Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Kuroko no Basket!

...

...

3rd year – Teiko

"Where have you been?"

Mac paused and looked to the sofa where she now noticed her cousin seated; she had been so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed him sitting there. The fact that Kiyoshi liked her, that he wanted to be her boyfriend was still making her smile and feel giddy and unable to stop smiling. He had walked her home and given her another hug before letting her go up the apartment. His smile when he watched her had butterflies going off in her stomach.

"Taiga," Mac blinked. "I didn't see you."

"No, you looked like you were lost in cloud nine," he smirked. It was the first time he had teased her and she felt stumped for a moment before she rolled her eyes and moved toward the kitchen to make herself some tea. "So, where were you?"

"Out," Mac shrugged trying to sound nonchalant but by his crocked brow she knew she failed. She bit down at her lower lip to stop smiling not wanting to give anything away.

"Out where?" Taiga pressed making Mac give him a look.

"Playing basketball with a friend," Mac said not looking at him. She wasn't ready to tell him yet, and it wasn't him she wanted to tell first. It was so new and fresh, and she just wanted to curl up in her bed with Nao cuddled close and think and maybe then it would seem real for her.

The water boiled and she prepared a cup before pouring water into it, she glanced over at Taiga who was still looking at her.

"Do you want some tea?" she asked.

"No…thank you," he said adding the thank you in what Mac guessed was his way of being polite. She smiled a little before nodding.

"Well, I'm tired," she said, "and have some homework to finish before bed…so, good night, Taiga."

"Alright," he said, "but I will figure out who your friend is."

Mac rolled her eyes but smiled at her cousin as she passed him and walked to her room. She gently closed the door. She put the cup on her nightstand before walking to the desk and picked up her sketchpad, she felt like drawing a little before bed. She would do her homework tomorrow; she couldn't focus on that now.

Mac sat down on the bed and smiled when Nao cuddled close next to her, and started to draw. She wanted to catch the moment where Kiyoshi had claimed her as her girlfriend forever; she wanted to be able to remember how safe and happy she felt at that moment when she looked back at it later.

...

Daiki frowned slightly as he stared at Mac who was sketching, she normally would have been working on her homework right about now because she had a busy schedule and with the magic on top of the Teiko work she barely had time to do it. Not if she wanted any free time when they were finished at school. Yet, she was sketching. Sketching and smiling, something was up and he was not in the know. She smiled at odd times like she remembered something that made her happy and he was sure he even heard her giggle when she read a text on her phone. Mac didn't giggle. Not like that.

"Daiki," Seijuro broke his thoughts and Daiki glared at the Captain who arched a brow making Daiki look away uncomfortable.

"Akashi," Daiki said and glanced behind him to see Shintaro and Ryota standing there as well. "Guys."

"What are you doing?" Seijuro asked or demanded.

"Just…trying to figure out what Kenzie is up to," Daiki grudgingly admitted knowing better than to lie to him.

"Oh?" Seijuro raised his brows in surprise and looked over at Mac who was focused on the sketch and seemingly was unaware of being watched. He frowned slightly when he spotted the almost dreamy smile on her face. What was that about? "Hm, I see."

"She looks…un-Mac-like," Ryota said, "what happened?"

"Shh!" Daiki snapped at him. "She'll hear you!"

"And we're spying on her…why?" Shintaro asked stoically but he too looked curious even as he tried to hide it.

"Not spying…just…observing," Daiki snapped. "It's strange. She's not acting like herself."

Daiki looked back at his best friend to see her check her phone and smile before typing something on it and placing it back in her bag.

"You know," Mac suddenly said loud enough for them to hear her and her grass green eyes snapped over to them with a look that was a cross between amused and exasperated. "I can hear you. You're not doing a very good job at spying on me."

She placed her sketchbook in her bag and got up adjusting the bag over her shoulder and waved at them before leaving through the other door. Daiki sighed and shook his head before glaring at the others. It was their fault she discovered them, he wouldn't have been discovered.

...

Mac rolled her eyes at the obviousness of her boys, it was hilarious that they thought they were so sneaky and that she didn't know they were staring at her. She'd known since Daiki first started, but ignored him and then them in favour of her sketching and chatting with Kiyoshi over texts. He had been sharing the latest stunts from his team with her and she had smiled and laughed at the antics they got up to. She kind of wanted to meet them, but was unsure if Kiyoshi would like that. Maybe he didn't want them to know he had a girlfriend, not one that was a year younger than him. She frowned a little as the uncertainty suddenly hit her. What did he want with someone like her? She wasn't…

"Ouch!" Mac grumbled as she suddenly collided with someone and stumbled back. The sound of a something crashing to the floor and a pained groaned hit her and she looked to see a girl with light pink hair wearing the school uniform sitting ungraciously on the floor and a basket lying next to her tipped over with the towels spread around.

"Shit," Mac muttered before rubbing her chest where the basket had collided with her. "I'm so sorry. Are you ok?"

The girl looked up at her and she saw the matching pink eyes and Mac felt a stab of guilt when spotting the tears starting to form in her eyes. Hurriedly Mac sat down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you hurt? Did I hurt you?" Mac asked quickly. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going…and then… well, I wasn't paying attention and it's my fault. Are you hurt?"

The girl blinked trying to follow her ramble, Mac was sure, and then she smiled shyly at her.

"I'm fine," she said sitting up more properly and started to gather the towels she had dropped. Mac reached out and grabbed one close to her and placed it in the basket. She helped the girl gather them all before standing up. She brushed her clothes off taking notice that they were on their own in the hallway.

"Thank you for helping me, Potter-san," the girl said making Mac look at her again.

Mac tilted her head as she observed the other girl. She was pretty with her pink hair and pink eyes, she looked a little flushed but Mac guessed that was because of the fall and embarrassment. She did look a little familiar, but Mac couldn't place her.

"It was my fault, so of course I should help picking it up," Mac finally said. "Are you sure you're fine?"

"I'm sure," she said smiling at Mac, "I have to get going. Bye."

"Alright," Mac said pensively. "See you around."

The girl looked at her for a moment before rushing off again leaving a thoughtful Mac behind. There was something about that girl that Mac wanted to learn more about. It was something about the way she looked at her, like the girl had been trying to read her. Mac shook her head and started to move toward the gym and what she supposed would be very suspicious teammates.

Given the spying from earlier Mac didn't really feel like telling them anything, so she decided to wait. She would tell them about Kiyoshi, eventually, but right now they deserved to stew. She felt a little vindictive today, so she would let them guess and try to figure her out. If they asked directly, then maybe…maybe she would tell them.

...

Mac sat beside Tetsuya who glanced at her questionably from time to time, but she ignored it and wrote in her notebook as the second strings were practicing. It wasn't like it was anything to exciting, but it was part of what she had to do. She was still thinking about what Sanada had asked her to, and she knew she had to decide who would be the one she would teach. She just hadn't seen anyone who seemed to get it.

"Are you avoiding the others?" Tetsuya asked.

Mac glanced at him for a second before looking back at the court.

"Maybe," she said.

"Why?" Tetsuya asked her sounding confused.

"Just feel like it," she shrugged. "When they decide to ask me directly I'll talk to them, but trying to spy on me and find out what they want to know…I won' talk to them."

He frowned, "spy?"

She shrugged and smiled at him, "don't worry about it, Tetsu. They'll find out eventually. I just feel like teaching them a lesson. Don't warn them, please?"

"Alright," he said confused.

"Thanks," Mac said before blinking when she saw the girl from earlier just stepping inside the gym with another basket with towels. So this was where she had seen her before. Mac felt bad and annoyed at herself for not recognise someone who was working with the team. She thought she was better than this… was she really so hung up on her own life and her friends that she didn't even remember those who helped the team?

"Sorry, Tetsu, I have to talk to someone," Mac said and got up.

"Ok," Tetsuya said agreeably like always.

...

"Hi," Mac said making the pink-haired girl look up and Mac saw the surprise in her eyes when she saw Mac.

"Hi, Potter-san," she said, "can I help you with something?"

"You ok from before?" Mac asked still a little worried.

"Of course," the girl said looking a little surprised.

"What's your name?" Mac asked. "I'm sorry, I can't remember if I've ever heard it before…"

"You probably haven't." the girl answered with a shy smile, "It's my first year, so it's not that long ago since I started this school."

"Ok," Mac said feeling a little better, but not a lot. "So, your name?"

"Momoi Satsuki," Momoi said.

"Nice to meet you, Momoi-san," Mac said, "I'm Mackenzie Potter."

"I know," she said, "I heard of you even before starting the school. Who hasn't heard of the Generation of Miracles?"

Mac snorted amusedly. "I suppose."

Momoi smiled and went back to folding the towels, and Mac reached out to help.

"What are you doing?" Momoi asked.

"What does it look like?" Mac smirked at her, "helping."

"But…" Momoi frowned.

"Look, I'm a manager too," Mac said, "and while I normally deal with the analysing and technical aspects of it beside the playing, I used to do this as well."

Momoi smiled and nodded and they worked in silence for a little while. Mac kept observing her, she was curious. While she still felt a little uncomfortable and unsure of how to interact with her, she wasn't used to dealing with other girls. They normally kept a distance from her, or was it her that kept a distance from them? Well, anyway, she wasn't sure how to talk to her and get her talking. But she was curious about her and wanted to see what she could do. She saw how Momoi looked toward the court and watched the players, and Mac saw the look in her eyes. She wasn't looking for a cute boy, but she was studying the way they played.

"You always wanted to join the basketball club?" Mac asked after a while.

"I suppose," Momoi said, "I like basketball. I'm not a good player, but I like working on making someone good. I saw you once, I was with my older brother to watch him play and they played you when you were in your first year. You weren't playing then, but I saw how the team relied on you and how you kept telling them what to do. Almost more than your coach did. He relied on you too…You were the reason they were so good. I wanted…I wanted that."

Mac looked down and her hair fell to shield her face from view so Momoi couldn't see the shadow of guilt in her eyes. She was the reason…she was the reason they became like this. She fisted her hands and tried to focus on what Momoi said. She knew that the other girl didn't mean it like this.

"You won and my brother was disappointed, but he was also admiring how you and your team worked," Momoi said. "I want to be able to do that, so I joined the basketball club when I joined High School. I decided to join Teiko, and…"

Mac glanced up and looked at the shy girl who looked down, she saw the blush on her cheeks.

"And?" Mac asked quietly.

"Nothing," Momoi said seemingly realising she had said more than she planned to. Mac let her drop the subject and tried to process what she heard.

Mac heard the whistle and saw Sanada walk back toward his office and the practice was over, she saw her friends looking over at her and rolled her eyes when she saw the speculative looks from them.

"Please come to practice tomorrow from the beginning, ok?" Mac said as she put the last of the towels down and took a step back.

"Sure, but why?" Momoi asked confused.

Mac smiled at her and waved, "just be there."

Momoi nodded and Mac turned to walk toward the bag she had left standing by the bench before going to the locker room to change.

...

"Hi uncle Tarou," Mac smiled when she saw her uncle seated on the sofa when she got home. Nao was already running toward her room wanting to find a spot to sleep, but she paused as her uncle looked up from the file he was reading and gave her a smile. Again she was reminded of the difference between the Dursley's and Tarou. He seemed genuinely happy to see her.

"Mac," he smiled, "how are you?"

"I'm fine," Mac smiled. "Just a little tired and has a lot of homework to do."

"Magic or normal?" he asked putting the file down and focused on her.

"Both," Mac shrugged walking over to the sofa and sat down when he motioned for her to do so.

"How are you handling your studies, Mac?" he asked. "It can't be easy to have both kinds of studies and still have time for basketball." He smiled when he saw the surprised look in her eyes. "Taiga told me you both played. I wanted to thank you for that; it was the first time I saw Taiga looking remotely happy since we moved."

"Nothing to thank me for," Mac said confused. "I like basketball and had fun playing with Taiga."

Tarou smiled and Mac felt a little embarrassed and shifted in her seat.

"And I'm handling my studies alright," Mac said, "I've passed the second year level; Professor Sato gave me the result today. Since I'm studying on my own like I do he can adjust the pace only after me. I like it even if it is hard sometimes."

Tarou nodded looking at her thoughtfully, "you're a very dedicated young girl, Mac."

Mac shrugged and looked away from her uncle a faint blush in her cheeks at the praise from someone who was a guardian.

"Where is Taiga?" Mac asked changing the subject.

"He went out to play some basketball," Tarou said. "I'm sure he'll be back soon."

"Ok," Mac said and got back to her feet. "I should get started on the homework."

"Ok," Tarou smiled and went back to his file.

...

Mac stretched as she leaned back in her chair and yawned widely as she felt the tiredness settle over her. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was already eleven at night and she had to get to sleep soon. Her stomach grumbled reminding her that she hadn't eaten for a long time, sighing she got up as she closed her potion book and placed it back in the bag so she knew where it was for her lesson on Monday.

Nao blinked at her when she moved toward the door before getting to his feet and jumped off the bed to follow her out of her room. He padded after her and barked softly when she reached the kitchen.

"You'll get something to eat as well, Nao," Mac told him, "I'm sorry I forgot to eat and getting you some food, Nao."

"You talk like he understands you," Taiga said making her jump slightly and spin around to see her cousin entering the room looking a little ruffled, his hair was wilder and he was clearly ready for bed.

"Make a sound or something!" Mac gasped and glared at him when he looked amused. "And yeah, Nao understands me."

Taiga shook his head and looked at Nao growled softly and eyed the large teen. He hadn't gotten used to the new addition to her family yet, but he didn't growl as hard anymore. That was something, she supposed. She saw Taiga eye Nao warily as he stepped closer to the counter and eyed the food Mac was preparing.

Mac having noticed snorted amused at the way his eyes followed the food. He was very much like Daiki when it came to food it seemed.

"Want something to eat?" Mac asked amused.

"Sure!" Taiga said and Mac chuckled before going back to prepared the food.

Soon it was finished and placed on the table, she had planned on taking it back to her room but with Taiga there she guessed she could eat with him. The new understanding and bond between them as cousins was still new and fragile, but Mac wanted to see if she could maybe have a friendship with her cousin.

Mac was feeding Nao a piece of her food when she noticed that Taiga was looking at her, she glanced over at him and he looked away like he hadn't been looking at all. She mentally shrugged and went back to watch Nao eat with his adorable concentration, it was fascinating.

Again she felt Taiga looking at her and she looked at him, this time he didn't look away but he looked uncomfortable and unsure. There was a faint blush on his cheeks and she wondered what had him so uncomfortable now.

"Something wrong, Taiga?" Mac asked breaking the silence that filled the room.

"Um…no….um," Taiga stumbled making Mac tilt her head slightly as she watched him. He seemed to inhale deeply and calm himself before he looked at her with a more determined look. "Can you help me with my basketball?" He rushed out.

Mac's eyebrow went up as she stared at her cousin. She hadn't expected that, but perhaps she should have. She looked at him and let her mind think about it for a moment. Was she ready to help someone else to play? Would the same thing happen again? Would he become like her friends, like Daiki if she did?

She gave him a serious look at her heart filled with apprehension and hesitation, she couldn't help but think it might be a mistake…but maybe it wouldn't be? Maybe….her eyes narrowed as she looked at him as a new idea was starting to form in her mind. Maybe, just maybe, this was the answer… she knew that Taiga was good and could reach far, so maybe…maybe he was what was missing.

"Ok," Mac said deciding to take the chance. "I'll help you."

"Great," Taiga said relieved.

...

"Morning," Kiyoshi's voice sounded and Mac grinned as her heart sped up a little at the sound of his voice through the phone.

"Morning," she answered.

"What do you have planned today?" Kiyoshi asked easily and she smiled.

"I'm at school," Mac said looking at the slowly filling gym. She was on her own for now by the benches having just arrived and changed ready for their practice. She briefly wondered if Momoi would show up or not.

"Why? It's Saturday," Kiyoshi sounded confused.

"Morning practice," Mac explained, "we do that sometimes."

"No wonder you're so good," he muttered and she wasn't sure he meant for her to hear him or not so she didn't comment on it. "Want to meet up when you're finished with practice?"

"That would be nice," Mac said not noticing that both Seijuro and Daiki had entered the gym and had paused just inside the door and was watching her. She was too preoccupied with her conversation. "I'm guessing we're finished in about two hours, but I might be a little late because I'm going to start training a new manager."

"Oh? You've found someone you want to teach?" Kiyoshi asked curiously.

"Yes, I'll tell you about her later today," Mac said and blinked when she saw her two friends within earshot and clearly having heard her last comment given the identical frowns on their faces. "I have to go. I'm being stared at by two idiots, but talk to you later."

"Ah, ok," Kiyoshi laughed. "See you soon, Mac."

She hung up and arched a brow at them, "something you want?"

"Who was that?" Seijuro asked his eyes narrowed as he stared at her. "Tell me who you're going to meet after practice."

Daiki nodded but didn't say anything next to him, and Mac stared at them for a moment. She felt a little disappointed at the demanding tone, and she saw that they really believed they had a right to the answer.

Spotting Momoi hesitating just inside the door behind her two boys she pushed past them making them scowl at her, but she ignored them as she made her way over to the younger girl.

...

"Hi Momoi-san," Mac smiled a little feeling a little tense as she stepped up to the girl. "You made it."

"Hi Potter-san," Momoi smiled shyly. "You told me to be here, but I don't know why…"

Mac chuckled, but before she could answer they were interrupted by a certain blond who threw himself at Mac making her stumble a little.

"Mac!" Ryota wailed. "Midorima-cchi is mean to me!"

Mac pushed him away and gave him a blank look before looking behind him to see an exasperated Shintaro staring at them. He pushed his glasses up on his nose with his free hand and she saw the leather notebook in his other hand.

"Indoor voices, Kise!" Mac scolded the blond, "and don't lunge for me like that."

"Okay," Ryota mumbled looking chastised before brightening again when he noticed Momoi staring at them with wide eyes. "Who are you?"

"She's a manager," Mac answered before Momoi could say anything, "and she's here because I asked her to, so please, would you go and get ready for practice while I finish explaining for Momoi-san why I asked her to come."

"Alright," Ryota beamed and waved before rushing toward the locker room. Shintaro followed at a more sedate pace and only after giving Mac a searching look to which she smiled back. Only because she knew him so well did she detect the relief in his green eyes before he walked away.

"So, with the interruption out of the way, let's finish the talk," Mac said turning back to Momoi who was still watching her curiously. Mac blinked. "What?"

"Nothing…I just, I didn't realise just how close you were to them," Momoi said.

Mac furrowed her brows a little and rubbed the back of her neck, she looked to the other side and saw both Daiki and Seijuro still watching them from where she had left them, Atsushi had just exited the locker room and was munching on a bag of chips. Tetsuya was talking with a second string player looking thoughtful and Mac wondered what they were talking about.

"Well, yeah, I supposed so," Mac said looking back at Momoi, "they're my best friends. Though, they can be a handful at times."

Momoi nodded with a smile but didn't say anything else.

"I wanted to ask you if you were interested in learning more about analysing games and players," Mac said bringing the conversation back to the original topic. She saw the surprise in Momoi's eyes as she stared at Mac.

"What? Really?" Momoi asked when Mac hadn't said anything else.

"Yes," Mac nodded looking at Momoi closely, she wanted to see if she really were interested. "Sanada-sensei asked me to find someone to teach what I do. I'm in my last year here and he has to think about how the team can remain strong even after we leave. So, he asked me to teach someone how I analyse the games and players."

"But why me?" Momoi asked confused.

"Because you showed an interest," Mac said simply. "You actually like it and you focus on the way they play and not if the guy is hot or not." Mac smiled wryly and Momoi giggled. "So, you interested?"

"Yes!" Momoi said a wide smile breaking out on her face. Mac nodded and looked around to find Sanada who had just left his office and noticed Mac looking at him so he changed his course so he walked toward her.

"Potter-san," Sanada greeted when he joined them and looked curiously at Momoi.

"This is Momoi Satsuki," Mac introduced, "she's one of the managers for second string." She told him that because she knew that he most likely didn't know everyone who was on the managing team, especially if they didn't deal with the first strings. It wasn't good, but it was how it was, especially now after Shirogane wasn't the coach anymore.

Sanada greeted her before looking back at Mac who repressed a sigh. She was still not too happy with him given what he had said to Daiki, she wanted to ask him why he had said it but given that Daiki had told her to let it go she hadn't. Didn't mean she wouldn't at one point though, but not now. She instead filled him in on what she had decided and saw the new interested look in his eyes as he looked at Momoi.

"Ok," Sanada said when Mac finished. "Good, why don't you sit together today and show her your notes and go through it?"

...

Momoi listened as Mac talked and read her notes and she couldn't believe how detailed and thorough it all was. There was barely a detail missing in her observation of the players, naturally, the first string players were best documented, but there was also quite a lot on the second strings even a few third strings.

"Wow," Momoi said when the practice ended and Mac glanced over at her. Momoi could barely read the expression on Mac's face when she looked at her, but she thought she saw a little nervousness under the carefully arranged mask of a friendly smile. It was hard to look through the mask she put up, she would guess that most wouldn't even see that it was a mask in the first place. "You've put a lot of work into this."

"I guess I have," Mac shrugged looking over at the court. "I love the game ever since I started playing when I was 8. It was what Daiki and I did together, he would barely be away from a basketball court back then."

Momoi didn't miss the nostalgic tone in her voice and looked over at where Daiki was walking toward the locker room. He was yawing and looked like he had been asleep. It was kind of hard to picture someone who loved basketball by watching him. She glanced at Mac who was picking up her notebooks not paying attention to her friends.

"I like being detailed," Mac continued seemingly unaware of Momoi's thoughts. "It helps and you'll learn how to read the game better if you know the players. You learn how they think and what their talents are, and you can predict what they'll do."

"Sounds good," Momoi said and Mac nodded.

There was a buzzing sound coming from Mac's bag and Mac reached to pull up her phone, Momoi blinked at the genuine smile that spread on her face as she read the text on her phone. Momoi didn't miss the small blush on the older girl's cheeks and arched a brow surprised.

Mac placed her phone back and blinked when she saw Momoi look at her making Momoi smile, her intuition going off as she looked at Mac who blushed under Momoi's stare.

"What?" Mac asked a little gruffly.

"Your boyfriend?" Momoi asked with an arched brow neither noticing Atsushi close by who stiffened at the word.

"Um, yeah," Mac said sounding shy and happy.

"Really? How long have you been together?" Momoi asked curiously.

"Not long," Mac said getting up and Momoi could see that she wasn't about to say much more. "I have to go, but we'll talk later Momoi-san. You did well today."

"Thank you," Momoi smiled pleased and couldn't wait until she got home and tell her brother about her day. He would be happy for her, she knew it.

...

"Mac-chin has a boyfriend!"

Daiki's head snapped up from where he had been tying his shoelace in the locker room. Atsushi's voice echoed in the almost empty room and he heard the sharp sound of a locker being slammed shut somewhere to his side but his eyes were locked on Atsushi who was scowling looking larger than normal.

"Wh-what?" Ryota was the first to find his voice. His eyes were comically wide as he stared at Atsushi in horror.

"Explain," Seijuro's cold voice sounded. It wasn't loud but even then it was as if it was echoing through the room. Daiki glanced over at him and saw his eyes narrowed with a hard look in his heterochromatic eyes and hands fisted, it had been him that had slammed the locker door shut. His hand still fisted against the door.

Atsushi seemed to feel the pressure from Seijuro's look and swallowed a little as he looked at the Captain who was close to doing something, even though Daiki didn't know what. He pushed the thoughts about Seijuro away and focused on Mac. She had a boyfriend? How? Who? And why hadn't she told him… he frowned at the tightness he felt in his chest but pushed it away, he couldn't worry about what that was right now.

"I heard that new girl with Mac-chin ask Mac if the text she got was her boyfriend and Mac said yes," Atsushi explained hurriedly.

"Who?" Seijuro asked or demanded.

"I-I don't know," Atsushi scowled. "She didn't say."

"Did she see you?" Shintaro asked calmly but there was a glint in his eyes that showed how he felt.

"No," Atsushi shook his head. "They didn't."

"Mac-cchi can't have a boyfriend! She's too young, too innocent!" Ryota wailed dramatically in the background. "He'll corrupt her! We have to stop her!"

Daiki scowled and secretly agreed with Ryota. Who could her boyfriend be? It was obvious that this was the reason for her changed behaviour lately, her dreamy smiles and the way she avoided them. She was already being pulled away from them, he ignored the small voice in his mind that said him.

"Where is she?" Seijuro asked with a forced calm voice.

"She was still talking with the new girl when I left to find you," Atsushi said still scowling. "I don't like it, Aka-chin. We need to protect Mac-chin. Mac-chin is ours."

Seijuro nodded and walked toward the door, Daiki got up to follow and noticed that the others did the same. Even Tetsuya even if he looked doubtful and pensive as he looked at them all.

...

They found the new girl by herself gathering her things when they left the locker room and Daiki scowled. He followed Seijuro over to her and saw her eyes widen when she saw them all standing in front of her. She took a small step back picking up on their scowls and tense manner.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Where is Mac?" Seijuro asked without any form of greeting.

The girl, Momoi, blinked and looked around at them all before looking back at an impatient Seijuro. Daiki briefly thought she should answer soon before Seijuro lashed out at her for disobeying him.

"She left," Momoi said and Daiki groaned.

"Where?" Daiki asked and Momoi looked over at him.

"She didn't say," Momoi said.

Seijuro looked at her for a moment before he walked past her without another look, Daiki followed him since he seemed to have an idea of what to do while he was still reeling over the fact that Mac had a boyfriend. He wasn't even aware that she was hanging out with boys that weren't on the team… wait… no, it couldn't be…

"Akashi-san, where are we going?" Of course, Tetsuya was the one brave enough to ask something from Seijuro when he as in one of his moods.

"We're going to find her," Seijuro said so sure that he had no doubt that they would find their missing friend.

...

Mac smiled when she saw her boyfriend standing there waiting for her. She saw him smile when he saw her and waved at her looking like she had made his day just showing up. It made her heart beat faster just thinking that she was important enough for someone to react like that.

"Mac!" Kiyoshi grinned.

"Kiyoshi," Mac smiled back feeling a little shy but also happy.

"Teppei," he corrected her, "call me Teppei."

"Okay, Teppei," Mac said trying the name and he grinned so wide that she couldn't help but laugh.

"Hungry?" he asked her.

"Yeah," Mac said. "just finished practice so haven't had a chance to eat yet."

"Let's go and find something to eat then," Kiyoshi said and grabbed her hand. Mac smiled and looked down hiding the small blush she was sure was in her cheeks. She squeezed his hand lightly and he squeezed back.

They talked on their way to the closest Maji Burger where they were going to have lunch. Despite her protests, he paid for her lunch before finding a free table by the windows. They sat across of each other as they ate.

"How was practice?" Kiyoshi asked.

"Good," Mac glanced at him. "I spent it showing Momoi-san my notes and observations."

"And Momoi-san is the girl you're going to teach like your coach asked you to?" Kiyoshi asked.

"Yeah," Mac said, "I only met her yesterday but she shows promise and she's interested. I think she'll be a very good analyst and manager for the team when I leave."

Kiyoshi nodded and smiled at her. He arched a brow when Mac reached over and grabbed some of his fries.

"Something wrong with yours?" he asked amused.

"No, not really," Mac shrugged as she took a bit of his fried making him laugh and shake his head.

They talked and laughed having a good time not paying attention to the others in the place or the looks they got, some amused and some jealous.

"Mac-nee!" Suddenly a voice sounded interrupting Mac and Kiyoshi debating the latest book they had read. She turned around in her seat just in time before a small body collided with hers and she saw Ayano looking amused from a few feet away. "Mum took me to eat after football practice. I didn't know you would be here too!"

"Shiro," Mac said hugging him back. "Careful or I'll lose my ability to breath."

Shiro giggled and pulled back, he then frowned when he noticed Kiyoshi and Mac sighed. She knew that Shiro could be very possessive.

"Who's that?" Shiro asked rudely and Mac sighed.

"Shiro," Ayano scolded from behind him having come up to the table. She smiled apologetically at both Mac and Kiyoshi, "don't be rude."

Shiro frowned but didn't say anything.

Mac glanced at Kiyoshi who looked curious and smiled warmly at her. She inhaled deeply and looked at Shiro and Ayano, Ayano seemed to have an idea of what was going on and was smiling.

"Teppei, this is my little brother Shiro and his mother Aomine Ayano," Mac said gently, "and this is my boyfriend, Kiyoshi Teppei."

"Hi," Kiyoshi smiled waving at the two. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Kiyoshi-san." Ayano smiled as she glanced between him and Mac. "I think we're interrupting a date."

Mac blushed but smiled. "It's alright."

"Boyfriend?" Shiro frowned and looked at Kiyoshi who met his eyes calmly. "Mac-nee is mine."

"I'll always be your sister, Shiro," Mac told him gently, "nothing will change that."

Shiro glared at Kiyoshi but it lessened when Mac nudged him good-heartedly.

"You better treat my sister right," Shiro told him.

"I promise," Kiyoshi nodded and Shiro nodded but scowled a little. He pulled away from Mac and went to stand beside his mother who was smiling still.

"We'll leave you be," Ayano said, "please stop by sometime soon, Mac. We miss you at home."

Mac knew she wanted to talk to her about Kiyoshi so she nodded and waved when the two left. She turned back to Kiyoshi who was still smiling at her.

"Sorry about that," Mac said.

"Nothing to apologize for," he said and she could tell he meant it.

...

They went to a small amusement park when they finished eating and Mac told him about one time Daiki had taken her there, Kiyoshi was laughing at the story but she missed the small frown on his face when she wasn't looking. He did, however, push it away and held her hand tightly in his as they walked between the stands.

"Oh, we have to try this one!" Mac said when she saw the basketball challenge.

"You don't think it's cheating?" Kiyoshi smiled as he watched some other boys try to impress a girl by shooting a small basketball through the hoop. He missed.

"Why?" Mac blinked innocently, "it's not a rule against a basketball player to try."

Kiyoshi laughed and nodded and allowed her to pull him over to the stand where the boy and girl just left. The teenager in the stand smiled at them and asked if they wanted to try. Kiyoshi paid for their five tries and exchanged a look with Mac who was smiling looking relaxed.

"Come on," Mac said.

Kiyoshi chuckled and took his position, he made the five shots and won the prize a medium size teddy-bear.

"Here," he said handing it over to her.

"Aw, so cute!" Mac beamed and hugged the teddy-bear close. Kiyoshi laughed and took her hand again as they started to walk again.

...

"There they are!" Ryota said staring at Mac who was just receiving a teddy-bear from who he recognised as Kiyoshi Teppei. The player from Shoei who was now in High School, they had seen him once before when he had been waiting for her outside the school.

Seijuro frowned as he recognised Kiyoshi Teppei. He was holding Mac's hand and she was holding a teddy-bear in her other arm. He must be her boyfriend, but for how long? Since that day outside the school when he was waiting for her? Mac had said he was only a friend… did she lie? He narrowed his eyes as he looked at them from their hiding spot. He ignored the strange looks they gathered from people that passed by.

Daiki felt his heart drop when his concern was proven right. Her boyfriend was Kiyoshi Teppei, he couldn't understand the feelings going through him as he watched them. The smile on Mac's face or the easy way she seemed to laugh. He fisted his hands as he stared at them, barely aware of his friends around him.

Mac closed her eyes and inhaled for a moment as she caught sight of movement from the corner of her eyes and she recognized her friends who were trying to hide. She should have known that they would show up, and she could only hope they didn't scare Kiyoshi off with their reaction. She was sure it wouldn't be pretty.

"I think I should apologize to you now," Mac said making Kiyoshi arch a brow at her. "My friends seem to have decided to spy and follow me here."

"Ah," Kiyoshi said. "They didn't know?"

"No, because they decided to spy on me instead of asking me," Mac said sighing, "I just wanted to be happy and not have to deal with their overprotectiveness right away. I would have told them if they'd talked to me, but they kept trying to figure it out without talking to me so… I decided to teach them a lesson. Seems like it backfired."

"Come let's talk to your friends," Teppei smiled and pushed a strand of her hair out of her face as he said it making her smile back at him.

They didn't give away that they had spotted her friends as they walked down the path until they reached the stall where they were hiding and Mac stopped and looked directly at them. If she hadn't been so annoyed she would have found their shock and guilty looks at being discovered amusing.

"Something fascinating behind there?" Mac asked with a raised brow.

"You never told us you had a boyfriend," Seijuro said coolly stepping out from the hiding place without any trace of shame or embarrassment. His cold eyes landed on Kiyoshi who met his eyes calmly even if he felt a little uncomfortable under the cold glare.

"Kenzie, why didn't you say anything…" Daiki said looking like a lost puppy at her but glared at Kiyoshi when he glanced over at him. "You said he was a friend."

Mac sighed and tried to ignore the stab at her heart when she picked up the hurt under both Daiki and Seijuro's words.

"When I said he was a friend, then he was a friend," Mac explained, "he's only been my boyfriend for a couple of days."

They looked at her and she met their eyes.

"Hello," Kiyoshi decided to speak up and bring the attention back to him. He smiled easily at them and waved good-heartedly even as they glared; only Tetsuya smiled a little back at him. "It's nice meeting you all again, Mac has told me a lot about you all."

Seijuro glanced between them for a moment before stepping out and looked at him even with the difference in height he managed to look intimidating but Kiyoshi didn't seem bothered by it all as he looked down at Seijuro with a polite smile on his face. Mac saw the contemplative look in her boyfriend's brown eyes though and knew he was thinking about something.

"You're rather short aren't you?" Kiyoshi suddenly said and Mac stilled next to him while the others looked shocked and paled dramatically while they could practically see the aura around Seijuro darken. Mac wasn't the only one who looked worried for Kiyoshi's safety now, even the rest of the team looked like they might fear for his life now.

"What did you say?" Seijuro low voice sounded menacing and dangerous and Mac was starting to worry that this would end even worse than she had originally thought.

"Teppei," Mac warned and squeezed his hand in hers. "Seijuro, he didn't mean it like you think…"

"Eh? No, of course not," Kiyoshi blinked, "I just meant that it's impressive that you've gotten so good at basketball given that basketball normally is a sport that favours tall players."

Mac snorted and ignored the looks she got from her friends. She relaxed slightly as Seijuro's expressions calmed somewhat as he gave the taller Centre a considering look. Mac looked at Seijuro and then at Daiki, she knew that those were the two who would be the hardest to convince and if being honest with herself also the two she really wanted to accept this.

Mac looked at Daiki who hadn't said much and was looking back at her with a look she couldn't read before looking over at Kiyoshi and frowned a little.

"If you hurt Kenzie I will hurt you," Daiki suddenly said and stepped in front of Kiyoshi so he was in his personal space and Mac noticed that Daiki was a little shorter than Kiyoshi, but he glared at him all the same. Kiyoshi looked at him before nodding in understanding. Mac smiled a little, but Daiki looked away and turned around before walking away. She frowned but let him go, she supposed that this was the closest she would get to an acceptance for right now. She would talk to him later when he'd had time to think and process everything.

"That goes for the rest of us to," Seijuro spoke up with a calm voice and a smirk played on his lips. "Hurt her and we'll deal with you."

"Ok! Stop threatening my boyfriend," Mac interrupted.

"It's our job as your friends to threaten your boyfriend," Seijuro said looking at her. "So, stop complaining."

Mac frowned but Kiyoshi just laughed and squeezed her hand.

...

...

AN: Thank you for reading!