Chapter Nineteen: Memories

"North," whispered a young women, hovering above a burly man, "North, it's time to wake up."

"Martha, just a bit longer," he groaned, turning over on the makeshift bed. With a shake of her head she gave the man one last long look before marching over to the corner of their little cottage and picking up a bucket.

"Well then," she huffed, head held high as she opened the door, "I suppose I'll just have to ask someone else to help with painting the school."

Just before the door swung shut the man called out desperately, begging for her to wait, before he hopped out of bed, jumped into his clothes, and ran to her side, "today's going to be great! I feel it, in my belly!" North declared as he continued walking, past Martha and down the road, "come on! We can't be late! We have to finish by this afternoon!"

With another shake of her head, hand to her hips, she smiled, and trailed after. Completely ignoring the sense of foreboding in the air.

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With a jolt, a blue head popped up from a pile of blankets, eyes just a teensy bit wide and skin just a tad paler than usual. Turning, he glanced, wearily, out the window and into the pitch black sky.

Jack had already told him of Sandy's dream inducing sand, and Pitches Nightmares, but this was neither, and though he squinted and stared and searched, there was no sand of any kind to be found.

If anything, it felt like a memory.

But one that certainly did not belong to him.

At a sudden noise he jumped, almost completely out of bed, hands clutching his blankets and drawing them with him. Kuroko would have felt embarrassed, once he found out the sound was from his phone, but he was too tired to care.

"Hello," he answered, glancing at the clock and surprised at the hour, "Kagami-kun, why are you up at two in the morning?"

"Well," Riko cheerfully replied, with Kagami yelling in the background, demanding his phone back now, "we are having a sleep over."

"…"

"It's kind of a last minute thing, Hyuuga came up with the idea—"

"Don't blame me! This is all your-!"

"aaand we're coming over, so be prepared to open up those doors and let us in!"

The call ended.

"…what?" he muttered, staring at the phone, blinking. Before giving a sigh and trudging out from his room. Carefully navigating in the dark, he flicked on the lights in the kitchen and the hall, and set about preparing tea and water for everyone.

After the day before, Kuroko was tired. But that was nothing a nice milkshake couldn't cure. So while he waited, for both his team and the shake—though mainly the shake—he reflected on the day prior. In which they found out Murasakibara could see Jack.

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"Fuzzy?" Jack echoed, still perched atop his staff, "like hairy candy?" he looked absolutely mortified. Kise's laughter did not help in the matter.

Though smiling, just a bit, at Jack's reaction, Kuroko noted the stares and whispers, the fans just around the corner, eyes questioning everything. And so he directed them to a more quit place, somewhere he and Aomine frequented often in the old days.

Soon they sat at an abandoned table deep within the recesses of the library*. But there were no books open, no notes being taken. Gah, Jack physically flinched at the mere thought. Still, for a place full of boring books and stuck up people, the place was rather relaxing.

The chairs though…he refused to touch them.

"So," Kise began, leaning forward in his chair—which was a tad too close to Kuroko, making Jack wonder why the other didn't just punch him—"what do you mean by 'fuzzy'?"

The giant shrugged, plopping another candy in his mouth, why the bag wasn't empty by now, no one knew, "Fuzzy is fuzzy." He replied simply.

"Can you see details, or colors?" Kuroko tried instead.

"Eh…both?" the giant tilted his head to the side in concentration, amethyst eyes looking over Jack in a bored manner, "more color, but I can tell his eyes are blue, hair is white, and he's wearing a blue shirt and brown pants…"

"Hoody," the spirit corrected, Murasakibara hummed in reply, but made no correction to his statement. As far as he could tell, the hoody was a blue mess of color, Jack could say it was a poncho, and he wouldn't be able to deny it.

"Why is that?" the Copycat muttered to himself, unable to comprehend why he was able to see Jack just fine while the other only saw a blur. Jack only shrugged, happy enough to be seen, even if as some glob of color.

"Perhaps we can find something here?" Kuroko decided, glancing about the mass amount of books about spirits and ghosts within their section. In the end, none wanting to leave, as relaxed as they are and having nothing else to do, they agreed.

Though Jack couldn't read some of the books, and Murasakibara grew to find the ones in their section boring—so he hunted down ones on candy instead, Kuroko and Kise found a few that looked helpful.

It came as no surprise when they weren't.

For some reason, the library never had the answers he was looking for, but it did always have clues, hints, with a hidden smile, Kuroko recalled how Aomine would grow frustrated with this place, and leave, only to come back the very next day.

Jack resorted to staring over Murasakibara's shoulder and asking what certain words meant. The giant eventually grew annoyed, when his candy ran out, and Kuroko took over Jack's 'lessons', while he went to go fetch some more. Kise threw the plan off track, though, when he asked for Kuroko to read him a story, a fairy tale about the wind and a chime*. It was around this time the giant came back, and soon after the story was finished the rather unproductive day was finished and they all went home.

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With a content sigh, Kuroko sipped at his vanilla milkshake and waited upon the coach. It wasn't until he was halfway finished with the beverage that the bell rang and Riko called from the other side of the door.

Letting Seirin into his home was the equivalent of playing a radio in the library. The noise and commotion that took hold of his little abode chased away his fatigue. And though he still had no idea what was going on, he patiently sat at his table, and listened as the team prattled on about everything and nothing, ordering pizza while they were at it.

He could wait for answers, he decided, he'd wait till tomorrow.

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A/N:

* They sat at an abandoned table deep within the recesses of the library: a line kinda stolen from 'Not what we'd expect', chapter 3. Because, you guessed it, it's the very same library, in the very same section.

* Kise threw the plan off track, though, when he asked for Kuroko to read him a story, a fairy tale about the wind and a chime: this 'fairy tale' is the one Kuroko told Kise in 'Not what we'd expect', chapter 4.

Anyhow, thank you all for sticking with me! Especially those who review! Thank you all so very much! I know this story is highly confusing, but only two people know what's really going on…and they aren't going to say anything anytime soon.