(A/N:I AM SO FREAKING SORRY I FORGOT TO UPLOAD THIS CHAPTER BEFORE THE ONE THAT COMES AFTER)

Kise and Himuro led the Kiseki no Sedai (+Kagami) for miles and miles. They actually led the Kiseki no Sedai out of Tokyo and into Kanagawa, Kise's hometown. They were now walking through a park, the early afternoon sun shining cheerfully down on everyone.

No words were spoken the entire way, but inside everyone' heads, thoughts were blaring loudly. The Kiseki no Sedai were anxiously wondering why Kise was acting like this, and how Kuroko was tied into all of this. Kagami included.

Kise and Himuro were (belatedly) trying to find a good excuse that would pass Zero's standards for bringing the Kiseki no Sedai. They weren't supposed to bring back any souvenirs, as this could cause everyone to become endangered (A/N: Dear reader, you'll find out soon enough how and why).

The best they could think of was, "They insisted and we pitied them. They were really worried for their friend!" But that was so flimsy that the both just gave up and started mentally preparing for their inevitable demise. 'Damn it, we're in the shit now.' Kise thought, though he hid his despair well, 'Zero will kill me then bring me back to life to kill me a thousand more times.' Himuro, on the other hand, was worrying more about the Kiseki no Sedai's health.

Finally, Kagami's patience had run thin. He'd only been holding himself in because he had busied himself with worrying about Kuroko, but now his worries had brought up more questions than they suppressed. (A/N: I'm not exactly sure how anyone thinks that drowning themselves in their problems will help distract them from their problems. That's like the OPPOSITE of what you want to do. But, Kagami was always an idiot).

"Tatsuya!" Kagami yelled, making everyone else jump at the sudden noise in the tense silence, "You haven't answered anything! Can't you even drop hints?"

"Kagamicchi, keep your voice down-ssu!" Kise hissed. He glanced around worriedly. No one at the park seemed to notice, so Kise grabbed Kagami tightly and dragged them towards a nearby bunch of bushes. He forced Kagami into a crouch and motioned for others to do the same. They complied, bewildered by the blonde's obvious panic.

"Why would I have to do that?" Kagami whisper-yelled, "Just fucking answer my question, can you even drop hints?" Kise looked exasperatedly at Himuro, who was standing up. Himuro shrugged wordlessly, pretty much saying, 'Do what you'd like.' Kise scowled at him darkly, but Himuro chuckled, unfazed. Kise glanced around again.

"Himuro-san, go and stand guard." Kise commanded in a low voice, "And don't you dare let a Kaibutsu get anywhere near us. My scent will surely attract them." Himuro nodded, and walked just a few paces away. He stood in a calm and relaxed pose, as if he were just standing there for the heck of it. Kise frowned at the Kiseki no Sedai, weighing his options.

"We ran into the Kaibutsu before." Murasakibara informed Kise, who's eyes widened, "They were at Kuro-chin's house."

"Describe them." Was all Kise said. So Akashi and Midorima started to describe the werewolf as best as they could. When they had finished, Kise had cursed underneath his breath. 'Shit, shit, shit.' He thought, 'We ACTUALLY have the worst luck ever. Damn it!'

"Okay." Kise took a deep breath, "What I'm about to show you, will change your life forever. No joke. There will literally be a Before and an After." Kise grabbed the hem of his pants and pulled down a little. The Kiseki no Sedai were inwardly panicking, because it looked like Kise was going to pull his pants down, but they were too shocked by his boldness to do anything. Much to their relief (and parents around the world), he only tugged down his pants a little. But what came out was a whole other story.

Around his backside, a long, fluffy, golden-yellow tail came out. It looked like a wolf's tail, and was a slightly darker shade of yellow than Kise's actual hair. Out of his head, long, pointy triangles of wolf ears of the same color rose, previously being flattened against his head. Kise swishes his tail around, and sighed in contentment.

"Ja, my tail was getting so stuffed in my pants-ssu!" He declared, "So uncomfortable-ssu!" The Kiseki no Sedai just gawked at their friend. Akashi's eyes widened, Midorima choked on his own saliva, Aomine and Kagami had their eyes and mouth wide open, and Murasakibara stopped chewing, dropped his snacks, and stared at Kise with wide eyes.

Kise tried to hide how crushed he was. He knew what was flying through their heads, he lived everyday now with people who thought just that. He knew that no one really understood what it was like to but like him. But he wasn't born this way! And this wasn't something Kise had chosen for himself! No, this was the work of another.

But now Kise would always be shunned because of it. He would be treated like an unintelligent inferior, less than human! Even though Kise may be the most humble, helpful, and kind person on Earth, he would not be treated like that. No, people would not act upon his character, but instead his "race" (A/N: What I mean by this is that since Kise is now part of the half-human-half-animal minority, he stripped of his status as a Japanese human and now instead another species entirely. No offense meant).

"Th-the hell?" Kagami stared at Kise's tail and ears, "W-what-oomph!" He was cut off by Midorima slamming his elbow into his gut.

"Baka, think!" Midorima snapped at him in a low voice, "And try, for once, not to be so rude!"

"It's okay, Midorimacchi." Kise let a small chuckle, "I get that a lot now. We're what people call Hybrids. Half animal, half human. But not of choice! And we weren't born this way..."

"K-kitsune?" Midorima stuttered softly, "You're a kitsune?"

"No, silly." Now that Kise's tail was out of his pants, he was acting more like his cheerful self, "Does this look like a fox tail?"

"Y-yes." Kagami managed, "It looks very much like a fox tail." Kise pouted at Kagami and opened his mouth to retort, but Himuro (and the screams of the public) cut in.

"Kise?" He called uncertainly, "We've got company!" Again, Kise cursed underneath his breath. Four large Kaibutsu (the wolf kind) were snarling at them. People were running away and screaming, and very much irritating the Kaibutsu.

"Stay here." He said seriously, "Only me and Himuro can injure them, so you'll just be holding us back. Understood?" He waited for everyone to nod before dashing away to help Himuro. Snarls of rage rang through the air as the Kaibutsu leaped at the pair. Himuro released a long black cat-like tail and triangle ears.

They were more of a equilateral while Kise's were more of isosceles. The Kiseki no Sedai watched in awe as Kise and Himuro successfully ripped out their throats (among other things that I won't be mentioning) after a few minutes of wrestling and slashing each other up. Kise nodded at the Kiseki no Sedai, motioning for them that it was okay to come out.

"So how did you become like this, Muro-chin?" Murasakibara, for once, was actually interested in something other than food.

"Ah, it's a long story." Himuro rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "And we ought to get you guys somewhere safer than here. Quickly, we'll tell you guys later."

"Shit, we need to go." Kise said, looking around worriedly, "If these guys are here then more are sure to come." Akashi nodded to them. Akashi hated this. He hated following other people. Relying on others was not his forte.

"Okay, lead on." Akashi received an odd look from Kise, as if Kise were trying to piece together an anomaly in front of him.

"Quickly, we're almost there-ssu!" Kise finally said. They quickened their pace from earlier. Akashi silently watched Kise's tail swish around. The park had cleared, thanks to the Kaibutsu. Akashi had been so shocked when Kise had shown him his tail. That had felt like someone had jerked a large, comfortable rug from underneath him, and now he was sitting on a thin layer of glass. Underneath the glass was a deep abyss of water. And in that water was huge sharks. Twisting around and around.

Akashi had felt a horrible jolt of shock and a sense of falling. When he had been put back into his senses, he then realized how ill-equipped he was. How that rug of ignorance had both been protecting him and killing him. Akashi could tell there were both positive and negative ways to look at his situation. Normally, when Akashi was thrown in for a surprise, he collected all the data, and made an analysis. This would calm him down, and clear his head and allow him to think.

But there was no data to be collected. Kise and Himuro insisted that everything the Kiseki no Sedai learned must be approved by their higher-ups. It was so frustrating. Akashi was sincerely worried for Kuroko. What had happened to their little bluenette?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They came to a small back alley behind an old inn. Kise and Himuro helped them jump a black iron fence. The asphalt was cracked and old. Kagami felt a small shiver of fear. Who knew what was here? Where was Kise taking them? Kise walked up to a faded red door. It was nothing special, dark red, the paint chipping. It had an old-looking round knob. Kise grabbed the knob, but he didn't twist.

"Guys..." Kise hesitated, "Just know what you're about to see... It's for the best... for everyone. And it's honestly better than it looks. Truthfully." That didn't help with anybody's nerves.

"Just open the damn door." Aomine said, "Don't kill us with suspense." Kise looked at him. Little did the Kiseki no Sedai know, Kise was thinking, 'I'm sorry guys, I'm taking you in like a lamb to slaughter.'

But regardless, Kise knew that his friends wouldn't appreciate him sugar-coating anything. Even if they didn't fully understand what they were about to see. Kise finally opened the door, which swung outward. Inside was a long, dark, and descending staircase.

"4-11, hurry up!" a voice echoed from below.

"Hai, hai!" Answered a familiar voice. The Kiseki no Sedai started at that voice.

"Takao?" Midorima muttered, "4-11? What kind of nickname is that?"

"Ja, I'm afraid that's no nickname." Himuro said, somehow suddenly behind the Kiseki no Sedai. Everyone jumped, because they hadn't even known Himuro was there.

"Muro-chin. Please don't do that, Muro-chin." Murasakibara begged him. Though the beginning was in the same tone as his normal talking voice.

"Hai." Himuro gently nudged everyone, "Well? Aren't you going in?" Everyone nodded. They mentally prepared themselves before stepping down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(LMAO, walking down took so long)

Kagami thanked Kami-sama that they were nearing the end of the stairs. Honestly, Seirin should just do stairs with that staircase instead of practice. It would literally have the exact same effect. His legs burned, and Kagami could tell even the Kiseki no Sedai were struggling to keep pushing on, one foot in front of the other.

"Kagamicchi!" Kise yelled, making everyone's ears hurt, because the staircase was an echo chamber, and making Kagami realized he'd spoke aloud, "Don't say that! Otherwise Zerocchi will make us actually do just that for hours non-stop!" Kagami paled. 'This "Zero" must be such a slave driver... kind of like Akashi and Coach...' Kagami shuddered. He imagined another person like those two, only... worse. But his imagination failed him. Kagami could not think of anyone worse than Akashi or Coach.

But then, the panic on Kise's face looked very sincere, so that meant that Zero would actually do that. Kagami deduced that there was actually someone worse than Akashi or Coach combined. Coach wouldn't kill her boys, and Akashi usually kind of cared about his player's well-being. Then, a terrifying thought struck Kagami like an iron bull.

"Kise, Zero's pretty close to you, right?" Kagami hesitantly asked. Kise nodded in confirmation, "Then, if this is what he's like to people that's close to him, then what's he like to strangers?" Kise didn't answer, only looked down at his feet.

Himuro tried to explain, but came up blank, "He is... ah... quite the... ah..." In the end, all Kagami got was, "He's something." and, "You'll see." Kagami pressed for more answers, but their replies continued to be the same. How frustrating.

"Don't worry, Kagamicchi." Kise said brightly, "If Zerocchi decides to kill you, at least he'll give you the mercy of making it quick and painless-ssu! A quick nip to the throat-ssu!" Kagami and the other Kiseki no Sedai stopped walking and stared at Kise like they were just realizing he was insane. Himuro snorted.

"Kise..." Aomine muttered, "You don't go around saying stuff like that in such a tone." Kise just looked at Aomine with a tilted head, a question written(figuratively) on his face.

"He means don't sound so cheerful when you're talking about someone's death." Himuro jumped in. Kise tilted his head back and his mouth curved into a silent, 'Oh' as realization dawned on him.

"Sorry, Aominecchi!" Kise said, in the exact same tone, "But... Zerocchi says that sugar-coating words gets no one anywhere, and I don't think you need to hear that in such a somber voice-ssu." Aomine sighed and rolled his eyes. But the Kiseki no Sedai turned around and started walking the last few steps. When they looked into the place that Kise and Himuro brought them to, their jaws went dropped, even Akashi's.

It was a large cavern. Like a really long, wide, and tall hallway. There was a high arching ceiling, but at the very top was pointed upwards (not unlike the ceiling of the Three Broomsticks in Harry Potter). There were thousands of doors on the sides of the hallway and catwalks connecting them. In the center was a small stream. The water came from aqueducts that opened up next to the entrance way.

There were lanterns hanging beside every door, and hanging from underneath the catwalk, even a few floating in the stream. People were hand washing clothes in the stream and drinking water. People were clustered around, sparring with real swords, or laughing over a joke while practicing a poison.

There were people leaping around on the catwalks, leaping from catwalk to catwalk. There were little kids playing tag. But the most astonishing part was that Kagami could spot Izuki and Takao flying around, wings on their backs, helping around whenever they were called.

"Senpai!" Kagami called out to Izuki, trying to wave him down, "Izuki-senpai!" Izuki's head snapped towards Kagami. He came down. Kagami gawked at how easily Izuki swooped down. He had elegant dark grey wings.

"Kagami?" He said incredulously, "Wha-how are you here?" Kagami turned on his heel, pointing towards Kise. Or rather, where Kise was. Kagami turned in a confused circle. But when he was facing back around towards Izuki, he saw Himuro standing behind Izuki, a finger pressed to his lips, telling Kagami to stay quiet. Izuki followed Kagami's gaze. But before Kagami could warn Izuki, there was a flash of gold.

"KYAA!" Kise cried, leaping onto Izuki's back, "Got you-ssu!" The Kiseki no Sedai watched with amusement (though they're still pretty shocked) as Izuki leaped away in fright. Then he saw Himuro and shouted again. Then he seemed to start connecting the dots.

"Kise!" He hissed underneath his breath, "Have you gone mad? You know Zero's policy!" Kise made fake tears.

"Ah, so mean-ssu!" he wailed, "And what about Himuro-ssu?" Izuki rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Himuro-san would never do something so irresponsible unless you're involved." Izuki smacked the back of Kise's head.

"Yo!" Takao called as he landed. Then he noticed the problem, "Oh, did Kise bring back more?" The Kiseki no Sedai wondered how many times this had happened that Izuki and Takao looked only mildly upset. More exasperated.

"Hai!" Kise sighed brightly, all his fake tears gone. Himuro flicked Kise's forehead. Takao opened his mouth to say something but then he saw something on the catwalk. He blanched and flew away.

"Where is Kazunari going?" Akashi asked Himuro coldly. But the others caught sight of what Takao had seen. Their eyes wide and their faces pale.

"A-ah." Himuro stuttered, "Zero's here." He pointed up towards a catwalk. Akashi followed his finger to see a shadowed figure on a catwalk. His form was familiar, but Akashi couldn't tell who it was.

"Akashi-kun, Kagami-kun, Aomine-kun, Midorima-kun, and Murasakibara-kun." the figure greeted with an icy tone, "Kise-kun..." Kise whimpered, "Wait for me in the room." Kise nodded and dashed off. Then the figure jumped off the catwalk (which was about 20 ft up).

[A/N: I can already say that you guys already know who that is. Anyways, sorry for such a long chapter! About 3,000 words long! Thank you for reading!]