Title: Love Hoop: Rebounds
Rating: T (language warning)
DISCLAIMER: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Kuroko no Basket belongs to Tadatoshi Fujimaki. Two respected mangaka! I do not own the characters in any way nor the story plot. Only the idea of this fanfiction!
MizukixTsukiyomi's Notes: It's been over a year since I last updated this, but look what is back! I was also thinking back to how much fun I had writing Love Hoop, and well, Rebounds is here for that very reason. I just hope people haven't forgotten about it. This is a second Maji Burger talk, and although it is more dialogue than anything, I do hope you enjoy. This is also in reference to the FanDisc 2 Kuroko no Basket has. I believe there is one more, so I am not sure yet if I will be writing that one anytime soon.
Enjoy!
And thank you to those who reviewed the last chapter!
Third Rebound: Maji Burger Talk II
"Hmm, one cola, "L" size, and ten cheeseburgers."
"Ten?!" Kise exclaimed as he heard the Seirin ace say his order. "You gotta be kidding me, Kagamicchi!" He seriously was not thinking of eating ten cheeseburgers, was he? He could barely eat the whole burger and fries meal. Scratching the back of his head, he wondered why Kuroko had even called them all to Maji Burger.
"He's right, Kagami-kun. Ten is not going to be enough for you."
Kise's head immediately turned to his left, "w-wait, what do you mean it's not gonna be enough, Kurokocchi?!"
As he waited for his paid order, Kagami shrugged having heard their comments. He patted his stomach as thoughts of practice ran in his head. "Too big of an order would take too long. I'll order more later."
"Just how many are you thinking of eating exactly?!" Kise questioned. Stumbling a few steps forward, the blonde male glared at his pusher from over his shoulder. "O-Oi! Aominecchi!"
"Move it, Kise. If you're done ordering, you are in the way." Lazily sticking his pinky finger into his ear, he yawned. What he rather be doing was to sleep. It was bad enough Momoi dragged him to practice. Now his whole sleeping schedule was off.
But it annoyed him more that what was promised by Tetsu was not here.
"Dai-chan! Can I place my order on yours, too?"
Looking to his right, Aomine's brow rose to see the pleading smile of his childhood friend. "Sure, but make sure you pay me later, Satsuki."
Momoi waved her hand up and down as she shooed away his grumble. "Hai. Hai."
The five of them waited for all their orders to be ready before they turned to look for a table. The mystery to the gathering Kuroko had organized still hung in the air, but what they did not expect was the trio sitting near the windows of the other side of the restaurant.
Their eyes shifted from one person to the next: a smiling Takao, a crossed-armed Midorima, and Kagome already having placed defensive and angry walls around her as she glared at them. The group – except for Momoi – gulped feeling her wrath slowly oozing and forcing the little oxygen they had left inside of them.
"K-Kagomecchi seems…upset." Kise whispered as he leaned closer to his group.
"Upset?" Aomine scoffed. "Upset is probably an understatement."
Kagome slammed her drink on the table before throwing an accusing finger at the group. "You bet it is! You are late!" Her glare went straight to the phantom boy in the middle of the group, "Kuroko-kun, of all people of this group, I thought you would be on time; the meeting was fifteen minutes ago!"
"Thirty." Midorima cut in.
"No," Kagome turned her glare to him, "you just got here super early. That is all your fault, Midorima-kun." Receiving Kuroko's texts to meet at Maji Burger after school was one thing, but when she saw Midorima's and Takao's trademark cart outside of the place, she knew something was up. Her stupid brain thought too slow to run away, but Takao had caught her from inside and had no shame to come out of the place and greet her. And she sat with them for a good fifteen minutes of Takao jokes and a sour Midorima who refused to join in the conversation.
Kagome huffed as she relaxed in her seat opposite from Midorima as she heard the others come closer to the joint tables. "My moods are like this because Midorima-kun's aura has been rubbing on me." She crossed her arms, mimicking the shooting guard's pose. "It has been flaring with each minute ticking."
"They were late." Midorima repeated. "Also, don't go reading my aura, Kagome. After calling us to come here, it takes a special kind of nerve to makes us wait, Kuroko."
"Only fifteen minutes…" Kagami scoffed under his breath.
Takao chuckled under his breath as he felt what Kagome had been feeling with Midorima's annoyance. "Shin here was just really looking forward to getting together with you guys. He made me peddle the cart so fast that I'm exhausted!"
Midorima quickly slammed his fists on the table. "Enough with your falsehoods, Takao!"
"O-Oi! Aominecchi! Move! I'm sitting next to Kagomecchi!"
"Why the hell are you calling it?" Aomine glared as he moved the model with one arm pushing him away. "I called dibs!"
"When?!"
"Dibs."
"You can't call it right now!" Kise met him eye-to-eye.
Hearing the idiots fight over the seat, Kagome muted them and turned her head to the other side of the table. To her left, Kuroko had taken the edge seat facing in between the tables while Kagami had taken his left. With Midorima and Takao on Kagami's side, all there was left was hers and the other end. "Can one of you just sit?" Kagome sighed, resting her cheek on her palm. They were bickering like children. Her lips curled into a smile as she saw Momoi snuck in and stole the seat.
"Oi!" Both Aomine and Kise paused their argument.
"Too bad." She stuck out her tongue. "You two were too slow."
"Besides, I like her better." Kagome added before turning a smirk to the Shutoku duo. "So, you were excited to see us, Midorima-kun?"
"I was not!" He dropped his hands on the table again. "Takao is famous for spewing lies."
"And~ you are famous for being a tsundere." Takao whispered.
"That's true." They all nodded at the same time.
With the legs of the chair screeching from the pull, Aomine sighed heavily before sitting himself on Momoi's right side. This whole drag was to be with the feisty cat woman there, but in the end, he still got stuck with the loud model. "Oi, Tetsu." He called, starting to unwrap one of his burgers. "Wanna tell us why you called us here? I would have been fine with just Neko-chan."
As much as she wanted to lecture him about the nickname, again, Kagome was just as curious about Kuroko's text. All she got through the text was he needed to talk to her about something important. She really was not that surprised to meet at Maji Burger, but something felt off. She made a mental note to always trust her gut.
"Guys," Kuroko cleared his throat, "thank you for coming here. Now, I called you all here to chat."
They blinked simultaneously; they leaned away.
Kuroko blinked back as he saw his friends cup the side of their mouths and have an exchange of whispers. "Guys…"
"Please say you're joking." Aomine sighed.
"Chat?" Takao repeated. "Like…talk? About what?"
"I don't understand you, Kuroko." Midorima added.
"Did you really call us here to just chat?" Kise chuckled nervously.
Kagome grabbed a fry from her meal, "because seriously, they don't stop texting me and that is all the chatting I need from them."
"Wait!" Kise looked at her with shock. "You told me you never get my messages, Kagomecchi!"
Biting into the fry with wide eyes, Kagome's sweat drop appeared. Well, secret is out.
"Well," Kuroko continued, knowing there was going to be some confusion, "this is a fan-meet, after all. I wish to do things that we can't do in the main story."
"Fan-meet?" Aomine's brow rose.
On cue, both Kagami and Kagome shivered as nostalgia hit. Where they not in the same place in the same setting arrangement before? With both staring at each other, Kagami and Kagome had a feeling this was going somewhere too familiar. Shaking their heads from the awkward meeting Riko had set up before, Kagami was the first to lean in towards Kuroko. "Oi…Kuroko." He whispered, catching his attention. "Are you sure you want to do that again?"
"I don't want to do it, Kagami-kun. I will do it. We can make the rules here."
"Nobody is making you do this!" Kagami shouted.
Kagome's brow twitched having heard Kuroko press on with the so-called 'fan-meet'.
Everyone was aware once Kuroko made up his mind on something, it was difficult to convince him otherwise. They waited for him to take the lead on the "chat" they were all so curious to hear about.
"Everyone, I was thinking we should look back on the games we played in the Winter Cup." Kuroko suggested.
"So we don't even get to vote on the topic?" Takao blinked, taken back by the sudden suggestion. Then again, it was not everyday they got to see other and really talk. So maybe Kuroko's plan was not so bad. Especially when they had Seirin's manager that almost had the same effect their old captain had on them. "Hmm, this may actually be fun." He laughed.
Placing his drink back on the table, Midorima sighed. "Although I have my objections, I don't believe I should waste time dwelling on them."
Kagome tapped on her chin, as the smirk on her lips crawled back. "So you do want to talk to us."
The vein on Midorima's forehead popped out as his brows furrowed. "Kagome."
"She really is learning my teasing ways." Takao winked, loving the effect she had on his tsundere shooting guard. "So, what about the Winter Cup?"
"We can start with the first game of the Winter Cup preliminaries: Seirin versus Shutoku." Kuroko replied looking at the duo. "We were not the underdogs of this match-."
"It would be inconceivable to lose to you people again." Midorima cut in. The memories of the match haunted him, that was for sure.
"Oi, Midorima," Kagami spoke in between bites, "don't neck in while he's speaking."
Letting out a laugh, Takao's set down his drink. "You don't neck people while they speak, Kagami!" His laugh continued. "It's supposed to be 'butt in'! Our game also ended in a tie, didn't it? But it could have been anyone's games down to the wire."
"Even Midorimacchi passed to someone!" Kise nodded. "That was surprising!"
"I thought I was dreaming when I saw that." Kagami added. The moment Midorima had passed the ball to Takao during his shots, they knew they were in a pinch. It was something none of them had thought he would do.
Pointing at himself, Takao nodded. "I was surprised, too!"
Midorima sent him a glare, "oi!" At least he could act like he did know about the passes!
"I'm not saying that lightly, believe me." Takao continued, feeling his partner's glare. "Any pass from Shin-chan means a lot to a teammate, not just me.
"It was necessary to win." Midorima sighed, crossing his arms in thought.
Leaning forward, Kagome waved her hand up and down to catch Takao's attention. "Nee, nee, can you imitate Midorima-kun's voice again?"
Midorima blinked, taken back by the sparkly in her eyes. What voice? What imitation? Before he could put a stop to her request, he noticed Takao taking out his own glasses from his school bag. Glasses? Since when did he-
He blinked again; Takao pushed in the glasses with his middle finger before clearing his throat.
"I…will pass. Indubitably, nanodayo."
The table erupted into a cluster of laughs hearing Takao's voice closely mimic Midorima's usual low tone.
"Takao!"
"If I recall correctly," Momoi cut in as memories of the game replayed in her head, "Kouga-san was there."
Kise snapped his fingers, also recalling both of them having bumped into Kouga and Shippo during the game. "That's right! We did see him there!" It was a big shock to find out Kouga was present to see Kagome, let alone going to a high school basketball match. The man dealt with national players! He really did not have to meddle in the lives of high school kids. Kise's attention turned back to the miko, watching as she sipped on her chocolate milkshake. "So, Kouga-san and Kagomecchi have known each other for years, right?"
Her eyes rose to see his curious smile.
"How did you two first meet?" He questioned.
Lips separating themselves from the straw, the miko's eyes narrowed at the memory. "He kidnapped me."
"Eh?" They all blinked.
Kagome released a sigh, lowering her drink again. "We saw me as an asset to his wolf family, and then wanted to marry me. The idiot since then never has let go of his flirting ways with me." Now that she reflected on that time, Kouga at least respected her constant rejections. "Huh…at fifteen years old, I was so immature."
'You are barely turning sixteen this year…' They all continued to stare at her like she had grown a second head.
"How romantic!" Momoi imagined the strong Kouga carrying Kagome bridal style and off to live out their romance. Kagome had practically lived a fairytale!
"Not when you are being carried like a sack of potatoes and up and down a cliff." Kagome scoffed. Now really thinking back to those times, the skirt she wore should have been thrown out. She shook her head, not even wanting to think if anyone really did think of her any less due to her lack of clothing. Coming back to sip on her drink, her eyes looked over the Shutoku duo. "You guys all now know about how Kouga and Shippo are demons-"
"And a certain CEO…" Takao whispered.
"yeah…," she nodded, slightly forgetting they also knew Sesshomaru had been found out about as well, "well, I am just surprised they all adjusted to the times. They were…wild, back then."
"Wild enough to call you his woman?" Kagami's brow crooked up.
Aomine scoffed, "his? He is too old."
"And yet with his age, he still moves more than you." Kagome sent a smirk.
Eyebrow twitching, Aomine had caught the insult. This girl was a handful.
"Oh! I knew this place was buzzing, but I didn't expect you all to be here together!"
Heads turned to the direction of the voice before a wave of blank blinks were given. Kagome's lips parted as she turned in her seat to see not only Kiyoshi standing with his own tray of food, but with her captain and Izuki behind him. "Kiyoshi-senpai? Hyuga-senpai? Izuki-senpai?"
"Eh?" Kagami spoke with a mouth full of fries. "Here?"
"Glad to see you." Kuroko nodded formally.
Hyuga immediately jumped as his eyes scanned the rest of the table. Turning away from them, Hyuga leaned closer to his group in hopes they could escape swiftly. "What are these people doing here of all places?" He whispered. "Oi! Izuki! Kiyoshi! We need to go!"
"Eh?" Izuki tilted his head. "But you wanted to come because you were starving."
The captain scoffed under his breath. "Not with those annoying kids around!" Dealing with them at the games was bad enough. What even gave them the idea to hang out together outside of the sport? Since when did they even get close?
"Captain, are you leaving?"
The three jolted in their spots before turning around to find Kuroko standing right behind them.
"But now that you are here," Kuroko continued, "would you like to chat?"
The three of them blinked, "huh?"
"Well," Kagami scratched the back of his head as he rested his other arm on the back of his chair, "you see, he wants to do that whole chatting, outside the story, um…fan-meet thing, uh…"
"We had one a couple of weeks ago." Kagome sighed with a smile.
"Oh~," Izuki nodded, mind clouded with the memories of Riko having dragged them to the same thing. "I think I know where this is going."
"Ah, well that's nice to hear!" Kiyoshi laughed wholeheartedly. "The same thing with Riko, huh?"
"And you guys came at the right time." Kuroko added as he walked back to his chair. "We're about to talk about the Kirisaki Dai Ichi gami."
"We were?" Kagome turned back to table only to receive a shrug.
Rummaging through his own bag, Kuroko brought out a few school notebooks, then phone, then a few pictures before he whispered to himself in search of a list.
Kagome blinked, noticing the pictures that seemed way too familiar. She grabbed the three pictures before swapping them back and forth to see the male with bleached blonde hair down to his shoulders wearing glasses. The teen definitely looked angry, even as he spoke with- she blinked. "Eh?" She brought the picture closer to her eyes recognizing Kiyoshi and Izuki with the blonde male. "Kiyoshi-senpai? Izuki-senpai? Who are you with at the arcade here?"
"Huh?" As the trio took their seats on the other end of the tables, Kiyoshi was the first to be passed the picture. He blinked.
"Let me see!" Takao reached for the second picture in Kagome's hands also showing the same trio and with Seirin's manager, Riko. "Oh…is he an old Seirin member?" Having become curious themselves, Kise and Midorima leaned closer to see the mysterious male.
On Kagome's side, Aomine, Kagami, and Momoi leaned in to see the last picture in her hands. There he was with a scowl as the other Seirin members smiled at the camera.
"So who is this Goldilocks? He looks like a delinquent." Aomine commented, taking the picture into his hands. "Probably doesn't even take school seriously."
"You make it sound like you do…" Kagome whispered.
Kise scratched his chin. "That is Seirin's uniform, right?"
"That's Hyuga-san." Momoi replied.
Silence.
Eyes remained glued on the pictures before they shifted quickly over to the glaring captain.
"Ah…..!" Kise exclaimed, pointing at the said captain on the picture. "Now that you mention it, that is him! You've got sharp eyes, Momocchi!"
She chuckled, loving the expressions of shock. "All he did was dye his hair." Of course, she would not have known it either if it were not for her background check on everyone when they went against Seirin. It had surprised her as well knowing Seirin's captain had a rebellious stage in his record.
"Are these from a year ago?" Kagome questioned, looking at the phantom player.
"Oi! Kuroko!" Hands slammed on the table, breaking the conversation of his hair. "Stop this! Why the hell do you have these pictures!?"
Finally having found his list, his eyes noticed the pictures in everyone's hands. "Oh…I accidentally took them out."
"Accidentally?!" Hyuga exclaimed. "Why do you even have them in the first place?! It was on purpose, wasn't it?!" Who even gave him the damn pictures?! Quickly taking them from the hands of the first years, he shoved them into his bag while sending them a threatening glare. His expression immediately made all questions in their heads dry off knowing well they were only going to die if they asked something.
"Ma, ma," Kagome chuckled nervously, deciding to change the sour subject, "Kuroko-kun you said you wanted to talk about the Kirisaki Dai Ichi match?"
"Hai." He nodded. "I was taking out a list I had made of conversations."
"You actually made a list?!" Kagami exclaimed. He had this planned?! Since when?!
Tapping his fingers on the table, Kise recalled having watched the match with his own team. "The Winter cup prelims championship league, huh? I remember those jerks! They got away with all kinds of rough play! The referee never blew the whistle once on them!"
"I hate to admit it, but Hanamiya's decision making and leadership abilities were top notch." Izuki nodded. It was a difficult confession to make, but an honest one. There was a reason Hanamiya was known as one of the Uncrowned Kings.
Kiyoshi shrugged, knowing there were a lot of negative feelings towards the team. "Well…they are a different kind of team."
"Then they should play actual basketball and lay off the rough play!" Kise argued. "They even hit Kagomecchi!"
"Eh?" Takao looked back and forth from Hyuga and Kise. "Hanamiya-san hit you?!" They had not been present for the game, but how come they had not heard about it?
Exhaling heavily at the memory, Hyuga relaxed back into his seat. "They made sure to foul us out of sight." It was definitely a game they wish they could have avoided, for many reasons. His eyes landed on their manager, noticing she remained silent while sipping on her milkshake.
Kagome blinked, feeling the stare. Looking to her right, she noticed and felt Hyuga's guilt. She sighed, closing her eyes. "Hyuga-senpai, please let it go. Nothing too serious happened. He is just lucky I didn't launch myself to return the favor."
"You really don't let anyone off the hook that easily, huh?" Aomine smirked.
"Of course not!" She glared. "The guy actually hit me! But I was more pissed at the fact he had plans to make Kiyoshi-senpai's injury worse! Heck," she scoffed, "I was ready to stop Kouga and Shippo from acting out."
Kagami blinked; blinked again. "You mean…they would have done something?"
She shrugged back, "I wouldn't doubt it, but you are one to talk! You were about to throw the first punch!"
"Hai." Kuroko nodded. "I was worried you would get them back with your fists, Kagami-kun."
"I'm just glad you held back, Kagami." Kiyoshi added with a smile.
"Held back?!" Kagami exclaimed, turning to his seniors. "Kuroko here practically made me kiss the floor, remember!?"
"None of you should be talking, dumbasses." Hyuga glared, crossing his arms. "Nobody asked any of you to become punching bags for their rough play!" If they had fallen for Hanamiya's tactics, they were sure to have all come out with an injury or two.
Laughing off the tension, Kiyoshi had to agree with Hyuga. It was bad enough Hanamiya's rough play had worsen his injury since then, but he had to do what he had to do as their senior in the team, and as a friend. If anything, that game had demonstrated him everyone was out there looking out for him even during the bad times.
"Well," Kagome smiled, "at least we are all okay now, right?"
The screech of a chair turned heads to see Midorima standing up from his seat before walking away from the tables.
"Ah, Shin-chan, where are you going?" Takao asked.
"I'm going to go use the washroom."
"Oh! Guess I'll go, too and then order seconds on the way back." Standing from his own seat, he turned to the table. "Anyone want anything?"
Quickly turning around with a thumbs up, Izuki called for them. "Midorima! Takao! Don't fall asleep in the restroom!"
The group went silent as Midorima and Takao turned to him with a small – and awkward – nod. Izuki's head dropped to the table, feeling defeated his pun was once again not recognized.
"Let's see here," Kuroko spoke, bringing out his list, "the next game would be…against Touou Academy."
"Ah!" Momoi smiled with eager as she turned to her childhood friend. "Dai-chan! It's finally our turn!" An angry pout came out upon seeing Aomine's disinterested look on his face while sipping on his drink. "Oi! Dai-chan! Pay attention! We're reminiscing about our game against Seirin!"
"Huh? What's the point?" He raised a brow. "It won't change what happened."
"There are more important things than the final score." Kagome sighed.
He scoffed again as his eyes landed on the miko. "I don't even remember what happened during the game.
"Oh?" Kagome's smirk appeared. "Is that so?"
"Huh?" His eyes narrowed.
Turning her head to Kuroko, she gave him the 'ok' with her fingers. "Since we have a forgetful one here, this is your chance to bring it up."
Aomine leaned forward, "oi!"
"Well," Kuroko started, "the Touou game was our chance to get revenge for the Inter-High game last summer. No one would have thought we would face them in the first round, though."
"Yeah~," Kagome sighed with a sweat drop, "you can blame Kouga and Sesshomaru for that one. They changed the bracket last minute." The reasons, both good and bad, still had her riled up. No one had been expecting that match to come up soon in the tournament, but it had. Not to mention they had bumped into Touou in Sesshomaru's hot springs hotel- of all places.
"It's a good thing, though." Kagami added. "That meant I could focus completely on going head-to-head with Aomine."
Momoi stuck out her index finger as she grabbed everyone's attention. "Actually, once Dai-chan found out we would be playing Tetsu-kun's team he started taking practice a lot more seriously!"
"Nobody asked for that information, Satsuki!" Aomine grumbled.
"You said you don't remember, so you don't get a say in this~." She chuckled.
"We never intended to lose, of course, but I couldn't help being impressed by Touou as a team." Hyuga confessed. "Imayoshi-san's strategy for dealing with Kuroko was really unnerving. It almost felt like he could read our minds. Maybe he's psychic or something…"
Izuki snapped his fingers, "does that mean he was playing mind-to-mind defense?! That's a great one!"
"No it isn't!" Hyuga snapped.
"Woah, a mind-reading basketball player would make for one tricky opponent!" Kiyoshi nodded as his mind thought more into possibility.
Hyuga's slammed his drink on the table, "don't encourage him!"
"Aominecchi, Kagamicchi, I have a question for the two of you." Kise cut in. "How did it feel to compete in the Zone?"
Leaning back into his seat, Aomine's eyes rose to the ceiling. "Good question…"
"Dai-chan!" Momoi exclaimed. He could at least explain it a bit clearer for everyone!
"Actually…," Kagami added, scratching the back of his head, "I don't remember much about it, either. All I remember is trying to keep track of Aomine and the ball."
"Did you feel anything, Kagome-chan?" Kuroko questioned. She had been reading their auras for most games, so there must have been something she felt, right?
Pouting in thought, Kagome's memories reflected to the match. It was a match that was mostly a blur to everyone. "Well, there was definitely something different when they were both in the Zone. Their auras spiked, that was for sure, but they also felt controlled. Obviously, they were intensely focused on the game, but~," she looked at the two, "if you ask me, it looks like they were both having a lot of fun out there."
A faint blush crept on Aomine's and Kagami's cheeks seeing her small smile before turning away. "Well I wasn't bored, at least." They both replied, earning themselves a bigger smile.
"Eh? Shin-can, you didn't get seconds? Just a drink?" Takao asked as he walked beside Midorima. He had taken a long time ordering just for a drink?
Taking back his seat, Midorima sighed, "this is plenty."
"Well," Takao placed his tray in the middle of the table, "I got an extra-large order of fries, so feel free to have some!"
"Ah!" Izuki snapped his fingers right away. "Because small fries are for small fry, right?! That's it!"
A bomb of silence dropped once more as eyes landed on the Izuki. Clearing his throat, Midorima pushed in his glasses. "This is an extra-large, though…"
The table went silent for a couple more seconds before Hyuga's laugh was muffled with his hand. "Pfft, Izuki, that's just sad."
Kiyoshi chuckled, knowing Izuki was already feeling more than embarrassed at his pun error. Looking back at the table, he tapped on his chin recalling the next match. "If we're going in order, then our game against Yousen should be up next, right?"
"Hai." Kuroko nodded. "During the quarterfinals of the Winter Cup. What did you think of the game, Kiyoshi-senpai?"
He blinked back, "eh? Oh…Yousen, huh? I remember them being really tall."
"All you remember is what they looked like?!" Hyuga exclaimed.
Unwrapping another burger, Kagami turned to his seniors, "their captain kinda looked like a gorilla."
"You, too?!" Hyuga's head snapped to the ace.
"It's really sad we are thinking more on looks than the game." Kagome's brow twitched. For people who had taken part in the big game, they should be commenting on the hardships of the match itself. "Well, I guess I can add to it for them. Yousen gave us two straight shutouts, but after that, Kuroko-kun scored the first points against them with his new move." Her eyes landed on the Touou ace, "Aomine-kun helped him perfect his shot."
"Tch!" Aomine rolled his eyes. "Who in their right mind asks an opponent they just beat the day before to teach them how to shoot?"
"Really?" Kise laughed. "That's Kurokocchi for you! Wait!" His eyes shifted from Kagome to Aomine before realization hit. "That was when you two went on a date!"
"Date?!" They all exclaimed (except for Kuroko).
"Yeah!" Kise pointed at the two. "If it were not for Kurokocchi, Kagamicchi, and I coming in, this idiot would have already broken her heart!"
"Oi…" Aomine's brow twitched. What kind of guy did they think he was? Sure he was lazy, but he was not a bastard to be disrespecting a woman that easily. "Ah…" then again, there were many times he did tease her.
"A date, huh?" Hyuga's brow crooked up. "Guess Koganei wins this bet."
"What bet?!" Kagome exclaimed. Her eyes slowly widened as she saw Izuki collecting the five hundred yen from both Kiyoshi and Hyuga. What the heck was Seirin betting on? Relaxing in her seat once again, she sighed. "Well, I had to go on a date with Aomine-kun. He helped Kuroko-kun with his new technique, and in the end it was worth it since we were going against Murasakibara-kun."
"Oh, why don't we give him a call?" Kise suggested.
"Why?" The miko's brow crooked up.
"Right now?" Kuroko questioned. It was not a bad idea, but he only hoped he was in a good mood to answer. Before he could find his contact information to dial, he was stopped the moment he saw Kagome leaning towards him and shaking her head. "Kagome-chan…?"
"Don't do it." She whispered.
"Eh…?"
"Don't. Do. It."
"But…," Kuroko blinked, continuing to see her shaking her head. Out of all the Generation of Miracles, there was no hiding it Kagome had a harder time dealing with the Yosen ace. His eyes landed on his phone in hand before he gave the girl a reassuring smile. "We are only calling him to see how he is doing."
Kagome sighed in defeat. Of course they would not listen to her. Resting her cheek on her palm, she and everyone else watched as Kuroko clicked to dial before bringing the phone to his ear. There was no telling if Murasakibara would even answer.
Kuroko's eyes blinked hearing the call connect, "Hello? Murasakibara-kun?"
Kagome's head hung down as the others nodded: Murasakibara answered.
"Eh~ what a surprise. You hardly ever call me, Kurochin. Do you need something?"
"Ah, well a few of us got together to chat about some things." Kuroko replied, having placed him on speaker. There was definitely a much more lazier tone than usual in Murasakibara. "We wanted to know what you were up to."
"Well~ I ran out of snacks, so I was gonna head out to restock."
"Huh? Restock?" Kuroko repeated. "It's unusual for you to wait that long to buy more."
"It's all Murochin's fault."
"Murochin? Oh, you mean Himuro-san?"
Kagami blinked, lowering the burger in his hand to see Kuroko giving him a shrug. "Tatsuya? Did something happen?"
A long sigh was heard from the phone before hearing Murasakibara's voice. Something told them he was ready for a rant.
"See, he said he'd give me all the sweets they sent him from America. Then this huge cardboard box came for him in the mail and had a chock full of jellybeans and stuff."
"Hm? What is wrong with jellybeans?" Kise asked. "I am pretty fond of them myself!"
Murasakibara gave him a scoff, recognizing his voice. "If you had five whole bags full of nothing but jellybeans, you would get sick of them, too, Kisechin!"
"Oh! And since they were from America, I bet the bags were bigger than the ones you get in Japan." Kagami nodded before taking another bite of his sixth burger. "They are way bigger."
"And then, there was a piece that was weirdly colored and sketchy-looking mixed in, in every bag! It snuck in with the jellybeans, but it was definitely an imposter!"
"What do you mean an 'imposter'?" Aomine's brow crooked up.
"Murochin said it tasted fine, but when I asked him what flavor it was, he just cocked his head to the side and couldn't give me an answer! I only kept wondering what kind of flavor it was!"
"Considering Murasakibara once willingly tried something flavored like orange pollock caramel, it must have been quite bizarre indeed." Midorima added with a shake of his head.
Takao blinked, imagining the separate ingredients into one. "Orange pollock caramel? Whoa, that sounds really gross…"
Aomine yawned as he stretched out his arms, "you eat a scary amount of sweets as it is, so that should be right up your alley!"
"Ugh! Shush! I just want cookies! Maiubo! Potato chips!"
"Why didn't you just stop eating the jellybeans…?" Kagome's brow crooked up.
"Gome-chin! Where is my mochi!?"
She blinked; eyebrow twitched. What the hell brought this on?! "I never agreed to make you mochi, Murasakibara-kun!"
"Send them to my dorm, Gome-chin! I need to go buy other snacks; I'm hanging up."
Fingers slowly digging into her paper cup, Kagome's head hung down. He really wanted her to make some, and no matter how many times he would ask, she would not do them.
"It seems that gave him an intense craving for Japanese snacks, Kagome-chan." Kuroko turned to her as he ended the call on his end.
"Well he isn't getting them from me." She huffed, finally showing her face. Taking a glance of everyone else from the corner of her eyes, Kagome sighed. "Nee, Kuroko-kun? Don't you think everyone might be tired of reminiscing the games? It's almost six…"
"Let's continue to chat." He answered.
Choking on his last burger, Kagami quickly turned his attention to the phantom player. "Still?!"
"Actually," bringing out his school bag again, Kuroko began to rummage through, "I have a few questions fans wanted answers to."
"F-Fans…?" Kagome's brow twitched.
"Our fans?!" Kise exclaimed with excitement. "Nee, Kagomecchi, they probably want to know when we are going on a date."
"Highly doubt it…" Kagome whispered.
To everyone's surprise, Kuroko brought a piece of paper with what looked to be a numbered list of questions. Just how many were there? Did they seriously have to do this? Kagome turned to the others who also waited in silence.
"First question…"
'We are really gonna do this…' They all sighed.
"What do the Generation of Miracles, Kagami-kun, and myself, think of Kagome-chan?" Kuroko read the question out loud before his eyes rose to everyone's stares. "Anyone want to start?"
"Neko-chan?" Aomine yawned again. "She can be a pain in the butt who doesn't like to talk or do anything."
"That's you, Aomine-kun." She flicked a piece of the straw paper to him.
"She's great! I like her, and I am sure the other Generation of Miracles think so, too, right?" Kise turned to Midorima.
Sighing under his breath, Midorima shrugged. "Well, for someone who barely got into the sport, she is definitely a fast learner. She proved herself to be a strong opponent in and out of the court."
Kagome blinked, taken back by the masked compliment she was given. If anything, she was touched by it, unlike a certain Touou ace.
"What about you, Kagami-kun?" Kuroko asked, turning to the tiger.
"Well," he scratched his cheek, "she is stubbon-"
He received a glare.
"B-But you are strong mentally and…well, physically I think." He gulped hoping the wording was right.
"I agree." Kuroko nodded. "We are lucky to have you as our manager and friend, Kagome-chan."
"Ah….well, thank you." Feeling her cheeks burn at the compliments, she really was not ready for this kind of talk. Heck, she was not even sure what to think. But at least the question was not directed to her-
"Kagome-chan, what do you think of the Generation of Miracles?" Kuroko asked.
It almost felt like bricks falling on her head upon hearing the question. She needed to stop jinxing herself when it came to them!
"Oh?" Aomine's grin stretched. "I am interested to hear this. Don't be shy, Neko-chan."
Sending him a mild glare from the corner of her eyes, she sighed. How to word it? They were a pain in the ass sometimes, but that did not mean they were bad people. She did enjoy their company, but sometimes…they were too loud. It almost felt like she was taking care of children whenever they went somewhere together. Hmm, but how to word it all together? "Well," she cleared her throat, "I think you are all pain to deal with, but the company isn't bad."
The boys blinked; Momoi and Takao chuckled.
"So mean, Kagomecchi!" Kise placed his hand on his chest. "I mean, I know they are, but not me, right?"
"Don't lump me with Aomine and the others, Kise." Midorima huffed.
"Did you hear that?" Aomine's smirk appeared. "She enjoys my company."
"I think you ignored the first half, Aomine." Hyuga blinked. Sometimes this bunch only listened to what they wanted to hear.
"Last question." Kuroko cut in. "This one is for Aomine-kun."
Eyes landed on the confused ace.
"If you had to pick between these two as your girlfriend, who would it be? Horikita Mai or Kagome-chan?"
Curious herself, just like the others, she slowly turned her head to Aomine to see him pondering on the question. Seriously? She was not trying to toot her own horn, but what chance did he have in meeting his idol?!
"That's tough." Aomine rubbed his chin. "I mean…the size is very different."
Kagome's vein on her forehead snapped before she pushed herself up from the seat. The others immediately pulled her back before she could throw herself at Aomine. "Let me go! This idiot thinks it's all about chest size!"
"K-Kagomecchi!" Kise's sweat drop loomed over hi head. "H-He is just like that…!"
"Yeah, I'm gonna shape him up!"
The three Seirin seniors blinked, surprised to see Aomine actually giving their manager a smirk, but still leaning away from her hands. Hyuga sighed as he looked at the other two across from his seat. "How did we even get dragged into this?"
"Should we stop it…?" Izuki chuckled nervously.
"Nah," Kiyoshi smiled, "they are having fun!"
Hyuga's eyebrow twitched, always surprised Kiyoshi saw everything as 'fun'. "Kiyoshi…Kagome-chan is clearly trying to jump at Aomine. He is twice her size, yet she thinks she can take him."
"She probably can…"
The three jumped upon hearing the voice behind Hyuga. Looking over, they sent Kuroko a glare noticing he was always watching everything from the sidelines. "K-Kuroko…" Hyuga sighed, "stop scaring us like that."
"I apologize." Kuroko nodded.
"But he is right," Izuki scratched the back of his head, now watching Kagome being talked by Takao, "she can take them all if she wanted to."
MizukixTsukiyomi's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed! There are still a few ideas I have in my head for Love Hoop, but not sure if I am ready to bring them out. I am busy with graduate school and I do have other works in my Tumblr, so I rotate on what I have to work on in terms of writing.
Please leave a review, and thank you for reading!
Ja~ne!