unexpected
by: rem was here
friendship. humor. romance

It was early evening when Aomine Daiki chose to make his way towards the fourth auditorium. Originally, he had planned on simply staying on the court that the first string members of the baskeball club occupied. However, the area had been unusually more crowded that the usual to the point that he felt the restraint in his movements. As much as he enjoys playing basketball with everyone else, 30 people moving around in a single court was too much for him - especially since he needed the space to allow himself more free movement for practicing his formless shots. That and he wasn't exactly privy to staying in a court filled with lots of sweaty males when he knew that there was an empty court nearby - the fourth auditorium which was usually frequented by third string members of the basketball club.

As he belatedly wondered to himself about the unusual sudden traffic in their auditorium while he started to head out, he informed Satsuki of his plans out of habit which was formed after years worth of nagging on the pink haired girl's end. He wasn't really expecting anything substantial as a reply coming from his friend – maybe a nag here, some random info that doesn't concern him on the side, and another nag there. That was why he was caught by surprise when the latter began spouting a rumor about a ghost's appearance in the aforementioned venue. Nonetheless, he found himself ignoring her because seriously? A ghost? They were in middle school - not kindergarten. If Satsuki was planning to scare him, then she definitely wasn't doing a good job at it. Actually, he even doubted that his kindergarten self would take her seriously. It was Satsuki speaking, after all.

As such, instead of giving his childhood friend a proper reply to the warning, he promptly turned his back on her and proceeded to comment on one of the first strings' shoes. After all, anything remotely connected to basketball was better off addressing than a silly nonexistent ghost. That and they were Kobe's new model. Now that was cool.

However, Satsuki wasn't deterred and insisted that she wasn't lying by explaining that for quite some time, the sound of balls and squeaking steps have been heard even by their other manager. Now he still wasn't buying it but at the same time, a basketball-playing ghost? That was actually quite interesting. Again, not that he actually believes it but it might be fun to play one-on-one with him too.

And so, Aomine found himself walking towards the fourth auditorium of Teikou Middle school that night - torn between curiosity, wanting to prove the ridiculous ghost story false, sheer eagerness to just be able to play basketball in a court that wasn't filled with a bunch of sweaty males, and a pinch of hopefulness that sprouted from the possibility that he can actually play against a specter.

Once he neared the rumored building, he felt like rolling his eyes at all the people who thought that there was a ghost residing in it because seriously, what ghost needs to turn on the lights, of all things?

However, when he opened the door to an empty auditorium, he froze and began to seriously consider Satsuki's words earlier. At the back of his mind, he was already starting to register that it might be better off if he started running now and that he could still find an unhaunted place to practice in but before that thought could actually go to the forefront of his consciousness, he was greeted with a deadpan -

"Who are you?"

And so, Aomine Daiki, freshman basketball regular of Teikou Middle school, did the only thing that made sense to him and promptly cowered in a corner.

He was just about to start muttering things like 'what I can't see can't hurt me' - which is obviously something false granted that poisonous gases, for one are not always visible - when the 'ghost' chose to speak again.

"Aomine-san?" [1]

The sound of his name momentarily snapped him out of his intended self monologue long enough to direct his gaze at a non-transparent light blue haired girl and deliver the most intelligent response that he could muster.

"Huh?"

"I sit in front of you in class, Aomine-san," came the monotone reply of the girl in an amazing feat of being able to decode the hidden meaning behind his unintelligible speech.

For a moment, Aomine Daiki could only rack his brain in an effort to remember just who this person was. But it was proving to be an incredibly difficult feat - even harder than being able to speak earlier - given that he never really pays attention to anything outside basketball, gravure idols, basketball, and the occasional video games - especially those that are basketball-related.

"Er..." he began in an effort to not appear rude by delaying the silence even further.

"You don't need to force yourself, Aomine-san. People do not usually remember me."

For a moment, Aomine found his throat going dry. He didn't really know what to say to that. Not only was the statement itself difficult to reply to but it was also said in an even tone that made it sound as if the girl didn't care. But experience has told him that girls were difficult creatures. After all, he couldn't count all the times that Satsuki had thrown a tantrum over things that he couldn't even understand.

"I'm sorry?" he said, opting for a safer and more vague route but cringing a little when he realized that he sounded really unsure of his apology.

He geared himself for the worst. However, instead of getting an earful, he was awarded with a slight tilt of the lips and a shake of a head. Momentarily, he found himself getting distracted by the bouncing of the small girl's shoulder-length hair.

"There is no need to apologize, Aomine-san. I am already used to it. If there is someone who should be apologizing, it should be me since I chose to use your facilities without permission," she said meekly before finishing her apology with a bow.

Partially because he wasn't used to people treating him so formally and partially because he believed that he does not deserve an apology, Aomine found himself bowing as well.

"There's no need for you to apologize to me at all," he began before pausing and taking in the loose shirt, basketball shorts, and shoes that the girl before him was wearing as well as the signs of fatigue on her small body.

"Besides, if you like basketball, then you can't be bad. That's my pet theory." he finished with a wide grin as she stood up properly once again which earned him another small smile. [2]

This time, the smile flustered him. He really wasn't used to girls being gentle towards him. Actually, with the exception of Satsuki, he wasn't used to girls. Period.

"A-anyway, are you even aware of all the rumors you've caused recently?" he asked just as the girl began to pick up the basketball from another corner of the auditorium.

"Rumors?" she inquired, glancing over him for a moment.

"Yes. From the looks of it people have been talking about a ghost appearing here for a while now. I guess you're the one to blame then?"

"... It is highly likely. I have been practicing here for approximately a month now whenever the third string members did not have any practice."

Daiki could only blink at first from the confession. He was both amused and amazed by the fact that the girl really didn't have any presence.

"Seriously? That's pretty amazing!" he exclaimed before bursting out in fit of laughter.

"You're laughing too much, Aomine-san."

"Sorry" he finally breathed out after a few moments.

"Let's have a one-on-one match then."

Daiki was surprised, to say the least. He didn't expect that. However, even if he originally made his way to the fourth auditorium to practice alone, he directed a grin at the small girl before him and said "Sure!"

Admittedly, the match was far from being challenging for him. In the first place, the girl was much more petite than him in stature and that alone posed a big handicap for her. It was apparent that she had quite some difficulty keeping up with his pace and would still have difficulty even if she was as tall as him but despite all that, Daiki had a lot of fun.

For one, it was the first time he played with a girl so it was a novel experience. Furthermore, it was apparent that she gave her all in the match if the look of concentration on her face said anything.

"So have you been playing basketball for a long time now?" Aomine asked as they walked out of the auditorium after they showered and changed back to their uniform.

The girl shook her head slightly.

"No. I only started a little over a month ago."

"Really? What made you start playing then?"

"I saw a match on TV and thought that it looked fun," she said in her usual deadpan manner.

Again, Daiki found himself blinking at that and unable to form a fast coherent reply. And just when he was about to open his mouth to say something, the girl bowed to him.

"Thank you again for today, Aomine-san. It had been an enjoyable evening." she said before bringing her head back up and smiling slightly.

"I'm Kuroko Tetsumi. It was nice meeting you," she continued with a slight bow before saying her polite goodbye and leaving him without even letting him push a word in.

When Aomine finally registered that it was already past 8 PM and thus, it was dangerous for a girl to walk alone, he already lost sight of her and couldn't find a sign of her from the direction where she disappeared to. It was only after some time that he remembered that the girl lacked presence and would thus be difficult to spot. And with that realization, he stopped trying to look for her and promptly went home.

"Kuroko Tetsumi, huh?"

He had caught himself asking a few times if the girl really wasn't a ghost a few times that night until he came to a resolution that he just had to see for himself tomorrow in class.

PUBLISHED: August 21, 2012
LAST EDIT: February 20, 2014
TOTAL: 1,736 words

END NOTES:

[1] I am aware that Kuroko calls Aomine, 'Aomine-kun' in the manga but considering their different sexes, how Kuroko calls Momoi 'Momoi-san' instead of 'Momoi-chan,' and how Kuroko is just plainly formal, I made him call Aomine, 'Aomine-san' instead.

[2] I am also aware that in the manga, what Aomine meant in this statement was different and was somehow along the lines of "even if you're not good at basketball, if you love it, then you're great at it" but in this setting, there was no way for Aomine to know that Kuroko was bad at basketball just yet considering that in this AU, there is no female basketball club in Teikou middle school sand as such, his statement meant "if you like basketball, then you can't be a bad person" instead.

Also, you might notice that I deviated from canon quite a bit here. It's intentional. After all, it's fanfiction and I didn't want to stick to canon entirely because… what's the point if I do? I mean if I do that, it'd be simply like reading the manga all over again and honestly, I find that that would boring - for both the reader and myself.

Anyway, thank you very much for reading this. I reckon that their are still some typos I've left unchecked and probable grammtical mistakes too and I would appreciate it if someone helped me point them out. Whoever does so has my undying gratitude.

Lastly, I hope this has been a good read for you guys. ouo

-Rem

PS. This fic is labeled as complete since it basically can stand alone on its own. However, I'm probably going to publish a sequel of interrelated oneshots after this - hopefully around a month's time from this last edit.