Kagami

The ball bounced and rolled away. The crowd was silent. All of us were.

"No..."

"Were you actually trying your best?" Aomine turned to me, then back to Kuroko, who was laying on one elbow. "Was this your best?"

I only kept silent. Of course I tried my best, why wouldn't I? We've come this far and we had to win. We had to.

Suddenly a wave of rage grew in me and I found myself pushing at Aomine's shoulders. "Shut up! Just shut up! We tried our best, we did it! Stop acting so high and mighty!"

"Kagami-kun!"

I breathed brokenly and glanced at the poor boy behind me. He winced as he forced himself to stand up. Aomine shifted next to me and walked towards the smaller boy. I growled at him, but he made no reaction.

Aomine extended a hand, and Kuroko took it and was pulled up in seconds. He flinched at the pain, but remained strong. The dark-headed boy let go of his hand and took a few steps back before saying, "You've disappointed me, Tetsu."

"Aomi —"

"It's fine, Kagami-kun. He's right. Aomine-kun's right," Kuroko chuckled painfully before dropping his gaze to the ground. "We could've won, but I didn't try hard enough. I wasn't good enough."

Aomine instantly looked away when I pulled Kuroko into my arms. He sobbed quietly and I only hugged him tighter. The referee blew the whistle and we were asked to gather at the middle. With my arm around Kuroko's shoulders, we slowly made our way towards the centre. The others remained silent, still shocked about what happened.

"Winner, Touou!"

The crowd cheered and clapped their hands, while some remained quiet and sad. My chest tightened at the scene.

Aomine then stepped forward and surprised me by giving both Kuroko and I a big hug. Kuroko flinched at the sudden contact and I tried to push Aomine away. He wouldn't budge, though, so I sighed and gave up. I was too tired to fight it.

"You two... did well," Aomine whispered. "I'm glad for having the chance to play with you two."

He pulled away then, but he looked as if he wasn't finished with his speech, so Kuroko and I didn't speak.

"I'm sorry about what happened between us, Tetsu. I'm sorry for not loving you hard enough, like how you wanted me to," His voice shook and he swallowed the lump in his throat, eyes fixed on the ground. "I'm glad you're happier now. I'm sure Kagami wouldn't hurt you."

His eyes met mine.

"Take care of Tetsu, he's fragile," I nodded my head without a second thought. "You two deserve each other. Let's play again, one day."

"This isn't the end, Aomine-kun," Kuroko finally sounded, his voice quiet and rough. "We'll meet in the next game, and I'll make sure we'll win."

Aomine smirked. "I'll look forward to that, Tetsu."

From Kuroko's expression, I knew he was about to say something as we watched the other boy walked away. My chest felt heavy for some reason, and I felt bad for stealing Kuroko from Aomine, though it wasn't my fault that he let him go in the first place. So I didn't actually 'stole' Kuroko away from him.

As we made our way back to the locker room, the atmosphere was thick. No one said a word, but who could? We've lost, and there was no reason for us to be calm about it. Sure, I was upset that we didn't win, but I was glad that Kuroko and Aomine's friendship was fixed, which meant there was no reason for Kuroko to be sad over him anymore. It also meant Kuroko was set free from the misery of losing Aomine.

Coach never yelled or screamed at us that day. She only smiled sadly and told us we did our best. She never forgot to remind us about extra hard practices, though, and everyone groaned, only to nod their heads in fear when coach glared creepily at us.

"You're dismissed," She said tiredly, as if she was breathless for quite some time. "See you next week. Training's as usual."

Everyone then grabbed their bags and walked out of the locker room without a single word. Soft voices of Could've tried harder and We could've won could be heard from a few teammates. I wanted to argue and tell them that there was no point in saying all that anymore.

Kuroko's hand found mine after we left the building and were left alone. The team knew we would always go home together, so they didn't mind us separating from them whenever a game or training was over. It was difficult to be with Kuroko like this during school times, especially when there were judgemental people around. It was nice to hangout with Kuroko like this without being stared at weirdly.

"The game's over," Kuroko breathed. "What now?"

I gave his hand a light squeeze of reassurance. This wasn't the end yet, there were still more games to come, and we'll definitely beat Aomine and his team when the time arrived.

"We train harder and fight harder," I answered with full confidence. "Set a goal in your mind, and that is to be — "

"The best in Japan." He finished and I flashed him a proud smile. He returned a small one and leaned slightly closer to me.

I loved how his frame was much smaller than mine. It was easier to hug him, carry him around and all. Aomine was right, Kuroko was fragile and he was like a precious glass treasure. One drop and Kuroko would break. I saw it happen once and I swore to never let that happen again. He needed to be loved, protected and cherished. I promised myself to do the things Aomine never did, which was to love him well and never let go.

I don't want to let him go.

"You're being awfully quiet," Kuroko brought me back to reality and I blinked a few times before meeting his icy blue eyes. "What's on your mind, Kagami-kun?"

"Nothing much," I chuckled nervously and wrapped my arm around his shoulder after letting his hand go. "Just thinking of how lucky I am."

"How so?"

We stopped talking and I let him face me. I smiled and pulled him closer so our lips would connect. I felt him smile in our kiss and that warmed my heart. I could never get tired of this. I've fallen for the boy way too much, and it'll probably hurt a lot if he leaves.

"I love you, Kuroko," I confessed after we pulled away a little, our noses brushing against each other. "I love you so much."

"Me too," He blushed. "I love you too, Kagami-kun."

I've always thought I would never find someone, but Kuroko changed all that. He came into my life unexpectedly, and I really hoped he would stay permanently.

Because I've never loved someone as much as I've loved this precious boy of mine.