Fuck life.
Fuck middle-school.
Fuck girls.
Fuck sports.
Fuck future.
Fuck baske-
"You're Aomine Daiki, right?"
A short male looks up at him, with shining eyes.
"Everyone speaks about you! I'm new in the basket-ball club, and I heard you're one of the best first years here, so-"
His fast talking shuts the dark thoughts off his mind for a second, filling the dark skinned male's attention with his exited eyes, and his little gestures. The raging storm inside Aomine's heart calms down a little bit for a moment. He raises an eyebrow, and lets out a sneer.
"Uh-Uh. But a shrimp like you could dream a thousand times before even thinking about beating me."
"...What did you say?!"
"Shrimp." A smirk appears.
"You..You gorilla!"
"What? Wanna fight?!"
"I'll take you whenever!"
"Don't think you can win, you little-"
"Even if I'm short, I'm not weak!"
The other blinks, surprised, before the fierce eyes who are looking straight at him with an angry glare.
"You're weak. You're small and obliviously not strong."
But if Aomine was waiting for teary eyes, he was troubled when he saw that the face in front of him didn't change.
Didn't loose its determination. Was still looking right straight at him.
"We'll see about it! What about now?"
Aomine wanted to sleep.
To shove this short boy's hand away, so that he would be alone.
"Deal."
But accepted, after all.
And then, they shared a handshake.
A simple gesture.
The two of them couldn't bring themselves to think that this first meeting would led them into a storm of crazy events.
"You must be Shouyou's teammates."
A man.
Somewhat at the same height than Kuroko, standing proud on his feet, his arms crossed under the white jersey he wore on his shoulders.
His hair were weird, as expected Kageyama. Well, the actually rainbow was just in front of his eyes, so this doesn't make any sense if there's a normal color, now.
Tobio clenched his fists, startled when he saw the eyes of the man. Deep, and intense amethyst, piercing and fierce, as if he had the power to go inside anyone's brain.
"We are." Nishinoya said, reacting first, and earning the attention of everyone. Not noticing the way the pink, almost red haired dude slightly narrowed his eyes, he continued, throwing a hesitant smile at them. "I am Nishinoya Yuu, and he is Kageyama Tobio."
Nishinoya never hesitated. But Tobio could understand his nervousness.
Hinata didn't move since the presentation.
He seemed to try to make himself the smallest possible, and didn't even look at the cercle, adverting his gaze to look at the several balls in the floor.
"Hi, Shou-chin."
He tensed, when he heard a deep voice calling him.
And after a moment of reticence, he finally gave in, and looked at the biggest guy of them all, who was still eating, but this time, with a light, lazy smile on his face, while staring at Hinata.
The orange head had a dumbstruck expression, when the tallest approached him, and took a step back unconsciously, wary about the attention that everybody gave him at this moment, and overall, the titan walking towards his small form.
Tobio scowled, and with an urge of protectiveness, initiated a gesture to shield the middle blocker.
But a hand quickly grabbed his forearm, and he turned, surprised to see Ryouta, who glanced at him with a dumb smile.
It didn't help him calm down at all.
Hinata was now just separated by a few steps from the purple titan, and Yuu looked ready to step in at any threats.
"Stop it, Murasakibara."
A silence filled the gymnasium, after Hinata snapped.
Kageyama knew his rival.
Hinata, even if some people believed the contrary, was really good at hiding his emotions, sometimes. Well, he liked to express it, and did it most of the time, but when things turned in a way he didn't like, he preferred to hide it.
He had spoken with a calm and soft voice.
It was a short sentence, but full of hatred, venom and fear at the same time.
And this presumed Murasakibara actually stopped.
"Hm? But Sho-chin, I wanted to give you some of my candies."
Was this titan pouting?
What the hell was wrong with these weirdos?
"What the fuck, Kise, you never said that he'd come with company.." Yuu turned his head slightly, to look at the big tanned guy, who had dark-blue hair. "Why did he bring his fucking teammates along, anyway?"
"Don't be a kid, Dai-cchi."
"You're the one to talk?" Dai-cchi yawns, and glances at Kise, unimpressed.
Did we already pointed out that this one looked like a punk?
Well, because he did.
His lazy pose and his disrespectful manners as he didn't even gave them any attention when he mentioned them made the libero want to punch his freaking teeth.
Shouyou didn't even greet him, and ignored the way Kageyama came near him, watching Murasakibara's every movements.
"So that's the member you've been rambling about."
This time, Hinata reacted fiercely, and made eye contact with the player who had dark red hair, with a frown and a bit of confusion in his gaze.
"He is." Replied the tall, green-haired dude, nodding while placing correctly the glasses he wore on his nose.
"Who are you?"
The question the middle blocker asked was directed at the man who had weird eyebrows, who frowns, reacting to the rude question.
"Huh? You-"
Then, Kuroko quickly interrupted the discussion.
"He's one of my team's players. We play at the same school."
He spoke fast, rushing his words as if he wanted this sentence to print on Hinata's mind.
Kagami raised one of his eyebrows, and held Hinata's stare.
The orange head tenses, under the heavy gaze, and a melancholic glint pass through his big eyes.
That's not what he wished to hear. Who was he to them? Why was he here? How comes-
Tobio, at this very moment, could have been able to feel his attacker's trouble and sadness from miles away.
"Move."
Sharp, short and intense.
A simple order, who held so much more inside.
Tobio's arm instinctively reached Hinata's shoulders, as he put all his attention to the leader of these people.
It was the player with the number four on his torso, still in the same position as before, still looking at Hinata.
It took a while for Nishinoya to understand that this order wasn't directed to any of them.
The one who was told to move was this Taiga.
And he did, not without grunting, but he did. He stepped backwards, and came towards the green-haired guy.
"Come."
The number four orders one more time, but this time, with an evident lack of firmness in his voice.
It was lighter, much more bearable than the last one.
Hinata hesitates, a second, before grabbing Kageyama's hand, and starting to walk, nearly followed by their libero. And in the end, Hinata and Kuroko found themselves alongside the number four.
Nishinoya was just between Kagami and Kageyama, in an almost funny scene. Their height difference didn't impress the smallest, though. He had the chin up in a proud way, and stared at anyone who would dare and try to meet his eyes.
Tobio had only eyes for Hinata.
He studied his every movement.
"All of us are going to introduce ourselves, before we start."
The number one said, in a firm tone. Faint grumbles could be heard, but the silence fell over the place when the number one suddenly smiled.
In a creepy way.
"Seijūrō Akashi. I am the point guard, and the captain of this team."
Then, and only when Akashi allowed, with a positive movement of his head, toward the blue-haired male next to him, Kuroko followed.
"He means he's a passer. A point guard is a control tower in Basketball, and it can be compared to a setter in Volley-ball. Tetsuya Kuroko, I guess you could say that I'm at the same position than Seijūrō-kun."
Nobody noticed Hinata's eyes widening.
Kuroko, huh. Impassive, without emotion in his voice. This one was definitely weird.
A huge contrast with the next person.
"You already know me, but anyway, I'm Ryouta Kise, small forward!"A bright smile, who could easily be compared with one of these toothpaste adds, greeted them. "I'm concentrated in attacks and defense, so I'm very maleable. I heard my position is the same as middle blocker."
A growl followed.
"Shut up, yer too loud." The blue-haired guy ignored Kise's face of indignation, and continued, while glaring at the two volleyball players. "Daiki Aomine, power forward, or attacker, if ya want. Just scoring points I guess."
Next was glasses-kun. Who was frowning deeply.
"Shintarou Midorima. I'm the shooting guard of the team. I score points, too."
Clear enough.
And now, the titan. Still with his candies, and still looking bored.
"I'm Atsushi Murasakibara, the center." He yawns for a moment, before adding: "I'm the defender, in other terms."
And to finish, Taiga.
"Taiga Kagami, power forward. Same as Aomine."
Nishinoya didn't even have the time to react to the fact that their names coincided with their hair's colour. It was already his time.
An assured smile appeared on his lips.
"I am Nishinoya Yuu, the libero, defender of the team."
Murasakibara blinks, surely surprised. A short guy like this? Small, and not strong at all. A bit skinnier than Hinata.
He had to defend the team?
"Kageyama Tobio." Says the number nine, calmly, but with cold, firm eyes. "Setter."
Kuroko's face remains impassive, even if everyone looks at him at the mention of Kageyama's position. No one says anything.
Setter, huh. The equivalent of a point guard, here.
Hinata hesitates a few seconds, before finally opening his mouth.
"Shouyou Hinata.. Middle Blocker."
Tobio's narrowed eyes see Akashi's eyebrows twitch.
His experienced blue eyes saw the little, almost unseeable change in Akashi's body, as his shoulders tensed for a second, before relaxing into its original pose.
Kageyama misses his bed, for once.
This situation was so weird.
Theses players were so weird.
"Explain."
Why did everything who got out of this Askashi's mouth were orders?
And why did he ask this even though he knew it already?
Because of course Akashi knew already.
"I.. I'm concentred at the attack and the defense on the same time.. I am somehow a decoy."
"Hmm." Hums Kuroko, a small smile on his lips. "That's not different from your original position, huh."
Ah, right. What position did he play? Kageyama curiously, wanted to know.
Seeing his reaction, Tetsuya explained, ignoring Hinata. Hinata who maybe didn't want this information to be revealed.
As if he had a saying in this, anyway.
"He's a small forward. It's actually the same role as a middle blocker, but in basketball, as said by Ryouta-kun."
Oh. So his speciality didn't change.
Hinata was Hinata, after all.
But wait.
Wait a second.
Why did Kuroko use the present to talk about this?