He woke up to the sound of rain and thunders and the rattling of something colliding hard to surface. The aformentioned storm on the broadcast this afternoon had finally reached his home loudly and angrily. Even in his sleepy state, the blue-haired male clearly heard some clanking sounds beneath his bed.
Kuroko raised himself up from his comfortable bed, marched down the stairways and stopped at his living room, only to find that yes, he'd forgotten to close his windows earlier.
It was a mess down here. Bits of broken vase and papers scattered around the floor, along with the fallen books from the small shelves. Without a second thought, Kuroko skimmed across the room and tried his best to close the double windows overlooking his yard, lest the strong wind and heavy rain could wreak more havoc to his poor house.
He'd already been soaked wet by the time he put his hand on the cold molding of the glass window. It normally took him less than five seconds to finish the simple task, yet with big, fat rivulet of rain drops splattered down repeatedly in his face at the present, Kuroko found himself struggle hard to get the work done.
Finally, his effort was paid off with the price of his body trembling in cold, water draping from his head to toe like a fish. Sitting down tiredly, he rested his head against the cool surface of the glass, and heard the clamorous noises reigning from the outside.
Once in a while, thunder would strike down and lighten up the landscape. The trees in his yard bowed in the winds as leaves and small branches were torn off. Time and time again, gust of wind burst against the window as though a plead to enter.
However, it was in the third lighting-strike that he saw him.
At first, he shrugged it off as a trick of light. But the more his eyes adjusted to the darkness, the more he could make out the outline of something, or someone, standing in the middle of chaos.
As a lighting struck down far away in the black horizon, the momentary light accompanied by it was enough for Kuroko to register the stranger's appearance. Spiky head. Slender frame. Possibly about in his late twentieth. He seemed untouched by the bad weather surrounding though, for his white cloak remained unmoved in the storm, as well as his hair in blistering winds.
When the fourth lighting came, Kuroko saw the stranger point his index finger to him, or more precisely, to the direction above his shoulder.
[Look behind you.]
He promptly heard a soft voice, his eyes widened slightly in shock as he realized it was coming inside of his mind.
He could also feel it in the air, the sudden change of temperature.
The room was getting colder and drier. He had trouble rubbing on all the goosebumps rising upon his arms. For a fraction of moment, Kuroko's body was frozen in shock. This entire situation was too much like a scene in a horror movie, much to his liking.
Any seconds passing marked the accelerating beats of his heart. With every breaths he labored, it created thin threads of fog in the air.
[There's no danger. Trust me. Turn your back.]
It's easier said than done… Kuroko thought. The fast drum of his heart's beat slowed down at the voice though. It was so calm and assuring.
He turned back.
Gone was his familiar living room, what unfold beneath his eyes was something resemblance to a freezer room. But it had to be not real, right? If it had been the case, he'd already have frozen to death a long time ago.
This must be a dream! Kuroko thought, nodding to himself.
[Come with me.]
He tipped his head to the side, catching a glimpse of white in the air. The stranger was gliding forward, his white cloak swirling gently around with every steps.
Kuroko hesitated, but eventually followed the young male.
Behind him, the image of the double glass door dissipated into darkness, leaving no trace left.
.
.
.
They stopped one feet away from a slump form on the floor which had looked like some ice statue from afar.
- Until it moved.
And convulsed repeatedly.
Kuroko backed away reflexively. There was nothing to express his bewilderment as he stood there staring at the writhing form beneath his eyes. It was clad in ragged clothes – if you could call severed fabric "clothes", and was bound to the wall behind with heavy chains around its neck, wrists, and ankles.
But it was not the most surprising thing.
This thing, it looked like a human child, except he possessed a tail. A big, long tail with shiny, red scales reminiscent of that of a reptile that shimmered blue, lit up by the dim light of the room. His skin was also scaly, focus on the parts that covered hands, neck, cheeks, and all the way down on his lower body.
[This child… he's deemed an experiment.]
Kuroko jerked back from his rigid state. Without thinking, he asked, "Why?"
This is horrible. Disturbing. Why would somebody do that, especially to a child?
[He's a genetic experiment inheriting the genes of the person his DNA had been altered with. A experiment bred to be a savage executioner. But he was failed to meet their expectation. So here he is, left alone to die, or frozen, whichever comes first.]
Kuroko could feel the silent fury beneath the icy tone when the stranger said. It didn't aim at him directly, but it nevertheless sent a shiver down his spine. The tension in the air was palpable.
[But he doesn't want either of them, with which I whole-heartedly agree. How about you?]
"Me?"
[Yes. Do you want him to die?]
"No." Kuroko shook his head. It was too cruel of a fate for the child.
[So... do you want to help him?]
Kuroko hold his breath.
Somehow, he had a strange feeling that whatever following, it would be a tremendous change.
"Yes."
[Do you want to save him?]
By now, the child no longer could raise his voice in anguished cries. He, seemingly seized by exhaustion and despair, only groaned painfully in a barely audible voice.
But his eyes. Oh those scarlet eyes, they was shining with fervent stubbornness. The child didn't give up. He was clinging to life even if it might be cruel and a torture to him.
"Yes." Kuroko heard himself utter the single syllable.
[Very well. Please, give me your hand.]
The stranger smiled a bright smile, and proffered his hand in a delicate gesture.
For some unknown reason, Kuroko's ears turned red. He gently clasped the hand that was offered to him.
[I'll ask you one last time. Do you want to willingly save him? Please beware both of you will be tied to each other more than one way.]
"Yes." He said, breathless. "Yes, I do."
Kuroko watched as the stranger seemed to pull out a scalpel out of thin air. Then he turned his hand over and sliced down across Kuroko's palm. It happened so fast that Kuroko hardly felt any pain. In the blink of an eye, a trail of blood bloomed, trickled down and made his hand sticky and wet.
But instead of red, the color of his blood was orange.
This dream was getting weirder and weirder.
[The only thing can save him now is your blood. Your essence. A piece of yourself. Go. Offer him.]
His heart hammered wildly in his chest. His eyes fixed upon the child's face, which was covered by cold sweat and distorted by pain. The child's eyes had been closed tightly now. Had it not been for his rising chest and interval coughing, Kuroko could have imagined the worst had happened.
This was a child that was left to die. A child that no longer could be call human.
He swallowed a bile stuck on his throat, and took a step forward. And another, another, until he stood right before the child.
Crouching down, he tentatively reached his woundless hand to touch the child's cheek, like a testament. He only met with ragged breaths, and fluttering eyelids. The scales under his fingertips were hard, yet smooth and cool. Before Kuroko knew it, he'd already pressed his hand against it, feeling the cold seeping through their close contact.
And the child, he actually leaned in his touch! His purple lips parted slightly, and he was staring at Kuroko vacantly with a hazy look. His scarlet orbs reflected nothing, but at the same time, Kuroko felt they suck everything into them.
Slowly, Kuroko's hand moved down. He hook a finger under the child's chin, tipping his head upward.
He then raised his other hand to the his face, hovering above his lips. Kuroko's mind was blissful blank when he observed the way the droplets of his own blood started dropping down, and disappeared inside the dark hollow of the child's mouth.
It was as normal as it seemed, until there was a jolt coming from his wrist. Looking down, Kuroko winced as he saw a claw-like hand grasping at him in a death grip. He didn't have a time to voice his discomfort, however, when the child chose that very moment to lick his palm, greedily taking the orange liquid spilling through his wound.
Strange sensation washed over his body like shockwaves, leaving him gasp and tremble. Kuroko whipped his head up when hearing a soft moan above, to face with a pair of very bright eyes they almost like glowing.
A content moan escaped the red tainted lips, and the child bared his sharp and perfect white teeth, a warning of a forthcoming bite.
A foreboding sense of danger tugged at Kuroko's mind immediately. He unconsciously tried to writhe to free his hand from the child's hold.
[You have to give it to him of your own free will.]
The stranger's voice once more called out clearly, soothing his nerves.
He hesitated for a second, and did his best to relax his tense muscle.
After all, this was only a dream. Despite of its scary details, what harms could it bring to him?
The moment he let his palm bitten, however, darkness began to drape over his vision.
But he still locked gaze with the child's. Still could see his eyes, though it was getting harder and harder as the blurry took over gradually.
They shine like ruby, Kuroko thought, mesmerizing the beauty of them.
.
.
.
What he didn't see, however, was the way those scarlet orbs glowed brightly.
And the next second, one of them turned orange, creating a pair of luminous heterochromatic eyes.
.
.
.
"You're the biggest idiot on the planet." Shigehiro said, his jaw clenched.
"It's harsh. I'm not an idiot." Came the reply in a monotone voice.
"I've told you to stay. But no, you had to leave and have yourself all wet and unconscious in the middle of the storm, laying on broken glasses. I couldn't imagine what would have happened if I didn't come to check on you the morning after. So, how are you feeling when nearly getting yourself killed?"
"I'm tired." Kuroko said. "And it's my house. Where else am I supposed to go back?"
Kuroko observed the change in Shigehiro's face with his usual expression, which was blank. He saw the way Shigehiro's shoulder hunched down and knew he had won the argument.
"You're idiot." Shigehiro said eventually, but his tone was drained of any anger. "I'm afraid of what you're going to do without me saving your sorry ass."
"I'm very capable of taking care of myself. I'm not the one who almost caught the house on fire because of his so called -decent cooking skill."
"Hey, it's been two years ago. Give me a break."
"And who got himself stapled last week when trying to close the stapler?"
"In my defense, I thought I could close it from the bottom. It was a pretty good idea at that moment. Seriously, can you see the look the nurse who walked passed gave me just now? It's embarrassing enough as it's, bro."
Kuroko just arched a brow.
"Fine, I surrender." Shigehiro signed, and raised both of his hands dramatically.
Kuroko skillfully ignored him.
The black hair teen ruffled Kuroko's hair, make it messier than ever.
"Hey, cut it out!"
"No, I want you to promise to stay at our house for at least a month."
"I can't."
"So three weeks. No more bargain. My mother's worried sick of you. I'll be cut into pieces if I can't bring you to my house."
"…"
"I'll take that as a yes. Now get up, I've already signed discharge papers on your behalf."
.
.
.
He'd thought it'd been a dream.
Such a strange dream, but a dream nonetheless.
Yet whenever he looked at his palm nowadays, what he saw was not the wholly smooth skin as usual, but a scar in the center of it, like scale.
A red, platelike one that reminded him of a certain child with scarlet eyes.
.
.
.
A month passed, and Kuroko found himself in hospital again.
This time, he was not the one lying on the bed, but the one who stood before the bed.
He put a basket of apples on a small table nearby, and sunk down onto a chair, watching the sleeping form of his best friend, Shigehiro Ogiwara. For a long time, he just sat there silently.
"I'll leave tomorrow morning, Shigehiro." He said finally, his hand clutching on a paper in his hand. It was his Transfer form to move in South Block, where he might spend the rest of his life there, because he was just a Norm.
Here, in West Block, resided only with Level B- Guardians, it meant he was only an outcast.
It didn't matter whether he was born nor brought up here. Every children had to undergo the Purification – a fever that last days, even weeks, depending on how strong one's powers became – that would give them their Flame, thus gaining special abilities such as creating illusions, healing, lighting summon… In short, it made them a Guardian.
Since both of Kuroko's parent had been Level B- Guardians, he was expected to be one, and had been provided the right to live here after his parent had passed away in a nasty mission.
Kuroko, unfortunately, didn't have a chance to experience the Purification for sixteen years of his life. And everyone knew that the Purification only happened to those under sixteen.
So Kuroko hadn't surprise at all when two government officials had appeared under the porch of his house after his 16th birthday, making an announcement and giving him necessary papers to deploy.
If anything, it was a relief. And a huge disappointment, really.
He'd already informed Shigehiro's parents, who had been his guardians for five years, and packed his luggage neatly. Now it was time only for best friend.
"I've heard that you will be a Level A- Guardian. Only 8% make it so far. Congratulation. I'm afraid that I can't throw a proper celebratory party for you. Sorry."
It was said that his best friend would be one of the Elite members the moment he opened his eyes. The black hair teen had gone sleep for nearly a month, exactly three weeks and six days, after the day he'd visited Kuroko. Even now he still showed no sign of awakening from his deep slumber. The longer it took, the stronger his power would be. The longest record was six weeks and ten days.
His best friend would live in another world, so different from him.
"I'm sorry."
I'm sorry, for not fulfill our promise.
I'm sorry, I can't be by your side anymore.
Kuroko averted his gaze to the ceiling. The whiteness of it stung at his heart, welling up the moist in his eyes.
Never before in his entire life had he felt so lonely.