Third POV
As the two teams began packing up in order to head home for the evening and prepare for their next games, (Y/N) had one more thing to do as she took her hair out of its beautiful updo, letting her long locks flow down her back as she shook her head a couple of times. Taking another quick drink from her water bottle, the triple threat set it on the bench before turning and heading towards the orange team's side.
Time for a little payback in her own book when she saw that her target had his back turned to where he couldn't see her approaching, perfect, as a mischievous grin appeared on the girl's face. Taking a couple more steps toward him, the tall girl pounced.
"You are a sly little fox, bunny," Naoki heard his older cousin's voice coming from right behind, which nearly scared the boy out of his skin as he let out a tiny yelp before feeling (Y/N) put her arm around his shoulders and hearing her giggles and snickers.
The rest of Shutoku turned towards their manager when they heard him let out his tiny screech and were a little surprised to see the (h/c) haired girl standing there, holding her younger cousin close to her as the boy recovered from the little fright, taking a couple of deep breaths as he held his chest to try and stop his heart from leaping out here in front of everyone.
"Hachi...you can't do that to me," the pink haired boy whined as the girl let out a couple more laughs.
"Well, I saw an opportunity and I took it. But you, sir, have become even more sly than I would've ever thought," (Y/N) responded as she leaned down a little bit toward the boy's face, just to make him a tad nervous.
Naoki only responded with a sulky little pout in order to make his older cousin feel a little bad for him. But it didn't work, not one bit. Instead, she only embarrassed him a little bit by placing a sloppy kiss on the bunny's cheek, causing him to almost combust. As the triple threat continued hugging on her cousin, the girl noticed the rest of Shutoku along with their coach watching the two of them.
Getting off of Naoki but still keeping her arm around his shoulders, the tall girl turned and smiled at the rest of the team, Midorima being the closest to her. She could see he was kind of but kind of not disappointed with the results, but there was something there that told her he wanted to show her so much more.
Grinning up at her friend, (Y/N) reached up and snatched the green haired boy's glasses, placing them on her face as Takao snorted in the background, not believing that Midorima had just let her take his glasses like that. The others couldn't either. And the shooting guard didn't seem all that bothered by it at all, which was incredible.
"Don't forget to stretch, Shinny Boy. That goes for all of you," the triple threat reminded the boys as she grinned brightly at them.
For once in a long time, Midorima found himself blushing at the girl's gesture. She looked good with glasses, his glasses. And that joyful spirit that he had wanted to see again so badly was finally coming back once again. The girl was determined when she played, but he had felt what he had felt back when they played in middle school.
That overjoyful spirit that could be felt and spread throughout all of its members, it brought out the best in the players. That will to just have fun. Her spirit seemed to be fully recovered, and Midorima had to admit because of her and Kuroko, the miracle shooting guard was a much better player.
Now, (Y/N)'s eyes were closed when she put on his glasses, and was in for quite a shock once she had opened up her (e/c) eyes. Everything was blurry and seemed too zoomed up. The triple threat went wide eyed and blinked a couple of times.
"Geez, you've got some bad eyeballs, Shin. Holy moly," the tall girl commented as she pushed the glasses down on the bridge of her nose, blinking a couple more times.
Takao couldn't hold back his laughter anymore. The hawk eyed boy might've seemed a bit upset and irritated out on the court about the tie and towards Kuroko, being as that the phantom was able to get past him, the first year point guard couldn't be upset at (Y/N). How could he when she had that smile on her face? And the boy had to admit, the game between Seirin and Shutoku was a good one. Made his anticipation jump even higher to face them in the Winter Cup.
Back to the whole glasses thing, Midorima simply grabbed them off of her face, careful not to hurt her or mess up her hair too much.
"Well, you have perfect 20/20 vision. Naturally, my glasses would hurt your own since you have no need for glasses. That's not to say you don't look good in them," the green haired boy said in a much nicer tone of voice than his normal tone, but he still kept that straight faced expression.
There was a hint of softness to it though, Naoki had noticed it ever since he had met Midorima. Whenever (Y/N)'s name was brought up, the shooting guard's gaze got softer and he even seemed eager when he spoke of her. However, during the time when the triple threat was not really speaking to him and when she had left, the pink haired boy saw a somber expression on his face whenever her name was brought up.
But now, there was none of that now. His cousin seemed to have healed significantly from the events of the year beforehand. However, that wasn't to say that all of those scars were healed just yet.
The triple threat simply giggled at the compliment before seeing her uncle figure coming towards her. The girl then straightened up a little bit as she took her arm off of Naoki's shoulders as Coach Nakatani reached her, putting his hand out towards her. (Y/N) looked at it for a second before looking back up at the older man, seeing a fatherly smile on his face.
"That was a good game today, (Y/N). I'll be expecting that at the Winter Cup. I've got to get some bragging rights against your old man after all," the older Coach lightly joked with the tall girl.
Hearing him reference to her father made the triple threat smile back at him. Boy, she wished he was here to see them play in person. And she knew he was watching all the way in LA. He always did. Letting out a hearty laugh, the tall girl took Nakatani's hand and shook it.
"Oh trust me, Uncle Mabo, Dad's gonna be laughing all the way here if he heard you say that," the tall girl told him in a challenging tone of voice, calling the Shutoku coach by a more familiar name to him.
But it was all fun and games, however, Akio would probably laugh and confidently challenge his old friend that his daughter was a basketball beast along with Seirin and would beat Shutoku, tenfold. That was confident Akio for ya.
"We'll see you at the Winter Cup, young lady."
"Yes, sir."
Ending their little chat, (Y/N) waved to them all as she made her way back over to the red and black team. But not before she peered over to the other court to see who had come out the winner. The girl's reaction was kind of that of shock yet she expected they'd be the winners. Kirisaki Daiichi had beaten Senshinkan by quite a bit. The starters actually played this time, that was a surprise.
Feeling her heart rate increase for a split second, the triple threat took in a quick deep breath in order to calm herself before jogging to catch up with the others. In their locker room, the tall girl had practically danced and skipped all the way there. This time, Koganei was able to capture a little bit on his phone before the tall girl shimmied into the room and straight over to her bag.
Number Two had fallen asleep last she had checked, so the girl was still expecting him to be asleep in her bag on a little blanket she had brought for him. However, when (Y/N) looked inside her little dog carrier, Kuroko noticed the girl looking a little confused as she began rummaging through her bag while he came up beside her.
"What's wrong, (Y/N)?" the light blue haired phantom asked her, seeing her beginning to look a little desperate.
"I can't find him. Where's my son?!" the triple threat panicked as she shot back up, putting her hands on either side of her head.
Her sudden yell also caused some of the members around her to jump from the loudness of it. Number Two was nowhere in sight, he wasn't in the locker room, and no one knew where he could've gone to. Kagami was kind of glad, but we don't talk about that.
The triple threat had also claimed the puppy as her 'son' a while ago, but she was now worried that the little pup had gotten into trouble somewhere or would if someone were to catch him. Grabbing the girl's hand from her frozen figure, Kuroko began gently pulling the girl with him towards the door.
"We're going to go find Number Two, excuse us," the boy softly called out as he opened the door.
Getting a nod from the captain, the phantom and triple threat now were on the search for the wondering puppy. Little did they know, Number Two would be finding himself making some new friends from his new hiding place.
Outside at a nearby vending machine, Midorima needed some refreshments from the hard playing he had done just moments beforehand. And what better way than to buy his favorite drink of red bean soup for only 120 yen. Inserting his money into the machine, the green haired boy was about to make his selection just as someone did it for him before his taped fingers could.
"Boop," a cheery female voice said as she pressed the button for the red bean soup, hearing the can fall.
Looking off to the side to see who had just ordered his favorite drink for him, the glasses wearing boy saw a head of long pink hair bend down and pick it up.
"Here ya go. How's it going, Midorin?" Momoi greeted the green haired miracle with a smile before handing the boy his drink.
It had been quite some time since Midorima had seen Momoi, and he was a little surprised to see that she wasn't with Aomine. But at the same time, he wasn't surprised to see that the miracle ace hadn't made his appearance, being that he was a little bit lazy and all that.
"Hey, you. That game wasn't half bad, was it?"
"Not at all, dude. That was one of the best games I've ever watched."
Turning to see who else had come to see him, Midorima turned and saw Kise and Hibiki walking toward him and Momoi. Of course, the green haired boy's pride wasn't going to allow him to admit to these two of all people that he was having fun during a game, so the shooting guard lightly scoffed and turned his head. The four former members of Teiko were soon walking towards the exit together.
"If you win your next game, you'll be in the Winter Cup. Better make sure you don't mess this up," the blonde copycat lightly teased his former teammate as the group continued to walk.
Though Midorima didn't quite take it as a joke as he kept his gaze forward.
"Don't be stupid, I never mess up, moron," the green haired boy insulted Kise, like usual.
And like usual, Kise took it to heart. Like he didn't hear that insult enough from Kasamatsu during their practices.
"You're in love with that word!" the blonde boy pointed out with a bit of a butt-hurt voice.
Though one person found that to be quite funny as he shoved his hands in his pockets, leaning forward with a dumb smile on his face directed right towards his fellow model and friend.
"Hey, at least he's not name dropping on me," Hibiki celebrated since that was usually the case whenever he was around Midorima.
But the green haired miracle was about to give the younger twin a little reality check as they kept walking. Sharply and quickly turning his head back, Hibiki was meant with a piercing emerald gaze, one that made him jump, that all too familiar feeling of eyes burning through to his soul. Midorima wasn't in any mood for his nonsense either and he wanted to make that very clear to the younger Bashira twin.
"Yet," the (h/c) haired boy corrected as Kise stuck his tongue out at Hibiki.
Feeling satisfied with that answer, Midorima turned back around and pushed his glasses up.
"Given Seirin's next opponent, I'm not the one you should be worried about. Unfortunately for them, it's Kirisaki Daiichi. And Makoto Hanamiya," the green haired boy suddenly brought up as he stopped and stood, turning back towards the rest of the group.
His mind went back to the day before when the Kirisaki captain had confronted the triple threat in the hallway, how hostile he was being with her. It was clear he had something malicious planned from the very moment he set his eyes on her and the rest of Seirin. Thinking back to that made the green haired boy even angrier, but he kept calm.
"Any fool could tell they had their sights set on Seirin during the Championship League. They're guaranteed to do something to secure their victory," Midorima predicted, though it was a bit harsher.
However, it was the truth, that was how Hanamiya played. Just plain old dirty, not exactly a team that should even have the rights to participate in a game, let alone the Winter Cup. Soon, the entire mood of the group became very dark as they lost their smiles.
"One of the Uncrowned Kings, huh? Another difficult opponent for them to face," Kise said as he tilted his head to the side, a more than displeased look on his face.
Same with Momoi, she didn't look too happy either as a small glare appeared on her face. Like many others, they had heard of the infamous Uncrowned King, Makoto Hanamiya, and his ruthless ways of playing basketball. Disgraceful in their eyes. However, one person out of the entire group seemed to look more ferocious as he grit his teeth together and clenched his fists rather tightly.
"I swear if that bastard Hanamiya gets anywhere near (Y/N) or Naoki, he'll pay for it dearly. I already heard what happened before this game, and I won't let him do it again," Hibiki snarled as he was now full on glaring.
It rivaled the one he had sent Aomime during Kaijo and Touou's game. Momoi and Kise had never seen the younger twin this upset except for at the miracle ace. But this one, you could feel the intensity and anger behind it. Kise managed to catch something that Hibiki had said, however, pertaining to the triple threat and her cousin as well.
"What do you mean, Hibikicchi?" the blonde asked, curious and wanting to know what Hanamiya had to do with them, especially (Y/N).
The pink haired girl wanted to know too. As far as she knew, the triple threat hadn't mentioned anything about the ruthless Uncrowned King, and neither did Kise. There were still some points that the tall girl hadn't told them about when it came to her distancing herself from Teiko.
Seeing that he might've said more than what his sister and cousin were comfortable with, Hibiki quickly wiped the glare off of his face, looking off to the side with a more of a concerned and down expression.
"Well, uh...I'll tell you guys later. Not sure if it's my place to say anything," the younger twin said as he scratched the back of his head.
Midorima knew Hibiki knew too, and he couldn't blame the boy. In fact, it was one of those rare times when the green haired miracle could really empathize with the (h/c) haired boy. He had heard what happened to his manager, and it was clear something had happened between the triple threat and Hanamiya.
"Naoki's already explained the situation, so for once, I can understand your feelings," the shooting guard told Hibiki, catching the younger twin off guard, as well as the other two former members of Teiko.
This was the first time Midorima was actually being nice to Hibiki, the boy didn't know how to feel. It was weird. But, he did appreciate knowing that the green haired miracle understood the situation, and with his sister's blessing, dare he bring it up, the others would know it too. Hibiki was able to nod, but he was still rather speechless as Midorima turned his back.
"Well, I'm leaving. Bye now," he stated as he began to walk away.
"Already?" Momoi asked.
Hibiki about damn near fell on the ground. What a way to kill a moment, am I right?
"What the heck, dude?! You can't just bail after saying such nice things to me!" the younger twin whined as he, Momoi, and Kise began running after Midorima, who had turned a corner and nearly disappeared on them.
"Yeah! We didn't even get a chance to catch up!" the pink haired girl agreed as she rounded the corner first.
The two Kaijo boys followed behind, but they weren't expecting to see what they saw as they both skidded to a stop, observing a large cart attached to a bike. It was an interesting sight, to say the least.
"Woah! What the heck is this?" Kise questioned first.
"Exactly what it looks like. Takao pulls it," the green haired miracle answered swiftly, like there was nothing wrong in the world with the first year point guard pulling him around in a cart.
"Arf!"
The sound of a barking dog seemed to really catch everyone off guard as they all peeked into the wagon. And there sitting in one of the corners wagging his tail and panting happily was Number Two as he peered up at the four new hoomans. Well, three. The puppy knew Hibiki.
Midorima didn't know what to think, looking at the pup made him really angry for some reason. Kise couldn't pinpoint it either, but he felt like he knew that sky blue gaze from somewhere.
Momoi's eyes were just sparkling. A little puppy with a cute little uniform was enough to make her day as she bent down and picked up the little pooch, holding him up and wanting to just smother him in snuggles and kisses.
"What're you doing over here, you little cutie?" the pink haired girl asked Number Two, her eyes still sparkling like crazy.
"You're getting way too excited, Momoicchi," Kise nicely put as he stood behind the girl, not quite understanding what exactly seeing a puppy meant to girl, especially dog lovers.
"Aw, let her be, Ryota," Hibiki told his friend, thoroughly enjoying seeing his crush looking so cute whenever she got excited.
Midorima, well, he was having the completely opposite reaction as he looked a little closer in his cart, and smelled that slightly foul scent of a familiar smell. Looking a little closer, the shooting guard spotted a small puddle right where the little puppy had been sitting before letting out an irritated growl.
"Bad dog! That damn mutt urinated in my wagon! Give him to me, Momoi," Midorima suddenly requested in a deadly calm voice once he had finished yelling and pointing at Number Two.
The pup could sense his hostility. Momoi? She hadn't quite seen it, being that she was still focused on the cute little pooch in her hands.
"What for?" she asked innocently, not yet aware.
It was only when the green haired boy clenched his fist, mentally picturing himself tossing the little puppy through a hoop. His plan was made up of one word.
"Revenge."
"NO! Shoo! Bad Midorin!" Momoi yelled as she held Number Two away from the green haired boy once she had figured out what his intents were.
"Arf!"
Number Two seemed to agree. He wasn't a basketball, thank you very much. The pup then suddenly turned when he caught two familiar scents coming closer.
"Oh my god, there you are!" (Y/N)'s voice exasperated first as the group spotted her and a light blue headed phantom coming their way.
"Excuse me, sorry. That dog is ours," Kuroko apologized, not recognizing the others at first.
Number Two soon hopped down from Momoi's arms and trotted over to the two miracles. Kuroko bent down and picked up the pooch, standing back up as the triple threat placed her hands on her hips, a very not-so-impressed look on her face as she peered down at the puppy.
"Oh, hey," the light blue haired boy then greeted once he realized who it was that found Number Two.
"Huh?" the taller girl hummed as she looked up too, Kuroko's greeting gaining her attention.
There standing before them, she saw Momoi, Kise, her brother, and Midorima, who the two miracles had just seen moments beforehand. The two models and manager seemed really happy to see them as smiles appeared on their faces.
"Tetsu! Shirarin!" the pink haired girl greeted first.
"Hey, you guys!" Kise followed as Hibiki waved to the two Seirin members.
"Hmm, Kuroko," Midorima stared down the light blue haired boy, not having said anything to him since the game ended.
Seeing so many familiar faces was able to put a grin on the tall girl's face as she put her hand up and waved to them.
"Hey, what's up? Hi, Hibs," the triple threat greeted everyone else enthusiastically and left a very unexcited hello to her brother.
And like how the siblings were with each other, Hibiki took offense to his sister's little hello, glaring at her comically and pointing at her.
"What's with that greeting?!" he yelled, but only got her sticking out her tongue as a response.
Thankfully, before the twins could start going at it now in the middle of everything, Number Two cutely interrupted them as he began quietly whining in Kuroko's arms.
"Yeah, uh, what're you guys doing here?" the phantom tried to ask them all, but the puppy was climbing up on his chest, giving the boy little licks on his cheek.
Momoi couldn't get enough of it. There was a dog that looked like that Kuroko and he was now licking Kuroko's face. Her heart exploded at the sight of this, something she didn't realize she needed in her life. But the pink haired girl's adorable meter could only go so far before it boiled over.
"Cuteness overload..." Momoi soon sighed as she placed a hand on her forehead, feeling faint while her legs gave out from underneath.
"MOMOICCHI!/SATSUKI!" the two Kaijo boys yelled as the two Seirin miracles simply sweat-dropped and deadpanned at the sight before them.
Sure, Number Two was the most adorable little thing in the world, but even the triple threat wasn't expecting Teiko's former manager to full on faint and fall to the ground. The tall girl loved cute things, but even she had never had such a reaction. Though (Y/N) had to admit Number Two licking Kuroko was rather adorable. But she still had a few things to say to her fuzzy little son as she cutely glared down at the pup.
"That's the last time I leave your treats in my bag with you," the tall girl lightly scolded Number Two as she booped the pup, causing him to start whining and wanting to jump into her arms.
Not wanting the puppy to jump and hurt himself, and seeing that he wanted his mommy, Kuroko handed the pooch over to the triple threat, who held him up to eye level as she continued to give him a very unimpressed look. She saw his little disaster in her bag where he had devoured all of the puppy treats she had stashed in a little baggie.
"Why'd you even bring treats for him if you knew he was gonna eat them?" Hibiki asked his sister, not understanding the point of having food in her bag if that's where she was going to keep the puppy during their games.
(Y/N) simply turned her head towards her brother, the same expression on her face. Clearly, he hadn't been catching on to her superior dog training skills.
"I'm trying to teach him to stay hidden and quiet during our games and the treats are for when he's being good. But today's different 'cause you're a little chonk," the girl told the pup in her hands.
Number Two knew just how to pull on her heartstrings though as he began licking her nose, causing a little smile to peek through on her face as she began nuzzling noses with the dog.
"Yeah, you're a little chonk. You're such a little chonky chonk," the tall girl cooed to the puppy as she held him in her arms like a little baby, rubbing his tummy as he looked to be smiling and enjoying the attention, sticking out his tongue.
Oh, (Y/N) and her love for animals. The girl couldn't stay mad at the little husky, but she was definitely not going to stash his treats in her bag anymore. Today, she was in kind of a rush, so she just shoved them in there before heading out the door.
Hibiki just shook his head at his sister, not understanding her thinking process sometimes, despite the two of them being twins. Seeing her baby brother do that, the triple threat gave Number Two back to Kuroko before walking over toward the slightly taller boy.
"I need some love from my baby brother," the girl smirked as she opened up her arms towards Hibiki.
He only cringed though as he stood up from crouching beside a faint Momoi.
"Not sure I wanna hug from my sweaty sister," he stated, though he was probably being overdramatic.
And (Y/N) knew he was as she stopped just short of a couple of feet from the younger twin, putting her hands on her hip and shooting him a very sassy look. The other four miracles were secretly hoping this wasn't the start of one of their annoying mimic fights.
"Really? I've literally hugged you when you have puked all over the place. I think you can handle me being a little sweaty," she shot back at him.
Hearing her say that made the younger twin blush with embarrassment as he let out a groan, finally giving in as the tall girl wrapped her arms around her baby brother's shoulders, him doing the same.
"Why do you have to expose me like that?" Hibiki questioned his twin as the two of them rocked back and forth slightly.
"Because we're twinsies and I love messing with you. MWAH!" the triple threat answered honestly as she kissed the boy's cheek.
Well, Hibiki was happy to be there to see her play her first game and to see her acting like her old self again since the incident at Teiko the year beforehand. But she didn't need to go embarrass him in front of their friends like this. Kise tried to hide his smile behind his hand just as the younger twin's face became redder than it was before.
"I WUV MY WITTLE BROTHER!!" (Y/N) yelled to the sky just to put the icing on the cake.
"STAWP IT!!" Hibiki whined as he tried to hide his face in his sister's shoulder.
The triple threat only laughed out loud as she got off of her younger twin. Mission to slightly embarrass Hibiki was a success as she lightly pumped her fist. Oh, she embarrassed him, alright. Good thing Momoi was still kind of out of it or else this would've been a little different. The other miracles simply watched on, the twins haven't changed one bit since they were in middle school. It was kind of refreshing to them.
"There you are. Yo, Shin-chan!" Takao's voice called out to the green haired miracle from behind the phantom.
Finally, an out for the shooting guard miracle.
"I've had enough of this. I'm going home now," Midorima stated as he began walking off while Takao made his way over to the group.
"Wait, you're just gonna leave?" Kise asked the glasses wearing boy, not really thinking he'd leave them all just like that.
Heck, even the first year point guard was caught off guard just a little bit as he stopped in front of the blonde copycat miracle and the younger Bashira son.
"Let's go, Takao," Midorima simply ushered the black haired boy, not sparing them a second glance.
"Huh? Are you sure?"
The green haired boy didn't respond, but when he walked past Kuroko, Midorima still had one more thing to say to the light blue haired boy that he was not able to say inside. Stopping just short behind the phantom, the shooting guard looked back over his shoulder.
"Kuroko, let's play again this winter," Midorima declared.
(Y/N) had to smile at her green haired friend's words to Kuroko. That tone of voice wasn't like Midorima's usual when it came to talking to the phantom miracle, it was much nicer. The light blue haired boy seemed to notice the tone difference as well as he turned back toward his former teammate.
"Of course," Kuroko accepted the boy's challenge.
Ah, this was a lovely sight to behold for the triple threat. It was one of the first times Kuroko and Midorima were getting along in a rather lovely way. The vibrating of her phone snapped (Y/N) out of her thoughts. Digging in her pocket, the (h/c) haired girl found her device and took it out. There was a text message from Takao, a video. Looked like it was one of Midorima, and the caption said 'you're not gonna believe he said this'.
Arching her eyebrow, the triple threat looked up in thought for a second before pressing play and holding the speaker up to her ear. That video was when the green haired boy stated he would pass the ball to his teammates during the game. The girl couldn't believe what she was hearing as her jaw dropped a little bit just as the hawk eyed point guard walked up beside her to catch up with the green haired boy.
"No," she gaped as she looked at Takao, who only chuckled a little and smiled while folding his arms behind his head.
"Yes! You're welcome," the black haired boy grinned as he stopped beside her for a second.
Of course he had to send it to her since the girl knew how Midorima was better than anyone else did. And she couldn't help but giggle a little bit, but tried to hide it so the green haired miracle didn't hear her. But he did, and it made his cheeks burn quite a bit.
"Takao, let's go!" Midorima growled a little bit.
That was the black haired boy's signal to move his butt before he got smacked. Waving to the triple threat one more time, Takao jogged over and grabbed the handlebars of the bike before beginning to wheel it off along with Midorima.
It was about time for the others to get moving too as Hibiki bent down and got the passed out pinked haired girl on his back, lifting her up with ease with some help from Kise. Seeing her little brother do that made (Y/N)'s romantic side come out a little bit as she quietly began gasping and fanning her hands toward herself, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"You two are so cute!" the tall girl whisper shouted as her brother walked a little bit past her.
She shipped the two of them so hard together, but Hibiki didn't think she had any room to talk about this since she couldn't see when she was being flirted with sometimes. Glaring over at his sister, Hibiki stopped in his tracks in order to make sure Momoi didn't wake up.
"Sis! Shut it!" he quietly hissed at her.
Getting the hint, (Y/N) backed off...for now as she put her hands up while still keeping the slightly mischievous look on her face. The (h/c) haired boy just decided to leave it at that as he began walking off. Kise soon followed, but not before scooping the tall girl up in his arms and spinning her around a couple of times while hugging her close, the girl returning his embrace as well.
After just the two of them hugging for a couple of minutes, the blonde copycat finally let go before jogging after the other two, waving to the triple threat and phantom off in the distance.
"Great game today, (Y/N)cchi!" Kise called out.
"Bye, guys!" the girl did the same as she waved her arm in the air with Kuroko doing the same while keeping ahold of Number Two.
It was definitely one of her favorite games that she had played so far. Once the other teens had left, the triple threat walked over to Kuroko and the pup, smiling at him as the two of them started making their way back inside to meet back up with the team.
"Today was a good day for a game, Tetsu," the tall girl told her friend as she instinctively took his free hand, swinging it back and forth.
The light blue haired boy couldn't agree more as he hummed and nodded with a smile on his face, lightly grasping the girl's hand a little tighter. Their desire to show the Generation of Miracles the true joy of basketball was growing stronger and it was beginning to spread. That much was obvious just by watching how their green haired former teammate played with Shutoku that day. And that couldn't have made either of them happier.
Once the miracle duo had made it back inside and found the rest of Seirin, (Y/N) still didn't see Hyuga or Kiyoshi as she looked around. Being that they were still near their locker room, the girl decided to go look for them to make sure everything was alright, leaving Kuroko and the rest of the team behind as she went to go search for them.
It didn't take her long for her to spot Hyuga standing just outside of the locker room that the team was in right before she and Kuroko went to go look for Number Two. Getting closer, the girl saw Hyuga putting his finger to his lips, a signal for her to be quiet. Not knowing what he meant, the triple threat was about to ask questions.
But the sound of Kiyoshi's pained groaning stopped her dead in her tracks. Her eyes went wide, so her hunches about his knee were right. The captain and triple threat knew it was getting to him, no matter how hard the center tried to hide it.
"You're certainly full of bravado," Hyuga finally revealed himself to Kiyoshi as he placed his fist on the doorframe where he stood.
Looking over to the doorway, Kiyoshi was a little shocked to see the second year captain and triple threat standing there as he held his very sore and shaky knee. He thought he had hidden it, but it seems he was sadly mistaken.
"It was unnatural for you to miss that shot," Hyuga said to the center as he and (Y/N) entered the locker room.
Kiyoshi should've known better than to think he could hide this from the two of them. Plus, the triple threat wasn't exactly trying to hide her worry. She had yet to reveal to them why she had left the Senshinkan game the day before. And exactly who she had encountered.
"I see. So you both noticed," Kiyoshi managed to smile as Hyuga took a seat next to him on the bench with the tall girl stayed standing in front of the center.
If she could take all of his pain away, she would. But she knew Kiyoshi was more stubborn than he looked. The girl looked to Hyuga, the two of them making eye contact. Seemed like both of them had the same thoughts, but the captain was going to be the one to actually say it.
"We figured something was up. You shouldn't play in our game against Kirisaki Daiichi," Hyuga finally came out and said it.
Outside of the locker room, remembering that he had forgotten something, Kagami had made it to the door before a loud yell stopped him in his tracks.
"Don't be ridiculous!" Kiyoshi's loud shout came from the room, both of the second years standing up from the benches and causing the triple threat to back up a little bit.
The red head had never heard the usually calm and easy going second year use such a tone of voice before, it left him stunned. But it was what Kiyoshi said next that really made the tiger's jaw drop to the floor.
"We all know this is probably my last chance. Even if my knees get destroyed, I'm still playing!"
Standing off to the side, (Y/N) had felt the tension rising in the room with every second that passed. It was almost suffocating. But she was with Hyuga on this, the two of them including Riko had talked about it quite a bit since they were watching Kirisaki Daiichi's games very closely. They knew Hanamiya, in particular, would stop at nothing to get to Kiyoshi.
Hyuga wasn't trying to look for a fight, but he knew Kiyoshi needed to hear not only what he had to say, but also the sole female player. The captain knew she wanted to say something too, not just him. Looking towards the triple threat, Hyuga nodded to the center.
"Tell him, Kiddo," he urged her to do as Kiyoshi also turned to face the tall girl.
They both knew Kiyoshi probably wouldn't listen to their words, but the least he could do was to listen to their concerns and take them into consideration. Though, the center was secretly hoping the triple threat would side with him on this. Letting out a sigh, (Y/N) knew she had to get it out as she looked right into the taller boy's brown eyes.
"You know very well how I feel about this whole thing, Teppei," she finally stated in a calm voice.
And Kiyoshi knew what she meant by that, and he could tell she was siding with Hyuga on this. The girl knew it was his last chance to beat Hanamiya, but she wasn't about to allow him to hurt himself permanently because of that. Still, the tall boy wanted to try and convince her to think otherwise.
"Teddy, I'll be just fine-"
"Teppei, that doesn't frickin' make me feel better!" she finally snapped, catching everyone that was listening off guard.
It got Kiyoshi to shut up, so Hyuga wasn't going to say anything. The center needed to hear her. But even though the second year center heard her loud and clear, he could spot something that no one else could in the moment as the tall girl took a breath and started to continue.
"And it doesn't help that I sa..." her words stopped, and her voice sounded like something had gotten caught in her throat.
Oh, not good. Kiyoshi stopped his arguing and his stubbornness for the moment when he saw the girl's hands beginning to tremble as she reached up to scratch her forehead while trying to catch her breath as calmly as she could.
"Sorry, I gotta catch my breath," she gulped, turning her face off to the side as she bit the inside of her cheek.
That ugly feeling of anxiety began eating at her stomach once again like it had the day before. It felt like there was an invisible force keeping her from taking in a proper breath. And the damn shaking wouldn't stop as much as she was trying to. Hyuga caught on quickly too.
"Easy, Kiddo, easy," he calmly and gently told her, but it didn't seem to be working.
He didn't want her to end up being in a state like she was after Seirin had lost to Touou, that was just too devastating for anyone to watch. (Y/N)'s chest began heaving a little harder as she began biting her lip, feeling small tears forming in her eyes. Hyuga felt so helpless, why couldn't he help her?
Kagami couldn't move, even though he wanted to so badly. He wanted to know what happened so he could fix it and make the girl feel better. The tiger had a feeling it had something to do with what happened yesterday, but he didn't want to pry so hard that it made the triple threat panic once again.
Not wanting to be caught eavesdropping on their conversation, and wanting to see if Kuroko knew something about the girl's anxiety, the red head quietly backed off and started making his way back to the rest of the team.
"Teddy, it's okay. Hey," Kiyoshi softly assured her as he put one of his large hands on her cheek, getting her to face him.
Now he had her attention, and that meant he could try and help her. Looking up at her friend, putting a finger to the corner of her eye to catch any tears from falling, the triple threat stood there and saw a soft expression on his face.
"Just breathe, okay? We're right here," his soft voice echoed in her ears as he brought his other hand up and brushed some of her long locks back behind her ear as she closed her eyes.
Focusing on her breathing, (Y/N) took in one deep breath at a time, tuning everything out around her for just a moment. After a couple of good breaths, the triple threat felt her heart rate decrease a little bit back down to its normal rhythm as she ran her hands over her face, letting out a groan.
"Ugh, I hate having anxiety," she let out, brushing her fingers through her hair as she let out one more sigh through her nose.
Well, she figured now was probably a good time to tell them what had happened the day before just so it wouldn't come as a surprise later on. And to work on telling people things so she wouldn't keep it bottled up to where she'd blow up like this. Seeing that the two second years were listening and making sure she was alright, (Y/N) found her voice and began to speak.
"I saw Hanamiya yesterday up in the stands during our game against Senshinkan. That's why I had to step out," she began to say.
That explains why she was way more on edge the day before despite the captain knowing that she had seen him in the hallway when the Kirisaki captain confronted Kiyoshi. It wasn't just the center they had to worry about, knowing the girl's past with the ruthless captain, Hyuga and the center were worried about him coming after her. And that wouldn't be good considering she had just healed up physically.
"And that's not all. He saw me in the hall and said some things," the (h/c) haired girl revealed as well.
Now that made both boys even tenser than they were before. Hanamiya hadn't been so nice to the triple threat in the past, so for him to be trying to talk to her was quite worrisome. However, neither of them would let Hanamiya even touch her.
"Why didn't you say anything to us?" Hyuga asked her, not trying to make it sound like an interrogation.
Because that wasn't the captain's goal here. He just wanted to know what had happened so he could help. (Y/N)'s smile and happy personality are some of the best things that lit up his life, so Hyuga would do whatever he could in order to protect that and her.
"I told Izu, but I completely forgot about it until now. I wasn't trying to hide it from you guys or anything like that," the triple threat answered, making sure they both knew she just genuinely forgot to tell them.
Izuki was the one who had messaged her right after she had gotten off the phone with Nijimura, and the triple threat just decided to call the punster since it'd be quite a long text and the girl just didn't have the energy for that. The two of them talked for a good hour and Izuki understood and assured the girl that she was fine with feeling the way that she did and that she probably did mostly the right things when it came to the two of them squaring up with each other.
(Y/N) took in another deep breath through her nose and exhaled through her mouth one more time before really feeling calm once again. She hadn't noticed that Kiyoshi's hand was still on her cheek until she looked back up at him and saw him smiling, feeling him run his thumb over her eye as she closed it to make sure he got rid of any more leftover tears that she may have missed.
"We know that, Teddy. It's a good thing that you're being more open like this. Guess all those times of us telling you you can tell us anything is finally paying off," the taller boy lightly teased in order to take some of the tension from the whole situation away.
The triple threat couldn't help but let a small laugh escape from her system after feeling so distressed like that. It felt nice as a small smile may its way onto the girl's face.
"Guess so," the tall girl responded, agreeing with Kiyoshi's statement.
Looks like the tall center was able to do it once again, stop her from freaking out. And she couldn't be more thankful for that. Seeing that maybe this was getting to be too much for (Y/N), Hyuga just decided to drop this for now. The issue was more than likely going to come back up the day of the game, but it could wait since the girl's mental health was more important than the two boys arguing.
When the whole team had reunited, it was time to get home and prepare for the battle ahead of them. Once the group had separated to go their own routes home, it was Hyuga, Kuroko, Kagami, and (Y/N) ended up walking together since their homes were in the same general direction. Well, the red head's turn where the trio usually separated was this way. Plus, what he had heard earlier was still fresh in his mind.
It had been a rather quiet walk, which was kind of odd. The triple threat, instead of walking by Kuroko, had been walking by the captain, everyone being quiet. Even Kagami, which was weird. The light blue haired phantom had to look over his shoulder to make sure the tiger wasn't sleep walking or anything like that. Well, that wasn't exactly the case. Instead, the tiger's ruby gaze was more so focused on the two taller teens that were leading the small group.
"What's wrong with you?" Kuroko asked the red headed tiger.
Kagami didn't answer at first, but as the quartet walked across the bridge overlooking the busy road, the tiger stopped in his tracks.
"Yo, Captain," he then called out.
The other three teenagers stopped in their tracks and looked back at the red head. (Y/N) could tell immediately that there was something on his mind, his expression kind of like the one he had used when he had asked her about who had hurt her after the whole Okami incident. And like the one he had when he asked Kuroko about what had happened between the triple threat and the miracle ace.
"Tell me something," Kagami requested.
"What?" Hyuga responded, waiting to hear what the tiger had to say.
It took the red head a few seconds, but he was able to form his wording in his head.
"Well, it's about Kiyoshi. Back in the locker room, what'd he mean by last chance?"
Both Hyuga's and (Y/N)'s eyes widened a little bit, but not as much as Kuroko's. Kiyoshi's last chance? The light blue haired hadn't noticed anything wrong with the center, so how could this be his last chance? Seeing that the two first years wanted to know more, the triple threat then looked to the captain as he stayed staring at the two other members of Seirin's terrific trio.
"We should tell them, Jun. They deserve to know," she told the glasses wearing captain.
The girl had a point. Even if they had tried to hide it, the center's injury would show itself eventually. Plus, they were all apart of the same team, so it wasn't right to keep it from them.
"I see, so you heard us. Well, alright. With his condition, you would've found out eventually. I guess, there's really no point in leaving anything out. Last year was when it all happened with Kiyoshi and Makoto Hanamiya," Hyuga started as he crossed his arms and leaned up against the railing of the bridge.
"Wait, before you start, I just wanna ask (Y/N) something too," Kagami stopped Hyuga as he looked to the triple threat.
He couldn't forget what he had heard from her in the locker room. Because he wasn't going to let her cry like that ever again. And the tiger wanted to know if it had something to do with that lurker that had basically stalked Kiyoshi.
"What's up, Tigerhead?" the triple threat asked, giving the red head the signal that it was okay for him to ask her what was on her mind.
Kagami wanted to actually think and word this carefully. If he didn't, he was worried that it could trigger another attack, and that was the last thing the boy wanted to do to the girl. Taking a second to gather his thoughts, the red head looked to the girl with a gentle gaze.
"Is he the reason why you kind of freaked out? Hanamiya, I mean," the tiger questioned her.
Oh wow, so he heard literally all of it, huh? Well, she promised herself she wasn't going hide things that were bothering her from her friends. Still, Hyuga knew this could be overwhelming for her to relive everything. So the captain turned his head to face the triple threat just in order to gauge her emotions while telling her story.
"You okay with telling them, Kiddo?" Hyuga asked her, not wanting another panic incident to occur.
But the triple threat knew this needed to come out and exactly why Hanamiya was such a malicious player.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. So, I have more of a history with Hanamiya than a lot of people think I do. I actually met him during my first year in middle school," the girl started out once she had reassured the captain that she'd be okay talking about this.
Kuroko thought about that for a second, and the time that the triple threat had mentioned connected some dots in the phantom's head as he looked back at his best friend.
"Was that before your mom..?" he started, not really sure if he should finish that sentence.
But the tall girl nodded, tightening her lips together a little bit as she took in a quick breath in order to make sure she stayed as calm as she could.
"Yep. Basically...um..." (Y/N) trailed off at first, closing her eyes as she remembered the events of those times very well.
They were still fresh in her mind, the feelings she felt, the evil she had seen in a person. Everything was still there. Scratching the back of her head quickly to get back on track, the girl continued.
"Basically, he's the reason why Naoki can't play basketball or any sort of sport anymore."
Flashback
It had been a nice autumn day during her first year in middle school, and since it was the weekend where she didn't have a game to go to, that meant (Y/N) was going to be spending some well-needed time with her family. This day, in particular, was game day for her younger cousins, Naoki and Masaru. So of course, the whole family had to go in order to support the other set of twins in this tight-knit family.
"Come on, Sis! You slowpoke!" the young, not yet a triple threat, heard a younger version of Hibiki call out to her.
Snapping out of her daze, since she had been looking at the changing leaves, a sign that fall was here, the girl saw her younger twin waving to her along with her older siblings up there with him. Aneko was in high school at the time and Hayate was almost ready to graduate middle school. The Bashira twins had just entered their first year of middle school, along with their cousins, the Kurosaki twins.
"Hibs, let your sister enjoy nature. Besides, we're early," the soothing voice of Mana Bashira told her youngest as she stood beside her youngest daughter, smiling down at the shorter girl.
(Y/N) smiled back up at her mother before hearing a hearty laugh coming from behind the two. Seconds later, the young (h/c) haired girl felt someone picking her up from under her arms and hoisting her up into the air.
"Well then, might as well make sure we won't be late by doing this, eh, Mana?" Akio asked his wife as he held his youngest daughter on his shoulders, allowing her to look at the trees while the family continued toward the gymnasium.
"Don't drop our daughter, Akio," the protective mama bear warned her husband as her eyes became red, a deadly aura surrounding her.
That biker gang side of his wife still came out sometimes, even her own children froze up when their mother got like this. And since it was being directed right at their father as well as the youngest daughter, the two of them paled under Mana's sharp gaze.
"HA! Seems like my sister can still scare the crap out of ya, eh, Aki?" a new voice came into the picture as everyone in the group turned to see another trio coming their way.
The one who had made the comment was none other than Kagatora Aida. Along with him was his wife and a younger version of Riko, her hair now shoulder length rather than it being a bob. Kagetora loved teasing his brother-in-law when it came to his terrifying and rebellious older sister. He just simply had to poke fun at him since he had no idea how the man tamed Mana.
Mana didn't look impressed with her brother as she gazed over at him, putting her hands in the pockets of her jacket. Personally, she thought there was nothing wrong with what she had just said.
"Is it wrong of me to want my children to be safe, Kage?" the (h/c) haired woman asked her younger brother.
But that only prompted everyone else in the family to deadpan at Mana, especially her husband. That wasn't exactly a normal way to respond to your husband when he was messing around with his daughter. Mana clearly didn't realize just how much of her gang side was still left in her.
"They're my kids too, sweetie. Besides, we love having our fun, right, Sunball?" Akio called up to (Y/N) on his shoulders as he began walking once again, patting his daughter's knee lightly.
The youngest Bashira daughter let out a laugh as she threw her arms up in the air, feeling like she could touch the clouds if she really wanted to. Her father was over six feet tall after all.
"Yeah! Hey, Riko! I'm an ultra NBA player now!" the young triple threat hollered over to her cousin as she continued pumping her arms up and down.
Some others that were looking on were feeling either one of two things or both. One, the shock that the Bashira clan had shown up, two, the shock from how tall they all were. And option three was just the shock from seeing them and how tall they all were. Even from up on her father's shoulders, (Y/N) appeared to be much taller than an average middle school girl.
Riko giggled a little as she pulled out her phone from her pocket, opened it up, and pointed the camera right at the (h/c) haired girl and her father.
"Hold still, I wanna send this to Hyuga," the brunette told her cousin.
(Y/N) began making a series of goofy expressions as did Akio while the family continued on their trek to the gymnasium, the crowds starting to become a little thicker. While they walked, Mana checked her phone to see if her sister-in-law had answered her text from about an hour ago. There was no response.
"Is your sister inside?" she asked her husband since the Kurosaki's mother was his younger sister.
Akio nodded, informing Mana that she had sent him a text, saying the service in the gymnasium wasn't the best and that the message she had sent him actually got through first before Mana's. Feeling satisfied with that, the matriarch of the Bashira family nodded just as the family reached the entrance.
"Baby, come on. You and your dad won't be able to get past the door if you stay up there," the mother told her daughter just as they stopped short of the door.
Yeah, (Y/N) could see that even if she were to bend down, there would be no way she and her father would fit. Akio was just too darn tall.
"Okay, Mom," the young triple threat complied as her mother helped her off of her father's shoulders.
Once she had her feet planted on the ground, Mana got slightly childish and soon began hugging her daughter from behind as they all continued to walk. (Y/N) didn't seem to mind though as she stayed in her mother's arms.
"Now Mama needs some love," Mana mumbled as they all made their way inside.
The young triple threat giggled and continued letting her mother hug her before the older woman saw the kids filing together near the door to enter the gym. Since they were in the right area, Mana let her daughter go as the young girl ran ahead. As soon as that happened, it looked like some fans and paparazzi had also made their appearance, snapping some photos of the adults.
The adults didn't mind, as long as they weren't bothering the kids, that's all they cared about. Akio and Mana also had to politely decline to take any pictures with fans that day since they were with their family. Thankfully, every one of them understood and backed off. Reaching the stairs down into the bleachers, Mana and Akio had seen that the kids, along with Riko's parents had found Akio's sister.
Smiling at the family gathering together like this, Akio and Mana took each other's hands before making their way down to the rest of them The kids were chatting with each other along with their aunt as the adults did the same. The kids were seated in the row in front of the adults and had begun trying to point out the twins down on the court.
"I found Naoki," Hayate pointed out as the others followed his gaze before spotting a head of pink hair.
"There's Masa!" Hibiki followed his older brother's actions.
"YOU GOT THIS, TWINS!!" (Y/N) shouted down to the younger set of twins from her spot in between Hibiki and Aneko.
The younger twins soon looked up and saw the rest of their family sitting together and waving down at them. The two of them were just now finishing warmups and had taken off their light pink t-shirts, revealing their team's red uniforms with white hemmings. Naoki was #3 and Masaru was #2.
"Please don't yell in front of everyone," the pink haired boy told his brother as he went to head back over to their team's bench.
The gray haired twin quickly took offense to his brother's words, bearing his teeth at the usually shy boy while stomping over to confront him.
"WHA-!? What's your problem?! I wasn't gonna yell!" Masaru shouted, causing some of his teammates to cover their ears.
Some of the crowd members heard him loud and clear from way above in the stands. Even the opponents were shooting the boy weirded out and confused looks as well. Naoki simply gave his twin brother a rather unimpressed 'really?' look, raising his eyebrows.
"You're yelling right now," the pink haired boy made his point as he took a drink from his water bottle, not at all bothered by the fact that Masaru was now trying to engage in an argument with him to prove his point that he wasn't yelling.
But Masaru kept continually yelling and shouting. Up in their seats, the Bashira siblings along with Riko just sweat-dropped, knowing that they could hear the gray haired brother very clearly and saw that Naoki was getting the upper hand like he always did.
"And...there they go again," (Y/N) uttered first as Hibiki nodded while agreeing with his twin.
The older kids had very different thoughts on that manner when it came to twins and their bickering.
"You're not one to talk, (Y/N). You and Hibs are just as bad as they are," Aneko brought up, not even knowing how many times the twins had almost gotten into a mimic fight that day on the way here.
But both their reactions mirrored each others, their jaws dropped and they both looked highly offended at such an accusation.
"We are not!" The triple threat and Hibiki both stated at the same time in perfect unison.
They then faced each other and glared down one another.
"Stop copying me!"
This was going nowhere and they were only proving their older sister's point. Aneko rested her case as she turned back towards the court. Seeing that her twin babies were starting to get fussy at each other, Mana decided it was time she stepped in. Leaning over the back of their seats, the twins' mother wrapped her arms around their shoulders and pulled them in close. Both kids stopped their little argument as they looked up at their smiling mother.
"Alrighty, my little twins. Hush now, the game's going to start soon," Mana quieted the twins down just as the buzzer ran out.
Both Masaru and Naoki were starters on their team, so they along with everyone else made their way out to center court in order to line up and bow. However, no one knew how to explain it, but something felt off about their black and teal opponents. As they all shook hands, both of the twins could feel that none of this was really all that genuine.
Even Mana had her suspicions. She was keeping a hard eye on her opponents, her husband taking notice of her intense gaze.
"What's wrong, Mana?" Akio asked his wife, catching Kagetora's attention.
His sister always had a knack for reading people, and she was usually spot on with it. Especially if those readings meant that individual didn't have the best character.
"It might just be me, but something tells me those guys that they're going up against don't have the best intentions," the woman revealed as she sat forward in her seat, crossing her arms and leaning on her knees.
Mana was just getting a very bad and dreadful feeling about this opposing team. She was hoping she was wrong. For the first quarter, nothing big really happened. Both teams were fighting pretty hard, but the twins' team had pulled ahead by ten points by the time the second quarter started.
But that's when things started to change and when (Y/N) noticed something as she looked to the opposing team's side of the gym.
"Why isn't there a coach with them?" She asked out loud.
Now that she said it, the other kids began to notice that there wasn't any adult sitting on the bench with the other players. Seemed like the captain was calling all the shots.
"Don't know, that's weird," Riko commented.
As the game went on, the opposing team was really starting to show their true, dark colors. Masaru soon received a pass from one of his teammates and was now dribbling the ball down the court in order to perform a three pointer. However, two of the players from their opponents had begun to make their move.
One of the boys had run in front of the referee while the other started charging right toward the gray haired twin. Masaru just thought this was going to be a normal block, but then he noticed the boy in front of him wasn't slowing down. At the last second, the older twin turned his body and felt his opponent ram into him, causing him to drop the ball. The rest of the twins' team started to get riled up since the ref hadn't called any out for the rough play.
"Hey, what the heck? Shouldn't that have been a foul?" Hayate questioned since the crowd could clearly see what had happened.
"Well, if the refs can't see it, they can't call it," Mana answered, sitting back in her seat, and crossing her arms.
She didn't like the look of this, and it was clear that everyone else was thinking the same thing as the other members of the audience began mumbling to one another. This was not how basketball was supposed to be played.
"I don't like this..." the young triple threat muttered as she began feeling worried for her cousins.
But one of the members of the team was still putting on a confident face, despite the circumstances that were now becoming clear to him as he dribbled the ball and walked.
"It's okay, guys! We can still take this!" Naoki encouraged his team as he came face to face with his mark.
It was a boy with very pale skin, black hair, and greyish eyes that could only be described as empty, nothing behind them at all. But there was a smirk on his face that sent chills down the pink haired boy's spine.
"Ugh, there's that attitude that makes me wanna barf," the captain of the opposing team, a younger Makoto Hanamiya, spat to Naoki.
Hanamiya had already been making a name for himself, but not in a good way. The young Uncrowned King was definitely the brains behind this ruthless gameplay. And it looked like he was trying to lock onto another target in order to secure his victory.
"I've heard quite a bit about you, Naoki Kurosaki. You act all confident when you're playing, but that's just to mask the scaredy cat you truly are underneath," Hanamiya taunted the shy pink haired boy.
It was true that Naoki might've been a shy and timid boy, but he was definitely a different person when it came to basketball. The pink haired boy soon glared at the captain in front of him as he continued dribbling the ball, not saying anything at first.
Instead, the boy quickly pulled a fast one, faking out Hanamiya as he made it around the captain, passing to a teammate, who then made a layup, gaining the twins' team two more points. It was safe to say that it kind of irked Hanamiya, and Naoki decided to relay his own little message as he began walking past the black haired captain.
"If you think words are going to get me down, think again. Beat us at basketball if you think you're so tough," the pink haired boy declared as he turned to look back at the older boy.
However, little did he know, those words would seal his fate. One thing Makoto Hanamiya hated more than goodie two shoes, was when someone talked back to him and looked down on him, making him feel inferior. Once Naoki was out of hearing range, the Uncrowned King decided now was the time to act.
"Fine then. If you want me to show you what I mean, then I will," the boy declared before holding his hand up, putting his pointer finger and thumb together.
*SNAP!*
The other players of his team at the time knew that signal, and all of them knew to stay out of the captain's way, giving him the ball no matter what. Once everything had started back up, the entire feel of the game had changed entirely. There was something darker about it. And when Hanamiya got the ball and was going up against Naoki, Mana saw something.
"Honey," the older woman quietly called out to her husband as she grabbed his knee, her eyes focusing on Hanamiya as the captain began dribbling quickly as the pink haired boy tried his best to steal the ball back.
"What?" Akio looked to his wife to see her looking very concerned.
When the man looked back down to the court, he and the rest of his family could see what was about to happen. Hanamiya had jumped up in order to look like he was doing a fadeaway shot. Naoki was standing right behind him. But the pink haired boy soon noticed that the captain of the opposing team was falling toward him.
"He's in trouble. HEY! NAOKI! WATCH OUT!" Mana shouted down to try and alert him so the boy could get out of the way.
But when the younger twin seemed to be too caught up in the moment. For Naoki, it was in slow motion as Hanamiya's elbow fell toward him. It was too late for him to do anything. And even if he wanted to, the captain had ordered them to cage him in to make sure he stayed where he was. Everyone watched as the elbow made contact with Naoki's forehead as the two fell to the ground.
*BAM!*
"NAOKI!!" People shouted the boy's name as the two boys lay on the gym floor.
(Y/N) had let out a loud gasp as her shaky hands covered her mouth, her cousin had just taken a hard hit to the head. Now, no one could tell what his condition was as the captain stood up. The younger twin wasn't moving, not one bit as his brother rushed over and crouched down over him.
"Naoki! You okay?" Masaru tried to see if his brother was alright.
But he wasn't. There was a streak of blood trailing down Naoki's forehead, his eyes remaining closed. Masaru was now starting to freak out as tears started filling up his purple eyes.
"Oh my, is he alright?" a sickeningly fake concerned voice then asked.
Oh, that set off a fuse in the older twin brother as he snapped back around to face Hanamiya, who was smiling, even though he had tried to make it sound like he was worried for the unconscious boy. That was enough to make Masaru stand up as he went over and grabbed the older boy's jersey collar rather harshly.
"What the hell is your problem? You did that on purpose!" the gray haired boy growled, glaring daggers at the captain, who didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that there was an angry boy yelling inches away from his face.
"Masaru, that's enough. We need to get him to the infirmary," the twins' coach ordered the boy to do, more than likely stopping a fight from breaking out.
Masaru turned to look back at the man, seeing him shake his head. The gray haired boy only grit his teeth together as he released Hanamiya just as his younger brother was being carried off on a gurney.
Up in the stands, the young triple threat was starting to become a complete wreck. Her heart was racing, and her stomach was bubbling as her skin turned even more pale. The girl knew what was coming next.
"Mom...? I'm gonna be sick..."
Before anyone could ask anything, (Y/N) shot to her feet and literally sprinted up the stairs and out the nearest bathroom. Her family didn't have time to respond before Mana got to her feet and moved past her husband to get to the stairs.
"You guys go to see Naoki, I'll go get (Y/N)," she told them before rushing up to find her youngest daughter to make sure she was alright.
But the young (h/c) haired girl wasn't doing alright. She had emptied her stomach and barfed for a good couple of minutes until she could no longer throw anything up. Feeling a little better and like she could stand, the triple threat came out of the bathroom in order to grab a drink of water. However, when she did so, there was a figure coming towards her out of the corner of her eye.
And she recognized him instantly as being a young Makoto Hanamiya, just casually walking towards her without a care in the world. Like he hadn't just seriously injured someone.
Oh, angry (Y/N) was definitely making her appearance as she glared before going over to confront the older boy.
"You're the guy that did that to Naoki! How could you?!" The girl shouted at the captain, who simply looked at her with no emotion.
"Oh? And who might you be?" Hanamiya played along, smirking to just try and gauge her reaction.
Because that was the best part that he basked in whenever Hanamiya succeeded with his dark plans. And that's exactly what he was enjoying right now, seeing her all upset like this.
The triple threat was going to make sure he knew and remembered her name, her anger and emotions were running very high right now.
"I'm his cousin, (Y/N) Bashira. You landed on his head on purpose, I saw you!" She accused while pointing a finger at him.
Keeping the smirk on his face, Hanamiya just kept playing along to see where this was going to go. He just played dumb.
"I don't know what you're talking about. How can you accuse me when you have no proof?" He asked her, somewhat accusing her of being an asshole.
"We all saw you do it. How petty and cowardly can you get when someone calls you out on what's the truth?"
Now, Hanamiya had heard people say many things about him, and usually, the boy didn't care. But this time was different. This time, it was a girl who had decided to run her mouth a little too much and look down on him. And that was something he hated more than anything.
(Y/N) soon saw his smirk drop and felt his aura change completely to that of rage. There was a sharp glare that soon followed. It kind of scared her as she flinched, and Hanamiya was now stalking right towards her.
The younger girl soon backed up and stopped as soon as she felt her back hit the wall. Hanamiya's hand slammed against the wall by her head, caging her in as she stood frozen. The boy's anger was seething and almost seemed to suffocate to her as she frightfully stared at him.
"Now you listen to me, you'd be better off minding your own damn business. I don't like girls who talk back to me. That mouth's gonna get you in trouble one day, so you better watch it," he warned before backing off, leaving the shocked girl in her spot as he disappeared down the hallway.
(Y/N) didn't know what to make of what he had just told her. That threat, somehow, she knew he was serious, that they weren't just some empty words. It scared the girl. The (h/c) haired girl didn't even hear her mother coming from around the corner, seeing her daughter standing there against the wall, completely still.
"Sunball!" Mana called out as she rushed over to her daughter.
Once the young triple threat had registered in her mind that it was her mother, the girl's defenses dropped, and her tears began filling with tears as she sniffled while wiping her nose. The mother knew exactly what to do as she took the girl in her arms.
"It's okay, honey, shh...shh..." Mana cooed to her daughter as (Y/N) hiccuped a couple of times.
The mother didn't know what had happened, but she figured this was all from seeing her little cousin getting injured like that while playing a sport that they all loved. It shouldn't have been this way, but it was. It was the cold, hard truth.
Rubbing the girl's back, Mana finally put her hands on (Y/N)'s shoulders and pulled away, taking her daughter's face in her hands. That comforting motherly smile was on her face, and somehow, that made the situation a little better as the triple threat calmed down.
"Naoki's okay, sweetie. Let's go see him," her mother informed her.
The young triple threat didn't verbally respond, but she nodded. Soon, the mother and daughter caught up with that rest of the family to see how the pink haired boy's condition was. It wasn't good, but it wasn't terrible either. Though the concussion had done quite the number on him.
And little did (Y/N) know, this encounter would spark the history she spoke of between her and the bad boy uncrowned king.
Flashback End
"So, yeah. That's what happened. Because of the concussion, if Naoki were to get hit on the head again, it could cause permanent brain damage. All because of Hanamiya. And I somehow keep running into him whenever there're big games going on," the triple threat concluded with her story, fiddling with her fingers a little bit.
Kagami and Kuroko could now understand better as to why she was so on edge and hostile when it came to Hanamiya. The boy practically almost did her cousin in and then scared her half to death when she confronted him.
This guy was bad, real bad indeed.
And that wasn't even all of it. Thinking back to what she had told them in the locker room, the captain looked out to the road, a little hesitant to questioned the triple threat about this. But he had to know so he could prevent it from happening ever again.
"Did he threaten you again?" Hyuga asked as he turned to face her.
"Woah, woah, woah, this guy's threatened you?" The tiger repeated, not believing what he was hearing while Kuroko let out a soft gasp.
Kagami thought this dude was bad news, but he didn't think a player could stoop so low. He'd be damned if anyone touched the (h/c) haired girl, let alone make threats against her. Just thinking about that made him mad.
Kuroko felt the same way. He hadn't heard any of this from her before, so to hear that there was actually someone who was more than likely out to do her harm infuriated the phantom. She had been through enough with Okami, and now she had Hanamiya to deal with.
Seeing that her friends wanted answers, the triple threat wasn't going to hide it from them. After a couple of seconds, the boys saw her nod. Though Hyuga narrowed his eyes a bit more, glaring to himself.
"Oh yeah. It was just the usual, telling me I was gonna 'pay for talking back to him' and all that fun stuff. He, as a person, doesn't scare me. I get more scared of what he's going to do to people I care about," (Y/N) explained, making air quotes with her fingers when it came to reciting Hanamiya.
As she grew older, Hanamiya didn't really become a threat to her anymore. But she did worry for others who couldn't see through his schemes. That's what scared her now.
After hearing what had happened to Kiyoshi from Hyuga, Kuroko and Kagami made promises to themselves that Makoto Hanamiya's reign would be put to an end. And they were going to protect the triple threat from him at all costs.
Hanamiya, you'd better prepare yourself.
A/N: I'll be writing about when Seirin first formed when I start writing the Teiko arc. It falls more in line for the ideas I have for that.