Rating: T
Warning: This fanfiction contains angst and Male/Male relationships!

A Promise Made; One Wish Forsaken
黒子のバスケ © 藤巻 忠俊
'I had a nightmare. I dreamed that I was in a place far away from Aominecchi's grasp. I dreamed that I was running, but no matter how far or how fast I ran, I could never reach you.' Kise's memories sit - glamorous and flawless - upon Aomine's chest, holding the last of his wishes to be remembered. Forever.

Aomine Daiki stands before a monochrome photograph of a smiling man who Midorima introduced as his friend. His brows are furrowed, his fists clenched at his sides, and his entire body trembling - as if he couldn't really grasp the situation and whatever is to be conveyed.

Midorima sighs inwardly, pinching the bridge of his nose with his taped fingers. It's been three months since Aomine was discharged and approximately five months since Kise's passing. He thought that was more than enough time for Aomine to accept the facts. Apparently not.

"Aomine, listen. I know what you are feeling, but it's inevitable. You can't change the fact that he's dead."

The tanned man grumpily tears his gaze from the picture. There's something unnerving about that person, something that makes the ring on his finger seem a little too constricting and the matching ring strung on a necklace around his neck appear a little heavier than it should be.

He jabs his finger at the picture of the smiling man and scowled. "Who's that?"

(Kise jerks up from his sleep, eyes impossibly wide, and immediately pounces on Aomine. The tanned man jumps, grabbing the hysterical blond in a single swift motion and roughly shoves him away.

"The fuck, Kise?" Aomine snaps, but withdraws the rest of his sentence when he notices Kise sobbing. Sighing inwardly, he reaches out and presses his hand to the blond's cheek, frowning at the wetness.

"What's wrong? Did you have another nightmare about me cheating on you? I swore that I'll never do that, idiot."

Kise shakes his head fervently. "That's not it! I dreamed that I was in a place far away from Aominecchi's grasp. I dreamed that I was running, but no matter how far or how fast I ran, I could never reach you."

Aomine rubs at the back of his neck. He's unsure of how to reply. He was never one for comforting people.

"So, let's make a promise, Aominecchi.

If we were to stray from each other, make sure to search for me, okay?")

The contents of the numerous boxes lying around his room are strewn all over the floor. After an hour of rummaging through his room, Aomine slumps against the door frame and glares at the photo frame in his hand.

It's a simple design, with patterns of yellow stars against the plain dark blue frame, and contains a picture of himself and a blond - the same man who Midorima drove him to see today. The same man being the reason why Midorima forced Aomine to wake at six in the morning, and the reason why Midorima would unwittingly drive off without a second thought after he asked who the person in the photo was.

That dead kid.

Aomine glowers at the blond in the photograph, unable to believe that he would put in effort for someone this insignificant in his current life. How annoying.

He doesn't remember.

They were close - he could tell that much - but he can't remember anything else beyond that point. It's like he's a protagonist of some romance drama, with a tragic past coming to haunt him, and that irks Aomine to no end.

In the three months following his discharge from the hospital, Aomine acquired a job he likes, a place to stay, a life that was pretty much smooth-sailing and which he wouldn't want to give up anytime soon. If he couldn't remember someone, it'll just mean that that someone didn't matter, right?

A headache flares almost instantly, contradicting with his previous statement.

Exasperated, he tosses the photo frame across the room, watching the fragile thing making a graceful arc in mid-air. Then the thundering sound of glass shattering constricts his chest and makes it difficult to breathe, as if someone stabbed him in the heart and pushed the entire blade through.

Aomine winds his fingers around the ring on his necklace.

Fuck, he doesn't want to remember.

("I love you, Aominecchi," Kise whispers suddenly one evening, pressing his lips to the side of Aomine's neck. The latter scowls and flicks the blond's forehead. "I'm working, idiot. Go away and find something else to entertain yourself."

"But Aominecchi is the best distraction!" Kise whines, hugging a leg of the chair Aomine is sitting on and bawls. "I want to be with Aominecchi every single second of my life!"

Aomine runs a hand through his hair and curses under his breath. He opens the drawer at his desk and pulls out a small box, passing it to Kise. "If you meant what you just said, there."

The opened box reveals two matching rings. Kise blinks at the sight before moving a hand up to curb the chuckle threatening to spill from his lips. "Aominecchi is really not romantic at all."

"Sh-"

"But just as I thought, I still love Aominecchi best.

With these rings as proof of our love, Aominecchi can't forget about me!
Let's stay together forever, okay?")

"Excuse me?"

Aomine peers up and notes that the female standing next to him has at least a D cup. She is dressed in a casual pale yellow sunflower dress which brings out the blond tints in her hair.

"Excuse me," she repeats. "Is there anyone else sitting here?"

Without even a brief glance around, Aomine could tell that there are many other open seats available, but Aomine nods curtly. The bartender passes her a drink and re-fills his glass. Unthinkingly, Aomine gulps the heavy liquor down in one shot and asks for more.

The woman claps her hands together, cheering for his high alcohol tolerance as he downs mug after mug of hard liquor.

This was it. Forgetting your sorrows, and worries. It's the best way, Aomine decides. And that might also be the reason why he forgets how he managed to convince the woman to spend the night in his apartment.

("Aominecchi, it hurts. Let go, you're hurting me."

There's the smell of something burning as well as a familiar iron tang permeating the air. Slowly, Kise opened his eyes, wiping at the liquid that travelled to his brow. As if in response, the arms encircling Kise fell slack. "Aominecchi...?"

Kise couldn't move. The door is curved in, pressing against Kise's back and preventing him from getting out of the vehicle. Something warm meets the top of Kise's head and the blond turns to notice it's Aomine. The left half of his face is covered with blood and pieces of glass shards are embedded at the side of his arm.

Ah, the blond realizes. It's a car accident. And it was all his fault.

Kise blanches. His voice runs hoarse.)

"Your room is really, really messy you know?" The woman Aomine brought home last night chuckles, parading around while only dressed in her undergarments. She picks random objects up from the ground, inspecting them for a split second before tossing it over her back. "I can't believe you took me in such a pigsty."

Aomine gives a disgruntled snort. "You can always get the hell out if you aren't appreciative."

She shrugs, raising one of Aomine's shirts to sniff before tossing the fabric aside. "Are you really a man? Not even allowing a weak girl like myself to stay?"

"Weak?" Aomine scoffs and was prepared to just kick her out of his apartment and slam the door in her face if not for her sudden shriek.

"Y-You knew Kise Ryouta?"

"Kise?" Aomine repeated the name, moving away from the thing she shoved into his face. It's the same picture as the one he found yesterday and that alone was sufficient to piss him off, especially after his efforts to forget about it.

He snatches the photograph from her and prepares to crush it when she interrupts again, this time remarking about words being written on the back of the photograph. Begrudgingly, Aomine flips it over.

'Aominecchi! I wonder how long you would take to find this hidden message.
Probably a year? A decade? But it's okay no matter how long you take because I love you, Aominecchi!
Really! So much that sometimes I think my heart won't be able to contain it all.

So, won't you those three words properly to me too?'

"Love...? You and Kise Ryouta?" The woman, whose name he still didn't know, arched an eyebrow up in confusion. "You guys are gays?"

But Aomine doesn't hear. He doesn't hear the ugly insults thrown into his face or see how that nameless woman stomps out of his home. All that's in his mind were things with a connection to Kise. He fumbles with the lock of his front door, unlocking the door before taking off.

What's wrong? Did you have another nightmare about me cheating on you? I swore that I'll never do that, idiot.

I dreamed that I was in a place far away from Aominecchi's grasp. I dreamed that I was running, but no matter how far or how fast I ran, I could never reach you.

I want to be with Aominecchi every single second of my life!

So, let's make a promise, Aominecchi.
If we were to stray from each other, make sure to search for me, okay?

But just as I thought, I still love Aominecchi best.

With these rings as proof of our love, Aominecchi can't forget about me!
Let's stay together forever, okay?

Aominecchi...?

Let's stay together forever, okay?

Kise's apartment is cold. Aomine trudges in, not bothering to remove his boots because heck, no one lives here anymore. He glances around the place, noting things about the person he had forgotten for months.

The coldness is lonely. The lack of heat makes him lonely.

Aomine reaches the dining table and spots a paper crane placed on it. Dark blue, with yellow heart patterns. He lifts the crane up, cradling it as if it's fragile.

It's lonely.

It's lonely after he remembers Kise, remembers the warmth his partner always brought along, the warmth he'll never feel again.

By instinct, Aomine unfolds the crane. He doesn't know why he does it. Maybe it's because he's looking for something else which Kise left behind, or perhaps he has the urge to destroy everything which reminded him of the blond.

But the words written inside the crane are unmistakably in Kise's own writing - it's something else which Kise left behind.

'Ah, I wonder how long it'll take Aominecchi to find this message... Hopefully it won't be a decade?
I wouldn't want someone I love to hurt that long.

Oh, and it seems like I'm dying soon. Even though I'm the one who said that we will stay together forever.
I'm sorry, Aominecchi.

But I believe that you'll wake up though! So, when you do and I'm not there...'

Aomine rushes out of the apartment, running at top speed so he doesn't have time to glance back. He doesn't want to turn around. The unfolded paper crane is still in his hand and the words seem to pierce his skin. His mind is whirling, filling with the words in the letter.

'When you are lonely by yourself, I won't be angry.
So hurry up and forget about me, and just go on living.'

The necklace around Aomine's neck breaks, the ring clattering to the cement pavement, and Aomine continues running, not taking notice.

'Let's promise. I love-'

"Sir!"

A blond child picks up the ring on the ground, his hazel eyes widening at the sight of the beautiful piece of silver, then started chasing after Aomine albeit on his short legs and evidently shorter strides.

"Excuse me, sir! You dropped this!"

Author's Note: Alright, I did think that the Shota!BlondKid at the end would certainly compensate the possible angst present. Not true?

So the underlying meaning of the ring dropping (just in case no one caught it) was Kise asking to be forgotten - because the blond mentioned "With these rings as proof of our love, Aominecchi can't forget about me!" and then the child picks it up for Aomine at the end. And now, I really want to write a sequel of Aomine/BlondKid... Who supports me in this? Raise up your hand! |'D

Thank you for reading and please review.