I'm back. Anyway, you all may thank summer for this chapter as well as the chapters to follow, now um… so as I promised you guys are about to see something…interesting, which I'll discuss more at the end of the chapter, for those who would like further explanation immediately, and I'm welcome to anyone who wishes to message me for an open discussion about what's happened and will happen in the story. Now this chapter will introduce an OC of mine, who will be the main villain of this fic, which I know you are all like whaaaaa- I thought we already met them…well…no.
I would like to thank all the people who reviewed and ask that you continue to do so, your encouragement and little notes push me to continue.
Anyway I just wanted to clarify this- Midorima's mother, is not his real mother, btw, as in the first chapter, I mentioned she left, the woman I am introducing as his mother is his step mother, who is kind of a bitch, but plays a major role in Dr. Midorima's development as a character before this story takes place, and during the story. She's going to be a major player off screen and on screen. So keep an eye out for her.
Now without further ranting here's the next chapter.
There is uncertainty behind every locked door,
every defiant choice, a consequence
A definitive logic whispers just out of grasp
His voice was so small when compared to the overwhelming rush, soaring through the air, the all-consuming adrenaline, from busy nurses and preoccupied doctors. There was something so godlike about the towering force looming over his weak presence that made him feel on the verge of submission. Orange, cat like eyes held him flat to the cold concrete floor, challenging him in every way, which was not unlike the kind of all shattering supremacy he'd met on the courts of Teikou Middle school. In this moment he was a frightened animal, cornered in the aftermath of a violent war, some genocide of epic proportions. He is a creature that should not exist but has somehow escaped the clutches of death.
The eyes were not those of a predator. They did not imply danger, nor did they inspire fear, but still, they were unsettling to say the least, oppressive with the confidence they displayed. The sparkling irises, all sunset flaming orange, all sprinkling happiness and lava lamp hues, were trained upon him as if he were the missing number of an equation, as if he was of some dire importance. They looked upon him with this innocent amusement, some adolescent curiosity.
"Suya," an arm was thrown around his small, burning frame, like a safety blanket on a cold night, pulling him into an embrace he never thought, had long ago given up on, feeling again, "It's so good to see you kid, how've you been." It felt as if someone had frozen his heart. While snakes churned in his stomach, cool and slimy, twisting and turning. He felt happy and sad all at once, excited and terrified at the exact same time, but more importantly the explicit confusion that seemed to warp his mind had overwhelmed all other emotions, contorting his soft features into a scrunch of wrinkles and doubt.
He could feel Teppei curiously scrutinizing the situation over his shoulder; human nature getting the best of his tall colleague. Yet despite any attempt to smooth the jagged atmosphere, the brunette suddenly had become, not the opposing force that he needed to banished from site, but an intruder on the sacred grounds of reunion, a bystander lurching in on a conversation that needed to be dispersed. Now Teppei was a secretary where he is not wanted, taking mental notes in hope to secure some explanation for the events unfolding like paper origami before his bright brown eyes.
The story is the same here, as it is in all stories. Kuroko would like to very much believe that he is not to be shoved so whimsically into the harshness of the reality unraveling before him in such a brutal manner, but as is the nature of the world it seems his wish is not to be granted.
He grasps the thin material of his Uncle's old wool coat as if it were the last raft in the middle of the ocean. He is drowning once more, not from his own blood this time, but the white hot flash of emotion that rages like the lost sea in his mind, striking his heart with the force of lightening. The thundering fury of wicked grief that burns holes in his fragile brain should be enough to send any average teen off the cliff of society's strained existence, enough to plummet him into the spiraling cavern of ambiguous depression, but somehow his head struggles above raging tides, somehow sanity refuses to uncurl its tentacles from his brain, refuses to let go of his bleeding riveting conscience. The embrace of a ghost seems more satisfying than one of flesh and bone.
"Isamu-otooji," his eyes flashing like daggers in the snow colored lights, their unnatural hues humming with passion, strong enough to shift the well-built thirty six year old from his sturdy stance, to pushed a mountain just an inch back, "I was unaware of your return from America." The arms tighten around him, and his heart is beating fast. The tears that threaten to spill sting, and he's trapped. He's trapped.
"Yeah we just got back, this morning, I came to pick Teppei up, and then we were going to head back to your place to surprise you guys," The smile had not faded, the one that had always made his mother glow with pride and unfiltered joy, the smile of love for her brother, "But seriously kid what are you doing here? What happened to you," concern was now the unwelcomed stranger.
"You know Kiyoshi-kun," a meager deflect should douse the fire momentarily.
"Oh Teppei, of course, he's my son, well step-son, but I think of him more as a son, I'll tell you all about that later, right now I want to know what happened to you," with a reeling mind, he attempted to find a way to make all this go away, tried to will away the bad and replace it with something better, something good.
"Wait, otooji?" The iron heart of Siren stepped closer to the pair, no longer a bystander, but an individual, another variable to consider, "Your Kuroko's uncle, he's the last party of your nephews?" It was the simple nod from Isamu that sparked the uncrowned king to erupt into a fit a happiness, "that means we're related, this is so cool, I can't believe you didn't mention your family! I can't wait to meet the rest of your family!"
"Pardon me," Kuroko interrupted suddenly, "but what do you mean, we're related?" He tilted his head slightly as his uncle shook his head lightly proclaiming that all will be explained once they were safely at home.
He was still shaken, as if a tsunami had just invaded his life.
"Yo, what the hell Suya," he was unable to turn his head fast enough, as an arm trapped him in a death strangling hug, like choke, "geez you never do grow do you?"
The world tipped over on its side, a strangled turtle, curled in on itself for protection. They were here, they were all here.
He restrains from hurling just barely. His uncle curls around him protective, his little sister, who was just a new born last he saw, but who has never failed in writing or skyping with him is here in person and he is both over joyed and terrified at the same time. He wants more than anything to let the mask fall, to show weakness, emotion. He desires for many things, but he is allowed such, pleasantries. He is a man pious, a devout man, who must stand his ground. He must remain loyal to his place in this world. Too many moments of weakness have surfaced over the past few days, but no more. In this moment, Kuroko Tetsuya picks his resolve back up and slides back into familiar attitude, preparing himself for the battle ahead of him.
He hugs his little sister, Tetsumi, ceremonially as her American customs clash with his own, but he brushes the suddenness of the action aside, relishing instead in the simple contact that it allows. His baby blue and white tipped hair is as soft as their mother's was. She looks like mom, he thinks briefly as she smiles adoringly up at him. "Suya-chan, look" she smiles, "I'm here in person." Her Japanese is rusty from malpractice and adolescence. She is sweeter in person than over the internet and phone, a feat he thought, impossible. Still he tries not to smile, but his lips twitch at the corners. No weakness.
"Humph," His brother, Tetsuna, all might, and force is brooding as always away from the family. His bright sapphire eyes and mirror image face a picture book of unhidden emotions. His twin is back and more ferocious in teen angst than ever before. The black corners of his hair stand out more than they did as a child, something that is slightly strange to Tetsuya.
Finally he sees another figure emerge, all bright face, and too much like a blonde he knows, come Tetsou, the last member of the Kuroko Clan. He is suave, and cool, and handsome. His cool blue eyes, and what black with blue drip hair is one that is calming to Tetsuya, a tug on the Watergates he's kept blockaded for far too long. But he's in better practice than life, he keeps the gates of emotion closed, a brief smile playing on his lips in proactive, rather than significance.
This was the beginning of something new, something he wasn't sure he could handle.
When he was ten years old, his mother got sick after the birth of his sister. At first they thought she'd get better real fast, but six months into treatment, her condition hit the fan. Her once vigor life-like complexion had dulled into a ghost of what it once was. She no longer danced around the house, or helped him with his homework, but she did still sing and laugh and smile, and everything she shouldn't be doing. She was optimistic despite the doctor's warning, despite the world crashing like a storm around her, she smiled, and in turn made others smile. He guessed it was just who she was. He loved her for that.
His father didn't want his newly born sister, Tetsumi, around the chaos that came when taking care of a sick wife- he couldn't handle taking care of her and his other three sons, so he sent them all away. His father, all broken hearted and lost, sent the people he truly needed to take care of him away. Tetsuya, though, had stayed, despite his father's wishes. Tetsuya had sought to not only help his father and mother through this difficult phase in their lives, but also to keep a promise to his friend.
It seems he couldn't accomplish even the smallest of dreams, because here he was. Five years later, here he was with a father who was still broken hearted, and a promise so shattered and fragmented that it cut his eyes to look back upon it. Here he was strapped to the bone in gauze, looking like he was ready for Halloween. He walked truly as the living dead through these halls. He's been a member of the living dead since he was too small to see over the kitchen counter, since the first time his father had struck him too violently to be persuaded into believing it was anything more than what he deserved. He deserved this. He failed and this was his punishment. He failed and now all he can do is move forward and attempt to correct his misdoings, to mend the ashes left in his wake.
When he wakes once more, he is alone. He is sitting in a chair he has never seen before, in a room he doesn't have any recollection of entering on his own two feet. This unknowing, is one that is all too familiar, it is a dance he is far too uncomfortable with, but plays along with out of years of practice.
His arms are alit in fire. His feet are burned with pain. His eyes are blind in the bright light that flickers overhead without warning. "Tetsuya, it's about time you came to." His ears bleed fear at the voice he knows all too well, at the footsteps that inch closer and closer to his quivering frame. "He really did a number on you this time, didn't he?" There is a small unnerving sigh, that wafts like a warm blanket onto his delicate features, "Yes, well it's time, you get more comfortable with the family business, don't you think," no, no he does not think that at all, his stomach drops ten feet into the solid ground beneath his bare feet.
"Eleven, twenty-two, thirty-three, forty-four, fifty-five, sixty-six, seventy-seven, eighty-eight," he counts to the song of eleven, Tetsuya isn't quite sure why, his father's boss would choose to taunt him with his jersey number, but it's because of him, Tetsuya has come to hate this number, and find strength in it.
"Around and around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel," the tall, oppressive man sang in a deep, light tune, as he circled the small, seemingly malnourished boy, "Now, before we go into the technicalities of business," he leaned forward nose millimeters from Tetsuya's own soft slender nose.
"I need information. And if you know what's best for you, you'll give it to me," there was no room for argument in the devil's voice. The beast that stood before Tetsuya was not one to negotiate with was not one for mercy. "The cops who're assigned your case, what do you know about them? What have you told them?"
The eyes that met his, all black with no light, consumed him whole.
No one, not even a small shadow like him, could escape the beast's all-knowing gaze.
Midorima was at a loss for words when it came to his family. His parents were accurate people, one who never strayed from the written path. His parents who knew what was best for him, who raised him with a confident all-knowing revere, worked hard for him. His parents who only believed in science, who thought fate was a rouse, to push the ignorant forward in life. His parents- who chopped up his skin and split him into four- sat cautiously on his bed, as if he was a rabies infested beast, ready to chomp into their flesh.
His father took a calm, but fierce step towards him, a soft smile playing at the corners of his mouth. Shintarou eyed the man warily, his eyes framed by soft bags. He was calm, uneasily calm, in a way he knew he shouldn't be. He felt for once that no danger would come his way.
"Shintarou," his father smiled, a hand resting on his shoulder like lead, "I've just gotten a great deal."
His stomach does this strange flip flop effect that settles too uncomfortably around him. It makes his skin peel from his muscles quivering slightly under his gaze, but pure will and restraint after years in his home have taught him better. He is disciplined in the art of quiet, the art of mascaraed. He keeps his face a calm collected blanket of fresh snow. He keeps his face as clean as newly cut paper. He is not going to break, not now, not ever. He quirks an eye brow slightly so as to appear curious instead of mortified. "I assume it one that shall benefit us all," he speaks cautiously. He knows it his place. He knows his limits, and he knows the politics of how to deal with the situation. "If you," he emphasizes in order to appeal to the man's ego, "believe it is great, then I am sure, it is of major importance and hold good tidings for us all." He hates the words flying off his tongue in quick fire autopilot, but they are words that must be said, must hold meaning, and surely must allow him to get a seat on his father's good graces. If he is to get anywhere, it must pretend to be obedient, loyal in every way.
He would pretend to follow suit in this dance for pity's sake. He would play to fate's song, as long as he can.
"At the core of every ordered system, whether a family of a factory is chaos. But in the whirl of every chaos lies a strange order, waiting to be found."- Dean Koontz
Well then, there you go, a little longer than usual. Hope you guys enjoyed it.
Yes Kuroko has a big family, and you are about to see a lot more of them.
The pairings for this fic have been decided and will slowly come forth naturally, and as a secret for all those out there. There will though be hints at pretty much every pairing you can think of.
Tetsuya has two brothers, Tetsou is 22, Tetsuna is his twin, and Tetsumi is a good 5 going on 6. Kuroko will have a cousin, her name will be Etsuko in memory of her aunt, Tetsuya's deceased mother…a little creepy, but sweet. She will be paired off with someone we know and love. I do this for diversity and because it's fun to screw with people.
So the bad guy…supposedly the beast…how do you guys like him? Is he creepy enough for you or can I bump it up a few notches?
Midorima's dad is a douche. I have to say this because I wrote him, and I really despise him, like with my entire soul. He just frustrates me with his calm attitude, but he's just kind of evolved in my brain to the point where I can't even change his personality. It's frustrating
We like Tetsu's uncle, and yes he's getting married to Teppei's mom, because he already acts like an older brother to Tetsu so I felt that with the events that have and will take place, a constant figure that can be trusted should be put into place, in order to help the character stabilize as a whole being. This is insurance that Kuroko doesn't completely lose his mind, nor his morality, as Teppei is a symbol of where they come from and who they are.
Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Haters? Let me know what I can do to help, and review, it is mind fuel, also the next chapter legit should be up tomorrow or Monday, depending on how my classes are feeling with me. Thanks you guys