~Second Quarter – Kuroko's Basketball~

第二季: 黑子的篮球

Through My Heart

Chapter 8: 热情 － Increasing Tension

"Dai-chan, it's rude to be sleeping when waiting for someone," Nanase Miho walked onto the street basketball court, only to find the tanned boy lying down with a basketball in his hand.

"What do you expect me to do when she's so damn slow?" he snapped his eyes open and sat up.

Seeing his annoyed expression and chatting together like this again made Miho let out a sigh of relief. After that kiss that they had exchanged, things have been awkward around them even after Miho apologized.

She guessed it was inevitable. Despite everything, she knew she had feelings for this guy. The feelings may not be completely love, but it was definitely something.

"Alright, let's start," Aomine grinned and stretched a bit before picking up the ball and chucking it at the basket.

Whoosh!

In a swift moment, the ball forced itself through the hoop. Miho let out a blank expression as she stared at Aomine's shooting. That guy...after she had given him some hints on his unlimited shooting skills, he had basically mastered the art of being able to score from any position. It was ridiculous.

Also, Aomine's shooting ability didn't help with his teaching skills at all.

"I don't get it," Miho stated while staring with a dubious expression at the ball.

Midorima had offered to teach Miho how to shoot a three pointer after they got together to wrap up the History project the next week. Thus, Miho had asked Aomine for some shooting lessons before hand so that she wouldn't completely suck when it came for her three-pointer lesson. She could barely shoot, much less score a three pointer.

"Shoot," Aomine passed the ball over to the girl as they stood on the street basketball court.

Miho could only sigh as she grabbed the ball and positioned herself like Aomine had taught her, for a shot. The ball flew high up into the air before completely missing the basket.

The ace sweat dropped a bit at the horrible performance. For goodness sakes, Miho was probably worse at the sport that Kuroko...!

Aomine shook his head in frustration. He was glad that he got to spend some time with the girl, but this teaching business was going to be a lot more difficult than he thought.

.-.-.-.

"Midorima and Nanase. As the class representatives, you two will be coming back after your club activities to do the clean up and also photo copy the worksheets," the substitute teacher announced.

Miho let out an inward groan. Other than organizing some school events, the class reps haven't needed to do anything this year because their homeroom teacher was very nice and handled all the work. The same thing couldn't be said about the substitute teacher, though.

However, being as troublesome as it was, Miho was actually slightly happy and nervous at the same time that she was staying with Midorima alone to do work. Albeit the positive sides, Miho was also missing another practice for her shooting skills. She really needed the practice for this weekend. So far, she could barely manage an eighty percent chance of shooting the ball into the hoop from the free throw line.

Well, she guessed that one missed extra practice wouldn't matter too much...

Thus, after the day ended and practice also finished, the girl told Aomine that she wasn't going to practice with him today.

"Huh? Class rep duties? Ha, sucks to be you, Miho!" the boy laughed.

Miho pouted slightly before turning away from the boy, "Don't laugh! I'm leaving!"

After storming away, Miho let out a small sigh as she neared the classroom.

Ever since that kiss, the girl had felt that her life was extremely screwed up and completely turned upside down. She didn't even know what to think about the others anymore. Everything didn't make sense and was so confusing.

"Don't just stand there like an idiot, go in," a familiar deep voice informed Miho from behind.

The girl widened here eyes and turned around abruptly. It was just Midorima, yet why did she suddenly feel so...light...after hearing his voice?

"What's the matter?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at her expression.

"N-No...Nothing," the girl replied before hastily opening the door and stepping in stiffly.

The door closed behind them after Midorima stepped in as well and the girl suddenly felt overly self-conscious. Was it because he suddenly appeared in her mind during her kiss with Aomine? What did he mean to her?

Grabbing the chalkboard eraser from the drawer, Miho accidentally pushed the drawer shut on her hand and she let out a yelp.

Midorima turned at the sound and found the bluenette holding her hand in pain, "What happened?"

She gave him a brave smile, "N-Nothing...! I kinda squeezed my hand while closing the drawer. It's not a big deal."

The green haired boy snatched the girl's hand and inspected it, "Are you a moron? It's bruising up already."

Blushing, Miho quickly took her hand back before grabbing the eraser, "I-It's fine! It's just a small bruise! Shin-chan can go photocopy the worksheets, I'll take care of the things inside the classroom."

The boy let out a sigh and grabbed the papers from the top of the desk and exited the room.

After seeing him leave, the bluenette felt a small wave of depression wash over her. He was worried about her and she just ignored his kindness. Letting out a sigh, the girl took the erasers and cleaned them before shutting them back into the drawer. She then went to the desks and organized them into straight rows.

Soon, she felt herself turning towards the door and letting out another small sigh.

"This is ridiculous... Why isn't he back yet...?" the girl thought to herself before sitting down at her seat and gently staring at her hand.

It was turning purple and it looked like it wasn't going to get better anytime soon. With this, she let out another sigh before the opening of the classroom door could be heard.

"Miho," Midorima's voice greeted her figure at the desk.

The girl's heart skipped a beat at the voice before she sat up and gave him a little smile, "Shin-chan! Are you done with the photocopies?"

The green haired shooter brought some papers and put them on the teacher's desk. After that, he turned back towards the girl.

"How's your hand?" he asked as he walked towards her.

"It's fine...!"

At that moment, a pack of ice flew towards the girl. Surprised, Miho caught the pack and stared at Midorima with a confused expression.

"For your hand," he bluntly stated before turning around and grabbing his bag, "I'm leaving now."

Finally snapping out of her daze, Miho widened her eyes and ran after the boy, locking the classroom behind her, "...Shin-chan! Thank you!"

There was a smile on the bluenette's face. He's arrogant, cold, and weird. Yet, he was always so kind to the girl in many ways unimaginable.

"Do I...Do I like him instead of Dai-chan...?"

.-.-.-.

Midorima had to admit he was pretty surprised. The girl was a better player than he had imagined. Well, she wasn't that amazing, but she wasn't completely crappy either. Her posture for shooting and dribbling were perfect. It was evident that someone who played the sport very well taught her.

He watched her as she positioned herself before the free throw line and then shot the ball. The ball flung throw the air and easily into the basket.

"You've been practicing," Midorima stated as he observed.

Miho let out a small laugh, "Um...yeah..."

"Who taught you how to play?"

There was a pause before she slowly answered, "Dai-chan and Te-chan."

Midorima raised his eyebrows, "Aomine and..."

"Kuroko-kun," Miho replied.

Midorima felt his heart clench a bit once he found out that he wasn't the only one who was teaching her basketball. He should've known, though. The girl knew the boy named Kuroko and so did Aomine. It was only obvious that they were practicing together.

"That explains why you aren't as weak as I thought. Alright, I'll teach you how to shoot a three," Midorima caught the ball as Miho passed it to him.

As he taught, Nanase carefully inspected his form and let out a small smile, "You've perfected it well..."

The boy turned and raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"Oh...! Nothing! Sorry, I'm listening," Miho laughed, trying to avoid going back to her trainer mode.

It was rare to get the opportunity to spend so much time with him. Miho was going to make sure that they both enjoyed every moment of it.

.-.-.-.

"Of the ten shots you did, you got two in. Miho, are you even trying...!?" Midorima raged at the sweating girl, who just sat down and laughed.

"I'm sorry...But I'm actually quite proud of myself for making it in twice. Shin-chan's pretty amazing, being able to get it in one hundred percent of the time. It's one thing, correcting someone's posture and it's another thing actually doing it yourself."

Midorima let out a sigh. She was pretty good for a complete beginner. Nobody would even believe that she just started basketball a month ago or so.

Walking over to her, he offered her a hand and pulled her up to her feet, "Do you want to continue?"

However, before she could answer, the door to the street court opened and two mean looking high schoolers stepped in, "Move it. We're playing next."

Miho smiled at them, "Um, could we share the court please? You guys could have half and we'll have half."

The high schooler boy raised an eyebrow and walked over to the girl with a smirk on his face, "Huh? Share? We aren't elementary kids, girlie. However, we could share a cutie like you."

Before Miho could retort, Midorima picked up the ball and walked over to the other side of the court. Both of the high schoolers thought he was leaving and grinned triumphantly.

However, the green haired boy turned around, "Let's play a game. Two on two. Winner gets the court."

The high schoolers laughed at this, "Huh?! Okay! Two on two it is, four eyes."

With that, Midorima pushed up his glasses and motioned for Miho to head over.

Miho gave a strange look once she arrived, "I can't possibly play...!"

"Idiot, if you aren't going to play, why are you even learning basketball. Take this as a part of the lesson."

With that, the game started. The highschoolers, being the taller ones, got the ball from the tip off and started. Midorima easily stole a pass and shot a three pointer.

The high schoolers widened their eyes at this before glaring and continuing the game. Miho inspected their movements as they played.

"Left foot first...eyes glance at the direction before moving...I've got this...!" thinking about their weaknesses, Miho used the tipping technique that Aomine had taught her and tapped the ball out of their hands and right into Midorima's.

"Shin-chan...!"

Whoosh.

In a swift movement, the basketball flew into the basket and they scored another three points.

Miho gave her partner a happy smile as they played.

It was fun. Playing a game was so fun. The adrenaline in her veins, the bouncing of the ball, and the yells of the players. She knew that she loved basketball more than ever now.

In the end, Miho and Midorima somehow managed to stop the high schoolers from scoring any points. It was mostly because of Midorima's defense and Miho's tactics. And also, their opponent wasn't very good.

After Midorima landed another three pointer, one of the high schoolers near him flared up and glared at the boy.

"You...!" he grabbed the green haired boy by the collar ad raised a fist to punch him.

Midorima shut his eyes and waited for the impact that never came. He opened his eyes and saw Miho on the ground in front of him, clenching her face in clear pain.

"Please leave now, you lost the game and you got to hit me. That's enough, right?"

The high schoolers scoffed before walking out of the court. Miho let out a sigh of relief and smiled at the boy before her. He had a shocked expression on his face before glaring at her.

"You...You're the biggest idiot I've ever seen," he pulled her up and she widened her eyes as he pulled her into his chest and hugged her tightly.

"S-Shin..." his name rolled out of her mouth in a whisper.

He released her after a few seconds and then peered at her face, touching the edge of her mouth slightly.

There was a heavy flush on Miho's face as he wiped the blood off from the edge of her lips and then walked away.

Snapping out of her daze, Miho quickly ran after him, "Shin-chan? What are you looking for?"

She watched as he tossed her a small towel, "Go wet it and clean the blood on your face."

"Ah...yes...!" Miho nodded and didn't hesitate as she ran out of the court and into the nearby restrooms.

She placed both of her hands on the edge of the sink and gripped it tightly. She looked like a mess. Her cheeks were flushed red and her lips were cracked with dry blood on them. Her left cheek was swollen from the punch and strands of her blue hair were falling out of the ponytail that she had tied.

Confused and embarrassed, Miho opened the sink and washed her face with the small towel that Midorima had lent her. After successfully washing the dried blood away, the girl released the hold on her hair and let it flow down her shoulders and down her back. She combed it a bit with her fingers before grabbing the towel again and wetting it with the cool water and placing the wet towel against her swollen cheek.

It felt so good...

"Ugh...I feel like I need to apologize, but I don't even know why," the girl whispered to herself as she recalled the happenings from earlier today.

Why did Midorima embrace her? And the way his fingertips gently brushed against her lips and cheeks.

"Ugh...! What is wrong with me...?!" Miho winced as she slapped her cheeks, "Argh, damn it. I like him. I like him so much..."

She didn't even know when she started feeling this way. She didn't know when her heart started to ache every time he talked to another girl. She didn't know when she started staring at his every movement and even dreaming of him at night.

All she knew was that even her first kiss with Aomine didn't affect her as much as this did.

Finally realizing her feelings, the girl stepped back outside and found Midorima leaning against the wall outside, waiting for her.

Miho handed back the towel, "Thank you for letting me use it..."

Wordlessly, the green haired shooter took it back and then turned around, "We've practiced enough for today. I'll walk you home."

The bluenette shook her head, "Ah...it's alright, Shin-chan. I can get home by myself from here. The court isn't that far away from my house."

He didn't insist like the last time they went to the library. Instead, he simply gave a nod and turned away.

Miho clenched her fist before shutting her eyes and walking away. She had no clue what to think anymore. He was so cold and mean at times, and so kind and gentle at others.

Letting her mind wander, Miho walked back towards her house with a cloud of depression around her.

It hurt—falling for someone.

.-.-.-.

Three months have passed since Kuroko first talked to Akashi and Miho together. After a month of tedious practicing and research, the small boy had finally managed to more or less find a direction regarding his ability. After that, he had practiced hard even after Aomine and Miho had left already to perfect his skill. Finally, it was about done...

"Nanase-san," Kuroko appeared behind Miho after their joint practice at night.

The girl jumped, "A-Ah...! Te-chan..."

She thought she had gotten used to his 'appearing out of nowhere' antics, however he seemed to be more invisible as ever these days. It also probably had something to do with the fact that her mind was being occupied by a green haired tsundere.

She hadn't actually spoken with Midorima for about a month now after the incident at the street basketball court. She gave him orders and error analysis at practice and the occasional talk about training. It was all basketball. They never talked about anything else anymore. The huge history project was finally wrapping up as well and thus there were even less chances of talking to him. He never tried to make chat with her and neither did she. It was almost as if they were total strangers again.

Her relationship with Aomine, however, had amended nicely. The two would often spend their weekends practicing basketball together on a street basketball court near Aomine's house and after that, Miho would force him to do his homework because Momoi had begged her to help. The two were making progress—Miho in her basketball skills, and Aomine in his academic skills.

Shaking the thoughts of Midorima out of her own head, Miho smiled at the boy before her, "Is something the matter?"

"Let's go," Kuroko stated before walking ahead.

"Huh?" Miho asked quizzically, "but Dai-chan..."

"Let's ditch Aomine-kun today, Nanase-san," Kuroko stated blankly.

Miho blinked for while before laughing gently and following the boy.

The two walked out on the streets at night, sipping their vanilla milkshake that they both bought.

"So, Te-chan, what did you want to talk to me about?" Miho asked as the two walked.

"Can you...play against me right now?" the boy asked.

The girl tilted her head, "Hm...? Play basketball?"

"Yes. I have something I want to show you," Kuroko explained.

Smiling and excited, Miho nodded firmly, "Okay...!"

.-.-.-.

"Can you pass me the ball?" Kuroko asked.

The two had set up Kuroko's bag at the center of the court and then Kuroko had asked Miho to pass the ball to him.

Confused, the girl did as she was told and then widened her eyes when the ball flew at the bag.

"Um...It doesn't work as well when it's not in a game...but," Kuroko started explaining himself.

Miho abruptly stopped him, "I get it—your technique. You're using your invisible presence to act like a shadow on the court—specializing in passes."

Kuroko thought for a while before nodding, "Yes. That is about it."

"Let's go inform Sei-chan tomorrow that you're ready to undergo the test. Tomorrow is the second strings and the third strings' joint practice day. You'll be able to prove your skills in a match then. But...I'm sorry, Te-chan. You will only get this one chance. Even I won't be able to help you get another chance," Miho immediately suggested with a serious expression on her face.

Kuroko knew that she wanted him to join the team because she cared for him. However, he also knew that she wanted him to join because of his ability.

Thus, the boy gave a small nod, "Alright, I understand."

.-.-.-.

"Whoa...! Who are—wah! N-Nanase-san! He just barged in here, I wasn't slacking off, I promise!" one of the first stringers claimed to Miho as she walked over when she saw him talking to Kuroko.

"Five push ups and sit up and then continue what you were doing before," Miho ordered before smiling at Kuroko and pulling the boy over for a hug, "Te-chan...! Shirogane-san and Sanada-san approved of my offer to let them observe you!"

"Ah...yes...Thank you, Nanase-san," Kuroko gasped out when the girl released him.

Seeing that they were causing a scene inside the gym, Miho motioned for Kuroko to follow her.

She took him to the regulars area and called out, "Sei-chan, Nijimura-kun...! Please come here for a moment."

Akashi turned and gave Miho and Kuroko a smile once he saw them, "...Well, Kuroko-kun. I've been waiting for you. Since you're here with Miho, I'm assuming that you have found an answer."

"Yes," Kuroko replied.

"Well then..." Akashi started talking, only for Miho to interrupt him.

"Te—For Kuroko-kun to fully show his abilities, he'll need to participate in a match. Nijimura-kun, there's a joint practice between the third and second strings today. Is it okay if both you and Sei-chan come to view Kuroko-kun?" Miho asked with a gentle smile on her face.

Nijimura raised an eyebrow at both Akashi and Nanase, "So that's the guy that caught both of your guys' eyes? Nanase, did the coach say it was okay?"

"Yes, both the head coach and Sanada-san approved," the girl replied.

"Well, then I guess it's fine. It's someone both of you recommended, after all. As promised, we'll at least have a look," Nijimura nodded in approval.

Earning the a-okay, Miho gave the small blue haired boy a sheepish grin, which he returned.

.-.-.-.

"What's happening...?! Isn't that the first string's coach and captain?"

"The vice captain is here too. Nanase is here as well...!"

"What the hell is going on...?"

Miho raised an eyebrow at the gossiping around them. It seemed like they were causing quite the fuss around here.

"We're lucky that it just happened to be the second and third strings' joint practice match today. In order to avoid confusion, we've kept the details from the other club members. I'm sure Miho told you this, but this test will be in the form of a five-on-five mini game between the second string and your third string. You'll show us what you've got here. First, you must win. On top of that, you must exhibit plays good enough to gain the coach and captain's approvals. Those are the conditions for passing the test. In addition, this test is an exception amongst exceptions. You'll only have one chance. There won't be another. Well then, I wish you the best of luck. Miho, let's go," Akashi finished explaining and walked over to the coach and captain with Miho.

Kuroko thought about all the words that Aomine, Miho and his childhood friend had told him. Letting out a small sigh, he snapped open his eyes.

He was ready. This was his show now.

"And now, we will start the match between the second and third strings!"

A/N: I do not own Kuroko no Basket or any of the characters.

I'M SO SORRY FOR THE SUPER DUPER LATE UPLOAD! Geez, how long has it been, two months already? I hope you guys are still interested in the story... I completely understand if you aren't... Well, if you guys are still reading this, I hope you really enjoyed the chapter! Um...this may be too much to ask considering my super late update, but please leave a review? I'll try to get another chapter up by next week if i get lots of reviews! ^_^ Hahaha, well, I'll really try to speed up my updating pace even if you don't review.

Anyways, thanks so much for reading! I was thinking about writing a Christmas story for this with Kise in it as a one-shot that isn't really related to the story line. Please tell my your opinions!

Thanks for reading! Love you all!

~Yuvi