After Rei made his second shot, things started going wrong for The Amateurs. The reason was simple enough and could be explained with only one word, or rather, a name. Kuroko. It was simple as that. Even if Haruka was careful to make sure he knew exactly where Kuroko was, and did his best to avoid him as well as possible, a lot of his passes failed and somehow 70% of them ended up in Kagami's hands.

Fortunately the second quarter ended two minutes later, marking the end of the first half. There would be two more quarters to go.

The Amateur team was all set on the bench, breathing heavily.

"I can't believe we got so confident," Rin said. "We knew it was coming."

Kisumi nodded. "I don't even know how we can stop that duo. We saw them play at Inter High, but I'm still short on ideas,"

They continued to discuss what to do about the matter. Nagisa and Momo made a few terrible suggestions that were either breaking the rules or completely impossible to perform unless you were some kind of super-human. The discussion was interrupted by Haruka.

"Put me on Kuroko," he demanded.

Kisumi looked surprised. It took him five seconds to let Haruka's words sink in, and then he shook his head. "Haru, we can't do that, you're on Izuki, and I-" he was cut off, again by Haruka.

"Put me on Kuroko," he repeated, an irritated glow appeared in his eyes that nobody had ever seen before. The truth was that it bothered Haruka a lot that Kuroko had got almost all his passes. It bothered him even more that this led him to show just how irritated he was with it. He wanted to go swimming to cool his head, but that would be even more impossible, so the only option he had to get rid of his anger, was facing Kuroko.

"Kisumi," Makoto said in a hushed voice, making Kisumi look at him. "Just let him. We are gonna have to sub Sousuke out later on anyway, so when we do that, you can come back and be on Izuki-kun," he said, trying to convince Kisumi. It worked.

"Fine," Kisumi said. "Haru, you're on Kuroko, Sousuke, you're on Izuki until half way through the third quarter," he said.

Everyone nodded, agreeing to that. By then the break ended and the second half was about to start. As the teams went back on the court again Makoto walked up by Kuroko's side.

"I don't know what you did, but I've never seen Haru so angry before," he said to the much smaller player.

Kuroko looked confused up. "Is Nanase-san angry?" he asked in wonder. To him it was difficult to imagine, just like it was to everyone else who knew Haruka.

Makoto smiled. "I've known Haru for as long as I can remember," he explained. "In all that time he has rarely shown any emotion, and those he express are not something he let anyone see. I doubt his parents has ever seen it either,"

Kuroko nodded. Now he wondered too what he did, but he had a slight idea, so it wasn't that difficult to come up with guesses.

The game got started, and Haruka was on Kuroko as he had requested. Kuroko could sense the unusual aura around Haruka. It made the air around them feel slightly heavy. He continued to do what he did best and Haruka did his best to avoid Kuroko.

For a while things worked out. They got more of their passes through and managed to score some more, and gain on Seirin. But then Izuki began to steal the ball from Haruka whenever he made it past Kuroko and the other players became more dangerous as well.

It was right on that time the member change was made. Sousuke was worn out and Kisumi was back at full energy.

Things went better again because the rest of Seirin's team became a bit more under control. Haruka was still worked a bit up though. He played his best but his abilities dropped slowly as his emotions got stronger. It was nothing new, but he wasn't exactly aware of this matter. At least not until Rin pointed it out to him.

"Haru," he said as he ran by after a failed pass from Haruka. "Calm down, it's not like you to get worked up like this,"

Haruka blinked.

Rin ran up to Kagami and attempted to get the ball, but Kagami jumped and shot before he could reach it. He ran back to Haruka.

"Haru, you need to calm down. You played way better in the first half," he stated.

Haruka stopped. He blinked again and then he nodded. Surprisingly enough, that was all it took to have him calm down again. He nodded at Rin.

"Thanks Rin," he told him before running off.

He did it without saying a word. It was suddenly when Izuki ran across the court with the ball that Haruka stepped up to guard him. He sent Kisumi a quick look at the same time, and Kisumi went to guard Kuroko instead. That was about the biggest proof that Haruka had gone back to normal.

The rest of the game was played. The Amateurs continued to gain a few points every now and then, but it was not enough to completely catch up to Seirin by the end of the game. It was only enough to be 4 points behind, just like when they had finished the first quarter.

I intentionally let the Amateur team lose because, let's just face it, it would be unrealistic if they actually won against Seirin of all teams. Plus, it would destroy Seirin's impression for the next long while. I really hope it's okay.

Again I will want to apologize for my poor game explainations so well... sorry about them.

Aside from that, I just counted. Seems there are only three chapters left. I hope you've enjoyed it until now and will continue to stick with the story until it's done.

Jackie