Chapter 16

Kuroko eyes widened and he cocked his head to try pick up the bustle of background noise when eerie silence enveloped the front area.

There wasn't even a rustle of paper and an almost poignant tension pierced the air and that alone made him wary so he headed towards the front desk where he left Kagami and Hyuga. It took him a while to comprehend that there were more people there and they were his bond mates, but when Kuroko did an open and soft smile broke out. Kuroko was about to introduce his bond mates to Kagami and Hyuga when he was unceremoniously yanked by three pairs of hands into a cocoon of warm felt Akashi drape an arm around his shoulder, Kise tucking Kuroko's face against his nape and Midorima had a hand wrapped protectively and snugly (but not bruising, never bruising) around his arm. He peeked out from the protective cocoon to see Murasakibara and Aomine standing on each side like great lurking sentinels on guard. Their poses were casual and relaxed but sharp and ready to leap into a defensive attack at the drop of a pin.

Kagami and Hyuga took a short moment to process the sudden flurry of movements before Kagami curled and coiled his body in a battle-ready stance, eyes flashing with unrestrained feral light. Kagami snarled out a low command, made even more chilling by the reckless curl of his lips.

"Oi you bastards! What do you think you're doing to Kuroko?"

Kuroko saw the cogs in Akashi's brain turn the instant Kagami uttered that statement. Akashi kept his silence and gave the two a scrutinizing look, and as soon as Kagami tensed his body in readiness to attack, Akashi held up a hand and said in a clear, no-nonsense, bland voice.

"Relax, both of you. No need to be alarmed. We would never harm Kuroko."

Kuroko could see his senpai's eyes widen and a subtle short look of utter shock flash through his eyes before Hyuga's face cleared and a small, relaxed smile teased his lips. Hyuga laid a restraining hand on Kagami's shoulder when it looked as though the statement drove Kagami deeper into anger.

"Kagami."

Kagami was shaken out of his thoughts by the hand on his shoulder and he turned to give Hyuga an annoyed glare but the look in his friend's eyes were so relaxed and sure that they settled his metaphorical hackles. Kagami grumbled out a short, blunt "fine" before tension bled out of his frame.

A long, tense silence followed. The stares they gave each other were long, wary and cautious and no one wanted to break the staring match between the two sides until Kuroko gave a soft but sharp cough. Kuroko sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before he tentatively offered, "Um...maybe we should move to a more private location?"

The question broke his bond mates' intense, scrutinizing stares and their tense body language. Kuroko felt the arms around give him reassuring squeeze before they retreated. Akashi gave him an inscrutable lingering look and simply said, "No. That's unnecessary." There was a quick fleeting caress on his hip before Akashi straightened, shot a small warning look to Kagami and Hyuga and turned to their bond mates to whisper in a brief and low tone.

Their bond vibrated with a predatory calculating hum in Kuroko's mind and the barely visible gleams in all his mates' eyes brought a wave of trust and love in his chest.

His bond mates turned around and moved to leave the library with fluid grace and smooth unity. However, before they left Aomine ran his fingers through Kuroko's hair and the imperceptible feeling off air hitting the shell of his ear in a whisper made his spine tingle.

"It seems like we...misjudged your friends, Tetsu."

Aomine's dark onyx eyes met his sky blue ones in a piercing, mischievous stare before he smirked and turned to follow the others, leaving Kuroko reeling and his cheeks flushed slightly for no reason at all. Kuroko ducked his head and pouted, it was entirely unfair how easy and fast their touches and heated looks could leave him flushing in embarrassment and tingling from anticipation.

When he was able to control his rolling anticipation he turned around to his friends to see Hyuga giving him a knowing smirk and chuckle that made him want to squirm. Next to Hyuga, Kagami eyed them both with a questioning and suspicious look but shrugged in resignation and instead asked,

"You know 'em, Kuroko?"

Kagami's question struck him deeply and it sent his mind into panic. How was he supposed to answer his friend? Kuroko turned his head slightly and stared at the ground to control the panic clawing up his throat.

He could not tell Kagami the truth because that would be tantamount to dooming his mates if the truth ever got out, but in his heart, there was a part of him that wanted to jump in joy and stand from rooftops proudly declaring his love and devotion to the world. The part that logically understood the risks of revelation warred with the part of his heart that held passion and love for them. The need to let everyone know that they were his and he belonged to them ached in throbbing misery and resignation. Hyuga-senpai must have understood or predicted his train of thought because a hand landed on his shoulders and gave a soft reassuring squeeze. A moment later a calm serious but gentle statement from his senpai came.

"Kagami, if Kuroko is uncomfortable answering then we should leave it alone."

Kagami looked at his senpai and he was shocked to see a palpable aura of protectiveness in the gleam of steel in his eyes, along with a soft lurking look that Kagami could not identify. Kagami gave Hyuga a quizzical look but he still inclined his head at his friend's implicit request. Hyuga's eyes lost a little of its strong piercing glare and he gave Kagami a small grateful smile.

Hyuga turned his attention back to the still silent boy near his side and kindly met his sky blue eyes. He gave Kuroko a smile and suggested,

"Why don't we get some lunch together? The bell hasn't rung yet but we better go before hoards of people starting swarming to the dining hall."


After leaving a lunch break with Kuroko's soft hard-won smiles and laughs and Kagami's booming exuberance, Hyuga felt like the burden on his shoulders had lightened by a thousand tonnes. After meeting Kuroko and getting to know the younger boy better he felt a strong brotherly affection for his new friend and a kinship that he had never experienced before. A kinship borne from empathy, borne from the hard, painful experiences of being seen as a commodity and as a slave to other people's whims. The foggy haze that he lived under for years helped him detach his mind from the atrocities he was subjected to, and until he met Teppei his world was bleak and hopeless. He had nothing to live for. Nothing to hold on to until he met his mate. In Kuroko's eyes Hyuga saw the same emotions he had experienced- a conflicting mix of disbelief, peaceful affection, elation, anxiety and fear. But, he could also see the love the Generation of Miracles had for each other, love that has been tempered by unfailing respect, loyalty and passion. The strength of their bond is palpable in their unconscious actions towards each other, and the warm pulsing thrum in their touches. In those fleeting moments, he saw intimacy that rivaled the warmth of a small sun, lingering touches that held a thousand quiet loving whispers and glances filled with a bone-deep understanding of one another. What he saw was so familiar that it struck him with a tingling feeling of warm nostalgia.

Hyuga recognized it for what it was: an impenetrable but breath-taking bond. A bond that was so similar it was like looking in the mirror but at the same time, it also felt so alien and consuming. He could not believe how nobody else could see how much they loved one another, but he understood because love and happiness in a bond was so foreign in this society that only people who have experienced it before recognize it for what is. The thought struck a painful chord in his mind, he fisted his hands and felt his nails dig into his palms.

The thought of living in a world where his love and his soul bond has to be hidden in fear of retaliation is unbearable. Hyuga could not do it anymore. He wanted to be able to taste freedom without constant fear of repression and he knew he could not watch it happen to another person again. Watch it happen to someone like him.

Hyuga ran a hand through his hair and fished his phone out of his pockets. He absentmindedly dialed a number he knows like the back of his hand.

"Yes...I met them."

Hyuga paused in his abrupt statement to collect his jumbled thoughts.

"It's as you suspected, they are bond mates and yes I think they will be great allies to have, Teppei."


A/N:

Hi dear readers,

All...I wanted to say was...thank you for being so patient with me and being so supportive of my story. And thank you for your amazing reviews, likes and follows. I was only able to finish a few chapters since the last update but I hope this chapter will be to your expectations. Stories and words have been my salvation but even though they are not yours I still hope this story brings you a small measure of joy.