Don't own Kuroko no Basuke.

Don't own the Cover Art.

Rainbow Fulfilled

"What should I do?" Shigehiro fretted, his hands twitching as he hesitantly began dribbling his senpai's basketball, his anxiety spiking with each hit of the ball against the asphalt. He could do this, damn it, but why was it so hard to believe that? "I want to go and cheer Kuroko on, but what if he doesn't want to see me? What if he hates me after all of these years? What if – ?"

His thoughts were cut off as he jumped back with a yelp, his senpai lowering his hand from where it had risen to swat him on the head. "You're still talking about the blue-haired, blank-eyed brat that you gushed was your childhood friend, right? Because I highly doubt he hates you."

Shigehiro whined a little in response. "Senpai is so mean to me!" He dribbled the basketball from hand to hand without noticing, too busy pouting at his senior.

The second year didn't even acknowledge the look, grey-blue eyes flat as he stared his kouhai down. When Shigehiro began squirming nervously, the other student rolled his eyes and looked away, hands fiddling with his cell phone. "Would it make you feel any better if I went with you?" he asked instead, voice dry and unsurprised.

Shigehiro broke out into a grin, tackling his senior in a hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou! You won't regret it, senpai!"

Nijimura Shuuzou grunted a quiet, "I highly doubt that" but didn't pull away.

Shigehiro actually wouldn't be able to tell anyone who asked just how exactly he met Nijimura Shuuzou, only that it involved basketball. The orange-haired boy had been living in a daze ever since that horrible match against Teikou, but remembered waking up to the harsh colors of the world by a sharp voice and even sharper words.

"Oi! Don't lie to your senpai! I know a basketball idiot when I see one, and you are a basketball idiot!"

He'd cringed at every utterance of the sport he'd once loved, but a part of Shigehiro woke up that day, and clung on stubbornly. It repeated those words to him over and over again, until he almost couldn't take it. And then he met Nijimura again.

Nijimura-senpai is like a wolf, Shigehiro remembers thinking to himself one day, as he watched the older boy spin a basketball on one finger and read from a book in his other hand. The younger could admit that he was admittedly thinking about that only to try and distract himself from the terror pawing at his heart at the sight of the basketball, but the thought wasn't unfounded.

His senpai had a way of walking that gave off this feeling of subtle lethality. Shigehiro had convinced him to help him with his classes, and seen Nijimura silence a room by just walking into it. Though him being a practitioner of karate helped explain it, Shigehiro also suspected that Nijimura had been in a leadership position before.

His senpai, in his ever-blunt manner, admitted that he had been captain of the Teikou basketball club for a year and a half before giving it over to Akashi. That had almost scared Shigehiro away completely, but the way Nijimura treated him had him crawling back. The senior didn't treat him like glass, a second away from shattering into nothing. He treated him like his kouhai.

And Shigehiro held on to that almost desperately. He knew he was broken, knew that his parents grew worried every time he came back to the house. But he didn't want that to change how he was treated, and Nijimura was a blessing in that regard.

They eventually began to meet at the empty streetball court that was near the school. Not to play basketball, the orange-haired boy certainly didn't have the heart to play when these meetings first started. His senpai just insisted that it was a good place to study, which was true; no one ever came by when the two were there. Once Shigehiro could study there without having to take a walk at all, Nijimura brought a hacky sack resembling a basketball that he took to throwing at Shigehiro if the junior got a question wrong.

It was slow progress, but it was progress none the less. And now the Winter Cup was ending, and Shigehiro wants to see his childhood friend again.

And reintroduce him to the senpai that saved his life.

Taiga blinked, his body numb as the buzzer went off. They did it.

Seirin beat Rakuzan.

There was a stunned silence throughout the gym, before the crowd gave an earth-shattering roar, and both sides' Miracles fell onto the floor. A herd of people began moving onto the court, and Taiga caught sight of Tatsuya and all of the other Miracles before a voice distracted him.

"Kuroko!" A guy with bright orange hair stumbled to the ground beside Kuroko, his tawny eyes teary.

Kuroko's eyes widened at the other, before a full smile took over. "Ogiwara-kun!"

Taiga smiled as Kuroko was reunited with his old friend, but got distracted as he caught sight of Tatsuya coming over, his older brother talking comfortably with someone Taiga had never seen before.

The other male was a few centimeters shorter than Tatsuya and had black hair. As they drew closer, Taiga noticed that he had piercing grey eyes, and felt his own eyes widen when they briefly locked gazes. 'Whoa! What's this scent? It's like Tatsuya's but…it feels older somehow.' Seirin's ace felt his resolve grow. 'Once we've recovered, I want to challenge this guy!'

"Nice job Taiga! I knew you could do it!" His brother gave him a small smile, his words somewhat awkward but heartfelt, and the redhead grinned back.

"Thanks!" He then glanced at the other noirette, who was looking around, bored, and asked, "So who are you?"

Tatsuya gave an amused and helpless smile while the other teen gave him a look that actually had Taiga flinching for a moment. "Nijimura Shuuzou," the teen said, followed by, "I met your brother when I was in America for a year." Taiga nodded in understanding; that explained why they seemed pretty close.

A voice suddenly rose over the others around them, and Taiga found himself instinctively turning toward it. "Kuroko, I want to meet the senpai that helped me be able to come here today."

"I would love to, Ogiwara-kun."

"Ooooi! Senpai, get over here!"

Nijimura twitched in annoyance, muttering, "stupid kouhai," but was moving toward the two in response to the call, so Taiga and Tatsuya followed him curiously. The face that Kuroko made when Nijimura appeared before him and his friend will be forever etched in Taiga's mind.

"Captain?!" the faintest hint of disbelief could be heard in Kuroko's voice, and any speculation that Taiga had about the two of them was shattered by that word. What the hell did that mean?!

"Yo, Kuroko. How have you been?" Nijimura didn't seem fazed by their impromptu reunion and ruffled Kuroko's hair gently, ignoring the orange-haired boy beside him who began whining in response.

Taiga was surprised to see Kuroko actually lean into the touch, rather than smack his hand away like he did everyone else. "I have been well, Nijimura-senpai. It's good to see you again. And…thank you for helping Ogiwara-kun. I know he was in good hands." Though seemingly blank, Taiga could hear the sincerity in his shadow's voice, and it made him turn to regard Nijimura again. 'Kuroko honestly respects him. Who is this guy?'

Seirin's ace twitched when he heard the other Miracles begin to converge on them, and Nijimura abruptly straightened. "Talk to the others, brat." Taiga would have bristled, but he could hear the affection in Nijimura's voice. "I have an errant vice-captain to visit." Kuroko and Ogiwara nodded, and the second-year walked off towards the Rakuzan team. Taiga followed his path for a moment, still baffled. 'And what the hell did that mean?'

Seijuurou didn't look up as his team fell to their knees around him, his crimson eyes locked onto the floor. He finally woke up, the other Akashi Seijuurou disappearing into his subconscious, but at the cost of losing the game. Unbidden, a tear escaped one of his eyes.

"Oi, brat, what do you think you're doing?" A voice started next to him, and Seijuurou startled. That voice…he knew it. Cautiously, the red-haired captain looked up. And stared.

Nijimura Shuuzou knelt in front him, his voice sharp and eyes soft. One of his hands rose, gently pushing Seijuurou hair out of his eyes, and Seijuurou felt himself leaning forward without a thought. His former captain moved with him, his hand going behind his head to push it into the older boy's shoulder.

"Breathe in," he commanded, and Seijuurou complied, the breath unsteady. "Breathe out." Again, he obeyed, wondering where this was going. "Now cry, Akashi; it's alright," and Seijuurou listened, the tears soaking into his senpai's shoulder. The redhead's hands dug into the other's shirt into an unconscious attempt to keep him close, but Nijimura didn't say anything about it, just holding Seijuurou as he fell apart in his arms.

Around the room, orange, yellow, green, purple and two pairs of blue eyes looked around, wondering why, for first time in years, it felt like everything was going to be…okay.

And outside, a rainbow appeared in the once cloudy sky, a sign of good things to come.

I'll admit that I have a bit of a character crush on Nijimura at the moment, so two other ideas have been laid down that have him at the center. I'll also admit to being really annoyed with this one, since it wanted to be written so badly but didn't want some of the scenes I did, like the reunion of all of the Miracles with their Rainbow Captain ^.^; Oh well, maybe next time.

Please review.

Ja ne!