The Promised Land [Kuroken Fanfiction]

4

"Tora..." Kenma said shyly, he bit his lips and gripped Yamamoto's jacket tightly, "Can you help me... with something?" He asked, he looked away and gulped, "Please..."

~

"GET INSIDE!" Yaku yelled, he pushed Kuroo inside the gymnasium, the lights were turned off and he could see nothing, "YAKKUN, WHAT IS THIS?" Kuroo shouted, his voice with hints of anger and irritation, he proceeded to stand there and disobey Yaku's orders, which annoyed the latter, a lot.

"JUST GET INSIDE!" Yaku shouted, he kicked Kuroo into the gymnasium and slapped the back of his head. Kuroo rolled his eyes and stared at his dark surroundings with confusion, "Now what? Somebody's gonna jump out and say happy birthday?" He asked, with a devilish smirk which irritated Yaku a lot.

But surprisingly, nobody jumped out to surprise him, instead he just continued standing there, that was until Yamamoto suddenly appeared out of thin air, and he slapped a pie right into Kuroo's face with a loud giggle.

"HAH?" Kuroo roared loudly, he turned and the lights were turned on, revealing his teammates standing by a table, with a cake and a banner indicating, "Happy Birthday Captain!" Balloons were tied around it and there in the middle, stood Kenma, with one the brightest smile that he had ever seen, which warmed his heart, he could feel his heart skip a beat and his face flushed red beneath the cream of the pie on his face.

"CAPTAIN! I HOPE YOU LIKE THE PIE!" Yamamoto shouted energetically, he held his fist up high and grinned, "It's an apple pie, baked by Kenma!" he said proudly, he then burst out a roar of laughter as soon as he saw nekoma's captain again, his face covered with cream and his obsidian eyes glowing with anger.

"YAMAMOTO..." He shouted, then he started chasing the second year around, while the others chuckled, "Oi! Stop chasing each other, we still need to eat the cake!" Yaku mothered them, while Kai was dividing the cake into separate slices to distribute to their teammates. "SIT DOWN!" Yaku shouted again, he grabbed Kuroo and Yamamoto by the corner of their shirts and dragged towards the seats.

Then the group took a few pictures with Kuroo smiling, of course the cream was still on his face but that moment, nothing really mattered for him, he was so happy. So... blissful.

The team started eating the cake, it was delicious and although Kuroo and Yaku were bickering throughout the party, they enjoyed themselves a lot, Kuroo even noticed Kenma chuckling occasionally.

"You're finally 17," Yaku said with a sigh, he turned to Kuroo who was frowning, "But you're 17 too..." Kuroo said with a smirk, the two started bickering at each other again, but despite all of that, they had so much fun. Kuroo loves his team so much, and spending time with them allowed him to be in pure bliss, he loves Kenma so much for doing this, despite loathing crowds, he still organised this party. Oh, how much Kuroo wanted to kiss Kenma on the spot.

But Kuroo shook his thoughts away and continued focusing on his teammates, he had a few childish arguments with Yaku and Yamamoto, he also mocked Lev's stupidity and had fun listening to Fukunaga's jokes. Although he felt bad for Kai, who had to maintain good orders in the gymnasium.

After eating the cake, they began dancing and playing games together, Fukunaga has said a few jokes to entertain the crowd and interactions between Lev and Yaku also caused the team to burst into laughters, by the end of the party, Yamamoto dragged Kenma by his side, who was hiding in some corner throughout the party and he grinned, "TO KENMA! WHO ORGANISED THIS PARTY!" He yelled, Kenma glared at Yamamoto and kicked him by his leg, growling, "I told you not to do this, I hate being the centre of the attention-" His golden dyed hair covering his face as he glowered, but the crowd simply cheered for him and Kuroo, was giving him a thumbs up.

He approached Kenma with a smile, "Can I hug you?" He asked, Kenma blushed lightly and turned away, he glanced at his teammates who were smiling at him as well, and so he nodded his head.

Kuroo immediately pulled Kenma into a warm hug, he squeezed him tightly and he could feel his heartbeat, Kuroo chuckled, "Thank you pudding head." He chimed, causing the tip of Kenma's ears blushing red, the teammates giggled and they walked towards them to offer their captain and Kenma a hug.

"NOPE! NOT TODAY, TODAY, KENMA BELONGS TO ME!" Kuroo snickered, he said without any hesitation and grinned, his devilish smirk being more provoking than ever which irritated the team a lot, Kenma, on the other hand, was simply blushing at Kuroo's hug and words, his curtain of golden hair allowed himself to hide his flusterment.

The team groaned, and so after a few games later, the party ended. They cleaned up the gymnasium and bid farewell to each other, Kuroo and Kenma of course decided to walk home together, like they usually would.

So the two walked in silence, they gazed at the sunset and listened to the chirpings of the birds, no words were exchanged, and they were in pure bliss. "Kuro..." Kenma mumbled softly, his raspy voice was so calming that it caused Kuroo's heart to skip a beat. "I... I got this for you..." He said quietly, as he took out a keychain and handed it to Kuroo with a blush on his face.

The keychain was a black kitten, with a red ribbon tied around it, it was very similar to the one that Kuroo gave Kenma a few years ago, the one that was hanging on Kenma's bag now. He smiled and patted his head, his hand going through his golden hair and he bent down, his face only a few inches away from Kenma's.

"Thank you, I know you don't like crowds yet this party you organised... Thank you so much." He said, in his low baritone voice that almost sounded like a growl, Kenma nodded his head, "I like seeing you happy..." he blushed and looked away, he played with his fingers for a while and covered Kuroo's eyes with his hand.

Standing on his tiptoes, he gave a peck on Kuroo's cheeks, his eyes closed shut and his ears blushing red, his face was a hot mess and his palms were covered with sweat. Kuroo didn't move for a while, he stood there, bent down in silence, he could see Kenma's face through the gaps of his fingers and he gulped.

Kenma hesitantly removed his hand from Kuroo's eyes and he looked away immediately, while Kuroo was simply blinking with confusion. "G-good night...!" He said abruptly, running away from the older boy, he was far too awkward for this. Kuroo stood there, he touched his cheek and rubbed his temples, he then fell on the ground, hugging himself and screamed internally.

"What..." He murmured to himself, he then chuckled and rubbed his temples, "That's the best birthday present ever..."

Despite that kiss Kenma gave Kuroo on that day, their relationship didn't change much, sure there have been more flirtings but for some reasons, they were sure that those simply some platonic flirtings. Kenma claimed that the kiss was just out of the moment and it meant nothing, but Kuroo didn't think so, nevertheless, he decided not to push any further into this topic if it made him feel uncomfortable.

File Name: 17th November, 2012