Chapter 2:

Takao sighed for the umpteenth time that day. It was disheartening to see these guys not trying at all. He'd almost felt compelled to suggest they change clubs since they clearly didn't give a damn about basketball, but the part of him that had been Shuutoku's captain the last time the school ever won the Winter Cup, in spite of how broken the team's morale had been after they lost their ace, still wanted to believe there was something to be done with this team of unmotivated teenagers. Wasn't "Persistent and Tireless" Shuutoku's motto? He couldn't give up on this.

For a moment, he wondered if it wouldn't be a good idea to ask for Shin-chan's help on this after all. Maybe he'd see something that was escaping Takao's Hawk eye (it happened from time to time); but he discarded the idea immediately. Shin-chan had positively passed out the moment he laid on their bed, and had barely mumbled some incoherent words that were probably meant to be a "have a nice day" when Takao had left their room for work. It was his first day off in three weeks, and he'd been having plenty of those 30-plus-hour shifts recently; he deserved some rest.

As if on cue, he felt his cellphone vibrate and Shin-chan's name appeared on the screen. The message was short and concise.

I'm outside the gym.

Takao frowned. Shin-chan could be too stubborn sometimes. He sighed in defeat. He'd let him have his way now, but he was so going to make that workaholic giant relax for real (a massage, maybe?) when they got back home.

He blew his whistle to draw the players' attention. He'd had them running laps and practicing the basics –dribbling, passing, shooting-. He knew they were frustrated. After all, Takao had become some sort of legend after their victory all those years ago, and many had high expectation on the results he'd produce, but they didn't seem to be making any progress at all. Takao knew that wasn't really the case; they had had some minor improvement in their basic movements and techniques, but their lack of motivation was obviously holding them down.

"OK guys, we'll take a short break. I asked a friend of mine to come pay us a visit and maybe give us some words of advice. Please take this opportunity to learn as much as you can."

As he walked to open the door for Shin-chan he realized that this could be a good chance to motivate these kids, if his lover would agree to it.

"Thanks for coming, Shin-chan, I'm sorry that you're wasting your day off like this." He noticed the taller man hadn't brought his usual wheelchair, but one with softer wheels that would move more swiftly and wouldn't damage the basketball court's floor. Maybe Shin-chan had been thinking the same thing as he was. "How confident are you feeling about your shots today?"

Midorima quirked an eyebrow and Takao could see the ghost of a smirk. That was all the answer he needed.

"Hey guys? This is Midorima Shintarou; we were classmates and teammates when we studied here in Shuutoku High. He was Shuutoku's ace and won the prize for 'Best High School Shooting Guard' three years in a row. Thanks for taking time off your busy schedule to help us."

Midorima rolled his eyes, but didn't comment of Takao's somehow awkward business-like introduction, probably because he too thought there was no need to bring up any specific details about their relationship.

Takao noticed that most of the students were looking at him with confusion. It was to be expected, the age gap was enough for the Generation of Miracles to have become almost forgotten, with the exception of some random anecdote. The fact that the wheelchair made Midorima's overwhelming height non-existent probably made him look less awe-inducing as he'd once been. Didn't matter, he'd induce some awe later, Takao knew for sure.

"Oh!" one of the third years exclaimed, with eyes wide like saucers. "You mean the Midorima from that… Club of Miracles was it? I remember hearing about them from my senpais in middle school. I actually wanted to join Touou High because there was this one guy with incredible shots, I saw him once on TV, but I didn't pass the entrance exam."

Takao had a passing thought about the academic prowess of this guy if he was unable to enter a school that had taken Aomine Daiki, but he let it go, pleased that at least someone knew about Shin-chan's awesomeness.

"Your coach told me you guys had a rough tournament last year, but this should not be a reason to be discouraged. He's asked me to help him find which are the areas that need improvement, and what would be the best way to have you focus on them." Midorima crossed his arms over his chest. "I had originally thought of watching you guys play, but I think I'll get a better idea if we stand on the same field." He rolled the wheelchair to the center of the court. "I thought we could do one-on-one's and see how many of you could pass me and score a basket."

The captain, a third year called Hyougo Kasai, scoffed. "Is this a joke, coach? He may've been some amazing player in the past, but there's no way we can play him seriously as he is." He obviously pointed his eyes at the wheelchair.

Takao frowned. Yeah, you go and underestimate Shin-chan, see how well that works. This wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind, but if Shin-chan felt up to it, he had no complaints. Shin-chan would definitely be a great example for this team; in spite of everything that happened he never gave up, and could still play on par with the other Generation of Miracles' players.

"If you feel you can do it, Hyougo-san, then please by all means. I promise that whoever scores a basket in this exercise will automatically get a starting position in the team. Everyone gets only one chance. And I strongly suggest you go at it as seriously as you can. Underestimating your opponent is not only rude, but extremely dangerous."

Hyougo tch'ed and grabbed a basketball, a deep scowl drawn on his face. He dribbled the ball from the opposite corner, very obviously attempting to just dodge Midorima by running far away from the center where he was waiting. He passed the half court with a confident grin in his face and Takao shook his head disapprovingly. He wasn't taking this seriously.

Too slow.

Before Hyougo knew what was happening, Shin-chan had pushed the chair in reverse and cut his path, and from then, intercepting the ball had been but children's play.

"Next!"

Sixteen teenagers later, Shin-chan had yet to break a sweat, and it goes without saying that no one had earned the automatic starting position. Only one kid was left, a second year called Tottori Iwato, and the one Takao thought had more promise out of the entire team. He took the basketball and entered the court. Unlike all the others, he didn't try to go for the sidelines to avoid Shin-chan's defense, but instead went straight for the center and stopped right in front of the doctor. Oh, this was interesting.

Midorima lunged forward, trying to swipe the ball away, but Tottori dodged and turned, effectively passing Shin-chan and opening the path to the basket. Takao was surprised. He was a lot better than he'd anticipated. He grabbed the ball and flexed his legs to take the shot, but he was intercepted by Midorima's long arms that had materialized in front of him in a blink, and took the ball away from him. Shin-chan didn't stop there, though, and he pushed himself a little bit backwards to face the opposite basket. Takao grinned.

Aah, he's gonna do it after all.

He felt great satisfaction and just a tinge of pride when he heard the students gasp at the perfect arch of the ball, and the clean, beautiful sound it made as it flew straight down the net on the opposite side of the court. Shin-chan was such a show-off.

A week had passed and Takao was surprised by how quickly their training sessions had improved after Shin-chan's visit. Since that day, the team seemed to have made bigger progress than in the previous month. Shin-chan's show-off had worked so well he could hardly believe it. Heck, at this rate, the team may actually get a chance at the Inter-High preliminaries. He was no fool, he knew it would take a miracle for the current Shuutoku to aim for the first place in the summer tournament, but if they kept up the training as they'd been doing for the past week, they might actually make a good enough performance to be chosen as Tokyo representatives for the Winter Cup, for which they would definitely be a lot more prepared.

That didn't mean he wouldn't do his best to take Shuutoku all the way to the finals, but he knew it was an extremely long shot given the state the team had been in just five weeks ago.

He trotted to the gym, looking forward to the practice in a way he hadn't since he'd graduated high school. The team had felt spirited enough to clean the court, it almost looked as shiny and beautiful as when Takao had first stepped on it, all those years ago. He was pulled out of his reverie of optimism when he realized none of the students were in the court. His eyebrows furrowed. Why was everyone late?

Frowning, he made his way to the locker rooms to see if the team had gotten distracted with something. Back in the day it hadn't been unusual for some guys to waste practice time fooling around in the locker room (Takao's 'fooling around' with Shin-chan sometimes turned R-rated when no one was around), but he'd never heard of the entire team just disappearing altogether.

Takao was surprised to find that, indeed, all of the team was gathered in the locker room, all of them in a tight circle looking at something and gasping in awe from time to time. He sighed. Never underestimate teenagers and their passion for gravure magazines.

"What exactly do you guys think you're doing?" he asked a little exasperated. Did they really think they had time to waste on printed naked women with the Inter High just around the corner? He was so going to beat some sense into these teenagers and make them run 20 extra laps.

Some of the first years yelped upon hearing his voice. "Oh, it's you, coach! We were waiting for you, Toyama-senpai brought this magazine about Midorima-san's Gang of Miracles and we were just looking at it." One of the second years who was so not making the starters beamed, showing him a copy of Monthly High School Basketball which featured a special titled "The legendary Generation of Miracles, where are they now?".

Now that I think about it, Shin-chan did mention some interviews.

Takao flipped through the magazine, not paying much attention since he knew where all those guys were anyway –Shin-chan still met them from time to time to play basketball- and stopped in the page that featured the green-haired shooter. As expected, the interviewer had asked about the accident and lamented how it had trumped Midorima's would-be professional basketball career, to which he had replied that he'd never intended to go pro anyway and that he was still able to play as a hobby, the same he'd been saying to every interviewer since he first came out of rehabilitation. Takao knew Shin-chan wasn't lying, he'd always made it clear that he wanted to go to medical school and even before getting hit by a truck, he'd insisted that he had no intention to continue with high profile basketball practices. Still, he couldn't help the pang of guilt when reminded of everything Shin-chan had lost because of him. No matter how often Midorima said it wasn't his fault, Takao couldn't stop thinking that if only he hadn't insisted on making Shin-chan ride the bicycle, everything would be different now.

"Hey coach, there's some nasty rumor flying around…" Hyougo, the team captain began, and the wicked look on his eyes gave Takao a bad feeling about where this conversation was headed. "that it was your fault that the prodigious Midorima-san had to retire from the team, I wonder if that's true? I wouldn't blame you, coach, you're pretty strong, but I'm sure no one appreciated your efforts for the team and Mr. Miracle was always the one taking all the glory… He seems like a piece of work, I'm sure if I had to spend every day with a guy like that, I'd want to push him in front of a truck too…"

Takao's breath got caught in his throat. Was that what people thought of him? That he, who had loved nothing more than watching Midorima Shintarou's powerful and magnificent basketball, had wanted to destroy it? That he, who'd dreamed of passing the ball to Shin-chan and win the Winter Cup with one of his beautiful three-pointers, had pushed him out of the court?

He bit his lip and tightened his fist as the kid kept yapping stuff Takao didn't care about anymore. This was pathetic. Was he really going to let some pubescent idiot rile him up? Shin-chan would be so disappointed if he saw him now.

"Are you done now?" he interrupted, crossing his arms above his chest. "Exactly what do you presume to achieve, brat? A kid with the lowest overall efficiency of the team has no right to be running his mouth about other people's business. You're suspended from club activities until I decide otherwise. Now clear off, I don't want to see you in this gym anymore."

Hyougo was obviously not expecting that, and he stood frozen in place trying to process what had just happened. Takao realized a bit too late that maybe he had gone too far just to punish a wannabe-thug adolescent, but he couldn't back down now. He really didn't know why this kid had started to antagonize him so much in recent days, but maybe some cool-off period would do him some good and maybe even help refocus on why he was in the basketball club to begin with. After a few seconds of tense silence, the third year left the room fuming and everyone else seemed to remember they had something else to do and went back to the gym.

Takao let out a sigh of relief, although he knew the problem was far from solved. Hyougo may not be a stellar player –he was definitely not making the starters if Shuutoku wanted a chance at the Inter-High- but there was a reason he had been appointed captain. The athletic prowess he lacked was compensated by his quick mind when it came to coming up with strategies, and more than anything, the rest of the team trusted him. He would need to clear out this problem with the kid; if he could get his trust he could become a valuable asset, even from the bench. But he didn't really have the mind to sort through some troubled teen's anger-management issues. As much as he hated to admit it, Hyougo's accusations had managed to hit a deep chord inside him and he was having trouble regaining his breathe.

He wasn't sure of when he'd started walking, and too late did he realize he had long ago left the gym and allowed his feet to carry him on their own. For how long had he been walking? He had to get back, club practice wasn't over yet.

That was until he realized exactly where his feet had brought him to. He hadn't been in this place for five years. He'd planned to never come back here again. He knew it would bring painful memories back: the noise, the screams, the smell of burning wood, the pain, the beeping of the machines in the hospital, Shin-chan's tears, a distant cry for help, his own voice pleading "C'mon Shin-chan, just this once, I've been doing it for three years!" and he felt tears well-up at the corners of his eyes.

Back then, someone had suggested he attend counseling to help him go over the trauma of the accident. But Shin-chan was so messed up, rehabilitation was going awful, and it was his entire fault, how could he waste time being worried about his own traumas when Shin-chan needed him so much? Months turned into years and he ended up never getting any counseling and thinking that was for the better. He deserved a little pain for what he had done.

If he looked straight at that corner, he could still see it, clear as day: the white delivery truck speeding past the red light, not caring if there was a bicycle in the middle of the road, or that the most beautiful person in the world was riding it.

To be continued

This chapter is the reason I devote myself to angsty romance stories. Because I couldn't write a decent action scene if my life depended on it. Also because I do love heart-pulling angst, but that's beside the point.

This chapter is where the theme of unhealed scars comes out, especially for Takao who's had to carry that burden for such a long time. What happened to them is very traumatizing, either of them could've died, and Takao still feels guilty about it, so even a little inadvertent pushing from one of those kids triggers all those withheld emotions.

Since I'm terribly unoriginal when it comes to names I decided that everyone in Shuutoku's team would be named after the prefectures in Japan. Not that they're going to be too relevant to the story, I picked them randomly, just wanted to point it out.

BTW, my original plan included one of the guys crushing on Takao, Shin-chan noticing it and pulling a "This is MY man" kiss in front of everyone, but I scrapped the idea, it felt unnecessary and I just couldn't find a place where it felt natural, especially for Shin-chan.

Hope you liked this chapter, please R&R, I appreciate all your comments. Next chapter we'll have the climax!