As he hung up the phone, he let out a long, and heavy sigh. He slumped against his headboard as he stared up at the ceiling.

He knew that it had to be upsetting for his parents to get a call that he was in the hospital. He knew that it must have scared the living shit out of them.

But why did it take him getting hospitalized for them to start checking in on him?

Why did it take something major like that for his parents to remember that he existed?

His parents didn't see him as a failure, if anything, they were proud of him. While he was an average student, he was an amazing basketball player. And as they said, was incredibly mature for him to be able to live by himself for so long. He knew that his parents loved him.

But it was difficult to believe that when they didn't check up on him once. It must have been years since they called him on a day that wasn't a holiday or birthday. And he couldn't even put that particular day on the list where his parents called them of their own accord. The only reason they called him was to make sure that he was fine after getting hospitalized. Hospitalized.

And he was furious.

They called him to check on him, as good parents often do (If only his parents did it more often). But after Kuroko gave them his cover story, his parents suddenly declared him to be unreliable?

As a risk-taker?

The same child that they started leaving him at the tender age of 12 (Also the same age he started to fight) for months at a time, with no one to care for him. The same child that packed his own lunches, did his own laundry, and paid the bills when his parents forgot.

Was suddenly unreliable? Him getting 'attacked' while taking a walk in the middle of the night was enough for them to label him as a problem child?

Even if it was a lie that made his parents think that it made him unreasonably angry.

He had begged for his parent's attention until he was 11, he realized that his parents, along with everyone else, just forgot about him. And once he stopped putting his whole soul into getting his parents to notice them, it was like he didn't exist. His own mother would forget to prepare him a plate so he could be part of the family meal. His father would give his toys to family friends, under the impression that his friend's children had left it behind at their house at one point in time.

He knew that his parents didn't mean it out of malice, he knew that they had just simply forgotten.

But just because they forgot about him, doesn't mean that Kuroko forgot about them. He remembers each and single time his parents forgot about him, stared at him confused when he entered his home, each toy that he lost due to his father's mistake.

All of the family meals that he missed out on.

All of the outings that left him at home, by himself.

But yet, despite the hurt and the pain he felt, he still forgave them. And he still loved his parents. If you looked past the forgetting their child part, they were still admirable people. They were a loving couple, with both his mother and father working overseas to provide for their small family. Their income was enough to make people have their eyes bulging out of this head, but they had worked hard for their salaries.

He should have never forgiven his parents for forgetting him.

He should have made a fuss so they wouldn't forget about their only fucking child wh-

Running his hands through his hair, he tried taking deep, grounding breathes in an effort for him to keep his temper. It had been a long time since he had lost his temper, since before he started fighting, and he was proud that he hadn't had an outburst in almost four years. He saw it as a testament to his inner strength.

Sure, fighting almost nightly with grown men was a terrible habit. He knew that it was a terrible habit, and he knew that one day, he would be too old to continue fighting. But God did it help. Fighting helped him let go of all of his anger and frustration, it helped him regulate his own emotions. But above all.

It helped him be seen.

It's the only place where he didn't have to announce his presence for people to see him. People just saw him when he walked in.

It was the one place where he could disappear when he wanted to, and be seen when he wanted to. That was why he loved fighting so much. He didn't care about the respect people gave him, or the 'fame', he just wanted people to see him for once.

The sound of a notification made him look at his phone.

" Install this app Tetsuya, we'll keep an eye on you using this."

Confusion overtook his anger for a few seconds at the message from his father. And once he clicked on the link, that anger came back tenfold.

It was the fucking Life360 app.

A bitter laugh went past his lips between he could stop it.

It was almost a bark of laughter that he had let out, and if anyone had heard it, they immediately would have asked what was wrong. That, or they would have backed away from him.

They were going to start tracking him now?

Not when they had forgotten home like he was fucking Kevin from Home Alone. Not when they had forgotten him at his own primary school graduation, nor when they left him sleeping at a friend's house.

Not when they realized that they left him behind after they left for their new jobs overseas.

But when he told them that he had gotten attacked while on a midnight walk?

It took almost everything he had to not throw his phone across the room after his father sent him a list of rules for him to follow.

He had to be home within 30 minutes of school being let out, no exception. ( If they truly paid attention to him, they would have known that his school was more than 30 minutes away and that he had after-school practice at times.)

He only had two hours every day to do any errands (He doesn't have a car to take him places, any errand could take more than an hour to do.)

He had to go to school every day, and if they found out that he had left early, arrived late, or skipped, he would lose his two-hour privilege to do errands for the week (They should have known that his basketball matches make him leave school early)

He had to be home by sunset.

He could only leave his house after dawn.

If he was late for any reason, he had to tell them beforehand and send a photo as proof.

If his basketball team was taking him out of school early, they needed the coach to email them each and every time he had a game.

When he finished reading the list that his father had sent him. He closed his eyes and tried to take a few, grounding breathes in an attempt to restrain his anger. He refused to let his parents be the reason he broke his four-year record.

He needed to go for a run before he broke something.

He was just waiting for the rest of the team to finish getting dressed and join him for practice. He almost jumped out of his skin when something grabbed onto the back of his shirt when he was alone in the gym.

"Ahh!" Twisting away and pulling his shirt out of the person's hand, he blinked in surprise when he saw who was standing there,"…I-Kuroko?" His eyebrows furrowed when he noticed the way Kuroko didn't meet his eyes," What's wrong?"

Kuroko shook his head, not saying a single word as he presented a single piece of paper with a shaking hand.

Hyuuga grabbed the paper immediately and was concerned with the way Kuroko was acting. The boy still refused to look him in the eye.

Setting a comforting hand on his shoulder, he started to read what Kuroko had given him.

He frowned when he saw a list of rules. He didn't understand what he was reading until he got to the bottom of the paper, where there was a signature along with the reason those rules were being enforced.

"…I…Your parents are making you do this?" He couldn't stop staring at the list. It's like they didn't even know that he was on a sports team. He only had 30 minutes to get home right after school? Even he knew that Kuroko lived far enough where it took a 45-minute bus ride to get there, if he had a car, he could probably make it. And even then, that wasn't accounting for their after-school practices. Be home by sunset? That wasn't a problem in summer, but in winter, the sun went down as early as five PM. Which wasn't enough time for Kuroko to be even halfway home. It was like they made the rules without even thinking about his capabilities.

Kuroko nodded his head quietly before saying in a heartwrenching, pitifully quiet voice," I'm sorry."

Hyuuga blinked in surprise at the apology but was quick to wave off the apology, "No, its fine, this isn't your fault, I don't think its right that your parents are reacting like this, but we can't do anything to stop it." He gently ruffled Kuroko's hair as he went over the rules again. He almost hummed happily when he felt Kuroko relax under his hand.

Hyuuga sighed heavily, the rules didn't make sense, but he couldn't ask Kuroko to disobey his parents like that, " I'll send your parents an email, will you be able to stay for practice?"

Kuroko shook his head, not saying a single word. Hyuuga sighed while closing his eyes," Ok," He ruffled Kuroko's hair to try and comfort him," Go ahead and go home, I'll tell the others."

Silently, Kuroko nodded and gave Hyuuga a small bow before quickly taking his leave.

Hyuuga couldn't believe that he had to email Kuroko's parents of all people.

The sound of the door slamming open made him jump for a second time, confused, he turned around to see what made the sound. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion when he saw the door swinging close.

Did Kuroko just slam the door open…?