Author's notes: Based off those knb mafia/yakuza!au fanarts that are super beautiful and amazing. And white ink tattoos because they're really pretty okay?

irezumi: traditional Japanese tattoo common with yakuza; painful; and takes many years to complete (I'm 99.998% certain they do not do full white ink tattoos)

hanakotoba: Japanese form of the language of flowers

Disclaimer: I know nothing Japanese so please correct me if any of this info stuffs wrong. Knb's obvs not mine like really. This is only like my 2nd time writing lemon plz be kind.

picture from pixiv id: 27184866

It had been Akashi's idea, as many things usually were. An efficacious solution to a pesky problem, he once described, to have Kuroko's irezumi in white ink.

A traditional irezumi would be a dead giveaway with all its bold colors and ostentatious designs. One in white ink would be unnoticeable until it was decisively too late. By the time the target could glimpse the scar-like marks, the job would be done.

Under regular daylight, the tattoo did resemble faint scars more than intricate designs. But that's why Aomine savored these nights. Or at least he used to, when they still worked together. This was random happenstance that they were in the onsen on the same night. Aomine leaned against the doorframe to the open-air bath, observing the slight figure who had his back turned to him. Kuroko hadn't noticed him yet, and he intended to keep it that way until he could drink in the sight of him.

Kuroko himself sat at the bath's edge, scooping water into his hands and splashing it on his body to get used to the temperature. He brought some over his shoulder, and Aomine watched appreciatively as the water illuminated delicately winding lines over the small back. Paler than Kuroko's already pale skin, the fine lines winded and coiled in a tumultuous storm. A shift in one direction and the moonlight exposed the entirety of the unconventional irezumi. From the base of his spine to edge of his left shoulder blade, a single koi fish swam through an elaborate labyrinth of wave and foam. Aomine winced when he also glimpsed the unfinished shoulder sleeve of Kuroko's left arm, an outline of a leopard to match the one on his own back.

"Are you satisfied looking?" Kuroko asked with his back still turned.

Aomine smirked and strode over. "Not nearly enough." He didn't even bother covering up his naked body.

Kuroko gently lowered himself into the near scalding water. "What are you doing here?" he inquired, even though he knew the answer.

"Just finished an assignment," Aomine replied, stepping into the hot bath across from where Kuroko sat. It had been a tradition of sorts. After every assignment, the two of them would go to Teikou's private onsen to take a well-deserved bath. It had been therapeutic, in their earlier days, when they felt the need to figuratively wash themselves clean of the blood of their last target. Eventually they overcame that insecurity, but going to the onsen then became a habit. "How 'bout you?" he tried asking casually.

Akashi partnered them up only for the most difficult of assignments. They worked best together after all. The targets would be big shots, crooked businessmen, corrupt politicians, people in power who had too much money and influence to be killed so easily. Kuroko lured them to bed, bypassing any security or bodyguards, and Aomine killed them. After making the murder look like suicide, they were done. Quick, easy, and effective. But Aomine was strong. Soon enough, he didn't need something so petty as luring the targets to bed for a perfect kill. He didn't need Kuroko anymore.

Kuroko met Aomine's eyes. They were impassive and blue as ever, pieces of a lost summer sky. "Akashi-kun sent me on an assignment with Kise-kun."

Aomine raised an eyebrow, careful to keep the rest of his face in check. "Kise? That should've been fun. Did he even know how to hold a gun properly?"

"Actually, he performed very well. Akashi-kun praised him and said he learns really quickly for a beginner." Kuroko's gaze wandered to the steam rising from the bath.

"That kid's still got a ways to go before he can reach me," Aomine scoffed.

"He may reach you sooner than you think."

Aomine narrowed his cobalt eyes at the other. "Tetsu…" he murmured, low and soft. "I'm bored of this conversation."

Kuroko's mouth twitched at the sound of his name. "You asked." He didn't look up as Aomine drifted towards him, naked and godlike in all his glory. Only when a tanned hand lifted his chin did Kuroko raise his eyes to stare back at Aomine.

Neither needed to say a word bringing their lips together for a kiss. Kuroko wrapped his legs around Aomine's waist as he was lifted out of the water and onto the other's lap. Pretty soon they were grinding into each other and panting. Aomine trailed his hands down Kuroko's smooth waist to a round ass and deftly slipped in two fingers. Kuroko gasped into the kiss and his eyes flew wide as Aomine immediately began scissoring. Aomine simpered as Kuroko squirmed from his ministrations and began nipping a trail from the slight jaw to the exposed collarbone. That's when he stopped.

"W- what's wrong?" Kuroko asked, his face flushed and the corners of his eyes pooling with unshed tears. Aomine gazed up to take in the scene. He loved seeing Kuroko like this, the usually vacant mask broken to reveal such wanton expressions. Expressions reserved for him. Only him.

But Aomine didn't bother a reply, he instead opted to trace tanned fingers over an unfamiliar design. Lotus flowers twining and curling across the expanse of Kuroko's upper torso and running up the slender neck to behind the ear. The delicate lines rose in relief and shone light pink around the edges where the tattoo was still healing. What did lotus mean in hanakotoba? Purity? Compassion? Intelligence? It had to be some bullshit like that-

"Far from the one you love..."

Aomine gave him a strange look as they walked through Tokyo's busy streets. "What are you talking about, Tetsu?"

"That guy…"

Aomine frowned, "Who? The one who got caught in the gunfire? That was his own goddamn fault for stepping in. He wasn't even our target."

"… Before he died, he held a picture of a woman in his hand."

"So?"

"His arms were covered in lotus flowers."

"So…?" Aomine didn't understand where he was getting at.

"The lotus means 'far from the one you love.' I think he really wanted to return to that woman," Kuroko explained patiently, his face depressing a shade.

Aomine frowned. He thought that sounded stupid, but he couldn't say that aloud when his Tetsu was so disheartened. "Don't worry too much about it," he encouraged while ruffling the blue hair. "Once we become hitmen, that guy'll be like nothing!"

That had been one of their first assignments, back when they believed they'd both be hitmen, back when they still empathized with their targets. Lotus flowers… Aomine mused, still tracing his fingers over fine outlines. He snapped his eyes up causing Kuroko to flinch back.

Just who are you far from? Who do you love?

He wanted to ask but didn't. "Come," he said instead, pulling Kuroko out of the water and into an adjacent room. He didn't bother with clothes. They were the only ones at the onsen anyway.

"Aomine-kun," Kuroko started before being shoved on a futon. When he turned to lie on his back, Aomine pinned him down. "Aomine-kun," he tried again.

This time, Aomine bit down on a pert nipple and made Kuroko gasp. He rolled and sucked the nub in his mouth while pinching the other with a free hand. Kuroko stifled a moan and arched into him. Aomine raised himself to spread open the pale thighs, exposing the shadow's entirety. Gently, he pushed into the slight frame until he was fully inside, waiting then for Kuroko to adjust to his girth.

When Kuroko's breathing steadied, Aomine finally moved. Steady at first, until the sight of the lotus flowers drove him mad. He pulled out painstakingly slow only to thrust in fast and hard, repeating the motion until they fell into a rhythm. Kuroko reached up to loop his arms over Aomine's shoulders and grinded into him with every thrust. Aomine-kun, he chanted over and over between gasps and moans. Aomine thrust harder, hitting the spot he knew would make his Tetsu scream. But Kuroko bit his lip to stifle the cries of pleasure demanding to escape his throat. He bit strongly enough to draw blood. Aomine leaned down to suck the broken lip, running his tongue over the hurt and then trailing down the slender neck to suck stubbornly on one of those damned lotus flowers. And another, and still another, so that all the lotus flowers would bloom red and purple.

"Far from the one you love..."

Who are you far from? Who do you love? Aomine wanted to ask. But he was afraid. Afraid that it wasn't him. Or worse, that it was.

End of Chapter

lalala I dun know wut I is doin. Weird ending I sorry