Chapter six: Kise
Kise wasn't one to skip photo shoots, nor was he one to deny any fan that asked for his autograph. But man, was keeping that tradition hard when he'd rather spend time with Kurokocchi, who floated in the background, watching with slight amusement (for Kise could tell by the tiniest tilt of his beloved's mouth and the slight curve of his eyes), as the model forced a beaming smile on his face, signing away and listening politely as the rather—ugly—boisterous girls blabbed on and on about how much they loved him.
He didn't care, he would rather smash their despicable faces in, how dare they, how dare they walk through his Kurokocchi and then ask for autographs? How dare they flirt with him while his beloved stood right there?
Needless to say, only Kurokocchi's presence saved them, though, perhaps it was also his presence that damned them to hatred. Then again, it wasn't like Kise would dare travel far from his ghost, so perhaps it was more because his fans appeared far, far more grotesque now that he had his beloved within his grasp.
Either way, he'd deal with the beasts horrid cries, perhaps speeding things along here and there, and always making sure to get everything right on the first try, that way, that way he'd have far more time to spend with Kurokocchi.
They could go get milkshakes, Kise smiled, beaming in happiness at the thought, thereby causing a few workers to swoon, faint, or hurriedly look away, for not long ago Kise had found out a way to touch his beloved, then, after that, he'd managed to teach Kuroko how to hold certain objects, milkshakes being one of them. Of course, Kuroko couldn't taste it at first, he couldn't even drink it, but as time went on he was able to, how this was possible, neither knew, but Kise wasn't going to question it. For the fact simply brought another pleasure to life, though, really, next they'd have to find a way to change Kurokocchi's clothes, the ones he died in are so unbecoming.
Going through the day in a haze of happiness, he thought of all the other things he could do with his beloved, talk about mundane things, go see a movie, go to the park, all things they couldn't do before, for the reminder of Kurokocchi's ghost status had still brought Kise to tears and marred his beloved's face with the tiniest frown as he could not touch could not feel.
And that simply wouldn't do, Kurokocchi was supposed to enjoy his life with Kise, not regret it. So they waited, and, finally, the ex-phantom player could touch things again (albeit, with some necessary concentration), could feel—although barely, Kise still being the only being he could actually touch.
Thus, when work was done, Kise skipped away, Kurokocchi loyally floating after and listening as Kise babbled on about his plans.
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"So," Momoi began, arms folded, staring at Murasakibara who sat across Aomine's kitchen table. Though, why it had to be his kitchen table, let alone his house, Aomine couldn't quite figure out.
"What you're saying is that Tetsu-kun had indeed become a ghost, however, he's trapped in Kise-kun's hotel room?"
Murasakibara nodded at first, then shrugged at the last bit, he wasn't entirely sure about the limitation to Kuroko's mobility, he simply never saw Kuroko leave the room, and whenever he proposed it Kise would so fiercely refuse that he was almost certain, but not quit.
However, as Midorima explained that he'd seen the ghost outside of the hotel room, he wasn't as certain anymore.
"Alright," sighed Aomine from the kitchen counter, drinking a glass of soda, though he didn't bother to check what kind and didn't currently care enough the compare the taste, "so now we have two witnesses—"the implication that he didn't quit believe Midorima annoyed the shooting guard greatly, but he couldn't really blame him, "It's safe to assume that we can get more info on our Tetsu ghost."
"Let's compare!" called Takao, nodding to himself, though he had to elaborate when the other's looked at him, "well, we know for certain that Kuroko is a ghost, and that Kise has something to do with it—probably—but so far we have two different Kuroko sightings, and, also, ghosts come in several different types, the ones that are stuck in an eternal loop, constantly repeating their deaths, then those that wander aimlessly around their place of death, those that only hold on to the rage and anger caused by their death, and then those that actually have full memory of who they were and full control over what they do, however, I've heard that sometimes, when a person dies and comes back, their personalities change slightly."
Although stunned by Takao's rather wordy reply, the other's quickly did as suggested, finding similarities between the encounters and summersing that Kuroko did indeed have full access to his memories and was basically the same as before, thus leading Takao to question whether or not Kuroko was ever really alive, but a ghost in sheep's clothing.
After everyone managed to lay at least on hit on him, the group continued their session, finding Kise the main key.
"You know," Momoi muttered to herself in thought, "I think I've heard of something like this before."
The others listened.
"Eh, it was while playing a video game—", none of them, besides Takao, were surprised, Momoi was a closet gamer, "but you could summon the souls of the dead and force them to serve you."
"Serve?" Aomine almost chocked, considering all the things Kise would force Kuroko to do…but wound up only imagining the model taking the ex-phantom player to the park, an all too goofy expression on his face as he dragged the ghost everywhere.
"Hhmm," Midorima once again fixed his glasses, "I've heard of that as well, though apparently you need to use a seal of some sort to cement the contract."
"Seal?" muttered Murasakibara before his eyes suddenly brightened and a grin split across his face, "does the seal have to be on the person at all times?"
Momoi and Midorima weren't certain, perhaps it didn't have to be on the person, it was rumored that it could lie on an object of the contractors choosing as well.
"What does it look like?"
Seeing where this was going the other's offered up their ideas, mainly gathered intel that they'd scoured from the internet and dragged out of unsuspecting—and now rather traumatized—random person's on the street. Declaring that a seal could look like some weird circle, or a strange design with a star, or just a random cool, misplaced design that might be in plain view or hidden, depending on the contractors tastes.
Knowing Kise, the seal was likely to be in a place he'd be able to see every day, simply to confirm that Kuroko wouldn't be able to leave him anytime soon—for they had noticed how possessive he'd been when Kuroko was alive, and they'd seen how he'd clung to the teen when they'd still been trapped in that crushed bus, of course, Murasakibara claim about his possessiveness over Kuroko's ghost only cemented this line of thought.
"Then I think I know what it is," Murasakibara stated with a grin, plopping a candy in his mouth.
Though, really, by know they didn't really need the location, it was more than obvious that the seal would be in Kise's main hotel room. Though, really, who would have thought it would have been set on a table?
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The two had long since finished their milkshakes, and were sitting in the park, staring up at the sky, Kuroko lazily running his fingers through Kise's hair as his head rested in his lap (though, to anyone who passed it looked like thin air). "Ne, Kurokocchi~"
"hhmm?"
"Do you think we could stay like this forever, just you and me?"
"…Kise-kun, I think you've been watching too many romance movies lately, their rotting your brain."
"How mean~!" Kise whined before sitting up and taking Kuroko by the shoulders, "but, seriously, Kurokocchi, would that be alright with you, staying by my side, forever?"
A sad smile graced Kuroko's lips as the ghost felt a shiver go down his non-existent spine, and a sudden sharp pain tug at his core, "Nothing lasts forever Kise-kun," he tilted his head and placed a firm kiss on lips ready to protest, before drawing back, "but I wouldn't mind, not really."
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"Is this really a good idea?" Momoi questioned, running her hands over the beautiful glass table with a frost like design of a forest, "I mean, what will happen to Tetsu-kun when we break it?"
"It's possible that he'd return to the afterlife." Midorima offered, fiddling with the tape on his fingers.
"It could simply free him from Kise-chin's control." Murasakibara replied while plopping another five cadies in his mouth while aimlessly kicking the broken door he'd kicked in for entry.
"Or it could have a lasting negative effect on Kuroko's soul and warp what's left of his mind so he comes back as a monster and kills people needlessly—"
Takao was knocked out…or, he would have, if he hadn't swiftly hidden underneath the table, and all the blows hit it instead, cracking the surface.
"Uh oh," Aomine uttered, eyes slightly wide, "well, we've done it now."
Murasakibara blinked, "what do you mean? I thought we were going to break it?"
Aomine shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck, "I was going to wait till Kise got back with Tetsu and see what's up, to see if things really are as bad as you say, then smash it if it was."
Momoi nodded, along with Midorima and Takao (who now stood proudly behind the coach), "I was thinking the same thing."
"Well it's a little late for that," Murasakibara declared childishly, plopping another set of candies into his mouth, "Kuro-chin's seal is almost broken as is, I see no reason not to break it now."
Sighing, Momoi consoled the giant, ensuring him that everything will be fine, to think of this as a slight taste of 'freedom' for Kuroko, if he liked it, if it was good for him, then they'd smash it, but if not, they'd fix it up…or, at least try. Reluctantly the giant agreed, though the rather big bag of candy she offered him helped sway his decision.
The group sat and waited for no more than a few minutes before they heard cries in the hall and saw, standing outside the door, a group of middle-aged men lead by a rather fat, rather old, bald guy. "What the hell is going on here?" the leader cried, staring at the remains of the door, "when I'd heard that Kise-san had completely ignored my job offer's for today, I'd rushed over to see if he was sick—", or to find some blackmail, his face said, "but instead I find his room's been broken into!"
Of course, the man was shocked to find out that they were all—mainly—from the Generation of Miracles, though he seemed to accept the broken door afterwards. However, the group was wary of the rather large gathering of men behind the bald guy; whatever had Kise gotten himself into?
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"Kise-kun," called Kuroko softly, laying his head back onto Kise's stomach as the larger teen held him in his lap, settled in the grass, "this if the fifteenth time your phones gone off, shouldn't you answer it?"
Shaking his head Kise buried his face within Kuroko's hair and muttered a reply.
"I understand," Kuroko sighed, "but those men seemed to be rather…pushy."
Kise simply tightened his hold.
"If you don't answer, they'll simply run over to your house to 'see if you're alright.'"
Kise stiffened, 'those men' where his employers and colleagues, usually they were rather good about letting him off the hook, but ever since he'd taken a break from basketball (thus allowing him several hours of free time), they'd been rather pushy, demanding he take more job offers, for Kise seemed to gain more fan's by the day, and far more magazines and corporation's wanted him to appear in their work or commercials. Hoping to gain more attention from the populace, however, Kise had told them all off, spending his free time with Kuroko, though, as far as anyone else was concerned, he was simply fleeing from his work. Alas, 'those men' happened to spot Kise, on several occasions (for whenever he was in Kuroko's presence he was far too happy to keep his guard up), talking to what seemed to be thin air, or ordering two milkshakes—which made them worry that he'd get fat.
The main concern of those men was, of course, that Kise had gone insane, and they'd been planning on using him to get as much money as possible before the world found out and his fan base began to plummet.
"Kise-kun?" Kuroko asked, slightly pained, "Kise-kun, I think you really should answer that call."
Although Kise knew the dangers of having 'those men' over, he didn't think they'd do anything to the table, he hoped, he wished, he begged, but it seemed the god's hated him, for soon Kuroko was no longer in his grasp, with limps slightly submerged in the ground, Kuroko sat before him, clutching his chest in pain as gasp's and shudders racked his frame.
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"What do you mean you want us to hand him over?" Momoi asked in disgust, "Kise-kun isn't some sort of object you can use and toss aside as you please!"
The old man scoffed, "he's a model dear, which means he's already sold his soul."
"Being a model doesn't mean he's yours!" Takao cried, "he can quit the job whenever he pleases!"
"Which is exactly why we need to use him as much as possible before then," one of the old guys followers declared, crossing his arms in defiance and the other's around him nodded his head, "besides, his mind's going with the wind."
"Huh?"
"Didn't you notice?" laughed another one of the men, "how he's always talking to thin air, or pretending to hold onto thin air? Or going out on dates…with thin air?"
The gathered parts of the Generation of Miracles—and Takao—were getting pissed, this was too random! Not long ago they learned their close friend came back as a ghost, was apparently sealed (and thus chained) by Kise, and they had just now gotten together—of course excluding Akashi who'd have probably slammed Kise in the ground for his stupidity on the spot—to fix that problem when another, totally unpredictable (but rather cliché) predicament rounded it's fiery head.
Together the group took one big breath, then slowly moved into a weird and slightly wonky formation—for it was hard to do such things in places so enclosed. Momoi stood behind the table, and the others stood in front, off to the side, forming a makeshift line. No one, and that means no one, got away with trying to use one of the Generation of Miracles. If they happened to die, or vanish, or accidentally fall down a flight of stairs, or if the elevator they happened to be in tragically fell, then, really, who would blame them? Surly not the government, for Akashi had a hand in all things, that being one of few.
Takao, of course, was having mixed feelings, he didn't want to be a part of the obvious slaughter, but he also didn't want to run from it either, after all, how many people could say they helped the GoM get away with murder? Shrugging, he let a grin slide on his face, if it was for Midorima, he'd do anything.
Unsuspecting, the old man and his groupies were swiftly dealt with in ways that, if told, would ruin the mystery, for even Takao, who unhesitatingly joined in, had no idea what was going on.
Alas, the fight took longer than expected, and sadly, one of the old man's groupies happened to be a fighter, thus leading to one casualty on the teen's side…the table.
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"Kurokocchi!" Kise cried as the figure of his love flickered in and out of sight, "Kurokocchi!" he tried to grasp onto the outstretched trembling hand, but his fingers, covered in sweat and bleached pale white in fear, passed through those small hands each and every time.
"Kise…kun" the ghost gasped through pained gasps, forcing a tiny smile to his lips, "it's…going…to be…alright…you'll see…"
Kise could only watch in despair, fallen to his knees, as the figure of his love blinked out of sight, leaving nothing more than an unheard scream behind…
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A/N: Man, this took forever to write, and although I'm proud of it, I also kind of fell like I rushed it, maybe. However, I planned for this story to only have nine chapters—yeah, I actually planned this story out…sort of!—so I suppose it's justified, that, and I don't like overly long chapters, so I didn't want to get too wordy, anyway hope you lot enjoyed.
And, as always, one review.