Story: The Tyrant Who Played Cupid

Author: animeg

Rating: T. Might go up in the future.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke and never will. If I did, then I wouldn't be on fanfiction, now would I?

WARNING: This story contains yaoi, i.e. MaleXMale. Don't like it, don't read.

Akashi Seijuro was, for the lack of a better word, a visionary.

He was a born leader, a dreamer; an idealist.

His plans, his aims, his ambitions were far beyond the imagination and comprehension of a normal middle school student.

To say the least, he was the kind of person who would do anything to achieve his goal. Threatening, intimidating, plotting, monopolizing; he would do it all so as long as it assured him victory.

Winning, to him, came as natural as breathing itself.

"Pass it here, Tetsu!"

"I got it! I got it!"

BAM

"Ouch! Aomine-cchi that hurt!"

"Kise, you bastard you ran into me!"

He was a feared and respected captain, the leader of the infamous 'Generation of Miracles', the boy whose foresight and abilities had won them three championships in a row. Needless to say, he was a legend in the making.

However, like most aspiring leaders, Akashi needed followers; followers who would be dedicated, loyal, and most of all, obedient.

"Ow! My foot! You did that on purpose, Aomine-cchi!"

"Did not!"

Akashi was very lucky to have found himself a group of such individuals. Young students just like him, but excelling in physical abilities at such a rate that he, himself would sometimes be taken aback by their hefty progress.

And yet it was all to be expected. He had hand picked them himself, after all.

Tetsuya, Shintarou, Daiki, Ryouta, Atsushi. All of them were his pawns in this game of chess; his talented, outstanding generals that left the world around them gaping. They were all his responsibility, his property. His to control and manipulate.

They were his pride.

Despite what other people might think, he really did care for them deeply. Each and every one of them.

If they weren't performing their level best then it was his responsibility as their captain, as their puppeteer, as their care taker, to get them back on their game. Akashi wasn't a born leader for nothing.

His plans were unraveling right before him, just as he had predicted, just as he wanted.

There was just one stupid complication that he had not foreseen.

"Dammit Kise, what the heck are you doing! How could you let Kuroko steal that ball so easily?!"

"I'm sorry!"

These damned teenage hormones.

"All right! That's enough for today, hit the showers everyone. Good job."

Akashi Seijuro wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand and took a deep breath, looking at his team mates as the coach dismissed players.

He could feel his eyebrow twitch in annoyance.

Today's practice session seemed more like an uncoordinated rugby match rather than a synchronized game of basket ball. Everyone was bumping into one another, stumbling at times, making foolish fouls and even missing passes.

It was intolerable.

And there was only one cause of it all.

A few feet away from him, an angry Midorima was berating a meek Kise for making them loose the practice game. Kise was bowing his head, apologizing profusely, but the green-haired teen was having none of it.

Aomine was on the other side of the court, high fiving Kuroko since they had won this time around because of Kise's careless passes and unexpected clumsiness.

Atsushi was retiring to the bench, quickly rummaging through his bag pack until he found a packet of chips. Soon enough he had ripped the plastic open and was no longer connected to the real rather lost in the tasty goodness melting on his tongue.

"Good job, Tetsu!" Aomine patted the smaller boy on the back, making the other stagger a bit forward from the force.

"That hurt Aomine-kun."

And in return, Kuroko was quick to jab the tanned ace in his side.

"Ow! Sorry, Tetsu. Let me make it up with a vanilla milkshake," And the blue-haired shadow's mood lightened up immediately.

And therein lay the problem itself.

From the corner of his eyes, Akashi could easily see a certain blonde model that had been worrying him for the past few days.

Kise had gone eerily quiet all of a sudden, his expression blank as he stared at the ace and the phantom sixth player as they made their way together away from the gym. Akashi could see as his eye brows drew together, and then, it was only for a split second, but a flicker of pain passed over Kise's face; an expression of bitterness and hopelessness; one of yearning and hurt. And then there was something else mixed into it as well.

Envy.

Akashi grimaced.

This wasn't according to plan.

Ryouta wasn't supposed to look at Daiki or Tetsuya with envy. He was supposed to admire them; that would effectually lead to more solidarity.

There were supposed to be no ill feelings in this team.

They were supposed to be one unbeatable unit.

"I'm going to get my bag and then we'll leave," Midorima finally having calmed down and taken all his rage out on Kise finally left the gym.

"Oh, okay. I'll be right there," Kise's offered the bespectacled teen an easy smile, but Akashi could easily see through that fake façade.

Kise's efficiency had been deteriorating since the past few weeks for some odd reason. Though the others hadn't noticed it; Akashi had. His eyes had allowed to him to see the smallest mistakes, the hesitant reactions, the distracted way Ryouta had been playing recently.

The blonde had been terribly unfocused, and although such misdemeanors won't affect practice that badly, in a real game, they could be hazardous. The other team would be quick to notice that something was off and wouldn't hesitate in taking advantage of it. Ryouta needed to be on top of his game.

Just like Akashi had suspected, Kise soon dropped the smile, his face turning impassive once again as he went for the benches to get his bag.

His inner turmoil was evident by the deadpan expression he wore, like he trying to hide his feelings behind a poker face and remain strong in front of the world despite being torn up inside.

Kise always tended to smile, even in the most precarious situations. He was like the fluffy ball of cheerfulness in the team. This demeanor of his was unnerving. And not according to Akashi's plan.

Not to mention, Kise's emotional instability had been affecting his efficiency in basketball for the last few days.

Unacceptable.

Akashi of course could easily tell what it was from the blonde's facial expressions. Ryouta was crushing on someone in the team, someone from that dynamic, inseparable duo.

It was probably Tetsuya.

The blonde would often cling to him in public and openly show his admiration for the blue haired teen. And though Akashi had always considered Tetsuya his exclusive property, he was willing to let it slide since Kise seemed in enough pain as it was.

Despite being deeply annoyed with the current development, Akashi had heard it before;

"The heart wants what the heart wants."

He couldn't as well stab Ryouta's heart with a scissor for going against his wishes and acting out of its own accord. After all, the blonde needed that thing to pump blood around his body.

Tripling his practice menu would do no good either. Akashi had initially tried that, but after a week of continuous punishment, even quadrupling the menu, Kise just wasn't mentally present when Aomine and Kuroko came in front of him together. He couldn't concentrate, and he would be staring at the two of them in the middle of a match, with the same stoic face that would resemble someone who was dying on the inside.

Like a scary zombie who just found out that he was undead.

Eventually, Akashi had to stop with the punishment since it wasn't working and Kise would definitely over exert himself and destroy his body if he kept it up.

Akashi had figured that maybe physical penalty wasn't the solution; maybe mental persuasion would be more effective.

So the only logical thing was to snap him out of it. Or at least tell him it was useless and that he did not approve of romantic relationships between the members of the team.

That hadn't been fruitful either though. Kise had, very cleverly, avoided the topic all together. It made Akashi suspect whether if this idiot was really a genius beneath that foolish demeanor of his. It was obvious that the blonde didn't want to talk to anyone about his feelings, even the notorious captain. And since he was set on keeping it to himself, Ryouta didn't let a breath of it to anyone.

First loves were like that, Akashi supposed. Making you feel insecure and helpless. Especially if they were unrequited.

Not that he'd really know, since he'd never experienced it. His only love was winning, after all.

And if anything stood between him and victory, he would crush it; crush it beneath his feet like a little cockroach.

The only thing that stood as a rival between Ryouta and his love was Daiki, and obviously, the blonde couldn't do anything about it. It must have been frustrating.

As Kise left, he bid farewell to his captain and the violet haired giant and after wards, Akashi could distinctly hear Midorima's agitated voice echoing through the hall ways and scolding Kise for being late.

Akashi narrowed his eyes as the blonde left, silently contemplating on how to deal with this situation.

How could he make Ryouta give up on Tetsuya?

"Kise-chin's got it bad," Murasakibara's voice interrupted Akashi's inner musings.

"You noticed it as well, Atsushi?" The latter nodded, and then continued with his snacks.

"He's completely smitten," the taller boy continued simply.

"Yes, he is," Akashi crossed his arms, and shook his head, "-what a troublesome child," he continued off handedly.

"What are you going to do, Aka-chin?"

Akashi stayed silent for a moment. As much as he had planned not to interfere and let the blonde figure this out on his own, he needed the model to be in top mental and physical condition for the upcoming tournament.

There were only two ways he could go at this.

Either he could get Tetsuya to out right reject him or-

"I'm going to grant his wish." Akashi said simply, passively, "I'm going to get him and Tetsuya together."

Akashi might be a little callous and personally against the idea, but he wasn't completely heartless.

A rejection was bound to leave the blonde moping for Lord knew how long. Dealing with a sulking Ryouta would literally be bad for Akashi's health.

"Mine-chin and Kise-chin, you mean,"

Akashi paused, raising an incredulous eyebrow. It was as close to a gape as you could get from the sadistic red headed captain.

"Daiki?"

Murasakibara nodded, mechanically chewing on his chips. Okay, maybe this was a little unexpected.

All right, this was completely unexpected. Ryouta's heart had gotten one over on him.

"Ryouta's in love with Daiki?"

The violet haired giant nodded again.

"Daiki," Akashi said again slowly, almost as if finding the idea itself a bit distasteful, "-how do you know?"

The other shrugged;

"I heard Kise-chin talking to himself in the locker room about how much he was an idiot for loving Mine-chin."

This was bad. So Ryouta was already at the 'talking-to-himself-when-he-thought-he-was-alone-but-really-wasn't' stage. Akashi would have to act fast.

"Well, that makes things a lot easier, though I do question Ryouta's odd taste in lovers-" Indeed, it was a lot easier to manipulate Daiki as compared to Tetsuya. Besides, if Akashi didn't know any better, Daiki was already quite fond of the blonde. Though the ace loved girls with big breasts and openly proclaimed it, Ryouta's charming and lovable personality definitely made up for his lack of female parts. Getting those two together shouldn't be that much of a hassle. Well, unless Daiki had feelings as well and secretly wanted to turn his life into a dramatic soap opera by not even considering the blonde as a romantic partner, "-all I have to do is give them a little shove in the right direction."

And by a 'little shove', he meant getting them together even if it involved drugging them both with extra powerful aphrodisiacs and locking them up in the same room.

"Oh, Aka-chin's going to play matchmaker?"

"I guess you could put it that way." And Akashi smirked devilishly, his mind already conjuring up various situations where he could put his plan into action.

Ryouta and Daiki were definitely in for a bumpy ride.

Three weeks.

It had been three weeks since he found out that he was in love; three weeks of having multiple sentimental break downs; and three weeks of trying to completely avoid the said subject of his unrequited admiration.

Kise wasn't sure when or how it happened, but by the time he realized it, it was too late. He had fallen; fallen so deep that his heart would ache unbearably every time he saw the tanned teen smiling or grinning or being overly friendly with a certain phantom player.

He knew Aomine and Kuroko were an item; heck practically everyone in the school was aware of that fact. Though it might not be official, and they might never kiss or show any sort of intimate affection in school, it was kind of obvious that were close, real, real close.

And Kise was just a nuisance who was getting in between them.

As much as Kise wanted to think that he had a chance, he knew he didn't.

In the first place, Aomine didn't even like guys; if he did then he was too engrossed with Kuroko to actually pay any mind to another male.

Kise would like to think that he wasn't malicious enough to hold a grudge against Kuroko-cchi for having someone he so desperately desired.

He could never hate the blue haired teen even if he wanted to. If anything, he absolutely adored the smaller boy; but the fact still remained that he would just get hurt every time he saw those two together.

Since he could never have what his heart yearned for, he tried to act like his feelings didn't exist; tried to act like he didn't catch his breath whenever the tanned teen so much as looked at way, tried to pretend that his heart didn't start racing whenever the ace smiled at him or casually slung and arm around him.

"I'm hopeless," Kise whispered, leaning back against the chair as his heart clenched agonizingly; just like it always did whenever he thought about how far out of reach the tanned ace was.

Why do I keep hurting myself like this?

He stared blankly the ceiling; trying to ignore the dull throbbing in his chest and the churning in his stomach.

Most people would cry if faced with such a predicament. It would lighten the burden on their hearts, and temporarily make the anguish fade away.

However, Kise was different.

He was strong; stronger than those people who couldn't deal with not having what they so desperately wanted.

He wouldn't cry; he wouldn't cry over Aomine-cchi. He wouldn't cry over the fact that the only person he ever loved would never return his feelings.

After all, crying and weeping never resolved anything.

No, he would stay firm. He would smile even if it felt like someone was crushing his heart with a boulder; he would never let Aomine-cchi know how he really felt.

Because that was the only way he knew how to cope with such a situation.

Keep to yourself, and don't make the people around you worry. Carry your burdens and don't let them make you falter.

He would be strong.

He would be strong for his sake and for the people around him.

And maybe one day, he'd finally be able move on.

…

Then…why were his eyes becoming moister by the second?

Realization struck him and Kise quickly wiped the tears that had involuntarily brimmed at the corner of his eyes before they could fall.

'Tearless grief bleeds inwardly, huh?'

A humorless chuckle escaped from his throat.

Looks like he finally realized what that meant.

He wouldn't push his feelings on Aomine-cchi.

He would continue loving him quietly from the sidelines and hope that some day he would be able to let go; because this unrequited love of his would never bloom.

Kise sighed when he heard his stomach growl. What was he doing anyway, hiding in the classroom so he wouldn't run into those two?

Why was he so afraid of running into them?

Because I don't think I could handle them being all lovey dovey in front of me.

Was it better to be a coward than to get your heart broken?

Yes, it was.

It didn't make him feel any good about himself but at least he could manage it.

His cell phone suddenly buzzed in his pocket, snapping him out f his thoughts as he slipped his hand into his pocket to take it out; flipping it open as the screen lit up with the new message he'd received.

And ironically so, from the same person who he was trying to avoid.

'You, me; arcade and takoyaki after school. Be there or I'll throttle you.

-Aomine'

Kise read the message on the screen with a small, sad smile on his face.

He couldn't go. Kuroko-cchi would be there too after all, and then he would be the third wheel all over again.

No, he wouldn't go. Spending more time with Aomine-cchi would just life up his spirit; give him false hope, and it would end by crashing down him the very next day. Just like it always did.

That was more painful then anything else.

His dexterous fingers quickly typed a reply and then he pressed the 'send' button. Placing his cell phone back in his pocket and knowing that Aomine would be fuming at the response, he silently turned to stare out the window.

He would never let Aomine-cchi know how melancholic he really felt. He would act normal, just keep his distance; try not to get too involved and hope he would eventually get over this.

Kise's stomach growled once again.

He sighed.

Really, what was he doing?

Aomine grunted as he lazily slumped against his desk.

The teacher was babbling something about Maths and numbers and how important this chapter was for the final exams yada yada, but the tanned teen could care less.

Right now his mind was occupied by a certain blonde model.

Despite what most people thought, Aomine wasn't dense at all. Actually, he was very perceptive most of the time. He could tell when someone was jealous of him, or was showing hostility towards him, or, as in this case, was trying to avoid him completely.

Aomine ruffled hair in slight frustration.

He couldn't fathom why the blonde was acting this way towards him. Had he done something wrong? Well, apart from constantly manhandling, verbally abusing and physically bullying the blonde, he was sure he hadn't done anything out of the ordinary.

So why was Kise avoiding him like he had AIDS or something?

Kise had stopped going home with him, stopped meeting with him between classes, stopped challenging him to one-on-ones and today, he didn't even show up at lunch. The only time they ever really saw each other any more was during basket ball practice. And even during that, Kise seemed distant and secluded.

It was daunting to say the least.

And even more surprising was that when Aomine had texted Kise to hang out with him after practice today, the blonde blew him off, saying;

'Sorry, Aomine-cchi, I have work after school…'

Aomine's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as he recalled it.

Kise had never turned him down before. The model always made time for him no matter how busy or preoccupied he was. Aomine seriously felt like he had been rejected for some reason.

Honestly, if Kise was in front of him right now, he would grab the blonde and pummel him into oblivion for ditching him like that.

Here he was, trying to make up for anything stupid he might have done; but the blonde was disregarding him nonetheless! The nerve!

Though Aomine would never admit it out loud, he really did miss the blonde. He missed playing with him, hanging out with him, making fun of him; all the stuff they did together like stalking or even getting into street fights. Kise was like a presence beside him that he had really come to depend on.

He was a lovable idiot; one anyone would easily get attached to; one Aomine had gotten really attached to.

And though he tried not to show it, it really hurt him that the blonde was acting so indifferent towards him.

But more than anything, it was pissing him off.

Who was Kise or anyone else to ignore him like that?! He was Aomine Daiki, dammit, the ace of the Generation of Miracles, renowned delinquent and troublemaker.

If Kise thought ignoring him wasn't going to have any consequences, then he had another thing coming-

"Aomine-kun would you mind coming up and solving this question on the board?"

Aomine looked up to find a grimacing sensei. Switching his gaze to the board he frowned in confusion.

What the hell was the Pythagoras theorem anyway?

After a hard day of practice and getting yelled at by multiple teachers, Aomine saw it fit to treat himself to takoyaki. Usually he would have Tetsu with him, but the blue haired teen had been asked to stay back specifically by their captain who wanted to have a 'word' with him.

Aomine shivered.

The look on Akashi's face at that time definitely meant that he plotting something again; something big and probably scary. Hell, he hadn't seen Akashi that excited in quite a while.

Aomine felt sympathy for the poor, unfortunate kid who had become a part of Akashi's freakishly fucked up plans.

Poor dumbass would probably wish he had never been born by the end of it.

Walking languidly to his destination, Aomine thought that he was really bored and that a nap would do him good.

Maybe he might just play some street ball after that; try to find an opponent worthy of his time.

It was only after he heard a familiar, loud laughter piercing through the relatively silent after noon that he stopped in his tracks and glanced into the park he was passing by.

There, on the set of swings was a familiar mop of blonde hair, opposite to an equally recognizable mane of green hair. The model was grinning, smiling, seeming like he was having the time of his life; like he didn't even remember that he had lied to certain tanned ace.

Aomine's jaw tightened, his fingers curling into a fist as a feeling of betrayal washed over him.

What the fucking hell?! Wasn't Kise supposed to be at work?

….

Not far away, a certain red head peeking from a deserted alley smirked when he saw the whole incident.

"Phase one completed," Akashi clicked his tongue in satisfaction.

Things were finally going according to his plan.

Author's Ramble: So yeah, new fic of my OTP from this fandom. This idea had been plaguing me for a while and I finally got around to typing it down. AoKise is love~ And Aomine's birthday is today, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAI-KUN~~~~ 3

And Akashi, well, I completely and utterly a-freaking-dore him. He is so awesome~

I apologize for any mistakes; as usual, this is self-edited.

Tell, me if this fic is worth continuing or not and do leave a review~ Cyber cookies for all who do~