Kuroko Tetsuya is a boy of sixteen years of age, of average height and build. An average student, who works part-time as a daycare assistant. He possesses a cute face, and is polite and kind.

And wants to rule the world.

It's all a facade, a carefully crafted mask he wears around the people, around the kids he's supposed to take care, while he studies their behaviour. Many of those kids don't like him. Perhaps they can feel, as if they have a sixth sense, that he's, in fact, different, and not in the nice, neither in the neutral, meaning of the word.

And then, there's Seijuro.

Seijuro is a five year old red haired boy, who usually sits on a corner, reading a book suited for people at Kuroko's age instead of the picture books kids his age usually read. Sometimes, he pulls out of his bag a small-sized chessboard with magnetic pieces and plays against himself. Other times, he watches the kids and caretakers around him the same way Tetsuya does, and the azure-eyed teen knows Seijuro is special.

One day, Seijuro approaches him, pulls of his sleeve, and he asks if his caretaker is willing for a game.

"Kuroko-sensei... Chess?" he asks, innocently tilting his head on the side, with a wide, hopeful smile on his face.

He can't deny the boy. He can tell, if he does, the boy will throw his, probably silent, crocodile tears, because the boy knows this will put the teen in an unfavourable situation. He won't throw a tantrum like other kids, because that's childish, instead, he'll use different means to get what he wants.

Kuroko gives him the game Seijuro wants, and surprisingly, he loses in less than five minutes.

The adults around him mutter praises behind his back on managing the little boy that never seemed to approach any, or accept their company.

At that, Kuroko decides to teach the redhead his ways.

It's subtle hints and tidbits at first, but Seijuro looks so interested in it, never enchanted by it, but looking as if he seriously considers walking down that path, that Kuroko can't help but wanting to risk telling him more, showing him more, being more straightforward about what he does, what he wants, what it feels like. He can see at the boy's blood red eyes that he knows what he's hearing, he understands instead of beeing swayed by pretty words, and Kuroko can't help but wonder if Seijuro has already witnessed the dark side of the world.

(He has, but Kuroko doesn't learn about it but only after years later.)

He knows it's Seijuro's last day in the daycare, because the boy gives him a black King piece, with the kanji for black neatly written on its bottom (and he has a feeling that it's Seijuro's handwriting), in all irony, in white.

"I will return." he promises, and pulls out of his pocket, only for him to see, the black Queen piece, this one carries the kanji for red in its fitting colour, and Kuroko can only think of the analogy the younger had thrown at him, not knowing if he should feel flattered for being called a leader, or angry for being dubbed as the weakest piece on the board, while the redhead entitled himself as the strongest.

"I will find the others." he continues, and Kuroko can't help but think of the other pieces, a Knight, a Bishop, a Rook, and a Pawn. He can't help but wonder what kind of people Seijuro will collect for him to use, and if they'll know they'll be placed in his hands to play with, and if they'll do so willingly, like the redhead did before them. "Everyone has dark desires residing within them; the point is, who makes a move at achieving what they desire most." he explains. "You and I... We're that kind of people, aren't we?" he asks with a seemingly innocent smile, a smile only the two of them know it's fake, and walks away, without waiting for a reply.

He walks away with his head held high, confident and proud, as though he holds the world in the palm of his hands, not a king of the board, not a king of the real world, more than true to his nameshake, more than a Conqueror of all.

(to be continued, maybe)

I exchange Kuroko no Basket AU ideas with an online friend. Like, almost every day, one of us will come up with a new AU and each one will seem better than the other (so far the AU count is at 20). To quote them, this is the "AU where Kuroko is an evil mastermind who wants to take over the world and he does it by playing Basketball, using his teammates to slowly take over the universe without anyone noticing" but without the basketball part on Kuroko's side. At least for now.

I personally like to call this the Kuroko is a manipulative, evil little shit AU.

I was going to do Shogi parallels if I knew how. Instead, you get chess ones, because that's what I'm familiar with. So here they are (along with the 'future' pieces):

Kuroko as King: Although the King is seen as the piece who ''moves the strings'', it's actually the weakest piece, and the one the rest of the pieces on the board protect. In addition, if you allow your King to be captured, you lose the game.

Akashi as Queen: The most powerful piece on the board. At the player's whims, the Queen follows all move patterns apart from the Knight's, the strongest and most fearful. A game without a Queen can turn out to be hard, and almost impossible without it if you depend too much in it.

Kise as Pawn: Seemingly the weakest on the board (like Kise refers himself as the weakest of the Generation of Miracles), it can be promoted to any piece but the King (somewhat mirroring the Perfect Copy ability), and definitely not to be underestimated.

Murasakibara as Rook: Towers in history played the defensive role and we can't deny that Mukkun looks like the tower the Rooks are depicted as.

Aomine as Knight: The unconventional move pattern of the Knight reminds me of Aomine's formless play style. It's kind of obvious, no?

Midorima as Bishop: Well, nothing else is left now, is there.