A/N: Hey e'erybody! This is my first Akuma no Riddle fanfic and the first time I've posted in a waaaay long time, especially here. I had a lot of struggles getting behind the Shiena/Otoya pairing, so I wrote this so that it would make more sense to me. Any scenes are taken from the manga rather than the anime. Non-beta'd, but edited. Eh, I'm really sorry about the title, and enjoy!
Rated M for language and bloodplay.
Running with Scissors
4.
Shiena doesn't like bullies.
That means, by definition, she hates Takechi Otoya, who spends her time teasing a less than stable Banba Mahiru. She also goes out of her way to be sickeningly sweet to the target and the other people around her. Otoya is a poison, a rot that took hold while she wasn't looking.
Shiena doesn't like Otoya for her mimed smiles and false apologies, for her feigned interest in Haru's life. Shiena knows that the person that those hide is clever, dangerous. Someone as sour as that is too difficult to sugarcoat. Otoya could murder her with one blow if she wanted, but would prolong the suffering for her own enjoyment, and Shiena knows it.
But somehow, that thought keeps sending a thrill through her veins.
3.
Shiena wakes up to find all of her glasses broken or missing. Otoya is standing there, apologizing profusely with a probably chagrined look on her face that Shiena can't see. She's more exasperated than angry, so she brushes aside the snide remarks that immediately bubble up. It gets a little more difficult when Otoya flashes her early notification, and she lets a nasty comment or two slip in. Stewing quietly, she begins the perilous journey to the bathroom, tripping over the end of her bed on the way.
Styling her hair turns out to be a bit more difficult when she can't see the results in the mirror. Biting back her frustration, she begins her second braid for the third time, moving quicker in order to be on time. She's inwardly cursing Otoya's existence when a pointy black shape approaches from behind her, and she stiffens at the sudden presence at her back. "Let me," Otoya whispers in her ear, and, despite the fact that she's still kind of pissed, she slowly lowers her hands. Otoya's quick fingers take their place, deftly plaiting the strands together. Shiena hopes she doesn't notice the shivers that erupt when their skin accidentally brushes, and merely nods when Otoya requests that she re-do the other side.
"Gotta run, Shiena-chan!" Otoya calls with a distinctive metal snipping sound, followed by the open and closing of their door. Shiena feels the braids for any signs of a prank – she hasn't trusted anyone in a long time, least of all a roommate that enjoys cruel jokes. Finding none, she sighs and dresses hurriedly in order to get to class on time, ignoring the hair that's still raised on the back of her neck.
2.
Normally, not being able to pay attention in class due to her blindness doesn't bother Shiena. She didn't exactly come to Myoujo for the academics and is well ahead of the rest of the class in terms of material. Unfortunately, the 'ability' test takes much longer than it should have, as she spends the majority of the time squinting at the page, trying to discern characters.
And the irritations don't stop there. Otoya spends the entire class flirting with Haru, passing notes back and forth and whispering secrets. Their phones are constantly vibrating as they text each other under the desk. Shiena can only imagine the scowl that is decorating Azuma's face; she can feel the cold waves of hatred coming off of her from the front of the room.
After a particularly loud giggle from Haru, Shiena rolls her eyes and asks to be excused for the restroom. She deliberately glares at the pointy black figure in Otoya's seat as she makes her way out of the class.
She isn't jealous, she insists to herself as she splashes water on her face. Otoya is hunting, throwing her prey off-guard so that when the time comes, Haru will be taken unawares. This is the way that she kills, nothing more. There is no reason to be jealous.
And then there is also the fact that Otoya is a killer of the cruelest kind – it is apparent in nearly everything about her. And Shiena downright refuses to have a crush on a bully.
It still doesn't stop her from checking her hair one last time with her fingers before she goes back to class, though.
1.
The floral smell in their room is overwhelming as Shiena steps through the door. She finds a huge bouquet of flowers on their table, with Otoya hovering proudly nearby.
"You have knowledge in flower arranging?" The remark is intended to be dry, but as Shiena approaches the bouquet, she can't help but keep the interest out of her voice. The display could almost be called artful, in a haphazard way.
"Flower arranging? More in scissors," Otoya states casually as she maneuvers to the other side of the room. "I love," and then with relish, "chopping things."
That should not turn Shiena on as much as it does. She stutters some remark about what to do with the bouquet, straining to keep her eyes off her roommate.
"Say, Shiena-chan," Otoya begins casually. Shiena tries not to visibly jump when she feels Otoya millimeters behind her. She lifts up one of her braids, threading it between her fingers, and when she speaks again, her voice is husky. "Rabbits are so cute, that I come to want to cut their ears."
When she hears the snip of the scissors, Shiena decides that the weird line that Otoya walks between flirting with and insulting her has been crossed. "What is this? Hm? Bullying?"
She smacks the hand holding her hair away, and she can feel Otoya's utter surprise at the action. She smirks to herself, but then remembers that there is an important learning opportunity here.
"Don't bully," she says, gathering up the bouquet in her arms. "I will never forgive those who bully."
It's the only time Shiena has seen Otoya so shell-shocked, and the rush of power that flows through her keeps her on a high for the rest of the day.
0.
That is, of course, until she sees Otoya invite Haru to the botanical garden that evening. She and Azuma lock eyes at one point, and the fury radiating off of Haru's self-proclaimed guardian would have been humorous if she didn't think she was at least a little bit justified in feeling the same.
After class she storms back to their room, ignoring Kouko's call for assignments, slamming the door on her way in. She throws her bag on the ground and screams into her hands, and then sits on the bed and wonders when she became so irrational.
This is fucking stupid, Shiena, she tells herself as she gets up to pace. Get ahold of yourself.
Otoya is an assassin, just like her. She can't trust another assassin outside of Collective Dismissal. Especially one who seems to take so much joy in the degradation of other people.
She's mostly talked herself down from her – what, jealous rage? – when she notices Otoya's scissors on the table, right where the bouquet had been sitting before. They're laid out, all tucked into their separate pouches, and the deliberateness of it draws her over. She pulls out one about the length of her hand. It glitters in the light, pristine.
Shiena doesn't know what possesses her to do so, but she opens the blade. The snipping sound is actually quite satisfying, she finds, and if she was better at close combat, she could see herself utilizing them. She tests its sharpness against her hand, the curiosity winning out over the logical side of her screaming that she definitely shouldn't be touching a killer's favorite toys.
The door slams, and Shiena jerks her head up to look straight into Otoya's eyes just as the blade slips and bites deep into her palm. "Fuck!" she exclaims, dropping the scissors and grabbing her hand as the blood wells up between her fingers and drips onto the carpet.
Without warning, Otoya is right in front of her, and Shiena has never seen eyes like that before. The insanity that dances around the edges is only outweighed by the hunger gnawing at the pupils. There's desire there, but a feral one, and Shiena suddenly realizes that she has never been in more danger than in this very moment.
"I-I have to go clean this," she stutters, breaking out of her roommate's gaze and all but running to the bathroom. Otoya is taller though, and faster, and within a few strides she catches up and grabs Shiena's hand right before she's about to place it under the faucet.
"Let me," she purrs, and it's the sound a lion makes right before it's about to eat its full. She spins Shiena around so that the sink juts into her back, and Shiena is breathing hard now. Otoya locks their eyes together again, and this time Shiena can't look away, and so she watches the other girl bring her palm to her mouth and lap at the blood pooling there. She makes these little mewling sounds as she swallows, but she doesn't blink, and Shiena has never known such heat in her entire life. Otoya licks the cut closed once it's mostly cleaned up, much like an alley cat repairing its wounds. Eventually, she drops Shiena's palm, where the blood is starting to bead again at the surface, and shudders on her next exhale, as though she hasn't remembered to breathe.
Shiena's head is swimming as she clutches the sink for support. The cut stings and will probably require stitches, but Otoya has a fleck of blood in the corner of her mouth and before Shiena can think, she's pulling her roommate's head down in a rough kiss.
Otoya tastes of her blood, and that should not be as much of a turn on as it, but then again Shiena is realizing that nothing about this attraction makes sense. She dives deeper, throwing her all into the kiss, and Otoya is reciprocating, her nails cutting into the flesh of her shoulders. Shiena bites down on Otoya's lip, and she hisses at her before diving back in and tugging at Shiena's hair so hard a clump comes out in her hand.
The release is heady, and the beautiful mix of pain and pleasure goes straight between her legs, and Shiena needs more, right now. She tugs off her shirt, and Otoya helps her, a couple buttons flying off into space in the process. Her bra is next, and the bathroom is cold, but she can barely feel it pressed against Otoya, and the need to be as close as possible is unbearable. She reaches for Otoya's shirt, but the other girl pulls back.
"Shit, I-" Otoya is looking at her watch now, and she's breathing heavily, her eyes mostly pupil. She catches Shiena's glance and licks her lips as she surveys her hungrily, and Shiena feels exposed enough that she covers her breasts with her hands, smearing blood from her palm up her side in the process.
Otoya's gaze snaps down to the red on her skin, and when it reaches her eyes again Shiena can see that she's close to snapping. She closes them though, and takes a deep breath, showing a self-control that Shiena never thought she possessed.
"I have something I need to do, Shiena-chan," she says, her gaze now averted. "But I'll be back tonight. And then I can focus on you." Otoya smiles and looks back at her, and she's softened, somehow. She leans in and kisses Shiena with a remarkable gentleness, just as her hand drifts between her legs and squeezes. Shiena gasps in surprise at the pressure. "Don't do anything about this until I get back, rabbit," she says with a smirk, and Shiena wants to, badly, but she knows she won't.
Otoya is out of the bathroom in a flash, and Shiena hears the distinctive clink of metal and the lock clicking before she slides down to the tile floor. Her hand is bleeding again, and she really needs to take care of that, but she touches her swollen lips and feels a dark thrill race through her, and hopes to any higher being up there that Otoya comes back tonight, even if it means she doesn't get a shot at killing Haru.
She makes sure to clean the blood off her side before she wraps her hand in a bandage, puts on a new shirt, and escorts herself to the nurse.
1.
After she's stitched up – blabbering some lie about baking when the nurse analyzes the wound with a concerned glance – Shiena decides that a steaming hot bath is in order. Mostly because being around other people will make her concentrate on something other than Otoya and the promise of tonight.
She ditches the bandage around her palm on her way there to avoid any questions and resolves that the stitches will just have to suffice.
When Shiena arrives there, Haruki makes some small talk about her glasses, Kouko makes some snide comment about needing to see in the bath, and Shiena's righteous defense comes out more of a squeak. She may have weird intentions, alright, but they didn't involve anyone beside her roommate, and she bites her lip to keep from sharing this.
"Well, I'm glad your glasses are the only thing that got harmed from living with Takechi Otoya," Suzu says cryptically with a bright smile.
Shiena's hand curls around itself, hiding the stitches, and she takes a deep breath to avoid squeaking again. "What do you mean?" She fights down the urge to fidget and looks straight at Suzu.
With enough prodding, Suzu whips out a tablet – seriously, in a bath? – showing a newspaper article detailing the murder of 29 people. Shiena is not at all surprised at this, but the affirmation of it sends a chill through her veins, and she's only half lying when she displays her uneasiness at rooming with Otoya, especially once Suzu mentions that it's the only way that she gets off.
The idea fills her with the uncomfortable notion that in order for them to have sex, Otoya would have to have fresh blood on her hands. And for the number of times the thought has nudged at Shiena's mind, a lot of people would have to die.
She maybe overdoes her rant when Kouko mentions her sympathies for Otoya, but the conflicting feelings rushing through her unfortunately don't make for very clear thoughts.
Shiena ends up taking the fastest shower of her life and getting the hell out of that changing room. Rumors are no good, she reminds herself.
Even if they're true.
2.
Shiena waits up all night, but Otoya doesn't come back. She only accepts it when the sun finally rises, then she closes her shades and hugs her pillow until her alarm goes off.
3.
The irony of the mountain lilies isn't lost on Shiena when she comes into class a couple of hours later. She doesn't normally wear makeup – her glasses hide it anyway – but the bags under her eyes were so apparent this morning that it had to be done. She's so tired (or despondent) she almost doesn't notice them until Sensei announces that Otoya has transferred.
She catches their meaning before Suzu, ever the font of knowledge, states that they are "'the joy of life' in the language of flowers."
Shiena catches the desperate laugh bubbling up with a fierce bite on her lip. The irony of it is almost too much to handle, but it's neither the time nor place for hysterics. And over her (feelings? thoughts of?) Otoya, it never would be.
She drowns herself in her work, as she is prone to doing, and ignores the throbbing in her palm.
2.
Later that semester, Shiena finds herself watching Namatame very closely. Initially it's because of her acting abilities – her on-stage presence left much to be appreciated, but she improved markedly in a small amount of time, which Shiena finds commendable. She admires the dedication that Namatame has to something that she doesn't particularly care about but feels responsible for nonetheless.
It's later that she realizes the reason she catches herself staring. Namatame, she knows, is the one person here who hasn't killed before (well, in addition to Azuma, if Inukai Isuke is someone to be believed). She's not assassin material. Moreover, she's a good person, prone to making the right choices and accepting the consequences of her actions. A truly just and noble individual.
But try as she might, Shiena just can't muster up any feelings for her. She wants to love someone like Chitaru-san, someone who is truly pure at heart. People like Namatame deserve the care and commitment far more than people like Otoya, who would never be able to grasp the meaning of those words.
She wonders if there is something wrong with her, that she dreams of Otoya's lips on her palm at least once a week. Sometimes the dream takes her further, into heated flush and bitten lips, and she wakes up sweating with her eyes screwed shut. Other times it only repeats the past over and over – the intrigue, the cut, the kiss, the departure. Once it was just that final kiss, feather light, and when Shiena awoke, there were tears on the pillow.
She doesn't know why she would immediately dismiss a person as gorgeous and good-natured as Namatame, but watching her only causes the ache for someone else to increase. Eventually, she stops looking.
1. (but actually 0.)
It's not in time, though. Kirigaya, clever as she is, notices her observing Namatame. She interprets it wrongly, of course, but not completely. Shiena was trying to fall for someone other than her serial killer former roommate, and Namatame was the obvious choice, even if she didn't succeed.
Shiena doesn't particularly like Kirigaya. Perhaps it's because she sees some of herself in her. What she settles on, though, is that Kirigaya is a manipulative and very talented liar. Shiena has never hidden who she was behind a façade of gentle innocence like Kirigaya, and she could never be as cold-blooded. In any case, Kirigaya is obviously obsessed with Namatame, and Shiena really should have factored that into her calculations.
When Kirigaya confronts her backstage, Shiena can't help trading barbs with her, especially once she starts insulting Collective Dismissal. And she can't help exploiting her weakness and bringing up Namatame, because she's gotten quite good at pushing the right buttons.
She doesn't even get to explain herself before Kirigaya shoots her with the poison dart right through that stupid stuffed bear she carries around. It was a nice touch, and she wants to tell her that, but now she's lying on the floor with swimming vision and a definite receding sensation in her limbs. The poison acts swiftly, and she's already starting to black out when a voice from very far away reaches her.
"Falling in love with Chitaru-san is unforgivable."
Shiena wishes more than anything that she was in love with Namatame or someone like her. But, for some reason she can't say, she is attracted to the darkness in people. And it is the darkness that swallows her up, as she envisions those feral eyes one last time.