K Project: King's Flower (Possible Tatara Totsuka x OC)

Chapter 7: Heart of Gold

Chapter 7: Heart of Gold

October 19, 2009

Daikaku Kokujōji (Gold King) POV

Location: Imperial Palace

"Sir, we have Ms. Hana Kugawa waiting in the lobby for you." One of the Usagis (Gold Clansmen) reported to me.

Papers were scattered around the mahogany desk I was sitting at.

"Let her in." I order with an unreadable expression. There is still time to decide if she is an enemy or someone who can benefit the country.

I watch carefully as an Usagi opens the door for a young lady with light pink hair. Although she is by no means tall, possibly around 5 feet 4 inches, her posture and demeanor makes it seem as if she is taller than she looks. Quite young, this girl. Most likely somewhere between eighteen years old and twenty.

She bows and proceeds to walk into the room. How funny. It appears as if she has a black and white spotted ferret lazing around her shoulders. She's wearing a peacoat over a simple floral A line dress.

"My name is Hana. This is my friend Pepper. You had asked for a meeting to discuss the text message I sent you." Her eyes darted around the room.

"Ah yes. Everyone, you are dismissed." The lingering Usagis and the one who had opened the door for Hana exited the room. "Feel free to speak."

Hana remained silent.

"Not everyone has left the room. But if you are comfortable with them hearing about the person who had sent me, I don't mind them staying. It is Oji-san's decision." Hana's eyes bored holes in the ceiling.

"HAHHAHA." A deep bellowing laughter erupted from me. This is the most amused I have been in a long time. "It takes some skill, young one, to notice them. So tell me, how did you find out?" I leaned forward on my desk, ignoring the fact that she referred to me as her grandpa.

However, Hana's crystal blue eyes stared confidently into my brown ones. "I can sense their auras with my own. Using this power from Dresden that I, one way or the other, inherited by accident." She smiled fondly at the ground, sensing the Slate's power beneath them. The Dresden Slate is kept underneath the Imperial Palace, which is the Gold Clan's home base. Similar to how the HOMRA bar is the home base of the Red Clan.

However, the location is a well-kept secret from civilians, and even most clan members. Only the Kings and their highest-ranking officers know where the Dresden Slate is located.

"..." I thought for a moment, then came to a decision that I should dismiss the five Gold Clansmen who were hiding in the ceiling. I snapped my fingers twice in quick succession. This indicated to the clansmen to also exit the room (or, well, ceiling in their case).

I know where this conversation is going and it is one that only a limited number of people should know about. "You speak of Dresden as if he is a real person."

"Is he not?" An eyebrow of hers arched. "He introduced himself to me as Dresden Rex and told me his physical body is here, in the Kanto Region of Japan. This sort of thing would be hard to believe, but you know him too, don't you."

"...I was not the one who discovered the Slate. But I was one of the few people who knew of its existence. Back then, we didn't know that it held its own consciousness until the Silver King and I met him for the first time. To this day, we thought we were the only Kings who had ever met him in person." That fateful meeting took place when the German city they were in was bombed and the Slate chose its first humans to grant a sanctum to.