Disclaimer : I don't own anything. They belong to their respective owners.

Warning : This is a deathfic! You've been warned. If you hate this kind of fic, please press the back button. Please don't give me flames. Some of you might noticed where did I get the plot~ enjoy the fic... also, this is a hospital!AU

A/N : I'm not usually wrote a one-shot, but this idea kept popping out in my mind. So, yeah... well... enjoy! I write this while listening to "Re: Stacks" by Bon Iver. Please note that I don't have medical degree (I'm chemistry major by the way), and this story is done with quick research and helped from a certain plot source (heck, I even took a few dialogues from it!)

.:Your Love Will Be Safe With Me:.

a Kuroko no Basket fanfiction by

Daughter of Vayu

"Are you okay, Aomine-kun? We're finished here."

Aomine Daiki looked up at the head of internal medicine in front of him. Aomine sighed in relieve. Finally! After the bus accidents, their hospital was filled up with patients from the accidents, and Aomine had been very busy helping in the ER along with other doctors. In the morning, they finished with all the treatment, and Aomine left the rest of job to everyone else as he went back to doctors' lounge to get some sleep before he went home.

Taiga sure was worried, Aomine thought to himself. Kagami Taiga, his long-time boyfriend and an oncologist at the same hospital. Kagami was down with flu today, and Aomine was slightly envied him to manage to skip work at the time like this. It wasn't like he hated treating patients, it was just, he had gone exhausting surgery a couple of hours before the phone rang and told them about the bus accidents. Hell, he couldn't even catch a nap!

So, Aomine took out his cell phone and tried to call his and Kagami's apartment. No one answering. Aomine tried for a few times, and the result was the same. He called Kagami's cell phone, and the result was the same. Aomine wondered what happen. So, he walked down to the lobby and asked the nurse.

"Has Doctor Kagami come in this morning?"

"Not yet, I think. Isn't he down with a flu?" the nurse asked back.

Aomine sighed. He paged Kagami, though he didn't accept an answer. His pager was probably turned off anyway. Aomine went to internal medicine department and saw Kuroko was prepared to go home.

"Tetsu, I'm going home. Can you give me a lift?" Aomine asked. "I'm too tired to drive on my own."

"Sure, Aomine-kun," Kuroko smiled at him.

Ten minutes later, they've already on their way to Aomine's apartment. Aomine kept trying to reach Kagami's phone, but it kept being directed to voice mail. Aomine left message, but he didn't feel satisfied. Kuroko glanced at friend.

"Something's wrong?" he asked Aomine.

"Huh? Yeah… I tried to call Kagami, he doesn't answer," Aomine said. He cursed when his call was once again directed to voice mail.

"Don't worry, we're already here."

Kuroko parked his car in the parking lot. He followed Aomine went up to his apartment on the fifth floor. Aomine opened the door, and he was met with an empty room. The light was on, but there was no one home. Aomine quickly went to the bedroom. The room was still neat and the bed seemed untouched. On his pillow, Aomine found a small note in Kagami's messy handwriting.

Daiki,

I went out for awhile to buy milk and coffee. I know how grumpy you are in the morning without your coffee. I'll be home soon, okay?

Love,

Taiga

Aomine sighed in relieve as he read the message. So, Kagami just went to the grocery store! It wasn't that far from the apartment. And yet, Aomine felt the message sounded weird. Did Kagami just left this morning? Wasn't he supposed to know about the bus accident and went to the hospital? And yet… Something wasn't right here!

Aomine stormed out of his bedroom, startled Kuroko. He checked the kitchen to see if Kagami ever used it to cook breakfast this morning… It was clean. Kagami didn't cook breakfast. Aomine was really worried now.

"Tetsu! I'm going for awhile, okay?" Aomine quickly left the apartment and confused Kuroko and ran down to the grocery store. He was surprised that the store just started to open, and the old lady owner smiled brightly at Aomine.

"Aomine-sensei! It's very rare to see you here so early without Kagami-sensei…" said the old lady lightly.

"Obaa-san, did Kagami went here this morning?" Aomine asked.

"I don't think so. We're just open, since my back hurts a lot this morning."

"How about last night?"

"I don't know. Let me asked my son," said the old lady. "Arata! Did Kagami-sensei come here last night?"

A young boy got out of the shop and nodded.

"Yeah, he came here. He asked for coffee, but his pager beeped. He told me there was an emergency on one of his patient. He took the bus and went to the hospital."

"The time?" Aomine asked the young boy.

"I'm not really sure. Eleven-ish?"

Aomine shivered at that answer. The bus… Kagami was taking a bus to go to the hospital last night. Last night… bus… no… Aomine shook his head. No… There's a lot of bus last night! It was just coincident. Yet, he needed to confirm it.

"Do you remember the bus's number?" asked Aomine.

"Well, at that hour, there was only one bus in this area. If I'm not mistaken, it was number 10. Is something wrong, Aomine-sensei?"

Aomine didn't answer. He felt numb. He couldn't even move a muscle. Kagami was… Kagami was in that bus?! There were too many patients last night, and he was certain he didn't see his red-haired lover among them. He pulled out a cell phone and called Kuroko, asked him to pick him up with his car in the grocery store. He then called Kise and asked him about which people they brought the victims of the bus accidents.

"Only two. Our hospital and Seirin Teaching Hospital," answered Kise. "Why?"

"Could you check the list of the passengers? The one who had been brought to Seirin," Aomine asked. Kuroko glanced towards Aomine. Even when the blue-haired surgeon didn't tell him what happened, Kuroko could deduce it from his action.

"Well, there weren't much. There were three people in total. Two elderly men and a young man. They still unable to indentify the young man though, since he didn't brought neither ID card nor cell phone."

"Can you tell me that young man's condition?"

"Aominecchi, you're cruel! How am I supposed to know his condition? It was only stated here he has severe injury and internal bleeding! Tell me what's wrong!"

Aomine cursed before he cut the line. Hearing Aomine's conversation, Kuroko had turned his car to go to Seirin. They reached it in five minutes. Aomine quickly walked up to the receptionist and asked to see the passengers in the last night bus accident. A young female doctor with brown hair led him into ICU. Aomine could see him. His red-haired lover, laid there on the hospital bed, face bruised from the accident, and machinery hooked to him.

"His condition?" Aomine asked the female doctor.

"Extensive anatomical and physiological trauma, blood lost and shock from his leg injury, tachycardia. We still don't know what caused the last one," the doctor explained. "He hasn't regain consciousness."

"Tetsu, prepare to transfer him to Teikou General. Call Akashi, tell him we need his help," said Aomine.

"Sir, you can't do that!" the female doctor said. "He's still unstable. The trip with ambulance would cause his tachycardia degenerating into v-fib, and we don't know if he could survive that in his condition!"

"He's haemodynamically stable, we can move him. I'm his medical proxy, and I can decide whatever the hell I wanted. Tetsu, call Akashi, now!"

After awhile, they were in the ambulance, on their way to the Teikou General Hospital where Kuroko and Aomine worked. Kuroko kept Kagami's condition stable, adjusting the IV, the oxygen, and checked his vital conditions. Aomine couldn't do much, as he sat there, holding Kagami's hand as he stared at Kagami's face. Even with the bruises on his cheek, Kagami was still beautiful. He was Aomine's angel, his smile, his laugh, his voice, his flushed face, himself… He was Aomine's world.

Aomine could feel the tears was pooling in his eyes.

The beeping sound of the monitor woke Aomine from his thought, as he stared at the monitor, eyes widened.

"V-fib!" Kuroko said as he reached for defibrillator in the ambulance, but Aomine stopped him.

"No, wait!" Aomine said as he tried to wipe his tears. "His heart is already damaged, you restarted it, it'll keep racing shoot off free radicals and kills his brain." Kagami wouldn't die! He wouldn't let that happen. "Protective hypothermia. We cold him down, put him on bypass and gave Akashi enough time to figure out what was wrong with him."

Kuroko was hesitated at first, but seeing determination in Aomine's eyes changed his mind. Aomine was also a doctor, and he knew his field very well. This wasn't a solution. Aomine only gave them more time. Kuroko nodded as he took cold saline solution, lower Kagami's temperature while Aomine took care of cold saline IV.

They reached Teikou General. Kuroko explained the situation to Akashi, as the red-haired doctor studied Kagami's chart from the Seirin. They did do everything they could to slow Kagami's heart, but it seemed none of it was succeeded. They hooked the unconscious oncologist to dypass machine, kept his temperature low in protective hypothermia, while Akashi studied Kagami's recent chart and medical history. He asked Aomine a couple of questions, which the blue haired surgeon answered him perfectly.

Akashi had told Kise, Midorima, and Murasakibara to run some test, as he drowned himself in his office, trying to find the answer. Kuroko stayed with Aomine, beside Kagami's bed. The taller doctor held his lover's hand, as he kept staring at that perfect face. Aomine smiled as he stroked the silky dark red hair softly; humming a soft song they both knew very well.

A beep from the monitor made Aomine and Kuroko looked up.

"Brain activity spiked," said Kuroko softly.

"Kagami?" Aomine turned to his lover as he scooted closer. "Taiga? It's me…" He moved closer to Kagami as he leveled his lips to Kagami's ear and whipered softly. "It's gonna be okay… I'm here with you…"

Akashi entered the room with a dark look on his face. Aomine looked at him.

"All the tests came back negative," he said. "We need to check his heart."

"You want to restart his heart? We've been over this. Restart his heart would lead to brain damage and causing the heart muscle to burn," Aomine explained.

"You should wait for me to finish my explanation, Daiki. We test his heart without restarting it. We cracked his chest open, and reach a finger inside pulmonary vein, run it across the valve. If the valve is calcified, that's our answer, we can cure Taiga."

"Calcified valve? What're you talking—are you saying Taiga is an addict?!" Aomine was furious. His weet Taiga… His angel Taiga… How dare Akashi accuse him like that!

"Reo found a diet pills in your medicine cabinet," said Akashi.

"It wasn't his! It was Satsuki's. Do you think Taiga is the type of guy who downed diet pills?!" Kagami ate tons of food. He never afraid to look fat, but now, his colleagues thought Kagami was secretly taking diet pills without telling him? And they said Kagami was an addict?!

"Diet pills could cause structural damage to the mitral valve, could explain the tachycardia. We have to cover our bases."

Aomine agreed for the test. He was a heart surgeon, and he actually wanted to do the surgery himself, but Aomine knew the rules. He couldn't be objective in the operation room. He couldn't even imagine himself opened Kagami's chest, checked at his heart… No, he couldn't do it. Aomine could feel his hands trembled. For the first time in his life he was afraid. He never felt so helpless before.

He was dubbed as a genius surgeon. He could do any kind of surgery, he was a respectful doctor. But this time, all of that went out of the window when he saw Kagami lay there, on the white hospital bed, barely alive, supported by machines.

"Aomine-kun, they canceled the surgery," Kuroko said to Aomine. He raised his head and looked at the shorter doctor.

"Why?" Aomine asked.

"His liver failed. They knew the diet pills didn't cause this. They put him back to the ICU. Akashi-kun, Midorima-kun, Kise-kun and Murasakibara-kun are still trying to diagnose him. You can see Kagami-kun now."

Kuroko led Aomine back to the ICU, when once again, he found his lover was there, still unconscious with the tube, wire and machinery attached to his body to keep him alive. Aomine wanted to curled up and cry. He remembered when they met each other at med school, he really hated Kagami, and yet, he couldn't help but melted at his thousand watt angel smile. They fought, they called each other names, and yet, they were never separated. In his second year in med school, in a cold autumn afternoon, he saw Kagami among the reddish leaves and cold gray sky and he realized it.

He was fallen in love with this man.

Kagami's smile, Kagami's touch, Kagami's innocent, Kagami's naivety… He loved all of those. He loved everything this man did. When he cried, when he flustered, when he embarrassed, when he slept, when he cooked, when he ate… All the memories came rushing through Aomine's mind as he caressed the cold hand softly, trying to savor every image of his beloved one.

Kuroko left the room, but as he reached the door, Akashi and Midorima came in rush. Aomine was surprised as he looked at his colleagues. Akashi was still expressionless, while Midorima was calm as usual.

"Turned him," Akashi said.

"What?" Aomine asked.

"Turned him over. I have to confirm something," Akashi said impatiently. Kuroko and Midorima quickly turned Kagami's body slowly. Akashi checked every single inch until his eyes stopped at the bruising on the small of Kagami's back. "Rash."

"It's influenza rash! Big deal. He's down with flu, and flu wouldn't cause the tachycardia or liver failure. Whatever it is, you know it was spreading if it's attacking his liver," said Aomine harshly. "Can you really find the answer, Akashi?! All that you've is running some tests, trying your idea… This is Taiga for fuck's sake!"

"I'm quite clear with that, and now, I know what it is," Akashi said calmly. "He has amantadine poisoning." Akashi reached out inside his pocket and pulled out pill bottle. Akashi threw it to Aomine which he expertly caught. Aomine looked at the label. Amantadine, prescribed for Kagami Taiga. "I checked the contents and Reo checked the pharmacy log. It was clear now. The bottle was found inside Taiga's jeans pocket. He downed two or three pills before the accident because of his flu. The crash happened, destroyed his kidney before it could filter out the drugs. He OD's on amantadine, which will explain the heart and the liver…"

Aomine stared at Akashi on his diagnosis. Akashi had his own resources and network to be used in this kind of situation. He had sharp mind to accurately diagnose a patient's condition. That was why he was well known as a diagnostician despite his young age. And then, Aomine realized something.

"And then… We just need to start him on dialysis, flushes the drugs out of his system…" Aomine looked at Kise and Murasakibara who just joined them in the ICU. Akashi's cold expression had been replaced with solemn look, and he could clearly see Kise was sobbing. Even Kuroko already stood next to him and squeezed his shoulder to hold down his emotion. "What?" Aomine asked. "What's wrong with you guys?"

"Amantadine binds with protein. Dialysis can't clear it out of the blood. I'm sorry, Aomine-kun…"

And that time, Aomine's life was crumbling.

"We should call the time of death," Aomine said as he stared out of his office's window. He tried to hide it, but he still couldn't help the tears that were pouring down from his eyes. Akashi's diagnosis was correct. There was nothing they could do now. He couldn't go down to ICU, and saw his beloved on his death bed. He couldn't do it.

"Technically speaking, he's still alive," Kuroko said softly at him. "Could probably survived a few more hours on bypass. We could put him out of anesthesia, give you a chance to—"

"Don't be cruel," Aomine's choked in a soft sob. "Don't—"he couldn't say anything. There was a lump in his throat, he couldn't say anything. Why couldn't he turn back time? He remembered the last time he saw Kagami, the red haired man was smiling, in his apron, cooking Aomine's favorite for breakfast. They talked, he kissed him, hugged him. He told him he loved him. Aomine choked on his sob.

"Wake him up, Aomine-kun," said Kuroko. "See him again, tell him what he means to you."

"Wake him up and tell him that he's—that he's…" Aomine couldn't continue. He broke down in a sobbing mess. He couldn't do it. He couldn't do it to Kagami. He couldn't do it to his beloved Taiga. It was too cruel. It was too cruel! Aomine fell down on his knee, as he cried. For the first time he cried… He didn't even remember the last time he cried. He was the cocky kid who never really cared for the world. He was a genius; he got everything on silver platter. He was broken; he was rotten, until he met his angel.

Med school, in the cafeteria. Kagami sat in Aomine's designated seat. They fought that time, yelled at each other… Then they became friends… and then he fell in love with the red-head tiger. The feeling was mutual, and they became doctors. Aomine, the famous heart surgeon, and Kagami, the soft-hearted oncologist.

And now had to wake Kagami up to tell him that he's…!

"Aomine-kun… You're waking him up so you can say good-bye to each other," Kuroko said, still in his soft tone. "He would want it."

And thatwas how Aomine found himself back in the ICU, Kise was there with him as he pushed the drugs to wake Kagami up. They had unhooked all the machinery from Kagami, except for the bypass machine who still kept his blood flow. Kise looked up at Aomine as if he tried to say something, but he didn't. Instead, he patted Aomine's shoulder before he went out of the room.

Aomine studied Kagami's face. He was indeed, beautiful, and Aomine was grateful he could spend his time with this man he loved so much. Aomine saw that Kagami's eyes started to flutter and opened slowly. He forced a smile despite the tears in his eyes.

"Hey," Aomine said softly as he reached out to the soft red locks.

"H-hey…" Kagami's voice sounded so weak. How Aomine loved his voice! And the dark red eyes… He couldn't do it! He couldn't do it…!

"You're in the hospital now," Aomine said softly. Kagami's smile was vanished from his face as he came to realization. "Do you know what happened?"

There was silence. "T-the nurse paged me because of an emergency… I… I get on the bus…" Kagami stared at Aomine wide eyed. "I-I shouldn't have got on the bus… I'm s-sorry…"

"No… No… It wasn't your fault… It wasn't your fault…" Aomine's heart was broken at the tears that welled up in Kagami's eyes. He didn't want to see it! He didn't want to see Kagami cried!

"How bad?" Kagami asked. Even in his death bed, he was still a doctor.

"You had tachycardia. It's complicated by complete renal failure," Aomine tried to explain it as calm as possible. "Tachycardia degenerated into V-fib, followed by hepatic failure…"

Kagami's face was scrunched up as he tried to hold down his tears. He knew what it meant. He was a doctor after all. He knew it, as each of flash back of the accident came back to his mind. He wanted to cry. He could still felt Aomine's soft and constant movement on his head, as the blue haired doctor stroked his hair softly.

"The flu pills?" Kagami asked slowly as realization came to his mind.

"Yeah…" Aomine couldn't hold back his tears.

Kagami still trying to hold his tears, as he said everything that had been on everyone's mind.

"I'm dead."

It was acceptance. No denial. He had accepted his fate. He let his tears rolled down his cheeks. He couldn't hold it anymore. Aomine cupped his face softly in his hands as he brought their face together, nose to nose.

"I love you," Aomine whispered softly to Kagami.

"I l-love you too…" Kagami whispered back. They stayed like that for awhile. Drowned in their moment, memorized each touch. The warmth of Aomine's hands on his face… Kagami enjoyed it, each seconds of it. Aomine scooted back to the chair next to Kagami's bed.

"Kuroko and the others will come shortly," Aomine said as he tried to wipe his tears. Kagami nodded. Aomine helped him to wipe the tears and smiled at him. "You have to look good, Bakagami."

Kagami almost cried once again at his nickname.

"I know, Ahomine."

The ICU door was opened, and one by one, Kagami's friends came. Kise bawled like a small kid as he cried on Kuroko's shoulder. He gave Kagami a hug, as if he didn't want to let go. Kuroko looked at him, ruffled Kagami's hair just like how the red head used to do to him and kissed Kagami's forehead. Midorima only stood there, looked down at him, but Kagami knew the unspoken words the green haired doctor had for him. He smiled and nodded. Akashi and Murasakibara were the last one to come. Murasakibara gave Kagami a hug and kissed the red-head's cheek before he ran out of the room. Kagami was surprised to see an emotional Murasakibara. Finally, it was down to Akashi.

The shorter red-haired doctor looked at Kagami's face. Kagami was smiling at him; his sincere smile as if he was ready to accept his fate. Akashi searched in those eyes, and realized he was wrong. Kagami did have accepted this. And somehow, Akashi felt like a failure. He couldn't save his… friends. He couldn't save Kagami Taiga. And then, Akashi did something that no one ever thought he would do.

He bowed to Kagami.

"I'm sorry, I can't save you."

Kagami was surprised; he didn't know what to say. After recovered from his shock, Kagami smiled brightly at the shorter doctor.

"It's not your fault, really. It's no one's fault…" Kagami said.

Akashi nodded, and without a word, he left the room.

Once again, it was only Kagami and Aomine. Aomine looked at Kagami's face. He walked up to the bed and climbed into it, as he lay down next to Kagami. He put his arm and let Kagami used it as pillow while Kagami's head was tucked safely under his chin and his other arms encircled Kagami's waist. They both wanted to savor every last moment they had together. To remember the warm feeling by cuddling up with each other. They remembered the cold winter nights when they both snuggled up on the sofa in front of the TV, or the hot summer night when they would sprawled under the shade of trees, enjoying each other's company.

Aomine kissed Kagami's face, as he tried to savor the unique smell of the man. He didn't want to let go. He didn't want this moment to pass.

"Dai…ki… I'm tired…" Kagami said slowly. He looked up at Aomine's scrunched up face as another wave of tears threatened to fall. "I think… it's time to go back… to sleep…"

"N-no… No… Just a little bit longer…" Aomine whispered. "Just a little bit longer, Taiga…"

"We're always gonna want… just a little bit… longer…" Kagami said as he caressed Aomine's face softly. He looked into those eyes. Dark red met deep blue orbs. Tears were falling out of Aomine's eyes.

"I don't think I can do it…" Aomine said. Kagami looked up to him.

"It's okay…" Kagami whispered to him.

"It's not okay. Why is it okay with you? Why aren't you angry?" Aomine asked .

Kagami searched for the blue eyes and smiled sadly at him.

"That's… not… the last feeling… I want to experience…" He kept smiling at Aomine.

Aomine looked down at that face he always loved. The face of the man who he wanted to spent the rest of his life with. Aomine cupped Kagami's face in his hand and lean in. He kissed Kagami. It wasn't a passionate kiss. It was just simple, where Aomine's lips would meet Kagami's, and yet, the kiss was so sweet, as Aomine poured everything he got into that one kiss. Love, passion, longing, sadness… everything he got in his minds, and Kagami returned it. Kagami was smiling into the kiss.

Aomine inched a bit, as he reached for the bypass machine and pushed the buttons to turn it off before he returned his attention to Kagami. They didn't say a word. They only stared into each other's eyes, savoring every last monet they had to gaze into those familiarity, love, and warmth. Kagami smiled, and Aomine could feel his breath become slower and softly, Kagami closed his eyes into his eternal slumber.

Aomine held his lover closer as he felt the tears ran down his eyes. His world was destroyed. His world had gone. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the crumpled letters that Kagami wrote to him.

Daiki,

I went out for awhile to buy milk and coffee. I know how grumpy you are in the morning without your coffee. I'll be home soon, okay?

Love,

Taiga

I love you, Taiga…

"W-well, I think I… I love you too…" Kagami Taiga said as his face got as red as his hair.

"Seriously?" Aomine asked in disbelief.

"D-do you think I'm joking, Ahomine?!"

"S-shut up, Bakagami!" Aomine's face was also red now. "L-let me walk you home."

"S-sure…"

It was an afternoon in a cold autumn win, just one year after Aomine Daiki realized that he was in love with Kagami Taiga. Now, both boys walked home, hand in hand with flustered face.

I love you, Taiga.

I love you too, Daiki.

A/N : Done! Please review?

Medical terms (in case you need it) :

Ventricular fibrillation (V-fib or VF): a condition in which there is uncoordinated contraction of the cardiac muscle of the ventricles in the heart, making them quiver rather than contract properly.

Tachycardia : a heart rate that exceeds the normal range.

Amantadine (trade name Symmetrel) : a drug that used both as an antiviral and an antiparkinsonian drug.