A/N: Hello, there! This is the first chapter for my new KnB fanfic which focuses a lot on the relationship between Kagami and Kise (friendship-wise) after shit happens. I have an ongoing monthly Free! fanfic that I...seem to have lost the motivation for at the moment, so I'm hoping that in writing this thing, I might gain some of it back. The chapters for this won't release at any set time - they'll just come out...whenever they come out, I guess? This is more planned-out than my Rintori fanfic, so I'd rather the quality be a lot better (in other words, I'll only be working on it at times I really want to write because I write best then). It'll probably go OOC a lot, considering the nature of this, but I hope you'll still be able to enjoy it!

Note about romance: The thing with this is that there's a lot of...unrequited or unspoken love most likely going to happen in this. So, even though there'll be points where feelings are spoken about and tears over shit like this and stuff, it's staying a friendship fic for the time being unless I decide that maybe I do want to have a pairing happening in this. I highly doubt it though.

The rain is falling, the rain is falling. And before they know it, it's gone past their eyes.

"I can't find Nigou."

Those were the words that set it all off; the words that began Operation Find Nigou. Now really, Kagami wasn't exactly rooting for the whole thing – it was a lot nicer not having to worry about a dog pissing on his belongings when he wasn't looking – but with the captain himself threatening him if he didn't hurry up and help them search, he had no choice in the matter.

His acceptance of the mission really had nothing to do with the puppy dog eyes Kuroko had sent his way.

Seriously.

What made matters worse is that it was raining. And it wasn't just a little widdle, it was a fucking waterfall. They'd just had a practice game with Shuutoku to boot. An exhausted Kagami wasn't one that was happy to be roaming Tokyo searching for a dog. 'Thank fuck I remembered my umbrella, huh?'

Kagami isn't focused as his feet drag through the sodden ground, he knows he isn't. But if he doesn't hurry up and find the thing, he won't get out of the rain and he won't get to sleep. The job just doesn't interest him and he can feel his mind wandering further and further, a basketball out of the corner of his eye screaming at him to pick it up. But finding Nigou was his priority to getting home.

Finding Nigou was his priority.

Finding Nigou was his priority.

So how did he end up on his own again?

It didn't bother him all that much, but Kagami was pretty sure Kiyoshi had been with him five seconds ago. Or was it five minutes ago? Honestly, he wasn't sure—couldn't be sure because he didn't have anything on him to check the time now that his phone was dead.

The rain is falling, the rain is falling. And before they know it, it's eating through their skin.

Shit.

"How the fuck am I supposed to contact everyone else?" he mutters to himself, worrying his lip as he considers what to do. He can continue to look for Nigou, possibly find him, and then find the others so he can hurry up and go home. Or he can begin by ignoring the dog and try to find someone else that has a working phone, so he can stay in contact with the rest of the team should matters change.

For a while, he walks, thinking, thinking, the rain pelting at his umbrella like tacks, tick-tacking along the plastic sheet above him.

Then he sees it. Sees the figure of a man slouched over on a park bench. As Kagami narrows his eyes, he notices something way too unusual. 'That guy doesn't have an umbrella? And wait, he doesn't have a jacket either!?' It's never safe to stay out in the pouring rain without a single piece of protection from the water—surely that was common sense to anybody?

Finding Nigou was his priority.

'Finding Nigou is my priority.'

Ignore the man—he's none of his business. For all he knew, he could be a criminal running from the police, or a killer waiting for someone to kill. The man could be dangerous; the man could be someone that he shouldn't even acknowledge. But still, something nagged at him that it wasn't right to leave him, and it wasn't until he neared the figure that he understood why.

Blonde hair was drooping from an overdose of water, and golden eyes stared lifelessly at the dark ground below. From that description alone, it could be anybody. But when Kagami sees the unusually long eyelashes and the perfectly maintained skin, it becomes obvious who it is.

The rain is falling, the rain is falling. And before they know it, it's infecting the inside of their hearts.

Before he knows what he's doing, he's running, running as fast as he can until he's nearly reached the familiar person. This isn't a man: this is a boy, and in weather such as this, he shouldn't be seeing the skin he was seeing. With nothing but a shirt covering his upper body, he already looked like he was drowning, drowning and drowning some more.

"Kise!" The name escapes his mouth as he shoves a hand on the other's shoulder, and he doesn't care how much he's hurting the other when he full-on slams it into the wooden back of the bench. "What the fuck do you think you're doing out here!?" Those dull golden eyes turn up, a tiny spark cutting through when they see the tall figure of Seirin's power forward.

"Kagamicchi! I didn't expect to see you here!" A smile spreads across Kise's face but it's not right, it's not right at all, and Kagami wants to know why he feels so much unease throughout his body, but he just can't figure it out and it scares him, scares him a lot, but he doesn't know what else he can do, except cover the blonde's head with the umbrella and wrap his body with the characteristic jacket of Seirin.

"Do you not think that should be my line!?" He's panicking now and it's clear from the way his hands can't stay still, as if trying to find out where to go, but they won't land anywhere, won't stop their search for the perfect space. The cold's hitting him now and it hurts, it's painful, and all he can do is ask how? How can Kise sit there like it's a warm summer's day and there's not a cloud in sight?

The rain is falling, the rain is falling. And before they know it, it's planted its eggs.

"So what the fuck are you doing here!?" He should be searching for one of his teammates, not shouting at the freezing lump in front of him; he knows that he should, he fucking knows that he should. But the anger he feels just isn't quenching—the rain barely extinguishing the flames that are getting bigger, getting hotter.

"Hey, Kagamicchi? Do you like basketball?"

…What?

"I like basketball. I like it a lot. I love basketball. Do you like basketball, Kagamicchi?"

Kagami's mouth opens and shuts as he stares, stares at the doll smiling and spouting rubbish, spouting absolute shit. He doesn't stare because he wants to stare, he stares because he doesn't know what to do and doesn't know what to say. And before long, he's questioning if the boy in front of him really is Kise. If really, it was someone else entirely, like a twin or something. Does Kise have twins? He doesn't, does he? Then again, he doesn't know much about Kise, does he?

"I like modelling, too. I love modelling, but sometimes it gets really boring and I get tired just thinking about it. What if I just stopped modelling, would anybody mind? I could still have fans, couldn't I? Of course I could."

"Hey, Kise."

"But what if I had to stop playing basketball? Would people hate me? Kagamicchi, would you hate me?"

"Kise."

"You would have a reason to hate me, wouldn't you?"

"Kise!" This isn't Kise this isn't Kise this isn't Kise this isn't Kise this isn't—

"Aominecchi would hate me too, wouldn't he?"

"Oi, Kise!" What was he saying? Why would Kise say such things? This isn't Kise at all—there's no way it could be Kise. This wasn't the Kise that Kagami knew, it wasn't the Kise he was used to talking to. So if this wasn't Kise…?

The rain is falling, the rain is falling. And before they know it, they've started to hatch.

"He only liked me because I was good at basketball, right?"

"Kise, listen to me!" Words pour out of the blonde's mouth like they aren't meant for Kagami, aren't meant for anyone at all, really. They weren't even directed at himself: they were just directed at nothingness. The red-haired is turning his head round desperately now, hoping to the fucking heavens that someone from Seirin is loitering around, that someone else decided to look for Nigou in the park. But he sees no one, no one at all, and the panic begins delving deeper into his heart.

"Kurokocchi, too. And Murasakibaracchi, and Midorimacchi, and Akashicchi, and Kasamatsu-senpai, and—"

"Kise, just fucking stop!" The forceful shout seems to quieten the small forward, as a welcoming silence hangs between the two, unfocused golden eyes blinking and squinting like they can barely stay open. "We need to just get you out of here for now, okay?" Kagami's voice softens as he speaks the option that his abruptly drawn-about calm gave to him.

But the calm is short-lived.

"Hey, Kagamicchi. Would you hate me?"

The body is falling, the body is falling. And before he knows it, it's gone past his eyes.

A/N: And this is the first chapter complete. I hope you could enjoy it!