CHAPTER 1 IS EDITED/REPLACED. There's mild-smut and more knew scenes. Heheh.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basket, or my Kiseki babies.
Notes: Drama, Angst, forever un-beta'd


Kuroko reminded himself to always have his guard up, even if he's around his boyfriend.

Although the fact that Kuroko is known for his unreadable expressions because of his poker face, it does not help that his boyfriend happen to be the man who's smitten, nearly-obsessed, and been in-love with him since their middle school years. There isn't a time where Kise is not seen around the ex-phantom player. Everybody knew they were best friends and unexpectedly at the same time, they knew how infatuated the model is to Kuroko. As time passed by each day, month, and eventually, years, they came to a conclusion about the possibility of Kise being gay. Having Kuroko as a living proof is a huge give away. The blonde paid no heed. Rumours will always come and eventually die.

During the first day after the rumour is made known to public, Kuroko always received unwanted glares, even to the point of receiving hate mails at the most random places. Kuroko did not bother, but he was completely troubled that people suddenly acknowledge his existence… Just because of the rumour. Kise sees how his small crush was mentally suffering, and so Kise voluntarily agreed to back-off.

Secretly, Kuroko felt bad for losing a friend. Whenever Kuroko was happy, tired, sad, and neutral, the cheerful guy would always be there. While Kuroko does not share his life, or what he's feeling right now, what he wants… Kise already knew. In return, Kise tells Kuroko everything that he has to know about him. Kuroko noticed that Kise treated him as his diary recorder, and the latter would just laugh. By the end of the day, they'd exchange glances and wave their hands as they set off their journey back home. Seeing as how things won't be the same again, he sighs and walks home alone.

This is where Aomine enters the picture.

Aomine is the first to discover the phantom player.

One afternoon he decided to stay longer and practice his shoots. Walking towards the fourth gym, he stopped in his tracks. Wasn't this the gym where a circulating rumour about an evening ghost constantly made loud but soft footsteps? Glancing down, the tan checked his watch: 6:15PM. The time is almost evening, and he just noticed how dark it is already. Shrugging the thought off, he proceeds to the gym and opened the metal door. As soon as he stepped his foot, the first thing he saw is the open lights. Usually when a gym is not occupied, the lights are off. This rule is written in their school policy hand book. Besides the school can track who used the gym last. So why on Earth would someone leave the lights on? Anyway the lights are meant to be open for a while since he's here already.

Walking towards the nearest corner from the exit, Aomine drops his duffel bag and pulled his towel. He scrubbed the cloth in his face, his neck, then his back… And then he heard screeching sounds. Aomine stopped whatever he's doing as his eyes widened. Shit, so the rumours were real after all? What made the aura scarier is when the sounds stopped as he dropped his towel.

'No, no, no, no… This is a mind game.' Aomine thought, cold sweat starting to form from his forehead.

The silence is killing him more than the occurrence a few seconds ago but he dared not to turn around. And he didn't, but the footsteps got louder… Yet the weight of the person, or ghost, seems so light… And louder… The sound getting near him…

Then it stopped again.

By now, Aomine's hands were in his head, trying to protect whatever that thing does to him. Even if the thing manages to hurt him physically, in any way, the important fact is that his head is protected. So the thing might not possess him. Yes, all in an ace's logic. He didn't notice how hard he was shaking, until the thing spoke.

"Good evening," it said.

Should he turn around? What if that thing has something up from his dead, transparent sleeve? He remembers a ghost story that Momoi told him. Long time ago, . What if history repeats itself?

Aomine took the risk and turns around, only to find a small guy (around 5 feet tall) holding a ball. His light blue orbs stared at the man's dark blue ones- a direct eye contact. The mop of light blue hair complemented its eyes. Aomine noticed the sweaty shirt. That's when he realized something.

"You're playing basketball?! In here!?" He exclaimed, almost seems like a shout, but he never meant to.

Light blue eyes took a glimpse in his hand and looked at Aomine again. "Yes. As you can see, I am holding a ball, a school property."

Aomine stood up and shook his head. Wait, what? This is all wrong! Was he hallucinating? He was sure that as he entered the gym, there's nobody around. The lights were on but this doesn't explain why the small fry suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"No, no… Did you just come in and started to play not knowing I was in this corner?"

The small one looked up, thinking about something. "Well... I've been here from the start. I saw you come in but I guess you never saw me."

Aomine's jaws dropped.

"…So I continued playing. I thought that maybe you were getting ready to play with me."

"Who said I'm going to join you?!"

From then on, they started hanging out a lot. Whenever they play basketball after practice, it would not be called a day without them arguing over the most ridiculous things. He admires Kuroko's way of playing basketball. Unfortunately he isn't the very best player in Teiko Middle School and frankly, Aomine doesn't mind, but when Akashi discovered a unique skill from Kuroko, it helped their team boost their way up to victory. Aomine wanted to be the person to help Kuroko makes his way on top. That is why he agreed to be his light. He may not be good at anything besides his misdirection skills, but Aomine also wanted to be the one to further develop Kuroko's skill and discover a new technique.

There was one time when they enjoyed training together. It was almost past 9 but they were still into the game. Not one of them had their determination pulled down and so they continued playing. Aomine noticed how happy Kuroko looks whenever he smiled. Both were aware of the passion they have for basketball.

Aomine also remembered that time when he found Kuroko surrounded by a group of senpais. At that time, they were not in speaking terms yet. He did hear a small conversation from them but after that, he left.

"Why do you even play basketball? You don't have any skills at all. You don't know how to shoot. You can't even dribble properly. On top of everything, you get tired after 2 quarters."

"I know."

"So why don't you just quit playing and give the slot to another person who deserves it more?"

"I can't do that." Kuroko answered, not an expression in his face changed. "I love basketball. If I can't play with the team, then I will never learn. I can live with the fact that I am not good with basketball, as long as I have any way to help the team win, than regret never trying at all."

Few days after the incident, he found Kuroko with bruises in his face but nobody noticed. Aomine is surprised to even notice Kuroko at all, since his lack of presence is the guy's very asset to the team. Then again, Aomine is the only person to notice the shadow first. Kuroko kept practicing for stamina and, maybe by miraculous occurrences, a better aim to shoot. And if he isn't with the team, Kuroko will be by himself when everybody's gone.

After a year, Kuroko got promoted to the first string thanks to Akashi's influence. Aomine was happy since he gets to play with Kuroko more often and much earlier than their usual schedule. The way Aomine and Kuroko's moves are in-sync whenever they pass to each other, the way both knew their opponents next moves, the way they bump their first after every successful shoots Aomine had… It all meant something for the ace.

Aomine never knew how much he loved Tetsu, until Kise entered the picture and confessed his love before he could.

Ah, Kise. The model. The only one he can go one-on-one with. His teammate. His bestfriend. But wait, weren't Kise and Tetsu not in speaking terms? That's the reason why Aomine started to hang out with Tetsu after school again! So why is Tetsu returning the blonde's hug?

He sighed. He isn't surprised anymore, though.

Everybody loves Kise. Who wouldn't? A beautiful face, very friendly, is athletic and academically speaking, his marks are quite above average. On top of that, both of them are good in basketball. Maybe that's why Aomine likes hanging out with him.

But then Kuroko came in Kise's life.

Suddenly, Aomine gave up.

あなたが私にどのくらいの意味ですか?これらの心に秘めた言葉は、これまで、あなたに出くわしたことがないではないかと思います。

Kuroko stared at his phone and sighed. This is… the 4th time he's been with Aomine without Kise knowing. Not only he has been cheating, he also lied and told his boyfriend he was going home to visit his parents. The second to the last text read something like, 'No, where are you really? I called your parents' home and they said you're not around.' He bit his lip. How can Kise read him so easily?

As he scrolled up to his last text, a hand suddenly stole the object of Kuroko's attention. Aomine is awake. Kuroko realized how both of them were naked under the sheets, and so he blushed. His partner gave him a quick peck in the lips. "What's up? Frowning so early in the morning."

The smaller one sighs, curling himself up into a ball and ducks his head so Aomine can't see his face.

Raising a brow, Aomine decided to browse his Tetsu's phone. Tetsu isn't very particular with text messages and it meant nothing to him, but why has he been sighing the moment he reached his phone upon waking up? Aomine looks at the phone status: 32 missed calls, 18 text messages. He read the text messages and one of the messages made him stop. Pissed, he tossed the phone.

"You don't have to throw my phone, Aomine-kun. I still have to use it."

"Tsk."

Motioning the smaller of the blue haired, he threw him a worried glance. "Let's go. I'll take you home."

Without them noticing, the phone flopped open during the time Aomine threw the phone on the floor. The screen glued to the recent messages. The most recent one. It says something like, 'That's it. I'm coming home right now.'


The Cake's Note: Never thought I'd still update this one. Originally, this is supposed to be a one-shot but as you can see with my writing ability, grammar and length is an issue. Huhu. That ghost at the fourth gym issue, I think I got the idea from a fanfic but I forgot where.

R&R :D