Chapter 2 - Moron

A/N: Though it's not everyday I post a ficlet like before, I'm slowly getting into the swing of things again!

I do not own Kuroko No Basket!

I do however own Domen Sugi and Yuki, please ask permission before using them.

No warnings for this chapter, except for dentist warnings, because it's sweet~

Ha, got you!

Enjoy!

It was close, very close!

The Interhigh was strong and hard to compete in, many male teams had won and Sugi knew that was likely, since most of the teams involved a member of the Generation of Miracles.

Even Seirin with their captain Hyuga Junpei were winning.

Right now, Sugi and her team were playing in the female division, matches of the same tournament, but for female teams. She was strong, fast and passed decently the whole time and now they had reached the third round, thanks to their strong shooter, Yuki.

However this match was so much harder than the others, so far they were behind by ten points and it was the fourth quarter, there was no such thing as a quick comeback, but Sugi was determined to get them at least tied before time ran out.

"Sugi-chan!" Yuki called, and Sugi glanced at her, she was open! The woman turned and tossed the ball, but cursed when another player from the other team caught it and passed it to their own shooter, who made a three pointer without effort.

She was losing her edge!

"Dammit!" Another Seirin player hissed as the other team grinned and began the game again, Sugi's eyes narrowed, her intensity strong, but her energy fading quickly, she had been so hung up on a twenty point difference during the second quarter that she ended up wasting most of her strength during the third quarter just to dodge and pass to at least bring their score up a little.

She was tired, and she knew she wasn't the only one, already two of their players had been swapped out because they had almost passed out from exhaustion.

They were worse off when it came to endurance, and all of them knew it.

Sugi gritted her teeth and caught the ball, dribbling it as she ran towards the net, noting that her friend was open and tossed the ball in that direction. Yuki grinned and caught it, jumping up in time to make a shot, ready to score a three pointer.

But just as she tossed it, another player jumped up, ready to catch it, all the women's eyes widened in anticipation and fear as everything seemed to slow down.

Just as the opponent's finger brushed the ball, the horn sounded, indicating the game was over, and the ball hit the hoop, bouncing off and away from the teams.

If it had been netted, they still would have lost, but went out with a bang.

"Seirin loses!" The referee calls, blowing his whistle. Sugi stood there, staring at the ground with wide eyes as the opponents cheered at their victory and the Seirin players cursed and looked down with angry, frustrated expressions.

Two rounds from the Semi-Finals, and they had lost.

The sound of cheers from the male court could he heard and the other Seirin team's name was cheered. Sugi lifted her head stared at the wall separating the two courts with shock, they were improving so much faster than her team.

It wasn't fair.

~KnB~

Sugi walked towards her home, the night had been long since she spent most of it watching the rest of her team mates either cry or get angry over the loss.

All the effort they put into the Interhigh and their practices and they only made it to the third round. Even the serious and intense Domen Sugi was having a hard time holding her emotions together.

"Hey..."

Sugi gasped and spun, hearing a familiar voice. Before her stood her closest friend, Hyuga Junpei, he looked a little stern, and if she didn't know any better, annoyed.

"Hyuga-kun..." Sugi spoke softly as he walked towards her, then passed her, knowing she would follow.

"I'll walk you home..." He told her, both hands in his pocket, head low, and his eyes closed. For someone who had won all his matches, he didn't look too happy.

Silence stretched out between the two and during their walk, Sugi had overtaken Hyuga, but he was close behind her, his eyes hidden behind his glasses.

"Aren't you going to tell me what happened?" Hyuga asked, and Sugi's serious expression almost softened, her eyelids lowering slightly to show some emotion.

"We lost by ten points..." Sugi explained, her voice stern, calm and collected, like normal, but there was a small tremor at the end. "They were faster and had better endurance than we did, and they took the whole game..."

Hyuga stayed quiet, though his eyebrow twitched at the tremor he heard.

"I used up most of my energy during the third quarter and that made both myself and my passes slower, so they were easy to stop..." Her teeth clenched behind her closed mouth, her expression unaffected, but inside, she was cooking up a storm of emotion. "They even benched two of our players...We weren't strong enough for the Interhigh...Sometimes I get jealous of how your team is improve-"

"Oh shut up, Moron!"

Sugi stopped mid-step and sentence, staring ahead with shock. She new that tone, that attitude.

Had she annoyed him that much?

"Just because you weren't strong enough to beat them, doesn't meant you should give up on the Interhigh!" Though she had stopped, he kept walking, pausing at her side and placing his hand on her head, glaring ahead, looking pissed. "Now stop moping around like a little baby and pay them back next year!"

Sugi's eyes stayed fixed on Hyuga as his voice softened, closing his eyes and lowering his head. "Someone as serious as you doesn't suit defeat or jealousy..."

He then let go and continued walking, Sugi's features no longer masked, but blank with surprise. However slowly that shock melted into a smile, and tears filled her eyes, falling slowly down her cheeks. "Thank you..."

Hyuga heard her and didn't answer, lifting his hand in a wave, gesturing for her to follow. It took a moment, but slowly, she began to catch up to him once more. The air was no longer thick with loss, but soft with hope of becoming stronger, the encouragement from a man she had admired for some time finally settling in, making her feel as though she wasn't weak, that she hadn't lost so soon.

He was her best friend and the one man she had felt a true connection with all her life and she was glad he had been the one to speak to her when she needed a boost.

"Thank you...Hyuga-kun..."

A/N: What do you think?

Sugi's personality is hard to work with, but Hyuga's is even worse, but luckily there are more references to his Clutch Time than his normal attitude so I was lucky there! (Though he's really cute in Clutch Time, so that's what inspired this!)

Please review, all comments and advice are appreciated and welcome! I don't mind either, I see them as a way to learn, and that's important to me.

Thank you for reading.