The King's Pet ♛ { Akakuro }

0. Before

The summer for the kingdom was a horrid one. All the crops that the farmers planted in Spring refused to grow because of the unearned, suffocating heat and the dry ground. For the farmers, this was not a huge problem since they had already had plenty of stocks of crops they had kept as back up from earlier seasons that the Kingdom had promised to let them keep private. However, for the rest of the people, including the poor, they had sunken to low, pitiful levels of starvation.

The young 11-year old Kuroko grabbed two basket full of some tomatoes and beans from the spring back-up supply. Kuroko's father was one of the few farmers who decided to share out part of their back ups with the starving people who were their middle-class neighbors awhile back.

Kuroko walked down the little dirt path that connected all the farmer's houses and the exit way towards the city part of the land, which was only a mile away. Normally he would take the the family horse but she was sick today and Kuroko decided he needed some exercise anyway since he always ended up working in the storage all day and sorting seeds.

As Kuroko entered the forest part of the trail, half a mile away from his destination, he saw a flash of colors dash between the trees far ahead of him. He knew well enough it wasn't just some trick of the light and he called out with a blank voice;

"Who's there?"

A little boy around the age of him slowly walked out from one of the thick oak trees. His hair was a magnificent pinkish-red and his eyes glowed the same color with a sliver of suspicion; keeping a general serious look on his facial expression. He wore torn, raggedy clothing you wouldn't even consider normally wearable; making Kuroko conclude that he must've been one of the already poor children who had been hit by the drought.

"What's your name?" Kuroko asked.

"...Akashi." The boy simply said. His right eye seemed to flicker gold for a second as he stared down the basket of tomatoes and beans in his arms.

Kuroko blinked a few times, a small smile appearing on his face as he realized what the boy had wanted. "Here, have some".

Akashi dived towards him, grabbing a tomato and eating it as he faced the opposite direction of Kuroko. It seemed the he was so hungry that the pride-like look his face had had disappeared almost instantly.

The red-haired boy quickly looked back; taking a few moments as a few blush marks took place on his face as he muttered his words slightly.

"T-Thanks."

"No problem," Kuroko said with a bigger smile, a little more heart put into it. "My name is Kuroko Tetsuya, by the way. Would you like to come over to my house? There's more food, if you want some."

Akashi just looked at him with lustful, hungry eyes and nodded slowly as Kuroko lead the red-eyed boy back to where his home was.

____

Luckily, Kuroko's father hadn't come home yet since he would most likely be angry that he brought a stray child when Kuroko still hadn't done what he was supposed to do. So, in case, he made Akashi the quickest meal he could and tried to make it the best as well since he wanted the red-haired kid to enjoy it.

It only took a few minutes for Akashi to finish it, looking at Kuroko as if he wanted more but felt a little wrong to ask. Kuroko understood, cooking up one more meal and handing it to him. Kuroko sat down in the chair next to him and began to ask a question.

"So, do you have any family members? I'm pretty sure they wouldn't leave you alone like that if you did." Kuroko said. Akashi slowed down his eating for a moment, a dark look in his red eyes.

"I was born an only child to my mother and father up ahead of the town that's near hear. Then, last year, my mother died from an illness. After that, my so-called father said I wasn't his real son and he disappeared," Akashi said blankly, his right eye flickering gold a few times like before.

"I'm sorry" Kuroko said as he placed a hand on his own cheek and leaned towards the table. "So how'd you live on after that?"

"I stole food until very recently when that drought hit and no one had any food I could steal anymore"

"Hm." Kuroko said as he blinked a few times and felt Akashi looking at him with those soft eyes. At that moment he hadn't felt the slightest feeling of intimidation from his strange, flickering gold eye.

There was a moment of silence before Kuroko looked out the window and noticed it was getting dark. He glanced back at Akashi.

"You can stay for the night. I have a secret bed behind mine you can use so my father doesn't find you," Kuroko gave a pleasant smirk as he continued. "If that's fine with you, of course."

Akashi nodded, making Kuroko stand up to grab the dishes and put them away, but not before Akashi grabbed his wrist before he could leave the table and looked directly at Kuroko with a strange, dark look lurking beneath the sea of his red eyes.

"Why did you decide to help me?"

There was a moment of silence before Kuroko decided to respond.

"I... used to be in the shadows always, as well." Kuroko sighed a little as he asked him that question.

Akashi just stared at him with the same look as he stood up and headed down the hall. Surprisingly, he seemed to guess which way Kuroko's room was correctly without getting lost.

As he went in, Kuroko followed and the cool, dark night soon came over the land swiftly and with a quick, relishing end to the heated, bright day that had felt more like a nightmare.

____

Akashi leaned over the bed side as he looked down upon the light-blue haired male. He felt a lot right now and he didn't know whether he should hate Kuroko for taking pity on him or appreciate him for saving his life from starvation. However, he still was confused why someone would still do that for him even after Kuroko had given that vague description why.

Akashi lowered his head towards the sleeping blue-haired boy face as he crouched down onto the ground for that moment to get at his level. In that moment he only felt himself whisper one thing to his 'savior' as his face was only an inch away from Kuroko's

"Thank you and good-bye"