KuroKen

KuroKen
GENERAL
Haikyu!!
Character	Tetsurō Kuroo
Character	Kenma Kozume
Canonical?	Fanon
Status of Relationship	Childhood Best Friends/Teammates
IN FANDOM
Type (?)	Slash
Also Known As	KenKuro, Tetsurozume, Cats, KRKN, KurooKen
Tropes	• Childhood Friend Romance • Childhood Friends • Friends to Lovers

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KuroKen is the slash ship between Tetsurō Kuroo and Kenma Kozume from the Haikyu!! fandom.

Canon

Kuroo and Kenma both play together on Nekoma's volleyball team. Kuroo is the captain, while Kenma is his setter. They work together well and are quite the pair to beat once put up against them.

They have known each other since childhood. Even though Kuroo is a year older, it does not shift their dynamic in any way. They first met as neighbors and Kuroo taught Kenma how to play volleyball. Kenma is the quiet type but still decided to play with Kuroo. They stuck together ever since going to the same middle school, high school, and joining the same volleyball club.

Though the anime has not caught up yet, in the manga, Hinata Shouyou helps Kenma realize how fun volleyball could be. His whole life Kenma was not extremely addicted to the sport and only played it because it was there. After being shown, he goes to Kuroo, bows, and thanks him for getting him into volleyball. Kuroo becomes extremely embarrassed and swiftly walks away, leaving Kenma wondering what got Kuroo acting so odd.

While growing up together, Kuroo was shown to actually be the more anxious and quiet of the two, even more than Kenma, until they started to get into volleyball and he opened up a lot more, particularly with Kenma's encouragement and understanding. This, in turn, likely made Kuroo more aware of Kenma, too, as he seemed to easily read Kenma's moods, saying that Kenma wouldn't play volleyball unless he really wanted to do it, and that, in general, he wouldn't do something unless he really wanted to. The two seem to have a very deep understanding of one another, and Kuroo often seems to understand Kenma's quieter and more introverted moods.

Post-timeskip, Kenma becomes quite wealthy as a professional gamer and Youtuber, along with CEO of his own company, Bouncing Ball. Kenma's screen name is Kodzuken. Kenma also sponsors Hinata's volleyball career. Kuroo joins the National Volleyball Association based on his childhood goal of 'lowering the net' (attempting to make it easier for more people to become professionals). Kenma tells Hinata that he communicates with Kuroo a lot, and that Kuroo suggested that Kenma get a house in Roppongi Hills, a wealthy neighborhood in Tokyo. However Kenma declined, saying he likes the small and older house he bought and currently lives in just fine.

In some final scenes, Kuroo talks with Hinata about how he's 'paired up with the world-famous Kodzuken' (Kenma) and that he's working in a business partnership with him.

In the extra chapter Furudate published to acknowledge the one year anniversary of Haikyu!!'s ending, Kuroo and Kenma are shown to be together most of the time, going to Brazil together to film a promotional video with Hinata for the special match Kuroo is organizing. At the end of the chapter, Kenma is then shown to be wearing a shirt that appears oversized on him and matches the shirt Kuroo wore in Brazil, which caused fans to suggest Kenma was in fact wearing Kuroo's shirt.

Fanon

These two are a fairly popular pairing. Their fanon selves do not stray far from the canon universe at all. In canon, Kuroo is somewhat protective over Kenma, but in fanfiction that is doubled. A common storyline fics these two share is when Kuroo leaves for college. Since Kuroo is a year older, he would obviously have to go to college first, leaving Kenma behind at Nekoma. This storyline leads to angst, and if they weren't already in an established relationship, pining. In fanfiction, Kuroo also often nicknames Kenma as 'kitten' because of how much he resembles the animal.

They are seen as a healthy ship by fans but sometimes cause shipping discourse. This ship is part of the only large shipping war in this fandom. People tend to argue over them, TsukkiYama, and KuroTsuki.

Haikyu-bu!!

• In chapter 20, 'There are no Cats on a Snowy Day', Kenma complains to Kuroo about it being too cold to be outside. Kuroo points out how he could've just said no and stayed home. Kenma answers saying how Alisa reminded him of someone and he couldn't say no, referring the 'someone' to Kuroo when he was younger.
• In chapter 52, 'Kuro the Kitten', Kenma and Kuroo found a black cat, and Kenma named it 'Kuro'.

Fandom

FAN FICTION

Kuroo/Kozume tag on AO3

TUMBLR

Kuroken posts on Tumblr

Gallery

Anime

Manga

Volume 37 cover

Chapter 154 cover

Official art