Language: English is not my first language.

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

Chapter 30

If Masahiro's gaze could kill; his wife, Oha- Asa and last but not least Raion would've died a thousand deaths already. Surrounded by his smirking arch enemy, a poison spitting wife and an old hag, who at the moment as cool as ice made tea without a care in the world and a siren look on her face, let him seethe with wrath. They had ruined everything and he saw his plan go down the drain. Also his men wouldn't simply get away with their betrayal. He couldn't remember the last time he was so mad - not that it interested him anyway. All he saw was bright red, when Raion was involved. Like now. The one-eyed-bastard had the nerve to sit beside his wife and chatter happily away with her, while leaning closer and ignoring him completely. He fucking flirted with her right in front of him and himself was damned to keep quiet. Everytime he attempted to open his mouth, the old spinach quail's hand had twitched to the long stick leaning against the leather wall. Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, he glared daggers at the muscular male, but still got no response. He wanted to provoke him, show him that he was superior. It had always been like this, since he first laid eyes on the young Raion with the blackish hair and burgundy eyes, who so many years ago walked casually into their village and flirted with everything what wasn't by three on a tree. When he, after displaying such improper behaviour, had the nerve to plead for his sisters hand in marriage, Masahiro had lost it and snarled his challenge into the other males face.

They fought fair and square - which Masahiro denied in Raion's case - without weapons. Only their fists and feet were allowed and shockingly he had lost to the buff man. Triumphantly smirking, the Kagami's guy had walked over to Tora and Masahiro had to look on, as his sister's brightest smile exploded on her face. She happily threw her arms around the winner and to Masahiro's ridicule, kissed him in full view of every other citizen of the tribe. His beautiful, lovely little sister got poisoned and snatched away by the devil himself that day. For nothing in the world would Masahiro forgive him. Never ever.

Caught up in his dark thoughts, Masahiro jolted as a small wooden crafted box landed in his lap. "This is for you. Maybe it opens your eyes faster than talking to an idiot like you." Raion stood beside him and peered down on him with a crocked eyebrow. "What did you call me, you asshole?" Masahiro snarled and was coming to his feet, bumping his chest against Raion's in an attempt to shove him away by the brute force of his body. "Good God, will you calm down already? You behave like a five year old brat." Hiruna's fierce scolding voice brought the tall man back to earth. With one last hateful glare in Raion's direction, he plummeted down on his arse and seethed inwardly. The small box had fallen from his lap and tumbled a bit away. Reaching out his hand to it, Masahiro noticed the somewhat familiar design of the little craftings embedded into the dark wood. "This is …?"

"It belonged to Tora, yes. As I remember, it was a present from you. She always held it dear." Raion sat himself between Oha-Asa and Hiruna opposite Masahiro. His voice was without hate and his eye shone with a nostalgic feeling. A small smile crossed over his face and let him look younger than he actually was.

"Go on, open it. She wanted you to have it." Raion made an inviting gesture with his hand and Oha-Asa's eyes held steadily contact with Masahiro as she sipped at her tea. Masahiro sat a bit dumbfounded and stared at the box in his hands. This was different than expected and a somewhat cruel feeling twisted his guts, as he slowly opened the cover, which was decorated with flowers and hummingbirds. He remembered the long hours he had sat till late into the night to make them as realistic as he could. Tora's excited smiling face as she received the little treasure ghosted through his mind.

The first thing which came into his view was a small stone figurine. A tiger shortly before his leap, mouth wide open like he roared out his triumph. His eyebrows furrowed, vein popping at his temple. "Are you mocking me?" His eyes shot up to the Kagami chieftain, his anger kindled anew. Raion shook his head, "Why must you always react like this when you haven't seen the remaining content yet? This was her treasure box, shithead. Naturally she would have something from me in there." Raion sighed but didn't say anything more. Peering down at the other things in the box, Masahiro noticed two small thin reed papers held together by thick leader bands. Reed paper was very valuable and he remembered that his mother was busy for hours with braiding the reeds when he was younger. Loosening the bindings, small flowers in every color possible fluttered into his lap. The calyxes had left imprints on the paper and beside each of it was the symbol for their names. It was a memory of their mother and he tried to swallow down the nod in his throat, when his eyes landed on his name right below the symbol for the gentian flower. His name meant 'righteousness', and gentian was his birth flower. Swooping up the small flowers, he put them back in place and ventured further through Tora's belongings. A comb made from fish bones, a wooden flute, a hair accessories studded with small sparkling stones, a necklace of black-dyed leather with a blue stone at the end and a baby rattle made from red wood came to the surface and Masahiro's shoulders dropped lower and lower with each object. Those all were things he had given to Tora. Especially the baby rattle. He had forgotten that he had made it as a gift for the birth of her son. Even if they had no more contact to the date, she still was his sister who he dearly adored. Memories crashed down on him as he viewed each object. The occasions in which he had given her something swirling in his head.

He missed her so much and his big hand closed tight over the small rattle as he pressed it to his chest. His head hung low, eyes shielded by his black hair. "Masahiro." Hiruna's small hand stroked over his broad shoulders as she pulled him against her tiny body. "She loved you till the end. Never stopped. You were her brother and will always be. She never betrayed you. Only fell in love with someone very similar to you. Can you still hold it against her … and him, when you see this all? Why don't you let the past be and finally move on and eventually get to know your nephew?" Her words were gentle, colored with love and reassurance that it was alright to let go. "You will be surprised at how much he resembles her." Raion chipped in, but his enthusiastic expression clouded over with worry and regret.

Calloused, withered fingers closed around the Kagami chieftains wrist and old knowing eyes peered up to his burgundy one. "They'll be fine. Don't worry so much." Oha-Asa let go and sipped at her tea, while Masahiro came back from his reminiscing and looked quizzically at Raion. "What does she mean?"

"Ah … well …" Raion scratched his head and averted his eyes. "Don't fuck with me? What did she mean, 'you shouldn't worry so much'?" Masahiro's temper rose again as he tried to catch the bulky man's gaze. "Well, Taiga and your son …"

"Daiki." Hiruna helped out. "Yeah, Daiki … uhm, they have eloped." The words hung in the air for a moment until Masahiro began snarling, "What do you mean eloped? They aren't here? Where have they gone?" He rattled down his questions, not giving room for answers. "Calm your pants Masa and let him answer. I also want to know where they have gone. I only know that Daiki wanted to met up with Taiga." Masahiro's head snapped around to his wife, almost giving him a whiplash. "What the hell? You were in this, too?" He couldn't believe it. Had the whole world conspired against him? Hiruna rolled her eyes and brought her attention back to Raion. "Well?"

Raion squirmed on his seat. So far the talk had gone good, but what he had to break down on the couple wasn't much to his liking. But if he stalled longer it only would get worse. He steeled himself and opened his mouth. He could deal with the aftermath, or so he thought. "I was told they went to a the firefly cave. Perhaps the name tells you something." As both shook their heads, Raion continued. "It is a labyrinth which leads deep down under the earth. We have never gone further into it as to the third or fourth offshoot, it was too risky. So, I don't really know how wide the area is. But Taiga got his hands on an old map, we somehow had and believes in its accuracy. Right now, they're in there and we can't do anything beside hoping, that the map really is that dependable."

Heavy silence befell the tent as he finished, even drowning out the persistent rain which pattered on the roof.

A slurping noise and casually spoken words broke through the agitated air. "Oh, it is accurate. Since I made this map myself." Oha-Asa peered over the rim of the bowl she held and little cracks beside her eyes indicated that her lips must be smiling.

"Oi Raion, who is this old hag anyway to speak so uncaring over the life of my child?", back to snarling, Masahiro jabbed a finger at Oha-Asa while demanding more answers from the Kagami chieftain. "Manners, Masa, manners." Hiruna swatted her husband over his head and bowed slightly to the still smiling granny. "I'm sorry for his behaviour, Oha-Asa. I will teach him later how to behave. But our sons are in grave danger, please forgive this stupid blockhead."

Masahiro grunted, rubbed the abused spot on his head and glared at his wife. "Like, I said. The map is correct. Your children should be able to see the light of day again. Most likely as we talk, they already found an exit. The ground there is as holey as a stone eaten by a boring sponge. The cave is spread so wide, that we are actually sitting on it right now. They can stumble out anytime and appear right beside you."

"How do you know that Oha-Asa? I believe it's impossible to not get lost in there." Raion ignored Masahiro's previous question, at the moment more interested whence the old lady knew all this. "Oh, I was pretty adventurous in my younger days. So were my siblings." She shot him a toothy grin and slowly got up. An aching gasp fled her mouth as she straightened her back. "Hell, I'm not getting younger here. I will look after the youngsters and you three should come to a conclusion and finally bury your disputes." She waved over her shoulder as she waddled out into the rain.

"Really! Who's she?" Masahiro was not satisfied yet. He demanded answers to all questions which flooded his head. Sighing, Raion also came to his feet and got some fruits for them from one of the big baskets. "She is the sister of my grandmother and an oracle." He handed a few fruits to Hiruna and sat down again. "A what? Oracle? Don't make me laugh!" Masahiro snorted and threw some grabes into his mouth. "Who believes shit like that now a days?"

"Oh, I'm not blindly believing that she can predict the future. I have experienced it myself. First I thought she was nuts, when she told me I would fall in love with a wild tigress. Well, she was right, only that her meaning of tigress was different from what I thought. She also was the one who sent me on that particular day into the jungle, to get her a certain herb she needed for something she was making. Dismissing me with the words, 'Tell me everything afterwards. Oh and don't forget the herb. I need it for the salve to heal your cut.' I shrugged it off as the insanity of an old woman, until I met your sister, in an instant lost my heart to her and came home with a violently bleeding cut on my arm." He peeled the skin from a papaya, chopped it into small pieces and put the wooden plate between them, before he popped one of it into his own mouth. Chewing, he raised his dual-eyebrows at the Aomine chieftain and shrugged. "Believe it or not, but it happened like this."

"Yeah, right. As if I would believe that." Masahiro wiped his hand through the air and stared angrily back at Raion. "Masa, I wouldn't be so fast to dismiss it as madness. You know that Shintarou always carries a lucky item around. I once asked him about it and he told me that his daily prediction from Oha-Asa told him to do so. I also thought some of his brain strings weren't attached right, until I saw what happened when he couldn't find the item of the day. Hell, it was horrible. Perhaps you remember how he was out with Midori and me to refill their herbal stocks? I don't even know how many cuts, bruises and thorns we removed and bandaged at the end of the day. He was totally tattered. Afterwards I found out from Midori, that her family was acquaintances with the Nijimura's and you know that this tribe had unusual abilities. Oha-Asa is one of the daughters of the Nijimura's last chieftain. Since he only had girls, the main bloodline died out and they blended with other clans. Mostly with the Kagami's it seems."

While the adults somehow got to discuss kinship grades in the tribes, the atmosphere in Teppei's tent grew more weird by the minute. Somehow, Atsushi had found a liking to Seijuurou and was currently happily munching some fruits sitting beside the magenta-haired boy. Meanwhile said boy played a game of Shogi against Shintarou with an observing Kazunari by the greenette's side.

Teppei had slipped away, like he did ever so often in the past days. Riko and Hyuuga wondered about it, but when they had ask they were gifted with his happy-go-lucky-smile and avoiding answers. Tatsuya provided more food to the purplenette, while leaning his back against Atsushi's and talked to Satsuki and Tetsuya. Kise tried to chirp in between and get the light-blue-haired males attention, which earned him some frightening looks from blank winter-eyes. It was crowded and somehow everyone seemed to have forgotten that they belonged to different tribes.

Oha-Asa smiled to herself, as she stepped into the tent and witnessed first hand, that it could go differently than what the adults had practiced over the years. She slipped next to Satsuki and nodded a thanks to Riko who offered a cup of tea to her. Grinning her toothy chesire-cat-smile, she nudged the pinkette's elbow. "Seijuurou is a fine man, right? Have you fallen for him?"

Satsuki stiffened for a moment at the bold question, turned as pink as her hair but nodded. The old woman smiled into her tea bowl and sipped at the steaming drink.

As soon as Seijuurou beat Shintarou in the game, she was crowded by the young tribes men and women. Curious eyes were directed at her and so she told them what had taken place in the chieftains tent. Upon mentioning about the composition of the firefly cave, a half-relieved sigh was heard from everyone and the greenette patted encouragingly Kazunari's shoulder.

But she also had another question for the youngsters, since the not so distant future had hidden itself from her knowing eyes behind the mist of nescience. "I would like to know, what all of you think. Would Taiga and Daiki be a good pair to obtain the chieftain post?" Puzzled looks were given, but no one could answer her question straight. They all thought hard and long about it and eventually Tetsuya rose his calm unfazed voice first. "All what I have heard about Taiga-kun, gives me the impression that he is not so different from my brother. So my answer would be 'No'." He didn't explain it further, but in his mind the chaos those two would create was almost pictured in detail. "I agree with that, nanodayo. If left alone … no, I don't want to imagine it." The greenette gave his raven-haired companion a questioning look. "Ah mah~ wouldn't it be fine? Hehe … well, I guess not. Taiga is my closest friend, but I really don't want to see the end of the tribe so soon." A bit of mirth stole into his silver-eyes, as he thought of his big, loud-mouthed friend. "Yupp, that's it." Ryouta pointed at Kazunari. "He would break a dispute with another clan over the right ingredients for stew. Adding the temper of the Aomine's guy to it … woo~ what an explosive mixture." The blonde grinned and winked at the light-blue-haired male, but got ignored.

"Mah~ considering, that Taiga can be level-headed if he tries to …" Riko laid her head to the side and rubbed her chin. "No, I don't think so. Even if he tries, he loses it too fast." Satsuki nodded solemnly. "Yeah, if I think back on the occasions when Daiki lost his temper over trivial things." She shuddered slightly and shook her head. Tatsuya chuckled at that and Junpei nodded in agreement. Atsushi munched at his snack. "Everyone is fine with me as long as there is enough food.", he drawled with a full mouth and took another bite.

"Hm, so that clears one thing up." Oha-Asa mumbled to herself and frowned. "Obaa-san did something change?" Seijuurou's dual-colored eyes watched the old woman penetratingly. He seldom had seen her so unsure of the future. "Well, I guess fate is sometimes unfathomable, even for me." She smiled lightly. Nothing she tried worked out. Destiny appeared to be desperate, to not let her take a look at its cards. But she guessed it had an ace up its sleeve, otherwise she would already have a hint on what was coming. "For now it's enough I think. I will go back to your chieftains." She rose to her full high of 5'1 and waddled out of the tent.

TBC