The uncomfortable smell of anticipation hung in the air. Kuroko knew that everyone was panicking about today.
For the past week, everyone who worked for the orphanage had ranted and raved about the handsome man wanting to adopt one of the children.
Since the place was ran by all females, they gushed about the wealthy man like he was their wet dream. Kuroko tended to ignore the nauseating gossip that they spread to one another. He preferred to just quietly read in the corner of the room.
He did try to engage with the other children but he found the conversations about the new Disney film tedious. When he had asked the lady in charge for a new book, she had bought him a 'quantum physics' book as a joke.
To her surprise, the young ghostly child pulled a dictionary from the nearby shelf and began to read while familiarizing himself with the new vocabulary. Kuroko Tetsuya was six years old, he had never been fostered or adopted as he was brought to the place aged five.
His past was something only seen in horror movies, therefore the other kids tended to steer clear of the boy.
Not like he minded, often he just observed the others silently seeing what other didn't.
Nobody really spoke to Tetsuya, the other kids all frightened of him because of his low presence and often quiet persona. The ladies of the orphanage suddenly sprang into action, shouting for the kids to assemble.
Kuroko didn't bother moving. He was currently hanging upside down from a climbing frame, unable to escape as the blood rushed to his head.
The teens who often walked by the orphanage had come to dislike him, since they were usually started by his almost invisible presence.
With a cocky laugh and despicable grin they picked up the nonchalant child and placed him on the frame. Kuroko, could probably get down, he just didn't want to.
The teal haired boy let out a short sigh as he swung his legs around, letting himself crash to the damp floor with a rather loud 'thud'. He waited a moment to let the pain sink in before rising to his feet and moving towards the house.
As he opened the door, he saw all the kids in their usual positions, ready to introduce themselves.
He didn't bother watching as he silently passed the staff into the bedrooms.
The kids were dismissed to play as they started to invade the room he was in. He tutted mutely as the children began to fake being themselves, they would obediently walk to a room and do something 'grown up'.
Lies, Kuroko thought to himself.
The blunet, had not yet seen the man whom everyone wanted to go home with however, he had identified that the rich man was seemingly kind and honourable.
Kuroko himself, thought these were good traits in a father despite knowing that he would not even spare him a glance. After all, that's what his mother did, she gave him to his 'father' and left without even looking at him.
His biological dad, well he was something akin to an evil monster.
From Tetsu's knowledge, he had no good memories of the man.
Only pain.
The boy was never even told his birthday by the man.
Not once, they didn't celebrate it.
Though, there was one particular day where the torture would get ten times worse every year.
Tetsu called this day his 'birthday' as a guess.
The small boy never knew what it was like to have a family, he guessed this would be the reason he wasn't as desperate as the others to be taken in by someone.
Why would they want him? He had scars so deep that the doctors classified them as wounds.
He had bruises that would probably never heal.
Finally, he had trauma so great, he screamed in his sleep. Nobody would want Kuroko Tetsuya, the broken shadow.
Or so he thought...
Akashi Masaomi walked through the orphanage proudly watching the children go about their day.
To him, these children all seemed a bit too quiet.
He wondered through the place looking at them and seeing if any showed any of the qualities that he would want in a son and someone who would get along with his other children. When he was introduced to the bunch, he hadn't seen any child who really stood out to him, he had adopted like this before and found a kid who was outstanding.
In fact, he had found three. Ryota, Daiki and Murasakibara all were very special in their own unique way. From the get go, he had seen something special in them. Masaomi was about to give up his search and look into a different orphanage, yet he couldn't find it in him to leave.
He noticed that all of the children here, were young aging from around three to ten, he guessed that the place must be good at getting the kids here homes.
He continued to stroll into different rooms inspecting the strangeness of the place.
Quickly he found himself out of rooms to discover and gave a disheartened sigh.
Akashi spotted an empty chair in the corner of one of the large bedrooms for multiple children. He slumped down in it, something he would never normally be seen doing.
After five minuets passed he looked up only to notice that he wasn't alone in the room.
A small child was sat on a nearby bed with a book resting in his hands.
The kids eyes were glued to the page, he wondered if the lad had even spotted him sitting there.
"Hello, what's your name?" Masaomi asked calmly to the boy, for a moment a shocked expression sat on the teal-haired boys lips.
"Kuroko Tetsuya, and you are?" He asked politely, making Akashi wonder how he could not have noticed him before.
"Akashi Masaomi, you weren't introduced to me before" the man stated to the young boy who placed the book neatly down.
"I don't bother, nobody notices me anyway" Kuroko spoke back sweetly.
"Do the kids here not appeal?" Kuroko continued, relaxed by the conversation.
"Why would you say that?" Masaomi questioned, suddenly feeling intrigued by the boys observation.
"You hid away from them, don't worry they always act a little robotic when potential parents come" Kuroko explained with a small smile.
"How old are you Kuroko?" The man asked, thinking that the boy seemed very mature.
"Six" he stated bluntly in reply to the question.
"Do you want to be adopted by someone, you don't seem to mind being forgotten?" He asked hoping for a less deadpan response.
"I would like to be adopted but I am weak and not many find my past appealing, not to mention it's hard to notice me, all the other kids call me a ghost, how can a parent was someone they can't see?" Kuroko spoke calmly, not letting his emotions show.
"I can see you, how would you feel about becoming Tetsuya Akashi?" Masaomi inquired watching the usually blank expression turn into a small grin.
From that moment, Akashi knew that he had found the child that he was looking for.
"I would like to adopt a young child named Kuroko Tetsuya" Masaomi told the ladies who ran the place watching their faces drop into one of concern.
The first to speak was a young lady named Alison who worked there.
"Sir, are you sure it's just Kuroko has a lot of well, problems..." She trailed off leaving the red-head to look at her in confusion.
"What she means is, Kuroko came here aged five, his father was a highly abusive and cruel man, some of the things that he did made a therapist cry never mind poor little Kuroko" the owner Kellie told him slowly.
Masaomi looked at her in shock, such a sweet boy had, had such a horrid past?
"I am not trying to make you double think your decision, but Kuroko also has night terrors and from what we can tell PTSD, he's very well spoken and good at observing however, he can not be allowed near certain objects" she explained with a pale look setting into her face.
Akashi gulped as he waited to hear her out.
"Knives, whips or rope, irons, fire, blunt objects and he doesn't like basements, that's all I can think of, off the top of my head" She told him with a saddened look.
Masaomi took a moment to think over his decision before remembering the boys kind smile and smart words.
"And I shall take care of my son carefully and make sure that he never has to feel any pain ever again" he declared making the women almost swoon.
"Well, let's fill in the paperwork then and you can officially call him your son" Kellie smiled as she pulled out a clipboard.
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That night Masaomi went home to his sons to tell them of their new family member.
"I have finally found another child whom will be coming to live here within the week" Akashi announced making all the kids smile.
"What's their name, father?" Seijuro asked, he was the spitting image of his father and was defiantly going to be as smart as him too.
"Formally Kuroko Tetsuya, now Akashi Tetsuya" he told the boy before looking at the others for their reactions.
His blond-haired son beamed, joy flooding through his heart at the idea of another brother. The blue-haired Daiki looked calm but in the boys eyes he could see excitement, plus the large grin gave his feelings away.
Atsushi continued to eat a bag of chips a small smile playing on them in-between mouthfuls.
Shintaro's eyes sparkled as he decided to ask "when's his birthday?" Masaomi frowned, the orphanage and Kuroko both didn't know.
"He was never told, his father was a very disgusting and evil man" Akashi stated hoping that his children would understand the boy had a bad past.
"I see" Shintaro mumbled.
"Tetsuya, however did say that it was around mid February, I asked him why and he told me it was just a hunch" he explained, glad to give the green-haired boy an answer.
"Aquarius" he muttered before wandering off.
"I'm sure that he will fit into our family, father" Seijuro stated before going to find his brother.
Masaomi smiled, he was glad that his children were so kind-hearted, he really wanted them all to get along.
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"I heard that the ghost got adopted by that rich man" one of the little girls in the room gossiped.
"What no way, how when nobody can even see him?" Another voice rang out. Kuroko didn't speak, he only listened to the nearby conversation knowing what they were going on about.
"That little freak is just a waste of space, he's worthless and a nuisance" one of the older kids spat out, he had really wanted to be adopted by a family soon.
"Shut up, he might be awake" the original voice muttered, not wanting to be embarrassed by the other kids because of what she knew.
"Who cares?" The older one spoke out again. Tetsuya curled up in a ball with his hands to his ears. He just wanted to get some sleep before he would finally be free of this awful place, but apparently the other kids just wanted to make his night more miserable.
As Kuroko shut his eyes, he saw someone whom he wanted to forget. Silky strands of maroon hair entered his vision before Kuroko noticed the cold lifeless chocolate eyes that he loved so much staring up at him. The teal-haired boy let his own cyan eyes shoot open as he sat up from the bed with deep ragged breaths leaving his mouth. As he looked around, Kuroko noticed that all the others were asleep, he let his pale feet touch the floor as he silently walked out of the room.
Kuroko opened the ever-unlocked front door and walked into the eerily dark playground.
He hated those memories, someone he loved that he could no longer imagine without a mass amount of pain flooding his heart.
Kuroko clutched his chest, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart and soothe his tears away, just like he always did. His small eyes looked upwards towards the night sky where a silver moon hung, looking down at him.
Kuroko could suddenly hear his friend's voice singing to him, the tune that he always sang when there was too much screaming or Kuroko woke up screaming.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine" Tetsu began quietly, rocking himself backwards and forwards imagining his friend close by.
"You make me happy, when skies are grey" he continued through sobs and tears.
"You'll never know dear, how much I love you" Kuroko whimpered knowing that the last part that usually lulled his to sleep in the boys arms now only meant grief.
"Please, don't take my sunshine...away" the teal-haired boy whispered the last part like it was a wish letting the final tears fall before wrapping his arms around himself to shield his sickly body from the harsh cold.
He found his legs moving before he wanted them to, leading him back into the warmth of the house. Kuroko pulled his legs close to his chest next to the slowly dying flames of the fire and fell into a deep sleep.