Don't own Kuroko no Basuke.

Don't own the Cover Art.

The Copy Cat Came Back

Tetsuya could remember the day that Kise Ryouta joined the Teikou first-string team. Of course, a chorus of fangirls heralded his arrival (though he somehow got rid of them after the first day), and that actually helped Tetsuya's memory of it, but it was how Kise greeted them that stuck out the most in the shadow's mind. He was bright, and very happy, but it was the smile and the glow in his eyes that caught Tetsuya's attention. For the glow in his eyes was that of pure joy and the smile was one of contentment.

He admitted to have seen them playing during practice before, and wanted that same passion they displayed in his own life; he wanted to be as happy as they were on the court, and was hoping that his happiness laid there as well.

And it did.

Kise was incredibly good. He was fast, he changed his style so easily that it took anyone not a Miracle off-guard, and he wasn't afraid to pass to the others or to trust them with the ball.

He was also, from what Tetsuya could see, irrevocably in love with basketball.

His smile grew, his laughter echoed around them, and he began joining their little group on their outings to the store for ice cream. He loved the sport, and he loved playing with them, and that made something in Tetsuya soar.

It wasn't long before Aomine challenged Kise to a one-on-one. Aomine won, but there was a fire in his eyes, a fatigue in his stance later that spoke of how close the game actually was. The next day, they played again.

And Kise won.

But it was still an incredibly close game, to the point where it had Aomine smiling and Kise laughing in surprised happiness. They waited another week until their next one-on-one, and they kept playing and they kept improving, and Tetsuya was just happy to see his light enjoying himself.

When Akashi became their new Captain, none of their little group seemed bothered by it; they were used to following the redhead's orders after all. The year continued on, and Kise proved to be a wily opponent for any of the Miracles on the team.

At times he would mess with them by making shots that seemed to pass through their hands like illusions, slipping into the net without any resistance. Other times he made shots that disappeared from sight completely, there one minute and swishing through the hoop the next. Those drove Murasakibara nuts, but Kise would do little more than offer him an impish grin and shift gears to defense.

When Tetsuya approached him about it, the blonde cheerfully taught him the trick. "What do you call it?" He'd asked on a whim, hiding his annoyance when the ball bounced off the rim. Again.

Kise winked. "The Phantom Shot, of course." And Tetsuya missed again at that.

For all that he loved the sport and their team fiercely, there was a calmness about their resident model that spoke of having seen more than he let on to. It was this calmness that kept Midorima from murdering the blonde at times (especially when Kise began copying the shooter's half-court shots, only to have to stop and wrap his arms from overworked muscles), and this calmness that had Akashi of all people so at ease around him.

This underlying calmness also drew Tetsuya in from time to time, and they were eating lunch on the roof one day when he asked the other boy why he was so calm. Kise shrugged. "I get dreams," he admitted, his eyes far away and fixed firmly on the sky. "Dreams where I've already graduated from high school, from college, and I've had jobs and made friends and lived with one of them as I fulfill my personal dreams.

"I do have basketball in the dreams," the blonde admitted, and the longing Tetsuya heard there made some place in him ache. "But I also have my job and my friends and they meant more to me, in the end. I guess you could say that I've already lived my life," he joked, "and that's what makes me so calm. Because I know the basics of it all, and I've already done it, so I can just…relax."

As they neared the end of their second year, Tetsuya saw Aomine's abilities start to bloom, and felt a twinge of fear for what that could mean. Fortunately, Kise's abilities bloomed at that same time, and their one-on-ones continued with no true winner. When Aomine seemed close to the darkness of fearing that no one could rival him, Kise dragged him back and gave him a good shake.

Kise saved Aomine, and Tetsuya thanked whatever god brought him to the team.

Their third year had Aomine all but clinging to Kise and Tetsuya, his rival and shadow, as their abilities began to eclipse those around them. One day, Aomine was so lost in the game he was playing against Kise, he entered the Zone and swept by him like it was nothing. Before Tetsuya could truly fear what that meant or Aomine distanced himself from the bright-haired player, the next week came.

And Kise entered the Zone and beat him right back.

The two of them were the first to arrive on the roof one lunch, and Tetsuya didn't hesitate to bow to Kise, and honestly thank him for all that he was doing. Kise smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Of course, Kurokocchi. Aominecchi's my teammate too, you know. Let's share the burden of putting up with him between us and Momocchi, ne?" The rest of the team arrived in time to hear the last sentence, which set Aomine off and soon he was chasing the laughing blonde around the roof while the others looked on in amusement.

A few weeks later, Tetsuya wasn't there for the event himself, but Midorima told him. Murasakibara tried to revolt against Akashi.

And Kise stopped him.

"He was furious," the shooter confessed, his hands fiddling with his lucky item for the day, a ball of yarn, as he tried to order his thoughts on the matter. "Kise shouted at Murasakibara, and told him that you and Akashi are the reason we're so good, that we have the chance to reach our full potential, and no one else has a better right to lead our team than Akashi or you." Midorima paused, and Tetsuya actually felt himself blush a little at having such words said about him.

Midorima continued. "He then asked Akashi if he could face Murasakibara in his stead, and Akashi agreed. It was entirely one-sided." For a moment, Midorima actually looked awed as he thought back to the game between their Center and Small Forward. "Kise wouldn't even let him touch the ball. Once Kise beat Murasakibara, Akashi told them to go back to their places, and they both listened."

After the incident, Tetsuya saw Kise offer to help their Captain more often, and eventually the tense line of Akashi's shoulders relaxed and the redhead was soon back to joking and sniping at them, humor in his red eyes. Tetsuya once thought he saw Kise and Akashi play in a one-on-one one night, but he was never entirely sure of that memory's validity. All he knew was that their Captain was calming down, and the lurking darkness they would at times sense from him had abated.

While they all felt apathy for the game they were playing – even Tetsuya felt it at times, when the game drew out for so long that he'd practice his Phantom Shots during the match – Kise desperately held on to them, helping them against the hatred they felt for the sport they loved. He couldn't do much, but the shadow could see that his persistence was what kept them clinging to the hope of having fun again one day.

During the semifinals of their last National Interschool Sports Tournament as middle school students, Kise decided to stay on the court despite coach's wishes. When the twins they had once played against were driven to anger and an elbow came crashing down toward him, Tetsuya couldn't move, couldn't understand why they would do this. And then a jersey with a number 8 appeared in front of him.

And Kise hit the ground, blood trickling from his forehead.

The other team didn't stand a chance after that, however little it may have been originally. The Miracles came down on them with a force unseen before. The game ended 200-10, and Tetsuya wondered if they broke any of those players beyond repair. At the time, none of them had cared.

When Tetsuya went to visit the blonde, he couldn't help but ask him why. Why did he take the hit? Why did it matter so much to him?

"Silly Kurokocchi," Kise laughed. How he was awake was beyond anyone's understanding. "I saw how hard you were playing for us to get here; I knew you wanted us to make it to the finals for reasons other than simply wanting to win, and I wanted you to actually get to play in the finals. Besides," he smiled, gentle and loving, "you're Kurokocchi. I'd do anything for you."

If the jab to Kise's ribs was weaker than usual, and if Tetsuya's eyes were hidden from view by his hair, neither of them mentioned it.

Tetsuya played in the finals.

He fulfilled his promise to his childhood friend.

Kise made sure of that.

When it came time to choose their high schools, the group was stuck in an awkward silence as they realized that they had all chosen completely different schools. The awkwardness and tension just continued to build until Kise sighed and grinned at all of them. "I look forward to playing against you guys, but of course Kaijou will win."

And just like that, the awkwardness dissipated, and the tension became one of a different sort.

"Nonsense," Midorima sniffed, adjusting his glasses. "Shuutoku will clearly be triumphant in the end."

"Mido-chin should stop acting like he knows everything when he clearly doesn't," Murasakibara taunted, eating another stick of pocky. "Yousen will crush you all."

"Don't think that Rakuzan will just give you their surrender," Akashi warned, red eyes glinting challengingly at all of them. "With me and three Uncrowned Kings attending, we'll be sure to take the trophy come Winter Cup."

"Eh," Aomine shrugged. "Touou just sounds interesting; let's see if this individual skill team is actually worth its salt." He yawned before grinning at Kise. "Of course, good or not we'll leave Kaijou in the dust." The blonde made a squawking sound in annoyance and lunged at the snickering Ace, Momoi shaking her head at their antics.

Tetsuya smiled, anticipation building up in him as he joined his team in the competitive trash-talk. "I'm sure Seirin will take the Winter Cup next year, and I hope to help them do so." Finally, the fire in their eyes was being relit. Finally, their love of basketball was beating back the hatred, the chance to actually place against one another in an official setting getting their blood boiling in excitement.

Finally, Tetsuya knew that everything would be okay.

In his happiness he missed the sight of Kise watching them all, tears in his eyes.

Ryouta wasn't lying when he said that he saw another life pass by in his dreams, but maybe he should have said that they weren't exactly figments of his imagination so much as they were memories.

Ryouta remembered it all.

He remembered loving basketball. He remembered hating basketball. He remembered losing to Kuroko and regaining that love slowly and with the help of his surly Captain and team. He remembered graduating from university and moving in with Kasamatsu. He remembered becoming a pilot, flying people here and there and traveling the world one airport at a time.

He remembered saving his passengers from a man trying to hijack the plane. He remembered getting stabbed and slowly suffocating from a punctured lung, the man now safely restrained by the belts the flight attendants used in their safety demonstrations and his copilot taking over and successfully landing the plane.

He remembered dying.

He also remembered his meeting with the Shinigami, who offered him a choice: to send his consciousness back in time to when he was at Teikou, or to simply pass on.

Ryouta remembered thinking back to the time he spent there, all of the things they had done; how they had nearly broken Kuroko near the end. He remembered thinking, 'This time, let me save you, Kurokocchi. Let me save them before they even need saving.' He remembered making his choice…

And he remembered waking up, fifteen years younger and not yet on the basketball team.

Ryouta misses his first friends. He misses his first Kuroko, his first Aomine, his first Kasamatsu. He misses them all like he misses his sisters when they take jobs out of the country (though, at times, he misses Kasamatsu like one misses a limb), but he knew that his time had come in that life, and he knows that he's needed in this one.

(That doesn't stop the longing, though. That doesn't stop his eyes from looking up at the sky and it doesn't stop him from wondering how they're doing; if they miss him. No, it doesn't stop the longing at all.)

At times Ryouta mourns for his younger self in this world. He regrets not letting this Ryouta get the chance to grow up and meet these amazing people, regrets that he has to take away his other self's life to save so many more.

But he doesn't regret doing it.

Because they are his friends, his family, and he would happily sacrifice himself to see them smiling once again.

And he did it. He succeeded. He saved Aomine; he saved Akashi; he saved Kuroko's friend.

He saved Kuroko.

Now it's just a matter of keeping their friendships strong, and that should be easy enough.

Ryouta smiled, a perfect white circle flickering in his eyes for a moment. It's time to up his game. But first, it's time to see Kasamatsu again.

He can't wait.

cywscross and I were talking about this recently and then, at about 3 in the morning one night I decided to write the overview version (rather than the "every little detail" version). It has a bit of a choppy ending, but I'm rather happy with it.

Please review.

Ja ne!