[A-iroha] Note that this is a Prison!AU fic. Nearly none of the characters in this fanfiction will be of the same age as they are in the manga/anime. You can think of them as older versions of the manga characters. Unfortunately, this also means that the characters have no prior relationships with each other (like attending the same middle school or high school) unless mentioned in this fanfiction itself. Some of the characters featured here are also extremely jaded (such as Aomine, and to the point of being mildly ooc) but in a different way as in the manga, meaning that they might not necessarily have issues which are or were basketball-related. That's all for now, please enjoy the chapter!

Warning: This fanfiction contains angst, gore, violence, crimes, mentally scarring and perhaps tear-jerking pasts of various characters featured, incorrect information about law (Pardon, and please don't nitpick, I don't take a law course, so please?), possible character death and hints of Male/Male relationships.

Coloring Our Monochrome World
黒子のバスケ © 藤巻 忠俊
"If you have to survive, you can't be picky. If you have family to return to, you have to survive." Kagami has been tasked with the seemingly impossible job of apprehending five men who broke out of prison and his promotion depends on this. Unfortunately the five aren't about to give up, and his constantly disappearing partner isn't much of a help either.

Kagami enters his office at eight sharp in the morning, switching the heater on before shrugging out of his coat. The chuckchuck sound of the old device covers the soft thump the bright orange coat makes against the back of the couch as Kagami collapses onto his seat with a long sigh, swiveling his chair around so he could see the snow falling from outside of his window.

The flakes reminds him of how deathly cold this winter is.

He leans back in his seat and munches on his burger while the comfortable heat from the heater brushes past his freezing fingers. The redhead blatantly concludes that no, he still isn't used to Japan yet, not after being away in America for training for the past five years. It's been barely a week since he's back - ignoring that winter was probably the worst season for him ever - and Kagami already finds himself loathing life here.

Amidst his mental rant, a hand reaches out stealthily from behind him to grab his shoulder - unintentionally spinning the redhead's chair around by a hundred and eighty degrees - followed by a flash of bright blond hair, and a mention of his first name.

"A-Alex!" Kagami springs up to his feet. The double cheeseburger falls from Kagami's gaping mouth and meets the floor with a sickening splat. The woman named Alexandra Gracia then settles comfortably onto the chair which Kagami unwitting gives up and crosses her legs.

"Taiga, have you seen the news?"

It takes two seconds for Kagami to process what she's saying. He shakes his head in reply and grabs several tissues to scrub the greasy remains of his ruined breakfast off the floor.

Alex props her legs up on the table top and proceeds to pull five photographs out of her back pocket.

"Akashi Seijuro, Aomine Daiki, Kise Ryouta, Midorima Shintarou, Murasakibara Atsushi." Alex pauses momentarily, watching the flicker of recognition across Kagami's eyes when he links the names to the faces. "Murder, murder, drug abuse, medical fault, embezzlement."

Kagami grimaces at how the click clack sounds Alex's heels make against his work desk penetrates his thoughts, and gruffly accepts the photographs, pocketing them. "And?"

"Those five broke out of prison last night and Headquarters demand that you fulfill your duty as detective and capture them again."

The lone bulb from the flashlight flickers, plunging the room into temporary darkness before brightening again. Five men sit around in a circle, engaged in varying degrees of concentration as they stared at the thin sheet of paper place in the center.

"Stop moving around, Kise. I can't see the map."

"But this isn't a real map, Midorimacchi, it's just a tourist map for tourists visiting Japan for the first time! B-Besides, it's not my fault that the vehicle is swaying so much! It's all the road's fault!"

The truck pulls to a stop in front of the traffic light. The sudden drop in the volume of engine sounds makes all five of them tense although the silence only served to make the driver's poor taste of music more apparent.

"Mido-"

"Shut up, Kise," Midorima hisses back curtly and waves at Aomine to switch off the flashlight. He can't help but imagine what would happen if the driver catches them - the uninvited five who snuck into the back of the truck - on board. Would he recognize them? Has the police even published their faces all over the national TV? Would they have enough time to run? To escape?

"You're thinking too much, Shintarou," Akashi interjects. Midorima twitches at the use of his first name right off the bat but he doesn't voice his opinion since he has a feeling Akashi already knows what he is about to say.

The truck trudges back into life and their journey down the road continues. Aomine switches the flashlight back on. Kise flips his position and lies on his stomach instead, his pose diffusing a sense of comfort. "Guys, since we are probably going to stay together for sometime, I have a question to raise. Why did you guys break out?"

Murasakibara's hand paused from rubbing his now-empty and protesting belly. He was the first to reply out of the other reluctant four. "I stole money from the company I was working for, about fifty million in total."

"Embezzlement?" Kise gasped, his eyes widening in horror. "T-That's one big crime, Murasakibaracchi!"

"-cchi?" Murasakibara tilted his head, a confused look on his face. Akashi stares from Murasakibara to Kise, then proceeds to fold his arms in front of his chest, choosing only to survey the situation and not to participate.

The blond scratches the back of his head in mock embarrassment. There's even a shy blush on his face for added effect. "That's just something I add to the back of the names of people I respect."

Midorima snorted, making a high nasal scoff at Kise's naive statement. "You call that respect? Sure, if you were intending to respect him for committing a crime of a far larger magnitude than yourself."

Kise flinched. "I... I didn't mean it like that! And what's with Midorima-kun's abhorrence for crimes? Didn't you commit one too? That's why you were put into jail, isn't it?"

"Are you looking for a fight, you blond protozoa?"

"Huh? That's exactly what I want to say to you, you moronic carrot!"

Aomine swore he saw a vein twitching in Midorima's forehead. He sighs inwardly, and cradles the throbbing side of his head in his palm. He didn't think he could handle another of the green-haired man's outbursts or the blond's unintentional teasing. He was tired from the jailbreak earlier today - where he was leading a key role - and he wanted to ensure that he isn't taking any unnecessary risks, at least until he returned to Satsuki's side.

His childhood friend needed him. He had to be there, in one piece.

Aomine flicks the flashlight off, plunging the back of the truck into another round of darkness. Murasakibara wakes from his reverie, and the startled arguing duo stopped their argument mid-sentence. Even Akashi appears to have stiffened slightly.

The tanned man clears his throat. "The truck will be pulling to a stop soon, and we'll alight when it does. Estimating from how long we were on board, I suppose we are somewhere near Osaka."

"From now on, we have to tread with ease. We can no longer safely presume that the police has taken no course of action after that this much time has passed. Got it?" Akashi's voice rings with authority even in the darkness as he enforces Aomine's unmentioned point. " And Ryouta, you've got one thing wrong earlier. We're not going to stay together for sometime - we're going on separate ways once we reach Osaka."

Midorima allows himself to heave a sigh of relief. "True. We'll all stand out as a group. And we need to make enough money to fend for ourselves too."

Murasakibara raised his hand into the air despite it being too dark for anyone to see. "If it's about money, I have it. I buried the funds I stole at different locations all throughout Japan. If you guys would help me to dig up the cash, I don't mind splitting the funds evenly~"

Four heads snapped in Murasakibara's general direction.

Kagami's eyes twitches at the sight of the pale, lean and weak-looking boy before him — the one Alex proclaimed as a detective and his partner.

Kagami pushes all discriminatory thoughts from his mind and smiles stiffly, extending a hand. "Nice to meet you, I'm Kagami Taiga."

"Sherlock Holmes."

Gaping, Kagami wonders momentarily how the boy's parents had the foresight to name their child after a famous person, until mirth dances in the boy's eyes.

"Sorry, I lied." He claspes Kagami's outstretched hand in one of his own, in a handshake. "I'm Kuroko Tetsuya. Nice to meet you, Detective Kagami."

Alex scoffs at their awkward greetings and beckons both over to her table.

She slouches in her seat, fingers tapping the name plate that read 'Chief', and passes a copy of the same set of photographs Kagami received earlier, to Kuroko.

"I'm sure that you recognise all of them, right, Kuroko? If you would, please assist us in capturing them."

Kuroko narrows his eyes at the people featured in the photographs and sighs, searching in his memory for files of the respective criminals he's certain he read about before.

Then he pulls a blank paper and pen from Alex's tabletop and commences scribbling furiously.

Kagami quirks a brow skywards in response to the mess of strange squiggles on Kuroko's paper. "What's wrong?"

"Don't interrupt his thinking process, Taiga," Alex interrupts, her voice a mirror of threats and menance combined. "That's how he solves cases. His brain is capable of forming links in a short period of time and he represents them in formulas."

"Links to?"

Kuroko straightens his posture. The sudden movement scares Kagami and makes him lose his train of thought.

"I've made the necessary calculations. The probability that they would be making a temporary stop at Osaka is high. We should head there first."

"Calculations?"

The blue-haired man waves his paper in front of Kagami's face. "The probability of them managing to hitch a ride, the probability of them alighting before the driver sees the WANTED posters or the broadcast on TV."

The redhead turns to the blond lady for clarification, who unwittingly shrugs and glances down at her work desk.

"Everyone has high expectations of the American returnee and of the prodigy. Don't disappoint us. The five criminals must be apprehended swiftly and without fail, got it?"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

[A-iroha] This is like a short prologue to a multi-chapter fic. Honestly, despite all the motivation I have to complete this, I have no idea when I'm going to finish with the next chapter, and I've successfully persuaded myself that I'll not be doing it if no one is even mildly interested in this setting. Given the seemingly dwindling Kurobasu fanbase and the really strange genre I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Feel free to drop me some words of encouragement or better still, if you are reallyreallyreally interested in this. And lastly, if you would, please do add in a list of characters that you definitely want to see but isn't included here yet, and if you want BL, then also some pairings as well. Sadly, this fanfiction won't be too much on the yaoi and romance side but a few hints here and there to sate readers is of no harm to anyone, right?