Once upon a time, in a land inhabited by man and gods, was a small prosperous kingdom by the name of Seirin.
Seirin was one among many kingdoms in the land who lived solely because of the gods' generosity. Every year, during the winter, Seirin would send one young male or female in their late teens, to the infamous Rakuzan caves as a human sacrifice.
Tales had it that the Rakuzan caves were inhabited by Akashi, the god of victory. Through Akashi's blessing, Seirin had been able to withstand military pressure from neighboring countries for decades, despite their overall inferiority.
However, tragedy befell the kingdom of Seirin when it was least expected it. One winter, the crown prince of Seirin, Kuroko Tetsuya, vanished with no immediate explanation, only bringing one thing:
The ceremonial gowns worn by the god's next sacrifice.
Countless rescue teams were sent, but out of a hundred men, only a handful returned alive. one man told the ghastly tale of hell flames swallowing armor and flesh alike, and the haunting vision of slit irises adorned in gold. The man never became himself again. However, before succumbing to a permanent state of madness, the man did confirm that the crown prince was still alive and well.
How or more importantly, why, no one knew.
That was until Seirin's rowdy, yet reliable captain of the kings' guard, decided to do the rescuing himself – setting a long chain of events into motion.
Aomine's gaze fell upon the being sprawled across the cold stone floor. The young male was shivering harshly in a futile attempt to keep warm, and if Aomine had not been trained by the best to keep calm and rational on a mission, he would no doubt had felt bad for the kid.
Aomine was perplexed by the transparent look of the male – he looked sickly pale, almost ghostlike. An unnatural hue lingered in the air, as he approached the other, making Aomine grow increasingly uncomfortable.
The male laid before him was about the size of a male in his late teenage years, and despite trembling limbs, signaling discomfort, he looked unharmed.
Odd.
Such a thing could not be possible. Upon closer inspection, the male did not merely look unharmed. He looked impeccable, perfect, not a single scratch or bruise adorned slim pale limbs.
A normal child would have been devoured long ago by the god dwelling in the caves. Aomine was sure of that. No one actually saw what happened to the human sacrifices, few people dared approach the Rakuzan caves in the first place, but fact was that no sacrifices returned alive – drawing your own conclusion was not hard.
As Aomine approached with careful steps, he immediately recognized the garments worn by the young male. He was encapsulated in soft flowy fabrics, forming a robe-like piece, painted in countless shades of blue. Adoring his wrists and ankles were light chained silver bracelets, giving the look a feminine edge.
Sacrificial gowns.
Matching the colors of the clothes, were locks of blue messy hair, which was a telltale sign that Aomine had found his target.
Kuroko Tetsuya.
The crown prince of Seirin.
Kuroko finally lifted his head from the stone floor to look at Aomine.
Big blue eyes, the color of the bright morning sky, met him. The male's expression, however, remained blank. The hint of unanswered questions lingered in the air; yet, Kuroko did not flinch the least nor give away any inner thoughts.
"Oi." Aomine broke the silence. "Are you Kuroko Tetsuya?"
Kuroko's blank expression wavered in the fraction of a second. However, he did not answer.
Aomine sighed and dropped to his knees in front of the smaller male.
"Hey, sweetie, unfortunately, I don't have all day, and I don't intend to stay here any longer than necessary – I have people who wait for me at home and they would appreciate if I returned in one piece.." Aomine cocked his head. "I'll ask you once more. Are- you- Kuroko- Tetsuya?"
Bright blue eyes softened and the male born as Kuroko Tetsuya nodded faintly.
"Great." Aomine huffed. "I came here to get you. Did not expect to actually find you though."
Kuroko used his hands for support, as he propped onto his elbows – muscles trembling when they were put to use.
"How long have I been here?" Kuroko's voice was faint.
"3 months last time I checked." Aomine replied. "You caused quite a ruckus back at home." He studied the other once more, his gaze scrutinizing. "Tell me, how are you alive again?"
Kuroko shook his head. "That is not important." He insisted, voice suddenly urgent as if the smaller male had realized something important. "You need to leave, immediately."
Aomine blinked in confusion. "Leave? I intend to, but not without you." Was this small fry trying to give him orders? He might be a prince, but he were here to rescue him. One had to look long and hard for ungratefulness of that caliber.
Kuroko's gaze came alive with a sudden surge of intensity, completely catching Aomine off guard. What had previously been a blank expressionless face immediately turned strong, determined and made the bluenette look more his age – that age being 18 years. "If you do not leave immediately, I can't guarantee that you will make it out alive. He might think you came here to take me away."
Aomine frowned. "But that's exactly what I'm here for." He sighed. "Listen, I'll get you out of here, you don't have to worry your pretty head with anything, just enjoy the ride."
"You don't understand!" The bluenette's voice snapped, worry lacing the depths of bright blue eyes. "You'll end up like the last rescue team!"
"You underestimate me kiddo." Aomine scractched the back of his head, trying not to seem fazed by the other's worry. "The one guy who actually returned after visiting this cave had clearly seen some shit, I'll give you that. However, I don't intend to stick around long enough to find out exactly what he saw or what happened."
Even though Aomine did not want to know, Kuroko was faced with the opposite dilemma.
He could not forget.
His voice had long since grown hoarse from the pleading. The back of his throat hurt and itched, yet he managed to suppress the need to swallow in the continuous pursuit of soothing the flames enveloping the Seirin troops.
If the god did not hear his pleas or simply decided not to abide by them, Kuroko could not know.
The foul stench of burning flesh invaded his nose, and the licking of flames and smoke took away the majority of his sight.
However, Kuroko knew exactly what fate met the troops. He had seen it happen several times before – pure concentrated flames melting through armor like butter, skin set ablaze before rapidly decomposing and the horrible gut-wrenching screams of men succumbing to a horrible painful death dug into his very core and stained him from the inside.
Despite the smoke stinging his eyes, Kuroko forced himself to gaze at the men as they met their demise, one by one. He would not look away. He would remember their deaths, even if no one else would.
After all, he was to blame for this.
Him and the god.
"Akashi." He breathed the god's name, voice utterly broken. It was over, the screams no more.
The god slowly turned around to face him; a sharp yellow orb the first thing meeting him. The god's left eye shun as a beacon in the darkened cave, and made the ambivalent feeling of awe and disgust surge through Kuroko's being.
He could feel the remnants of magic linger in the air, causing his body to grow lighter and his head to buzz pleasantly. It was like being drunk on wine, he briefly thought, as the feeling only intensified with every slow step the god took towards him.
Akashi's lips tugged into the faintest of smiles and Kuroko braced himself for the other's words, once the very same lips parted to speak.
"Tetsuya." His name felt like a slap when spoken warmly after such horrible deeds. "Don't mourn their deaths. I'm sure more will come for you tomorrow."
"Listen, I'm sorry to do this to you, but you are ultimately going to thank me for it."
Before Kuroko could voice anymore of his concerns, he felt strong arms grab him by the waist and his lithe frame was thrown over the larger male's shoulder.
"Stop, you don't understand the danger of this!" Kuroko exclaimed as he scrambled to get out of the other's hold.
"You really are a light-weight." Aomine lifted Kuroko a few centimeters above the support of his shoulder, to emphasize his words. "Guess you wouldn't get a lot to eat in here, so makes sense."
"You have to put me down right now, or else-"
"Yea yea, quiet now, you can thank me later."
Kuroko was in no way pleased with being manhandled like a sack of potatoes. One, it was disrespectful and two, it put the knight in danger of meeting the same end as countless soldiers before him. Kuroko would not allow that to happen. Not if he could still fight to avoid it.
Even though the absence of Akashi had left him feeling weak and drained, Kuroko mustered all of his strength and threw his body to the side. The sudden jerk was enough to catch Aomine off guard, and the knight accidentally dropped him in the process.
The stone floor came crashing onto Kuroko's shoulder, and immediately a sharp searing pain shot through the area like a thousand nails digging into his skin.
Kuroko did his best to suppress the inevitable cry of pain, but the sound tore from his throat in spite of his best efforts. He did not have a lot of time left. The cry would no doubt cost him at least ten valuable seconds.
"Oi, be careful!" The knight was over him in a matter of seconds. "I'm sorry I dropped you, but that was totally your own fault - you should really refrain from doing sudden movements like that when someone is trying to carry you, stupid!"
The knight had honest eyes. Kuroko liked that. Despite the darker male's rough blaming words, Kuroko could tell that he was worried and felt guilty about the situation. This knight was just like the others: full of good intentions and his heart at the right place… yet, that very same goodness might turn out to be his downfall.
The realization that he had run out of time hit Kuroko harder than the stone floor, once a shiver was forced down his spine, and the small hairs on the back of his neck rose to attention.
He was here.
Kuroko did not even have to turn around in order to realize Akashi was close. Despite the two of them only spending a few months together, the bluenette was able to tell with almost complete accuracy whenever the god was nearby.
Judging by the warm feeling washing over his being, hazing his mind, and dulling the throbbing pain in his shoulder, Akashi was no more than 100 meters from them.
However, the prospect of seeing the honest knight turn into a crisp corpse had him not succumb to the initially soothing feeling.
Instead, Kuroko's voice cut through the momentary silence like a knife:
"Leave! Now!" He screamed at the dark-skinned knight, who instinctively jerked backwards at the intense sound. Kuroko pushed at the knight, shoving firm palms at his chest in an effort to make the other understand the urgency of their situation. However, the action only made more pain shoot to his injured shoulder.
Aomine was in a state of shock. Something was coming. Something horrible and unhuman. He could feel it crawl through his body like a powerful gust of wind and the sudden urge to flee almost overwhelmed him. Even though he had only felt it faintly before, Aomine knew what the feeling was.
It was pure concentrated killing intent.
The killing intent of a god.
"I can't just leave you here!" Aomine exclaimed. "He'll kill you!"
Kuroko's lips tugged into the faintest of smiles and though Aomine did not know the crown prince personally, he could tell it was genuine. The expression was laced with melancholia, yet, Aomine could tell the following words were genuine when Kuroko finally spoke up once more;
"He won't."
Kuroko smiled, satisfied, when the clacking of shoes resounded in the cave followed by a firm voice: "I'll come back for you, I promise!"
Kuroko could only hope the knight would not live up to that promise. However, the bluenette was worried the knight was the type of person to keep his promises. What a bother. Here he had saved the other's life, yet he was still eager to lose it for someone like him.
"Tetsuya."
Kuroko inhaled sharply when his name was spoken with a strong velvet voice. e hHe He had heard his name spoken from those very same lips countless times before, yet, it never failed to send jolts through his body.
Usually, Kuroko was a strong personality. He kept most of his emotions bottled up to appear prim and proper, like a prince should do, but his emotionless façade was simply first line of defense for more intense emotions. Right now, Kuroko felt overwhelmed with the need to face the god, yet he knew it was an inevitable encounter. He had helped a soldier escape. Again.
However, he would not let his weakness show. He was a human facing a god, but he did not intend to let the other know that if he could avoid it.
"It is beyond me why you still care so much." Akashi's voice held no amusement, nor bewilderment - cut thin and straight to the point. "One more wouldn't have done a difference, would it?"
Akashi could not have been any more wrong. It meant the world to Kuroko. He knew exactly how many had perished to Akashi's magic – 82 to be exact, and that was not counting the ones who managed to carry their burned bodies out of the cave, probably to die of excruciating pain before they could get to any sort of help. Every single life counted. At least to Kuroko.
Kuroko did not turn around to face the other. He did not have to.
"You take life for granted, Akashi." Kuroko spoke in the most unaffected voice he could muster. The god's presence hazed his mind, but he refused to succumb to the numbing sensation. "You may be a god, but that does not make your actions more right."
"Does it not? You are my property. They come here, trying to steal what is rightfully mine. They seek their own death coming to these caves, thinking me to be a merciful fool. They deserve every lick of the flames for their disrespect."
Kuroko swallowed discreetly when the god's voice seemed to come closer with every passing second.
"As a god, my word is law, my will is always right, and I cannot do wrong. I am absolute."
Kuroko's fingers flexed instinctively in frustration. He knew it was a lost fight; it had been like that from the start. The god known as Akashi was too blinded by his own believes to reason with. He felt the anger bubble just beneath the surface, but he managed to push it to the farthest corner of his mind before it took hold of his body.
"Why do you keep holding your hand over me?" Kuroko asked instead, wanting to distract the god's mind from the murderous train of thought.
A low chuckle filled his ears, making him shiver. He still did not dare to turn around when the other spoke up.
"Does Tetsuya wish to die with his troops?"
Kuroko shook his head lightly, trying to ignore the other's breath brushing against his nape. He was struggling to keep standing with the immense magical pressure from the other. "No. I do not. I wish to live long enough to make you realize that a single human life is worth just as much as yours."
Akashi was silent for a bit. Then, with no warning, a hand clasped tightly around his right shoulder.
Kuroko's head whipped to the side, bright blue eyes watching long slim digits clutching the injured area firmly. His first instinct was to draw back, yet, he knew that might be a bad idea. Instead, he bit down on his lip tightly to ignore the pain as it traveled from his shoulder and through his body.
"Tetsuya does not realize how fragile humans are…" Akashi spoke, voice barely centimeters from Kuroko's ear. "…how little effort it takes to turn them into dust." The words felt like a threat, yet Kuroko knew that he had been at the god's mercy ever since he had stepped foot into the caves. If Akashi wanted to, he could have killed him long ago.
The god's aura felt like a natural warmth embracing Kuroko much alike a heavy blanket. He had grown accustomed to the warmth, he lived it, breathed it. The pleasant buzz filling his head and body, and numbing some of the pain in his body. It all stood in very stark contrast to the insistent hand at his shoulder.
"However, you, Tetsuya, are not as fragile as you make yourself out to be. I see potential in you. Hidden possibilities only I can bring forth – yet, you seem to be ungrateful of my hospitality, why is that?"
Kuroko inhaled harshly to speak - the pain still strong, but dulling with every second of the god being so incredibly close. "You're not showing me hospitality." He felt like a plaything. Something Akashi could kill some time with. "This a prison."
Akashi seemed to contemplate his words in earnest before speaking up again. "Tetsuya is free to leave if he so wishes."
Kuroko shook his head lightly once more. "No." his voice laced with sadness. "I can't. More than one thing is keeping me here. You know that – don't make a fool out of me, Akashi, it is not befitting of you."
He felt the need to lean back into the other, feel Akashi's magic directly against his skin, but he refused to be swayed even when his body and mind screamed for the energy pulsing from the immortal being.
"You came to me on your own accord." Kuroko could feel Akashi's fingers shift lightly on his shoulder – the thin fabric of his gown rustling and creating friction against the tender skin. "I did not force you to come here, dressed up in those gowns. By the laws of Seirin, you belong to me now. You gifted yourself to me – as a sacrifice."
Kuroko's breathing grew harsher. "If that is true, and you accept me as one of your sacrifices, why have you not devoured me like the stories says you would?" He remembered the books and fairytales he had read as a child.
"Patience, Tetsuya."
Kuroko exhaled suddenly when the god's presence grew fainter and the hand at his shoulder vanished. The pain at his shoulder disappeared with it, but so did the buzzing of the magic. The bluenette finally allowed his head to snap back towards the other, catching a glimpse of long black gowns and fiery red locks of hair.
Kuroko felt cold. His body started shivering again with the god's absence.
Though he did not want to, he slowly lifted his feet and moved after the other's aura.
Kuroko felt painfully human in the god's presence. However, the awe would not discourage him. It only made the bluenette grow more stubborn and even more set in his ways.
He would sway the god.
In time.