Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke

Chapter 4

4:45 pm In Front of the Hospital

Kagami had arrived earlier than the agreed upon time, to mentally prepare himself before anyone else came. He looked down at the cold milkshake in his hands. He stopped at Maji before making his way over, and he felt the urge to buy one to give to Kuroko.

'It's okay, he's going to be fine...Don't worry.' he told himself. 'When we walk in he's going to be sitting in the bed wearing that expressionless face of his and he will greet us, then we can all go back to the way things were before this happened! Yes, that's what will happen!' Kagami finished off his mental speech just as he saw his coach, along with his senpai's come into view.

"Hey! You're here early Kagami." Kiyoshi commented. "And you even brought him a present as well, huh?" All of the Seirin members had things ranging from flowers to cards.

"Ah, yeah...just wanted to prepare, and he's like addicted to this stuff...so I was hoping that he'd wake up when he smelled it..." Kagami whispered the last part realizing how childish the sentence sounded. "Eh, where's Koganei and Mitobe?"

"Well, Koganei's family had something to do and Mitobe had to go somewhere...Seems like the others aren't here either." Izuki stated when he didn't see any trace of the Generation of Miracles.

As soon as he finished his sentence, a black car came into view at a fast speed, nearly running them all over before stopping in front of the entrance. The door opened and out walked Aomine with some books in his hand, followed by Momoi , Kise had some sort of stuffed doll is his hand, the giant Murasakibara carried a bag full of vanilla flavored snacks, and a red-head holding an impressive bouquet of blue roses.

"Who's he?" Kagami whispered to the rest of Seirein.

"He's Akashi, former captain of the Teiko basketball team." Kiyoshi informed.

"Kagamicchi! How is Kur-AH?!"Kise was silenced when the red-head suddenly brought out a pair of scissors, awfully close to his face. From this close Kagami was able to see that Akashi had a red and golden eye. The Generation of Miracles all looked like threatening someone with scissors was an everyday thing, Seirin however were left speechless at the sudden show of violence.

"Silence, Ryouta. Where is Tetsuya?" The speaker narrowed his eyes into a glare as he stared at the team that Kuroko joined. Seeing the way the red-head was looking at all of them, Seirin suddenly felt like they should runaway and hide.

'Hm, what weaklings. They couldn't protect Tetsuya, I must punish them after all of this is settled.'

"We haven't gone in yet, we were waiting for everyone to arrive." Kagami answered before he looked around noticing someone was missing from their group. "Where's Midorima?"

"He said he had to make a stop before coming here." Momoi explained, remembering what Midorima told her over the phone.

"Gah, doesn't he know we are in a hurry?!"

"Calm down, I'm here." Midorima's voice came from behind them.

"You're late, Shintaro." Akashi said, with a deadly glare.

"My apologies, I had to make a stop before coming." Midorima explained.

"It's about ti-." Kagami cut himself off when he saw what Midorima was carrying. In his hand was a giant blue teddy bear with a huge bow around its neck. "Wh-what in the world is that for?!"

"Not that it's any of your business or anything, but this happens to be Aquarius' lucky item of the day, a stuffed bear." Midorima then pushed his glasses up, trying to hide the light blush. Everyone except Akashi sweatdropped.

'Such a tsundere...'

"Eh?!Midorimacchi! You got him a stuffed animal too?!" Kise asked, seemingly recovered from the Akashi encounter, he held up his gift and they saw that it was a small, cute stuffed dog that looked surprisingly like Nigou. "We may have gotten the same type of present but mine is much better ssu~!" Momoi stared at the doll in Kise hand before squealing.

"Kyaaa! So cute!"

"D-Don't be ridiculous. I'm not going to lower myself to your thought level, Kise."He once again adjusted his glasses. "Well, shall we go?"

They nodded and walked into the waiting room, and to the receptionist. She looked at them all as they stood there, her eyes remaining on Midorima longer than the rest because she didn't expect such a serious looking guy to be carrying such an adorable stuffed animal.

"Hello, we are here to visit someone who was admitted yesterday."

"May I have the patients' name?" the nurse asked, ready to type the information into the computer in front of her.

"Kuroko Tetsuya."

"Let's see...Kuroko Tetsuya...Ah, there it is. He's in room 208. Let me call the doctor that's assigned to him and see if he can come down and verify if the patient's allowed visitors. It'll only take a minute, feel free to sit anywhere while you wait." The group did as told, waiting for a few minutes before they saw the familiar face of the doctor that they had talked to the other day.

"Ah, yes I remember all of you. I'm glad you could make it."

"How is he, Dr...uh.." Momoi trailed off, not having been told the doctor's name.

"Dr. Nakamatsu, and as for how your friend is doing, he's out of immediate danger for now. Unfortunately, his blood pressure is still low and he still hasn't woken up, you may still visit him if you wish to." With that he turned around and looked over his shoulder to see them stand up and start towards him. "Shall we go then?" Everyone followed with bated breath, both eager and hesitant to see their friend.

'200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207...208...' They all counted in their heads, stopping at the room their beloved ex-teammate/teammate currently occupied.

"Here we are, if possible I'd like there to be three people in at most. There's a call button in there, if anything should happen, please press it and I'll come as soon as I can." They nodded and the doctor headed out to finish what he was doing before they arrived.

"So, who's going first?"

"Atsushi, Shintaro and I shall go first." Akashi said, in an arrogant voice, leaving no room for objection. The way he said it made Kagami angry, but after the was he acted towards one of his ex-teammate Kagami knew that he should not to disagree with this person.

"Hey, no fair! I want to see Kurokocchi, too!" Kise objected, only noticing his predicament after the words left his mouth.

"Are you going against me, Ryouta?" There was a dark fog behind Akashi as he asked this, sending shivers up everyone's spines. Kise jumped and hid behind Aomine who grunted.

"N-No, please..go ahead first."

With that, the three went into the room, shutting the door behind them.

With Hanamiya

'What am I doing here..' Hanamiya wondered, standing in front of the hospital. 'Ugh, alright! Just walk in, go to the brat's room, and see if the damage was as bad as it seemed. Yeah, I bet he was just overreacting after I hit him. I'll be sure to pay him back for ruining my plans when I see that he's completely fine.' With his newfound motivation, Kirisaki point guard strode into the hospital.

Looking around he saw the reception desk ahead of him, and walked towards it. The woman at the desk looked up as he approached.

"How may I help you?" Hanamiya put on his fake, charming smile before speaking.

"I'm here to see a patient that was brought in yesterday. He should've came in after a basketball accident if I remember right."

"Basketball accident...Ah! You must be with the other group, huh?" The nurse asked. Hanamiya froze at this information.

'That means Seirins here right now...and that brat must be fine. Perfect, everything was turning out how he wanted.' Hanamiya paused briefly before continuing with his charade.

"Ah, they all left without me, huh?" Hanamiya faked embarassment to make his lie more genuine. The nurse seemed to believe him since she gave him a small smile before telling him where he could find his 'friend'.

"He's in room 208, just head down that hallway, take a left and the door should be on your right."

"Thank you so much!" He smiled once more before turning and heading in the direction she told him. His smile fading when he was far enough from the desk that she wouldnt notice.

'If I had to keep that smile any longer I would've puked.' His usual smirk in place as he walked down the hallway. While walking to the room he was thinking of many ways to get back at all of them when he got there. 'Yes, those goody two shoes will regret humiliating me the way they did.'

When he was about to take the left, he saw the familiar forms of the Seirin team. He looked at them and was filled with sadistic glee. He was relieved at the emotions he felt upon seeing their depressed faces. His smirk widened.

'Hah, there's nothing wrong with me, I must be back to my old self. Those feelings after the match must've been a fluke!'

He snapped out of his musings, when the door to the room opened and out walked the red-headed captain of Razukan, the freakishly tall guy from Yosen, and the green haired teen from Shutoku. He couldn't really tell the situation from the looks on their faces, because they wore such stoic faces most of the time. Staying in his spot around the corner he continued watching as he saw the coach of Seirin, Hyuuga, and Kiyoshi walk into the room.

Hanamiya could see the guy who was the brat's partner asking the green haired male something, but he couldn't hear anything from this far away.

"Uh, excuse me..., what are you doing here, sir?" a voice sounded from behind him. He turned around and saw that it was a nurse. He quickly plastered on his sincere smile before turning around.

"Oh gosh, this is embarassing. You see, I'm here to visit a friend and I saw that group there so I wanted to wait until they were done before going to visit him."

"Oh, I see. Sorry for bothering you then." she bowed slightly before continuing down the hall.

'Che, annoying.' When he looked back towards the room, he saw that the three were back out in the hallway and the pink haired girl and tanned guy were missing, so he assumed they went into the room. After a while, the pinkette exited through the doors wiping away a few tears. The guy had a frustrated look on his face as he left the room as well. As the last group went in, Hanamiya couldn't help but feeling the worry he had the other day when he saw the reactions of the two that just exited the room.

With Kagami, Kise, and Izuki

Kagami took a deep breath before opening the door and stepping inside, Kise and Izuki following behind him. The room was unbearably white and the only sign of life were the colorful gifts that everyone had brought in and the steady beeping of the heart monitor next to the bed. After looking around the room they headed further in and their gaze fell upon the figure in the bed.

Kuroko was laying motionless on the hospital bed, covered in stark white sheets that were a shade lighter than his current paler skin complexion. One arm was outside of the sheets, a needle coming from it and connecting to the drip that was beside the bed, a clip was on his finger that connected to the heart monitor. Strands of his light blue hair that was sticking out from the thick badange wrapped around his head, was sprawled on the white pillow like a halo.

"Kurokocchi.." Kise whispered, before going up to the bed and putting his hand on Kuroko's exposed arm, flinching when it was slightly colder than normal. Tears gathered in Kise's eyes, seeing his dear friend in this state and not being able to do anything for him made him feel so hopeless.

Kagami shared a look with Izuki before going towards Kise, putting a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm the blonde down. Kise slowly straightened and tightened his hold on the gift he brought for Kuroko, before giving Kagami a thankful look.

"Hey Kurokocchi, I brought you a present! Look, it looks just like Nigou, even the eyes! I'll put it here for you." He smiled sadly before placing the stuffed animal next to Kuroko's shoulder on the bed. "You better get better soon Kurokocchi so I can hug you again like always!"

As Kise backed away from the bed, Izuki took it as a signal for his turn. He placed his 'get well soon' card on the table beside the bed and then, like Kise did, he placed his hand on his arm, but didn't flinch at the cold feeling. Izuki didn't say much but the sincere and caring look on his face showed how much he wished for his teammate to get better. When he moved away, Kagami walked to the bed.

He stood there for a moment, taking in the sight of his friend, slightly comforted by looking at the way his chest rose and fell with each breath. He put his hand over Kuroko's, being careful not to disrupt the clamp on his finger, frowning when he realized how much paler, and smaller Kuroko's hand was compared to his.

"Hey, Kuroko. I-I got you your usual milkshake, though it looks like you can't have it right now,huh..?" Kagami realized, awkwardly. "We-well I'll just get you another when you're done resting. Get better soon, okay? Everyone's waiting for you, it's not the same without you."

Kagami stared at Kuroko for a little longer, hoping that he would wake up. When there was no sign of it happening, he sighed and stood up before heading towards the door, following Kise and Izuki. When they joined the group there was silence, each of them absorbing what they saw.

"At least Tetsu-kun is looking better than yesterday." Momoi said, trying to ease the mood and convince herself as well.

"Yeah, he has a little more color than the other day." Kise agreed, with a small grin on his face. "I'm sure he's going to be just fine."

"Alright, we should head out now. We can take turns visiting him later." Everyone agreed, wanting to stay with Kuroko but knowing that they couldn't do anything more for today. The group started walking in the direction of the entrance.

As they were close to the turn they had to take to leave the hospital, they saw the familiar face of Kirisaki Daiichi's point guard, Hanamiya Makoto. He was wearing his usual smug smirk as he looked at the group.

"Hanamiya, you bastard! How dare you show your face here." Kagami said through clenched teeth.

"Ah, I was just in the area and decided to drop by. So..how's the shorty doing?" His smirk widened. Everyone was furious by his bold nature. And before Aomine or Kagami had a chance to act upon it, a pair of scissors were pointing mere centimeters from Hanamiya's right eye. The owner of the hand holding them had a dangerous gleam in his golden eye.

"I assume it was you who did this to Tetsuya?" Akashi asked in a calm voice, already knowing the answer from the reactions of the others.

"Ah, I don't know what you're talking about...You see, my hand just slipped during the match and the poor kid just happened to be there. It's not my fault that he got in the way." Hanamiya said when he recovered from his shock.

"I see." Akashi put his arm back down before lunging at him again with his scissors, this time not stopping. Unfortunately, Hanamiya was able to move out of the way in time, escaping with only a cut on his left cheek. "If you go near Tetsuya again you will regret it, understood? If you harm him again I will make you suffer so much that you will wish that you had died just now. Now, move out of the way before you pay the price. Let's go Atsushi."

Hanamiya wasn't a fool, in fact he was a genius, and looking in the eyes of this guy he knew that he meant every word he said. So with only a little hesitation he stepped aside and the red-head glided past him, followed by the purple haired teen who was glaring down at him as he too walked past.

"If you hurt our friend again, we won't hold back either." Kiyoshi promised, Hyuuga, Kagami, Kise and Aomine were behind him, with looks similar to Kiyoshi on their faces. This statement had much more meaning than it would from others since it was coming from such a happy-go-lucky guy like him. With that the rest of the group walked by him, ignoring his presence after they each gave him those determined looks that he hated. When they were out of his view, Hanamiya snapped.

'How dare they! Always looking down on me, always getting in the way of my plans! I'll make them pay one day. And then I'll destroy their stupid determination!' he gritted his teeth and glaring at the floor, hands shaking in anger. After a while he calmed down, before remember his other reason for coming here.

Slowly, he walked towards the room they were at, before opening the door and stepping inside. He froze when he saw the small pale kid laying down on the bed so lifelessly. Once again that unfamiliar feeling made his chest hurt.

'Why does this kid make me feel like this?! He's no different from the others that I've dealt with, so WHY?!' With one last look he turned around and exited the room, slamming the door behind him in frustration, earning a look from a nurse who was passing by. Not feeling up to use his fake charade, he glared at her before leaving the hospital.

The next morning with Riko

Ring, Ring, Rin-

Riko answered her phone. When she heard what the voice on the other end she dropped the phone before picking it up and answering the man who had called, before thanking him and hanging up. She smiled after the words processed in her mind, Dr. Nakamatsu's words replayed.

"Your friend is awake."

She couldn't wait to tell everyone!