A/N:
Thank you for the support!
And to Zanas-kun, there will not be any explicit yaoi scenes so don't worry! (:
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Kuroko had a strange feeling of dread all throughout dinner. It really did not help that those five strong demigods kept staring at him.
Was his cover blown? Did they know that he was a strong demigod as well? But that shouldn't matter, right? After all, Kuroko did not know who they were. He has never met them before.
If Kuroko explained to them that he had no wish to draw attention to himself, they should understand. Or so, Kuroko hopes.
On his way back to his room, Kuroko was ambushed.
Kuroko was trapped in a tight circle, surrounded by all five strong demigods. None of them spoke, so Kuroko broke the silence first.
"Erm, did you need something from me?" He asked.
Akashi stepped forward. Kuroko focused on him.
"Kuroko Tetsuya." Akashi said.
Perplexed, Kuroko only nodded back.
"You are a strong demigod, no? Why do you hide your powers?" Akashi questioned.
"I just do not want to draw attention." Kuroko replied, a little surprised.
"But you are a strong demigod, it is easy to make the humans obey you." Akashi frowned.
Kuroko blinked.
"About that, perhaps you are mistaken? I am a strong demigod, yes. But I am not strong enough fight against the Otrok on my own."
Akashi's eyebrow rose. Not just him, the other four demigods surrounding him all had the same expressions of disbelief.
Aomine suddenly grabbed onto Kuroko's shoulder. "Tetsu, what nonsense are you saying?"
Kuroko jerked, shocked at the forceful action.
Why was Aomine suddenly angry? Did he say something wrong?
"Are you angry? But I only told the truth." Kuroko murmured.
"The truth? That's not the truth!" Aomine growled. His eyes blazed with power.
Kuroko flinched.
"Daiki, move away."
Both Aomine and Kuroko turned to face Akashi. Aomine obediently moved back after an internal struggle with himself. Kuroko did not look away from Akashi. Akashi's eyes were different. No, rather, only one eye was different. It was gold.
Kuroko did not know why, but the more he stared, the faster his heart started to beat.
Akashi stepped up close to Kuroko. Kuroko's heartbeat was so loud, racing in his ears and blocking out everything else. Akashi lifted his hand, and gently rested it on Kuroko cheek.
Neither Kuroko nor Akashi spoke for long moments.
"Tetsuya." Akashi softly called his name, almost whispering. "Are you Tetsuya? Or are you only a fake?" He asked.
Akashi's voice rang in Kuroko's ears. Kuroko did not understand.
"I don't understand."
Akashi frowned.
"Tetsuya, do you not remember?"
Kuroko suddenly found himself short of breath, his chest heaved as he struggled to draw in air. He did not realise that he had raised his arms, and with a strong shove, he pushed Akashi away.
...No, stay away from me!
Akashi stumbled back.
Now that Akashi was no longer looking at him, Kuroko's mind cleared. Without wasting time, Kuroko sprinted past the confused Akashi and headed straight for his room, slamming the door close.
Kuroko slowly slid down to the floor, curling up with the door against his back.
He coughed, gasping as he inhaled desperately in order to calm himself.
What was that? Akashi… What was Akashi after? What did those words mean?
Kuroko's head throbbed.
He pushed himself up from the ground, stumbling towards his bed. With his face buried in his pillow, Kuroko felt a little better.
After a few moments, Kuroko turned his head a little, adjusting his body to lie on his side. He stared blankly into the darkness of his room.
…And why did Akashi seem so familiar?
Kuroko's eyes closed.
"Akashicchi…" Kise whispered.
They had returned back to their room, and the moment they entered, Akashi had sat himself down on a couch and slumped over, burying his face behind his hands.
No matter what Kise said, Akashi only shook his head in response.
Helpless, Kise glanced at Midorima.
Midorima looked equally helpless, but he still attempted to speak.
"Akashi, tomorrow… you can try again tomorrow." Midorima fumbled for something to say, hopefully this would work?
But Akashi only shook his head again.
Silence fell.
Eventually, Murasakibara spoke.
"Aka-chin. Is Kuroko Tetsuya 'Kuro-chin'?"
Akashi tensed.
"Mm, no? He's not Kuro-chin?"
Akashi finally spoke in a soft voice. "I...Kuro…" he sighed.
"Aka-chin?" Murasakibara kneeled in front of Akashi, head tilted to the side.
"Kuroko Tetsuya should be him." Akashi finally admitted.
"Then, we can go take Kuro-chin?" Murasakibara glowed happily. But no one else shared his joy.
Akashi shook his head again. He still refused to lift his head.
"Why?" Murasakibara frowned.
"…There's something blocking me from him. That, coupled with how he rejected me, I cannot go near him anymore."
"But, Akashi, you're strong. Even if Kuroko does not allow you near him, surely you could find a way?" Midorima asked.
Akashi finally let his hands fall away from his face and raised his head. Sharp intakes of breaths echoed.
"That...your face… Did Kuro-chin curse you?" Murasakibara's eyes flashed with anger.
Midorima immediately tilted Akashi's head up, staring at the blue lines scarring the left side of his face. Midorima's brows knitted as he frowned hard.
Akashi sighed.
"He did curse me, but I do not believe it was on purpose."
"Impossible. Kurokocchi would never do that!" Kise growled.
"But Kuro-chin did!" Murasakibara snarled back. "I will force Kuro-chin to remove it. Under Kuro-chin's curses, Aka-chin will not be able to use his powers." Standing up, Murasakibara abruptly found that he could not even take a single step. He glanced down at Akashi.
Akashi was glaring at him.
Murasakibara grumbled, but sat back down.
"Murasakibara, don't bother Kuroko. I cannot use most of my powers but I am still strong enough even then." Akashi ordered.
"But! Aka-chin –"
"No." Akashi cut off all of Murasakibara's protests with one word.
Murasakibara deflated, but his eyes were still alight with anger.
"Kuroko did not do it on purpose." Akashi sighed, repeating himself.
"But Akashicchi, if it was not on purpose, the curse would not even hit you." Kise frowned.
"There is something else. For sure, that is Kuroko Tetsuya, our Kuroko Tetsuya. But there is something interfering with us."
"…Does that mean they know about Tetsu?" Aomine, who was silent until now, finally spoke.
Akashi nodded.
"If they did not, they would not go to such lengths to prevent us from meeting. And Kuroko…it seems he does not know who we are."
Everyone stiffened.
Murasakibara looked very conflicted.
"Then, Aka-chin, does that mean that Kuro-chin is under someone's control?"
Akashi twitched. "That, yes and no, perhaps."
"What do you mean?" Midorima stared blankly at Akashi.
"If he was under someone's complete control then it would not be possible for him to seal himself so well that he becomes an ordinary demigod. The only thing that I can infer from what happened earlier, was that Kuroko is only partially controlled. However, the control over Kuroko increases when we are near him."
Midorima fell back into the sofa.
"Damn…" Aomine growled, sinking to the floor where he was leaning against the wall.
"We have to release Kurokocchi!" Kise was nearly wailing.
Midorima grunted. "How? We can't even approach him! Surely you have not forgotten just how strong Kuroko is? If we were to be hit with one of his curses, we would die!"
Kise slumped to the ground, looking like a broken doll.
Midorima was merciless though, and continued, "I would even say that we were lucky that Akashi was the one who was hit. Akashi is extremely strong, therefore he could bear the strength of Kuroko's curses. But that alone had cost him immense power. Are you trying to test Akashi's endurance by having Kuroko throw another curse at him?"
Akashi sighed. "Enough, Midorima."
Midorima fell silent, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Let us rest for today." Akashi murmured.
His soft suggestion was accepted with silent nods.
Kuroko carefully avoided the group of strong demigods during breakfast and stayed a little further away from them at the mines.
Though, halfway through, Kuroko realised that they were also avoiding him.
Kuroko blinked, a little unsure how to react.
The group of five did not work, only standing near the terrified human guard as they observed everyone else. The demigod slaves were given a break every hour, which was a complete luxury as compared to before.
The demigod Kise would smile at the guard every now and then, forcing him to blow the whistle to call for a break.
Kuroko found himself feeling better than he ever had.
With the constant breaks and water, Kuroko no longer felt like he was going to faint. And the other demigods all seemed equally happy as well. Kuroko was thankful to the odd little group.
After dinner, Kuroko made up his mind.
He slowly approached the group. He could have a proper talk with them.
However, before he reached where the group was seated, Akashi suddenly collapsed, and started trembling violently. Immediately, the other four whipped their heads around and stared at Kuroko.
Emotions flashed across their faces, too fast for Kuroko to identify everything. But Kuroko could make out pain and helplessness.
Murasakibara was the first to turn away, picking up Akashi and bolting out of the living room. The rest quickly followed after him.
Kuroko froze.
What was going on?
"Aka-chin? Aka-chin, are you alright?"
Akashi groaned softly. His body was sore. He blinked his eyes open. Murasakibara's anxious face was ridiculously close.
Akashi lifted an arm, weakly pushing Murasakibara away.
Murasakibara obediently distanced himself.
Akashi sighed. "Did Kuroko approach us?"
A nod.
Akashi blinked lazily. He was feeling remarkably tired.
"Aka-chin, how are you feeling?"
"Tired. And the sensation of my body burning from the inside is still lingering."
Murasakibara frowned.
"If Kuro-chin was here, he could heal you. Both physically and mentally."
Akashi laughed a little.
"Isn't it funny? Kuroko has the ability to cause immeasurable pain, and yet at the same time, he possesses the best healing power ever known among us demigods."
Murasakibara only smiled little.
"You should include 'death' in there, Akashi. Tetsu can also cause deaths of the people around him once he is seriously pissed off." Aomine snorted.
Akashi smirked.
"Yes, there's that as well."
Midorima sighed. "It is a good thing that Kuroko's temper is usually very mild. Even when angry, he would choose to fight fairly rather than just killing everyone, be it demigods or humans, with his power."
"But the Kurokocchi now is not Kurokocchi! He's being controlled, so we can't get near him. It's very painful, you know. It's like all our efforts to search for him all these years were for nothing!" Kise screamed into a pillow. Though his words were muffled, they were still able to figure them out.
Akashi sighed. The unsightly blue scars covering his face appeared once again. It look a lot of effort for Akashi to hide them during the day, and now that he was weak, the scars surfaced again.
"I will rest for a while." Akashi informed, already closing his eyes.
"You can't, Kuro-chin."
"Murasakibara-kun, please move."
"No, Kuro-chin. You can't."
"Please let me through."
"No."
"Murasakibara-kun."
"Kuro-chin, you cannot do this."
Akashi awakened to the sound of voices. He could not focus well enough on the conversation, but he was curious.
"Kuro-chin!"
Akashi's eyes widened. Kuroko? What was Kuroko doing here? This was a section of the palace Akashi had claimed (coerced) from the human king. How did Kuroko find out about this place?
"I want to meet Akashi-kun!"
Akashi jerked. With a soft cry, he fell off the sofa. The scars on his face burned. He reflexively cuddled the scarred side of his face gingerly.
"Akashi!" Midorima had just walked in from the other entrance, and the first thing he saw was Akashi curled up on the floor.
He rushed towards Akashi, trying desperately to help the shaking man. "Akashi, what's wrong?"
Before Akashi could respond, Midorima received his answer in the form of Murasakibara's shout.
"Stop, Kuro-chin!"
Midorima's head snapped up, and his mouth fell open.
Why was Kuroko here?!
But Midorima did not have any time left to react any more than this, for Kuroko was already in the room, standing at the doorway.
Kuroko blankly stared at Akashi for a moment before rushing to Akashi's side.
Upon reaching he urgently asked, "Akashi-kun? What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
Upon having Kuroko close to him, and hearing his voice so close, the burning pain from the cursed scar faded away. Kuroko had issued an order, that he 'wanted to see Akashi' thus when that order was fulfilled, the pain disappeared. Akashi lifted his head, staring at Kuroko.
Kuroko gasped when he saw Akashi's face.
He sank to his knees before Akashi, reaching out to touch Akashi's face.
"This…what is this? Since when did you have this?" Kuroko questioned.
Before Akashi could say something stupid like 'it's nothing', Midorima rushed to answer Kuroko. Akashi was always too overprotective. He wanted to protect Kuroko from the knowledge that he was hurt by Kuroko himself.
"It's a curse. Your curse, Kuroko. You cursed Akashi the last time you met."
"Midorima!" Akashi hissed.
Kuroko's hand fell away from Akashi's face and he stared at Midorima in shock. "What? My curse? How is that possible? I do not have the power to do such things!"
"It is yours, Kuroko. Why did you think Akashi collapsed earlier during dinner? Wasn't it because you had subconsciously rejected being anywhere near Akashi, thus resulting in him being cursed?"
"Silence, Shintarou!" Akashi snarled.
Midorima grimaced. He turned away from Akashi, and kept his head low in respect.
"Akashi-kun, is that true?" Kuroko asked. He seemed to be completely unaffected by Akashi's display of power through his voice. Only the real Kuroko could stand up to him. Akashi was conflicted, he did not want to hurt Kuroko but he did not want to lie either.
"Tell me the truth, Akashi-kun." Kuroko had phrased it as an order, and Akashi found himself nodding before he could stop it.
Kuroko flinched. As did Akashi.
A few tensed moments later, Kuroko finally reached out to touch Akashi again. He lightly traced the scars.
Akashi could not move away.
"I did not realise that I had done something so horrible. I am sorry, Akashi-kun."
Akashi quickly shook his head.
"You did not know, right? Based on your reactions earlier, you did not know you had such a power, therefore you are not to be blamed."
"But it is still my power. For me to not know that I had such powers is my fault. I was not thorough enough when I had last checked through my powers."
"No, Kuroko."
Kuroko shook his head, clearly unwilling to hear Akashi's excuses for his actions.
"I know how to heal, but will my healing powers take away the curse?" Kuroko asked, wide eyes staring hopefully at Akashi.
Midorima finally spoke then, because Kuroko had successfully calmed Akashi down, so he no longer had any hold over Midorima.
"You have to remove the curse first. Because removing a curse is a process that is extremely painful for the victim, they would be made to suffer through physical and mental pain. Only after that should you use your powers to heal Akashi."
Kuroko frowned. "But I do not know how."
Midorima stared at Kuroko for a while. "You sealed yourself, didn't you? If you release your seals, you would know."
But Kuroko shook his head. "I don't want to draw attention."
"Kuro-chin, it's weird you know." Murasakibara spoke up from where he was quietly observing the interaction between Kuroko and Akashi.
"What do you mean, Murasakibara-kun?"
"Why is Kuro-chin so afraid of attention? Kuro-chin is very, very strong. I even acknowledged you myself, and I don't like weak people. Before, Kuro-chin did not care, right? Because Kuro-chin could always disappear. And sometimes you hide yourself so well that even Aka-chin has difficulties finding you."
Murasakibara blinked.
"If you can hide from Aka-chin, why should you be scared of the humans?"
Murasakibara reached out and lifted Kuroko's head, staring into his eyes.
"Are you truly scared, Kuro-chin? Or is there someone who implanted that idea in your head?"
Kuroko's body trembled.
All of a sudden, his head throbbed painfully and his vision became blurry. His head went light and he lost all feeling in his body. He had no idea that he had collapsed, falling into Murasakibara's arms.
His eyes were still open, but he was no longer looking at the floor of the palace. His vision was replaced with bright flashes of colours. White, grey, grey, black. And then white again.
Without his consent, Kuroko's hands lifted to his neck, and he started strangling himself.
Akashi moved fast, tearing Kuroko's hands away and using all his strength to hold Kuroko down.
"Kuroko Tetsuya!" Akashi shouted. But Kuroko couldn't hear him, couldn't process anything going on around him. Akashi repeatedly called his name again and again. Still, there was no response. Akashi's eyes narrowed, and then he yelled at Kuroko, his voice taking on an almost desperate tone. "Don't lose yourself!"
He did not know how long Akashi had been calling for him, but when he had a moment of clarity, he immediately focused on Akashi's voice, grasping on to it to help him maintain his consciousness. Finally, Kuroko regained himself enough that he was able to look at Akashi, though he could not see well. His vision narrowed in onto a pair of red eyes.
Seeing that Kuroko appeared to be aware, Akashi did not lose this opportunity.
"Kuroko Tetsuya, who is controlling you?" He demanded.
Kuroko's mouth open, and he struggled to speak.
"…Con..trol…?"
"Tell me, Tetsuya. You are Kuroko Tetsuya; my Tetsuya, our Tetsuya. Tell me. Who is the one on the other side of you?"
Kuroko's body jerked hard, thrashing against whatever was holding him down.
"Tell me!" Akashi roared, filling his voice with power strong enough to cause the heavens to roar together as piercingly loud thunders filled the skies.
"…Ha…uo.." Incoherent mumbles were forced through Kuroko's throat.
Kuroko's body thrashed violently one last time before he fainted.
Kuroko's eyes snapped open as shot up from the bed, quickly surveying his surroundings.
He found himself back in his room.
How did he get back? Wasn't he…
Wait.
Kuroko frowned.
That's not right. What was he thinking about earlier? After dinner, he had gone straight back to his room. So where did the thought of 'how did he get back' come from?
He obviously did not leave his room at all.
Kuroko tilted his head.
Was he too tired from working at the mines that he started hallucinating? Yes, that must be it. Kuroko would have to pay more attention, he could not afford to make such mistakes.
….
But why couldn't he?
(Can't…will be…angry…hurt)
No, it didn't matter. The reason does not matter. Kuroko had no desire to be punished.
Reassured, Kuroko nodded his head firmly.
He should never release his seals, and he should never draw attention.
Yes, that's right.
Kuroko glanced at the clock in his room, then turned around and headed to the tiny bathroom to wash up.
It was almost time for breakfast.