3. Stay

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Kuroko was forced to go to town again a few days after that night. However, this time, he wasn't heading for the market place but actually to trade with one of the ladies who lived in the village houses. For some reason his father was afraid of her and he ended up making him go instead. It confused him for a moment, but in the end he shook it off.

He decided to stop by one of the little stores nearby before he went when he felt someone breath down his neck behind him. He tried to convince himself it was probably Kise, but he felt a little nervous nonetheless.

Kuroko turned around. "A-Akashi...?!"

The red-haired smiled a little, a strange look in his eyes. "Hey, Tetsuya... I finally found you."

Kuroko managed to calm down a little. It wasn't in him to show so much emotion. "U-Uh..."

He looked around, noticing a few townsfolk looking at Akashi weirdly since he had been wearing the Scarlet family emblem on his royal, styled clothing. Kuroko bit his lip a little and pulled Akashi back behind the little food store's stand, still looking around in case if anybody noticed. Kuroko then turned back to look at Akashi when he noticed how strangely close he was; making Kuroko blush a little for some reason.

"Hm?" Akashi said with a curious tone. "Is something wrong?"

Kuroko took a deep breath and tried to give a casual, calm expression, mumbling a little. "Uh, well, since you're the king... um... what are you doing out here?"

Akashi blinked a few times, almost as if he was surprised Kuroko would ask that. "I was looking for you. I wanted to have another dinner, or perhaps a walk with you, or something else. Anything that has to do with you."

Kuroko felt a little strange, especially by how Akashi had been talking. His tone of voice... something felt off...

"Well, uh, that's nice but... you can't be out here like this. I mean, you're the king and people will notice since you practically look like one." Kuroko said. Akashi only gave a small smirk.

"So you're worried about me?" Akashi said with devilish, grinning eyes. Kuroko gulped a little; feeling a mysterious strain on his heart as Akashi leaned a little forward towards him.

"U-Uh..." Kuroko managed to say when he glanced to the side and noticed an older lady had fallen with a bag filled with fruits; which had all fallen as well. 

Kuroko glanced back at Akashi in that moment. "Give me one second."

Akashi gave a look of slight confusion as Kuroko went over to the lady and helped her. As Kuroko finished picking up the fruits and said good-bye to lady as she left, Kuroko turned back to Akashi to see that the red-head still looked confused; almost as if he had never seen someone ever give an act of kindness in his life.

"What was... that?" Akashi asked, curiously. It looked like Kuroko had been right.

"Well, sometimes people help other people without benefiting at all. That's an act of kindness." Kuroko explained. "I'm surprised you never knew what that was."

"I never saw people do things like that when I was younger..." Akashi muttered a little, almost as if he was embarrassed that he didn't know.

Akashi paused for a moment and then glanced at him. His eyes fluttered with an even more intense curiosity. "If you don't benefit from it... why do you do it?"

"Well, because It's... nice." Kuroko smiled a little, looking down. "It's nice helping people. I like it. I don't need their money. They already pay me when they say thank-you"

"So, can I do something like that?"

Kuroko nodded, feeling a little humored as he spoke. "Yeah, you don't need to ask for my permission..."

Akashi looked around, almost as if he was searching for a candidate. His eyes lit up as he saw someone, walking towards them. Kuroko couldn't tell who it was until he noticed Akashi had been heading towards a man sitting on the curb with a sad expression, almost as if his raggedy, torn clothing had held him down just like his pitiful depression. 

Kuroko watched as Akashi talked to the man and handed him a pouch, heading back to Kuroko. As the man had peeked into the bag, Kuroko saw tears rush down his face; although this time, they had been joyful tears.

As the red-head came over, Kuroko immediately asked him; "What did you give him?"

"Hm... I think, about, a hundred gold coins?" Akashi pondered for a moment. "I wonder if that was enough-"

Kuroko burst out laughing and Akashi just stood there, frozen out of shock and very, very confused.

 Kuroko tried to calm down, attempting to disperse his laughs as he spoke. Mainly he had laughed at how strangely innocent Akashi was. "Haha... you're amazing, Akashi... you just practically made that man rich... you've made my day..."

Akashi's eyes glittered for a moment, yet he couldn't seem to speak out his thoughts clearly enough. "Uh, really... h-huh..."

Kuroko looked up at him, walking a little closer to Akashi. His whole face radiated with a strange joy as he wore a gentle smile.

"You're actually really.... nice, Akashi." Kuroko said, smiling. "I wouldn't mind being with you more-"

"I-I have to go back." Akashi interrupted, talking with a rushed tone as he spun around. Kuroko blinked a few times, confused, that was until he noticed from the corner of his face and his ear that he had been blushing furiously. 

"Are you... embarrassed?" Kuroko smirked slightly. Akashi flinched a little as he heard him.

"Uh, n-no... I'm completely fine." Akashi said hurriedly. He walked away from Kuroko and wiped some dirt from his shoulder. "See you later, Tetsuya. I'll talk to you later."

"Uh, Akashi-"

It was too late to reach him. The red-haired King had left rather quickly, disappearing into the crowds of people. Kuroko sighed, remembering how he had to meet at the lady's house for his father. As he begin to walk, he felt a strange, yet joyful feeling in his heart. He wasn't scared of this feeling, in fact, it felt rather nice, but he had no idea what it meant. Kuroko shook it off and finally headed on his way to the lady's house.


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