Knights of Teikou
Genre : Adventure, Friendship, Fantasy
Hey,everyone! Thanks so much for keeping up with this story, I'm really happy for your supports. And here is the next chapter minna!^^
Kuroko no basuke is owned by Fujimaki sensei! May include OOC
Chapter 6:
The capital city of Teikou Empire, Eclipss, was so silence since the time was just showing five in the morning. The only sound that could be detected was the most outer part of the town, where some houses started getting ready for the business later.
Moved into the residences area, not a little noise could be spotted anymore. The silence was almost eerie if not for the chipping birds that helped to make the situation at least a little livelier. Up to a small certain apartment there, a single boy was standing facing the window and looked out onto the concrete building in front of him.
He was bored, he had spent almost all his time on the day to lay down or sit on his bed and read some books. He liked to read, it helped him averted his mind from his thought and it was nice to fill his time learning more knowledge from the books he read.
But that alone was not enough, reading books helped his mind calm down but not his body. His body urged to move like those days back then, sparring with his little brother, to feel the excitement he felt when their swords clashed together. But he knew it was only a hopeless desire, hopeless because of his own incurable illness.
'Incurable' was how he called it, because no doctors he met so far could really explain what disease he had got. They just gave him some medicine and it didn't help at all. He believed that the illness first went away not by the medicines he got, it just went away and now relapsed again.
He had started feeling sick five years ago, the illness weakened all his limbs suddenly and he lost all his energy. He first discovered it two months after the war five years ago, when he was doing the usual routine with his little brother. They liked to explore around the nature. Comparing to Eclipss and Kranea, Harnia was smaller but livelier. It was a green village with a long river as the border to the next village, and since it was a village they never visited before the war, they explored around it.
That time, they were trying to pass the long river by jumping from stone to stone. He was leading at the front and his little brother behind kept shouting for him to wait while trying to balance himself on the slippery stone. He was intended to turn around and tease his little brother when he felt himself suddenly falling to the sides and into the river. He tried to swim up but found himself couldn't, it was his brother who helped him out from the river, looking so worried over him.
He felt his body numb and hard to move, he was as terrified as his brother too at the sudden numbness. But when he saw how worried his brother was, he hid his fear and pretended to be calm. It didn't stay so when his mother took him to a doctor and the doctor declared that he didn't know what disease was that. He felt anger filled up his heart and when the second doctor gave him the same answer, he exploded.
It had been five years since that day, his mother and brother had been the pillar that keep supporting him to stay strong. They had been visiting many doctors and got many medicines, at the last when they thought that he was completely healed and decided to move and take the soldier test, it happened again right after they arrived here in Eclipss.
It was a big lie that he was okay with it. Why it must be him? Why no one could heal him? Why must he get this stupid illness? Why?
He clenched his fists tightly as he tried to hold down his emotion, the silence situation made him feel worse. He had decided that he needed to act strong for both his mother and his brother, that was why he never complained about this in front of them anymore.
That was also why he had made a decision few days ago, he had discussed about this matter with his mother who agreed with his desire, so all he left to do was to tell his little brother. Actually he wanted to tell him since two days ago but looking at how eager also how happy his brother was, made him a coward and he failed to tell him.
Today was the last chance he got to tell him. " I need to tell Taiga today.", his onyx eyes were filled with determination.
-West Wing Tower-
" Hacchiu!", Kagami rubbed his arms in a fast pace. " The water i-is-is as cold a- as- as- ice." The hall he was walking on was only filled with his footsteps, the sun hadn't risen up from its slumber also did his companions in the Room C.
Kagami opened the two-winged door slowly to not making any noises, but he was surprised to see some of them had got up and they all turned to him who just making an entry there. " U-Uhm… Good morning.", mumbled Kagami nervously. Some of them turned their attentions back, some answered with a short 'Hm' and only one answered with an actual " Ah, morning." Kagami glanced at the one who greeted him back properly.
The boy was in his nineteen, he had a shoulder-lengthed brown hair and a pair of wide dark purple eyes. He had a normal posture, not too thin or muscled, but he was tall, almost 180 cm. " You have taken a bath?", he asked after the greet. Kagami was caught off guard by the sudden question so he only shuttered a short " Y-Yeah." And then Kagami walked back to his bed and put down his bucket under his bed.
Kagami tidied up his bed quietly while the others had started walking out, probably to take a bath. After finished tidying his bed, Kagami decided to walk out from the room and out from the tower. He caught a glance at the clock before going out, which showing 05.25. Thirty five minutes before breakfast. Kagami ruffled his hair nervously as he remembered how he missed his breakfast on the first day, he was lucky that he could hold on until lunch.
Today was the third day he had been here, Kagami stretched his hands upward and took a deep breath of the fresh air around him. Then he looked right and left, he still had some time before breakfast and he didn't have anything to do until then. He was here without any friends he could hang out with.
'No, no, no.', Kagami shook his head furiously. ' You aren't here to make friends, Taiga.' Then he decided to have a jog around again. There was some soldiers walking around there and Kagami was too nervous to greet them, so he just continued his run without caring for the glances he got.
" Huh, that's the seventh kid out from the GoM who passed this year's test.", a group of three soldiers stopped in their track and looked at Kagami's back.
" I couldn't believe there's still more than the GoM themselves.", the spiky-haired one commented in disapproval. " I could barely accepted GoM because they had the skills, even if I'm still don't happy about the fact that they are only some kids."
" But at least GoM are strong or that's what I heard. They came from the nobles!", the first one said again.
" Hm. But I don't like this boy.", the third one said while looking on Kagami's further back. " He doesn't look capable at all. I'm sure his opponent in the test must be a weak one, that must explain how he can pass the test.", he flipped his blonde hair arrogantly.
" Hm, the three of you even have the time to gossiping over a boy younger than you huh?", the three of them stiffened and turned around to see a black-haired man who wore a glasses over his squinting eyes. The man was smiling at them and radiating a superficially kind aura which differed from what his words were implying.
" W-Woah, C-Captain Imayoshi!", the three of them immediately bowed in front of the smiling man whose name was Imayoshi Shoichi.
" I don't think you have the time to relaxing and gossiping about the others. At least that boy over there is doing something more useful than what you three are doing now. Don't get too cocky because you are older than him.", Imayoshi said calmly with his smile still present.
" W-We are sorry, Captain!", the three of them bowed down again for apologize.
" My my, why are you saying sorry? I just giving you some advices for your own good, you know?", the captain of the Squad 11 made a hurtful expression over it.
" W-We know, thank you for the advice Captain!", the shorty one replied which followed by his two companions.
" Alright then, you may go now.", Imayoshi dismissed them who quickly walked away. He tugged his glasses up in a slow motion, " Why must they looked so frightened like that?"
" Maybe if you stopped keeping your creepy smile, they would feel better.", a muscular man who has brown spikey hair approached the captain.
" Hey Susa, that's quite a terrible thing to say.", the man named Yoshinori Susa shrugged. Yoshinori Susa, the vice captain of Squad 11, he had been in that position together with the current captain, Imayoshi Shoichi for years, they also came from the same squad and being promoted at the same time.
Rather than answering to his captain, Susa glanced up to west wing tower on his right side. " Most of them still dislike them.", Imayoshi didn't need to ask who was Susa talking about, since it had been a hot topic for weeks already.
" Don't worry about it, Susa. Let's go.", both captain and vice captain of Squad 11 continued their halted walk.
-The training-
"Good, everyone. You can take a break now!", Riko announced happily while the freshmen she trained had either sat or lied down before she even told them to. She had started the training from morning to afternoon, giving them no time to take a break up till now.
Aomine and the other GoM were sitting and trying to slow down their breaths. " Tetsu, are you okay?", Aomine looked at his best friend who was panting so hard and looked so pale.
" I-I'm okay, Daiki-kun.", Kuroko managed to answer that despite how exhausted he looked.
The training was intense, Riko didn't hesitate in it. They were certain that their trainer must have think through the menu, to push them to their limits but at the same time didn't overexert them. But out from the 46 freshmen here, Kuroko was the one who had the least stamina. The other Kisedai knew it better, the aqua-haired boy was skilled in his own special way.
" Take a rest, Tetsuya.", Akashi ordered firmly while he himself was trying to get his breath, not only them but also did the others.
Something piqued their attentions when they heard some bickering not too far from their places. They followed everyone's eyes and saw two men were fighting over something. One was the youngster that greeted Kagami this morning and the other one was a beardy muscled man. The fight became more serious as the beardy one grabbed the collar of the younger one.
" Don't get too cocky, youngster!", the man barked angrily but the younger one didn't look afraid at all instead he calmly proclaimed, " I'm not being cocky, Sir. I am only stating the fact."
" What?! You want to pick a fight, hah?!", the bearded man hissed louder.
" You are the one who picking a fight, Ojii-san.", the two in fight turned their attention to Kagami who was lying on the grass with both his hands and feet opened widely. Kagami looked at them with his red-eyes quietly, he had been lying down until he heard the beardy man started complaining about their trainer. He intended to closed his ears and ignored the insults until the young boy ,who Kagami recognized as the one greeted him this morning, defended their trainer.
The boy was defending their trainer calmly, telling the good reputation their trainer had also how good her father was. And when the beardy man lost the debate, he started to act violent.
" What?!", the bearded man looked angrier than he was before, he let go of the collar he was grabbing and stood up, pointing his index finger to Kagami, " Don't butt in people's business if you don't know anything, kid!"
Kagami scratched his cheeks tiredly and sat up, " Well, I don't want to butt in but Captain doesn't like any fighting in the squad, right? He told us something about cooperate and punishment? ", Kagami tried to recall the first day when Aomine suddenly attacked him without any reason.
The bearded man seemed to remember it too since he gritted his teeth and lowered his hand down, " I'll remember this, kid.", the man hissed and pointed to the youngster too. After that, he just went off.
Kagami sighed and ruffled his hair stressfully, ' Great, Taiga. You just made one enemy here.'
" Thank you.", Kagami raised his head in surprise and saw the youngster just now had moved closer to him.
" Ah, not problem. He is being too much.", Kagami murmured slowly and looked away, frowning. 'What done was done, it was fine like this by the way.', he thought to himself solemnly.
Unknown to Kagami, the youngster in front of him smiled at him, " Do you know my name? ", he asked suddenly and earned a glance from Kagami." I am Maguchi Hiroma. Nice to meet you, Kagami.", he extended his right hand to the surprised Kagami.
Kagami blinked then slowly raised his own right hand and shook the hand slowly, " I-I am Kagami Taiga."
The boy named Maguchi Hiroma laughed, " I know. You had made some flashy appearances a few times now."
Kagami didn't know what to do so he only scratched his cheeks nervously. " Seems like so."
Maguchi looked at the nervous Kagami and realized that the boy might have caught his words wrongly, " Hey, I didn't mean it in the bad way actually."
But Maguchi didn't have the time to continue his words because Riko had came back with Hyuuga and announced them of the upcoming squad battle. They would have a squad battle with Squad 11 and they needn't to wait to see who were they, since a group of soldiers were seen coming their way.
" Since you are new here, I want you to at least know how our standards are. Even if I don't want to admit it, ", Hyuuga murmured the last sentence before continued again, " Squad 11 are known as the strongest one in between all combat battle squad in Teikou, they are known for their high individual abilities."
Hyuuga took a glance around and continued, "Rather than letting you fight with our own regular squad, we decided to make up this battle. I, together with Riko-san had agreed about this battle, think of it as our last procession before putting you together with our regular squad."
" Hmm, nice speech you are having there Captain Hyuuga.", the group stopped behind Hyuuga and the black-haired man who had a smile on his face approached the captain of squad 12.
Hyuuuga turned and looked at the other captain and somehow radiating a dark aura, " Thanks for agreeing about this battle, Cap-tain Ima-yo-shi.", he said as if he was being forced.
" Don't thank us, we agreed because it had a beneficial to my soldiers too.", Imayoshi implied happily, both glasses captain looked at each other intensely.
" Saa… Since it benefit both our sides, so we are even right?", Riko stepped in between them. " That's the people you choose, Imayoshi-san?", Riko changed the topic immediately and looked at each of the soldier that came together with the captain.
'Hmm. They look good enough.', Riko looked through their body numbers.
" Yes.", they continued their own conversation while Kagami's murmured by himself, " That guy looks suspicious."
" Hm? Who do you mean, Kagami?", Maguchi whispered to Kagami who stood in front of him.
" Well, their captain. His smile is… ", Kagami made an uneasy expression which made Maguchi giggled, " That is Captain Imayoshi Shoichi, he is a really strong leader. I heard some rumors that his smile played a role in his battle, since it makes his opponent hard to read him?", Hiroma whispered slowly.
Kagami huffed, " I can imagine that." Kagami kept looking at the captains ' He wear glasses like our captain does, does it implied something?'
Meanwhile a man was looking at Kagami intensely, ' Hmph. That's the boy from this morning.', one of the soldiers from this morning was there within the group Imayoshi brought. He was the blonde hair one who had his curly hair combed backward, his name was Atobe Sasaki. ' I was scolded by Captain because of him. Hmm, I think I will teach him some lessons later.', he smirked when that bad idea came into his mind.
Squad Battle
A battle between squads which is done in three ways.
First. Combat battle. As the name implied, it was a one on one battle in between squads.
Second. Two on Two Battle. A two versus two battle, whoever has his teammates down first, lost. So it is a battle not only to defend themselves but also their teammates.
Third. Flag Battle. Each squad would have their own base and chose one leader to hold their signature flag. To win this battle, they either need to eliminate all the members from their opponent group or claim their opponent's flag.
And now they would held a flag battle between Squad 11's regulars and Squad 12's freshmen. The battle ground would be the entire Acies Forest, located north-east from where the Palace was. There was an underground tunnel that connected the outer fortress to the middle of the forest.
Each of the participants would get one bag included of a lunch box, a mini horn, a wooden sword and their signature flag. Somewhere in the forest, participant might find some armor and other things that could help them in the battle. The groups were free to decide their base and when settled, each side must fire a firework to the sky. The time limit was from the mid afternoon until the sun sets, which squad got a hold of their opponent's signature flag must sounded their horn thrice as the end of the battle.
The mini horn functioned not only to end the battle. If you are in danger, you could blew the horn in a slow short blows. If you blew it thrice and long, it meant the end of the battle.
And now somewhere in the Acies Forest, Squad 12's freshmen stopped in front of a large ground where some ruins remained there. There were total three ruins on the spot, the middle one was larger but only the lower part remained and the wall behind had a big hole. The other two were smaller, the right one still had a low rectangle wall remain while the left one only some stone walls remained.
" Okay, we will settle here.", a pony-tailed man in his twenties put down his bag down, also did the others. The man was chosen by Hyuuga before their departure as the leader and the one holding the signature flag. He had a white milky skin, a pair of sharp brown eyes, long silver hair that was tied into a pony tail, his body was average and his height was 185 cm.
The man fired up the firework he was given, then tied the medium sized flag in front of his chest and took a deep breath before he turned around, facing his soon to be subordinates. " Okay, your attentions everyone.", he shouted a little louder and got everyone's attentions.
He silently gulped, "All of you have know the rules and I'm sure all of you know that we can't win this battle without teamwork and proper strategy, so-"
The beardy man from before laughed, automatically stopped what their leader want to say, " Do you really think winning this kind of battle is important?", the beardy man asked arrogantly. He opened his hands wide, " It's just a formal procession that they held, do you really think they held this battle in hope that we can win it?"
The momentary leader of Squad 12 didn't fazed at all and the man scoffed, " Hah! Don't make me laugh! Do you think we can win against the strongest combat battle squad?", he tried to look at the others to find support.
Kagami clenched his fists tightly, 'Okay, I don't care anymore whether he hate me or what. He pisses me off.'
" So what are you going to do now?", the leader asked calmly, his sharp eyes never broke contact with the beardy man.
"Let's just-"
" Lost this battle?", the leader cut him off, he approached the beardy man. "Do you want to step down from a battle because you think you have no chance of winning?!", the younger one shouted right in front of the beardy man.
He looked right he was in the verge of losing control but managed to keep his hands down, " In the real war, do you think you can have that kind of thought ?! What is your reason for joining the army if you have no intention to win your battle?! What do you want to fighting for?! ", his shout rang into all of their minds and it also shut the beardy man down.
" I don't care if you join the army only for fame or what, but I'm different. I have my own reason and I'm sure the others do too. If you don't want to try, then at least don't try to force your stupid idea into the others.", the young leader pointed at his chest, right at where their flag was. " I, Tanaka Ryu, am going to give my all in this battle and also the one in the future."
" Anyone of you had something to say like the one in front of me do?", Tanaka looked around to see no answer at all. " Good, now we will continue our strategy."
NGGGGG BOOMM
All of them looked upward when they heard the sound. "Huu. Seems like we didn't have any time to make our strategy now, leader.", one of them proclaimed carefreely. The others started to whispered to their companion in panic.
Tanaka silently blamed himself, ' Darn! We didn't even know from which direction the sound was. It means we don't have any idea where's the enemy while the enemy may had locked into our position already. I'm so careless!'
Kagami looked to the southeast where he thought the sound came from, ' Since the sound wasn't so loud, it means their position must be far from us. Very far from here.'
The five GoM kids looked composed as usual, Akashi smiled knowingly since he could predict this situation beforehand. At the same time, Aomine walked out from the forest and nodded to Akashi, " South-east, dozens kilometers from here.", everyone looked at Aomine who had just talked, " That's where I saw them fire up the firework."
Many surprised voices could be heard from some of them, but Tanaka was the first one to recover, " How did you know?"
" After we arrived here not too long, I went by myself and climbed on one of the tree and waited for the fireworks.", Aomine answered calmly and then back telling more details to the other Kiseki.
'Not even me, think of the idea to tell someone to sort out enemy's position first beforehand. So this is Generation of Miracles.', Tanaka felt a peck of respect toward the kid in front of him.
" Tanaka-san, since our enemy might have make their move, let us sort out our strategy quickly.", Akashi said firmly. The others Kiseki nodded and the other members there all looked at the young leader in different ways, waiting for their leader's command.
Tanaka thought quickly and came up with a decision, he looked at the red-haired boy who looked quite surprised at his gaze, " Akashi-kun, I will leave it to you to make up the strategy."
" Me? But why, Tanaka-san? You're the leader here.", Akashi stated calmly. He wouldn't mind at all to take control over here but he wasn't the one who was being pointed as the leader to take control over the matters, so he wouldn't act selfish here. Especially since most of them still doubted their skills, in here he was talking about his and the other Kisedai's skills.
" Yes. And I, as the leader, command you to plan out a strategy and I need it to be quick. We don't have any times to waste now.", Tanaka said firmly like a leader but managed to show a tiny smile at the end to reassure the red-haired boy.
Akashi smirked, " Under your command, Sir." then he stepped up, " Then I will commence the strategy I have in my mind."
-Then, somewhere in the Acies Forest-
" Are you sure we are going the right way?", Maguchi asked as he scanned through the trees while sometimes pushed off the wide leaves halting his way.
Kagami didn't answer directly and looked up to the northeast sky, "Who knows. We don't know for sure their location from the start, so why not give it a try?", Kagami continued walking through the leaves, followed by Maguchi from the behind.
They kept walking, pushing through the leaves with Kagami leading the way, "Why do you keep following me?", Kagami mumbled slowly but Maguchi could hear it clearly.
" Hah? Do you forget what the plan is? We are going as a team, so why must not I follow you?", Maguchi answered without any hesitation.
Kagami stopped and turned to look at the taller boy, who was looking at him straightforwardly which made Kagami felt uneasy, " You know that's not what I mean.", Kagami pouted and looked away from the blunt dark-purple eyes.
Maguchi blinked in confusion, " So what do you mean actually?"
Kagami sighed and looked back at the taller boy, " See? I'm younger than you. And as you can see, the others look at me as a kid or maybe they don't even want to acknowledge me because I'm only 12?", Kagami made a face when he mentioned his ages, he coughed a bit then asked firmly. "So why are you letting me leading the way?"
Maguchi blinked twice before he smiled, " So you also think you are more inferior than us because you are just 12?", Maguchi followed what Kagami did and made a face when he mentioned number 12.
" Of course no!", Kagami answered almost too quickly that he himself was surprised too.
" Right?", Maguchi smiled amusedly since he had expected such answer from the younger boy. " Look here, Kagami. I'm different from those bubbly older men who talked about ages, okay?"
" What I see is the quality inside, not the background or the ages.", he made a face again when he mentioned the word 'ages'. " I have seen how you fight and how you behave, Kagami. So I know better to not underestimate you.", Maguchi smirked. " That also works the same with the Generation of Miracles. Even if the seven of you are so young but your ability speaks different. Don't think about those discriminatory words people give you. All of you deserve the same treatment as we have. "
Kagami couldn't hold down his smile, instead his lips curved up highly from happiness, " U-urr, thanks?", Kagami rubbed his neck nervously, he didn't expect any of this from anyone in his squad and now he was really embarrassed, his mind randomly wandered to a question " W-Who are these Generation of Miracles you are talking about by the way?"
…
Maguchi was still smiling at first before he gaped, " Hah?" He looked at the smaller boy in bewilderment. " Are you seriously asking me who are these Generation of Miracles ?"
" Y-yeah?", the embarrassment Kagami felt now dissipated and turned into pure confusion. Did he just ask some weird question?
" Are you kidding me?!", Maguchi still asked even though he knew the answer from the confusion on Kagami's face. " You didn't know who are them even though you have spoken to them, and hey you look quite close with them!"
Kagami's split eyebrow raised up at the mention, he didn't think he was especially close to anyone here, the only one that actually interacted with him were…
" They are the six other kids that are as young as you, Akashi Seijuurou, Kuroko Tetsuya, Midorima Shintarou, Kise Ryouta, Aomine Daiki and Murasakibara Atsushi.", Maguchi proclaimed loudly.
Kagami blinked and then blinked again, " Hah?"
-To be continued-
Thanks for reading, minna!^u^ hope you enjoy it!