Spark | Kuroko no Basuke x OC

The Dragon

Happy 2017! Spark survived another year—thanks for all of the support and love TT-TT I loved all of the responses I got last chapter and felt proud that I flipped your world upside down for a second when I revealed Hayama as Tomoko's childhood friend. Throughout the story, I've dropped subtle hints—he was a year older and he was somewhat similar to Kise (loud and affectionate aside, they both have two older sisters!). I'm glad no one knew until the last moment, though! It made finally revealing it that much more satisfying :D

This chapter is structured a little differently. The majority will be past memories, and after the title break, it jumps back to the present.

Enjoy!

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A small girl, about five years in age, with caramel locks chopped to her bony shoulders and shiny, doe-like salmon eyes peered around the large elementary school courtyard with curiosity.

"Slow down. You don't want to fall," Chiharu called lightly when the little girl skipped past the security guard who opened the gate for them. After she had picked up Tomoko from her kindergarten class, they spent the afternoon shopping for ingredients for a cake. Since they were around the area, she decided to meet Ichirou, who was attending fourth grade, after school. It looked like they were a few minutes early, though.

"When's Ichi-nii coming out?" she pouted. Although the security guard let them in, he told the mother and daughter to stand by the gate since the bell was about to ring to signal the end of the day. "What if there's too many people and he misses us?"

"Then you better keep your eyes wide open for him," Chiharu said. She chuckled when the little girl actually opened her eyes wider as she concentrated on the doors of the school.

"Eyes open, eyes open..." the little girl chanted for a while before getting bored. Casting her eyes away from the unmoving doors, she instead focused on the small patch of white flowers on the grass nearby. Picking out the pretty ones, the girl presented them to her mother with a wide grin. "Mama, flowwas!"

"Those are pretty, aren't they?" The woman mused before twisting them into a flower crown and stuck it on her daughter's head "There, now you're as pretty as a flower."

The girl giggled giddily and stuck a few flowers in her mother's hair as well. "Now we match!"

Chiharu nodded just as the time struck 3 o'clock. Within a minute, the courtyard started to fill with sounds of children's voices and shoes as they filed out.

"Ichi-nii~! Ichi-nii~!"

Chiharu barely had time to grab the excited girl before she slipped away to find her brother. "T-Tomo?" the older woman panicked, trying to find a head of caramel in the sea of students. "Tomoko!"

But she was gone.

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"Mama?"

When Tomoko turned back to her mom's call, she realized that the raven haired woman was nowhere to be seen. Even on her tippy toes, she was short compared to the other kids. More parents had come in to pick up their children, but none of them looked like her mom so she gave up and took another step forward.

"Ah—ow!"

She jumped when a blonde haired boy suddenly fell face-flat next to her. The boy looked in pain and mad as he rubbed his red and dirtied face. "Mama says to always watch where you're going," she said matter-of-factly while wagging her finger like she's seen her mom do a few times. "Are you okay?"

"I'm oka—wait! You're the one who tripped me!" the boy grumbled out as he pointed accusingly at Tomoko's shoe. Rather, what was under it. He could've avoided falling on his face if he had enough space to steady himself, but it was impossible when his shoelaces were caught under the girl's shoe.