Rebound (Kagakuro)

Chapter Twenty

Kagami

Something was off about Kuroko, but I can't seem to figure out what was it. He still had the blank expression on his face, but somehow this time I felt as if he really disappeared. His eyes were a little red, probably from crying. My chest squeezed painfully. I didn't like knowing he still cried himself to sleep at night.

Our next game was in the afternoon, and Kuroko was nowhere to be found. I was a little bit worried, but maybe he just needed the time alone. He always disappeared without us knowing anyway, so the others wasn't that surprised as I was.

"Should we look for Kuroko?" I asked coach, who was in the middle of discussion with Hyuga. "I mean, he's been missing for almost an hour."

"I'm sure he's fine, Kagami. He texted me earlier." She said, then continued her conversation with the senpai.

I groaned in annoyance. Kuroko was my boyfriend, it's not my fault that I got worried maybe too much. Aomine's team was somewhere in the hall, and suddenly I got a weird thought.

What if they're meeting?

I shook my head, gently tapping my cheeks to push the thought away. It's fine, he was free to do whatever he wanted, but I was just afraid of what Aomine would do. After all, he was still in love with Kuroko, isn't he?

"Kagamicchi!" I heard Kise calling from the other side, waving at me. I smiled and waved back as he walked towards me.

"Where's Kuroko?" He glanced around. "It's shocking to see you not with him. You two were inseparable."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know either, he's gone for almost an hour now. I'm a little bit worried."

Kise was silent for awhile, then he said, "Well, I bumped into Aomine a while ago. He said he was rushing to meet someone, so he couldn't chat with me. Do you think he's meeting Kuroko?"

"I thought about that too, but I don't know. They probably have things that need to be settled before the game. We're against them if we win the semi finals."

Kise nodded his head in acknowledgement. He patted my shoulder before going over to the team, making Hyuga annoyed with his presence. The blond only laughed at his reaction, and he seemed pleased with it. I shook my head in disbelief before joining them. I knew I should trust Kuroko. He'll never betray me like that. He's a good boy.

Kuroko joined us when it was 15 minutes left to the game, beads of sweat rolled down his forehead and he was panting. I raised my eyebrows in confusion, and he flashed me an apologetic smile.

"I'll explain everything to you later, and I'm sorry for being gone for too long."

I sighed and pulled him into a hug, then covered his head with a towel. "Don't scare me like that again," I whispered to him. "I keep over thinking. I hate that, Kuroko."

He pulled away, icy blue eyes staring into my red ones. His hands were cold against my cheeks, and I shivered a little.

"I'm sorry for making you worry, Kagami-kun," He whispered back. "But I can assure you that everything is okay now. We're okay."

I made sure to give him a kiss before we pulled away. Thank God for the towel, no one saw what we did. Kuroko only smiled wider, red cheeks glowing. I smiled in return. I found it scary how he could affect me this much, but either way, I loved how he made me feel.

"Alright, we're heading out now," Hyuga announced, a determined look spread across his features as he looked at us. "Let's win this!"

"Yeah!" We shouted in unison, fists in the air.

I caught Aomine when we walked towards the court. I gave him a suspicious look, but he only flashed me a satisfied smile. It confused me, though I tried not to let it get to me.

The game started with the crowd cheering and the ball was thrown high up to the air. I jumped as high as possible and managed to get the ball in my hands, passing it to a teammate without thinking twice. We ran, passed and threw the ball, scoring one by one together. I've noticed Kuroko playing much better than he did before, and that actually motivated me more. He flashed me a grin when our eyes met and I shook my head in disbelief.

He was amazing.

Our scores managed to catch up to the opposing team quickly, making them panic and failing their throws and shots. Hyuga shouted orders and we followed them well, and I could see our coach beaming from the bench, along with the other first-years.

70 - 71 was the score and a few seconds left. I knew if we failed this we couldn't win, so I waited for Hyuga's orders, with Kuroko somewhere around me.

"Seirin! Seirin! Seirin!"

The crowd was cheering louder and I was feeling more pumped now. One of the opposing team's member caught the ball and went for a dunk, but fortunately I jumped higher and the ball was out of his hand. I heard him curse, but there was no time for pity now.

"Hyuga!" I yelled and passed the ball straight to him. He caught it swiftly and went for the net, making a three-pointer. Everything went silent suddenly — the clock stopped ticking, the sound of basketball bouncing away on the floor, the screeching of our shoes stopped.

My eyes went wide the moment they started to cheer as I watched my teammates jumped on Hyuga in excitement. We won the game, we did it.

I laughed and put my arm around Kuroko. We were drenched in sweat and we probably smelt bad, but I didn't care. He was here with me in this victory, and it was because of him we could win. Both him and Hyuga were amazing. I laughed softly and leaned against his small frame, breathing heavily.

"We won," He chuckled. "We've won the game, Kagami-kun."

"Don't be too happy, silly," I kissed his temple and he closed his eyes. "The finals' next."

We both laughed tiredly as we approached our friends, and when they spotted us they attacked us with a big hug. Coach laughed with happy tears rolling down her cheeks. Kiyoshi stood next to her, arms crossed as he smiled widely at us.

I'll see you soon, Aomine Daiki.

___

A/N: Rebound is ending ahhh! I didn't put much details on the game because that's not what I'm focusing on since the beginning. This story is about Kuroko, Kagami and Aomine — how they overcome their pain, confusions and such. I hope you'll understand :)