Fated Souls
(GoM POV)
"I don't mean to be rude, but please get your food trays away from our table before you jinx us," said Furihata when the Generation of Miracles only stared at the retreating backs of Kuroko and Kagami.
"Hey? Didn't you hear him? Step away from the table, recruits, or you'll spend all day tomorrow running suicides!" Riko said, stomping over. She slammed her tray down at one of the empty spaces on the table then turned to glare at them.
"Apologies," said Akashi. "Daiki, get your tray."
Aomine looked startled, then down at him, then at Riko. "Shouldn't we be doing something? Shouldn't you be doing something? Other than just, you know, eating?"
"Get your tray off our table right now," Riko said through gritted teeth, and something dangerous and petrifying flashed through her expression. Something monstrous in a way that not even Akashi or Aomine could hope to achieve.
Aomine grabbed his tray. "Er. Sorry."
"There are rules here, trainee," said Riko in a soft but authorative voice. "First: when a ranking officer gives you an order, you follow it. Second: when the klaxon goes off, if you don't have a battle station to go to, stay out of the way of people who do. Got it, trainee?"
"Yes. Yes, ma'am," said Aomine, pretty much snapping to attention.
"Good. Now find another table. Teppei, you know the drill. Hyuuga-kun, come on."
Hyuuga set his tray down in the spot next to Riko's, then turned and followed her out of the cafeteria, the way that the jaeger pilots had gone.
"Riko and Hyuuga get the privilege of being in the control room when they're not piloting, since they're team leaders and all," explained Kiyoshi before the Generation of Miracles could depart. He had a friendly smile on his face. "Kuroko and Kagami stand in for them when Clutch Time gets sent in. Kuroko's rank is actually equal to Hyuuga's. You could say he's our third in command."
"Kuro-chin is?" asked Murasakibara, eyes wide like a child's.
"Yep." Kiyoshi looked pleased.
"Kurokocchi is a jaeger pilot," said Kise, looking like he'd just been smacked in the face with a taser. "Kurokocchi is RimFire's pilot."
"Akashi, did you know?" demanded Aomine, turning on his ex-captain.
"Of course not," said Akashi quickly.
"In case this wasn't clear in your contracts, Kuroko's identity falls under the category of information that you are not allowed to disclose to any nonessential personnel," said Izuki, giving them a hard look. "In other words, mentioning who he is to anyone not in the Jaeger Program could get your court martialed. So don't say anything careless when you're off base."
The Generation of Miracles still hadn't recovered from their shock.
"Hey, why don't you guys go find a table and start eating?" suggested Kiyoshi. "Then, when RimFire and Magic Star engage the kaiju, you can come to the battle auditorium with us."
Some annoyed looks were directed Kiyoshi's way.
"Are you sure about that?" asked Kawahara.
"Yes. It'll be fine," said Kiyoshi, then turned to the Generation of Miracles. "You don't get a permanent invite to the battle auditorium until you're a full-fledged jaeger pilot, but just for tonight, you can come as guests."
"Might as well let them see what they're getting into," agreed Izuki. "I think they'll enjoy it. Probably."
That last word was added after studying the shell shocked expressions still worn by every member of the Generation of Miracles. None of them were having an easy time processing what they'd just learned.
Somehow, they found their way to a table and sat down.
"Kurokocchi's a jaeger pilot," Kise repeated, staring at his tray but not really seeing it. "But how? How is Kurokocchi a jaeger pilot?"
"I imagine the same reason the rest of the Seirin Six are jaeger pilots," said Akashi. "Because of various circumstances so unlikely that they can only really be classified as fate."
"But – but for him to be humanity's ace – Kagami-san's copilot . . ." Kise still looked floored. "Kurokocchi is gentle! He's not the kind of person who fights monsters!"
"He was gentle. Then he spent two years with us. We weren't exactly the sort of friends a gentle person could survive having," Akashi reminded them.
"Shit," Aomine said, looking pale as milk beneath his tan.
"Daiki? Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm fine."
"You look sick."
"I said I'm fine!" Aomine said angrily. But anyone looking at him could clearly see he was certainly not fine.
Prepping the jaegers for launch, launching them, and getting them to the drop point where they'd engage the kaiju all took time. More time than the Generation of Miracles had thought it would, but it made sense. When they, and all the other new recruits, followed Kiyoshi and the other veteran pilots into the battle auditorium, enough time had passed for them all to finish dinner.
The battle auditorium looked a lot like Aomine had imagined the control room would look. Like something from a sci-fi movie or videogame. The seats were tiered like in a movie theater, so that the people in the back were higher, and in the front were lower, ensuring everyone got a clear view of the screen. The screen took up an entire wall and was split into numerous sections, some with several smaller windows superimposed over them.
"The footage on the top row are visuals from out helicopters. Both the ones transporting the jaegers, and the ones scouting out the area," explained Kiyoshi in a loud clear voice that carried to everyone. "The two large windows on the bottom are the view from the jaegers on the ground. In this case, RimFire and –"
He had to pause as his audience burst into applause, then waited for it to die down.
"And Magic Star. Or Ever-Changing Magical Star, but that's too long for use in combat. Those two lines at the bottom of each of those screens are the pilots' brain waves. Well, I say two lines, but with these two teams, you usually only see one line, they're synced up so well. Kagami and Kuroko – that's Kagami's copilot – have the strongest drift compatibility recorded. Koganei and Mitobe aren't far behind them. And you see those scary looking faces off to the side? Those are visuals from inside the cockpit, of the pilots' faces. They light up a bit brighter when the pilots speak out loud. Right now Kuroko and Kagami are having a conversation in their heads, so we can't hear it. But when they actually talk, we'll hear it."
"The box below Kagami's picture is blank," commented Takao. And it was true. There was no visual of Kuroko's face, probably by design. "When do we finally get a look at Kagami's copilot?"
"Not tonight, sorry," said Kiyoshi with a smile. "Kuroko's very camera shy, but you'll see him around the base. Probably. For tonight, just enjoy the really scary expressions Kagami makes when he and Kuroko tear a kaiju apart."
Suddenly a voice sounded over the room's speaker system.
"Everything's looking good, boys."
"That's Kagetora-san. Riko's dad and the head trainer here. We'll be able to hear the pilots and what the control room has to say to them," Kiyoshi said, "but they won't be able to hear us.
"We aim to please," quipped Kagami.
"So you know, you've got a pretty big audience tonight. Kiyoshi invited all the new recruits into the battle auditorium."
"So in other words, put on a show?" asked Kagami, sounding confident and fully assured of himself.
"No," said Kagetora, "In other words, don't get your idiot selves killed. You'll scare them all away if you do, and then where will we be?"
"It wouldn't be our problem," said a familiar deadpan voice. "We'd be dead."
Aomine couldn't help it. He flinched at those words. The action didn't go unnoticed by his former teammates. A few of them looked disturbed themselves.
"Your sense of humor still needs work, brat," Kagetora told him.
"Huh? You thought he was joking?" asked Kagami. But before anyone could wonder too long, he laughed. "Don't worry, Kagetora-san. Don't get killed. Don't scare away the recruits. Don't cause unnecessary paperwork. We've got it covered."
"We're going to Maji Burger after we kill this kaiju," added Kuroko.
"No, you're not," said Kagetora.
"Well, it was worth a try," Kagami said with a sigh, giving a wry look to his left, where Kuroko was presumably strapped in.
"Why can't we have Maji Burger? You guys never let us go anywhere!" whined Koganei, entering the conversation.
"Because you are minors in the care of the military, who live on a military base. There are rules about when you can come and go. You should be used to this by now," said Kagetora, sounding like he'd been over this a million times before. "Now stop screwing around. You'll reach the drop site in T-minus forty seconds. You remember your orders? RimFire is to engage the kaiju codenamed Naitaka. Ever-Changing Magical Star is to hang back and try to figure out a better name. And provide support for RimFire."
"There's nothing wrong with our name!" wailed Koganei.
"Understood," said Kuroko calmly, but in his mind, Aomine saw him tugging on his wristbands, like he always did before a game. It was ridiculous to think that was what he was doing, since to do that would mean Kuroko was moving the jaeger's arms as well as his own, but somehow Aomine couldn't help but feel that was what Kuroko should be doing while using that calm tone before doing something so monumental.
"Got it," Kagami affirmed.
"'Alright, we got it,' is what Mitobe says," Koganei added.
The next ten minutes were like the climactic scene of a movie. It were impossible to look away from the screens. The helicopters dropped RimFire and Ever-Changing Magical Star into the ocean, near where the kaiju should have been, but right before they got there, the kaiju submerged itself underwater, hiding from them.
"We don't see the target," Kagami said, after both jaegers had gotten their bearings and turned in a full circle, trying to find the monster.
"Back to back, Magic Star," said Kuroko. He didn't order it. But somehow there was an authority in his voice that made it more than a simple request. The Kuroko Aomine knew could never have used a voice like that.
"Roger that," Koganei said immediately, and Magic Star moved to obey. With the two jaegers back to back, the viewers in the battle auditorium could see three hundred and sixty degrees, and they were all on the edge of their seats, trying to get a glimpse of the monster, and Aomine wondered how much worse it must be for the pilots who were undoubtably being stalked by that monster. But their brain waves had barely changed at all. Did that mean they weren't any more scared or nervous than they'd been before this fight started? How much trust did you have to have in someone to guard your back against a kaiju? And the people the pilots were trusting weren't even their designated partner.
It was awe inspiring. Aomine's own heart felt like it was in his mouth from just watching. Even though he was still caught in a maelstrom of conflicting emotions about what he'd found out not even an hour ago about his best friend, Aomine couldn't help but be swept up by the excitement. Part of him was afraid for Tetsu. But another part of him knew that Tetsu had done this before, many, many times. Twenty-two times, to be exact. Aomine knew this. He'd collected every scrap of information there was about Kagami and his mysterious partner. He'd practically idolized Kagami. Now he wasn't sure whether he wanted to get on his knees and thank the guy for keeping Kuroko safe, or punch him in the face.
"Any visuals on it from above?" Kagami asked when the kaiju still failed to appear.
"Negative. And this storm is blocking our satellites from picking up its heat signature."
"Kagami and Kuroko are coming up with a plan," commented Kiyoshi. "See how their brain waves are spiking?"
"Hey, Magic Star," said Kagami, right on cue. "We're going to take some random shots in the water to see if we can flush it out."
"Good idea. This wait is – Auh!"
More than a few of the new trainees screamed too as without warning the kaiju erupted from the water and leapt straight at Magic Star. Then all they could see was a huge pair of jaws clamping down, blocking everything else from view.
"Holy shit!" wailed Kise, grabbing onto Aomine.
"Hang on, Senpai!" Kagami and Kuroko shouted in unison as the kaiju came into view on their screen. That gave everyone in the auditorium their first upclose look at the kaiju Naitaka.
It looked like some prehistoric sea creature, with a long body that was almost snakelike, except too thick closer to its head. It had arms too, though they didn't look as proportionately strong as the rest of the body. Its head was like a crocodile's.
And Koganei laughed. The only thing he could see were the kaiju's jaws trying to swallow his jaeger's fucking head, and he laughed.
"We're not worried. Not with the two of you here."
RimFire proved his faith in them justified as it immediately struck the kaiju in the neck and sent some kind of blade popping out and into its skin, spilling bright blue blood out of the wound. The kaiju screamed, its jaws releasing Magic Star's head. Then RimFire grabbed one of its arms as it flailed and they wrenched the monster off Magic Star and into the water. The kaiju then turned on RimFire, trying to wrap its snake-like body around them like an anaconda, but RimFire clearly had the upper hand.
"Please go for its head, Magic Star. We'll hold it," said Kuroko, so calmly that he could have been talking about lunch, or the weather, or anything. But he was talking about killing a giant monster. With giant robots. In that maddeningly cool voice.
"Got it, RimFire. Take this you ugly mother!"
Magic Star proceeded to deliver a beating on the kaiju as RimFire held it as still as they could, so Koganei and Mitobe could beat it to death with their giant robot's fists. But then Naitaka tried a hideously gross gambit. It ripped off its own arm to try to get free and escape the beating.
"Shit!" Kagami swore, and for the first time, Aomine saw the brain waves representing Kagami and Kuroko separate, becoming two different lines – a red one and a light blue one. The red one spiked, as though alarmed. The blue one continued on steadily and abruptly, the red one was pulled back into the pattern, combining to form a single black line again. Yes, black. Aomine chalked that up to the computer program rather than someone's lack of knowledge about colors.
RimFire caught Naitaka by the throat. Then Kuroko spoke again.
"Get clear please, Magic Star," he said, cool as a cucumber. "Plasma cannon is powering."
"Oh man, that's going to be awesome!" crowed Koganei. "You're literally going to blow its head off! Mitobe says we've got to YouTube this!"
"They're going to blow up its head? Really! Oh man, this is going to be awesome!" shouted Takao Kazunari, suddenly joining the Generation of Miracles. "Look, Shin-chan! They're going to blow up its head! For real! I can't believe we're here to see this!"
"Be quiet, Takao. You're going to disturb the other trainees –"
"Get 'em, RimFire! Blow its head off!" shouted one of the Uncrowned Kings, Hayama, who was standing nearby.
"Kill it!" cheered Nebuya.
"Go, RimFire!"
The kaiju thrashed and struggled, trying to get free, but it seemed that sacrificing its head wasn't on the table when it came to escape plans, and Kagami and Kuroko had no intentions of letting it get away again.
"Plasma cannon fully powered. And firing," Kuroko remarked, as though he wasn't announcing that he was right about to blow up a kaiju's head.
The screen lit up in cosmic shades of blue, the same colors Aomine imagined Kuroko's soul would be if you could see it. Light crackled and liquid flew, dousing RimFire in glowing blue kaiju blood and . . . other bits. The cameras were not spared, but enough of RimFire's view was still clear to see the headless kaiju corpse fall.
"Yeah RimFire!" shouted another vaguely familiar voice. Beside Aomine, Kise perked up.
"Kasamatsu-senpai?" he asked softly, but his query was drowned out by the roar of cheers that followed what Kasamatsu had started.
"Way to go RimFire!"
"Fuck yeah! You owned that kaiju!"
"Yeah RimFire!"
Even though the pilots couldn't hear them, everyone seemed to feel the need to call out. Even Murasakibara was cheering, and Midorima was clapping his hands. They still looked like they hadn't gotten over their shocks yet, but you couldn't help but catch the mood when you saw something like what they'd just seen.
Unless it was your best friend in the jaeger. Without you.
"I love my job," said Kuroko in the most toneless voice ever.
"You sound like you love your job," Kagami laughed.
"Do I really?" Kuroko wondered.
"No."
"Oh. Well, I do."
Kagami laughed softly again, and when he spoke, you couldn't help but hear the affection in his voice. "I know."
"Good job, RimFire. Magic Star. The helicopters are on their way down now. Prepare for extraction."
"Roger," Kuroko and Kagami said together.
"Roger," echoed Koganei. Then he laughed. "Thanks for that back there, Kagami, Kuroko. You saved our bacon."
"You would have done the same for us. You have done the same for us," said Kagami.
"You've got our backs, we've got yours," added Kuroko, his tone growing a bit warmer.
"Of course, but I've still gotta thank you. Next time Maji Burger is on Mitobe and me. Whenever they let us out again."
"Much appreciated."
Aomine could imagine the smile on Kuroko's face. He knew his image was wrong, because he was seeing Kuroko the way he looked four, no five years ago, when he was so young and tiny and still had a reason to smile at the Generation of Miracles. Kuroko as he was now was still perfectly recognizable as that boy, but his face was older and he carried himself completely different.
"Not as much as we appreciated that save. Don't take this the wrong way, but I love you guys!"
"Show's mostly over," Kiyoshi announced. "Once you're a full-fledged pilot with your own jaeger, you'll be allowed into the hangar if you want to go meet returning pilots there, but for now, that area's restricted access. Let's see . . . oh yes. Evenings are free time for you trainees. Tonight's no exception. There are four gyms, a weight room, and a pool if you feel like working out. A couple outdoor courts too if you feel like streetball. And a lounge on the ground floor that you're allowed to hang out in."
"Since when's there a lounge on the ground floor?" asked Matsuoka Rin, one of the second batch of sports team pilots who the jaeger program had recruited.
"Since we got eighteen more trainees and they realized there was likely to be bloodshed if their TV tastes sucked as bad as yours," said Furihata, standing up and stretching, but giving Rin a playful smile.
"Come over here and say that to my face, shorty!" Rin shot back, but he was smirking too.
"There are a few more areas you'll have access to once you're full-fledged jaeger pilots," said Kiyoshi a little ruefully. "But don't worry, all the facilities are really good. They did a bunch of renovations after we got the Iwatobi boys, when Riko promised she and Kuroko had their eyes on more than a dozen new pilots. Oh, and you'll be using the same training facilities as we do. In fact, tomorrow morning, you get to be personally trained by Riko herself!"
"Personally slaughtered by Coach herself is more like it," Fukuda said cheerfully as he, Furihata, Tsuchida, and Kawahara all headed for the doors.
Kawahara paused to give them a wave. "It's been nice knowing you."
"Don't worry, Riko isn't that bad," said Kiyoshi, but his heart didn't seem to be in it.
"Don't let her hear you say that," Izuki warned. "She'll quadruple your training menu just to prove you wrong."
"Meh, Gou will be there tomorrow too. She'll keep Riko from killing anyone too much. Which reminds me," Rin drew himself up to stand at his full height. "My little sister is one of the trainers here. If anyone so much as lays a hand on her –"
"He'll bite it off with his shark teeth," stated Nanase Haru, another of the Iwatobi boys, earning himself a round of snickers. The voice he used was so deadpan that he could have given Kuroko a run for his money.
"Damn it, Haru, I'm being serious! Everyone better keep their hands off my sister or else!"
"Okay then," Kiyoshi said brightly, clapping his hands together. "I think that covers everything."
The True Light And Shadow
"I still can't believe Kurokocchi's a jaeger pilot," muttered Kise as the Generation of Miracles and five other people they'd grabbed for a game headed into one of the gyms.
"Who?" asked Takao, who'd tagged along with Midorima.
"RimFire's other pilot," said Himuro, who was there with Murasakibara.
"You know him?" asked Kasamatsu.
"Yes," answered Himuro. "I met him at the Winter Cup finals."
The Generation of Miracles all stopped walking.
"What?" Aomine finally demanded, when Himuro realized Murasakibara was no longer beside him and turned back. "What did you say?"
Himuro looked slightly taken aback. "I met him at the Winter Cup finals?"
"How? And why did he go see you?" demanded Aomine. "Doesn't he have better things to do than go meet with a guy who wears a knockoff of Kagami's ring necklace?"
"Muro-chin doesn't have to take that from someone who wears knockoff Seirin T-shirts when he plays streetball," said Murasakibara defensively.
"Hey!" Aomine said angrily.
"I've met Kuroko-san as well," said a toneless voice, right beside Aomine.
He jumped, then stared at the silver haired teen who'd appeared from literally out of nowhere. "Who the fuck are you?"
"This is Mayuzumi Chihiro," Akashi introduced him. "One of the players I captained at Rakuzan. I invited him along to play with us. Or did you think we could have a proper game with only nine people?"
"I wasn't paying attention," grumbled Aomine. "And how the hell do you know Tetsu?"
Mayuzumi's blank expression didn't change. "Tetsu?"
"He means Kuroko Tetsuya," said Akashi. "I'm curious to know that as well, Chihiro."
Mayuzumi shrugged. "He was the one who recruited me. Him and Kagami-san."
"Lucky," said Takao. "But Shin-chan and I got Izuki, so I guess we didn't do too bad either."
"So how do you all know Kuroko-san?" asked Himuro, but he was looking mainly at Murasakibara.
It was Akashi who answered.
"Back in Teiko, he was our Sixth Phantom Man."
"Huh? And you guys didn't know he was RimFire's other pilot?" Takao asked, causing half of the Generation of Miracles to cringe. "Oblivious much?"
"Shut up, Takao."
"What? It's only natural that I'm incredulous. If one of my former teammates was a jaeger pilot, I'm pretty sure I'd know. Weren't you all friends back in the day? Why wouldn't he tell you something like that?" wondered Takao.
"Takao. Leave it alone," said Midorima in a strained voice. Takao picked up on the strain and raised an eyebrow at Midorima.
"Okay, I just have one more question," said Takao.
"Not now," said Midorima, giving him a look.
"Actually, I do need to ask it now."
"No, you really don't," said Midorima.
"You don't even know what I'm going to ask," whined Takao.
"I don't care. No one here cares."
"Well it's a little bit important, so I'm going to ask anyway!" announced Takao. "Does anyone else here think maybe we should wake up that kid who's sleeping over there, before we start playing?"
"What?" Midorima looked confused. Like all the others, he looked around. "What kid?"
"The one under the hoop that Murasakibara's right about to step on," said Takao.
Murasakibara froze in midstep and looked down. Then he almost fell backwards in shock. He was glad Takao had said something, right before he put his foot down. Because otherwise, he would have put his foot and his weight down right on Kuro-chin's chest and probably cracked a couple of the boy's ribs.
"Kurokocchi!" Kise exclaimed in surprise, hurrying over and dropping down beside the sleeping boy.
"Tetsu? What is he doing here?" Aomine wondered out loud, hurrying over as well.
"I'm going to go out on a limb and say he's napping," said Mayuzumi who apparently, aside from being Akashi's pet was also a smartass.
"Wait, wait, wait!" said Takao loudly, coming over as well. "You're saying that this kid's Kuroko? RimFire's other pilot? Kagami's copilot?"
"Yes," Midorima said darkly.
"Well. It's a damn good thing we didn't start playing with him sleeping there then. We'd get, like, court martialed or something," said Takao.
Kasamatsu, and Sakurai, who Kise and Aomine had dragged along to play with them, had come over as well to see. Kasamatsu looked down at Kuroko, then at Kise, then at Kuroko again.
"You're telling me that he's the same year as the lot of you?" he asked doubtfully.
Aomine could understand his doubt. Kuroko might be about average height, but constantly surrounded by basketball players, he always looked much smaller. And he'd always been so babyfaced. And now, sleeping here so peacefully, he looked even younger. No one in the world could have guessed that only two hours ago, he'd been at the helm of a giant robot, killing a giant monster.
"Yes. He's the same year as us," Kise answered his senpai's question.
"Did he skip a grade or two?" Kasamatsu asked.
"No," said Akashi.
"Did the rest of you get held back a year or two?" asked Mayuzumi.
"Chihiro," said Akashi warningly.
"Hey, it's a fair question," said Takao, speaking too loudly. "I mean, just look at him. He looks like he should be in middle school. Hell, no wonder they won't let anyone see his face. He'd make the perfect poster child for the UN's campaign against underage jaeger pilots."
"Lower your voice, Takao," Midorima hissed. But it was too late.
Kuroko's eyes scrunched slightly, then opened. He blinked up at them blearily, then seemed to register their presence because his eyes widened and he sat up, looking startled.
"What?" he asked, and looked around in disbelief.
"It's just us, Tetsu," said Aomine, automatically putting a hand on his shoulder to try and reassure him.
Kuroko gave the slightest of flinches at Aomine's touch. It would have hurt less if he'd aimed an Ignite Pass at Aomine's ribcage. And he didn't stop looking around, shifting slightly to see through the gaps between all the basketball players who'd surrounded him in his sleep, most who were now looking sheepish.
"Where's Kagami-kun?" asked Kuroko, his deadpan voice only slightly on edge.
"What?" asked Aomine.
"Where is he?" A cold look crossed Kuroko's face. "If you did something to him . . ."
"Taiga wasn't here when we got here," spoke up Himuro. "Only you . . . Kuroko-san."
Kuroko looked at Himuro and relaxed slightly, which made absolutely no sense. "Kagami-kun . . . wasn't here when you entered?"
"No. And just what do you think we could do to him?" asked Himuro, smiling slightly.
Kuroko shook his head slightly. "I apologize. I'm . . . tired, and not fully awake."
"I'm sorry we woke you up!" said Sakurai quickly. "And I'm sorry we were all standing around watching you sleep!"
Kuroko blinked at him.
"He means that in a non-creepy, non-Twilight way," said Mayuzumi. "We were about to start playing basketball. Then we noticed you sleeping here, so naturally we came over."
"Ah. I see," said Kuroko. Then he stared at his former teammates and their friends awkwardly, tugging slightly at the string of his hoodie.
He was wearing a RimFire hoodie, Aomine noticed now. Ironically, Aomine had that same hoodie back home at his parents' house. He hadn't brought it, or any of his many other pieces of RimFire merchandise to the Jaeger Program Headquarters because he hadn't wanted to look like a freaking groupie. But seeing Kuroko wearing that hoodie, for some reason, was like a punch to the gut.
"So. You . . . pilot RimFire," said Aomine, because the silence was getting too strained so the first thing that came into his head was what ended up coming out of his mouth. "With Kagami."
Kuroko looked at him blankly. "Yes."
Kise glomped him. So hard Kuroko nearly fell over.
"Kurokocchi! That's so awesome! You're awesome! Why didn't you ever tell us? Er – I mean . . ."
"Way to go, Kise," muttered Aomine. He glanced at Akashi, expecting his ex-captain to be ready to take control of the conversation by now. But Akashi looked to be at as much of a loss for words as Aomine himself was. But at least he knew better than to say the first thing that popped into his mind. So like usual, he was a couple steps ahead of Aomine.
"I didn't tell anyone," said Kuroko finally, not looking at them. "It's not exactly believable."
"But if it was you telling it . . ." said Aomine.
Kuroko shrugged. Awkward silence settled over them again.
Surprisingly, it was Mayuzumi who broke it. "Kuroko-san? Would you like to play basketball? I'll step out if you would like to join in."
Kuroko stared at Mayuzumi as though the older boy had just slapped him full across the face. Then he shook his head and politely declined. "No, thank you, Mayuzumi-san. I'm tired."
"Understandable. You and Taiga did just kill a kaiju," said Himuro.
"I need to find out where Kagami-kun went," said Kuroko, and a troubled look crossed his face. "He and Nigou were right here."
"Nigou?" asked Akashi.
"Matsuoka Rin's sister, remember?" Takao reminded him.
"Ah!" Kuroko's hand had flown over his mouth and his eyes had gone wide.
"Tetsuya? Are you alright?" asked Akashi, looking frankly alarmed.
Kuroko quickly schooled his features back to neutral. "Matsuoka Gou-san is Rin-san's little sister. Nigou is my dog."
There was a beat of silence, then several people started laughing.
"I suggest you never let Rin-san learn of this mistake," Kuroko told Takao gravely.
"Yeah. I don't really want Jaws coming after me," said Takao, but he was smiling broady.
Kuroko almost smiled back. Aomine was sure of it. He knew the look that crossed Kuroko's face when he was on the verge of smiling, even if it had been years since he'd seen it. It was something he could never forget, nor did he want to.
"Taiga tolerates you having a dog?" asked Himuro, looking surprised.
Kuroko nodded.
"Amazing. Taiga hates dogs."
"Not Nigou," said Kuroko.
Himuro smiled. "He must really like you, to tolerate Nigou for you."
Kuroko tilted his head slightly.
"He's my co-pilot," said Kuroko, as though that was all there was to it.
Aomine felt his fists clenching but wasn't quite sure why. A sudden anger filled him.
"Aomine-kun?" Great. Kuroko had noticed. Of course he had noticed. Aomine suddenly remembered how ridiculously detail oriented Kuroko was and had always been. He could tell when you were lying, when you were stressed, when to push and when to pull, or when to back off and give you space. So why hadn't he known to come tell Aomine when he'd become a freaking jaeger pilot? Why hadn't he known how worried sick Aomine had been after the kaiju attacks on Tokyo?
"Well, I'm glad you've been having fun hanging out here, being a jaeger pilot with Kagami while the rest of us were worrying our asses off about you," said Aomine angrily.
"What?" Kuroko asked blankly.
"Aominecchi!" Kise said, startled.
"Daiki," Akashi said disapprovingly.
"What?" Aomine echoed Kuroko. "Don't act like it's not true. Is there a single one of us who didn't try to find him at some point over the past three years?"
None of the Miracles spoke up. The non-Miracles, who hadn't been included in that question, looked at each other awkwardly.
"You looked for me?" asked Kuroko, his face unreadable.
"Of course I looked for you! After the kaiju attacks I was worried you were dead! We all were! You weren't answering your phone, you weren't ever at your house –"
"I lost the phone I had in junior high when . . . I got in a fight on a streetball court." Kuroko's expression said that there was probably more to that incident, but that he didn't plan to go into detail, and honestly, Aomine didn't want to hear about it. "I got a new one with a new number after that. And I moved onto base after Kagami-kun and I killed Spikeface."
"And you didn't think about checking in with us and letting us know you were alive?" Aomine demanded. "We were your friends, you idiot!"
"No you weren't."
"What?!" Aomine shouted as the other members of the Generation of Miracles flinched.
"We didn't part as friends," said Kuroko, looking at him dispassionately. "None of us did."
"Tetsuya . . ." Akashi said softly, but seemed at a loss for what else to say.
"I'm glad you're all friends again now," said Kuroko, not looking at them. "I honestly am. But it's a mistake to include me in your reforged camaraderie. Or to expect me to feel like I owed you anything after we parted ways. Because we were not friends then."
And we're not friends now, was left unspoken, but everyone heard it all the same.
"Nor were we teammates anymore," continued Kuroko. "I found a new team. One that needed me. And still does. And you have no right to be angry about that."
"You couldn't have sent a single freaking email?" shouted Aomine.
"Daiki, enough," said Akashi.
"You couldn't have stopped by just to talk to one of us even once?" Aomine continued angrily.
"Why do you think I'd want to?"
Aomine faltered. Cold, hard silence filled the space between them like ice, and Aomine suddenly found that he couldn't breathe.
"I'm a jaeger pilot, Aomine-kun," said Kuroko, in his usual blank voice, the one where he could have been talking about anything in the world, and talking about it casually. "I have no use for friends who don't trust me, or people I can't trust."
"Kurokocchi . . ." whispered Kise, sounding heartbroken.
Kuroko's gaze was unyielding as he looked at each of them. "I'm not one of your instructors. But I will tell you this. Jaeger piloting is all about trust. Not just in your partner, but in other pilot teams as well. Every time you drift, you put not just your life, but your soul in your copilot's hands. And every time you're up to fight a kaiju, you have to become the sort of person that other pilots can trust completely, to do what needs to be done, and be where they need you to be. If you're incapable of that, then you don't belong here."
No one spoke. No one even breathed. So uncharacteristically, it was Kuroko who broke the silence, to excuse himself from their presence.
"Now, I need to find Kagami-kun. Please excuse me. And enjoy your basketball game." He gave a shallow bow then turned toward the door.
The sight of his retreating back did something to Aomine, sent a panic welling up inside of him. He was suddenly struck with the irrational belief that if he let Kuroko walk away now, he'd never have another chance to make things right again. So he reacted on instinct and lunged forward to grab him.
He caught Kuroko in midstep, startling him, making Kuroko lose his balance, and the next thing he knew, Kuroko was falling.
He hit the floor right as the door opened, admitting Kagami, and a canine creature so huge that it had to be a fucking direwolf.
Kagami saw Kuroko sprawled on the floor, with Aomine standing over him, and immediately jumped to the conclusion that he'd been shoved down.
"Bastard!" he growled and immediately sprinted forward. The dog at his side gave a nasty growl as well and charged on ahead, leaping at Aomine with a feral snarl.
The next thing Aomine knew, he was on his back, staring at a huge set of sharp white fangs, and into a pair of almost familiar pale blue eyes.
"Stop! Nigou, heel! Kagami-kun, don't!" Kuroko was on his feet again, gripping Nigou's collar, and pulling him off Aomine. Kagami skidded to a stop right behind them, glaring daggers at Aomine.
"What the fuck is going on?" he demanded. He shot a glare around at everyone assembled, his eyes only softening when they landed on Himuro, then again when they got back to Kuroko.
"I woke up and you were gone," said Kuroko, and Aomine could only stare because it looked like Kuroko was pouting.
"Nigou had to pee, so I took him outside," said Kagami. "I thought it would be fine to leave you asleep for just a few minutes. I didn't think you'd be ambushed by the Skittles Rangers and company."
"Skittles Rangers?" Akashi mouthed, looking slightly affronted.
"They're just here to play basketball," said Kuroko.
"What I walked in on didn't look like basketball," Kagami said darkly, glaring at Aomine again.
"Aomine wanted my attention and tried to catch my shoulder. He took me by surprise and I fell. There was no foul play involved," said Kuroko.
Over the course of Kuroko's explanation, Nigou had suddenly become gentle as a kitten, and was nuzzling his head against Kuroko's hip. Yes, he reached that high, easily, and probably weighed a lot more than Kuroko too. Kuroko gave the creature an affectionate look and patted his head.
Kagami, however, looked like he knew there was more to it than what Kuroko was saying. But he decided to let it go.
"We should turn in for the night. We're out of rotation, so we've got a tripled training menu tomorrow," said Kagami.
"Yes," Kuroko agreed. He looked back at his former teammates, and their new friends and gave another very shallow bow, that was just a little bit deeper than a nod of his head, then started toward the door.
"Wait a second," Aomine said.
Kuroko and Kagami looked back over their shoulders. Then Kagami spun to catch the ball Aomine had thrown at him.
"I've heard you're pretty good. Why don't you play one-on-one with me, huh?" Aomine offered, a tone of challenge in his voice.
Kagami tossed the ball back, an annoyed look on his face. "I'll give you a raincheck."
Aomine immediately threw the ball back at him, much harder this time, but before it could reach Kagami, it was intercepted. Kuroko gave Aomine a look that revealed absolutely nothing. It was as blank and empty a look as Aomine had ever seen on his face. Then he tossed the ball into the air and struck it with his open palm in an Ignite Pass. No, not quite an Ignite Pass. Something was different about it. It was faster. He tried to reach for it, but in a split second, it had rocketed past his face, all the way to the other side of the court where it slammed against the wall so hard that it was sent flying halfway back to them.
"I see you still don't remember how to catch my passes," Kuroko remarked, then turned away again. "Let's go, Kagami-kun."
Dialogue
"Alright, boys. Shirts off!" the girl before the line of trainees ordered.
They all stared at her in surprise.
"I just gave you an order, trainees!" she repeated. "Shirts off now! Let's get a look at your muscles!"
With shrugs and confused looks, the sixteen boys obeyed, some with more reluctance than others.
"Oh. My. God." The girl zeroed in on Nebuya and practically flew to his side. "Look at those pecs! And those triceps!"
She darted around behind him.
"And those lats! My God, I've never seen anything like this in person! Your muscles, they're, they're perfect! They're –"
"Gou-san! What are you doing?" demanded Riko, stepping into the gym.
"Oh! Riko-san! The boys are ready. I had them go ahead and take their shirts off for you, so you can get a look at their muscles," said Gou, pausing her admiration of Nebuya to report to Riko, then turning back to him to stare and drool.
Nebuya smirked and preened. On either side of him Hayama and Mibuchi were giving them sideways glances.
Riko raised an eyebrow, then sighed. "Well, I do need to see you boys without your shirts on, so I can get a look at your numbers. Gou-san, what are you doing now?"
"Taking pictures. For reference," said Gou.
"Reference for what?"
"Just in case we need it."
Riko rolled her eyes then walked to the beginning of the line with her clip board.
"Coach has got the ability to see your physical stats just by looking at your muscles, by the way," said Furihata, entering the gym along with his copilot, Fukuda. Both were dressed in athletic clothes – pants like the kind karate practitioners wear, but in black, and sleeveless T-shirts, Furihata's with the Can Do logo on it, and Fukuda's a generic Jaeger Program issued one. And both were barefoot and carrying fighting staffs. "I promise she's not just ogling you. And any pictures Gou-san takes of you won't end up on the internet or anything."
"Gou doesn't share her pictures. She hoards them to herself," added Fukuda.
"Thank God," muttered Furihata, earning himself a playful nudge from his partner. "While Coach is recording your stats, I'll explain what Fukuda and I are doing here. Just so you don't get the wrong idea, we're not your trainers or teachers or anything. We're just here for a demonstration today. Coach – that is Riko, I mean, will be your head instructor, or the one you ultimately report to. Gou will be your main trainer while you're still in your training phase, but you'll see Kagetora-san too. We're still adjusting to having so many new potential pilots. No one was expecting Riko and Kuroko to find so many. And to be honest, most people are expecting more than half of you to fail. But most people don't know Riko and Kuroko. The rest of the Seirin Six are expecting all of you to prove drift compatible."
"We look forward to working with you," Fukuda added, giving them a warm smile.
"This morning's training, and our demonstration, is stick fighting," Furihata said. "This is not fighting for the sake of fighting, however. This is more like combative chess."
"It's more of a dialogue than a fight," said Fukuda.
"The point of the exercise is to continuously predict the move your partner is going to make, and sync your reactions to it so that you can counter it," Furihata explained. "Thinking the way your partner thinks is extremely important in the drift. And outside of the drift, this exercise is the best way we've found to get inside your partner's head. Please observe."
Furihata and Fukuda both squared off against each other and saluted with their staffs. All the trainees watched, as Riko, meanwhile, moved along the line of them unobtrusively taking in their numbers and recording them on her clipboard.
At one time, she would have been gawking and drooling over the amount of potential before her. But over time, her own boys' numbers had all improved, to the point where most of them could dead lift twice their own weight. That, apparently, was what happened when you took a bunch of healthy teenage athletes and put them through a stringent training regiment designed to turn them into lethal warriors. Riko wouldn't even bet against Kuroko now, against any average thug on the street, no matter how much bigger than him the other guy might be.
However, she was still impressed by what she saw before her. These basketball players' trainers had known what they were doing, for the most part. There were a few of them who had physiology like Kuroko, whose muscles seemed determined to resist growth, resulting in him looking perpetually skinny. Sakurai and Mayuzumi were the notable ones like that. Most of the others were exactly what Riko had been expecting them to be. And the Generation of Miracles and the Uncrowned Kings, well, let's just say that they had her struggling to keep a professional expression on her face. But when she reached the end of the line, and turned back to see Furihata and Fukuda still sparing, their movements flawless as each one perfectly predicted where his partner would strike, and managed to counter and counter, again and again, she felt genuinely proud. Godlike-physiques or not, the new trainees had nothing on her boys when it came to heart.
Riko stepped back and watched the trainees watch Furihata and Fukuda in awe. They weren't the most famous jaeger pilots, nor the flashiest, but their bond was stronger than steel, and their compatibility perfect. Three whole minutes had passed before Fukuda managed to finally score a point, and demonstrate just how perfect his control was, stopping his staff a centimeter's breadth from cracking Furihata right between the eyes.
"Point. And match," Riko called out, deciding that was enough. Another point would take another three minutes, possibly longer knowing these two. "Good job, boys."
Furihata and Fukuda bowed to Riko, then to each other, then stood at ease, Fukuda wiping the sweat off his face with the back of one hand, and Furihata stooping to retrieve the two water bottles they'd brought with them. He tossed one to Fukuda without giving a warning, without even looking, and Fukuda, also without looking, or seeming to be paying any attention, reached out instinctively and caught it, as easily as if he'd just picked it up off a shelf.
Riko smirked at the looks of awe that crossed many trainees faces at such a casual display of such absolute trust and compatibility. Then she turned to her clipboard.
"I'll be calling out the names of each pair we've partnered up," Riko announced. "Most of you here probably already know who you're partnered with . . . but there may be one or two surprises."
Keeping a straight face throughout the entire list would be a struggle. But Riko was determined to manage. Kuroko had offered to come read it out for her, and Riko had been tempted to let him. She had no doubt that he would be able to keep his poker face through it. But she couldn't do that to him. He might be going along with this plan. Hell, he might have even thought it up. But she wasn't going to make this any harder for him than she had to. She knew that no matter what he said or how blank he looked, he didn't like what they were doing, or how devious they were being. Not just pulling the wool over the eyes of all the higher ups in the Jaeger Program, and keeping the secret from everyone except their own copilots, but using several of his former teammates as pawns. Riko knew that was going to hurt Kuroko just as much as them, if not more. Yet he was prepared to do it, and much more, for the sake of victory. But Riko was determined to ease as much of the burden from his shoulders as she could.
So Riko stood up straight and began reading out the list.
"Midorima Shintarou and Takao Kazunari.
"Kimura Shinsuke and Miyaji Kiyoshi.
"Himuro Tatsuya and Murasakibara Atsushi.
"Imayoshi Shouichi and Susa Yoshinori.
"Mibuchi Reo and Nebuya Eikichi.
"Hayama Koutaro and Mayuzumi Chihiro.
"Kasamatsu Yukio and Kise Ryouta.
"Sakurai Ryou and Wakamatsu Kousuke.
"And Akashi Seijuurou and Aomine Daiki."
Riko paused slightly and distinctly did not look in the direction of the last two boys she'd called, despite the gasping and noises of disbelief surrounding that announcement. She forced herself to remain calm and relaxed, but to her surprise, it wasn't as hard as she'd thought. Riko gave an internal sigh. As much as she wanted to be grown up and above petty grudges, it seemed she still wasn't there yet.
"Please pair up, grab a staff, and begin. You should have all covered staff fighting in your preliminary training, so I expect you to know how to score a controlled point. If you knock your partner out, you get an hour of running suicides as punishment. Remember, this is supposed to be a dialogue, not a fight," Riko called out confidently, then risked a glance at Akashi and Aomine.
Both were standing perfectly still, staring at each other in complete shock. And all those who knew them apparently still hadn't recovered either. All the Generation of Miracles, the Uncrowned Kings, Mayuzumi, and the Touo alumni were all still gawking at the former captain of the Generation of Miracles and the notoriously arrogant ace.
Riko blew her whistle to jolt them out of their shock. "Now, trainees! If I have to tell you again, you'll all be running suicides for the rest of the morning! I expect better from you than this!"
That woke them up, and they all hurried to obey, though Akashi and Aomine took a few seconds longer.
Riko walked over to stand with Furihata, Fukuda, and Gou, not feeling at all bad about the plan she and Kuroko had come up with.
It was time for Akashi and Aomine to learn what it meant to be the tools someone else used to obtain victory.
Riko and Kuroko have a plan. And it's not just to entertain everyone with Akashi and Aomine's horrific attempts at becoming compatible. Kuroko's showing a devious streak, but he wouldn't drag the two of them all the way to Jaeger Program Headquarters just for that. The game he and Riko are playing has the fate of humanity at stake, so they don't have time to mess around.
Gou is another character from Free! Iwatobi Swim Club. She's Rin's little sister, and she's got a muscle fetish. I think she'd get along great with Nebuya. (By the way, did anyone who's watched Free! guess that it was her and not Riko when that segment started?)
Bonus Fact: the order that Riko called out the pairs in is the order she and Kuroko believe they have the strongest compatibility. Numerous factors affected how they were ranked, but the main one was whether or not they were still on the same team. If one potential pilot had gone off to college and gelled with another team, he might have sacrificed some of his compatibility with his potential partner, or at least that was taken into consideration. But if both pilots had gone off to the same college together, that was more points in their favor. Other factors included personality types and of course how well they've been shown to work with one another. Takao's ability to pass a ball into Midorima's hands when he's in midshot got them major points, which is why they're at the top of the list.
Sorry if the parts with Kuroko and the GoM are too depressing. I promise they'll start patching things up soon! I've seen the new Godzilla movie too many times, so I'm on a kaiju writing spree, lol
Please review :)