The first time was at Teiko.

He remembered a promise that was held by a pair of heterochromatic eyes. And at first, they thought that it was the promise of love found in a lasting friendship, but little did they know that it was something greater.

They started to keep in touch after graduation and eventually spent so much time around each other in spite of the distance between their prefectures that their friends and teammates insisted that they were a secret couple. His so-called "scary boyfriend" would drop by almost every week after practices to pick them up, and the team would always give knowing looks and raised to each other. Once, they even tried stalking the pair but lost track after they were mislead by the couple, who spotted them merely 5 minutes into their little pursuit. The shadow and emperor never answered any questions or comments regarding their relationship, but that didn't mean that those who suspected anything were incorrect.

"It seems that the only way for us to prevent you from following us-"

"And lingering around my house," Kuroko added.

"-is to confirm that Tetsuya and I are really dating."

Although the couple itself seemed to be unfazed by the reaction, the whole gym probably shook at how loud the team's "Eh?!" was.

That was after the Winter Cup, 6 years ago.

A pair of sky-blue eyes reflected the clouds that he gazed at as he smiled. "It probably doesn't look like it, but I actually can't wait to be in the same school as Akashi-kun again."

Akashi looked down, gracing the phantom with a small smile in return as he sank his fingers into Kuroko's soft locks, fanned out on his lap. "I can't agree any more. Just thinking of spending time in the same place as you 24 hours a day..." he trailed off, playing with his lover's hair, "I'm quite sure that you'll like Kyoto University. After all, their philosophy is all about free spirit. It seemed like something you'd enjoy to be a part of."

"I really would, Akashi-kun."

4 years and 7 months.

5 years back in time was when Kuroko broke his promise.

Although it doesn't mean that he wanted to.

He relived those memories almost every night, but more cursed thoughts and events were etched into his brain, taking the place of the remnants of pleasant promises and dreams that were so close for 3 entire years as the big, muscular men beat him, starved him and drugged him. Those recollections left him waking up with a wet face and reddening wrists every day, for apparently he was thrashing around in his sleep, making the cuffs dig into porcelain flesh. The sky-blue haired boy only understood so little of what these men said, which he identified as English, because he recalled Kagami saying a few lines of his own. But whenever his former teammate said something in his native language, it sounded so interestingly foreign. Sometimes, he would think about his beloved Akashi, too, who would throw in a perfect English sentence every now and then as well. He remembered trying those sentences out every now and then, then the two of them would double over in laughter. But these men, these beasts, as he would call them - poisoned and rot his attraction to the language.

Not only did he feel a strong sense of disgust but he was also an outcast, an alien, even, belittled by these men. But at some point in the second year of his "stay", a young Japanese-American man of his age with would come in regularly after the men left during the day and taught him bits and pieces of the language that he so despised. Blue eyes plead, asking the kind man to set him free and tell him where he is, but his petitions went into one ear of the other male and out the other. And on the last day of his lessons with his teacher, he said something strange. Something along the lines of "Please be careful". The young, blue-haired captive wasn't as acquainted with his English's figurative language yet, so he only responded to it with an arched eyebrow and a meek tilt of the head.

One year later, he would discover what his tutor meant, and why he said such a strange line.

He was blindfolded, his wrists bound behind his back with coarse rope. Then, the phantom was transferred into a car that brought him into some sort of building- a hushed one, at that, but in spite of his lack of sight, he could tell that there was a large group of people.

From then on, it was really just a jumble of events. Transferring from a dark room with a cold floor and literally thrown into a different room, now with the hushed voices coming about again, he remembered a beam of light focusing on his body. At first, he didn't see it. He only felt it, for suddenly, his body felt warmth (much to his relief, since he was wearing a rather sheer top). And a loud male's voice projected through a microphone, "Sometimes you see him, sometimes you don't! Here is our newest and biggest pride, Tetsuya Kuroko. He is an oriental with striking and rare blue pearls to see." The blindfold was taken off, and said boy's ears was filled with lewd hoots and whistles. He scanned his surroundings, seeing a sea of black before him, where the crowd was. If Akashi was here, he would've walked out of this place, which seemed to be a hall of some sort- right after a mere glance. "Now, we'll start the bidding, shall we? Do I see a thousand in the far back? Two!"

And it only took so little time for Kuroko to realize that he was being sold.

With that notion, the phantom sixth man tried to get up and run, he really did. He struggled to push away the random men in suits who ran up to him, taking hold of his arms. "Let go of me!" he had yelled through gritted teeth, clenching his fists until crescent-shaped marks were etched into his palms. Maybe learning the foreign language was beneficial, after all. But the men seemed unfazed by his writhing and yelling. The employees on the other side, however, were not.

A new source of light shone forth as the main door was opened. "Excuse me, I will have to- Whoa!" The man dressed in a pressed, white dress shirt and vest called out to an unknown location, demanding them to call the police and manager as quickly as possible before even more burly men in black suits could attack him.

Kuroko did not even witness the chaos before him, lights starting to turn on, people screaming and running before him, for he was too enveloped in his own situation- that is, the need to run. Invisibility was always his best trait, so why couldn't he disappear before their eyes now? Angry tears gushed down his cheeks as he tried to defend himself, his poor self on the floor getting kicked and punched and spat on by the wretched men.

A sudden stop to the beating made Kuroko's tightly closed eyes open. Why were the men running away? The sound of their footsteps resonated on the high platform as they scurried. His blue eyes roamed over the now illuminated room, too distracted to be aware that he was grimacing at the pain on his sides, neck, head, everywhere. A large group of men clad in police uniforms and armed with guns were surrounding the area. And finally, he could see the disgusting faces of all the people who were interested in such an awful, shameless hobby. All of them, he glared at as he sat alone on that platform. Well, almost alone, if it weren't for a familiar face- one of the men who watched over him while he was chained- had come to make a run for him and grab him. The young boy was too numb and dizzy from whatever they had forced into his mouth to fight anymore as he was thrown over the male's shoulder just as they headed for the back door.

However, the man was stopped in the middle of his sprint as a loud bang ensued from behind him, shooting him straight in the arm that held Kuroko. Too weak to hold the boy, the man dropped the helpless sky-blue haired boy, who winced as he rolled over onto his side.

Half-lidded and drained cerulean eyes snapped open as the sound of feet pounding came closer and closer. Kuroko watched at floor-level as polished, black shoes stopped where his head was and a deep voice from the same body called out to the escaping criminal. "Hey, you piece of shit! Get back here!" The shoe closest to the injured male on the floor rotated his way. "Are you o- the fuck?" The police man, Kuroko assumed, knelt down. "Holy shit. Tetsu?!"