Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basket is owned by Fujimaki Tadatoshi

Summary: One of the unspoken rules in Teikou basketball club—Never make Kuroko Tetsuya angry.

Setting: First Year (so Kise isn't here yet)

Pairing: None

A/N: Thanks: miki565, RisoleSoes19, AspergianStoryteller, chunminie, kyaaaa-1095, Maya-chan2007, asyadreamer09, Independent Not in Love, knb143, dot for the reviews! Thank you for those who follow and favorite this story as well!

Day 4: Secret Rules—Do Not Catch the Phantom's Ire

It was known in the Teikou basketball club (and perhaps throughout the whole school) that the famous Generation of Miracles are undoubtedly terrifying whenever someone incurs their wrath. They were relieved that someone can somehow influence them as to not cause any bodily harm. That person was Kuroko Tetsuya, the phantom sixth man.

Kuroko Tetsuya could be perchance the only sane and normal (or possibly too normal) from the group with the exception of his weak presence, of course. This notion, however, changed when an incident concerning a group of unruly students and one Kuroko Tetsuya happened…

i.

As Kuroko was walking towards the first gym for basketball practice, he heard a group of four students—who seems to be delinquents—talking so rowdily when he took the path in the courtyard. He made a decision to just ignore and passed them undetected until he heard them talking about his teammates and without thinking stopped on his tracks.

"The basketball club is sure getting popular lately," one delinquent mused. "Especially after those first years became regulars."

A second delinquent snorted. "So what? I bet I could beat them all up."

"And maybe they won't play basketball after we're through with them," the third delinquent added, cracking his knuckles ominously.

Kuroko narrowed his eyes at that.

The fourth delinquent chuckled. "Are you sure? One's a giant, you know, the one with the purple hair."

The first one snorted. "He's just tall. I fought taller guys before," he arrogantly said.

"Arrogant much?" the second delinquent said as he smirked.

"The green head will be easy," the third delinquent declared as he fiddled with a set of keys.

The first one raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"I heard the guy's obsessed with Oha-Asa and lucky items."

"You mean that horoscope show?"

"Yup."

"What's that got to do with anything?" the second delinquent asked.

"The guy goes crazy if he doesn't have his lucky item with him. We just either break it or steal it and let fate take its course."

The fourth one mockingly clapped his hands. "This is the first time I heard you say something smart."

"Shut up!" the third student shouted in incense.

"How about Aomine?" the first delinquent asked. "That dude is strong."

"He is," the second one agreed. "But out of all of them, he the easiest to manipulate."

"How?" the third student asked.

The second delinquent casually leaned back against the wall as he smirked ruthlessly. "We just take his childhood friend, Momoi Satsuki."

"I know her," the first delinquent said. "That chick is hot."

The second nodded. "We can just take her and blackmail Aomine to do whatever we want. He'll be eating at the palm of our hands in no time."

"We could play with her, too and make him watch," the third one leered, imagining that scenario. "That should be fun!"

Kuroko stood rigidly at his spot, involuntarily clenching his fists too tightly as he continued to eavesdrop at the delinquents' revolting plans to his teammates.

"I guess that leaves the vice-captain, huh?" the fourth delinquent said. "Akashi Seijuurou."

"I heard the kid's filthy rich," the first delinquent said. "We could just kidnap him and demand a ransom to his family."

The second delinquent rolled his eyes. "What are we, yakuza?"

The first shrugged. "Hey, it might work."

"The kid's short anyway," the third one butted in. "We can beat him up with no trouble."

Kuroko had enough and made his presence known to the delinquents. "I advise you not to do that," he calmly said.

"AHHH!" the four delinquents yelled as they flinched back from the teal head student, who appeared out of nowhere.

The third delinquent pointed an accusing finger to Kuroko. "Where the hell did you come from?! And who are you anyway?!"

"I've been here the whole time," Kuroko said his trademark statement. "My name is Kuroko Tetsuya and I'm from the basketball club."

"You? From the basketball club?" the fourth delinquent said as he walked closer to the teal head and scrutinized him from head to toe. "You're not pulling our leg, aren't you? You look so weak~"

"I'm not," Kuroko deadpanned. "I'm serious."

The first delinquent loomed over Kuroko. "I don't care if you're in the basketball club or not but you better keep your mouth shut."

Kuroko narrowed his eyes at the delinquent. "I won't stay quiet especially if you're planning something bad to my teammates."

The third delinquent fumingly grabbed Kuroko's collar. "How about we just beat you up instead?"

Unbeknownst to Kuroko and the delinquents, there were people who were watching the delinquents threatened Kuroko in outrage namely, Aomine, Midorima and Murasakibara. The three of them hid (actually Aomine dragged Midorima and Murasakibara) behind a tree after hearing what the delinquents were planning to do to them. They (particularly Aomine) were about to step in but Kuroko beat them to it. They were surprised when Kuroko suddenly appeared as they didn't notice that he was there to begin with.

"Threatening Tetsu! I'll beat those bastards!" Aomine said in enrage, ready to rescue his friend.

Midorima grabbed Aomine's arm to a stop. "Wait, Aomine."

Aomine angrily whirled to the green head. "What the hell are you talking about? Don't you care what happens to Tetsu?!"

"Calm down Aomine," Midorima said, not minding the blue head's outburst. "Look at Kuroko."

Confused, Aomine turned towards Kuroko and the delinquents, to say that he was shocked by what he saw was an understatement.

Kuroko seem unfazed by the threat the delinquents were making and instead used two of his fingers to press a pressure point on the wrist of the delinquent clutching his collar.

"Ow!" the third delinquent yelled and immediately released the teal head.

"You should have iced your injuries so it won't swell senpai," Kuroko evenly stated.

"You bastard!" the first delinquent said and was ready to punch Kuroko when he suddenly disappeared. Well, Kuroko didn't really disappeared but, using misdirection actually evaded the punch by turning his body to the side and instead punched the second delinquent that was trying to tackle the teal head from behind.

The second delinquent held his broken nose and trying to stop the blood from flowing. "Why the hell did you punch me?!"

"I didn't! The kid disappeared!"

"Stop fighting and find the kid!" the fourth delinquent ordered, irritated. They were being bested by a freshman and one who looks like a weakling at that. They have a reputation to maintain, damn it!

"Where the hell is that kid?!" the third delinquent shouted as he looked around the area.

"Behind you senpai," the third delinquent heard someone say behind him and immediately punched the guy. He smirked when he heard someone groaned in pain but quickly clutched his knee in agony when he was suddenly kicked there.

"The hell was that for! Who do you think you're punching, huh?!" the fourth delinquent yelled as he held his swollen cheek after kicking the other delinquent. Precisely after he said that, he fell down face-plant on the ground when the first delinquent wrestled him from behind. "Stop attacking me!"

"The stupid kid is playing with us!" the second delinquent bellowed as finally stopped his nose from bleeding.

"I'm not playing. You just couldn't see me," Kuroko said as he watched the delinquents beat themselves up and futilely tried to catch him.

The fourth delinquent slowly stood up and wiped the blood on the corner of his mouth. "Okay, kid, no more games," he said, sneering ingeniously, "unless you want to be suspended for, let's just say, beating up four guys."

Kuroko blinked at the threat. "No one will believe that I defeated all of you, senpai. As senpai said, I look weak."

The fourth delinquent deviously cackled. "You're right, no one will believe that. But what if you ordered some people to beat us up like, say, someone from the basketball club."

Kuroko narrowed his eyes at the insinuation; his face became more emotionless, and moved closer to the delinquent. He stopped and looked up at the delinquent, his azure eyes cold as ice. "Then, I just have to tell the teachers about the literary club's trashed room the other day."

The fourth delinquent eyes widened for a second before cooling his expression. "I don't know what you're talking about, kid. So now you're accusing us?"

"It wouldn't be a baseless accusation considering that the missing pieces of the literary club's anthology are in the suspect's hands," Kuroko coolly indicated as he fleetingly glanced at the delinquents' bags placed near the wall with a green booklet peeking out in one bag.

The second delinquent noticed the teal head's look and went to their bags to dispose of the anthology but abruptly froze at Kuroko's next statement.

"I wonder if Shimizu-sensei already caught the pervert lurking behind the girl's swimming team's changing room," Kuroko offhandedly wondered, mentioning the scary coach of the swimming team and stared at the third delinquent. "Or the one who stole the answer sheets of the exams in the teacher's lounge," he continued, turning to the first delinquent.

Kuroko regarded the delinquents dispassionately but his cerulean eyes were the opposite as it was reflecting his lidded anger. "I heard that the bookstore near the school was robbed last night and some witnesses saw some students from Teikou running away from the scene."

"Why you—!" the fourth delinquent hissed and grabbed Kuroko's collar.

"There they are!" the vice-principal shouted as he pointed at the delinquents with two cops trailing after him.

The delinquents were stunned when they saw the police and hurried to run away but the cops swiftly caught them (after Kuroko tripped one of them and, like dominoes, fell one by one). And after the cops hauled the delinquents away to the police station with the vice-principal following and telling the one of the cops that he already informed the delinquents' parents (unaware that there's another student in the vicinity), Kuroko breathed a sigh of relief and let his anger go.

Meanwhile, Aomine, Midorima and Murasakibara who were flabbergasted at the scene, snapped out of their trance and moved out of their hiding place to their phantom teammate.

"Tetsu!" Aomine called out to his shadow as he ran.

Kuroko turned to the blue head, with Midorima and Murasakibara trailing behind him, in surprise. "Aomine-kun, Midorima-kun, Murasakibara-kun, good afternoon," he casually greeted.

"What the hell Tetsu?!" Aomine exclaimed, his dark blue eyes shining in awe, as he grabbed the teal head by his shoulders. "When did you learn to do that? That was cool!"

Kuroko tilted his head to the side in confusion. "What do you mean Aomine-kun?"

"I think what Aomine means," Midorima said as he pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, "is how you took care of those delinquents."

"You saw that?"

"Uh-huh~" Murasakibara nodded as sucked on a lollipop (since he finished his potato chips in a heartbeat while watching Kuroko overwhelmed the delinquents). "That was the first time I saw Kuro-chin like that."

"How did you do that Tetsu?" Aomine repeated his question.

Kuroko blinked at his teammates. "But I really didn't do anything."

"But you fought them!"

Kuroko sighed. "I didn't fight them, Aomine-kun. I just evaded their attacks and my weak presence helped me dodge their punches."

"Then, how about the threats you made, are they true?" Midorima asked.

"Yes, they were true," Kuroko said as he nodded. "Although I appreciate it if you don't word it as such, Midorima-kun. It wasn't really a threat."

It sure didn't sound that way when you said it before, the three regulars thought as they sweatdropped.

"How did you know it was them, Kuro-chin?" Murasakibara inquired.

"I wasn't certain until I saw their reactions," Kuroko said. "I was sure about the literary club's room since I saw their anthology peeking out of one of the bags."

"How about the others?" Aomine asked.

"I saw a glimpse of pink lace fabric from one of their pockets and a key that looks like the teachers use in their lounge," Kuroko explained.

"And the robbery?"

"I heard some rumors that four students were seen running from the bookstore and assumed that it was them."

Midorima sighed at the phantom player's explanation. "You could have gotten in more trouble if you assumed wrong."

Kuroko shrugged. "What's done is done, Midorima-kun. Besides, they've already been arrested and the school might evict them so there's no point in worrying."

"Still, you were so cool Tetsu!" Aomine said as he grinned and slung an arm over Kuroko's shoulders. "Defending us like that."

Kuroko smiled albeit a small one. "I don't like anyone bad-mouthing any of you like that. We're teammates, aren't we?"

Aomine chuckled as he ruffled Kuroko's teal locks. "Of course!"

Murasakibara handed the passing specialist a vanilla candy. "Here you go, Kuro-chin~"

"Thank you Murasakibara-kun."

"Let's go then, Nijimura-senpai and Akashi must be looking for us," Midorima said and led the way towards the gym with the rest following suit.

ii.

Admittedly, every student from Teikou Middle School inferred that there is a possibility that Kuroko Tetsuya is much more dangerous when he gets angry since students tend to leave the school due to trauma when they crossed him. Everyone then made a conscious decision to never anger Kuroko Tetsuya. Thus, another unspoken rule was included: Never Catch the Phantom's Ire.

A/N: Haizaki wasn't mentioned by the delinquents because they already knew him (and fought with him, I guess).

For some reason, this chapter makes me feel unsatisfied. /sighs (I'll get back to this chapter when I have the time.)