"Kuroko-icchi~!" Kise called from behind. Kuroko glanced back and felt the blonde-haired male glomp him in glee. Kuroko only sighed, walking slightly away from him.

"What?" Kuroko said, expecting Kise to say his Kise things. "Do you have another story about the kingdom or royal family or something?

"Well, actually; it's about you."

Kuroko's eyes widened slightly, blinking a few times. "Uh... huh... go on..."

"Well, um, are you really friends with the... King?!" Kise almost squealed the last word.

Kuroko looked around and expected to get weird looks by people like last time, but strangely enough, they weren't. He then looked back at Kise, whose face looked disappointed.

"Awe, Kuroko-icchi~! Why do you always look like I'm an embarrassment to you~!?" He whined. Kuroko just simply sighed.

"It's not that, I just don't want anybody to know I'm friends with the King..." Kuroko mumbled and Kise only laughed, making Kuroko a little shocked at his reaction.

"Oh, wow, Kuroko-icchi~! You really are innocent..." Kise wiped a tear away, a few laughs still with him. Kuroko felt a little annoyed.

"What... do you mean?" Kuroko said sternly.

"Well, the whole village knows about him now! He's been doing nice things for the classes and donating currency and food to those who are starving and poor! They're calling him the 'Gold giver'~" Kise grinned. "You're lucky to be friends with such a kind King, Kuroko-icchi~!"

Kuroko smiled slightly, remembering about that one day with Akashi. He must've been growing on that thing I 'taught' him ever since...

"Ehh??!" Kise awed loudly, Kuroko almost flinching at his voice. "You smiled, Kuroko?! Are you fond of him or something!?!!"

Kuroko's face turned bright red, his eyes growing wide. "N-No, I don't know what you mean by that!!"

"It's okay, Kuroko-icchi~!" Kise laughed, enjoying every last drop of his expression. "I don't mind if you're a... pillow-biter~"

Kuroko's whole body was bright red as he spun around and tried to hide it. "I-I-I'm not into... i-into... that...!"

Kise sighed pleasantly, beginning to walk away. "Whatever you say... sword-swallower~"

Kuroko was left there, out of words. He knew Kise could be annoying sometimes, but this... this...

He just gave a harsh sigh, letting out any negative feelings out of him and letting it go. Kuroko then began to walk along, thinking about stopping by the kingdom to talk more to Akashi.

~

"King Seijuro, may I have a moment?" The Second prince said as he knocked on the side of the wall by the door to Akashi's room.

The red-haired looked up at him as he sat on the side of his bed while he was tying his laces to his white shirt, a blank gaze studying the Scarlet family member from that dinner he had with Kuroko weeks before.

"Yes, I don't mind." Akashi sighed with a blank expression. The Second prince walked in, offering silently to help him with his shirt. Akashi nodded, the prince kneeling down to help him.

As he did so, the Second prince spoke. "I need to talk to you about Mr. Tetsuya."

"What about him?" Akashi sighed once more as he kept his calm, secretly fidgeting on the inside as he mentioned him.

"Well, you know already; the royal family has told you countless times that you can't be near any commoners; especially Kuroko." He growled the last word. He didn't hate the blue-haired male but he still had to act like it for the family. "But you still keep doing it!"

Akashi smirked. "Then what about all the villagers I donated to and interact, huh? I'm sure you've heard of that going through the Kingdom..."

"Yes, I know about you the 'gold giver' and I find it completely ridiculous, yet that wasn't what I meant," He sighed, finishing the last tie of Akashi's lace. "Interacting with the Kingdom's commoners isn't the problem; interacting with only one, particular commoner is"

Akashi then stood up, looking into his eyes with a deep, fierce red-eyes glare. His eye was completely gold, not even flickering like before. The second prince gulped a little, feeling intimidated by Akashi's sudden mood change.

"What does it matter?" Akashi chuckled darkly, a tint of seriousness in his laughs. "Why worry about me being friends with just one 'commoner'?"

"Well, the thing is-"

A black-haired man knocked on the door and popped his head in, making the two royal family members look at him. He coughed a few times before he spoke.

"King Seijuro, you have a commoner who wants to visit you. Would you like to tell them to go away?"

Akashi flicked his hand in the air. "Tch, just tell them they are free to roam the Kingdom's castle, whoever they are, until I am free to talk to them; understand?"

"Sir-"

"Do it." Akashi lightly growled. The man nodded and walked away, causing Akashi to look back at the Second prince; whose expression said he was ready to finish what he had been talking about.

"Well, um, as I was saying..." He said. "The royal family thinks you're... queer--may I say it kindly--towards this commoner. Basically, they think your something like a sodomite."

A knot twisted within Akashi, feeling a strange rush of anxiety. He knew he would just have to deny it, but the fact that the family had found out that he was an 'unnatural act' (as they liked to put it); well, it could mean his crown...

"A queer? Towards that commoner?" Akashi laughed; trying his best to be a convincing actor. "How ridiculous. Why would I ever be attached to him like that?"

"Very well, I guess you may be right" He said with a suspicious tint in his eye as he began to leave the room, waving a hand in there air goodbye. "I'll disperse their rumours about you immediately since they are obviously incorrect about you..."

As Akashi sighed, relieved to be out of that situation, he suddenly heard a few creaks by his door. He stood up, suspiously, and looked around outside in the hallway. No one. Sighing once more, he headed out; ready to go downstairs to talk to that black-haired man about that 'visitor'.

Kuroko had managed to hide behind another wall before Akashi could see him, a weight pulling down his heart. Why did he decide to visit Akashi today, to roam around looking for him? Today, when Akashi said those strangely hurtful words? At that moment he didn't understand why it hurt his heart so much, why it almost caused him to cry. Then Kuroko realized;

He liked him.

A lot.

Kuroko walked away from his room, heading downstairs to tell the man who told him he would alert Akashi about his presence soon that he didn't need 'King Seijuro' anymore. The man looked a bit confused, but reluctantly agreed and let him go. After a few minutes after Kuroko left, Akashi came to the black-haired man.

"So, where is he? This visiter?" Akashi asked. The man shook his head.

"He said he was fine now, that he didn't need you."

"Really? That's strange..." Akashi said as he flipped a gold coin at him and at his hand. "Thanks, anyway."

Akashi walked away, heading back upstairs with a smirk on his face as he thought about meeting up with Kuroko again.

~

I don't normally do footnotes but for this- wow xD I used about six different ways to call someone gay... did you know I had to research this stuff?! Anyway, if anyone is offended or doesn't understand why in this world gay is wrong it's because it's based off historical hatred since I mean, this is set in the medieval times; do you really expect them to all love them?

Anyway,  I was also worried  when I was looking up these terms that someone might think I was homophobic for some bizarre reason when I realized;

I'm writing a gay fic. How the hell am I homophobic when I'm writing yaoi? XD I'm so stupid...

Anyway, thanks for reading! I'll try to update soon.