A friend recommended this series to me, said I could find a lot of great opportunities to put my own spin on what could be going on in the heads of various characters. This short was the result.

It's as canon as possible, under the circumstances. So, minor spoilers, and bear in mind (see what I did there?) that all I own is my (cough) genius (cough).

Beauty in Despair:

Temptations

"Attention, everyone! It's now ten O'clock. You know what that meeeeaaaaaans! Some areas are now off limits, certain locks are locking, water ain't running and you are all expected to get enough sleep to make tomorrow a killer day! You've all been here a while now, so you should already be well in the swingy-swing of things. Sweet dreams!"

Byakuya Togami gave a stiff sigh through his nose as he closed the book he was reading, deciding to leave the library and head off to his room. Moby Dick had always been a goal of his to finish cover to cover, but previous things like business had always seemed to interrupt at the most inconvenient of times.

Well...it certainly seems that I will have plenty of time on my hands for the foreseeable future. He reasoned internally.

The halls, colored by the alternating green and red lights, were nevertheless dark and imposing. Togami hated them. He hated them more and more with every step he took. He was locked in a hellhole, a prison lazily passing off as an 'Academy', a Hope Academy of all things. For heaven's sake, even the windows were sealed off by metal plates! Why? Couldn't they have used bulletproof glass instead? Was seeing the sun and sky such a bad thing? Was it really necessary for whomever was pulling the strings to cut them off from the entire outside world?!

Of course it was. He reasoned once again in his mind. They want us to kill each other. They want their perverted blood game. All the cameras, the rules, even whom they selected, shows that they don't want us to 'live the rest of our lives here' in peace. Death is what they're after. They want corpses of high school students so they can get off! And that bear...that bloodthirsty, biracial Monokuma and those working behind the scenes...they keep trying to give us reasons to off each other. Damn them! Damn them all to-

"Togami."

The voice that called his name belonged to someone that Togami had come to respect and dislike mutually. Kyoko Kirigiri, a girl as pale as a doll, hair the colour of lilac, and about as emotionally revealing as a frying pan. From a strategic point of view, she was a primary threat to him. She was just as intelligent in her field as Togami was in his, and more so the strong silent type. However, he found that she tended to care for others in her own way, especially that Naegi kid. Togami felt that if Kirigiri intended to survive, she needed to start looking out for herself only. After all, the entire point of the game was to murder one another.

Yet...Togami couldn't help but wonder; if things had been different...or normal...what kind of relationship would the two of them have?

"Togami." Kirigiri repeated, sounding more like she was making an observation of fact than calling out to him.

"You remember my name. Congratulations" He replied with his usual condescension, more out of reflex than being deliberate. "Hoping to get a gold star, detective?"

Okay...so a little deliberate.

Her reply was to simply look at him in muteness. Her face was about as readable was a blank page, which secretly irked Togami to no end! Did she ever react to anything?

"What do you want?" He asked after his patience wore thin.

"A word." She replied stoically.

"..." Odd, Togami was pretty certain that besides his stalker Fukawa, no one really had any desire to even say 'good morning' to him, let alone have an entire conversation. Kirigiri was nothing if not predictably...unpredictable.

"Very well." He agreed

"In private." She added.

A red flag rose in the young heir's mind. "Where?"

"I would suggest your room, since you might think this could be a trap." As usual, Kirigiri's deductions were logically spot on.

Togami thought for a moment. If she were to try and kill me, how would she go about it? Nothing messy like a knife, surely. Too much evidence. Poison? I'm sure an investigator such as her could make something lethal that I could swallow in a tea or soup. But there's nothing here that's toxic since we removed all the poisons from the lab. So...maybe...maybe she doesn't have any ulterior motive...

Without a word, Togami led the way. Using his key, Togami unlocked the room, opened it for his guest, and locked it behind them once inside.

He turned to look at Kirigiri, "What did you want to-"

The slap caught him across the left side of his face, sending his glasses flying crashing into the wall. It would leave a mark on his face later for sure. But in a second his eyes zeroed in on his attacker, catching Kirigiri's second swing at the wrist and squeezed hard enough it would certainly leave a bruise by the next day...if she was still around.

"It's my week for janitorial duties." Togami said very, very calmly. Kirigiri stared back, just as strong. "I was not going to do anything resembling cleaning, of course. But I could just as easily break your neck and feed you into the incinerator. No mess. You would simply vanish."

"Efficient, but unlikely. The furnace doesn't burn hot enough to complete cremate a body. Something would be left behind." She challenged without raising her voice or changing her tone. "Being the only one with the key to the janitorial room and having a mark on your face from me hitting you, someone would put two and two together."

A strange thing began to rise inside Togami. It felt dark, heavy and hot. It kept rising, tingling with a desire he had never experienced before, but in it's wake he oddly wanted more of it. It was...to the best of his knowledge...his unrestrained half. It brought a wicked grin to his face, small yet distinct.

"Perhaps someone as prehistorically dense as Naegi could put it together eventually, if I was stupid enough to leave it at that. But you see, all I'd have to do is frame someone else for the crime."

He was surprised to see Kirigiri actually scoff at his threat. "Very original."

"Oh, nothing as primitive as swapping name plates, Kirigiri. I would do much better than that. See, after burning you to a crisp, I would simply pay Fukawa a little visit."

The detective seemed slightly confused, the smallest of frowns hinting on her face. "What?"

Togami's confidence in his theoretical plan grew with each passing sentence. "That twisted being of a girl has a soft spot for me. And can you imagine the horrors she would love to do to my body if I gave her permission? Sure, it might end up killing me, but what's life without risk?"

"Let go of me." Kirigiri demanded.

The Scion continued, tightening his grip. "And after I was cut and bruised, concealing whatever mark your slap would've left, I would plant the janitor key discreetly somewhere in Fukawa's room, take a little souvenir from Fukawa, perhaps from her underwear drawer, to prove my alibi, and go back to my room. When news of your death starts to spread, it wouldn't be too hard to convince everyone that the homicidal Genocide Jill killed again and then lured me to her room to celebrate. And even were she to deny it, who do you think those other idiots would believe?"

The darkness was in his heart now, pumping through his every blood vessel, making his muscles twitch, his breath quicken, and his pupils dilate.

I...I...could do it!...Kill this witch, frame a madwoman, and finally get out of here and back to my life and see if that DVD Monokuma showed me with worth it's weight in bullcrap! I could end it here...I...I could...could...

...

...never...

...

...

...do such a terrible thing...

The temptation vanished, and Togami found himself suddenly out of breath. His grip relaxed, Kirigiri pulled herself free and took several steps back as Togami leaned his back against the locked door of his room, his forehead breaking out into a cold sweat.

Looking at his blood drained hands, unaware that he had been clenching them so tightly, Togami realized just how close he came to falling into the trap Hope's Academy was trying to force him, all of them, into.

He looked up at Kirigiri, his vision slightly blurred without his glasses, seeing how she kept her distance while remaining immobile. "This is what you wanted, isn't it? To get me angry, to put ideas in my head, to-"

"To see if you would make the right choice when the time came." The young woman confessed. "I am like you in many ways, Byakuya. I rarely trust anyone. I can rely on myself only because I have proven time and again that I know what I'm doing. But things are...too difficult here. I now that, in the long run, I will need to be able to have faith in others if I have no other choice. I needed to know if you could be one of those people."

It was a good excuse, but it still angered Togami. "I..was...this...close..."

"I know." She said with a touch of regret in her voice.

"Do you?!" It was uncharacteristic of him, but he was shouting, knowing full well that the room was sound proofed. But if it hadn't been he wouldn't have cared. "They call me cold-hearted, but you are a freak, an ice queen! If you were about to be executed by Monokuma, you would, at best, look more annoyed than anything else!"

"Togami, I-"

"Shut up! We have been on the knife's edge for weeks now and you try to provoke me?! And you think a simple explanation is simply going to wave it all away?! You-"

His next words were choked off for some reason. Why couldn't he talk all of a sudden? Togami realized that he had raged so intensely, and for the first time since since his kidnapping, that his body forgot to breath. Gasping, Togami felt a headache come on and became dizzy. He slowly slide to the floor, head between his knees, gritting his teeth as he inhaled air through his nose.

He was vaguely aware of Kirigiri's presence when she sat down next to him.

"We all have evil lurking within us." She began, staring off into a distant place only she could see, more than likely a moment from her past. "A part of us that despairs whenever things seem to impossibly stack against us. This place is designed to do just that. Maizono and Leon were good people until they were given only the worst options to return back to what they knew and loved. And given enough time and under the right circumstances, even I could turn down that dark path."

"The great Kyoko Kirigiri, succumbing to temptation? Inconceivable." It was a weak, stabbing joke, but both Togami and Kirigiri gave small, ironic smiles.

"But you're right. There is no rule book on what to do in a situation like ours. We are making it up as we go, and I couldn't think of a better way of finding out if I could trust you then by...well...forcing your hand."

"And to think that all it took was you slapping me."

"If I had a weapon, it would've been harder to convince you afterwards of my intentions." Kirigiri pointed out.

Togami sighed, having regained composure over himself. It was amazing just how the human body could react when threatened. "I guess I'm embarrassed that I was so easy to provoke."

"I am sorry." The young woman said sincerely.

"It's done. And it did reveal a truth I hadn't considered." Togami turned his head to look at Kirigiri. "So what now?"

Now it was her time to think. Kirigiri hadn't thought about much else than hopefully surviving her little test, and was now pulling her thoughts together.

"We get out." She stated.

"Obvious, as you've said to me before. Do you have a plan? Is there something you need me to do?" He asked.

"For the moment? Think, theorize, keep your eyes open. Monokuma likes dropping hints every now and then, whether on purpose or not. We'll try to use that to complete the puzzle."

Togami nodded. "Sounds good."

The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, their ordeal having left them drained. It had been so easy to forget that they were human-beings with feelings, no matter how deeply they tried to bury them. They were like powder kegs sitting on a pile of red hot coals, and could eventually explode under the heat and pressure.

"You're not cold." Togami said after a while.

"Hmm?" Kirigiri perked up her head.

"You feel, just as I do. But our lives before all this wasn't what people our age normally deal with. Neither of us were able to afford to be hampered by our emotions when dealing with a world that couldn't care less if we were hurt, scared, angry, lost and confused. The case had to be solved, the corporate decision had to be made. There was no time for emoting."

"Was such a life worth it?" Kirigiri asked in a rare moment of vulnerability.

"I'm worth billions of yen and stuck in this place. You tell me."

Kirigiri sighed. "It's not over for us yet. We still have a chance."

Togami looked at her doubtfully. "Are you sure about that?"

"I have to be." She said with a hard edge of determination in her voice.

With those words the young detective rose up, Togami rising as well, unlocking the door and letting Kirigiri out. It hadn't been the conversation he had been expecting, but it turned out to be a conversation they both needed. Somehow Kyoko Kirigiri had helped him see the road his mind had begun to take so he could turn around and refocus his attention were it mattered. And as to how he helped her...only Kirigiri could know that. They were still opponents, with mutual respect and a better understanding of one another

However, the next time he heard her voice, there was a chance that he might like it a little more.

Kirigiri unexpectedly hesitated while still in the doorway, getting Togami's attention.

"Yes?"

"I never understood why some people do this." She began.

"Do what?" Togami asked.

She continued without answering. "But I get it now. When facing death, what is most important in life seems to suddenly become crystal clear, like an epiphany, and all you want to do is share it with the closest person around you."

Kirigiri turned to look at the young man still holding the door. Her words were slow and deliberate when she spoke. "This will mean nothing to either of us by tomorrow. It might mean nothing now. But I want to share what I have with you before it's too late."

"?" Togami stared blankly in utter confusion.

He didn't understand, even when Kirigiri stepped closer to him, even as she grabbed his collar gently with her hands and lowered his face to hers. Togami only finally realized what she meant when she softly pressed her lips against his in a deep, deep kiss. It was an honest, desperate, soul-baring, loving kiss of two young people who feared they were soon about to die.

It was the kind of kiss only Kyoko Kirigiri could have given Byakuya Togami. And it was beautiful.

It was the single most beautiful thing either one of them had experienced since coming to Hope's Academy.

The End

Why I gravitate towards these two I'll never know. I tend to sympathize with the distant ones, figure there's a good reason why they are the way they are.

Another story was born after this one, following the events from the game, theorizing what could've happened after they left the school. I'm not making any promises, but it's nearly ten thousands words now, so who knows.

Thanks for reading and tell me your thoughts on who makes the more interesting Danganronpa story.