Emperor of the Opera
Shippings: Main—KagaKuro (Kagami x Kuroko), Side Pairings- AkaFuri (Akashi x Furihata), AoMomo (Aomine x Momoi), KiKasa (Kise x Kasamatsu), MidoTaka (Midorima x Takao), and MuraHimu (Murasakibara x Himuro). Mentions of HyuuRi (Hyuuga x Riko)!
I do NOT own Kuroko no Basuke or Phantom of the Opera, they both belong to their original owners! I do not receive any profit for creating this story!
Warnings: Same as before!
CHAPTER 4
Paris, 1870
"Seijirou-San, why would you do this? I…..believed in you, My Crimson Angel…" Furihata said quietly.
Akashi chuckled rather evilly at the accusation Furihata directed at him, "Believed in me? What are you, a maiden in love?"
The brunette only gaped at him in horror and disbelief at his raw display of narcissism, "…..What? Are you…..insane? You keep surprising me, Seijirou-San…"
Akashi chose to ignore his comment in order to carry a recently passed out Kuroko to the drape covered bed at the far corner of his humble abode deep in the dungeons of the opera house. He lifted the blue haired boy bridal style towards the resting area then laid him down as if he were made of glass. This gave Furihata a chance to look around while the Emperor was distracted by the object of his "affections".
He quickly to note of a miniature version of what looks like a stage with a little doll that creepily looks like a smaller version of Kuroko dressed in the exact same outfit he wore on the performance earlier. The stage was even set up with the same backgrounds and props the real thing had, it was extremely precise and weird. Furihata looked around some more then walked to a shrine like set up, but looking closer it had a mannequin of Kuroko wearing a pure white tuxedo along with a table next to it with certain items scattered about.
In a small bowl on the table, there were snippets of icy blue hair or more specifically, Kuroko's hair. There were news clippings on the wall with only Kuroko's picture in it or what seemed like him because they were too grainy and small to tell, but Furihata knew it was for sure his own best friend in the clippings. There was a small pile of books of titles that were familiar to the brown eyed boy then he remembered that his roommate read the exact same books. Ticket stubbles of every show that Kuroko was ever a part in along with design sketches of every costume he wore since he started performing.
God, Furihata felt like throwing up then screaming in utter horror at the obvious and rather obsessive infatuation that Akashi had for his friend. He stared at the Kuroko shrine while hyperventilating in shock, despair, fear, and complete panic. Akashi seemed to be done with whatever he was doing with Kuroko because he was approaching him way too calmly for Furihata's liking or preference. He also sees a midnight black colored vase lightly coated in ashy dust with a very particular flower resting in the holding case.
A coral red rose with shiny gold and dark red ribbons tied to it…..the Emperor's trademark, his calling card. Furihata went up to the rather offending rose and lightly stroked its sensually soft, fluffy petals reminiscing the first time Akashi showed him this very same rose. He knew what it meant, what it stood for, and what it represented in the opera house.
"Crimson Angel, please stop this." He finally stated after a comfortable silence fell upon the both of them.
A condescending laughter made him hesitate from saying what he wanted next, "Stop? Stop what, exactly, my dear Kouki?"
Tawny irises looked daringly directly into the red/gold eyes of the one he was angry at, "S-Stop….this madness….Please."
"You're hesitating Kouki! If you truly want me to stop this 'madness' you speak of then you'll have to be more clear of what you want." Akashi boldly said back in a commanding tone.
"…..Please let Kuroko come back to the surface and stop coming after him again." He managed to voice out then gulped in nervousness about the response he'll get.
The heterochromatic emperor smirked slightly at his constant pausing, "Why? What makes you think that you can stop me, Kouki? I want, no, I need Tetsuya by my side….neither you or anyone else will stand in my way to get what I want. This is my absolute order, no one will stop me!"
Furihata gasped in terrified petrification then glanced again at that rose then said, "I-I'll stop you somehow…..Seijirou-San! This is all wrong! Why can't you see that?! See that what you're doing is insane!"
"Hahaha! You claim that what I'm doing is insanity?! What is it that I'm doing wrong? Please clarify with me, Kouki." Akashi challenged him right away in strong confidence.
"This….IS insanity! Everything you're doing is just….wrong! This…this…this isn't love!" he raged while grabbing the rose rather recklessly with his hands and instantly regretted it when the thorns pricked his skin.
Crimson blood now flowed all over his hand in thin red rivers while causing an unbearable stinging sensation within his being. Somehow, he feels slightly victorious when he saw Akashi looking at him with bewilderment and worry rapidly passing through his features.
The emperor looked concerned for him then quickly switched to a bemused expression, "Pray tell, what is this supposed 'love' that you speak of? I merely desire to have Tetsuya be with me until the end of our days...that is all."
Despite his obvious fear of Akashi, Furihata took a breath and started his lecture, "I may not know much about romance or anything like that, but I know that this isn't what love is supposed to be like! You don't hurt people for the one you love, you don't threaten others for your beloved, you don't drag your beloved to a dungeon of all places, you do not cage the one you love in the fucking catacombs, you don't make the one you love never see their friends again, you don't monitor what they do/who they talk to every single day, you don't make a mannequin of them wearing wedding clothes, and you most certainly do NOT control the people you love!"
The other seemed to take this chance to stay completely silent at Furihata's little speech. Luckily, Kuroko didn't seem to hear his friend's passionate and very loud words. The brunette glanced at the sleeping form of his best friend silently making a vow that he'll somehow, some way get Kuroko away from this psychopath. He may be a coward that usually blends into the background while Kuroko isn't afraid of standing up for himself, but he wanted to do something to rescue his friend from the Emperor….Even if it means he'll be on Akashi Seijirou's black list for the rest of his natural life. Furihata had to do something to get Akashi away from his best friend, and create a distance between the two of them no matter how seemingly tedious or impossible the task seemed to be.
After a rather awkward silence of staring the other down, Akashi spoke up as if unaffected by his lecture, "If what I'm doing is not love then….what is it then, by your standards?"
"This….T-This….This isn't love, this is OBESSION!" he furiously, angrily spat out with every ounce of rage he never knew existed inside of his heart then threw the rose to the ground at the word "obsession" with a force he didn't realize he was even capable of.
Hot, wet tears of rage and fury trickled into a storm down his conflicted face over his cheeks botched with an angry red, and past his mouth where he bit his lips in twisted agony. He trembled in distressed wrath and resentment towards the man he called his "Crimson Angel". A sense of complete betrayal, pure hatred, anguish, painful torment, and plain sorrow coursing through his own blood. His hand was still bleeding, Akashi could care less about his temper tantrum, and he feels like a fool again. Akashi rummaged around his stuff for a couple of moments then seemed to have found what he was looking for. He approached Furihata solemnly, wiped off his tears with his pale red handkerchief, and wrapped some gauze around the wound on his hand in a rather gentle caress.
Ah…..this was what Furihata wanted, to see the man he knew Akashi was. A kind, gentle soul…not a sociopath.
He blushed a bright pink when Akashi finished wrapping up his cut then planted a soft kiss on the bandage as if it would make him feel better. He swore that he saw Akashi's left usually golden eye turn red for second, but then shrugged it off as part of his imagination. The emperor walked towards his grand piano and brushed off the tiny amount of dust it collected. Akashi turned to Furihata and politely smiled then opened his mouth then surprised the brunette when he started to sing. He never sang to him before, only to Kuroko! Furihata was caught between bewilderment and delight at the sight of his angel singing to him, so he contently listened to his Crimson Angel sing for him.
"Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation…. Darkness stirs and wakes imagination! Silently the senses abandon their defenses….Slowly, gently night unfurls its splendor! Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender….. Turn your face away from the garish light of day! Turn your thoughts away from cold unfeeling light…. And listen to the music of the night!" Akashi sang each and every note to perfection that Furihata felt loved and protected by his soothing words.
"Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams! Purge your thoughts of the life you knew before….Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar~! And you'll live as you've never lived before….Softly, deftly, music shall caress you! Hear it, feel it, secretly possess you! Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind… In this darkness that you know you cannot fight! The darkness of the music of the night~!" He continued in a powerful tone which made the tawny eyed boy slightly anxious for some odd reason because the song seemed to be more possessive, darker than he thought it would be.
The emperor began again after a slight pause, "Let your mind start a journey to a strange new world! Leave all thoughts of the life you knew before...Let your soul take you where you long to be~! Only then can you belong to me…."
A bit confused at the lyrics then slowly realizing what's going on, Furihata gasped the reality of his own situation. Without the two of them knowing, Kuroko started to wake up then rose from the bed rubbing his eyes in a lazy motion. He noticed his emperor and Furihata looking at each other then heard Akashi sing to his best friend. Kuroko widened his eyes in shock since he knew Akashi never sang to anyone, but him before…so he was pretty left out on what in the world is happening before his very eyes.
Furihata knew he had to do something to stop the insanity that his angel is trying to start, "I won't let my mind start a journey to a strange new world! I will NOT leave all thoughts of the life I knew before...Or let my soul take me where you want me to be~! I don't belong to you, My Crimson Angel.…."
Seems like Akashi didn't really get his message since he began again, "You alone can make my song take flight...Help me make the music of the night!"
"I alone cannot make your song take flight…..I will not help you make the music of the night!" the brunette finished for the heterochromatic emperor without batting an eyelash at what he did.
"Akashi-Kun? Furihata-Kun? What's going on here?" a sleepy voice interrupted a possible bloodbath.
The brown eyed boy rushed to his friend and grabbed him by his shoulders, "Kuroko! You're awake! Oh, thank God! We need to go, now! We have to get out of here, come on…Kagami is waiting for you, and don't you want to see him?"
The emperor obviously did not like hearing the name of Kuroko's suitor since he yelled out, "NO! I refuse to let you see THAT man! Tetsuya, stay here with me and we'll be happy together, right?"
The blunette out of confusion and sleepiness looked to his best friend for comfort on this whole ordeal, "Kagami-Kun is waiting for me? But….Furihata-Kun, it does not explain why you're here…."
"I'll explain later! Let's go! I cannot let you be with HIM! He's trying to lock you up in this place. He's insane and what he is doing to you is just wrong!" Furihata consoled the tired boy while lifting him up from the bed.
"You…are NOT leaving with Tetsuya, Kouki! Bring him back here, now!" Akashi in hot blooded rage commanded.
"I can't just leave Akashi-Kun, Furihata-Kun…..but, I do want to see Kagami-Kun again…" Kuroko muses in half indifference, half confliction.
As the two were leaving, Akashi tried to get Kuroko back by pulling on his arm then Furihata intervened by pulling off the mask that covers up the left side of his face. When he pulled it off, the two best friends took a sharp intake of breath as they stared at the face that Akashi tried to hide from them. Horrible, disgusting burn markings covered the entire half of his face along with marred scars on top of other scars that meshed with weathered down skin that looked many shades darker than his normal complexion. His left ear was no longer present while some of his beautiful crimson hair was just now loosely hanging in oily strands from a badly disfigured scalp. To Kuroko, he was like a monster from a nightmare and for Furihata, he was a pitiful creature that had no love in his entire life.
"How DARE you take off my mask! Go away, the both of you! Just go away and leave me BE!" he cursed out in mournful sobs.
"…..Come on Kuroko, let's go back up to the surface." The brunette said after taking one glance at his poor, sad angel.
With a nod of approval from his friend, the two got on the boat and rowed away from the Emperor. Kuroko still in shock decided to ask Furihata about his connections to his emperor. The tawny eyed male sighed as he continued to row across the lake knowing that the conversation would come sooner or later. Although, later was a more suitable time for him to collect his thoughts on the entire matter. He sighed again then began the tale of how he met Akashi Seijirou, the Emperor of the Opera.
It all started when Furihata moved from Japan to Paris looking for some excitement to fill his dull, boring, and mundane lifestyle. He found the Paris Opera House then tried to get a job there since he always had an interest in musical theater plus it was under new management ever since Aomine came to own the place. The brunette landed a job as a background singer/dancer which suited him fine since he knew he never had the talent like the other singers did. Shortly, he became fast friends with Takao who moved before he did along with Kise when he came with his husband.
He liked his life in Paris, France…he really did, truly did. Even though Madam Momoi had rather intense training and vocal exercises for them, it was only so they can improve to make a better and more spectacular performance. He wasn't good at making the high pitched vocals like Takao can nor did he have the low baritone Kise seemed to possess, but he was a pretty decent singer at best. He was just living life like usual in the ever so busy opera house….until, the day he started hearing noises from the mirror in his room. Thinking it was just his imagination, he shook it off…..but then, it started happening every single night. He was scared out his wits, but he didn't want to bother Madam Momoi or Aomine about it just in case it really was his brain messing with him. Then, that was when the humming started….Furihata really needed to know what or who was making the noises at night.
The brown eyed boy decided to knock on the mirror to test to see if he was really losing his mind or not. He got a softer version of his knock in return from the other side…instead of being terrified, he got amazed. Furihata began having conversations with the person he knew was on the other side of the mirror. Of course, they were mostly one sided since Akashi never bothered to really input much into their small chats. Furihata would tell him about his day, how he felt when he woke up that morning, the weather, the latest gossip in the opera house, about Takao and his pranks, about Midorima who would visit his lover during his house calls, about how much of an idiot Kise could be during practice, definitely about how Kasamatsu would kick him into next week if he whined again, about his family, and sometimes about himself.
He liked the idea, even though it might have been all in his head, he liked that there's possibly someone who listened to his idle chatter on a daily basis for over two years. Then, Akashi spoke to him for the first time and even started putting his own topics into their talks. On a full moon about two months after, Akashi appeared to him as if he were part of a surreal dream. His crimson hair was like scarlet fire, his pale skin glowed in the pale moonlight, and his eyes seem to brighten in the darkened room. That's why Furihata calls Akashi his "Crimson Angel" and has been calling him that ever since. When Kuroko moved to Paris, everything seemed to change within his angel. He started obsessively ask about his friend and even wanted to know what/when/where he was performing in. The tawny eyed boy never knew how much his angel obsessed over his best friend and never noticed the obvious signs. His heart kept pumping this sort of adrenaline rush of panic combined with dread about where the situation was going. He didn't want to admit that there might be something more darker, sinister residing within Akashi Seijirou, his Crimson Angel.
With a rueful gaze in his brown orbs, he turned to Kuroko once they got to the other side of the lake and smiled warily. The two went back up to their room through the secret staircase leading to their bedroom and entered via door-mirror. Kuroko went in search of Kagami, but not without receiving a warning from Furihata that Akashi is persistent as hell and will do anything to get what he wants. The blue eyed boy nodded at his words then went in search for his beloved redhead to resume their lost date. Furihata finally got a chance to finally breathe again after that had happened down in the dungeons and the catacombs. He just hopes that Kuroko and Kagami reignite their passionate love for each other without the Emperor interrupting their reunion and without Akashi hurting, or worse, killing anyone in the process. Furihata relaxed himself then turned in for the night to somehow rid himself of the thoughts running through his head about Akashi, but he couldn't since his angel is all he can think about.
"Seijirou-San, I love you….."
To Be Continued
Alex: Hooray! Finally done with Chapter 4! I finally figured what to give our beloved Akashi-Sama as a trademark! The coral rose with one gold and one red ribbon tied together on it. In the language of flowers, a coral colored rose means: desire. This suits how Akashi feels for Kuroko plus the gold and red ribbons also symbolizes his heterochromia, it's a win-win situation! I felt the drama happened the moment Furi-Chan threw the rose to the ground when he said, "this isn't love…this is obsession!" Whoo! I love it XD The song used is "Music of the Night", bet you Peeps didn't expect another duet, right? I inputted Furi-Chan's Chihuahua Mode with the pausing and the stuttering during his initial confrontation then he got braver as he realized that he needed to save Kuroko-Tan! I wish someone would draw a fanart of Furi-Chan crying with flushed cheeks and him biting his lips in torment, because the image seems so clear in my head! Or, Akashi kissing his bandaged up hand! Anyways, please review/favorite! See you next chapter! Bye bye!