"It's getting pretty dark; we won't be able to see the hoop soon. Let's call it quits,"
Kagami wiped the sweat from his brow with one hand, casually bouncing the ball with his right.
"I really appreciate you agreeing to train me Kagami, but please, let me try one more time,"
Kuroko was now drenched in sweat and panting heavily but his expression remained the same as it had been right from the start. It wasn't easily read but Kagami has begun to recognise the look of determination on Kuroko's face. Knowing there was no use arguing, Kagami sighed, reluctantly tossing the ball to Kuroko.
Catching it, Kuroko prepared to try once more to get around Kagami's defence and score a point. Thus far, throughout the hours the pair had been training, Kuroko had not succeeded even once.
Dashing forward dribbling the ball Kuroko tried to dart around Kagami but once again failed and Kagami succeeded in knocking the ball from the shorter player's hand with ease.
"We done now?" Kagami asked, to which Kuroko nodded, catching his breath.
Grabbing their stuff, the two headed out of the rather poorly maintained outdoor basketball court and headed off down the dark street lit by a number of streetlamps casting a series of golden pools of light along the path they headed along.
"What do you think the coaches' new training method that she mentioned last practice is?" Kuroko asked as they crossed a completely deserted road.
"Beats me, I'm not looking forward to it," Kagami replied, grimacing as they turned a corner onto a particularly poorly lit street.
"But you know, it will help you get stronger and it will help the whole team get stronger,"
Just as Kagami was about to reluctantly agree with Kuroko, the pair heard a couple of shouts coming from the alley just up ahead of the pair. The two started before Kagami charged off ahead, Kuroko following close on his heels.
The voices grew loader as the two charged round the corner into the alley. Jeers and laughter could be heard from several men. As the two drew even closer they could make out the hooded figures in dark attire, some seemed to be looking down at something obscured by a large dumpster, while another appeared to be kicking a figure lying on their side, their back to the wall.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" Kagami roared at them, tacking the one kicking the figure on the floor, before leaping up and punching the nearest hooded figure in front of him hard enough to break his jaw.
"Ka-kagamicchi?"
Kagami spun around at the familiar voice coming from behind him. Looking down it became apparent the figure on the floor was Ryouta Kise.
"Kise-kun, are you allright?"
Kuroko hurried to Kise's side while Kagami turned to face of the rest of the thugs.
"Ku-kurokocchi, yea I…I'm fine but-ah!" Kise winced as Kuroko helped ease him into a sitting position.
"Tch, you sure as hell don't look fine," Kagami barked, before punching another figure strait in the gut. The other figures seem to get over their initial shock at the appearance of Kuroko and Kagami and all rushed at Kagami at once.
Kuroko, in the meantime inspected Kise's injuries. He had a number of dark bruises on his face, his lip was bleeding and there were hand prints bruised onto his wrists where someone had been violently grasping them.
"Look, I- I'm not the one to w-worry about, Mi-midorimacchi is-" Kise pointed and Kuroko spun around, looking past the forest of charging legs he was able to make out Shintarou Midorima sat propped up against the dumpster. As far as Kuroko could tell he seemed to be struggling to get up.
Kagami easily dodged the charging thugs, striking once in the stomach with his knee, before spinning around and punching another unconscious. The final two, realising they had no hope of winning, backed away from Kagami before racing off down the alley. Kagami made as if to chase after them but was stopped when Kise suddenly called out:
"Midorimacchi!"
Kagami spun around to see Midorima barely standing, supporting himself on the wall and dumpster.
It took a minute for Kagami's brain to register that Midorima was pulling on his pants. Kagami stood stock still in confusion while Kuroko helped Kise over to Midorima's side.
"Midorimacchi…I…a-are you…are you ok?"
Kise's voice cracked and Kagami suddenly realised the blonde was trembling. Still feeling like there was something not right, something he wasn't getting, Kagami joined the others standing around Midorima.
"Calm down, I'm fine," While Midorima sounded exasperated, Kagami noticed he avoided Kise's gaze.
"I…but you-you're not, are you?" The end of Kise's sentence came out as a sob.
"I told you-" Midorima began but suddenly Kuroko cut him off.
"Midorima-kun, please tell me exactly what happened," Kagami glanced at Kuroko in surprise; something had to be up for Kuroko to be interrupting someone.
"What the hell happened, why'd those guys attack you two?" Kagami asked, folding his arms across his chest.
For a moment it seemed like neither Kise nor Midorima would respond until the latter said simply:
"It was just a simple mugging. Those thugs just wanted out money and decided to get violent in order to get it,"
"What do you mean just a simple mugging? Are you stupid? Shrugging it off like it was nothing!"
"Kagami's right, you should report this to the police," Kuroko said.
"I don't have the time to waste answering meaningless questions down at the station, nor do I have the time to waste hanging around with you here," Midorima began to leave, turning back for a moment. "Thank you for your help, but I'll be going now," but as Midorima began to walk away his steps suddenly faltered and a moment later he crashed into the dumpster, clinging to it for support.
The other three all cried out, running over to his side.
"Midorima-kun, are you all right?" Kuroko asked as Kise and Kagami heaved Midorima onto their shoulders to support him.
"Idiot, trying to act like you're fine when you're clearly not," Kagami chided him but Midorima once again shrugged them off.
"I am fine. I just lost me balance," Midorima insisted but his voice sounded little strained and he was rubbing his lower back as if it hurt but as Kagami was about to say something Midorima once again begun leaving.
"Hey! Idiot, wait!" Kagami cried out but Midorima wasn't listening and disappeared into the shadows at the end of the alley.
"Midorimacchi," Kise said quietly, looking anxiously at the direction Midorima had disappeared.
"Kise-kun, is there something Midorima didn't tell us?" Kise looked startled and looked at Kuroko before casting his gaze down.
"Yea, like why his pants were off when we arrived. Those thugs also seemed to be paying him a lot more attention than you too," At Kagami's words Kise began to shake a little.
"I…well, at first th-they cornered us and hit us and took our stuff but…but then one of them…he said they should have some… f-fun…" Tears began to form in the corners of KIse's eyes and quite quickly he was sobbing. Kuroko took his arm to confort him while Kagami listened intently, his eyes wide with shock.
"S-so he…he began to unbutton m-my top" Kise continued shakily while realisation quickly replaced by anger began to form on Kagami's face.
"Don't tell me they-" Kagami stopped when Kise shook his head, his sobbing becoming heavier.
"Not to m-me. Midorimacchi s-started shouting and f-fighting them and…and they got really angry, and started h-hitting him even m-more one-one kicked him in the face a-and…and… " Kise's legs buckled, unable to hold himself up anymore, sobs wracking his body. Kuroko and Kagami bent down beside him, Kuroko with his arm round the blonde's heaving shoulders.
"I-it's…it's m-my fault!" He cried miserably. "when…when they tried to d-do it to m-me, Midorimacchi p-put up s-such a fight, but when…when they…I…I couldn't do anything!"
Kuroko wrapped his arms around Kise's neck, holding him close while Kagami gently rubbed his back.
"It's not your fault, Kise-kun" Kuroko assured him.
"Ofcourse it's not! There was so many of them! I only managed to knock some out because I took them by surprise and that made the others run away. Besides...well, that idiot said he's fine, right? There's no need to worry about him," Kagami's confidence faltered at the words he himself didn't believe but Kise did seem to have calmed slightly and his and Kuroko's combined efforts.
"Mm…I g-guess. He probably went home. We…w should go visit him," Kise stated, trying to keep his voice level.
"I'm worried about Midorima-kun too, but we should really get some rest first," At Kuroko's words Kagami nodded in agreement but Kise didn't look convinced, biting his lip anxiously.
The three headed home anyway, Kise convincing Kuroko with little resistance to let him stay over at his house and Kagami returning to his own home.