Konnichiwa!

Chapter 9 is up! Wow! I can't believe I've made it this far! Thank you all so much for supporting me all this while:D it's exams now so I won't be in with the next chapter for a while! Sorry everyone! X( this chapter is only 1k long cos' I've been rushing so everything might be a little... hazy...

Aaaaaaand this is almost the end of an arc of the entire plot :3 okay I think I should not be delaying all of you, so here's Chapter 9!

WARNING: this might make you cry (it made me cry in the bus ;-;)

This is dedicated to Mommy Shiwafuri Ai :D

WARNING: This contains yaoi and prostitution so if you're against either one of these, well, you know the drill.

Golden Flower

Pairings involved : mainly AoKise (no promises lol)

Summary:

Kise, having been sold as a prostitute a few years ago, is now practically living like an alive corpse, and always gets "abused" by his boss. Will his life ever change when his childhood friend steps into his thin thread of his entire life? Or would his flame flicker out?

DISCLAIMER: If I had owned KnB, I'd live the rest of my life in a room filled with posters and pictures of Aomine and Kise x3

This story is 100% original, and any resemblance to this story is just coincidence. So please don't flag me or report or anything, I'll be like so damn sad :'(

Chapter 9: Confession of Regret

He stretched out his hand as far as he could, wanting to scream, desiring to cry, feeling the throbbing pain in his arm, witnessing the massive blur before him, which showed evidently that he was slipping away, slowly, from this world.

It made it even more agonising to watch his very own love slip between his fingers, little by little, away from him.

Why can't I get closer!?

Please...! Let me reach him...!

I can't let him die, not after what he has done...

I... I love him...

He snapped back to reality from a trance. Did he just... admit... that he loves Kise...?

Even though he was indirectly the cause of his mother's death?

Then, it all came back to him. How Kise needed him. How he himself yearned for him to be back into his arms.

And how he failed to protect him...

He stared, horror-stricken, as Kise turned his head fractionally to face him with great grief. Crystalline tears were furiously rolling down his ashen cheeks as he forced a thin smile. His breathing was erratic; it was evident that he was slowly, yet steadily, falling down into the depths of an endless abyss in which the tanned man was all too familiar with.

Death.

After all, Kise had taken a shot to the heart.

"A-ao... minec...cchi..." the blonde murmured through a trembling smile. His amber eyes were glimmering with sorrow. "I... I can't... I probably won't... be able to... see you... again..." He let out small yet forceful coughs as crimson liquid spilled out from the entrance of his bleached lips. His clammy hand reached out to Aomine shakily, attempting to touch the latter's face, but had no more strength to carry on.

"Please, no...!" Aomine protested. He cannot... He cannot let Kise die! "Don't talk anymore! I'll take you to the hospital now!" By then, it was his turn to shed tears of agony. A sharp twinge erupted in his heart, causing him to wince inwards.

Why can't I reach him...!?

He stretched out a hand as he agonisingly clambered his way to the prostitute, who was just barely hanging on. Grasping Kise's chalky white hand in his, he squeezed it tightly, as if he did not want to let go of him.

Ever.

"... Ao... minec... chi..." Kise murmured as he closed his eyelids with what seemed to be like content, yet squeezed tightly with sheer regret. "Your hand... is so warm... I..."

"I don't want... to die... yet..."

"Kise! Don't speak anymore!" Aomine choked out with great sorrowful distress through his tears. "I... you won't die here!"

Please, no!

Don't take him away... please...!

Not here, not now!

"Hmph," Haizaki smirked in triumph as he brandished his gun, readying it for yet another gunshot. "I will personally finish you off, Aomine Daiki." He took slow, taunting steps towards the lying duo, who had blood spilling out from their gunshot wounds profusely. The tanned male glared with seething rage at the white-haired brothel boss as the latter pointed the gun from where he was standing, making sure to point directly at where Aomine's heart was located. Akashi and Kuroko were frozen with fear at one corner, staring with trembling orbs.

"With you disposed, everything will revert back to normal," Haizaki snarked. "Who would have thought you would show up and spoil every single detail of the fun that I always have every day?" He stood from quite a distance from the injured tanned male, as if his aiming was flawless and did not need to inch any closer.

"You..."

"This, is what you get for trying to touch my rightful property!" the suit-clad male snarled ferociously as he pulled the trigger without any hesitation. Akashi then pushed himself forward and yelled hoarsely:

"Get back!"

The abrupt, violent bang of a gunshot rang through the air once more.

"... What!?"

The red prostitute stood before the brothel boss, his hands outstretched, pure crimson liquid spilling out from where his left ruby-irised eye once stood. Kuroko, Kise, Aomine, and even Haizaki let out a loud gasp of shock. The cyan-eyed prostitute then ran over to the scarlet-haired male, who had collapsed onto the floor with one hand clasped over his injured left eye.

"Ngh...!"

"Akashi-kun!" Kuroko's normally stoic expression now became distorted into a look of absolute worry. "What... why?"

"Daiki, go, now. Escape with Ryouta while you still have the chance...!" Akashi let out a loud outtake of air as he crouched on the floor, his body trembling violently with pain.

"But - "

"Are you defying your captain's orders!? Go, NOW!"

"... Right." With a nod, Aomine then mustered up all the strength he could gather, scooped an almost unconscious Kise and leapt through the open window.

"Tch," Haizaki frowned. "I ran out of bullets." He then discarded his gun to one side of the room. "Get them." He signalled for his two bodyguards to chase after Aomine and Kise. Once they were gone, the boss then snapped his head back into its original position, facing Kuroko and Akashi. His face darkened like charcoal as his grey eyes dimmed with menace.

"Meanwhile... I'll deal with you two."

Landing with a soft pat on the moist soil, Aomine made sure he was clasping Kise's hand tight in his. He gave another light squeeze to make sure the prostitute was awake. Sure enough, topaz orbs flickered open tiredly as they gazed up into the basketball player's worried sapphire ones.

"Aomi... necc... hi..." the blonde breathed. "Am I... still alive...?"

"Yeah..." It felt sinful to say that, considering the fact that his brother was on the verge of death, but...

What else could he do but put Kise's mind at ease?

"I'm taking you to the nearest medical care centre," the tanned male replied softly as he leant down and pecked the injured prostitute's bleached forehead affectionately. "You won't die, trust me." He looked around to make sure no one was around. "Haizaki is bound to send his men after us, so we'd better hurry... Kise?" He stared as the blonde attempted to snuggle into his arms despite the awkward position and the fatal wound on him.

"Né, Aominecchi... You're... so warm..." the prostitute sighed. A soft smile formed across his lips. "Let me stay in your arms just a little bit longer... even if you have to run..."

"... I understand..." With one small breath, the ace sped through the night, across the roads, like a hawk flying through the wind.

And running against unjust death.

...

"Fssssshhhh..." With a flourish, it began to rain heavily. Stopping in the middle of a deserted road, Aomine stared down at Kise, who was gulping for air heavily. Worry consumed him hungrily as he shot a few more glances of anxiety at the blonde.

He was barely hanging on...

"Kise... Kise, can you hear me...?" he murmured. Under the rain, he mow noticed that the prostitute was losing a liberal amount of blood, at an extreme rate. The crimson liquid continuously dripped down onto the wet floor and got washed away with the waves of the rainwater continuously flooding the roads. Amidst the fog, Aomine could see topaz irises sparkling dimly at him.

"Aomine... cchi..."

"We're almost there, Kise... Hang in there..."

Kise looked up as he rested his palms onto the basketball player's well-toned chest. Amidst the burning pain from his arm, Aomine could feel the warmth radiating from the blonde. "I... I'm going to die, aren't I...?" Tears were now furiously gushing out of his eyes, which made a sea of sorrow well up inside the azure-eyed male as well. He can't let this happen, he can't let Kise die, dammit!

"Don't speak, Kise," Aomine held back his tears as he spoke in a wobbly voice. "We'll be there soon, you won't die!"

"... Onii-cchi..." he murmured.

The ace blinked in shock. That term... where had he heard it before...? It sounds so familiar...

"I... don't want... to die... I... I can't... hang on... anymore..."

"Kise!" The taller male shook the blonde to keep him awake. "No, Kise! You can't die!" But his efforts were futile.

"You can't die on me, Ryouta!" he screamed with a strangled voice. That was enough to snap the blonde back to reality, which astounded Aomine greatly. How did that... came about?

"Ao... mine... cchi..." Kise's face of fatigue had a sense of urgency plastered onto it, as if he had something important to say. "Please... please don't hate me... for what happened... ten years ago..."

"What...?"

Then it all came back to Aomine.

The murder of his mother, and his own sinful deed of... stabbing... Kise...

His eyes widened to an enormous size. "Wh - I would never hate you for that! I should be the one saying that...! I... I stabbed you..."

"I..." Kise reached out to touch Aomine's tanned cheek, crystalline tears brimming his eyes amongst the cloud of raindrops that surrounded them. They exchanged contact for a brief moment, before his hand dropped limp.

"I love you, Aominecchi..."

End of Chapter 9

A/N: NOOOOOOO KISE. WHAI. OH GOD IM SO FACKING SADIST I DON'T EVEN. *hangs myself and you all won't see the living daylights of me and this fanfic ever again*

Just kidding :c but seriously...

I'll leave this chapter's end to your own personal interpretation. All I can tell you is that this isn't the end of the story. Or do you want me to end it like this? *which makes me sad but uh...* I'll leave everything to your own predictions, and see if you can get it right on the next chapter :)

So erm, I know I haven't posted in a long while. I just created a livejournal (link on my website) so you can access it and ask me any stuff. =D or you could drop in a review and let me know what you think about this chapter ;)

Thanks to all of you who have been reading my story so far:') *hearts*