CHAPTER 6
Kise and Midorima went to every store that was open at that hour. It was past 1 AM and both males were worn-out from all of the running and searching. Kise saw one last convenient store down the street and headed there quickly. The blonde walked in, squinting at the bright fluorescent lights and blinding neon signs that greeted him.
"Excuse me; have you by any chance happen to see a really tall guy with a smaller guy?" Kise asked the man at the counter with Midorima was right behind him.
"Um...honestly, I don't remember." the man at the cashier scratched his head.
"Did the tall guy have purple hair?" MIdorima added.
"Now that you mentioned it...there was an odd customer about an hour ago. He bought a ton of snacks and junk food too..."
"Yes, that's him!" Kise exclaimed slamming the counter eagerly. "Was there a shorter guy with him? With blue hair?"
"Er...I don't remember another person with him, but then, I could be wrong."
Kise and MIdorima thanked him and went back outside. MIdorima took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly. "Kise, this is going all over the place, why don't we just call the police?"
The blonde stood there sighing deeply and in deep though. "I thought of that too, but we can't." he said sadly. "I don't know...a part of me still wants to believe that Murasakibaracchi is innocent." he rubbed his temples and sat on the curb of the street. "I still find it hard to believe that someone like him would do something like this. And what if it turns out that he is innocent...I don't know how I can face him again, you know?"
"I understand, but from what we saw at Kuroko's house, he didn't just take a stroll around the neighbourhood." MIdorima crossed his arms and leaned on the nearby lamp post. "All fingers point to Murasakibara..."
Kise just stared at the fluttering litter on the ground as a peaceful breeze came by. He felt an immediate built of anger welling up inside him. Why of all times, he had to leave Kuroko alone? "It's all my fault..." He clenched his fists tighter as a small tear trickled down his face. Midorima noticed him wiping it away quickly and he looked down at his watch.
"Kise, let's head back home. You're exhausted." The blonde turned to him; the look on Kise's face was one of his rarest faces. Kise was naturally always happy and was hardly sad, or at least, not that Midorima has seen him upset. Kise would sometimes fake cry and squeal his usual self back in Teiko, but he never showed signs of distress... until now. His heart trembled a bit, Midorima admitted to that. He cleared his throat and offered his hand to Kise to help him get up.
Kise took it and thanked him quietly. They both walked down the street without uttering another word to each other. Before they turned the corner of the street, Kise felt his phone vibrate. He took it out seeing an unknown number but answered the phone anyways. There was silence for a while on the other end. Kise's heart pounded when the caller on the other end finally said something.
"...Kise-chin..."
Golden orbs widened when he heard the recognizable voice. "Murasakibaracchi...what's going on?!" Kise snapped loudly, not caring that he's probably disturbing the residence in that area.
"Kise-chin better not be going to the police..." Murasakibara muttered on the other end.
Kise gripped the phone. "Why are you doing this?"
"Kuro-chin is safe with me. Kuro-chin likes it here with me. Kise-chin doesn't need to find him." the giant replied, sounds of munching was heard in between.
Kise looked at Midorima, who looked more and more disturbed as the situation progressed. "I want to speak with Kurokocchi; I need to know he's safe!"
"Kuro-chin is sleeping right now, and he is safe with me." Murasakibara reassured him again.
"What is the meaning of this? Why did you lie to us, Murasakibaracchi!?"
"Lie? I didn't lie..." he said, Kise could hear the smirk in his voice. "I wanted to see Kuro-chin..."
"You were never on breaks, you intentionally came all the way here to get Kurokocchi, is that it?!" Kise yelled and Midorima grabbed his shoulder, trying to calm the blonde down.
Murasakibara yawned in boredom on the other end. "Mmm...Kise-chin...you're giving me a headache..." he groaned and paused for a few seconds. "But you never failed to make me despise you even more..."
Kise froze at the sound of his voice. It was different, almost like it wasn't the same person. "Murasakibaracchi, please think about it for a sec-!"
"Kuro-chin is mine! Kuro-chin belongs to me! Kise-chin can't have him, no one can!" Murasakibara yelled making Kise flinch. Midorima heard the outbursts and he too was surprised at how different and frightening Murasakibara was sounding. "Stay away Kise-chin...I'm not going to let it go next time..." And with that, he hung up.
Kise stared wide eyed at his friend, closing his phone slowly. "This is crazy..."
"Let's go, Kise. We have to regroup." the green haired male pushed his glasses up and continued to walk down the street. Kise caught up to him and realized what Midorima meant. He was going to call the rest of the Generation of Miracles.
The very next morning, Kise woke up to a slight headache. He knew he couldn't sleep that much last night, but what woke him up indefinitely was the loud chatter outside his room. He remembered Midorima called Aomine and Akashi over that night. Kise walked to his living room to see everyone there. "What?! When did you all get here?!" Kise exclaimed, still having an abundance of energy despite not sleeping at all.
Aomine had his feet on the coffee table and nodded at him. "Yo, you slept like a baby when I arrived."
"Ryouta, calm yourself and sit down." Akashi said not looking at the blonde. Kise sighed and sat on the couch with Aomine. "So you're saying Atsushi kidnapped Tetsuya?" he asked the blonde and the latter nodded.
"It was all planned...who knows how long Murasakibaracchi wanted this!" Kise said leaning back into his seat.
"There is one thing's for sure." Akashi said staring at all three of them. "Tetsuya will not be harmed."
"How can you be so certain?!" Kise cried out loud and Midorima hit him on the back of his head, making the blonde slouch back down in the couch.
"Not harmed... at least not in a lethal way..." Akashi continued narrowing his eyes and they all stared at him. "We all know Atsushi is a giant child...what doesn't go his way, he will get angry..."
"Mind you, Kuroko is the complete opposite of him..." Midorima muttered and the red head sat back nodding.
"In other words, he would never truly hurt Tetsuya if he is completely serious about him."
"Akashicchi..." Kise said and looked away from his former captain and gritted his teeth. "Murasakibaracchi seems different somehow...he's not the same! That's why I'm so worried for Kurokocchi!" Kise brought his face into his hands and cried softly. The whole room became soundless for a bit and not one of the Generation of Miracles looked at each other.
Akashi was the first to speak up, and cleared his throat. "Ryouta...don't lose hope." he stood up and looked at his Rolex watch. "It has been almost 12 hours since Tetsuya was taken. We all need to split up; each of us has to go to each and every place around this city."
Aomine put his feet back down with a thump. "With all due respect, that's going to take forever!"
"Then what do you suppose we do, Daiki?" the red head snapped and Aomine gulped. "Atsushi couldn't have gone far; my prediction is that he has taken him to a motel of some sort."
The rest of the Generation of Miracles shuddered at the thought. They didn't want to visualize what Murasakibara was planning on doing to Kuroko. Akashi took out a giant map from his bag and laid it out of the table. He circled a few key spots of where he might know where they could be. Aomine and MIdorima listened carefully, meanwhile Kise kept tapping his feet restlessly.
"Ryouta...am I talking to myself here?" Kise looked up; his eyes were red and watery. The blonde wiped the last bit of his tears and edged closer to see what his former captain was talking about.
"Don't blame yourself, Kise..." Aomine said softly, feeling more worried about the situation. Akashi explained about some of the candy stores Murasakibara may have been into and the hidden passageways in between streets. Before Akashi could say more, there was a knock on the door. Everyone's heads turned to it and Kise stood up and answered it, being that it was his own house.
Kise opened the door and there stood Kagami in his Seirin track pants and jacket. "Kagamicchi...!?"
"Shut it Kise, I don't have time for you..." he muttered and peered inside."Is Kuroko here?"
The blonde shook his head sadly and Kagami's eyes widened. They explained to Kagami of what happened and the Seirin red head almost kicked the coffee table from anger, but Aomine held him back.
"Don't you know someone who attends Yosen?" Akashi asked.
Kagami ignored the fact at how Akashi knew about Himuro and nodded anyways."Yeah...but Tatsuya and I don't talk as much..." Kagami said taking out his phone. "You want me to call him? How will he help?"
"We need to know Atsushi's...past relationship with him." Akashi said staring into Kagami's eyes. "From what I heard those two used to be ...very close."
Everyone exchanged looks before Kagami dialled Tatsuya's number. Kagami waited a bit as the dial tone kept ringing in his ear. A few seconds later, it was put into voice mail. "Nothing..."
"Maybe he's out or something?" Aomine added and Kagami shook his head.
"He doesn't leave without his phone."
"Something isn't right..." Kise finally said and they all turned to him. "I don't know this feeling...this just doesn't sound good at all..."
"I have to agree with Ryouta..." Akashi said narrowing his eyes.
"So let's go find him! We're wasting time here!" Kagami yelled angrily and Midorima smacked his head making the red head groan angrily.
"If you don't want to work along with us, you may leave Kagami." Akashi said simply. "We already have all the people we need to get Tetsuya back." Kagami gritted his teeth and apologized quietly. "Now, let's begin by searching the streets I circled. After that we should regroup and go for the second round."
Everyone nodded and got up to head back outside. Kagami followed the others, until his phone vibrated again. "Wait guys! My phone..." he turned it on, seeing Tatsuya's number on the screen.
A/N: Dun dun duuuun! What do you guys think happened to Himuro? Aah, hopefully this chapter was good enough; it more on the "talking" side, and I kinda wanted to put the GOM's point of view and more of Kise's feelings :3 Don't worry, next chapter will be more MuraKuro ^_^ See ya there!