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"Aomine, wake up. Aomine!"

"Ten more minutes," muttered Aomine, swatting at the hand that was shaking him.

"Wake up now. Kuroko needs to be taken to a hospital."

Aomine's eyes shot open. He sat up so fast he almost hit his head against Midorima's. "What?"

"His fever's reached a dangerous level. We can't tend to him here anymore. He needs professional help," said Midorima.

Aomine looked over and felt his heart sink at the sight of Kuroko, who was now as pale as a ghost, except for his flushed cheeks, with a very visible layer of sweat gleaming over his face and exposed arms. He agreed just from a glance that Kuroko probably needed a real doctor's help. But –

"At a hospital, they'll find out . . ."

"I know. But we have to take him, Aomine," said Midorima.

"Yeah . . . hey, where's Bakagami?"

"I sent him to get ice," said Midorima. "We'll use a compress of it to try to keep his head as cool as we can. That should make up for the time it will take for us to get back to Tokyo."

"Tokyo?"

"My father should be working tonight. If he's not, I can speak with one of his colleagues. I'll find someone I trust to help us keep Kuroko's condition from becoming public knowledge," said Midorima.

Aomine couldn't help but smile. "And you say we're not friends."

Midorima pushed up his glasses, embarrassed. "I may have misspoken."

The door opened and Kagami hurried in with a bucket of ice and some towels. "The cab's here, I think. I saw someone pull into the drive when I looked out a window. It shouldn't be anyone else this time of night. Or morning."

"Right. Aomine, please carry Kuroko to the cab. Kagami, give me those and go with them. I'll be along momentarily."

Aomine scooped up Kuroko and winced when his friend's bare skin came in contact with the bare skin of his arms. Kuroko was burning up. He couldn't believe he'd gotten this bad in just a few hours. Especially when he'd looked perfectly fine at dinner that night.

Kuroko gave a small, pitiful moan, like a kitten, as he slumped in Aomine's arms, his head resting against his shoulder. Aomine felt like wincing. Who knew that caring so much could physically hurt like a wound?

"Come on," Kagami said urgently when Aomine faltered because of that painful sound.

"Right." Aomine hurried through the open door.

In the hallway, on the way outside they ran into a familiar annoying blonde.

"Huh? What's going on, everyone? Eh! Kurokocchi!"

"He's sick. We're taking him to a hospital," Kagami said, shouldering him aside so Aomine could get by with Kuroko.

"Hey! I'm coming to!" Kise said.

"You have practice," Aomine reminded him.

"I don't want to hear that from you! I'm coming!"

"Alright! Just shut up! What were you doing awake anyway?"

"What do you think I was doing awake at this time? I was going to the bathroom. Should I go find Midorimacchi and tell him to come with us?"

"No, he already knows, and he's coming too," said Aomine. "He's making some ice compresses or something, but he's coming."

"How are we getting him there? The trains aren't running right now? Are we stealing a car?" Kise asked.

"No, dumb blonde. We called a cab," said Kagami.

"Oh. Good thinking. And I'm not a dumb blonde!"

"Just shut up, Kise," said Aomine. They reached the front entrance and hurried outside, but nearly crashed into someone trying to enter at the same time they were trying to step outside. "Hey, watch it!"

"Oh? Mine-chin? And Kise-chin?"

"Murasakibara!"

"What are you doing here?"

"Aka-chin told me to come, so I did," said Murasakibara. "He said to come play basketball."

"Eh, what?" Aomine was confused. "Your school's coming here too?"

"No. Just me."

"But that, no nevermind. It's not important now," said Aomine, stepping past him.

"Sorry, but we've got to run, Murasakicchi," said Kise. "It's an emergency! Kurokocchi needs to go to the hospital!"

"Huh? What's wrong with Kuro-chin?"

"He's sick, with a horrible fever," said Midorima. "I thought you said the cab was here, Kagami."

"It must have been the one Murasakibara here arrived in that I saw, I guess ours is still coming," said Kagami.

"Aka-chin didn't say anything about Kuro-chin being sick," said Murasakibara. He sounded a little lost but trailed behind them as they made their way down the front steps.

"Not even Akashi knows everything, despite what he believes," said Midorima. "And this is obviously a new development."

"Is Kuro-chin going to be okay?"

"Yes, but only after we take him to the hospital," said Midorima. "Don't get in the way, Murasakibara."

"I'm not in the way."

"Keep it that way."

The cab that Midorima ordered came shortly after. He'd had the forsight to request a van type cab rather than a regular four door sedan type one, so they were all able to fit inside. Aomine buckled Kuroko into the seat between himself and Midorima. Kuroko was still unconscious, and slumped forward against his seatbelt until Aomine put an arm around him and pulled Kuroko so that he was leaning against him. Midorima placed an ice pack behind Kuroko's head, where it met his neck. Kuroko gave another small moan and shivered in his sleep.

"Shh," Aomine said and patted Kuroko's head.

Kuroko opened his eyes and blinked rapidly. "Ogi . . . wara-kun?"

"Huh? No, it's me. Aomine."

Kuroko blinked again. "Shige?"

"No. Aomine."

Kuroko stared at Aomine with tears in his eyes. "Wanted . . . to apologize. So sorry. I ruined everything."

"I'm Aomine. And I doubt you've done anything that bad in your life, Tetsu, so stop apologizing."

"Broke promise . . . hurt you . . . all my fault . . ." Kuroko's eyes shut again and he slumped back into unconsciousness.

"What was that all about?" Kise wondered.

"No idea," Aomine said. "Any of you have any idea?"

"None," Mirodima said.

"I don't know any Ogiwara or Shige," said Murasakibara.

"What about you, Kagamicchi?" Kise asked.

"No. I've never heard those names before."

"Ogiwara Shige . . . That sounds familiar. Why do I feel like I've heard that name before?" Midorima asked.

"Could Tetsu have mentioned him once?" wondered Aomine.

"Was Kuroko more open about talking about his problems back in Teiko?" asked Kagami.

"Uh, no."

Murasakibara reached from the backseat to pat Kuroko on the head. "I wonder what happened between them."

I don't think Kurokocchi is capable of hurting someone that much. But he sounded like he thought he did," said Kise.

"Well, you know how Tetsu is. He takes responsibility for things that he'd be better staying out of sometimes," said Aomine. "I'm sure whatever happened wasn't his fault. And probably wasn't as bad as he was making it sound there."

"His fever is high enough that delusions are likely," Midorima said.

"All the same, if this person is troubling Kuro-chin, I'll hunt him down and crush him," Murasakibara stated.

Aomine gave Murasakibara a look over his shoulder. "Get in line."


I've gotten couple requests for this to be a GoM reconciliation fic, so I'm trying that out. And don't worry, Kuro-chin will get better soon. But Ogiwara-kun won't be appearing in this fic. If you want to read about him, he'll be showing up soon in my other fic How Does It Feel?

Please review!