Hi, everyone! I just wanted to say thanks again, I can't believe I have over 60+ reviews, 50+ favourites and 100+ followers! You guys are the best! Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy chapter sixteen!

Chapter Sixteen, Secrets Unveiled.

'Akashi-kun?!" Kuroko called as he ran down the halls, searching for the redheaded boy.

'Did you find him?' Kise asked, running up to blue-haired boy's side.

Kuroko shook his head. 'I've looked in our room, I looked in all his classrooms. You searched the grounds, I don't know where he went.' He leaned against the wall, trying to think of more places to search, meanwhile, Akashi's words still hung in his head.

'Akashi-kun? Are you alright?' Kuroko asked, after finding the other boy ripping more paper off another bulletin board.

Akahsi turned towards Kuroko, his eyes shining with anger. 'Of course I'm alright, why wouldn't I be?'

Kuroko shifted uncomfortably, 'Well, you ran off, I was a little worried.'

'I wouldn't say I ran off, I was just going to clean up this mess. Is that so wrong? I just didn't want people to read this article, you see it isn't very interesting, and it is quite old.' His voice dropped into a whisper.

'Akashi-kun, about the article, we should probably tell the council, they will be able to find whoever put it there.' Kuroko told him, he put a hand on the other boy's arm.

Akashi shrugged it off, 'I don't give a damn about the council, I'll do it myself, I have a good feeling I know someone who's involved. So all I have to do is prove it, and trust me, I can be very persuasive .'

Kuroko didn't know why, but those words sent chills up his spine.

'Did you look in the gym?' A voice inquired. The two boys looked up to see Nijimura standing at the end of the hall.

'The gym?' Kuroko said, confused.

Nijimura nodded. 'Seijuro has always been good at sports. He might be in there taking out his frustration on the ball or net.'

Kuroko stared at him silently, he never realized Akashi played sports. He's come to notice there were a lot of things he didn't know about him. Kuroko made a mental note to ask Akashi about it later, for now he gave Nijimura his thanks and headed for the gym.

'Senpai? How did you know Akashi-chii liked sports?' Kise asked.

'I've known Seijuro for many years.' Nijimura answered shortly.

'Then, how come you didn't go talk to him?'

Nijumura smiled at the blonde. 'Seijuro doesn't want to see me, he wants to see Kuroko-kun.'

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'Is it too much to ask that I be left alone?' Akashi asked the teen lurking in the doorway.

Aomine Daiki swaggered into the room. 'I didn't realize that you owned the gym.'

'Oh, would you just shut up.' Akashi answered, too annoyed to think of a better come back.

The tanned teen raised an eyebrow. 'In a bad mood?'

Akashi dropped the basketball that he had been about to shoot with a sigh. He rubbed his temple, trying to sooth his headache. 'What is it that you want, Daiki?'

'Nothin', I came in here to play, and I saw you chuckin' balls at the next as if they insulted yer mom, or somethin'.' Aomine replied.

'Fine, I'll get out of your way.' Akashi picked up the discarded ball and headed towards the ball bin.

Aomine watched him quietly. 'So, judgin' from yer mood, the article was true then?'

The redhead didn't turn around, he just silently put the ball back in its place. When he did turn around, he was smiling. 'Perhaps, but that wouldn't disappoint you too much, now would it?' He asked, quietly.

'What's that supposed to mean?' Aomine asked carefully.

Akashi gave a soft chuckle. 'Please, it's no secret that you detest me, don't deny it.'

The blue-haired teen raised an eyebrow. 'No, I don't like you, but it's not like I put that article up there.'

'I didn't say that you did, but you were quick to defend yourself.' Akashi said, his eyes narrowing.

Aomine opened his mouth to say something when the doors opened and Kuroko walked in 'Akashi-kun, are in here?' He called as he made his way into the room.

Both Akashi and Aomine's expressions softened when they saw the small boy.

'Yes, Tetsuya, I'm right here.' Akashi replied.

His eyes travled over to where Akashi was standing, his tense shoulders relaxing. His eyes wandered and fell on Aomine, 'Aomine-kun, you're here too?' He asked, worried that the two boys had been fighting.

'Naw, I was just leaving. See ya, Tetsu.' Aomine said, walking over and ruffling Kuroko's hair. He left the room with one last wave over his shoulder.

'Akashi-kun, are you okay? I've been looking for you everywhere, You shouldn't go off alone when you're upset.' Kuroko scolded.

'Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, Tetsuya. And besides, I'm not upset...' Akashi started to say, as Kuroko reached over and put a finger on the redhead's lips.

'Don't start telling me that you're okay, if you do, I'll hit you.'

Akashi stared at the other boy for a minute. 'Tetsuya, are you threatening me?' Akashi asked, pulling Kuroko's hand away from his mouth.

'Yes.' Was the deadpan answer.

Akashi chuckled. 'Well then, we can't have that...' He said pulling Kuroko closer to himself. He kissed Kuroko once and smiled. 'Let's head back to our room now, I'm tired.'

Kuroko nodded. 'Okay...'

Smiling, Akashi grabbed Kuroko's hand and started to make their way towards the dorms.

'Kuroko-chii! I'm so glad you found him!' Kise shouted, shooting to his feet. He ran over and grasped Akashi's hands. 'And don't you worry Akashi-chii, I'll figure out who did this, and forget the council, I'll take them straight to my mother!' Kise had a determaned look on his face.

Akashi smiled, 'Thank you, Ryouta. But it doesn't matter.'

'Yes it does!' Kise yelled, catching Akashi by surprise. 'Nobody has the right to do such a thing! They deserve to be punished!'

'Thank you, Kise-kun, but Akashi-kun's tired. We're going to bed now, goodnight.' Kuroko said, cutting Kise off.

'Oh, Goodnight! I'll see you two tomorrow!' Kise called after them as they made their way towards their room.

'Ryouta is really strange.' Akashi told Kuroko.

'Mm-hm, but he's really nice, offering to get him mother involved like that, Kise-kun hates pulling rank, he must really like you if he's offering something like that.' Kuroko explained.

Akashi put a finger to his chin. 'I see... I should buy him something nice.'

'I thought you only did things for people if they gave you something in return.' Kuroko said, remembering what Akashi told him weeks ago.

'Well... having Ryouta as a friend will be very useful. That's all.' Akahsi replied somewhat sheepishly.

Kuroko smiled. 'You don't mean that, Akashi-kun.' He teased.

Akashi opened the door that led to their bedroom and pulled Kuroko inside. 'You drive me insane.' He mumbled, pulling the smaller boy into a hug.

'Do I?' Kuroko asked, feigning ignorance.

'You're such a pain.' Akashi told him. He grabbed the smaller boy's hand and led him towards the desk.

'Wait, Why are we going over there?' Kuroko asked slowly.

'Homework!' Akashi answered cheerfully.

Kuroko's shoulders dropped. 'Do I have to?' He asked, flashing Akahsi with his big blue eyes.

Akashi ignored the puppy dog eyes and nodded. 'We have to do it at some point.'

The blue-haired boy grumbled and fell into his chair at the desk and started on his homework, making sure not to grumble too much, he did want Akashi to help him after all.

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After an hour of homework Kuroko couldn't help but notice that Akashi was obviously distracted.

'Akashi-kun? Are you okay?' Kuroko asked, closing his book.

'Hm?' Akashi mumbled, he didn't bother to look up.

Kuroko turned in his chair to face the other boy. 'You've been staring at that piece of paper for ten minutes. I think if you were reading it, you would be done by now.'

Akashi blinked at the paper and looked up. 'Sorry, I was thinking about something...'

'About the article?'

The redhead opened his mouth to say something but closed it and nodded instead.

'Do you want to talk about it?' Kuroko asked. He expected Akashi to get mad but to his surprise the other boy nodded.

'I think it might help.' Akashi admitted.

Kuroko nodded and waited.

'Okay, so when I was younger, I had a really hard time making friends because my family was rich so everyone just assumed that I was a rich snob. At one point I was watching the other kids play at park, when a group of boys came over to stir up trouble, one thing led to another which led me to meet Shuzo Nijimura. Anyways, the reason I'm telling you this is because one of the boys, Haizaki, really hated me, I'm not so sure what I did to him, but I suspect that he wasn't very stable. So after Shuzo transferred to school here, Well, I was being bullied worse then before. After a few years I started to work up the energy to leave the house again... but I got... nastier over the years...'

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It was pouring rain as Akashi walked to school, he usually got a drive but he wanted to start walking like all the other kids so he left early without telling anyone. He didn't realize that it was supposed to rain until it started.

'I should have got a drive.' He mumbled as his clothing soaked through.

By the time he arrived at school he was completely wet. But looking around he wasn't the only one. Almost every other student was soaked from head to toe.

He sighed and went towards his locker when a familiar face walked past. Akashi recognized the boy who use to terrorize him just two years ago.

Akashi considered starting something but decided against it, all he needed was to get in trouble and then going home to get a lecture from his father.

He sighed and closed his locker turning he heard someone call him, he glanced over his shoulder to see Haizaki looking at him.

'Yes?' He answered skeptically.

'I haven't seen you around in ages. You finally decided to show up?' He sneered.

'Well, I could probably pass without showing up, but I decided to humour you all.' Akashi said with a smile. He turned to leave when Haizaki called out. 'What took you so long anyway? Was it really because of that boyfriend of yours left?'

Akashi spun on his heel and glared at Haizaki. 'You have nothing to do with me, why do you feel the need to start fights with me? Would you grow the hell up? I understand that I have money, and I come from wealthy family. But you have no reason to come crawling out of the goddamn hole that you were raised in, just to come fight with me.' He turned again and made his way towards class. Ignoring all the snickers and whispers.

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It was dark when Akashi walked home, he had stayed late so he could discuss his "issues" with the Guidance Councillor. He refused to answer the questions that he didn't like so it took longer than expected.

He walked through the dark streets quietly, he regretted his choice of calling his driver and telling him not to come. But he was in a bad mood when he left and wanted to be alone.

He walked by the bridge and frowned, he tried to stay away from the bridge after the first time Haizaki tried to beat him up under it.

'Hey there, Akashi...' A voice said from behind him.

Akashi turned around, curious to see who was calling him. When he saw Haizaki, his heart sank. 'Is there something you need?'

'I just wanted to talk. You know what you said before was really mean, you should probably say sorry.'

'Hm...' Akashi put a finger to his chin, pretending to be in deep thought. 'No, I don't think I will, see, I don't feel the need to be pleasant to people who don't return the favour.' He shifted his bag before continuing. 'And go ahead, lose your temper, try to hit me, I would love the laugh.'

Haizaki glared at him, his fist visibly shaking in anger. 'Don't talk down to me...'

'Oh, now I'm worried. Spare me. You should know by now your fists don't scare me.' He drawled, checking his watch, he turned to leave. 'I have to go, I wouldn't want to worry the Caretaker.'

He stumbled when he felt something collide with the back of his head.

'Don't ignore me!' Haizaki shouted.

Akashi turned around. 'What the hell is your problem?! Have you ever considered attending anger managment classes?!' He snapped angerly.

'My only problem is you! If you were gone everything would be fine!'

Akashi threw his arms in the air. 'What the hell did I do?'

'Everything!' He shouted back.

'Well listen here, asshole. Skip anger management, go straight to therapy, because I'm starting to get the impression that you're insane!' Akashi shouted, losing his temper completely.

'Shut the fuck up! You don't know anything!' He shouted, he swung his fist which collided with Akashi's face.

Akashi put a hand to his face, his anger rising rapidly. He looked up at the taller boy and all the colour drained out of his face. The boy standing over him had a knife in his hand.

'Haizaki, put the knife away... you shouldn't have that, it's really sharp...' Akashi said as he slowly rose to his feet.

'Shut up! Don't talk down to me!' He shouted.

'Hey! What's going on over there?!' A voice shouted from behind Akashi.

Akashi whipped around to see a man who must have been walking home from work.

'What are you boys doing?!' The man called over, he had started to jog over.

'Goddammit!' Haizaki cursed.

'He has a knife! Call the police!' Akashi shouted over, it wasn't like him to ask for help, but he was only thirteen and someone was holding a knife to him. So he forgot his pride and asked for help.

'A knife you say?' The man was right beside Akashi now.

'Shut up!' Haizaki shouted again.

The man took a hesitant step forward. 'Listen, I think you need to calm down, lower the knife, no one has to get hurt...'

'Shut the fuck up!' He screamed, he brought the knife down, creating a long slit down the man's chest.

Akashi ran towards the man as he fell down, 'Hey, Are you alright? Can you hear me?!' He shouted, he shook the man's shoulder gently. The man showed no sign of moving.

The redhead looked up. 'What the hell?! This man could die! This is all for a petty argument! What the hell is wrong wih you?!'

Haizaki blinked twice, as if there was something in his eyes. Looking around he took in the scene. He cursed and shoved the knife in Akashi's hand. 'I can't believe this happened again... fuck, I have to get out of here.' He turned and ran away, not even sparing Akashi another glance.

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'After that I used my jacket to apply pressure to the wound and called 911, by the time they showed up my hands were soaked in that innocent man's blood. There wasn't anyone else nearby, the only witness was now in a coma. So all evidence pointed to me, the knife, which I had dropped in the blood, also had my finger prints on it. Haizaki's finger prints were almost completely gone... They interrogated me several times, my father was furious, I thought I was going to be thrown in jail for sure, until finally, They discovered Haizaki's finger prints on the knife as well. Then it was between me and Haizaki. But a few days later the man woke up, and told the police that I was innocent. I was so relieved.' Akashi finished explaining.

Kuroko stared at Akashi quietly. 'That's horrible. I'm sorry that you had to go through all of that.'

Akashi shook his head. 'It's over now, I guess seeing the article just scared me, I wanted to leave that thought behind me... and I'm afraid, see... a lot of things have been happening to me recently... I'm just so stressed out right now.'

'What kind of things?' Kuroko asked grabbing Akashi's hand.

'It's nothing for you to worry about... can we go to bed now?'

Kuroko nodded. 'If that's what you want.'

'Tetsuya... will you lay beside me for a little while?' Akashi asked as they got ready for bed.

'Of course I will, Akashi-kun.'

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'Muro-chin... what's this...?' Murasakibara asked from across the room.

Himuro looked up from his gym bag. 'What is it, Atsushi?'

'There's something written on this locker...'

'Hm?' Himuro got up and walked over to where the taller boy was standing.

He leaned towards the locker, squinting to read the faded writing.

'Who's locker is this?' Murasakibara asked, confused.

'I have no idea. I could probably figure it out though, want to come with me?'

'Come where?'

'To the council room.' Himuro answered.

Murasakibara smiled. 'Okay...'

They left the change room and made their way to the council room. It was getting late and it was almost curfew. They stayed quiet, hoping not to get caught.

'Ah, Himuro, what brings you here at such a late hour? And why did you bring a... first year?' Asked Imayoshi, as the two boys entered the student council room.

Himuro winced slightly, he was really hoping that Imayoshi would have gone to bed by now. Thinking about, Himuro was not really sure that Imayoshi actually left the council room at all. He's never seen him out of the council unless he was giving someone a punishment.

'Well, I was picking Atsushi up from practice and I noticed some people causing trouble in the halls, I went to deal with them, and by the time I was done with them it was getting late. Which is why Atsushi's here. Anyways, I just wanted to look into the files of those boys... that's all.' Himuro lied, the truth was that he wanted to play a game of basketball with Atsushi so he snuck them both into the gym. But Imayoshi didn't need to know that.

'Mm-hm... If you say so, I hope you aren't lying to me though...' Imayoshi told the other boy, clear suspicion on his face.

Himuro nodded irritably. 'I would like you to remember, I am part of the council as well, it would be nice if you could at least try to respect that.'

Imayoshi thought about it for a minute before nodding. 'You are on the council, aren't you?'

A vein throbbed in Himuro's temple. 'Imayoshi...'

'Okay, don't fight, remember why we're here, Muro-chin...' Murasakibara said, putting a hand on the angry boy's shoulder.

Himuro looked up at him and nodded. 'Atsushi's right, if you'll excuse me.' He went around Imayoshi and opened the file cabinet, searching for the locker files that he knew Imayoshi would have.

He found them and pulled them out, running down the list of numbers he found the number he was looking for, he looked to see who the locker belonged to. 'Akashi Seijuro...' He mumbled.

Imayoshi looked up curiously. 'What was that? Did you say Akashi Seijuro?'

'No, I was just mumbling, trust me, if Akashi had anything to do with this, you would be the first to know.' Himuro said, keeping the sarcasm out of his voice.

Imayoshi observed him, he said nothing as Himuro put the file back.

'Well, goodbye now, thank you. Come now, Atsushi.' Himuro turned, grabbing Murasakibara's hand, they left the room.

Imayoshi watched them leave curiosly. 'Well, that was strange... I'll have to keep an eye on him.'

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'Muro-chin, did you say that was Aka-chin's locker?' Murasakibara asked once they were safely away from Imayoshi.

'Mm, it seems so, and I don't get the impression that Akashi's the kind of boy who would scribble on someone's locker, much less his own.' Himuro told him.

The taller boy nodded slowly. 'So, do you think someone else did it?'

'Probably, but I don't know what it says. If I did then I could make an issue out of it. But I don't so I'll let it rest. But we should keep an eye on Akashi. Just in case it's something serious.'

'Don't worry, I won't let anyone hurt Aka-chin...' Murasakibara said, his large height adding to his menacing deamenor.

Himuro smiled and placed a hand on his arm. 'That's sweet of you, but let's hope you don't have to protect him...'

'Mm-hm. I hope he'll be okay...' The tall boy said, worry etched in his tired features.

'It's okay, with the trip coming soon, everyone will be distracted. Let's watch him at least until then.'

Murasakibara nodded. 'Okay Muro-chin, I can watch him on the trip too! I'll protect Aka-chin.'

'Remember, it could be nothing.' Himuro told him.

'I know... but if it's not. I'll watch him...'

'We both will...' Himuro said, reaching up to kiss him.

Murasakibara smiled and pulled Himuro closer. He kissed him slowly and smiled. 'Thank you, Muro-chin...' he mumbled.

'You're welcome, Atsushi.'

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That's all, I hope you liked it, Tell me what you think and thanks again!