Chapter 5: Jumpball

Present time …

Daiki Aomine

A stream of bubbly cheerfulness flowed from her mouth as Satsuki tried to convince Kuroko what a great place Tuou was.

"-class selections…"

"-community events…"

"-great commute…"

"-advanced academics…"

"...college exam prepara-"

Tetsu only replied with a hum of acknowledgment or the occasional 'is that so.' But Satsuki didn't let his ambivalent attitude dampen hers at all. Normally, Aomine enjoyed seeing her so animated, but he decided to save her from herself. Kuroko was nice, and it was never intentional, but it only hurt her each time that she tried to flirt with him, and he ignored it.

"Oi, Tetsu. Let's get down to brass tacks. Do you want to see the courts?" Daiki grinned.

Kuroko nodded, a small smile betraying his excitement. Satsuki pouted at Aomine, who met her gaze evenly before she relented. "Alright, but don't be too long. Tetsu has to meet with the academics and athletics counselor. I've also arranged for the coach to come down and meet with him. You could talk about how you'll fit into our defensive scheme and his thoughts on using you for screens and facilitating passes."

Aomine turned with a small snort and began to stride down the corridor.

"See you later, Momoi." Kuroko replied. Turning to follow the taller boy.

"I've told you to call me Satsuki." She called back, a fond smile quirking her lips as he turned the corner.

The pair of athletes walked in silence. Neither of them particularly inclined to break it. Aomine pushed open the door to the gym and gestured expansively as he stepped through the threshold. "It's an impressive facility, ain't it?"

He moved along the burnished floor. Kuroko trailing behind him. "Sure, but I've been wanting to ask you since I came here-"

"Why I passed to my teammates in that game?" Aomine finished the thought for him.

"Yeah." Kuroko watched as Aomine lazily fished a ball from the rack holding them and sank a jumper.

"The reason is honestly pretty boring. Hachiman sent me a challenge, and I did it." Aomine picked up another one and shot it, tsking when it clanged off the rim. "Honestly, I'll probably start passing a little more because it opens up the offense and makes my scoring more efficient."

"I'm happy that you've started to see your team as important. That's what basketball's all about." Kuroko smiled. Aomine constantly referenced things that 'Hachiman' had said or done but never elaborated on him.

Aomine shot again. This time it banked off of the backboard before lazily swirling around the rim. Finally, like a drunken man collapsing in a ditch, the ball fell through the hoop. "Yeah, but you need a team worth your time. None of these guys have what it takes to be real teammates."

"Then why play the game with a team?" Kuroko frowned at his friend's dismissive attitude.

"Because eventually, I want to face people worth competing with. They're out there, and they're getting better. These guys are in Europe and North America. They play against other elite athletes and might someday go pro." Aomine shot again and winced at the airball.

"Will you ever let the rest of us meet this 'Hachiman'?" Kuroko huffed slightly. Arguing with Daiki further on the subject of teamwork would only serve to frustrate both of them.

"The day that I let you meet him is the day that I think you guys won't embarrass me in front of him," Aomine complained; he shot again and once more scored.

Tetsu took his chance and hurled a shot across the court, which air-balled miserably. Aomine jumped back into a fadeaway with one leg kicked out and sunk it again. "Kuroko, I'm going to be honest with you. If you transfer and want to fit into our current scheme, you need to change how you play."

The pale boy blinked. His next shot attempt now forgotten. "How so?"

Daiki sighed. "Well for starters, you can't just slip out from behind people whenever you want, it leaves a defender open and they might go for a double team on another player. You need to be able to have the ball in your possession before you pass. The redirects are useful, but facilitators need to be offensive pillars. Most importantly, you need to add to your scoring threat. If you're stalking the perimeter, your defender can sag. That makes post-offense harder for our bigs."

Kuroko frowned. "So you're basically asking me to change my whole game."

Aomine countered. "No, I'm asking you to evolve as a player."

The silence grew tense as Tetsu pondered his options.

"Okay." He acquiesced.

"You're really okay with all of these requests?" Aomine was incredulous.

"Yeah, I am." Kuroko smiled before bowing. "It's my first year on the team please look out for me."

With no eyes on him, Aomine frowned.

~/~

"What's that smell?" Yui glanced at Hikki suspiciously. While Yukinoshita took a tentative sniff of the air.

"Relax, it's just some icy-hot." He didn't even bother looking up from his book. "I put it on my knee when it's acting up." Outside, the rain fell in sheets, and every conceivable surface was wet.

"I thought you'd recovered." Yui seemed guilty.

Hikigaya chuckled, a bitter note woven into his laughter. "Yuigahama, I got my knee run over by the sedan. Every tendon and almost all of the cartilage was completely destroyed. I had an open, comminuted fracture that required three surgeries. Those three surgeries together lasted 40 hours. This is recovered, but my body will never be the same as it was."

"You can still play basketball, though." Yukinoshita's voice was small, timider than he had ever known her to be.

"Most of the time, at least." Hikigaya smiled genuinely. "I'm grateful for that. Did you ever play sports growing up?"

"I did soccer, but I wasn't any good at it." Yuigahama pouted.

"I learned tennis but never really enjoyed it." Yukinoshita revealed. "I always thought basketball looked interesting, but my parents didn't want me to learn. They didn't think it was a proper sport for a young lady."

He hummed his discontent at the statement, and Yuigahama offered a sympathetic expression.

The rest of the service club's meeting went by peacefully. Some snide remarks from Yukinoshita and a few spirited rejoinders spilled from Hikigaya's mouth. Eventually, the time ran out. Yuigahama slipped out while Hikigaya lingered. He helped Yukinoshita refold the table and lay it against the wall. She turned away and he hesitated. It was on the tip of his tongue, the perfect opportunity, but he was scared. "If you want to learn basketball, I could teach you."

She slowly glanced back at him, an excessively neutral expression on her symmetrical features. Yukinoshita studied his face for a long moment, as if searching for something. He wasn't sure whether she found it. "As long as you don't try anything untoward, this arrangement sounds acceptable." She smiled slightly. "Let's meet at the park you played with Aomine in. Sunday morning 10 AM."

He nodded, enjoying the moment. Not put off by her bossy demeanor.

~/~

The following weekend…

Just be cool. Hachiman repeated it in his head like a mantra. It wasn't a date. It was two not-friends meeting up for a basketball lesson. He absentmindedly dribbled past the man who'd asked if he would be the other team's third in a pickup game.

He slid forward into the paint at a relatively sedate pace and barely jumped. The ball fell true, and his team earned themselves a point. The ball was passed to him again at the top of the key and his defender sagged back a few steps. He wouldn't be able to navigate around them for easy layups.

Hachiman barely blinked and tossed up a lazy three-pointer (or two because they were playing by streetball rules). It swished, and the ball was tossed to him once more. Though this time, there was a little bit more force than necessary.

Hikigaya's team was only four points from reaching twenty-one and, therefore, victory. He decided to hedge his bets and finish the game quickly rather than let mounting frustration build. He swished another three over the defender's hands this time.

When the ball was hurled back to him, he immediately feigned a blitz forward. The defender was so scared of his scoring potential that he backpedaled aggressively. Hachiman barely moved an inch and once the defender realized this he tried to move against his momentum to get back to Hachiman. This conflict of intended trajectory and momentum led to the defender losing his balance and falling to his butt.

Hikigaya considered the felled opponent for a moment before firing another successful three-pointer. With the game finished, handshakes were offered and many of the members wandered away. Hikigaya scanned the park once more looking for Yukinoshita when his eyes found her.

She was observing the game from a park bench a few paces south of the court. She stood up and despite his best efforts, Hachiman's eyes eagerly traced her frame. The outfit was modest, a pair of exercise tights along with an athletic sweater. But the way they clung to her frame made him swallow. This was going to be a long day.

(A/N): In this story, Kuroko can reliably hit open layups and has a fair chance on easy twos. I know that in canon, he can't ever make a shot, but that just isn't realistic. BTW I'm writing by EUROLEAGUE rules. So that means less space, no three-second violation, and a more physical game.