Sorry! It has been over 8-9 months since I last updated! :"( I know, I'm sorry for not updating, but I am not a freshman in college, and I guess that it's rough for me. I'm attending to one of the hardest schools to get an A in, and I'm hella stressed about my grades. I'm just really, really stressed out during my first semester. But now, I'm on break, and I can finally start writing again without being stressed! Thank you for dealing with this story and the lack of updates!
BTW, do any of you guys play Maplestory and is in the Windia server? If you guys are, add me at either tiredyama, aakashikeiji, or semieita! Those three characters are the ones that I go on most of the time now!
Kise couldn't really believe his eyes.
There was a boy, this weak looking boy, a part of the first string?
Well, there was that orange hair chibi, but he's on par with Aomine, but it was incredulous at the size of that kid. Was he a first year?
Anyways, back to his 'tutor.'
Light blue eyes stared back at his yellow eyes. They were soft, but they held no emotion. Who the heck is this kid?
"Lucky you, you got Ninja-san as your teacher! I had Akashi, but he was really strict with his regimes! Ninja-san would probably be nicer to you-" The chibi kept on rambling on and on about his old tutor, before getting hit in the back of his head by a basketball thrown by Aomine. That made the two of them go back to their one on one game, screaming insults at each other. Momoi only sighed and smiled sheepishly at Kise.
"Sorry, Hinata and Aomine do get into a few arguments about who's better, but honestly, they're both on the same level, but maybe, maybe, Hinata would surpass Aomine, if he works harder. He has a lot of potential." Kise narrowed his eyes at the chibi then at 'Ninja-san'. It was impossible, just as impossible as his tutor being this, this, weak person, who doesn't have any sort of presence on the court. They had to have a lot of presence, a lot of something that makes them stand out. All the chibi had was his height, which was extremely short, which made him believe that he wasn't a good player.
"Hah? Shoyo beating me?" Aomine's laugh made Kise and Momoi's head turn towards him. "Impossible, he doesn't even train as much as me in basketball!" Momoi sighed and shook her head, her pink tresses moving with the movement of her head.
"Dai-chan! He's also working with the Stride Club and the Volleyball Club! Of course he isn't going to practice as much as you do when it comes to basketball, Akashi forbade him from practicing basketball more than the other two sports." The pinkette puffed her cheeks out as she stared at the male in front of her, who was picking his ear.
"Yea, yea, whatever. He is definitely not up to my level, just saying." Kise had to agree with Aomine-chii. The chibi didn't seem impressive for sure. He was certain that he is going to take over the chibi's spot in the first string and in the regulars. A shiver of excitement ran down Kise's back as he stared at the rest of the regulars practicing.
He could be standing on that place.
Kise is an ambitious person. He wishes to dominate and control what is happening all around him. He knows that he learns abnormally faster than the other players, and that he dominates the sports eventually. Now that there are people that are abnormally better than him at basketball, there is this thrill that is overwhelming him.
Aomine was his main goal. Watching the male play basketball is the reason why Kise even joined the basketball club. But then when he got his mentor, Kuroko, he became disappointed. Kuroko was a no namer, however, he's also a part of the regulars and the first string. So that was the reason why he decided to go around asking people about the weak boy.
All he got was questions of, "Who is Kuroko?" or, "Do we even know a Kuroko?" All Kise got was no answers, but even more questions. When he asked about the other regulars, he got answers. Even other people knew about Hinata, but only because he was in their classes. The blond was so close to giving up, till he remembered about the other regulars.
"Kuroko is an Aquarius, we're opposites." Midorima didn't give enough answers. Murasakibara just yawned and waved at him to go away. Aomine laughed and said something about Kuroko being the reason why the team stayed together. And he couldn't find Akashi, so he couldn't ask the captain about Kuroko.
Kise just got more questions from the people who spent most of their time with the person he was asking about.
No idea about his mentor. More questions about his mentor. And even more questions about Hinata and what the heck he does. He did remember that some of his classmates said that Hinata did Stride? Then another one said that he did volleyball, and then once again, he knows that Hinata did Basketball, so possibly, Hinata did multiple sports? That's interesting.
Just thinking about those two makes his head hurt.
For the first time, Kise Ryota was stumped. He can't figure out anything about the people he was curious about. The blond sighed. He would just have to follow the two of them and figure out what's so special about the two of them.
A few days later, he was invited to go to a practice, with the second string, who were, much more weaker than the first string. However, Kuroko was invited to go, just to ensure their victory. Kise remembered that the coach wanted to see how he would do in a game. The blond sighed and closed his eyes, not paying attention to what was going around him.
"Kise-san, we're here." Kise's eyes snapped open as he let out a not so manly shriek that made the birds in the trees fly away.
"When did you get there?" Kuroko blinked innocently at the taller male.
"I was always walking besides you, making sure that you didn't kill yourself when you were closing your eyes and going off to dreamland."
"When did I do that?!"
"The moment you closed your eyes, Kise-san."
:3c
Squeaks of shoes resonated throughout the spacious gym. Wary glances aimed at the Teiko team. Kise yawned and sat down on the bench. He was being put in right away, and yet, he wants to sit down and sleep. Well, he was already sitting down, but sleep was so far away. Kuroko would jab him whenever he was drifting off.
"Kise-san, it's time for you to go on." The blond stood up and stood next to the second stringers who looked weak. Kuroko looked weaker though. And he wasn't even being put into the game. Yet. He wanted to see how the bluenette would do in a game, he wanted to see what made Kuroko so special that he was put in the regulars.
The familiar sound of a whistle bought him out of his daze and Kise snapped back into the game. A ball flew his way. And everything else was a blur. He scored, everything was going smoothly.
Halfway into the game, he copied one of the moves he saw a first stringer did, and was about to dunk the ball into the basket. Till he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen that made him drop the ball.
Did the other team just hit his stomach?
Every time he was about to score, the other team made sure that he didn't dunk, shoot, pass, whatsoever. They made sure that he was injured in some subtle way. The blond was sure that the coach knew, but didn't say anything, since the referee said nothing about the way that the other team was injuring him. Kuroko stopped cheering for them. Kise huffed as their coach switched out one of the second stringers who also took a lot of the damage.
"Please pass the ball over to me as much as possible." Kise sighed and felt a vein pop from his head. He's the one who sucks. I mean, he couldn't even shoot a basketball at a close distance. He's basically useless!
"Pass you the ball?" Kise couldn't help but snort at Kuroko. "Please, try to avoid the attacks that the other team is going to give you." The phantom looked at him and blinked owlishly.
"That's why I want you to pass me the ball whenever you can. I can help you." Kuroko said, turning to look at the other team. "They make me mad, that they are able to do these things and are able to get away with it. It's unfair for our team, who's trying to win, but in the end, get injured with every point they get. So please, pass the ball to me."
And the sound of the whistle came around again. This time, Kise could see why Kuroko was a part of the regulars. No one can sense him. They don't pay attention to him. When the ball is passed over to him, Kuroko just passes the ball to another teammate, allowing them to shoot, without getting injured. He was judging Kuroko based on the outside, and not on his abilities.
When the game came to an end, Teiko Middle School proudly won, despite the amount of injuries that has occurred on it's players. Kise ran over to a familiar mop of light blue hair.
"Kuroko-chii! Thanks for the good game today!" Kuroko looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow at Kise.
"Kuroko-chii?"
"Yup! I add chii to names of people I respect!" The model nodded and looked over at Kuroko. "I respect you for your passion. Maybe I can be that passionate about things the way that you're passionate about basketball."
"Kise-san, you are already passionate about basketball. You're invested in beating Aomine, interested in why I am in the regulars, and most importantly, you gave your all in today's game. I look forward to working with you from now on." Kuroko nodded at Kise.
"Same, Kuroko-chii." Kise smile and looked at the setting sun.
:3c
Kise entered the gym the very next day with sore muscles and bruises. Waving over at the other members of the first string, he stared at Hinata practicing with Akashi. Now he had to figure out why Hinata was so special.
He could slightly see why Hinata was on the regulars. He had the fastest reflexes that he has even seen. But that didn't prove his worth, to be honest. The orange haired boy worked hard to maintain his position, Kise could respect that aspect of him.
And Kuroko-chii! He knew why the sixth man was on the regulars now. His passion as well as his low presence made it possible for the team to work as an actual team. His passing was amazing, not a single person noticed that he was actually on the court. He did say that he had a time limit, people would eventually get used to his lack presence. That was a sad side effect, but that meant that Kuroko couldn't play for the entire game, or else people would figure out who he is and could reverse the game. He only entered the game when he is required to be there, when it is critical for the team.
Hinata, on the other hand, was a mystery. Another version of Aomine was all he gotten from Momoi, the rest of the Miracles didn't say anything but smirk and chuckle at hsi questions about Hinata. All they said was to watch Hinata play an actual game and he'll see why that he was the orange of the Miracles. But getting a decent game for the first string was pretty hard. He heard rumors that the first sting sometimes goes against high school teams in order to get a decent game going on. He really hoped that he could see the Miracles could play in one game at least.
When Kise Ryota entered basketball practice, he saw Aomine and Hinata whooping in joy. As he approached the duo, he realized the reason why they were screaming out loud.
A practice match.
His prayers has been answered! A practice match for once! Now, he gets to see how the first string and the Miracles would do in this practice match. He hard heard that it was a high school that they were going against and that they were going to go there in a few days. Hinata was running around whooping, before he stopped and looked at the coach.
"Coach! Who are we going against?"
"... Fukurodani Academy."
