A/N: And here's the third chapter! Thank you all for your reviews! I'm sorry I can't satisfy everyone when it comes to pairings and whatnot, but hopefully you'll still like the story!

The only one who can kiss you is me

The third day of the training camp started with short basketball matches, to replace the cancelled tournaments. In order to make things fairer and to train the players to adapt to various playing styles, the coaches and Momoi had decided to build new teams with players from different high schools. It was how Akashi, Hyuuga, Ootsubo, Susa and Hayakawa found themselves in team A and facing team B composed of Furihata, Midorima, Kobori, Hayama and Himuro. Unsurprisingly enough, Furihata was currently as stiff as reinforced concrete.

"I'm wondering if this match-up is a good idea." Harasawa said as the match started. "Especially for the Seirin number 12. He's the team's point guard, isn't he? Meaning he'll be against Rakuzan's Akashi."

Riko turned to the Touou coach with a dazzling grin. "Don't underestimate our Furihata. He's very reliable in unexpected times."

"Provided he survives facing Akashi. And it's not starting very well." Masako noted.

When Riko turned her attention back to the court, she sweatdropped. Kobori had just tried to make a pass to Furihata, but Akashi's mere presence behind him seemed to be enough pressure to make him trip and fall headfirst in his attempt at catching the ball. There was a second of silence before the Seirin captain let out a small sigh while Koganei was stifling a chuckle – only to be glared at by Riko. Some of the other high schoolers who weren't playing gave Furihata sympathetic smiles while the others merely stared at the scene with sceptical yet amused eyes.

Furihata sat up, rubbing the back of his head with a wince and blushing slightly in embarrassment.

"Uh... Are you all right?" Kobori asked as he walked closer.

"Y-Yes, I'm very sorry about this." Furihata apologized as he took the extended hand in front of him. "Thank–" Words died in his throat with a gulp as he realized it wasn't the Kaijou centre's hand that he had just taken.

It was Akashi's.

Though the Rakuzan captain had helped him up – much to everyone's disbelief – Furihata's legs were threatening to fail him again. Seized by panic, his hand felt sweaty in Akashi's; his body was trembling uncontrollably and he could feel his heart pounding hard against his chest, especially with the Emperor's eyes gazing at him as if probing his mind's every corner. It was all he could do to remember breathing. Why had Akashi still not released his hand yet? Did he plan to tear it off his arm? Wasn't anyone going to help him? Was he going to die? He was, wasn't he?

"Kouki."

Hearing Akashi calmly call his first name sent a powerful and icy shiver down Furihata's spine. His heart stopped beating for a second; he was even certain he could feel his soul slowly escaping his mortal coil. This was the end.

"Pay attention, next time."

It took Furihata a few seconds to register the words before he opened round eyes. Perhaps it was his state of shock that made him imagine things, but Akashi had almost sounded... concerned? No, it wasn't the exact word. Akashi always spoke with a collected tone, but this time there was a hint of softness to it that left the Seirin point guard perplexed. It took him a few more seconds to recover his senses, and his cheeks turned a deeper shade of red as he realized he had been staring at the Emperor all this time. Remembering his manners, he bowed several times, rather confused:

"I'm sorry! I will! Thank you very much, Akashi-san!"

On the bench, Imayoshi cocked an eyebrow. "I'm seeing a second Sakurai here."

Next to him, said Sakurai started apologizing for being alive, much to his teammates' exasperation.

"And what's with the 'san'? They're the same age." Wakamatsu commented.

"I don't blame him for reacting like that." Kasamatsu joined in. "That Akashi guy isn't one to make you feel at ease."

"This match promises to be amusing." Imayoshi said with his usual smile.

Amusing was perhaps not the right word, but it was certainly highly entertaining and instructive for the watchers. Bets had been made on which team would win, and though odds were more in Akashi's team favours, the difference in level wasn't so obvious. Midorima and Himuro were scoring a respectable amount of points and Furihata wasn't doing a bad job at marking Akashi.

"He's a surprising one, your number 12." Shirogane admitted to Riko who grinned with pride:

"Furihata has an average stamina, that's why short matches like these are an advantage to him. He knows he can give it his all."

"I'm not certain that will be enough against Akashi, though." Masako said.

The Yosen coach was right. There was a more natural teamwork within Akashi's team – some put it on Akashi's natural ability to lead – that wasn't so obvious in team B. The end of the match gave victory to team A with an eight-point difference.

"Good job. Team B defended themselves better that I thought, though." Izuki commented, handing a towel to Hyuuga.

"Yeah, it was tough dealing with two scoring-monsters at the same time."

"How was it? Playing in the same team as Akashi, I mean." Koganei inquired, making Hyuuga look annoyed.

"I'm not sure how to put it. It's one thing when you're facing him as your opponent, but having to actually play in the same team as him is kind of... weird. It's almost creepy how well he adapted to our playing styles to build his strategies. When he passed to me, it felt like he's been passing to me forever." he said, watching his hand as he flexed his fingers.

"Akashi-kun is naturally gifted to see our potential." Kuroko explained. "It was thanks to him that I was able to specialize in passes."

Next to him, Furihata collapsed on the bench, sweating and out of breath. Kiyoshi gave him a strong pat on the back.

"You did very well. You even managed to stop Akashi's defence several times!"

"Yeah, you were great, Furihata!" Koganei nodded, "and Mitobe says he agrees with me."

"I still wasn't able to stop him completely in the end. He's not human." Furihata replied as he wiped his forehead with the towel Mitobe had handed him.

In the Shuutoku corner, it was Takao who gave Midorima a bottle of water. The latter took it silently but gratefully.

"Don't brood like that, Shin-chan. You weren't that far from winning." Takao consoled him.

"I still lost."

"Well, I guess it's hard to play with people you aren't familiar with. I noticed there were some coordination problems between the whole lot of you."

There was a second of silence before Midorima spoke again, and the words that came out of his mouth caught Takao completely unawares:

"I can't seem to receive passes from anyone else but you, Takao."

The Shuutoku point guard blinked at him several times before grinning and wrapping an arm around Midorima's shoulders.

"That sounded like a love confession, Shin-chan." he teased him, eliciting a well-expected reaction from his ace.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Midorima snapped at him as he slipped free from Takao. "As if I'd do such a thing here!"

"Quiet down, you two." Ootsubo ordered. "You look like an old married couple."

While Midorima looked offended by the last sentence, Takao chose to play his carefree-attitude card:

"Oh Captain, good job on defeating your own ace." he said.

"Instead of spouting nonsense, get ready for your own match." Ootsubo scolded him.

"Yes, yes, will do." Takao replied with a sigh.

Not far from there, Kagami had left his teammates to join Himuro in the Yosen group. Murasakibara couldn't decide on what the most annoying point was: that Kagami was monopolizing Himuro's attention, or that their whole conversation was in English and he couldn't get a damn word of it.

"Your Mirage Shot is still as amazing as ever, no matter how many times I see it."

"It wasn't enough to fool Akashi's eyes, unfortunately." Himuro sighed. "And Midorima's shooting skills kind of make me jealous."

"I've played you enough to know that you give me much more trouble than Midorima." Kagami replied, patting his brother's shoulder. The latter gave him a faint smile.

"I hope we get to play against each other soon. I want to see how big my little Taiga has grown."

"Hey, I'm taller than you, Tatsuya." Kagami groaned before wincing as Himuro ruffled his hair, just to annoy him.

Murasakibara was not happy. Why? He couldn't say for certain, yet one thing was sure: he didn't like the familiarity and the closeness between Kagami and Himuro, and he liked it even less when he heard Kagami used Himuro's first name. And what was Kagami doing here instead of being with his own team? Himuro belonged to Yosen High and Kagami belonged to Seirin High, therefore Kagami had nothing to do here. The equation was simple, at least in Murasakibara's point of view.

Something pressed in the hollow of his knee, interrupting his mathematical reasoning.

"Stop trying to kill them with your eyes and get ready, you're in the next match." Masako ordered, her stick in her hands.

Grunting and mumbling, the Yosen ace headed for the court with as much enthusiasm as a sloth that had just woken up.

"Atsushi, good luck!"

Turning round, Murasakibara saw Himuro waving at him. Oh well, it wouldn't hurt to put in some effort for this one time.

At lunch time, talks progressively shifted to the afternoon's hide-and-seek game.

"I'm definitely going to find you today, Kuroko." Kagami asserted, his mouth full of rice and beef.

"I'll be looking forward to it." Kuroko replied politely. "Would you like my share?" he asked, pushing his plate to Kagami.

"Oh thanks! You sure you don't want it? You hardly ate anything."

"I'm full, Kagami-kun."

"Tch, no wonder you're so short if you keep eating so little." the Seirin power forward said, though he gratefully took the extra food offered to him.

"And you eat so much it's a wonder you haven't exploded yet." Hyuuga noted. "Though I can't really complain since it was thanks to your bottomless stomach that we got free meat."

"Don't you ruin yourself with your food budget?" Koganei asked.

"He must be dirt rich, seeing how big his flat is and everything." Izuki said.

"And he lives alone in it. Damn rich kid."

"Hey, don't talk as if I can't hear you!" Kagami grunted.

"And he invites hot chicks into his bed too." Izuki went on. Those words didn't go unnoticed around the table as several players from the other schools suddenly paid great attention to the present conversation.

"So you're like that, huh, Kagami?" Aomine sneered.

"You're horrible, Kagamicchi." Kise commented, voice unusually cold and eyes filled with complacent pity.

"It's not like that!" Kagami protested, glaring at Izuki. "She's just–"

"And she's at least an E-cup." Koganei added fuel to the fire.

"I have to admit she looked very nice." Kiyoshi pondered innocently.

"She walks naked in Kagami's flat."

"She even kissed you in front of everyone. Shamelessly." Kuroko added calmly.

"Seriously?! Though I guess it must be normal for a returnee." Fukui said. "To get girls so easily and all, I mean."

"Stop making up weird things like that, seriously!" Kagami's rose as he was losing his temper, cheeks turning pink. "She's just–"

"Damn, I didn't know you were popular. Can you introduce her to me?" Moriyama asked, resulting in an accurate hit on the back of his head from his captain.

"Me too, I want to meet her!" Okamura pleaded.

"Nice girls don't go out with gorillas." Fukui countered immediately.

In less than a minute, the rather quiet meal turned as noisy as a kindergarten. Okamura was crying about Fukui's cruelty while Liu was vaguely trying to console him. Kasamatsu was lecturing Moriyama about his frivolity, using that opportunity to remind the rest of his team – which hardly listened – of how important it was to focus solely on basketball during this training camp; it wasn't every day that you were given the opportunity to play all the Generation of Miracles, you know? Aomine, Kise, Koganei and Izuki kept on pestering Kagami who could hardly defend himself, while Kuroko remained a silent onlooker.

"Did you do that already?"Kise pressed at some point. "I'm sure you did."

"Well, if he brought girls back in his bed and kissed them, it can only be to do that." Wakamatsu said with contempt. "And he's a returned. I swear, kids nowadays don't have any morals anymore."

"So, did you?" Aomine smirked.

The question made Kagami turn crimson. "S-Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you all today?!" he flared up. "I'm trying to tell you, she's just–"

"Don't elude the question, Kagamicchi. We've already cornered you. See? Even your teammates abandoned you." Kise said, which wasn't entirely wrong as Izuki and Koganei had turned away in an attempt at hiding their fits of laughter. Hyuuga had given up trying to tell his team to stop teasing Kagami, and Kuroko was drinking his shake, looking unconcerned by all these events.

On the other side of the table, Momoi, the Shuutoku and Rakuzan players pretended everything was normal, except Takao and Mibuchi who seemed to find the scene very entertaining. Even Akashi didn't seem particularly bothered by the ruckus as he quietly finished his plate. The coaches were eating in a separate room – on the Touou's and Rakuzan's coaches request – and were therefore completely oblivious of the situation.

In the meantime, Kise was still trying to know if Kagami had done that before, bringing the redhead's patience dangerously close to its limits. It required Himuro's intervention to save Kagami from his trial. He stood right behind Kagami's chair, crossing his arms and resting them on the power forward's head, adding to the latter's irritation, but Himuro cut him in before he could say anything:

"If anyone wanted to do that with Taiga, I'd kill them before they could defile my little brother. I'd kill them slowly and painfully. No matter who they are." he said very coolly, and yet the charming smile he wore only served to creep the others out even more.

At that instant, they all understood that Himuro Tatsuya was extremely serious about protecting his little brother.

And somehow, it irked Murasakibara a bit.

It bothered Kuroko a bit as well, but for a different reason.

Afternoon announced the beginning of the second hide-and-seek game and another round of lament from Momoi who only wished she could join the fight. The game surprisingly didn't last long. Either the temperature was particularly high today, or Kuroko hadn't eaten properly to gather enough strength, but Aomine found him floating down the river, eyes closed, and for a second he feared the worst. As he dragged the small body back onto the shore, Kuroko's eyes fluttered open.

"Oh, Aomine-kun."

"Don't 'Oh' me, you idiot." the Touou ace grunted. "I thought you were dead or something."

"I'm sorry. It was so hot I needed to refresh myself in the river, and I think I fell asleep in the process."

Aomine stared at him dumbly before shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

"Whatever. Dry your clothes a bit, you're soaked." he said.

It was precisely when he was helping Kuroko remove his shirt that some rustles were heard.

"Aominecchi! You left me behind agai–!" Kise appeared from behind a bush before stopping dead. He narrowed his eyes. "May I know what the two of you are doing?"

"I fell asleep in the river so Aomine-kun is helping me dry my clothes." Kuroko explained as Aomine pulled the shirt off his head.

"You... fell asleep?" Kise repeated, incredulous. "Really?" Kuroko nodded. "So Aominecchi wasn't trying to do anything suspicious to you?"

A well-aimed shot resulted in Kuroko's wet shirt flying straight at Kise's face.

"Hey, what was that for?!" Kise protested, removing the shirt from his face angerly.

"You were saying something stupid, so it annoyed me." Aomine shrugged.

"Please refrain from throwing my belongings at other people, Aomine-kun."

"So, it means that Aominecchi found you first?" Kise asked reluctantly as he gave Kuroko his shirt back.

"Yes, I assume so."

"Let's go back, I wanna take a nap." Aomine yawned, pretending he didn't notice the death glare Kise shot at him.

Needless to say, Kagami couldn't be more frustrated on that evening.

"What the hell were you doing in the river?" he snapped at Kuroko who had come to bid good night to his teammates. "You could have drowned there!"

"I'll be more careful now, Kagami-kun."

"You'd better." Hyuuga said. "We don't want to end up with a corpse in the process."

"So tonight you get to be with your former Light, right?" Izuki inquired. "It should be OK, I suppose. Despite being an ass, I don't picture Aomine doing anything weird to you."

"He will most likely fall asleep as soon as he lies down." Kuroko nodded. "That is what he would do during our camps in middle school."

"Figured he was the lazy kind of guy. But he's still a monster in basketball despite being lazy, and that really pisses me off." Kagami greeted his teeth. "Damn, I wanna play him tomorrow. I'll definitely win."

"You seem less upset by the fact he caught Kuroko than you were for Takao yesterday." Kiyoshi noticed, to which Kagami scratched his cheek pensively.

"Well, I guess it's as Izuki said." he said slowly. "Though Aomine's a real bastard, I kind of... trust him when it comes to Kuroko, I suppose." It was obvious that the last words had required a lot of effort from Kagami to overcome his reluctance. Several eyebrows were cocked.

"I didn't expect that from you." Hyuuga said.

"Maybe you're actually growing up."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Kagami growled.

"I'm glad Kagami-kun trusts Aomine-kun." Kuroko said.

"Tch, well it doesn't change the fact he managed to catch you before me, and that pisses me off."

"Better luck next time." Izuki chuckled. "Besides, you like running, don't you?"

"That's not the point here!" Kagami growled.

"I am certain you will be able to catch me by the end of the week." Kuroko said. "Well then, I shall take my leave. Good night, everyone. Please take care of #2."

As an answer, the dog let out a happy bark, making Kagami jump and glare at him in fright.

"Will do!" Koganei replied. "We'll keep him out of Kagami's reach."

"As if I wanted him close to me!" the redhead retorted before turning to Kuroko: "Good night." he mumbled.

The night air was much cooler and much more comfortable than during day, Takao mused as he gazed absent-mindedly at the half moon above his head. At the back of the inn lay a small yard with some greenery, a pond and stone benches, and it was on one of those that Takao was currently seated on, next to Midorima. It wasn't really in his habits to get some fresh air at night; he'd rather be comfortably settled on his futon to rest his entire body – especially after today's fifteen kilometres of running on an empty stomach – but tonight was a bit special. Tonight, it was Midorima who had unexpectedly suggested they took a walk outside, supposedly because it was too noisy in the Shuutoku room. Takao knew him well enough to know it was a mere excuse, though he had no idea what was on the mind of his team's ace.

There was no denying the faint nervousness that was slowly gaining him, particularly with the silence surrounding him. He decided to break it:

"Too bad I didn't catch Kuroko today, huh?"

"Hm."

"And tomorrow we'll have to run even more."

"Hm."

"…Sorry, I guess you didn't call me out here to talk."

That seemed to trigger some sort of reaction from Midorima.

"No, it's not that. I mean, yes, it is. I do want to talk." he said with an uncertainty in his tone which Takao had rarely heard. On closer observation, he noticed that Midorima looked rather tense, or perhaps was it only the strain of the day. And was it his imagination or the ace's cheeks seemed redder than usual? And he was definitely avoiding his gaze, wasn't he?

"I'm listening." Takao said, now curious, but Midorima kept silent for a little while before speaking again:

"I suppose you remember this morning's… conversation, after my match." he said.

"Hm? The conversation?" Takao frowned for a second. "Oh! Yeah, a bit. What about it?"

"…"

"Shin-chan? What is it? Are you feeling sick?" Takao tilted his head on the side, but the question only resulted in the green-haired teen blushing even more as he readjusted the glasses on his nose – a habit that Takao knew served to hide Midorima's embarrassment.

Takao Kazunari wasn't one to be easily taken off guard, yet when the Shuutoku ace finally turned to Takao and opened his mouth, the words that came out of it made the point guard's eyes open wide. In spite of himself, he felt his pulse quicken dangerously fast and his throat suddenly felt unable to emit a single sound. No coherent thought could be formed in his brain at the moment; instead, his mind was trying to figure out whether he was dreaming, or had eaten some hallucinogenic food or anything similar. It was a joke, wasn't it? It had to be. But Midorima never made any joke.

Then what?

Takao wasn't certain how long he remained silent, but all this time Midorima's eyes hadn't left his. Turning back – with a bit of difficulty – to his usual self, he managed to pull out a smile:

"That sounded like a love confession, Shin-chan." he said, repeating the scene in the morning.

This time however, Midorima's reaction was different. He looked away, scarlet like never before, lips pursed slightly.

"Obviously." he declared dryly, though Takao knew better than to be fooled by his tone.

His hand reached Midorima's face, gently prompting him to look at him.

"You're supposed to kiss me now." he said, and for once his voice wasn't as full of confidence as he willed it to be, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that he wasn't dreaming, that his ace was really standing in front of him, that his bandaged fingers were really touching his cheek and lifting his chin up, and that their lips really met, awkwardly yet pleasantly, sending chills down his spine and through his entire body.

When they parted, it could hardly be said who among the two was the most flushed.

"I never expected you to be the one making the first step." Takao finally said. Midorima didn't reply right away.

"I believed it would be more… conventional that way." he explained after a while.

"Conventional?" Takao cocked an eyebrow.

"Since I'm taller. Or something like that." If Takao thought Midorima couldn't turn more crimson, he was truly wrong. Slowly, a smirk crept on his face. So that was how it was, huh? Had Kuroko actually told him? Or had Midorima spied on him? Whichever it was, Takao didn't really care anymore.

Midorima suddenly turned round.

"Let's go back. We need to rest." he declared as he started walking back.

He didn't protest when Takao hurried after him and took his hand in his as they went back inside.

Aomine yawned loudly as he fell down on his futon with no grace at all, resting his head on his laced fingers. Kuroko was still reading the same magazine borrowed from Kagami, and only silence could be heard in the room for the next few minutes, until Aomine decided to start some sort of conversation with his former Shadow.

"Tetsu."

"Yes, Aomine-kun?"

"Is playing with Kagami fun?"

Kuroko turned his oval eyes to Aomine, closing his magazine.

"Yes, it is. Playing with everyone in Seirin is fun."

"…I see." The Touou power forward paused a moment before going on: "Is it more fun than Teiko?"

Kuroko seemed to ponder at the question. "I had a lot of fun playing with you all. Especially with you, Aomine-kun." The answer made Aomine snicker.

"I had fun playing with you too."

"Until all of you decided to become idiotically full of yourselves." Kuroko added placidly.

"Hey! All the others were so weak it was boring as hell!" Aomine protested, though he knew deep inside that Kuroko wasn't entirely wrong.

"Do you still think so now?"

Aomine clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Are you trying to rub our Winter Cup defeat in my face?"

"That wasn't my intention."

"Well, what can I say? Kagami was stronger. You were stronger." Aomined admitted reluctantly. "But that belongs to the past. Next time we face each other, I'll be much stronger, and I'll crush you."

"We'll get stronger than you then."

"Dream on."

"I believe in Kagami-kun."

"Tch." Aomine could easily understand why Seirin put so much confidence into Kagami, though he'd never admit it out loud. "He has yet to beat me in a one-on-one."

"Do you often play one-on-one with him?"

"It happens."

"How often?" Kuroko insisted, making Aomine cock an eyebrow.

"How should I know? Whenever he's free and I'm free. It's not like I count every time we see each other."

"So you do see each other."

"Well yeah, we d–Hey, why are you looking at me like that? It's creepy."

"You are seeing Kagami-kun without informing me."

"Hah? Why the hell should I inform you? Are you my mom or something?" Aomine grunted, but Kuroko was now staring hard as him, eyes undecipherable though Aomine highly doubted they reflected anything positive.

"What about Kise-kun?"

"What about him?"

"Why don't you play against him?"

"Oi Tetsu, do I need to remind you that he's not in Tokyo anymore?"

"He's not that far."

"Kagami's closer, that's all."

"Kise-kun enjoys playing with you a lot."

"I know that. What's your point?" Aomine snapped.

"He'd be devastated if he knew that you prefer playing with Kagami-kun rather than with him."

"It's not my fault if he chose to leave Tokyo, damn it! And that's not your concern what I do of my free time."

"It is not, but seeing Kise-kun abandoned by you breaks my heart." Kuroko said without a hint of emotion in his voice. Aomine sat up, irritated.

"I have a sudden urge to hit you, Tetsu. And maybe you need a pair of glasses, because I don't see Kise being abandoned anywhere."

Instead of replying, Kuroko searched his bag for his phone, then showed Aomine his inbox. Over half the messages were from Kise.

"From this morning: 'Aominecchi didn't answer me when I said hi'" Kuroko read. "From yesterday: 'Aominecchi said I'm annoying but I don't know what I did'. Two days ago: 'We've arrived. Are you there yet?'. 'Kurokocchi, are you still far?'. 'Is Aominecchi alright? He doesn't answer my messages'. 'I asked Aominecchi to teach me new moves, but he refused'. 'Yesterday Aominecchi told me he didn't want the latest magazine where I'm featured. He said to bring him gravures instead'. 'Aominecchi's so mean'. 'Aomi–'"

"Fine, fine, I got it!" Aomine cut him in, annoyed. "Damn, I didn't think he'd actually complain to you."

"That is because you don't pay him enough attention."

"What is he, some sort of pet I have to look after? Seriously Tetsu, gimme a break with that." Aomine grunted.

"He admires you a lot."

"Tch, I know."

"He likes you a lot, too."

"... I know." Aomine answered, looking suspiciously at Kuroko. How had the conversation turned like that?

"Aomine-kun, I think he lov–"

"I know, damn it! Do you think I'm that stupid?" the Touou ace snapped angrily. "I know it damn well!" The blank stare he received from Kuroko made him sigh in annoyance. "You've got to be damn blind or a lost cause not to notice it. And I'm not that much of an idiot, no matter what you may think." he said, cooling down.

"I have to admit I am a little bit surprised." Kuroko went on after a second of silence. "I had always believed you were slightly dense when it came to these matters."

"Tetsu, are you looking for a fight?" Aomine asked angrily, but Kuroko eluded the question with another:

"Why don't you give Kise-kun a proper answer?"

Aomine scratched his nape, brows furrowed. "Out of habit, I guess. I got used to him sticking to me like glue whenever he sees me, no matter how much I tell him to fuck off." He lay back on the futon in his initial position, gazing at the ceiling. "And because it's kinda fun, having someone chase after you like that."

"You are horrible, Aomine-kun." Kuroko stated with his usual calm tone.

"I am, aren't I?" The tanned player closed his eyes.

"How long do you plan to go on like this?"

No answer came.

"What if he gets tired of it and decides to move on with someone else? Kise-kun is very popular, after all. I believe I did see him kiss someone, once." For drama purposes, Kuroko chose not to reveal that the last sentence was an utter lie, of course. But he got the expected reaction from Aomine.

The latter's eyes snapped opened and he sat back up in shock, as if the possibility had never occurred to him.

"He wouldn't do that!" he exclaimed, suddenly slightly panicked. "He's too freaking stubborn to give up on me, that idiot! And I'd never let anyone lay a finger on him anyway!" Grabbing Kuroko by the collar, he went on: "The only one who can kiss him is me! That should be clear enough! I'll kill whoever dares touch him! Who was it? Tell me!"

There was a second of silence before Kuroko spoke: "I am not certain whether you are the worst kind of obnoxious person on Earth or a simply a complete idiot." he commented flatly. "I tend to think the latter, though."

"What?" Aomine frowned as he released Kuroko.

"Aomine-kun, please do realize that any normal person having heard what you said would have probably hit you by now."

Aomine twitched a bit at those words, then his face turned to a scowling one as he lay back down on the futon, turning his back to Kuroko like a kid who had just been punished. The Phantom Player took it as a signal that it was time to sleep, but as he was about to switch the lights off, he heard a mumble coming from Aomine.

"What is it, Aomine-kun?"

A mumble again, louder this time.

"I'm afraid I did not quite get that."

"I said, I'll admit I was an idiot, but just for this time, damn it!"

A faint smile graced Kuroko's lips.

"And you still haven't told me who the bastard who kissed Kise is."

"Please forget about it. It isn't very important."

"Like hell it isn't!"

"I'm turning off the light."

"Damn it, Tetsu!"

"Good night, Aomine-kun."

"... Good night."

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Yeah, I like thinking that Aomine is plainly aware of Kise's interest for him and enjoys it diabolically. To all of AoKise fans, I hope this chapter was able to reassure you a bit! I welcome any opinion on the story so far!