A/N: Today's fun fact: Female kangaroos have three vaginas and two uteruses. Only the middle vagina is used as a birht canal.

Artistic license taken regarding the effects of Aconitum.

Toru must be laughing somewhere, Tetsuya thinks. His thoughts come muddled and slow, but the image of his brother's face - his own face - contorted into triumphant laughter cuts through the mist quite clearly. The image of Akashi and the face he'll make when he finds him cuts even deeper.

Tetsuya blinks, but even his eyelids move sluggishly now. The room is a blur and he can barely breathe. His head hurts or maybe that is just the whirl of thoughts. He would cry if he could. There is too much he doesn't want to leave.

There is a crashing sound, but he can't move to look. And then there are voices.

"What did you use?" Someone, a woman, judging by the pitch, shouts. There is a muffled thumping sound followed by a groan. "What did you give him?"

"I won't tell." Another voice replies. Tetsuya places it as Ayame's. There's another thumping sound and Ayame moans in pain. "What's it to you? He's better off dead."

"That's not for you to decide. Now, tell me. What was in that cup?"

"Try vanilla." Ayame hisses.

"Don't play games. If he dies, you die. And it won't be quick." The other woman does something then that has Ayame whimper in pain.

"Woman's bane." She cries out a moment later. Ayame is sobbing now. "Please, don't kill me."

"We'll see about that." The woman says darkly and then there is another outcry and Ayame hits the floor.

"Kuroko-sama, can you hear me?" The woman comes into view, a blurred shape, but he finally recognizes her.

"Shi…on." He can barely form the word with his numb lips.

"Yes," She says frantically. "Hold on, please you have to hold on. I will save you, I promise." Then she's gone again. There's a lot of noise, sounds Tetsuya can't place. He feels his consciousness fading. He knows instinctually that he will die if he falls unconscious. There's not enough air and he has to use all his strength just to keep breathing.

"Give it up." Ayame says from somewhere. Her voice sounds rather dull, as if the fight has left her.

"Never." Shion snaps back. And then there are hands on his face and he is rolled around on his back. His head lands on something elevated and soft. "Please, Kuroko-sama. Swallow this." He doesn't have the strength to fight the fingers that open his mouth. And then he is chocking on something bitter. Dust fills his mouth and he tries to spit it out, but it sticks to his mouth and tongue. He's suffocating and can't breathe. Panic settles and he's thrashing - or tries to, but he has long lost control over his body.

"Swallow." Shion commands and she tilts his head back so he doesn't have any other chance but to do as she says. The bitter taste almost makes him gag. Shion doesn't let him catch his breath before she forces in some more. And more. Tetsuya loses track of how often he swallows it down. His jaw aches from her handling, but oddly enough, his body loses some of the numbness.

"Names really are a curse." Ayame says suddenly. "Only it's you they should have named Ayame. You are so god damn loyal." The way she says it sounds like a curse.

Shion's hands still. Tetsuya's vision has cleared some, but with the angle he can't make out either Shion's or Ayame's face. "Aren't you too? You merely picked the wrong master to serve." Shion says almost softly.

Ayame snorts. "Don't make me laugh. Why would I ever pick him? He's nothing. Just a whore who defiled Akashi-sama. "

Shion doesn't reply and Ayame falls silent. Tetsuya feels a new kind of exhaustion. His body is still cold and he wants to curl into a ball and sleep, just sleep until the pain goes away. Shion runs a warm hand down the side of his face. Her finger land on his neck, a gentle pressure that awakens an old fear in his heart, but it's like someone has thrown a blanket over his emotions. He can feel his heartbeat against the pressure of her fingers. She sighs then, deep and unmistakably relieved.

"You are lucky." Shion says and Tetsuya doesn't quite register at first that it's not him she meant. "You failed to kill Kuroko-sama."

"Luck would be if you hadn't intervened."

"Why did you do it?" Shion moves under him and then his head is gently slid from her lap and onto a pillow. She touches his cheek fleetingly without a word that acknowledges he's awake. He understands anyway. Tetsuya closes his eyes and finally follows the beckoning tendrils of sleep.

"Because someone had to. He's been in the way for too long already. He should have never been given the chance to sleep with our Emperor." Ayame's words are quiet and far away. It's the last thing he hears before he gives in to sleep.

Seijuro stares at Tetsuya's pale form. There are smudges of black around his mouth, remnants of the charcoal the maid - Shion - had forced down his throat.

If she hadn't been there…

Chihiro's warning had come too late. Tetsuya would have been dead and there was nothing Seijuro could have done. He looks up to the maid waiting next to the door. Shion's appearance is ruffled, like she's been in a fight and her clothes are covered in smudges of soot and coal.

The maids had filled the coal pan and left it in a corner, as the room could be rather drafty at night. If it had not been there… The charcoal had saved Tetsuya's life, absorbing the aconite in his stomach before it could do too much harm.

Seijuro doesn't want to leave Tetsuya's side, but he has to. There are loose ends that need to be tied up once and for all. First, he is going to see the maid - Ayame. Her statement isn't absolutely necessary, but it will make things easier.

"I'll look after him." Shuzo says with an annoyed sigh, obviously reading the thoughts that must play rather visible on his face. "You have important business to attend to."

Seijuro ignores the urge to give Shuzo a meaningful look. It's pointless anyway. His physician has always been unimpressed with his intimidation tactics. And it's not that he's wrong. He takes a moment to run his hand through Tetsuya's hair, reassuring himself that Tetsuya is indeed alive.

He can't count on luck to save them again. It's time to put an end to this. But before that, he needs to inform the rest of his guard what has happened.

Ayame stares at him balefully when he enters her room. Her crimes would afford her a prison cell in his dungeon, before her death sentence was carried out, but Seijuro has yet to question her and therefore decided to keep her close. She had been confined in one of the unused rooms on the ground floor. So far, only Shintarou, Shion, Shuzo and Reo know of what had transpired. Shion had run into Shintarou on her way to alert Shuzo after stabilizing Tetsuya's condition. Shintarou, well aware of the fragility of their current situation, had alerted him and Reo to confine her. The guards stationed outside her room don't know what they are guarding.

The door closes behind him and Seijuro sits down on the only chair in the room. Ayame sits on the bed, legs pulled up to her chest. She glares at him, but it seems halfhearted, as though she can't quite bring herself to resent him. Seijuro notes it down for later inspection.

"How do you like your accommodations?" He asks conversationally.

Ayame blinks in surprise, but she seems to only suffer a moment from her surprise. "Drafty." She says. There's a renewed sense of wariness in her eyes now as she watches him. Good.

"Now, would you be so kind and tell me why you poisoned my dear husband?" He keeps his voice sweet and almost gentle, but she picks up on the threatening edge all the same. Ayame shivers and looks away.

"In case you misunderstood," he says so softly she has to strain her ears to understand, "I ask you to be kind to yourself. Your only value right now is your knowledge. And I will get to that one way or another."

He lets the words hang there for a long moment. Ayame stares at the wall, mouth drawn into a tight line, but he can see the thoughts run through her head.

Her eyes flick to his for a moment. She swallows.

And just like that Seijuro has won. She tells him everything.

Tetsuya wakes to muffled voices. He wonders how many more times he will wake up from being knocked out cold and find a conversation going on around him. Maybe he should do something about getting knocked out cold in the first place. On that note, he has a terrible taste in his mouth, like his teeth have been coated in coal dust and come to think of it, that does kind of make sense.

He has had way too much exposure to poison lately.

"Would you calm down now? He's fine, he won't die and you barging off on a rampage won't exactly help that he stays that way." The surprisingly sound argument came from Aomine of all people. Aomine, who had his hands up in the air - placating - in front of an irritated and pacing Kagami. "Now sit your ass down. Tetsu's not going to recover sooner just because you walk a hole in the floor."

Kagami mutter something, angry, but Tetsuya has known him for a lifetime and he can tell the edge of helplessness underneath. Kagami has never quite stopped thinking Tetsuya is his responsibility. He can't let him think this is his fault.

Tetsuya shifts to sit up, but catches Nijimura's eyes as he does. Nijimura is sitting leisurely in one of the chairs at the foot of the bed, watching him with lazy interest. The bed, Tetsuya realizes belatedly and of course precisely in that moment, is Akashi's, the same one they had had sex in not so long ago.

Suddenly, facing Kagami feels like way too embarrassing. He can't let that stop him though.

"Kagami-kun." He calls and the hushed argument between Aomine and Kagami falls silent.

"Kuroko." Kagami is at his side in a moment, throwing his arms around him in a bear hug. It's a rather tight hug and Tetsuya feels his chest being squeezed fairly painfully, but he doesn't say anything.

"Oi, Kagami, are you crying?" Aomine tries to peek at Kagami's face.

"Shut up," is the muffled reply.

Even though the situation is too severe for even Aomine to be an asshole about it, his reaction surprises Tetsuya. Aomine sighs, a gentle expression in his eyes. And then he puts a hand on Kagami's back and rubs comfortingly. "I told you he's fine." He says.

"Okay, that's enough." Nijimura stands from his seat and shoos Kagami away from Tetsuya. "The patient needs rest, and I would appreciate if you didn't squeeze the air out from him. I imagine Kuroko has quite the trouble breathing still. The effect of the poison hasn't worn off completely."

Kagami lets him go so fast Tetsuya almost topples over. His face is indeed faintly wet, but Tetsuya graciously overlooks it.

"Sorry." Kagami says hastily and sits up straight. Aomine doesn't remove his hand and Kagami doesn't complain.

"How do you feel?" Nijimura asks.

"Like I emptied a fireplace with my mouth." Tetsuya says honestly.

"You did, so that's to be expected." Nijimura says like it's nothing. "I recommend you drink something." He gestures to the side table where a carafe with water and a cup waits for his use. Before he can make a move to pour some water, Shion is there and fills the cup. She hands it over with a slight curtsy.

Tetsuya pauses. "Thank you." He says earnestly. It's not enough, just two words, how could it be enough to express how grateful he is? He drinks. Shion smiles but doesn't speak.

"Akashi has requested you rest for the remainder of the day, as he wants to speak to you this evening." Nijimura informs him after he has drunken two cups of water and feels slightly better. "The charcoal has absorbed most of the poison in your system so you should be fine in that regard. But you swallowed a large amount of it and it may upset your digestive system some. You should eat something before getting back to sleep, something light to help settle your stomach. Other than that a decent amount of rest should take care of any residual effects of the aconite. You were truly lucky that Shion knew what she was doing."Nijimura pulls his mouth into a slight grimace. "If she hadn't been there, you would be dead. Not to mention it would have been a rather messy and painful death."

Tetsuya tilts his head. The Seirin rarely make a habit of using poison, he still knows aconite though. He had been more than lucky. "I know," is all he says.

"Good. I would like to examine you just to make sure, if that would be alright?" Tetsuya nods and Nijimura starts his examination. He feels for Tetsuya's pulse, checks his eyes and his tongue and then spends an entire minute listening to the sounds of Tetsuya's chest. Afterwards, he seems satisfied. "I shall leave you to it then. If his condition changes come and get me." He says to Aomine and Kagami, before making his way out.

"You hungry, Tetsu?" Aomine asks. He still hasn't removed his hand and now Kagami is leaning slightly into him.

Actually, he isn't. But that can likely be attributed to the fact that his stomach is still filled with charcoal. And the residual bad taste in his mouth. "Yes." He says either way.

Shion makes her way to the door without prompting, but surprisingly, Aomine holds her back. "We'll go," he says and before anyone can react much, he drags Kagami out along with him. Tetsuya likes to think it is mostly motivated by the desire to give him alone time with his life saver, but he thinks Aomine's desire to get alone time with Kagami might be stronger. At least he can count on Kagami being thoroughly comforted.

The silence between them feels well used and comfortable. If he thinks about it, he has never heard Shion speak as much at once as when she was treating his poisoning.

"How did you know what to do?" He asks, genuinely curious. His mouth still feels gross so he drinks some more.

Shion smiles. "I owe it to Aida-san." She holds his gaze for a moment before looking away. Tetsuya doesn't need to ask more. Aida has collected a lot of strays and not all of them had ended up living with him. He can't help but be impressed that they hid the fact for so long.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Again, it is curiosity that drives the question. By the look in her eyes, she knows it.

"Aida-san doesn't know I'm here. I came to protect what's important to him. I owe him my life so I wanted to protect the one thing he couldn't." She says it so easily, as though it really is that simple. And maybe to her it really is.

Tetsuya doesn't get as much rest as he or Nijimura wanted. They had tried to keep it under wraps that he was the victim of an attack, but it had still spread some. Over the course of the day he's visited by quite a few people and since everyone just wants to make sure he's okay, he has a rather hard time to turn them away. At least it seems that the information has been kept in the inner circle.

That doesn't mean Kise is any less excited and quite smothering in his affections until he is dragged off by Aomine. It is a good feeling to be this loved, so Tetsuya does not complain.

Akashi appears just as the sun sinks towards the horizon. Tetsuya is alone for once, Shion had finally lost her patience and quite resolutely kicked everyone out to grant him much needed rest. Tetsuya has been napping throughout the afternoon hours and when the door to his room opens, he wakes instantly. Akashi wears a very elegant and elaborate getup as though he is dressed for his coronation all over again. In his hands he holds a coronal of flowers. For a moment Tetsuya thinks he's dreaming.

"Tetsuya." Akashi says softly. He reaches out a hand and rests it on Tetsuya's cheek. There's an expression in his eyes that's almost too much for Tetsuya to handle. He'd been wondering why Akashi wasn't showing his face at all, but he'd figured he was busy. The aftermath of his poisoning was bound to cause some ripples. But just now he can see how much it took from Akashi not to be there.

"I'm fine." Tetsuya soothes. He leans forward and Akashi meets him for a kiss. "And I am not mad that you stayed away." He says once they break apart. Because he has to say it and because he knows that telling Akahsi how much he missed him and longed to see him will only make him feel worse for staying away.

Akashi smiles. "I've been busy. And I have a surprise for you."

"Is it someone's head on a plate?"

"Almost. I figured it is time you meet my mother."

Akashi Shiori has been buried in a grove at the far back of the palace garden. Usually, members of the Imperial family are burned and their ashes are laid to rest in a mausoleum that's been built deep into the bowels of the palace. But Shiori had always loved the gardens and her husband had granted her last wish to be buried under the open sky.

Her grave marker is a life sized marble statue of her, looking down solemnly at the world laying at her feet. Even though her face has been marred by time and weather, it is unmistakably how much she looks like her son.

A lone figure waits in the shadow of Shiori's countenance, facing them with his back. He's looking up at Shiori as if he were in the middle of a conversation.

Tetsuya stays back as Akashi walks the last few meters and bends to place the coronal he brought at the base of her feet. The sweet scent of sweet peas wafts through the air. A wreath of yellow Chrysanthemums has already been placed.

"Your majesty." Fujiwara Sousoke acknowledges Akashi's presence with a nod of his head. He's alone, but for once he doesn't seem to waver under the weight of time. He's leaning on his cane slightly, but it seems more a gesture of casualness than absolute necessity.

"Chancellor." Akashi says back. They both keep looking at the stone-made woman who looks through them with gentle indifference. Even with a weathered face, she is still beautiful. There are no pictures of her at the palace, removed at the behest of the late Emperor as he didn't want to be reminded of his lost love. Tetsuya had never wanted to ask Akashi, not when his own mother's face is a mere shadow in his memories.

The silence is as heavy as the tension that permeates the air. Yet it seems that both men are completely at ease. The sun is dipping behind the horizon, bleeding orange and purple all over the sky. It is one of the most beautiful sunsets Tetsuya has ever seen.

Shiori's shadow wanders in the light of the sinking sun. It cuts right into the space between Akashi and Fujiwara, seemingly hanging there for an indefinite amount of time before it crawls towards the Chancellor. Wind picks up and rustles the leaves of the nearby trees. Another word has yet to be spoken.

"You were the last she spoke to, before she died." Akashi says to the shadows that accumulate in the finely cut lines of stone that make up the last memory of his mother.

Fujiwara finally turns his head. He's always been sharp, but the fading light cuts his face into even sharper angles. "She asked me to look after you in her stead. I promised her." He says it so simply, like he still holds dear the promise he has made that day. Tetsuya watches the shadows pass over both their faces. He feels like an outsider watching something he has no right to intrude on.

"That is an odd way to keep your promise, isn't it?" Akashi is still looking at his mother, even though her features are no longer visible in the shadows of encroaching night.

There is a long silence. Wind picks up again, dragging on the long sleeves of Tetsuya's robe. The sun has disappeared behind the horizon but her light still reaches them.

"Do you know why your mother changed her name?" Fujiwara asks conversationally once the last traces of sunlight have disappeared.

"She was born a Saitou. Her match with my father had met some resistance so she thought it prudent to cut off affiliations." Akashi replies. It sounds like he's reciting something.

Tetsuya can't help his surprise. He had known that Shiori had been considered unsuitable to marry Akashi Masaomi, had known that she was hated among the nobility, but he had never known that she was born a Saitou.

Fujiwara's face is impossible to read in the darkness. "She was a Saitou. You should know what that means. Being born a Saitou once used to be an honor. It's not Shiori's fault, but yours."

"What is to you?"

Fujiwara scoffs "Don't tell me you don't know what the name means."

"I don't make a habit of placing undue meaning into names." Akashi sounds dismissive, but Tetsuya can read the undercurrent's in his voice. He suspects, so can Fujiwara. Still, when he answers, he doesn't give an indication whether he believes him or not.

"You should. Names are important. They can tell you a lot about a person."

"Why would one rely on such fickle and arbitrary things? Or are you trying to tell me that names determine a person's fate? I wouldn't have taken you for one to belief in fate."

"Oh, but it does have some merits. Or wouldn't you say so, Kuroko-kun?"

"My name was picked for me with a purpose." Tetsuya says blandly. Even in the dark he knows Akashi is smirking.

"Surely you must have known of Tetsuya's circumstances? Or else you would not have risked supporting my power base by mediating the marriage to such a valuable ally."

"Valuable?" Fujiwara's eyes are hidden by darkness, but Tetsuya still feels them brush over him. "Well, I suppose it turned out like that. Makes Naomi's inability to grasp the value of what she had in hands all the more amusing. Not that I fared any better, did I now?"

"It seems Tetsuya is not the only miscalculation in your plans."

Fujiwara huffs into the silence that follows. "I should have known your only open move would be a checkmate."

"As yours would have been."

The silhouette that is Fujiwara tilts its head. "I expected no less from Shiori's heir. You may forgive me though; I still rather have a gutter rat on the throne than you."

"Your game has made your intent clear enough." Akashi says dismissively. "The only thing I want to know from you is why you thought you had the right to betray my mother's trust."

Fujiwara laughs, loud and derisive as though Akashi had just delivered the punch line to a joke Fujiwara's been waiting years to finish. A joke only Fujiwara is privy to.

"I lost." Fujiwara says once he's calmed down. He doesn't seem to care much about the fact.

"Your answer." Akashi says icily.

"Does it mean that much to you? I already gave you the answer."

"Saitou." Akashi's voice is steel. "Wisteria is all that it comes down to. The Saitou have always been affiliated with the Fujiwara of the wisteria field, and yet. The fact is all but forgotten today. I wonder how much support you lent to the Saitou when they fell from grace. It couldn't have been anything of substance or else history would look differently."

"Oh, we did offer support. But we were not foolish enough to do it in the open. Even now, we still hold our hand over them. But you did know that too. All your knowledge and yet there is so little you understand truly. Even about your mother."

"How would I? She died before she could teach me. And you never did."

"Did you know she was like a daughter to me? I never had children, but I had her. I would have made her heir to my name, but she fell in love with your father. I could have told her what a bad match it was, but the one good thing you inherited from her was that you never listen to what people tell you. I watched her waste away, bound to a man who could never match up to her."

"And I killed her. Is that what you want to tell me? Lay the responsibility for her death at my feet?"

"You were a burden. Without you she could have been free. You might as well have killed her."

"Is that all?" Akashi asks. "You couldn't take her loss and blamed it on me?"

"I tried to love you for her sake." Fujiwara's anger seems to have run out. He sounds tired, resigned. "But you were too much like your father. I still tried. I valued my promise. I offered you the one thing I had to offer and you rejected it."

Akashi sounds distant when he replies, "your niece."

"You didn't know, did you?" Fujiwara spits the word, but they seem hollow all the same. As though he has to believe them for his own sake.

"I did. But it made no difference, and you should have known that."

"You could have made her Queen. She would have fortified the lineage. Instead you locked her away like a prized possession. Only you never valued what you have."

"And what kind of value was that? You realize what the sole purpose of that palace is? I may have wronged these people by locking them away, but how much more do you think I would have wronged them if I took the one thing from them they were not free to offer at their own will? Would you have me take each as my wife? Would you have me reject every offer I got, sending all these girls and boys back in shame? I never asked for a single hand that was offered to me. And I will see to it that each of them can go their own way from here on out."

Fujiwara's shoulders finally slump. "I suppose I should have known your checkmate would leave no room for errors."

"Life is not a shogi game." Akashi's voice cuts through the night like a knife. His anger is different from Fujiwara's, colder and bitterer. He must be disappointed in his former mentor.

"It might as well be."

Fujiwara has allies, Akashi had said earlier. But he's the head. With him taken out, the body will crumble quickly enough. In a way he isn't wrong.

The night air, despite the unbearable heat of the day, feels cold on Tetsuya's skin. He almost died because of all this. To have it end like this, quietly and overshadowed by a dead woman's gaze, it feels anticlimactic. It also feels like this is how it's supposed to be. Fujiwara doesn't deserve a showdown, no sparks and no heat. Just the quiet swallow of an endless night.

"Answer me one question if you will. How did you figure it out?" Fujiwara asks after a beat of silence.

"I know my subordinates."

Fujiwara huffs a sardonic laugh. "You owe me more than that."

"I don't owe you anything." Akashi almost spits the words out. It's the first time he shows any advanced form of emotions since the confrontation began. "But I shall indulge you. In honor of a good game. I knew there was a puppet master from Tetsuya's and Shouichi's account of the traitors' meeting. I knew he was on the move when Chihiro disappeared. The trap, it was all rather well placed, I give you that, but easily seen through. Chihiro happens to be color blind, so there was no way he would have a red flag and know its meaning.

"But of course, your traps have more than one layer. You figured I would see through it, although it would sow suspicion. Unfortunately for you, I know for a matter of fact Chihiro would never betray me so I didn't waste any time mistrusting him."

"I see." Fujiwara huffs quietly. "He wanted something from you, didn't he? He's the kind of person who only follows his own desires, so surely there must have been something you could offer him. What did you promise him?"

"That is not for you to know."

"Fair enough. How did you figure out the village was a trap?"

"That was obvious. All you ever do is laying traps."

"But you didn't know it was me."

"At that point, no. But the style of play was familiar. I sent in a covert operation to uncover the truth. I guess this was the first time I actually did throw a wrench in your plans."

"Not quite, but I suppose you found out about my affiliation with Chengyi."

"Yes, from that point onwards I knew what I was dealing with. And there are only a choice few people who have the mind of a chess master to pull it off."

"When we played, you already knew." Fujiwara accuses.

"It helped that you left a tangible trail."

"I did?"

"Well, your assistant did. He filed the request for a reinvestigation of the mine. I suppose you never intended for me to find it, before it could come to use. Or maybe your assistant failed to use his head. It doesn't matter. Your plan would have fallen through either way, the moment Ayame attempted on Tetsuya's life."

Fujiwara laughs again. The sound sends shivers down Tetsuya's spine. "I should have known that women would be my downfall."

"I don't expect the iron ore trail to Cathay was the last ace up your sleeve."

"Of course not." Fujiwara's smile seems to cut even through the shadows of the night. "But I was cut short before I could bring my best piece onto the board."

"You could have come after my life."

"Oh, but I did, didn't I?"

"You knew Suzuki and Nakano would fail."

"Obviously. But they were useful for a time. And I could gauge your defenses through their failure. Although dear Kuroko-kun messed with my plans quite unexpectedly. I decided on a safer course of action. You never responded well to violence. That has changed now hasn't it? Your game has lost quite a lot of its sharpness."

"And yet I have won."

"I can concede as much. It was a masterful game you played. Even at the end." Fujiwara tilts his head. "You should know, it was never my intention to simply end your life. See it as my last favor to your mother. I challenged you to a game you could hardly lose. Time was always on your side." Fujiwara's smile is bitter. "I would have lost eventually. I simply wanted to see if I could take you down before my time runs out."

"You think you would have won, if it weren't for Ayame's interference." Akashi states. He seems lonely there, in the shadow of his mother's grave. But Tetsuya feels that this is a moment he has to bring to its closure on his own.

"I believed I could. But…" Fujiwara sweeps his gaze over to Tetsuya for a moment. "I underestimated your pieces."

"And overestimated yours." Akashi adds almost thoughtful.

"You want to know that badly?" Fujiwara's smile is cold. "You should have enough proof for my treason. Or is it that you don't and you desperately want my confession on ordering an attempt on your husband's life?"

"Don't be absurd."

"Ah, but you can't know if Ayame wouldn't lie to take the fall for me."

Akashi doesn't reply. He isn't even looking at Fujiwara anymore; instead he is staring at something hidden in the darkness surrounding them. Tetsuya can't help but think of the other Akashi. How differently he would handle the situation.

"Ayame was the kind of woman who would take the meaning of her name literally." Fujiwara eventually says. "And she was indeed loyal to a fault. She was Kimiko's maid you see. But when you sent her into your rose trap, she found herself without direction. So I offered her a position in court. What a blessing that the palace maids rotate service in the forbidden palace. It came in quite handy to monitor Kuroko-kun. She swore me loyalty in exchange, but I guess her true loyalty always lay with Kimiko."

Tetsuya thinks of the woman they encountered in the forbidden palace not so long ago. The jaded edges in her eyes. He'd never guessed her hand reached that far.

"Your last deed is to blame your niece?" Akashi asks with a mocking undertone. He finally looks at Fujiwara. The moon has risen a pale sickle in the dark of the night and its light spills over his face and Tetsuya sees the brilliant red of his eyes. There's a hint of sadness there, but Akashi makes no attempt to hide it.

Fujiwara makes a rather inelegant sound. "How little you understand. Even now. Why do you think I offered my dearest niece to you? After I'd seen what Imperial marriage had done to Shiori. She loves you. Or at least she did. I hope she has learned her mistake at least. But it wasn't her that ordered your husband's death. If she had, Kuroko would be dead." He says it with finality.

Akashi tilts his head. There is a smile etched on his lips, sharp edged and cold. Tetsuya's fingers itch to touch his scar. He doesn't.

"We shall see what Kimiko has to say on the matter."

"You have locked her away already. Don't make her pay for something that was out of her hands."

"You of all people have no right to ask me that."

Fujiwara hums almost thoughtfully. "I guess not. But I wasn't asking." There's the rustling sound of movement as Fujiwara pulls something from his sleeve. Akashi makes a sound then, low in his throat, almost like a hiss.

"Nice, isn't it? It is a present from Prince Chengyi as a sign of his good will."

"Of all people to align yourself with." Akashi says with disgust.

"Oh, I don't plan on keeping Chengyi as an ally. But as you can see his country has access to superior weaponry. Rest assured that I have taken precautionary steps to make sure Chengyi won't use their superiority against us. It is a shame that you never quite cared about our neighbors. But arrogance has always been a vice of your family."

A cloud that has been drifting in front of the moon disperses and the pale light reveals something metallic and oddly shaped in Fujiwara's hands. It seems to be some sort of rod connected to a handle. Fujiwara has it pointed at Akashi, whose eyes have a severe look to them. But even so, he keeps his stance outwardly relaxed. Tetsuya has never seen such a thing before, but his instincts tell him that it is dangerous.

"You are presuming." Akashi says flatly. "I have to admit though; I have never seen a gun up close before. Last I heard its precision does not live up to the effort. And it becomes useless after just one shot."

"It serves well enough on short distance." Fujiwara smiles, cold and calculating. "And one shot is all I need." His smile widens and then he shifts his arm to aim at Tetsuya. "I'd rather you live and watch your Empire crumble to pieces."

Akashi's eyes widen a fraction and he takes a step forward, involuntarily as if drawn by string. The "no" dies on his tongue as an impossible loud sound tears through the air.