Why did this happen to him? Why was his life like this?

Alright, maybe that was a stupid question. His life was the result of his choices. but still,

What the hell did he do to deserve this? (Don't answer that)

He stared up at his former opponent.

Huh…

He honestly thought he would have left a bigger bruise on the guy's face.

"Do you have any idea just how much money you made me lose?!"

"No," He stared up at the man, eager to get the man away so he could go home and go to sleep before morning practice. He looked like he was in his late twenties, and although he looked stronger than him, the man couldn't fight for shit. He had muscles that came from bodybuilding, he didn't have the right muscles for fighting, he didn't have that flexibility, and couldn't put in strength for the right movements. Which was why he wasn't scared of the older man," You shouldn't have challenged me if you needed to win."

That was obviously the wrong thing to say.

In hindsight, maybe he shouldn't have said that to a man who was pissed that he lost a match and some money.

"What did you say?!" But he did have a good point, he shouldn't have challenged him if he needed to win the match. Not to mention, he beat him once, he can do it again. The man had quite literally put all of his eggs into one basket. Which is a horrible idea when it comes to gambling on fights.

"You shouldn't have challenged me if you needed to win. You should have challenged someone else."

Maybe Kuroko should teach Black how to watch his words a little bit more.

The man's lips curled back in a snarl, his black eyes narrowing in anger, "You fucking little shit. I'm going to beat your ass now! I just unde-" A swift punch to his throat cut him off, and it didn't take long before the man was keeled over on the ground, desperately trying to breathe.

Nah, Black can handle himself just fine.

"Come next week," His words were quiet and almost monotone, but he did hear a small sense of pride in his words," Maybe you'll have a better chance with Wrath."

The frustrated sound that came out of the man in between his coughing made his lips quirk up just the smallest amount.

He always did like annoying people.

With an extra kick to keep the man down, he quickly took his leave. He needed to be out of the area before the man got up to his feet. The last thing he needs is for someone to find out where the infamous Black lives and try to take their revenge outside of the ring.

It was an extra hot night, so when he passed by the usual park, he did not pass up the chance for him to wash his face and run his hair under the water. All of the colorings that he used for his hair washed away, but he was just happy to get the sweat off. He looked like he was a normal high school student again.

Well, thank god that he did wash everything off.

He walked up to his house to see people standing outside the door.

Some very familiar people.

And tall people.

Without a second thought, he threw his bag into the nearby bushes and frantically started to pull on his hoodie to cover up the bruises on his arms. He was a little bit upset that he had to put it on while it was so hot but he didn't want his friends to find out what his past time was

"Kuroko! ...Are you sure this is his house?" Kagami rolled his eyes as he knocked on the door again.

"Yes I am sure, he's probably still asleep. Oi! KUROKO!"

He took that chance to make his appearance be known to Kagami, and surprisingly Hyuuga, "Yes?"

They both shrieked and jumped up at his words, both of them turning around with wide eyes. The way they reacted almost made him roll his eyes, but since he was supposed to be the ever so polite Kuroko, he couldn't.

"KUROKO?!"

"Yes," He put his finger up to his lips," Shh, you guys are being too loud." Kagami looked between his front door and the owner.

"I-what are you doing out?!"

Kuroko shrugged his shoulders as he slipped past them, taking out his house key as he did so," I couldn't sleep, so I went for a jog."

That was the partial truth.

He couldn't sleep so he went for a jog.

Towards the fight club

Where he had a few matches.

And THEN he went back home.

The best lies are always the ones that have some truth in them.

"But why are you guys here? Its-" He looked down at his phone, momentarily panicking when he noticed a drop of blood on the screen as he turned it on, but he tried his best to play it off," -Its three fourty five?"

"Ah, well.." They averted their eyes, "We were at the fight club and we don't have enough money to take a cab home..." Kuroko stared at them.

He didn't even know that the cabs ran that late, but he wasn't going to question it. They didn't question why he was out running so he wasn't going to question them," Ok, I have extra futons, and I think you guys can fit into my dads pajamas." This time he did roll his eyes as his teammates started to thank him profusely.

Had he been Black at that moment, he would have told them to wipe off the smudge of brown that they had on their noses.

He opened the door and let them walk in themselves. He excused himself to the bathroom for a few minutes, where he hid most of the makeup, medical supplies, and his hand wraps at the bottom of the hamper he kept in there. The only things he kept out were the makeup products he could pass off as his mother's (despite the fact she was working overseas, but they didn't know that) and the basic medical supplies such as pain killers and bandages. And he made sure to make it a little bit messy.

It would be suspicious if his bathroom was in a neat and organized manner when it was almost four in the morning in a house where a teenage boy lived.

As soon as he walked out of the bathroom, he started to set up sleeping arrangements for the others. And within a few minutes, his two teammates were all getting ready for bed in his bedroom.

It wasn't until he started to rub Tiger Balm into his hands when his friends started to question him.

"Ugh, what is that smell?"

He continued to massage it into his hands, taking care to massage it into his joints," Tiger Balm. It's like Icy Hot but better."

"Well why are you using it now?!"

He hummed as he rubbed the balm into a particular painful knuckle, he was going to have to pay more attention when he wraps up his hands," Sometimes my hands hurt when I wake up," That was true, but he wasn't going to mention that they hurt from using his fists," This helps."

"Really?" Oh, he didn't like how interested Hyuuga sounded," Can I try some?"

He fell silent.

Tiger Balm was like Icy Hot on steroids, it was much stronger and almost a cure-all. If you were able to get past the almost painful feeling of your skin cooling and heating. But it was also a miracle worker, it could make the tightest of his muscles relax by the end of the night. But again, it was like Icy Hot on steroids.

It was almost an acquired taste, where you hated it until you got used to it, and then it was the love of your life. He wasn't sure if Hyuuga would like it or tolerate it...

...Know what? This was going to be his minor form of payback for them causing him trouble at four in the morning.

"Sure," He handed it to the others. He wasn't going to tell them that a little bit can go a very long way.

He heard Hyuuga open the small vial, he smelled it too, and thank god for his room bring pitch black because he wasn't able to stop that feral smirk from appearing on his face.

"Oh this feels really good...oh, Oh, OH GOD, give me a towel!" His shoulders started to move in silent laughter as he heard the frantic rustling of clothes," It burns!"

He held his breath just long enough for him to make his voice monotone again," I told you it was like icy hot."

"You didn't tell me it was this strong!"

"Oh stop being a baby, I'm sure it's not that bad."

Kuroko was sure that there was a grin on his face, one that Black would be proud of.

"Ay fucking shit!" He almost cackled at Kagami's voice," Kuroko what the fuck?!"

He tried to make his voice monotone again. But he couldn't as he laid down and pulled the blanket over him," The feeling will subside in a little bit. Goodnight."

He would forever cherish the memory of hearing his teammates groan in pain and frustration.

"Hey..." Hyuuga was staring intensely at Kuroko, who was in the middle of a scrimmage with the other team members," Is it me, or does Kurokos back look bigger?"

Aida rose an eyebrow before starting to look for Kuroko. It took her a few seconds to find him, but once she did, she knew what the team captain was talking about.

Kuroko had always been one of the smallest and thinnest of the team, so now that she concentrates on his back, it was obvious that he had gotten bigger. His back filled out his t-shirt better, and now that she notices, she can see that his arms have gotten more muscular.

She called him over the first chance she got and asked him to take off his shirt.

It was odd the way he stiffened up for a fraction of a second before he complied with her order.

Then all hell broke loose.

"Kuroko! What happened!?"

Kuroko sighed internally when Hyuuga shouted that because that only made everyone look over to see what happened, and then they started screaming when they saw him.

Honestly, he didn't know what they were freaking out about. Granted, he did have some big bruises, but they weren't even that bad. They were already almost healed, most of them had entered that odd green period and within another week, they would be completely healed.

But he knew that it must have been shocking to see their smallest and 'weakest' member full of bruises. The bruises were littering his upper chest, and there were a few on his back. All of them were ranging from sizes to the size of a marble, to the size of a fist. (Honestly, if they looked close enough, they would probably be able to see the indentation of fingers in the fist-sized bruises.) still, he knew that it was normal for people to not have bruises.

Thank god he had the sense to cover up the bruises on his forearms. Since he used them to block all the time, they had bruises all the time.

"Some skaters didn't notice me walking down the stairs," He moved his t-shirt out of the way to show them his stomach, where more yellow-green bruises could be seen. He saw Hyuuga pale further, Aida looked like she wanted to pull her hair out of frustration and other emotions he couldn't identify. While the rest of the team just stared," So they accidently pushed me down the stairs, but it doesn't hurt, see?" He started to poke at his bruises, which did hurt. He just wanted them off his back.

The more his finger started to sink into his bruise, the more agitated his team got," Okay okay!" Aida slapped his hand away from his bruise," I get it! I get it!" He internally celebrated when they all bought his lie," Just, turn around." Kuroko turned around and barely managed to hold in a sigh when he heard his teammates muttering again.

It's a good thing the bruises on his back could be explained by a fall down the stairs.

It would be difficult to explain that his back was bruised because someone had thrown a two-by-four into the ring in the middle of a match.

He felt fingertips press up against his shoulder blade and his muscle twitched in response.

That was when he knew that she had noticed the way he had gained muscle on his back. It was something he had been working on because honestly, he was quite bitter about the way Wrath had knocked him out and he was planning to return the favor. That meant that he needed to get stronger, and what better way than to strengthen his upper body.

It was a revenge that took a long time but would be worth it.

"You've been working on your back?"

"Yes," The lie came out smoothly again," I want to increase the speed of my passes."

"Hm," He felt her fingertips poking and prodding at his back. He followed her instructions (And ignored the way her fingertips grazed over his bruises). He flexed and relaxed his muscles as she assessed them. They stayed like that for a few more minutes until she stepped away.

"Ok, whatever you're doing is working, just don't get too big where it slows you down on the court."

"Okay." He put his shirt back on and was just about to walk back onto the court.

A hand on his collar stopped him," No way, you're going to sit this one out Kuroko," It took nearly everything he had to not grab the hand and twist it away. Instead, he just leaned backward and gave Kagami an innocent look.

"Why?"

His question made Kagami, as well as a few others, sputter in frustration" Why!? You're covered in bruises!" Kuroko stood back up and started to tug at his shirt.

"So? Its not like they hurt."

"That's not the point!" That was the wrong thing to say because Kagami was in the process of dragging him off to the locker room. When Kuroko looked at the others for support, the only thing he saw would be his teammates supporting Kagami's actions.

Looks like he was just going to have to accept his fate.

Woe is the person that challenges him that night.