I swear I'm not stealing any idea, but I just finished reading LION by Kicchin and I loved it so I'm trying my hand at a historical/fantasy AkaFuri romance, the only thing I can't help but copy from LION is the structure of the empire (names of kingdom and alliances maybe). For those who have read the fanfic I'm talking about, be warned that this story won't be anything like it, it will be fantastical, magic everywhere and soulmates and whatnot, also the pairing may or may not change : Akafuri, Kagakuro, Musahimu and Midotaka won't change, but I'm still unsure about Aokise, I may go for Kisemastu and AoRyou (or even AoTsuki) instead. Also, I either love knb characters or am indifferent towards them so I will essentially invent the bad guys.
Thanks :)
"Shujo, you shouldn't go." It was Shintarou who said this. Out of his five brothers, he was the one closest to him. Though, they all had different mothers, they had grown up together and in spite of frequent quarrels and disagreements, they were close brothers.
They had been born in Teiko, a small kingdom ruled by a cruel king, their father Akashi Seichiro. He had been thirsty for power, in fact he had chosen strong concubines to bear him strong heir. He hadn't been disappointed. The queen, his wife, bore him a strong heir, even as a newborn he had radiated power and such a dangerous aura that even his father wouldn't get close at first. Five of his concubines bore him sons, to his greatest pleasure, however the last one gave birth to a girl, a witch, whom he never cared for.
Prodigies. Each more powerful than ever seen, bringing down armies by themselves before even reaching a hundred years old, in other words : as children. Fear, respect and awe was what they inspired others. One day though, their father, feeling threatened by their limitless power, tried to kill them by sending them alone to fight the Great war. Indeed, in a world where some could see the future, others could cause an earthquake by snapping their fingers or dry seas with a single touch, wars were, much like everything else, merciless, cruel and brutal. This war in particular went down in history as the worst, all races took part in it. The worst though wasn't what they did during it, but why they did it. Prejudices. Vampires and werewolves started fighting because they coudln't stand each others' scents, then shifters, who were being colonised and enslaved by werewolves for being lesser beings, took advantage of the situation to rise, they were soon followed by humans, whom they often mated with and thus were allies, then the demons, unfamous allies of vampires, entered the scene and soon enough it was a world war. What the king hadn't expected was for his sons to single handedly force everyone into submission, and end a century old war in a few years. Miraculous.
It was the birth of an empire. The Teiko Empire. However, though it was a great empire, wisely -and much to his father's dismay- the eldest son decided against conquering too much lands, opting for treaties and alliances instead. In a way, Teiko had its hand on the whole world, supervising and instructing around the globe, but without all the hassles that came with leading a people and taking care of the lands. Also, the 'independance' it granted the kingdoms involved won their loyalties and showed Teiko in the best light. Understanding he couldn't succeed in killing his own sons, the king - now emperor- tried to tear them apart, scheming in the dark to rise them against each other. When none of his attempts worked, thanks to his eldest son always being ten steps ahead of whatever plan he could come up with, he tried one last thing : his useless daughter, Momoi. His sons had always stood up for her, taking her under their wings and caring for her. What more, they had granted her a high position amongst the imperial council claiming she was a skilled witch. She was the one bringing the boys down to Earth when necessary and mending any rift between them. That's why the emperor tried to make her disappear by hiring low life mercenaries to kidnap her. Bad idea. So bad that Akashi Seijurou didn't even think about sentencing him to death.
Afterward, the empire underwent some major changes. The most important one was cutting the empire in six and giving each of his brothera large territory to rule over. Rakuzan, the white, Shutoko, the green, Yosen, the violet, Kaijo, the golden, Too, the blue and Seirin, the red. Contrary to their name, all countries were quite colorful, but had its own colors which the inhabitants loved to display proudly.
Today, like every Mondays and Wednesdays, they were all reunited in the capital of Rakuzan , the heart of the empire.
The throne room was enormous and covered in gold and jewels, marble floor and ivory columns. Ironically, the simplest thing was the throne itself, it had been carved out of junsui rocks, which made out the blue volcano. The strongest witches and wizzards had spent days blessing it. Akashi sat on said throne, while his five brothers stood in front of him. Usually, they would have this meeting in the gardens or in his private study, to allow more comfort, but today Akashi didn't want to waste any time.
"Nash Gold is moving." Akashi simply stated, and though his face remained impassible, the chilly tone of his voice was enough to make even Murasakibara tense.
Nash Gold Jr was their only -and it pained them to admit that- worthy ennemy. The man was cruel and cunning. He knew that he could never face them head on, in terms of raw power he was no match, but his attempts at their heads were quite creative and almost efficient enough to be effective. Akashi had only met the man himself twice : at a ball his father had thrown to celebrate the birth of Kagami, and the second time was when said man had tried to eradicate a race of shifters because their hair gave him rashes. How he regretted settling for a peace treaty back then, he should have listened to his guts and beheaded him right on the spot instead of listening to his father. Looking back, he understood why the former emperor had liked Nash Gold, they were both as arrogant, as ruthless and as starved for power.
Akashi was only seventy when he was crowned emperor, he had not even reached puberty yet, Nash thought such a young emperor would be careless and leave room for a rebellion to rise but nothing. Whatever he tried, the six brothers crushed his plans and even used them for their own interest sometimes. After four centuries and countless attempts at murder, Nash Gold was now a landless king, hiding away and desperately, obsessively scheming to bring Teiko down. At first, Akashi didn't care, he was rather amused by those attempts and eagerly waited the next attack, the next challenge to his brilliant mind, but as the decades passed, the amusement faded and left room to frustration. Being immortal, Akashi could see Nash trying for millenaries. No way, he wouldn't allow it. Unfortunately, the man was a master at hiding and even his emperor eye couldn't help him find the man.
"How do you know ?" Kise asked, leaning against a pillar on his right.
"Momoi had a dream." he simply answered. Said pink haired woman wasn't present unlike usually. "She is busy with preparation of matrimonial rites for Hyuga and Riko's upcoming first year anniversary, but she left me this to show you."
The young emperor held out a small cristal ball, the size of his palm, and they all knew what to do, used to their sister's magical artefacts. Akashi stepped down and went to the middle of the room. His brothers all approached the throne and gathered around the man to look at the object. A thin layer of magic started spreading as images started moving inside the sphere.
Akashi was standing in the middle of a clearing, he was on his knees and in front of him a man was dying, blood spurting from his mouth and dripping from a gaping wound in his chest. On his armor, a stylized moon crescent : the former werewolves' First alpha's crest, the Gold's family crest. It was clear who had killed the man, blood covered Akashi's left hand and forearm. All of a sudden, the young emperor fell on the ground and clutched his heart, mouth open in a silent shout, pain tightening his face.
"What the fuck ?" Aomine whispered.
"Momoi thinks it's figurative." Akashi explained, putting the ball back inside his red yukata.
"You don't sound convinced." Midorima pointed out."
"In a week, I'll be burning, like I do every decade. It would be quite easy for Nash Gold to find out about that as I'm not taking any particular precautions to hide it."
"Yeah but what the hell could he do about it ?!" Kagami exclaimed.
"I'm not sure, but I've decided to take matters into hands myself. It is long time I end this."
"Aka-cchi...Why does it sound like you want to go alone ?" Atsushi said holding the biscuit he was about to shove in his mouth.
"Because I am." he sighed going back to sit on his throne. "And before you try to argue, know that I'm not changing my mind. It should be done discretely and I don't want the trouble of involving our army."
"But at least, take one of us with you." Kise said, frowning.
"Actually I have other plans for you. Two of you are to go away."
"What ?" they all asked in various degree of protestation and shock.
"Taiga, you're not months away from going into heat." he stated and the taller red head blushed a thousand shades of red, which wasn't surprising considering he was the most innocent of them all regarding those kind of subjects. "You have a hard time controlling your fire on normal times, but it gets even worse during those. After what happened last time-"
"Hey ! I apologized and fixed everything." said man defended himself.
"Yes, but it's not enough. You burned down a whole city because you were upset about losing to Aomine in a mock sword fight. Thanks to our great forces and Momoi's suggestions to appoint more fire forces around you, there weren't any loss, but what about next time ? What if you really get angry ?"
Even Kagami's rival, Aomine was silent as they all processed this. Kagami was powerful, as a fire dragon, his kind was intrinsically so, but he brought it to another level growing up, unfortunately the youngest prince was boiling with passion, emotions and energy and he absolutely lacked control, this combo caused him to provoke many accidents, four per weeks on average. He was a kind king, eager to improve his people's lives but he was too raw yet, and inspired fear for his recklessness and tremendous aptitudes instead of loyalty and love.
"You're going to the White Sea and you'll be staying there for the next few months. Or years even. However long it takes you to learn how to control your power."
The order was clear in the eldest brother's voice and no one dared to argue. Kagami only nodded and ran his hand through his hair.
"Now Ryouta." The blond man jumped and his eyes widened in fear when he heard his name. "King Aida requested our help. He is a great ally, even more so now that his only daughter married one of our greatest general. He is having some problem holding up against trolls and rogue werewolves in the south of his lands. I'm sending you to support them."
"Aka-chin ! Why not just send some of our troops ?"
"Because, I already did, but the ennemies are more stubborn than expected."
"I could go." Aomine smirked, his excitement and blood lust visible on his face.
"No. Ryouta is more delicate. He knows how to bring troops up and make them use the best of themselves. King Aida is proud of his soldiers and I think they could win this war. With only a little help. If they won, it'd be a great opportunity for them to claim back the Snake River, the people need it."
"But-" the blond started arguing his topaz eyes filling with fake tears.
"Also, it would be a great opportunity for you to become more autonome. No," Akashi cut Kise who was openning his mouth to answer the accusation. "Yes, you manage a whole kingdom, and you're doing great, but Ryouta you're only copying. You don't take any initiatives, you look at what others do and if it works and suits you, you use it. You almost never come up with any idea on your own and even if it was working, it won't. Not much longer. This being said, sending you on your own to a foreign place will only do you great."
It was obvious from the look on the blond's face that the emperor's words had strung a sensible cord, he was now looking at the ground, his face blank.
"Midorima, you're in charge of everything while I'm away. Aomine, you can't go away until you finish the first trainings of the new recruits. Murasakibara, you're not discreet enough." Akashi said, and from his tone his brothers knew his words were absolute so none tried to argue again. "I'll be leaving tonight. Finding the clearing could take me some time, but I'm confident the informations from Momoi's dream would make it easier. By the time I find Nash's soldier and force him to reveal his whereabouts, I'll probably be burning, so I've decided to find some place ot stay until I'm back to myself. Don't expect me back for two to three weeks."
oOoOo
As expected, finding the clearing was easy. By flying, it only took him two days. It was in the middle of a small kingdom ruled by a useless wind elemental who , though strong enough to stay on the throne, didn't know the first thing about tending to his people needs. The clearing was far from cities and remote. High trees formed a circle around the clearing.
The moment he stepped foot on the ground, he felt it. The magic. Of course, he had been expecting it and knew it wouldn't hurt him. It felt like a simple binding rune. Akashi easily stepped out and his eye showed a frightened aura hiding behind some trees. The hidden soldier couldn't react when he pounced, for he was way too fast. He grabbed him by the collar and threw him in the middle of the clearing. The man, a cheetah shifter from his scent and aura, didn't even try to get up, his limbs -broken by the impact- wouldn't have let him anyways.
"What has he planned ?" He asked, walking toward the soldier. "This is too easy. A binding rune ? Really ?"
"I-It wasn't...For you" The shifter said.
"Then who was it for ?" Akashi asked grabbing the man by the throat, applying enough pressure to hurt but keeping it loose enough to allow for speech. The man grabbed at it.
"For me," it came out low. So low he would have missed it if he wans't who he was.
And then it dawned on him. This was indeed a trap, but so cruel, even he wouldn't have thought of it. He tore his arm away, but the mark on his arm was dark and spreading.
"He spread it to my village. He said he would give us the cure if someone did this." the man said rubbing his throat. "We didn't want to. He placed those runes to prevent me from running away, to force me to go through no matter what."
"There is no cure, you fool." Akashi felt his temper rise and if the situation was any different, his beast would have been freed. But as it was, he couldn't do much. He was already feelign the effect of the poison. Nash Gold was a worthy opponent. He had managed to touch the emperor. In fact, for the first time, Akashi wasn't sure about what came next.
"W-What ?" the shifter asked, slowly sitting up.
The young emperor wasn't a kind man by any means, but he wasn't cruel. Looking at the young man in front of him, shaking in fear, teary eyed and desperate, he felt fury boil his veins. And empathy. He thought about the young man's village, about what was probably happening to them. Men, women, childrena and animals, all in agony. Dying. He watched as said man's veins started turning black, showing on his skin, spreading up to his neck. The virus had probably been unleashed a week away if it only ended now, shifters were the most resistant to it. Akashi saw in the man's posture and in his expression that the man was starting to feel sharp pain, but it was only the beginning, not a thousandth of what he would feel.
Out of mercy, he ended his life now. Tearing his heart out. The man collapsed on the ground and the scene was awfully familiar for Akashi.
Soon after, he fell to his knees, clutching his heart. Pain like nothing else started spreading through him. Indeed, phoenixes were the most sensible to this virus.
oOoOo
When Nash Gold arrived in the clearing, he was in the best of mood. His plan was perfect. It had taken times and sacrifices to put it in place, but he was sure to succeed. So sure of himself that when he arrived and only found one corpse on the ground, and that one absolutely useless, he tore it in pieces out of anger.
Where was Akashi Seijurou ?