Domo, minna-san! I'm currently on vacation, but I was allowed to bring my laptop and since I love you guys so much (I live off of your reviews) I decided to update this a little sooner than I planned on doing.

Here we go~

Letter of resignation.

The captain just stared down at the simple white paper enveloped, the black letters printed on the top, dark and pointy and mocking. The hum of the air conditioner faded into the loud ringing in his ears; he had done what he had thought would be best for the team, so why was it like this? Why had he, the absolute, lost his ultimate trump card?

Because he hadn't just lost an asset in a basketball game, he had lost Kuroko, his friend, his awesome and beautiful friend who he should've listened to, should've found that third option. But now it was too late.

Akashi took the flimsy paper into his hand and tore it in two. He turned around to walk out of the room and found his vision obscured and his eyes burning. He squeezed his eyes until they hurt and his knees gave out under him.

Just an asset on the court...

Akashi was strong; anyone who argued otherwise was stupid. But it was in skill and mental strenght that he really shone. When it came to physical capabilities, he came up a bit short of competing with Aomine.

"I'M GONNA BEAT THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF THOSE ADULTS..."

The redhead strained to keep the ace from running to commit a serious crime against humanity. Kise was backed up against the wall, as if afraid Aomine would attack him although, knowing the dark-skinned teen, it probably wasn't out of reason.

"Aominecchi, I know you're mad," Kise said, sweat glistening on his brow. "But just calm down."

"HOW CAN YOU-?"

"Oi, Aomine," Kagami growled, his own anger apparent, or maybe because he was holding an enraged Murasakibara around the waist who was muttering, "I'll crush them...I'll crush them...". "Can you just shut up for Kuroko's sake? You're not the only one here who cares about him." (A/N: Harry Potter reference for all y'all who get it!) Seirin's ace turned back to Kise with surpressed malice on his face. "And you just left?"

"Think for a minute, Kagami," Midorima interjected, his hand trembling as he pushed his glasses up, not bothering to hide his true thoughts like he normally did. "If Kise had just barged in, it would've seemed like he had been eavesdropping, and if he even hinted on that, then it would give Kuroko's parents more of an excuse to use us as a means of abuse."

"Okay, okay," Kagami grumbled grudginly, nearly losing hold on Murasakibara. "Oi! Just stand still, alright?"

"I want to crush them..."

"Calm down, Murasakibara," Akashi commanded, deciding it was safe enough to let go of Aomine. "We'll think about what to do next logically, not instinctively." Akashi glanced at their surroundings; their shouting had already attracted a lot of attention from passerbys, not a situation they could discuss the subject at hand. "Let's move from here, people are staring."

"Akashi, we've gotta do something now!" Aomine yelled, causing even more people to stop. "The longer we wait, the more Tetsu gets hurt! Don't you care about what happens to him?"

Care?

Akashi whipped out his phone and sent a text to Momoi who responded immediately.

Research Tetsu-kun's parents? Why?

The redhead considered the screen for a moment, weighing the improtance of telling Momoi about Kuroko's abusive parents over preserving the girl's feelings.

I was just curious.

Hoping the lame excuse would sufice, Akashi pocketed his phone and glared down Aomine. After several moments, Aomine sighed and slumped against the front of the convenience store grimly.

How should I approach this? Akashi thought, trying to formulate a plan with everyone staring at him. Parents don't take nicely to being apposed, so marching up to Kuroko's house is out of the question. Right now, we just need to get Kuroko out of his parents hands as soon as possible.

"Kagami," Akashi said slowly, making the other redhead start at being addressed so suddenly. "I need you to contact Kuroko and keep him at your house."

"What?" Kagami asked startled. This feeling was shared by the rest of the GoM.

"I want to keep Kurokocchi at my house!"

"Why that idiot?"

"Think about it!" Akashi snapped, his feelings getting the better of him. Inside of him, the anger that had been ignited when he had first heard the news suddenly exploded. "Your friend is being abused! This is a crime against human rights, how can you suggest your own personal wants while someone else is in even greater need?"

"But..."

How could everyone keep on practicing like their valued team member hadn't just quit? The starting members had only gave a little hum of acknowledgment before going back to endlessly practcing threes, practicing dunks, practicing dribbling skills. The captain observed everyone, wondering how he had ever let his team go so far astray as to no longer care about basketball. Hadn't it been Kuroko who had asked gone on about teammwork? Akashi had ignored it and now here he was, reaping his reward.

Did he want to be beaten? Finally taste the one thing that seperated the others from him. At the moment, it seemed like a nice option. Maybe then Kuroko would come back, because it hadn't been basketball that had kept Akashi going after his mother's death.

It had been his friends.

"THIS ISN'T ABOUT YOU! IT'S ABOUT TETSUYA!"

Silence followed his outburst, everyone staring at him again. Akashi fought to keep ontop of his alternate identity and turned away.

"Can you do it, Kagami?"

"Y-Yeah..."

"Good," Akashi said, starting to walk away. "Because we lost Kuroko once, we're not letting someone else take him away."

Akashi walked towards the train station and jumped onto the next train to Kyoto, pulling out his phone as he did so; how many laws were Kuroko's parents breaking right now? If Akashi couldn't approach the parents in person, getting the police or their bosses at work to investigate wouldn't be as satisfying, but at least they were getting Kuroko out of his parents hands. And as for getting his say, that could be taken care of using his influence.

"Good evening, Seijuro-san," the maid greeted a Akashi stepped into his house/mansion. "Your father has left you with three books to read over the break and says he expects nothing less of you once you have become a second-year."

"Hai," Akashi responded respectfully. "Please tell him that I will also be pursuing a research project this summer along with my extra-curriculars."

"Hai, Seijuro-san."

Akashi entered his room and stripped off his uniform (A/N: OH MY GOSH, AKASHI HALF-NAKED *WORDS THAT CANNOT EXPRESS MY FANGIRLING*) He put on a tanktop with basketball shorts that could only be worn behind his closed door and opened his laptop, bringing up a blank page and started to write down his findings from the train.

It wasn't until sometime early in the morning that Akashi stopped typing and looked at the pages of research he had conducted in the past few hours. He knew what it felt like to be pressured and cracked by parents, so no matter what he did, it never seemed to be enough.

Kuroko, Akashi thought, pulling up another page of cases where the kid was abused by their parents. You've taught me so many things. I am glad I came to know you and could play basketball with you. So that's why, if I can help in, I will not let you go again!

And Akashi fell asleep, falling into dreams where large black letters sprung large inky spikes, creating a wall between him and Kuroko who was being dragged away in screams of pain.

Hope I got Akashi's personality right; I should probably go back and watch the anime again to get a good grasp on the Generation of Miracles and all the characters again.

Should I bring Seirin into this?

Getting back from my vacation tomorrow! The heat's been freakin' terrible, don't know what I would do without my computer. And I'm also finishing this at 11 at night, so sorry if there are any mistakes or the whole chapter seems choppy.

See ya!

~Joy Goldenpine