I'll Play the Fool [Closed]

[Rina]

"Pretty, you flatter me with such obvious lies, Arata-san."

"Lies? I speak nothing but the truth."

Tamaki couldn't help but feel a slight pang of sympathy. He knew how people were, how people thought. Anyone different than the "average" human would most likely be ridiculed, judged, and made fun of. And judging on past observances of Katanai, he assumed she had her fair share of hardships from looking "out of the ordinary."

As Arata glanced up, Tamaki held his opponents gaze for a few moments. His eyes were a deep emerald color, seeming to be chiseled out a rough stone. There was nothing inviting about his unique shade of eyes. In fact, they made Tamaki want to never meet them again.

"Ah, speak of the devil."

Tamaki's jaw involuntarily clenched as Arata caged Katanai in with his arms. It seemed that with each passing second, the situation begun to escalate. He was beginning to second-guess his decision to step over the sidelines and waltz directly into the conflict. Perhaps she would've been safer if he lied low.

"So what brings you here, Ki-kun?"

Tamaki held back a scoff. There he was using his nickname again. Who the hell did he think he was? He was almost positive the two never met in person before. So how did he seem to know so much already? And what exactly was he planning?

"Plant sitting," he muttered in response. Try as he may, he couldn't the bitterness out of his tone. But then again, he never exactly had a "pleasant" tone to begin with, either.

Watching Arata lie his lips on Katanai’s ear sent a strange wave of bitterness crashing over Tamaki. Perhaps it was his over-protectiveness he developed from being an older brother, but he did not appreciate it when strange men harassed his mission partner.

“Here to play with your little girlfriend?”

Arata seemed to be toying with him now. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but each advance toward Katanai seemed to be obliquely directed toward him. But he wasn’t going to give his enemy the satisfaction of having the upper hand. One thing Tamaki learned over the years was to leave his emotions off of the battle field. And this was beginning to turn into an engagement.

“I have no interest in such matters,” Tamaki murmured flatly, withdrawing his hands from his hair and stuffing them casually into the pockets of his trousers. No matter what, Arata was not going to get the best of him.

[Kitty]

"Lies? I speak nothing but the truth."


"Tch," she spat back, "A strange thing for a spy to say."

It was idiotic for someone like him to even begin to claim, even for a split second, that he was being nothing but sincere. Arata was the kind of person that dripped with hidden truths. For one thing, she was still unsure as to why he had decided to take interest in her in the first place. Why was this strange scenario giving him such sadistic joy? It was beyond her comprehension. Katanai was the kind of person who enjoyed understanding what caused people to do things; Arata remained a mystery to her. In such, he frustrated her to no end.

In a sick sort of masochistic way, she appreciated this game that he had taken up with her. It was a way to exorcise her abilities to read into a person and discover their secret agenda. In a way, it was as if the two had become training partners. At the same time, words, tones of voice, and simple gestures were much more dangerous than physical sparring. If two members of the organization decided to go at each other, pulling out all the stops mid-training session, it would be obvious and foolish. The leader would undoubtedly punish the two culprits if they ended up so damaged that they would be unable to perform at their fullest capacity.

Words were powerful in the fact that they could cause irreparable damage that no one would be able to see. Sometimes, they could act like daggers, carving into the tenderest parts of a person's soul. Other times, they could behave as poison, lingering in the person's mind until they broke down entirely. Katanai had no doubt that this was the way Arata liked to fight. His game face was smug and playful in the most twisted of ways. Whatever his purpose was for playing with her, he meant to leave wounds that would continue to sting.

"Ah, speak of the devil."

In her mind, Katanai looked back at the conversation she had with Arata last night in her room. He had mentioned something about Tamaki definitely being in the garden at the same time they would be there. It took self restraint to stop herself from scoffing aloud as the man pretended that he found Tamaki's appearance to be sheer coincidence.

Her body tensed involuntarily as his arms snaked around her, trapping her against him. Considering she felt unsafe and irritated when he would capture so much as a lock of her hair between his fingers, he was definitely too close for comfort. However, she dared not show just how uncomfortable she was. Struggling against his grip would provide a result similar to that of panicking and struggling when sinking in quick sand--it would only increase the result's chances of being damaging or fatal.

"So what brings you here, Ki-kun?"

In her current position, Katanai could practically see a wave of disgust slap the flaxen haired man in the face as Arata slung his pet name at him. It was evident that the men were not familiar with one another, let alone in a brotherly friendship with one another as Arata had alluded to the previous night.

"Plant sitting,"

Lips twitching upward into a smirk, a soft laugh escaped her. Tamaki definitely did not seem the "plant-sitter" type. This was definitely a punishment of some sort. She made sure to only laugh briefly, of course. She did not want to let her guard down too much in front of Arata. At that moment, her heart froze.

Her ear twitched as he daringly pressed his lips against the tip of it. Her smirk dropped suddenly into a blank expression. This was her defense mechanism against gaining a look of pure shock. Her eyes widened ever so slightly. This was the first time that anyone had even thought to lay their lips on her self-admittedly freakish ears. It was a strange sort of taboo that not even her parents had performed. Coming from Arata, it was disturbing and unsettling.

“Here to play with your little girlfriend?”

A scowl settled on her lips. By the moment, this charade was becoming harder and harder to stomach. If she was not mistaken, Arata was very familiar with playing toying emotional games that involved women. That was the impression that he seemed to radiate at the moment.

“I have no interest in such matters,”

It hurt. She had no idea why it hurt so much to hear Tamaki's careless response. Biting on her tongue, she forced her face to stay relaxed. "The poison is starting to settle in, I suppose," she thought bitterly to herself. This had to be the doing of Arata's poison-laced words. Perhaps this spider had more of a bite than she had anticipated. She had to stop lulling herself into a false sense of confidence. She had nothing to say at the moment, regarding the conversation at hand. Her role at the moment was to not let her facial expressions or body language indicate how this moment was grating painfully on her nerves.

[xJaxx]

"Tch. A strange thing for a spy to say."

So she was aware of the fact that he wasn't like all the other assassins in the organization. He was indeed, the superior ranking. Although others could argue, the spies were definitely the top dogs.All the more reason for her to bow to his authority.

"Plant sitting."

A soft laugh escaped his captive's lips. Did she find humor in the situation of the flaxen haired man being a plant sitter? Then again, Arata didn't expect that himself. Perhaps Tamaki wasn't as macho as he pretended to appear.

But at the same time, he cursed the nerve of her. How could she so freely laugh at that? It was as if she was laughing directly in Arata's face. As if nothing he did fazed her as long as Tamaki was around. He tightened his grip on her petite frame.

"I have no interest in such matters."

"Oh,"Arata murmured as he leaned in closer to Katanai. Dropping his voice below a whisper, he spoke again. "Doesn't that sting a bit? After all, it's only natural for you to wish he'd come with a heroic line that would make your heart skip a beat, isn't it? You wish he cared a bit more, don't you?"

At last, his plan was unraveling. If his observations were correct, then it'd take little to no time to get her to crack. And during the same time, he'd begin to knock down Tamaki peg by peg.

[Rina]

"Tch. A strange thing for a spy to say."

Yes, she was correct. Apart from gathering information, spies had learned to lie flawlessly. It was almost impossible to trust anything that came out of a spy's mouth. Then again, it was hard to trust anything that came out of anyone's mouth.

Tamaki suppressed a smirk as Katanai's soft laugh chimed in the air. Although he was generally annoyed by constant laughter, hers was refreshing. It was a rare occurrence that she would laugh, and more often than not, he would welcome it. And if only she didn't have the thug breathing down her neck, he would've been able to enjoy it more freely.

"Oh."

Tamaki's stare narrowed as Arata leaned down and begun whispering to KatanaiIt was just human nature to dislike when someone's voice was out of range, especially when that someone was manipulative.

His knuckles clenched in the safety of his pockets. Oh how he longed to lunge at the red-haired nuisance and meet his neck with his hand. But considering the conditions, he resisted the urge to immediately jump into an attack. After all, there was someone in the middle that he wouldn't allow to be harmed.

Ripping his gaze away from Arata's he tried to meet Katanai's crimson stare. Whatever strange sensation that was washing over him was causing him to feel overly protective of his partner. If only he could catch a glimpse of her eyes, he'd be able to get an insight to what she was thinking.

If she needed him, he'd be ready to jump the gun. And if she didn't, he'd wait until she was safely out of Arata's grasp.

[Kitty]

"Oh,"

She felt him lean in even closer. Honestly, she did not think that there was a way for him to be closer than he already had been. He obviously did not want Tamaki to hear a word of what he was about to say. To her sensitive ears, however, a whisper was entirely audible.

"Doesn't that sting a bit? After all, it's only natural for you to wish he'd come with a heroic line that would make your heart skip a beat, isn't it? You wish he cared a bit more, don't you?"


It took a moment for her to wrap her head around his words. She set the words on repeat in her mind as she began to get a feel for them. So that was his plan. He was trying to rip her apart by bringing romantic feelings to the forefront. For someone like her, romanticism could be a terribly painful thing. Now it began to sink in why Tamaki's cool attitude had stung in such a way. Arata was manipulating her mind in a way that inclined her toward craving affection.

Now she understood. She had allowed the poison to affect her. At the same time, she had managed to achieve the most important goal in this game--she had kept her feet planted firmly in her ground. Arata was a powerful wind, but try as he may to uproot her, all he managed to do was cause her to sway and feel chilled to the bone.

"Of course not," she said aloud, smirk cold and sad-tasting on her lips. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "I told you when we first met that I do not believe in foolish things such as 'happily ever afters'--such foolish things are meant for princesses in storybooks. Demons, in both stories and the real world, do not enjoy the taste of happiness." A small sigh escaped her, continuing her whisper. "It's almost flattering that you would take me for such a fool."

Shrugging her way out of his clutches, she took a step away from Arata. Her confident smirk never faltered. Now that she had him figured out, this round was over. There was no way he could affect her today. "I am not a fool," she said, not bothering to tone her voice for just him to hear. She did not care what Tamaki heard of her words. All of this was ridiculous, anyway. "Monsters know better than to even consider romance as a possibility."

She took a moment to glance at Tamaki. He most likely had no idea what kind of game was being played. He also would have no idea that she had just come out the day's victor. This was payback for the humiliating loss of last night. Eyes flickering back to Arata, she bowed her head.

"It has been an intriguing game, as expected," she mused.

At this point, she did not care to stick around any longer. She took deliberate steps away from the two, pausing only once to mutter a soft "Check mate."

[xJaxx]

“Of course not. "I told you when we first met that I do not believe in foolish things such as 'happily ever afters'--such foolish things are meant for princesses in storybooks. Demons, in both stories and the real world, do not enjoy the taste of happiness. It’s almost flattering that you would take me for such a fool.”

Arata bit down on the inside of his cheek. He wasn’t expecting her reaction. What he was expecting was for her to be hit by an oppressive realization that would send her in a downward spiral. But instead, she stood her ground and ended up with a formulated comeback that left him momentarily speechless.

His arms fell to his side as she wiggled her way out of his grasp.

“I am not a fool. Monsters know better than to even consider romance as a possibly.”

Arata gritted his teeth. For once in his entire life, he was at a loss. And he didn’t take kindly to losing. She was the only person who had ever stood up to him and it infuriated him. But his baffled mind couldn’t concoct a plan quick enough for a smooth recovery. Instead, he was going to plan on revenge.

“It has been an intriguing game, as expected.”

Watching her leave, he couldn’t help but be irritated. It should be him that was leaving her out to dry, not the other way around. “Best two out of three,” he muttered, then turned down the cobblestone walkway.

[Rina]

“Of course not."

Tamaki's eyes snapped back up to the face of Arata. Had he just been rejected? Unfortunately for Tamaki, Katanai had dropped her voice to a whisper that must've been meant only for her red-haired companion. He half wished that he could hear their discussion, but decided it was for the better that he couldn't.

He watched as she wrenched herself from Arata's grasp. "I am not a fool. Monsters know better than to even consider romance as a possibility."

Once again, Tamaki's eyes fell upon his feline-like partner. Perhaps it was just him, but the way she worded her comeback made it seem like she was berating herself. Did she truly think of herself as a monster? And what was this talk about romance? Did she reject Arata on behalf of herself?

"It has been an intriguing game, as expected."

What exactly was going on? Was the whole situation just a game? Maybe. But from his stand-point, it was something more serious.

Watching the two leave left Tamaki baffled. What the hell just took place? With a slight shrug of his shoulders, he made his way back to the marble bench aside the fountain and laid down, shutting his eyes. He had enough excitement for the day.