"Near and Far"

Kagami Taiga [One Shot]

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke. Though, the OC is mine.

The game between Seirin and Touou Academy during the Winter Cup was absolutely fierce. Throughout the game Kagami was clearly on it, going one-on-one with Aomine Daiki, and had achieved reaching a whole new level with his skills. But, the ace of Seirin also had something or someone other than Aomine on his mind.

Heading back to the locker room, Kagami lagged behind deep in thought. Going back to America to train with Alex was not his only reason; there was another, probably more important reason for going back. Though, Kagami himself at that time would have not figured it out because the thought of seeing her again really never crossed his mind. The last time Kagami saw her was at the airport terminal.

"Kagami, are you ok?" Kuroko waved a bottle of water in front of him. "You should get some rest."

"Yeah…" Kagami felt that he should be celebrating with his team mates but, even the game hype could not bring up his spirits. Sighing he turned his attention to his bag, reaching for another towel his eyes stopped on a small lavender envelope. The poor letter had been in his bag ever since he came back to Japan. Deep down inside Kagami was deathly afraid to open it, knowing that it was from her.

She had gone to see him off but, being the stubborn boy he was, Kagami had brushed off her heartfelt goodbye and just left. Kagami could hear her quiet sobs, this had upset him. Never in a hundred years would he have thought that she would cry in front of him, let alone be the reason for her tears. She shared the same stubbornness and thick skinned personality as him. But, he did not dare turn back for two reasons. Reason one , he did not want her to see the tears swelling up in his eyes and brows furrowed from regret and pain. Reason two and probably most of all he did not want to look back to see her crying.

Shaking his head, Kagami snapped out of his thoughts, and tried his best to interact and celebrate with his teammates. They had decided to eat dinner together but, had no idea where since eating out was too much money and most of their homes were far away. Thus, taking it upon himself, Kagami invited everyone over to his home.

When the team got settle, Kagami slipped away on to the balcony; the envelope nicely concealed in his pocket. Seeing as the coast was clear, he pulled the envelope out and held it to the moon. He had hoped the light from the moon would give him some sort of idea of what was written. But, sadly it was no use.

"Who's the letter from?" Kuroko pointed at the envelope in Kagami's hands.

"WOAHH! When did you…never mind…"

"So, where are you planning on opening it? You've been staring at it for a long time, so it must be important right?" Kuroko looked up at Kagami, his puppy dog eyes observing his reaction.

"It's none of your business…" he huffed, turning his back towards Kuroko.

"Okay….Just saying you should open it, if it's that important to you." Shrugging Kuroko excused himself and went back inside. Kagami then turned his attention to the envelope, intensely staring at it, as if he were willing the envelope to open it self and show the letter to him. But, seeing as he was no magician. So, summing up all his courage Kagami opened the envelope, and unfolded the piece of paper to find she had written "To Jupiter and back…"

Now, to anyone else this would seem like a strange thing to say. But, to Kagami it was just the answer he was waiting for. Before he left, Kagami had confessed to her, stating his feelings and his intentions to try working out a long distance relationship with her. But, she could not give him a clear answer at that time.

Smiling, he thought back to a previous conversation with her.

"Ne, Kagami…"

"Hmm?"

"What is the cheesiest line you ever heard?" She asked.

"I don't know…I love you to the moon and back? It's from a movie I think." He shrugged and asked, "Why?"

"Oh nothing…but, don't you think if you loved someone that much you would say a planet that's even farther then the moon?"

"True…"

"You know If I ever used that line I would say Jupiter...Pluto, Mars, Saturn….every other planet sounds awkward don't you think so? " She giggled at her own silly thoughts.

Kagami turned his back towards the railing, leaned back and held her letter up into the sky, right next to the moon, and whispered softly, "Love you Jupiter and back…"