Short, shameless fluff.

Chapter 15: MusaKuro – Teikōmon – Part 1

It was a new semester and Teikō University was buzzing with excitement. The campus was jam-packed with lively stands and colourful displays as various clubs and societies did their utmost to attract new members. The first-year students couldn't walk two steps without being stopped by a senior promoting anything from the beard-scratching Moustache Club, to the eyebrow-raising Pirate Society, and of course, who could forget the head-turning Humans vs. Zombies?

But, the large collection of youths barely had any effect on Kuroko Tetsuna as she effortlessly made her way, unseen and unnoticed, through the crowd. None spoke to her, but it didn't matter. She wasn't even a first-year after all. Plus, such disregard had always been the norm for Tetsuna. For as long as she could remember, she'd been a rather unremarkable individual, borderline invisible even.

Yet, she was perfectly happy being overlooked. Recognition simply didn't matter to her. Besides, there was already too much fame in her family.

Presenting the alumni of Teikō; Akashi Seijurou, Aomine Daiki, Kise Ryouta, and Midorima Shintarou.

To the average person, they were the red-headed heir to a business empire, the blue-headed celebrity athlete, the golden-haired idol of primetime TV, and the green-haired doctor and physician to the royal family.

To Tetsuna, however, they were her cousins; her shielding, overprotective, mollycoddling cousins.

In fact, one could say that Tetsuna was famous – by association that is. Every student at Teikō knew that a kin of the legendary quartet was amongst them, but no one had ever actually seen her. However, there were glimpses, rare glimpses, so rare that some questioned her very existence.

Was it any shock that the students of Teikō had lovingly dubbed her the human equivalent of a mythical pokemon?

"Good morning, Furihata-kun," Tetsuna greeted when she finally emerged from the sea of people.

"Ahhh!" The brunette girl crouched down defensively. Usually, her reaction towards Tetsuna's sudden presence was less dramatic. But, after a summer break of less than daily contact, her awareness of the aquamarine-haired girl had retrogressed.

"Ku-Kuroko-kun? Please don't sneak up on me like that…" The brunette pleaded.

"I deeply apologise," Tetsuna bowed, 45°, eyes down, back straight, and hands neatly clasped in her lap.

"Please don't do that," Furihata panicked. "If your cousins catch wind of this, they'll come at me with no mercy."

"If that happens," Tetsuna paused just for a moment, "-please do your best," and bowed again.

"Kuroko-kun!" Furihata flustered, wishing her friend would stop teasing her.

Furihata knew Tetsuna would never just abandon her in a pinch, but it was no secret that blue-eyed girl found it tiring to deal with her larger-than-life cousins. Mostly, Tetsuna would just let them do whatever they wanted. Be it Akashi's insistence on her carrying a phone with a tracking device, Aomine's doggedness about napping with his head in her lap, Kise's tenacious tendency to glomp her every time they met, or Midorima's persistence for her to see him for a weekly health check, Tetsuna would often simply relent to save her the trouble of their extended company.

"Never mind that now, we need to get to the food court!" Furihata began to drag Kuroko away.

"Are you hungry, Furihata-kun?"

"What? No, but you're gonna lose your appetite when you find out what's happened."

Murasakibara Atsushi toured the campus with Himuro Tatsuya, a senior from his high school basketball team and soon to be senior of his university basketball team as well. The try-outs weren't until tomorrow afternoon, but no one doubted his chances of making the team. At 208 cm, muscled, and powerful, he had a body designed for basketball.

"What's that?" Murasakibara pointed to a large banner hung at the entrance of the food court.

[CATCH TEIKōMON! LETS GO TEIKōōōōōōōōōōō!]

"Ah, that's the university's new special event. There's a mysterious phantom student here, cousin of a legendary group of alumni. You've probably heard of them," said Himuro.

"I have?" Murasakibara cocked his head lazily, making his shoulder length, lavender hair fall out of place.

"Yeah, remember when Teikō won the national basketball championship 3 years in a row? That was them."

"Huh…" Murasakibara hummed nonchalantly.

"Atsushi-kun…" Himuro smiled ruefully. "They're our predecessors, at least pretend to be impressed."

"Okay…" Murasakibara didn't even try to sound anything but apathetic as he turned to look behind him.

"Atsushi-kun…" Himuro sighed. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Umm yeah," Murasakibara replied without looking at Himuro. "I just thought I caught the scent of vanilla. But, forget it. What about the event?"

Himuro shook his head and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It would be a while before he'd get used to Murasakibara's child-like nature again. "The phantom student's nicknamed Teikōmon, and whoever finds her will win a year's supply of food from the food court; every vendor, every dish, no exceptions."

At this, Murasakibara stopped following Himuro.

"Atsushi-kun?" Himuro turned around, wondering why his underclassman had suddenly stopped walking, and started tying up his hair.

"Tell me everything you know about Teikōmon."

Himuro couldn't remember the last time Murasakibara looked this serious.

Tetsuna stared at the banner for the longest time, her face bland and detached, "I'm angry."

"Then at least look angry!" Furihata shouted, shaking her friend's shoulders back and forth. "The prize is practically a heaven-sent for all the poor students. The legion rabid fangirls also have it in their heads that finding you will somehow get your cousins to visit the campus. And then there some aficionados who really think you're a pokemon! There are almost twenty thousand students here Kuroko-kun! What are we gonna do?!"

"Indoor voice please, Furihata-kun." Tetsuna made her way out of the food court with Furihata right behind her.

Tetsuna wasn't pleased with whoever came up with the ridiculous idea. But, truth be told, she wasn't really concerned. All they had was a blurry, partial photograph of her getting into Aomine's Pagani Huayra. She doubted anyone would be able to identify, much less find her given her natural talent for evasion.

Tetsuna had walked amongst the students of Teikō for a long time, taken classes with many of them, even sat next to some of them in the library. Yet, not a single soul barring Furihata Kouki realised her presence.

Tetsuna's eyes fell to the ground. One person out of twenty-thousand at Teikō University knew she existed. Despite her lack of appreciation for acknowledgement, even she couldn't help but feel the tiniest sense of loneliness at realising that stunningly sad statistic.

With her eyes locked on the ground, Tetsuna almost bumped into someone, something which rarely, if ever, occurred. She dodged and managed to avoid an incident. Once safely behind him, Tetsuna spun her neck to look at the massive man. He was so tall that she only reached his chest, even though she was a respectable 168 cm.

Tetsuna waited a beat, wondering if the man would notice the near collision they'd almost had.

But, as always, nothing.

What had she expected? Tetsuna smiled to herself, inwardly chaffing her own silliness as she disappeared into the crowd, never seeing the tall man turn around to look for her.

I've lost interest in writing lately, but hopefully I'll finish this series before it fizzles out :(

That aside, do you think anyone will catch the elusive Teikōmon?

P.S. I know digimons, not pokemons, have -mons. If you guys are really bothered by this, please let me know and I'll change it.