Comments are appreciated.

(Just to be clear, I know I usually refer to Kuroko as a bluenette, but for stories taking place during Teiko Junior High, I'm referring to him as a tealnette since Aomine will be in it more and he will be referred to as the bluenette. Sorry if that's confusing!)

Originally I was just referring to Kuroko's father as Kuroko-san or Kuroko's father. I've edited it now and given him a name though so he is now also refereed to as Takeshi

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Kuroko scrunched up his nose as he entered the apartment. It reeked of beer again and sure enough, the living room was littered with cans and other trash. He sighed and set down his bag on the kitchen table before grabbing a trash bag and beginning to pick up the mess as quietly as possible. He didn't want to wake his father, Kuroko Takeshi who was snoring soundly on the couch. That never ended well.

Unfortunately, lack of sleep from the previous night dampened his awareness and he bumped into the coffee table with a loud thump followed by several cans falling over. Kuroko winced and spared his father a quick glance.

He gulped. His father was awake and if the expression on his face was anything to go by, Kuroko just woke a sleeping bear. Silently cursing himself for his carelessness, he turned and bowed to his father in an apology, but it was no use. No simple bow and uttered apologies would placate the drunk and angry beast.

As his father stood, Kuroko tensed ready for the blow, but nothing came. Takeshi wasted a few seconds smirking until his sons body relaxed before raising his leg to kick the bluenette in the stomach. No longer prepared for the assault, Kuroko lost his balance and fell backwards. The trash bag fell from his hands and spilled around him and he felt the metal of one of the cans pierce his hand as it crushed beneath him.

"You stupid piece of shit. Look what you've done now!" Kuroko's father grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and tossed him into the wall with an angry grunt. "Clean up this damn mess and get dinner started already. I'm hungry! And don't burn it this time you worthless shithead!" He screamed on his way to the bedroom and slammed the door shut.

Kuroko stayed in place for a few moments before shakily getting to his feet and heading to the kitchen sink. He didn't make any noise. No tears. No screams. Nothing. He knew better. It would just further anger his father. All he could do was keep quiet and take the hits then follow orders, so that's what he did. He cleaned up the cut and then the living room. He was used to this.

Dinner of course was another matter. No matter how hard he tried, Kuroko was a terrible cook. He always did his best when his father was home early enough for dinner, but it was hopeless. It was a good thing he had replaced all the glass dishes with hard plastic ones while his father had been away on that long business trip. At least they wouldn't break when his father's temper took over and the plates went flying. Sure, getting hit with hard plastic still wasn't Kuroko's idea of a good time, but it beat trying to dodge flying glass wear and having to clean up the shards of broken plates. There was certainly a lot less blood involved and that was a good thing.

Still, he would like to avoid flying dishes period. He just wanted to finish his chores, do his homework, and go to bed with no more injuries for tonight. Of course, that wasn't going to happen. Despite his best efforts, the vegetables came out charred and even the rice had burnt spots. One look at his father's expression as he set the plates of food on the table told him his hope of avoiding flying dishes tonight was pointless. It was proved only seconds later after his father took a tentative bite.

"You idiot!" Takeshi screamed as he threw the bowl of rice at Kuroko. "What Japanese person fucks up cooking rice!? Just how stupid are you!?"

"Sorry, sir." Kuroko mumbled as he grabbed a paper towel to clean up the mess.

"Sorry? Sorry!? What the fuck good does your 'sorry' do me!? Huh? I can't eat your 'sorry's!"

"I'm sorry." Kuroko tried again with a small bow. "I'll do better next time."

"Do it right the first time!"

"I'm sorry." Kuroko mumbled again. There was nothing else he could do but apologize and clean up the mess so that's what he continued to do. His father continued to hurl insults and the rest of the food till he finally seemed to grow tired of it. After a few minutes, his father stood, gave him one last kick to the side as Kuroko sat crouched over the spilled food, then grabbed his jacket and left. He was probably heading to the bar. That's where he usually went after he threw a tantrum over Kuroko's poor cooking skills. Honestly, Kuroko didn't understand why his father didn't just eat out in the first place. Of course, Kuroko valued his miserable life too much to dare suggest such a thing.

The mess wasn't too bad and only took a few minutes to clean up. With that done, Kuroko nibbled at his own meager portion till he couldn't stand the taste of another burnt vegetable or grain of rice and threw out the rest. After washing the dishes and making sure the rest of the common rooms were spotless (he didn't want his father to find anything else to complain about), he made his way to his room and did his homework before falling into an uneasy sleep. It was always uneasy when his father went to the bar at night. There was no way of knowing whether the man would come home drunk and angry and barge into his room for a fight. So, on those nights, Kuroko slept lightly. The slightest sound of a turning doorknob was enough to wake him. Luckily though, the night passed without another altercation and his father had left for work by the time Kuroko had to get up for school.

A sigh escaped his lips as he dabbed a bit of concealer makeup on a bruise on his collar bone. It was from the bowl of rice and not very dark, so make up was enough to hide it as long as he was careful not to rub it during the day. He also spread the concealer on the bruise on his arm. It had lightened enough that make-up could cover it too and he wouldn't need to wear his jacket through practice again. The new bruises on his torso were another story. If make-up had the ability to cover those up, he wasn't skilled enough to know how. At least his shirt would cover those and he didn't need any lame excuses for wearing a shirt either. He would have to change in the bathroom as opposed to the locker room, but that was the new norm for him anyway.

Once the concealer was applied and his uniform on, he grabbed a piece of toast for breakfast and stuffed a protein bar in his bag for lunch. He wasn't a big eater and he needed to save what little lunch money his father spared him for things like bandages and concealer, so toast and a protein bar was what he settled on.

As much as Kuroko hoped to avoid Akashi and the others till practice later that day, he couldn't. He received a text almost as soon as he got to school saying the basketball club was having a meeting to discuss sports day during lunch and it was mandatory. So, when lunch time rolled around, he dragged himself to the small gym where the meeting was being held and took a seat on the bleachers between Kise and Aomine.

"I hope we don't have to do anything stupid this year!" Aomine huffed as he began devouring his lunch. Kuroko didn't bother responding as he pulled out his protein bar.

"Eh! Is that all you brought for lunch Kurokocchi!?" Kise whined eyeing the bar in Kuroko's hand.

"I'm not a big eater, Kise-kun."

"And that's why you're short Tetsu." Aomine teased and ruffled Kuroko's blue hair. Kuroko flinched at the sudden movement and physical contact, but Aomine and Kise didn't notice. He was grateful they were so oblivious sometimes.

However, Akashi was not oblivious. After yesterday, he decided to keep a closer eye on Kuroko and even from where he stood on the floor talking to Momoi, he did notice. He also noticed something else Kuroko wasn't even aware he was doing. Every time Kise or Aomine moved suddenly, there was a subtle flash of fear in his eyes that didn't use to be there.

The question was why. Normally he was so passive and unresponsive. He might dodge the contact or scrunch up his face in annoyance, but he never used to have that subtle fear in his eyes.

Akashi sighed and finished his discussion with the pink haired manager then turned to face the club. He didn't need to call them to attention since his fierce presence and directed gaze was enough to silence the whole gym, so he simply started his announcement.

"As you all know, Sports Day is next week. As usual, the basketball club will be walking in the morning parade together. It is mandatory for first and second string members to walk and optional for third strings." Akashi paused and met the eyes of the first and second string players most likely to try to weasel out of the commitment and gave them a deadly glare.

"Moving on." Akashi continued with a clap of his hands. "I expect everyone to represent the basketball club well and behave themselves! If I so much as suspect any of you to have engaged in un-sportsman like behavior such as cheating, not giving your best effort, rudeness, or anything else, there will be dire consequences! And that includes skipping events in favor of sleep….DAIKI!" Akashi shouted, surprising the tan ace who was daring to nap during his announcements.

"Huh! Wha….What I do!?" Aomine frantically looked around the gym and at Akashi's menacing glare before sending his own towards the tealnette and blond who were slowly inching away from him. "What?!"

"Your training today is tripled Daiki!" Akashi announced in a deadly calm manor which sent a shiver down Aomine's spine. He was so screwed. "Now that is all. Go back to your lunches and don't be late for practice today unless you have the desire to join Daiki." Akashi smirked with his last statement then picked up his bento and climbed the bleachers to sit with the other generation of miracles.

"Mine-chin is an idiot." Murasakibara stated nonchalantly through bites of his chips.

"I don't envy you Aominicchi."

"Enjoy your death sentence Aomine-kun."

"All of you shut up!" Aomine hissed and everyone except Akashi fell into a normal routine of playful bickering.

Akashi smiled ever so slightly without the usual hint of evil as he watched the others. If he was being completely honest with himself, calling everyone to meet during lunch for such a small announcement was for purely selfish reasons. The announcement could have easily been done during practice, but holding it during lunch was a way to force Kuroko to eat with them again. He wasn't sure why their sixth member wasn't showing up for lunch with them anymore, but he hoped if Kuroko joined again, he might get a clue about what was going on. So far though, everything was normal. He couldn't say he was disappointed though. In fact, he would be pleased if there wasn't actually anything wrong and his judgements were incorrect. He was protective of his teammates, but he found himself feeling even more protective of Kuroko than the others, not that he was willing to admit it. So watching everything play out normally, with the exception of the look in Kuroko's eyes earlier, was a relief.

Yes, everything was going fine….it was….till Kise asked Kuroko a question and the tealnette suddenly became stiff and quiet. Akashi didn't hear the question initially, but Kise repeated it when Kuroko didn't answer.

"Kurokocchi? I asked if your father was coming to cheer for Sports Day? Earth to Kurokocchi!" Kise repeated his question as he waved a hand in front of the tealnette.

"Uh…Tetsu?" Aomine called out as he reached to grab Kuroko's shoulder.

Kuroko flinched and dropped the wrapper he was holding. Akashi watched as a gleam of pure fear crossed the tealnettes eyes. It was gone almost as quick as it arrived, but it was undeniable all the same.

"Tetsuya?" The red head called out gently.

"Uh..s..sorry. I just remembered I forgot to finish my math homework for next period. I…I'll see you at practice." Kuroko stumbled over his words as he pushed himself to his feet. He was gone before anyone could say anything to him.

Akashi watched him go. Something was definitely wrong. He knew for a fact that Kuroko had just lied and he also knew something scared him. It could have been something one of them said or if could have been something he saw. It might have been something the rest of them weren't aware of at all, but it had to be something serious to cause such a reaction in the normally passive and emotionless basketball player.

Something was definitely wrong. If Akashi wasn't sure of it before, he was now and it seemed the others were catching on to that fact too if their expressions were anything to go by. Well some of them were…..

Aomine clearly wasn't. Picking up the wrapper he stared at the gym exit. "Well that was weird. He usually picks up his trash…"

"Baka!" Midorima growled snatching the wrapper from the tan teen.

Kise eyed the wrapper and then Aomine. "I didn't think Kurokocchi was the type to litter…"

"For the love of….Are you two blind!" The greenette threw his arms up in exasperation. "Forget the wrapper already! It's not important! Didn't you see…"

"Is something wrong with Tetsu-kun?" Momoi interrupted approaching from behind the red head. She had been talking to the other managers, but she saw everything happen even if she didn't hear what was said. Her eyes filled with worry over Kuroko's strange behavior.

"I don't know yet." Akashi remarked scooting aside to make room for the pink haired girl. "I'd like you all to keep an eye on him and report anything strange to me."

"Something's wrong with Kuro-chin?" Murasakibara paused his eating to pout.

"Don't worry guys! I'll find out why he left the wrapper. It's no big deal. We just have to ask him." Aomine tried to reassure the group. Everyone groaned except Kise who was fully on board with the idea.

Midorima sighed in defeat. "You two really are hopeless idiots."

Fed up with the stupidity, Midorima, Akashi, and Momoi packed up their lunches and left the two idiots to sort out their 'plan'. Murasakibara followed behind not caring one way another. Lunch would be over soon anyway.