When Kuroko Tetsuya left work at precisely 20.12 on a crisp but cold Thursday night, a most ordinary of nights to him, he was not expecting to be run into. It didn't come lightly either - one second he was checking his messages and within the next, he collided with another body, the force being harsh enough to lift him off his feet. If considering this at all, it is actually not difficult to lift the surprisingly short 19-year-old off his feet, but that didn't stop the bluenette from groaning ever so slightly in discomfort, rubbing his head, which, during his fall, had endured most of the force. As Kuroko glanced up - vision blurred so that he saw everything double, he took note of a man's figure, crouched right beside him. As vision refocused, Kuroko took in his dark physique.

"damn, you okay?" The voice was distinct, despite having a husky tone, as if the man had a slight cold. Kuroko nodded. Admittedly, he really wasn't okay: his head throbbed painfully and, looking around, he saw a definite crack in the screen of his phone, the screen having frozen midway between texting and playing music.

"I didn't see you dude, my bad." The man helped Kuroko up and before the bluenette could pick up his phone, smashed and all, the other had, staring at the screen in disbelief. Kuroko took the silence between them to gaze at the other. It was a tall, broad-shouldered man, fit enough to be a professional basketball player. To match the image, he wore sports shorts and a baggy T-shirt along with flashy, probably brand-new sports shoes.

"Shit, this is worse than I thought." Continued the guy, tapping the phone twice. With a sigh, he handed it back to its original owner with an apologetic look. Kuroko sighed tiredly and decided to forgive the male when he apologized. To his surprise however, the male did nothing of the sort. At least, not in the typical way.

"I just finished training at the gym so I'm heading down to the burger restaurant. Wanna join me? I know it doesn't cover your broken phone but, I haven't got the resources to get it fixed at the minute." almost instantly did Kuroko want to decline, knowing nothing about the male who, upon closer inspection looked quite frightening. The light sheen of sweat glistening upon his browned skin along with his dark hair and deep eyes. But when it came to it, Kuroko found himself nodding aimlessly to which the other grinned.

"Cool, name's Aomine Daiki." He pointed at himself with his thumb, still grinning. Again, Kuroko was astounded by his own reactions.

"Kuroko Tetsuya, pleased to make your acquaintance." The guy named Aomine let out a hearty laugh, his eyebrows furrowing when he did so.

"dude, you're way polite. Loosen up." Kuroko gave a small, rather timid smile and let Aomine show him the way, realising after a couple of minutes what restaurant he talked off. The one he used to visit during his middle school years. He could especially remember their vanilla milkshakes, oh those years had been the greatest.

Back then, Kuroko had no worries about things such as paying rent in time and transferring money into bank accounts. In middle school, Kuroko spent most of his hours reading, learning and observing people. By the end of middle school, Kuroko had an interest in psychology and studying people's behaviour. At the end of high school however, the bluenette thought nothing of it anymore, having lost interest after spending all his school years mostly alone.

Kuroko Tetsuya had a gift though. A notorious talent or - to rephrase, intriguing air around him. You see, Kuroko had hardly any presence. Because of this, he often was thought to be absent or otherwise forgotten to be mentioned. Kuroko was well aware of this of course. Secretly, he knew why Aomine had run into him. The bluenette was a magnet for being knocked over…

Barely ten minutes later, Kuroko stood with Aomine outside the burger tent. The bluenette holding his familiar vanilla milkshake and Aomine a bag of burgers. They walked in silence down the road in the direction of Kuroko's home. Uncomfortable with the quietness between them, Kuroko attempted to small-talk.

"Aomine-kun, why do you buy so many burgers?" Aomine snorted slightly, but not in a sarcastic manner. More in a that's-a-good-question sort of way. However, when taller male looked like he was going to answer, a loud buzzing sounded from the male's pocket and with a swift movement, Aomine pulled out an old flip-phone - Kuroko tried not to judge him for it.

"oh crap, I totally forgot about this. Akashi is gonna be pissed. Aagh!" puzzled by his reaction, Kuroko wondered to the text Aomine had received. Aomine on the other hand glanced at Kuroko.

"I'd better go. Here." out of his pocket, Aomine fished a piece of paper with untidy handwriting on it. They were numbers which together, formed a phone number. Kuroko looked from the paper up to Aomine, who was looking suddenly nervous and in a hurry.

"look, sorry about what happened. If you ever need me, call that number." And when Kuroko continued to be silent, Aomine sighed.

"well see ya Tetsu." Kuroko's head snapped up as Aomine said that, but it was too late - the other male had vanished. Kuroko frowned and stared down at the number again. Seconds later he sighed and shook his head.

"How am I going to call you when my phone's in its current state…" Eventually Kuroko concluded that he had no intention of calling Aomine Daiki again anyway. As much as Kuroko was against judging a book by its cover, he felt that he would be doing himself a favour if he stayed away from the man. Not that he wasn't grateful for the free vanilla shake or anything!

Upon arriving home, Kuroko slipped out of his shoes by the foyer and left them there, placed neatly beside one another. Often, Kuroko felt bored out of his wits so he decided to clean around the house instead. Therefore, he had but to glance around and notice not a single speck of dust. Of course, the male who was much too tired to be bothered anyway, simply slumped into the kitchen to scavenge for something to eat. After throwing his empty milkshake cup away he stared into his dangerously empty fridge and sighed, looking straight at a jar of 8-month-old pickles which seemingly smiled at him in a mocking fashion. Kuroko grunted and shut the door again. He didn't even have any milk for his cereal the morning after. This meant that the bluenette would have to go out to the convenience store a little further down. Although he didn't necessarily have a problem with taking another stroll, the teal eyed male felt a little sluggish. Making up his mind, Kuroko pulled out his smashed phone which had switched itself off in due course and took a seat at his small dining table, barely big enough to fit two plates.

Kuroko desperately tried reviving his only means of communication but to no avail. Frustration wasn't however what Kuroko felt - exasperation described it better. He was therefore glad when he remembered he had a deal consisting of a warranty upon his device and that he would be given a new one if his broke within the first year of purchase.

"I'll have to visit the store to sort this." Kuroko pushed the phone to the other side of the table and then he saw the piece of paper with Aomine's number on it again. He took it in his hand and then got up to throw it away. Just before he was about to chuck it, he hesitated, staring at the number. For some reason, the short male couldn't bring himself to dispose of the paper. Although it had little value to him, Kuroko assumed it was because someone had noticed him that he sort of felt compelled to keep the paper, even if it was simply out of politeness.

Kuroko's thoughts were interrupted by a loud growl resonating from his stomach and sighing, he turned and headed back to the entrance hall where he put on his shoes slowly after checking he had his wallet and keys.

Another rough 10 minutes later, Kuroko stared at the many bottles of milk, slightly dazed by his own thoughts. He shivered. It had been chilly outside and he'd been so silly as to forget to put on a coat. Sighing, he grabbed some milk and placed it in his basket with several other assorted necessities for his household.

Behind him, the TV stood on the news channel. Kuroko turned to look at it with curiosity. He was not at all surprised to see more reports of gang fights.

Gangs were as common as air around the neighbourhood. That didn't mean you weren't supposed to be afraid of them, in fact, violence and physical abuse was the highest rank of crime in Kuroko's string of the city – closely followed by vandalism.

The news reports covered only so much however. Although Kuroko wasn't particularly familiar with any gangs in detail, it was hard to escape talk some of the more infamous ones. The most mentioned of these was a group called Teiko. No one knew for sure how many members there were or even who the leader was. All that was known was that it was a small group of incredibly strong and tightly-strung individuals who on their own were powerful but as a group, formed a sort of godly/ demonic cluster. People spoke the name Teiko with fear, or with caution at the least.

One of the many rumours Kuroko had heard flying around was that, as well as being inconceivably violent, Teiko had both brains and money to back them up. Altogether, they were a set of people to scare anyone out of their wits. Kuroko however never knew what to think of it.

The male turned to pay for his things, still thinking about the report he'd just watched. Some guy by the name of Haizaki had just been interrogated under suspicion of bearing information about the Teiko group. Of course, the police got no further into their investigation about who these people really were. Haizaki as Kuroko recalled, had simply messed around with the officers interrogating him and had basically obscured the information even more, leaving the police clueless as to where to even start.

"Come again~" The kind lady behind the till said as she waved Kuroko off. Ignoring her, the bluenette stared at the dark sky above him still thinking about one thing Haizaki had said which he had picked up.

"They do what they want, whenever they want." Despite already knowing that, hearing it from another criminal was slightly worrying.

Kuroko headed home when he heard some male voices shouting in the distance and he knew it had to be some sort of gang looking for trouble - in other words, something he wanted nothing to do with. Groaning, the male continued onwards, quickening his pace when he noticed three people behind him. A nasty shiver ran down the bluenette's spine and he took on a fierce and speedy walking, willing himself to get away as quick as possible. When he couldn't shake the men off, Kuroko frowned and weighed his options; his legs were trembling and he tried his best to think clearly. He thought he knew the area enough to try and take a shortcut which led through an alleyway and into some quieter streets. Hoping for the best, Kuroko took a sharp left down a narrow and dark alleyway, hoping to the gods that the men wouldn't follow him.

When he thought about it, Kuroko could conclude that was the first time he was being followed - especially by someone he far from trusted. Biting his lip, he hesitated whether he was to turn left or right and decided upon the latter, thinking that was the direction of his home. To the teal-eyed male's intense dismay, the voices and footsteps behind him never ceased, in fact, the got louder and quicker. Cursing silently, Kuroko abruptly broke out into a run. Behind him, the voices started calling out to him, commenting things Kuroko would have rather not heard.

And then Kuroko halted - forced to stop because of the dead end in front of him. More than ever did he wish he could literally become invisible. Being a phantom was useful and all, but not in a situation as sincere as the one the bluenette was in at that moment. Hesitantly, Kuroko turned and spotted two men, neck to neck, looking down upon him from their higher stature. Putting on his most deadpan expression, Kuroko looked back up at them as they approached and asked in a monotone voice: "Can I help you?"

One of the men snorted and smirked down at Kuroko.

"You might~" He purred, making Kuroko's stomach churn painfully. Backing away from them, Kuroko felt the concreted wall hit his shopping bags and without thinking, the boy dropped the plastic bags.

"Shit, look at this Hanamiya. His face is straight but look at his hands." The first man nudged his mate and pointed at Kuroko who was indeed trembling with fear. Hanamiya as his friend called him, stared down with an expression that made Kuroko's insides cold. And what a vulgar expression it was. To Kuroko it seemed a face of mid-way through utter pain and the utmost of pleasure; there was mockery and playfulness in how his lips curled upwards in a triumphant smirk. Altogether, it was the face of an ugly demon. Kuroko stared wide eyed at Hanamiya, his fists clenching. It didn't go unnoticed.

"Oh...He thinks he can do something does he?" Hanamiya maliciously licked his lips and reached out for Kuroko's front.

Smack!

Hanamiya flew through the air and the other man scattered, looking around wildly for a source - before he could so anything, he'd been struck as well and knocked his head against a concrete wall. Terrified, Kuroko around and shouted before he could think straight.

"I'm innocent, don't hurt me."

Kuroko looked around again and screamed when two eyes appeared beside him out of nowhere, the darkness of the overshadowed street to dim to make out the tone of the other's orbs. A man stood in front of him, wearing a black face mask that covered his nose, mouth and chin - the ones that you tie behind your ears. Something about the male was familiar however. Like the previous two strangers, the man towered over Kuroko. He was broad shouldered, like a professional basketball play-

"Aomine-kun!?" The penny had only just dropped; Kuroko wasn't even sure whether he was correct in saying that it was Aomine. The other man didn't answer however and simply turned his back to the bluenette. Grimacing, the 19-year-old watched the male disappear silently in the darkness of another alleyway, straight across from where he stood. Before what Kuroko believed to be Aomine left however, the back of the man's leather jacket caught the teal-eyed's eye. It depicted a bright red dragon with heterochromatic eyes, it's beak open as if about to spew fire while the edges of its cavern were lined with razor sharp teeth. Kuroko shivered at the sight and quickly picked up the shopping bags, running after where the male had vanished. When Kuroko reappeared upon the normal street however, there was no sight of what Kuroko could have sworn to be Aomine Daiki...