I don't own Kuroko no Basuke.

"God is always planning the best things for us, but sometimes, we feel being left out but actually, God is saving the better one than what we actually asked for."
–Anonymous

My Once Empty Life

(A Novel)

Life is so cruel that it can't go the way I want it to; perhaps that's the way I believe before. I was just a lonely girl; I was until he came into my life. I was just an empty shell; I was until he filled me in. I don't know what it means to live, not until he showed me. I don't know anything about love, not until he taught me. When his mesmerizing heterochromatic eyes which are amber and crimson in color locked with my sky blue ones, my life was suddenly filled with colors. And at that same moment, my heart knew I could trust him.

Additional Info: For Kuroko-chan's hair, it's just like Sara-san's hair (Pureblood vampire character in Vampire Knight manga. If you don't know her, you can search her.)

Warning(s): Female Kuroko. Characters may show some hints of being OOC. Nice Akashi. English is just my second language, so please bear with some mistakes. Also, if you happen to find any typos, I have a little eye deficiency, so mistakes can't be helped.

Genre(s): Hurt/Comfort/Angst/Family/Friendship/Romance/Humor (a bit)

Prologue

My parents said that I was an extraordinary child; I didn't know their reason, though. But perhaps, they were right about it. A bit. I'd tell you why, but never expect such a good story, in fact, that would be the opposite.

The things which have always been by my side were my novels and my grand piano. I've always been alone. Well, perhaps because I have a very low presence. I was almost invisible to all people.

Almost.

They wouldn't know I was there until I speak, but when I did, it startled them. My dad and mom were long gone, well not literally. I'd tell you why.

When I was a kid, my grandpapa and grandmamma passed away while heading to Europe for a vacation. They were riding on a private jet when it suddenly exploded in the air. It was then learned that the rival company's head hired a few people to plant a bomb inside the said jet. The company's head along with the men he hired was arrested and sentenced for life, and the company altogether with its profits and employees was given to us as a compensation for the damages and lost lives. The company was then renamed under the corporation owned by our clan. Did I mention that the Kuroko family was one of the oldest families living in Japan? Our bloodline could be traced up to the early Meiji era. My dad was the son of the current head—my grandpapa—so he was immediately appointed as the new head of the family and the new chairman of the board of the Kuroko International Group's mother company. My mom was appointed as the CEO of the new branch of the company, which was the compensated ones. Since that day, my parents barely had have time for me. I couldn't even remember when was the last time I ate with them; may be when I was just five or six? I didn't know. They were always busy with the business that our family has, which has been passed from one generation to another. I must say that the company stood for over eighty years and it still stood today—successful and powerful. My family. Wait, did I even have one in the first place? May be I was just imagining things. Could the three of us qualify as a family? I doubt it. They always said that it was for the common good, it was for my future. And someday, I, myself, would take turn to run that precious company as the new head—with my husband. I was just so tired of hearing that statement over and over again. I didn't ask God to give me parents with big responsibilities. Or more like I didn't ask to be born in a family like this. I felt like that company was more important to them than their own child. In fact, I envied the company itself. I envied the people in the company; at least they got to see my parents every hour in every day of the whole year. I envied those ordinary families because they have more time with one another. I hated being rich, I hated my life. There were times that I asked God why such fate was given to me. Why did I have to live like this? Why was life given to me if I have to live as if I was … nothing? My parents left me. The only persons in the world that I trusted and thought that would stay by my side forever, they … left me. From that day, I became cold and distant and quiet and alone. The word trust was erased in my vocabulary. They, my parents, completely obliterated it. I didn't trust any person, knowing that someday, he or she would also leave me; like my parents did. I became numb, emotionless, stoic. I became a person who was not able to feel anything anymore because of too much pain. I wondered when I would meet someone who I could trust, who could make me feel alive, for once. Rather than that, I wondered if I would actually meet someone. I … just wanted to feel what other people could feel. I … didn't want to be alone anymore.

Chapter I: Sky Blue Meets Red

Ring … Ring … Ring …

I heard my alarm clock ringing so loudly. I reached for it to turn it off, and then I languidly opened my eyes and sat up. My sky blue orbs were greeted by the same room that I have been using since I was a kid. It was all white; the walls, the ceiling, the doors, the floor-to-ceiling window panes, the veranda, the cold railings, the curtains, the carpet and even my large bed. Every time I opened my eyes, I always wondered if I was still on earth.

If I was still alive.

If not for the morning breeze that always touched my cheeks every morning, I would think I was dead. I always felt like I was in a different dimension whenever I was in this room, and to add to that, I have a very low presence. Ironic, wasn't it? God must be kidding me, but … it was not funny.

Not at all.

I looked at the white grand piano that was standing neatly at the east side of my room. Now that I have noticed it, it was the only thing placed in that side. Nothing could be found around it. That piano was like me—alone. Well not exactly, at least it was noticeable … unlike me. I collapsed on my bed when someone knocked on my door. "Tetsumi-sama, may I come in?" The owner of the voice said. Ah, I recognized that voice—Ayasaka-san. She was the one who took care of me when I was seven. She was a very caring woman, her children must be so lucky to have a mother like her. I was under her care before my parents brought me with them to Los Angeles. I lived there for eight and a half years; in fact, I just arrived here in Japan the day before yesterday.

"Yes, you may." I replied, and then the door opened, revealing a woman in her forty's with long black hair and navy blue eyes, wearing formal clothes. Well, she was the person in-charge of taking care of me as well as ordering the other servants. She was beautiful and looked so young. She must be very happy to look like that despite her age. She carried a uniform; aqua-marine long-sleeve polo with collar, white long-sleeve formal vest with the school's logo embroidered on its left side, black ribbon and black skirt with white lining on its bottom. Ah, I almost forgot, I would be attending school from today on.

"Tetsumi-sama, please get yourself ready. You'll be late on your first day." Ayasaka-san told me.

"Ah, yes. Thank you for reminding me." I answered. Yes, my first day, it has been two weeks since the classes of the school year started. I crawled out of my bed before taking the uniform from her, and then I walked toward the bathroom. Before I opened the door, I turned my head to Ayasaka-san to say something, "Ayasaka-san, how many times do I have to ask you to just call me Tetsumi. Please don't be so formal."

"Alright. Now, please proceed so I can fix your hair when you finished bathing." She said as she let out a small chuckle. I then proceeded to get myself ready. After twenty minutes, I came out of the bathroom.

"Ayasaka-san." I called her. She turned her eyes to me and smiled.

"The uniform suits you." She said at last. "Come here so I can do your hair." She added. I walked toward her, and then she asked me to stand in front of the large mirror. I could see my whole body on it. I stared at my reflection; I saw a girl with pale white skin, my height reached to 168 centimeters, my body was fully developed despite my age being sixteen, my hair was silky and curly and it reached my buttocks. I never cut it because it has been with me for like forever. Then I looked at my face; my bangs slightly covered my eyelids, I saw my sky blue orbs staring back at me blankly, they held no emotions if one would say, but to me, my eyes were filled with sadness and sorrow and pain and … longing, that only I, myself, could notice. They said that I have an expressionless face; perhaps I could now understand them after seeing myself on the mirror. My face was indeed impassive. Hmm, it has been a while since the last time I looked at my reflection, and it surprised me a little that I've grown so much. I've changed so much; physically, intellectually and emotionally.

"My, Tetsumi. You've really grown so much. You've grown into a beautiful young lady. You've grown your hair so long, too." Ayasaka-san said as she stroked my hair gently and dried it with the hair blower. She picked some strands of my hair from the left and right side of my head before clipping them together at the back of my head with the brown bow she picked not too long ago. "There. You don't need so many accessories." She said as she let a small smile linger on her face. She held my shoulders as she stared at my reflection on the mirror.

"Ayasaka-san?" I said. She 'hummed' to me in response. I stared at her reflection for a while before answering, "No … it's nothing. Forget it." I said as I shook my head.

"You sure?" She asked. I nodded my head in response. Her expression turned like a worried mother for a while before breaking into a large grin. "Go eat your breakfast now, you'll be late." She reminded me. I turned to my heels and went out of my room.

I walked downstairs and headed to the dining room with Ayasaka-san trailing behind me. The huge set of wooden doors was opened for me by the two middle-aged men wearing black tux, black slacks and shined black leather shoes. When the doors opened, I was greeted by a number of maids in two straight lines, bowing to me. "Good morning, Tetsumi-sama." They said in synchronization. Even though this has been going on since I was seven, I just couldn't get used to it.

And I would never get used to it.

I nodded at them in appreciation, but they would never bring their heads up until I walked past the last two persons in these stupid lines, so I did. God, what the hell was wrong with them?!

I sat on one of the many velvet chairs around the long and huge marble dining table in the area. Despite this area being large, I always ate alone with a deafening silence.

I walked out from the huge wooden doors of the mansion to be only greeted by a number of scary-looking men wearing black formal clothes, also in two straight lines, bowing to me. My life has gone stupidly crazy secured by these men since my grandpapa and grandmamma passed away. These men always did security works and always made sure that there was no single threat around this area. The family has been extra careful since that day. As our company got successful and powerful, there was no doubt that few people wanted us dead, just like what my grandpapa and grandmamma ended up to. Among these men, two people were assigned to be my personal guards. Father and mother have personal guards, so the same went for me. "Tetsumi-sama." Two persons called and suddenly appeared beside me. Ah, here they were; Hayama Kotaro-san and Mibuchi Reo-san, they were just two years older than me, but they were personally chosen by my parents when they were nine years old and sent them to study in a special school somewhere I would never know to train as special assassins. "Hayama-san, Mibuchi-san." I said. They nodded at me and escorted me to the black car. Mibuchi-san opened the door for me, and then I got in. In my surprise, Mibuchi-san sat on the space on my right side and Hayama-san on the left side. "Why is it?" I asked monotonously, my face not betraying my voice.

"Isn't this fun, Tetsumi-chan? We're going to school with you~!" Hayama-san said cheerfully. I glanced at him and then at Mibuchi-san to find them wearing the boy's uniform of the school I was going to.

"What?" I finally said out of frustration, but my voice didn't sound frustrated but … emotionlessly cold.

"Don't be so cold to us, Tet-chan. This is our job as your personal guards." Mibuchi-san said. After that, I didn't say anything in the whole trip to school. You must be wondering why they called me 'Tetsumi-sama' earlier, and then called me with my nicknames afterwards. I, too, didn't really know what was up with them, so I left them be. Nothing would change, anyway. When the car stopped in the front gates of the school, Mibuchi-san and Hayama-san quickly got out of the car and waited for me to get off from it. When I finally got out, Hayama-san said something to the driver before the car took off. "Here we are, Tet-chan. This is Teikou Private Academy, quarter of the school's assets is owned by your family. Don't worry, no one here except us know about you." Mibuchi-san explained to me as the three of us walked in the school's courtyard.

"If so, then why would I need you two here?" I asked bluntly as I walked ahead of them.

"Waah! That hurts, Tetsumi-chan!" I heard Hayama-san whine loudly, infuriating loud. I rolled my eyes a bit only to see him clutching his chest dramatically. I chose to not talk anymore before my eardrums exploded because of his voice.

"Don't worry, Tet-chan. We're enrolled as your senpai." Mibuchi-san said. I stopped at my tracks for a while but moved on, anyways.

"Is that so? Then I hope you two would not follow me during breaks, senpai." I said with much sarcasm in my voice. I could be mean at times. Yes, I said I didn't want to be alone anymore, but I was not that desperate to have companions. They were just here because they were my personal guards.

"Ha. That would not be possible, Tet-chan."

"If so, then please don't come near me." I said flatly as I took a different way immediately, not giving them any chance to answer. I didn't mean to be rude, but I knew their answer, anyways.

I was told that this school has different buildings for every year level, which meant my building was different from Hayama-san and Mibuchi-san's building. I walked straight to the teachers' lounge to meet my homeroom teacher.

"Excuse me." I said. But no one seemed to see me or hear me, so I decided to speak again, louder this time. "Excuse me."

"Uwaaah!" The first teacher who noticed me shrieked in fear as if a ghost suddenly appeared in front of him. I sighed inwardly, this kind of occurrence was just normal to me. "Wh-what do y-you want?" He asked as he clutched on his chest.

"Sorry, I am the late enrollee, Kuroko Tetsumi. I'm here to see Tanaka-sensei; I was told he is my adviser." I answered as politely as I could. The teacher stared at me for a while before speaking again.

"Ah! Kuroko-san? Yeah, I think I've heard of you before. I'm sorry for being rude. Here, let me take you to Tanaka-sensei." He said. He led me to Tanaka-sensei. "Tanaka-sensei!" The teacher called to a man in his thirty's with dark brown nape-length hair and with light brown eyes. Tanaka-sensei looked up from his papers to the teacher. He actually looked like a model.

"What is it, Yamamoto-sensei?" Tanaka-sensei asked with a deep voice.

"Kuroko-san is here to see you." Yamamoto-sensei said. Tanaka-sensei then finally landed his eyes on me, and then he turned to Yamamoto-sensei again.

"Thank you, Yamamoto-sensei. You can go back now; I'll take care of her." He said, and then Yamamoto-sensei bowed a bit then walked back to his table. Tanaka-sensei looked at me then smiled gently. "How are you, Kuroko-san? I and your classmates have been waiting for you. I'm glad you're finally here. It's nice meeting you." He said.

"Thank you, Tanaka-sensei. It's nice to meet you, too." I said monotonously. Tanaka-sensei blinked at me like he was saying, 'This child has no expression at all.' but stood up, anyways.

"Okay, let me take you to your classroom. You're fifteen minutes late." He said as he led the way. I didn't speak as we walked up to the third floor of the building, and then we stopped in front of 1-B classroom. He opened the door for us, revealing a teacher who was currently discussing something. The subject was English, I guessed. The teacher stopped speaking as he and the class turned their heads to us. "Asahina-sensei, sorry for the interruption. But as you can see, Kuroko-san—the late enrollee of this class—has arrived and she's with me. She will be attending classes from today on." Tanaka-sensei said as he welcomed himself in the classroom. I followed him.

"Eh? Where? I don't see anyone with you, Tanaka-sensei." One of the students asked; he was tan for Japanese. The rest of the students agreed with him.

"What? That's rude, Aomine-san. She's right here beside m—! Eh? Where's Kuroko-san? She's just with me a while ago …!" Tanaka-sensei said as he frantically turned his head side by side. I sighed inwardly before speaking.

"I'm right here, Tanaka-sensei." I said. Tanaka-sensei then turned his head behind him only to find me looking directly in his eyes with my trademark poker face. For a sec, I thought I saw him sweat drop. Then I walked and stood beside him.

"A-ah! Kuroko-san, what are you doing behind me? And why didn't you speak earlier?"

"Sorry," I started as I bowed slightly at him, "I was just nervous. And I didn't speak because I find it rude when someone interrupts a person who still speaks." I continued. I then turned to face the class only to see them with dumbfounded expressions on their faces. Ah? Did I do something wrong?

"Ahem!" I heard Tanaka-sensei clear his throat, clearly asking for the class' attention. "So, class. As you can see, Kuroko-san is your classmate who was not able to attend the first two weeks of classes this year. She grew up in Los Angeles and studied there until middle school. And the reason she came late is because she just arrived here in Japan the day before yesterday." He paused to look at me. "Please introduce yourself, Kuroko-san."

"I'm Kuroko Tetsumi. Please take care of me." I said to the class as I bowed slightly.

"Well then, class, Asahina-sensei. I'll leave Kuroko-san to you. I'll go now, be kind to her!" Tanaka-sensei addressed the class and Asahina-sensei. Then he turned to me, "Be good, Kuroko-san." And then he walked out of the classroom.

"So, it's nice to finally meet you, Kuroko-san. I'm Asahina Haruka, your English teacher." Asahina-sensei told me with a smile.

"Likewise." I said with a bow.

"Okay, you can sit over there." Asahina-sensei told me as he pointed at the vacant seat beside the window. I nodded at him, and then I walked toward my assigned seat. As I walked, the students stared at me like I was some sort of alien, but I didn't care. I didn't have time to care to be exact. I sat quietly and the teacher resumed teaching.

Classes have gone so fast that I just found myself walking toward the school gates that afternoon. I walked through the thin crowd easily until I felt my bow clip slip down my hair. I turned around and bent down to get it, but in my surprise, a hand that I was definitely sure not mine got it first. I and the figure in front of me stood up in synchronization. "Here." The figure said as he handed me my bow clip. I reached for it but he didn't let go. I looked up to see who it was and my pair of blank sky blue orbs met a pair of piercing amber and crimson ones. He stared at my eyes intently; like he was digging through my soul, like he was scrutinizing my whole being. What was up with him? We stared at each other for the next minutes, and I, myself, was surprised that I didn't move or blink. I was completely glued to the ground. How odd. I could feel this person's authoritative aura surrounded him like it has been born as his twin. I just snapped out from my stupor when I heard Hayama-san calling my name. "Tetsumi-chan!" He shouted as he jogged towards us. I immediately took a step back and he released his hand from my bow clip. "Tetsumi-chan, what happened?" Hayama-san asked me as he looked from me to the student with heterochromatic eyes.

"Nothing. My clip just slipped down my hair." I answered him monotonously while still looking impassively at the guy in front of me. "Thank you." I told the guy as I bowed slightly.

"You're welcome." He answered calmly. I bowed once more before turning to Hayama-san.

"Sorry for making you wait, Hayama-san. Let's go." I told Hayama-san, and then I walked with him toward the car, leaving the guy behind.

"Who's that?" Hayama-san asked me from the moment we entered the car. I stayed silent for a while before answering.

"I don't know."

A/N: Unlike my other stories, this one has a clear direction. Please review and tell me what you think.

-Author