Breed

Chapter 7: Definition

"I'm in love with an angel who's afraid of the light. Her halo is broken, but there's fight in her eyes. Walls are built to keep us safe until they're crashing down. Worlds apart, we were the same until you hit the ground.

"Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm weak. Maybe I'm blinded by what I see. You wanted a soldier, but it wasn't me, because I could never set you free. So fly on your own. It's time I let you go."

―"Angel" by Theory of a Deadman

oO_Oo_oO_Oo

Akashi sits in bed Tuesday morning with a book in hand. He feels much better. There hasn't been any more vomiting, and the pain in his abdomen is more than bearable, though he's convinced that he's slept more in the past four days than he has in a month.

When his phone goes off, he picks it up and glances at the name. A wave of pain hits him.

"Hello?"

"Oh, um…Aka-kun, how are you f-feeling?"

The pain quickly eases, replaced by a fluttering feeling in his stomach. "I'm fine. Midorima refused to let me go in today, and I can't really evade my doctor when he's also my brother."

"If it's bad enough that you have to stay home, then―"

"Really, Furihata-kun, I'm fine." Akashi holds his phone between his cheek and shoulder as he bookmarks his page. Once he has the device back in hand, he sets his book on the nightstand. Crimson eyes flicker to the empty bag in his trashcan. "And thank you for the cookies. They were delicious."

"I was really worried I would get some you didn't like…."

"White chocolate and macadamia nut is my favorite. You did well."

"E-eh?! Thank y-y-you! I-I mean, you're welcome! I mean―"

"How are you feeling, Furihata-kun?" Akashi asks.

"Um, I'm fine."

"Really? You haven't felt a little off since Friday?"

"Well, I think I had a hangover. I've never drank before, so I didn't really know what to expect."

Akashi pauses. "What kind of symptoms did you have?"

"I…uh, I didn't have a headache, but my stomach was killing me. I actually haven't had an appetite since it happened, but I've eaten a little, and I haven't been sleeping very much." There's a pause. "T-that's a-a-about it."

The stutter doesn't escape Akashi's notice. "Was there something else?"

"N-not really."

After that, they mostly talk about business, but Akashi can't keep his heart from aching as they continue to talk. He really hates this. He doesn't want to be so dependent on someone else, someone who can walk away whenever they want. It doesn't matter that Furihata has symptoms of Bonding or that it seems like even more than just the Bond, that he isn't completely human anymore.

"Furihata-kun, can I ask you something?" Akashi closes his eyes.

"Yeah, go ahead."

"What do you think love is?"

"What kind?"

"The romantic kind."

There's a long silence, and had Akashi not heard Furihata sneeze, he would've thought the brunette had hung up on him.

"I don't really know. I mean, I've never fallen in love before. My mother explained it to me when I was in middle school, and she said that it's when you suddenly can't imagine a world apart from that person, when their pain is like your own, and when you value their safety and happiness over everything else in your life."

oO_Oo_oO_Oo

"He's not really your brother, you know!"

"He's like a big brother."

"But brother means born that way, stupid!"

"No, it doesn't!"

Kuroko is across the room and in front of Kira in a second. He looks down at the boy and says, "Haru-chan, 'stupid' is not a good word, especially when you're talking to other people. Apologize to Kira-chan."

"Yeah, yeah, sorry." With that, the child runs off to play with his friends.

Slightly frustrated with the boy, Kuroko sits down with Kira. "Are you alright, Kira-chan?"

The small girl nods and wipes at a tear. "I'm okay." Without warning, not that Kuroko needs a warning for it these days, Kira plops down in his lap and curls up in a little ball. Kuroko doesn't particularly mind, but it seems to be happening more and more often. The other children never play with her and spend any time around her bullying her. Of course, it's a problem, and Kuroko has told Riko that if they can't make the kids stop, they're going to need to tell the parents.

Kira glances up at him and asks, "Kuroko-nii, why do the other kids not like you?"

The question catches Kuroko a little off guard when it ends with "you" rather than "me", but he has known from the beginning that Kira is more mature than the other children at the daycare.

"I don't think that it has to do with them not liking me; it's more likely that they enjoy spending time with Kiyoshi-san and Izuki-san more because they're so much fun, that's all." Kuroko pats her head. "Normal people outcast others who are unlike themselves."

Kira pauses for a moment with a look of deep concentration on her face. "What does 'outcast' mean?"

"It means you want it to go away and you try to ignore it."

"Kuroko-nii, are we outcasts?"

He smiles sadly. "Yes, Kira-chan, we are."

"Good. I don't want to be part of that. It's dumb." Then Kira hops up. "Kuroko-nii, will you read to me?"

"Of course."

Kira has never been content with the picture books at the daycare. Instead, she brings books from home, like Harry Potter, Warriors, and Goosebumps, and asks Kuroko to read them to her. They even have a spot in the corner they read in, where there are a couple of beanbags.

As Kuroko sits on the humungous beanbag with Kira in his lap and begins to read, he wonders what it would have been like if he had been born a normal, human baby. Would his older brothers read to him? Well, maybe if they had more of an age difference.

Tuesdays are early days, so Alex comes to pick up Kira around five. Kuroko can't help but smile due to Kira's jumping and explaining of the part of the book he had read to her.

oO_Oo_oO_Oo

Aomine lays in the hospital bed as Takao injects him in the stomach. The smaller man pulls away. "You should be numb in a moment. It's nothing too bad, but it's too deep to just wrap."

The door opens for a split second. "Kise is killing my phone. Call him, or he's going to swim down to the bottom of the lake and never come up again."

Takao gives the now closed door an amused look. "Well, if Shin-chan says you can, I guess you can. Just don't move around too much while I'm stitching you up, okay?"

"Yeah," Aomine mutters as he carefully pulls his phone from his pocket. The first ring is cut off by, "AOMINECCHI! What happened?! How bad are you hurt?!"

"Kise, would you shut up for a second? Takao's stitching me up now; it's not serious. Imayoshi and I were chasing down some guys, and one of them pulled out a gun. The bullet barely scraped my abs." Aomine sighs. "Are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me. Where are you?"

"Takao, where am I?"

"Assuming you mean the room, it's 2F."

"2F," he repeats to his overreacting blonde.

"I'll be there in five."

And with that, the line goes dead. Aomine sets his phone on the bed next to him as he closes his eyes and tries to ignore that funny feeling in his abdomen. He doesn't have an issue with needles or anything like that, but he hates being numb. Not that he wants the pain, but the lack of nerves when he can feel the needle go through his skin is something he'll never get used to.

"He's very dedicated, isn't he?" Takao comments as he works.

"He's very stupid." Aomine yawns. "But yeah, I guess he is. He's annoying though when he does that."

Amber eyes glance up for a split second before they focus on their task again. "How long have you two been together?"

"I don't know. Three years, or something like that."

"Impressive."

"Yeah? And how's your mission with the clueless megane?"

Takao shrugs. "My sister approves, but I'm still working on the 'clueless' part."

"Good luck with that."

They fall into silence for a few minutes before there's a knock on the door.

"Does he have an issue with blood?" Takao asks. Aomine shakes his head. "He's watched Midorima do this a million times. Come in!"

Kise is much calmer than Takao expected from what he had heard of the phone call. All he does is pull one of the plastic chairs to the other side of the bed and sits down wordlessly, taking Aomine's hand in both of his. After a long moment, the blonde kisses the back of the tanned man's hand. "Be more careful next time, Daiki."

Aomine doesn't reply, but Takao can tell from his eyes that the last thing on his mind is the stitches.

Takao has been Midorima's assistant for a year or so. He's done simple stitching on kids, men, and women, has told families their loved one has an incurable disease and the expected time left, and has done routine checks on patients with his or her partner in the room. The whole "be more careful" and "I will" conversation is nothing new to him, but this time, it leaves a larger print on him. As for why, he doesn't know.

When he finishes, Takao says, "You're good to go. Just take it easy for a while, and if you notice any inflammation or infection, have Shin-chan check it."

"Thanks, Takao," Kise says as Aomine sits up.

The smaller male nods.

oO_Oo_oO_Oo

Considering it's only four o'clock, a little alarm goes off in Akashi's head when he hears the door open. Once he's out of bed, he walks to the stairway, where he can see Kise and Aomine as the former orders the other to go to the living room and lie down.

"What happened?" Akashi asks while Aomine streaks to the couch.

"A bullet grazed me, so now Kise's in mommy-mode."

The blonde has his head in the refrigerator and retorts, "It's not 'mommy-mode', you idiot."

And at that sentence, the red and blue elementals shut up, Akashi because he knows his brother's tells and Aomine because he doesn't want to aggravate the partner who he'll be sleeping with that night. Kise has slept in the lake more than once, and he knows Aomine hates that more than getting kicked to the couch, so the Light is out of options here. He'll never admit how worried he gets when Kise stays in the lake that long. He doesn't think fish can drown, but there's a first time for everything.

Three sodas in hand, Kise arrives in the living area. After he sets two of the cans on the coffee table and plops down on a loveseat, he pops his can open. "How's your day been, Akashicchi?"

The redhead sits down on the other loveseat and grabs the Dr. Pepper offered to him. "As good as it can get when Midorima has you on lockdown."

"And did you get any calls today?" Kise prods.

"Whatever you're insinuating, I believe the better option is to leave it alone."

Golden eyes glint. "So you did talk to Furihata."

Akashi doesn't reply, his eyes fixed on his drink.

"What did you talk about?"

"Business."

"Really?"

"Really."

"And nothing else?"

Akashi pauses. Despite how little he shows it, Kise is rather intelligent, especially about this stuff….

"He's been feeling the effects of the Bond," Akashi says. "I know we thought it might have just been on my end because he's human, but he said he hadn't been hungry and hadn't been sleeping very much."

Kise frowns. "You think something more happened to him?"

"What if it's possible for all humans to become elementals if they get the push?"

Aomine grimaces and rubs his temples. "Kise, stop thinking that hard."

"Stop getting shot," the blonde replies evenly as he takes a drink of his soda. "Okay, let's say it is possible. If he gets an element, that's one thing, but if he gets the extra, then we have a problem. He won't be able to control it."

After a moment, Aomine mutters, "If he inherited Akashi's power, things would be flying everywhere by now."

"Or the city would be up in flames," Kise says.

Akashi nods. "I'll check tomorrow. If he really is a Fire, he won't able to feel heat."

"Can't you just ask him if there's been anything different?" Aomine grumbles, tired of the conversation.

"I will, but that doesn't mean he'll tell me."

Kise pauses. "Actually, he probably will. I never noticed until about a year ago, but when Aominecchi wants something, I can't calm down until he gets it. It's subconscious, so Furihata won't know the difference."

"Wait, so that's why I want to swim all the time?" Aomine asks with an annoyed expression and sits up. With a small smirk, Kise raises an eyebrow at him. "Glad to know."

The Light curses and lies back down.

Akashi continues, "I'll ask."

But that's a lot easier said than done. Akashi knows which questions to ask, but it also makes him nervous about the outcome. Sure, it's likely Furihata isn't completely human anymore, but it's equally true that he may not take that well, and if that happens, Akashi doesn't know what he'll do.

Not that that's an issue. He doesn't know what he's going to do anyways. Bonded to a human….

"Akashicchi."

The redhead glances up at his older brother.

Kise sets his drink on the coffee table, and golden eyes meet crimson. "Stop thinking about what we are in comparison to what Furihata is, okay? You're Bonded to him now, so it doesn't matter if he's human or not; he's your mate."

"He's not my mate."

"Are you really going to deny it?"

"I'm not denying anything. He's not my mate until we submit to each other, and that hasn't happened yet. It won't happen."

"So why are you worried about him constantly? If he really is an elemental―"

"If he's an elemental, we have to keep him here so he won't do something stupid." Akashi's left eye flickers gold for a moment, and Kise knows he has Akashi in a corner. Well, no backing out now….

"Do you have any reason to hate him?"

"I don't hate him."

"If he had never been human, would you consider being with him?"

"Hypothetical questions don't change―"

"Change the facts, I know. But it also doesn't change the fact that you're Bonded to him."

Jaw clenched, Akashi stands from his seat. "I don't care if we're Bonded! That doesn't change anything! He's still a human!"

"Not every human is Nijimura!"

The three cans on the coffee table are crushed, soda gushing everywhere in volcanic-like eruptions. The "flickered" golden eye is blazing. "This has nothing to do with―"

"It has everything to do with him, and you know it!" Kise has hopped over the loveseat to get out of the way of the soda explosion, as has Aomine. At this point, the Light is there solely to break up the fight if it gets physical, because…well, Kise and Akashi are close, but they've also caused violent storms, forest fires, and Akashi set the lake on fire once…somehow. It might be their element; it might be their personalities. However, Aomine and Kuroko are close while Murasakibara and Midorima have never gotten along.

"Humans are dangerous! That's all there is to it!" Akashi growls.

"That's an overgeneralization."

"No, it's not―"

"One person breaks your heart, and then all humans are evil?"

Akashi's body shakes with anger. His left eye glows orange, blood drips from nail-dug crescents in his clenched fists, and thunder shakes the house. "Ryouta, I'm warning you."

Aomine looks at his partner, who at this point is more than frustrated and has glowing yellow eyes. "Kise―"

"Stay out of this," Kise says coldly. "Akashicchi, why don't we go outside?"

At the flick of Akashi's wrist, the door to the balcony bursts open. "After you."

Author Note: Cliffhanger! I wonder what will happen. Well, I know what happens, but you don't! Hehe! Anyways, if you hate me for this, please, Please, PLEASE REVIEW!