Language: English is not my first language.

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

*Note: Oji-san = Uncle

Chapter 33

Hiruna was cleaning the plates after dinner and handed them to Masako to dry them. "How is Ako-chan doing? She didn't catch a cold?" Masako put the plate on the pile beside her. "No, she's fine. She's always been a robust child." She looked over to her daughter, who was currently pulling at Teppei's hair, a small smile tugging at her usual stoic face. "They seem to get along pretty well." Handing over another wooden plate, they both smiled, seeing the little child dangling head down and legs tightly clutched around Teppei's neck, while the tall male smiled a tad painfully as her heels digged further into the muscles of his shoulders. "Teppei really has the patience of a saint. My late husband hated her from the day she was born. Always saying, she should shut up and got mad when she spat her food out." Masako sighed and got back to work. "That really sounds difficult. I'm glad that my stubborn man loved his kids from the first minute he saw them." They fell silent for a while until Masako quaked in surprise, as she felt something cold and slimy at the back of her knee. "Mommy, look what Teppei-oji-san got me." The small child held up a hand full of snails and beamed at her mother. "Hey, Ako-chan! I'm not that old." Playing wounded and clutching at his bare chest over his heart, eyes teary, he stumbled to them. "And I thought, you would marry me some day."

"Nuuuuu, bleh. You have wrinkles. Like mommy." She grinned impish up to him and kicked him at his shin, before dashing away. "You little …" Hopping on one leg and holding his abused shinbone with his hands he glared after her, but a smile tugged at his lips. "She really is a tomboy." He peered down at Masako and raised an eyebrow. "Uhm, you have a snail there.", he said pointing at the side of her knee. She looked down to the slimy animal, picked it up and pressed it to his forehead. "And who's fault is that?"

"Ewww, Masako." Teppei swatted the snail away and rubbed over his forehead. "But I'm glad. She is back to her old self, thanks to you." She patted his arm and smiled lightly up at him.

Hiruna chuckled to herself at the sight of the endearments those two young adults exchanged. There was teasing, but it came with the gleam of beginning love in their eyes. "Masako go with Teppei, I will do the rest." She gave the black-haired woman a friendly pat to her back and looked over her shoulder as they departed, leaning into each other and Teppei draping an arm around her shoulder. 'What a nice couple.', she thought, but sighed heavily and cleaned the last few plates. She wanted to see her son and his significant other. Having had a serious talk with her daughter and Seijuurou the other day about their plan of marriage and how to convince Masahiro, brought back her longing to see every of her children happy. One played currently tag with the golden boy, the other was missing in a labyrinth and the third suddenly wanted to marry a man she only met. Life was never easy, but this exceeded even her capacities. She didn't let others see her anxiety, but it gnawed at her. She would go all out for her children, that was for sure, but if her marriage could take another blow, of that she wasn't sure. Sighing again, she peered over to her husband. She stilled loved him dearly even after all those years, but his stubbornness and impossible demands brought her more often to her wits end these days.

But all that brooding brought her nothing and so she wiped her hands dry, hoping that everything would work out somehow.

Oha-Asa meanwhile, sat at the blazing fire and puffed at her pipe. It was lively around her and somehow she had missed that, given that Seijuurou was more the silent type. She had done her best to bring him up well, but had guessed more than once that maybe it would have been better if he would had more contact with others earlier in his life. Her circumstances, now and then, were not easy due to her rare gift. If she was too long in the present of many people, her foreseeing got clouded and she made false judgments. This made her decide to live as a hermit, with the only company of a little toddler, now proud man, who at the moment dedicated one of his rare smiles to the pink-haired girl beside him. She was good for him, the old woman felt it in her bones. But the future, she couldn't predict at the moment, got her a bit worried. Something like this had happened once before, resulting in Seijuurou becoming an orphan.

She peered over the young citizens of both clans. Nothing had changed in their demeanor. All got along pretty well, with here and there teasing, laughter and sometimes a slightly angry snarl from the greenette. All in all it was a pleasant atmosphere. But something had slipped her attention, it was hovering at the back of her mind, wouldn't go away and also wouldn't let her grasp it. She had noticed that the colors orange and brown were very prominent to her in the past days, but couldn't make out for what they stood. 'I'm getting old.', she thought and stopped clutching at straws who lead her nowhere.

Clutching at straws was exactly what Daiki was doing since a while. After he had made sure that the redhead still breathed, he had rolled him carefully from his legs, which costed him a lot of his, currently not in check streight, and since then he tried to wake him up. He had felt his whole body and eventually noticed a huge bump at the back of his head. It didn't bleed, of which he thought was good, but still no reaction from Taiga was given. He had tried everything possible, from shouting over slapping and shaking to splashing water to the redhead's face, nothing worked. Not even a groan was coaxed out of his mouth, only the steady breathing ghosted over Taiga's lips.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Daiki shouted at the unconscious man in exasperation. He sat on his heels, knees pressed deep into the muddy ground and leaned over the redhead's face. Slowly, he wiped some dirt from Taiga's cheek, his midnight-eyes searching for the slightest reaction but found nothing. The rain had stopped meanwhile, but isolated droplets still found their way to the ground and burst on his crouched tanned back.

Daiki felt torn, should he stay and further try to wake Taiga up or should he go and search for help. He didn't even recognize where they were, but staying here without a inspiration of what to do helped the redhead neither. After he had dragged Taiga to a tree and leaned him against the broad stem, he leaned down and placed a gentle but desperate kiss on his lips. With a heavy heart, he eventually stood up. "I will be back with help, I swear. Don't go anywhere." Spinning on his heels, Daiki dashed into the undergrowth. If he stayed even one minute longer, he wouldn't be able to leave.

He dragged his forearm over his burning eyes and gritted his teeth. There needed to be a resolution. He would find one for sure. Steeling his will, determination bleed into his eyes. He would save him no matter what. Daiki directed his gaze to the overclouded sky and cursed. There was no telling where the sun stood, but he guessed that it was pretty late in the afternoon, indicated that it got darker but no thunder was heard.

He had the quickness of the approaching darkness extremely underestimated. Only two or so hours after he left Taiga, it was pitch black and he was in danger to completely lose his barely existing orientation. Slumping down against a tree, he stared upwards to the sky. He had left marks on his way, so he would find back to the redhead. Had he done everything possible to wake him up? He thought it over and yes, he had. Carrying him hadn't been an option, considering that he still wasn't fully back to his streight. "I hope he is alright.", he murmured and toppled into a deep slumber exhausted to his core.

He didn't know how he made it or even found the right direction. But after what seemed to him like aeons, he eventually heard surprised shouts and stumbled with his last strength out of the jungle and collapse into his mother's arms. "Daiki! Daiki! Can you hear me?" Hiruna's lithe arms clutched tight around him, panic riding high in her voice. She couldn't hold his weight and let him slowly slip to the ground. His chest heaved heavily and body was burning up. Sweat dripped from his temple and he could barely hold his fever glossed eyes open. "Taiga … hurt … marked the way … help." He pressed the words through his hoarse throat and dragged his swollen tongue over his chapped lips, before he lost out to the fever raging in his body.

"Masahiro!", Hiruna cried out in distress, cradling her youngest son's head tightly to her chest. Without a word, Daiki was preyed form her arms and Masahiro carried his son to Raion's tent, a bitter line around his mouth.

"Raion, get your healer.", he barked out as he laid Daiki down on the soft furs of the Kagami chieftain's bed. "Let me see." Out of nowhere, Oha-Asa stood beside him, hands already roaming over the bluenette's body. "Here, I feel something." Her fingers traced over a purple, swollen lump at the young man's side underneath his ribs. She felt the pulsing under her fingertips and cracked an eyebrow as something moved under Daiki's skin. "That needs to get out fast, or we'll lose him." She said to the healer, who appeared beside her. Jointly, they shooed everyone out, who meanwhile had entered the tent, only giving rash orders through a gap in the leather drapes.

Hiruna had given Daiki's message to Raion, who was now, with a few of his men including Kazunari, his father Shikaku, Shintarou, Kagetora and Teppei, on the way from which the bluenette had emerged. The markings got clearer, the longer the men plunged along the path. It seemed like Daiki had used his last strength to make it to the camp. But for how long he had walked, they didn't knew. Hurrying up their speed, they dashed through the rainforest, only stopping when they needed to make out the next marking.

His body felt cold, frozen to the core. His head throbbed horribly and his limbs wouldn't move no matter how he troubled his muscles. Where was he? And where was Daiki? Taiga only remembered the sudden emptiness under their feet and then … nothing. A groan of pain escaped his dry throat as he tried to move his head in search for the bluenette. He felt a swelling at the back of his head, where it rubbed over the stem of the tree he was leaning against. But when he tried to move his hand to it, he was reminded that he couldn't move an inch.

Immovable like this, he tried to shout Daiki's name. But even that was him denied. The only thing that came out of his throat was some kind of quacking sound. How long had he sat here without water? And food … food was always important. As if on command his stomach rumbled loudly and a nauseated feeling spread through his chest. A flavour, like something had died in his mouth, was on his tongue and he teared up as his throat constricted painfully with the urge to throw up. If this wasn't the most horrible feeling he ever had, he didn't now.

And where the fuck was Daiki? Once again, Taiga tried to move, but again with no avail.

Being completely helpless, he closed his eyes and tried to think what perhaps had happened in the time he was out cold. It was possible that the bluenette had gone to take a piss or find food and potable water, maybe help for him? Or he simply was also out cold but laid further away from him. All those possibilities and beside the last one, nothing would have taken him so long to get back to Taiga.

After a while, when Taiga was sure that Daiki wouldn't be back in the next few minutes, he tried to find out how late in the day it was. Giving count to the dimming light, it must be shortly before nightfall. But on which day? That was his problem. He couldn't tell how long he had been unconscious or Daiki was gone, or maybe the bluenette was really also out cold and couldn't move. He was back to the possibilities and rolled annoyed his eyes. If only he could move.

And this was his task for the next hours. Trying to get his body to move.

When morning came rolling around again, he could finally stand on wobbly legs but still needed support from the tree he had lain under. 'God this sucks.', he thought as he felt his body sway with exhaustion by the continued exertion through the night. He brought his hand to the back of his head and clenched his teeth, when a horrible pain exploded from the huge bump and rocketed through his body. He needed water, badly. His dry throat was about to murder him and the swelling of his tongue made swallowing the thick saliva in his mouth not better. Slowly, he took a first step and his still numb foot sent needles up his leg. He huffed out hot air, the world spinning before his eyes, but, though slow as a snail, dragged his feet step by step forward.

It took him forever to reach the bush he had his eyes on. It had huge leafs and Taiga hoped that they had collected rain in their slightly cup-shaped structure. And they had. Taiga let himself fall to his knees, no thought wasted on how he should get up later without support, opened his mouth and dipped the leafe forward with his shaky hands. Cool water trickled down his throat. It felt like heaven on earth and he couldn't get enough. Wildly, ignoring his instant coughing urge, he gulped everything down, not letting escape one single drop. All too soon the leaf was empty and he robbed on his knees further to the next.

Breathing heavily, he plummeted down to his back, belly half full and stared up to the sky. Grey clouds still chased over it, here and there teared open to let him glimpse at a bright blue sky. Before his limbs could go back to numbness, he fought himself back to his feet and again got lucky, when he found a long, robust looking stick to support his weight. That was when he found the first obvious mark on a tree further ahead. Upon reaching it, his fingers trailed over the freshly made wound in the bark. "I will be back.", he whispered to himself. Astonishment ghosted over his features and he took a long look over his shoulder, peering everywhere his red eyes could reach. But Daiki was not in sight. It had been the bluenette's words, he was sure of it and for a moment he thought he had heard the taller male whisper to him with a pleading in his voice. But it was his own voice that had spoken the words. Slightly shaking his head, to get rid of the illusion, Taiga continued on his way.

If it wasn't purely an illusion produced by his delirious mind, Daiki had gone to get help. Almost sure of it, when he reached the next mark, a bit of his strength flowed back into his legs. He knew, he could count on his tanned lover and it gave him hope, that help was already on its way.

"Give me the hot knife.", the old healer instructed Oha-Asa, while stretching the fever ridden skin over the bulge at the bluenette's side. She obliged and when he made a long cut with his practiced hand, almost instantly bloody yellow-green foul-smelling pus squirted out of the wound. The healer kept a straight expression, handed the knife back to Oha-Asa and gestured her to give him the warm water. He carefully washed all the pus out, to get to the root of the infection. "There we have the culprit." Taking a thin peaked stick, he sat it on and stabbed deep into the lesion. When he pulled the stick back, a thumb long larva emerged with it. "Considering the size, it must be almost 3 days ago that it has lodged itself inside his body. I need to burn out the wound or the infection will spread further." He rotated the stick in his hands, curiosity glittering in his eyes, before he laid it to the side. "And if you can get me the green healing salve from my tent and clean bandages." The elder woman nodded, put the knife back into the fire and waddled to the exit to give the waiting girl before it the orders. "Will he survive?", she asked as she came back and look slightly worried over the young, feverish man. "I think so. If the wound healing isn't interrupted, he should be fine in a week."

Once the girl was back and handed over the salve, the to elder people proceed with the treatment. It was lucky for Daiki that the fever had stolen his consciousness and half an hour later Oha-Asa stepped outside Raion's tent to come face to face with the worried faces of his friends and parents. "He has a lot of bruises, contusions and cuts all over, which is the reason that a parasite could entered his body. We cleaned out the infected wound and if he is strong enough and reacts good to the treatment, he will be fine in a week." The relief in each face, made her smile. The bluenette was loved dearly, even when he was sometimes a prick. "Hiruna, Masahiro, you two can go inside. You others, I would ask to wait a bit more. He needs a lot of rest now. But you can get him something to eat and fresh water when he wakes up."

She let the couple pass her and watched on as Hiruna instantly clutched her hand tightly around her son's. Her body shook heavily. No one needed to guess, that finally a dam inside her had broken. She cried out all her anxiety in a silent manner, Masahiro right beside her caressing her shaking shoulders. Even if he tried to sooth his wife, hard lines were carved into his face as he watched at his unconscious son. No one could guess, what was going on behind his stone mask, but Oha-Asa had an uneasy feeling with it.

"You have a concussion and the bump at your head prevents your blood from circulating right, which is the reason you couldn't move for a while. Explained simply. But still, you are rather lucky. It could have been worse. If you would've had a cerebral hemorrhage, it would be the end of you. But since you could move and the bump fades, I guess we don't need to worry about that." Shintarou explained to the redhead, who currently laid on a carrier which was pulled along the way by his father.

They had found him after two and a half days, laying on the ground completely exhausted and starving. After a short check over by the greenette and a huge struggle to hold Kazunari and Raion back from bouncing at the redhead out of relieve, they had given him water and build the carrier. Taiga's questions about Daiki where short cut. No one knew what had happened to the bluenette, since they instantly moved out in search for him. But since Daiki was at the clan's camp, he would be taken care of. His mind drifted off again after hearing the good news and in contrast to the past two days, he found a restful sleep. No nightmares, in which the bluenette bleed to death, got eaten by animals, or simply starved, tormented him this time. Even the jolting over the roots and stones didn't bother him.

Kazunari wiped his forearm over his tear stained, red swollen eyes and stayed close to the redhead. No one could empathize the relief he felt and more than once his hand strayed over the red-black locks to remind him that this was reality. Taiga was back and he was … well, not healthy but alive. That was all what counted. He hadn't sent them to their deaths. He could still talk to his best friend and once he was back on his feet, they could go hunting and swimming and do stupid things like ever.

Shintarou, walking behind the raven, wouldn't let him out of sight. He could understand Kazunari's relief, but the fingers ghosting over the redhead's face and hair caused an ugly feeling in his chest. His green eyes glittered dangerously and he decided, that he didn't like the redhead. Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, his head snapped around as he heard a mirthful snicker from his side.

"You're really transparent, you know? But no matter what you think, those two are only best friends." Shikaku said and clapped the greenette's shoulder. Kazunari hadn't said anything, neither had the tall Aomine tribe's man, but Shikaku hadn't the hawkeye for nothing. He noticed two years ago after the accident, that something was different about his son but couldn't figure out exactly what happened to him. He had noticed that his son was eyeing other males, fell deep in thoughts sometimes and shook his head every now and then after taking a glance at his male friends. Every question was evaded and after a while he stopped asking. But since the greenette had shown up, Kazunari was on the edge again. Blushing without reason, fidgeting more than ever when the green-haired male was near and his eyes were glued to the broad back whenever he thought no one was watching. Shikaku found it actually a pity that the Aomine tribe had so many good looking men. Couldn't they all have been women? That would make everything much easier. But he wouldn't interfere with his son. As he had understood, without being told to, that this tall, unsocial, green-haired, weird kid, was his son's saviour and if the feelings Kazunari currently fought weren't just a byproduct from getting saved by Shintarou, what a parent would he be to not let him have his way. And since it seemed to be mutual, he gave his blessing. But everything else, they needed to work out alone.

"I don't know what you are talking about, nanodayo." Shikaku was pulled out of his thoughts by the greenette's words and snickered as he became aware of the red ears and averted eyes of the young man. "Yeah, right. You don't know anything and I'm almost tempted to believe you. But nothing stays hidden long before this eyes and I would remind you, Kazunari has inherited them from me." Oh, he had a devilish pleasure to tease him and almost choked on his laughter, by the greenette's next words. "Now I know from where he got this stupid assumptions-making. And you are wrong about ... whatever you mean." The green-haired male speed up his pace to catch up to the raven-haired boy, who still was beside his best friend. "Shintarou of the Aomine tribe, huh? A tsundere through and through." He glanced at Kagetora and both grinned at each other.

"Is she always fussing over him like this?" Seijuurou leaned against one of the wooden posts and watched his girlfriend flutter through the tent of the Kagami chieftain in attempt to make her younger brother as comfortable as possible. "Yes, she is always like that. Will you step back from her now?" Tetsuya's winter-eyes glowed challenging at the magenta-haired male. "No, what are you thinking. She will be a good mother." Seijuurou glanced at the smaller man, a knowing smile creeping on his lips. "You don't like me." He said matter of factly. "Exactly." Tetsuya deadpanned and watched his sister fluff up Daiki's pillow for the third time.

"And what will you do against my marriage with her?" He shifted his weight to the other foot and waited. "I think I will be your smallest problem after he" Tetsuya pointed at his sleeping brother, "hears of that once he wakes up." Satsuki almost tumbled over her own feet, balancing some more fur blankets on her arms. "Should I make it so that he never wakes up?" The threat was riding high in his rich toned voice and he smiled eerily at the light-blue-haired male.

Suddenly he was face to face with his future brother-in-law, stormy ice-blue eyes glaring icicles at him. "If you do anything to make her sad or harm my brother in anyway, you won't see your end coming." Tetsuya spun on his heels and left the tent. Seijuurou smiled to himself, not feeling threatened in the slightest and walked over to Satsuki, who currently laid the fifth blanket over her brother. "I think that is enough." He held her back by her wrist and removed the superfluous blankets from Daiki's sweating body. "I wouldn't want him to suffocate, since I cling to my life." Seijuurou smiled at her questioning look and guided her out of the tent. "Let him rest. You can tell him of our wedding soon enough." Satsuki blushed lovingly. "That's not why-" Her lips were sealed by a tender kiss. "But I like it better, to think about it like this." He murmured against her lips and caught her when she melted against him. He knew that from somewhere winter-blue eyes were watching him and smirked into her pink hair, while walking away.

TBC