Title: A Day in the Life of Miracles
By: revenanttrickster
Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basket is owned by Fujimaki Tadatoshi
Summary: Kuroko inadvertently finds out his teammates' animal weaknesses.
Setting: Second Year
Pairing: None
A/N: Thanks: Another observer of the world, kh07gl, Orcux, AspergianStoryteller, miki565, Guest, Calico Neko for the reviews. And thank you for those who favorite and follow this story!
Day 2: Achilles Heel
i. it's because of the catnip
To say that it's awkward is an understatement; even a dull blade could cut the underlying tension between Midorima and Kuroko. It was one of those rare occurrences that the two of them—since they don't get along very well—walked home together. Alone.
The rest of their teammates were busy and couldn't accompany any of them. Aomine, the one who always goes home with Kuroko, has extra classes because of his low grades. Kise has a photo-shoot scheduled this afternoon and has to take a different route from them. Murasakibara went ahead as his favorite sweet shop has a sale going on and wouldn't want to miss it. Akashi's driver picked him up from school since his father had called him. And even Momoi was unavailable and went out with the other managers of the basketball club.
Midorima silently cursed his teammates (aside from Akashi of course, he values his life thank you very much) for their bad timing and for putting him in this situation especially after Oha-Asa said that he'll encounter a bad occurrence if he sticks to an Aquarius today.
Far from his green haired teammate's frustration, Kuroko was calm and doesn't seem to mind the uncomfortable silence between them although he was aware on what Midorima was feeling.
To break the tension, Kuroko decided to start a conversation and opened his mouth to say something only to close it again when he noticed that Midorima suddenly froze on his tracks, looking wide-eyed at the road ahead of them. Kuroko turned to the direction Midorima was staring at and found a yellow cat gazing up at them, or more specifically staring at Midorima.
Kuroko wondered why the cat was intently looking at his teammate when he remembered Midorima's lucky item for the day. "Um, Midorima-kun—" he started to say but it seems his warning was a little too late when the cat jumped onto Midorima's face without hesitation and scratched his face.
"AAHHH! Get away! Get away from me!" Midorima screamed out loud as he futilely tried to get the cat off his face but was unsuccessful since the cat's sharp claws latched onto his uniform. "Kuroko help me! Get this thing off my face!"
Kuroko snapped out of his trance and tried to hide his amusement as he gently took the cat away from his teammate. The cat became putty in his hands and started to purr particularly after he scratched the cat behind its ear.
"Throw that thing away Kuroko!" Midorima yelled in annoyance as he wiped his face with his handkerchief.
The feline glared at Midorima when it heard his voice (or maybe the meaning behind his words).
"Don't be like that Midorima-kun," Kuroko said as he put the cat down, who immediately scampered away after throwing one nasty look at the green head. "And it's your fault for carrying catnip."
"It's my lucky item," Midorima replied still irritated at the cat. "And I hid it in my uniform!"
Kuroko shrugged. "Cats can still smell it although they usually are more quiet and docile when they smell one."
Midorima grumbled his complains under his breath when he heard that. After calming himself down, he turned to the teal head and stared intently at him. "Don't tell anyone about this Kuroko, especially to Aomine and Kise."
"Don't worry Midorima-kun, I won't tell anyone."
The two of them continued to walk home after ensuring that Midorima's wounds were superficial and was then treated when they visited a clinic nearby. This time the silence between them was much more comfortable until Kuroko decided to break it. "So Midorima-kun is afraid of cats?"
"Shut up Kuroko!" Midorima shouted in incense.
At that time, if only Midorima glanced at the teal head beside him he might have caught the faint smile painting onto Kuroko's face.
#
ii. just buzzing around
Aomine and Kuroko were in a street ball court playing basketball leisurely since they have free time. Aomine was bored in his house and decided to call up Kuroko and invited him to play basketball (before Momoi could drag him to her endless shopping), which the teal head gladly agreed considering he doesn't have anything to do at home and could read his novels later.
"Pass me the ball Tetsu!" Aomine exclaimed as he readily caught the ball Kuroko passed and eagerly slammed the ball in the net. "Nice pass Tetsu!"
Kuroko smiled softly at his light. "It's almost noon Aomine-kun, maybe we should take a break."
Aomine's stomach grumbled in agreement. "Yeah, I'm hungry," he said as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "And I want meat."
"You always want meat Aomine-kun."
"Men are all about the meat."
As they were drying themselves and packing up their belongings, Kuroko noticed a bee buzzing near them. "Look Aomine-kun, it's a bee," Kuroko said and pointed at it.
Aomine suddenly froze with his back to the teal head. "Te–Tetsu you're kidding, right?"
"I'm not. I'm serious Aomine-kun," Kuroko said, slightly confused at the blue head's action and question. "There really is a bee."
And as if proving Kuroko's statement, Aomine heard the bee's buzzing close to them. In fact, really, really close. Aomine slowly turned around and saw the bee coming towards them; he couldn't hold it any longer and screamed out loud. "AAHHH!" he hastily crouched down and took his jacket over his head to hide his shivering figure.
Kuroko blinked in surprise when the blue head yelled all of a sudden. "Um, Aomine-kun?"
"Kill it Tetsu! Kill that thing!" Aomine ordered forcefully, still hiding behind his jacket.
"But it's just a bee," Kuroko stated.
"I don't care! Kill it Tetsu!"
Kuroko stared thoughtfully at his cowering friend. "Aomine-kun, are you perhaps scared of bees?"
Aomine didn't say anything (or more like doesn't want to say anything because being scared of bees is totally uncool) and just whimpered in answer.
Kuroko tried to hide his laughter with a cough but wasn't able to hold back a chuckle or two and even his azure eyes were shining in amusement. "That's lame Aomine-kun," he said and couldn't help but teased his light since this was the second time he saw Aomine like this (the first time was when they first met in the fourth gym).
"Shut up Tetsu!"
"The bee is hovering above you Aomine-kun," Kuroko unhelpfully added.
Aomine clutched his jacket tighter over his head. "Damn it Tetsu!"
Taking pity for the blue head, Kuroko lightly swatted the bee away that, truthfully, wasn't really floating above Aomine. "It's gone now Aomine-kun."
"Did you kill it?" Aomine asked and at least his shivering stopped.
"No, it flew away."
Aomine was silent for a few seconds before asking, "Tetsu you're not lying, aren't you?"
"I'm not lying, Aomine-kun," Kuroko said evenly, not at all offended at Aomine's apparent allegation.
Aomine hesitantly peeked over his jacket to check their surrounding and even above him and only breathed a sigh of relief when he was certain that the bee was gone. He stood up from his position and calmly put his jacket on, adamantly pretending that the incident didn't happened and trying to ignore the teal head's heavy stare at his back.
Kuroko watched his blue haired teammate in disputable silence. "Bee," he monotonously said.
Aomine almost dropped his bag in shock; he angrily whirled at his shadow. "Stop it Tetsu!"
Unperturbed at the blue head's outburst, Kuroko said, "I didn't know Aomine-kun is afraid of bees."
Aomine quickly averted his dark blue eyes from his teammate, looking anywhere but him. "Wh-What are you talking about Tetsu? I-I'm not scared of b-bees," he stuttered.
"I think what happened a while ago is a contradiction to your statement," Kuroko deadpanned.
"Just forget about it, okay Tetsu?" Aomine resignedly said as he ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Ugh, let's just go eat."
"Whatever you say Aomine-kun," Kuroko said as he took his bag and slung it over his shoulder. He glanced at the blue head beside him as they walked out of the street ball court and to a family restaurant. "Does that mean that Aomine-kun doesn't like honey?"
"Tetsu!"
#
iii. get away!
Kuroko decided to go to Maji Burger after their practice because he was craving for vanilla milkshake with Murasakibara (and his ever present bag of snacks) accompanying him. Aomine was supposed to go with them but he just said Horikita Mai's name in alarm and went to the opposite direction without a word, leaving him and the tall purple haired center behind.
The two of them were walking in relative silence when Murasakibara suddenly heard a weird noise. "Hey Kuro-chin, can you hear that?" he asked.
Kuroko glanced at the purple head beside him. "Hear what Murasakibara-kun?"
"That weird noise," Murasakibara answered as he looked around, trying to find the source of the sound.
Kuroko blinked his cerulean eyes in confusion but then heard a crow squawking not far from them. "It's a crow Murasakibara-kun."
"C-Crow?" Murasakibara stammered.
"Yes." Kuroko looked behind them and saw a crow flying overhead. "It's behind us."
Murasakibara gradually turned around and watched as the crow flew towards them. "NOOO!" he yelled as he gripped his bag of snacks protectively in his arms. "Get away from me! Get away!"
Even though Kuroko was surprised at the purple head's scream he still tried to appease his teammate. "Please calm down Murasakibara-kun, it's not coming towards us."
"NO!" Murasakibara screamed one more time before running away from the crow as fast as he can.
"Wait, Murasakibara-kun!"
But the purple head didn't listen (or perhaps didn't hear him) and continued to run away, leaving the phantom sixth man standing alone in the street in bewilderment.
Kuroko sighed in defeat before following Murasakibara, who doesn't know where he's going and might end up lost if he didn't caught up to him. I didn't know that Murasakibara-kun is afraid of crows though, he pensively thought as he ran.
#
iv. advantages of childhood
It was a lovely day, the sun was shining bright and it's rays casting a soft glow on the trees, on the ground and flickering over the surface of the pond. The weather was nice, a little windy but still warm and the birds were happily chirping as some of them were perched on trees and others flying over the clear blue sky. All in all it was a perfect day for a picnic which the regulars of the Teikou basketball club—dubbed as the Generation of Miracles—were currently doing.
Well, actually, Momoi was the one who planned it and the regulars were just dragged along. With the exception of Kise, who was the only one excited for it and even helped Momoi with the planning. As well as Kuroko, who only consented after Kise offered to buy him vanilla milkshake from Maji Burger for a week.
The hard part, of course, was convincing the others.
Momoi had to beg Akashi to clear his schedule for the picnic and the red head had no choice but to reluctantly acquiesce to her request even though he was busy.
Kise and Momoi had to bribed Midorima and Murasakibara to come along with them through lucky items for the former and snacks for the latter. Although Murasakibara was easily influenced, the problem lies with Midorima. Kise persuaded (more like begged to the point of annoyance) Midorima to go with them by going to his classroom during break and lunch time which created some embarrassing scenes of the blond clinging to him while crying, much to Midorima's horror and mortification and grudgingly agreed just to get rid of Kise.
On the other hand, due to his laziness, Aomine sees no point in attending the picnic and just ignored Momoi and Kise when the two tried to convince him. Even Kuroko failed to change his mind which says a lot considering Aomine couldn't say no to Kuroko especially when the teal head stared at him with his doe eyes (actually it took a lot of Aomine's willpower to refuse his shadow and his innocent looking eyes). Needless to say, this infuriated Momoi and with her hands on her hips promised Aomine that she'll burn his collection of gravure magazines if he didn't come. Aomine readily agreed after that.
Right now, the Generation of Miracles were eating the food that Akashi's personal chef prepared which consists of club sandwich, pasta salad, fried chicken, coleslaw, bread and cheese, deviled eggs, fruit salad and a wide selection of different fruits like watermelon and cherry tomatoes. In truth, Momoi was the one who volunteered to make the food which made everyone blanched when they heard that. To avoid the impending disaster, Akashi immediately offered to provide the food, saying that it's his contribution and told Momoi that she doesn't need to bring anything since she was the one who organized their outing.
Everyone contributed to the picnic, too. Murasakibara brought desserts and snacks which in turn made Midorima to reprimand the purple head as half of what he brought was just for himself. As for the green head, he brought a red checkered blanket for them which, fortunately, was his lucky item for the day. Meanwhile, Kise and Kuroko brought their drinks contained in a cooler.
In contrast, Aomine didn't bring anything except for himself as no one bothered assigning him anything since everyone knew that he'll forget it anyway which suits the blue head just fine.
As everyone was eating the scrumptious food (or gobbled up in Aomine's case) and talking in between bites, something green caught Aomine's eyes. He grinned mischievously when he saw what it was and made up an excuse to leave to leave the group and went near the pond.
Kise was telling some story that happened during his work when Momoi suddenly felt something dropped on top of her head and screamed out loud when she heard a frog croaked. "KYAA!" The frog hastily jumped off her head when she shrieked.
Kuroko and Kise who was near her instantly tried to comfort her. Momoi and Kise jumped in surprise when they heard Aomine guffawing loudly behind them.
Clutching his stomach, the blue head said in between laughter, "You should have seen the look on your face Satsuki!"
Finally understanding that it was another one of Aomine's stupid pranks, Momoi quickly stood up and glared at her childhood friend as tears gathered in the corner of her eyes. "That wasn't funny Dai-chan!" she angrily said.
"Relax Satsuki, you're too tense," Aomine nonchalantly respond as his laughter subsided.
At the blue head's indifference, Momoi curled her fists in irritation and with a sharp glint in her pink eyes said, "Dai-chan peed his bed until he was six!"
Everyone paused at the sudden information and stared at the pink head in surprise and as one the Generation of Miracles turned their gaze to their ace, who was gawking at Momoi with his jaw wide open in shock.
Kise couldn't take it anymore and finally double up in laughter, snapping everyone else from their stupor. Kuroko and Akashi tried to hide their chuckles behind a cough while Midorima just pushed his glasses on top of his nose although everyone could see the amusement showing in his green eyes.
"Mine-chin should have gone to the bathroom before sleeping," Murasakibara pointlessly commented as he resumed eating his snacks.
"Murasakibara-kun," Kuroko admonished the purple head even though he was trying hard not to smile.
Momoi wasn't finished with her retaliation just yet though. "Dai-chan sleeps with his parents every Halloween until he was nine!"
Kise rolled on the floor as he continued to laugh, grasping his stomach. "AHAHAHA!"
"Satsuki!" Aomine yelled as he irately stood up.
In an instant, Momoi ran away from the blue head when he tried to catch her and hid behind Murasakibara.
"Get out of the way Murasakibara!"
The purple head just gave the fuming Aomine a boring stare. "Eh~? Don't wanna~"
"Move or I'll make you."
Murasakibara was unfazed at the blue head's threat and just shrugged his shoulders uncaringly.
But before Aomine could do anything to the purple haired center, Momoi spilled another embarrassing secret. "Dai-chan is scared of bees," she revealed, grinning smugly at her childhood friend.
"Damn you Satsuki!"
Momoi hurriedly moved away from her hiding place and took cover behind Kuroko and Akashi which according to her calculations is the safest place from the enraged blue haired ace. And judging how Aomine suddenly stopped in his tracks, she wasn't wrong since Aomine wouldn't consider harming Kuroko and he wouldn't dare go against Akashi.
Aomine knew this and glared hard at the pink haired manager.
Seeing as she was safe, Momoi decided to divulge Aomine's deepest darkest secret.
Aomine noticed how Momoi's pink eyes flashed wickedly and instinctively knew what she was going to say next. "Don't you dare Satsuki or I'm going to tell everyone what happened in sixth grade!" he threatened just as Momoi was about to open her mouth.
That shut Momoi up and her lips formed into a pout. Of course, if I knew Dai-chan's secrets he knew mine, too, she sulkily thought.
Everyone looked between Aomine and Momoi in confusion apart from Akashi, who cleared his throat to catch everyone's attention. "I think that's enough Aomine, Momoi," he said and then gave the blue head a cold stare. "And no more pranks Aomine or I'll double your training."
Aomine petulantly crossed his arms as he sat down. "Tch! Fine."
"We should try the desserts that Murasakibara-kun brought," Kuroko said, trying to alleviate the sudden tense atmosphere surrounding them.
It was a little awkward at first but everyone went back to their usual self after that and enjoyed the rest of the day.
(Though everyone committed Aomine's embarrassing secrets to memory. Just in case.)
#
v. earth and fire
It was a summer evening; the stars were twinkling brightly against the dark blue-indigo sky and the full moon's soft glow shining upon the night. And although it was nightfall, the weather was still warm with a gentle cool breeze passing by sometimes. Adding to this scenery was the beautiful fireflies flying around illuminating their surroundings.
This, of course, was pleasantly unnoticed by the three teens huddling near a river, namely Aomine Daiki, Kise Ryouta and Kuroko Tetsuya—regulars of the Teikou basketball club. They were more interested at the array of fireworks and sparklers in front of them.
Aomine excitedly took the star mines. "We should light this!"
"You'll hurt yourself Aomine-kun," Kuroko warned.
The blue head waved his hand dismissively. "Nah. What's the purpose if we don't light this one up?"
Kuroko shrugged. "Suit yourself Aomine-kun. I'll just stick to the sparklers."
Kise, on the other hand, was torn between joining Aomine light some fireworks and staying behind with his instructor.
Aomine moved a few feet away from them to have more space as he set up the fireworks. He was looking for a match when he saw something wiggling on the corner of his eyes. "Hey Kise!" he called out to the blond. "Come here for a sec!"
Curious, Kise walked towards the blue head. "What is it Aominecchi?"
Aomine took the wiggling he saw which turns out to be an earthworm and showed it to the blond. "Here!"
"AAHHH!" Kise yelled as he ran away from Aomine (and the worm) and fearfully hid behind the passing specialist, who was crouching down lighting up a sparkler.
Kuroko fleetingly looked at the blond hiding behind him before turning to Aomine and saw him proudly holding a worm.
"What's wrong Kise? Scared of an earthworm?" the blue haired ace taunted.
Kise tearfully peered at Aomine from Kuroko's back. "Stop it Aominecchi! And how can you hold that thing? They're disgusting!"
"It's just a worm Kise," Aomine said as he took a few steps forward to the blond (plus Kuroko, who was blissfully ignoring their silly interaction).
Kise abruptly stood up and took a step backwards. "D-Don't come here," he stuttered.
Aomine paid no heed to his plea and moved closer.
Kise had enough and ran away as fast as he can from the blue head but much to his horror Aomine chased after him still holding the earthworm.
"Stop running Kise!" Aomine shouted with an evil grin on his face.
"Then stop chasing me with a worm!" Kise yelled back.
Kuroko sighed as he watched his teammates acting like children impassively and returned his gaze back his sparkler. At least I know what to threaten Kise-kun when he gets too clingy, he musingly thought.
#
vi. disobedience
While walking towards the school courtyard, Kuroko—the phantom sixth man of Teikou—was lost in his thoughts. He unintentionally learned what his teammates' animal weaknesses are aside from the red haired captain. Is Akashi-kun even scared of anything? he pondered.
He was surprised when he saw Akashi crouching down in the courtyard with his back to the teal head. Curious, he walked up to him. "Akashi-kun?"
Akashi turned his head to the phantom player. "Kuroko," he greeted.
"May I ask what you're doing here Akashi-kun?" Kuroko asked but then saw a golden Labrador retriever lying down in front of the red head. He walked closer and crouched down beside his captain. "Is this your dog Akashi-kun?"
"No," Akashi answered. "I just found him here."
Kuroko's right hand reached out to the dog and petted its head. The dog opened its left eye to the teal head and excitedly thumped its tail. The dog yawned and then stretched before sitting up. "Woof!"
Kuroko help out his hand palm up. "Shake hands," he said which the retriever readily complied by putting its left paw on the teal head's hand. "Another paw." This time, it's the right paw. The phantom player issued more commands like stand, sit, lie down and roll over which the dog eagerly obeyed.
"He seems to be well trained," Kuroko observed as he stroked the Labrador's head after giving him biscuits he kept in his pockets.
"…Oh…"
Kuroko noticed the displeased tone in Akashi's voice and glanced at the red head. He saw Akashi glaring at the dog and it looks like the dog was ignoring him.
It seems like the dog won't listen to Akashi-kun, Kuroko thought. He turned to his captain. "Do you want me to teach you Akashi-kun?" he hesitantly asked.
Akashi raised an eyebrow at the teal head's question.
Kuroko averted his gaze and stared at the dog. "To make him listen to Akashi-kun."
The red head smiled. "I would love to, Kuroko."
With that said, Kuroko taught Akashi what he needed to do. At first, the dog won't listen to the red head and only pays attention to Kuroko. Only after the teal head had said that Akashi shouldn't be too strict when ordering the Labrador and always keep a pleasant aura that the dog obeyed Akashi. They kept the dog entertained by playing with him for a while.
Right now, they were walking around the courtyard with the dog between them and it looks like the Labrador took a liking to Akashi as it always followed whatever the red head says. This pleased Akashi much so while Kuroko just watched them warmly.
"He has a collar so he isn't a stray," Akashi said as they decided to find its owner.
"Maybe the owner is a teacher," Kuroko guessed.
"Perhaps."
Kuroko took a quick look at the dog contemplatively. It seems wrong but for some reason the dog reminds me of Kise-kun, he mused. Must be the color.
#
"Achoo!" Kise rubbed his nose after sneezing and reclaim the ball he accidentally let go.
Having heard the blond sneeze, Aomine turned to him. "I thought idiots don't catch cold," he said.
"I'm not sick!" Kise protested. "And I don't want to hear that from Ahoumenicchi!"
"Don't call me that!"
Kise ignored the blue head and with his eyes twinkling said, "Kurokocchi must be thinking about me!"
Aomine snorted as he dribbled a ball. "You're delusional Kise."
"I'm not!" Kise exclaimed. "My Kurokocchi senses are tingling!"
Aomine as well as Midorima and Murasakibara, who heard what the blond had just said, gave him a disgusted look. "Pervert," they all said in unison.
"I'm not a pervert!"
#
Meanwhile, Akashi furrowed his brows thoughtfully. Why do I get the feeling that I should triple Kise's training?
"Is something wrong Akashi-kun?" Kuroko asked when he noticed the red head was deep in thought.
Akashi smiled at the teal head. "Nothing, Kuroko."
"Aki!" a voice shouted behind them all of a sudden.
The two basketball players turned around and saw their mathematics teacher coming towards them. The golden retriever barked before running enthusiastically towards the teacher.
"Aki!" he cried as he hugged the dog in relief. "I'm so glad you're okay. I was looking all over for you."
"Is this your dog Hibiki-sensei?" Akashi asked.
Hibiki finally discerned that he wasn't alone and looked up at the red head. "Akashi. Uh, yes, he's mine," he answered. "Did you found him?"
"Yes, I found him sleeping in the courtyard," Akashi said as he watched the dog licked his math teacher all over his face. "Kuroko and I played with him for a bit."
Hibiki looked confused. "Eh? Kuroko?"
Kuroko decided to inform his teacher of his presence and greeted him as he bowed. "Good afternoon Hibiki-sensei."
"Gah! Kuroko!" Hibiki shouted in surprise when he finally noticed the teal head beside Akashi. "S-Sorry. I didn't see you there."
"It's fine sensei," Kuroko said.
Hibiki smiled at his two students. "Anyway, thanks for taking care of Aki."
"You're welcome Hibiki-sensei," the red and teal head both said at the same time.
"I'll see you two in class then. Bye!" Hibiki said as he started to walk away and the dog barked at them once before finally following its master.
Akashi and Kuroko watched their retreating figures before deciding to go to the gym for basketball practice.
"Shall we go, Kuroko?" the captain of the Generation of Miracles asked. "You're done with your library duties, right?"
"Yes," Kuroko respond. So Akashi-kun doesn't like disobeying dogs, was his last thought as he and his captain made their way to the first gym in comfortable silence.