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reivenesque · 9 months

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Thicker than Blood Chapter 1

What had begun as a normal day in Camp Seirin quickly descends into chaos for Kagami after an unexpected phone call from Murasakibara brings worrying news regarding Tatsuya. Or, Tatsuya gets sick and Kagami and Murasakibara worry.

Chapter 1: How It’s Going

Kagami had gotten up at the crack of dawn just in time to see the remainder of the sun rising from behind the mountain tops in the horizon. He spent the couple of hours before everyone started waking up shooting some hoops by himself in the gym to get his heart pumping and his muscles warmed up in preparation for another day of specialized training. Just because they were the Winter Cup champions didn’t mean they could skip out on practice. Especially because they knew that going into the following year’s tournament, they were going to be without one of their best players; facing off against strong teams that were undoubtedly going to be even stronger.

That was why he and the whole of Seirin found themselves just barely out of the Winter Cup high already taking part in another training camp in some remote training facility more than three hundred kilometers away from home. One that had once been used by Coach Aida in the past.

Nothing peculiar happened that morning, nor during the actual training that followed. Everything ran like clockwork, as did the people – Izuki-senpai had said. In hindsight, that should have been the first sign.

Things that ran too smoothly often seemed to be a prelude to bad things to follow for the team.

And right on cue, Kagami’s phone started ringing.

The second sign that should have been a clue as to how complicated his day was about to become was the name that flashed across his screen when his phone started ringing.

“Alex?” he answered tentatively after about the fourth ring.

Alex never called him. Rather, Alex never called anyone. She occasionally called Tatsuya back in the day when it came time to schedule practice or if she remembered something she’d forgot to advise them on after a lesson. But most of the time whatever she wanted to say could be said through (brief, shorthanded and littered with spelling error) texts.

The fact that she was actually calling, and that she was calling him – felt like an omen. Kagami could feel the shudder creeping up his spine.

‘Did you get a really weird call from Tatsuya?’ Asked Alex by way of greeting.

The purpose of a phone-call was communication between two people from a great distance; but in Alex’s case, it was usually a conversation between two people plus whoever was within a ten feet radius, because that was how loud Alex’s voice was coming through the receiver. Kagami hadn’t even put her on speaker.

Kuroko who was mopping five feet away turned around in query.

“Umm… what? – No?”

‘Hmmm… that’s weird. Some of the guys got a call too, from Tatsuya’s phone but it wasn’t Tatsuya. It was some weird guy. They said he asked them some questions, but since it was in another language, no one knew what he wanted.’

“He didn’t say anything to you, or ask you anything?”

‘No, he hung up immediately after I said hello.’

“That’s weird,” said Kagami, adjusting the mop in his hand and using it like a crutch to rest his elbow on. His eyes locked onto Kuroko who was staring back inquisitively, seemingly sensing that something was off. Almost on cue, Kagami’s phone started buzzing with another incoming call. His eyes widened when he took in the name of the caller. “Alex, I gotta go. He’s calling me now.” And without waiting for a reply, Kagami immediately ended the call with Alex to answer the incoming one from Himuro Tatsuya (the change of name on his phone was symbolic to the change in their friendship situation).

Kuroko had approached him by the time he pressed to answer.

“Tatsuya?”

There was a rustle on the other end of the line before a rather familiar – though definitely not Tatsuya’s – drawl reached his ear. ‘Is this Muro-chin’s friend? The annoying red-haired guy on Kuro-chin’s team?’

“Murasakibara?” His exclamation drew the attention of the rest of the club. “What are you doing with Tatsuya’s phone?”

The voice at the other end of the line sounded simultaneously exasperated and tired when he repeated his question. ‘Is this Muro-chin’s friend or not? This is getting so troublesome.’

“Yes it is! And it’s Kagami, jackass. Can’t you even remember that?” any sort of worry he’d been feeling up until that call was immediately washed away.

‘Oh yeah, Kagami. I thought it sounded something like that. But Muro-chin doesn’t have you saved as Kagami on his phone, so I didn’t know which number to call.’

That explained the various calls he’d made. He was probably going through Tatsuya’s saved numbers trying to get the intended person. However, there was still the case of why he’d felt the need to call Kagami using Tatsuya’s phone in the first place, instead of Tatsuya calling him himself.

Dread bloomed instantly in the pit of Kagami’s stomach.

“Did something happen to Tatsuya?” he asked immediately, clutching the phone with both hands and letting the mop drop with a thump to the floor.

The rest of the basketball club had convened on him at that point, joining Kuroko trying to piece together what was going on from the bits and pieces of conversation they could get from his end.

‘I don’t know…’

Kagami would usually have blown up at the person on the other end for making him go through such a vast array of emotions for seemingly no reason and then giving him a stupid ambiguous non-answer. But he reined in his anger, only allowing it to slowly bristle. Especially because there was something odd in the sound of Murasakibara’s voice.

Something that sounded suspiciously like concern.

“What do you mean you don’t know? Where is he?”

‘Right now he’s in his room. He said he had a headache when I saw him last time. But he hasn’t been to practice or to school in two days. Masako-chin told me to come check on him cause he wasn’t answering his phone either. So I’m at his apartment. He doesn’t even have any snacks around, not even any of those disgusting funny coloured jellybeans, and he’s acting really weird too.’

Kagami had an odd feeling of deja-vu in that instance; being in a similar situation but with him being on Murasakibara’s end calling Alex in concern. But it had just been a couple of minutes then from when Tatsuya had told him that he had a headache and went to lie down on the patch of grass beside the basketball court; his arm shielding his eyes from the bright sun rays, to him calling Alex because Tatsuya was – as he’d put it – acting weird.

“Damnit. Did you go into his room? What was he doing? Did he say anything?”

He twisted the phone slightly so that he could still listen to Murasakibara but without the guy being able to listen to him while he addressed his teammates that were gathered around him. “Sorry senpai. But I have to go.”

“Is everything okay with Himuro?” Hyuuga asked.

“Umm… I don’t know. I think I know what’s going on, but I can’t be sure until I see him.” He was half turned, headed towards the exit for the locker room to get his things when he remembered that it wasn’t as simple as just hopping over to each other’s house like they used to do in America. Even by train and even though the training camp they were at was closer to Akita than they would have been back in Tokyo, there was still the issue of getting all the way to Akita and then actually finding Tatsuya’s place. Kagami could barely get to places back in Tokyo and he’d been living there for more than a year.

“Kagami-kun, I’ll go with you.”

He turned to find Kuroko staring back up at him, a resolved look on his face.

He nodded. Grateful for the help he wouldn’t have known how to ask for.

“You should maybe pack an overnight bag in case,” said Riko. “It’s not too far, but it would be bothersome having to come all the way back in case you needed to stay the night.”

Kagami turned his attention back to Murasakibara on the other end of the line, and letting Kuroko and Riko mesh out the finer details.

He’d been half concentrating on Murasakibara’s drawling recap on events, but managed to understand the gist of it. Essentially Tatsuya was being stubborn, refusing to admit to being sick even though according to Murasakibara, he looked, felt and sounded sick. There was also the very important part of the story in which he’d been asking for ‘tiger’, and Murasakibara, evidently not having been paying any attention during any of Kagami and Tatsuya’s interactions to even bother remembering his name, had been asking for ‘tora’ or ‘Muro-chin’s redhead friend’ to the people in Tatsuya’s contact, most of whom were English speakers.

At that point Kagami was too concerned to be properly offended.

He asked Murasakibara to text him Tatsuya’s address and told him to watch out for him while he tried getting the fastest transport to Akita.

It took Kagami and Kuroko about one and a half hours to get to the train station in Akita closest to where Tatsuya lived. It had been a stroke of good luck that they’d been so close in the first place. And Kagami was relieved that Kuroko had volunteered to go with him because he wasn’t sure he’d have been able to get to his destination so quick. He’d never been to Akita before and the last thing he needed was a repeat performance of his first day back in Japan (spoiler: he got lost).

The train ride and subsequent cab ride over had been mostly done in silence. Kuroko was calm and reliable in that way. The only words that had been exchanged was when he called Alex to let her know what was going on, then when Kuroko answered a phone call from Kise who was apparently bored at a hospital while waiting for a check up on his ankle. He’d filled the other guy in on where they were headed and why and Kagami was briefly entertained by the image of Kise all of a sudden showing up in Akita just because he felt like it.

He couldn’t stop his foot from nervously tapping all the way up the elevator to the floor where Tatsuya’s apartment resided.

Murasakibara greeted them at the door and even though they’d been previously acquainted, Kagami still found himself struck dumb by the sheer size and presence of the guy in person.

Although… ‘greeted’ might have been a tad generous descriptor.

Murasakibara opened the door when they knocked and proceeded to completely ignore both of them while he talked to someone on the phone.

Both Kuroko and Kagami shared a brief look at each other before stepping into the apartment.

For some reason Kagami felt immediately at home. Everything about Tatsuya’s apartment felt familiar; it even smelled familiar. It reminded Kagami of warm summer days playing ball on the streets of LA with Tatsuya when they were kids and stopping for an ice-cream on their way back. The sight filled Kagami with feelings of sadness over how their relationship had since deteriorated and of bittersweet nostalgia that after all this time, there was still a part of Tatsuya that was immediately recognizable.

He still arranged his books the same way and had the same pictures on his mantle; he still organized his trophies next to the little knick-knacks he liked to collect and arranged basketball magazines in the middle of his coffee table.

And he still had the same exact picture of himself and Kagami from when they were kids after their very first street basket match displayed proudly beside his television.

Kagami found himself choking back the lump in his throat at the sight.

“How’s Himuro-san?”

Kagami was yanked out of his thoughts by the sound of Kuroko’s voice and turned to find that Murasakibara was done with his phone call.

“How’s Tatsuya?” he repeated, not caring about the desperation he could feel in his own voice.

“He’s in his room,” said Murasakibara, Kagami realized that it was the first time he was seeing the guy without him having some sort of snack in hand and that in itself was a telling sign about how serious the situation seemed to be.

Kagami all but jogged towards Tatsuya’s room without even waiting for Murasakibara to point him in the right direction. Instinctually, he just knew which room was Tatsuya’s.

The room was pitch-black; the only source of light was the brightness that flowed in from the light in the living room when he opened the door. Kagami forced his eyes to adjust to the darkness before taking a tentative step in.

“Tatsuya?” he called. He could see a vague outline of a figure lying under the blanket on the bed in front of him and immediately bent down to a crouch beside it.

Tatsuya was lying on his left side, upper half of his face hidden under his pillow, his arm flung across it like a secondary barrier to keep any light from entering; facing where Kagami was crouched before him. His blanket was pulled up to his shoulder and from that small distance between them Kagami could already feel the heat radiating off him without even having to touch his skin.

Only the lower part of his face was visible and Kagami could see how ragged his breathing was.

“Tatsuya?” he called again but Tatsuya remained unresponsive.

“Kagami-kun?”

He glanced behind him to him to find the outline of Murasakibara’s body standing in the door and the much smaller and almost completely unnoticeable figure of Kuroko standing in front of him.

The sight would have been much funnier had the situation not been so grim.

“How is he?” Kuroko asked.

Kagami turned back to look at Tatsuya, reaching over to place the back of his hand against Tatsuya’s cheek; almost flinching at the sheer heat radiating off him at the touch.

He stood back up to join Kuroko and Murasakibara by the door, motioning for them to take the step out into the living room before talking.

“Tatsuya used to get really bad migraines back when I knew him. I’ve only seen him have it twice but he told me he would get them a few times a year. So he either got sick because of the migraine or the migraine was the result of him being sick, but either way, it’s not a good combination. I think… I think we have to take him to a hospital.” Kagami paused to exhale and to take in the expressions of the two people before him.

Kuroko looked concerned and Murasakibara… Murasakibara had a peculiar look in his face. It wasn’t an expression Kagami had ever seen on his face, nor one he thought really belonged there. The only way Kagami could think to describe it was that Murasakibara looked actually and genuinely distressed.

Kagami would have focused further on the uncharacteristic sight had his attention not immediately been attracted by the soft voice calling his name.

He was on his knees by Tatsuya’s side immediately, hand automatically reaching out to grab onto Tatsuya’s that was clutching the blanket to his chest.

“Hey, Tatsuya, it’s me. I’m right here,” he said. His other hand pushed the pillow back so that he could look at Tatsuya’s face.

Slowly, his one visible eye slit open; at first staring at nothing before he seemed to register the figure leaning close to him and his gaze lifted to lock onto Kagami. When Kagami shifted and a sliver of light shone onto Tatsuya he winced, his eye clenched shut. Immediately Kagami used his whole body to cast a shadow over Tatsuya’s preventing the light from reaching him.

“Tai… ga?” he asked, seemingly unsure of whether to trust his own recognition ability. His already soft voice almost a whisper. “‘s it time f’training already?” he asked.

Kagami found himself at a loss for words for a moment as his brain struggled to understand what Tatsuya meant.

Training?

Tatsuya recognized him so he must realize that they weren’t on the same team. Which meant that what he meant by training was…

“No, it’s not time for training yet,” said Kagami, he tried not to let his voice sound the way he was feeling on the inside. “Alex, cancelled training today, remember? Cause you’re not well.”

Tatsuya mumbled a response that Kagami didn’t quite catch before his eye slipped shut again, his breath evened out and he fell back asleep.

Kagami reached up to run his fingers through Tatsuya’s hair, his hand coming away damp with sweat.

Somewhere in the background he could hear the sound of Murasakibara talking, but the voice that answered him didn’t belong to Kuroko.

He entered the living room, reaching back to pull the door to Tatsuya’s without allowing it to close completely; plunging the room into darkness again. He found Murasakibara talking with a woman that he’d seen on the Yosen bench during their match.

“He said we should take Muro-chin to the hospital,” said Murasakibara when he noticed Kagami’s approach.

The woman turned to look at him and Kagami found himself almost immediately stilled under the intense gaze.

“Migraines? So it’s more than just a fever?” she asked him when he stepped up to him.

“Umm… I’m not a doctor, I just know what I know about Tatsuya from when we were in America. Tatsuya doesn’t like to talk about things like that and whatever I do know I pretty much found out by accident or when he couldn’t hide it anymore. But yeah, I think his migraines and this sickness just isn’t helping matters at all.”

The coach sighed, muttering under her breath about stubborn boys. “My car is downstairs,” she said, reaching into her pocked to pull out her phone before she stepped out of Tatsuya’s apartment.

Kagami took it to mean that the conversation was over and a plan had been finalized.

The only thing they had to do was get Tatsuya up and down to the coach’s car.

He reentered the room this time followed by Murasakibara who stopped short a few feet away. It was unnerving to see the usually imposing, titan of a player seem so uncertain and almost like he was trying to make himself small to keep out of Kagami’s way.

Kagami dropped down to one knee again but this time put in more effort into trying to rouse his brother.

“Tatsuya?” he shook his shoulder. “Tatsuya, I know you’re tired and you’re hurting, but I really need you to get up. Please.”

When Tatsuya didn’t react, Kagami looked up at Murasakibara who was standing at the foot of the bed, eyes taking in the sight of his friend and senpai looking so sick. He glanced over when he noticed Kagami looking at him and in that instant it was like he just understood what Kagami wanted him to do.

Murasakibara walked around to the other side of the bed, behind Tatsuya and leaned down, bracing himself on one knee on the mattress, dipping it considerably. He put his hand on Tatsuya’s shoulder where Kagami’s had previously been and leaned close to his ear.

“Muro-chin, wake up. You promised you’d come with me to get snacks,” he said. “You still owe me for the jellybeans.”

If Kagami had been even a little jealous when Tatsuya stirred at the sound of Murasakibara’s voice, he tried not to let it show. Tatsuya was the only thing that mattered at that moment.

“Atsushi?” said Tatsuya, his eye glancing upwards at the tall teen looming over him. “Why’re you not at practice?”

Kagami couldn’t stop a chuckle from escaping. It was just like Tatsuya to be concerned about everyone else but himself even when he was so sick.

“Cause I’m here looking for you, idiot,” said Murasakibara. His words sounded harsh but Kagami could see the actual worry behind it. “Masako-chin is downstairs in her car, so we shouldn’t keep her waiting. She’s already pissed at you for not telling us you were sick.”

“‘m not sick,” Tatsuya said, which neither looked nor sounded even remotely true.

“And I don’t like maiubo,” said Murasakibara with a huff.

“Come on,” Kagami interjected. “We need you to sit up, Tatsuya,” he said, and he noted with some level of concern the fact that the surprise in Tatsuya’s eyes meant that he’d seemed to only just realize that he was there. He pushed the thought into the back of his mind because there were more pressing matters at hand.

Tatsuya didn’t move for so long that Kagami thought he’d fallen asleep again and had just moved to rouse him again when he slowly started pushing the blanket off him. Kagami and Murasakibara were on him immediately, both of them moving seemingly as one, understanding without words how to move around Tatsuya’s figure and what to do.

Murasakibara’s hand reached up under Tatsuya’s shoulder helping him up into a sitting position while Kagami pulled the blanket fully off him, helping him swing his feet over the side of the bed onto the floor.

Tatsuya’s stilled suddenly, muttering Kagami’s name as his hand reached up to cover his mouth.

Kagami understood instantly what was about to happen. But before he could even think or move, a wastebasket was shoved into the empty space between him and Tatsuya. It appeared just in the nick of time, because Tatsuya shuddered once and a painful heave was followed by his stomach expelling what little content was in it into the awaiting basket.

Murasakibara was holding Tatsuya from behind. Kuroko was crouched beside Kagami holding the wastebasket and Kagami brushed Tatsuya’s hair back so it wouldn’t be hit by flecks of vomit.

The next ten seconds or so (though it felt much longer than that) was followed by Tatsuya’s body alternating between painful hacking cough and equally painful dry heaving.

Kagami felt moisture splashing down onto the back of his hand that was being clutched in a bone crushing grip by Tatsuya and he looked up to find tears trickling down Tatsuya’s face. His eyes were clenched shut and his brows furrowed and he looked in so much pain that it broke Kagami’s heart. It was a side of Tatsuya’s he didn’t think he’d ever seen before.

He noticed Murasakibara rubbing Tatsuya’s back comfortingly and in that moment he couldn’t be more glad that he was there with them. That he’d gone to look for Tatsuya and hadn’t taken his stubborn insistence at face value; that he’d gone through all the trouble of contacting Kagami; having likely called half of Tatsuya’s entire contact list do so.

Kagami was glad that Tatsuya had a friend that he could count on; one who cared about him so much – who cared about him as much as Kagami did.

One that cared about Tatsuya as much as Tatsuya cared about him.

It took even longer until the coughing/heaving finally stopped and Tatsuya was left sitting there taking deep, shuddering breaths; sweat and tears mixing together and trickling down the side of his face. It was obvious that it was only Murasakibara’s presence that was keeping him upright.

“We should get him to the hospital soon,” said Kuroko, producing a towel seemingly from out of nowhere and handing it to Kagami. When Kagami turned to say something to him he only found an empty spot where Kuroko had just been in. In the background he could hear the sound of running water coming from Tatsuya’s bathroom.

He busied himself focusing on cleaning Tatsuya up, dabbing the sweat with the towel in hand and cleaning up the flecks of vomit that was on his chin and lip.

Tatsuya had his eyes closed and was leaning heavily against Murasakibara’s chest, his head tucked almost perfectly under the tall teen’s chin. His breathing was cautious and measured and Kagami could hear the deep rattling behind his ribcage every time he inhaled.

Kuroko returned shortly after, handing a hoodie to Murasakibara before turning to Kagami.

“Masako-san said she pulled her car up in front of the building, so we don’t have to walk far.”

Kagami nodded wordlessly. He didn’t trust his voice to keep steady to even attempt to speak while trying to keep up the front of being calm. He always had Tatsuya for that. Tatsuya always told him to keep a warm head and a cold heart when in reality Tatsuya had the warmest heart of anyone Kagami knew and he always knew what to do and the right thing to say in any situation.

In that situation the only thing Kagami knew how to be was strong.

Murasakibara managed to get Tatsuya into the hoodie with little to no help from Tatsuya himself, while Kagami put on Tatsuya’s sneakers that had all of a sudden materialized in his hand.

Kagami thought to grab a cap and a pair of sunglasses as well to help with the brightness from the outside but it seemed like Kuroko had read his mind because the next thing he knew Kuroko was standing by the door with both items in hand, including Tatsuya’s wallet and ID.

Kagami turned to Tatsuya again, shaking his shoulder gently. “Tatsuya, come on. It’s going to be tough but me and Murasakibara are going to help you.”

Tatsuya’s eye opened, his gaze staring up at the ceiling for a moment before he focused on Kagami. “Where are we going?” he asked.

Kagami’s heart clenched at how small his voice sounded. “The hospital. You’re really sick.”

“Okay,” said Tatsuya and Kagami didn’t know whether to be relieved by Tatsuya’s compliance or concerned that he was sick enough to acknowledge that he was sick and that he needed help.

Murasakibara crossed the length of the bed with just one long step, repositioning himself on Tatsuya’s left side while Kagami settled himself on Tatsuya’s right. He reached one arm across Tatsuya’s back while the other hooked under Tatsuya’s underarm. Murasakibara did the same on the other side. Tatsuya managed to muster enough strength to get his legs under him and keep them there, allowing Kagami and Murasakibara to lift him to his feet.

First hurdle completed.

Slowly they made their way out of the room; Tatsuya flinched the moment they stepped out into the bright living room, reaching up to cover his eyes with his hands.

Kuroko was there immediately, placing the hat on Tatsuya’s head and handing him the sunglasses. Tatsuya’s muttered thanks was almost too quiet to hear but it brought a smile to Kuroko’s face.

By the time they reached the elevator Tatsuya was breathing hard. Kagami could feel him physically weakening in his arms which was a feat considering how weak he was to begin with. All of a sudden Murasakibara moved. He readjusted his hold on Tatsuya, bending down to circle Tatsuya’s arm around his shoulder before reaching his own arm down under Tatsuya’s knees, lifting him up in a bridal carry as he straightened up. Tatsuya’s head lolled onto his shoulder and stayed there.

If Kagami hadn’t already been impressed by Murasakibara’s strength he definitely was right then. Murasakibara lifted Tatsuya, who was by no means short or light – he was a seasoned basketball player (and an experienced street brawler) after all – like he weighed nothing. His expression didn’t even change; his eyes remained unreadable but Kagami could tell that he was doing the exact same thing as he was, keeping up a façade of strength even though he was beyond worried on the inside.

In a small part of his heart, Kagami felt a bit of jealousy towards Murasakibara, because he was actually doing something for Tatsuya, unlike Kagami who could only trail after them uselessly.

People all but jumped out of the way as they stepped into the elevator, either reading the gravity of the situation or just being intimidated by the titan of a person stepping into the elevator with them carrying a half conscious teen in his arms. Kagami was sure the intense look on his own face didn’t help matters. The same thing happened when they got off the elevator and walked down the hallway of the apartment building towards where their ride was waiting for them.

Kagami immediately slipped into the backseat, beckoning Murasakibara to lower Tatsuya’s figure onto the seat beside him, both working together to get him settled in the middle seat, his body leaning against Kagami and his head that had been resting on Murasakibara’s shoulder sought out Kagami’s as a replacement.

The coach was driving and only watched them from the driver’s seat as they worked. Murasakibara insisted on being in the backseat with Kagami and Tatsuya even though Kagami wasn’t sure how exactly he was going to fit all of himself in the considerably small back area of his coach’s Honda. But somehow he managed to fold himself in. A phone call came in as he was adjusting his long legs, trying to find a way to position them so that they weren’t digging into the back of the passenger’s seat. Kuroko who materialized in the front seat at some point adjusted his chair forward to make as much room for Murasakibara behind him as possible.

Murasakibara nodded his thanks as he moved to answer his ringing phone.

The part of the conversation they could catch was Murasakibara explaining to the person on the other end of the line that they were taking Tatsuya to the hospital and which hospital they were going to. There was a small pause on Murasakibara’s end before he nodded at the invisible person in front of him, agreeing to whatever the person had said.

The coach had put her car into gear and was waiting for the traffic of cars to pass before pulling out onto the road when Murasakibara ended the phone call.

“Aka-chin said to take him to the University Hospital,” he said.

His coach turned around to stare at him incredulously. “That hospital is more than twenty minutes away. There’s one much closer than that.”

“But Aka-chin said to do so,” said Murasakibara sounding more petulant than he probably intended, or perhaps as petulant as he intended. “Aka-chin always knows what to do.”

His coach sighed. She had the air of someone who was obviously sick and tired of having ‘Aka-chin’ shadow-managing her own team. But she also had the experience of someone who knew which battles to fight and which battles to allow to play out. And when it came to Akashi Seijuuro, obviously she knew better than to get between him and Murasakibara.

So instead of just pulling out onto the road as she’d intended, she had to do a U-turn in the opposite direction to get to the hospital Akashi told them to go to.

The first few minutes passed by in silence, only the sound of the car engine and passing vehicles providing a distraction from the monotonous silence.

Tatsuya was still and silent at Kagami’s side, sandwiched between him and Murasakibara’s gigantic form; the heat radiating off his body a stark contrast to the coolness of the air-conditioning.

Suddenly Tatsuya stirred, his hand reached up to pull the cap off his head though he kept the sun glasses on.

“Sorry…” Tatsuya said, his tone apologetic, “…for troubling you guys.”

No one replied for a moment; mainly it was because their minds were still trying to process what Tatsuya had said.

“Hah?” Murasakibara reacted first. “What the hell are you talking about?” His brows were furrowed and he looked annoyed that the apology had come out of Tatsuya’s mouth in the first place.

Kagami seconded the response. “Murasakibara’s right. What the hell do you mean sorry?” When Tatsuya didn’t react – he just seemed to sag even more onto his shoulder, Kagami continued. “You took care of me all the time when we were kids – when I was sick, or when I got scrapes from basketball. How is this situation any different? You took care of Alex when she got sad drunk after breaking up with her muscle-head boyfriend. You took care of the kids from the neighbourhood. You’re always taking care of people.”

“Yeah,” interjected Murasakibara. “You took care of me when I had a stomach ache after I ate that disgusting yoghurt.”

Kagami didn’t think there would ever come a day when he and Murasakibara would actually come to an agreement on something, but evidently the day came.

Tatsuya let out a small laugh which quickly turned into a painful cough but before Kagami could smother him with comfort, he lifted his head and turned to look at Murasakibara, wearing a small smile even though his expression was twisted in pain.

“That wasn’t yoghurt, Atsushi,” he said. “That was milk that had turned.”

Kagami let out a half laugh half splutter that he tried to pass off as a cough, but the reaction was mimicked by both Murasakibara’s coach and Kuroko at the same time, which made the situation even funnier than it already was.

Murasakibara’s mouthed ‘o’ and the realization that came across his face just broke whatever pretense Kagami had and his resolve not to laugh.

Soon everyone joined in, even Murasakibara, though he seemed slightly more confused than amused. Even Tatsuya who was trying not to have another coughing fit chuckled softly. Kagami realized that he missed the sound.

He couldn’t even remember the last time he heard Tatsuya laugh. It was before he left American. Before the fateful match that forever changed their relationship.

Even when they met at the streetball tournament, Tatsuya’s smile had been different – guarded; insincere almost, especially when he was regarding Kagami. Kagami didn’t want to admit it at the time, but he was hurt by Tatsuya’s coldness.

But right there, right then, even weakened and sick and in pain, Kagami recognized the old Tatsuya; the one who’d befriended him back when no one wanted to be his friend; who had taken him under his wing and taught him how to love basketball, and by extension, how to love life. He was the reason why Kagami was who he was and he couldn’t imagine the kind of person he’d have ended up becoming if Tatsuya hadn’t walked up to him that day and extended his hand in friendship.

The melancholic atmosphere that had hovered over them since Kagami stepped into Tatsuya’s room and had seen him for the first time seemed to lift for a moment.

Tatsuya shifted slightly beside him, his hand reaching up to rub his nose.

It was a miniscule movement that caught his eye first; seeing Kuroko turning to look back at them from his seat before Kagami saw his eyes widen. It was his soft, yet panicked, “Kagami-kun,” that alerted him to something being wrong.

He immediately looked at Tatsuya, seeing his hand that had reached up to his nose come away smeared with blood.

“Tatsuya!” he exclaimed. He twisted his body so he was perched on the edge of the seat facing Tatsuya; grabbing the shaking hand that was hovering in front of the too pale face, while his other reached over to tilt Tatsuya’s head up, seeing a steady stream of blood trickling out of his nose and dripping down his chin.

The sunglasses Tatsuya was wearing had slid off his face and dropped down onto the floor and Kagami could only watch helplessly as the look in Tatsuya’s eyes as he stared confusedly at the blood on his fingers slowly give way to a vacant, faraway gaze before his eyes rolled back in his head and he lost consciousness.

“Muro-chin!” cried Murasakibara at the same time Kagami yelled, “Tatsuya!”

Kagami caught Tatsuya’s body as he was about to slip sideways onto the seat and held him close. The limpness of Tatsuya’s figure was terrifying and for a minute Kagami didn’t know what to say or how to react, he could just sit there embracing Tatsuya in his arms and praying to whatever deity was listening to keep his brother safe.

In the back of his mind he registered the sensation of the car picking up speed and the sound of Tatsuya’s coach honking the horn at some poor sap that was in her way.

It was Murasakibara who shook him out of reverie.

By literally shaking him.

Apparently he’d been holding Tatsuya in a death grip for about a minute, ignoring Murasakibara and Kuroko who had been calling his name.

“I got him,” Murasakibara said, peeling Kagami’s hand away and pulling Tatsuya into a gentle cradle against his chest.

In hindsight Kagami acknowledged that it was the right course of action, because they could actually check Tatsuya’s condition instead of having Kagami be in the way.

Blood painted his upper lip and chin and had dripped down onto the neck of his t-shirt peeking from under the hoodie; the same blood that was smeared on Kagami’s hand and across his shoulder. The redness was in stark contrast to the sickly, pallid tone of Tatsuya’s skin.

Tatsuya had always been fair, even by white people standard. Even among their white friends back in America, Tatsuya was usually the fairest one in the group and he somehow stayed that way no matter how much time he spent playing basketball in the hot sun. Girls always got jealous and the guys liked to tease him about it, but that was mainly due to the fact that he was who girls flocked to the most. Tatsuya himself hadn’t really cared about it either way. To him, the colour of his skin neither benefited nor hindered his abilities as a basketball player, therefore it didn’t matter.

Kagami lifted Tatsuya’s legs up onto the seat so that he was lying in a more comfortable position – his upper body cradled against Murasakibara – and repositioned himself so that he was half crouched in the space between the backseat and the backrest of the driver’s seat. It wasn’t the most comfortable position, Kagami could already feel his glutes starting to burn after a couple of seconds, but his discomfort wasn’t important in that moment.

Beside him Kuroko was leaning over across the space between the front seats, his hand reaching for Tatsuya’s and placing two fingers on the inside of his wrist to feel for a pulse.

It hadn’t even occurred to Kagami to check. He was glad Kuroko was there to pick up on everything he couldn’t remember to do.

“C’mon Muro-chin,” said Murasakibara, “This isn’t funny.” Kagami didn’t fail to notice the hitch his in voice when he spoke. He was cradling Tatsuya with one arm while the other was tapping his cheek, trying to get him to wake up.

Kagami could hear their coach’s voice asking; “How is he?” as she attempted to keep her attention on the road while trying to know the condition of her player. He heard Kuroko’s response to her and the multiple times he called Kagami’s name but for some reason he couldn’t respond. He couldn’t remember how to respond. The words were stuck in his throat and the only thing he could remember how to say was Tatsuya’s name, over and over again.

The moment the sight of the hospital building finally came into view Kagami nearly cried in relief.

It turned out that Murasakibara had been right to put his trust in ‘Aka-chin’, because there was a team of medical personnel already waiting for them when they pulled into the emergency bay.

From that point on, time seemed to come to a standstill and started speeding up at the same time. Kagami didn’t know what to do or where to focus, so he focused on Tatsuya.

Tatsuya who had been lifted out of Murasakibara’s reluctant grip by more experienced hands.

Tatsuya who was lying on the gurney surrounded by doctors and nurses, covered in his own blood; looking like he had not one drop of it left in his body.

Tatsuya who was all of a sudden disappearing further and further away from Kagami’s sight and out of his reach.

Tatsuya who probably still didn’t realize much Kagami loved him; how much Kagami respected him and looked up to him, as a brother, as a mentor and as a friend.

Tatsuya who in the last few minutes being in the grasp of his friends and family, hadn’t regained consciousness not even once.

It had just been a migraine. Then it had just been a fever. But right then, Kagami couldn’t shake off the very tangible fear that there was a chance he was never going to see Tatsuya again.

And that was the most scared Kagami had ever been.

Tbc.

#himuro tatsuya #kagami taiga #murasakibara atsushi #kuroko's basket #kuroko no basket #kuroko tetsuya #whump #medwhump #whump fic #friendship #reiven fics #reiven kuroko's basket fic #reiven fic: thicker than blood #knb

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