Summary: :) Let us begin the nightmare.
Warning: Blood and OOC Takao.
"I don't know what's wrong with him," a female voice frets in the hush of a bedroom. "I've never seen anything like this."
Her delicate hand reaches down to push back blue bangs, placing her palm upon the boy's forehead.
The boy lies in his bed, eyes remaining unopened.
"He doesn't have a fever."
A man gives a worried sigh, sitting down next to his wife upon the bed. "Let's take him to the doctor."
The sound of a familiar voice rouses Mayuzumi from his slumber, making him force his tired eyes open.
He lifts his head up from his curled up sleeping position, noting that he's still on the couch that he fell asleep upon.
He catches Takao closing the front door, who then turns around and spots him. "Oh, the sleepyhead's awake."
Mayuzumi yawns and hops down from the couch with caution. Not many bugs are scuttering around, but his steps remain wary.
He stretches his body before asking,"Hey, who was that just now?"
Takao smiles, "Not anyone important," he shrugs.
Mayuzumi flicks his tail impatiently. "Who was at the door?" he repeats.
"Like I said, no one in particular."
"Bullshit," Mayuzumi snorts. "You're hiding something," he then trots over to the door himself, pawing at it. "Let me see for myself."
"What? No, no, there's no need to. Come on," Takao bends down to pick Mayuzumi up, only for the other to escape through his legs.
"Just open the door. You're a horrible liar anyway."
Takao remains obstinate. He steels his expression, almost as if he's a parent about to scold a misbehaving child. "Hey, listen to what I'm saying! You may be my guest, but house rules are house rules! Besides, you're staying for awhile."
This cycle just never ends, does it? Mayuzumi finds himself pulling more what-in-the-fuck faces than usual. "I never agreed to staying here."
"But you took a nap with no problem."
"That doesn't mean I'm staying here."
"Aw, you sourpuss. Not even for another day?"
What the hell is it with Takao trying to get Mayuzumi to stay with him? Seems like not only is Takao an idiot in Mayuzumi's dreams, but a creep as well.
"Open the door," Mayuzumi demands.
"Don't make me send you to your room," Takao chides.
Mayuzumi's ears droop and he hangs his head in exasperation. Great, the moron isn't even taking him seriously now.
Well, two can play at that game.
"Fine," Mayuzumi looks up, making sure that his face is stoic, "Then could you open another can of tuna for me?"
Takao's eyes light up, appeased that the other is willing to stay. "No problem!" and with a hop, he flies into the other room.
That was easy.
Once Takao's out of sight, Mayuzumi turns to stare back up at the door, deciding his escape plan.
His options now were to either stay here for God knows how long and be pet by a creep, or to find a way to get this door open while the other is preoccupied.
He pushes with one paw at the door, making it budge.
He checks over his shoulder one last time, then sits upon his hind legs to use both his front paws to push all his weight onto the door, opening it.
Could have been a bit quieter, but it's too late for that.
Good-fucking-riddance.
He shoots out the door and tears through the snow, not even bothering to close the door behind him. He doesn't fail to notice that there's fresh looking footprints in the snow, so he decides to follow those.
Maybe if he's lucky enough, Takao won't bother to chase him.
Right as he thinks that, some long stick lands right in front of him, dodging it by just a whisker.
He freezes in fright.
Holy fuck, is that an arrow?
Mayuzumi represses a startled shiver, and darts away before any other arrows catch him. The rapid flutter of wings informs him that he has no need to look behind himself, as even more arrows rain down and narrowly miss him.
Still, he can't help but spare a fleeting glance up and behind, which he immediately regrets, then whips his head away and bolts through the snow with more haste.
He met gazes with Takao for just for a mere second, but…
Those are not the eyes of the Takao he knew. Those eyes scare the hell out of him too much to be even considered humane.
Those eyes are more numbing, more cutthroat, more unfeeling than Mayuzumi recalls ever seeing on a person. Takao looks like he wants to skewer Mayuzumi through with his arrows. If it wasn't clear to him before, it's clear now.
That is not Takao.
He's more than sure that Takao isn't a murderous psychopath.
He continues to zig-zag through the barrage of arrows, feeling like a goddamn anime protagonist with how he's escaped injury thus far.
A rather wide gap obstructs Mayuzumi's escape, making him hesitate. Cats could jump further than the average human, right?
It's jump and land, or get impaled.
Fuck it.
Gathering all the possible strength he can into his tiny hind legs, he launches himself across the gap, squeezing his eyes shut to hide his view of the drop down below.
Maybe he didn't need to be so scared, maybe the drop is only like, ten or so feet. He peels one eye open—
Nope, can't see the end to that.
And in the next second, he nearly crash lands onto the other side, safe from the drop. He clambers up with no delay, the beat of Takao's wings a constant reminder of danger.
He runs in a curve along a cliffside, nearly pressing himself against the cliff in fear of falling from the narrowing pathway.
He doesn't see the figure that he runs smack into, panicking as he's pulled into his captor's arms. "Let go!"
"Calm down, Mayuzumi-san."
"Who—Kuro—"
He gawks up at the other before he is shoved inside Kuroko's bag, who then continues to sprint away. "How'd you find me?"
"I'm not quite sure myself," Kuroko deflects a stream of arrows with a wave of his arm. "Takao-kun...doesn't seem like his usual self," Kuroko deadpans.
Mayuzumi almost laughs at Kuroko's understatement, as if Kuroko didn't mind being chased with arrows raining down behind him.
"About fucking time you came," Mayuzumi grumbles instead.
"I'm sorry," Kuroko says through a gasp of breath, "Were you scared?"
"Yeah, in fact," Mayuzumi's voice drenched in sarcasm, "absolutely shitting myself."
He misses the way Kuroko's eyebrows disappear into his bangs, once again questioning Mayuzumi's sense of humor.
"I'm surprised you haven't already collapsed from running. You reached this place on foot, right?"
"I'll explain that later. For now...I would appreciate it if you didn't distract me."
Right. Bird psycho is chasing them.
That didn't seem to faze Kuroko much, however. Although his expression shows some urgency, Kuroko is definitely not panicking like Mayuzumi was.
Stupid cat body, making him so incompetent.
Kuroko leaps in small bounds to higher ground, shaking the bag and making Mayuzumi tumble around inside.
Mayuzumi once again feels the need to retch. This is beginning to remind him a lot of Takao's earlier flying. "God, brat, could you ease up on the jumps?"
Kuroko doesn't hear him. "Hang on tight."
Mayuzumi pops his head out of the bag, "Wha—"
Kuroko speeds up as approaches a large cliff, and—to Mayuzumi's horror—catapults himself over the huge cliff edge.
Mayuzumi's train of thought comes to a screeching halt as terror overtakes him.
Dear lord.
Is he screaming? He's probably screaming.
Kuroko lands with a surprising amount of finesse, grabbing ahold of the bag to protect Mayuzumi from slamming to the ground, and somersaulting to lessen his impact.
Mayuzumi groans, sick and tired of all this shaky movement. This is even worse than when Takao was flying around doing tricks in the air.
"Hang in there, Mayuzu-" Kuroko lifts himself back up, only to find himself anchored down by his cloak.
He checks behind him, seeing that an arrow had pierced his cloak, now holding him in place.
"The hell? Why aren't you running?"
Kuroko focuses his attention above him, seeing that Takao has more arrows poised with his bow drawn, ready to deliver the finishing blow.
With another wave of his hand, he aims all the snow he can towards Takao, hoping that that will keep him preoccupied. He quickly removes the arrow before rolling out of the way of more arrows firing down upon him.
"You're getting nowhere with this," Mayuzumi says as Kuroko struggles to maintain his same running pace. "You need to fight back already, dammit!"
"I will not fight Takao-kun."
"That doesn't matter! There's no way you can keep this up!" Mayuzumi's voice rises further.
Kuroko is panting by the time he launches himself across another ledge. "I know I'm capable of escaping."
Mayuzumi groans in frustration. "Now's not the time to be a stubborn little brat!"
"Look, Mayuzumi-san," Kuroko points forward.
Mayuzumi switches his view to the scene up ahead, which appears to be a thick, green forest below the tall ledge they are upon.
"Just a little further, and we can lose Takao-kun in the forest," Kuroko readies himself to jump down the cliffside.
"Don't give me that, you're going to get hit at this rate!"
And as if Mayuzumi's words had just jinxed Kuroko, pain shoots through Kuroko's backside, realizing that an arrow had pierced his right shoulder.
A grunt of pain escapes Kuroko, who loses strength in his jump.
Kuroko's face twists in strain, and Mayuzumi watches in startled terror as Kuroko loses his footing and slips off the cliff edge.
Mayuzumi's breath stops.
Through the pain, Kuroko remembers to pull the bag towards his chest, wrapping his body around it, and bracing for impact. He refuses to let Mayuzumi get hurt, because he can't be sure if just one wrong move will be enough to kill the other.
The drop isn't smooth, many sharp branches and rocks jut out of the cliffside, attacking him as he begins tumbling downward. All the while, he feels the arrow dig into his backside, causing excruciating pain.
He doesn't believe it's smart to take the arrow out, but he believes that it's even less smart to leave it in. Gathering all his willpower, Kuroko reaches behind him and yanks the arrow out and throws it carelessly away, feeling blood gush out of the fresh wound.
He grows lightheaded and weary, his body flushing out all his senses as he continues rolling down.
He won't. He will not let his mistake burden Mayuzumi, who had warned him.
He grips the bag tighter, trying to resist blacking out before he reaches the bottom.
Try as he may, it's not long before darkness closes in on him.
After Kuroko rolls to a stop, Mayuzumi shuffles carefully around inside the bag, not having sustained any injuries on his way down, thanks to Kuroko.
Kuroko.
Oh God.
He pokes his head out to inspect the damage.
"...Hey, Kuroko," Mayuzumi murmurs.
He cringes. Kuroko lies on his stomach, avoiding pressure upon his injury. Even if he wants to, Mayuzumi couldn't overlook the huge patch of red that has soaked through the fabric of the white cloak. The red is gaping and almost garish, alarmingly out of place against the stark white.
Mayuzumi blinks, his breath coming short. Some foreign numbing sensation spreads all throughout him, except for a sharp throbbing in his chest.
A minimal amount of light shines down through the cracks of the trees, shining white light upon Kuroko (and that gaping red), while drowning out all other objects in the forest in darkness.
The way Kuroko lies there, unmoving—
Mayuzumi swallows to clear that miserable lump in his throat.
It's almost as if he has been killed.
It's unsettling, to say the least.
He nudges the other's cheek with his paw, trying to put more energy into his voice. "Wake up, brat."
He fails miserably.
His ears droop and his neck bends down, remembering just how weak and vulnerable he is. He has to rely on Kuroko to save him now. He can't even help Kuroko when they're in danger. He couldn't do anything to protect the other like Kuroko had protected him.
With broken movements, he drops down to lie next to Kuroko's face.
God.
He places his paw over his eyes, suddenly feeling like the mere sight of Kuroko is enough to make him ill. He doesn't even think cursing could even help him relieve him of stress at this point. These dreams have been nothing short of hellish, and the only thought that comes to mind is how…how fucked up these dreams are.
So goddamn fucked up.
What kind of nightmare has spawned from their encounters? Mayuzumi glances around the dark forest that they had landed in, searching the leaves for an answer because he has nowhere else to search.
He doesn't want to look at that red again.
"Kuroko…" he calls, knowing full well that the other won't respond.
He tells himself it's not real. He's certain this isn't reality.
But if this weren't—in some way—real…
Then he shouldn't be feeling this much grief.
He tells himself he should apologize. Apologize for being a hindrance and being so powerless to the brat that gave him a headache every day as of late.
He's guilty, but he can't bring himself to apologize even when there's no one to hear it.
He sucks in a shaky breath.
Nevermind apologize, he can't bring himself to thank the other either.
He's not dead. He's not dead. Mayuzumi repeats that over in his head to reassure himself.
He breathes out.
Mayuzumi inches closer, gently pressing his nose against Kuroko's cheek.
Quivers rack his system without his permission. What an awful outcome. When was the last time he's been this afflicted with remorse? Mayuzumi's memory fails him, too caught up in his dread.
He nuzzles Kuroko, hoping that by some miracle, the other will open his eyes. Kuroko will brush it all off as an elaborate ruse and stand up with his same blank expression, maybe tease Mayuzumi from getting so worked up, and they'll continue on their journey.
But Kuroko doesn't stand up, doesn't pull Mayuzumi into his arms, and doesn't put Mayuzumi's mind at ease.
Kuroko doesn't even twitch.
Mayuzumi lets himself stay beside Kuroko a bit longer.
Mayuzumi doesn't know how long he has lied there, having spent a few moments dozing beside Kuroko.
He's exhausted and wants nothing more than to wake up from this nightmare, but Mayuzumi knows that he needs to go in search of help.
He can't heal Kuroko's wound himself, but he'll be damned if he doesn't find someone who can.
Surveying the dark area, he sees that they've landed in the thick forest, with tiny amounts of light shining through the massive trees. All of the forest's leaves and foliage are colored a deep shade of green, as if it were summer, and as if they hadn't just fallen from an icy mountain.
Based upon the old man's words, there's a high likelihood that the kingdom is nearby. Mayuzumi supposes that if he travels long enough, he'll reach the other side of the forest, which also means he might meet others who can help.
But he couldn't leave Kuroko lying unconscious all alone. That would mean almost certain death.
Mayuzumi curses his cat body for the umpteenth time.
If he chooses to stay here and wait, they'll lose precious time in the dream and Kuroko might fail to wake up.
The best choice is to go seek help, as much as he knows that isn't much better than his other choice. He can only hope that Kuroko won't be picked up by someone else.
...
He refuses to think that the other won't survive.
He takes one last glance at Kuroko, then dashes away through the forest.
Just under half an hour later, Mayuzumi stops to rest behind a shrub. After traveling for a bit, he's thankful that this forest doesn't appear to have much danger within it. He hasn't encountered anything worth noting besides the occasional small bird or squirrel rustling the tree leaves.
He's about to stand up and continue his way to the kingdom, before someone's voice cuts into the silence of the forest.
"Mama!"
Mayuzumi pauses behind the shrub, careful to not make a sound. Is that a child's voice? He peers through the shrub, but doesn't see any movement.
"What is it?" comes a feminine voice, presumably the mother.
Mayuzumi hears hurried footsteps crunching through the leaves, drawing close before stopping. "I think I saw something move!"
Another set of slower, more even paced steps follow. "Careful. You don't want to scare the poor creature."
Mayuzumi spots them when he peeks his head over his hiding spot. The mother is wearing some European medieval style dress, carrying a basket filled with what looks like herbs. She seems nice enough, and maybe if she's a medic, she could help Kuroko.
The kid looks no older than five, who has her fingers placed in her mouth, staring questioningly towards Mayuzumi.
Her eyes then light up upon catching sight of Mayuzumi, pointing at him and flouncing in place, "Kitty!"
Well, his cover is blown now. He hops over the shrub, but doesn't make a move to come any closer.
The mother's eyes follow her daughter's finger and settle upon Mayuzumi. "You're right," she places her hands upon her daughter's shoulders. "Do you want to go pet it?"
Mayuzumi certainly does not want to be pet by a kid who has shoved her hand into her mouth, but if it will get the mother to like him better, he guesses he'll have to bear it.
He approaches them silently, assuming that the woman and the child don't expect him to be capable of human speech.
He meows, and sits down close to the child.
The child drops to her knees in the grass, delighted that Mayuzumi is compliant. She reaches a hand towards him, then jerks her hand back before making contact. "Oops," she mumbles, wiping her hand upon her dress. "Sorry, kitty."
At least the kid has the decency to make an effort at cleaning her hand. He tries not to grimace as she places her little hand atop his head, smoothing his fur out. She beams, flashing her baby teeth.
The mother smiles as she squats down and smooths out her dress, glad that her daughter is enjoying herself. After a moment, she notices something.
"Hm?"
"What is it, mama?"
"It doesn't have a collar, but it's coat is too shiny to be a stray cat in this forest."
"Why?" the child begins scratching behind Mayuzumi's ear.
"Well, there's not enough food here for this cat to survive here. There's no meat for it to eat."
Her daughter makes an 'o' shape with her mouth, understanding. "Then does that mean we can keep it?" she looks excitedly up at her mother, and Mayuzumi hopes that the mother won't comply with her daughter.
"I'm sorry. I'm afraid not. Our home is just too small for it. Besides, since he's so comfortable with humans, it seems like he already has an owner."
Oh thank God.
The child withers, utterly crestfallen. "Awww," she whines, pulling her hand back. "But where is its owner?"
"That...I do not…" the mother trails off, watching as Mayuzumi points a paw back into the deeper end of the forest. Realization flickers in her eyes, which is the cue for Mayuzumi to turn his heel and run back from where he came.
The child takes off after him, laughing. Her mother panics, snatching her basket up to chase after her. "Wait!"
Mayuzumi has no time to spare for the mother. Kuroko needs medical attention, pronto. He's glad that the kid is chasing him, since the mother will obviously follow after.
If only the kid could control her excitement better, then they probably would've been able to reach Kuroko sooner.
While attempting to lead them to Kuroko, the kid trapped him a few times in her arms, thinking that Mayuzumi was playing tag. He struggled out of her grasp, mindful of his claws.
Through the thicket, Mayuzumi eventually located Kuroko when he knew that they were nearby. He heaved a sigh of relief, thankful that no one had disturbed Kuroko.
Upon their arrival to the spot where Kuroko lied, Mayuzumi rushes to Kuroko's side, hearing a shocked gasp come from behind him.
Once again, he averts his eyes away from that stretch of red upon white, but he doesn't miss the fact that the blood has soaked the cloak more, the stain wider than before.
He turns his back upon Kuroko, focusing his attention on the duo that accompanied him.
The mother has the child pulled against herself, using one hand to shield her daughter's eyes from the sight. Her other hand reaches up to cover her mouth, eyes horrified.
Mayuzumi forces himself to wait as the mother gathers her bearings.
Her child speaks first. "Mama, what is it? Why is there someone sleeping on the ground?"
"Shh...my dear," the mother holds her childs in her arms so that her daughter can't see Kuroko. "He's sleeping because...he's incredibly tired."
Well, that isn't too far from the truth.
The mother inches closer, step by careful step. It's like she's afraid that if she steps wrong, she'll end up cutting off Kuroko's life then and there. "Stay behind me," she directs.
The daughter obeys, clinging to her mother's dress.
The mother kneels down to further observe the wound. She appears to not want to pull back the cloak in order to assess the damage, given that she casts sidelong glances towards her child, who is peeking over her shoulder.
"That's a lot of blood, mama. Is he going to be okay?"
"I'm sure he'll be fine," her mother smiles, but the worry lingers in her eyes.
The mother shifts her attention to Mayuzumi, who is keeping a close eye on her to make sure she won't try anything funny. If her expression is anything to go by, she wants to ask him how Kuroko ended up this way.
Too bad he's pretending he can't answer that.
She gathers Kuroko up in her arms, cautious as to not disturb his injury. She hoists him up, piggyback carrying him.
"He's...so light," which makes the mother grow even more concerned.
Kuroko is light? Mayuzumi doesn't know whether she's saying that because he's already lost plenty of blood, or if it's because Kuroko has always been so small.
He hopes it's the latter.
"Are we taking him back?" the child's excitement builds up again, gasping as she realizes something. "Does that mean kitty will stay with us longer?"
Her mother nods, smiling in order to hide the serious situation. "Let's head back and go see the town's doctor."
Mayuzumi trails after them, thankful of his luck this time around.
"Dai-chan!" Momoi bangs upon the closed front door, voice frantic. "Open up, Dai-chan!"
Despite the disgruntled and tired look Aomine shoots at Momoi when he pulls the door open, he successfully keeps his cool as he asks (and doesn't demand), "What the hell do you want, Satsu—"
"It's Tetsu-kun!" Momoi is near tears as she flies into Aomine's arms.
Now, Aomine has never been the type to accept physical affection much, especially from his childhood friend, but those thoughts are shoved aside because if Momoi's distraught, then...
"Wait—slow down. What's going on?" he places his hands upon her shoulders, feeling them tremble.
"Tetsu-kun…" Momoi sniffles, "Tetsu-kun is in a coma…!"
A/N: The angst is only beginning. Join me in this downward spiral to hell. B)
Happy New Year, and thanks for reading!