Honestly, I didn't think I'd get many reviews for this story. But you guys proved me so wrong.
A BIG thank you to the people who reviewed: Aliyss, Mimibeear, Nyunyunkyunkyun, BlazeMary and Shin Paino. You people make me write.
Another BIG thanks to those who faved and/or alerted the story. :D
On with the story now!
/Kuroko no Basuke/
"Why is your house so small?" Was Aomine's first question as they stepped inside the tiny apartment.
Kagami groaned, "I just moved back here. Sorry for not being so picky about my house."
"Yeah but, why not move back into your old apartment. Wasn't that heaps bigger?" Aomine asked as he kicked off his shoes at the entrance followed by Kagami. The red head only shrugged.
"My landlord was tired of receiving checks. He told me if I was gonna continue living there, I'd need to pay the money upfront. Kinda impossible since I was staying in another country at the time. Figured I'd rent somewhere else out when I moved back here."
"Makes sense, I guess." Aomine reasoned, "But still, I don't think a bit bigger could have hurt."
"Just shut up. You can sleep on the couch." Kagami growled and went over to the linen cupboard. He grabbed out a large fluffy blanket and dumped it on the couch.
Aomine scowled, "You don't have a futon or something? That couch looks pretty old." Kagami said nothing, just continued on down the hall to his own bedroom and slammed the door shut with a loud bang that echoed through the apartment.
"Touchy…."
/Kuroko no Basuke/
Kuroko started his usual day at five am.
He woke up and checked on his mother to make sure she was alright before setting about getting ready for work. The store required him to start early at six am for five days a week. Usually, he took the weekends off and spent the whole two days cleaning up after his mother and working at the club.
The sun was barely up as he left the apartment, but that hardly bothered Kuroko. Around this time, the people who were active during the night usually started to make their way home. Thankfully, none of them noticed him walking down the darkened streets.
As he walked, his mind began to think back to last night. He wondered if maybe he should be more careful walking around the streets now. Not because of the potential muggers or criminals, but because he'd seen Kagami and Aomine so close to home. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that they'd called Akashi. The eagle-eyed captain loved to keep on top of things like this, and not be left out of anything.
With a strike of fear, he wondered if Kagami and Aomine would come back to the club. They couldn't! If they did, they'd ruin everything he'd worked so hard to achieve.
He was frustrated and was trying desperately to figure out a way to fix the situation. It wasn't like he could afford to move apartments to another city and take his mother along with him. Apartments weren't cheap. It was only thanks to the little money his father had left behind that they were able to buy the place they live in now.
Kuroko's thoughts continued like this the whole way to work. He wouldn't finish until four, and then he only had an hour to get ready for his night job at the club. He sighed. It didn't look like he was going to get any rest. Feeling annoyed with the turn of events, he lit up a cigarette to help calm his thoughts.
/Kuroko no Basuke/
"All day we looked for him," Aomine moaned into his arms which were folded casually over the table. "All fucking day, and not a sign of him anywhere."
A grimace had worked its way onto Kagami's face at these words. It was true though. Apparently nobody had seen a boy looking like Kuroko when they showed them the picture of the teen on Aomine's phone. But then again, that might be because of his misdirection.
"I know, so stop bothering me about it." Kagami growled, "It's not helping."
Aomine looked up from his arms, "Are you sure he'll turn up here, Bakagami?"
The red head chose to ignore that last bit, and instead sighed. "He was here last night; he's bound to be here tonight."
"Okay, if you say so."
Right on cue, as though the gods were toying with them all, Kuroko walked in through the doors. His dark expression was a clear indicator that he didn't want to be bothered tonight. And judging from the shouting about a 'Fucking blue haired brat' coming from outside, they knew why.
He stalked into the kitchen with a furious kind of grace and slammed the door shut behind him. Kagami and Aomine exchanged bewildered looks.
Not five minutes later, Kuroko came stamping back out, dressed in a skimpy white singlet that reached far above his navel, and the same dark skinny jeans from last night. Kagami caught himself staring and admiring how long Kuroko had let his hair grow out, and saw how it had even began to curl slightly. Kuroko's light blue scarf hung from his neck, and the blue sneakers squeaked on the tiled floor as he walked.
Again, Kagami was struck by just how much he'd changed in the five years he'd been gone.
He rose slowly in his seat, very aware of Aomine's eyes that were on him. He casually walked over to the bar, where Kuroko stood talking to a middle aged man on a stool. Just by looking at the man, Kagami could tell he was someone important. But he didn't really care about that right now. Swiftly, he reached out and grabbed Kuroko by the forearm.
Kuroko's head turned slowly to look at the hand that had clasped his arm so suddenly. He then looked up to the owner of the hand and his lip curled in distaste. The middle aged man also looked up at Kagami from his seat, curious as to why someone had interrupted their conversation.
"Kuroko, can we….talk?" Kagami asked quietly, nervous. The blue haired man glared up at him, but said nothing and made no move to remove the hand.
"Oh, Kuroko, it seems you haven't introduced me to your friend here." Shibata smiled brightly. "How very rude of you."
Kuroko blinked and turned back to the man. "I apologize, Shibata-san. Kagami-san here only wished to ask me something, right Kagami –san?"
The 'San' part hurt. It implied that they were no more than acquaintances. Kagami felt a surge of rage flare up at those words.
"Yeah," he said heatedly, "In private, if you don't mind."
Kuroko's icy eyes flashed, but he remind quiet.
"Ah, sure. I think you can take your friend out back for a moment, Kuroko. But do hurry, we need to discuss your work ethic's when you return." Shibata smiled and waved them away.
It was brief, but Kagami could have sworn Kuroko flinched at those words.
Kuroko suddenly grabbed his arm roughly and dragged him towards a back door. A wild glance in Aomine's direction told him that the tanned man was following them.
He winced as Kuroko opened the door with such force; it slammed into the wall behind it. One thing was certain, Kuroko liked to slam doors a lot. Aomine quietly followed behind, his face equally surprised with Kuroko's attitude.
Kuroko finally came to a halt once they outside in the night air, Aomine stopping directly behind Kagami. He then turned and face both of his old teammates with a cold expression. His blue eyes could have been chips of ice they were so cold, so guarded. Kagami wanted to look away just from a second of staring.
"What the fuck do you want?" Kuroko snarled, the venomous words dripping from his lips. It sounded so wrong hearing them come from him, the innocent Kuroko they once knew.
"Don't talk like that, Tetsu." Aomine instantly responded, hurt that his friend would even think of talking to him in that way.
The bluenette rolled his eyes, "Okay, sure. But it's okay for everyone else to do it, right? Fuck, you used to swear almost all the time in middle school. What happened? What changed?" he sneered.
Aomine growled, "Nothing, it's just not right coming from you."
"Bit hypocritical are we, Aomine?" Kuroko smiled without humor. It was almost as cold as his eyes, and slightly scary seeing as it was the first time they'd seen him smile while showing his teeth.
"Just shut up, the both of you." Kagami ordered. He hadn't missed Kuroko's 'Aomine' without the suffix. It reminded him of the way Akashi spoke, like they were all beneath him.
Kuroko dropped his smile at that. "What makes you think you can tell me what to do, Kagami? You're no better than I am."
He was about to reply when something stopped him. Kuroko had chosen that moment to dig into his pockets and extract a lighter. He was left speechless as he then pulled out a cigarette which appeared to have been stored behind his ear the whole time and lit it up, before bringing it to his lips.
It was wrong, so wrong. Kuroko should never have been seen with something like that in his hands. But the teen was so casual about it, they couldn't say anything—just watch him in disbelief.
"S-spit that god damn thing out." Aomine stuttered out shakily. Kagami didn't blame him at all. Even he was having trouble with this.
Kuroko shrugged, "Why" He asked, "It's not like it's hurting you or anything." He said it so casually, like it was nothing. As though it meant absolutely nothing for him to smoke.
"Just get rid of it!" Aomine shouted.
"No, I paid for these and I'm gonna smoke 'em."
"Enough! Look Kuroko, we didn't come here to fight. We just want to know where the hell you've been all these years. Why didn't you call, or visit?" Kagami questioned. He felt that he had a right to know that much at least.
But Kuroko suddenly looked very uncomfortable. He didn't look at either of them, just stared at a spot on the concrete while his smoke drifted away in the wind.
"It's none of your business." Kuroko said quietly, his tone completely void of emotion. He looked upset though, as if their simple curiosity had hurt him somehow. He looked smaller than he ever had in his life.
Kagami felt a knot of fear tighten in his stomach. What had happened to Kuroko to make him act this way? The harsh, cold Kuroko who so quickly jumped to defend himself against them was so different from what they were used to. Of course, Kuroko had been a little cold before, but nothing like this. Kagami could only conclude that something really bad had happened. Something that had changed Kuroko completely.
"I think we have a right to know, Kuroko." Kagami spoke quietly. "You owe us at least that much.
Kuroko flared up again, "I don't owe you anything! Any of you." He glanced over at Aomine as he spoke.
"So you think its fine for you to just leave and not even tell us where you're going, or why?" Aomine spoke up.
"Yes. I expected you to respect my privacy."
Kagami shook his head. "Did you really expect us not to worry about you? Not care at all about your whereabouts? You just dropped off the face of the planet without a word. Akashi was beside himself as he looked through every school in Japan's record for you, and not even then could we find you. Just please, explain and we'll leave you alone."
"The reason Akashi couldn't find me was because I didn't go to school. After Seirin, I dropped out and got a job." Kuroko said softly.
Kagami's eyes sparked with rage, "Dropped out?! What about your education? What about basketball?"
Kuroko looked at him squarely. "Not everything revolves around Basketball, dumbass."
That insult was the last straw. Kagami had to mentally retain himself from lunging over to the blue haired young man and wrapping his hands around that thin neck of his. He gritted his teeth sharply and his hands curled into balls at his sides.
"Forget it then." He ground out, and turned away. Aomine blinked with surprise and stared after him before following behind. He glanced around at Kuroko, and was happy to see he was just as surprised as he was.
It wasn't until they were walking down the street that Aomine stopped Kagami by placing a hand on the red head's shoulder. He half expected the baka to just shrug him off, but was happy when he didn't.
"Oi, why did you just walk off like that?" He asked once they'd come to a stop.
Kagami didn't turn around, he just kept his head down as he answered, "I can't stand seeing him like that. Besides, it didn't look like he was going to tell us about it anyway."
Aomine said nothing and released his friend. He too agreed that Kuroko wasn't going to tell them about his past, and that he'd changed too much for his liking. But he didn't say this to Kagami, who looked downright depressed.
"I just feel….so useless…" the red head breathed out. Aomine nodded and bit his lip.
"We….we should get home and tell Akashi…" Aomine suggested solemnly.
"And tell him what? That Kuroko's a lost cause and we'd best give up on him? Kagami growled
Aomine shook his head. "I didn't say that, and you'll never hear me sayin' that. Just because we let him off the hook for now, doesn't mean we ain't gonna go talk to him later."
Kagami sighed, "Yeah, your right. Still…."
"I know."
"It's just so weird, seeing him like that…."
The two walked back to Kagami's place after that in silence. They had to plan, and they'd need Akashi's help with that.
/Kuroko no Basuke/
AN/ Ended it there guys :P
So, what's going to happen next?! I'm the author, and even I have no idea! (Not really xD)
Um… If there's anything wrong or confusing, let me know and I'll fix it up for you, okay? Don't be shy and put it off, I don't bite! I just want friends (;_; )
Please Review! It helps get those creative thoughts moving! (And faster updates….)