Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basket, or any of its characters.

Ohanyon! I'm back with chapter 8! Already started drafting a few chapters so that it would be easier to write it and won't take too much time lol

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 8: Rainbow Colored Glass

"ugghhhnnnn"… Kuroko groaned at the sound of his alarm clock, "time to get up I guess" he thought to himself, pushing aside his dog plushies and fixing the bed, he headed straight for the bathroom and glanced at the mirror. "woah, my bed hair is really crazy…" after washing up, he tried to fix his hair as much as he could, "It's been a while since I slept like a log… I didn't even notice that I fell asleep…" Kuroko suddenly remembered what he was thinking about the night before, "Kuroko~" he remembered Akashi's cool low voice as his face flashed in Kuroko's head, he found it so strange that he was so captivated by Akashi, "I guess I'm just not used to interacting with people like him, he is in a different league after all". He convinced himself to not overthink about it, and just be thankful that Akashi seemed like he wanted to be friends. "Tetsuuu! Breakfast is ready! Are you awake?" He heard his mother calling him from the living room, "Hai!" he answered, he took another look at his hair, "yosh!" then headed down to the dining room, "Ohayo" he greeted, "Ohayo! You look like you had a good sleep" his mother asked, "I did" kuroko replied. "I noticed you washed a lot of dishes last night, did your friends come by again?" his mother was aware that Kagami and Kise would usually eat at their house, she didn't mind, on the contrary, she was really happy about having friends over for dinner, her son never brought anyone home before.

"Yes Kagami-kun, Kise-kun, and Akashi-san ate dinner here last night". "Ohh! With a new boy!... Akashi… wait, I know that last name… oh my, don't tell me, Akashi as in Akashi Red Palace? A-Airlines? Red Palace shopping center?" Kuroko can tell his mother was in awe, he was actually surprised she figured it out soon, "Yes" was his reply. "Araaaa… our home is so embarrassing though!" she squealed, "it's fine kaa-san, Akashi-san didn't seem to mind and he looked happy yesterday", kuroko's mother smiled softly, "I'm so happy you're reaching out to people now and making new friends, I know! If they don't have plans this Friday night, invite the three of them over for dinner! I won't be working on Friday! I want to meet Kagami-kun, Kise-kun and Akashi-kun too!" Kuroko was happy knowing his mother was very supportive, "sure I'll invite them".

"Yatta! Do you want me to cook for you? Or would you like to do the honors?"
"How about we both cook for the three of them?"
"Okay!~ that's a plan!"

"Oi! Kuroko!" Kagami called out from behind, "Ohayou Kagami-kun" kuroko greeted. "Thanks again for last night, we had fun!" Kagami thanked Kuroko, "You are all welcome anytime" assured Kuroko, they started talking until they heard a voice from behind calling out to them "Kurokocchi! Kagamicchi!" looking over their shoulders, they saw Kise running and trying to catch up to them, "hah, hah, hah, oha-ohayou- you guys walk fast" Kise panted as he caught up to the two who was waiting for him. "Nah, you're just a slow walker, plus you get tired easily, no wonder you're a model" kagami smirked at kise, "ah! Did you just stereotype me kagamicchi!?" Kise was indeed not as well-coordinated as Kagami, kise was a bit of a klutz and often tripped despite being so tall. "I'm sure he didn't mean it that way kise-kun, although I do agree, you do walk slow" Kuroko patted Kise's shoulder, "waaah even kurokocchi? You just walk too fast! How do you walk so fast being that small!" kise said with his usual whiny tone, kuroko chuckled at the statement "Again, it's not that I walk fast, you just walk slow" kuroko replied. "Kuroko's right you know, haha!" Kagami followed on the comment Kuroko made, "ah you're ganging up on me!" The three friends started walking together and were headed for the school gate, it became a routine for the three to see or meet each other halfway then walk the rest of the way to school together.

The three of them has become quite popular in school lately, they were an unusual set of friends, people call them "Kawa-nin" because they look like the "Kawa" Kanji (川). But they didn't mind the nickname, Kise was all for it, Kagami was a little off put by the name, and Kuroko was indifferent about it, but he knows he's happy with his current school life, he doesn't remember what his life was like in his previous school, getting by without any friends. Same case with Kise and Kagami, before they became friends with Kuroko, Kagami wouldn't even think about spending time with Kise outside of school, sure he was okay and nice, but they have no similarities whatsoever, Kagami was okay with a few pals from the other class, but he really wouldn't hang out with them. Kise was no different, probably because of his modelling job, he didn't have time to attend school, let alone hang out with friends. Kise also felt that the people who always approach him, pretend like they're friends, always asking him to hang out and all, felt superficial to him, he felt like they were friendly just because he comes from a famous family and he's pretty famous as well, but he didn't feel that with Kagami and Kuroko, so the three of them became "Kawa-nin".

"Maaaan, I hope Terada forgets our quiz today" Kagami was the type of student who was good at reporting and recitations, but written exams, especially Japanese subject, is not his forte. "It will be alright Kagami-kun, if you read the practice drills I gave you last week, that should cover most of the questions that would appear on the quiz" Kuroko tried to comfort Kagami.

"thanks man, I hope I do well argh" he sighed. "Kagamicchi worries too much" added kise.

As the three reach their classroom, they're greeted by everyone who already arrived, and them greeting back, a usual routine in school. They all went to their assigned seats and started taking out their notebooks and books to put under their desks, "Yo kagami, you ready for the test today, I hear its super hard" teased one student, "shut up! I studied last night, don't add any more stress!" kagami retorted, the other students started laughing and continued teasing their "bakagami". The teacher suddenly entered the classroom, and their inchou started the usual class greeting. The first few periods were a drag, they had the more difficult subjects in the morning as usual, so lunch break was always looked forward to.

"ping pong pang pong - "

"Finally lunch break!" kagami said while stretching his long limbs. It probably felt cramped sitting for so long. "I can't wait to eat! Kurokocchi! Let's go to the cafeteria!" Kise asked kuroko in such a chirpy way, it was hard to refuse, "uhm sure, although I do have a bento, I made a few extras of my Tamagoyaki and burger, you guys can have some as well" Kuroko always made extras of whatever bento he has, he knows the two would always ask for a bite or two.

"Yatta! Tamagoyaki!" kise exclaimed. "Yosh, let's go before we run out of good seats!" Kagami dashed onto the hall way, hoping to get a good set of seats for three. As the three arrived in the cafeteria, it was swamped with students, which was the usual scenario, Kise lined up for the lunch combo set, these sets were usually well balanced food with soup, brown or red rice, side of veggies, and a main meal, while Kagami lined up for the giant ramen bowl, and went next to the line for curry rice. Kuroko secured a seat for the three of them by the window and started unwrapping his bento when a cool voice suddenly called out his name. "Hello kuroko-kun", Kuroko recognized the voice and turned to see Akashi, holding a rather expensive looking box. "ah, konnichiwa Akashi-san" Kuroko greeted, akashi chuckled "polite as ever".

Kuroko hid the slight blush across his face, "would you want to sit with us? Kagami-kun and Kise-kun are getting their lunch." Kuroko invited Akashi to sit with them, even though he knew Akashi might already have a circle of his own, but his mouth just moved on its own and before he realized it, he had already invited the red head to join them. "I'll take you on the offer, thank you." Kuroko quite shocked as Akashi chose the empty seat beside him and placed his bento box on the table, the silence was painfully awkward. "Ah, Akashi-san also brings his own food to school? I would have thought you would eat from the cafeteria since they have extravagant menus". Not knowing what was going on with himself, he started the conversation even though that never happens, he just couldn't take the silence and decided to break it first. "Yes well, the food here is extravagant, but I wouldn't say it's that good, my chef still prepares better meals for me" Akashi replied. "Oh, I see…" was the only response Kuroko was able to give. "But don't get me wrong, I didn't lie when I said your cooking was better than our personal chef." Akashi added. Blushing again, kuroko silently thanked Akashi for the compliment, "akashi-san sure knows how to flatter someone, he's made me blush a lifetime's worth of blushes." Kuroko thought to himself. "Do you prepare your own bento? Or does your mother prepare it for you before she leaves for work?" Akashi asked, "Ah, I prepare it myself, I wouldn't want her to go through the hassle everyday after coming home late and having to wake up early just to prepare my lunch". Kuroko didn't want to add more burden to his mother, After hearing this, Akashi was just staring at Kuroko while he continued unwrapping his lunch.

"Tadaimaaa! Kurokocchi omataseee" Kise popped out all of a sudden and placed his tray in front of Akashi. "Are~ Akashicchi, you're going to sit with us today?" kise asked, "is there a problem if I sit with you?" Akashi smiled, but his voice doesn't sound like it was, "ahhhh no no no no no problem at all hehe!" Kise sensed the tone in Akashi's voice and decided to change the topic, "Ah! Kurokocchi! Give me my share of Tamagoyaki and Burger!" he held out his plate to kuroko, "Oi! Don't go eating my portion blondie!" Kagami finally joining the table, placed his tray next to Kise, and in front of Kuroko. "I won't! that's why I just asked for my share" Kise replied while sticking his tongue out. Kagami then noticed an extra person sitting beside Kuroko, silently eating his meal, kagami decided not to say anything, to avoid any possible tension and might disturb others, he knows Kuroko doesn't want that unwanted attention, he sat down and started chugging down on his ramen. Kuroko placed 3 pieces of Tamagoyaki in both Kagami and Kise's plates, and 2 stout burgers for each. "YAAAY thanks kurokocchi!", "sankyu kuroko!", the two thanked him as they continued munching on their food, Kuroko placed 2 tamagoyaki's and a burger on Akashi's plate as well, eyes widened, Akashi looked at Kuroko, who was not looking back at him. "You can eat them if you want too, if not, feel free to leave them on the side." Kuroko then looked at the window, but Akashi smiled, "Thank you, I will gladly have these" he knows Kuroko was blushing again, this time he was blushing to his ears and nape. He found it cute that Kuroko was trying to hide his embarrassment. "Ah! Kurokocchi! By the way, don't forget the dinner party I invited you to!" Kise reminded Kuroko, "ah… I won't" Kuroko replied, although to be honest, he already kind of forgot about it till now. "Oya, you're going with Kuroko-kun Ryouta?" Akashi asked. "Yep! I didn't want to bring a date with me, I invited Kagamcchi too but he doesn't want to come"

"Oi, it's not that I don't want to, I told you, I had plans". Kagami retorted. "hai~hai~" was the only reply kise gave. "hmmmmm…" Akashi was a tad surprised that Kuroko agreed.

"Then I guess we will see each other again this weekend, kuroko-kun" Akashi smiled at Kuroko, "uhm, un…" Kuroko nodded. "By the way, my mother was asking when your free times are, she wants to meet all of you and thank you for always keeping me company" Kuroko remembered his mothers request from that morning. "WHAT! Meet Kurokocchi's mother! I want to!" Kise practically giddy with excitement. "oh, I'm free whenever kuroko, I also want to meet obasan!" kagami seconded. "Is this Friday okay? It seems she doesn't have to work on that day". "We'll go!" affirmed kagami and kise simultaneously. "What about Akashi-san? Are you available on Friday?" kuroko asked. Akashi was a but stunned that he was also invited, having only known Kuroko for a short while. "Am I also invited?" he confirmed, "yes, my mother was very happy to know I've made a new friend besides Kagami-kun and Kise-kun, she would also love to meet you Akashi-san". Kuroko said with a sweet smile on his face.

"I would love to meet her as well, and since we're already, Friends, maybe you can stop calling me Akashi-san?" Akashi smiled back. "hmmm… Akashi-kun…" kuroko called out shyly. "well that is a start, good job" Akashi suddenly patted kuroko's head gently which made his heart beat a little faster than usual. "all right, I'll let my mother know that you're all coming to meet her this Friday" Kuroko confirmed, "count us in kuroko!", the four of them continued with their lunch and talking about how excited they were to meet Kuroko's mother, they were guessing what kind of personality she would have, would she be as shy as Kuroko, or maybe the complete opposite of him, Kuroko was having fun listening to his friends guess his mother's personality, until a group of girls suddenly approached their table. "Kise-kun! You haven't been having lunch with us recently! What gives? You're always with bakagami and kuroko!" cried out one girl, "that's right, if you have time to hang out with them, wouldn't you also have time to hang out with us?" said another. Kagami fumed at the "Bakagami" statement, but decided to let Kise handle the situation since they were his fangirls, plus he wanted to continue eating his curry rice (already done with the ramen), "Sorry ladies, but I want to spend my free time with my friends here" kise replied, unlike before, he found school fun ever since hanging out with Kuroko and Kagami, "It's fun being with them" Kise smiled his prince-like smile for the girls as invisible flowers and sparkles spread throughout his body like pheromones. "aww… since you're this happy I guess there's nothing we can do, but do hang out with us sometimes! I mean even Akashi-sama is here…. Eh… AKASHI-SAMA!?" all the girls suddenly stopped to notice that beside Kuroko sat Akashi, "Are you telling me you didn't notice me the moment you arrived?" Akashi asked annoyingly, he felt as though they treated him like he was invisible, which never happens to him. "Ah no no! we just didn't expect you to sit with Bakagami and kuroko, since they're not really the crowd you run with" said one girl in defense, desperately trying to fix Akashi's mood. "Oi, enough with the Bakagami! I can hear you ya know!" Kagami couldn't hold off his reaction anymore.

"What!? It's true!" said another girl, before Kagami could even retort back, Akashi stood up and startled everyone. "why won't you all give us some peace while we eat our lunch, you're wasting our lunch break" Akashi said while smiling, but everyone knows, that this part of Akashi was one of his scariest points, he's smiling, but his voice says otherwise. The girls, terrified, of what Akashi can do, "uhm sorry, see you nee kise-kun" and they all fled to the other side of the cafeteria. "Oi kise, you better do something about those fan girls of yours, they're irritating as hell" kagami told kise off. "Gomen! I'm not good with handling girls like them… they're too forward, and it's hard, even if I want to get rid of them, I have an image to protect…" Kise frowned. "Whatever, just make sure they don't bother you too much as well", kagami felt bad for taking his irritation out on kise, "let's just continue eating" kuroko said to ease the tension on the table.

The four friends continued to eat and forgot about the bad atmosphere the girls created, "ping pong pang pong -" As the bell chimed, they all proceeded to return to their classrooms, Akashi's class was right beside them and the went back together. Kagami and Kise went in the classroom first, before kuroko could enter, "Kuroko-kun" Akashi called. Kuroko wondered what it was that Akashi wanted, so he ran to Akashi's side to know what he wants, "is it okay if I join you for lunch again tomorrow?" Akashi asked. Surprised, Kuroko smiled warmly, feeling really happy inside, "of course!", and he showed a smile, that he hasn't shown in a long time, Akashi blushed at the sight, and tried to collect his composure before Kuroko would notice the blushing, "So I'll see you tomorrow, Tetsuya" Akashi whispered in Kuroko's ear, Akashi's voice was so cool and soothing it sent shivers down his spine, and he was blushing from ear to ear. Besides his mother, no one else really called him by his first name, he was surprised, caught off guard, but deep down he felt his heart throb and beat faster than usual, he was so happy, that he forgot to return to his classroom immediately, "Tetsuya, you have to go, the teachers are coming", Akashi gently patted kuroko's head while reminding him of the time, "ah, gomen, see you then, akashi-kun" Kuroko ran back to his classroom before the teacher could enter. "What happened? What took you so long? Did you have to go to the toilet?" asked Kagami. "Uhm, no, I just had to do something" Kuroko didn't want to tell them about Akashi calling him by his name, and he didn't want to remember. "Are you okay kurokocchi? Your face is red, do you feel sick?" Kise asked out of concern, Kuroko clasped at his cheeks, they felt hot, he knew he was blushing, which was why he didn't want to remember what happened, but he did anyway, "n—no, I'm fine, maybe because I ran to make it back on time", hoping the two would buy his excuse, "oh okay, as long as you're sure" Kise replied.

Relieved that the two did not notice his strange behavior, kuroko tried to forget what happened, at least for now.

"Tadaima" Kuroko called out to his home, silence- , his mother was still at work, he placed his school bag in his room and changed into house clothes for the meantime, as he reached the living room, he decided to sit for a while, for some reason, he felt exhausted, "I never knew it felt like this when other people call your name… is it the same feeling if it's said by other people? Or is it because…it's akashi-kun…" Kuroko was thinking hard about what happened, so far, everything is a first for him, first time having friends over, first time hanging out during the weekends, first time eating lunch together at school, first time having groupmates who would actually pick him for school projects, and the first time someone else called his name.

"So far, this year has been the best for me, I'm really thankful I got accepted to this school…"

"pin pon— pin po—n" Kuroko awoke to the sound of the doorbell, "5:30… I didn't realize I fell asleep" Kuroko rushed to the door and was surprised as it opened to a red haired boy. "Akashi-kun.." eyes a bit widened, the reason for his flushed face is here, "ya tetsuya, mind if I paid a visit?" Akashi asked in his usual cool voice. "uhm no, but is there something wrong?" Kuroko asked with concern. "No, there's no problem, I just had this urge to visit you today, if it's okay with you", Kuroko was happy deep down that Akashi wanted to see him, *thud thud* Kuroko could hear his heart beating faster again, "I don't mind, it's really okay, but I fell asleep so I haven't prepared dinner yet, you might have to wait a little bit". Akashi was relieved he wasn't turned away, it wasn't like him to visit someone unannounced, but he really felt like the time they spent during lunch together was not enough, and he doesn't know why. "It's fine, if possible, I'd like to help you prepare dinner." Akashi didn't want to let Kuroko do all the work alone, "okay then, well for now come inside." Kuroko led Akashi to the living room where he can leave his belongings, and they headed straight for the kitchen. "Akashi-kun, is there a particular food you'd like to eat?" Akashi thought anything would be fine, since Kuroko's a great cook, even egg and burgers tasted really good if it's made by him.

"Anything is fine, I can cook simple meals only anyway". "Ah, Akashi-kun can cook, I was not sure since you do have your personal chef, but at the same time I thought, there isn't anything you can't do." Akashi chuckled at the compliment, "While I was raised to be able to do everything, I'm still not perfect… my family wants me to be though…" Akashi replied with a sudden sadness in his eyes. "But, I think I like the current Akashi-kun now, before whenever I see you pass by the hallways, and heard rumors about you, I always thought you were impossible to be friends with, but now I'm really happy we're able to talk like this with each other" Kuroko was trying to comfort Akashi and to brighten his mood, akashi blushed a little, then there was a short pause until his smile came back, "you like me the way I am?" Kuroko not realizing the underlying meaning of his statement, "Hai, I think you're fine the way you are" kuroko replied with his usual straight face, Akashi smiled warmly "Thank you". Kuroko turned his back on Akashi, preparing the ingredients for dinner, trying to hide his ultimate blush as he realized the meaning of his statement… "like"... "I'm sure it's nothing special, maybe it's the same like as Kagami-kun and Kise-kun's `like` yeah that's it..." Kuroko thought to himself as he tried to convince himself that it's all that there is to it... Right now, him being able to spend time with people important to him, interacting with people with different colors, feels like his white filled life was starting to have color, and these relationships for Kuroko were as delicate as glass.

Otsukanyon! I'm pretty fast with the chapters again these days, I'm trying to write as much as I can before I become busy again! I'm a little happy that this chapter is a little bit longer than my usual length, I have no idea where the words came from! Lol! But yay! Thanks so much for reading! Hope to see you again! Otsu!

Nyonsama