"My name is Zaiten, unfortunate bastard son of the last Prime Minister, Honest. I have been labeled Emperor slayer, the Betrayer, the Great Pretender, the Scholar of Light and Darkness, and many more names- many of them unsuitable for children to hear."

"In my life, I have seen the Rise of Rebellion, and the fall of the Empire. I have peered into the minds of the greatest scholars and witnessed the most ruthless assassins change history forever. Some call me a savior, others call me a horrible monster. To others, I'm simply a senile fool in my now old age- and perhaps I am."

"Often, history lies to you. Those who survive tell the tale, while opposition fades into the dust of time. But at each story is a core of truth, wrapped behind what people want to hear."

"My own tale? I hardly consider it worth mentioning, but it is at the insistence of others I lay the pen to this page. My title of Scholar is on the line, after all!"

"And, like the many tales of old, my story begins with a tyrannical family, looming fires of war, and a love of knowledge."

It all began with the birth of a child.

The bloodline was powerful, descending through a vast variety of royal ancestors. Many of them were warriors, or the wisest of nobles, and even a few tyrannical despots.

His parents were no different, though they led very different lives.

There was no love between them. For the father, she was a powerplay, an exotic treasure. To the mother, a fate she had long resigned herself to; slavery.

In the year 1000 of Imperial Reckoning, their child was conceived. He would grow up strong, ambitious, and charismatic. His name was set to be loved- and feared, by all around him.

Syura, the favored son of Prime Minister Honest.

At the time, Honest was a rising official, ascending to the lofty position of Chief Imperial Advisor. After a series of marriages and successions, he achieved the status of nobility. That's what the Emperor believed, at least.

The details of Honest's exact methods were taken to the grave.

Frankly, I think it's better that way.

The mother? Even with all these years of searching, I only wish I could know more. After interviewing the surviving staff and nobles of the Imperial Palace, I have ascertained this much. She was a Warrior Princess, sent to the Empire as a bargaining chip from her homelands, the Southwestern Tribes.

Officially, she was to be a maid for the Imperial Family. Can you imagine? A young, proud warrior princess who struck fear into the Imperial Military, forced to clear chamber pots and scrub clothing in squalor.

Thus, it could only go one way when Honest, thirsting for power and lust, chose her to make an heir of his own. Consensual or not, I will never know. Power is attracted to power, they say.

Even in the throes of childbirth, her son was ripped from her arms. Honest might as well have killed her. The Prime Minister, I imagine, moved on with the belief that he did dispose of her. He wasn't the type to leave loose ends.

But that tale is not for now.

Syura, Son of Honest, is well known to historians as yet another example of the Empire's corruption, and correctly so.

But, he did not start off a monster. Like all children, his eyes would sparkle in curiosity. He enjoyed sweets and hated losing toys. He would cry upon soiling himself.

Most of all, he craved affection.

Within the walls of the Palace, he had everything a child could want. Food, pampering, shelter, and he apparently was quite adorable. Unfortunately, children grow to be humans. And humans have a universal want.

A need for that, which they cannot have.

In the face of all this care, within the world where everyone loved his position and not the child himself, there was only one opinion that Syura would seek; his father, the new Prime Minister Honest.

You can guess it. The story is well enough known, etched brutally into the face of history. Syura would do anything and everything in vain for his Father's love.

Everything would be permitted, and he would throw away all morals to gain what he wanted.

He would be doomed to fail, alone and despised in history.

That is until I came along.

For an entire decade, Syura's mother had been on the run. It had been down to luck that she escaped being killed, or worse, eaten, by the Prime Minister- a man known for cutting loose ends in a most unpleasant fashion.

This time, she was pregnant with another child. Wounded, on the eave of childbirth, conquered and cornered, that woman made a choice. She gave premature birth in hopes the child would be saved, to grow strong.

The newly orphaned infant was taken back to be presented before the Imperial Family...and their Advisor.

That day summer day in the year 1011, Prime Minister Honest's eldest son made his first demand. Syura took his first step towards following in his father's footsteps. It would also be the beginning of the end.

"That will be my brother!"

The Advisor, feeling the closest thing he possibly could to pride, granted his firstborn's request. After all, only the best would be given for his chosen successor; he would teach him to take that which he wanted, through any means necessary.

So on that whim, Honest allowed it.

Now given a little brother- frail and premature, but still his, Syura had to name him.

Zaiten.

Me.

Notes: Hello, Caboose here. After several years, I'm once more attempting an AgK story- this time at the behest and collaboration with Eritzzz, who approached me with this story idea. It was new and refreshing, so I jumped aboard.

I'm liking where it's going. There are far, far too many Tatsumi stories, and most of them don't actually understand the best parts about canon. There is shipping here, and we have this all planned to the end, but it's a secret on how it all actually turns out- be advised, the shipping is supplementary to the story, not the main purpose

Speaking of which, we will be following a hearty mix of the manga and the anime.

Neither of us owns AgK, or we wouldn't be here, though I've got plans to hire assassins and claim it for myself!

Maybe I'll reboot Ashes of an Empire after I finish this...

And now a note from Eritzzz: Hello, Eritzzz here, cowriting this new Fanfic with Caboose. Though honestly, I was just having random ideas. At the time, this fanfic was just a single chapter draft; I felt like looking for a beta reader. Caboose seemed like the best one, out of the other beta's. I think that's all I can think of other than we need more non-Tatsumi stuff. We need variety, people! Aight that's all from me. And thanks for giving this story a read~!