Kuroko paled even further. Sweat rolled down his face. He had, in fact, finally come to terms that it was ultimately him who had brutally murdered Hanamiya. That didn't mean that it didn't weigh him down with guilt to his very core. But one thing still puzzled him- was it really just him who snapped and became momentarily insane, or did Nise-kun play a part in it too? In any case, he didn't want to deal with Nise-kun. He turned away and headed towards the kitchen to grab a vanilla milkshake.

"O-Oi... Kuroko? Matte... CHOTTO MATTE KUDASAI!"

The use of slightly polite words captured Kuroko's attention. Still shaken, he turned around and his eyes seemed more tender now. "What is it?"

"E-etou... gomen. I didn't think you'd dislike it this much..." He laughed sheepishly and scratched his cheek. "I... thought that you wanted to play offensively, you know? Your phantom shot sorta made it seem like you wanted to stand out more and be more of a carry.. Also, I am basically your bottled in thoughts and emotions materialized, you know? Ahahaha... haha... ha... sorry. I'll leave now."

Kuroko could've swore that he heard him sniffling as he walked out of the mindscape. With even more weighing on his mind, he returned to his walk towards the kitchen. He was suddenly painfully aware of how cold his feet felt; how was it possible for him to feel in a mindscape, anyways? A little bit of the curious shine returned to his eyes.

A blast of frigid air hit him as he opened the fridge door. His hands seemed illogically cold when he wrapped his fingers around the plastic cup. He lifted the straw to his lips and took a sip.

He couldn't taste a thing.

The plastic cup slipped through his fingers and fell with a deafening thud on the floor, splattering the milkshake everywhere. To Kuroko, instead of pure white, the now tasteless drink appeared to be a crimson shade of red.

Yelping, he looked into the fridge once more to see if all of the milkshakes had no taste.

All of them were red.

-real world-

Akashi was snuggled in his blankets when he received a sudden phone call. Annoyed that he had to get out of bed, he grumbled and walked across his large room to see who had called him in the middle of the night. He picked up immediately when he saw that Midorima called him- he wouldn't call at midnight unless it was something important.

"Midorima, what is it?"

"A-Akashi, Kuroko is in the hospital right now. I'm headed over to the hospital myself, so I'm going to hang up now nanodayo. I'll text you the hospital he's staying at."

Akashi stared at his phone. Why is he in the hospital? He's not even the one in control of his body...

Or so he thought.

-in the hospital-

Everyone except for Akashi, who had been informed late, were anxiously sitting in the waiting room. Other than Momoi and Kise who were sobbing loudly, the room was filled a suspenseful quiet.

Akashi burst through the waiting room doors. "Te-Kuroko. How's Kuroko?"

"Akashi-kun!" Momoi ran to Akashi and tackled him. "Akashi-kun, is Tetsu-kun okay?"

Akashi struggled for air. "M-Momoi... can't... breathe..."

"Ah! Gomen!" Momoi quickly got off of Akashi and kneeled on the ground beside him.

Akashi sat up and sighed. He had come here as fast as he possibly could, but he had forgotten to change out of his pajamas. Aomine was the first one to look at the printed patterns on his clothes and laugh.

"P-pft, I can't hold it in any longer! A-Akashi... y-your pajamas!"

A pair of scissors flew past Aomine. Slightly blushing, Akashi threatened, "Shut it."

Nobody mentioned his pajamas after that.

The tension between the rainbow teenagers was broken when a doctor walked out of Kuroko's room. "Is anyone here a guest for Kuroko Tetsuya?"

The entire group stood up and shouted. "Is he okay?"

The doctor seemed surprised that Kuroko had this many friends. "Yes, he's fine, but... just a little bit different. You'll see what I mean. And please don't make too much noise, he just woke up."

Akashi sprinted to the door and opened it silently but quickly. Kuroko was staring out the window, his head facing away from the door. At the sound of footsteps entering, he turned around to see who came.

Kuroko suppressed a laugh. "Nice pajamas, Akashi-kun."

Akashi flushed a bright red and pretended that he did not hear Kuroko blatantly make fun of him. Coughing, he asked, "Kuroko, I'm glad to see that you're awake and well. What happened for you to end up in the hospital?"

Kuroko opened his mouth to answer when the rest of the GoM filed in. Kise and Momoi immediately ran to Kuroko and glomped him, shouting, "Kurokocchi/ Tetsu-kun!"

Kuroko leaned to the side and dodged both of them. "As you can see, I'm alive and physically well. There's no need to worry about me."

Remembering that the doctor told them to stay quiet and not bother Kuroko, Momoi hushed herself and backed off. Kise, on the other hand... "Hidoi, Kurokocchi! You're so mean!"

Midorima shushed him. "Kuroko, here, this is your lucky item for today. Not like I care or anything nanoydayo."

Aomine stared at the scene in front of him. Kuroko seemed perfectly fine, if not happy, but something seemed off. What was it? He couldn't quite place his finger on it.

Akashi, on the other hand, noticed what was wrong. Kuroko's eyes seemed awfully lifeless. The usual shine of curiosity was replaced by a dull blue. No one else seemed to have noticed.

The doctor walked in. "I'm sorry, but could you all return home? I don't want to keep you up at this time. Not to mention that the patient needs sleep. You could always come back tomorrow."

Giving their farewells, they worriedly left the room. Akashi stayed behind to talk to the doctor.

"I have something to ask you, Doctor... uh..."

"Doctor Stein."

"I have something to ask you, Doctor Stein. Would you mind if I payed the bills for Kuroko?"

"Of course not, but do you have permission from your parents? I mean, you are the Akashi heir, but..."

Akashi smirked. "Permission from my parents? Oh please. I'm Akashi Seijuro, I can do as I please with my money."

"In that case, yes, it is fine. Please sit in the waiting room while I go get the paperwork."

Sighing, Akashi returned to the waiting room and sat down. He couldn't help but recall how Kuroko seemed to have changed. He also realized that the doctor still hadn't told him why Kuroko had been hospitalized.

Suddenly, Akashi heard screaming coming from Kuroko's room. Jumping from his seat, he rushed to the room and peered through the window.

Kuroko was sitting upright with his head up against his knees. He was desperately clutching onto the blankets and tears streamed out of his wide open eyes. Unlike before, his eyes were sparkling with sadness and remorse. He clutched his head and attempted to calm himself down. He took deep breaths. He blinked.

Suddenly, his eyes were once again dull and lifeless.

Akashi could just barely hear Kuroko mutter, "Meh, who cares." He chuckled. "Killing Hanamiya is no big deal. He deserved it."

Akashi was about to enter Kuroko's room when the doctor appeared behind him. "Akashi, I'm afraid I'll have to give you the paperwork some other time. Could you please come at another date?"

"Wait, Doctor Stein. Please tell me why Kuroko was hospitalized first."

"For now, the only reason is a panic attack. But it's likely that it will only get worse from here on out." Doctor Stein burst through the door and promptly closed it.

Akashi was left hanging in the dust. He decided to call it a day and return home. He would have to use a lot of his connections to help Kuroko recover.

As Akashi waited for his chauffeur to come pick him up, he couldn't help but recall Kuroko's actions. He seemed really remorseful and traumatized at first, but then... "Meh, who cares." He couldn't get it out of his head.

As his chaffeur drove up beside him, Akashi got in and decided to ask Kuroko about this the next time he visited.

/

While the name of the doctor is indeed a reference to Stein from Soul Eater, this Doctor Stein isn't an insane dude, so no need to worry about him dissecting Kuroko. ... or do you? (i do not own soul eater or its characters)

And as for Akashi's pajamas, I'm leaving that up to you to imagine. In my mind, I saw a fuzzy pajama top with tofu soup bowls printed on it and fuzzy drawstring pants with basketballs with sunglasses... so uh, let your imagination take you wherever you want.

Also, if you're having trouble imagining Kuroko crying, he's basically doing what he did in the episode where Ogiwara's team gets beat by Teiko in a really rude way (111-11) and he goes like "What is winning?" and he starts to cry (except he's sitting in a bed and has his head touching his knees).

For those who don't get why Kuroko had a panic attack and why he's suddenly in control of his body, here's why:

In the beginning of the chapter, Kuroko was drinking his milkshake and, to his surprise, it didn't taste like anything. So, in shock, he dropped it and it splattered everywhere. This splattering reminded him of Hanamiya's blood splattering so he freaked out at first but decided to avert his eyes and see if the other milkshakes didn't taste like anything too, but all the milkshakes inside the fridge were red, in other words. the milkshakes looked like cups of blood. So Kuroko flipped out to the point where he regained control of his body and his panicking continued in real life, except in the form of a panick attack. So his breathing became really messed up and he started screaming, so his family called the hospital and he was hospitalized.

Tl;dr, the milkshakes reminded him of blood and he freaked out, causing his to have a panic attack and being sent to the hospital.

So, uh, yeah.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed! ^^