This story is AKUROKU, I promise.
Story warnings: Blood, and yaoi (boyxboy)
DISCLIAMER: I OWN NOTHING BUT MY BRAIN!
It was early in the afternoon as the emperor of the Aztec empire strolled through the grounds near his large and grand palace. His long, spiked red hair flowed behind his head powerfully and with grace, his thin body, which was covered in expensive jewelry, moved fluidly yet with power and purpose, like a jaguar's. His eyes, the most brilliant of greens, were that of a cat's, hiding what he knew and beautiful, but with a promise of ferocity when provoked, and were lined with paints to draw more attention to the radiating orbs. Strange tattoo's laid beneath each eye, dark purple, upside-down tear drops, a tribute to his father's memory.
The trees he passed marked the end of the city and the beginning of the luscious and beautiful jungle that always looked oddly more welcoming in the bath of golden rays gifted from the sun. The emperor couldn't help but let a small smile grace his lips as he looked out at the greenery. Such beauty that hid the dangers lurking behind the trees, waiting to pounce you when you least expected. The tall red-haired man let out a chuckle, despite himself, as he sat down on a stone bench and basked in the sun, needing the moment to himself.
The palace the emperor was sitting near was made of rough orange- brown handmade bricks, and was a tall, multilayer temple looking thing with an eternity of stairs leading up to the very top, and almost glowed in the sunlight. Of course, his palace was nowhere near as tall as the actual temple, which made sense. The gods deserved a better place to dwell then he, a mere mortal emperor, deserved. The wind blew past the young man in a cool caressing way, taking away some of the sun's heat for just a moment. Axel sighed, welcoming the comfort as his feathered headdress, which he carried in his arms because it had been itching his head, blew with the wind, the gold, green, and blue feathers flowed beautifully together, a sign of his status as royalty.
He set the head dress down on the bench next to him, careful of the feathers that had been painstakingly sown together by hand by the empire's best headdress maker, and adjusted the long rainbow cloth that covered everything below his waist. The cloth was made from cotton, another sign of his wealth and status, and had beautiful and intricate patterns sewn into the cloth. He sighed and just relaxed, deciding not to even bother messing with the cape tied over one of his shoulder, that hung over the right side of his body.
Axel was young for an emperor, only twenty-two, but after his father's sudden passing with a strange illness he was the only heir, thus began his reign. He had been ruling for two years, and, as far as he could perceive, was doing well. He had conquered new territory and they had been giving the empire the tribute the empire demanded on time, and as long as they kept being on time, he saw no need to interfere with their internal affairs. Still, with dealing with his court, keeping his people in line and all the sacrifices that were going to the gods, the man was stressed and used his short moments of free time to get away from it all and to unwind.
A soft tweet sounded above the tired man, and he opened his eyes to locate the maker of the beautiful little noise. A small, but beautifully colored, yellow bird was sitting in tree nearby, staring at Axel. The red-head smiled softly.
"Hello there, are you resting as well?"
The bird tilted its head as if in response.
'I don't think I've ever seen such beautiful blue eyes on a bird before…' the emperor noted. In fact, the golden feathered bird had the deepest navy blue eyes. He had only seen gems that blue… He smiled more at the beautiful bird. "Are you traveling, perhaps? It isn't every day I see a bird as lovely as you."
The bird sang softly at him, making the man laugh. "Are you a songbird? You have a nice voice. Better than the court singer's, but, shhh, that's supposed to be a secret." The man lifted a finger to his lips, and winked at the little bird, who chirped in response.
Axel smiled as a voice yelled for him. The man pulled a slight face and rose to his feet as the high priest, Xemnas, walked calmly towards him, the cloth tied around the man's hips swayed as he walked, the colors and patterns not as intricate as the emperor's own. The man's oddly styled grey hair clashed harshly with his dark tan skin and eyes, as golden as a snake's, yet, no matter how much the colors should have looked horrible together, the high priest pulled them off beautifully, if not a little too well.
"My lord, you should stop lollygagging and get started on the preparations for the sacrifice." The man's deep calmed voice directed. Only Xemnas had the right to talk to him like that, as if he had a slight command over him. If anything, it was better not to anger the man who could call the gods to curse you.
Axel chuckled, "Of course, Xemnas, I was just taking a short break." The emperor turned his head back to the little bird, who seemed to be watching with an almost human like curiosity. "Farewell, little bird, keep safe." He smiled before picking up his headdress, turning, and walking towards the palace, Xemnas falling into step with him.
"Speaking to the wildlife, my lord?" The priest asked, raising an eyebrow. The red-head chuckled, "Who knows Xemnas, maybe that bird was a messenger of a god?" The silverette hummed in turn.
"Perhaps, sire, perhaps."
'What a strange human…' The golden bird mused to himself, 'It isn't every day someone decides to talk to me… At least he was nice, he even said good bye to me...'
Sora, the small bird, flapped his wings happily before hopping out of the tree and taking flight. He flew till he was far from the human city, and deep in the forest, flying above the trees to keep out of reach of any snakes hiding in the branches.
The golden bird flew till he came to the tree he liked best; high above the forest floor, and with strong branches that reached far from the tree, so snakes or other such dangerous creatures couldn't pray on the many species of smaller creatures that called the tree their home.
Sora landed on one such branch, and immediately went on a search for his best friend Riku, wanting to share his interesting experience with the fruit bat. He hopped down and swooped down, calling, "Riku! Riku, where are you?" in his song filled way.
He landed on a branch at the very top of a tree, and heard a soft squeaking noise, with which he recognized as a bat's equivalent to a yawn, "Sora, what the hell? The sun hasn't even set…" Riku grumbled underneath the bird, hanging upside down on the branch and wrapped up snuggly in his wings. Said bird looked over the edge at his friend happily. "Riku, guess what! I talked to a human today!" He heard soft grumblings from the bat.
"Are you saying those idiots finally understand what we're saying?"
Sora paused and flapped his wings thoughtfully. "Well… No…" the bird quickly perked back up, "But he said I had a pretty voice! He said I sounded better than 'court singer'! What do you think he meant?"
"Pretty sure he just means you sound better than a human," Riku grumbled, wishing he could go back asleep, but knowing the little tweeting bird wouldn't leave him alone till he was done talking. "Which you probably do, considering how awful they sound when they talk."
The gold feathered bird cheeped happily. "Still, he was nice! And he didn't sound awful when he spoke, Riku. He even said goodbye to me when he got up."
"Congratulations. Can I go back to sleep now?"
The gem eyed bird made a squawk noise, his own way of scoffing, and hopped off the branch. "Fine. Lazy bones..." were his last words to the bat before flying off.
Somewhere close by, yet so far away, a man was plotting and wanting.
"He will be mine….MINE…. Axel, you'll be mine…"
He continued to pace as snorts of deranged laughter bubbled from his chest, his hands going up to run his fingers through his hair.
"I deserve him, I've been there… Always, always been there… Axel, why don't you see me?" He wailed to no one but the air, roughly pulling his hair. Similar shouts and moans filled the rest of the night as the man paced, again and again, back and forth, wailing for something that belonged to him.
A/N: Well, howdy :D This is my first fic. Go me! I just finally got around to writing my stories down, and I decided to post this one, so tell me what you think! Did you hate it? Would you marry it? Was it so-so? I hope ya'll liked it. :) I'd like to give a shout out to my friends who I already know are going to nag me about this story, so; HI FRIENDS! *Waves like an idiot to the air* ...Okay, I'm done :).