Till the end

Chapter 41

While the burial detail got to gathering the bodies together to be burned I headed back inside the compound and waved down Midorima and Izuki. They joined me and I lowered my voice so nobody would over hear us.

"We need to keep this quiet."

"Keep what quiet?"

I glanced at Kise, raising my eyebrows. Sometimes he could be so dense.

"You mean the rabid ways they acted when Kuroko came to the gate?"

I nodded and Kise's mouth opened in a silent o as he understood what we meant. I looked up at the young man who was the sentry on the gate, the one who had rung the bell.

"What about him?"

"He didn't see Tetsu. He was too busy cowering, his eyes closed."

I could hear the disgust in Aomine's voice at the man's cowardice but I was glad. He would not be able to spread around rumours about what had happened here.

"I want to find out what is wrong with Tetsuya before we make any assumptions."

They all nodded and I headed back to the clinic with Midorima. When I opened the door, Kuroko launched himself at me.

"I'm sorry! I shouldn't have come up. That was my fault."

"We don't know what it was."

I put my arms around him and patted his back. His face was still warm where it was pressed against my chest. he looked up and gasped when he saw my arm.

"You got hurt!"

He grabbed my arm to inspect the scratches there but I simply shrugged.

"It's fine. I was just a bit slow. It's nothing serious."

Tears appeared in his eyes and he quickly dashed them away.

"I'm so sorry. Whatever is wrong with me did something to them, didn't it?"

"That's what we are here to find out. I want to go and run patrol with Mayuzumi, make sure there are no more stragglers. Will you be okay?"

I could see the war going on behind his azure eyes. His hand tightened on my sleeve as if he was to afraid to let me go. This was something that had been happening recently, he was afraid to be without Mayuzumi or I by his side.

"I will stay with you Kurochin."

I looked over to see Murasakibara sitting on a bed nearby, a bag of sweets in his lap. He was wiping sleep out of his eyes as he patted the bed beside him, beckoning the bluenette over. Kuroko's hand released its death grip on me and he nodded. I kissed his head and watched him as he walked over and climbed into the bed, accepting a sweet from the giant. He would be fine with Murasakibara by his side, those two had a bond like brothers. I watched as a ghost of smile flitted across the bluenette's face. Convinced he was no okay I headed outside with Mayuzumi following, a frown on his face as he put his nose in the air. When we got out of the gates I sensed what he wanted and stopped as he sniffed my shirt and then turned around, almost like a dog trying to find an elusive scent.

"that feeling is back."

He nodded his head, a frown on his face.

"Since you've been training me to increase my senses there's something, off about Kuroko's scent."

"Off? Like he really is sick?"

"I don't know. It doesn't feel like anything I've experienced."

"I can't sense a change I him."