Tigger

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

All Shutoku second years had to take part in work placement, no exceptions. Although the basketball club members had the option of spreading out their work placement out a bit because even during summer holidays, they were busy with camp and hopefully the inter-high. Certainly Midorima intended to do this best to crush Aomine, Kagami and Kuroko to ensure it was Shutoku that made it into the inter-high. Due to how the blocks were set-up this year, he would not get to play either of them until the champions league. He also had no doubt that both Too Academy and Seirin would make it to the champions league. True Seirin no longer had Kiyoshi but they had managed to attract interesting new talents due to their performance in last years winter cup. A lot of people wanted to play for the "miraculous new stars" that was Seirin.

Though Midorima had not had a chance to checkout the new Team Seirin because he had, had to spend a lot of his free afternoons visiting an assisted living facility for his work placement. He mostly worked in the office, helping with the paperwork and other administrative tasks. However, from time to time he was assigned to keep company with some of the younger patients because despite popular belief, assisted living facilities did not just have old people. More often, even kids and teenagers who needed more medical care than their families were able to provide them but for whom hospitalisation would be too much ended-up living at the facility.

Thankfully there was no one quite that young here. The youngest was a woman by the name of Yamamoto Mai, who was in their early 40s but looked not a day past 30 and was extraordinarily beautiful with fuchsia coloured hair. She loved playing Shogi, so the staff had Midorima play with her a couple of times, both to give him a break from the tedium of paperwork and allow her to interact with someone younger than 70. Especially since, as far as Midorima could tell, she suffered from a form of amnesia that made her think she was still in high school.

"She's waiting in the garden," one of the attendants informed Midorima. Midorima noded and headed outside, shogi board and pieces under his arm, "Oh! I almost forgot! Call her Kagami-san today."

Midorima pulled-up short, "Kagami? But isn't she Yamamoto-san?"

"I guess nobody had to explain it to you since this is the first time you are here on a 'Kagami' day, but Mai-san is married and her married name is Kagami Mai. But because of her disease she never remembers all her memories. Previous two times you played with her she only remembered upto high school and so didn't know she was married and had a son," the nurse explained, "That's why her husband left her here. He just couldn't deal with waking-up in the morning with a 50/50 chance of his wife not knowing who he was," she elaborated.

"They met in college you see and so if she just remembers up to high school, she doesn't know him," they nurse went on, "Other times she remembers she's married but not that she has a son or that he's a teenager now. I mean, just last week we gave her son and her nephew okay to come visit her thinking she remembered far enough but then they came and she freaked out because they weren't four and she expected them to be four."

"I see," said Midorima, "Thank you for explaining the situation to me. I'll be careful to call her Kagami-san," and with that Midorima turned away but stopped, the question was at the tip of his tongue, gnawing at his heart, he had to ask, "Her son," Midorima started, deciding on the direct approach, "By any chance is he called Kagami Taiga?"

The nurse was surprised, "Yes, do you know him?"

"He's something of a rival of mine," replied Midorima, suddenly feeling deeply uncomfortable. He really didn't need to know that behind Kagami's smile and wholehearted love of basketball lay this. But perhaps Kagami had already made peace with this situation and that's why he could smile like he could. Midorima wanted to believe that.

"Small world," the nurse was saying, "But don't bring him up," she warned, "I probed a little this morning since the nephew called to ask if it was safe to visit. But its not a good day. Kagami-san remembers she has a son but seems to get confused and agitated when we ask her anything about him. Who knows how old she thinks he is or where she thinks he is or what she thinks he looks like."

"I had no intention of bringing-up Kagami Taiga," Midorima assured her, "Please excuse me," with that he went ahead out into the garden to look for sometimes Yamamoto, sometimes Kagami Mai and play shogi with her.

True to his word, Midorima did not bring-up Kagami Taiga with Mai-san. Instead he discussed neutral things like the weather and food. He also concentrates extra hard on the game because his mind inevitably keeps wanders to Kagami and Midorima really can't help but wonder how Kagami deals with this. By the sounds of it, his cousin is a great emotional support. Midorima wondered how old Kagami's cousin is, if he was in high school, if he was interested in basketball. Midorima could not imagine Kagami talking about anything that was not basketball.

Come to think of it, Midorima knew more about Seirin's point guard Izuki Shun then he did about Kagami. It wasn't really planned. Just that one time Midorima and Takao ended-up running into Izuki and Hyuuga while lucky item shopping and Takao decided they just had to go to Maji burger afterwards. Over lunch Midorima had learnt that Izuki liked making puns, had a little sister, older sister and a mother who were all pun happy. He also learnt that Takao thought Izuki was good looking and Midorima supposed he was in a conventionally cute sort of way. He just didn't much care about Takao saying it out loud. Not that he was jealous or anything.

As the game drew to a close, with victory going to Midorima, he wondered if Kuroko knew Kagami's mother was living in an assisted care facility and it was up to chance whether she woke in the morning remember she had a son and being in a state fit enough to be visited by said son. Something told him that Kuroko has no idea about this side of Kagami's life. It is, afterall, not something you bring-up casually. No, probably the only people in Japan who knows about Kagami's family situation is his cousin and of course the cousin's parents and possibly Himuro Tatsuya. Midorima had learnt through the generation of miracle grapevine about Himuro and Kagami's brotherhood and since they grew-up together, Himuro probably saw first hand Mai's state of mind.

Now Midorima knew but he comforted himself with knowledge that Kagami was never going to find out that Midorima knew. How could he? It wasn't like Midorima was going to call-up Kagami and tell him, "Guess what, I met your mother and played shogi with her."

"Thank you for playing with me Midorima-kun," Mai said, when Midorima was done packing-up, "I hope we'll get to play again soon."

"I still have a few days of work placement to go," replied Midorima, "I'll make sure to play with you at least once before I finish."

Mai beamed, "I'll look forward to it! I tried to teach Taiga how to play but he was no good," she explained, "He's too straight forward."

Midorima couldn't help but smile at that but stopped himself from making a reply, afraid he would say something that would give away that fact that he knew her son. "But Sei is showing a lot of promise!" she went on, "He's only four but he learnt to play by watching me and my sister. Then he played my sister and he managed to beat her! Can you believe that! I mean, obviously she wasn't seriously, who can be with their four year old son but she didn't exactly let him win!" she said giggling.

Midorima however, was abruptly not finding any part of this funny. Suddenly, he was looking at her reddish-fuchsia locks and wondering just how small the world actually was. "Want to see a picture?" she suddenly asked, "The nurses let me have my album this morning. It had some really cute pictures of Taiga and Sei. Not that Sei can pronounce Taiga. He call him Tigger, like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh! But Taiga doesn't mind and even lets me dress him up as a tiger just because 'Sei-chan' likes it so much. I think there is a picture of that! I think my sister sent it to me and the nurses kindly printed it out and put it in the album. I found it this morning," she said as she reached for an album that was on the ground beside her.

"Is your sister looking after your son?" Midorima asked.

"She must be," said Mai as she leafed through the album, "The nurses said my husband was in L.A. I don't have parents or even in-laws. So my son must be with my sister," she said with conviction, "Wish she would bring him to seem me. I asked the nurses, they said they would call her," suddenly she stopped and looking at Midorima with a shocked expression on her face, as if she had just been hit by an epiphany that had left her reeling, "You don't think my husband took Taiga to L.A? He wouldn't do that right? I mean, we were suppose to go together or he was supposed to leave Taiga with me! He can't take Taiga away from me, just because I am sick and in this place! I want to see Taiga!" she declared, suddenly starting to get distressed.

"I am 100% certain Kagami Taiga is here in Tokyo," Midorima assured her quickly, letting the truth of his words add their weight and authority to his tone.

Mai was placated, "Of course he is," she said, mostly to herself, "He's with my sister."

"You were going to show me a picture," prompted Midorima, his curiosity getting the better of him. He had to know, he just had to.

"O yes! Of Sei and Taiga," she went back to looking through the album and soon produce a photo showing two kids, no older than four, posing and smiling for the camera. The bigger of the two was a wearing a ridiculously cute tiger costume and grinning a huge cheek splitting grin. One of his tiger fur covered arm was around the smaller boy, who was simply standing and smiling softly, holding a lion plushie.

Midorima took in a deep breath and slowly released it. Kagami Taiga had changed very little. He would have had to be blind not to recognise him or perhaps it was simply that he knew the picture would be of Kagami that he could pick-up the similarities. As for the other boy, there was no one thing that Midorima could point to and say "that's what gave it away", it was a little of everything that made it clear that the little boy with the soft but happy smile and the lion plushie was Akashi Seijuro.

Takao was working at the offices of a talent agency. Kise's talent agency as it turned out. Midorima discovered the annoyingly loud blond being all giggly, happy and a little too all over Takao when he arrived at the pre-designated Maji burger where he was supposed to share a meal with Takao, and just Takao, before the two of them headed home. Instead, they were now joined by Kise.

Normally, Midorima would have regarded the unexpected addition of Kise a source of consternation and annoyance. But today he was grateful when he quickly realised that Kise's presence meant that Takao couldn't focus on him and it meant that Midorima could think about everything that happened this afternoon and why he felt like punching Akashi and punching Akashi hard. He hadn't even felt that way when Akashi defeated him and Shutoku in the semi-finals of the Winter Cup. Akashi was under no obligations to tell Midorima about his family and he had told Midorima that his mother had died before he entered elementary school. Putting two and two together, Midorima guessed that Akashi and Kagami were probably separated after Akashi's mother's death and they probably didn't meet each other until that day during the opening ceremony of the winter cup when Akashi decided to take a scissor to Kagami.

Midorima tried to recall the names of his kindergarten playmates. There was a lot of -chan's: Kiyo-chan, Ty-chan, Haru-chan, Mako-chan but not a lot of full names. If they were separated before the whole firstname and lastname concept took hold and especially since it seemed Kagami and Akashi knew each other since birth, good chance was that they didn't know each other's full names as kids. "They probably didn't even recognise each other when they met," Midorima reasoned. But sometime between the Winter Cup and now, Akashi and Kagami had reconnected.

"I am being unreasonable," Midorima finally concluded, "I am no longer Akashi's teammate or schoolmate and we haven't talked outside Winter Cup. He had no opportunity to tell me that he found out Kagami and he were related. As for his aunt being in assisted care, that's not exactly casual conversation topic or something I would need to know. Since I know both him and Kagami, it would be reasonable to assume one of them at some point might mention something. But that is all."

"And neither one ever will," supplied a voice, "They might tell their friends but you are not friends."

"Friends…" thought Midorima, "So, that's what's bothering me…"

"Shin-chan, are you alright?" asked Takao, "You are quieter than usual."

"Are we friends?" Midorima suddenly blurted out.

"Midorimacchi, how can you be so cruel!" demanded Kise starting to tear-up, "Of course we are friends!"

"Isn't it Shin-chan who is always saying I am just his servant?" asked Takao, "I mean, to me, Shin-chan is my dearest friend and very important partner."

"So you would tell me… things and share with me burdens that were weighing you down?" wondered Midorima.

Neither Takao nor Kise knew how to reply. "You mean like a girl breaking my heart or something like that?" asked Kise finally.

"Yes and also important stuff from your past like how your mother died," said Midorima, "Or that you were separated from a beloved cousin but reconnected with him recently. Especially if the cousin is a mutual acquaintance."

"Shin-chan," started Takao, "Did something happen? That's oddly specific."

Kise was able to guess one step ahead, "Are we talking about Akashicchi by any chance? He's the only person I know who doesn't have a mother."

"I shouldn't say anything," Midorima thought, dropping his gaze to his half eaten burger, "It would be a terrible betrayal of trust," it was then that Midorima realised he didn't have anyones trust to betray. Everything he had learnt, he had learnt purely by chance. Well, except for the finer details of Kagami's mother's condition. That was told to him in semi-confidence by the nurse. He definitely could not share that but as for the rest…

"You remember I told you that I was playing shogi with a patient at the assisted living facility I am working at?" Midorima asked Takao.

"Yep," replied Takao.

Midorima let out a breath and looked at both Takao and Kise, then dropped the bombshell, "Today I found out she's Kagami's mother and Akashi's aunt on his mother's side."

"What!" they exclaimed in unison.

"I can't get into detail about what's wrong with her," said Midorima, "But today she showed me some pictures of her son and nephew. It was definitely Kagami and Akashi when they were kids. About four I think. Probably taken just before Akashi's mother died. The rest is a guess but I think Akashi and Kagami were separated, lost touch, forgot each other or rather, didn't recognise each other when they finally met again."

"We… we have to tell them!" cried Kise, "If they don't know then…"

"They know," Midorima interjected, "I mean, they know now. I am not sure when they figured it out. My guess is that our all knowing former captain probably recognised Kagami before Bakagami recognised him. They have been visiting Kagami's mother together. At least that's what the nurses said."

"Okay," said Takao, "This is a big shock but why are you upset and wondering if we are friends or not?" he wondered.

"I don't know why I am upset," said Midorima, "I guess the whole thing made me realise how much of a closed book Akashi was and is. We all knew he didn't have a mother but he never told us how he lost his mother. None of us pried because it would have been rude to ask. But all that time playing Shogi, discussing everything and anything, Akashi never gave me his confidence."

"Well Shin-chan still hasn't allowed me to meet his sister," pointed out Takao.

"That's something different!" barked Midorima, "I don't want my sister's heart stolen by a shady guy like you!"

"Shin-chan is so mean!" cried Takao.

Kise laughed, "Are you sure you aren't more worried about Takao's heart being stolen by your cute little sister?" he teased.

Midorima glared at Kise as Takao laughed heartily but then a somber mood descended on the table as all their thoughts returned to what they had just learnt, "Maybe it was just painful for Akashicchi to talk about," Kise offered, "As for him and Kagamicchi being cousins… it's not something you just text right? Maybe it'll come out naturally! Like, Akashicchi will call a get together and we'll all go and Kagamicchi will be there and be all familiar with Akashicchi and we'll all be like 'when did you two become friends!' and then Akashicchi would be like, 'actually we are related' and then everything will come out!" Kise suggested.

"Kise, even you can't be optimistically delusional enough to think Akashi would ever do that," replied Midorima, "Don't get me wrong. I know I am being unreasonable. Neither Akashi nor Kagami owe us information. I just…" Midorima sighed, trying and failing to express himself.

"You just realised that maybe you didn't know Akashi as well as you thought?" offered Takao, "And that hurt cause you thought that at least at some point in middle school, you were good friends?"

Midorima nodded. "I think Akashicchi does think of us as his friends," Kise finally said, "But I just think that Akashicchi will always keep both his friends and enemies an arm's length away. I think that's just his nature."

"Maybe," acknowledged Midorima, then he sighed, "Takao, you can record what I am about to say if you like."

"Ha? Ah, well okay," Takao whipped out his phone.

"If either of you want to know something about me. You can ask," said Midorima, "Because I don't want to keep my friends an arm's length away."

"Oh! Anything?" asked Takao, his eyes taking on a mischievous glint.

"Within reason," Midorima amended hastily.

"Shin-chan," started Takao in an earnest tone of voice, "Where do you keep your porn collection?"

"Takao!"

"I have one!" said Kise, "On a scale of 1 to 10, how handsome do you think I am?"

"Go die!"

"So mean, Midorimacchi!" and just like that, the topic of conversation turned to lighter topics and by the end of the night, Midorima felt much better. The three of them agreed to not mention what they learnt to anyone else. Especially Kuroko because either he knew about Kagami and Akashi and so what they had to say wouldn't be news to him or he didn't know and he might be deeply hurt that Kagami and/or Akashi didn't think to tell him. With that agreement, the outing finish and they headed homewards.

Author's Note: I am sorry. I am never writing another KnB fanfic ever again. Or taking this concept further either. It's just a dumb idea that lodged itself into my brain and refused to leave. The idea was born out of the fact that we know Akashi only has a father and we never hear anything about Kagami's mother either only that he was supposed to live in Tokyo with his dad but his dad went back to the US without him because "the paperwork for the school had gone through". The excuse seemed kind of lame but I figured what actually happened was because Kagami got into the Basketball club and decided he was going to defeat the generation of miracles, he just decided to stay in Tokyo. I think that had he continued to be disappointed by Japanese Basketball he would have returned to L.A after semester 1 or something.

Still, my brain decided to make-up a backstory/headcanon where Akashi and Kagami's mother's are sisters who were born with a hereditary neurological disease. Akashi and Kagami have a small chance of manifesting the disease but it's pretty tiny. Although it does hang over them. Akashi's mother killed herself when Akashi was four because she didn't want to slowly lose her mental facilities. Akashi's father, who never liked Kagami's parents or Kagami, decided to cut-off all contact and let Akashi believe that Kagami also died. Then Kagami and his family moved to LA and so it's all mute. But when his mother starts to deteriorate, including losing the ability to speak english consistently, Kagami's father moves them back to Tokyo but eventually can't deal with his wife's worsening condition and so returns to LA.

Winter Cup happens, Akashi and Kagami finally figure out who they are and start visiting Kagami's mother together whenever they can... that's pretty much the background behind this fic.