A/N: Once again, thank you so much for following this!

Chapter Four:

Aomine´s Agility

Shadows are invisible in the dark.

Dark and empty court felt cozy. Kuroko stood near the wall and looked up, though he didn´t see anything special in front of him. There was just darkness in his eyes. He was squeezing his hands, and he had black wristbands from Ogiwara on his wrists. They gave him strength.

A long time ago, before he was a regular team member of Teiko, Tetsu had practised alone in this very same gym. Then, one evening, Daiki Aomine had found him and started to train with him. Aomine believed in him. They became friends. Kuroko passed the ball to Aomine and soon they called him the sixth phantom member of Teiko. Tetsu was the shadow and Aomine was his light.

But then Aomine changed. He became dull. Aomine thought that opponents were lame, but in reality, the boring one was Aomine himself. He stopped practicing and said something irreversible to Kuroko: Aomine claimed that he couldn´t even remember how to receive Kuroko´s pass.

You really forgot, Aomine? Okey, then, let me remind you.

The door of the gym slide open and thin wedge of light entered in.

´Good evening, Aomine-kun.´

Aomine startled. He was wearing a blue jacket and he didn´t look like he came here to practise. That´d been a surprise. He looked at Kuroko.

´Tetsu hasn't seen you like that in a while´, Kuroko said smiling, ´you look surprised. ´

´Mm. What did U want to talk about?´

This is when he stepped along the game. At first Kuroko planned to be subtle, but something inside of him wanted that Aomine would know how bad Tetsu was nowadays. None of the previous victims didn´t know who was behind their injuries. That was so unsatisfying.

Aomine was never subtle. So, Kuroko took a deep breath and said:

´Aomine-kun… I´ve already forgotten how does it look when you score… after I´ve passed to you.´

Aomine´s blue eyes widened.

´Finally´, Kuroko said with a short smile, ´I understand how is it to fight against the opponents that lost the will to fight… Hmph.´

He raised his jaw.

´I can win by myself now.´

Aomine

Aomine walked closer to him. Kuroko didn´t sound himself at all.

´Tetsu… I honestly thought you wanted to quit basketball after that Meiko match –"

"Tsk. I wasn´t talking about basketball´, Kuroko gave a laugh, ´and stop calling me Tetsu, it doesn´t suit you anymore.´

Aomine raised his brows. Kuroko didn´t look like himself either. His hole appearance had chanced somehow.

´When was the last time you actually lost, Aomine?´ asked Kuroko subtly.

Aomine didn´t answer. What the heck was the point of this conversation? Kuroko had never seen him lost a single game.

´You know, agility isn´t your only strength´, Kuroko said and stretched his hands.

He licked his lips.

´She´s always had your back, right?´

Kuroko didn´t wait his answer. He looked at his own hands and continued:

´Momoi-san… oh, yes… She´s so cute, isn´t she? Our beautiful, sexy, manager.´

Aomine´s brows furrowed. Was Kuroko finally warming up for Satsuki? That didn´t feel right.

´I´m gonna leave´, Aomine said with frustration, ´I don´t have time for this nonsense –´

´But Aomine, you lost ages ago… And now you´re just gonna walk away. Pathetic

That certainly wasn´t Tetsu who spoke. Aomine stopped and stared at him.

´What the hell are you talkin´ about?´

Tetsu´s smile was very wide now.

´I´m talking about love, Aomine´, he whispered loudly, ´Satsuki loves me. And I want her. Isn´t that wonderful?´

Aomine blinked his eyes. This must be a joke!

´And you´re telling this to me because…?´

Tetsu sighed and put his right hand on his forehead.

´Cos she´s your friend, dear Aomine, childhoodfriend. Aren´t you worried at all? Momoi there loves me but I just wanna fuck her and pass her to you.´

´Wh–!´

He must´ve heard it wrong.

´Or maybe…´Kuroko said, still smiling ruthlessly, ´I´ll just score 111 times and when I´m done, I´ll give her to you, and you can do what ever you want with her… 11 times

SLAM.

Aomine punched him on the face. Kuroko fell down on the floor. Aomine hit him again and then raised him from shirt collar.

´Tetsu-kun!´

Suddenly Satsuki appeared out of nowhere. She ran next to them and pushed Aomine away.

Kuroko was holding his bleeding nose. Satsuki turned his face towards Aomine and yelled:

´What the hell, Aomine-kun?´

After all this time, it still felt gross when Satsuki called him Aomine-kun. Like he was a stranger to her.

´Didn´t you hear? He was disrespectful´, Aomine said angrily.

Satsuki looked mad when their eyes met. She hadn´t heard. Aomine was the only bad guy here.

´You hit him!´ Satsuki yelled. ´Are you crazy? You might be stronger than him, but it doesn´t prove anything… He was the only one who believed in you two and in a teamplay! You abandoned him and now you hurt him more…´

Aomine looked down at her with irritation.

´I hit him because he doesn´t care about you.´

Satsuki snorted.

´But you care? Don´t make me laugh! You wanted to play all by yourself… so go and do so!´

Satsuki was still looking at Aomine so she couldn´t see Kuroko´s evil smile behind her. Aomine need all his will not to hit him again.

´Don´t be angry´, Kuroko said gently to Satsuki and put his hand on her thigh, ´let him calm down… It´s true that I do believe in the two of us, me passing him… It isn´t Elevent Hour… You can meet him later, Aomine-kun, when I´m done and clean…´

Aomine tried to attack, but Satsuki jumped on his way.

´Leave him alone!´ Satsuki shrieked.

Aomine was breathing heavily.

´Fine… But be careful, Momoi… Please

Then he left from the gym.

´Fuck!´ Aomine yelled when he got outside the gym and kicked the pillar. ´Ouch!´

He was so angry.

In the first place, Kuroko wasn´t himself. He was a shitty douchebag fucker.

Second, Satsuki didn´t believe him, her childhoodfriend, but that bastard instead.

Third, Aomine was – for fuck sake – jealous!

Fuck!

Satsuki is like my sister. This isn´t jealousy, this is just some brotherly concern.

Aomine knew Satsuki. She wouldn´t let anyone do her something bad... But things Tetsu said… Did Satsuki want him to –?

Aomine shook his head and walked away from the school yard. He had to do something. Tetsu didn´t talk about loving her. He offended her. And him.

Like… Like he wanted to revenge. 111 times.

Aomine stopped.

A police car drove somewhere near sirens on.

Was he really walking away even thought that monster could hurt Satsuki? Aomine wasn´t a man or anything if he let Tetsu do…

Yes, Satsuki had been very overt about her crush for Tetsu. But earlier Tetsu hadn´t been responsive. It had been one-sided, not serious.

Based on the recent evenings, Tetsu didn't deserve her. Tetsu just wanted to use her. He wanted to hurt Aomine by using Satsuki as his toy.

Satsuki didn´t trust Aomine anymore but Aomine cared about her a lot. Lately he had forgot to be a friend. Even though Satsuki hated him, he couldn´t let things be like this.

´Tsk!´

Aomine ran back to the gym and sneaked in.

I won´t let him hurt you.

The door was still open. He tried to be quiet, because Tetsu could lock the door or do something crazy.

Aomine looked inside.

Tetsu and Satsuki were near the platform, in the dark. Momoi sat on the edge of the stage and Kuroko was standing in front of him. Aomine walked closer to them.

Then he felt cold shivers.

Tetsu and Satsuki were kissing.

Aomine stopped. His breath and mind froze. Suddenly he felt himself very lonely.

No…

He realized that since the day Momoi told about her feelings, Aomine had denied them. He thought that Satsuki was just playing around. No way she and Tetsu would became a thing.

One fucking tear dropped on his cheek. He swiped it off. Then he walked determinedly forward.

´Oi!´

Satsuki pushed Tetsu further and stared at Aomine surprised and angrily.

´Sorry´, Aomine said coldly, ´but I´ll take you home now, Momoi-san.´

Satsuki´s eyes widened and she jumped off the stage.

´You´ll do what

Aomine grabbed her hand and pulled her with him.

´Let go of me!´

Aomine half carried, half drew her on the door. Satsuki screamed and tried to get away but Aomine didn´t care. Whatever. Satsuki could hate him rest of her life. The main point was that even this one time he did the right thing.

´This is for your own sake´, he said loudly, ´Kuroko isn´t himself right now. Besides, kissing here is obscene.´

Satsuki laughed derisively.

´Are you scolding me about obscene behaviour?´

Aomine looked behind him. Tetsu was still standing near the stage. Now it was clear: his other eye was red. The other one was light blue.

Had he used some drugs?

´I´ll never speak to you again!´ Satsuki yelled when Aomine took her outside. There Aomine lifted her over his shoulder. Satsuki screamed again and hit him on the back.

´Put me down, fucking idiot! Stop sticking your nose into my business! I can kiss whoever I want!´

Her fists beat his back.

´You said that you won´t speak to me ever again´, Aomine pointed out.

Aomine carried her away from the school and let her down near the convenience shop. Satsuki slapped him on the face. That didn´t prevented him to stare her angry face.

´Tetsu didn´t try to stop me´, Aomine commented on and looked at the empty street. He hadn´t followed them either.

´Why would he? You hit him´, Satsuki pointed out, some pink hair on her face.

´Or… he doesn´t care about you´, Aomine said and pushed Satsuki against the shop´s outer wall. ´Satsuki, I haven´t lied to you, ever! Tetsu said to me something I couldn´t just pass. He… He…´

Damn… Satsuki wouldn´t believe him. Aomine had just interrupted the first kiss of those two.

´Tetsu went somehow grazy after that Meiko game´, Aomine said eventually, ´he wants to revenge to me that we did that ugly thing to his friend. Tetsu said that ´cos you´re my childhood friend, he´s just gonna… took you… and then… give back to me.´

Satsuki didn´t look at his eyes. Aomine let go of her wrists.

´I´m sorry, Satsuki´, he said quietly, ´I haven´t been… a good friend lately. But please, don´t let Tetsu use you… I…´

´It looked like that to you?´ asked Satsuki sharply and looket at him. ´Like… He used me?´

Twinge.

´I know that you´ve been after him a long time´, Aomine said and looked away, ´and that´s why I don´t want that you get hurt by him. Tetsu is a good person, probably the best possible man for you, but not right now. He acts for the wrong reasons. He´s not okey.´

Aomine took a step back. Satsuki was shaking.

Aomine had done his duty: told his opinion and saved her. Satsuki could choose to obey him or get back to Tetsu. Maybe they would never speak again.

´You changed too, Aomine´, Satsuki said quietly, ´they say you´re invincible, but you´re not better than before.´

She was crying. Aomine felt that twinge again.

´I´m sorry, Satsuki… I was an idiot´, Aomine said and looked at her eyes.

His stupid heart beat fast.

Since when this brotherly caring was this hard?

´Yes, you was´, Satsuki admitted, ´but… for some reason… I don´t want to forget you.´

Aomine´s heart jumped out of the joy.

´Come… I´ll escort you home´, Aomine said after a while.

To his surpise, Satsuki followed him.

Aomine had imagined that Satsuki couldn't stand him in her eyes.

For years they walked together home after school but lately Aomine had been alone. He didn´t want to explain to Satsuki why he skipped practices. He had no goal.

They walked in silence past a few blocks.

´Tetsu-kun didn´t answer my messages in weeks´, Satsuki said when they were a mile away from the homeblock, ´then, suddenly today, he asked me to visit the gym and meet him. I was so happy.´

She looked at the sky.

´Same for me´, Aomine told and put his hands on pockets, ´well, at least, I got a message too.´

Satsuki stopped walking. She was still looking at the stars.

´Yeah… That´s why I started to doubt him… Maybe you spoke the truth. Why ask you there too? He wasn´t himself. You´re right. And I hit you… sorry. ´

Aomine looked her with worry but she continued speaking.

´That kiss… That wasn´t Tetsu-kun. That touch… that wasn´t like him.´

Touch?

Satsuki blushed. Aomine turned his head quickly away and closed his eyes.

As a brother, I don´t have to listen things like this… I haven´t ever told her about my pornmagazines!

´I mean, I haven´t kiss him before´, Satsuki added fast, ´but… I just know. His eyes… they weren´t his eyes.´

´You saw that too?´

Satsuki nodded and continued walking.

´At first, it felt like my long waiting got rewarded… But that prize wasn´t what I waited. ´

Satsuki´s words got Aomine think how his – their – last victory felt so unsatisfying.

But... Tetsu´s kiss wasn´t good… Yes! I can´t be worse than him.

´What´re we gonna do?´ asked Satsuki and looked at him.

´I´ll talk with Akashi´, Aomine answered. He had gave it a thought. ´He knows Tetsu and he´s good at reading people.´

They arrived at the Satsuki´s house. Aomine hadn´t been inside that house in years. Last time he was a first year in Teiko.

´Say hi from me for your folks´, Aomine said with uncomfort.

Satsuki smiled at him first time that evening.

´I will, Dai-chan.´

Aomine looked at her surprised and then smiled back.

´They´ve been asking about you, you know´, Satsuki told, ´they believe that you´ve a buxom girlfriend and you spend all your freetime with her.´

Aomine blushed.

´Eh, no I don´t –´

Unfortunately.

Satsuki laughed and hit him in the stomach.

´Hey!´

´Thanks for ruining my first kiss!´

´Your first–? Wow, Momoi, you´re so innocent´, Aomine teased her.

´And who exactly have you kissed?´ asked Satsuki, hands on her waist.

´Err… I got my first kiss long time ago!´

´If you mean that annoying swimmer girl from middle school, that doesn´t count. I bet there wasn´t any tongues in it.´

´What do you know about any tongues?´

´I can tie a cherry stalk with my tongue, don´t you remember?´

´I remember.´

Aomine´s cheeks heated up. Satsuki hold her hands behind her back. Her voice was suddenly less cheerful.

´Dai-chan… Do you really think that Tetsu-kun is the best possible man for me?´

Aomine´s pulse rose again.

´No. Not right now.´

´Mm. Good night, Dai-chan!´

´Good night, Satsuki.´

A/N2: According to KnB Characters Bible, if Aomine had an alternate job it would be a police officer