Warning: Cringey as heck(?), OOCness, and I do NOT own Kuroko's Basketball. Inspired by Light In The Darkness and Solitude's Light. (Go check those stories out! I personally loved them.)

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"At some point, you just pull off the band-aid, and it hurts, but then it's over and you're relived."

- John Green

Previously, On '6 Lights, 1 Shadow' . . .

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"I just informed the others of this finding, they're on their way." Seijuro replied to the silent question, placing his phone down and turning to face the other. "Though unfortunately we won't be able to act right away. Others may get suspicious and start hassling her for it." He mentions, a slight frown etched across his face. Shintarou detected the smallest hint of nerves and frustration creeping along the edge of their bond and right away sent a mini wave of comfort and determination back across to counteract it, which made the redhead relax just a tiny bit more into his chair. "You've done enough, Seijuro. Eat and get some sleep. For now, just trust the rest of us to take it from here. We will definitely help her." The green haired teen assured gruffly, hesitantly patting his fellow bondmate on the shoulder. Seijuro just gave Shintarou a small, tired smirk and said;

"I know you guys will. You're all my bondmates after all."

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Chapter 7

Baking and Bandages

Flip

The echoes of laughter and conversation were familiar sounds to Tetsuki's ears as her own footfalls were barely making a sound as she made her way towards her locker, the route already clear and etched into her brain. This was basically routine.

Flip

She was almost at the end of her novel now. She'll have to find a new one to read, or just read the same one again. It definitely wouldn't be the first time.

Flip

Finally reaching her locker, Tetsuki paused and looked up from her book for just long enough to input the password and hang up her bag. She exchanged her book for her notepad and pencil case before shutting her locker door and trekking down the hall towards her first class of the day. Culinary.

It's been three days since she last saw her two bondmates and she was dead set on trying to avoid them for the rest of the school year. As much as she could anyway. She would probably still see them during class or catch their gaze during Inspection, but nowhere else.

Tetsuki entered the classroom which was filled with loud and chatty students, and went over to her station to wait for the teacher to arrive. The class was starting a new two-person assignment for planning a multi-course dish. 'I wonder who my partner will be...' She thought curiously, fiddling with her pen and raising her head to watch the teacher enter the room and move to stand behind the head kitchenette, clapping to garner everyone's attention.

"As stated yesterday, we'll be starting a group assessment to see how well you can plan and execute a multi-course meal with classmates that you may or may not have interacted with yet this semester. And no, you can't pick your own partners because I have already decided on the pairings." A chorus of groans. "Hey, you guys cant always have your way. Once I say you and your partners names, please move to a station together- and only two groups per kitchenette! Now, Taishi and Hanako..."

As the teacher called out names and they greeted each other and moved to a station, Tetsuki looked down at her notebook and sighed softly. If she could at least choose her own partner, she could've been with one of the other inferiors in this class-

"And our last two, Rei and Junpei, then Murasakibara and Kuroko." The teacher shut her binder and clapped her hands together, grinning brightly. "Make sure to find your partners quickly and begin discussing on a course of action! I expect you all to at least have a general outline of what meals you want to create before class ends!" The room immediately filled with the sound of senseless chatter and conversation as Tetsuki's eyes quickly flitted around to watch every other group begin planning.

"You Kuroko?" A gruff voice asked from over her shoulder and Tetsuki's fingers twitched slightly around her pen and she turned around only to meet a chest of a person. Slowly raising her head, she had to look so far up just to see the person's neck. 'Just how tall is this guy-'

The teenager- teenager?- standing behind her was at least 6'9", with long limbs and large hands that could probably crush her entire head without breaking a sweat. He had straight shoulder length hair that was a unique shade of lavender that fell lazily over his eyes and reached a little past his shoulders. He was slouching slightly, but Tetsuki was still able to pick out the amount of muscle the teen had bulked in his arms and shoulders. His uniform was slightly ruffled. All and all, this teenager looked more like an adult than anything despite currently despite chewing on a chocolate bar like a 6 year old.

She bowed her head slightly. "Yes I am. You're Murasakibara?" The purple-haired boy bobbed his head and, while securing the chocolate bar in his mouth, pulled a chair over from one of the desks, plopping down onto the seat and placing his notebook on the station's counter. Tetsuki followed his actions quickly, grabbing another chair and sitting down opposite of the boy as she gripped her notepad a bit tighter. "What should we start off with?" She asked him, looking down at the paper and spinning her pen between her fingers. Murasakibara hummed slightly before writing down an idea in his notebook.

As time passed by and class neared its end, Murasakibara and Tetsuki managed to finish up the planning stage of the assignment with no issues and split up tasks for when they would start gathering ingredients tomorrow. The violet-haired man actually ad some great ideas. When Tetsuki was putting her pen away and closing her pencil case, she suddenly felt a large weight on the top of her head that tousled her hair. Before she could say anything, that familiar click in the back of her mind echoed in her eardrums and a tingling sensation traveled down her spine. Flinching back, the tealette backed away on unsteady feet from the purple haired teenager whose hand was frozen midair. As Murasakibara opened his mouth to say something, he was cut off as the bell rang.

Seeing her chance at escape, Tetsuki prayed for her presence to lessen even further before blending into the crowd of students trying to cram past each other and into the hall. Slipping past a pair of girls loudly chatting about their next class, Tetsuki sped down the hall towards the stairs and tossed a glance over her shoulder just to see the purple haired teenager pushing past some slow walkers to stand in the middle of the hall, his head swiveling back and forth. His figure vanished behind a pillar as the tealnette took the stairs two at a time, only slowly down slightly as she reached the second floor while breathing out a sigh quietly.

This is not good... if Father finds out, he'll tell the Counsel. Not unless they find out during Inspection. Then I'll really be done for.

Tetsuki pushed open the door to her mathematics class and headed towards the back corner desk, trying not to bump into anyone. The only seat that wasn't taken by a student or a group of friends was right between the window and a separate seat that was occupied by another student reading a fairly thick biology textbook.

His dark, forest green hair that parted to the left across his forehead really stood out among her other classmates, as well as his black-framed glasses and the bandages around the fingers of his left hand. Though Tetsuki suspected those were only due to not wanting to damage them or stabilizing them since they did not seem injured or bloody underneath.

She knew who this was. He was Shintarou Midorima, the top student in this class and one of the top students in their year, yet he was also one of the quietest. After the first few days of school, she soon noticed that he was an superior when he once rolled up his sleeves due to the warm weather outside and a lack of air conditioning in this one room.

They've never sat beside eachother before since Midorima preferred the front row of desks, so Tetsuki didn't exactly understand why he decided to sit in the back today but didn't bother questioning it as she sat down and quietly placed her notebook and pencil on the desktop. There was still a few minutes before the class would start and Tetsuki didn't really know what to do since she rushed out of her first class and got here earlier then she usually does.

After a few seconds, she felt a person's eyes on her and she turned her head slightly to look over at the teen sitting beisde her who adverted his gaze from the corner of his eyes back to the textbook in front of him.

'Wait... he was able to notice me sit down? '

Tetsuki felt the nagging itch under the wristcuff but she pushed the unease out of her mind and looked back down at her notebook blankly. Midorima cleared his throat slightly, shut his textbook and turned his head and opened his mouth to ask her something-

* BRIINNNGGG *

Saved by the bell yet again. The teacher entered the classroom just after the bell with a stack of papers in hand and a large smile on his face. Class started immediately after he handed the papers out and began explaining the lesson they were doing today, which Tetsuki already studied before. Because of that, she pulled her pencil out of the case and started writing along the worksheet that was handed out.

By the time the teacher finished the lesson, Tetsuki was done the worksheet and put her pencil down with a sigh as coversations among the students started up again as they got to working on their own sheets. She was going to continue staring out the window until the end of class and ignore a certain greenhaired teenage superior when said topic of thought quietly cleared his throat and turned slightly in his chair to face her.

"I noticed the bandages. Are you... alright?" Midorima asked under his breath, his eyes narrow and focused on the strips of off-white bandages plastered across her forehead which covered the bruises from her last beating. She turned to face him as it would only be polite and nodded her head, folding her hands together in her lap.

"I am just a bit clumsy, thats all. It's... its nothing serious." Tetsuki whispered back, blinking slightly in confusion as the green haired teenager just huffed quietly and pushed his glasses up further onto his nose while sliding his worksheet to the edge of his desk beside his textbook. "If you dont mind it, I can properly bandage them for you. The ones you have on now are not exactly done well." Midorima stated bluntly, turning to look back at her with a sharp gaze.

"You don't need to-" She started but the male cut her off politely. "No, I insist." The two stared at each other silently for a few moments while quiet conversation and gentle noises of a pencil on paper continued on in the background. Tetsuki was closely examining his expression and wondering if he was hiding any secret motive, but his eyes were completely genuine and the tealette looked back down at her desk before sighing softly and nodding. "Alright. Then I accept. Thank you."

I wanted to make this longer but alas... I needed to get this chapter out.

Previous Chapter : Meetings Elsewhere and Trust Us

~ MissAnimeWizard15 ~