This was only meant to be a small, outdoor concert for some college kids but it was so much bigger than intended with the impressive number of people that showed up. It was clear that Kise's next gig wasn't going to be in the courtyard of a college campus. This wasn't a stepping stone for Kise, it was a launch pad.

If it weren't for the fact that Aomine was still trying to get over seeing the face from his dreams several meters away on stage, he might have actually enjoyed his songs a little bit. Not that he'd let Momoi know, but Kise was pretty talented. Kise had a little more than just a pretty good singing voice that drew this crowd though: his looks and boyish features didn't hurt him either. Seeing him in his dream, Aomine had thought it was a face he could picture in a magazine. Model material. He hadn't been that far off in that thought.

Momoi enjoyed the concert and she wasn't as bad as some of the other girls surrounding them who were screaming and flailing hoping to get the blond's attention even several rows back from the stage. Kuroko just watched quietly while Kagami continued looking bored out of his skull throughout the entire thing. A couple years back, Aomine remembered Kuroko mentioning that Kagami had attended rock concerts during his time in America, so it wasn't a surprise to Aomine that this just…wasn't his thing.

Aomine's mind kept wandering. There was just no denying that Kise was the face from his dream. He didn't understand it. What did it mean? He didn't want it to mean anything at all because…what could it mean? It just didn't make sense. But at the same time, why in the world would he dream over and over about the same face before he even met him?

He couldn't help but entertain the thought for a moment….what if his dreams were real? Just for the sake of argument, what would it mean? By the stage, Kise's security staff was being assisted by the school's security staff due to how unexpectedly huge the crowd was, so it didn't make any sense for his dream to be something that already happened. Kise would have more security then. That left one thing: that the attack he kept dreaming would happen in the future.

…No. Okay, no. There was absolutely no way his or anyone's dreams predicted the future. He'd had some really crazy dreams in his life, but that was a whole new level of screwed up. He refused to believe it.

But the fact that he dreamed Kise's face so vividly before ever seeing it just seemed too weird to ignore. Like it had to have meaning.

This felt like one big paradox. What a headache. He wanted to ignore it, but Kise's face and voice wouldn't let him.

Would he be losing his mind if he admitted the dreams really meant something?

He was torn, because it just felt like that was the case, but at the same time, if he was dreaming about the future, then that was way too fucking terrifying and he wanted no part of it.

Was he seriously thinking about this? Why couldn't he just pretend the dreams didn't happen and call it a day? Chalk it up to some weird mind trick and leave it at that?

Yeah. Weird mind tricks.

The concert ended after an encore, during which Kise blew more kisses to the crowd and bowed, thanking them again for coming. He seemed to have a certain childishness about him and Aomine wasn't sure if that was part of his on stage persona or just who he was in general. Well, it didn't matter anyway because he was soon gonna leave and the only time Aomine would see him again was in magazines or whatever. Most certainly not in his dreams, because his dreams weren't real. They were not about Kise.

The crowd began to disperse and Momoi glanced at her male friends with a smile. "Why don't we get some burgers before we all go home?"

Kagami perked up. "Burgers? Yeah, sounds good. Kuroko?"

Kuroko looked up at him with a nod. "Yes, please. It's been days since I last had a shake."

Momoi beamed and turned to lead the way to a burger joint close to the school without even asking Aomine. She didn't need to though because everyone already knew the answer. Truthfully, he could use a big tray piled over with burgers right about now. Eating until he got tired enough to pass out sounded even better. Maybe he wouldn't dream that way.

As they crossed the courtyard, a guy just a little shorter and more slender than Aomine came running from the opposite direction and collided right into him. Aomine recoiled but recovered quickly.

"Oi, watch where you're running!" he shouted.

The guy didn't say anything or even look at him as he quickly recovered from the collision and sped off again.

Aomine glared at him as he ran off. Some people could be so rude.

"Someone's in a hurry," Momoi said as she looked back.
Aomine huffed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "That's his problem. Let's just get those burgers."

They returned on their path, following Momoi. Aomine caught Kuroko looking back for a moment before Kagami grabbed the shorter male's hand.

"Kuroko?"

"Yes, sorry. Let's go."

As the four of them walked off together, the slender male that ran into Aomine continued running in the opposite direction at top speed, clutching magazines to his chest. In his path was Kise, surrounded by his staff and security, with a towel draped over his shoulders as he spoke with his manager.

"Kise-kun! Kise-kun! Kise-kun!"

The blond turned around when he heard his name but his security was one step ahead of him. Two strong guys in black stepped forward to shield him, a few more guys ready behind them.

"You need to stay back."

The fan stopped but he was practically bouncing with excitement, eager to get Kise's attention.

"You saw me in the crowd! I really love you, Kise-kun!"

Kise's manager, a young woman who was about half of the tall male's size, tugged on his arm and gestured to their nearby bus, but he waved a hand at her dismissively. She glared at him as he broke out of her grasp and approached the fan, the security guys glancing with uncertainty back at the manager. She gave them a knowing look and their eyes were locked on Kise again.

"Well I'm glad you enjoyed the show!" Kise said to the fan with a bright smile.

The fan shoved a magazine towards him. It was flipped open to an article about Kise about halfway in. It was a small article with a small picture of him on top. "Please sign this!"

Kise smiled, taking a pen from him. "What's your name, hm?"

"Michio! Please write it for Michio. I couldn't believe when you spotted me, Kise-kun! I've been following your singles online and I can't wait for your album! I know everything about you, Kise-kun. You're important to me, too!"
Kise signed the magazine, smiling bright as ever as he handed the items back to his eager fan. "Thank you for your support, Michio-san."

His manager came up behind him, weaving her way through the security guys to grab on his arm and tug on him urgently from behind. He flailed a bit but followed her as the security guys put themselves between Kise and the fan again.

"He's on a tight schedule," one of them said. "Please leave, this is a restricted area."

The fan, looking dejected, attempted to move forward to reach Kise again, but was quickly grabbed by security. "Kise-kun! Just a few more minutes, please? I've been dying to speak with you Kise-kun!"

Kise's manager, despite being much shorter than him, shoved him onto their nearby bus and followed in behind him before he had a chance to respond. Seeing this, the fan frowned even more.

The security staff kept their hold on him. "We'll have to escort you off the premises if you refuse to leave."

The fan jerked away from their grasp, glaring at them as he clutched his magazines to his chest. "There's no need. I'm leaving." He quickly turned away, storming off in the direction that he came.

The hooded figure shoved the blond into the familiar brick wall. The blond struggled to fight him off, but his attacker was surprisingly strong.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

The attacker responded by pulling out a knife, which reflected in the moonlight above them in the secluded alley and the blond immediately stopped fighting, putting his hands up with a gasp.

"Wait, stop. Please, I'll give you whatever you want. I'll give you my wallet."

"I don't want your money."

"I don't know what you're after just please…!"

The attacker put the blade to the blond's throat. "I'm after something a little more complicated than money."

The blond began to shake, a look of horror formed on his face. "W-what do you want?"

"I-I've been telling you! Over and over, I've been telling you and you haven't listened to me. How do you expect this to work if you don't listen to me?!" The attacker was flustered, a mix of emotions overshadowed by anger. He was shaking. He pressed the blade against the skin of the blond's throat, not quite enough to break skin, but enough to make the blond quiver with fear.

"Please, put the knife away, let's just talk about this. Don't do something you'll regret."

"See, you're only saying that now. I really want to believe you, but you ruined it. You don't even understand what you've done!"

Tears began to form in the blond's eyes. "It doesn't have to be like this, please don't do this, please put the knife away."

"Shut up! You've said enough already. What happens now is up to me."

The blade pressed further against the blond's throat, this time breaking skin.

Aomine awoke to his alarm clock, blaring at him loudly. Immediately, he reached over, slamming a fist down on the offending object, not caring at that moment if he broke it. At that moment, he couldn't decide if the alarm was his worst enemy for waking him up or his best friend for cutting him off from another goddamn dream about Blondie.

He was laying on his stomach, the morning sun peaking in through his curtains, and he felt like death. Again. At least he actually slept through the night this time, but that didn't mean he slept well. Couldn't he wake up just once without feeling like death?

He felt the familiar sensation of paws climbing on his back, walking over his muscular form as he lay there. Groaning, he threaded a hand through his messy dark blue hair.

"I'm up, I'm up. You're worse than Satsuki sometimes."

Ren mewled at him softly, climbing off of him again to allow him to move. Aomine rolled over, lying on his back.

"Scratch that, I'm not up."

The cat mewled louder.

This dream had been longer than his previous dreams. In the past, they had all stopped at pretty much the same point, but for some reason his brain decided to give him a little more this time.

"So he knows him…," he muttered to himself, staring at the ceiling. Ren, pacing over the bed next to him, tilted his head at him. His gaze was met with Aomine's as he started talking to the cat.

"He knows him. So what, is the guy a stalker or something?"

Ren decided to lay down on the bed, keeping his gaze on Aomine.

"He's a fucking psycho. He could have killed him at any second. I don't think he's going to though. He would have done it already…wouldn't he?" Aomine sat up, holding his chin in thought for a moment, trying to recall the dream's events. "But…if Blondie says the wrong thing, this asshole might lose his cool and kill him anyway."

Ren mewed loudly, as if in protest.

"Oi! I'm not telling anyone."

The cat whined again, deciding to get back up and jump off the bed.

Aomine pouted. "Well fine. I see how it is."

Well, that was enough thinking about that. He dragged himself out of bed and headed to the shower.

Now that he'd seen Kise's face in person at the concert the other night, he couldn't look at his dream the same way. Throughout the day as he zoned out in his classes, he couldn't unassociated the dreams with Kise. This random singer, who had come out of nowhere and taken the campus by storm, was in his dreams.

But what if his mind was just playing a trick on him? What if it wasn't Kise but because the face looked similar his brain decided to trick him?

No. There was no way. The moment he'd seen Kise's face during the concert he knew. The face in his dream had been so clear, so detailed, and there was no way it could be long to anyone other than Kise Ryouta.

Now that he had a name to put to the face, the dream was extended. Was that a sign? The dreams had always ended the same way before, right after the knife was pulled out, but now he had more than that. The dream had changed right after he'd seen Kise's face for the first time, after repeatedly being the same beforehand.

So who was this Kise guy? He was a singer, but what else?

Later that day he decided to visit the school's library, finding a computer in a secluded corner to use as he looked up information about him. As he didn't want to print anything off to give himself away, he was writing down every bit of information he could find, tapping away at the keyboard, chewing on the barrel of his pen in thought.

Kise Ryouta
Birthday: June 18th (Gemini)
Age: 19
Height: 189cm
Weight: 77kg
Blood type: A
Likes: Karaoke, onion gratin soup, honesty
Dislikes: Earthworms, unagi
Ideal girl: One that won't tie him down

Not only was he the same age as Aomine, but they were almost the same height as well. That seemed to be pretty much all they had in common though, as Kise was a slender guy and seemed to have a reputation for being a "happy-go-lucky pretty boy" according to all these teen sites. He was getting very popular with young girls and most of the sites that Aomine found information for about him were on sites decorated with way more pink than he deemed necessary.

He frowned at the screen, still chewing on his pen. Even though he had no idea what kind of information he was looking for, it seemed silly that he was writing down meaningless things like his weight and blood type.

"Aomine-kun?"

Aomine jumped, his pen falling out of his mouth. "Dammit, Tetsu!"

"I'm sorry," Kuroko said from just next to him. He blinked at Aomine curiously, glancing at the screen. "…Is that Kise Ryouta?"

Aomine's brows furrowed as he closed his browser window. "I clicked on it by accident. I gotta go." He quickly grabbed his pen and notebook, shoving them haphazardly into his bag.

"Aomine-kun, is something wrong?"

"No, Tetsu, everything's peachy. Just peachy." He stood up, throwing his bag over his shoulder.

"You've been acting strange since yesterday. I think this is the first time I've ever seen you in the library. Is there something bothering you?"

He had actually gotten lost trying to find the library, but that wasn't something he wanted to admit since he'd been going to this school for months now. "You wouldn't even believe me, Tetsu."

Kuroko looked up at him with an even, sincere gaze. "I don't think you mean that, Aomine-kun."

Aomine paused, biting his lip. He most likely shouldn't tell anyone at all, but he almost wanted someone to tell him he wasn't crazy. Even if Kuroko were just going to explain how it was some weird mind trick, maybe he could give him an explanation that reassured him he wasn't losing his mind. There had been a time where he still would have brushed Kuroko off for this and pushed him away, but that was a long time ago. Their friendship had evolved since then. He trusted Tetsu.

"Well, I can't tell you in the middle of the damn library."

"Come with me."

Aomine walked with Kuroko, who led them outside. If anyone knew a quiet area in this big school, it was Kuroko, and sure enough the shorter male led them to a secluded area behind the library where no one else seemed to be around. Aomine could easily picture Kuroko coming over here to read or whenever the hustle and bustle of the main areas on campus got exhausting.

Or whenever he wanted to help a friend, maybe.

"What's on your mind?" Kuroko asked, looking up at Aomine with those big curious eyes of his that always made Aomine feel guilty for even thinking about lying.

Aomine crossed his arms, already regretting this and he hadn't even started telling him yet. "It's about those dreams I've been having. I keep having the same dream over and over about a guy being threatened. It doesn't make any sense."

"Recurring dreams can having many different meanings."

"I get that, but it gets crazy. I thought the guy in my dream was just some random guy my mind made up…but it's not."

Kuroko blinked at him. "You're dreaming about Kise-san?"

Aomine rubbed his face as though he were dreaming right now, hoping to wake up. He was actually explaining this, and Kuroko was actually listening to it. God damn it all. "Yeah, but Tetsu…here's the crazy part: I never saw this guy's face in my life before the concert last night."

Kuroko's eyes widened a little bit and he tilted his head, looking at Aomine closely.

"Don't look at me like that!" Aomine said defensively. "I can't decide what I dream, let alone something like this. Of all things to happen…why can't I dream about a sexy girl? It's been months since I had a dream about boobs. No, I get to dream about some pretty boy about to get stabbed. Stupid brain, I want my boobs back."

Kuroko deadpanned. "I was going to ask you if you were sure about never seeing his face before, but I think it's obvious enough."

"Oi! What's that supposed to mean?"

Before Kuroko could answer, his phone rang in his pocket. "Excuse me," he said to Aomine before pulling it out and answering it. "Hello, Kagami-kun….Yes, that would be very nice….I'll meet you then. No, don't worry...thank you. See you then."

Kuroko hung up, a small smile showing on his face as he put his phone back in his pocket. Aomine knew that look. That was the look of Kagami having just asked him out to a date, in his own awkward, stuttering way. Kagami and Kuroko had been friends for a long time, but they'd only recently decided to take their friendship to the romantic level as well, so they were still trying to find their niche. Kuroko seemed content as ever and he smiled more than he used to, and the same was mostly true for Kagami, but that dumb redhead got flustered every time he tried to be romantic with Kuroko.

"I'm sorry," Kuroko said, returning his attention back to Aomine. "I need to go, but I want to help you with your dreams."

"Help me? What do you mean?"

"Just give me some time. Tell me if you have more dreams, okay?"

Aomine pouted. "Well, you can't tell anyone."

"Don't worry."

"Not even Kagami."

"Aomine-kun, please trust me."

"Yeah, yeah, fine. Go get ready for your date."

Kuroko blinked at him. "You heard all of that?"

"Come on, Tetsu, what do I look like? An idiot?"

Kuroko responded with a smirk before turning to leave. "Talk to you soon, Aomine-kun."

Aomine waved at him lazily, watching him rush off towards the apartment he shared with Kagami. He sighed when he was alone, unable to believe he'd actually just had this conversation with him about his dreams.

Well, Kuroko promising to help was real cute and all, but he knew that any kind of help Kuroko would bring or encourage was different than what he had in mind, so he still had to keep a few secrets to himself.

Like, say, trying to meet Kise Ryouta.