Disclaimer: I wish there'll more Akakuro interaction, but sadly they don't, so obviously it's not mine.

Warning: fluffy stuff. A bit of swearing.

A/N: fixed some grammar mistakes, thanks to OlivineWK! thank you so much for all the reviews, fave and follows. It really makes me super happy knowing you all read and enjoyed this fic of mine. This one is quite long. I hope you all didn't mind long chapter and will still read it to the end. Also, please read the A/N at the end of the story if you can. Well then, Enjoy~

Edit: Beta'd by Fangirling-girl. I edited it again after this chapter got beta'ed by my lovely Nia~ Please thank her for fixing all my grammar mistakes and making this chapter into better read, okay ;D

Each person wears a mask. a mask to hide their true self.

it takes time, patient and courage to unfold it.

And only when you break the mask off,

will you see who they really are.

Day 1 – Get to know you

"Akashi-kun."

The red haired teen raised his head from the piece of paper he was reading, looked up to see the person who called out his name was none other than Kuroko Tetsuya.

Practice had just finished. Most of the members have already gone to change their clothes and headed home, while the remaining was cleaning the gym. Akashi was reading the sheet that contained some information regarding improvement of each member. Since National was already over, he need to make sure the next generation, which would be his junior, would be able to continue Teiko's winning record, once the current regular 'Generation of Miracle' to be specific, graduate.

"Is there something wrong, Tetsuya?" Akashi asked, out of courtesy, since he obviously knew already what Kuroko wanted from him.

"It's about the bet," he paused. "Anything is allowed, right?"

Akashi smirked. "Of course."

"Then," Kuroko looked straight at him, deadpanned. "From now on, I want us to go home together."

Akashi was totally caught off guard. His face might not be indicating any sign of reaction, but he really didn't think that Kuroko would ask him something like that. He knew it would be about the bet and he was curious as to what the bluenette plan was, but certainly not this.

'As expected from Tetsuya,' he thought, amused.

"It's okay with me, but may I ask why?"

"Because I wanted to get to know Akashi-kun better," he answered bluntly. Normally, people would be blushing for saying embarrassing things like that, especially when the other person had the same gender. But when it came to this phantom player, let alone embarrassed, his facial expression did not even change one bit, still as expressionless as ever.

"I see. That sounds interesting." Akashi chuckled lightly. "Alright, Tetsuya. We can go home together, though I have to ask you to wait. I need to take care of things first."

It's not really news that their captain was always the last one to go home. It might be because he was a really serious person, or because he loved doing things to perfection —or just because he is Akashi Seijuro. It didn't make sense. It never did. But, since it was him, no question was asked. If you valued your life, that's it. No reason needed. Period.

"Then, I'll go to change first. I will be waiting for you in the change room, Akashi-kun." Kuroko said. All he got was a short hmm from the other party, before walking to the said room.

"Aominecchi skipped practice again," said Kise, taking off his clothes that was damped with sweat. "He didn't come yesterday and the day before yesterday either. Do you know what's going on, Midorimacchi?"

Midorima wiped an item in his hand, 'a statue of raccoon', with wet handkerchief. He cleaned it thoroughly, before turning his head toward Kise. "According to Oha-Asa, Virgo is going to undergo a big change. If not careful, he might end up clashing with Aquarius." Midorima tilted his glasses up. "Anyway, Kise, rather than me, shouldn't you be asking Kuroko instead? After all he is the one closest with Aomine."

The moment he heard Kuroko's name, Kise perk up immediately, his eyes were practically glowing. "I was going to do that, but every time I tried to ask Kurokocchi, he just disappeared and I couldn't find him anywhere!" Kise wailed. "It's not only Aominecchi, there's something wrong with Kurokocchi too!"

Kise started to sob. There's tears swell up in the brink of his eyes, "Kurokocchiiiii!"

"Yes?"

"Uwaaaaaaa!" Kise screamed before having his butt landed on the floor. Not only Kise who was surprised by Kuroko sudden appearance, there was a loud bang accompanied the sound Kise make when he tripped. The bluenette and the blond glanced to the side and found Midorima, frozen on the spot, with both hands hanging in the air. The item that was supposed to be on his hand had vanished.

Okay, not really vanished.

The duo glanced downward and found something shattered on the floor below Midorima.

The spectacle boy. Dropped. His Lucky item. And. The said item. The raccoon statue. Had. Broken. To. Pieces.

Midorima's hand was shaking violently, his mouth was slightly agape. "M—my—"

Kise's face automatically turned pale. He cast his sight toward Kuroko, "Kurokocchi! Don't surprise us like that! Look at what you had done! Midorimacchi is…!"

The perpetrator was as deadpanned as ever. There's no slightest change in his facial expression. "I did call you all for five minutes already. I even tugged your hand, but no one seemed to notice," Kuroko answered calmly.

"I'm so sorry, Kurokocchi! I can't believe I didn't notice you!" Kise threw himself to Kuroko and hugged him tightly.

"It's okay, Kise-kun," the bluenette answered flatly and shoke off Kise's advance easily. "More importantly, Midorima-kun…"

"Midorimacchi?" the blond turned his head toward Midorima.

The green haired teen was staring at the shattered statue. "My lucky item is… lucky item… my…" he chanted nonstop.

Kise's eyes widened and his mouth flabbergasted. "MIDORIMACCHI IS BROKEN!"

Kise ran full-sped toward Midorima. He grabbed his shoulder then frantically rocked the glasses teen, while saying things like 'No Midorimacchi, hang in there! Snap out! Don't die on me!' repeatedly.

'He won't die just because of that', was what the bluenette thought. 'Maybe…' he added, as he realized it might not be impossible to happen, since the green head was totally obsessed with it. His life was practically revolved around horoscope and lucky item.

"Midorima-kun—"

"What happened here?"

They all —except for Midorima who was still in utter shocked state— turned their heads toward the voice source. There, in the door, stood Akashi with a towel lingering on his shoulder.

"Akashicchi!" Kise wailed. "Midorimacchi is…!"

He landed his heterochromatic eyes on Midorima. He took a look at the glasses boy's face then scrutinizing his surroundings. When he found broken pieces lying on the floor, he figured out the situation.

Akashi let out a sigh before making his way to Midorima and standing in front of him.

"Shintarou," he said with firm and clear voice.

It took only one word from Akashi to snap him out of his shocked state. He blinked a few times then settled his eyes on the red head. "Akashi."

"Hold yourself together, Shintarou. If you finished changing already, go home." He glanced to Kise. "Ryouta, clean this up," he ordered.

"Akashi, my lucky—"

"But Akashicchi! I'm not the one who made this mess—"

"Shintarou, Ryouta, double training," the captain cut them off.

"… Understood," Midorima said, as he picked his bag up unwillingly. He knew more than anything else to never oppose their captain. No one would be stupid enough to defy—

"Why am I getting punished too, Akashicchi?! I did not even—"

But apparently, Kise did.

"Ryouta, triple. Or do you want me to quadruple your training?" Akashi asked. Not really a question but statement. He opened his locker then changed his clothes back into uniform.

"No…" the blond sighed, crouched down to pick all the shattered pieces.

"Good." The red haired teen grabbed his bag. "I want it to be all clean when I see it tomorrow," he said, not even waiting for answer as he walked to the door. He glanced back, "Let's go, Tetsuya."

The bluenette who had been silently observing the situation, immediately took his bag then walked out of the room, following Akashi.

All the people inside the room was taken back with the turn of event, especially Kise who was gawking and Midorima who failed to realized that his glasses had slipped down from his face.

Kise was dumbstruck. "Eh? What? Kurokocchi?!"

The two was walking in silence, quietly strolling through the night. They had yet to speak since they left school. Akashi was just enjoying the wind that breezed through his red hair while Kuroko… was being Kuroko. No one could really tell what he was thinking with that blank expression of his.

"There will be uproar tomorrow, seeing as how you're going home together with me," Akashi chuckled lightly.

"I fail to see how going home with Akashi-kun is a big deal," Kuroko replied flatly.

"Haven't you realized, Tetsuya? Daiki, Atsushi, Shintarou, especially Ryouta and Satsuki are really fond of you. They will definitely think there's something going on between us." Akashi stopped then turned his head, looking at the teal haired teen, "or they'll think I've threatened you." He smiled amusedly.

Kuroko looked back at him. "You're exaggerating things, Akashi-kun."

The red haired teen smirked then continued walking, "I'm not. You're just too oblivious sometimes, Tetsuya. You do aware of their affection to you, right?"

Kuroko paused for a second. "I know if it's Kise-kun and Momoi-san. Aomine-kun maybe a little, but I'm not particularly close with Midorima-kun and Murasakibara-kun."

"Ryouta and Satsuki are obviously all over you, anyone can see that. As for Daiki, you two are the closest, that's a given. Shintarou and Atsushi, you guys might not be that close, but in a way, to them, you're special." Akashi settled his mismatched eyes on Kuroko. 'And instead the very person itself is unaware of it.'

The time flowed in silent for a moment before the teal haired teen spoke up bluntly, "Then, what about you, Akashi-kun?"

He stared straight to Akashi who was taken aback by the sudden question. His heterochromatic eyes widened slightly.

The red head averted his gaze from Kuroko. "Well, of course you're special to me too, Tetsuya. You're mine. It's the same with the others. What's mine is special to me." He walked a few steps ahead of Kuroko, and then turned over, facing the smaller teen, "Let's get some ice, Tetsuya. My treat."

If he had realized that the taller of the two swiftly diverted the topic, then he'd chose to let it go and kept quiet by nodding his head.

The two walked to the convenient store they often visited. Akashi take a green tea flavored Popsicle, then offered Kuroko another Popsicle, "Soda, right?"

Kuroko nodded. "It will better if they have vanilla flavor though," he mumbled while taking the Popsicle from Akashi's hand.

The red haired teen laughed lightly. "Want me to make that happen?"

"How? That's not possible," said Kuroko.

"You doubt me?" Akashi raised one of his eyebrows. Kuroko could see glint of mischievousness plastered on his eyes.

"No," he answered. When it came to his captain, then the impossible could really become possible.

Akashi chuckled, "Good." He ruffled Kuroko's hair then walked to the door. "Let's go."

"Don't make a mess of my hair, Akashi-kun." The sky blue haired teen pouted slightly, fixing his hair up while following Akashi to the door.

They walked side by side, eating the Popsicle. Kuroko raised his head, watching Akashi eating his ice.

"Is there something wrong, Tetsuya?"

"No, I'm just wondering if you like green tea, Akashi-kun."

"Why?"

"You choose green tea flavor," Kuroko answered, pointed the Popsicle in Akashi's hand.

"Ah, this? I don't particularly like green tea, though I don't hate it either," he shrugged.

"Then, what flavors do you like, Akashi-kun?"

"I like traditional flavor," the red haired teen answered. He looked at Kuroko, his eyes beamed with curiosity. "What is it, Tetsuya? You're unusually talkative today, what's with the sudden interest?"

"I thought I wanted to know Akashi-kun's preference. I want to get to know you better," the smaller teen answered, deadpanned.

"I see. Then, let me provided you with some information." Akashi was enjoying this. "I like shogi. My favorite food is tofu soup. I do horseback riding." He paused. "And, for me, winning is absolute."

Kuroko was listening seriously. He didn't understand why his captain was offering him his information. He's not going to question it though. Akashi always had something on his mind.

"How about you, Tetsuya?"

Kuroko found that Akashi was looking at him. "What about me?"

"It's only fair if you tell me about yourself too, right?" the red haired teen answered. He took few steps ahead of Kuroko. "It's an equivalent exchange—"

When he turned around, the teal haired teen had already disappeared. He looked around and saw no sight of the vanished teen.

"Please let me go!"

The short haired girl shouted, trying to shake the grip on her hand from the tan man. She was surrounded by three men, and one of them had caught her wrist. Anyone could see those men are delinquent.

"Come on~ we only wanted to play with you a little bit," the tan man answered while snickering toward his friend. The bandana man was whistling and the other one slipped his arms on the girl shoulder.

The girl squirmed, trying to get the hand off her shoulder. She also tried desperately to pull her hand away from the man's grip.

"Let me go!" she begged. She started to tear up.

"Let her go please."

They screamed. Both men released their grips on the girl and one of them tripped before found himself sitting on the road. They all frantically looked around their surroundings. There's no one except them and the girl, but they swore, they clearly heard a voice. A voice that had come out of nowhere.

"Wh—what the hell was that?!"

"There's no one else here besides us. Do you think it… could it be... a gh—" the tripped man started to freaked out.

"Nonsense! There's no ghost, idiot!" the bandana man shouted.

"But, but the voice—"

"Excuse me, but I'm right here." Again, a voice was heard.

"Look! There it is again!"

"Come out! I know you're here! Show yourself! Who do you think you—" The tan man yelled furiously.

"But, I'm here, right under you," the voice answered. "Look down please."

The tan man casted his eyes down and found a teal haired teen right in front of him. "UWAAAHHHH!"

"A ghost! It appeared!"

"Look carefully, idiot!" The bandana man knocked the tripped man up. "He is a human!"

They then looked at the petite teen thoroughly. He was small and got pale skin, but indeed he is a human.

"Bastard! How dare you surprise us like that! Where the hell did you come from anyway?!"

The ghost, who actually was Kuroko, furrowed his eyebrows a bit. It barely showed on his face, but he's clearly annoyed. "I'm already here for a while. You all just didn't notice me," he said. There's tint of anger in his voice.

"It can't be! Don't make a fool of us! What do you want anyway?!" the tan man yelled.

The sky blue haired teen looked up, stared at the tan man blankly. "Let the girl go."

The said man didn't seem to like the idea. "Huh?! The hell are you saying? It's none of your business anyway. Butt out, shorty!"

Okay, now they did it. Kuroko Tetsuya was not someone who got angry easily, but there were still things or words that were taboo to him. One of them had something to do with height. No one should mention the word to him, but it seemed like that man had just crossed the line.

He. Called. Him. Shorty.

He still looked stoic on the outside, though you could clearly see fury in his blue eyes.

"Let the girl go. She doesn't like it," the bluenette said calmly.

The tan man clearly didn't get it. "Huh?! Who the hell do you think you are? ordering me like that?! I said, butt out of this!" He clenched his palm then aimed a punch toward Kuroko.

A hand caught the punch. Suddenly, a red haired teen appeared in front of Kuroko, caught the punch with his hand.

"Akashi-kun…"

Akashi turned his head to look at Kuroko and smiled dangerously. "I'll deal with you later, Tetsuya."

He was mad. Really mad. An angry Akashi was never a good thing, so the bluenette just kept silent.

The red head returned his gaze at the trio. He slapped the tan man's hand away, "So, what do you think you are doing with my Tetsuya?" he asked in low voice.

The trio gulped. Their instinct told them that the red haired teen in front of them was bad news. After all, Akashi Seijuro was not someone to be taken lightly. There's a dangerous vibe flowing out of him.

"Wh— Are you a friend of his? Do— don't interfere with o— our business!" the tan man shouted, stuttering.

Akashi took one step forward. "Oh, I have no interest at your business at all. I could careless with whatever you want to do." He stared at them. His heterochromatic eyes were glinting with murderous intent.

"But, you'd made a terrible mistake." He paused. "You tried to touch Tetsuya. You tried to hurt him. How dare you tried to harm what's mine."

The red head smiled. His mismatched eyes were glaring darkly. If looks could kill, they would already be dead. "Do you think I will let it go?"

The trio, and even the girl, squirmed. They took few steps backward and their body started shaking.

The bluenette sighed. He got to stop this. If he let this go on, those men would definitely be scarred all life, not saying they hadn't now.

Kuroko walked toward Akashi then tugged the tip of his clothes lightly. "Akashi-kun."

Akashi sighed. He closed his eyes for a moment before looking back at the trio sternly. "Fine. I'll let you go this one time. Don't ever appear in front of me and Tetsuya again. Now, leave," he ordered.

The men immediately ran, so fast that there's no sight of them anymore in seconds.

The red haired teen returned his gaze to Kuroko. "Are you alright, Tetsuya?"

Kuroko nodded. "Thank you, Akashi-kun," he said, then walking past Akashi to the girl.

He stood in front of her. "Are you alright?"

The girl stopped squirming and smiled nervously. "Ye—yes! Thank you very much!"

"Will you— "

Before Kuroko was able to finish his words, Akashi cut him. He didn't realize that his captain already stood next to him.

The redhead stared at the girl coldly. "You can go home by yourself, can't you?"

He's not asking. He ordered. The girl seemed to realize the hidden meaning behind Akashi's words. She learned not to oppose him, so she just did the most reasonable thing to do, out of fear of course. She nodded repeatedly. "O- Of course!"

"You heard her, Tetsuya," Akashi said shortly, grabbing Kuroko's hand then pulled him forcefully.

Kuroko didn't have a choice but to let Akashi dragged him, leaving the girl behind.

"Akashi-kun. Akashi-kun."

It'd been minutes but the red haired teen was still ignoring Kuroko as they walked through the street silently. He was still holding his hand though. He just had yet spoken to him since then.

after about fifteen minutes, Akashi finally stopped. He let out a sigh, letting go of Kuroko's hand then leaned his back to the hedge. They stood in front of a park. Kuroko's waiting for Akashi to speak.

Minutes passed, Akashi finally settled his eyes on Kuroko. "Don't do this again. You understand, Tetsuya?"

Kuroko nodded. "I understand. I'm sorry, Akashi-kun." He returned his gaze. His face perhaps didn't show any expression, but Akashi could tell that he really did feel sorry.

"Also, don't disappear on me again. I just took my eyes off you for a second and you immediately disappeared," the redhead continued while stroking his hair briefly. "I think I need to put a leash on you, Tetsuya." He chuckled.

"I'm not a dog, Akashi-kun," Kuroko answered, deadpanned.

"You may as well be one. A leash and a tag, just so that you won't go anywhere else again and to tell everyone you belong to me," Akashi said. His red and gold eyes were staring straight into Kuroko's blue ones.

The teal haired teen was looking back at Akashi. He couldn't tell whether Akashi was only joking or really meant it. "You're exaggerating things, Akashi-kun." He averted his eyes from Akashi. "Besides, I didn't mean to disappear. I only went to buy you something."

That perked Akashi interest. He looked at him curiously. "For me?"

"Yes." Kuroko shuffled through his bag. "It's been a while so I'm not sure whether it's still hot or not," he said as he took something out of his bag. "Here. This is a hot chocolate. For Akashi-kun."

He held out the can to Akashi. He took the drink from Kuroko and stared at it, bewildered.

"Why?" he asked, raising one of his eyebrows.

The bluenette paused for a moment. "Because you looked tired, Akashi-kun. I don't think you realized it, but you dozed off few times. That's why I went to buy you this. I heard chocolate is good to relieved fatigue." He smiled.

Akashi was startled. This was the first time someone could actually read him. But, there's something else that shocked him more. His heterochromatic eyes widened and his mouth parted slightly.

The smaller teen rarely showed it. Kuroko Tetsuya was smiling at him.

The usually blank expression, now was painted with a smile on his face and it was directed to him.

His mind might have been playing tricks on him. He saw the wind breeze through Kuroko's teal hair softly. His blue eyes were looking at him serenely and his pale skin was glowing, being reflected by the moonlight. He was struck in awe. He never felt something like that, until now. He got to admit. The bluenette looked beautiful.

He was lost in thought until he heard Kuroko called out to him.

"Akashi-kun, is there something wrong?" the teal haired teen asked, there's hint of worry in it.

"No. I was just thinking…" he trailed for a moment, lifting up the drink in his hand, before gazing back at Kuroko. "Anyway, thank you for this."

The red haired teen was unaware that his heterochromatic eyes softened as he smiled. Now, it was the bluenette's turn to be taken aback. It's the first time he saw this side of his captain. The first time he saw Akashi Seijuro's genuine smile.

"You're welcome, Akashi-kun," he responded, smiling lightly, happy to be able to discover a new side of Akashi.

They walked side by side throughout the way . Since the event at the park, they had gotten more open with each other. They talked and talked about lots of things, such as hobbies, favorite foods, books, etc., till suddenly Akashi stopped.

"Well, I think this is enough for today," the redhead said. "I have a lot of fun today, Tetsuya. I'll excuse myself now," he continued, ruffling Kuroko's hair softly then turned around. "See you tomorrow."

He walked away toward the exact opposite direction from where they had headed.

The bluenette was too engrossed with their talk that he failed to realize he was already in front of his house.

Akashi had walked him home.

Okay, I kind of made up the chocolate part. I don't think it got an effect like that XD

This chapter was so sugary, fluffy overload. I didn't plan it, it just somehow become like this, lol. I hope you all like it and Akashi was such a gentleman~ he walked Kuro-chan home :3

A/N: an updated~ this chapter… just turned out this way as I typed it. This is the longest chapter I had ever wrote. So, was it interesting? Or was it boring? I honestly couldn't tell, maybe because I'm the one who wrote it.

I found (not so) new discoveries. One, I'm lacking at vocabulary, so I'm really sorry if I overused some words (which i probably did). Two, my grammar problem. You see I'd only learned English in school and college, but it's alright now since i found a beta ;D

Also, if you have suggestion or idea or if you got some scene you wanted to see in this story, just tell me. It doesn't need to be akakuro, GOM/kuroko is fine too, they will surely add some spice to this fic which is necessary ;D it just I won't promise you that I'll definitely use it in this story. I'll consider it first then decide later. of course I'll definitely credit you if I ever use your idea :)

Last, if you can and have time, please leave me your feedback or thought about this fic/chapter, which mean review would be great. They made me extremely happy and motivated and push me to write the next chapter, instead of being slow and lazy, lol XD

Anyway, thank you for reading as always~ and I know it's late but Merry Christmas and i also know the year have yet to change, but regardless HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas as i also hope this year will be a wonderful year for all of us! :D