Hello, everybody! New chapter is here! I know it came out later than usual. But please understand me. After reading the latest chapter of KnB, my moe spirit was crushed completely *sob in the corner* and it takes me days (with lots of BL doujinshis of KnB) to overcome it.

Anyways, new update is here and Kuroko finally meets GoM.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basket for it belongs to Fujimaka Tadatoshi.

Enjoy the story. R&R, plz!

Chapter 7: Be careful

Akashi and Kuroko walked in companionable silence during their trip to school, with Akashi keeping a firm grip of Kuroko's hand. To Akashi, it was completely unconscious as if they had done it many times before. To Kuroko, it was a nice experience. During their walk to the school, the bluenette couldn't avert his eyes away from their joined hand and that was all he had been thinking until they reached the location. And little did Akashi know how much that small intimate gesture meant to the bluenette.

Eventually, they arrived at Teiko Middle School. True to its reputation as one of the most prestigious school in Tokyo, it was a large school with many facilities for students' extra-curricular activities. Its state-of-art equipment and qualified teachers provided students with high-quality education; therefore, the school was renowned for many awards and trophies in both academic and sport department. It was generally easier for students to get accepted at the beginning of their middle school year; however, the school still accepted transfer students on the condition that they qualified for the standards and passed the entrance exam, both of which were very tough. Few students had managed to transfer successfully and Kuroko was among them.

Upon arriving at the school's gate, Kuroko took in the majestic view of Teiko school: large modern buildings surrounded by vast greenery, clear windows reflecting the sunlight and students in neat uniform walking towards the school. Like every students who had to transferred to another school, Kuroko couldn't help but feel nervous at his first day in a new environment, not to mention after he had spent 6 years living in America. Back to the days in America, he used to be a loner due to his weak presence and reserved personality; therefore, he only had a few friends, namely Kagami Taiga, Himuro Tatsuya and their basketball coach Alexandria Garcia. Kuroko wondered if things would change at here. However, it didn't matter to Kuroko anymore because now, the most important person to the bluenette was by his side.

As they walked towards the main building, hand in hand (well, mostly Akashi's hand gripping Kuroko's), Kuroko immediately noticed a group of girls screaming and swarming around a pretty blond boy who looked as if he just walked out of a fashion magazine. While girls were fawning over him and showering him with gifts and flash from cell phones, the boy was smiling half-heartedly, which Kuroko deemed as fake facade.

"I'm glad that I was born with a weak presence", Kuroko thought while letting himself be led by Akashi.

-oOo-

"Kuroko Tetsuya, am I right?", the headmaster of Teiko Middle school put his newspaper down to look at the petite bluenette.

"Yes, sir", Kuroko answered politely with his usual black face.

"I apologize for not noticing you soon. When Sato-san warned me about your weak presence, I thought he was only joking but now I take it back. You sure gave me a shock when you tapped on my table", the headmaster chuckled softly, his eyes still fixing on the bluenette as if the boy would disappear in any moment.

"Don't worry, sir. I get that a lot", Kuroko replied sincerely. The blue-haired teen was already used to receiving comment like that.

At the moment, Kuroko was at the Headmaster's office, discussing with him about some information regarding his stay at Teiko school and his classes. The room was spacious, probably as large as Akashi house's living room. The thing that caught Kuroko's interest was the cabinet filled with gold trophies gleaming in the sunlight from the nearby window. As expected of a famous prestigious school, those trophies were proof of students' hard-work and talents. Therefore, Kuroko couldn't help but feel honored being accepted in such talented school.

Before entering the office, Kuroko was told that his fiancé would be heading to his class, which was also Kuroko's, and that the bluenette would be expected to meet the homeroom teacher at the staff room. Truth be told, having Akashi by his side made him feel more secure and now, with Akashi gone to his class, Kuroko couldn't help but feel nervous and scared, especially with the way the Headmaster kept staring at him.

"Firstly, congratulation on passing the entrance exam. I've gotta say, I'm very impressed with your score. In fact, your result is the highest one I've ever seen during my years at Teiko. I believe you will cope well with the pressure at Teiko", the older man complimented, satisfied with Kuroko's result. "Welcome to Teiko school, Kuroko-kun", he held out his hand, implying a hand shake.

"Thank you, sir", Kuroko understood the implication and shook the Principal's hand.

"Secondly, I would like to give you some information about your classes. Here's your schedule. You will be studying in class 1-C and your homeroom teacher is Ms Yamada Maika. After this, you need to go to the staff room to find her and then, she'll take you to your classroom", the Principal said, handing the schedule to Kuroko, which he received with a polite nod.

"Also, you are to join at least one club in the school", Kuroko averted his eyes from the paper on hearing this, "In Teiko school, students are expected to excel in both academic and extra-curricular activities, in other words, they must be well-rounded. Furthermore, your motto is "Victory is absolute"; therefore, we expect no less than perfection in students' performance."

Something about the principal's words irked Kuroko. Why were the students of such young age placed such heavy burden on their shoulders? Though studying was important to their future, it didn't necessarily mean that they had to achieve perfection in everything. School life was supposed to be fun and memorable not stressful and burdensome. And Kuroko's thought wandered to his red-haired fiancé. Had Akashi been enduring such stress?

"By the way, Kuroko-kun…", the Headmaster said, interrupting Kuroko's train of thought.

"Be careful from now on", the older man placed his chin on his hands, concentrating his gaze on the bluenette.

"What is it, sir? If it's about studying, I think I can manage", Kuroko felt uneasy under the intense gaze of the principal.

"No, it's actually about your innocence". Huh. "You're a cute boy. You make me want to kidnap you home"

.

.

.

"Eh…. thank you for your compliment, sir"

It was amazing that Kuroko was able to keep his poker-face mask on after hearing such provoking praise from a much older man, let alone the Principal of the school Kuroko was studying. It could be flattering and nice to hear if it were Akashi that said it, but since in this situation, it was the Principal who said this, Kuroko was currently struggling in a fight against the urge to scream: "A wild pedophile has appeared!" and run out of the office, find his beloved Seijurou to latch on and cry like a maiden in distress, eh I mean fiancé in distress and then the redhead would transform into dashing knight clad in his Teiko-uniform armor armed with red scissors who came to Kuroko's rescue and punished the unsightly Devil for his creepy pedophilia, and finally, Kuroko and Akashi, hand in hand, walked towards the beautiful sunset. And WHAT THE HELL did he just imagine? Akashi-kun was not kidding when he said his mother was a dangerous woman. It seemed Kuroko had been infected with Akashi's mother's fantasy-inducing virus.

"Ha ha ha, don't be scared, boy, I was just joking. I won't bite you". What a relief, Kuroko thought with all the sarcasm in the world. "Anyways, time for you to go to the staff room and meet your homeroom teacher. And good luck with your days at Teiko", the Headmaster chuckled after seeing that Kuroko still managed to stay calm after his joke.

"Then, I'll take my leave. Thank you for your guidance, sir", the bluenette bowed and made his way to the door.

Kuroko let out a sigh after closing the office door. Now he could somehow understand Akashi's feeling when he was being joked by his mother. It left behind a nasty and irritating feelings. Shaking off his thoughts, Kuroko walked towards the direction of the staff room, which Akashi had told him earlier. The sooner he got there, the sooner he would meet Akashi.

Meanwhile, in the principal office…

"Well, I did joke with him but not all of what I said was just joking."

The man flipped through some paper and stopped when he saw the one he needed.

"A sheep must be careful around hungry wolves. I hope that boy will remember my warning". On his table was the profile of Kuroko as he looked carefully at Kuroko's picture.

Things will get interesting from now on.

-oOo-

"So Kuroko-kun, can you tell me what it feels like to live in America?"

At the moment, Kuroko was walking towards his classroom with his homeroom teacher, Ms Yamada. When they first met at the staff room, the woman, like everyone else when meeting the bluenette for the first time, almost had a heart attack, mistaking Kuroko for a ghost. However, she got over quickly and showed great enthusiasm for having a transfer student from America. The bluenette was bombarded with many question about his time in America, ranging from school to people; apparently, his teacher had always wanted to travel there but hadn't got a chance. Now that she had a transfer America student in her class, her dream had been fulfilled to some extent.

"The life there is… fast-paced and dynamic. I think it's pretty much the same as Japan. The only difference is that it's a metropolitan country with people from many countries."

"Is that so? It must be great living there. Anyway, we're here."

Kuroko and his homeroom teacher arrived at the door of their class, class 1-C. Soon, he would see his classmates and his fiancé.

-oOo-

"Dai-chan", wake up now, Yamada-sensei's gonna arrive soon", Momoi shook Aomine's shoulder in hope of waking the boy up.

"Who cares, even if it is homeroom period, it's not like I'm gonna pay attention anyways", Aomine, whose face was currently buied in his arms on the table, answered lazily, irritated that Momoi was disturbing his snooze.

"Yamada-sensei is late today", Midorima said, his hand holding his lucky item of the day, a cactus pot.

"Strange, Yamada-sensei always arrives on time. Could it be she overslept?", Murasakibara commented and stuffed in his mouth a handful of potato chips.

As for Akashi, he already knew what had kept his homeroom teacher from coming to class on time. Yamada-sensei must have met his fiancé and were currently leading the bluenette to his class. Suddenly, he wished that Kuroko would arrive sooner; Akashi already missed his cute fiancé. And just when Akashi thought of that, the class door opened, revealing his homeroom teacher, who looked strangely delighted, and a flash of baby blue hair, which nobody, except Akashi, noticed.

"Good morning, everyone", Ms Yamada greeted the class with a bright smile, which had earned a few curious look from her students.

"Good morning, sensei", the students stood up, bowed and greeted their teacher back.

"Sit down, everyone. Today, I have an important announcement to make and I hope everyone pays attention to it", the woman said strictly, her eyes scanning the whole room and stopping at Aomine, who was busy sleeping and not listening to her words. Noticing that, Momoi jabbed at Aomine's side and the tanned boy woke up immediately with a grumpy face and glare towards the pink-haired girl.

"Starting from today, our class will have a new transfer student. He used to study in America for 6 years, but due to his family, he's back to Japan and decides to continue his study at our school."

Akashi internally smirked at that statement. Of course, the teacher couldn't possibly know that Kuroko was back to Japan to meet his fiancé, who was Akashi. Somehow, he felt kinda satisfied knowing he was the only one in the school that knew their engagement.

"And here's our new student. His name is…", Yamada-sensei turned her gaze to the door and so were the students, but to their surprise, the new student was nowhere to be found.

"Eh, where is Kuroko-kun?"

"Uhm, Yamada-sensei, I'm right here", Kuroko said in the monotonous voice, which successfully earned him a loud shriek of surprise from his teacher and complete attention from the students in the class.

"Despite his looks, he can be quite playful", Akashi smiled at his fiancé's antics.

"Oh god, don't scare me like that , Kuroko-kun", Yamada-sensei placed her hand on her chest, trying to calm her racing heart.

"My apology for surprising you, sensei"

"Well, it's ok but don't make it into a habit, okay?". Kuroko nodded though it would be difficult to not let that happen again due to his ever weak presence.

At this point, the students were whispering with each other about the new student being a ghost but their conversation was interrupted with a clap from Yamada-sensei.

"Quiet, everyone. Allow me to introduce you to your new classmate. This is Kuroko Tetsuya. Like I have said, he just moved back from America, so be nice to him. And although he had lived in America since he was a child, you won't have any trouble communicating with him. Now, Kuroko-kun, say hi to your class."

Kuroko nodded, turned towards the students, who had been staring at the bluenette since the beginning, and spoke in his trademark monotonous voice.

"Good morning, everyone. My name is Kuroko Tetsuya. Please take care of me."

At that moment, the whole class, particularly 5 boys with peculiar hair, directed their completely attention to the bluenette.

Aomine raised his head from the table to have a better look of his new classmate.

Murasakibara stopped munching his snack.

Midorima squinted his eyes to get a clear view of the bluenette.

Kise stared intently at Kuroko.

Akashi smirked, noticing the attention Kuroko had been receiving.

"Alright, now, where should Kuroko-kun sit?", Yamada-sensei looked around the room. "It seems the only seat left is next to Akashi-kun. Well then, Kuroko-kun, you're gonna sit next to that red-haired boy", Yamada pointed at Akashi's direction.

Immediately, the whole class, except Akashi, mentally shuddered and felt pity for the poor unfortunate soul of the new transfer student being seated next to the most fearsome in the class, and probably the whole school. Every student that had been appointed as his seatmate would have their enthusiasm crushed down after one day and demand to change seat the next day. Even the most resilient one could only put up with the redhead for three days and then the guy transferred to another school (rumor said that he moved to Amazon and changed his name to Derpface-probably courtesy of Akashi). Therefore, the big question was: "How long can this boy last next to Akashi?"

Ignoring the weird stares from his classmates, Kuroko walked calmly towards Akashi's table. He remembered his mother once said that life was always full of the unexpected, some of which might be pleasant while the others were bad, but it created the spice of life. At first, he didn't expect him to get into the same class as Akashi, though he was glad to receive such news. And now, he was going to sit next to Akashi. It was like a dream, a really nice one. Somebody, slap his face now and confirm this was not a dream. Nevertheless, he could feel something suspicious behind this, and in all likelihood, it went by the name of Akashi Ayumi. Uhm, maybe he should make something nice for his future mother-in-law when he got home.

As for Akashi, he knew his fiancé would definitely be seated next to him and he was right. Of course, when did he ever get anything wrong? He watched Kuroko making his way to his desk. Was it him or his fiancé looked amazingly cuter under the bright sunshine of morning and in his Teiko uniform? His alabaster pale skin seemed to be glowing under the light streaming from the windows. Not to mention the way his hip swayed elegantly every time he stepped forwards. Wasn't he just wonderful? However, while his eyes were busy marveling at Kuroko, his ears didn't fail to catch a few whispering about the bluenette. And Akashi was definitely not pleased to hear that.

"Woa, his skin looks so white and smooth. I wonder if he used any cosmetic."

"Such strange hair color but I like it. It looks soft, too. Oh~, I want to pat his head!"

"He looks as cute as a doll. I want him as my little brother!"

"I want to kidnap him home and dress him up and take pictures of him. I think I have fallen in love~!"

Those were girl's comments. As for guys…

"Men, that guy looks like a girl."

"A cute girl, I say!"

"He looks so huggable. Suddenly I have an urge to hug him!"

And all those who had made comments about Kuroko suddenly felt a chill down their spine. The temperature in the room dropped down immediately and people could actually feel the intense pressure in the atmosphere. In fact, it was so frightening that students didn't dare turn around to find the source, though some of them already had a few guess who might be.

Akashi was practically surrounding himself with deadly aura. His already overwhelming presence gained a great boost from the raging wrath boiling in his mind. His crimson were gleaming dangerously and it was fortunate that he didn't possess laser-shooting ability or else, most students had already ended up as a pile of ash. Nobody could understand what infuriated the redhead but if they had known, one could detect the huge implying message under that terrifying aura: "Lay your filthy hands off my Tetsuya" .

Ignoring the menacing aura oozing from Akashi, Kuroko kept walking until he reached Akashi's table. Polite as ever, the bluenette bowed slightly and greeted Akashi: "Hello, Akashi-kun."

Hearing his fiancé greeting him, Akashi stopped emitting his horrifying aura to greet back, with a smile: "Hello, Tetsuya."

As Kuroko was sitting down and taking out notebooks, he could feel stares on his back. To bluenette, the experience seemed both nice and irritating; nice because it was the first time he had ever received so much attention but irritating because the amount of attention seemed too much for his liking. It was like every of his movement was being watched; even a simple action of opening his bag wasn't missed. The bluenette couldn't help but wonder why. Could it be his appearance was out of ordinary or was it because he just transferred from America. Whatever it was, he started to hate being the center of attention.

However little did Kuroko know that it rooted from a very simple gesture that the bluenette deemed normal but necessary: greeting. Yes, exchange of greeting between two people. This was the first time that such thing happened between Akashi and a seatmate. Because the redhead rarely addressed another student with his given name, never said "Hello" to his seatmate, never smiled so gently, let alone three miraculous actions happening at the same time.

-oOo-

Classes went by in a blink of an eye and lunch break had come. Before the other students had a chance to talk with Kuroko, Akashi quickly grabbed the bluenette's hands, only gave the bluenette enough to take his bento and pulled him out the classroom. Call him weird but Akashi was not gonna let some unacquainted students talk with his fiancé.

"Akashi-kun, you're hurting my hand."

However, Akashi didn't stop tightening Kuroko's hand but instead, chose to walk until they was faraway from the class, from others' watching eyes. Only then did Akashi release his fiancé's hand and turned around to face the bluenette.

"I'm sorry for hurting you, Tetsuya", Akashi apologized, hint of guilt in his eyes when he noticed the bruise on Kuroko's hand.

"It's OK but is there something bothering you?", Kuroko said while rubbing the sore bruise.

"I cannot stand other people looking at you as if you're a piece of meat on a plate. I cannot stand other people other than me talking to you as if they are close to you" was what the redhead wanted to say directly to the bluenette but he chose to restrain his inner raging demon and lied to cover up his action. "I wanted to show you the rooftop, where we're gonna have lunch. If we don't hurry and take the place, others may come and take it."

It was illogical. Kuroko noticed that immediately but decided to ignore it. In fact, he had an inkling of the reason behind Akashi's earlier outburst and such knowledge made him happy no end.

"Therefore, let's go. I'm gonna show you the view up there, too."

Holding Kuroko's hand, this time gentler, Akashi led the bluenette on the staircase that led to the rooftop. While Akashi was wondering what had gotten into him, Kuroko was silently following the other.

On his face was a ghost of happy expression.

TBC

Overprotective Akashi is here \(ovo)/. Kagami, Himuro and Alex made a cameo. I'm planning a few twists in this story because I don't want it to be like the manga. If it's like the manga, then what's the point in reading FF?

I'm gonna go with the "development" style with GoM slowly falling in love with Kuroko, so don't be surprised if GoM are indifferent to Kuroko at first, okay?

Next week, I'm going back to school and I think everyone knows what this means. Less free time, more homework and later update =_='. I know it's hard but I'll try my best to update as fast as possible.

One last thing, please read this one

I have been thinking about couples and some readers have asked me about that, so why not have a poll to see what you guys would like. However, that does not mean I will make the couples that win happen in the story. This is just for my reference. I will decide the final couples. Everyone can vote four times and please follow your heart and interest, don't just think "Oh this couple is new and interesting, so I choose it". If you have any couple that is not included in the poll, feel free to tell me through PM or review

Last but not least, any constructive comment is welcome! Oh, and don't forget to vote :D