Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone except a couple of OCs.
Author's Note: The characters might be OOC. That is unavoidable, I apologize. I made a lot of OCs for a reason, not just for fun. And I know you readers wouldn't want something bad happening to our favorite basketball players. And I want to tell you that I never ever step foot in Japan and I know very little about that particular country. So if I make any clumsy mistakes, please point them out to me.

I know this fic might turn out stupid or unrealistic or anything, but I did my best *innocent smile*.

I'm Koshino Hiroaki. What was that? Well of course I know that you know who I am. I was just making an introduction of myself. Who am I without a name?

                But this isn't the time for me to get angry. I just want to warn you. When people say 'don't judge a book by its cover', they really mean it. We're not talking about the story of Ugly Duckling here. It's the opposite.

                But this time the case is a little bit different. The book not only has a colorful cover but also a good disguise of words planted inside the book. However, the meanings hidden behind the graceful vocabulary and terms are not so vivid and pure. They are dark enough to swallow you. Manipulative enough to control you. And powerful enough to even use you. When this happens, you'll just have to face it; your hands, they don't belong to you anymore. When you knew it, your eyes, your feet, your mouth, your ears and your whole body are out of your control. Even though the lack of control was just for a few minutes, but like people say, 'five minutes is all what it takes'.

                Don't believe me? Fine. But don't blame me if you feel fingers touching the back of your neck although there was nobody behind you. Or when you can't remember what you did last night after walking home from school. Or when you have no idea why your T-shirt suddenly has red stains on it. Or even when you start seeing places you have never been to, or at least you thought you never been to. Don't blame me.

+++++++

Koshino Hiroaki kicked a tiny rock and watched it roll down the street. He was on his way back home from Sendoh's place. Sendoh, Fukuda and him studied together for a while after practice. Because the night was falling deeper, he took a shortcut back home. He didn't listen when his father say, 'Shortcut can short-change you.'

As he was strolling along the dark alley, a black cat passed in front of him. The black cat stared at him for a moment and took off. Koshino, not being the superstitious kind, ignored the cat and continued his pace on returning back home.

As he passed what looked like some ordinary dumpster, he stopped. He sensed something, felt something. As he looked around, his gaze dropped on an old black fur coat. Without knowing why he did it, he took a step forward to take a good look at the coat.

Only that it wasn't a coat. It is alive. Or rather it was alive. The black fur coat was actually the black cat he saw earlier. Only this time, it was dead. Dead, without a reason. Without spilling any blood. Without any scar. It looked like it was there sleeping, but when you take a closer look, you'll see that it had gone for a slumber and never wakes up again.

Feeling sorry for the lifeless animal, Koshino buried its body in the woods. And only he, the trees, the moon and God knew where the grave was.


+++++++

The school ground was crowded with students, from freshmen to seniors. This is the new beginning. Koshino walked slowly towards the senior building. Feeling slightly nervous, he looked around for his friends and fortunately, found Sendoh lurking around.

Koshino approached him and gave his infamous monotone "Ohaiyo."

Sendoh was startled for a moment before recognizing the voice. He looked behind his shoulder and smiled at his teammate. "Ohaiyo, how are you feeling?"

Koshino stared at him, "What do you mean?"

The Ryonan Ace grinned, "You know perfectly what I meant. You're lucky you got to be in the best class. You must be proud of yourself."

Frowning, Koshino decided to change the subject. "How was your morning?"

"Well, I got to know some of the guys from your class. See there." Sendoh pointed to Itakura Yoshiharu, a tall guy with dark hair. He somehow reminded Koshino of Hanagata Toru from Shoyo, only without the glasses and he was a little shorter. "If you want to fit in, you have to go through him. He's friendly, but only to people he likes. I'll bet my whole yen he will ignore you. And there," they turned their attention to a girl with short brown hair. It was hard to get a good look at her for she was surrounded by people. "That is Usui Toshimi, the Ace of the volleyball club."

"I've heard about her." Koshino cut in. The truth is he didn't want to know more about her. He once had been forced to listen about her all day long from his classmates last season. Most of his friends said she was pretty, but not for him. Her crooked nose, her yellow skin and her nothing-but-skin-and-bones body were anything but pretty.

It was a little weird for our friend Koshino here. In his sophomore years he only knew these high-classed people only by their names and never talked to them before. And now he finally had the chance. //Guess I'm not what they call popular// He sighed heavily.

                "Ohaiyo Sendoh-san, Koshino-san." A calm female voice brought Koshino back to reality.

                Sendoh smiled at the new comer. "Ohaiyo, Izumi."

                Komatsu Izumi smiled back, only that her smile was not as bright as Sendoh's and not as sincere. Since three years ago, Komatsu Izumi was known for her intellect. But not like any other geniuses around Ryonan High, she is very humble and down-to-earth, but rather (shall we say) weird. She looked at Koshino with her dark, eerie eyes. "I heard from Itami-sensei you are joining our class this year." She smiled, or in her case, smirked. "I'll see you in class. Good luck."

                Izumi turned her heels and walked into the class. After making sure she was out of earshot, Sendoh murmured, "Be careful with her. She might turn you into a walking zombie."

                The shorter boy glared at his companion in respond. "That's not funny, Sendoh. And definitely not as nice either."

Sendoh swung his bag over his shoulder. "I'm serious. Then again, you might never be sure. Well, like she said, good luck." With that, he backed away and departed in search for his own class.

Koshino entered his new class, filled with funny feelings. Mostly nervous. He looked around for a seat before noticing Izumi signaling for him and pointing to an empty seat next to her. Koshino, knowing there was no other choice, accepted the offer and dropped himself onto the seat.

He turned to Izumi to thank her but noticed she was staring at the door, looked like she was trying to recognize some new faces. He followed her gazed and saw Usui Toshimi entered the class surrounded with her friends. Behind her was a pale and smart looking boy. Koshino stared at him. Something about this boy attracted his attention.

Izumi noticed his stare and introduced the boy. "Okita Kohei. He stays quiet most of the time. Not the social type, I suppose."
                Koshino nodded understandingly and glanced at Okita, who was sitting at the back of the class. He noticed something about him. He sensed something strange. Something dark and gloomy. Like there was a dark energy surrounding him. Like his life will soon come to an end.

                Koshino widened his eyes at the thought. //What? God, what made me think that way?//

                "Shh," Izumi hissed, "Itami-sensei is here."

                The class went on perfectly fine. His new classmates treated him just fine. He's not left out. His day was fine. Just fine.

                However, whenever he looked at Okita, he got that strange feeling back. At first he thought it was just his imagination when he knew that nobody else saw the dark energy.

"Did you notice something?" Koshino whispered at Izumi. "About Okita."

Izumi's ayes widened hearing his words. She was caught off-guard for a second. The next second, she relaxed a bit. On the third, she was back to her regular broody self. "Noticed what? Maybe you have not gotten used to him yet. It's okay."

Koshino was about to forget about the whole thing. But it was getting stronger and more convincing. He stared at him so often that Izumi said something like, "I know you want to get to know him, but he never befriends anyone. He's a loner. You'll get used to his attitude; I guarantee that. Besides, it's not nice to stare."


+++++++

                The rain poured heavily after practice. Koshino sighed and walked down the street, completely soaked. His mind started to wonder back to what he sensed at class. The dark energy around Okita. They were like surrounding him. They were like ready to take his life away. Like he will die soon.

What were they? Why Okita? Did that mean something Koshino never knew about?

                You're more than you think you are…

 Koshino spun around. "Who's there?" //Where did that voice come from?//

                I know you more than you do…

His head was staring to spin. He couldn't think straight and his vision was starting to get blurry.

                I know your desires…but do you?

He dropped onto his knees, hands clenching the sides of his head. He wanted to scream in agony but he couldn't move. Frozen. Dead still.

                I will show you your true desires and your true self….

//I can't move.// His last thought before his whole world blanked out.


+++++++

                Koshino woke up breathing heavily and sweating. He looked down at his hands, which were wet of sweat. Looking around, he realized he was back in his room, somehow.

                He tried to recall what happened after hearing those weird voices, but nothing came to mind. Giving up, he got ready for school and went downstairs. Mrs. Koshino seemed surprised to see his son.

                "Hiroaki dear, you walked home soaked last night. Are you sure you're well enough to go to school?" His mother asked in concern.

                "I'm fine, mom." Koshino replied, rather lazily. "What time did I get home last night?"

                Mrs. Koshino stared at him, eyebrows raised. "You were a little late last night. Let me see, around a quarter before ten."

                //A quarter before ten?// Questions filled Koshino's head. //I went out of school around nine o'clock. Where was I and what did I do and during those 45 minutes?// He looked solemnly at his mother. "Are you sure?"

                Mrs. Koshino hesitated for a moment, but then nodded anyway, "Of course I'm sure."

++++++

                Koshino dumped his bag on the desk and dropped himself onto his chair. Izumi stared at him, eyebrows raised. "What's wrong?"

                "I'm confused." Before he got to tell her anything, Itami-sensei walked in.

                Itami-sensei scanned the whole class. Her gaze dropped on Okita's empty seat. "Where is Okita?"

                A second after that sentence came out of her mouth, three people walked in the door. The first person was the headmaster, Mr. Fukuyama. While the other two were what seemed like a pair of parent. The mother was crying.

                "Itami-sensei, I see you don't know what happened to Okita either." Fukuyama-sensei said in his grumpy voice.

                Itami-sensei's eyes widened with shock. "What do you mean? Okita didn't go home yesterday?"

                "I'm afraid yes." The man said. "My son didn't come back home last night for some reason."

                He…he's gone." Mrs. Okita said between sobs.

                The whole class was speechless. Koshino was shocked. He just met him yesterday, and today he was gone. Very disappointing. He suddenly blurted out, "Maybe he's still in the school."

                Heads turned to Koshino's direction. Fukuyama-sensei was shocked but remained composed. "What do you mean, my lad?"

                Koshino slapped his hands over his mouth. He didn't know why he said that. The words came out of his mouth against his will. He had no idea where was Okita. Or what has gotten into him. Not at all.

                "He's right." Itakura spoke up. "Maybe he didn't go home last night because he spends the night at school. But where should we look for him?"
                All heads turned to Koshino again, demanding for an answer. Koshino was about to say 'I don't know', but it didn't come out. Something else did. "Let's try checking in the library."

                After a few minutes the whole class, Mr. and Mrs. Okita, Itami-sensei and Fukuyama-sensei was in front of the library. Koshino and Itakura were there first ones to enter. Itakura looked around the vast room. Nothing. They even checked under the desks. Nothing. Everyone else stayed outside.

                Izumi and Toshimi joined in the search a few seconds later. Izumi told Toshimi to search in the cupboard, which was behind the librarian counter. The counter was at the back of the room. She went behind the counter and gave out a loud shriek. Everyone approached the counter and gasped. Most girls yelled.

                Behind the counter was a body, drowned in blood. Eyes widened, filled with terror. His face showed that he had died a painful death. The dead body of Okita was lying there. Okita Kohei was dead.

~ (TBC) ~

A/N: Stupid? Unrealistic? Boring? A bit rushed? Well, I'll leave that to you to decide. Please R & R. Flames will be used to burn my diary and other paperworks. Bye.
I told you I create OCs for a reason, *grins proudly*. I am a bad, bad girl *chuckles*.
For those who are interested, here's some sneak peek for the next chap:

Itakura: How did you know he was here?

Koshino: *tremling* I…I…

Izumi: Something's amiss.

Sendoh: What is it with you? You've been acting weird lately

Koshino: It's that voice again.

Toshimi: Aaaahhh!!! (screams)