The Kingmaker

Dancing With the Devil

Dancing with Devil

Heartbeat pulses, stars alight

Stars in sea-blue eyes

"Are you not going to ask why he did it?" Aomine crosses his arms and rests his right foot on his left knee, his scar hidden in the crook of his elbow.

Tetsuya wants to say yes. He indeed needs to know what happened and why the two cousins hurt each other in such a gruesome way. As curious as he may be, he is no fool. The defiant tone of Aomine is nothing but a farce.

"The laceration should have impeded you from using your hand. Frankly, you should have lost it for good. Was it a miracle or a work done by a surgeon I should worship?" That is the perfect question. Even if it is still sensitive, it is far better than directly asking him about the story behind it. He is also not pretending that it does not exist. If he did the latter, he is sure Aomine wouldn't appreciate it.

"You wouldn't believe it." Aomine lifts his shoulders up and down again. From what he has observed, the captain only does that when he has no idea or if he does not care.

Reclining on the back of the chair, Tetsuya tilts his head, showing that he is apt to listen but not too elevated. "You may try."

"All right. To put it simply, the cut almost took my life. You can just imagine the buckets of blood I'd lost, no thanks to that bastard." Aomine spits with silent venom.

"Is he? Is he truly a bastard?"

"Do you mean an illegitimate child? Then no. But a despicable, ungrateful, disgusting person who should die? Yes."

This is far more complicated than he anticipated. The Heavens must be blessing him as he learns more. Once again, Akashi is right. If this person, with so much hatred in his heart, becomes king, there will be chaos.

However, the long-simmering feud within the royal family poses a challenge. How is he to convince the defiant Aomine to embrace his destiny as a ruler when he despises his own kingdom with every fibre of his being?

"How did you survive, then?" He dabs a bit of sympathy in his voice. Too much, and the cursed prince might change his mind and never speak to him again.

Aomine raises his hand once more, as if he were seeing it for the first time. "Voodoo spells. Miracle. I honestly don't know. But they call it the Emperor Eye. If I were them, I would call it 'The eye of God.' It's more befitting. No emperor could do what it did to my hand."

More words tumble from the captain's lips, but they merely echo hollowly in his skull as "Emperor Eye" tolls repeatedly like a relentless knell. He had hoped Lord Chen's ominous letter harboured no truth. Perhaps he had misheard or misunderstood its grave implications. Tetsuya remained sceptical of this Emperor Eye, whatever it may be, until Akashi himself confirmed the mortal danger.

The only things he understands well in that letter are Lord Chen and Crown Prince Akashi Seijuro's names. He closes his eyes and tries to recollect the rest. Their current king, Akashi Masaomi, is also featured, as is Aomine Daiki. Unsurprisingly, Kagami Taiga's name is also included, but the word "sacrifice" is not attached to it. The rest of the names are unfamiliar to him. He can only hope to track them down in the Azure Dragon Kingdom.

"Emperor Eye..." he says, at last. "My pardons, Kaptan, but I do not understand."

"Well, me too. I awoke from the blood loss believing I had lost my right hand. They told me it was healed by the Emperor Eye. When I asked them, they said it was not the right time for me to know everything. All I needed to do was be grateful to the Emperor Eye."