Disclaimer: K project is not mine…period. If it was mine, it would have a happy ending.

Note: This is Mikoto/Reishi with hints of Fushimi/Misaki and Izumo/Seri along the story. I might mess up the original anime story and some details as sometimes I forget them. Just consider this as AU with irrational plotline, lol. Forgive me for all grammatical error for English is my second language. And I did put a warning that this is boy/boy fiction, if you have anything against it, seriously, stop reading starting from this line. I will hold no responsibility whatsoever for any mental trauma if you don't bother to read the warning.

And another warning, this will be angst all over the fic with bittersweet touch. Mature rating just to be safe for some violence. Ugh…it has been a while since I last write multi-chapter fanfiction. Please bear with me.

A year had passed since the Ashinaka Island incident.

The season was just like back then, the snow fell quietly into the palm of his hands. If it was not for the chilling sensation as it melted in his hands, probably he would not even notice that the snow had fallen. That painful memory was brought back along with the winter season, as if the wound was still fresh.

Munakata blew out his breath to his hands, trying to warm them a little bit. Cold did not really bother him and he used to like seeing the white puff air as he exhaled. But after the incident, he started to hate the white season. It reminded him all over again of his failure and brought him back to that day. Nightmare became his daily friend since the first arrival of snow.

"Captain, we have completed the mission. No casualty is reported."

Awashima appeared from his back, reporting their current field mission. Usually he did not really bother working on the field with regular mission in capturing strain, but recently the Blue King had nothing much to do as there was no longer a Red King to make his paper works piling into mountains. Moving his body might stop him a little from reminiscing too, so to speed up the recovery of his mental state. Hopefully.

He turned to face his favorite lieutenant and smiled a bit, "Thank you, Awashima. Please clean up here and return to the HQ. I will return ahead." The blonde made a salute gesture and started to make her move to order the rest of blue clansmen to finish up.

Gazing up, he stared at the gray sky filled with snowflakes falling. Munakata took a deep breath and felt like the chilling air creeping into his lung and bones. He would live forever with this guilt and regret, which killed him slowly like this snow until the time eased the pain and the memories faded. He wondered how many years needed for him to be able to sleep in peace.

"This strain is difficult to capture before, but suddenly he surrenders so willingly." Fushimi started with a 'tsk'. "He is suspicious."

He raised his violet eyes to watch at his subordinate up from his puzzle on his desk. Fushimi was quite competent in office works, as well in the field, to his satisfaction, as long as it was not related to Red Clan or certain red haired boy. Whenever they encountered each other, they always tried to destroy each other and everything surrounded them. Their love-hate relationship somehow reminded him of his unnamed bond with previous Red King. Recently, Fushimi was rising up in rank in steady pace that he almost wanted to praise him. Almost. Fushimi was too prideful anyway; he needed not to inflate his ego further.

"Maybe he just gets tired of running away." Munakata shrugged, while trying to solve his puzzle. "After all, we have been chasing him for half a year already." To be honest, Munakata did not trust this strain guy either, he had been causing lots of minor problem with his power. They had been trying to catch the strain ever since the Blue King noticed that there were slight changes in the Shizume City. No one noticed it but him and the Gold King as if those changes had been there forever. He suspected it was because the Kings had power to nullify strains' abilities thus they were not much affected. For instance, there used to be a factory built on a certain ground which was at first supposed to be a flower garden. One day it simply vanished and was replaced with luscious green garden and everyone acted like the garden had been there for forever and there was no factory since beginning. All long and tedious investigation finally led them that there was a trace of same Strain's power in every incidents and the Scepter 4 had been chasing this guy for quite some time. Nonetheless, whenever his clansmen were able to corner him, this guy suddenly pulled out a ticking antique pocket watch and disappeared into thin air. Scepter 4 kept losing track of him.

He was quite surprised that they finally managed to capture this strain. Well, as a Captain, he at last decided that he should help a bit with long-drawn-out capturing effort. Expanding his power around the area to nullify any strain ability, Akiyama and his co-workers were finally able to pin him down. However, it seemed almost like the strain basically gave up in running away. As if he had a reason to get close to Scepter 4…

Munakata was silent for a while before he stood up. "I will visit the prisoner. It will be faster if we just ask his intent." Fushimi made a noise of recognition like 'finally' and followed his king where the strain was detained.

There were only echoes of tapping sounds of two pairs of shoes as two dark-haired men went down the spiral stairs. None of them even tried to make conversation. Idle chat was not necessary for them. Before long, Munakata was greeted with bright white tunnel, leading to the temporary strain prison. There were two men in blue-cladded uniform guarding in front of the prison gate, saluted him as he passed through them.

From behind, Fushimi followed his captain, making pass through the empty prison until they reached the last chamber. The closed chamber was constructed with white walls and gigantic special glass, separating the strain and the outside world. Inside the chamber, they put a device to restrain the power of strain to prevent jailbreak.

The strain inside looked like a normal person. He had a silky aquamarine hair, just like the color of his eyes, down to his neck. Lying down on the bed with white inmate cloth down to his knee, his chest rose up and down as he breathed slowly in his slumber. Munakata nearly felt guilty of waking him up from his peaceful dream, but time was only thing he could not afford to waste. The blue haired king entered a string of 8-digit password before the door shut open. He made a gesture of 'wait here' to Fushimi and entered the room alone in a long stride.

The strain opened his eyes lazily and slowly showed his unfocused azure eyes to blue king. Munakata practiced his patience as he waited for the strain to yawn and be fully awake. It took a minute before the strain decided to speak in clear crystal voice. "Welcome, Blue King. What do I do to deserve your presence here?"

Munakata raised an eyebrow at his politeness and feigned innocence. "Forget formalities. To spare time, why don't we just get into the matter of issue?" The strain nodded languidly. "What purpose do you hold to let yourself get captured and thrown into the heart of Scepter 4?"

The strain crossed his legs and suddenly thrust his right hand toward Munakata. Instinctively, Munakata stepped back a little in surprise and looked at the hand, calculating what to do with it. Fushimi looked like he was ready to pull out his sword at sudden gesture, outside the chamber. "Please call me Akizuki. Aki-kun is fine too. Nice to meet you." He finally said with a lopsided smile. The dark-haired king watched him closely like he was an alien before shaking Aki's hand out of politeness. "Munakata."

"Okay, back to current issue. I should say, just like as rumor speaks, the rational if not cautious Blue King is indeed with marvelous mind. This should save time and trouble." Akizuki leaned slightly backward, moving a little to the side to make some space for Munakata to sit on the bed. The latter simply stood still in front of him, making no effort to be civil or friendly by getting close to him. Akizuki sighed, "Just as you have suspected, I purposely let myself getting captured."

The aquamarine eyes stared back at the cold, violet ones. "I have no intention to creep you out, but I have to do so in order to get close to you."

Munakata was quiet for a second before replied back, "well, you just did." Akizuki trembled at that, looking like he was holding himself down from laughing. The dark blue haired king looked unfazed. "We have been following your trail for half a year. Why all of sudden you decide to stop eluding us?"

Akizuki played his hair with his thumb and point finger lightly. "Through this half year, you never even appeared on the field when your subordinates came for me, so I decided not to make contact yet. It might not be the right time, and you might not yet be ready." He tried to joke a little, "Or maybe you just like skipping work." Munakata disregarded the last comment and gave a confused look. Ready for what?

The strain tried to enlighten him. "You might not have strong wish yet to have what I am offering to you." He waited a little bit to let his words sink into Munakata's mind before continuing his explanation.

"If you ever wonder why you have quite difficulties in capturing me in the past, it was because my power allows me to travel through time. I am able to move from one era to another with certain price and condition. Now, down to business, I know you don't trust me. But if you listen to me, what I am offering you right now is one-lifetime chance, dear Blue King. A chance to have an alternative ending to the tragedy held in a year ago in this city."

Okay, so this is the end of prologue. Next chapter will be much longer than this one. Please comment if you have time or appreciate the story. I will update ASAP. Real life is so busy and I also have project in drawing K wonderland short comic, so please be patient (if there is someone waiting for update though…) Please do not flame if it is just because you don't like the pairings. There is a warning for a reason.