Kagami couldn't believe he and half of his teammates passed out in the locker room right after the match was over, but he had never felt more drained in his life than he did in that moment. He was pretty sure he even dreamed about the match, but as one who never really remembered his dreams, he couldn't be too sure.

When the whole team had collectively decided that, for some reason, they were going to have dinner at Kagami's house, although he was somewhat irritated, he couldn't help but feel a little happy to have all of them over. Riko had somehow managed to make the hotpot they were planning to eat while the rest of them were distracted over Kagami's apartment. And the food was… surprisingly good. …Well, until everyone literally fainted from it about half an hour later.

But before that, Kagami had stepped out onto his veranda to take a breather from the hustle and bustle of his teammates. And of course, Kuroko was right behind him to surprise him once again with that minimal presence of his. Kagami didn't have time to grumble, though, as Kuroko got right to the point and told Kagami 'thank you'.

"I'm glad that I met you," Kuroko said with a rare smile on his face.

Kagami flustered at that. Kuroko was always straightforward but he would've never expected him to say something so embarrassing. But despite that, he was happy, because he was glad to have met Kuroko too, he was glad to have met all of his teammates. Without them he wouldn't even be where he was now.

Upon returning to Japan, Kagami wasn't necessarily what you would call 'team-oriented' and planned to overtake the Generation of Miracles by his own doing. It didn't take long for him to become humbled by the Miracles and his teammates, and he was grateful for it.

Besides his entire team being put in danger by Riko's cooking and the unexpected addition of a naked Alex, Kagami was feeling happy and confident before going into the remaining Winter Cup matches.

Since Alex was now currently staying with him, she insisted on teaching him in what little time they had before the match.

"You've always been the determined type, Taiga, but you seem more motivated now than ever." Alex walked up to Kagami who was sitting on a bench and handed him a bottle of water.

"Well, after that Touou match I feel kind of… rejuvenated? I'm not sure exactly, but now I know we're one step closer to winning the tournament." Kagami wiped the sweat from his brow and took a long swig from the bottle.

"After seeing one of those Miracles in action… Midorima, was it? My whole perception of basketball in Japan has changed. You're definitely up against some monsters, and on top of that you'll be facing Tatsuya." Alex sat next to Kagami.

"I was the same; I think I underestimated the Generation of Miracles at first. And Tatsuya…" Kagami drifted into thought. Himuro had said that their relationship as brothers would come to an end after their next match their tie was broke. Kagami didn't want that, he knew Himuro was competitive and that he always thought of himself as Kagami's older brother, but a basketball match shouldn't determine the outcome of their relationship.

The streetball tournament ended up in them having to delay their match until the Winter Cup. On top of planning to win the match against Yosen, Kagami had to prove to Himuro that their relationship as brothers didn't have to end.

"I plan on defeating him," Kagami said with confidence, standing up from the bench.

"Well then, we have a lot more practicing to do," Alex did likewise and gave Kagami a hard pat on the back.

For some reason, Kuroko had called Aomine out all of a sudden. The two of them hadn't spent time together since middle school, and now that Seirin had managed to defeat Touou, Aomine could only imagine what his former shadow could want.

When Kuroko came straight out and asked Aomine to teach him how to shoot, he couldn't help but think – why? But he had seen Kuroko's determination firsthand. If there was anything Kuroko could do for his teammates, he'd do it. That pure-hearted determination always irritated Aomine, but it was also something that he couldn't help but admire about Kuroko. There weren't many people he knew that showed as much passion as Kuroko… well, except maybe Kagami, although he was a bit different from Kuroko in that respect.

Kuroko's determination allowed Aomine to show his weak side to his friend, and after watching Kuroko royally suck at shooting baskets for a while, he couldn't help but confide in Kuroko about how he felt since the game.

"I haven't been able to sleep since then," Aomine slid down against the court wall and looked up at the night sky. Kuroko stood by quietly with the basketball in his hand. "Every time I close my eyes I see scenes from the match… It's that feeling I've forgotten for a long time. Although it was my worst night, I can't wait to play basketball again."

Kuroko widened his eyes in surprise, but soon his face softened into a slight smile, remembering the times that he and Aomine had always practiced together. Maybe there was hope for his friend, because he had finally been shown that there were still things for him to love about basketball.

The game against Nakamiya South went off without a hitch. They may have needed a little pick me up from Riko mid-game (if that's what you'd like to call a slap on the face), but Seirin secured their win with an 83 to 77 score. They also went on to defeat Kougomo North 87 to 82.

But that was only a warm-up, as their next opponent was Yosen, the match Kagami was waiting for. And as if the team needed any more reason to be intimidated, they had come to learn that Yosen had absolutely crushed their other opponents; all of their games ended up with the other team not scoring a single point.

If that wasn't enough to shock them into being completely serious about this match, Kagami didn't know what else could, but intimidation does not destroy one's determination. Although Yosen's incredibly strong defense was nothing to underestimate, all of Seirin were determined to give everything they had.

"Kise-kun's match is also today," Kuroko commented to Kagami as they made their walk inside the coliseum.

"Is that so…" Kagami replied, not having much interest in other team's games at the moment. Although he was pretty confident that Kaijou was going to be advancing after today.

"Yes, although I don't much about their opponent today, it will be right after our match so we should watch," Kuroko replied.

The previous day, Kuroko had excused himself early after a bit of one-on-one practice with Kagami. He wanted to show Kagami what he had learned from practicing with Aomine, but had to leave suddenly because of a call he'd gotten. Kagami heard Kuroko say Kise's name, so that's who he assumed Kuroko went to go meet. It was a bit strange considering that Kuroko seemed to be nothing but cruel to the model, so Kagami didn't think they had that close of a relationship.

"Yeah, that sounds good, we need to scope out our opponent for the next game anyway," Kagami glanced over at Kuroko.

Once they got to the locker room and the start of the game was fast approaching, Kagami reached at the necklace that he always wore and slid it off of him. Gripping tightly at the chain, he reminded himself of what the ring at the end of it symbolized before placing it in his bag.

"Why the hell are you dragging me out to this match?" Aomine grumbled at Momoi as they walked in through the doors, looking out onto the court with a heated game already being played.

"You owe me for ditching me!" She replied. Aomine tsked as his eyes drifted towards the scoreboard.

"Huh!? 18 to 0!?" Momoi said in surprise.

Of course, Seirin was playing against Murasakibara. He was basically a wall with two legs. But he wasn't only good with defense – he was fast and could score basket after basket. It really wasn't a surprise to see Seirin losing at the moment, although for a team with high such offense, it was a bit of a shock to they hadn't scored a single point.

It didn't take long for Aomine to witness what he had allowed himself to be dragged along for: Kuroko's phantom shot. It only made sense for Kuroko to combine elements from his vanishing drive to make up for his lack of shooting skill, so he and Kuroko had practiced this new technique. And it seemed to be working well, Seirin ended up getting their first points in and it all started to unfold after that.

Although Aomine's curiosity had been over how Kuroko would perform, he couldn't help but have his attention get wrapped up in Kagami from time to time, especially when the 2nd quarter had ended, Kuroko was benched.

There was also someone else who caught Aomine's attention almost immediately: Yosen's #12.

'He's even getting the best of Kagami,' Aomine thought, narrowing his eyes slightly, watching the match closer than he had previously.

Even when Kagami was subbed out and back in, it seemed to only fuel Kagami's focus. But that's when Murasakibara started to actually play seriously. Seirin had been struggling with him before, but now he started to actually give his 100%. That's how he was, Aomine thought. Murasakibara wasn't particularly serious about basketball most of the time, but he hated to lose more than anything.

But despite everything, despite a broken basketball hoop, the extremely talented Himuro, and Muraskaibara managing to enter the zone in the very last seconds of the game – Seirin pulled off another narrow defeat 73 to 72.

Kagami had made another miracle, getting into the zone a second time. Aomine smiled slightly despite himself, because he could tell the very moment Kagami had entered the zone – of course, he had witnessed it firsthand himself. Aomine felt himself get excited watching Kagami face off against the beast that was his former teammate, Murasakibara. Kagami really was full of surprises. Kuroko even pulled off a shocking play himself, actually managing to block Murasakibara's shot and securing the victory for Seirin.

Aomine turned around with a 'hmph' as the arena still echoed with applause. Watching these games just made him all the more antsy to get back to playing basketball. But that wasn't the end, Momoi went on to tell him that Kise's match was next.

Seirin didn't have much time to celebrate as they wanted to get ready to watch the match between Kaijou and Fukuda, since the winner would be their opponent in the next game tomorrow.

But Kagami had other things to do, mainly attending to fix his relationship with Himuro. During the match, he felt that his weakness was his desire to hold on to their relationship as brothers, and even requested of Kuroko to throw away his necklace. But in Kuroko's infamously blunt way of putting things, he let Kagami know that that was a terrible idea, and that there has always existed the possibility of them being both brothers and rivals.

So Kagami made a sprint to find Himuro after the game. But what he didn't expect was to see Alex being manhandled by some guy that apparently went by the name of Haizaki. Luckily, Alex had always been one to be able to handle herself and Kagami was stopped by Himuro before he risked getting disqualified for harming another player. With the addition of Kise showing up, Kagami learned that this Haizaki was not only on Fukuda, but a former Teikou player as well.

That incident cut Kagami's discussion with Himuro short as the match was about to begin. Before returning to the court, Kise assured Kagami that he wouldn't lose against some like Haizaki.

"I believe in you, Kise-kun!"

At that moment, Kuroko was probably the most noticeable since Kagami had met him. He had to admit, he was getting pretty damn worked up over the game too with how dirty Haizaki's tricks were, but he never could've imagined Kuroko standing up and shouting at the top of his lungs.

Although the crowd didn't know where that shout came from, Kise seemed to know exactly where Kuroko was, and it seemed to be just the boost of confidence he needed within himself. Kaijou went on to defeat Fukuda with Kise's display of perfect copy using moves only the generation of Miracles could pull off.

The crowd cheered at their victory, Kise looked up towards the stands with smirk and a raised fist. Both Kagami and Kuroko were grateful that their next opponent was a worthy one.

"I can't believe you can actually shout like that," Kagami commented as they made their way to file out of the coliseum.

"Kise-kun seemed to be troubled; I could tell Haizaki was saying things to try and get under his skin. He just needed a snap back into reality. I know you wanted just as badly as I did for Kaijou to be our next opponent." Kuroko responded, shifting his bag on his shoulder.

"Yeah, that's true. Kise promised he would win, so if he hadn't I would've had to beat some sense into him," Kagami laughed. "Still, I never thought I'd hear you shout like that."

"I believed in him from the beginning. I didn't have the chance to tell him before the game, so my only opportunity was right then and there," Kuroko's gaze shifted away from Kagami.

Kagami laughed again, "You're a little strange sometimes," he joked.

"Kagami-kun, you're one to talk."

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

Aomine arrived home, massaging at his knuckles that not too long ago, plowed their way straight into Haizaki's face. He probably wouldn't have been so reckless if he was still in the running for the tournament, but it felt good to put the asshole in his place.

It pissed him off to see someone like Haizaki trying to break Kise's composure like that. Yeah, Kise was annoying at times, but he truly loved basketball, he even prioritized it over his precious modeling career. Having someone like Haizaki trying to destroy that for Kise was unacceptable. For people like Kuroko and Kise, even Aomine knew that the Winter Cup was important to them, and their battle had no room for someone like Haizaki to interfere with.

He let out a long sigh as he removed his shoes and shrugged his coat off of his shoulders. Making his way through the living room, he noticed his father sitting on the couch.

"I'm home," he mumbled.

His father glanced at him with sharp eyes. He was a damn intimidating man, and Aomine knew that's where he got some of his features from.

"Where were you?" He asked. His father always had a deep tone to it.

"I went to watch some matches at the Winter Cup with Satsuki," Aomine replied, stopping behind the couch.

His father gave a hmph. "I thought you were already out of that competition."

"I am, but I still want to see who's going to win," Aomine narrowed his eyes, he was glad that his dad couldn't see him at that moment.

"Since when did you start caring about basketball again?" His father replied.

Aomine paused for a moment, "I never stopped caring, it just became boring…" He turned and started walking towards his room.

"Is that how you feel about your schoolwork too? Quit slacking. If your mother gets another damn phone call from the school saying you've missed your class you aren't going to like what happens next."

Aomine tsked under his breath and slammed his bedroom door shut behind him.

His father hadn't always been like this. In fact, they had a pretty good relationship when he was younger; his father even did a lot to encourage his basketball.

But everything changed when the company his father worked for went bankrupt. He was forced to find another job, and now works a boring desk job for another company, having to start from the bottom again. Since then, his father had become a bit soulless, having to work longer hours for less pay. It started to affect his mother as well as his father rarely came home in a good mood. She seemed to become less happy, although she always plastered on a smile for her son.

On top of all of that, this all happened when Aomine had begun to realize his diminishing passion for basketball. That year was probably one of the lowest points in his life, and he had been trying to recover from it ever since.

He was grateful for his first glimmer of hope to occur. Maybe being defeated had humbled him, because since then he had actually spent some of his free time practicing again. It was a shame that the season was over for him, because he couldn't wait to play his next game again. For now, he supposed, he'd have to live vicariously through the four remaining teams in the Winter Cup.

End of Chapter.

This story will start to get more interesting next chapter, I think. I just want to establish the inner thoughts of Kagami and Aomine during canon events, as well as start to introduce elements of their personal life. Obviously, we don't know much about their home lives so this is where we start to see some deviation from the canon story. As the story progresses, it'll start running on full head-canon, heh.

I actually found myself writing this while having to scan through the manga, just to make sure I got the order of things right. It was actually kind of difficult! But it was nice to re-read over some parts. As you can see, the story is already surpassing what the anime has gotten to so yeah, again, if you don't read the manga, expect to be spoiled (although you probably already have been if you're reading this now).

Thanks for everyone who has showed interest so far! I really appreciate it. (: See you next time! :*