Author's Note!
The fun part begins! *evil smile* Hope you like this chapter and I had fun making this. ;) *Evil cackles and then coughs hard* Sorry, sorry. I apologize for the cliffy at the previous chapter. I realized that too late that it already reached 4K+ words. Enjoy the story!
Reviews and Criticism is highly appreciated.
Warning: May have a little bit of OOC but nevertheless, it is how I envisioned it.
*Italics are thoughts of the characters.*
Now, ONNNNN TO THE STORYYYY~
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, events portrayed in this story is used fictitiously or products of the author's imaginations.
The Strategist Empress. Copyright © 2016 by Cordelia Michaelis. All rights reserved.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Kuroko No Basket. I only own the Plot and the OC.
Chapter 10
I had my jacket wrapped around me and my wet hair in a bun that Kuroko did for me. I shivered and sheepishly glanced at my team mates before directing my gaze to the nearest restaurant and as soon as we are inside, I couldn't help but sigh at the warm heat. "Excuse us! Can we get a 12 seater?" "Welcome… Eh?! There's so many of you."
I saw Kise, Ishida and Kasamatsu sitting on the table and sneakily jumped on the blue-eyed girl. "YAH! YUKI! I'm getting soaked. STOP ITTTT!"
"I'm still amazed at how you knew it was me. PS. this is my revenge after you've dumped Ice cold water on me during one of my moods." I grinned before greeting the other two. "Hello there, Kasamatsu-senpai. Ryo-kun."
"It seems like Yuki had snagged us some seats." Kagami said and I turned to him. "Right. If it's okay with you, Senpai, Ryo-kun and Ishida, we'll share a table. Seems like this place is full."
"It's fine with me, Yamamura." Kasamatsu replied while taking a bite from his ordered food. We six shared a table until Midorima and Takao had arrived. Once they saw us staring at them, they left a bit before a storm hit them and came back in, all soaking wet.
Takao immediately saw Kasamatsu and began to pull him away from our table and squeeze in to the other table leaving it in this order: Kuroko, Ishida and Kise on the side that's facing away from the entrance while Kagami, me and Midorima are facing them. The table's tension was sparking and crackling and Riko and Takao was enjoying this. A tick mark appeared on my head, Midorima's face was stoic, Kagami and Kise had identical faces while Kuroko and Ishida was doing their normal poker faces.
"Let's order shall we?" Kuroko then grabs the menu.
"We're both already full so we'll have what was left in our order." Both blondes said.
"I'm surprised you can eat that ****" Midorima said while crossing his arms and glaring at Kise.
"I can't believe you are buddy-buddy with them. They defeated Kaijo in a practice game, nanodayo."
"Oi." Kise shrugged after blinking. "Besides, I'll get my revenge during the Inter-high Championships."
Kagami grabs the menu before ordering his food. "Excuse me!"
"Yes, sir?"
"Could we get squid balls, pork balls, mixed balls, octopus balls and pork kimchi balls?" Kagami spouted out in a spell like way. Kise and Midorima, who were bickering came to a halt and yelled at a certain redhead.
"You're ordering too much!"
"What sort of incantation is that?" Both teens looked at Kagami and Kuroko reassures them."It's all right. Kagami-kun will eat all of it himself."
"Yeah… With his black hole of a stomach that is." I added and Kagami just glared at me before asking what I would want to eat. "I'll just have what Tetsu has."
"I swear, your highness, your twin is Kuro-kun and the siblings are Aka-kun and Mido-kun." Ishida said before she paused and thought it over and added, "More like Aka-kun though…"
"I swear, Ishida, to the bottom pits of hell, you are made to torture me with the things you know. I also know you like the back of my hand, idiot. And, Please STOP calling me that horrendous nickname." I glared at a certain teen as she made a peace sign and thankfully our food arrived before I was able to hit her and Kagami was the one to cook it. "Oi, Yuki. Why don't you cook?"
"Too tired and this hurts still." I said while pointing to my shoulder. "I'll explain later and I won't hide anything from you guys until it is time that I must tell you. You guys are the first ones that I trust this much."
I took a bite out of Kagami's food and he just huffs at me before he resumed eating. I thought for a bit and an idea came to mind.
"Ne, Tetsu. How about letting Riko-san and the others stay with us until the next day?"
"Why?" He asked and I gave him a pointed look before he nodded his head. I grinned at him and texted Riko about the plan and she thought about it before showing Hyuga the text and he nodded. Sure, Yuki. The text read.
"Ishida, feel free to stay with me." The blonde blue-eyed girl looked at the bluenette before politely declining. "Sorry Yuki. I have a lot to do for now but I'll take up on your offer next time and I'll bring our other sister next time and we'll have a sleepover." I nodded to her before I talked to Kuroko about the details.
"Kise, you've changed a little." Midorima observed Kise.
"Really?" The blonde said.
"Your eyes… They're strange."
"Strange?!" Kise flinched.
The team continued to cook their food, Hyuga was staring at Riko with a subtle smile, and Mitobe and Izuki were looking at Koganei, who was in charge of cooking and was flipping the food at the moment. Furihata, Fukuda, Tsuchida, Kasamatsu, and Kawahara looked at Takao. "Maybe it's because I've started practicing more since we played against Kuroko-cchi and Yuki-cchi. Also, lately I've been thinking…" Kise replied to the green-haired teen all the while their respective teams are bickering at the back. "It's pretty fun playing basketball with the guys from Kaijo."
Midorima just sighed before slicing a bit of his food. "It seems I was mistaken. You have not changed at all. You have simply reverted to a state before our three consecutive championships." He at the piece of and Kise just smirks at him.
"How sad it is that, I, myself didn't experience or have seen your unbelievable grand slam championships. But I'm glad I wasn't there to witness it nor did I not regret telling you." I looked at my food before eating it, elegantly.
The four males turned to look at me and I continued to eat before saying, "It is a shame actually. I could have prevented this from happening but it was an unexpected timing."
"Yuki-cchi? What are you…?" Kise started to ask but Ishida was the one to reply. "Remember the time she clutched her shoulder and gave you a tired expression, Kise-kun? It connects to that."
"But Yuki, why am I just hearing it now?" The green-haired teen asked. "Personal reasons, Carrot."
"S-stop calling me that!" The four eyed person said and I retorted, "Never."
And food came flying and landed perfectly on Midorima's head. A tick mark appeared on the teen before he stood up and excused himself and got Takao, who was apologizing to the teen and went out of the restaurant before hitting the dark haired teen. Midorima came back and put his money down to pay and grabbed their bags but I shoved his money back, earning a couple of glances at me and Midorima. "Don't pay. It is after all on the house."
Kagami face palmed and muttered for the rest of the people on the table to hear. "I forgot, you own a company who deals with food and sports."
"Maji burger's under my company too. I'll need to go talk to Oji-san about something. I'll be back." I stood up and talked to the owner before grabbing a few bills and payed for the team. "Keep the change." I waved and turned back to my team, the three Kaijo students and the carrot all staring at me with wide eyes.
"W-What?! WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP STARING AT ME LIKE I'M SOME KIND OF ALIEN?!" I growled at them and frowned before crossing my arms on my chest. A chuckle was heard behind me and side-glanced at the person.
"You are some kind of an alien, your highness." A girl with Short spiky hair dressed in her Shutoku jacket and running tights said.
"Shut-up, Ichinose." I glared at the red-head female, who had a smirk on her face and made a peace sign just like Ishida did.
"Or we could just tell her about our sleepover now. Hi there, Ichinose!" Ishida said while waving at her.
"Mitsuki." Midorima glared at the red head and this resulted to the two having a glaring contest but the green-haired teen just sighed and waved off. "I'll be going ahead." And with that he left with Takao.
"Thank you, Ojou-sama!" The owner said before I quickly shook my hands.
"Y-you don't have to call me that, Oji-san!" I frantically and quickly reassured him that it was perfectly fine to call me by my first name. A commotion happened outside and let's just say Kuroko found a dog, Riko got the dog and called it cute before noticing something familiar, the team looked up at the dog before going back to Kuroko, then a few moments later yelled that he looks like Kuroko, someone named the dog "Tetsuya Nigou", Captain trying to leave the dog but in vain.
"Ne, minna…" I waved and looked at Kagami's direction. "The heck happened to you, Kaga-kun?"
"It's…just that… I'm scared… of… dogs…" He said while shivering and cowering in fear. I went near Kagami and bend on his level.
"Kaga-kun. Was there a history of you getting bitten by a dog before?" He looked at the bluenette before the fake tears ran down his face and gulped before nodding. "That explains the fear. I'll help you get rid of that soon. I was once bitten by one but I still love them."
The two outsiders just snickered at what I said before I turned and glared at them and as usual, they made a peace sign before sticking their tongues out at me. Kagami just looked at me before I stood up and put my hands on my waist. "Everyone, let's go to my apartment and I'll tell you all about what happened." They nodded before I lead the way with Ishida and Ichinose walking beside me since our houses aren't that far.
"Oi, Midget. Since when was the last time you drank milk." The red-haired girl said bluntly.
"You best be quiet, titan. I am not in the mood for one of your games and speaking of games, don't you have a game tomorrow? Track and field, isn't it?" I raised an eyebrow on her before she looks away.
"You always know when I have games even when I don't tell you, your highness." The red head teased.
"Stop calling me that." I crossed my arms.
"How can her highness NOT know, Ichinose? You think you can hide anything from her? I'd like to see you try." Ishida looked at the other girl before sighing.
"I also know that you haven't warmed up this last week for tomorrow's event." I gave her a reprimanding look, "Shame on you, Ichinose. And both of you stop calling me 'your highness', it's annoying." The said red head just muttered some incorrigible words before turning to the others. "Hey, have you guys suffered from Yuki's endurance training yet?" The others shook no but Kuroko already did so he stopped and stared at the red head with fear in his eyes.
"No, not… yet… I guess…" Hyuga replied before Ichinose bluntly told them. "Good luck, you'll need an angel to save you after the devil's training."
"Ichinose. Enough." I said.
"Kuro-kun will tell you guys how far she went with the endurance practice." Ishida said and the bluenette boy shuddered before gulping, making the others gulp in fear.
"Hmph." Ichinose grunted before we all separated our ways and continued to walk in silence and a few moments, we have arrived at my apartment.
"Tetsu, open the penthouse. We'll stay there in the meantime. I'll handle something on our floor." He nodded before gesturing the others to follow him.
I looked at them first before sighing and opening the door to our place and grabbed some papers and an album and went up to the penthouse which was bigger and can accommodate a lot of us with more space to spare. The others looked around before settling down the coffee table. "Anyone want drinks?" I said while I looked over the open kitchen. A few muttered water and others coffee and tea. I made our drinks quickly and served them before settling down near my cousin.
"Where to start?" I asked once I was comfortable in my sitting position.
"How about from the beginning." Riko said and I sighed, knowing this is a tough topic but will try to explain as best as I could. I nodded before taking a deep breath and started on my tale.
"It all started when Father's business bloomed suddenly after a few years of hard work and an unfortunate accident happened…" I said, clearly remembering my past, all the while opening the album that I brought and flipped it to the desired page before I slid it across the table and placed the papers in front of them.
-Flashback-
"Ne, ne, Otou-san! Come play with me?" A younger version of Yuki was holding a tennis racket. Her father, Yamamura Kyosuke, was a pro tennis player who won international and national awards every year but due to an incident, he retired at the age of 25 and had a daughter at the age of 4.
"Gomen, cupcake. Otou-san needs to work so that Okaa-san and Yuki will have a good home life but I'll play with you soon." He lovingly said while ruffling his daughter's hair.
"Hai, Otou-san." The little Yuki said, dejectedly before a woman with the same blue hair but with black highlights, picked up and carried the little girl.
"Best be on your way, darling. Good luck at work. I know you want to spend your time with us but I support you with your work and don't overwork yourself, honey." The woman walked with her husband, giving him a peck on the cheek and smiled a gentle smile and the man smiled at his little family before he went.
Two years later, Mother died due to a car accident after Father became a CEO of the now Yamamura Corp. who specializes in the Food industry and the Sports industry. My father was so devastated that he devoted himself to his work and eventually forgot he had a daughter, leaving a depressed and sad Yuki all alone at the big house and when her father came home, he would teach Yuki the proper lady like lessons and how she will soon be the heir of their company and that left little Yuki to become who she is today. A cold, reserved and elegant lady who has many achievements her father approved of.
At the age of 13, Yuki was already ready to enter the college level due to her high IQ but she begged her father to at least experience middle school and high school but will continue to study with online classes and summer classes of the college levels. Her father approved that as long as she stays on top, she can do whatever she wants.
But during the summer before middle school, accidents happened…
-Flashback over-
"That time, I had dislocated my left shoulder from playing tennis… The same way father did… I had to go to the best rehabilitation center and successfully came out alright. It was then I came back to Japan and entered Teiko Middle school. I managed to get lost around the campus and ended up in Teiko's basketball club where I met the monsters and at that time, they were tolerable. My fort was really Tennis but for some reason, I was also good in basketball." I said while looking down and Kuroko added.
"That is where we met again, Yuki-chan." I nodded and gave him a small smile.
"I was only an observer but I noticed their stats and I could see potentials, due to the lineage that I have and due to Father's insistence that I work closely with the analysts, I can determine the outcome of a match or a document with simple and few numbers and percentages. It greatly helped the company and me, during my tennis days." I smirked.
"I, of course, quickly jotted down the stats and potentials and that was the time I met the head coach who looked at me, no… more like glared at me before glancing down at my notebook which was almost halfway through. His eyes widening and soon, I was the head manager of all strings in Teiko. I played in their practice matches if they lack a player to play with but I was just sitting there and observing the game. It was then and there, that Akashi saw me and being me, I obviously ignored him and made him speechless when he suggested we played each other." I chuckled at that memory. The Emperor getting beaten in the game he loved and what's worse, is that it's a girl who beat him.
Captain then asked, interrupting my story, "Who won?"
"Yuki-chan did. The first time we've seen our former Captain lost and of course, it was only the Miracles who saw." Kuroko replied while they all stared at me with shock.
"Akashi-kun then suggested to the coaches to let Yuki-chan to play in games and let's just say that the Miracles accepted her as one of them even when her potential wasn't even tapped yet." Kuroko pointed out.
"So that is why you couldn't play all out, Yuki-chan?" Izuki asked and I nodded at him.
"Drop the honorifics. I don't do well with honorifics unless we are in a formal event." I bluntly replied before I added, "My awakening had entered me in the same room as the Generation of Miracles. I have no idea why my potential wasn't tapped before and why anger or another negative feeling triggered me to open the door." I shrugged before looking at the time. "We can continue this in another time. Please rest here and don't hesitate to call me on that phone if you need anything at all."
I stood up and stretched before heading towards the door. "I'll be on my floor with Tetsu. I'll see you guys tomorrow." With that, I went to my floor and did my business before finally plopping my tired body on my bed and slept a dreamless sleep…
-The next day-
Everything went back to normal. We practiced like our conversation didn't happen last night and I made my team do more training drills than the usual ones but a bad feeling came and I don't even know what it means and that scares me. Having secured our position in the Inter-high championship league, we overcame our difficult practice tests and resumed practice. Riko thought and Kagami blurted out and spun a ball on his finger. "Damn it, I'm itching to play."
I stood at the side with my clipboard in my hands while writing the stats before my mind wandered to our next opponents before grabbing my phone and texted the other person as Riko reprimanded Kagami. "You have to wait a little bit until your legs heal."
"Nice pass!" Kuroko passed and Nigou barked. As Hyuga shot a three pointer, Nigou barks again before coming in the door and sat beside Riko. "Oh, Nigou, you like basketball too." I looked at Kagami as he ran away. "You really can't handle dogs, can you?"
"H-Hai." He said while he grabbed the door knob with tears on his eyes and my eyes found Kuroko's sadistic ones before the bluenette picked up the dog and both did the puppy look.
"Kagami-kun… Don't say that."
"Don't look at me with those eyes!" Kagami cried out at the bluenette before he was chased around by Kuroko with Nigou in his hands.
"He's cute." Kuroko persisted. "Don't Kuroko! I'll kill you later!" And the red head ran away, crying his eyes out as he tries to get away from the puppy.
"If you guys were wondering, that was on purpose. Tetsu's like me. A sad sadist person…" I looked at them before glaring back. "NOW GET BACK TO PRACTICE, YOU LITTLE PRICKS!"
"H-HAI!" They yelled before getting back to practice.
At the Aida Sports gym, they did pool squats and as usual Kagami was sitting down the bench with Nigou at the other side, far away from him and Riko blew her whistle for the counting. "One-minute break!" The players took a breather before noticing my cousin who was floating with his face down.
"Oi, Tetsu."
"KUROKO! DON'T SLEEP WHILE FACING DOWN! DON'T FLOAT LIKE THAT!" Hyuga said.
"What a cute dog." A familiar voice said and everyone looked up to see a very busty pink haired girl. The players in the pool choked the water while Kuroko and I had our usual faces on. "Momo-chan." I nodded as if to acknowledge her. "I knew you'd be coming in that get up."
"Mou, Yuki-chan! You know I'm only here for Tetsu-kun." She said and I sighed before waving to my teammates.
"You guys handle this. I'm out of here and Riko-san?" The said girl looked at me before tilting her head. "Hai, Yuki-chan?"
"May I use your gym equipment for a while?" She nodded in response before I took the hem of my shirt and took it off completely.
I was wearing a sports bra underneath with bandages around my left shoulder blade to the middle of my abdomen and I was already wearing shorts with leggings that reached just an inch below my knees and my running shoes. I walked away from my team mates staring at my back until I fully disappeared from their sight.
I didn't know what happened when I left the pool area until a dark shadow appeared beside me while I was running on the treadmill. "Yuki." A deep voice that sent shivers down my spine in a good way. I looked at him before focusing again on running.
"Mine-kun." I acknowledge him.
"Where is he? Where is Tetsu's new light?"
"I'm not telling you." I can see he got irritated with my answer so he stalked off to find a certain red head and the bad feeling came again and I stopped.
I quickly got off the treadmill before putting my jacket on my shoulders and went to find the two teens. My instincts were right when I see them having a match and Aomine beat Kagami and as the ball rolled towards me, I got it and shot in the other basket that is away from the court gates, considering that it is pretty far from where I'm standing. "Daiki. This isn't the time or place."
"Huh? I was just testing him, Yuki. Don't butt in our business." The navy blue haired teen retorted.
"Kagami is in my team therefore he is my business, Aho." I said while I looked at him.
"Why you!" The navy blue haired teen growled at me and I looked at him in the eyes, making him submit to me.
"Defy me again, Daiki and I'll make sure you'll regret it." He looked away, knowing how much of a sadist I am when it comes to punishing people. "Leave now and we'll see you on court… sooner than I'd like." With that I turned around and pretty soon, we were back at the gym and Kagami was nowhere to be found until he showed his face but was sent out by Riko to go to the nurse's office to get heat pads for his legs.
As soon as Kuroko, who accompanied him to the nurse office and hopefully treated Kagami's legs, came back, I yelled at them to gather around. They all did what I said and Riko took over while I looked away and handed out the list. "Here's a copy of the Inter-high matches."
"Wah~ that's a lot of schools competing." Furihata commented. "Good thing we aren't against Momoi-san and Aomine for the first match."
The clipboard from my hand fell and the sudden noise earned a few yelps of surprise and they looked at the source of the sound. I squeezed my eyes shut before yelling at them. "They didn't go to a prestigious school, idiots!" I turned towards them and openly glared at them while tears are visibly seen on my face. "They go to Touou Gakuen which is by the way, OUR first match for the Championships!"
They fell speechless at what I said and as soon as I finished, I ran out of the court, sniffing and holding back the tears that is in my eyes.
This is bad… Really bad for Seirin… I can't overwork them… I can't… That was the last thing I thought before finally breaking down somewhere at the campus that was thankfully secluded as I finally shed the tears that I was desperately holding back.