If there was a man among his team-mates who he'd call 'tardy', 'lazy', 'worthless', 'had a death wish hanging above his head', it was not Kuroko Tetsuya. Akashi Seijuuro knew at least that much. True, they had arrived two hours later than he expected at their training camp - which was one of the guest houses Akashi Sr. owned, but was rarely ever used due to...circumstances - but it hadn't passed midnight and there certainly was no reason for anyone to be tardy at all. Unless that person was Aomine Daiki. Or Murasakibara Atsushi. But they at least knew to be on time on the first day of their to-be-expected devious training session.

And when Daiki came stumbling upon them blabbering nonsense ("THERE'S A NAKED GIRL IN TETSU'S ROOM!"), Akashi was truly at a loss for words. He'd stepped right over Daiki's fallen body, frowning more and more as he walked one step closer to Tetsuya's assigned room, which situated right across his own. He hesitated a second by the already opened door, expecting the worst of the worst. An odd, damp smell hit his nose as soon as he stepped his foot into the fairly large bedroom, the frown marring his face deepening as he sighted a t-shirt thrown beside a foot of the bed. The blanket covering the body was halfway off, though Akashi's eyes remained on the unmistakable light blue hair strewn across the pillows.

Unmistakable and ridiculously long hair.

"A...Akashi-kun," a small, pale hand reached out to him, grasping the material of his shirt into a bunch in slender fingers. Half-lidded blue eyes were slightly bloodshot, cheeks dusted a similar red as...Tetsuya uttered his name between trembling lips. "Akashi-kun."

For the first time ever, Akashi Seijuuro's mind went blank.

XXX

Emergence.

To maintain the female to male population in society, a phenomenon of gender transformation happened, much like to clown fish; if - compared to the females - the number of men were few, women emerged to men, vice versa. It's called emergence. There were number of such cases that had been reported on media for the past couple of years. However, this happened when a child was very young. Emergence happening to teens were...unheard of.

Uncommon.

XXX

There was nothing about Tetsuya that could be called 'common', if the fact that he had his face shoved on a novel whenever he was free was set aside. But emerging to a girl at the age of 15 was just...something that Akashi never saw coming at him. Tetsuya was someone somewhat important to his team (he precisely avoided using the words 'to himself'). Tetsuya was their trump card. Their utmost valuable pleasure against another team. Seeing their opponents' faces morphing into countless emotions due to a certain phantom always gave Akashi something of a content feeling. Sure, they'd completely horrify at the other regulars including himself in the court, but...

With Tetsuya it was...different.

Now emerged as a girl - quite the sight to eyes if anyone could notice - Akashi could only allow what the doctor recommended; which was to keep Tetsuya admitted to the hospital till he...till she woke up. Ever since the morning she had called out his name and then proceeding to losing consciousness, she had not woken up for five days. Which made today the sixth. Of course, Akashi had resumed his intended practice session - Tetsuya there or not had mattered; he wasn't giving any other person a reason to slack off, but he had ordered at least one of them to visit their teammate every day, seeing it as their duty, although Tetsuya's parents were visiting her as well.

Akashi himself had not visited Kuroko though. Not yet. It's not that he didn't want to, it's just that he…didn't know how to react around her. Just like the first few days after meeting Tetsuya at their school's basketball court. That day….he had been frozen as hard as an ice block when she lost consciousness while Kise had frantically called for an ambulance and the remaining men had assisted. Except Daiki. He had protected his position as a sack of potatoes left in the ground to rot until after the ambulance left – and he had found not a single fly at home but himself.

Which was why, Akashi had started the day with only one goal in mind, and that was to visit Tetsuya. Which was why he currently was waiting for the elevator to halt on the ground floor. He had contemplated on buying something for her – a bunch of flowers ("Good morning, Tetsuya, congratulations on being a girl.") or something – but he was sure the man girl would kick him out of the hospital room if she had the strength – or guts – to do it.

"Akashi-kun?" A soft voice slightly startled him out of his train of thoughts, and his eyes rose up to meet eerily familiar blue orbs. The frown that marred his face disappeared as fast as it came, as he took in the petite woman a few feet away from him, an explicit image of Tetsuya; no, Tetsuya was the exact copied image as her mother, even before she emerged into a girl, minus the mid-length light blue hair.

"Kuroko-san?"

She lightly bowed her head, her hands clasped in front of her lap politely. Tetsuya, indeed. Then her eyes averted to the closed door to the room Tetsuya was admitted to with expectant and…with something that Akashi was more than familiar but had buried deep within his mind for the time being – for forever. "Tetcchan hasn't woken up yet," she said, her voice trembling ever so lightly, even it had been a week since this happened.

"I heard the process will take up to two weeks, Kuroko-san. I think we need not to worry till that time comes," he knew it was useless saying that to a mother who was losing sleep over her child but he did not know what else to say, as he had settled on that bunch of words and took it as his cue to enter Tetsuya's room.

The same damp smell which he couldn't put a name on invaded his senses. Tetsuya laid on the pure white bed wrapped around pure white sheets, looking as emotionless as ever. For some reason, he didn't like it. Tetsuya's eyes – which had been the single and sole source for Akashi to get hints about her emotions – and he didn't like it. At all. He didn't have any special bond with Tetsuya Kuroko; in fact, she was the person he spent the least amount of time with, given that she was always with Daiki. It was just the fact that he didn't like not being able to read people, even though he was not the best person at it.

No.

It's that he didn't like not being able to read Kuroko Tetsuya.

"Unsightly," he started, letting a tad bit of his anger seep into his words. "How long do you think you can skip practice, Tetsuya?"

No response.

And then…

The beeping of the heart monitor increased. A little bit. And he could now see the gentle rising and falling of her chest. Was he causing that? His eyes widened. A little bit.

"Wake up."

Her eyes fluttered.

A little bit.

"Wake up, Tetsuya."

Akashi gasped, literally, when Tetsuya sat on the bed in an instant of a second, her eyes wide and lips parted, breathing through them like she hadn't had a fresh whim of air in years. Her lips started moving then, forming soundless words, body trembling as her arms limply hanged, but fingers twitching furiously. Then it hit him.

Tetsuya was awake.

"Doctor."

XXX

The first thing she noticed when she woke up was that it felt numb. And that there were arms around him as if they were holding her still. It wasn't the familiar smell of vanilla of her mother. Then she realized she was referring to herself as a girl.

A girl.

The slight weight of her chest. The itch on her back. The loss of a certain something between her legs.

She was gasping out, and the arms around her loosened and disappeared as if immediately.

Coffee. A tinge of sweetness and bitterness.

Then people in white coats and ties surrounded her, blocking her vision. A second of crimson slid past her. Numerous questions, one at a time filled her ears, and she found it to be a bother. She just wanted to…wanted to…sleep.

"Is it just me or does Kurokocchi looks cuter than before?"

"Oi, Kise! Stop babbling nonsense"

"Kise-chin is right tho. Kuro-chin looks smaller too."

"Midorimacchi, you meanie. Why can't I ever say something? Look, Aominecchi's been ogling at Kurokocchi since we came here and no one has cared at all-"

SMACK!

"Aominecchiiiii-"

"You all will cease this behavior at once."

The room went silent in a breath.

A twitch at her lips. She had woken up half an hour ago (after two days of more adjusting to a new life style), her parents taking three quarters of her life time before her friends barged in like there was no tomorrow. She hasn't spoken to any one of them yet, not even to her parents; she didn't trust her voice. She pulled her knees to her chest, something she oddly felt comfortable with, huddled up into a ball as much as she can, as if she could hide from the world.

Then she realized, she had been referring to herself as a girl since she woke up. No. she wasn't at the 'I'm not a girl, I'm still a boy. I'm gonna cut my hair shot and wear manly clothing for the rest of my life' stage but she most definitely wasn't at the 'I'm a girl now, I should wear pink frilly dresses and get married to a man and have children' stage either. It was most probably her 'We'll see' mode holding her back from flipping Japan over.

"Will I…. will I ever be able to play basketball?"

There were a lot of things she wanted to ask. But that was the first thing that left her mouth.

"Why wouldn't you be able to?" Aomine blinked.

SMACK!

"Are you stupid? She's having doubts because we are all men and she's…a girl."

"Oh."

"Tetsuya."

Her gaze landed on Akashi's.

"Your emergence turned you into a girl. You didn't lose a leg or an arm."

Her throat clogged up at the intensity in his eyes, smoldering into her whole body, making her spine stiff. ("But Tetsu lost something…. And gained…something else.") (Aominecchi, you pervert!") She watched Akashi's lips press into a thin line, his eyebrows furrowing ever so slightly.

"You will be able to play, but the fact that you emerged will make it difficult. If you're sure you can handle being around fifty or so hormonal men like Daiki (HEY!) constantly trying to take your spot on the first string, you will have no problem on continuing as a regular. I and coach both agree that you misdirection holds a certain value to our team."

Kuroko inhaled a lung full of hospital air, her brain slowly digesting what her captain said word by word. Then, "Yes, Akashi-kun."

And she felt a fraction of a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

"Don't worry, Kurokocchi, I will protect you from any imbecile-"

"The only imbecile she needs protection from is you, Kise."

She felt her lips widen a tad bit.

"Oh my god, look how cute she is!" Kuroko diverted her eyes to her lap, noticing the delighted-puppy-mode on Kise's face, scolding herself for the burning in her own cheeks. Must be girly hormones.

"Out. All of you. You're being a bother so we're leaving."

"Ehhhhh?"

"Ryouta."

"Moouuu."

She said nothing, letting Akashi handle the situation before she further embarrassed herself.

"If you wish to remain with us rather than going home tomorrow, you're welcome," Akashi's voice filled her ears, now alone in the room, she felt restricted, but strangely at ease. Maybe it was because she didn't have multiple presences around her although Akashi's eyes felt like a thousand something.

Red.

Red.

Was he the one beside her when she first woke up?

Two fingers had a hold on a strand of her long hair, trailing down the length. She froze, as a faint smell of coffee hit her nose. Then the touch was gone and so was the smell.

"You should not..." he stepped towards the door, his back at her, and when she almost thought he wasn't going to continue anyway, "cut your hair."

[A/N] I'm honestly not sure about this story, but if I get positive feedback, I will continue this. Inspired by Ogura Akane's Kanojo ni Naru Hi. Hope you enjoyed! :3