Two years later…

Akashi had originally intended for his sabbatical to last for two years. He wasn't sure what he had planned to do after that either. He fully intended to continue writing, of course, but he didn't know what sort of genre he would write. He used to write teen/young adult fiction, as he identified with that age group. Now that he had grown older and more adult, Akashi thought that he should move on as well.

Akashi had also thought that he would move out of his grandfather's house when his sabbatical was over. He didn't think that he would live there long-term.

But Akashi's meeting with Kuroko, and the fact that they were lovers now was making Akashi think twice about his sabbatical and moving out of his grandfather's place. He wanted to stay with Kuroko for as long as he lived. However, Akashi didn't know if Kuroko wanted to leave the forest he had called home for so long. If Kuroko wished to stay, Akashi wouldn't hesitate to stay with him.

It had been two years and counting, and Akashi was still on his sabbatical. He could prolong it – it wasn't like he was short on money; Akashi had a hefty savings from his writing (considering he had been an author since he was in high school, he had managed to save up a lot of money), and he had quite a large inheritance from his father.

If Kuroko found it strange that Akashi hadn't brought up the topic of the impending end of his sabbatical, Kuroko didn't ask. Perhaps Kuroko wanted to respect Akashi's privacy. But Akashi wished Kuroko would talk about it, so that he could come clean with these insecurities he had.

Akashi knocked twice on Kuroko's door and twisted the doorknob. Kuroko usually kept his front door unlocked – he didn't see the need to lock it as nobody would break into his home in the middle of a forest. So Akashi usually knocked to announce his presence. This time, he had brought some mochi sweets to share with Kuroko. "Tetsuya?" Akashi called out. About a year into their relationship, Akashi and Kuroko had taken to addressing each other by their first names.

The sight that greeted Akashi was not a pleasant one. Aomine and Kise were tangled in some sort of net. They were growling and struggling to disentangle themselves.

Akashi dropped the bag of snacks he was holding and ran towards Aomine and Kise. "Shh… shh…" he said pacifyingly to them. "Don't move or you'll make it worse. Let me cut it." Akashi quickly grabbed a pair of scissors from the kitchen counter and sliced the net, freeing the cats. As soon as the net was cut, both Aomine and Kise leapt out of the mess.

"Where's Tetsuya?" Akashi asked.

Aomine growled fiercely and made for the door. Kise whimpered and crouched down, lowering his ears flat onto his head.

"What? What happened?"

Aomine growled again and gestured with his head for Akashi to follow him. Then he sprinted out of the door.

Without wasting a second, Akashi ran out, trailing after the black panther. Kise followed not far behind.

The three of them dashed through the forest, with Aomine leading them from Kuroko's scent. They made their way deeper and deeper into the forest, until they could see hills and mountains.

Aomine rushed straight into a cave at the foot of a hill. Naturally, one would expect its interior to be pitch-black, but this cave was illuminated by torches and candles. Akashi was close behind the black panther, and he could see an old woman bent over Kuroko's unconscious figure lying on a surface. She was holding a knife and looked like she was about to slit Kuroko's neck. Akashi's heart leapt into his throat – he knew Kuroko could naturally live forever, but he would die by any other form of intervention towards his life. Kuroko could die!

Without hesitation, Aomine leapt towards the woman and clamped his jaws around her hand with an almighty roar. She cried out in partly in surprise but mostly in pain, and using her other hand that held the knife, slashed at Aomine. Aomine yowled in pain and let go of her hand, collapsing to the ground with a deep wound on his chest area. Kise yelped and scurried over to where Aomine had landed.

"Stupid cats," the woman grumbled as she rubbed her hand where Aomine had bitten it. "I thought I had already rendered them useless…"

Akashi stepped forward. He had a furious expression on his face. "Well, I freed them," he said.

The old woman frowned and squinted at Akashi. "And who are you?"

"That's not for you to know," Akashi replied calmly. "What's important is that you have taken my soul-mate and I am here to retrieve him."

The woman laughed sinisterly. "I'm sorry, but I will be drinking this man's blood and eating his heart to regain my youth, so he will be dying here today. And so will you!" With that, she lunged at Akashi, her knife held high.

Akashi barely managed to dodge the woman as she swung her knife at him. As he dived forward, his left leg swung out, kicking her in the stomach and sending her to the ground. Honestly, Akashi felt bad that he was fighting with an old woman, but what choice did he have? It was fight or die.

As quickly as the woman landed on the ground, she oscillated her legs upwards and leapt up. Akashi's eyes widened. Despite how old she looked, she possessed the agility of a young person.

The old woman bent her knees, preparing to launch forward at Akashi. Akashi, himself, stood with his hands held out, ready for any assault, as he prepared himself for her attack. She rushed forward, throwing her knife at Akashi. Akashi swayed his body out of the way to avoid the knife.

However, in a flash, the woman had managed to whip out another knife from her blouse. This time, she charged her arm at Akashi, and stabbed him on the right side of his stomach, twisting the knife within him to increase the pain.

Akashi cried out, falling back, as white hot pain engulfed him. The woman was cackling at him as she watched him fall to his knees.

Akashi gritted his teeth. He yanked the knife out of his stomach, grunting in the process to lessen the pain.

Akashi knew enough about human anatomy to be able to locate where the heart was, and hopefully, he had enough strength to pierce the knife into the woman's heart. Akashi rushed forward while the old woman was distracted gloating at the ease she brought a young man such as him down, aiming at her heart. Using all of his strength and with an almighty cry, Akashi rammed the knife into the old woman.

The woman's laughter died in her throat. Her eyes widened in shock before she collapsed to the ground, gurgling on her own blood.

Akashi, too, fell to the ground, clutching his stomach where the stab wound was. He knew that he was losing a lot of blood and that he would lose consciousness soon. The last thing Akashi remembered seeing before he blacked out was Kise's concerned face looming over him.