Disclaimer: I own none of these characters.
...
The night's air was crisp and the silence enveloping the whole town was just as cold. On top of the town's church was a dark figure sitting quietly against the background where the perfect beauty of the moon was shining brightly on him, reflecting on the figure's back but revealing nothing of the stranger. For hours, the figure remained there, not even moving an inch, as he continued watching the entirety of the town, as the wind continued to blow through the frosty night.
He just sat there... waiting.
...
"There was another victim last night."
"I've heard it was the Chairman's daughter. Was it the same as the previous ones?"
"Punctured neck. Significant blood loss. No sign of struggle. The same."
"It was already the seventh victim."
Aomine Daiki silently sipped his coffee as he flicked his eyes outside where the two men were talking – at least twenty feet away from where he was sitting. He closed his eyes for a moment as he savor the last drop of his drink before silently leaving the shop. The owner bowed at his leaving figure and eyed the tip that was left on the table. A generous customer, the owner satisfyingly thought.
Aomine steered to the narrow streets of Sapporo as he began asking questions to a few loitering people around. Aside from the information he had heard a while ago, there were quite a few important points he had learned as he walked his way to the building where he had been staying for quite some time now.
Aki Nobuki. 20 years old. College student. Last seen two days ago in central park near the university she was attending before her death. She was living in a dormitory together with the rest of her female classmates and was working part time in a nearby bakery at night and studying in the morning. She hadn't seen her parents for at least half a year now and rumor had it that she wasn't in good terms with her father, their little town's chairman.
When he finally reached his apartment building, he evenly searched for his keys inside his black, leather jacket, and frowned when he found out it wasn't there.
He eyed the tall structure before him; I must have left it there. How troublesome.
Aomine closed his eyes.
A cold, yet gentle wind blew;
He opened them and he was inside his apartment.
It was there, on top of the table together with this morning empty cup noodles.
The place was exactly as he left it fours ago –
"Oooii~! Aominecchi! Welcome hom –"
He opened his eyes abruptly, panting a little. He was again in front of his apartment building.
Recognition lit on his face as it contorted into annoyance and irritation.
He looked up.
"That bastard..." he growled, his eyes were turning to slits.
...
"Aki Nobuki. 20 years old." He threw the folder on the table and crossed his legs. "This is really interesting. I didn't know their kind is actually capable to kill humans now. They look frail enough to break in my hands alone, you know."
A dark figure moved in front of him and glared. "Silence, Takao. I do not need to hear your opinion."
Kazunari Takao smirked as he raised his hands in the air. "Alright, alright. I'm zipping it. I'm zipping it." He eyed the calm figure and with all seriousness, he asked, "But seriously, what are you planning to do now, Shin?"
Shintaro Midorima adjusted his eyeglasses before answering his question. "Observe."
Takao rested his back on the couch and closed his eyes. "Observe, huh? I wonder about that..."
Takao opened his eyes, leering. He was staring at the tall glass idly lying on the table while it slowly cracked by itself.
Can you really keep quiet for that long... Shin-chan?
Especially if his precious creator was wreaking havoc in his beloved town?
...
"T-that would be 200 yen, sir."
Everyone in the grocery store eyed the tall man with awe in their eyes. He was undeniably enormous towering all of them with his six feet and eight inches height.
His purple hair was enough to keep their eyes glued for a while.
And he was buying nothing but bags and bags of chips and enormous number of chocolate sticks...
"Atsushi. Hurry up," said an authoritative voice.
The huge young man, Atsushi Murasakibara, turned his head on the owner of the voice – a small, red haired man with two distinct eye colors.
"Wait a minute, Sei-chan. I am not finish buying my snacks yet."
"We have a lot of those back in the car, Atsushi."
"Yeah, but we do not have Pocky anymore. I have to re-stock or else I'll die this winter."
"What about those chips?"
Atsushi glanced at the dozens of bags of chips lined up on the cash register. "...For emergency...?"
The red haired coldly glared at him while the other shoppers sweat dropped as they waited for his seemingly bloody retort that fortunately didn't come – much to everybody's relief.
He just stood there, gazing at Murasakibara.
Just hurry up. Don't make me wait for too long or I'll kill you.
Akashi Seijurou started to walk away.
Murasakibara barely nodded.
"Osu."
...
She had to run. That monster... that monster would definitely kill her!
She ran into another street and cold embraced her when a dead end bombarded her sight.
Tears began flowing on her cheeks. Her body trembled; her knees buckled with fear. She bit her lips as she tasted the rusty tinge of her own blood in her mouth. She was going to die. She was going to die.
Here. In this dirty alleyway. She was going to die.
She screamed.
...
"Are you sure we can find him there, Akashi-kun?" Murasakibara asked, munching his fourth potato chips. "I couldn't smell him. His usual sweet smell isn't here." As if to prove it, his nose twitched as he closed his eyes to concentrate.
"He is hiding, Atsushi. He doesn't want us to find him," Akashi said.
Murasakibara looked above, inhaling the fresh air of the morning sun. "I don't like it when I can't smell him. It's blocking my other senses.
"We'll find him," Akashi stated as started walking towards the tall apartment building where that man was allegedly hiding himself. "He doesn't have anyone right now and given the ruckus surrounding the area, he wouldn't be able to feed himself freely. He needs us more than ever." Akashi surveyed the building and frowned when he notice that no one was actually protecting the place. He looked above and gritted his teeth. That person was actually living here, defenseless and unguarded? What kind of rubbish was he thinking?
"If he really needs us, then why is he hiding from us, Akashi?"
"Because he's stupid."
...
"Ow...! Aww! Can't you be gentle at least, Aominecchi?! It hurts!"
"Shut the fuck up, asshole."
"You are poking my wounds, Aominecchi!"
Aomine hissed. "Then treat it yourself."
Kise blinked as the tall man left him on the couch. "H-Hey! Wait a minute! I was just kidding! O-oi!"
Aomine glared at him.
It had been a year already since the two of them saw each other and yet this cold treatment was still as cruel as ever. He watched Aomine as he paced inside the room, doing unnecessary things.
Kise just raised his hands, surrendering. He had enough wounds on his body right now. Seriously pissing Aomine right now meant death.
"I have news for you, by the way," he lowly said.
Aomine sat near the couch. "It better be good, bastard."
Kise shook his head amused. "Still no trust, eh?"
"Just spill it already."
"Alright. Alright... I had seen the culprit last night. There had been a fight, obviously. I was almost killed!"
Aomine gritted his teeth. That explained the wounds of the blond. "And?"
Kise pouted. "I said I was almost killed, you know."
"Do I look like I care?"
Kise sighed. "Fine. It was trailing its supposedly new victim. A woman. A beautiful one, if I may add," Kise coughed when Aomine frowned at him. "Anyway, I was able to save her. Then engaged in a fight with the culprit but as I originally thought, it was not a Complete. And yet, it... he was different."
"What do you mean?"
For a second, a red light flashed on Kise's golden eyes. "For some reason, I could smell that man's scent on him."
Aomine's mouth opened in astonishment. "W-what?"
After that, Aomine fell silent.
Kise wondered how long Aomine had been this restless. Probably since the first day they all lost his scent... That feeling of agitation, worry, and frustration –Kise was sure that everybody had felt like that since that man decided to free them all.
He sadly smiled to himself. It was an unnecessary sacrifice – that they all knew –and yet, he still left and they couldn't do anything to stop him.
"We are all missing him, huh...?" Kise muttered to himself but for Aomine, it sounded like the man was shouting at the top of his lungs.
But he didn't say anything.
Because, deep inside, he was also thinking of the same thing.
...
Midorima watched as Kise and Aomine enter the building.
"They're here," Takao signaled, barely interested at the newly arrived guests.
"Shut up, Takao. I can see them."
"But it's kind of blurred, right? That's the problem with Completes, when they are gone, their underlings became weak and–"
In a snap, Midorima was already squeezing Takao's neck, draining the man of his original color.
Midorima frostily glared at Takao. "If you don't shut your mouth, I will make sure this will be your last day, Takao."
The door opened.
It was Kise and Aomine.
"Killing your friend, Midorimacchi?"
"Hurry up and we have something to say to you."
Takao would have rolled his eyes if not only for the appalling restraint on his neck. Damn... Did he really piss Shin? How was he supposed to borrow DVDs now?
Midorima released his hold on Takao and walked towards the two.
Takao coughed as he loosened his neck tie. Seriously... Shin-chan was so childish...
"I thought you're gonna kill him, Midorimacchi?"
Takao smirked. "He loves me too much to utterly get rid of me, Kise-kun."
Kise pouted. "Che..."
"Well," Takao stood and walked towards the door. "I'll be leaving now, my fellow creatures of the night." He smirked at them before exiting the place.
"Get lost forever!"
"Asshole."
Kise faced Midorima. "Why don't you just kill that pest, Midorimacchi?! It should be easy for you, you know?"
Shintaro sighed, pulling his eyeglasses on his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. You know you cannot kill a Death God, Ryouta. Now, I believe you something to say to me?"
...
"Wake up! Wake up! It six in the morning! Wake up! Wake up!" A blue bird clock flashed, croaking in its squeaky voice.
A figure was seen moving under piles and piles of quilt and it continued to move until a pale hand reached the alarm clock, knocking it down the floor, eternally shutting it up.
The figure mumbled incoherent thoughts as it lay silent for a few minutes before it finally rose to its seemingly troubled slumber.
He sat on the bed, disoriented. His baby blue hair was in disarray and his bared pale shoulders were hunched.
He didn't want to wake up this early.
But he knew he had to or else, they would find him again.
His closed eyes slowly opened, revealing two empty azure orbs. He gazed at the now destroyed alarm clock on the floor as his right hand slowly reached for it.
He lifted it on his eyes.
Kuroko Tetsuya stared at his pale image reflecting on the broken surface of the clock and sighed.
Dried blood.
Dried blood was smeared all over his face and on his arms.
I need a bath.
He slowly took the covers that were wrapped all around his whitish body and walked unclothed towards the bathroom. His footsteps were light as if his body was gliding in the air.
The alarm clock that was smashed to pieces when it crashed the cold floor was now sitting on the bedside table again, looking as good as new.
TBC