Title: Cinderella Chapter 2
Pairing: Akashi x Kuroko x Kise
A/N: Okay, I know that Kuroko uses boku...It's just that since he was scared for a moment because his step-brother Aomine told them to be home by the stroke of midnight. Also, since the two spend a lot of time together, he uses a term that Aomine uses. Also, he will continue to call him "Aomine-kun" because it's awkward for Kuroko to use his first name. Both of them kept their original surnames (This will be explained down below) I just wanted to make this clear before continuing so I don't get more questions about it.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
-x-x-
"Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools."
-Albert Einstein
Kuroko sat on the hard wooden floor; his knees throbbing in pain. Kise sat beside him, whining the entire time. He wished he had some cotton to plug his ears; the male could be pretty annoying at times.
"I'm so sorry Kuroko-cchi!" The blond apologized with his head low. He then whispered, "You looked really nice in that dress though."
Kuroko made sure to jab his side as quietly as possible so that their tyrant wouldn't add more punishments.
"Ouch," Kise frowned in pain. "You're so mean Kuroko-cchi!"
"Shut up, Kise," a blue haired man walked down the steps that led upstairs. "If you hadn't dressed up Tetsu, I wouldn't be mad."
"But Aomine-cchi~!"
The glare that Kise gave him was so strong that Kise immediately did as he was told.
Aomine scratched the back of his head, wearing a black uniform much like the soldier's at the castle worn the night before. "Imagine what would happen to my reputation if my superiors found out that one of their lieutenants had a brother that wore a dress to the prince's ball? Worst case scenario, we could have been killed." Aomine Daiki, the eldest in the household at 25 years old. He joined the military at the young age of 18 and immediately flew in ranks.
"I'm sorry Aomine-kun," Kuroko lowered his head even more than before, showing that he understood what he did wrong.
"It's fine," Aomine signaled for his step-brother to stand and ruffled his hair. "Just make sure to not go along with anything Kise comes up with, okay?"
"That's not-," Kise stood up, but Aomine lifted his leg in front of Kise's face.
"Get up and I will kick you down."
Kise whined, but did what he was told.
"I'm going to the castle now." Aomine picked up his hat and patted Kuroko's head. The boy was seven years his junior. "Don't cause too much trouble."
"I won't," Kuroko had a small smile on his face and waved the older male farewell.
"Aomine-cchi is so mean," Kise huffed and stood up when the coast was clear.
"Don't you have to be somewhere...?" Kuroko asked.
"Crap!" Kise's eyes widened as he remembered that he had somewhere to be. "My sister is going to kill me!" He grabbed all of his things and was out the door before Kuroko could tell him goodbye. "Oh, yeah!" Kise backtracked and stood in front of the door. "Tell Murasakibara-cchi to save me some treats for later! He better not eat them all."
"I don't see why it matters. He's the one that makes them," Kuroko shrugged. As long as he got his vanilla flavored chilled milk, he didn't really mind. "Don't forget my milk!"
"How could I forget? You keep on reminding me!"
"Forgetful?" Kuroko turned away and picked up the nearby broom.
"Ugh!" Kise was gone before Kuroko could even roll up his pants.
-x-x-
A few hours passed by and Kuroko was finally finished with all of his chores. He swept and mopped the floors, washed the dirty clothes and sheets, and fed the chickens and their dog: Nigou. He even made the beds and dusted all the furniture. Before he knew it, it was noon and time for lunch. The only thing that Kuroko could not do well was cook. He was bad at it and would give any chef a run for the hills. This was usually when he would go through the town in search of his dear friend, Murasakibara Atsushi. He was the village's best cook and he could make anything from breakfast to desert. He preferred to make pastries, but he would easily go out of his way for Kuroko.
-x-x-
It was almost sun down and Kuroko finally had a good meal. Ever since Aomine enrolled into the military, he was forced to stay at their home by himself. All of the soldier's meals were prepared beforehand and even now, Aomine would eat at the castle. Kuroko would be alone until late and would often get bored. He had already finished all his chores and read all of his books. Usually when Kuroko got bored, he would venture into the forest and spend hours wandering below the umbrella of countless trees.
One day, a few years ago, Kuroko went deeper into the forest than he usually did. Apparently, no one else went as deep into the forest because the farther you would go, the more trees there would be. The path would be crowded with leaves and trigs and there would be no sign of footprints anywhere. At one point, he found himself in the front of the castle; however that was the normal way. The forest actually surrounds the entire castle and Kuroko's house would be in the north woods. However, for once, he circled the castle without knowing and found himself in the southern portion of the forest. He remembered seeing a huge pond beside the largest oak tree he had ever seen in his life. The water glistened under the afternoon soon. It wasn't too deep and it was as clear as the blue sky. He didn't see any sea life what so ever and would have definitely dipped in, but right when he was about to, he heard the rushed footsteps of a person and hid behind the trunk of the tree. It thankfully shielded him completely from the taller red haired male.
-x-x-
He decided to take that same detour through the woods. He knew the woods like the back of his hand and could even draw a map in case someone requested for directions. He took the path less taken and headed south. He loved the sight of the sun falling down the sky; the red hue caused the clouds to turn pink and orange. The sight took his breath away. With his head stuck in the clouds, he didn't notice that many things had changed since his last visit a few weeks ago. He wasn't paying attention to where he was walking and missed the broken twigs on the ground and the path that had been trodden. He was so lost in thought by the beautiful horizon that he didn't see the trees part to reveal the pond and huge oak tree.
On one of the branches of the oak tree, there was a pile of trees hung up to dry. He almost had a heart attack when he heard a familiar voice.
"What are you doing here?"
A powerful voice with a hint of demand, embarrassment, and anger called out to him; causing him to jump and whip out his hands in self-defense.
"Look up."
Kuroko looked up to see the crown prince of the kingdom stuck in the largest tree in the entire forest. His anger could be visibly seen as his cheeks were dusted the same color as his hair. "Your...Highness?"
-x-x-
Kuroko couldn't believe his eyes. The prince of the kingdom was sitting in a tree with the branches grown in a way to form a seat fit for royalty...literally. By the way his cheeks were darkened; Kuroko could tell that he was not sitting there intentionally.
"Well? I asked you a question."
"..." Kuroko didn't immediately reply. He really wanted to ask why he was in a tree, but from the tone of his voice, he could tell that the prince was purposely trying to avoid talking about it.
"I demand you to answer me," Akashi huffed.
"I was just taking a walk," Kuroko stated with no real expression on his face. The prince was ruder than he remembered. Where did his princely character go?
"Taking a walk in the backyard of the palace? I should call the guards for trespassing."
"Go ahead," Kuroko said with a pause. "I'm sure it would embarrass you to be found stuck in a tree." From the deepening of the red, Kuroko knew that he was spot on.
If Kuroko was near his brother, he was sure that he would be proud of him. Well...proud if it weren't for his opponent being his boss. On that note, he felt as though he should leave. "Goodbye then," he bid farewell.
"Wait,"
The demand in his voice told Kuroko that he had the upper hand. "Why should I?"
"I'm...stuck."
"How?" Kuroko was acting differently from usual, but he never knew teasing a prince could be so much fun.
"I would like to request for your services."
Kuroko let his lips twitch into a smile and he bowed slightly. He expressed through his actions that he wanted to know how he could be of service.
"My pants got caught and I can't move."
"...?"
"You heard me."
"Why not just cut the thread?"
"I could not do such a thing!" He was appalled by such a thought. "No prince should ever need to tear their pants for a lame reason. My pants are made of the finest thread a king could buy. To be done in by a tree sickens me."
Kuroko stared at him as if he was an idiot. 'How the heck did he get stuck up there in the first place?' He thought.
"...This is my favorite view to see the sun set," the prince mumbled after a while.
Kuroko nodded at that. He remembered climbing trees when he was little to see the world from a higher view. Wordlessly, Kuroko climbed up the huge oak tree and sat on a branch beside Akashi. He pulled out a pocket knife he always had in case of emergency and cut the threads that were stuck.
Akashi stared at him and Kuroko rolled his eyes a little.
"Humph," Akashi snorted and jumped down as swiftly as a cat. "Well?"
"..." Kuroko shook his head.
"What? It's not as though you're afraid of heights."
Kuroko stared at him.
"You have got to be jesting." He moved his arms so that he could catch Kuroko. "Jump."
Now Kuroko was the one to be appalled.
"Even a little girl could jump from that height," the red head taunted with a smirk.
"Says the person that couldn't cut a thread..." Kuroko shot back.
"These pants are expensive!" Akashi shook his head. "Jump. Now."
"You better catch me."
"I will."
Kuroko took a deep breath and closed his eyes shut. He then did what he was told and jumped. He readied himself; expecting to hit the ground, but was surprised to feel his head against a hard chest.
"See...I got you," Akashi smiled at him. A smile wider than Kuroko had ever seen even on Kise, whom always smiled like an idiot.
"Thanks," Kuroko gave a small smile in return and felt his face heat up.
"You're pretty heavy for a girl."
"I'm a boy!" Kuroko glared at him.
"What?" Akashi's eyes widened, but then turned to slits. "You mean I just embraced a male?"
"Why would I be a girl?"
"You're short."
Kuroko scoffed and the two continued to glare at each other.
-x-x-
Without the two knowing, they had a visitor hidden in the shadows. A blond male stood in the darkness, feeling his blood boil. He glared from behind a tree with his hand clutching the front of his shirt. "Don't tell me that Kuroko-cchi fell for him?" He spat the last bit with venom. The view he had could mean many things, but he was pretty sure that seeing the two stare at each other for no apparent reason could mean only one thing. "That bastard...to think he would make Kuroko-cchi fall for him too."
Kise retreated into the darkness with a face devoid of all emotion. His happy go lucky exterior disappeared and all that was left was a sinister guise. "I will make you suffer upon my father's name. You shall suffer."
-x-x-
"Ah..." Kuroko turned around and noticed yellow mixed in with all the green. "Kise-kun...?" He called out.
The blond male chuckled nervously and stepped away from the trees and into the clearing. "I've been looking for you."
"How long have you...?" Kuroko began, but was then pulled behind Akashi.
"What are you doing here?" Although the two of them had been glaring at each other, it was nothing like the darkness in his voice right now.
Kise glared at him. He wanted nothing more than to make him suffer, but instead, he kept the smile on his face and reach out a hand towards the blue haired male. "Aomine-cchi's been looking for you. He nearly strangled me when I said I didn't know. I had a feeling you would be here."
"Aomine-kun did?" This caused Kuroko to break away from Akashi and walked to where Kise stood. "He must be pissed."
"Wait...!" The scene of Kuroko walking away with Kise brought images to his mind of the previous night. When he came to his senses, the two were already gone. "It couldn't be...could it?"
-x-x-
A/N: Okay, I know everyone's going to be all, "Why is Akashi in a tree? That's so out of character!" Well thank you, I already know that thanks to my friends. The reason as to why he's stuck in a tree of all things is because of that tumblr post where the girl goes in the forest to find her Prince Charming because he might be stuck in a tree. I just thought it was really funny and just imaging Kuroko finding Akashi in a tree tickled me pink. If you don't like it, then boo hoo for you. I don't care. On the other hand, I hope you like this chapter even though it hasn't been updated in a while! What with school and family and well...Gaiaonline... If you have an account, add me! I use the same penname. (Gaia is where Holy Angel Heart came to be). Please review!
P.S. I know that Kuroko is a little too talkative, but think about why I made it like that...I can't always spell it out for you. Sometimes you have to gather clues like in every other book, I'm just super nice.
