The walk from the basketball court was a rather quiet one. Saka had ran off pretty quick, not wanting to hang around to listen about the events at the Dojimazaki versus Teiko game. Meyer had wanted to talk her home but Saka had disappered by the time that the others were even near her. Ishimura was unusually quiet, trailing behind Shira and Meyer as they walked, her hand deep in her pockets and her face to the ground. It was only when Shira stopped, causing Ishimura to run into her, did either of the girls notice she was quite deep in thought.

"I always thought it was an accident," she murmured quietly. Ishimura let out a huff, scratching the back of her head as Meyer nodded.

"The severity of the injury was."

"Didn't mean for her to be out completely," Ishimura added, scuffling her feet on the ground slightly. Shira didn't look completely convinced but she didn't seem to completely mind the revelation either, seeming to be more hurt that she was not informed of the circumstances more than anything. Hotaru had told the truth, no one really cared that Tachi had been forced to prematurely retire. Hell, half of the teams were convinced that they really did it on purpose and even Teiko didn't try to fight the Queens. Meyer sometimes wondered if Tachi's own teammates were getting tired of the circumstances of their victories.

"So why didn't you tell us? I mean, Jo, Takami, Saka and me?"

"If something did happen we didn't want you to get in trouble with us."

"It was a pretty big risk for you two. I mean, without the both of you the team wouldn't be the team anymore," Shira muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. Ishimura looked to her friend, wondering if the girl who had to be bribed with nail polish to even think about playing would have figured she was now telling them off about the prospect of her not being able to play.

"It doesn't matter now," Meyer shrugged her shoulders, starting to walk ahead when she let out a shriek. She jumped back, almost knocking Shira down as Ishimura let out a laugh, seeing Kuroko standing in front of them. He looked slightly confused at Meyer's reaction, though the captain was scowling and hardly impressed with the reaction she had displayed.

"You left without saying good bye."

"That's because we were sneaking away," Shira laughed as Meyer shook her head. Ishimura just clenched her fingers into tight fists, looking away from Kuroko as she let out a small huff. She wasn't happy that he had followed them, in fact she was hoping she would get a few days before she would have to see him.

"I see. I was wondering, Ishimura-San, if I could walk home with you." Meyer and Shira both turned to look at their small forward, Meyer looking amused whilst Shira looked like she had about fifty comments to make about his request. Ishimura was slightly wary about agreeing to go, but then settled that she couldn't exactly say no without a good reason. How many times had she forced Kuroko to let her walk him home?

"Yeah, no problem," Ishimura shrugged, fighting giving Shira the finger when she made a kissy face, "come on, I'm going to hit the idiot in a minute." Ishimura grabbed Kuroko's shoulder, pulling him down the street and shooting daggers over her shoulder to her friends before looking ahead again. It would not do well if she ran into a telephone pole.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do Yuki-Chan!"

"And if you do wear a condom!"

"Yeah, don't be silly wrap that willy!"

"Put that sword in a sheath!"

"God damn it I'm going to kill the both of you!" Ishimura snarled, turning around and completely prepared to run them both down but they had been shouting to her as they were walking off. She only saw Shira laughing with her head thrown back as they turned around a corner, leaving her seething and Kuroko slightly red in the cheeks. "I need new friends."

"I believe they are caring for your wellfare, although they need not."

"Huh?"

"I apologise Ishimura-San, but I do not view you romantically."

"I figured that out, although after the revelation earlier I'm beginning to doubt you'll fit me in the category of friend," Ishimura mumbled, scratching the back of her head. She watched Kuroko out the corner of her eye, seeing his expression turn hard as they walked down the road. It wasn't like she was entirely proud of the incident with Tachi Rei, hell she had always been adament that not every one should know even though most could guess. That being said, it didn't mean Ishimura regretted doing it. A strange sort of justice. After all, the Umeko twins from Yoneya had been her friends in elementary school. They were pretty damn good as well.

"I was disappointed in finding out what you did Ishimura-San."

"Yeah, thought as much."

"May I ask why you did it?" Kuroko stopped walking and Ishimura did as well. Ishimura scratched the back of her head again. All along she knew that one day someone was going to ask her this question and she would never be prepared with an answer. What was the reason for why she did what she did? "Was it because Meyer-San told you to?"

"No, actually, beieve it or not we're not mindless robots following her very command like Hotaru seems to think," Ishimura sniffed, slightly irritated that he thought she would do something just because Meyer said so. There were plenty of times where the whole team pretty much told her to shove it up her ass, just like for anyone else.

"I am sorry, I did not mean..."

"I did it because I wanted to all right? There's no other way about it. Would I have done it without Katsumi suggesting something, probably not, but when the opportunity was put in front of me on a silver platter I wasn't going to say no. Those girls that Tachi hurt, we knew them. The twins, Hotaru's captain, Katsumi's team mates, we'd played them before and we knew them. And Tachi had gone and just thrown all they'd worked for out the window. I'm not sorry for what I did."

"I do not know if what you did was the right thing Ishimura-San, but you should not be proud," Kuroko replied. Disappointment was etched over his features and Ishimrua balled her fingers into fists. Her eyes seemed to be set ablazed, so much so that Kuroko stepped back a little. She crossed her arms over her chest, letting out a snort. She was furious, angrier than she should have been at his comment. Who was he to speak like that?

"Yeah, and you'd know all about that would't you?"

"I beg your par..."

"Oh please, we cut one girl from playing basketball and you think you can look down on me huh? You're from Teiko, part of the Generation of Miracles," as she spoke her voice turned sour. Ishimura felt her cheeks flushing, her heart pumping faster. Kuroko frowned, slightly confused as to what she was getting at. "The almighty team that destroyed everything and anything that was in front of it. Hey, I know we're undefeated but at least we don't go out of our way to humiliate our opponents."

"Ishimura-San I do not appreciate..."

"I'm sure they appreciate what your team did even less. You know, I'm a queen but I must be standing in front of a god, because how else could a team manage to crush and push so many people away from the sport they love? I mean hey, we may have broken Tachi's leg but at least we didn't break her fucking spirit!"

"I did not intend..."

"Fuck your intentions, that doesn't change anything. Fuck your intentions, fuck your Generation of Miracles and kindly fuck you too!" Ishimura snarled, turning on her heel and stalking off. She heard Kuroko yell for her but she just broke out into a sprint, running as fast as she could. She didn't want to face him, she was too angry. She liked Seirin so much because they were good. Their basketball was great as well but the team itself was good. Kagami was good, Kiyoshi was good, even grumpy master Hyuuga was good.

It wasn't that she thought what she did was any better, she just viewed the situations differently. With Tachi it was a matter of preservation, not only for herself or her team but every one of their opponents. What happened was necessary, although probably not the best way of going about it. Ishimura could admit that much herself. What the Generation of Miracles did though, Ishimura wanted to shudder. She hated them, they all hated them, so much, Meyer the most.

Hell, Jean lost a few of his senpai's after playing the Miracles and she could list of a number of playeres who played in their first year of highschool before dropping out this year after it was realised they would be playing the Miracles again. Ishimura came to a stop outside an all too familiar court, her eyes narrowing as her fingers curled into the chain link fence, resting her forehead against the cool metal. She forced her breathing to slow down and she closed her eyes.

...

"Yo, Kibo, thought I would find you here!" Ishimura laughed happily, jogging up to where she saw her friend holding a ball. Youta Kibo, he was the small forward for Meiko Junior High, and because of babysitting duties, Ishimura had missed the finals. She wasn't too worried, Youta was a pretty good player with a sunny disposition and acted like the sun shone out of his ass half the time. Even if he lost, he would grin and bear it, working to improve his skills more than anything. "Hey, wanna play a game Kibo? One-on-one, promise I'll go easy on you this time!"

"Is that supposed to be funny?" Youta snapped as Ishimura dropped her bag. The teen snapped her head up to him, frowning a little. His back was facing her and she could see how tense he was standing. She hadn't noticed before but now she straightened herself up, frowning a little as she walked over.

"I was just teasing, you know I wouldn't just..."

"I don't know that for certain though, do I?" Youta spun on his heels and Ishimura felt her eyes grew wide. Before her was not the Youta she knew and loved. His eyes were dark, not shining like they always did, and he looked like all the light had disappeared out of him. He was a hollow shell of the boy who was her friend and Ishimura tightened her fingers into fists. Who did this to him?

"Kibo, I..."

"Don't say anything," Youta hissed. He threw the ball towards her, though she managed to catch it easily. She was frowning, looking from the ball to him and then back again. Youta was stalking over to where he had thrown his bag half heartedly and everything about him just screamed someone who wasn't her friend. Ishimura wanted to run to him, hug him tight, but that wasn't the way she worked. Comfort was what Shira was good for.

"What happened?"

"I quit, okay I quit."

"What? You can't quit! Come on Kibo you've gotten so good please just..." Ishimura ran towards him now, holding the ball tight in her hands. She held it out to him, trying to put it back into his hands but he refused. He smacked it away, shaking his head furiously.

"You can't change my mind Yuki. Shigehiro and I are both quitting."

"That's bull shit, you can't just give up, you have to keep..."

"I'm quitting basketball and I'm quitting you!" Youta shoved her shoulders hard, making her stumble backwards slightly. Ishimura frowned, not quite sure what he was talking about when he said that she was quitting her. Ishimura stepped forward, only to recieve a nasty glare from him as Youta sidled off to the end of the court, hugging his abdomen as he did so. Ishimura watched him leave, frowning before she let out a sigh, running over to where his ball had ended up. She picked it up, dusting it off slightly.

"I'll just look after this until you decide you want it back, Kibo."

...

It was strange that a simple memory like that could bring back unfinished feelings for someone. Ishimura pulled back, yelling to the sky before punching a fist into the fence. She knew it hurt her hell of a lot more than she had managed to hurt the fence, but the pain that it had brought on was easier to deal with and recognise than what was going on in her mind and in her heart. She was tired. Tired of playing. Tired of winning. Tired of everything. She wanted someone to play against, properly. She wanted to play against an opponent who she hadn't faced before, because she had already faced all that were being offered to her. More than anything, she wanted that fucking ball sitting in the corner of her closet gathering dust to go back to boy who had left it on the court.

The damn sphere sat like a bad mark on her conscious, a red stain in her existance. A reminded to what had happened and what she might possibly become. She pushed back off the fence, delivered it a hard kick that once again hurt her more, before she spun on her heels. The person she came face to face with she did not expect. His golden eyes were wide as he took in the girl in front of him, his golden hair peeking out from underneath his beanie slightly and a cup of warm coffee being clutched in one hand.

Kise Ryouta. God, the last person she wanted to see was a Generation of Miracle and there was one standing right in front of her, his mouth gaping open slightly and his eyes wide like he'd found a fucking unicorn. Ishimura was ready to demand what he wanted before he let out a noise that grated against her mind and she very much almost gave a model punch to his model face.

"You're Ishimura Yuki! The small forward for Iwozuka!"

"You get a kick out of pointing out facts everyone in conversation already knows?" Ishimura snapped then wondered why she had referred to it as a conversation when she had no interest in talking to the labrador. She turned, ready to walk off when he gripped her wrist, pulling her back. Right this kid was aiming right for a knuckle sandwich.

"I was talking to my Sempai today, about your team!"

"Oh great, that was everything and anything I could have ever wished for."

"Wah, you're mean like Aominechii's girlfriend!"

"That ganguro has a girlfriend?" Ishimura snorted, hardly able to imagine anyone stupid enough to go out for such a self concerned dickwad whose catchphrase was 'the only one who can beat me, is me'.

"I thought you knew?" Kise replied, frowning slightly as he played with a small silver hoop in his ear. Ishimura frowned. She would know? Why would she know or care about who was stupid enough to date that block headed moron? "You and Shirachii are meant to be best friends, aren't you?"

It took a few minutes for what Kise had uttered to make sense in Ishimura's mind, for the dots to connect properly and the picture become clear. When it did, the blonde stepped back twice because of the sheer surprise he got from Ishimura's outburst.

"WHAT THE FUCK! YOU'RE SAYING SHE'S DATING HIM? THAT BITCH IS DEAD! DEAD I SAY!" Ishimura reached forward, gripping Kise's collar roughly and pulling him in closer with strength that he would not have believed she had. She was about ready to rip something to pieces and the pretty piece of flesh belonging to Kiseki no Sedai was beginning to look appetising. "You tell me what you know pretty boy, or you ain't modelling for a while!"

"Wah, so mean. All I know is Aominechii is always playing ball with Shirachii and she's been to his house a few times after the games!"

"You better not be lying labradoodle," Ishimura hissed as she let him go. Kise winced a little, rubbing his neck from where his collar had rubbed before noticing that Ishimura was more than just stomping off away from him. He stepped forward, wanting to yell for her to come back as he hadn't asked what he wanted to ask when his phone started ringing. He winced, seeing that it was Kasamatsu on the other end before sighing. He glanced back to where Ishimura had broken out into a jog and wondered if what he had said was going to have any ill effects.