Hello readers! This is my first attempt to write a ghost story, so I apologize in advance if the story-telling wasn't as good as any experienced writers. I'm trying to touch as many genres as possible owo
Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basket is owned by Fujimaki Tadatoshi-sensei.
Kuroko swore it was unintentional. He really didn't mean it. The fact that Kise was there when he spinned his wheel to the right was pure coincidence. It was their reunion after months of silence, and he was over the top. But he admitted, it was his fault to hold the phone while driving. It was Kise on the phone; he didn't want to end the line even it's against his conscience. But it has to be another reason as to why Kise was underneath his car all of a sudden, leaving him breathless. Both the driver and the driven.
The meeting that was supposed to be happy turned devastating in an instant. Even more so when the surgeon that operated Kise in the surgery room shook his head in front of Kuroko. The phantom man had never prayed so hard as that day, but his prayers were unanswered. Most of his prayers were wordless anyway. It's never been clear to Kuroko why he adored the blonde so much. In his prayers, he just said that he needs Kise. Doesn't matter how he comes back.
Maybe for Kise to come springing back up from the white bed, saying "Surprise!" as he always do when they're in middle school.
Maybe for Kise to come digging his way up from his lifeless grave.
Maybe for Kise to glomp him when he opened the door to his house.
Maybe for Kise to hug him on the couch, saying "It's okay, Kurokocchi…" to his tear-stricken face.
"Kise-kun…"
Finally the name flowed out of his mouth, as fluidly as his tears. It was the only words he can mutter for now.
For now, his name is enough.
It was hard for Kuroko to move on from his previous unrequited love life. But as time goes by, he encountered people who has it harder than him, and he learnt to try new things and as people say, patch the hollow heart with a new love.
It was fortunate of him since he never lost contact with any of his high-school friends and the Generation of Miracles. The rest of GoM.
As for Kise, Kuroko had accepted that the model will never come back to life no matter how hard he clasped his hands in front of millions of shooting star. But the memories from middle school, and not to mention in high-school too, will be forever engraved in his head, so he decided to treasure Kise's burnt ashes in a tiny bottle which he brought to every place he go. It was as if the bottle was his personal lucky charm. He never showed it to other people, because seeing people cringe at the creepiness would totally break his heart. Nevertheless, Aomine and Momoi knew about it. Being a good friend as they are, they never talked about Kise's ashes in front of Kuroko because only they know how strong Kuroko's love to him. Well, as long as Kuroko doesn't use the ashes to blind a person he hated, they could care less.
But the thing that they didn't know is Kise's love towards the powder blue boy is even more than Kuroko himself.
"Café?" asked Kuroko rather loudly. He had just finished grooming himself after a day-long at the daycare. Working with kids needed a lot of skills. And patience.
Because, damn, these kids are demons, monsters, hell spawns, you name it.
"Yes, let's hangout at the café. I know you've worked hard today, Tetsu-kun," again, the cheery voice asked nicely. The peach-haired girl had something else plotted, but it's enough for Kuroko to know that she wanted to meet with him for now. She also had put aside Aomine's presence for this evening's event, since he said, and she quote, didn't want to be a weird third wheel like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, with a slight edge to his nicely-proportioned manly face.
Kuroko agreed to be at the promised place in an hour. After ending the phone call, Kuroko looked at the bottle clasped in his petite palm. He formed a smile, and later placed a soft kiss on it.
It didn't take long for him to arrive at the café since it was practically a straight road from the daycare, and Kuroko had beseated himself comfortably at one of the desks sorted outside of the café. He kept glancing at his watch, keeping in track of the time, and in case Momoi was late a couple of minutes. Not that he cared that much. He knew girls have a lot to take care of, and being a gentleman as what his father taught him to be, not to complain at their tardiness was one of the top rules.
After catching a glance of pink hair at the parking lot, his smile appeared. He quickly stood up and pulled out the chair meant for Momoi when she arrived at the desk. After Momoi had ordered her choice of beverage, they began talking about their lives. How was Kuroko doing in his part-time job, which was an author, and how was Momoi doing in keeping Aomine in check, considering the tanned man was now a full-fledged police.
"You have no idea. That brat either comes home bickering like he's a pregnant housewife or drunk like a ragged cloth used to wipe cars," commented Momoi to Kuroko. The man only chuckled at the talkative lady, and inserted one or two sentences in between her story just to tell her that he was still listening. Watching Momoi babble about Aomine or her life as a waitress was funny and endearing.
Maybe that's what you would think if you're still here, right, Kise-kun? thought Kuroko, his eyes still attached to the talking Momoi. His hands moved to the pocket of his jeans where the small bottle was resting.
Unfortunately, Kise's leftover particles didn't seem to take Kuroko's comment kindly, and suddenly the wind around the two of them turned cold. Kuroko and Momoi glanced up to the sky. It was almost dark, maybe that was the cause. The petite man took his jacket and hanged it on Momoi's figure gently.
Upon sensing Kuroko's warmth in the jacket, Momoi blushed slightly. Back then, when she discovered that Kuroko's heart was taken by a man named Kise, she felt heartbroken like never before. Now she has the chance she can grab, she must never let this go.
"T-Tetsu-kun?"
Kuroko was already in his seat when Momoi tried to confess. Seeing her trembling lips, Kuroko fell worried. "Yes, Momoi-san?"
The woman tried to continue her sentence, but then her eyes spotted something.
A pair of arms.
The arms were sun-kissed, she can tell, but pale. And the arms snaked around Kuroko's body, as if it has belonged there for God knows how long. Her eyes trailed the arm to where it connected to, which was a body, hollowly hanging behind Kuroko. On top of Kuroko's head, a translucent shadow formed a shape.
A shape of a head she knew so much.
Kise.
The fact that Kise was behind Kuroko was scary enough, with a cracked face shown that he's rotten somewhere somehow, but Kise's smile afterwards was what made Momoi almost peed her panties, because it spells "Momocchi, what are you doing with Kurokocchi?" in every curve of his white lips.
A shriek escaped her shivering throat, and she proceed to run back to her car, and quickly ran away from Kuroko. And Kise. Or whatever that was.
Kuroko panicked after seeing Momoi ran away from him after screaming from the top of her lungs. Now he was receiving looks from the customers of the café, which was uber embarassing it made him leave the place seconds after he realized he was being an attention. His mind was still in a confusion as to why Momoi was scared shitless.
After two days, he tried calling Momoi to ask what was wrong with her the other day, but his calls were neglected every single time, which was why now he tried to reach out to his other friend, Aomine.
"You said she ran away screaming?" asked Aomine.
Kuroko nodded, but later realized that Aomine wasn't there to see his reply. "Yes."
"Man, I know her long enough to say that wasn't a PMS problem, dude."
The pale man breathed out loud. His mind was so full of Momoi's scream the other day, he accidentally poured a mineral water onto a kid's head instead of his mug. It took one whole day for the kid to accept his apology though.
"Aomine-kun, please watch over Momoi-san. I hope she's alright."
Aomine smiled. "I'd still do that even when you don't tell me, Tetsu." When he was about to utter more words about his responsibilities towards his childhood friend, Aomine's ears caught some noise from the other side. "Oy Tetsu, you didn't tell me you have a guest over your house."
The statement made Kuroko cocked his eyebrow. "No I don't, Aomine-kun."
"Tch, entertain your guest rather than chatting with me, brat. It's distasteful."
"I assure you, I am alone, Aomine-kun."
The low grunt in Kuroko's tone brought Aomine to silence. He swear…
"Don't fuck around with me, Tetsu. Either my ears are shitting with me or there's someone next to you giggling like-"
Like Kise. Aomine let his sentence die there, because he didn't know what to do if the giggling mouth over there knew he heard the voice.
"Aomine-kun?" Kuroko felt weird when Aomine suddenly stopped talking, and he glanced at his phone screen. Aomine's name was still on the screen. He's still on the line. "Aomine-kun? If you're there, answer me please."
The dark-haired man suddenly ended the phone call, his eyes widen in shock. He swear, he could hear someone whispered, "Aominecchi~".
A week passed without any news about Aomine and Momoi, to the disappointment of Kuroko. He was worried sick about those two, and later found out from Akashi and Kagami, that the two had a fever right after he contacted them.
After purchasing some flowers for his two friends, Kuroko went over Momoi's house to visit her. And since Aomine frequently pay Momoi a visit, to the point he even called Momoi's mom as Mother, Kuroko could only hope that the police was there with her.
Thank God, his intuition was correct. There, sat two figures he knew so much. Their hunched backs somehow wrote all the middle school memories in his eyes. He smiled, and later greeted his friends.
He could take it if they didn't contact him for one whole week. He could even take it if they ran away from him screaming, or mouth zipped up out of the blue. The only thing that broke his heart was when they avoided his gaze as if scared of him. He didn't know what he had done wrong for them to treat him like this.
"Guys, please say something. Or if you don't want to speak, text me." Pain splashed across Kuroko's face, seeing his two friends hesitant to talk to him. Momoi was about to speak when an idea came across her mind. She took out her cellphone and began typing the message in. Seconds after that, Kuroko's phone beeped, signaling a message has come into his inbox.
His sky blue pupils dilated the moment he read Momoi's explanation on the screen. He couldn't believe whether Momoi was telling him the truth or it was only a ruse to scare the shit out of him. But the serious expression his two friends were wearing said that Momoi was not in the mood of scaring his butt off.
"This can't be it." Kuroko put away his phone. His mind was in a mess. "Kise-kun can't be disturbing you both. He's…"
"Dead." Aomine completed his sentence, which Kuroko didn't have the heart to finish. "I know. We know. The rest of the damn world know. Which is why we're in this state now, you got that?"
They fell into a deep silence once again. Kuroko squeezed the bottle in his jeans once again. His heart still couldn't comprehend the cause of all this disturbances were coming from the remains of Kise. He bit his lip.
"What should I do then, Aomine-kun, Momoi-san?" he croaked. He loved the bottle, Kise, so much, it pained him to see it not in his grasp someday in the future.
"For now, just get rid of it. I hope that will be the end of it," suggested Aomine. He admit he's no expert about things like this, but at least he has a way. Kuroko nodded, although slowly. He need to let go of the past if he wanted to move on.
Even if it costs his heart.
Kuroko sighed heavily after putting his head on the bed. All this paranormal occurrence was causing his head to reintroduce migraine into his life. Before coming home, he had already put away the tiny bottle at a hill where he was sure no one would come across, because he literally threw it from where he stood, which was a spot somewhere on a tree at the edge of the park.
He shifted in his spot. Now he felt something was missing.
Oh, right.
His heart.
Like that's a shocker, he mumbled. Later, he dozed off after his mind decided that it's time for him to rest from worldly problems.
The next morning, his eyes fluttered open after hearing the chirps of birds outside his window. Rays of sunlight peeked into his room from the crevices of the curtain. His balled palm rubbed away the remnants of a good night sleep at the corner of his eyes. After stretching for about two seconds, complete with the widest yawn he can possibly form, Kuroko tried to pry open his sleepy eyes once again. It was until he put his feet down on the carpet that he realized that his right hand was contained with something familiar. He opened his grasp.
Kise's bottle was in it.
Because of his mind still somewhere in cloud nine, it took about ten seconds for him to finally register what was actually going on. He quickly threw the bottle on his bed, and scooted as far away as he can from the mysterious container.
He didn't know what prompted his hairs to stand upright, because in a flash, he just knew that Kise had said something to him.
Please don't throw me away like that again, Kurokocchi…
By luck, Midorima knew a powerful shaman just out of town from where Kuroko lived. He was forever thankful to the greenhead for his obsession to Oha-Asa and still wondered why Midorima didn't bother to take a job as a witch or fortune teller to make a living.
Kuroko decided to take the bus rather than driving himself to the shaman's place. His hands don't feel like maneuvering heavy machinery for the moment. To be honest, he has a slight trauma attack whenever a person appeared at the right side of his car. His leg would instantly kick the brake (yes, kick) before he calmed himself down at a secluded area while driving slowly. Countless times, he tried to overcome the problem while having his friends supervise his driving while sitting at the passenger seat. It always went well, but once they went back, his trauma strikes again.
Aomine and Momoi was super worried about Kuroko's dilemma, because it nearly made the little man jump into another accident, but luckily that time, without any casualties. Kuroko felt even more regrettable by telling the story to them. It was a fine evening when suddenly a truck driver decided to drive drunk on the small road, which was Kuroko's usual route back from the daycare. He could've ended the same way as Kise, but his steer automatically made a turn to the right, avoiding the truck successfully, but it was unfortunate for the cars behind him though. He had once asked Takao, now a mechanic, if cars were programmed to do an auto-drive while the driver nearly got into an accident. Nobody could laugh as hard as Takao that day. The hawk-eye user even say that it was ridiculous, since cars don't have sensors for the change of human emotions, unless the car has a soul, which was even more ridiculous as Takao pratically giggled on the floor at the thought. He can only gawk at Takao's reply.
While his mind was busy thinking on a lot of things, the bus arrived at the bus stop he was waiting. He moved to the entrance of the bus, his hands already pulled out the card to be tapped before moving further in.
Out of the blue, his legs refused to step into the bus. He himself was confused. Kuroko suddenly make a turn to the conveniece store nearby instead, and bought a bottle of mineral water. The bus had already made its way ahead, which upset Kuroko. He sat back at the bus stop, hands holding the lukewarm bottle tight.
Why?
It took another thirty minutes for the next bus on schedule to appear, and thankfully this time, Kuroko's legs didn't protest. He took a seat next to a window. It might be a good idea to look at the scenery when his head was in a mush. About ten minutes after he rode the bus, he caught a gruesome sight.
It was the bus from earlier, and it was toppled over. Bodies lying everywhere with disentangled organs and anonymous parts separated from the main body scattered all over the road. Kuroko quickly covered his mouth, his eyes widen in shock. He endlessly thanked whatever's been protecting him from indulging in that accident. He didn't dare to imagine how his weak body would stand against that crash.
"You're holding something that the spirit likes," said the shaman. Kuroko was baffled.
"Something?"
"Yes," said the shaman again. "It was tiny, yet so forceful in nature. I suggest you hand it to me now so I can destroy it right away."
I guess it must be Kise-kun then, he thought. His hands reached to the tiny bottle in his jeans pocket , deliberately pulling it out and later putting it in the shaman's hand.
Kurokocchi, no!
Someone shouted in his ears, but Kuroko ignored it. He knew it was for the best.
The shaman took a good look at the tiny bottle containing Kise's ashes, and he shook his head. "What a powerful spirit you are. But everything needs to be in the right places so the nature won't go outside of what's written for them." He later walked to an incinerator just outside of his meeting place with Kuroko, and disposed of the bottle right away.
Kurokocchi!
A burst of golden and white smoke arose from the burning place and later flew over to Kuroko. The phantom man didn't want to believe his eyes, since he saw Kise hugged him for a brief second, before dispersing into thin air. His eyes stung to the core of his heart. His guardian had been Kise all this time. If only the blonde knew how much Kuroko wanted to hug him, and caress his locks, and rub his back, and…
"How about you stay here for the night? I see that you're not in the right condition to walk back home alone," proposed the shaman, pity overwhelmed him. Cases of otherworldly woes were common to him. Seeing Kuroko so fragile, he didn't have the heart to shoo the man away from his place.
Kuroko agreed. He let the tears flowed out of his eyes like a waterfall.
Just this once, he said to himself. Just this once, I want to let it all out…
Because tomorrow was a day he will live a life without Kise.
He woke up the next morning feeling as hollow as a man can be. Zombies can't be compared to Kuroko's state. Although his bed hair was incredible like always, it did not amuse Kuroko even by a wee bit. After he took a bath and dressed himself up, he thanked the shaman one last time before his body turned to the road to cross the street and positioned himself at the bus stop.
"Everything needs to be in the right places, so it won't go outside of what's written for them," the shaman mumbled once again. He sighed. From Kuroko's story, it has been almost two months after Kise's death and him storing away Kise's residue in the tiny bottle. Now he has the time to make things right again. Kise was supposed to be on the other side long ago. The shaman's eyes still hasn't left Kuroko's brittle figure. He seemed so weak without his lucky charm.
Meanwhile, Kuroko's mind was occupied with nothing but Kise. He was in an even worse condition than before. His ears didn't pick even the slightest noise happening around him. Kuroko was in his own world, until suddenly he was rammed to the side of the road. With a car.
Blood was running down his forehead, nostrils, ears and wound. He can only hear his own breath dying down, and his heart yearned for more oxygen to be pumped in. His pale body lied limp at the streetside. People who walked by, storeowners, civilians, witnesses who were there at the moment, told Kuroko to hang in there, but it was for naught.
Because Kuroko's hands were already reaching out for Kise's.
Here's for your peace of mind. In the beginning, Kise's death was pure crack meant to squeeze a laugh from my conversation with my friend. And yes, all ideas in this story came from my friend, Ayumi Snowifillya. It was a nice summer day when suddenly Kuroko's Nokia 3310 slipped from his hand and flew over to Kise's head. The end.
Yes, please give all the credits to my friend. All I did was only write this story in the most beautiful way. Hope this satisfies her demand, since she can be picky at times.
Thank you for reading! Reviews and opinions are gladly accepted! See ya in my other fics! :3