Betrayal In Its Most Simplest Form

Chapter 12

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PLEASE READ BOLD PART AT BOTTOM.

"They're late!" Hyuuga announced. "Why the hell are they late?"

"Who knows?" Teppei hummed and dribbled down the court to make a lay-up. "All we got to do is warm-up and wait for them."

Kagami angrily grabbed a basketball off the floor, jumped from the free-throw line, and dunked it hard into the basket. It creaked and protested under his strength and weight. "Oi, Kagami, what's the big idea?" Hyuuga threw him an odd look. "Save that strength for our match."

"Haven't you noticed?" He waved his large arms around the gym. "Kuroko's missing!"

Seirin's basketball team stopped warming up and looked around for the small, teal-haired teen. They made sure to look at every corner of the gym, including behind them, since it was already so hard to spot Kuroko even when he was there. "You're right," Koganei chirped. "He's . . . not here?"

Mitobe, ever so silent, nodded slightly.

"What?" Tsuchida scratched his head. "He missed all the practices, and now he's missing the practice match?"

"You don't think," the coach of Seirin hesitated, "You don't think what Haisaki said is true, do you?"

Everybody but Kagami swallowed. "I-it would explain all the injuries," Hyuuga commented reluctantly.

"And the skipped school days." Teppei added.

Izuki also mentioned, "And the events from a few days ago, at practice."

They all were silent. None of them dared to say another word about Haisaki's words. They were too scared to find out the truth, because if it was true Kuroko was being abused, everyone would feel horrible for not knowing. Kuroko, even though he was a shadow, supported their team in his little, unknown ways. It wasn't the same without him, and the fact that they've neglected to know that their passer had been broken this whole time was devastating.

"Sorry we're late!" A cheerful, loud voice hollered just as the gym door opened. Kise Ryouta happily skipped into the gym, holding a basketball to his hips with one arm. A large grin was on his face. "There was traffic, I swear! And you know how long it takes to get here from Kanagawa," Kise defended when the whole Seirin team turned to glare at him.

"Idiot, there wasn't any traffic," Kasamatsu, Kaijou's captain, slapped the back of Kise's head. "You just had to give your autographs to all your annoying fans and help up the carpool!"

"Senpai, that was supposed to be a secret!" Kise whined, rubbing his head. Then he looked around and frowned. "Are the refs here?"

Riko's dad stepped in and shook his head. "This is just a private practice match. I'll be the referee for the game. One of each benched player from both teams will help keep score on the score board." He pointed to the lit up scoreboard on the wall, followed by the machine that controlled it. Tsuchida already sat behind it, knowing he wouldn't play in this match.

"Fine by me," Kise crowed. "We already warmed up running here, so let's just start!" The blonde surveyed Seirin's basketball team and sighed in relief. "Kurokocchi isn't here."

"Oi, you better not go easy on us just because Kuroko isn't playing," Kagami warned. "We'll kick your ass if you do."

Kise waved him off. "Nah, Kurokocchi would never forgive me if I did that. Besides, I already knew he wasn't coming today. Akashicchi said so."

This caught Kagami's attention. No, it caught everyone from Seirin's attention. What did he mean that he knew Kuroko wouldn't be here? Does that mean he knows the reason why the teal-haired boy had been AWOL the past few days? Did everyone from the Generation of Miracles know? Kagami scowled at how little he knew. He'd always hated when he was left out of things, especially when it came to Kuroko.

"What do you mean Akashi said so? Did something happen to Kuroko?" Hyuuga questioned exactly what was on the red-head's mind.

"Kise, get over here! You're starting, soon!" Kajiou's captain yelled.

Said teen looked over his shoulder to his huddled team and grinned, "I'll be there in just a minute!"

"No! Get your ass here now!"

"Aw, just wait!" Kise pouted, but he started to walk back to his team. "Akashicchi said he'd kill me if I told you guys anything, and I like my life." He turned his head slightly to meet Kagami's wild eyes. "It's better if you just don't get involved, Kagamicchi. The results aren't going to be pretty. Plus, if you make an appearance with Akashicchi, he will stop you . . . his way." Kise's face looked dead-panned for a split second, his brownish-yellow eyes burning with seriousness; the expression looked almost overprotective. It changed though into a sly smirk, and Kise gave the team a thumbs up. "Good luck!"

Everyone sweat-dropped as the blonde skipped back to his huddled teammates. Kagami wasn't sure if Kise was wishing him luck in the game or with Akashi.

Kiyoshi and a player from Kaijou took their places in the center of the court. Riko's father put the ball in the middle of them. "Hey, you, the blondie," Teppei called to Kise.

Kise sniffed with easy tears in his eyes. "I-is that what you guys think of me? A blondie?" he wailed.

"I have no idea what your babbling means about this 'Akaji' or 'Akasi', whatever his name his, but Kuroko is on our team now, so we have the right to know about him." Teppei gave smile to Kise. "And we'll show you by crushing you in this match."

The blonde didn't answer. He only grinned and gave him a peace sign. Teppei's eye twitched. He ticks me off for some reason, Seirin's center and point guard thought.

"Seirin-black! Kaijou-white! Let's have a good match!" The coach's father threw the ball up in the air, the whistle in his mouth. The two tall players jumped for the ball. Teppei's jump was slightly shorter than Kaijou's player, and the ball was passed to Kasamatsu.

The captain passed the ball to their ace right away. "Heh." Kise dramatically bounced the basketball slowly in his right hand, his eyes trained right toward the hoop. "Sorry, but . . ." Kise's drive was almost invisible. He passed two defenders easily, zig-zagging down to the basket. His insane ball-handling passed the stunned Kagami, and he jumped from the free-throw line.

The basketball slammed through the net as Kise hung onto the rim for a few seconds. He landed easily on his feet. "We found Kurokocchi first. So we have the right to keep everything from you." A scary glint could be seen in Kise's usually cheerful eyes. He tilted his head innocently. "Don't forget that."

Kaijou crushed Seirin's team. With their ace's skill, driven by concentration and anger, along with the other strong regulars on the team, Seirin didn't stand a chance without Kuroko. Also, Kagami was distracted by Kise's words, so he wasn't playing his best.

Not at the statement about Kuroko belonging to them (he figured that all of the Generation of Miracles members were simply insane and possessive like that, so he grew used to it), but at the fact Kise knew what was going on, but Akashi was stopping him from telling Seirin. Why did Akashi want to hide the fact Kuroko could—possibly—be abused? Wouldn't it be more helpful to know about the abuse, so more witnesses and statements could be made?

"End of match! 76 to 54; Kaijou High School!"

Kasamatsu shook his head at Seirin's team. "You guys rely on that invisible guy too much."

"Of course we'd lose man power if we're missing one of our main players," Hyuuga snapped. "And Kagami! What the hell was that? You barely made any of your jumps! Kagami!"

"Huh?" Kagami snapped out of his trance. His face wasn't drenched with as much sweat as it would have been had he been playing seriously. He had a towel around his neck, and he didn't look too bothered by their loss. "Ah, sorry." The red-head scratched the back of his head. "Today's not my day."

Izuki stared at the tall ace hard. "What's with you? This isn't like the real Kagami. Are you all right?" He blinked. "Are you all right? Ha! You are all right, since you're right handed! All right!"

All the first-years groaned at the pun.

"Besides that lame joke, Izuki is right," Teppei remarked. "It wouldn't matter if Kuroko wasn't here; you would usually give it your all to beat Kise."

"I already said I'm sorry," Kagami grumbled. "I'm just distracted today."

"It's about Kuroko, huh?" Riko joined the conversation.

Kagami didn't answer. He was watching Kaijou's team leave the gym, with Kise following out last. "I'm going out first. You guys go home without me." Kagami gathered his stuff, put on his Seirin jacket, and started to walk out of the gym.

"Eh? Kagami! We're supposed to go back to your house to look more at the files!" The coach shouted. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"There's a key under the mat," he called back. "You're welcome to go to my house. Just don't break anything." And with that, he left.

It took awhile to find Kise. He thought the blonde would stay with his teammates, but found he had actually separated after the game. After taking the route Kasamatsu told him though, it wasn't hard to find the basketball player. After all, you didn't normally see a happily strolling, tall, blonde model on the streets everyday in Japan. "Oi, Kise!"

Said teen turned around in surprise. "Oh, it's you, Kagamicchi! What's up?"

Kagami, ever so blunt and rude, demanded, "Tell me what's going on with Kuroko. I want to know the truth."

Kise frowned and looked away to the side. He fidgeted with his hands. "Sorry, Kagamicchi, but . . . I can't."

"Don't give me that crap," Kagami snapped. "I haven't seen Kuroko ever since the day your crazy captain showed up at practice. He won't answer my calls, and twice I came to his house, but an even crazier woman showed up, and she started babbling about how bad her son was. Then she started to spout threats to me, when all I did was listen to her mental rants. Then there's this Kuroko Ibuki—"

"You know Kuroko's mother?" Kise interrupted Kagami's tirade and paled. "And you met her?"

"Yes, and she happens to be Kuroko Ibuki, who apparently has three iden—"

Kise slapped a hand over Kagami's mouth. "Don't say anything about her. Akashicchi will get mad."

Kagami slapped the hand away and stepped back. "This is what I'm talking about! What is so important about her that all of you have to keep it a secret? Why does Kuroko's condition have to be kept from us? We're his team, you know! No, I'm his light; his partner! I have the right to know!" He yelled out the last few words, all the pent up frustration letting loose. Some people stared at them weirdly and some cautiously as they passed the two basketball players. A police officer from across the street looked at them with a stern eye.

"Look, I know you're upset Kagamicchi, but—"

"Answer my questions, Kise!"

"I can't; and if I could, I wouldn't—!"

"Why not?"

"Kagamicchi!"

The sharp tone in Kise's voice made Kagami stop raving. The red-head snapped his gaze back to the blonde's, and froze. This was the second time Kise had an angry expression on his face. His brown eyes swirled with fury and possessiveness, his jaw clenched in a final decision. Kise's arms were crossed tightly, and everything about his stance screamed serious. Again, there was a flash of something in the angry brown eyes, but Kagami couldn't distinguish what.

"You're forgetting your place, Kagamicchi," Kise said coldly. The statement made the red-head's blood rush to his head. "I know he's on your team, and I know he's now your partner. However, Aominecchi's was Kurokocchi's first partner, I was his first 'student', Akashicchi was the first one to discover his talent, Midorimacchi was the first to tell him his fortune, Murasakicchi was the first to offer him a snack; we came first. Kurokocchi, no matter whose team he plays with now, will always be accepted by us, and he will always rely on us first." Kise fixed a hard stare into Kagami's eyes. "Why do you think Kurokocchi called Akashicchi when he was in trouble? Whatever happened with him during his days in middle school and what's happening now is confidential to us, the first ones to acknowledge him."

~Setting Skip~

Murasakibara Atsushi left the sweets shop, ducking under the small door to be greeted with cold, Akita air. Akashi had made him return to his home, even though he didn't want to. Since it was Aka-chin, though, he had to listen. I wonder how Kuro-chin is right now, the purple-head wondered as he snacked on the many sweets he had bought. Ah. Oops. I missed practice today. He stopped walking and contemplated if he should call his captain and tell a lie about why he missed practice, or simply let him wonder where he went. Murasakibara shrugged and decided to go with the latter, until: But Aka-chin might get mad at me . . .

The tall player sighed at how troublesome it all was. He hated when he got the red-head mad at him, since Murasakibara respected Akashi the most, but he also hated practice. "I'll call Muro-chin to tell him," he mumbled. With his large hand, he had a hard time pressing the right numbers, but he managed.

"Hello?"

"Muro-chin!"

"Atsushi. Why weren't you at practice, today?"

Murasakibara thought and came up with a lie. "My mother was in surgery today. I had to visit her!" It was half a lie and half a truth. His mother had been in surgery. Two months ago, but that wasn't the point. And the fact he didn't have any money anymore wasn't the point, either.

Tatsuya sighed over the phone. "You're such a liar."

"No, it's true!"

"Your mother is nowhere close to you, and you don't have enough money to fly to where she is since you always spend it on snacks. How could you visit her?"

"Oh. Oops." Murasakibara could imagine his partner rolling his eyes. "How come Muro-chin always finds out?" he protested.

Himuro scoffed. "Because your lies are so easy. You were at the sweets shop again, weren't you?"

". . . Yes."

"And you want me to come up with a better lie to the captain so you won't get in trouble with this Akashi of yours, right?"

". . . Yes."

Tatsuya sighed at how easy it was to read Murasakibara. Really, he could at least put in the effort to lie a bit better so he wouldn't have to be involved. "All right. I'll do it, but only if you come to the practice match next week."

The purple-head threw in another chip in his mouth and crunched loudly on the phone. "Thanks, Muro-chin," he said with his mouth full.

"Mm." Tatsuya hung up.

Happy the problem was solved; Murasakibara put his phone away and started strolling on the streets again. The bag of chips he was eating wasn't a new or his favorite flavor, much to his disappointment, but it was still satisfying enough. He was so into eating his chips he didn't notice a woman way shorter than him until he bumped into her.

"Sorry," he mumbled, not really sorry at all, since this happened every day. He maneuvered to the right and started walking again, not even bothering to look who he bumped into.

"Hold it right there."

An annoying, shrill voice barely reached Murasakibara's ears. The giant turned around lazily, "Eh?" He didn't see anyone, blinked, and then realized he had to look down. How many times did he have to remind himself?

His half-lidded eyes met with fierce, blue eyes. It was a woman who called him. A short (to him), teal-haired, pale woman that closely resembled Kuroko. Murasakibara tilted his head curiously and tossed in another chip in his mouth.

The woman spoke: "You're Murasakibara Atsushi, aren't you?" She looked at a picture that was in her hands and then back at him. "Purple-haired, tall, and snacks."

Murasakibara frowned and took the picture out of the woman's hands. "Hey!" the woman protested. "Give that back!"

He looked at the picture curiously. It was of the Generation of Miracles, including Kuroko. Murasakibara could see his younger Teiko self in the picture, with a cracker stick in his mouth. That snack looks pretty good, he thought as he examined the picture. "Why do you have a picture of me?"

The picture was rudely taken out of his hands. She looked up to glare at the lazy giant. "You might not recognize me, even though I look much like him," she twisted her face into something of disgust, "but I am Kuroko Tetsuya's mother."

"Hmm?" Murasakibara ate the last chip in the bag and munched slowly, analyzing the woman before him. "No, you're not."

Kuroko Ibuki raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I am."

"No. Kuro-chin doesn't have a mother."

"Is that what that brat told you?" she hissed. Anger clouded her mind.

"Mm, no," Murasakibara shook his head. "But you look too ugly and mean to be his mother."

Suddenly, a pale hand shot out, grabbed his school tie, and yanked. His head was forced to bend down to meet her face. Since it was pulled, the tie tightened and nearly choked the giant. However, Murasakibara refused to show any emotion but laziness for the woman's satisfaction.

"Excuse me?" Ibuki spat in his face. "You kids needs to learn some respect for your seniors. I could crush all of your families like this," she snapped her fingers, "if I wanted to. Your—captain, was it? Akashi Seijuro? I could bring him down in the social status until he ends up on the streets."

"That hurts," Murasakibara said. He pulled out a cracker stick from his pocket nonchalantly, as if a woman wasn't tugging him down from his tie. "And your breath doesn't smell sweet."

"Are you even listening? I could bring—"

The giant exhaled loudly in a half groan and put a large hand over the woman's head. Murasakibara was huge, so his hand covered her entire head. The woman let out a fearful noise, but swallowed her panic. "I heard you the first time, lady. I'm bored of you talking," he put more pressure on her head, and Ibuki was forced to let go of his tie. Murasakibara stood up his full height and stretched, deliberately looming over her with his large arms and body. "You shouldn't mess with Aka-chin, though, or Kuro-chin." He frowned at Ibuki before taking a huge bite of his cracker stick. "Ooh, this flavor tastes good."

"Oh and why shouldn't I mess with Seijuro? He's challenging his family before me."

"Mm, all I can say is that you could get hurt." Murasakibara took a smaller bite of his cracker stick, and talked anyway with his mouth full, "Physically or mentally; Aka-chin can do both."

"Is that a threat?" Ibuki snarled. "I could get you arrested for that."

"No-o, it was a promise." Suddenly, the purple-head's eyes sparkled. "That sounded like one of those movies! Neh, the ones with the cool characters saying: 'It's not a threat, it's a promise', those kind of things! Did I sound cool when I said it?"

Ibuki pursed her lips at the childish way the teen was acting. Obviously, she wouldn't get any information from him or have him pass a message to this Akashi Seijuro. She sighed. Coming to Akita was a complete waste of time. "Just you wait," the woman warned. "All of you 'Generation of Miracles' will be brought down."

"Ka~ays!" Murasakibara waved. "Bye!"

Ibuki left, and Murasakibara was free to roam the streets again. "I have to call Aka-chin," he mumbled. This time, it was easier to dial since Akashi was on his speed-dial.

"Atsushi," came Akashi's composed voice.

"Aka-chin!" he greeted. "I bumped into Ibusi just now!"

" . . . Ibusi? Atsushi, do you mean 'Ibuki'?"

Murasakibara paused. He sat on an empty bench, since it was too tiring to walk and talk at the same time. "Her name was unimportant, so I forgot it. But it was Kuro-chin's mother."

Akashi's sharp intake could be heard over the phone. "What did she say to you?"

"Something about taking you down, I think," the purple-head struggled to remember the events that had just occurred moments ago. "Oh! She had a photo of us."

"A photo?"

"Yeah, it was of Aka-chin and everybody from Teiko."

"Interesting," Akashi murmured. "Thank you, Atsushi." Murasakibara hummed at the praise. "For that, I will not punish you for skipping practice today."

The purple-head almost spit out his snack, if it weren't so delicious. "Wa~a! But Muro-chin was supposed to—"

"Nothing gets passed me, Atsushi." He hung up.

~Setting Skip~

Kuroko sat against the wall, numb and frozen. He had been there since yesterday, too afraid to move or speak, his fingers wrapped tightly around his cell-phone. Scared that his mother would barge into his room during the night, despite that it was locked and barricaded, he barely slept, especially in the uncomfortable position he stayed in. Even when Ibuki left, and Haru came pounding on his door, he didn't answer.

Haru had tried to speak to him, tried to tell him the wound he received wasn't his fault, and that he could come out, but Kuroko knew it was all lies. Pictures of blood from his father's arm flashed through his mind continuously. He had caused that.

It wasn't until the late evening of yesterday when his mother came back home that Haru stopped pounding on his door. Today, his father didn't even try.

The phone in his hands vibrated. At first, he thought it was Kagami again, and was ready to hang up, but a flash of 'Akashi' caught his eye. Even though he wanted to hang up, Kuroko knew he had no choice but to pick it up.

"K-Kuroko here," he answered softly.

"Tetsuya." Akashi's cool and firm voice calmed Kuroko's nerves slightly. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I am all right," Kuroko managed to say. Not physically hurt.

"Really?" His former captain asked, suspicious. "Don't lie to me, Tetsuya."

"I'm not lying, Akashi-kun," he whispered. "I'm all right." The tears were starting to come again. "I'm . . . all right." Kuroko stared emptily in his room, a painful smile on his face. The water droplets almost fell. "It's . . . okay."

"Tetsuya! Tell me what happened," Akashi ordered. He could hear Kuroko's cracked voice, and the emotion behind the fake words. It made him think of the worst case scenarios.

Kuroko shook his head and dropped it down to his knees. "N-no, I'm fine," he shakily said. Tears dropped down his cheeks. Even when no one was there, the smile was still plastered onto his face. "I'm okay. N-nobody has to worry." The more the tears came, the more Kuroko refused to drop his smile. "I'm fine . . . I really am . . . I'm all right." He couldn't hold it in anymore, and a sob ripped through his chest. It became more and more evident the boy was crying through the phone. "Ha," Kuroko laughed weakly through his cries. "Ha . . . ha, ha, I'm fine. I don't need you, it's okay. I'm not hurt . . . I'm all right—I'm okay . . . it's not y-your job, A-Akashi-kun."

He could no longer say anything coherent as his sobs took over his body. Akashi listened, shocked, at Kuroko's anguished cries, picking up some words of 'fine' or 'all right'. He listened on and on, his hand digging into his palms hard in anger. "Damn it, Tetsuya," Akashi whispered above the cries. "Why do you lie to yourself?"

Don't forget to check out my Kiseki no Christmas fic :) And sorry for not updating everyday; it takes a while to make these huge chapters. Hope you liked it! I wanted Murasakibara to have some action on Ibuki, too, xD

If you liked it or think you can improve, please review! I appreciate it!

I know I make Kuroko break down a lot, and I find it redundant, so I went back some chapter and edited the unnecessary tears. Now, as far as I can count, Kuroko only cries about 3-5 times. I'm going to keep it at that limit. Also, chapters following this mainly be about defeating Ibuki. I am going to make this story short, ending at about 20 or less chapters. I have the ending in my mind.

Before I end it though, are there any requests you want in my story, such as one or two more AkaKuro moments and such? I will not write a lemon for this story, because this story is not meant for that. (Some have requested. If you want, I can write a special lemon as another separate story for a yaoi pairing if you want). Also, this wasn't supposed to be an all-love fanfic, but also a problem-solving one, so there is a plot people -_- Can't all be lovey-dovey.

Thanks for reading! Any questions, please PM me.

~Virelei