Summary: Midorima's lucky item - a mechanical pencil - is missing, and no matter how many times he gets one, it always disappears. Where did they go, and why does Takao look like he is about to bust out laughing?

It was what you would call any other day in Midorima Shintarou's life. He had followed today's routine to perfection down to the very last detail. Because he had a game today, he knew to be extra careful about his luck, if he wanted to ensure the victory of his team. He had watched Oha-Asa and as always, brought his lucky item with him, a mechanical pencil. He was also holding it in hand when entering the classroom.

"Oi, Shin-chan!" Takao yelled from his seat. Despite all odds, he was there before Midorima. This was something new, seeing as Takao would always be coming in five minutes before classes started at best. Midorima would usually never be later than ten minutes before class.

"You are early, Takao," Midorima commented.

Takao smirked. "Sure am, but today's a special day, you know we have a game," something made Midorima feel just a tiny bit uneasy about this. Takao was acting like his usual self, Midorima felt as lucky as ever, and yet there was something that worried him.

"What are you holding there, Shin-chan?" Takao asked, pointing to the mechanical pencil in Midorima's hand.

"Today's lucky item, a mechanical pencil," Midorima explained.

"I see, it's small today," Takao said before turning away. What was up with that guy?

Midorima took his seat and placed the pencil in front of him, very carefully. They would have to watch a documentary for their first class today, so he won't be in need of it for now.

When the first class was over and the teacher turned the lights back on and removed the curtains, Midorima blinked. Then he took a look down at his desk. It was empty. Where was the mechanical pencil he had brought?

"Where is it?" he mumbled and started searching his bag.

"What's missing?" Takao asked, turning around. His smirk was perfectly in place on his face.

"What do you think, Takao?" Midorima snapped while emptying his bag on the table in a feverish speed.

Takao blinked before it seemed to come clear to him. "Your lucky item is missing, huh?" he asked.

Midorima only got more irritated from each word Takao spoke. "Takao, do you have a mechanical pencil I can borrow for today?" Midorima asked.

Takao seemed to think for a bit. "Nope, never owned one," Then he leaned over to the girl sitting next to him. "Excuse me, Oyama-san, do you have a mechanical pencil Shin-chan can borrow?" he asked.

The girl looked up from the book she was reading. "Mechanical pencil?" she asked before taking a look. "I've got one, sure," she smiled while handing it to Midorima. "Here you go, Midorima-kun,"

Midorima accepted the pencil and placed it on the table in front of him however it was gone by the time the next class started and Takao had to ask another student for a pencil.

"How many pencils have you lost already?" Miyaji asked when he reached Midorima's and Takao's classroom at the lunch break. He had an irritated expression on his face as he too handed over the only mechanical pencil that he owned.

"Let's see," Takao was the one answering, though the question was asked to Midorima. "He lost his own, he lost Oyama-san's, he lost Maruyama-kun's, he lost Matsumoto-kun's, he lost Iwazaki-san's and he lost Kawai-kun's just now,"

"That's six in total," Miyaji figured. Then he glared at Midorima. "If you lose mine I will run you over with Kimura's truck, and I mean it this time!" he said before leaving the classroom.

Takao let out a chuckle. "Wow Shin-chan, you really gotta be careful with that one," he said.

Midorima said nothing as he placed the mechanical pencil the same place he had placed all the others. It wasn't fun having a life threat hanging over his head, but he knew that it wasn't his own fault that these pencils were going missing. Whatever was happening it wasn't his fault, but he wondered who was to blame then.

After a short amount of time though, the new mechanical pencil was missing and Takao had to go into the neighboring classroom to ask another one if they could lend their mechanical pencil to Midorima.

"Why are you doing this?" Midorima asked once Takao made it back with another one, saying that Takeuchi-san had at least four more where the one he had brought came from.

"This?" Takao asked. "Nothing should make our Ace-sama fail, not even some little mechanical-pencil-thief," the smirk was still in place on his face.

Midorima wasn't sure he got that, but it didn't matter. He didn't mind not being the one to run around for a change. Takao was better at speaking to people anyway. He had a feeling everyone else just found him weird (which is probably the case).

After having asked for about 20 mechanical pencils however, Takao got tired of it and Midorima went on and gathered a few of his own. He even went as far as to ask anyone he met on his way and gather up a few pencils, just in case the first one got stolen and he would have to get a new one anyway.

However, when the final bell rang he had already been out two more times and picked up about 10 pencils each time. The question started to fill more and more and more on his mind to the point when he couldn't think of anything but where the mechanical pencils went, and why in the world Takao was always smirking like an idiot, no matter how many pencils went missing.

"Would you stop, Takao?" Midorima asked as they headed to the gym, where the game for today would be held.

"With what, Shin-chan?" Takao asked curiously.

"Your smirk," Midorima said. "It's annoying,"

This only caused Takao to smirk even wider, to Midorima's dismay.

They reached the gym and changed quickly, prepared to play the game against that other team. All the other members of Shuutoku but Miyaji lend Midorima their mechanical pencils and Midorima thanked them while receiving evil glares from Miyaji for losing his.

"You ready, Shin-chan?" Takao asked while stepping up to Midorima. Midorima thought he felt someone gently touching him but when he looked down, there was nothing.

"Shut up, Takao," Midorima just said as he stepped away from his still widely smirking teammate.

The game went up and down. Every now and then Midorima would lose his mechanical pencil and after a while he started noticing something else that was extremely unusual.

"Takao," Midorima said after counting the mechanical pencils.

"What's wrong, Shin-chan?" Takao asked as he walked up to Midorima.

"Have you seen anyone by the mechanical pencils lately?" he asked.

Takao looked thoughtful. "Not that I can recall, I have been busy keeping an eye at the game," he said There was no denying that. Today's game was a tough one and it still wasn't over yet. It craved all of their attention and skills. They only fought a few games that were tough like this one, most of them had been against teams with other members of the Generation of Miracles on them. The team they were up against however mostly challenged their senpais. Midorima and Takao had nearly nothing to worry about, but making threes, stealing balls and passing, respectively.

"Why do you ask, Shin-chan?" Takao spoke again.

"The number of mechanical pencils has decreased. I have only lost two during the game and there are at least four missing," Midorima counted the pencils again, confirming his suspense.

"Hmm…" Takao seemed to really give the matter some thought. "I wonder how that could be…"

Just then there was signaled for the game to start again and Midorima and Takao got busy heading back to the court.

The game ended with a victory to Shuutoku, but with only a five point difference between them and the other team. However, at this point Midorima had only one mechanical pencil left. He was holding onto it very tightly though, to make sure not to drop it by accident or anything.

"Let's go shower, Shin-chan," Takao said with that smile he always wore after a victory, however there was still a hint of the smirk Midorima had been looking at all day, behind this smile. He followed Takao and they showered along with the rest of the team.

Takao was first to finish and Midorima followed shortly after. Both he and Takao changed while the rest of the team returned from the showers. The problem occurred when Midorima was gathering his things and found that something was missing, again.

"Where is it?" he mumbled while, yet again, making a feverish search of the mechanical pencil.

"Oh, Shin-chan, is the mechanical pencil missing again?" Takao asked in wonder while quickly closing his bag.

Midorima didn't bother answering. He knew very well that Takao already knew the answer to that question. There simply was no need.

"Let's go, Takao," Midorima said before taking the lead out of the changing room to the rickshaw. The point was that Takao and Midorima would use it to get home. Now it was just time for the usual rock-paper-scissors game, deciding who would be riding the bike to the next traffic light.

"Janken pon," both said and Takao showed paper while Midorima showed scissors. Both knew what that meant and got into position. Takao complained, but he did that all the time. It was nothing new to any of them.

At the next traffic light the two of them got off and made another round of rock-paper-scissors.

"Janken pon," they said again and this time Takao showed scissors while Midorima showed rock. This determined the way things would be going until the next traffic light as well, much to Takao's dismay.

The entire ride was awfully quiet. Midorima didn't want to talk and Takao was busy pedaling to say anything, and Midorima got the feeling that the shorter male was also thinking of something, though he didn't know what it was.

Again they reached a traffic light and both got off.

"Janken pon," they said and both showed paper this time. Midorima was surprised. This had never happened before, normally he would win without a doubt, but it didn't matter if he didn't. They had to do it again now. "Janken pon," both said and Takao showed rock, while Midorima still stuck with paper, thereby winning again.

Takao had no other choice but to pedal the rest of the way to Midorima's house before stopping the rickshaw and allowing the taller green-haired boy to get off. He had a gloomy aura around him now it seemed.

"What is it, Takao?" Midorima frowned.

Takao got off the rickshaw as well, the smirk he had worn all day was now replaced by a slightly irritated expression. "Tell me, Shin-chan, what would it take to make you lose at rock-paper-scissors?" Takao asked, not meeting Midorima's eyes.

"Luck," was the simple answer the taller male offered.

Takao frowned at that answer. The irritation boiling inside of him, turning into rage. "Haven't I prevented that from coming to you all day?" he asked. "Haven't I kept all the luck away from you as best as I could?"

Midorima stared at Takao, trying to grasp what the other meant by his words. To him it didn't make sense. How had Takao been preventing luck and good fortune from coming to him? He hadn't been particularly unlucky today in the first place.

Midorima continued to watch in wonder as Takao opened one of his bags and emptied it unto the ground. Out of it fell a pile of multiple mechanical pencils, to Midorima's surprise, it was all the mechanical pencils that had gone missing all day. At the very top of the pile was his own, unmistakable, green one with his name written on the side with a black pen. He recognized it easily and picked it up.

"You were the one who had all of these go missing?" Midorima asked in wonder, while studying his mechanical pencil carefully. "why?" he then asked the obvious question.

Takao sighed and forced his body to relax, with no success though. "Because I am sick and tired of being the one pedaling all the time. I know we decide this by rock-paper-scissors, but I always lose! I was looking for a way to win, or prevent you from winning. That last time, I really thought I had succeeded, but then you won… again. I even went as far as to wait for the day when Scorpio would rank 1 in Oha-Asa, not that I believe in it, but according to Shin-chan it should provide some kind of luck on my part,"

Midorima nodded, accepting the explanation. He had no idea what it felt like to lose all the time because he always made sure he didn't, but it seemed to really bother Takao a lot.

He didn't make a further comment about it though. He just went inside and let Takao pick up all the mechanical pencils on his own before going home.

The following day at school it was announced by a poster on a board that everyone who had lend their pencil to Midorima Shintarou the day before could come pick it up at Takao Kazunari's seat, classroom was already given and he would not leave the seat until after school, that was ensured and also announced by the poster.

All day on that day, Midorima would watch as his schoolmates would come and go from the classroom, each of them would leave with their mechanical pencil. He would never admit it, but he was amazed at how Takao could pick out the right pencil when having it described and hand it back to the right person, without fail.

At practice, Miyaji send both Midorima and Takao a glare that was supposed to make both of them get scared and was harder on Takao especially. Judging from the looks the other teammates, Midorima could tell that they thought he deserved it. Midorima himself could only agree.

Takao was standing back in the shower, enjoying the way his body started to relax from the heat of the water. Practice had been tough today, he hadn't expected anything less. He was the last one to leave the showers today because he had been standing under the water for a while longer than the others, not being able to pull himself together enough to get out as quickly as usual.

He changed at a slow pace as well, he was therefore also, by far, the last one to leave the changing room. He wasn't particularly in a hurry. All he could look forward to was driving that rickshaw with Midorima behind him, just sitting there, never doing anything. It wasn't exactly what his sore muscles needed, but he knew very well that he had done a lot to deserve the way he was treated at practice today.

The skies were gray and it would start raining soon. The wind was blowing harshly. He would be driving with his face against the wind almost all the way to Midorima's house. This idea troubled him a lot. Couldn't he have picked another day for pranking Midorima than yesterday? Maybe then he wouldn't have had to be so exhausted today.

Reaching the place where the rickshaw usually held Takao found himself unable to move for a split second. In front of him, he could see Midorima sitting on the rickshaw, but not where he usually sat, he was ready to drive at any moment.

"What is this, Shin-chan?" Takao asked the grin was wide on his face as he met Midorima's frowning face.

"Don't get me wrong, this is simply to prevent misfortune-makers like you from disturbing my luck," Midorima said with a cold expression.

Takao smiled and jumped up in the back, suddenly feeling like he had 10 times more energy than just a second ago. "Let's go, Shin-chan!" he exclaimed.

"You're enjoying this way too much," Midorima said before he started pedaling.

Takao didn't deny it. It was a nice change, but he made sure to not appear to be enjoying it too much after this. Maybe if Midorima wasn't being annoyed he would keep on pedaling until they reached Takao's home, then he won't have to pedal at all today.

Hey everyone!

So, here's an interesting story that I hope you liked. I really like to write stories for Kuroko no Basuke. I think it's because there are so many different characters who are funny in their own interesting way. It's impossible not to have one you prefer just a tiny bit over the others. Takao is one of my own personal favorites and since his birthday is coming up, we're gonna make this like a count-down.

Well, I guess I've just spoiled everything. It was the point not to do this, but it can't be helped. I'm just way too informative.

Janken pon* is, as far as I understood, the Japanese phrase of "rock-paper-scissors" At least it is seems like that in the translation of Way to Victory, a duet between Takao and Midorima, found on Midorima's solo mini-album.

Reviews, favorites and follows are all very welcome for this story, I appreciate any kind of support. I hope you'll keep reading.

Jackie

Pour toi Paris. Je tu pensée.