Before It Can Get Back To You - A Kuroken Fanfic

Chapter Four

Kenma was walking up to Kuroo's house with a stressed, and yet concerned expression on his face. He knocked three times before he just walked inside. It was something that was fine with Kuroo's father since Kenma was considered family in the Kuroo household. The petite setter went upstairs and opened the door to his best friend's room without hesitation. What was going on in front of his eyes was more than shocking to him:

Kuroo was...sleeping. Why was he still sleeping? Wasn't he the one who always wanted Kenma to get up as early as possible? Carefully, Kenma approached Kuroo's bed.

The captain of Nekoma looked so peaceful when he was sleeping. His science-themed blanket was keeping him warm and safe, protecting him from the coldness that could take over his body. But how long was that going to last?

"Kuroo, are you asleep?" Kenma asked quietly.

Kuroo's brown orbs that radiated kindness and an indescribable intelligence stared into Kenma's golden ones. They looked kind of tired, but at the same time surprised and...happy.

"Not anymore, Kenma." he replied slyly, trying to hide how exhausted he felt due to his feelings for his best friend. His heart was beating so fast that Nekoma's captain thought it was gonna pop out of his chest, which, of course, wasn't logical at all, but was just how he felt. He was utterly defenseless and helpless when Kenma looked into his eyes like that. He wasn't used to seeing Kenma being worried about him. Usually, Kenma was laid-back when it came to Kuroo's temper, knowing he was gonna calm down eventually. But this time, Kenma was beyond confused and Kuroo was able to see that. And yet, Kuroo didn't wanna talk about it.

With a swift motion, Kuroo got out of bed, avoiding eye contact with his setter.

It wasn't much to his surprise to see that Kenma was willing to wait for Kuroo to get ready for school. Usually, Kenma would've pressured him, saying things like "I can't believe you're the one being late today", but Kuroo recognized that Kenma was shaken to the core by his behaviour. There was something about himself he didn't recognize, and neither did Kenma.

"Let's go, Kenma." The raven-haired boy spoke as he walked past the shorter boy. It was something he'd say pretty often, but today, his words were softer and had something melancholic about them, as if he was trying to tell him something, maybe say goodbye. From the corner of his eye, he saw how Kenma's eyes widened for a second, once again surprised by his best friend's behaviour.

They walked to school together, but both of them were thinking about different things. Kuroo was trying to figure out what to do and how to get rid of the feelings he was unable to recognize, while Kenma was trying to imagine what Hinata would do in such a situation. Unconsciously, he started smiling. As Kuroo glanced over in his direction, he saw his smile and immediately knew why he was smiling. Tears were appearing in his eyes again and he started walking faster.

"What's the matter?" Kenma asked, to which Kuroo only looked at the ground, kept walking and said:
"I don't want you to get late because of me...We need to hurry."

Classes were nothing but a burden to Kuroo that day. Even though he was an excellent student, known to be one of Nekoma's best, he couldn't bring himself to even say a word in class. His teachers were starting to worry, but every time they asked him what was wrong after class, he just laughed and shrugged it off. After all, that was easier than admitting something was wrong...right?

As volleyball practice started, Kenma was nowhere to be seen, leaving Kuroo surprisingly irritated. Usually, he would've just laughed about it and gone to look for him, but today, he felt impatient...frustrated. Hurrying out of the gym to look for Kenma, he ran into the one he was looking for, holding his phone in his hands with a chat opened: His chat with Shouyou Hinata.

Incapable of hiding his frustration, Kuroo clenched his fists and looked away.
"Get inside, we want to start practicing."

The shock was written on everyone's faces as they saw and heard everything going on. Kenma nodded quietly, feeling uneasy and not really getting what was wrong as he walked into the gym and started warming up with the others.

Kuroo avoided eye contact with Kenma once again, even during practice. He didn't spike as good as usual, his spikes were more aggressive and less accurate, which was weird since everyone knew how smart Kuroo was.

Even though Yaku and Kuroo had their quarrels sometimes, the libero couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with his captain. The strawberry blonde third-year approached his classmate, only to get interrupted by Coach Nekomata clapping his hands and calling the whole team to assemble in front of him.

Kuroo looked uneasy when he saw the grin on his coach's face, but when he heard his words, he felt like he was dying multiple times on the inside:

"We're going to Miyagi."