For the King I Love

9. chapter - In the throne room

Characters:
Tsuna - White Rabbit
Hibari - King of Hearts
Kusakabe - Knight of Hearts
Gokudera - Tweedle Dee
Yamamoto - Tweedle Dum
Shamal - caterpillar Absolem
Hana, Kyoko - chefs in the Red palace
Haru - gardener
Reborn - Cheshire Cat
Dino - Alice
Mukuro - Mad Hatter
Chrome - Mice Mallymkun
Ken and Chikusa - Hares

〜 〜 〜

Their footsteps were echoing in the tensed silence and heavy atmosphere weighted their hearts down as they entered the dark throne room, which had the same marble floor and massive columns with beautifully decorated heads. The throne room was enormous, so it took them some time before they came closer to the throne which were up at the end of the stairs. Whole room was decorated with countless red flags and one large window let in the bright light, illuminating the scene in front of their eyes. Hibari, who sat on the magnificent big throne with beautiful red carpet, wore a long black coat with an armband on his left sleeve saying 'DISCIPLINE' and glared at them, resting his head on his palm. The floor was full of blood and Tsuna noticed that even Hibari's hands were red by the dark liquid. He felt his heart beating quickly and squeezed his hands nervously as he kneeled down with others.

"I'm very sorry for interrupting you, my King, but there's something I have to immediately discuss with you." Kusakabe stared at the floor, avoiding the eye contact with him. His body was stiff and Tsuna could saw how much was he nervous.

"Hn, what is it?" Hibari's voice was even colder than the brunette expected and made everyone shiver.

"It's about the prophecy. I'm afraid it came true earlier than we thought."

"What do you mean?"

"This man by my side is Alice we were waiting for - the legend's description fits and he even came exactly as Shamal predicted."

Long silence filled the room and no one dared to break it, not even Dino, who would usually say something by now. He could clearly feel that he underestimated the Red King and that he should be serious if he didn't want to end up as the man before him. He regretted a little that he didn't try to escape during their way to the palace, but on the other hand he felt strong excitement growing within him from finding such a formidable opponent.

"How did he get here? Explain, Rabbit."

Tsuna flinched and felt stab of pain in his heart. 'Rabbit...he has never called me like that...' He lifted his head and paled as the dangerous steel eyes pierced him and made his body tremble. The brunette felt his fast heartbeat, shaking hands and knees and suddenly it was so hard to breathe that he couldn't even imagine how is he supposed to talk right now. It was suffocating and fright mixed with desperation squeezed his chest heavily as if something hard was wrapped around his lungs. He gulped and let out long sigh.

"I-I-...i-I'm t-tru-truly...s-so-so-....s-sorry, my K-King." he stuttered with unusually high pitched voice. He was scared of how indifferently Hibari looked at him now, but more than that his heart ached. It hurt - those cruel narrowed eyes, cold expression - it was so different from how he normally behaved towards him. It hurt...

"I don't need your apologies. Explain it to me."

"W-when I-I wa-was-"

"Speak normally or I'll bite you to death!" Hibari growled and Tsuna squeaked, frightened.

"Hai!" the brunette bit his lips nervously and continued, hoping he will manage it. "When I was in human world he spotted me and followed me when I tried to run away. He fell through the floor near the door."