Chapter 3 : The Beginning - Part 2.2

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Kuroko watched in silence at the scene from the safety of his position. Two men had joined Kise and was now walking up to him. Both had a dirty brown velvet cape hanging over their shoulders that fluttered under the influence of the wind. The hair of the taller man out both parties shone green under the moonlight as he presented himself first before Kise, and the shorter other, who had been trailing behind, had his hood draped over his head, preventing Kuroko from identifying him.

He caught himself feeling appalled. Kuroko wasn't sure what he had been expecting but he didn't think this was it. Perhaps he was waiting for robust intimidating kidnappers to drop out from the sky and drag Kise away in their ninja sack, but he knew the two men in front of him didn't seem to emit any intentions of hostility. In fact, they even seemed poised and anyone could tell, from the strong aura covering them like cologne, that they were above the average commoner - and that made Kuroko begin to worry.

They took a quick glance around their surroundings, eyes only pausing momentarily as it landed on the pool of blood three feet away from them. They stopped in front of an angry blonde as the green one got down on a knee and crouched in front of him, taking in Kise's ghastly looking blood-stained chest as he let out an audible sigh, before reaching under his coat and taking out an intricately decorated yet plainly colored handkerchief. Then without waiting for approval, he proceeded to press it against Kise's chest - who flinched away harshly as the fabric came into contact with him. He looked fairly unhappy with the sudden intrusion but surprisingly, showed no resistance. Perhaps he was smarter than he looked - and acted, and spoke, and the list goes on, really - and knew it was better for him not to reject the assistance.

But this made Kuroko question their familiarity toward each other - because Kise's eyes reflected utter annoyance and if he wasn't wrong, possibly a little hatred.

Then, the man crouching down opened his mouth and began talking to Kise. Kuroko attempted to pry into their conversation - but they were conversing in whispers and were at a considerable distance away from him. He peeked from behind the trash cans, and noticed how Kise kept averting his gaze, refusing to meet the other man's eyes, no matter how hard the man tried to place his face in front of his ever-changing line of view. From what he could make out, a one-sided discussion seemed to be going on - with green haired over there desperately trying to get his words through and Kise practicing his brand new skill of pretending he hadn't heard anything.

Then all at once, the man's expression turned morose, as he muttered a few words, causing Kise to finally lift his face and meet his eyes in alarm. Kuroko wanted to know what in the name of god was going on, and goddamn he really wanted to - because after an exchange of beated breaths between the two, Kise shot a couple of words back, losing all his previous obstinate demeanor before harshly shoving the man. Of course, the desired outcome failed terribly as the man didn't budge an inch, and instead, clicked his tongue, irritated.

Finally, after what seemed like a fairly long time, the other caped man - who had been standing behind them like a shadow, watching silently as the conversation unfolded - stepped up. He couldn't see very well from his angle, as the man's hood was annoyingly obstructing his face, but from the shift of attention from the two men positioned on the ground to him, Kuroko knew he was about to speak. They exchanged not more than two sentences, and even from his spot Kuroko felt an unmistakable shiver run down his spine when Kise's eyes flashed golden with rage, before the blonde apparently had enough and yelled, "I said no!"

It caused a palpable fissure in the stagnant atmosphere and the sudden burst of exclamation startled Kuroko so much that he jolted up, arm colliding slightly into one of the bins, creating a soft - but loud enough in the terrible silence hanging over the alley - pang of metal. His eyes grew wide as all three men promptly turned and looked toward the trash cans, as a silence fell over their conversation. Two pairs of eyes were clouded with suspicion and the other was with dread.

Kuroko gasped, ducking his head behind as he receded further into the shadows, holding his breath as he pressed his back into the metal bins. Now he really wanted to know the contents of the conversation, but he realized he didn't have time to dwell on what the shorter man had said to Kise to result in such an explosive reaction, as right now, he was probably more concerned about whether he would be able to walk out of there in one piece. He thought his heart was close to hitting his ribcages and it was pounding so loudly in his own ears that for a split second he thought it would be the factor that gave his presence away.

Perhaps it was due to Kise's warning, but for some reason, he felt himself being staggeringly wary of the two men who joined. Something was off about them, though much alike to the odd situation concerning Kise, but in an entirely different way. The aura they gave off felt, well, not particularly dangerous... But definitely, in a way, more intense. And for that, he decided, had been a good enough reason to heed Kise's words and take cover.

Then, after a few uncertain seconds of apparent hesitation from the other team, he started detecting the discernible rhythm of footsteps drifting closer towards his direction. It was like a foreboding drum, signaling impending doom with every growing beat.

Kuroko pressed his lips together in anxiety as he wiped his sweaty palms over his trousers, scanning around the floor for any possible object for self-defense. But the only thing that had been close to being able to cause damage was the former shard, and it was in ten thousand pieces. There hadn't been a moment in his life where he found himself at a complete loss for action than right now. He couldn't run - there was nowhere to hide - and he couldn't defend himself even if he wanted to. This was probably the worst case scenario taught in schools. Maybe he should've been paying more attention during lessons. But wait! How could he forget - he didn't go to a bloody school.

He clenched his fist as he began to feel dizzy, a cruel reminder of the bad effects of oxygen deficiency. The footsteps were getting nothing but closer, and for a moment he found himself wishing they would just kill him already, just so the suspense would end. Desperate times call for desperate decisions, right? There wasn't any proper way to prepare oneself for a situation like this and hence, it pained him to admit so, but the only thing he could've done then was to fear for the worst. Kuroko squeezed his eyes shut, hand trembling as his nails dug into his palms. He sent his final silent prayers to his family as the looming footsteps got nearer and nearer and...

But just a second before the footsteps reached him, someone spoke up.

"WAIT! Wait! Wait, fine. Fucking hell fine. I'll go. Just-" A desperate voice said. Obviously, it could only have been Kise, who was trying to save him and for that Kuroko would be eternally grateful for.

The footsteps seemed to halt, and there was a long pause of hesitation from the person, and within those short few seconds Kuroko felt like his insides were about to collapse from anticipation and his mind about to combust from really unhealthy durations of deoxygenation. He heard the man sighing with what sounded like defeat before his feet shifted, presumably turning around and walking back to where Kise was. Kuroko waited for a couple of seconds, before exhaling, deflating in complete relief and ecstasy as he greedily inhaled the air as it rushed to occupy his lungs.

After getting his fill of oxygen, Kuroko stuck his head out tentatively from the trash cans, peeking out where he saw the green haired man picking Kise up gently but swiftly onto his now visible and very muscular arms, and cradled him in a position similar to how a baby would be. Kise was wincing in pain the entire time, and once, Kuroko thought he looked so pale whilst being hoisted up that he was going to die right then and there. Thankfully, a light shade of pink colored his lips before his imagination could get the better of him. Kuroko could tell that his friend was trying his damned best not to cry out in agony, and it was evidently a taxing effort for him not to do so. But despite his valiant efforts, his expression gave it all away. The green haired man frowned, looking visibly concerned as he tried his best to put as little strain on his injuries as possible - but one could only do so much when someone had a bullet stuck halfway through their chest.

For a brief moment, Kise met his eyes - and for a second Kuroko thought there had been assurance, and possibly even a tinge of gratefulness swimming in his eyes. But most importantly, Kise looked relieved, no - probably past that. There had been a range of emotions painted on his face, and it would've taken more time than Kuroko was given to fully decipher all of them.

But the weirdest thing that happened that night was, right after that, Kuroko had blinked.

And all three parties had vanished.

He didn't think it was a matter of simply exiting of his field of vision - but quite literally vanishing into thin air! Kuroko held onto the side of the trash can gently, careful not to make a similar mistake, as he took in a small breath, daringly sticking his head out from the shadows further as he scanned around the area, puzzlement and worry flushing throughout his system.

Had they just... disappeared?

His eyebrows creased together, as he opened his mouth, only to close them shortly after when he realized he was desperately at a loss for any coherence. For the hundredth time that night alone, Kuroko found himself thinking, What? He was positively befuddled, and the odd atmosphere around him did nothing to ease his confusion. At first the eerie silence had been deafening, to the point where it had been almost creepy. There were no signs of life spotted in the area where just only a few seconds ago, there had been three. The ground was covered in the ghastly sight of blood, and if someone were to ask, he would say the picture in front of him looked like the definition of his worst horror scene.

Kuroko began to worry as he felt his hair stand on their ends, shivering as he took in the very empty alley. Everything had been so still up to that moment - there wasn't a single rustle that stirred within the trees, nor the distant flapping of wings - that when he heard the audible sound of footsteps stopping right behind him, he wasn't sure if he had been hearing things. There wasn't the discernible rhythm of breath, but he knew, from the elongated shadow casted alongside his own, that there had been someone standing behind him that night.

Sometimes he would catch himself trying to convince himself otherwise, that it had all been part of his all too vivid imagination, that the events of the night were finally taking a heavy toll on him and he wasn't able to think straight. But no matter what he told himself, no matter how believable his own words were, he knew they were lies.

When he whipped around frantically, there had been no one there. In fact, there wasn't a single notion that gave away the slightest hint that someone had been there at all. He blinked away the sweat that made their home on his eyelids as his vision blurred back and forth. The hairs on the back of his neck were still on ends, and he couldn't shake off the feeling that he was being watched. But Kuroko had been seven then - and when you were seven you hadn't been taught to trust your own instinct yet. So he ruled himself as silly, as he let out an tired sigh. His imagination had always been off its leash, he thought, and he certainly wasn't expecting it to be any different that night.

"Ku! Are you done?" Kuroko jumped at the voice, pulling him out from his own reverie.

"Tetsu! Goddammit, where are you!"

With this, he found his thoughts disappearing along with the fading clouds that drifted above, as he stood back on his feet. Kuroko stared at the lonely sky, where the only thing present now was the abnormally large moon which bathed him and his surroundings with its luminous glow. He turned around and started walking out of the alley, careful to step past and over the blood pools collected on the ground as he rounded the corner and was met with two familiar looking pairs of worried eyes. They visibly heaved with ease once they saw that their little brother had been fine and in once piece. However their relief were short lived, as they soon turned into expressions of distress once they took in his bloodied attire. The older brothers rushed forward, panicking like mother hens as they began running their palms over his arms and turning him all over as they checked the younger boy for any injuries, all the while shooting questions like bullets in his face and interrogating him.

Kuroko had still been in a daze. He wasn't sure if he had been entirely sane that night. After all, who would be?

But the rest, like they say, was history.

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Thanks a bunch for reading my lovely muffins ! Reviews, opinions and criticisms are all welcomed!