The final buzzer sounded as confetti shot into the air, falling down like a waterfall onto the court. A shocked silence fell over the entire stadium before loud cheers erupted into the air, spectators jumping out of their seats and applauding the Winter Cup Champions.

Rakuzan could only stare as Seirin rejoiced on their win, with the referee shouting that the new Winter Cup Champion was Seirin High School.

We lost, was all that went through their minds. And yet, they still couldn't help feeling happy at that. Maybe winning was getting boring, after all.

"Congratulations, Kuroko," Akashi offered out his hand. "It's your win. But next time we'll be sure to win."

The bluenette smiled and took the hand, clasping it between his own, "Of course, Akashi-kun. And we'll play again, and again, and again..."

"Aren't you sad, Sei-chan?" Mibuchi asked as the three Uncrowned Kings plus Mayuzumi were packing their bags and about to go back to their hotel they were staying at for the Winter Cup.

The former Kiseki no Sedai captain smiled faintly, and Mibuchi took a second to marvel the genuine smile, not yet used to their captain showing such an expression, "I suppose but losing just makes me want to win more, I suppose."

A faint smile crossed the shooting guard's face as he hugged the smaller male from behind.

"Mibuchi..?"

"It's okay to cry, Sei-chan," he whispered in the other's ear, feeling the small shoulders shake. "It won't make you any less stronger."

A small sniffle was heard and a soft, "I suppose..." was all that was made out as a small sob passed the captain's lips. Mibuchi just smiled and held their captain in his embrace, facing him towards his chest as he shushed him quietly, stroking his hair soothingly.

After about five minutes or so the sobs had quieted down to small hiccups as Akashi removed his face from the other's chest, face slightly flushed and eyes brimmed with red, "I'm sorry," he choked out.

"You don't need to apologize, Sei-chan."

"Hey, not to break up this touching moment," Nebuya interrupted, poking his head back into the changing room. "But the bus is about to leave."

"GAH! I almost completely forgot! We're going out for celebratory dinner tonight and I'm not even dressed properly!" Mibuchi cried, sprinting out of the room and practically dragging Nebuya and Akashi with him. "Come on! We need to get dressed as soon as possible!"

Nebuya just groaned as Akashi let out a small smile.

"Aren't you going to eat, Sei-chan?" Mibuchi's voice was barely heard over the loud munching of Hayama and Nebuya, more so Nebuya as he was already on his fifth plate of food while Hayama was only on his third. They were getting odd and some scathing looks from most customers but decided to not interfere with the two's eating habits. The staff was less pleased since it was a high-class restaurant they were supposed to be eating like civilized human beings at, but then again 'civilized' wasn't in the two's dictionaries, according to Mayuzumi.

"Not really, Mibuchi-senpai." the redhead replied, poking at his tofu soup.

"But tofu soup is your favorite Sei-chan!"

"I'm not that hungry, Mibuchi-senpai."

He almost shouted out bullshit, of course you're hungry! Because the small captain hadn't eaten breakfast nor lunch that day and hadn't even eaten dinner the day before either. His skin was a pasty white color and his usual vibrant red hair was dull. His newly regained monochromatic eyes were still a bright magenta but lacked the usual liveliness, instead replaced with a hallow and slightly far-away look he often found on Mayuzumi's face. He so wanted to just force-feed the captain into eating, because surely this was not healthy for an active athlete and anyone of Akashi's caliber.

"Please just eat something Sei-chan," Mibuchi pleaded, picking up the other's neglected spoon and taking a portion of tofu. "Just one bite?"

Looking into the eyes of his teammate, Akashi concluded that he wouldn't be left alone until he complied to the other's wishes. He could be stubborn and keep refusing, because he really didn't feel like he could stomach anything at this point, and the headache he had since the beginning of the fourth and final quarter was almost overwhelming now that he felt just like dropping dead right there. However, common sense told him to just give in and accept the other's wishes, so he sighed and hesitantly took the tofu into his mouth, watching the delighted expression on Mibuchi's face as he chewed slowly and swallowed (he honestly felt like throwing up just looking at the food, but for Mibuchi's sake he braved through it and swallowed the bile in the back of his throat).

The other two had stopped with their apparent eating contest and were now staring at the two rather strangely, "You two alright?" Nebuya asked, as Mayuzumi paid no heed to the others around him and was instead reading a light novel he had just purchased.

Mibuchi smiled, "Yes, we're fine Ei-chan. Sei-chan just wasn't feeling very well." Akashi put on a fake smile that he hoped would fool his teammates, at least for now, that he was alright.

A snort was heard, "You sure he's sick? He's Akashi, that should say enough." Mayuzumi retorted, flipping to another page.

Akashi felt a sharp pang in his head as his vision tilted for a second before coming back into focus, hearing the muffled shouting of Mibuchi next to him. It wasn't as loud as it should be, he realized, feeling like his ears were stuffed with cotton; everything was muffled and distorted. His vision turned blurry again and this time, it didn't turn back, his vision tilting again as black spots appeared in his vision. He chocked sound left his lips which seemingly caught the attention of the others, for all eyes were turned towards him.

"Sei-chan?" a blurry image of black appeared in front of him, their voice muffled but still slightly recognizable. "Sei-chan are you alright? Can you hear me? Sei-chan!"

His vision tilted again and the last thing he remembered hearing was a loud shout of "SEI-CHAN!" before blackness consumed his vision.

Mibuchi paced worriedly inside the waiting room, biting his fingernail and chipping off some of it in the process. The others had long since stopped trying to get him to calm down, realizing it was futile to get the mother figure of the group to stop worrying about their captain. It had been a bit over 3 hours since they had brought their captain to the hospital. The doctor had only said to wait out here until they had gotten Akashi stabilized enough for them to see him.

Mibuchi bit his lip as he unintentionally recalled what had happened just a few hours prior.

"SEI-CHAN!"

Mibuchi cried out in terror when his captain collapsed, catching him before he hit the floor. The others jolted out of their seats with a start, even Mayuzumi had put down his book to see what the commotion was about.

"Sei-chan wake up!" Mibuchi cried, shaking the small boy by the shoulders in an attempt to get him to respond.

"Akashi?!" Hayama exclaimed worriedly, tapping the redhead's face in a futile attempt to try to wake him up.

The boy in his arms started to shake violently, his head thrown back as a strangled gasp passed his lips. He twitched and convulsed violently in Mibuchi's arms as he only held him tightly to his chest.

"Call an ambulance!" Mayuzumi barked, barely even registering that Nebuya was already doing just that at a frantic pace. "He's having a seizure!"

Time seemed to be going slow to Mibuchi; he only registered the convulsing Akashi in his arms and his raspy breaths, his eyes wide yet unseeing to the world around him. It hurt Mibuchi to just look at him, so scared and defenseless. It was a face he had never seen Akashi make – not like he would ever think about seeing it, anyway. They had only been with the original Akashi a mere few hours and the other Akashi was anything but expressive.

Loud sirens snapped him out of his trance as the restaurant was cast in a blue and red glow. The wailing of the horn hurt Mibuchi's ears as he winced, feeling Akashi calm down ever so slightly from his convulsions. The paramedics wheeled in a stretcher as they carefully strapped the shivering Akashi onto it, placing a breathing mask over his nose and mouth to regulate his breathing.

"Akashi..." Hayami muttered worriedly, for once not bouncing around like an overactive child.

"Sei-chan..."

Mibuchi was snapped out of his flashback when the red operating sign over the doors went out and revealed a green-haired man with glasses in a long doctor's coat pulling off his gloves. The others had practically jumped out of their seats, not even bothering to mask the worry on their face.

"How is he?" Mibuchi asked worriedly, knuckles white and face pale.

A slight pause that felt like an eternity to the others before, "He's stable," collective breaths of relief were heard, "But we can't allow visitors just yet."

Grief instantly overtook them again, "But why?!" Hayama exclaimed, looking like he wanted to grab the doctor's shoulders and shake some sense into him, "You said he's stable, so why can't we see him?!"

The doctor sighed and pushed up his glasses, looking down at his clipboard, "Though he is stable, we still fear he could have another seizure or worse, a relapse from his previous ones."

"Sei-chan had more seizures?" Mibuchi's voice was small as he looked about to faint, as Nebuya carefully steadied him from actually collapsing.

The doctor nodded grimly, "He had one on the way to the hospital and two during procedures. His heart also stopped twice so we had to resuscitate him quite a few times. We also found a few more...disturbing observations."

Mayuzumi looked up from his book.

"He's severely malnourished. His weight is only 45kg, and we think he may also have gastroenteritis; however, based on what little information we have we cannot definitively tell as of yet. It could be an infection or just himself not providing his body with enough food. We do not yet know the cause of his seizures, but the most plausible theory is epilepsy or even frequent brain aneurysms. These could be easily triggered by high amounts of stress or anxiety. His brain waves, when scanned, showed rather alarming acts of activity that normally wouldn't be there, leaving us to assume he has some other mental and/or neurological disorders."

A shocked silence had overcome the group as poor Mibuchi looked as if he wanted to faint right then and there. He even swayed dangerously and Nebuya had to catch him before he hit the floor.

"I...understand this news might be quite shocking to you. However I need to ask you a few questions, seeing as his father is out of the country at this time." the doctor said, flipping the next page of his clipboard.

"And what questions might you be asking?" Mayuzumi answered coolly, seeming to be the only one who was calm but was anything but.

"Has he had a history of mental and/or physical disorders?"

"He has Dissociative Identity Disorder, I believe. But that was the only thing we thought he had."

"I see..." light glinted off of his glasses so they couldn't see what his eyes were saying, "Thank you for confirming that."

4 pairs of eyes watched the doctor stroll away, leaving the room enveloped in silence once more.

"Malnourished huh..." Nebuya muttered, his voice low, "He did seem thinner than he was when we first met him."

"But if he's hungry why wouldn't he eat?" Hayama questioned, watching as Nebuya guided the hyperventilating Mibuchi to a seat.

"He's probably gone so long without eating that his body isn't used to it," Mayuzumi commented quietly, "I'm surprised he could even look at the food back at the restaurant."

"But Sei-chan seemed fine during the game!" Mibuchi cried, sitting upright in his seat and temporarily startling the others, "So why did he just collapse now?!"

"Don't forget that was the other Akashi who played for most of the game," Mayuzumi retorted bitterly, "Akashi only played for the fourth quarter."

"The stress of getting us all near the Zone must've been taxing," Nebuya commented, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall, "He's good at hiding what he truly feels, you know."

"I have to agree with the monkey on this one," Mayuzumi said, earning an indignant 'hey!' from Nebuya, "I mean, I'm not good with psychological stuff or anything to do with Akashi in general, but he's been trapped in his own mind for years now; coming out all of a sudden could have put serious stress on his mental state. Plus adding the stress of his first lost, it could have very well caused his seizure."

Another heavy silence came over the group of second and third years, with only the occasional sniffle from Mibuchi.

"Should we tell his old teammates?" Hayama questioned, giving Mibuchi a tissue with a 'here, Reo-nii' and a small 'thank you' from said person, "I mean, they do care about him right?"

"...to be completely honest, I don't know," Nebuya spoke up, voice quiet, "You heard them during the game right? They were all cheering against Akashi, for him to lose. They had to know of his mental state right? How losing would affect him?"

"Not all of them were cheering against Sei-chan though," Mibuchi sniffed, wiping any stray tears with his sleeve, "The purple-haired giant – Murasakibara, I think? - I couldn't hear him cheering against Sei-chan."

"Maybe the guy isn't so bad after all," Nebuya huffed.

Mayuzumi sighed, running a hand through his silver locks, "I'm not saying that most of the things that Akashi did were right, but he's not completely in the wrong either. Imagine a twelve-year-old being forced to have a 'winners get all' mentality, topping it off with a mental disorder. You don't come out from that all rainbows and sunshine. That kind of pressure on a kid can seriously mess them up and how they view the world."

"Even if the other kids couldn't do anything at the time, the adults should have at least stepped in to help," Hayama frowned.

"I agree."

"Seriously, though, should we tell them? Someone's bound to get worried or even suspicious with Akashi's lack of presence everywhere." Nebuya commented.

"How would we even contact them?" Mayuzumi frowned.

Mibuchi was about to open his mouth to retort but was stopped when his cellphone rang. Peering at the number, his eyes widened slightly as he read the caller ID.

'Incoming Call: Midorima Shintaro'

"You have the crazy shooter's number?" Nebuya commented.

"We exchanged it after our match. Don't tell Sei-chan though," Mibuchi commented offhandedly, answering the call, "Hello?"

"Hello, Mibuchi."

"Ah, Shin-chan! What brings you to call me?" he tried to make his voice as cheery as possible to mask up the fact that he was crying mere minutes before.

"My father called me and told me quite some disturbing news," Mibuchi's heart dropped, "That Akashi was admitted to the hospital, suffering from seizures."

"Uhm..."

"Please do not lie, nanodayo. I am well aware of the situation," Mibuchi gulped, "Have you contacted the others yet?"

Anger flared in Mibuchi's veins, "Why would you all of all people care about Sei-chan?! You knew something was wrong with him and yet you did nothing about it! He's your friend, isn't he?! Even if he's done wrong in the past, everyone makes mistakes and can learn from them! You know how much winning means to Sei-chan, and yet you cheer against him like the backstabbing friends you are!"

Silence was heard at Mibuchi's small outburst, Midorima temporarily stunned to say a word before, "Yes, we were well aware that something was wrong with Akashi back in Teiko, and I apologize on the other's behalf that we didn't do anything at the time," Mibuchi felt his blood boil more, "And as for cheering against him, we only wanted the best for Akashi. Everyone should face defeat once in a while, even someone as absolute as Akashi. Akashi should know by now that winning isn't everything."

Mibuchi gripped his phone tight in his hand, knuckled turning white, "Send him my best condolences." before the line was cut dead.

The beeping of the disconnected call resounded in Mibuchi's ears as he threw his phone onto the seat next to him, "Good riddance!" he screamed, glaring daggers into his phone.

"'Wanted the best for Sei-chan?' How is breaking his mentality the best for him?! He of all people should know how much winning means to Sei-chan!"

"Calm down!" Nebuya and Hayama both had to grab the male before he did anything rash.

"I see my son has called you," Midorima Shinji said, coming back out with no clipboard in hand this time, "I'm terribly sorry for his blunt attitude."

Mibuchi calmed down only slightly enough for the two to let him go without fearing that something would be thrown out the window.

"He seems to be doing fine now, so we will allow visitors," the four perked up at hearing the news, "However, he's been pumped up with doses of muscle relaxers so he'll be pretty out of it. He's awake but he may be a bit delirious."

The four dashed away, barely even hearing the "He's in room 304!" before they were pounding up the stairs.

"Sei-chan!" the door was almost thrown off its hinges as Mibuchi lunged for a startled Akashi, "I'm so glad you're alright!"

"OI! Hold on you idiot!" Nebuya thankfully grabbed the shooting guard before he could hurt their captain, "You'll hurt him!"

"Mibuchi-senpai..."

"Oh, Sei-chan I'm so glad you're alright!" Mibuchi cried, clasping their captain's smaller hand in his, tears brimming his eyes.

"Please don't cry Mibuchi-senpai." Akashi murmured, still half out of it.

"We were so worried Sei-chan!" Mibuchi exclaimed, tears dripping onto the other's hand, "Why didn't you tell us something was bothering you?! Why haven't you been taking proper care of yourself?! If you needed help then you could have just asked us!"

Akashi merely turned his head to the side, not meeting anyone's eyes, "I'm sorry..."

Mibuchi's sniffles soon became more silent as he heard the soft breathing of Akashi sleeping. Lifting his head up he peered down at Akashi's sleeping face, brushing loose bangs out of his eyes and leaning down to peck his forehead lightly. He stroked his cheek and let a watery smile grace his lips.

"Sweet dreams, Sei-chan."

I wrote this at school over a two-day period, so I hope it's not too crappy. I just merely edit it when I get home as well as add author notes. Also this is considerably longer than most of my previous story chapters (more than 3,300 words my god) and the reason is because I want to write longer chapters, which means this story won't be as long as some of my others :P (I'm aiming for around 10 chapters maybe, hopefully all around the same length as this one).

Hope you all enjoyed the first chapter.

R&R