An unusual world where only few people had powers. Some were powerful and some were bad. There was one person who got a lousy power known as misdirection. Even normal people could overpower it easily. The boy's name was Kuroko Tetsuya, and he lived in Rakuzan in a small house. Rakuzan village was very popular and very expensive, with a large mansion in the village where Akashi, the king, lived. The king always wanted a person with powers to become his servant to obey him. There is a problem however, because people with powers usually didn't live nearby.
One night, Akashi invited the royals and the citizens to a party in his mansion. The mansion was really large and brightly lit, with perfectly smooth wood, along with honey-coloured carpets with golden lamp with candles hanging from the soot black ceiling. The ceiling was very high and the walls were decorated with pictures with dandelion coloured frames. There was also a large window with a curve at the top, along with tables on the sides with daffodil sheets on the table. The tangerine metal bowl on the tables contained wine glasses inside with big slate-silver spoons that had decently carved decorations on the handle of the spoon for the guests to pour the wine into golden cups with perfectly carved decorations. The golden walls were designed by the people who carved the cups. The other tables were filled with elite foods (not hamburgers or hotdogs) and some expensive marigold/gold vases but it had no flowers inside. Yet, it still looked wonderful.
Royals and citizens entered the mansion with expensive clothes. The girls wore long dresses, since back in the old times, people didn't reveal much of their bodies. Some of the wealthy girls' dresses were shining arctic blue, while the others' are heather purple. Rarely, few of them wore rose red dresses or other red dresses like merlot. The men's clothes—not tuxedos. But they wore navy vests with bronze decorations with a white shirt. Most wore the red vest made from soft fabric. They were so smooth that if you touched it, they felt like thin fur. Not thick. Lapis buttons and fancy flint silver decorations shone on the men's vests. They rarely wore turtlenecks, though it looked fine on them. Sometimes, they wore white vests; however, it usually didn't look good on them. The male children—youngsters, what we called them in the old times—wore black striped, pine green vests with raven shorts. The shorts usually stopped by their knees which revealed their lower leg. Young males usually wore long, black socks that stopped by the shin.
As for the female youngsters, they wore decent flamingo pink dresses—most of female youngsters wore it because it often looked great on them. Destitute female youngsters usually wore cerulean dresses. The bottom of the dresses always stopped by the knees, and sometime the thighs. If it was too short, it would've been inappropriate. The butlers were in black raven tailcoats, wearing white pearl shirts that had white buttons inside the tailcoat—yes, all of the butlers wore the same outfits. They were perfectly lined up near the golden wall, nothing like the messy lines that the kids at a kindergarten would make. Their arms were positioned smoothly with their hands near their chests. They must be waiting for the caballero king—by caballero, they were talking about the king who usually rode on a white horse since he loved the horses. He always went to the farm near his mansion to take care of his horses, or to ride them during his free time.
The royals and citizens were in the room—where the king will enter and start the party. They were standing in the sides so that the king would be impressed and walk on the path and announce when it will start. The youngsters grumbled, complaining about how long they would have to wait for the king. Yes, they were hungry, and they couldn't start eating without the king's permission. Their stomachs growled as they drooled, staring at the cabinet pudding cakes lying on the tables, as well as the gāteau au chocolat cakes. Of course, the youngsters loved the cakes but there were not many cakes around since the king didn't like sweets. The most popular sweets on the table was the puits d'amour, a puff pastry stuffed with creme patissiere with raspberry jam—the youngsters loved this particular sweet.
They stopped drooling as their parents told them to stand appropriately since they noticed the butlers started moving, heading to the large brown door to open it—which meant that the king was at the door, waiting for the butlers to open it. The adults and youngsters stood with respect. The doors opened slowly as the butlers pulled the handles. They held the door open as the king observed the people and the room. A crimson-headed figure in a raven and white striped yukata with mismatching eyes that frightened the people with his cat-like red and golden eyes appeared. His facial expression were serious and calm but somehow, he was handsome, with a nice body. His eyes were very small with pale skin—not too pale, but still pale enough. His hands were calm, relaxed, and not moving much nor clenching his hand into the fist. He somehow looked unhappy with something.
One of adults whispered to other adult beside him.
"What is this? A king not being happy?"
He whispered back, knowing what happened since he read the newspaper this morning before he came to the mansion to have some fun at the party with a king, "he tried to find a person with powers, to make them his servant. But he can't find any." The adult was whispering so that the king wouldn't hear them as the king continued to observe the people in the room. A boy with cerulean hair beside these adults overheard their conversation. The boy wore a sapphire vest with a white shirt on the inside with raven pants, which stopped by the knees. He was wearing the sapphire socks as well with black shoes—not running shoes.
"And did you hear that rumor?"
"Yes, I heard that one person with powers is here somewhere."
The cerulean head flinched when he heard them clearly. He took a deep breath. As long as people didn't know who it was, it was excellent. Yes, I know what you're thinking: the cerulean head had a power, a weak power, called misdirection. Finally, the king started walking down the bare path, looking at each person. Yes, the king had heard the rumor. At that moment, the king began to suspect that royals, with colourful hair, as one of them might as well have the power. The king stared at them longer than the others which calmed the cerulean down. The king began to notice someone with cerulean hair with totally sapphire clothes that was brighter than the others.
At the moment, the cerulean head realized he picked the wrong clothes while looking through his closets in the morning after getting the invitation card. The room was filled with silence as the king's feet moved around, making his body turn to the direction toward the cerulean head. His eyes were locked on him. Just like a tiger, the predator locked his eyes on the prey, a weak deer. The cerulean head wanted to shake so badly but couldn't. If he shook, the king would suspect him more. He didn't want to become a servant that did everything for him. He didn't even know how to cook.
The king's stare continued, his lips slowly formed a smirk from a straight line. His eyebrows were formed perfectly as it raised upwards. That smirk and that facial expression matched him so well. He tilted his head back a little, smirking. But why was he smirking? The cerulean head wanted to say something but he was afraid to do so. He tried to be brave and opened his mouth but the king spoke first.
"You're interesting," stated the king. "Meet me in the garden with the royals after the party. I like your face quite a bit." He stopped smirking and started walking off. The people stared blankly at the cerulean head after the king talked to him.
The king started the party, and the youngsters excitedly started eating the gāteau au chocolat and babinet pudding cake that had previously caught their attention. The crew was playing music with guitars, violins and drums. The adults danced together and enjoyed themselves. When there was a party in the mansion, people could bring as many as people as they wanted. There was so much food on the table that the cerulean head had a problem trying out the food. The chef behind the table waited for cerulean to pick what he want to eat.
"Hurry up, kid," spoke the chef.
"I am not a kid. I'm already 24..."
"You sure look 17 though."
The cerulean nodded. Many people thought he was below 17, since he looked so young with his pale skin and his round, shining sapphire eyes. He was also too short for his age. Yes, the king was short too, but just around 4 inches taller than the cerulean head. The food that caught his attention was the rice ball with pork marinated with garlic, the Käse and the roasted lobster soufflé. He thought he should drink the Ceylon tea. He put only one rice ball on the plate and added a small piece of the Käse and the roasted lobster soufflé.
"More," spoke the chef. He nodded and added a little.
"More."
Added a little more.
"More."
Added more... It was too much for him.
"Mo-"
The cerulean stopped him by waving his hands in front of the chef's face. He grabbed the plate and walked to the drinking table to get his Ceylon tea. He sighed, relaxing himself as he arrived at the table, pouring the tea into a cup. There was plenty of chatter in the background as people were enjoying the party and dancing. The woman's right hand was on her partner's shoulder and her other hand held with the partner's hand, gently. The man's hand on her waist, peacefully dancing together. Other people did the same. From the corner of the cerulean head's eyes, he saw the king with a straight face talking with the butlers. He kept his attention on the king as he started to walk. Not denying it, he found the king handsome but he'll never have a chance of being with the king. Being too distracted, he accidentally bumped into one of royals.
He looked up at the royal. A huge figure with long violet hair that went down to his shoulders wearing a pearl white vest with a raven shirt on the inside was looking down at the cerulean head since he was too tall. "Pay attention," said violet head, "or you'll get crushed. You're so small." That was an insult for the cerulean head. So he pushed his eyebrows down the bridge of his nose and his eyes became smaller, forming a glare at the violet head. "I am sorry. Move, I need to get some drinks." The violet head walked to the table, grabbing a cup to pour the drink—alcohol—into it. "You're one of royals," said the cerulean head, "aren't you?" He stared at the royal, not glaring anymore since he already accepted the royal's apology. The royal looked at him from the corner of his eye, yet still with a blank expression. "Yes, I'm Murasakibara Atsushi, the royal... Leave me alone," spoke Murasakibara. He yawned before walking off with a cup of alcohol. The cerulean head found him very rude so he decided to approach him again.
The royals was a group of thanes of the king. People didn't usually respect the royals but the cerulean boy did look up to the royals, because being a thane of the king was difficult. Being a thane meant doing the most dangerous jobs from the king, like attacking the bandits. The cerulean head went to him again and asked, "What did you do to become a royal?" Murasakibara yawned again and his small, violet eyes looked at the cerulean head. The bottom of his long violet hair relaxed on his shoulders, and he was still wearing a blank face. The cerulean head began to dislike him.
"My father attacked a dragon."
"A what?" asked cerulean head. "Dragons are not real, you know. They're just fantasy..." The cerulean head remembered his mother telling him a story about Izanagi, the dragon who came to Earth, taking people's powers away and in the end got banished. It was a fake story anyway. Murasakibara raised his eyebrow a little and walked off saying, "Nothing." The cerulean head just sighed.
After the party
The cerulean head already asked three butlers and two maids for the way to the garden to meet the king in the yard as promised. After 10 minutes of walking (most of the time), he was lost. Of course he did, the mansion was really big.
Everything was gold with red carpets that had gold on the side. There were some golden statues of women holding real candles, and other golden statue of men—or rather knights, riding horses. There were many pictures with garnet red frames on the wall.
Finally, he arrived at the door to the outside, the yard, where the garden was. As soon as he opened the huge doors and stepped out of the mansion, his jaws dropped. The yard was really huge, with perfectly shaped bushes and evenly mowed grass. The sky was denim blue, since it was night. The light from the candles made it look even more beautiful. In the center of the yard, there was a small pond. The pond was not dirty at all; in fact, it was very clear. The light beamed off the pond. The cerulean head was amazed by the yard. A cold voice behind him spoke, making him flinch.
"Interested in my yard?" asked the king, as he placed his hand on the cerulean head's shoulder. His touch was gentle, his thumb rubbing the side of the cerulean's shoulder. The cerulean loved his gentle touch but his hand didn't stay on his shoulder for long. The king put his hand down, observing the cerulean head's face. "What is your name? And how old are you?" asked the king. His mismatched eyes locked on the cerulean head's big and round sapphire eyes. The king noticed that he was taller than the person in front of him. Just how old was he?
"Kuroko Tetsuya, and I am 24," replied Kuroko.
"I am Akashi Seijuro, 25."
"Being a king at such a young age..."
"I know."
The cerulean head was still amazed by how beautiful the yard was. It seemed as though the stars in the sky were dancing together as Kuroko kept looking at the yard. He wondered how hard people had worked on this yard to make it perfect just for the king. Or maybe for the king's father? "When was this yard created?" asked Kuroko. The king stared at the stone in the front of the pond, with a name carved on it. After hearing Kuroko, he turned his head to the cerulean head. "When I was young, around 5 years old," answered the king, "my father, the former king, commanded people to make it for him and my mother..." He spoke quietly when he mentioned his mother. The cerulean head didn't dare to ask him about his mother.
"I know what you're thinking," said the king. "My mother died of illness. You don't have to be afraid to ask me anything. I won't hurt you." Akashi looked at him, smiling, as he gave him the 'go ahead' look. A question popped up in the cerulean's head. The king did not have wife yet.
"Why didn't you get a wife?" asked the cerulean head.
"I have my eyes on someone but haven't confessed. That person's too beautiful," answered the king. Honestly, the king was a little embarrassed to ask Kuroko out. So he kept it as secret. There was also the fact that the town of Rakuzan wasn't very open-minded about homosexuals. Kuroko nodded, not bothering to ask who it was. He remained silent and then he spoke up again, "Ask her out. You're the king. You can do whatever you want, isn't that right?"
"But it's different."
"You are the king," said Kuroko, "do it. Many women want to marry you, because you're the king." Kuroko spoke what sounded calm but Akashi thought it sounded like he was angry. However, he didn't bother to ask about it, and just nodded. The king was about to confess to Kuroko, opening his mouth but the royals appeared, making him stop. "Akashi, did you hear the rumor?"
"Yes."
"Someone named Kuroko Tetsuya has a power but it is weak," the green haired said. Akashi glanced at Kuroko, before smirking. The cerulean head flinched, "Uh..."
And so, Kuroko became Akashi's butler. It seemed like Akashi didn't care if his power was weak or not. The royals found out about Kuroko's power by observing the people around them, and they noticed that nobody noticed the cerulean head and identified something unusual from Kuroko.