Miss Ponta

Chapter 2- Uncharacteristically Tender

           She was two levels angrier, no scratch that, she was livid and beyond furious. Momoi indignantly plunged the ball to the waiting hoop with vigor that rivals the generation of miracles. She wanted to scream and scream she did.

“Dai-chan, you stupid, idiot!!!!!” came her earsplitting shriek that it resounded to the empty courts and possibly woke the entire neighborhood. She ran some more, dribbling the ball with her tiny hands and practically wheezing her frustrations through the hoop. Locks of pink were flying unceremoniously all over the place, in a messy ponytail she made. The sleeves of her uniform had been rolled scruffily on her elbows with a green jacket hugging the curves of her hips. She looked pleasantly rumpled, Kagami thought to himself.

Wait, what! He did not just say that. He was not a pervert. Kagami was in the middle of a mental confrontation when her stray ball trundled over the spot where he was watching her, quietly.

“Kagamin…?” flushed pink met crimson red. She moved her head a little to the right, indicating her confusion for the sudden disturbance. All his previous anger suddenly melted and flushed down the drain. Now, he was just panic-stricken. Afterall, he never expected such turn out of events.

An even redness started to surface his cheeks when Momoi moved her face closer to his. He was suddenly feeling so unwell being the subject of her attention.  

Yes, Kuroko would like to repeat how useless Kagami was, in everything except basketball. Dealing with women is out of the question. Other than his perverse encounters with Alex and their basketball coach, he had zero association with womenfolk.

“Kagamin, are you here to play as well?” she asked again, this time around, her head retracted, an act for which he was quietly thankful for.

“I, -yeah” he muffled a sad excuse for an answer.

“Great! I was getting tired of playing by myself” she was practically beaming, and he stopped himself from chuckling. The transition of her moods was literally faster than a beam of light. One minute she was furiously spitting profanities, the next, she was all smiley over something so trivial. Without further invitation, he dropped his bag near her belongings and walked his ass on court in full throttle.

One hour passed and two exhausted souls were heavily panting on the nearby bench.

“Kagamin, you are a monster” she spoke in between her rapid breathings.

“I could say the same to you” he was grinning widely, beads of sweat trickling down the outlines of his face. She then picked a towel from her bag and offered it to him. A contented pause and one pregnant silence before Kagami spoke again.

“So, why are you so loud earlier?” She snapped her eyes at his question. She honestly did not expect him to bring up her humiliating actions from earlier. She eyed him, with disbelief, of his crass language and blatant insensitivity. Yet his eyes remained fixed into the broadest of skies.

“What did asshomine do again?” He muttered critically the second time. Somehow, his snarky question made her feel smile a little.  He added the word “again” meant that he remembered the last time she came crying to Tetsu because of Aomine. It wouldn’t hurt to let her guard down a little.

“I…I baked cookies for the team today and Dai-chan said I was going to get everyone killed, and that I, I should give up cooking.” With tears glistening in her eyes, she was practically sobbing. And Kagami was terrified, this was the second time he had made her cry and for whatever reason god knows he was always at lost as to what to say during times like this. So, she had the same predicament as Riko, women are such a pain, he thought. What would Kuroko do at a time like this?

Oh right, he remembered. Mustering the little bit of bravery Kagami had left, he motioned his big calloused hand towards her head. For a moment she was stunned.

The way he stroked her was blaringly awkward, his hand was stiff, and she felt as though he was patting a frail puppy. Her loud sobs became subtle sniffling. For someone so buff and scary looking, Kagami Taiga was uncharacteristically tender.

Summary: Kagami is an excellent player, that is an indubitable fact. But contrary to popular belief, he is no prodigy in anything other than basketball. A story of his journey to love despite his total academic fiasco!

Chapter 1- Kagami is dumber than a Stick

Ever since Kagami entered the basketball club, he had been steadily plowing his way through myriads of wins and defeats. Always defying the customary architypes and proving everyone wrong, every single fucking time.

He was a handful alright, but headstrong and talented, nevertheless.

 With someone like Taiga on the team, their plays had spun wonders, this year’s winter cup to name one. Seirin’s basketball team had developed into one of the most formidable teams in Tokyo, hence an avenue for people who fancy entering a team of winners.

But before anything else, Seirin High School is primarily- a Japanese academy, and Kagami Taiga is first and foremost a student. A japanese student if Kuroko may add.

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Kagami was met with strained, unrewarding glances from everyone in the team. They had been looking at his proficiency results which came up earlier that day. He couldn’t figure out what went wrong, he was dumb, yes but to what extent, today’s result proved him dumber than a stick.

“I can’t believe you got 3 marks in Japanese”. Hyuga commented, almost exasperatedly.

“His English results are no better; did he really grow up in America?” Koganei stated reprovingly, as if he was mocking him.

“Bakagami, we pulled up 2 all-nighters for this! There’s no helping you” Riko muttered darkly while holding a paper fan which miserably met Kagami’s head and whacked his nonexistent brain. Everyone just watched with horror laced in their eyes.

Grades rarely had anything to do with basketball. But today was not like most days, today grades mattered. This scenario had happened before, when a Tokyo-wide proficiency test was held amongst all the schools in the vicinity and Seirin included. Students who proved successful of falling to the bottom one hundred of the entire student body will be taking remedial classes. Last time, the date had clashed with their upcoming match but this time around, an entire summer of remedial class was waiting for Kagami if he ever fails. Fortunately, he passed the last time with the help of Midorima’s lucky pencil. It just so happened that he misplaced the said amulet, hence resulting in his current predicament. He must pass, at all cost- but without the pencil, could he?

It was late afternoon and classes had ended, Kagami was leisurely strolling his way towards the fast food place which he frequents with Kuroko. He rose his one hand, stifling a yawn while the other stroked his cranium which was still suffering from the remnants of Riko’s wrath. His bag, a tad bit heavier than usual, since it was full of study materials forced to him by everyone.

To say that he was angry would be an understatement, he was furious, enraged, fuming. Because in his daily life program, basketball was everything, and studying was- well, he hadn’t held a book since last month so the implication of that. Of course, Kagami tried, if one could call that trying. Several times, he attempted to open the notes made by his senpais, but somehow, somewhere along the second paragraph his eyes had slowly sagged down and before even the fourth sentence it would be clammed shut.

When Kagami neared the burger place, his annoyance was magnified twice. A string of vein materializes somewhere along his face at the sight of a lonely notice attached at the front door of the place.

“Closed.” Or so it says. Why now of all times, Kagami nearly knocked an innocent traffic cone over out of fury. This day had been a disaster, he thought to himself. He woke rather late and was reprimanded by his teacher, his test result came out and he had met Riko’s wrath. Because of his failing marks, he was excused (forced) of basketball practice for a week to focus on the upcoming exams and now this. He was so furious that he did not realize that he was practically stomping towards the nearby basketball court.

He decided to dribble every last bit of frustration he had today until they are no more, at least that’s what he thought until he saw a flashing pink followed by a violent cry.

Summary: A story where Momoi realized that she couldn't love for both of them and Kuroko finally understood what it means to lose the person you love.

A Kuroko no Basuke fanfiction.