Hey guys! I'm gonna be focusing on this story now! *Yay*! This chapter took a while to get out, and there is a lot of info in here, and some of it is probably confusing, so feel free to either PM me or write questions about the chapter in the review section if you're confused, and I'll respond in the next chapter, or through PM. I also apologize for any grammatical errors I may have made ahead of time.

Reviews:

BabyNightmareLady: Thanks for reviewing, as always! For your question, I was planning to make it more like a brotherly/family like gom/kuro, if that makes sense, and a romantic akakuro. I'm don't think that I can really do harems with my current experience in fanfiction writing right now, but I might end up doing one later! As always, I appreciate your support BabyNightmareLady, and I apologize for not being able to fufill your request. T-T Thank you for reviewing!

Crystal3300: Thank you for the compliment! I hope you end up enjoying this chapter as well, and continue to read my stories! *^-^*

EchizenRyoma: I'm glad you picked up on them being crazy! I was aiming for that, but didn't know if I did it well enough. Thank you for letting me know and reviewing! \^-^/

Guest: Thank you for reviewing, and yes, there will be other pairings (psst, one of them is shown in this chapter! *wink* *wink*)

RinFantasy: Thanks for your reviews as always. They are very insightful and I enjoy reading your predictions. And about your question, I probably won't be able to answer without spoiling the story, but I can tell you that your question won't be answered in this chapter, unfortunately, but it will be answered in the next one!

Thanks for all the support everyone! All of you who have read my story make me very happy, and I hope that you will end up enjoying this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Now, onto the story!

The Phantom Heir

...

Chapter III: Sealed Fate

*~Zetsubo Academy Infirmary, Top Floor~*

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Kuroko awoke to the noise of machines in the background, the steady beat of his heart interpreted by the machines and emitted as a high pitch and constant beep. Kuroko, keeping his eyelids shut, he listened for any movement inside the room over the rustle of the curtains and the object telling the world how steady his heartbeat was. He was about to open his eyes before he heard it.

A suddenly very distinct sound of heels clacking in the hallway, followed by what appeared to be the faint squeak of rubber shoes.

Click-clack. Click-clack.

So, Kuroko stilled once again, forcing his heartbeat to slow down after his fear had caused it to spike up for a few moments. 'In, out. In, out.' He chanted the phrase in his head like a mantra, calming himself. Then, with a distinct creak, the door opened, and two people appeared to have entered his room, based on the number of footsteps that he could hear.

The two stopped walking a few feet away from his bed, allowing him to eavesdrop in on their conversation.

"So doctor, how is he?" The female of the two asked. 'Most likely the owner of what I heard in the hallway earlier.'

"Mrs. Avalon, I'm afraid we don't quite know. All of his body seems to be functioning perfectly well, so it most likely wasn't child abuse, that he had experienced, so it most likely was something mentally traumatizing, but even then we're not quite sure. We believe the best thing to do would be to ask the boy himself. Whether he's stable when that happens or not however, is a completely different story. It would be wise to speak to the child in softer than normal tones and use...positive words." The doctor explained. "Also you should most likely put him in an environment with kids around his age to help him become more adjusted to interacting with other people. Based on his family files, I and my associates can infer that this child has most likely not had an decent human interaction outside of his family." 'Well of course I wouldn't. I mean how would I introduce myself? "Hey, my name is Kuroko Tetsuya, I'm sure you know me, since well, the only Kuroko family name in existence is that one right, you know, the one that's practically a yakuza family? Yeah, uh-huh. I would totally make friends that way.' Kuroko internally rolled his eyes.

"I see. So, Tier 0 will be a perfect fit for him, even though I was planning on putting him in there anyway." Mrs. Avalon replied. "You are dismissed."

"Yes ma'am." The man replied, closing the door behind him as he left. With only each other left in the room, silence ensued.

After a few uncomfortable minutes, the 'Mrs. Avalon' finally spoke. "You're awake, aren't you boy?" She paused, waiting for any sort of response from the child lying in the bed before her. When she was met with only silence, she sighed, before continuing. "Don't worry. I'm not here to hurt you or anything. I just want to ask you a few things." Based on the child's previous responses, she expected the boy to be afraid of her doing something to him, so she had to let him know that she wasn't going to force him to do something, and that she was only there to...help him. As expected, she got a positive response. The child slightly shifted, but did nothing else. "...Please?" She tried to sound tentative, to make the boy feel like she was just like him; unsure and only wanting to find the best path for everybody.

And then, the Mayuzumi woke up slowly, but still tried to keep the blanket around him, as if trying to still have something to protect himself, in case things went down the wrong lane, all while shaking like a leaf, eyes downcast in what appeared to be fear, and answered, quietly, "Al-Alright. I-I do-don't kno-know how hel-helpful I can be, bu-but I'll try." 'Good. Looks like I got him.' The headmistress internally smirked, and sat down to get comfortable.

Kuroko's POV (A/N: Kinda, but not really. Just his side of things.)

'Okay, I got her. She took the bait.' Kuroko took an internal sigh of relief when he saw Mrs. Avalon wearing a slight smile on her lips through his peripheral vision. 'But to think she detected the fact that I was conscious so easily...I must be out of practice.' Kuroko began to lightly tug at the wires attached to him. He had never really been good with restrictions. The last time he had been put in bindings, even just for training, the other party had ended up in the hospital for a few weeks despite the fact that the guy was a trained assassin. Before Kuroko could continue his reminiscence, the woman spoke again.

"So, Mayuzumi-kun correct?" Mrs. Avalon questioned. Kuroko whipped his head up and widened his eyes, before returning them to their slightly fearful state. Outwardly, he looked fearful, but internally…'It seems like she found out my fake identity. Good.'

"Ye-Yes, but how did you…" Kuroko averted his eyes from the woman's form, giving the impression of a scared and nervous child that believed he was going to be punished.

"Oh, don't worry, nothing will happen to you here. I promise." Mrs. Avalon gave a blinding smile that most would see as sincere. Then, she continued, recapturing Kuroko's attention. "I'm sorry to have to ask this when you only just woke up, but, would you mind telling me what your parents did to you? We want to help you, but we can only do that if you tell us what they did."

Kuroko did as was expected of him; he yelled out in anger. "M-My pa-parents never did anything bad to me! They cared about me! They never…" His voice got steadier as he continued, showing how he truly believed his words, until it died down, as if he was beginning to doubt his words. This was all to reinforce the fact that he really needed to stay at the academy for help. Because really, if a child was mentally scarred, and the evidence of it was obvious, the fact that the child was denying it would mean that there was something wrong with them right?

Third Person POV

Mrs. Avalon internally sighed. 'This kid is going to be a lot of trouble isn't he? Who would he open up to? If I can manage to squeeze some family secrets out of him that would be good. Some more weapons against the wretched Kuroko and Mayuzumi families then. Plus, if they kept him alive despite his obvious lack of any real abilities, he must have some sort of valuable in pronation right? Now, the only problem is getting someone to make him open up. The best choice out of those Tier 0 lunatics would be...ah him!' Mrs. Avalon put on another dazzling smile, turning the Mayuzumi's head towards her once again.

"It seems like it's time for me to go, but how about I let someone guide you to your new room? I know it's sudden, but I guarantee that you'll like it there. They're all your age. The person coming to pick you up will be a boy by the name of Kise Ryouta. He's really friendly, so don't worry." With that, Mrs. Avalon got up from her seat and began to leave, telling the boy to come visit her sometime. After all, her door was always open. Especially for people who have information on those two families.

*~Tier 0 Dorm, Kise's Room~*

The room was full of golden colored furniture and wallpaper, and no windows, with the four-poster bed right in front of the wall completed with transparent golden drapes overhanging it. The one thing that truly stood out in the room was the open walk in closet that was almost completely full, despite the size of the closet at least being the size of at least half of the enormous room. Currently, there was only one living thing in the room, who seemed to be inhabiting the closet, looking at clothes and sifting his fingers through them, as if trying to decide on something. His face was one of complete concentration, his amber eyes seeming to glow as he did so. The boy's concentration was broken however when he heard a knock on the door.

"Kise-chin~ are you there?~" A lazy voice filtered through the wooden door.

"Yeah! I'm here Murasakibaricchi! Did you need me for something? Or *gasp* could it be that you missed me Murasakibaricchi?! Oh! You're so sweet!" Kise was happy that one of his friends actually outwardly showed that they cared about him. It felt nice since he was the newest member of the group.

"Hmm?~ Course not Kise-chin. That's Mine-chin's job. Aka-chin said he needed to talk to you.~" Murasakibara munching could be heard from inside Kise's Room as Kise himself felt his stomach drop to his feet. All he could think at that moment was, 'Sh*t. Akashicchi is gonna kill me! He found out didn't he? Ah well, at least I got to see Daikicchi yesterday. I wonder if he would mourn my death…'

"Okay Murasakibaricchi. Tell Akashicchi I'll be there in a moment." Kise was glad he didn't stumble in that last sentence. At least he would leave this world dignified and proud that he was able to face the devil himself without stumbling on his very last words. So, with that newfound determination, he made his way to his leader's office.

*~Time Skip~*

"You called for me Akashicchi?" Kise questioned. He was ready for his death, and had accepted it before he had even stepped into the room. He just hoped that his leader would grant him the mercy of making it painless. The walls had mounted weapons on them, ranging from swords to hammers. However, each seemed to have a hint of a red substance on them, showing that they had very specific purposes.

On the chair in the back of the room, sitting behind a desk, the noon rays shining brightly, and the chair casting a shadow on his face, was Tier 0's head, leader, and the one person they answered to; Akashi Seijuro. The boy so cold, he even killed his own parents without a hint of remorse. The redhead had once said, to an enforcer who had tried to restrain him, 'I am absolute. I won't forgive anyone who defies me. Even if it were my own parents. But well, I suppose no words need to be said about that topic, correct?' Right after he had said that, the enforcer had lost two limbs: one arm and one leg. After that, no one had dared look down on the boy, who had successfully established his position as the top dog of the Academy, and the respect of the other Tier 0 members. As time went on, the other Tier 0 students had gained each other's trust, and cared about each other as if they were family, and hated anyone called one of them by their codename, because that was something that the group had created for each other for on the field missions. It was something special to them. Besides the only punishments those people who effed their rules got were a few lost limbs, or in the worst cases, death, so no big deal. The world could do without a few more mouths to feed. World hunger was problem right?

"Ryouta." Akashi spoke. This garnered all of Kise's attention back onto his redheaded leader. "I heard that you killed our informant yes?" Ah. Blunt as always. Kise knew what his leader was referring to. The Tier 2 kid that had insulted him the other day by calling him by his codename. Kise took a deep breath and began to speak.

"Yes, Akashicchi, I apologize. I got carried away. I shall accept only the worst of punishments." Kise bowed lowly, feeling guilty. He had gotten carried away because the Tier 2 student had called them all sick and horrible people. Kise hadn't told Midorima the truth, because, it would most likely make the tsundere angry, along with the rest of the group. He didn't want his friends to feel angry over something as false as what the Tier 2 boy had said. After all, even if they did enjoy inflicting pain and sure, they killed people for the heck of it, but, what was wrong with that? Their parents had ruined other people's lives, and plus, they needed an outlet for all of their frustrations. What else did you expect them to do to release their frustrations?

"...I will let you off this time Ryouta." Kise stood up, surprise evident in his amber eyes. He had thought his leader would help him lift at least some of his guilt for lying to the people he considered his family. But was his leader just letting him off as punishment? To make him feel even more guilty than he already did? His leader really was the cruelest of them all.

"But Akashicchi.." Before Kise could continue, the redhead interrupted him once again.

"However," Kise immediately stopped any protests. Interrupting his leader most likely meant that he wouldn't get what he wanted anyway, so he chose to just stay silent. "It seems that the Headmistress has asked for you to escort out new member here. I hope you won't fail me, Ryouta." His leader's heterochromatic eyes gleamed, telling Kise that it was his chance to impress him and help the group. A new member was always welcomed after all.

"Yes, Akashicchi!" Kise felt elated, even as he was leaving the room, files in hand, to go pick up their new member. Plus, even if the new member was useless in terms of field abilities, they could always use him for frustration release. Yep. New members, strong or weak, were always~ welcome.

I apologize for the Kise centricity of the last two chapters. The next chapter will definitely be more Kuroko based. I hope you guys enjoyed it! Please review and ell me your thoughts! See you all later!