Assistant

A Kuroko no Basuke oneshot

by mew-tsubaki

Note: The Kuroko no Basuke characters belong to Fujimaki Tadatoshi-sensei, not to me. I love these two, and Touou has a special place in my heart (except for Imayoshi ;P). SLIGHT SPOILERS for the end of the first series. Read, review, and enjoy!

- ^-^3

Aomine Daiki was beginning to consider himself unlucky.

He could trace it back to the Winter Cup, no doubt. Losing to Seirin… Giving Kagami his sneakers… Actually finding the motivation to go to club these days…

Hmm, maybe it was the club that was jinxing him. He'd been fine before. But now his grades sucked—

"Now your grades are bad?" Momoi shook her head at him. "Dai-chan, that's just you."

He rolled his shoulders at practice, pausing to catch his breath after practicing shooting. "Shut up, Satsuki."

She shrugged and didn't even glance at him. The sound of her pen scratching on her clipboard irritated him. "Well, don't be so paranoid."

"Hah? Why not? Haven't you ever heard of ill omens?"

This time she did pause and glance at him. She could barely hide the mirth in her rose-colored eyes. "Oh, Dai-chan… Have you been spending too much time with Midorin?"

He flipped her off, which Wakamatsu saw and called him out on, but then he got back to doing drills.

Maybe she was right. He was being paranoid for no reason whatsoever. Why should he be worried? The school year was over next month, so everything was winding down.

He did two reps of ten dashes each, and then he moved into passing drills. After, he was back to shooting, and Sakurai was right behind him, just as determined to make every shot.

Aomine used his formless shot a couple of times before Wakamatsu barked at him. "Aomine! What did we talk about?! Try out an orthodox form!"

"But this works best for me, Stupid Captain."

There was literal fire in Wakamatsu's eyes as Momoi yanked on his t-shirt to keep him from hitting Aomine.

Aomine frowned. Orthodox form—ha. Maybe Momoi had a point… If he switched things up and used an orthodox form, the teams they'd played against before might be thrown a bit…

He glanced behind him and saw a trace of impatience on Sakurai's face. It almost made him laugh. Sakurai didn't like to lose at shooting, but he also didn't like being made to wait to shoot.

Aomine pictured Sakurai's form in his head and tried to mimic that. The first shot barely made it through the hoop, which pissed him off. "Oi, Ryou. Show me how you shoot."

"O-Of course, Aomine-san!" Sakurai started at a run, came to an abrupt halt, and flicked his wrists once his hands were at the top over his head. It happened in the blink of an eye, but Aomine basically caught it. Sakurai leaned back a little, almost as if he could slip into Aomine's formless shot if he wanted.

"All right, then. Get out of the way and lemme try."

"Eh?! I mean, r-right!"

But they weren't the only ones on the court practicing, and Sakurai couldn't give him much clearance. Aomine made do and ran, tilting his weight back just as he jumped and flicking his wrists as Sakurai had done. This time the basket didn't make it at all. Aomine scowled. "Ryou, another ball!"

Sakurai ran to catch up with him as Aomine was already running, and he took the basketball from the shorter boy's hands and tried again. This time it was just about perfect—except Aomine landed hard and crashed backwards into Sakurai.

"Whoops," the talent muttered. "Sorry 'bout that. I think I leaned back too far." He turned and got up, offering a hand to Sakurai. Truth be told, if it were Wakamatsu, he wouldn't bother. But Sakurai was an all right guy.

The brunet winced and forced a smile. "It's all right. It was my fault for being right behind you…" He reached up and took Aomine's hand.

Aomine moved to yank him up, but he let go as soon as he saw the color drain from Sakurai's face. "Oi…Ryou, you okay?"

Sakurai turned green. "A-Aomine-san…"

"What?"

"P-Please get Momoi-san…" He covered his mouth with his left hand and stared at his right hand in the air where Aomine had left it. "And Wakamatsu-senpai… And sensei…"

"O-Oi…! Ryou…?!"

- ^-^3

Harasawa left the nurse's office and shook his head. "It's broken, his right wrist."

Aomine, Wakamatsu, and Momoi gaped at him. "You're kidding, right?" Aomine asked.

But their coach shook his head. "No. Sakurai put his arm behind him to brace his fall." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Bad move. It's better to land on your butt than to brace with your arms."

Wakamatsu sighed. "Crap… Well, we'll add practicing how to fall safely to training, as a precaution," he said, and he looked to Momoi, who made a note right away. Then he glared at Aomine. "What the hell happened?"

Aomine bristled, but he caught Momoi shaking her head behind Wakamatsu. He took a breath to rein in his temper. "I fell into him, is all. It was an accident."

"Sakurai says the same thing," Harasawa mentioned, and that helped dissipate the tension some. "But he needs a full check-up at a real hospital, which is more than our facility offers."

Wakamatsu frowned. "I'll—"

"—go right back to practice," Momoi finished for him. "You're the captain, senpai. The others need you."

He pulled a face, but Momoi was stern.

Harasawa glanced back at the nurse's office. "Momoi's right. Wakamatsu, you and Momoi go back to practice."

"Me, too?" the manager asked, but Aomine could tell she wasn't very surprised.

"Yes. Aomine, since it's your fault—"

"But it was an accident!" the ace interjected.

"Still, it's on you. Take him to the hospital. I'll meet you two there after notifying his parents."

Aomine scowled, and the other two students exchanged a look before heading back with Harasawa, who broke away to head to the main office. That left Aomine to poke his head into the nurse's office. He cleared his throat. "Ah…Ryou."

The middle-aged nursed picked her head up and gave Aomine a once-over. Her expression was that of someone who'd tasted something bad, which pissed Aomine off…but he wasn't there to start a fight.

Some color had returned to Sakurai's face, and he tried to smile when he saw Aomine. "I'm fine!"

Aomine gave him a look. "Bullshit. I know it's broken."

Sakurai's smile wavered and he hopped off the stool. "I'm sorry, no, it's just a little—" He shut up when Aomine continued to stare. "I'm sorry, yes, it's broken," he squeaked, dropping his eyes to the floor.

Aomine sighed. "Come on. Let's get our stuff from the club room before we hit the hospital."

Sakurai didn't question him. They did as Aomine said, though Sakurai could barely get his jacket on, and Aomine had to carry their bags. After, they left the school and headed to the train station, since the hospital was a stop away. Sakurai remained quiet during the whole trip, and he tried not to show pain on his face, even when Aomine tried covertly glancing his way. A part of Aomine respected him for that. Who knew Sakurai had it in him?

The wait in the ER took a while, and Harasawa joined them before Sakurai was whisked away. Aomine waited in the lobby even though it made him feel anxious to sit by and do nothing.

Sakurai's parents showed and took Harasawa with them when the doctor was done evaluating Sakurai and setting the cast. Aomine continued to wait, and he kept checking his phone. With the trip in, the wait, and then Sakurai going in the back, it had been a couple of hours. The Kiseki was surprised he hadn't heard from Momoi yet, even just to be chewed out.

By the time it was well dark outside, Harasawa and the Sakurai family returned. Sakurai's parents were just like him—mousy and not looking to blame anyone—so they didn't even spare Aomine a glance. Sakurai pulled away from the three adults to speak to his teammate.

"I'm sorry, it'll be a while," Sakurai began.

"How long?" Aomine had no clue. He knew about injuries from overuse, not from real breaks.

"Six to eight weeks. Or more. The doctors aren't sure since I've never broken anything before now, so we don't know how long I take to heal." His shoulders sagged, but he tried his best not to look defeated.

That only made Aomine feel guiltier, dammit. He looked away from Sakurai. "Hey. I…er… I'm…"

"I know you didn't mean it, Aomine-san," the shorter boy said cheerfully, though he was forcing it. "It just sucks… I won't be able to do most of practice for a while."

And the guilt piled up.

Sakurai held his hand out for his bag. "I'm sorry, I'm heading home now, so I'll see you tomorrow at school."

"Uh, right…" He helped Sakurai awkwardly shoulder the bag on his left shoulder, and Sakurai tipped his head in thanks, giving him a sweet smile before departing with his parents.

Harasawa came over and patted Aomine on the shoulder. "Not everyone is an indestructible as you, Aomine."

The ace snapped out of it, and his scowl returned. He slapped Harasawa's hand away. "I know that!" he snapped by way of parting.

- ^-^3

The morning was pretty quiet.

Momoi hounded him a while on the way to school, but she stopped when they got to school. "Apologizing isn't enough," she bitched at her childhood friend.

"What do you expect me to do?!"

She rolled her eyes at him.

At the shoe lockers, they found Sakurai standing in front of his cubby.

"Good morning, Sakurai-kun," Momoi said kindly.

He glanced at them. "Ah! S-Sorry! G-Good morning!" Then he faced his locker again and reached in awkwardly with his left hand, grabbing his shoes and dropping them on the floor. The whole time, he tried not to jostle his right arm, but it seemed impossible.

"Um, Sakurai-kun…do you need some help?"

"Not at all!" he lied through his teeth. He gave them a thumb's up with tears in his eyes.

Momoi clapped her hands together. "Oh, perfect!" She yanked on Aomine's tie. "Dai-chan, you were just saying you didn't know what else to do beside apologize." She gave him a sly grin.

"I'm sorry, Momoi-san, it's fine…"

"Satsuki…"

She beamed at the two of them. "It shouldn't be a problem. You two are in the same class. So, Sakurai-kun, feel free to use Dai-chan as your right-hand man," she stated, laughing at her own ill-timed joke.

"Really, I'm good," Sakurai said. He bent to grab his outdoor shoes, but the movement made him pale.

Aomine growled under his breath and snatched up the shoes, stuffing them in the locker. "Just say so when you need help, you."

Sakurai ducked his head. "Th-Thank you, Aomine-san!"

The bell rang, so Momoi left them. "I'll leave Sakurai-kun to you, Dai-chan! See you at lunch!"

Aomine flipped her off again, but she grinned in response. He looked back at Sakurai, who looked apologetic, and his guilt returned. "Agh… Let's go, Ryou."

- ^-^3

Aomine had never broken anything. And he'd never known his friends to break anything either. Not even Kuroko, who was a likely candidate since it was so easy to forget he was there.

So watching Sakurai was painful. In first period, Aomine became aware that Sakurai was right-handed and so couldn't take notes. They got permission from the teacher to switch their seats so they were beside each other, but Aomine realized he'd never really taken notes before.

Oh, shit. So much for helping Sakurai.

"It's all right," Sakurai insisted quietly while their teacher lectured. "I just need to pay attention, and I'll be fine."

Aomine frowned. Damn. Was he really this unreliable? So, for the first time ever, Aomine made an attempt to take notes…

…and wound up asleep five minutes in.

Sakurai gently jostled him awake each time, because it happened every class. But he never berated Aomine for it, and he always quietly went back to listening to the teacher.

Lunchtime came, and Aomine didn't know why he was expecting the usual, but it was strange to see a watered-down bento in front of Sakurai.

"Your lunch…"

"Ah, sorry, my mother made it. I learned from her, so it tastes the same. It's just not flashy," the brunet explained with a chuckle.

Aomine pouted. "Damn. I kinda like the flashiness."

Sakurai blinked at him and then laughed for real. "And the flashiness will return in two months, I promise."

Aomine gave him a look.

"Please don't look like that, Aomine-san," Sakurai said, taking a fork out instead of the usual chopsticks. "Time will fly by. You'll see."

But Aomine wasn't so sure about that.

- ^-^3

At practice, everyone made a fuss, and a couple of permanent markers were passed around so people could sign the cast. Aomine thought it pointless, since the wrapping was dark blue, but whatever.

The only things Sakurai could do were running exercises, and they all kept an eye on him to make sure he took it easy. After practice, they changed, and Sakurai joined Aomine and Momoi on the train. Wakamatsu came along, as well, but that was more him happening to be on the same train for once rather than planning it.

Momoi sat on Sakurai's left and glanced at Aomine on his other side. "So how did class go today? Was Dai-chan of any use?"

Aomine gave her a nasty look. "Shut up, Satsuki."

Wakamatsu groaned. "The idea of Aomine being helpful…"

"I know, but he can if he really tries," Momoi offered. "Well, at least see Sakurai-kun home."

The ace gaped at her. "What?! Why?!"

"Because there has to be something you can do, and we know it's not note-taking."

"But—we always walk home together!"

Momoi shrugged. "I'll be fine. Wakamatsu-senpai, don't you live near us?"

The blond scratched his head. "I think I'm the stop after you… But I've been looking to get in some extra jogging, so I guess I can run the last bit home."

"Then you can see me home." Momoi patted Sakurai's shoulder, not even giving Sakurai a say. "Get off with Sakurai-kun, and I'll see you later, Dai-chan."

She left no room for argument, and then Sakurai's stop came up. The two stepped onto the platform, and Momoi and Wakamatsu waved through the window as the train carried them away.

Aomine grumbled under his breath.

"As I've been saying, it's all right," Sakurai said quietly, turning to exit the station. "Sorry. You don't have to help me out, Aomine-san, especially since you don't want to."

Ouch. "It's not that I don't want to!" he retorted, walking behind the shorter boy and watching the busted arm the whole time, wincing whenever it looked as though someone might bump into him.

Sakurai shook his head and glanced over his shoulder, furrowing his brow. "Please do not do it out of guilt, either." His frown was small—more of a pout, and something that affected Aomine more than just a simple frown should've.

"No, I…," Aomine lied. He pursed his lips as they stepped outside into the cool February air. "I do feel bad, but I'm a little annoyed with myself that I'm crap at helping you in school."

Sakurai half smiled. "Thank you for your honesty."

"So let me try again tomorrow! I don't give up that easily!"

The smaller boy laughed. "All right then."

Sakurai's house wasn't far, so it came up quickly. Sakurai dawdled by the gate and bowed his head.

"Thank you for today, Aomine-san. I'll be in your care!"

"Ah, right…" Aomine waved as Sakurai disappeared inside, and he headed home himself. On the train, he thought about the last time he'd gone home with someone other than Momoi. Kuroko probably, right? So maybe Aomine would get used to this again, and it'd be like before.

But that was Teikou and this was Touou. And while Momoi was the same, Sakurai wasn't Kuroko. And maybe Aomine could benefit from that since it'd been a long time since he'd been close to another guy.

- ^-^3

As the days passed, word got to Imayoshi and Susa about what happened. Susa felt for Sakurai, but Imayoshi just laughed at how clumsy Aomine could be.

"Maybe he likes us enough to be clumsy around us," Imayoshi speculated when he and Susa dropped by during one practice.

"Shut up!" Aomine snapped at him.

"He's changing," Momoi confirmed. "He's even aiding Sakurai-kun where he can."

"Eh~" Imayoshi's smile widened.

On the positive side of things, Sakurai tried to help Aomine study and take notes. "You've got to listen more," he said when they were in math.

"But everything runs together and I don't really know what to write down."

"Aomine-san, how do you pass…?"

Aomine gave him a victory sign. "I'm incredibly lucky," he replied with a straight face.

Sakurai sighed.

"Well, you're so smart, show me your notes."

"Ah, no, that's okay…"

But Sakurai was helpless with one arm out of commission, so Aomine rifled through his bag and cracked open his notebook. "…oh."

"I told you I like to draw, hence my lunches…"

Aomine held up one page. "This makes sense to you?"

"Well, drawing a four-koma is like an outline for me," Sakurai said, red in the face. He snatched the notebook back before Aomine could flip through more of it. "Urgh, don't tell the others… I'd never hear the end of it."

"No, just…" Aomine sat up a little straighter in his seat. "You're good."

Sakurai stared at him. "Huh?"

Aomine blushed. "You're good at it! So stop looking at me!"

"Aomine!" their teacher called, and he threw his piece of chalk with precision, nailing Aomine between the eyes, and so the boy fell backwards out of his chair.

- ^-^3

After some regrettable pleading on his part, Aomine convinced Sakurai to loan him the notes. Surprisingly, Aomine understood more.

"That one where X walks into the bar, Function, and comes out Y was hilarious!" he told Sakurai on the walk home. They didn't have practice since finals were coming up shortly, so they'd left at a reasonable time.

Sakurai flushed with pleasure. "I'm glad you like it."

"So do you have notes like that for all our subjects for the whole year?"

"Aomine-san… Are you planning on cramming for finals?"

"I can read comics lightning fast." He gave Sakurai a hopeful look.

"I guess…" Sakurai waited while Aomine held the gate open for him. "Do you want to come in? I can show you some old notes."

Aomine didn't even bat an eyelash. "Great!" If Sakurai really had notes like this, then maybe there'd be hope for Aomine after all.

Sakurai's parents remembered him from the ER a couple of weeks ago, and they weirdly kept apologizing to him for seeing Sakurai home all the time.

"Ah, no, I…" But Aomine gave up trying to correct them, and he followed Sakurai upstairs to his room.

Unsurprisingly, Sakurai's room was very neat. His school and basketball things were kept together in the corner by his closet. But the rest of the room was an ode to manga and art.

Hell. Had he just walked into an otaku's room?

Probably not. Sakurai didn't have many figures or other merchandise… He really seemed to be all about the art.

"You're good," he said, peeking at a page on Sakurai's drawing table before Sakurai rushed to hide it.

"Ahh, sorry, please don't look!" Sakurai tucked it away into his desk and cleared screentone bits away. "I—"

"Do you publish? People still self-publish, don't they?"

Sakurai made a frazzled face which amused Aomine. "…yes," he admitted. "But I don't think you'd like it, Aomine-san."

"Does it have humor like your notes?"

"Well, yes…"

"Then I'd like to read it."

Sakurai scrutinized him and then sat down on his bed, shucking his jacket. "Sorry. Not yet. I'm behind by about a chapter since I broke my wrist."

"You do it yourself?"

"Yes. It's my hobby." Sakurai half-heartedly folded his jacket and furrowed his brow. "But I can't draw right now."

"That's a shame." Aomine waited until Sakurai wasn't looking and then he opened the drawer and took the pencil drawings out.

"H-Hey!" Sakurai turned a darker shade of red than that of their uniforms.

Aomine looked at the page but couldn't figure out what was happening. "You left the word bubbles blank!"

"Because I haven't even inked those pages yet," Sakurai mumbled. He stumbled up and tried to take it back, but it was easy to play keep-away, with their height difference.

"So tell me the story."

"No! I don't decide on the final dialogue until everything else is done."

Aomine sat at his desk and reached for a pen. "Okay then. Teach me how to ink."

Sakurai looked ready to laugh and cry at once. Instead, he gave Aomine a look. "Not to be rude…but hell no."

"What? Why?"

"Just like shooting, I'm the best at this," the brunet said, which explained why his stubborn streak was showing.

"Fine, whatever." Aomine remained in Sakurai's desk chair, and the shorter boy still stood before him.

Upon closer inspection, Sakurai really had great facial expressions. It kind of made Aomine wanna try his hand at Sakurai's four-koma style, but Aomine didn't know if he could do that grumpy face justice. Then he realized he was staring, because Sakurai looked away and took a step back.

Aomine cleared his throat. "So, uh…your notes?"

Sakurai took two note books from the shelf and passed them to Aomine. "Just take them, Aomine-san." But his annoyance was fading. "And d-don't show anyone else!" he hastily added.

The ace grinned. "Wouldn't dream of it."

- ^-^3

The days flew by, and Aomine read Sakurai's comic-annotated notes. Sakurai had a knack for writing as well as drawing, and it didn't even bother the below-average student that he was learning at the same time as he was being entertained.

At the same time, he kept barging into Sakurai's home, trying to learn more about Sakurai's manga. Sakurai was stubborn, but the week before exams he budged a little and let Aomine practice drawing with ink on an old sketch.

Aomine did fine. "I'm just tracing lines. Anyone can do that."

"Anyone?" Sakurai's haughty expression began to appear, but he willed it away. "Aomine-san, did you study the manga I loaned you two days ago? The lines vary in thickness, have different weights."

"I don't know what that means!"

Sakurai stood beside him at the desk and placed his hand on Aomine's. "Move the pen, just tracing, and I'll vary the pressure."

Aomine did that—and the result was much nicer. It looked closer to what Sakurai's art looked like. He stared at Sakurai. "Oi, Ryou. Praise me."

"What? I—"

Aomine waited.

"Y-Yes, Aomine-san… Good job…"

"Now that I've mastered inking, teach me how to do screentones."

"Mastered inking? Screentones? You haven't even erased the pencil lines from anything yet!"

"Yeah, but that counts as clean-up, and I'm not good at that," the slacker said without a hint of regret.

Sakurai gave up. "Agh… Maybe next week."

Aomine relinquished the desk chair to his friend and took over his bed, reaching for the closest manga. Sure, the books weren't idol books, but some characters were still pretty busty. Aomine's eyes flitted to Sakurai.

All he saw was the cast, and the guilt—which had faded—hit him anew.

"How are you going to handle finals?" he asked, not looking up from the manga.

"Oh, the teachers made arrangements. I'll take them in the faculty lounge, telling someone else what I want written on my answer sheet." Sakurai moved his hand a little. "It's been a while, but it still hurts, and it'll be weird learning to write again."

"And draw again."

"That, too." Sakurai leaned back in his chair and looked around his room. His eyes fell on his friend. "…thank you, Aomine-san."

"I told you, it's nothing."

"No, thanks for breaking my wrist."

"Hah?" Aomine couldn't help the scowl he gave him.

But Sakurai laughed. "Sorry. Don't misunderstand. It hurt and it's been trouble—but…I kind of like hanging out like this. It's like we're friends."

"Ryou, we are friends."

Sakurai blinked at him. Then healthy color flooded his cheeks and he looked away. "Oh. Oh, that's nice."

Aomine wanted to be angry with him for doubting him otherwise, but Aomine said nothing.

Because his statement had been surprising to him, too.

- ^-^3

It was strange, taking finals and being aware that Sakurai wasn't there taking finals in the same room.

It was just as weird seeing Sakurai and Momoi after to talk about the tests, hearing Momoi claim she aced everything and Sakurai saying he did fine.

It was the oddest thing when he stood to get off the train with Sakurai at the end of finals week, only to have Momoi tug him back.

"What, Satsuki?"

"Dai-chan, Sakurai-kun's getting the cast off tomorrow, so he's going home by himself," she pointed out. "It's okay. You've done your penance."

But Aomine looked to Sakurai, whose fallen face was too easily replaced with a smile. Dammit. Why did Aomine have to see that split-second of hope?

"Dai-chan?"

He gently pried her from his arm and looked to his captain. "See her home, yeah, senpai?"

Wakamatsu stared at him dumbly and nodded. "Uh, y-yeah…"

It didn't even occur to Aomine that he'd been courteous enough to call Wakamatsu "senpai." He just had to follow through on the urge to join Sakurai.

Sakurai was too stunned when the taller boy fell into step with him. "Aomine-san? You didn't have to come."

"I wanted to." Aomine narrowed his eyes at him. "What? Got a problem with me?"

"E-Er, no, but…" Sakurai stared up at him. "Sorry. I got the feeling you coming over would stop."

"Nah, I like your place."

"You leave my room a mess every time you're over."

"I told you I'm bad at cleaning," Aomine reminded him with a wolfish grin.

Sakurai shook his head. "Ah, Aomine-san... I take it back. I don't like that you broke my wrist. Please don't break any other part of me, okay?"

"Well, which parts did you have in mind?"

- ^-^3

Wow, yeah. Idek. Maybe watching/reading too much Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun? Well, being an artist myself, I can't imagine breaking anything, and I don't ever want to know that! But I like Aosaku, and I think Sakurai would be just as passionate about his manga as he is about making three-pointers. XD But this is mostly pre-slash…so I need them to be together for real, hence the sequel "Sensei." Yup. More manga antics for Aosaku. Also, there might be spoilers for Extra Game, fyi!

Thanks for reading, though, and check out my other [KnB] fics if you liked this!

-mew-tsubaki :}