Chapter seven: Kuroko

When Kuroko had first awoken from his slumber during the crash, he almost panicked due the absence of some rather…loud personalities; though after he saw the more then obvious opening in the bus that had a clear view of the road, he calmed considerably.

As a shadow he'd always had a way of knowing whether or not his team was safe—though a certain amount of wakefulness was required, and though the Generation of Miracles had split, they were forever his team. Just as Seirin was forever his family. Alas, that also meant that he knew with complete certainty that, once again, his misdirection had worked against him, and those who'd saved his team had forgotten the shadow player.

What happened after was a blur of red, a haze of green, yellow, grey, and some other colors Kuroko had a hard time identifying. The pain as he dragged himself down the road, one thought running through his mind, to return to them, his team, his family, to not leave them a reason to cry, to not leave Kise-kun a reason to cry, was barely pushed to the back of the ex-shadow players mind as he surveyed the area where his body had lain long ago (though, truthfully, it wasn't that long).

Cocking his head to the left Kuroko wondered if he could go back to Kise-kun, but the tug at his core, pulling him toward the crash site, told him he'd have to figure that out later.

Following the tug the ghost floated toward the still rather wrecked area of the crash. At first he saw nothing of importance, rubble, broken bits of metal, and he sent out a wish that this wasn't the place he'd be damned to stay for eternity. For one, it was boring, second, it didn't have any milkshakes, and, finally, there was no basketball. Though Kuroko supposed he could create a make shift net and ball from things lying around.

Ready to give up his search for anything interesting, Kuroko floated over to one of the only remaining giant rocks in the area, and almost sat down (he was kind of happy, being a ghost meant height didn't matter anymore), but a flash of gold caught his eye.

Curiously he phased through the rubble and stuck his face close to the object, barely noting the startled worm that seemed to almost shriek in terror at his sudden appearance.

Kuroko found himself studying a box, though smashed and covered in dirt, it was obviously wrapped in the shimmering gold paper with loving care. The box had no ribbons, but attached to it, barely recognizable, was a key chain of what appeared to be a…replica of a certain puppy.

Shaking his head, a small smile on his face, Kuroko used the technique Kise-kun taught him to grab the box. The ease in which he felt the paper, and held it in the palm of his hands while he slowly dragged it out, startled him. Where doing such things before had been difficult now it came with a startling ease, although confused, a mille-second of a frown tugging at his lips, the glint of the golden paper dragged his attention away. Whoever could it have been for?

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The four, after the fight was over, could only stare at the damage done, dread coming off them in waves.

Momoi fell to the floor, a shaking hand touching a piece of the glass, "Kuroko," she murmured, tears threatening to fall, "what have we done?"

"Technically," Takao shakily replied, "it was that boxer's fault, who would have expected one would be hiding amongst a group of lazy middle-aged men?"

Midorima shook his head and lightly whacked the point guard, "We have no proof that destroying the seal will destroy Kuroko."

"Destroy?" Momoi hiccupped, eyes widening.

Murasakibara angrily chomped down on ten candies, "No, we set him free!"

Aomine sighed, "Why don't we just go find Kise?"

The others turned to him, not understanding at first, but slowly they nodded, Momoi climbing to her feet, and they walked together out of the room, set on a new plan.

"Soo…any idea where to look?"

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Kise wasn't sure where he was going, or what, exactly, he was doing. Yes, he was looking for his precious Kurokocchi, for he couldn't accept, wouldn't accept, that he'd lost his beloved again. But running around at random wasn't going to help find the ghost. Not that the model could bring himself to stop.

He was panicking, living through daylight nightmares as he witnessed Kurokocchi's silent scream over and over again, watching his beloved drag himself down that road over, and over, forever.

Kise wanted to scream, to let out his frustrations, to simply jump off the bridge he was currently on and end it, to join his beloved. But he knew Kurokocchi would be disappointed with him if he did, and, being dead, the disappointment would last a very, very long time.

Besides, as a ghost it would take a long while before he could propose, and he'd had enough with waiting, more than enough. For the very moment he'd heard of the trip for Momoi's birthday he'd decided. He had picked out the ring, perfect, beautiful, but truly woven from the same cloth as the ex-shadow player.

Sure, perhaps as teenagers Kise was rushing it, but he wanted the world to know Kurokocchi was his, and his alone. He had no doubt, after all, that Kurokocchi would accept.

Sighing, Kise turned his sights to the cloudy sky, squinting through the raindrops that threatened to pelt his eyes, and began to take deep, calming breaths, like Kurokocchi had taught him oh so long ago.

When he finally opened his eyes, it was to the blare of horns and the ever bright lights of an incoming car.

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Kuroko could, as he found out shortly after opening the box, indeed head back. In fact, it appeared he had no limitations, not that he was going to test it anytime soon, not with Kise-kun falling off the side of a bridge, a car fallowing soon after.

Now, Kuroko was never as fast as the others from Seirin, and he'd never be able to compare to his teammates, but the ex-phantom player did know how to be fast when necessary, of course, this speed was usually only seen on court, but he figured Kise-kun's life was far more important.

Though, being dead and lacking a body certainly did help.

However, no matter how much his ability to be tangible increased, and how being dead helped give a slight boost to his strength, even he wasn't able to stop a hurtling body in midair.

As soon as an unconscious Kise-kun was within his grasp Kuroko felt the tug of gravity, something he'd forgotten even existed, and came up with a last minute plan that would have probably killed him…if he wasn't already dead.

Closing his eyes, Kuroko prepared for impact.

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Kise awoke to the sound of barking and the feel of a wet tongue, and even half asleep he'd know that bark anywhere, "Number 2?" he asked tiredly, prying open his eyes and staring into blue. After receiving a confirming bark, Kise dragged himself up to a sitting position, ignoring the rain that hurtled down like little doves, and holding his head, wincing when the memory of the latest accident hit him.

"Annoying reckless drivers," he hissed as a headache made itself known. Some time passed where he only sat, holding his head, but eventually the headache subsided and he took a look around, noting he was on the bank beneath the bridge, but just too far from the bridge itself to be protected from the rain.

Taking another look at Number 2 Kise quickly took the puppy into his arms and cuddled him for some form of comfort, "If you're alright, then Kurokocchi most certainly has to be."

The puppy barked again, turning his head to the right, pointedly looking to something in the distance. "He's that way?" Kise asked with a blink, only to receive a bland glance from Number 2 before he wiggled out of his arms and jumped down, barking once more before he ran off into the shadows.

Laughing slightly at the irony, Kise shakily got to his feet and followed, slipping only now and then in a puddle, and entered the darkness tucked under a corner of the bridge. At first he noticed nothing, but then the sound of barking drew his eyes to the glint of a magnificent sapphire, which, upon closer inspection, was settled into a finely done onyx ring, littered with specks of shimmering sky blue. His eyes widened as he slowly noticed how the ring was resting on a slender and pale finger, which connected to a hand which connected to…well, a body.

Shamefully, Kise's first thought was that of glee, for he practically jumped in joy, knowing his Kurokocchi was wearing the ring he'd bought him some time ago, thus accepting his feelings (like Kise knew he would), and inwardly gloating over how nicely the ring matched his beloved.

However, another bark from Number 2 drew his eyes to his beloved's face, which was settled into a look of pain. Startled, Kise automatically went to his loves side and lightly called his name, pulling Kurokocchi into his arms, startled at how cold his love felt.

Unsure of what to do—for who could know how to treat a ghost for…something?—Kise simply tried to keep his love warm while he fished around his pockets, looking for his cell.

Sadly, he found it dead.

A bark kept him from going into depression (for he didn't have enough strength to walk to get help). Looking at Number 2, who appeared to have an all knowing glint in his eyes, Kise sighed and asked the puppy if he could run to get help.

As if waiting for the simple command, the puppy ran off, though not before he jumped up and wacked Kise in the face with his paw.

…the puppies way of saying he was stupid, Kise supposed.

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A/N: Eh, man was this hard to write, I had a total of three rather vague ideas for this chap, and I had no idea how to connect them or how to make them happen, however, I hope this chapter makes sense. Though, yeah, Kuroko's ghostly travel may have seemed to go by rather fast, but several hours had actually passed between the first scene and then Kise's. And, yeah, the driver was simply some random guy who lost control of his car in the rain and poor Kise happened to be in area where he crashed through the bridges side.

Yeah, I know, it wouldn't be that easy, as bridges are more reinforced now a days, but just pretend the car was a really big and heavy one or something…

Only two more chapters left…I never thought time could go by so quickly. And remember, as always, one review.