I have posted Chapter 3! I hope it lives up to everyone's expectations. As for one question on Akashi's personality, I didn't mean for him to appear so temperamental. I had just tried to fit in the time period I'm writing in with all the character's personalities. Please take into consideration I have set the story in a very old time period and the fact that women back then weren't seen equal to men back then as well as the riddle-like way they used to talk in. Thank you! I hope to hear more from my readers through reviews and if you have a question, you can message me. I'll see if I can answer them as long as it doesn't give the plot away.
Kuroko no Basuke belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi.
Chapter 3: Encounter
Kuroko blinked as she saw the unfamiliar ceiling above her. It took her a while but she soon remembered where she was. Getting up, she summoned Riko to bring her clothes to her, to which Riko quickly obeyed. She followed her usual routine of putting on all the layers of the kimono and sat down in front of her mirror, frowning a bit in annoyance at her messy bedhead. After brushing it out, she styled it in a simple braid that trails down to her waist, tying it off with a silver ribbon. Once she deemed her appearance acceptable, she summoned Riko to bring in her breakfast.
The meal consists of very little and she devoured it quickly, wiping her mouth in the usual, elegant manner and dismissed Riko to take the plates away. She watched Riko leave before getting up and walked outside. The sun had barely rose above the horizon, causing long shadows to cover the land. Feeling adventurous, Kuroko walked out of her pavilion, determined to explore her new surroundings.
She glided across the garden, making sure to head in a different direction than the one Akashi showed her yesterday. Many of the servants who passed by did not take notice of the foreign princess, but she did not care, having been used to being ignored for her low presence. As she walked, she passed a few different gardens and pavilions, but did not dare to head in for fearing she might accidentally break some unknown rules. However, when she came upon the palace library, she couldn't help but to walk in, wanting to see if they have any interesting books for her to read.
Upon entering, she immediately deemed this place as her haven. The place is stacked with rows and rows of books, going as high up as the ceiling. Tables and chairs are placed at the center of the room, with scholars diligently reading through their books. Once in a while, one would get up to leave, return a book, or to get a new one but even then, the place remained quiet. No one noticed the princess enter, and so, she simply walked right past all the people to find something to read. Soon, a book she had desired to read before, having heard of how good it was, appeared to her. There was one problem to this situation, though. She couldn't reach it.
Stretching her hand as high as she can, Kuroko's index finger barely grazed the lower spine of the book. She pouted a bit in annoyance, once again hating how short she was. She glanced around, trying to find a stool or chair for her to use when a shadow appeared behind her, reaching above her head to grab hold of the book she wanted. Startled, Kuroko spun around, coming face to face with a green-haired boy.
The two stared at each other for a very long time, a tense and awkward silence reigned the space between them. Finally, the boy pushed up his glasses and held out the book and whispered, "You wanted this, right? Take it."
Kuroko blinked at him in almost a confused manner and then stared down at the book in his hands. Slowly, cautiously, she reached out and took the book, holding it to her chest and glancing up at the boy again. She noted how his eyes were green too, and, reflecting the specks of lights that filtered through the window, it shone almost like an emerald.
"Thank you." She whispered after realizing how rude she was being staring at him for so long.
The boy stiffly nodded his head, and then left. Kuroko stood there, as though in a trance, even as he disappeared through the walls of books. Finally, the sound of someone coming snapped her out of that trance, and she quickly gathered herself and left, clenching the book tightly.
Exiting the library, she took a deep breath and continued her journey. She realized as she walked away from the library that she had forgot to ask the stranger for his name.
She continued and soon came upon the training grounds for the soldiers. Curious to how the soldier's trained, she peeked down onto the large dirt-covered arena. The soldiers were currently training in one-on-one combat, each residing in their own circles as they tried to outdo their opponent. Her eyes quickly narrowed down on two soldiers in the arena. One was a dark-blue haired, and very tan, muscular man while the other was a slimmer, but still muscular, and almost pretty-looking man with a silver piercing on his left ear. From the way they fought, it's easy to decipher the fact that they are on a completely different level from the rest of the group. Kuroko, whose eyes are used to watching Kagami move, can barely keep up with their movements, especially the blue-haired boy. It seemed as though the two were dancing instead of fighting, and Kuroko couldn't help but wish she could watch this forever. Unfortunately, it ended as the blue-haired boy pinned the yellow-haired pretty-boy down onto the earth, sending dust flying into the air. He held him there for a few seconds before getting up, dusting himself from the dirt that covered him and reached out a hand to help the other up.
The other gratefully took the offered hand and got up, dusting off the dirt on himself as well before whining, "Ugh, I lost again! Can we go another round, Aomine-chi!?"
The other, Aomine (-chi?), grunted and replied, "No thanks, I'm tired. Go find someone else to entertain you, Kise. It's not like you'll ever win against me."
"That's mean, Aomine-chi!" Kise pouted, "I'm sure I can win in the next round!"
"Dream on!" Aomine smirked and then walked off the arena, followed by a whining Kise all the way.
Kuroko watched them, and couldn't help but feel jealous at the friendly, and loud, interaction between the two. Back in Seirin, she had very few she could call friends, and her aloof personality made the few she had stay at a distance. Only Ogiwara posed as her closest friend, and that changed when they confessed their feelings for each other.
So lost was the princess in her musing that she did not notice the footsteps behind her, indicating someone's arrival. Nevertheless, she noticed the other's presence when a voice rang out behind her, causing her heart to jump in fright, "What are you doing here, Princess Kuroko?"
Akashi was not in a good mood that day.
The day before, with the arrival of the Princess of Seirin, he had pulled another all-nighter dealing with the documents left for him. He would have been perfectly fine with this had the documents been of importance, but he soon realized that they were all useless information of supporters and opponents to the arrival of the Seirin Princess. A few were important though so he could only sigh and go through all the documents, tossing the useless ones to the side while going over the important subjects, making sure to provide a number of solutions for each. Such a strenuous activity, even for someone like Akashi, can be stressful, thus the bad mood.
Therefore, when a knock came at the door, Akashi couldn't keep the dark tone out of his voice as he called out, "Yes?"
Mayuzumi froze to contemplate if he wants to continue, having heard the annoyance in the Prince's voice, but one glance at his companion caused him to answer, "The Prince of Shutoku requests for your presence, my Prince."
Akashi rubbed his temples and called out, "Let him in."
Mayuzumi bowed and opened the door, and Midorima walked through, giving a curt nod to Akashi before seating himself on the seat across from him.
"What brings you here, Shintaro?" Akashi asked, taking out another paper and quickly scanning it before tossing it to the pile on the floor.
"Well," Midorima started, hesitating a bit before continuing, "I thought it might interest you in knowing that I happened upon the Princess of Seirin in the palace library this morning."
Akashi stopped, and Midorima shivered a bit as he glanced up at him with his heterochromatic eyes.
"I see." Akashi nodded slowly, and Midorima fought the urge to look away. Looking back down Akashi asked, "And you find it important to tell me because?"
"I helped her get a book she wanted before leaving. Of course," He hastily continued, "I didn't tell her who I was, but I thought you might want to know that she headed in the direction of the soldier training ground, where Aomine and Kise currently are at."
Akashi sighed. He didn't want to introduce them to the Princess yet but it was expected with curiosity present in the Princess's eyes that she would happen upon them sooner or later.
"Thank you for informing me, Shintaro," Akashi said, "but I'm sure Atsushi would know what to do." Seeing Midorima's questioning glance, he smirked, "I have sent him there this morning for an, shall we say, errand."
Midorima's unconsciously twitched his eyebrow and sighed, "You already knew this would happen, didn't you?"
Akashi's smiled almost innocently, had Midorima not known him so well, and replied, "Of course Shintaro. I am absolute after all. However," Akashi paused, amused as Midorima paled, "I will punish all of you, Daiki, and Ryouta for your carelessness."
Midorima gulped, wishing that Takao hadn't stolen his lucky item as a prank.
Kuroko stared down at the pile of confections before her, the book in her lap, and the cup of green tea given to her. Across from her sat a massive man with purple hair, who she learned to be called Murasakibara Atsushi, the Prince of Yosen.
"Hm," Murasakibara hummed as he stuffed another sweet into his mouth, "you should eat some to Kuro-chin. You're so small so you should eat more, right?"
Kuroko narrowed her eyes a bit and stared coldly up at the giant, "Are you insulting my height?"
"No way," Murasakibara answered calmly in an almost childlike manner, "I usually don't like small people, but Kuro-chin looks cute, for someone so small."
Kuroko could hear an imaginary vein pop on her forehead as she continued to stare coldly on the giant, taking another sip from her tea. Inwardly, she couldn't help but ponder exactly how she came to be in this position.
"What are you doing here, Princess Kuroko?"
Kuroko spun around as her heart pounded against its cage, threatening to jump out. Her expression remained calm, though, as she looked up to see the bored-looking face of a purple-haired man. The fleeting thought that she had met a lot of people with weird hair colors passed through her mind, but it would be hypocritical of her to say such a thing as her hair color was quite unusual as well.
Realizing the giant was still waiting for an answer, she replied, "I happen to be passing by while exploring."
"I see." The giant replied, tossing the rest of the remains of a dango into his mouth. Finishing it, he frowned a bit before an idea seem to come to him. Kuroko tilted her head to the side in confusion but it was quickly erased as the giant asked, "Nee, do you want to come to the main kitchen with me? I need to get some more snacks, Kuro-chin."
The vein appeared again as Kuroko asked in annoyance, "Kuro-chin?"
"It's cute." The child trapped in a man's body explained, as though the answer is a fact, "It's enough that I've addressed you by your title once, right? Plus, it's shorter than your name or title, or would you prefer 'Hime-chin'?"
"Kuro-chin is fine." Kuroko quickly answered, not wanting him to change it further, "You haven't told me your name or how you knew mine yet either."
"Ah, sorry." The giant droned, "I'm Murasakibara Atsushi, Prince of Yosen. I heard about you from Aka-chin, but you look cuter than I thought."
"I see." Kuroko nodded, taking the guess that 'Aka-chin' is Akashi.
"Then should we head to the main kitchen now?" Murasakibara asked impatiently.
Kuroko contemplated the idea for a short moment before answering, "Sure. I am a little tired."
Muraskibara brightened up with a smile and he took her hand, much to Kuroko's surprise, and dragged her off to the kitchen.
'Maybe that wasn't such a good idea.' Kuroko thought, watching as Murasakibara gobbled down another plate of assorted confections.
"Would you like another plate as well, Princess of Seirin?" the servant beside her asked demurely. She was frightened when she finally saw the Princess beside the tall Prince, giving off a small squeak of surprise, but quickly apologized and opened up to the polite foreigner, albeit shyly.
Giving the young girl a small smile, Kuroko softly replied, "No, thank you. I am not one to consume large portions of food."
"I understand." The servant replied, exiting to get another plate for Murasakibara.
Taking another glance at the childish man in front of her, still stuffing food down into the bottomless pit called a stomach, Kuroko sighed once again.
'This probably will take a very, very long time. I hope Riko isn't panicking over my whereabouts yet.'
In Kuroko's pavilion, Riko is doing exactly just that, shouting for poor Kagami to hurry and find the missing Princess. Muttering under her breath about how she would put the troublesome Princess in her famous Boston crab position once she gets her hands on her. Kagami and the rest of the servants couldn't help but pray for their poor Princess as they continued their search.