Ratings: PG13
Warnings: Violence, Swearing
Genre: Angst, Romance, High School, Drama, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters in this story, living (or passed) human beings or fictional characters. These events never happened, according to history or as the original author intended them. This is a work of fiction and is not intended to offend. For entertainment purposes only. Thanks.

Also, the original characters developed in this story are that of the author's creation. They are not to be copied without written permission.

Author's Note: This is the last of the originally published chapters that have been edited, so once more I want to thank all my readers and everyone that commented on this story, followed it, messaged me and asked for updates. Without you, I would have never returned to complete this story and I would have never felt this powerful connection that fandom and literature created. Once again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. And I hope that you enjoy the new chapters coming soon as much as you have enjoyed the story to here. - EruriFiction

Chapter 8 - My Shadow is Hidden By Your Darkness:

Tuesday, October 18th - Evening

The train wasn't as crowded as it had been on the trip down. Kise found it harder to settled into his seat on the return trip since this crowd was less afraid to glare at them for Murasakibara's socially-unacceptable appearance. To conceal the red and puffiness as a result of crying, Murasakibara had thickened the black circles of coal that circled his eyes and painted his lips black. When Kise had asked why he had to look so scary he explained the makeup would cause people to look away from his eyes and focus on that exact question, so they wouldn't pity him. Kise found no argument for this. Murasakibara had put his headphones on after Kise hadn't spoken to him for ten minutes, and Kise found the pressure of small talk taken away. He was thankful that Murasakibara hadn't pushed him to talk, he had many thoughts to gather in his mind.

Murasakibara had put his hair in his face and Kise knew deep down that he was hiding his tears again. He reached his hand over and placed it in Murasakibara's. The man's fingers wrapped around it instantly and he knew that neither of them gave a single fuck to anyone watching them in the train. He didn't care that they were two grown boys on the train comforting each other. They were friends, best friends, and that's all that mattered. When Murasakibara hurt, he hurt. It had always been that way. It will always be that way. That's why they were close friends.

Murasakibara had been one of the first kids to befriend Kise when he had joined the boy's basketball club at Teiko. On their first night out as a team, he had been the only one to try and console him with paying for more ice creams and shedding the financial burden off the model. He was the first to defend him and back him up against the man that had stolen the older woman's purse. And he never had badgered Kise about his social status or made fun of his modelling career. Murasakibara was a rather low-key guy, with small interests and hobbies, but that had never stopped him from being the best friend Kise had ever had.

Kise gave Murasakibara's hand a squeeze as he thought of their past together. It was oddly comforting to be on a train with Murasakibara, hand in hand, at night, and just watching the city fly by them. He leaned on Murasakibara's shoulder and Murasakibara lowered his headphone's so Kise could whisper in his ear memories they had of their Teiko days. Tired from their sporadic trip to the south, the pair spoke in murmurs and shared an orange juice Murasakibara had in his jacket to keep them awake for the duration of the trip.

As the train slowed to its stop, Murasakibara stood and pulled Kise up with him. They gathered their things and walked hand in hand out of the train, Murasakibara being a giant shield that carved an easy pathway through the crowd for Kise to follow. Once outside in the open, Kise threw his arms around Murasakibara and hugged him.

"I'm sorry. I'm just so glad we got to see each other again and it's just been so messed up and I just- I just missed you so much!"

Murasakibara chuckled in his ear and Kise was relieved. The taller man had stopped crying now at least, and it was a good feeling to hear his innocent chuckle. The pair walked back to Kise's house, taking their time to walk under the night sky. It was hard to believe that it was the middle of the week; they had both missed classes and shed their day to day responsibilities for this spontaneous and rather reckless venture down south, without any regard for their daily schedules. The blonde found himself giggling.

Murasakibara grinned; Kise's laughter was contagious. There was something about Kise that made Murasakibara feel hopeful about finding Akashi. He vowed to himself, as he walked slightly behind the blonde skipping around him now, that he wouldn't leave his friend behind again. He would be the friend that Kise had so clearly missed. It was hidden deep inside of him, and it needed some coaxing out, but Kise's friend was still there, just waiting to return.

There was a tall silhouette pacing in Kise's front room window, illuminated by the lights left on. Kise ran up the steps and unlocked the front door with his house key. As Atsushi made his way up the front walkway, he could see the figure immediately move so that it had left the living space and headed towards the front door. He shyly followed the blonde's lead up the steps and into the house, taking his shoes off with care.

Powerful arms wrapped easily around his neck and shoulders and crushed his headphones into his throat as he was suddenly caught in a tight hug. His eyes widened with the sudden affection, having anticipated being loomed over and lectured, and he glowed pink with a faint blush under his makeup.

"You're okay!" He could make out through the vibrations of his brother talking with his throat pressed against Atsushi's ear.

"I was until you jumped on me." He replied, humour tinting his voice. He wasn't laughing, but his lips were curved in a delicate, hesitant smile that seemed to waver, as if he wasn't sure how to properly smily anymore.

The arms removed themselves from his body and Atsushi turned in time to see Fuji wrap his arms around the blonde. "Thank you!" he was telling him repeatedly. "Thank you!"

"It was no problem. I had a lot of fun with Murasakicchi today!"

"I'll bet you did."

Kise's mom flipped on the lights above the stairs. "So you got in safely?" She asked, then stifled a yawn. Clearly, she wasn't the kind of parent to hover in her children's lives, but deep down she did care enough to stay up until they returned home.

"Yes, sorry to bother you mum."

She waved her hand airily. "Boys will be boys." she whispered and came down to hug her son. "Would you like anything to eat? I know it's late but you just got in."

Atsushi brightened. It was indeed late but some cookies would be good right about now. Kise read his eyes easily.

"Cookies and milk?" he shyly asked, knowing the gentle-giant's favourite pre-bedtime snack.

She rolled her eyes but smiled affectionately, clearly recalling the snack with fondness, and headed off to the kitchen. "Come help me."

Fuji held out his hand and pointed Kise to the front room. "Relax. Let me get them with her." Before Kise could protest, Fuji turned and headed into the kitchen as well.

The pair of high school boys found seats in the living room and made themselves comfortable. Atsushi took his headphones off his head and wrapped the cord around them, before putting them to rest for the night on his bag. Kise stretched out on the floor, happy to be able to take up space. He wiggled his feet and stood up and started walking in circles.

"Aren't you tired?" Atsushi asked him, stiffing a yawn behind his hand.

"I've been sitting too much on that train."

"Well I'm beat."

"Wash your face before you sleep."

"Yeah, yeah."

Fuji ducked to avoid hitting his head on the doorway and entered the room, bringing with him a plate of cookies and three glasses of milk on a tray.

"Alright." he set the tray on the table. "Let's talk."

"There's nothing really to say." Atsushi started.

"You didn't come all this way for nothing." Fuji smirked. He turned his attention to Kise. "You tell me then, blondie. What happened in Kyoto?"

Kise blushed, not having been called the familiar nickname in about a year. "We went to find Akashicchi." He used Murasakibara's strategy and put his hair in his face as he dunked his cookie in his milk to avoid making eye contact with Fuji. He took a bite, trying not to bring more attention to himself, and ate slowly to avoid having to speak more than he had to.

"That much was obvious in his note saying he's going to Kyoto." Fuji rolled his eyes, teasing them with his sarcasm. "So what happened?" He pressed.

"We didn't find him."

"That's it?! So how come his eyes are all red then?" He pointed his finger at Atsushi as he bit into his own cookie. "Come on. Stop telling me what I can already guess and tell me what happened."

"I was upset." Atsushi blushed.

"Didn't kill another bird, did you?"

Kise chuckled into his glass of milk.

"No. Ask blondie." Atsushi sneered mockingly.

Kise spat his milk back into his glass as he burst out laughing. "Not you too, Murasakicchi!"

"He started it!"

"Aw, c'mon. I'm just making sure you're alright." Fuji protested weakly.

"Sure you are."

"He is. Give him some credit." Kise snickered.

Atsushi rolled his bright eyes. "You're supposed to be on my side, Kise."

Fuji fell silent, not wanting to push his younger brother. He was glad there was an air of humour amongst them, and he kept a watchful eye on the juniors as they ate their cookies. They sat in a lull of quiet for some time, the younger boys aware that their elder was watching them but not entirely bothered by it. Outside cars drove by, the wind picked up, and it began to gently rain. Without any reason, Atsushi reached into his pocket and retrieved his cell phone. Once it was free from his pocket, the vibration was audible and disrupted their quiet gathering.

"Who is it?" Fuji asked immediately.

Atsushi stood and left the room without a word, his face was grim, his phone was to his ear.

Kise stayed quiet. He turned to Fuji. "Well, that was odd."

"Just hang on, Kise. I need to know if that's mum." Fuji stood and followed his younger brother to the entrance, then slipped on his shoes and stepped outside after him. Atsushi had walked down the walkway and began pacing at the front gate. As Fuji approached, he could hear what his younger brother was saying:

"I don't understand why you keep calling me?" Atsushi paused, listening. "No. It's not like that. Because I don't care."

Catching his elder's eye, Atsushi flushed pink. "I don't fucking care what you say, Muro-chin!It wasn't like that!" He sneered and then paused again. "Is that so? No, I didn't mean it like that! Because it was only one time! Fine, twice. Regardless, you knew how I felt about it! Well because I fuckin' told you! You're so full of shit."

Fuji raised an eyebrow.

Atsushi continued his pacing. "I don't fucking give a fuck! Don't you fucking dare-No!" he paused. "No. Go to fucking Hell, Muro-chin." Atsushi ended the call and slipped the phone in his pocket. He turned to Fuji. "Does mum and dad know where we are?"

"I told them before I left."

"Everything?"

"No. Not everything. I just told them Atsushi got depressed about the whole situation with Himuro going on at his school and he went to see his friend Kise to cheer himself up. They thought it was a good idea, they knew how close you two were, so let me come over to check on you and told me to just let you have your time with your friend."

"Oh."

There was a silence.

"Himuro is still calling you?"

"All day. But I only answered now."

"It got pretty heated, huh?"

"Huh?"

"You're shaking."

Atsushi looked down at his hands, clenched into fists at his side.

"Yeah, well," he rubbed his nose. "He threatened to go to mum and dad. Like I'm some kind of child or animal he can control."

"C'mon." Fuji wrapped an arm around his younger brother. "Nothing's going to happen to you. I've got you now."

Atsushi squeezed his eyes shut tight and heaved a sigh. "Yeah, yeah. I'm just..."

"C'mon, Ryota's inside. We shouldn't just abandon him when he's doing all this stuff with us. Let's go in, see your friend."

The pair made their way back inside and Kise perked up at the sight of them. He put his own phone down and smiled sweetly at them. "I don't have quite the sweet tooth you guys do." He joked, pushing the plate of cookies towards the brothers.

Fuji took a cookie and turned to Kise. "So, you didn't find him? Akashi, I mean."

"No, we didn't." Kise smiled. "He wasn't at school."

"Did you stop by his house?"

"Didn't know where it was."

"And he wasn't at his team practice?"

"No. He was absent so we left. When we got back to the hotel, mum called and let us know you were here. So we headed back."

"I see."

"Well," Kise drank the last of the milk in his glass. "It's late and I'm sure we're all very tired."

Fuji stacked their glasses on the tray. "Leave it, blondie, I'll take it to the sink."

"I live here, Fujicchi-sempai. I'll manage." The blonde stood and carried the tray out of the room with ease, his tone of voice playful.

Atsushi looked up from munching on the last cookie and met his brother's eyes. "What?" He asked, surprised to have been being watched.

"You look tired."

"I am fuckin' tired." The boy mumbled.

"You wanna try again tomorrow?"

"What?"

"Do you want to try to find Akashi again tomorrow?"

"Well..."

"If ya wanna, I'll take ya. But don't go running out on me. I'll take you in the morning if it means that much to you."

Atsushi's cheeks were dry from crying all day but his lips broke into a smile. "Thank you, Fuji-chin. It means a lot to me that you would do that."

Kise came to stand in the doorway, already changed into his pajamas. "You guys gonna stay in my room tonight or do you wanna stay down here?"

"Definitely in your room." Fuji replied, rising to his feet. "I trust you have something softer than a floor to sleep on."

"Not for your size." Kise jested, joking with his friend's older brother. "No, I'll find something. It actually might work out."

Atsushi picked up his bag followed the blonde up the stairs. "We're going to back to Kyoto tomorrow." He informed him.

"Eh? To find Akashicchi?"

"Yeah, I said I'll take him." Fuji clarified.

"Do you want me to come? I can-"

"You missed enough school because of me." Atsushi clarified. "You're not even in your school's district because of me. You should head back tomorrow before you get into more trouble."

"Right." Kise could see that he would lose the argument since Atsushi had his older sibling with him.

Kise led them to his room and then pointed out the bathroom for Fuji. Afterwards, he headed into the attic and came down with a large cardboard box. As the two purple-haired brothers cleaned up in the bathroom, he set up two air mattresses on his room floor, side by side. With little space left to navigate, he took the cardboard box and air pump back outside and left them in the hallway beside his room door. Then he headed to the hall closet and returned to cover both air mattresses with several blankets and an armload of pillows. It wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep, but it was bigger than his small bed, and with the Murasakibaras' bigger was always better.

Atsushi emerged from the bathroom in nothing but a pair of black cotton pajama pants and flopped down onto the the air mattress close to the head of Kise's bed. Fuji hadn't returned yet.

Kise smiled shyly at Atsushi and got into his own bed, already wearing his bright yellow tartar pajamas. "Good luck with finding Akashicchi tomorrow, Murasakicchi. I'll wake up with you tomorrow." He took his phone off the small bedside table and turned on an early alarm to wake them all up at nine in the morning.

Atsushi smiled but his eyes were already shut and he had buried himself in the soft blankets and pillows that his friend had given him. Kise could tell he was already almost asleep, having been tired out from their little excursion. The blonde settled into his own bed, nestling his cheek against his pillow, thinking of the nights he would spend in a room full of boys at training camps, and waited for Fuji to return and turn off the lights.

Wednesday, October 19th - Morning

The airport was crowded. Many travellers were pulling bags with them, flying solo at this early morning hour. Most of the people that had booked this early were flying for business or avoiding flying with families bringing children since no parent in their right mind would bring a child on a flight at seven in the morning. Despite the early hour, Nijimura Shuzo was bright eyed and energized. He smiled at his phone, checking the time, watching the numbers change from 6:59 to officially 7:00am. He only had half an hour before his flight, which was just enough time for a phone call. He selected a contact in his phone he hadn't viewed in a very long time and waited patiently for his call to be answered.

"Hello?" The answering voice was also awake and energized, not bothered by the early morning timing.

"Seijuro?" Shuzo's smile widened saying the boy's name.

"Nijimura-san?"

"It's good to hear from you, Seijuro. I hope I didn't wake you up."

"No, you didn't. I was awake. It's already eight a.m."

"Oh, good. Good. Yes, it is." Shuzo paused, taking in the busy airport surroundings. "I have some good news: I'm in Beijing. I'm just boarding my flight to Japan now."

"I know." Akashi smiled, speaking softly into the phone. He blushed despite being invisible to his ex-captain, feeling giddy and childish with the thought of him returning to the city. "I'll see you at the terminal in three hours."

Shuzo felt warm from the tone of the boy's voice. Pure admiration rolled off the phone in waves and he could imagine the redhead was blushing.

"Your father told you, I presume." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah."

"Of course." he paused, not at all bothered by the fact that his surprise had been ruined. "I thought he would, after I called him."

"Yeah, he wanted me to be there."

Shuzo chuckled. "I can see that." The call hadn't felt very long, but as he looked around he noticed the door for his flight had opened and a lineup for passengers to board had begun. "Oh shit, I gotta go now, they're boarding. Don't wanna miss my flight."

"Don't miss your flight. I'll see you soon." Akashi breathed. "Travel safely."

"I will. Thank you. Bye!"

Shuzo hit the disconnect button and grabbed his carry-on bag. He traded his phone for his passport in his pocket and headed towards the lineup of others catching his flight.

Akashi lay wide awake in bed in his old bedroom at his family's home in Tokyo. Having have such an emotional week, he allowed himself to lounge in bed in an attempt to feel rested. Usually he reserved lounging for when he was sick, an ideology instilled in him from his father that had become a paranoid habit he felt hard to break. Still, he supposed that being emotionally drained was a form of sickness, so he decided to take the moment and rest his body in order to keep from becoming physically ill. He had woken up a little over fifteen minutes ago when his alarm went off at 7:45, and allowed himself to stay in bed. He fought the voices in his head that told him he was being "unprofessional" by resting when he wasn't medically ill, especially since it was after seven in the morning and therefore time to be productive in the business world He drowned out the voices in his head and tried to relax, engaging his conscious in a meditation of gratitude.

He was glad he had spent the time enjoying the first minutes of his morning rather than rushing to get up and ready, since his phone rang on the hour and he spent the next few minutes speaking to Nijimura, his old teammate, captain, and close friend.

His father had informed him of Nijimura's return to Japan when he was at the cafe Sunday night and ordered him to immediately return home to Tokyo in order to greet Nijimura at the airport. Akashi had been more than happy to agree, so he headed back to his flat and packed a bag for his travels back to Tokyo. The next day on Monday, he had attended his classes and picked up his workload for the week, taking the opportunity to inform his teachers and coach at Rakuzan that he was heading back to Tokyo rather abruptly for family business. That night, he also took Reo out for dinner to go over the plans for the team's practice schedule for the week, trusting him to maintain his plans while he was away on business. Tuesday morning, he took the train home. He arrived home before his father was finished work and had taken the alone time to complete the assignments he had taken from his teachers to keep from falling behind in class. That night, he had a surprisingly pleasant dinner with his father, then a relaxing evening in the bathtub before bed. Today, he was to meet Nijimura at the airport when his flight landed, and he assumed after that they would see where things went since he had been excused from school for the rest of the week.

Akashi had kept in touch with Nijimura after the older boy had left to America, but their interactions became brief. At the most, Akashi was glad to hear from Nijimura in the form of an email every odd week, usually short and sweet and without very much detail. Nijimura didn't often get into long paragraphs about his days or his new friends or comrades; rather he had questions for Akashi or three or four interesting stories to share. Nijimura spoke a lot about his family and his classes, and on occasion about basketball or how odd he found American culture. His Japanese had become muddled with English and Akashi was glad for the excuse to exercise his skill in the English language. In return, Akashi had told him about his classes, his horse racing, and his shogi tournaments, as well as the on-goings of Rakuzan's student council, the basic standings for the various schools in the winter cup, and always commented on the content of Nijimura's emails.

He had just gotten off the phone with Nijimura and had been reading the email he received from Reo - his current shooting guard - regarding yesterday's practice. Reo had led the team in stretches and then taken them on a lengthy run around the perimeter of the school to warm up, before doing the drills Akashi had drawn up and then ended with three practice games. Akashi disliked missing practice and felt it was his responsibility to train his team, so he had drafted up the plans for the week and requested Reo keep him up to date, since he wouldn't be around. Nothing out of the ordinary was reported, the boys were doing well, and he felt now was the time to rise and get ready for his day when his phone screen suddenly displayed a call. His face broke into a grin as he accepted, sliding the green key to the right immediately before he could read the name or number, assuming it was Nijimura calling him back for a quick afterthought. He turned on his side, pressing his ear against the phone and burying his face into his pillow.

"Hello?"

"Akashi?"

Akashi paused. The voice was so familiar but pulling the phone away from his ear for a moment, he realized the number wasn't. He had just got off the phone with Nijimura, so he knew the number wasn't his. The number wasn't registered as out of the country at all; it was actually a number from Japan.

"I'm sorry, who?" He replied, trying to keep the call professional. He had gotten a new phone when he started at Rakuzan, and in an attempt to bury his feelings for his old teammates, he didn't add all the numbers back from his old phone. He wasn't sure if this person was a person from his past at Teiko or if it was a person calling him from Rakuzan regarding one of his many extra-curricular activities. It could have even been one of the men that frequented his new favourite cafe who he had been dazzled enough into giving his phone number to weeks ago that hadn't been brave enough to call him yet.

"Haizaki Shogo. Your old small forward, Teiko number eight." The snide voice remarked him, mocking his professional tone. The name jumped out at Akashi and pulled him out of the lull he had fallen into thinking of his new hookup joint.

"Yeah, yeah. I remember you." Akashi rushed to seem polite but couldn't keep the edge out of his voice. He still could recall being pinned to the gym wall by this bully of a player. He hadn't heard from Haizaki in two years, despite being in the same third year class in middle school. "How are you, Shogo? What can I do for you?"

"I'm alright." There was obvious excitement in the boy's voice over the phone and it seemed like he was nervous suddenly to speak to Akashi. "I was just, uhh, wondering if you heard about, uhh, Nijimura-sempai returning to Japan for a visit?"

"Yes. In fact, I just got off the phone with him." Akashi smiled, hoping the words played with Haizaki's fear. He recalled that Nijimura was the only person in the school that was able to tame the rugged boy. "I'm actually going to meet him at the airport today."

"Wait," Haizaki was brought up short. His voice had a startled tone to it. "So you're in Tokyo?"

"Yes."

"I thought you lived in Kyoto now? Attending Rakuzan?"

"Yes. I do. But I came back to Tokyo to meet him."

"Oh. How did you know he was returning?" Haizaki sounded somewhat disappointed. Akashi vaguely wondered why.

"My father informed me. Family friends and all." Akashi briskly replied. "How do you know? You'd be the last person I would think to be informed of this."

Haizaki looked around and realized Akashi couldn't see him over the phone. "Uhh," he replied, conveying that he was thrown off by the question. "I, uhh, I heard from, uhh, my brother."

"Uh-huh." Akashi found this information odd. Haizaki seemed hesitant, as if he were avoiding letting his former captain know the truth.

"So, uhh, yeah. You were...going to meet him at the airport, then?"

"Yes."

Haizaki was silent. Akashi wondered if he should take the boy's silence as an indication that he wasn't sure when exactly Shuzo would be arriving or if he could ask for more details. A small bubble of pity formed in Akashi's throat. He swallowed, trying to move the lump of guilt but it simply wouldn't pass. He bit his lower lip. There was only two reasons he could think for Haizaki's current reaction: he was either scared of Shuzo's return or he was interested in it. He decided to explore the two possibilities, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Uhh," he found it hard to form the question. A sharp memory of Haizaki slamming him against the wall of the gym came to the front of his mind. Rather than feel angry because of it, a smile spread across Akashi's face. "Would you like to come with me, Shogo?"

Haizaki's reply was instant. "Sure! When do I meet you?"

Akashi smiled. So he was interested in Nijimura's return. Odd. Haizaki had been Shuzo's punching bag of sorts. He had always appeared afraid of Nijimura. He wondered if he was planning to challenge Nijimura for a re-match of sorts? Perhaps he had spent the last two years training to prepare for his own form of revenge? He decided to humour the boy and find out why he was so interested in Nijimura's return, having complete faith in his former-captain's ability to defend himself if Haizaki was trying to be intimidating.

After creating plans with Haizaki, Akashi disconnected the call and smiled to himself. He took the phone away from his ear to checked the time: it was eight thirty. The math was simple, Beijing was an hour behind Japan. That made it was seven in the morning in Beijing, China, when Nijimura had called him. He smiled. Nijimura would be landing at eleven forty-four in the Japanese time zone, a little under three hours from now. That gave him approximately an hour and a half until the time he was supposed to meet Shogo and a little over two hours until they were to be at the airport.

Akashi chided himself: answering phone calls while still in bed was unprofessional. He was surprised by his change in character, how depressed he had become at Rakuzan to simply begin missing school to see his old teammates and how he let his carefully perfected habits of professional mannerisms slip up. In truth, he knew he missed his life at Teiko Middle School: missed his friends and his teammates, his independence from his father and his ability to make choices about his life that allowed him to be social and less of a workaholic. He missed being someone's attention, their little reason to blush and smile when he made eyes with them from across the gym. And that was perhaps the reason why he was so restless with life at Rakuzan? He was missing his special someone.

He shook the thought from his mind and threw back his bed sheets to let the chill of the morning air jolt him awake and keep him from staying in bed any longer. Placing his feet into his house slippers, Akashi put his phone on the night table and began heading to the bathroom to prepare for the day. He wanted to look presentable and pick Nijimura up a welcome back present before he met with Haizaki to head to the airport together.

Haizaki put the phone down and sighed heavily. He was meeting Akashi in a little over an hour. They had decided ten o'clock, outside the arcade. He brushed his fingers over his forehead, squeezing the skin under his fingertips, and moaned. His back hurt from sleeping on the couch all night. He had fallen asleep there shortly after speaking on the phone with Kise Ryota. He recalled being nervous as he dialled the number, unsure of how his interaction with the blonde would go, but he didn't have any other contacts that he could rely on and this was a situation he was admittedly desperate to resolve.

Tuesday night - tired and barely awake - Haizaki dialled the number into the keypad on his phone and waited for Kise to answer.

"Hello?" Kise's voice was just as carefree as usual, but in this instance it sounded confused.

"Yo, Ryooota." Haizaki greeted him as politely as he could. He hated to, but he'd have to play nice just this once to get what he wanted.

"Haizaki?"

Haizaki could imagine the blonde's perfectly groomed eyebrows shooting upwards in shock. "That's my name, don't wear it out." He replied, trying to keep a flirtatious laugh in his voice.

"Funny that you'd call me. You were on my mind all day." Came the blonde's honest response.

Haizaki felt his mouth go dry. It was his turn for his perfectly tweezed eyebrows to skyrocket on his face. He wasn't expecting this response. "I was?" His voice sounded surprised so he made an effort to play it cool and snorted. "Are you still haunted from being beat by me all this time?"

"As if." Kise protested, and Haizaki was sure the blonde had rolled his hazel eyes. Clearly Kise didn't buy into his tough-guy act; the model never had. "Actually, I was thinking of you in general: you know, stealing people's food and beating kids up."

"Oh?" he sneered. This had caught his attention and he answered with honest emotion. "What, you got no bullies at Kaijo? Or, let me guess, you need a hit? I can spare some muscle." He made a fist and looked at it with his free hand and inspected his fingers. A hangnail on his thumb caught his attention and he began to bite at it.

"No. It's not that."

"Don't tell me that you miss me." he sneered. The thought sounded insane.

"No! Not at all!" Kise's voice hitched up and Haizaki was bewildered. Perhaps he really did miss him and was simply trying to hide it?

"Then what?"

"Well, it's not important, Haizaki-"

"You spiked my curiosity, Ryoooota. Don't make me come and choke it out of ya."

Kise was quiet for a moment before he answered. "This is stupid to ask you, but I'd appreciate it if this stays just between us."

Haizaki was quiet for a moment, processing what Kise said. "Kay." He replied, agreeing to the terms, "I'm listening."

"I mean it."

"Yeah, yeah. Between us. God Ryooota, who the fuck would I tell anyways?" Haizaki emphasized his understanding. He readjusted his position on the couch and felt more awake. Who knew when he called him that Kise would have spare gossip to share? It had been some time since Haizaki had heard any, preferring to stay in minimal contact with his new teammates at Fukuda and falling out of contact with many of his ex-teammates from Teiko. In truth he missed the guys, but after being so sidelined from them for the last two years of middle school he found it hard to forgive them and try to make peace.

"You remember how Akashicchi and Murasakicchi had a thing once, right?"

Haizaki's eyebrows knit together in confusion. "Yeah, they were an item one time, weren't they? First couple on the team. How the fuck does this have anything to do with me?"

"Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm getting to that! They broke up before we all left Teiko and it's...I guess it's brought out the worst in Murasakicchi." Kise paused. "He's a lot like you now."

"What? That purple retard like me?" Haizaki snorted. All he could remember of the titan was that he was tall - literally gigantic - and he liked food. He had heard that Murasakibara said he disliked basketball or something and that he was self-conscious because of his size. But ultimately, Haizaki often thought of Muraskaibara as a gentle giant and not anything like himself.

"No, I'm serious." Kise pressed, his emotion catching Haizaki's attention. Kise seemed distressed by this. "He's been...quite violent."

Haizaki was silent for a moment. He hadn't anticipated the conversation to head in this direction. If he were to comfort Kise, they would be too close for comfort. If he were to hang up now, he wouldn't get his information. Unsure of what to do, he lamely tried to throw in his typical Haizaki humour.

"And that reminded you of me, baaaka?"

Kise blushed into the phone. "W-well, yes. I mean, he beat the crap out of this one boy-"

"Well, I pity him."

"What?"

"That boy. I pity him. I wouldn't want to fight that titan." Haizaki licked his thumb.

"Yeah, no kidding."

There was a thick silence as both the boys were stunned that they agreed for once.

"Annnyways," Kise began after the silence felt suffocating. He suddenly sounded self-conscious, the emotional concern for Murasakibara dropping from his voice. "Why did you call me?"

Haizaki laughed. "I thought you'd never ask, Ryooota. I was wondering if you had Daiki's new number."

"Aominecchi's number?" Kise sounded surprised again. "Sure. Why? Do you need to talk to him?"

"No, I just want to order a pizza." Haizaki threw in more humour. "Baaaka. No, 'cause I saw him the other day and promised to call but I lost his number."

Kise giggled but, thankfully, read him the number off the screen of his own phone.

"What happened to your phone, Haizaki? How did you lose his new number?"

Haizaki grew uncomfortable with the direction the conversation had turned. "I, uhh, dropped it." he replied, kicking himself for such a lame excuse.

"It smashed during another fight then?" The voice on the other end of the phone teased.

"No!" His quick reply was too defensive. "Ahh fuck. I, uhh, got held up. One of my brother's, uhh, opponents smashed it."

"Wow! That's new! You're even starting fights with older boys now!"

"No," He scratched the back of his head. Well, Kise had told him some gossip, so fair was only fair. "They came after me." He admitted.

Kise waited, his curiosity leaking into the phone.

"My brother provoked them. They were just trying to get back at him by beating me up."

"I didn't realize being a bully runs in your family."

"Fuck you!"

Haizaki slumped moodily against the couch cushions as he recalled the boys chasing him. They had caught up with him and hit the phone out of his hand as he was trying to call his older brother and inform him of the situation. He had managed to get away with only a twisted wrist.

"Wait," the blonde paused, pulling him back to reality. "If you broke your old phone, how do you still have my number?"

Haizaki chuckled. "I have it in the Teiko yearbook. Your's and a few of the other guys. Murasakibara's, which I never tried. And Akashi's and Daiki's old numbers."

He thumbed through the pages as he spoke, the book open on the living room table.

"Oh. Right." Clearly the blonde hadn't thought of that.

"Well, thanks Ryooota. You're not so much of a baaaka, I guess."

Haizaki had been the one to disconnect the call. He called Aomine shortly after and fell asleep still talking to him. He had intended to get Akashi's number from Aomine and call the redhead last night, but the bluenette didn't have any acknowledgement of the time.

Stretching his stiff back, Haizaki checked the clock on the wall above the front door: it was 8:43 in the morning. He had an hour to get ready before he'd need to leave to meet Akashi, which was more than enough time to clean up and get dressed, meaning he had time to panic. He forced himself to stand and decided to call Aomine and thank him for giving out Akashi's new number. This time he would just have to make sure he got off the phone in time to actually meet Akashi.

"Hello, is Aomineicchi there?"

"Yo, baaaka."

"Haizaki? Is that you? Is Aomineicchi there?"

"He dropped his phone. He's looking for it right now."

"But I just called his number."

"No, you just called me. Baaaka."

"No, I just called Aomineicchi."

"You just called me, baaaka. Baaaka. Baaakaaaaaaaaaa-"

Haizaki's voice started to twist into the sound of a braying goat. "Baaaah-ka, Baaaaaaah," It growled, and then became a rumbling scream.

Kise's eyes flew open. He sat up in bed, throwing the sheets down in fright. He had tried to call Aomineicchi the night before, but the man wasn't answering his phone. He shook his head and forced himself to breathe deeply. Speaking to Haizaki and then trying to contact the bluenette must have subconsciously shaken him.

At the heart of it, he knew the nightmare must have stemmed from the unnerving phone call he had received from his rival last night more than from his lack of contact with Aomine. Kise was surprised when the call appeared on his phone screen; he hadn't recognized the number and he wasn't sure of anyone that would call him that late. He planned to ignore the call, but Atsushi had just left to answer his own phone and Fujicchi had followed him out so it wasn't like he would be rude.

Kise had felt unnerved since he heard Haizaki's voice. The boy had indeed grown into a man, the depth of his voice had proven that quickly. But he couldn't place why exactly he had felt so unnerved by him. True, they hadn't spoken since their middle school days, but that wasn't any call for alarm. He had wanted to speak to Aomineicchi, which seemed reasonable. Kise recalled they often would play one-on-one together whenever they felt the itch during an off-season; they both had a liking for similar music and women so it wasn't always so irritating for Aomine to spend time with Haizaki, as it was for the rest of the Teiko Miracles.

During their call, Kise had told Haizaki about Murasakibaricchi, but he still felt that it was pressing more on his own chest than it would on Haizaki's. Would Haizaki tell anyone that he said that? Maybe that's what Kise felt was disturbing him. The silver haired boy said he had no one to tell, but he was going to give Aomineicchi a call...

Kise frowned and threw a hand over to the night table. He picked up his phone and squinted at the bright screen to read the time. It was eight forty-five. His alarm for this morning hadn't gone off yet. He was already missing first period, as he knew he inevitably would, so he didn't let the fact that he slept in today bother him. Instead, he shrugged and tried to calm himself down from the weird Haizaki nightmare. He'd wake the purple brothers up at nine when his alarm went off and they'd get ready and leave for the train together. He would leave them to their quest to find Akashi and head back to school after he had seen them board the train for Kyoto.