Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke. Fujimaki Tadatoshi-sensei owns it. The only thing I own is this story.
I also do not own the cover photo. Credits go to their respective owners.
Prologue
Once upon a time, there was a small kingdom ruled by a wise and fair king who was so loved by its people. It prospered through the years and the country became known to the neighboring empires. The Country of Seirin, ruled by its ever so kind king, King Kuroko Tetsuo, blossomed and emerged as the largest and strongest nation.
From the day the kingdom was built, its people lived in peace and harmony. The country hated war above all. To avoid it, the astute king signed a treaty with the other bordering countries. They were reluctant to comply at first, but as they learned of the sagacious king's generous acts and unexpectedly remarkable vision, they finally agreed to it.
For some years, the treaty lasted. Seirin, with the nations under the pact – Kaijou, Touou, Shuutoku, Yosen, and Rakuzan – then became one. The Teikou Empire.
Years passed without conflict. Soon, the king found his better half and they got married. Four years later, the queen gave birth to their first newborn. A year before, in different months, the queens from the neighboring countries also gave birth to a male child. Coincidence? No. Never did they know that the princes' fates were already sealed when Seirin's prince was born.
The kingdom of Seirin rejoiced, for at last, after a long 2 decades or so, the king now has an heir to the throne, same with the kingdoms of Touou, Shuutoku, and Rakuzan. Kaijou was also finally blessed with a male child.
The day of the newborn's baptism came. It was a day full of smiles and celebrated with nothing, but happiness and joy in the peoples' hearts. They all prayed for the child's health, grace, and wisdom. So that, like his father, he'll be able to lead the country of Seirin the same way he did.
Everything went well until nighttime fell. Suddenly, dark clouds encircled from above the castle, and thunder and lightning peeked through the ominous clouds. Inside the castle, without anyone noticing, a person dressed in a black cloak appeared beside the prince's crib. The people were drunk in celebration. They only became completely aware of the figure when a loud maniacal laugh echoed inside the castle. It was so menacing and sinister that it sent shivers down the spine of each and every person who heard it.
The mysterious figure dropped the hood of the cloak, revealing a man from beneath it.
"Y-You—" The king loudly gasped as if he knew who the man was.
"Missed me?" The man balefully chuckled, but immediately changed his expression to a darker one. "Missed me enough to not invite me to your child's baptism?" He laughed once. "Well, my dear Tetsuo, you… dare do this to ME?" He continued before piercing a deathly glare to His Majesty, the king.
The king stood frozen in place, sweating bullets. H-How? How can this be? I thought I've finally become free of this demon. He thought to himself.
"Dear?" The queen worriedly looked at him.
"Oh! I know! You still haven't told them your dirt!" The man smirked before facing the thousands of people who were confused about the situation. "It's a pleasure to meet you, people of Kaijou, Touou, Shuutoku, Yosen, Rakuzan—" He gracefully bowed and raised his head, once again shifting to a darker expression. "…And of course, people of Seirin. I am the ruler of Fukuda Sogo, Haizaki Sou. Your king's one and only best friend—" The man hummed to himself before continuing. "Or should I say contractor?"
"Fukuda Sogo? Y-You mean— " one of Seirin's citizen spoke, an old man with his face red as a tomato because of too much liquor.
Fukuda Sogo, a country that is said to have prospered through the years by practicing dark arts. Nobody knows its location thus, making most people believe that it was nothing more of a legend. Seems like it exists after all.
"Silence!" Haizaki Sou circled his hand on air. The man who spoke involuntarily closed his mouth and immediately dropped on his knees. Haizaki glared at the man. "Who told you that you can speak? I wish to speak with the king, and to the king only!" Haizaki's voice resounded within the castle walls. With a smirk, he continued. "Maybe it's better if you lose your voice." The man opened his mouth, only silence coming out from it. "Or maybe…" Haizaki squinted his eyes on the old man. "…It's much better if you lose your breath... forever." Suddenly, the man began reaching for air, tears swelling on his eyes. He flailed his hands, repeatedly scratching his throat as if being choked by something.
"STOP THIS AT ONCE!" The king shouted.
Seirin's people stared at him with their mouths agape. Everyone carries the same thought in mind. This is the first time I heard the king shout.
"Ohh~" Haizaki mused. "You're stopping me? What are you going to do if I didn't—"
"HAIZAKI!"
Immediately, Haizaki froze in place. The man writhing on the ground finally gained control of his breathing again.
"Tch! You dare bind me, you fool!?" Haizaki's voice trembled as he glared at the King, fighting his hold on him. He briefly stopped before chuckling to himself, plastering a dark smile on his face. "What? You think, after all these years, you still have the power to control me? The contract weakens when the bond between the contractor and the contractee loosens. How could you forget that, my dear Tetsuo?" For a moment, there was a shadow of sadness on Haizaki Sou's face.
The contract. It happened many years ago, between Kuroko Tetsuo and Haizaki Sou. When they were still kids, locked inside that dark and moldy, dusty, room, waiting for someone to take them away and teach them what light is.
King Kuroko Tetsuo seems to have noticed it. "Sou—" He quietly called out his best friend's name, but he got cut off when Haizaki started mumbling some cryptic words. Something that Seirin's king knew was an ancient language practiced by Fukuda Sogo.
"Stop it, Sou—!" The king reached for his newborn's crib, despite knowing he was too late since Haizaki was already dooming over his heir.
"Silence! Don't you ever call me with that name again!" Not with that voice. Not anymore... A single droplet of tear trickled down from Haizaki's right eye. "How could you leave me in that place? I… trusted you…" Tetsuo... He looked on King Kuroko's direction, his eyes unfocused as indecipherable writings circled him and the prince's crib. He looked down on the crib before continuing his chanting.
"You're wrong… I-I didn't, I—!" The king gasped when he noticed that Haizaki had stopped. He stood frozen in place as he watched the floating writings appear to mark itself on his innocent child's skin. The prince seemed to have felt something since he began crying. A few seconds passed before the marks completely disappeared, not leaving any trace on the prince's pale skin. Haizaki brushed the prince's soft, teal, locks with his fingers, calming him down into sleep.
"Sou… Did you…?" Seirin's ruler asked, wide-eyed.
Haizaki's face was shadowed with his hair. He appeared to be smiling, but his voice said otherwise. "Well, you're right, I just gave him his little present," he said before a cloud of smoke began forming around his body, encircling him, slowly eating him away into nothingness. "Farewell, my dear Tetsuo. For one last time, I—" Within the smoke, Haizaki looked back on his one and only friend— No, the person he trusted with all his life, with a pained expression. Droplets of tears cascaded down his cheeks as he relived his past with him. Why? After all these years, after everything you've done to me, why does my chest still hurt so much? Why am I feeling happiness after finally meeting you again? Why? He tried to reach for the king from the gaps made by the swirling smoke, but soon his body disappeared with it.
"D-Did he just… put a curse on—" one of the people said. The castle went into a disarray as the events finally registered in their minds.
Gasps could be heard. Some were crying. Some were trembling in place.
"G-Guards! Guards!"
"Prince!"
The people stopped when a sad voice from somewhere reverberated on empty air.
"So that he won't experience how I've felt and how I'm feeling right now…" are the words that everyone heard, slowly dispersing into thin air.
The queen rushed to her child's crib, only to see a peaceful baby Kuroko Tetsuya on his sleep. What happened? What did that man do?
"Dear…" Queen Kuroko Saaya looked back at her husband who was now on his knees, staring on the floor, continuously cursing himself. It was the first time she saw him this devastated. She stopped her tears from flowing. My heart can't falter right now. I need to be strong. He needs me the most right now. She walked towards the king and knelt down beside him. She reached for her love of life and brought him on a warm embrace.
This seemed to have woken the king from his shocked state and calmed him down. He closed his eyes and adjusted his head on his wife's shoulder. "Forgive me, Saaya," he whispered.
The queen didn't answer. Instead, she tightened her embrace.
The king raised his head and looked at the direction of their child's crib. Forgive me, my dear Tetsuya. He thought to himself.
The king knew what the curse Haizaki put on his son was. It was the one the two of them once worked on inside that room deprived of light. A curse that devoid one of his own emotions, a curse that empties one's heart. The curse he, himself, made. But he knows how to negate it.
"When the one who is cursed came of age, the mind should know what the heart can't, and the heart will bloom and a miracle will happen."
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Sixteen years have passed since that fateful day. Seirin Kingdom's only heir, Prince Kuroko Tetsuya, was showered with love he can't understand. Despite being unable to feel anything with his heart, he grew up to be the kindest, even kinder than the king, and the most beautiful and most graceful as everyone has expected, or so that's how Seirin's people put it. And today, his coming of age marked the beginning of his journey. His journey to retrieve the pieces of his missing heart.
Author's note:
Hey, lovely Kuroko babies! XD This is my very first fanfiction and I don't know, but... Is it just me or did it kinda turn out like Sleeping Beauty? O_O Well, I wasn't expecting that, really. I don't know how it turned out like this, but oh well! XD
Okay, so what do you guys think? It's only the prologue though.
Me: I don't know. I really don't know.
Anyways, thank you for reading! I'd be really happy to receive your thoughts! (Please be good to me.)