This Kingdom Bleeds Black

Chapter 2: The Wishing General

How easy it was for him.

Reclaiming back his territories now belonging to Wakatoshi Ushijima might have been a headache for decades, but this? This was easy.

Beheading people was always his favorite part of a battle. In his very own Wonderland, Oikawa was always the King of Heart. It was easy to behead people too, you see. When he was lazy, even his finger's lightest drag against one's neck could sever the head and the body. When he was in the rush to finish more in one go, he just drew his sword and swung it once –at minimum seven heads could be seen flying after.

"You know, Kuroo?" the Grand King asked as he pulled off a head of a soldier like one would pluck a daisy. "I'm kind of disappointed in you. When you said you needed me in the battle, I thought it was for a much stronger enemy forces. This?" he asked pleasantly as he threw the head away. "This level of resistance, I'm sure you could have handled this yourself."

Kuroo smirked. The image of his King, the fearless and the feared, was truly the best sight to pump his own adrenaline in the battle. The picture of it was majestic: Oikawa standing on top of the corpses; with his robe full of blood so dry –it was almost black, and with eyes so red –the evidence of being the true lineage of a Demon King.

This display of power, this showcase of mercilessness… Kuroo would only bend his knees for those stronger than him, and it could only be Oikawa.

And I will stand by your side until you bask yourself in the total victory light.

The black haired General swung his own gigantic sword against the upcoming batch of enemies. He casually addressed his King's remark, "I actually wouldn't have invited you here, had you not been so eager yourself."

"So easy still. Give me a harder challenge next time," Oikawa muttered as he knelt to grab the head of a man with spiky, silver hair.

"I'm wounded. This is actually not that easy. General Bokuto is one hell of a match. By the way, you didn't finish him alone, Buddy. My spear actually pierced his body first before your sword beheaded him."

Oikawa grinned. Fine. Any heads other than Ushijima could be Kuroo's. If his General wanted it, the King would gladly grant him that. With that thought in mind, Oikawa handed the silver-haired head to Kuroo. "Alright, I'll admit. This one is the hardest General we've fought in 50 years."

"Still easy by your standard then?" Kuroo asked as he accepted General Bokuto's head. What a nice head. Kuroo might copy Oikawa's habit of collecting heads –Oikawa was kind of inspiring that way.

"Nah," Oikawa mumbled incoherently as he gazed at the sun-setting sky. The orange gleam nearly blinded him. It had been sunset as well that time. "Anything would be easier to me when compared to beheading Iwa-chan."

Everytime Oikawa returned back to his castle from the battle, he had stories to tell.

About how his horse was acting up in the middle of the journey; about the result of his silent competition with Kuroo on who could slay the enemy the most (379 win and 136 loss); about the battle scars that would fade into perfect skin in the count of days; about the eye color of every commander he defeated.

Oikawa was a great storyteller. He witnessed many and he remembered equally as much. He kept the memories recorded in his head, and the first thing he would do back in the castle was to run to the south tower and tell him his grand conquest. He was an entertaining storyteller too. He would make sure all details were conveyed nicely, with enough exaggeration here and there.

And his sole audience would always be patient. He had been when he was alive, and still was when he was dead.

"…and so, that's why I decided to give General Bokuto's head to Kuroo, Iwa-chan," Oikawa reasoned in front of the head kept within the glass display. "Kuroo didn't say it, but I think he was actually thankful I did so. I don't know, Iwa-chan. Might have been my feeling, but Kuroo and General Bokuto… they kind of remind me of us."

And Iwa-chan would reply this with silence.

Oikawa chuckled. Iwa-chan, dearest Iwa-chan… his best friend, his love, his savior, his ultimate traitor. When even his father was eager to kill him, only in Iwa-chan, Oikawa could confide. Only by Iwa-chan, Oikawa could be fooled. Oh, how Oikawa was itched to touch the skin and hair, but no.

The beautiful head would rot easier when contaminated with air and touch. Oikawa liked to preserve Iwa-chan centuries and centuries later, he had rather not touched him again.

That night when he had killed him –there had been more than enough touches anyway.

"What's behind that door?"

Shimizu's stomach churned upon hearing the voice. Frantically turning her head, the Witch saw exactly what she feared: Yachi standing behind her with a curious tilt of her blonde head. Immediately casting a worried look towards the door, Shimizu then grabbed Yachi's wrist and teleported themselves. Only when Yachi and her were standing outside the south tower that Shimizu released the breath she did not know she was holding.

"Hitoka-chan, what were you doing? You couldn't be seen in the south tower. If the King finds out, I really can't do much," Shimizu hissed.

"I-I'm sorry, Shimizu-sama," the younger girl replied. "I was just following you because you looked unwell. I didn't mean to upset you."

Shimizu slowly shook her head and she eventually released her grip around Yachi's wrist. "No, I'm fine. I apologize if I caused you to worry. But promise me never to go into this tower, and foremost neverinto that room."

Yachi cast a glance up towards the tower. "The King has returned, hasn't he? Was he inside that room? What's in –"

"Nothing that you should concern yourself wild," Shimizu interrupted, but the mild surprise on Yachi's eyes prompted the Witch to elaborate more. "In that room lays the King's most important treasure. He protects it so much, so promise me, never go inside that room, alright?" Shimizu pled as she raised her hand to gently rub the top of Yachi's head.

Yachi slowly nodded and Shimizu could only smile. Holding out her hand to Yachi, Shimizu then said, "Come on. Let's just try to bake that cookies for Hinata. You said you want to give him something for his birthday, didn't you?"

It was easy to know and tell to whom Hitoka Yachi had given her heart to. A sun only deserved a brighter sun. And Shimizu quite adored Hinata too, though not as much as the other sun. Suns blinded Shimizu, but she was always drawn to them. The light she would never have –even her dark soul secretly yearned for something that would burn her bare.

It was nothing much, she guessed. Nothing too serious. Just a little adoration, a little infatuation, a little protectiveness, perhaps a past time. Perhaps just an attempt to run from the real darkness that could suffocate even a witch with heart as dark as hers.

It was nothing much, but Shimizu visited her often at night. Even in sleep, even surrounded in darkness, the little girl still blinded her. Shimizu did not do much in each of her visit. Shimizu was always the true definition of grace and stealth –and she would only stare at the way Yachi peacefully slept –never aware of the other woman's presence.

Sometimes Shimizu had the itch to touch the sun, but before she could even draw her fingers to hover over her supple cheek, she would close them back. Her dark nails would only hurt the sun –for as much as the sun dared to burn her, Shimizu was still a black hole who would swallow the sun if she was not careful herself.

So she would just stand still and watch the sun rest for the next day's round of brilliance.

On nights where the urge to touch became unbearable, Shimizu would only bite her own hand as her other fingers trailed down to the softness of her own pelvic flesh. She was disgusted with herself, but in the world where nothing made sense, her own self-disgust was the least of her worry.

"It seems that you've gotten kind of fond with the chambermaid?"

It seemed like months since she last heard his voice, and foremost him speaking directly to her again. Battles, meeting, intentional avoidance, maybe. Shimizu recalled that the last time she exchanged words with her husband was probably on the night she killed the Karasuno Holy Priest for the information.

Shimizu turned her attention away from the window to her King –standing by the entrance of her room. He looked relaxed, with an otherwise gentle smile on his face, like he just had released all things that could make him anxious. Shimizu knew that it had little to do with the battle and more with his scheduled visit to his Collection Hall.

The King walked to her bed and her dark eyes followed him. He sat on her comforter and the lazy drag of his index finger was enough to imply what he wanted from his queen.

"So? Is she any good?" he asked after Shimizu trailed her fingers on his thighs and knelt on the floor just in front of him.

"Who?" she asked as she tucked her hair behind her right ear. She ducked her head and began with his tip as her palms went straight to his balls.

Oikawa let a hiss out first when the witch's lips were enclosed around him. Leaning backward, he propped one arm behind his back on the bed. He gazed up at the ceiling for a moment before he closed his eyes. "The chambermaid. The cute, little girl in blonde?"

Shimizu pulled her lips off him to answer. "Hitoka-chan? She's a diligent worker, despite what she looks like."

Oikawa gave a chuckle. "You know that wasn't what I meant, Dear. Is she good at pleasing you?"

She opted to please him with her fingers instead of her tongue. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Oikawa's throttle continued for a second, before his iron grip clenched around Shimizu's neck and he pulled her to his eye level. Oikawa's smile was intact –still ear to ear, still the biggest lie on his face. Shimizu choked when his grip tightened around her neck and he seethed next to her ear.

"Whatever I do and whatever I'll become, you, my Queen, can only love me the most. Worship me the most. Understand?"

Shimizu's nails lengthened spontaneously and the poison excreted from them were channeled through the skin of Oikawa's hands. Succubus' poison was always a trouble, but never enough trouble for the Demon King. Oikawa made it a priority to get his point across first.

"Y-you…" she choked and he gave her enough gap to breathe but never to be freed from his vice grasp. "You d-don't even care."

Oikawa laughed –deep and hollow (now, Hitoka-chan, this is a picture of a real sad being). The King's eyes were red and his next words were always curses than anything.

"Maybe not, but you're still mine. Your body, your soul, your heart, they are all still mine," Oikawa demanded as he sealed it with a kiss.

It was only in this morbid way that the King could romance his Queen.

Not that it mattered. Shimizu only wanted Hitoka-chan to keep smiling like this –it was more than enough. Evil thing like her needed to know her place after all.

Anything more than this, any display of affection more than that, the storm would cloud the sun, and Shimizu knew she had better heeded Oikawa's order than anything.

Even after living together with the Demon King all these years, Shimizu never ceased to understand the paradox that was him.

Sometimes he was easy to talk to. Other times it was equal to a suicide if Shimizu dared to say a consonant to him. Sometimes he would take all his wife's and general's belittling with nothing much but a childish whine in return. Other times, Shimizu felt like her blood froze when Oikawa did as much as spare her a half-lidded warning.

The grand doors to the castle were blasted open in hurry that day. Only the highest commanders were to carry the palladium, with General Kuroo in charge of giving instruction. Shimizu swept herself in one quick yet dainty movement to approach the sudden commotion inside the foyer hall.

The very person resting and groaning on the makeshift bed in the palladium was none other than the Grand King. As per Kuroo's instruction, all the castle's doctors were summoned and the King was to quickly moved to his room.

Shimizu approached the door. Kuroo was busy telling the mage to work on poison-counter dotes. Hinata and Yachi were trailing behind her curiously.

"What happened?" the Queen asked the General as she peeked through the gaps of the still-open door to the King's bedroom –never were people inside it as much as it was now.

Kuroo stopped talking to the doctors and turned to his old friend instead. "A poisonous arrow pierced the King's lungs. That Kageyama managed to outsmart him this time around," Kuroo gritted his teeth. "It was a smart ambush."

Shimizu tiptoed slightly so that she could get the sight behind Kuroo's broad shoulders. "Will he be –"

"I'm not sure, to be honest," Kuroo quickly said. "He'll live. But I'm not sure how much damage will the poison cause to his other senses and organs."

Shimizu took a step closer to the King's bedroom doors but Kuroo held her by the shoulders and shook his head.

"You know that at this rate, your body will naturally deplete the energy off a wounded man. I'm sorry, Shimizu, but stay away from him for the time being," the General warned as he closed the doors in front of her face.

"S-so even the Grand King can bleed," Hinata softly muttered behind Shimizu –his eyes were transfixed on the blood trail outside the door.

Shimizu nodded absentmindedly. Throughout all the years living together with him, she had never seen Oikawa got injured –not even the slightest. But more than her curiosity of how he could bleed, Shimizu wondered more whether the King could feel pain too.

In her bed that night, she remembered that he could.

The brown eyes that were nearly nonchalant when he spoke of his best friend –that was the very picture of someone who had carried pain his entire life.

"It's not really that he outsmarted me, really. Not at all. Tobio-chan was just being sneaky. There's a difference. And partially, I was the one who created the opportunity –he did not create the opportunity himself," Oikawa ranted.

It had been a week since the King was treated in his bedroom. Kuroo had told her that he had gotten better and it would be safe for Oikawa to be in Shimizu's vicinity now.

Oikawa was always the type to take everything to the extreme though. Being allowed to be near a succubus should not have meant that he could cling around her when he was in his recovering period, but clinging to her he did.

On his great bed, him hugging her in sleeping like this with the same arms that choked her just months prior. Day by day, Shimizu lived with a growing belief there were two identities inside the King's body.

She exhaled a sigh. He did not summon her to his bed for sex. Had it been the case, she would have been ruined twice in the span of this one hour. But alas, all the King did was to cuddle her like she was a big teddy bear. He had ordered (begged like a child) her to hug him back. While she could never say no to that or any of his order, Shimizu was still careful not to lay her hand on the wound on his back –where Tobio Kageyama's poisonous arrow had pierced the King's body.

"How much did it hurt?" she asked; palms moving to the opposite direction of his wound instead.

"It did not hurt," Oikawa insisted.

"Kuroo mentioned you could not even move for three days straight."

"Kuroo likes to exaggerate, you know that."

Shimizu experimentally poked on the arrow wound near his back and the King shrieked. She sighed and quickly pulled herself away from his embrace to point out. "And you like to pretend you're all that."

The King tried to nurse the wound on his back but his arm could not reach it. Shimizu would have helped him, but she knew her hands were never to be salve to his wound anyway.

"Fine. It hurts a lot," the King admitted as he gave up and laid on his back on the bed. "Tobio-chan used the nectar of the legendary flower for the poison. That flower only grows once every two hundred years though. I've ordered those flowers to be burned. So unless he still has the reserve, he'll never beat me again."

"He was close of killing you though," Shimizu pointed out.

"Close," he acknowledged. "But I will never allow a cheeky brat like him to kill me."

That sounded like a sentence that needed a correction. "You'll never allow anyone to kill you."

And her outburst sounded like a sentence that called for an execution. Shimizu blinked when the words rolled out of her lips, but Oikawa only glanced at her with a calm gaze. He looked at her standing by his bed, but there was no menace in his eyes.

The King's eyes –now brown again – only looked at her.

No, Shimizu realized as she examined the gaze. He was not looking at her. Rather, he was looking at the shadow, the ghost, the sin that never stopped haunting him.

"There was… actually one person I allowed to kill me," he softly began.

No other being could haunt the King better than Iwa-chan, Shimizu knew. Even in his death, his ghost would never truly leave him.

"And I thought he would have…" he trailed. "Had he done so, I would have actually accepted it. Embraced it. I thought we could die together, but he unsheathed his sword at the last moment. While I…" he smiled to himself. "My sword did not even hesitate when it was swung across his neck."

"…Did you wish you were dead?"

"…Sometimes."

"You have yet to claim Ushijima's head."

"I know. That's why… not now. And my dream…if I must die, I want to die like Iwa-chan."

Shimizu did not avert her eyes from the King. "To be betrayed in your death?"

Oikawa only chuckled and slowly shook his head.

"No," he softly whispered. "To die in the hand of a person whom I love and who loves me back."

Shimizu did not have the heart to even convey the truth to Oikawa: that if it was truly his wish, he would probably never have it fulfilled –for Shimizu thought there could never be such person anymore.

The scary thing about trying to overthrow the Demon King was that he would return the favor three times crueler.

It took only less than a year to capture nearly all of the associated rebels. Daichi, Kenma, Yamaguchi, Azumane, Shibayama, and of course, Tobio Kageyama.

The Demon King did not behead them as per usual. But he thought only the vilest torture to end their lives. Like letting Daichi be tied upside down and submerged under the river for two days, or tie Yamaguchi to a herd of running horses. By the time the horses finished the lap around town, there was not much of Yamaguchi's body that could still be recognized.

Oikawa surprisingly gave a rather clean and quick execution for Kageyama. Only a pierce of a poisonous arrow shot when the latter was kept down in the arena. Shimizu thought there was a sentimental note between the two, but inquiring it would be useless now.

Yachi shrieked when she saw the public execution and Shimizu quickly pulled the younger girl's body and buried her face onto her chest. From the way Yachi reacted towards a supposed stranger's death…Shimizu got her hunch confirmed there and then.

"Clean that corpse's wound and embalm him. I would like that one to go into my Collection Hall," the King instructed Maki as he turned his body around. "Kuroo, Shimizu, meet me in the throne room. I want to focus on the third stage of Shiratorizawa conquer now."

Kuroo nodded and immediately followed the King. Shimizu sighed and after caressing Yachi's head several times, she carefully pushed her body away from her.

But Yachi immediately clutched Shimizu's arms and looked up at her teary-eyed.

"Don't," Yachi begged. "Don't follow such a sinful person anymore, Shimizu-sama. Please."

Ah, her little sunshine… how much she would like to defy the pit of hell so that she could embrace the sun back.

But Shimizu knew her role. She already shared Oikawa's bloodied footsteps and her King's sins were hers too. It was a duty of the Queen to always be his shadow.

"I'm sorry, Hitoka-chan," Shimizu earnestly whispered as she freed herself from Yachi's grasp, turned around and followed the Nightmare King who had always been waiting for her.

"Have you had any dream lately?" Oikawa asked Shimizu one night after the intercourse. They did it on his bed –and now that Shimizu thought about it, it had been quite a while since she last slept in her own room.

The Queen looked up at the canopy of his bed instead. She closed her eyes before she made her reply.

"Succubus cannot technically dream," she repeated the information she had shared to him years prior.

He was playing with the strands of her black hair. The gesture was almost intimate, and Shimizu was growing more uncomfortable with it. Oikawa absentmindedly continued to twirl the strands between his fingers as he murmured, "…I recall you said that's because you don't have any attachment towards anything?"

"Yes."

"I don't have any dreams either lately," the King confessed. "Not even about Iwa-chan. Not even about my father. Does that mean I no longer have attachment towards things as well?"

"I wouldn't know," she replied. "Do you still have things you want to pursue? Technically you still haven't fully conquered Shiratorizawa."

"I wonder," he muttered instead as he released her hair from his fingers and laid on his back on the mattress. "Lately, I wonder what I'm doing any of these for."

The rapid rate of the Demon Kingdom's expansion was almost too scary. Shiratorizawa remained a fortress yet to be conquered, but looking at all the progress, total victory would not have been too farfetched.

But the King, with even more and more he took, grew more restless. He was demonic by default, but Shimizu still recounted the moments where he would turn into such an easy target of bully who could only screech pathetically in return. Shimizu did nor remember when the last time the King laughed again.

And always being one of the two beings closest to the King, that man realized it too.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Kuroo noted to Shimizu. Both advisors were standing behind the pillars of the grand balcony where Oikawa was giving the pre-battle speech to his troops.

"How bad?" Shimizu asked back. She did have a bad hunch as well; she just needed to measure Kuroo's level of intuition.

The dark-haired general heaved a sigh and laid his back against the pillar. Crossing his muscular arms in front of his chest, he only shrugged. "Technically speaking, this is all going very well. Our troops are in their highest peak of strength and the enemies are scattered. There should not be any real threat."

"But exactly because it all goes too well," Shimizu understood. "It is easier to flip." And like a telepathic comprehension, Shimizu just knew that Oikawa understood this point equally as much as she and Kuroo did. If anything, the one who realized how easy it would be to fall from the highest place would be the one at the highest place himself –and that was only Oikawa.

"Can I ask you a favor, Shimizu?" Kuroo said as he lifted his chin and stared at his centuries-old friend.

Shimizu did not say anything, but the calm gaze of her indigo-gray eyes were enough to confirm the commitment.

"Be the King's shield," Kuroo requested. "I'll be his sword. I'll purge his enemies for him, open the way for his eternal authority, bear his sins for him…but I will never be able to protect him always."

"You are far more suited to be his shield than I do," Shimizu reminded. "…I really can't do much."

"Don't undervalue yourself."

At that statement, Shimizu blinked. The words meant eternal chain when spoken by Oikawa; undeserved mercy when spoken by Yachi; but with Kuroo…

…it was an honest trust.

Smiling to herself for the first time in a long while, Shimizu only shrugged.

The crowd cheered down below and it indicated that Oikawa had finished delivering his speech. Kuroo straightened his back and gripped the hilt of his sword tighter. He would need to go and prepare his troops first before Oikawa joined them for the battle, and there were many other things he needed to do first before –

"Kuroo," Shimizu called.

The General turned around and the Queen was standing in front of him. He widened his eyes when the Queen grabbed his hand and held it firm in her much smaller grasp.

"You too," she whispered. "Be careful."

His surprise slowly melted into a chuckle. "Now this is the real bad omen, Shimizu. This is actually making me feel rather nervous for the battle. Never had it in a long while."

She smirked and only gazed up to catch his higher eyes. "Don't overthink it. Succubus are bad at predicting things anyway."

The General's smile lingered as he brought his other hand to rub her hair. And behind them, someone cleared his throat.

"Well, well," Oikawa announced his presence as he pouted and tilted his head. "My Queen and my General are having an affair behind my back? I feel so betrayed. What are you two talking about?" the King grumpily muttered, but the mood was comical –finally, after a while.

To that, Shimizu and Kuroo only glanced at each other before they both stared at Oikawa with identical shrug and tease.

"You'll never know."

With Oikawa and Kuroo off to the battle, Shimizu was left rather alone in the castle again. The quietness of the palace would have been perfect really –eased her nerves more, had it not been for the one mild, nearly unnoticeable change.

But Shimizu had lived long enough to perceive a lot of things, including this very subtle resistance coming from Yachi.

The Witch noticed that this had started ever since Oikawa executed Kageyama Tobio: Yachi suddenly pulling the distance away from her. The much younger girl did not particularly hide or blatantly avoid her mistress, no. The maid still catered to her wish, still came every morning to clean her room, sometimes still talked about the idle things, but Shimizu knew that Yachi no longer viewed her the same again.

"Are you disappointed in me?" Shimizu asked one morning when she caught the maid was staring rather blankly at the big portrait of Shimizu (drawn courtesy to Oikawa's insistence) in the corridor.

The little girl yelped, and the tip of the iceberg that was closest to Shimizu's heart trembled. It had been quite a long while since Shimizu saw her clumsy self.

"N-no, my Queen, I was just…" she stammered before she let out a sigh. "I'm sorry. I'm just not really myself lately."

Shimizu took a step closer to Yachi and by her side, the former also took a note of the grand portrait of herself. Now that Shimizu looked at the portrait, she could kind of understood why Yachi thought she was such a sad person. The image of the woman in the drawing, while dressed in the country's most expensive jewels and most exquisite dress, was truly… quite a pathetic one.

"You knew Kageyama Tobio before, didn't you?" Shimizu asked straight to the point.

Yachi tensed, and it did not escape Shimizu's eyes.

"A lover? A brother?" Shimizu tried to guess, but she realized that she might have intruded the privacy. "I'm sorry. It's really not my place to ask this."

"No…" Yachi slowly shook her head. "Kageyama-kun… it's just that…"

Yachi could not finish, so Shimizu pushed more, "Do you hate the King?"

Tense and no answer again. Shimizu thought that Yachi should have learned to lie better. It was alright when she was with her, but in front of the King, she would be rendered lifeless with a flick of a finger.

"Do you hate me?" Shimizu asked again.

"No!" Yachi immediately shouted as she turned to her side.

Ah, Shimizu noted to herself. How weak her heart was –one moment she hoped Yachi could lie better and the other moment, Shimizu yearned for that sincerity she did not want to release. Her little salvation in this foreboding place. Shimizu was selfish that way: on one hand, she knew she had to devote everything she had to the King, but on the other hand, she still refused to let go of the brim of light that was Hitoka Yachi.

"No, I don't hate you, Shimizu-sama," Yachi softly confirmed. "I can never hate you, but…" she bowed her head and the picture was so heartbreaking: the little girl was on the verge of crying but she was holding it all still. It almost made her look weak, but no. Despite the lack of power the little girl had, Shimizu knew Yachi was anything but weak. It took only the courageous to ever forgive a sinful existence like Shimizu, and Shimizu perfectly understood the extent of Yachi's strength, but…

…the sight of the girl in front of her now: stifling her cries, tightening her small fists –Oikawa might have been beautiful and extravagant and majestic and all the superlatives associated with his natural grandness, but Yachi, she was just…

…perfect in the subtlest and most effortless way.

And in whatever sense of perfection that engulfed her, probably for the first time since Shimizu took the first breath of life, she did the one thing that even her mind could not follow.

Lifting Yachi's chin slightly, Shimizu bent down to kiss the little girl on the lips. The petals were small, supple, soft and salty –and Shimizu felt a pierce in her iceberg beating thing beneath her ribcage when they shivered upon her touch.

"S-Shimizu-sama?" Yachi stuttered as she blushed in furious red after Shimizu drew her lips back. The blonde-haired girl stiffened again when she felt the succubus' cold lips kiss-trailed the tears she did not know she had shed.

But Shimizu stopped herself after kissing her tears. Staring at the Queen with round, dumbfounded eyes, Yachi only added her stupefied expression with lips parted open in a half-round shape.

Adorable, Shimizu thought.

But adorable thing cannot be tainted more than once.

"If I may request you one thing, Hitoka-chan," Her Majesty spoke, seemingly unaffected while the other girl was basically an almost gaping statue. "Don't cry in front of me anymore, please?"

"Y-yes…" Yachi replied, still unable to connect the dots.

Shimizu smiled and pivoted her heels around and began to walk away.

There. She had touched the taboo. Now the sun rays would creep beneath her skin, and Shimizu hoped that if it could, she would like to have her iceberg heart be burnt to dust as a punishment.

"Coward. I didn't know that he was such a coward," Oikawa mouthed the sentiment that was in substance more derogatory than his other more frugal cursing.

Sitting on the Queen's chair next to the King's throne, Shimizu only took a sip of her wine as the rants came flowing from her husband's lips.

The troops came back from the battle faster than Shimizu had expected. And as per usual, the grand gala party would be held for the troops and the royalties upon every success the King and his General brought from battle. The party unfolding in front of her eyes had been the most festive Shimizu had witnessed ever since she stepped into Oikawa's castle –and that was for a reason.

The Shiratorizawa's last fortress had fallen to Oikawa's hands. The Demon King now officially held the title of the biggest ruler in this land, and it was the claim not even any of his ancestor managed to hold. Oikawa was the first to fully realize it.

But claiming Shiratorizawa was not equal to claiming Ushijima –it seemed. And this had been the very core reason why even the big festivity in front of the King's eyes could not entertain him that much.

"Come on, let's not focus on the bad things when we have a celebration to enjoy," Kuroo reminded as he stood in front of the sulking King and tried to pour more wine to his glass.

"It is not a complete victory," Oikawa grunted and he raised his palm to refuse the celebratory drink. "Shiratorizawa Fortress was basically filled only with the weak soldiers. Ushijima escaped," he hissed. "How dare he. How cowardice. I am actually very disappointed in him. I didn't think he was this kind of king. I'm really disappointed."

Kuroo walked to Shimizu's seat and poured her more wine instead. Nodding to Kuroo first, Shimizu then turned to face Oikawa as she placed her chin on her propped arm. "That's actually a classic but still efficient move from Ushijima," Shimizu commented. "Claiming a kingdom but not the king is never a sign to rest the battle. If I were him, I would eat my own pride and escape so that later on I can build stronger troops. Heard that Tsukishima from the Karasuno militia is lately closely-linked with Ushijima."

Kuroo cringed at Shimizu's explanation. "Dear Shimizu. I don't think this is the perfect time to ruin the celebra –"

"I know that!" the King howled. "I would not rest until I get that man's head! Mark my words!" Oikawa stammered. He then turned to his General and mandated, "Stop this celebration. We still have lots to do. Tomorrow we will continue to work hard to hunt Ushijima. I won't celebrate anything until I have his head in my hand!"

And with that and the gallant swift of his robe, the King stood from his throne and walked out of the grand hall. Kuroo narrowed his eyes to Shimizu as the latter only continued to drink her wine. Heaving a sigh, Kuroo noted to his friend, "I know it's good to be cautious and all. But you shouldn't have provoked him. He needs to relax once in a while."

"I wouldn't have provoked him because usually you do all the provocation yourself. You didn't this time."

Kuroo shrugged. "I'm just learning to be more sincere. That kiddo kind of has that influence on me lately."

"Hinata?"

"Quite an excellent apprentice, by the way. He and Lev were the one who actually managed to open the Shiratorizawa's gates from the inside," Kuroo complimented. "But seriously. I'm kind of worried about Oikawa. He seems so…off lately."

"It's a critical time for him," Shimizu decided as she twirled her wine glass. "It is not the enemy I fear the most for the King, Kuroo. It is himself. If he basks too much in victory, he would start to lose his purpose. And once Oikawa loses his purpose…" she trailed and the memory of his lost gaze entered her mind again. "…No shield nor sword would be able to protect him from himself."

Kuroo blinked. "You said that on purpose then?"

"Other part of it being an objective observation," Shimizu noted. "After Oikawa himself, I am worried about the possible Ushijima and Tsukishima alliance."

Kuroo only chuckled before he dunked the remains of his wine in one big gulp. "Oh, Shimizu. Now I don't know whether introducing you to Oikawa was a good decision or not."

Shimizu did not even know herself whether Kuroo's decision years and years prior to introduce her to Oikawa was wise or not. She just thought that for as long as the King reigned and he had not discarded her from the position of being his queen, she would just stick to him and did what she thought was the best for him.

On that night of celebration, Nishinoya and Tanaka returned temporarily from their guarding posts and demanded the same thing as they had demanded years ago.

"Shimizu-sama, let's escape this place!" they screeched in unison –hyperactive mode activated in the fuel of alcohol. "It's really been a while since we are able to serve by your side! Let us wander from one place to another. Together just the three of us! Just leave that stupid king alone!"

With a tint of playful smile on her face, she pointed out, "Be careful. That 'stupid king' is still my dear husband." It was more to agitate Tanaka and Nishinoya than anything –it had been years since she last saw them –she kind of missed their overprotectiveness.

The horrified shriek was expected and Shimizu might have consumed too much alcohol too herself that she found herself laughing at their reactions.

"No! Shimizu-sama, don't say that! Don't defend that asshole!" Tanaka wailed.

Nishinoya gritted his teeth as he buried his face on his own arm. "Has he managed to seduce you finally, Shimizu-sama? Has he?" he sobbed. "Have you fallen in love with him?"

For her own sadistic viewing pleasure, Shimizu only shrugged and enjoyed the sight of the two little demons' sobbing. And as Nishinoya and Tanaka's minds were clouded by their own speculation, Shimizu only rested her tired back on her chair –her gaze fell to the empty throne of her King.

Love? Towards the Demon King?

Shimizu wished it was that easy to classify. With Yachi, it had always been relatively easier to admit, to acknowledge, to accept. Yachi was the closest thing to a love she could never have –but that was easy to understand and accept –though her heart was chirped little by little on the fact that she could never have her.

But with Oikawa? The line was always blurred. It was something between devotion, loyalty, responsibility, trust, adoration…and on the other side, the disappointment, chain, self-loathing when she allowed him to abuse her, to manipulate and use her, and…

…she just did not know.

She had told Nishinoya and Tanaka once that this castle was the closest thing she could have to a home, and now, she could very much add the sentiment that Oikawa was just simply the closest thing to a purpose that she could ever have.

It was always in the most peaceful night that the storm hit.

It was only a couple of nights after the Shiratorizawa's downfall celebration when the mouse bared the fangs it hid. It was in the private meeting between the King and his two most trusted advisors –the General and the Queen. They just completed the mapping of Tsukishima's trail and with the plan secured, even Shimizu allowed herself to relax. They drank. They were less cautious.

And while deep down Shimizu always had the what-if's, she just never suspected it to happen like this.

Oikawa's guts had been right all along.

"Kuroo!" Shimizu screamed –never had she screamed that loud, that terrified. She was the farthest from the two –no, three of them, and she quickly dashed to the fallen General who was now bathed in his own blood –more and more crippling down the hole in his heart where the silver knife stabbed him.

Hinata, the little sun, the prodigy apprentice, who nearly had his chance. Who nearly had himself the victory of assassinating the Demon King –had it not been for the General who noticed in the last second and took the blow for himself.

Oikawa also roared in anger as a swift of his hand now sent black and thorny sprawled over the little boy's body –now held in his thorn cage against the wall.

"You!" he screamed angrily at Hinata –just a boy, just a mortal boy whose pupils were dilated that he resembled a demon more so than the Demon King himself. "How dare you!"

But the mouse gritted his teeth in anger as well. His fist was clenched tightly as he glared murderously at the Demon King. "It should have been you!" Hinata screamed. "Kuroo-san, it shouldn't have been Kuroo-san! It should have been you!"

Oikawa screamed again –black shadow formed behind his back as his magical whips were splashed onto the boy now pinned high to the wall. So short, so small, so devious.

Shimizu would have done something about Oikawa and Hinata, but Kuroo bleeding and whimpering on the floor already scared the shit out of her so much. The silver dagger was turning black when it was soaked in Kuroo's blood, and Shimizu had seen that before: when Oikawa had been pierced by Kageyama's arrow… the poison that only existed once in two hundred years… now that poison was spreading all over Kuroo's system.

Desperation swirled inside her. She wanted to kneel by her dear friend's side, put his head on his lap, nurse and take care of him, but…

…but she was a succubus. And before a wounded man, she knew she would only accelerate the death.

No…Not Kuroo…

"Guards!" The Queen, rare, so rare, she used her authority to make her order. "Call the doctors now!" she screamed as she took steps away from Kuroo. "Save Kuroo at all cost!" she mandated.

The guards came seconds later. Shimizu was still standing as far as she could. Oikawa finally tore his attention from Hinata. The guards were here and they could handle Hinata. Oikawa would personally take care of this rotten mouse later, but now…

"Kuroo," the King spoke as he knelt beside his advisor. The doctors were working to pull out the dagger off his ribcage, and Oikawa could not do much aside from holding the rough hand of the now dying General.

If there was one thing Oikawa could never beat Kuroo on, it was a hand wrestle competition. But the hand now was getting colder and colder, and the grip was so weak that Oikawa had to clench it hard for it not to slip off his grasp.

With gritted teeth, Oikawa muttered, "General, I order you to stay alive. You have not yet fulfilled your duty. You are still to stay by my side for a long time, and you are not…" his jaw trembled. "Kuroo, damnit, this is too easy! You can't be beaten like this! This is too easy, you shithead!"

Chuckling blood, Kuroo only stared at the King –ah, the Majestic King, so grand, so powerful, so demonic –that concerned and broken look did not suit such a being as grandiose as him. Kuroo bowed to no one but the King. So only by his side that he would allow himself be this low, humble being.

"I'm w-wounded. This is actually not t-that easy, Buddy," he smiled but only coughed blood after.

"Kuroo!" Oikawa screamed. "Stay by my side! That's an order! That's a fucking order and you must obey me!"

The medic had taken the dagger but the poison had spread too much. It was a straight and fatal stab to one's heart. The Demon King had survived a similar wound for it had not pierced his heart, but the General? A strong demon himself, but never as strong as the king, and when it ripped his heart –blood only carried the lethal substance faster through his veins.

He lost.

Breathing was getting difficult. Even keeping his eyes open was difficult. Kuroo could barely see Oikawa anymore, but he knew the King was there, and for the King…

Laying one bloodied palm on the King's face, it would only be one among many invisible scars the King could never erase.

"My King," he breathed out. "It has been my g-greatest honor to s-serve you. I r-regret I won't be there to see you bask in the light of total g-glory…"

"Kuroo, don't you dare!" Oikawa yelled –tears were gashing out of those invisible scars Kuroo created on Oikawa's self.

"And my b-buddy," Kuroo gritted his teeth. "M-my stupid buddy, i-it's been…" his voice was getting duller, and Oikawa was practically pressing his forehead against Kuroo's by that time. "…such a worthwhile j-journey with you…"

Shimizu gritted her own teeth as she drew her hands to cover her mouth. It was too late, she knew. Even without her presence, she knew Kuroo's time was running out, and she did not like this. She hated this. Never had she feel this strong sentiment before, and she just…she just…

In the briefest moment where Oikawa buried his face against Kuroo's shoulders, Kuroo glanced at Shimizu.

A soft smile grazed the General's face. He had run out of time to speak his words to her, but she knew. With Kuroo, it was always the silent understanding, the almost telepathic bond, and she knew what she wanted to say.

Take care of my buddy, Shimizu.

And as Kuroo drew his last breath, and as Oikawa's scream deafened everything around her, Shimizu realized one thing.

Kuroo had asked her to be Oikawa's shield, but no. All along, it was Kuroo. Kuroo had been Oikawa's shield all along.

And now the shield was broken.

One pillar of this world's most wicked, strongest, most demonic trinity had fallen.

Shimizu shut her eyes so tight, but the sight of the fallen general, her dearest friend, her trusted ally…the eyes that were still open in his death –that last sight of him would be carved deep into her memory and she allowed it. Let her mind be carved. Let her memory be scarred. Kuroo deserved to gnaw his paws deep into her skin and to remind her of the strong soul she could not save.

Kuroo, her dear friend, dear, so dear…he had protected her, cared for her, and Shimizu could not protect him back in return when he had been her very own shield all these time.

And Oikawa was not the only person losing his shield that night.

To be Continued