.oO0Oo.

When he comes, he will feel like a long lost friend.
You try to remember his name, even though he has been next to you all the time.
You'll jump in to his embrace and when your bodies collide together…you remember…

Your eye lids slowly closing, your breath slowing, heart beat soon stopping.

His name was 'Death'.

Every day when Kagami walked home, he would always walk past his neighbor's house. A teal haired man never failed to sit in his garden every day, even if it rained or snowed. He would always sit in the middle of his small back yard on a rock. His garden was beautiful, blood red roses and snow white lilies bloomed beautifully every year. Even at winter, his garden was beautiful, frost and ice forming on his dead flowers and trees. The man would always give a small smile, yet lonely when Kagami passed his garden. But what made Kagami wonder was his eyes. They seemed emotionless, sad and longing. Like a bird longing for the sky, but it can't fly with broken wings.

What made Kagami curious was that the man didn't have a red string tied to his finger. Kagami had to admit, he had seen strange things sense he was in his diapers. He saw these, red small strings connected between people. These people would, somehow always end up in an relationship, was it good or a bad one, he didn't know. He soon would start call them 'The red love string', well never in public because no one but him saw them. But why didn't the man have a string?
The man always sat on the garden, wearing a beautiful yukata, his hands hidden in the sleeves. But the string should be seen even because of that, it follows its partner. But the man never did anything else than sit in his garden, he never greeted nor talked to others in the neighborhood. Kagami told himself that the man should be blaming himself for not doing anything else than sit there, if he went more outside in public he would probably find his partner soon. But the eyes betrayed that thought. The man was waiting for something, a lover perhaps, or was he mourning?

This day, Kagami thought he would change his autopilot and try to approach his neighbor.
He knocked at his neighbors small gate at the back yard, earning the man's attention.

"May I come?" Kagami hesitated at first, but he already knocked so the hell of it.

The man's eyes gave off a small twinkle and gave a small nod. Kagami opened the small gate and walked inside the garden. He stepped on small stones till he came where the man once sat. But the man was gone.

He suddenly felt a small poke on his back, and he turned his head so he could see who poked him.

"Maybe you want to take a seat." the man offered, holding a small chair with his hands.

Kagamis eyes widened, the man's voice was soft, almost feminine, yet a hint of tiredness.
He nodded and sat down on the small chair. He ran his gaze the garden, it was truly beautiful. It was truly breathtaking.

"Red roses symbolize love and blood. White lilies symbolize semen, innocence and purity" the man said quietly not to disturb Kagamis thoughts, but Kagami heard it well.

"Huh? That sounds like something you would put on someone's grave." Kagami said bluntly. The man gave a sad smile.

"Yeah.." the man breathed out "… It's something you put on someone's grave, usually for couples. The red rose are for their love for each other. The lilies are for their own purity and greed."

The man took his hands out of his sleeves, Kagami didn't notice when the man had handed him a chair, but now he could see it clearly. The man had a black string on his finger, connected to himself. Did he love himself, was he unlovable? But the man seemed so innocent and kind.

"Are my hands that interesting?" the man questioned. Kagami only now noticing that he had been staring too long.

He scratched his neck and hummed. "Well, I've always seen these strange strings connected between two persons. And your string is connected you. And it's all black, it's usually red"

The man's eyes widened. "Oh… Is that so."

"Oi! You don't need to believe me. No one really does. Well anyway…" Kagami shook his head, and tried to stand up and just walk home. But he was stopped when the man said something.

"No, I believe you."

Kagamis eyes widened, really? He didn't take Kagami as a fool?

"I know that you are telling the truth. And I have a good reason to do so. Care to listen to my story?" The man questioned.

Kagami sat down and gave a small nod. If this would make the man happy, instead of spacing out all day, he would listen. He would admit himself that he wasn't the person to listen, because he would often fall asleep.

Kagami gasped. "Oh my name is Kagami Taiga, 16 years old." Kagami made a small bow even though he was sitting.

"Oh you're my neighbor I suppose. I'm Kuroko Tetsuya, 30 years old." Kuroko answered. "No.. maybe I shouldn't use that surname anymore.. he would be angry at me."

Kagami raised his brows at this.

"It's a long story, do you still care to listen?" Kuroko questioned. Kagami huffed, but nodded.

"It already started when I was born…."

I was born in to a wealthy family, not poor, nor rich. I was born in to a happy family, whom I would rip apart a week after my birth. I got sick a week after, but this formed in to lung failure. I've always been a weak person. I tried to stay away from others as much as possible; I didn't really want to bother them. I never really did anything besides to read book in our schools library. No one really was in the library so; I spent my time there often alone. But this came to an end when I met five people. They were a happy bunch; you could see that from far away. I've always admired them in secret. Wanting to become like them, healthy and sociable. If I was to talk to others, it would have been them.

They had come to the library, thinking it would be empty. They were a pretty famous bunch in our school, everyone wanted to be with them. So they had escaped to the library, so they could have their time alone and just enjoy their time together without weird stalkers and admirers.

They soon found me when one of them, by mistake, sat on me. Thinking the seat was empty. That's how they started talking to me, probably out of pity that I was always alone when they saw me. But later, they hung out with me because they had taken a liking to me. I never told them that I had an illness, I didn't want them to start treating me specially, or maybe I was afraid that they would reject me. I decided I should give it a try to really befriend them, and ignore my illness, the illness shouldn't be stopping me from having friends. The fool I was. I soon had an attack. I almost scared my friends to death when I collapsed to the floor and my face turning red, coughing, and trying to gasp for air.

I later woke up in a hospital, only to be greeted by my friends. They demanded for an answer, and the answer they got was much worse than they had expected. Truly, they started treating me differently, like I was a child without hands.

The tallest one, Murasakibara Atsushi, often shared his food with me, saying I should eat more, to gain more straight to fight my illness. He never shared his food with anyone.

The laziest one, Aomine Daiki, often bought me magazines I didn't even bother to look at, I'm not that type of a person really. But it was his way of telling he was concerned. He would also buy me my favorite milkshake.

The most talkative one was Kise Ryouta, he would always try to hang out with me when he had free time. He was a really known model at the time.

The groups Tsundere was Midorima Shintaro. He was a fellow horoscope follower, always following his luck. He always bought his lucky item of the day with him, never bothering how shameless it was. He even bought me my lucky item for the day, always warning me if my day would turn bad and I should watch out. He never really told his feelings to anyone, but if you followed his actions, you could notice he was really concerned.

The leader of the group was Akashi Seijuuro. He was a devil from hell to others, but he always was kind towards me. He would often threaten the group if they fooled around, but he never hurt them. We soon became lovers…

Kuroko closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He turned his gaze towards the gapping Kagami.

"You knew Kise Ryouta, and Akashi Seijuuro? And you were Akashis lover?" Kagami almost shouted.

Kuroko pressed his finger against his lips "Shh… What? Do you have anything against homosexuals?"

"What? No… But didn't Akashi disappear 14 years ago?" Kagami questioned.

"…" Kuroko looked at Kagami "He did."

And thus Kuroko continued his story.

Akashi and I, were almost inseparable, we were always together. We went out on dates, hung out at school. Even though we were dating, it didn't bother our friendship with the others. Our relationship never got in their way. That soon changed when my world started to darken.

I remember that Kise shouted my name, and Akashi cried and cried, holding my hand like I was going to leave them. I also remember the smell of iron that lingered in the room we were in, and Aomines, Murasakibaras, and Midorimas blank faces. My vision soon became black, and all I could hear was muffed voices. And thus I was again admitted to the hospital. This time, I couldn't leave. My lungs were failing me, and even the small amount of stress would cause me an attack, and the next time would mean death.

They visited me regulary, they bought me flowers and helped me with my daily activities. As time passed, I was unable to do daily things. I was too weak to even hold up a book. I never had the appetite to eat, nor could I go out, because of the weather, or because there was gasses in the air… I was slowly giving up hope. And that meant that my health would worsen. My small ray of sunshine was my friends, especially Akashi. He would be there next to me, no matter what, or when. He even skipped weeks of school. It didn't bother him, nor the teachers, he was an honor student after all. He would even answer my phone calls in the middle of the night, but that rarely happened because I often didn't have straight to hold my phone for a long time. My appetite got smaller each day, and my sleepless nights got longer. My body grew sickly weak, my face many shades paler.

My dad and my doctor were searching for a lung donation. While there was one-lung donation, there wasn't two. I needed to operate both lungs. My time running out, and money slowly burning. There wasn't much money left because of the hospital and other bills.

My mom didn't visit me so much, she probably didn't have the courage to do so. Sometimes when I talked to her via phone, I could often hear her small sobs. Inside we were all crying. My parents cried because I soon was to leave them. I cried because I didn't want to die, and my small ray of shine growing smaller every day. Akashi never cried in front of me, but I could see how he tried to stand strong in front of me. My other friends cried because they couldn't see me in such weak state.

"But you survived, you're still here!" Kagami tried to comfort Kuroko.

"Yeah…"

My family soon started to find small white letters in their mailbox. On the letter was always written 'To Kuroko' and the letter would always be filled with an amount of money and a small paper with 'Get well' or 'How I miss walking with you in the park'. The letter was anonymous, but it was obvious who it was meant to. The money was used to pay my hospital bills and such. The time ran, and my time was getting shorter by the minute. I've had minor breathing attacks when I hadn't gotten enough air, when I had to take medicine through an inhaler. But there wasn't any major attacks, yet my health always stayed the same; it was bad.

I remember one night, Akashi sneaked in to the room I was in at night. I was alone in the room, there wasn't any other patient in the room, to give me the chance to relax and hopefully be cured in peace.

"How are you feeling Tetsuya?" Akashi whispered, caressing my hair and running his hand from my hair down to my cheek.

"I've been better" I answered with an hoarse voice.

Akashi gave off a small smile. "Of course you have dear, of course you have."

That night we became one. I remember the heat and the how intense the air was, it was so thick, I thought I wouldn't get air. Yet I remember the best was when Akashi said to me:

"No matter when or where you are. I'll be there for you. Even if you cannot see me."

After that night, Akashi disappeared.

"So where did he disappear to?" Kagami questioned.

Kuroko shook his head and simply whispered. "Maybe another time."

Kagami didn't want to pry in to Kurokos past, if he didn't want to talk about it, so be it. But hopefully he would learn about it sooner or later.
Kagami thanked Kuroko for hearing his story and told him that he should go home.

Kuroko watched Kagami stand up and thank him, soon Kagami walked out from the gate. He patted his chest and left his hand lying on his chest, feeling how his chest moved up and down.

'So he can see strings connected to others.' Kuroko thought. 'That's amazing isn't it, Akashi-kun?'

Kuroko gazed up at the sky and took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"It's a nice weather we're having to day isn't it? Seijuuro" Kuroko whispered to himself and let his hand drop down from his chest and let it dangle on his side. A single tear running down his cheek.

"It's beautiful, the sky and the air… it's so beautiful…"

The next day Kagami noticed his neighbor walking outside, not sitting in his usual seat in his garden. But outside.
Kuroko held a single flower in his hand. Kagami decided to follow Kuroko, and ended up at the graveyard.
Kuroko placed the flower down in front of a gravestone and gently kissed the lonely stone.
Kuroko stood there for a long time, talking to himself.
Even Kagami understood some lines Kuroko said:

"Oh, the others have visited you already?"
"I'm sorry that you're grave doesn't have a name on it…"
"I'm doing fine, we're still together aren't we?"
"Thank you for saving my life."

Soon Kuroko left the grave and probably walked home. Out of curiousity Kagami walked to the grave to look at the name written on the stone.
But he found it nameless.

In front of the lonely grave was a yellow and dark blue rose. A violet flower Kagami didn't know the name of. A red spider lily, with a small toy frog standing next to it. And lastly a blood red rose, a snow white lily and a light blue flower.

"Nee, Akashi-kun. Return if possible. I miss you badly…" Kuroko mumbled and hugged himself.

So much life is running through my veins, yet it all seems to go to waste.

.oO0Oo.

The end.

So, what did you think? I wanted to write something sad… don't know if I succeeded or not.

For those who didn't understand. Kuroko was ill when he was little and it formed to lung failure, that's pretty common to small kids. Kuroko, became later must worse and needed someone to donate lungs to him, but found no one. Instead, Akashi lastly donated his lungs to Kuroko, seeing this as the last chanse for Kuroko to live longer. Akashi is thought as disappeared, because this was done in secret, not even his father knew of this. And thus Akashis grave is nameless.