Prologue.
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"Dammit, hurry up! They're going to run out!" Kagami yelled across the cramped living area as he bent down, struggling to tie up his laces.
"Shut up K, we heard you the first time. And while we're pointing fingers, I'd like to point out that you were the one who took ages waking up." Aomine rolled his eyes as he strutted out of the household, stuffing his tiny palms into his pockets.
"Wha - hey! Let's not forget who forgot where they placed my shoes, you ass." He retorted as he got up from his crouched position, defending his point.
"You idiot, that literally only took five seconds. You're such a-"
"Aomine-kun, Kagami-kun, at this rate they're really going to run out of rations before we get there." Kuroko emerged from the shadows behind them, swiftly cutting Aomine off and stared at them with the questionable innocence of a six-year-old. Both opposing parties paused and glared at each other indignantly for a few seconds, before grunting words of acquiescent as they were reminded again that food was their priority.
For now, at least, they thought. They'll settle this later. Kagami grumbled incoherently as he rolled his eyes and trotted off onto the gravel path with the rest trailing behind.
Kuroko looked at his hurrying brothers in front of him. They were constantly on different ends, arguing with every second presented their way as if it was their last. His heart warmed. On mere appearance, they were nothing more than rivals who hated each other, and the fact that they still lived with each other had always been a common unsolved mystery among the on-lookers. But Kuroko knew better. He knew that despite the countless death threats they'd send to each other's way like free candies on a regular day, that they would lay their lives down on the line without hesitation for the other party if such a time came when it was needed.
Of course, he wouldn't count on them to admit it even when such a time did arrive and their lives were actually on the line. Kuroko snickered when he thought of the aftermath of Aomine saving Kagami, or vice versa, and that as if it was instinctively in their characteristics to pass off their actions as just purely for "survival's sake", and that they definitely would not have done so if they didn't think the other party was of any significant use.
Albeit both parties were of an older age than him, Kuroko still found himself being constantly told of the maturity he had that was very distinctly absent in his foster siblings, and that that maturity was definitely also 'far too much for his age'. He was bloody seven, after all.
They stopped routinely after rounding the third corner of the back alley they lived in and emerged into the chaotic street. As usual, hundreds of plebeians were crowded in the central area of town, where the rations were being handed out by bored officers dressed in brown. Kagami looked upon the scene in dismay, as from experience; he knew that they were already a step too late. The three of them were aware that if they didn't force their way through the pack of hungry commoners right now, they would have to sleep on an empty stomach for the next few days.
Kids like them didn't have much opportunities of survival. It was the early nineteenth century and times were getting nothing but tougher, and to put it bluntly, the only reason they were able to live till now was solely because of the countless sacrifices each of them had made along the way for each other. They lived in a tiny abandoned cot at the back end of the street with nothing supporting them but the unbreakable bonds they shared. Like them, a few other discarded children had gathered there as well and together, they were able to miraculously survive.
Kagami turned to face Aomine as they shared a solemn look. They knew what had to be done.
And it was never pretty.
Even though he was forced back into the safety of the empty alley every time such a situation sprang up, Kuroko knew, from the bruises his brothers carried back on their bodies, that it was never easy getting rations after the crowd had arrived. He would find them returning to him after a half-hour or so, holding on to the ration bags that were pressed possessively to their chest as if their lives depended on it, and clinging onto each other for support. He would find his eyes stinging with tears as he watched his brothers feign toughness when he grabbed onto them, asking if they were okay. Their bodies hadn't fully developed and wasn't able to sustain such brutal circumstances – but they were doing so because they loved him, and everyone else back at the cot. There was nothing worse than the hungry competing with the starving for food after all.
And it wasn't any different this time round.
They took slightly longer that day, and returned with slightly more bruises than usual, which made the heart of the youngest among the trio ache vehemently. He took care to take the packages off their arms gently and they trailed back together to their little home in silence. He frowned as he noticed Aomine wincing every time he stepped forward with his right foot.
There wasn't anyone to blame, really. But if anyone was at fault, it would be the parents who abandoned them. But even then, Kuroko believed that they did so because they must have also been at their ends. So at the end of the day, there was truly no one to push the blame to for their condition, except for their own ill-fortune.
They made the last turn and pushed open the familiar worn-wooden door that had been acting as poor security for their little family for the past few years. The rusted screws binding the door creaked in protest as it was slammed back down.
"Satsuki! We're back!" Aomine announced and dragged his feet lazily - a bad habit he had - as he strutted back with them to the back where they knew the rest of them would be gathered.
Kuroko could see that he was putting in noticeable effort not to limp as he walked confidently into their line of sight.
"Ah! That's great! Could you bring it over he- Eh?" Momoi looked up and her expression turned bitter as she noticed the injuries plastered over their bodies. "Not again." She whispered under her breath, as she began rushing all over to gather the DIY-ed first aid, all the while, like Kuroko, holding back the tears that were prominently trying to escape.
Kiyoshi glanced at the scene before him and sighed wistfully, before turning around to wake the sleeping Riko up, whom subsequently placed her hand over her mouth and too, started tearing up after realizing what had happened.
Hyuuga hadn't returned yet. He, being thirteen and the oldest of them all, took on the responsibility of getting a small night job. At first they were all adamant on the idea as it was a job that could not guarantee his safety. But after a few discussions and some heated fights, they were willing to give it a shot. Which later, arguably, proved to be the best decision they'd ever make; as though the income was minuscule, that little amount of money managed to scrape them through the toughest times. But still, just barely.
The seven of them were not tied by blood but anyone could see that they were as closely knitted as any other family was, and probably even loved each other more.
Kuroko sat the ration bags down on the ground as he slid down resignedly on the adjacent wall of Kiyoshi, watching as the familiar scene unfolded in front of him.
Riko had fully woken up and had joined in the first-aid process of applying what little disinfectant they had scraped up on the bloody scratches on Kagami, while Momoi was applying pressure to Aomine's bruises. Kuroko's heart pained, as he knew that they were only trying to occupy their bodies to distract their minds from the harsh truth that the two older brothers of their little broken family had gotten injured again for them. And what hurt him even more was watching them trying to lighten the clouded atmosphere - Kagami's rare (but still failed) attempts at crappy jokes and Aomine's forced laughter at them (which, at other times would have itself, been a cause for laughter). Kuroko watched sadly, as the young girls fussed about the injuries like over-worked mothers because dammit, they were still just kids who were forced to grow up too quickly.
But then again, everybody in this household was.
His eyes dropped to his propped up knee, studying the scabs on them as if they were the most brilliant thing he'd ever seen, tuning out his frantic surroundings.
It was disheartening, for six to ten year old kids to be kicked to the bottom of the social hierarchy, forgotten by the society and living off the scrapes of the poor, fighting for their survival every second of the day as if it wasn't in their basic rights to be able to live. They were terribly malnutritioned, and lived on inconsistent meals. On good days, there was meat or bread on their table. On bad days, there wasn't anything at all. Their rib cages were prominent, protruding through the thin layer of skin covering their bodies, and the only place that they could go to rinse themselves was at the local river – and that was almost a mile from where they lived. How they managed to survive for three years was still an unsolvable enigmatic miracle.
The fact that all of them were unhealthily co-dependent on each other was also left unsaid - because at least they had each other.
Kuroko, and he knew as well as everyone else, thrived on the belief that nothing could go wrong as long as they had each other.
.
.
The three of them were closer together. After all, they were abandoned on the same street.
They left the house at night on alternate days when the streets were deserted to scrape up the remnants of forgotten coins left on the main road. Well, if they were lucky enough to find any.
Kiyoshi had been obstinate on joining them in their wondrous late night adventures at first, but he was subsequently convinced to stay behind with the two ladies (but depending on your personal definition of convincing, it could vary from honey-coated sweet persuasions to brutal death threats).
He had injured his legs during an accident involving a carriage a couple of years ago - before their family had been formed. From what little was revealed, they placed the pieces together and figured that the scene had been both bloody and heartless, and moving around for Kiyoshi had eventually become harder. It was a hit and run in the late hours, thus there was literally no one present at the scene to lend a helping hand when he desperately needed it. If there had been someone present to help at that time, anyone at all, his condition might not have turned for the worse, and Kiyoshi's legs would not have been damaged as badly as it was.
Riko found him a couple days later on her way back from the market, with his legs wrapped up in pitiful amounts of yellowed-bandages that couldn't have possibly been hygienic. By then, they were only left with the choice of manual recovery. Naturally, the wounds and cuts derived from the accident had been infected. She brought (more of dragged, really- he had refused to accept her help though he was likely aware he needed some desperately) him back to her friends and not surprisingly, they were at a loss at how to help him. None of them had any experience with the medical field then, and they hit a brick wall within minutes.
They carried him to doctors after doctors but none of them were willing to treat the child without a promised sum of fee, which they obviously were not able to spit out. They were thrown out without a second glance. Thankfully, after their seventh or eight try, they met with a doctor who was kind enough to treat Kiyoshi for free. It was later discovered that he had fractured a few small bones.
He gave him a thorough cleansing of his wounds, and handed out advice for the proper care of his broken bones.. The doctor had offered medicinal prescription, but of course, Kiyoshi being Kiyoshi, he declined. It wasn't in his character to impose on others, much less receive expensive medication for free after already accepting complementary help.
He was determined to get well by himself.
Hence, the road toward recovery became slow and tedious. But if it was what it took to get their friend back on his feet, they would do absolutely anything at all and time was definitely not going to be an issue.
After another incident, they made an additional mutual agreement that forbade Riko and Moimoi to aid them in coin hunting. It wasn't as if they thought any lower of the female prowess - because they've been proven wrong more times than their masculinity could handle - but more so due to the fact that the last time they went out with the guys after hours, Riko was almost violated by a drunkard. Thankfully, Aomine and Kagami were able to arrive on the scene in time. They gave a brutal beating to the drunk (at least, that was how they liked to tell the story – Kagami insisted that it was the truth but no one could blame anyone if they didn't believe the story. The man was huge after all.) and escaped shortly after without a single scratch.
So it wasn't difficult to reach the mutual decision that it was probably much safer and not to mention smarter if the girls were to stay in the security of the shadows after the sun had gone down.
"All right," They stopped in their tracks as Kagami rested his hands on his hips, and as usual, started throwing out instructions without turning around. "We'll commence the treasure hunt now. I'll take the left wing, Daiki you take the Eighth Street and Kuroko you take this one. You know the rules." He scratched his head and yawned, "The person who collects the most treasure gets to have the honorary title of being the winner of tonight's game, and the losers….. well. Okay, so we'll meet back here after we're done." He finished as he immediately started walking away, grumbling something that to Kuroko sounded something like, "Just don't get injured or caught." under his breath.
"Tsk. Fuckin' Eighth Street." Aomine muttered, "That poor excuse of a place. Why couldn't he have taken that dirt instead, Kagami that son of a-" His voice trailed off as he followed suit and headed off to his assigned destination, his signature snarl forming on his face.
Kuroko watched the backs of his two beloved brothers disappearing around the corners, before himself turning around to look for coins.
It was a chilly night and a matching wind stirred the air. Kuroko shivered, folding his arms across his chest to preserve body heat, but to no avail. He rubbed his palms together, wishing he'd thought ahead to bring along a scarf. The yellow glow of streetlights illuminated the pavement, spilling all around like watered-down apple juice, warm and attracting moths that fluttered high above his head.
He made a turn past an end into a wide alley, where he intended to start off his quest.
It was kind of ironic, really. Because if they really gave it a thought, children would normally play games like treasure hunts just for the fun of it, but here they were, doing so because they didn't have any other better way to look at a situation so miserable. It was a treasure hunt all right – but one that had their lives hanging on it. How full their stomachs could be in the morning would depend on how much they managed to 'dig' up tonight. Rations couldn't last forever, and its capabilities were limited to feeding the family of seven each to a maximum of one full meal per day. They needed the insurance and they figured out the best way to do so was by scavenging.
Kuroko was aware, at a young age, of their situation. But as much as everybody would have liked to label him as expressionless, he was far from being emotionless. Even if he appeared to be so, he was probably doing it deliberately. The last thing he wanted was to aggravate any situations, or further dampen anyone else's already depressed feelings by revealing his own dejecting ones. Hence, he figured the least he could do was not play a part in any situation escalating far higher than it needed to be. He realized that there was nothing safer, but also more dangerous than pretending he didn't care. Head cool, not heart. Rare wise words from local folks (but mostly the guy at the end corner of the rusty bar, who was always chanting something about apocalypses and handing out free reasons why one should never stick their foot in their mouths, which naturally, everyone was extremely grateful for) and he was damn well intending to stick to it.
Something was reflecting the light from the moon straight into his eyes, and it bothered him so much that Kuroko had to squint and he frowned. He stuck his neck sideways to exit the line of blinding light. But exactly like he heard a couple say a few days ago (who, when they saw him enter the back lane, screamed. This left poor Kuroko confused, because Aomine had blushed and told him to shut up when he questioned him about the unusual position they were in - perhaps they were contortionists, the circus had been in town that week), his frown turned upside down almost instantly when he realized the identity of the object.
He had found treasure.
And to think it had only been five minutes since the game had started. If things could only proceed down this smoothly for the rest of the journey, he would finally, for once, win this bloody game.
Kuroko slowed down to a stop as he crouched down to pick the round metal object up from the pavement, dusting off the surface with his yellowed shirt. He admired his lucky coin for a little while, before stuffing it into his pocket. He glanced up to the sky above him as he stood back up, admiring the luminescent stars that screamed to him, demanding his attention in the deafening silence that enveloped the area. He smiled. There was nothing he loved more than relishing nature at its peak.
He made a movement to turn back around when a piercing bawl broke the still atmosphere, sending chills up his spine as he stopped in his tracks. It was highly disturbing in all manners, and even though incidents like these were not at all uncommon around this area, Kuroko wasn't one to ignore such blatant cries for help. Even if he was only a tiny pipsqueak, he still felt compelled to lend a hand to anyone that needed it despite the countless attempts made by his siblings to warn him about the dangers of helping strangers
Slowly and cautiously, Kuroko crept toward the direction of the scream, instinct kicking in as he lifted his feet ever so lightly as he walked. He poked his head around the wall that separated the alley to the next, frowning as he looked upon the scene.
Two middle-aged men were pressing a younger lady up on the hard brick wall, taunting her with obscene words as they proceeded to grope her.
Kuroko felt the familiar sense of irritation and anger surface up. He felt his limbs moving forward on their own accord, with all the intention of gathering the men's attention and stopping their crude actions.
But how would he stop men twice his size, you ask? Simple, by crossing the bridge when he got to it.
Well, call him impulsive if you must. But Kuroko being who he was, he'd rather take the chance - even if they were just a diminutive and deformed figure. He was aware of his own physique and capabilities but he'd be damned if he didn't do at least something to help the woman caught up in their mischief.
But thankfully for him, it seemed like someone had also been watching the developing events. They were one step faster than him in their heroic acts – because just as Kuroko was about to step out into the light, an obscured figure zoomed past him. With both the element of surprise and speed on the hero's side, he was unsurprisingly able to knock both of the men off their feet.
Kuroko's immediate response was bemusement. Because firstly, the look on their faces as they scrambled around the floor trying to get their bearings back were past comical. Secondly, the fact that the woman's (possibly even his) savior appeared to have materialized out of literally nowhere, was actually a little, if not very, bizarre.
The hero apparently had a form, which it embodied immediately after as an ordinary tall blonde male, as if he was nothing more than simply that when only a few seconds ago, Kuroko believed he had performed an incredible feat.
His attire was slightly rugged and not to be overly critical (because really, who was he to judge), but Kuroko thought authority and respect was something it definitely did not scream. He had on a long-sleeved yellowing raglan shirt, that laced up at the top and had bits and pieces of fabric sewn in random areas, an aspect Kuroko himself was drastically acquainted with. The cargo pants he had on looked old and re-used and his covered-up shoes both torn and muddied.
"You fellas looking for some fun?" The young boy watched from the safety behind the wall as the mysterious blonde taunted, crossing his arms in the process as he started inching closer towards them. Despite his poor dress code, it wasn't hard to tell who played the intimidation card better. His back was to Kuroko but from the sounds of it, it was highly likely that a smirk was plastered on his face. Well, Kuroko thought, as he started to turn away, if this was how things were going to go down, perhaps he didn't have to play the hero this time round and let someone else take the glo –
You know what, scratch that. Kuroko sighed and he paused as the man began taking a step forward, only to literally trip over himself and land on the floor with all the gracefulness of a poised queen. He clasped his palms over his mouth and barely swallowed down a bark of laughter as the man struggled to stand back up again, only to knock over a trash can to his left, which in turn created a domino effect and knocking over several others. The man groaned, rubbing his ass as he whipped his head around, looking genuinely offended at the fallen trash cans.
"Rude." The man muttered discontentedly as Kuroko let a slip of laughter escape.
What an entrance.
Silence draped over them all like a curtain, and the duo in front of the blonde looked like they were trapped between hilarity and anger, as anyone in their position would have thought the man was mocking them. After a bated breath, they seemed to have made a decision and chose the latter emotion, as their expressions instantly changed from bewilderment to hostility, and they took a defensive stance.
Something behind Kuroko cracked and out of pure instinct, he jumped around, only to realize it had just been a rat. It could have only been a fraction of a second he looked away when apparently he already missed the crux of the situation.
Because before he knew it, the sounds of heated shouting bounced off the walls into the night sky, and the distinct pull of a trigger was heard along with a collapse of a body.