Good morning, everyone! It's Wednesday, and here's the chapter you've all been waiting for!
Disclaimer: We do not own Kuroko no Basket and its franchise.
Blood is thicker than Water
Part Two
"Teikou Middle School"
Before they knew it, they were both in Middle School. Apparently, someone had heard about Akashi's skills and scouted him to join Teikou Middle, a school famous for producing skilled players. He had happily accepted, delighted at the prospect of having a chance to challenge even tougher opinions. Of course, Kuroko had followed him to Teikou, since there was no particular school he had had in mind to join after graduating from elementary school.
A short while after the start of the school year, Akashi had already made it to the top of the school's basketball team: the first string which contained the cream of the crop; the best of all of Teikou's players.
Akashi, along with three other freshmen, where specially invited to join the team. They made it to the first string even without having to go through the placement tests that all other first years required to go through. It was said that these freshmen had even managed to surpass almost all the second and third year regulars within a month that they had entered the team.
It was also about then that Akashi and Kuroko started to drift apart. They cast aside the old, childish nicknames for more formal ways of addressing each other. They rarely saw each other in school; and a lot less outside of school. They barely spoke to each other anymore.
Unknown to anyone but his father, Kuroko had decided to join the basketball club, instead of the literature club that everyone else had thought that he had joined. After watching his cousin play for long, Kuroko had wanted to play side-by-side with Akashi. Due to his lack of overall skill, however, he was immediately placed into the third string, which contained most of the members of the club, and of course, the worst of the lot.
It was there Kuroko had remained unnoticed for some time, since the members of each string do not have any contact with the other.
Knowing his lack of skill, Kuroko had been desperate to improve his skills, so as to one day be on par with his cousin. Even after practice was over, he stayed back alone to practice, in hopes of getting better, but there was little sign of improvement. It was then he had befriended Aomine.
Aomine Daiki was a fellow first-year student at Teikou and a player of the first string in the basketball team, who had an unrivalled passion for the sport. He had been looking for a place to practice, especially since the gymnasium used by the first string was packed with players, and had stumbled to where Kuroko had been practicing for the past few weeks.
He had mistaken the smaller boy for a ghost at first, but became his training partner and friend afterwards.
Despite the extra training with Aomine, Kuroko was still not improving. He had even thought of quitting the team. He was just no good at basketball; the worst of all failures when it came to it. He had known it all along; that just did not possess the talent that his father and his cousin Akashi had.
That evening, after the ranking test, he had arrived that the gymnasium where Aomine was waiting, feeling down.
"Oh hey, you're late," Aomine looked up as Kuroko walked into the gym, still wearing his uniform. "There's hardly ti- Huh? Are you going home already?"
"Aomine-kun…. I'm thinking about quitting the basketball team."
"What? Why?" Aomine yelled, surprised.
"Like I thought… with my skills, I probably won't even make it to the second string, let alone be able to play with Aomine-kun."
And Akashi-kun, Kuroko added mentally before continuing.
"I like basketball… but, I've been on the team for half a year… I guess there's nothing you can do about it if you're not made for it. On top of that, this is Teikou Middle School. Honestly, I don't think I could be of any use to the team at all. In a team, there's no such thing as an unnecessary player."
Kuroko hang his head low, trying his best to contain the emotions that threatened to break loose.
"Even if you can't play in matches, there's no way that a guy who stays back later than members of the first string, later than anyone, can be useless," Aomine spoke, as if trying to give him some support.
"But…"
"At least for me, watching you like that made me respect you… and made me want to work harder. Still, I'm not going to say you can really do it for sure if you don't give up, nut if you do, there'd be nothing left."
Kuroko stood in silence, pondering over the words that Aomine has spoken to him.
"Aomine," A voice that was familiar to the both of them called out. "I thought I didn't see you for a while. So you were here, huh."
Kuroko lifted his head to spot three boys standing at the entrance of the gymnasium. The tallest of the three has purple hair, and was busily snacking on a stick of pocky. The other one, who had green hair and was wearing glasses, was holding a spray bottle. The last of the three and also the shortest, was none other than…
"Akashi-kun." Kuroko spoke, soft enough so that only Aomine could've heard him.
"You know him, Tetsu?" Aomine whispered back before turning his attention back to the redhead. "Well, there were too many people in the other auditorium…"
"Well, it doesn't really matter where you practice-" Akashi paused as he spotted his cousin standing next to the tan boy. He raised an eyebrow, surprised to see Kuroko there. "And who do we have here?"
"Oh… I always practice with him. His name is Tetsu. Kuroko Tetsuya."
"Hmm?" Murasakibara Atsushi mumbled, still nibbling on the chocolate-coated biscuit stick. "Did we have a guy like this on the team?"
"He's not in the first string. Still in the third string, this guy."
"Hmm… Whatever, then," Murasakibara narrowed his eyes, giving Kuroko a bored, unconcerned glance as he turned around, yawning. "Hey, let's go already…"
Akashi's glance became focused, staring straight at his cousin.
"Just a minute, Atsushi. This guy's hiding a talent completely different from ours. It's rare to see his type of player. If we can bring out his talent, he'd be an exceptional player."
"Ohh? You think so, Aka-chin?"
Akashi gave his cousin with a look of unwavering confidence.
"I'm sure of it."
DOTF: AND WE'RE DONE! YAY! Now let's go sleep.
ANYL: *Clears throat* But I've got school…
DOTF: Well, I happen to be in school right now. But psychology lecture's just too boring. Say, has anyone heard the character songs for Kuro-chan, Kagami and Kise yet?
ANYL: No, I'm in school… And the teachers cut off the wi-fi to the students.
DOTF: That's why we're talking telepathically. Back to the topic, the story will start to get tense from next chapter onwards.
ANYL: *no response*
DOTF: We would like to thank everyone who had read this story, added to your story alert, reviewed etc. I promise, we will not fail you!
ANYL: … Anyways, I'll let DOTF reply all reviews regarding any questions for this week. Next week she's stuffin' it to me. (Meep)
DOTF: Hey, I have assignments to do too. Anyway, see you next week! Byebye!
Note 1: the above conversation was planned the night before because DOTF is posting this in the middle of a psychology lecture while the lecturer goes on about behaviourism. (Good kids shouldn't be doing this. Really.)
Note 2: DOTF is quite grumpy now due to train fault. The transport system's getting from bad to worse lately.
Note 3: Before we forget, the next chapter will be out on Tuesday next week.
SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!
