AU. Made with lots of love from the writer to the certain family. Probably filled with trivial things. I can't resist! Kuroko no Basuke will always belong to the owner(s).

Extra: Matching Cups

"Aomine-san, be careful while washing." A six years old Kagami Taiga warned the five years old girl who was washing the dirty ware. "It's quite heavy, isn't it? Here, let me wash it for you." Without any further reply, Taiga took the ceramic glass she was holding.

Instead a smile, he got a deep pout from the girl. Frowning back, he questioned the girl, "What?"

"It's Satsuki!" Aomine Satsuki protested as she folded her hands. "You're referring me as if you don't know me, Kagamin-niichan!" She added with a whisper, "And Aomine-san is too much like Dai-niichan..."

"But you call me Kagami, too."

"That's different! I add 'n' at the back!" The battle became more fierce than he had thought. "Dai-niichan and Akashi-niichan both call me Satsuki."

"But Kuroko calls you Aomine-san, too."

"That's-!"

"What are you both arguing at?" A simple question came from the entrance of the kitchen. It was coming from the older Aomine; Aomine Daiki. He came with the tallest boy, Murasakibara Atsushi. "You're not teasing my sister, are you?"

"Of course not!"

"Dai-niichan! Mukkun!" Satsuki exclaimed, "Welcome back. Did you get the groceries?"

"Yup." Atsushi replied with a nod as he handed her the plastic groceries. "Your promise?" He held out a hand.

"Sure!" Satsuki took a candy from her pocket and handed it out to him. "Thank you, Mukkun." The tall boy nodded absentmindedly as the girl ruffled his hairs. Not long after that, Atsushi left the kitchen to watch a movie with the others.

Satsuki continued to put the plate to the cardboard, Daiki placed the groceries to its respective categories in refrigerator, and Taiga was still fixated in washing the dirty kitchenware. However, when Taiga was about to put one of the cup away, his hand slipped.

"...Ah!"

.

.

.

*PRANG!*

.

.

.

"...What are you doing, Kagami!" Daiki immediately rushed to the crime scene, forcefully yanking Taiga to move away from that spot. "Jeez, it'll get hard to clean. Step away from here, you both. I'll clean it up."

"B-But..." Satsuki looked troubled by this. She glanced at Taiga who somehow looked petrified by this. "...Kagamin-niichan?"

"Kagami? Oi!"

"...It was...Akashi's favorite cup..." Taiga panicked, he looked very afraid. "...What should I do...?"

"...In any case, let's just clean it up first." Daiki took control of the mess. "I'll talk with Akashi about this."

"...Onii-chan..."

"Yeah, Satsuki?"

"...We can't...do that." Satsuki hesitated saying this, but she continued nevertheless. "That cup...is Akashi-niichan's memento...of his parents..."

"...Eh?"

"Yes." Taiga added surely, "He did mention to take care extra carefully of the cup. But just now, I-"

"What happened?"

The very child suddenly stood behind them with slight worry expression on his face. Quickly, Daiki covered the sight of cup pieces with his body and Taiga did too. Though, they missed one of the piece that was near where Seijuro stood. Seijuro picked it up, as the other children froze. Of course, he was considered sharp and in no time, he found out what happened.

"It's okay." He began kneeling to pick up the remaining cup pieces. "It can be replaced." Though, he assured softly, almost unconsciously, "But a person can not." unbeknownst to him, those three heard it, even it was transparent.

"But that cup-"

"There was already a crack below it." Seijuro assured surely, "The more important thing is; be careful of where you step."

"A-Ah, you're right." Daiki pursued calmly, "I'll get the vacuum cleaner."

"Please do." Seijuro agreed as he picked up another piece. "Taiga," the boy flinched, "and Satsuki, it's best for you both to go outside."

Taiga was feeling out of the blue; he didn't even know what to do the rest of the day. He sighed deeply while remembering the accident beforehand. Why wasn't he careful enough? He might not mastered the language well, but he had known of what memento was.

"Damn." He cursed under his breath. "Now what should I do to replace the cup...?"

"...Ne, I think you should speak to him, Kagamin-niichan." Satsuki tugged his clothes. "...I almost can't read Akashi-niichan, but at least I know that he didn't blame you at all." She nodded surely at this.

"She's right." Daiki suddenly popped up from the kitchen. He was already finished vacuuming the shards. His eyebrows furrowed, "If you want, I can go with you."

"No, it's okay." Taiga shook his head to assurance the Aomines, but they seemed uncertain at this. "It's all my fault. You don't have to cover it."

"How do you-" Daiki exclaimed, a bit surprised. "...No, wait. Akashi said the same thing too."

"He did!?" Taiga ruffled his hairs messily. "What should I do now? I can't possibly meet him after this... Maybe I should leave-"

"The hell you said that!" Daiki suddenly grabbed him by his clothes. Satsuki panicked seeing this. "You. Will. Not. Leave. This. House." It sounded like a threat, but Daiki really meant it.

"I'm sorry." Taiga replied quickly. "I think I'll talk to him..." Daiki and Satsuki nodded at the same time. "...But it's up to his choice whether to keep me here or not."

"Stop being a paranoid." Daiki retorted in dismay, but he understood anyway. "Good luck then."

"...Akashi."

When Taiga arrived at the scene, the cup pieces had been cleaned completely. However, he saw Seijuro, with his sleeve folded up neatly, was washing the dirty kitchenry.

"What is it?" Seijuro plainly replied; he even didn't glance a bit.

"I- Umm," Taiga stuttered to find the right words. "...About the tea cup...I'm sorry. Even though you told me to treat it carefully..."

Seijuro let out a sigh as he stopped washing. This time, he glanced at the red-haired half-foreigner boy. "You're still thinking about it? Just leave it, we're done with that."

"...But-!"

"I won't receive any reply nor complain here." Seijuro ordered as he put the last plate to the cardboard. "Save your energy for tomorrow. Go to sleep. We still have school tomorrow."

Seeing him narrowed his eyes, Taiga could only murmured a weak reply, "...Right."

"Oh, and one more thing." Seijuro cleaned his hands with the towel.

"Yeah?"

"Call the others." A small smile, almost faint, graced the Red King's Heir. "Let's sleep together tonight."

With a bright smile, Taiga replied quickly before running to the living room. "Yes!"

"Children are fickle creatures." The disowned Akashi heir sat at the balcony of his bedroom, looking at the stars. A pool of white breath came out from his mouth. It seems that he was cold; even it was in the first week of February already. "My perception can't decipher what they're thinking. There are few times that I can tell; but it's too vague."

A piece of blanket was gently brushed his shoulders. The boy with blank expression softly wrapped him with a thick blanket. "Unlike adults, children have their own way of thinking; and that makes them shine brightly." Tetsuya made himself sat next to Seijuro. "Are your fingers okay?"

"You always seem to understand me well." Seijuro smiled slightly as he showed one of his fingers got bandaged. Truthfully, he got cut when he took the shards. "It appears that my senses has gone numb these days."

"Isn't it okay for having fun once in a while?" Tetsuya turned his eyes to see the other children were sleeping inside. "Although, once in a while is still not enough. We want to be happy with the way we are now."

"Shouldn't you go to sleep now, Tetsuya?" Seijuro inquired, "It's already late. We don't want you to get cold."

"I guess." Tetsuya stood and smiled slightly. "You should take a rest too, Akashi-kun."

"I still want to stay like this a bit longer. You sleep first." Seijuro ordered him.

Tetsuya nodded slightly, "Alright. Good night, Akashi-kun."

"Good night, Tetsuya." Seijuro closed his eyes as he folded his hands neatly. Looking at the bright stars, he let out another white puff breathe. "...I guess I should head back to sleep now."

.

.

.

One week later

.

.

.

*TING*TONG*

"Excuse me, Kamamoto Delivery Service!" From behind the main door, there was a male voice. "There's a package for Shirogane-san!"

"Right~!" A tall boy arrived at the entrance of the mansion. On his mouth, there was a lollipop hanging. "Hee~ It's weird for Shiro-chin to have a package."

"Umm, you have to stamp this first..."

"Murasakibara, you forgot the stamp!" A boy with glasses scolded the tall boy. "Jeez, how many times did I tell you?"

"Do I really have to?"

"Of course you do!"

"Okay. I'm sorry, Mido-chin~"

"You're testing my patience, are you?"

"...Umm, the stamp?" The delivery man inquired hesitantly.

"Here you go!" Another child popped up suddenly before he stamped the post. He then smiled apologetically, "Sorry for the ruckus, thank you sir. Have a nice day-ssu!"

"What are you bringing, Kise-kun?" Tetsuya asked him slowly as the blonde boy brought the package to the living room. The children were watching or doing their homework there. "Be careful."

"I don't know... It's heavy, though." With a 'hup', Ryota put it down carefully. The curious children made a circle at it. "The delivery man said it was a package for Shiroganecchi."

"A package for Shirogane-jiichan?" The little girl inquired again as she flipped down her note. "Are you sure? He didn't say anything about it... Should we call him?"

"No, it's best to leave it untouched." Shintaro replied strictly. "Since he's probably busy, we shouldn't disturb him while doing his work." Shintaro glanced a the arriving boy. "Except it was Akashi who ordered them."

"You're right." Seijuro smirked as he ordered, "Open it up. It's for everyone."

Daiki looked a bit surprised, "A present for us?"

"Sweets?" Atsushi's eyes shone brightly.

Taiga sweatdropped hearing this, "Are sweets the only thing in your head?" He helped Ryota to open the box.

Satsuki's voice trailed off, "...A...cup?"

"Whoa, they're matching cups!" Ryota exclaimed happily. The cups are custom-made products which had different colors each.

"Everyone gets one each." Seijuro nodded as he pointed at the kanji grazed at the base of the cup. "Can you read the kanji?"

"...Mine is...this, right?" Taiga was a bit unsure because he was still learning kanji. He got the orange one.

"If my guess is right, mine is yellow!" Ryota took one of the cup. "Hehe, based on our names right?"

"Yay, mine is pink!" Satsuki claimed one of the cup happily. "Thank you, Akashi-niichan!"

"If that is the case, then mine will be the black one." Kuroko took the cup carefully; a small smile grazed his lips. "Thank you Akashi-kun."

Without a doubt, Shintaro took the green-colored cup. He slightly smiled. "This is quite a thing, Akashi. A custom-made from the famous craftsman?"

"Thanks, Akashi." Daiki took the blue-colored one. "It's cool!"

"...Hmm, I guess mine is this?" Atsushi took the red and purple cups. He gave Seijuro the red one. The only one remaining cup is the white-colored; possibly for the butler, Shirogane Eiji. "Hn, red really suits you best, Aka-chin."

"Thank you, Atsushi." Seijuro replied as the tall boy gave the red-colored cup. That was when he noticed something off; unlike the others who looked proud at their cup, Taiga was still fixated on his orange-colored cup. "...What's wrong, Taiga? Is it not your liking?"

"No! I like it very much!" Taiga replied quickly, it seemed that their interactions made everyone turned at them. "...No, it's just- Nothing really."

"If there's something wrong, you should say it, Kagami-kun." Tetsuya patted the boy's shoulder gently. "It's best to let out your feelings."

"...It's truly a trivial thing, really!" Taiga exclaimed quickly. "Don't mind me!"

"Well, let me guess, then." Seijuro didn't wait for his denial, "Are you worried about your name?"

"...Eh?"

"Unlike others, your name isn't formed with colors, right?" Taiga left speechless; he knew that Seijuro was pretty sharp but how did he know exactly what Taiga was thinking?

Stuttered, red, and looking at his feet were the only things that the boy could do. "...It's...really...unimportant...right?"

"You idiot, Kagami." A light punch came from the tanned boy. It was replied by a low hum from the tallest boy.

"Why are you thinking such?" Shintaro asked him in wonder. The little girl tilted her head in reply.

Only Ryota felt the same, "Well, if I am Kagamicchi, I might get jealous too..."

"Why not change your way of thinking?" Tetsuya spoke, a bit smiling. "Right, Akashi-kun?"

"You're right." As if he knew what he was saying, the leader of the group said. "There are White here," which indicated his butler, "Black," Tetsuya smiled, "Purple," Atsushi tilted his head, "Blue," Daiki looked proud, "Yellow," Ryota grinned, "Green," Shintaro scoffed, "Pink," Satsuki was a bit shocked, she thought she was considered blue; though she liked pink, "...and Red." Seijuro glanced sadly; only Tetsuya and Shintaro understood what he was reffering to. He continued, "So why don't you see your name as a reflection?"

"Huh?"

"In other words, a mirror."

Taiga suddenly remembered about his lesson with Shintaro. "Oh! The other kanji?"

"Indeed." Seijuro nodded, "Do you know what happens after the rain?"

"A rainbow." Satsuki answered happily. "It has 7 different colors!"

"No, it's not all that." Tetsuya added as he put his hand on the little girl's shoulder, "A pool of water."

"Correct." Seijuro added with a rare, gentle smile. "Your name means a reflection of the rainbow after the rain."

"...Even though my name is in different kanji?" Taiga inquired softly.

"Yes, of course." Seijuro answered surely. "Even if it's a coincidence or happens by chance, it will turn out to what you believe. I believe that our meetings with everyone here weren't mere coincidences." The others smiled slightly, "What do you believe, Taiga?"

Taiga's face brightened, he grinned in reply. "...I believe in you. Always and always will!"

Hello! Thank you for reading this story again. I made this based on a matching cups sold in internet. They basically have the same strip patterns; but in different angles and colors too. It is supposed to be posted at chapter 4, but it got long after I added it, so I cut it. My friend forced me to post it...so, yeah. Thanks for everyone who had alerted/favorited/reviewed this story! I really appreciate it! Until the next time :)