Chapter nine: Akashi
When Akashi had awoken to the news that the ex-shadow player had been forgotten, left for dead, he had immediately set up plans to kill off those responsible, and the team gladly offered their assistance. And when he'd learned the identity of the one who'd caused the accident (which didn't take long), the ex-captain of the Generation of Miracles made sure to give the man and his family hell. No one, and he meant no one, messed with his team and got away with it.
Along with the plans for revenge, however, the ex-captain had also went about making sure everyone had enough to live off of, giving them secret boost's in money that, if they weren't in mourning, they would have most likely noticed. He also made sure to secretly check up on them, making sure they didn't fall too deep into the abyss of depression. And all the while he had the feeling of Kuroko hiding away in the shadows, watching him with amusement, eyes shimmering and declaring, "See, you do care."
He tried to ignore it.
But one night, while performing another all-nighter, Kuroko had crashed through his window. Quit literally through, for the teen phased through the glass, through the desk, and then through Akashi, sprawling in a heap on the wall behind, rubbing his nose and muttering about how ridiculously hard landings where. Admit ably, the ex-captain had been a tad bit shaken, through more from the shivers that racked his body due to the ghost passing through his body.
However, he was able to calm himself in a matter of seconds, in which time Kuroko had turned to him, and then proceeded to ask for his help (it boarded on demanding, but the pure distress on the ex-shadow players face allowed the ghost to get away with it). And, thus, here he was, sitting at his desk before a nervous, and rather large, group of teens. While this was not his first time doing so, it was most certainly his first having deal with the "rivals" (as Murasakibara had once called them), and a rather possessive Kise, cradling the unconscious ghost in his arms.
Akashi had never known ghosts could fall asleep, let alone become unconscious, but, then again, he'd always been more concerned with how to deal with the annoying living pests.
"You all look like drowned rats." He supplied blandly, staring at them through lidded eyes, wondering who he should call to clean up the giant puddle latter.
"Eh," Midorima coughed, adjusting his glasses, "Well, we did run here."
Takao's coughed 'yeah right' went ignored.
"Why is Kuroko…?" Unconscious, asleep, mentally absent?
"He protected me." Kise explained, describing what he could remember while Akashi made a mental note to kill some more people latter.
"Alright," Riko huffed, placing her fists on her hips and staring at Kise, then turning to look at each member of the Generation of Miracles in turn, "mind explaining what's going on? And why we were called here?"
Obviously, of course, the family had already picked up on the fact that Kuroko had apparently became a ghost, and Takao, Momoi, and Aomine had been kind enough to fill them in a tab bit more on the run over, however, they still didn't understand why they couldn't see their little shadow, let alone why Kise felt it necessary to seal him.
Though, looking at how Kise protectively cradled what appeared to be thin air, eyes never wavering from what they could only believe was a pale face, they could imagine, after all, it wasn't that far of a stretch, considering how often Kise had followed the ex-shadow player around, always hugging him or ruffling his hair, or calling him at the most awkward times, like in the gym shower.
"You moved on." Akashi gave in way of explanation.
"Ah!" Takao exclaimed, "That's right!"
"For certain types of ghost's only those who have not let them go can see them." finished Furihata, a strangely satisfied smile on his face, perhaps from being able to contribute something.
"However," Kagami muttered, looking up from Tetsuya number 2, who had snuggled firmly into thin air, "his type is changing."
"I'm surprised you noticed," Akashi drawled, a small spark of humor lit in his mismatched eyes.
To clarify, Akashi explained, making the issue sound far simpler then it was.
For Kuroko was a rather special existence to begin with, more shadow than anything else. So when he died it was simply like an amplification of what he already was, invisible, unnoticed, unknown. As such his transition to ghost would have been far easier, and more natural, then for others, thus allowing for a more unique being. However, in the midst of development, Kise sealed him, trapping half his newly developing powers, half of his newly developing being. Essentially split in half.
This made everyone in the room flinch while Murasakibara cried out a hushed 'I told you the table was bad!'
Being split the two halves developed differently, thus, being forcefully merged together (this made the Generation of Miracles flinch, recalling the sight of broken glass) they fought for dominance. Thus causing Kuroko a great amount of pain and making his powers unstable as a whole new set was introduced and the old suddenly got a boost in strength.
"Alright," Hyuuga sighed, "So, essentially, Kuroko is now a ghost, though what type of ghost has yet to be determined."
"So," Izuki interjected, "Kuroko could become a vengeful spirit at this point and kill us all?"
"Exactly!" shouted Takao, though soon the two wound up on the floor in pain.
"What does this have to do with us though?" inquired Kagami, scratching behind Number 2's ears.
"We'd like you to help Kise and Kuroko."
"We?"
"Kuroko told me this all himself," Akashi pointed toward the unconscious ghost, "He'd like to spend as much time as possible with Kise, but fear's that by staying here he'll harm us."
'Emotionally' went unsaid, for they all knew the shadow would never harm them physically, well, not unless they pissed him off, or he had a lack of milkshakes. Speaking of which, could ghosts even have milkshakes? Oh, by the gods, they hoped he had his fair share; they didn't want to join the ghost community just yet!
"So, basically," Momoi muttered, turning to the ghost and almost reaching out her hand to run it through blue locks, but stopped at the strange look in Kise's eyes, "Tetsu-kun wants to say goodbye."
"Well that's kind of hard to do while you're unconscious, don't you think?" Koganei supplied while scratching his head.
"Stay the night."
None would dare argue, even though they didn't have spare clothes, and had no idea where they would sleep; everyone knew better then to defy the ex-captain.
Shrugging, they followed random people whom Akashi called, giving one departing glance at the model and seemingly floating Number 2.
It took a while, but eventually Akashi followed suit, having dismissed the Generation of Miracles along with their rivals, closing the door to his office he allowed Kise to remain, certain he'd be unable to move for quite some time.
0-0-0-0
None of them could sleep, that much was obvious when Kuroko woke up, surrounded by warmth while snuggling a small ball of fur. The others could be heard through the walls, whispered mutterings and speculations, lame puns, the sound of crunching candy, the light chatter of Momoi and Aomine, the comforting voices of Riko and Hyuuga, the mother and father figures of his family.
Sighing he curled up more into the warmth, tucking his head firmly under the model's chin and burying his nose into Number 2's fur. How he'd love it, if he could stay like this forever, enveloped in Kise's warmth, Number 2 secured safely in his arms while he listened, surrounded by such kind and caring voices.
But they had a right to move on, to live without him, in fact, his family had already done so, he'd seen it, watching through Number 2's eyes (though he did so very little, as it seemed to cause the poor pup distress), he had no right to tear open old wounds. And he'd already seen how the Generation of Miracles, though not completely healed, was slowly but surely getting there. For he could see how his image was faded in their eyes, faded and rough around the edges, like an old painting, paint slowly falling away, rinsed in the downpour of tears.
The only one who was never going to let go, who was forever going to hold on, was the one who currently held him, arms wrapped possessively around his frame. And, perhaps selfishly, Kuroko was glad, for while that strong emotion was what chained him in the first place, was what captured his soul and forbade him from moving on, he was happy, being able to see his family and team once more, knowing with certainty that they'd be okay. He was glad, beyond words, to be given this chance to see them all once more, and even though he might be damned to exist far after they had gone, and though he might be alone, at the end of it all, right now, this happiness, it was all he could ever ask for.
Sighing he phased through the sleeping model, and carefully placed Number 2 within his grasp, chuckling over how cute the two looked, cuddling like that.
It was time, Kuroko decided, straightening, staring down at the two, time to say goodbye.
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That night, none of them could sleep, gathered in a rather large room the family talked about anything, trying to distract themselves from the idea of sneaking a peak at Kise, hoping, wishing, they could have one final glance at their shadow before they said goodbye.
After a while they all felt a shiver up their spine, and, turning as one, they saw, within the shadows tucked into the corner of the room, blue eyes and a small hand, waving, as pale lips formed words they could not hear, but did not need to.
With tears in their eyes the family whispered their final goodbye, giving shouts of encouragement for reason's they had yet to understand.
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The Generation of Miracles couldn't sleep either, and had decided to gather in another room, separate from the family, noisy at first, they silenced upon noticing the lack of noise coming from the family's room.
"Should we go check up on them?" asked Momoi, uncertain.
"Nah," Aomine replied, "Tetsu probably just dropped by is all."
"It's disturbing, Aomine-kun," called the ghost, "that you can read me so."
Takao jumped, hiding behind Midorima before peeking from aroundn his back, "Don't do that!"
Midorima simply adjusted his glasses and continued to pretend to read his book.
"Is this goodbye?" Murasakibara asked with a frown, for once not eating his candy as he stared at the ghost.
"It is."
"We'll handle everything on our end." Akashi supplied, noticing the slight worry in Kuroko's eyes, "just follow my instructions and everything should be alright."
"What instructions?" asked Takao and Momoi in confusion.
But Kuroko simply laughed, light, small, but floating, and it brought a smile to all their lips, "Goodbye."
And he was gone, leaving the team to shake their heads in fondness, tears threatening to fall.
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Number 2 awoke to the soft calling of his name, his tail wagging upon the sight of the ghost. "Number 2," Kuroko whispered, holding the dog on his lap, on the roof, Kise's sleeping form carefully wrapped in blankets and laying to the left, "could you stay with Kagami-kun?"
The pup cocked his head to the side quizzically, as if asking why Kuroko would ever need to ask.
"Thank you."
The pup only let out a bark in reply before licking the ghosts face, blinking only slightly when he found himself once more indoors.
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Both family and team found themselves back in Akashi's office, an awkward air about them, but then Number 2 came running in tail wagging as he jumped on to Kagami, sending the startled teen stumbling back.
The laughter, the slight smirks, the light crunching of candy, washed away their previous doubts, and they turned to the corner which Kise had been left, now empty, promising to handle everything, the annoying fans, the controlling bosses, the police, the suspicious parent's, they'd handle it all.
For Kuroko.
For their shadow.
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A/N: And we have reached the end, I've put up a poll concerning the idea of a sequel so please check it out. Beyond that, thank you all so very, very much for actually sticking with me till the end. Hope you all enjoyed! Hopefully this chapter wasn't too bad.