=Bitter To Love= | DISCONTINUED ❌

Chapter 1 - Beginning

Crispy, red flames engulfed the manor under the ominous, dark night. Inside was a young red-haired boy, desperately searching for his mother. "Seij...uro.." Croaked out a hoarse voice of a woman, she scrambled up with her dirty arms reaching out towards him.

The boy eyed at her, his ruby eyes glistening with tears. He slowly pulled himself foward to the woman, without knowing the hazardous falling pieces of wood above.

One...

"Mother.." he called out, limping across the room.

Two...

Flames began to envelope farther into the area.

Three...

"Seijuro don't!" The shivering woman hauled herself foward before-

CRASH!

The burning, wooden platforms landed straight down in front of the boy. He froze, his body paralysed in horror. "W-What?" He stammered, "Mother please answer me! Mother!"

He immediately tried to launch himself into the barrier but was restrained by a firefighter. "Stop right there, you will hurt yourself," The adult carried the child into his arms, "I'll bring you back outside."

"N-no! You cannnot bring me back!" The redhead flailed his arms, struggling to release himself from the man, "My Mother is in there! Save her for god's sake! She's part of my family!"

"Mother!!"

Instantaneously, Akashi jumped up, trembling with sweat pouring all over his face. "It was a dream..?" He breathed out as his scarlet eyes gazed down at the fresh, lush duvet, "No... A nightmare more like, if only they hadn't start the fire." Akashi dangled his foot in the edge of his lavished bed, despite the clear, loud knocks from his bedroom door. "Ugh... Come in." he growled, the door opened and a maid popped out from behind.

"Seijuro-sama, your father demands you downstairs in thirty minutes." She spoke along with a polite bow. Akashi questionably stared at her.

"Why? it's six o'clock, I only go down at exactly eigh-" He paused as soon as he caught the folded Teiko Junior High uniform in the maid's hands, "Right... It's the start of the second year." Akashi rose from bed, taking the uniform without thanking the woman. She took her leave with the door shut closed, finally giving the fourteen-year-old boy time to change.

○♦Time skip♦○

Akashi glared at his reflection trapped in the glassy surface of the mirror, horrendous memories swarmed into his mind once again. The disastrous fire which caused the Akashi manor to burn down, was a terrible event for Akashi Seijuro since his dear mother died back then. Even though the manor was rebuilt over the last six years, Akashi sworn to make the fire starters pay. He sworn that he will eliminate every single member of the Kuroko family.

Ever since that day, the Kuroko family and the Akashi family are mere nemesis to each other, everyone in Japan knew, after all, the two families are extremely rich and well known.

Akashi descended downstairs to find his father tapping his bony fingers on the dinner table impatiently. "Seijuro..." he murmured, his harsh intense orbs squinted at his son.

"Father." Akashi greeted back formally. His father -Matsuda Akashi- is the current lord of the Akashi manor, he used to be sweet and loving yet sometimes pressuring but after the fire accident... Matsuda changed, the man became more severe and forced Akashi inside to study when all his friends played outside. Every year is always crammed with study, to this day, Matsuda still has high expectations for Akashi.

"I would like to speak to you before you go, now, sit down and listen," Matsuda ordered, the redhead silently settled onto the creaky, wooden chair opposite to his father, "I believe you still remember about the relationship between us, Akashi family and the Kuroko family?"

"Yes Father." Akashi replied.

"So then, you attend Teiko Junior high?"

"Yes Father."

"I've been researching every student in your year in Teiko from the past few months, and I've discovered something rather interesting," Matsuda continued, "A student named Kuroko Tetsuya, he is the son of the current lord of the Kuroko family."

"Kuroko Tetsuya huh?" Akashi whispered to himself, a dangerous smirk plastered all over his face, "He sounds interesting indeed, would you kindly tell me a detail or two about this Tetsuya? Why didn't I notice him in the first place?"

"Kuroko Tetsuya has a weak presence, which means people have a hard time trying to catch sight of the boy, well he was in a different class during the first year," The elder briefly explained, "Since he is part of the Kuroko family, the family who burnt down our home years ago and supposedly murders for the death of my wife... I will set a goal you must accomplish..."

"Which is?"

"Dispose of Kuroko Tetsuya, in any possible way. Give the Kuroko family a taste of karma. However, you have to make sure you befriend him and gain his trust so it's more easier to complete your mission."

"I," Akashi stood up from his seat, "Accept what I have to complete."

"Good, you got the rest of your Junior High years to finish your mission. If not complete, you'll suffer consequences..." Matsuda snarled at the end of his sentence.

"Yes, Father." Akashi then exited the manor without hesitation. As he approached the ink-black limo, Akashi let his mind run off wild to imagination land. "Kuroko Tetsuya..." He mumbled the name out loud, of course, the boy was so lost in thought that he-

THUMP!

"Arrgh!" Akashi cried out in pain, after bashing his head above the limo; he fluttered his eyes open to see the driver beside him -with his gloved hands opening the door of the vehicle- concerned.

"Akashi-sama! Are you alright?" The driver asked, but Akashi went inside anyways, his face blushing rosy, scarlet red in embarrassment, "I'll take that as a 'yes' then".

The occupied, busy streets were packed with many people. Akashi observed out from the clear windows, his mind drifting away again. Somehow, he was thinking about Kuroko Tetsuya for some reason, his name already made Akashi wonder about him. In the meantime, the redhead managed to escape from his daze when the limo arrived at the Teiko gates.

He grinned of excitement, "You may have took the advantage and went straight ahead of us... But it's our turn now, to turn the tables... Tetsuya~"

-

To be continued?