Wolf: Hehehehe…(makes evil snickering noise) If anyone read the new post in my LJ that's linked on my homepage in my bio…ok so I lied…I couldn't resist writing the mangaverse fic any later! I had to write it NOW! Or it'll haunt my dreams…But don't worry I'm still writing Play For Me. The fourth chapter should be out sometime this week. I'm working on it no worries! Anyways…enjoy my new fic…it'll be ShizNat don't worry. And it has a plot. Of which I'll reveal later. It's not just ShizNat...there's gonna be a juicy plot. X3

Fray in the Dark

Chapter 1
Disquietude

The footfalls along the school grounds were quiet, amiable and soft. Nothing was ever loud for the owner of these footfalls, nothing was ever violent or rushed. It was always a sedate pace, a slow and calm pace. Rushing never got her anywhere. She took things very carefully and in measured plans. Rushing was impulsive and to rush might suffer consequences she couldn't bear. No, she always had to take things very carefully. Step by step she walked along the campus. The school hours had long since ended, but she'd been left behind because of a meeting between the Student Council.

Now that the meeting was finally over, she could make it back home. Exhaustion pulled almost unnoticeably at her limbs as her form glided across the concrete grounds clad in black clothing. Eyes the color of rusted brown peered beneath dark lashes at the gates of the academy. Long hair crested down her back in shades of dark gold and honey brown. Her arms swung limply at her side, one hand delicately holding her traditional fan she always carried. Slender legs passed the gates of the academy and swerved on the streets, leading her back to home.

As she walked, her rusted eyes gazed at the empty streets of the city. It was oddly barren, even for such a late hour as this. There was no sight of a living being and an eerie silence blanketed the city. She glanced up at the sky and noted the dying rays of the sun that was swaying downward into the horizon. It couldn't be that late; it was only dusk. So why was there no one strolling around? Even the cars were silent, not a hum nor a bustle anywhere.

As she turned the corner, her gaze dropped and she ceased her complacent walk. Why was there no one here? So strange. Not a soul in sight…well…I should be off, she reasoned as she continued her pace once again. Her dark eyes kept a look out around the streets, suspicious shivers not able to refrain from creeping down her back. Grasping her long cloak tighter, the fair-haired female hugged herself slightly. The city seemed so lonely right now. Far too quiet and lonely. Just like she'd been today. Just like the events she'd watched from afar today.

- - -

They were all gathered under a large tree at lunch time, sitting in a sparse circle and talking and laughing. Lunch was spread before them atop a red and white checkered blanket, a picnic. They seemed at ease and completely comfortable with each other, though the occasional spat occurred with some of the members. Though all in all, they looked happy. So happy.

It was hard not to be jealous.

She sat ways away from them, kneeling under another tree, shadowed by the leaves of its thick canopy. Her back leaned against it, pressed and tense. There was nothing comfortable in the atmosphere around her. There was nothing of the friendly banter with the group she observed. There was nothing friendly around her at all.

To say she was unfriendly and unwelcoming was a complete lie. She wasn't cold or icily detached from others. She didn't push people away, at least not brusquely. She was just aloof, unapproached. No one dared to step toward her, to try and befriend the poised student. If they did they just might find a flaw in their perfect Seitokaichou. No one wanted to distort the image of the peaceful Kaichou. So no one dared to draw closer. The irony of it though, was that the 'peaceful' Kaichou couldn't have been in any more internal turmoil 'les she was in a completely chaotic situation.

Her mind bounced with random thoughts, her hands clenched and unclenched in her lap and her russet eyes stared darkly, almost angrily at the group she watched. Her insides burned and twisted, coiling in self-disgust and resentment. They were all so happy together that it left a bitter taste in the cavern of her mouth. She had to bite her lip to stop from shrieking curses at them. A poised Kyoto-born woman never shouted, never cursed. Just once though, she wished she could. A soft profane utterance only, just the smallest of words she could say to release even an ounce of her ailment.

But she knew she couldn't.

A sigh was the only means of release, gently flowing past her lips and her taut form forced itself to relax. Her shoulders languidly drooped and she leaned her head back onto the bark of the tree. Eyelids fluttered to half-mast as her ears took over for her divided sight. She listened to the song of the birds above in the tree, to the laughter and cries of the students, to the soundless wind that seemed to whisper only to her. She had kinship with the wind, for it was just as soundless and unheeded as she was. No one paid attention to a gentle wind, no one ever saw it.

Another peal of laughter jerked her to alertness and her russet pools turned once again to the group. A busty ginger-haired girl was laughing at a dirty blond-haired male, her violet eyes full of mirth. The blond boy's cheeks were flushed and he seemed to be the center of the group's current laughter, gaze downward. His chocolate brown eyes were joyful though, not at all angry or embarrassed that he was being laughed at. In moments, he even took part and chuckled along with his friends.

Her gaze was directed elsewhere, bored of staring at the boy. Her attention was now solely pinned on the one figure that retained a single plight of interest to her.

Uniformed porcelain skin glowed angelically underneath the sunlight and hair the color of midnight cobalt cascaded down the girl's shoulders. Ardent viridian eyes brimmed with bliss as she laughed along with the group. Her smile was brilliant, lighting up her entire face and her character was warm, inviting. It was an opposite of how she usually was, cold and short-tempered. A visage shown only to a rare select few. And those select few were gathered around her. She seemed so sweet at the moment. One could never believe that she'd ever be able to lay harm to any soul if they'd seen her at that moment.

But it was that girl's hands, her beautifully calloused hands that lay anguished tears in one's heart.

The object that thrived dimly in her chest began to hum in a slow tune. It began a cadence of woe and worship, beating for the maiden her russet eyes landed on and only that maiden. It sung of lorn and love, of a bittersweet life though mostly bitter. The strange feeling that flooded her core sent a spiraling quiet tempest of confusion and pain. Her gaze clouded and she turned away from the group, staring off into the distance at nothing. Maybe if she didn't look at her, then the numbed object in her chest would be soothed.

It only grew though. That uncomfortable, distressed feeling only grew. Moisture rimmed her eyes and blurred her vision more. Her hands unclasped and the palms turned upwards, trembling. Her breathing increased in just the slightest of haggard manners. A tight feeling gripped her chest and squeezed slowly, squeezed as if it wanted to murder the beating object inside in a merciless slow death.

Was this what pain felt like?

She cast the group another glance once more. The object of her agony was no longer laughing, though the happiness still shone lambently in her viridian irises. And in those evergreen eyes, adoration filled so greatly for the blond-haired boy which she currently stared at. Adoration, affection, care, devotion, infatuation. All of these were just synonyms she forced herself to name, for she couldn't bear to declare the actual name of what the blue-haired angel felt for the blond.

Love.

Fury laced her veins and turned them starkly ice cold, froze the blood pumping inside her. Froze it just like her soul that was crumbling under the weight of the ambiguity of her own feelings. What was it she felt for this girl? What was this burning passion she harbored inside her chest that beat so steadily, so hopelessly for this one girl? Why, of all people, of all the people she could have chased after, did it have to be this girl? This stubborn, willful, yet gentle girl? This angelic, courageous girl.

She only received more questions and no answers. Frustration clogged her mind and she shut her eyes in a vain attempt to force away the onslaught of foreign emotions threatening to overcome her. Trembling like a leaf caught in the wind's playful grasps, she was a mere puppet to something greater, something she couldn't pinpoint or understand. And she didn't wish to. She knew that if she acknowledged the emotion battering her insides, the strange quelling passion, then she would be lost in its whirlpool of madness. No, she wasn't at all ready to claim what she felt was love for this girl.

She wasn't ready. She was too frightened of what it might lead to.

So she left.

Rising from her spot under the shadowy tree, she picked up what was left of her untouched lunch and hurried away. Foolishly, she contemplated that maybe distance could pierce the fervor that she felt even several meters from the girl. If she could just put enough distance between them, enough miles to separate them, maybe she could dispel these emotions. Her logical mind obliterated the hopeful idea, ever of rational thought and hissed that no matter how hard she tried, she was too late in fighting the emotions that already seeded themselves deep in her heart.

She was too late to fight love.

- - -

Discarding the memory from her mind, not wanting to have anything to do with the lonely disquietude that plagued her every time she saw that particular group, she continued onward toward home. The silence that still hung as night began its trek across the sky, tainting it in shades of indigo, prickled her skin uneasily. She stepped off the sidewalk and padded along the street. With each of the ticking minutes that passed, the city grew darker with the passage of night. The fact that she still hadn't seen any other living creature tread on the streets was beginning to unnerve her.

A bristling wind whistled through the city and caught strands of her fair hair. It played along her spine like a lithe finger tracing a phantom path. Uneasy chills danced down her back and she stiffened her posture. Something cooed in the dark of the night, something cooed without sound. She wasn't sure how she knew that something was walking along the hollow streets. She only knew was that the rising night was too quiescent to be soothing.

Not used to such stillness, her pace quickened to almost a jog as she neared home. Her steps briskly covered the ground as she passed the entrance to the apartment building she made her abode in. Legs hurried up the flight of stairs, forsaking the elevator as she usually did. Reaching her floor, she pulled open the door at the edge of the stairs and walked to her door. Her hands clumsily grappled with her keys as she shoved them into the knob. For an unfathomable reason, anxiety sent chilling shudders across her skin.

Opening the door and sweeping into her home, she closed the door with a shut and leaned against it with a soft, relieved gasp. Her rusted eyes closed and she wiped at her brow, startling in surprise at the perspiration she felt. She wasn't one to sweat and the fact that she'd almost been running down the streets churned her belly. Padding deeper into her home, the fair-haired girl dropped onto her brown sofa and curled into it.

The ticking of the clock hung upon her wall noised loudly in her ears. Her hands curled against her left breast as she felt the uneasy, staccato beat of her heart just beneath her breastbone. It was a foolish idea, but she'd had the feeling that something was creeping along the shadows of the streets stalking her. Though her glances around the streets had revealed nothing to her; the distress was only just fading away.

Deciding that a cup of tea would do her good, she walked to her kitchen to prepare herself one. Minutes later, as she stirred the concoction of her favorite drink, the student's thoughts drifted back to the feeling she'd felt on the vacant streets. It wasn't a potent feeling, but more of a gnawing on her flesh. It had raised the hairs on her nape and her shoulders had stiffened with its animosity. Something had been out on the streets with her yet it hadn't made itself known. Its advances must have been as stealthy as that of a cat's to elude her perceptive nature.

Something had skulked along the buildings, emanating a sinister coo as it walked behind her. Whether it was human or beast, she wasn't sure. She was only sure that eyes had been upon her stiff back as she'd made her way home. The thought of something or someone stalking her at night sent another shiver of chills down her spine. She gulped.

"Foolish girl. You've gotten yourself in a wrought and are worrying over nothing. There's no need for unrest."

Her voice broke the quiet of her room, heavily coated with her accent and solemnly gentle. She moved away from her kitchen and toward her room, setting her tea down upon the drawer by her bed. Sitting on the edge of it, her fingers tapped on her knee as she pondered the oddness of the empty city. Even on her way through the apartment, she hadn't seen anyone. What was going on? Shaking her head, she concluded that it was her exhaustion and the late hours of the night that caused apprehensive thoughts to plague her. She'd feel better in the morning.

Sipping the last of her tea, she set the empty cup down again and slipped off her shoes. Her dark coat fell away from her frame, revealing the slim figure beneath. Soft curves compliantly rested on the spread of her bed and her legs folded themselves neatly. Her fair-haired crown hit the pillows and her rusted eyes drooped. She just needed a good rest and then the dismay and alarmed turmoil would leave her. As sleep claimed her tired body and lulled her into a dormant state, between dream-filled and dreamless night, her thoughts dwindled and became muddled. Only a few were able to be clarified. Tomorrow morning, she'd be back to strolling the halls of Fukua Gakuen as its immovable Seitokaichou.

Tomorrow, she would be back to facing the wave of ever rising ambiguous passion in her heart.

Tomorrow, she'd be bold. She'd speak with the blue-haired maiden.

Yes, Fujino Shizuru would speak with Kuga Natsuki.

Wolf: And I'm uhh…done with the first chapter! I am going with this somewhere besides ShizNat just so y'know…hehe. This story's gonna have a rather…action-wise plot. XP Mostly to suffice my blood lust but there will be eventual ShizNat! I'm murder myself if there wasn't. Now I'm off to bed…it's 4:52. I want sleep. And then I'll continue Play For Me's fourth chapter.

This was a short chapter but the chapters will get longer…hopefully. And darker…hehe. (shifty eyes)

:3 You give me review and I give you cookie? D: Just don't murder me with the fact that this is mangaverse…