Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basuke.

There were giant holes in his memory.

John was first made aware of this information four months ago, by the doctors in charge of him at the hospital. It came as somewhat of a shock. He had never really thought about it. Curiosity was rewarded heavily with punishment in the basement and he had desperately wanted to stay on Sir's good side. It wasn't like his opinion mattered anyway.

All he needed to survive there was obedience. It wasn't until he was put in an environment where his opinions did matter that he realized he was severely lacking in something integral to his person – his memories. This became obvious to John when he was introduced to his psychologist. He couldn't answer the simplest of questions, and for the first time in forever, Sir was not there to provide him with the answers.

He didn't know his name.

He didn't know how old he was.

He didn't know where he came from.

As far as he did know, he had two set of memories; 'Life in the basement' and 'Life after the basement'.

'Life in the basement' was dark and lonely. The days he spent in that cold, tiny space were hazy at best, especially now that it was over. Sometimes, he entertained the thought of everything being a dream. Then, he would experience a flashback and suddenly his memories of 'Life in the basement' couldn't be clearer. It was terrifying. These moments of clarity haunted his waking thoughts, consuming his rational mind. The slightest trigger reduced him to a quivering mess, trapping him in an unhealthy state of panic and fear.

Uehara-san called it PTSD. Apparently, it was common in people who had undergone traumatic experiences. Her voice was low and gentle during her explanation and John felt himself nodding along quietly as she educated him about the condition. She told him that the abuse he had suffered at the hands of Sir had affected his mind's ability to evaluate information and feelings in a normal way.

That… wasn't entirely accurate. John knew that it wasn't really about the pain.

Pain. Well, pain was something he could deal with.

No, it was about freedom.

Like a blind man who had just seen the sun for the first time, he couldn't imagine going back. That's what scared him the most. His nightmares might be filled with pain, but what truly affected him was the desolation of the void, because that's what it was – a void; a vacant space with four walls.

Once upon a time, two people lived in this void. The first was a jailor, with cold eyes and a colder heart. The second, a prisoner, blind to his cage.

Perhaps 'Life after the basement' had spoiled him. Once, he hadn't been allowed to want anything. Now, he constantly desired new things. It started with basic necessities like food and water. He became used to having three meals a day after his stomach grew accustomed to keeping food down. Not long after, he began to crave petty indulgences like companionship and basketball.

Now, he wanted his third set of memories – the missing set.

'Life before the basement' was a complete mystery. This set of memories was the answer to all of his questions, but the more he tried to recover them, the more they eluded him. It became his fixation. He wanted them so badly. Somewhere hidden in these memories had to be a magical cure-all, and if there was a voice – Sir's voice – that rang in his head from time to time, he pretended not to hear it.

"What a stupid child. You never learn. No matter, brats like you will just have to learn the hard way. Don't say I didn't warn you though," it whispered, laughing darkly. "Remember, be careful what you wish for."

It was times like this where John felt absolutely pathetic.

"Give me your hands," Yosuke instructed after they had both settled on the bench.

John hesitated, his mind still protesting fiercely to the idea of physical contact. It was silly. He knew his adopted brother would never do anything to hurt him but the mere idea of another's skin against his made him sick to his stomach. Even now, in a hall with no less than thirty people and miles away from that cold dark basement, he felt Sir's chilling presence around him, latching onto his spirit persistently.

He swallowed, trying to calm himself down before holding his arms out to the black haired youth. Yosuke took the offered limbs gently, frowning at the bloodied sleeves. John felt his body tense up at the other's apparent disapproval.

Was his brother upset with him? It would be logical. This would mark the fourth time his sibling had to patch him up after one of his episodes. Surely Yosuke-niisan had better things to do than to babysit him all day.

His sibling must have sensed his reaction as he opened his mouth to explain. "I'm not mad at you, John. I know you can't help it," Yosuke said, sighing in frustration. "I'm mad at the bastard who made you this way."

John relaxed. Yosuke-niisan was too kind to him.

There were times when he wondered if he was a really good person before the basement. After all, he must have done something to deserve being taken in by the Maeda family. It was a nice thought, one that cheered him up on days like today; days that made him feel especially useless. It was sad how he couldn't even play one proper basketball match without having a panic attack.

Just why was he always causing trouble for other people? It wasn't as if he was actually in danger. The only person hurting him was himself. It was beyond pathetic. Now that the anxiety that plagued him earlier was dissipating, he felt stupid for making a scene. He tried to recall exactly what had elicited his exaggerated response but all he could really remember was the feeling of fear.

His mind remained annoyingly blank. He thought harder.

He had been having the time of his life on the basketball court. John had longed to participate in a real match for ages and the game certainly didn't disappoint. All those times he played street basketball with Yosuke-niisan and his brother's friends paled in comparison. The opponents were so skilled and he had been pushed to play like he had never before.

Oh, someone… someone had knocked him over. He had been too immersed in the game to be daunted by the pain but then the person had approached him and pulled him into… a hug? A flash of blue told him that the person was from Kaijou's team. The opponent had said something, he was sure, but he couldn't remember what.

The freshman saw his brother smile at him in an attempt to lift his spirits but couldn't quite bring himself to smile back. Instead of feeling disheartened, Yosuke rolled up the long sleeves of his jersey gingerly and examined the abrasions that marred his pasty skin.

He fidgeted as his arms were uncovered, eyes darting around the hall to see if there were people watching. There were. Some were being subtle about it while others were blatantly staring in their direction. John looked down at his lap quickly and tried not to let the looks bother him. Could they see his scars despite the distance?

"Don't let anyone see or there will be consequences, do you understand?"

John closed his eyes to shake off the memory that had started to surface. It was a little too late as he felt his chest tighten in fear and the urge to tug down his sleeves grow. Just as he was about to, the familiar sting of disinfectant jolted him back into reality. His blue eyes fluttered open to see his older brother swab his wounds with cotton wipes.

"They're not deep enough to warrant stitches but I think they might still scar," Yosuke informed the younger regretfully. John kept silent, tongue glued to the roof of his throat. He didn't care about the scars, not really. A few more to his collection wouldn't make the slightest difference. The only thing that he minded was the attention the scars gathered when they weren't concealed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" John shook his head.

His brother didn't look surprised, continuing to treat his injuries in silence.

It was ironic how just a few hours ago he had thought this was a good idea.

The day had started out innocently enough.

Yosuke had taken time off from the student council to act as a chaperone. John had been so excited about this practice match and Takumi, his best friend and Seirin's student council president, had insisted that he accompany his brother to Kaijou.

"I'm having a headache just looking at you worrying. Just go, lest you start snapping at our cute freshmen during the council meeting," Takumi had said, waving him off. "Don't feel guilty about it, dumbass, you're looking out for your little brother, right? That's something to be proud of."

Takumi, of course, had been rewarded with a half-hearted punch to his arm and a mumbled thanks.

The ride to Kaijou was rather enjoyable. Yosuke originally thought it would be somewhat tense due to his presence, but the team had been too eager to think about anything other than the upcoming match. He sat next to his brother, who was practically bouncing in his seat. It was cute, and a nice surprise. John was often nervous about going to new places, especially places with a lot of people. Evidently, his love for basketball had triumphed his fear of crowds. There was never a quiet moment in the bus, and the journey there was over before he knew it.

Kaijou High was huge. It was a respectable school in its own right, and he was tempted to sneak around and do some recon for Seirin. After all, Seirin High had only opened last year, and although the principal was competent as well as hardworking, she lacked experience. As vice president of the student council, he did his best to help out. There was no doubt that he could learn a lot from Kaijou. They had to be miles ahead in reinforcing regulations and handling certain issues, but ultimately, he only came here to support John. That didn't mean he couldn't admire the school though.

Sports was a big deal in Kaijou, Yosuke could tell. The gym was unnecessarily large and the equipment looked new and well maintained. He had a short talk with Kaijou's coach when the man called John out for his long sleeved jersey. It was difficult to convince the stubborn basketball coach, but it seemed like his silver-tongued best friend had rub off on him a little. Any other concerns the man had were effectively dispelled after Yosuke handed him a permission slip signed by Seirin's principal.

Without further ado, the match began. From the sidelines, Yosuke observed as the tall, red haired guy from John's class snatched away the ball with his brother's aid. It didn't take more than a few seconds for Kagami to cross the court and slam the ball into the hoop, right hand still holding on to the metal rim. When Kagami landed, the hoop gave way, becoming slack in the teen's grip. The gym promptly exploded into chatter and noise.

Beside him, Riko was pleased. Apparently, the coach had been underestimating Seirin's team, refusing to enter their ace player in the practice match. This turn of events managed to anger the man enough to request a switch.

Now, this game was interesting to watch. Yosuke played basketball with his friends from time to time, more now that John was crazy about it, but this was in a whole different league. Kaijou was a formidable opponent. The good-looking, blond player that Kaijou's coach had subbed in was incredible, and Yosuke could have sworn that he had seen this guy before. He didn't have to guess for long, because the girls who had gathered around to see the match, screamed the blond's name excitedly when he scored the first goal. Kise Ryouta! Oh, he was that famous model, and one of the generation of miracles if the freshmen sitting on the bench could be believed.

Seirin was no pushover though. The second years performed admirably, while the two first years worked together to create an unstoppable force. His brother was happier than ever, and it was easy to see how seamlessly John fit into Seirin's team. There wasn't a trace of anxiousness on his younger sibling's face, odd for someone who was playing against a real opponent for the first time. But well, it wasn't really his first time, was it? It was just a lifetime ago. The way John behaved on the court was a stark contrast to the way he acted anywhere else.

On the court, he was assertive and confident. The blue haired boy clearly knew what he was doing, and every action was carried out with the ease of someone who had done the same thing a hundred times over. The dynamic of his seemingly experienced brother and his naturally gifted classmate was captivating to witness firsthand, and the two stood up to the obviously skilled ace from Kaijou's team. It was unlike any other match he had ever played, or seen.

Then, of course, everything went to hell.

"They're l-looking at m-me," his adopted brother finally said, blue eyes fixated on his lap.

"Let them look. You have nothing to be ashamed of," Yosuke assured, though he still shot a quick glare at the spectators. The culprits looked away guiltily, going back to whatever they were doing before. The second year resisted the urge to gorge their eyes out and pulled some sterile bandages from the first aid kit. His brother had gone quiet again, and Yosuke knew his words had not managed to console him. He had to get John out of here. The black haired teen dressed the wounds carefully, and made a mental note to change them later tonight.

"There, all done!" Yosuke declared, smiling at his brother. "Come on. Let's go find Kagami-san," he said gently.

Yosuke knew of Kise Ryouta.

After all, some of his closest friends were basketball fanatics and the girls in school would not shut up about how handsome the blond model was. Kise's fame had shot up significantly over the past year due to his appearance in several advertisements and his short role in that drama everyone was obsessing about.

The Seirin student looked at the emotional first year standing before him and failed to see the charismatic idol that everyone else saw. At the moment, Kise did not exude the presence of a famous model.

He seemed… undeniably human.

"I have questions," Yosuke expressed as he sat down, "but I assume you do too."

"Yes," Kise replied curtly, still looking like death warmed over. The blond swallowed before continuing. "What the hell is going on? T-This isn't possible. He's supposed to be- He's supposed to be dead," Kise forced out. "I-I'm not hallucinating, am I? I mean this feels real, so real and I-" the Kaijou student continued to ramble thoughtlessly, but Yosuke was no longer listening.

Dead. Oh god, that was it.

The word resounded in his skull over and over. He took a few seconds to really process the information that Kise let slip.

Was that even possible?

Yosuke supposed if anyone could have pulled it off, it would have been Sasaki Hideaki with his superior IQ and disgustingly vast resources.

"I see…" he said aloud, as everything clicked into place. Dental records, fingerprints, DNA tests; all of them useless because John, whoever he was, had been declared officially dead by the state. His father and his team had essentially been looking in the wrong database. But now, because of Kise, they had a lead. They could finally convict that son of a bitch!

It was the best news he'd heard in a while.

Yosuke took a deep breath to calm himself down. He needed to stop jumping ahead of everything. There was still one thing he had to check. For all he knew, Kise could have mistaken his adopted brother for someone else.

"Kise-san, do you happen to have a photo of John with you?" Yosuke asked keenly. It was hard not to get his hopes up and that showed.

"Who?" Kise answered, looking a little startled by his enthusiasm, "Are you talking about Kurokocchi?"

"K-Kuroko… cchi?" Yosuke raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Is that his name?"

"A-Ah, yes. I mean, kinda, t-that's what I call him," Kise fumbled with his words, ducking his head in embarrassment. "Sorry. Hold on, I have one in my wallet." Yosuke was slightly taken back. He didn't think the blond and his adopted brother had been that close, though he supposed that would justify Kise's huge reaction to finding John alive. "Here," the Kaijou student said.

There were six people in the photo. The first thing Yosuke noticed was hair color, and that was because it was frankly impossible to miss. Kise-san was standing at the far left, next to a severe looking kid with green hair and calculating eyes.

Kids, they were all kids. The lot of them wore the basketball uniform of Teikou Middle School and wow, it dawned on him that he was staring at a picture of the renowned Generation of Miracles.

Kouta had showed him a photograph of them in a magazine once, back when he too was in middle school. His childhood friend had gone on and on about how cool they were, and how incredible it was that all of them were a year younger than they were at the time. Kouta had also been a little jealous, Yosuke recalled, but the bitter feeling had been overshadowed by just how awesome his basketball-loving friend thought the team was.

Yosuke just remembered grumbling about their weirdly colored hair, peeved at their blatant disregard for school rules, and Kouta had launched straight into a rant about how the color was completely natural, while simultaneously berating him for calling his heroes a bunch of delinquent-wannabes.

So sue him, he liked discipline. If anyone asked Yosuke, he would say it was a side effect of practicing Kendo for a decade. If you asked his friends, they would tell you that he collected the full series of 'Katekyo Hitman Reborn!' and also had an unhealthy obsession with the manga character, Hibari Kyouya, when he was younger. That would have been a lie, of course.

Yosuke blinked, snapping himself out of his straying thoughts. Right yes, the Generation of Miracles. He recognized a few of them, looking at the photograph now. The picture he had before him depicted the basketball team in more casual manner, and there was a pink haired girl he didn't recall seeing. She could have been the manager, he supposed. The long haired girl was pretty, and she had her arm around–

It took a moment to realize who he was looking at.

He had been wrong. There were seven people in the picture, not six.

The light blue hair was unmistakable, although at first, Yosuke couldn't believe that the kid in the photo was John – Kuroko. There was always something different about his little brother. He could never quite put his finger on it, but whatever it was, it hid the blue haired boy from others' attention. In Kise's picture, the ability was amplified tenfold, and really, had Yosuke not been actively looking for Kuroko, he would have overlooked him entirely.

"It's really him…" Yosuke said to himself in wonder. The person in the photo gave off an aura of quiet confidence, lips quirking up to piece together the tiniest of grins. It was very unlike the unreserved smile his little brother owned, but happy just the same. Tearing his gaze off the picture for a fraction of a second, he addressed the Kaijou student, "Kise-san, despite all that's happened today, I can't thank you enough."

"But I didn't-" the blond model started, stunned and a little flustered.

"No, I'm serious. When everything blows over, lunch's on me," Yosuke vowed, his body thrumming with the light of his discovery. "Sorry, I'm just- Give me a moment, I'll start explaining once my brain starts working again." He rubbed his temples, attempting to digest everything he learned from this conversation. Exhaling loudly, he lifted his head to find Kise waiting for him to recover.

"Before I start, I'm going to warn you that this won't be easy to hear," Yosuke began solemnly. The blond nodded uneasily, unsure of what to say.

"Around four months ago, my father and his colleges found John, uh well Kuroko, in a basement," the Seirin student recounted. "It was a big case. I wouldn't be surprised if you'd heard about it. The paparazzi in Tokyo had a field day with that one, especially since the suspect was Sasaki Hideaki."

"Sasaki Hideaki? The guy who owns Sasaki enterprises? You're talking about the court case in January." It was more of a statement than a question. Yosuke inclined his head and kept silent as he waited for Kise to collate and make sense of the clues.

"John doe… That was Kuroko?" Kise stumbled over his words, his head reeling from the revelation.

"I don't see how this is possible! There was a body. A group of us went to… identify it at the morgue." Kise's voice grew smaller as he reached the end of his sentence. Horror contorted the model's handsome features. "Oh my god. This is our fault. If we had realized something was wrong, he wouldn't have… Oh my god," Kise breathed out, burying his face into his hands.

"No, Kise-san, you can't take the blame for this," Yosuke quickly asserted, reaching out to place a hand on Kise's shoulder. He felt a little awkward doing so, but was genuinely concerned about the younger teenager.

"I want to see him," Kise suddenly said, voice filled with determination. Yosuke bit his bottom lip guiltily, knowing that he had to reject the blond.

"Kise-san..."

"I-I can help! The papers... I don't remember much, but I remember they said he suffered from retrograde amnesia."

"I'm sorry but you have to keep this to yourself," Yosuke insisted. "This case... It was huge, and I'm sure you of all people know exactly how persistent the paparazzi can be. Please, John- Kuroko's parents will be contacted soon, and there's a high chance that you and your friends will be called in to answer some questions. Until then, you can't mention this to anyone. It's not safe," the black haired teen emphasized. Kise furrowed his eyebrows.

"Not safe? What do you mean? Is Kurokocchi in danger?" Kise asked, panicking. He thought back to January, and headlines regarding the business tycoon assaulted him one after the other. "No. Sasaki, he..." Kise trailed off, clenching his fists in a mixture of distress and anger. Yosuke nodded, confirming the blond's suspicions.

"Yes, Sasaki Hideaki was cleared of all charges."

"Dai-kun, you're going out again?" his mother asked hesitantly, peering out from inside the kitchen.

Aomine grunted, rolling his eyes as he turned his back to her. Oh please, he knew that wasn't what she really wanted to ask. What she really wanted to know was if he was heading out to play basketball. She had been nagging him lately, convinced that he was playing too much of the sport. It was ridiculous. Pfttt, was too much basketball even a thing? He certainly didn't think so. Just ask Tetsu, he would tell you that Aomine didn't practice enough.

Before his mother had a chance to protest, the tanned youth quickly laced up his sport shoes and left the house. Idly, Aomine spun the orange ball he brought on one finger, and hoped he was lucky enough not to bump into Satsuki. She, too, was becoming annoying these days. Ugh, it's as if the women in his life all decided to bug him at the same time. Once she opened her mouth, it was Akashi-kun said this, Akashi-kun said that like a broken radio. Wasn't it clear when he threw away his old phone that he didn't want Akashi calling him? And people called Akashi a genius. Aomine had to hand it to him though, using Satsuki to reach him was a nice touch.

What the hell was Akashi worried about anyway? He was fine.

Aomine felt a weight collide with his middle, and for a moment, he thought he had once again walked into his vertically-challenged best friend. He perked up instinctively, and got pissed when he realized it was just a middle school brat that had been fooling around without taking note of his surroundings. He glared at the brown haired boy, and felt no shame even as the kid ran away bawling.

Aomine threw his ball away in a fit of anger, gritting his teeth.

Oh, who was he fucking kidding?

As much as he wished to forget, he couldn't. Not when it was Tetsu.

Aomine never had any trouble making friends. He was far from shy and didn't hesitate to approach people. Extraordinary talent in basketball aside, he wasn't much different from any other teenage guy his age. He hated school, liked sports, and thought about pretty girls. It hadn't been hard for him to surround himself with friends who had similar interests. His peers were reflections of himself – confident, athletic, and outgoing.

Kuroko Tetsuya was unlike any friend he'd made before.

Aomine's first impression of him, barring the whole ghost incident, was that the other was a quiet and dull guy. The only thing they had in common was perhaps basketball. Aomine liked hanging out with the blue haired boy, but he didn't go out of his way to seek the other's company. Sure, he admired the guy's perseverance and felt a sense of comradery in their shared passion for basketball, but you didn't have to like someone to respect them.

As days passed and turned into weeks, the copious amount of time they shared on the court brought about the start of a weird friendship. After all, it wasn't like Aomine could call someone he saw every other day an acquaintance. Still, the two of them remained hi and bye friends, and reserved their friendship solely for the court.

Then, two months after he entered middle school, his grandmother fell fatally ill.

Here's something about Aomine Daiki that not a lot of people knew; he was very fond of his grandmother. She was someone he held incredibly close to his heart. When he was young, both of his parents worked. His gran had practically raised him. She forced fed him vegetables during meals and made sure he went to bed before ten. She was the person who patched him up and lectured him when he was injured, and the person who nursed him back to health when he was sick.

In his childhood memories, his grandma was a strong and infallible woman. She was an adult who always knew what to do.

Hell, once, she brought him to an amusement park and he had whined until she rode all the rides with him. His gran must have already been pushing sixty at the time, but she had given in to him anyway, and even now he could still recall how she paled when they rode the gravity-defying monstrosities.

He had last seen her a year ago, and even though there were more creases around her eyes, she had seemed fine – healthy. Aomine assumed she would be there at his middle school graduation, his high school graduation, and fuck, even his wedding. The thought that she wouldn't – couldn't – be there had never once crossed his mind.

When Aomine found out she was sick, he was conflicted.

He was being a coward. He wanted to visit her, but didn't want to face the reality that she was sick. He didn't want to see her hooked up to all those fucking useless machines, didn't want to see her looking frail and weak, didn't want to accept that eventually, she was going to have to leave.

Aomine felt helpless, and like many teenage boys, his vulnerability manifested in anger. He skipped classes to play basketball – the one thing that managed to keep his temper in check. The comforting thumping of the ball took his mind off his gran, but even so, he was very aware that time was running out.

"Are you okay?"

The voice startled him, but Aomine was far too numb to express it. Irritated, he continued dribbling the ball, rooted to the ground. He knew who it was without turning. There was something unique about the guy's tone. It was neither cautious nor casual. It wasn't awkward or dripping with worry. Actually, it didn't sound like anything at all, just flat, perhaps dull but not monotonous.

The silence stretched, but Aomine wasn't the type of guy who could be pressured into speaking. He was the type of badass or asshole, well, depending on one's perspective, that said what he wanted when he wanted, and that was precisely why he couldn't understand what went wrong with his brain filter when the words came flying out his mouth.

"My gran's sick." What the actual fuck? He shot the ball, and watched it fall into the net without touching the rim.

There were so many things he could have said. 'Mind your own business', was the one he had given to most of his friends and 'Yeah, just in a bad mood', the one he had surrendered to his closer pals. Satsuki, for all her pestering, had received a 'No, but I don't want to talk about it'.

Talking to Satsuki just wasn't an option. Above everything else, Aomine was a prideful person. It didn't matter that she was his childhood friend. Satsuki was a girl, and according to some unwritten rule, no man should ever show weakness in front of a girl. As for the rest, there was no point. Aomine knew that his friends wouldn't know how to deal with it because he wouldn't know what to do if he was the one put in that position.

"I'm sorry." Aomine wanted to snap. His grandma wasn't dead yet. There was nothing to be sorry for. He was ready to give the guy a piece of his mind, but something held him back. Kuroko honestly sounded like he was sorry that Aomine was... troubled.

"Fuck – I, I just…" he felt cornered as he struggled to find the right sentence. "I should visit her," Aomine finally blurted out.

"Then go," the blue haired boy had said, as blunt as ever.

"I can't. I haven't seen her in forever." As soon as the words were said, he recognized it as the truth. The more time he spent dallying about, he harder it was to gather the courage to see her.

"Buy her some flowers."

"What?" Aomine finally turned to look at his friend.

"You want to apologize, right?"

The next evening, Aomine paced outside the nearby flower shop for a good two hours before Kuroko showed up and dragged him in.

Two weeks later, his gran passed away in her sleep. Aomine's mother had been there with her, and there were pink roses in a vase on the table by her bedside.

He was quiet at the funeral. Satsuki stayed by his side the entire time. A handful of his friends were there too. Morita had patted him hesitantly on the back and the rest had helplessly offered mangled versions of 'I'm sorry for your loss, dude'.

Kuroko – Tetsu – took one look at him, and pulled him into a hug. It was awkward; the blue haired boy barely came up to Aomine's shoulders, and he had been very aware of the numerous stares the two of them were receiving. But, to this day, no other friend of his had ever managed to convey how much they cared for him as profoundly as Tetsu had.

From then on, Tetsu became his best friend.

With shaky hands, Kise punched in a familiar number.

"A-Akashicchi?"

"Ryouta."

"I need... I need you to gather everyone for me. There's something I need to tell all of you."

Aomine was the person who initiated the search that day – the one who realized something was off.

He had been in a terrible mood. The wounded look that Tetsu gave them – him – earlier that afternoon was stuck in his head like a bad, repeating song. He felt the stirrings of guilt even though he tried to squash the emotion down. It wasn't until he received a concerned call from Tetsu's neighbor that the guilt turned into worry.

Something is wrong, his instincts told him. Tetsu had never been the type to miss an appointment, never the type to even be late.

Aomine grabbed a jacket and left his house.

At the end of that street, Aomine never finds Tetsu, at least not whole, healthy and alive; only the burnt remains of a person that should have never died that night.

Cassie: I know it's been slightly less than two years since this has been updated, and I'm sure quite a few people gave up on it but I'm writing this for the readers that are still waiting. I'm really sorry, but I'm busy in real life, and I can never tell you when I can publish another chapter. I know I've been a pretty shitty author, and for that, I want to thank everyone who has stuck with me since the beginning, especially those who regularly PM to check up on little, old me. Special mention to DreamweaverAki, xXxPhantomxXx and Eleoopy. Your encouragements are what kept me going when I was feeling down because of some of the hate I've gotten due to my long absence.

Anyway, I know nothing much happens this chapter. Aomine gets some screen time, and a lot of scenes are written from my OC's POV. Sorry about that, I know you'll much rather see it from Kise's POV but it was important to write my OC's POV first. I promise though, Kise's POV of that conversation will appear next chapter. Some of you might be worried about my OC appearing too much but I assure you, he'll appear less and less during the upcoming chapters. I hope you can bear with it in the mean time.

Oh, there's another thing. Some of you are under the impression that they'll bump into Midorima here. I know it happened in canon, but correct me if I'm wrong, I thought Midorima was only there to watch the match between two of the GoM. Considering that Midorima doesn't know Kuroko is in Seirin, I figured that he had no reason to come. I haven't read the manga in ages, so I could have remembered it inaccurately.

Regarding pairings, AkaKuro won, with GoMxKuroko coming in a close second. I assure you, even if AkaKuro is the main pairing, all of the GoM will have a good amount of screen time. And with that, the poll is officially closed. Thank you for reading! This chapter isn't beta-ed, so please pardon my errors.