Chapter 9

Kise gasped and would have dropped to his knees if it wasn't for Aomine's arms clutching him to a broad chest.

They were in the rec room blowing off some steam because they have been unable to stop feeling the crawling agitation on their skin nearly the whole day, when an ear-splitting cry unlike anything they have ever heard resonated along their bond. It was like having knives driven into your head. Kise could feel the bond buck like a wild animal in pain and fury at the sensation and he clutched his head, his mind painfully rattled by such intensity.

In the corner of his peripheral vision, he saw Aomine cradling his head with one hand, whilst the other one was clutching Kise's waist almost to the point of pain. Kise wasn't aware how long the bond vibrated with shrieking agony but he was trembling when it decreased to an aching hum.

He turned to Aomine and was not surprised to see that he was in as bad of a shape as Kise. When they realized where it originated from they raced towards the door, and met up halfway with Akashi, Midorima and Murasakibara. Without further ado, they turned as one to hurriedly grab phones, cash and first aid kits as they ran towards the garage.


Kuroko was seated on a forgotten, dilapidated bench behind a plethora of growing trees, concealed from view by their thick bundles of leaves. His thin sports jacket provided him with little protection against the freezing chill of the rain, but he could not bring himself to leave his safe spot. He knew that sooner or later he had to find some medical supplies or go get his injuries checked at the nearest clinic, but a spreading numbness has already started to fester along his skin until all he could feel was the buzzing haze in his mind. The creeping coldness of the wind and the rain coming down in heaves left him feeling soaked to his bones.

Kuroko was only aware of the bleak all-encompassing sense of numbness until little, static-like presences filtered through his apathy. The glowing spots of warmth in his mind grew strong and violently vibrated with the feelings of worry and anxiety, a few seconds later a shrill ringing tone cut through the pitter patter of the rain. Muddy with confusion, it took him a while to realize that the noise was emanating from within the depths of his bag. With shaking fingers, Kuroko reached into his bag and fished his phone out. On the flashing screen of his phone, an alarming list of missed calls appeared and when his phone started to ring again, he almost dropped it in his haste to answer it.

There was a dangerous low tone of fury in Akashi's voice filtering through the speakers.

"Tetsuya, are you alright?"

There were hissed voices in the background, and he could hear multiple voices clamoring over each other in distress and haste. The sound of their voices ran through him and he almost sobbed with a bone-deep sense of relief, and within seconds it ignited feeling back into his cold limbs leaving him shivering from the chill of the rain. Kuroko could feel his teeth chatter but he managed to force out a reply through clenched teeth.

"A-Akashi-san, I-I don't t-think I am..."

Instantaneously the voices in the background grew in volume, nearly deafening him with its viciousness. He was waiting for a reply from Akashi but the voice that answered him instead was Kise's warm energetic tones.

"Kurokocchi, where are you now?", Before he could give a reply to the frantic question, Kise had already commanded him to "Stay right where you are. We're coming to get you now."

With that the call abruptly ended.

Blinking slightly in bewilderment at the suddenness of the call's ending, he slipped his slightly wet phone back into his bag. Soon, Kuroko's body was starting to list to one side in fatigue and the dark spots dancing across his vision made him conscious about the fact that his body was going to pass out any second now. However, he held on to consciousness with all of his might and waited. Waited for them to come get him.


Aomine didn't know how long he had been running for, but his chest felt as though it was going to cave in when he didn't seem to be getting any closer to Kuroko' s location. He felt the beginning stirrings of a full-blown panic attack in his chest, and Aomine knew that was the worst thing he could allow himself to do right now.

"TETSU!"

Nothing but the smallest hint of life.

He was at the end of his rope as he rounded the next corner in the confusing maze, but thankfully he found him.

As he rounded the corner felt as though everything was crashing down around him. What he saw when he blindly ran into the scene would forever be seared into his memory. On the bench, curled up feebly was Tetsuya.

For a second, his heart skipped a beat. For a second, everything in his world froze.

Tetsuya's skin was deathly pale and his chest rose with slow, uneven breaths, he had his arm cradled to his chest and even from this distance Aomine could see the unnatural angle of his shoulder. He looked so small, so breakable and so damn hurt that Aomine felt steel cold rage coursing through him like wildfire. He had never felt such rage before, such sheer fury, as if his control is held on by a silk-thin thread. His teeth clenches shut and he feels an unfamiliar need to kill something- he has never felt the desire to kill anyone or anything before, not in this manner. There is a crushing pressure against his heaving chest and it feels like he is drowning in anger, unable to even take a breath.

Aomine was so angry that he didn't even notice that his bond mates had caught up with him until he heard Kise's choking gasps and the low growl that Murasakibara let out. At their approach, Kuroko stirred and his blue, blue oh so very beautiful rich blue eyes met their eyes briefly before it fluttered shut.

The recognition they saw in his eyes pushed them out of their horror and anger and they rushed to his side. Kneeling down in front of Kuroko, Midorima's eyes were hard flints of sharp icy anger. Slowly and with an agonizingly gentle touches, he started to check and gently prod Kuroko's injuries. They waited in tense silence with bodies coiled with wild, manic energy as Midorima bound as many injuries as he possibly could.

Without needing any verbal communication, Murasakibara bent down and scooped up Kuroko. The care and tenderness he treated Kuroko contrasted with the looming size of his body, and the way that he lovingly gazed at Kuroko made their hearts constrict in empathy. They all understood because they felt the same.

With Kuroko cradled in Murasakibara's engulfing arms, Kise and Aomine gathered Kuroko's bags and the first aid kits and left.


Midorima worked feverishly throughout the night bandaging, disinfecting the injuries and making sure that Kuroko was hydrated before crashing into Aomine and Kise's arms in exhaustion. They soothed Midorima and told him that he had done well and they had just managed to convince him to go to sleep 5 hours ago.

Every hour passed in hellish similarity. Kise gulped again when he felt sobs clog his throat at the memory of having to hold Kuroko down whilst they set his dislocated shoulder back. God...Kuroko's screams were awful. He couldn't stop replaying the way Kuroko begged them to stop hurting him whilst in the throes of delirious fever. He was so relieved that around 2 hours ago Kuroko blacked out from the pain because Kise wasn't sure how much more he could take listening to his bond mate suffer.

Akashi's whisper was loud in the silence of the room, but everybody perked up at the vicious anger they could hear in his voice.

"This has to stop. I will stop this once and for all. I will destroy them all...the Supreme council...everything."

"I refuse to let Tetsuya live in a world that makes him suffer like this!" The uncharacteristic loss of control in Akashi's voice touched them all deeply, and when they met Akashi's eyes their eyes held the same simmering fury and steel protectiveness.

Their bond was like a living breathing creature in their minds, and it was pulsing with the united sense of fierce determination. They were one in their vow to liberate what belongs to them from the clutches of the world.

"No, damn it! We will not let them take what's ours. We will protect our own!", Aomine's fierce growl corrected, and the bond quaked with roaring satisfaction at the words "we".