I am Here

'A lone boy stands listlessly in front of a gravestone, his silent tears mixing with the rain.' AU. In which Kuroko Tetsuya really is a ghost, and Kagami is the only one who can see him. Of course, haunting ensues.

prologue

'There had been rumours surrounding the old outdoor basketball court in the far side of the park. At night, when the moon was up, sounds of a ball dribbling across the court, hitting the old, faded black square of the creaking backboard, and occasionally swishing through the threadbare net could be heard. They were the normal sounds of a person practicing street ball, and so people hadn't thought much of the occurrence, strange that it may be for someone to practice in the middle of the night. But, when you approached the dimly lit court, expecting to see someone there, your eyes would encounter nothing, and the sound would abruptly stop as the temperature dropped sharply. A cold breath would just touch the back of your neck, and as you turned around in surprise and terror, you would see nothing. But when you turned back again….'

A soft, childish voice whispered into his ear. "Hey…let's play…"

Kagami screamed, his voice uncharacteristically high pitched and shrill. Izuki fell back clutching his stomach, unable to control his laughter at the sight of the team's ace curling up into the fetal position, shaking in fear. Hyuuga simply raised an eyebrow at the display, pretending the story hadn't affected him, but his heart was thumping loudly. Though he didn't want to admit it, that story had been freaking scary. And the way Izuki had delivered the last line had been bone chilling. Glancing at the other team members, he was secretly glad to note he wasn't the only one, the first years plus Tsuchida had all clustered together in a dog pile in their fear, Mitobe's expression was frozen in his face, and even the cheery Koga's smile seemed strained.

The only one who truly didn't seem to be affected was Riko (actually, when had she gotten here?), who looked thoughtfully at the laughing Izuki. "Yeah, I've heard that rumor too."

The team as a whole froze. Hyuuga stared in horror at her. "What? It's not just a story? What?"

The coach shook her head. "I suppose it could be considered an urban legend. Recently there've been stories of how you can hear a person playing basketball at the old park near Seirin, but no-one's ever been seen."

Hyuuga could begin to hear Kagami's teeth chattering.

Izuki wiped the tears of laughter from his face. "Don't worry, don't worry. It's probably just some shy kid practicing basketball who doesn't want to be seen. It makes for a good ghost story though."

Riko nodded emphatically. "Yeah….unless." Her thoughtful expression gave way to a threatening leer hidden by an angelic smile. "We wanna go check?"

Hyuuga could feel the shiver that went up the team's spine. "NOOOOO!"

"Then stop wasting time and get back to practice! Honestly, I expected you to be training hard when I got back, not exchanging horror stories! Three times the training, everyone!"

"YES MA'AM!"

Kagami groaned as he trudged back home, his legs feeling especially tender. He wasn't the weakest of the group, but today's training had wasted even him. He didn't even want to think about how the other first years were handling it. Yawning, he stretched his arms as he passed by a lit streetlight illuminating the dark alleyway.

Thump….Thump.

Kagami stopped. That sound…that was the sound of a basketball. 'Someone must be practicing outside in the park at this late hour. Haa…brings back memories with Tatsuya.'

'Huh? This situation…sounds familiar.'

The red headed teenager suddenly froze. His eye twitched as he slowly turned to stare horrified as his location. He was right next to the entrance of the park. And on the other side was the old outdoor basketball court, where the child ghost played all alone, waiting for someone to come so he could play with them, so they could join him in his eternal unrest, so that he's never be lonely again….

Kagami violently shook his head, trying vainly to stop his ever present teeth chattering. The ghost story hadn't been true. Not at all. Izuki himself had admitted so, there was NO GHOST in the old basketball court in the park. It was probably just a shy kid, like he'd said. Right. And since it was a real person, and not a ghost, it would be no problem at all to just calmly walk in, have a good look at the kid (to make sure he was very much alive) and walk out.

Because there was no such thing as ghosts. (and he needed to firmly convince himself of this)

With a shuddering, bracing breath, he took his first step into the park.

It was empty.

The court was freaking empty.

Kagami felt his mouth form a strained grin as his eye twitched. Taking deep breaths, he forced himself to calm down. 'Just because I can't see anyone doesn't mean they're not there, the kid's probably hiding or something.'

"Hello…? Is there…anyone there?" He couldn't help but notice his voice had broken at the end.

A sigh, too loud to be from the wind.

Kagami whipped around, his eyes are large as golf balls, but there was nothing. Feeling his knees beginning to shake, he bolted for the gate. 'Screw this, I don't need to prove myself. I don't care whether this is a real ghost or a prank, I'm outta here. Pride? What pride?'

He only made it four steps before he found himself falling.

'Eh?'

Picking himself off the floor, ignoring the graze on the elbows, the red head turned to stare behind him. What had he tripped over?

"…Ow…"

Kagami let out another unmanly squeak as he scrambled backwards on his hands and knees, unable to take his eyes off the...the…ghost?

Where there had been empty space before was a pale boy crouching on one knee, one hand massaging a small bump on the side of his light blue haired head. He was dressed in some kind of white school uniform, muddied at the elbows and knees with the tie loosened. A lone basketball rolled listlessly next to him. Kagami felt the breath leave his lungs as the figure slowly turned to face him and stare unwaveringly with expressionless, unreadable ice blue eyes.

They stared in silence for a while, Kagami being unable to inhale the breath needed for another scream, before the ice blue eyes blinked. A soft, monotone voice tinged with surprise left his lips. "You..can..touch me? You can see me?" He staggered to his feet, swaying for a bit before stepping towards the fallen redhead.

It was only until Kagami noticed the basketball had rolled towards the boy's feet, and hadn't stopped rolling until it had rolled straight through the blue haired boy's leg, that he managed to regain the energy to jump to his feet and hightail it out of there, not once looking back.