Dear, Mom,

Does saying "Dear" sound too formal?

Sorry. Guess what. I finally got to see

it, Mom. Snow. It snowed here today.

Have you ever seen snow before?

I'll be sure to take pictures and send

them to you in my next letter.

Until then. Taiga.

Getting out of bed that day proved to be one of the most difficult tasks that Kagami had faced in a long time. He just wanted to stay bundled up in his cocoon of covers and never come out. He knew that if he didn't, he'd deeply regret it. Last night, an announcement had been posted on the bulletin board saying that a few snow squalls would be rolling in throughout the day today. Kagami had never seen snow before, so naturally, he wouldn't dare pass up on the opportunity to see it for the very first time.

Kagami heaved himself out of his bed. He sluggishly made his way to his dresser and picked out the warmest set of clothes that he had to offer. After dressing, he made his bed, folded his pajamas, placed them beneath his pillow, and pulled on a thick pair of ski socks. Kagami had never been skiing in his life, he just owned the socks.

Before leaving his house, he made sure to put on his scarf, his mittens, his boots, and of course, his ski jacket (he owned one of those, too). Upon opening his front door, Kagami yelped and stepped backward. He had a visitor. "Ao-Aomine! What the heck are you doing here?! And can't you knock?! Geez! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Rolling his eyes, Aomine sighed and said, "You know, I was about to knock, before your stupid self went and opened up the stupid door. You startled me, too, tch."

Kagami closed the door from behind and pursued the conversation. "That doesn't answer my first question," he groaned. "What are you doing here?" Something wasn't right about the wolf's demeanor. He seemed...off. He wasn't acting like his usual, cocky and all-too-proud self. That was made clear by the fact that he had actually been the one to approach Kagami, after claiming to never want anything to do with the guy. Ever.

Scoffing, Aomine scratched at his left ear. To Kagami, it looked like he was having trouble piecing his thoughts together. A rarity, really. "Remember..." he slowly began, "...remember when we had that storm back in the summer? The really big one?"

"Yeah, why?" Kagami remembered. How could he forget? After all, he and Aomine had to share the same hiding space for just under an hour, and in Aomine's basement no less.

Aomine continued to scratch his ear. Now, it made him look like he had an ear mite problem - which Kagami wouldn't doubt it, if he did. "Do you remember what we talked about on that day?" he asked.

Placing a hand to his chin, Kagami did his very best to think back. Remembering scenarios were no problem for him, but conversations were a whole different category. Still, the foggy memory began to resurface and he answered, "Didn't it have something to do with Kuroko? Weren't we talking about him?"

Biting his tongue, Aomine nodded. "Yeah, it did," he affirmed, "but do you remember what I had said to you?"

All of this remembering and recollecting was starting to make Kagami's head hurt. Putting a stop to this mind game, he grumbled, "Can you quit beating around the bush and just tell me what you're trying to get at here? It's starting to get really annoying."

Aomine stopped scratching his ear. He narrowed his gaze and looked up to stare Kagami straight in the eye. "I told you not to hurt him," he spoke lowly. "I told you never to hurt Kuroko the way that I had."

Suddenly, everything began to come back to him. Kagami had remembered being deeply confused by Aomine's warning. At the time, he was pretty sure he had thought nothing more of it than that. It was just a really weird thing for him to say.

Now, however, Kagami was curious. What had Aomine done to hurt Kuroko? Even Tom Nook had known about it, so it must have been something upsetting. But was it really that bad? This would be the perfect time to ask about it. "Aomine," Kagami breathed in a whisper, "what exactly happened between you and Kuroko?"

Aomine and Kuroko. Their story was beautifully tragic.

They had first met on a warm, summer evening. Aomine had been out and about, getting himself acquainted with his new life in Kiseki, whereas Kuroko had merely been taking an after-dinner stroll. The moment they had crossed one another's path, their fate had been sealed. They were destined to be the absolute best of friends.

"Oh, hey!" Aomine said with a smile. "I've never seen your face around before. Are you new here, too?"

"No," Kuroko answered plainly. "I've lived here for quite a while. You're the one who's new."

Aomine laughed at that, responding, "Yeah, I am! Name's Aomine. And you? What's your name?"

"Kuroko."

"Kuroko, huh? Hmm..." Aomine inspected the feline's vacant expression, before giving him a hardy pat on the shoulder. "Well, Kuroko! Let's get to know one another! What do you say?"

"I say no."

Regardless of his denial, Kuroko and Aomine did get to know each other a lot better than was expected of the two of them. During the day, they would meet up in the town and chat about all sorts of fun things. At night, they would share evening walks through the apple orchards and reminisce about anything and everything. One fateful evening, Aomine had felt comfortable enough with their relationship to ask, "Say, Kuroko...we're friends, right?"

Kuroko stopped and turned to look at him. He shook his head. "No. We're not."

Sputtering over his words, Aomine felt the dire need to ask, "Wh-why not?"

"You didn't let me finish." With his ears twitching and his tail swaying back and forth like a metronome, Kuroko showed Aomine a sight he had never seen before. He had actually smiled. "Aomine," he carefully began, "you and I are not just friends. We're more than that." Aomine could swear he saw the stars shine within Kuroko's brilliant blue eyes as he concluded, "We're best friends."

But it didn't last.

Soon after he and Kuroko had established their relationship, Aomine left Kiseki Village. Without a trace, without a sign, the wolf had seemingly disappeared into thin air, never to be seen again. Desperate for answers, Kuroko asked around. He asked Kise and he asked Akashi. He asked Murasakibara and he asked Himuro. He even went as far as asking Midorima, who had only just moved in a few weeks prior. None of them knew the answer, nor had any of them ever heard Aomine speak of leaving.

A month had passed, and then another. Before anyone could realize it, the year was gone, and a new one had taken its place. Kuroko began to change. He stopped going on his after-dinner walks, and it was becoming rarer and rarer to see him prowling around the town. By the time spring had sprung, Kuroko refused to come out of his house all together.

Kise was the most concerned for him. He would try to get Kuroko to venture out with him, whether it be a trip to the beach or a day by the river, anything to get the reclusive feline to socialize a bit. The answer was always no. Sometimes, Kise's attempts and door knocks weren't even acknowledged at all.

It was during the summer months when Tom Nook had begun to make personal house calls to Kuroko. He would bring him furniture, stationary, medicine; anything he ever needed. At first, others were a bit jealous from the special treatment Kuroko was receiving, but when they thought back to everything he had been through, how his trust had been built up and then shattered like plexiglass, they shut their mouths and turned their heads.

When summer had ended and the trees began to say goodbye to their leaves, the unthinkable had happened. No one had been expecting it, but at the same time, no one had ever denied the idea of it, either. Rolling up into the station came the hourly train, and stepping out, in all his straggly, over-bitten glory, came the long lost wolf, Aomine.

Day after day after returning to Kiseki, he would walk by Kuroko's house, never coming any closer to it than the outer lawn. The outside of the cottage had become overgrown with weeds, much like his own dwelling had. It begged Aomine to question...did Kuroko even live there anymore?

"Yeah, he still lives there-ssu," Kise answered solemnly. "But he won't come out. He hasn't left his house in months now."

Ridden with guilt, Aomine lowered his head in shame. "I'm sorry, Kise," he whispered. "I'm sorry for what I-"

"Don't apologize to me," Kise interrupted. "Apologize to him."

Hearing the story from Aomine's point of view only made Kagami dislike the guy even more. He wanted to ask him why he had left Kiseki in the first place, but there was another question he found to be much more important. "...Did you?" Kagami inquired hesitantly. "Did you apologize to him?"

Aomine shrugged his shoulders and exhaled a long sigh. "Yeah, I did," he replied, "but it's not like it could fix the damage that had already been done."

Opening his mouth to say something else, a chilling sensation that nipped his lower lip forced Kagami to quickly snap it shut. Looking to the sky, his eyes immediately doubled in size. "It's snowing..." he muttered. "...It's actually snowing."

Glancing up as well, Aomine grunted in acknowledgement and said, "Yeah. It is."

The two stood there, sharing a brief moment of mutual silence, simply staring off into the atmosphere as the skies cried their frozen tears. This hadn't been the first time Aomine was experiencing a snowfall, but as he stayed by Kagami's side, occasionally looking over to see the absolute awestruck that had painted over his complexion, he somehow felt as if it were his first time all over again. It felt innocent, maybe even a bit magical.

"Be good to him," Aomine had randomly whispered, breaking the quiet that had suddenly begun to feel unnatural.

"Yeah," Kagami responded, speaking in no more than a whisper as well. He knew exactly what Aomine was referring to without even having him elaborate on the matter. Breathing in deeply, filling his throat and lungs with the bitter cold air, Kagami nodded and concluded, "I will be."

Hello there! Chappy here! :D

Ahh, a long-awaited question about Aomine and Kuroko's relationship has finally been answered! I hope you've enjoyed it!

Thank you for taking the time to read! (:

- Chappy