Princess of Miracles (Kuroko no Basuke FanFic)

King of the North

"Actually, you could search all over the world, you wouldn't find another guy like you, who's smiling when playing defense." - Iwamura Tsutomu

* * * *

Huff. Huff. Huff.

The heavy sounds of someone being out of breath could almost be heard loud and clear in the empty street basketball court. Dusk has long fallen, and the only lights that could be seen are the street lamps that lit up the basketball court.

Kise Ryota looked worriedly at his blue haired friend, dressed in a sleeveless black shirt and white pants, beads of sweat adorning his brow. "Are you sure that you're going to be all right?" he asked. "And are you sure that you should be doing this now? You've just finished two straight games earlier today, right? You're going to burn yourself out before the match with Seiho at this rate. And if anything happens to you, Aominecchi and Akashi-cchi are going to kill me." The blonde whined.

"I'm fine." Kuroko Tamaki managed to make out through heavy breaths. She held up the basketball in her right hand, looking at it. "At least I know that I didn't lose my speed. And I can still manage some parts of my old style, even though I still can't shoot." She added, looking a little sad. 'Just how long? How much longer will it be before I can play like before with my right hand?'

Kise sighed. "I'll be worried if you can lose your old play style," he muttered. "Is this for preparation for the match against Seiho? And…against Midorimacchi's school?" He asked quietly.

There was silence for a long time, before Tamaki nodded. "…Yeah."

"Will it work against him?" Kise asked carefully. "It's fast and effective against me, I admit. I can't even stop or block it. But in the end, I'm still the weakest of the Generation of Miracles. And you know that."

"I'm not entirely sure whether it can work against him or not, but passing and misdirection aren't the only things that I'm capable of in basketball," said Tamaki simply. "All of you know that. And more than anyone else, Midorima-kun should be aware of that as well. But…" She dribbled the basketball that she is holding. "Even Midorima-kun won't be able to stop my Mirage skill." She stopped dribbling. "You can't stop something that you can't see, can you?" She asked Kise who said nothing to that question.

The Generation of Miracles knew just how scary that Tamaki's original play style could be. Her current misdirection style is effective enough in plays, but everyone have agreed that her old original style brings out her full power. Her old style actually reflects the actual meaning of her name 'Kuroko'. Tamaki's current misdirection style only brings out less than half of what she is actually capable of. The name of the 'phantom sixth player' isn't just for show.

"And besides…" Tamaki looked sad for just a fraction of a second before smiling slightly in remembrance. "The only person in the world who can match my speed or stop me…is only Aomine-kun."

* * * *

The regulars of the Seirin basketball team were all very relieved when the bell went for lunch break.

Every single one of them were practically falling asleep into their desks, with their bodies sore with muscle aches – the result of playing two straight games in a row. The only players of the basketball team that actually managed to stay awake and still remained looking bright-eyed is only a certain blue haired girl. And the Seirin team knew that it is only because Tamaki had the advantage of already being involved in National standard games in middle school, and had the stamina and training to deal with it.

But even the blue haired girl looked tired as the bell went for lunch break, as she munched on her own neatly cut ham sandwiches. Kagami who had the seat in front of her was gobbling down about four or five deluxe sized sandwiches in front of him, much to the astonishment of several of their classmates who stared at him eating. If there is ever an eating contest on who could eat the most and the fastest, Kagami would win it easily hands down, since the redhead giant seemed to have an appetite that could out eat a baby killer whale.