Prologue
Her feet slammed against hard concrete as she ran down the streets of Tokyo, pushing past the men in business suits and the women in black dresses who barely looked up to see what had sped past, too absorbed in their own problems to care. It was dark. It was cold. It was 11pm but Tokyo was still full to the brim with people. Nothing but ignorant people.
She frowned in disgust at the idea. These people didn't know her, nobody knew who she really was. They might pretend to care but nobody knew each other either. She glanced to her left. That woman was married (ring on a necklace around her neck, tan marks on her fingers), the guy on her arm didn't know. Down the street from them was a man in a car; he probably had stolen it from the way he glanced around nervously, constantly checking the road behind him. What hope did these people have?
But still she ran. A dark blue ruffled skirt spread out around her while managing to hug her hips. The first underskirt was crimson, like blood, while the second was pure white. The two layers peeked out from beneath the blue. Underneath the multiple layers of skirt was a tight pair of shorts. God knows how much she fell over in the worst times; she didn't want to flash someone whilst being chased! The white corset bodysuit made her look sexy and mature, whilst hugging and covering her breasts enough to be appropriate, especially with a sailor neck tie in the same shade of blue as her skirt and one white stripe tied around her neck from the centre of her chest. She quietly contemplated her choice of outfit while she slowed down a little only to be shook out of the daydream when she heard yelling from behind her.
Instinctively, a burst of energy pushed her forward causing the long red boots with white rims to grind into the ground and her long golden hair to ripple from where it was held in a high ponytail. A smile graced her pink lips. The sense of freedom that came with the chase was certainly addicting. Everything felt more real as she ran, everyone seemed to disappear and she felt almost complete, like the adrenaline was something she needed to be herself! In a way it was. No matter how she denied it, the police, these random people she pushed past on the streets and even he saw more of the real her in the minutes it took to evade them than her friends at school, who saw the mask she had made for herself out of necessity. And boredom, if she would admit it.
Shaking her head to rid herself of unwanted thoughts, she ran even faster, not realising that there was a giant pothole on the corner in front of her. As she skidded around it, her feet moved from beneath her and she fell in an unladylike heap! She felt the salty tears gather in the corners of her eyes and sighed inwardly when the waterworks started. God, she was a freaking criminal genius who eluded the police on a bi-monthly basis, fighting them off with a determination that would scare a lion - and what defeats her? A pothole!
People around her winced at the loud wailing or rolled their eyes at such childish behaviour coming from what appeared to be at least an eighteen year old girl. Screams from the direction the girl had run from caused the bystanders to turn, doing a double take when they saw at least five policemen running towards them. Some of the suspicious looking people who surrounded her scattered in multiple different directions but many of them stayed for the oncoming drama.
Meanwhile, she still sat on the concrete, nursing her tiny wound and sniffling as the tears slowed down. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the police, and, out of habit, ripped off her mask and shoved it down one of her boots, simultaneously pulling out a thin silk shawl from the pocket in the wind-shaped bow on her chest to wrap around herself. She sighed, cursed her own weakness and got ready to act her ass off. The policemen came to a halt as they spotted the object of their chase on the floor with her back to them.
"Hey! You, girl!" one of the five yelled, despite the fact that they were a metre away from her. Surprisingly, none of them made a move to grab her, probably too shocked that one of the most elusive thieves in Tokyo was this easy to catch.
"Get up! You are under arrest for-" another policeman trailed off as the gorgeous blonde turned to face them. Big blue eyes wet with tears seemed to plead her case while soft pouty lips showed off her purity and innocence. Her lower lip trembled and her small pale hands were clasped together, shaking and clutching at her shawl. The bystanders gasped at this vision of beauty, looking between her and the wavering policeman who held the handcuffs. What could a young girl like this, they questioned in muttered chatter, have done to get arrested?
"No sir, you must have the wrong girl! Look at her," a boy on the side-lines cried. Murmurs of agreement spread through the growing crowd, some of which were throwing very dirty looks toward the police and fawning ones towards the crying girl.
She was almost amazed at how easy this would be! They were eating it up! Despite the fact that her outfit was quite inappropriate really for an 'innocent' girl on the streets at night, everyone was pleading for her, making the police look very uncomfortable as they squirmed like bugs under a microscope. Deciding to bring it in a little, she daintily coughed twice and inwardly smiled when all turned to face her.
"I'm so sorry for whatever you think I did but… I can assure you I didn't do anything wrong," she said innocently, her red knives conveniently hidden inside the red wing shaped bow on her chest, before gasping and looking a little guilty, "Unless going to the shrine late at night to pray is a crime!"
At this admission, the police grew unsure. They looked at the people who seemed ready to fight to protect this angel and sighed at their obvious mistake. Suddenly, the girl began to sniff and cry again, little diamond tears pouring out of her azure eyes. Gasps came from her audience at the girl who was even beautiful when she cried. She had someone mystified a myriad of civilians and five policemen!
"Uh, I – I guess we have the wrong girl. Sorry folks, sorry miss," the smallest policeman apologised sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck with his left hand. Slowly, they began to walk away. A couple of them complained about their failure on catching the nameless thief they had dubbed as 'Kiniro,' after her hair, which was akin to that of spun gold.
A girl off to her left helped her up and she thanked the stranger with an angelic smile. She continued down the street at a walking pace as if the past five minutes hadn't happened… After walking for about ten minutes, she was far enough from civilisation to breathe out a sigh of relief, take off the figurative mask and replace it with the literal one from her boot, tucking away the shawl at once. Although she was glad that she was safe now, she was oddly disappointed. The pleasure came from the stealing, the chase and the escape but not what she stole itself. When it was all over she was left slightly empty.
Sighing again, she went to take out the loot, which was an expensive pair of moonstone earrings that had been heavily guarded before they went up for auction, when a deep chuckle sounded from behind. It sent shivers down her spine in all the right ways yet aggravated her anyway. She didn't have to turn to know who it was.
"That was entertaining. I don't know how on Earth you got away with it though; I could see the outline of both of the knives from the crowd," he smirked. She turned slowly almost forgetting to remove the smile from her face at the prospect of seeing him at the last second. Instead her face was one of innocence.
"Tuxedo Kamen, I don't know what you could be talking about. A sweet, simple woman like me doesn't even know what a knife is!" she smiled saccharinely, her hands clasped behind her back. Her eyes narrowed triumphantly when his gaze lingered on her chest for a little longer than was normal. She wanted him to want her - the power of it was exhilarating - even if she didn't want him.
Okay, so maybe she found her thieving enemy a little attractive, but who wouldn't? His dark hair fell over his midnight blue eyes while his face was hidden with a white domino mask. He always dressed like he was going to a fancy dinner, with a plain black James-Bond-esque tuxedo, black tie and top hat which tilted at an almost arrogant angle. You could see the outline of promisingly delectable muscles underneath the suit. She almost sighed again just looking at him. He made a god damn top hat look incredible.
"Of course, 'sweet' and 'simple.' I'm surprised you manage to stand up long enough most days for the police to almost arrest you," he scoffed with another infuriating smirk. God, he had an astonishing physique and he had to ruin it with that personality. Oh well, she knew how to play him. With an exaggerated sigh she walked past him slowly, getting out the earring box and holding it beneath his gaze.
"And I was thinking of sharing my prize with my dear enemy," she grinned at his look of alarm, "But I guess I'm just not that sweet. I guess I'm just not, what's the word?, elegant enough either to be merciful."
"I wouldn't stand for just one earring anyway. I was thinking of making a much better offer," Tuxedo Kamen began to get serious again. The look on his face intrigued her as she put the earrings back into her wing bow pocket along with her knives.
"I'm listening," she leant against the nearest wall. Tuxedo Kamen smiled like a predator about to catch his prey and strode towards her in slow steps. In four seconds, she counted, he reached her. Her eyes widened when he trapped her against the wall by placing his arms next to her head. As he leaned over her with that grin plastered on his face, she was unwillingly reminded that she was still just a fifteen year old girl no matter how old she looked and she couldn't fight off this man if he attacked her. He looked about eighteen but was probably a little older and he was definitely strong.
Despite the feeling of imminent danger, she just couldn't get herself to move. She could escape if she wanted to because of the foot and a half long height gap between the two of them and the space under his arm but… his eyes were so blue and his face was getting closer and she had hormones and this man was very attractive dammit and –
"I'm thinking that I'll just take them myself," he whispered as he ducked his head down to her ear to lightly bite on the lobe before lowering his hand to try to steal the earrings from her.
Her mind was hazy from the closeness Kamen was demonstrating but the fear of losing what she had worked pretty damn hard for broke through it. She twisted her body to the side so that there was more distance between his hand and the pocket, grabbed a knife and held it against his throat, pushing away his left hand at the same time. His eyes glinted with vague amusement as the knife was pressed a little more into his throat. Their breathing was laboured from the closeness or the exertion of the events thus far and both were smiling slightly under the moonlight.
"Or you could walk away and accept your defeat graciously, like a gentleman," she purred, pressing her side against his body so that he couldn't reach the earrings. Tuxedo Kamen shuddered a little but he pulled away and stepped back with his arms in the air as a sign of surrender.
"I wouldn't be able to wear this tuxedo if I wasn't a gentleman. I yield," he sighed, lowering his head. Suddenly, he brought it back up to stare at her with a thrilling intensity.
"But I will warn you. Next time we're after the same thing, you won't walk away the victor," he smiled mischievously, "Kiniro."
And with that he was gone. Jumping over a nearby wall with catlike grace and leaving a flustered girl in his wake. Him saying her name, albeit not her real one, had affected her a lot more than she would like to admit. It was the first time he had said it like that. The smell of roses lingered in the air around her as she put away her knife and checked that the earrings were still there, which they were.
With a final glance around her, she ran down the several more roads and many more alleys for half an hour until she reached a medium sized house with all of its lights off. The garden in front of it was neat as was the garden behind it. The house was cleanly painted and clearly belonged to a nice typical, family.
"What a rebel I am!" she muttered as she snuck into the garden of the house. She scaled the wall until she reached an open window covered by pink, bunny curtains. As she bent her body so she could fit through the window in complete silence, she questioned her own sanity a little bit. What normal teen got back to the house at, she checked her clock on the wall, almost midnight after stealing expensive earrings from a rich lady's guarded house?
Although, she certainly had fun on nights like this! Her blood was pumping, her heart was racing and she got to take off the mask for a few free hours. Grinning like a maniac, she took of her 'Kiniro' clothes so that she could hide them at the back of her wardrobe. Her feet ached from all of the running and her hair was a bit messy too but it would wear off by morning when she would begin her routine.
She would 'wake up' late, rush to school, be an idiot in class, chat with Naru, fail a test, come home, disappoint her mother and go to bed. That was her life now. It was the price to pay for her midnight escapades. She would act like much more of a bubbly teenager than she was to remain unknown and unrecognisable as 'Kiniro.'
As Tsukino Usagi fell asleep in her pink bunny room in her pink bunny blanket, surrounded by pictures of a her 'friends' with a girl who looked exactly like her but wasn't her, she smiled sadly. Would she ever be able to do things that made her feel completely free without the fear of arrest or failure? Would she ever have people she could lower both of her masks for? Was she meant to become anything more than a simple troublemaker in Tokyo?