On Rainy Days

disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi

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Chapter 3: Under the Rain

A cold, ice-like breeze gently greeted his already trembling body yet again, causing him to huff in a slight annoyance, as he closed the window a little too harsh that the majority of his classmates, even his teacher, looked over to his seat, eyeing him in confusion as to why the Akashi-sama slammed the window roughly, and some of them blushed upon seeing him, which wasn't a rare sight for him anymore; he had gotten too used to get an unwanted attention, that he no longer felt the giddy feelings inside of him whenever someone looks at his way, or shows their interest in him, and instead, it tired him out already; he didn't like to be the center of attention, at all.

Nodding his head apologetically, Akashi flashed a smile that'd make anyone go on their knees just to see it with their own eyes, as the attentions were shifted to the front again after the teacher let out a cough. He propped his chin on his hand, focusing on the teacher's rambling again, and it was lucky for him because he sat at the back of the class, as he wasn't always looking at the board, because, somehow, the blue sky outside attracted his interest more, as it reminded him of a certain someone that'd been invading his mind ever since; the boy with a yellow raincoat blanketing his body that was running around the busy street to catch frogs, and tadpoles; someone with silky blue hair he longed to touch, and also the owner of a pair of the most beautiful baby blue-colored eyes Akashi had ever seen in his life—a weird boy he, fortunately, had taken an interest in.

Just the thought of him alone making him smile unknowingly, and Akashi had to cover the small, yet sincere smile on his face with the back of his hand.

This is dangerous, Akashi muttered in his mind, watching as the gentle breeze brushed past the trees at the school yard, swaying them lightly, and for the reason he couldn't fathom what, his heart started to race. No, Kuroko is dangerous; he could kill me without having to stab me with a knife. Okaasan, what should I do?

The event that was happening yesterday kept on replaying at the back of his mind; it was like a dream for Akashi, and he still couldn't believe that the person under the yellow raincoat, as well as the boy with shiny blue hair with matching eyes were the same person, because it was just too impossible to be true—it was as if the God had been hearing his undying plea to be happy for even once, and He sent him such an angel like Kuroko to make his life better—much, much better than before; Kuroko Tetsuya even managed to make him lose his focus on whatever he was doing, or forget everything in mind because he was thinking about him too much, when they hadn't even interacted that much, and had only seen each other twice. He was wondering how much his brain would damage if they were getting much closer, because the bluehead would probably keep on running around in his mind, and wouldn't want to get out of his head; Kuroko was bad, like, really bad for his health because he always tends to quicken his heartbeat and make him get all flustered with everything he does.

Not that he minded.

Kuroko Tetsuya. He spelled it carefully in his mind, and much to his liking, it felt nice on his tongue, and his smile grew wider at that. Kuroko Tetsuya. Kuroko Tetsuya. Kuroko Tetsuya. Kuroko. Kuroko. Kuroko. The name was so pretty; Akashi wouldn't even get tired of rolling it out from his tongue.

Tetsuya.

The sudden urge to blush had made him covering his entire face with his hand, really, why did he blush over something like that? Why was he blushing just because the thought of calling Kuroko by his first name crossed his mind? He shouldn't have blushed; they were just acquaintances and weren't close enough to call each other by their first names yet. And, they just met a few days ago and were still considered as strangers but, seriously, what was he thinking?

"You must've gone crazy, Seijuurou," he mumbled under his breath—more like to himself than letting it out for the whole class to hear. Besides, his incoherent words were buried off by the loud bell that echoing throughout the school buildings, signaling the end of the fifth period; the lunchtime. Sighing, Akashi closed his textbook, taking out a lunch box his maid had prepared for him from his bag, then walking out from the almost empty class to eat lunch along with his teammates at the canteen.

As he passed by the neighbor classes, he tiptoed a little to see the inside of the classes, he was also scanning the students in the hallway one by one to spot a familiar baby blue hair that should've been standing out—completely ignoring all the commotions around him, but as much as he had sharpened his eyesight to get to find Kuroko, he still couldn't catch a glimpse of baby blue hair, not even an inch of it. He had doubted it that they were even going to the same school, or his school was bigger than he thought that he couldn't even find him that easy—which wasn't the case at all; he, after all, as the Student Council President, had known every places in his school, even the hidden ones, so he should've found Kuroko easily, yet he hadn't even seen a tuft of his baby blue hair anywhere.

"Akashicchi, are you looking for someone?" his blond-haired friend, Kise, asked as he sipped on his drink, looking at him curiously. The other Kiseki stopped whatever they were doing to look at their captain who, upon hearing Kise's question, yanked his head to them in a split second, blinking at the sudden attention. The expressions of his teammates were the same; they were as curious as Kise, because he'd been looking around the canteen for God-knows-what and didn't even finish his lunch, but they covered their curiosity with their usual demeanors: Midorima was pretending to not care, as he ate his hand-made lunch, but he kept on glancing at him; Aomine gave him a bored look, when he was actually as curious, as he remembered Momoi's words that Akashi had been acting different lately; and Murasakibara looked indifferent, eating his snacks in silence—he was probably the only one on the table that wasn't that curious.

Lowering his eyes to his lunch box, Akashi replied with a "...sort of." and munching back on the sausage quietly, seemingly didn't want to continue the talk.

The rainbow-heads were confused, and surprised—minus Murasakibara who already got up to buy other snacks, but decided to brush it off instead; they, after all, didn't want to dive in even deeper if Akashi didn't want to talk about it.

Kise was trying to change the subject, "Anyways, have you guys heard about the rumour surfacing around the library committees?"

"What rumour?" Aomine asked uninterestedly as he let out a yawn, before he swallowed a meatball.

Midorima pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he said, "I don't care at all about that kind of stuff, nanodayo, so I never hear of it."

"I heard about it before." Akashi looked up, suddenly remembering about the talks his classmates were gossiping about back in the class. "But I don't think it's true."

"Well, but they said they witnessed it by their own eyes, Akashicchi!" Kise exclaimed, "And as for Aominecchi and Midorimacchi, there's a rumour that our library is haunted, ssu!"

Midorima sighed, "And the other students believe it?" he asked as he wrapped up his lunch box, already finished it off. Murasakibara came back soon after, chewing on his favorite Mauibo and seemingly didn't want to join the conversation. "It's not like I care or what, but the rumour is simply idiotic, nanodayo."

Aomine gave no reply, as he finished his lunch as well and opened a magazine he'd purchased earlier before he went to school; he didn't even spare a glance at his teammates anymore and was drowning in a sea of pictorials of his beloved Mai-chan instead.

"Like I said," Akashi ran a hand through his red locks, "The rumour is probably made up by someone for a reason."

Kise whined, already giving out his puppy dog eyes, "But," he started, "how about a senpai who was searching for a book in one of the shelves and saw a book he wanted wasn't there, but when he looked down for a few seconds and looked back to the bookshelf, the book was there? And he didn't see anyone!"

"Probably someone took it back to the bookshelf but he didn't notice them." Akashi pointed out, eyes were slightly shifted to the side to look for light blue locks again, and when he found nothing, he focused back to Kise.

"No!" the blonde was being defensive, "And, how about one of my fangirls who saw a pile of papers lying on the ground, and when she called her friend to help her to retrieve them back, the papers had been arranged neatly on the table and she found no one, ssu!"

"Indeed, someone might've been collecting them all and placing them back on the table." Midorima said, "I don't care at all but there's no way our library is haunted."

"But, Midorimacchi!" the blonde whined, turning his head to Akashi quickly, "Akashicchi! Please, find out the truth behind that rumour, ssu! If the rumour is true, then I won't go to the library anymore!"

"That's stupid, Kise." Aomine, having listened to their conversation, piped in, and was followed by a loud "SO MEAN, AOMINECCHI!" from Kise.

Akashi sighed, but agreeing nonetheless. "Okay. I'll do it during the patrol tomorrow."

"Are you for real, Akashi?!"

"Hmm."

"Yay! Thank you, Akashicchi!"

Akashi was glad he'd gotten up or else, he would've been enveloped in Kise's tight embrace.

/

"Young Master, I apologize that I'll be late a little as I have to fetch Masaomi-sama from the airport. My apologies, Young Master."

Widening his smile that'd made his cheeks hurt, Akashi collected his belongings, failing to notice his blushing classmates upon seeing his wide smile, and walking out the class once he was done with a good mood; smile never brushed off of his face that the students in the hallways swooned over his smile, but Akashi didn't even mind it even a bit, because he was too preoccupied with watching the raindrops that falling down quickly, as the image of a certain someone appeared in his mind. When did the last time he, someone who had hated rain since a long, long time ago, welcome it with open arms; even hoped for it to always come?

Probably because of Kuroko. And his smile widened, if that was even possible.

Usually, Akashi would get fed up if his chauffeur was late, as he had something important to do at home rather than wasting his time just to wait for him to come, but for today—only for today, Akashi promised—he hoped that his chauffeur would take a long time to pick him up, because he wanted to take one step closer to Kuroko, and find out more about him to pay up his curiosity about this strange, fascinating blue-haired boy.

The raindrops were still pouring down when he had got out from his school buildings, as he saw the students trying to cover their bodies from the rain, and some of them already covering themselves using umbrellas. The strong thundering was heard and it slightly shook the grounds, and was accompanied by a thunderclap in afar. The raining was growing heavier each day; he just hoped he wouldn't be getting sick because he almost constantly didn't bring his umbrella.

Moving his legs towards the bus stop a few meters away from his school, Akashi had to stop in his track in the midway when he caught the movements of a yellow raincoat, squatting down in front of something, which he assumed a puddle, in the other side of the road. A blue umbrella was laid out besides him, and Akashi was a little perplexed as to why he needed an umbrella when he already wore a raincoat.

Already knowing who it was, Akashi crossed the road hurriedly; the raindrops fell on him harshly, soaking him all over his body, yet he didn't seem to care, because he was too focused on the yellow raincoat figure, who didn't seem to notice his presence at all, and instead, kept on looking into the puddle. Akashi was afraid that he would rip off his lips because he was smiling too much.

"Hey." Akashi greeted him once he had stood near Kuroko. An old lady brushed past him, grumbling about him standing in the middle of the sidewalk and blocking her way, but Akashi didn't seem to hear her, and squatting down besides Kuroko instead. "Catching frogs again?"

Kuroko looked up to him, a little startled of Akashi's sudden appearance—he was used to be the one scaring someone, after all—but it was hidden behind his blank expression. "Oh, Akashi-kun, hi." he greeted him back monotonously. "Yes, but they keep on running away, don't know why."

Heart, please stop beating so fast! "Oh." Akashi plainly responded, getting a little nervous about their close proximity. "I can help you if you want." then he added quickly, "If you don't want me to help you, then fine. I'm not forcing you or anything, okay?"

The throbbing pain inside of his chest gradually intensified as Kuroko looked at him intently, not even responding to him. Droplets of water hitting both of them, and that made his vision a bit blurry, but that didn't stop him to take in the beautiful sight in front of him; Kuroko really was shining under the heavy rain.

Kuroko took his umbrella afterwards, handing it over to the confused Akashi. "Here."

"What?"

"You're completely soaking wet, Akashi-kun." the bluehead, face was as blank as ever, moved closer to the stunned redhead, holding his umbrella on top of his soaked body. "Hurry, take this, or you'll get sick."

That was said with a monotone voice, and, if Akashi wasn't in a trance because of their closeness and how their knees almost touched, he'd get amused, but he was too mesmerized to even respond; his smile had faded away, and he was sure he was blushing, with eyes were widening slightly.

"Akashi-kun?" Kuroko asked confusedly, tilting his head to the side, "Do you want me to hold it for you?"

Too cute! Okaasan, please help me! "N-No, it's fine. Let me hold it by myself." he quickly answered, snatching the umbrella from Kuroko, and their hands touched, making him to shy away after, turning his head to the side in embarrassment, "I'm sorry, and thank you."

"It's all right." Kuroko said, getting up from his position. Akashi got up, too, and as much as he wanted to avoid the bluehead's eyes, he couldn't take his eyes off of those sky blue orbs that made him forget to breathe and instead, drowning even deeper into them. "You can use it if you want, Akashi-kun."

Akashi didn't know how to react, and only gave him a simple "thank you", again.

The heavy rainfall slowly grew subsided, only a little, because it was still pouring down, yet it wasn't that heavy like before. Pedestrians went past them, almost constantly hit against Kuroko, who did nothing in return, and was staring at him without a word. Did Kuroko hear the loud thumping inside his chest? He couldn't possibly know that his heart was beating so fast, right?

"Your face's getting red," Kuroko then pointed out, catching Akashi off of guard who quickly covered his face with his other hand in panic. Did he look that transparent?! "You should go home, Akashi-kun. I think you're starting to run a fever."

Sighing, Akashi was relieved because Kuroko seemed to not notice that the reason why his face got red wasn't because of a fever. "Alright." he managed to say, although his heart felt like bursting out in any second.

"Then, see you, Akashi-kun." Kuroko bowed down politely, turning around, facing his back on Akashi, then walked away.

But, instead of going to the bus stop to wait for his car to come, Akashi trailed behind Kuroko, a small smile appeared on his face, and he no longer felt the cold of the wind that blew past his slightly shivering body. He watched the raindrops fell on Kuroko, and how Kuroko almost tripped on his own foot, and how he snapped his head to the right and to the left, which he guessed to find an appearance of frog, and he smiled, and smiled, and smiled again that he had to reprimand himself to stop smiling because people around him started to look at him weirdly.

Then, he stopped.

He, too, stopped.

Quickly, Kuroko turned around to face him again; they were two steps away, and, was that only his imagination or there was a frown on his face before his face went blank again?! "Why is Akashi-kun following me?"

With a racing heart, Akashi stepped forward, causing them to be a few centimeters apart. "Kuroko hasn't answered my question yet." he spoke, lips were slightly trembling because of the cold, but he didn't care; what he was doing was staring into Kuroko's eyes fully, and he wanted to scream out loud at how mesmerizing they looked; he wouldn't get bored staring into them all day, at all. "About me helping you searching for frogs, and tadpoles."

Kuroko shook his head quietly, "You don't have to, really, Akashi-kun."

"Why?" Akashi blinked, Does Kuroko think I just annoy him?!

"Akashi-kun should really go home. If you're sick, the whole school will be in uproar." Kuroko explained, feeling a few spots of rain on his face, and he wiped them off. The rain was still pouring, and he hoped that it would bring the frogs and tadpoles out of their hideouts.

Ignoring Kuroko's remark, Akashi asked, "Why do I never see you at school?"

Kuroko replied, slightly confused at Akashi's sudden interest, "I usually spend my time in the library, or rooftop; I like being alone." he watched Akashi's startled look carefully, before he continued, "Contrary to Akashi-kun, who is always being surrounded by people around him—like the sun, I'm more like a shadow; hidden in the dark, someone barely notices me even though I stand before them. So, I think it's better for me to go to the places where nobody is there." then, the most enchanting smile Akashi had ever seen formed on his lips, and Akashi had to bite back the urge to let out a surprise gasp. How can someone be so beautiful, even without intending to?! "It's even more surprising that Akashi-kun manages to find me in the crowds, even talks to me so casually."

"Kuroko," Akashi balled his fist, inhaling deeply. His heart didn't want to stop beating so fast, and boy, was he going to die soon because it slowly made him hard to breathe. "how about, from today onwards, I become your friend?"

A little stunned, Kuroko couldn't hide his usual blank facade, gazing at Akashi in a mild surprise, as to why a God-like like Akashi, said something like that to him; a normal boy who had nothing special in him, unlike himself.

The fallen raindrops were witnessing how two pairs of red and sky blue eyes collided, leaking out the unfamiliar emotions they'd just felt towards one another.

/

author's note: it's the third chapter! I couldn't believe I manage to go this far ;;;; again, I'm so sorry for the grammars, wrongspellings, typos, OOCs, etc., and thank you very much for the reviews, favs, and follows! /hearts/ see you in the next chapter~! ^-^