Just a shadow(ON HOLD)

Chapter 1

Kuroko's POV

"Kuroko are you awake? It's time to get up." Hitomi called out to me.

Hitomi was my best friend/roommate, and today we both start our first year at Teiko. Even though I was already awake under the covers I didn't hear her, I was too lost in my own little world wondering how today would go. If it was just me than I knew that I would go unseen practically the entire day, but since we both enrolled at Teiko things would be more interesting. She always had a way of making my boring life as a shadow more exciting.

"Kuroko?"

I think club sign-ups are today, I can't wait to start basketball again. I thought to myself.

"Kuroko!"

I hope Hitomi finds a club she likes too,

"KUROKO!"

She wanted to be on the student counsel, maybe I'll sign up to?

While I was thinking I didn't hear the loud heavy steps coming towards my bedroom. It wasn't until suddenly my comforter was ripped off of me that I snapped out of it.

"Hey! Danny phantom it's time to wake up!" Hitomi yelled before grabbing my arm and pulling me out of bed.

"Okay, okay, I'm up. Let me go." I said. She released my arm as I stood up off my bed.

"You know you don't have to be so forceful every morning Hitomi-chan."

I walked by her and went into my closet to get out my uniform while she talked.

"Maybe if you weren't such a pain in the ass to wake up every morning I wouldn't have to be." She said with her arms crossed over her chest.

"But anyway, can I use your bathroom to take a shower? The water in mine isn't working."

"Yeah, just tell me when your done I need to take one too." I said while laying my clothes on the bed.

"Thanks, by the way what do you ........., she stopped. I furrowed my brows and turned around to see what caused her to stop all of the sudden.

"What is it Hitomi-chan?" I asked.

With an annoyed look on her face she pointed at my head.

"Your hair, it's pissing me off." She said bluntly. I chuckled as I put a hand on my horrendous bedhead.

"You're such a neat freak, does it really bother you that much?"

"Yes." She said completely seriously.

I couldn't help the small smile that spread across my face.

"Alright you can fix it." I said before giving her a brush and sitting on my bed. She sat behind me and started to fix my ridiculous hair. Even though I couldn't see her face I knew she was smiling. I tried to stifle a laugh at her weird desire to keep things neat. Once she was done she stood up and looked at my fixed hair proudly.

"There we go, now I can be seen with you in public." She said half-jokingly. I rolled my eyes at her.

"Just shut up and go take a shower." I replied. She grinned at me before walking into my bathroom. A while later we both were ready and headed out the door. I walked silently while Hitomi hummed happily to herself. I knew she was really excited for today because of the club sign-ups and it made me happy to see her in such a good mood.

"Woah." Hitomi breathed when we reached the school and saw what was going on.

Dozens of club booths were set up in front of the school with members calling out to all the new first years asking them to join.

"Isn't this cool Kuroko? I'm so excited to join a new club." She said smiling as she turned to me, but her smile dropped once she saw my now expressionless face.

"Kuroko please tell me you're not doing it again this year." Her cheerful mood was now gone. Part of me felt guilty but it couldn't be helped. Every year was the same, the second I saw the school gates I put my mask on. I didn't trust anyone besides her, anyone else would ultimately end up hurting me in the end. Only Hitomi was allowed to see me, to everyone else I was a shadow.

" You can't keep doing this every school year. I know you have a hard time trusting people but you don't have to completely shut everyone out." She said worriedly. If we were alone I would have smiled at her concern for me, it made me happy. Hitomi has always been more than a best friend to me, she was like my a sister, and I would do anything to make her happy. But this was one thing that I couldn't change, I can't show others my emotions, around other people my mask is what protects me.

I looked at her with a blank expression, "I'm sorry, Hitomi-chan."

I could tell she wanted to argue the topic but she kept quiet, she knew that this was something I would never budge on no matter what she did or said.

She hung her head as she put a hand to her face and sighed, "Oh Kuroko, what am I going to do with you?" She asked with a sad smile on her face.

After a minute of silence, she took a deep breath and looked back up at me. "I know I can't change your mind about hiding your emotions from everyone but......" she stopped abruptly and before I could ask her what she wanted to say she threw her arms around me and clung to me tightly.

"Please try to make some friends.... Tetsuya." She whispered softly. My eyes widened in shock as she called me by my first name. Hitomi rarely calls me that, the last time she did was when a certain incident happed.

I sighed and hugged her back, as much as I tried to pretend I knew how much it meant to her.

"Okay, Hitomi-chan, I'll try and make friends. I promise." I said.

She stood back and looked at me with a mixture of shock and joy. "Really?"

Without thinking I smiled at her, "Really."

She froze and looked at me with a surprised look on her face. "Kuroko, your smiling." She said with the happiest look on her face as she pointed at me.

Immediately I put my poker face back on once I realized she was right. I made a mental note to slap myself for it later. Suddenly Hitomi chuckled.

"Why are you laughing?" I asked. She just smiled and shook her head at me.

"Nothing, I'm just happy." I tilted my head at her confused. Before I could ask what she was so happy about that it made her laugh she stopped me.

"We can talk more about this later, but for now let's go look at all the clubs. I've been waiting for this for a long time." She said excitedly as she grabbed my hand and began to pull me towards the crowd of students. Hitomi started talking about something but I started to zone out and think about the promise I had made to her. I cursed myself for being so stupid, there was no way I could break my promise, not after it made her so happy.

Great, I thought to myself as I was being led towards the club stands. I really didn't want to have to make friends, it was too risky. I used to have friends in middle school, I can't count how many close calls I had when it came to people seeing my emotions. I knew that if made friends this year it would probably be even harder. While I was internally sulking I looked over at Hitomi. She looked so... happy. I sighed quietly enough that she didn't hear over all the students.

"Damn you Hitomi, when you look so happy like that I can't regret anything." I muttered to myself.

Authors note: By the way Teiko and Serin are switched in this, so Kuroko goes to Teiko high school and used to go to Serin middle school. He also already knows misdirection. Well, this is the first chapter and I hope you liked it. :)