Whats hidden behind the shadows

chapter 3

kuroko walked in the gym, feeling a weird atmosphere. He walked to akashi and midorima, then noticed the bruise on his face.

"Midorima-kun, what happened to your face?" He asked, stratling him.

"Um, i got in a fight with aomine."

"Oh wow, what was the fight about?"

Before Midorima replied kise barged in and came crashing into kuroko, which was his attempt of a hug.

"K-kise-kun you're kind of crushing me.." kuroko mumbled

"Wuah! Sorry Kurokocchi!! I came here so i can ask something!" Kise said as he got off kuroko.

"Sure, what did you want to ask?" Kuroko

"I was wonderingg.. why dont we hang out at your place today? Usually we go to mine or aominecchi's but we've never seen your house before!"

"Seems interesting, may i come too?" Midorima asked

"Me too, im quite interested in your home." Akashi said

Kuroko froze, if he said no it'll be suspicious, but he can't say yes! There will be too many questions

"Um well, my house is a mess right now, i um didn't get a chance to clean it. Maybe next time?" Kuroko said

"It's okay if your house is a mess, i mean have you seen my room?" Aomine joked but kuroko didn't laugh, although he never laughed at aomine's jokes.

"Sorry, it's not the right time right now" kuroko said

"Aw man i really wanted to see your house" -aomine

"Me too! Kurokocchi you're way too mysterious" -kise

"Guys don't guilt trip him like that, it's his decision." -midorima

"Thank you midorima-kun, again, sorry" -kuroko

"No need to apologise, don't let these idiots walk all over you" -akashi

And so practice continued on, everyone kind of forgot about kuroko, they still kept a close eye on him. Ofcourse Kuroko noticed this, it was making him nervous, he actually put a long sleeved shirt under his normal shirt so his arms are covered.

*after practice*

kuroko was walking to the locker room and grabbed his stuff and was about to walk outside to change somewhere else.

"What are you doing? Don't you have to change first?" Akashi said, startling kuroko.

"Um.. yeah that's what i'm about to do." Kuroko replied bluntly.

"Then why not change here?" -akashi

"Private reasons." -kuroko

"Oh? Do you have some secret or something?" -akashi

kuroko stayed silent after that and was about to walk out, when all of te sudden akashi grabbed his wrist, to try and stop him from leaving, but didn't expect kuroko to whince at that.

"Um.. sorry if i grabbed you too harshly, but, if you want to talk you know that you can trust us right?" Akashi said as he let go.

"Thank you Akashi-kun but i'm alright, do not worry." Kuroko said as he walked out.

— time skip, it's 22:11 in the evening—

kuroko had just finished his shift at a restaurant, he ate there for free and walked back to his group home. As he got there and was about to walk to his door he noticed a sock on his door handle. He heard those unholy sounds he wanted to erase from his memorie and quickly walked away.

Kuroko is wondering what to do, last time when he actually knocked on the door during this time, Haru (roommate) got so mad that he got punched in his face, haru held him by his throat and threatened that if he did this again he'd get personally beaten untill he wouldn't be able to walk.

Yeah no that was not the ideal evening kuroko wanted, so he decided to knock on his neighbour, Saito's, door. Who answered quickly.

"Hey little dude, why are you here?" He asked, ruffling kuroko's hair, he knew all about kuroko's past, and they had quite the similar past, the only difference is is that kuroko is much younger, so he feels like he needs to protect him.

"I was wondering if Ito was out for tonight?" Kuroko asked, shoving his hand away from his hair.

"Ah no, he is here for tonight, may i ask why?"

"Oh, well i cant sleep in my room tonight since haru is.. you know.. so i thought i could sleep at yours just for tonight."

"Im so sorry buddy but that wont be possible, its a mess here, besides if you slept here you'd be sleeping on the ground, you can better sleep on the couch. I have some spare blankets and pillows for you!"

"Thank you so much" kuroko said as he bowed

"No need to be so formal okay? We're brothers. Maybe not by blood but i'll still treat you like my baby brother, you can treat me like a bit brother in return?" Saito said

Kuroko nodded "right, sorry."

And so that night kuroko fell into an uneasy sleep, waking up by each little sound, and then struggling to fall asleep again because of the old couch he's sleeping on.