Hi everyone. This is my first KnB fic and my first ever fanfic at the same time!
This one was based on a story I read recently, although the plot deviated greatly from what I'd originally planned..
There was once a legend of a demon, living in the darkest shadows of the forests, feeding on the blood of humans who had been unfortunate enough to wander into the depths of the trees. None but one had come back from the demon's clutches alive, and even then, the man had came back half insane, all the while muttering, 'blue...blue...'. It was said that the last thing the victims would ever see was one pale eye, shining out like a star from the shadows that reached out to grab the poor men and women, paralyzed in fear...
Kise Ryouta leaned back and smirked at the spooked faces of his friends minus Akashi. He couldn't expect to scare him.
Akashi Seijuurou did not believe in myths, legends, or fairy tales, no matter how real or how truthful they may have seemed. He was absolute, and he always knew what would happen before it actually did. So when his small circle of friends sat down and a certain blond had told them all of the legend of the forest behind their small little town, Akashi had immediately stood up and announced that he would go into the forest to confirm the rumors. Even the most burliest and strongest of the men in town did not dare go inside the forest. Akashi had wondered why, but waved it off as a simple superstition until now.
Against his friends' pleas to not enter the cursed forest(Akashicchi! Noo! I don't want you to die, so please!), he walked with steady, graceful steps down a scarcely used path, which was covered in grass and pebbles to the point where one could just barely make out the road by the faint indentations of wheels. The forest loomed above him, and Akashi looked up at the tall pine trees swaying their dark green needles in the breeze. What could possibly be cursed in this forest?
He stepped into the midst of the pines and continued slowly by the road, taking in the scenery. The late morning sun shined its warm rays through pale leaves, warming his back on his slow trek through the woods. He looked up at the treetops, and bits of pale blue sky that was visible signified that nothing could go wrong-after all, it was a breezy, sunny day without a cloud in the sky.
As Akashi carefully stepped over a gnarled root, he noticed animals he had never before seen, but only heard of. Raccoons, the charcoal-colored rings of fur around their eyes giving them a mischievious glint as they scurried between rocks and grass, rainbow-colored butterflies, iridescent wings catching the sunshine and shimmering like pearls, and lovely hummingbirds, suckling on the tiniest of flowers on a nearby bush before flying off to join the butterflies in their colorful dance.
Sweet voices of songbirds rang through the woods, beckoning Akashi to come ever closer to the heart of this mystery. Sleek bodies of cats disappeared into a hidden den before coming back out, with a trail of tiny kittens on their unsteady feet. He stared,entranced, at the felines for a few minutes before remembering his duty, and walked on.
Engrossed in the beautiful ways of nature, Akashi did not notice the leaves of trees seemingly closing on him, the raccoons retreating back to the safety of the sunlight, or the strangely dense white fog starting to swirl around his ankles, obscuring them from view.
It was only when he realized he could not feel the heat of the sun on his back, nor hear the steady buzzing of hummingbird wings that he broke away from his trancelike state and took a look at his surroundings.
The trees no longer looked motherly and welcoming, but rather forboding and dangerous. The wind that had been blowing through the woods had gone, and the forest was silent, as if dead. Suddenly, the small crunch of twigs breaking under his feet seemed way too loud in the silence, and Akashi stopped dead. It was as though someone was watching him. Sharply, he turned in a circle, his heart thumping way too loud in his rib cage for his liking. When he decided no one had been spying on him, he relaxed, and turned back the way he had been heading. He would find out the truth( he believed strongly that the demon was just another made-up entity)and prove, once again, that he was always right.
His breathing sped up, adrenaline coursing through his veins and sharpening his senses. That's when he realized that he was afraid. Akashi Seijuurou was scared. He grimaced and told himself over and over again that demons did not exist. Could not. But even his mantra could not undo the tight knot that had formed at the base of his stomach.
He took a deep breath and took one confident step forward, and the ground gave way. With a cry, Akashi tumbled down a slope, scraping countless times against twigs,hitting against rocks and roots hard enough that he was sure they would leave a painful bruise afterwards. Akashi instinctively curled into a ball as best as he could, waiting for the ground to level out and the fall to end.
A bang, a crash, a sharp pain in the back of the head, and Akashi lost consciousness.
Akashi slowly opened his eyes, and blinked. He was back in the sunny parts of the forest. None of the eerie fog nor the heavy silence was there, and the woods were once again filled with the many sounds of the forest. He slowly sat up and winced as the eye-watering pain of the scrapes and bruises he had suffered on his fall rushed back to him. Touching the back of his head gingerly, he felt around for a bump.
That was when he realized there was something around his head-a bandage seemingly ripped off from clothing. He tensed and looked around slowly, his eyes taking in all details of the small clearing he was lying in. As his eyes scanned the woods around him, they caught a small disturbance in a clump of thin trees. It had just been a rustling of leaves, a few twigs snapping, but Akashi carefully observed the area with narrowed eyes before turning away, deciding that it was only a trick of the shadows.
He started to walk down the path again, looking back now and then for a sign of a living soul.
As he stepped back onto the road leading to town, he heard shouts of, "Akashi!"
His friends hurried towards him, and Aomine asked, "So were there demons?"
Midorima hit him on the head." That's beside the point, Ahomine. Akashi is injured!" he gestured to Akashi's slightly torn clothing and the bandages around his head.
"Eh...Eh.. So.. Akashicchi? Did you see a demon? No wait, of course you did. How else would you have gotten these wounds, other than by bravely fighting off the monster and saving our town?" Kise gushed.
He sighed and said in a tired tone,"No Daiki, Ryouta. I did not see anything, much less fight a demon. I simply got these scrapes from a fall." Too tired to deal with all their loudness, Akashi pushed past the others and started to walk down the road that led to his home. He stopped after a couple steps and looked back at the forest. "But I wonder.." he murmured, all the while unable to shake off the feeling of being watched.
Pale eyes watched as the boy with strikingly bright red hair walked out of the forest. Curious, the boy with blue hair crept up the road, carefully trailing him but stopping at the very edges of the forest. Hidden carefully behind two tall pines, the young boy stared as the redhead was greeted by four others but pushed past and walked farther into town. He watched until he no longer could see the boy, then turned and disappeared into the forest, melting into the shadows of the trees.
Please take a moment to R&R? It helps me write more and write better..
-Wynn
+7/27 fixed some grammar/spelling errors.