When Hisoka got home, he immediately ran upstairs to his room. Completely ignoring the babysitter.
"Dad!" He called out. Would he appear again? Where was he even if he would appear? "Dad!" He called out again.
"What?" Hisoka jumped back. Maybe Kazumi was right, they kind of do need bells. Pushing the sudden scare out of his mind, he faced his father. He needed to tell him his plan right away. There was no other way to cope with it.
"You said you needed my help, right?" He asked first. Kuroko nodded as Hisoka was clearing his thoughts. This had to go in an order in order for it to sound like he didn't just think of it now. Which he did, but that wasn't the point. "You're friends, or the 'GOM', do they happen to have any children?" Again, he was going in an order. Once he asked this question, Kuroko put a finger to his mouth.
"I believe some of them do. Why?" Hisoka's face brightened. So far so good; nothing's destroyed his plan yet.
"Because, my plan is that I can talk to them instead. They will be more likely to listen to me." Kuroko thought about this thoroughly. Kids do tend to believe in ghost stories more than adults. However…
"It would have to depend on the age. If they're older, you'll have more trouble convincing them." Well, he didn't think of that one. Shoot! There was a problem after all! Hisoka facepalmed himself. He had to think of a way around this. If he didn't, there was no way he could help!
"Would I happen to know any of them?" He asked, trying to get somewhere.
"You were still just a baby when you met them. You wouldn't remember." He guessed that that was still during a time when they kept in touch. He nodded; still no way around this. He couldn't stop thinking of it. There had to be another way to go with this.
"Is there anything else you could tell me about them? I'm having trouble putting things together." He asked as politely as possible. He didn't want to say that he flat out had no idea what to do.
"Kagami-kun tends to jump from Japan to America, so I can't promise you'll ever see him," Hisoka nodded. "Akashi-kun doesn't live close to the area at all, so that's a problem," He nodded again. "Midorima-kun's busy 24/7 because of his work, but he's at Takao-kun's house at times," Ok, so far, there's not even a chance of him meeting any of them. How was he going to interact? "I don't know where Aomine-kun would be, nor Murasakibara-kun, but Kise-kun's still in the modeling business as far as I know."
"No offence dad, but how am I supposed to help you if my chances of meeting them are below zero?" The boy questioned in all seriousness. He didn't intend for it to sound sarcastic, for he knew how much this meant to his father, but it came out like that anyhow. Hisoka saw the look in his father's eyes, and immediately felt guilty. It was doubt. "Dad, don't worry, ok? I'll figure something out." The look didn't descend from his face, but he smiled anyway. Now he really needed to think things through.
He didn't see Kuroko the next day, even if he secretly wanted him to appear. This was probably because Hisoka's plan didn't, well, come out as planned. This still bugged him.
Hisoka leaned back into his seat; ignoring his teacher's lectures. Out of habit, he stared up at the blank canvas called a ceiling. He tended to do that when he had trouble thinking, or when he was in deep thought.
"Looks like I'm back to where I started." He thought to himself sighing. "This is a real pain in the butt." Then, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Snapped out of his thought, he glanced over to see none other than his friend Kazumi.
"What're you doing, Hisoka? We're going to another class today remember?" Hisoka had forgotten that they were going to another class. Both teachers had decided to combine their classes to do a, sort of, movie day. Now, of course, the movie had to be somewhat educational, or related to what they were learning at the moment, but that wasn't the point. The point was, everyone was leaving the class and he was still in his seat. He quickly got from his seat, and the two caught up with the group as they walked down the hall. Since they were in the hallway, they were told to be as quiet as possible since classes were still going on. Go figure. However, Kazumi didn't listen very well, as she still whispered to him while they walked. Even though whispering not very loud, she was still disobeying the teacher by talking.
Even when they were watching the movie, which was Spirited Away in fact, Hisoka couldn't stop thinking about the problem. Being eight years of age really sucked at times like these. Because he's not old enough to actually have a chance of the GOM listening to him, and he was still at an age where he could barely go anywhere by himself. He didn't want to get his mother involved in this, as he didn't know how she would react. Plus, Kuroko would've told her if he wanted her to assist. As far as he knew, he hasn't made himself known to her. So, he wouldn't bring it up. He put a lot of thought into this, and he, finally, came up with a conclusion.
"Kazumi." He whispered loud enough to get her attention. Hearing her name, she turned her head towards him.
"Hm?" She said, making sure he knew she was listening. He took a breath; a serious look on his face.
"I'm calling a meeting," He whispered. "Code: Grey2." Kazumi's eyes went wide at first, but her face changed to serious as she nodded. She knew exactly what he meant.
After school, Kazumi ran as fast as she could to her house. Her house was a simple, craftsman house. It wasn't extremely huge like most people would expect. It was actually of average size. It was a toffee cream color, with a beautiful front porch and a great backyard. That's where she was heading.
As she ran in, tossing her bag on the front steps, she rushed past her father while heading out back.
"Kazumi, where're you heading?" He questioned after her curiously. She stopped only to replace her flats with sneakers.
"The treehouse," She answered without lifting her head. "Hisoka needs to meet me there." Takao stared at his daughter in confusion.
"Then, why do you look like you're in such a rush?" Kazumi groaned getting up.
"It's a code: Grey2!" She shouted. "And it's an emergency!" Takao didn't seem to get the memo. Kazumi groaned again. "The grey means intelligence. Meaning he needs my opinion on a certain topic. The two means planning. Meaning he needs my help to come up with a battle strategy!" She muttered a, "Geez, you're so stupid!" and ran out the back door. Takao just laughed upon hearing this. Most would think that in this day and age that kids would be focused on videogames and TV instead of going outside or even reading a simple book. But, from Takao's observations, Kazumi and Hisoka weren't like that. When they got together, they rarely ever just sat down and played a videogame. Instead, they went outside to play something along the lines of spies or ninjas. The treehouse made a big difference in what they did also.
A bit of background information, Kazumi's house had a million trees in the backyard. They called it a forest, even if they were told it wasn't. The trees reached up all the way to the clouds, and there were so many clumped together, that once you walked in, there was barely any sunlight as it was all shaded. Yeah, it was a forest. One day, while Kazumi was walking around in the forest, she discovered something that she found amazing: an unfinished treehouse! Or, maybe it was finished and it was just rundown, she couldn't tell. But, she just had to tell her parents about it, and when she did, they got her grandfather, who was flawless at constructing, to fix it up for her. It took a month or two to finish, because stuff like that costs money, but they got it done. The treehouse was high in the trees, a small box shape with a triangle roof. There was also a rope bridge connected to the door, which also connected to the crow's nest. (Like one on a ship. Not an actual crow's nest.)And there were big squares cut out in replace for windows. How they got up in the treehouse, however, was the tricky part. The ladder to get to the treehouse wasn't even near the treehouse. First, they had to climb a specific tree with odd branches. One that only Kazumi, Hisoka, and they're parents knew. There were steps on the tree where the crow's nest was, but they have to climb that one tree in order to get to it. Kazumi and Hisoka made sure that they were the only ones who knew how to get up there. They didn't want anyone stealing their secret hideout.
Hisoka went through Kazumi's house soon after she did, as it was the only way to get to the backyard. He said hello to her father and ran out to the treehouse. He ran out past the treehouse to the tree with the weird branches. (That's how they recognize it.) He then proceeded to climb it until he was close enough to climb up the steps. After that, he hauled himself up into the crow's nest and across the bridge to the treehouse. When he opened the door, which was just an old blanket used to cover up the entrance, he saw Kazumi already there sitting with her legs crossed. (Crisscross applesauce.)
"Alright, Hisoka, why'd you call code: Grey2?" She asked. A while back, the two of them had come across this book about colors and their meanings. They thought it was the coolest thing, so they decided to create secret codes for them to use just for fun. They did the same with numbers; just to add a little something extra to their codes. It took them a while to remember what each color meant, and what each number meant, but they were so determined to have these codes, that they memorized them anyway. They were such dorks! Hisoka sat down in front of her in the same position she was in.
"I called it because I couldn't think of anything else to do." He started, getting her attention. "Turns out, my plan, the one to help my dad, had more issues than I thought." Kazumi nodded, listening to her friend speak. "I mean, I don't even think I could meet any of them. And if they do have kids, I don't know anything about them. How old they are, what school they go to, where they live. Nothing. But, this plan is the only plan that could possibly work. I just can't work my way around it."
"Well, what I think you should do, is find out more about the GOM." She suggested. "If they're the ones you really need to convince, it might help to know a little about them." She had a point, but he already thought of that. There isn't much about them now; just from when they were still playing basketball in school.
"I know where you're getting at, but there's not much about them now. Heck, one of them might not even live here. His name was…oh, what's his name?"
"Kagami-kun." Hisoka perked up.
"Yes! Kagami-ku-wait…" Kazumi wouldn't know that. That didn't even sound like her voice! Realizing this, he turned to his right to see Kuroko sitting right next to him. He jumped back, surprised. Kazumi looked at him weirdly; thinking he saw a bug or something. "Dad! What're you doing here?!"
"I followed you up here." He explained with an unchanged expression. "You looked like you were having some difficulty." Geez, he didn't even know he could leave the house like that! Why didn't he tell him?! More importantly, how long has he been able to follow him like this?! Those would come later. For now, he had more important things to worry about.
"Dad? You mean…Kuroko-san's here?" Kazumi inquired Hisoka as she pointed to where he was looking at. Hisoka was confused. He was clearly there! He could see him, so she could, right? This thought immediately went down the drain, as he saw her looking around confusedly.
"Why can't she see you?" Hisoka asked his father. He sighed.
"Being able to make you see AND hear me takes up a lot of energy." Kuroko explained the best he could. "Making MORE people see and hear me takes up more of it. I can only do so much, Hisoka." Oh, so that's why he didn't see him every day!
"Sorry, Kazumi. Daddy can only have me see him." Hisoka tried to explain to the girl. "But, he is here! I promise!" Kazumi seemed to understand completely as she just smiled that goofy smiled at him.
"Don't worry about it! I believe you!" Kazumi was always so easy to talk to. She believed everything, even if to others it sounded completely ridiculous. That's one reason why they got along so well. Hisoka remained skeptical about certain things, while Kazumi wasn't very skeptical at all. They balanced each other out you could say. "Anyway, you called code: Grey2. That means you need a different plan, right?" Hisoka nodded. Both of them thought about what they knew and how they could piece it together. "Ok, first off, who're the people?" Kuroko told Hisoka one by one the names of the people, as Hisoka repeated it for Kazumi to hear.
"Kagami, Aomine, Akashi, Murasakibara, Kise, and Midorima." He said counting it off with his finger.
"Wait, you said Kise," Kazumi pointed out. "Why does that sound familiar?"
"You said your mom buys his magazines." He reminded her. To his surprise, she shook her head at this.
"No, well yes, but it's something else." Hisoka and Kuroko didn't quite know what to think of this. How else would Kise's name sound familiar to her? Takao didn't know Kise all too well. Her mother maybe? As they were skimming through options, that were more than likely untrue, they saw Kazumi snap her fingers. "I got it!" She announced excited. "One of our gym teachers said his name!" The room went silent. That didn't make any sense. Why would she hear it at school? By a gym teacher nonetheless. And that's when it struck him.
"Someone in our school must have the last name of Kise." He mumbled, but still audible to their ears. "Dad, do you remember Kise-san ever having a child?" Kuroko thought about this before answering.
"I think he did have a kid, actually. He was around the same age as you, I believe." Hisoka smiled upon hearing this.
"Kazumi, did you hear that?!"
"No."
"Oh, right, sorry. Dad said that Kise-san had a kid our age!" Hisoka clarified. Kazumi's face brightened, getting a clue of where he was going.
"So, it's possible his kid goes to our school! And since the gym teacher said their name, they might be in our class!"
"Exactly!" He said high-fiving the girl. "And that means I can actually get somewhere! I just need to talk to them!" With their plan finally thought out, they left the treehouse and Hisoka went home. Of course, his mom picked him up and thanked Kazumi's parents for letting him stay over before they left, so he was able to stay for a few more minutes or so. Since their parents always conversed for a while before they actually left.
The next day, during gym class, Hisoka sat with Kazumi during their water break. They didn't know the name of who they were looking for, they didn't even know the gender. They working on a thin line. One mess up, and they were back where they started.
"You think we should just ask?" Kazumi suggested taking a drink of her water. He shook his head.
"No. I feel like that would be a bit on the creepy side. Since we don't know much about them." How were they going to go about this? This was the one thing they didn't think about while discussing the plan. Suddenly, they heard a very loud smacking sound; followed by a very loud "ow!" The whole class quickly turned their heads towards the direction of the sounds. They weren't very pleasant sounds, as it sounded like someone was hurt. And they were right.
Where they were looking, they saw a few kids looking at two other kids. One was standing up straight, the other was on the ground holding his left eye. On the ground laid a soccer ball, which they assumed was what hurt the boy. The boy on the ground looked up at the one standing angrily.
"Oi, pretty boy, what was that for?!" He yelled. So, it was done on purpose? The boy standing grabbed the boy from the collar and pulled him up to his face. Which looked angrier than the boy he was holding.
"Call me pretty boy one more time, and your nose will be in your skull." The other threatened darkly. He then let the, now terrified, boy go and walked away to, what everyone thought, was the bathroom. No one knew how to process what had just happened. No one even knew what that threat meant. They just knew that it was very dark and cold. As Hisoka tried to think about what the kid got so worked up about, he overheard two of the gym teachers talking. What they said made him freeze. He stood from where he was and jogged after the boy. When Kazumi tried to ask where he was going, he simply just said, "bathroom."
When he was at the edge of the door, he heard the sound of splashing and peeked in. The boy from before was splashing his face with water.
"He must be cooling his head." Hisoka thought. Wondering if it was a good idea to talk to this kid. He was about the same height as him, had straight black hair, and caramel colored eyes with long eyelashes. It was no wonder they called him pretty boy. He took a breath; it was now or never. After that, he walked into the room, where the boy stopped and stared at him. Hisoka lifted his hand. "Hey." He greeted. He thought that, at least, saying hello would suffice. The other scowled.
"What do you want?" He asked a bit irritated. Hisoka stepped closer.
"Wh-what happened back there?" He asked trying to make conversation. The boy 'tsked' as he avoided his gaze.
"It's none of your business." He muttered. So far, he wasn't getting anywhere. This guy completely refused to talk to anyone. He couldn't even pretend he was in the conversation. "I don't even know you."
"Oh, I'm Hisoka Kuroko." He introduced, a bit taken back by his last sentence. "What's your name?"
"Yoshiyuki." He grumbled. "I know, it's disgusting."
"No it's not. It's a nice name." Hisoka attempted to enlighten. "Why do you think like that?" Yoshiyuki's scowl deepened at the thought. Leaving Hisoka a bit confused.
"Cause Ryouta picked it out." Ryouta? Was that Kise's real name? He wasn't completely sure, but he decided to make a push.
"You mean…Kise? Isn't he your dad?" Once he said that, Yoshiyuki turned and got up in Hisoka's face. Just like he did with the other kid.
"Ryouta is not my dad." Hisoka stared, surprised. Yoshiyuki never yelled at people when he threatened them. He made a face, an angry one, and just muttered something in a low voice. It was like he was warning them that he wasn't going to start a fight, but he'll beat the crap out of them if they did. This was what made Hisoka start to sweat nervously. "He's a bimbo, but numbskulls like you wouldn't know that, would you?" The silverette's eyebrows furrowed. He didn't know what that meant, but he had the feeling that it was an insult. Hisoka stepped closer to the kid and stared him down.
"You shouldn't talk about Kise-san like that. My dad went to school with him, and he sounds like he would be a great father." All of a sudden, Yoshiyuki started to laugh. It was a mirthless, brittle laugh. One that just made someone annoyed because they knew something sarcastic, or threatening, was coming afterwards. As Yoshiyuki's laughter slowly faded, he glared up at Kuroko's son like he was completely, and utterly, stupid. Hisoka didn't enjoy that look.
"That's exactly what I'd expect from dunces like you." He growled, making Hisoka flinch. "You can't expect a whore like him to be anywhere near a good father. And if you think you can just barge in here and change my mind, you're dead wrong." He walked past Hisoka, but not without shoving him to the side. "I don't need a sugarcoated louse like you supporting that bimbo Ryouta. Especially when yours is dead." And he left. Hisoka rubbed his arm, where he was shoved, and glared at the door.
"What a jerk." He mumbled to himself.
"He does have a foul attitude." He heard someone agree with him. He turned to his left, and was, again, startled by Kuroko's sudden appearance.
"Y-yeah, he does." He said afterward. Then, when Hisoka made eye contact with his father, he jumped at his expression. He didn't think he'd ever seen his dad angry before. It alarmed him.
"I don't like the way he talks about Kise-kun," He said squinting at the door. "And I especially don't like the way he talks to you." Why would he talk about Kise like that? What did he possibly do to make his son loathe him so much?
"Daddy, it's ok." Hisoka said trying to calm his father down, but to no avail. "Besides, we don't know what happened. He probably just got worked up." Hisoka made his way outside, as he still had to go to class. "We'll talk to him some other time. When he's not so angry." Then, he ran off to the rest of the class. Kuroko followed him; even if he wasn't satisfied with how the conversation turned out.
Later on that day, moments before school was over, Yoshiyuki was picked up by his neighbor. His mother was a photographer, and couldn't afford to miss any work days. The neighbor, who was a very close friend of his mother, looked back in the seat where he sat.
"Yuki-kun, what did you do today?" She asked the grumpy child.
"I kicked a soccer ball, and it hit some other kid in the face." He admitted without a care in the world.
"And?" She pushed on. He groaned.
"And…threatened to shove his nose into his head."
"Yuki," She said sounding disappointed. "You can't keep doing this! Your mother constantly gets these phone calls from the school, and she gets worried!" Yoshiyuki blocked her voice out. He's gotten these lectures so many times now, that now it's just annoying. When she dropped him off at his house, he thanked her and walked in. Slumping on the couch he closed his eyes ready to just take a nap. If people knew why he did these things, they would understand him. But, they don't know. Nobody knows but him, and that's what ticks him off.
A few minutes after he started resting, he heard the sound of something falling over. Curious on where the sound came from, he opened his eyes and looked around the room. Everything seemed to be in order, so it came from another room? Deciding to see which room it was, he stood up off the couch and checked every room. They all turned out clean. Except for one.
"Ah, must've fallen off the desk." He told himself as he walked into his mother's room and picked up the frame. As he turned over, his face got a quizzical look. "Oh, this is one of Ryouta's pictures." The picture was of him in middle school, a part of some sort of sports group. Most likely basketball. "Hey," He focused his attention on a person in the picture. "He looks like that one kid." Well, he did say that his father went to school with his. This was probably how they met. When he was about to put the picture down, he noticed something in the picture that made him get a closer look. There were…two of that guy. Did he have a twin, or brother, or something? No that can't be right. This one didn't look like it was part of the picture. In fact, it kind of looked like…
Scared, Yoshiyuki turned around quickly to see no one there. He glanced around the room, not moving. He was getting paranoid. He knew that that was a reflection on the frame, and of the guy in the picture! Was it his imagination maybe? No, it wasn't. That reflection was right behind his reflection. Meaning that someone was behind him. He shuddered. Wasn't that guy's father….dead? He gulped.
"You're thinking crazy," He told himself. "There's no ghost. Ghosts aren't even real. You're just getting a bit freaked out."
"That's the point."
"HOLY CRAP!" He screamed running out the door. He heard someone speak right in his ear. He literally felt breathing against his neck. He stared into the room horrified. Now, he was fully convinced. Still, what the heck was going on?! This had never happened before, so why now?!
The following day, Hisoka's mother sat in the waiting room of a hospital. She wasn't in any urgency, like what most people would think going in so early in the morning. However, this was the only time she was able to do it. Most adults would understand the schedule.
After waiting for about thirty minutes, Hisoka's mother was told by a nurse that she could go on back. She nodded and followed the nurse back. Now, like usual, she had a regular check up with the nurse, and now had to wait for the actual doctor to come in. There was not much she was worried about coming here. Just a little unsure about herself.
It wasn't long before she heard the door open. Directing her attention towards the door, she gave a pleasant smile at him while he gave her a shocked expression.
"Eirin, I wasn't expecting you to be my patient." He stated pushing up his glasses.
"It's been a while, Midorima-kun." She said as he closed the door. "How have you been?"
"I've been well, in fact." He answered with a small smile. "How have you been? I know things have become difficult for you."
"We're doing fine, Midorima-kun. Thank you for your concern." He gave her a sympathetic look. He had already known that she was very delicate towards certain things, like death, but she was one to become stronger and not weaken. That was most likely one of the traits that Kuroko fell in love with. That was one thing they shared.
"Now, you being here, I can only assume one thing, in fact." He said while testing her blood pressure. The usual things doctors would do. Eirin let out a nervous chuckle looking at her husband's former teammate.
"Well, I'm not completely sure yet, but it has been a couple of weeks. I'm just here to make sure." She scratched her cheek cutely, looking unsure of herself. Midorima nodded.
"I see. Then, I'll be sure to give you some confirmation." Eirin nodded as Midorima sat down in front of her.
Midorima was an Obstetrician.