The Emperor and his Dragon (Akashi Seijurou x SMR)

Prologue

1st POV

It all begun when I was four. I met him at the baseball court, near my house. I was coming there with my father often, he was there as well. I walked up to him and introduced myself. He gave me his name in return. Akashi Seijurou.

He was coming there with his mom. We were seeing each other almost every day. Soon, we became friends. We went to the same school. We talked a lot. I knew what he was going through with his father. His mother was the only one, who cared for his childhood. I was there, when she passed away. He told me about the pressure he was going through, but he was holding well. That's what I thought.

Time was passing, we were playing basketball in our free time. Seijurou had less and less of it with every year. His father was expecting top results in everything Seijurou was doing. In the last year of school, we didn't see each other much anymore. We only talked in school. Seijurou expected I will go to Teiko with him.

I expected that as well, until my father got a job offer in America. It was also an opportunity of development for me. I could play basketball with the best players. I was happy and devastated at the same time. I couldn't stay in Japan. I couldn't stay with Seijurou.

I told him. He didn't resent me. He wished me good luck, even said goodbye to me at the airport. We promised to each other, that we will stay in touch. I texted him, when we landed in Chicago. I never got a response. I tried to contact him many times, but I never got any replay. I felt like I lost a part of me. Instead of wallowing in sorrow, I enrolled to the team in my school.

I was average in my opinion. It was a surprise to me, when they took me to the main set up. I played few matches, we were rarely losing. I stopped thinking about the past. I stopped trying to reach out to Seijurou. I focused on my future. Our school wasn't the biggest, nor the most popular, but we had a good coach. It was the P.E. teacher, he ran the football team as well, but he had a lot of knowledge. He understood, that some of us were thinking about a career in sport seriously and he took the time to analyze and develop, the potential of his students. I was lucky to have such man training me.

Around that time, I started to notice something. I was interested in girls, but not only. I realized I was pansexual. It was hard to accept that, but I wrapped my head around it. It was how it was and I didn't have influence on that. My luck was that my parents accepted that. I know that they were still hoping for grandkids in the future, but they never made my boyfriends feel bad. The kids tried to bully me in school, but it was put to the stop, when my teammates found out. We were close with each other, like a tight family. That was another thing I was lucky to have.

My life was going in the right direction, I knew that. I was happy with what I had. But I felt the nagging emotion in the back of my head. As it never faded away I made my decision to go back to Japan. I told that to my parents. They were worried, asked me if I was sure, I said I was. I even offered I will get a job to provide for myself, but dad said I wouldn't have to. We were wealthy enough to afford it. I had to promise I will video call them every day, even though the time difference would make it difficult to talk for long. I did promise that, I knew I will miss them. They helped me get our house in Japan ready for my arrival, they got me the ticket. I picked the high school. They drove me to the airport and hugged the hell out of me, until it was my time to go.

Now I'm sitting in the plane taking off to Japan.

Seijurou, I'm coming back.