AN: Reimi's older sister's first appearance and the start of the main plot.

If there are any mistakes (grammar, story plot holes, etc.), please either PM me or review about it.

"" - speech

Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke.

"Have you noticed the way Tsukishiro-sensei has been acting these days?"

"Around Akashi-sensei?"

"It's more like the two of them have been a little awkward with each other lately."

"They've been like that ever since their injuries." The head nurse popped up from behind them. The nurses screeched before scrambling to do their work. "It's been a few weeks since they came back from the conferences though…"

Nurse Awa came over with a dreamy look on her face. "It's love, isn't it? Those two are going to get together soon." She squealed. "I can't wait!"

Another nurse rolled her eyes. "You always say that about any guy that goes near your doctor."

"That's not true!" She pouted and crossed her arms to indicate her displeasure.

"Sure, Tsukishiro-sensei gets flustered around Akashi at times, but that pertains to most people." The nurse pointed out.

"But Akashi-sensei is closer to her in distance and he looks content around her!"

"And he isn't like that with everyone else?"

"That's not what I meant! I meant that he's different around her!" Nurse Awa glared at them.

"What are you guys talking about?" Reimi approached them when she noticed her assigned nurse getting agitated.

"Tsukishiro-sensei. When was the last time you dated?" The nurse that Nurse Awa was glaring at asked her.

"Whether I dated before or not… That is none of your concern, but to be clear, I had considerably better things to worry about and to do in my life. Now, is that a problem in the ER?" Reimi's face hardened as she stood in front of Nurse Awa protectively.

The nurse flinched. "Of course not. I apologize."

"If you have nothing better to do but gossip… Clearly, it means that you're not getting enough work around here." Her jade green eyes narrowed. "Do you understand what I mean?"

"Of course." She put her head down.

"Do not bully my assigned nurse. You may disagree with her since that is life, but no need to make it personal." She drawled. "Is that clear?"

"Yes."

"Then get out of my sight." She motioned for her to leave. The nurse immediately dashed off.

Akashi was about to approach the two when he paused at the sound of Nurse Awa's voice. "So did you date, Tsukishiro-sensei?"

Reimi sighed before shaking her head. "I've only went on a date twice in college. Is that a problem?" She suddenly looked exhausted.

Nurse Awa did not notice, but Akashi did. He decided to wait and see before possibly intervening. "But you're not unattractive or anything. Why would they-"

"Awa-san. I was the one who rejected them after those two dates. Afterwards, males may have asked me out and tried to take me out on a date, but I refused their offer. Why? Because I had enough on my plate. I didn't want to deal with all the drama that's associated with dating and being in a relationship. Not only that, work was and still is my goal in my life. Additionally, none of the guys that I have seen and met interested me in any way. After experiencing a date with someone who I was not remotely interested in but was pushed by my friend to go on it, I decided that it was not worth my time. Just why would I go on a date with a male whom I have no interest in? Seems like a waste of my time. Is that all?" Agitation crept into Reimi's voice.

"I just have one last question."

"What is it?"

"If you met a male who interested you and they asked you out, would you agree?" Nurse Awa waited for an answer patiently.

"...Perhaps. I don't know. It depends on if our future goals are aligned. If not, then no matter how I felt about the male, I would not agree to be with them. It would just be a waste of our time." Reimi sighed to herself before freezing in place as she spotted red hair.

Akashi looked back at her with a contemplating look on his face. She almost choked as her heart jolted at the sight. Her fingers twitched as she turned on her heel and hurriedly walked away in the opposite direction. Her ears began to burn red as she did so.

The former point guard chuckled under his breath as he grabbed his chart. He returned to his rounds with a pleasant and content expression. He found that he rather enjoyed startling her.

"Tsukishiro-sensei."

"Midorima-sensei. Is something the matter?"

He pushed up his glasses. "Your older sister is here to see you. It seems to be something urgent."

"...Urgent?"

"Yes. She'll be in the resting room."

"I understand. Thank you for telling me." Reimi dashed to the resting room and gasped for air once she arrived. "What's wrong, onee-chan?"

Tsukishiro Hiyori, Reimi's older sister, smiled wanly at her younger and beloved sibling. "Hey, Rei-chan." Hiyori's face looked tired but at Reimi's appearance, her countenance seemed to brighten. She got up from where she was sitting to approach Reimi.

Reimi took in Hiyori's appearance, eyeing her sister's long black hair that was tied in a low ponytail. It was coming loose, looking as though she had perhaps slept on it or had had it in for over a day without redoing it. Despite her sister's small eyes, Reimi easily saw that they were bloodshot. Whether it was from crying or from lack of sleep or both, she could not come to a conclusion yet.

As her older sister embraced her in greeting, she quickly felt an unnatural coolness coming from her sister's body. Dubbed as the human heater in their family, aside from her perpetually cold feet, Hiyori could usually be relied on to function as a heater whenever someone was cold, so her not being warm was highly unusual.

Hiyori continued to snuggle into the hug a little longer as though she was trying to leech some of her younger sister's body heat onto herself. Watching her older sister carefully, Reimi made no move to pull away as she found Hiyori's action to be quite normal, considering that her older sister was always weak against the cold. However, for Hiyori to have a lower body temperature, it usually meant that she had pulled an all-nighter.

"I missed you…" Hiyori said as she seemed to reluctantly pull away from her younger sister. Her amethyst purple eyes looked a little less dull as she pulled Reimi over by the hands to sit down with her. Immediately, the thought of her older sister's hands being very cold crossed her mind.

"I missed you too…" Reimi replied almost automatically as this was always a fact whenever the two were away from one another for a period of time.

"That green-haired doctor from earlier… I guess you two know each other? I'm grateful he helped me out so I could see you. I was wondering how I'd get to see you since I couldn't reach you on your phone but I guess it worked out in the end. He was very polite but a bit… eccentric, I guess." Hiyori smiled wanly as she proceeded to sit on her hands, most likely in an attempt to warm them up. Reimi's sister was not the epitome of cheerfulness like a certain pilot appeared to be but she was never this subdued around Reimi. Something was deeply wrong. Reimi felt it in her bones.

"Oh, but I felt very comfortable around him. Weird, right? I thought it'd seem a little awkward since we're strangers, but…" Hiyori let out an airy laugh as she removed her hands from under her thighs and wringed them together over her lap, moving her line of sight to the far side of the room instead of at Reimi. She appeared strained then, showing that she had heavy things on her mind despite her words.

Reimi shrugged as she continued to observe her sister. "He's almost like my twin. That's probably why." Every second passing by caused Reimi to stiffen in her seat.

"He's like you? Perhaps that's why I'm so adamant about liking him." The black haired sister smiled in amusement for a bit before her expression seemed to darken.

"And not because of the glasses?" Reimi raised an eyebrow at her.

Hiyori chuckled at that but made no reply. However, she turned somber then as her right hand gripped her left wrist, her eyes dropping to the ground.

"Anyways, I came here for a reason obviously. I'm just worried that you won't take it well, but…" Hiyori trailed off before she resumed her sentence, her tone changing to one of fake nonchalance. "It's about Mom."

"What happened? Did something happen to Mom?" Unable to hold back, Reimi delivered one question after another. She was no longer smiling at all, bracing herself for what Hiyori was about to say.

With her hand still tightly clenched around her other wrist, Hiyori opened her mouth to reply.

Reimi wandered into the ER with a blank look. Not noticing her surroundings, she bumped into one of the nurses absentmindedly. After giving a quiet apology, she continued onwards through the ER.

"Tsukishiro-sensei?" Nurse Awa called out. Reimi did not appear to have heard her.

Akashi and Midorima noticed her odd behavior as she trudged to the department chief's room. An unpleasant feeling pooled in Akashi's stomach.

"Something's wrong." He voiced his concern to Midorima, never pulling his gaze off of her.

Midorima paused before suggesting to Akashi. "I'll go find out the problem if you want."

"If you have time."

"I have time now." Midorima then promptly left the ER, heading towards the resting room.

Once he reached his destination, he spotted the elder Tsukishiro sister sitting down in the exact same place he had left her in earlier. She seemed spaced out, almost as though she was about to fall asleep. Taking the initiative, Midorima cut in. "May I join you?"

Hiyori looked up at the green haired doctor, looking a bit bewildered not at his appearance but at herself; it was clear that Hiyori had not realized that she had almost fallen asleep until then.

Quickly collecting herself, she gave him a small smile. "Of course. Is something the matter?"

Midorima sat down across from her, shifting his glasses before speaking. "Allow me to get straight to the point. What is wrong with Tsukishiro-sensei? A friend of mine in the ER is concerned about her abrupt change in behavior."

Hiyori blinked at his question before coming to a logical conclusion. "Are you worried that it might affect her in the ER?"

"Perhaps. So do you know why Tsukishiro-sensei is acting like that?"

Hiyori helplessly shrugged as her demeanor turned nonchalant. "I don't know."

"You're lying." Midorima's eyes narrowed as he shot down her answer.

"I really am not lying. If I could do something about it, I would. Really." Hiyori shook her head before looking sadly at the former Shuutoku player, convincing Midorima that she was somewhat telling the truth. Silence fell in the room before Hiyori spoke again. "I guess I was partially lying though." She shook her head again, this time accompanied by a self-deprecating chuckle.

All he knew was that something was wrong. Very wrong. "I can help."

"...Is that so?" At her delayed reply, Midorima briefly saw a glint of coldness in her eyes that made him eerily recall the brief cold eyes Akashi had in his Teikou days before his ultimate change during that fateful match against Murasakibara. The tension in the room was thick until Hiyori broke it with a sigh as she shot him an apologetic smile. "Thank you for offering. It's just… She's always like this. Unfortunately, I can't fight off... inner demons."

Before he could respond, she stood up. "I should head back now."

Midorima politely stood up in response as he shifted his glasses again. "I apologize for taking up your time."

"No, it's quite alright." Hiyori gave a small smile as she tucked back several loose strands of hair behind her right ear before giving a polite bow and heading towards the exit. Midorima's eyes did not stray from her back until the door shut, signaling her departure.

Before Akashi had the chance to call out to her, Reimi charged out of the ER, leaving the hospital.

"Taxi!" She jumped in and gave them the address of her destination. The ride was filled with intense silence. She clutched her hands tightly, telling herself to calm down. "It'll be okay…" She knew that was a lie to herself.

"We're here." The taxi driver turned towards her when he stopped the car. She paid the man and exited the vehicle, staring at the large building before her. Taking a deep breath, she entered the building.

"Excuse me. I heard that my mother is in critical condition. Her name is Tsukishiro Kuromi."

"Please head to the ICU. She was placed in room 103."

"Thank you." Reimi rushed through the rooms, finally reaching a guarded area. "Excuse me, my mother is in here. Am I allowed to see her right now?"

Before the guard could respond, a tall navy blue-haired police officer exited the room, effectively blocking the way. A doctor also exited the room and spoke to her in a neutral tone. "Apologies, but you can't see her right now."

"Even though I'm family?" She glared at the man.

"Family? I'm assuming you are the youngest daughter. Your sister couldn't get to you on the phone."

"I know. She told me." Reimi stood there awkwardly before looking up at the officer. "Are you the one who found my mom?"

"I am."

"Did you catch the culprit?" She knew it was a stupid question to ask when she saw the male's dark blue eyes darken in frustration.

"Unfortunately no. We'll definitely be putting all our strength into this investigation. When you have time, we would like to ask you a few questions."

"I don't mind. Can you give me a few minutes, so that I can see my mom first?"

"Of course."

"Thank you." She entered the room. Black thin hair laid out on a pillow. Her mother's skin was sickly pale as if she was breathing her last breath. Reimi hated how she could not see her forest green eyes. She checked her mother's feet, which were scraped as if she had been dragged along rough concrete floor. "The person who did this to you… They will pay. I will make sure of it."

Suddenly, she felt empty inside, so hollow.

Her mind was falling and drowning in the dark oceans of a cold world.

And now, she was alone.

All alone...

Ever since her visit to her mother, Reimi took on more shifts and surgeries than before. This severely alarmed the chief as she had already been doing a lot before this incident.

"You called for me?" Reimi entered the room.

"Yes. Please have a seat." She did as he said.

"Now, do you know why you are here?" The chief clasped his hands together.

She never looked at him. "Yes."

"Then why are you taking on more shifts than usual? You know that I told you to stop. So many night shifts… Just what on Earth are you thinking?" His hand slammed against the desk.

"Working. Doing my job. You cannot stop me from doing my job, Chief."

"Rei-kun, please. You're going to destroy yourself." Gosha-kanchou pleaded with her. Her face remained hard and lifeless.

"Let me do this." She whispered. "I need to be strong. I need to stay strong. I need to do this."

"Rei-kun!"

"I will take my leave now." She bowed and exited the room, allowing the door to click shut behind her with grave finality.

"Tsukishiro-sensei, are you ready for your rounds?" Nurse Awa smiled brightly but even that failed to elicit a warm response from Reimi. She only nodded with an expressionless face. Nurse Awa looked at her with worry from behind as Reimi walked by with the charts in her hands.

"Please be sure to decrease the medication for this patient, Awa-san."

"Of course." When the two headed for the next ward, Nurse Awa grabbed the arm sleeve of Reimi's coat, catching her attention. "Tsukishiro-sensei. You need to smile around your patients or else they might feel like something is wrong."

Reimi glanced at her for a moment and nodded. "Apologies. It won't happen again. I will be sure to rectify that problem."

"Is something wrong, Tsukishiro-sensei? You haven't been talking to Akashi-sensei or anyone else lately."

"Nothing is wrong. I just have a lot to think about."

Worry pooled in the nurse's eyes. "Oh, well, if you have any problems, then I'll be here for you."

"Thank you. Let's move on now, shall we?" The silver haired doctor's expression never changed and that worried Nurse Awa more than anything else.

"Say, Akashi-kun, have you seen Tsukishiro-sensei eat in the cafeteria lately?" Doctor Masuda inquired with a worried expression.

"I…" Akashi thought about it for a second before shaking his head. "I haven't seen her in the cafeteria for quite a while now."

"I see. Well, you should tell her to eat in the cafeteria the next time you see her. I'm a little worried about her eating habits."

"Of course." Akashi's eyes narrowed as he caught a glimpse of Reimi's condition. She passed by them absentmindedly while chewing on an energy bar. She held a few file folders in her arm.

"Tsukishiro-sensei?" Doctor Masuda called out to her.

Reimi stopped walking before facing them. "Yes?"

"You should go eat at the cafeteria soon."

"I'll go there later." She then dismissed herself, minimizing communication with them.

Akashi noted that the bags under her eyes only got darker as the days went by and the red in her eyes had become a consistent feature of herself. She was becoming the definition of self-destruction. While he had given her space in the beginning, he decided then that he needed to put a stop to this destructive path she had set out for herself.

When Reimi was about to pass by him again, Akashi grabbed her wrist, pulling her into an empty room. "What-"

He slammed the door shut and cornered her. "Tsukishiro-san."

Disoriented, she took a minute to compose herself. "Akashi-sensei, is there something that you need from me? I believe we already discussed the upcoming surgery together earlier today."

"If you really think that the surgery is the reason why we're here, your reasoning skills have taken a turn for the worst." Akashi indirectly took a verbal jab at her recent tendency to overwork herself by referring to one of the various negative side effects of not getting enough rest.

She glared at him. "Then I suppose that I'm stupid. Why don't you enlighten me with your oh-so-great knowledge?"

"Don't mock me, Tsukishiro-senpai." Despite returning fire, Akashi remained calm as he spoke. He noticed her hand twitch at his use of the suffix senpai.

"What do you want from me, Akashi-kun." She took on his challenge, effectively planting herself right into his trap.

"What's wrong?" He stressed both words while taking a step towards her.

"Why do you ask that?" She smoothed out her coat. "There's nothing wrong."

"Do you not think that no one's noticed? Something happened. Something big happened and you've been shaken by it. Badly."

She stiffened. "I don't need to explain myself to anyone."

"Perhaps you don't need to, but if you cannot see how your behavior is affecting the people around you, then perhaps there is a need to explain yourself."

Anger flared in her jade green eyes. She snarled, "Well, maybe I just want to protect everyone by distancing myself from them!" A brief triumphant look glinted in Akashi's eyes, which went unnoticed by the doctor herself.

"How do you protect everyone when you're allowing yourself to be tormented and tortured by whatever it is that is bothering you?" Akashi relentlessly pushed onward with a fierceness that seemed to hint at his familiarity on the subject, cracking his calm demeanor just slightly.

"If I show weakness… If I dare to show any sign of weakness…" She stepped up to him until they could almost feel the other's breath. "The police can't protect everyone."

"What are you-"

Tears welled up in her eyes. "Anyone close to me… My sister… Anyone close to her… Because I'm at the hospital all the time, I'll be safer… They think that I'll be safe here without any kind of protection. My sister and everyone really close to her already has police protection… I don't have my best friend with me anymore, so that only leaves the hospital staff. I can't… I can't let anyone know or see that I'm close to any of the staff members." Reimi was easily losing her cool, signaling to Akashi that she wasn't as fine as she made herself out to be.

"Tsukishiro-san-"

"I can't say anything." Her voice wavered.

"Tsukishiro-"

Tears slid down her cheeks. "I have to stay strong."

"Tsu-"

"I have to protect everyone by-"

"REIMI!" Akashi grabbed ahold of her shoulders, shaking her in order to snap her out of it. She froze with wide eyes. "I don't know why you're suddenly talking about the police, but if you continue to do it this way, you'll destroy yourself before anyone tries to attack the hospital staff members. Do you understand?"

She said nothing as she continued to stare at him.

"We can't afford to lose you here. We can't let you break yourself. We need you as Tsukishiro-sensei." His maroon eyes locked with hers. "I need you... as my partner."

Before she could respond, a voice cut in from her walkie-talkie. "Tsukishiro-sensei. There's a police officer here to see you? His name is Aomine Daiki. He said that you would know why he's here."

"Aomine…?" Akashi looked thoughtful.

She shakily grabbed her device. "I'll be there in a minute. Have him wait there for me."

"Understood."

"I have to leave now." Reimi pulled Akashi's hands off of her shoulders.

"I'm going with you." His eyes hardened, leaving no room for discussion.

She shook her head. "You can't."

"Try me." He effectively blocked her way when she attempted to leave.

Annoyance bled into her voice. "It's not like they'll let you-"

"I know Aomine personally. He will." Akashi's tone made his last two words sound like a certainty rather than hot air. He then held her hand securely in his own.

She sighed, relenting. "Fine. Do what you want."

"I will." Akashi followed her without letting go of her hand, but he noticed that during the entire walk over to the ER, she never once tried to free her hand from his grip.

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