Ivy leant on the wall in the staffroom, breathing heavily. Why did he keep popping up in her life? That bastard had taken her choices away from her, even if it was only once. She banged the back of her head against the wall lightly, grumbling. "I refuse." She gripped her shirt tightly over her stomach, feeling the gnawing feeling of her emotions building again. The darkness was threatening to take her again. Her body slowly slid down the wall, tears threating to spill down her cheeks. She took a few deep breaths, trying desperately to calm herself. Her body began to shake as she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet, sobbing desperately. The darkness inside causing her true physical pain. Why couldn't he have just let her end it right then and there? What was the reason behind her survival? The pain was supposed to go away, she couldn't live like this much longer. Slowly, she stood up, rubbing her face gently to remove the trail of her tears. She couldn't let this keep her from work, she needed the money, or she'd lose her apartment. Pausing for a moment, she frowned. Why did she need to keep her apartment if she wanted to end her life?

Mulling this over, she walked back into the store, heading straight to the register, raising an eyebrow as Kagami stood there, grinning at her. "We ate all your food, I thought I'd come grab some for you." He indicated the chips and other snacks piled up on the counter. Without thinking, she rushed over to him, hugging him tightly. She rubbed her face against his chest, mumbling. He obviously didn't hear her, gently placing a hand on her head, stroking her hair lightly. "Whatever it is, you know we'll be there when you get home." His words were soft, sweet.

Taking a shaky breath, she looked up at him. "I have something really important to talk to you two about." She stood up on her tiptoes, kissing his cheek very lightly. "I think I finally found a little light in the shadows."

Aomine rubbed his head as he walked back into the store. He'd finished his potato chips, and needed something to drink. Looking to the counter, he stopped dead. Was she… hugging Kagami? He felt an involuntary twitch form in his right eyebrow. He stormed over, grabbing the redheaded man by the shoulder roughly, yanking him away from her. "What the hell, Kagami?! Didn't Kuroko tell you?" He shoved the man hard, causing him to knock over a magazine rack.

Kagami stared at him for a moment, before reacting, shoving him back roughly. "The fuck, man! I didn't do anything!"

Aomine practically growled, swinging at him. The punch connected with Kagami's jaw, causing Ivy to yell out. He froze in his action, not seeing Kagami swing his own punch. His head spun as the blow connected with his cheek. He swore he saw stars when he stared down at the woman forcing her way between the fighting teens. He pointed to Kagami angrily. "Are you dating this loser?"

"No!" they both yelled at him.

Ivy couldn't think. Why on earth did Aomine think she was dating Kagami? Everyone thought they were dating. She had a moment of weakness when she had seen him standing there. She needed the feeling of another human's touch, desperately. When she had hugged him, she had never thought anyone would start throwing punches. She glared up at the bluette, crossing her arms. "Why are you back here anyway? Isn't what I do my own business?"

"You refused to talk to me, so I was waiting for you."

"So you're a creepy stalker?" Ivy shuddered, looking at him angrily. Even with the realisation that what he had done was the right thing, even with the darkness grinding away at her insides, she knew she didn't really want to die. He had made her realise this, and she was grateful, though she didn't need him hovering around outside her workplace like a stalker. "If you don't get out right now, I'm calling the police."

"Listen, Ivy, it's not like that." He pushed, his eyes looking a little less angry now. There was real fear hidden behind that angry face. She felt a little sorry for him, but she really wasn't ready to admit that he had been right. "Please. Don't call the police."

"Are you going to leave?" she asked, looking up at Kagami. "You too. You need to go before my mana-" as she was speaking, her manager walked out, seeing the mess the squabbling men had made.

"What on earth is going on here?!" he shrieked, his balding head shining in the bright lights of the store. "Ivy, explain yourself!"

"I-I'm so sorry, Mr Yakamora, it's all my fault."

"Of course it is!" his voice grated away at her mind, causing her to shudder. It was like nails down a chalkboard. "First you run in late, then you take an unscheduled break." He stamped his foot. "And now you're causing fights between customers! This is the final straw." He held out his hand. "Give me your apron, you're fired!"

Ivy froze as her world began to crash in around her again. She'd lost her job? Slowly, she removed her apron, handing it to him. Darkness began to cloud the edges of her vision as she walked very slowly towards the staffroom, collecting her bag. Walking back into the main store, she didn't even notice Kagami and Aomine arguing with her former manager. She walked right between them, out into the dark street. Something in the darkness seemed to giggle, whispering slowly. "You've lost everything. How are you going to afford to live now?" The voice grew louder and louder, the pain in her stomach bursting to life again. Trudging towards her apartment, she stepped onto the road without looking. A horn blared as a car narrowly missed hitting her, though her path didn't alter. Covering her ears, she tried to walk faster, but the pain in her stomach wouldn't allow it. Hot tears began to form in her eyes, threatening to overflow again. How was it, every single time she began to feel better, something bad had to happen?

Aomine blinked, watching as Ivy walked out. He looked at Kagami with an angry face. The manager had refused to listen to any of their pleas for Ivy's job. He wasn't sure if he should go after her, or if he should just leave her be. It was his fault she'd lost her job after all. "You're not dating her?"

"No. You fucking idiot. Kuroko told me that you'd asked him to watch her, he assumed you had a good reason, so I agreed to help out. She's a pretty cool girl you know." He sighed, starting to follow her, indicating for Aomine to follow. "She lets Kuroko and I use her apartment when she's not there, just so there's someone in it. She's pretty paranoid that someone's going to break in when she's not there." He began to jog when he spotted a car narrowly miss Ivy on the road. "Kuroko thinks she's got depression or something, every now and then she drops that smile of hers, and you can see some serious sadness in those big green eyes."

Finally, they caught up with Ivy. They were on a bridge that passed over the train tracks. Aomine rushed forward, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Now, we wouldn't want a repeat of the beach would we?" He stated plainly, noticing the tears roll down her face. "I'm really sorry you lost your job." He remembered her telling him that she was supporting herself. Guilt filled his chest. "Look, I'll help you find a new one. If I hadn't started that fight this wouldn't have happened."

She didn't speak, just staring up at him with blank eyes. Something in those eyes showed him just how broken she really was. No matter the front she put up in front of all those people, he could finally see it, the little broken pieces inside of her. Before he could do anything, Kagami shoved him out of the way, hugging the curvy woman in front of them.

Ivy blinked slowly. She looked to her right, realising that she was standing on top of the pedestrian bridge over the train tracks. Why was Kagami hugging her so tightly? Looking up, she realised that Aomine was standing behind them, a weird mix of anger and worry on his face. Had she tried to jump again? She didn't remember much once the car honked at her. Moving a little, she mumbled. "Kagami?"

"What were you trying to do?" Kagami's voice was filled with worry. It hurt to see someone so scared for her. It hurt, everything hurt. She leant heavily on him, wincing lightly.

"I don't think she knew what she was doing." Aomine spoke slowly. She looked away, in her mind, there was a foggy picture of Aomine staring down into her eyes, speaking to her, but she had no idea what he was saying. "I saw her eyes, Kagami, it was like her body was on autopilot."

"People don't go on autopilot, Ahomine, I saw her too, she was going to jump!" he yelled, holding her tighter.

A quote rose into her mind, causing a tiny glimmer of a smile to twitch onto her lips. 'One day, someone's going to hug you so tightly, all your broken pieces will stick back together.' She pushed at his chest lightly, blinking a few more times, trying desperately to push the darkness back from her mind. "I wasn't going to jump." She assured him slowly, though she wasn't sure of it herself. When the darkness inside her grew too much for her to handle, she lost control of her thoughts, she didn't remember what was happening around her. Though, the darkness was finally reseeding from her vision, the picture she saw clearer than before.

Kagami shook his head, standing up to his full height, lifting her with him. "I'm taking you home." He looked at Aomine, swallowing slowly. "I think you need to go. Stalker's aren't supposed to be shown where their victim lives." There was an air of joking about his words, but Ivy hardly noticed.

"Oh very funny, Bakagami." He spat at the redhead. Ivy looked at him slowly, she wanted to ask him to come, but she was afraid. Afraid that if she let any more people into her life she'd end up losing them all. She shook her head at him, indicating the road with her eyes. He noticed this, sighing a little. He turned, hand held over his head in defeat. "Whatever, I'll catch you Sunday." Sunday? That was three days from now, what on earth did he have planned for Sunday?

Kagami rolled his eyes, beginning to walk towards Ivy's apartment. He refused to put her back on the ground, walking in silence for a while. "Wanna explain why you completely lost it back there? Most teenage girls who lose their jobs start screaming about how it's not fair."

"It's a long story."

Aomine kicked a can as he reached his home. He silently unlocked the door, sneaking into the house. Lucky for him no one heard him enter. He headed straight up to his bedroom, silently locking his door behind him. He had school in the morning, but there was no way he was going to actually pay attention, not after the night he'd had. Those broken eyes still haunted him, staring up at him without actually seeing. What else was he supposed to do? He wanted to help her. Stripping his clothes off slowly, he threw them into a messy pile on his floor. Once he was only in his boxers, he flopped back on his bed, pulling the pillow over his head.

Groaning, Aomine rolled over to find his phone as it buzzed. He'd fallen asleep, thinking about Ivy again. He opened one eye to read the phone, a scowl forming on his face. "Three am. Three fucking am." He opened the message as it flashed at him again. "What?!" he growled at the phone, before he had even read the message.

"Ivy is feeling a little better now, she said that if you want to see her again, you can come to her apartment tomorrow after school."

Aomine blinked again, was he dreaming? Kuroko had sent him a message, at three am, just to tell him that Ivy wanted to see him. He must have still been dreaming. He shoved his phone back onto his bedside table, rolling away from it with a grumble, curling into a tight ball. Dreaming was better than nothing, but still, three am?

Mornings had never been Aomine's favourite time of day, he rolled out of bed very slowly, slamming his hand on his alarm clock. Seven am, too early. He forced himself out of bed, trudging towards the bathroom to shower. How much trouble would he get in if he skipped school all together? He could use emotional turmoil as an excuse, right? Grumbling, he stripped off his boxers, before turning on the shower.

Ivy curled into a ball, lying on her couch, staring at the window. She had a TV, but nothing that was played during the day ever caught her interest. She stared intensely at the building across from her apartment, wondering what she could do to fill in her day. Kagami and Kuroko had left early that morning for school, leaving her to her own devices. Rubbing her stomach, she sighed. She felt numb. There was no darkness bubbling, no light daring to break through, absolutely nothing. Sitting up, she decided she needed to eat.

Kagami had prepared her some lunch, making her promise that she would eat it while they were at school. Grumbling, she looked at the stuffed omelette in the fridge. Pulling it out slowly, she took it to the table. Sitting slowly, she stared at the food, wondering what she was supposed to do if she didn't want to eat it. If she threw it in the bin her friends would notice, if she ate it, she was sure her stomach would start hurting again. Laying her head on the table next to the plate, she grumbled again, grunting at the sound of the doorbell. Who on earth would be visiting her? And during school hours, what sort of idiot expected her to be home. Pushing herself up from the table, she walked to the door.

Her hair hung messily around her face and over her shoulders, having not bothered brushing it or pulling it up. She wore an oversized basketball jersey over short cotton shorts, having just thrown on what was comfortable for her day at home. She wondered if it was someone coming to check on her, upon request of her friends. She shook her head, they were probably far too busy to remember to send someone to check on her.

Opening the door slowly, she stared up at who met her. Her mouth practically dropped open in shock. "Aomine?"