Autumn Games

Summary: Between the summer Interhigh and the Winter Cup, there was autumn. I don't own Kuroko's Basketball. Fujimaki Tadatoshi does.

Chapter 1: Dirty Game

Squeak! Squeak!

Bam!

Hyuga caught the ball.

Bam! Thud! Bam! Thud! Bam!

He dribbled up the court, jab-stepped to the left and sent the ball flying past Fudoumine High's No. 9 to Izuki. He moved forward a couple of steps and passed to Kiyoshi.

Bam! Thud! Bam! Thud!

Hyuga. Izuki. Kyioshi. Izuki.

Ppprrff!

Hyuga almost dropped the ball. He shot Izuki a look of disgust. The other boy's eyes were wide in surprise.

There was soon an opportunity to shoot.

Plappppt!

The basketball hit the rim and fell down into Kiyoshi's hands. He secured the rebound and put Seirin up by two points. Hyuga's face burned.

'Hee hee hee! What was that, Hyuga?'

'Shut up!'

Five minutes later, Kagami was coming down at the hoop when -

Pffffft!

'Ugh!' The No. 7 and No. 6 chasing him backed away, holding their noses. The ball went in, but Kagami's face was crimson.

'Ha ha ha!'

Pooot~

Kagami gagged and tugged his shirt over his nose.

'Sempai! That's gross!'

'Yeah, Kiyoshi. What did you eat?'

Kiyoshi rubbed his chin in thought.

'Some rice, miso soup, Riko's new curry-'

'Throw in!' called the referee.

'That must be it!' Izuki said, moving into place.

Bam! Thud! Bam! Thud!

Prrfftt!

'Uhh, Seirin! What's wrong with you guys?' cried Fudoumine's No. 6.

XXX xxx XXX

'What is wrong with you guys?' Riko hissed at break time. 'Why is everyone passing gas today?'

'Um, did you, by any chance, modify the curry recipe Kagami taught you?' Kiyoshi ventured to ask.

'I did... Are you saying this is my fault?'

'Maybe... Hey, don't get mad, Riko. We can use this!'

'No way!' Kagami cried. 'It's way too embarrassing! Our team will become a laughing stock!'

'He's right. Have your own fumes gone to your head?' said Hyuga.

Pffffffff...

'Koganei! Ten push ups!'

'How did you know?' he squeaked.

'You moved.'

'I moved?'

'You wiggled. Ten push ups! Anyway, you're doing fine. I think they're taking us seriously now, so be ready to up the pace when they do.'

'Of course,' Kagami grinned.

'I may change players partway through second quarter, depending on the situation. Until then, everyone on court give it your all! Bench guys, cheer them on!'

'Yes coach!'

...

'Alright, who did that!?'

...

'It wasn't me,' said Furihata.

'Oi, look at Kuroko!' Koganei cried. 'Look, he's blushing!'

'Kuroko-Kun! Was that you!?'

'It was! His ears are red!'

Pfft...

'Ho ho, was that you, Riko?' Kiyoshi grinned.

XXX xxx XXX

By the time the buzzer rang for halftime break, Fudoumine High almost sprinted off the court to escape the flatulent Seirin players, who were burning with embarrassment.

'That's it!' Riko screeched. 'All of you, to the toilets!' She banished them to the Fudoumine High gymnasium toilets.

Pfffttt!

Plarrrt...

Pprrff!

Riko cringed at every fart that came out of the boys' toilets. Thank Kami-Sama this was a practise match, not a tournament game; only some of the Fudoumine students were watching.

How could this have happened? She wondered. I hardly changed a thing in the curry!

Pooot~

...

'Argh!'

'Ugh!'

'Ew! That's so gross!'

'Ew, Sempai!'

Riko jumped out of the way as her boys came rushing out of the toilets and slammed the door shut behind them.

'What happened?'

Kagami braced himself against the door.

'Kiyoshi really stinks,' said Koganei, fanning himself. 'We're not letting him out here.'

'Hey guys!'

'Please don't come out Sempai!'

'Come on! It's not that bad is it~'

'You stay in there, Kiyoshi!' Hyuga barked. 'Oi! Riko, what are you doing here? This is the boys' toilet!'

'I didn't go inside!' Riko snapped. 'I came here to discuss our strategy for the next quarter since it didn't look like you'd be out in time!'

'Through the door?' asked Furihata.

'It wouldn't be the first time.'

Koganei locked gazes with Mitobe and frowned. He swept his eyes over his team, lips moving as he counted heads.

'Hey, I might just be missing him again, but has anyone seen Kuroko? Is he with us?'

Seirin looked carefully amongst themselves for their No. 11.

'Oh no, did we trap him in there with Kiyoshi-Sempai?'

XXX xxx XXX

'I said I was sorry!' Kagami whined, holding his side.

Kuroko glared at him. Kagami could tell it by the slight dent in his brows.

'Come on, you know you're hard to find sometimes! You can't complain if it works against you sometimes.'

Kuroko sighed and his glare softened.

Kagami looked out over the court.

'Let's make them remember us properly,' he said, messing Kuroko's hair.

'Come on Stinky Seirin!'

'Grrr... That had better not become our nickname.'

Bzzzz!

'Start of the fourth quarter!' shouted the referee.

They started the quarter in a fluid, spread out formation. Fudoumine got the ball first and won 3 points, bringing the score to 63-59 (to Fudoumine). The gap quickly closed up as Seirin took back control of the court.

Bam! Thud! Bam! Thud!

'Where did the ball come from?'

'I didn't see it coming!'

Bam! Thud! Bam! Thud!

Poot~

'Oi! Stick to your mark!' No. 4 yelled.

'But he smells so bad!'

Hyuga face-palmed.

'Alright Seirin, everyone pass the ball to Kiyoshi whenever you can! He stinks the worst!'

'Hey!'

Kiyoshi and Hyuga's three-pointers soon brought them up to 63-66. There were two minutes to go when Fudoumine's No. 4 hollered,

'Harden up guys! It's only a bad smell!' and he went to mark Kiyoshi.

XXX xxx XXX

The game ended in Seirin's favour, 65-69, the last two points going to Fudoumine when their captain got past Kiyoshi to dunk.

Bzzz!

'Game over!'

'Yosha! High five Sempai- uhh- never mind!'

Running her hand through her hair, Riko sighed in relief.

'Thank Kami-Sama we won. Losing on top of flatulence would be too much.'

'Cheer up, Riko,' Koganei grinned. 'We'll be laughing about this next week.'

'I guess so.'

'Line up!'

'Thank you for the match!' Serin and Fudoumine bowed to each other, and Kagami fought to hold a fart in until they stood straight.

Pffff...

'I'm afraid to ask but why were you all farting?' No. 4 asked Hyuga.

'Ah, there was an incident with our lunch. It won't happen again.'

'What a shame, I thought it was really funny,' Kiyoshi chuckled.

Hyuga glared at him.

'You can fart on your own time, Kiyoshi. If you ever come to a game or practise smelling like that you'll be running laps and cleaning toilets for the rest of term.'

The basketball players were now scattered across the gym, chatting and cooling down.

'Aha ha ha ha! That's so lame! You're lucky this wasn't a tournament game!' someone was laughing. 'You should eat Subway or sushi before you play.'

'That was some awesome jumping, No. 10.'

'Whoa! Where did you come from?'

'I was here the entire time.'

Plart!

'Ugh! Just stop it already!'

'Haa... I guess we have to experience these things too.' Riko tapped her knee with her fingers, thinking. We could have done better in game if we weren't too busy laughing or blushing to shoot properly. Yes, I could make them wear clown suits to our next practise...

XXX xxx XXX

Notes and translations

Inspired by my dad.

Subway always does well during the Big Sing competition. I remember waiting in line with two dozen other students for dinner.

Number 4 in basketball (or at least in Japan) is worn by the captain. I don't think the other numbers mean anything in particular.

Kami-Sama: God. Kami is a general term for deities, actually.

Sempai/Senpai: upperclassman. A, honourific you had someone's name if they're your senior eg: in school, karate.

Kun: added to a juniors name, a student, a familiar person. Usually used on boys, but teachers may call a girl kun to avoid the more cute or familiar feeling of chan, the more feminine equivalent.