Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basket or 黒子のバスケ, does not belong to me. I am but a speck in the universe. Zank you.
Full Summary: Nakamura Tomoko, your total average Joe finds herself hit in the head with a basketball. After waking up from the hospital she starts reliving another person's memory. The catch? Well according to that person she's living in a world that popped up from someone's brain. This can't be good, or can it?
Happily Never After
Prologue:
Ever wonder if you're dreaming? Thinking that one day you'll wake up and find yourself living a lie. That every thing you did, achievement, accomplishment, your success, was all just a lie. All that hard work gone down the drain. Everything you did was staged, all your actions written out as if you're in a book. You find yourself angry. This was the truth. You truly didn't matter, you don't even fully exist?
You start feeling emotions, confusing emotions that aren't suppose to be there. You no longer feel like a child. The innocence your parents strived to keep. That childish wonder that had them in giggles. The child raised to be…gone.
Only to be replaced by an unknown. Something darker, more calculating. Mature.
You do not understand. Who is this person? Oh wait, that's you now isn't it.
You don't know what to do – this was too abrupt. You learn something you weren't suppose to know…
You learned, you weren't real.
Well…that was me, 5 years ago.
Flashback
Nakamura Tomoko was on her way home from picking flowers, walking alongside her best friend Sato hand and hand. They were both big kids now. Sato was almost in his teens, with Tomoko being two weeks shy of her eleventh birthday
"Look! Tomo-Chan! That tree looks like you!" The boy introduced as Sato pointed out.
"Sato, just because I have orange hair doesn't make me an orange." Tomoko, a little exasperated, looked at her companion, who in return stick out his tongue.
"Don't forget those eyes ~ Hey What's with that look! I know you're calling me stupid mentally." Tomoko only signed, sometimes she felt like the older one despite the two year difference.
Despite knowing him for only a little while, they were already best friends. Tomoko could already tell by his personality that he was a little on the dumb side. Sato just didn't care what she thought of him.
Gripping Sato's hand tighter than usual, she lead the rambunctious boy out of the fruit park. The place was pretty nice, colorful, and sweet smelling, with a whole cluster of flowers littered basically everywhere.
Tomoko felt a twinge in her chest. Living in Oregon was nice but she missed LA, the place that always bustled with high powered activity. She missed her neighbors, she missed her little library-
"Thinking about LA, again? I assure you, up here will be the homiest place you'll ever be." The brunette let go of Tomoko hand for just a second, only to grab it again. " I know how you feel, I lived in Pittsburg, 'member?" And he did know exactly how his friend felt. To let go of everything, all to start over again. It was what he's been doing since he was a little kid.
His dad's never been around most of the time, and when the man finally left, his family was financially unstable. His mom always moved him around places, uncaring about the friends he left behind. He signed. "Wanna see something cool? I assure you If it was fun for me, it'll be fun for you. You're my friend."
"…Yeah." A small, contagious smile mad it's way onto her lips, "That's why you're such a great friend"
Blushing a little the brunette grinned. "You're wrong though?" The look on the ginger's face was priceless. "I'm not a great friend-" Cue another quizzical look. "I'm a mega, amazing, fantastic! Friend!" This comment only resulted in a light slap to his arm, but the laugh that soon followed was worth it.
"Come on, I gotta show you the basketball court. It's really cool! " Taking the girls hand once more, the ecstatic brown haired boy, shoveled his way through the light crowd, stopping when the object of his thoughts came into view.
A basketball court.
We sat in an area that made it easier to view the basketball players, I was a little frightened on how close they were to us, I wasn't really ready to meet new people yet.
I watched as the ball was bounced, weaving expertly through the highschoolers. It was an object to be obtained. Like a princess, fought over by knights, the ball was fought over by players. It needed to be in one side's grasp to attain the victory.
"See! That's our community basketball court, those big guys over there come here everyday just to play basketball. Want me to teach ya?"
Nodding though, a little reluctantly, Tomoko let a smile crawl it's way onto her face. Maybe this won't be too bad. "Sure! How do I start?"
Sato smiled. "Well first off. Do you know what basketball is?" Tomoko nodded. "It's a game in which you have to throw the basketball in the net to get points, the team with the most points wins. " Scratching her head she shot Sato a confused look. "I don't think that's all of it though…it looks fun at least"
"That's true, there are other key aspects to the g-"
"Watch out!" Before I knew it a basketball was flying at me a startling speed. I sat frozen, unable to move, the ball, despite it hurdling towards me remained the same, it's form flawless, unchangeable. It would not stop.
I was captivated.
I did not know when the ball hit me, nor did I see it. I did not hear Sato scream my name. I did not hear the ambulance come to get me, or feel when they lifted me up to put on the bench. I could not taste the blood in my mouth. I could not recognize the smell of the hospital when I got there.
I was in a deep trance.
What I was able to see though, I cannot properly explain.
I saw a woman, quite young, hunched over – blood seeping from a deep wound in her chest, shielding a child from danger. The man who gave the woman the wound did not notice the child, and later had thrust the blade, which dripped of blood, into his chest. I saw his eyes roll to the back of his head. The child, no older than four looked at the bloodied bodies with frantic eyes, she soon joined them in the heap of bodies.
Something else came into view. The child, now looking a little older, was wondering the streets, frail and malnourished, she looked for somewhere warm to stay. A man, beady eyes, fat lips, and a large beer belly took notice of the child. His red eyes scanned her body hungrily. He did not care for the protrusion of her ribs. Her sunken down cheeks. No he cared for what he wanted, and nothing more.
"Are you hungry little girl? I can give you a good supper if you follow me. " The child, eyes shining with hope, remembered what her mother once told her. 'Do not talk to strangers' But she was so hungry. I felt sick knowing what would happen next. This girl…
"M-mommy says I shou'dun talk ta s-strangers…" Her voice was shallow and weak, her words incomplete, unsure of how to take the conversation.
The man grinned. "Is your mommy here then? Your mommy doesn't need to know" Thinking about her mothers dead corpse brought slight tears to the young girls eyes. Would this man really?
"B-but-"
"But what. Everyone starts as strangers you know. Even your mommy and daddy" Tomoko couldn't help but agree with this man. No matter how sick and twisted this man was, he was right.
"R-really" The man nodded, outstretching his arms "Just follow me, I'll give you some good supper you'll never forget, even your mother's can't be as good as mine" The small child grabbed onto the large man's meaty fingers. I didn't want to watch what happened next, but something forced me too.
I tried to close my eyes, only to realize I couldn't. 'What the?'
A sharp noise brought me out of my inner turmoil.
"…no…"
I was forced to watch as the child was slapped. Forced to watch the small child try to break free, only to get slapped again. The man forced himself on the girl. Uncaring of the girls pained whimpers. When she got too loud, he began to tie some cloth around the child's mouth. I felt sick, but something was keeping me awake, no matter how hard I tried to forget.
The man did not care about the blood that littered the sheets, he seemed oblivious, his face settling into a drunken haze.
Then I could smell. I could smell the slimy hands. a body, It wreaked of sweat, Shit, And piss. I could smell the blood. Which had not stopped flowing since the man forced himself in her. I could smell the alcohol on the man breath, as he pounded himself into the girls frail body. I wanted to throw up.
Then the scene switched. The girl was not awarded the dinner she wanted. What she did receive was uncalled for. After the man was done with her, he took her outside. She was naked, bruised, and cold, but the man did not care. He took out a phone, called someone, then minutes later a truck came out to take the child away. Days after that, the child was once again forced onto. She became a slave, a victim of human trafficking. Later, she was sold off. And I was forced to watch the life she lived.
The black-haired child from her dreams was then freed. Tomoko could not help but feel the relief when a women in white came, scooping up the small malnourished – now teen, into her arms.
But the torment still followed, Plagued with memories of the past, her parents death, her bullies at the orphanage, she broke. It was a miracle she did not break back then. Tomoko and the unnamed girl alike knew she would have been killed. But despite the better circumstances, she couldn't stop herself. Her mask was made, she could not take it off.
The last time someone bullied her, they ended up dead found in a river. It was an orphan, no one really cares about orphans, no one mentions that child no more.
A rule than began. They stayed away from her and she stayed pretended they didn't exist.
She was alone, but she was content.
The girl than grew too old for the orphanage. The government had to pay for most of her living arrangements till she got a job, if she got a job. She was labeled to be unstable, but stable enough to perform normally with normal people. They did not care for her, the feeling was mutual.
Tomoko couldn't help but feel pity, pity that transformed into sadness as she saw the girls story. The girl was pretty too. Dark hair, framing a heart-shaped face. A straight nose, with light freckles dusting the area. Thick lashes, protecting her green, hollow eyes from the world. Her lips were thin but smooth. All in all this girl was beautiful.
That was how she caught the eyes of a producer. The jolly man quickly fell head over heels for the women that lived only a block away from him. He was quite handsome. He showed her the kindness the woman almost forgot existed. His bad flirting attempts only added to his charm.
She was happy. He introduced her to the world, to slushies, to fast-food, to technology, to cartoons, to anime. One of her favorites involved basketball. Though he was mainly a cartoon fan, he always bought his fiancé the chapters she wanted to read. She was captivated by how there past, dark like hers, can transform them to such different people. With the help of Jake, her fiancé, she was able to transform into the person she is today.
Tomoko was happy. The woman was getting the closure she deserved. She was even expecting. But it seemed fate liked to play tricks. The woman got in a fatal car crash, burning away her once beautiful looks to a deformed unnatural stated. The woman had lost her child. She soon had slipped into a coma.
Four years went by. The woman had woken up. Tomoko knew the woman was no longer the same. Jake rushed in when he heard of her wake. Tomoko's heart warmed at the scene.
But then another woman slipped in, she was blonde and quite pretty. Tomoko noticed the blonde had a ring around her finger.
"Who is she?" The black haired woman's voice was barely above a whisper. The man looked down guilty.
"She is my wife" The blonde woman walked towards her husband, lacing her fingers around his. "We've been married for almost a year." Tomoko watched as the black haired women broke. In a fit a rage she broke everything in sight.
The man had not been patient. He left her for another. Was it because she no longer had the same face. Was it because the child she carried died. Did he not even love her one bi? He had to pay.
He gave her hope, she gave him her heart, only to have it crushed when she no longer had the looks she had in the past. He moved on. Tomoko watched as the woman strangled the man, the blonde wife of his tried to scratch her but had not experience with fights, unlike her. She slammed the blonde's head against the table, satisfied with the way it cracked open to reveal fresh blood.
Tomoko wondered why no one came to help. She wondered why she was unaffected, why she felt satisfaction at watching them die. She wondered how this happened. Tomoko was for the first time scared at herself. Snapping her head back to the flickering screen. She watched the scene unplay.
The woman did not have her happily ever after, after all. Upon realization, the orange eyed girl watched as the woman started looking sick. Watched as the women fell, clutching her chest. This oddly reminded the girl of the first scene, the scene almost mimicking the brutalness that occurred. It seems things always find a way to repeat themselves.
Then for the first time, she found out the name of the women, Kore. The same name of a woman who came from life and ended up marrying death. Kore did not get her happily ever after.
The world was not as carefree as it seemed anymore. But the orange haired girl did not care. She felt empty as if she was that woman – Kore.
She felt broken.
.
End Of Flashback
Sometimes I wondered, if that women was truly happy. She seemed like the type of person to be a good actor. I watched as I fit myself into her personality. Like water in a container, I took her form effortlessly, I felt like her. This made an unknown feeling pop up in my chest but I did not care.
We moved to Japan months after my Mother's divorce. Because of all the evidence she had of infidelity from my father, she won the case. The divorce lead to $25 million dollars being given to my mom. My mother knew how to use her money. Though I really didn't care.
I became a model, quite well known. Modeling was how I met my friend, Kise. I no longer see him that much, besides during our joined sessions when modeling.
I live a pretty simple life. Middle class, and labeled a beauty. This does not matter to me. My looks and influence mean nothing. They are but a pawn to use at my disposal. Just like the knowledge I have gained.
Kore did not get a happily ever after.
A twisted smile gripped onto my face, I noticed, Mom did not get her happily ever after either.
XXX
Watcha think? The story's a little loopy-loopy, but it'll get better.(I hope) I was gonna post this yesterday, but I decided to finish my cover image instead. Hope you like this story~
