-Keep Close-

Summary: Kuroko and Aomine meet people from the past to ask for help.

Warning: Conflict! Conflict! OOC tags for some characters.

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Kuroko no Baske. All rights go to Fujimaki Tadatoshi-sensei. ^_^

-Chapter Ten: A lie just for you (1)-

Aomine watched as the guy with a hoodie over his head climb the stairs out of the train station. The guy was Kai. He sent a message to Aomine to meet at the train station in Shibuya. He remembered the scene when he first made contact.

In a crowded train platform, Kai approached him from the back. He looked like any normal guy, with his black hoodie and a black Mix Style headphone over his ear. From a stranger's point of view, Kai was listening to music, but he wasn't. What he was calmly listening for were the people around him.

"Don't look back. Put your hands outside of your pockets," he heard a low, male voice say.

Aomine obeyed and just stood there at the platform along with the other people waiting for the train. He just looked ahead as if not noticing that Kai was already standing behind him. It was crowded so they did not look a tad suspicious.

"How long have you played?" Kai asked.

"Since middle school," he answered.

"How about your team? Are they the same?"

"Yes." He took a deep breath.

"Are you okay with not knowing who you're opponents are?"

"Yes," he said with confidence. He needed to make Kai approve them. But he was not sure of what to do.

"How about gambling?"

"Yes."

There was a long pause before Kai spoke again. "I will send you a message about the time and place. All you just need to do is wait."

It was already fifteen minutes since Kai left. Aomine received a message from his cell phone from Matsuba. They apparently tried to tail Kai outside of the station but lost him.

He gritted his teeth and turned away from the platform after sending a message to Matsuba that he would not be coming back to the office until tomorrow. He had some things to do. If he wanted the plan to succeed, then he must not fail now.

Aomine cleared his throat before speaking. He looked around at the people in front of him and knew that he must not fail. He gathered all of this courage to speak just for the sake of the plan and especially or Kuroko.

The light blue-haired guy was standing on his right, holding a basketball. They were in a basketball court near Aomine's apartment building. It was the nearest meeting place he could think of for everyone to gather so he asked them to meet there.

"Good morning, everyone," he said in a clear voice. He have everyone a deep bow. Kuroko did the same thing.

The blond-haired Kise was sitting on a bench near Kuroko. He raised his right hand to say something. Everyone turned to him. "Is this your plan of a reunion, Aominecchi?"

"Yeah, why am I spending my day off here? My horoscope says something important will happen today if I meet an Aquarius," Midorima said while looking at Kuroko. He was working as a general surgeon in a famous hospital in Tokyo. Today was thankfully his day off so he was able to come at such short notice.

Aomine bowed his head again. "I'm sorry for taking everyone's time. But I'm the one who has something important to say. No, I have a favor to ask everyone."

It seemed like everyone was surprised by how deep Aomine bowed. He, the ever high and mighty Aomine Daiki never bowed to anyone just like that. Everyone knew that there must be a reason so they chose not to say anything until he said more of the situation.

"Dai-chan, would you like me to continue?" Momoi said. She was standing on his immediate left.

He shook his head and straightened his back. He cleared his throat again and stared from Kuroko to Kise on the bench to Midorima standing beside the bench to Murasakibara who was eating potato chips early in the morning while standing to Akashi who was calmly sitting on the next bench to Momoi beside him.

"I want everyone to play basketball with me once again," he said after filling his lungs with air.

"Eh?" was everyone's reply. Some were mildly surprised and the others were already expecting it, especially Akashi who he called first.

Momoi smiled. "Isnt' this great? I'm excited to see you guys play again," she said while clapping her hands.

Kuroko also bowed his head. "I also ask you this favor. Please play with us once more," he said.

Aomine put his hand on Kuroko's shoulder as the guy straightened his back.

"A favor, huh? Sure. If it were me, I wouldn't mind playing with you guys again," Kise said.

Midorima rubbed his chin with his fingers. "Play together, huh? That's not a bad idea. I guess this is the important thing that my horoscope is telling me."

"As long as you give me a lot of snacks once I go back home, I'd be okay with it, Mine-chin," Murasakibara said.

"Mukkun..." Momoi said with a slight smile of her face.

Everyone turned their gaze at the captain of their legendary Generation of Miracles, Akashi. He stared back with his polychromatic eyes and gave an abstract smile. "That sounds interesting."

"Yes!" Aomine said, forgetting that he was in front of everyone. When he suddenly realized it, he again straightened himself. "Sorry, I will now tell you the details." He told them about the scheduled practice games that they would have together. Everyone agreed.

Kise raised his hand again after a while. "Aominecchi, why are we playing and who are our opponents?"

Aomine glanced at Kuroko first before facing Kise. He again bowed his head in front of everyone. "I just want everyone to know that I have been wanting to do this for a long time. And now is the perfect time to see how far we've gone in basketball together as a team."

"Then why are we doing this?" Akashi asked. He had his arms calmly crossed in front of him.

"Actually—" It was Kuroko, but Aomine interrupted him at the nick of time.

"Actually, this is a secret operation involving a group that I am investigating. It seems that playing basketball with a strong team is the only way to get information. I am truly sorry for involving everyone," he said.

"And you're okay with this, Momoi-san?" Midorima asked Momoi.

She nodded and smiled. "I'm more thrilled since this involves Dai-chan's job. Anyways, what's a game without the challenge?"

"I agree with Momoi-sain," Kise said.

"And don't worry, Mukkun, I will make sure you get a lot of snacks later, okay?" Momoi said to Murasakibara.

"I will be willing to return the favor in any way," Aomine said.

He turned to Kuroko and saw that the guy was staring intently at him. His heart skipped a beat. Kuroko was probably wondering why he stopped him from revealing the truth about Yuki's involvement.

He had no intention of letting the others know. Especially not Kise. He already had his suspicions about the two of them. He did not want to add more firewood into the fire. He did not know what troubles Kise's knowledge may cause later but he was sure that the blond guy was not one to blab about it to others.

"Be prepared," Akashi said as he stood up from the bench.

"Pass me the ball, Kurokocchi," Kise said after standing up from the bench and running to the court. Kuroko obliged and passed it to him.

"Let's play three on three,"Akashi said to the guys. He turned to Momoi. "Please be the referree and scorer, Satsuki." Momoi nodded a yes and took out a whistle and a clipboard from her bag.

"It's me, Kurokocchi and Aominecchi," Kise declared as he grinned in front of Akashi and the others with his hands on his waist.

"Suit yourself. That won't change the fact that you will be beaten," Midorima said after he removed the tape on his left fingers.

"I won't let you down, Mine-chin," Murasakibara said after putting his unfinished snack on the bench.

Aomine felt his blood quicken. He was excited to stand in the same court with the Teiko guys again. It had been a long time. And now, he was sure that everyone had already matured enough to realize what they did best and what they did wrong back then.

He turned to Kuroko with a smile on his lips. He saw that the guy was doing the same thing.

"Let's win this, Daiki," Kuroko said as they walked inside the court.

"Ah..." he said as their knuckled touched.

Kagami and Himuro stood in front of the old Seirin team members and Aida Riko in the living room of Himuro's house.

It felt like a mini reunion minus Kuroko. And the only difference was that Murasakibara was present. The giant silently ate the snack that Himuro gave him as he sat on a single-seater sofa. The rest either sat on a chair or on the floor.

"So, what is it that you want to talk about?" Aida Riko said.

Kagami and Himuro looked at each other first before Kagami spoke as he turned towards his senpais. "Please play basketball with me and Himuro," he said while giving a deep bow.

"Eh?" Murasakibara said, with a piece of potato chip on his hand and half-way to his mouth. Everyone looked at him in surprise. He scratched his head and then just shrugged his shoulders. "It's okay with me as long as it's Muro-chin."

"Wait a minute, do you mean—" Koganei said.

"Yes, Koganei-san. I mean, in a match against a different team," Kagami said.

"We please ask for you help," Himuro said, also giving a deep bow to everyone.

"Okay. Okay. But why are we doing this?" Riko said.

"We made a gamble that we could not lose," Himuro said.

"A gamble? Oi, Kagami, are you in debt?" Hyuuga said with a slight smile on his lips.

Riko hit the side of Hyuuga's head since they were sitting together. "Of course not. Ne, Kagami-kun?" She looked at Kagami with 'say yes and you're dead' look.

"Please, lend us your strength," Kagami said, the desperation in his tone was evident.

However the others choose to interpreted it was up to them. But Riko stood up and went up to Kagami. She held his hand. "Don't worry, Kagami-kun. This Neechan will help you out of debt. Just be ready for the consequences," she said, her eyes twinkling mischievously. "Ne, minna?" She faced everyone.

The rest of the old Seirin team just looked at her and gulped. Murasakibara nonchalantly ate his potato chips, not sensing the dark mood that went over the others.

"But I'm busy with work, though," Koganei said as he raised his hand for attention.

"Are you sure, Koganei-kun?" Hyuuga and Riko both said to him.

Mitobe, who had always been silent turned to Koganei with an amused look. He was sitting near Murasakibara and was just quietly listening to everyone. He was a manager of a local restaurant in Shibuya.

Koganei was a writer and most of the time skipped off work while going to the Aida sports gym and would hang around Riko and Hyuuga who were both working there. Riko was a sports trainer while Hyuuga was the manager of the gym. It was a joint effort by the couple who would soon get married.

Koganei lowered his hand with his usual cat-like smile on his lips. He had no more reason to complain.

"It's decided then, we will play ball," Riko said.

"Eh, but what about Kuro-chin?" Murasakibara said.

Everyone fell silent in shock as they realized that they forgot about Kuroko. Kagami scratched his head.

"I will try to contact him later," Kagami said.

The rest of the group agreed. It would not be a reunion without Kuroko after all.

"But he probably won't be free though," Kagami heard Murasakibara say to Himuro in a low voice. No one else noticed.

"Why?" Himuro asked.

Murasakibara just shrugged his shoulders to answer.

Kise dialed a number on his cell phone as he walked towards the airport. He had a scheduled flight in two hours so he had to prepare.

"Yes, Onii-sama?" said the other voice on the line.

"It's confirmed. They're in," he said.

"Great job, Onii-sama. I knew I could trust you."

"I will be on a flight to London, do you want something?" It was not something that he asked because he wanted to but because it was necessary to inform the other person of his whereabouts despite the fact that he would still be tracked.

"Anything would be fine, Onii-sama. Thank you."

"Okay."

"Just continue playing the nice guy. I want to see what happens with my own two eyes. I'm sure this will be fun." The person on the other line laughed.

"Yeah, I'm sure," he said.

It meant that that person would be there during the game. It was something that he had never heard of but was not impossible. That person was a person of whims after all. It was all about what was fun irregardless of whoever pays the consequences.

Kise sighed as he put the phone in his pocket. Who was he fooling? Wasn't he one of the people who always paid for something he never did? Or rather, it was always him who suffered for the things he did without any choice.

[A/N: Sorry guys, I'm taking a break from writing for now. Yeah, I know, a hiatus at this point is killing everyone, including me. But I can't help it. It's only for a week. T_T

Berry-tan had an accident yesterday. So my fingers were cut and it's kind of hard to type on the key board with only several fingers. I had to drastically cut a nail (T_T) for faster recovery. And I have been in constant fever these past few weeks that I have always been visiting my doctor. It seems that I have been sick for quiet a while now and it's not a good sign.

I was in the middle of writing when it all happened. Gomen ne, minna. Hontou ni.

I will take a rest now and have a new chapter in two weeks.]