I LIVEEEEEE! Omg I can't believe there are so many of you guys waiting for me to put out the next chapter for this story! D: THANK YOU so much for taking the time to read it and waiting patiently for the next chapter. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as well.

I'm so sorry for the long delay on the second chapter. When I was writing this chapter after I released chapter 1, I had a bad block and found a lot of holes in the story if I did it one way or the other. So this chapter was rewritten several times (which btw was painful) till I finally was satisfied.

In other news, here are the other reasons why I was not able to update: School had stolen my brain so I lost my sanity, people in the school club had been giving me some new strands of white hairs, and my computer hates me so much that it started to have seizures till it reaches the blue screen of death a zillion times. Oh and lastly all my priorities went down the drain when I got Animal Crossing: New Leaf this summer. D':

Thanks to my friend for taking the time to beta read this.

Warnings:

1. This chapter contains some characters having a pouty mouths therefore small bit of swear is in here.

2. No pairing and no slashes. Lots of bromance and teasing maybe in future chapters.

3. I apologize if characters are OOCish! I'll try harder! OTL

4. I also apologize for any grammars that my beta and I might have overlooked (or if I forgot to reformat the review part from word and everything becomes funky)

5. Idk…? I apologize for anything else that needs to be mention but has not been mention

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Kuroko no Basuke. D: sad…

Monsters Within

Chapter 2: I Am My Own Worst Enemy

Present day: Kuroko's House

Kuroko jolt up from his bed sweating cold sweat and was breathing erratically. He rested his head back onto the pillow with his hand on his head and moan in pain as his head started pounding. Last night he had a dream or rather a nightmare of the time when he and Momoi were defenseless against a bunch of high schoolers. The last thing he remembered was the pain he was in lying there helplessly before blacking out. Kuroko glanced at his clock and saw it was 6:30 AM flashing in red. He groaned and dragged himself out of bed to get ready for today's match.

In the bathroom, he stared at his reflection and saw that he looked like crap. Actually he feels like crap too of all days. Kuroko splashed some water on his face and brushed his teeth. He wondered if he had some medicine for his head. Searching through the cabinet he found some pills and decided to take it after he eats a small breakfast. He didn't bother with his hair and went to change into his basketball attire. Walking into the living room, he was greeted by Nigou wagging his tail with his tongue sticking out panting.

"Arf!" Kuroko smiled at him and kneel down to pet him. Nigou put his front paws on his knees and licked his face. He gave a small smile and gently pushed the dog's paws off so he could stand up while wiping off the slob that Nigou left on his face.

"Morning to you too, Nigou. Are you hungry?" Nigou barked in response and Kuroko went to the kitchen to him some food with Nigou following behind. Kuroko opened one of the cabinet shelves and took out a box of dog food. He then grabbed two bowls on the ground and cleaned it up. After he began to pour the food out in one of the bowls and then placing it back to the ground. The other bowl he filled up with water. The dog ate the food with pleasure as Kuroko was about to look for something to eat, he spotted a plate of sausages, eggs, and toast wrapped in saran wrap attached with a note written in orange and purple.

He took the note from the table and read it to himself. The note said:

Good Morning my little Tetsu! =3 You were sleeping so soundly last night that I didn't have the heart to wake you up. Here is today's breakfast! Make sure you eat everything on the plate so nothing goes to waste! Don't think I don't know that you've been wasting food! :U Mommy and Daddy can't make it to your match today due to work, but we'll be there in SPIRIT! Good luck!~ =3

Love 3,

Mommy and Daddy

Kuroko smiled and for some odd reason the headache he had was gone. Ever since he entered Teikou Middle School, he rarely seen his parents since they worked odd hours, but they usually leave him a note every once or twice a week and gave him allowances every month. He put the note into one of the drawers that held the many other notes he kept and sat back down to eat his breakfast. After eating what he could, he dumped the rest of it regardless of what his mother wrote.

It was 7:45 AM and it seemed that he might be a bit late. Kuroko thought that he'll just use misdirection as an excuse. He sat near the doorway putting on his shoes and was about to grab his bag till Nigou came up to him wagging his tail. Glancing at the dog, he petted his head.

"Watch the house okay?" Nigou barked in response that made him smile. Kuroko grabbed his bag and left his apartment. Today is an important match for him. He and Kagami will defeat Aomine. Kuroko hope that he would returns back to his old self again. Staring up at the blue sky he remembered that he what he had promised Momoi.

+++Seiran High vs. Touou High: Final Quarter+++

Kagami was their greatest weapon and only hope of defeating Aomine. However due his leg injury he was benched. The winner of this match had already been decided, however Seiran never gave up. They fought to the bitter end as they watch Touou's scores drifted further away from their grasp. Riko could not bear to watch anymore as her teammates continued fighting on while Momoi found it painful to watching Kuroko struggling to keep up. Aomine ran passed Kuroko dribbling the ball and Kuroko tried reaching for him with all his might.

He stopped and watched as Aomine drifted further and further away. Aomine dunk the last point in before the buzz rang declaring the game was over. Kuroko stood in the middle of the court looking down on the ground not able to determine what he should feel. Frustrated? Anger? Regret? Depress?

"Let's go and line up Kuroko." Hyuga said walking by. Kuroko could only nod and walked with his teammates to line up. He felt Aomine presence in front of him and ignored it as he walked. There was nothing to say to the winner of this game. The audiences were awed by how Touou was able to double Seiran's score. Did Seiran luck just run out? But the former Teikou's ace is to be watched as he is a dangerous player to be recognize. After the line up, both teams went back to their locker room to gather their belongings and leave for the day.

"Damn!" Kagami cursed as he slammed his fist onto the locker. It was frustrating that he had to be bench near the end and watched his teammate struggle against Aomine. If only I was stronger! If only my leg didn't gave out. Then maybe we could have…Aggh.

"We still have two more games! This isn't the time to be depressed!" Riko shouted at them. She tries to keep them on a positive note. However she knows that they were all frustrated by the lost. As a coach she could only do so much from the sideline in guiding them to victory. "Come on guys! We'll review our mistakes later. Right now what matters is that you guys all rest and get ready for the next two games!" She paused and then turned to Kagami. "And Kagami, you better go to the hospital!"

"Eh…" Everyone dragged themselves out of the locker room and listened to their coach. Kuroko whose head was drooping down sat on the bench still lost in his thoughts. Kagami noticed he didn't move. "Let's go Kuroko." No response. Kagami stood there for another minute and then decided to voice his thoughts. "I guess this is our limit. Honestly, I thought we'd play pretty well, but in the end it was still shit. I guess against sheer skill, just cooperation isn't enough to win eh?"

Kuroko eyes widen when he heard the last sentence. He could hear Kagami leaving as the door creaked open and then it shut itself up. There were too many promises he made that he couldn't keep. He promised Kagami that they would together beat Aomine and make him the number 1 in Japan, Momoi to bring Aomine back to his original self and to Aomine an opponent that will give him the desire to enjoy playing basketball again. All those promises, he had accomplished none of them. Kuroko didn't know why but he felt a stab of pain in his heart and a tear roll down his eye. Akashi is right, I'm at my limit. I am useless without anyone. Can I not save them?

He stood up and grabbed his bag to follow Kagami out of the locker room. As he walked passed the door, he felt a sharp stabbing the inside of his head. Kuroko rubbed his temples trying to ease the pain but the pain continued to spread throughout his head. It felt like his head was going to split into two as he put his right hand against the wall for support. It must be the headache from this morning. Kuroko didn't know if he should call Kagami for help as he watched his teammate about to turn the corner. He dragged his feet down the hall continued to use the wall as his support. Suddenly the pain became unbearable and he collapsed face down onto the ground.

"Ya ain't useless." A voice said as Kuroko tried to fight off the pain. "Sleep, I'll take care of everything." Listening to the voice he stopped struggling and let his eyes closed. Kuroko drifted into the darkness.

+++Outside the Stadium+++

"Will you top following me!" Midorima scowled at Kise. The two of them were heading towards the same direction by coincidence. Kise was going to the train station to go back to Kanagawa while Midorima wanted to go to a particular bookstore next to that station.

"I'm not following you!" Kise whined. Midorima groan as he rubbed his temples, while doing so he bumped into a person. The person turned around and glared at them without realizing who they were.

"Oi! Watch where yo-Midorima? Kise?" Aomine shocked. The two of them looked just as surprised as he was. "What are guys doing here?

"We came to check out the game and-"

"Eh?! Kise-kun and Midorima-kun? What are you guys doing here?" Momoi asked as she spotted Aomine talking to them. Kise waved at her while Midorima cursed for running into them as he adjusted his glasses.

"We came to check out the game and-"

"KUROKO! Where are you? KUROKO!" Kise cried as he was cut of again. The ex-Teikou basketball players and manager saw three of Seirin's basketball team's bench warmers running around shouting Kuroko's name. One of the trios with the black hair spotted the four of them from a far and pointed them out to his teammates. The both of them looked scared to approach either of them and started pushing each other towards their direction. The more they push each other the closer they were towards them. The trio froze seeing as to how close in distance they were as the three Generation of Miracles were stood there looking very intimidating.

"Furihata-kun, I think you should ask them." The one with very short black hair whispered.

"Are you kidding me, Kawahara?" Furihata, the guy with brown hair panicked and looked at the guy with black spiky hair. "Fukuda-kun! You ask them!"

He shook his head and lightly elbowed Kawahara to talk. Then it became a cycle as to who were to ask the three intimidating Generation of Miracles as they argued amongst themselves. Momoi noticed that Aomine was about to lose his temper, Midorima was getting irritated and Kise looked lost as to what to do. She sighed and approached them.

"Can we help you with something?" The trio stopped arguing and looked her. Then Kawahara and Fukuda took their chance pushed Furihata forward to talk. Furihata almost fell to the ground but caught himself before he could stumble onto Momoi. He cursed them underneath his breath.

"Um…well, have you guys seen Kuroko?" He blushed looking at Momoi and fidget in place.

"Sorry. Aomine and I just got of the locker room." She responded and looked at Kise and Midorima.

"We haven't seen Kurokocchi either." Kise stated and the three of them fell into a slump of depression. Both Momoi and Kise looked confused while Aomine and Midorima could careless. "Why? Did something bad happen to Kurokocchi?"

"Kuroko disappeared!" Kawahara blurted out. The four of them were startled by his sudden outburst.

Midorima adjusted his glasses and composed himself. He then glanced at them in annoyance. The three of them gulped fearing him. "You sure you guys didn't just oversee him? Did you guys even try contacting that guy?"

"Coach tried calling him but it went straight to his voicemail. Everyone went to back to the locker room to check if he was still there but he wasn't there either. We searched all over the stadium and still couldn't find him. " Fukuda answered. "He might be around the area so we're still searching around out here. Although it's quite hard to look for someone who's already invisible as is."

"If you can please help us!" Furihata pleaded and bow down low. The other two follow his suit and bow down as well. They knew the opposing team could care less about helping them out but it was worth a short and plus they were desperate.

"Che, you guys are stupid asking someone from the winning team for help. I'm leaving." Aomine walked passed as the trio still had their head bow down low shivering in fear of the Ace of Touou.

"Heh, I have better things to then to-

"We'll help!" Kise cut in and the trio looked up at him surprised. "Leave it to us! We'll be able to find Kurokocchi ne?" Kise smiled and flung his arm onto Midorima's shoulders. Midorima glared at him for dragging him into something stupid. Momoi nodded in approval and ran after Aomine. She grabbed onto one of his arm and dragged him back to their group.

"OI! Satsuki! Let go!"

"We'll also help too!" She chimed and Aomine looked at her in shocked. Then he struggled to get out of her death grip.

"Fine. I'll help too, but it's not because I'm worried about Kuroko nanodayo." Midorima sighed in defeat and shoved Kise away from him. Kise whined about how mean he was. The three freshmen could cry in tears of joy as they somehow successfully had gotten help from them.

"Thank you so much!" The trio shouted in unison. They exchanged numbers and parted ways looking for Kuroko.

Kise and Momoi shouted for Kuroko's name while Midorima was too embarrassed to be shouting scanned around the area. Aomine was the only one that didn't care or do anything but just followed them around looking. They looked around the area outside the stadium thinking that the trios might have missed him around there.

Then they follow a path going into a park. In the park they spotted a wreck down basketball court down a dirt slope, where a combination of tall grass and weeds seems to surround the court. There were only two trees providing shade underneath one decaying wood bench. Kise almost slipped down the man made rock stairs as the steps were either broken or unevenly spaced. The concrete ground was all cracked up with markings fading away and weeds growing in between them. One of the hoops had no net while the other net seemed to be ripped on one side. The boards were graffiti and were rusted.

However, there was no sign of Kuroko as they would have hoped for. So they went continued searching throughout the park. An hour later the group was tired and decided to take a break in the park. Just as Momoi was about to sit down her cellphone rang indicating an incoming text message.

"Did they find Kurokocchi?" Kise jumped and he looked over her shoulder. Midorima who was standing next to her also glanced over. Aomine just sat on the bench not interested what so ever. She looked at the text.

'Did you guys have any luck finding him? We already search everywhere outside the stadium 3 times and still no sign of him. D:' –Furihata

"Seems like they haven't gotten any luck finding him either." Momoi sighed and sat down onto the bench next to Aomine. She then replied back to the text. Kise slumped onto the other empty spot next to Aomine worrying where Kuroko would be. Midorima took a seat on another bench. They sat there in an awkward silence.

"Perhaps Kuroko doesn't want to be found nanodayo." Midorima broke the silence as he took off his glasses and started to wipe the lens.

"But Kuroko wouldn't just disappear like that. He would at least tell-"

"He did it once before." Aomine interrupted Momoi. They all turned their attention to him. "After our last championship he disappeared remember."

Everyone remembered especially Kise and Momoi. That day Momoi had thought Kuroko was joking about disappearing into the shadows, but apparently he did. The two of them were searching frantically for him but found no sign of him in school or outside of school. Kuroko's classmate wasn't even sure if such a student exists in their own classroom. It wasn't until two weeks before graduation that they finally found him spacing out in the library.

"Aren't you at least concern about him!" she stood up and yelled at Aomine. He glanced up at her and then dropped his head back down staring at a distance.

"Why? Kuroko can do whatever he wants for all I care."

"But what if Kurokocchi gets kidnapped by perverts and do indecent things to him? Or he gets beaten up by some thugs on the street?! They'll beat him up to death and then put his body inside the trash can where no one could find him. Or they could burn his body so that there would be no trace of it left!" Kise panicked as his imagination went wild and Aomine whacked him on the head.

"The chance of Kuroko being notice is unlikely unless he announced himself to them." Midorima said and sighed. "That's when he gets himself into unnecessary trouble for helping someone."

"Heh, that's typical, being stupid as always." Aomine stretched his arms out and looked at Momoi. "Satsuki don't bother worrying about him. If Tetsu doesn't want to be found then he's not going to let anyone find him. It's not he'll be thankful or happy to see either of us anyways whether or not something happens to him. And even if we did find him there is nothing for a winner to say to loser anyways. Let's get back home."

Momoi snapped and threw Aomine's bag into his face. Kise and Midorima were startled. Tears streamed down her face as she glared at Aomine. "You IDIOT! I hate you! What kind of friend are you? Why are you always like this to Kuroko when he's trying so hard to help you and yet you just push him away! All you can think about is yourself! If something happens to him I'll never forgive you!" She grabbed her own bag and threw it into Aomine's face again before running away crying.

"Oi! Satsuki!"

"Momoicchi!" Kise stood up and tried to reach out to her before she disappeared from their sight. Aomine cringed in pain from having something smacked in the face and Midorima could only shake his head. "Aominecchi, you should have handled the situation in a more delicate matter."

"Whatever, I didn't agree to go and help looking for Tetsu anyways." Aomine grabbed his and Momoi's bag and started to leave.

"Then why didn't you just leave earlier?" Midorima asked and Aomine stop dead on his tracks. "Why bother even coming along with us to look for him in the first place?"

Aomine opened his mouth and then suddenly they heard a familiar voice screaming from afar. It was Momoi's voice. The three of them ran as fast as could as Momoi's voice got louder and louder. They stopped at basketball court that they had passed by earlier on their search for Kuroko. Standing on the court was a group of seven high school guys dressed in black gakuen uniforms. They all looked to be an upperclassman. One of them had a blue bandana who seems to be the leader of the group, had his hand gripped onto Momoi's shoulder and pulled her close to him as she struggle to break free. The other guys laughed as they provoke her and made dirty comments. Enraged by the sight the three of them ran down the slope.

"Satsuki/Momoicchi/Momoi!" the three of them shouted. The group turned their attention to them. They whispered amongst themselves trying to identify who these three guys were while Momoi was glad they came.

"Oi! You bastards let Satsuki go!" Aomine snared. The guy in the bandana didn't loosen his grip on Momoi and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh? The boyfriends are here to the rescue? Sorry but she's mine now." He laughed. Momoi glared at him and tried elbowing him in the gut to break free. However since the impact was weak the bandana guy didn't feel it at all. "Oh ho ho, feisty this one. I like you even more now."

Midorima and Kise had to restrain Aomine in punching the guy just yet. The both of them were just as angry as Aomine were but thought there should be a better solution to this. Kise wasn't the type to fight and he can't have his face damage for his next modeling job. Midorima didn't want to damage his hands for his next matches.

"Hey aren't they the Generation of Miracles!" one of them recognized. They all looked at each other started to chatter about them. Soon the bandana guy looked at the three in amusement and the back at Momoi. He then had an evil smile on his face.

"Say, how bout we do this? Let's play a basketball match." He proposed. The four of them looked at him confused. Kise and Midorima released their grip from Aomine as they listen to what he had to say."If you win you guys get to keep your title as the Generation of Miracles and the girl. However if we win, we keep the girl and the title of Generation of Miracles!"

"You're kidding me! You guys are light years away from beating me! The only one who can beat me is me." Aomine declared and glared at them.

"You guys aren't worth wasting my time on." Midorima stated.

"Are you kidding me?" The bandana guy laughed. "This is an opportunity of a life time for us to screw with you little bastards. Generation of Miracles, that title of yours spread far and wide, that is feared by many schools yet. Freshies like you should learn to respect your senpai's wishes and with this girl as the trophy there is no way you'll say no."

"I'm NOT anyone's TROPHY!" Momoi flared in anger. She had enough of being a trophy girl to every bastards that comes along the way and stomped her foot on to his as hard as she can. Playing a princess in distress was something she did not sign up for. The guy yelped in pain and lost his grip. Taking this chance she kneel him where it hurts the most and ran away from him.

"GET HER!" One his lackeys ran and grabbed her wrist. Another one was about to jump onto her when a basketball appeared out of no where and smacked him from the back of his head who then splatted face down on the ground. The lackey that was holding her wrist was startled, Momoi shook his hand off her wrist and ran towards her friends. The three of them stand on their ground with Momoi behind them as that group reformed itself.

"You-you…" the bandana guy murmured. He was still in pain as he still kept jumping around to ease it away. "You-you-you- you…BIT-" Another ball came out of nowhere and smacked him in the back of his head startling everyone. He crouched down with his hands on his head in pain while his lackeys were screaming at him if he was alright. The ball that had hit rolled to his side. In anger, he took the ball, turned around and threw it to who ever it was hoping it will hit them. "Coward! SHOW YOURSELF!"

An impact of the ball being caught could be heard in the distance. Then the sound of the ball dribbling came from the shadows as he took a step out. He took his time walking out of the shadows as the wind blows and stopped a few feet away from them where they were able to see his face. A familiar teal hair teen with empty blank eyes stare at them still wearing Seiran's basketball uniform.

"Tetsu-kun/Kurokocchi!" exclaimed Momoi and Kise while Aomine mumbled something under his breath but was relieved that Kuroko was alright. Midorima however felt something was off. He looked into his eyes he noticed they were a darker shade of blue. Kuroko's eyes shifted towards his direction and glazed into Midorima's eye startling him. He felt a chill run down his spine as Kuroko's eyes bored into his. Midorima looked away as he felt his hand shaking uncontrollably.

"Who the hell are you?" the bandana guy shouted as he got up with the support of his lackeys. Kuroko stared at him and didn't answer. There was a long silence as they looked into each others eyes. "Do you know who we are?"

Kuroko blinked and then gave a small gentle smile that angered the bandana guy. His smile drastically changed into a smug smile. "Are ya someone famous? Cause all I see is a bunch of fuckin' coward with fuckin' no respect." Hell must have frozen for Kise, Midorima, Aomine, and Momoi as their eyes widen when they heard Kuroko swore. Never once had they heard him swear and hearing those words coming out of his mouth made him seem so out of character. The other guys were not happy and look as they want to give him a good beating. However the bandana guy signaled them to back off while he handled talking to Kuroko.

"You think you're any better? Didn't anyone tell you to respect your senpai? And what are you hoping to be for that girl huh? A saint? A savior? A hero?" Kuroko frown and glared at them as he stopped dripping the ball and hold it in the palm of hand. The bandana guy gave him a smug look waiting for him to counter back or back down.

"I ain't anyone saint or savior and I'm definitely ain't gonna be someone's hero." In a swift motion he threw the ball hard towards the group. The ball flew as fast as a speeding bullet and with a blink of an eye, hit an unlucky lackey of the bandana guy out cold. Everyone in the court froze where they were and as the guy that was knocked out had an imprint of the basketball on his face with blood oozing out of his nose and mouth. The basketball rolled out of the court into the field of weeds. Kuroko then smiled satisfied with his aim. Then he threw his bag down on the ground and crack his neck. "But I am a phantom. A shadow. And something so much that you should fear for."

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" the bandana guy charged at him along with the rest of his gang. He punched Kuroko in the face leaving a painful red mark on his cheek. Kuroko enraged punched him back and then kneed him in the gut. Soon the other members of the gang were throwing punches at Kuroko while he was dodging it or returning the punches. Kuroko laughed like a maniac enjoying the fight as he fought back. It was a mass chaos.

Aomine couldn't take his eyes off watching a different side of Kuroko while Midorima closed his eyes and looked away from the fight. Kise was trembling in terror at the fight and how out of character Kuroko was acting. Momoi dropped down on her knees and looked down on the ground with tears in her eye. A blurry image appeared in her head of a guy stand in the center surrounded by the three unconscious bodies. She didn't understand why her memory is going back to a year ago as she didn't remember who her savior was that day. All she knew was that she fainted after she saw the person. Momoi lifted her head a little and saw Kuroko standing there with his back facing them. The gang fighting either stood there out of breath or staggering on the ground. Her eyes widen as the image in her head was similar from a year ago and gasped.

"It was Tetsu-kun!" She exclaimed and snapping out the three boys out of their state. They looked at her confused. "It was Tetsu-kun all along!"

"Oi Satsuki what the hell are you talking about?"

"Momoicchi?"

"What do you mean it was Kuroko?"

Momoi stood up and dust off the particles on her knee. "Remember a year ago when Kuroko and I were attacked by some high schoolers?"

"Eh? Wasn't it when Nijimura senpai the one that saved you guys?" Kise stated as he recalled That day Akashi had called for all them for a meeting two weeks before the championship tournament while Momoi and Kuroko went out to purchase equipment. The two of them were gone for almost more than three hours. Nijimura had made a sudden appearance in the gym startling the Generation of Miracles and told them what had happened to them. Momoi shook her head.

"It wasn't Nijimura senpai." They all turn their attention back to Kuroko who finished off the last of them. He punched the last guy out unconscious and stood in the center surrounded by bodies matching scene to when Momoi saw a year ago. "I don't know how Nijimura was factor into the story. But I'm positive that it was Tetsu-kun."

"But you told us that time that Kuroko was already knocked out cold. So how is it Kuroko?" Midorima questioned. Momoi looked surprised and paused thinking it over again.

"I'm sure it was Kuroko!" She firmly stated. "It wouldn't make sense how Nijimura senpai was able to carry Kuroko, me, and the equipment back to school! There's no way he could possibility carry that much weight!"

"It wouldn't make sense if it was Kuroko either!" He objected.

"Do you think that maybe there's something else missing in the story then?" Kise added in to the conversation. The both of them turned to him with eyes widen in realization. It seemed that Kise might be right. There were two sides of the story and both of them are not adding up together.

They winced as they heard something cracked. Looking at the court they saw Kuroko kicking one of the guys hard that they could hear the ribs cracked. The body flew onto the edge of the court and the other half of it on the field of weeds. Kuroko glared at the remaining two people. The two people looked at each other and then ran away screaming. He rubbed his injured face and cursed. "Crap! Boss man is gonna be pissed."

"Tetsu?" Aomine stared at him hard as Kuroko stopped and gave him a blank stare. He opened his mouth but then closed it unsure on what to say to Kuroko. The others stood behind Aomine were unsure how to approach him as well. He then shook away his fear and spoke. "What the hell happen to you?"

"Haa?" Kuroko asked and tilt his head. "What ya mean?"

"Kurokocchi, are you okay?" Kise stuttered. "You don't seem to be yourself today. What's wrong?"

"Wrong?" Kuroko head downcast and fist clenched. He snapped his head up and then lashed out. "Wrong?! Ya fuckin' serious? Does it look like there's something wrong with me? I just lost a game to this ganguro[1], rescue Princess Peach[2], and then beat the hell out of these guys for ya. Ya askin' me if I'm okay?!"

Kise jumped and hid behind Aomine while Momoi cling onto his arm in fear. This wasn't the Kuroko they know. Aomine narrowed his eyes and growl at him. He did not like being called a ganguro.

"You're not Kuroko." Midorima adjusted his glasses up as he addressed. Kuroko blinked and then smirk at him. The rest of them looked at Midorima bewildered at the fact that he would say that. Kuroko walked closer to group and into Midorima's personal space sizing up to him.

"Oi! This isn't some funny matter!" Aomine snarled. He didn't like where this was going at. Knowing Midorima, he was probably going to come up with some crazy conclusion.

"Well no shit Sherlock. Now where's the evidence huh?" He ignored Kuroko's snarky comment.

"Its an assumption, but I think there is two Kuroko like how there is two Akashi or you're his relative. The chance of Kuroko defending himself like that is highly unlikely considered he would have been beaten up within a few second." He paused for a while and rubbed his chin. "The way you speak is very different from Kuroko's and you act more rashly then he does."

"Oh? So are there really two of me within me or am I just a separate person who happens to be his relative?" he challenged him.

The both of them stared at each other for a long while. Midorima could feel a heavy tension pushing down upon him as he started to sweat from pressure. Kuroko's eyes gazed were fiery and full of arrogant. Everyone could feel the tension of the atmosphere coming from him by the way Kuroko was standing and cracking his fist. They fear he might lash out if they say something wrong.

"There's two of you." He answered carefully.

"Are you sure?" Kuroko smirked as he watched Midorima expression changed in amusement. Kise and Momoi were gripping Aomine harder scared of what's to come if he answered wrong. Aomine couldn't take it anymore.

"Stop messing around already!" Aomine roared and startled everyone. Kise and Momoi let go their grip on him. "Like hell I care anymore. I'm leaving!"

"Dai-chan!" Momoi and Kise grabbed him before he could leave. That then led to the three of them arguing. Midorima shook his head and groaned. He rubbed his temples to trying to relieved his tension. Just what he needed, more headaches from these guys as well.

"Heh. Way to ruin the fun." He looked at them in disappointment then turned his attention back to Midorima with a smirk. "Anyways… Congratulation, you are correct. What ya want now? A gold star?" Midorima glared at 'Kuroko' and questioned him.

"Just who are you?"

"Me?" He gave a sad smile. "I am my own worst enemy. Kurogane, its Kurogane Hikaru [3]."

To be continued…

Terms:

[1]: Ganguro means "black face" or "dark skin". It was a fashion trend for many women during the mid 90s. They're usually very tan and bleached hair. =\

[2]: Mario reference for my amusement.

[3]: The meaning to his name. Kurogane: "black steel" Hikaru: "light". When I choose Kurogane it was original because I was reading a Kendo manga called "Kurogane". Sadly though the manga didn't gain enough popularity votes in Japan and had ended. Go google it and let me know what you think if you ever read it.

Soooo… I am pretty sure most of you sort of knew where I was going with this story…? Maybe? Ahahaha. I hope this was worth the wait. Please review and let me know what you think. Yes I have/did/will/etc read the latest chapters of Kuroko no Basuke and the Teikou arc I likey. :D :D :D The next chapter...is still being work in progress. :\