Prologue

The scene before Itō Saya was all too familiar: dozens of teams gathered in the stadium under the eyes of several sports reporters and professional cameras. She glimpsed at the hundreds of basketball players beneath her, their nervous yet excited expressions reminded her of the former members of Teikō Junior High Basketball Team that she had once known. With the Winter Cup opening ceremony coming to an end, Itō walked down the stairs and into the corridor to join her team—Rakuzan High Basketball Team.

"Itō, please take care of the team while I'm away for a bit."

Itō nodded at Akashi's words as he walked away from his teammates who, being fully aware of their captain's leave, were carefully listening to their coach's words about their impending practice schedule. Everyone knew where Akashi was headed, and Itō knew what Akashi had just said was an order―an order that she would disobey.

Four bright-haired high schoolers gathered outside the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium where the Winter Cup would be held, their overwhelming presence filling up the heavy air around them.

"You've got a babysitter, Tetsu?" Aomine muttered, effortlessly spinning the basketball on his finger tip as Kuroko, alongside his current teammate, Furihata, arrived at the meeting place that he and the rest of the Generation of Miracles had been summoned.

"Mine-chin also has Sa-cchin though," Murasakibara noted nonchalantly as he muched on his favourite bar of chocolate.

"Satsuki's got nothing to do with this."

"By the way, Midorima-cchi, why do you have scissors?" Kise interrupted, his eyes glued to his phone.

"It's obviously my lucky item, you idiot," Midorima replied matter-of-factly.

"Eh—Anyway, it's dangerous. I wish you wouldn't walk around with them out like that."

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Kuroko interrupted, even though, as usual, his presence did not have any effect on the flow of the conversation and was instead overshadowed by the Kise's ringing phone.

"Your phone's annoying, Kise," Aomine grudged. "Is it Akashi?"

"It's…a text from a fangirl."

"...Go die."

Showing no sign of interest in the aimless conversation his former teammates were having, Murasakibara attempted to open his ninth pack of chips but, despite his huge and seemingly strong hands, failed. "Huh? Mido-chin~ Let me borrow your scissors."

"I refuse." Midorima would never give Murasakibara the opportunity to eat in public in such an unrefined way.

"Huh. Kuro-chin, do you have them?"

"I don't."

"Why is the guy who called us here the last to arrive?" Kise complained impatiently even though they had only been waiting for less than five minutes.

"There's no need to be upset." Midorima pushed his glasses up with his long, slender fingers. "That's how he is."

Aomine sighed, recalling a familiar scene back in Teikō Junior High.

"I apologise that I've kept you all waiting."

A calm, firm voice came from behind them; the main character had finally arrived.

"Akashi-kun." Kuroko looked straight into Akashi's eyes, unfazed by his forceful aura.

"Daiki, Ryōta, Shintarō, Atsushi, and Tetsuya."

The casual atmosphere among the Generation of Miracles immediately intensified upon their first names being called out by their former captain.

"I'm glad to see you all again. I'm deeply moved that we were all able to gather and meet like this. However," said Akashi as he took a few steps towards his former teammates, "there's someone here who doesn't belong."

Akashi's callous eyes diverted to Furihata, sending him shivers that crawled down to his spine.

"I wish to speak only to my former teammates right now. Sorry, but could you leave?"

Never had Furihata felt such an intimidating aura emitting from a person of the same age. I really want to, but… His legs were shivering frantically, but they refused to move. What's going on? I'm frozen, and I can't move!

Furihata felt a sudden pressure on his right shoulder, and he strolled his eyes down to find a large hand resting on it.

"Hey, you're no fun. Don't exclude us." A maroon-haired teenager barged in with a mischievous smile on his face.

"Kagami!" Furihata breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm back. We can talk later. But before that...you're Akashi, huh?" Kagami smiled eagerly at the presence of his potential rival. "I'm glad to meet you."

Akashi flew a glance at Kagami, his cold eyes unperturbed.

"Shintarō, could I borrow those scissors?"

"What are you going to use them for?" Midorima was sceptical about Akashi's intentions.

"My hair is starting to annoy me. I've been wanting to trim them," said Akashi as he strolled down the stairs and took the scissors from Midorima. "Well, before that…" He slowly approached his prey. "You're Kagami-kun, aren't you?"

Kagami nodded. All of a sudden, Akashi charged his hand into Kagami's face with the pair of scissors; but before Kagami could react to Akashi's stab, an ash brown-haired girl appeared out of thin air and stood between the two of them, her arms firmly stretched. Blood fell in soft drops from the girl's pale skin; her unyielding eyes were fixed at Akashi's startled ones.

"Itō-cchi!" Kise cried at the sight of Itō being scarred. "Akashi-cchi, how could you…?!"

Kise was dumbfounded. He had always respected Akashi, but by the end of their second year at Teikō Junior High he had started to have doubts about Akashi's policies. Kise was never the person who could hold back his rage, and he would certainly not tolerate what Akashi had just done, especially when the person he had hurt was Itō even if it had not been aimed at her. But before he could vent his anger out on Akashi, Itō broke the heavy silence.

"Akashi-san, I'm sorry that I disobeyed your order, but there is someone that I should take care of rather than the team right now."

For a fraction of a second, Akashi froze. He then turned to the staggered redhead, an almost sinister smile on his face.

"My, my. In light of Itō's display of grace, I'll forgive you this time. However, there will be no second chance. When I tell you to leave," said Akashi as he widened his heterochromatic pupils and pulled his face closer to Kagami, "leave."

Akashi took a step back and continued, "In this world, winning is everything. Winners are affirmed completely, and losers are denied completely." He started cutting his fringe nonchalantly. "I've never lost at anything before, and I never will. Because I always win, I'm always right. I show no mercy to those who oppose me, not even my own parents."

Itō tilted her head down, her saddened eyes hidden by the soft strands of her fringe. She knew what Akashi had just said was only a part of the conviction he firmly held, a twisted part that had started dominating him since the end of their second year at Teikō.

"Well, Itō and I will be leaving. I just wanted to say hello to everyone today."

"What?" Aomine stood up. "Don't be ridiculous, Akashi! You called us just for that? And you've even injured Itō without apologising!"

"Aomine-san, it's fine. Please don't worry about it." Itō smiled and made a slight bow to the Generation of Miracles. "It's been a while, everyone. I hope you are all doing well in your respective high schools."

"It's been a while, Itō-san," greeted Kuroko.

"It's been a while, Itō. It seems like you haven't changed much," Midorima remarked.

"You don't seem to have changed either, Midorima-san. Do tell me when you need help with finding your lucky items."

"A-aa."

"Ito-chin~ Being the manager of Rakuzan must be tough, especially with Aka-chin around, isn't," Murasakibara muttered.

"No, it's a very rewarding job. Momoi-san had a tougher job when she was a manager at Teikō since she had to handle you all." Itō chuckled.

"Y-you're the manager of Rakuzan?" Kagami intruded, surprised by this news.

"Yes. Ah, sorry! I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Itō Saya. I'm a first year at Rakuzan High and the manager of the school's basketball team. I studied at Teikō before that." Itō made a slight bow again. "Nice to meet you!"

"A-aa. I'm Kagami Taiga. I'm in the same basketball team as Kuroko from Seirin High. Nice to meet you!"

"This isn't the time for introduction!" Kise shouted, annoyed that everyone seemed to be unaware of the blood dripping from Itō's cut. "Itō-cchi! Your injury!"

"She'll be fine," Akashi affirmed without batting an eye. "Itō, let's go."

"Wait, Akashi-san." Itō walked towards Kise. "It's been a while, Kise-san. I'm glad that you seem to be doing well." Her lips pursed into a gentle smile. "And don't worry, I'm fine. I'm stronger than I look!" She squeezed her nonexistent biceps, giving Kise a slight giggle.

"You're weak as always, Itō-cchi." Kise had always enjoyed her natural lameness that never failed to lighten up any kind of tense atmosphere. It's good to know she hasn't changed one bit.

Itō turned towards the rest of the Generation of Miracles, making a farewell bow.

"I look forward to seeing you all again soon! Please excuse us then."

Realising there was one more thing he had to deliver, Akashi stopped his pace and turned around to face his former teammates again.

"Oh, and I actually called you all to confirm something. But after seeing your faces, I realised there was no need." His lips curled into a smirk. "No one has forgotten our promise, it seems. Everything's fine then. The next time we meet will be on the court."

The two Rakuzan High students left the meeting place.

Interesting, Akashi still calls Itō by her surname.

Midorima had always been able to make keen observations on Akashi, even though he was aware that these observations alone were not enough to fully understand his strange friend. Back in Teikō Junior High, Midorima had always noticed how Akashi interacted with Itō differently—it was neither in a way that friends would treat each other, nor was it in a way a dating couple would act towards each other. It was just...different.

Meanwhile, Kagami seemed disconcerted by what had happened. Was that really the captain of the Generation of Miracles? Who was this Itō girl? There were so many unanswered questions but all the redhead knew for sure was that Seirin needed to compete with Rakuzan High in the Winter Cup to have the answers revealed.

"Itō, you defied my order," stated Akashi as he tended to Itō's wound in the infirmary located inside the gymnasium where the Winter Cup would be held.

"...I'm sorry."

Her apology hung in the heavy air between them.

Akashi had expected Itō to follow him, but he did not expect himself to injure her. She had always been the kind of person who would jump into things rashly just for the sake of people she cared about, every time beyond his own expectations, and occasionally to his dismay.

Akashi's hand lightly dabbed on Itō's fresh wound with a cotton soaked in antiseptic, causing Itō to winch.

"I'm sorry. Did that hurt?"

Before Itō's surprised eyes was the original Akashi that she had sealed away in her memories—the kind and caring Akashi who showed respect to everyone around him. Every now and then his true self would manifest itself, although these instances had become scarcer as the Winter Cup approached. This had only been the case since the end of second year at Teikō; it had been the opposite before that, with his second personality occasionally peeking through his forever gentle eyes. She was fully aware of his two contrasting sides, two sides that still represented the one and only Akashi she had always known—a reckless boy who had always exerted more effort than anyone else to achieve not only his own expectations, but also those of people had of him.

"No, it's fine." Itō shook her head and lifted up her eyes to the scarlet boy. "By the way, Akashi-san…"

"What's wrong?" Akashi raised his head up, their faces only a few centimetres away from each other.

"Please don't push too hard on yourself."

Akashi's features softened, his lips bending slightly upwards, his eyes fixed on her concerned ones.

"Aa." He carefully placed a small bandage over Itō's wound. "But there's a person here who seemed to have pushed herself too hard just now."

A little chuckle slipped past Itō's lips. "Do you remember the favour you asked me to make back in Teikō?"

"Of course I do." Akashi widened his eyes, putting his original self back into slumber. "That is why I did not say anything when you defied my order."

Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke written by Fujimaki Tadatoshi-san. All credit to the wonderful people that contributed to the creation of the manga and anime for this series, and to the translation team for their hard work in putting on subtitles for the anime that are used in this fanfiction.

Author's Note:

17/09/2016: Revised.

Thank you so much for taking an interest in Unspoken and reading the prologue!

*Sigh* I regret not entering this fandom earlier. I am a little too late to the game (as usual), but hopefully the fandom will become slightly more active again as the movies become available by the end of this year or early next year~!

This story will follow closely to the events that happened in the anime, drama CDs, and Replace novels. That's one perk of entering the fandom later than most people, I guess? That way I have more materials to base my story around, haha.

My OC's personality has not been fully established yet in the prologue but hopefully you're able to get an slight idea what she is like. She is polite and not extremely active and cheerful but I do try my best to match her personality well with Akashi's. Now that I've written four chapters (including the prologue), I have a relatively clear idea where I'm heading with her character development and how she will handle things with Akashi with both her strengths and flaws.

Anyway, this prologue actually jumps ahead to the beginning of Winter Cup to establish (hopefully successfully!) the relationships Itō has with the GoM. The next twenty-ish chapters will be focusing on the Akashi, Itō, and the rest of the Generation of Miracles at Teikō Junior High so beware of their silly and serious moments!

As always, reviews, follows, and favourites are greatly appreciated! :)