Hello minna! Early update! Here is chapter 2. First things first, thank you so much for so many favorites and follows already! As well as the reviews. It means a lot to me!

Okay so. I was thinking this chapter would be all about Airi doubting herself and having difficulties to join the team. I also prepared some sort of story line for her and Sakurai. Friendship, that is. We'll see how it turns out.

And in case anyone wonders, since people usually call each other by their family names in Japan, Airi will be called Hogiwara for a good half of the story.

Disclaimer : I do not own Kuroko no basuke or any of its characters.

Hogiwara finished the last page of her book and put it away. Finally. It had been a 1027 pages book she had been reading ever since August. Sure enough, the plot was good and the story was interesting, but it had taken her so long she knew she would need a break from reading for a while.

She leaned back in her seat and stared out the window as she switched between her songs to find one she liked. Her thoughts immediately drifted off to yesterday night. Hogiwara was beginning to have second thoughts about her choice. And if Momoi had indeed talked to the coach, and he had accepted, then it was too late to back out.

The young girl was a hundred percent sure that she wouldn't be accepted though. It was a team made of guys after all. On top of that, her statistics weren't exactly top notch. They were from last year, and nothing had much had changed in the span of a year. Ever since she'd left her old school, she hadn't had the opportunity to practice. She didn't give up on the sport though and, as often as she could, she watched games on TV.

Hogiwara used her palm to support her chin. Why in the world did she have to be so skinny? Why did she have to wear glasses? Why did she have to be, well, herself? She wished she was like the girls in her class. Pretty, popular, flawless. They didn't have trouble fitting in, did they?

The sound of chairs scraping against the tiled floor interrupted her thoughts. Hogiwara didn't bother glancing at the perpetrators. She knew who they were, and chose to only turn around once one of them had left.

Aomine ate her bento as usual, but didn't move this time. Six long minutes ticked by. Finally, the brown haired girl slowly spun her head around, and was met with the sight of a cheerful Momoi and a gloomy Aomine. These two contrasted so perfectly, she wondered how they became friends in the first place.

"I kind of have bad news. Coach declined your offer."

"Oh."

"But! I won't consider my job done until you've joined the team," Momoi added.

"Momoi-san, it's fine. I don't want to cause you trouble." Hogiwara gave her a small smile. If the coach said no then it was settled. No one could contest his orders, right? No one. Besides, she didn't want to change anything. That day, she didn't even know why she had proposed to join the team. It was as if her body had a mind of its own.

"No. I want to help you."

Hogiwara nervously brought her nails to her lips and chewed on them. There were times when Momoi insisted, and when she did, it was hard resisting her temptating offers.

"Really, it's okay. Thank you."

Momoi opened her lips to protest but Aomine placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Satsuki. Don't push it."

Momoi sighed and gave Hogiwara a sad smile. Afterwards she let Aomine drag her away.

Hogiwara let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. Man it had been hard. She really wanted to accept the pink haired girl's help. Yet, she knew if she did, it would probably lead to nothing. She was skinny, lacking stamina, and not that physically strong. How had basketball attracted her in the first place?

The bell announcing the end of class rang. Hogiwara gathered her stuff and waited until the classroom was empty before leaving herself. Without exactly knowing why, she let her feet lead her to the gym. Empty as well. A basketball was lying on the floor. Dropping her bag, the young girl reached for it. The hard, cold material coming in contact with her palms brought back memories, both good and bad

Hogiwara used one hand to dribble. Then, she ran towards the net and shot. The ball bounced off the rim and landed further away. The young girl shook her head.

"I do need a lot of practice. I've gotten rusty." With a sigh, she grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. With one last glance, she exited the room.

The following day, after school, she came to the gym only to find the Touou Academy team practicing with much ardor. The young girl was fascinated. The dunks, the steals, the shots. Each member had a special energy radiating off of them, and she knew this was no ordinary team.

One of them turned towards the door. His large, brown eyes met hers for a second and both their cheeks heat up. The boy hesitantly gave her a small smile and went back to making shots and apologizing for no reason.

Hogiwara snapped out of her contemplation and walked away.

The following week, Hogiwara checked the club schedules and thus learned the team practiced on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays after school. Meaning she had the gym to herself today (Monday) and Thursday. She dared not tell Momoi of her plans, preferring to keep them to herself.

She thought then that she had found a great way to kill time. To try and get her skills back. But none of that happened. Hogiwara would merely make a shot or two, miss and leave. She was beginning to loose hope in ever being able to play basketball again.

Thursday, after school.

Hogiwara sat on the bench, holding her head in her hands. She had tried to at least make a shot, and failed. Had she lost her skills? Oh who was she kidding, what skills?

Footsteps snapped her out of her thoughts. Her head shot up and she was surprised to see the boy with the large brown eyes. He stopped in front of her, a faint blush on his cheeks.

"H-Hey," he greeted.

"Um. H-Hi."

There was silence for a while. Hogiwara stared at the ground while the boy merely rubbed the back of his neck. The atmosphere had gotten awkward, to say the least.

"I'm Sakurai. Sakurai Ryou, a second year as well."

"N-Nice to m-meet you. I—"

"I know who you are. Momoi-san told me about you."

Hogiwara blinked in surprise. Momoi had told him about her? She felt her cheeks darken. Boy did she hope the pink haired girl hadn't said anything embarrassing.

"I've been observing you for a while, ever since Friday to be precise. And when I asked Momoi-san for precisions, since you two are regularly seen together, she told me all I needed to know about you. Your lost passion for basketball, your statistics and such," he explained, sitting a good distance away from her.

Hogiwara pushed her glasses up her nose. She was speechless. How much more information did Momoi give this Satsuki guy?

"I don't know why but as she told me about you, I had this strange need to, you know, coach you."

She felt her heart skip a beat. This wasn't happening. One of the official team members was offering to be her coach. Momoi was stubborn, wasn't she? Even after Harasawa had refused for Hogiwara to join the team she had still managed to find someone else.

"What would be the point anyway? I've lost every and any skill I might have had in the past."

"If you truly love basketball then you shouldn't give up," Satsuki said, his face turning serious. "Sure, you might be skinny. Sure, you might lack a few other things. But it only means you should practice harder until you've mastered the sport. I was like you at first. Yet, I didn't give up, even when the others gave me a hard time. I've practiced, and practiced, and gained their respect. Now it's your turn."

Hogiwara was surprised at how fast his facial expression had changed. She felt every ounce of resistance and doubt slip away from her grasp. Sakurai was right. She had to at least give it a try.

"H-Hai," she said, slightly disturbed.

"G-Gomen," he apologized. "Now we've got to fit this in your schedule."

Satsuki and Hogiwara would now meet up every Mondays and Thursdays after school. Since that wasn't enough, Sakurai proposed for her to go to his place every Saturdays as well, since there was a court near his house. On Sundays, they would go at Hogiwara's house to do their homework and, when they'd finish, they would play video games on her laptop.

Hogiwara had slowly began to eat her bentos now, Sakurai's orders. She also began bringing a second one for Aomine so he wouldn't bother her.

Momoi noticed now how the two would hang out at any given occasion. Hogiwara would even go as far as bringing the boy honey lemons at practice when she thought no one was looking. The pink haired girl was getting jealous, but couldn't exactly complain since Hogiwara would always try to hang out with her as well.

The only inconvenient was that the brown haired girl wasn't progressing much. It was already October 1st and so far, she was only able to make three shots out of seven. Whenever Sakurai asked her to do three laps around the court, she would collapse after less than half of the first lap. She could only do one push up out ten, same went with pull ups.

Sakurai didn't know what to do to get her to try her best. Today was no different. He hovered over her collapsed and panting form, giving her a smile. "Come on, you can do better," he said.

He held out his hand. This time though, she didn't accept it. Hogiwara shut her eyes and shook her head.

"It's no use Sakurai-kun. I'll never be ready on time."

The boy watched her sadly. He was too scared to actually tell her she might be right. He didn't even have the courage to ask her to get up and try again either.

Just then, Aomine lazily walked up to them. He stared down at Hogiwara and his lip curled in disgust. "If I was you, I'd quit basketball for good."

The brown haired girl slowly sat up. Her bangs darkened her eyes as she rubbed her temples. Aomine snorted loudly

"Look at you. Barely able to get up after such a short run. Our team does not need a weakling like you."

"Is that so?" Hogiwara stood up. Her legs were shaking, warning to fail her. She drew in a deep breath and let it out before facing Aomine. Determination was legible on her features. The blue haired boy's words woke something in her. Something she long thought had died. It came back to her full force.

"I've heard that in order to play basketball, you have to have a motive, one good enough to push you to your limits. I didn't have one before. I didn't know why I was so interested in playing in the first place. But today, I found it. All this time, I was looking to play in a team in which I would have someone to pass the ball to. Someone who could back me up whenever I would miss. Someone strong enough to handle a weakling like me. Aomine Daiki. I will surpass myself in order to be able to play by your side!"

"Tch. Know that our team works on developing each member's individual skills. We have no interest whatsoever in team work. Do as you whish, I really don't care. Weakling." With that, he left.

Sakurai gulped nervously and observed his friend's reaction. Her expression hadn't changed, not one bit. Instead, she got in the process of running laps around the gym.

He watched her. Even after the first tour, even when he could hear her panting, she didn't stop. She didn't stop until she had completed all three laps. Didn't stop until she had done ten push ups, and pull ups. Only then did she grab a can of Pocari Sweat to drink with a trembling hand.

Sakurai felt as if an immense weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Aomine had just renewed Hogiwara's determination. The shooting guard instantly knew that things would be easier now. A lot easier.

Haha done. I was thinking I would focus a bit on Sakurai and Hogiwara. Don't worry though, there will be more Momoi and Aomine coming up. For now, I am still hesitating on Hogiwara's special ability.

And sorry if Sakurai is OOC. But there has to be times when he doesn't apologize and stutter all the time, right? Until next time!

~AHAL