Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basuke, nor do I have the rights to Hotarubi no Mori e—that's Yuki Midorikawa's brain child.

A/N: I know, I should be working on Stray—and I am!—but this concept wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it. I recently re-watched and re-read Yuki Midorikawa's Hotarubi no Mori e. It's a beautiful piece of fiction, and one that I cry over every single time I read or watch it. I love tragic love stories!

I was inspired to write this fic after I scoured YouTube for AMVs of Hotarubi no Mori e—and found an absolutely amazing one! The link in on my profile, but the video is by 'youlazybum' and is called 'you can be king again.' The song they use for it (Lauren Aquilina's 'King') is just beautiful. It was the true inspiration for this fic, and a huge motivator too. As was the rest of her albums, because I am a huge fan her work. I really suggest you listen to that song while reading this story, because I certainly did when I wrote it!

This will be romance: Kuroko x fem!Kagami—Yes! Genderbending! I'm so excited!

I posted a link for a picture I found that is the exact representation of the Kagami Taiga I see as a female on my profile—check it out!

Okay, enough of me talking, enjoy the first chapter! There's not a definite number of chapters I'm shooting for, but it won't a novel or anything. Just something light.

As always, no yaoi. Sorry guys. This is genderbending after all.

C'est la vie!

Forest of the Fireflies

Chapter 1: First Meeting

~初対面~

She was lost.

The forest, vast and quiet, was unfamiliar—foreign and encompassing. The child looked around once more from her spot on the forest floor, trying in vain to remember the way she had come.

But she couldn't. She had blindly run into the forest, and every tree and bush looked the same.

Her little red shoes were scuffed and she had scratches on her arms and legs from running through the brush. She tried to ignore the sting and looked around desperately, straining her ears to listen for any sounds.

Birds chirped and insects buzzed around her. She didn't see any houses, or roads, or people. Just trees and bushes.

She was truly and completely alone.

The six year old buried her head in her knees, crying helplessly. She was trying to be brave, but it was hard when she was so scared.

She could be eating watermelon with her aunt and uncle right now, but her stubbornness got her into this mess. Why did she have to get into a fight with her uncle? If she hadn't, the she wouldn't have stormed out and ran into the forest that she was now lost in.

She rubbed her puffy eyes, the tears refusing to stop. She hiccupped pitifully, feeling like a complete baby for crying.

"You're so stupid, Taiga!" She scolded herself. "Now you're lost, and no one is going to find you! You'll be lost out here until you die! And Uncle will be really mad!" She sniffed. "I just…I just want to go home…" She hugged her knees and buried her face in them once more, sobbing harder.

"Are you alright?"

Startled by the sudden voice, Taiga's sobs ceased and she lifted her head. Her watery eyes searched the forest around her for a few seconds before finally locking on a figure staring at her from behind a tree a few yards away. It was a person. And they were wearing a fox mask. The painted eyes were looking at her blankly.

"Why are you crying?" The person asked softly.

Taiga didn't move. She was scared at first. This person was a stranger. Not to mention they were creepy. Wearing a mask like that and skulking around a forest.

But it was still a person—and her only hope of getting out.

"Thank goodness!" She screamed as she jumped up and ran to him. She reached out to grab him. "Please, sir, you have to help me—!"

She was met with air as the man swiftly avoided her, sending her sprawling to the ground with a thud.

The six year old fell hard on her face. She lay stunned for a moment, before picking herself up and glaring at the masked man incredulously.

"…Sorry." He said and Taiga scowled.

"What the hell was that for, baka?!" She shouted as she sat up and nursed her sore nose.

"Little girls shouldn't speak like that." He retorted. She growled at him.

"I can speak how I like, you Fox-Face creep!" She said gruffly. "And I'm not little—I'm six! And the tallest in my class!"

He didn't say anything.

She huffed at his indifference, then remembered her situation. "Uh, I mean-," she held up her hand to him hopefully. "Will you please help me?"

The masked man looked down at her small hand. She noticed he took a slight step back from her.

"What's with you?" She asked in annoyance.

He didn't say anything for a moment. Then, "You're a human child, right?"

Taiga looked at him like he'd grown a second head.

"What do I look like, a frog? Of course I'm a human child!" She paused. "Why? Aren't you human, too?"

"…I'm something that lives in the forest." He said vaguely.

Taiga narrowed her eyes at him. Something, he had said. Not someone.

Stories that her uncle had told her suddenly sprang to her mind. Ones about monsters and spirits that drew people into the forest to be lost forever...or eaten whole.

Her palms began to sweat and she swallowed nervously. Could...could this person possibly be...?

"Are you…a spirit?" She asked quietly.

He didn't answer.

Her eyes widened in fear, and she almost bolted, but he held his hands up, trying to calm her.

"I won't harm you." He said soothingly. "It's actually you who could harm me."

Taiga blinked in confusion. "Huh?'

He shifted, pointing to himself. "If a human were to touch me, I would disappear."

He said it so casually that he could have been talking about the weather. The six year old looked at him, confused.

"Dis…appear. What does that mean?" She asked.

"It means I'll be destroyed." He said, his voice as blank as his mask.

The child contemplated him for a moment, her deep red eyes staring him down. Then she smirked.

"Pfft, I bet you're lying. You're trying to play a trick on me!" She said.

To prove her point, she reached out to touch him, but he avoided her. She tried again and again, running after him in circles to try and grab him, but he dodged her at every turn. At last she was almost able to touch his leg, but a hard knock to her head stopped her instantly. She saw stars and fell to the ground, nursing her aching head.

He'd hit her with a stick!

"O-ow!" She cried, tears leaking from her eyes. "W-why did you do that?"

The man crouched down to her level, still holding the stick he'd struck her with. "I have to ask you not to do that." He said.

"You're definitely not a human! A human wouldn't hit a child with a stick like that!" She whimpered.

He tilted his head as he looked at her. "I'm sorry." He apologized. "But, to be destroyed means to be obliterated. I don't want to be obliterated just yet."

The six year old sat up, sniffling a little. "What does…o-bli-ter-ated…mean?" She asked slowly.

He paused for a few seconds.

"It means I'll die," he said simply.

Her eyes widened. So that's what he meant? If she touched him he could die? That…sounded terrifying.

Her tears had slowed by then, the pain thankfully fading away, and she watched quietly as he stood, looking up into the trees almost wistfully.

"You see, it's a spell that the mountain god placed on me." He said. A breeze swept by, rustling his hair, which she just realized was an unnatural powder blue. She watched him as he turned back to look down at her.

"If I ever get touched by a human…then that's the end." He said softly.

Taiga's eyes widened as she understood. The way he sounded…so sincere. He hadn't been lying to her.

And she'd tried to touch him. She could have killed him. How insensitive she had been!

She quickly bowed, prostrating herself on the ground.

"I-I'm sorry!" She said, feeling ashamed.

He didn't say anything to her at first. She kept her face to the ground, but jumped when something shifted in the grass near her. She lifted her head to look up at him, only to be met with the stick he had struck her with being shoved into her face.

"Here."

Taiga looked at the man in confusion as he held the stick out to her.

"You're lost, aren't you?" He said, holding the stick out to her once more. "I can't touch you, but if you grab this, I can lead you out of the forest."

Taiga stared at the stick, then looked up at him hopefully.

"Really? Thank you!" Without thinking, she went to embrace him, but was met with the business end of the stick once more. She was sent back to the ground, her head reeling.

"Ouch."

"Ah...sorry. Instinct."

"No. It's fine. I shouldn't have done that."

Once she'd gathered herself and grabbed onto the stick he offered her, they began walking. He led her through the thick forest, not once hesitating in his step. He kept a slow pace, making sure she could keep up, and he made sure to tell her when to watch her step. She had almost tripped at one point, but he had quickly steadied her with the stick, telling her to be careful. He was being very kind and Taiga really appreciated it.

They walked for maybe fifteen minutes before they came upon a shrine in the forest, mostly hidden in the overgrowth and in ruins. The pathways were still visible, though, and the blue-haired man led her down one that was lined with tōrōs and little statues with carved faces. The summer sun was beating down through the trees over them and was casting spotted shadows on the stone, creating patterns that swayed back and forth in the wind. It was secluded. And peaceful in a way.

As they walked down the path, Taiga turned her attention away from the stone lanterns and to her rescuer beside her. He was facing forwards, unaware she was observing him. The only sound between them was the clack of her red shoes on the stone and the leaves of the trees rustling in the wind. His steps were completely silent.

She hadn't noticed it before, but he was actually wearing regular clothing. A white shirt with turquoise stripes, a light blue collared shirt, khaki pants, and a pair of sandals. Very plain, but very unlike what she thought a spirit would be wearing.

His skin was ghostly pale, which contrasted with his blue hair quite nicely and made him look even more spirit-like. Looking at his side profile, the fox mask was jutting out, looking like an actual fox snout—the smile on its face looking more cute than creepy, now that she thought about it.

Overall, he was very unassuming. Not at all like the scary yōkai her uncle said lived in the forest.

She was dragged out of her thoughts as the man she was watching suddenly spoke.

"Aren't you afraid?" He asked in his soft voice, not looking at her as he continued to walk forward.

Taiga thought for a moment before shaking her head grinning at him. "Nah. You're not scary at all."

In fact, she felt safe with him. She couldn't explain why, but his presence calmed her.

"...Oh." He didn't say anything after that, but she could tell that he had sounded a little lost by her reply.

All too soon, they came to the end of the path, a rickety torii looming over them, covered in moss. Steps led down and away from the shrine. The man pulled them to a stop at the gate, pointing in the direction of the steps and the forest beyond.

"Just keep on walking straight from here. There's a road not too far away. You'll be able to find your way to the village from there." He explained, nudging her down the steps with the stick.

Taiga nodded, letting go of the stick that connected them and walking down the steps. When she reached the bottom, she stopped and turned around to look at him.

He gave her a small wave. "Goodbye."

Her eyebrows furrowed and she didn't budge.

"Wait. You can't leave this place?" She asked.

He shook his head. "No. This is the boundary of the forest. I cannot step foot past it."

"So you'll stay here forever?"

"Yes."

The six year old chewed on her lip thoughtfully. "Then, if I come back here, can we meet again?"

The man tilted his head as he looked at her, and if she had to guess, he seemed a bit surprised by her question.

"This is the forest where the mountain god and spirits live. 'Set foot within, and you'll lose your way and be lost forever.' That's what the villagers say, right?" He sounded a bit incredulous—like he couldn't believe she would suggest such a thing.

He looked down at her, the painted eyes of the mask boring into hers intensely.

"You shouldn't come back here again. It's dangerous."

…She would take that as more of a suggestion than an actual command. After the day she'd had, and after meeting him, there was no way she was going to stay away now. Her curiosity was peaked, and this enigma of a spirit, who helped her and was kind to her…she wanted to know more. She wanted to know him more.

And she could sense his loneliness. She was lonely, too.

She would come back. She had to. This was just too incredible to forget.

Plus, he couldn't tell her what to do. He wasn't her guardian.

With her mind made up, the stubborn red-head ignored his comments.

"I'm Kagami Taiga." She replied instead, introducing herself properly. "What's your name?"

He didn't answer her. It was becoming a theme.

'He sure doesn't like to talk, does he?' She thought to herself.

But she waited for his reply, hoping to hear this spirit's name. She didn't think 'masked-man' or 'fox-face' fit him properly. She wanted to hear his real name. It would make him more real to her—instead of just an apparition she happened across in the forest. One that could turn into just a dream the moment she left.

Warm summer wind blew through the forest just then, rustling their clothes and hair. She absently held her sundress down, watching him intensely to make sure he wouldn't disappear.

'Maybe he doesn't have a name', she suddenly thought. Her eyes widened. Maybe she was being insensitive, asking for something that he didn't have. He was a spirit after all. Maybe some spirits didn't have names.

She had to resist smacking herself for her thoughtlessness. She didn't want to look like a crazy person.

"Ah, never mind," she stuttered, waving her hands absently. "You don't have to tell me! Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow to give you a thank you gift! So…bye!"

She gave a small wave, then hurriedly turned around and began running in the direction he had pointed out to her. She didn't want to give him time to try and convince her not to come back.

A voice reached her on the wind just then. So soft that she almost thought she imagined it.

"…It's Tetsuya…"

But she didn't. It was him.

She slid to a stop and swung around to look back at him.

He wasn't there. The shrine stood empty in front of her.

The wind continued to sweep around her, pulling at her dress and short red hair. Everything was quiet and peaceful. Her red eyes sparkled in excitement.

'Tetsuya, huh?' She smiled. "Nice to meet you, Tetsuya." She whispered.

The smile stayed on her face as she turned around and continued down the path that led to the village. Her mind was filled with thoughts of what tomorrow would bring-and what she could give Tetsuya as a thank you gift.

~初対面~

When her uncle found her on the road that led out of the forest not long after, he had quite a lot to say about her running off.

Well, at least his fist did when it landed on her head.

Her poor head couldn't catch a break today.

"Ow! Why did you hit me, old man?!" She whined as she nursed her head miserably.

He growled down at her. "That was for running away, you selfish brat! You know how worried sick we were? You can't just run off into the mountains by yourself like that! You're not familiar with the area! What if you got lost?! What if you got hurt?!" He smacked her on the head again for good measure. "Your poor Aunt is at home, crying her eyes out, she's so worried!"

Taiga flinched and looked down shamefully.

"I'm sorry, Uncle. I shouldn't have run away." She said pitifully, her cheeks flushed in shame.

He held his angered expression for a moment more before he sighed and relaxed his scowl. He rubbed his temple tiredly.

"I know you're upset that your dad dumped you here for the summer while he's on business. I know how much you wanted to spend time with him. But being upset gives you no reason to raise your voice to your elders, or to run off like you did. You just need to suck it up and get over it. You get me?" He said gruffly, looking down at her. She nodded.

He grunted. "Good, now come one. Dinner's ready. And you need to apologize to your aunt when we get back."

He reached out his hand to her and she placed her smaller one in his. They began walking down the road, and it was only then that she noticed the sun was setting, casting an orange glow over everything. The fireflies were out as well, blinking away across the fields lazily.

Her head was swirling, constant thoughts racing through her head of all that had happened that day. She could barely remember the argument she had had with her uncle that morning in light of all that had happened to her in the forest.

And the spirit she had met.

She looked up at her uncle. "Uncle, is it really true that spirits live in the forest?"

"Hmm?" He looked down at her. "Oh, you mean the mountain god's forest?"

She nodded. "You told me that scary monsters lived in the forest. Is it true?"

He chuckled at her. "Well, despite what I told you, I really don't know. People in the village say that mountain spirits live in the forest, but it's a mystery."

Taiga pouted. "So you were just playing with me?"

He outright laughed at her then. "Maybe~. I love seeing the face you make whenever I tell you ghost stories! It's hilarious!"

The six year old growled and kicked at her uncle's shin. "You stupid old man! You're a big bully! Trying to scare a kid with stories like that!"

His laughter died and he wiped tears from his eyes. "Eh, sorry, kiddo. But there could be spirits living there. When I was a kid, I believed there were. I really wanted to meet them, so my friends and I would often go into the forest to see if we could get a glimpse of any." He shrugged. "In the end I never met any, but I sometimes had the feeling I could see something out of the corner of my eye."

Taiga listened intently to her uncle as he talked, completely intrigued.

"On summer nights, you could hear the sounds of the river coming from the forest." He continued. "And now that I think about it, your aunt had told me once that she went and had fun with some of her friends at a summer festival in the forest. But there was no way that the villagers would have had a summer festival in the forest."

Taiga looked at him, confused. "So then, whose festival was it?"

Her uncle shrugged again. "I'm not sure, but this crazy story started that they must have snuck into a festival for the spirits."

Taiga looked away thoughtfully. A festival for the spirits? That sounded scary and exciting at the same time.

He uncle grinned down at her. "Man that takes me back! We were so stupid back when we were kids. Monsters and spirit festivals." He sighed. "Ah, but it was good fun. Imagination always is."

Taiga's brow furrowed as they neared the house. Imagination? Was that all it was? Her imagination?

She shook her head. No. There were spirits living in the forest. And Tetsuya was one of them. He hadn't been her imagination. He was real. And she was going to see him tomorrow to give him his gift.

She would prove her uncle wrong. It wasn't just a crazy story. It was all real.

That night, as she lay beside her aunt and uncle on her futon, she couldn't stop tossing and turning. She was too excited to sleep. She couldn't wait for tomorrow when she would get to see the fox-faced spirit again.

Tetsuya. She was going to see Tetsuya.

The more she thought his name, the more real he became to her.

Her eyes suddenly grew heavy as she stared at the ceiling, Tetsuya's words from earlier running through her head.

"Set foot within, and you'll lose your way and be lost forever."

She wondered, half-heartedly, if she'd already been lost to the forest...

But those thoughts quickly left her as she fell asleep to dreams of the mountain god's forest and smiling foxes with blue hair.

~初対面~

There was no way she could have known at that time how much her life would change by that one meeting. Two souls met that day and those two souls were intertwined by fate indefinitely.

And by chance, fate had already decided their destiny from then on...

End of chapter 1. As some of you may have noticed, the story line goes along with Hotarubi no Mori e's, to an extent. I have changes that I'm going to make, so it's not going to be exactly the same. I also tried to keep some of Kuroko's and Kagami's original personality traits in there. I hope it's at least a little noticeable. The dialogue I got from the manga and the movie—a mix of both, since they are so similar.

Also, the outfit I have Kuroko wearing is the same one he wore in season 2 episode 27. I wanted to give him something normal to wear, and he looked good in that…you know…for an animated character…

I really wanted to give a go at genderbending, and I love Kagami, so I decided to make him the female lead in this fic. Tee hee. He's the only one who's changed so far, though. I really wrestled with who I wanted to genderbend in this fic, but Kagami won out. The chemistry they have as friends in the show would just translate so well in a romantic relationship if one of them was a girl—or at least I think so!

I'm really excited about this one guys. You all have no idea what I've got planned for this —I'm positively giddy!

As usual, I'm not a regular updater, but I'm hoping to have the next chapter up really soon!

Please leave a review! The more I get the more motivated I become. You'll love me when I'm motivated.

Keep a watch out for the next chapter of Stray, too. I'm almost done with it, so it should be posted soon!

Until next time. Stay shiny guys!