scolded?
"Let it go for now Hyuuga. Talk to him later when he's better. The kid fell off the stairs cause of fatigue. Let it be. Let's just be glad he wasn't injured or hurt," the tallest brunette spoke again, sitting beside him on the bed-edge. The guy called Hyuuga copied the action on his left but was scowling, not at him though.
A chuckle, "You're too tight. Let the kid rest for now Hyuuga-senpai!" it was the slanted eyed guy beside Hyuuga.
"Idiot," he directed to him. "We're gonna talk later."
Alright. He didn't want to be called 'idiot' by these unknown people.
"It's nice to see you again Tetsuya," the cold voice drew all of their attention.
A blue haired teen left the bedside and trotted to stand in front of the guy who helped him, and everyone quickly tensed.
"Thank you so much Akashi-kun for helping Furihata-kun. You really help us," the bluenette, Tetsuya, responded, but his tone doesn't seem to be greatful at the other like what his words said.
"It was my pleasure to help you. I don't easily abandoned people I saw that needed help. I passed by the area and saw him and I knew you're with him seeing you brought him at the Winter Cup meeting the last time.
Tetsuya nodded, "I'm glad you informed you Akashi-kun," Tetsuya said yet tone still monotonous.
Tetsuya? Akashi-kun? Hyuuga? Why does their name sounds familiar and they seem to know him. It's as if he heard it before and couldn't quite put a finger into it
He was about to ask them but the brunette girl before, went to the redhead as well.
"Thank you Akashi-san for saving our kohai. It help us big, really. We are very greatful."
He nodded and smiled, not the least bit warming though. "It's alright," added then, "I really need to excuse myself now. I have other business I need to attend to," he smiled and looked to him, "Take care Furihata-san," then at the blue haired teen, "To you as well Tetsuya. See you at finals.
He was about to leave when the invalid teen bewilderly spoke.
"Wait...uh, thank you so much for helping me. I really don't know what occurred but still...thank you...uh can I at least know your name?" he cleared his throat from croaking.
Everyone's eyes landed on him as immediate as a bullet train. Their eyes were staring as if he grew another head. He heard something said, 'It must be the fall' but uncaringly neglected it.
"You are welcome Furihata-san. My name's Akashi Seijurou. Goodbye then," he said to everyone and left before anyone could respond.
Akashi Seijurou? Clicked. What?
"Akashi Seijurou?!"
Isn't that the character he idolized in the story Kuroko no Basuke and then he remembered each character. His eyes widened at the people around him.
"Kagami Taiga?" he asked, just for confirmation, to the taller redhead on the bottom of his bed.
Kagami surprised, "Yeah?"
"Kuroko Tetsuya?"
"What is it Furihata-kun?"
He turned to his right and softly and cautiously mentioned each of the character's name. When he finished calling their names, all of them had already wore a frown, excluding Kuroko which he knew why now.
He couldn't help his loud outburst of "Impossible?! What is happening here?!"
Note: So, what do you think? Thank you for reading.