Mythia: I haven't been in this anime for a while, so I'm planning to rewatch or read the manga... or smth. ^^"

But my chapter one has officially been broken into 2 or 3 parts! I'm telling you, it's like, 20 freaking pages long.

Thank you for such the kind reviews, and Sia for being the idiot you are. ;) Love ya too~


01

I Am Kuroko

Boku wa Kuroko desu

High school was here.

Summer felt like nothing.

So I was a little irritated at how I didn't commence the operation of moving away to America. I wanted Tai-kun and Tatsu-kun, not a new private school with new kids and few familiar faces.

Why was life so unfair?

I was off that morning... my head had a memory of an event.

Kuroko found me sitting under a tree, my back against the trunk and stood before me.

"I left them. But we won."

"Of course you did," I mumbled, my eyes planted on the ground.

"I know how you feel. They're acting—"

"Like total jerks, Kuro-kun!" I began to shout, being quite upset. I looked up into his slightly concerned eyes. "I know I shouldn't have left because I promised them I'd come to watch, but do you know how it feels to watch your friends just become... like this? Have you noticed, Kuro-kun? Have you?"

Now, Kuroko was different from them. Yes, he was the Phantom Sixth Man, the one whom people would speak of sometimes as if he was a myth. But he had those eyes, the eyes that were like the other Miracles.

However, Kuroko was gentle and calm. He enjoyed basketball. But well, now I could see the hate in his eyes.

He could see mine.

I shook my head.

Today was choose-your-club day at Seirin High, something everyone had to participate in and choose. There were all sorts of clubs—drama, debate, chess, academics, and—

"Sports." I didn't mean to groan that aloud.

And so the memories poked back into my mind.

"I hate basketball," I said to him in such a spiteful way that his eyes slightly widened. Then, I buried my face in my knees and pathetically sniffed.

No tears escaped, but my heart felt so weak.

Kuroko was silent. Then, he bent his knees to be at my eye level, and leaned in.

I blinked small tears of small freedom at his comfortable embrace. "I do too," he whispered.

He hated basketball? So that meant... his love for basketball was also crumpled into nothingness.

"However," he let go of me, "I'll get them to realize their mistakes. I'll get the people whom they crushed to love basketball again."

I laughed a little, despite myself. "T-That's impossible."

I've said those words one too many times at my time in Teikou.

Kuroko was silent, making me look up to see if he was still there. And he hadn't moved since he let go of me, crossing his legs quietly in front of me. I sighed, "You can try, Kuro-kun. I don't know how you could, but I'd like to see you make an attempt."

But you'd fail.

Kuroko nodded. "Shiro-san, this isn't the end. I will help you love basketball again. And in return," he lightly stroked my arm, "I want to see you smile again."

And so, he left me with those words, standing up and walking away.

Clearing my mind for the second time in a row, I glanced back and forth, finding myself in the middle of a large crowd. Someone went right past me, but I only felt the presence and didn't look at whom it was. But it felt... ghostly. Familiar. Strange.

I just sat there, hugging my knees. I looked up, with the branches and leaves blocking my view from the blue sky.

"Kuroko-kun . . . I hope you're right," I said, knowing that he wasn't there.

That was my time in Teikou, with my feelings being amazed but then shattered, defeated. However, because of Kuroko, I mean it. I felt a small spark of, of something inside.

A spark of hope perhaps, that was just enough to let me believe that Kuroko might make an effect to basketball. I doubted that he'd restore the love, but he'd benefit from it nonetheless.

The memories faded, meaning I forgot the rest afterward. Not that I wanted to remember though...

My summer was all indoors, reading in bed, sleeping, and eating the ramen goodness. There were piano lessons that summer that I was decent at, but I just really wanted to forget about my middle school life, or even better, my whole entire past.

I looked at my uniform, my eyes nervously moving left and right. There were all sorts of new students surrounding me, but they all had black or brown hair, of all sorts of heights and sizes and genders.

I felt really self-conscious of my ivory white hair that was like a small little star in the infinite night sky.

Sighing, I tried walking away from the sports clubs area, but then someone dragged me into a girl's soccer club presentation. Another wanted me in cheer because my legs were slim and my stomach was flat. Well, it wasn't my fault that I didn't really like eating that much. Though, my stomach wasn't that flat . . . in fact, I had some fat in there from the sudden diet on ramen noodles.

Nonetheless, I denied them both. I didn't know how to play soccer, nor was I interested in it. Cheerleading was all miniskirts and splits, along with flipping, which I didn't do. And if I tried, I couldn't because of how stiffly inflexible I was at doing splits.

Needless to say, I was stuck in the sports clubs section for a while.

I managed to sit on a bench, away from some of the chaos. There, I spotted the tennis club, baseball club, volleyball club, and a music club. In the back, way on the other side near this pretty large tree, I knew where that lay—the basketball club.

And it wasn't like they had many players, I knew. It was a new school, after all—

"You're here?"

I looked up from my hands, thinking. At first, I squinted, because I couldn't see anyone calling me. When it struck me, my eyes widened.

Well, that explained the ghostly feeling.

"K-Kuro-kun?"

In truth, I was relieved that at the one-face-I-was-okay-with-seeing was here. Though, I wouldn't have ever guessed he'd be here of all places, a not-so well-known place. Ki-kun moved to Kaijou, Murasaki-kun to Yosen...

"Domo," Kuroko greeted.

I stood up, giving him a small, sheepish smile. "Why are you here?" I asked.

"I live near here," was his reply. I laughed at this.

"S-So, you're going to sign up for the basketball club?"

"I already have."

"Ah, haha... w-wait, what? Really?" I gave him an incredulous look. "But, you can't be serious Kuro-kun! That's j-just... hah?"

He blinked, but smiled a little. "I don't hate basketball anymore. I want to play again," he said. He looked at his open hand and fisted it tight, rotating his wrist.

I stared at his hand. "Kuro-kun, you forgive so easily." I felt a little envious. He forgave so effortlessly—

"I do?"

Despite being a shadow, he shone like the sun to me.

But hold on. "Kuro-kun," I said, looking in Kuroko's eyes, "did you say that you were part of the Teikou basketball team?"

"On the paper, yes," he replied.

"Did you say that you were a Miracle?" I pressed on.

He simply nodded.

I stared at him for the longest time. Kuroko was patient, and never found those situations awkward because of how often it happened for him. Though, I sighed, looking down. "They're going to await a Miracle like Ao-kun or Ki-kun," I told him. "T-Though, they'd be getting someone great! I'm just wondering how you'll be of help in the team, and who'd be the light to your shadow."

"If I get in the team."

I laughed a little at this. "I'm sure you will if they find you, Kuro-kun. It took me a while to actually notice your weak presence."

"Not when you were on court," Kuroko reminded me.

It wasn't that I didn't want to be reminded of my past, but it was good when I thought about Kuroko. He was just a really nice, calming person. On top of that, he was an amazing help of a basketball team and could do things on court many players couldn't predict.

So I mentally rooted for him. If he continued to play basketball, I had to support him as a friend.

Then, a question popped up, which startled me on so many levels.

"There's a manager spot available for the basketball team."

...Okay, so it wasn't a question. It was a subtle suggestion that I instantly caught.

"I'm not being the manager."

Kuroko was smiling inside. I could feel it. He was tempting me into somehow snaking myself back into basketball, or convincing myself to at least watch games and matches again.

I don't know what'd become of me if I did that again...

Suddenly, I felt his hand tug on my wrist, and we rode the chaotic people ride over to the basketball club sign-ups. I was thinking crazy things in my mind at the moment, huffing inside at Kuroko. "S-Stop!" I sputtered. Since my wrist was being held in a way I couldn't escape from, I was helplessly struggling.

Kuroko wasn't ignorant, but stubborn. Those were two completely different things.

So I was being dragged over, and there I saw a girl about my height, with short, brown hair and brown eyes peering at me. "May I help you?" she asked. Examining me, she said while pointing, "Cheerleading's that way."

I wrinkled my nose, sickened. There was no way I was going to cheer in this peppy way with a miniskirt on. I shouldn't even bother to mention the pom-poms. Oh, the pom-poms.

"I'm s-sorry, I'll just be going now," I assured her before Kuroko poked my back and I flinched. My back was strangely sensitive.

The girl cocked a brow. Two tall boys sat on either side of her in chairs, also wondering what I was doing. "Which club are you looking for? Koganei can show you where to go if that's the case," she spoke.

At the mention of his name, a cat-eyed boy with brown hair perked up. I laughed sheepishly, "Ah no, that's okay. I'll just be heading off this way—ack!"

Kuroko didn't hesitate to poke my back again. I couldn't believe that they still hadn't noticed his presence.

Sure, he was like a ghost, but I would've noticed him by now.

"You okay?" the other guy with the glasses asked.

I nodded, blushing a little. Kuroko was asking to die today. "I'm sorry, I'm a new student," I apologized.

"We can tell," the girl said with an unwavering face. 'Koganei' was amused, but the other two seemed more irritated at me, making me wince.

Seeing my action, the girl slightly softened. "But that's all good. I'm Aida Riko by the way."

I smiled, feeling relaxed now. "Yukishiro Mitsu. Nice to meet you, A-Aida-senpai!"

Aida questioned, "Do you know anyone who's interested in basketball here? We could use some good players."

I held back a laugh. Strangely enough, all of my friends played and were great at it. However, Kuroko's the only one who was enrolled here.

"Do you have Kuroko Tetsuya?" I asked. Aida shuffled through a few papers, and found Kuroko's.

"Hey, yeah... wait a minute!" she suddenly shouted. "You know a Miracle?"

Huh, what do you know? Kuro-kun really did write in that he was a Miracle in his resume.

So I nodded. "I know all of them, but—"

"Hold on." A hand halted in front of my face. "You mean to tell me that you know them? As in, met them and watched them play and have been to the school Teikou Junior High know them?"

"Well, y-yes."

Her eyes seemed to sparkle, as her hands clasped together and swooned. "You must be our eyewitness on power and strength then," she said, mostly to herself, I thought. "Therefore..."

Oh no.

Kuroko planned this, didn't he?

"You must be some sort of manager to Seirin High's basketball team!" she finished. "Please, you must."

The senpai in the glasses sighed tiredly, "We'd like for you to accept. Though, don't feel obligated to do so. Just be in it or don't, because we barely know how well you know about the actual Kiseki no Sedai."

"It'd be cool for you to come join our basketball fun!" Koganei said. "We've also collected a really neat player. What was his name? Ah, it was something ferocious. He looked tough, right Hyuga?"

"Oh yeah, him! He's from America," Aida added with a bright beam. "Cool, huh?"

I glanced if Kuroko was behind me. It probably was because I forgot he was still here, but I could no longer see him. But hearing the key word 'America' opened up my ears. "H-Hah? Really?"

"Yeah! His name's Japanese though." The glasses senpai handed Aida the paper, and said, "Kagami Taiga's his name."

That's when I froze completely. My mind had gone blank, echoing 'Kagami Taiga' over and over again. Aida was shaking my shoulder a little, as I was still fuzzily spaced out in cloud-cuckoo-land, not knowing what I was doing or saying in the outside world.

Kagami Taiga was... here?

I mean, was he really, truly here? I wasn't just hearing things?

"K-Kagami... Tai-kun?"

Aida blinked several times in confusion. "'Tai-kun'?" she repeated.

I swiveled around, staring at Kuroko with wide eyes, ignoring the fact that I may or may not have looked right at him. "Kagami Taiga! Where is he? I must see him!" I exclaimed.

This didn't make any sense to me. Kagami was in America, wasn't he? Wasn't he mad—no, furious at me for leaving? And now he was a student of a high school in Japan that happened to be where I was attending?

I blanched.

"Yukishiro?" Aida raised a brow in concern. "You okay? Oi!"

I didn't listen. My eyes were finding a certain redhead in the crowd, with a face I could never forget about. It shouldn't be that hard since he was tall, but my eyesight was a little blurred from the alarming information my brain was still processing.

"Shiro-san?" I faintly heard Kuroko say. "Do you know him?"

"He's my brother," I replied absentmindedly, jolting Aida.

"What? That's insane!" she shouted. "How many basketball players do you know?"

Finally, my body could move to my accord, and I turned to them. "S-Sorry about that... Kagami Taiga is someone I know back in America. He taught me basketball, and we were like inseparable siblings," I began to explain, despite my dry throat and scattered thoughts. I pulled out my necklace tucked under my shirt, and showed them the ring. "He has something similar to this on his neck. We played basketball all the time in America, until I moved here."

"But he's here," the guy in glasses pointed out.

"Well, I didn't know," I shyly confessed. "I tried contacting him, but he wouldn't answer my calls or reply to my texts. He never tried contacting me back either. There wasn't much I could do."

Aida ran a hand through her hair in slight frustration. "He's going to be in the gym later today. If you can come, you guys can face each other again, I guess. Just don't make much of a scene. I can't let the other new guys think that we're some sappy team that's never serious."

I felt like my lungs could breathe again. I was relieved so badly, I felt lightheaded. "T-Thank you, Aida-senpai. If it isn't much trouble to you, I'll gladly—"

"Great!" Aida's face broke out into a large grin. "In return, you ought to spill some secrets about the Miracles as our team manager!"

"Eh!? Wait a minute!"

"First thing, stop stuttering! Be a proud woman." Aida was completely ignoring what I had to say, so I reluctantly sighed and pouted.

"Aida-senpai, you can't just do that."

"What do you think, Hyuga? She's just what we need, eh?"

Hyuga, or the guy in the round glasses, shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know. She might be pretty useless if all she did with the Miracles was stare with sparkly eyes at their good-looking faces," he grumbled.

My eyes darted to him. "Hyuga-senpai, I know much about basketball. More than what you'd expect," I sharply spoke.

"That's the fire!" Aida exclaimed with a finger fixated at my face. "Yukishiro, you're pale and skinny. Your hair is white and you look fragile, like a porcelain doll or a china plate. You seem like you'd break your whole body if you played a quarter of a game," she bluntly said. "But maybe I'm underestimating you."

After a hesitation, Hyuga stood up and faced me with stern and overlooking eyes. "I'm giving you one chance. You made our coach soft, so now you prove to me that you have what it takes to benefit our team."

So this meant... that there was no turning back.

I was officially the manager of Seirin's basketball team.

"Kuroko, this is all your fault," I muttered. Behind me, I felt Kuroko's presence. It was as if it was mocking me, and me only, without a soul knowing.

"So, are you joining?" Koganei asked me.

I sighed, "Koganei-senpai, I don't have a choice, d-do I?"

Aida fist pumped the air. "She's in!" But then, she smacked me really hard on the shoulder. "But seriously, stop stuttering."


Mythia: Yay! I think?

Maybe it's just me, but the ShiroKuro (Black & White) fluff was so much fun to write. Honestly, I thought I'd suck at writing Kuroko, but it wasn't that hard, really! Maybe some parts were OOC, but I wouldn't know because I've forgotten, hahaha. ^^"

Please tell me if I'm doing anything wrong, because I really want to improve. All the time. :)