Shadow's Might (Kuroko no Basket Fanfiction)

Chapter 7

   Akashi observed his long lost friend with his heart at his throat threatening to give way. He had told himself countless times that hope was futile, therefore for the time being he had locked away all the feeling that surfaced in him whenever he thought of the silent bluenett he had forsaken as a friend. He had made sure to avoid anything that might trigger a memory, so he stopped going to Maji Burger, stopped visiting Teiko Middle School, avoided Seirin High School like the plague, and completely immersed himself in basket ball like never before, that is, of course, after he stupidly tried to give up his favorite sport. But, do to his teammates and the Generation of Miracles insistence, and due to the fact that Kuroko would have been truly disappointed in him. Although the way Kuroko just looked at them makes him believe that perhaps that would have been the greatest gift he could have ever given Kuroko.

Akashi trembled as the image of Kuroko flashed in his mind again and again, as if on a never ending cycle meant for his own torment. He looked at his team already noticing how the tension rang higher than ever before. The atmosphere around the team turned dark asa heavy wave of depression fell over the team, hitting the previous members of the Seirin Basketball team and the Generation of Miracles the hardest, due to the fact that they personally knew the ever elusive Dark Prince. Truly fate was finding this situation overly amusing, and if he weren't in his position, surely he would have laughed as well.

Yet he was the captain of the Yokai, and as such, he more than anyone else, must stand before their opponents with unwavering desire for victory and unbending will, even if on the other side stood the only person that was ever able to diverge his attention from victory to the fulfilling feeling of a team's support. Therfore, he did the only thing that could give his team a chance at victory in his state of turmoil.

It didn't take long, in fact if one was not paying close attention no one would have noticed, but Akashi was being watched by the ruler of the court. The change was swift, one moment Akashi was looking to the crowed the next he stands completely still, almost like a statue and his knees slightly buckle before he rights himself again, his left arm falling over his left eye before he pushes his bangs away and heads for his team.

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Kuroko shook his head as his heart gave a lurch. He wouldn't have admitted to it, but it hurt him the fact that Akashi was too much of a coward to face him  himself. Too scared to face defeat that he had to switch places with his alternate in order to avoid it. It's not like it would make a difference, due to the fact that Kuroko had once before already beaten his Akashi in that state with a team in a level far bellow the one he stands in now, and, although he understands the fact that his ex-teammates have progressed a lot, they are still lacking.

"Kuroko, we are ready when you are." Jack said, receiving nods of agreement from Tomlinson, Henry and Mike. Kuroko sighed, as much as he wanted to feed his wrath and thirst for revenge, he would never become a monster like the Generation of Miracles was before. He may be cold, silent and harsh, but he would never become such a vile creature. "This is a fair game. Don't hold back." Kuroko said, and although all his brothers wanted to do was crush them by completely humiliating them, they understood.

In fact there was a time when the team was starting and Kuroko was newly introduced that they played a practice match against the team of a prominent league, but their team was incredibly weaker than they were, so they started playing a game of who could score with the coolest moves. It was an outright humiliation of the league team and an insult to the others love of basketball. When this was happening Kuroko was sitting on the bench, working down his heart rate since the doctors had told him to take it easy, but his rage couldn't have been controlled even if he wanted to. In his sate of rage, he stepped into the court unknowingly to anyone else. It wasn't until the ball disappeared from the hands of Zachary, who was about to do a dunk, to the hands of Kuroko, that stood at the half court division line with his back turned to his team. No one could move or even react to him, until the referee blew his whistle to stop the match. Back then, Kuroko wasn't respected by his team nor did he consider them family, in fact in that moment they were scum, and so in the perspective of his team, he had purposely ignored the rules of the game and stopped his own team from scoring making most of his team mad, Zachary more so than any other. Therefore, when he spotted the small foreign weakling that had embarrassed him in front of all his friends and teammate, molten lava coursed through his veins.

He couldn't have been angrier and in his state of mind he though it would be prudent to teach the small imbecile a lesson, regardless if they were in a public place filled with people, so when he stomped his way to the small bluenett and lifted his fist in the air, he expected no resistance, but he stopped in mid air when he heard Kuroko.

"How pathetic. Truly a sad picture to witness, it only disgust me more, to think that there are more people like them. Oh, how pathetic indeed." Kuroko spoke with a recognizable accent, that only made Zachary's blood boil more. "Oh yeah, midget, and what does a fucking brat like you know?" Zachary went to push Kuroko, but to his surprise he missed, it was almost as if his hands went through him. Kuroko clashed eyes with Zachary, and in that moment Zachary felt smaller than an ant.

"Basketball is a game that should be loved, and you should never ever, make fun of another's effort. Even you are weak."

That day Kuroko got sent to the hospital for three weeks total, two weeks on bed rest and another on rehabilitations, but Kuroko didn't care. That day he played a game against very member of the team, and in front of every person in the gym present for the practice match, he beat and humiliated every person proving himself as the indomitable shadow before collapsing on the floor scaring every person present and regardless of the bruised egos, he had earned, somewhat, the respect of his team.

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"Very well," Jack said "you heard him. Everyone, don't hold back but play seriously." The others nodded their reluctant agreement as they each went to mark their target. Jack stayed close to Kuroko, just incase something happened to him like before, but Kuroko merely shook him off with a glare.

It was the Yokai's turn to be offensive and they had a man to man defense, Tomlinson was marking Akashi, Jack was on Aomine, Henry on Midorima, Mike had Murasakibara, and Kuroko had Kise. The Yokai team was surprised when they saw the man on man defense and the blond of the team was secretly delighted to be so close to his long lost friend, but even he could feel the oppressing pressure emitted from the bluenett. He had a feeling he wans't as well off as he thought he was. That was proven quickly when Akashi passed the ball to him miscalculating Kuroko's speed. It was in that split second where the ball touched Kise's hand that Kuroko stole it. Unlike Kuroko, his rection time was too slow to steal it back, before sprinting in front of Kuroko, stupidly thinking that he couldn't dribble.

"Long time no see Kise-san, but you seem to think I am the same Kuroko you knew." Kuroko dirbbled the ball dashing from side to side, before doing an ankle break causing Kise to fall. "If you keep thinking like that, then you have no chance of beating my team, let alone me." After going past Kise he passed the ball to Henry that stood prepared to score a three pointer.

The rest of the game went like that, and although Kuroko had told his team not to hold back, he found out that he didn't need his full strength to win the game, in fact it would have been a waste of effort. His teammates felt the same. By the time they had surpassed the Yokai team's score by twenty points, they figured it would be best to simply hold back, even if Kuroko got made at them, but they had seen him do the same so they considered it to be ok. It wasn't until there were only five minutes left that the Yokai's coach asked for a time out.

"Well, this has been a waste of our time." Henry mumbled against his water bottle, but the guys beside him heard him and murmured their agreements. Even Kuroko couldn't argue with that. They had been hoping that the Yokai team would be a good opponent, but they were still too weak. It's not that they didn't have the potential, it's just that they haven't developed it correctly. The mere though of it all made the team sigh.

The timeout ended quickly and the only change in players was done by the Yokai. Kise Ryota was substituted by Kagami Taiga.