"Aomine, will you please turn that off, it's ridiculous noise." Midorima scoffed as he glared from his sofa across to the sofa where Aomine held his speaker in his hands as it emitted pulsing trap music. Aomine lifted his head to look at Midorima and smirked, cupping his ear to indicate he couldn't hear Midorima before pointing at the bandage covering the other side as if to say he couldn't hear because of it.

Kise bit his lip while he entered the room with the christmas decorations, glancing from Aomine to Midorima. He too didn't like the booming sound of Aomine's choice of music but he tried to ignore it while Aomine cranked up the volume even more and instead he winced.

Murasakibara closely followed while holding a bag filled with his usual Umaibos. He whined loudly, but it drowned in the fierce drone of Aomine's trap music and Midorima suddenly slammed his laptop shut, glaring at Aomine who pretended not to notice. Kise, who placed the box by the tree in the corner turned and caught Midorima's eye, the forest green-haired shot him a glance which said enough for him; it was his job to get Aomine to turn the music off. Sighing, the blonde moved over behind Aomine and suddenly lunged, grabbing ahold of the speaker in his hand. Aomine of course, although not seeing it coming, used his spectacular reflex skills to quickly throw Kise over his shoulder by the arm. Kise whimpered loudly and his eyes narrowed while he cleanly landed on his feet and he dove for the speaker again, this time strangling up against Aomine while the darker skinned male held it away and he smirked as Kise who winced at the combination of the pulsating music and their uncomfortable position. Kise tried moving again but realised something was wrong and next second, he was on the floor with Aomine on top of him, eyes wide with triumph while he still held the speaker high up.

Abruptly, the music turned off and all faces turned to Kuroko who held the speaker in his hand calmly, having taken it right out of Aomine's hand. Nothing happened - And then Aomine cried out, getting off Kise suddenly and pointing at Kuroko.

"Tetsu, how long have you been here!?" Kuroko looked up at Aomine plainly.

"I've been here this entire time Aomine-kun." Assured Kuroko with his usual straight face while he placed the speaker down on the coffee table next to him. Aomine blinked once and then sighed, sitting back down on the sofa while Kise grunted, standing back onto his feet.

Akashi entered shortly after, sliding off his jacket and placing it over the armrest of the sofa with a content sigh, his gaze upon Kuroko who still looked at Aomine and Kise. The blonde looked up incredulously at his boss however.

"Akashicchi, you're hanging out with us?" he asked amazed, his golden eyes wide with anticipation and slight excitement while rubbing his bruised arm - Aomine the cause. The emperor raised an eyebrow as he carefully rolled up his sleeves.

"Why yes, I thought I would take the rest of the day off to help around here. And it's a good thing I decided upon it as well…" The redhead gently traced a finger over the top of one of the cabinets.

Kuroko meanwhile looked up and he felt the air in the room tense when Akashi lifted up his finger to inspect and everyone's heart (apart from Kuroko's) sank when the male strictly clicked his tongue.

"Everyone is off work today - we are to spend this day cleaning and tidying this place up for Christmas." Said the male, Kuroko shivering at the blazing, ordering heterochromatic eyes.

"But Akashicchi, what about those who-"

"I understand that this mess is mostly the responsibility of one or two individuals." Akashi glanced at Aomine who stiffened.

"But we are all responsible for keeping this place in shape, I don't pay the ridiculously high rent for nothing." Said Akashi strictly. Kise sighed and nodded.

Both Midorima and Murasakibara said nothing until Akashi's eyes fell upon the crumbs the purple haired giant. Kuroko wished to ask Akashi something. He opened his mouth to ask but a hand placed on his shoulder and he looked to see Kise.

"Listen Kurokocchi… I suggest you don't interfere with Akashi in this scenario." Kuroko returned an indifferent gaze and tilted his head.

"Why is that?" Kise shook his head and pointed.

Akashi stared fixedly at Murasakibara.

"Atsushi, it's time to put the snacks away. You're making a mess on the floor." The redhead meanwhile continued to roll up his sleeves even more. Murasakibara pouted and shrugged after a short while.

"But why aka-chin. I don't wanna waste food!" He whined. What happened next, startled Kuroko Tetsuya. Murasakibara collapsed onto his knees, eyes wide with surprise, falling down to below Akashi's height.

"Why don't you get on your knees and eat your precious food off the floor, we don't want to waste it." The sheer tone in Akashi's voice frightened the bluenette. Although Kise and Aomine both shivered and Midorima simply awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, Kuroko was well aware that they all feared it too. There was a nasty silence in which Kuroko wondered why Akashi had lashed out so badly, it wasn't like him. Had something happened.

"If anyone has any other objections, I would appreciate them to speak up now. If no objections are made, I will proceed to hand out tasks for each and every one of you." The tone hadn't died yet out of Akashi's voice and Kuroko sighed softly, feeling his own heart speeding.

Either there was something going on with Akashi, or he was just really passionate about cleaning. As if already knowing what they had to do, everyone got up and bustled off to start their chores, even Murasakibara who proceeded to grumble under his breath though keeping quiet whenever passing Akashi. The emperor's eyes fell upon Kuroko and the bluenette immediately realised why he was so afraid. They overwhelmed him and he felt himself momentarily sway on the spot. Akashi meanwhile marched over to inspect the other's face, obviously thinking about something while staring at other.

"Tetsuya…" Spoke the redhead decisively while standing stationary in front of Kuroko.

"Whatever can we give you to do… Atsushi is on vacuuming, Daiki on cleaning windows, Ryouta on surface dusting and Shintarou on cleaning them…" Akashi bit his lip.

"Could I possibly entrust you with my office? You know it well by now, do you not?" Kuroko meekly nodded under the oppressing gaze of his boss and Akashi's lips pulled up into a smile while he lifted up a hand. Kuroko winced and moved away slightly to which Akashi chuckled and lightly placed it atop the bluenette's hair, calmly running his fingers through the soft tresses.

"Don't wander too much, I will be checking later." Kuroko bowed his head and received a nod of approval from Akashi before the boy headed off to the familiar office, where he closed the door and slid down against the door surface, his breath unsteady and his heartbeat wild - so Akashi Seijuurou was able to live up to his name of emperor..he was a dragon, a real dragon in human body...and what was he, Kuroko? A sheep maybe?

All Kuroko knew was that Akashi could devour and overpower him any second and the thought of that unsettled Kuroko.

Nonetheless, the male got up and looked around. Akashi's office was very clean, even though he'd never spotted it before, he realised even the air was clean. Sighing, he realised that most the mess in the office was his own desk, which contained. a slight layer of dust and his keyboard on his laptop was slightly grimy.

Kuroko rolled his eyes at the thought of Akashi getting annoyed with that, but after what happened earlier, he couldn't rule it out…

The bluenette left the office after a short five minutes to find some cleaning materials among the mass of the headquarters.

There weren't too many doors for him to take so he just blindly opened them to glance at what was inside. He was pleased to find a small cleaning cabinet, possibly ownership of Furihata…

Soon enough, Kuroko returned to the office with all the essentials and he hummed lightly under his breath, pausing however when he saw a door at a jar and a strange light emitting from within the darkened room. He'd never noticed that door before, it looked like all the others. While biting his lip, Kuroko pondered to the inside of the room while slowly pacing over to it. He frowned, changed his mind and went to put the cleaning materials in the office, preparing to start dusting his desk. But once again, his mind wandered to the same room and after barely any work at all, the male was on his feet and off to the place, smiling when he noticed the door still open. He glanced around, took a deep breath when seeing no one and slipped inside, quietly pushing the door closed before turning and looking around.

From wooden floorboards to high ceiling, the rooms walls were covered with guns, a scene Kuroko had only seen in action movies. His jaw dropped while he stared around in awe at all the variety of not only handguns but also rifles… Were they all Akashi's?

Looking even further, Kuroko noticed a small door and he went through if, being greeted by a shooting room, probably for practice and he gazed at the targets, suppressing a shiver when he noticed one that was completely pulverized.

He shook his head and quickly returned to the gun room, telling himself he had to get out immediately before someone found him. He froze.

"Who left this open?" Asked a familiar voice outside, it was Midorima. The male popped his head inside and glanced around, immediately overlooking Kuroko.

Grumbling, the green haired closed the door and Kuroko sighed in relief. However, his joy didn't last long for next he heard a click of a lock.

Crap.

Kuroko strode over and rummaged with the door handle, finding he was locked in with horror. He bit his lip hard and rummaged some more, realising his attempts were futile.

He was stuck in a room full of guns, loaded or not, poor Kuroko was terrified. He shivered violently and tried to bonk on the door, realising the room had to be soundproof because of all the guns and his heart sank. This was bad…

Akashi nodded in approval at the sight of the cleaned living room. Though it wasn't up to the standard he'd like it, it was all he could expect from Ryouta and Shintarou who were both at least better at cleaning than Daiki, who had left nasty marks on the windows when cleaning… Even Atsushi could vacuum quite well after having done it numerous times before. The redhead sighed as he inspected the rooms carefully, leaving his office until last.

In all honesty, he knew his office didn't need cleaning at all, he kept it in shape himself, but he just wanted Tetsuya in a place where he could supervise him. Akashi didn't believe Kuroko was too immature to not be looked after, on the contrary, Daiki was the one that needed it the most… No, Akashi wanted to keep Kuroko Tetsuya close to him, especially while he was so on edge, he wanted the bluenette boy in his grasp more than ever. The emperor bit his lip while concealing a smirk, his legs carrying him to his office.

Upon opening the door however, Akashi found the room deserted and the male immediately knew that there was no one there… He also knew, that something wasn't right.

But how long had Kuroko been gone?

Ten minutes? Twenty minutes?

Akashi left the office again and his eyes darted around the hallway, considering all the oaths Kuroko might have taken. He wasn't going to be in the cleaning closet considering Akashi had seen all the materials and the only thing that could possibly strike the bluenette's interest was something strange or mysterious - Akashi knew that the boy was very curious. He looked at all the doors recalling what was behind them. He found nothing until.

"Ah." The emperor chuckled slightly when he heard it as well, confirming his suspicion. He walked over, the key already appearing out of his pocket and he calmly unlocked the door to the arms room. Upon opening the door, he found Kuroko stare at him with wide cerulean eyes and incredibly pale skin.

"Akashi-kun." He whispered softly.

"How long were you in there Tetsuya?" Asked the emperor, hiding his amusement. Kuroko looked at him slightly frightened.

"Shortly after you sent me to the office…" he admitted, to which Akashi raised an eyebrow.

"You were in there for two and a half hours?" Asked the male incredulously before understanding why Kuroko looked so shaken. Akashi was surprised when Kuroko suddenly ran into him, his hands grabbing onto the fabric of his shirt, still quivering.

"What were you doing in Shintarou's room, Tetsuya?" Akashi pulled back and Kuroko answered softly.

"I was just curious, the door was open so I went and looked." This time Akashi frowned.

"Was Shintarou in there himself?" Kuroko shook his head and Akashi frowned even harder. There was something very strange, in all the years he'd known Midorima Shintarou, he had learned that the green haired never left anything done half assed and there was no way he'd left the door open, not even by accident.

That meant, someone else had been inside there before Kuroko...