There was an unsettling, lingering aura between the two as they sat in mutual silence. With so much to say, so much to discuss, neither knew where to begin. There were so many unanswered questions that needed explanation.

With a frigid posture and static movements, Kuroko was the first to speak up. "You've returned." His statement was simple, obvious. Still, it was open for examining.

"Yeah," Kagami breathed, his voice rising no above a whisper. For now, he would allow himself to be subjected to interrogation. It was only fair.

Locking and loaded, Kuroko's first question was fired. "For how long?"

"For good."

"How am I supposed to believe you?"

And really, how was he? This wasn't the first time that Kuroko has been through something as traumatic as a betrayal. He knew that, and he sure as anything knew that Kagami knew it, too. Did that stop him from breaking their promise? No, it didn't. Did it make him come home any sooner than he did? Again, no. All of this speculating and hypothesizing was only adding more and more questions to Kuroko's stock pile of inquiries.

Kuroko didn't wait for Kagami's answer on that one, before proceeding to ask something that he knew would strike a chord in the both of them.

"Why did you come back?"

There had to have been something, right? Some sort of stimulus that drove Kagami to come home after prolonging his visit for much too long. But what? What could it have been? Was it...

"Kise."

Kuroko was perplexed. "Kise?"

Feeding a hand through his messy locks of travel-tousled hair, Kagami exhaled a heavy sigh. It was clear to him from the look of confusion on Kuroko's face that this had been something Kise did completely behind the feline's back. "Yeah, it was Kise who gave me the kick in the rear that I needed," Kagami began, figuring that since he had already outed the pup that he might as well keep going. "He sent me a letter, followed by a bunch of letters that you wrote to me."

For as long as Kagami could remember, this had been the very first time that he had actually seen Kuroko hiss.

"Kise..." he snarled lowly. "I told him not to touch those, and what does he do? He goes and does it anyway. I'm going to go find him and give him an earful-"

"Kuroko, wait!" Kagami shouted, just a bit too loudly. He'd reached for one of his paws, for Kuroko was already up and making his way toward the front door with the intent to, no doubt, claw Kise's throat out. "Come on, Kuroko. Sit back down."

Once Kuroko had complied and he had given him a bit of a breather, Kagami took his seat as well, his hand still firmly grasped around Kuroko's paw. For what he had to say next, he felt the need to keep a hold on his friend. "You know," he murmured, "if it hadn't been for those letters..."

"You wouldn't have come back, right?" Kuroko deduced. "That's what you were about to say, or at least, that's what you had wanted to say, right?"

Kagami couldn't disagree, so he nodded.

"This is exhausting," Kuroko whispered, barely audible.

Again, Kagami couldn't disagree. What he could do was slap himself across the face, so that's what he did: he slapped himself across the face.

"...Why did you-?"

"I deserved it," Kagami interrupted. "Actually, I deserve more than that, but I know that you wouldn't-"

Retracting his opposing paw backward, the paw that wasn't currently in Kagami's grasp, Kuroko lunged forward and scratched Kagami along the perimeter of his face. Crimson beads of blood began to peek through the parallel slits, marking up Kagami's cheek in such a way that broadcasted his idiotic decision of betrayal to the world.

"I wouldn't, what?" Kuroko wondered. With the way that his tail was flitting back and forth, one could easily indicate that he prided himself in what he had just done.

"Yeah, nevermind."

"You shouldn't assume things about me, Kagami," Kuroko mentioned. "After all, you've been gone for a year. Things change. People change."

"Are you trying to tell me that you've changed, Kuroko?"

"Actually, no. I haven't changed at all. You've just never brought this side out of me before. No one has."

Kagami rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Should I feel special?"

Another thing, a sound that he thought he would never hear from Kuroko again: his laugh. It was a small laugh, one that was dancing on the line of nervosa and genuine amusement. Still, a laugh nonetheless.

"You should feel very special, Kagami," he snickered. "Very special indeed."

Caught up in the contagion, Kagami began to laugh as well. This was getting to be ridiculous. "What are we doing, Kuroko?" he sighed, for what felt the umpteenth time that day, and rubbed at his bloodied cheek with the back of his hand. "Right now, what are we doing? What is this?"

"This is something that should have never happened," Kuroko responded carefully. "If you would have kept your promise, none of this would have happened. We would have been able to celebrate the summer together. You would have been here for when Midorima hoarded all of those seedless watermelons. We would have set off fireworks. We would have celebrated your birthday together. We would have went on evening walks through the orchards during autumn. The leaves were so beautiful...

You would have been there for me when I got sick. You would have brought me medicine just like from the first time we had met, and I would have gotten better so much faster than I actually did. We would have celebrated Christmas and the New Year. We would have celebrated Valentine's Day. We would have built snowmen. We would have done so many things together. So many things, and yet, look at where we are now. I'm all packed up, ready to leave Kiseki Village for good, and here you are, claiming to never leave again. Honestly, Kagami, I just don't know what to do anymore."

"Do you trust me?" It was a question that was spoken with a leap of faith. Kagami knew that Kuroko's answer could have gone one of two ways, and given their situation, he felt that it was leaning more towards the negatory.

"I don't, no."

"Oh." Well, that answered that.

This was it. Kuroko was going to leave Kiseki, and Kagami didn't blame him. What he had done, it was unforgivable and he knew it. He had known how Kuroko felt about honesty and trust, and how important both were to him. And what did he do? He ruined it. He had shattered that trust and had trampled on his honesty.

"So, does this mean...?"

"Yeah, I'm staying."

"Wait. What?" Seriously, what?

"You heard me, didn't you?" Kuroko questioned. "Do I need to waste time repeating myself, or are you going to get up and help me unpack all of this stuff?"

"Wait, wait, wait. What? Kuroko, what?" Kagami could not, he simply could not wrap his head around what the feline was trying to say, even with the way that he had blatantly stated it.

Kuroko breathed a long sigh. "I guess I am going to waste time repeating myself. Okay, Kagami, listening closely: I'm staying."

"But why?" Kagami persisted. "Why, Kuroko? Why? Didn't you just get finished saying that you didn't trust me?"

"Yes."

"And what I did, it's unforgivable, right?"

"Yes, that is also true."

"Then why?"

With a shrug, Kuroko stood up and strolled towards the wagon that was filled with his belongings, wheeling it back into his house and towards the center of the room. "Why not?" he asked, unloading some of the boxes.

"Kuroko, you're not making any sense here," Kagami stated pointedly. "Can't you explain your reasoning to me?"

With another sigh, Kuroko propped himself up onto one of the boxes and took a moment to compose himself. Once he was ready, he whispered, "Because I want to stay. I want to stay right here in Kiseki Village. I've wanted to stay all of this time."

"...You did?"

"I did. I really did."

"Then...?"

"Please stop interrupting me, Kagami," Kuroko scolded. "It's annoying."

With zipped lips, Kagami nodded and prepared himself for the rest of Kuroko's explanation.

"My reason for leaving is you; my reason for staying is also you."

"But-"

"Kagami." The prickly hairs on the small of Kuroko's back began to stand up.

"Sorry, sorry! Keep going!"

Having lost most of his momentum, Kuroko tried to make his statement short and sweet. "Without you here, Kiseki Village wasn't the same. Everything became dull and overgrown. I think if you go down far enough into the fields, there's this giant flower that flies like to gather around. But now that you're here, everything will change, won't it? We'll be able to do everything that I described in my letters. We can start today - actually, we can start tomorrow. Today, you need to help me unpack."

Unable to mutter a single word, Kagami felt dizzied by Kuroko's rapid fire response. He stood up from his seated position and wandered his way over toward the feline, who was still sitting on top of the very same box. In what felt like slow motion, he had wrapped his arms around Kuroko's tiny, cat-like shoulders, and pulled him in for the warmest of hugs.

"Kuroko," he whispered, not daring to speak any louder than that, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so, so sorry."

"I know you are, Kagami," Kuroko murmured, carefully returning the embrace. "I know you are. I'm still not forgiving you, but I acknowledge that you're sorry."

And to Kagami, that was more than enough.

"Oh, and Kagami?" Kuroko added, in question.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"Thank you?" Kagami repeated, so stunned by Kuroko's words of gratitude that he ended up breaking away from their hug to get a good look of his face. "What do you mean?"

There it was: the third sight that Kagami had sworn he would never see, not after everything that had happened between them. Kuroko had actually smiled. "Didn't I tell you to stop interrupting me, Kagami?"

"Yes, but-"

"Thank you."

"For what, Kuroko? For what?"

In the softest of voices, Kuroko looked up to Kagami and uttered the words, the oh, so special words that he had been waiting to say for such a long time.

"Thank you for coming home."

Hi there! Chappy here! :D

I hope you have all enjoyed the last chapter of Kagami no Crossing! However, please make sure the read the epilogue, as well! It'll tie up all of those lose ends that I'm sure this chapter has left hanging. (:

As always, thank you very much for reading!

- Chappy