Summary: Makabe's been exposed, and Aki is furious with him for toying with her emotions. But his feelings for her have changed… will she hear him out? [Rated T for profanity. I own nothing.]

~ true intentions ~

discovery

Aki sighed and tucked a loose strand of blue hair behind her ear. It's so windy today.

Her fingers clutched tightly at the papers in her hand for fear of them blowing away. Her skirt blew upwards. Thank God I always wear black leggings.

Nonetheless, she fought down a blush and shoved her skirt down to cover herself. "Why don't they make longer frickin' skirts- I swear to God-"

"Aki?"

Aki snapped her mouth shut and straightened with embarrassment, hoping that he hadn't just heard what she was talking about.

Not that there was anything worth mentioning in the first place! It was just… people tended to think having conversations with oneself was weird, and as much as Aki hated to admit it, she didn't want Makabe to think she was weird.

Aki's face reddened slightly. Wait a minute! Why did she care what he thought? He was just a stupid narcissist! She shouldn't care about people like him.

And yet… every time he was around her, her legs felt like jelly. Her tongue would turn to lead, and she'd stutter. She'd lose her cool and become flustered. Her face would turn an almost disgraceful shade of red.

Aki absolutely hated him for it.

"Aki? Hello?" Makabe was staring at her with a worried expression, waving his hand around in her face. "Are you okay?"

Aki blinked, being startled out of her thoughts. "Ah.. sorry. Yeah."

He gave her a puzzled expression, before shrugging a bit and beginning to make small talk with her.

She hated small talk.

Luckily, Makabe left a few minutes later, saying he had to meet up with someone.

For a second, Aki had wanted to ask who he was meeting with - an ex-girlfriend perhaps? Or, worse, that religious brunette who practically threw herself at him the other day? - but decided against it and said nothing, instead taking a step back, intending to leave as soon as she could.

Ultimately, he saw right through her, and began laughing, telling her, "No need to be jealous, Aki. It may be someone important, but you know I've only got eyes for you." He winked at her.

Yeah, right. She might like him - a little bit - but even she could see through that one.

Aki didn't need to say anything. The "i-am-not-amused" look on her face said it all.

Makabe had been wise to make his escape quickly after that.

Cobalt blue eyes dropped to the floor as Aki became lost in her thoughts for a while.

That boy… he sure was something else.

Suddenly, Yoshino rushed past her, undoubtedly in a hurry.

"Yoshino?" Aki called. "What are you up to?"

But Yoshino did not respond - she was too occupied dialing a number on her phone and telling the person on the other line with the usual blank expression on her face, "Yes, yes, I'm coming."

Aki sighed. They needed to get home early today. Yoshino knew that, so why was she rushing off to unknown locations, without her permission?

I guess I should go after her. Jeez… she's so hopeless.

And so, Aki ran after her attendant, wondering where the hell that girl could possibly going so late in the afternoon. They were supposed to be home by now, damn it.

Aki chased Yoshino for around ten minutes before reaching a children's park. And on the park bench sat none other than Makabe. He looked up, waving at Yoshino.

Aki's eyes widened as she instinctively dove behind the protection of a tree.

What was going on?

"I told you to just leave it to me, didn't I?" Yoshino told him coldly, staring him down despite being so much shorter than him.

Makabe looked extremely uncomfortable, scratching the back of his neck and averting his eyes. "Y-yeah, I guess you did?"

"You need to stop being so forward," Yoshino said plainly, sitting next to him. "Aki doesn't like men like that. They seem cocky, and that's the one trait she cannot stand."

"I thought women liked men who were confident," Makabe muttered.

Aki nearly collapsed. Wait, is he… trying to get my attention?

"There's a world of difference between being confidence and being arrogant. Plus you're making her uncomfortable. You get too close to her too fast. It's weird. 'Creepy', is what she said."

Makabe blanched. "'Creepy'..?"

Yoshino leaned towards him, a look of death on her face. "'Seriously creepy'."

The boy beside her sighed in defeat. "Well what do I do then?"

"Start by throwing those mangas away," Yoshino said. "Those are stories. None of that actually happens in real life. Get real. And second, mix it up a bit."

He raised a brow. "Mix it up?"

"Yes," Yoshino replied, nodding. "You were super forward with her today, so detach yourself from her completely tomorrow. Act as cold as you can towards her. She'll be hurt, but she'll be missing you like crazy. At some point, she'll realize her feelings for you, and you'll be able to carry out your revenge."

Aki froze. Revenge?

From where she was hiding, she could see Makabe's face break out into a big grin. "Brilliant. You're absolutely brilliant, Master."

Master?

Yoshino nodded once, and promptly stood up and walked away, towards home. Aki stayed put in her spot behind the tree, unable to move even if she wanted to. Makabe stood from where he was sitting, and curled his hand into a fist with determination.

"Just you wait, Adagaki Aki," he said to himself, grinning widely. "Soon you'll get what's coming to you."

Aki's fingers curled in fury, scratching off strips of the tree's bark.

a/n: i'm back!

i'm so HYPED for this story bro :')

hopefully i'll be able to update a lil more during spring break, which is in two weeks. i'll only have one week to dish out all of the new updates i've got on the ready, so here's a lil something while you wait !

i promise that i haven't forgotten about any of the others! i'm still working on those, so stay tuned :)

i realize that my updating schedule is not very consistent, like at all, and i'd like to apologize for that. it's just that as a fulltime student, i have a lot of impediments taking place in my life right now, and i tend to get indolent sometimes, especially with schoolwork, which is something that i'm still working on. so, thank you so much for being patient with me.

von,

shadow