Chapter 1 – Fluffy
A/N: Hello! Just a note before this story begins – whilst this is a yokai AU there are quite a few inaccuracies in regard to the actual lore of yokais – I am aware of this but I hope you enjoy it anyway!
Disclaimer – I do not own Kuroko no Basuke
Sitting by the glittering river in a massive, lively forest was a kitsune with scarlet hair and tails.
As he looked to the clear blue summer sky he reminisced of the days when he was idolised as if he were a God. The humans had even built a shrine in his honour. Now, however, he was feared. Any human who caught sight of him immediately ran away. Even the other yokai avoided contact with him, except for his handful of rainbow haired friends, though he hadn't seen any of them in a long while now.
Whilst Akashi was lost in his own mind, sat by the river's edge, he was surprised to hear the light sound of footsteps approaching from the trees behind him. No one usually wanders this close to my home…The kitsune thought. He lived in the surprisingly spacious and comfy cave that was nestled in a large hill just a few meters away from the river side.
His ears twitched as the footsteps, which were still barely audible, suddenly came to a halt and were immediately followed by the sound of a small gasp.
"They're so fluffy!"
Akashi stood and made to turn around only to find a small, teal haired boy with a beaming smile, who was now grabbing his tails with little fingers. The child was wearing black trousers with a simplistic shirt made of cotton in a colour that almost matched the boy's hair and was tied with a grey belt. The cold colour of the outfit contrasted that of Akashi's hot red and black long kimono, decorated with intricate flower and flame patterns.
"Excuse me." Akashi said, obviously unimpressed at the boy cuddling his tails as if they were a child's favourite teddy bear.
The boy looked up into Akashi's intimidating blood red eyes, but rather than instantly becoming afraid by the dark aura he simply cocked his head and asked "Kitty?"
Akashi's mood dropped even further. "No." He said irately.
The child stared at him a little longer before a look of realisation crossed his eyes.
"Are you Akashi-sama?"
So he has heard of me. Is this kid just stupid? The red-head thought.
Silence was the response the child was given. Akashi simply continued to glare at the tiny human. He only looks to be about 5 years old…why isn't he running away? Akashi wondered.
When the boy came to realise that the red haired yokai was not going to supply an answer he decided to continue snuggling the tails.
Annoyed, Akashi decided that perhaps he should reply to the boy's question. "Yes, I am Akashi Seijuro, the kitsune who lives in this forest. Now would you kindly stop-"
Before Akashi could finish the kid beamed and said "Akashi-sama's tails are so fluffy and soft, I love them!"
Proudly, Akashi said "Well that is because I brush and clean them every day of course."
"They're so soft and fluffy…I want to chop them off and take them home!"
At that, Akashi finally snapped. He pulled his tails away from the child's grasp and hissed "You will do no such thing mortal."
The small child, sad to have his play thing taken away from him, pulled a very upset expression, tears welling in his big blue eyes. "I wouldn't really." He whispered, his eyes dropping to the ground.
Akashi didn't know why, but seeing the little kid so sad, burnt away his annoyance and melted his heart.
He was about to allow the kid to pet his tails again out of guilt when another human entered the scene.
"Tetsuya! Where on Earth have you been?!" A worried woman called a few metres away from the two.
The boy picked up his gaze to look at the woman who had hair and eyes that matched his own. "I wanted to go on an adventure Okaa-san."
But as her son began speaking she noticed the demon stood behind him.
"Kuroko Tetsuya get over here now!"
"But I wanted to talk to Akashi-sama more." The child said dejectedly.
"Tetsuya, we need to go now. You shouldn't be bothering Akashi-sama."
Kuroko moved over to his mother, now even sadder than before.
"Thank you for not bringing harm to my son Akashi-sama." The woman said, bowing to the kitsune, truly trying to be respectful.
She then promptly picked up her son before walking back to their village through the forest.
Akashi was surprised to say the least. Today I met two humans that were not afraid of me, how unusual.
The mother had seemed panicked at first but Akashi had quickly noticed that she had simply feared for her son's safety, once she saw Akashi she still showed some concern but she had still relaxed somewhat and gone as far as to speak to him respectfully.
Meanwhile, the child, Tetsuya, had shown no fear in approaching him even though he had recognised him…even though he must have heard the rumours….
It wasn't until a few days later that Akashi's and Kuroko's paths crossed again. The crimson haired kitsune was sat reading by a tree when he was suddenly interrupted.
"Akashi-sama! I found you!" A triumphant young boy said.
Akashi looked over to Kuroko, who was stood pointing at him with a smile.
"And why in the world were you looking for me brat?"
"Because you seemed…lonely." The kid said shyly.
The boy's answer surprised the kitsune yet again. He had been expecting a stupid reply such as 'I wanted to cuddle your fluffy tails again!'
"Why would you say that?" Akashi asked with interest.
"I could tell, when I saw you sat by the river. You looked a bit sad…"
"Sad?"
"Yes. Like you were missing something."
Akashi was in a stunned silence, eyes wide. Never did he think that a child could read him so easily.
"I thought I could cheer Akashi-sama up!" The sky-blue haired boy said cheerily before running up and hugging Akashi.
"Tetsuya…" Akashi whispered looking at the boy, touched by Kuroko's words.
"Everyone says that Akashi-sama is evil but I don't think that's true."
"And why do you think that?" The crimson haired fox asked with an unbefitting look of confusion painted on his face.
"Because you're so fluffy!" Kuroko said with a smile.
Akashi gave a small laugh at that.
"And because I had never met Akashi-sama until recently and you can't judge someone without meeting them. That's what Okaa-san says." The boy said looking into the kitsune's jewel like eyes.
"Your Okaa-san sounds very wise Tetsuya."
"She told me I shouldn't annoy you though…" Kuroko said with a slight frown forming on his lips. "Am I annoying you Akashi-sama?" He asked with a concerned expression.
Akashi's mind was racing. This child had shown him more kindness than anyone he had met in the past century. Akashi's natural response was to be cold, reflecting back the emotions usually given to him. Yet something about Kuroko Tetsuya made him feel all warm inside, and he couldn't bring himself to give the kid the cold shoulder.
"No Tetsuya. I suppose you aren't annoying me."
"Akashi-sama!" Kuroko called out worriedly as he ran towards the kitsune, going so fast he almost tripped.
Akashi looked over to the boy, watching him come panting over to his place by the river. "What's wrong Tetsuya?" He asked with concern.
Kuroko stopped in front of the red-head and put forward his hands which were cupped together and holding something. "Please help the birdie Akashi-sama! I think its wing is broken." The young human begged with a look of dismay.
Looking at the tiny, black feathered bird cradled in Kuroko's hands, Akashi observed that the boy was probably correct in saying its wing was broken.
"Calm down Tetsuya. Just hold it still okay?"
Kuroko responded with a small nod.
It was then that the yokai raised his right hand and hovered it over the bird. Kuroko watched in awe as a beautiful golden light came from Akashi's hand and shone onto the little bird's wing. A couple of seconds later, the light faded and the feathered creature began to stir in the boy's hand before standing up and chirping.
Kuroko's face lit up with a beaming smile as he watched the bird. "Thank you Akashi-sama! You're really amazing!"
A light laugh came from Akashi alongside a fond smile. "It's nothing Tetsuya."
Lifting his arms up, Kuroko said "Fly away birdie!" And the bird did as he asked.
Following their third meeting, Kuroko and Akashi continued to meet each other rather regularly by the river where they had first met. Akashi found that he quite enjoyed the boy's company and hearing the stories he would tell about his village.
It was a hot afternoon when Akashi sat with his legs in the water, waiting for his younger friend to join him.
When an hour had passed without the human appearing, Akashi grew impatient and decided to go search for the teal-head.
It didn't take him long until he came across a group of children in the forest ahead of him. Four of them were standing around something. No…someone…
It was then that Akashi realised in horror that it was Kuroko lying in the centre, with a larger child kicking him in the stomach. Akashi didn't need his supernatural hearing to be able to pick up on the name calling.
"Freak!"
"Demon!"
Akashi hastily made his presence known to the bullies. As soon as the children caught a glimpse of Akashi's wrathful face, they ran.
Deciding against exacting revenge on Kuroko's behalf just yet, he left them to scamper home in favour of attending to Kuroko.
"Tetsuya." Akashi said in quiet voice.
"A-Akashi-sama?" The human asked.
"It's me. It's okay now." Akashi crouched down and looked over the child, noticing a scraped knee and a cut on his face, as if someone had punched him hard and shoved him to the ground.
Tears shimmered in Kuroko's big eyes as he looked at Akashi
The kitsune gently brought his hand to the boy's face. A warm golden glow ebbed into existence from the hand as Akashi began to heal Kuroko's injuries.
Once he had finished healing the boy, he asked "Does it still hurt?"
Kuroko replied by shaking his head.
"Good." Akashi whispered before he wrapped his arms around the boy and pulled him up into a hug. The cerulean-head responded by burying his face in the yokai's shoulder and clutching onto the back of the kimono that Akashi was wearing as if his life depended on it.
Tears began spilling out of the young human's eyes and dampening Akashi's clothes.
"Thank you." He sobbed. "Thank you."
Akashi sat and just held Kuroko in his arms, letting him cry out his negative feelings. Once the gentle sobs stopped, the crimson eyed fox asked a question.
"Why were they hurting you Tetsuya?"
Kuroko gave a sniffle before talking. "They all say I'm weird. They say I'm like a phantom and now that I've started being friends with Akashi-sama, they think I'm a demon."
It was hard to take in the information that he was partly responsible for Kuroko's beating. "I'm sorry Tetsuya." He apologised, rubbing soothing circles on the boys back.
A sniff came from Kuroko before he said sadly, "It's okay, it's not Akashi-sama's fault. It's my fault for being weird."
"Being weird is not always bad Tetsuya. And they should never hurt you because of it, okay? If they give you any more trouble, tell me and I'll deal with them."
"Akashi-sama is too kind." Kuroko said, burying his head back into Akashi's neck.
Akashi found some irony in that. He gave a chuckle before whispering "I think it is Tetsuya who is too kind."
A/N:
The beginning of this story was inspired by the wonderful oyakorodesu (or Yami). A big thank you to her for letting me use her art for the cover of this! You guys can check out the original post on her tumblr (her user name is oyakorodesu) /post/116470747720/day-5-akakuroweek-im-an-au-seeking-person-3
I'm sorry I can't post a proper link but you should definitely check out her art!
I've actually been wanting to write this for ages and I finally got round to it in January when I was struggling to write more of Lost and Found. Please let me know what you guys think and if you want more! Feel free to ask me any questions.