Original Prompt: heyy if youre still doing requests for knb, could you do some kind of angst-y love triangle between aomine, kuroko and kagami? i dont really have any ideas other than that sorry D:

Hey all! I'm back in business and I've got stories to upload, this being one of them. Sorry, not sorry about the angst. In truth I'm not sure how I feel about this one. The style is a little different. Experimentation! So I hope you all enjoy, and I'll see you at the bottom.

DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN KnB

The pain was something that he had never felt before. He wished that he could go back in time, stop himself from seeing the root of his pain. But he could not, and he truly did not know where his pain began. Was it the scene that he had just witnessed? Or was it back in middle school?

Either way something occurred that he wished never did. That knowledge alone was enough to drive him to silence.

Perhaps that this is what he needs. Silence. Isn't that what a shadow is? Must he make himself a insignificant existence? Was this the only was he could be present in his world of ever growing light?

In a way it would have been less painful if his light had grown bright enough that a shadow was not needed show the light's contrast. After all it had happened before. Would it not happen again? But keeping a fading visage of what used to be a mutual existence would only fade it quicker, but it may not be able to disperse it completely. It may still contain memories of how strong it used to be.

Was it even possible for two lights to join making each other brighter without burning one another out? To them, though only one may recognize it, a shadow is a flaw in their world of light. A patch of darkness that was merely a step towards their final form. Useful but not entirely necessary.

When he closed his eyes all he saw was the meeting of red and blue, smooth and rough, bright and brightest.

It should not work, they should not work. But they did, they always managed to make the impossible work. That is why a shadow was not needed. For all their opposite they could not have something the other does not.

In this case a shadow.

The team did not understand why their trump card was less efficient, less powerful, yet still effective. They could not understand a perfect balance, a scale that cannot be tipped. For it would be nearly impossible for it to return to its balanced form.

People did not understand why the formerly inseparable duo were never seen together any longer. There was a painful memory of middle school that surfaced yet again, but the thought of something missing something was quickly forgotten as one was commonly seen with another with the same level of skill and same interests.

As he walked, alone and in the dark, he was trapped in his thoughts.

A common occurrence these days, and it was starting to scare those who noticed.

Was he only extending his existence? Would it be better to bow out now, before it got too bad, like Teiko? For a wounded animal has very little chance in front of a hungry tiger.

Or was it perhaps because he had gone without a light for so long he had grown self-sustaining, that he was too dark for light to even attempt to illuminate?

When the ink dried on the parchment it was folded up, neatly as it was an important document, placed in an envelope and placed through a locker.

It was easy to misdirect when they did not notice you.

The black and white his life had become was broken for a few days. Right after the letter had been found. His light was chief in trying to get him to return to the team.

But if he was not part of a team, he would not need to face the fact that he would never be truly needed by something so pure.

So as it was, he refused everyone who tried. The founder of the team tried for the longest time before admitting that there was no way to gain their passer back.

It had been easy to avoid the gym, but when the dog, another painful reminder of what had been, had ran off towards the direction of the gym he had no choice but to follow.

Inside of the gym he heard the continual thump of a basketball against the floor. At one time the sound would have calmed him, but now it made him anxious. Out of instinct he headed in the direction of the doors.

Inside he saw now ex-light making dunk after dunk. Finally the red which had stained his dreams, along with midnight blue, came into his sights. He could not blame them for not realizing that they were also his lights in life; that his "metaphor" had extended past just the basketball court.

But now they were illuminating each other. Bestowing a strength that he would never be able to give them.

"Why?" The red had noticed him for once.

The question in itself was very simple. But in the answer is where the complexity lay.

"A shadow cannot exist in a light that is too bright, nor can it exist when two lights join." His voice was quieter than normal, he had not used it in weeks.

He spun on his heels heading out of the gym. He had seen the baffled hurt look, and he refused to react. He felt as though he needed to say something more. To finally end his existence with light.

"For even the brightest light will get swallowed by the darkest shadow."

Echoing in his head the last few words remained. They would never be spoken.

And I could never do that to the two people I love most in this world.

They would never know it. They have found their true source of strength the constant egging to get brighter so that they would not fall behind.

Those were the last words that he had ever spoken. After that night he had faded into what a shadow should be.

Surround by silence and solitude.

He became nearly invisible and darker with each passing day. He wondered about if you became too dark, would you wink out of existence?

His fingers itched to touch a rough surface of a ball. To gain the satisfaction of a pass that made it to its target.

But while lights were independent. A shadow was completely dependent on the light. If it was too weak a shadow cannot form, too strong and the shadow fades. If a shadow is not needed because the light is being supported by another light, then the shadow does not exist. So the question he was now facing… why was he still here? His existence had been used to its fullest and there would not be another light he could use.

He was too dark to be illuminated, even by the strongest light, but yet he could not support himself.

Was this to be a viscous cycle that he could not get out of?

He made a breathy sound, that could have once resembled a laugh but sound now like a dry sob.

To think his torment all began with witnessing a simple kiss. If he went even further back it all started with a game of basketball.

So what did you all think? I actually ended this one pretty decently this time. I mean I'm sure about how I made Kuroko seem like he was mute, huh that might be another story plot to investigate! Opps, I gave away a plot. Later! ~IF