Title: Dawn of the Red Emperor - Chapter 3
Genre: Romance, Humor, (a bit) Drama.
Pairings: Akashi Seijuurou x OC
Summary:
- The Red Emperor finally meets his match.
"You broke my friend's heart. And now, as a revenge, she wants to break yours by sending me in to seduce you." She looked at him right in the eyes. "I'm not trying to be rude, but that will never happen." Instead of being insulted like he had expected, the girl gave him a bright smile and two thumbs up. "That's why my plan will work great!"

Warnings:
1) Hi, Nice to meet you all. I'm LugiaTsuyu. I was from Thailand. So English is not my first language. That's why you will probably find a lot of grammar mistakes and not so smooth writing (such as repeated words and so on). And any comments, criticisms, corrections, and suggestions are greatly appreciated.
2) I am writing this as I go, so yeah. LOL
3) Also, you will probably find a lot of OOCness and mistakes because I don't really know much about basketball rules yet and am not really sure how high school in Japan works (especially an elite school like Rakuzan LOL), so I will apologize about that in advance. Please bear with me and I hope you will like my story. (Even though I am turning a sport shounen manga/anime into a romantic comedy shoujo one.)

Disclaimers: I do not own Kuroko no Basket, just my original character(s), as it belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi-sensei.

Credit to: Fujimaki Tadatoshi-sensei.

~o~


~o~

Dawn of the Red Emperor
Chapter 3: After School – Part 1 (Finally!)

~o~

Even with the reputation of an elite high school, like any other, chaos still ensued all across Rakuzan High as soon as the bell signaled the end of day. Asahi watched her classmates gather their things and blast out the door as if their lives depended on it. Some, she knew, had after school club activities to attend, while the rest simply just wanted out of here. She herself used to be part of the latter.

But not anymore, she thought dejectedly. All because of a certain red-haired Akashi Seijuurou.

'I will offer you my help—but with one condition.' He glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

'Which is?'

'Shouta-senpai's told me there's only one applicant for our club's assistant manager, I assume that's you?'

'Actually it was Karen,' she corrected him. 'But she put my name on the form…so I guess that makes it me. Yeah.'

'Meet with Shouta-senpai today after class in front of the first gym.' He started for the infirmary's exit, paused when he was half way out the door, and darkly smirked at her over his shoulder. 'We will be counting on you, Ms. Assistant Manager.'

And at the time she could only, very stupidly, gape after his disappearing back.

Oh well. Fair was fair, she concluded.

When she arrived in front of the first gym, it was empty. Maybe she was a bit early, Asahi mused, and resting her back against the wall, began to wait.

Not too far away, the soccer club members were prepping and stretching for practice. It was strange, Asahi smiled bitterly, how she could still tell him apart from the crowd even at such a distance. His dark brown hair looked a bit longer now, and he had grown at least four inches taller. But everything else about him seemed to remain the same. And Karen had told her he was now the star of Rakuzan's soccer team despite being the first-year. She couldn't think of anybody who deserved it more. He had always worked harder than anyone when it came to soccer.

But when it came to their friendship, she didn't know what had happened to them.

With a heavy heart, Asahi averted her eyes away.

On the left was the baseball field with a few students setting up the plates and smoothing the sandy ground. She noticed that one of them was favoring his left side—probably hurt himself in their last game—and was forced to a simpler duty of cleaning the benches. The other side, the furthest from where she was standing, belonged to the track team, but any of them had yet to show.

"A-sa-hi-chan~" Someone suddenly popped out of nowhere and whispered in her ear.

Before that person could even finish, Asahi yelped "Holy dancing ponies!" as she leapt back almost lightning fast. And when she saw who it was, she let out a shock "Reo-neechan!" and rubbed at her ear protectively.

Reo was trying his best not to let his laughter escape, but he could feel it struggling hard to break free.

Asahi narrowed her eyes when she saw his face turning all shades of red from the suppressed laughter. "If you want to laugh that much, Reo-neechan, go right ahead. Though then I'll probably be compelled to…I don't know what yet, but I'll do something to get back at you."

That did it. Reo burst out laughing until his sides hurt.

"Feeling better?" Asahi asked with a grin of her own when he finally drained down to chuckling.

"Much. Your reaction was just too funny. Holy dancing ponies?"

"Dancing ponies are cute to picture. They always calmed me…I think."

"First gorillas, and now ponies. Your mind is an animal land, Asahi-chan." He smiled.

"It's a very happy place." Asahi said brightly as she tapped her temple lightly with her index finger.

Another laugh from Reo. "I'm sure it is."

"By the way, Reo-neechan, where's everybody?" She inquired.

"They're around. Kotarou and Eikichi both have cleaning duty, they'll be here soon. Sei-chan has another student council meeting until about four, I believe. Which reminds me, he asked me to tell you Higuchi is probably going to be a bit late."

"Oh. Then maybe I'll be back la—"

"Watch out!"

Asahi heard a familiar voice shouted from some distance away. Reo immediately grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from the path of a soccer ball heading toward them with extreme speed. It hit the wall and bounced off only a few inches from where she'd been leaning on.

"You okay, Asahi-chan?" Reo asked as he let go of her wrist.

"Yeah." Asahi inhaled deeply to calm her drumming heartbeats. Ponies. Think of dancing ponies. "What about you, Reo-neechan?"

"I'm good." Reo watched silently as a first-year boy—he could vaguely recall his name was Kasugi Takuya—jogged up to a stop in front of them, his face troubled with guilt.

"Man. Oh, man. I'm so, so sorry. I should have…" The boy trailed off when his gaze landed on Asahi.

"Hey, Takuya." Asahi tried a small wave of hand, and knew the smile on her face was forced.

She also realized that her earlier thought about him staying the same was wrong. His brown eyes used to be so bright, so full of life, but now they were…less somehow. At least right this moment when he was eyeing everywhere and everything but her.

"Hey, Asa…Suzuno. Sorry about the ball. I should have caught it." Takuya scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "I, ah, gotta get back to practice. Sorry again." Without looking at her, Takuya managed to give her and Reo a repentant bow. Then he walked to where the problematic ball lay on the ground, kicked it with enough force to send it flying back to the field, and followed suit in a run.

Seconds of complete silence—that was if one didn't count the sounds of all the goings-on around them—when Reo finally decided to break it. "What was that about, Asahi-chan?"

Asahi thought about pretending not to know what he was talking about, decided against it as what would be the point. "He's my—was—my best friend."

Reo lifted his brow. "What happened?"

Asahi shrugged, a humorless smile curving her lips. "I'd like to know that, too." She bent down to pick up the schoolbag she'd dropped. "One day he just…stopped being my best friend." When she straightened again, she was back to her cheery self. Or hoped that she was.

"Were you…in love with him?" It was a delicate question, but curiosity won.

However, this time Asahi was genuinely amused. "I thought about it once. But I never get the whole butterflies in the stomach thing with Takuya. To me he was…family."

Which only made it worse, Reo thought.

"Anyway." Asahi clapped her hands together. "I'll get out of your way."

Reo placed his long, slim index finger on his lower lip. "Why don't you just come in and wait in the gym with me?"

Asahi paused and raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure it's okay? I heard unless there's a game, no outsider is allowed to enter the gym when you guys are practicing. Something about the whole," she twirled her hand in the air, "disruptions caused by the Emperor's fangirls?"

"Ah. That." Reo frowned with a hint of disdain. "It wasn't disrupting as much as annoying. They were really loud, and I don't like loud noises. Sei-chan handled it. He just told them to get lost—in that very polite way of his. Still, Coach thought we should have some precautions." Then he waved it away. "But you're not an outsider, Asahi-chan, you're our new assistant manager."

Asahi blinked. "Oh. Ha ha. Right. Yay…" The last part came out a little too unenthusiastic.

Unable to resist, Reo smiled and patted the girl's head. "I hope you'll last, Asahi-chan." Then he slid open the gym's door and led her inside.

More than mildly confused, Asahi went in after him.

~o~

"Here's the laundry room." Higuchi Shouta, a second-year manager of Rakuzan High basketball club—who'd appeared a minute after Asahi and Reo had entered the gym—pointed out.

"Hence the washer"—an enormous one—"and the dryer, right?" Asahi joked sarcastically with an innocent smile.

When he only stared blankly back at her, she gave him a dry laugh and a thumbs-up. "This is a laundry room. Right. Got it."

"We have the dryer, yes, but please don't use it unless it's raining."

This time she smartly kept her mouth shut and just nodded.

"And here," he walked over to the door that led to a small yard behind the gym, opened it, "is where you hang the washed clothes and towels to dry."

"Unless it's raining, right?" It slipped out before she could stop it.

Though he didn't say anything out loud, his eyes did plenty, and the gist of it was, 'Are you taking this seriously?'

Asahi cleared her throat. "Yes. Please continue."

He sighed, stepped through a doorless opening on the other side of the room, silently motioning her to follow.

"This is the kitchen, or the break room. You have to make sure to stock the fridge—or Nebuya will make your life a living hell. And I'm not joking."

Yeah, she was starting to think Higuchi Shouta didn't have a single funny bone in his body. "What should I put in there?"

He made a quick hm in his throat. "That's a good question. Nebuya will eat just about everything, but his favorite is meat, and lots of it—claims that's how he gets his energy. Hayama likes anything sweet." He squeezed his chin with his fingers. "Mibuchi is a little tricky. You'll have to figure it out yourself, 'cause I can't really explain it. The other first strings are a lot easier to deal with."

"What about the Emperor?" At the question marks in his eyes, Asahi repeated, "I mean, what about Akashi?"

Higuchi's face just suddenly lit up with admiration. "As long as you have some drinks and food or snacks in there, Akashi will never complain. He appreciates what we do, you know."

The Emperor's got himself a fanboy right here. Asahi grinned.

Next he took her to the gym showers. And boy, Rakuzan High really outdid itself there. Instead of an open bathing, there was a dozen of shower stalls with classy, ivory-colored ceramic tiles and opaque glass doors.

"Basically," he said when they walked out of the showers and into the changing area. He gestured his head toward a huge basket filled with mountain of clothes on the floor. "When the bell rings, the first place you need to be is either here…or the locker room." He shuddered, tried to hide it with a shrugged. "I'll show you that in a second. Those guys will know to leave anything they want to be washed or cleaned in this basket and the one we have in…the locker room." Again, another shudder, this time more obvious.

So when there were finally standing at the entrance to the Rakuzan basketball club's locker room, Asahi was a little nervous of the unknown.

"Here's the locker room." Higuchi slowly took a step back. "The laundry basket will be on your right when you open the door. The gym is down the hall to the left." One long step backward. "Well, I've got to go. The second strings manager called in sick, so…Good luck!" And just like that, he was gone.

What was that? Asahi stood there, wide eyed, then she snapped herself together. Only one way to find out. She grabbed the doorknob, twisted it, took a deep breath, and pushed.

The first thing her brain registered was the dimness of the room, the only light a luminous ray of the sun piercing through a small window on one of the walls. The second thing was a strong scent of something unidentifiable, it was very stale and very unpleasant.

So this must be it, Asahi mused, her nervousness receding. She'd imagined the room was haunted with ghosts or something. But if it's just the smell—however much unfriendly to one's nose—she could handle it just fine. She'd had more than enough of experience with stinkier stuff.

Then her immediate next thought was how she couldn't imagine the Emperor and Reo-neechan tolerating this kind of thing. And since she sort of liked them—including Nebu-senpai and Kota-senpai—they wouldn't have to any longer.

With that in mind, Asahi gathered a big gulp of air into her lungs, rolled up the uniform's sleeves, and got to work.

~o~

"Sei-chan! How's the meeting?" Reo halted the basketball between his palms when he saw Akashi walk in the first gymnasium. And as usual, their captain was already in his practice attire.

"It went quite well." Akashi replied evenly as he scanned the gym. He was satisfied to see that all the club members were doing what they were supposed to.

"Oh, Asahi-chan is in the back." Reo started dribbling the ball absentmindedly. "And Higuchi just left." He picked up the ball, got into a shooting position, and tossed it into the air. The carrot-colored sphere flew high before it landed through the hoop with an audible sound.

"Hm," was all Akashi said.

"Do you think she'll be all right? I still tear up every time I open the locker room's door. In fact, I'm tearing up just thinking about it." Reo blinked rapidly to chase back the shimmering tears.

Akashi's face remained indifferent, but he couldn't deny what was. He himself avoided that locker room as much as possible. Fortunately for him, being the student council president at Rakuzan meant a private quarter next to the teacher's office—one he hadn't intended to use until he'd encountered the…inconvenience in the basketball club's locker room.

In certain situations, adjustments needed to be made.

"Um. Excuse me! Sorry to interrupt!"

All heads turned to the doors that connected the gym to the locker room.

Akashi saw Suzuno Asahi standing there with her arm raised and she was waving three money bills in her hand.

"Outsider is not allowed in here, girly!" He heard one of his teammates, Tsugumu Kyouta, shouted with apparent cockiness.

"I'm a—"

"She's out new manager!" Kotarou excitedly ran to her and nudged her toward the center of the gym court.

"Assistant manager, actually." She corrected, then sidestepped just in time before Eikichi's palm could collide with her back.

"Hey," Eikichi greeted with a big grin. "I believe it's later, Chibi."

She laughed. "Nebu-senpai, you're my hero." She gave it a beat. "For today."

Eikichi chuckled just as she gave a huge wave and a smile to Chihiro, who stood—and preferred to stay—away from the crowd.

"Is there anything you need, Asahi-chan?" Reo asked.

"Oh, right! I was doing the laundry and—"

"What, you chipped your manicured nails?" Kyouta mocked.

It seemed he and Kyouta would need to have a little conversation over this, Akashi thought. But he then noticed a millisecond twitch of nerves around Suzuno Asahi's light blue eyes.

Maybe it would not be necessary after all.

Asahi, after putting the bills in her school blazer, was thinking of dancing ponies and singing puppies while she made her way to the brash guy. She'd never mind an honest remark, no matter how rude or hurtful it could be. And she might have let his scorn comment go if she hadn't been neck deep in things-that-shall-not-be-named—and she swore some of them had moved—in that locker room for the past thirty minutes. So when she came to a stop before him, she counted from one to five before offering him an overly bright smile. "Hello. I'm Suzuno Asahi, a first-year."

Flabbergasted, the guy stuttered a little. "T-Tsugumu Kyouta, second-year."

"Nice to meet you, Gumu-senpai!" Asahi said with the sweetness of a knife. "You know, that was a very insulting accusation—though I have to admit in some cases, you do have a pretty accurate observation—on the girl species."

And as he was a lot taller, she lifted her arms, made sure the back of her hands were in his line of sight, and wiggled her fingers in front of his face "See these, Senpai?" She paused a little for effect. "I assure you, they are naturally grown—and mostly neglected, too." She let her hands fall, shrugged. "But if I'm ever in need of a manicure," another sugary smile, "I'll be sure to ask where you got yours."

Eikichi and Koratou roared with laughter while Reo snickered and the others cheered and whistled. Even Akashi Seijuurou was smirking.

And before Kyouta, whose face was deep crimson from both embarrassment and anger, could give any retort, Asahi spun around and held up the money bills. "Do you guys know who this money belongs to?" She sent a pleading look to the team captain. "Please say you do."

Akashi sighed. "How and where did you find it?"

"When I was doing the laundry. Well, I'm still not done with the laundry, really. But you see, I was…I rushed here as soon as I found it." She hurried on when the Emperor's eyes narrowed. "I mean, do you know how tempting it was not to just stuff it in my own wallet? It's three-thousand yen! I can buy almost two of my mother's favorite ice are good, but sort of expensive."

"Suzuno Asahi."

At Akashi's firm tone, Asahi caught herself. "Sorry. Anyway, now that you guys know about the money, it's better for me because—And I'm still babbling. Okay." she took a deep, calming breath and closed her eyes to try to think back. "It fell out of this forest green shorts." She opened her eyelids. "It has this black marker stain on the right leg."

One of the boys reluctantly raised his hand. "Er, I'm pretty sure it's mine, but the stain should be on the left leg, not on the right."

"Ding, ding, ding!" Asahi formed a gun with her palms clasped together and aimed it at him. "We have our winner!" She said cheerfully and reached him in three strides. "Here's your money. Be more careful next time."

"Um, thanks."

"No problem. Well, I should get back to…cleaning." The last word was delivered in a quiet mutter.

"But first," Asahi jumped away from the middle of the court so that she could see most of the club members at once. Though they hid it well—except for Tsugumu Kyouta—she knew many of them were also skeptical about having her around. And she couldn't blame them, considering none of the girls had stuck around more than three months since the Uncrowned Generals had joined…and the things-that-shall-not-be-named in that locker room. "I know I seem really unreliable—and a lot of times I am. I can also be very weird. But," she bowed with fierce determination, "I will do my best as your assistant manager. Please take care of me."

When she straightened herself back up, they were all just staring at her. And Asahi did the one thing she'd always done in uncomfortable situation, she blurted out whatever that was on her mind, "Now, this is awkward."

Tsugumu Kyouta scoffed. "You don't say."

Reo jabbed him in the gut with his elbow. "It was just…unexpected." Then he smiled. "Please take care of me, too, Asahi-chan."

As if someone had slapped them to wakefulness, the others echoed the same. Eikichi ruffled her hair playfully in addition to his "Sure, Chibi!" and Kotarou gave her an enthused high five.

Then Akashi Seijuurou stepped forward, and all the commotions in the gym froze as if someone had turned off the time switch.

Emperor.

Asahi was once again reminded of the same thought when she'd first saw him. But unlike back then, he wasn't looking down at the sea of people below him from up on the stage. No, Akashi Seijuurou—the Red Emperor—was now looking right at her with that soul piercing eyes of golden sun and red ruby.

And unlike back then, he was smiling.

It wasn't an energetic smile like Kota-senpai's. Not as open like Nebu-senpai's. And certainly not kind like Reo-neechan's. On second thought, it was more like a millimeter upward curve in the corners of his lips.

But that not-a-smile did something to her unlike any other. For a second, her stomach felt odd, fluttering somehow.

What was that? Did I eat something wrong?

Her train of thoughts was interrupted when Akashi softly spoke. "We will be counting on you, Asahi."

Another flickering in her stomach, only much stronger.

"That's the first time you called my name, Emperor!" Asahi beamed with excitement even as her mind was racing with concerns. Really. Was it something I eat? I still have to finish all this cleaning! Was it the bread? Or maybe it's that instant noodle cup I had this morning.

But if she was coming down with food poisoning—and she'd had one too many—this time it was different. Her cheeks felt hot, but she didn't feel feverish. And the strangest thing was, her heart was beating all kinds of funny.

She wondered why?

~o~


~o~

Author's Note: My God! Two weeks! Two weeks! I'm soooooooooooooo sorry, guys! (If you are still here.) Man. I don't know what happened. Oh, wait. I do know. I suck!...Or more like my life sucks. The internet's been really weird at my house. And trust me, I really need it to write. Google Translator has become my God.

Anyway, here's chapter 3! And I know you must be really annoyed with this by now, but I can't not do it. I HAVE to apologize. I don't know how, but instead of improving, I feel like I'm deteriorating. I said last chapter's flow was bad? Hah! It doesn't come close to this chapter's all-over-the-place…ness. But I will not give up! I will continue to do my best. I just hope you guys will be patient with me and continue to read Dawn of the Red Emperor…even with its bad writing/plot/characterization.

So…onto the story. In this chapter a few new characters are introduced. One of them will have a huge impact on our two main characters later on. And talk about the two mains, I know Asahi has spent more time with the Uncrowned Kings than Akashi, but that's about to change…I hope in the next chapter or two. Well, if I were to term the released chapters so far, I'd call them as the setting-the-stage chapters…I guess.

And Akashi is finally calling her by her first name! Yay! Oh, on a totally unrelated note (kind of), I think I found another reason why Asahi is so chill around Akashi—she's got a split personality, too!...Not really…but I sure made her seem like it. LOL

Last but not least. As always, please, please, do not hesitate to criticize, suggest, and comment! Especially when you found any errors, please correct them! I'd really appreciate that! (Though I admit I can be stubborn and will question your corrections sometimes, but I'd still love for you to point out the mistakes so I can be aware of them.)

Thank you, thank you, thank you all of you for continuing to read Dawn of the Red Emperor! I will see you again soon!