Hello again :)

First of all: THANK YOU to all who reviewed my first story. It really means a lot to me as without comments I don't feel like continuing and this chapter probably would have taken another 2-3 weeks (my writing habit is rather bad…)

Thank you also to those who put my story on their favourite list and follow it ^o^ Please keep on reading.

Second: I apologize for my silly mistakes (especially the plot mistake!) I finished it around midnight and I was tired, so reading it again the next morning I was shocked. However, had I not posted it at the time I did I probably would have started to rewrite everything again and I'd never end up putting it up…

Disclaimer: I still don't own Kuroko no Basuke *eyes Akashi and sniffs*

Again, this chapter has not been beta-ed (just by myself, so let's see if there are less mistakes this time…)

I'm not really sure about this chapter, as I said, first story ^^; So hope no one will be disappointed.

Hope you'll enjoy the new chapter ^o^

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It was quite astonishing how relaxing spending time with Kuroko, and by default also Aomine, was. Aomine had eyed him wearily at first, after all Akashi had been getting more and more unpredictable during the week, but then shrugged it off and went along with Kuroko's decision to get him to join.

As he watched the two eat burgers, rather many in Aomine's case while Kuroko didn't even completely finish his small portion of cinnamon twists, he had to agree with Kuroko. Joining them, while not particularly fun, helped him calm down. And watching them interact with each other outside of the field, when they were not one heart and soul, showed him a few more sides of Kuroko's. His face for once was free of concentration and his eyes remained rather soft in comparison. Small smiles could be seen more often as well.

"I don't see how you can stand those." Aomine wrinkled his nose at the tiny bit that was left of Kuroko's dessert.

"Aomine-kun shouldn't be so picky." Kuroko deadpanned.

"I'm hardly picky. But this is a-" The smaller boy used the opening to push one of the twists into the other's mouth.

"See, it does taste good."

"TETSU!" Aomine screamed and coughed.

"You shouldn't waste food." The blue haired boy looked disapprovingly at the little bite that Aomine had coughed out.

"I'm NOT-" The chuckling, no laughing, that erupted from their captain shut him up. It was the first time Aomine had seen their captain laugh for real. Wide eyed he continued to watch him, forgetting all he wanted to shout at his backstabbing friend who forced him to eat nasty things.

"I don't see what's so funny." Said friend commented once their captain was back to his, more normal, chuckling.

"Don't you?" Akashi smiled cheerfully. "I could have sworn you just proved that you do have a sense of humour, even if you told me you don't."

"I don't." came the answer without a moment's hesitation.

"So you didn't do it on purpose?" Akashi grinned highly amused while Aomine spluttered.

"…"

"TETSU!" Aomine shouted indignantly.

"… It was fun." The phantom player finally admitted.

"How dare you?" The taller boy stood up and towered over the blue haired one.

"Wasn't it nice being fed by Tetsuya?" Akashi grinned, not at all caring about the attention they were attracting.

"Huh?" Aomine blushed ever so slightly. "W-WHAT?"

The small regular however blinked a few times before pushing the last twist into Akashi's mouth, as he was about to further rile Aomine up.

"Hmm. It's good." Akashi commented while chewing. "But Tetsuya, your training will be doubled tomorrow."

"Akashi-kun said it was nice to be fed by me." Kuroko interpreted his previous sentence.

"… nevermind. Remember to not interrupt me again, I won't forgive it, even if it's you." Akashi told him with a now sinister smile.

Aomine plopped down on his chair again mumbling that the two of them were too much to handle at once and that they should keep close contact restricted to the basketball field, else he surly would get a constant migraine. Seriously Kuroko alone was bad enough when he wanted to be, he hadn't counted on their captain to have the same wavelength when it came to weird situations.

Shortly after, they left the fast food restaurant together. The redhead stretched and smiled as he bid them a goodnight. The time he had spent here wasn't spent productively at all, but it certainly wasn't wasted. He felt calmer than he had in a rather long time.

The next day the members of the basketball club were scared witless as Akashi announced right of the bat that Kuroko's training menu was doubled. The poor boys face faltered for a moment before he sighed and did as he was told to do. Akashi sure could hold grudges.

Needless to say everyone tiptoed around the redhead and no one even thought about doing anything that might draw the attention of their captain towards them. Aside from Aomine, that is. The tanned boy was laughing so hard the entire time he was incapable of playing.

. . . . . . . . . .

"Tetsuya." Akashi greeted as once again the blue haired boy was waiting outside the clubroom.

"Will you come along again?" He was asked right away.

It had become a habit of Kuroko to search out Akashi and drag him along to wherever they went all few days. The initial plan, to make sure the redhead had some time off from all of his duties had been a full success. It had worked so well that Kuroko had even been asked by others to work his 'magic' again. Those who had dared and were caught naturally had their training menu spiced up a tiny bit.

"I'm busy." He was rather curious as to how the blue haired boy before him would react to that. He'd never declined before after all.

"…" Kuroko drew his eyebrows and lips together as he kept staring at him for several minutes. "Does that mean you will not come along?"

"You seem insistent on me joining you guys. Did the others bug you again?" He questioned.

Kuroko protruded his lips even more. Indeed the boy was pouting. Up until now he had believed such an expression impossible, but seeing it now Akashi just had to pat the boy all the while smiling brightly.

"No one bugged me. You seem to have fun when you are spending time with us and I like it when you come along with us, even if my training is extended the next day." Kuroko ducked. "Please stop doing that."

"Well if it's Tetsuya I suppose I can make arrangements to have some more free time." He easily agreed to the first request, yet ignored the second.

With a sigh he poked Akashi, who was still smiling. "You should smile like that more often. Maybe I should ask Akashi-kun more, it might help."

He raised his eyebrows. "You think so?"

"… Would it be troublesome?" Kuroko was probably the only one who got away with asking a question instead of giving an answer.

"Well then Tetsuya would have to help out with several of my duties during lunch break." He said teasingly. "I do have a lot of responsibilities after all."

"I know. Otherwise I'd invite you more often."

Akashi chuckled. "Let's go. Tomorrow evening you'll help me with the preparations for the winter tournament in return."

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- Chapter 4 -

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Ever since Kuroko had joined the regulars their dynamics had changed bit by bit. There weren't any big changes, but the regulars at least had started to spend more time with each other, even outside of club activities. Every time they won an official game, which happened all the time, they'd go eat ice cream with each other afterwards. Other times they'd go to Maji Burgers after training or sit with each other during lunch. Kuroko, Aomine and Momoi had also started to study together, even if Aomine had to be blackmailed and forced to join them. Momoi and Kuroko were the perfect combination when it came to Aomine.

No one in the basketball club asked why Kuroko was a regular anymore. Midorima had done some nice work in comparing the regulars' results before and after Kuroko had joined and the overall performance had been a lot better since, even though there now was a regular who didn't score at all. Ever since Kuroko hadn't doubted his standing anymore, instead he worked as hard, or even harder as before to do the best he could for the club.

The only troublemaker left was Haisaki, but with Akashi around he didn't act up too much. After he and Aomine had gotten into a fight once, he even left Kuroko alone, which was a big relief for the other boy.

Like that everyone prepared for the tournament. Most of the regulars were first years, so they had every intention of proving themselves and showing everyone that they were better than all the regulars before them. Akashi was very determined to ensure their overwhelming victory and prove to their upperclassmen, who had been kicked from their regular positions, that they were way below the current regulars.

As a result of his resolve he truly became overworked however. The regulars were the first one to notice the signs of his rather impressive bad mood returning, and despite them doing their best to keep him in check, soon the whole club felt it.

Anyone who didn't finish Momoi's training menu, which had been adjusted just recently, within two hours, had to stay longer. To Kuroko the new menu seemed to come from hell directly. Luckily Aomine, as always, helped him through and Murasakibara sometimes gave him some sweets, so he'd have some more energy. Despite that at the end of the second week, a day after they had qualified for the quarterfinals, the small regular collapsed.

"TETSU!"

"WAAAAAAA! Tetsu-kun!" The pink haired girl screamed as her crush fell to the floor and didn't move anymore.

"He's not responding!" She cried and looked up to her childhood friend. Why wasn't he waking Kuroko up?

"Satsuki, please a bed for him." Akashi swiftly took control over the situation. "Atsushi carry Kuroko, Shintarou get his bag and Daiki bring some water! Everyone else continue!"

As quickly as possible everyone followed his orders. By the way his red eyes seemed to gleam no one wanted to cross Akashi at this moment. The coach had already left to call the ambulance. He was sure it would have an impact on their performance if the invisible child wasn't fit for their next game by the way the other first string members looked after him. With a growl he yanked the door open and waited for the doctor.

"I'm so sorry!" The only female in the room wailed. "It's my fault!"

"And what does blaming yourself now change?" Aomine asked rather annoyed. The one whom the apology was for was unconscious anyway, so why did his childhood friend have to be so noisy?

"Dai-chan you idiot!" She shouted and hit him before looking at Kuroko again and crying even more than before.

"Why would it be your fault, Satsuki?" Akashi questioned the crying girl.

"I made the menu… and Tetsu-kun said he wanted to do the same as everyone else... I let him, even though his body is so weak." She replied in between sniffles.

"In that case stop crying. Tetsu was an idiot here!" Aomine huffed, wiping the sweat from his unconscious friend's face.

Midorima sighed and pushed his glasses up. "That's so like Kuroko. He should have listened to me. I told him today was a bad day for aquarius and that he'd have to take extra good care of his health. He didn't even accept my lucky item."

"Kuro-chin wanted to give his best." Murasakibara stated. "It pisses me off, but seeing him like this is sad."

When the ambulance finally arrived and the doctor had assured them that Kuroko would be fine Akashi sent the others back, while he waited outside.

"That's unlike you." Murasakibara's muttered while munching on his chips.

"Atsushi, I thought I told you to go back to training." Akashi's briefly considered if he should throw a scissor at the tallest club member.

"You're angry… even more than before. So unlike your normal self." The taller boy continued. "The normal Aka-chin has a sadistic streak, but not like this."

"You are talking too much Atsushi." His eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Maybe." Murasakibara shrugged. "I just like the normal Aka-chin better. The doctor said Kuro-chin was fine. There is no reason to wait here…"

"Are you going against my orders, Atsushi?" The redhead was nearly out of patience at the moment.

"No, you said to finish training, not that I have to do it now."

"Atsushi-"

"Answer one question for me." He looked down at Akashi, whose expression had turned a little less hostile. Maybe the captain was a tiny bit surprised.

"Why are you waiting for Kuro-chin?"

"…" Akashi's facial expression was unreadable.

"That's why I said it's unlike Aka-chin." He pulled hard on his pack of chips when it didn't open. Then started cursing under his breath and mumbling something about a three second rule, as half of the content landed on the floor.

"You usually are decisive and know almost everything. You said you never make mistakes, as far as I know that's true." The taller boy didn't bother looking at the other now, saving his chips was more important.

"Are you implying I made a mistake now." Akashi's voice was low and freezing at this point.

Murasakibara sighed and quickly put a candy in his mouth, while continuing to collect his chips. "This is boring. I wasn't saying you made a mistake. You just are not yourself lately and you don't even seem to know why. You are addicted to Kuro-chin. Isn't that why you wait, even though we know he'll be alright?" The candy had already vanished and he quickly took another one. This was troublesome. He shouldn't have gotten involved after all. And he couldn't even crush anyone, so the candies in his mouth had to do.

"… Addicted to Tetsuya?" Akashi honestly didn't know why he was waiting. He just hadn't wanted to leave but this was…

"Kuro-chin told me you seemed more relaxed when taking a bit time off. Yet when you play with Mido-chin or when we go shopping you are the same as always. He wasn't wrong, but it's because he is there. It was Aka-chin who discovered Tetsuya's ability, as such you see him as yours. Yet you go on withdrawal and it's almost as bothering as when I forget to buy snacks the day before a match." His nose wrinkled at the traitorous chips that had landed half under Akashi's shoe when he was momentarily distracted by the laughing that came from Akashi, whose murderous expression had given way to another scary one.

"Tetsuya is an addiction… Interesting." The redhead stepped away from the chips. "Maybe that's even true. Tetsuya certainly belongs to me." He smiled at the purple haired boy.

Murasakibara pouted as he decided to leave the food on the ground. At least he had recollected the rest again. "Well, Haisaki aside, all are addicted to Kuro-chin… so all are unlike normal. It's making me angry."

Akashi's raised his eyebrows. "Atsushi, you talk way more than normally. Does that mean you are addicted too?"

"He's sweet." He stated as if that explained everything. "Anyway, if you are back to normal it's good. I almost thought you were dancing around a problem."

"I never do. I'm always right, so there is no need to avoid anything." The redhead's eyes hardened.

The purple haired boy turned around. "I'm going back then."

"Atsushi." Akashi smiled cheerfully.

"Yes?"

"The two hours are over. Restart and do it within the time limit now." Akashi's smile widened as he delivered the good news.

"EEEEHHHH?"

"Oh and one more thing," he waited until he had his comrade's full attention, "there is no such thing as a three second rule. If it's on the ground it's dirty. Throw it away and buy a new packet after training."

Satisfied Akashi made his way back to the first gym ignoring his angrily muttering and sulking teammate. Murasakibara may have been right indeed. He would have to take time to consider his own motives and decide what to do from there on after the next match.

Once again: Please let me know what you think. Please let me know, if you notice any mistakes. ^o^

Also does anyone know why my formating is always messed up when I upload the chapter?