Yotsubato! and Kuroko no Basuke belong to Kiyohiko Azuma and Tadatoshi Fujimaki.


It was quiet in the Koiwais' home. Dull and mundane as it always was when Yotsuba's father sat down in front of the computer screen working. Much to Yotsuba's dismay, the Ayases' were visiting their grandparents for the summer, so no one was home. Yotsuba sat in the TV room by herself playing with Juralumin.

She looked out the window as if that would make the Ayases come home sooner.

"Juralumin, I'm bored." The small girl said to her stuffed bear. "Are you bored?" She hugged it tightly and it responded.

"Maaaa!"

"Yeah! I'm bored, too! Let's go check up on daddy!" Yotsuba climbed up the stairs and into her dad's office.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Yotsuba called out to him. She crawled under the table and popped up, squeezing out from under the table and onto her dad's lap and looked at the computer screen. "Are you done with work yet?"

"Nope. Not yet." Mr. Koiwai replied.

"But, I'm bored."

"I'll be done soon. Why don't you go to the park? I'll come get you when it's time for lunch. Okay?"

"Okay!"

And with that, she scampered down the stairs and grabbed her bag and Juralumin in tow, placing her into her bag. Yotsuba slipped on her shoes, heading out the door.

"Bye, Daddy!" Yotsuba shouted. "I'll see you soon!"

Once she arrived at the park, she was excited to play on all the play structures. Yotsuba slid down the slide, swung on the swings and spun on the merry-go-round. She then climbed the monkey bars and jumped on the shaky bridge. After that, she made a sandcastle out of sticks, sad, and leaves. She picked up a stick and drew a picture of herself and Juralumin.

It was only an hour that she had been in the park. Yotsuba played on every play structure more than once and began to grow bored again.

"*Sigh*… Juralumin, I'm bored." She said to her teddy bear. "I want to go home, but daddy said he'd come to get me by lunch. What should we do?"

She glanced around the park and saw two open basketball courts on the opposite side of the park. She had no idea what they were or what they were even called, but she was so excited she ran up to get a better view. Both sides of the court had tall, steel poles with a backboard. The backboard was rough and rigid due to weather and excessive play. Right below it was an orange loop and a worn-out net dangling below it.

Yotsuba walked up to the hoop and looked under, seeing an opening from above. She wondered what it was used for.

Can Juralumin fit there? Yotsuba thought to herself, tilting her head curiously. She looked at Juralumin and back at the court. She took the bear out of her shoulder bag and looked up at the hoop again. She started tossing Juralumin into the air, trying to get the bear into the hoop. After several attempts, Juralumin finally makes it into the hoop and down into the net. Finally! The shot was a success. Only one problem: Juralumin never came back down.

"Uh-oh," Yotsuba began jumping as high as she can to try and reach Juralumin, but to no avail. She was completely out of breath and panted heavily, walking away to grab a handful of sticks and stones, retreating back to the court throwing the rocks and the sticks at the hoop, trying to get Juralumin out of the net. Sadly, the only part of the bear that managed to break free from the net was her head and one of her paws sticking out. She was close to getting her friend out from the imprisoning net.

Still no luck.

Yotsuba then picked up a slightly larger stick and used that to try and reach Juralumin. But it still wasn't high enough. She stood there for a long time and pondered what else she could use to get Juralumin down with. Then she had an idea. She jumped onto the pole and started to climb but looked over and remembered what was supporting the hoop. Sulking, she slid back down and looked up at Juralumin. Then she also remembered her dad, Mr. Koiwai, would be going to the park to come back for her in time for lunch.

It was then that she began panicking and shouting throughout the park, flailing her arms. "HELP! HELP!"

Taiga Kagami had just gotten back from practice. He felt a bit exhausted but shooting hoops for a bit wouldn't hurt. As soon as he arrived at the park, he appeared to have missed something. Who was this green-haired girl and why was she calling out for help? Kagami slowed to a stop when the little girl ran up to him and pulled at his shorts.

"HELP! JURALUMIN WON'T COME OUT OF THE NET!" She reached for his hand and ran, leading him to the basketball courts.

Kagami wasn't sure what was happening but he followed after her, after all, it sounded pretty urgent. But, who was Juralumin?

As he was taken to the basketball court, the small girl pointed up at the hoop. He noticed a teddy bear curled up, upside down in the net with its head and arms sticking out in random parts of the net.

"No matter what I do, I can't get her down. My Daddy is going to be really mad when he sees what I did." The girl told him. "Can you get her down, please?" She looked up at him pleadingly.

Kagami had no choice but to comply. The girl had asked nicely and there was no way he would let some small girl's doll remain stuck there; he was planning on using the court later.

"Here. Hold this for me." He said, handing her his basketball and walked up to the basketball hoop. He jumped up and hit the net from the bottom to get the bear out of the net.

After a couple more jumps, and the toy flew out of the net. Kagami reached for the bear but felt himself about to fall over. He grabbed the hoop but something on the backboard snapped and the redhead landed on his back. On one hand was the girl's bear and the other was the hoop. This was the second time he had broken a basketball court.

"AAAAHHHH!" He shouted, remaining on the ground with his arms and legs sprawled out.

The girl laughed at him. "You broke it! Hahaha!" Then she lay down next to him, her arms and legs sprawled out the same way. She stared up at the sky as the silence between them was somewhat comfortable. She laid there for a few more minutes before sitting up and holding his basketball.

"What's this?"

"Oh, that." It was Kagami's turn to sit up. "It's a basketball."

"Basketball? So it goes in that net!" She said. "Right?"

"Right." Am I seriously having this conversation with a four-year-old? He watched her bounce the ball.

"It's so bouncy!" The green-haired girl giggled.

"It sure is!" The redhead stood up and grabbed the ball as she bounced it again and began to dribble it. "Wanna see how it works?" He asked.

"Yeah! Yeah!" The girl exclaimed. "I wanna see!"

Kagami then proceeded to dribble the ball around, doing a few shifts and turns before making a slam dunk on the opposite side of the court.

"WOW! SO COOL!" The girl cheered. "CAN YOU TEACH ME HOW TO DO THAT!?"

"Sure, but," He looked around before asking. "Where's your parents?"

"Parrots?"

"No, your parents," Kagami said again. "You know, your mom; your dad?"

"Daddy is working so he'll come get me at lunchtime."

"Your mom?"

"Oh, I don't have a mommy." She replied, "My Daddy said I was adopted."

Hearing the child say that so nonchalantly shocked him a bit. But, he didn't want to judge since she wasn't really bothered by it.

"Hey, tall man." The girl tugged at his shirt. "I don't know your name."

Tall? Was he that tall? Well, he was in Seirin's Basketball Team and he managed to make a few dunks. He supposed he was pretty tall.

"Oh, my name?" Kagami had forgotten about that. "Taiga Kagami. I'm a first-year in Seirin's High School and I'm part of their basketball team.

"I'm Yotsuba Koiwai!" She said. "I don't go to school yet and I'm six!" She held up her palm to him with all her fingers spread out to indicate the number, five. "Are you five or…?"

"Six! Six!" Still her hands said five.

"Alright, alright, you're six."

"Can you teach me how to put the ball in like you did earlier?"

Kagami dribbled the ball a bit. "Sure, I'll go easy on you since you're pretty small."

"Yay!" Yotsuba cheered.

The two of them spent nearly the whole afternoon on the court. Kagami didn't have much trouble teaching Yotsuba how to play basketball, but she did hit her face with the ball because she didn't catch it in time.

"Ball! Ball!" Yotsuba cried out. Kagami passed her the ball and watched as it bounced, hitting her in the face.

"Urk!" The redhead cringed. He wasn't sure what to do if she began crying, but he waited for her reaction.

She looked up at him, her face red from the ball hitting her. She stared at him in complete shock. "What was that!?"

"EHH!?" How does that not faze her? It looked like it hit her pretty hard…

"Teach me the jumpy thing! The jumpy thing!" She had completely forgotten all about what had just happened.

"You mean a dunk?"

"Yeah! That one!"

"Alright," he said. "Now pick up the ball. I'll help you shoot it in."

Yotsuba picked up the ball and Kagami went behind her, picking her up and going over to the court as Yotsuba dropped the ball and kept her hands on the hoop.

"Let me go!" She chirped.

Kagami let go of her underarms and she hung there for a good, long moment.

"Put me down!" She told him." That was fun!" Then she picked up Juralumin. "Her turn!"

What do you take me for, an amusement park?!"

As Kagami had just given Juralumin her share of dunking, he turned around to see a small group of children that were around Yotsuba's age crowding around him.

"I want a turn!" A small girl with short, dark hair and two dot eyes shouted.

"I want to try, too!" A little boy cried.

"Single file, everyone!" Yotsuba exclaimed.

"I'm not a play thing…" Kagami said as a huge, anime sweat drop slid down his head.

It was already in the middle of the afternoon; Koiwai had just finished his work and shut down the computer. It was time for him to go get his daughter from the park in time for lunch. He put on some pants and slipped on his shoes before heading out the door, locking it behind him. The park was several blocks away so it didn't take him very long to get there.

He looked around for any sign of his daughter wandering around the park. With her green hair, she was hard to miss. Koiwai eventually spotted her asleep on the park bench, laying down on a red-haired man's lap. The red-head kept his eyes on the children playing on a nearby court with a basketball.

Koiwai approached him a bit and cleared his throat. It didn't take too long for the other male to notice him.

"I'm sorry, but can I have my daughter back?" he said, pointing to Yotsuba who was snoozing on his lap.

"Oh! Yeah, sure," The man began to poke Yotsuba to wake her up. "Hey, Yotsuba-chan, your Dad's here."

Yotsuba slapped his hand away. "NO!" She grumbled and covered her face.

"I'm sorry, she doesn't like to be woken up." Koiwai said. "I can carry her. I hope she wasn't too much trouble."

"No, not at all." The man replied, "She did get her bear stuck on the basketball court, though."

"I see." Koiwai picked up his daughter into his arms. "What was your name, by the way? It was rude of me not to ask."

"Taiga Kagami." The other said to him. "I'd prefer to just be called, 'Kagami'. And you?"

"Koiwai-san would be fine." He said. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Same here."

Koiwai nodded with a smile. "I'll be going then." He said and picked up Juralumin. He was about to walk away, but he turned around.

"…Actually, I was just wondering if you would like to join us for lunch? It's payment for taking care of Yotsuba for me."

"What? No, I couldn't."

"I insist. It'd be nice for her to eat with a new friend for a change." Koiwai explained. "Also, I think she'd feel bad when she wakes up."

Kagami thought for a moment. Koiwai was pretty nice about it. Also, he didn't want Yotsuba to feel bad and it wasn't often that he was invited to have lunch with anyone either. It wouldn't hurt to have some lunch.

"I guess I can make some time for lunch." Kagami replied, getting up from the bench. He jogged over to the basketball court to retrieve his basketball the children had abandoned over a jungle gym before retreating back to Koiwai.

The two men left the park and headed back to Koiwai's place. On the way there, a couple of things crossed Koiwai's mind: Who was this man and why did he look so familiar? He wasn't surprised to find Yotsuba befriending other people of a different age group. But Koiwai couldn't shake the feeling of who this redhead was.

This was going to be an interesting summer for Yotsuba and her father.

-END-


It's been a while since I made some fanfiction and well, here you are. I have been taking care of assignments and I wrote this on the bus ride home and half of which, at home. College life. Such a struggle. Finals are just around the corner and I gotta study for my finals next month and by then thanksgiving break! Can't wait for that. This semester has gone by pretty fast; it's kinda surprising when you remember the first day of class like it was yesterday. I still need to continue my other crossover fic, When You Get Drunk, You Wake Up To The Future, a crossover between Gintama and Hetalia, my two other favorite anime. It's on a long hiatus since I had gotten writer's block all this time. OTL I can only hope I find some inspiration soon. Make sure to check that out if you're a fan of both anime or just curious to see my other work.

Next Chapter: Yotsuba & Midorima