"Talking"

'Thoughts'

Flashbacks

Sorry this one took longer than the others to get out. I got sidetracked and didn't have as much motivation to write this chapter but I finally got time. So here it is. This is a shorter chapter and not too much happens, but I hope you enjoy it!

I don't own Kuroko no Basuke or Naruto

"Oh? You left after the championship? I didn't know that." Naruto moved up and stood next to Kuroko.

Kuroko turned to face him and frowned, she thought she had sneaked my him. "I not exactly sure, I just know that I hated basketball at that time."

She stopped talking, she didn't like to think about it. It brought back unwanted memories. Naruto looked over at her. He sighed and spoke up.

"Teiko did have some questionable methods, I guess, it's something you'll find out now that you've lost. While winning in sports is important, it's not the only thing that is important. I can't really explain what's wrong but keep playing." Naruto finished, a grimace on his face. It wasn't something you could tell Kise or any of the 'Miracles.' Kuroko was the first to find out, hopefully the rest will too.

"What does that mean? Sports are all about winning." A frustrated look appeared on his face. All that he was met with was silence. Kuroko spoke back up again.

"That's what I thought too but, I saw Kagami-kun and I was amazed by how much he loves basketball. It doesn't matter what he's going through, he takes more basketball seriously than anything else."

Naruto looked over at her interrupted whatever Kise was going to say. "Maa, you are going to make me jealous Kuroko-chan. All this talk about Kagami-kun." Her head snapped over.

"What! Naruto-kun, I, no!" A flush reaching her cheeks as she tried to explain to Naruto what she meant. Her hands moved about wildly trying to convey her point. Naruto abruptly brought his face close to hers, their noses almost touching, a sly smile reached his lips.

"Prove it." He huskily said. His hand reached out and caressed the side of her face, his breath attacking her face, teasing her, his other hand made it's way to her hip. Her once flushed face exploded into a red hue, her breathing pick up. He was so close, her hands unconsciously reached to his chest and felt his muscles. She looked into his eyes, she couldn't speak, she was hypnotized. She wasn't sure how much time had passed before she started to inch her head forward.

Kise looked annoyed, he zoned out for one second to find the two of them intimately holding each other. He looks away for one minute!

'Are they really that close? How come she never mentioned him before hand?'

He was about to break them apart before he heard, "Hey, you morons! You disappear to do this? What's Kise doing here?" An annoyed Kagami appeared.

They broke away from each other as if they were electrified, Kuroko's face bright ride and even Naruto's face had a blush on it.

Kise looked confused and said, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to look for these two, did you kidnap them?"

"Did it look like I kidnapped them? Don't accuse me of anything!"

Lightning flashed between the two of them while they argued before Kagami turned to face Naruto and Kuroko. "Bah! Come on Naruto-kun, Kuroko-chan, lets go."

They both looked over to them only to find them gone, again. They looked over at the street ball court and both groaned. "What are they thinking?"

'This must be Aida-chan getting revenge on me. Like, this doesn't have anything to do with basketball.' Naruto groaned as he watched Kagami get sent back from the crowd. 'This can't be easy, if he is having trouble.'

"This is Japanese lunch time rush!" Kagami said in English.

'Are these sandwiches that good that people are crowding around this bad?'

Naruto couldn't help but laugh as he saw Kagami freak out. It was rather amusing.

"Ah, Naruto-kun, I got two of them." Kuroko said, appearing behind him.

Naruto smiled, "You're the best Kuroko-chan, I was a bit worried when you went in though." He grabbed one of the sandwiches. "You think they'll notice if we start eating them?"

"Aren't these for our senpai?" Kuroko asked, looking up at him.

"I'm sure you can get more. I'll go with you next time, lead me through. We'll buy enough for everyone." He unwrapped his sandwich and took a bite. His eyes widened in shock.

"Shit! These are delicious! I can see the reason that they draw this big of a crowd. Try one." He took another bite and watched their teammates crowd surf. He laughed when they got thrown back out.

"Oi! How about you try Naruto-kun! I haven't even seen you..." Kagami trailed off. "How did you get that!?" Naruto took another bite finishing the sandwich.

"Maa, this one got it for me." He put his hand atop Kuroko's head. "Isn't she great?" He smiled, she blushed under his praise and took a bite of her sandwich, obviously happy.

"Gah!" Naruto suddenly found himself not touching the ground anymore.

"Maa, Kagami-kun, what are you doing!" Naruto yelled as Kagami throw him into the crowd. He tried to correct himself but couldn't in time. He was really close to the front, Kagami through him pretty far. He barely landed on his feet and rushed forward, intent on proving Kagami wrong.

He was thrown back out, his clothing ruffled and new bruises on his face.

He landed on the ground and his eyes widened. "This is Japanese lunch time rush!" He said in English.

Kagami's eyes twitched and look over at Kuroko, who now had all the sandwiches they needed. "He's making fun of me, isn't he?"

Kuroko nodded in response, a small smile on her face.

After they had learned about Shinkyo Academy Aida dismissed the rest of the team telling them to be ready for hard practices until the Inter High games.

"Ah, Naruto-kun, you'll stay right?" He turned around, and remembered his promise.

"That's right, sorry Aida-chan, I forgot," he turned to Kuroko and lowered his voice, "No training from me today, I'm going to ask Aida-chan about it. I'll probably end up telling her more, she's bound to be curious about the Cross Flash." She nodded and made her way out of the gym.

"Okay," he walked over to Aida-chan, "do you need me to take of my shirt?"

"That would be good." He started to take off his shirt and she went into her analyzing mode. She let out a gasp, these stats shouldn't be on a high schooler, they were crazy! She didn't understand, he could be such an amazing player, they had a huge chance to win in the Inter High.

"Naruto-kun, why don't you play?"

Naruto stared off into nothing, thinking, before he went over to the bench. "Come over her and sit down. I've got a story to tell."

Aida looked apprehensive, she didn't like how serious Naruto was being. He was usually screwing around. She headed over and took a seat sitting right next to Naruto.

"I guess I'll start at the beginning. I'm sure you know, but for the last three years I've been in America training with my godfather. Before I went to America though," he paused, grimaced and took a breath. "Before I went to America I practiced at Teiko."

Aida stared, shock and started to say something but Naruto held up a hand. "Let me finished. One day the coach at Teiko saw me playing before I was actually old enough to go. He thought that I was really good for a kid my age and took me with him. For the next year I practice basketball with the team. I would of started had I been old enough."

He smiled and continued. "I knew Kuroko-chan before that so when I had more time to play, I would play basketball with her and teach her what I knew. She wasn't as good but loved to play and worked incredibly hard. She was really shy, people made fun of her for playing with the boys but, in the end, she was just happy to play."

As he told the next part, he couldn't help but scowl. "Teiko's coach seems like a nice man, he smiled and laugh. When it came to sports though, he was a demon. He only cared about winning. My personal feelings didn't matter, how I saw my teammates, didn't matter. We just had to win. I don't think it was intentional but the team devolved a fear of losing. They ruthlessly won every game. I also developed that mentality. I'm sure you saw it at the end of the game, when Kise-kun became a different person."

She nodded. "But, I learned something about my parents right before I started at Teiko. You see, I was an orphan, so when someone told me who they were, I had to find out. I quit the team and went to America to find my godfather. He confirmed it for me. He is an amazing coach, no matter his bad habits, and saw my fear. He beat it out of me."

He sighed. "Then I trained with him for three years. He trained my dad and I wanted to learn as much as possible. It was brutal, but I'm sure you can see the results." He changed the subject.

"The day I left Teiko, I talked to Akashi-kun, I'm sure you know of him. I told him to watch over Kuroko-chan. My first impressions of him were positive and I saw how good he could be. Maybe I wasn't clear enough but the result is what Kuroko-chan has become, someone who plays as a shadow in basketball. I don't know what happened to make her this way but I know she could be much more. The coach cared so much about winning that he neglected all her skills besides passing and Misdirection. I can see that it's effective but there are many counters that teams have to stop that."

He stood up. "After seeing how things are, I've been training Kuroko-chan, she has an amazing skill, that not many people have." He looked over at her, gauging her reaction. "That's why she was so tired today. Of course, she's not planning on revealing her abilities until she needs to but, sooner or later, she won't have a choice."

Aida finally said something after listening to his story. "What if I don't allow it?"

All she got was a hollow laugh, "Then you lose two players."

"Are you saying if you don't get to train her both of you will quit?" Aida look angry, was she being blackmailed?

"Aida-chan, I like you and you're a great coach. I won't take her from you during practices, she'll just have more training afterwords. And yes. If you don't let this happen I will quit and then she will quit. We both have a lot of control over each other." He smiled, "I'm sure you will see the results, soon."

Aida sighed, "I guess I'll allow it." She murmured, "Not like I have a choice."

"You mentioned you were an orphan, and learned to play like your father, who was his?"

"Hmm, not many people can do a Cross Flash."

Aida's eyes widened. "You mean that-"

"Yes, my full name is Naruto Uzamaki-Namikaze. My father's Minato Namikaze."

Naruto started to walk about leaving Aida with her thoughts. Before he reached the doors she spoke out, "Wait! Are you going to play?"

He smirked. "Maybe, but since I beat Kise-kun I'll start to take practice more seriously, I didn't think I missed playing basketball this much."

The beginning of practice was about to begin and Aida was about to start.

"Okay, you all know what our competition is, until our first game, we will be doing a lot of training." She started to explain what they were going to be doing. Before she could finish Kagami stepped forward.

"Coach, I have one request before we start. I want to play Naruto-kun in a one on one, please."

Again, sorry that this is shorter than most of my chapters and to leave this on another cliffhanger. I want to write this one on one but I need some time to think about how to write it and this chapter is already later than usual.

If you have time, please leave a review, they are always appreciated. Until next time!