Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke is written and illustrated by Tadatoshi Fujimaki, published by Shueisha. Nothing belongs to me, but my fanfics and OCs are mine.

Possible Genres: Romance, Drama, Action, Shoujo, Crime, Girls with Guns…

Note to self: Chapter 54 was uploaded on June 14, 2014

Author's announcement: Ah, okay. There is a very good chance I may not be able to update on the weekend June 27 to 29 or something. There will be a wedding held for my little sister. I am sad since I will not be able to write during that time, but I should be happy for my sister… XD LOL So, I'm stuck in between two forces: sadness and happiness.

Well, I think I might be able to update even with that entire thing happening, but I wanted to give all my readers a heads up. :) And be warned. (I will still do my best to update weekly, nevertheless.)

Enjoy reading now~!


"Talking"

'Thinking'

Texting


Chapter 54: Don't Leave Us Out!

Silently, Kuroko watched his friends getting together with the girls and they all had a basketball in each group. Two basketballs from Kagami and three more from Ginmori's crowd. The guys were beginning to teach the girls and it had only just started. However, Kuroko was already itching to be a part of it. He did not want to be left out. It seemed like fun. Really fun.

Hanamiya was also watching them closely. He was slightly bored, since nothing exciting was taking place just yet. Although, he noticed Imayoshi from the other route and he was walking right over to where he was by the wooden fence. Hanamiya had to smirk when Imayoshi waved.

"What is going on here, Hanamiya?" Imayoshi wore a smug smirk of his own.

The young man with the glasses stepped right next to Hanamiya and leaned back against the fence along with him. With his hands in his pockets, Hanamiya almost snorted, "See for yourself, senpai."

He was, though he merely wanted to greet his kouhai. Imayoshi's eyes fixed on the whole group. And he collected what was going on with each of them.

Sakai was with Ginmori, standing next to her. The two of them were also talking to each other, and since they were close enough, Imayoshi decided to eavesdrop. He liked doing that for he knew Sakai hated it every time.

"Gin-chan, I don't think I completely forgiven you yet…" Sakai was saying, putting up a straight face.

The taller woman smiled, "And why did you call me 'Gin-chan' again for?"

Pouting a bit, she crossed her arms and lifted up her nose in the air. "I guess I realized… you're not entirely stupid?" Sakai thought out loud and out of nowhere. She was not sure if that was true though. "You must have your reason, right?" But there was no need to kill a friend. Who does that?

Ginmori chuckled, slightly tilting her head to the blonde. "I am stupid, Rin," she told her without holding it back. Sakai's face softened and she uttered nothing. Without a pause, Ginmori nearly murmured, "I killed her out of blind rage. You saw it, didn't you? And with that evil-looking guy with the glasses?"

A bit dazed, Sakai widened her eyes. "…You… back then, you saw us there?" she asked, breathing slowly.

Hanamiya was also listening and then eyed Imayoshi, who was gulping. "Senpai, you look a pale," he remarked with a twisted smile.

"It's nothing," Imayoshi smiled back at him. 'Last year… Ginmori knew Sakai and I were there?' he inquired himself, feeling a chill behind his spine. That very scene from the past, it would haunt him for a long time.

Looking up, Ginmori did not reply Sakai's question about knowing her and Imayoshi was there when Nakano was meeting death's door. It was obvious the moment Ginmori smiled secretively and Sakai received her answer from it. "I would have been angry too, if you killed a good friend, Rin," Ginmori shrugged, speaking with honesty. "So, I understood a little how you felt when you wanted to take revenge."

Sakai's eyes were getting watery, but they disappeared when she suppressed them. This was something they both had never discussed before. It was hard to talk to Ginmori, who killed Nakano, at a time like this. Maybe there would never be a time to understand what really happened.

"All you need to know…" Ginmori brought her eyes on the blonde. Slowly, Sakai met her gaze and kept her mouth shut. "…is that unreasonably killed her. You have the right to hate me."

Sakai smiled a little, causing Ginmori to silence. The blonde giggled, "Gin-chan, long ago you said revenge was a boring life, right? …Because I think it is too." Yeah. This was not the perfect place to talk about their feelings, so Sakai stopped talking afterward.

However, Ginmori was slightly still on the topic. She glanced over to Maki, who seemed to be losing her temper with Kagami. "If only Chiyo understood that taking revenge doesn't mean anything either," Ginmori smirked.

Blinking, Sakai brought her eyes in the same direction where Ginmori was looking. "…Who's Chiyo?" she peered to where Yamauchi was.

'Oh?' Hanamiya now paid more attention, his quiet eyes staring at the side of Sakai's face. 'That's Sakai's older sister, Sakai Rin?' Yua did call her 'Onee-sama' a short while ago, he just did not register in his head around then.

"You're just being biased!" Maki was shouting up at Kagami. He was such a tall person and she hated having to tilt her head just to look at him. It irritated her.

Yamauchi could tell Kagami was losing his anger on Maki and uneasily kept her thoughts to herself.

"What are you talking about?!" Kagami retorted, trying not to glare at the girl. "I am not! You're the one who's not listening!"

Maki was giving him a death glare and wanted to kill him. Only because he was driving her crazy just by seeing him giving Yamauchi a soft look on his face. Too bad she left her blade behind, she would have stabbed him by now.

It was then Yamauchi spoke, "P-Please don't argue. We have only thirty minutes to learn, remember?" She flinched when Maki shot her an angry expression. Yamauchi backed away a step and lowered her head to hide her face.

"Hey…" Kagami flattened his eyes at Maki. "Don't look so intimidating." He did not want Yamauchi to have a bad experience for learning basketball.

"This is how I look all the time," Maki frowned, snorting afterward. "Get used to it, assholes."

"Your language!" Kagami yelled, wanting to warn her.

Maki continued to glare at him, "I don't care—you're stuck with me, and get used to it. Dumbass."

Nervously giggling, Yamauchi scratched her cheek as Kagami engaged an argument with Maki. 'We don't have time for this," Yamauchi sighed to herself. Would they just stop yelling at each other already?

Over at Kise, he was sweat dropping at the sight of Kagami and Maki clashing like fire and water. Kise chuckled and shook his head as he looked back to his students. Moto and Koizumi were waiting for him to continue about dribbling.

"We already learned dribbling and the like," Koizumi said, looking rather tired. "I don't get why we have to get together like this and talk about how to play basketball." She did all of that at school.

Moto grinned and hugged Koizumi rather quickly. "I guess that's why we only have thirty minutes right now?" she thought out loud.

While Moto was giggling in Koizumi's right ear, Kise blinked. "Can you two really go against each other like this?" he inquired, hinting about Koizumi being on Ginmori's side. "Friends fighting each other is kind of…"

"None of your business," Koizumi told him, looking at him in the eye. His left eyebrow rose and he smiled awkwardly back at her. "If you keep dwelling on that, then I'm done here."

Childishly, Kise pouted, "Koizumi's so cold."

"So?" she almost glared.

"Okay, okay, can we go back to learn some rules now?" Moto was still hugging Koizumi and gently rocked her back and forth. Guess they were not the only group who was quarrelling.

On the far left, Midorima was staring at both Kotone and Kurosei. While he was utterly silent, Kotone was smiling patiently and Kurosei gave no vibe of participating. Midorima pushed up his glasses and frowned. He could not still believe he was doing this.

'I mind as well begin now,' he told himself, closing his eyes to focus. 'At least it wasn't with Seki.' And for that, he felt contented enough.

Yet, one thing still bothered him.

"Hey, you," Midorima directed his voice to Kurosei. When she gave no respond, he asked, "What are you carrying in that bag?" He had been curious about it for some reason. And he had a bad feeling.

Kotone turned her eyes on the girl with the long bangs. "Oh yeah, now dat ya mention it," she blinked with a smile. "What is it exactly?"

No words were yet heard from Kurosei. Though, when she lifted up her head, both Midorima and Kotone were expecting something great. And then Kurosei pointed to Midorima's fake rose in his hand.

"This is my lucky item for today," he told her, wondering if that was what she wanted to hear. Now, she had to tell him what she was carrying.

Kurosei lowered her pointed finger and her other hand tightened the grip on the bag around her right shoulder. "Shinigami…" she only said.

"Huh?" Midorima and Kotone stared at her, absolutely confused. But not like they could get a clear answer out of her since she was dead silent once more.

Tomimura and Yua stood next to each other, both staring up at Aomine's bored expression. He yawned and bounced the basketball in his right hand on the ground once. He continued to look lazy.

Until Yua looked to the other girl and asked, "How good are you at basketball, Tomimura?"

"I got an average grade last year, I think," Tomimura said, making eye contact. "You?"

Yua showed her long fingernails and giggled softly. "I'm not good at basketball," she answered sheepishly. "I might end up breaking a nail or two."

"At least I came prepared," Tomimura raised her hands. "I just cut my nails this morning."

"Oh, so lucky," Yua smiled. "You're often prepared."

Tomimura nodded seriously, "It never hurt to."

Aomine frowned at them.

"Then I guess you're prepared to date that giant?" Yua blinked, tapping on her own chin with wonder. Tomimura sighed at the thought and Yua giggled at her. "I wouldn't want to date him either, but a bet is a bet."

"We are not going to lose," Tomimura declared quietly, assuming Yua believed her team would win against hers. "There is no way I am going to date someone I don't know." Not a chance.

Yua smiled and leaned forward. "Then who would you date?" she inquired, hiding a grin back. Tomimura squinted her eyes, sensing what Yua was trying to say. "Onee-sama said something about a love triangle."

"No one in general," Tomimura quickly said. Yua giggled again, not believing her so easily.

'Oh right, this chick belongs to Akashi,' Aomine remembered from listening to the girls rambling on. One of Tomimura's friends mentioned it before when they were in Tokyo back in May as well. '…Eh? Tokyo?' Something just sparked. He began to recall it.

Aomine's eyes gazed to Ginmori, who was laughing with Sakai in their own world. '…I seen that woman in Tokyo before,' Aomine now recognized. But then he shrugged it off, thinking no more about it.

In Akashi's group, Muyoku kept turning her head around. "Pay attention," Akashi said. The short girl snapped her head at him and tried to be composed. "Why do you keep on glancing around?"

"I'm so sorry!" she bowed a little, smiling shyly. "You… wouldn't believe me… a-and Gin-sama gets mad every time I say it too… so…" She could not say it.

Akashi stared at her coldly. Seki faked a cough to interrupt, holding the basketball in her hands. "Akashi—" Seki wanted to ask him about basketball.

"Go on and tell me," Akashi ordered Muyoku, his serous eyes on her shaking figure. She was clearly afraid by his stare and avoided eye contact. "Why do you keep looking around?"

Muyoku closed her eyes, "U-um… well…" Seki pushed up her glasses as she looked at the timid girl. Slowly, Muyoku said, "There's… a girl skipping around… and smiling excitedly…"

"…What?" Seki blinked. What was Muyoku talking about? No girl was walking around at all. Not even Ginmori or Sakai.

The redhead still stared at Muyoku and she slightly looked to the right and seemed calmer. "…You can see ghosts?" Akashi queried.

She nodded, lowering her head again. "Y-Yes… but please, if you don't believe in ghosts, then it's good," she quietly voiced. "It's better if no one saw ghosts…"

"You're kidding?" Seki pushed up her glasses. "On the Internet, I heard a couple people can see ghosts, but I never knew anyone close to me would. Muyoku, tell me more about it."

The short girl lifted up her chin and gave Seki an curious face. "R-Really?" she almost smiled with relief.

As Seki nodded, Akashi told them, "We are still learning about basketball. Pay attention. I will not repeat my lessons twice."

"Y-yes, sir!" Muyoku nodded firmly, meeting his eyes. But then she looked away and stared at the ground.

Seki smiled and Akashi now gave her a glance. "Akashi, you're scaring the poor girl," she teased, even if it was not going to faze him in any way.

He did not care and held out his hand to her. Seki gave him the basketball and he had a pause. 'Is it the same girl I saw earlier then?' he wondered about the 'ghost.' His eyes were back on Muyoku, who was shaking from his cold gaze. Sighing, he called, "Tetsuya."

Kuroko raised his head higher, his eyes going to where Akashi was. "Yes?"

"You teach this girl," Akashi commanded. Muyoku raised her eyes and was shocked. She felt disappointed in herself since it was Ginmori's choice to begin with. "I am not willingly enough to teach someone like her." Shy girls were annoying.

As much as Kuroko wanted to be a part of the teaching, he disagreed with Akashi's way of thinking. Muyoku even looked sad, but completely confused if Kuroko was always here or not.

Moriyama suddenly waved, "Wait, if he gets to teach a girl himself, what about me?"

"Yeah, don't leave us out!" Takao was grinning, standing up next to Moriyama. It almost seemed like the Generation of Miracles were having 'troubles' teaching two girls at the same time. "Let us help out!"

Sakurai blinked nervously at the same time as Himuro nodded. "It would be wise to teach one girl within the twenty-five minutes," Himuro implied.

"Oh," Momoi nodded to herself, looking at Kuroko first. "That sounds like a good idea too. Why don't the rest of you boys go and join them then?"

No one was opposing to the idea. It was all for the better, for example: Midorima and Kagami. While Midorima rather have fewer girls to teach, Kagami did not want to talk to Maki any more than he had to.

As for Murasakibara, he hoped he did not have to go and be forced to join them.

Ginmori and Sakai were looking at everyone just the moment Moriyama stepped right up. "It'll be my pleasure~" he automatically rushed to Kotone. "I will teach this girl!"

Kotone quickly backed away and slightly hid behind Midorima. Bit by bit, Moriyama slowed down and stared at her with confusion. She grinned and remarked, "I'm wearin' a green hair tie, so Midorima-tan must teach me."

"What?" Moriyama gasped. That meant he had to choose Kurosei then.

Winking, Kotone giggled whereas Midorima had no problem with what she desired. "Ya go teach Kurosei-chan, sir," Kotone encouraged.

"I'm Moriyama Yoshitaka," he quickly introduced himself. Kotone nodded, memorizing his name. Then he determinedly turned to Kurosei, who was not facing or looking at him. "Then I guess I will teach you, Kurosei-san!"

Sakurai was looking around as the other three guys, rather eagerly, wandered to the other groups. "W-Wait, do I have to too?" he wondered out loud, wanting to bite his nails.

Takao practically skipped to Kagami's group, seeing Maki was still fuming. "Kagami, I'll take this girl off of your hands then," Takao grinned.

"Thanks," Kagami sighed with relief.

Maki glared, "Hell no, tiger! You're teaching me! I'm going to stick with you until you crack!"

Pouting, Yamauchi said nothing.

Takao patted on Maki's head and she swiftly slapped his hand away. "Now, now, Maki-chan," he winked. She glared at him and then threw a punch. "Whoa!" he dodged to the right and she blinked while Takao danced around her to avoid hitting against her body that had moved forward. "Hey, no violence."

While Kagami and Yamauchi were staring at Maki, she faced Takao and retorted, "I like violence, no one's going to stop me!"

Chuckling like it was a joke, he said, "Just calm down. You have a battle to win, so we should hurry and train."

At least that quieted Maki down. She gave Kagami one last glare and Kagami flattened his eyes at her. "I'll win this and kick your ass later, stupid tiger," she unwaveringly pointed up to him.

"Hah, bring it on!" Kagami held up a pumped fist with a wide smile. "We're not going to lose to the likes of you!" Maki wanted to bite his head off, but then Takao slightly dragged her by the arm a little away from Kagami.

Faintly, Yamauchi giggled. She was glad Takao took Maki away. Now she can just have Kagami to herself.

Himuro had chosen to go to Aomine. Though he wanted to go to Kise and teach Koizumi, he had a feeling she was throwing an aura that told him to stay away. Which was why Himuro joined with Aomine.

"Aomine, who do you want to teach?" Himuro smiled at him.

The bluehead yawned, almost constantly, and shrugged. "Suit yourself," he only said.

As Himuro looked at Tomimura and Yua, he wanted them to choose either him or the bluehead. Yua blinked to Tomimura and Tomimura glanced from Himuro to Aomine. "…I'll stay with Aomine," Tomimura chose, since she had the blue hair tie.

Yua nodded, "Alright then, it's me and you, Himuro." And he gently nodded.

As Akashi had demanded, Kuroko guided Muyoku a bit to the side. He was smiling and she struggled to return a smile. "Don't worry, I'll assist you in basketball," Kuroko said, comforting her with his words.

Bowing halfway, she gratefully expressed with warmer smile. "Thank you, um…"

"Kuroko Tetsuya."

Muyoku still felt shaky from Akashi's stare moments ago, but she made sure to just forget about it. "Kuroko-san," she smiled again.

Momoi had walked to Sakurai and pushed him from the back. "Sakurai, you have to go too!" she cackled happily while he looked back to her with panic. "Mukkun's too lazy, so we're all counting on you!"

She was pushing him toward Kise, Moto, and Koizumi. "But I can't teach!" Sakurai wanted to reason. And teaching a girl, what was the world coming to?!

When they were close enough, Moto jumped to hug Sakurai. "Don't sweat it, you'll do great!" Moto laughed, tightly hugging him by the neck. "I'll take Sakurai and have me teach me instead!"

While the boy blushed, Momoi stopped pushing and then gave Kise a wink. "Hang in there, Ki-chan!" she said, knowing Koizumi was hard to talk to.

The blonde nodded, "Yep."

Time went by slowly. Or so Murasakibara thought. He pouted and stopped eating his chips for a long while. He was getting upset because everyone was talking to each other; even Momoi had gone to Kuroko and Muyoku. Murasakibara noticed Imayoshi, wondering less about him. And then there was Ginmori and Sakai.

"Hey, he looks lonely, Gin-chan," Sakai snickered

Murasakibara blinked and glanced to the two girls. Sakai wore a teasing smile and Ginmori was smirking without looking at him. "I'm not lonely," Murasakibara proudly defended himself.

"Oh, okay," Sakai playfully shrugged.

Slightly turning her head, Ginmori chuckled when Murasakibara frowned at Sakai. It was a short second of a glimpse she gave him and she averted her eyes to say, "Join anyone you want to. No one is going to stop you."

"Aw, don't be nice to someone like him, Gin-chan," Sakai sighed. "He's a big meanie, you know?"

"A big meanie?" Ginmori grinned to her. "My kind of cup of tea."

Muyoku was looking around again, forgetting about Kuroko for a moment. Her eyes were on Ginmori and she saw Murasakibara was slowly walking over to the silverhead and the blonde. 'Now that I think about it…' Muyoku inquisitively blinked. 'He looks a bit like him, doesn't he? …Will Gin-sama be okay?'

Kuroko stared at Muyoku quietly. He saw her reaching for her silver dog tag and squeezing it. Instantly, he knew it was an important item to her, just like Kagami's and Himuro's. As Kuroko smiled, Muyoku turned her attention back to him and she jumped when she saw his warm smile. "Ready?" he asked.

"Y-Yes, I'm sorry!" she lowered her head to hide her red face. It was embarrassing just how nice he was. It led her to wonder, were he and Akashi really friends?


Author's note: Sorry… the action starts in Chapter 56. Just one more chapter before then, sorry. Too much characters calling out to me to give them a little of spotlight… and I am still struggling to keep them in character. DX

Thanks for reading!