"When does your flight leave?"

"On Friday. I'll just take the bus to the airport right after school ends."

"Hm."

"Don't go getting all sappy on me now, Hyuuga!"

"Shut up, idiot."

Seirin's captain glared at the taller man sitting next to him. It was Kiyoshi's last visit to the orthopedic center in Japan before he left for his surgery in America. Hyuuga had never gotten to the point where he was used to hospitals; the pungent smell and bright lights and blinding white walls. In fact, Kiyoshi made him hate hospitals even more. But, all the same, either he or Riko would go with Kiyoshi to every hospital visit he had. This was just a final check up, but Hyuuga still wanted to be there to support him.

"Kiyoshi, Teppei."

"Well," Kiyoshi sighed and stood up slowly, and it didn't escape Hyuuga's notice how he rested one hand on his knee as he stood. "That's me. Meet you in the cafeteria after my appointment?" Since Hyuuga wasn't actually allowed in the examination room this became somewhat of a routine.

"Sure."

He was halfway to the cafeteria (a cramped bland room with basic tables with the stools attached and less than mediocre 'health conscious' food that rivaled Riko's) when Hyuuga turned by the rehabilitation wing of the orthopedic center. It was early on a Sunday morning so Hyuuga didn't expect for the place to be very busy, so it came as a bit of a surprise to see a black haired boy sitting on a bench, chin resting on his hands and starring intently at the wall.

Hyuuga's eyebrows inched up his forehead. "Kasamatsu-san?"

The boy looked up and gave a lazy smile. "Hello Hyuuga-san." Hyuuga frowned at the simplicity of the reply.

"What are you doing here?"

"Funny, I could ask you the same."

"I'm here with Kiyoshi," Hyuuga replied, crossing his arms over his chest. Kasamatsu rubbed his hands together before shoving them in his pockets.

"I'm here with Kise."

That was news to Seirin's captain. "Is he alright? I knew his foot was giving him some trouble after the game with Touou."

Kasamatsu nodded grimly. "Yeah, Haizaki messed his leg up more, the doctors aren't entirely sure what's wrong with it since the X-ray showed nothing too serious, however it's painful for him to walk on it or play too much. They're having him do rehab and some physical therapy to see if it can get better without having to do an MRI."

That sounded entirely too familiar to Hyuuga. "I'm sorry. That doesn't sound too good."

Kasamatsu stood up and stretched. "Where you headed? I'll walk with you. Kise shouldn't be out for a while."

The two took off down the hallway and around a corner. "Cafeteria. Yeah, Kiyoshi is just getting one last check up before heading to America for surgery."

Kasamatsu appeared to stumble. "Wait, surgery? In America? I knew his knee was busted but I didn't realize it was that serious."

Hyuuga scowled at the floor and managed a nod. Talk of the Iron Heart's injury had become a regular thing, but still going over it again made Hyuuga's stomach contort into knots. "Yeah. The MRI said he had a few micro tears in his ACL and LCL. He was able to play for a while after his injury, but it just made it a lot worse. I mean, it was worth it he says, but I wish he didn't have to get hurt."

"Yeah Hanamiya's a bastard." Hyuuga chuckled and shared a smile with the ex-captain of Kaijo.

"Let's hope he and Haizaki don't ever meet, yeah?"

Kasamatsu laughed and kicked at the floor, his sneakers squeaking on the linoleum. "I hope not. Hanamiya would be the brain behind Haizaki's brawn."

Hyuuga silently agreed. "I think Haizaki has potential to be more dangerous than Hanamiya, to be honest. He's so brutal to his teammates and he attacked Tatsuya- number 12 from Yosen- and Kagami's trainer Alex pretty violently. I never really heard why."

"Sorry about that. He has this rivalry with Kise which probably just provoked him more. He hates all the Generation of Miracles." The two boys entered a nearby stairwell and the door shut behind them as they descended into the first floor and exited by the cafeteria.

The pair were silent for a few moments before Kasamatsu spoke up. "How is Kiyoshi handling the physical therapy?"

"As well as he can, I suppose." Hyuua held the door open for the senior before following him out. "The idiot is playing basketball more than he should though."

"Glad to see Kise isn't the only one with that problem. He's doing okay, but I think he's not taking it very seriously. He keeps saying it's not that bad and he's fine to play."

"Tell him to be careful. Having a career ending injury... I just don't want him to go through that."

Hyuuga's eyes scanned over the menu after fishing his wallet out of his pocket. "They have natto here!" He beamed. Kasamatsu raised an eyebrow and smirked, not making any effort to hide his amusement. Hyuuga glared and elbowed the other boy before paying for a bowl.

"Do you have any Nikujaga?"

The employee rolled their eyes slightly. "Um, it's nine in the morning."

"Eh figured I would ask. Can I have a bowl of rice with miso soup?"

The pair sat down at a table in the back close to the door. Hyuuga took one bite of the breakfast and gagged. "This tastes like shit!"

"What did you expect from hospital food?"

"But natto is so good I figured they couldn't mess it up!"

"You put too much faith in them."

"Shut up," Hyuuga snapped, although it was lacking the usual clutch time bite.

Kasamatsu continued to smirk.

Kise had just finished with his physical therapy; leg exercised, stretching techniques, "does it hurt when I do this?" "This?" "How about this?", and instructions for at home treatment. He thanked the nurse and sent a dashing smile her way, the type that came to naturally to him. He walked out the door and to the receptionist's desk to check out. Another person stood in front of him with a mop of slightly messy brown hair and was a few inches taller than him.

The boy thanked the receptionist gladly and turned around. "Kise!"

The model smiled. "Kiyoshicchi!"

"Eh, hi! What are you doing here?" Kiyoshi stepped aside while Kise checked out and scrambled with his debit card for the hospital bill.

Kise shrugged as he finished paying. "Physical therapy for my foot. Are you here for your knee?"

Kiyoshi nodded, his smile fading a bit. The pair walked towards the elevator and Kiyoshi pressed the down button. "I'm sorry about your foot. That's very unluckily."

"Yeah, I guess, but I felt something was off for a while. I don't think it's too serious but Kasamatsucchi said that I should just be careful with it. I think it'll be fine though! I just want to play again!"

"I know how you feel."

"And I'm sorry about your knee. Will you be able to play at all next year?"

The Iron Heart shook his head. "No. I will come to as many practices as I can and be the team manager if possible."

"That's great! At least you'll still be there for Seirin! But I'm telling you, Kaijo will beat them next year!"

The elevator door chimed and opened and the two clambered inside, pressing the button for the ground flood. "Well I look forward to the game, Seirin won't give up without a fight!"

For a few moments it was silent in the elevator, Kiyoshi playing with the hem of his sleeve and Kise bobbing his head lightly to the repetitive music. "Say, Kise?"

"Hm?"

"Do you mind if I ask you a bit of a more... personal question?"

Kise frowned. "Uh, sure. Of course!"

Kiyoshi smiled nervously. "Are you afraid that Haizaki will try to hurt your teammates?"

The Copy Cat of the Generation of Miracles immediately sobered. "You know, I never thought about it. I don't think so, Haizaki seems to be a spiteful person to anyone who gets in his way, but he mainly just hates the Generation of Miracles, so as long as they don't do anything to provoke them they should be fine. But even if they did, I'm not too concerned. I think they can take care of themselves. Besides, I'll be there to help them out through thick and thin, and especially anything that has to do with Haizaki. I mean, I would feel a little bit responsible if any of my teammates were hurt because of him since we have such a strained relationship." The elevator stopped and the doors opened. The pair walked out and turned down a hall towards the cafeteria. "Why do you ask?"

The two walked in slow, even steps to the benefit of both of them. "It's just that I could see Hanamiya trying to hurt my teammates. He's made a lot of threats, and I'm not sure which ones, if any, I should take seriously. He has mainly talked about hurting Hyuuga and Kuroko. I don't know. It just makes me worry I guess. I don't want them to go through what I went through."

Kise frowned and glared at the floor. "Well, I don't know if there's any meaning behind Hanamiya's words, but if he does try anything, you'll have Kaijo's support behind you. I can promise that much. I would be willing to bet Touou and Rakuzan would be more than willing to help fight off Hanamiya as well. I'm not too sure about Shutoku and Yosen, but I might be able to persuade them." Kise grinned and Kiyoshi felt a small weight lift off his shoulders.

"Thanks, Kise. That means a lot."

The two entered the cafeteria and got something to eat, and Kise scanned the room. "I know Kasamatsu is here."

"Yeah Hyuuga came with me too- oh they're in the back corner." The two walked over to the table where their captains sat, already more than halfway finished with breakfast.

"Kasamatsu look I found Kiyoshicchi!" Kise's energetic voice pulled the two captains out of their conversation. Kasamatsu looked over his shoulder and smiled at the blond as he sat down next to him. Kiyoshi waved in recognition to Kasamatsu and sat down next to a smirking Hyuuga.

"What?"

Seirin's shooting guard shook with silent laughter. "Oh, nothing, nothing, Kiyoshicchi, Crownless General, Iron Heart."

A vein seemed to pulse in Kiyoshi's forehead. "Hyuuga. Even though it's you, we've talked about this."

"Really, Iron Heart?"

"Hyuuga. Be quiet."

Kasamatsu chuckled and Kise just smiled. "So, how was it?" Kise shrugged at his senior's question.

"It's was fine I guess- ow!" Kasamatsu punched him in the arm and glared. "What?"
"You better be paying attention. I don't want it to get worse. You're too young to need surgery."

"I'm not going to need surgery that's absurd!"

"Kiyoshi needs surgery."

Kise appeared to pale slightly as he turned to look at the man sitting across from him. "You're joking." He shook his head and Hyuuga pushed his food around on his plate like a grumpy child. "Now I understand why you're nervous."

Hyuuga growled. "About your surgery? You told me just yesterday you were feeling fine!"

Kiyoshi held up his hands in defense. "Oh, no, I feel okay about it. It'll go well. The Doctor who is performing it has been doing knee surgeries for years."

"Then why did you say you were nervous?"

"No reason. I'm not nervous."

"Liar."

Kasamatsu sighed and stood up, collecting his plate and Hyuuga's, regardless of whether the other boy was done or not, the scratching of his chop sticks against the bowl were simply getting aggravating, and jumped the leftover food in the trashcan. He could hear Kiyoshi and Hyuuga continue their bickering from across the cafeteria and he felt a small chill go down his spine. If Kiyoshi could need surgery and be forced to quit basketball, could Kise? Could Haizaki really cause that much damage? The thought of having to watch Kise, an extremely good (arguably best) friend, go through surgery was nauseating. He glanced over to the table and sighed. He respected Hyuuga a lot, but now even more. Kasamatsu could tell that Hyuuga was the glue holding Kiyoshi together. His eyes wandered over to Kise, who was sitting across from the other two watching their argument with interest, and the slightest look of guilt on his smiling face. Kasamatsu made a mental note to ask about that later. For now, if he needed to hold Kise together, so be it. He would do so gladly.

Kasamatsu and Hyuuga exchanged phone numbers before they left, and while they never really told anyone else, they would text and email each other constantly through Kiyoshi's surgery and Kise's recovery. Little did they know that Kise and Kiyoshi do the same.

A/N: Anyone else notice the parallels between these six characters? Kasamatsu and Hyuuga are both the captains, very protective and serious, but with an emotional side, and hold the hopes of their teams on their shoulders. Kise and Kiyoshi are both very strong on the outside and seemingly always smiling, but are both more complex than they appear, and are both injured. This also leads to some emotional turmoil. Hanamiya and Haizaki are both the ones responsible for their injuries and very threatening and both condone violence. But this was bugging me a lot so I had to write it down. Anyways, any and all feedback is always appreciated! I suppose this could connect to my other KnB story, Now They're More Than Petty Words, if you wanted it to, which is located on my profile, but both of them can be read alone or together.

I also have decided to expand on this and will add more one-shots to this ideas as inspiration strikes. The one-shots are related in the fact that all of them involve the parallels between Kise, Kasamatsu, and Haizaki and Hyuuga, Kiyoshi, and Hanamiya, however they will be able to be read alone or together. So, you do not have to read one to understand what is going on in the others. So, check back when you can for updates. :)