It was the sound of hushed whispers that woke him up. The pain he felt on his body made him wake up even more

"Why would you bring him?!"

All of the voices were vaguely familiar, but he couldn't put his thoughts together where he could figure out who they were.

"Why wouldn't I bring him?"

"Because he's an animal? How did you even get him in here!?"

"Momoi put him under her shirt and no one questioned it."

"Can't you guys be quiet? You're going to wake up Tetsu."

There was a gentle pressure near the foot of his bed. The sensation made him wake up a little bit more, panic set in until he felt the pressure move. The pressure slowly moved up his bed, always keeping three points of contact until he felt a familiar warmth wedge itself between his arm and body, a small weight resting on his stomach. There was a quiet whine that came from the weight on his stomach.

His lip barely quirked up and he tiredly moved his arm until it was resting on the furry body of his companion. He kept it there, quickly fading back to sleep, feeling comfort in the soft fur that was under his hand, in the warm body that was warming his side.

"Look." There was a pause in the quiet arguing. He felt multiple gazes on him, but he was way too tired to try and greet them.

"Tetsu?" A warm, and calloused hand landed on his forearm," You up?"

He was so groggy, it took him a few seconds to hum an answer. The hand tightened on his forearm, it was large and warm. Far too large to be a female's hand, but still oddly comforting. He let out a small sigh, sleep was quickly overtaking him.

Another warm hand brushed his hair back and placed something that was blissfully cool on his forehead," Go back to sleep Tetsu, you're a little bit sick and need your rest."

"Yeah," Another hand was placed onto his forearm, and he felt someone slip their hand into his grasp," Go back to sleep, we'll talk when you're better." He groggily hummed again and gave the hand a small squeeze before he let sleep finally take him away.

"When are the others going to get here?" Aomine kept his hand on Kurokos forearm, his friend never looking so small as he did at that moment. Kuroko was already small for a basketball player, he always looked tiny compared to the rest of them, but he looked so small in the hospital bed. Between the bandages around his head, the cold compress, and Nigou snuggling into his side, he looked like a child at that moment. Momoi looked at Kise, who had the information he was looking for.

"Midorimacchi, Murasakibaracchi, and Akashicchi should be here by the end of the day, Akashicchi is having a hard time because of the threat that was made against his team." Momoi and Aomine hummed in understanding. Akashi and his team had gotten some sort of anonymous threat that promised injury to their players if they went to the final match to the Winter Cup. As a result, the tournament was postponed until the authorities sorted everything out and determined if the threat was legitimate.

"And what about Seirin?"

"I talked to Kagamicchi, they're also bunkering down because of the threat, but will be here by the end of the day." Aomine grunted out his response. He wasn't happy that Kurokos' own teammates weren't there to see him, but he understood why they were taking a while to see him. He glanced over at Kise, who was still holding onto Kurokos' hand, and rose his eyebrow.

"When are you going to let go of his hand?"

"Oh no, I'm not holding his hand," Kise, who was oddly serious at the moment, not that it was unexpected, lifted his hand, showing the grip that Kuroko had on him," He's not letting go and I don't have the heart to try and make him let go." Kise who had an awkward smile as he explained it, let the smile fall off of his face, his second hand coming up to gently grasp Kurokos hand. With a rare gentleness, he slowly ran his thumb over the back of Kurokos' hand," He looks so small right now...so tiny in this oversized bed."

Kise bowed his head as he held onto Kurokos' hand, tears springing up behind his eyes," Why didn't he tell us? " His shoulders started to tremble, and his voice cracked as he spoke," We could have helped him..."

Momoi sighed as she put her hand on Kise's shoulder, running her hand over his shoulders comfortingly, and held onto Kurokos' hand with him. They all sat in silence.

They had gotten pulled to the side before they had entered Kurokos hospital room by an officer. Imagine their horror when the officer asked them if they had any information on the domestic abuse that had been taking place in the Kuroko household.

Aomine wanted to punch something. It should have been obvious that something was horribly wrong when he ran into Kuroko, only for him to break into tears at the sight of Nigou. He should have known that his friend would have been too stubborn to speak out about his situation. He should have pressed the issue, or at the very least, visited Kuroko more often. He and Kuroko often exchanged memes that they liked, but he should have known that something was wrong when Kuroko started leaving him on read or delivered. But leave it to him and his basketball-obsessed brain, he just chalked it up to Kuroko being too tired from practice in preparation for the finals for him to answer.

He should have known that something was wrong. But he didn't.

And he hated himself for it.

Aomine finally moved his hand from Kurokos' forearm and held his former teammates' hand. It was odd for them to be so loving with each other, it just wasn't part of their dynamic, especially since Kuroko had never been one for physical contact. But it was a pleasant surprise when Kurokos unconsciously adjusted his grip to try and hold all three of their hands. As expected, he was doing a poor job of doing it, since he was still asleep and all, but it wasn't unwelcomed.

If only Kuroko knew just how much they all cared for him.

Maybe then, he would have turned to them for help.

He stirred when he felt someone pulling his thin hospital blanket up to his chin. Groggily, he opened his eyes, somewhat relieved when he saw that the lights had been dimmed for the night.

"Oh," He looked up at Wrath, he had been the one who pulled the blanket over him and was standing over him at the moment," Hey man, how do you feel?"

His brain was still a little bit muddled, so he said the first thing that came to his mind, he didn't even answer the question," Fuck off."

Wrath blinked at him once, and then twice. He just shrugged his shoulders at the curse.

"Ok, thanks man, I really needed that. Want some water?" He hummed in agreement, gingerly and carefully sitting up so he could take the cup and drink it himself. his head was throbbing, and he could tell that his fingers were still jammed from the fight. The glass that had gotten embedded in his hands and knees was gone. He could feel that his right ankle was wrapped up tightly after his mother had viciously stomped on it to help his father. Everything hurt in its own way, but at the same time, he felt better than ever.

"Thanks," His voice no longer came out as a croak and he handed the small cup of water back to Wrath. Wrath hummed in response and without being asked to, he gave Black an update.

"Your parents are being charged with attempted murder, possession of drugs, along with money laundering, child abuse and a whole bunch of other charges I couldn't remember. They're both in jail right now. I already gave them the evidence you emailed me and right now, they just need a statement from you so they can complete their case against your parents. They got you pretty good in the head, you've been asleep for the past couple of days but since you woke up, you can be discharged tomorrow. Its past visiting hours, but your team and former teammates are all anxious to see you, and your dog is right over there. Surprisingly, the doctors let him stay." They both looked at Nigou, who was blissfully sleeping on the nearby chair.

"Anything else you want to ask?"

He shook his head. Wrath had managed to answer all of his questions.

"Good, now come here." Much to his surprise, Wrath pulled him into a tight hug. If it wasn't for the way Wrath was trembling, he would have shoved him away," You really scared me man," Wraths voice was trembling, his voice cracking with grief. Black sighed in resignation, and wrapped his arms around his friend, he put his chin upon Wraths shoulder and quietly said.

"Sorry." The arms around him tightened.

"Don't say sorry you idiot," Wrath put his forehead onto Black's shoulder. They stayed like that for one more minute before Wrath pulled away, his face set in a frown with tears in his eyes.

"You know what? You should say sorry! You had a shitty plan and look how it ended!"

He cringed at that. He had to admit, his plan was definitely shitty. Hindsight is always 20/20 and if he had the chance, he would have throttled his past self for making such a stupid plan that quite literally relied on his luck.

"You could have died! I thought I wasn't going to make it!" He honestly thought Wrath wasn't going to make it either.

He didn't say anything.

That just made it worse.

"At least say something! You asshole, I can't be the only one crying!" He stared blankly at his blanket, his hands clenched as tight as his fingers would allow them.

He didn't know how to feel. He felt relieved that his parents were locked away from him and society. But at the same time.

There was something deep in his chest that ached at the thought of his parents being imprisoned. It was one of the few times when he knew that his parents were in the wrong, but for some reason, his heart just couldn't accept it.

It was like there was a part of his brain belittling him for aiding in his parent's arrest.

Perhaps belittling is not the right word. But he just couldn't put the way he was feeling into words at the moment.

"Great," Wrath chuckled wetly as he used the palm of his hands to rub at his eyes," Now we're both crying, this is nothing like the movies."

His words made him realize that he was crying, that there was a constant stream of tears going down his face. But his ending statement was such a Wrath thing to say, he couldn't help the half laugh, half sob that ripped through his throat," God," His voice shook as he stuttered out his words," You're such a fucking idiot."

Wrath almost jumped out of his skin by the way Black suddenly pulled him into a hug, this time, holding onto him tightly. Holding him just tight enough where he was close to suffocating," Thank you, thank you so much. Thank you..." Black continued his babbled words of gratitude as he spoke into Wrath's shoulder. Sobs punctuated almost every other syllable, but Wrath didn't do anything as his friend finally had that emotional reaction he had been bottling up for the past month or so.

He wrapped his arms just as tight around Black.

Everything else happened in a daze for Kuroko.

Everything was somehow going too fast and too slow, too smooth and too complicated.

Apparently, he had somehow managed to avoid getting his ankle snapped in half when his mother stomped on it. The look on the doctor's face when he told them how it got hurt was enough for him to know that he was lucky. However, his skull wasn't as lucky.

He didn't realize it then, it was probably the adrenaline and being overwhelmed (or the concussion) but his skull had been fractured and his eye socket also had some hairline fractures. And that wasn't counting the gash that was over his right eyebrow. He still hadn't been able to see it or touch it (Everyone smacked his hand away when he tried), but from what Wrath was telling him, it was going to leave a 'badass' scar.

Considering that the statement came from Wrath, he had mixed feelings about it.

Based on what the doctors said, he was extremely lucky that he hadn't walked away with some brain damage. And that the worse mental symptom was him losing almost all memory of the final encounter with his parents.

The last thing he remembers was the sight of looking down at his phone, and clumsily pressing the call button that was right next to Wraths stupid smiling face. The next thing he knew, he was waking up to the voices of his former teammates, and then waking up with Wrath pulling the blanket up to his chin.

"Kuroko!" He nearly jumped out of his skin when the door to his hospital room was slammed open and far too many visitors stumbled through his door.

Before he knew it, he was surrounded by his team, former teammates, and flustered nurses. His teammates were all simultaneously chiding him, scolding, fussing, and almost crying over him.

Kise was almost sitting on his lap, and he let Kise latch onto him, he let his former teammate smush him against his chest, almost dramatic sobs and cries coming from his friend. Aomine and Kagami were trying to pull Kise off of him. Midorima was trying to give him his lucky item, Murasakibara was trying to find a place to put down a crate of Kurokos favorite snacks (It was overkill, but the giants attempt to comfort his friend truly warmed his heart). Momoi was also trying to pin Kuroko to her chest, and Riko was trying to pull her off. And Akashi was off to the side, talking and getting information from Hyuuga about everything he knew, and was ominously tapping away at his phone.

All while the flustered nurses were trying to kick at least some of them out since they had obviously exceeded the 'three people at a time' order the doctor had given.

"Oi Kise! Get off of him!"

"Kurochi!"

"Tetsu!"

"Get off of him!"

"Pull harder Bakagami!"

"Piss off Aho-mine!"

"Where do I put this?"

"Here, your lucky item."

"Thats all I know."

"That all I need to know. I will make sure they are properly punished."

"You all need to leave!"

The sight of the absolute chaos made him smile.

And for the first time, he let the ever so carefully hidden personality of Black blatantly make itself known.

He cackled.

But it was clear that everything that had happened with his parents, had changed him.

He finally started to let his second identity leak into his everyday life. Just enough to notice that he was a little bit bolder, a little bit less invisible, and a little bit more snarky.

But at the same time, he was tenser, more defensive. He didn't let anyone stand behind him unchecked. If he had to stand in front of someone, he always made sure that it was someone he could defeat or someone he truly trusted. He always walked just a little bit ahead and to the side of everyone to keep an eye on them, or at the very back where no one was behind him. If you suddenly appeared behind him and spooked him, you had to be prepared for the way he was going to pin you to the ground. Breathing heavily with wide eyes until he realized that you meant no harm, to which he would apologize profusely with a mortified face.

So far, the only people he trusted to stand behind him would be Kagami, Hyuuga, and Wrath.

He refused to eat food that he did not make himself. If someone offered him a homemade lunch, he would respectfully decline. He would eat a piece of chicken if it came from someone else's lunch, but he was instantly suspicious of anyone that offered him homemade food. He ate prepacked food, foods that were sealed, but almost no fast food. The only exception he made was the vanilla shakes from Majis.

The only food he took with some hesitation would be from Wrath and Mitobe.

He didn't trust people.

at all.

He could be smiling and laughing with his team one moment. But if someone came up to their group, someone they didn't know with a wide smile, he was instantly on guard. He could be laughing and relaxing with them, and the next moment, he was a completely different person. The smile would instantly disappear, his eyes would narrow into something of glare as he tensed up. He could go from a normal teenager to the experienced fighter he was within seconds.

There hasn't been a single stranger where he hasn't reacted like that.

But it was to be expected that Kuroko would change.

Who wouldn't?