Disclaimer: I do not own anything apart from my OC's and a few art pieces.
First Theft
She stared around the column silently, listening intently to the sound of hurried faded steps. This was her first mission and it had to go well, otherwise she might not get to see the light of day. She flipped a strand of hair behind her shoulder so she could focus. Just a few more seconds of silence, and she would make her move.
As stealthy as she could she tip-toed across the floor and stopped beside a podium. The art piece inside the protective glass shined from the amount of polishing it had seen over the years. She licked her lips, trying to concentrate. Carefully, she removed the glass from the art piece and set it down next to her feet. The case made a slight thud as it hit the stone floor, but otherwise made no noticeable noise. Turning back towards her prey, she took a moment to appreciate its beauty.
The art piece was a jewel encrusted box, said to once hold the jewels of the original royal family of Azumano. She took a breath and reached for the box.
Sirens started creating atrocious loud noise. She jumped and lost her balance, accidentally tripping over the glass case and made noise so loud that she knew she was about to be caught.
Breathing heavily, she looked around the room in an attempt to create an escape plan. The Phantom Thief Dark never has to worry about jumping from ten stories up, but I do. There was only one door in and out, three massive windows near the end of the exhibit hall and no way for her to escape. She felt panic begin to well up in her stomach as she heard the approaching steps of the museum security guards.
Oh, why did I even think I could do this? I'm so stupid! And now I'm about to go to jail! I need help! In the darkness of the room, she could see the light from the hall outside the door shine through the crack at the bottom. Fear gripped her heart as shadows began to dance their way towards the door. She breathed heavily and began to back away from the jeweled box she had attempted to steal and failed.
Her back met the cold stone of a podium, making her stop her retreat from the door. The sudden appearance of the new podium startled her into accidentally knocking over the protective glass case that held one of the museums many artifacts. It fell to the floor and shattered into millions of tiny pieces at her feet. She let out a small scream and jumped up from the floor to avoid the sharp little glass pieces. She gripped the top of the podium and brought herself up to the top. Her hand brushed something that lay on the velvet cushion on top of the podium. She grabbed it and brought it to her face to see in the moonlight.
In her hand she held a small jewel encrusted scroll. The jewels set along the handles and in the paper reflected the light of the moon brilliantly, making it glow. Suddenly the scroll began to shake in her hands. At first she thought it was herself shaking, but as the scroll continued it turned violent with movement. She was forced to let it go, and watched as the scroll glowed bright white in the dark room and hovered in the air.
"Are you the one worthy of my master?"
She stared at the scroll, trying to process the objects sudden ability to fly, before noticing the question. She stared wide-eyed at the art piece, not believing her ears or eyes.
"Much time has passed, but you are the one that I feel the master's blood strongest in. Have courage, and tell me your desire."
She couldn't believe her ears. Whilst the art work glowed and hovered, a soft bell chime reverberated through the room, relaxing the girl slightly from where she sat on the podium. The sound of running footsteps echoed into the room, and she felt herself zone in on the artifact with heightened senses of fear.
"I just want to be home!" She shouted, closing her eyes as the door was thrown open.
The scroll glowed brightly in the darkness, making the guards freeze in their step to shield their eyes. The soft bell sound grew louder until suddenly it vanished. The three guards opened their eyes and looked where they had seen the outline of a thief, but saw no one.
Suki opened her eyes as she gasped and breathed heavily. She looked frantically around her room, finding everything in its usual place. She placed a hand to her chest to calm herself down. That was one incredible nightmare. It almost seemed as if it were real, too.
Her room was decent in size. She had a desk for her school work, a book shelf for all of her favorite manga's and unused text-books, a bed that she sat up on, a dresser for her clothes, a small mirror hung beside the doorway into the room and a door that led to a closet which held her school uniform.
Suki pushed aside the covers on her bed and swung her legs over the side until her feet nearly touched the floor. She gazed out the window that sat open across the room from her bed, wondering when she had opened it. Must have been during the night. It must have been hot in here, that's it! I just . . . don't remember opening it, nor being really hot to need it open in the first place.
Stretching and standing from her bed, she glanced at the clock on her bedside table, frowning at the time.
"Dammit to hell." She mumbled. "It would figure I'd be late."
She had a bad history of being late for multiple occasions, but the worst being school. She took her time gathering her books and getting dressed in her Azumano School Uniform because she knew she was late anyway. Suki glanced into the mirror and groaned upon seeing her hair in disarray.
"I don't know how Risa manages to look so girly every morning." She said, watching her mouth move in the mirror. "She must get up at like five just to work on her hair."
She grabbed a brush from her desk and began to work through the masses of knots that had formed in her black and red hair. One more look at the clock made her stomach tighten.
"I forgot I have that math test today!" She gasped, now frantically brushing her hair. "That class starts in ten minutes! Shit, I'm not going to make it there at this rate! I need to pass that test to pass this quarter!"
She yanked at her hair painfully before declaring herself presentable and threw the brush down on the desk. She grabbed at her books and tore them off of the desk, trying to shove them into her school bag.
"Come on you stupid books!" She grunted, putting more strength into working the books into the bag. Suddenly the fabric that held the shoulder strap to the bag ripped with an audible sound, making her stop in her efforts. "Oh no, not today!"
She observed the wrecked bag with hopeless eyes. "No! Now what am I supposed to do? I guess I could carry all of them, but that would make it difficult to run to school! Ah! I really need to go!"
She started pulling book after book out of her bag so that she could carry them, until a foreign object at the very bottom stopped her. "What is this?"
Suki reached into the bag and pulled out an elaborately decorated scroll. She gasped, realizing it was the same scroll from her dream.
"But I thought that it was only a dream?" She asked herself silently. "Did I really try to rob a museum?"
The scroll glinted in the morning light, just like it had in the moonlight. Suki stared at it, expecting it to suddenly hover and glow. When it did nothing, she shook her head and called herself a fool before placing it on her desk.
"I can't afford any more distractions; I have to get to school!" She said and hurried out the door.
The scroll she placed on her desk began glowing faintly.
"No more . . . distractions?"
Suki panted as she sprinted into the Azumano School courtyard, gripping her books tightly. She had run from her house that overlooked the sea, all the way to the school up various hills and trees. Her lungs hurt with every breath, but her only thought was of the math test she needed to pass. Suki ran through the building, pushing past other students and calling out apologies behind her, until she reached her classroom.
The teacher was about to close the door when Suki burst into the room.
"I-huff, huff made it!" She gasped out, throwing her books on top of her desk and using her knees as support to even out her breathing.
The teacher gave her a look before closing the door and walking over to her desk. "Thank you for joining us, Miss Zaiaku. Take a seat when you're ready, we have a test today."
Suki nodded and took a few more lungful's of breath before sitting down. She and her teachers had an understanding. They had learned that while Suki may not always show up on time, she did her best to make it up in her school work, so they let her be.
The teacher went over a few last-minute pieces of instruction before handing out tests. Suki reached for her bag to get a pencil from one of the pockets but grabbed only air. Her eyes widened as she remembered the broken bag at home. Son of a bitch, of all days to forget things!
Suki knew that if she asked one of her classmates for a spare pencil, or even ask her teacher for a spare, she would get dirty looks and the 'always need to come prepared' speech. She was about to look around the floor for a pencil when out of the corner of her eye, she saw one right on top of her test paper. Well that wasn't there before, was it?
Not willing to spit in the eyes of good fortune, she took the pencil and started on her test.
Three problems later, she found herself on one difficult equation and was trying her best to concentrate, but the tapping of someone's pencil was making it difficult to concentrate. She was about to ask the person to stop tapping, when the noise suddenly stopped. Finally able to concentrate, she managed to solve the difficult problem and moved to the next one.
The bell tolled to switch class, and Suki leaned back and stretched in her chair with a grin on her face. I've never felt so good about a math test before! It helps that there weren't a ton of distractions to deal with today! Not even Saehara made a sound during the entire test!
Suki gathered her books before walking over to talk with her friends.
"Good Morning Risa, Riku, Daisuke." She said, standing next to them by the windows.
"Good morning Suki!" They said. Riku smiled at her warmly, unlike her twin sister Risa. Suki and Risa considered each other friends, but they were not by any means more than that.
"So how did you do on your math test?" Riku asked. Suki smiled.
"I feel pretty good about it, actually!" She said, folding her hands over her head. "I can't believe how easy it was to concentrate today! Not even Saehara made noise during the entire test!"
"Oh, speaking of Saehara," Risa said, "I heard that he's in the nurse's office getting his mouth checked. He suddenly came down with something that made him stop talking before you came in here, Suki."
Suki blinked in shock. "Really? I never thought Saehara could get a disease that would take away his voice. He's always gibbering on and on about anything."
"It surprised me too." Daisuke admitted, scratching the back of his head. "We were in the middle of a conversation and he just shut his mouth. Literally shut it."
Suki laughed, imagining what the look on Saehara's face at that moment would look like. She spoke with her friends a little while longer before collecting her stuff and heading towards the art room for the last class of the day. I slept longer than I thought this morning. She walked into the art room and set her stuff on the counter next to her paint easel. She removed the white blanket that covered her project and set it down beside her books.
She was working on a portrait of her and her friends. She had drawn them all standing in front of the windows of the last class she had come from. Even Saehara had a place in her portrait. Suki picked up a brush after mixing some paint together and started on the finishing touches. It had taken her nearly all of last art class to find the right color for Risa's brown hair, Riku's shade of auburn and Daisuke's vibrant red, but the end result had been perfect. She started on the background colors, once again finding it easy to focus on her work.
To think I've gone a whole day without being bothered by anything! Man, this has got to be a record!
She set down the paint brush and took a step back to admire her work. She smiled at the painting, imagining them all standing at those same windows again tomorrow. A touch on her shoulder made her gasp and turn around quickly. She sighed when she saw that it was no one to fear. Then her heart started beating faster.
"Ah, it's you Hiwatari!" She said breathlessly, trying to gather her thoughts.
"Sorry if I startled you, Zaiaku." He said. "I wanted to take a look at your painting."
She just about blushed with pride. Of all the girls in the class he could have asked to see their paintings, he chose mine! Score for Suki!
"Sure Hiwatari! It's not really as good as what you do, but I made it for personal enjoyment, you know?" She said, rambling.
Satoshi Hiwatari made her heart beat frantically. Out of all the boys in her school, Suki had the biggest crush on the best looking guy in Azumano. She admired his artwork most of all. Ever since she enrolled in the Azumano School she began noticing the blue haired boy in a way she hadn't felt before. Every chance she'd get, she would try to talk to him or wiggle her way through his silent boundaries. He fascinated and terrified her, because everything he said meant the world to her. She also felt foolish when she couldn't stop talking to him.
He looked at the portrait like he was inspecting something crude. "The base color represents the skyline good, and the colors you mixed for the Harada's hair colors and Niwa's hair color are near perfect."
He straightened up and faced her. "This is good for a novice."
Suki nodded, blushing a shade below scarlet. "Thank you for the compliment, Hiwatari."
He nodded and turned to go back to his own work. Suki looked at her portrait again. Oh my gosh, I was complimented by Satoshi Hiwatari! I'm taking this home today and hanging it from my wall!
Suki fanned her work excitedly, trying to dry it so that she could carry it home without damaging it. "Best day ever!"
The bell toll signaled the end of class, so she hurriedly gathered her books in one arm and carefully carried her portrait in the other.
"And now to get you home without damaging you!" She said.
Suki set her books on the table beside the door and carefully placed the painting on the wooden floor while she removed her shoes. She didn't bother calling out her arrival. Her parents were living elsewhere in the world, estranged from her. Suki wasn't really sure why, but she had been on her own long enough to learn how to survive by herself.
She stood up, portrait in hand. "I wonder what Hiwatari painted for his own project this time. I forgot about it after he complimented mine. I sure wish I could see what it looks like."
She stared at her portrait and imagined soft bell chimes as she wondered what Hiwatari had painted. She blinked suddenly. Those bells sound awfully real to be from my imagination.
She looked up suddenly as something appeared in front of her. It was a small portrait of Azumano, painted with dark hues and realistic colors to enhance the night sky. Suki's breath caught in her chest as she stared at what must have been the work of Satoshi Hiwatari.
"Does this please you, master?"
Suki tore her eyes from the painting to the slender hands that held it up. Her eyes traveled over the rich grey sleeves of a dress and up to the face of a girl a little older than her. The girl's eyes sparkled in the sunlight like jewels.
Suki gasped and stepped back. "Who the hell are you?! How did you get into my house?!"
The older girl smiled and set down the painting she held. She curtseyed deeply, allowing her long red hair to fan around her.
"My name is the Jewel of the Scroll, but my master may call me Arien. I have been asleep for many years, until your touch awakened me." She said, standing from her curtsy. "It is my duty to serve you and protect you in any way I can."
Suki stared open-mouthed at the girl in front of her. "So you have to get me anything I want?"
Arien smiled and nodded.
"So . . . last night wasn't a dream than?" Suki asked. "I really broke into the museum to steal that artifact, and you were the one that spoke to me from inside the scroll?"
"It is for my master that I appear and carry out your will. You desired escape last night, so I stole you away and brought you home like you wanted." Arien said.
"And this morning?" Suki asked, trembling.
"You wanted no distractions." Arien said, folding her arms in a refined way. "I kept you from losing focus, as you wanted."
Suki looked at the painting that stood beside the strange girl. I guess the painting speaks for itself too. I can't believe this is happening.
Arien bent down and took the painting Suki stared at. "Would you like it hung on the wall somewhere, Master?"
Suki blinked and shook her head furiously. "Hang on a minute! How can you be sure that I'm your master? I haven't done anything to deserve this!"
Arien smiled again, something Suki was beginning to think looked too fake. "Master, there is only you. You are of Zaiaku blood, yes?"
Suki nodded, not sure why her name would matter.
"I have been passed down to serve the next in the Zaiaku bloodline." Arien explained. "If you were not meant to be my master, I would not have awakened in the museum to your touch."
Suki stared at the ceiling above her bed. Having a maid (as that is what Arien seemed to be) was something she was unaccustomed to. She had always taken care of herself, and never needed another person before. It occurred to her that this was something supernatural, and the only other thing she could think of when it comes to supernatural was the Phantom Thief Dark.
She sat up in her bed and huffed. "Phantom Thief Dark. Some great thief he is, always carrying on about how easy it is to steal. I could be ten times better than him any day of the week!"
Suki didn't like Dark, much to the chagrin of the girls in her school. At first she had been partially captivated with the mysterious thief, but then had dropped her liking him altogether. He had an ego the size of his wing span (which she wished she knew how he managed to grow wings), and he flirted with girls constantly. All Risa could talk about was Dark every morning at school. Suki was like Riku in that aspect. She preferred her men to be responsible but cute and named Satoshi Hiwatari.
She picked up the remote for her small television and turned it on. Dark was at it again, from what the reporter was saying. She sighed and strode over to her desk, getting a late start on her homework.
"Is there anything you require, master?" Arien asked from the doorway. Suki looked up from her work.
"You know, that's the sixth time you've asked me that in fifteen minutes." She said, turning her chair around to face the maid. "You've been a scroll for a long time, apparently. Don't you want to go out and see how the world has changed or something?"
Arien smiled and shook her head. "I do as my master wishes."
Suki stared at her for a long moment, wondering if the girl was playing some sort of joke on her. Is she really so . . . what's the word I'm looking for? Dedicated to this job? Doesn't she have any thoughts or will of her own? And what is with that fake smile?
"Uhm, you can go do what you want. I'll call you if I need anything." Suki said. Arien continued to stand in the doorway with the same fake smile.
This is going to be awkward from now on.
"So what do you do for fun?" Suki asked. Arien smiled. "Wait, let me guess. You do as I tell you?"
Arien nodded. Suki sighed and leaned her head against her palm. "This isn't going to work. Don't you do anything on your own?"
Arien shook her head. "I do as my master instructs. I must follow your orders completely."
Suki stared at her homework again, trying to concentrate but was finding the maid with apparent lack of will extremely uncomfortable to work under. Finally, she threw down her pencil and turned the chair back around to face the maid.
"Alright, so you have to follow every order I say?" She asked. Arien nodded and produced another smile.
"I am to serve you and to protect you by any means." She said. Suki nodded, letting everything the maid said fly through her ears.
"Alright then, I order you to be more . . . human, I guess. It's creepy having you walk around like a zombie." Suki said.
Arien stood in the doorway, computing her master's order. She wishes me to be more . . . human? But what does it mean to be human? Arien nodded, and blinked uncomfortably, just like a human would in the current situation.
"Is there anything else that you . . . need, master?" She asked timidly. Being human was more complex than she had ever thought before. Suki shook her head, but this wasn't enough for Arien. "Please, master. I understand that you have a place of employment known as school that you attend for six hours every day but Saturday and Sunday. What service can I do for you whilst you are away?"
Suki put the pencil to her lip in thought. I'm glad she's acting kind of normal now. But that makes a good point. What is she going to do while I'm at school? I can't have her following me around or anything. And I especially can't have her mess with the kids in my class again, like I think she did to Saehara.
"How about I leave you in charge of all the household things?" Suki suggested. "Like cooking and cleaning, shopping and running to town while I'm gone. Just think about what a human would do while their kid is away at school."
Arien nodded and curtsied again. Suki bit her lip from a small bit of embarrassment.
"You don't have to do that anymore either." She told the red-head. Arien nodded and smiled an awkward but real smile and left Suki to do her work. Suki stared after the girl for a moment before sighing and turning back to her homework.
Having a maid might be fun. She contemplated a problem. Who knows? Maybe the change in status will make Hiwatari notice me more often? She smiled to herself and blushed.