I'm baaaaaaaaaaack~

Chapter 9: Furihata's Resolve

Kuroko felt the knot in his stomach disappear as he witnessed the sight of his friends. "Aomine-kun, Midorima-kun… K-Kise-kun… Murasakibara-kun…"

The four gentlemen's eyes glowed with rage; Akashi stared back at them in the same manner. "So… you've come to overthrow your emperor?"

Kise frowned. "Akashicchi, that was when we were in Teiko. Now it's different. You're… you're our enemy!"

Aomine set his gym bag and basketball down and rolled up his sleeves. "Oi, why don't we just get down to breaking some bones around here?"

Midorima pushed up his glasses, slowly peeling off the tape on his fingers. "For once, I actually agree with your irrational ideas."

Murasakibara licked his fingers as he crumbled up his bag of Doritos and tossed it behind him. "I didn't eat the crumbs. Once this is over… I'll eat them."

Kuroko's eyes watered and he sniffed, the demeanor of his friends distressing him. 'Guys… you don't need to do all this for me…'

Akashi reached into his pocket and retrieved a pair of red scissors. "Well, it seems like you guys won't take a hint. Tetsuya, don't mind us while we settle our little… disagreement."

Kagami's legs burned. Running out of steam was the least of his worries. Momoi sighed as he pulled ahead of her. "Do you even know where we're going?"

The redhead thought for a second, unintentionally slowing down. "Nah, I'm totally clueless."

"Then stay behind me!" Momoi argued. "Why are you so energetic about this in the first place?"

"Because," Kagami started, "it's about Kuro. I can't leave him in the hands of that deadly king. After all, he almost did try to cut me with a scissor."

'We know,' the rest of Seirin thought, sweat-dropping.

Momoi hummed innocently. "Oh, so you have a crush on–"

"Furihata!" Riko yelled.

The whole team stopped and turned around in shock. "What happened?" Hyuuga asked, his eyes wide.

Furihata winced. He had tripped over an oversized rock and gained a huge gash on his knee, staining his shorts with a dark shade of red. He pounded his fist on the pavement. 'I'm so useless… I'll just slow down the team with this injury.'

Kagami was at a loss for action. Helping Furihata would just waste more time than they already had. But at the same time, Seirin was a family. They stuck together. He ran a hand through his hair. Never in his life had he thought this hard. "Alright, I've got an idea. Furihata-kun and will go on ahead and the rest of you can go buy a first aid kit… um, please."

Kiyoshi nodded. "Sure thing, Kagami-kun."

Hyuuga pinched the bridge of his nose. "Whenever we leave something to an idiotic first year, it always ends up bad," he grumbled under his breath.

Furihata couldn't bear the pain of his injury. His knee was throbbing. No wonder Riko told him not to wear shorts.

Kagami reluctantly ripped off a piece of his sweater and diligently tied it around the first-year's knee. Furihata choked in pain.

"It'll be okay," the redhead reassured. "Can you walk?"

"I'll… I'll manage just fine." 'I'm doing this for you… Akashi-kun.'

Kuroko squirmed against the chains. The bloodshed before his eyes was worse than death itself. "Akashi, stop it! You're hurting my heart!"

But the emperor was too immersed in his cutting spree. His eyes were wild with a death-like excitement.

Aomine, Kise, Midorima, and Murasakibara weren't doing any better. With fatal bruises inflicted to their bodies, they couldn't hold out much longer.

"Come on, what's wrong guys?! I thought you were more of a challenge than this!" Akashi cackled. "Seems like I was mistaken."

Kuroko felt helpless. All this violence was his fault. He was the seed that planted this chaos.

Suddenly, the door to the warehouse creaked open. With Akashi blinded by rage, he didn't notice.

Kuroko silently gasped as he saw Kagami and an injured Furihata carefully walk in. The redhead slowly laid Furihata against a wall and creeped over to the sobbing blunette.

Kagami began to untie the chains as quickly as possible. His red eyes stared into Kuroko's tired turquoise ones, a sense of long lost love in the mix. "Kuro… I'll get you out of here soon. I promise you."

But somewhere in Kuroko's heart, the black hole of despair was not filling up with glee. Something told him that this wasn't right.

With the pale boy falling from the chains, Kagami pulled the latter's slender body close to his, taking in his familiar scent. The blunette hugged him back regardless.

"Do you really think it's going to end so anticlimactic like this?"

Furihata perked up. "That voice… Akashi-kun!" he gasped.

The tiger gritted his teeth as he released Kuroko and pointed at the culprit. "Stop this nonsense now, Akashi! Kuro doesn't want this! You'll have to go through me if you want a chance at him!"

Akashi raised a brow. "Really now? As you can see, my defiers end up close to death." He gestured to the ground.

Kise, Aomine, Midorima and Murasakibara were unconscious, blood seeping from their battle wounds.

"Do you still wish to challenge me?" the emperor asked.

Kagami furrowed his brows. "Hell yea–"

"N-no… I'll fight," Furihata whispered, grimacing as he stood up despite the pain in his knee. He ripped off the tourniquet and tried not to whimper. "Kagami-kun, please… escape…"

The brunette's eyes lit up with an unknown passion. He was determined to fight.

Akashi frowned. "You again. Furihata, is it? So you think you can manage?"

"Y-Yes."

The heterochromatic revealed his blood-soaked scissors. "Let's see."

Then, he dashed toward the brunette, but he dodged and limped away. He picked up a stray metal pole on the ground and held it in front of him. 'Thank God I took up karate in elementary school.'

Akashi thrusted his scissor into the air and it multiplied into an army of them. Furihata grunted as they ricocheted off the pole. The redhead smirked as he summoned a red sword and clashed against Furihata's mere improv. "You're not bad for a weak one. You're actually one of the toughest people I've faced, on the court and here."

The brunette forced away his blush and his racing heart. 'He noticed me… he finally noticed me.' His grip on the pole began to loosen. Behind Akashi's face, he could feel a sense of desperation and sorrow. 'I'm the only one who can understand him as a human. Kuroko-kun might, but I do better.'

Suddenly, his vision went blurry as he felt his gash reopen. He looked; Akashi's foot was on it.

"But sadly, you are no match for me." He sent Furihata flying backwards, yelling in anguish as he crashed against the wall and sank down.

"Furihata-kun!" Kagami yelled.

The door to the warehouse opened again. Seirin and Momoi arrived, their breaths taken away by the scene in front of them.

Kagami hoisted the sedated Kuroko onto his back. Akashi stared at them inquisitively. "That's it. I won't stop you. I'll let you go… for the price of Tetsuya."

Momoi wiped her teary eyes. "Akashi-kun… why did you do this? Why?!"

"I hate interferers. They pay the price of their sin. I am merely destroying the opposers."

Furihata groaned as he struggled to look up. 'G-Guys… I'm sorry I f-failed you.' He fell unconscious.

Kuroko's body trembled. His heart was about to break. No more pain could enter, and no more could leave. "Kagami-kun, please let me down."

The tiger blinked. "Are you sure?"

"…Yes."

Kagami bent down and the pallid teen climbed off. His wrists were still red from the metal cuffs biting down on his skin. He looked at his teammates, at Kagami, then at Akashi. "Sei-chan… I'm sorry. Kagami-kun, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't… I don't even deserve to be alive."

His body dissolved into blue particles.

Akashi sucked his teeth. 'How did he manage to acquire my powers?!'

With the Rakuzan captain distracted, Riko took the first aid kit from Koganei and ran to help Furihata.

Izuki was flabbergasted. "What just happened to Kuroko?"

Akashi put his scissor in his back pocket and whizzed past Seirin. "See you later, suckers."

He disappeared into the night.

It's been months… but now the redpenkiller is BACK!