A/N: This is my first story here in a while. I'm a surgical intern who'd just finished her rotation in trauma and this story is pretty much a product of many cases I've observed firsthand. It's going to be dark in the first few chapters, but pretty soon, I'll be throwing some fluff around. I hope you don't get sick of me by then.

Reviews are always appreciated. Would love to hear your thoughts!

CHAPTER 3

The ringing in Aomine's ears hasn't stopped since Satsuki told him the news. Everything else that followed "Tetsu-kun was stabbed" sounded garbled and muted, and if Satsuki hadn't pulled him into the cab that would take them to the hospital, he would have just stood there on the pavement, staring at her in disbelief.

In the car, the sound of Satsuki's voice as she talked to someone else on the phone barely reached him despite them only being a seat apart. She was calling a lot of other people - no, not a lot but exactly four others, and Aomine didn't need to be in the perfect state of mind to guess what she was doing. He tried to shift his focus back to her words, to try to get more information besides the fact that Tetsu was just stabbed barely an hour ago.

That didn't make sense. Seirin had just won the Winter Cup. Tetsu had succeeded in bringing them all back together, which, in Aomine's opinion, was a hell of a lot more difficult than winning the Winter Cup. So it was impossible. This situation was impossible. They weren't in one of those dramas Satsuki was so obsessed with. These things just didn't happen in real life, and they certainly shouldn't happen to people like Tetsu.

What the fuck was going on?

"Dai-chan."

"What?" Aomine snapped impatiently, then immediately felt guilty upon seeing the look on Satsuki's face. "Um, sorry," he muttered, looking away. "I'm just….I mean..."

"I know," Satsuki responded softly and Aomine could almost hear the sadness dripping from her voice. Her hands were clasped over her lap, trembling as she started to sob. Aomine was surprised that she held back this long, waiting to finish all her calls before she allowed herself to break down. He reached out to his manager and long-time friend and pulled her towards him, allowing her to lean against his chest and cling to his shirt for support.

"Tetsu-kun," Satsuki openly wept, the tears freely flowing from her eyes. "Why? Why did that have to happen to him?"

"I don't care about that," Aomine bitterly replied, his free hand balling into a tight fist. "I don't care about the reasons behind this - there's no excuse I could accept for what happened to Tetsu. There's no fucking excuse." His disbelief quickly evaporated under the intensity of the rage that exploded inside him. It felt hot - terribly, unbearably hot, like lava was being poured into his lungs and veins, burning through everything.

To distract himself, Aomine tried to make sense of the series of events that had led up to this situation. He had stayed up late finishing a video game, and was preparing to go to sleep when Satsuki had arrived at his doorstep, panting wildly as if she had ran all the way there without a break, still wearing her pajamas and mismatched running shoes, with a frantic look in her eyes. When she said those words, Aomine had moved without thinking, running back up to his room to grab his phone and sports bag. When he arrived back at the front door, Satsuki was already talking to his mom, probably already explained the situation. "Go," she had told him, no other words needing to pass between them. For a second everything fell out of focus, and Aomine had only snapped back to attention when Satsuki pulled him into the cab she had flagged down.

Aomine blinked and accidentally redirected his attention outside the window and found himself looking at Tokyo Gymnasium where the Winter Cup was just held.

He winced as he recalled that incredibly awkward group hug-slash-reunion of the entire Generation of Miracles at the end of the Seirin-Rakuzan match. Aomine had draped an arm over Tetsu's shoulder right after. "Come eat with us, Tetsu" he told him then. He remembered Tetsu looking tempted, looking hungrily at his old teammates like he couldn't get enough of the reunion he'd probably been dreaming of since that fateful last game they placed in their last year in middle school, before everything fell apart. But at the last second, Tetsu looked back at his Seirin teammates, and Aomine knew, even before Tetsu had spoken, that his pale friend had already made a choice. "Next time," Tetsu promised him, smiling that smile of his that would have made even Akashi's nonexistent heart lurch. And Aomine had agreed, removing his arm, and letting Tetsu go.

God, why did he let him go?

The tightness in his chest worsened and Aomine ground his teeth. He should have insisted, like he always did. He should have dragged him away and kept him in his arms, always along his line of sight, never letting him go for even a second. He could have done all that. He should have done all that. But he didn't. Why?

Why did he let him go?

The sound of Satsuki's phone ringing again snapped Aomine away from his thoughts just in time before he spiraled. Satsuki peeked at the caller ID and immediately straightened. "Hello, Riko-san? How's Tetsuya-kun? Did something happen?"

Riko-san? Aomine wondered. Isn't that the name of Seirin's girl coach?

He couldn't hear the voice from the other line, but Satsuki frowned and nodded her head. "Yes, I think he has some spare clothes with him. But why-Okay. We're on our way anyway. We'll be there soon. Thank you, Riko-san."

"What was that about?" Aomine asked as Satsuki stared at her phone with a confused expression. "Did something happen to Tetsu in the hospital?"

Satsuki shook her head. "He's still in surgery and it's too early for any of the nurses or doctors to tell them anything. She just called to ask if you had some spare clothes they could borrow. Apparently, you're Kagami-kun's closest size."

"For that guy?" Aomine was incredulous. Tetsu was stabbed, and that bastard Kagami was asking for new clothes? What the hell was he thinking?

"She didn't tell me why. She just said we'll see when we get there," Satsuki said quietly. Aomine could see that she was already forming her own assumptions and they disturbed her. He sorely wanted to ask, but felt that if he did, Satsuki would probably start crying again, and he couldn't take anymore of that. While he usually didn't care about her tantrums and outbursts, her tears were different this time, and he really didn't like it.

It was past midnight. The cab sped through the nearly empty roads of that part of Tokyo quickly, but Aomine thought they weren't going fast enough. He was tempted to kick the back of the driver's seat to push him to go a bit faster, but held himself back, at least for Satsuki's sake. The last thing they wanted was the driver kicking them out when they were so close. Nevertheless, Aomine was nearly at the edge of his seat, his hands gripping his knees so tightly that his knuckles were almost white.

He wanted to see Tetsu. No, he needed to see him. It wasn't an option for him anymore, and judging by how much Satsuki was trembling, neither was it an option for her. They needed to see for themselves, they needed to confirm it for their own sakes.

Aomine couldn't remember a time he just so desperately wanted to watch someone breathe.

Kagami had thankfully calmed down before Aomine and Momoi had arrived. He removed his hands from his face, and one of his teammates gasped. Kagami frowned as he blinked, sensing something sticky over his eyelashes. What?

"Kagami-kun," Kiyoshi started, as politely as he possibly could. "I think you need to wash up a bit."

Kagami stared back down at his hands, and noticed that the previously drying blood on his hands gleamed fresh again. He frowned in confusion at first, then eyes grew wide as he realized what had just happened. "Um, right," Kagami coughed, feeling incredibly embarrassed as he abruptly stood up. "I'll just...I'll be right back."

"I'll go with you." Kiyoshi stood up as well. "I drank a lot of tea at dinner anyway."

Kagami knew this was a lie but he nodded. He wasn't going to say it out loud, but he really did not want to be alone. Not at that moment. His legs were still pretty shaky - the adrenaline already worn off a long time ago. As he walked, Kiyoshi flanked his side, ready to support him in case he lost his balance again. Kagami felt incredibly grateful for his senpai's presence.

Thankfully, the bathroom was deserted. Kagami approached the sink area, and immediately recoiled at the sight of his reflection. "Oh my god," he gasped in English. "It's like a horror movie."

Behind him Kiyoshi stifled a chuckle. "It's not really that bad as long as the lights are on," he added helpfully, and nudged Kagami to the sink. The younger boy stepped forward and opened the faucet, staring at the clear, running water for a second before placing his hands beneath them. The water swirling on the white tile soon took on a reddish tint, and as Kagami scrubbed, the tint grew deeper and deeper.

Kagami scrubbed his hands lightly at first, then as if a switch had been flicked, he started scrubbing harder and faster, trying to get that terrible color off his hands. Seeing the red pooling at the bottom of the sink basin brought him back to that dark alley and that unusual color that had begun to seep into the cracks on the ground. He remembered how sickly warm the wetness in his hands were when he first pressed them against Kuroko's abdomen, how desperately he had pressed, ignoring the liquid that was pooling around his knees as well, climbing up the fabric of his pants menacingly. Kagami scrubbed his hands as if his life depended on it, trying to scrub the feeling of Kuroko's blood gurgling beneath his palms.

Then he felt his stomach churn violently, and something came rushing up to the back of his throat. Kagami abruptly abandoned the sink and charged into one of the empty stalls, nearly diving into the toilet. He reached it just in time for the bile he'd been holding down to finally claw its way out with a vengeance. Kagami retched again as another wave passed over him, both hands holding on for dear life onto the rim of the bowl. Kiyoshi crouched behind and placed a hand on his back, drawing comforting circles to ease him through the process.

After several minutes, Kagami coughed and spat out the last of his vomit, finally letting go of the bowl as he collapsed backward. Kiyoshi caught him and allowed him to rest for a while before slowly urging him up as he supported Kagami's shoulders.

With much effort, Kagami finally managed to stand up again, and Kiyoshi guided him back to the sink. Forgetting his hands, Kagami started to wash his face to get rid of the macabre red streaks that he had unwittingly placed on it, and gargled water to wash out the acrid taste in his mouth. His throat burned from the abuse, while his lips felt dry and cracked despite the water on them. When he paused, Kiyoshi handed him a paper towel, and Kagami nodded in thanks, throat too sore to speak.

"Feeling a little better?" Kiyoshi asked.

Kagami nodded, a small sigh escaping his lips. He glanced back at his hands. They were clean now - in his fervent scrubbing he had even caught those bits that were underneath his nails. But under the bathroom light, his palm still had a pinkish tint to it, and he wondered if that was from the scrubbing or if Kuroko's blood had permanently seeped into his skin as some kind of twisted tattoo to remind him of his failure to protect his best friend.

His eyes traveled down, beyond the sink, and saw what a mess his pants and shoes were. The lower half of the front part was a dark red and brown, the blood drying quickly on the fabric. And his shoes...these weren't even his. He had borrowed it from Aomine, who refused to take it back for some lame excuse like not wanting Kagami's foot stink. At that thought, Kagami smiled bitterly. Given their current state, foot stink was the least of his problems.

Kiyoshi seemed to have followed his gaze as he suddenly mentioned that Riko had asked Aomine to lend him some spare clothes, given how they had the closest size.

Kagami looked up at his senpai, a troubled look on his face. "Did she," he started, coughing a little as his abused throat fought against his efforts to talk. "Did she tell them why?"

At that Kiyoshi shook his head solemnly. "But they'll know when they see."

Oh. Of course, Kagami realized and straightened as he threw the napkins into a nearby trash can. He started walking out of the bathroom, with Kiyoshi following closely behind, completely forgetting his initial excuse for coming along in the first place.

Once the cab had arrived, Aomine had jumped out the door before it came to a full stop, ignoring the driver's indignant cry, and forgetting for a moment that Satsuki was with him. He ran into the hospital, stopping only briefly in front of the information desk to find the trauma bay.

Tetsu. Tetsu. Tetsu.

His mind was ruled by one overwhelming thought: I need to see Tetsu.

"Aomine-san! Over here!" A voice called out to him, and he turned to find the entire Seirin team gathered at one corner of the trauma bay's waiting area.

"Where's Tetsu?" He roared at them as he approached their group. Riko stepped in front of him to intercept his approach, hands up in a placating gesture. "He's still in surgery, Aomine-kun," she explained, setting her foot down firmly between him and the rest of her team. "It's been going on for an hour, but the nurse said that given the…" The girl hesitated. "T-The damage they're trying to repair, it might take at least four more hours."

Aomine took a step back. "It's that bad?" Riko looked away.

"I'm sorry."

Aomine turned to where that familiar voice had come from, straining his neck to look past the other Seirin players in the way. When he found him, Aomine made a beeline towards the redhead, pushing past Riko and some other players. But when he reached Kagami, whatever words he had prepared all died in his throat.

What the hell?

"Dai-chan! You're terrible!" Satsuki called out to him as she finally found the group. "You just left me there, you-"

But just like Aomine, Satsuki also stopped at the sight of Kagami, who was seated on a bench in front of them. At first, neither of them could comprehend what they were looking at. Why was Kagami wearing red pants? Weren't Seirin's uniforms all white? Did this mean that he had spare clothes all along? Then it dawned to both of them, at nearly the same time.

"It's...that bad?" The words that came out from Aomine were soft, weak, and barely audible, but the silence that descended upon them in that dark waiting area was enough to carry his voice. Kagami didn't say anything - no, to be exact, he didn't need to say anything. It was obvious, what that gruesome stain was, and more importantly, whose it was. Then of course, there was Kagami himself. Aomine averted his eyes, staring at the floor instead. He couldn't hold the redhead's gaze for too long, not with that look in the other boy's eyes. Kagami's expression was scarier than the stains on his pants and shoes (he was never taking those shoes back) and a small part of Aomine was shamefully relieved for not having been there at the scene of the crime to see what he had seen.

Aomine felt his knees buckling, and he turned to the nearest empty seat and collapsed in it, looking absolutely defeated. The boiling rage that had been burning inside him the whole half-hour cab ride to the hospital suddenly lost all its heat and tenacity, making Aomine feel exceptionally hollow. "Shit," was the only thing he could think of saying as he leaned into the plastic backrest of his seat and placed a hand over his eyes.

He breathed deeply, then suddenly jolted up, startling Satsuki, who had settled beside him. Aomine's eyes flew open and he glared at Kagami's direction, nose all scrunched up in distaste. "You stink," he stated blandly. Kagami stared at him, caught off guard, but Aomine had already grabbed and opened his bag, rummaging inside. He had taken the bag on instinct, part of him already intending on staying in the hospital for several days, but now, a little sweat was the least of his problems.

"Here." He threw several items of clothing at Kagami's direction, and rolled his eyes when the redhead fumbled to catch them. "Go away and change."

When Kagami opened his mouth, as if to protest, Aomine raised a hand to silence him. "Listen, you and I and every person here know that you're not going home until Tetsu comes out of surgery. The least you can do is change and stop stinking up the place while we all wait. If you have energy to argue, then you have energy to change. So shut up and go."

Kagami blinked at him for a few seconds, and Aomine began to entertain the idea that Tetsu had a thing for morons as friends. He and Tetsu were the closest friends among the Generation of Miracles after all. While glaring at the dumbfounded look on Kagami's face, Aomine was beginning to see a pattern. He added it to the list of things he was going to ask Tetsu when he woke up.

If he woke up…

Aomine hastily shook the thoughts out of his head. There was no point dwelling in something he can't control. "I'm going to go get something to drink. You better be changed when I return or else I'm taking my clothes back."

"Dai-chan…"

"Stay here, Satsuki," he stated as he stood up, and he hoped she understood him enough to know what he meant. "I'll go get us some drinks."

Satsuki looked up at him and nodded. Aomine sighed inwardly. Thank God for women who could read minds.

The corridor that housed the vending machines were mercifully empty at that time of night. Aomine approached one and looked over the options, but his mind couldn't focus. In fact, the words had become blurry all of a sudden, and Aomine couldn't understand why his eyes suddenly started to sting, why something wet had begun to trickle down his cheeks. He couldn't understand why, despite him already knowing that it was pointless to be sad over something that he couldn't control, his stomach still churned and buckled under the weight of feelings he didn't want to acknowledge. He couldn't understand why his chest was still tight, why it was still hard to breathe. He couldn't understand why, of all people in the world, it had to be Tetsu in that operating room, with strangers struggling to save his life.

He just couldn't understand.

Aomine leaned against the vending machine, its stark, artificial light casting a cold glow against his dark skin, bringing out none of its usual vitality. In the empty corridor, the dark-skinned boy sobbed in silence.