A/N Hi! This is a collection of short stories/drabbles featuring the side characters of Chihayafuru. I'm sure you can get the gist of it from the summaries and such.

Anyways, please enjoy!

Warnings: possible unintentional OOCness, doesn't exactly follow the canon steps of events portrayed in this fic, focus more on side characters

Disclaimer: Even now, I still have a rather vague idea on what karuta is. I do not own this amazing anime.

Summary: Only one person can escape his sadism.

Off The Skin Of His Teeth

Sudo Akito stares silently down at his shaking hands.

Arienai (1). No. Not possible. This didn't happen.

But it did.

Sudo watches silently as Ayase silently lays her hands atop one another before going into the formal bow. "Arigato Gozai Mashita (2)."

He mirrors her actions hollowly, bowing deeply, first to her, last to the reader.

And even though his eyes are perpetually closed, Sudo Akito has never felt like blinding himself more than now.

Even now, it scares him.

Her last movement.

Ayase Chihayha's lightning strike.

But what's so terrifying about this one isn't the deafening thunder that accompanies it, but rather the drowning silence.

Too quick. Too inhumane. Right in between the syllables, right in between chih- and -a. A demon move.

On par with people who even Sudo fears (though with a visage of courage, thinly veiled by his burning yearning for winning).

What is it that this girl hears? What do her ears detect that Sudo's don't?

No.

What do her ears detect that Sudo can't?

A lightning strike that will haunt his dreams for weeks to come.

"Aki-kun."

Sudo turns around, and finds himself enveloped in a pair of warm arms. Too many people around him, suffocating him, and even though he doesn't let his discomfort show, that doesn't stop her from staring at him with that knowing glint, as if she knows him better than he does.

And it's the truth.

"Why are you here?" Words that are too harsh, too abrasive, that he doesn't mean yet lets come spilling out into the air, polluting the space in between them. Words that should never be spoken, not to her, not to him. A silent agreement from long ago, yet broken promises now litter the floor, shattered like glass shards.

"We'll win this year."

"I'll win this year."

All those promises, both spoken and unspoken, go down the drain.

Yet she stays.

Tightening her grip around his waist, she murmurs, "Aki-kun, nothing you can say will stop me from hugging you."

And he could destroy her. Lash out and hit her, with his fists, his murderous glares, his words, which, by far, would be the worst-poisonous barbs that can't be cured and healed because they're invisible.

He's a sadist, self-proclaimed and proclaimed by everyone around him.

But not with her.

"This is the end."

Sudo's teammates attempt to ignore the silent girl gently hugging their third year ace's waist. It's really hard, though, considering his uncharacteristic behavior, and not to mention the stares the pair garner from everyone who had come to the karuta tournament.

Everyone knows who Hokuo is, and everyone knows who Sudo Akito is, and everyone knows what he is.

So who's the girl who doesn't seem to be bothered by any of that?

"Ne."

Sudo stiffens as Ayase slowly turns around, eyes widening upon catching sight of the pair.

"Unno...hai?"

The girl who has her arms wrapped around Sudo's waist doesn't loosen her grip as she beams up at the girl who just utterly smashed Sudo Akito. "Thank you for beating Aki-kun."

Ayase blinks before she laughs loudly and awkwardly, hand coming up to smooth through her hair. "I...but I thought..."

"Gannbatte (3). You better win Nationals."

Ayase straightens, hand dropping from her here. The goofy, socially awkward girl from before, the graceful, terrifying swan from even before that-they're gone.

Replaced by a Queen.

"Hai."

(1) Impossible

(2) A very polite, formal way of saying "Thank you"

(3) Good luck

I know, a bit weird. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't exactly sure how to write this, but I hope I did this anime some justice.

Next chapter will be about Emuro Ryoga!

Yeah. Peace, see ya next time, hope you liked it!

Never (LivingDaLife)