A/N: Please take note that I had to make something up about Kuroko in this chapter because I couldn't find anything about it anywhere. I'm sorry if you feel like it is cliché.

Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 8

"I know you won't ever look in my direction, but I can't help but call your name over and over again, hoping you will turn back someday if my voice is loud enough."

Haizaki Shogo felt downright terrible. He couldn't believe the only girl in the club – his crush, too – was chosen to be with the infamous troublemaker of the whole school. She looked rather startled as well, and the expressions plastered over the flamboyant haired males were pretty priceless, but Haizaki could care less.

"Nijimura, you have to be joking –"

"It's captain, Haizaki." The male said venomously, as Haizaki gritted his teeth and spat on the ground. "The pairs were randomly chosen, so do not complain. In fact, I do not see the reason why you should be having a problem with this decision, Haizaki." He was implying that Haizaki was a flirtatious guy, and therefore this pair was perfect for him. Haizaki thought otherwise.

Akashi simply looked down on the other names and continued calling the pairs in place of Nijimura who went to take care of the facility. He couldn't accept the fact that Kuroko was with Haizaki, out of everyone in the club possible. Heck, he would've been totally fine even if she were with some guy he had no clue about. But not Haizaki – he just couldn't stand the male.

"Mine-chin, you look pale." Murasakibara commented, "Is it because Kuro-chin is paired with Zaki-chin?" The said indigo-haired male bit the inner part of his cheek impatiently. "It really isn't something to fuss much about, is it? It's just for a few days or so." Aomine didn't say anything. Murasakibara was right – they were only going to be playing with each other during the camp week, and apart from that they weren't even going to talk or…

Damn it. Aomine clenched his fists. Fuck this all.

"Will you not look at me as if I did something wrong?" Haizaki tilted his head to the side, and spoke with arrogance. "It's not I wanted to be paired with her either." Midorima looked sideways, feeling the tingling tension between the males. He then walked off, sighing as he went to his partner who was waiting in the middle of the field.

"Good for you." Aomine grumbled, as Haizaki raised his eyebrows. Then smirking, he whispered in the ganguro's ear.

"You jealous?"

The male tightened his jaw and pushed Haizaki out of his way. Haizaki mused at the fuming latter, and then strolled over to Kuroko who was patiently waiting for him in the corner. He glanced at her once, and then put his hands in his pockets in an obdurate manner. If they really hate me going near her I'll stay away, sheesh. It's not like I'm going to hurt her or anything. Quickening his pace, Haizaki forced his way through the crowd. Besides, what are they, her parents? Why are they all so uptight when it comes to her? It's not like they'll even stay by her side forever anyway. He stopped and then turned back to see if Kuroko was there.

The teal-haired girl was struggling to catch up, trying to squeeze in between the other members. Haizaki rubbed his hair with his palm, and clucked his tongue as he walked back towards the female. "You're too slow, you idiot." He grabbed her wrist and pulled her outside, making way for them to walk. Kuroko blinked as she stared up at the male, but didn't say anything. "I can't believe you can't even walk properly," He complained.

"Haizaki-kun's just too fast." Kuroko retorted, as Haizaki let her go.

"Whatever."

Practice was hell.

Most of the activities weren't about the individual's ability, but about how much a pair could accomplish. This put the skilled ones at a disadvantage, and the less talented ones in an easier position. During running, if one person in the pair couldn't run further, then the other had to stop as well and wait. If one couldn't shoot, then the other couldn't leave until his partner was able to.

It was quite the predicament for the Generation of Miracles.

"I can't believe I had to stay back for an hour just because that guy couldn't make five three-pointers in a row." Midorima grunted. "I would've finished such an easy menu in less than five minutes."

"That's the whole point of this camp, though." Akashi remarked.

"Just because something is the point, doesn't mean that we have to comply to it." Aomine retorted, as Akashi shrugged. His duty as the vice captain was fulfilled – he cared less about anything else. "And besides, Tetsu deserves to be with someone better. Someone who can match up to her standards, someone who can… uh… you know… like… someone who is suitable."

Murasakibara snorted as he threw a plastic water bottle into the bin nearby. "You make it sound like she's marrying someone. Besides, Zaki-chin won't hurt her or anything. You normally don't do anything bad to someone you like." The giant opened a candy bar and pushed the whole thing into his mouth at once.

"Well…"Aomine said hesitantly, "I…" He scratched his head and spat on the ground. "I guess." The male didn't like Haizaki at all. To be honest, he never liked him from the start – but not that he liked Kuroko, he was not only a nuisance in his life, but a one he had to fear of taking Kuroko away. Of course, Kuroko wasn't his. She was far from his. But –

"Aomine." Midorima hissed, waking the male up from his trance. "What's keeping you at your personal Cloud Nine? Everyone's waiting for you to order something – don't keep people at hold like that. It's rude."

"Oh." Aomine looked behind, and quickly ordered the first thing he saw. Then he stepped out of the line, and walked over to the table where the rest of his team members were. Kuroko was there too – Aomine's heart skipped a few beats immediately when he saw her. "Hey, Tetsu." He sat down in a nonchalant manner, trying his best to hide his excitement. "How was practice?"

"It was… well, good." Her cherubic smile caused him to freeze for a millisecond. "Haizaki-kun was surprisingly… um, chivalrous. At least, to his standards. He helped me shoot, although I still couldn't get any in, and joined in when I was practicing my passes… he was considerably gentle. Still harmful with words, but his actions were a lot more kinder, I guess."

Midorima smirked playfully – a side of the green head that rarely ever appeared. "Did you hear that Aomine? She's doing perfectly fine without you." He emphasized every single word, especially when he uttered 'perfectly'. The indigo-haired male tapped his plate his chopsticks, looking away and not saying anything. Kuroko seemed clueless to what was actually happening, but then turned to the side and glanced in Haizaki's direction. The male was sitting alone- well, no. He was with Nijimura, conversing about something. Kuroko stared for a while, until the latter looked up and stared back at her intently. She then looked away as the lady put a bowl of udon on her tray.

"What's going on after this, Aka-chin?" Murasakibara attempted to convert the topic elsewhere, as he bit into his tonkatsu. "Something about Teiko's traditional nonsense, right?"

"Now, don't put it like that Murasakibara. If it's a tradition, we have no choice but to follow it." Slowly chewing on the contents, Akashi spun his spoon on the plate. "'The Dark Room."

"Well, that's a creative name."

"It's not me who thought of the name." Akashi shrugged at Aomine's small commentary. Then he noticed how bewildered Kuroko looked, and took the initiative to provide an explanation. "It's not that much of a big deal as they say – not so haunting, either. The whole idea of the… let's say, activity, is to improve the teamwork between the pairs, albeit it's more like a simple game." After pausing for a while, the male continued. "Basically, there seems to be a deserted cabin right next to this place. It was apparently used by the inhabitants of this area just about… eighty years ago, but was abandoned due to a certain incident. I don't know what really happened myself. But anyway, you go to that cabin with your partner, every pair will be assigned a different room. Then you just find a pencil that will be lying on the floor and come back. Simple enough."

Aomine shivered in fear. "I honestly do not enjoy go around a haunted place where there are eerie rumors about every single thing –"

"That's exactly right, Aomine." Nijimura slumped down on the bench next to Murasakibara. "There actually is a very… well, gruesome story about one of the rooms back in that cabin. You have less than a two percent chance of actually being assigned to that room, but you know – someone gets it every year. Anyway, there was apparently an earthquake around this region, just eighty years ago. Everything was destroyed severely, but was soon repaired soon. Of course, everything – but that cabin."

"Wait, so we are venturing around a run down cabin?" Kuroko frowned in confusion, as she put her chopsticks back down.

"No, no. Of course we aren't doing that. There is more to the story. So you see, there was a little boy who was caught up in the earthquake while he was still in the cabin. He was still trapped deep inside, so it was really difficult to rescue him, from what I heard. The villagers were afraid that they'd be killed while trying to save the boy, because the earthquake wasn't completely gone, and there were continuous aftershocks. As a result, they ended up ignoring the boy completely and burned the old cabin and built up a new wooden one – of course, new for them at that time. It's eighty years ago, so it's pretty old."

"Is that it to the story?" Midorima fixed the position of his glasses. "Because then it lacks impact."

"Well, no. Why do you even think that cabin was abandoned, even after it was burnt and rebuilt? It's due to fact that people who stayed in that cabin started to die – especially when they were sleeping in one particular room. They didn't die when they were sleeping though – it was often because of something heavy falling on their head, or because they tripped… careless reasons, but the deaths went on anyway. In the end, they found out that the boy they didn't rescue was still buried beneath that room, and he was killing people who slept in that cabin due to his own vengeance."

Murasakibara rolled his eyes. "So it's a typical horror setting. That's not even scary."

Kuroko pursed her lips together, as they formed a tight line. She inhaled a raspy breath and grasped her right arm using her left hand. Akashi, who was sitting next to her, noticed how pale the female looked – well, more pale than usual. "Kuroko?" He instinctively placed his hand on her shoulder, concerned. "Are you alright? You look extremely pale right now."

Nijimura, quickly reacting to Akashi's remark, stood up and kneeled next to her. "Sorry, did I scare you? I never took you as the type to be crept out by these kinds of stories; I apologize. It's just a nasty rumor anyway, so forget it."

"No, I'm fine." She forced a smile. "It's just a little cold in here, that's all."

"… Is it?" Murasakibara glanced at the air conditioner. He then took off his gigantic sweater and handed it over to the female. "I guess the size won't do, but well. It'll be better than nothing, I suppose."

"Thank you." She clenched the hem of the jacket as she slipped her thin arms through the sleeves. The sweater was about twice the size of her torso, making it kind of look like a dress – or simply a daughter that wore her father's clothes to school. Nijimura sent her a wary expression, but then stood up as he called all the members over to the edge of the cafeteria.

"We'll be starting our next activity! All of you dawdling wrenches at the back get your ass here right now!"

"Room 34." Haizaki grumbled. "Hey, aren't you gonna come in?" He shouted at Kuroko, who was gazing at the wooden cabin from afar. She then blinked, awakened by Haizaki's call. Jogging over, she joined him by his side and said nothing. Haizaki furrowed his eyebrows, putting his hands in his pockets with haughty mannerisms. He thought about asking her what the matter was, but just remained silent. Worrying about her was evidently Aomine's job, not his.

They walked across the creaky corridor, going past several different rooms where previous pairs seemed to have visited. Haizaki and Kuroko kept their awkward, stranger-like distance between one another, both looking in opposite directions. The gray-haired boy felt no necessity of a conversation, and Kuroko's mind itself wasn't exactly firmly present either.

"It's over here, you idiot." A disgruntled look plastered all over his face, Haizaki grabbed Kuroko's shoulder before she could casually skip it. "What's going on in your freaking head? I thought you were the observant one here." He kicked the door open.

"I'm sorry." Kuroko muttered under her breath, as she sluggishly entered the room. The door closed behind her, and the girl stepped further inside. Haizaki lazily searched for the pencil that was supposed to be on the floor. The room was quite large – although nothing significant was in the room itself. He leaned down, taking a better look at the floorboards. Kuroko helped as well, peeking behind shelves and drawers.

The male then stretched his arm towards a glinting thin object that was under the bed. "Here it is." Turning back to the girl, Haizaki moved his chin and pointed at the door. "Let's go now." She nodded, and twisted the doorknob. Blinking in slight panic, she twisted in a quicker fashion – but with no avail.

"Um, Haizaki-kun, I think we are locked in."

"We are what now?" Haizaki stomped towards the wooden door, handing the pencil over to Kuroko. The girl grasped on smooth and cold surface of the stationery, as the male banged frantically on the steel doorknob. "Oh my fucking lord." He sunk down on the floor, rubbing his hand violently on his forehead. "Oh, my, fucking, lord." He said again, as Kuroko gave a gentle kick on the door.

Haizaki, following her example in a more belligerent manner, threw a frustrated kick at the door. The wood rattled for a while, but didn't move. Kuroko gave the male a look of pity, as Haizaki threw a small broken lamp towards the glass window in anger. The lamp shattered into pieces, and leaving a crack in the window in the process.

"We'll have to call for help." Haizaki said, his voice smudged with annoyance. "Where's that damned Nijimura when we need him?" He sat down on the dusty floor, caring less about whether his pants were going to get dirtied or whatnot. Then realizing how Kuroko was just uncomfortably standing next to the bed, Haizaki groaned and took off his jacket, throwing it towards the other side of the room. "You can sit on that."

"That's nice of you." She mumbled, as she carefully placed herself on the floor. They kept their silence for quite a while, both of them uncertain of what to do. Haizaki figured that he was ultimately the one that could ask for help in their current situation – especially when he had never heard Kuroko shout, or speak any louder than Midorima did, after all.

"I'll go get Nijimura." Haizaki picked up a chair nearby, and launched it at the cracked window. The glass and frame fell towards the ground below helplessly, as the chair dropped to the wooden floorboard. "You stay here. It's dangerous for a girl – and you'll be a nuisance." They were on the second floor – it was about six meters up in the air. It was pretty high, but Haizaki guessed that he wouldn't be that beaten up as much to die.

He stepped on the pointy edge of the wall, getting ready to jump. Really, he could try to shout and see if anyone would respond, but based on the distance and how far their room actually was from the lobby, it was useless. Of course, there was a possibility that some pairs that were next door were still remaining in their rooms after finding the pencil, but that also seemed unlikely because then there would've been some reaction when Haizaki attempted to kick the door down.

"God, this is such a pain the neck." He grabbed the side of the wall, as a gust of wind blew through the hole. A chill traveled down his spine as he saw how far down the ground was below him. He could hear small rumbles from above, but he could care less.

Just before he could leap down to the soil, something light and trembling held his shirt tightly. Haizaki almost lost his balance and fell forward, until his reflexes got the better of him as his hand speedily caught on to the remaining glass shard that was sticking out. He cut his palm in the process, but pain was the last thing he could recognize. Getting prepared to shout at the female who stopped him without warning, Haizaki opened his mouth and turned back as he jumped down on the floor again. But then he had to stop, after catching sight of the quivering lips of the small female.

She whispered something really quietly, that Haizaki doubted that she was even making any sound. "What did you say now?" He grunted, leaning further down to hear what she had to say.

"Don't go."

Haizaki's eyes widened at this – whether in shock or due to some other feeling, he did not know, nor cared. The crucial point was that the female didn't want him to leave, and especially when she said it so desperately Haizaki couldn't do anything to counter it. The male straightened his back, his expression solemn as he looked down at Kuroko's shivering figure. Cut me some slack, you cruel woman. He sighed helplessly, and slowly led her towards the floor again.

"I won't." He enunciated the two words, so that the female could hear it nice and clear. Kuroko seemed to be more assured at that. Haizaki went to pick up his jacket that was lying in a lonesome manner in the corner, and dusted it as he put it back on the floor, but this time right next to where he was sitting. Slumping down on the surface, Haizaki motioned at Kuroko to sit as well. The female sat on the jacket without much hesitation as before.

"So, you're afraid of the dark?"

"Not exactly."

"Claustrophobic?"

"No… well, kind of."

"You aren't exactly helping me."

The female glanced sideways at the male. "It's just… I was caught up in an earthquake when I was young. When I was six, I think. The mall crashed down, and I was one of the few survivors that were rescued in a span of two days. I… I'm afraid of being in confined places that might fall down on me, just like that."

Haizaki didn't respond to that. More like, if he knew how to respond to what the female just told him, he would've spoken up. But because he didn't, he chose not to. Often silence was the safest alternative, if nothing else seemed to be the correct thing to do. The female didn't say anything either. Haizaki rubbed the back of his neck, not knowing what to do any further.

He then gently placed his hand on hers, feeling the fast, inconsistent pulse of the female on his palm. Kuroko blinked cryptically, not knowing how to react. The latter didn't say a single word, looking in the other direction as he averted his gaze from the female. The girl then gradually looked down at the strong, firm hand of the boy. Haizaki felt her pulse slowing down, this time at a way more constant rate.

"Thank you, Haizaki-kun."

Haizaki remained silent.

After a while, Nijimura and the others came to look for them and opened the door after a few forced simultaneous kicks. The other Generation of Miracles seemed petrified when they first barged into the room, not giving Haizaki more than a suspicious glare. Aomine was the one that seemed to be fussing over everything the most, just like Haizaki had expected.

Seeing the female smile in her usual placid aura made Haizaki feel slightly relieved. He didn't like the Generation of Miracles, Aomine in particular, but if they were the ones that made Kuroko delighted at the moment, he guessed it really didn't matter. He didn't stand a chance against any of them anyway.

On their way back, the Generation of Miracles left Aomine and Kuroko alone to talk through everything that had happened. Of course, they wanted to know what occurred during their absence, but all of them knew that no one could be more desperate than Aomine.

"And so… we waited." Kuroko simply said, leaving out the part where Haizaki had held her hand. More like placing his hand on hers, but it really wasn't that much different or distinguishable.

Aomine seemed dissatisfied by her explanation of the whole story, but decided that it was enough. "I see. And Haizaki didn't do anything to you?"

"He isn't bad in the heart, like I said."

"Whatever." The ganguro murmured, as they walked in comfortable silence. It was awkward, forced, or obdurate – it was a small unknown and unseen conversation shared between Aomine and Kuroko, something that nobody else could comprehend. Aomine then paused, stopping in his tracks.

"Hey, Tetsu." He said in a serious tone, not like any of the indolent or playful ones he usually had the tendency to use.

"Yes?" Kuroko asked, twirling back as the moonlight descended down, making her hair glint under the starry night sky. The sight took Aomine aback – gee, the girl had something about making him go crazy, even without everything that gravure magazine models possessed. It was some attribute of the female – something that Aomine couldn't quite grasp.

"I've been think through this a while… and, well… you know, through this experience, I made up my resolve." He gulped, clenching his fists. Inhaling a deep breath, he looked up and stared at Kuroko, his piercing gaze penetrating her own.

"I love you."