AUTHOR NOTES:
Ok ok, so someone from the reviews (Anon/Guest/Whoever you are) mentioned to me about getting a beta and I was wondering if I SHOULD get one. But then it would slow updates, what do you guys think? Can you guys suggest some Beta-Readers or if any of you guys are beta-readers, then I can accept that wholeheartedly.
I do know that I'm really bad at grammar and vocabulary so I guess I might have one, but I'm also self conscious about my update dates especially when I'm absolutely busy.
Short chapter and well, late update, what to do? I'm really busy and theres no stopping that. Hahahhaha, I'm not getting really well with my promise of quick updates, so please forgive me -bows- but I'll take that promise down. It's better to take it down rather than breaking it much further so mweh.
And and AND THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS OMG YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST AND IM REALLY HOPING FOR MORE. MORE MYSTERY HAHAHAHAH IM LAUGHING HARD.
Disclaimer, I don't own KnB at all!~
Enjoy!~
Kuroko watched from a far distance, he watched Aomine shed tears for his friend Sakurai Ryo. Murdered by The Phantom Thief still, and the dark bluenette swore to avenge his friend. One blonde haired guy who looked like the same age as Aomine patted the dark bluenette's back and cried along with him. Surrounding the coffin in where Sakurai lay is the many people who he holds dear. His parents, his best friends and friends, his relatives, his acquaintances and his little sister who still hasn't accepted the fact that his big brother is dead.
The light bluenette watched from a far distance where he isn't wanted. Sure, Kuroko haven't met Sakurai yet, but vengeance filled his veins too. He clenched his hands to fists tightly, anger filling his veins. He'd had enough, he wants to back out. It hurt too much and he didn't want this in the first place.
Kuroko spat angrily and walked away from the graveyard, wanting to get away from that place. All the while, the other four prodigies said their condolences and apologies for not coming earlier, watched in pity as their teammate sobbed for his bestfriend, and Akashi stared at Kuroko's face as an array of emotions passed through, being kind of suspicious.
Akashi saw Kagami following Kuroko in a distance. The redhead didn't even excuse himself from the others and followed both duo, suspicion rising. The cries and the sniffles were disappearing from the distance and he stopped by the corner, peeking if Kuroko or Kagami suspected someone following them.
Akashi kept his distance and stopped by the side of the building, pressing himself against the wall. They stopped by at some abandoned alley, almost the same one when they chased Izuki. He was kind of thankful that there's a glass window at the corner so that he would see what they were doing with him being unseen.
The redhead didn't flinch when he heard a loud clang and something falling. He saw from the reflection of the window that Kuroko had kicked a trashcan. "Kuroko! Calm down!"
"Shut up Kagami-kun!" Kagami flinched at the tone the light bluenette used. Kuroko's face was temporarily etched with pure anger. Akashi narrowed his eyes and wondered why Kuroko was so angry. The heterochromatic eyes lidded while he smirked in amusement, excited about the mystery in this situation.
"But Kuroko... Isn't this normal already?" Kagami carefully asked. 'Normal? There's nothing normal about one of our suspects dying.' Akashi thought.
"Yes... I know, he killed many people. But this is taking it too far! Killing one of the innocent ones!" Kuroko clutched his hair, gripping it tightly and not even fearing that he might rip it out of his scalp. "He promised that he won't kill anyone that's innocent! He broke our promise!"
Akashi's eyes widened, 'Promise?'.
"Look, Kuroko. I don't know what happened to him or what he's planning now, but...why don't we trust him? Just this once? And I'm certain he gave you the info about where she's recently moved, we should focus about getting her out first."
"B-But...!" Akashi's veins were close to popping when he saw Kagami caressing Kuroko's cheeks, then leaning in for a kiss. The kiss eventually silenced Kuroko, and it seemed like the light bluenette was responding to the tall redhead.
They both parted, there was a string of saliva connecting them and Kuroko's face was flushed. Akashi's vein popped, but he can control himself on whether he should just stand there and compose himself or just lunge forward and stab Kagami mercilessly for taking what was his.
Kuroko covered his mouth with the back of his hand and blushed deeper, "Kagami-kun... What..." The light bluenette didn't have the words since his head was filled in an array of confusion.
"There was nothing here to shut you up so I had no choice." Kagami merely shrugged, ignoring the fact that they just kissed. The tall redhead really is dense that they can't even... "Mmm..." Kuroko just hummed in withdrawal. And there goes another dense one.
"I guess... I could trust him. But if he hurts anyone of us, or our teammates, then he decided it the hard way. I'll break the promise too and tell the others. I might get hurt or possibly killed, but it's my punishment..." Kuroko decided quietly.
Akashi was surprised, just a bit at the declaration. He smirked and began to walk away, satisfied with the new information. 'Interesting indeed...'
"Who's there?!"
Akashi cursed and ran quickly but quietly, quite surprised that the known Bakagami noticed someone eavesdropping them. Once he was far away, he jumped by the fence and sat down, out of view.
The quick footsteps grew nearer and nearer and Akashi was quite confident with himself. When Kagami's back was facing him, he threw a stone and it landed on the far wall somewhere in the right. "Shit! Oi!" The tall redhead followed the direction of the sound.
Akashi waited until the footsteps were far away before standing up and patting away any dirt that has gotten into his clothes. He stroked the blade inside his sleeve just in case and he walked away. When Akashi was out of earshot, Kuroko emerged from the shadow of the building, showing himself.
"Akashi-kun... I'm so sorry..." And tears brimmed Kuroko's eyes, threatening to fall off, but then it didn't.
"Akashicchi? Where have you been?" Kise ran up to Akashi and almost almost hugged him. "We were looking everywhere for you..."
"Ah, I'm sorry. It seems I got a little lost awhile ago." Akashi ran a hand up his hair and sighed, "Well, gladly, I found a way back here." He smiled in reassurance. Midorima raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"What's wrong Akashi, you usually never get lost easily. And I'm pretty sure that you've memorized this map when Kuroko showed it to us." Midorima questioned suspiciously. Akashi shook his head and smiled, "Well, I guess that I just have a lot to think of."
The greenhead held a strong grip on his Kerosuke Figurine. "You're planning something."
Akashi smirked and chuckled, "It seems that you know me too well Shintarou." He purred and continued on his way to Aomine, who's eyes are red from crying earlier.
"Daiki. I'm sorry for the loss of your friend. But we will be by your side to avenge him, and I know just the right information." The redhead smirked and patted Aomine's back. Aomine turned to Akashi almost desperately, and gaped.
"Y-You know something..?!"
Akashi merely chuckled and leaned forwards until he reached Aomine's ear, simply whispering, "Watch your back." And leaned away, his gaze at somewhere behind the dark bluenette with a neutral smile. Aomine gulped and looked behind him, eyes widening.
"T-Tetsu?" Aomine had no words forming in his mind except the light bluenette's name. Kuroko walked towards them since he just arrived and his eyes too were red from crying. He looked up to Aomine and a weird expression graced his pale face. Kuroko looked down before Aomine could internally question the light bluenette's expression.
"Aomine-kun..." Kuroko started. "I'm... I'm sorry. We didn't enter the Parlor earlier. If we did, then maybe Sakurai-san could be saved... but I lead all of you and..." He mumbled uncontrollably, blaming himself and regret filled his voice. Kagami suddenly appeared in his back and placed a hand on the light bluenette's shoulder, silencing him up. Kuroko looked up at Kagami and was close to crying when the tall redhead smiled and nodded at him.
"No, it's fine Tetsu. It wasn't your fault." Aomine smiled slightly but his eyes weren't looking at
Kuroko, instead, it gazed below to the floor. He thought about what Akashi pointed out earlier and it confused him. 'Tetsu has something to do with this..? No, that's impossible... Maybe Akashi was mistaken. But Akashi was never wrong about something...'
Kuroko nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it as if he wasn't sure if he should say it or no. The tightening hold in his shoulder gave him strength and he complied. "I know Momoi-san's location."
Eyes widened and mouths opened at the declaration, except Akashi and Kagami of course.
"K-Kurokocchi?! B-But how...?" Kise stuttered, clearly surprised but admiration heightened. Kuroko smiled and didn't answer. The blonde's eyes widened even more and sparkles can be seen in his eyes and his background, "K-Kurokocchi is so cool... Marry me please..." He mumbled. Murasakibara threw a piece of candy at Kise in anger and growled lowly.
"Kurochin is mine..." He whispered and chewed angrily at his chocolate bar. Kise faked tears and called Murasakibara a 'meanie' with a little fear since the giant never usually throws his food around.
Midorima narrowed his eyes. "It's not that easy to get that kind of information... Just how are you so sure about that Kuroko?" He crossed his arms and his superior gaze was directed to Kuroko. The tealhaired sheriff didn't even flinch or cower down, he simply answered, "Because I've had some clues."
Midorima was ready to protest but was stopped by Akashi, "You know what? I'm curious, just what do you mean by clues Tetsuya?" Kuroko flinched at that. Smirking and his voice smooth but knowing, like he knew what Kuroko knew. Well, the captain did, but he wanted to have his fun in this, he wanted to toy the interesting Tetsuya, since Tetsuya was his and all.
"I can't tell. Its personal information."
"Hoh? How so?"
Kuroko gritted his teeth at Akashi, getting annoyed at the redhead's curiosity. "Please, no, Akashi-kun." The light bluenette growled at the heterochromatic redhead. Akashi chuckled and waved his hand, "Sorry sorry, move on."
The light bluenette huffed and crossed his arms at Akashi, then turned his gaze at Aomine. "Aomine-kun, if you want, you can have a day-off for today and tomorrow. We'll take care of Momoi-san."
Aomine smiled and shook his head, "Ah, no need Tetsu. Besides... I want to see how Satsuki's been." Everyone tilted their heads at the name. "Satsuki?" Kise asked.
"Ah. Satsuki is Momoi-san." Kuroko stated nonchalantly, bopped his palm with his fist. The dark bluenette nodded and started walking away from the graveyard with the other six following him. "Aominecchi is close with Momoicchi?" The blonde asked curiously, walking much further and peeking at Aomine's expression. One side of Aomine's lips curled upwards gently.
"Ah... Yeah. Me, Satsuki, Imayoshi, Wakamatsu, and Sakurai were a group of childhood bestfriends then. We may not seem close now, but we still care for each other." Aomine said with sincerity in his voice. One peek at his expression and you would be able to tell that he's really find of them. And it's no surprise that he broke his pride to cry for his friend.
"Aomine-kun, are all of them there? Your friends I mean?" Kuroko questioned, not knowing the other's faces. Aomine shook his head, "Nah, only Wakamatsu. Imayoshi as far as I know is still working at the mafia. Satsuki is... well." A bump in the shoulder made him look at a reassuring Kuroko.
"Don't worry Aomine-kun. We'll save Momoi-san and we won't leave the location without her." Kuroko smiled as he looked up at Aomine, making the latter blush furiously at the smiling light bluenette. The usual emotionless face came back immediately just as it disappeared, making the others slightly frown at the loss of adorableness. Kuroko, blunt as always, didn't even notice them. Aomine snapped back to reality and grinned in return.
"Hah! Of course!" The dark bluenette directed his fist to Kuroko, on which the tealhaired boy bumped with his in slight hesitation.
"Mou! Tetsu-kun's taking too long!~" A pinkette sat at the only chair in the room, ropes tying her down not too tightly. She pouted and grumbled despite the situation that she's in. Another figure shifted in the room, the man who was leaning against the wall slid down and took out his smartphone.
"They're late for... Three days already. But that doesn't change the fact that they're coming, so shut up and have patience." A guy with greyish brown hair frowned and Tch'd in annoyance. "Plus, I saw two of the prodigies come inside just this morning. Why didn't you call them or at least struggle on the ropes so they could've had the sense to hear you or something..."
"I was asleep!"
"Then it's your own fault that they're coming in late. Unless those two nutheads has a small meat of brain inside their cases."
The pinkette stuck out her tongue and whined out, "You're so mean~ Plus, you don't know how it feels when you're waiting for your knight in shining armor! Or maybe a Prince Charming saving a Princess from a dragon!~ And the dragon will be you Mayu-kun~"
"Tch." Mayu-kun pocketed his smartphone and took out his Light Novel, flipping around the pages and stopping at the bookmarked one. The pinkette pouts at the reply and just settles on waiting some more.
At the same time, in a certain light bluenette's office, Kuroko slammed his hands on the table and snarled at both Murasakibara and Kise, "What do you mean there's nothing there?!"
Kise settled on behind Murasakibara out of fear, feeling exposed from the light bluenette's rage. The blonde trembled and if you look closely, you can see puppy ears twitching and folded down to the skull and a fluffy tail stuck between Kise's thighs, also twitching. Murasakibara looks like he's ready to run away in case Kuroko pounces and castrates one of them, dropping his snacks is his last priority in this situation.
"Ne ne, Kurochin~ Calm down, we haven't searched all of the warehouse yet~ You misunderstood." One would think Murasakibara doesn't even care about this when you listen to his tone, but the near stuttering can almost be heard when you listen. Kuroko sat down and massaged his temples, groaning when he realized his sudden outburst.
"And pray tell me why both of you didn't search the whole warehouse?" Akashi interrupted, clearly angered at the thought of angering Kuroko. The redhead's aura only added to the terrified expressions of both blonde and purple.
Kuroko snapped his fingers, "It was a lock wasn't it? There's a locked room with a metal door so you both couldn't open it." Kise nodded desperately and pointed to Midorima.
"If only we brought Midorimacchi with us!"
Akashi snickered, "Well, its nice that Shintarou didn't go. It's a fact that the Phantom Thief is strong, quick, and intelligent. All three of you could never handle him without a plan."
"But Akachin, we tried to hear through the door and we heard nothing." The giant opened his bag of chips when the tense aura faded, thinking that he's safe. Akashi shook his head and crossed his arms, "It's better to check than to miss." Kuroko nodded, agreeing.
"But we need to be prepared, just in case. The Phantom Thief may have some henchmen for all we know." Aomine took out a cloth from his pocket and polished one of his daggers, checking it out from top to bottom to see if it needed any repairs next time. Midorima's eyebrows narrowed, "Wow, Aomine's analyzing the situation for once."
"Shut up! I can be smart if I want to!" The dark bluenette sneered, pointing a dagger at the greenhead. The latter returned it with another sneer and a point of a gun as if threatening.
"Stop fussing and put down those weapons, use them on real enemies. Ready yourselves, we need to leave as soon as possible. We can't have Momoi-san waiting." Kuroko announced as he wrapped his scarf around him and pocketed his knives. "Oh, and Kagami-kun?"
"Hmm?" Kagami grumbled around his burger.
"Bring my arm plates."
The big redhead replied with widening of eyes and the loosening of his hold on his precious burger.
"Kyaaah, I can hear them Mayu-kun~ I bet Tetsu-kun's there already!~"
"Stay still." Mayu-kun got a handkerchief ready, and is trying to tie it around the overly-excited girl's mouth. The squeals now muffled by the handkerchief and the thrashing now restrained by the tightening of ropes. "Tch."
"Tmmphshukuuun!~" Momoi called out to the intruders and the footsteps neared the door separating them. Both can hear some quiet mumbling behind the door until a voice announced 'Ok ok! I'll do it for crying out loud!'. With a loud thud and bang, the door of the room is out of its hinges and is in the ground.
Kuroko is standing there, his arm armed with the armplate in the air as if he's the one who knocked the metal door down with just one hit. The light bluenette shook his arm and sighed, "Seriously, you guys had difficulty with this door? I took it down in just one hit..."
"Tmmphshukuuuuun!~" Momoi called out again.
"Momoi-san!"
"Satsuki!"
Both Kuroko and Aomine called out and dashed to the pinkette. Mayu-kun got out of his cover, sidestepped and aimed his knife to Aomine. Aomine didn't have time to react to the attack so he just paused, but the knife was thrown into the air with a loud noise before it could even make contact with skin. Mayu-kun's eyes widened and looked up to see Kuroko's armplate slightly scratched from his knife.
He can feel the light bluenette's deadly aura from there, then a sharp burning pain and force suddenly came from his side. Mayu-kun gasped in pain and fell down in the ground rather harshly. He grabbed his pained side and saw dripping blood from it and a large gash. He looked at the weapon that caused that and saw a big metal ball with spikes in the ground, stained with his blood.
"Oh, I got him Kuro-chin~"
Kuroko is suddenly behind him and his armplate raised, he punched the metal part at the back of Mayu-kun's head and it knocked the grey head's consciousness out with it's force and gravity almost immediately. Kuroko fixed his armplates and eyed his target, "That was easier than I thought..."
"Tetsu-kun!~" Someone suddenly hugged him from behind, the light bluenette saw Momoi behind him. "Finally you came! I was waiting for you in like, forever!~" She didn't even notice the darkening of aura's behind her, the other occupants of the room.
"Ah, Momoi-san, are you alright?" Kuroko lifted Momoi's chin and checked her condition. Momoi shook his head, "I'm alright Tetsu-kun, but seriously! What took you so long?~"
Kuroko seemed to sigh in relief and looked away, "Just some... unplanned surprises, that's all. I apologize for our late arrival." His line of vision caught the five prodigies. The aura's were unmistakable, it's jealousy. They're jealous of Momoi who can hug The light bluenette anytime, but the dense Kuroko still thought otherwise. He directed an apologetic look to the prodigies and turned to Kagami, "Kagami-kun? Can you tie him up and bring him to the headquarters? I'll question him... privately."
"'Kay." He got the rope that used to tie Momoi up and used that to tie the grey-haired henchman up. "This guy hasn't hid himself well, do you guys know who this is?"
All seemed to shake their heads after they look at the unfamiliar face. "But that is the Phantom Thief, right?" Kise asked, hoping.
Momoi shook her head and frowned, "Unfortunately no. He isn't the Phantom Thief, just a henchman." Kuroko nodded and eyed the unconscious male, "Mayuzumi-kun's not that weak though. If I didn't have my armplates now, he must've escaped. He also knew how strong you guys were, it must be the aura."
Akashi narrowed his eyes. "Mayuzumi? Why Tetsuya, how do you know his name?" His supposed-to-be-suspicious eyes slowly went to Kuroko, the other's gazes also went on him. Kagami's eyes widened and the grip on the rope tightened.
"I... I whispered it t-to him! Yeah! I whispered his name to Tetsu-kun!" Momoi blurted out, shaking his hands in front of her frantically.
The tension in the room died down and Akashi smirked, "Is that so...?"
"Yes. Now let's go, Midorima-kun, Kise-kun, try going out and clear the way if there will be more intruders." Kuroko pointed out and the latter nodded, running off.
Kuroko shook the others off saying that he needs to find some evidences in this room. Momoi protested, but was eventually dragged out of the room by Aomine. The other occupants went out, leaving Kuroko behind. Suddenly, a hand slowly creeped up his shoulder, making Kuroko look back sideways. He saw Akashi giving him a reassuring smile. The heterochromatic redhead neared his face slowly, and sensually whispered in his ear.
"I know."
A pat in the back, and Akashi waved himself goodbye. Leaving a very tense Kuroko behind once again. Kuroko brushed his hair backwards and clutched his hands into tight fists.
"I know too, Akashi-kun..."
Author End Notes
HHHAHAHHAHA IM STILL LAUGHING YOU GUYS DUNNO WHATS GOING ON HAHAHHAHAH
OK.
see you next chappie!~