pika318: Like the title suggests, this one shot is about what happens during breakfast. I like writing GOM interaction, and I have to admit that the PSP game was the major inspiration for this because Akashi can be such a "mother" type. I thought it would be interesting.
Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi.
Chapter 4: Breakfast
Kuroko frowned slightly as he stared at the breakfast in his hands, passed to him by a smiling Aida Riko. The amount on the tray was alarming, especially the rice. It was easily twice the height of the bowl.
"Coach, I really can't finish all of this." Kuroko said, his voice uneasy.
"You have to try anyway, Kuroko-kun." Riko answered, a smile still on her face.
"But…" Kuroko started to protest weakly, but it seemed like Riko wasn't going to budge at all.
Suddenly, the breakfast tray was taken out of his hands, and with one quick movement, half of the rice was returned into the rice cooker. Kuroko and Riko turned towards the newcomer, who had already returned the tray to its owner.
"Akashi-kun." Kuroko said, surprised by the sudden appearance of his former teammate. Riko's reaction, however, was not as mild.
"What did you do that for?" Riko asked, clearly unhappy.
"Tetsuya cannot finish this much." Akashi stated, challenging Riko's decision.
"I am expecting him to try." Riko said.
"Then I suggest you make your goals more realistic." Akashi said calmly.
A moment passed where both of them stared at each other, while Kuroko looked uneasily between the two parties. Everyone around them was starting to back up a bit, as if they were trying to avoid some invisible sparks.
Eventually, Akashi spoke.
"I will make sure Tetsuya finishes everything that he has right now."
Riko seemed to think for a while, as if she was weighing the pros and cons. Finally, she replied,
"Fine. Make sure he finishes everything on that tray."
"Of course, Aida-san." Akashi said, and he turned to Kuroko with a smile.
"Let's go eat. The rest are waiting already." Sure enough, the other members of the team they were allocated to during the camp were already at the table, starting on their own food.
"Ah, okay." Kuroko answered, following Akashi to the table.
"For a while, I thought a war was going to break out there." Izuki commented, as Mitobe nodded in earnest.
"Has Sei-chan always been this…protective?" Kotarou asked, turning to his other Rakuzan teammates.
"Not that I know of." Nebuya answered with a shrug of his shoulders, acting like it didn't concern him at all.
Reo remained silent, watching with interest as Akashi and Kuroko walked towards the table where the Generation of Miracles were seated.
"Ryota, if you're going to talk, do it after the meal. You'll get indigestion at this rate." Akashi said, giving a stern look to the blond.
"Yes…" Kise muttered, and resumed eating his meal quietly.
"Hmm…five minutes. That's a new record. I guess being away from them for a long time decreased Akashi-kun's tolerance." Momoi commented from a nearby table.
"What?" Riko asked from beside Momoi. As the only female students, the two of them choose to eat their meals together.
"Oh, I'm just wondering how long it would take for Akashi-kun to lecture one of them while they're eating their meals together. It always happened in Teikou after all." Momoi answered.
"Always happened?" Riko repeated, finding it hard to believe. The person who threatened to gorge his own eyes out if Rakuzan lost after helping the opposing team score a basket and, from what she heard from Furihata, attacked people with scissors always lectured his teammates on their eating habits? That sounded almost…motherly. Riko shuddered at the thought.
"Yeah, Akashi-kun is very particular about it. See, it's happening again." Momoi said.
Riko's line of sight shifted to the table as Akashi spoke,
"Daiki, I expect you to finish your vegetables. It's not healthy if you don't eat a balanced meal."
Riko heard Aomine grumbled a little, then eventually, he picked up the vegetables with his chopsticks and ate them.
"They really listen to him, huh?" Riko commented.
"Of course, Akashi would just give them 'the look' until they do. You have to admit that his stare is rather unnerving." Momoi answered.
"Yeah, I get what you mean." Riko agreed.
The next fifteen minutes passed in peace. By that time, Murasakibara had already finished second helping and seemed to be looking for more food. However, it was clear that the area where the food was being served was already empty, since quite a number of people there had big appetites. Disappointed, he turned to the people at his table. Out of all of them, only Kuroko's tray was nowhere close to empty. The rest of them were mostly done with their meal.
Weighing his options, Murasakibara turned to Kuroko.
"Kuro-chin, can I take some of your food~" he asked.
Kuroko didn't actually say anything, but he was certainly looking at his tray with a troubled look on his face. Murasakibara took that as consent.
"Then I'll be taking some~" Murasakibara said cheerfully as he stretched his hand across the table.
*thwack
With the sudden pain shooting up his arm, Murasakibara withdrew his hand immediately to nurse his new 'injury'.
"Atsushi, you will not touch Tetsuya's food." Akashi stated, still holding his chopsticks, the source of Murasakibara's 'injury'.
"But I'm still hungry…" Murasakibara whined.
"If you want more food, you're better off asking Kagami Taiga. Look at the amount he has." Akashi replied. At Akashi's reply, Murasakibara looked over to where Kagami was sitting with Himuro. Sure enough, he said had an ample amount of food left.
Without saying anything else, Murasakibara stood up and walked over to where Kagami sat, intent on his quest. The rest at the table seemed to watch Murasakibara, as if they wanted to know if Murasakibara would win any food back.
"Tetsuya, using misdirection to divert your food somewhere else won't work. What makes you think I'm not watching you?" Akashi suddenly said. Kuroko paused in the middle of his actions.
"Ugh…" Kuroko sighed at being caught, and continued to pick at his food, eating it slowly.
"That's a new one. I've never seen Akashi-kun use chopsticks to hit anyone before." Momoi commented again.
"You're…enjoying this, aren't you?" Riko asked, finally realizing the reason behind Momoi's behaviour.
"Of course, don't you think it's entertaining to watch?" Momoi said cheerfully.
"Erhm…" Riko said, refusing to answer that question.
My god, it's like she's obsessed with them.
Riko thought.
Soon, breakfast ended peacefully enough, save for Kagami shouting at Murasakibara for taking his food. Their argument was solved once Himuro stepped in.
Like Akashi promised, he really made sure Kuroko finished everything. Riko had to admit that she was impressed. No one else had managed to do such a thing. The side effect was that Kuroko seemed to have lost all motivation to move afterwards. After everyone else had left the eating area for a short break and some personal time before the morning training began, only Akashi and Kuroko were left in the room.
"Good job in finishing everything." Akashi said, a hint of amusement in his voice as he saw Kuroko slumped in his chair.
"Remind me why you always have to do this." Kuroko groaned.
"Do what?" Akashi asked, his mouth twitched upward slightly into a smile.
"Making sure I finish all my food." Kuroko elaborated.
"You don't eat enough. If I don't make sure you eat properly, you won't develop well due to nutritional deficiency." Akashi answered.
"Ugh...I forgot how this was like since you haven't done this since our second year."
Certainly, up till their second year in Teikou, Akashi insisted on eating with Kuroko whenever he could so he could make sure the blue haired boy finished everything. It was one of the experiences Kuroko dreaded the most, as much as he treasured the time he spent with the red haired captain.
"Well, you remember it now, don't you?" Akashi said. Kuroko swore Akashi was just teasing him now.
A few minutes passed in silence before Kuroko finally felt like he could move again. As if on cue, Akashi spoke,
"Do you think you can join the others now?"
"Yes, I think so." Kuroko replied.
"Let's go then." Akashi said.
The two of them left the eating area together.
Unbeknownst to the two people in the room, someone had been watching their actions and listening to their conversation from behind a nearby window. As the two of them left, so did this mystery person.
pika318: Okay, that's it for this chapter! It's short, but in my mind, there really isn't too much to write about the GOM's interactions during breakfast anyway. Hope all of you enjoyed it! As for the 'mystery person', I'll leave it to your imaginations as to who it is.
Aztia: Thanks for another nice review! As for how Kuroko and Akashi are related. I did touch on it in my other one shot 'Moving On'. You can assume that Kuroko knows all this because of what is mentioned in that one shot.
