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Double thanks to: Cherien, tecnicalKnockout (Yes, the "Respect it!" line was written for you :), Aztia, chunminie, YamiAkane97, mausee for your wonderfully long reviews.
Sorry if I pissed people off with Ogiwara's character last chapter. I thought I was clear near the end that he'd been lying to Haizaki about hating the Miracles, but maybe I wasn't. I'm not apologizing for having him not spontaneously starting to like them, though, because if he did, he'd either be an idiot or a Disney movie cookie cutter character. Just because you apologize to someone doesn't mean everything's suddenly alright. Their apology caused Ogiwara to realize they might not be as bad as he's spent the past year thinking they were, and has opened his mind to the possibility that they might be okay people. He'll use what he learns about them in the future to decide for himself, but he's not changing his mind all at once.
Akashi watched with interest as Aomine returned to the waiting room with Ogiwara, who was holding a Ziploc bag containing a coffee cup inside. Something had happened, he saw. Neither of them looked like they'd been in a fight, but Aomine looked like he was trying to force a cool expression over his emotions, and what those emotions were, Akashi couldn't tell for once.
"Here," Aomine said, tearing the bag away from Ogiwara and thrusting it at Akashi. "Haizaki's prints."
"And DNA," Ogiwara added, giving Aomine a weird look.
"What's the big idea disappearing like that?" demanded Kagami, looking like he wanted to throttle Ogiwara.
Ogiwara shrugged and took his seat. "Sorry. I had an idea and I needed to be alone to act on it. Haizaki wasn't going to let his guard down at all if he thought I was associated with any of you."
He got some disapproving looks, but no one was too angry, and Ogiwara didn't look too upset by their disapproval anyway. Akashi could understand why. There was only one person Ogiwara felt like he had to answer to at that hospital, and that person was currently in a drug induced sleep.
"How did you get these?" Akashi asked, curious what the answer would be.
"By sucking up and lying through my teeth," Ogiwara said with a bright smile. Then he looked at Aomine with the same weird expression. "But why did you give it to him? I was going to drop that off with the police."
"Akashi has connections," was all Aomine said. Indeed, Akashi was already sending a text to his investigators, to have them come and collect this evidence.
"Well, now that Ogiwara-kun is accounted for, we should probably go ahead and have half of us take a break from this vigil," Riko said, though she looked reluctant. "I'll be in the first group with Kiyoshi, Izuki, Tsuchida, Furihata . . . Kasamatsu-san, Kise-kun, Midorima-kun, and Takao-kun. Everyone else will be in the second group. And I mean everyone."
She looked sternly at Akashi, and he realized that if he resisted, he was going to have a fight on his hands. The question was, was it worth it? He made some quick calculations and decided it probably wasn't. There was too little to gain for the amount of fuss that would be raised. Enough people would still be here to guard Kuroko.
"Hey, you said I didn't have to –"
"That was before you lost Ogiwara-kun, Bakagami!" said Riko angrily. "You're lucky I'm not giving you laps."
"Sorry for the trouble," Ogiwara said, looking genuinely contrite when he turned to Kagami. "But you look like you could use a break from this. Kuroko would be upset at the thought of any of us being too upset and brooding here all day. You know it's true."
"Doesn't mean I have to like it," growled Kagami.
"Excuse me, is Aomine Daiki here?" asked doctor who'd just stepped into the waiting room.
"I'm Aomine," Aomine said, quickly jumping up. "How's Tetsu?"
The doctor furrowed his brow. "There's no easy way to say this. He doesn't remember you."
Aomine staggered. He might have even fallen if Kise, who'd also jumped up, hadn't grabbed him.
"What do you mean he doesn't remember me?" Aomine cried, his voice breaking.
"We asked him a set of fairly standard questions to test his memory," the doctor said. "It was bizarre, because he answered every other one correctly. He knew who his parents were, the year, the prime minister, and so on. But when we asked him who his older brother was, his first guess was Kiyoshi Teppei."
"Really?" Kiyoshi looked delighted and thrilled. So much so that he actually looked creepy. "He really guessed me? He guessed me first?"
The doctor nodded. "His second guess was Izuki. His third Hyuga."
Akashi saw the two other upperclassmen from Seirin both look surprised, but pleased. Hyuga even blushed a little, and Izuki's eyes glowed.
The doctor looked a little suspiciously at Aomine, who was standing a little straighter now. "Are you really Kuroko-kun's brother?"
Akashi decided to take over the situation before any of his former teammates could say something stupid.
"They are half brothers. Daiki and Tetsuya have known each other for years, but were not aware of their own familial connections until a certain awkward revelation was very recently brought to light." Akashi spoke in a delicate tone, then fixed the doctor with a warning look, as though daring him to pry into what was clearly a very sticky family matter. By the way the doctor gulped, Akashi could tell he'd swallowed the lie.
"Well . . . well, what sort of time frame are we talking about for having learned . . . that?" the doctor asked. "I only ask, because I need an idea of how far back Kuroko-kun might be missing memories from."
"Seven days," Akashi lied without batting an eye. "I'm sure you can imagine how distressed we are, for something like this to happen so soon after our family was finally made whole."
That part wasn't even completely a lie. But then, the best lies were always based on truths.
"Seven days." The doctor jotted down a note. "Well, then, with luck his memory lapse isn't as bad as I first feared. However . . . there is another serious matter that I do have to speak of with his family. You might rather we do this in private."
Interestingly, he spoke to Akashi, whose relationship with Kuroko had been left undefined, rather than Aomine, the alleged half brother. At least the doctor was intelligent enough to see who was in charge.
"Please continue," Akashi directed him, even though he felt worry begin running down his spine like cold water. "Everyone here is either Tetsuya's family or close friend."
"Kuroko-kun had another seizure," the doctor revealed. "I believe that this was caused by the damage his brain sustained when he was attacked. It has caused him to develop epilepsy."
"You mean he's going to have more seizures?" asked Kagami, sounding horrified.
"Epilepsy is a lifelong condition," the doctor said. "Barring spontaneous remission, he will be at risk for seizures for the rest of his life. However, with the right medication, and if he avoids triggers, we should be able to cut the number of seizures he has down to only one every few years. Kuroko will be able to live a mostly normal life."
Akashi would have his own team of doctors look into this matter and see if this prognosis could be improved any. But even if it couldn't, it was much better than the worst case scenarios he'd feared, where Kuroko had been left mentally incapacitated or paralyzed. Had either of those turned out to be real, Akashi would have made sure Kuroko was cared for in every way that he could, costs be damned. Even though watching Kuroko have a seizure had been fucking terrifying to put it mildly, this was so much better than what it could have been. They could work with this. Kuroko could still have a good life after this.
"We've given Kuroko-kun a sedative to put him back to sleep. He needs rest," the doctor said after giving them some time to digest what he'd just told them. "We'll be waiting to put him on medication to suppress seizures until he's recovered a bit more. However, we will allow him visitors again now. He was very adamant about wanting to see whichever of his friends had come to visit him, before he fell asleep. But I must ask that no more than three of you be in his room at a time. And take care not to do or say anything that could make him too emotional, or he'll be at higher risk for another seizure. If he asks about what happened to put him here, you may tell him, but try to break it to him gently. Do not bring the subject up yourselves. Furthermore, please keep the television in his room off, and do not give him any gaming devices, cell phones, computers, or anything else that games can be played on, or videos can be watched on. Flashing lights could cause another seizure, so until we have him on some medication to suppress them, he should avoid those triggers."
"We understand," Akashi spoke for all of them.
When the doctor left them, they looked at each other silently for several seconds as they all processed what they'd been told, and tried to figure out who should be allowed to see Kuroko first.
"I'm going in," Kagami said flatly, and gave them a look that promised violence and pain if anyone disputed his claim.
"So am I," said Aomine in a similar voice.
Everyone waited for Kise to inevitably start shouting "Me too! Me too!" But surprisingly, no shout came.
Most of them looked at him in surprise, but Kise didn't seem to notice. He sat slunched down, elbows resting on his spread knees, looking dejected.
"There's still one more person allowed in Kuroko's room," said Riko, her eyes on Kise too, expectantly.
"Did you intend to go, Ryouta?" Akashi asked.
Kise jerked his head up and looked like a deer in the headlights. "What? Oh. I . . . I . . ."
He swallowed and swiped his hand over his eyes quickly, undoubtably wiping away tears.
"I'll go in later. Sorry. Ogiwara-kun, why don't you go? You have more right than most of us to," suggested Kise instead, much to everyone's surprise.
Ogiwara frowned and shook his head, looking like the action pained him. "I can't go in there. You heard what the doctor said about emotions triggering seizures. I don't want to risk shocking Kuroko into having another seizure. However much I want to see him, I can't go in there yet."
Akashi was glad Ogiwara had come to that conclusion on his own. He'd been prepared to veto Ogiwara's entrance to Kuroko's room, even though he knew it would make him seem senselessly cruel. It would have made him feel terrible too, after everything that had happened. He was glad to be spared having to be the bad guy again.
"Well," said Kiyoshi, "If no one else urgently needs to, I –"
"Please," came a surprising voice, and all eyes turned to Murasakibara. "Please let me go in."
The purple haired giant's voice cracked as he spoke, and he looked like he too might crack at any moment.
"I really want to see Kuro-chin. So please . . ."
The Iron Heart took one look at Murasakibara's expression and immediately acquiesced. "Of course. Please go right on ahead."
Akashi saw Himuro catch Kagami's eye, and saw a wordless conversation pass between the two.
Keep an eye on Atsushi for me, will you?
What? Why can't that ogre watch out for himself?
Taiga . . .
Alright, alright, already! I'll keep an eye on the oaf.
That's all I ask.
Kagami then gave a grimace and started toward Kuroko's room. Aomine quickly followed, and Murasakibara followed him.
"Kuro-chin . . ." Murasakibara's expression was pathetic as he looked down at the sleeping Kuroko. Aomine's wasn't much better, Kagami noted.
He wondered for a second if he looked as bad, then realized what the difference between him and the Miracles was. He wasn't being crushed by guilt over this like they were. No matter how many times people said this wasn't their fault, they couldn't believe it, at least not while Kuroko was still like this. More than absolution from guilt, they needed Kuroko's forgiveness. The idiots didn't realize they already had it. Likely they wouldn't feel completely okay again until Kuroko woke up and told them himself.
"Sit down," Kagami said to Murasakibara. "I mean it. If he wakes up and sees a giant looming over him, you'll scare him into having a seizure. So sit down."
Murasakibara looked worried and quickly sat.
Aomine, already in a chair right next to Kuroko, reached over and took his hand, as he'd done the first time they were there. Then he frowned, and stood up again. He draped his coat over Kuroko, on top of the blanket.
"He's cold," Aomine said as an explanation. He sat back down and took Kuroko's hand again, rubbing it between both of his own to warm it. "You can't expect him to nap well if he's cold."
Kagami didn't think the room was cold, but didn't see that this was worth arguing over. Honestly, he thought Kuroko deserved to have people fussing over him, after all this. It would annoy the heck out of Kuroko when he woke up, and he'd be embarrassed, but a little pleased deep inside, Kagami knew. There was no one in the world who liked being forgotten and neglected.
Well, Kuroko would never have to worry about that again, Kagami vowed. Now his problem would be the opposite of that, if anything. Especially now that he was going to have to worry about seizures. Kagami didn't know a whole lot about them, but was pretty sure that meant he shouldn't be left alone for long periods of time. And he knew Kuroko's parents were often not home.
Well, that problem was easily enough solved. Kuroko could move in with him. Or at the very least, stay over at his place whenever his parents weren't around. Kagami lived alone. His father wasn't around to mind. And having his best friend around would make for a nice change of pace. He already knew Kuroko was neat and cleaned up after himself. And if he was close at hand, Kagami could make sure he ate properly. Kagami just knew there were days when all Kuroko had were vanilla milkshake for all three meals of the day. He just knew it, even if he didn't have any proof. He could put a stop to that now.
"How long do you think Kuro-chin's going to sleep?" Murasakibara asked.
"Dunno," said Aomine. "The doc said they gave him a sedative, so it could be hours. It could be until morning."
"Coach is probably making the first group go out to get dinner," said Kagami. "So we probably have an hour, maybe an hour and a half before they drag us out."
Aomine grumbled darkly. "I was hoping I'd get to be here until Tetsu woke up."
Kagami would have liked that too, but had known going it that it was unlikely. He wondered who was going to get to go in next. Kiyoshi, definitely, representing Seirin. Normally he'd have said Kise, but the blonde was acting odd. But at least one of the Miracles would be going in the next group, he was sure. If it was Midorima then Takao might come too. No . . . Takao was a distant friend to Kuroko, and extremely in tune with the situation. He knew there were too many people whose peace of mind depended on seeing Kuroko, instead of just knowing he was alright, so he'd forgo coming to his room for now. Who knew what Akashi would do? But if he didn't come, that would mean another spot for someone from Seirin. Riko, Hyuga, or Izuki would claim it, Kagami thought. Probably Riko. Well, there was Momoi to consider too.
Kagami decided not to worry about it. The others could work it out by themselves. His time was better spent figuring out ways to make things better for Kuroko in the future, to keep him safer, and to take his new medical condition into consideration.
Everything would work out, he was sure. All they needed to do was find and kill whoever had done this, and give Kuroko a little bit of time to recuperate. Then everything would go back to being good.
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