Warning:
Bad grammar, self beta,
I really hope this not OOC, and I try to make pun for Izuki, but failed, so...
Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Kuroko no Basuke and all its glory.
Enjoy ^_^
Chapter 3: Shall We Invite Them In?
Twin blue orbs dancing across that room. Only to find warm gaze from all his commarades, his family.
"Minna, doumo arigatou." He thanks them from the bottom of his heart. His usual stoic face decorated by the most blinding smile they ever remember the bluenette posses.
"Stupid Kuroko-kun, you should know you can rely on us." Said a short haired brunette woman with a soft smile decorating her face.
"Riko's right you stupid brat. Really, youngster these days so cocky. Rely more on your elder." Said a bespectacled black haired man.
"Ma~ma~ Hyuga, I don't think you should call yourself their elder. Aren't we only older than them by one year?" Said a tall brunette with a goofy smile. But suddenly, his face turns serious. "Ah, is that possible that you actually much older than us and lying all this time?"
"Shut up Kiyoshi!" Scowled Hyuga.
These bring laughter from all of them, except a certain pale blue haired man who only smile curtly.
"I'll take your offer then, please help me sort this out." Said Kuroko before he bowed to all of them.
"Mou~ Tetsu-kun, you're too polite sometimes. But that's part of what I like from you." Said a pink haired woman while she trying to glomp the bluenette. In which he evaded successfully.
"Now, minna, let's start this rescue operation." Kuroko revert to his deadpanned expression. Atmosphere inside that room started too changed. All previous warmth replaces by something dread and cold. Everyone's expression show seriousness, previous goofy smile replace by determination for upcoming task. "I'll need you all to put aside your other job for a while." They do have another job, the one that legal that is. But all of them are the owner at their respectful place, and only occasionally came and fill in some role, so their absence is common.
"Momoi-san, I need you to find any information you can get on Akashi Seijuurou." Kuroko started, "Who's he dealing with, his enemies, his supposedly allied, and his commarades. Who he bribes or tries to bribe. Who bribe or try to bribe him. Who pissed him off, who pissed off him. Who's his date, who he dumped. His failed and success deal. Who want him gone, who want to create chaos. Who gain benefit from his absence. Where, when, and with whom he went this past month. Anything you can." He said in monotone voice.
"Leave it to me Tetsu-kun." Reply the pink haired woman cheerfully.
Then Kuroko shift his gaze to their mirage hacker. "Himuro-kun, please try to find more lead from surveillance cameras. Do anything necessary, but please be careful." After a few milliseconds of pause, he added, "Also, Takao-kun will assist you."
"Ara~ I think I'll be fine with myself." Reply the pretty man.
"No, you also need to get condition inside Akashi's group." Said the shorter bluenette. "It won't be hard if it's you." He adds with a knowing glow in his eyes.
The mirage hacker sweat drop at this request. "Their inside condition won't be mentioned inside their database Kuroko…"
"No, I mean from your other job Himuro-kun." Said Kuroko with his deadpanned look.
"Eeh?" He does own a bar and occasionally acted as bartender there.
"I believe there is a blond man with golden eyes named Kise Ryouta and a tanned bluenette named Aomine Daiki as regular at your bar." Reply Kuroko.
"Eee~ Atsushi's friends?" Said the confuse Himuro as he manage to associate those name with two regular at his bar that seems close to his boyfriend.
"Wait! Ahomine?!" Yell a shocking red head. He really confuse why his rival in street basketball is being mentioned here.
"Hai, they are Akashi's trusted men, along with your Murasakibara Atsushi and one other." State Kuroko flatly.
"What…?!" Yell the still disbelieve Kagami. He looks really shocked by this.
Takao flinched when Kuroko mentioned that name. He remembered the purple head giant who got beaten up badly and lying on his own blood earlier. He got a really bad feeling about that name, since Murasaki means purple anyway.
"Ne, Kuroko, isn't it will be easier if I talk straight to Atsushi?" Asked Himuro.
"…" Kuroko seems to considering something before continue, "I'm afraid that the one who in hospital right now is your Atsushi, Himuro-kun."
"…" Himuro can't moved a muscle, he feels terrible.
"Himuro…." Takao doesn't look better. He feels worry and guilty eating him up.
"I don't saw him…" Mutter Himuro.
"Tatsuya…?" Kagami worried, he rarely saw his brother like this.
"I watched the video, Taiga. He was right there right? The man who lying on the ground was him right? And I didn't recognize him! Why I only focused on the cars? I…I didn't recognize him! I…" His eyes unfocused and widen. Himuro clearly hysterics right now.
SLAP!
"…Kuroko…" Himuro finally calmed.
"Get a hold of yourself Tatsuya." Kuroko said calmly. "We will find them, and they will pay what they do." He looks usual, but you could see cold fire raging in his eyes clearly.
"Hai…" Said Himuro softly.
Kuroko give him assure face. Kagami patted his shoulder and Kiyoshi ruffle his head, making the pretty man smile curtly.
"Riko-san, Izuki-kun" Both of them nodded. "Find any lead you can about this…hideous bunch." Disgust could be heard at Kuroko's voice. "Asked Takao-kun any information you need."
"Himuro-kun, can you get video recording of that time?" Asked Riko.
"Off course, leave it to me." Said the mirage hacker. Seems like he recovered from his previous shock.
"Give the video to Izuki-kun." Said the brunette woman.
"Copy that." Reply Himuro.
"The snake tattoo on that man's chest could be a worthy lead. Do anything necessary, but be careful." Add Kuroko.
"Leave it to us Kuroko-kun, we will find them." Assure Riko.
"Right, they can run, but they can't hide forever." Add Izuki with determination.
"It is fortunate that currently we don't have any target." Said Kuroko. "So minna, please lend me your strength for this selfish request of mine."
"You don't need to ask you dumb ass." Scowl Kagami.
"Really, Kuroko, do you think of us as family? Coz family means to help each other, right?" Said Kiyoshi with wide brotherly smile of his.
"…Hai." Reply Kuroko with warm smile decorating his face.
That night went busy for almost all of them, well, not for Kagami Taiga. He's not suited for any thinking task anyway. Brain and data gathering is never being his forte. So the next morning, he makes breakfast, as he often did for all of them.
They really can't rely on the only two women in this family of nine for any food anyway. Sometime he thinks that they could expand their expertise to poisoning with the aid of those two. They could make distraction with massive food poisoning case or even eliminate the target itself with their cooking skill. Why don't they do just that? Aren't they already having two poison masters in family?
He keep flipping and stacking a lot of pancake while his imaginations run wild. 'They'll be busy, so, easy to eat breakfast that is.' He thought inwardly. Not long after, he manages to make two huge mountains of pancake. He places it on the table, make sure everything's ready, and ring the bell. They have a bell that ring all over the house to tell all of them when food is ready, since it will be a lot of hassle to get down to basements to call for diner. And not even Tiger's growl could be heard from there, since most part of this house is sound proof. Or should I say bullet proof? Or more? This I clearly not ordinary house indeed.
"Guys, breakfast ready!" Yell the red head. He still feels it doesn't right to just only ring the bell. No one going to think that he is their best fighter with how he looks right now. Who's going too scared by a man in flowery pink apron anyway?
The first one show up is the cheerful bubbly pink haired woman. "Kagamin~ what's for breakfast today?" She asked as she can't seem to stop giggling when looking at his appearance.
"Its pancakes and stop giggling like that!" Reply the red head in annoying tone.
"Sorry, but those apron looks really cute on you." Said Momoi.
The only other women in the house show up and join, if not adding, the teasing-Kagami event. "He is, right? His red hairs really do well with pink."
"Ah, Riko-chan, ohayou~" Greet the well endowed woman.
"Ohayou Satsuki-chan." Reply the short haired.
"Shut up! I'm not the one who chooses this fucking flowery apron!" Yell the annoyed Kagami.
"Off course not, Bakagami, we not choose it for you." Said Riko with annoyed face.
"Right, you can just let us wear it and problem solved." Suggest the pink head.
"Hell no! Like hell I'll let you two enter the kitchen. Over my death body!" Shout Kagami dramatically.
"Mou~ what's wrong with us in the kitchen~" Asked Momoi, pouting.
"I still want to live, so no, thank you." Reject the red head firmly.
Kiyoshi Teppei shows up at the kitchen and watching with amusement. "Ma~ ma~ aren't you glad we can eat pro chef's food almost every day?" Said the tall brunette, attempting to calm them down.
"Well, I can't retort that." Said Riko. As unbelievable as it seems, the red head actually have a pro chef license and own a café and sometimes act as chef as well.
"Umm, Kagamin's food always the best." Approved the pink head.
"Urgh, um… thanks…" Mutter the red head shy tiger.
"Idiot! Don't be noisy in the morning." Yell Hyuga who just appeared at the kitchen.
"Hey, it's not my fault." Kagami protesting with all his might.
Yawn~ "Ugh, why do you guys very energetic so early in the morning…" Said Takao while he sits down, still yawning.
"They just being nosy, really, not all of us get enough sleep you know…" Said Izuki as he also still yawning.
"Ohayou~ I'm home~" Said Himuro Tatsuya as he just back from his night job as bartender at his own bar.
"Welcome home Himuro-kun. How's your night?" Asked Riko immediately.
The said man chuckle a bit before answering, "If you asking about them, no, they don't show up at bar last night." He paused a bit, his exhausted smile change to mischievous one as he continues, "But if you asking about me, I'm really starving and sleepy…"
"That's within our prediction." Said Riko, practically ignoring his little joke.
Himuro rather pouted at that display. Izuki patted him at his back, try to cheer him up.
"They spend the night at Murasakibara-kun's hospital room last night." Said Kuroko out of nowhere. Shriek and yell could be heard short after.
"Kyaaa…! Kuroko-kun/Tetsu-kun!" courtesy of the two women.
"Gyaaa….! Kuroko/Tet-chan/Tetsu!" courtesy of the man.
Everyone present jolted, including the owner of eagle and hawk eye who usually not that shocked, but then, they all exhausted, so nobody save from Kuroko's little heart exercise.
"Idiot! Do you intend to give us heart attack?" Scowled the bespectacled man.
"Since when were you here? Wait, don't tell me you've been here for a while!" Said a certain red head who often fall victim to Kuroko's show-up-out-of-nowhere act, but still fall nevertheless.
"Actually, I arrive together with Himuro-kun earlier." State Kuroko calmly.
"Eeeh?" The said man shriek in surprise. He's pretty sure that he enters the house alone earlier. But then, this is Kuroko we're talking about.
"I've been visiting Murasakibara-kun, and maybe accidentally planting some bugs on each of them." Said Kuroko with kind of innocent stoic face, even though the content of his sentence was clearly not innocence at all.
"What…?!" Almost all of them yell in surprised. To manage to enter the giant lair, in presence of three other, uncaught, undetected, and able to plant some bugs to boots, indeed, only Kuroko Tetsuya able to pull that up.
"Ah, but they do made a good move to not left Murasakibara-kun alone, otherwise I'll ask Hyuga-kun to watch him." What he said really prove his statement earlier.
"You really surprise us all the time Kuroko…" Said Kiyoshi with big sheepish smile on his face. While the other only sweat drop.
"…Kuroko…" Himuro's voice trailed and uncertain of what he really wants to say.
But Kuroko get his point. "He's fine Himuro-kun, he'll be ready when he needed." Said Kuroko with assured face.
"…Hai…" said Himuro gratefully.
"All right boys, let's start digging before Kagami finish all his earlier cookery result." Said Riko as she clapped her hands.
"Oi, Bakagami, you almost finish one mountain of pancake by yourself, again!" Yell Hyuga.
"Well, you guys won't stop talking and I'm starving, so…" Answer Kagami with mouth full of pancake. The tiger looks like squirrel at time like this.
"Kagami-kun." Kagami only raised an eyebrow at Kuroko's call. "You might get fat." Said Kuroko in monotone voice.
"Hei!" protest the red head.
A day after, Momoi, Riko, and Himuro gave their report summary to Kuroko after lunch.
"Tetsu-kun, this is Akashi's file." Said the pink haired woman as she drops a huge stack of file in front of Kuroko.
Everyone else present except a pair of sky blue orbs and another pair of pink orb widened in shock at the sheer amount of file in that stack. The owner of those twin blue orbs only blinked once and asked, "Good job at producing this summary Momoi-san, but I believe that you already made a brief conclusion from this summaries."
His question utterly more shocked from others. 'THOSE are ONLY summary?!' yell all of them inwardly.
Her usual cheerfulness can't be traced as she wears her professional mode. "Akashi Seijuurou, also known as The Red Emperor of Underworld, have a lot of enemy. Even almost all of his supposedly allies not in good term with him most of the time. I never heard him have any serious date ever, no mention of any lover either. There are a lot of people who will gain benefit from his absence, either inside, or outside of his group. He raises to fast to anyone liking, and gain quiet a lot jealousy as result."
"…" Kuroko don't give any comment or question, he only nodded at Momoi and shifted his gaze to the other woman in room. "Riko-san." He said as cue for the said brunette to begin her report.
Riko give him an uncomfortable look, "We got not much luck in here Kuroko-kun. Based on their modus operandi they shown us at that video, we already narrow down our suspect by a large margin. Thanks to that tattoo, we've got our perpetrator identity, at least one of them. But his side won't be able to pull this much, so we are dealing with multiple collaborators this time. We suspect that there are a lot of sides involved. Sorry, but I'll need more time. Give me time till tomorrow morning, I'll give you all the cast." Said the brunette woman.
"…It's fine Riko-san, thank you for your hard work. I'm sure you can use more helps, right Momoi-san?" said Kuroko.
"Sure, anything for you Tetsu-kun." There is no way Momoi Satsuki can reject Kuroko's request. Not after what the pale bluenette have done for her, for all of them.
Again, Kuroko only nodded and shifted his gaze to their mirage hacker, "Himuro-kun."
"Inside their lair is a messed up situation, Kuroko." Report the pretty man. "I manage to lure some information when Kise visit the bar last night. Off course he thought that he is the one who collecting data." He chuckle at that before continue, "Probability of rat inside is beyond high. Their second in command, someone called Midorimachi seems overwhelmed.
"Kuroko, this will be in bigger scale than our usual operation. Too many sides involved. Not to mention that this is rescue mission, not elimination." Add Izuki with a very concern face. He's not sure if their man power will be enough. Most of them are not frontal fighter, more like the support type.
"…." Kuroko manage to keep his stoic face, but you'll see wariness in his eyes if you look enough. He let out a small sigh and muttering, "A lot of enemy, a lot of traitor, what a messed up world you are into, Sei…"
"Kuroko…." Kiyoshi's call manages to pull him out of reverie. He can feel determination in the older man's eyes.
"…well, should we invite them four?" asked Kuroko out of blue.
"Haaah?!" there are combination of shock and confusion from all of them.
"Kagami-kun, I believe you'll meet Aomine-kun if you go to your usual public court this evening." State Kuroko calmly.
"Wait, how you…?" Kagami can't be more confuse.
"The bugs Kagami-kun, remember? He's being very nosy about how boring he is at the hospital. He manages to make Kise-kun replace him tough, so I'll expect him to be at court this evening. Play him, and give him my invitation." He pauses and seems like contemplating something before continue, "Just tell him….."
end of chapter three
A/n:
Uwaaa... making pun is really, really, really hard... I really want to make at least one actually... but... urgh... .
Anyway, Thanks a lot for all who follow, fav, and review, you all made my day brighter in this gloomy weather.
And as usual, hope you like it, any review, critique, and suggestion are very much welcomed. ^_^