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The Shadow's Past

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Chapter V: Meetings


*~Shadow Palace, Rose Garden~*

Kuroko had just finished his exploration of the whole garden and was now resting at the fountain, staring at the flowing water. At the moment, Kuroko felt like he was free from all of his worries, and that no one would call for him, since he was currently almost unrecognizable in the casual clothes he was wearing. Add onto that his low presence, and he was practically impossible to find. A small smile grace his lips as he breathed in the beauty of the whole scenery. His smile disappeared however, as he felt another presence near him. He decided to to call out to to the person before he/she could do something.

"Please come out. I know you're there." He spoke this in Estrelían, just in case the person couldn't understand Japanese. It was a few seconds before a figure emerged from crouching behind the bushes. As the figure stepped out into the sunlight, its features were made fully visible to the teal-head. The presence he felt had turned out to be a girl with waist length ashen-colored hair, and striking emerald colored doe-like eyes. She was wearing an expensive looking dress, with frills and ruffles, and many bows, all colored either a light pink or white. Part of her hair was tied up by a pink bow, matching the ones on her dress. The only other accessory she wore was a gold pendant with an emerald in the middle that matched her eyes. Kuroko stood there at first, slightly shocked that the presence he had sensed had been a girl. He had been suspicious about the presence since he couldn't identify whether or not it was a girl or boy, since both breathe differently. The presence he had sensed however, had a breathing pattern that felt like neither., thus why he decided to call the presence out, to determine who it was. Kuroko concluded from her ability to to conceal her gender and her hair color, that this person was most likely his 'fiancé' Mayuzumi Atsune. He concealed a sigh, and opted for and gentle smile instead, as he addressed the girl. "Young Miss, may I ask what you were doing, hiding in the plants like that?" Once again, he spoke in Estrelían. The girl seemed stunned by his smile before stuttering out a reply.

"Umm, well, I saw you resting there so peacefully, and I didn't really want to disturb you, so I settled for looking at you from behind the bushes. I'm very sorry!" The girl quickly bowed down to Kuroko, asking for forgiveness. Kuroko, expecting this kind of response, based on her movements as she revealed herself hiding inside the bushes, began to comfort her.

"It's quite alright, Young Miss, there is no need to apologize. Next time, please greet me if you're around alright?" Kuroko said, the smile still plastered on his face. His smile made the girl blush and turn away. Kuroko seeing this, lightly chuckled, which caught the girl's attention, making her turn around, only to see Kuroko giggling like a little school girl, which made her blush even harder, with both embarrassment, and awe at Kuroko's laughing face. All she could think was 'C-C-Cute!' Kuroko noticing her stares, he quickly recomposed himself, and began apologizing himself. "Young Miss, I apologize for my actions just now. I appear to have lost control of myself. I did not intend to mock you in any way, so please, accept my apology." the girl quickly responded.

"Oh, no, not at all sir, I did not take any offence, please, don't think so." With that, Kuroko bowed, and began to turn around, while saying goodbye to Mayuzumi Atsune.

"Thank you Young Miss, you are very kind. Now, please excuse me, as I have some business to attend to." With that, Kuroko lowered his presence and disappeared from the girl's sight, like a ghost, as if he was never there, while thinking, 'Mayuzumi-san is not such a bad person…'


*~On the way to Takao's Sister's Residence~*

Everyone was still lost in thought after the revelation of their heritage. If one looked at the group, one would mistaken six of them for zombies, based on the bags under their eyes, and the way they were all walking. Takao, tired of their antics, decided to speak up.

"Oi! All of you are acting silly just because you found out something. It's no big deal. Besides, you guys are drawing too much attention." Takao whispered the last part, making the GOM and Momoi look around, only to see people whispering and some even being so blatantly obvious by pointing at the rainbow-haired group. After seeing the commotion they were causing, all of them blushed slightly in embarrassment, excluding Akashi, because, well, he's Akashi. Takao now seeing that everyone was paying attention, proceeded to to move along. "Good. Now that everyone's more attentive, let's get going." Takao took the lead, with Mayuzumi following behind, reading a light novel that seemed to have popped out of nowhere. As they proceeded, everyone began to notice how the scenery around them slowly began to change into one of nature, with the number of trees and bushes growing gradually.


*~Time Skip~*

They were all worn out by the time that they arrived at a large mansion, which had greenery everywhere, even to the point where the walls looked like they were made from ivy vines, which wasn't actually all that far from the truth. As the metal gates entwined with thick ivy opened, a woman with black midnight hair and similarly colored eyes could be seen standing on the steps of the front door, as if waiting for somebody to arrive. When she saw the group, her face brightened considerably, and she began sprinting towards them, despite wearing high heels and a dress that went past her ankles.

"Kazu-kun!" The woman yelled, as she ran straight into Takao, and squeezed the life out of him.

"Nee-sa..ma.." was all Takao could utter as he was losing air, on the verge of passing out. Midorima, deciding to not be a tsundere for a while, tried to save his friend. He first coughed for her attention, which was given, seeing as the girl's eyes turned toward him.

"Excuse me, but would you mind letting Takao go? He appears to be suffocating." Midorima felt the weird looks everyone was giving him, except for Takao's newly revealed sister, as they had never heard the green-head be this honest before. Takao's sister began panicking a bit, before she released her brother from her death-like grip, and began fussing over him.

"Oh no! Kazu-kun, are you alright?" She shook him by the shoulders furiously, until Takao woke up and told her stop.

"I'm alright, Nee-sama." Takao took a few seconds to catch his breath. "How did you know we were coming?" the raven-headed boy asked, confused on how his sister could have forseen the company she was going to have. Takao's sister only laughed, before explaining it to Takao as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Silly Kazu-kun! I knew you were coming because of my spirits." After she said that, Takao made a silent 'Oh' with his lips, as if he had just remembered something. Before things could get any more off track, Midorima decided to interrupt.

"Ehm. Takao,I believe we need an introduction?" Takao and his sister both turned to look at Midorima, as he had interrupted their conversation.

"Ah! Sorry, everyone. Nee-sama, why don't you introduce yourself?" Takao asked, turning to his sister. Takao's sister stood up straight, smoothed out imaginary wrinkles on her dress, and began to introduce herself.

"My, how rude of me. My name is Takao Chiaki. I am Takao's older sister. Nice to meet you all." She bowed down with a noble's grace, as her hair slipped off of her back, and spread across her shoulder and the cold twilight air, creating a beautiful image. Everyone was stunned for a few seconds before Chiaki raised her head, and smiled at them all, and Takao began to introduce each of them.

"Nee-sama, let me introduce everybody. The green head over there," he pointed at Midorima, "is Midorima Shintarou, but I like to call him Shin-chan!" Takao exclaimed. Midorima gained a tick mark on his head, and was about to retort, but was cut off by Takao introducing the other members of the group.

"The hyperactive puppy over there, is Kise Ryouta. He's really jumpy, but a decent person once you get to know him." The mentioned blonde was clinging to Aomine and sobbing about how 'I'm not a puppy!' etc.

"The one that the puppy's clinging too is Aomine Daiki. He's a basketball idiot." Aomine was annoyed by his introduction and shouted 'Oi!' But that was all he could get out before Takao moved onto the next person.

"The purple head over there is a candy-loving titan, Murasakibara Atsushi." Murasakibara made no comment about his introduction, and just stood there, with a lethargic and bored expression on his face.

"The person over there," he gestured to Akashi, "Is Akashi Seijuro. He's the leader of the group in a way." Akashi didn't make any protests about his introduction either. Takao was relieved, and decided to tell his sister about the psychotic tendencies of the red head later.

"The final member of our group is over there. You can't really see him sometimes, but I'm pretty sure you can Nee-sama." Takao pointed to Mayuzumi Chihiro, who was still reading his light novel. Chiaki, nodded, saying that yes, indeed, she could see the gray head. "That over there, is...Mayuzumi Chihiro." Takao paused slightly before saying Mayuzumi's name, and is sister made a slight gasp as she heard it. Almost everyone in society knew of the Lord families, and those families themselves were obviously no exceptions. They had to know the names of their fellow Lord families for future benefits after all. Akashi notice the slight gasp that Chiaki made, and his eyes narrowed, calculating what that gasp could mean. Before he could gather any more information however, Chiaki had quickly reverted back to her smiling face, and began to invite everyone inside.

"Everyone, do come in, it would be rude of me to make my brother's friends wait outside after all." The mention of shelter had everyone quickly snapping out of whatever thoughts or conversations they were having, and made their way up the steps and into the ivy-walled manor. What they saw as they all walked inside amazed them. Even Akashi, despite being used to living in luxury, had never seen anything like this. It looked as if nature was completely in touch with the place, but not the point where it looked overbearing or as if the place hadn't been inhabited. The way that the vines curved and wrapped around walls or furniture or artwork was elegant and perfectly place, as if the pottery was made to be wrapped around by the vines. As they proceeded down the hallway, they began to smell the distinct scent of food. Chiaki lead them all to a grand and intricately designed door, before it was opened, suspiciously by what appeared to be the vines themselves, and the group was meet with with a a mouthwatering banquet.

"Now I'm sure you're all hungry, so let's dig in, shall we?" With that, each person was lead to his/her, and so began dinner in the Takao household.


Hey everyone! I was in a good mood today, so I decided to write a chapter. I know this one is a little short, and you guys have been asking a lot of questions and all, but one thing that I would like to say is that everything will be revealed in due time, so don't worry. Your questions will be answered soon! Thanks for all the support you guys! :) I know this one was a little on the short side, but I think it would be a bit too long if I continued, and I wanted to get this to you guys as fast as I could, so don't worry. The next one will definitely be longer (after I finish all my exames of course) Well then, See you all later!