Yup yup yup, I'm getting pretty busy now a days and am trying to juggle all the stories
And I have a real nasty habit of just putting stories out there without much thought
Nor whether I'll actually finish it or not

But I'm real glad you guys are taking these chapters positively
I've just been writing them at like three in the morning then editing them during the day
Lots and lots of work haha
Plus I got other things to do with my social life

Well, enough about my habits… let's get on with the story
We Start~

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basuke, I'm just using my imagination to fill in plot points that I think should happen… it isn't my fault that people like it right?

Chapter 5: The Entire Reason

***Beeeeeeppp***

The final buzzer had rung as Midorima had released the ball and tried for a three pointer. The ball had bounced around the hoop a bit before sliding in. It was only the end of the first quarter and his shots were already getting less and less accurate. "I need more training." Midorima took note as he and the others went over towards the bench for a two minute break. The score so far was 15 – 7 with the first years barely doubling the score.

"We'll need to push harder in the next two quarters." Akashi stated as the other boys rehydrated. "For the second quarter, I want you to take as many points as you can while looking like you're all spent and have pushed yourselves too hard in the first quarter." Akashi instructed.

"So you want us to bluff about our strength?" Aomine asked.

"Exactly." Akashi grinned manically, holding back a chuckle. "During this break, take deep breaths and don't exert too much energy. Use just enough to make sure you don't freeze up your muscles." Akashi spoke like a professional trainer, not that it came as a big surprise to the boys due to their three weeks of training. Despite all of the pressure of the game, Akashi was as level headed as ever, constantly thinking of the next move and predicting the game patterns in his mind.

The buzzer than rang, signalling both teams to get back on the court. The ball had gone to the regulars' team and they'd commenced, trying to shrink the gap so as not to make themselves seem as weak as they'd felt, playing against their kouhai. Hibiki had gotten the ball but passed it off right away due to Haizaki coming up behind him, limiting his actions. Shiba seemed to be in the same position with Akashi and passed it to Kaibara.

Kaibara had gotten the ball near the center of the court and looked around. The kouhai were doing a man to man defensive system while Murasakibara waited for him in the key. "I think I see what they're doing..." Kaibara thought to himself as he strode cautiously towards the key. "It seems like our kouhai have all gotten in way over their heads and have used too much energy in the first quarter to try and get as much points as possible to keep a steady lead." The taichou deduced as he then drove forward towards Murasakibara and had somehow gotten past him, scoring with a layup.

The crowd cheered as the score then changed to 15 – 9. "A six point difference, sasuga sempai-tachi!" a couple of first years commented from the sidelines. Coach Mori was impressed with the sudden basket that Kaibara had made but his expression had remained emotionless so as to not show any favoritism or enjoyment for one team's goal and the other's loss.

The entire play had lasted about 3 minutes but quickly after, Aomine had run towards the basket and shot it swiftly but the regulars didn't miss the fact that he'd moved a bit slower than the first quarter. "Time out!" Kaibara called and the referee had allowed it. The teams quickly gathered together as their time is limited. There were murmurs about why the captain would call a timeout so soon after the first two baskets, however they took no notice of the audience at this point.

"What's the deal, calling a timeout?" Yoshida wondered, not waiting for the captain's explanation.

"I have a feeling that our young kouhai have all run out of steam." He said as they all took a quick glance towards the others.

"They are sweating a lot." Yagami noted.

"It's not like we're any better. But I have noticed a decrease in resistance." Shiba shared as well, wiping a few drops from his left cheek with his back hand.

"If they are running out of steam, then we have a chance to turn this around, don't we?" Hibiki asked.

"I still feel a bit uneasy about using our full power but we'll just try and score as much as we can, agreed?" Kaibara looked at the others on his team. The others exchanged glances then agreed full heartedly.

Meanwhile, with the other team. "You think they noticed that we're holding back?" Aomine asked worriedly.

"If I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing, then it's highly possible that they knew that we aren't up to the pace that we've been playing with in the first quarter. I doubt that they're able to see whether or not we're holding back." Akashi explained simply. "Regardless, keep scoring and just appear to be barely keeping up with their pace. But if you go with your own pace, then theirs won't even matter." The redhead finished his speech.

"However, you'll want us to hide the fact that we're going at our own pace." Midorima added in.

"You catch on fast, Shintarou." Akashi grinned.

"I still don't get it." Murasakibara said lazily.

"Whatever, as long as we win." Haizaki slouched. The buzzer then sounded, signifying that the timeout was over. The game had went along as Akashi and Kaibara had predicted, that the juniors wouldn't pose as much of a threat as before and that the seniors would then eventually push themselves harder to close the gap and pull ahead of the juniors. Though they did score as much as they'd hoped, the regulars all looked at the score at the end of the second quarter and found themselves still in the same position, trailing behind the juniors. However this time with an even worse score of 13 – 28, juniors leading.

With it being half time now, both teams will be able to get time to think and reflect on their own mistakes and plan out game strategies. He knew that he hasn't been playing the sport for a long time but Kuroko did know how to observe and read people's general thoughts. It was a hobby of his to observe people after all, and he'd pretty much figured that this entire game was manipulated and played by Akashi entirely. It was as though he was bearing down on them all like they were merely game pieces and played to his will. With that said, if Akashi is the game master, then Kaibara must be the challenger. He did after all call the shots and read plays better than anyone else on the team, which made him his own team's mastermind.

Though if this really were huge board game, then even Kaibara-taichou himself would be considered as the main pawn compared to Akashi's lower pawns. Kuroko had pieced together potentially what Akashi had initially planned out and he'd seen it in action due to Aomine's unnatural movement in his first basket of the second quarter. All that was left to think about was whether or not Kaibara-taichou would figure out that the other team is still holding back power or if his overthinking on pride, underestimating the opposing team as a result, would continue to cloud his judgement for the rest of the game, leading towards his own team's downfall.

Kuroko had a fairly good idea as to where this game is headed just by looking at the facial expressions of both captains. Kuroko then just leaned on the railing and awaited the game's end. Shiba and the others, on the other hand, were all getting a bit anxious due to the sudden point gap increase from 6 to 15. They weren't wrong about the first years losing their edge since the first quarter but that didn't stop them from increasing the distance between their points and the others.

"Taichou, what are we supposed to do? They seem to be slowing down like we thought but the point difference isn't decreasing at all." Shiba panted as they sat on the bench again.

"Hopefully, the next quarter will be better." Yoshida tried to stay positive as the others mumbled in a doubtful agreement. Even Kaibara was starting to doubt that he was reading the situation correctly as well.

"Let's just try our best and hope for the best." The rest of the team just sat there shocked as their captain had stood up. They've never really heard Kaibara say those kinds of words before, usually he was so positive and uplifting but that phrase just seemed like he wanted them to just make it through this alive. But it wasn't like they could blame him, they were losing their spots as regulars all because of some underclassmen and there's nothing that they could really do about it.

With the upperclassmen slowing down in the third quarter, the first years decided that it was time to up the power a bit and score even more than before. This was turning out to be devastating as Akashi had silently ordered the team to run around with the ball to wear them out and guard with all their energy. Aomine was hopping around with the ball and seemed to be simply tossing the balls in the baskets. Murasakibara was the same due to his height. Midorima's shot at this point in time were unstoppable due to Yagami's weariness unless Midorima's shot bounced out which did occur half the time due to inexperience. Haizaki was still pressuring Hibiki to the point where he'd nearly gotten 4 fouls and had to back off on his techniques, which did have a record to sometimes get him fouls. Especially with opponents who knew how to make a realistic looking foul and to him, Haizaki seemed like that type of person. Akashi played the most normal out of everyone, though he still won in the intimidation area.

The third quarter ended with a devastating 56 – 18.

Akashi then executed his master plan and instructed the team to go full on.

=Flashback=

"So Akashi, how are we going to win against the sempai? They obviously have more experience than we do and have gotten pretty far in the tournament last year." Aomine wondered as he shot a freethrow.

"I'm well aware of our sempai's strengths as well as their weaknesses and habits." Nobody wanted to know how he had found this out. "It's basic knowledge to know that humans can't kick old habits that easily and as I've said previously, they are lacking and are unworthy of the positions that they hold presently. If anything, they're abusing them and are being completely overestimated."

"Is Aka-chin going to use this against them?" Murasakibara asked with a chip hanging out of his mouth.

"I'll develop a sure fire plan to make sure that they keep from scoring as much as they're used to." Akashi refrained from chuckling as he thought of the possibilities. He'd heard from Momoi that the regulars had won their previous game with the score being 74 – 40 but if they hadn't won at this point in time, then it was definitely out of the question for them to remain as regulars. "And you are all still developing your talents but we can win if we play our cards right." Akashi added.

"So you're saying that the team is still immature?" Midorima asked as he paused his practice on posture and angle.

"Precisely, there are many things that you all can still improve on but there's lots of time. We'll make sure you learn enough to obliterate our so called sempai. And make sure to memorize our exercise training for we'll be doing this sort of training regularly with the other club members after we win this game." Everyone nodded, though they still had trouble adjusting to the redhead's overconfidence but unfortunately, they all had no idea what they were agreeing to. All you can say is that there was a lot of blood, sweat and tears, screaming and agony that went on for the next three weeks.

=Flashback Ends=

The team had taken the upperclassmen by surprise as they suddenly exploded with energy and breezed by them as they were all wiped out. "What's going on?"

"Were they just holding back this whole time?"

"What's with their energy all of a sudden?"

"What's up with the sempai-tachi?" The crowd was getting a bit anxious as the first years were shooting basket by basket. Even when the regulars were on offense, the ball was lost in seconds as it was stolen by either, Aomine or Haizaki, not that it mattered since Murasakibara was guarding the key. This fourth quarter seemed to have been a repeat of the first quarter but even worse due to the fact that they're overwhelmingly behind in points and in spirit.

It was getting harder and harder to watch for the audience, in fact, it was hard to watch since the second quarter. They didn't like this one sided sort of game but it wasn't up to them to decide. Kuroko had seen the ending result or at least, easily predicted the ending and did not feel the need to see the final result. He then decided that it was enough for the day and left. Momoi just sat beside the coach, gripping the clipboard in her hands.

"There's no need to be so worried." Mori-kantoku had said to the pink haired girl.

"Wh-what?" Momoi sounded surprise by the sudden conversation springing up. She looked towards the coach who still hid behind his aviator sunglasses, looking forward with a seemingly hard gaze.

"They decided to take part and they worked hard to make sure that they didn't lose." He said coldly.

"Demo, wasn't it Kantoku that made the deal with Akashi-kun?" Momoi asked, seeing as the regulars didn't really have a say in this bet. They were just made part of it without their consent.

"If they didn't want to compete, then they could've backed out by saying that it was my words and not theirs that agreed to the challenge. It seems that Akashi had given them a backdoor to make an easy escape and knowing Kaibara, he would notice such an obvious loophole. However, he didn't take it, nor did he mention it; not that he had to for that matter."

"You mean that the others realized it too?" She asked innocently.

"I would say maybe half at most." Mori said in a joking way but remained true to his character and remained the stoic type of coach.

Momoi had caught this small joke but kept her laughter inwards. "So I guess they chose their pride over their positions, but I bet they'll be pretty upset when they lose." She commented sadly as she watched them struggle in the last bit of the match.

"If they lose and then get upset about it, then they have no right to be on this team. It would just prove that they were all just cocky players who thought they had what it took to win nationals. Or even worse off, players who thought that getting to the semifinals would be good enough." Mori sounded serious as he spoke. As Momoi listened, she figured that he was right. If they didn't have what it took to beat a newly formed team filled with slightly above average, amateur playing freshmen, then they really couldn't be taken as a serious threat; especially when they were clearly being played around with by Akashi. Well, clearly in her eyes.

"I guess you do have a point there." She agreed with a small smile of understanding.

"It's not the point, it's the entire reason. I'm not sure if that first year captain had realized it or if he was just being overconfident in himself, but it seemed clear to him and to me that they weren't fit to be the regulars. That they were lacking something vital." He then put his hand on his chin.

Momoi just laughed to herself, letting out a little smile and laugh. "I bet Akashi-kun did realize that the sempai-tachi weren't what they seemed to be, after all, he's still the captain of the hard to manage team of first years. I've seen their practices and it was a little rough at the start, especially with Haizaki-kun's personality and everyone's different habits and interests. But the one that had made them stick together was Akashi-kun."

"That's interesting to hear." Mori said to the girl as the match came to its awaited conclusion.

Haa~ finished
And I just wanted to say, I made a poll for those who are following my one shots
I hope you guys are enjoying them!
And I'm sorry if this chapter seemed a bit rushed too
And probably not as exciting -.-'

But now it's over
I'll try and update faster in the future ^^
Owari desu~

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

-Omake-
(yeah, fun time haha, hopefully ^^)

As the four players continued their training, Akashi had said that he had to go away for a moment. He said something about threatening a coach at a community center but they either didn't take it seriously or thought they'd heard him wrong. However, they took this opportunity to talk about what would happen if they did win the match against the sempai.

"It wouldn't be so bad if we won. That would mean that we'd be instant regulars." Aomine said with a smile as they all then started to do one squat, then jumped a few feet back into a squat and then repeated this until they got to the opposite side of the gym. (sort of like a frog, their hands behind their heads)

"Yes we'd be regulars but that would mean that we'd have to work harder than everyone else." Haizaki sighed as he tried to keep up with the energy pumped Aomine.

"Hmmm, it'd be nice to play basketball against other sempais from other schools." Murasakibara said as he ate gummy worms while jumping.

"Murasakibara, I think you're defeating the purpose of doing this exercise while eating sugar snacks." Midorima said with a scolding tone.

"It's fine." The purple haired boy mumbled as he continued to eat.

"It is not fine, you could choke and you actually look like a frog!" Midorima exclaimed upon realizing this last fact. "Are you taking this seriously?" Midorima questioned seriously as Aomine just laughed as he looked at Murasakibara as he continued to chew. The boy finally gave up his snack and continued the training. This time, they decided to do crab walks sideways.

"You know what I just realized, if we win, didn't Akashi say that we'd have to do these exercises every day with the other club members?" Aomine realized in shock.

"These are hard enough, imagine what he'll do when we're regulars." Midorima's glasses flashed ominously as he thought on it as well. Murasakibara was still as impartial as ever.

"But we can't lose either, if we do, what do you think he'll do?" Haizaki reminded them too.

"If we lose..." Aomine shivered. "I don't even want to think about." Without realizing, they all had stopped training and were sitting quietly now.

"I wonder what Aka-chin would do if we lost." Murasakibara had somehow gotten back his gummies and ate them once again.

"No need to worry about that." A menacing voice rang through the gym. They all froze as they looked towards the entrance. They all could've sworn that they saw flashes of lightning behind said boy. "We won't lose but you wouldn't be thinking about such things if it weren't for you all not training." They all then realized that they had all stopped and they instantly stood up.

"I wonder what Aka-chin will do when he's seen us not training and talking about losing." Murasakibara wondered out loud. They all just glared at him though he didn't pay much attention to it.

"Triple all of your training menus plus 30 laps around the outside field." Akashi exclaimed as they all groaned. "Any problems?" Akashi glared at the group as he fiddled with a finely sharpened pencil in his hand. They then remembered what he said he was out doing and they then started to run immediately.