Ｌｉｇｈｔ

ninety - pain

"Ah, where's Sasaki-kun?" A reporter for Monthly Basketball Magazine questioned after having finished speaking with everyone else. "We have a lot to ask him."

"Well..." Riko trailed off, most of their faces going dark at the thought of what had occurred on their way off the court. Several minutes ago...

As they had finished greeting Kise and were headed to their reserved locker room, everyone had noticed that Sasaki had started to lag behind. "Hey, you okay man?" Koganei asked. There was no response.

"Sasaki, it's rude to ignore your elders!" Hyuuga snapped at him. Once again, no response.

"Sasaki-kun?" Riko probed, now understanding that something was actually wrong and he wasn't just being weird. That's when he suddenly dropped to his knees, his face only visible for a fraction of a second before it was covered by his hands.

That facial expression would be carved into every member of Seirin's brains until they died. It was one of pure pain, panic, and absolute unmediated fear. Over and over, the azurette begged for something to be stopped, make it stop makeit stop makeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstop-

No one knew what was happening with him, but Kuroko concluded it had something to do with his ability. Maybe it had gone haywire?

"SHUT UUUUUP!" Sasaki thundered. In that moment, he subconsciously used his ability and forced every person in range of him to stop thinking and to stop speaking. Those on the team who'd never experienced it before finally realized why Riko had been so terrified upon being released from his control.

Anyone who was not familiar with Sasaki and his powers simply thought they had blacked out for a moment. Akashi, however, knew that wasn't the case. He could already see where the Seirin team was, and the huddled figure on the ground.

By the time he arrived, Sasaki was taking in labored breaths, almost as if he was crying. He probably is, the Rakuzan Captain thought before taking a knee next to him.

"Wha-Akashi!?" Kagami reeled back, "The hell are you-"

"Hayate," He spoke calmly, ignoring the redhead as he put a hand on the azurette's shoulder. "Hayate, look at me."

"S-Seiji," Slowly but surely, grey eyes found Akashi's heterochromic ones, tears flowing down his face as the captain had predicted. "It hurts-"

"You overdid it, again," He reprimanded softly, pulling him into his arms. From there, he made eye contact with Riko, who looked even more startled than before. "I'll be taking him off your hands, so there's no need to worry."

"You're-"

"Akashi Seijuro," Kagami growled, finishing Riko's sentence. "You can't just-"

"I can, and I will," He spoke as he stood up, Sasaki now being carried in his arms bridal style. "Unless any of you can help Hayate. Or, even want to," He narrowed his eyes. Many of the team hung their heads, and thus the Rakuzan captain took Sasaki away.

"Seiji.."

"I have you, it's alright."

"Seiji.. please.."

"Shhhh, endure for a bit," He kissed the crown of Sasaki's head. "I'll help you," Akashi promised. Meanwhile, Sasaki could barely hear him over the flood of thoughts going through his head. It was his punishment for using the Zone: for the exact amount of time that he'd been in the zone, he'd be unable to restrict his powers of telepathy.

It was incredibly painful. Voices converging together, practically speaking gibberish. Well, Sasaki was sure they made since to the person thinking, but everything was so meshed in his head he couldn't interpret anything.