Chapter 3

Akashi pulled up the knot of his tie, glancing up to see his reflection in his bedroom mirror. Black pants, white dress shirt, black vest, and a red tie. He nodded to himself and took a deep breath, remembering the reason he was doing this in the first place.

"You really should try talking to Kurokocchi. He's doing better now, I think, and even if he doesn't want to date you, he deserves the right to reject you. He does for all of us after what we did to him." The blond said, looking down at the floor, clearly remembering the harsh way their whole group had abandoned Kuroko when he'd needed them the most. They'd been so stupid, not seeing the worth in him after he was no longer with Akashi, and now they were all regretting it.

"Kise, I can't do that. I don't deserve him after what I did."

"You should leave that to Kurokocchi to decide. It's his right."

Akashi had shaken his head at that."He deserves to never have to see me again. I'd just bring back painful memories."

"Well even if you do, he should get the opportunity to tell you he's moved on!" Kise shouted, clearly annoyed at Akashi's continued self pity. "Aominecchi and I both did it! We both felt horrible trying to talk to Kurokocchi again, but we did it anyways! The least you can do for him is man up enough to face what you did wrong!"

Akashi growled. "You think I don't know that?! I've spent everyday for the past two years thinking about him and hating myself for what I did, but things like this aren't fixed with a simple sorry! It would be better if I just stayed away from him!"

Kise had obviously been startled by the outburst from the red haired Alpha, but after hearing what he was saying, he apparently pushed back whatever surprise he had felt and transformed it into anger at his friend.

"Just man up already! The only reason you're not going to see Kurokocchi is because you're scared that you'll be rejected! You'd rather sit around hoping that if you did go back Kurokocchi would forgive if you instead of actually going to see what he'd decide!"

"I know!" Akashi shouted back. "I know… I know." The redhead was getting progressively more quiet each time he said the words. "I know, but I don't want to give up on him. If I go see Kuroko, and he tells me to never try and contact him again, the very least I could do is accept that, but I can't. I can't just walk away from the person I know is the best man I'll ever meet. He's even an Omega. There's nothing more I could ask for, and I ruined everything."

Akashi was subdued, staring at the table. He could feel Kise gazing at him, and Akashi knew that the reason for the blond's silence was how broken Akashi himself looked. "I'm pitiful right now, huh? I was so stubborn when I was at Teiko. Heck, I was so adamant that I was always right even after I entered Rakuzan. I was so foolish back then!" He said, suddenly even more angry at himself. "If Rakuzan hadn't lost in the Winter Cup, I would have continued destroying lives left and right!"

Akashi was ready to continue with his rant, but Kise had started moving towards the redhead.

"Akashicchi…" He said, drawing his former captain into an awkward hug, keeping him there even as he felt the other Alpha tense. "Go. Go and win Kurokocchi back, no matter what it takes. I'll convince Aominecchi to help too. You and Kurokocchi are both broken now, even with as much as you both try to pretend to be fine. You need to fix him, but if you do, you have to swear to never, never hurt Kurokocchi like you did before, like we all did."

Akashi never relaxed into Kise's hug, but he couldn't stop himself from feeling grateful to have a friend like this. So, even with his resolve shaking more and more every second, he nodded. Kise let go of him after that, and had said a simple, quiet 'bye' before he turned to leave, uncharacteristically silent.

Akashi tried to stop his hands from shaking as he once again ran them over his vest. He'd worked up enough courage over the last week to finally kick himself into action, but the nerves weren't going to go away no matter how much he willed them to, so he turned to the door, taking another breath while looking at the slip of paper he'd had in his pocket. The address of the daycare where Kuroko worked, according to Kise.

He looked himself over once more, his last, futile attempt to procrastinate, before he walked out the door of his apartment.

He'd decided to walk to the daycare in order to give himself more time to calm his nerves, but that had proved unnecessary when he had arrived and been told that Kuroko had the morning off. Akashi has been tempted to leave after that, trying to convince himself that this was fate's way of telling him this was a bad idea, but he could imagine Kise, Aomine, or both, storming into his apartment and dragging him back here once they found out he'd left, so he steeled himself, deciding to wait for however long it took for Kuroko to arrive.

Akashi had been waiting for almost 2 hours before he could hear footsteps clearly coming towards the daycare, and during those hours he'd experienced a whirlwind of emotions that he hadn't thought was possible before.

He looked up then, his eyes darting around frantically until they landed on a pair of people walking towards him. Akashi blinked a few times, silently wishing his eyes were lying to him when he saw Kuroko walking pressed up against another person. His eyes immediately zeroed in on the arm tossed around Kuroko's shoulder, wondering for a second if Kise had sent him here just to show him this, that Kuroko was already far from reach, but he shook it off, hoping that the determination the blond had showed hadn't been imagined.

He turned to face the pair then, realizing that they had seen him too. Kuroko was staring at him. The Omega's eyes were so wide, and Akashi felt a portion of his resolve crumbling. Kuroko had seen him and instantly frozen. The Omega looked like he would cry and guilt was welling up in Akashi's chest. He was finally seeing what he had done to Kuroko, finally realizing the amount of pain he had caused the Omega, and that he was very apparently still causing him.

Akashi opened his mouth to speak, to say anything to Kuroko, but he saw Kuroko open his mouth and say something. He couldn't hear it very well, though he thought it was his name, and suddenly he was being pinned down by a death glare from the redhead next to Kuroko.

He was an Alpha. Akashi could tell that easily, but he seemed familiar somehow. The other Aloha was turning away from him when it finally clicked. Kagami Taiga. The first year ace of the Seirin basketball team, the only guy who had ever really beaten Akashi one on one.

Akashi was glaring now. Annoyed at himself for not deducing that the two would know each other. Kuroko had been obsessed with basketball, even though Omegas weren't allowed on sports teams. It was the reason Kuroko had first approached Akashi, to try and get the redhead to teach him basketball, of course Kuroko had gone to the Seirin team after he'd transferred. The other reason he was glaring was because Kagami Taiga was currently crouching in front of Kuroko. Akashi heard a growl leave his mouth. It was unintentional, but however unreasonable it was, Akashi still thought of Kuroko as his, and though he was disappointed in himself for being so primitive, Akashi couldn't help the possessiveness he felt.

Kagami had apparently said something to Kuroko as the Omega was now walking inside. Akashi had been too lost in his thoughts to notice until Kagami was standing in front of him.

"What the hell are you doing here?! You have no right to be here after what you did to Kuroko!"

Akashi felt a scowl forming on his face. He could feel his instincts telling him that this other Alpha had no right to tell Akashi how to act around his Omega, even while his brain was telling him that Kagami couldn't be any more right, especially if Kagami and Kuroko were dating now.

Akashi wouldn't back down though. He was here, and he was determined to talk with Kuroko, even if Kagami was going to stand on his way.

"I'm Akashi Seijuro." He said. He was trying to force his instincts to calm down, deciding to lengthen the conversation, though it would probably infuriate Kagami more. "Who are you?"

It was obvious his assumptions about Kagami were correct when the death glare from earlier returned.

"Kagami Taiga."

Akashi was slightly surprised at this response, realizing that the other didn't recognize him from their game. Why didn't he? It was obvious he was close enough to Kuroko to know what Akashi had done, but were they really that close if he didn't know who Akashi was before?

"And what might your relationship with Kuroko be?"

"That is none of your business! Nothing pertaining to Kuroko is!"

Akashi was mentally cringing as he egged the redhead on at the same time as he was wondering why he wasn't stopping himself. "Considering that you're the one keeping me from speaking to Kuroko, I'd like to know why."

There was a moment where Akashi registered hearing a snarl, but he was being held against the fence before he could react to the other Alpha's lunge. The tip of one of the fence posts was digging into his back, and Kagami was growling at him.

He was surprised when he was let go, but a cursory glance behind him revealed Kuroko through the window of a daycare. Akashi could feel himself getting ready to walk into the daycare, but the Alpha in him wouldn't let him walk away from a fight. It was itching to assert its dominance, Akashi holding it back with the thought of how it would hurt Kuroko if this really was the guy he wanted to be mated with. Akashi then felt a hand enclose his forearm, pulling him away from the daycare.

Author's Note

Well, as you can probably tell this is just Akashi's POV up to the end of the last chapter. I didn't continue on because I pretty much typed this whole thing up on my phone because my laptop died, so sorry about that. The good news is that I've already got the majority of what goes on next in my head, so once again, I'll probably put that up tomorrow or Saturday. I guess that's it for this A/N. Thanks for reading!