Rainbow Veins

Chapter 1

Bokuto Koutarou thought of himself as a lot of things, but above all strong, fearless and tough. When he was 15 and broke his arm after pulling off a very risky volleyball stunt with his best friend Kuroo Tetsurou, it turned out he wasn't any of that.

He was currently located in the waiting room of the hospital nearest to his school, lingering on one of the chairs with his right arm covered in white plaster. His eyes still stung from the tears of pain he had shed and all in all, he was in a really bad mood.

"This is your entire fault" he muttered to his best friend who was sitting next to him.

"Stop being such a baby. It was your idea, not mine. Take responsibilities."

That comment made him snort. "Look who's talking."

Tetsurou only responded with a snicker what made him raise his still intact arm.

Before he could punch him though, his parents came back accompanied by a doctor. Koutarou froze upon seeing the tissue between his mother's fingers and the tears in her eyes.

He instantly grabbed the sleeve of his best friend's shirt and turned to him with eyes widened.

"I knew it! I freakin' knew it and it's all your fault, asshole!" He turned away from Tetsurou again then, dropping his head back and fingers tearing at his silver hair. "I will never be able to play Volleyball ever again!"

"Would you please drop that pesky Volleyball of yours for once and listen to what the doctor has to say, Koutarou?"

Said boy only gulped and shut his moth in an instant. His father hardly ever was that serious but when he was, it was scary.

Oh god. He was going to die...

It didn't really help him calm down when the doctor started talking in a very slow voice to him. As if he were some kid that was about to burst out in tears any moment because it dropped his ice cream cone. Okay, maybe he would actually do start tearing up when he dropped his ice cream, but just because ice cream was delicious and not because he was a kid. He was in high school now and very mature.

He felt Tetsurou's elbow meeting his side in a painful attempt of getting his attention. "Dude, are you listening?"

He snapped his attention back to the doctor the moment he said something about the x-rays he had to do and a tumor on one of the radiographs. His eyes instantly widened in panic.

"Mom!"

He turned to his mother expectantly, as if she would tell him that everything the doctor had just said was only a joke or something.

The elegant woman sat down next to him and took his non-plastered hand in hers.

"Kou, baby, there's no need to panic right now okay?"

"Your mother is right. It's luck that the doctors discovered it that early. Nobody wants to imagine what would've happened if you didn't happen to break your arm today." His father still looked rather serious, but there was a small smile gracing at the corner of his lips. It didn't make Koutarou feel much better, though.

"See?" Tetsurou blended in. "So I've actually saved your life today. You should be grateful, man."

He only shot his best friend an annoyed look. Was he the only one here panicking about him having freakin' cancer?

The doctor continued, "Well, it's not even certain that the tumor is malignant yet. We still have to do some tests. If it turns out innocuous, there might be no need for surgery at all."

"S-surgery?! Mooooom..." Koutarou hid his face in his mother's shoulder, tears starting to form in his eyes. This had to be the worst day ever in his whole life.