Author's note: Hey everyone! It's been a couple days and I am so sorry I didn't update! This chapter literally gave me hell -.- And so I have named this chapter as such. I know, it's not all that great but the next one will be better, I promise! Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews! :') you made me so happy! Though… hahaha XD I think Akashi in this is pissing everyone off.
Disclaimer: I should do this more often but I own nothing except the plot of this story! Else Kuroko would probably be constantly sexually harassed by all of the other characters! XD
3rd Person P.O.V.
Smack!
"Ow!" Kagami yelped, rubbing at the back of his head after it had been assaulted by an unseen attacker. "What the hell was that for, you little-"
Smack!
"Why did you hit me again?!"
Seirin's coach, the forever observant and easy-to-piss-off Riko Aida, merely rubbed at her stinging hand and glared at the red-head she had just smacked across the back of the head. "Because you're getting angry!" Riko snapped back, placing her hands upon her hips. "When you get angry, you don't listen to instructions! Knock the attitude off and get back to warming up with a clear head!"
"As if hitting me is going to help," Kagami grumbled under his breath before re-joining the start-up line with his team mates.
It was still fairly early in the morning and the boys of Seirin were preparing for a practise match that the school had organised for them. Exactly who it was, they were unaware, but the idea of taking out their long-suffering frustration on someone else was too tempting for them to really argue about specifics. They continued to stretch, jog, dribble and shoot hoops whilst they waited for their umpires and their opponent to arrive.
It had been a couple weeks since the incident at Maji Burger and, in that time, the members of Seirin had been growing more and more irritable as the days passed. Training seemed to run later as the young adolescents wanted nothing more than to train until their bodies were either too sore or exhausted to even think about their blue-haired companion. The situation surrounding them was still too confusing for them to figure out as of yet and, due to their inability to locate Kuroko in the last fortnight, they had been forced to let it go.
However, despite all of this, one thought managed to continuously assault Kagami's mind.
The space beside him was empty.
Kuroko's space…
Kuroko P.O.V.
"This is pointless."
I glared at the back of Akashi fiery-red skull, anger slowly simmering in the pit of my stomach. Despite my face remaining blank, I was fully aware of the fact that Akashi knew exactly how I felt but had purposely refrained from commenting.
"It's not pointless," he replied without an ounce of emotion in his even voice. "A practise match is the perfect way to draw attention to our debut as a newly reformed basketball team." He turned his head slightly, a smirk placing across his pale face that made his one golden eye seem twice as menacing. "Crush one team and the rest are certain to follow."
I felt a lump form in my throat at his words but I quickly shook it off, knowing that this wasn't the time to lose it again.
Akashi had been his usual vague self about the team we were supposed to be versing. He had slyly avoided any of my sharp questions with falsely reassuring words that tried and failed to set my mind at ease. The entire week I had been on edge; barely getting any sleep and flat-out refusing to leave my house unless I had practise. I could tell that the others were beginning to get worried but I couldn't really say that I cared all that much.
I just couldn't get the image of Kagami's back out of my mind.
His furrowed brows, his clenched jaw; the angry and grievous expression on his face had burnt itself into my mind and was on the verge of driving me insane. I could literally feel the betrayal that had been racing through him at the sight of me smiling around with my old team mates. I wanted to call out to him, to tell him the truth, but Akashi's influence at the back of my skull had been too heavy and had forced me to give up something else that'd meant the world to me.
"Nearly there," Akashi hummed, something about his words making a spark of restlessness form in my stomach.
I actually began to notice our familiar surroundings, alarm bells beginning to sound off in my head. My eyes scanned the world around me and, just as an extremely familiar building came into view, I felt my heart stop.
"No…" I whispered, stopping dead in my tracks as I stared in horror at the gymnasium. "…No… this… this can't be…" I shook my head, eyes wide as I stared at Akashi's slowly forming smile. My chest constricted and I back-pedalled a step, my knees once again going shaky. "You can't be serious!"
Seirin Academy.
"Let's have a good match, boys," Akashi chuckled, continuing his leisurely pace and leaving our still-frozen forms behind. The others recovered much faster than me and, despite feeling the waves of sympathy they were sending me, I could feel their desperate need to get me moving again so that our captain didn't end up punishing them. I dully noticed hands coaxing me into movement but the last of our journey didn't even imprint upon my memories, the shock of our opposing team almost completely short-circuiting my brain.
Seirin.
It was Seirin.
3rd Person P.O.V.
The second the doors of the gymnasium slammed open, Seirin's basketball stopped what they were doing to glance at their opponent. The first thing that registered in their minds was a shock of red hair and two mismatched eyes that sent a chill down their spine. Almost immediately came a sense of alarm when they realised that their last opponent of the Winter Cup was who they were about to be paired against.
Akashi Seijuro of Rakuzan Academy.
However, the second Akashi stepped out of the way, confusion slowly wormed its way into Seirin's minds. Behind him was a relatively tall and tanned boy with dark blue hair and slouched shoulders. A shocked shudder traversed Kagami's spine as he watched Aomine Daiki of Touhou walk in with hunched shoulders as if he really wasn't comfortable under the scrutiny of so many eyes.
Alarm slowly began to trickle into their minds as Kise Ryouta of Kaijou and Midorima Shintarou of Shutoku walked in and refused to meet any of the eyes around them. Lastly came a monster of a teenager with soft lavender hair and a gaze that seemed to stare past all of them. Hyuuga had to swallow heavily as he remembered the hopelessness cast upon him by Murasakibara Atsushi of Yosen.
The Generation of Miracles.
Balls dropped from slack fingers as their previous owners could do nothing but stare in confusion and building horror at the monsters that stood before them. When they had woken up this morning, not one of them could say that they had expected anything of this calibre in a practise match and it sent bursts of fear throughout majority of the team.
Kagami, however, could only grin like a school boy.
The tall redhead was a typical sportsman; blind to anything other than the challenge and adrenaline before him. It wasn't in his nature to realise that perhaps another bluenette would be with them; all he cared about was the fact that his wish would finally come true.
That he would crush the Generation untouched by normal men.
"Good evening," Akashi called monotonously, his gaze level as he observed his surroundings with his sharp sight.
Riko was the first to snap out of her daze. "Um… G-Good evening," she mumbled back, her eyes quickly darting over the Miracles who were, at the moment, placing their bags down on the opposing bleachers. "What… what's going on?"
Akashi merely raised a brow, the simple action somehow drawing a flush to the surface of Seirin's coach's face. "I believe we are having a practise match," he replied dryly, gracefully placing his bag down beside the others. "Why? Would you prefer a tea party or something of the sort instead?"
"Of course not," Riko snapped, recoiling back a fraction seconds later. She sucked in a calming breath, trying to pull her immediate anger back from the surface lest she did something she would later regret. "I mean why are you all here together?"
"I thought that was obvious," he hummed, his head turning back as if he had just noticed something. A smile lightly tugged on his lips and he shot Aomine a pointed look, something conveying silently between the two.
"Akashi…" Aomine murmured, something foreign entering the tanned giant's eyes. It was a twist between grief and pain, as if he had been asked to put a gun to someone's head and pull the trigger.
Little did they know he pretty much was.
"He's fallen behind. Just go and escort him inside."
Confusion slowly erupted between the silent members of Seirin as they looked between themselves in unease. Aomine eventually forced his muscles to move and he dragged his heels to the gym door once more, disappearing outside for a fraction of a second. Even Kagami found himself holding his breath, his heart speeding up for some stupid reason that didn't even make sense to him.
The gym door opened once more and Aomine walked back in, a tiny body beside him. His hand was on a pale, jumper-covered shoulder as the temperature in the room suddenly seemed to drop well below zero. The body beside him had its bag clenched up to its face, forbidding anyone around them from seeing who it was. Akashi shot Aomine one last look and, with a heavy heart and a face that grimaced in silent agony, he laid his hand on the bag to push it out of the way.
And two blank blue eyes stared back at Seirin.
Kuroko mouth was bone dry, his eyes wide open and not a single expression being able to be discerned from his pale features. He stared out at Seirin and Seirin could only stare back, not quite registering what was going on.
And then, Kuroko knew for certain that he was in hell.
"…Kuroko…?"
