That set the change off. The stupid little blue headed kid went and confronted him. That other one wasn't breaking like he should. Idiotic brunettes. He's never met one he couldn't dislike. An idea came to him quite suddenly. He couldn't break the Iron Heart by hurting him. He grinned, but they could break him by breaking his teammates. One particular team member came to mind.
"What was his name? Kuroko Tetsuya?" Hanamiya asked himself.
He pushed the door in to the borrowed locker room. Everyone looked over just feeling a change in pace. Change in target.
"We're going after the little blue." He said. "Force him to the middle and."
Everyone grinned. The sleeping person in the corner even smiled showing he wasn't totally asleep.
"Kill him."
"Oi! You ready?" Kagami set his hand on his partner's head.
Kuroko stood nodding. Then he paused and shivered. He glanced over his shoulder. Nothing. He mentally shrugged.
"Let's go!" Riko shouted with the first people on the bench.
The team walked on to the court, brows furrowed. They were ticked but they had a plan, determined. Kuroko was going to become a lost shadow. No longer attached but floating and Hyuuga had to make his shots. It was the only way it would work. The game began.
"Let's go Seirin!" Kiyoshi shouted as he ran.
The ball hit the floor loudly as both teams fought for it. Izuki launched the ball off toward Hyuuga. Hanamiyu lunged for it but not with the strength. His determination was missing. He wasn't there for a catch of the ball but for a different kind of catch. No one noticed that but he himself as he awaited the inevitable. There it was. That little flash of blue hair. Kuroko snagged it, he shot the ball off and Kiyoshi went after it. Everyone's attention changed place following the ball, Hanamiyu grinned, leaving no one to watch their dear little shadow. He crushed his elbow into Kuroko's middle.
Kuroko opened his mouth to cry out.
Hanamiyu hushed him with a glare. "Careful little shadow, you'll kill your Iron Heart." The grey eyed player hissed so only he could hear. "If you say a word we'll send him to the hospital for sure."
Kuroko stood straight against the pain. He scanned the game, watching as Kagami slammed the ball in. The devil guy was perfect with all of his plans, two players to block visibility of the attacks now. One so the ref doesn't see. The other so Riko doesn't see. He touched his side lightly. It hurt but the threat, the threat of what might happen to Kiyoshi. They had lightened up beating on the Iron Heart a bit, if he could hold the attacks for two quarters, just two quarters. Kuroko gripped his fists tightly. He could, no. He would. He had to.
"Kuroko!" The ball came flying towards him.
He flicked it expertly away and it bounced into Seirin hands. A knee crushed into his spine. He bit his tongue. Blood puddled in his mouth. Kuroko swallowed it all. Kuroko would protect his older brother like Kiyoshi had protected the team.
"Good boy, little shadow." The grey eyed demon hissed. "Don't scream." He said tauntingly.
Said shadow took off sprinting to get to the next position, ignoring, mostly, the pain and words. One of the giants from Kirisaki Daichi kicked his calf. An elbow hit his sternum. That really hurt. He lunged toward the ball and changed its direction toward the net. Another elbow hit his side. Back and forth. They shoved him to the center and had their way with him. Hitting his stomach. His sides. His feet. The game was red streaked with pain.
"Kiyoshi." Riko called out as the player was jostled a bit roughly.
His older teammate wasn't having it as bad now though. His eyes looked lighter than they had all game. Kuroko gritted his teeth. He was saving him. The older player was worth much more than the few bruises he had taken. His misdirection was letting them hit him with all they had because no one was focusing on him. They may look like their doing some sort of weird spasm thing but nothing more. No one could see him.
Finally third quarter was called. They made their way to the bench. Everyone fussed over Kiyoshi and his head wound. Kuroko was glad they were distracted. His legs shook traitorously as he sat down. He gritted his teeth. Crap. Sitting hurt worse but he had to or everyone would be suspicious. His legs still shook. He arched his back and leaned over to hold his feet. It temporarily hid everything.
"And Kuroko?"
Shoot! Caught. He looked up. Oh wait. They had just been making a plan. Kagami, the only person who probably would have noticed Kuroko's behavior was distracted with the older player who had been the target for the first half. That was good.
Riko nodded to him. "Keep it up. You're doing perfectly." She turned away. "But Kiyoshi," Everyone lost attention for Kuroko. "I want you out."
"What?" The brunette stood. "But we're doing so well." His legs shook too. He had visible injuries everywhere.
"No!" Riko shouted. "I don't care if you hate me for the rest of my life but I can't watch you get hit anymore!" She shook her head as her eyes watered. "It's my job as coach to keep you safe."
It took the whole team to make the older high schooler sit out. Kuroko ended up reflecting that that may not be such a good choice. Kiyoshi could see him better than most. But now there was no reason for him to hide so much right? He took to the court comforted by that.
"Don't get the wrong idea." Kuroko didn't jump but he was startled as Hanamiyu came over whispering to him alone. "We may have lost our main target but look at all the other players we have to turn to trash if you squawk little birdie."
The rest of the team too? Kuroko cried internally but, "Don't call me a bird." Was all that Kuroko said out loud, and then gasped as his foot was walked over before the game even started.
The same thing happened. Over and over. Kuroko was pounded after every move, after every jaunt through the center he came out with a new bruise, a new pain. His back felt hot and wet. He didn't think he had ever sweated so much down his spine. Thankfully Kiyoshi was sitting close enough to Riko to be blocked and the younger players were tracing the ball. His team was too important for him to pulled now. Kuroko took a hit to the side and reeled back walking into a person.
"Watch it birdie." Hanamiyu laughed with a sneer.
"I'm not." The blue head said with little breath left for speaking. "A bird."
The dull grey greenblue jerseys flashed past him in a blur. Redwhiteblack ones blurred too. Then an orange blur. He shot towards that one and rocketed the ball halfway down the court to Izuki. There were only two minutes left. He braced himself for the rough treatment that came after he made a play.
"Watch it!" A player hissed from Kirisaki Daichi. Not to him but to his taller teammate.
It was too late. The red head, Yamazaki, brought his elbow down. It smashed into Kuroko's face. His nose cracked painfully. It shook the tears out of his eyes. His face felt hot. He wiped at his face and rubbed it on his pant leg focusing on the ball. He kept running. Mind over pain, get to the next play.
Kiyoshi glanced casually around the game. They were doing nicely even without him. Maybe the other team had finally decided to play fairly. Suddenly he jumped up. "Coach! Call a time! Kuroko's bleeding!"
Riko whipped around and her eyes shot open. "Time out!" She shrieked.
The referee blew his whistle sharply.
Everyone walked back to the bench. Kagami, not knowing that anything was wrong, stopped to tie his shoe. Behind his back Hanamiyu grabbed Yamazaki and started to whisper in a way that they thought no one would hear.
"I told you." Hanamiyu hissed. "Hit lightly so it doesn't show or somewhere covered."
"Sorry!" The other said sounding pained from how his captain and coach was gripping him.
The grey eyed player released him harshly. "One more strike and you're out."
Kagami froze then whipped around. What? Who? There was only one person who could be beaten without anyone noticing. He couldn't hit the other team, he had already been scolded for that. Where was Kuroko? On the bench. He stormed over.
"Kuroko!" He shouted.
The only brunette on the team was sitting next to him as Kuroko bent forward pinching his nose inside of a red streaked towel.
"Relax Kagami." Hyuuga soothed. "He just got a nose bleed."
"Nose bleed my ass." He growled. "That wasn't what I've heard." Everyone looked toward him in shock. "They switched targets. Those bastards have been hunting him. They switched targets."
"What?" Kiyoshi looked to Kuroko who had bent in half covering his face. Covering his shaking legs.
Riko scowled. "Kuroko take your jersey off."
The blue eyes came up quickly. "But." He glanced toward the other bench.
Kiyoshi caught the glance and followed it. He shifted back blocking Kuroko from the other team's view.
"Mitobe come stand over here." He said.
They shifted so they looked like they were surrounding Kiyoshi and had Kuroko completely blocked.
"Your jersey." Kiyoshi commanded.
The blue eyes shifted away and he moved stiffly. He pulled and the white stripped away revealing purple and red and yellow. Then it started making a sickening peeling sound as it reached the hot part of his back. Riko gasped. Kuroko looked at his inside out jersey. There was a blood smear around his number, all the way around the eleven. Like someone had set his number on fire. That would be why his back felt so hot and sticky.
"Oh my God." Hyuuga said looking ill.
In the gymnasium three sets of eyes met. They weren't on the court but they all saw each other. They nodded and stood, shuffling out.
"Kuroko!" Kiyoshi looked at him. "Why didn't you say something?" The older male looked hurt almost.
"I couldn't." Kuroko said head down as Riko started wrapping his chest and back. "He said." He swallowed hard. "He said if I kept quiet, if I took it. They would be gentler with you. They would leave the rest of the team alone. They wouldn't hurt anyone but me."
"What?" Kiyoshi yelled.
"How long?" Hyuuga asked seriously.
Kuroko slid his jersey back on.
"What do you think you're doing?" Riko and Kiyoshi yelled together.
Kuroko met their eyes and they fell silent. No one had ever seen that kind of anger in Kuroko's eyes.
"You can't sub me out." He said silencing them again with a glare when they would have protested. "If you do that, you kill them. Kagami. Izuki. Mitobe. Hyuuga. You are sacrificing them and whoever else you decide to put in. They'll go to the hospital. Let the rest of the team have at least a fighting chance." He stared blankly.
Riko gritted her teeth. "Kuroko, I can't put you back in."
"You can and you will." The smallest player stood. His face was hard, so different from how he was normally. He actually glared. "I'm not one of the Generation of Miracles for nothing. I can take the hits. I've been pushed around before."
"Time out's up!" The referee yelled.
"I hate that guy." Kagami snarled. "Do you get kicked out if you punch the ref?"
Kuroko wiped the crimson from his hand and face and took the court with the four others without looking back. Riko twitched and held herself at an angle. She gripped her hands together.
"I can't believe I'm doing this." She rubbed her face. Kiyoshi gritted his teeth.
Hanamiyu caught up to Kuroko like he did before every start. "Did the little birdie spill his guts?" He didn't even wait for a response. He just grinned demonically. "Watch your teammates suffer then."
"No." The blue headed player said. Hanamiyu paused. "They think it's a nose bleed." He said quietly. "And they won't know the truth until we've won this game."
The enemy laughed cruelly. "We'll see about that. I have to say though, I'm impressed. For the phantom of the Generation of Miracles you are an idiot."
The game started. So close to the end. So close. Kuroko felt like a lumpy little ping pong ball. He ran and passed off another shot to Hyuuga who was ready to score. Kiyoshi and Riko didn't follow the ball this time, they stuck on the shadow. That was quite a difficult task. He was putting everything he had into being unnoticeable but, when he staggered or gasped they could see him. All they could see was his pain.
"It looks like they're beating on thin air." Kiyoshi gripped his knees.
Riko nodded and held her breath as Kuroko wobbled dangerously. A minute. One more minute. Kirisaki Daichi scored. They were up to 33 now. Seirin had 31. Fifty seconds. The ball was in. Kagami took it down. Forty seconds. He passed it to Izuki. The eagle eye paused. Thirty seconds. He passed it off toward Mitobe. Hanamiyu dove for the ball but Kuroko beat him to it and shot it off. Ten seconds. Hyuuga picked up the pass. Five seconds. He jumped and shot the ball. It was perfect. Three seconds. Hanamiyu sneered in hatred and turned suddenly. Two seconds. The ball passed through the hoop.
"You." The grey eyed demon scowled. One second.
He hooked his foot under one of his teammates and shoved.
"Hey." The guy yelled as he fell.
Zero. Seirin wins!
The largest player on Kirisaki Daichi whipped out his arms as he fell. Kuroko turned only to be pushed down. He fell and the greygreenblue jerseyed person fell on top of him. The guy got up quickly and ran after Hanamiyu yelling at him. The smaller player lay on his side on the ground.
"Kuroko!" Kagami yelled.
Kiyoshi leapt off the bench. Hyuuga ran over. The other first years pushed their way through. The medical teams hadn't even noticed. They packed up their things and left. The ref hadn't noticed. The game had ended 34 to 33 for him at the last second. The teams didn't exist for him anymore passed their scores.
Kuroko lay on the ground looking at his hand as it sprawled in front of his face. His legs hurt, his sides hurt, his head hurt, wait, was there anything that didn't hurt? He vaguely heard his name. The game was over. The team was safe. Nothing else matter.
"Hey!"
He felt himself shaking.
"Stop that. It hurts." He commented monotonely.
Koga took his hand off immediately.
Riko knelt by him. "Can you stand?"
The blue headed player flexed his muscles. He could mentally; the question was more directed to his legs. Could they? He rolled over and pushed up to a kneeling position. One foot. He pushed up slowly feeling everything twinge and bend. Kuroko stood all the way up swaying and shaking.
"No he can't." The red headed player growled.
Kuroko wasn't standing now. The blue eyes faced the top of the gym. He looked at the ground. Was this what it felt like to be tall?
"Kagami-kun this is weird." He commented.
The guy snarled. "Shut up."
"You gave us orders so now you be quiet and face the consequences." Kiyoshi was walking by them as Kagami carried Kuroko off the court. "By the way that was really a dumb thing to do."
"What?" Kuroko asked distractedly. "To get fallen on?"
Everyone groaned.
"If you weren't so beat up I'd hit upside the head." Hyuuga pushed up his glasses.
Kuroko looked up to the ceiling and went silent.
Hyuuga went on grumbling. "Think the rest of us can't take a hit. Stupid thing to do. Idiotic Generation of Miracles." He walked at the front.
"Why are you so thin?" Kagami complained. "I could bench press two of you on a bad day."
Kuroko lashed out suddenly and struck the person carrying him on the jaw.
"Ouch!" He dropped his partner.
Kuroko landed heavily on one foot and a knee but stood back up immediately. He gave Kagami a look and started walking. They quietly collected their various bags from the room and headed out. Seirin exited silently. They left through the back way. Everyone was solemn after the win though. It was strange but it felt like there was some amount of revenge missing. Like they hadn't won at all. A sound caught their attention.
"Ow!"
"Shut up you bastard." A familiar board sounding voice said.
Another voice that was also known replied. "You really thought you could mess with Kurrokoichi and get away scotch free."
"Horoscopes predict your sudden death." That one too sounded known.
Seirin rounded the corner led by Kuroko who had sped up to the front.
Three people had an entire team huddled in a corner. The center person was holding someone by the ruff of their shirt.
"Kise-kun, Aomine-kun, Midorima-kun. What are you doing?" Kuroko asked flatly.
Two of them turned to look at him. Kise looked strangely murderous. Midorima even had a spark in his eyes. Aomine socked the player he was holding back into the bloodied mob that use to be Kirisaki Daichi.
The dark blue haired player didn't turn around. "The refs may not have seen but we will not tolerate that kind of behavior. The players set the standards, adults have no part in it." He said in his same haven't-a-care-in-the-world tone.
The light blue eyes surveyed them. "You should stop now." He said.
A beaten player stood up. "Oh? Done so soon little shadow?" Hanamiyu growled, foaming at the mouth. He looked toward the other team and players. "You all are way too young and stupid. Generation of Miracles? Ha! You should have seen the pain I caused your little player here."
They flinched and Kuroko stared.
"You should have seen his eyes water. Should have seen his silent screams." He taunted. "Seen his mouth fill with blood when he bit his tongue. It was lovely." Hanamiyu laughed manically. "Such a pretty way to suffer. I'll break you." He screeched. "I'll break you Kuroko Tetsuya. You are just my artwork and your Iron Heart, Kiyoshi Teppei."
A hand lashed out and caught the side of his face in a harsh slap that typically changed the direction of a fast moving basketball.
"Leave."
Kuroko's other hand whipped around to slap the demon's face back the other way.
"Senpai."
As Hanamiyu's head came to the center Kuroko crushed it down with his elbow. His light blue eyes flashed though his voice remained monotone.
"Alone."
The captain and coach hit the ground hard right on his face. He didn't move or even try to get up.
"They're done now." The shortest player there said.
He turned and walked towards his team, right through them. Kuroko went down the path away from the gym.
Aomine crossed his arms and rolled his head. "I was getting bored with them anyways." He yawned.
Kise glared at the team on the ground then looked to Kuroko who was walking away. He grabbed Kagami's arm, not harshly but tight enough.
"Do not let Kurokoichi away from you tonight." The blonde said. "He's in a temper. Get him to play a game or something."
He left after one final glance.
A player in an orange jersey looked around the corner. He glanced from the green haired male to the beat up Kirisaki Daichi.
"If you're quite finished, it's time to play." Takao said turning away with a shrug.
Midorima just seemed to vanish after his captain. Kirisaki Daichi's team was inching its way toward Hanamiyu, unsure if they could take him and escape or not.
"Oi." Kiyoshi froze them in place with a single word. "Tell your captain if he goes after our shadow again, we will get him."
"I second that." Kagami threatened.
"The Generation of Miracles will do more than that." Aomine who, apparently, had merely moved instead of leaving. "We'll kill you." He said seriously.
The cowed players flinched. The ace of the Miracles walked away, yawning.
"Come on." Riko said.
"Where's Kuroko?" Kagami looked ahead on the path.
"Here."
The red head jumped. "How long have you been here?"
The member of the Generation of Miracles looked at them and smiled just slightly. "Long enough." He responded. "Let's get back to Seirin."
Hyuuga leaned on Kuroko's head. "You're not really in a temper are you?"
The littler male shook his head. "No. Sore but that felt," He paused, "Is it wrong to say good?"
The captain sighed. "Normally I would say yes but."
"In this case." Riko took over. "No. We will defend each other." She caught everyone's eye. "I mean it."
Kagami grinned fiercely. "We won."
Kiyoshi grabbed him under one shoulder and ruffled the captain's hair. The team laughed. They celebrated. The game was over. And Seirin had won.