Spark | Kuroko no Basuke x OC

We're Not Scared

"We need one more push..." Riko said from besides her, her eyes filled with hope at Hyuuga as he tried to shoot from the outside again. The ball slammed at the rim before bouncing off.

"He missed!"

All eyes immediately darted to the players under the net for the rebound. Seto and Furuhashi was double teaming Teppei as the ball came down. Tomoko and the rest of the team watched in horror as the two Kirisaki Daiichi players resumed their rough play on the brunette center and rendered him unable to move towards the ball.

"The referee couldn't see that...!" Tomoko gritted as the brunette ran after Seto and Furuhashi, obviously injured. They can't keep doing this... She turned to Riko and saw that the coach had a conflicted expression on her face as well. "Riko-san?" she hoped that the coach was thinking the same thing as her.

Riko let out a finalizing sigh and walked up to the referee. After a few seconds, the buzzer buzzed.

"Seirin, time out."

As the five players came back to the bench with surprise, Riko only look at them with stern and concerned eyes. "There are a few things I want to say, but..." she looked straight at Teppei. "First, you're at your limit. You're out, Teppei."

The brunette center immediately stood up with protest. "What? Wait a minute! We just have a little more left! If you take me out now—"

"Please listen to Riko-san," Tomoko said in agreement with the coach. She could barely look at all of the injuries the center bore without a wash of sadness and anger, but her salmon eyes bore into his dark, soulful ones. "It's not fair... Didn't we agree that we'll all be protectors?"

"Okuma-chan..."

"I don't want a repeat of last year," Riko was biting her lips as she made up her mind. "You can hate me for pulling you out. I'd rather have that than see you injured like that again."

Guilt struck Teppei; he could see that his words earlier had hurt the coach deeply.

"I agree."

Turning around, he was surprised to hear that even Kuroko was speaking up. "I don't have an older brother, but when you said you'd protect us, you seemed like one. It made me happy. That's why... I want you to keep protecting us. I don't want you to push yourself any harder in this game."

"Please let us protect you this one time," Tomoko added while fighting away her tears. "So that you can continue to protect us in the future!"

Teppei turned silent as all of the heartfelt emotions poured into his being. It hit him then that his way of protection would only harm the team if he repeated what happened last year. It's what we all want, isn't it? We all want to protect each other... he looked from Tomoko, to Riko, to Kuroko, to the rest of his team. When his eyes traveled to Hyuuga, the captain's sharp olive green glaze suddenly locked onto his.

"I'm sick of this!" Hyuuga stood up with a scowl. "Don't you get it?! We're telling you to leave the rest to us! Shut up and sit down!" he snapped. "Do you think we'd break our promise?"

"If you insist on coming back, then... We'll become the best team in Japan next year."

It was the short conversation they shared during the brunette center's stay at the hospital. Because of the seriousness of the injury, Teppei hadn't been able to come back until this year with rehab, and so the captain had promised to set the goal for this year.

Mitobe came up and stretched out his hand for Teppei. The gentle male may be silent, but his eyes and action conveyed it all. Everyones' did. Teppei looked at his own hands and nodded. "You're right. The rest is up to you," he exchanged a slap with Mitobe, and the team brightened up with renewed energy.