Of Masquerades and Guns
Chapter Two: An Odd Encounter
By: Eviltiger
Author's Note: THESE CHAPTERS HAVE BEEN REVISED! If you have read them already before, please reread them since they have been changed. Enjoy! Reviews are very much welcome. Hoo boy… This one changed a lot.
HAPPY NEW YEAAAARRRRRRRR!
Sunlight streamed through the broken windows of an abandoned apartment. Sakura slowly opened one eye, then the other. Sitting up from the couch she stretched and slowly removed her feet from the blanket that had been placed on her. The back of her head ached slightly. Again. Sakura sighed and looked over at the man sitting at the other side of the room.
Standing up slowly the girl folded the blanket neatly into a square before heading towards the somewhat functioning closet in their small apartment. She didn't particularly mind that the building and everything in it was decrepit however. If anything the teenager actually preferred this sort of living space. While the duo really could have paid for a nice, comfortable house they had decided simply to stick to rundown apartment buildings. These kinds of place gave off a feeling of being old, lasting, durable. Of being unchangeable, and unlikely to be snatched away from her.
Shaking her head the girl wrenched open the door to the closet as quietly as she could before picking out her ensemble from the piles of clothes folded neatly inside. She was thinking nonsense. Pulling out a light purple t-shirt and jean shorts from the area of piles that wasn't for work Sakura headed towards the bathroom to change.
Once out of the bathroom the teenager headed towards the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Opening the storage room the girl looked inside. Moving aside the large rice sack on the floor easily Sakura made a mental note to buy more rice the next time she went out. Pulling out the bread Sakura placed it on the kitchen counter before closing the storage door. After retrieving milk and jam from the refrigerator a light breakfast was made and eaten. Leaving two slices of bread and the jam out on the small table in the kitchen the girl cleaned her dishes and opened the refrigerator door to put the milk back inside.
After stowing the milk away the girl was about to close the door when she noticed the something hidden in the way back of the refrigerator. Sticking her hand in, the girl gently pulled out the small yellow piece of paper and turned it over, finding one side blank. On the other side there was faint, crooked writing:
Your dress looks beautiful.
Sakura's eyes widened at first in slow recognition, and then horror. The girl could only stare at the single sentence written there, in his handwriting, before everything started to blur. Holding the note tightly the teenager's hand started to shake. She remembered that day. She remembered it all too well.
For the first time in ages she was nervous. Sweat beaded in her palms. She looked over at him from across the room. She desperately wanted to be next to him, have him look her way, show her a reassuring hand sign, anything! But he couldn't do anything, and neither could she. Suddenly she could feel him begin to walk towards her. She knew that she couldn't acknowledge his presence, but her heart sped up anyway at the thought of him. He passed by without saying a word, she knew he would, and disappointment wormed in her. Such thoughts were quickly banished however, by the slip of paper that had secretly snuck its way into her hand without anyone noticing.
Sakura squeezed her eyes shut. The girl jammed the note into her pocket, and walked out of the kitchen as calmly as she could. Without any thought the girl headed back towards the room where Kurogane was. As she walked in however, she saw the gun glinting on the table. Her gun. Her throat clenched, and the room began to spin. Suddenly it didn't matter anymore. She had to leave. She had to get out.
Grabbing the boots near the sofa Sakura struggled to put them on in her fixated need to get out. Lace-up boots could be incredibly annoying at times. Finally finishing one boot the teenager gave up on the second boot and ended up rushing towards the door with one boot haphazardly tied with the other barely on. Nearing the door the girl had almost left the room when a hand suddenly grabbed her wrist.
Adrenaline shot through the teenager as Sakura whirled around while clenching her free hand to form a fist. That fist would have smashed the attacker's face in had he not caught the free hand quickly in his palm. Looking up with wide eyes Sakura slowly focused in on the face before her, Kurogane's face. He didn't let go of the girl's hands, waiting patiently instead for her to calm down. Sakura breathed in and out, trying to focus in on her boots. After several moments the girl nodded.
"I didn't know you were awake." Or rather, she had completely forgotten about his existence.
Kurogane raised an eyebrow. There was a small pause. The man studied Sakura intently before cutting straight to the point.
"What's wrong?"
Sakura's eyes widened. Focus on the boots, nothing but the boots. Don't meet his eyes.
"…Nothing."
"Bull. You're going outside?"
"Y-Yes."
"Unarmed?" There was no need to look at Kurogane's face, all the disbelief was piled into that one word.
The accusation hit her square in the face. She knew Kurogane was right. It was completely idiocy to go outside without at least one weapon. She was the one that always insisted to carry something everywhere. But right now… She couldn't face that. She couldn't hold a murder weapon right now.
"I just… wanted to go for a walk…" The excuse sounded pathetic, even to her. Even more than that though, she sounded pathetic. The girl bit her lip in frustration.
Kurogane didn't say anything. They stood there for a while, Sakura all the while feeling the need to leave growing. Suddenly the man sighed.
"Where are you going?"
Surprise made Sakura's eyes widen again. He was letting it slip by?
"To… Market Street, we're low on rice. And the agency." She said, adding that last part in quickly. She was fine. Kurogane had to believe the lie that she was fine.
"We just did a job yesterday. No need." The man's voice was gruff, but the true meaning behind his words still reached Sakura.
The girl bit her lip again, this time harder. Her hesitant reply came a little later, haltering almost as if she was fighting against herself to say it.
"I… I can… just give them a call… and ask them to… drop of this month's work at… the meeting place."
Kurogane studied her for a second or two before the man sighed and let go of his companion. He sat back down and settled back into a more comfortable position before closing his eyes. Sakura watched Kurogane for a moment, before heading towards the door once more. She knew he was still observing her, and thus she forced herself to walk as slow as possible without making it look unnatural. Just as she had finished lacing up her other boot and was unlocking the door Kurogane spoke.
"Don't get lost."
Sakura turned to face the room Kurogane was in, warmth in her eyes.
"...I won't." Unlocking the door Sakura was about to walk out before she paused for a moment.
"Kurogane… Thank you." The girl murmured.
A grunt was the last thing she heard from behind her before Sakura closed the door with a soft click. Looking up, she sighed with relief, as if a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Closing her eyes, the teenager took a deep breath and walked off away from their small room, for the first time, unarmed.
Kaede Clow opened her eyes. The trees rustled as the wind whispered between them, and in the distant background children shrieked and laughed with joy. People walked by the park bench she was sitting on, while some sat in other places, but none went over to her. For the moment, that was a good thing. Kaede looked at the scenery around her, admiring its beauty.
Trees were always trees. They never changed because they needed to, never had to disguise themselves. People were in a way like trees. Kaede was not. Her real name was famous in the underworld, almost as famous as her talent for disguises when on jobs that didn't involve "cleaning up". More often than not the moment Kaede left the apartment she would either lose her name or her complexion. She hated it.
A woman approached the teenager sitting on the park bench. Kaede turned to look at the tall female. The woman had straight obsidian hair that fell slightly past her shoulders. A brown pencil skirt and light green cuffed shirt accented the woman's features, while her gray-hazelnut eyes calmly regarded the sitting Kaede. Walking over to the bench the woman sat down next to the teenager, turning to face her.
"Good-day." The woman said politely. While she had no smile on her face, a warm and amicable feel came from the woman.
Kaede nodded in return, and tried to remember the lessons she had been taught on looking friendly.
"Good-morning Ms. Arashi."
"Sakura Kinamoto?"
Kaede shook her head routinely. She knew the precautionary drill.
"Not at the moment. My name is Kaede Clow. Seven needles pierce the bullet."
Arashi didn't look at Kaede, as usual, but smiled before standing up and walking away. After she was long gone Kaede nonchalantly picked up the beige portfolio that had been left behind. Labeled in fine print at the top it read: Sakura Kinamoto and Kurogane Suwa of division one, group three. Month's Assignments.
Rolling the flexible paper and deftly encircling the paper around the inside of her boots as she pretended to retie one of her boots the teenager hid the paper perfectly, before straightening up. With that out of the way, the only thing left to do was to visit Market Street. Kaede hurried away from the meeting place, eager to leave any thoughts of her work behind.
"Oranges! Oranges for sale!"
"Fish, half priced just for today!"
"Buy two get one free!"
Continuous shouts and busy bustling filled the market, even in the late afternoon. "Market Street" as it was nicknamed was one very long street with tall buildings no citizens lived in, a wide road no cars ever drove down due to the congestion, and was filled to the brim with street vendors and small shops. It had a very Asian feel to it, selling everything from Indian spices to Japanese fish. Market Street was much cheaper than actually going to a supermarket, and there were many items that were hard to come across in regular stores as well, which made it a favorite of most locals.
Walking over to her usual place to buy rice, Kaede approached a dinky, cramped store with no better living conditions than the other small stores of Market Street. Walking into the shop, she passed under a sign with the word Koryo, the store's name, written on it. Once in the tiny store she looked around carefully. Spotting the object of her desire, the teenager grabbed a bag marked Emperor Rice, and carefully used both arms to lift the heavy object and set it on the counter. Kaede waited for a little bit, and then called out softly,
"Chun'nyan? Are you here?" An immediate response of muffled shouting, clattering came before a high-pitched voice called out,
"Deng yi xia! Deng yi xia! Just a minute!" After several minutes later, a small girl came rushing down the stairs that were behind the counter and gasped for breath slightly while apologizing profusely for not being there before she looked up to see who the customer was. The young girl wasn't older than 10, yet she still ran the store her parents left behind with her weakened grandmother. Smiling slightly after realizing who the customer was, she relaxed and while speaking in heavily accented and broken English.
"Oh, is just you. If know that, I not hurry so!" Chun'nyan teased slightly. Kaede didn't smile, but her eyes reflected amusement. Chun'nyan sighed and shook her head slightly while she began to ring up the bag of rice that Kaede had put on the counter.
"Ai ya, Ka-e-de, you pretty girl, but never smile! -Not good frown all time! Need learn smile!" Kaede flinched upon hearing that, pain flashing across her face. The auburn-haired girl didn't say anything and looked away. Chun'nyan looked at Kaede questioningly, and shook her head once more. Only when the young girl had finished ringing up the rice did she break the silence.
"That 6 dollar. Again come soon!" Kaede nodded, and handed over the money, then left cradling the bag in her right arm and nodded once more as a good-bye to Chun'nyan.
Kaede walked out of Koryo slowly, when she heard loud aggravated shouting coming from nearby. Slightly curious, the girl walked toward the sound of the noise. Drawing closer, she saw the large ugly street vendor who Chun'nyan had picked a fight with more than once. He appeared to be shouting at a man in front of him, who was apologizing over and over. As she kept coming closer, she began to hear the conversation going on.
"You knock over my apple basket! All bad now! No one buy! You must pay for them!" The large street vendor snarled. The other man was a tall blonde with startling blue eyes, who looked around the age of 20. He was smiling with his hands out in front of him, and started to speak,
"I'm incredibly sorry, but I can't pay for all of it. I don't have enough money you see. Is it alright if I only buy half?" A vein bulged on the side of the street vendor's head as he grabbed the blonde by his arm and roared,
"BUY ALL! OR YOU-"
"Excuse me." Both men turned towards the voice in confusion, to see Kaede in front of them. The jade eyed maiden pointed to the apple basket currently on its side with apples everywhere and continued speaking while she walked toward the basket, knelt down, and began to pick up the apples.
"I'd like to buy half of these apples."
Kaede walked away from the sight of the argument with a bag of rice, half a basket of apples, her roll of dollar bills folded in her pocket weighing less than she had intended beforehand, and a small frown on her face. It had made no sense for her to help that man, yet she had done it impulsively. Such acts weren't good, involuntary actions could cost her if she was on a job. Thinking about work made her head slightly pound however, and deciding to drop the incident the teenager tried to push it as far away from the mind as possible. It seemed that fate wasn't done toying with her though.
"-ait! Hey! Young miss who helped me! Wait!"
Kaede frowned and turned around slowly. Seeing the man from earlier running towards her the jade-eyed girl moved to the side of the road, as to not block anyone's path. Patiently waiting the teenager analyzed the man while he ran towards her. He was in an awful hurry to catch up to her, with his long blond hair being tossed this way and that. Had she left something behind?
Kaede couldn't remember setting anything down while paying the street vendor. It puzzled the girl, so instead of disappearing into the crowd as she normally would have, the teenager waited for the man to see what was so important that he had to catch up to her to do. The man grinned broadly when he caught up to her, and stretched out his hand. Even after running fast for a considerable distance, he hadn't broken out in sweat.
"My name is Fai Fluorite. Thank you for helping me!" He said.
Kaede looked at Fai for a minute; then shifted her load so she could take his hand. She was mildly surprised to find his hand was slender and not much bigger than hers. But then again, it did match his slim and tall figure.
"Kaede Clow. There's no need to thank me." Kaede said politely, waiting for what the man to get to his point.
"I'm really grateful that you saved me back there, I was sure I was done for!" Fai exclaimed, grinning all the while.
Kaede looked away, still wondering why the man was bothering to continue with pleasantries. Why didn't he hurry up and say what he needed to say and be off?
"It was nothing; I was running low on apples." The girl said quickly, the lie coming from her lips before she had processed it.
Fai shrugged and grinned. "Either way you helped me, which I had to say thank you for."
Kaede looked up sharply at the smiling blonde man.
"Th-That was why you ran all so fast to catch up to me?" The teenager stuttered, looking up at the tall man and completely caught off guard.
Fai looked at Kaede as if he was surprised, and cocked his head slightly.
"Of course!"
Kaede stared at the man incredulously for a minute, before blinking several times. This man was undoubtedly one of the strangest people she had ever met.
"I see… Well, good day then…" The maiden mumbled awkwardly and moved to leave the conversation.
"Ah! Wait, I'm in your debt! How can I repay you?" Fai exclaimed following the girl.
Kaede looked back incredulously at the man yet again. Did such people really exist?! Quickening her pace, the girl called out from behind her shoulder,
"You're not, you're fine! There's no need to repay me! HaveanicedayGOODBYE!" And with that broke out into a full blown run, melting into the crowd despite the man's shouts.
Kaede didn't stop running until Market Street was well behind her and the portfolio inside her boot was beginning to chafe the inside of her calf. Slowing down to a brisk walk the girl constantly looked behind her, as if fearing Fai would suddenly jump out of nowhere and surprise her. Breathing heavily Kaede attempted to pat down her wildly swept hair with no avail. This was the first time in years that she had been so flustered. Still breathing slightly heavily the teenager looked behind her one last time before deciding that had been enough excitement for a lifetime, and headed towards her home.
Closing the wooden apartment door with a resounding click Sakura took a deep breath and inhaled the familiar but delicious aroma coming from the kitchen. Kurogane didn't enjoy cooking, that was for sure, and he didn't look like someone who would enjoy cooking. When his turn to cook came though, there was no denying the man's talent. One wouldn't believe that he was skilled by the look of the food but once the sight was ignored and only the taste was considered the dishes always turned out well.
Taking off her boots slowly and walking into the kitchen, she took the bag of rice and gently placed it in the pantry. The maiden then attempted to appear as normal as possible before heading towards the kitchen. Kurogane was over near the stove, stirring something bubbling and frothing. He nodded to her as a welcome, and Sakura replied with a quiet hello. Kurogane twitched, before turning around slightly to watch Sakura gently set down a bag full of apples on the counter. Feeling his gaze, the teenager looked over to where the tall man was, still taking out apples from the brown paper bag.
"Yes?" The teenager said, looking at her tall partner with emotionless jade eyes.
Kurogane observed the girl for a moment, before answering in what seemed to be a leisurely tone. Sakura however, wasn't fooled.
"Something happen?"
The teenager could hear the caution in Kurogane's voice, his insight never ceasing to amaze the girl. Sakura tipped her head to one side, debating whether the truth was important enough to tell. Finally the girl shrugged.
"Just… Met some weird guy."
ELSEWHERE
"Sir? Are you sure this will all go as proceeded?" The monotone voice asked the cloaked figure, as the screen in front of them froze and zoomed in on Sakura's face. The cloaked figure chuckled darkly, and replied calmly,
"The future doesn't lie. Indeed it is true that our dear little Sakura is the deciding factor and the wild card. However, if all goes as it has been planned, there should be no need to worry. Even now events are proceeding just as I thought out." The figure dismissed the person next to him with a simple wave of their hand, never taking its eyes of the frozen screen. After the person had left, the cloaked figure stared at the screen some more, before murmuring to itself,
"Yes… just a little longer, and my wishes will come true. The real question is… am I willing to wait that long?" The figure started to laugh after finishing its comment, finding humor in a joke only it understood.
End of Chapter Two.
ONCE AGAIN THANK YOU FOR READING! And please review!
