His breathing rasped against the warm, damp inside air. With a wild tug, he sat up in his small and rather shabby bed, eyes wide and his cracked lips parted while staring into the darkness ahead of him. Kuroko Tetsuya had experienced a bad dream – one in which he had encountered and recalled the memory which haunted him so – the demon. What he remembered as a terrible encounter, an unfortunate fate. Despite recollecting the entity's words, Kuroko could not remember his face apart from those hollow, corrupt scarlet eyes, flashing with mischief.

His heart throbbed. Wincing, the boy fleetingly closed his eyes, attempting to calm both his rapid heartbeat and breath while sliding a hand through a tear in the fabric of his grungy shirt to slide over his chest and across his throbbing scar. Oh, it hurt him so incredibly bad. Making the poor boy flinch more than hearing fingernails scrape over wood, unsteadying his breath more than when being smacked in the head by a frying pan. It burned so much more than laying in the fire itself. Tetsuya wanted to scream, his fingers clawing at the scar over his heart.

That scar was no ordinary mutilation of the skin. It was not of a fleshy colour or smooth texture. It was a deep, ugly purple bruised colour and depicted the roots of a tree, coursing over his chest and deep into his flesh, attacking his nerves, his bloodstream, sometimes pulsing and moving just under his skin so that, when he looked, the poor boy could see the roots grow, move and curl – Tetsuya felt it had to be all of that. On one or two occasions, the pain had escalated so tremendously that the boy had lifted a blunt kitchen knife and rested its tip against his pulsating veins, contemplating whether to cut out his heart, so as to simply end his suffering. The agony it caused him whenever flaring was enough to make him want to end his life – for he was sure that the only thing to relieve such torture had to be death itself… Surely.

But, even after fifteen years of misery due to that mark, Tetsuya still found himself alive – in fact, he found himself lying alive in his bed, like he did every morning. His rancid bed, in his rancid room in his rancid rotten house. And every morning, Tetsuya had to remind himself that the pain in his body could not possibly be any worse than the withering of his mind.

He found his feet on the floor of his bedroom and winced at the ferocious croak protruding from the floorboards. It couldn't be late yet – the sun hadn't even come out. But it was early enough for the birds to sing their atrocious melodies, the range of crows, sparrows and occasional hawk and many more unnamed species all screeching to form a symphonic cacophony, and the other side of the road to be visible through the meek window, set on the other end of the boy's room, one of the shutter's hinges having fallen off, leaving the panel to dangle and occasionally smack against the rotten wood of the windowsill. Most of Tetsuya's room was in a similar state – suffering because of the bad care it got. The walls were more than filthy, they were dank and unpleasant, they reeked of smoke, alcohol, urine and sex. Yes, Tetsuya's room wasn't really his room. No one considered it to be his territory. The room was used for horrible occasions in the male's eyes – but perhaps joyous occasions in other's.

Tetsuya knew however, why his room suffered the most in the desolated house of his. Why his parents got drunk and made love in his room whenever it pleased them – sometimes while Tetsuya still resided in the same chamber – to which he left in a hurry, not wanting to see such graphic and explicit pictures, was because seemed to forget his very existence.

That was his terrible curse. Being forgotten, by his hometown and by his parents.

At times, dinner was only served for two. Such torments the boy had endured for more than fifteen years. Haunted by the fact that he was no longer human – sure, his flesh was warm and his blood flowing, and his skin flushed at times of adrenaline and his mind at times of arousal – but every bit of him was close to invisible. Kuroko Tetsuya had no presence, he was an invisible man, a forgotten being, a phantom.

Downstairs, Tetsuya heard nothing, further upstairs he heard loud snoring and he let a deep sigh escape from his lips as he stood, the filthy quilt dropping back onto the yellowing mattress and he headed as quiet as he could, down the stairs in the hope of finding some food before he left the house. Alas, as he had suspected – he'd been forgotten once more and found that there was nothing for him to take, not even after spending some time scavenging the mouldy kitchen cabinets or the disintegrating cupboards. With a tremendous sigh, the poor phantom looked down at his feet, scratched and bare. His shoes too he no longer had, they had long since been sold by his parents because yet again, they had forgotten him. He'd walked on his coarse feet for over three years now, trying desperately to keep them as well as the rest of his body from catching diseases. But there was something almost comical about the situation. The boy deemed invisible even to pathogens. For in his fifteen years after encountering the demon of the half-dead labyrinth he had not been unwell a single time and sometimes, Kuroko Tetsuya did ask himself – was he really still alive?

There were two people in his hometown that proved he was alive. Those two souls being Aomine Daiki and Momoi Satsuki. Neither of the two lived as scarcely as the Kuroko family, in fact, both could afford proper clothes and a decent bath. Aomine Daiki was the adopted child once found in the woods and taken in by the Momoi household. The two were inseparable and saw, touched and did everything together. Therefore, both were capable of seeing the young Tetsuya who, upon their first meeting had been down by the stream at the age of ten, trying to wash his grimy hands after working in the fields all day – not that anyone had noticed him.

Kuroko had heard running and laughing voices, quickly followed by the two children of the same age. The flash of pink wavy hair followed by a darker figure and then the loud splash, the wet drops of water against his face while he watched the two children had run right into the stream. Their chirpy young voices had made poor Tetsuya feel envious – he too wanted to be part of a little group like that, but fate had decided against it apparently. His heart had ached and he'd grabbed a hold of the filthy shirt he'd worn, desperately biting his lip as the stabbing pain had gotten worse. It got so bad that the boy had to bow his head and tucking it in-between his legs, tears flooding his face while he held back the screams he so badly wanted to let go.

In that same instant, the eyes of the two stranger beings had fallen upon him and widened abruptly. Of course, Daiki, being the bolder of the two, had spoken up without any hesitation, having pointed his finger straight at poor Tetsuya's small frame and exclaiming him to be the phantom of the town that they had heard so many rumours about. Satsuki joined in on his excited rampage as the two fought their way out of the water, wanting to get a closer look at the curled-up boy who silently listened in to their conversation, too afraid to part his lips in case the terror of his pain did overcome him.

oOo

Kuroko Tetsuya remembered these memories because they were oh so dear to him. To finally be noticed and appreciated by these two wonderful people. Both had grown up to be great friends of Tetsuya, always involving him and having him tag along on adventures in the woods when they were kids and even to that day, they always had fun together.

That was why, while he wandered the streets, he kept a watchful eye out for those special people in his life. The only people that really cared. But upon passing the black smith's hub and the bakery, the people of the streets started speaking in hushed voices, voices Tetsuya could easily pick up the words off.

"Yes, it's said that it's more active these days – rumours even say that there have been multiple disappearances. They say that if you go in, you never come out…" Tetsuya would have loved to correct the statements, for lies grew in them. It wasn't the forest that was active for Tetsuya knew that was the subject of their matter. Nothing but the half-dead maze made people speak with such hushed voices and fearful glances. Tetsuya knew that the trees weren't the harmful components… No, not even the mother tree which leaked darkness into the beings of her children could possibly be responsible for terrible occurrences. It had to be the demon. The demon of those frightful woods. The demon that made them the frightful woods. A being with fierce red eyes and menacing words of the name Seijuurou. Tetsuya felt himself momentarily enchanted by the mere thought of that name, the roots over his heart throbbing distantly.

He continued to pass the townspeople who as per usual, noticed not his presence, passing them by as it did every single morning. The boy was headed for a plain clearing behind the Momoi household that was private property of the very same family. There, poor Tetsuya would meet with his only friends, the people that saw him and appreciated him.

"Tetsu!" His trusted darker skinned male greeted him upon reaching the place. Behind him sat Momoi Satsuki, holding a buttercup between her fingers and gazing at it thoughtfully. Aomine Daiki waved to Tetsuya and the teenager wandered over, his expression remaining in its blank state.

"Good morning Aomine-kun, Momoi-san." The boy bowed slightly, greeting them in a similar fashion as the day before, and the day before that. Kuroko Tetsuya was, regardless of not interacting with others much, of a very good-mannered and respectful nature. The rich residents of house Momoi were widely beloved and valued, therefore, reverence was expected.

"Morning Tetsu-kun." Satsuki got up, leaving he picked buttercup on the soft grass while resting in her hands a small rectangular object, wrapped in fine fabric with a perfect knot on top.

"We expected you to be hungry, considering circumstances, so I brought you some food." The girl smiled.

Momoi Satsuki was a girl of Tetsuya's age and stood at roughly the same height, depending on the shoes she wore. On most days, her silken tresses of pink lovelier than the spring cherry blossoms, hung down, well maintained and clean looking while her rosy cheeks glowed in the daylight. Her physique was above average; with her slim and attractive legs and voluptuous body but above all her ample bosom, Satsuki was capable of charming many others – in particular the young men whose hearts yearn for a wife.

"We wanted to take you into the mountains today, we thought the weather looked good for a hike." This time, Daiki spoke, a wide grin lighting up his wild face.

The other male was darker skinned and obviously looked like the outsider in the Momoi manor. Aomine Daiki, unlike the delicately proportioned Satsuki, was a beast. His shoulders were broad and his body muscular. His features were broad but his eyes slim and venomous on occasions. Fear was easily struck in those, who couldn't look beyond Aomine Daiki's frightfully aggressive expression which, as later proves, is in fact his normal facial expression.

In the years that Aomine Daiki has been living with the Momoi family, he has proven that his figure lives up to the strength he bears, capable of doing any hard-work chore with little effort.

However, Aomine Daiki was a young man that was easily bored, and over the previous months, he had become incredibly lazy, forgetting about all his strengths and resorting to lazing around Satsuki while the female tried her very best at improving her household skills for her future life after marriage. She was to be a proper maiden after all.

"Dai-chan, I was due to—"Satsuki attempted to speak but Daiki interrupted her fervently, a spark in his eyes once more while he motioned to the mountain as Tetsuya attempted not to think of what lay beyond that mountain.

"Let's head off now, before the lady of the house starts bickering." Hurried the taller, darker skinned male, pushing Kuroko ahead by the shoulder and grinning from ear to ear.

It wasn't very often that one saw Aomine Daiki excited, what with him being bored out of his wits on most occasions. Tetsuya felt the contagious grin on the other male's face spread to his own and he goofily smiled, lightly rubbing the back of his neck, wincing faintly and pulling back a muddy hand. He sighed. Tetsuya needed a proper bath once again – it would have to wait.

Satsuki and Daiki led the phantom off town grounds and took the common footpath into the mountains, cobble soon making place for a simple dirt path plain, surrounded by wilderness and trees, growing scarcer and further distanced. Both the blossom haired female and the teal haired male, struggled to keep up with their muscular companion, their legs much shorter and weaker than that of the massive bear of a man before them, eagerly pacing up the mountain while above them, the sun broke the line of clouds and smiled down upon them, burning their necks until they tingled.

It took them no less than an hour and a half to reach their agreed destination – a destination agreed between Satsuki and Daiki. By the time Tetsuya and Satsuki arrived, Daiki was already seated on the flat plain, where a small patch of grass grew, swaying in the light breeze from the west. Satsuki smiled faintly at the sight and ambled over to her friend, kneeling onto the grass and feeling it under her legs and her delicate hands. With a smile, she beckoned the stationary Tetsuya over to join them.

"Tetsu-kun." She ushered him to eat the lunch he still carried with him. Doubtfully, Tetsuya stared at it while his legs carried him over towards the two relaxed others, chewing the inside of his cheek while maintaining his indifferent façade. The boy was unsure whether he should really take such a gift from Satsuki, despite having received much more from her. He wanted not to seem greedy, for that was not at all what he was.

Yes, he suffered – but Tetsuya had mastered his blank expression from his face to the very depth of his cerulean eyes, hidden in the shadows that had been shaped around him. He knew no better at that stage. Emotion lacked in his voice and in his posture; emotion lacked in his logical and strategic thinking and in his hidden actions – or so he presumed.

"It's not poisoned Tetsu-kun" Reassured Satsuki and from the ground, Daiki snorted loudly, as if trying to contradict her statement with that. Tetsuya nodded indifferently and sat himself, prying the wooden box open and being presented with a heavenly bowl of food, much more eccentric than he had ever gotten from the Momoi family before that occasion.

Immediately, clocks started whirring inside of his brain and he calculated the situation:

The day was nice, almost perfect for a joyous occasion. His food, a feast from the heavens, had been presented by a much too happy Satsuki – yes, even happier than usual. Aomine Daiki was beside himself with constant grinning as well. They had led him out of town – something Daiki was too lazy to do on most occasions. Indeed, something was very odd. However, even when calculating every option, Tetsuya could not put his finger on it.

And out of nowhere it hit him, just as Satsuki leant in, murmuring to Daiki that there was something in his hair. Tetsuya caught a glint of light, reflected by a shiny object from around Satsuki's finger. Her ring-finger. The gasp left his mouth before he could control himself. A natural response of course.

Satsuki's head snapped back up and she tilted her head curiously at her friend before following his trail of sight and giggled thoughtlessly, her hand placing in her lap while she stared at the silvery ring herself.

"It's exactly what you think." She gushed, bringing both hands up to cup her own cheeks fervently. Daiki quickly caught on and rolled his eyes, grinning once more and lifting up his own hand to show a matching ring.

What Kuroko Tetsuya expected to be happiness for his friends, turned out to be horror. A horror, whirring in the pit of his stomach. Perhaps, his emotions were there after all… He stared at both rings and then up into the eyes of his best friends, who had, without explaining to him before hand, gotten engaged to one another.

"It's sort of something my family arranged… Not that I mind." Giggled Satsuki while she placed her hand in Daiki's gently. The bigger male looked away and grunted faintly, but not refusing the contact between him and his fiancée.

But why was poor Tetsuya so befuddled, so upset? Why did he feel so betrayed? Inside of him, darker thoughts roamed, their claws lashing at his insides just as the roots on his heart started twisting again, digging deeper into his flesh, consuming his body, claiming him as theirs.

Satsuki Momoi and Aomine Daiki – his best friends, would surely get married, have children and forget about him, like everyone else in his life had done. He was unwanted. Tetsuya wasn't needed. Satsuki had Daiki and Daiki had Satsuki. That was all either of them needed. He was unnecessary, he was excess, he was waste! Kuroko Tetsuya was a nuisance…

The food on his lap tasted of nothing; bland; rubbery. Tetsuya placed it on the grass and looked at his own clenched fists in contact with the grass. He wished to run, to forget everything. He wished he didn't care – but he did…

"Tetsu?" It was Daiki to address him first, his eyebrows furrowed while inspecting the other's expression which of course, did not shift, not even by a single millimetre. The boy was a natural. Kuroko Tetsuya was as plain, as uninteresting as a grey sky. But Aomine Daiki was well aware that a grey sky meant rain, and potentially something much more dangerous and of course, on such a joyous occasion for him, he wished not for his friend to spoil it.

"Just eat. I brought the ball." Out of his pocket, Daiki pulled a small leather ball he had crafted himself out of scraps.

Tetsuya nodded, realising he and Daiki were on the same page. No one was to spoil Satsuki's warm and content smile. He therefore ate – unwillingly – but he ate nonetheless, slowly and severely while his vacant eyes excavated into Daiki's with a certain tension. He willed Daiki to realise his pain – he willed his best friend to understand…

Once finished, Tetsuya placed the empty box down and bowed politely to Satsuki, his stringy tresses covering his quivering eyes. The poor boy was uncertain when the tears would spill. There was no joy in his heart. He was alone. He would soon be even more alone. He wanted someone. He needed someone. His heart yearned for attention, for affection. His whole being, screaming and tearing at his insides, telling him – no – compelling him to get up and leave, compelling him to find that person that would listen to him, that would understand and sympathize, possibly even empathize with his suffering – someone that could love him in spite of it. Kuroko Tetsuya wanted that so much.

oOo

After finishing, Daiki and he did start passing the ball to one another, tossing it aimlessly to pass the time while the sun danced across the sky, bathing the air in shades of orange and pink once it neared the horizon like it did the day before. Tetsuya was the one to end their game while Satsuki got up and motioned that the time for them to return home had approached.

They had spent all day out – perhaps with minor conversations for once, but they had spent the time together and even though Tetsuya; heart ached, he was still contented with the fact that he wasn't completely alone at that stage… He would have to use the time to accept his fate, to accept that he might be forgotten again, that he might as well just forget about everyone himself.

Life was unfair – that much he had learned…

It was time they returned and so they did, Satsuki leading the way on the occasion while Daiki stayed close to Tetsuya's side, finally capable of confronting his close friend on what had happened.

"Tetsu…" He said quietly.

"Are you okay?"

"Me? I'm fine."

"That's not what I meant, are you okay with the decision we made, I want to hear the truth, your truth."

"Really Aomine-kun, because I don't think you'll like it much." Retorted young Tetsuya, his hazy eyes narrowing while he glanced at his much taller friend.

"There are a lot of things I don't like Kuroko Tetsuya, but whatever you do will never be one of those things." Assured he to which Tetsuya bit his lip, suddenly feeling a sensation of guilt about his own whirring emotions. He was supposed to be happy, instead he was being selfish, worrying about his own future rather than blessing his two best friends with their news.

"I—I'm upset Aomine-kun." And even then, despite admitting his worries, despite confessing his frustrations, Kuroko Tetsuya's face bore carried not a drop of emotion.

"I know that…"

"If you do, then you should have considered me before you got engaged." The boy's head turned to Daiki and he met the other's eyes fiercely.

"This is a decision we made together. Satsuki and I that is. We both think very much of you Tetsu… But we got too caught up in the moment… In the heat of things… We were both a little out of line… But we're happy together Tetsu… And I'm asking you to be happy for us too, do you think you can do that?" The deep marine orbs stared into Tetsuya's with a certain passion – a passion the poor, helpless boy couldn't resist.

In shame, he turned away and hung his head, mulling over his own hazy emotions once more. Aomine Daiki was asking him to be happy for them getting engaged, he was asking him to accept it – what if he couldn't? he didn't want to, but he had to. For Satsuki. For Daiki.

"Alright…" He nodded his head slowly and as an immediate response, Daiki threw his arm around the smaller male's shoulder, letting a grin spread across his face once more while he chuckled.

"You're a good friend Tetsu." Mused Daiki.

Upon arriving home, Tetsuya's heart sank, hearing the noises from upstairs; from his room, they escalated. With a sigh, the boy slumped over to their scruffy living room and attempted to make himself somewhat comfortable upon the stringy carpet in front of the empty fireplace while ignoring sounds from around the entire house. The scurrying of rats in the corners of the kitchen and the buzzing of flies from the distant toilet, the occasional pleasured scream from over his head and the savage screeches from the old, rotting floor, stairs and front door, which jabbered dangerously in the rising winds emitting from beyond the mountain's shadow in which the town lay.

The boy curled up on the floor, hugging his arms around his knees while fixing his eyes shut and forcing himself to forget. He had to forget – or he was going to break in both his heart and brain – one of these days, he was sure to snap, whether that be mentally or physically.

And with the thought of that – the poor young boy fell into a deep trance much deeper than sleep – his consciousness slipping from reality while everything fazed into darkness – a darkness vastly familiar.

oOo

Once again did Kuroko Tetsuya find himself in his house, still curled up on the living room floor – everything distantly vague and strange. The boy was unsure what it was that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, but it made him sit up and glance around cautiously as he tried to register the changes in the atmosphere.

With a slap in the face, he realised. It was silent – dead silent – unnaturally silent. No wind wracked the windows or the dishevelled door. There was no squeaking of floorboards and no humming from critters that loitered the house. What on earth was going on?

Suspiciously, the boy scrambled to his feet, feeling his way around in the dimness of the room. While glancing out the window, Tetsuya noted another peculiar issue – the sky was red and not just the ordinary red of a sunset either – it was a deep blood red, poisonous but enchanting to gaze upon nonetheless.

Tearing his eyes away from it all, the boy scurried, shuffling across the floor and wincing occasionally, his feet much too sore for the impact of the cold floor and onwards, towards the door that no longer made a sound. He dared to open it – but only after taking multiple steadying breaths to calm his heart – barely noticing the tingling in his heart and the movements of the roots over his heart.

With a jolt and a tug, the door opened silently, not a single crack emitting from it.

Immediately, Tetsuya was overwhelmed and he staggered back into the house.

In front of him grew the massive black forest, towering over him while glaring down at him hungrily, beckoning for him to dissolve in the depths of the darkness within.

The trees were morbid and dead as ever and simply swayed in the inner gale, twisting around the thick trunks and sturdy branches, trying to grab the poor boy like long arms, extending out to reach at him. Horror-struck, Tetsuya watched them, his knees quivering and his eyes widening…

And then, so very unexpectedly, Kuroko Tetsuya was on his knees, pulling at his hair while his eyes fixed themselves shut as he screamed – the pain inside of him lashing out and numbing all his other senses. His stomach felt like it was being torn open with a wooden stake and he screeched so loudly he could have deafened himself. The hollow forest drank up his terrible and skin curling cries, throwing them back at him ten times louder and only overwhelming him in more torture.

Poor Tetsuya screamed, he thrashed, proceeding to claw at his eyes, his dirty nails digging into his flesh until he started bleeding, begging for it to stop – begging for the pain in his heart, in his head, in his very existence, his very soul to end, even if that meant death.

"STOP IT!" He shrieked into the non-existent wind.

And as if on cue, the pain stopped – as quick and sudden as it had come, leaving the poor forsaken soul upon the floor, quivering, twitching and staring up into space helplessly, like the small child he was when he first encountered despair. His pale skin was lined with a light sheen of sweat and he shivered violently – awestruck by the new development.

Because once again did he stand before him: wrapped in darkness with skin paler than snow but eyes deeper and redder than fire, than the blood on Tetsuya's hands… More terrifying than the forest behind him, and more beautiful than any other creature the boy had ever cast eyes upon.

Seijuurou.

Never had Tetsuya so vividly taken in the demon's endearing face, so very gentle and affectionate towards him – so very surreal but so very real at the same time. Delicate hands placed themselves on both his cheeks while his eyes drank up Tetsuya's frightened ones.

"My poor, poor boy – oh how I've missed your face. I may be your evil, but you have haunted my existence. Tetsuya." Once again, the demon spoke to him in that awful, sickly sweet but satisfying mellow tenor, drowning Tetsuya in a mixture of dread and respect.

"Seijuurou." The boy replied before capable of stopping himself, tears final slipping down his cheek and effectively reflecting in the demon's eyes, who narrowed sympathetically while the being kneeled with him, one hand lovingly sliding back to the boy's head, the fingers tangling in his hair while the boy, still shaking, was pulled into the demon's embrace. Seijuurou cradled Tetsuya in a gentle embrace, his soothing tongue uttering quiet reassurances to the boy, convincing him all was to change.

"But, I'm hurting so much…" The boy uttered through a tearstained to which the demon pulled back and gently captured the human's facial expression.

"I know Tetsuya, I know… It does deem cruel of me to make you suffer this way – and perhaps it is just my selfish nature… But this is not your full potential, you are in control of changing yourself – your suffering can become your strength… Tetsuya, you are a shadow now. And perhaps, you were born to be a shadow and I too am merely a puppet of fate." The demon uttered very quietly, staring into the boy's eyes reassuringly.

"But I want you to know this now Tetsuya. If ever, your life seems close to collapsing, know that you can come and find me – my interest has been tweaked by you, and I want you to understand and comprehend, that although my nature might not be of good, I do wish to show you truth." The demon gazed at Tetsuya curiously. The cerulean eyes of the other steadied after a long moment and at the very same time, the demon straightened and backed away, already phasing back out of reality.

"Seijuurou…" Said the boy hurriedly, running a hand over his heart, which was already throbbing painfully once again.

"Why did you curse me?" But the demon shook his head, as if disappointed by Tetsuya's question and the boy winced pained by the other's reaction.

"Come find me if you need it… You know where I roam, Tetsuya."