Early morning finds Kagami Taiga sitting on the roof of a tall office building in downtown Saitama, Japan. The sun has only been up for half an hour so it's still cool out. He's lounging near the edge, soaking up the sun and watching the absent-minded bodies wander about outside the fence that surrounds the building. This is a pastime he quite likes; the zombies are quite stupid when they don't smell living flesh and they often bump into things and each other. The one he has his eye on is ran into by another. It turns and angrily takes a bite out of the one that ran into it. Realizing that it isn't living meat, the creature lets it fall from its mouth and the two continue to limp around.

Kagami's eyes travel to another. This one's seemingly avoiding all the others; it's deliberately stepping around them, never getting too close to one. This is strange. Unless they catch scent of a living human, they're typically very sluggish. Not this one, though.

Thinking it might be a new type, Kagami grabs his pistol and carefully takes aim at the zombie right in front of the strange one's head. He shoots. The zombie's head explodes and the other one spins quickly, eyes wide and startled, looking directly at Kagami.

This confirms it, Kagami thinks. Zombies can't see well; their eyes dry out due to lack of flowing bodily fluid to keep them moist. There's no way a zombie could see him from down there.

He quickly jolts down the stairs to the ground floor where most of the others are eating breakfast around a long table. Kagami's mouth waters slightly, even though he ate not an hour ago. He ignores the feeling and announces, "I think there's a kid out there."

"Huh?" their self-claimed leader, Hyuuga, questions. He's older than Kagami, but shorter and with glasses. Even though he doesn't look like much, he's an excellent planner and good motivator.

"A living, human kid I mean," Kagami clarifies. "I thought he was a zombie at first because they're not attacking him, but we made eye contact."

Hyuuga hurriedly swallows the last of his breakfast and stands. "How many people do you think we'll need?"

"Just a few. He's close by and we really just need to go out there and grab him." He steals some rice from the bowl in the center of the table. Just to tide himself over.

They grab Izuki and Mitobe, who were done eating, and went to get dressed in their fighting clothes. Fighting clothes being an entire leather outfit with boots, a helmet, and gloves. This prevents the beasts from scratching or biting them as easily. They load a few heavy weapons and now they're ready.

Kagami rarely gets nervous about leaving the safety of the fence anymore. They've accumulated good equipment and skills during the months they've been here, not to mention he can count on every single one of the people he's with.

"Tell us how he looks so we don't accidentally shoot him," Hyuuga demands as he flips the switch for the electric fence to off.

"I dunno, he has light hair," Kagami whispers. The four boys head out of the safety of the fence carefully, trying not to make much noise so the undead don't notice them. "He was around this way." He leads them to the right, past a few zombies who sniff the air suspiciously. One starts growling in their direction but Mitobe silently finishes it off with a blade.

They walk a few more meters down the street until Kagami spots a mop of blue hair. He points it out to the others and they start in that direction quickly. Upon closer view, the kid doesn't look much like a kid at all. He seems to be more close to Kagami's own age, maybe a little younger and definitely a lot shorter.

Kagami recognises that they must be a frightening sight - four figures completely in black with weapons - because as soon as the boy catches sight of them, he takes off in the opposite direction. "Hey-" Kagami starts to call out to him, but before he can even get the words out, the boy trips and falls flat on his face. Kagami's voice caught the attention of the undead, though, and now they're turning toward the living, sniffing menacingly.

"Shit, let's go," Hyuuga says, readying his machete, his melee weapon of choice. They do use guns when needed, but those attract even more. Mitobe, who is about the size of Kagami, takes a few leaps forward and grabs the boy, lifting him off the ground and sprinting back towards the gate with the rest of them.

They make it make into the building safely, offing a few zombies along the way and turning the electricity for the fence back on, keeping the others at bay. The kid they just rescued still looks a little scared but his face is full of resignation. He only starts to relax when they leave him in the living area to go and take their gear off.

"Kagami," Hyuuga begins as he hangs up his leather pants and grabs his normal jeans. "It's your turn, correct?"

They have a system set up for who gets the new people settled in and trains them. They haven't gotten anyone new in quite a while so Kagami doesn't actually know if it's his turn, but he nods in agreement anyway.

Kagami finishes changing and drops by the kitchen to grab a couple waters before going back out to meet the newcomer in the main room. This time he takes in his appearance more thoroughly. He's quite short, compared to Kagami, with a tuff of messy, light blue hair. His blue eyes stand out startlingly against his very pale skin. His shirt is torn and soaked in old blood.

"Here." Kagami hands him one of the waters. He shifts his shirt awkwardly, as if to hide the holes, and takes it. "What's your name?" Kagami decides to ask first.

He opens his mouth to answer but nothing comes out except air, as if he hasn't talked in a while. He opens the water and takes a long, slow sip. Kagami waits patiently for a few minutes while the boy lubricates his throat. "K-Kuroko Tetsuya," he finally gets out, voice quite raspy. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Kagami replies, opening his own water and gulping deeply. "How long have you been out there?"

"I'm not sure. A long time." A pause. "I thought you were going to shoot me."

Kagami laughs. "Sorry. I was just testing your response. Wasn't about to go out there for a zombie, and no offense but you really look like one."

"I am not offended." He shifts his shirt again.

"That's a lot of blood," Kagami observes. The only white parts left are the short sleeves and some of the collar. He vaguely wonders if it's dead blood or Kuroko's own.

Another question pops into Kagami's mind. "Why weren't the zombies attacking you?"

Kuroko doesn't answer right away, instead choosing to fiddle with his shirt some more. "I'm just hard to notice, I suppose."

Watching him mess with that dirty, torn up shirt, Kagami was suddenly jolted into the realization that he wasn't being a very good host. He beckons Kuroko to follow him and heads down the hall and into the supply room. This is where they keep all the extra blankets and clothing and other similar things.

"You can pick out some different clothes," Kagami tells him, gesturing toward a few boxes. "Then I'll show you to a bathroom so you can clean up. We have running water. Not sure if it's safe for drinking, but it's fine for cleaning."

There's silence as Kuroko shuffles through the clothes. He picks out a dark blue, long sleeved shirt, a pair of light blue jeans, a pack of underwear and socks, and, for some reason, a pair of black gloves. "I get cold easily," he explains to Kagami's questioning look.

Since this is an office building, they don't have an actual shower, just a makeshift one in the downstairs bathroom. Two, actually. One for the girls as well. "All the soap and shampoo and things are in here," Kagami states, gesturing toward a tote under the sinks. "And towels are in this one."

"Thank you very much." There's a slightly awkward pause as the two study each other for a few seconds.

"So..." Kagami starts, not breaking eye contact. "Do you need anything else?"

"I think this is all, thank you." Kuroko doesn't look away either. "I like your eyes."

The statement shocks Kagami out of his trance. "Ah, thank you?" How is he supposed to reply to such a random remark? "Well, I-I'll leave you to it." He turns to leave.

"Wait." Kagami turns back to the blue-haired boy, heart pounding strangely. "I didn't get your name."

Oh. Did he really forget to introduce himself? What is this guy doing to him? "Kagami Taiga," he mutters.

"Nice to meet you," Kuroko says, very polite.

"Likewise." Kagami finally makes his way out of the room. As soon as he closes the door, he leans against it and sighs heavily. What is happening? He doesn't get nervous, not ever. He's outspoken and fights zombies, for God's sake. He lightly smacks himself on the head. "Get yourself together, Taiga."


Hey, look, an update. Haha, thank you for reading. Sorry for the long wait and short chapter. I was originally planning to have very long chapters but decided short ones would be better because I'm slow. Please tell me what you think! (Especially about the pace of relationship you want - I'm planning on a moderately fast one, but if you want slow, I can do that instead.)