Winter Solstice

Chapter One: The Light Behind Your Eyes

"Tetsuya," a small smile graced Akashi Seijuurou's lips as he approached the smaller teen. The redhead lovingly ruffled the younger's hair, earning himself a small glare. "Please refrain from doing that, Akashi-kun," he chuckled lightly and reached out to hold the younger's hand. "Let's go practice, Tetsuya." a rare, sincere smile appeared on the redhead's lips, immediately melting the younger.

"Yes, let's."

..iOiOiOiOi..

Akashi observed his teammates and decided to call it a day. With a clap of his hands and an announcement of dismissal, the players of the first string let out a relieved sigh. His heterochromatic eyes of topaz yellow and ruby red scanned the area in search for a tuft of sky blue hair. When he found none, the redhead immediately dismissed it and went to their locker room and packed his stuff.

From the other side of the gym, four eyes followed their captain's movements. A tall, bespectacled green haired teen averted his eyes as he held onto a sky blue scarf tightly; his lucky item for the day. A pretty blond male with milky white skin gave a worried expression, his eyes showed so much guilt it would hurt to look at them. A tanned male with navy blue hair let out a soft 'tch' as he, too, had guilt written all over his face. The tallest amongst the four who had soft purple hair had stopped his snacking and his lips were slightly quivering.

"Shintarou, Atsushi, Ryouta and Daiki," their captain's silky voiced snapped them back into reality, a small amount of fear was evident in their eyes. "Practice is done for the day, did you not hear me?" the redhead's eyes were not looking at them, but searching for something - someone - in the gym. "Ah, Akashicchi, we were just catching our breath, we'll be leaving soon." the blond, Kise Ryouta, answered Akashi. Completely unconvinced by the answer that his teammate had given him, Akashi Seijuurou narrowed his feline eyes by a fraction.

"Daiki," the aforementioned male jumped slightly, "You are Tetsuya's light, are you not?" the tanned male, Aomine Daiki, let out an involuntary shiver as he nodded his head. "Then you must know where he is." There it was, the words none of them wanted to hear. "A-ah," Aomine scratched the back of his head, squeezing his brain for the correct response.

"Kuro-chin left before we could invite him to eat out, Aka-chin," the purple haired titan, Murasakibara Atsushi, answered in the tanned male's stead. Silently thanking the giant glutton, the green haired teen, Midorima Shintarou, coughed.

"We'll be sure to check his house on the way, Akashi." seemingly satisfied with what the team's vice captain had proposed, Akashi nodded and left. Kise and Aomine let out air that they were holding in. "Midorimacchi," the blond called. "What do you need, Kise?" the shooting guard asked as they made their way to the locker room. "When will we tell Akashicchi?" the question had the other three's previous actions come to an abrupt stop.

Midorima, once again, clutched the scarf, answered; "Akashi refuses to accept the truth, Kise, there's nothing we can do but play along." when they heard the words spill so casually out of their shooting guard's mouth, they all looked down in shame.

What Midorima said was true; if Akashi himself refuses to accept the truth, they have no other choice but to play along.

Akashi was peacefully walking along the river when his peripheral vision had caught sight of sky blue hair. The redhead immediately turned around and indeed, found his precious Tetsuya. A worried yet gentle smile appeared on his face as he walked towards the smaller player. Slipping both arms around Kuroko Tetsuya's waist, he buried his face in the blue hair and inhaled its scent.

Vanilla...

"I was worried, Tetsuya, you disappeared right after practice." Akashi murmured, face still buried in Kuroko's blue hair. A soft laugh that melted his heart was heard. "I apologize, Akashi-kun. I felt the need to watch the night sky." gently removing the taller teen from himself, Kuroko turned around and flashed the redhead the most sincere smile.

"Stay with me for a while, Akashi-kun?" his captain could only nod as they sat on top of the grass, admiring the stars that were shining brightly in the abyss of the night. Akashi, however, found himself staring at his beloved Tetsuya rather than the bright stars. Smiling to himself, he gently cupped the younger's cheeks and turned his head to face him.

The action made the bluenet stare at him questioningly. Gazing deeply into Kuroko's baby blue eyes, Akashi once again found himself mesmerized by the beauty they held; his Tetsuya's eyes seemed so bright, so endless, so pure and innocent, he wanted to keep that light in his beloved's eyes present forever. To an ordinary person, Kuroko's eyes might seem dull, emotionless and lifeless. But to one Akashi Seijuurou, those eyes held so much depth that staring at them washed away all his pain, all the burden he had shouldered at a young age.

Smiling ever-so-gently, Akashi leaned down and placed a chaste on Kuroko's soft, plump pink lips. The smile still present on his lips, he gently hugged the younger. He was always gentle, always careful, treated the bluenet like an expensive cut-glass vase. Always afraid of unintentionally hurting him, breaking his fragile heart that was made out of porcelain. Akashi treated the teen as if he were more important than any family treasure, than any person he met, and is to meet. Akashi Seijuurou loved Kuroko Tetsuya unconditionally.

"I love you, Tetsuya." So, so much, my dear Tetsuya.

"I love you, too, Sei."

..iOiOiOiOi..

Akashi Seijuurou was crestfallen. His Tetsuya has been missing for nearly three weeks now, and whenever he demanded to know where his beloved was, all they gave him were sympathetic looks. Even his teammates, the Generation of Miracles, gave him little to no vocal answers, they would merely avert their eyes, stay silent, or give a distant and depressed smile.

His mind was going haywire with worry and anger; saying he was worried was an understatement, he was ready to kill a man if that meant he would see his precious Tetsuya. He was mad - no, scratch that, he was infuriated. His teammates seemed to know something, but they had stubbornly refused to tell him.

Seething with anger, Akashi Seijuurou had graduated and moved back to Kyoto to study for highschool in Rakuzan. He ordered them to go to different highschools, hoping that his precious Tetsuya would somehow enter one school in which a member of the Miracles had. He will find his beloved, even if it is the last thing he'll do.

..iOiOiOiOi..

Aomine Daiki leisurely strolled into Touou Gakuen, not having a care in the world as to what was happening, that was, until his team captain, Imayoshi Shoichi, had called the whole team in for an announcement. He didn't want to go, of course; he'd rather be napping at the school's rooftop than attending a silly meeting. But, no, his childhood friend, Momoi Satsuki, just had to drag him there!

So, here he was, with the whole basketball club, in front of his captain. "...so I'll be away for a week or so from practice. I'll leave Wakamatsu in charge." really, he didn't bother to listen. His captain was leaving for a week or so, then come back. Really, what was the big deal? "Who is it that you'll be taking care of, Captain? He sounds so important to you," he heard someone say. That didn't faze him, though. What did was when his demonic captain gave a genuine smile and opened his eyes.

"He is. He's my boyfriend, actually. His name is Kuroko Tetsuya." That was when Aomine's eyes looked like they were about to pop out at any given moment.

Ah, do excuse my sorry excuse for a story. I know I'm not good at writing at a new website, since I am new here and is currently having an extremely hard time trying to figure out how to publish a story, add chapters and make it look presentable. But, for now, please bear with me. Ah, yes. This is modern!AU for the AoT cast.