Oh God. Please God no. Don't let it be true, anything but this, just don't let this be true. It was only supposed to a one week professional training camp during summer where a couple of chosen schools would come and intermingled as they prepared for and got a taste of their future basketball careers.

Furihata Kouki had been excited by the prospect; this was his chance to get better and perhaps even steal the point guard regular spot from Izuki. But now he was pretty sure his life was over at the tender age of 15.

"Why is Rakuzan here?!" Furihata whispered in dismay to his teammates upon seeing the Rakuzan uniform. There was no way he wouldn't recognize it on spot after, you know, their crazy psychopath captain tried to stab Kagami with a pair of scissors.

"I dunno, it's not like they need to extra practice," Seirin's very own captain, Hyuuga whispered back. The need to whisper was as to not invoke the wrath of Akashi Seijuro, who was in fact standing right there not twenty feet ahead with his back to Seirin. Furihata whimpered, perhaps Akashi just wouldn't notice them and—

The Rakuzan captain took that moment to turn around and stare Furihata dead in the eye making him want to faint on the spot from a sudden lack of blood in his brain. Furihata could only stare back in a panicked deer caught in the head lights way, his neck cramping from how stiff he was holding it. It was only when Akashi looked away finally that Furihata felt Death's scythe pull away from his jugular.

"That was dangerous Furihata-kun, you shouldn't stare at Akashi-kun like that," Kuroko suddenly said and Furihata let a squeak, feeling like he was about to bleed his life away through his eyes in the form of tears. His life was so short lived; Furihata hadn't even gotten a girlfriend once. He was still a virgin for Christ sake!

"B-But I—why did he look at me? Wouldn't it make more sense for him to look at you or even Kagami since you guys are far more of a threat than I am," Furihata whined, feeling like he should have stayed home to slack off all day and not do his homework and awkwardly watch porn with the volume way down low so his parents wouldn't find out and—This was terrible!

"I don't know," Kuroko said simply and Furihata took one more glimpse in the direction of the Rakuzan captain, relieved to see the red head's retreating backside. Furihata felt like he could live one more day.

"Why are we standing around? I'm hungry," Kagami gruffed and pushed past the still trembling Furihata and walking past the nightmare team like he owned the place and Seirin, much to Furhata's dismay, followed after him. And so, trailing way at the back, Furihata half ran half walked past Akashi who was walking at his own, slow and leisurely pace. A small breathy chuckle made Furihata's blood run cold and he couldn't help but think of all those documentaries he's watched about wild animals and how they can smell fear…

Needless to say, the next three hours, most of it introduction talking, was hell because Furihata kept feeling like someone was watching him. But when he looked around, everyone was staring straight ahead. Feeling uneasy, Furihata tried to concentrate on what was being staid, but the hairs on the nape of his neck were standing on end.

"Why can't this be over already?" Furihata pleaded quietly to himself, wondering why on earth he ever excited for this. Beside him, his two friend's Kawahara and Fukuda stirred, overhearing his whisper.

"It just started Furi," Kawahara whispered in response; leaning in closer to Furihata.

"Yeah, and weren't you so excited for this earlier? You were gushing the whole time on the bus," Fukuda added and Furihata groaned. That was before he knew Rakuzan would be here; Furihata was downright terrified of Rakuzan and their monsterous strength. It wasn't hard to scare Furihata, but the bigger the difference in strength was, the scarier it was to him.

"Yeah, you're right," Furihata mumbled, putting on his tough boy face as he resolved to just make it through the week, even if it had to be by the skin of his teeth. Some light practice later and Furihata had worked up a nice sweat, but he wasn't tired yet. There wasn't enough time today for the practice to be vigorous. It was mostly for the couches to observe how each player did individually and as a team. Furihata was hoping he had at least impressed one of the five couches there, because he thought he had played more gracefully than he usually since he hadn't actually tripped over nothing this time around.

"Hey Furi, did you get your room assigned yet?" Fukuda asked him as they were changing in one of two of the biggest locker rooms Furihata had ever seen. Luckily for him, Akashi was in the other one.

"Eh?" Furihata looked at Fukuda, his simple tee-shirt sliding from his hands and onto the floor. He bent over to pick it up, pulling it over his head, mind racing.

"When were we supposed to do that?"

"Weren't you listening? You were supposed to talk to your assigned coach during practice when you had time," Kawahara said and Furihata just kept getting more and more confused.

"Assigned coach? W-what, when did—uhuagh?" Furihata had been so focused on a certain red head(that he didn't want to admit had also distracted him all through the light training), that he hadn't heard which coach he had been assigned to.

"Really Furi?! You're lucky I was paying attention too! You're assigned to coach…Waramura? Yeah, Waramura. I remember because it's a weird name," Fukuda said in a slightly exasperated tone, ducking down to tie his shoes.

"If you go now, you might be able to catch him before he's gone," Kawahara said, and Furihata was already jamming his feet into his shoes, taking off, just barely catching Kawahara's parting words.

"Geez, what are we going to do with you?" Furihata burst into the gym, catching two of the coaches talking to each other, so he jogged over hoping one of them was Waramura. Lo and behold, the taller one with long, slightly straggly, brown hair was him.

"U-uhm, coach Waramura?"

"What is it?" He asked and his gruff, no nonsense tone, make Furihata jump and die a little inside. Leave it to him to have the most unfriendly coach of the five.

"I-I-I-I—"

"You what? Spit it out already."

"Oh, I-I, oh, I didn't get my room number…"

"Too bad, sleep on the ground. You should have gotten it when the time was allotted to," Waramura barked, and Furihata was shaking at this time. This guy was so mean! Being professional doesn't mean you have to be a bully does it?

"That won't be nessecary," a soft voice came from behind Furihata that turned him into a statue. Turning around slowly, Furihata put on a shaking smile as red hair and heterochromatic eyes came into view. Dammit.

"Yes?" Furihata's voice crack and he cleared it, wondering what the Akashi Seijuro could possibly want with him.

"Yes?" He asked, this time a slightly manly and less scared voice.

"I specifically remember Couch Waramura saying you were to be my roommate," Akashi said and he smiled like he thought he was doing Furihata a favor. Furihata however, would rather sleep on the cold hard ground than spend a week rooming with Rakuzan's captain. But instead of saying no thanks, all he could mutter was that three syllables he really wished he could take back with all his heart.

"O-oh, okay. Thanks," the walk to their shared room was painful and silent. There was only one thing going through Furihata's head, repeating itself as Akashi's watch ticked off the time left of Furihata Kouki's life:

"Help…"

A/N - I wanted to write another story once more, rather than what I am doing, which is one-shots. Sometimes writing stories are nice because you have a lot more time to develop it. And what better pairing than my new OTP from KnB?

R&R