A/N: Thanks to the guest who left that splendid comment yesterday, you absolutely made my day :) And to TheAnimeHannah, thank you so much :D
Disclaimer: I'll figure out how to steal them from Tada-sensei. I'm working on it.
visiting kise;
"You were up all night, weren't you?" Akashi asked his cousin as he folded Kuroko's blanket and made his bed. Normally he wouldn't do this, but this offered a perfect excuse for him to talk to Kuroko.
"Of course… not." Kuroko yawned. "Why would I stress myself like that?"
Akashi rolled his eyes. "You get bags easily under your eyes."
Kuroko bit his lip.
He's been losing sleep for a week now, always sneaking out in the middle of the night to visit Aomine at the attic. Although they've talked for several minutes only… it seemed like time goes ten times faster inside the attic compared to the normal flow of the clock. A minute is equivalent to an hour.
"I was just reading a book." He lied and Akashi remained unconvinced. Kuroko's books were gathering dusts on their shelves for a week now, idle and waiting to be read by its owner. And judging from the position of his room at the moment, anyone could tell that Kuroko was nowhere near the status of being orderly.
For the second time that day, Akashi gave him a look of utter disbelief; Kuroko felt that too and ignored it.
"You're hiding something, aren't you?"
"What could I possibly hide?"
"I don't know." Akashi shrugged indifferently. "But I'm certain that it's important enough for you to sneak out of your room every night and sacrifice your sleep. Do you really think I wouldn't notice?"
Kuroko slowly folded the sleeves of his shirt, ready to leave for the bathroom.
"You're overthinking, Akashi. Why don't you trust me a bit?"
And with those soft-spoken words, Kuroko left the room with a slight guilt hovering over his heart. He knew it was an unsettled business— he knew Akashi would still ask, and it would be harder to lie.
Later that afternoon, rather than spending his time studying, Kuroko made an unexpected trip to the beach, dragging Kagami along with him despite of the short notice given to the latter.
"The manager's going to kill me for skipping work…" Kagami muttered under his breath, a frown graced his lips as his feet follow Kuroko's tracks.
"She's not going to kill you if you tell her that you're with me." Stepping to another steep rock on the shore, Kuroko absent-mindedly answered the boy's earlier complain. His eyes were focused on the old light house on the end of the shore, standing tall before the humongous waves that clashes against the equally big but sheer mountain of rocks.
"Don't be so cocky. Just because she fancies you a bit doesn't mean that she'll let me off easily." Was Kagami's immediate reply, balancing his body over several planks of woods that have drifted from the water to the coasts. "Where are we going anyway? It's unusual for you to visit the beach."
Kuroko remained silent. He was going to visit Kise; that is, if Kise really resides on the said light house, just like what he told him several nights ago. If Kagami can see him, then Kise must really be a human— and that would make him owe Kuroko another explanation as to how he changes his appearance despite the claim that he is just an earthly man. Although Kuroko said that it was none of his business, the burning desire of his mind to find out who the real Kise was had remained dominating.
"Oi if you don't answer me, I am going to go back." Kagami threatened but still took another step closer to Kuroko whose feet seemed to travel faster because of his thoughts. Taken a back, since Kagami would be an essential help to his objective, he merely sighed and answered.
"I am going to visit a friend, but we were not so close so I thought that by bringing you with me, you could liven up the atmosphere so it will be easier for us to talk." He reasoned out, on purposely making Kagami's presence sound so important— on which the said boy had taken a liking to. He never thought that the day wherein Kuroko would genuinely ask for his help and praise him would actually come.
Oblivious to Kuroko masked flattery, Kagami's smile grew wider and wider as they reach the front of the said light house. A rather rusty door welcomed them, chucks of paint scrapping off from the wall were very much visible too, and giving hint on how old the structure could be.
Dusting off the imaginary dirt on his pants and shoulder, Kuroko took steps forward and was just about to knock at the door when it suddenly opened. Kagami and Kuroko were hereby met by a rather flabbergasted Kise. Or so they guessed since it was so obvious that Kise just faked his surprise.
Of course he is expecting us, Kuroko thought. He knew we're here the moment we stepped our feet on the beach.
Kuroko didn't know where he got that conclusion but his guts were telling him that it was the right assumption to think.
"This is unexpected!" Kise turned to Kuroko with starry excited eyes. "You actually visited me instead of going to Aomine's place!"
Kagami arched a brow at the mention of Aomine's name and wondered what kind of relationship he has with Kuroko. The way Kise spoke about it, it was like this Aomine guy, whoever he is, was an important person to his friend. That was what unexpected is.
Kuroko frowned. Why didn't he considered the chance that Kise will talk about Aomine in front of Kagami, the guy obviously knew nothing about his current situation and Kuroko hadn't think about telling it to anyone, he even lied to Akashi just to hide it yet here was Kise, absent-mindedly revealing everything.
Kuroko faked a cough to stop Kise from blabbering further and it worked.
"This is Kagami," He softly said to him, Kagami immediately paid appropriate attention—smiling lightly at the taller boy. "And Kagami, this is—"
"Just someone that Kuroko knows!" Kise cut him off. Kise gave them a small bow although he was dead curious as to why Kuroko brought this guy with him.
"Uh… hi." Kagami greeted and smiled forcedly despite the weirdness in Kise's behavior, as if he wasn't curious as to why Kise lives on a freaking light house that was supposed to be not functional and locked by the government already.
"Hello." Still inquisitive, Kise replied nonetheless. "It is nice to meet you, Kuroko's friend." But for some reason, he refused to call Kagami by his name— there was something about him that he didn't like and he was never a person to display hospitality to people he didn't even know anyway. Being rude to other people was something he wasn't bothered by.
Kagami twitched a brow, smile fading at the sudden discourtesy. "It's nice to meet you too, Kuroko's other friend." He emphasized his last words and gave him a tight hand squeeze for a handshake which, of course, caused pain on Kise's part. Both of them glared at each other afterwards.
"Geez, what is his problem?" Kagami thought. Although offended, he had to hold back his rebellious side since he didn't want Kuroko to see it. He closed his eyes and calmed himself.
"Was it just me or the two you seemed to really hate each other already?" Kuroko inquired, staring at them with seemingly troubled eyes. Actually he had already sensed the fierce atmosphere when Kise addressed Kagami as "Kuroko's friend" earlier and as to why the boy had to act like that, he didn't have any idea.
"No." Kagami said almost instantly. "Of course not. It's just the manly way of greeting someone we've never met before." Was his lame excuse. "Right? Kuroko's other friend?" He turned to Kise with a fake smile.
In return, Kise had to roll his eyes at the absurdity but answered anyway "Yeah, if you say so."
Kuroko sighed but didn't pursue the topic any longer; it seemed like Kagami can see Kise which just proves that he was really a human. Oh wait, it's too early to decide on that. Perhaps we should investigate a little more, he thought.
"Well, are you going to come in?" Kise asked after a time of silence, sending Kuroko a look that requires immediate attention.
"Gladly." Kuroko then began walking and bowed as Kise led him inside
"But he has to stay outside." Kise suddenly said just as Kuroko was about to take off his shoes. Obviously, it was Kagami he was referring to.
"Why?" Kuroko asked.
Kise shook his head. "This place is not for him. He's not allowed to enter." He asked Kuroko to come closer and muttered to that to his ear, their shoulder slightly touching. "It's either that or just come back when he's not with you."
When there was no response, Kise patted Kuroko's shoulder.
"You're not hiding anything from me, are you?" Kuroko asked but before Kise could reply, Kagami's voice filled their ears.
"It's alright, Kuroko. It seemed like I am not welcomed in here anyway. I'll just…" he gaze drooped down. "…leave the two of you. See ya later, okay?" The sound of his shoes tapping against the cold pavement echoed and resounded with the waves; as he took the way back by carefully stepping on the mountain of rocks Kuroko and he have taken earlier, Kagami never looked back and it was only a matter of time when his figures grew smaller and smaller until they slipped into the shadows and were gone.
"You were specifically rude at him." Kuroko noted after a moment, finally removing his shoes to enter Kise's house, was it even right to call it a house? With the sound of waves, and ocean breeze going in and out freely by the windows, the whole place felt like it was breathing.
The walls were painted yellow with no rooms, only a spiral stairs that goes up towards the top of the light house. There were also several sketches pasted on the one side of the room, lazily fixed against the wall with masking tapes—all colorless drawings of the sea, of the lighthouse and of the cave beside the latter but there was one drawing that Kuroko noticed to be hidden amongst the sea of papers, as if it was really meant to be concealed on purpose. He ignored it, thinking that he shouldn't nose around someone else's property.
They entire room looked dingy however the ground floor have basic furniture like a table, one wooden chair, an old sofa and a fairly decent bed with black sheets— no pillows by the way, just a futon. A small lamp was resting by one of the huge windows—right next to the bed. Yet what was surprisingly noticeable was that the entire room was actually filled with books, Kuroko haven't noticed it until his eyes landed on the floor—since there were no shelves or anything close to that, many piles of books were only lying on the wooden floor, tons and tons of them. His eyes glimmered with interest.
Kise's house was very quiet. It was hard to forget the sound of your own breath—going in, faltering out. Perhaps the kind of place that held no memories, a house that had no children, only full of nothing. The table had no mantel piece, no plates, no remnants of anything, no family too. Oh yes…
No family had lived in here.
"Your place is interesting." He told Kise, who's not at all conscious on how Kuroko perceives his room. "No kitchen?" Kuroko asked as his eyes traveled around.
"There was never a need for it."
"No bathroom either?" This time his tone was rather mocking.
"It's upstairs alright. And it's fully functional, just so you know although I usually take my baths somewhere else."
"Hmmm." Kuroko made a sound of acknowledgement as his hands found the metal railing of the stairs. "Can I go up?"
Something about this place had made him excited, he can smell the sea.
Kise nodded, seemingly exasperated. "Even if I say no, you'd still go anyway, Kurokochi."
Satisfied with his response, Kuroko grinned a bit, but said "Please don't call me Kurokochi" before taking the said stairs until he finally reached the top; panting as he tried to catch his breath—the stairs was unpredictably long, he realized. He was entirely happy though he supposed, completely forgetting about the thing about Kagami.
He loosely rested his arms by the rust covered railing, breathed deeply to take in the fresh air and salt water. And after that, he must have seen the sea—a strong sea under a hard white sky. His tresses danced as another soft breeze blew past his body and tickled the pores of his exposed skin.
Happiness for Kuroko was never something big. Right now, he was genuinely glad just by this.
As a set of slow footstep reached his ears—growing closer and closer, another presence had joined his little piece of pure bliss. The man beside him was taller by many centimeters, so Kuroko, even though he was older, felt unwantedly childish.
"Actually, this place is normal." Kise said as he tied his long bangs with a rubber band so that it wouldn't obscure his sight when the wind blew. Kuroko tilted his head at the statement.
"It's really alright for your friend to enter; I mean… this light house is never magical or dangerous unlike what I've made it sound earlier." He gave Kuroko a sheepish grin, but with his bangs tied up, the older boy couldn't help but laugh—Kise looked like a turnip.
However, Kise paid him no attention. "There's just something off about that friend of yours."
Hearing that, Kuroko stopped on his laugh. "He's usually normal." He said, pulling his jacket closer to himself.
Kise shook his head and shrugged, "I don't know. I just got that feeling. Anyway… why did you come in here?"
With a single glance, he threw Kuroko a serious face, lips pursed into a delicately thin line. The boy in question sighed.
"I was just making sure that you're really a human, so I brought my human friend with me to see if he can see you. It seems like you were telling the truth."
"That was rather rude. You actually… don't trust me?"
"Don't you know?"
"Alright. I lost." He made a quick halt, throwing his hands up as if to surrender. "Geez. I don't like how the youth today is opinionated and has a strong sense of justice."
"I'll be taking that as a compliment."
"I think you're curious about me, too." The taller boy said.
"You think? Or you knew?"
Kise smiled.
"Let me tell you about myself."
A swift breeze blew and played with the ends of Kise's blonde hair. He closed his eyes and let the air press itself against his skin. "I am not like Aominechi but I am not a human anymore… so I kind of lied to you too." He grinned at Kuroko apologetically.
"I was a human once, I remember being one. I've already told you about Okami's man-eating habits, right?"
Kuroko nodded, listening intently.
"Well, I was one of her victims. Supposedly, I am dead by now… but I was brave enough to make a deal with her. She'd let me live if I give her half of my soul and half of my memories. Given the situation I was in, it was the best offer so I accepted the deal. Okami took my childhood, from the time I was born up until I was eleven—and that's why I am in this situation right now. Since that memory was erased, I can't remember who my parents were, and they wouldn't remember me either. It was as if I wasn't even born in the first place. No records, no birthdate… my life started during my twelfth year of existence, and that's all I have at the moment. She took half of my soul so I couldn't die either. I can't even remember how long I've been like this. I'm like a lost ghost or something… but Okami was kind enough to let me have my body. That's why you can see, talk and touch me like I am really here. Like I'm really a human."
Kuroko fell silent. Somehow, it all made sense. That was why Kise was so indifferent when they were talking about Okami—because he'd dealt with her already. He probably lacked response right now, but Kuroko couldn't find the proper way to react. Should he feel sorry for Kise? Should he trust him completely now? Kuroko remained silent.
"But putting that aside, what else, Kurokochi? Why did you come here for?"
The question seemed to strike Kuroko in many other ways. That didn't mind him so much. He liked to ask anyway, ask more about Aomine. Kise and he seemed pretty close after all.
He looked out at the wide, shifting sea, and just for a moment, he thought that he was missing something else, something so important—something that only Aomine knew about. It was just a hunch and he hoped that he was wrong. Did Okami have something to do with this too? He looked at his hands at the railings, and they were young. They were battered.
The sea had constantly reminded him of his late mother.
She drowned herself, didn't she?
How could a calm place like this possibly kill his mother?
"I just want to know more about Aomine." He finally said, shaking his earlier depressing thoughts. After all, he had decided to move on. But then again, even though everyone was telling him to forget about it, he didn't want to forget.
"I've known him since we were both little kids but I don't know everything about him. It was more like... I can't remember. Of what he looked like back then, of what was he really like aside from the snobbish exterior he has." There was a pause. "I just knew where and how we met but… other than that, there was nothing. I mean, how was that possible?"
"Forgetfulness is a form of freedom. Well, unlike me, you're a definite human. It has been ten years, how would you remember that?"
There was an odd comfort in Kise's words but if he agrees with that, it would mean that he was also giving up. If Aomine was really an important part of his childhood, how could he forget all about it? Just because it has been ten years already? That kind of reasoning was too weak to rely on. It even sounded pathetic now that Kuroko had pondered about it deeper. He didn't want it to become his defense mechanism—to say that he forgot because it was merely a long time ago. If that's so, then he should've forgotten about his mother's death too.
"It was only ten years, Kise. And besides I'm already ten during that time, it should have been impossible for me not to remember."
"Apparently, it is possible. Memories are fleeting, you know."
"But—"
"Thinking too much can only cause problems. I thought you want to talk about Aominechi?"
"We are already talking about Aomine."
"No, we aren't. We're arguing about your theory of memories."
"Christ, why am I even talking to you?"
"Gee thanks. After all the hospitality I offered you…"
Kuroko grunted but did not feel guilty at all. It seemed like Kise could understand him but he was missing the big picture, he couldn't blame him though. Even Kuroko, himself could not understand what it was that he needs to remember. He was relentless, itching to know it. He just knew there was something… It never occurred to him until he met Aomine, for the past ten years, he didn't have any of these troubles.
And for that, he was very upset too.
Gah Kise's calm demeanor is killing me =)) Kagami's really obedient in here but Akashi? No, he's not! He's only kind when it comes to Kuroko and you know it.
Your reviews will help me a lot :)