Damn Your Dark, Damn Your Light

Chapter Two

"Did you just say kill the Orochi?"

"You're an artificial vassal," Yamaguchi points out, and Kuroo has to turn his face away. He remembers the room, how they had to hold him down physically even though he already had restraints on his arms and legs. He remembers his own screams filling the room, and his mind protesting. Had he agreed to it? Had he not? He partially remembers the faces, but the pain is something he cannot forget. "The Orochi needs a human body for its revival," Yamaguchi snaps him out of his thoughts. "But if one experiment has been successful to contain the Orochi's cells, then maybe it can host the real demon." Kuroo turns to look at him with a crease to his brows. "The Orochi originally takes over its host after weakening its mental state, but if it's able to fuse with a human who still has their consciousness, then its soul is prisoned inside that body, and will vanish eventually when the host is no longer alive."

"Are you suggesting that I host the Orochi then kill myself?"

"You have been prepared for such fate."

"I ..." Kuroo struggles with words. He knows that. Hell, he had been anticipating his death for a long time now, but ... "Well, I can't even hold its damned cells properly!" He protests. "I'm slowly dying, and I'm certainly not the most stable person out there," he sighs and turns away again. "You've come to the wrong person," he repeats the same words he keeps telling Yamaguchi.

"Then tell me your story," Yamaguchi suggests quietly. "I'm a stranger that's not connected to your path. Perhaps I can help you," he offers. "It's less of a burden when you share your thoughts with someone." And Kuroo picks up his head again and looks at him from the corners of his eyes. His memories are something that he's aching to forget, and Yamaguchi's offer sounds like digging his own grave for the second time.

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The hairpin is sliding smoothly into Kenma's hair, and Kuroo retreats his hands slowly to admire his work. It looks intact, and it looks good, and he breathes out a breath he didn't realize he's been holding. Styling Kenma's hair is harder than taking down an opponent, and he honestly doesn't know how Akaashi excels at both areas.

"Kenma," Akaashi calls from behind him, having been sitting there throughout Kuroo's intense session. When Kenma turns his head to look at him, the hairpin falls, and Kuroo watches with a gaped mouth how the golden locks fall around Kenma's head, and he whines. "I'll give you one point out of ten for actually trying," Akaashi lifts one finger up, and when Kuroo turns to look at him, he's having an amused smile on his face, and it only makes him pout harder at him. Akaashi is about to say something when his gaze shifts higher, and the amused smile falls from his face. Kuroo turns to look behind him, and he sees someone standing with his father, a kit in his hands that makes him alarmed. "Isn't that your mother's room?" He doesn't wait for Akaashi to finish the sentence, and he's already up on his feet, running until he's reaching the slightly opened door, and his wide eyes fall on his mother's figure, sitting on the floor as she looks up at him with a smile, and he hurries to kneel before her.

"What's this? Why is there a doctor visiting?"

"Tetsuro," she reaches out with a hand, sliding it at the side of his face to calm him down. "It's alright. I'm not harmed." But it doesn't make the bile in his throat fade away. "I have good news, actually," she smiles wider, and he faintly hears the doctor's voice getting distant as more footsteps approach behind him. "You're going to be a big brother," she informs him, and Kuroo can't function. He sits there in front of his mother, and she's probably expecting any sort of expression from him that doesn't come, but he's back to his senses again when he feels an elbow pressing harshly at his lower back, and he sees Akaashi's beaming face next.

"Congratulations Mrs. Kuroo," Kenma offers from behind him along with Akaashi, and his mother smiles brighter at them as she thanks them.

"I don't understand," Kuroo says once they've left his parents and back into Kenma's room. His brows are furrowed, and his arms are crossed against his chest. "Why would they want another child? And at this age?"