The Crumbling Surface

Pairings: Aomine/Kuroko, Kise/Momoi

Rating: M

Summary: Kuroko Tetsuya disappears right before graduation, only to return fifteen years later without having aged a single day.

Chapter 1 : Fast Forward

There was a time Aomine took part in investigating a series of murders involving the brutal deaths of five childen under the age of twelve. It was a fairly big case, and the Japanese public were constantly on the watch, keeping track of recent developments regarding the murders.

It didn't take long for the investigation team to find the murderer. A fifteen year old boy named Nao Ayukawa confessed that he was behind the gruesome killings. He claimed that he was inspired by the Kobe child murders back in '97. Ayukawa said that he experienced a 'spiritual resonance' with the work of Seito Sakakibara and was moved to tears.

Aomine was one of the two officers with him in the interrogation room. Since his partner fared better than he did when it came to these things, Aomine decided to let him do most of the talking. They started asking questions and the boy did his best to reply to each one. He sat on his chair and kept proper posture. He was mild mannered and never stuttered. This overly courteous facade was more insulting than Aomine had expected.

This boy had no concern over human life, he knew the weight of his actions but that didn't matter. The consequences were all trivial. To see him act as if he actually cared was all part of some overly elaborate joke.

Growing tired of Ayukawa's act, Aomine's partner put down his pen and slammed his hands on the table. "Ayukawa-kun, you must think that because you're being protected by the juvenile law that you can go on pretending like this is no big deal. But it is, Ayukawa-kun. Taking a person's life isa big deal. Even if you were to be set free on this very day, you will be carrying that burden with you until you die."

Ayukawa wasn't fazed, but his expression darkened.

"You won't get to me like this." Ayukawa said. "I won't apologize for any of these deaths. I wish I could at least feel the tiniest bit of remorse, but I can't. I don't care anymore. I'm neither happy or sad about this and maybe that's what I should apologize for."

Aomine couldn't utter a single word throughout the interrogation. By the end of it, Aomine was dried up. He stepped out of that room never understanding the kind of world Nao Ayukawa saw.

Being underage, Ayukawa's identity was hidden from the public and he was simply labeled as "Boy A". Case closed.

Two years later, Aomine left the police force.

Aomine took out a can of beer from the fridge and sat down the couch. He turned on the TV to watch the news. These days, everything was about the thirty year old Kise Ryota's 'forbidden relationship' with a sixteen year old actress.

Aomine couldn't help but put on a bitter grin. This was the guy he played basketball with in middle school. They weren't exactly good friends, but they got along well enough. Both of them should've gone pro, they had the height, the talent and the technique to do so. However, by the time Aomine hit eighteen he lost the competitiveness athletes needed to excel. He guessed the same could be said for Kise.

But enough about basketball.

Who would've thought that Kise's acting career would take off? He was modelling for fashion magazines, but he wasn't very popular at all. It wasn't until he did small acting stints in commercials that Kise started gaining a lot of attention.

Kise Ryota may be one of the most popular actors in Japan, but he was also in danger of being branded a lolicon. Aomine was now a self-proclaimed private investigator tracking down missing cats. That seemed fair enough.

Aomine's mobile phone began to ring. He dug through his pockets. He had to shove aside his keys and a couple of coins before he could successfully take out his phone. "H-Hello?"

"Oh! Dai-chan?" Her voice always brought back memories of highschool.

"Satsuki?"

She laughed. "Hey Dai-chan it's been a—"

"How'd you get this number?"

"Geez, you're unromantic as ever."

"Says the girl who stopped seeing me last year. You've got some nerve."

"Stupid, you can't call a thirty year old woman a 'girl'! You're an idiot!" Momoi always lost her cool around him. "Look I'm really sorry but I have own issues too, you know? You're not the only one who can quit his job and disappear. I was worn out too."

He could hear her sigh on the the other line. Aomine hated himself for acting like a child but he couldn't help it. Momoi had been out of touch of a whole year, whenever he asked her parents and friends where she was, they could only mutter things like: "She needs space." or "Satsuki's trying to sort things out." They gave him the most cryptic answers they could possibly come up with. Prior to her big disappearance, Momoi had been writing sports columns for a small sports magazine. Being one of the few women in the business, she was always eager to prove herself. This mentality of hers eventually took a toll on Momoi. By the time she reached her limit, no one could get through her.

Aomine and Momoi were friends since childhood. They've been through a lot of things together and Momoi stood by his side for the longest time. In an ideal world, they would've gotten married after college. Reality was a little different though. It was hard to say what stopped them from being together, but whatever it was, they didn't mind it all too much. They were fine the way they were.

"Why did you call Satsuki?" Aomine knew he had to wait for an answer. Momoi usually took her time when it came to answering difficult questions.

"Let's meet up, Dai-chan. I know a nice place we can have dinner together."

Momoi was the type of person who drew attention to her wherever she went. The moment stepped into the restaurant, everyone's eyes were on her. She took the free seat in front of Aomine, set aside her Coach shoulder bag and took off her sunglasses. Watching her do these things kept Aomine occupied, she moved so gracefully that it almost hurt to think that he could never fall in love with such a beautiful woman.

"How's everything Aomine-kun?" She didn't like switching from Dai-chan to Aomine-kun whenever they were in public, but it was a difficult habit to fix. Aomine wasn't very fond of being called Dai-chan in front of other people She placed her arms over the table and studied every inch of his face. "I missed you."

"Same here."

She picked up the menu and read through it. This was an unnecessary act though. Momoi had been there countless times and she knew exactly what she wanted.

Aomine gives up reading halfway through. "Satsuki, just tell me what I should order."

After dessert Momoi took out a square shaped, white envelope from her bag. She placed it on the table and pushed it towards Aomine.

"What's this?" Aomine picked it up and opened it, inside was an intricately designed card.

"It's a wedding invitation."

"Who's getting married?"

Momoi licked her lips and shook her head. "You're terrible."

"Huh?"

"I'm getting married Aomine-kun." She ran a hand through her hair. "I'm getting married to Kise Ryota."

"What?" Aomine could've sworn the world was playing a cruel joke on him.

"It's a long story but I'll try to make it as short as possible. You see, when I 'disappeared' last year, all I did was travel around Japan. Kise and I met in a cafe in Okinawa. Weird, right? But life's like that. He looked pretty shocked too. He walked up to me and he was trying really hard not to comment on my boobs. So instead of that, he brought you up. Thanks to you, we spent a lot of a our time reminiscing about middle school basketball."

"So you're saying I played a part in getting the two of you together? I..I'm not sure how that makes me feel."

"Don't be such a smartass. Anyway, we were talking and it's funny but- I started to think that I could actually marry this man. Like, I wouldn't mind living with him in the same house and having these conversations with him all the time. It was strange, but Kise looked like he was having the same thoughts as I did. Everything happened really fast and now..." She snapped her fingers. "...we're getting married."

"Sounds just like a movie." He wasn't quite sure how to feel about the whole situation. "You are aware that he's been putting his dick inside a sixteen year old girl, right? It's all over the news."

"It's a publicity stunt. Kise's filming a drama with that girl. Have you heard of it? It's about a teacher who falls in love with his student. I'm not that stupid, Aomine-kun. If there was something going on, I'd be the first to know."

"Woman's intuition, huh?" Aomine scratched the back of his neck.

Momoi watched Aomine's tried to form a coherent reply. He looked just like he did when they were kids. Aomine always had a hard time dealing with these things. He was being left behind by the only girl who stuck with him, and the feeling was unbearable.

"You'll be okay, won't you Aomine-kun?"

It felt as if a heavy weight was pressed on his chest. He couldn't breathe. "As long as you're happy."

Aomine walked her to the train station. "You be careful."

"You too."

Momoi wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. "Aomine-kun, we talked about Tetsu-kun too." Aomine froze as she whispered those words to his ears. "Kise-kun cried a lot when we did. I told him that we had to forgive ourselves for what happened or else we wouldn't be able to move forward. Aomine-kun, you never stopped blaming yourself, didn't you? But you have to forgive yourself. People can't live like this."

Those were her last words before boarding the train.

Kuroko Tetsuya had been missing for nearly fifteen years. The last time anyone saw him was on the day of graduation in Teiko middle school. While it was relatively easy to trace where he lived and who his parents were, there were no leads as to where Kuroko may have been.

Aomine felt partially responsible. After all, he and Kuroko were friends. He was the person the boy was closest to. They walked home together, played basketball and they even went out together from time to time. The boy was like a little brother to him but it wasn't long until certain things caused them to drift apart. Before he knew it, he and Kuroko stopped being friends.

It was laughable. People who disappear are essentially suspended in time. They never age. Kuroko in his mind would be the same fifteen year old boy. He wasn't quite a person anymore. His whole being was now based on the collected memories of persons A and B. Kuroko had turned into a ghost, whether he was dead or alive didn't matter.

If I had the chance, I would search for Tetsu again.

That night, Aomine received a text message from an unknown number.

I KNOW HOW TO FIND TETSUYA.

Notes: I know some people are impatient but the intention was to flesh out Aomine as much as possible. I like to think that despite Aomine being 30 in this fic, this story is still a coming of age one. Thank you for reading and I hope that as I continue writing, I'll keep improving! You might notice come changes in the story, this is because I'll be revising as much as I can.