This is gonna be a long chapter, so prepare yourselves, both physically and mentally! *grins evilly*

Chapter 7: Find Him! Part 1

Riko glared at him for a long time before taking a seat and ordering a latte.

"You're late," Kagami muttered, chucking down his chocolate filled croissant.

"I told you, I had a doctor's appointment, so of course I would be late."

"Like you're one to talk. You're the one who said not to be late in the first place!" The redhead retaliated, his face drooping down.

Riko sighed and crossed her arms, thanking the waitress who served her latte. "You're probably wondering to yourself why we are here, am I right?"

Kagami rolled his eyes and leaned forward casually. "What kind of question is that? Of course I am! This is totally out of the blue!"

The coach of Seirin cleared her throat before focusing her brown eyes on Kagami's. "Kagami," she started. "I have a feeling that you know what happened to Kuroko-kun before he suddenly disappeared."

The redhead's eyes widened and he choked on his croissant, chugging down a glass of lemonade. "Ah, that feels better~ Anyways, why do you think I know anything about Kuroko?"

"Because… you've been acting weird. You're not shouting at all, your dunks at practice are not that epic, and your adrenaline to play basketball is… plummeting."

Kagami leaned back in his chair and stretched, almost falling. "Well sorry, it isn't my fault that I–" He cupped his mouth before he spilled out his secret.

"That you what?" Riko eyed him carefully. She took a long sip of her latte and put her elbows on the table, her face filled with interest. "Keep going, I know you know something."

The redhead averted his eyes to the ground and pouted, knowing that even if he kept his mouth shut or not, his secret would still be known by the girl sitting in front of him. "Fine, fine. Since everyone's worried about Kuro-chan–"

Riko's ears perked up. "'K-Kuro-chan'?"

"Ehh, I meant Kuroko! M-My bad! Crap…" Kagami's face turned as red as his hair, making the coach laugh hysterically.

"Anyways, keep going. I want to know everything," she enunciated teasingly.

"A-Are you sure you won't be disappointed in me?"

"No… perhaps… I don't know; just tell me."

Kagami took in a deep breath and cleared his throat. "Well, a few days ago…"

Akashi hummed sadistically as he made his way to his room, shutting the door and locking it. He opened his drawer and pulled out a bright blue scissor.

Sitting on his bed, he held a lock of his hair between his fingers and brought the scissors to it, annihilating it in a snap. He smirked to himself. "I don't need to look in a mirror to cut my hair because I'll still look boss anyways."

When he was done with the cutting session, he looked at himself in the large mirror in the corner of his room and attempted to smile. "Good job, Seijuuro. This blue scissor does wonders… probably because it reminds me of a certain Tetsuya…"

Akashi laughed menacingly as he put the scissor back in its proper place and he laid down on his bed, a frown taking over his face. "Tetsuya didn't come back after spending the night at Taiga's house. That's strange. But, I guess his punishment for having sex with my enemy taught him a lesson… to not go against my internal will. What's also strange is that my sensors are not working; they're not telling me where Tetsuya is."

The redhead sat up and an idea popped into his brain, making his eyes widen in excitement. "Hold up for a second. Does this mean that he's hiding from me? Wow, that's cool! Nobody I know has the guts to hide from me! Tetsuya really is the real deal, huh?" He got up and unlocked his door, walking to the kitchen to get started on dinner.

'I should be able to find him with no trouble,' he thought as he rinsed the rice under the water from the sink. 'But the real question is, besides my punishment that I don't think was one bit cruel, why is he trying to hide from me?'

Riko spewed out the remainder of her latte from her mouth, making a mess on the nicely tiled floor. "YOU DID WHAT?!"

Kagami's eyes went blank as he cupped her mouth, making the rest of her speech inaudible. "Shh, damn it! I told you that you'd be disappointed in me, so keep your voice down!"

Riko calmed down her breathing as fast as she could and stood up, opening and closing her fists. The redhead flinched at the aura she was projecting and scooted back in his chair.

"Kagami-kun…"

"Y-Yes!" he whimpered.

"Can you please explain to me why…" Riko lowered her voice to a whisper and smiled angrily, "I'm the only one in the Seirin basketball team who's a virgin?"

Kagami fell from his chair in shock, his head bashing onto the ground. He immediately sat back up and stumbled to fix the chair, but he fell again. "W-What?! You're a virg–"

Riko shot him a look, warning him to shut up before she put her paper fan to good use. Kagami sat back in the chair and made a face of disbelief. "D-Despite what you just said, which was absolutely mind-scarring, what do think made Kuroko suddenly disappear after that?"

The coach thought to herself for a few minutes and then she snapped her fingers. "Kuroko-kun is dating Akashi-kun, right?"

"Y-Yeah."

"You idiot! Why would you do IT with him if he's already dating a monster?!"

Kagami put his hands up in defense, freaking out. "Sorry, sorry! It just happened, it's not like I actually wanted that to happen. Though, the way he moved on me made me feel a–"

"Shut up! That sounds disgusting," Riko exclaimed, her face as red as a beet. Imagining it was a pain for her clean and positive mind. Well, not anymore. "I have another question to ask."

"Shoot."

"Does Kuroko-kun live with Akashi-kun?"

"Yeah, he told me that his parents allowed it when they realized that he was dating that self-centered, cocky, son-of-a–"

"Now this all makes sense…" Riko smirked and got up, grabbing her stuff and heading out the door. "Follow me, tiger! And make sure you pay the waitress!"

Kagami blanked out, his body as solid as a rock. "Why do I have to pay?! I'm almost broke!" he cried.

After paying, Kagami grabbed his stuff and ran after Riko who was waiting at a stoplight. "Where are we going, coach?"

"My house."

'Going to a girl's house,' Kagami thought, a stone falling on his head mentally. 'I can't go through with this at all.'

On the way there, Riko thought about the connections between the information that the tiger provided her with. 'This might actually make sense for once.'

"Dad, I'm home!" she announced, taking off her shoes.

"Welcome ba–" Kagetora Aida dropped his hand-towel on the ground, his mind unable to register the sight before his very eyes. "R-Riko?"

"Yes, dad?" Riko inquired, totally oblivious of what was going on in her father's mind.

"Since when were you old enough to bring a man home?!"

Kagami fell back. "E-Ehh? N-No, old man, it's not like that! We're not going to do anything–"

Kagetora cracked his knuckles while he walked towards the redhead and the latter scooted backwards, eventually bumping into a wall. "C-Crap…"

"You better not touch my daughter or else… you know what."

Kagami yelped at the memory of Kagetora almost shooting the team when he asked which one of them peeked at his daughter at the hot springs. He didn't want that to happen again. NEVER.

"Shut up, baka Kagetora!" Riko shouted, punching him in the face.

"Why did you hit me, Riko-chan~"

"Shut up!" Riko punched him in the stomach. "I only brought Kagami-kun home so we could talk about something important, now if you'll excuse us!" She pouted as she grabbed Kagami's arm and ran up the stairs to her room.

"I'm going to change; stay outside for a while," she said.

The redhead nodded and sat on the stairs, wondering about meaningless things.

When Riko was done, the tiger came inside and set his bag on the floor. "Your room's cool," he complimented, his head drifting off to Lala land at the feeling of the soft pink carpet under his feet.

Riko rolled her eyes and sat on her lime-green office chair while the tiger sat on the bed. "Well then, let's get down to business," she announced, putting a pen in her mouth.

Kagami nodded and placed his elbows on his knees. "So we both know that Kuroko's dating Akashi and that they live together. Now that I did it with him, he was gone the next day after…"

The coach snapped her fingers, getting him attention. "Was Kuroko-kun acting weird after you guys finished? Like, when you were sleeping?"

A short silence filled the room before Kagami remembered something. "Yeah! Come to think of it, just when I was about to drift off to dreamland, he began to shiver and scream loudly like he was having a very bad nightmare."

"Why didn't you try to wake him up?"

"Oh, I tried plenty of stuff. Shaking him, smacking him, yelling at him, taking a bucket of water and splashing it on him, even throwing the bucket on him, but nothing would work. The water was hot as hell though!"

Riko nodded and rolled her chair around the room, trying to figure out any possible connection. "Uh… does Kuroko-kun ever tell you bits about their relationship?"

Kagami shook his head. "Nah, not much. But, a few days ago before he disappeared, he told me that Akashi sometimes gives him forced sex."

"Forced sex?"

"Yeah. It's when Kuro-chan doesn't want to do IT, but Akashi makes a move on him without his permission. I still don't understand why he wants to be with that jerk in the first place…"

Riko's eyes lit up like raging fireworks and ran over to Kagami's side, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Cause he's scared."

"… Wha?"

"Kuroko-kun is scared! That's the answer to all of this nonsense! What I'm obviously trying to say is that since Akashi is an intimidating person, he's afraid that that monster might try to hurt him."

Kagami raised a brow. "But what if Akashi already hurt him? Kuroko once told me that Akashi has powers, so maybe while he was sleeping that night… he was screaming because Akashi was hurting him?"

"May be, may be," Riko whispered, rubbing her chin. "Now, the last thing we have to figure out is where Kuroko is."

"Let's do it tomorrow after school," the redhead suggested. He pointed to the window and shrugged. "It's kinda getting late."

Riko smiled and nodded, walking Kagami down the stairs.

"Bye, old man," Kagami said while he put on his shoes.

Kagetora sucked his teeth and warned him that if he came back again without his permission, there would be hell to pay. Riko punched him in the face and waved to Kagami as he walked out of the Aida residence.

Walking through the busy streets, Kagami could only ponder about one thing.

'Kuroko… why did you run away? Why are you gone? Where are you? Everyone… everyone's worried about you, dammit! I promise that Coach and I will find you, even if it means dealing with that bastard Akashi!'

Haha, the chapter is complete! Took me about 2-3 days (featuring minor writer's block). I'm back in the groove, so expect to see the next chapter up by next week or so! Till then, redpenkiller, logging out!