Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basuke.

Hi, everyone! Sorry for the super late update. I just woke up one day and hated writing. Gaah. It took me a while to get back to writing.

Beta: wasabi cake. I not for her, this chapter would have been shittier than it already is.

Chapter 5 The Escape

"It looks like a parrot's beak, doesn't it?" Blue eyes were bright with awe as he stared at the peak of Mt. Pico de Loro*. His voice was soft and barely audible amidst the strong gusts of wind. He and his companion were sitting atop the monolith rock formation adjacent to the mountain's peak, overlooking the blue waters of South China Sea.

The redhead chuckled as he ran one of his hands through wild blue locks. "That's why it's called Pico de Loro, the parrot's beak."

"You have no romanticism, Jiro-san."

"Ah," Nanjiro kissed the tip of his bluehead's nose. "You love me nonetheless, don't you?"

Nanjiro smiled widely as his companion's face turned red. He further closed the gap between their faces and kissed soft, soft lips.

"Chairman," Nijimura's voice woke him up from his dream. He slowly opened his eyes, revealing crimson orbs. "Sorry to wake you, sir, but we have landed." His assistant informed as the airplane landed.

"Arf!" Nigou, Tetsuya's dog, barked as if begging for Kise's attention. It was sitting on the passenger seat. He patted the dog's head affectionately. He made a friendly salute to the villa's guard as he pulled into the driveway.

"Don't worry, Nigou. You'll see your master soon!"

Kise spotted Murasakibara Atsushi by the door. Murasakibara approached him as soon as he hopped out of his car with the husky in his arms.

"Ki-chin, you're late. Aka-chin and I have a lunch meeting in Chiba."

"Eh! You still have time, Murasaki-cchi!"

"I won't be able to buy snacks before I fetch Aka-chin because of you." Murasakibara pouted as he handed him a piece of paper. "This is Kuro-chin's list of medication. It's Nurse Sakurai's day off so you have to take care of Kuro-chin by yourself."

"Yosh! Leave it all to me, Murasaki-cchi!"

Kise went straight to the kitchen, hoping that Murasakibara did not eat all the food the blond stuffed into the fridge. He sighed in relief when he found that there was a slice left for his ward to eat. He let go of Nigou to let the pup roam around the house as he prepared Kuroko's food.

"Kurokocchi ~" Kise sang as he stepped inside Kuroko's temporary room, a tray of food in his hands. "I'll be your babysitter for today." His bright smile faded when the teen didn't seem to notice him. The person he was about to babysit had a distant look in his eyes as he stared outside the window. He cleared his throat then called again, "Kurokocchi!"

This seemed to catch the teen's attention as he turned to face the famous model.

Kuroko bowed his head slightly and muttered a "Good morning."

"Why do you look so down today?"

Kuroko stared at him, silence reigning over them. It took all of Kise's strength not to fidget under Kuroko's calculating gaze. It wasn't like Akashi's deadly glares. But, it was unnerving, nonetheless. "I don't think there's anything to be happy about being held captive, Kise-san."

Kise sighed as he made his way to the bed. He carefully placed the tray table over the teen's lap. "Kurokocchi," he said as he made himself comfortable on the recliner beside the bed. "I know you don't trust Akashicchi… or any of us. Although we may not have the best intentions, please trust me when I say that you're better off here under our protection."

"With all due respect, Kise-san, I don't think any of the circumstances we're in right now would make me want to trust you."

Kise let out an awkward laugh. "You're so straightforward. I think I'm really starting to like you."

A bark by the door caught both of their attention. The husky had found its way to its master. Kuroko readily lifted the blanket and moved as if to stand up, albeit weakly. Kise was quick to stop the teen.

"Kurokocchi," he motioned for the teen to stay in bed. He lifted Nigou off the floor and carefully placed the dog on the teen's lap. The model did not miss the ghost of a smile playing on Kuroko's lips which somehow tugged at his heart.

I'm going soft, he thought regrettably. Before he could feel anymore inappropriate emotions, he decided to leave the master alone with his pet. "I'll just… I'll be downstairs. If you need anything, just –" he picked up the bell on the table and shook it. "-ring the bell."

Kuroko watched as Kise closed the door while petting Nigou's hair. He listened carefully, waiting for the model's footstep to disappear. When he deemed the older male to be downstairs, he carefully put his puppy down. He slowly slid off the bed, his soles feeling the cold floor. Despite the wobbly feeling, he managed to stand up without support.

"Arf! Arf!" Nigou barked, his tails wagging excitedly.

"Hush, Nigou." Kuroko admonished. He walked to the closet where he had seen Murasakibara (hid)[hide] his bag. The closet's door creaked lightly as he opened it. Neatly piled shirts and sweaters greeted him; on the top shelf was his sling bag. He stood on the tip of his toes, reaching for the sling bag and successfully pulling it down. It fell on the floor with a light thud. Kuroko readily searched the bag, heaving a sigh of relief as he spotted the old coloring book in it. He pulled the bag close to his body, as he felt tears start to form in his eyes.

"Arf!" The puppy's bark pulled him out of his stupor.

"We have to get out of here, Nigou." He whispered almost inaudibly as he wiped his tears with his sleeve.

He looked down on himself, contemplating whether to change or not. Deciding that it would be weird to see a man walking down the street wearing pajamas, he pulled out a white long-sleeved cotton shirt. It was a little loose but it was better than the sleepwear he was wearing.

After changing, he slung his bag over his shoulder then walked to the side of the bed. He pulled the sheets and blanket off then tied each to its ends, creating a makeshift rope. As swiftly as he could, he tied the end of the sheet to the bedpost, pulled it hard to test whether the knot would loosen with his weight. It did not.

Satisfied, the blue-head walked to the door leading to the balcony. He opened it as wide as possible, checked if there's anyone on the ground. When he found out there was no one who would see him, he threw the other end of his improvised rope down then purposely came back inside the room. He tugged the makeshift rope as hard as possible, successfully moving the bed, its corner hitting the nightstand. He watched as the lampshade on the stand wobbled then fall to the floor with a loud "CRASH!"

The air is crisp, not too cold and perfect for napping time. Aomine yawned as he made his way through the park. He had just come out of a boring meeting and thought he needed some fresh air. Meetings were not for him. Those were for Akashi, Midorima or Kise, but never for him. He had to pretend listening though his mind had already wandered five minutes into the meeting. It was a good thing his secretary was smart enough to let him know whether he should nod or shake his head.

There were a lot of people at the park for a weekday, he observed. But, it did not deter him from enjoying the place. It was better to see kids playing on the ground than facing his business partners.

He was halfway to his favorite ice cream parlor when a familiar face caught his eyes – Sakurai Ryou. The nurse was sitting on a bench, reading a book.

Aomine's lips quirked up, a mischievous smile playing on his lips. He approached the unsuspecting man, then, without warning, he flopped on the bench with much force that it tilted back. His smile turned into a wide grin when Sakurai let out a yelp and threw his book into the air. Aomine caught it gracefully though.

"Aomine-san!" Sakurai shouted as his horrified face morphed into a scandalized one.

Aomine laughed, committing to memory Sakurai's expressions.

"Please stop making fun of me!" The nurse clutched his chest, still feeling the fast beating of his heart. "You just scared the hell out of me."

The COO tried to contain his laughter as much as possible. It took him a few more minutes before he could finally speak.

"Ryou, why are you here?"

"Ah… it's my day off." Sakurai answered while inching slowly away from Aomine. This made the COO scowl.

He pretended to sniff on his suit, then narrowed his eyes. "I don't smell bad, do I? Why are you shifting away?"

"I'm sorry!" A blush crept on the nurse's cheeks, making him look more adorable to Aomine. "It's not that! It's just that…" Sakurai fidgeted while mumbling to himself.

"Could it be that you find me too attractive and you feel intimidated?" Aomine raised an eyebrow.

"Wha- No!"

"You don't find me attractive?"

"No – "

"So which is it, Ryou?" He purred as he moved closer, invading Sakurai's personal space.

"I… ah… you… you're attractive." Sakurai mumbled which Aomine would not have heard if it were not for the too close proximity. "I just didn't think of you as… you know…"

"So you do think I'm attractive."

The embarrassed look on Sakurai's face was enough answer for Aomine. "Don't worry. The feeling's mutual."

"Eh?"

"With that settled, we can now go on a date." He declared haughtily. "Let's go to my favorite ice cream parlor!" He grabbed Sakurai's hand and was about to stand and pull the other man up when the phone in his coat pocket vibrated.

"Who could this be?" he grumbled, annoyance evident on his voice. His face scrunched as he saw Kise's name flashing on the screen. He flipped his phone open simultaneous with the click of his tongue. "What do you want?"

"A-aominecchi!" Kise's voice sound panicky, making Aomine's warning signals blare in his head. "K-Kurookocchi! Blankets! Jumped out! Escaped!"

"What the hell, Kise! Calm down and talk coherently, dammit!"

He heard a few deep breaths from the other end of the line before Kise blurted out. "Aominecchi, Kurokocchi is missing!"

"What?!" He gritted his teeth. This is bad news. This is really, really bad news.

"I can't find him anywhere! What will I do?" Kise whimpered.

"Stay there. I'm coming." He closed his phone then turned to Sakurai who had been silently watching the whole time. "Looks like our date's postponed. Kuroko's missing."

"…I was cooking Kurokocchi's lunch – sautéed beef broccoli – 'coz I thought it was healthy for Kurokocchi and that he'd like it and – "

"Kise," Aomine cut in. He was listening to Kises's story – or rambling at this point – while driving, which is a really hard task because there's too much information. Does he really have to tell what he's cooking? "Just get to the part where you found that Kuroko's missing, will you?" he grumbled impatiently before turning his focus back to the road.

They were on their way to the nearest town to the villa. Kise was on the passenger seat beside him.

"I was just getting there, Aominecchi!" Kise whined.

"No, you were not. You were just about to elaborate on how you're preparing Kuroko's meal."

"Fine." The blond huffed. "As I was saying, I was cooking downstairs when I heard a loud crash. I hurriedly ran to Kurokocchi's room only to find it empty. His blanket was tied to the bedpost, and the other end was tied to the bedsheet which was tied to another bedsheet which was tied to the cur – "

"I. GET. It." Aomine gritted his teeth. Could this be any more detailed? "He made an improvised rope, which I would guess was thrown to the balcony. Now what else?"

"Oh, you're good, Aominecchi! Maybe you should reconsider your job. I think being a detective will suit you."

The COO would have face-palmed if he was not driving. "Can you just continue?"

"Where was I? Oh… yeah… so I saw the lampshade broken on the floor. The door to the balcony was wide open so I ran to the balcony, but he wasn't there. So I came to the conclusion that he had already escaped. I ordered the guards to search for him in the woods, but, they didn't find him."

"You're an idiot, Kise. The kid had played you."

"What? No way! Kurokocchi would never do that to me!"

"Oh yeah?" he raised an eyebrow, not taking his eyes off the road. "If you didn't panic then he wouldn't have escaped. It's impossible for him to climb down using that makeshift rope. He's still weak to do that."

Kise was about to protest when he shot him a look, telling him to shut up. "Kuroko is smart. He left the sliding door wide open so you would think that he escaped through the balcony. My guess he hid either under the bed or inside the cabinet and waited for you to come and see his trap."

"But, the bed was turned towards the balcony. It's like it was pulled when he climbed down. The corner even hit the nightstand which I think caused the lampshade to fall down."

Aomine clicked his tongue. "Do you think Kuroko is that stupid not to assume that the stupid makeshift rope will hit the lampshade, granting that he did escape by climbing down?" He was answered by silence. He paid a side glance to the blond. There was a weak shaking of the head.

"You're right." Kise assented weakly. "What will I do, Aomenicchi? Akashicchi will kill me!" He whimpered pathetically. And, speaking of the devil, as if he had heard his name, Kise's phone rang. Akashi's name flashed across the screen.

The blond's expression morphed from surprised to horrified. "OH MY GOD! The devil is calling! The devil is calling!" he flailed his arms. "Aomenicchi, you answer it!"

"What? NO WAY!" he pushed Kise away as the blond tried to shove the phone his way. "You answer it! It was your fault that he escaped! Take responsibility!"

"PLEASE-AOMINECCHI!" Kise shoved the phone hard at him, accidentally making him stir the car to the right, then to the left.

"What the hell, Kise!" A long, loud beep pulled his attention back on the road. It was then that he realized they were at the opposite lane, a car coming on their way fast. He quickly maneuvered the stirring wheel to the right, narrowly escaping their death. He pulled the car to the side then stepped on the breaks as hard as he could.

Both men were panting hard, eyes wide and staring blankly ahead. "We almost died." Kise muttered more to himself than to Aomine.

It was Aomine who first recovered from the shock. Relief washed over him when he realized that they were both still very much alive. This, however, changed easily into rage as he remembered the cause of his near death experience.

"Damn you, Kise!" He grabbed the blond by the collar and was about to hit him square on the face, his fist already in midair, when the phone that Kise was using to shield his face with rang again.

Aomine settled back to his seat and glared at Kise. "Answer it."

Kise took three deep breaths before he tapped the answer button. With the most business-like voice he can manage, he greeted, "Hello."

"Kise-chin. What took you so long to answer?" Murasakibara drawled on the other line as Kise tapped the speaker button. Before he could answer, the executive assistant continued. "Never mind. Aka-chin wants to talk to you."

"Ryouta." Akashi's deep voice rumbled throughout the Hummer. It still fascinates Aomine how his boss' voice always exudes authority.

"Y-yes, Akashicchi?" Kise's voice trembled and Aomine wanted to hit him now more than ever.

"How's Tetsuya?"

"He's fine… ah… sleeping?" Really? Couldn't he use his talent of charming people now? It's a life or death situation!

There was an agonizing silence for a whole minute which made Aomine want to puke. For some reason, his instincts were tingling, as if warning him that something very bad, or scary, is about to happen.

"Ryouta." Akashi's voice was colder than usual, making both men shiver. "You know I don't like it when people lie to me. Is Daiki with you?"

A sweat ran down the side of his face at the mere mention of his name. He tried sending signals to Ryouta to answer "No."

The blond answered the opposite. With gritted teeth, Aomine made a warning gesture that he would strangle Kise later before he took the phone from the latter.

"Yo, Akashi!" He answered with feigned cheerfulness in his voice.

"Daiki, mind telling me what's happening?"

At this point, the ganguro was sure lying was no longer an option. With all the courage he could muster, he muttered, "Kuroko's missing. But, we're alreadyon our way searching for him." And, there's the silence again, Aomine thought resentfully.

Again, just as he thought that the call had ended, Akashi spoke. "I want him back at the villa before I come back." Or I'll have both your heads was the unspoken threat.

Aomine unceremoniously tossed the phone back at the blond. He then fished the phone from his pocket. "It's time to call a friend."

"Kuroko. Kuroko Tetsuya." He watched as the policeman nodded then started typing again. He was exhausted and dizzy and he really wanted to rest. But, he knew he could not. Not right at the moment. It was a long walk from the villa to the town and his body was not in its best condition. But he did not stop walking until he reached the police station.

It was a difficult feat to get out of the villa. He was lucky that his assumption that Kise would panic came true. The young marketing head had ordered the guards to search the forest at the back of the villa. So it had been easier for him to slip out and make a run for the highway. He did not stop walking until he came by the small precinct.

He ran his hand through Nigou's fur to calm himself as he waited for the policeman to finish typing on his computer. He could make out a few beads of sweat on the man's forehead. Kentaro Seto. He read the nametag on the left chest of the officer's uniform.

"And you say that you had been detained in a villa?" Kuroko nodded. "And the man who detained you was Akashi Seijuro?"

Kuroko nodded again. Judging by the arching of the police officer's brow, he knew that the officer did not believe him. He decided to give more information to enforce his story.

"I had an accident…" He pointed at his bandaged head. "I tried saving Akashi-san's life. When I woke up, I was confined in a room in his villa. I told him that I wanted to go home, but, he wouldn't let me."

The officer only hummed in response, his eyes fixed on his computer. "Do you have anyone that we could contact or call to fetch you? Guardian? Friend?"

"Yes, my neighbor, Kagami Taiga."

The door to the police station opened then closed, making the officer look up from his computer. For the first time since Kuroko came, Officer Seto smiled then uttered the name he did not want to hear.

"Aomine-san, it's good to see you!"

Kuroko's heart beat fast at the mention of the name. It can't be! It can't be! He kept uttering in his head like a mantra, deeply hoping that this was all a mistake, that there are so many Aomine's in Japan. He looked down to his pet to see the husky wagging its tail excitedly, its eyes trained on the newcomer. He turned his head, still hoping for the best. But, his hope dissolved when he saw Aomine and Kise standing by the door. Officer Seto stood up then approached the two to greet them.

"It had been a long time since we had seen each other, Aomine-san."

"Ah. I've been busy. It looks like you're keeping in shape, Officer Seto. Thanks for calling me as soon as you found my cousin." Aomine's gruff voice filled the small precinct.

"It was the contrary actually. It was your cousin who came to us." The police officer chuckled.

"Nonetheless, you have my heartfelt thanks." Aomine grinned. "I hope he didn't cause much trouble… you know, with his condition and all."

"Not at all. He was actually very polite… you know for someone who's had a trauma like that." The last part was uttered as low as possible but Kuroko was still able to catch it.

"Come on, Tetsu!" Aomine approached him, imposing the difference between their heights. "It's time for you to come home."

The ride to the villa was silent, the air inside the Hummer tensed. Kuroko was just staring out the window, watching the trees on the side of the highway fade into blur. He did not move a single muscle even as they pulled to the driveway of the villa.

"Kurokocchi, we're here." Kises's voice was soft, lacking the usual cheerfulness in it. The blond ushered him out of the car, the blue-head not having enough strength to refuse. He was being led to the door, when said blond halted on his steps. "A-Akashicchi…" Kise's voice slightly trembled.

Kuroko, for the first time, looked up and found the eyes of the fearsome CEO trained on him. Akashi yanked him out of the blond's grasp and was dragged into his room. Without much warning, he was thrown to the bed by the redhead.

The teen gasped as his back met the soft mattress, creating a muffled thud. Before he could even register what had happened, Akashi was already hovering above him, straddling his waist. He was looking at him like a predator would his prey.

"You dare try to escape me, Tetsuya."

Akashi's voice sent shiver down his spine.

"T-this is illegal detention!" He said with as much edge on his voice as he could manage, his hands clutching Akashi's shirt. "You can't forcefully keep me here. I will have you arrested for this!"

Akashi laughed with a tone of sarcasm. "Do you think anyone would believe you?" He ran his hands through the blue-head's cheek, openly enjoying the trembling of the lithe body beneath him. "My dear Tetsuya, I am Akashi Seijuro, CEO of the Akashi Group, the largest corporation in Japan. What would I want with an almost nonexistent person like you?" He leaned closer to the teen's ear, his warm breath tickling the pale, sensitive skin. "What would I get from kidnapping you?"

Kuroko's hands fell to the side as he realized the hopelessness of his situation. Tears started flowing from his eyes, a sob involuntarily escaping his throat.

Akashi stood up, straightened his crumpled shirt, then left the room.

*Mt. Pico de Loro or Mt. Palay-Play is a mountain in Cavite, Philippines. I just had to include it 'coz I love the place. It's the first, and maybe last, mountain I ever climbed.

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