Hi hi, I'm back
And I'm ubberrr sorry for being AWOL the past two weeks
I've been having dance practices almost every day for the past weeks
It's because me and my group participate in a festival show (procrastination sucks! =.=)
Also, before I go on with my whole ramble session,
I wanted to mention this one thing in response to your wonderful reviews ^^

I'm suuupppperrrr glad that you guys really like my omakes haha
I wasn't really sure if they were funny or not
And I only wrote them because I got bored at the end of the chapter
That and I really liked the "Take One" that the manga does hehe

I guess in the end, I did end up rambling haha
But that's the end of that
We Start!~

Disclaimer: Rights belong to the real author of the manga series, Fujimaki Tadatoshi-san… daisuki daaaa~~~

Chapter 7: Whatever Makes You Happy

The day after Aomine had spent time with Kuroko after a long while, he immediately entered his classroom and turned to look for the other to see if he was already there. "Ahh, Kuroko, ohayo." Aomine said to the other.

"Ohayo, Aomine-kun." Kuroko said with a deadpanned expression, inwardly, he was surprised that the other had started speaking with him again.

"So are you going to practice again today?" Aomine asked excitedly. It had been only one practice with the other but Aomine had had a blast last night, despite him winning every game he challenged.

"I've been doing so for the last month now." The other said much to Aomine's discomfort.

"Right... hehe, I'm still sorry about that." Aomine smiled awkwardly until Momoi had made her way towards her desk.

"Ohayo, Aomine-kun, Kuroko-kun." She greeted the pair much to Aomine's surprise.

"How'd Satsuki see you right away? She used to scream when you popped out of nowhere." Aomine was definitely confused with this scene.

"I speak to Kuroko-kun every day. You just don't notice because you sleep in class the moment you sit in your desk." She accused and pouted since the other thought that she'd be as mean as to forget the boy who sat behind her.

"It's alright Momoi-san, it isn't Aomine-kun's fault for being sleepy every day. After all, Akashi-kun's training sessions seem to be pretty hard even for the first stringer third years." Kuroko defended the other.

"It still isn't a good excuse for him to suddenly stop all communication with you. I've been meaning to talk with him about this." Momoi pouted as she looked at her childhood friend.

"Don't worry about it, Satsuki. I talked it over with Kuroko yesterday and we're cool again, aren't we?" Aomine looked hopefully at said boy but he suddenly disappeared from his seat. "W-where'd he go?"

"He left while you were talking and went over towards the teacher's desk to hand something in." Momoi pointed towards the now startled teacher. Poor guy couldn't seem to get used to his invisible student even after a month or two.

"Whaa- he just left while I was talking?" Aomine sweatdropped and looked at the boy as though he were going to cry. (comically I may add)

"You deserve that much." Momoi huffed and turned herself forwards.

"Well, it's your fault too." Aomine accused, bring said girl's attention back towards him.

"How so?" she looked at him with a high and mighty sort of snobby attitude as she gave him an indifferent glare.

"Why'd you forget to confront me about Kuroko?! Even after a month or two, that's taking it a bit too far to say it was my fault when you yourself forgot to talk about it." Aomine half yelled.

"Why'd you forget in the first place?" She accused back. "It's not like you only met him once then he suddenly moved out of the country!"

"You know me, I don't remember people even after a few days!" He defended. The bickering didn't cease and everyone in the class started to stare at the noisy pair. They didn't stop until Kuroko came between them and stopped them.

"You're disrupting others." He said simply as he returned to his seat.

"Sou da ne, Kuroko-kun? Gomen." Momoi returned to her sweet, cheery self, not looking at the other boy.

"Che." Aomine rolled his eyes at her. "Well anyways, we're alright now ne, Kuroko?" Aomine decided to ask again.

"Maa." Kuroko said simply and started to organize his desk. Eventually, Aomine started to nod off once again and the day had just flown by as usual with Momoi trying to keep him focused on the teacher's lessons. Practice eventually came around, he got dressed and seemed to be almost ready for anything... almost. Akashi had come out and they started their regular drills of passing and shooting but he didn't seem to be very focused on this which was a first for him since most of his life revolved around the sport.

"A...ne...omi..e...Aomi...e...AOMINEEE!" a loud yell finally reached his ears as he was snapped back towards the practice session. He looked around and found Midorima with an extremely pissed off expression as he gripped the ball in his hands. He looked as though he were ready to throw the ball straight into his face, not caring of the consequences.

"Ahh, sorry Midorima!" Aomine gave a sheepish smile and scratched the back of his head.

"Daiki." A chill ran up his back as he looked at his red haired captain. The boy's voice was cool but he could feel the malice in each syllable.

"Eh, Akashi?" Aomine couldn't hide his fear.

"Focus." Akashi just stared at Aomine before he walked towards another terrified player.

"Hai." He called back and motioned towards Midorima to start the drill. However, Aomine's lack of focus didn't stop there as the practice continued from the bounce pass drill to the weaving three-man pass shoot drill. Aomine moved along catching and passing the ball unconsciously and ran towards his next receiving position but when he ended being the one to make the layup shot, he accidentally passed it into the wall, thinking that they were still in the middle of the drill. This didn't go unnoticed by Akashi of course, being the perceptive perfectionist he was.

"Maa~ Mine-chin isn't being Mine-chin today." Murasakibara commented first on the situation. The tanned boy just averted his gaze to some corner of the gym.

"Whatsa matter, Aomine? Girlfriend ignoring you?" Haizaki smirked at him as he took a look at Momoi who just glared back towards him.

"There's nothing wrong." Aomine defended himself.

"Oha-sa predicted that Virgos will be having difficulty this week, struggling with something once left behind." Midorima pushed his glasses up. "Lucky Item is a stuffed frog."

"I couldn't care less about that!" Aomine seemed to be getting annoyed now.

"There's no need to vent out your frustration on Shintarou." Akashi interrupted. "However if you are unfocused in the midst practice then you should go out for a bit and clear your head." Akashi suggested and commanded everyone to continue with practice. Aomine was slightly taken aback by Akashi's 'suggestion' as he put it since he expected to have been told err... threatened to stay focused and then get punished for his lack of enthusiasm.

Aomine decided not to ponder on how his captain's mind worked and decided to step out. He wasn't frustrated about anything really but the thing was that he couldn't help but be excited for when practice ended since it meant that he'd be able to start practicing with Kuroko again. He didn't really know what it was about the boy that he liked but he just somehow clicked easy with him, not that he'd have noticed it earlier in the year either.

Aomine eventually found himself outside the third gym where the lesser half of the second stringers and Kuroko were practicing under the instruction of the previous captain, Kaibara. The tanned boy just stood by the door and listened in on the third year's instructions though his voice was getting drowned out by the construction that was happening next door. It appears as though Akashi had persuaded the Kantoku to confront the principal about the addition of a fourth gym. At first, Mori-kantoku was turned down but with the reassurance of Akashi after the incident, it was approved in less than 24 hours.

He wasn't sure how Akashi had gotten the approval but Aomine didn't want to find out through a demonstration of some sort. Although, he knew that Akashi was called down to the principal's office the next day and it was before they'd gotten the approval so he had to have had something to do with it indefinitely.

The regulars were all told by Akashi that after the construction of the fourth gym, the first gym would be theirs, the second gym belonging to the first stringers and benchwarmers while the rest split the third and fourth. However, this would usually only happen when they were in need of their own gym for games. When it comes to regular practices, then those on the bench would join their practice as well. Of course, all this had happened the week before so the building hadn't started yet and the workers were just bringing in the materials. They predicted to have been finished maybe by the tournaments end, meaning the end of the month.

"I wonder if it'll all be alright." Aomine sighed as he thought of the poor principal who unknowingly defied Akashi.

"Alright, everyone gets a 5 minute break!" Kaibara announced as they all agreed and walked over towards the walls of the gym, taking out their water bottles and towels.

"Aomine-kun, what are you doing here?" a voice called to him from inside the gym. He looked and saw the ex-captain looking at him.

"Oh, Akashi said that I should clear my head by taking a walk and I ended up here." He explained.

"Ah, is that so, well you're free to hang around here until you feel better." He said and walked off towards a few first years that were asking for a few pointers.

"It's a surprise to see you away from practice." Kuroko suddenly appeared behind him.

"Wha, Kuroko." Aomine whipped around and looked at the smaller boy. "Yeah well, I wasn't focusing much today."

"That's no good, you need to focus or else Momoi-san and Akashi-kun will both have your head. You do have a game tomorrow." He reminded him.

"It'll all turn out fine. I'll practice more with you later." He said with a large grin on his face.

"You weren't listening to Momoi-san earlier at all, were you?" He said accusingly in a monotone fashion.

"Hmm? What about Satsuki?" Aomine looked clueless.

"She asked you to accompany her to the shopping district today." Kuroko said, dribbling the ball in his hands. "She even promised to get you something for helping her out too."

"Did I really promise her that?" Aomine seemed to be thinking pretty hard.

"Even if you did it unconsciously to get her off your back, you promised that you'd go." Kuroko explained. "You did seem very sleepy so she might've taken advantage of you."

"Kono, Satsuki!" Aomine glared at his clenching fist and shook with anger. He eventually calmed himself down. "Sorry I'll have to leave you alone again, Kuroko but if I have time, I'll show up later." Aomine promised.

"Okay." Kuroko said before the whistle blew, signally the end of his break. "You should head back to your own practice, Aomine-kun. It's good to play lightly before a game." The pale boy then left. Now Aomine felt a little more inspired to practice again and ran back towards the gym. He continued on with practice but not before asking Momoi how long her errand was going to be. She answered that they'd maybe take a half hour at most and after they were finished, then he'd be free to go wherever he'd like.

With that said and done, the dark haired boy practiced with all his heart and was looking forward to later on once again.

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

Momoi had taken Aomine to the market down the road to grab a few groceries. She said that her mom was making something and wanted these specific ingredients. Eventually, Aomine discovered that the reason why the pink haired girl had asked the boy to come out with her was so that he could carry the bags as they went along. Aomine couldn't believe that he was stringed along into coming for such a stupid reason... stupid in his eyes anyways. He just couldn't figure out why girls couldn't do the work themselves and had to rely on boys though he didn't complain out loud for he would just get scolded later for it.

"Are you almost done, Satsuki?" Aomine was seriously getting fed up with this.

"Yes. Arigato Aomine-kun. I wouldn't have been able to move around as quickly if it weren't for you but I'll take it from here." She said getting her bags back. "And be sure to rest easy for the game tomorrow~!" She smiled sweetly before walking off.

"That girl, telling me to rest easy after making me lug her things around for her. And she lied about it only being a half hour!" Aomine rubbed his aching muscles and then remembered to meet up with Kuroko at the gym. He looked at the time but then found that it had been over an hour since he'd been out with Satsuki. He figured that by the time he ran back to school, Kuroko would've been finished.

"I guess I should just head home then." Aomine didn't seem very satisfied with leaving the poor boy to practice on his own yet again but he had no choice since Momoi wouldn't let him slip away, let alone leave her stuff unattended.

The tanned boy walked down the neighbourhood and saw that the sunlight had died down as evening crept its way in. The street lights turned on and illuminated the streets and sidewalks. Even with the day's many disappointments, he figured that this nightly walk wasn't all bad. Eventually, as he neared a familiar park, he heard the sound of a basketball bouncing. "I wonder who'd be playing at this hour?" He thought to himself as he looked at his cell phone. It was around 8 and was pretty dark outside now but his curiosity got the best of him and he walked over towards the courts.

He looked around to find a glimpse of some short kid playing by himself but he didn't look as good as he'd expected. Regardless, he decided to walk over and tell the kid to go home. This would possibly be one of his good deeds for the day since he didn't count Momoi forcing him to shop with her.

"Hey kid, it's pretty late, don't you think you should be heading home?" Aomine called out but as he got closer, he realized that he recognized this kid. "Kuroko? What are you doing here?" He was surprised to have run into the boy here of all places.

"I come here sometimes to play by myself." Kuroko answered simply, not minding that Aomine had coincidentally found him.

"But wouldn't you usually be at the gym?" Aomine couldn't get over this feeling of shock and happiness.

"I was there earlier but the construction workers told me that I should leave early so as to not be in their way. Especially with my little presence, they definitely might drop a steel bar on my head."

"That's not something that you should joke around about." The tanned boy scolded.

"When I can't practice at the gym, then I come here instead. It's closer to my house anyways and nobody shows up at this hour either." Kuroko said as he lined up to take a shot.

"Still the worst aim as ever I see." Aomine couldn't help but smile. "But I still can't believe you live around my area too. I just live down the block."

"That's nice." Kuroko said retrieving the ball and then passing it towards Aomine. He dribbled for a bit before going for the shot. "So what brings you to this court tonight, Aomine-kun?"

"Well, I heard you dribbling the ball and just came by to check out who'd be playing here so late."

"So you followed the sound of a basketball just like a dog to a dog whistle." Kuroko half joked.

"Do not!" Aomine was sick of people making fun of him today. "I was just worried that some little kid was playing by himself and was going to tell him to go home before it got too late."

"I wouldn't have expected you to come to a kid's rescue, Aomine-kun." Kuroko smiled a bit as he passed the ball again.

"Yeah well, it would've been my good deed for the day." He said truthfully.

"Then I'm sorry for ruining your good deed." The other said playfully.

"Meh, it wasn't that important." Aomine shot again. "So why don't you come to the game tomorrow?" Aomine suddenly changed the subject.

"Why ask all of a sudden?" Kuroko wondered.

"Well, if you watched a game, then you can learn and improve yourself."

"I guess that's true." Kuroko said. "And it will be an interesting game, you'll be playing the ones that had beaten out Kaibara-san and the others last year."

"They'd better be strong, it's more fun that way, you know?" The dark haired boy couldn't help but feel a little giddy at that thought. "So you're coming right?" He asked to reassure the other's answer. Kuroko gave a small nod. Just then, another thought ran through Aomine's mind. The air around them suddenly got very quiet except for the sound of the bouncing ball.

.

.

.

.

"Ne Kuroko..." Aomine broke the silence after a few minutes.

"What is it, Aomine-kun?" Kuroko looked at him, waiting to hear what he had to say. Aomine seemed to be having trouble getting the words out but the light haired boy just waited patiently. It's not like he was in a rush or anything.

"Would you mind if we were on a first name basis?" Aomine turned around and tried to give his usual sheepish smile but Kuroko knew that it was a little off.

"Why all of a sudden?" Kuroko seemed indifferent about the idea.

"Well, calling you Kuroko just like everyone else doesn't fit fine with me since it feels like I've known you longer than I actually do. I actually can't really explain it very well but even after speaking with you after soo long, I feel like we've been doing so for years. So would it be fine with you?" Aomine looked at the other. It took a while before Kuroko had answered him; almost as long as it took him to ask the question.

"Why is this killing me so much? It feels like I just proposed to some girl!" Aomine felt like he was breaking from the suspense. Then Kuroko seemed to have finished processing the information and felt like he could give a well thought out answer.

"Whatever makes you feel comfortable, Aomine-kun." Aomine was somewhat dissatisfied with the answer. On one hand, he was glad that he got the answer he wanted but on the other, he wished that he had gotten a better sounding response as opposed to his 'whatever makes you feel comfortable' response.

"So that's all your thinking process came up with as an answer?" Aomine just had to comment on this.

"Ahh." He responded simply.

Aomine sighed before answering back. "Oh well, it's better than a no right? Okay, from now on, I'll call you Tetsu, is that fine? Or would you prefer your whole name?" Aomine couldn't hold back his happiness once again.

"The first is fine with me but I will still be referring to you as Aomine-kun." He said and walked over to retrieve his bag. Aomine did the same.

"Why? You don't want to call me by my first name?" He seemed to be slightly offended. "Do you not like it or something? So you aren't fine being on a first name basis after all, aren't you?" the taller boy cried out.

"Aomine-kun, you sound like a little girl whining about unnecessary things." Kuroko said straightly.

"This isn't unnecessary." He argued. "And I'm not whining but seriously, why are you so polite with the names, Tetsu?" Aomine tested out his newly formed nickname.

"I feel it important to respect ones name and only use a given name when appropriate." He answered.

"You're the complete opposite of Akashi, you know that?"

"I had a feeling when I had first met him on the second day of school."

"Well, Tetsu is Tetsu, and Tetsu promised to come to the game tomorrow so you have to keep your word, Tetsu." Aomine said with glee.

"You're already wearing out the name, Aomine-kun." Kuroko was getting a bit annoyed as the pair walked home together.

"Maa~ just getting you used to your new name, Tetsu." Aomine took the opportunity to use it again.

"You make it sound like you're naming a new dog that you've just bought."

"Fine I'll stop but with this, you should already know who's talking to you when you hear the name, alright?" (haha that just makes him sound possessive... -.-' lol)

"Whatever makes you happy, Aomine-kun." Kuroko just let another smile slip past his mouth as they walked down the street together.

Yay done!
Hope you guys enjoyed it
Not really sure what I'm going to do with the next chapter
So I'll ask you guys what you want to happen

Do you want the game shortly and then on to a bonding session
Or~
Would you want an immediate time skip to the end of the month?

You guys make the call
Thanks for reading ^^
Owari desu~

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

-Omake-

"Ao...e..Aom...mine... Aho...ne... AHOMINE!" Aomine felt a vein pop when he heard the name.

"Where'd that come from?" He didn't sound very content with the demeaning nickname. Though he didn't get a response as he suddenly dodge a basketball aimed at his face. "Midorima, you were serious when you said you wanted to throw this ball in my face?!" He exclaimed as a few more balls came his way.

"We are merely playing dodgeball, Aomine." He said as he lined up his aim again.

"Mine-chin is good, I can't get a good hit on him." Murasakibara sighed. Haizaki just looked like he was having the time of his life. Aomine looked towards Akashi for help with his teammates but the boy just turned around, pretending not to see anything.

"Akashi!" Aomine really wasn't liking this game.

"Consider this punishment for not focusing." Akashi grinned. Although he didn't see his expression, Aomine knew that he had a sadistic expression on his face as he laughed silently to himself.