Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basuke; the honour belongs to Fujimaki Tatadoshi-san. I also don't own any anime/manga in which the references I use come from.
Notes: Read my AN for further information about the story.
Where…am I…?
Red fills his vision, as flames lick at his tattered rags. The ground squelches as he walks, but he doesn't dare look down, lest he looses the strength to keep himself up.
And he would definitely die if he did that.
Who…am I…?
He doesn't remember much; just snatches and glimpses of unfamiliar faces and unfamiliar places that he thinks are memories. He tries and tries to remember something, anything, before the Fire, but he can't. He doesn't remember a single thing – where he came from, what he is doing here, who he is.
He can't even remember his own name.
Why…am I here…?
How is he alive right now? He should be dead, burnt black, like foil in a microwave the second before it explodes. A jolt of pain in his bare feet forces him to look down, and he nearly topples over, nothing but sheer determination driving him.
The screech of the broken glass embedded in his feet scraping against the stone floor gives only the slightest distraction from the carnage around him, fuzzy black spots invading his vision.
I have to live.
He has to live and search for surviors; if there are others like him. Surely there must be some, if even he can survive this.
Maybe they could be friends.
Have to…
The black spots grow larger and larger, and he futilely attempts to rub them away, only succeeding in smearing his face with grime and blood.
No!
His foot catches on an upturned end of flagstone, and he falls, like a house of cards. Strangely, he doesn't feel any pain when he crashes against unforgiving stone, even as he feels the now-familiar sensation of raw skin and blood. He feels like a giant bruise.
The only thing he regrets, he distantly reflects as he stares up at the grey ceiling above him, so close yet so far, is not being able to see the sky.
He reaches his one good hand upwards, as his eyes dull, breathing getting shallower and shallower.
He wonders if he reached high enough, he could touch the ceiling.
He closes his eyes.
…
…Is it raining?
"Kagami-kun."
Taiga's eyes shoot open, immediately reaching for his gun.
"Relax."
Strangely, he does so, blinking his eyes sleepily. He hears the sounds of loud chatter and the pound of footsteps, and frowns.
"Too loud. 'Night."
"Oh no, you don't!"
Someone pinches his ear harshly, dragging him upwards, and he nearly slashes toward the sound of noise, nails elongated and deadly sharp, before he spots hazel hair and chocolate eyes.
"C-Coach!" he doesn't even have to fake the tremor in his voice. Civilian or not, Aida Riko's wrath is certainly a force to be dealt with.
"Bakagami! What are you doing, napping at a time like this!" she growled, hands on her hips, "our match with Kaijo is in half an hour!"
Oh yeah. Kaijo was the school with the blond kid, wasn't it? He distinctly remembers his Aether – smooth and sharp, like red wine, with a hint of paprika and onions.
He hears a huff of laughter, just as Coach jumps in surprise.
"Kuroko! When'd you get here?"
"A bit before Kagami-kun woke up, Coach."
How vague. Does that mean Tetsuya was watching him sleep? He knows his partner can be a bit of a creep, but still. Taiga yawns and stands up, rubbing his eyes. He tunes in to the latter half of Coach's following sentence.
" – be going then. Don't get into any trouble, you two! The team's gathering in the stadium in ten minutes to rehash our plans."
"Yes, Coach."
"Yeah, yeah."
Satisfied, Coach leaves the locker room, short hair flying behind her as she briskly walks down the corridor, presumably to find their team. For a civilian, she definitely is quite impressive.
Taiga listens as the telltale click of school shoes on stone floor fade away.
"Did you have something to say, Kuroko? Spit it out," he says, but not unkindly. Being around Tetsuya for so long means he knows everything there is to know about him, and right now his unusual silence means a lot more than he'd probably admit.
"…Did you dream of the Fire again, Kagami-kun?"
Taiga furrows his brows at Tetsuya's strangely polite question (usually it is only he that keeps his alias's persona when they are alone), before he catches sight of the security camera in the corner.
Ah. I see.
"Yeah." he mutters, sighing explosively. Tetsuya says nothing, but the faint glimmer of concern in his blue eyes is something Taiga catches anyway.
"It's fine. It's just a dream, you know."
"It isn't." Tetsuya retorts acidly, so far from what he is supposed to be like, and though Taiga knows that he is right, he glances pointedly at the camera, and after a split second of hesitation, his partner twists his face back accordingly into a blandly polite expression.
"…Anyway," Taiga says after a few silent moments, arms interlocked behind his head, "we should get going. Who knows what Coach'll do if we're late."
He is sure he is one of the few that catches Tetsuya's scornful snort as what it is, not a carefully disguised shiver of fear.
"Indeed."
Seirin wins the semifinals, despite all the odds stacked against them, and even Mitobe cracks a delighted smile when everyone gathers for a team hug. They laugh and shout, still full of adrenaline and disbelieving shock – though they make sure to do it out of range of the crushed Kaijo team – and dash out the basketball stadium to a restaurant Coach claims to know, stomachs rumbling.
Taiga and Tetsuya straggle behind the group, the former wrought with near-invisible shivers.
"Kagami-kun…" Tetsuya trails off warningly, this time surprisingly the one to keep order, but Taiga can't help it.
He's so, unbelievably aroused.
"I c-can't help it, Tetsuya!" he whimpers, arms gripping his sides in an attempt to calm himself down. "Did you see that Aether? It was so – ah – strong!"
"I felt it. That doesn't mean I'm going to act like a bitch in heat, you know."
"B-But I'm a sensor," he whines softly, slowly recovering from his arousal and fixing his clothes, "you know how it is!"
"Yeah, no. You looked like you were about to cream yourself."
"…I'm just particularly sensitive."
"You don't say; you act like this every time."
Taiga crosses his arms and turns away from Tetsuya, as the latter smirks at his predicament.
It is Friday.
"Why," Taiga mutters, eye twitching, "are you all here?"
"Well, Kagami-kun," Tetsuya pipes in from his place behind paprika-and-onion, "we all decided to meet together today, to finally straighten things out."
That bastard. He's clearly enjoying this. "What I meant was, 'what are you doing here.'"
"Don't complain, Bakagami. It makes you look more stupid. Well, more stupid than you already are."
"And your house is the only one that's large enough to fit us all, Kagamicchi!"
Taiga really doubts that. "Fine, make yourself at home. I'm going to get something to drink."
He high-tails it out of there, not wanting to stay in that room full of hitmen for even a second longer.
When he comes back out after a few minutes, arms laden with various beverages, Taiga is considerably relieved about the absence of bloodshed. Setting the drinks down, he plops himself next to Tetsuya, who merely shoots him a scathing look (for what, he doesn't know).
"Thank you, Taiga."
"Oh, um. It's fine." he still feels rather wary about miso-and-tofu, considering his hostile actions towards him last Thursday. Of course, the wound on his cheek has long healed, but Taiga thinks it is the thought behind the actions that counts.
Besides, his Aether, though absolutely amazing, marks him as powerful as an A, bordering on S, rank, and Taiga doesn't want the ire of a guy like that directed towards him, no sir.
After a few moments of awkward, beef-and-marinade draws him into a conversation about different basketball players, and which does he think is better: Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant? They argue long and hard, until their argument devolves into a shouting match, Taiga inwardly despairing about the loss of his intelligence.
He glances towards Tetsuya's direction, only to find him calmly offering grape-and-sugar some candy, paprika-and-onion pestering bean-and-garlic beside them.
That little shit…
Miso-and-tofu sets his glass down, the small chink of it glass against glas somehow drawing everyone's attention towards him.
Everyone except Taiga's.
"So, Taiga," miso-and-tofu says, but the addressed isn't listening. His body is taut, like a wire ready to snap, hands reached behind him for his trusty Glocks.
Number of auras: 11.
Peaceful or hostile: Hostile.
Rank: A to S.
Guild: ?
Distance: 200 feet, incoming.
"Taiga, are you listening?"
150 feet.
"Taiga."
He clicks off the safety, ignoring miso-and tofu, because can't he see the danger here? "Tetsuya. 100 feet."
He hears the shing of Tetsuya's katana being drawn.
"Fucking got it."
80 feet.
"'Taiga?' 'Tetsuya?' 'Fucker?' What's going on, Kurokocchi, Kagamicchi? Why do you have those things…?"
"Kise. I don't think they're listening, nanodayo."
40 feet.
Taiga slowly stands up, steadfastly keeping his hands in his pockets.
"Why aren't you prepping?" he hisses softly at them. "We're facing against probable S ranks! What is wrong with you?"
"Huh? Bakagami, what…?"
15 feet.
Are their senses that dull? Taiga wants to scream at them, to yell at them to hurry up, but –
"Taiga?"
0 feet.
they're already here.
Crash
Drawing out his guns, Taiga squares his shoulders, the sensation of Tetsuya's back against his comfortingly familiar.
The people in front of him are all dressed in black, with white animal masks marked with differentiating streaks of colour.
His gaze focuses on the sole one in front.
"Good evening," he said, voice dark and smooth, blank bone-white mask showing nothing, "ones of Guild AppleSeed, team A1-Ice."
"…What do you want, fucker?"
"We wish to simply gauge your strength, to see if you are good enough. The new world we, Orange Tree, will create, after all, will accept nothing but the best."
Fuck.
Orange Tree: the number one criminal Guild in the underworld. The leader is unknown, though all members seem to have strange delusions about creating a new – perfect –world.
All who either go against their ideals, or are deemed 'unworthy', are killed.
Gruesomely.
This is not good.
"You have three seconds to leave this place," Taiga says slowly, "before we will attack with deadly force. One."
Predictably, nobody makes any move to do so.
"Two."
Backup. Help now. Taiga signs with the most common of hand gestures behind his back. They might all be from different guilds, but he hopes they might spare a helping hand.
None comes.
Damn it.
"Three."
Tetsuya sprints forward first, nothing but a blur of blue and silver, before Taiga follows a split second later, fingers already on both triggers.
The leader goes after him first, armed with two grey tanto. As he lurks forwards in response, Taiga can't help but notice the black Aether coating the metal. He nearly chokes on the suffocating maliciousness of the energy, and immediately knows it is not there for reinforcement.
If that catches me, I'm dead!
With this thought, he narrows his eyes, just as the person with the blank mask suddenly appears right in front of him, tanto poised at Taiga's throat.
Holy shit!
In response, he ducks and sweeps his right leg in a semicircle, attempting to make his opponent lose balance. Unfortunately, he doesn't, and Taiga leaps backwards when he nearly gets his head cut off. Damn it, this guy is annoying!
His nails elongate at 10%, resembling short, green, lion claws. He slashes at Blank Mask with one hand, blocking his attack with another. The neon liquid dripping from his claws fizzle as they splash against the floor, eating away at marble.
God, does he suck at close-range fights.
As he avoids Blank Mask's attempts to stab his brain in, he notices the various twitches and small movements his gloved hands make, nearly hidden behind his billowing sleeves.
He recognizes those movements.
"Puppet master…!" he sucks in a breath.
"Shit!" Tetsuya curses from behind him. "A puppet master here?"
"Apparently," Taiga grunts, deflecting another attack, "and I think this guy's one, too!"
"Fucking hell."
"My sentiments exactly."
Well, at least they can focus on one target.
"Think," Taiga huffs, "your katana can handle this?"
He hears another screech of metal against metal, before Tetsuya laughs.
"Like you wouldn't fucking believe."
"On the count of three." Taiga mutters from the corner of his mouth, crouching low to attempt another spinning kick. "One."
"Oh? So you finally figured it out?"
"Two."
"Well, let's see if you can survive this – !"
"Three!"
"Hakutō Kaigan!"
…
"Well," Taiga says, observing the bloody remains of the fallen puppets around them, "this is going to be a bitch to clean up." He understands the theory of puppets exploding when their masters fall, but do they have to create such a mess?
He turns his head to look at their unwitting audience.
"Whoa," he says incredulously at their expressions, you don't have to act like civilians anymore, you know."
"That's because they are civilians, fucker."
"Let's go," Taiga ignores Tetsuya, and walks to the front door, "we'll take to our Headquarters." At their stiff silence, he thumps his fist in his palm, nodding to himself. Of course. What hitman would willingly head with a potential enemy to their supposed base?
He had to sweeten the deal.
"Don't forget; those Orange fuckers'll probably be back soon."
Or not.
Tetsuya 'borrows' a black car from one of Taiga's residence's various parking lots. He slips into the driver's seat, while Taiga himself plops into the passenger's.
"I'm going to make a call," he murmurs, scrolling through his numerous contacts, "Kaito will probably have already heard of the attack."
A grunt is all he receives in response, and Taiga grins. Pressing the red call button, he leans back in his seat to look behind.
Beep
Beeep
Beeeep
"We'll reach Headquarters in two hours, tops." He doesn't bother to read their reactions, because his call has connected.
Beeeee –
Click
"Taiga! Are you and Tetsuya alright?"
"We're fine, Rabbit," Taiga laughs, relaxing at his friend's voice, "don't worry."
"Oh, thank goodness. Welp, you're heading to HQ, right? Right?"
"Yeah."
"Mm, okay then. Meet you in two hours – gotta tell the good news to everyone!"
"Bye," Taiga smiles.
"Bye!"
Click
So, for those who are confused...
- Kagami and Kuroko are both undercover hitmen, possessing powers called Aether. Kagami thinks the Generation of Miracles are like him and Kuroko, due to him assuming The Zone as the Miracles' form of Aether, but they are really just civilians. Due to this mistaken assumption, Kagami doesn't call the Miracles by name in his mind, because he thinks they are all using false names. He prefers to categorize them by the 'taste' of their 'Aether' instead.
- The names Kagami gives the Miracles are all ingredients of their favourite foods.
Akashi: Tofu soup
Aomine: Teriyaki burger
Murasakibara: Nerunerunerune candy
Kise: Onion gratin soup
Midorima: Red bean soup
- Aether is something similar to chakra in Naruto and nen in Hunter x Hunter.
- Previous readers, don't fear! The pairing of this story is /still/ going to be OMC Harem x Kagami and GOM x Kagami, in that order! There will be no set pairing. Just harem all the way, baby!
- Yes, Kagami did pop a boner just from Kise's Perfect Copy/Zone. If you haven't guessed already, you know there's also going to be smut further on in the story, too.*wink wink*
- Can you spot all my anime/manga references?
So, what are your opinions?