I know it isn't like me, buuuut-! Here's a new chapter! cx Hopefully it'll make up for the times I've been extremely slow- At least a little.. xD

Anyway! Hope you enjoy! cx

Kuroko woke up to a loud sound, sending a violent jerk throughout his aching body. What the sound was he didn't know. He figured the walls probably muffled it enough for it to be hard to recognize, then there was the constant ringing going on in his head to consider. He decided it would be for the best to ignore it, despite his heart beating like crazy.

He just hoped he'd be able to go back to sleep, or at least get the chance to rest a bit more. This was probably the first time in days, or maybe weeks, that he'd actually managed to fall asleep. Even as tired and utterly exhausted he was. It seemed, one could only wake up to being choked that many times before fearing sleep itself.

He tried closing his burning eyes once more, loud thumping noises immediately ruining his 'peace and quiet'. He laid still. Simply listening for a while. Footsteps. That had to be it. Multiple people seemed to be running around, but why?

A chill of dread ran down his spine as the horrifying realization came to him. The sound which woke him up, it had to be a scream. Did Kise hurt someone? Did he kill someone else?

No- That couldn't be it, Kise wouldn't possibly take such a risk. There were too many people in the building, if he was right about the noise.

All the thumping came to a sudden stop; silence greedily took its place once more.

Kuroko laid completely still, waiting for an indication for.. Well, anything really. Who was there? What were they doing there? What about their situation? And most importantly, were anyone hurt?

Kuroko's body suddenly felt heavy. Well, heavier. He felt incredibly uneasy, his chest felt tight. He wanted to move. Get out there and see.

The silence didn't seem to come to an end anytime soon. Had it all been his imagination? It wouldn't really surprise him if it turned out it was him going mad. Maybe he already had succumbed to madness, sometimes it certainly could seem that way.

It was then the shouting began. He had no chance of making out any of the words that was uttered, but there was anger evident in the voices. An argument? Listening for a while in complete silence, he noticed that Kise's voice wasn't among them. If he was there, he'd surely have joined them by now.

Was this it? His chance to get out? Kuroko felt uneasy as thoughts started swarming around his mind. Was it really for the best? What if Kise actually was there? If not, what if he came after, whoever was there, had noticed him. They'd meet their end, and he- Well, god knows what he'd go through. However, he knew better than to let someone walk around aimlessly out there, if they stayed too long, for whatever reason, they'd be slain.

So that's what he'd do. He had to get their attention. If not to get out, he could at least warn them, and maybe make them leave in time.

Kuroko took a deep breath through his nose. Then as loudly as he could with his sore throat, he tried shouting through the gag in his mouth. However, as one could expect, that did not prove to be effective. Panic started growing through his body as he realized that the shouting had stopped. After all, this could mean that his chance was already over, even though it barely came to light.

Kuroko forced his stinging eyes open once more, to look for something useful. Immediately his line of sight landed upon a bottle upon the nightstand. With sharp pain pulsing through the very fibre of his being; he reached out his trembling, free hand. It took some effort, stretching out his body, pulling at his chained wrist to get anywhere near, and in the end grabbing the bottle.

He kept in mind to keep a firm grasp on it, as not to drop it as he brought it closer. It didn't take much thought to make up his mind as to how he'd use it. With the little strength he could muster he hit the bottle against the metal headboard of the bed, making an agonising, clashing sound. He ignored the ever growing pain in his head as he hit the head board harder and harder, hoping- Just hoping, that for whatever it was worth, it'd be heard.

~ -* (~ÔAÔ)~ * - ~

A bloodcurdling scream could be heard throughout the dim, messy house, pulling both Aomine and Kagami back to their senses.

"Satsuki-!" Aomine gasped out as he pushed Kagami out of the way, and made his way out of the room.

Kagami followed close behind as Aomine made his way to the stairs. Once there he jumped over most of the many steps, making him almost fall at the impact of landing. Being who he was, agile and tough, he merely put a hand on the rail of the stairs for just enough time to gain his balance before leaping further down. Once downstairs he once again used the rail, this time to slow himself down enough to make a turn. There was no way Kagami would be able to keep up hadn't Aomine come to a stop, he wondered why for a second before realizing. They had no frikin' idea where the scream came from.

They exchanged a quick glance, without words they both understood what they were going to do. And so, a quick nod was all it took for them to split up, they jogged in different directions, looking for anything that could give away the much needed location.

It didn't take long for Kagami's eyes to land upon something, rather someone, around a corner. It was Hyuuga, about to enter through a doorway.

"What happened?" Kagami breathed out, his lungs felt like they had curled up in his confused state.

Hyuuga shook his head, "I got no idea" he said sharply, motioning for Kagami to follow him.

Kagami, of course, didn't hesitate to follow his team mate. As soon as he got to the door he saw a staircase going downwards. He came to a sudden stop at the first couple of steps, as a foul stench reached him. He pulled the collar of his sweater over his nose as he tried to weaken the stench, just enough to stop his supper from escaping his stomach. Once he regained control of his breathing he shouted for Aomine, before making his way down stairs. The first thing he saw was Riko, holding a hand over her mouth, her face twisted in horror. Hyuuga was by her side, holding a supportive hand on her shoulder, his face, no better.

Kagami's eyes then noticed something green in the corner of his eyes. Instinctually looking over he saw Midorima holding a hand over Momoi's eyes, as she clutched his shirt. That's when he saw it, mere meters away from them was- Whatever the hell that was. Rotten- Rotting corpses, kind of looking more like weirdly-coloured jelly with bones. It was at that point Kagami could no longer keep his supper in, he let go of his collar, immediately giving in to hurling.

It didn't take long for the thunder of Aomine's heavy steps made its way closer, until it came to a sudden stop in the middle of the stairs "The hell.." He breathed out, his words muffled ever so slightly by the hand covering his mouth, and nose.

"Pl-please say th-that's not Te.. Tet- Tetsu-kuh-" Momoi sobbed out, her whole body trembling. She looked about ready to fall, luckily Midorima put an arm around her waist, supporting her weight.

At her words Kagami could feel his blood run cold, there was no way Kuroko could be among- That. Just thinking about it made his mouth go dry, his eyes tearing up, ever so slightly. It made him want to hurl once more, hadn't it been for the fact that he had already emptied his stomach. If Kuroko was.. gone. If he was, then-

Kagami really didn't want to think about that.

"It's not," Midorima's stoic voice pulled Kagami out of his thoughts. "these are far too misshapen to be him." He continued, his voice cracked ever so slightly. He had stepped closer to the corpses, leaving Momoi to Aomine, who held her close to his chest without a single trace of hesitation. Midorima looked at them intently, as if he was examining them. "These must have been dead for multiple weeks already.."

Several sighs of relief could be heard in the small group. However, the air around them seemed tenser than ever. It was as they all had just realized the severity of the situation. And the realization hit them all, that Kuroko might just be another corpse somewhere, waiting to be found. Justified.

Kagami slapped himself internally for letting his thoughts become so awfully gloomy. There was no way Kuroko was gone. He couldn't be. Kagami wiped his mouth with his sleeve, as he looked around the room, in an attempt to distract himself. He looked anywhere, but the corner where- Well, that was.

The cellar, seemed to be a place no one really thought of possibly existing in this house. It was plenty spacy enough as it was, and from the looks of it, the occupants thought so as well. It seemed smaller in diameter compared to the rest of the house, yet there was more than enough space. It was mostly empty except for a couple of boxes, some old furniture and this one axe in the middle of the stairs. The most eye catching object in the room had to be this huge, old-looking shelf. No, cabinet was probably the correct word. It was beautifully carved. The fact that even someone like Kagami could see the skill and hard work put into that had to count for something. Not that he was calling himself stupid or oblivious; he just never had any interest for furniture.

"W-well-" Kagami stuttered out, after what felt like hours of mortifying silence. "Standing around here won't get us anywhere. Nor will it do anything good for.. Them." He tried his best to keep his voice from trembling, though to no avail. Everyone's attention immediately turned to him, fortunately no one commented on it, nor on his shaking hands.

Kagami looked over at Hyuuga, who glanced over at Riko's pale face before he spoke up. "No," He said as he gave Riko's hand, which had at some point ended up in his, a light squeeze. "isn't it about time we- I don't know, get the police involved. Properly." He continued hurriedly, yet sternly. He, like everyone else was incredibly put out by the circumstances. "This situation is obviously a lot bigger tha-"

"Absolutely not." Midorima snapped, cutting Hyuuga off harshly. "Akashi wouldn't send us here for no reason. If he said we'd find Kuroko here, then that is what we'll do." He eyed Hyuuga. Giving him an ice cold glare, as he continued. "If we abandon our posts then we might end up ruining everything."

Once again a heavy silence descended upon the group. Sharp looks where exchanged between every individual. Kagami instinctively stepped closer to his teammates, unsure of just who to really agree with.

After all, Hyuuga did have a point; this was far more than they had bargained for. When they first came here, no one had any idea of finding corpses. How could they? This was supposed to be simpler- Well, obviously it wasn't, but judging by the other's reactions, they had just as small expectations as he had. Looking at the situation now just made any good outcome seem impossible, way worse than impossible. Kagami felt his stomach churn painfully, not only because of the horribly nauseating smell, but because of his goddamn mind drifting off to dark places. Very dark places. For all they knew Kuroko was rotting somewhere in the outskirts of Tokyo. Well, no- Kagami wouldn't accept that, but he knew there obviously wasn't any easy way out of this.

That being taken into consideration, Midorima made a perfectly good point too. Akashi wasn't one for doing some half assed job with- Well, anything. If Kagami understood that guy right, he had probably made some kind of detailed plans of the events. Well, Kagami honestly doubted that he could ever learn to understand that freaky guy, but that seemed to be the impression everyone had of him. Anyway, he trusted them to do this. Even if it was only because he found himself unable to do it on his own, which seemed likely, with everything happening as suddenly and all. Even so, he trusted that they wouldn't let him down.

That was when something suddenly clicked. Kagami realized that none of that really mattered. The reason he was here, and the only thing that really mattered here was Kuroko. He was not, ever, going to let him down. And surely, he would get his shadow back by his side, where he belonged.

As time went by the tension in the group grew, the air felt heavier as each second passed by. In the end it was, of course, Aomine who broke the silence.

"What the hell do you mean by that?!" He yelled, taking heavy steps towards Hyuuga. "Do you want to leave Tetsu to this psycho?! You wanna abandon him!" He continued; to everyone's surprize he grabbed Hyuuga's collar harshly.

Kagami thought of stepping in, honestly, he really wanted to. However, the stern glare Hyuuga aimed at Aomine made it clear that it was better to keep a distance for now. Hyuuga obviously had something to say too, and Kagami was not going to ruin that. Especially not when Hyuuga looked that enraged.

"I did not say that, you brainless idiot" Hyuuga said, surprisingly calmly. "I'm simply saying that this is a job for the police." He continued, sharply.

"What the hell have the police managed to do 'till now, huh?!" Aomine said, shaking Hyuuga by his collar, making Hyuuga grab his wrists, as if to calm the motion. "They haven't done shit! Just declared him missing. Asked people to fucking LOOK for him! As if that'd help anything at all!" He practically snarled at the dark haired male in front of him. For a second there, it had almost seemed like he'd jump at his throat.

"Aomine!" Kagami finally stepped in, gripping Aomine's arm roughly. He didn't care to wait for Hyuuga's retort, neither did anyone else. They all knew how he was thinking, it was probably the most reasonable after all.

"You too?!" Aomine snapped back, pulling his arms back. "What kind of LIGHT are you to him, if you're just going to fucking ABANDON him?!" Aomine's ice cold glare was now directed at Kagami, who could feel his own rage boil over. He dared question his loyalty- No, their friendship. He who practically destroyed the guy in the past!

"YOU-!" Kagami snarled only to be cut off by a sharp, yet clear voice.

"SHUT UP!" Kagami looked over to the owner of the voice. Riko, of course. She was standing tall, even as everyone's attention turned to her. "Do you guys think arguing will get us anywhere?! Do you think it'll somehow magically help Kuroko-kun?" She questioned, sending a sharp pang of quilt through Kagami, possibly Hyuuga and Aomine too. "So let's continue, don't let our efforts be in vain." She said sternly, yet her voice shook ever so slightly.

With a few small nods, the group started moving out of the cellar. Kagami decided to stay behind, brushing some imaginary dust of his clothes. The rest of the group had barely reached the stairs when a sharp clang rang through the room. Then another one, and another one after that. The sharp sound continued rhythmically, slowly it grew louder and louder.

At first everyone looked towards the door leading to the corridor on the second floor. Then one after the other, their gazes moved onto the lone cabinet by the wall on the other side of the room. Some glanced among them told him that everyone thought the same. Kuroko was there. He had to be.

Immediately everyone ran to the big wooden object. Kagami, who started off closer to it than the others, got there first and started pushing the cabinet. It was heavier than it looked, but as soon as he managed to budge it, the rest went smoothly. Especially when Aomine started helping out.

Managing to get it out of the way, that came into view. A metal door. A rush of hope and, what could only be explained as happiness rushed through Kagami's body, warming up his heart. This meant that Kuroko was okay after all, right?

Momoi seemed to get the same feeling, although her face was still pale, she had obviously gotten a surge of newly found energy running through her body. As soon as she got the chance she took a tight hold of the doorknob. She twisted her wrist in a hurry to pull up the door, however it didn't even as much as budge.

Of course it'd be locked. There's no way it's be that easy.

In one swift motion, everyone looked over at Midorima, who gave a deep sigh before crouching by the door.

Kagami noticed Aomine opening his mouth, just about to say something when Momoi smacked her hand against his face. "Please don't, Dai-chan" She said, smiling softly. She got a small 'whatever' from Aomine, who lazily leaned at the cabinet, trying to keep his cool.

She then glanced over at Kagami, their eyes meeting. "Are you doing alright?" He asked, pretty much forcing his voice out. He needed to distract himself as they waited.

"Yes" She said weakly, giving him a thankful look. "This is nothing if it means we'll get Tetsu-kun back." Sha added, her smile seemingly warmer than before.

Kagami nodded, as he returned a small smile. He couldn't help, but to feel like she really cared for Kuroko, even more than she normally seemed to do. A numbing sadness spread out through him as he pictured her by his side. It seemed like it was 'mean to be', yet it bothered him. Why, he didn't really understand. Maybe it was because he just couldn't imagine Kuroko standing by anyone's side, with that kind of meaning.

Minutes went by, and every one grew more and more impatient. Midorima, even more so than the rest of them. The door seemed to be giving him a pretty hard time.

The fact that the clanging sound started fading. Each time they heard it, it had grown weaker than the last. The amount of time passing between each clang also grew considerably. And that certainly didn't only stress Kagami out.

Then, a sudden, shaky sigh left Midorima's lips. One of relief. Everyone's attention immediately turned to the door, as he took a hold of the handle. Their surroundings seemed to freeze for the slightest second before he turned it, and slowly pulled it open.

The very second it opened the clanging grew a tiny bit louder. Kagami immediately took the few steps ahead, to grab the door a fling it open to dash in before anyone else.

At once a metallic hit against him. The room was dark. More like dim, it was just light enough to make out what was in there. Kagami didn't look around much before he saw the slim hand, swinging a bottle against the headboard of a bed. As the bottle hit the headboard, the hand fell limp, sending the bottle to the ground.

However, Kagami couldn't care less about the damn bottle. He hesitated for a brief moment before making his way over to the bed. He wanted to take a hold of the hand, but he came to a sudden stop.

The sight he met was more than enough to make his heart drop, his blood run cold. Hearing a series of gasps from the group, he knew he wasn't the only one feeling that way.

He was laying on his side, leaning on his right arm which was chained tightly against the headboard of the bed. His face, and the little Kagami could see of his chest and arms were bruised and bloody. Kuroko wasn't dead, but it sure as hell looked like he'd prefer to be.

"What the hell's happened to you.." Kagami muttered to himself, though he feared he already knew.

So there it was! Please leave a review and let me know what ya think, I look forward to it~! Cx

..I must admit that I was planning on making it a bit longer, tho I got a writersblock and started thinking too much so everything I wrote started getting overly complicated xD
So, hopefully you're alright with this, I hope it was worth the read! Cx
Oh, and if this goes as planned there'll be about three or four more chapters, in the next one I'll (hopefully) let ya know what's happening on Kise's end xP

Thanks for reading! x3