A/N: Thank for all of the reviews! Reazthie, Puncakegoddess, clarit, Killua17, and Rika Tone! :D And sorry for the late chapter, been busy with school since break ended =(

Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke or Magi

Chapter 3

Seirin City

Feeling the sun on his face, red eyes opened and squinted at the intensity of the rays. He was about to roll over and go back to sleep when he felt something beside him on the bed. Pulling back the covers he saw the familiar pale blue locks of Kuroko's and jumped back in surprise.

'Why is he here?!' Why wasn't he in his own bed?! Kagami was starting to panic before he remembered what happened last night.

'Oh yeah...' Last night he had found out that this boy was a Magi, one that chose him as the next King no less. And he had agreed... He sighed and sat up straighter.

As he looked at Kuroko's sleeping face, he wondered how he could have so much power and still seem so innocent. Usually those with power would abuse them and use it for evil. However, after seeing how he could control the Rukh like that, he had no doubt that he could've wounded the woman when she charged at him the other day. Yet he went out of the way to restrain her.

"Heeeh, you two are pretty close, huh?" Kagami turned around at the voice and came face to face with a grinning Riko.

"What the hell are you doing in here?!" He scowled at the woman, but it was less effective because of the blush he had at being caught staring at the bluenette while he slept.

"Calm down. I just came to invite you both to breakfast." She said, frowning at the red-head before grinning. "Unless you'd like to continue staring at him again..."

"F-Fine! We'll be there in a sec." Kagami blushed and Riko was satisfied that she had made him embarrassed.

"I'll be waiting outside." She said, leaving and closing the door.

"Wake up, Kuroko." Kagami said, lightly shaking the boy. After a few moments he stirred and sat up.

"Ah, good morning Kagami-kun." He yawned and rubbed his eyes. Kagami had to hold in his laugh at the sight of the bluenette's horrible bed head. Seriously, even after seeing it the past few days, he still didn't know how he managed to get it so messy.

"Morning." Kagami said, trying to discretely pat down and tame the boy's bed head. "Come on, breakfast is ready."

Kuroko nodded and got out of the bed. They both left the room and followed Riko to the kitchen, where the other bandits were eating, a basket of fruit was in the middle of the table. There wasn't much in the room besides a worn out looking stove in the corner and a small refrigerator.

"We only have some leftover fruit from last night, so help yourself." Kagami did just that, although he was slightly disappointed that there wasn't any meat. Kuroko got some as well, but noticeably less than the red-head.

"We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Aida Riko." The Fanalis woman said.

"Hyuuga Junpei." They already knew the man's last name from when the woman had called out to him last night, but they now knew his first.

"Koganei Shinji." The man with a cat-like mouth smiled at the two.

"Izuki Shun." The man with pale skin and black-hair spoke. Kuroko and Kagami looked at the last guy with who had similar features, but longer hair and thicker eyebrows. "He's Mitobe Rinnosuke."

"He doesn't talk." Riko offered when they both had confused looks. Accepting the answer, they introduced themselves.

"Kagami Taiga." The red-haired teen said through a mouthful of food. They winced at how much food Kagami had in his mouth...

"I'm Kuroko Tetsuya. It's a pleasure to meet you all." Kuroko bowed even though he was slightly uncomfortable being around so many people. Ever since he came to the human world he had only been around Kagami and for him to suddenly be the center of attention in a room full of other adults, was a bit overwhelming.

Hyuuga nodded in approval at how respectful the blue-haired boy was, but glared at the red-head who was currently eating his food loudly.

"Did Kiyoshi wake up, Hyuuga?" The man had slept in Kiyoshi's room in case he woke.

"Not yet, but he's looking better." He had hoped that he would've woken up, but he was content as long as he didn't get worse.

Riko felt the same. So much had changed yesterday and it was because of the chance encounter with the two boys. They had been at their wit's end and now they had a little hope. With their friend steadily getting better, they'd be able to focus more on working towards improving the situation of the city.

"So, what are both of your plans?" Riko asked the red-head.

"Well, we were kind of planning to stay in Seirin. It doesn't have to be here though..." Kagami said. He and Kuroko made a promise to help everyone here one way or another and they were both in agreement to stay.

Riko was slightly shocked that they'd really stay here and from the looks on her friends faces, they were as well. The red-head seemed like a competent swordsman and Kuroko was a magician. If they were willing to stay, she couldn't possibly let them change their minds because of a lack of residence.

"There's no need for that. You can both stay here. It's the least we can do after how you helped Kiyoshi..." Riko smiled at Kuroko, who Mitobe seemed to have taken a liking to and was trying to push more food onto the bluenette's plate, which the boy politely declined.

After they both finished their food, Kagami felt like heading out. He didn't like staying cooped up all day...

"Want to go look around, Kuroko?" He asked the bluenette, getting up from his seat.

"Ah, yes." He got up and was about to thank them for the food, when the brunette spoke up.

"I could give you both a tour." Riko offered. There wasn't much around to really see, but she could show them where the basic buildings were, and it wasn't exactly safe for newcomers to wander around alone.

"Uh..." He wasn't sure what to say. Kuroko didn't want to inconvenience her, and Kagami didn't see the need for an escort. Seeing their hesitation, Riko insisted.

"I told you the other day about the robberies. It's not safe for strangers to walk around..." She didn't want to scare them, but it seemed the bluenette and red-haired teen needed to know about this since they were about to go by themselves if she didn't.

"Alright." Kagami agreed. He couldn't deny that what the woman said was true after what they'd seen last night.

"We'll be back, remember to get the crops to hand out." She told the other members, who nodded, knowing what to do.

She led them back down the hallway they'd come from and after lifting the board again, they went outside.

The three of them walked around the town, Riko pointing out the place that she had shown them last night where they passed out food, and the relatively unpopulated marketplace, since no one traded around here much anymore because of the lack of money. Other than that, there were one or two inns and taverns.

Kagami had to agree that there really wasn't much to this place...and it made him feel even more motivated to accomplish their goal.

"Hmm...I suppose we could ride around for a bit..." She suggested, after running out of places to show. Kuroko smiled at the suggestion. He had ridden horse for the first time last night and he did enjoy it. But before they could head back to the hideout and get the horses from their post, they were interrupted when four voices called to the woman.

"Riko-san!" Turning around Kagami saw it was four kids, looking to be about thirteen or fourteen years old. The boys ran towards the brown-haired woman to greet her, but stopped when they saw the teen with her. They'd never seen him around here before...

"Who's that?" Fukuda asked, looking at the tall red-head that was standing next to the brunette.

"He's Kagami Taiga, and this..." Riko looked next to her at the place the bluenette had been. But she saw that he wasn't there. "Huh..? Where'd Kuroko-kun go, Kagami?"

"Hah..? He was here a second ago..."

"I'm here..." The voice came from behind the red-head and they saw the blue-haired boy was there, standing slightly behind Kagami. The four boys jumped, not noticing the kid there until he spoke. Recovering from her own shock, Riko continued and introduced him.

"Everyone, this is Kuroko Tetsuya." Riko lightly pushed the boy forward so they could see him better.

"This is Tsuchida Satoshi." The closest one had short black hair that was spiky and eyes that were closed. He seemed to be the oldest of the group.

"Hiroshi Fukuda" He had spikey black hair like the other boy, but a few stands fell onto his forehead.

"Kawahara Koichi." She motioned towards a boy with short shaved black hair who had a smile on his face.

"And Furihata Koki." The last boy had light brown hair and eyes, looking to be the closest to Kuroko's age.

"It's a pleasure to meet you.." Kuroko greeted, nodding politely at the four despite his nervousness.

"You all better be nice to him..okay?" She smiled sweetly at them, but by the way the Fanalis was cracking her knuckles, they knew not to disobey her. Not that they had planned to anyway. She then noticed the ball in Tsuchida's hands. "Were you all playing peachball?"

'Peachball..?' The bluenette looked around, he saw a ball, but not anything relatively similar to the fruit he had tasted a few days ago. So why would Riko think they were playing with a peach..?

"No, we were going to but we decided to play catch first." Fukuda said.

"Have you played peachball before, Kuroko-kun?" The boy shook his head and the others seemed to freeze at the answer. Kagami was about to help the bluenette by explaining his amnesia, but the boys were too quick for him.

"What?! Never?!" They exclaimed in horror, making Kuroko jump at the sudden outbursts.

"Come on, Kuroko! Playwith us, we'll teach you!" Kawahara said, holding a ball and gesturing towards the area they had been playing catch at.

"Peachball is a game, Kuroko-kun. You try to throw that ball into the peach buckets up there." She motioned towards the wooden buckets that were nailed to the stone walls. "You can pass the ball to your teammate and have them shoot."

He nodded, still confused as to what the point of the game was, but understanding that the goal was to put the ball in the basket.

"Alright! Let's play!" Kawahara practically shouted.

"I'll be the score keeper!" Tsuchida said, noticing they would have uneven teams. And since he was the tallest out of them, it'd be easier for him to climb the ladder and get the ball out of the basket.

"Be on my team, Kuroko-kun?" Furihata offered. Kuroko nodded and hesitantly stepped away from the red-head, who sent him a small grin of encouragement. Furihata told the bluenette where to stand and the basic principles of the game and then went to stand at his own spot.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to send him to play with them..?" Kagami narrowed his eyes at the open space where the four boys and Kuroko were at. The bluenette seemed so rigid standing there and they hadn't even started the game yet.

"Just let them have fun." Riko said. Sometimes kids needed to play with others, and from what she's seen the boy needed some fun.

"First to five wins!" Tsuchida shouted from the side of the peachball area. He threw the ball at the teams of two. Fukuda caught it and the game began.

As Kuroko stared at the two passing and trying to shoot the ball he started to get the hang of it...well the passing part at least, he kept missing the shots and Furihata would have to re-shoot. Even if he couldn't put the ball into the basket, he had to admit it was fun helping the brown-haired boy make his shots.

But, as he and Furihata chased after the other team of boys, who were preparing to shoot, he felt a strange ache in his head and stopped mid-run. He tried to blink it away and he thought it worked, but as he closed his eyes he heard a deep voice.

He opened them at the sound, and saw that the scenery was different from how it was a few moments ago, almost as if he were in an entirely different place. Kagami, Riko and the four boys he had been playing with were nowhere in sight.

"God Tetsu, you suck at this!" He looked over and saw a tanned teen had shouted the words, his face was cast in shadows, but he could see the grin on his face. The teen threw the ball effortlessly into the wooden peach basket.

"I'm sorry..." Someone said, somewhat out of breath. The voice sounded a little like his, but he couldn't see who was speaking. The tanned person sighed and went over to the basket to retrieve the ball.

"Here try again." Kuroko saw the ball being thrown in his direction and then hands shooting it towards the baskets and missing again.

"You're hopeless Tetsu!" A husky laugh came from the other as he reached his hand over. Kuroko could vaguely feel the same sensation that he did when Kagami patted his head. "Alright, this is how you do-."

"Kuroko-kun! Watch out!" The bluenette snapped out of it and saw the ball was heading right towards him, startled, he accidentally gathered Rukh in front of him and the ball froze in mid-air before falling to the ground.

"Whoa! You can do magic, Kuroko-kun?!" Furihata looked at the other in amazement.

"Y-Yes, Furihata-kun." He was still confused by what he saw. He'd never met that person before and yet...it felt as if he had... Kagami noticed the boy's change in demeanor and was about to ask what was wrong, when the kids interrupted and gathered around the bluenette.

"So cool! Show us some!" The other three boys had come over and were looking at the bluenette with smiles on their faces, totally forgetting about their peachball game.

Riko watched them with a satisfied smile on her face. She knew that Kuroko would fit in nicely here. Kagami was also glad that the other was happy, but he couldn't help feeling jealous that he wasn't the cause of it...

The two of them watched as the bluenette made the Rukh visible and created small spheres of magic that floated around. The other boys loved it and would cheer him on, but after about an hour, Riko realized that it was getting a little late, so she intervened.

"Alright, it's time for us to go. Kuroko-kun needs some rest!" The bluenette sent her a grateful look. Controlling Rukh for such a long time was kind of tedious.

"Aw, but Riko-san..." They wanted to see more magic!

"No buts! And besides, it's time for the food stall to be open! So go to Mitobe now before it's all gone." The boy's eyes widened, realizing that all the good food would be taken if they didn't hurry. They gave a quick wave and started to run towards the stalls.

"Bye Kuroko-kun!" Furihata shouted behind him, running to catch up with his other friends.

"Had fun, Kuroko?" Kagami asked with a grin, ruffling the boy's hair.

"Yes." Riko watched as the boys normally expressionless face lit up a little. Even if she was glad that he was smiling, she couldn't help but wonder what happened to this boy, that made him have such a blank gaze. She noticed it when they had met the two of them, his eyes seemed like they belonged to someone who had seen a lot in life.

"We should head back and feed the horses." Riko said. It was about time to feed them, and if they were both serious about staying here, then she had to get used to including them in the daily rituals.

They were about to head back when they heard someone call out to them, making them turn around. When they did, they saw it was Koganei.

"What's wrong, Koganei?" She asked the panting man.

"D-Dungeon..!" He tried to exclaim, but he was breathing too hard from running so fast.

'A dungeon..?' Riko couldn't believe it. For a dungeon to appear here...she looked at the red-head and bluenette. It was too much to be a coincidence for a dungeon to show up just a day after the two arrived.

"Show us where it is, Koga." He smiled and led them to an area where almost all the people in the city were gathered. There was loud chatter as they all stared in the direction of the building that hadn't been there the other day.

"That's...a dungeon..?" Kagami stared at the huge building that was barely hidden by the thick line of trees of the forest. It had a dome-shaped roof, the body of the building was made of marble and lined with gold.

'They are real...' He had heard rumors about these structures. How they are booby-trapped and have monsters inside of them, and best of all gold and treasures for any that managed to make it to the top! He'd never felt so excited in his life! This was truly a test of strength and he wanted to go...

"K-Kuroko..." The boy looked up at his friend when he heard the strain in the others voice.

"What's the matter, Kagami-kun?" He saw the other had his head turned away.

"Do you want to...go to a dungeon..?" The red-head faced the boy and revealed a huge toothy grin. For some reason...Kuroko felt he should deny the offer. He didn't know what this 'dungeon' was. But he had never seen the other so happy, so with a cautious look on his face, he hesitantly nodded...

As soon as he answered, Kagami grabbed the confused boy's hand and ran in the direction of the forest, where the dungeon was located.

"W-Wait!" Riko held a hand to her head, but they were both too far from her. She couldn't let those two clueless people go in alone. "That idiot...

She turned to Koganei. "Tell the others that we went to the dungeon, and NOT to follow us, got it?"

Koganei frowned a little, upset that he couldn't go with them, but nodded and headed to the hideout. Riko watched him leave and started heading in the direction the red-head and bluenette had ran off to.

Kaijo Kingdom

The city of amber, also known as Kaijo Kingdom, was one of the smaller Kingdom's, but just as influential as the others. Their King was none other than Kise Ryouta, a twenty year old man with blonde hair and amber-colored eyes. He wore fine white cloth with gold jewelry, including a bicep brace and an earring.

Even if he wasn't the most respectable King, he still managed to keep the Kingdom in relative order. He was one of the rulers who were chosen from family lineage and not by a Magi. Many didn't see him worthy of such a title, but since his older cousin Haizaki Shougo stepped down from the throne, he was their only King. It didn't help that Kise refused to give up his aristocratic and playboy ways...

"Kise-sama~." A woman in the room said, running a hand along the mans arm. Said man, who had been in her company for a few hours now, was getting a little annoyed by her presence.

"Ahh, sorry for this, but can you leave? We have important business to discuss." He sent her a charming smile that made the woman swoon and leave with no complaints, she couldn't possible deny that look. Once they were gone and the door shut, he sighed and dropped his charming King act.

"I'm so bored!" He shouted, making the other people in the room wince.

"Then do the paperwork that's been piling up for days..." An annoyed voice followed, belonging to none other than the King's advisor, Kasamatsu Yukio. A man with short spiky black-hair and blue eyes.

"But that's even more boring..." Kise responded childishly.

"Lord Kise...you... If you were so bored...then why did you send all of those gorgeous women away?!" Moriyama Yoshitaka, one of the King's guards, complained. He was always jealous about how the blonde could get so many girls and yet didn't seem to care. "You're so cruel!"

"Be quiet, Moriyama!" Kasamatsu was getting tired of this. It happened almost everyday!

'Why did I accept this job..?' He wondered for the hundredth time since he first agreed to be the blondes advisor. Not only was the King irresponsible, but the guards were crazy and annoying as well... If he hadn't been childhood friends with the blonde, he surely would've turned him down. He was just glad that Hayakawa was still sleepi-

"Ahh! I ovel srept!" The loud voice belonged to said person, who had brown spiky hair and bushy brows.

'God dangit...I give up...' He didn't have the energy to scold the other anymore for speaking his gibberish... He was saved from further annoyance, when the throne room doors opened.

"I have news from the outskirts." A man wearing a mask with black mohawk hair, Kise's intel provider named Kobori Koji, entered the throne room. He walked up to Kasamatsu and handed him the scroll that contained the news he had found out.

"A dungeon appeared nearby..." Kasamatsu informed, eyes staring at the scroll that Kobori had given him. "Who gave you this information?"

"Some villagers that live on the outskirts said that they were on their way to trade merchandise when they heard a strange noise last night. They inspected the noise and saw that a strange building had emerged in the direction of the city of garnet." He explained calmly.

"What? Why would a dungeon appear in such a run down place like that?" Kasamatsu asked. Everyone knew that dungeons only appeared when a new King candidate was found, and the chances that such a hopeless city like that gaining a King, was slim to none. But if it were true, then there'd be another Kingdom for them to keep their eyes out for.

"Wouldn't hurt to check it out. Besides, it'll give us something to do!" Kise hopped off of the throne, grinning.

"I'll get the carriage ready..." Kasamatsu said, knowing that once again the paperwork would be left unfinished...

Seirin City

Kuroko stared up at the strange purple portal that Kagami said would lead to the 'dungeon'. For some reason he felt a strange pull to enter this place, but another half of him didn't think it was such a good idea.

"Are you ready, Kuroko?" Kagami looked down at the unsure looking bluenette. "It's okay if you don't want to go..."

'Maybe we should head back...' He had been excited, but he didn't want to force the other to do this.

"N-No, if Kagami-kun wants to go then I will too." Kuroko hesitantly touched the portal and it felt like something grabbed his arm, he tried to pull his arm back but it just kept dragging him in further. Seeing the bluenette struggling to take his hand out, Kagami quickly grabbed his other one and pulled.

"What the hell!" He watched as more than half of Kuroko's body was inside of the portal and pulling only seemed to make it worse! All of a sudden there was a strong tug and Kagami lost his balance, sending them both though the purple substance. He made sure to keep a firm grip on Kuroko's hand.

'What is this..?' It had to be the inside of the portal, but it didn't lead to a room like he thought it would. Instead it was as if they were traveling through space and through a tunnel of lights. It felt like they were falling forever, until the lights finally disappeared and he felt like he was floating in liquid.

'Water..?' Kagami hurried and swam to the surface before he could run out of breath. As he emerged from the water, he looked up and saw that they had fallen many meters from above. At least it broke their fall...if it hadn't been there then... Noticing that their hands had separated at some point during the fall, he looked around for his blue-haired friend and was starting to get worried when he saw his pale form a few feet away from him.

"Are you okay, Kuroko?" Kagami rushed over to where the boy was kneeling and coughing up water. When he reached him, he picked him up and held Kuroko up so he could make sure he was fine.

"Y-Yes, I'm fine Kagami-kun." The bluenette said, blinking his eyes to adjust them to the darkness of the cave-like area they were in. "Can you..please put me down?" He liked being able to see things from the red-head's point of view, but the fact that his feet weren't touching the ground just reminded him of how short he was...

"S-Sorry..." Kagami blushed and scratched the back of his head.

"This is the dungeon, Kagami-kun?" He looked around at the rocky structures around them.

"I've never been in one, but it must be..." This place looked nothing like Seirin so it had to be the inside of the building. There was a splash near them and they both jumped.

"You moron!" Kuroko and Kagami turned around, seeing a wet and very unhappy Riko standing there in the water. She stomped over to the red-head and hit him, not bothering to withhold her strength, making him hit the ground hard.

"Ow! What was that for?!" He yelled, holding his aching cheek where he got punched.

"Why did you come here?!" She put her hands on her hips. "Don't you know this place has traps and monsters?!"

"Yes..." Kagami didn't get what she was so mad about. "If it gets too hard, I'll make sure we leave."

"Once you enter a dungeon, you can't get out until you reach the top floor! And for you to bring a kid here is even more irresponsible!" Riko couldn't believe that someone would enter this place without even knowing that...

"Oh..." Kagami said lamely, just now realizing the position they were in. She was so tempted to hit him again, but the bluenette stood in front of him.

"Please, Riko-san. It's not Kagami-kun's fault. I agreed to come too." Riko looked at pleading blue eyes and sighed.

"Whatever...We just need to be careful, okay?" She looked around and saw that there was only one path. "Let's go this way."

Kagami and Kuroko followed her through the dark tunnels.

"Sorry for dragging you in here, Kuroko..." He had been so excited at the possibility to fight and clear the dungeon, that he had completely disregarded the fact that he didn't know much about these places.

"It's fine, Kagami-kun." The bluenette smiled at him, he was a little scared of this dark place, but as long as his friend was happy he'd go along with it.

They continued walking down the narrow path, that gradually got larger until it ended and a large cavern came into view, stalagmites and stalactites were hanging from the ceiling and ground. There was moss covering rocks that provided light. As they reached the center of the cave, they heard strange scratching noises.

"What's that sound..?" Kagami asked. Kuroko watched as the Rukh started flying away from the area.

Riko stopped walking and looked in the direction the sounds were coming from and what she saw made her freeze.

"Don't move..." Kagami raised an eyebrow and looked where she was.

There was at least a dozen giant ant-like monsters with huge pincers coming towards them. The scratching noise got louder as their legs walked towards the three.

Kagami lightly pushed Kuroko behind him and took out his sword, Riko getting into a fighting position as well. When they were close enough, the ants attacked. It was easy enough to fend them off, Kagami sliced at any that came near and Riko's powerful kicks and punches were able to crush them.

But when they were all almost dead, the remaining ones suddenly melted...

"What the..." He was about to scoff, thinking they had given up or something, but suddenly the puddles started combining together with the dead bodies of the other ants. The three watched as it grew higher and higher until it was at least ten meters tall before the it reshaped itself into an enormous thirty foot tall ant.

The monster lunged at them with its giant pincers, and they weren't able to move in time to avoid it. Kuroko quickly created a shield with the few remaining Rukh, preventing the sharp pincers from reaching them.

"G-Good job, Kuroko." Kagami said gratefully. If he hadn't done that then...He shivered at the thought.

The monster stood up straight again and Riko took this chance to attack its legs, breaking them off with her kicks. The monster fell to the ground with a loud thud, and Kagami stabbed it in the skull with his sword.

"Tch...That wasn't so hard." Kagami said with a grin on his face. Riko rolled her eyes at him and was about to lead the way again, when the bluenette spoke up.

"I-It's growing back." Kuroko said, watching as the monster's body started to piece back together until it was back to normal. Not only that, but it seemed other smaller ants had come to the others rescue and were heading towards them as well.

"You handle the big one!" Riko shouted to Kagami, who nodded and turned to the giant one. Her kicks were useless if it kept regenerating like that, hopefully his sword would do more damage... She headed towards the hoard of ants to deal with them.

"Stay back, Kuroko." He had noticed how the shield had been just enough to save them. Even if he couldn't see the Rukh, he guessed that there wasn't enough for the bluenette to cast anything more than that.

He slashed at the monster, managing to cut off its limbs and abdomen, but they grew back almost instantly. As the newly grown limbs attacked him again, he dodged out of the way and the leg crashed into the ground where he had been standing before, sending bits of rocks everywhere.

'I'm not getting anywhere...' This obviously wasn't working... But there wasn't much else he could do since whenever he cut off pieces, they grew back seconds later...

The monster lunged at the red-head, but Kagami used his sword to block the pincers. But instead of pulling back like it had done before, it gripped the sword tighter between it's pincers and twisted it's head to the side, making Kagami lose his grip on the sword and sending it flying. It landed a few feet away out of the red-head's reach.

Kuroko could see that Kagami was in trouble and tried to summon some magic, but there wasn't nearly enough Rukh in this room to make a spell strong enough to stop the giant monster in front of them. The bluenette looked around, trying to think of something to save his friend, when his gaze rested on the gold bracelet.

'Ogiwara-kun...' He closed his eyes and concentrated.

Kagami waited for the monster to attack. Riko was dealing with the hoard of smaller ones, and the bluenette couldn't use his magic, he knew that he was doomed. The monster was mere inches away from him when he suddenly felt an intense heat, followed by a pained shriek. Looking back at the monster he saw that it was on fire.

'What..? Did Kuroko...' He looked over and saw the bluenette was on the ground still panting a little.

"Took you long enough to summon me, Kuroko!" Kagami stared at the grinning teen in front of him with wide eyes. He had tinted orange hair, pointed ears and strange markings on his chest and arms.

'A Djinn?!' The orange-haired Djinn went over and helped the bluenette up.

"Thank you, Ogiwara-kun." Kuroko gave the teen a small, tired smile. He felt weak for some reason.

"Thanks for the save..." Kagami mumbled as he went to pick up his sword, disappointed that he couldn't handle the monster himself.

"Haha, don't thank me. Thank Kuroko, he's the one who finally summoned me." The Djinn grinned down at the blue-haired boy.

"Wait...What..?" What did he mean by finally summoned..? Now that he thought about it, Kuroko had seemed to know the Djinn and vice versa.

"I said he could've summoned me at any time." Was this new guy hard at hearing..?

"Kuroko...you..." Kagami's eye twitched. "Why did you wait so long to help me?!"

"Ah...I forgot." The boy deadpanned, frowning a little. Kagami sighed, he couldn't stay mad at him... even though he had every reason to be! He had almost died!

"Guh...I guess it's fine. If you had used that in the beginning then it wouldn't have been as much of a challenge...Thanks for helping when you did though." He said, grumpily. Still seeing the other looked a little downcast, he reached down and ruffled his hair. At least he hadn't just let him die back there.

The bluenette smiled a little before he swayed and started to fall, the Djinn caught him before he hit the ground.

"What's wrong with him?" Kagami asked the Djinn, looking at his friend whose eyes were closed and breathing was steadily evening out.

"It takes a lot of energy to summon me... Don't worry, he's just resting to replenish the Rukh he lost." He gently placed Kuroko down and sighed dejectedly, making the red-haired teen wonder what was wrong. He looked around, noticing the lack of Rukh and knew that he couldn't stay here.

"I should be going, the longer I'm out here, the more energy is being used..." Even though Ogiwara wanted to spend more time with the bluenette, but he knew that he wouldn't be waking up anytime soon after using so much magic and then summoning him. Before he left, he glared at the red-head and shouted loudly. "You better take care of him!"

The Djinn erupted in flames and the fire went back into the bracelet that Kuroko was wearing. Kagami stared at the place where he had disappeared and frowned.

"Hey! You moron! Get over here and help!" Kagami looked over and saw that Riko was still fighting the smaller monsters and went to help her after making sure the sleeping bluenette wasn't in any danger. They finished them off and were glad that they didn't reform like the others had.

"Is he alright?" Riko had been busy fighting and hadn't heard what happened.

"Yeah, just resting." Kagami said, lifting the boy and carrying him on his back.

"How'd you manage to defeat that huge one?" Riko asked. The way it regenerated so quickly meant it was pretty strong, and for the red-head to kill it with that sword...

"Kuroko summoned a fire Djinn and he killed it." Kagami explained, not elaborating more than that. He didn't want to feel anymore indebted to that guy than he already did.

'Ah, that explains why he's so tired...' Riko had met other magicians that summoned Djinn and they'd always be worn out afterwards.

"Come on, let's find a safer place." Kagami nodded in agreement. For all they knew, there could be more of those things, so they couldn't relax here. They headed to the path at the other end of the cave and proceeded further into the dungeon.

"Are you sure this is the place, Kobori? Kise asked, looking at the poor condition of the stone gates in front of him as their carriage drove inside.

"Yes, Seirin City, the city of garnet." The other member's of Kise's group stared. They heard that this place was leaderless, but the sheer number of homeless they saw as they rode by...it was worse than any of them had thought. Slowly, the carriage made its way down the dirt road until Kasamatsu saw something.

"That must be the dungeon." He pointed towards a building in the distance. It wasn't hard to figure it out, with the horrible state of the other buildings, the shiny marble one kind of stood out.

The forests surrounding the dungeon were thick, but they managed to make it to the clearing where the dungeon entrance was. The carriage stopped and they tied up the horses after detaching them from the reins.

"Aright! Ret's do this!" Hayakawa shouted, raising his arms in the air. But his excitement vanished when the blonde said his next sentence.

"You three stay here and make sure no thieves enter." Kise said to Moriyama, Hayakawa and Kobori.

"But!" Hayakawa started to protest, wanting to go inside as well, but Kasamatsu glared at him, making him stop his arguing. He definitely didn't want to spend hours trapped inside with the obnoxiously loud brown-haired man. He looked at the excited blonde.

'One annoying person is enough...'

"Fine..." He frowned and childishly plopped down on the stairs.

"Sorry, I promised Kasamatsu that it'd just be us two..." Kise whispered to them.

"Just be sure to get me a cute female Djinn weapon." Moriyama said seriously, making them roll their eyes.

"I'll try..." Kise said, not promising anything.

"Kobori...please keep look out." Kasamatsu said, placing his trust in the only normal one of their group, who took his job seriously. Kobori nodded, knowing what to do if they didn't return in a certain amount of time.

"Alright! Be back in a bit!" Kise jumped into the portal, the other walking in.

The blonde grinned the whole way down and when the lights disappeared, they both landed in the pool of water with a splash.

"Ahh! I'm all wet now!" Kise said, getting out of the water and trying to ring out the wetness from his clothes. He found the tunnel of light fun, but he'd never get used to the sudden drop...

"Stop whining, Kise." Kasamatsu mumbled, though he was also not pleased by the moisture.

"Be careful." Steel blue eyes narrowed and surveyed the area around them.

"Huh? What's the matter?" The black-haired teen pointed to the ground and Kise saw the problem. There were at least three sets of footsteps, by the looks of it, two adults and one small enough to be a kids.

'Someone got here before us..?' Kise wondered. It wasn't unusual for people to try to make it through the dungeons to obtain the riches at the end, but they usually ended up perishing. Dungeons were not for the weak and untrained...

"We can't turn back anyway, so the only choice is to go forward." Kasamatsu said, hoping they wouldn't run into any external threats.

"Come on Kasamatsu! Stop being so serious!" Kise grinned and marched forward. "If there are more people, then it makes this more interesting!" The black-haired man sighed and followed the hyper blonde.

The straight passageway seemed to go on forever, but a few minutes later it started widening. They finally made it to the end of the corridor and saw light at the end of it, meaning they were almost to an open area. But as they got closer, they heard the sound of fighting and proceeded forward cautiously.

When they were close enough, they saw there was a giant monster in the center of the cavern, a teen and a boy were in front of it and the third person was fighting off smaller versions of it.

"Should we help them?" He asked as he watched the monster snatch the sword from the red-heads hands and bring its pincers down to attack again, he knew that they should.

"I guess we have no choice..." Kise grabbed his daggers and was about to head towards the three, when fire erupted and a Djinn appeared.

'They have a Djinn?!' They stared as the fire Djinn roasted the giant monster. Who were these people..?

After the monster was destroyed they saw the Djinn talk to the red-head and then disappear. The woman who was fighting the smaller monsters yelled something and the tall teen went to her and helped. With the danger gone, Kise pocketed his daggers and was about to make their presence known, until his eyes landed on the sleeping boy.

It had been so dark until the flames appeared and he hadn't really gotten a good look at the boy, but with the place illuminated by the monster's corpse that was still being burnt from the Djinn's fire, he got a better look at him and his eyes widened in shock.

Blue hair...pale skin...sapphire earring... That Magi was...

"Kuro...kocchi..?" Kise stared at the unconscious boy.

'There's no way this is Kurokocchi...Aominecchi never lets him out of his sight...' Kise also noticed how different the boy looked. He looked younger than before and his hair was shorter. It was as if he had reverted back to how he looked when he had first met him and Aomine. 'But how..?'

"Isn't that...Aomine's Magi..?" He asked, getting a nod in response. "Why's he here?"

"I don't know." Kise said, staring intensely at the boy who was on the red-head's back.

'Did that red-head and brunette kidnap him..?' Those two were definitely not part of the Touou guard. So kidnapping would be the only reason the navy-haired King wouldn't be in the close vicinity of the bluenette. 'How dare they...'

"What do you want to do?" Kasamatsu asked, seeing the blondes angered face.

"We need to get Kurokocchi away from those people..." The black-haired man nodded, and they quietly followed the three retreating forms.

A/N 2: Made it so Djinn's have tattoo's and pointed ears. Let me know if you'd prefer the blue skin? =)

A/N 3: Character ages:

Riko and the other Seirin members are 18.

Kise and the Kaijo members are 20 =)