Title : Regression

By: revenanttrickster

Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basket is owned by Fujimaki Tadatoshi

Chapter 1: It's just vanilla candy…

The basketball club of Seirin high school was having their usual practice in the gym. They were having a break when Kiyoshi approached their captain.

"Hyuuga look!"

Hyuuga looked at a piece of candy in Kiyoshi's hand. "It's just a candy. What about it?"

Kiyoshi smiled. "It's not just an ordinary candy. The old lady at the store said that it's a candy that will turn you into a kid if you eat it."

The second year players stared at him in disbelief (the freshmen weren't there since they helped Riko with some errand). Hyuuga glared at Kiyoshi. "As if that could happen. Don't believe everything you hear!"

"But it's kind of amusing, isn't it? If that was true, who would you like to see turn into a kid?" Izuki asked his teammates.

Koganei smiled mischievously. "Oh~ How about Kagami? I want to see if he had that scary look in his face when he was a kid!" Everyone laughed when they tried to imagine it.

"Actually, what I want to see is Kuroko," Kiyoshi suggested.

Hyuuga raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Aren't you curious what Kuroko looked when he was a kid? Did he had a weak presence ever since?"

They all nodded. "That's true."

Hyuuga pushed his glasses at the bridge of his nose. "Even so, whether that candy has magic or not, keep it. Coach will get mad if you brought something ridiculous to practice."

Kiyoshi sadly look at the candy in his hand. "I guess you're right. I'll have to hide the rest as well."

"You have more?" Tsuchida asked.

"Yes, I left them at the bench." Precisely, after Kiyoshi said that, they heard Kagami and Kuroko.

"Hey Kuroko, there are vanilla candies here. You want some?"

"Is it even yours Kagami-kun?"

"It's fine right? It's just candies."

"Well, alright then. Itadakimasu."

"NO! WAIT!" the seniors tried to stop the light and shadow duo.

Kagami turned to them. "What's wrong…uh senpai?"

*POOF*

The seniors didn't have a chance to answer when they saw a puff of smoke behind Kagami. They all watched in baited breath for the smoke to clear only for their jaws to drop and eyes widen in shock. Because standing there, was Kuroko…turned to a kid.

Riko, as well as the freshman trio, opened the door to the gym and found the rest of the team looking pale and anxious. They tried to avert their eyes from their coach.

"Y-Yo Coach," Hyuuga greeted their coach nervously.

"What's going on here?" Riko asked looking at all of them suspiciously.

"N-Nothing."

Riko glared at them and noticed Kagami behind the seniors, crouching as if hiding something. "What are you doing Kagami?" Kagami tried to say something but was interrupted by a loud wail. A kid's wail.

"H-Hey now…calm down. It's okay…uh…how about I carry you?" Kagami said to someone. Kagami picked a kid up in his arms and turned to face his coach.

Riko stared wide-eyed at Kagami and the kid he was carrying. "W-Who is that?"

"U-Uh…it's Kuroko," Kagami answered hesitantly.

Riko, for the first time, actually fainted.

"Coach!"

"And that's what happened," Kiyoshi finished explaining what happened to their coach.

Riko smacked him in the head with her paper fan. "Why are you smiling while explaining the situation? It's your entire fault! If you haven't brought those candies, none of this would have happened! And how can some candies turn a person into a kid! This isn't supposed to be possible!"

Hyuuga tried to calm her down. "C-Coach calm down."

"How can I calm down?!"

"Captain is right, Coach. Relax, you're scaring Kuroko," Kagami interjected.

Riko studied Kuroko, who was still being carried by Kagami. Kuroko looked like his older self except much cuter. He was still wearing his own clothes which, thankfully, also shrank. His chubby cheeks were a little red due to crying. His little fists were tightly clutching Kagami's shirt. And most important of all, his eyes that were usually expressionless were full of emotions, and it shows how frightened he was. That sad look tugged Riko's heart that she wants to hug the poor boy to death. Riko held out her arms, "I'm sorry Kuroko-kun. It's okay now. How about onee-san carry you?" Little Kuroko stared at her for a moment before burying his face on Kagami's chest. Riko's heart broke a little. "Why doesn't he want me?" she cried.

Kiyoshi tried to pacify their coach. "It's okay Riko, it's not just you. He's a bit wary towards us except for Kagami. Kuroko is pretty much attached to him."

"Like a baby chick imprinting with his mother. He –"

"Die Izuki," Hyuuga butted in before he makes one of his lame puns.

"But, why an idiot like him? He's Bakagami!" Riko complained, pointing at Kagami.

"Hey!"

Riko ignored him and sighed. "So he really doesn't remember any of us?"

"No, he really reverted to a kid," Kagami replied.

"How old do you think he is?" Koganei wondered, peering at Kuroko.

"Kagami, why don't you ask him? I think he will listen to you," Kiyoshi advised.

"I guess I'll try," Kagami stared at the kid in his arms. "Hey Kuroko." He waited for Kuroko to look up at him before continuing, "How old are you?" Kuroko tilted his head at Kagami before raising one of his hands, showing all his five fingers at him.

"So you're five." Kuroko nodded.

"Can you talk?" Kuroko, once again, nodded.

"So Kuroko, you don't know my name yet, right?" Kuroko shook his head.

Kagami smiled and introduced himself, "My name is Kagami Taiga, you can call me Kagami. Why don't you try it?"

Kuroko fiddled with his own fingers and shyly gaze up at Kagami. "Ka…ga…"

"Come on, you can do it. Ka-ga-mi," Kagami coax him.

"Ka…ga…mi. Kagami-kun!"

Kagami grinned and pat him on the head. "Good job kid." Kuroko, liking his praise so much, beamed at him. Kagami tried to fight the urge to blush since this is the first time he saw Kuroko's bright smile (and he swore he could see sparkles around him). The rest of the Seirin team blushed when they saw Kuroko's smile. Kagami persuaded Kuroko to introduce himself to the team. "Why don't you introduce yourself Kuroko? They're all nice, you'll like them. They are my tea – I mean my uh…friends."

Kuroko stared at Kagami before taking a peek at the rest of the team. "O-Okay," Kuroko quietly agreed. Kagami crouched and put Kuroko down. Kuroko toyed with his shirt. "I…I'm Kuroko Tetsuya. Nice to meet you," he bowed to them.

Kiyoshi bent down and offered his hand. "I'm Kiyoshi Teppei. Just call me Kiyoshi nii-chan, okay?" Kuroko reluctantly accepted his hand and nodded.

Riko followed Kiyoshi's example and introduced herself as well. "I'm Aida Riko. Call me Riko nee-chan Kuroko-kun. I'm sorry for scaring you earlier. Why don't I carry you?"

Kuroko glanced at Kagami, asking for permission. "Go on. Do what you want," Kagami encourage him. Kuroko nodded and held out his arms towards Riko. Riko squealed before carrying him, she pointed at Hyuuga and introduced him. "That's Hyuuga Junpei."

"You can call me Hyuuga nii-chan Kuroko," Hyuuga said.

"Hyu-Hyuuga nii-chan," Kuroko said adorably.

Hyuuga patted him on the head. "That's right."

Riko continued the introduction, "Beside him is Izuki Shun."

Izuki smiled at Kuroko. "Just call me Izuki nii-chan, actually –"

Before he could finish his awesome (not really) pun, Koganei interrupted him. "I'm Koganei Shinji. Call me Koga nii-chan." Koganei gestured towards Mitobe who was beside him, "And this is Mitobe Rinnosuke. You can call him Mitobe nii-chan." Mitobe smiled at Kuroko and gave him a (normal) candy. Kuroko took the candy and beamed at Mitobe. "Thank you Mitobe nii-chan!"

'So cute~' everyone in Seirin team thought.

"I'm Tsuchida Satoshi. Tsuchida nii-chan is fine," Tsuchida introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you Kuroko, I'm Furihata Kouki. Just call me Furihata nii-chan." Kuroko nodded at his greeting.

"I'm Kawahara Kouichi. Call me Kawahara nii-chan, okay Kuroko?"

"Hello Kuroko, I'm Fukuda Hiroshi. You can call me Fukuda nii-chan just like the rest, alright?"

Kuroko nodded and smiled. "Nice to meet you all."

After the freshmen's introduction, Riko looked around the gym. "Okay, that's everyone –"

"AH!"

The Seirin team whirled towards Kagami who screamed, they saw him standing petrified with Tetsuya Nigou beside him. "Oh! Almost forgot," Riko put down Kuroko in front of Nigou. "Kuroko-kun, this is Tetsuya Nigou. Nigou for short."

With his finger in chin, he cutely tilted his head at Riko and asked, "Tetsuya?"

Riko inwardly screamed at the cuteness. "He has the same eyes as you so we call him that."

Kuroko stared at Nigou before he tried petting him on the head. Nigou wagged his tail in excitement and proceeded to lick Kuroko's face. Kuroko laughed, "That tickles!"

Once again, everyone blushed at the sweet and endearing scene that they were witnessing.

"Kuroko is so cute! He's really different from the Kuroko we know," Koganei observed.

"Still we need Kuroko to turn back to his true age. Well Kiyoshi, you bought that candy, you should know how to turn him back," Hyuuga assumed.

Kiyoshi grinned. "Actually, I don't know how to turn him back!"

Hyuuga snapped, grabbed Kiyoshi's collar and started shaking him. "Don't look so happy when you don't know the answer!"

"Calm down Hyuuga-kun. The old lady at the store told Teppei about the candies, she should know how to reverse its effect."

"Then we should ask her when we get home," Izuki suggested.

"We should turn him back before anyone sees him," Koganei reminded them.

"Like who senpai?" Furihata asked.

"The Generation of Miracles, of course!"

"That's right! Those guys are a bunch of weirdoes, who knows what they will do to Kuroko when they'll see him like this," Kagami exclaimed.

Riko crossed her arms. "You're right. It's a good thing that they're attending different schools."

Everyone turned to Kuroko who was playing with Nigou, the pleasant and adorable scene immediately warmed their hearts and their overprotective instinct shot up. Riko eyed them with purpose, "Okay then, here's what we're going to do. First, we're going to turn back Kuroko to his former self. Second, protect him while he's still a kid and always be on guard he might get kidnapped or something. And lastly, do not let other people we know see him like this, especially the Generation of Miracles. Am I understood?"

The Seirin team nodded determinedly. "Yes ma'am!"

All of a sudden, they heard the gym door opened and they all groaned when they saw who it was.

"Hello Seirin~ I've come to see Kurokocchi~!"

Well, it looks like fate has another plan, though.

… No, it's not!