Kuroko stood motionlessly in the rain, his eyebrow raised slightly as he waited for the bus to arrive, he groaned slightly as the endless traffic drove past him in a frenzy. Kuroko Tetsuya really hated British weather. He could have sworn that the weather report said that it would be a clear day with only two percent chance of light showers.
Of course, if the reporter had accurately reported that the rain would pour down from the heavens like a typhoon, he probably would have brought an umbrella. His day was just not going well. He felt water run down his nose and drip off the end, a sure-fire way to know that he was officially drenched as he sighed emotionlessly.
The bus finally pulled up beside him, and the driver shot him a pitying look as he slowly made his way to the only available seat next to a crying baby and put his headphones in.
It was just one of those days.
College had been tediously long, and the teacher had kept them overtime to tell them about the five essays, and ten pieces of homework they had to do by the next day, effectively making him miss the early bus. As he picked out a song on his phone, he noticed that he didn't have a song quite sad enough to express the ongoing angst filled music video that his life was slowly becoming. He felt sullen all of a sudden.
Kuroko often found himself reminiscing about his life in Japan and how his old teammates would smile at him. How they'd all cry out when he frightened them with his lack of presence. Taiga's joyous chuckles and warm fist bumps. He really missed them.
England was practically a trip that was lasting for a lifetime for Kuroko, all he wanted was to go home…
Back to Tokyo, back to Seiren. The bus slowly came to a stop as he exited the overcrowded damp vehicle, having to nudge people out of the way as he clambered out of the door. Back into the rain again, he scurried off to his home with a frown on his face and his body feeling overwhelmingly cold.
The small cottage was the perfect picture of the English countryside, beautiful, Christmas card perfect. Apart from the clear fact that it wasn't Christmas and the place was slowly falling apart. Not to mention that in Britain, it didn't snow, it just made rain colder.
On the rare occasion that it actually snowed, Kuroko found that it was often at inconvenient times like in the middle of summer and ended up turning the streets into walking death traps. He groaned slightly as he found that his shoes squeaked with water damage as he stepped onto the dry wooden floor. Itching to get his wet socks off, he stumbled through the empty house with only a small tumble onto the couch.
"I really hate the rain" he moaned as he pulled off his shoes and carefully placed them on the rack while moving to put his socks beside the washing machine.
"Tet, is that you?" His stepmother cried out, as she entered the room, pulling her beloved adopted son into a bone-crushing hug.
The woman was American but lived in the Britain thanks to his father's job.
Kuroko and his father had moved almost two years ago, the man rushed into their quaint home in Tokyo with an overjoyed smile and an envelope that would change their lives forever.
"Tetsu, look, look at this!" His father had exclaimed, hope and excitement swimming in his pale blue eyes.
He had practically thrown the letter at the somewhat dazzled teen with an anxious look painted onto his face. Kuroko had carefully pealed back the envelope and opened the letter. The words were faint to him now, he barely remembered the lettering or the feel of the paper, but the memory was still strong. He recalled looking back up at his father, the man almost bouncing with joy at the announcement.
"We're moving?" Kuroko asked, trying not to let the panic that he was hiding just under the surface show and potentially ruin his father's happiness.
"That's great" Kuroko had muttered, trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible, he found himself thanking the lord for his usual deadpanned persona, as he could make himself sound foolishly happy in this situation.
"I knew you'd think so, we can be together now as a family and you and I can spend more time together" the man cheerfully began to rant as Kuroko cast a glance to his mother's picture. His father calmed for a second, watching where his son's eyes were pointing.
"She'd be so proud of us" he smiled, a sadness washing over them for a moment before his father grabbed his shoulders and pulled the shell-shocked teen into a hug.
"Well, we have two months left in Tokyo before we move to Britain, you're going to love it there and…" his father had continued but Kuroko was already fretting about having to leave his home. He was incredibly happy for his father, the man was a single parent who worked from dusk to dawn just to make ends meet, yet, now he wanted to tell the man that he thought that moving was a horrid idea.
Kuroko's conflicted mind wondered to the image of his team. He would have to leave them all behind, his chest tightened at the idea. He'd finally managed to get back his friends. His beloved teammates. All gone. Again. "That's wonderful" he smiled at his father who was ranting about a London monument…
That afternoon, he'd wondered the streets around his home, taking it all in. The street lamps only just starting to flicker on, as the dazzling sunlight dimmed overhead. The lack of clouds in the sky, letting the stars start to poke their heads down from the heavens just enough to be in sight.
The sky a golden hue that as he turned his head to the left slowly became more and more of a dark navy blue. It reminded him of Daiki's hair, and for a moment he felt a familiar feeling of fondness grow inside of his aching chest.
With his old teammates in his mind, he started to carefully compare the environment to their unusual shades of hair colour. The golden light was Kise, shining brightly and magnificently, contrasting wonderfully to the dark blue night sky.
The illuminated trees were Midorima, his eyes and hair the way he'd offer Kuroko his lucky item, despite numerous occasions of telling the man he didn't believe in luck. Murasakibara was the pale hue of purple that was only just noticeable now in between the two raging colours of the sky. It stretched long and far, it's greatness attractive to the eye, it was the way that he'd always offer Kuroko vanilla flavoured snacks and how they'd mindlessly chat about things.
The slowly dimming light left a small amount of blazing red sunshine in his vision as it set behind the hills.
Akashi… The way the man would smile warmly and dominate all like the sun over the darkness.
Two months… Two months and he'd never get to see this place again. He'd never get to see them again. Somehow, he felt like he was going to cry.
"I'm sorry" he cried out to the nothingness "I'm sorry I don't want to go" Kuroko continued sobbing slightly at the pain drowning his heart.
That night, after his father had shuffled off to work a night shift, he cried himself to sleep…
The next morning he'd awoken in order to go to school, the bustling streets making it hard to get in. He'd wondered through the gates only to find a bunch of crowded students cornering part of the grounds. Kuroko made a mental note to avoid the Kise Ryouta whom he knew would be lurking on the other side of the gathered crowd as he cautiously avoided all of the people who wondered what was going on around him.
"Hello, Kagami-Kun" Kuroko had monotonously spoke as he reached his desk. Kagami had let out a bellowing scream as he noticed the person in front of him.
"Bastard, don't scare me like that!" The red-head exclaimed making Kuroko want to chuckle at the idiot's reaction. The aquamarine haired man simply shrugged his shoulders and he sat down in front of Kagami and pulled out the book that he'd started reading two days ago.
"Hey, have you been crying?" The tiger asked reaching out his hand and softly stroking the skin underneath Kuroko's right eye. The smaller boy was slightly frazzled by the display of affection, ignoring that Kagami' thumb still rested on his cheek and hand cupping his chin and cheek.
"I'm afraid I don't cry at small things like you when watching Finding Nemo, Kagami-Kun" Kuroko chided, his eyes carefully watching as the huge American stuttered out a reply and turned a shade of dark red that matched his hair. Kuroko giggled mutely as he began to read the book in front of him. Kagami was awfully cute when he was flustered.
"Still, you'd tell me if you were upset, right?" Taiga asked concern dripping into his question.
Tetsuya found himself nodding at his partner, his eyes trying to conceal the emotion lying deep beneath them.
"Thank you, Kagami-Kun" he whispered almost to himself, not knowing that the man behind him was listening closely to the mysterious boy.
The months had dragged on, and it came to the point where all of his possessions were packed and ready to be shipped with him over to the British Isles.
"Are you ready, we have to get to the airport early tomorrow so we'll be staying at a hotel beside it for tonight" his father gave him a ditzy smile before telling the movers what to do. Kuroko, still hadn't managed to tell the others he was leaving.
Every time he'd tried to say something, his gut would painfully cry out for him to stop. He'd gotten so close to telling Kagami, yet at the last moment he'd stopped and come up with some ridiculous lie to cover up the tension he'd allowed to build up in the room.
"Coward, you're a coward" he grumbled.
"My son, is many things, but he's no coward, what's wrong?" His father startled him, well, he had to get his invisibility from somebody. Kuroko pondered telling the man what was wrong before deciding to tell him only half of the tale.
"So they still don't know?" Kuroko Takuto asked, a little gob-smacked that the kid had managed to hide it for so long. His son gave a solemn nod, before sighing at the predicament he'd managed to get himself into.
"Here, take this and tell them" the man simply stated before moving to pick up a basketball that Kuroko had kept since he was a child.
"They deserve to know" his father advised before leaving the room once more. Kuroko clutched the item close before making his decision and heading to the one place that it was likely for Kagami to be. He'd started to run, as he felt time slowly start to push against him. The nostalgic feeling of memories flooding through him as he passed places that he'd learned to appreciate…
The court where the teens had been bullying kids so Kagami and Kise had helped him defeat them.
The streak place where they'd been kicked out off after Kagami had eaten all of their meals so they got them for free… Seiren high school, where he'd met some of the most incredible people in the whole world.
Finally, he arrived at his destination, tired and out of breath. He silently looked inside and saw the towering figure who he'd learned to call friend. The man had a huge tower of burgers and was sitting by their usual window. Kuroko had sat down silently in the chair opposite him, and simply waited for the tiger to notice him. Of course, he let out a choked noise as his eyes finally adjusted to recognise the person in front of him.
"Oi, Kuroko, when did you get there?" Kagami stuttered, feeling the soft eyes of his friend, gaze at him with an uncertainty that he couldn't quite place. The cyan-eyed boy smiled slightly in amusement, this was an uncanny situation.
"What are you talking about Kagami-Kun, I've been here the whole time" he calmly replied watching the others face morph into one of frustration. Before, turning to worry.
"Kuroko, why are you, you're crying?" The taller of the pair had shouted startled by the other.
Tetsuya reached up his hand to feel the tear running down his cheek.
"I suppose I'm here to tell you that somethings wrong" he had sighed, remembering the conversation where Kagami had rubbed his sore eyes and told him to confide in him. Kagami simply watched him, a mixture of anxious curiosity and worry forming in his stern yet beautiful eyes.
"I'm moving Kagami-Kun, my father and I are moving to England, I can't make you the best in Japan anymore" the boy finally said, letting the tears pour from his eyes freely for the first time in forever.
The pair was left in a long silence, and Kuroko could have sworn that the phrase 'the silence is deafening' was suddenly becoming a reality. Moments passed before he was enveloped in a pair of warm arms.
Strong.
Comforting.
Real. So, painfully real, and for the first time since he'd opened that letter, Kuroko felt his world crumble, right there.
In Kagami's arms.
The rest of that day had been a rushed emotional fall-apart time. He'd given the basketball to Kagami with a promise that they'd meet again someday.
The look on his friends face as he slowly drove away was something that would forever be burned into his brain, and whenever he felt lonely he saw that face. And he realised that he was not the most lonesome of the two of them. For the first month, he'd tried to video chat and ring the people who he missed.
Yet, the time was never right or their schedules always managed to be mismatched. Until, it faded out…
Still, Kuroko never once forgot about any of the people at Seiren. He often found himself thinking about them, thinking about the Generation of Miracles. The cold glare that everyone must have gotten when a certain red-haired captain was told that Kuroko was gone and he was not the first to be notified.
Akashi never failed to completely blow his mind. Almost two months after he had moved, the fuming red-haired man had shown up at his door with a furious glare and a warm hug at the ready.
They'd sat down and had tea together before Akashi had given his a real, and true goodbye. And that was the end of it. He never really heard from them again.
Then, here he was almost two years later, being crushed by his lovely step-mother in a house that he felt was haunted by the ghost of 'good building structures' past. Maria, was his new mothers name and she was friendly enough.
His father had married her a year ago now, they had said it was love at first sight and Kuroko was very happy to have a new member of the family. The cyan-eyed boy felt a certain pride every time his dorky dad walked through the door with a cheerful smile and a kiss ready for his wife.
Overall, they'd never felt happier. Well, Kuroko had, but that wasn't the point. He wanted these people to be as happy as he was in Japan, and he would make that happen.
"Your father is coming back from Japan today, he's been visiting the old company isn't that great" she excitedly told her son handing him a vanilla flavoured cookie. Kuroko gave her a lopsided smile as he tilted his head to rest it on the kitchen island.
"Bad day, eh kiddo?" The woman calmed as he softly petted his soft locks.
"It's bucketing down" the boy told her, as he nodded in understanding.
"Well, its Friday tomorrow, so at least something good happened today" she gleamed trying to make him feel better with some good old fashioned enthusiasm.
"It's a humbling moment when you notice the best thing about today, is that there is a tomorrow" Kuroko darkly chuckled, feeling his mother's worried gaze burning into the back of his neck.
"I'm sorry Tet, but things will get better" she smiled patting his head again before he got up and got ready to do the mass amount of homework he was set.
After begrudgingly finishing his paper on 'The limitations and advantages of using overt observations to study truancy in high schools' he lay back on his bed with a fake cry of relief.
"Well, thank god that's over" the seventeen-year-old mused, before flinging his body forward so he could get off the bed. His yes glanced over to the mirror that was next to the door. He held a hand up to his cheek. His skin was the same pale white that it had always been, and was still unbelievably flawless.
His large eyes had remained the same, but Kuroko often thought they looked aged, as if something was different, yet he couldn't place it. Now, he had his hair tied in a messy ponytail, so he slowly pulled out the bobble to let it fall to its natural place.
His hair was almost shoulder length and he held a strand so a moment before flicking it to the side. Somehow his mother had convinced him to get his ears pierced. Although, it was a long-winded debate in the Kuroko household for a couple of weeks, he'd finally given in and gotten them done.
Though, at the time he'd fretted over the pain and grumbled at the loving compliments he received, he felt thankful now. Three months later a friend of his by the name of Matthew, who was a sweet Canadian with a polar bear plushie had talked him into getting his tongue done, just to tell the adorable boy how much it hurt.
Matthew also suffered from invisibility and the two had bonded through multiple cases of popping out of nowhere and scaring the other to death. The two had suffered through that experience together with small smiles on their faces.
He'd grown in height, which made life a lot easier, he was now a proud 6'1, something he never thought his small stature would actually achieve. When Mattie had gone home, the boy felt loneliness creep back into his heart. Yet, if one thing came out of the experience it was that Kuroko learned he was bi-sexual. Matthew and Kuroko had dated for around two months before realising that they were both in love with someone else.
The realisation had hit the unsuspecting aquamarine-haired boy like a truck and he'd locked himself in his room for two days until his step-mother kicked down his door and told him that he had to eat.
He flopped back down on his bed, the memory of his friends flickering behind his pale eyelids. He closed his eyes for a moment, wanting to sleep away the longing.
"Tet, your father is on the phone" a melodious voice rang out, and as lovely as it was, it still made the boy grumble in disagreement at the mere suggestion of moving from the comfortable position he had managed to snuggle into on the mattress of the bed.
"Okay, I'm coming down" he shouted back, getting out of bed with a moan and wobbling down the creaking stairs.
"He's here now Hun, yes I'll put it on speaker" Tetsuya heard the woman laugh as she pressed the speaker button.
"Hey, Tetsu I'm in Japan" his dad laughed from the other side of the phone making Kuroko was to say 'I wish I was'. He hummed in acknowledgement.
"So how was your day then?" When the man was met with a cold silence he realised that it clearly was not a good day for his son. He seemed to be having less and less of them since the Canadian had gone back home.
"Well, kiddo how would you feel about moving again?" Takuto asked, feeling the shock from the other side of the phone. The man couldn't help but flinch a little at the lack of response. Kuroko was contemplating how life could possibly get any worse by moving again.
"To where?" the boy had replied not expecting a good answer.
"Tokyo" his step-mother smiled. Kuroko looked a little lost, she noted. His eyes had gotten larger and showed so much emotion that she was ready to up and go right there.
"You're not kidding?" Tetsuya asked, hope building in his stomach at the fond look that stretched across his mother's face.
"Yes, we'll be moving to Tokyo in a month" his dad laughed from the other side of the phone, making the cyan-eyed boy tear up.
Kuroko wasn't sure what he wanted to do first. When it came time to move the first time, he'd found that slowly but surely his items would end up in various boxes, though he'd be somewhat in a trace of sorrow when doing it. Now he was energetic and excited. He could see his friends again, if they even was his friends anymore…
He shook his head to try and shake away the inner voices of his head that all worried about how the others where, and whether they'd like the 'newer' Kuroko. After all, he wasn't the same person that he was when he left. He'd changed in attitude, adapting the more monotone, yet somehow incredibly emotional constitution of the average British man and had become more interested in social interacts with others.
He'd also grown on the physical front, and looked a lot different from when he left. Not to mention that thanks to his over-attentive stepmother he'd grown a lot fonder of hugs and physical interactions. He was still invisible, that had not changed at all.
In fact, it might have increased a little since he was constantly alone, which wasn't his fault but he could never seem to find anyone that wanted to be friends with an odd Japanese student who was practically invisible.
The only person he'd ever found that truly liked him was Matthew and he'd gone back to Canada five months ago and the two hadn't really had the chance to speak since.
The boy wondered why he was evaluating himself, it wasn't like he could just change his way of thinking or acting just because those he cared about wanted him to be the same as when he left. He was left conflicted on the subject when it came time to finally go to sleep, the lulling sound of his heartbeat acting as his song and the image of his friends coaxing him into the dream world where he'd get to see them all again.
His mornings were always a frenzied run of gathering items, getting dressed, going to the bathroom and then running to school so he wouldn't be late. Kuroko wasn't always as frantic as this, yet his stepmother had let him sleep in as he'd had an emotional day and needed his beauty sleep.
He thought it was a kind gesture but was secretly condemning it inside his head as now he had to speed up his routine ten-fold to try and get everything done.
Now as Kuroko ran into the school grounds flashing his ID at the bored woman at the front desk, he finally had the chance to relax.
"Oh Tetsuya, you know that first lesson has been cancelled, right?" A light voice rang out from behind him, coming from a student named Alice who seemed nice enough, but he didn't actually know the girl. The cyan-eyed boy gave her a look that said 'you've got to be joking' before the girl burst out laughing at his actions.
"Sorry, didn't you check your email?" The girl inquired knowing full well that he didn't check it. Kuroko groaned, this was another one of those days. "Unfortunately, not, Alice" he stated, before getting ready to leave the scene and get some coffee or something.
"Wait, you can come hang with me and the girls if you want" she quickly told him, wanting the handsome teen to talk to them for once. Kuroko wasn't sure if he should go or not, his mind rushed out excuses before he managed to settle with a 'sure'.
The girls were loud, boisterous and very inquisitive.
"Hey, Tetsuya what sports do you like?" One of them asked suddenly.
"Basketball" the monotone voice replied, watching as the girls turned to one another and started to quietly giggle about him playing such a 'manly' sport.
"Did you play in Japan?" Alice asked, trying to start a conversation with the clearly reluctant Japanese teen.
"Yes" came back the one word answer that she should have seen coming considering it was a closed question. The conversation moved onto different topics that Kuroko had no understanding of like make-up and fashion.
"Do you miss it, Japan I mean?" A small girl squeaked, clearly not up to date with the current conversation either.
"A little, the people there mean a lot to me, but I will be moving back to Tokyo within a month so it's alright" Kuroko explained, it was the longest he'd ever managed to talk to them for. He suddenly became aware that all the people around him had stopped talking and were now simply staring at his face.
"Is something wrong?" The pale teen questioned, wondering why they were staring and feeling a little uncomfortable at all the eyes on him.
"We'll miss you when you go back" Alice stated, her bangs covering her eyes as she spoke "but that was so cute, your eyes lit up and everything!" she continued, happiness pouring out of her mouth. Kuroko blushed at her comment before looking at the time and excusing himself so he could go to class.
Kise always called him cute. It had become impeccably irritating to hear the blond run into the gym with a wide, beautiful smile and yell 'where is my cute Kurokocchi?" It made the aqua-haired boy feel a little bit like a pet whose overly energetic owner was currently unable to look after him so came to visit and in that time, annoyed him to death.
Kuroko briefly wondered if he would be a cat, before concluding that he had some qualities of a feline, but if Kise tried to put cat ears on him then he'd have to get revenge.
Somehow the idea of his being a cat lead to him thinking about Kagami.
The tiger was always a blushing mess at some point in the day and now that his brain was thinking about it, seeing Kagami wearing cat ears would be funny yet, alluring.
He often wondered what the teen was doing on a day like this.
Was he in lesson?
Was he playing basketball?
What was Kagami Taiga doing in Japan, did he still think about Kuroko?
All the questions that built up inside his head were almost endless in size.
The more he thought about Japan, the more he wanted to leave early, just getting on a flight and going to see them, be with them…
Kuroko had never felt more alone than when he'd gone to England. Even when the generation of miracles betrayed him, he still felt like he could get them back somehow, and he did, but then he lost them again.
The flight over, left his heart in a tightly gripped vice.
The boy had never felt such pain before, well, before he lost his mother that was, but at that time his father had held him so close that it became hard to cry or express sadness as he wanted to cheer up his grieving father.
Instead he adopted a monotone personality which as the years in England went on had slowly began to break down making him more expressive that he was two years ago. At this point, Kuroko could only hope that the month of waiting would pass quickly and smoothly so he could go home with some joy in the memories he'd collected In Britain.