The Shadows [AkaKuro] <HIATUS>

Chapter 1

~Akashi~

"... Tetsuya..." A young redhead mumbled as he turned restlessly in his sleep.

"... Kuroko... Tetsuya..." He had been having the same dreams every night for as long as he could remember. Dreams of a middle school, Teiko middle school. Six high schools, Rakuzan, Yosen, Shutoku, Touou, Kaijo, Seirin. Basketball. A group of six rainbow-haired boys. One red, himself. One purple, Murasakibara Atsushi. One green, Midorima Shintarou. One dark blue, Aomine Daiki. One yellow, Kise Ryouta. And last but not least, one sky blue, Kuroko Tetsuya. Every night, every dream, he would drown himself in those bright cerulean orbs of the light blue-haired boy. From quick glances to brief eye contact to long periods of silence spent staring into each other's eyes. Light brushes of each other's shoulders to shy hesitant hand-holding to hugs and even sweet kisses. It was a pure innocent puppy love.

But on some nights, there would be nightmares. Rain, thunder, cold gusts of wind. A crimson-haired boy walking away and a small sky blue-haired boy crying, sobbing on the pavement. The soft, heartbroken cries rang in the redhead's dreams, haunting him. A broken promise. Then there was screaming, shouting and the same sky blue-haired boy, now an adult, with tears streaming down his flushed cheeks, cerulean eyes holding nothing but anger. A car crash, blood, more tears. The sky blue-haired boy forgave the crimson-haired but death tore them apart once again. Two broken promises and one, not yet broken, to meet again in their next lives.

The redhead knew these were memories. Memories of his previous life. He was the crimson-haired boy who let his lover, the sky blue-haired boy, down. He knew it was stupid but he had set his mind to find the boy, Kuroko Tetsuya, and fulfil his promise. He knew Tetsuya may not look the same, may not have the same name, may not remember him, may not love him, and may not even be alive in his lifetime but he still loved him and would not give up finding him until the day he until he found him. Even after he died, even in his next, next life, he would keep trying.

"Tetsuya!" Akashi shot awake, groaning as his ceiling came into view. Not again... Flipping over lazily in his bed, Akashi glanced at the alarm clock on his bedside table. 7:15am... About time to get up anyway... After going through his morning routine, Akashi brought his coffee mug to the sleek black piano at the far end of his living room, seating himself on the leather bench. The redhead lifted the cover, closing his eyes as his fingers glided over the black and white keys with practised ease, playing the first tune that came to his mind. He still had an hour before he had to leave for his first class. Akashi, 21, is a piano teacher.

~Time Skip~

"Aka-chin" The deep voice came from the tall purple-haired male sitting opposite him. It had been weird for Akashi at first, to see some of his friends from his previous life but he had slowly grown accustomed to it. Unlike him, none of them had any memory of their previous lives so Akashi kept it to himself. All of them had the same look, the same habits, the same personalities and the same names. Murasakibara now works at the cafe the two of them was in right now, while Midorima, like Akashi, is a piano teacher.

"Yes?" It is Akashi's lunch break and since he wasn't feeling too hungry, he had decided to drop by Murasakibara's cafe.

"I found this in one of my snacks. Its a VIP backstage pass to a concert by a band called 'The Shadows' or something. Neither me nor Muro-chin is interested so I just thought I'd give it to you since you like music" Murasakibara said as he dug a folded ticket out from his pocket.

"The Shadows?" Akashi raised an eyebrow as he took the pass from Murasakibara, holding it up for closer examination.

"Its a new band made up of three people. Their music is quite popular with the teenagers. Its their first concert I think" The giant mumbled nonchalantly, crunching on a large pack of potato chips. "They're putting up posters on the streets. Look out for them later. Your break is ending soon isn't it?"

"Yeah, I should be going. Bye" Akashi glanced at his watch. Waving goodbye to Murasakibara, the redhead strolled back to the music school, taking out the pass once again. There was something about it that drew his attention but he just couldn't pinpoint what. Maybe it was the name of the band...

The Shadows...