Butterfly Effects: A Blinding Light
In which the finals of Winter Cup happens between Touou and Rakuzan. Daiki Aomine realizes just how much he yearned to be a light again after seeing his shadow... shadowing someone else's light. OgiKuroAka; AoKuro.
"Y'know, Shige-chan, Kuro-chan, you guys are lucky that the Coach isn't here today..." Kotarou Hayama sighed as he saw the younger members of the team kissed each other on the bench. "But it's rare to see Kuroko-kun being the clingy one, right? It's usually Ogiwara-kun who latches to him like some sort of a koala to a branch." Reo Mibuchi added with a thoughtful smile.
Ogiwara sighed as he hugged Kuroko's waist. The teal-haired boy was sitting on top of his lap like he was a koala and Ogiwara was the tree. Kuroko had been kissing him nonstop since Ogiwara reminded him that they were going to go against Touou today. His neck, his cheek, his lips, all of them were red because of Kuroko's kisses.
"Not that I mind that you're being absolutely adorable today, Kuroko," he said as Kuroko nibbled on his neck. "But... hey, what's wrong? Is something bothering you? It's not like you to be so clingy..." He was glad that this week was his turn to be with Kuroko, Ogiwara couldn't imagine if Akashi got to be the one who clingy-Kuroko kisses like there was no tomorrow. Speaking of Akashi...
"I apologize for being late, everyone." The members turned to their captain, who was already wearing his jersey. His eyes flitted to everyone else before nodding, acknowledging that his teammates were all present. "As usual, isn't it, Sei-chan?" Reo chuckled a little, earning a small smile from Akashi, who agreed.
But then his eyes went to the smallest member of their team and he sighed. "As expected, I know that Tetsuya would be like this in this particular match." The redhead approached the power forward and the sixth man of their team. "Yo, Akashi." Ogiwara greeted with a grin as he gently stroke Kuroko's hair. The boy was still clinging to him for dear life.
"So, as you see, Kuroko won't let go of me. So I can't be the starter. Can we go to the locker room and-"
"That's unacceptable." Akashi then put his hand on top of Kuroko's shoulder. The outlier finally looked up from his previous activity. "Akashi-kun..." he nodded in greeting before resuming his activity, but Akashi stopped him.
"Come over here, Tetsuya. Shigehiro is a starter for today's match so you can't keep him to yourself." When Akashi pulled him away, Kuroko looked reluctant. But he nodded anyway and finally let go of the power forward. "I know why you are being like this, Tetsuya. It's alright. I won't make you play if it is too hard for you." Akashi planted a kiss on Kuroko's temple, earning a slight frown from Ogiwara.
The captain then sat on the bench and Kuroko sat next to him, hugging the redhead like he did Ogiwara a few minutes ago.
"What's going on with him, Akashi?" Eikichi Nebuya asked roughly.
Akashi looked towards all member of the Rakuzan before settling one of his arms on Kuroko's shoulder. "We are going against Touou in this match," Akashi said like it was supposed to clear everything. Hayama tilted his head. "So?" He asked.
"We will be facing Daiki Aomine." Ogiwara's face contorted into a frown before settling on a furious grinding of his teeth. "So that's why you make me a starter today, Akashi..." The teen whispered under his breath, his tone furious.
Ogiwara never hated anybody in his life before, despite what Kuroko thought when he said that he wanted to quit basketball, Ogiwara never hated him. He never hated anyone, not even that twins who defeated him with a foul play last year. Ogiwara never hated anyone... but Daiki Aomine.
He heard the story from Akashi. There was a reason why Kuroko would look as if the sky would crumble above him whenever the name Touou was mentioned. There was a reason why Kuroko felt afraid when Ogiwara took up the power forward position. There was a reason why Kuroko would be all clingy whenever he thought Ogiwara was forgetting the concept of 'victory'...
And that reason was Daiki Aomine.
He thought back to the moment Kuroko said that he resembled Aomine. Seeing his friend, his light becoming a player that Kuroko hated the most must have been hard on him.
Ogiwara took off his jacket, revealing his number 5 jersey and ruffled Kuroko's hair. "I get it. Be spoiled all you want today, Kuroko. I'll have as much fun as I could!" He grinned. "Because I love basketball, and above all else, I love you." He planted a kiss on Kuroko's hair before joining Reo, Hayama, and Nebuya to form the circle.
Kuroko looked up to Akashi once before settling on silence again. He was afraid. He didn't want to see Aomine-kun. He didn't want to face him. He...
"It's alright, Tetsuya." Akashi said as he kissed Kuroko's hair. "Your basketball will win against him. I can see it." The redhead's eyes flitted to the shocked-looking power forward of their opponent. Akashi smirked. "That is before Shigehiro's basketball hasn't defeat him first."
Aomine-kun was strong. And even Kuroko could see that Ogiwara-kun was being overwhelmed by his former light's speed and agility.
The pale boy sat on the edge of his bench, looking absolutely expressionless as he saw Aomine-kun and Ogiwara-kun facing each other for the umpteenth time in an one-on-one. And Aomine-kun smirked arrogantly before using his speed and agility to throw Ogiwara-kun off balance before jumping to a formless shot.
Kuroko's heart clenched as Aomine-kun flashed him a glance, but that didn't scare him. The thing that scared him was Ogiwara-kun's tired expression.
He wiped his sweat off his temple, he looked absolutely tired and like he was about to give up... no, no, nonono! Please, no!
But Akashi-kun seemed to notice it as well, he looked at the ticking clock with an unreadable expression. Ten seconds left until the third quarter is over. Ten point difference. It was something easily overcome if they use their combo.
"Kotarou," the captain called at the small forward, who turned to face him. "What is it, Akashi?" He asked. "Make the clock run." He said as he went back to outside. Kotarou nodded as he changed mark with Shigehiro.
The small forward smiled at the power forward of Touou, but before Daiki could steal the ball with his agility, Kotarou dribbled the ball with four of his fingers, making it hard to steal. He played around with the ball, making multiple crossovers to make the clock run, and ten seconds were over in a blink of an eye.
The bench was quiet, everyone was obviously too tired to talk. But Tetsuya placed his hand on top of Shigehiro's fists, offering a silent comfort. Akashi knew what the phantom player was fearing. Shigehiro was starting to feel overwhelmed by Daiki's play.
"Only the fourth quarter is left and we have 10-point difference." He began, making everyone face him. The coach sure picked a good day to be absent from their match. "It is nothing we can't handle. But... if we are going to win with a great margin, we would need to use the Sun-Moon combination," he faced the phantom player, his heterochromatic eyes pierced right through the latter's steely blue ones.
"Tetsuya," he reached out his arm, holding Tetsuya's hand. "I know how much Daiki broke you. I know how sad you feel about your friendship with him. But right now, Shigehiro and I need you to be our phantom sixth man. We need you to go against Daiki. Can you do that?" Tetsuya's face was expressionless, but his hands were trembling under Akashi's hold.
The team was silent before Shigehiro, the ever so oblivious one, broke the ice. "Kuroko..." He said, finally looking up from the floor and directly to Tetsuya's eyes. "I can't do it, I can't defeat him..." Akashi was about to reprimand him, but then he stood up and bumped his forehead to Tetsuya's, a gesture of comfort the two childhood friends often share.
"I can't do it without you, my moon." He practically whispered the words to the shorter boy, but Akashi could hear him all too well. Tetsuya sighed before looking up to the team once more, his eyes flared with hidden determination that he lacked before.
"Please sub me in, Akashi-kun. I... I can do this."
Akashi smirked. As expected of the boy he'd poured so much of his effort on. He'd never betray Akashi's expectation.
"Very well. I expect the best from you, Tetsuya, Shigehiro."
Touou didn't stand a chance after that. In the end, the game went to Rakuzan with the score 120-95, with no basket made for Touou once an extremely weak-looking Rakuzan player entered the court.
He... lost.
In an odd way, he was relieved. But he never thought that losing would hurt him this much.
"It is not losing that makes you put on such a face, Daiki," Akashi said to him after it was clear that he couldn't steal the ball from that Ogiwara-kid, who kept passing it to the Moon of Rakuzan. "It is the sheer fact that Tetsuya's basketball is not there for you anymore."
Ogiwara's light was bright, blindingly so. He pulled everyone into his play, shining brightly. But Aomine managed to overwrite that light with his own. But once the Moon of Rakuzan entered the court... it was clear that Ogiwara's play wasn't a light. He was a sun.
Whenever Aomine tried to overwhelm him, he'd passed the ball to him, who then passed it back to Ogiwara. Aomine couldn't see him. Not anymore. His light was empty. It was bright, but it didn't have a shadow. There was nothing he could depend on anymore. He realized that back when he was in Teikou, he knew that he would always be able to depend on him whenever he couldn't charge through by himself. Like during that time when they played against that fucking twins.
Aomine really thought that he was invincible. That he was on his peak. That nobody could defeat him. He'd really hoped for a rival strong enough for him to feel excitement of his favorite sport. But, but...
But he never wanted that rival to be someone so precious to him. He never wanted that rival to be Tetsu. He never wanted that rival to be Tetsu and another man. He never wanted to lose the only thing that even kept him playing. He never wanted to lose the bond he always believed will be imprinted within his and Tetsu's mind, that Aomine was forever his light. That his basketball suited Tetsu's play style the most...
But most of all, he never wanted to see a very much happy- smiling Tetsu to hug Akashi in sheer joy or kiss that Ogiwara kid lovingly. He wanted it to be him.
He almost, almost yearned to be there again. To be Tetsu's light again. He didn't know that seeing Tetsu being someone else's shadow would hurt him this much.
Maybe he should train again. He should train and convince Tetsu that his light was brighter than even the sun's. He would train and be a light so blinding that Tetsu will forgive him for being an arrogant jerk. He would...
"Dai-chan... are you crying?"
Daiki Aomine turned to see his childhood friend looking at him worriedly. He closed his eyes, rubbing away the single tear that fell from his eye.
"Shut up, Satsuki."
Because he had fell so hard for he who shadowed him.