( .A/N; chapter two x_x do you ever just... write something, and you feel like you've written pages upon pages for hours upon hours and then you look back and you've only written like two sentences? THAT'S HOW I FEEL WRITING FANFICS. I feel like I've written so much more than I actually have and then I feel bad because I'm posting these short pieces when I want to give you guys large, chunky chapters full of juicy goodness- welp. maybe eventually, as I get back into my groove...

He stood still, in the darkness of the gym. Waiting. For what, he wasn't sure of, he just knew in the back of his mind that he needed to wait. To see if the shadow of a boy would make a move at him. His gaze was glued to the shadow. Structurally, it was the outline of a boy just a tad bit shorter than he himself was, but the build seemed much thinner. If Akashi had seen a human the size of the shadow he was now watching, he would have assumed that the boy was malnourished and anemic. Lucky for the shadow that the bodies of monsters did not operate in the same way that human bodies did, not requiring food the same way as humans and not being 'thin' or 'fat' depending on how much they had to eat.

I've paid this one too much attention, he thought to himself, already turning on his heels and making his way back toward the closed double doors. They know better than to approach humans in this territory.

Whispers suddenly filled the empty building and his steps halted. He couldn't make out what was being said, but it struck him that this was a new, different voice than the one that had initially caught his attention. Ah. Was it talking to another?

"Hm. I have never been anywhere other than here, so I cannot say." There was the voice that he had first heard. Once again Akashi's feet were rooted to the floor, all his focus on the conversation that was being held behind him. "The one at the river, I believe he is from the town next to ours." Murmurs that Akashi could not interpret were given as a response.

It seemed to be a simple enough conversation about their current location, Akashi had deduced, and while part of him was calmed by this conclusion, another part was partially disturbed. Akashi had rarely paid any mind to the monsters around him, thus never bothering to listen in to the pieces of conversations that he would happen to pass by, but now that he was actually listening to a conversation between two ayakashi–mind the fact that he was only hearing half of what was being said–he was baffled. Such low things as the monsters that littered the earth actually engaged in such idle chitchat?

Akashi couldn't hold back the scoff that slipped past his lips, instantly regretting it as he felt a sudden gaze on him. Turning once more to face into the room, he found the outline of the boy and returned the gaze with just as much intensity–he would not allow a mere shadow to even entertain the idea of scrutinizing him under its gaze.

"I believe that it is time for you to leave." He spoke with a chill to his voice, each word crisp and concise. He had held an absolute control over his tone of voice since a very young age, having a hands on learning experience each and every moment he was inside his home, with either his father or mother. They spoke with no affection, as if they were constantly on the clock for their very important and busy jobs. Akashi's home had been devoid of love; no warm words, no soft whispers of stories before he drifted off to sleep, no mumbles of 'I love you's. Every interaction with his mother and father was like a business meeting, and Akashi had quickly fallen in line as the proper son who would help to grow the empire his parents had been building once he came of age.

He did not miss the ideas of warmth and love, because he found it impossible to miss what one never had in the first place.

"It is late…" The shadow spoke, breaking Akashi away from the unimportant thoughts that had begun to pollute his mind. "I believe that you should be on your way also, Akashi-kun."

It irked him, the way the shadow spoke his name. There was no emotion in its words. "Ah, so you know of me?"

"Yes, I believe it is impossible to not know of Akashi-kun if one lives in these parts."

Dangerous. Interaction with these monsters was dangerous, but the way that this particular one spoke had struck a chord inside Akashi that urged him to, against his better judgment, continue the conversation.

"Is that so? I do acknowledge that my family name is well-known throughout this city." Wealth was power, after all, and Akashi's mother and father were two of the wealthiest people in this city and the next. It made sense for his name to be known.

"I was referring to the Akashi-kun of Teiko Middle School, but I know of the Akashi-kun outside of the school grounds also."

"What is it that you could possibly know about me?"

He was greeted with a long moment of silence, and Akashi began to suspect that he would not be receiving an answer to his question.

"Akashi-kun is very good at basketball."

That was not the answer that he had been expecting. Opening his mouth to respond, Akashi narrowed his eyes before suddenly pulling his lips into a thin line. His gaze had not moved from the spot where he had seen the shadowed outline of a boy, but that space was now empty. He had not looked away, he was sure that he hadn't even blinked. Yet it was gone. It had vanished, right before his very eyes, yet the voice still lingered.

"I will take my leave now."

"I am sorry to say this, but this gym is not a place where you will be allowed to linger in any longer."

Silence greeted him once again, followed by a soft exhale. "I know."

And the hairs on the back of Akashi's neck relaxed, momentarily leaving him to wonder when they had even risen in the first place. Encounters with monsters were not to be had but they were unfortunately not uncommon, and early on in his life, he had gotten used to the cold pressure that would press in on him whenever one lingered too close. He had grown numb to the feeling.

Until that night.

"I have returned," Akashi spoke softly as he stepped through the door, not even stopping to acknowledge the maid who had scurried over and quickly removed his shoes. He moved swiftly through the house and to the grand staircase, a scowl marring his features. The interaction he had had with the shadow in the gym earlier had bothered him much more than he had expected. Akashi knew that while he might not see them all that clearly, his ability to sense them was incredibly high. But the shadow he had conversed with had almost no presence at all–Akashi had only felt its presence when it spoke.

"Seijuurou, come to the dining room." His father's strong, authoritative voice caused him to pause his steps up the staircase, cleanly slicing through his previous thoughts. Akashi was in no mood to deal with this, but he knew better than to go against his father.

"Coming."

The dining room table was long, stretching much farther than any regular person would deem necessary. His father was seated at the head of the table, a fork and knife pressed into the piece of steak placed upon the plate in front of him.

Disgusting, was Akashi's only thought as he took a seat at the opposite end of the table.

"Your mother will not be back tonight." Akashi just hummed in response, not caring much for his mother's whereabouts. She often did not return home because of work, and when she did, she would head straight to her home office and continue working.

"How are your studies?"

"They are fine."

"That silly basketball club has not affected your studies, I presume."

"It has not, father."

Akashi wanted to vomit. Conversing with his father always left a vile taste in the back of his throat. Maybe because the words he spoke were such automatic, polite responses that felt oh so very acidic as they crept up his throat. He knew his father's questions were just as fowl to the older male. Conversations between the two were kept to a minimum, on both parts. The only interest his father held with him dealt with whether or not he would be taking over the family company. Akashi himself did not care one way or the other. He sat quietly as his father finished his food.

"You are excused now, Seijuurou."

"Thank you, father."

And the irritation he had felt after his meeting with the strange shadow was forgotten.

He sat still on the hard, dark wood chair situated in the corner of his room, a book pulled open by his thin fingers. There weren't many things in his life that he felt he truly enjoyed per se, but reading was one of the rarities of the world that actually interested him. It had always amused Akashi how people could be so swept up by mere words on a page, being whisked off into a strange world of magic and wonder, romance and tragedy, really anything that the mind could come up with.

He didn't read for that purpose though. Even though Akashi admittedly enjoyed reading to some degree, it was still just a way to pass time, along with every other hobby he dabbled in. Often he would spend his nights situated in the very chair he currently sat in, a different book in his hands each time.

He rarely finished books, because they did not strike him enough to hold his interest for that long. But Akashi did consider himself a man of the arts, and would be sure he understood the meaning of each novel before discarding it for another, even if he didn't read the entire thing.

With a sharp sigh, he shut his current book tightly and placed it on the nightstand only an armslength away from himself, leaning back against the chair with his eyes closed. It had been a painfully long time since something had caught Akashi's attention to the point of him feeling ensnared. He would often hear people say that life was dull without a meaning or a purpose, without a passion or an interest. Akashi had neither a meaning for his life nor a passion. He just existed to exist, to move through the life that he had been given and follow the lifestyle that had been laid out for him.

"Sei-chan, you need to expand your horizons!" His grandmother would often say to him (he hated that nickname). "Jump in the lake, roll around in the mud–have some fun!"

But he had never really seen the reasoning behind this. 'Fun' was a fleeting thing that one could only enjoy for so long, before they were pulled back to reality.

"Ah, if that woman could only see me now." He was sure that his grandmother would be disappointed with the way he had decided to live his life since her passing. She had been the one relative to treat him like what he truly was–a child. She had messed with him and chided him for not being as social as other children. Akashi didn't enjoy much in life, but he had enjoyed spending time with his grandmother.

He stood up from the chair and strode over to one of the tall bookshelves, his fingers sliding across the spines of a couple books before he stopped at a particularly tattered one. Gently pulling it from it's place, he moved to sit at the edge of his bed this time, the book resting on his lap.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf. He chuckled to himself as he carefully opened the pages, the memory of when his grandmother gave him this specific book surfacing in his mind. It had been for his birthday, and when his father and mother had first seen it, they had been appalled that she had gifted him such a childish book. "Looks can be deceiving," he remembered her saying, making a point of showing that the book was not just a short children's story, but a fully fleshed out novel.

"Sei-chan, I hope you'll understand why I gave you this someday." That someday still hadn't come, he silently mused.

The book was old and weathered from much use, being the only book that Akashi had ever picked up more than once. He didn't want to think that he had held onto it out of sentiment, but it was possible. More than anything, he knew that in the back of his mind, deep down, what he wanted was to figure out why his grandmother had given him this story. It didn't relate to him in any way, because Akashi had never once cried out about the things that he saw but others didn't. He was never shunned because of what he said, because he chose to not say anything.

He leafed through the pages idly, thinking about his grandmother's words.

"There is no point in reaching out over a subject that other will never be able to understand, grandmother."

( .A/N; I think the more interesting stuff is going to start happening in the next chapter.. this chapter held a lot of Akashi exposition and I just like writing that stuff so I hope y'all don't mind! also I am torn between the spelling of his first name... Seijuro or Seijuurou? I feel the second is more correct since it matches with the Japanese writing of the name, but then I feel like I see the first more often? I dunno. ; ;