Hell-bent

[Sunday. 05:47. Wake aoMine Up Inside]

Ah, this again. It's been nonstop lately, and the same damn thing as always : he's still running, it's still so, so bright. Still, with the fragile illusion of childlike innocence.

Ohh, and now it's this part. The part where they all run together, the fleeting moment where he's no longer alone.

He looks to his right: the tiny tiny hand of a blush coloured blur grasps his fingers tightly.

He looks to his right: the haze of the familiar, multi-coloured mess of warm laughter. Pale blue, gold, violet, green, ash....shades of red. Like the glittering of sunshine through stained glass.

And then this part. The glass shatters, the sunshine fades away as they all break and bleed and disappear.....

........Huh? Always the same thing... right? But no, something is off.

He glances back, and finds himself facing a ...screen?

One-by-one, the faces of all the other children appear before him before flickering away. Each wearing the same distorted smile. Satsuki. Murasakibara. Midorima. Haizaki... Akashi.

...............Tetsu. The smile widens. T-t-tears in the eyes.

Next on the screen, he sees his own face. In surprise, he takes a step back, and the "he" on the screen mirrors his movements.

He steps closer; "he" steps closer. He reaches his hand out; "he" tilts his hand out. All at the same time, just like a reflection.

As soon as the fingers touch, the screen cracks.

He tries speak, but the words refuse to leave his throat. Instead, "he" raises a finger to "his" lips and, without opening his mouth, asks:

"What are you so afraid of?"

The cracked screen goes black. And so does everything else.

[Sunday. 05:47. Wake aoMine Up! Before You Go-G.........oh....]

Aomine sits straight up, clutching his hand to his face as a searing pain courses through head. His heart feels like it's pumping battery acid at about 90000 bpm, and his body is coated in a thin layer of sweat.

Almost instinctively, he shifts his eyes to the side, peeking from behind his fingers to check the space next to him: empty. No sign Kise had ever been there, save for the faint scent of his cologne still lingering in the air of the room.

Tch.

Stretching back, Aomine pulls his relentlessly-vibrating phone out from behind his pillow, and with some mental effort, answers the early morning call. Before he can even speak:

"GUESS WHO GOT HER NUMBER!"

"Satsuki.... what the fuck time do you think it is?"

"Ooohh, so grumpy~. Are you sulking 'cause Ki-chan ran away ? Don't mind, Dai-chan, you'll just have to work harder from now on"

"I'm not sulki....how the fuck would you know he left...? Ah, no, I mean-"

Aomine almost drops his phone.

"He didn't tell you, did he???"

Momoi snorts on the other end of the line.

"He didn't need to tell me. Please, Dai-chan, as if you didn't see this coming."

"What the fuck are you talking about..."

Aomine grinds the corner of his phone into his forehead and frowns. His heart and head are still pounding, but he makes an effort to take a few deep breaths.

The thoughts don't formulate themselves so clearly, not at this ungodly hour, but Satsuki's voice is somehow enough to drag Aomine to some semblance of understanding.  

Right. An impulsive fuck and some sentimental pillow talk, there's no way that's enough to resolve over a decade's worth of time and issues.

He can't even bring himself to snap at Momoi that he "doesn't care", "what does it matter". Awful.

"Anyways," Momoi trucks on, as if she's already read and understood Aomine's thought process.

"While you two idiots were playing your cute game of repressed-feelings-chicken, I managed to make serious progress with Riko-chan <3"

Aomine reclines back onto his side, propping his head on his hand. He's much calmer now, though the pain in his head and chest is still relenting slowly.

"What, did she name a time and place she's gonna kick the rest of your ass?"

"Ahaha...what makes you say that...?"

With his pinky finger, Aomine scratches up the side of his nostril.

"I can hear it in your voice. She broke something, didn't she?"

"Mmm, I got so excited when I overpowered her that I became a bit careless, and she ended up crushing my hand a little. Of course, I'm overjoyed she wanted to hold hands, but broken fingers will make it difficult later, when I'm pleasuring h-"

"UH WOW, way to skip a few crucial steps. Anyways, shouldn't you be taking care of this Tetsu bullshit first before making these kinds of...plans.."

Momoi starts laughing so hard she ends up choking a bit. Aomine grits his teeth as he waits for her to finish.

"Satsuki..."

"Sorry, sorry, it's just ....hearing that from you, Dai-chan..."

Realization sets in about half a beat too late.

"................................Shut up. Go see a doctor. Idiot."

"I'll call you later <3"  

"You don't have to."

"DAI-CHAN, DON'T BE SO MEAN-"

Aomine sighs. Akashi sure has chosen some of the dumbest people to play his little game.

Now. His sleep's all fucked up, guess it's time to seek solace in Mai-chan.

There's way too much going on, like he's actually going to "deal" with any of it. Pff.

 [Sunday. 05:51. Unmarried With Children]

"And? What do you two fuckin' clowns have to say for yourselves?"

Araki Masako asks through gritted teeth, tapping her shoulder tetchily with the shinai she brought specifically for this scolding.

"What were you going to do if you had been found by a rival clan? Forget having my reputation take hits because the infamous "dragon" and "reaper" like to sleep on the pavement , you two were prime targets for a fucking altercation. You know I can't afford to deal with this bullshit right now. And yet..."

She frowns down at her two most dangerous subordinates, whom she's made to sit before her on the floor of their own apartment. She gets the reactions she expects, but not the ones she wants:

Himuro, silent, staring back with an infuriatingly unapologetic expression on his stupid one-eyed doll face. And Atsushi, with his poorly stifled yawns and disinterested demeanour.

"Sorrrryyy, my bad, my bad, Masako-chin," he drawls in a tone that cannot possibly be sincere, as he slowly sprawls out and unravels his long limbs which were not designed to sit in seiza for longer than 30 seconds.

A blood vessel throbs in Masako's temple.

These two fucking brats.....

Masako lets out a resigned sigh, setting her shinai down to brush a few stray strands of black hair from her face.

Ah, whatever. All's well that ends well, there are more important things to deal with. But first, uhhh...

"By the way..."

She gestures her four-fingered hand towards the other side of the flat.

"What the fuck happened to your kitchen?"

The carefree atmosphere around Atsushi immediately darkens.

"Zaki-chin's goons killed my fridge" he growls, but offers no further explanation, as if Masako is supposed to understand what this nigh-incomprehensible sentence means.

She sighs again. It's a good thing she had something to drink before coming here.

"Tatsuya, give me the details later. And you two, don't forget you're comin' with me tomorrow. Try an' keep your shit together until then, no more naps on public property."

She pauses, grinding the tip of her shinai into her foot.

"No, wait, yer grounded. I'm grounding you. Don't leave this fucking flat until I come to get you, or so help me....

"Yes, ma'am"

"kaayyy, Masako-chin~"

"And take a fucking bath! Clean yerselves up."

Murasakibara and Himuro bow respectfully as Masako pointedly walks out of their apartment.

Fucking brats. Shit, they are cute though.  

[Sunday. 05:54. This Ain't A Scene It's A Goddamn Arms......Dealer]

"I must say, I'm rather curious," C purrs in his usual insufferable way, clicking his fingernails against the handle to his newly-acquired briefcase. He's in a good mood, which never bodes well.

"As to why I've had the pleasure of your patronage so often this past month,"

He holds out a gold-encased lighter and switches the flame on, in offering. The tiny light flickers a little from the gentle early morning breeze.

"Shougo-kun?"

Haizaki snatches the lighter out of the arms dealer's hand and lights his cigarette himself. He tosses it back without a word, let alone a thank you.

 "I just ask," C continues without missing a beat, pocketing his lighter back into his beige suit jacket  and slowly, slowly circling around Haizak, smiling at him through the corner of his eye.

"Because I heard tell from a number of my sources in the police force and private security that there is a secret plague of pesky Masks running around the city lately. Nothing too worrisome, as they're not attacking normal civilians. A few bouts of them have already been taken care of.

But as I was listening to an account from a rather concussed security guard earlier--you must understand, those were my weapons found at the scene-- from his account it seems that even your golden boy has gotten involved~

Ah, but, you wouldn't know anything about that, would you, Shougo-kun?"

Haizaki's lower lip twitches. A passing car illuminates his face for a fraction of a second before he's shrouded in darkness once more.

After a pause, he scoffs.

"How the fuck should I know.." he mutters, his voice muffled from the cigarette between his lips.

"Oh my. You're usually so much more responsive when it comes to your precious Ryouta. Even after all the special things you told me about his history, I thought you'd-"

Haizaki sharply sucks air through his teeth.

"Is there somethin' else you wanna say, you fucking perv? 'Cause I've got shit to do."

C raises his heavily-jeweled hands in peace, laughing lightly. The briefcase hanging from his wrist swings from the motion.

"Relax, I'm just teasing you. Honestly, if those are your toys, keep them under better control or you'll regret it. Ah, but if they're not,"

C reaches out and plucks the cigarette from Haizaki's mouth before he can react, and takes a long, cheeky drag.

"Then who knows when you'll be next? Just a thought."

".............................Here's a thought: stop talking about shit you don't know and just have the fucking goods delivered on time."

"Ah, youth~. So impatient."

C waves goodbye.

Haizaki flips him off.

[Sunday. 06:06. Skinship]

It's been a while since they've taken a bath together.

There have been several times over the past few years where Himuro has --somehow-- managed to drag an unconscious, blood-drenched, armed Atsushi into  the bathroom for a hosing down, but not much else. Of course, public bathhouses are a no-go, what with the massive ink dragon on Himuro's back.

So this is somewhat rare. Even more rare that Atsushi suggested himself they go in together. Atsushi can get clingy at times, like an oversized child, but this sort of skinship isn't something he normally initiates. Coming from someone who's usually quite easy to understand, it's confusing- no, misleading?

Not that Himuro is complaining. He takes a break from his own undressing to cast a sidelong glance as Murasakibara peels his shirt off and tosses it to the floor.

Nothing Himuro hasn't seen before, but.....still. Nice.

Once Atsushi's hands move down to undo his belt, however, Himuro Tatsuya forces himself to turn AWAY from the slow reveal of 208 centimeters of raw, sweaty (nn~) muscle, and back to stripping his own self.

He puts their clothes --picking Murasakibara's off the floor-- into the dirty laundry basket, before bracing himself for what is to come, and following Atushi through the entrance into the bathroom.

Their bathroom isn't particularly small, but violet Goliath still manages to make it seem cramped. He squats onto one of the stools, his limbs bent a little awkwardly (how cute..), and rinses himself off with the shower head. In the meantime, Himuro fills the bath with hot water and sets the temperature.

When he's done, Himuro carefully pads over to Atsushi and lowers his head closer to offer, softly:

"I'll wash your back?"

"Mm."

Warm, soapy water trickles down the ripples of Atsushi's wide back. Though he never did get his tattoos done, his skin is still decorated: by newer wounds, pink scars, the marks of carelessness and taking damage like it's nothing. Himuro can exactly recall where and how Atsushi gained those injuries.

But more than that:  the older, paler scars, reminders of a time that Himuro hasn't seen. As  Tatsuya washes the space between Murasakibara's shoulders, over a particularly nasty raised scar, he recalls the words of Nijimura from earlier.

"How should I put this...the first little while was spent honing their general capabilities, pretty painless in comparison. We had a sniper,  close-range weapons specialists, some close combat specialists, stealth, analysis all covered. Pretty fucked up for a bunch of kids, but it got a hell of a lot worse when 'they' started mentally and physically pushing these kids way past their limits.

So the Murasakibara you know, i won't go too deep into it, but.... the reason his switch keeps flipping is because of a constant effort to bring out the 'other' side of him, and then control it.

Honestly, if I had to guess, he was probably inherently gentle to begin with .The abandonment pushed him and forced some crazy survival instincts out of him, but who knows what would have happened if he'd gotten real help after that."

"Muro-chin?"

Himuro startles out of his thoughts, as Atsushi tilts his head back far enough to peer his violet eyes up at Himuro.

"Ah, sorry Atsushi, I got lost in thought. Did you want me to wash your hair as well?"

Murasakibara nods, and bows his head back down. His purple hair, dripping with water like this, gives off a silvery sheen. Pretty.

Himuro lathers the shampoo in his hands and massages it into Atsushi's head. This is much more relaxing, as the motion of curling his fingers through the surprisingly smooth, shoulder length locks helps him free himself from all those unnecessary thoughts. Atsushi too seems to enjoy it, if his low, satisfied hums are anything to go by.

Just as the last of the shampoo is rinsed from his hair, Murasakibara suddenly shifts around on his stool, wielding the showerhead menacingly. Startled, Himuro almost pulls back, but before he can, Atsushi grabs him by the shoulder with his free hand,

"Muro-chin. Me too."

And spins him right around.

"My turn."

Their positions reverse. Now it's Murasakibara's massive, clumsy hands doing a half-hearted job of washing Tatsuya's back. He gives up on the cloth halfway through and ends up just sliding  his fingers down Himuro's spine, lazily tracing along the art of the ink dragon.

His fingers are hot.

"Mmm, that should be enough," he mumbles after a while, extending his arm out for the shampoo, then stopping mid-reach with a monotone "ohhh" of realization.

"Muro-chin wants to wash his own hair, right? 'Cuzz you don't like people touching near your face."

Himuro reflexively touches his left cheek, under his fringe. Ah. That's right. It's true that having someone else get too close immediately puts him on edge.

So Atsushi considers these kinds of things as well.

"...Mm. I can handle it myself. Atsushi, you  can just get in the tub, it should be hot enough by now."

Atsushi's voyage to the bath means Himuro gets a close, full frontal view of his ass as he passes by, an unreasonably tasty ass for a man known as "The Reaper". As a result, Himuro needs a douse of cold water from the showerhead. To stay..."calm".

As Murasakibara sinks into the tub --larger than most, but still not large enough--, a good deal of water spills out and splashes onto the tile floor. He leaves his arms lolling out and his head tilted back.

When he finishes washing his own hair, Himuro gets up and tests the heat of the bath with his hand, then joining Atsushi, facing him while submerging his own body inside. Their legs inevitably bump and slide against each other under the water, tangling just enough for a comfortable fit.

"Too crowded, Muro-chin~~" Murasakibara complains, grabbing Himuro's calf to half-heartedly push it back, water around him splashing at his effort.

"Weren't you the one who said we should do this, Atsushi?" Himuro teases, sliding his leg farther into the other side of the tub, wishing he'd thought of this "bath bonding time" thing earlier.

Murasakibara frowns and gets quiet, his grip around Himuro's leg still firm, but no longer struggling. He folds his own legs closer to each other, pouting. His neck is a delicate shade of pink from the heat of the bath.

From the heat of..

His legs...

Oh.

Himuro's head suddenly feels light as all reason evaporates from his brain.

He sits up and moves forward, pressing his fingertips against Atsushi's chest, tilting his head to look into Atsushi's eyes properly.

One, two, three rapid heartbeats. That's a second.

"Atsushi...can I...?"

Four, five, six rapid heartbeats. That's a pause. A hesitation?

No. Murasakibara is just slow. The response comes from within Atsushi's throat, lips right under the space between Himuro's ear and his neck. He pulls Himuro's wrist down, under the water.

"Mhm."

Ah.

Himuro really  should have thought of  "bath bonding time" earlier.

[Sunday.  06:11. Love At First Snipe Part III/ Grand Theft Taiga Part I]

"Believe it or not, we didn't get along so well at first. Shin-chan's a real tsundere-type, all icy and stoic on the outside, so with him it's pretty easy to get the impression that you're being hated. Plus he smiles like once every 4 months, and even then it's like, a satisfied smirk. Ya know, if you praise him after a perfect hit, he goes all 'hmph, naturally; my marksmanship is always infallible. Nanodayo' Hahahha....

ahhhh.  Anyways, after a couple missions together, I was having a hard time making it work with this green icicle, but I found I couldn't leave him alone, either.

So one day I went up to him-- we were taking out some shitty CEO or something, definitely not important-- and I'm all like:

'Yo. Midorima-san,'

And he was fixing the gauge on his rifle while h...pffff....while he was holding this . fucking. tiny portrait of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. 'cause lucky item, oh my god, and this is integral to the story too.

Of course he ignored me at first and, okay, I'll admit this got me kinda testy, so I grabbed his arm. And oh my god was I surprised 'cause, ya know, this was the first time I'd ever touched Shin-chan. I hadn't realized until that moment, but Shin-chan fucking BUILT under those boring ass white collar button down shirts.

Anyways, of course being grabbed out of nowhere (tehe) finally got him to turn around, and h-"

Takao pauses to tilt his head to the side, steely blue-grey eyes glittering mischievously.

"...hm? What's wrong, Hostage-kun? Could it be you need to use the toilet? Is it constipation?? Constipation????"

The patch of duct tape plastered over the mouth of Kagami Taiga muffles what is almost surely a colourful  response to Takao's words. His glare of disapproval is scathing, enough to rival Midorima's ice cold reproaches.

"Ahaha, is that so?" Takao grins, leaning back against the back door of the van. What an entertaining young heir; if Takao pushes him a little harder, he might get to see something real good.

"Hmmm, so where was I? Shin-chan, what was I say-..........Shin-chan?"

Midorima, for some reason, is grinding his face into the palm of his free hand.

"Takao, stop..saying unnecessary things."

".............................don't tell me you're feeling SHY-"

"SHUT UP TAKAO"

After his brief bout of laughter subsides, Takao wipes a stray tear from the corner of his eye and turns back to Kagami,

"Still,"

The assassin rests his elbow on the kidnapping victim's shoulder and gives him a good look. 

"You seem pretty relaxed for someone being stolen. Oh, maybe you think you'll just be ransomed off? The old man pays off some metric tonne in gold and you're free to go?  Unfortunately, this ain't that kinda kidnapping. Rich people sure are crazy~. "

No reaction? Haha, awww, well that's no fun. Looks like this kid really is quite the hardass young master. He may be pissed off, but his demeanour is too calm: pulse rate normal, eyes steady (and angry), breathing steady, no fidgeting other than his muffled protests.

He was probably trained for this kind of situation. He's playing it off pretty well, but still--

Too naive.

Takao plays with the chain necklace hanging around Taiga's neck.

"Or maybe you're just on guard after willingly making yourself bait, so cute little bodyguard-chan can track us all the way to the destination."

It's subtle, but Kagami's pupils contract.

Mmm. Now that's more like it.

"Ahahhaa, yeah. Nothing on him, of course: his hunting style is almost completely undetectable. But,"

Takao winks, twirling his finger around the chain.

"I've got what you might call a good eye."

...............................

.

.

.

.

.

.

"SHIN-CHAN WASN'T MY JOKE FUNNY-"

"TAKAO SHUT! THE FUCK UP!!!!"

[Sunday. 06:12. You Shouldn't Mix Business With Pleasure]

Aida Riko didn't even know Kagami Taiga existed until a few years ago, around the time she replaced her father's role in running security for Kagami Sr. She had been sent on a flight to some random town in the States, unaware that the purpose of the trip was to discover her employer's most protected secret: his son.  

It was a surprise, for sure, to find out that the major part of her job would revolve around this unruly, willful...blood red brat. A brat at the centre of a very complex web of intrigue and deception. And danger, as Riko was soon to find out.

Partially raised and completely trained in combat by American ex-merc known by alias Alexandra Garcia, the young heir Kagami Taiga had little understanding of his own precarious position, and even less understanding of his "worth" as Kagami Sr.'s heir. 

Although Taiga possessed an almost terrifying potential as a combatant, and a lust for the fight to go along with his skill, it was undeniable that the flames burning in his crimson eyes were strong and pure. This, along with a rather...alarming experience involving the local mafia, a semi-automatic-wielding young priest, five million dollars of cocaine and Taiga's superhuman ability to jump his own height... was enough to captivate Riko, despite the youth's frustrating hardheadedness.

Before Riko was to depart to Japan, she was pulled aside by Garcia who, after a week of airy flirtatiousness, finally got serious and said:

"I've taken him almost as far as I could go. I'll be entrusting Taiga to you."

And Riko swore to Kagami Taiga's guardian that yes, she would do everything in her power to protect her young charge.

Which is why, in the midst of this current clusterfuck, to play her part in staying informed, keeping pests at bay, and keeping her enemies super close, like mouth-to-mouth close,  it was totally necessary for her to give Momoi Satsuki her own untraceable personal number.

I-it's not like she was ch-

....ch....char.....cha...charm.....ch-charmed......or anything...

WAHAAAAH AHHHHH. no way no way no way no way uh-uh uh-uh uh-uh uH-OH.

 EMBARRASSING.

Riko's hand is still trembling. Not from the sharp hit that probably ended up at least fracturing Momoi's wrist when Riko regained control of the situation. Nor the crunchy headbutt delivered shortly after.

Nor the shortage of sleep over this past few ...lifetime. No.

Well, yes actually. To all of those things. But what's most rattling is that, upon discovering that they both had shown up to this sento for NOTHING, no show ups, no masks, no assailants, NOTHING, it seemed only natural to scrawl her digits onto Momoi's already-swelling wrist and tell her:

"You wanna know more about me? I'll tell you when you're ready to stand on my ground."

So fucking embarrassing. Who was that? Not Aida Riko, surely. Someone else. For sure.

Ahhhh.......fuck. Now it's a waiting game. Her own fault, but it made sense at the time.

All this mortification and confusion is making Riko hungry.               

She should go fix herself a snack to calm down. No wait, she can't cook. Then Kagami can--..no wait, he's in a safehouse, he can't cook with his life in danger. Ah, then Mitobe-..no he's still recovering.

Convenience store food can only make her vomit at this moment in time.....

Can't be helped.

Last resort speeddial: Kiyoshi Teppei.

[Sunday. 06:12. Unmotivated Employee Of The Month]

Head bowed; down on one knee; fist to the ground. All in respect.

Disgusting, but it can't be helped: Akashi is sooo anal about that kind of thing. "Propriety" and "noblesse oblige" and all that other worthless shit, he's all about it.

So yeah, no choice but to kneel before these random elite fuckos the ~Master~ has collected to play his little game with his ex-teammates or whatever. How many was it again? 6? 7? Ugh, who can keep count.

"And?"  snaps a very unhinged, moustached, so-called "elite", emphatically waving the decorative banana he just so happened to have in his hands. 

"The summons for the omiai were delivered successfully by one of my Master's contacts, but Kagami Taiga- sama has yet to send his response-"

"HMPH!" the "elite" snorts, tapping the banana against his cheek with a misplaced air of smugness.

"My wife jumped the gun with the whole ~official~-" [Read: normal] "route to getting this all done. As if Kagami would allow his precious secret lovechild within ten feet of an arranged marriage. I went to college with the guy, he was always like that. Keeping the most important things hidden."

".....is that so, Xx-sama..."

Xx pauses, setting the banana back into its rightful bowl, alongside its friends: decorative pear and fake grapes.

"You must be judging my decision..." he begins pensively with a clenched fist full of emotion, so immersed in his own melodrama that he fails to realize the listening party could not give less of a fuck.

"But this is the best way...no, the only way. To deliver the Xx Family from ruin."

"Uhhhhhhhhhh.....yeah. The 'delivery experts' you hired are on their way with the 'goods' so......I will be taking my leave. Later." [Dumbass]

And with that, Mayuzumi Chihiro, personal retainer to the notorious Akashi Seijuro-sama, noiselessly fades away. Back to the outdoors, running between buildings (as 6 in the morning is way too late to be running around on rooftops like a respectable shadow of the night.

Back to his post as guard-dog, where Akashi likes to keep him close.

But still not close enough to let him inside the house.  

Whatever. Ah, but he has been down lately. Maybe this whole kidnapping disaster will cheer him up--

Chihiro brings his zoom-zooming to a complete halt. He's overcome by the sudden chill coursing through his body.

Was that -- ?

[Sunday. 06:13. First Title Drop]

Kuroko, hell-bent on his mission to 1. ensure the safety of his young master Kagami Taiga, whom he has very knowingly thrown into danger, 2. "resolve conflict" with his former teammate, the country's deadliest sharpshooter (& Co.!) and 3. ???, does, in fact, run right by a colourless presence disturbingly similar to his own, but...

It can be dealt with later.

Kagami-kun is waiting.