Retracting the offending fingers from the valued flowers, I stood to face the person who had ordered (threatened?) to make my life at Teiko difficult. Strangely, it was not unexpected coming from someone who looked so imposing and comfortable sitting casually against a column holding up the tiled roof.
"Thank you for telling me," I said sincerely, bowing shortly in apology. "I would not have known if you didn't."
"No thanks needed," the redhead sniffed, waving it away with a hand that held a fan that matched his silk robes. The design was a gold-threaded dragon atop red canvas. "I've been meaning to add a sign for lost visitors to read so as not to damage the place."
"It is very beautiful," I complimented honestly, glancing around at the surrounding pocket of nature. "The baby birds add a wonderful soothing atmosphere to it."
"Birds?" he repeated, tilting his head slightly. "Is that some sort of metaphor?"
"I mean the ones by my room in the Seirin wing," I elaborated, pointing in its general direction where a huge shrub hid half the window from sight. He glanced over and narrowed his eyes as he unfurled his fan to cover his mouth. Faintly, the chirping from the chicks reached our spot in the middle of the inner garden.
"I did not request for them to be there. They're an anomaly in the niche," he observed.
In his tone was a dangerous warning I did not like. Instinctively, I was urged to protect the young birds from their potential fate.
"Do not remove them from their nest."
The redhead blinked and turned slightly to me. "What makes you think that, Tetsuya?"
I felt a slight bit of anger for the first time. The way he spoke down to me made one feel inferior, though it sounded respectful and right for him as a youth who appeared to be beyond his actual age. His stature and demeanor was estimated to be similar to Tetsuya's, so the authority seemed unwarranted.
"Call me Kuroko."
He leisurely fanned himself with an arm propped under his chin. "And why should I do that?" he inquired.
"The name does not have many fond memories. Kuroko is preferred."
I was not particularly lying when I said that. He must have caught on at my skirting the question but accepted it for the moment in a bout of generosity, if the sigh said as much.
"Kuroko, then." He aimed that peculiar, piercing gaze at me. "What are you doing in the private garden of Akashi Seijuurou at such an early hour?"
Surprised, I asked, "This is your garden?"
"Have you read nothing on this center, even though you have registered to be housed here?" Akashi-kun tsked disapprovingly. "The Akashi have made numerous donations to fund and project the facilities of Teiko, along with flying and accommodating expert Doctor Garcia. The least you can do is know the one who sponsors it."
I had no response to the barrage of information, so I answered his question instead.
"It caught my interest was all, Akashi-kun." Remembering the cube that was tossed into Kagami-kun's garden fountain, I creased my brow and then realized I would be able to fish it out later today. I smiled small and looked at Akashi-kun politely. "It reminded me of another one just like it."
Akashi-kun blinked slowly once with his mouth slightly ajar, as if I had interrupted or stunned him. After a moment, he shook himself out of his temporary stupor and continued on.
"I will forgive the informalities, but are you implying someone else has an expensive and exclusively designed garden more aesthetically pleasing than mine?" He waved a hand toward the surrounding greenery.
Feeling like I had stepped on a sore spot, I chose my words carefully.
"Perhaps to my inexperienced eye, the other garden is more beautiful because it was the first one I laid my eyes upon," I gazed at him steadily, conveying I meant no offense, "but yes, that is what I imply. Not to make any excuses, of course, Akashi-kun."
He had turned away as I was speaking and was gazing in the direction of where the birds were hidden with a faraway look. As I finished, he had retained his calm expression that could even be interpreted as apathetic. He contemplated me more for another moment before straightening and rising on his feet.
"If I may ask, do you have a personal or professional device to photograph this amazing rival garden of yours?" Akashi-kun asked as he brushed any debris or pollen on his clothes.
I tilted my head and wondered silently at the off topic question. "No, I am afraid it is in repair right now. What for, Akashi-kun?"
He lifted his head regally, and I meant this with no mockery at all, like a pampered bird or cat that knew its own value and status. Unfortunately, this being of royalty had no owner and the world itself endowed him with gifts natural and impossible.
With the golden eye trained on me which I was certain knew me better than myself, he smiled gently as if I had pleased him in some way.
"So many questions from you," Akashi-kun remarked with a touch of amusement that lit his eyes warmly. "I cannot leave my residence here of my own volition, so I will need you to be my eyes for me. I will give you one while your own is in repair - actually, it would be better if you gave it directly to me so I may pass it on to the technical staff. The process will be faster."
I corrected him with a slight aura of awkwardness.
"Thank you for the kind offer, but I have already given it to Kise-kun in return for helping me," I explained.
"You've spoken and interacted with Ryouta?" Akashi-kun looked taken aback.
"Yes?"
First Doctor Alex and then Akashi-kun's surprise confused me. Was it wrong to speak to him? If not for his overly familiar attitude, I thought him as another person who liked to socialize and stand out.
Akashi-kun read my mind easily and eased my concerns.
"Ryouta is not fond of conversing to many of the male population after a certain incident, so it is unusual for him to do so after so little progress of change."
Recalling our conversation yesterday, I realized with dread at what might have happened. Next time I saw him, I was not sure if I would want to hit him or avoid him at all costs.
"Kise-kun might have mistaken me for a town girl…"
Akashi-kun burst into a light chuckle as he tried to snuff it down behind his fan while he leaned against the pillar.
"Ah, that - that is likely," he managed. Akashi-kun glanced at my face and smiled appeasingly. "Do not be angered, Kuroko. Your demeanor is very quiet and respectful, which would draw many to conclude you have good intentions. In a generalization, you have an innate desired quality most human men do not. A pureness, if you want to call it a name."
"Thank you, but whoever thinks that is wrong." My mind goes back to Kagami-kun and the space he took up in my thoughts. "My intentions can't be categorized as pure. More obligatory maybe. Dutiful."
He raised an eyebrow. "If you insist so adamantly. I had no idea we were talking about personal emotions rather than behavior."
Gazing at a bee lazily buzzing past my nose, I answered wistfully. "If we talk about feelings, then it is impossible for me to have any."
Akashi-kun narrowed his eyes, likely in confusion, and opened his mouth to quickly respond. "What-"
"Young Master! It is time for breakfast."
A stern feminine voice filtered from a paneled door that had slid open to reveal a middle aged woman in an apron furtively glancing around the garden. Once she laid her eyes on Akashi-kun, she slapped her hand onto the wood floor impatiently and raised her volume.
"Young Master, please halt your habit of visiting the garden alone when you are to be seated for occasions such as this. Today is important because the Master will be visiting."
"Shit," Akaashi-kun muttered from the side of his mouth unexpectedly, and he turned to me abruptly. "Kuroko, be here tomorrow. We will continue this discussion later."
Leaving no room for refusal, he irritably stalked toward where the woman waited without a glance back. She watched him walk in and cast a last search over the garden, her eyes scanning over my hiding position easily as if I wasn't there. Shrugging her shoulders, she went inside, but not before I distantly heard her say, "Who was it you were talking to, Young Master?"
Discovering myself alone and with the bees, I rose and decided I had enough of flower viewing. Everyone else was busy or were yet to wake, which I hoped would be the case for Kagami-kun; if he was asleep, then it would make the day easier.
"Maybe I should go out another way, since coming back through the dining hall would scare a few residents," I reasoned to myself, and following the stone path out past a gated fence, I left the Teiko Rehabilitation Center for Day 2 of Kagami-kun's endeavors.
A/N:
short update. Here is Akashi, the sheltered bocchan.
