Hello again everyone! I hope you're all doing well! I'm posting because I've finished writing chapter 8, thus you all get chapter 2! :)

In any case, thanks to all 4 followers, 2 favorites and 20 readers! I hope you all continue to enjoy this story!

Quick note before we start: this chapter is considerably shorter than the previous one. Why? Because I plan (and have) cut out most of the stuff specifically featuring only Seirin. Considering the type of story this is, there will be a heavy focus on the Generation of Miracles, so all seven of them will be our only POV characters and this will follow their story. That's why I skipped the initiation for the Seirin first years in this chapter.

Okay, I think that's it. Enjoy!

Chapter 2: The Copy Miracle

When Kuroko had decided to go to Seirin High School, he hadn't expected them to have such a…unique tradition. Teiko hadn't ever done anything like this, yelling your goals out to the whole school to hear from the roof, but that was because the pressure of tradition, of winning, was felt as soon as you stepped into the gym and the training menus would run you into the ground to make that happen (though Akashi's had been a…special kind of torture, to say the least, compared to the coaches').

But even still, Kuroko had found himself…disappointed that he couldn't contribute to the tradition.

Not even scaring Kagami at Maji Burger again could cheer him up (it amused him, but that was all).

"By the way, why didn't you go to some big name school like the other five guys?" Kagami questioned, drawing Kuroko's attention away from his disappointment.

Mentally, Kuroko added 'and the girl' to Kagami's sentence. Just because Momoi was like him, was unnoticed most of the time, did not make her any less of a Miracle than the rest of them.

"You were good enough to be known as the phantom sixth man." Kagami continued. "Is there some reason you play basketball?"

Kuroko finished his sip of vanilla milkshake before he began to speak.

"My middle school's basketball team had one core principle. 'Winning is everything'. Instead of teamwork, we needed to push the individual talents of the Generation of Miracles to win. Nothing could beat us, but we weren't a team."

Not at the end…not when we needed each other the most. Some days I even thought the universe had messed up to a horrifying degree.

"The five of them approved, but I felt we lacked something important." Kuroko continued.

"So, what?" Kagami questioned. "Are you gonna beat the Generation of Miracles your own way?

"That's what I was thinking." Kuroko confirmed.

"Seriously?" Kagami grinned in disbelief.

"Your words and the coach's words really struck me." The phantom explained. "Now my biggest reason to play is trying to make you and our team the best in Japan."

"We're not gonna try." Kagami countered, standing up and looking down on Kuroko. "We're gonna be the best."

Kuroko only smiled.

Kuroko: Midorima-kun, do you have chalk I can borrow?

Midorima-kun: Of course. May I ask why, Kuroko?

Kuroko: Serin has a tradition and I want to continue it.

The next morning, the words 'WE WILL BE THE BEST IN JAPAN' were proudly and boldly written on Seirin's grounds.

When Kise had agreed to attend Kaijo High School for his high school career, he hadn't thought he'd be stepping foot in Tokyo for any reason other than modeling for a bit. After all, the Inter-High wasn't at the beginning of the year.

And yet, when he had heard of the practice game organized between Kaijo and Seirin…(and gotten a certain missing piece of information from Momoi), he just knew he had to skip practice (on the pretense of a modeling job) and come to visit Seirin.

"This is Seirin?" Kise mused to himself as he stepped onto the school grounds. "New and pristine, just like I expected."

Though he had no doubt they weren't good enough for Kuroko. This school was so new and so unknown, there was no way they deserved Kuroko, let alone any of the other Miracles.

But Kuroko had chosen them, which had to count for something. Kise wasn't in the habit of doubting his fellow Miracles, especially not Kuroko (he ranked right under Akashi in terms of Miracles Kise would very much never doubt). So that was why he was here. To see just what interested Kuroko and to let the rest of the basketball team have a glimpse of just who they would be facing in their practice match.

Have a glimpse of a Miracle other than Kuroko, who they had the barest amount of experience with now.

Perhaps it was cruel, showing them just how far below Kise they were, but it was simply a fact.

At least this way, the shock wouldn't be terrible come the practice game, there was kindness in that.

Of course, as soon as Kise stepped onto campus, he knew every female eye was on him. And it wasn't just because of his different uniform or blonde hair.

Kise knew that leaving Teiko had done wonders for his modeling career. With Kaijo willing to make any and all exceptions as long as he played, his mother set up as many photo shoots as she could, though she kept it a reasonably manageable amount. Kise was pretty sure she was making up for the time lost when he absolutely refused to skip a single practice in middle school.

Akashi had been scary, okay, even in second year!

But Kise had always been good at giving people what they wanted to see, even if he was terrible at turning people away, so he smiled and winked, as necessary. But he didn't start agreeing to autographs (he was weak, okay? He needed his fellow Miracles to turn them away!) until he'd reached the gym and seen a bit of Seirin's mini game.

They were good…for being normal compared to the Generation of Miracles. Though there was at least one move on the court he thought was worth copying.

However, it seemed from the little he overheard that Seirin was underestimating the Generation of Miracles, thinking one of their own members could easily take them on as he was now.

How naïve of them…how terribly naïve.

Of course, that was the moment the first girl approached Kise asking for an autograph and he, like the weakling he was (Kurokocchi, help!), agreed to signing it.

Just as he expected, a giant line of fangirls formed within moments, big enough to shock the girl who was Seirin's coach from the looks of it.

"Uh, I didn't mean for this to happen." Kise called out in apology (and he honestly meant it, he knew how big of a pain this was. The others (Akashi and Kuroko especially) being scary was a blessing back in Teiko in situations like this).

"It's good to see you again." Kuroko greeted him. And Kise watched as he briefly touched his left wristband, the barest of grazes of his fingertips. But it was a greeting Kise knew well and his own fingertips tingled with the urge to return it, his stomach buzzing where the characters making up six different names marked it.

"Good to see you." Kise smiled, and it gentled when he finally found a second, just a second, to brush his fingers against his stomach, right where Kuroko could see. Of course, then he raised that same hand to sheepishly rub the back of his head. "Sorry, really. Um…do you think you could wait five minutes?"

Thankfully, he was good enough at this by now that, in five minutes exactly, every autograph was signed, and every fangirl long gone.

"There." Kise sighed in relief as he jumped off the stage to the gym floor.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" The captain cried, looking thoroughly lost.

"When I heard our next opponent was Seirin, I remembered Kurokocchi went here," Kise explained as he walked closer (though he could tell Kuroko was mentally calling him out on his lie. It's not his fault Kuroko didn't tell him and Momoi had to call and scold him when she was doing her digging!). "so I thought I'd come say hi. We were the best of friends in middle school."

"Not any more than anyone else." Kuroko denied bluntly.

"You're so mean!" Kise protested, crying crocodile tears exactly as he was meant to and raising his right arm to cover his eyes.

This was an old dance Kise knew well. It allowed him to appear like less of a threat before an unknown opponent if they saw him as a soft hearted crybaby. And with Kuroko, they had it perfected to an art. Though, of course, it was also simply a way for the other Miracles to tease him and get a good laugh out of his reactions too.

He liked making them laugh…they were some of the few people in the world who were worth making a fool of himself for, if it meant they smiled at him.

But even still, this time wasn't about making Kuroko smile or laugh (though he always did his best to make Kuroko smile! Kuroko's smiles were the best because they were so rare!). This time was about appearing weak before Seirin. There was no doubt they already underestimated him thanks to their experience with Kuroko and that other redhead Kise had seen playing earlier.

Why not encourage it just a little more? That would make facing them fun, after all, even more with Kuroko playing too!

"'Kise Ryouta. Though he started basketball his second year of middle school, his exceptional physical ability and sense got him on the Teiko team as a regular in a heartbeat.'" One of the other first years (if Kise was correct in that assumption from their mini game) read aloud from an old Basketball Monthly that featured the Generation of Miracles. "'While he has less experience than the other four, he's a rapidly improving all-arounder.'"

"Since your second year?" The captain questioned, turning back towards Kise again.

"That article exaggerated quite a bit." Kise raised an arm to scratch the back of his head modestly.

He wasn't wrong, he knew that article. It was the same as all the others, portraying the Generation of Miracles and Teiko in the best light possible. But it wasn't easy to earn that spot, not when everyone worked just as hard as you did (at first). Kise may have been fast, but it hadn't been simple or easy (nights spent practicing late with Kurokocchi, one on ones with Aominecchi, helping Momoicchi with her research through his connections, pushed to his limits by Akashicchi every day, baking sweets after a long practice with Murasakibaracchi and helping Midorimacchi find the more expensive lucky items…all parts of what made that time precious, yet painful…especially when someone outside their seven found out about their marks).

"I'm glad to be called part of the Generation of Miracles, but I'm the worst of the bunch." Kise continued. "They bullied me and Kurokocchi for it all the time."

"That never happened to me." Kuroko denied bluntly once more.

"What? It was just me?" Kise cried, the crocodile tears falling once again, just as he'd planned. True, Aomine teased Kise about being the weakest of them, but none of them had ever bullied the others. Not even at the end had they bullied each other.

But before Kise could continue his plan of appearing weak to the enemy, he sensed a basketball flying towards him and his left hand shot out instinctively to catch it.

"Ow! What was that for?" Kise whined exaggeratedly (it hadn't even felt like a pinch, but they didn't need to know that) as he dropped the ball.

"Kagami-kun!"

"Kagami!"

The coach and captain scolded the boy Kise had noticed earlier, Kagami.

"Sorry for interrupting your little reunion." Kagami stated sarcastically.

As you should, I haven't seen Kurokocchi in months! Kise thought to himself, regarding Kagami with cold eyes.

"Don't tell me you came all the way here just to greet us." The arrogant boy smirked.

No, I came to see Kurokocchi, you third-rate Aominecchi.

"Why don't you play with me a little, pretty boy?" Kagami egged him on then and if Kise had been any more of a hot head, he would've started yelling at this stupid boy's arrogance.

But luckily for him, he wasn't nearly that hot headed. So he continued to watch Kagami through narrow, cold eyes. If this was the kind of game he wanted to play, if he thought some new upstart could easily beat even the weakest Miracle, then…fine. Kise would give him what he wanted. He just hoped he wasn't about to crush Kuroko's dreams again (that had been bad enough last time, but he hadn't known, and he'd been so bored playing all those weak schools, what was he supposed to do?). But if this made it easier for him to return with Kuroko at his side…

"What? I don't know if I'm ready." Kise whined, keeping up his act the entire time. "But I just…" He made a show of thinking it over. "Fine, let's do it. I have to thank you for that display." As he spoke, Kise threw the basketball back to Kagami.

The rest of the team and the coach moved back to give them a half court to use while Kise removed his uniform jacket and rolled up his sleeves.

Now…let's see how you handle having your own abilities used against you. Kise mused to himself. Admittedly, seeing the reactions of such arrogant players the first time he copied their movements was always a delight. It may crush their will to play…but the shock of the first time was one Kise enjoyed immensely.

If that made him a bad person, eh, he didn't care. The only opinions that mattered to him were the Generation of Miracles'. Nobody else's.

And so, once Kise was ready, Kagami was nice enough to let him start with possession of the ball. Kise smirked as he bounced the ball in his left hand, observing the boy before him for the right moment.

When he saw his opportunity, he acted exactly as Kuroko had trained him, directing his eyes to the right a second before he seemingly performed a feint. Kagami fell for it, allowing Kise to drive past him.

And just like Kise had witnessed earlier, Kagami marked him to push him out, allowing Kise to loop around him. Kagami, however, was faster than the senpai he faced earlier, jumping up and even touching the ball in an attempt to block Kise from completing his movement.

But that's all it was: an attempt.

Kise easily overpowered the boy and dunked the ball into the net in a perfect copy of what Kagami himself had done earlier.

And while Kise landed on his feet, Kagami ended up on his butt on the gym floor, staring up at Kise.

So this is what Akashicchi must feel like…well, I had hoped for a better challenge than that, but this should suffice for what I want to tell them. Kise thought to himself as he stared down at Kagami.

"I just don't know about this." Kise sighed as he rubbed the back of his head. "After something so disappointing, I can't just leave now." He then turned and began to walk back towards the rest of the team. "Give us Kurokocchi." He stopped a short distance from Kuroko and spoke to the phantom directly. "Come join us. Let's play basketball together again. I seriously respect you, Kurokocchi. It's a waste of your talent to stay here. What do you say?"

Kise didn't care that all of Seirin's team was watching them. He meant every word he said. If Kagami was the best they had to offer, then Seirin didn't deserve Kuroko. Honestly, nobody did, outside of the Miracles. They were his team, not this school's.

And Kise…he really had missed playing at Kuroko's side these past several months. And while he was no Aomine, he was still one of the better people Kuroko had worked best with at Teiko. He would do well at Kaijo, Kise had no doubt.

"I am honored to hear you say that." Kuroko replied, though Kise was positive he could detect anger and mockery in those words, even more so as the phantom bowed. "I must respectfully decline your offer."

"That doesn't make any sense." Kise protested. "Besides, this isn't like you. Winning was everything. Why didn't you go somewhere better?"

"My thinking has changed since then." Kuroko lied, clear as day Kise could hear it. Because, after all, Kuroko was still participating in their battle, and Kise could see a familiar determination in the phantom's eyes that spoke of his desire to win. But why, why such an unknown and seemingly weak school? Kuroko deserved better than this, more than this! "More importantly, I made a promise to Kagami-kun. I told him we'd beat you, the Generation of Miracles."

"It really isn't like you to joke around like that." Kise groused, his eyes growing the slightest bit colder as he met Kuroko's seemingly blank gaze. You really think he can replace Aominecchi well enough to be a useful tool to win? I don't know what you see in him, Kurokocchi, if even I can beat him…

"Heh." Kagami laughed, and Kise turned only to find the boy now standing behind him, smiling. But what startled him was the fact that Kagami…didn't look defeated, didn't look crushed that he had lost to a Miracle. He looked…excited.

It had been so long since Kise hadn't seen someone devastated by him copying their moves, hadn't seen someone crushed from losing to a Miracle or five or six or seven.

What…?

Could…this be why Kuroko had chosen him?

"What are you doing?" Kagami asked, drawing Kise out of his thoughts. "I was gonna say that, Kuroko."

"I still have no sense of humor." Kuroko stated blandly.

Lying again, Kurokocchi.

"I'm serious." The phantom declared.

And Kise…couldn't help, but smirk as he observed the two of them. Kuroko wasn't dumb by any means when it came to strategy in basketball, Kise knew that, so that had to mean…that if Kuroko was added to the mix, perhaps defeating Kagami and the rest of Seirin would be harder than in a one on one.

After all, Kise remembered hearing the story of how Kuroko had made it onto the first string at Teiko, and even seen how his specific play style could change the tide of a game extremely quickly, to the point that including Kuroko in a game could mean the difference between winning and losing.

So really…this practice match would be a worthy introductory battle before the true one began in the Inter-High.

Especially if his opponent was Kuroko, at the heart of the whole thing.

That night, as Kuroko walked home, he took out his cell phone and dialed a long ago memorized number.

"Hello?"

"Who told you which school I attend, Kise-kun?" Kuroko asked right away. He'd specifically kept his school a secret to avoid surprise visits and offers to switch teams so soon. Apparently, he hadn't been through enough.

"Kurokocchi is so meeeeaaaan!" Kise whined. "You're not even going to ask how my day was or why I chose today to show up of all days?"

"I saw you today, Kise-kun, I do not wish to talk through your long schedule." Kuroko stated firmly. "I assume you skipped basketball practice under the pretense of a modeling job and then came to Seirin after school. Now, who told you about the school I attend?"

"Kurokocchi's no fun." Kise pouted. "But if you're so curious, Momoicchi told me after I asked her nicely."

"Meaning she found out about the match and yelled at you for ditching your first battle with me." Kuroko summed up.

"So cold, Kurokocchi!"

"Kise-kun, please don't do that again. I can't scare away your fangirls if I'm not expecting you to show up." Kuroko requested.

"Kurokocchi…" Kise trailed off, clearly surprised that Kuroko was still willing to do that for him.

"I look forward to playing you, Kise-kun. I promise I will show you that Seirin is stronger than it appears." Kuroko smiled.

"Heh…we'll see about that, Kurokocchi! But I'm excited too, I can't wait to play against you. Be sure to give it everything you've got!" There was an obvious smile in the copycat's voice now.

"Of course. You too, Kise-kun. Have a good night."

"You too, Kurokocchi!"

With those parting words, Kuroko hung up and continued on his way, drinking his vanilla milkshake happily.

The first battle and the first chance to prove that my choice was the correct one…I'm looking forward to this very much, Kise-kun.

And there we are! In case you can't tell, I had a lot of fun writing Kise, haha! I think 'third rate Aominecchi' is the best insult I've ever come up with in regards to Kagami (admittedly, he isn't my most favorite character, but no bashing will occur outside of what feels in character, I am doing my utmost best to keep my feelings OUT of this fic...doesn't mean I can't have fun when I can, though :)). But outside of that, writing Kise's thoughts really helped me highlight just how two faced he is, even in the anime. No way most of that crying, polite routine wasn't fake, no way.

Anyways, in case you couldn't tell, yes, I will be adding several GoM interactions where I can outside of the episodes, as long as it feels natural. For the record, Aomine, Akashi and Murasakibara have gotten nothing beyond mentions in what I've written so far, so I'm not shoe horning them in, I'm doing my best to make them natural!

I think that's everything...let me know what you think and I'll be back as soon as I finished chapter 9! Bye!