a/n= Hi guys! Thank you for joining the ride of this emotional roller coaster. This is the last chapter to the 'Awakening' Arc. I hope you guys love the new chapter, and I kind of tweaked my writing style a bit for experiment and improvement reasons.
I hope you guys don't mind the huge twist near the end of the story.
So please R&R! Reviews are well appreciated! Please heal me with your reviews!
The bullet train sprinted past the rows of houses.
Kise couldn't make out the forms of these tiny abodes, but they reminded him of grandparents' home. As his grandmother's death came across his mind, his lips mounted into a frown. According to his mother, his grandmother died of Schizophrenia—a type of mental illness resulting from deep depression.
His grandmother was one of the most flamboyant and cheerful women Kise had ever met. So when his parents told him how his grandmother died, Kise didn't believe it.
His grandfather was a good man; Kise didn't see why his grandmother would be so depressed.
In the end, nobody knew why. Kise Arita passed away exactly six years ago. All her pain and bitterness meant nothing other than being buried together with her in the casket.
Kise hated her for being so selfish—if she wasn't grouchy to keep all the problems to herself, she wouldn't die with regret and empty heart.
If someone could just sit down and listen to her, understand her, accept her, and never judge her…
In the end, in spite of all the model applicants fattening up his mailbox, Kise chose to be a psychologist to prevent the same fate happening to everybody else. The blonde loathed reading textbooks or reading diagrams, but his resolve was enough for him to stand as a full-fledged psychologist today.
His skills might not be as sharp as Kuroko or Midorima, but at least he saved someone.
Kise chuckled; he believed god was spoiling him a little bit too much.
At least I saved someone. He smiled wistfully as his eyes fell upon the tanned-haired male sitting across him. Leaning his head against the window, Aomine crossed his arms and snored peacefully.
Narcissistic—similar to selfish, but it's self-loving and conceited decencies masked its ability to make someone feel selfish. Back then, Aomine saw nobody but himself.
But now…
He has Kise.
Kise would be glad to be his other half.
He would never forgive himself if Aomine plunged into the same hole as his grandmother under his watch.
"Oi, what are you staring at, dumb blonde?" Aomine suddenly opened his eyes. "You're creeping me out."
Blinking, Kise shrugged all his deep thoughts away and grinned. "Stop mocking me Aominecchi!"
Aomine chuckled and turned to stare at the window. "By the way, we are going back for Midorima's friend, am I right?"
"Yeah. But that's not what I'm worried about here." Kise huffed a mouthful of air, looking exhausted.
A look of twisted grimace formed on Aomine's face. "Is it Tetsu?"
Kise glowered at Aomine from the corners of his eyes. "Careful Aominecchi." He hissed. "You can't act too buddy-buddy like in front of Kurokocchi. It's not like I'm jealous, it's just that…"
"Yeah I know." Aomine waved at him dismissively. "It's about that, right? Yeah trust me, I know my place."
Kise relaxed his shoulder and smiled awkwardly. "You know, I should have healed Akashicchi instead of Kurokocchi."
"You made the right choice," Aomine grunted, his lips lifted into a frown. "How many times I need to remind you that?"
Kise flashed a grateful look at Aomine and giggled. "Maybe. Man, it feels weird if Aominecchi is good to me."
A shade of pink highlighted Aomine's dark features. Rubbing his chin in embarrassment, Aomine dug his brain for words to say until he blurted out. "I mean...your stupidity managed to save lives!"
"I don't know if that's supposed to be a compliment." Kise chided. "But thank you."
"What I'm trying to say is," Aomine sucked in a deep breath. "You chose to save me. Tetsu might save me faster, but with you, I learn many things and realized problems that I couldn't fix myself. For that, I'm grateful. I love you, Ryota."
Kise's face exploded into a myriad of expressions. Covering his cheeks in embarrassment, Kise mumbled shyly. "Aominecchi stop it!"
Aomine laughed—it sounded like angel's harp to Kise's ears. "You make the right decision to hand Akashi to Tetsu."
"I just don't wanna mess up," Kise lowered his voice into a whisper. "I mean…this is Akashicchi we are talking about. His 'Seijuuro' thing is no joke! We had seen it back then in Teiko!"
"Yeah I remember," Aomine replied, frowning. "Nobody has the balls to deal with Seijuuro except Tetsu."
Their conversation dropped at that. They spent the next minutes staring at the runaway scenery in silence until Kise spoke up.
"Aominecchi."
"Hm?"
"I'm so worried."
Aomine stared at him for a long moment before replying.
"Yeah, me too."
His rushing footsteps pounded rhythmically with his racing heartbeat.
Kuroko's clammy fingers coiled around the railing. With screaming arms and legs, the teal haired swaggered hopelessly to the top floor.
Every step added chances to save Seijuuro's life, and if he stopped now, it would mean slipping those chances from his grasp.
After a hundred drumming footsteps later, Kuroko finally arrived at a long winding hallway. In spite of the choking ache seizing his breast, the bluenet hastened his pace and focused his gaze on the white door at the end of the room.
"Akashi-kun!" he spun the knob and threw the door open.
The bright, expanse of the sky greeted him. His eyes squinted for a moment, but the sight of a familiar crimson-haired male shrugged his thoughts for adjusting his visions.
"Akashi-kun!" Kuroko felt his bleeding throat. "Akashi-kun! Please get down! Please, I beg you!"
The crimson-haired male ignored him. Facing his back against the therapist, Akashi wrapped his fingers around the fence that separated him from the sky. Hurting Kuroko was the last thing he wanted to do, but he needed to save everyone for good, including Kuroko himself.
It was now or never; Akashi would wipe Seijuuro out of existence.
He would wipe Akashi Seijuuro from the face of the earth.
When he was a foot away from Akashi, Kuroko shortened his pace. Gripping his knees in exhaustion, Kuroko inhaled and exhaled before speaking.
"Akashi-kun! Please come back down!"
The wariness in Kuroko's tone crushed Akashi's heart. As he turned his head over his shoulders, a gentle smile graced his lips when his crimson eyes met a pair of pure, sky-blue eyes that could stretch towards endless boundaries of determination. In the darkest times, the light in Kuroko's eyes never wavered.
"Kuroko Tetsuya," Akashi declared with a genuine smile, the wind brushing his red locks. "Thank you for everything you have done. Seijuuro and I are grateful for your unconditional love, but I'm sorry, it seems like we need to come to an end to this."
"No, that's not true!" Kuroko yelled, eyes wide. "Seijuuro wants you to be healed! Seijuuro doesn't want to die, is that right Seijuuro? Answer me!"
For the first time, Kuroko wanted Akashi to collapse in the spot and writhed in agony until Seijuuro took his place and declared his unwillingness to death, but to the bluenet's chagrin, it never happened.
Cold needles of panic spiked around his brain, and Kuroko believed the blood under his veins stopped circulating. If Seijuuro never voiced his opinion, Akashi would dive and end his life in one go. A selfish decision, but Seijuuro had been more conceited back then.
Then Kuroko realized the Akashis were playing with fire.
But now that Akashi had retaliated, what was Seijuuro's response?
To Kuroko's dismay— none, he remained asleep.
"Sei, where are you?" Kuroko asked nobody in particular, his eyes ran across his surroundings. "Sei? Seijuuro! Where are you—?"
"It's no use!" Akashi snapped, eyes wide. For a moment, Kuroko contemplated how similar Akashi and Seijuuro were in this state. "Shut up Kuroko! I am here to end Seijuuro's life! He hurt you and everyone! I will put at end to his existence!"
"We can take care of that!" Kuroko protested. "If you dive now, you will die with him."
Akashi scoffed, running his hands across his hair. "Isn't it like killing two birds with one stone? When I dive, two pathetic existences that shouldn't have existed will be erased from this world."
Kuroko's stomach leaped at the statement. The spikes on his head grew sharper, squeezing his temples with an interminable headache. Suddenly, tunneled visions dominating his eyelids, the bluenet squeezed his eyes shut. Akashi was not going to kill Seijuuro, and Seijuuro was doing nothing against this action.
Both parties wanted to die.
Theoretically speaking, this was no longer murder.
This was suicide.
Kuroko knew this would happen, but the bluenet knew if Akashi really committed suicide, the bluenet didn't have the emotional capability to receive such blow. He was weaker than Kise, weaker than Midorima, weaker than any fucking person on the planet.
Kuroko's knees kissed the ground, and his palms joined him. Tears dropped to the concrete ground with a silent pop, Kuroko looked up at Akashi with wide, teary eyes.
"Akashi, please don't do this."
The sight recoiled Akashi. Clenched and opened his fist, Akashi bit his knuckles and slammed the fence behind him. The metal furniture broke with a loud clank before plummeted into the unknown. Now, there was no layer between Akashi and the sky.
But instead of stepping backward, Akashi walked closer towards Kuroko, distancing himself from the atmosphere.
"Do you know Kuroko, Seijuuro has used my body to hurt the people I hold close." Akashi grinded his teeth. "Back when I was in middle school, I have a group of close friends. We were supposed to be together forever, and I held them close. But then an unfortunate accident occurred, separating all of us. I was helpless, hopeless and have no idea what to do."
Kuroko listened to Seijuuro's tale with ragged breath. Suddenly beneath his narrow focus, six shadows flashed on his mind. Yelping in pain, Kuroko sunk his nails towards his temples, welcoming the warm trickle of blood around his nails.
"So I am desperate!" Akashi suddenly raised his voice, eyes wide. "I ask god for help, but he obviously ignored me! So I asked for help from the person I trust the most, and that is nobody other than myself."
Kuroko said nothing. His gaze fixed on the concrete floor, staring as the blood from his temples plopped to the ground, forming a black stain.
"I prayed to Seijuuro, I worshiped Seijuuro, I love Seijuuro!" Akashi's voice rose, nearly in the border of sanity. "I gave him my body, and Seijuuro took over. Everything went well. Everyone eventually united, and Seijuuro excelled high school. Akashi is back to one piece. Akashi had gotten back into his feet, but…they were all Seijuuro's effort. So I feel extremely useless!"
Kuroko heard blood pounded into his head. He could barely hear Akashi as he was about to pass out.
"But you know, Seijuuro is weak shit!" Akashi let out a skittish laughter. "I remembered back in Rakuzan. It was in the final winter cup match, Seijuuro cried to me because he can't handle the lost!"
With his remaining strength, Kuroko mustered his words. "Someone…make…Seijuuro…cry?"
"Yes!" Akashi replied in the similar, condescending tone. "Seijuuro may look like a violent monster, but he is a child in the heart. There is only one person in this world that could affect his whole being, and that is you, Kuroko!"
Huh?
"Yeah, you're like a hero to Seijuuro!" Akashi rolled his eyes into whites in disgust. "He loved you more than what you think! He sees you as a god! He sees you as his savior! It's disgusting because I love you first! It was because you acknowledged and accepted our DID condition! Since then, he has been crazy about you and said 'He loves me unconditionally' and all that shit! Don't you get it, Kuroko?!"
"But it is my job to determine your DID condition!"
Akashi looked agape for a moment before a smirk similar to Seijuuro stretched at the corners of his lips.
"Ah, I see you don't remember," Akashi muttered.
"What?" Kuroko blinked, looking up at Akashi.
Akashi grunted and looked at the sky behind him. "Never mind, then farewell Kuroko Tetsuya. I am done and have a happy life."
Before Akashi could reach the tip of the building, his legs suddenly twisted and crashed him to the ground. Groaning, the crimson-haired male moaned in pain, but his conscious was totally replaced when his eyes turned heterochromatic.
Kuroko's eyes glowed in hope.
"Where do you think you're going…sick-fuck?" Seijuuro growled under his breath. "You're escaping, coward. Don't…make…Tetsuya…cry!"
"Seijuuro!" Kuroko folded his hands together like a prayer, his lips rose to a smile.
Seijuuro blinked and his expression went gently. "My love…we still need to continue from where we left off…"
He blinked and licked his bottom lip.
Kuroko realized what he meant and flushed.
Suddenly, Seijuuro screamed and rolled to the side. His red eyes returned.
"What are you doing?" Akashi roared. "You're supposed to keep quiet!"
His eyes turned into golden-red again. "I knew it! You're a fucking coward! You deserved to die!"
Red. "I am about to! And you're going down with me!"
Red-gold. "That's what I'm waiting for! A challenge to the death huh?"
Uh-oh.
Like the incident in the Akashi household, Akashi Seijuuro's body writhed and shook in agony, paired up with furious screams of the Akashis. If the body shook too wildly, it would roll towards the building and plunge into the ground.
The thought itself brought a wave of nausea into Kuroko's stomach. Suddenly, a flaming, aching sensation choked his heart, and Kuroko stifled a cry, tears rolling down on his cheek.
He was done for.
Akashi Seijuuro was going to die.
Unless…
Kuroko scampered towards the writhing body and caught it in his arms. The body shook shaking immediately, and he whispered.
"So, Seijuuro was asking me last time: which one would you kill, Akashi or Seijuuro? I have the answer if you guys are interested to hear."
The two Akashis went silent. Yes, they were distracted by these kinds of response.
Kuroko placed the body gently against the concrete ground.
He hauled to his feet and stretched his muscles. With short stride, Kuroko trudged his footsteps towards the edge of the building. Right leg and left, until the view above the hospital, dominated his vision. Kuroko took a moment to revere its novelty and breathed in the fresh air the atmosphere had offered him. Spreading his arms, a gentle smile enhanced his lips.
Kuroko had never felt so relieved.
"I would kill none." Kuroko flashed Akashi the most beautiful smile. "I would kill myself."
Kuroko plummeted into the unknown.
"…They called it the Surge, right?"
"Yeah, that's what it's called."
Kise nodded, resting the base of his cup over the small plate in front of him. The blonde spared a few concerned glances at Midorima, whose jaw remained tight. He could see the glazing, hot liquid clouding Midorima's green orbs, for the experienced therapist was not wearing his usual, thick-framed glasses.
When Midorima said nothing, Kise rested his arm on the table and spoke. "I am familiar with that. Before the day of my grandmother's passing, she suddenly jumped out of bed and skirted around the hospital played pranks with the nurses and stole some cookies. She even spent an hour on the phone gossiping with her friends. I thought she is going to be better, but the nurse stroke my shoulders with a sad smile and told me 'Make sure to say goodbye properly'. That is what she said."
Midorima looked at Kise briefly before his gaze fell to his coffee. "It happens to everyone when they are on death's door."
Kise looked at Midorima for a long moment and whispered. "You already give your all, Midorimacchi."
Midorima's expression slightly brightened and managed a smile. "You saved Aomine. You have surpassed my expression, Kise."
Kise scratched his chin by the unusual compliment. "You're too kind, Midorimacchi." Kise thought talking about his achievement would boost his ego further, so the blonde steered the conversation immediately. "By the way Midorimacchi, is the Surge phase over yet?"
Midorima scowled at the shift of topic. "I can't tell for sure. I will stay beside Takao to the very end. That is the least I can do."
Kise's heart squeezed at Midorima's self-depreciating tone. "You have done everything, Midorimacchi. You have done a lot for Takaocchi."
Midorima's tight knuckles loosened, and a wry smile stretched across his lips. "I supposed so. I am prepared for this moment."
Kise smiled gently at the fellow therapist. "You're strong, Midorimacchi."
The two therapists fell into comfortable silence. For the first time, Kise could stay on the same page with Midorima; they actually had a genuine conversation without arguing. As the two therapists sipped their respective drinks, they steered their gaze to the window, looking at the gray sky, indicating the sign of rain.
"Well, we still have one more problem to take care of." Kise smiled stiffly, glancing at Midorima from the corner of his eyes.
Midorima responded with a curt nod. "Yes, one huge problem indeed."
The two therapists shifted their gaze to the window and watched as lightning blasted from the sky. A wild drizzle followed. Kise and Midorima knew their roles were done; all they could do for now was wait.
As thunder clapped from the heavens, Akashi grabbed Kuroko's pale arms.
"Kuroko!" Akashi yelled. His voice drowned by the rain. "You can't do this, please I beg you!"
Kuroko said nothing. His head down and body went limp. Akashi assumed Kuroko collapsed out of pressure. Somehow, it lifted the weight out of Akashi's chest. He could grab the bluenet's body in ease.
After dragging the limping bluenet, Akashi rested Kuroko's head against the concrete ground. As his fingers traced across Kuroko's wet cheeks, Akashi gritted his teeth and signaled for his other half.
His crimson eyes turned heterochromatic. Seijuuro mumbled with a deep frown. "We almost lose him."
For the first time, Seijuuro handed his conscious willingly towards his host. Akashi returned and smiled sadly. "I am very pathetic, am I?"
Neither Seijuuro nor Akashi said anything. The heavy downpour of rain played in the background as the two alternates lapped into the comfortable silence between themselves.
After a moment of hesitation, Seijuuro took over the body and mirrored Akashi's sad smile. For the first time in five years, Seijuuro spoke gently towards his host.
"No, Akashi." He stroke his palms to ease Akashi's self-loathing. "Both of us are."
Akashi immediately took over to respond. Seijuuro never fought back. "I am always running away. Teiko, Rakuzan, Generations of Miracles, my parents and…Kuroko. If I'm not a coward, I think you will suffer less, Seijuuro."
"I can't blame you either," Seijuuro regained his conscious. "I grow selfish all over the years."
"It's pretty natural, after everything that had happened." Akashi came back and stifled a chuckle.
Seijuuro continued his laughter, nodding. "You're too kind. That's why I hate you so much."
The two Akashis stared back at Kuroko, who was sleeping like an angel, oblivious of his fate.
Akashi Seijuuro smiled at Kuroko and planted his lips on the bluenet's frozen lips.
After reluctantly letting go of their lips, Seijuuro was the first one to speak. "Hey Akashi, do you think now is the time?"
Akashi was silent and responded with a nod. "Yeah, I leave it at you, Sei."
"Thank you."
Seijuuro completely took over Akashi Seijuuro's body as his original host drowned into slumber. Akashi knew that Seijuuro had the power and the truth to save Kuroko.
After everything that Kuroko was done, it was time for them to repay the favor…
…And out of guilt for lying to Kuroko all this time.
Seijuuro rested Kuroko's head on his lap and whispered to his ear.
"Hey Tetsuya, have you heard of hypnosis, a type of magic spell?" Seijuuro whispered at him with a thin smile. "The victim will fall into a deep sleep in hypnosis, and the one who applies the spell could control their memories and actions."
A snoring Kuroko responded him. Seijuuro uncharacteristically giggled.
"Hypnosis can be controlled through many things." Seijuuro swallowed the growing lump in his throat. "It can be controlled through hearing or anything that involves senses. But the most common one is by controlling the eye movements of the victim."
Seijuuro breathed in deeply and paused for effect.
"Tetsuya, do you know why my left eye is gold in color?" Seijuuro placed a hand beside his left eye. "Because it's called the Emperor Eye. It can see the future so I can act accordingly."
Seijuuro could feel Akashi stirred inside him. Both of them were crushed by immense guilt.
"I can cast that hypnosis spell on someone by predicting their eye movements." Seijuuro shook his head, biting his lip. "And that's what I have done to you... Tetsuya."
Seijuuro started choking on his tears. A bed of tear rolled out of his eyes and dropped on Kuroko's cheeks.
"I'm sorry Tetsuya!" Seijuuro sobbed, clenching his fist and let his nails bled his skin. "I did it because Akashi…no, we wanted to! We want you to forget the pain from Teiko days, we want you to forget The Generations of Miracles! We want you to forget about us! We are sorry Tetsuya! We don't want you to get hurt!"
Seijuuro felt a heating sensation burning under his ribcage. Suddenly, another tear escaped from his eyes. Seijuuro was sure it belonged to Akashi.
"That's why, we want you to remember everything now!" Seijuuro yelled, bringing Kuroko closer to his arms. "Please forgive us Tetsuya for alternating your memories. That's why you still remember the Seirin and Winter Cup…but well I better show it to you."
Kuroko squeezed his eyes opened. A dazed and confuse expression trapped on his face. "W-What are you…talking about?"
Seijuuro smiled when Kuroko regained his conscious. "You might be confused which and what memories we had altered. So from now, I will show you everything Tetsuya, and you will remember."
Seijuuro leaned his face closer and kissed their nose. After inwardly agreeing with Akashi, Seijuuro's eyes flew wide, and his golden, left eye flashed momentarily.
"Wake up, Kuroko."
For the moment, Kuroko saw a spectrum of colors penetrated into his visions before he saw flashes of black and white. Not only his muscles turned jelly, Kuroko felt as if he was injected by a sleeping pill, slowly draining his system.
It feels so…familiar. He thought dazedly.
After a huge, white explosion, Kuroko saw black.
"….Do you know what is our third similarity?" Takao asked him with a cheeky smile. "Shin-chan said it to me every day, even though I have no idea what is it about!"
Kuroko nodded in respond, curious. He obeyed Takao and leaned closer to the hawk-eyed boy in anticipation.
Takao went silent for effect before he whispered. "The truth is…we both have memory issues."
Chapter 11: Kuroko's Awakening
a/n= Before you guys ask me about the hypnosis, it was a type of magic trick happen during magic shows that can be controlled with eye movement. I've read articles of eye-movements before that can put someone into deep sleep.
So with the Emperor Eye as the trigger of hypnosis, Seijuuro predicts the movements of Kuroko's eyeballs and controlled it as his will, resulting Kuroko's 'slumber' and the reformation of memories.
This might sound like a 'deus-ex-machina' moment for some of you, but I would like to reveal a big information so some of you don't blame me like 'This author is adding more questions than answers as we read.'
This story will end in chapter 20, sharp. Yes, it's a short story. Most authors don't reveal their end chapters to public too often XD I just want to make sure that you guys feel comfortable and trust me, I know what I'm doing. XD
You can ask and bash me too XD I'm prepared for flames :o
Thank you for reading guys! Reviews are very welcome!
Next arc: Dawning
Replies to guest reviews:
Nameless: Thank you for the praise, nameless-chan! I can't believe you want to reread it. Well all I can say is *whisper whisper* pay attention closely to chapter 5.
Thanks for your review, Nameless-chan!