Thank you to reviewers: Izik Imanity, Shiranai Atsune, xXxPhantomxXx and Steph-Fanny.
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Reapers
I do not own Kuroko No Basuke/Basket.
Yep, so I went with the majority and will be writing a short story.
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Some would say, he was: Living History
Their match was soon, but there was evidently something holding Seirin back from being able to play at the Winter Cup at full force. It was Kagami's atrocious grades. "How stupid can you be?" Exclaimed Hyuuga, in absolute rage as he clasped his hair and pulled at it. "It's so simple, everything is right here in front of you on the page. Read the kanji!" He insisted, shoving the Japanese History book into the team's ace's face once more. He paused for a moment, his fingers shaking. He dropped the book in his hand as a terrible realization dawned upon him, oh no. "Please tell me you can read kanji..."
"Of course I can!" Retaliated Kagami.
"They why can't you understand these basics! Just memorise these dates and names!" Roared Hyuuga, back at him.
Kuroko sat beside Kagami, amused by the scene as he sat silently with his own history book open. He didn't really need to study Japanese History, after all, he considered himself a living piece Japanese History. One that's has adapted and evolved to the modern age. "Kagami-kun is stupider than we thought he was." Deadpanned Kuroko, his eyes flickering to lightly scan over his book as he ignored the red head's fierce glare directed at him.
Riko sighed, they were getting nowhere no matter how hard they tried. "Izuki, teach him the next subject. Let's just move on from Japanese History." She instructed.
Everyone agreed, except Hyuuga whose protest were immediately silenced with a glare from Riko. Kagami let out a sigh of relief, his hands moving to shut the book, but as the pages of the book closed, something couldn't help but catch his eyes. He placed a finger in between the closing pages before flipping it wide open. Red eyes widened as he looked at the traditional painting in the textbook, more specifically, the face in the background of the printed image. He stared at the entitled chapter, 'Death in Feudal Japan'. The man in the painting wasn't as visible as the people in front of him, who made up a majority of the entire painting, but he could still make out an undeniable blank expression, not to mention that there was unmistakable lightly blue teal hue to representing the person's eyes and hair. "Hey Kuroko, that guy in the painting looks like you." He nudged his friend beside him.
His lightly blue eyes glanced over at the painting, he shook his head. "Don't be ridiculous, Kagami-kun, that looks nothing like me." He reaffirmed. His pale slender fingers flipped to the very same page in the textbook, his eyes darkened as he ran his fingers across the page, creasing over the painting. His fingers slowed as they smudged over the face of the person Kagami had pointed out before he shut the book. "I look nothing like that." He whispered, closing his book shut.
"No really," Said Kagami, he pointed back to the person in the painting, his loud voice grabbing the attention of everyone else there. "This person really looks... Like you?" Double eye brows creased as he stared back at the person he initially had pointed to. Black bowl hair cut with a top-knot and brown eyes... The person he had initially seen was gone?
"I'm affronted that you think I have a top-knot." Stated Kuroko, his monotonous tone giving nothing away.
Hyuuga shook his head, "He's stupider than we thought if he thinks that looks anything like Kuroko at all." Muttered the bespectacled man.
Kagami shook his head, "No I swear that the picture wasn't like this." He grabbed Kuroko's book and flipped to the same page, the same painting was printed into the book. No teal haired person. "What?" Exclaimed the baffled teen.
Kuroko shook his head, "Perhaps we should all take a break. All this studying has made Kagami-kun delirious, and I don't think we'll be able to get him to learn anything else if he keeps imagining things." He inputted, that seemed to receive collective nods of agreements. He stood up, stretching his legs before disappearing outside for a breather. That had been mildly surprising. He hadn't expected anyone to have spotted him so easily, after all, the scene of the overall painting had never been so appealing to begin with. If memory served him right, it was a painting of what was considered 'surgery' during those times, and was overall morbid. Those times had definitely been much more busier for him than now, but then again, his job had been a bit different back then. He chuckled, he could still remember the scene in the painting, but more vividly, the scene after the painting was completed.
"Alright," the painter spoke, nodding. "I am done. I shall leave you doctors to continue your operation. Thank you so much for allowing me to paint this fine moment." The man packed up his items and soon left. As soon as he left, the seriousness evaporated from the room. Stern faces that had wore formal expressions dissipated into half hearted ones as the men in the room laughed. "Has he left the estate?" Asked one, he glanced to where another man had gotten up and opened the sliding door. He took a peek outside as the shadow of the artist disappeared through the front gates of the estate.
"The fool has just left." He informed the rest. "What a fool that man is, the patient has already been dead for hours." They laughed.
"Well he does not need to know that, after all, we are the only medics in this place." They laughed once more. "Fuji, dispose of the body when you are done playing with it." Said the main medic. He was a rather plump man, a top-knot adorned his head as he glanced over to the younger man who wore a cloth around his mouth. Unlike the others who had previously been posing around be body, this man remained by the corpse, his tools deep in the depths of the body.
"Of course, sir, enjoy your night out." With that the men left him to his own devices. The others had begun to make their way to the nearest brothel, where they often spent a majority of their time and money. "Let's see what else I can do~" His hands moved. A few moments later he swore, the man let out a string of curses as he looked over the body on the mat before him. Another one gone wrong. "Apprentice," shouted the doctor, he didn't look over his shoulder. "Bring me a cloth, I need to dispose this body before it begins to decompose." He grumbled and tossed his tools into a murky bucket.
His apprentice appeared, a cloth in hand, "Yes, Master," the young teen said. He began to wrap the body up, making sure to go over every nook and crook various times, layering the corpse. His careful eyes flickered to the doctor, a brush in his fingers as he began writing in the scroll, covering up his actions. "So, the patient died on the operating table?"
"Do not be fooled, young Tetsuya," said the doctor, he never looked back at his apprentice. "This patient had already died from the main medic's inability to treat him. It is unfortunate."
His apprentice stared blankly down at the fully wrapped body, "Shall I presume that it was not his inability in skill that led to the main medic's failure to treat him, but instead it was his intention to leave for death to collect, which is also known as indirect manslaughter?"
Fuji shrugged as he waited for the ink to dry, "You happened to be talking quite a lot today, apprentice," he emphasised the last word to remind him of who was in charge. "What the main medic does is not my concern as long as I receive bodies to carry out my experiments on."
"But the mutilation of the dead is a crime punishable by death, Master."
Fuji stared at the wall in front of him, the candle that he had lit dimmed. "And who will you report me too? The police? The chief? Nobody will believe the word of an apprentice over a master." He snidely reminded the younger teen. The candle blew up, the flame burst out as Fuji fell back in shock. He watched as the shadow of the flame grew to form a person, the shadowed continued to evolve before it spawned a hood, in its palm was a death scythe. He heard the wooden planks of the floor creak as footsteps came closer and closer to him, he couldn't tear his eyes away from the growing shadow.
"No, I think I shall inform death-sama," came the voice of his apprentice as Tetsuya stared down at him. "Oh wait," whispered the teen, he held a surgical knife between his pale bandaged fingers. "I am death-sama." His eyes darkened. "You reap what you sow, Master."
Fuji screamed.
That night had been an eventful one if he recalled correctly. Kuroko shook his head, those medical crooks had gotten the judgement they deserved. Their failure to heal the poor had left to mass deaths, there was an influx of souls that had to be reaped because of them. However, times had changed, the role of reapers had evolved as well too into various different categories. Instead of reaping the souls of those that had done wrong, Kuroko was now a part of the request section where he only reaped he souls of the requested immediately, and the soul of client (requestor), but only after natural death. After all, those who sentence people to death deserve the same faith. He felt it again, a vibration from his smartphone. Another fax, another request. 'Generations may pass, but the thirst of power will never die away.' He silently mused as he returned to Coach's room to excuse himself from the study session.
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He arrived at his office, staring at the paper that rested in his fax machine. He flipped over and read the contents, 'Haizaki Shou...' Teal blue eyes narrowed as he scrutinised the familiar name. He knew of a Haizaki, not fond or pleasant things came up when he thought of the person he associated with that name. 'Perhaps they have no relation.' Thought Kuroko, he placed the fax down as he began to load his computer. Loading the human database, Kuroko typed in the name as all life information about the subject loaded onto the screen from his date of birth, where he was born, where he studied and any other information of importance. 'I guess I was wrong, he's Haizaki-san's older brother. His gangster older brother.' He scrolled down screen as he went to read on about the man's recent activities. He had recently carried out various murders of those indebted to him, not to mention the amount of corruption that was linked to him. He ran a drug trafficking ring and used to act as a pimp. He stared at the fax request, "It seems like a reasonable request." Noted Kuroko, turning to his desk phone as he picked it up and dialled the number of the requestor.
"Hello," answered a shaky hesitant voiced answered from the other end of the phone. "Who is this?"
He took in a deep breath before replying, "Hello, Kuroko Tetsuya here. I've called to confirm that your request as been accepted. Please be on standby for the next 24 hours with your payment." With that he hung up the phone. Kuroko rose from his desk, his Seirin uniform melting away to reveal his finely threaded suit. He paused for a moment, his eyes shut closed as he careful thought about what he was going to do. In most cases, he would go and get the request over, and done with as soon as possible... However, he had to be extra careful with this case. The person in question held a connection to somebody that was linked to his civilian identity, he could not risk the creation of any sort of link that connects him to the death of Haizaki Shou. Especially not when Haizaki Shougo was his little brother. Kuroko sighed, grabbing his suitcase as he placed his hat on. "This will just have to never come off." Mused the teal haired reaper, he readjusted his accessory. There was beep on the black smartphone as the coordinates of Hazaki Shou's location was downloaded. "Time to deliver..." He took a deep breath as his eyes darkened, he felt his humanity drip away from him as he exited his office, his gun in hand. His grip never once softened. As usual, he dialled in the address of the location and scanned it into the keypad, taking a step back. He knocked.
The noise that had been bursting from the other side of the door immediately silenced. No noise was heard from the other side before an elder man opened the door, he poked his head through as he looked around. Kuroko stood still, his gaze stared blankly at the man, more specifically, he stared at the gun he held in his hand. "Tsk," muttered the man. "Damn brats must have rung the doorbell again." He swore, scratching his chin, his hand on the door as he began to shut it, but not before one last swoop around.
'Now.' With one swift move he pulled the trigger. The noise was loud and clear to him, the impact of the shot sent Haizaki Shou's body flying backwards. The bullet buried deep in his skull from the short distance they had actually stood at. The reaper moved forward to shut the door before he reopened it to find himself in his office once more. 'Safe.' He felt a weight lift off his shoulder as he sat down and leaned back in his chair. He sat back up, removing his hat as he ruffled his messy blue hair before he smoothened it out. A habit he developed over the centuries. Now the next part, he picked up his phone to call the client. His other free hand searched the database as he looked up the client's life chart, his eyes brightened slightly. The phone line came to life, "The deed is done. Your payment is due tonight at 11.57pm when you die in your sleep from cardiac arrest. How unfortunate for you, but your death has already been set in stone."
"...are you threatening me?" The other line sneered, a complete 360 degree turn in tone from the first call. "Do you know who I am? I can kill you tonight." Kuroko raised an amused brow. "Besides, I hired you to kill him, not me. Now never talk to me again."
"I won't have to, your poor lifestyle will catch up to you tonight when your heart fails." Kuroko sniped back, he moved to hang up.
"Wait..." He paused. "Why do I have to die?"
Kuroko chuckled, they all asked this question. Wasn't the answer obvious to them? "It's the circle of life. Sentencing another person to death through our services deserves a sentence of death as well, that will be collected at a later date when you die of natural causes." He told him. "One death, two souls ensured to suffer in depths of Hell. Rather fair, do you not think so?" He mused.
There was silence before the person spoke, "You won't get away with this, Kuroko Tetsuya." The man emphasised on his name.
Kuroko shook his head, they never learned. It was a natural death, he didn't control when they died, he just came and collected. "That's rich coming from you, Kagura Shino. Don't worry, from my records, there are a lot of people waiting for you downstairs in Hell. You won't be lonely at all." He ended the conversation, putting down the phone. He glanced at the clock, now all he needed to do was wait to collect.
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He froze in his footsteps, "What did you say?" The teen snarled. "What did you just say? Can you say it again? No, I dare you to say it again."
The man in front of him gulped in fear, before coughing into his fist. "I said your brother is dead," the teen punched the wall, the man jumped. "He was found murdered in his apartment yesterday afternoon." He squeaked the last part out.
Haizaki Shougo growled, "Kagura Shino, you're dead." He cursed.
The man coughed, "I'm afraid Mr. Kagura Shino died of an cardiac arrest last night."
"What?"
"He's dead too."
So what do you think? I always seem to make Haizaki the villain in my stories... Anyway, reviews are always appreciated as usual!