A/N: This was originally meant to be a one-shot, or maybe just a short collection of drabbles set in the same universe. But the plot bunnies just kept coming and so this has officially become a multi-chap. There may be strange formatting, since and formatting doesn't work very well...

Also: this fic is mostly general and not quite ship-centric, although there are some moments. But most of their interactions can probably be taken as either friendship or pre-slash. (The pairings aren't quite settled yet)


"I apologise, Akashi-kun. I was just thinking how the last time we all gathered together was in much happier circumstances than this."


1A.

The first thing Kuroko noticed was that it was dark, even though the digits blinking at him from his watch insisted it was three in the afternoon. Dust and debris swirled about in the air, and all he smelt was smoke.

…Smoke?

Where was he?

His head was pounding, and his limbs felt heavy and sluggish. He squeezed his eyes back shut, trying to ignore the ache. He thought he heard some voices nearby, but his head was spinning too much for him to try and figure out whose they were. It was as if something had knocked the breath right out of him – not an unfamiliar feeling, but Kuroko was quite sure he hadn't been running laps or participating in any other form of stamina training. Anyway, what kind of training would have left him half-sprawled on the ground, one arm crushed beneath his body, the other in front of his head, and his legs twisted in an awkward angle from his body?

He tried to adjust himself.

He couldn't.

Why was he pinned under something?

It hurt to think.

Maybe he was just dreaming, and he would wake up in another few hours to go to school. He would poke Kagami awake during class, and perhaps squeeze in some basketball practice during lunch, before going to join the rest of Seirin for practice. Yes, that sounded right... He was just about to let himself drift back into the darkness when he heard a decidedly more distinctive, familiar voice.

"Kuroko?"

It was softer, and much more uncertain than usual. But then, maybe that was just because his ears were still ringing.

'Kagami-kun?' He tried to reply, but his throat felt hoarse, and all he managed was a croak. Kuroko forced himself to open his eyes and turn towards the voice's source. He blinked once, twice, as his eyes slowly focused on the figure kneeling in front of him. He blinked a few more times as he processed the sight of blood dripping from a cut on Kagami's forehead.

All of his memories returned in full force.

X

"Don't the fast food chains here give free food or something when there's a birthday?" Kagami asked between mouthfuls of fries. He cocked his thumb toward the table opposite to them. A seven-year-old boy sitting in front of a vanilla (Kuroko approved) birthday cake with green, Shrek-shaped frosting beamed widely at his father, who held a camera in his hands.

"I've never celebrated any birthdays here, so I wouldn't know." Kuroko replied, watching as the kid stuck his tongue out at his older sister. "But Kagami-kun, please refrain from talking when you're chewing."

Kagami rolled his eyes good-naturedly, but complied anyway. They ate in companionable silence, Kagami devouring his second burger while Kuroko sipped his vanilla shake at a much more leisurely pace. Both of them watched the family of four as they sang the birthday song. Some of the staff members and customers joined in, and they all cheered when the boy blew out the candles.

That was when the light flickered, and a loud siren started to wail.

There were given few seconds to react before the world around them started shaking. Kuroko heard screaming, swearing and names being shouted everywhere. He heard Kagami calling him, found himself being yanked under the table, and felt a jolt of pain on the crown of his head.

He welcomed the darkness that took him.

X

"What… how?" Kuroko managed, frowning at the way his throat felt parched even though he remembered having finished at least half of his vanilla shake before… everything.

"You're awake!" Kagami all but announced, stating the obvious. If he had looked disproportionately relieved to see him speaking, Kuroko didn't point it out. It was, however, a cause for concern.

"How long have I been unconscious?" He asked, swallowing his saliva in an attempt to wet his throat.

"Fifteen minutes? You weren't responding but I didn't dare drag you out and – it's great that you're okay." Kagami finished lamely, scratching his head. Kuroko felt compelled to smile, despite his headache, sore throat and numb legs.

Ah, yes. Kuroko turned to the side, steering Kagami's gaze toward the rubble that had crushed most of the table Kuroko was under.

"Uh right! Sorry. I was just – never mind. Let me help you out." Kagami flushed, standing up in a sudden motion that made Kuroko somewhat dizzier. He did not complain, though, when the pressure on his legs eased. He clambered out clumsily, wincing at the sudden wave of vertigo that hit him. Luckily, Kagami managed to grab Kuroko and support his weight before he fell.

"Thank you." Kuroko said, once the worst had passed.

He took the chance to look at his surroundings… and registered the widespread destruction in the place that had used to be known as "Maji Burger". Most of the ceiling lights of the booths had fallen, and half of the building's walls had caved in – the side near the kitchen, from which billows of smoke drifted into the eating area they were in. Surrounding him, small groups of people helped their companions to their feet, with varying expressions of shock, fear, relief… and grief.

Kuroko turned, almost reflexively, to the table opposite theirs. Or at least, to the rubble that had once been an actual structure. His eyes widen – at the father who (had been laughing, taking pictures with his family) was hunched protectively over his wife and children; at the cake, which lay smashed as a barely recognisable smear on the ground, right in the line of sight of the birthday boy's gaze. Except, even though his eyes were wide open, they were unmistakably empty.

His father's efforts had obviously been in vain.

The numbness wore off, and the horror set in.

(Mother. Father. Sempais. Kouhais. Kise. Momoi. Murasakibara. Midorima. Akashi. Aomine.) The images flashed in quick succession – all of them eyes blank and unseeing, forever lost, never being able to live out their whole lives the way they should – his nausea increased tenfold, and Kuroko vaguely processed that Kagami was calling his name, holding him tightly, but he could not respond in time, or warn him –

He bent over and vomited.


"Oi Tetsu, don't get so depressing. It's the company that matters, right?"


1B.

One moment, Aomine was minding his own business, trying to solve a pointless math question while Satsuki and Ryou (okay fine not literally) breathed down his neck. The next, a blaring alarm had rung and everything had just gone to shit.

Right now, he was hunkering down underneath Ryou's bed, after having narrowly escaped being crushed by the bookshelf. He thanked his godly reflexes for having rolled out of the way just in time. He would not be dying by way of being crushed by piles of assessment books, damn it. The solid wood part would be more bearable for his pride – but definitely not his health. So all in all, yeah, he was pretty thankful.

After the shaking stopped, Aomine slowly rolled back out into the open space and stood up. He stretched experimentally… and grimaced. He'd definitely hurt something in his back, but hey, he wasn't dead and that was definitely a plus.

He'd been through a minor quake before, but while this didn't seem that high up on the scale either, the effects seemed to be much worse. He squinted through plumes of dust as he looked around the room, making out dark shapes that used to be furniture.

It was then that he realised how quiet it was.

It wasn't supposed to be.

"Satsuki, Ryou, you okay?" Aomine called out, hoping for a "Yes" or even a "Sorry", or just any sign of life.

There was no answer. Aomine had never hated silence so much. He searched his mind frantically for where they could be. Right, he had been upstairs alone, because the other two had… fuck. Satsuki had gone down to the kitchen to find some food after Aomine begged for some, hadn't she? And then Aomine had forced Ryou to go along to make sure whatever she brought up would be edible.

Aomine ignored the mess that was now Ryou's bedroom; ignored the sharp pain in his lumbar – and tore down the stairs, his heart pounding in his chest the way it usually did only in the toughest of games. Even he knew that the kitchen was just about the most dangerous place to be in during an earthquake. What if the gas had exploded? Okay, he would have exploded with it since the kitchen was directly downstairs. At least that hadn't happened.

He nearly slipped on a bunch of utensils as he ran into the kitchen. He skidded to a halt and grabbed the wooden edge of the doorway, righting himself just in time.

The place was a wreck. The fridge lay horizontally on the floor, and the floor was littered with shards of glass and porcelain, along with the odd knife, fork or spoon. He scanned the area quickly, just hoping that he wouldn't see any of them lying on the floor in a pool of their own blood – he blocked the visual from his thoughts.

"Oi! Satsuki? Ryou?" Aomine tried again. He would never forgive himself if-

"Dai-chan?" Satsuki's voice – slightly shaky, but it was her all right – rang out from the rightmost corner of the kitchen. Aomine blinked as she and Ryou emerged from a door he never knew existed, seemingly unharmed. He rushed forward, almost forgetting the broken shards everywhere as he let his childhood friend wrap her arms tightly around him.

"S-sorry! We were in the bomb shelter!" Ryou said, even more wound up than what was customary for him lately… although with good reason. Anyway, Aomine was so relieved that he didn't even quarrel with him for apologising for surviving. He just clapped Ryou on the back, although with the way he reacted it seemed more like Aomine had shot him or something.

"There's been multiple earthquakes throughout Japan, and many other countries. Most aren't too high on the Richter scale, but…" Satsuki bit her lips as she pulled back, hand reaching out toward her phone again. Trust her to already have information gathered at this stage. At least that meant communication was still on…

Suffice to say, Aomine was alive; all three of them are. But, as for everyone else… His parents were out of the country, so they would probably just be worried sick about Aomine but they were probably fine… unless Thailand had also been hit. But then, there was also Tetsu and Kise and the rest of his old and current teammates and he didn't really want to see any of them dead, no matter what he might have indicated.

"Multiple tectonic plates? This is like an apocalypse from a manga." Ryou whimpered.

Satsuki and Aomine both turned to him, aghast. (Saying it was like jinxing it, and who wanted that to happen?)

"Come on, what are the odds of that?" Aomine laughed weakly. His argument sounded pretty lame to himself. He was no math expert, but even he knew enough from geography that the probability of different countries throughout the Eastern hemisphere experiencing separate natural disasters at the same time was low.

Before anyone could reply, Satsuki's ringtone rang. She picked up immediately and switched her phone to loudspeaker mode.

They all winced at the static.

"Momo-cchi, — there?" Kise's voice was barely recognisable over whatever was happening at his end. Either that, or it was just the bad reception.

"Kise?" Aomine practically shouted at the phone, drowning out Satsuki's reply.

(If Kise was fine too…)

There was a few seconds of excruciating silence.

"I don't hear any response, but the call connected, right? I hope you're all fine… it would be nice to talk to someone." Kise's voice rang out, and Aomine just knew that something was wrong. "Help would be even better, but it's unlikely, right? Who would come to the modelling agency building—"

Another burst of static cut off Kise's words. Aomine kept replaying the words 'help' and 'stuck' in an endless loop and he almost literally felt his blood run cold. Satsuki jabbed the volume up button desperately next to him, and Kise's muffled voice flowed through again.

"— Under lots of stuff and everyone here that isn't… dead is gone." Kise laughed shakily, and his voice just sounded so resigned and unlike his usual tone that Aomine wanted to punch the wall or shake his former teammate, except he couldn't. "The good part is I have spa—"

The line cut off.

They called again, and he didn't answer.

"Fuck." Aomine muttered, clenching his fists. He whipped out his phone to try again. His screen had cracked, but it was still functional, if it wasn't for that the fact that the damn thing just wouldn't connect. Damn the power lines. Damn this stupid earthquake. Damn himself. He scrolled through the two missed calls he received from Kise – five minutes ago – and this time, he had to be forcibly restrained by Satsuki and Ryou from punching a wall.

How long could someone survive in an unstable, partially collapsed building with no food or water?

(What if he died?)

Aomine swore again, and even Satsuki didn't say anything about it this time, even though she was right that it didn't make anything better. All the relief that he'd got when he saw Satsuki and Ryou just drained right out of him. This was unfair. He just stared at Satsuki, who had a look of barely suppressed terror on her face, and resolved himself.

"Do you have supplies and tools?" Aomine asked sharply as he turned to the shooting guard.

"Y-yes. In the shelter-"

Aomine all but ran past Ryou and Satsuki into the bomb shelter. Satsuki was going on about how he had to be less reckless and think of a plan and Ryou was saying something else that he couldn't even process, and he was just ignoring the both of them, his attention solely focused on sieving out the useful stuff. He grabbed a crowbar, tossing it into a large duffel bag. He wasn't Akashi or Midorima or even Tetsu and he knew that he was impulsive and couldn't plan for shit; also it wasn't like he wanted to be a hero or anything like that anyway.

What he did know for sure was that right now, there was nothing that could stop him from finding Kise and getting him the hell out of wherever he was trapped in.

No person – thing – whatever – would stop him.

~~~
Next chapter:

"Oh my, Daiki. Coming from you, I believe the rest of us should feel touched."


A/N: I'm not sure if any of this seems slightly OOC for any of them, but high stress situations! And we already know how Aomine is protective of Kise and Kuroko… Please leave a review! :)