Nine Lives

8. Book of Shadows*

A couple days after Kuroko's last dream, Sei receives a visitor.

Kuroko had been studying in his room when he heard the familiar's voice. Confused he had paused his work to listen to what he was saying. Their voices were muffled through the door, but Kuroko definitely heard two of them.

Frowning, the boy stands from his chair and walks out of his room. He doesn't recognize the green haired man standing in the middle of his living room. The two men look over at him as he exits the bedroom and Kuroko looks between them cautiously.

"Ah, Tetsuya. Did we disturb you?" Sei asks. Kuroko shakes his head.

"I was just wondering who you were talking to..." He looks at the tall man. He's wearing a long green and black cloak and black rimmed glasses. He looks back at Kuroko with an unimpressed expression.

"This is a friend of mine. Midorima Shintarou. You've met him once before when you were young, though he was in his other form."

Kuroko looks over to the red head. "Other form?"

"I'm a familiar, like Akashi." Midorima says. "I take the form of a crow when not in this one."

"Oh." Kuroko looks at the green haired man. A crow familiar.

In elementary school Kuroko had once seen Sei with a crow. Kuroko had been returning home from school and came into his bedroom to see Sei and a large crow sitting on his bedroom windowsill. The two of them had turned to look at him and the young Kuroko froze, staring in amazement. The crow had quickly turned and flew away, but for a long time after that Kuroko had kept his window open, hoping it would come back.

"I remember. You came by when we still lived at my grandparents." Midorima nods and Seijurou smiles.

"Shintarou was worried and came by for a visit." Sei says, grinning at the taller man from his place on the recliner. Midorima huffs and adjusts his glasses.

"Who wouldn't be worried? You're on your last life. In all the time I've known you, you've never been this close to death."

Seijurou just shrugs. He looks up at the taller man and holds out his hand.

"You brought the book at least, right?"

"Yes." Midorima sighs at his friend's nonchalance. He opens his cloak and produces a large, thick, old brown book. Seijurou takes it from him happily and sits it on his lap. He strokes the cover carefully.

"What's that?" Kuroko asks, stepping a bit closer but stopping when he sees Midorima's displeased frown.

"A book that holds the lives of centuries of my master's within its pages." He says as he stares longingly at the book. Midorima huffs once more.

"You truly sound like an old man on his deathbed. It's painful to listen too." He scowls at Kuroko. "All this trouble for someone like him? How foolish."

Kuroko tenses and turns his gaze to his feet. He feels uncomfortable around the crow familiar. Sei on the other hand is very at ease having his friend next to him.

"Then the two of us must both be fools." He laughs at his friend.

Kuroko looks up just in time to see the green haired man's face soften as he shakes his head at the heterochromatic eyed familiar.

"Maybe we are." He says with a small smile.

"How have you been?" Seijurou asks.

"Better than you." Midorima replies. "At least I have years left with mine, yours is a ticking time bomb."

Midorima glances at Kuroko from the corner of his eye. Kuroko stays still, listening to the two familiars talk in a tense silence. It's weird being talked about as if you weren't actually in the room. It's times like these that he wishes he were actually invisible.

"If Tetsuya is a time bomb, then Kazunari is an untouchable rose in a glass case." Sei says, getting up from the chair. He sets the book down and walks over to Kuroko. Kuroko watches him in confusion as Sei wraps his arms around Kuroko and pulls him into a close hug. "I much prefer my bomb. At least I can touch him." Seijurou says with a smirk. Midorima sighs through his nose and crosses his arms. Kuroko can see his glare from the corner of his eye, but this time its not directed at him.

"Whatever." Midorima huffs. "I'm leaving. You don't need my sympathy if you're acting like this."

Midorima turns to the window and pulls it open.

"Yes, you don't want to keep your rose waiting." Sei grins as Midorima sends him an annoyed look.

"I'll see you at the end of the month." Midorima responds before pausing and glancing over at Kuroko. "Will he be in attendance this time?" Midorima says in a lower voice.

"That has yet to be decided." Seijurou replies. Midorima nods and turns to the window again.

Kuroko watches in amazement as the taller man quickly transforms into a crow and flies out of the open window.

"Thank you for the book!" Seijurou calls after him, loosening his grip on Kuroko. The familiar caws in reply. Sei turns his attention to Kuroko now and smiles apologetically.

"I'm sorry about him. He can be a bit hard to get used to."

"He really doesn't seem to like me at all..."

"He's just a bit upset with our current situation."

"Did you tell him what happened?" Kuroko frowns.

"No. I told him I was hit by a car again."

"Oh." Kuroko looks down and Sei releases him, squeezing his shoulders reassuringly before dropping his arms. He steps over to the window and closes it before it can let anymore cold air in.

"What did you mean when you said you'd rather a bomb than a rose?"

"Shintarou and I both share the same unfortunate fate. We've both fallen in love with the ones we serve." Sei smiles at the blue eyed boy and Kuroko feels embarrassed for asking now. "Shintarou however isn't even able to confess his love. His master is already long married and with a child on the way."

Kuroko looks up at Sei's sympathetic expression for his friend's situation for only a moment before he glances away.

"I see... Then he hates me because he thinks I'm hurting you like his master is him...?"

"No, he's just jealous." Seijurou grins.

Kuroko looks over at him with a frown. Seijurou steps over to him again reaches out to run his fingers through Kuroko's hair. Kuroko's expression softens at first, then quickly turns into an annoyance when he realises Sei isn't trying t be comforting. Instead Sei begins to play with his hair, making it stand up. Kuroko swats his hands away.

"Quit that." Kuroko scowls and Sei laughs.

As he brushes his hair back down with his fingers, Kuroko's gaze falls to the book just behind the familiar. Sei follows his eyes and looks back at the book as well.

"What about the book? You said it was my mother's?"

"Not just your mother's. This book has writings from nearly all of my masters."

"Masters? Plural?"

"Yes. I've been the Kuroko family familiar for a very long time, I've had many masters."

Kuroko raises is eyebrows. "And they wrote this?"

Seijurou nods, stepping back and picking up the book. "Yes. This book is a collection of spells that have been written by my masters. It's the Kuroko family book of shadows."