look who wrote even thought she's still in finals! Yes, that's right! Me! Now to kill myself with college work. Please enjoy what I sacrificed my scarce free time to write! (and sorry for any mistakes you find, I'm sleep deprived)

Chapter 16: Cold as ice

"Do you know who Kuroko Tetsuya is?" Kagami asked bluntly, staring right back at Mayuzumi's dark eyes. The white haired looked back at him through the curtain of his hair, chewing his bento very slowly, feeling like that was a name he should remember but still unable to find in his memories.

"Why? Is he someone from the team?" He asked resting it importance, getting slightly bothered by the excitement in Kagami's eyes when he said that name.

"No, he's from one of the teams I did research on" Kagami explained and Mayuzumi felt like laughing, just like every other time Kagami used the word 'research'. He just wasn't the type one can imagine doing something as mentally elaborated as doing research on a team.

"Is that so" He replied without changing his expression, only a little mocking light in his dark eyes.

"Stop mocking me! I already told you I did my job!" He growled, only making Mayuzumi feel more amused. Grinning his teeth, Kagami turned away from the white haired and took an enormous bite of his own bento which was close to disappearing. His appetite as always, was not to be underestimated.

On the other side, Mayuzumi's bento was still almost complete for he was taking his time to chew deeply into every new piece of food that entered his mouth.

"Did it ended up tasting badly?" Kagami asked with a pout as he saw the slow pace of Mayuzumi's chopsticks.

"Not really" He replied minding very little about it.

"Then why aren't you eating more?" He replied frowning a bit "Did you eat some good stuff when I wasn't around and now you don't want more of my food?"

"I said it's not like that. What are you anyway?" He joked with his deadpan face before adding a bit hastily "My jealous girlfriend?" Somehow, one could say it was his way to test his odds with the redhead.

"W-who's a girlfriend?" Kagami replied in a loud voice, frowning a little "I-If you don't want the bento just say it already!"

"I said it's not like that" the white haired replied, moving the bento away when Kagami tried to took it back, already having finished his own "And, about that… Kuroko was it? Didn't the managers told you who he was?"

"Eh?" it took some seconds for Kagami to change back to the previous conversation topic and reply "No, they didn't knew… I tried asking Akashi, but he wouldn't told me"

Mayuzumi flinched just a bit to Akashi's name… So he had asked the other boy before asking him.

"If data-freak Kairi and nosy Mako doesn't know, then why did you thought I would?" He said, purposefully keeping Akashi's name out of his list.

"Don't know. It just felt like you would know" Kagami shrugged a bit, stills checking the almost full bento box in Mayuzumi's hands.

"What kind of logic is that anyway?" He replied shaking his head in disbelief, taking a new bite of food "And why do you care so much about someone that's not even in the data books?"

"That's the thing! He was really awesome, like I couldn't see him at all" He explained with light in his eyes, making the white haired almost choke in the food he was so pleasantly enjoying "But he did this pass thing! It was just, woah!"

Mayuzumi's sight darkened a bit… Why was a boy that had just appeared making Kagami's eyes light up like that? It was not FUCKING FAIR AT ALL! He had been doing all the work of dealing with him and hearing him out and stopping himself from jumping over him and still, he wouldn't talk about him with that expression. And now, the original sixth man just appeared to take him? As if he was laughing at him for being a lousy second generation?

"Woah, so awesome" He said with a sarcastic monotone, opening the book he had closed to look better at the face he had missed so much in the last days but that now was making him feel angry.

"I know, right?" Kagami smiled and Mayuzumi felt like hitting him with the book "It made me think of you right away! I thought it might be a known of you or something. Since you hardly talk about yourself I thought I had find some secret of yours…"

Mayuzumi lifted his face. Still unable to believe what he was hearing, he found himself staring at Kagami's dazzling smile. Now, that was too much for him. Feeling his face burning in embarrassment, he stayed like that even after the bell rang and Kagami ran back to class.

His bento was still unfinished… Feeling like the bell had saved him from a possibly awkward conversation, he awkwardly smiled at himself for a while. The bento he hadn't been able to eat in those days was tastier than he remembered.

**The emperor's watchdog**

"So, Taiga" Taking advantage of the space between classes, Akashi had just got up from his desk and was now standing beside Kagami's seat. He looked down at the tiger who was still siting and giving him a reassuring smile, continued "Were you able to find any use in the trip?"

"All the teams you ordered me to watch were amazing" He replied with a sincere smile "I just want to play against them as soon as possible!"

Akashi smiled, as if everything had gone according to his plan.

"As if you could" He teased, getting a quite adorable frown from the tiger.

"Ah, by the way, I was wanting to ask you something" Akashi frowned a bit, wondering if he wanted to ask about Kuroko once more. After all, he had been quite intense about it before "When I was in the hotel, Mako-san asked me something"

"Mako did?" Akashi's frown disappeared and changed into a suspicious look

"She was acting so weird about my special training" He explained clumsily "She was getting really worked up on it"

"Was she? What exactly did she said?" He asked getting even more interested in it.

"I don't know, she kept asking about how good you were and said it was really sexy when I said you were a genius in anything you do"

Akashi blushed a bit at the last comment, as he was being complemented in a very direct way by the subject of his feelings. However, just as the other redhead, he was in complete lost about what could that mean.

Nevertheless, he almost die of embarrassment when later that day Reo explained to him, with extreme clarity and unnecessary detail, the fantasies of the girl.

**The emperor's watchdog**

Flashes everywhere, news reporters following them like flies, impossibly strong cheering coming from the grades. Akashi seemed like a fish in the water. Putting strength in every steps he took, as affirming he wouldn't move even one inch out of his way for them. And as if he wasn't strong enough on his own, the team he had formed followed his very steps with the security of those who firmly believe in their own victory.

Even from the grades Kagami felt chills going down his spine as their entered the stadium, even forgetting the chants he should say. Even when he remembered, his voice lacked strength getting engulfed in his surroundings.

So that was what a national level team felt like. They felt way stronger and impassible than the teams he had seen in his research trip, like the King they were presented as in the media… The interviews that could be seen in the giant screens about the court also showed just how experimented was Akashi in terms of managing the media. Perfect answers with perfect timing… One could said it was just as expected from him, but Kagami felt something was off.

He felt… more distant and cold than usual. As if he were a robot prepared to reply with exactitude to anything he was asked.

**The emperor's watchdog**

Wanting to play as badly as he wanted to, he couldn't enjoy even one bit staying in the grades and cheering from there. It felt too far away. He could hardly hear anything beside the "Go Rakuzan" cheers around him, and he had a hard time looking what happened from there.

The team that played right now was half the bench and half the starters. Mayuzumi and Kotaro stood for the starters, the rest of the spaces being filled by the bench. Meanwhile the other two Uncrowned Generals and Akashi seemed to have a very relaxed time in the bench.

Weren't they going out to play?

In the meantime before the third quart, Kagami went for some food to fill his growling stomach. The game was being controlled by the team he cheered for, but since they weren't even playing with all their starters, he didn't felt much like cheering. Not that he had any liking for cheering from the start.

Stupid Mayuzumi. If he hadn't asked him to go cheering he wouldn't have felt so compelled to show his face there. He could be doing something much more useful like training himself for getting into the first string.

"I just want to see you there, have any problem with that?" Had been Mayuzumi's incomprehensible words.

Now that he thought about that, Akashi had asked him to cheer too. That lazy bastard wasn't even playing! Like what was he supposed to cheer? His sitting in the bench the whole time?

"If you cheer our team, I'm sure even I can make a better performance" Akashi had said at some point, in such a tangled way Kagami had wondered what exactly did he meant with that.

They were just unbelievable… And there he was, flustering for no reason as he rushed to buy some hotdogs. If he didn't put something in his mouth soon, he would end up eating the lemons he had made for them before giving it to them…

**The emperor's watchdog**

The last quarter was crushingly amazing. The opposite team had nothing to do when the rest of the Uncrowned Generals and Akashi stepped in the court. The score gap just kept getting wider until they were completely crushed.

That was the play-style of the Kings.

**The emperor's watchdog**

"Akashi!" Kagami called as soon as Akashi got out from the changing room. Since the smaller redhead stopped to his words, he rushed to his side in order to speak to him and hand the bento with honey lemons to him "Your plays were amazing! The whole game was just awesome!" He complimented him with a smile, trying to get an opportunity to give him the box.

"Awesome? It was impossible for me to lose" Those eyes, they were just like before, when he would make him trip for standing in his way "Since they opposed me, they had no other option but to be defeated"

Kagami knew he was wrong before. It wasn't like before. It was way worst. A stare so cold it let him speechless, words so cruel it didn't seemed to come from the same person he admired so much… Was that really the same Akashi?

"Is that all?" He asked back with a cold arrogance. Kagami flinched "Reply"

"I… I just wanted… to give you this" He mumbled softly. He still wasn't sure about handing it over to such a cold Akashi, but he decided it was better than not doing so "As thanks… for the training and all. You worked hard today"

Akashi's stare softened to those words. His left eye closing tightly for some seconds, as Kagami panicked over his dead-cold stare.

"If you want, please eat them" Kagami forced the words out of his trembling mouth.

Akashi stayed silent. He could perceive a deliciously sweet smell coming from the box. Even though it awakened his appetite, he couldn't bring himself to receive it.

"Oh, so sweet of you! Sei-chan will be glad to receive it!" Reo jumped in with a forced smile. Even if Akashi felt like ruining his chances, he wouldn't let him "Thanks, Taiga-chan"

"R-reo-nee?" before he could ask anything, the black haired snapped the box from his hands and gently pushed Akashi's shoulder.

"We need to get going. See you later, love" He waved back as he started to get away. Right after, Akashi followed him without saying anything to Kagami.

Clenching his chest, Kagami stared at the floor. His heart wrenched to that gesture of indifference.

"Don't get so gloomy. He's always like that" Mayuzumi appeared out of nowhere, Kagami jumping to a side at those words "You're too much of a scary-cat"

"I'm not! Just stop appearing out of nowhere!" He shouted back. His attempt of punch being easily dodged by the other boy.

"I've been here for a while, you know?" Mayuzumi replied lifting an eyebrow, hands in his pockets as he turned around Kagami.

"No way" Kagami's eyebrow twitched a bit and his cheeks got a small blush. He didn't knew why, but knowing that Mayuzumi had seen it made him feel… embarrassed to say the least.

"Well, just cheer up" The silver haired commented with a shrug "It's really disgusting to see you sulking over the midget"

"I'm not sulking" he barked as always and Mayuzumi's eyes smiled a bit.

"That's what I like. Well, I should get going too" He said as goodbye. His feet following without much excitement the backs of the rest of the team.

"Wait" Kagami called and he turned around "Here, this one's for you!" With a wide smile, the tiger threw the lunch box at Mayuzumi. The awkward catching he made of the box making him laugh in a loud voice before adding "I ate two of those lemons because I was getting hungry"

"I hope you mean two slices and not two whole lemons" Mayuzumi said jokingly.

"Who knows?" The tiger laughed, turning his back on him as he waved goodbye.

"You glutton" Mayuzumi mumbled, turning his back as well and walking over to the rest of the team. In his mind, wondering if the rest of the lemons kept even a little taste of Kagami's flavor.

**The emperor's watchdog**

"Here, have it. Don't you dare throwing it away, you hear me?" Reo threatened without much strength, handing the box over to the captain "Your tiger made it especially for you, so be thankful"

"Kagami?" He asked. His eyes stared at something far away. Even his voice felt distant, as if he were speaking from inside a well.

"Are you ok?" Reo suddenly asked, dark eyebrows rising softly in concern.

"Yes, I'm fine" Akashi returned to his normal self, eyes fixed on Reo's confused expression "Taiga's homemade food" He smiled to himself opening the box with the excitement of a child in Christmas.

"Enjoy it" The older smiled at the happy face of his kouhai. He had a lot of questions about his attitude, but he decided to leave him enjoy his lemons first.

"Thanks" Reo rubbed his eyes and pinched his cheek, trying to make sure he hadn't fall asleep.

"You're welcome" He replied, smiling at Akashi's soothing smile "But you should thank the person who did it, not me"

As if a savage beast had been calmed down, his expression now resembled a peaceful sea of warm emotions. Reo's eyes weren't wrong; Kagami was what Akashi needed the most.

**The emperor's watchdog**

"You have to be kidding me" Mayuzumi's voice, got to Kagami's eyes while he walked down to practice. He was voicing his complain over something he didn't got to hear, but the strangeness of that mild reaction, made Kagami curious about it.

"What's up?" He asked, entering suddenly into the conversation.

"Oh, the giraffe" Mako greeted him with a mockingly smile. The silver haired getting a bit paler at his arrival.

If Mayuzumi's reaction was strange (even though it was still pretty mild), it was even stranger than Makoto was the person he complained to. They didn't seemed especially close or anything, so Kagami couldn't stop wondering why he would talk to her of all people.

"Did something happened?" He asked bluntly and Mayuzumi dodged his gaze.

"I'll go back to practice" The cod reply as the white haired rushed away made Kagami even more curious (and even a bit worried).

"What's up with that?" He asked to the girl once Mayuzumi was out of their sight.

"It's not something your long neck should worry about" She joked, skipping after Mayuzumi.

"Can you stop the giraffe jokes already?" He mumbled making her laugh.

"Nah"

**The emperor's watchdog**

"Should it be the weekend before or the one right after?" The voice of Akashi got to his ears as soon as he closed the faucet. His fear for Akashi's cold eyes had proven to be unjustified, as the next day the captain had acted as usual, and even know, he had turned back to his usual self.

"You're overthinking again Sei-chan!" So he was talking to Reo. For which kind of problems did Akashi asked for Reo's opinion so earnestly? The curiosity made him chase them.

With a towel around his neck and his hair dripping wet, as he had been cooling down with the water, Kagami appeared in front of the small captain.

"Are you going anywhere this weekend?" He asked, the emperor almost tripping as he retreated, completely pale.

"I-I'm not" he replied trying to remain cool and terribly failing at it.

"Actually" Reo stepped once more "He's going to buy some new sneakers this weekend, right Sei-chan?"

"Y-yes" The contradiction the small redhead has just spoke made everything weirder.

"I was just thinking I need to get some sneakers too!" He said without minding much the strange attitude of both boys "But my size is kinda difficult to find, and I don't know where to get some in here"

"What a coincidence in deed!" Reo laughed forcefully, elbowing the captain into some words.

"You might come with me" The captain recovered some calmness with those words "I can show you some places"

"Really, that'd be great!" He smiled dazzlingly. Then, as he remembered something, he added as he scrapped his nape "Can we meet up in some station? I get quite lost when it comes to directions"

"Sure, I'll be sure to send the information for the rendezvous to your phone" Akashi replied, recovering his usual attitude at last.

"Really? That'd be awesome!" He replied with a smile "Then, to this weekend"

As he walked back to the lockers, Kagami managed to hear the voice of Reo praising the gods and congratulating Akashi. Just why did he seemed so happy? Kagami didn't understood that much, and preferred not to mind much about it.