Hey.

So I caved in after some of you who read "The Flies in the Web Are but Shadows" not-so-subtly suggested I write AkaKuro through reviews and PMs. I GET IT, LOL. Be warned: This is going to be terrible. Why?

Akashi is an exasperatingly complex character.

I've hit a wall while writing Animus, the new canon-but-is-AU that I'm working on and is literally the most frustrating thing to write ever, which is really ironic considering that the first few chapters were a breeze. Though there is so many plot difficulties right now that I'm seriously considering to just say "screw it" and make it a normal AU without the canon bit. After looking up the KNB FF communities to find a beta reader, I found a link to a Mary-sue litmus test, and realized the CANON Akashi is a Mary-Sue, and that's even with the de-suifiers provided by my AU plot. I've also discovered Basketball Poet Society, which has the most serious analysis of the manga and its characters (it puts my literature analysis for nationals to shame) which makes me realize fic-perfection comes at a very high price, ha. While anything I write is usually when I'm sleep-deprived and unbeta-ed and seriously lacking, I hope it isn't too terrible.

Prompt 1: AU

Summary: Sprites are known as gods in their element, and the foreign gods of ice and fire started an apocalypse in their land.

Akashi seethes, and in his anger he has forgotten to mark how many days have past.

In winter, when he was at his weakest- the gods of fire and ice swept through the land and lay siege on Akashi's reign. How has Atsushi, poor misled Atsushi of the mist, fared under the loss of his wintry god? It counts less as a snub to the face that he should be undermined as god of heat, by mere fire, and the memory of that day reverberates in his two-toned mind like a heat haze. Man had always wondered whether ice would win over fire, never the possibility of them working together. In this oversight, Daiki of the lightning, Ryouta of the wind, and Midorima of the earth had their territory- their freedom taken from them. It was a foregone conclusion, the cool part of him reminds him, the part he had lost when had gave up his calm disposition, warm heat alone cannot win against raging fires and glacial blizzards. Akashi has forgotten how to be cold.

The irony of this does not escape him, not when he is faced with a figure over the wall- the glass that renders their abilities null. Akashi knows of his origins; Kuroko Tetsuya. The pale blue hair that clings damply to his face shadows eyes that, though cold, seem to burn with regret. He is no stranger to betrayal; the fire he has begun is burning him alive. And it is not the first time, though the lightning had simply left him behind in its haste. This was much worse, dying would have been a much kinder fate.

Rain has watched too many lovers cuddle under umbrellas, has become too swayed by emotion. Look where that has landed him.

Akashi lets sleep take him sometimes, whenever he is not planning his escape from these walls. It is to pass the time, as is the whim on which he initiates conversation with Rain.

Rain looked surprised, but when he got over the shock the words he mouthed to Akashi in reply were swallowed up by the nullifying glass. It was pouring incessantly on the other end of the glass, an indication that the other had perhaps lost control over his own powers. A distant part of Akashi feels pity.

Condensation forms a hazy film over his side of the glass, which Akashi has doubtlessly kept warmer than his counterpart's side. The heat sprite raises a finger regally, and wipes trails into the moisture. 'Can't you hear me?' he wrote. Kuroko shook his head.

Akashi continued to write messages in the condensation to the rain sprite. When he wanted to have a conversation; yes or no questions.

Sometimes, when Rain desperately wants to tell him something, he allows Akashi to interpret his lip movements. Through this Akashi finds himself learning more about the sprite than he originally cared to, but is less troubled by this revelation than he should be. Eternity is a long time without company.

But something is wrong; Kuroko gets paler by the day and is starting to shiver. 'What is wrong?' Akashi writes, and Kuroko makes a gesture by rubbing his hands over his arms.

'You're cold?' A nod.

'Rain sprites can get cold?' Another nod, slightly sheepish.

'So what do you do when you're cold?' A shake of the head.

'You can't do anything while you're stuck here?' A nod.

'Will you be okay,' A small smile.

Akashi had never wanted to ask about Kuroko's unbridled powers, he was not one for coddling others or listening to their whining…but Kuroko had never once complained, whether it was about his regret over aiding Fire to win Ice's loyalty, or Daiki's lack of fidelity.

So he told himself, the cool part of him, that he was making an exception, and summoning up his reserves of power he pressed a scorching hand to the glass, until it warmed a spot on the other side of the glass. Kuroko, who was by now pallid and exhausted-looking, moved to huddle against the hot spot.

And the next morning, Akashi woke to see Kuroko curled up against the glass like yesterday, eyes closed in a peaceful sort of serenity, even as his clothes were drenched and his skin too pale. The rain has ceased on the other side, which confirmed his suspicions. Kuroko had passed on last night.

Even though he'd readied himself for this over the last few days. /you knew it was going to happen/ He can't stop the searing pain caused by the boiling tears spilling and burning temporary red marks down his cheeks. And then he moves his hand from where it was pressed up to the glass all night, and he sees it.

There, written in the steam around the palm of his hand, mirrored but unmistakable were the words:

I love you.

Kuroko's hands trembled violently. He turned a questioning look on Akashi, still tightly gripping the script written by the other. "Akashi-kun…" He starts slowly. "I am thankful that you're trying to cover for my writer's block, but surely this…is too cryptic for our readers?" Akashi and his eternally misplaced amusement ignores Kuroko's sarcastic streak, smiling at him as he places a hand on Kuroko's revolving chair. "Call it poetic." And the other whisks his jacket off to another meeting, leaving Kuroko speechless.

So this is why, Kuroko thinks, even with the man's prowess in literature, Akashi is not allowed anywhere near the romance department.

A/N: *Grovels on the ground and hides face in shame* Obviously I can't write AkaKuro, this is worse than Aomine's basketball metaphors. On the off chance that you did not find this revolting, that wasn't the full version of the AU, and I might post it at the end of this drabble series. Cookies for you if you guessed that Himuro was the ice god, and the fire god is Kagami. Murasakibara was better suited as Earth or something, but I wanted to make him something that occurs whether the weather is hot or cold. And contradictory to his forceful behaviour, his nature is soft like a marshmallow.

Next Prompt: [If の世界]