Chapter 1: I quit

The whistle blow was extremely abrupt, startling everyone who had yet to experience their coach actually stopping them in the middle of practice. They stared bewilderingly at Riko Aida, who had brought along a girl who looked almost bored to be at the scene.

"Everyone, this is Kaoru Imai!" The entire basketball team gazed expectantly at the unassuming girl – if their coach was halting hell training just to introduce this person, she must be quite someone.

"Kagami, get your ass down here!" Hyuga shouted at the red-haired, who still attempted to make a last dunk after the whistle blew.

She gazed back at them pensively, letting out a mild chuckle, as though they had amused her. Riko continued talking, introducing the real reason why this Kaoru was here for.

"She would be training with all of you today."

"HUH?!"

"If I'm not mistaken… we're actually the male basketball team –" Before Furihata could utter another word, Kaoru had somehow teleported in front of him with a smile which was strangely akin to Riko's whenever she finished preparing their training schedule.

Cocking her head, she asked, with an aura that clearly terrified Furihata, "How about we play, one-on-one?"

"O-Okay!" He backed away from the seemingly cheerful girl whose devious smile said otherwise.

"But if you lose," She said offhandedly, spinning a basketball on her finger, "I'll assume that Seirin can't ever win against Toou."

"Kaoru-san, that's taking it a bit far…" Kuroko said quietly, much to the team's shock that he knew that girl, much less speaking up during this kind of occasion. Somehow, she had not been surprised by his presence, or lack of it, as if Kuroko's invisibility did not affect her.

Hyuga tapped Kuroko's shoulder curiously, "You know her?"

"We're classmates." Kagami gaped at Kuroko, obviously forgetting her existence in class, not that it was unheard of since he was mostly drooling on the desk during lessons.

"Ah Tetsu, you didn't come for lunch with Momoi and I last week. She was looking forward to it."

He remained deadpan, but a little apologetic in his response. "Sorry, I had practice."

"Of course…" She replied softly, more to herself that to the blue-haired who stood a little shorter than her. Grabbing another lone basketball, her gaze centred on Furihata lazily.

"Let's play."

Teppei watched the mini game with a bemused expression, muttering to Riko, "Impressive."

"Coach." Kagami suddenly piped out, the grin he had literally scared most of his teammates.

"Who's she?"

Balancing her chin on her palms, Riko had a strange, triumphant on her face, her stare lingering at Kuroko who was too caught up with the game to notice. "Kaoru's formerly Teiko girls' basketball ace."

"Then why did she choose Seirin?" Kiyoshi questioned. Kaoru walked over, having just settled for the first to get five points claim victory, ending it with a 1-5 with a somewhat unfazed look on her face. Furihata was momentarily crushed, before clinging onto Izuki for his lost pride.

With a mused smile, she explained vaguely, "Hmm, I guess because it was nearby?"

Hyuga nudged Kiyoshi, pointing out "Doesn't that sound awfully like you?" Turning her attention back to the court, she looked back at Kiyoshi and with a dismissive wave, she said "Besides, it didn't have a girls' basketball team. No reason for me to play competitively…"

She watched her opponents' slumped backs, hearing the audience cheer with all their might and the entire stadium filled with a mixture of raw emotions – both positive and negative.

"Hey, you wanna play street basketball sometime?" She extended a hand towards a previously friendly rival, who now only held a pityingly regretful look in her eyes, as though Kaoru were mocking her.

"You'll just win everything without trying anyway. It's fun to see people lose right?" Kaoru was at a complete loss of words, a surge of indignation rose in her throat but was interrupted by the player laughing self-deprecatingly, "but you wouldn't know – you've never lost before." Her eyes flickered towards the scoreboard, at the overwhelming win by Teiko Middle School of 62-25.

"I didn't mean that – I just –" Her opponent simply held out a hand tiredly, relaying an empty smile.

"Whatever. You won. That's what counts in Teiko right? Congratulations." A last pat on the shoulder and Kaoru was left in the midst of her teammates, who shrugged as though they'd just finished warm-up rather than the finals for the basketball tournament. Yet, she couldn't rip her eyes off the banner held high to support Teiko – that victory was absolute and mandatory.

"I quit." She said quite decisively, rubbing her eyes to rid of any emotions. That was the end of any competitive basketball she would ever play – so be it. A dark-skinned boy caught up with her, clasping a large hand on her head affectionately, whilst Kaoru spotted a certain pink-haired girl with her arms wrapped around the sixth phantom player.

"We won again, as usual." He yawned, not realising Kaoru's current fragile state of mind. "Basketball is getting kind of boring" He continued, walking alongside her before noticing the quiet atmosphere surrounding them.

"Tch, why aren't you saying anything? Usually, you'd be pretty hyped after a match."

Halting her footsteps, she looked up at the boy towering over her with a faint smile. It was bitter, with a tinge of relief. "I'm quitting. It's like what you said, 'the only who can beat me is me'. But really, it just sounded lonely – what's the fun?" She swung her bag over her shoulder with a heavy sigh, "I guess it's goodbye, Daiki."

"Are you stupid?"

Her head snapped up, utterly confused at Aomine's frustrated question.

"But I just said I was quitting…"

"Yeah yeah, but we're still going to play basketball after school. Don't be so dramatic, idiot." Kaoru's face lightened up considerably; glad that even the team's biggest asshole could convince her to continue playing the sport she had loved for so long.

"Promise?" She held out her pinky finger, which he looked at resignedly.

"That's so lame."

"Promise?" Shrugging nonchalantly, he put his hands behind his head.

"Yeah yeah, as long as it's basketball."

A/N: My first attempt at kuroko no basuke fanfiction! what do you guys think? :)