Till the end

Chapter 30

Akashi's Pov

"Muro-chin!"

I turned to see Murasakibara helping Himuro to his feet. The smaller man's face was pale and set in a grimace as he nursed the arm that he had fallen onto.

"I'm okay Atsushi, I just stumbled."

He turned to me, brushing his black hair away from his face.

"I can keep going."

I brushed my own red locks out of my face and let out a tired sigh. Now that we had stopped my own exhaustion made itself known. I could see everyone's faces mirrored Himuro's. Pale, tired and their shoulders slumped. We had been on the move nonstop since heading out from the small village as we searched for Kuroko. They hadn't complained as I pushed them on. I felt a twinge of guilt as I met each of their weary but determined eyes. They would keep going until they collapsed.

"There were some caves a little bit back that way. Let's rest for the rest of the day."

I headed off back the way we had come before anyone could argue.

We found the caves and spread out to find one that would fit us all comfortably. Something drew me to a small opening. I noticed there was some snow piled up at the entrance. It hadn't happened from snow fall, this had been purposely placed there. Machete in my hand I edged inside. The cave was empty and I could see a fire pit in the middle. I put my hand over top of it. It was stone cold. The visitors had long since moved on. I saw boot prints scattered around the dirt. I knelt down to inspect them. two people had been here. One set was quite large and deeply imprinted. The owner would have been quite tall and heavy. The other set was tiny and light, probably belonging to a child or a woman. I cocked my head as I traced the smaller one. The print from the boot was like Kuroko's.

"Takao, I need you!

In moments, the cave was crowded with the rest of my group and Takao joined me on his knees. I pointed excitedly at the boot print.

"These are Kuroko's foot prints, aren't they?"

The black-haired man looked at the boots, his eyes narrowed as he studied them. He had an eye for detail and was my best tracker. After what felt like an eternity he slowly nodded, a smile on his face.

"It's his. He was here."

I sat down with a sigh. We were on the right track.

"Let's set up camp so we can get some rest."

Midorima took charge as we gathered some fire wood and piled the snow back up in the entrance to keep the warmth inside. Once we had a roaring fire we all curled up into our bed rolls and fell asleep instantly.

I was the first to wake up. Creeping quietly past everyone I crawled out of the cave to relieve myself and then stood just outside of the cave looking up at the moon and the stars. The night was quiet as if the world was holding its breath. I hugged myself against the cold as I thought of where Kuroko was at this moment. Even though it had only been two weeks since I had been apart from him my heart and body ached for him.

I don't know how long I stood there until I heard a voice call for me. I returned to the cave to see Murasakibara and Midorima were up and preparing some tea and food. I looked around at the others to see everyone was still asleep, cuddling with their partners. I felt a stab to my heart as I looked at them. I missed Kuroko even more when I saw how happy everyone was but I would never wish them the pain that I was now experiencing.

I murmured my thanks as I accepted a mug of warm drink from Midorima and slid down beside him in front of the fire. I looked at them over the rim of my cup and was glad to see there was some colour back in their cheeks and the dark rings under their eyes had gone.