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Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN Kuroko no Basuke.

Chapter 7: Clashing Swords- Akashi vs. Kuroko!

Clang! Cling-clang! C-clang!

Akashi and Kuroko immediately clashed with their swords. Kuroko didn't know why, but something about this man seemed familiar to her yet at the same time annoyed her. Most likely it was his attitude…

Akashi was pleasantly surprised. Though all he showed was a smirk that was still growing and that the mightiest of storms wouldn't be able to wipe off his face. He was a tad surprised at the strength this girl was showing. She was very light and quick on her feet, almost catching him by surprise if not for his own quick reflexes. She looked a bit more mature than five years ago, though it seemed as if she didn't recognize him. He would ask around about that- the scar that was practically invisible right under her hairline, practically invisible to all but him.

Focusing back on the fight, Akashi saw a determined look in those eyes he dreams of every single night and even during the day. Ever since he first met her, he decided that one way or another he would claim her as his. Though he still didn't seem to understand that he was feeling love for her, longing and not some sick, twisted and sadistic fantasy- like having her beg him to free her crew only to end up killing them all. His mind was confusing itself- he had never felt such a strong and warm emotion. He didn't want to let it go though and whenever he thought of Kuroko, his feelings only grew.

At first it was simple happiness that he hadn't been rejected. It soon turned into admiration for her and her continuous efforts to make the orphans' lives not miserable. It then turned into adoration as he watched her save a puppy. The thing that set him off was seeing how she acted around that little brown haired kid, turning his five year old feelings into that of love. Though he didn't really like the fact that she paid so much attention to a little brat and not to him- he refused to admit he felt jealous about a five year old brat. Well, there goes his affection for the little boy…

At that instant, he saw a little patch of brown hair and a small whimper come from the crows nest. Figuring out how he could get what he wants, he immediately made a bee-line for the place where Kiyoshi and Nigou were supposed to be hiding. He didn't expect to have the wind suddenly knocked out of him though. Yeah, you really shouldn't try messing with a mothers' child.

As soon as Kuroko had caught the subtle glance that this stranger- well, she knows who he is, but she's never met him- had sent in the direction of her son and dog, fury raged within her. From out of nowhere, she felt a burst of powerful energy fill her being, allowing her the strength needed to knock out of the air the powerful Akashi Seijuro.

Immediately seeing his surprised expression turning into one of anger, Kuroko quickly grabbed Kiyoshi and Nigou and jumped to the ground. However, her line of sight was not met with the wooden deck of the ship. Nope, it was met with the clear blue of the ocean that seemed to only turn darker under what appeared to be her shadow.

SPLASH!

"Captain!" the entire crew shouted.

The wind had picked up just then- the good wind they were hoping would take them to the island took their captain, her son and her dog into the wide open ocean. Their faces all screamed fear.

Akashi did not fail to notice this, wondering what Kurokos' crew knew that he didn't. He soon found out.

Kuroko came up spluttering, trying to keep herself afloat with her arms tightly grasping her dog and son. Not to mention the wind was starting to make the ocean a little rough, making it harder for her to keep all their heads above the water. Her legs were going to give out sooner or later. She couldn't even manage to simply float, something she was not proud of. Hearing Kiyoshi coughing, undoubtedly getting water in his mouth and swallowing it, Kuroko forced all of her strength into her arms.

With a loud battle cry of "Raaaaah!", Kuroko tossed Kiyoshi, who was now clutching Nigou upon his mothers' command, up towards her ship, relieved when she saw Kagami grab him and the dog.

Relieved that they were out of harm's way, she failed to notice that her throwing force had thrown her back a few more meters from her ship. She also failed to feel the slight brush of an aquatic animals' fin against her leg. Before she knew it, she was looking up at her ship from under the water. Thrashing her arms wildly, trying to get back above the surface, she was only dragged down farther.

That's when she felt it. Such a searing pain that made her scream, though it only resulted in a garbled cry and more water in her lungs instead of air. Her body- more so her left shoulder and arm- was being bitten. She could actually feel the teeth sinking in even deeper, threatening to tear off her entire left arm. With a last attempt to free herself, Kuroko reached for the dagger she kept in her left pocket. Gripping it with her right hand, she slashed at whatever had bit into her.

It worked. The harsh grip on her shoulder and arm was let go and Kuroko wasted no time in trying to get back to the surface by pushing off of whatever was behind her. Feeling herself go dizzy, she managed one last push off, effectively surfacing, gulping in as much air as she could without choking. Uh-oh. She was now even farther than before! It seemed as though she was an entire mile away from the now battling ships. Only able to feel tiredness and pain taking over her, she slipped into a state of unconsciousness, not even noticing the pair of arms wrapping around her securely.

As Akashi watched with widened eyes, Kuroko, the brown haired brat and the puppy plunged into the open sea. He wasn't expecting such a strong gust of wind to blow just then and, judging by the expression on Kurokos' face, neither was she. She must've been focused on not letting her son and dog get hurt at all to even notice the wind changing.

As soon as they hit the water, he heard a loud 'SPLASH!'

When he saw her crews' fear-stricken faces, he wondered what there was to worry about, but he soon got his answer when Kuroko resurfaced after about a minute, spluttering and looking distressed.

"She can't swim? Wait, what's that shadow lurking behind her?" Akashi was thinking, face full of concern.

A shark. A hungry shark, apparently.

All of a sudden Akashi was pulled from his thoughts as he heard a battle cry and saw as Kuroko was pushed farther away from the ship and her son and dog were flying, together, through the air, getting caught by that redheaded tanned teen. When he looked back, Kuroko was nowhere to be seen.

Akashi wasn't even thinking as he felt himself jumping into the cool waters of the ocean. As he neared- quickly neared- the struggling form of Kuroko Tetsuki, he saw her arms thrashing around before he dove back under the water and actually heard a gargled scream. Thanks to the midday sun that was pouring into the surface of the water and a good couple feet under it, Akashi felt himself pale.

The shark, as he had assumed, was biting into Kurokos' left arm and shoulder. He could see the red surrounding them. All of a sudden, Kuroko pulled out a small yet very sharp-looking dagger from her left pocket with her right hand and slashed at the shark behind her. He felt relief coming to him as he saw the shark temporarily back off. Once again, Kuroko surprised him by kicking off of the shark with what he assumed to be the last of her strength.

Resurfacing as well, he saw Kuroko was quickly losing consciousness. In two quick strokes he was by her side, wrapping his arms securely around her small waist. Knowing that the shark would probably attack them both, Akashi whistled as loudly and shrilly as possible. Immediately he saw a rowboat heading their way. Swimming with only one arm, his other still around the now completely unconscious girls' waist, refusing to let go, he met the rowboat halfway, putting his hand up and feeling it get taken in a strong grasp.

Aomine heaved him up and over, with Kuroko, into the rowboat, starting to head towards the island, the two ships following behind them, having caught the good wind and worried for their captains.

In a short half-hour, both the ships and the rowboat were securely anchored or tied at the port of the island. They had reached their destination, though not without casualties, all of which were on the Seirins' crews' pirate.

"Guys, back off and give us some space!" Akashi barked at his crew and Kurokos' crew.

They were in a doctors' office, in the middle of town. Needless to say, when Kurokos' crew, as well as her son and dog, had caught sight of her bloodied shoulder and arm they all just about passed out. The only thing keeping them awake was their fear for their captains', owners', mothers', life.

Kiyoshi was crying uncontrollably, refusing to stop till his mother opened her eyes. Nigou whined, pawing at the bed cover that was on top of his owner. Everyone else, needing to be brave for the little one in their crew, refused to cry.

The doctor, not wanting his knocked out patient to jerk awake, used anesthetic on Kuroko in order to check how bad the damage was, stitch her up and put bandages over the stitches.

The doctor feared the worst and told those present the worst-case-scenario would be that once Kuroko woke up, she'd most likely be unable to use her left arm ever again. He'd wait till she woke up to see if she wanted it amputated or not. Akashi though wouldn't have it. As soon as the doctor finished telling them the news, Akashi spoke up, startling the room, even his own crew, at the commanding and loving tone it held.

"No. She shall not have it amputated. We travel the seas- we will most likely come across a treatment that will be able to help her," he stated decidedly.

After about an hour long discussion between Akashi and the doctor, Akashi left with Kuroko in his arms, safely and securely tucked into a warm blanket. Everybody followed behind him, except for Nigou who immediately ran to walk beside him and Kiyoshi who walked next to Nigou, staring up at the limp figure of his mother anxiously with red, teary eyes.

They reached an inn, got rooms for them all- the trio and Kagami shared a room; Momoi and Riko shared a room; Hyuuga, Izuki, Koganei and Mitobe shared a room; Kise, Midorima, Murasakibara and Aomine shared a room; Akashi and Kuroko, along with Kiyoshi and Nigou, shared a room. Gently, Akashi placed the still sleeping Kuroko on the one bed, Kiyoshi immediately asking to be picked up and getting his wish granted, while Nigou successfully jumped up and snuggled near his owners' head with Kiyoshi settling for sleeping around his mothers' middle.

Akashi took off the boys' boots as well as Kurokos', pulling the blanket back a bit in order to do so, carefully tucking it back in place after. He decided to be nice and put the inns' blanket around Kiyoshi as well. Hearing their even breathing, he headed for the shower, cleaning himself off of the salty water and somewhat bloody water as well.

…ZzZzZzZzZ…

That morning, Kuroko woke up to an unfamiliar feeling and loss of feeling. Huh? What is that supposed to be?

Turning a little on her right side, she stopped when she spotted an endearing and familiar head of brown. Feeling something next to her head, she smelled the familiar scent of Nigou. Seeing where she was, she waited a bit as memories came flooding back to her.

Ah, that's right. She had been bitten- that explains the loss of feeling. But how did she get into what she assumed to be an inn?

She soon got her answer. Akashi had also woken up- being a light sleeper he had heard the rustling of sheets. Looking over at where he had carefully placed Kuroko down, the bed next to his, he let out a quiet sigh of relief. She was awake. Seeing the color somewhat draining from her face, he guessed she had remembered the shark.

Then she looked to her right- straight at the now sitting up form of Akashi. Her eyes widened almost comically, if not for the slight wince that followed after it. Hearing her groan a bit due to the returning pain, Akashi got up and quickly left the room.

Thirty minutes later he brought in a tray filled with a few plates of breakfast food. Actually gently shaking Kiyoshi up, the five year old gazed at him with drowsy eyes before his nose picked up the smell of food. Following Akashi off the bed where his mother was, Kiyoshi obediently sat down at a little table, digging into the yummy food of the inn.

"Though it's not as yummy as Uncle Mitobes' cooking," Kiyoshi thought.

Walking back over to Kuroko, he, once again gently, pulled Kuroko up into a sitting, well, leaning-against-him position. Grunting a little at the pain, Akashi paused before he continued getting Kuroko into a more upright position.

"Here, you need to eat this before you can take this medicine. The medicine will numb the pain, but you'll still have to rest," Akashi ordered in a soft voice to the clearly pained girl.

Blinking away the sleep in her eyes, Kuroko said a quiet 'Thank you' before Akashi spoon fed her her breakfast. It was simple and light, perfect for Kuroko who was feeling a little queasy from the strong anesthetic that the doctor had given to her the day before. After she had eaten all that was on her plate and had taken the pill, she was given water which she greedily drank, not leaving a drop.

Sighing in contentment at the now full feeling in her stomach and slowly receding pain, Kuroko snuggled up into the warmth that Akashis' body was giving off.

Blushing- and I mean blushing as red as his hair-, Akashi took his boots off again and pulled the blanket out from under Kuroko. Kiyoshi, having finished his breakfast, walked back over to the bed that his mother was in. Akashi, seeing the longing look in the brunettes' eyes, picked him up and put him in-between himself and his Kuroko before he pulled the beds' blanket over all of them, his arm serving as a pillow for Kurokos' head and Kurokos' right hand clutching his nightshirt.

Contented with the warmth and safety she was feeling, not to mention the drowsiness that was now claiming her mind- a small side effect of the medicine-, Kuroko fell asleep.

Kiyoshi soon followed his mother to LaLa Land, with Akashi admiring Kurokos' beauty before he too fell asleep. Off in the background somewhere, Akashi was sure he heard the birds beginning to greet the new day, while he, Kiyoshi and Kuroko slept the day away, too warm and safe for any noise to disturb them, their crews also slept.

….

Gah! This was my longest chapter ever! I mean my longest chapter out of the 2 stories I'm currently writing! Well, I have something in mind for Kuroko, so don't worry about her TOO much. I was killing myself with suspense over this chapter…Please review!