Belladonna
Summary: Eyes like deadly nightshade and larkspurs glowered contemptuously back at him. She was poison, she was crafty, and she was cruel. But as much as he wanted to be against everything that she was and stood for-as long as she had her uses, she was his and his alone. And yet life is strange, fate has a twisted sense of humor, and sometimes things end up so far from the original plan that you wonder what kind of cyclone of sociopathic drivel had to have occurred in order to create such messed up individuals.
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Humor/Drama
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Chapter 1: The Lying Game
A breath was drawn, cool air rushing into burning lungs and calming a frantically humming bloodstream. She was nervous. One question floated around relentlessly in her mind. She hoped that this time he would answer truthfully and finally ease the strange sensation that crept along her spine whenever he gave her that pitying stare with his clear blue eyes.
"Are you scared?"
Eyes, a mellow baby blue shade, looked over to her, attention caught and regarded her with a fair amount of curiosity.
"Scared of what?" He questioned, turning around in his chair to face her. Her back was to him-currently preoccupied with the task at hand. The sound of clattering dishes resounded through the small cottage as the young girl began placing freshly cleaned plates into their respective cabinets and silverware into their respective drawers.
"Letting me do as I please in this world of yours," the girl clarified.
She tossed a glance over her shoulder, knives and forks clenched in her hand and smiled delicately, looking as if one word could completely shatter her eerily calm demeanor.
"Aren't you afraid I'll have a hand in breaking it?"
By appearance alone the man seemed to be young in years, however the dull shine in his eyes spread vague whispers about the things he had seen. She had truly come to care for those eyes and the man which they belonged to-something previously deemed a dream withing a dream for someone like her.
He was almost like a father to her, almost.
Pools of clear blue narrowed and he gave her a warm smile before shrugging her question off with a light chuckle. "Where you get such awful notions about me, I'll never know. Do I really seem that bad to you?"
She let her eyelids fall shut for a moment, shaking her head.
Should have known he wouldn't answer that. He never does.
"No, not really," she confessed with a crooked smirk revealing the tiniest gap between her two front teeth. "Just a bit odd, that's all."
Pale fingers lackadaisically traced the rim of a half-emptied cup of tea. He looked at her, face softly pleading. "You don't have to venture out into the world just yet. Stay with me a little longer."
"I don't want to."
"How cruel. I've begun to enjoy your company nowadays." How cruel indeed.
"Likewise." He watched her struggling to stack the bowls onto the higher shelves, wobbling uneasily on her tiptoes.
"Would you like some help with that?" He offered kindly.
She shook her head, continuing with difficulty to stack dishes. "No, I've got it. I handle all the cooking and cleaning, remember?'
"Why was that rule set up anyway? I thought you loved my cooking."
"If you can even call it that. I don't care what anybody says, magic should not be used for consumption purposes. Besides," she turned to face him, grinning. "I'm already finished."
"This was our last supper together," he said in a low whisper. "Feels a bit foreboding, doesn't it?"
"I suppose." She replied, winding frizzy dark brown curls into a loose bun, sliding a silver hairpin into place with only a few stray strands left hanging to frame her face, and swiftly fastened the white sash tied around her waist.
All set.
"Have any idea of what you want to do?"
"Whatever I please," she replied. "I'll find a way to earn money or maybe I'll somehow manage to pull food and shelter out of thin air."
"I sense sarcasm," he commented, wincing at her bitter response.
"Your senses do not lie." She drawled lazily, her interest currently placed in something other than the conversation. "Maybe I'll even conquer one of those dungeons you've told me so much about."
It was a single thought thrashing about inside her skull, pricking at her skin, and jerking on her aching muscles that created this particular feeling of nervous excitement. It was an itch that coursed through her veins with each and every heartbeat and words that wanted to spill from her mouth like a waterfall.
I'm right here, she wanted to say.
The urge to experience everything this grand world had to offer is what drove her day in and day out.
A girl of just fourteen forced the cacophony of voices inside her head to be silent with another calming breath and started towards the door of the only place that qualified as her home.
"Yunan."
Gripping the hem of her dark blue tunic, she fiddled with the golden trim and sighed. Good-byes sadly were not her forte so she settled on giving him the brightest smile she could muster as a sort of makeshift parting gift and hurried out the door.
Yunan lifted the cup of tea to his lips and downed the rest, heaving a long sigh. It had been quite awhile, hadn't it? For nine-no, ten years now- he had been her mentor, her caretaker, teaching her everything from the mechanics and inner working of the world to how to speak. Yunan wasn't so sure if she was ready to play the Game of Life. He wasn't sure of which side she would take.
But it was thanks to him that she was neutral ground now, so to speak and wouldn't be starting the game blinded and biased. Overall, her case had definitely improved since he first came across her, he wouldn't have let her leave otherwise, but she was not entirely safe just yet.
Unfortunately, she would never be completely out of the woods. He had told her every chance he got, drilling it into her brain that her condition would likely never stabilize. And Yunan recalled how each time he told her the facts how she stared at him. He remember the blank, uncaring look on her face, as if he had just mentioned a change in the weather.
Despite how much he cared for his ambitious young student, he thought it far too cruel for someone like her to have been born into the world. A gamble was what she was-one hell of a gamble.
He pitied the poor child.
They had been in Balbaad for a week now, he, Sinbad, and Mystras. It had been one measly week and Ja'far already found himself less than pleased with his friend and leader. Balbaad had been experiencing a rough patch, socially as of late.
Seemingly out of the blue, bodies had started to pop up all over the place. Sinbad, being the kind and morally upright man he is, volunteered to catch the guy for their mutual friend, King Rashid. Now, Ja'far wouldn't have minded this at all had it not been for the enormous stacks of files and general notes on the slayings-not to mention the number of people they now had to interview.
It had been a full day since Ja'far had last slept.
He found Sinbad, president of the Sindria Trading Company and close friend, draped sideways over an armchair, hanging practically upside down with notes on affluent criminals strewn carelessly across the floor and doing the opposite of what he should have been doing. Needless to say, Ja'far was livid. But recalling Rurumu's lessons, he let it go, sighing through his nose. "And what the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Uh, researching?" he offered weakly. The victims had started appearing three months ago. The victims being either men or women, all poisoned. As stated in the notes on the murders
"Doesn't look like it. Work."
"What about Mystras? Why isn't he helping?" Ja'far motioned to the red-head passed out on the floor. Poor guy didn't even make it to a chair. "Mystras collapsed from exhaustion four hours ago, remember? He's a hard worker unlike someone we know."
"I work hard." Sinbad pouted, sitting upright.
"That's a crock of horseshit and you know it," he said, taking a seat.
"Language, young man," he chided, wagging a finger.
"Anyway, have you found any suspects yet? Or am I the only one who actually accomplished something?"
Sinbad beamed with pride. "I found someone..." He sifted through the disordered stack of papers, picking up a large handful and handing them over to Ja'far. "In fact, I think I may have found the culprit."
Ja'far carefully looked over sheets of paper and noted a pertinent component between the victims.
"Raja El-Amin?"
The sun began its descent into the west and blended into the evening glow. Thunder clouds were scattered throughout the molten sky, streams of fading sunlight cutting through the patches of dark gray. The city had charm. There was a gritty sophistication that coursed through the streets of Balbaad, enchanting anyone and everyone who paid close enough attention to its people. It was a heartwarming, friendly place yet the chilling air of imminent betrayal was still prevalent on certain misty nights. The gorgeous city of Balbaad was, in a nutshell, an oxymoron, a magnificent contradiction that could only come into being by the diversity of its citizens.
Raja was intrigued, that's for sure.
Four days of unrelenting rain-an unheard-of occurrence in Balbaad during the summer months-along with unexpected hailstorms, caused a slight disruption in the normal flow of things. Today's downpour was light, however, practically a drizzle leading to the residents of the seaside city carrying on with their activities as dawn drew toward dusk. The sudden rain spell was coming to an end.
Raja carried out her errands with the usual diligence. She had been a resident of the flourishing city for three months now, catching a job as a flower merchant's assistant-a surprisingly well paying job, she discovered-and was almost immediately able to rent a temporary living space. Unfortunately, she had had to sell her silver hairpin in order to make her first rent payment on time.
But for the first couple of days, as well as right now, it seemed that Lady Luck had taken a liking to her for once. The voices had been eerily silent as well.
With a stunning bouquet of aromatic white lilies, violet larkspurs, and blushing tulips clutched to her chest, Raja splashed through large puddles to the residence of a wealthy nobleman, a loyal customer who had the tendency of giving obscenely generous tips. The wealthy class, along with brothels and the occasional tavern made up over half of their clientele. Each one of them longed for sweet scents to ease the stench of the numerous human interactions that occurred in their respective establishments. However, the other thirty percent had no interest in floral beauty or intoxicating aromas. Much of the flora her employer prided himself in were quite poisonous, some more so than others and requests for particularly deadly plants were not uncommon.
It certainly wasn't where she pictured herself but Raja was content with her current way of life, at least for the time being.
Giving nods of acknowledgement to the two servants guarding the compound, Raja briskly entered the building.
The nobleman paid in full after verifying the goods with the addition of a healthy tip for the delivery girl, of course and with two small bags of silver in hand, she was on her way. The transaction was short, sweet and to the point which Raja was thankful for considering her business skills were sub-par at best. She somehow ended up offending someone one way or another. 'One of your more troublesome traits', Yunan had called her utter lack of tact. (Unknown to him, sarcasm was one of her closest friends ride along side cynicism and skepticism. This elusive tact Yunan blabbered on about was just about equivalent to blasphemy in her eyes. )
They could come in handy from time to time, cynicism and skepticism. For instance, when a suspiciously handsome looking young man with the most suspiciously enchanting amber eyes she had ever seen on another human being steps suspiciously out of a dark alleyway, claiming he is searching the city for a heartbroken serial killer with a passion for poison, prostitutes, and married men-his words not hers-the inner skeptic inside her brain instantly began ringing the 'freak alarm'.
Raja noted the oddness of it all. She firmly believed that one could tell the thoughts of others simply by looking into their eyes. They were the windows into the soul, after all. And although his smile demanded trust and his words murmured 'depend on me' between breaths, there was a mysterious, fiery glint in those eyes. It told her that this man was something else, something not quite...
He made her head hurt.
The dark haired young man introduced himself as Sin, an investigator of sorts currently employed at the request of King Rashid. "…and this is my, er, sidekick Ja'far," he said, gesturing to a angry preteen by his side and smiling confidently as if all of this seemed completely plausible.
A look of surprise flitted across Raja's face. Having been entranced by the young man in front of her, she had hardly noticed the white-haired boy.
With a scowl fixed firmly onto his freckled face, the boy Sin had introduced as Ja'far looked as if he wished to strongly object to the word sidekick-as anyone naturally would-but stayed silent, folding his arms and waiting for something to go sour. Even if things turned out well in the end, something always went awry.
"Funny, I had you pegged as more of a male escort than an investigator." Raja retorted, less than confident in the validity of the young man's words.
Sin looked slightly offended.
"Well, she's not wrong," said Ja'far with a snort, sounding quite irate.
Sin cleared his throat, wholly ignoring his sidekick's snide comment. "Ja'far and I were wondering if you happened to have any information on the recent murders. Maybe you've seen any suspicious characters wandering the streets late at night?"
"I see lots of suspicious people around here, day and night. In fact, I'm looking at one right now."
"Suspicious?" He repeated, cocking an fine eyebrow. "Me-I'm suspicious? How am I suspicious?"
"Considering on how you just, sort of, appeared out of the blue..."
Lips quirking upward, Sin flashed a charming smile.
God, it was like rays of sunlight automatically converged toward this guy the second he cracked a mere grin. Or was that just her mind embellishing reality again? Raja wondered if his laughter could cure illnesses or perhaps stop the tears of a hysterical infants too. "Well, I can assure you that I am no more a criminal than my adorable little sidekick here."
At that moment, Ja'far looked like he was about to commit a murder himself. Raja knew the expression well. "Sin," breathed out harshly, sounding fed up and exhausted. "I swear, I will gut you with an honest-to-god smile on my face if you don't stop calling me a goddamn sidekick."
Raja snickered.
"Excuse us for a moment." Sin smiled apologetically, ushering…partner off to the side.
The conversation between the two carried on in hushed whispers and thinly concealed threats. Raja stayed put though, fairly amused by the dynamic duo and wanting to see more of their interactions. Also something told her that if she ran, Sin and Ja'far had the persistence to catch up.
"What is the matter with you today?" Sinbad questioned in a harsh whisper.
"I don't know, uh, maybe it's the fact that I have been awake for at least twenty-four hours and in those twenty-four hours, you've managed to drag me into some bullshit."
"I'm sorry," he apologized, gesticulating wildly. "I would've taken Mystras if I could."
So would he! "So would I!"
Sin huffed, crossing his arms, ready to lay down the law on his flustered companion. "Can we try doing things my way now? 'Cause your way obviously isn't working that well."
"That's because you're intentionally screwing it up!"
The gray-eyed preteen was faced with an air of sudden seriousness coming from his friend and leader.
"Ja'far," he started, amusement swiftly switched out for admonishment. "don't you think you're overreacting a bit? You know how much we owe Uncle Rashid, this little chore being the least we could do for him after what he's done for us. Can we get this done, please? For his sake."
"Sin-"
"-And that you would insinuate that I would be so petty as to sabotage your plan by not doing my best work, well it's simply preposterous. It hurts that you think so little of me. It really does. I thought you knew me better than that."
He hated to admit it but Sin did have a point. They owed King Rashid an arm and a leg-more than they could possibly pay back in favors alone. Although it was Sin who originally volunteered for the job, it felt good to even try to repay their debt to him.
Shit.
Now he felt bad, guilt beginning to claw its way into his chest. Maybe he was overreacting, it certainly wouldn't be the first time he prematurely burst into a fiery, cursing rage, threatening the most creative kinds of bodily harm. In fact, he had barely gone twelve hours since his last meltdown.
Shame crept upon Ja'far's face in a remorseful blush. He was absolutely right. "I'm sorry, Sin. I'm just totally exhausted and-" Wait a minute. Did he really just…?
"...did you just guilt trip me?"
Sin ruffled Ja'far's hair affectionately, wholeheartedly fixed on dodging the question. "All is forgiven, my oddly adorable protégé. I am also sorry about the whole sidekick thing. It was a slip of the tongue."
"Uh huh, how about the other two times?"
He shrugged. "It would be weird to change my terminology after saying it once so I decided to role with it."
Gray eyes blinked and while heaving an exasperated sigh he decided to give up for the day. It wasn't worth the effort to try and defy Sin's freaky mind magic. Not today. "Do whatever the hell you want, Sin. Let's get this over with and catch the freak."
Ja'far watched his friend and traveling companion giddily prance off-oh, lord this wasn't going to go well, was it?-and begin working his magic. While Ja'far wanted to go with a subtler approach, Sin had thought up a more straightforward way of getting miss Raja El-Amin to confess to her crime. She had been suspected of murder before. She was seen having heated arguement with a man three months ago, vehement curses and threats slung back and forth. Some witnesses stated how it sounded like a lovers' quarrel. He, apparently had cheated on her with some random prostitute. The man turned up dead just a day later and so did the prostitute. Both were poisoned via deadly nightshade.
And thus the killings began.
Taking his track record into consideration, there was a fifty-fifty chance of Sin's coercion tactics falling through. A shudder crept down his spine as memories of previous incidents caused by Sin's flirtatious shenanigans flooded back.
There was an impossibly large plethora of things that Sinbad was good at, things that he shouldn't be good at. One of which being the combination words, phrases, expressions, and emotions. All of which things when played in the right way with the right people could result in the most exhilarating of games. Ja'far had affectionately coined it 'The Lying Game'. Whether it be lying by omission, a flat out falsity, general smooth-talking, or any combination of the three, all these things were acceptable ways to play, proper facial expression also being essential.
With a sense of apprehension on the rise, Ja'far couldn't help but think that this interaction was going to be an absolute catastrophe. Because he knew how much Sinbad loved to play the game.
"I apologize for the interruption, miss," said Sin, smooth as silk. He took her hand and pressed it to his lips, looking into dark eyes and watching carefully for the typical flustered blush or the disgusted scowl indicating a slap was about to come his way.
She did neither. Raja took back her hand and wiped it on the skirt of her dark blue tunic, seemingly unfazed. Sinbad blinked, taken aback but smiled warmly nonetheless. Despite his wounded masculine pride, this was a good sign. He wondered, that perhaps Miss Raja would be able to play the game? He hoped so. It had been awhile since he was last able to play, his last troublesome opponents being the queen of Artemyra and that woman from the Mariadel Company. He prayed that this wouldn't be quite so...challenging to overcome.
"If I am not mistaken, you are Raja El-Amin, correct? You do deliveries for Mirza, the flower merchant?"
"I am."
"Then, I assume you are familiar with a wide variety of plants, including the more poisonous ones. Am I right?"
"Somewhat, yes."
"Would you happen to know anything about deadly nightshade? Or perhaps hemlock?" The dark-haired girl opened her mouth to speak, then closed it abruptly, frowning.
Sinbad waited for the answer with baited breath as Raja sighed, wondering how she would respond to being thrust into his game of words. Her mouth turned upwards into a crooked smile and she grinned, widely, sweetly, innocently, revealing the smallest gap between her two front teeth.
"No, I'm afraid I wouldn't know anything about that."
Sinbad smiled that same knowing smile in which Raja had to believe that there was something unnervingly different about this man, something not entirely...right. Something that made her guts squirm, her heart flutter, pinpricks dance along her back, and her hands twitch nervously at her sides.
The cacophony of voices in her mind started their melodic hums and spiteful whispers with a vengeance, making her head throb but Raja smiled nevertheless.
The game had begun.
A/N: For all the Magi fans out there, hope you don't mind a new addition to the Sinbad section. With all the things going on in the manga making him even more interesting than he was before-something I had insisted was completely impossible-and the entire Sinbad no Bouken sidestory going haywire, I thought it was now or never! I hope you enjoyed it and nothing was too confusing.
For the time being the story will be taking place during the Sinbad no Bouken timeline. So, yeah the first meeting between Raja and Sinbad, and Sinbad suspects her to be a serial killer. That's the best sign of a budding healthy relationship if I ever heard one. Poor Ja'far, so rundown and so under-appreciated. Do not worry folks, his revenge is nigh!
And although Mystras didn't really appear in this chapter, he will play a role later on. I just love the guy too much not to put him in this.
Anyway, feel free to ask any sort of questions. I'll be sure to answer them-the ones I can, at least without giving anything away. Oh! An update of Troy will be coming soon.
Well, I've rambled on for long enough.
-K.N.