A dark shadowy figure fell fast from the sky, unseen by anyone except the opponent who had knocked him from place in the night. The figure pushed himself up from the shingles of the Japanese roof he'd fallen on and floated into the sky wearily. The Shadow was insubstantial, so there was no damage in the roof.
Then like a star, the Shadow's opposite smashed onto the spot on the roof the Shadow had just floated off of. Bright like a star and just as magnificent, the Light's wispy humanoid figure raised its hands as bluish white particles gathered around the figure. Panicked, the Shadow lifted its arms over its head and deflected the attack in a shower of sparks. The Light shot out and caught the Shadow in its hands, pounding mercilessly into the figure so that when they crashed to the ground, the shadow's figure had fallen apart into wisps of smoke.
"Rid the world of darkness," the Light's ethereal voice boomed as the Shadow hurriedly tried to put his body back together enough to put up a defense. "Purge the Earth of evil…" The Light slapped it's hands together and pulled them apart, revealing a long saber that the Shadow recoiled at. "Destroy the Shadow!"
The Shadow grabbed at the shadow cast by the house and narrowly missed the saber's pointed end. It crept along the edge of the darkness, it's body reforming, and almost stepped out to fight again when suddenly the front door of the house slid open. Startled, the Shadow whipped around and found himself staring at a little human boy, his eyes staring blearily at the Shadow.
"Hello mister," the boy said, yawning. "Are you making all that noise?"
The words of the boy took a moment to sink in. How could the boy hear, much more see, the Shadow? It was invisible to people, invisible to everything! A flash of light shook the Shadow out of its stupor and it was again reminded of its fight. The Light was walking towards the Shadow and then it too saw the boy. It inclined its head curiously at the boy, but didn't allow the Shadow out of its spot.
"Hello sir," the boy said, his voice sharper and slightly wary. "Why are at my house?"
The Light stumbled backwards, surprised and fearful. The Shadow took advantage of the Light's moment of hesitation and launched itself at the Light, knocking it to the ground.
"Get out of here, boy!" the Shadow snarled, grabbing the saber and wrestled it to the Light's side. "You aren't safe, so long as you can see me!"
"Please don't fight," the boy begged, taking a step out of the safety of his house. "I don't like it."
"I said get out of here!" the Shadow screamed before the Light smashed it in its chest. The Shadow was knocked backwards into the boy, passing through the solid body like a ghost.
"If the child will not go," the Light growled, lifting its saber once more. "If he will ally with the Shadow…"
"NO!" the Shadow screamed and shot up in front of the boy. "You will not touch the human! You cannot!"
"Oh," the Light scoffed, raising the saber still higher. "I can."
Confused, the Shadow looked round for the boy but found that he was no longer there. Cold realization washed over the Shadow as he looked down at his hands to find flesh and blood covering them. A heart beat in his chest and his body felt heavy and sluggish.
"You wouldn't…" the Shadow breathed, backing up in his new form. "I...you wouldn't kill the boy…"
"Rid the world of darkness…" the Light chanted, bringing the saber down on the Shadow and the boy. Pain shot through the boy's body, thousands of lightning bolts choking the Shadow. "Purge the world of evil...Destroy the Shadow….The boy has accepted you. He is now the Shadow." Through the eyes of the boy, the Shadow watched the Light bring its saber up and braced itself for death.
Somehow, I had managed to separated myself from my team. I wasn't necessarily lost, since I knew that I had to go to one of those big gyms and that the names of the teams playing inside would be shown outside. Even so, I hastened to find that building. We had a game in a few minutes, and the coach wouldn't hesitate to kill me, as she had demonstrated on multiple occasions before.
Eventually, I found the building with my team's name listed out front. According to the board, there would be a second game beside us, Rakuzan against Kirisaki Daiichi. I swallowed uneasily. What a scary match to be playing next to; the emperor against one of the Uncrowned Kings, and the especially violent one at that. I had no doubt that Akashi-kun could defeat them, what with the other three Uncrowned Kings playing with a Generation of Miracle's memeber, but there was no guaranteeing their physical well-being by the end. A flame of anger lashed out inside me, making my stomach burn unpleasantly.
We could destroy him.
"Oh, hush," I sighed and entered the building. Now was not the time to get angry, especially not with my next opponent looming in the next game. My only hope was that he wasn't some place sleeping.
I turned the corner and was pleasantly surprised to find my opponent's ace leaning against the wall, seemingly preparing himself mentally for the game. He didn't notice me, like always, so I tapped him on the shoulder and received the usual shock and outcry reaction.
"Tetsu!" Aomine-kun moaned. "I didn't see you there."
"I am very hard to miss," I responded automatically. "We should get going soon. Our match is only in a few minutes."
"I know, I know," Aomine-kun said airily and grinned. "Is Kagami going full out from the get-go?"
"I wouldn't tell you, even if I knew, Aomine-kun," I sighed. "That would make the match too easy for us to win."
"You little bastard," Aomine-kun laughed, poking me in the side. "I hope you're being cocky for a good reason. I'd be very disappointed with you, if you didn't have another trump card hidden up your sleeve. Misdirection's not going to work on us now."
"I'd be very disappointed in myself as well," I said. "I feel insulted, that you think I wouldn't have something prepared."
"Besides that, what do you think about the match beside us?" Aomine-kun said, jerking his head to the left. I looked over to where he was gesturing and just saw the foot of a white sneaker and a flash of red pass by. "That's a power house right there."
"Kirisaki Daiichi isn't a force to be reckoned with," I said evenly, bitterness seeping into my head as the memory of Kiyoshi-senpai falling to the ground with a head injury resurfaced. "Even without the dirty methods, their players are strong."
"Yeah, I guess so," Aomine-kun grunted as he pushed off the wall. "Well, I'd better get going. See ya on the court, Tetsu!"
"I'll be waiting," I said and watched my former light jog off for the locker room. The bitter memory wouldn't calm down, dripping down into my chest and contracting painfully. Flames of anger whipped around, not helping my composure at all. I pressed my head against the cold wall to try and subdue the emotions, but found it only made my head more messed up. Sighing, I set off for the locker rooms, panic kicking in as I was most likely very late.
"You're late, Kuroko-kun!" Coach roared at me as I stepped into the locker room. I bowed apologetically, bracing myself for the punishment that was sure to come. All around me, everyone else was already in uniform. Guilt joined the mingling emotions and I began to seriously worry about my performance in the game against Toou.
"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I got lost."
"I want to hit you," Coach said, putting her hands on her hips menacingly. "But our game is in a few minutes, so I don't have time. Get dressed quickly and I'll discipline you properly later!"
"Hai!" I nearly ran to the bench and slammed my bag down, tearing my shirt off and slipping into my jersey. The team left the locker room, leaving me to change in peace.
We could hurt them.
"We're not playing against Kirisaki Daiichi," I muttered, jumping into my basketball shorts. "We're playing against Aomine-kun."
He hurt you.
"It's all in the past," I said, jamming my bag into an empty locker. "And remember, the last time we hurt someone..." I fell silent, unable to face the horrible memory of the little kids screaming in fear, running in fear, dying... "We're playing basketball. We're playing basketball with our friends."
I became aware of how crazy I would've sounded to anyone who happened happened to walk into the locker room. I closed the locker and ran out of the room, not seeing anything clearly. I wished I had more time to calm the Shadow down. Walking straight into a game with it riled up...what would happen then?
"Alright, now that Kuroko-kun is here..." I came in and sat next to Kagami-kun, the Coach glaring at me with an evil eye. "...we can discuss our strategy. They've lost Imayoshi-kun and we've lost Kiyoshi, so there are great differences in our strength compared to our last match. Kuroko-kun..." I flinched instinctively but found that she was merely addressing me. "You are at a huge disadvantage, now that your misdirection doesn't work on Toou."
"I think what I created in lieu of my misdirection should work," I said confidently. "However, the time it lasts will be shorter, as I'm not accustomed to the methods needed in this form of misdirection."
"Alright then." Coach then turned to Kagami-kun. "We're relying on you, Kagami-kun!"
"Of course!" Kagami-kun grinned. Aomine-kun had asked whether or not Kagami-kun would be going all out from the beginning. I laughed to myself; of course he would. This was Kagami Taiga.
This was Seirin's basketball club.
"Ready? FIGHT!"
"OOOOHH!"
As we lined up, I spotted the Rakuzan-Kirisaki Daiichi game that had just started next to our court. Akashi-kun passed to Mibuchi who sank a three with his usual light touch. As expected nothing to worry about with Akashi-kun. I turned my focus back to the game. I didn't need any distractions. The whistle sounded and Mitobe-senpai tapped the ball to Izuki-senpai. The game started, both teams shooting off for the basket. I slipped through the players and found an open pass route towards Kagami-kun. The ball came shooting towards me and with a wave of my arm, I directed it towards Kagami-kun.
"Nice pass, Kuroko!" Kagami-kun shouted before jumping up for a dunk. With a shrill beep! we scored the first basket of the game.
"YES!" the team shouted as Sakurai took the ball for the throw-in. I started running in the opposite direction, not planning on stealing the ball, when my line of sight fell again on the match taking place beside us.
Hanamiya was in possession of the ball with Akashi-kun marking him. Hanamiya stopped and looked around for a pass route. Strangely, some of his teammates were drawing near to him, blocking either side of Akashi-kun. Unnerved, Akashi-kun went for a steal and time seemed to freeze as
Hanamiya's elbow
came crashing
into the side
of Akashi-kun's head.
I had never been so angry in my life.
Two kids from the day care had pushed me to the ground, laughing as they emptied out my backpack and kicking me if I tried to get back up.
"You're not going anywhere, you freak," one kid jeered. "I hear you talking to yourself in class. And you're practically invisible! You must be such a disappointment to your parents, being such an invisible freak like you."
Let me hurt them
I glanced around and saw the distorted figures of the boys through my tears. A strange empty feeling was spreading though my body and the corners of my eyes were going blurry with anger.
"Aww, is the little freak going to cry?" the other kid sneered and kicked me in the stomach. "C'mon, freak. Let's see you cry!"
Let me hurt them for you
Stop repressing me
You know they deserve it
You know they do
I crawled to my knees, my conscious fading away. As the bullies aimed another kick at me, the Shadow's control took over my hand and caught the foot. Overwhelming strength flooded into my hand and the Shadow squeezed the foot until an ugly CRACK sounded and the bully's scream of pain pierced the air. It was a strange feeling, standing up and walking not of my own accord. I closed my eyes.
"DIE."
"Oi, Kuroko!"
A voice sounded behind me, angry and confused. I couldn't look away from the unconscious form of Akashi-kun laying on the ground
a trickle of blood coming from the side of his head...
"Kuroko, what the heck are you doing? You're just standing there!"
They deserve to die
"Kuroko!"
Die...
Die...
Die...
"...Kuroko-?"
"They deserve to die."
It was a strange feeling to be walking off of the court onto the next one, my feet moving without my conscious consent. But it felt good to have that power surge up in me, engulfing me like fire. Even stranger yet was that I was still conscious in my body, just not in control of it. I was aware of voices calling out to me from behind, but I didn't care. All I could see was Hanamiya Makoto and Akashi-kun's figure on the floor.
"What are you doing here-? What the hell is wrong with you?! Get away from me!"
Doesn't it feel good?
My hands shot out for Hanamiya Makoto's throat and closed around it.
Die
Die
Die.