Kuroko groaned slightly as his alarm went off, the beeping sound resonating throughout the bedroom. He sat up slightly to cut the device off, a hand raking through his infamous bed-hair. Light blue eyes glanced at his blue flip-phone, which was blinking to indicate that he had received a message. Opening it, he realized that he had received a message from his basketball partner.
From: Kagami-kun
Topic: Practice
Yo, don't forget coach scheduled practice today, and I don't want to face her wrath if you're late again.
The teal boy let a small smile grace his usually expressionless face. Kagami would always be Kagami, and Kuroko always enjoyed that aspect of that red-head. Replying with a simple 'Hai', he got out of the bed. He gave Nigou a small pat before heading to the bathroom to prepare himself for the day and to tame his bed-hair once more. He went downstairs afterword to fix himself a small breakfast and setting down a bowl for Nigou. He waited for Nigou to finish before placing the small husky into the hood of his sweat-jacket and heading to Seirin.
When he arrived to the school, he was not surprised to not see any other students walking around. It was a Saturday and the school's gates were only opened for club activities, such as the basketball club. Although Seirin had won the Winter Cup, Riko did not let up on their training, rather the opposite had happened. Training had become slightly harsher, and since Kiyoshi was to retire due to his knee injury, they had to find a replacement Center and readjust to the change in the team's roster.
He opened the door to the gym to find the rest of the basketball team doing a few warm-ups. A whistle blew and everyone stopped whatever they were doing to look a Riko. Kuroko decided to walk up next to Kagami, who was oblivious to the other male.
"Alright," she stated as she looked around the room, missing Kuroko once more which was a normal occurrence, "before we get started does anyone knows where Kuroko is?"
"I'm right here." Kuroko stated, and Nigou gave a small bark in agreement, which caused Kagami to jump slightly, though the red-head would refuse of doing such actions if someone asked about it.
"Gah, when did you get here?" Kagami asked as he wearily glanced at the husky pup. If Kuroko wasn't use to constantly wearing a blank face he would possibly be snickering at his light's reaction.
"About a few minutes ago."
"Make some noise next time." Kuroko gave a curt nod.
"Hai, I will try next time." Everyone else in the gym sweat-dropped.
Yeah, like that's gonna happen. They all thought, remembering all the other times that had asked the near-invisible boy to do so over the course of the year and he had still yet to act upon it. Though, some would say, it was just one of the things that made him apart of the infamous Generation of Miracles.
And it was a miracle of how Teiko's basketball team was able to handle all of them in one place. Each high school that had at least one of them had said that their miracle was nothing but trouble for them (though Rakuzan's basketball players would never voice it out and fear of their slightly tyrannical captain) and Seirin would often feel proud that they had gotten the most 'normal' one out of the group. Besides his weak presence, Kuroko was always present for practice, respectful to his seniors and teammates, and overall was great to be around (when they could find him), which made both Seirin and Too' wonder how he and Aomine were ever partners to begin with.
After the Winter Cup, the Generation of Miracles had returned to their basketball loving selves, and the real Akashi had broken out of his mental jail created by the overbearing pressure of being perfect about everything he did. The other highschool's were greatly benefitted by the change. While Kise and Midorima had already changed during the practice match (Kise) and Interhigh preliminaries (Midorima), Aomine had begun to show up to practice more often (though he had to be dragged by Momoi), Murisakibara took practice a bet more seriously, and Akashi treated the rest of the basketball club with more respect than his other personality did (though he was still strict and scary in his teammates' opinions).
Strangely, at least to Generation of Miracles' teammates, the group still obeyed many of Akashi's orders and summons, and nobody ever knew what the group ever did. Many figured that they were simply hanging out like old times since they would occasionally see them sitting in Maji Burger and talking or playing basketball. Other times they would have no clue what the Miracles were doing, and when asked about they would refuse to answer.
Rakuzan simply ignored the incident after one of the first stringers constantly asked Akashi about the meeting to the point that Akashi had threatened him to stop with a pair of scissors.
Seirin had attempted to follow (stalk) Kuroko to one of the more secretive meetings, even going as far as recruiting Takao to help, but they always lost the boy one way or another.
The basketball team was currently in the middle of playing a 5-on-5 between the soon to be third-years and the soon-to-be second-years when a phone rang in the middle of practice.
"Gomen, Riko-kun, but I believe that is mine." Kuroko stated as he walked over to his bag to fish out his phone. Everyone simply watched as Kuroko pulled out a smart-phone, which surprised many because they knew Kuroko owned a flip-phone, and answered.
"Hai, Akashi-kun, what is the matter today?" The team was not surprised to see that it was the infamous captain of Rakuzan and former captain of the Generation of Miracles. Either Akashi was summoning Kuroko once more, which was irritating Riko but she was too scared to question the second smallest of the Miracles, or Kise was sending pictures of his photo shoots or talking about his practice. The blonde even texted how Kasamatsu was kicking him for texting the teal boy. However, they never heard the small boy with a serious tone (in Kuroko's regard) when speaking with his former captain except for the Winter Cup finals.
"Tetsuya, sorry to interrupt your practice, but as you can tell this is urgent. Report to the usual meeting place and we shall discuss it in detail."
"Hai, Akashi-kun, I shall head out now." Kuroko stated before he hung up. He turned to look back at the rest of the team as he slung his bag onto his shoulder, not bothering to change clothes, "Sorry coach, but I have to leave practice early today. Please watch Nigou while I'm gone." The teal boy did not wait for a response as he walked out the gym doors.
The Seirin team continued to stare at the gym doors in slight confusion. This was definitely not the first time Kuroko had walked out in the middle of practice, and they should've been used to it by now, but something about this summoning seemed slightly off to them.
"Oi, coach, are we gonna try to follow him again?" Koganei asked as he looked to Riko, who had just snapped out of the confused trance.
"What type of question was that?" she scolded slightly as she turned to face the rest of the team, "Alright boys, we're gonna follow Kuroko again and if we lose him again then training will be doubled until Kuroko's next meeting with the Miracles."
"Oi, but that-" Some of the boys tried to protest.
"What was that, do you want it tripled instead?" The group shivered when Riko gave a not-so-innocent smile. They all nodded in agreement, "Alright, get going before he gets away."
"Is it me, or is keeping track on Kuroko easier today." Kagami asked as the group attempted (in failure) to blend in with the crowd as the boy they were following crossed yet another street.
"That's because you have me along." Takao stated. Seirin ended up running into Hawk Eye's owner, who was attempting to follow 'Shin-chan' but had lost him.
"No, even I can keep an eye on him." Furihata had stated. The group quickly followed the teal boy across the street, but kept a distance to ensure that the Phantom sixth man did not notice them.
They stopped when a familiar blonde had jumped down next to Kuroko.
"Kurokocchi!" Kise had shouted as he attempted to glomp the smaller one, but Kuroko had dodged the blonde 'dog' and pulled him back by his hood before Kise ended up in the busy street. Kise turned to Kuroko with his usually gleeful face as they started walking once more, "You're a life saver, Kurokocchi."
"I simply did not want to explain to Akashi-kun about how Kise-kun ended up as roadkill. Anyway, I'm certain that Akashi-kun would not approve of you running on the rooftops again."
For the next few minutes Kise continued to whine and beg Kuroko to not tell 'Akashicchi' that he was running on the roofs again, even bribing the teal boy with a month-worth of milkshakes, while Seirin and Takao continued to follow. The two Miracles came to a stop of a medium-sized building between two taller ones, a small alley separating it from the others, and had entered, making the followers to believe that this was the Generation of Miracles meeting place for their more undisclosed meetings.
Kuroko stopped behind Kise to look in the direction of the group who were hiding in an alley a few buildings down, "I would suggest you come inside also, Akashi-kun is expecting you." The group blinked a couple of times in confusion as many continued to stare into blank blue eyes. Nigou was the first to move, escaping from Riko's grasp to run up to Kuroko. All the others took that as a sign to follow inside.
The group concluded that this was an office building, and the ground floor only had a receptionist, a janitor, and a few business people. Kise had already talked with the receptionist and was currently holding the elevator for them, which was capable of supporting the entire Seirin team alongside Takao. The entire group was silent, even Kise who gave out one of his rare serious look, at least outside of basketball or Kuroko. The elevator stopped on the fourth floor, the second-to-last level of the building, and entered the third door on their left.
"Tetsuya, Ryouta, Takao, and Seirin, right on time." Akashi stated from his position at the head of the long table. On both sides of ex-captain were Midorima and Momoi and a gray briefcase sat on the table between them. Murisakibara was a few seats down on Midorima's side and was going through large bag of chips. Akashi gestured to the other chairs in the room, "Have a seat and get comfortable, Daiki will be here soon and then we will head to true meeting spot." Red eyes focused on Kuroko, "And do not worry about calling for our rides; they are currently on their way as we speak and have already informed them of the situation." There appeared to be enough chairs for the entire group, as expected of Akashi.
"Arigato, Akashi-kun." Kuroko stated as he gave a slight bow to his former captain before taking his seat next to Momoi, who was slightly squealing at the fact of sitting so close to her crush.
"Kuroko, why is your team and Takao here?" Midorima had stated as he adjusted his glasses, "It is not safe for them to get involved in our matters, not like I care our anything."
"Ah Shin-chan, stop being such a tsundere, you know you care about us." Takao stated as he went took the seat next to Midorima. Just as the others had taken their seats, Aomine had arrived. The tan Miracle had practically kicked the door down as he carried in a middle-aged man who was struggling to get out of the young teen's grasp.
"Yo, Akashi, where do you want me to-" Blue eyes blinked in confusion as he stared at the non-Miracles in the room, nearly ignoring the struggling man except for holding him tighter, "Oi, what are they doing here?"
"Why are you carrying that man like than, and why is he beaten up?" Kagami asked as he pointed out the bruises that was forming on the hostage.
"I see that you've got the spy Daiki, please place him next to me; I have a few questions to ask him?" Aomine grumbled slightly as he did as the smaller red-head said, giving a glare at Kagami as the unfortunate man was forced on his knees next to Akashi. The others felt sorry for the man as he shivered when he looked into amused red eyes, "Tetsuya, come stand behind him in case we have to take extreme measure." Akashi gave a devious smirk which caused the man to freeze slightly when he saw the teal boy walk up behind him.
"C-come on man, anybody but Phantom; I-I'll tell you anything you want but you want just please, not him." The man stuttered in fear as he glanced at Kuroko. Red eyes narrowed at the codename used.
"And how exactly did you come across such information?"
The man seemed to have gained a slight bit of courage because he actually dared to scowl at Akashi's question, "Any member of the organization would be aware of the prodigious runt and his team of mis-"
Click
The man froze mid-sentence when he heard the safety on a gun click off. Seirin and Takao had stiffened when they noticed that Kuroko had a pistol pointed at the back of the man's head, still wearing his expressionless face. They were even more surprised by the reaction of the other Miracles, or lack of reaction. In Midorima and Murisakibara's case, the former simply readjusted his glasses as he watched the scene in 'disinterest' while the latter continued to snack on his chips, only muttering about "crushing the pest". Aomine and Kise were attempting to hold back a snicker and Momoi had averted her eyes from it altogether, though everyone could see that she felt sorry for the man.
A shiver went down their spines when they noticed that Akashi's smirk had transformed into an evil grin.
"I would be careful about what you say; just as you has stated he is prodigious for a reason." Akashi leaned in slightly until he was only inches away from touching the man's nose with his own, "Now, I shall let that comment pass for the time being for our rides shall be arriving soon." The red-head then turned to Momoi and Murisakibara. "Satsuki, Atsushi, make sure that our guest does not have any means of communicating with outsiders after he has informed his reinforcements that he does not require their assistance, right?" The man's head shook vigorously when red eyes returned to look at him, and let the breath he was holding out when the safety clicked back on and the gun moved away from his head. He froze slightly when he noticed the tall purple-headed teen had gotten up to pick the man up while the girl had opened the door. When the three had left the room was enveloped in silence for a short moment.
Which, of course, was broken by Seirin's ace.
"What the fuck was all that about?" Kagami had practically yelled as he tried to wrap his mind around this entire event.
"Language Kagami-kun." Kuroko stated as he handed the pistol back to Akashi, which frightened many of the occupants that were already afraid of the red-head with a pair of scissors. Akashi's phone suddenly rang, and the teen had put it on speakers for the others to hear.
"Akashi-sama, the rides are in the back and ready to depart to the manor."
"Thank you, we shall be down in a short moment."
"Yes sir."
Akashi hung up before looking to Kuroko who had yet to leave his side, "Takashi-san is as reliable as ever?" Kuroko gave a small smile at the statement.
"That's just how he is, Akashi-kun."
"Wait a second," Akashi and Kuroko turned their attention to Riko, "are we going to one your family's manor?" Akashi shook his head in response.
"The villa in Tokyo had been infiltrated and is unsafe to venture to; also, we do not meet there for these kind of meetings."
"Then where do you go?" Kagami asked as he gave a quick glare at Aomine who growled slightly in response.
"Why, the Kuroko manor of course."
Happy Valentine's Day!