At first Kasamatsu simply wrote his tiredness off as a bad summer cold which didn't seem to budge. After Kaijou's loss to Seirin at the quarter finals he had resigned as Captain and stopped coming to training. It wasn't so much their defeat that catalysed his resignation, more the fact that it was his final year at high school and University entrance exams were coming up much more quickly than he was comfortable with. As much as Kasamatu didn't want to dishearten his team by quitting on them, he simply didn't have the energy to turn up to practise whilst attending extra tuition on top of the insane workload piled on by day school.

As of late, he's been feeling constantly fatigued. His joints ached more than he was willing to admit, especially since the match with Seirin was a few weeks ago. He'd get fevers without the usual blocked nose or sore throat that normally accompanied the flu, however he did have swollen lymph nodes… so maybe it was just a really strange cold? Kasamatsu wasn't so worried about the cause of his constant fatigue, lack of appetite and aching joints it was more the effect of these symptoms on his studying that concerned him more.

Kasamatsu simply assumed it would pass like any other illness, luckily he wasn't one of those people who seemed to get sick every cold season. So perhaps this 'illness' was some strange Karma taking away his fortunate health? He was stressed, for all the bravado he had put on for his team, Kasamatsu was seriously shattered with Seirin's loss at the quarter finals and it really did put an extra weight on his motivation to study. They'd done everything right, trained hard, crossed their t's and dotted their i's in every sense… but it still wasn't enough. He couldn't help but feel as though Haizaki ruined their chances, by injuring their ace's foot. It wasn't a fair match in terms of health, Kagami was in top form throughout the game whilst Kise was forced to sit out for a good part of the match. If their ace hadn't been injured, Kasamatsu was sure they could've won… but there was no point crying over spilt milk. It's not like he could even think of blaming his team, they'd all worked so hard it just seemed like something was against Kaijou reaching the grand finals.

Kasamatsu groaned inwardly as he tried to banish the depressing thoughts which seemed to circulate his thoughts, like how one line of a song stuck in your mind for a day. Only this was worse, because this gloomy thought process had been haunting his every 'quiet' moment and filling his thoughts in a frustratingly unproductive and depressing cycle.

Kasamatsu wheezed, wheezed as he walked the short 200m walk from the train station to the Kaijou's gates. Albeit it was uphill, but still it felt as though he'd run a marathon scratch that, sprinted a marathon instead of walking at a snail pace for three minutes. Kasamatsu had tried to ignore his aching joints and constant fatigue, but his condition only seemed to worsen over the past week. He paused for a moment panting heavily as he tried to catch his breath, feeling both ridiculous and humiliated for needing to take a short break from walking 100 or so meters. He rested his hands on his thighs, trying to stop the world from spinning. To make things worse, it seemed as though his symptomless fever had returned.

"Captain!" cried a bright voice from behind. Kasamatsu had little time to react before receiving a friendly thump on his back. Usually he would've retaliated by returning the hefty blow as a greeting, but today it was enough to cause him to lose his already precarious balance.

"Shit! Sorry!" apologised Kise, his quick reflexes being the only reason the shorter male didn't fall face first into the pavement. Kise let go of one of Kasamatsu's arms, resting his other comfortably above his elbow. Both panted heavily for a moment, the initial rush of adrenalin fading. The blonde flashed one of his million dollar smiles, laughing at the awkward failure of a morning greeting. Kasamatsu simply glowered, Kise's smile was quite literally worth money, being a successful teen model and basketball idol. Kaijo's ace was so freakin' perfect, and on days like these when Kasamatsu was feeling shit tired the last thing he needed was a perfect smile, accustomed to sparkles and flowers like a shoujo manga, to appear which only seemed to add salt to his injuries (a fine example of how perfection was constantly flaunted in front of his face) was the thought process he usually reverted to after the initial skip his heart seemed to make whenever the team's ace flashed a smile in his direction.

"Woah, you look like shit." Commented Kise, noticing the bags under his friend's eyes. The pair had begun a slow ascent up the hill, something Kasamatsu was silently grateful for their easy pace, not entirely sure if he could walk any faster without fainting.

"If this is a premonition of my third year, I think I'll drop out after year two!" cried Kise melodramatically, holding a hand to his face in mock horror. Kasamatsu simply grunted in response, still trying to catch his breath. "Are you sure you're not sick?" asked Kise, feeling worried about his friend's heavy breathing.

"I'm fine." Said Kasamatsu dismissively, if not a little breathlessly.

"Shall I carry you up like a princess to the castle that is our school?" asked Kise in a princely manor, bowing slightly as he joked.

"Touch me and I swear you'll have problems having children." Threatened Kasamatsu, meeting Kise's playful gaze with his own steady glare. Kise laughed, feeling reassured with the return of his friend's usual, gruff personality.

"You should drop by the gym every so often, coach is feeling lonely!" continued Kise, purposely keeping a slow pace as naturally as possible. His perfect copy skill was mostly accredited to his extensive observation skills. Kise could easily tell Kasamatsu was struggling to walk up the hill and was also equally aware that if he blatantly slowed his pace it would make his friend feel embarrassed.

"Yeah, maybe I will drop by today." Contemplated Kasamatsu. Perhaps all he needed to get out of this vicious self-loathing cycle was to meet up with his friends and joke around again. It seemed like years since he'd laughed in earnest. Kise smiled, warmly again waving as they parted ways at the shoe lockers.

"You better keep your promise captain!" called the blonde, saluting as he walked backwards towards the first year lockers. A group of fan girls giggled girlishly after Kise tripped on an unexpected stair, not watching where he was walking… well he was walking backwards. Kasamatsu rolled his eyes, not wanting to let on how easily the flashy blonde had brightened his previously shitty start of a day.

…...

Kise glanced up at the clock on the gym wall for possibly the 20th time in five minutes.

"Oi! Kise, concentrate!" shouted Coach Takeuchi, Kise snapped his attention back to the game belatedly, missing the chance to steal the ball off the opposing team. Kise smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head feeling a little found out.

"What's going on? Come on I'm switching you out for the moment. Hayakawa! You're on." Shouted the coach gruffly. Hayakawa exchanged a sympathetic glance with Kise as they passed one another, the coach was not amused.

Disappointed moans from the viewing stand accompanied Kise's leaving of the court, the blonde grinned up at his fan group waving slightly to keep them amused. The coach said nothing, crossing his arms grumpily as he waited for Kise by the wooden bench on the side of the court.

"Glad you could grace us with your presence, my lord." Grumbled the coach sarcastically. Kise simply smiled in return. "Now, are you gonna tell me what's got your panties in a knot this time?" he asked. Kise's smile froze slightly, was it slightly strange that waiting for his Kasamatsu to turn up was enough of a distraction for the coach to switch him out of their friendly match? Ok… yeah maybe that was a little strange…

"I am mournfully waiting Kasamatsu-senpai!" he exclaimed theatrically, deciding to go over the top in the dramatics to hide his insecurities. The great thing about being branded as the stereotypical shallow, self-obsessed flirt was that no one really expected much and there wasn't really anything ridiculous Kise could say or do that would raise an eyebrow any more than normal. At times it frustrated him that nobody really took his opinions at face level, for some reason being a proficient basketball player and model also equated with the assumption that he had no brain. Perhaps being blonde wasn't really helping his case either… Anyways he was currently glad that his personality saved his apparent obsession with their team's previous captain… a realisation which was quite concerning to the ace.

"Oh, he won't be coming today." Said Moriyama from behind, like Kasamatsu the other third years had also quit the team however they still turned up to more practises than the previous captain helping out with the starting players from time to time.

"Yeah, he fainted in the corridor just after third session." Informed Kobori, never too far away from his woman obsessed friend.

"We just went to check up on him in the infirmary, but the nurse said he'd gone to hospital." Added Moriyama, uncharacteristically serious.

"What? Hospital?!" exclaimed Kise, eyes wide in shock, "Is he ok?" Kise had noticed his friend's diminishing health over the past week, the bags under his eyes and slouching posture, Kasamatsu was always one to walk with a straight back… perhaps it had to do with his height… slouching would only serve to make him even shorter. "Actually, he did look pretty sick this morning." Said, Kise thinking aloud as he remembered his friend's short of breathiness.

"We're not sure. We tried mailing him, but he hasn't replied yet." Said Kobori, Moriyama nodded, it was clear the third years were equally as worried about their friend's health.

"Look, I know it's all very touching that we're crying over his health, but I'm sure Kasamatsu wouldn't appreciate you wasting your time mulling over what could or could not be happening instead of training." Scolded the coach, slapping a beefy hand onto Kise's back to accentuate his comment. Kise smiled despite himself, unable to stop making the connection of how close Kasamatsu's encouragement was to the coach's… then again it would probably make more sense that Kasamatsu picked up a few things from the coach instead of the other way around.

"You two helping out today?" asked the coach, eyeing the third years. Kobara and Moriyama shook their heads.

"Sorry, we've got seminar later. Apologised Kobara.

"Just thought we'd let this guy," Moriyama lifted his chin in Kise's direction, "know that his senpai hadn't stood him up." He chuckled, but the humour was a little strained. They were all really worried about Kasamatsu's hospitalisation.

...

"Have you heard of Leukaemia?" asked the doctor, holding a clip board hung on the side of Kasamatsu's hospital bed.

"What?" asked Kasamatsu, shock seemed a little bit of an understatement.

"We're going to undergo a few more tests to confirm, but we're quite certain you have developed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. This is the most common form of the disease in children, your body is overproducing immature white blood cells taking away room for your normal healthy blood cells…"

The doctor continued to explain his diagnosis but Kasamatsu felt his mind slipping, Leukaemia? He couldn't believe it… This kind of stuff only happened in tear-jerking dramas or to someone's friend's aunt's daughter's child. It never seemed possible, cancer always seemed so far away and irrelevant to his own life. What now? This wouldn't kill him right? His previous woes seemed petty in comparison. Not a month ago Kasamatsu shed tears over Kaijo's loss in the quarter finals… he felt like slapping his past self, worrying over such trivial insignificant things… He thought life was tough back then… Now… now… Leukaemia? Really? Just how? How and Why?

He couldn't understand.

He couldn't believe it…

He wasn't ready, he wasn't prepared…

…

What if he died?

Thanks so much for reading! This is my first Kuroko no Basuke fanfic, so I apologise profusely for any out of character-ness.

Any reviews would be greatly appreciated (such as suggestions or errors you picked up)

Till next time…