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Kagami Taiga had been born to a lineage of soothsayers. But just as fate is unpredictable no matter how pure the breeding line kept to, it was only mother fate deciding who receives her gift. Kagami was a ‘partial,’ though most considered that even too high an honor. Especially with his older brother’s emperor eye to contend with, Kagami’s gift was relatively muted. It was more intuition than anything, and with Kagami’s foul temper and steadfast opinions, listening to that inner voice was difficult, let alone acting on its guidance.
It was a wonder how Kagami had ended up where he was. He had been bruised, battle-worn, and torn down over and over again by his opposition. Much worse than the hundreds of battles which the redheaded Ace general had fought in, had led his men to victory in. No, the worst of his scars came from his latest and last enemy, the fighter prince who had conquered his army, men, lands, and then sought after his body. And after much adversity and subsequent defeat, Kagami had finally accepted his new station in life. It only took a few more years before he had finally given in and started to offer up the last thing he had held stalwart to, his allegiance, one in the same as his heart.
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Kagami would be hard pressed to remember the last time he had been attuned to his intuition enough to garner any useful information. But as soon as he had walked into the giant bath house and saw the voluptuous naked woman lying seductively on the edge of the bath, every cell in his body yelled “WRONG.” It had almost knocked the wind out of Kagami, with how intense his instincts were yelling at him to get as far away as possible. Only one thing kept him rooted there.
And that cursed individual was at the moment, beckoning him forward. With Prince Aomine Daiki’s reputation, Kagami knew the time would come when the prince would one day again indulge his sexual whims. It saddened Kagami that he alone wasn’t enough to keep the prince entertained. No matter their intense sparring on the practice fields, the languid walks that always ended up turning into races, the harsh, rough kisses sometimes interspersed with languid, sweet gestures. None of it mattered when Aomine was a prince accustomed to excess and finery. And sex. It had been two smooth years before Aomine had decided Kagami wasn’t all he wanted in his bedchamber. It had taken almost a whole year prior to that to break Kagami’s defences down enough for their brief and few encounters to not be classified as ‘rape.’
But alas, Kagami’s will had been broken, or penetrated rather. And he came willingly to his princes beck and call. Most always, anyways. Just, not this time.
“Ah… I wasn’t aware I was being called into an orgy.” Kagami’s crass tone made his reluctance clear.
“Surprise.” The prince answered, his shoulders shrugging it off carelessly.
“It’s a pity, after years of interacting with me how you know not even a pebbles worth about what sort of surprises I’d enjoy.” Kagami answered, attempting to solidify his disapproval and hopefully curtail this entire ordeal.
The prince however, did not take kindly to being challenged or demeaned, especially in front of a beautiful woman.
“What makes you think I, your prince, care enough to give a shit about whether you enjoy my surprise or not. And might I add, if the next thing you say doesn’t include an honorific, you will learn what a truly unenjoyable surprise consists of.”
It took a LOT of patience for Kagami to reign in his temper. That same fierceness that Aomine loved about him, Kagami knew would cost him in this situation.
“I apologize, sire… I suppose what I’m trying to say is that you strike me as a prince who prefers pleasurable sexual encounters.” Kagami tried not to dwell on the few times Aomine had used force to exact his power over the redhead in the early days. After all, that was about power, not pleasure. “And well, willingness yields far more enthusiasm, I suppose is all I’m getting at.”
Aomine’s eyes clouded over before he heard a huff from the woman in front of him.
“It seems you’ve begun to offend our guest and you’re souring my mood as well… It seems you’ve made your decision, you can go then.”
Kagami’s eyes widened as his mind went into overdrive. His panic must have been obvious to Aomine as a slight bit of confusion crossed those sapphire blue eyes before they reverted again to anger.
Kagami knew he couldn’t just tell Aomine of his ‘bad feeling,’ as the prince had in the past laughed at his explanation of his ‘gift,’ brushing it off as ‘superstitious bullshit.’
Kagami had to think fast and there was only one way of that he knew he could get the prince to reconsider kicking him out.
The redhead strutted up to the woman, knelt down and kissed her while dragging his hand delicately along her outer thigh.
Those blue eyes immediately went from irritated to lustful.
“Hrmm… I knew there was a reason you’re my favorite catamite.”
Kagami hated the term, however accurate it was, especially proven so in this moment.
It seemed that Kagami had redirected Aomine’s attention. Unfortunately, he couldn’t just leave it at this.
He sauntered up to his prince and sat straddling his lap.
Aomine wrapped his arms around Kagami’s trunk as he took the redhead’s mouth in a fervent kiss.
Kagami ground his ass down in circular motions, lightly enough to just tease.
Aomine undid his robes and let them slip down to the ground, making a nice pile for Kagami to kneel on as he shimmied down between the prince’s legs.
He tugged Aomine’s own robes off as he knelt, freeing Aomine’s generous cock. Kagami sort of hated how the fucker had to be blessed with everything. He himself was just as well endowed, in the physical realm anyways. But he didn’t have the riches or title or charm or even as much fighting prowess, much to his chagrin, as the prince did.
Just as Kagami was about to take Aomine’s cock into his mouth, in his periphery, he caught a tanned hand being held out to the other woman.
Kagami licked a swath up the underside of the prince’s cock spurring a slight moan. Soon, the woman had reached the prince who had leaned back enough to have her sit comfortably on his chest, no doubt so he could play with her ample breasts.
In any other situation, consciously Kagami would probably be a bit hurt that Aomine blocked his view of Kagami giving him head with something he found more appealing. But the redhead’s mind was preoccupied with other thoughts. His unconscious mind however? Well, let’s just say that as soon as the woman sat on Aomine’s chest, Kagami went limp.
Soon enough though, Kagami was able to ascertain that Aomine was not only playing with her breasts, but had his hands under her as well. When Kagami looked up, he saw the woman lifting slightly up and down to accommodate the two tanned fingers rocking up inside her. Shit. Kagami had an idea of what would come next. So he sat up and grabbed the woman around the waist, lifting her up and off the prince so he could instead sidle up that built body.
The prince was smugly smirking at what he interpreted to be a jealous Kagami. He loved instigating the redhead in any way he could.
When Kagami was laying spread eagle over him, his hot mouth mere centimeters away, he whispered, “I’ll do whatever you want, anything you desire of me, all I graciously ask for, sire… is for lambskins.”
Aomine’s lusty eyes cleared almost instantly when he comprehended the words said. But before he could answer, a loud “HRMPH” was heard.
“What?” A shrill female voice sounded, “Are you calling me unclean?! A whore?! I’m more pure than you, manwhore!”
Kagami’s eyes closed in helplessness at the outburst. One prince was hard enough to deal with. And now with this? Kagami knew he was in for it.
Aomine shoved Kagami’s body off of him, anger swirling in those navy eyes.
“ENOUGH Kagami. Now you’ve again sorely offended the lady, such a beautiful maiden that I dare say may become my new favorite concubine.”
That hurt.
“Go now, out of my sight. Don’t wait for me in my bedchambers until I call for you.”
Kagami panicked. He immediately fell to his knees, “No, sire, I’ll do anything you want of me. I’ll atone for my sins in any way you see fit, I’ll remedy my harsh tongue now… just, all I ask is only for you to wear a lambskin, ok?”
Aomine would be lying if he said he wasn’t taken aback by this meek Kagami. And it struck a chord somewhere deep inside him, knowing that Kagami, for some untold and absolutely ridiculous and futile reason, wanted only for his protection. Completely useless, of course. But… sweet, in a way.
Still, he didn’t hate lambskins but he wanted to feel all of the luscious woman in front of him. She had been vetted and tested as clean and pure.
“She’s a virgin, Kagami!”
Aomine took in a breath, ready to adamantly deny Kagami’s request when he heard a meager, desperate, “Please.”
Aomine growled as he stomped towards a gold cauldron with lambskins and lube in it.
Kagami had never in his entire life felt more relieved than he did in that instance.
As Aomine rolled the lambskin on, he scowled at Kagami, “Well? Remedy the situation then! Make it so the lady isn’t offended, make it so both her and I are leaking once again.”
Kagami didn’t waste a second as he grabbed the woman by the waist and laid her gently down as he laved and lavished her body with his tongue. He got her off once with his tongue then brought her to the brink again for the prince to finish her off, to take her virginity.
“It would be a waste for the maiden not to feel a raw cock in her during her first sexual encounter.” Oh how Kagami doubted that this was anywhere NEAR her first. But alas, her hymen was intact, he had noticed it himself.
Kagami knew it would come to this, sooner or later. He kept his erection up through it all by sheer willpower and of course, having his gorgeous naked lover with him helped. Prince Aomine Daiki, wrought with pleasure was always a sight to behold. And Kagami indulged in it completely as he entered the woman. His inner voice was tamed only from intently watching those blue eyes the entire time he fucked her raw. Sometimes those eyes would wander, across her body, to where Kagami and her were joined, sometimes they were focused just as fiercely on Kagami’s bright red eyes. It was in the midst of one of those intense looks that Kagami came inside her, thrusting his limp cock a few more times to help bring her over one last time.
Aomine then changed lambskins and fucked Kagami once before the prince had called it a night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For the next few months, Kagami was scarce. It seemed that encounter had opened up a new desire in the prince and he had his cohorts set up many other women for him to entertain himself with. Most, he took with lambskins but a few virgins, he took raw. It was something he did not mind doing, considering all of his concubines were vetted clean virgins when he acquired them, and afterwards, were loyal and faithful to only him.
He went on a sort of binge with women, having one or multiple at the same time. He very rarely called for Kagami or other catamites to indulge in these parties, finding pride in being able to thoroughly satisfy the women himself.
But every encounter left him feeling empty and unfulfilled. It’s why he kept adding more, different women to the mix, hoping against everything that he could get back to his roguish ways, before a certain general entered his life. Get back to a place where he wasn’t dependent on and possibly in love with a fucking idiotic redhead. It scared him, needing someone like that.
Six months into his binge though, he was finally tiring, finally being confronted with reality. And sorely missing a certain body sleeping next to him.
Kagami himself had kept away as well. It hurt Aomine’s pride that a man who used to willingly wait for him in his chambers every night, now avoided him. The prince figured it was because the redhead was jealous and fed up with Aomine’s frivolous ways.
So Aomine stopped. He called Kagami back, again and again, night after night.
They finally got back to a place where they had left off, a place of happiness and fulfillment, contentment and peace. And after much soul searching (aka: people fucking) Aomine was finally ready to accept that. It seemed Kagami was too, considering he too looked worse for wear. And Aomine was sure Kagami still had lingering resentment. He could tell just from Kagami’s ridiculous insistence on Aomine always wearing a lambskin every fucking time they were intimate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was around three months into prince Aomine and Kagami’s renewed relations when one night the prince had had about enough.
“Look, I’m a prince, I have the right to indulge in my concubines from time to time.”
“I know that, I’m fine with it.”
“You’re clearly not! Look at you, you’re damn stubborn insistence on lambskins, not to mention you look like hell! You’re losing weight and you’re pale and it’s just ridiculous how you’re putting up this act when it’s clear that something’s bugging you! Enough to the point where it’s affecting your health!”
“I’m fine, sire… just, shit, I told you, I like how it feels with lambskins. It hurts less and, well, if you don’t like it, you can call in one of your concubines.”
Kagami wasn’t worried about that particular woman anymore as she had left a few weeks after the encounter. Aomine had spent a bit of time attempting to find where she had fled to but wasn’t successful and eventually left it. Kagami couldn’t control the prince’s actions with his other concubines but he could at least say he never got a nagging feeling of dread like he had that day.
“Ugh. I don’t want anymore concubines, Taiga… don’t you get that? Don’t you trust me when I say I only want you?”
Kagami’s red eyes softened, “I only want you too, my prince.”
Oh shit. THAT little phrase, so rare, always got the prince’s heart beating like a hundred horses hooves. This time was no different, as he gingerly put on the lambskin and took his redhead, forgetting his earlier tirade.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Figure it out, Midorima... and quickly.”
“Ordering me around will bode well for no one, sire. It will be as Oha Asa has ordained.”
“Oh my god, I didn’t come here for your superstitious bullshit, FIGURE OUT what’s wrong with Kagami!”
“You know, sire, it would do you well not to ridicule fate as flippantly as you do. Tempting an unstoppable force is not wise.”
“Ugh… I don’t want to get into this again… just, what the fuck is going on?! You have to have SOME idea, right?!”
“I have narrowed it down to a few things.” The healer said in a neutral tone. Yet Aomine didn’t like the somber look on Midorima’s face.
“And these few things would be…?”
“Well… it’s an infection of some sort that is attacking his body from the inside.”
“So KILL the infection.”
“I must identify it in order to kill it.”
“Can’t you give him a bunch of different shit until he gets better, then keep giving him that?!”
“No, unfortunately… I’m sure you can recognize that this isn’t a mild cold. The remedies I have ready will kill anything that it comes into contact with. The good and the bad. I will not make him worse just to test out which one may or may not work. Especially as, in this state, his body may not even be able to handle one potential mithridate.”
Aomine paled as that last sentence.
“What do you mean in this state his body can’t handle an antidote?! Are you saying… No, you’re not, that’s ridiculous, Midorima. If I hear you saying such nonsense things again, I won’t hesitate to fire and replace you.”
“Do as you wish, sire, as I put my faith in a much higher power… but I will not sugarcoat the reality of the situation for you. Now, I called you down here so you can possibly help me.”
Aomine’s vacant eyes cleared a bit as he realized he needed to focus, “What? Anything, anything you need is yours. Just… just fix him.”
Midorima sighed before he sat down in front of the prince. “There is one thing which I am leaning towards, but with the information and history Kagami has provided, it does not seem to fit.”
“What makes you think I’ll have any different information? He would not lie about anything, he has no reason to.”
Midorima could think of one very good reason Kagami might be clamming up about this, and that particular reason was sitting right in front of him.
“Yes well, maybe he is just prudish when it comes to elaborating on his sexual history.”
“HIS WHAT?!” Aomine’s shocked voice rung out.
“You heard me. I need to know his sexual history. If it is this particular thing, than I need to know, in great detail, about his sexual partners and acts, preferably but not limited to the last few years.”
“Psh, no wonder you’re not getting anywhere. It’s because he hasn’t been with anyone other than me, so look elsewhere for your diagnosis.”
“Sire, you yourself are promiscuous and this is a disease that is transmitted sexually, meaning even you may have it, you may be a harborer of it and have inadvertently passed it to Kagami.”
“Nope. I feel fine… I told you, look elsewhere.”
“This disease is fairly recently discovered, it’s incubation period is unknown. Meaning, it can be inside you and stay dormant for who knows how long.”
“MIDORIMA. What sort of healer are you that you can’t even listen when I say…” It was in that instance when something dawned on Aomine. “Wait, wait wait wait. About a year ago, there was a woman. But it’s not possible because she was a virgin, she was tested to be clean… Ka… Kagami was acting weird and forced me to wear a lambskin while he took her unsheathed but… she was a virgin, Midorima, she was clean so… yeah, but if… if she wasn’t, what, what’s gotta be done to figure out if…?” Aomine couldn’t even get a clear thought across, his mind racing. No, no no no. Kagami wasn’t sick from that woman. From the one time he forced Kagami to… No, impossible, improbable.
“Can you find her, sire? It would help a lot in diagnosing this. At least it would rule it out, which would be of tremendous help.”
Aomine practically ran out of the room as he called in his top generals and put on his armor to ride out on a personal mission.
After acquiring what information he could about the woman, It took two weeks of riding through the city before they found the woman. Well, before they found her final resting place.
Aomine freaked out. He had his generals exhume her body as he hauled ass back to his castle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Did you find out anything about the circumstances surrounding her death?” Midorima asked calmly.
Aomine hadn’t been able to focus on anything for the last few days. Ever since he had spoken to the woman’s mother.
“Her mother said she… she showed up and was thin and fragile, had a fever and pale pallor…” Aomine morosely recounted. Every symptom matched what Kagami was currently suffering through.
“I see.”
“So, now that we know what it is most likely to be. You can, you can confirm it and then medicate him, yes?”
Aomine couldn’t believe it was his stupidity that led to Kagami suffering so much. For fucks sake, if he wasn’t a prince, if he was a lowly person like that girl, Kagami would have died, emaciated and in pain.
“Let’s pray it’s not that. I’d say it’s time for you to humble yourself in front of Oha Asa, sire.”
Aomine looked up, confused. “What? Why?!”
“If he has what the girl had… there is no known cure, it’s fatal.”
Aomine’s entire frame buckled as he lost all strength in his body.
But very quickly after, the first stage of grief started.
“Th… that’s BULLSHIT! FUCK YOU MIDORIMA! What kind of healer are you that you can’t heal a disease once you’ve figured it out! You listen here and you LISTEN GOOD! You WILL heal him, I don’t care if the fucking remedy is on the god damned highest mountain or in a whale’s stomach at the bottom of the ocean. YOU TELL ME WHAT I NEED and I’LL GET IT!” He shouted, trying his hardest to keep those infernal tears away.
He stormed out of there, unable to hear anymore lest he break down in front of the man. No matter how upset and irrational he acted around the healer, Aomine had much faith in Midorima’s abilities and no matter their tumultuous relationship, he knew the healer would do anything to help Kagami, if possible.
Aomine raced back to his room. Upon entering, he looked around and saw Kagami wasn’t there. He panicked until he heard the shower pail in the bathroom. Aomine couldn’t help it. He dove into his bed, screaming into a pillow as he punched the bed over and over and over again, his tears overflowing.
“I take it you got some bad news?”
Aomine held his breath as he looked up. Shit, when had that damned shower stopped?! He hadn’t wanted Kagami to see him like this.
Aomine took in a breath but found he couldn’t utter a single word. All he could do was take in the now delicate body with a pronounced collar bone sticking out underneath Kagami’s robe.
Fuck.
FUCK.
“Sire, calm down.”
Shit, did he say that outloud?!
“Don’t call me that… I’m no fucking sire of yours. I’m your… I’m your…”
“Hey…” Kagami climbed into the bed besides Aomine, taking the man into his now slender arms, “Shh… calm down…”
Shit. Kagami had deliberately kept from Midorima certain parts of his history after finding out about the incurable sexually transmitted disease and being 100% sure that was what he had. He knew his own body after all. Plus, he did have a gift, no matter how slight. He avoided telling the healer because he wanted to avoid this situation, Aomine blaming himself.
But at least Kagami could handle Aomine finding out while he was still alive, still able to forgive and help Aomine move on where as if the prince had found out after his death, who knows what he would have done. “Hey… hey, Daiki?”
Aomine looked up shocked through his blurry eyes. Kagami had never called him by his first name alone.
“No matter what,” Kagami whispered as he held on as firmly as possible to Aomine, “you will always be my prince.”
Aomine broke down in Kagami’s arms as the other man cried right alongside him.
When Aomine awoke in the morning, he had already reached a decision. He didn’t want to leave Kagami’s side. No matter what.
The redhead could sense this though. The sudden resolve in Aomine’s eyes spoke volumes of his future plans.
“You know, all I can say about all this… is that I’m just so glad you’re healthy.”
Aomine bolted up out of the redhead’s arms. “Shut up Kagami. My health means nothing if you don’t have yours.”
“That’s not true. Your health is quantifiably more important than mine. You’re a prince, next in line for the throne. The rightful, the best leader to rule over these thousands of people. You’ll make me proud, being a kind and just leader, right?”
Aomine didn’t think he had more tears left in him, but then Kagami could always force him to his limits and beyond. Which is exactly why he said, “Without you next to me, I won’t be worth the dirt under my constituents feet.”
“Oh come now… you’re nearing thirty, you’ve only known me what, four years? You were a… decent man before me, a great man with me, and you’ll be a magnificent man without me.”
“Shut up… not possible, dumbass, don’t you get it?! You’re the fucking reason I’m… I’m not great, Kagami, I didn’t listen to you, you, you warned me, protected me… I’m the reason you’re… but you’re the reason I wake up every morning, the reason I feel like I can rule this kingdom... I can’t… I can’t do it without you.”
“You can, dumb sire! And you will. You’re gonna live long, succeed your father, rule well, make mistakes that I’ll be laughing at from wherever I am. And then, when you die an old, wise man with a legacy that will stand up in the tomes of legends, you’ll come meet me again. And next time around, you’ll damn well listen to me when I tell you to put on a fucking lambskin!”
Aomine choked on a garbled laugh through the still flowing tears.
“And… and you’ll make me proud as a ruler, you hear! You listen to Kuroko and lady Satsuki and even Midorima with his ‘bullshit superstition,’ and next time we meet, hopefully, if you don’t piss fate off too much… we can spend a lifetime together.”
“S’not long enough.” Aomine huffed.
“Well shit, I don’t wanna spend eternity with you!” Kagami laughed as he stuffed the pillow Aomine was crying into, into his face.
Aomine put the pillow down as he gently laid his partner, his soulmate down, peppering his entire body with light, sweet kisses, sure to make the most out of what time he had left with his beloved.
Aomine looked contemplatively at the lambskin in his hands. Kagami knew instantly what was going through his mind.
“It would kill me, even as I lay dying, or again from beyond, it would kill me if you suffer the same fate as me.”
Aomine looked adoringly at him as he slipped it on, intending to take his lover as many times as he could, to engrain that feeling in his mind, his soul.
And well, Kagami couldn’t complain. What a way to die, comfortably in the loving arms of the man he loved, wanting for nothing. Not many can say the same.