Author's Note: Well, so much for writing all of the chapters in order. I fell victim to my writing style again, and wrote the next chapter early on, and a chapter that is still a few chapters away shortly after that.
Faking Innocnece
Chitoge frowned as she walked down the street. This was all turning out to be way more complicated than she had expected it would be. Honestly, she had thought that if it was going to get complicated, it was going to do that right around the time that she went to go talk to Raku, but she hadn't quite expected it to turn out like this.
Things were supposed to have ended up being better when she wasn't here with all of her weird drama making everything complicated and weird. All those years ago when she had jumped over the fence to get to school, she had fallen into everyone else's fairytale story, and by virtue of being there had fucked everything up. Had she never come to Bonyari Raku would have eventually confessed his not-so-secret feelings for Onodera, and the two of them would be running around trying to keep track of three or four kids by now. The fact that things hadn't worked out just went to prove that she had done permanent damage to everyone's lives, and honestly she wasn't sure she could live with that realization.
She bit her lip and muttered softly to herself, "I wish Tsugumi was here."
That was at least a story that she knew had changed since she had left. Chitoge's bodyguard and constant companion had come with her when she left Japan to start working in her mother's company. The dashing good looks that Tsugumi always had, combined with the raw sexual allure she possessed when she wasn't dressed as a boy, made her the perfect model. It also helped that she was a little bit tall, and had the physicality to do pretty much anything. The new job had meant that the two long-time friends weren't attached at the hip like they had been in high school. All considered, Chitoge still thought that changing a hit-woman into a respectable model was a win.
Right now she felt like that win was costing her though. Having Tsugumi here would have given her someone that she could talk through everything that she was learning and experiencing. Having someone else to bounce all of this craziness off of was the kind of thing that Chitoge really needed right now. In the event that talking it out didn't work, she knew that Tsugumi always had a shoulder that she could cry on.
Instead she was aimlessly wandering the streets of the town where she had caused so much drama and discord. Instead of having someone there to console her, she was wandering around alone. She felt like she probably would have given anything just to have someone to talk to about all of this.
"Chitoge?"
The voice snapped her out of her malaise. Her eyes flashed up and saw a couple on the street before her. He wore a polo-shirt and jeans with a briefcase under his arm, she had on a simple sundress with a floral pattern, her eyes focused on a book that she was reading as she walked. Chitoge's lip quivered slightly as she instantly recognized the pair from the time that she had spent her.
"Yoho! It is Chitoge." Shuu Maiko gently elbowed his partner, "I told you Ruri. No way would I forget that rockin' bod!"
"Don't be obscene." The shorter girl kicked Shuu in the shin for good measure and then looked up her book, "As always, Chitoge, it's probably better if you just ignore Maiko."
Shuu chuckled and took a half-step away from Ruri as if the distance might save him from further physical harm, "So cold."
Chitoge smiled softly, accepting that someone had heard her prayer. The little comedy act that had always been the relationship between these two was exactly what Chitoge needed to get rid of the sadness that was plaguing her heart. Even though Shuu had always presented himself as a little bit of a pervert, he had a good heart, and it was almost always in the right place, and Ruri was the perfect foil for him, keeping him in line when he said something he shouldn't.
Shuu brought his hand up quickly, adjusting his glasses in a way that caught the light and hid his eyes, his lips forming that goofy smile that he was known for, "Well, well, but what brings a successful business woman like Chitoge Kirisaki back to a place like this?"
Chitoge smiled softly as Shuu, "I just got in today, and have been trying to catch up with everyone. You two just happened to be next on my list."
Shuu's goofy smile seemed to spread across his face, "Did you hear that, Ruri? We're important enough that we're on the agenda of a powerful business woman."
Ruri rolled her eyes at Shuu and slipped a marker into her book before snapping it shut, "We were just headed to the park. If you'd like to join us, we'd definitely like to catch up with you."
Chitoge beamed with a smile as she moved to join them on the sidewalk, "That sounds wonderful."
The walk to the park had been the same kind of conversation as when she had started talking with Onodera at the sweets shop. She heard about how they were doing with their respective jobs, what sorts of projects Ruri was working on, and what was happening with Shuu's students. There was a brief argument about when their relationship as it was had started, and who had been the one to initiate that next step, which had made Chitoge chuckle a little bit. Chitoge had shared with them stories of the places she had gone, and the things that she had seen when she was there.
By the time they were at the park, it seemed that they had exhausted most of the typical day-to-day gossip that she would have expected through e-mail. They wandered into the park and set up under a tree to enjoy the shade. They sat there in relative quiet for a few long moments, just enjoying the outside and the shade.
"So, what's been happening with Raku?" Chitoge looked up at the leaves of the tree as the breeze slowly caused them to sway so that light filtered down through the foliage.
Ruri seemed to have frozen where she was in her book, "Have you not talked to him yet?"
Chitoge shook her head slowly, keeping her gaze up at the tree, "I went over to his house, but they said that he was out on business."
"That makes sense." Shuu spoke up, nodding a little bit before leaning back against the tree, "He's probably scouting a location for that project of his."
Chitoge bit her bottom lip. It made her feel a little bit better to know that there was legitimate business that he was tending to and he hadn't just decided to avoid her. She was a little bit curious about whatever it was that he was doing, and why he hadn't gone on to be a government official like he had originally planned, but that was a different conversation. For now she was satisfied to know that he wasn't just avoiding her.
She looked over to Shuu, "It was weird when I went over to his house though. It was like it hadn't changed at all."
Shuu shrugged with a smile on his face, "It's always looked like a Japanese mansion as long as I've known it."
Chitoge shook her head and looked back up at the sky, "No, I mean, the way everyone acted. It was like he never stopped pretending that we were in a relationship or something."
He smiled softly, "That's because he didn't."
"Shuu!" Ruri cut in, trying to stop him from revealing anything else.
"What?" Shuu shrugged as he looked over to his girlfriend, "She was going to find out eventually anyway."
Ruri glared through the lenses of her glasses, "But Raku should have been the one who told her."
Shuu waved off that comment and looked back up to the sky himself for a moment, "Raku would want her to know at least enough to pretend herself when it comes to it."
Chitoge turned her ice-blue eyes over to the arguing couple again, "Why is Raku pretending that we're still a couple?"
Shuu looked like he was about to answer but instead winced a little bit under Ruri's glare, "That's…probably something that you should ask Raku about."
"Everyone keeps telling me that." Chitoge crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the two of them, "How am I supposed to talk to him if I don't know where he is?"
Ruri shrugged and looked back into her book, "You never used to have any trouble finding him." She turned the page slowly, "Why don't you do whatever it was you used to do again?"
Chitoge frowned and dragged her knees up, hugging them to her chest. She hadn't had trouble finding him before because he was always right where she had expected to find him. It had been five years since then, and she was feeling like she had forgotten how she had always seemed to know where he was before. She supposed she could go talk to the Beehive again, they would probably be able to point her in the right direction to track him down.
"Or you could go to city hall." Shuu idly responded while playing with some ants, watching them crawl around the tip of his finger, "He's looking to acquire a parcel of land after-all. He's going to have to talk to someone."
Chitoge looked over to him. When he had said city hall, she had thought for a moment that Raku had been successful in his dream of being a government official for a moment. The truth of the statement that Shuu had given her was helpful though. She turned her head back up to watch the clouds as they lazily journeyed across the indigo sea of the sky.
She took a long breath to psyche herself up and then jumped up to her feet, "Alright!" She stretched a bit and looked back to Shuu, "Thanks Shuu, I'll do just that."
With that, the blonde woman had jogged off. She looked very much like she wanted to run, but didn't want anyone to think that she was in too much of a hurry, or was too desperate to get where she was going. Shuu smiled as he watched her disappear, and Ruri disappeared back into her book, curling her body tighter against the place where the tree and Shuu's back met.
"That was pretty direct for someone who's philosophy is that outsiders shouldn't meddle in affairs of the heart." Ruri muttered as her eyes traced over the words in her book.
Shuu chuckled softly, "I didn't interfere…" He leaned down and placed a kiss on Ruri's cheek, "I just gave a gentle nudge."
Ruri smirked softly and then turned to look into Shuu's eyes, "I wasn't complaining. Lord knows those two idiots need the push." And with a soft smile she placed a loving kiss to Shuu's lips.
oOo0oOo
Chitoge smirked as she walked into the city hall building, straightening out the business jacket that she wore over her light summer shirt. She patted her hands against the pockets of her jeans and looked around for a moment, trying to figure out where she would have needed to be if she was the leader of a Yakuza group trying to purchase the rights to some land.
The inside of the city hall office was well organized, but clearly gave off more of a business feel than a friendly 'hang out here' vibe. It wasn't an atmosphere that Chitoge was unfamiliar with, so she was able to figure out the layout of the building, and which office she needed to head to for land allocations pretty quickly. She marched through the hallways, with a slim smile on her lips, and a purpose to her gait.
When she found the door that would put her in front of a government official in charge of plots of land, she opened the door and strode in. Why wouldn't she? Maybe the reason she had come here now was because she was hoping to see a boy that she used to know back in her high school days, but a big part of the reason that she had come back to Japan was because her business dealings had to do with getting the land for a new office. She had every right to be here, and given that she had made plans to meet with someone before her plane had ever taken off, they would probably be expecting her.
As she walked into the office he hand came up and she flipped back her long blonde hair, making sure that she made an entrance. As her eyes looked around the office that she had come into, she immediately realized that Raku Ichijo was not inside. Her triumphant flourish had been a bit premature, it seemed.
The room was a simple room with a counter, and a balding man in a suit sitting behind it. There were a few chairs in the office, meant for people to sit in while they were waiting to be served, and in one of them was another man in a suit. This second man looked a little bit more dangerous with the edge of a tattoo poking out from under the edge of his collar. He had his hair tight back in a tight and short ponytail, and he had a few days growth of beard on his face. Bags under his eyes suggested that he hadn't been getting to sleep at proper hours the last couple of nights.
Chitoge immediately recognized him as a member of the Shuei-Gumi, but for the life of her couldn't recall what his name was. It didn't matter if she recognized him, because he recognized her, "Young mistress?"
His eyes were wide with a bit of shock and recognition as he looked at her. Chitoge smirked at him, nodding to confirm she was who he thought she was. He wasn't who she had been expecting to see though, and she couldn't afford to keep running around following rumours as to where Raku might have been. The fact that the only clue she had received had led her to an office where one of his gang was and he wasn't, was starting to make her think that maybe he was trying to avoid her after all.
The wheels in her mind whirred as she hatched a plan. It seemed that since she had gotten here everything that she had known about Raku and how to talk to him had been all topsy turvy. He wasn't going any of the places that she thought he would, and every time she talked to someone they pointed her somewhere that he wasn't. She needed to pick something that she knew would get his attention…and luckily she knew about something that he needed.
She then turned on her heel, walked up to the counter, placing her palms flat on the surface and looking at the man behind it, "I'm here because I need some land."
The man blinked at her from behind his thick glasses, and then looked over to the member of the Shuei-Gumi nervously, "Um…we do have a parcel of land available, but um…I believe this man was here to-"
Chitoge brought her hand up in the universal sign of stop, "I really need the land, so I'll tell you what," She smirked before reaching into her bag and pulling out her chequebook, "How about I make a bid on the land too? How much would it cost to get my hands on it instead."
The Yakuza member rose to his feet, "Now wait a minute."
She shot a look back to him, her lips curling into a slight frown, "Something the matter?" Her eyes had a dangerous gleam to them as she looked him over, "Don't you think Raku would want his girlfriend to get the land that she needs for her job?"
The frightening and tough looking Yakuza member seemed to wilt under her gaze, "But…I don't…"
Her warm smile returned to her face as she looked back to the government official behind the desk again, "So, how much should I make this cheque for?"
The man behind the counter looked like he was filled with a combination of confusion and dread. He stammered sounds that didn't make words, and his shaky hand dragged a pen across a piece of paper that he slid over the surface of the counter to her. His eyes darted back and forth between the Yakuza member who had known to be frightened of, and this small woman who seemed to be so frightening that she even gave a rough and tumble gang member pause.
Chitoge looked over the number on the paper briefly, "Is that all?" She smiled and set to writing the cheque, "That won't be a problem at all." She gazed back to the Yakuza member who was struggling with trying to sort the orders he had been given against what had just happened, "That won't be a problem, right?" He didn't seem to have anything to say.
Chitoge smiled softly as she concluded her business with the local government. She put her chequebook back into her clutch and turned to take a few steps towards the door, her hips swaying slightly as she moved like a woman who had achieved complete victory over all of her opponents.
She stopped as she reached the door and turned to look back at the member of the Shuei-Gumi, "If Raku wants to talk about the land," She paused and shrugged, "or anything else, he can find me in my office." She fired him a soft smile, "Tell him I'll be waiting for him."
With her demand set, and her plan set into motion, Chitoge marched out of the office. If Raku had been trying to avoid and ignore her, she was willing to throw down the challenge gauntlet. She'd make sure that he knew she had done it, and she'd wait. She was a successful business woman, and that meant that she didn't have to run around chasing down some boy. All she needed to do was send a message, sit back, and wait for him to respond.
