Title : Regression

By: revenanttrickster

Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basket is owned by Fujimaki Tadatoshi

A/N: Thanks: Kuroshiroryuu, LyricoJ, BrokenBlackCat, samijackson, NekoTama-1110, flowingshadows, KnB fan, Quetoa, Myadorabletetsuya, Crossroader32, newerher3, My Lunatic Crow, Xxdreamergirl95xX, KyGazer, miki565, Booklover2526, kikigirl4321, Shald120, Bekaaronketchum, Kurosaki Yukia, Anonymouse, aerean94, Kuro-Inazumi, Anglo-Chan, Guest, AnimeAngelChick, minerbbi for the reviews! And for those who favorite and follow this story, thank you so much! It's now 100+! XD. Anyway, please enjoy reading this chapter, too!

Chapter 4: Lucky Items…

"Midorima (Midorimacchi/Midorin)!" everyone exclaimed in surprise.

Standing there was Midorima Shintarou, ace and shooting guard of Shuutoku High School basketball club. He was wearing his school uniform, his left hand, taped in bandages, was holding two chocolate bars and the other one was holding his bag.

Pointing at the green-haired boy, Kagami demanded, "What are you doing here Midorima?"

Midorima pushed his glasses at the bridge of his nose. "I'm here to return the book Kuroko lend me last week," he said. "As well as to give Kuroko his lucky item for the day which is a chocolate bar since according to Oha-Asa, Aquarius' rank is in last place. By the way, Cancer's lucky item is also a chocolate bar."

'You're too late! And we didn't ask what your lucky item is!' everyone thought.

Kise spotted that something or rather someone was missing. "Um, Midorimacchi, you're alone?" he asked.

"If you're asking for Takao, he's not here. His mother asked him to come home early so he couldn't go with me," Midorima clarified.

He regarded all of them. "Now that I've answered all your questions, let me ask. Who is that kid?" He pointed at the kid, who was still being carried by Aomine.

Everyone was inwardly panicking and trying to think up an excuse, aside from Aomine who had no problem about it. And he bluntly told Midorima, "Huh? What are you talking about? It's Tetsu."

They turned to Aomine in outrage. 'Ahoumine!' all of them angrily thought.

Aomine noticed that everyone was glaring at him and snorted. "What? You think Midorima will accept one of your pathetic excuses? He'll know that this is Tetsu anyway, so why bother?"

"I hate to say this but Aomine is right," Midorima half-heartedly agreed.

Aomine scowled at him for that but didn't say anything else.

Midorima intently eyed little Kuroko and Kuroko stared right back. "How did Kuroko turn into a kid?"

Riko had enough of hearing that question and she was starting to get annoyed at the members of the Generation of Miracles who keep dropping out of nowhere. And also she was starting to get tired of explaining Kuroko's transformation over and over again. So she shouted at her team, "Ugh! I'm tired of explaining this! Somebody switch with me!"

The Seirin basketball club members tried to calm down their coach. They don't want to pressure her out because if she was stressed, it means a hellish practice for all of them. Hyuuga, being the captain, volunteered and explain the circumstances to the green-haired ace.

"I see. I guess I was too late," Midorima said after hearing what happened.

Momoi recalled what Midorima said earlier and asked him, "Hey Midorin, you said that Tetsu-kun's lucky item today is a chocolate bar, right?"

"That's right."

She turned to Kiyoshi who was beside her and asked, "And the candy that Tetsu-kun ate was vanilla-flavored, right?"

Kiyoshi nodded. "Yes, it was vanilla."

"Then, what if we let Tetsu-kun eat the chocolate bar that Midorin brought? It might cancel the candy's effect," Momoi suggested to them.

Kagami crossed his arms against his chest. "Just because they have the opposite flavors doesn't mean that it will work."

"But it might work," Koganei argued back. "We won't know unless we try."

"He's right," the others agreed and approved Momoi's plan.

Aomine eyed the chocolate bar Midorima was holding suspiciously. "Midorima that's a normal chocolate bar, right?"

Midorima was incensed. "Of course! I'm not like Kiyoshi. I don't buy things that are bizarre."

Everyone sweat dropped. 'Says the guy who always brings weird stuff with him.'

Kise raised his hand up in excitement. "Okay, I'll feed Kurokocchi~!" He quickly took the chocolate bar from Midorima's hand.

"Hey!"

Momoi moped. "That's not fair Ki-chan! I want to feed Tetsu-kun! And it was my idea!"

Kise paid no attention to his former manager and peeled the cover of the chocolate bar and held it for Kuroko to eat. "Here Kurokocchi, say ah~"

Kuroko did as he was told, opened his mouth and took a bite out of the bar. They all waited for a few minutes and noted that nothing was happening. After Kuroko swallowed the chocolate he ate, they waited for few more moments until they gave up since nothing was taking place.

"Nothing's happening," Furihata stated the obvious.

"Maybe we should let Kuroko eat the whole bar," Izuki presumed.

"Oi Kise! Make him eat the whole bar," Kagami ordered the ace of Kaijou basketball team.

Kise was reluctant though and tried to reason. "Can he even finish it? Kurokocchi always had a weak appetite, you know. Especially now, that he turned into a kid."

"Just do it!" Riko impatiently commanded.

Kise had no choice, did as he was instructed and fed more chocolate to Kuroko. Kuroko ate half of the chocolate bar before announcing that he was full. Everybody tried to make him eat more but Kuroko was adamant about it. As he was still carrying the teal-head kid, Aomine took a few steps backward for they were crowding around Kuroko which also means they were swarming around him, too. He glowered at all of them. "Stop it. Can't you see he doesn't want more?"

Everyone glanced at the little Kuroko who was close to tears. They immediately backed off and tried to mollify him.

"We're sorry Kuro-chan. Please forgive us," Riko pleaded to Kuroko in part of everyone.

'Kuro-chan?' everyone inwardly asked at the nickname.

Kuroko nodded and accepted her apology.

Momoi sighed in disappointment. "I thought I got it right."

"Told you it wouldn't work," Kagami said.

"It's okay Momoi," Midorima said while rummaging through his bag. "What you suggested gave me some ideas." He took out something and proudly showed it to everyone.

"A toy car?" Fukuda asked as they peeked at the toy in Midorima's hand.

Midorima pushed his glasses on top of his nose. "Hmph! It's not just an ordinary toy car, it's a GM Cadillac 62 El Dorado*. It's a rare item also it is said that it gives good fortune particularly to kids."

"So what if it's rare, it's still just a toy car," Kagami said and gave Midorima a flat look.

Midorima shook his head at Kagami in pity. "You really don't know anything."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"

Midorima ignored Seirin's ace and turned to his former teammate. "Aomine put Kuroko down and let him play with this."

Aomine did as he was told and Midorima held the toy car in front of Kuroko to play with. Kuroko only stared at it before looking up at Midorima.

"Aren't you going to play?" Midorima asked the little phantom.

"But I don't like toy cars," Kuroko retorted.

Kagami smirked at Midorima. "Well, it looks like he doesn't like your rare toy car."

Midorima was infuriated at Kagami's remark. "I'm not done yet. I still have more." He searched in his bag again and procured… a yellow rubber ducky. "According to Oha-Asa, aside from the chocolate bar, a yellow rubber ducky is also Aquarius' lucky item for the day," Midorima explained.

Everyone looked at the rubber ducky and then at Midorima in sympathy.

"What?"

"Midorimacchi just how many lucky items do you always have with you?" Kise asked the green-haired teen. And how can you carry something embarrassing so proudly.

Midorima looked flustered. "None of your business!" He knelt down in front of Kuroko and gave him his lucky item. Kuroko ogled at the rubber ducky in his hands before squeezing it. The toy gave out a sound and Kuroko studied it before returning it to Midorima.

Midorima was confused at the teal head's action. "Don't you like it?"

"Okaa-sama said that I shouldn't play with a rubber ducky anymore because I'm a big boy now," Kuroko explained to the puzzled green-haired teen.

"He's right Midorima," Aomine teased the former vice-captain of the Generation of Miracles. "Big boys shouldn't play with a rubber ducky anymore."

"Shut up Ahoumine!"

"Don't call me that!"

Midorima riffled through his bag again. "If he doesn't like the others then I have something that he will like and I know that it will work. This lucky item already helped me a lot of times." He took something out of his bag and shoved it at Kuroko's face. "Here! A rare glass figurine of Kerosuke! Even Oha-Asa said that this is the best lucky item," Midorima proudly said.

Kuroko was so startled when Midorima shoved the figurine at his face, that he slapped it away in surprise. The sound of the glass figurine breaking echoed throughout the whole gym. None of them didn't dare move and just watched Midorima who was staring blankly at the broken figurine.

Kuroko knows that he did something wrong when he noticed the devastated face of the green-haired teen in front of him, so he searched something from his pocket to give to the teen as an apology. He took it out and gave it to Midorima. "I'm sorry onii-chan if I broke your toy. It was an accident. I didn't mean to," Kuroko apologized. "I know it's not the same but you can have this instead." What was on Kuroko's hand was a miniature Kerosuke.

Midorima was surprised at Kuroko's apology and at the toy in his hand. "Th-This is…" he tried to say.

Momoi gasped when she saw the toy on Kuroko's hand. "That's a mini Kerosuke! That's a really rare item much more uncommon than the Kerosuke glass figurine. There are only five of them throughout Japan," she explained.

Everyone was shocked when they heard the pink-haired manager's explanation. And they wondered how Kuroko got a hold of such a special item.

Little Kuroko tried to catch the green-haired teen's attention. "Onii-chan?"

"It's Midorima," he introduced himself. "My name is Midorima Shintarou. And thank you for this." He took the mini Kerosuke out of Kuroko's hand.

Kuroko smiled a bright smile at him. "You're welcome Midorima nii-chan. I'm glad you like it."

Everyone was on a daze when they saw that brilliant smile on Kuroko's cute face and his aura was radiating so much happiness that they almost forgot to breath.

After a few minutes of basking in Kuroko's cute pheromones, Izuki glanced at the shattered glasses of the figurine on the floor. "We should clean this up or someone will get hurt."

"We'll do it!" Kawahara and Fukuda volunteered and went to get some cleaning supplies.

Midorima, who was still crouching down in front of the teal head boy, asked the Seirin team, "So how do you turn Kuroko back to normal?"

Everyone in Seirin paused when they heard that dreaded question. Their (unwanted) visitors were confused when they didn't answer right away.

Kagami angrily pointed at Midorima. "Stop asking that question! Every time one of you Generation of Miracles asks that, another one shows up! Don't tell me Murasakibara or even Akashi will show up next!"

The present members of the Generation of Miracles (excluding Kuroko, of course) shivered in fear when they heard their former captain's name.

"Idiot! Don't jinx us!" Aomine shouted at Kagami.

Even Kise paled. "A-Aominecchi is right. If Akashicchi finds out about this…" Kise couldn't finish and just gulped.

Everyone in Seirin team also blanched when they saw their scared expressions. How can the undefeatable and feared Generation of Miracles be afraid of their captain? 'Just what will that Akashi do?!' everyone thought in fear.

"Just what will Akashi do to Kuroko?!" Kagami voiced out their thoughts.

"Calm down Kagamin," Momoi tried to placate him. "Akashi-kun wouldn't hurt Tetsu-kun. It's just that…" she tried to explain but failed when even she doesn't know what Akashi might do.

"If Akashicchi saw Kurokocchi like this, he might kidnap him!" Kise blurted out.

"Don't be stupid Kise. Akashi wouldn't do that," Midorima said. "Probably…"

"Even you aren't sure!" Kagami, Kise and Aomine shouted at him.

Then, everyone froze in fear when they heard the gym doors ominously opened. All of them gulped and slowly turned around to find out who it was.

… Or maybe unlucky items.

Next Chapter: The Antidote is...

Notes:

*GM Cadillac 62 El Dorado - This toy car is real but as for it being rare, that is something I'm not sure of. And the it-gives-fortune-to-kids bit is just something I made up.

Glass figurine/Mini Kerosuke - Same as above, this is just something I made up.

A/N: The next chapter's title may be a bit misleading but it won't be the last chapter. I still have a lot of ideas for this fic. :P