Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi.

In Another Life

A tall, lanky figure blocked his way, and Kuroko sighed.

"Excuse me."

No response.

"Excuse me." This time, he tapped the man on the elbow, since it'd be too weird to reach any higher, considering how short the blue haired man was.

A head covered with long strands of purple hair turned to reveal a lazy expression. A stick of Pocky hung at the man's lips. "Fehro." ("Hello.")

Blankly, Kuroko stared up at him. "Sorry, but can you please let me through?" He requested, gesturing to the way that the other had taken up all the space in front of the elevator, busy trying to open a bag of chips.

"Ah, sorry."

The man moved aside, and Kuroko was inwardly very glad that he had swallowed the biscuit before speaking this time. He reminded Kuroko of the kids that had been picked up by their parents an hour ago at the school. However, Kuroko swore that he recognized those graceful strides of his, taken in a way that was abnormal for such long legs.

The elevator doors opened, and the teacher stepped in.

There was only a man with red hair in there, and Kuroko stood on the opposite side of the elevator from him. He felt slightly relieved that this person wasn't another giant, but was of average height, just a little taller than him.

"Which floor?"

Kuroko flinched, hearing the voice that had suddenly penetrated the silence. He turned his head to see heterochromatic eyes, one red and one gold. "Three."

A slender finger pressed the button, and Kuroko looked away after that, but felt the other man's cool gaze on him. That's why he quickly rushed out of the elevator, which had begun to feel like a cage, when it finally reached his designated floor. Kuroko wasn't one to lose his composition, but he had a feeling that the red haired man in the elevator could twist him around his fingers with solely a stare. It was just a feeling, but it he was so sure of it that he almost convinced himself that he knew it for a fact.

But he also knew that he shouldn't assume things. That man was just an innocent stranger, after all.

Kuroko turned a corner, and ended up in front of the room he had been looking for. Small tags hung on the wall by the entrance like plaques.

Room 131

Kagami Taiga

It felt really strange, to see that name. It didn't belong there, not there.

Not in a hospital.

Kagami wasn't supposed to be injured, wasn't supposed to be stuck in bed. He was supposed to be running around like a hyper child who ate too much chocolate, saving people from flickering flames, and then he was supposed to nag Kuroko to play basketball with him after work. And then that's when Kuroko would scold him lightly about how the redhead shouldn't call at such a time, because all the children in the kindergarten were taking their afternoon nap.

Sighing, Kuroko rested a hand on the metal door handle and turned the knob.

Kagami had broken his left leg the other day at work, and the blue haired man felt irritated at how irresponsible that idiot can be sometimes. Apparently, he had charged straight into a burning building, not fully aware of his surroundings. Pieces of wood had collapsed, but luckily, it was only his leg that had been hurt. The child he had been rushing in to save had panicked, but had only gotten a minor burn, so at least Kagami could brag that it was a mission accomplished.

Surprisingly, when he entered the room, Kagami wasn't alone. Instead, he was chatting animatedly with a roommate. Kuroko blinked as he set eyes on the other man.

Dark skin and navy blue hair.

There was a strange heaviness in Kuroko's chest that he couldn't exactly name, but he felt as if it was something close to nostalgia. But it couldn't be. Never before in his life had he seen this other man, nor anything, anyone, that would relate to this person.

"Kagami-kun," the teal haired man greeted as he neared the beds. Now that he was closer, it sounded more as if they were actually having a heated argument instead.

He was proved right, when the redhead turned to the standing man with his eyebrows furrowed. "Kuroko! Tell this idiot that today is Monday, not Friday!"

Kuroko raised an eyebrow at how trivial the topic was, and set down two plastic bags, full of burgers he had bought from Maji's. You'd think they were having a discussion about the fate of the world.

"I'm busy, so I'll just leave this here," Kuroko told his friend, and glanced at the other glowering male in the room. "Feel free to have some. Kagami-kun eats too much anyways." Pale hands gestured towards the food and Kuroko found himself giving a small smile.

"Huh, wha―no thanks. I'm not sharing anything with that moron―"

Kuroko was already halfway out the door, when he turned, amusement clearly on his face. "I'm really glad that Kagami-kun has a friend to keep him company. He's always complaining about how boring it is here over the phone, so think of it as a thank you."

Even from out in the hall, Kuroko could hear someone sputter incoherent words and choke. There was a rough, loud laugh from Kagami, earning curious looks from passing staff and patients.

Somehow, that bickering scene seemed all too familiar to Kuroko. His head began to ache.

The next time Kuroko decided to visit, Kagami's roommate still didn't have a card indicating his name beside the door. Maybe he should have just told the stranger his own name, and then they would have been properly introduced. But it was a little too awkward now, doing something like that the second time they met.

As he was about to enter, a nurse stopped him. "We're doing something very important. Sorry, visitors aren't allowed right now," she said apologetically. Blue eyes looked past her shoulder to glimpse a flash of green hair, and focused, matching eyes framed by glasses, before he nodded. Turning away, he heard the soft thud of the door closing behind him.

There was a wooden bench down the hall, beside a big window. It was getting late, and Kuroko decided to wait there for the doctor and nurse to finish with their checkup, or whatever it was they were doing.

He marveled at the haziness of the streetlights that lit up the night sky, and looked down at the street below. This side of the hospital faced out towards a busy road, full of people scurrying about.

From the third floor, Kuroko analyzed the heads of passing people. That girl had pretty pigtails, swinging this way and that, as she clung to her mother's hand. This man had a receding hairline, speed walking in the direction of a train station, probably hurrying home so that his family can eat dinner with him.

One head that stood out among the crowd was blond.

As the teal haired teacher watched him walk by, the man suddenly looked up in his general direction. Slightly startled, Kuroko immediately turned so that his back was to the window. There was a feeling of warmth when their eyes had met, and those cheerful amber eyes reminded him of someone he knew. But Kuroko didn't know anyone with that same colour of eyes.

[...]

There was a loud buzz, and Kuroko looked around. Players stopped running to catch their breaths, and the cheering of the crowd was almost deafening.

"Teams line up!"

He was exhausted, and the adrenaline began to fade, replaced by weak muscles and wobbling legs. But despite that, Kuroko could say that he was definitely happy, without a doubt. He hurried the best as he could to join four others with the same blue and white uniform that he wore, standing straight in file.

'What is happening?'

"86 to 28, winner is Teikou Middle School. Bow!" The referee called out, and before Kuroko could even think, his body moved on his own, bending down at the waist.

'Where am I?'

"Tetsu-kun!" A high-pitched voice cried out, and Kuroko felt arms wrap around his torso as he straightened up. "We won!"

An almost unnoticeable smile spread on his face automatically. "Yes."

By the time his heart resumed its normal rate of beating, the arms were gone. But now, even more pressure was put on him as a taller boy flung himself at Kuroko.

"Ah! Kurokocchi! We did it! We really won!" The cheery voice blocked out most of the other voices, and Kuroko squirmed.

"Please let go of me," he monotonously told the other. When Kuroko tried to look up at the boy's face, he could only see locks of smooth blond hair.

'Who are these people?'

He felt oddly at ease.

A gruff voice cut in, "I told you my lucky item would work, Kuroko."

"I didn't expect less, Tetsuya."

"Nice passes, Kuro-chin."

The voices jumbled together, creating a blend of sounds. Kuroko's mind flashed to an image of friends laughing and joking, whilst standing beside a small convenience store, eating ice cream.

"I..." He opened his mouth to say something, anything. 'I can't see you.'

But no noise came out.

"Tetsu."

Kuroko's head whipped in the direction of the new voice. He was beginning to feel uncharacteristically frantic.

His gaze was met with a tanned hand curled into a fist, right in front of his face. Kuroko looked up, and this time, he stared into dark eyes, blue like the ocean. The storminess of those eyes was so calming, made him feel so melancholic.

All the previous panic had faded, replaced by a wave of peacefulness.

As if it was a practiced motion, Kuroko brought his own clenched hand up, bumping fists with the other.

He didn't look away from those eyes for even a second.

"Aomine-kun."

As their skin contacted, Kuroko felt as if a complicated puzzle had just fallen into place, as if something big was suddenly lifted off of his small shoulders. It was the most natural thing in the world, and it was at this time, his eyes began to close, losing sight of those clear eyes, deep enough to see into the soul.

[...]

Kuroko jolted awake, heart beating crazily. He was shuddering, and it felt like there was a sob stuck inside his throat, that uncomfortable tight feeling within his chest.

Yet that familiar name echoed in his mind from his dream just seconds earlier. Aomine.

That name. It sounded hollow. His chest felt void, like nothing was there.

Looking at his surroundings, he was in the hospital corridor, slumping down on a bench. Had he fallen asleep in the hospital?

Shaking his head, he stood up and stretched slightly. His back was sore from sitting in that uncomfortable position all night.

The clock on the wall across from him read 8:47, and Kuroko decided to go check on Kagami before he went home. It was a good thing that today was a Saturday, so at least he didn't have to go to work.

It wasn't very crowded this early in the morning, so he had no trouble making his way down the hall quickly, though his normally invisible self didn't meet such a challenge, either.

He set his gaze on the door, focusing on reaching them. As he slowly cracked open the entrance to Kagami's room, he remembered that he had a roommate. Ah, what if he was still asleep? It was one thing to wake Kagami, his close friend, and another to wake a stranger who had done no harm whatsoever.

Kuroko peeked in, and saw light streaming through the windowpanes, its curtains drawn apart. A familiar figure was sitting upright on the bed, twiddling his thumbs. He sighed quietly in relief, but then, forgot to inhale.

The bed next to Kagami's was empty.

The door creaked open fully, and Kuroko slipped in. Kagami didn't look at him, though his entrance was obvious enough.

"Did you roommate go home?" Kuroko asked as he stood at the foot of the redhead's bed. Unlike usual, the firefighter didn't flinch the slightest at the weak presence that had appeared suddenly in front of him.

Kagami's head was lowered, shocks of red and black covering his eyes enough so that Kuroko couldn't read their emotions. "Nah."

A feeling of dread that he couldn't understand crept over Kuroko. The hole created by the feeling that he was missing something just kept getting bigger and bigger. "What do you mean? Did he get relocated to another room?"

"No."

A glance at the neatly made bed, fresh sheet and all.

"Then, where did he go?" Kuroko's soft voice quieted even further. It was almost as if he was murmuring to himself, instead of to his friend, who was sitting as still as a statue. The other didn't even look like he was breathing.

When no answer came, and Kuroko averted his eyes to stare at the clean, white ceiling. It was like he was looking at something that was no longer there, something that had become nothing.

Finally, the tall male looked up, and at the same time Kuroko looked down as he spotted the former's movements out of his peripherals. Kagami met azure eyes with his bright red ones in this world of white. That's when Kuroko noticed the dark, bruise-like marks under his eyes.

"Kagami-kun?" He heard his own voice tremble ever so subtly, and crack at the end. It felt like something was ripping his chest apart, making it hard to breathe.

Kagami's hands lifted slowly to clutch his face, fingers hiding his closed eyes as well. Kuroko stood, not quite knowing what to do for the moment. He doesn't know if he should, if he could comfort the other.

He felt something on his face, and wiped at it. His hands came away wet.

As he exited the room to leave the hospital, he took a look at the name cards in the holders beside the room door. There was one that wasn't there before, when he had first looked.

Room 131

Kagami Taiga

Aomine Daiki

...

I NEED TO STOP WRITING OMG

MY JOURNEY TOWARDS BEING A NORMAL PERSON WHO DOESN'T KILL FICTIONAL PEOPLE HAS VEERED OFF TRACK.

SO.

GOMEN.

UM.

I WROTE THIS ON A WHIM, REALLY, SO FORGIVE ME FOR THE BAD DESCRIPTIONS AND USE OF WORDS AND OH GOSH I KEEP USING THEM OVER AND OVER I JUST AHJGKA;GHAHJKGLA

;A;

but i hope that you got the gist of the story. maybe. (at first it was just Aomine, but then I put Kise in, and then I had to put everyone else in, BUT i'M SORRY EEK MOMOI WASN'T INCLUDED)

Thanks for reading~ (i _ i)