Language: English is not my first language.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basuke or any of its characters.

Chapter 26

Low grunts filled the little grotto. Taiga was still on his knees, torso pressed to the ground, while Daiki was kneeling behind him. With both his arms secured behind his back, the redhead had trouble to breath and not lose his balance. The tanned hands, who were once loving, had unbound his loincloth and pressed it between his lips, silencing his words, when he had tried to talk sense back into the bluenette.

He shivered, as he felt strong digits caressing his skin on his lower back. He had a minor idea what he was up for and it was not to his liking. When the sting of the first hit to his bottom raged through his body, he knew that the bluenette meant everything deadly serious.

Sharply sucking in his breath through his nose, he tried to get away by curling his hips away, but it instantly was denied, when a hand grabbed his testicles and squeezed hard. "Try that again and I will strangle this."

It was a deep growl, but it held so much plain truth that Taiga obeyed. He pushed his ass out once more and tried not to shy away, when the abused spot on his ass was fondled. "Good, my little kitty. You learn fast."

Taiga squeezed his eyes shut. They stung with tears, upon hearing the endearing nickname, which the bluenette had giving him in their previous journey. 'Why is he do this to me, but still calling me like that?' He didn't know. All his attention was on the fingers roving over his buttocks, digging into his cleft and eventually, after a tormenting long time, those wicked digits pried his ass cheeks apart. "Hmpf!" His muffled protest was swallowed by the clothes between his teeth and also his sudden moan, when he felt something wet swept over his entrance.

His back muscles twitched violently and he pressed his buttocks together, lowering his position. A slap echoed from the walls and another red spot formed on his skin. "What did I tell you? Don't even try to get away from me!"

He was pulled back into position. His right shoulder hurt and he had no feelings in his cold fingers anymore. But he soon forgot about that, as Daiki dove in again.

Taiga felt the rough tongue softly lick through his cleft and a shudder ran down his spin. Despite his current situation, he noticed that he grew hard. The foreign feeling let him moan into his gag, partly in embarrassment, partly because it felt too fucking good and he hated the bluenette for that at the moment. Because it shouldn't be like that. Shouldn't be forced. Shouldn't happen, when the bluenette was angry and Taiga, himself, didn't even knew why.

When callused fingers trailed over his balls up his shaft and a digit rubbed on his swollen grown, he bucked back against the hot mouth over his entrance. "Yeah. Like that?" Daiki repeated the action and then bit hard down on the redhead's right butt cheek.

The pain was sharp and Taiga winced, but he didn't pull back, fearing the consequences. The constant change between pain and comfort was meddling with his head. He hated to be dominated like that, even more so because for him it made no sense why the bluenette had snapped in that manner at him. And then there were those new feelings, he never experienced before. It was completely foreign for him to be licked at his most hidden body part. It was embarrassing but at the same time thrilling and arousing like nothing else. The roughness of Daiki's tongue and how soft and hot it felt against his skin, those almost loving hands, which at one moment hurt him and then ease the pain away. Taiga was torn between resentment, fear and his hammering heart, what still held feelings for the blue-haired male, even in this situation. Daiki had said he wanted to hurt him, but by doing the exact opposite after the harm, it felt like he wasn't so sure himself what he actually wanted to do. And it was enough. He wouldn't let himself be the victim anymore.

Daiki massaged Taiga's testicles, while coating his fingers with saliva. His grip around the sensitive private part of the redhead grew firmer, as he pressed the slippery tip of his middle finger through the still tight ring of muscles. Taiga bucked forward. Nothing could have prepared him for the scorching pain that roared through his entire system. He whimpered against his gag, tears forming in the corner of his wide open eyes, as he vehemently tried to get away. Forgotten was the threat from before. He only wanted to escape the pain.

Daiki hesitated. Sure he wanted to hurt the bastard, who played with his heart. But seeing the redhead so desperate to get away, even though there would be consequences, let him think again, even if it was just for a moment. He still wanted to take what was his and wouldn't back down on that, but even so he pulled his finger back, parted the round, sexy ass cheeks of the redhead and soothed the pain with his tongue.

Taiga's was breathing heavily through his nose and his watery eyes had a sharp gleam in them, as he glared at the bluenette over his left shoulder.

'I will get you back for that, you bastard.' Taiga slightly shifted the position of his legs and he was in luck, because the bluenette was too occupied with his arse at the moment to notice, what the redhead attempted to do. The Kagami's guy knew for sure, that he was bright red, when Daiki tried to put the tip of his tongue into his trembling hole. 'Fuck!'

If there would have been no gag in his mouth, Taiga would have made the most embarrassing sound ever heard. Too bad for Daiki, that he only witnessed it as a muffled protest.

Working slowly to loosen the binding of his arms, the redhead held still. Even when the bluenette started a new attempt to put his finger inside him.

"That old woman can never satisfy you, Taiga." Daiki mumbled under his breath and pressed his digit forward, but he never came to fully enjoy the tightness of the redhead.

The leather lace became loose enough for Taiga to finally get his hands free. He kicked out backwards, his foot connecting hard with the bluenettes abdominals. A startled grunt and a rather loud thud was heard, when the Aomine's guy hit the ground. Taiga was furious. Before he was too caught off guard, but now he saw red. How could this stupid man go and try to hurt him in the most horrible way possible and over such a dumb reason to boot. Yes, it had dawned on the redhead with the bluenette's last sentence, wherefore he behaved like that. When Taiga had heard those words, everything suddenly snapped into place.

Coming to his feet in a flash, he wrenched the gag out of his mouth and spun around. Without thinking, he tackled the blue-haired male, who was still lying on the ground, holding his bruised stomach. His hands enclosed the tanned males shoulders like a vice, sinking his nails deep into the flesh. Taiga pressed him down, while straddling his waist. "ARE YOU INSANE?" He screamed at the top of his lungs, not caring that saliva droplets sprayed over Daiki's face or that he was completely naked. Beside himself with fury, he shook the bluenette hard, almost crashing his head on the ground. "DO YOU FUCKING THINK I WOULD COME HERE, WAIT FOR HOURS, LET YOU DO WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT, WHEN I ACTUALLY SHOULD MARRY SOME WOMAN WHO IS ALMOST A FUCKING DECADE OLDER THAN ME, ONLY TO TRICK YOU? DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT?" The redhead breathed heavily after his screaming fit and stared brimming with anger at the guy beneath him. That he stilled hadn't punched him, was a wonder of its own.

Rather unimpressed, Daiki averted his eyes and even had the guts to mumble, "You kissed her."

"I did NOT! And even IF that would have been the case, it's not a reason to try and rape me, you shithead! I declined the shitty marriage the second it was mentioned. Get a fucking grip of your jealousy!"

"I wasn't … wait! What?"

"SHADDAP!" Taiga roared, but both flinched shocked, as at the same time a ear deafening thunderclap stuck down from the almost black clouds outside the cave. They both felt the ground shake, as a loud, long rumble followed. Wiping their heads towards the sound coming from the direction where the entrance to the cave was, they saw some small loose stones wallow out of the tunnel.

"What the hell?" Both said in unison; Taiga sitting on his heels and Daiki propping himself up on his elbows. They exchanged puzzled looks, momentarily forgetting their argument.

They slowly stood up and walked side by side over to the destroyed remains of the tunnel. "Shit." Daiki was first to find his voice again. "There is no going back anymore." He started to go a bit more inside the rubble, but didn't come far. "Oi, Taiga. How accurate is this map of yours?"

"I'm not sure about that. Hey come back, that looks unsteady." Taiga pointed at the still intact roof, what could crumble any moment. Once they got back to the middle of the little grotto, the redhead leaned down to his bag in search for the map. "Uhm … Taiga …"

"What?" He looked over his shoulder, map already in hand. The light from the torch didn't spread far, but the redhead still noticed the faint blush on the tanned face. He stood up with a quizzical look on his face and held the map to the bluenette. "What is it now?"

Normally Daiki would have welcomed the sight in front of him, but after what he had done he felt off about watching the still naked male, who apparently seemed to have forgotten about it. Averting his eyes, he clamped a hand over his mouth. "Could you ... wear something?"

"Huh?" Taiga looked with big eyes down his body and sputtered some cursing words, before he put one hand over his crotch, smacked the map against the bluenette's chest and spun on his heels. His eyes darted over the ground in search for his loincloth. When he spotted it, he groaned and shoot Daiki an angry look. "You and water are my worst nightmare, really! How did it even land there? Urg." He slowly put his big toe into the water and shivered upon the ice cold feeling. "Fuck this!" With a fast step forward, his hips sank in, goosebumps formed on his skin and his nippels hardened. He cursed some more and move faster to eventually grab his drenched clothes.

Daiki meanwhile studied the map, but he couldn't help himself, even if he felt off, he found himself glancing at the shivering male. Was it true? Did he misunderstand the whole thing? How much could he trust the redhead? His heart ached and he gritted his teeth. 'Damn, I fucked up big time.' He shook his head. 'I'm not better than my old man. Drawing my own conclusions and doing shit like that, without asking first.' He was known for losing control, but not like this. Never like this. Lacerating himself, he clutched tight at the thin layer of bark in his hands. "Oi, we still need that. Don't destroy it!" The redhead pried the map from his hands. He was still naked and walked by to get his belongings.

"You walk in front of me, where I can see you. Don't think I have forgotten or even forgiven what you did. And don't look, I can't wear this wet thing. Now get your ass over here, we should try to find an exit."

"Taiga, I …", Daiki didn't know where to begin, but he was anyway cut off. "Leave it!", the redhead warned and shoved the bluenette into the direction of the remaining tunnel. He didn't have the nerve to talk about it now and really tried to behaved as indifferent as he could in this fucked up situation. There was no helping it, since they now needed to find a way out of here as soon as possible. He had no other choice. Even if the bluenette had blown a great deal of hurt and pain onto him, they needed to work together to get out of this death-trap.

The earlier thunderstruck had opened the gates to an ungodly flood from the heavens. Water poured down like never before. Made rivers overflow their shores in minutes, drove animals as well as humans into hiding and those who couldn't reach a secured space fast enough, where drenchen within seconds to their bones. Only the bladdering of the heavy rain drops was heard. Every other sound was drowned out and for the Aomine chieftain, it was the perfect opportunity to move silently towards the Kagami clan's camp.

His men protested and cursed him, but in the end gave up and followed the man, who was their chieftain for almost two decades by now. They would reach the higher grounded camp within the next two days and staying at this lower level was even more dangerous than shimming on branches up the hill. So they moved, with gritted teeth and drenched like rats, through the damp underwood and puddles, steadily after their chieftain's broad back, who lead his men with an iron will. He wouldn't budge or back down by some little rain. Nothing could stop him. Not now, when he finally was that close to get his revenge.

A few hours later, a small group of three young men and a woman cowered in the shadows of some smaller trees. Drenched to their bones and shivering due to the sudden cool down by the rain, they watched with wake eyes the six smaller tents, which stood a bit further away from the rest of the camp. They had witnessed as the tall brunette male, they had met once before, got into one of them. That was already thirty minutes ago and Shintarou slowly but surely grew impatient. "How long are we going to stay here? It's unbearably wet and already freezing cold. What are we waiting for, Tetsuya?" His voice almost snarled, as he combed his wet green hair back and mopped water from his handsome face.

"Ne~ Tetsuchin, I'm hungry." Atsushi's stomach took that sentence as incitement and rumbled loudly. Satsuki patted the giant on his arm and looked at her brother. "I also could use a warm fire, Tetsuya. I can't feel my toes anymore." She shivered violently and rubbed her bare upper arms. The light-blue-haired male only nodded in agreement. His teeth rattled together and his whole lean body was one huge goosebump. It wasn't save, surely not, to simply walk into the supposedly enemies den, but he would risk it. For his brother and his whole tribe. If they could somehow avert a battle, here was their only chance.

They slowly rounded the camp, so that they would come up right behind the six tents. Still watchful for a sudden attack, Tetsuya raised his hand, indicating the others to hide and wait. Then he stepped out of the bushes and scurry fast over to the tent, in which the brunette previously had disappeared. He breathed in deeply and raised his voice, "Excuse me, can I come in?"

The entrance was clapped back and almost hit the small man in his face. "Huh?" Brown, surprised eyes were looking down at him and after he got recognized, a sudden warm smile flashed over the taller males face. "Where did you come from? But sure, in with you. Are you alone?" Teppei peered around and spotted the other three cowering figures between the bushes. Waving to them, he grinned and pushed the light-blue-haired male inside. "Sit down wherever you like. You look frozen. Wait a moment, I will make tea." When the others came tumbling in, Teppei grabbed the bladder from outside, poured the water into small bowls and put them on a stone plate over the small fire in the middle of his tent. "Just a moment, I need to ask Riko for the herbs."

He was about to step outside, when the entrance once again was forced open and three black-haired men, one blonde and a young woman came splashing in. "God what an unholy weather, brrr." Junpei shook the water from his hair and glared at the roof, as if he cursed the heavens in every swear word he knew. "Junpeicchi, move move. You stand in the way, Tatsuya will drown." The blonde pushed Junpei out of the way, before he could protest about his stupid nickname, and Tatsuya shoved Kazunari inside Teppei's tent. Riko was already leaning down to put herbs into the hot water and smiled welcoming to their guests from the Aomine tribe.

If the young Aomine clan citizens were surprised of the hearty welcome, they were even more flabbergasted at the friendly quarreling between the friends, which included themselves, as they all tried to fit into the tight space.

After a lot of shoving, cursing and laughter, they were sat as follows: Junpei - Riko - Teppei - Ryouta - Tetsuya - Satsuki - Tatsuya - Atsushi - Shintarou - Kazunari. Blankets were passed around and out of nowhere appeared some snacks, of which the most immediately disappeared into Atsushi's mouth.

"So, ahem …" Teppei cleared his throat to get the attention back. "I think it would be best if we first introduce us." After everyone had said their name, Riko handed out the tea and once everyone had settled down comfortably with a hot bowl in their hands, Tetsuya rose his voice. "It seems that we were not carefully enough with hiding." He shoot the purplenette a glare, remembering how Atsushi had simply put a huge taro plant leave over his head to shield him from the rain instead of hiding himself. The giant ignored his small friend and happily munched away at the tasty berry bread. "That aside, why are you all here? Did something happen to Taiga and your brother?" Kazunari perked up at Teppei's question, but soon his hope for good news shattered, as Tetsuya shook his head and answered, "We don't know and we are here in a completely other but urgent matter."

Shintarou peered at Kazunari out of the corner of his eye and wondered what was up with the raven-haired male. He had come to know him otherwise, even if that was some time ago and at their last meeting nothing seemed to have changed. But now, something was off. He couldn't grasp what. It simply felt wrong seeing the silver-eyed male like that. He would call it lifeless and it certainly didn't sit right with him. But it had to wait for later. Their situation was too serious and he wanted to follow the conversation, adding information if needed.

After Tetsuya told them about his father's plans and that he was already on the way with his men, one could have heard a pin drop on the ground.

"But that's insane!", Junpei exploded. "They only have fallen in love! Why would someone start a tribe war over this?" He breathed heavily after his outburst and looked to the ground with wide eyes. "Junpei calm down." Teppei laid his arm over Riko's back and put his big hand soothing on his friends shoulder. "I guess the thing between those two, isn't the only reason the Aomine chieftain moved to war against us. Am I right?", the brunette asked and looked at Tetsuya, who nodded. "That is correct. He still holds a crutch about his adopted sister, who married Raion, your chieftain."

Everyone of the Kagami clan sucked sharply in their breath. "So, she really was his sister. I heard rumors, but it was never 100 percent clear, how our tribes are connected." Riko clutched at her head. "Moa~ those stupid adults."

"What are we going to do now? Raion needs to know about this." Ryouta's voice dropped several octaves. He was completely serious now, as he looked into the round. It didn't happen often, but when, it was pretty intimidating, because no one could imagine him hurting even a fly.

"Those two might never come back." The sudden silent interjection of Kazunari, let the Aomine tribe citizen perk up. "What do you mean?" Shintarou looked with glinting eyes down at the raven-haired male by his side.

Kazunari curled into a ball of grief. His voice was almost not noticeable. "I did something stupid. Sent them to their deaths." The last words were only a whisper, but it cracked like a whiplash through everyone's system. "Idiot! Don't say that! We don't know that for sure. Get your shit together, Kazunari. Taiga isn't one to die so easily." Junpei roared, a vein popping at his temple.

"Could someone please explain to me, what this means?" Tetsuya's voice was unwavered, like always, but a certain sternness had seeped into it. The ominous glow in his winter eyes was indication enough, to let his tribe's people flinch.

Kazunari looked up with his dead silver-eyes and slowly began to explain. When he ended, fresh tears were rolling down his cheeks and he hid his face between, to his chest pulled, legs.

Shintarou's hand twitched up. "Shintorin!", Satsuki screamed in fear he would hit the raven, but then made big round eyes, as the greenette patted the shivering man's head, who looked up with watery eyes. "It will be fine. Daiki is an idiot, but he has cat like instincts, nanodayo. Even if they get lost, he will find a way out." He withdrew his hand and cleared his throat, when he noticed everyone's eyes on him.

"Aww~ Shin-chin praised Dai-chin. That's not often." Atsushi drawls out while putting another snack into his mouth, making the green-haired male blush in awareness and avert his eyes. "I did not!"

"Don't be tsundere now, Shintorin. We know you care for Dai-chan." Satsuki grinned wide at him. "Who would care for that idiot!" Shintarou said pretty agitated and glowered at the pink-haired girl.

"That aside. What's with your weird sentence ending?" Ryouta looked quizzically at the greenette, until a hand-edge chop from Riko let him wail out, "What was that for Rikocchi~?" He held his head and looked teary eyed at the light-brown-haired girl. "As if you have a right to ask that!", Junpei scoffed with twitching eyebrows.

"Could we go back to the topic?" Tatsuya brushed his black hair out of his face and looked at the others. "What are we going to do now? As I suspected, the marriage with my cousin is off. But anyway, we have now bigger problems. Who is going to inform the chieftain about the approaching enemy?"

Sighing, Teppei stood up. "I will go. I think you are safe here for the night.", he said to the Aomine tribe's guys and left his tent.

"He is pretty reliable if it comes down.", Tatsuya said, as he watched the brunette go. "Not only when it comes down. Teppei is the oldest. He might seem to never take anything serious, but you can always depend on him." Riko smiled and also came to her feet. "Satsuki come with me. I will lend you dry clothes and you can sleep in my tent." She walked to the entrance and looked over her shoulder at the boys. "You all should try and get some sleep. Who knows how hectic it will be tomorrow."

After the girls left for the night, Shintarou stood up and pulled Kazunari to his legs. "I sleep with him.", he informed the others and dragged the astonished man out of the tent.

Ryouta chuckled in delight, "That sounded so kinkyssu~."

"I heard that!", came irritably from outside and the blonde needed to bit back his laughter. After he got a grip on his giggling, he looked with gleaming honey-brown eyes at the smallest man in the group. "Saa~ then I will take Tetsucchi." He grinned and waved his hand, already standing at the exit. "Good nightssu~."

"Ryouta-kun could you stop giving me nicknames? We don't know each other -"

"Yet.", the blonde interjected and smirked.

"- that good and I don't like it." Tetsuya ended his sentence unfazed and followed the golden-haired male.

Junpei facepalmed at the stupidness of the blonde and shook his head. "This moron will get his mouth ripped in pieces one day." He looked up at the two remaining guys. "You can use Taiga's tent, Tatsuya. I will wait for Teppei to come back." Tatsuya nodded and guided Atsushi to Taiga's habitation, after he wished Junpei a good night.

TBC