When Akashi woke up the following morning, it was late. The morning sunlight was already seeping in through the window, bright and warm. Akashi had to shield his eyes with his arm for a short moment to get accustomed to the light.

When Akashi could see without squinting, he glanced to his side. Kuroko was still sleeping, curled up against Akashi's body. Akashi smiled warmly and ran his finger gently over Kuroko's face, brushing some of his hair back. Considering Kuroko got tired easily, and considering what they did last night, Akashi didn't really expect Kuroko to be awake for a while.

Akashi looked around Kuroko's room, trying to locate his clothes (well, technically, they were Kuroko's clothes, but they were the garments that Akashi had been wearing). He had sloppily thrown them onto the floor the previous night.

After Akashi had put on his clothes, he made his way out of Kuroko's room to head into the kitchen. He was going to make something for Kuroko and himself to eat.

But as soon as he exited Kuroko's room, Akashi was confronted by the three cats. Aomine and Kise were sniffing at him, while Tama was rubbing her body against his ankle. Akashi jumped, startled, when Kise let out a wail and ran off, whining like nobody's business. Akashi was sure that if Kise had been human, he was most definitely crying. Meanwhile, Aomine was rolling his eyes at Kise's reaction. Nevertheless, he shot a warning glare to Akashi before taking off to console his mate. Tama was left looking quite confused and a little lost by what had just transpired. Akashi, too, found himself staring in bewilderment at the empty space the two large felines had previously occupied.

"Ne, Tama?" Akashi asked his cat as he bent down to pick her up. "Do you think they know what Tetsuya and I did last night?" He observed his cat's sardonic expression, before sighing and saying, "Come to think of it, do YOU know what Tetsuya and I did last night?"

Tama meowed and licked her paw innocently.

Akashi walked out to the backyard, where Kise was lying on his stomach, his head resting on the ground with his two front paws covering most of his face. In fact, only his snout stuck out from between his paws. By then, Kise's whining had decreased in volume, and he was whimpering. Aomine was comforting him by licking the top of his head.

"Hey, Kise?" Akashi spoke out, kneeling beside the leopard and placing his free hand gently on Kise's back. "I think you know what happened between Tetsuya and I last night…"

Aomine shot Akashi a sarcastic look that said, No kidding, we can practically smell him on you.

"Right," Akashi stammered, laughing nervously. "Well, I just want to assure you two that I love Tetsuya very much and I wouldn't do anything to hurt him. You have my word on that."

There was a pregnant pause as Akashi stared at Aomine and Kise. Aomine was still looking at Akashi with a blank expression, while Kise still had his face covered with his paws.

"In fact, I've actually asked Tetsuya for his hand in marriage and he said yes, so I guess you can say this is the next logical step in our relationship?" Akashi began rubbing Kise's back gently with his hand.

In the meantime, Tama was squirming in Akashi's arm, so he placed her down on the ground.

"Tetsuya and you guys will be moving into my place – it's close enough to the forest that you can still hunt and play around, and there's also a lot more space in the house for you to roughhouse. You would like that, won't you?"

Akashi could see that Aomine was nodding slowly and Kise was no longer whimpering. He was somewhat thrilled – the two of Kuroko's most important beings in his life were beginning to accept the idea of Akashi and Kuroko getting married.

"Seijuurou-kun?" Kuroko's voice came from the door.

Akashi's head shot up. He saw that Kuroko, like him, had put on his clothes in a haphazard manner. After stroking Kise's back one more time, Akashi got to his feet, making his way towards Kuroko. "Are you alright?" he asked. "You're not too sore or anything, are you?" He wondered why Kuroko didn't choose to sleep in. Akashi took Kuroko's hand into his and squeezed it softly.

"I'm fine," said Kuroko. "It was lonely without you there."

"Ah, I'm sorry about that," Akashi apologised. "I just wanted to let you rest some more."

"It's okay," Kuroko replied. "But there's something I want to talk to you about."

"Sure thing."

"Let's go inside first."

Kuroko led Akashi into his room. He sat Akashi down on the side of his bed before leaving Akashi alone for a short while to retrieve a knife from the kitchen.

"Tetsuya?" Akashi uttered, very alarmed by the presence of the knife in Kuroko's hand. "Why… why are you holding a knife? What is it for?"

Kuroko smiled at Akashi and leaned forward to peck Akashi on the lips. "Just listen to me first," he said.

"Right. Okay. I'm sorry."

Kuroko grasped Akashi's hand. He inhaled a deep breath. Then, he began speaking. "I've been thinking about this for a while, and what happened last night solidifies my decision," Kuroko explained. "With my being immortal, it is inevitable that you will die and I will have to go on with life without you. I don't want to live without you. I cannot imagine a life without you. I won't have it," said Kuroko with determination, looking into Akashi's eyes with a hard expression. "Therefore, I am going to share my immortality with you."

"What?" croaked Akashi. "Is that even possible?"

"Well, my immortality has somehow absorbed into Aomine-kun and Kise-kun by them living with me, and I wasn't even actively involved in that… so yes, it is possible," replied Kuroko.

"Then, won't I also be affected when you move in with me and I begin to live with you?"

"I don't think it works with human beings – animals and humans are totally different… Maybe it's because human beings have souls and consciences, I don't really know," admitted Kuroko. "Besides, the gods have given me an allowance of one person I can grant immortality to. Which means… I know of a sure way that you can become immortal like me."

"And what is that?"

"I transfer some of my blood into you," replied Kuroko calmly.

Akashi gulped. "You mean, like consuming your blood?!"

Kuroko smiled. "Well, you can do that," he said. "Do you want to?"

Akashi looked at Kuroko nervously. "I don't know…" he stuttered, glancing apprehensively at the knife in Kuroko's hand. "I don't want you hurting yourself over this."

"It's okay," Kuroko reassured Akashi and placed his palm against Akashi's left cheek. "I want to do this. I want to make you immortal," he said. "Now the question is: are you comfortable with drinking my blood? If not, I can make a small wound on your skin, and then I transfer my blood to you."

"I… I guess I choose the second option," replied Akashi. "At least if you're going to injure yourself for me, I should also get hurt in the process."

"Alright," said Kuroko. He grasped the hilt of the knife and held the knife to his left wrist. He made an incision on the front of his wrist.

Akashi winced when he saw the red liquid well up from the cut on Kuroko's wrist. It wasn't that he was queasy around blood; it simply was that someone he truly cared about was bleeding.

Then, Kuroko took Akashi's wrist. "I'm sorry – this is going to hurt a bit."

Akashi snorted. "Tetsuya, I have a very high pain tolerance. A minor cut like that won't be anything to worry about."

Kuroko smiled warmly at Akashi. "I know," he said simply.

Kuroko made another incision, this time on the front of Akashi's wrist. Then, he pressed the wound on his hand against the one on Akashi's, allowing for the transfer of blood to take place.

Akashi stared at both their hands blankly. For quite a while, he couldn't feel anything. He couldn't even tell if Kuroko's blood was really flowing into his body. But suddenly, Akashi felt a pleasant warmth creep into his body through the cut Kuroko had made. Slowly, the sensation travelled throughout his entire body. "I feel warm," Akashi murmured.

"Eh? Really?" Kuroko's head shot up and he stared at Akashi, surprised. "Does it feel good?"

"Yes. It feels really comfortable." Akashi closed his eyes and hummed. "I feel… sleepy too…"

"Is that so?" Kuroko laid Akashi down onto his bed without breaking the contact between their wrists. "Then you should sleep."

"But I just woke up," Akashi protested weakly. His eyes were still closed.

Kuroko laughed quietly. "If your body is telling you to sleep, then you should do it," he told Akashi.

That was the last thing Akashi heard before he knew no more.

When Akashi came around, it was to a whole lot of fur in his face. Akashi opened his eyes to find that he had his face buried into Kise's fur. The leopard had snuck into Kuroko's bed with Akashi and was napping silently beside him. In his sleep, Akashi had somehow managed to roll over to his side and snuggle up against Kise.

Akashi rolled onto his back to dislodge himself from Kise's body. He brought his hand to his face and observed the wrist that had been cut. There was no sign of an injury – Kuroko must have healed it when he was unconscious.

"Kise-kun wanted to apologise for overreacting this morning," came Kuroko's voice from the floor, where he was sitting and reading a book that Akashi had written (he had borrowed it from Akashi).

Akashi sat up and turned to look at Kuroko. "Oh? Is that why he's asleep next to me?"

"Yeah," replied Kuroko, his eyes not leaving the book. "He waited for you to wake up, but eventually he got bored and fell asleep."

Akashi smiled affectionately at the leopard and reached out to rub the feline's spine.

"How are you feeling?" asked Kuroko, finally looking away from his book to observe Akashi.

"Fantastic," Akashi replied, smiling. He flexed his arms to prove to Kuroko that he was a fit as a fiddle.

"Good," said Kuroko. He placed a bookmark in the book and closed it, before setting it down on the floor. He got to his feet and walked towards Akashi. "I was afraid that you were going to be horribly ill like I was for the first few days… but when you said that you felt good, I guess that was when my worries were quelled."

"You got sick?!" Akashi looked appalled. When Kuroko sat himself down by the edge of the bed, Akashi took Kuroko's hand into his.

"Yeah," replied Kuroko. "I guess it's different when you're getting it from the gods and when you're getting it from a man."

Akashi swallowed. "Does this mean… that I am immortal now?"

Kuroko smiled gently. "Yes. You are the one person that I have chosen to share the gift of immortality with," he explained. "I no longer can share it with anyone else."

"Oh…" The realisation that Kuroko had been saving the immortality gift for someone really special had begun to dawn upon Akashi. Because Kuroko could only share it with one person, he must have been waiting for the right person to come into his life. It was an indication to Akashi on how much Kuroko loved him – Kuroko loved him so much that Kuroko wanted to spend his life with him, so granting him immortality would be the reasonable thing to do. "Thank you."

Kuroko extended his arms to hug Akashi. "I love you, Seijuurou-kun," he said. "And now we can be together forever."

Akashi's lips curled into a smile as he leaned into Kuroko's embrace. "Always," he whispered, closing his eyes in contentment.