Hello readers old and new, welcome to the story! Hope you enjoy your stay!

Warnings: Bad language and occasional episodes of violence.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke.

(Edited on 06/22/2017)

How to Make a First Impression

Swoosh. Imamura Hana flinched. Swoosh. She cursed. Swoosh. Clenching her fists, she glared out at the court. Her team and fellow teammates were in the process of getting slaughtered. The digital scoreboard above the goal showcased their losing game, mocking them all with the numbers 62-14.

It was an absolute massacre and it wasn't ending fast enough.

The girl's black hair was yanked out of its standard neat pony tail, evidence of her intense frustration. Green eyes bore into the opposing teams captain, glowering at the 'high and mighty' red head. Chapped lips twisted into a tight snarl, acting as the only defense against releasing her screaming thoughts. All around, Hana hated the practice games against first-string. They never ended well.

She was promptly yanked out of her murder plots when a tired body collapsed on the bench beside her. Uoya Kazuhiro, the second string point guard, was panting heavily and reaching for a water. Quickly, Hana did her job and handed it to him, watching as the gray-headed sixth year chugged it down. His face was flushed crimson and sweat dripped off of him in waves; even the poor boy's arms were shaking from exhaustion.

Hana reached a timid hand over and patted his shoulder, silently comforting him, "You're doing good out there Uoya-kun. Your accuracy is improving."

Uoya shook off her complement with a snort, "It's nothing to compare against Midorima's. We're nothing compared to— Ow!" his self-loathing was interrupted by his manger's hard pinch.

"Don't talk like that! We'll get there, we will get to their level," Hana's voice rose a pitch with defiance. Uoya looked at her, taking in her determined expression, and sighed.

"Thanks Hana-chan… It's just hard, you know?"

"I know it's hard, but we've got this," she leaned over to rest her head against his shoulder, "I know you guys have potential, it's just a matter of practice."

Uoya began to reply when the shrill ring of the whistle blew out. Directing his eyes to the court, he watched the student referee issue his team a foul. His face twisted into a grimace when he realized the Miracles regained possession of the ball. He turned to complain to his female friend, only to find her missing. Doing a quick double take, he looked back to the court to see Hana walking up to the ref. With a strangled choke, Uoya jumped up to stop her, only stopping when she twisted her head back and glared at him.

"Sadoka-san," Hana's voice echoed across the gym, causing said referee to turn toward her.

"Imamura-san? You shouldn't be on the court," Sadoka looked quickly over at Akashi and winced at the piercing stare directed their way.

"I just wanted to question you about that foul," In only a few steps, she was stood in front of him, head tilted harmlessly. After a moment, Hana closed the distance even further and placed a hand on his arm. Sadoka blinked at her and desperately tried to force down his blush at the unexpected contact.

"What about it?" He asked warily.

"Well, our team didn't earn the foul, Sadoka-san. Kitano-san didn't really charge Aomine-san; don't you agree?" Hana kept direct eye contact with him before placing a hand on her hip, mimicking his stance.

Sadoka hesitated. Had he really misread the call? The interim referee looked between the two players in question. Aomine wasn't paying attention and instead his head was tilted upwards, looking off into space. But when Sadoka looked at the opposition, Kitano nodded in agreement with his manager's words. While the referee thought it over, Hana took it upon herself to seal the deal.

"While your calls are flawless, Sadoka-san, I believe we both know Kitano-san didn't commit a foul," she finished her spiel with a saccharine smile.

"Well, alright—"

"Thank you, Sadoka-san!" Hana cut his sentence off and quickly shook his hand, finalizing the decision. Sadoka blinked again as his mind worked to process the last few seconds. What the hell just happened? Shaking his head, he pulled out his whistle and blew again.

"Foul dismissed, ball back in Second String's possession!" His call was met with several confused gazes, but he ignored them and instead focused on Hana's retreat. He could have sworn he made the correct call earlier…

Meanwhile, Hana mentally chuckled to herself. She met Uoya's exasperated look and directed a smug smirk toward him. Reaching her team's bench, she sat back down, not noticing the first-string captain's stare.

"Way to be subtle," Uoya disciplined as Hana plopped down beside him.

Hana shrugged off his worries, "The Miracles annoy me. Let me get my revenge in peace."

Uoya rolled his eyes, but Hana could see the smile trying to break out along the edges. Satisfied, she looked back at the game before letting out an irritated tsk at Kitano's arrogance. He'd always been one of the more hotheaded players and it seemed her interference hadn't helped that trait. Feeling a firm hand land on her shoulder, she timidly looked up to meet her captains stare. She opened her mouth to explain herself, only to stop as he shook his head with a tight-lipped smile.

"Good job," and with that captain Futabatei walked away. When the tension cleared, Hana released a deep breath and leaned back against Uoya.

"That boy is scary," she whispered. Uoya subtly nodded in agreement and with that conversation, they focused their attention back to the game.

The game ended at 98 to 32. Her team made a small comeback, but it wasn't enough to secure the win for more than half a quarter. Futabatei was currently explaining the next week's training schedule, but since Hana was the one who made it she wasn't too interested in hearing it again. With a quiet wave to her team, she walked off and ventured out the gym.

Making her way onto the school court yard, her steps faltered at the sight of rainbow hair. The Generation of Miracles all stood near the gate, watching as Momoi-san heatedly trying to get Aomine's attention. The rest of the group stood around idly, but none of them exchanged words. The sight was enough to give her pause and Hana stopped walking, not quite in the mood to pass by them.

She debated the pro's and con's for a few minutes before lifting her chin and continuing on.

Immediately the conversation between Momoi and Aomine fizzled out. Inwardly, Hana felt a tad bit awkward, but she tried to hide it. She'd never had direct contact with the first-string team, only observing them from afar, but she had a good idea of their personalities. They were all the rage with the fan girls after all. Avoiding any unnecessary eye contact, Hana passed their little grouping with no problem. She was only about ten feet away when a quiet scuffle began and a voice called out.

"Hey! You're the second-string manager, right?" Hana turned around and looked at the speaker. Momoi-san was smiling charmingly at her, blinding white teeth flashing in the sunset.

"Uhm, yes. My name's Imamura Hana," she cursed her uncertain response and the foolish decision of telling them her name. She was better than this, so much better. It seemed her attitude vanished in the light of the confrontation and Hana began to feel as if she was surrounded by hungry sharks.

"My names Momoi Satsuki, it's nice to meet you!" The pink haired girl radiated a level of extreme happiness. It seemed unnatural for the current conversation, "Your team has improved a lot recently!"

"They still suck."

"Daiki!"

Ignoring their side conversation, Hana replied, "I know who you are. And thanks, really means a lot coming from you." Her words twisted into something bitter and she winced in guilt. Luckily, or unluckily, Momoi-san seemed to ignore her tone and continued on.

"I'm really sorry about that disagreement with the foul, by the way. I'm glad you were able to sort it out," Momoi replied, pausing from her bickering with Aomine. When the other girl's eyes met her own, Hana quickly decided that Momoi wasn't as clueless as she appeared.

"Yes, Sadoka-san was very understanding," Hana smiled, but it slipped into a smirk at Aomine's glare. It was a well-known fact among her teammates that she'd always had a passive-aggressive streak, she just wished it would choose a different time to show its presence. Maybe sometime when she wasn't surrounded; that'd be good.

"How'd you do that?" Aomine demanded before Momoi could respond.

"Do what?" Hana decided it was safer to play dumb, especially with the rest of his team around.

Aomine's eyes narrowed at her attitude, "The ref had his call right, and you convinced him it was wrong. How?"

"Psychology," well, she didn't lie. It was basically that, combined with her natural talents. Hana had always been able to get what she wanted, a curse and a blessing. Add that with intensive psychology studies from last year and she was basically a first-class manipulator.

Too bad that talent was failing her now.

"Interesting," a smooth voice cut into the conversation, "that must be very helpful to your team?" The red-headed captain's question sounded much more like a statement.

She tried not to make eye contact for too long, but the striking redness of his eyes drew her in, "Ah, no. They don't rely on me too much, Futabatei-san prefers to play fairly."

"Oh that's your captain's name?" Hana bristled at the disrespectful implication leaving Akashi's mouth, "That's a shame."

"Yeah a shame, huh? Anyway, great game today," Hana tried to dismiss him politely, she really wanted to end this little get together without further consequences, "I gotta head home now, so…"

"Akashi Seijuro," the captain spoke, cutting her off.

She twitched, but forced the strained half-smile to remain on her face, "I've heard, you've all got quite the following,"

Akashi smiled, lips lifted almost mockingly, and Hana's smile broke as she sneered back at him. This action caused him to raise a defined eyebrow before addressing her accusation in a haughty tone, "Well, yes. You can understand why."

"Totally," her reply cut across the space between them, "Girls always go for the assholes."

When her sentence registered, she had four glares fixed upon her, all with varying degrees of insult. Only two remained neutral. Her dainty hands rubbing together, Momoi appeared worried and the giant purple haired boy only seemed focused on preserving the last bite of his melting ice cream. The sixth player, Hana thought his name was Kuroko, was nowhere to be seen.

"You should hold your tongue. It's rude to talk to your superiors that way," Akashi's face was deceptively collected, but his eyes were chilled as he observed her. Apparently, she'd pressed a button.

"I'll try to remember that for when I talk to them," she snarked back. Despite her defiance, Hana's heart was beating a mile a minute in the face of danger. These boys were absolutely terrifying and something about them screamed for her to retreat.

"See that you do," Akashi's sharp red eyes scanned her from head to toe before a smooth smirk crawled over his elegant face.

With that final statement, she assumed the conversation was over and figured she might as well make her escape now. Taking a careful step back, she began to walk away and tried to ignore the tingling sensation of being watched. She was only five feet away when it happened.

In a cliched moment of déjà vu, Akashi spoke again, "We'll see each other soon."

Though the statement was vague, it still sent a thrill of icy terror down her spine. As her feet led her away, Hana rubbed a hand over her arms in an attempt to dispel the rising goosebumps. Even if she didn't like the Generation of Miracles, but she could give them props. They were scary as shit.

The walk from Teiko back to her home passed in a blur of anxiety. When Hana safely locked the front door behind herself, she immediately made a cup of chamomile tea to battle her nerves. Her breathing had yet to calm down and even talking to her father hadn't helped. He'd just grinned and repeated the single most annoying line any parent could use.

"When a boy is mean to you it means they like you, honey!"

Well, Hana called bullshit. If anything about that statement rang true, it was probably the fact that Akashi would like to murder her. He most certainly did not want to date her.

Sipping her tea, Hana retired to her desk and reached for the red binder nestled into the corner. After pulling it out, nimble fingers flipped directly to Akashi Seijuro's page. Bright green eyes skimmed down the list of information: height, weight, appearance, hobbies, playing style, and abilities before they finally arriving at the personality section.

Retrieving a well-chewed pen, she made the next bullet mark: Akashi Seijuro is absolutely terrifying. Avoid confrontation at all costs.

Staring at her untidy scrawl, Hana sighed. She had a sinking feeling that she wouldn't be able to follow her own advice.