Five Tries, One Winner
黒子のバスケ © 藤巻 忠俊
Kise reverts into a kid and under Akashi's orders the other members of the GoM have no choice but to take turns looking after him. GoM/Kid!Kise set in Teikou.

"This... This must be a curse," Midorima sputtered from where he was standing, slumped against the wall as he inhaled sharply. His taped fingers tightened around his lucky item of the day – a Nyanko-sensei plushie.

Kuroko had stepped into Teikou's gym just moments ago, dragging along with him a child who looked suspiciously like Kise. The blond skipped behind Kuroko, peeking out cautiously at the other taller teenagers gaping at him.

Akashi was the first to speak.

"Tetsuya, you're not going to tell me that that kid is Ryouta, are you?"

"He is," Kuroko deadpanned. "I saw him shrinking with my own eyes. A logical explanation would be that Kise-kun reverted into a kid after eating some of the cookies that one of his fans made for him."

Murasakibara opened another packet of chips at the mention of food, chewing noisily until Akashi shot him a pointed look.

"A fan," Akashi reiterated numbly, as if he couldn't believe that Kise would be so stupid as to eat something that came from such dubious backgrounds. Especially after he reminded all of them to be careful and not get injured before the practice match tomorrow.

"Well, it can't be helped. All of you take turns looking after Ryouta while I search for the culprit. Whoever who makes him the happiest will have his summer training schedule halved."

The case of Midorima Shintarou

"Hey, tell me, tell me what is this?" Kise reached a hand out to poke at Nyanko-sensei's cheeks. He was positively enthralled with the strange appearance of the pig-cat creature. "It looks like a white fur-ball!"

Midorima almost choked, grabbing his lucky item up from the bench and tightening his grip around Nyanko-sensei.

Oha Asa had already predicted the inevitable clash of luck between Cancer and Gemini today, but Midorima had never expected it to come in this form. Who knows how much worse it would possibly get if he allowed Kise to touch his lucky item?

Kise pouted at being refused, muttering under his breath about 'a big bully' before he sullenly glanced over at the court, watching the other club members play basketball. His eyes literally sparkled when he spotted the first string members easily scoring points off the second string members. Their movements were so fluid, so perfect that they left Kise simply gaping in awe.

The blond turned back to Midorima excitedly. "That looks fun. Why are you not playing?"

Midorima chose to remain silent. He didn't want to admit that the reason he wouldn't – no, couldn't – play was because he was in charge of taking care of a little brat. He hated kids anyway, especially overly-energetic, bubbly and annoyingly inquisitive kids like Kise.

"Oh I know! Could it be that... you are terrible at basketball?"

"Wha-?" Midorima's jaw dropped wide open, as he stared into the child's innocent amber eyes. Annoyed, he huffed as he picked up the basketball that rolled towards him and blatantly ignored the apologizing second-string player sprinting towards him while he took aim and shot.

Everyone watched with bated breath while the basketball made a ridiculously huge arc above the court, before falling cleanly through the net.

"Awesome! Did you see that? The ball managed to fall through without touching the hoop at all!"

Midorima grunted in relief, pushing his glasses up with his right middle finger before he plopped back down onto the bench. This was probably the first time he attempted a shoot without being hundred percent sure that he would score. Looks like today wasn't his worst day.

Yet.

"I'm so touched! I've changed my opinion about you, Midori-chan!"

"M-M-Midori-chan?"

The blond grinned and leaped onto the bench, patting Midorima's head as if the latter was a cute little kitten which required praise. "That's how I call the people who I like!"

Let him rephrase... This was definitely his worst day.

The case of Murasakibara Atsushi

"I want one too!" Kise whined, kicking his legs in frustration.

He had been jumping up and down on the bench ever since Murasakibara started eating, but gave up trying to jump to obtain the umaibo, especially when the other held it above his head.

Even as a child, Kise was smart enough to comprehend that Murasakibara had a height advantage over himself.

"But Aka-chin said that I can't give it to kids. If I give it to Kise-chin, Aka-chin would be angry, and an angry Aka-chin is scary," Murasakibara tried to justify his reasons but the wailing Kise refused to listen, instead choosing to sob louder.

Murasakibara shot Kise his trademark bored look, but bordering on annoyance. He didn't especially hate kids to refuse the job when it was his turn, but he didn't like them enough to share his snacks either. Besides, he never thought taking care of a child would be this troublesome.

"I am not a kid anymore! I'm seven!"

"Seven years old is still a kid. Besides I'm more than twice your age."

"Even at fifteen years old, eating snacks all the time can't be healthy," Kise retorted logically, stating a point which others have constantly pointed out to Murasakibara.

Murasakibara frowned and continued chewing on his food, not letting up. The plastic bag of other flavors of umaibo was securely tucked under his arm, high enough to be away from Kise's reach. "But I like snacks."

"As do I!" Kise yelled exasperatedly. He wanted one too!

The blond stuck out his tongue childishly at Murasakibara before storming his foot twice and turning away angrily. Not knowing how to change this situation around, Murasakibara fished an umaibo out and handed it to Kise. He didn't want to deal with a crying Kise.

"There. But I can only give one to Kise-chin, and Kise-chin must promise to keep this a secret from Aka-chin, okay?"

Elated, Kise nodded his head vigorously, showing his agreement for the snack deal. After obtaining said snack, Kise hurriedly opened the packet up, not wasting even a second before he bit into the tantalizing food.

And spat it back out.

"This is disgusting! What flavor is this?"

Murasakibara bent down so he was at the same height level as Kise, and pulled the his hand over to glance at the wrapper. "Ah, it's smoked barbequed octopus seasoned in pineapple."

The case of Kuroko Tetsuya

"I... found you!" Kise knocked from the other side of the locker room and threw the door wide open, giving a loud shout of 'ta-da' like he expected Kuroko to jump out from inside the locker at him.

However, all that stared back at him was the empty inside of Kuroko's locker, with a few change of clothes and several photographs of Teikou's basketball club's first string members together. Begrudgingly, Kise slammed the door of the locker shut and started crying.

Again.

He hated not knowing the reason why he lost – especially after he witnessed Kuroko creeping into his locker to hide. It was illogical to think that Kuroko would vanish inside it.

"You cheated," Kuroko pointed out, pushing the door to his locker open and stumbled out. He panted slightly, wiping sweat from his brow. It was more hot and stuffy in the locker than Kuroko expected, even though it was nearing winter. "You peeked. So I decided to use misdirection as well."

"Mis...direction?"

The blond tilted his head to the side a little. The gesture showed that he didn't comprehend the conversation that just occurred between them.

"Kise-kun has no need to know. You'll find out in due time. On the other hand, please do keep your end of the promise since you failed to locate me within the allocated five minutes."

"Promise?" Kise tilted his head to the side a tad bit more and Kuroko sighed. At least this was his chance to manipulate – for the lack of a better word – Kise's memories.

"Well, first of all, Kise-kun can never ever call me Kurokocchi again. And secondly, you cannot hug me. Thirdly..."

The case of Aomine Daiki

Aomine Daiki was engaged in a staring competition with the kid. The tanned teenager seemed to be taking this seriously, sitting up straight with his arms stiffly crossed across his chest. There was a huge grimace on his face, and Kise returned the hostility with the same energy level until Aomine sighed and tore his gaze away.

"This is why I hate kids," he groaned. He pushed the upper half of his body backwards so he was now lying down flat on the floor.

"And this is why I detest ganguro!"

Kise crawled over and sat on top of Aomine's chest before the latter's reflex kicked in. In this position, he could look down at the complacent teenager, literally, and that seemed to be enough to satiate the child.

"Bastard, what do you mean by ganguro? I'm not one of them, and this skin color isn't a fucking tan. It's natural!"

The blond scoffed, shaking his head to signify that he didn't buy Aomine's story. "I bet you are one of those people who are only good at sports and nothing else. You don't seem popular with girls anyway."

Aomine bristled at the comment, immediately flipping their positions over so he was leaning over Kise. "Who told you so, you stupid little brat? Besides, I don't even love women. All I love is their breasts. That fluffy soft feeling is just like heaven to a guy."

"I'll definitely touch breasts before Ahominecchi does. Then, being the nice kind soul I am, I'll describe to him exactly how it feels like."

Somehow, Kise's preference for Aomine's name deviated slightly through the age change.

"You insolent brat-!" Aomine started tickling Kise, making the child laugh till tears overflowed from his eyes and his body convulsed, buckling from too much giggling.

Kise's laughter made the few remaining first string members on the court lose their concentration for a moment, allowing the second string starting players to make use of the chance to pass their solid defense formation and succeeded in scoring a dunk.

"Ah, looks like Mine-chin will be the one who wins."

"I don't really care whether he wins or not as long as my training isn't affected. Besides the reduced training will put Aomine in a disadvantage nanodayo."

"So long as Kise-kun is able to keep his promise even after he reverts back, I have no complaints."

The case of Akashi Seijuurou

The redhead pushed his scissors into his pocket and kept his shogi set away – out of Kise's reach. The motive for his actions were simple. To keep sharp and small, hazardous objects out of the reach of young children.

"Tell me, whose company did you enjoy the most today, Ryouta?"

Everyone gulped at the straightforward question while waiting anxiously for Kise to make his decision. This was a decision that had their entire summer holiday at stake.

Kise clambered out from his sprawled out position on the floor in front of the other Generation of Miracles members and climbed onto Akashi's lap, whispering in his ear. For a moment, it seemed as if Akashi's expression darkened, then he slid Kise closer to himself and repeated the question once more.

"Uh... Sei-chan! I... I love Sei-chan's company the most!"

Akashi seemed pleased with that answer and gave the blond a mint sweet while patting his head. "That's right, Ryouta. I'm really the best, aren't I?"

Kise nodded vigorously, ignoring the varying degrees of shock on his fellow teammates' faces while he sucked on the sweet in his mouth without a care in the world.

"That's unfair! That's bribery. It's cheating!"

Akashi turned towards the protesting teenager. His heterochromatic eyes narrowed, glinting dangerously as he sneered. "That's because you didn't put in enough effort. Try harder next time, Daiki."

"Eh? There's a next time?"

Author's note: Happy Birthday Luna! Since I have two friends who actually love Shota!Kise to pieces, I thought it would be fun to try writing a oneshot for this. And so, the above is the result.

Thank you for reading and please review!