Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke.

Note: My first KnB fic, so please be kind. This is my favorite ship. Kasamatsu is like, the ultimate uke to me, though there's no sex in this. Kind of implied Haizaki/Kasamatsu, but not really. Implied violence. Protective Kise/hurt Kasamatsu. Originally posted on AO3.

Alleviation

Kise flinches when a strong hand collides with the back of his head. Tears in his eyes, he whines, "Senpai! What was that for?!"

"You were spacing out. We won, you idiot! Stop looking so damn miserable."

The captain of Kaijou High's basketball team is anything but gentle with his teammates when they need something to get their asses back in gear, especially Kise, who focuses so much on the little things that it leaves Kasamatsu with no other choice but to smack him. He knows he doesn't hit his small forward hard enough to leave lasting damage, but his idiot of a kouhai always turns on him with tears in his eyes and the dumbest pout. It gives him a headache.

"Don't look at me like that, Kise," he says with a roll of his eyes. He flings his Kaijou basketball jacket over his shoulder and heads for the locker room door. It's freezing outside, but he's so worked up from the game he can't bring himself to care. "I'm going ahead. We play Seirin tomorrow. Don't stay up too late."

"Yes, senpai."

Despite their win, Kise can't shake the bad feeling he has settling in the pit of his stomach. His legs are shaking from the game, and he feels like if he stands he'll fall right back down. He doesn't think he should have let his captain leave before him, but he needs this time alone.

"Remember when I stole your girlfriend, Ryouta?"

He closes his eyes against the memory. Haizaki taunted him pretty good; made Kise falter almost long enough to cost them the game. But Kuroko brought him back. He'll be grateful for his ex-teammate for a long time, he thinks. He always felt as if he was closer to Kuroko than any other of the Generation of Miracles. It meant more than he can put into words what he said when everything else was falling apart. But still, he...

"Just a second year in middle school back then, it might not have meant anything. But what about now, Ryouta?"

The way Haizaki said his given name made Kise's stomach churn. He felt sick anytime he heard it. He grit, "What do you mean?" out of nothing but curiosity.

"That captain of yours." Kise's blood went cold. There's no way Haizaki would know that. No one knows how much more his senpai means to him than a captain and a teammate. "I bet losing him would feel even worse, don't you think?"

He fists his hands into his hair, gritting his teeth. There's nothing Haizaki can do to Kasamatsu. Haizaki wouldn't dare.

It couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes he's been sitting on the bench in the locker room when his phone chimes with a text message from his basketball bag's side pocket. He reaches next to him and pulls his phone from the pocket, flipping it open.

From: Captain
To: Kise Ryouta
[He's not a girl, Ryouta, but I think he could do just as nice.]

Kise almost drops his phone in his haste to stand. He cringes from the pain in his foot, but runs for the door anyway, phone clutched tightly in his hand. Centimeters from reaching the door handle, his phone buzzes with an incoming call. He's quick to press answer and put it against his ear. He knows who's calling anyway.

"Where's my senpai, Haizaki?" he growls, dropping Haizaki's given name in favor of the unfamiliar approach. It's the lowest his voice has ever sounded, and he's sure he's never been more angry in his life. The laugh on the other end sends a shiver down his spine, but he manages to keep himself calm and level. "I'm not messing around. What did you do to Kasamatsu-senpai."

"Ah, Ryouta, you've changed since you left the Generation of Miracles." There's humor interlaced with bitterness in his voice; Kise could hear the spite at just the mention of what Haizaki could have been but wasn't.

"Your team really does disgust me, Ryouta. So close with one another; true team players. Especially your little captain here." Kise clenches his fist but doesn't say anything. The hand holding the phone to his ear is trembling with the force of keeping himself together. "He's so supportive of you idiots, when he could be so much better. You could be so much better. It's a shame a good captain runs a team like yours."

Of all the things Kise can't stand - of all the things Kise never expected to bother him so much - anyone bashing his captain or his basketball team is one of the worst offenses.

A chuckle on the other end brings him back to the present. "Do you want to know what he said when I confronted him, Ryouta? It's disgusting, I assure you.

"He said stay away from Kise, of all things. Here I am bigger than him, stronger than him, standing in front of him... and he worries about you. Such wasted potential on a failure like him."

"Shut up," Kise says, quiet at first, but then again, louder this time, "Shut up." He wrenches the locker room door open, realizing that he wasted five minutes on the phone with Haizaki instead of spending it looking for Kasamatsu. "Where is Kasamatsu-senpai? I won't ask again, Haizaki."

"I'm so scared," he says, amusement in his voice. "I'm shaking."

"Stop fucking around."

"You were so adorable, Ryouta. Little middle school second year, determined look in his eyes as he tried to beat me at basketball after only having played for a couple weeks."

Kise keeps quiet, just letting Haizaki speak. He can't have gotten far in less than half an hour with Kasamatsu in tow. He didn't even know if they'd left the premises. If Kasamatsu wasn't conscious, Haizaki couldn't very well drag a teenager around with him without drawing attention to himself.

Outside now, he waits, listening.

"But Yukio here is just so cute, Ryouta," Haizaki says; if Kise got chills from hearing his given name come from his lips, hearing Kasamatsu-senpai's is worse. "I can see why you like him. It must be the determination in his eyes. The way he doesn't give up even when he really should."

It's the way it was said that sets Kise at unease.

"Haizaki," he hisses, eyes hooded by his hair. He's shaking with anger and fear. He can't feel the chill in the air even though he knows it's cold. "What did you do to senpai?"

Something to his left catches his eye and he's momentarily distracted and almost misses Haizaki's, "His face isn't as cute as it was when I first confronted him, though," that was said wistfully into his ear. He tenses at the words at the same time as he sees what caught his eye: Kasamatsu's Keijou basketball jacket tied by a sleeve to the railing by the stairs.

Kise sees red.

He heads in that direction, grabbing the jacket on his way. "Your problem is with me, not my senpai. Now tell me where the fuck you are."

The laugh is both annoying and chilling at the same time. "Ah, he's no fun to me unconscious anyway, Ryouta. You can have him." Kise almost sighs in relief, but he knows it's not over yet; not until he gets his senpai back. "He does taste good, though. Not too good of a kisser, but he moans when you stick your tongue in his mouth. He just... melts."

"Stop fucking around!"

"Yeah, yeah," Haizaki yawns. "He's in an alley three blocks down. Shivering pretty bad, Ryouta, you better hurry. He really should have worn a jacket." The line cuts off on Haizaki's end with an echo of a cackle. Kise's already running.

Kasamatsu is alone when Kise gets there. It wasn't more than a two minute run with Kise's long legs carrying him there. His cell phone was left on his chest. He doesn't know and doesn't care where Haizaki went. All that matters is his captain.

"Senpai," he says, shaking Kasamatsu's shoulder gently, and then harder a second time when he doesn't respond. "Senpai." The face he's come to love looking at is bruised but not swollen. He expects in a day or so it will be. He doesn't think his captain will be able to play in the game tomorrow; not in this condition.

He slips the jacket onto his senpai and lifts him up into a standing position with his left hand holding his over his shoulder, and his right hand holding Kasamatsu's right hip. But when he goes to walk, he hisses and almost falls over. His foot hurts like a bitch. Running didn't help, and Kasamatsu's weight on his right side isn't helping much either.

"Shit," he mutters, then says, "I'm sorry, senpai. I hope you sleep through this or you'll never forgive me." He lifts Kasamatsu onto his back and holds him up by his hands under his thighs. Without any better options, he takes his senpai to his own house where he knows his parents aren't around.

Five minutes into the walk and his senpai's shivers diminished quite noticably from the body heat coming off Kise's back. He's thankful he runs hotter because of his height.

When he gets home, the only think he can think of is to lay his senpai down on his bed, and he hates himself for thinking how good his dark hair looks in comparison to his light colored sheets. And then he wants to bash his head against a wall because Kasamatsu looks really good in his bed.

He needs to get out of his room. Now.

In his kitchen, he busies himself setting up an ice pack to put on Kasamatsu's face to hopefully keep it from swelling. The bruises will be worse by morning, but the swelling shouldn't be so bad.

Kasamatsu's eyes are half lidden and he's delirious when Kise walks back into his room. "Senpai!"

"Kise, what -"

He can't help himself; tears fall down his cheeks just at the sight of his captain's eyes as the relief floods in in waves.

"Idiot," Kasamatsu says, his voice more raspy than usual. "Didn't I just tell you to stop looking so damn miserable?"

"Senpai," Kise manages to say after wiping the tears away. "Are you okay? He didn't do anything besides -"

"Beat the shit out of me?"

"- well, that. And. And kiss you." Kise's nervous even saying it. He isn't sure he should have even brought it up, but he has to know.

"Kiss me?" Kasamatsu repeats, dumbfounded. "What are you, an idiot? That shithead didn't kiss me. Did you get knocked out or something?" He pauses when he actually looks at his kouhai, and sees his face clearly. The relief, bone deep, washing over his face when Kasamatsu denies having been kissed. He can see it, the last of the fear and worry that clouded Kise's eyes alleviating into calmness. "Ki -"

Unexpectedly, for the first time, Kise hugs his senpai. Kasamatsu hugs him back and they melt into each other. Kise can't help himself; he kisses his senpai right on the lips, thankful that Haizaki didn't get this.

He was right about two things though; albeit shockingly inexperienced, Kasamatsu does taste good.

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