When Kise woke up, he had a moment of confusion. Where was he? What had happened?

He remembered a dream. There had been some kind of grenade rolling towards him. He hadn't moved away fast enough. Then it ended there.

"Ryouta?"

With a start, the blonde opened his eyes. It took a moment for everything to sink in.

White walls. Antiseptic smell. Akashi, Muraskibara and Aomine looking more than a little upset. What happened?

And then he remembered. The dream that hadn't been a dream. The stun grenade- Kise had been knocked unconscious. There had been more guards than they expected. His face fell. This was the first time anybody on the team had been hurt. And he had been the one to let the team down. It was all his fault they were looking upset...

"Ryouta."

Hearing his name, Kise looked up towards Akashi. "I'm sorry Akashi-cchi, I wasn't looking," he mumbled, wanting to hide. He thought his captain would be angry at him.

"Kise it's not your fault," Aomine grumbled, staring at the ground. Huh? Aomine wasn't blaming him?

It was only then he realised that only the four of them were there. "Where's Midorima-cchi and Kuroko-cchi?"

Immediately, all three of them looked more uncomfortable. Muraskibara stopped munching on snacks. Cautiously, Akashi spoke up.

"They're in their rooms, resting." Kise got a bad feeling from that. "You mean... They didn't come visit me...?" Tears started rolling down his face. Aomine was taken aback. That's what he was worried about?

"Eh? Didn't Kuro-chin get injured before Ki-chin?" Muraskibara mumbled. Kise blinked. He had completely forgotten. "Kuroko-cchi... He got shot in the leg..." The blonde stared at his hands, thinking back.

So he hadn't been the first one hit. That mission... How had so many things gone wrong? Akashi's plans never failed. "Kuroko-cchi's okay, right? What happened to Midorima-cchi? Why won't he come visit me?" Kise asked. He knew Midorima didn't quite like him, but surely he would at least be there until he woke up? Or were Kuroko's injuries worse?

"Shintarou was injured as well." Akashi stared at the ground, thinking heavily on his failure. Kise couldn't comprehend it.

Midorima-cchi... Injured?

"W-what happened after I..."

This was the worse part, Akashi was sure. But Kise had a right to know.

"After you were knocked unconscious, someone on the roof saw Shintarou. The shot went through his arm. He is fine now..." But it took more than a physical toll on him. "Another team was nearby."

"Another team? Were they in trouble?" Kise asked.

Akashi shook his head. "No. They were on the same frequency as ours, and came to our aid."

Came to our aid...?

"Daiki was pinned down and Atsushi was helping Tetsuya. It was the most logical choice at the time."

Aomine-cchi... Pinned down?

"One carried you out. The others were helped by various members of the other team, and we arrived here-"

"Stop."

Kise's hands were clenched around the bed sheet. He was staring down. "We had... Help?" An angry tear slid down his cheek.

All of them were silent.

But at the same time, Kise understood why. Akashi wouldn't risk their lives for the sake of their pride.

The silence was broken by an announcement.

"Team Kiseki, please make your way to briefing room 1. Thank you."

"We're going to be seeing them, aren't we?" Kise asked, not daring to look up at them.

"Likely. Nonetheless, we have to thank them." Standing from his chair, the captain looked over Kise. "Let's go. I'm sure Tetsuya and Shintarou will meet us there."

Kise grit his teeth before sliding off the bed. He was a little unsteady, but waved off any help. Before long, they met up with the other two and headed for the briefing room.


"I wonder what they're like."

The other team was already sitting in the briefing room. They had taken up one end of the oval table, talking amongst themselves. The one who had just spoken had a compound bow on the table in front of him.

"From what I've heard, their captain is scary," said the male who had met Aomine, Fukui Akio. "You should've seen the guy. Wouldn't dare defy him, by the looks of it."

"He was intense," Zenith said, leaning back on his chair. He looked much more at ease than before. "I'm surprised he didn't chop my head off when I surprised him, honestly."

"I'm sure they'll all be fine," the girl, Crystal, chirped. "I mean, we did save them. They wouldn't hurt us."

"Well, they didn't seem particularly fond of that. On their info page, it says they've never failed," the male with the compound bow said calmly. "This was probably the first time. Don't expect them to be grateful at first. They'll need some time to recover."

Nods around the room confirmed it.

"They should be here soon."

As Zenith said that, the door opened. All of them stood. Slowly, the other team began to step into the room.

First was Kuroko. He had a minor limp, but it didn't look too bad. Their facility had state of the art healing technology. The teal head did not go unnoticed this time as he stood at the back of the room.

Next was Kise. Holding himself high, he strode into the room. He didn't look at the other team until he was standing next to Kuroko.

There was a shriek. Suddenly, everyone had their weapons drawn. The team members that had been outside the room quickly dashed in to assess the threat.

"Ryouta!" A blur. Kise barely had time to turn before a figure hurled them self into his arms. The tension that had been building in the room completely disappeared, and confusion took its place. Kise himself had been about to push the figure away, but it seemed familiar.

"Crystal-cchi...?" He asked slowly, staring at the brown hair in his face. Could it be..?

"You remember me!" She cried happily, hugging him tighter. The blonde's eyes widened in shock and he hugged her back.

"You think I'd forget?" He sniffed, no longer the cold, untrusting Kise he had been before.

"Oi Kise," Aomine growled, "who's this?"

The girl turned and looked up at the taller male, not letting go of Kise. She beamed at his scowl. "I'm Crystal Gold. Nice to meet you!" Aomine looked slightly taken aback, but his scowl only deepened.

"Ryouta, how do you know her?" Akashi asked, looking at her impassively.

"Uh..." Kise let go of her, but she didn't let go of him. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "You know when we were young and went to a different country for a year? I met her in Paris," he explained. His attention turned back to the shorter girl when she poked him. "We have a lot to talk about! Find me after," she grinned as she let go and skipped back to her side of the room. Wait. Her side of the room? What was she doing here...? Oh... She was part of the team that saved them. His heart dropped.


Akashi watched the two interact with unease. He didn't trust a single member of the other team, not until he got his info sheet. He needed to find Momoi afterwards. But now, they had something to do.

All of them had already sheathed their weapons. Taking a step forward, he offered a small bow. According to Daiki, one of them did not speak Japanese. All of them, however, could understand English and so that was the language he decided to use.

"On behalf of my team, I would like to formally thank you for helping our team."

One of the other's team members scoffed. "Help?" He muttered, "more like-" there was a soft swish sound. A flash of light.

"I was not-" Akashi had thrown a shuriken at the other, who, according to Daiki once again, was named Fukui Akio. Fully expecting it to hit his mark, which was to give him a light cut across the cheek, he had begun talking once again. What he hadn't expected, however, was for someone to catch it.

The shuriken was an inch away from Fukui's face. It had stopped spinning, the edge glinting sharply in the light. "You should watch you mouth, Akio." Zenith looked to Akashi, bringing the small, deadly, weapon between his fingers closer to examine it. "And it's rude to throw things at people. Please continue."

His team was in shock, he could tell. No one ever saw it coming. This new team was full of surprises. But he decided to continue.

"However, please do not expect any favours from us. We have a busy schedule, and will likely be unable to help you." There. He could see the other captain smirk. It irritated him, and he wanted to throw another shuriken, but with the man's reaction time it likely would only make himself look bad.

"So I see you've all met."

A short, stocky woman appeared at the door. She was radiating power and authority. Only two of the people other than her knew who she was.

"Eh, Kuroko-cchi, she seems scary... Wait- wait are they bowing?!"

Both of the team captains offered their lowest possible bow to the female who had just entered the room. There was some sort of outcry from everyone else in the room, but a short glare from her sent them all into a bow.

Zenith and Akashi straightened at the same time. "Queen," they said, giving another small bow. Queen?! "What brings you here?" Zenith asked. Everyone else was practically cowering. Who was this woman?

"I have a mission for you both. Your teams will be working together on this one. This is a big task, and I will not have your teams screwing up on this. Understood?"

Both of them looked surprised, but they bowed once more. Grunting, she left after placing the file on the table. Seeing as the file was closer to Akashi, he took a look first. Zenith was still trying to understand how their teams could possibly work together. And the rest of them... They were still trying to understand that their captains had bowed. Except for perhaps two people. Kuroko knew that Akashi would rarely bow, and with how much authority that woman's aura had... She could only be the organisation's head. He didn't know the other captain well enough, but he figured he was the same. The other person who seemed to understand was the one with the compound bow. The way Zenith had looked... It was rare. He had come to the same conclusion as the teal head. The rest of them weren't as fast.

"It appears we have to topple one of the world's most dangerous criminal organisation. One of our rivals." Akashi's voice startled them. Zenith went over to have a look. Akashi uncomfortably slid the file over to him. He would have to get used to sharing.

"Appears so. Before we get started, however, maybe we should introduce ourselves." Zenith looked over both teams, before nodding at Crystal.

"Hi! So as you might know, I'm Crystal Gold! Please just call me Crystal and not my last name or something," she said with a huge smile, one to rival Kise's. "I'm sure we'll get along nicely!"

"Adrian," said the tall one, heaving a sigh. Now that he was out of the suit, Aomine could see who he really was. He was tall, broad shouldered with brown eyes and hair. Much larger than the rest of them. But he seemed almost soft. Probably easy enough to beat.

"Fukui Akio," said the next male, his amber eyes watching the other team with distrust. He wondered if they were even a challenge.

"You all need to chill. We're going to be working together, aren't we? I'm Ben, and this is my brother Caleb." Ben gestured to the male with the compound bow. They did look extremely similar, but not quite the same. Most people couldn't quite put their finger on what set them apart. "Seriously, chill."

As if he hadn't just heard that, Zenith spoke next. "I'm Bailey. You're welcome to call me Zenith if my real name feels uncomfortable. I am the captain of this team as you may have noticed. We know all of you, as you're quite popular in the organisation. I do hope working together won't be a problem." He glanced quickly from Aomine, Kise, Midorima and then finally to Akashi. "I assume you will want info on us. Shall we start this task tomorrow?"

"5am. We will be in this room. Until then." Akashi swept his team out of the door, and they were gone.


Man I can't write Akashi properly. I'm still learning :/ Next chapter will include info sheet for Bailey's team!