A/N: Hello. Please Review.

Disclaimer: As much as I would love to have Kuroko...he is not mine TT...TT

First Quarter

The cherry blossoms are in full bloom, marking off the start of a new school year. A girl with short light blue hair walks through the gates of the Teiko Academy. In one hand is her book bag, and in the other is a manga. The club rush has already begun. Flyers are strewn all over the floor and club leaders are desperately trying to gain new members.

"Hey, it looks like you like to read!" someone says as the girl walks by, "Why don't you join the literature club?"

"This is a phonebook."

Turns out that the person isn't talking to the petite blue-haired girl at all, but rather the green-haired bespectacled girl behind her.

The person flaps a hand at the green-haired girl, "Phonebooks are fine-Eh? Why do you even have that to begin with?"

She pushes up her glasses, "My lucky item. It's from Ohaasa-nanodayo*."

"Lucky item….?" But what surprises the person the most is: "'Nanodayo'!?"

Her glasses glint, "Do you have a problem with how I talk-nanodayo?"

"No…not at all…"

The petite light-blue haired girl keeps walking, still absorbed in her book. Somewhere behind her, a crowd of people stare at a rather tall purple haired girl.

"Whoa…she's so tall!"

"Is she a model…?"

A girl from the girls' volleyball club runs up to her with pleading hands, "Please join our club!"

The purple-haired girl scratches her cheek, "Eh….I dunno….maybe….." She sighs, "But it's such a pain~."

The petite light-blue haired girl continues walking, unnoticed by all, while behind her a fuss is being made. This time, it's a slender blonde. All the guys who see her can't help but ogle.

"She's so hot!"

"Hell, man, you're right!"

Somewhere down the street, a limo pulls over to the side. A girl with long red hair comes out unassisted. She tosses a stray lock behind her shoulder before instructing her escort, "From now on, do not fetch me to or from school. Doing something like that everyday will stand out. And people will laugh."

"B-but, miss, your father-"

The girl's red eyes slide over to send a baleful glare, shutting up the man immediately, "My father has nothing to do with this." She walks toward the school, "At least let me have my freedom here."

~~())~~

A blue-haired girl slams her foot on her desk before homeroom begins. She's shaking with anger. Next to her, a pink-haired boy tries to calm her down.

"I can't believe…that in a school that's renown for its basketball…" the blue-haired girl clenches a fist, "THEY DON'T HAVE A GIRLS' BASKETBALL TEAM!"

The pink haired boy tries to yank her down from her perch, "Dai-chan…calm down! Everyone is staring…."

She points at him, "So? Everyone should know how pissed off I am!"

"You're flashing everyone your underwear, too…"

His friend scoffs, "Am not. See? I'm wearing shorts underneath."

The boy quickly puts her skirt down, "Don't show everyone, Aomine!"

Aomine hops down from the desk, "That's it, Momoi. I'm gonna do it myself!"

Momoi leans back in his seat and crosses his arms, "Let me guess. Start a basketball club for girls?"

She grins, "Exactly."

The petite girl with light blue hair who sits two rows from them slowly looks up from her book. A book about basketball.

~~())~~

A two weeks later, during lunch, Aomine has her head pressed against the desk. She sighs, "You would think…in a school this large…someone would want to play basketball…"

Momoi pats her on the back, "It's okay. You just need to change your approach a little bit. For instance…stop threatening everyone…"

His friend abruptly jerks upright and leans back in her seat with a huff, "At this rate, I might as well play on the guy's team!"

Momoi sighs, "You know you can't do that."

"Oh, yeah? Just watch me."

"Excuse me…"

Both of them turn to see a petite light blue-haired girl standing next to them. Momoi stiffens while Aomine literally just falls out of her chair.

"Wh-where did you come from?!" demands Aomine.

"I've been here." the girl answers simply.

"Then why didn't you say anything earlier?" challenges Aomine.

"You two seemed busy." she replies.

Aomine straightens her chair before rising to her feet and dusting off her skirt, "So what do you want?"

"I would like to join the basketball club."

Momoi and Aomine stare at her.

"Umm, are you sure?" asks Momoi, trying to be polite.

The girl nods.

Aomine looks at the girl up and down, "No offence, but you look kinda weak,"

"Dai-chan!" reprimands Momoi.

"What?" she says indignantly, "It's true!"

There's a determined glint in the petite girl's eyes, "I've been practicing a lot lately. I promise I won't disappoint you."

"Eh?" exclaims Aomine in disbelief after putting two and two together, "You're the ghost everyone was talking about?!"

"Ghost?" echoes Momoi.

His childhood friend glowers at him, "Don't act like you don't know. Especially since you've been teasing me about it."

The petite girl nods, "I asked the coach if I could use the third string court to practice."

"And he just let you?" asks Aomine skeptically.

"Well…not exactly…." elaborates the girl, "I offered to clean the court. And do the laundry that the others had yet to do."

Momoi stares at her. Sneaky…

Aomine blinks, "You help with the laundry, too? How come I never see you?"

"I don't have much of a presence."
You don't say…

Aomine grins as she places her hand on her hip and extends a fist, "Well. I can't say no to someone who's that devoted to basketball. Welcome to the club!"

Before the girl can bump fists with her, a loud thud comes from somewhere outside. Aomine lets out a squeak and immediately uses Momoi as a shield. A tall girl with purple hair enters the classroom, rubbing her head ruefully. She has a stick of pocky in her mouth and a paper bag full of snacks cradled in one arm.

"Umm…I'm here for the basketball club~." Under her breath she adds, "It was such a pain to find you though~."

Aomine peers over Momoi's shoulder, "W-who are you?"

"Dai-chan…stop being a baby." chides Momoi.

"Eh…Murasakibara Atsushi~."

That's a pretty long name…Aomine coughs uncomfortably and straightens, "Well. Umm…ok."

"Eh~. That's it?" inquires Murasakibara, "Okay~. That was easy~."

"We haven't got many members, so at this point, Dai-chan is just desperate." explains Momoi.

"Am not!" snaps Aomine.

Momoi turns to the petite light-blue-haired girl, "We never did get your name, did we? I'm Satsuki Momoi. And that rowdy person here is Daiki Aomine."

"Tetsuya Kuroko." she replies quietly.

Aomine grins and holds up fist, "Just two more members and we can officially play!"

"But first you have to actually start the club." reminds Momoi with a smile.

Aomine stiffens, "Oh. Right."

Kuroko and Murasakibara stare at Momoi, confused.

"Dai-chan wanted to wait until we had a legit amount of members." he explains, "We don't even have an advisor yet." He shoots a disapproving eye at his friend.

~~())~~

"You already did everything and you didn't tell me?!" fumes Aomine.

Once again, the foursome find themselves in the homeroom class during lunch.

Momoi grins, "I don't see why you're complaining. I even-Well, Ms. Zakura, even convinced the coach of the basketball team to let us practice on the third string court."

Aomine is an inch away from his face, "Really?"

Momoi averts his stare and scratches his head, "Er…."

"I knew it." grumbles Aomine as she slumps into her seat, "There're strings attached."

Kuroko looks up from her bento, "So what is the requirement?"

"We at least have to have a complete team."

"Ah, what a pain~." mumbles Murasakibara around a mouthful of maiubo*.

Aomine leaps to her feet, "Two more members. Got it." She begins to march out of the classroom, but freezes when she sees someone leaning against the doorframe. She gulps, "Oh…Hi, Class Rep. I, uh…wasn't gonna threaten anyone…." After a moment she squeaks out, "Swear!"

Seijuurou Akashi straightens and crosses her arms, "Don't worry. I didn't come here to reprimand you for your actions, no matter how conspicuous they are. I came here to help you with your little problem."

"Oh."

Then Aomine fully registers the meaning behind the class representative's words, "Hah?"

"You know two people who want to join?" asks Momoi.

Akashi glances to one side, "The other girl may need some convincing, but yes, I know two other people."

"So who's the girl who doesn't need convincing?" inquires Aomine.

The red-haired girl turns around to leave and looks back at them out of the corner of her eye, "Me." Before any of them can utter any expression of shock, she leaves, but not before saying, "Her name is Shintarou Midorima. You'll usually find her in the library."

The foursome stare at the empty space that Akashi had occupied. Aomine is the first to get over her shock.

She raises a fist to the ceiling, "All right, everyone! To the library!"

The other three mimic the movement, "Yeah!"

~~())~~

Midorima Shintarou pushes up her glasses, "No."

Momoi glances over to one side, "And so quick, too."

"Why not?" demands Aomine, "The Class Rep said that you were interested."

"Actually, she said that Midorima-kun needed convincing." corrects Kuroko.

Midorima's eye twitches, "That little…I told her not to…" She buries her face into a fairly thick book, "I'm not interested."

"Why not?" repeats Aomine with a scowl, "At least give me a legit reason."

The green-haired girl eyes her from over her book, "Who are you people anyways?"

"We're in the same homeroom." replies Kuroko, "I'm Tetsuya Kuroko." She gestures at the others in said order: "He's Satsuki Momoi. She's Daiki Aomine."
She sighs and returns her gaze back to her book, "I don't remember seeing any of you. As for your question, I much rather focus on my studies. Now please. Leave me alone-nanodayo."

Aomine blinks. Nanodayo…?

Momoi points to the stuffed animal next to her, "What's that for?"

Midorima looks at the medium-sized penguin plush, "Today's lucky item."

"Hah?"

She glares at them, "Do you have a problem with that-nanodayo?"

"No…not at all…"

Momoi looks around, "Where's Muk-kun?"

"She's outside eating." answers Kuroko quietly, "Since you can't eat in the library."

He sighs, "She sure eats a lot…"

Aomine glares at the book in Midorima's hands, "What are you even reading?"

"A book on quantum physics-nanodayo."

Aomine doesn't believe her. Well, she doesn't even know what quantum physics mean, but whatever, "Really."

Before Midorima can do anything, Aomine knocks the book out of her hands and onto the table. She grins triumphantly when she sees what's hiding between the covers, "Eh~. What's this?"

"N-nothing-nanodayo!" stutters Midorima as she tries to hide her discomfort by pushing up her glasses.

Everyone else peers at the little scraps of paper with various diagrams and formulas. It kind of looks like possible angles one can make for an effective shoot.

"So you like three pointers, huh?" Aomine finally says.

Momoi blinks. She actually understood all those arrows….?

"No!" bursts out Midorima, leaping to her feet indignantly. She even knocks over her chair in the process. The other students near the vicinity immediately hush her. She stiffens and straightens her chair. Midorima sits back down and says calmly, "I do not. Now please leave me alone-nanodayo."

Aomine hands clasp the back of her neck and she glances to one side, "Ya know….if you join the club…you can shoot as many threes as you want."

Midorima's eye twitches.

"But…" continues Aomine, "I understand if you completely suck ass and don't wanna embarrass yourself."

You're baiting her….Momoi thinks disapprovingly.

"I…do not 'suck.'" replies Midorima icily, "You've never seen me play, so you have no right to judge-nanodayo."

Aomine tries her best not to grin, "So prove it."

Midorima shakes with anger as she pushes up her glasses. The lens glint, "Bring it."

Momoi tries his best not to squeak. Dai-chan…you just provoked a monster…

"Momoi-san." asks Kuroko, "Why are you hiding behind me?"

*Maiubo/Umaibo: "delicious stick" is a small, puffed, cylindrical corn snack from Japan. It is produced by Riska and sold by Yaokin. It has a suggested retail price of 10 yen, but because profit margin is so slim, its length can change without a notice. Its consistency is similar to Cheetos.

*As you may already know, Midorima has a unique speech style and often adds the word 'nanodayo' to the end of his sentences (or in this case, her). Its characteristic, so that's why I did what I did. Sorry for the awkwardness.