Disclaimer: I do not own KnB! As usual… (Is it nessceray to type this every time? Oh well…)

Chapter 38

Misaki begun to give the team, her famous lemon honey tea. She quickly gave them massages and made sure everyone was holding up. She stopped in front of Kagami, as she kneeled down.

"Taiga. Foot. Now." She said. Kagami took off his shoes and made sure to wipe it properly, before showing his foot to Misaki. She begun to turn it around and flex it. She stared intensely at his foot before sighing.

"Taiga… You are at your limit." She said. Kagami and the others look at her. "Please make sure, you don't sprain it or anything, or it'll be like last time." Kagami nodded as he slid back on his shoes. She walked over to Kiyoshi and looked at his leg. Kiyoshi looked at her face and knew she was being torn in deciding what to do. She wanted to check on Kiyoshi's leg. Kiyoshi smiled a little as he extended his leg out. Misaki blinked in surprise. She shook herself out of her shock, before kneeling down to check on Kiyoshi's leg. Misaki widened her eyes as she looked grim. She immediately went over to her bag and brought out a metal canister. She opened it and inside there was small steaming towels. Everyone rose an eyebrow, as she took one out and begun to fold it. She placed it onto Kiyoshi's knee and begun to massage it. She looked at Kiyoshi, as he nodded. Riko looked at her, as she had half of what she was trying to say… or something…

Riko took in a deep breath, "Listen! To be honest, it's extremely difficult for us to stop Shuutoku right now! Our option is to take more points than they do. The second half will be definitely become a point war. Don't ever fall behind!" Everyone nodded, as they got ready to go out to the court.

"Misaki, can you play?" asked Riko. Misaki looked up, as she nodded.

"Hai. I've been ready for a while." She replied. Riko nodded, as Misaki procceded to take off her t-shirt, revealing her uniform. She sat on the bench, as she double-checked her shoes. "Get ready!"

Kuroko looked over to Misaki. "Misaki-san..."

"What is it, Tetsu?"

"Please be careful." he said. Misaki grinned at him. "It'll be alright Tetsu! I'll play with even more effort, now that I have a lot of energy!"

Kuroko smiled at her, as the annoucement came on.

"Now the Third Quarter will begin…"

Even with Teppei on our side, it's going to be tough from here on out…Now only we can't stop Shuutoku, but the other side mostly likely studied all our moves even to the last year…Riko thought. Our only hope is Kuroko-kun's new drive...if they keep up and the gap widens before Kuroko-kun goes out, then we're finished for sure…!

Everyone watched as they saw Midorima pass the ball to Takao, as he had gotten pass Kiyoshi and Kagami. Everyone gasped, as Takao got ready to move. Izuki begun to go and stop Takao, until Takao smirked. "Just Kiddin' Oops 3" Takao bounced the ball between his legs, "Don't miss!"

"Eh..?"

Izuki widened his eyes as he saw Midorima making a shot, with the ball in his hands. "Improbable. Shut up, you fool."]

"WHAAAAT!?" A return?! They've got such a pattern too!"

As everyone begun to watch as the ball left Midorima's hands, some people could only stare or look away.

"HYAAAHHH!" everyone widened their eyes as they saw Misaki, floating in the air, as she was near the goal. Everyone gasped as they saw Misaki grab the ball with one hand and quickly did powerful throw, as it begun to go into Shuutoku's goal.

Riko and the others cheered, as Misaki somewhat lightly (not really) onto the ground. Misaki was on all fours, as she hastily rose up. Her face was blank, before she bursted into grins.

"DAMN!" she yelled. "It's been a while, since I've done this!" Kuroko's eyes gleamed slightly, as Seirin cheered. Momoi and Kise widened their eyes, at Misaki's move. Kagami gave her a fist pump, as she braced for Kiyoshi's slap on the back.

"Good job, Misaki. I forgot you could do that." said Hyuuga.

"It's been a while, so I wasn't sure if I could do that again." Misaki said, truthfully.

Midorima and the others glared slightly at her, but they quickly played again, Shuutoku fully gaining a point.

Seirin gritted their teeth, as they saw they were tied.

"...MMM?"

"What's wrong, Koga?" asked Tsuchida.

"No... Didn't Midorima just... although it was just for an instant...he was laughing...?" said Koganei.

"DON'T FALTER! WE'RE TAKING IT BACK!" yelled Hyuuga. Almost instantly, Seirin went into run and gun. As the Misaki threw the ball, Miyaji caught the ball, yelling. "MIDORIMAS' NOT THE ONLY HEAVY WEIGHT IN OUR TEAM! DON'T YOU DARE LOOK DOWN ON US!"

"ARGH!"Miyaji threw the ball to Kimura, as he did an alley-oop. Miyaji begun to yell at Kimura. "You should've done a dunk!"

"No way, it's not like everyone can dunk in a match!" yelled Kimura.

Sorry, but you can'tus with spirit alone thought Coach Nakatani. We're done studying all your favorite patterns. No matter how fast it is, if we know about it, we can stop it...!

As the game raged on, Midorima looked at Kagami, as he had scored a point.

"Humph...looks like you've finally hit your limit." said Midorima.

"What...did you say...?" panted Kagami. Misaki walked over to Kagami, placing a hand on his shoulders.

"Enough Taiga. Let's reserve your energy, we can talk and argue with each other, after we win." said Misaki.

"Don't be too cocky." said Midorima.

"I would say the same to you, Shin." said Misaki, as she and Kagami went back.

What a guy...! It's useless even with Kagami and Teppei...!? As expected of the Generation of Miracles...! Although half of the shots, were blocked by Misaki, she can't continuously jump and shoot...

"So strong...!" said Hyuuga.

"Although Seirin's trying hard...the gaps slowly increasing..." said the crowd. Misaki looked at the score board, as it was 70 to 76.

6 points behind... thought Misaki.

"You know...he has changed. Midorin, that is." said Momoi.

"Really?" asked Kise.

"Ah, Ki-chan has changed too." said Momoi.

"Huh?! Where?" Kise yelled. He started to think, before sighing. "Well... if that's so... it's no that we've changed, it's probably because he made us change."

"Damn...are they this different? If Midorima changes.." said Furihata.

He changed thought Takao. So that's how it looks on the outside- he didn't really change much though...it's not like we got particulary close- we acknowledge him, but he's still a weirdo and he isn't particularity liked...actually...now that I think about it, he's always floating alone. Once we got back, he'll just start speechlessly shooting all by himself. Just on and on without getting tired, but if we keep watching that, although he's a weirdo and an irritating bastard, we can't bring ourselves to hate him.

"I wonder why.. if you keep fighting that person...you start to think that relying on others is not a sign of weakness but rather...something you can't do without strength.

but I guess, there's some things that have changed... thought Takao. Although it was quite rare, he started smiling even when we're playing basketball togther, it's probably thanks to him...no probably it was those two...

Flash BACK

Takao was walking through the halls, looking for Midorima. The seniors had already left, because the rain was getting really heavy, so he had to find Midorima fast if they didn't want to be drenched; like one of those dogs/cats in a bath. He heard talking and recognized the two voices. He rounded around the corner, but he immediately stepped back.

"The cards fell down when my senpai accidentally knocked a water bottle over. It so happened that the water bottle was sitting over the Virgo card and the water dripping onto Cancer. So I thought…."Misaki gave Midorima a weak smile. "And here you are."

"I thought you didn't believe in fate." Said Midorima. Takao silently agreed with him.

"Since when? I follow fate as you do, Midorima. It's just I follow it, in a different way than you." replied Misaki. She smiled at him, taking his left hand. He blushed, slightly. Takao begun to grin, thinking of a way to use it against Midorima.

"Midorima-kun, although you follow fate, it doesn't mean you can ignore the people around you." Said Misaki.

Midorima blinked at her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, fate gives us options onto what path we should follow. However, you decided to follow Fate in the wrong way. You think we only have one path, but there are many more. It's just we don't realize it. " explained Misaki. "Fate gave you something in basketball, but you choose to ignore it, and become stubborn. You may have been destined to win, but you chose the path that led you to losing this game. You have to look out what Fate gives you, either would it be a chance or an object. You have to be aware to it." Misaki stood up, drying his tears completely.

"What…" Midorima muttered. "What did fate give me?"

Misaki grinned as he raised his head at her. "A team."

He widened his eyes at her, as Takao did the same. "Also a super annoying friend." She finished. Midorima scoffed a little before smiling. Takao held back a laugh, as soon as he heard that.

Takao widened his eyes, as he watched Misaki smile and kissed Midorima's forehead. He blushed red, and she laughed. Misaki placed her hands in her pockets and smiled at Midorima. "It was fun playing basketball against you. I hope we can be friends off the court, Midorima-kun."

He widened his eyes, as she gave placed a card in his hands.

"Well, I got to go now, my team mates are probably wondering where I am! See ya!" she grinned as she began to sprint back to where her team mates were.

He blinked as he looked at the card in his hands...

End Of Flash Back

Kuroko watched Misaki and the others, before letting a deep breath. "...Coach...I think..I'll be able to do it now." said Kuroko.

"Eh?"

"The New Drive." said Kuroko, as Riko widened her eyes. The whistle blew as Midorima looked up. "You finally came out." said Midorima.

Everyone watched, as Misaki jogged over to him.

"Please change the tide!" prayed Seirin.

"I've been waiting Kuroko."

"Seirin High School's Member Change..."

"Thanks for waiting." said Kuroko. Misaki gave him a fist pump, before leaving the court.

"No problem...Tetsu..."

Note From The Author!

Hi, you guys!

I've been sharing one of the laptops with my family and I took every chance I got to write this chapter! I still don't have my own laptop, so I don't know how many chances I can get to write this story. Until then, please make do with this and continue to wait patiently.

I like to thank to the people, who gave me such encouraging reviews! W You guys rock! :D