Author's Note: This story basically takes place shortly after the start of the anime/manga. Largely written for a friend from tumblr (and per request of some people who wanted me to write a Kagami x OC story). Hope you enjoy! Also hoping nothing seems out of character, rewatching the anime for the umpteenth time as we speak to smooth out any inconsistencies.

Chapter One

"The girl's basketball club... isn't really accepting new members. Anyways, your doctor already contacted the school and there has been a restriction on your physical activity. Maybe you should think about joining—"

"I could be their manager," she suggested. "Or assistant manager – anything. I don't really mind. I just want to be able to watch the team play."

Sweat was pouring down the teacher's forehead as he leaned back in his seat, fanning himself furiously. He let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, there really isn't anything I can do. You are more than welcome to watch them practice but there are no openings. You really should think about—"

"I see, thank you." Without missing a beat, she cut in through his speech and delivered her answer. There was a gentle smile on her lips as she turned on her heel and marched right back out of the teacher's office. In the silence, only the echo of her footsteps could be heard as she slammed the door shut behind her.

Out in the hallway, she paused to stare down at the floor. The smile faded away. But just as quickly she seemed to regain her sense of equilibrium and started toward the main entrance of the building. School was over for the day, and she had lingered at her teacher's request.

"It would be good for you to get involved in a club activity," he had said. "You can make some friends that way. Since you got a late start in school, you might find it hard relating to your classmates." He hadn't been... wrong about that much.

A month was easily enough time for other people to come together and form cliques in her absence. Since her parents had moved, no one from her old middle school would be attending this high school. She was most certainly alone.

After switching shoes, she slipped outside, her book bag dangling from her grasp as she started for the front gate. But then she noticed the gym – the doors wide open and no noise coming from inside. Had all the clubs gone home already? It seemed unlikely, but on the off-chance that they had...

When she ducked in, she was surprised to find it deserted. A lone basketball sat in the middle of the floor. If she didn't know better, she would have thought she was dreaming.

Dropping her bag to the ground, she approached the ball, stooping down to scoop it up in her hands. It was surprisingly larger than she might have expected. It was not the first time she had held one, and it stirred some nostalgia as she turned toward the hoop. From this distance, it wouldn't be impossible to make a basket. Just as she shifted the ball in her hands, she heard a booming voice from behind her.

"You won't make the shot like that."

It startled her and almost instinctively, she released her grasp on the ball. It rolled to the side, conveniently bouncing against the shoes of a man nearly twice her height. His hair was a vibrant red with a dark underlayer. Although his most discerning characteristic was undoubtedly those bushy eyebrows, angled down to give the impression of a scowl. The intimidating parts of him belied the cheeky grin he offered as he leaned down to retrieve the ball.

After staring at him quizzically for several moments, she found her voice. "You must be from the basketball team."

"Yep. The rest of the team is still in the locker room but they'll be out in a minute. What are you hangin' out in the gym for?" His head cocked to the side, leaning the basketball against the side of his body as he addressed her.

"You're really tall."

"Eh?"

Her expression brightened. "Can you dunk?"

Rather than respond verbally, he shifted his weight, taking the ball in one hand. His footsteps, beating against the wooden floor, echoed as he made a running approach to the hoop. Leaping through the air, he almost looked like he was flying – no, he definitely looked like he was flying. Her jaw dropped in amazement as he sailed right to the rim, plunging the ball straight through the net without any resistance or difficulty. And when he came crashing back to the ground, he peered over his shoulder with a triumphant grin.

"Hey, Kagami!"

He got only a brief glimpse of her before turning his gaze back to see Hyuuga and the rest of the Seirin team spilling out of the locker room. "Yo," he greeted in response. Riko had been talking to each one of them separately about the new training regimen she was developing – which was the only reason why he had made it out before the rest of them.

"What are you messing around for?"

"I wasn't messing around," he grumbled back. "I was just showing..." His voice trailed off as he turned his head back, only to find the spot that the girl had previously been occupying to be empty now. He swung his head, gaze sweeping across the gym – but it seemed as though she had disappeared altogether.

"Did you see a ghost?" Kuroko piped up from beside him, having characteristically appeared out of nowhere.

"I don't want to hear that nonsense from you," he joked back in thick voice, roughly ruffling his teammate's hair. "Let's get practicin'."

—

"I actually met someone today taller than you."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," she gushed, sitting down in front of her vanity. The phone was cradled against her shoulder, pressed against her left ear as her hands worked through her shoulder-length mahogany hair. Her eyes barely focused on the reflection in the mirror. She was too busy recounting the tale.

"So you watched them play?"

"Oh." Her voice halted at that question. No – she hadn't watched, had been too nervous the moment they all started spilling out into the gym. She had high-tailed it out of there in that moment, hastily snatching her bag as she raced for the gates. "Not exactly..."

"Hey, Yuki. Tomorrow, after school, I was thinking I should come visit you."

"Really?" Her voice raised an octave, revealing her excitement. "Wait, Jun-chan, are you just coming here because you want to spy on my school's team? That seems pretty underhanded."

"Heh, nothing wrong with sizing up the competition, right? Anyways, there's no guarantee that my team will even come up against theirs. So don't worry about it. I just want to see my best friend. It's been kind of lonely here since you moved away, you know."

"I know," Yuki replied thoughtfully. "How are things going at your school?"

There was breathy sigh on the other end. "About as well as one can expect being second string. But don't worry. I will move up by the time Interhigh rolls around. I'm not going to be a bench warmer forever, you know."

"Yeah, because... you have someone you need to beat." Yuki smiled against the phone as she set the brush aside, peering up into the mirror. Stony gray eyes stared back from the reflection. "I'm always cheering for you, Jun-chan. We made a promise, after all."

"Yeah. I won't... lose to him."

The other end went quiet and Yuki took that as her cue. A brief glance at the alarm clock sitting beside her bed was telling enough. A yawn escaped her lips. "Well, I should be getting to bed then. Wait for me by the school gates tomorrow, okay? I'll come get you there and we can go to the gym together."

"Right."

—

Yuki was startled by how unaware she had been of her surroundings in the first month – that she had never noticed that head of crimson hair sticking out from the corner of the room. He was a whole head taller than most of the other guys in class, maybe even more. A tremor of fear ran through her body. Would he recognize her and try to talk to her?

Fortunately, she sat at the complete other end of the room, the furthest possible seat from him. And he did not even turn his head to glance in her direction as she entered – no, his gaze was turned to the window. He seemed to be watching something outside with a ghost of a smile on his face.

Her heart was beating furiously as she settled into her desk, moments before the bell rang. What is his name? She wondered, gaze occasionally wandering to the far corner of the classroom. He stuck out more than she did. And her hair was certainly odd. Though perhaps no stranger than the boy sitting a couple seats farther back, his hair the same shade as the cloudless sky.

The day seemed to stretch on endlessly, and even though she spent lunch in the classroom – eating her homemade bento alone – every second was spent in painstaking anticipation. She could scarcely tamp down her excitement, thinking about seeing Jun again. The two had been apart for four months now, ever since her parents moved. Her subsequent admittance into the hospital kept their contact limited as well.

So the moment the bell rang, she was scrambling to throw everything into her school bag before hightailing it out of the classroom. In her haste, reaching for the door, she was somewhat shocked when her hand bumped against someone else's – much larger than hers.

"Ah," the person beside her remarked in surprise.

Yuki was mildly shocked to see the man from yesterday.

"...you're the one from yesterday, right?" He said, his brows furrowing as though he was struggling to recall.

A smile teased at the edges of her lips and she gave a short nod. "My name is Yuki." There was a momentary look of confusion on his face and she was quick to add, "Um my last name is... hard to pronounce in Japanese. So you can just call me Yuki."

"Hm. You do look like a foreigner," he acknowledged with a nod.

"You're from overseas?" Another, unfamiliar voice remarked from beside the larger man.

Yuki nearly jumped in surprise as her gaze lowered to the blue-haired boy who was staring back at her. She smiled awkwardly and looked away. "Uh, yeah... my parents moved over here when I was really young."

"Where from?"

"You haven't introduced yourself," the blue-haired boy reminded.

"Oh, right... I'm Kagami, Kagami Taiga. This guy is Kuroko Tetsuya." He rested a heavy hand against his companion's head. And while a momentary look of displeasure crossed Kuroko's face, he kept his lips pursed. "So where are you from?"

"The States."

"Really?" he remarked, surprised.

"Kagami-san just came back from there," Kuroko supplied, batting the taller man's hand away.

Before the conversation could go any further, she cut them off. "It was nice meeting the both of you. I have someone waiting for me, so I have to get going." Giving a short bow of the head as an apology, she reached for the door and wriggled past the two. She jogged down the hallway, earning a reprimand from a passing teacher – which she ignored.

By the time she reached the gate, she spotted a tall, statuesque figure waiting for her. Grinning from ear to ear, she approached – breathless from her running. And she had to pause, hands on her knees, to catch her breath by the time she reached them. "You... didn't... wait... too long... did you?" she rasped, speaking between breaths.

"You didn't have to hurry like that. I cut school early so I could be here when you got out." The person standing in front of her gave every appearance of being male – a flat chest, gangly limbs and broad shoulders. Their hair was as dark as night, cut short and set in loose ringlets that fell just above the ears. But the voice – the voice wasn't deep enough to be masculine and the lack of an Adam's apple would have been suspicious to any stranger.

"I was really excited to see you again, Jun-chan!" Not showing any restraint, Yuki flung herself at the other body.

A breathy sigh sounded from above her as a large hand gently patted her back. "If you cling to me like that, you'll give them the wrong idea. They'll think I'm your boyfriend."

"I wouldn't mind having a boyfriend like you."

"Don't be silly," Jun responded with a laugh. "You don't swing that way." It was when Jun smiled that it was unmistakeable. Despite the male uniform and the androgynous appearance, Jun was definitely a girl. Although she scarcely considered herself one.

"I said a boyfriend like you," Yuki reminded sourly, extracting herself.

Those dark eyes stared down at her with affection, and Jun ruffled her hair. "I was worried you would be really pale, that you would have lost a lot of weight in the hospital. I'm glad you're just like you've always been. Lively as ever."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" she protested.

"Nothing. Now how about that basketball team of yours?"

In the time they had wasted chatting at the main entrance, surely the basketball team had already made their way to the gym. Motioning Jun to follow, Yuki headed in that direction. "By the way, aren't you missing your own team's practice by coming here?"

"I'm sure I'll get an earful when I get back, but it's okay. If I learn something then it was worth the trip."

"You make it sound like you didn't even come to see me..."

"I am here to see you. I wouldn't come if not for you. But..." Jun trailed off as they neared the gym. It took a moment before she continued, and when she did, the words were whispered. "Beating Akashi is also very important to me."