-Keep Close-
Summary: Kuroko and Aomine get together on a case to find Kuroko's missing girlfriend who is connected to a dangerous syndicate. Along the way, old feelings and thoughts resurface as they continue their search. People from the past will also unexpectedly join the fray.
Warning: There may be some AoKuro bromance here but I don't know if there's enough tension going on given the story's plot. Well, maybe for now.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Baske. All rights go to the mangaka.
-Chapter 1: Because of a woman-
Kuroko opened his eyes and saw a red-haired woman smile in front of him. He felt the weight of the necklace on his neck with his fingers, tracing the strange carvings on the pendant.
"Do you like it?" she asked, looking expectantly at him from across the table.
He nodded.
She smiled. "Please never take it off, Tetcchan. I'm giving my most important item to you."
He did see her wear the necklace everyday. Maybe it was something that held a lot of memories for her.
Was this a sign for him?
It was his turn to give. Kuroko pushed a small velvet box towards her.
"Uwah. This is so pretty," she said at the sight of a ring. "Put it on me." She stretched out her right hand towards him.
Kuroko ignored her right hand and took hold of her left that was on top of the table.
His face was still expressionless so the woman looked at him with a puzzled expression.
He took the ring from the box and put it on her left ring finger. "Let's get married, Yuki." His eyes looked sincere as he said those words.
It made the woman pull her hands back to look closer at the ring and she smiled. "Wow. I guess that's for the 'happy anniversary' greeting, huh?"
They were now inside his apartment, celebrating their anniversary.
Kuroko and Yuki had been going out for three years now. He was a pre-school teacher while she was a veterinarian. They were actually neighbors on the second floor of the building that Yuki's family owned. She had her clinic on the first floor.
He took Nigou, the dog he found back in high school, to her when it got sick and that's when their relationship started. That was three years ago. Kuroko finally decided that it was high time to settle down and get married.
It was not a matter that was urgent but he did love her. They both lived alone and she was someone who understood him in many ways.
Yuki loved basketball as much as he did. They would sometimes play at the park if they both had time. She was younger by a year but they were almost of the same height. She had a very lively personality most of the time and would always be smiling for him.
Both of them were quiet for a while and just stared at each other.
"Tetcchan, before I answer your question, I think I need to go on a trip first," Yuki said as she sliced the vanilla cake in front of them. She gave him a slice and then helped herself to one.
He did not answer. It was not like her but he understood that it may be important for her. Marrying someone requires thinking about a lot of things after all. But since it was with him, it shouldn't be that hard, right?
"You're a really great guy, Tetcchan. You understand me a lot and don't question my decisions and I appreciate that about you. I hope whatever happens, you would still believe in me."
Aomine slammed his fist on the table. He was frustrated with the lack of concrete evidence after a month of searching.
He was inside the Tokyo Police Headquarters and was looking through the new information that was gathered about his latest assignment. He was recently transferred to the Black Ring case after a succcessful bust on the drug case he had been working on for months.
It's one wild chase after another, he thought.
The Black Ring was a money-laundering syndicate involved in gambling and a lot of shady stuff connected to powerful people in and out of the country. There were also evidence of drugs involved that was why he was assigned to the investigation.
Their current objective, aside from stopping the Ring's activities, was to find the leader. The identity of the leader of the Black Ring had always been a mystery even to most of the members that they were able to interrogate. Most of the deals were handled by the lackeys.
Everything was a mess now. Apparently, the leader had gone missing and there were some factions that were trying to gain control.
He stood up from his seat and stared hard at the picture of a woman with red hair.
She was the key to the leader and the Ring. He needed to get to her first before anything happens.
Sayu... That was the alias of the woman known as the Ring's 'bookkeeper.'
"Aomine-san, here is the address to the match we found on Sayu," Matsuba, his teammate, said. He handed him a piece of paper.
"I'll go. You guys just continue with what you're doing," he said. He took his coat from his chair and left the police station.
It was already evening when he reached the address.
Aomine stood in front of a closed veterinary clinic. It seemed like it had been closed for a while now. He looked again at the address on the piece of paper that Matsuba handed him.
The address was right. But something felt wrong.
The identity match of Sayu was a woman in her mid-twenties and was a vet. She apparently lived on the second floor of the clinic.
Aomine decided to look on the second floor. He might find some hints as to Sayu's whereabouts.
He noticed that there were two mail boxes on the foot of the stairs on the side of the building. One had a lot of mail and newspapers stuffed on it and the other one seemed empty.
He decided to ring the first door that he came upon. It seemed that someone was in since there was a light that came through the gap at the bottom of the door.
The door opened and revealed a man with light blue hair.
"You..." was the only thing that came out of his lips as the door fully opened. It was the least person he expected to meet on an investigation.
Kuroko's eyes wide with surprise as he saw Aomine. They had not seen each other for many years now. The last time was back when they were high schoolers. It felt like nothing had changed except for their age as Aomine looked at Kuroko.
"Ah, good evening. Kuroko, can I come in?" he asked after he regained his thoughts.
"S-sure."
Kuroko finished serving Aomine a cup of tea. They were sitting at the kitchen table, facing each other.
It had been many years since he last saw him. He had the same tanned skin and short dark blue hair. What was the reason for this sudden visit now?
Aomine took out a photo from his jacket pocket and put it on the table in front of him.
Kuroko's face twitched as he saw Yuki's face on the photo. She looked more mature in the suit that she was wearing in the picture. She was a vet but she always wore casual clothes.
"Do you know this person?" Aomine asked. His face and tone was serious and meant business.
Kuroko stared at the picture for a long while before answering Aomine.
It had been around three months since Yuki left on her trip. There were no news or messages from her since then. He had tried to call and mail her but it seemed like she just disappeared from his life.
"Yes."
Aomine nodded and took the photo. He carefully put it back inside his jacket pocket.
"I'm looking for a woman named Sayu," Aomine said.
"I don't know anyone named Sayu. The woman I know is Satsuki Yuki." Kuroko fell silent for a while when he realized the characters on the name. He shook his head. "What do you want with her?"
"Do you know where she is?"
"I don't but I can try and help you find out."
"Are you guys just neighbors? Or were you friends with her?"
Kuroko bowed his head. He fidgeted the pendant of the necklace on his neck for a while.
"Kuroko?"
He raised his head and sighed. "She's my girlfriend."
That seemed to have surprised Aomine. Maybe Kuroko did not look like the type to have a relationship since he never did give in to Momoi's advances when they were in middle school and high school.
Kuroko suddenly remembered Momoi. He saw her in a magazine once. She was part-timing as a model while she worked as a coach for a high school basketball team.
"Do you know what she does?"
"She's a vet. She owns the clinic on the first floor. That's all she does."
"Did you notice anything out of the ordinary when you last saw her?" Aomine asked.
Kuroko thought of the last night that he was with her. It was the night of their anniversary and she insisted on packing, saying she would be leaving soon. She disappeared without a single word the next day. She was gone by the time he woke up.
"No."
Aomine handed Kuroko his calling card after he wrote his email address and personal number on it. "Contact me if you find anything out."
Kuroko nodded. He looked at Aomine's card. So he had become a police officer after all. It did not come as a surprise to him.
Seeing Aomine made Kuroko suddenly remember the rest of his teammates from the Generation of Miracles. What were they doing now piqued his interest a bit.
Aomine drank the tea and they remained quiet for a while.
"How are you doing, by the way?" Aomine suddenly asked. His tone was less serious than earlier.
Kuroko drank his own tea first before answering. "I'm fine, considering. I'm a pre-school teacher now."
"Do you have any contact with the others?"
He shook his head. It was more of a chance than choice that he did not hear about the others. Kuroko guessed it was because the path he chose to live was different from the others that they no longer met.
"What about Aomine?"
"Well, I met Kise a few times for drinks. He's a pilot now. I think Murasakibara pursued pastries or something. Midorima, I met at the hospital. He's a doctor and you may have seen Akashi on the news about playing Shogi and stuff."
Kuroko suddenly felt uncomfortable in his seat. So he was the only one who did not know anything about the others. He sighed. It was to be expected given the current life that he was in.
"Don't feel so concerned about them. I'm sure they're living their lives now," Aomine said.
They both heard the doorbell ring. It was for his apartment.
"Kuroko, were you expecting any visitors?"
He looked at Aomine and shook his head. "You're the only unexpected visitor I would like to have tonight."
Aomine stood up and quietly went for the door. Kuroko followed suit. He same Aomine put an ear close to the door to listen to what was on the other side.
The doorbell rang again.
Kuroko held Aomine's arm and pulled him from the door. "It's not polite to keep someone at the door," he said.
Aomine looked dissatisfied but carefully stood behind the door as Kuroko opened it for a bit.
"Good evening. We would like to know if Satsuki-san had left a message for us," the man in a black suit asked Kuroko.
He was with another man in a black suit. The other man was wearing a black bowler hat. Both of the guys looked like they were professional thugs. They looked dangerous.
"Who are you, guys?"
"We're her friends, oniisan," the one with the hat said.
The thugs kind of looked around his age but they still called him 'oniisan.' Their 'politeness' was a bit disgruntling.
"No, she didn't. And I don't remember her being connected to anyone like you."
He was about to close the door when the man firmly held the door with his hand. "Tell me, oniisan, did Satsuki-san ever leave anything for us? Did she leave anything important to you?"
"No."
Kuroko realized now that the more he thought about it, the more he discovered that he knew far too less about Yuki. And it now led him to this sticky situation.
Aomine decided to appear from hiding. He had his badge out and he showed it to the two men outside of the door.
"I would like to ask you guys to leave or you guys will be sleeping in jail tonight," he said.
Kuroko stepped aside. What was with this situation?
The guys decided to step away from the door. They sneered at the sight of the badge on Aomine's hand.
"We'll come by to visit next time, oniisan."
It was after they left that Kuroko felt like he could breathe normally again.
Kuroko was surprised when Aomine pulled him to his bedroom and decided to take out clothes from his closet.
"What are you doing, Aomine?" He held the shirts that Aomine just put on his bed.
"Pack your things. You're coming with me."
"Why?"
Aomine sharply turned to him with an exasperated expression. He looked like he was going to scold Kuroko but then realized what he was doing and made a straight face. "It seems that those guys are dangerous. It's not safe for you to be alone. You need to come with me."
"I don't need to do that. Yuki might come back any moment while I'm away."
Aomine grabbed Kuroko's wrist, the sudden movement prompted Kuroko to lose his balance. He fell straight towards Aomine. He extended his free hand in time. Before he realized it, his hand was on Aomine's chest and they were now looking straight at each other's eyes.
"Don't you get it, you're in danger. Those guys said that they'd come back. I must protect you." His eyes told Kuroko that he was worried.
It was unlike Aomine to show this level of concern for him but Kuroko saw it in his eyes.
Kuroko was the first to avert his gaze. Aomine's firm grip on his wrist hurt a bit.
"Fine. I'll go with you."
[A/N: Do you find it interesting? Should I continue this? Please give me all your comments and suggestions. I would greatly appreciate them.]