Prologue- Summer haze

The heat was unbelievable.

A plastic shopping bag in each hand, Kuroko Tetsuya trudged up the inclined path towards home, the sun beating down mercilessly on him from above. The smooth concrete beneath his feet absorbed and radiated the same heat back at him from below, making it so there was no relief what so ever. NOt even the occasional tree growing behind high walls in someone's closed yard could provide any sort of sanctuary for the poor fourteen year old, who didn't do well in hot weather.

Placing one foot in front of the other, a small bead of sweat slipped down from his forehead into his eye left eye. He wiped it away with the shoulder of his t-shirt, the swinging bags in his hands brushing against his calves almost tauntingly with their content's coolness. In each bag were four bottles of a variety of different flavors of soda, fresh from the refrigerator of the convenience store now five blocks behind him and ice-cold in comparison to the air around him, as his father, and mother in a more subtle form, had requested about fifteen minuets ago.

Never before in his life had he cursed his dislike of carbonated beverages as many times as he had in the past five minutes. Somewhere in his mind, he classified this discovery as having negative significance. He had found out something new about himself, sure, but it wasn't a good thing. Not that he really cared at the moment. No doubt, it would later come back to tease his mind and he would wonder why, unable to remember where the thought originated, but not now, at this exact minute, when he wanted and thought of nothing more than getting home and seating himself in front of the air conditioner on full blast, downing a large bottle of water as he soaked himself in cold air. Ah, yes, he could picture it now. How nice it would be to just sit, not moving soar muscles that still had a long way to recover from the week long training camp, despite it having ended last week. Even his fingers hurt, which was a feat in itself, as that also hadn't happened before.

Almost there. The thought kept running through his mind as neared the end of his climb, his house just a short distance away from the top. Kuroko would've quickened his pace if he coud, just to get it over with, but his legs painfully protested going beyond the speed of a very casual stroll. He subconsciously cursed this as well.

Another bead of sweat rolled down his forehead as his phone started to ring in the pocket of his shorts. Mildly surprised, having not expected any calls from anyone, he put the bag in his right hand to his left and reached into his pocket for the cellular device. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand before flipping it open with his thumb. The row of numbers that showed on the screen were said to be unknown, but they also poked on familiarity in the blunette's mind. Figuring he might as well answer because of that, he pushed the green talk button and brought the phone to his ear.

"Hello." He said.

"Kuro-chan!" The voice on the other end replied -no, screamed- on the other end. "It's Nakamura Ageha! You still remember me, right?"

Wincing sightly, Kuroko pulled the phone a short distance away from his ear. "It's only been a week, Ageha-san, My memory isn't that bad."

"Well, you could've developed a severe case of memory loss since then, right? Or hit your head really hard? How would I know, you never called or anything!"

" Not all of us are clumsy blonde idiots, Ageha-san."

"Oi, it's not nice to talk about Ki-chan like, Kuro-chan~! It's mean. Kuro-chan is mean! Wah, you really did hit your head, didn't you? The Kuro-chan I knew was a complete and total innocent angel! Nice! A pure hearted soul with no interest in vulgar things! Where's the Kuro-chan I know and love?!"

"I wasn't talking about Kise-kun, Ageha-san." the blunette said, supressing a sigh."And please don't confuse me with Aomine-kun."

"Eh? Who else do you know that's blou-oh."

"Oh." Kuroko repeated.
The girl on the other line laughed softly, sheepishly. "Sorry, Kuro-chan. I think I overdid it again, huh?"

"Ageha-san is Ageha-san."

"I...think that was an insult?"

"It's the truth."

"I see..." She said, then paused for a moment. "Anyway, I'm at the store by your house, you want anything?"

FInally at the top of his hill, with his house in sight, Kuroko stopped in his tracks. "What?" He asked, suddenly very confused.

"Do you want me to buy you anything from the store?" Ageha repeated, slower and clearer than was probably necessary.

Kuroko blinked. "I thought that you moving away was supposed to be a permanent thing?"

"Ah, it was." Ageha said. "That's why I called you, Kuro-chan.I'm coming over, okay? I'll tell you all about it when I get there."

"Okay." Because telling her she couldn't come over would be useless, anyway, whether he wanted her over or not.

"Great. Now, do you want anything? Last chance, I'm walking to the register right now."

"No, I'm fine, thank you." Kuroko started walking again.

"Fine, fine. I'll be there in ten."

"Alright." Kuroko was the one to disconnect first, slipping his phone back in his pocket before wiping his forehead again. It seemed that his days of peace had ended in a much shorter time than expected. WHether or not that was a good thing still remained to be seen. If he was honest with himself, he would admit that he was still mad at his childhood friend. However, he had had a week to think about her actions, as well as additional information as to why she acted that way that no one else but him knew, and therefore had no reasons not to hear her out because, undoubtably, she would apologize to him in the most sincere way she could think of.

When he got home, he set his bags down on the kitchen counter without a word and silently returned to his room. Then he waited. Ten minutes came and went without a word from Ageha. Then an hour. By the time two hours passed, Kuroko was starting to worry. But it was Ageha, and things like her being incredibly late to something wasn't an action beyond imagination.

By the time five hours passed, Kuroko Tetsuya received a call from another unknown number. He listened to the person- A man who introduced himself as Dr. Ikeda Hachiro- talk the entire time, unable to breathe. Then he thanked the man, and promptly hung up.

The loud banging sound that came as Kuroko's cellphone collided with is bedroom wall alarmed his parents and grandmother, causing all three to rush into his bedroom, asking what happened. Kuroko just stared at the floor.

He never had another conversation with Nakamura Ageha again.


Author's NOte~

Hi there, people reading this, and welcome to the new beginning of Thank You! Thank you for taking time to read this, I am most grateful.

I really don't know what to say about this. Umm...this takes place during the summer vacation of Kuroko's second year of middle school, before the proverbial poo hits that big fan. For people who have read this before, Ageha is dead and always was dead and shall remain dead. Though Neko and Ageha are connected they are not the same person. Okay?

Now, for some repeated warnings: Thank You is an OC supernatural fan fic. It is not a cross over. It follows the series to the best of my abilities. It features zombie like beings that aren't really all that zombieish but dead all the same. There is a possibility that Midorima will randomly appear in a chicken suit. I don't know why. Possible character death and implied yaoi pairs, but this is not a yaoi.

I do not own Kuroko no Basket in anyway, I only claim my OCs.

Tell me what you think?

Until next update,

-tcf