Strangely, for awhile, Kuroko hadn't been hearing much of Akashi nor had he seen him for a few weeks. Although he was a king and he most likely had affairs of his own, Kuroko wondered if his mysterious curiosity about Akashi disappeared. In a way, he was slightly relieved since he didn't have to worry about having to stay away from him because of the Scarlet family. But mostly--and strangely enough--he felt a little sad. Kuroko had missed him, somewhat.

He had managed to stop himself from stepping into the lake he was walking around. Today was Kuroko's free day from farming and he decided to go to this part of land where a few townsfolk would come and visit since no one owned it privately. Somehow, he had zoned out. Kuroko realized lately he had been doing things like that.

He heard a dark chuckle behind him. "Careful, Tetsu, you'll fall..."

Kuroko's eyes lit up; his spirit slightly lifting as he spun around to see if it was Akashi.

Only stormy blue eyes looked at him, Aomine's expression showing a questionable look of confusion as he spoke. "Ehh? What is it? Looks like somebody just killed your dog."

Kuroko sighed, looking down as he walked a little closer. "I thought you were someone else."

"So this 'someone' looks like me, huh? I'm curious now." Aomine grinned as he placed a hand on his hip.

"Well, not really..." Kuroko said. "I mean... maybe... your voices did sound a little similar..."

"That's a disappointment~" Aomine sighed in a whining tone as he plopped himself down on the ground, laying down immediately as he put both hands behind his head. "I want my own look-alike so I can observe my own beauty~ It's too bad~"

"Don't you have mirrors in your kingdom?" Kuroko said. Aomine laughed briefly.

"Yeah, we do, but what about my own 3-D one? Huh? It'll be my own living mirror~" Aomine smiled. He then glanced at Kuroko as he grabbed his wrist and yanked him down to the ground. "Finally, you're sitting down like a normal human being..."

Kuroko rubbed his wrist, feeling the pain almost throb throughout his arm. "U-Uh, huh..."

"Say, speaking of my not look-alike..."Aomine muttered. "Who is he, anyway?"

"Why do you want to know?"

Aomine blushed a little, looking sourly towards the ground. "J-Just cause."

"Well, he's, uh-" Kuroko was about to speak until a voice spoke behind him.

"Hello, Tetsuya~" Kuroko heard a voice from behind him as he felt hands going over his eyes. "Sorry for not seeing you for awhile, I've been busy"

As Akashi released him, which Kuroko could tell was him because of his voice (and this time he got it right), Kuroko saw that Aomine's eyes had widened and he was on his two feet; facing the red-haired king. To avoid being placed even more awkwardly in this situation by sitting, Kuroko stood up as well and tried to back away; suddenly feeling Akashi's fingers digging into his shoulders. It was a silent warning not to leave... yet.

Aomine glanced at Kuroko, a serious expression on his face. "Was this your 'friend' you were talking about?"

Kuroko nodded slowly as Akashi stared at Aomine with a fierce glare, his right eye flickering gold like so long ago.

Aomine laughed lightly, but not out of real amusement. It was more grave-like. "Well, Tetsu... looks like you made friends with your own King! How hilarious..."

You could hear sarcasm dripping from his last sentence.

"And it looks like he also made 'friends' with the Prince of the Midnight Blue family..." Akashi said with a light growl. "Isn't that even more... hilarious..."

Kuroko sensed an obvious distrust between the two, especially from Akashi. He was stuck inbetween, yet he couldn't really think of a way to break them up.

"Um." Kuroko said, interrupting; feeling as if he had the slightest idea to separate them. They both looked at him. "Akashi, can you come with me please?"

Akashi looked at him as Kuroko glanced back. His expression lightened up somewhat and he smiled a little; the dark look still in his eyes.

"Yeah, Tetsuya, I shall" Akashi raised an eyebrow, the smile turning into a slight smirk. "It's best to leave filthy princes where they belong; by themselves."

One, Kuroko felt highly uncomfortable with Akashi smirking. And two, well, it seemed like Kuroko had dug this hole of hatred even deeper...

Aomine rolled his eyes as he began to walk away. "Whatever, red-haired princess, I'm equally as glad to leave dirt like you alone as well..."

As he left, Kuroko turned around slowly at his face; Akashi still looking at Aomine's exiting form with a fierce glare. His gold eye wasn't flickering as much as it was before, but Kuroko could still feel a small bit of it still trapped within those glossy, red prisons.

"Why do you hate him?" Kuroko asked, out of the blue. Akashi looked down, his expression softening a little.

"Well, because I'm suppose to," Akashi sighed. "The Scarlet family said so since they broke the truce recently in order to keep to the 'politics' or something, I guess. To be honest, I don't even really care about him- well, except for the fact..."

He trailed off, making Kuroko a little curious. "What?"

Akashi sighed; taking a moment to respond. "Well, except for the fact that... he's your 'friend' or something..."

"What does that mean?"

"Y-You ask too many questions." Akashi said, slight blush marks on his face.

"What does that mean?" Kuroko repeated.

Akashi sighed once more. "Well, I mean that I only care because you guys are 'close'..."

"Oh." Kuroko said, blinking a few times.

Akashi's face then suddenly changed after those few minutes of silence, saying a clear expression that he just remembered something in that moment.

"Tetsuya, I have to go," Akashi said. "I'm sorry for doing this like I did last time a few weeks back, but I really am busy this time."

"So last time you weren't?" Kuroko frowned. Akashi shook his head.

"No, I was, it's not like that; it's just that I'm even more busy now." Akashi said, a little worry in his voice; trying to convince him.

Akashi was then about to give a normal good bye and walk away like Kuroko predicted when he leaned in forward and planted a kiss on Kuroko's head. Kuroko blushed furiously for some reason and tried to hide it as he backed away; a clear smirk on Akashi's face.

"Bye, Tetsuya." He chuckled as he walked away.

Kuroko was left there, feeling his heart pound for some weird reason. It was happening again, like that time before, yet this time it had intensified. It pounded throughout his whole body; this irregular heart beat.This time Kuroko had an even harder time shaking it of as he headed back home, the thought of Akashi pooling into his mind.

Little did he know, he was filling Akashi's as well.