Disclaimer: I own neither Inuyasha nor Kuroko no Basket and make no money from these writings.

Hustle and Heart

Chapter One: Atsushi Murasakibara
Rating: K

"You have to tell your fangirls to stop coming to our practices," Okamura groused at Himuro. Practice was finally over for the day and the five starting players were walking out of the gym together. "They're a distraction."

Himuro smiled good-naturedly as he said, "I'll see what I can do, but I don't know that they'll listen to me."

Sighing, Okamura continued, "It's just not fair. All the cute girls come to watch you. And what about the rest of us? Nothing."

"You might have better luck if you would get rid of your sideburns as I've suggested," Liu intoned dully.

"Shut up," Okamura pouted. "I don't see you guys with girlfriend either. I think it's because we're all too big." When his teammates shot him curious looks, he elaborated. "Cute girls are scared off by big guys like us. That's why Himuro gets all the girls. He's the shortest one on the team." Turning to heavily pat Murasakibara on the back, and causing his larger underclassman to grunt, Okamura laughed, "I guess that means you've got the worst luck of us all, huh Murasakibara?"

Looking up from rummaging through the bag of snacks that he'd bought before practice, Murasakibara hummed a little before saying, "But I have a girlfriend." It took a couple of steps for Murasakibara and Himuro to realize that the rest of the team had stopped dead in their tracks. "What?" The tall center asked.

"When did you get a girlfriend?!" Fukui asked in shock.

Murasakibara seemed to think for a moment before turning to Himuro with a small frown. "How long has it been, Muro-chin?"

Doing some quick calculations in his head, Himuro looked up at his teammate and answered, "It's been a while. Almost three months, maybe?"

"Himuro!" Fukui turned on the second year. "You knew about it?"

"Of course," Himuro answered as though it would be obvious. "We spend a lot of our free time together, after all."

Before Fukui could ask anymore questions, Okamura snapped out of his disbelief and jumped into the conversation. "How did you get a girlfriend?!"

Murasakibara blinked twice before lazily explaining, "She's in the cooking club. I was walking by their room one day and something smelled really good. When I went inside, they were making fudge. She shared with me when it was done. She always shared when I went back, and we decided to go on a date one day. She's really cute."

The older players stared at Murasakibara warily. They knew that he usually favored tall girls, and they weren't sure how many girls in their school were really tall and could still be called "cute" instead of "pretty."

"Is she cute, Himuro?" Okamura asked seriously.

Nodding, Himuro confidently answered, "She really is pretty cute." He heard a noise that sounded suspiciously like a growl coming from beside him and turned to see his tall teammate glaring down at him. "Don't worry, I was just agreeing with you," Himuro told his friend. "I'm not going to try to steal her away or anything."

Before anymore questions could be asked, the five young men heard a side door open on the main building to their left before a voice called out. "Atsushi!"

Murasakibara looked up and smiled gently. "Kago-chin," he responded with a slight wave.

Kagome jogged towards the group having spotted her boyfriend - because really, who could miss him? - but slowed when she noticed the other young men staring at her. "I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"Not at all," Himuro speaks up with a polite smile. "The rest of the team just found out that Murasakibara had a girlfriend. They were a little surprised."

"Oh," Kagome says in relief. She was afraid that she'd walked into something serious. Walking over to Murasakibara's side, Kagome bowed shortly as she said, "I'm Kagome Higurashi. It's nice to meet the rest of Atsushi's team."

The three upperclassmen stared at the petite girl beside their giant teammate, and they just didn't seem to match up. She barely came up to Murasaki's chest, the top of her head still several inches below his collarbones. And aside from being on the short side, she had a small frame to match.

"Uh, nice to meet you," Fukui finally responded.

Seeing that introductions probably wouldn't get much further than that on their own, Himuro stepped in. "Kagome, this is Kenichi Okamura, Wei Liu, and Kensuke Fukui, the rest of our starting team."

Before Kagome had a chance to respond, Murasakibara reached down and tapped a plastic container that Kagome had in one hand. "Kago-chin, what's this?"

Kagome craned her neck to look up at her abnormally tall boyfriend as she smiled brightly. "It's my latest recipe! The cooking club is going to have a charity bake sale soon as part of our volunteer work. I brought the result of my latest batch for you to taste test." Removing the plastic lid, she held the container up little higher.

Murasakibara carefully picked up one of the cookies and examined it. There were little blue spots in it. Taking an experimental bite, he was pleasantly surprised. Pushing the rest of the cookie into his mouth, he asked, "What kind are they?"

"Blueberry cheesecake. Do you like them?" Humming with a small nod, Murasakibara reached down for another cookie. Kagome smiled before turning to look at the other basketball players. "Do you guys want to try one?"

Always happy to accept something homemade by a pretty girl, the rest of the team started to step closer only to pause. Murasakibara quickly bent down to pick up Kagome, startling her in the process. He had her situated so that she was sitting on his forearm, arms wrapped around his neck for balance. "Kago-chin," he whined. "Don't give away my cookies."

"But there are plenty," she argued. "And you almost made me drop them! I've told you not to just pick me up like that."

"I'm walking you home today, though," he pointed out. "Your legs are so short that you have to run to keep up with me. It's easier to just carry you."

Kagome sighed as she looked down into Murasakibara's violet eyes. Sitting on level with his chest, her head was just a little above his. "Or you could just walk slower?"

"No," Murasakibara drawled out. "Too much trouble. Carrying you is easier." He reached up and took another cookie from the container.

"I have to get heavy after a while," she said.

Shaking his head, Murasakibara disagreed. "You barely weigh anything. You should eat more," he told her as he picked up another cookie and pressed it to her lips.

Kagome rolled her eyes as she bit the treat and waited for him to let go so that she could grab it herself. "But then you might not be able to carry be anymore," she pointed out.

"I'll carry Kago-chin anywhere she wants," he told her as he tilted his head up to place a small peck on Kagome's jaw. "Let's go to your place now. I need help with my history homework."

"Fine, fine," Kagome told him as he turned to walk away from the rest of his team without another word to them. Kagome on the other hand, turned back to wave at the small group. "Sorry about the cookies!" She called out to them. "You should come to the bake sale though! There'll be plenty as long as you get there before Atsushi!"

Himuro tried not to chuckle at the expressions on the rest of his teammate's faces. "They're a strange couple," he admitted. "But they work. I think she likes taking care of him, and he likes being taken care of."

The first to come out of his thoughts, Fukui asked, "Does she not live in the student dorms?" Yosen was a large school, and because many of their students came from all over, most of the student body lived in the dormitories.

A little surprised by the question, Himuro shook his head. "No, she lives off campus with Coach Araki." When the other's eyes widened at this news, he continued, "Couldn't you tell just by looking at her? She's the coach's niece."

"And Coach Araki is okay with them dating?" Liu asked curiously.

Himuro opened his mouth to reply only to close it again. Thinking about it, the coach often worked late and hadn't seemed to treat Murasakibara any differently lately. "I'm actually not certain that the coach knows they're dating," he admitted.

With that realization, the same thought swept through the four Yosen basketball players at the same time.

If Coach Araki ever found out Murasakibara was dating her niece, the giant was likely a dead man, and the team might be in need of a new center.