Okay, so the reason why I didn't update this sooner was because when I was writing this chapter, I got kinda lost halfway through and had no idea what I was writing about...so yeah...it's probably weirder and not as good. And it probably would have been more appropriate to upload this on the actual first of April, but then that's a looong way away...so here it is. :)

By the way, the title's not centered like it usually is because the stupid formatting thing isn't working on my computer and it won't let me do what I want it to...grrr...


Love Letters

G is for GULLIBLE


Jun should have realised when he woke up in the morning feeling unusually chilly that his day was destined to be doomed.

The date was the first of the fourth – April Fool's Day, possibly the worst possible day of the year when your household consists of a certain group of dolls, who enjoy smashing your bedroom window, slapping you with their hair and kicking you with such force you spend most of your time feeling pain in places you didn't even know you had. That's right, Jun told himself, he should have just stayed in bed the entire morning, when he woke up and realised with some shock that the coldness he had thought was a draught blowing in through his door was in fact due to the lack of any form of clothing on the upper half of his body.

In other words, someone had taken the liberty of removing his shirt whilst he had been sleeping.

"Y-YOU!"

"You can't prove I did anything, desu!" Suiseiseki screams back, obviously trying to hold back an evil laugh.

"I do not particularly care who is responsible for this, but please, Jun, would you cover yourself with some form of appropriate clothing instead of baring yourself so blatantly and vulgarly to the world? There are ladies present," Shinku eyes him distastefully as she sweeps majestically out of the room, her nose in the air.

"I. Will. Get. YOU." Jun hisses at Suiseiseki, who cackles and makes sure to fly her suitcase through his closed bedroom window as she takes her leave.

The rest of the day, for Jun, is spent in a spectacular series of mishaps – Hinaichigo's strawberry unyuu hidden in his slippers, Kanaria ambushing him with a water gun on his way out of the toilet, several death traps (probably rigged by Suiseiseki) that, twice, resulted in him almost losing his nose and all the fingers on his left hand and, more traumatically, a rather nasty incident with Souseiseki's shears.

"Why are there bits of hair all over the couch and on the floor…?" Jun grumbles groggily as he sits up from his nap on the couch.

"Jun…"

The medium looks up to find Shinku staring at him with a strangely horrified expression upon her face.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that? And what's so funny, Souseiseki?"

As if carefully choosing the right words in which to phrase her question, Shinku hesitates for several good, long moments before responding.

"Jun…what…exactly…did you do to yourself?"

"What do you mean? Nothing. I was just sleeping here."

"…."

"Shinku?"

The blonde doll gives another look, before taking a slow sip of tea and turning back to the book on her lap.

"I will say nothing."

"What's wro – " Jun stops dead as he catches a glimpse of himself in the reflection of the television screen. "HOLY – SOUSEISEKI WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY HAIR?"

The Gardener doll coughs.

"I just rearranged it a bit."

"DID THAT DAMN EVIL SHE-DEVIL PUT YOU UP TO THIS?"

"If you're talking about Suiseiseki…then, no. Well, on second thoughts, maybe she encouraged the idea…"

"Souseiseki," Jun voice is low and furious as he inspects the damage done to his once normal hair. The top of his head now looks as if someone has mown through his hair whilst undergoing severe spasm attacks. "If you ever touch another pair of scissors again…"

"It is April Fool's, Jun. And besides, it's no big deal. Shinku can fix it."

Jun looks up to see the blonde doll's face hidden behind her book, but he swears he can hear her surreptitiously disguise a short laugh as a prim cough. Several minutes later, with a full head of hair and exceedingly foul mood, Jun finds himself seated on the couch, reluctant to move anywhere else around the house in case there are more death traps waiting for him. The back of his neck prickles, and he turns to see Shinku looking at him out of the corner of her eyes.

"Well, I suppose it's your turn to prank me now? Just make my wonderful day complete?" he asks scathingly. Shinku merely shrugs, her eyes flickering back to her page.

"I take no interest in such trivial follies."

Jun arches an eyebrow disbelievingly, knowing full well that Shinku can be just as bad as Suiseiseki when she feels in the mood for tormenting him. The blonde doll catches his look and an inscrutable flicker glimmers behind the deep blue of her irises.

"Why, Jun, I am offended by your distrust. How could you even think for a second that I would wish to harm you?"

Jun can practically hear the alarm bells ringing in his ears now, and stares suspiciously at the doll, knowing that something is amiss despite the completely deadpan look on Shinku's face. She returns his gaze calmly, maintaining an impassive expression.

"Okay, what are you doing?"

The blonde's face shifts into a look of slight scandal, and she clasps a hand to her chest.

"Do you not understand…my true feelings?"

"Ha!" Jun yells triumphantly, having been subject to this particular joke before. "I've seen that one, Shinku. You won't be making me look stupid today." He grins victoriously down at the doll, but her head is lowered slightly. Frowning, Jun bends to look at her face.

"Oi…hey…Shinku…?"

The blonde lifts her head to look up at him with such an expression of bittersweet sorrow that he has never seen on her face. Her eyes are even glimmering slightly, brimming with unshed tears.

"I knew it," she whispers in a grief-choked voice. "I should have known better…than to hope…that you would believe me…"

Taken aback, Jun stutters, not quite knowing what to say. The sight of Shinku tearing up causes an unexpected pang to stab through his chest. Feeling awkward, yet strangely tender, he pats her rather sheepishly on the head.

"Ahhmm…er…" Deep down he should know that this is nothing more than a ruse, but for some reason the doubt that lingers in his mind makes him realise that it's almost as if he wants to believe she is being serious. "Well, I – "

As if right on cue, a cascade of blonde locks slices smoothly through the air and whips his cheek with a spectacular, resounding smack!

"Urgh...should've known this was coming..."

Shinku sighs, her expression returning to its usual look of calm disinterest.

"Honestly, Jun, how many times will you continue to be duped by that old trick? Oh – " she turns back to him, the corner of her lips tugging upwards in a teasing smirk, " – don't tell me you can't help yourself. Ah, the truth is revealed."

"What?"

"Why don't you just admit that you secretly harbour feelings for your master? My, how scandalous."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"But Jun, I am being serious," Shinku says suddenly, the mischievous smile fading quickly from her face. "I do love you very much."

Jun falters, unsure of what to say as his mind struggles to process the abrupt change in conversation. Like when you are walking in shallow water on the beach and the sand shifts under your feet and you find yourself suddenly floating in deep water, Jun feels as though he is floundering in the something much more profound and intense than what had started out as nothing more than a light-hearted joke.

"Shinku, I – "

"Just kidding."

...

...

"What?"

"I was lying when I said I love you. Does your petty, inferior mind find it difficult to accept that?"

Jun opens and closes his mouth silently for several moments, words failing to form on his tongue. Shinku moves too fast for him to follow. Several thoughts and emotions flutter in a confused jumble across his chest before he decides to play it safe and just settle on being indignant.

"D-don't joke about stuff like that!"

"It's your own fault for being so stupid, Jun. A doll can't truly fall for anyone."

The air seems to become very still suddenly, with a strange tension filling the space between them. Jun seems to wince, as if Shinku's light comment has struck a tender bruise in him. He grabs both her shoulders suddenly and fixes her with such a fierce gaze that she is momentarily taken by surprise and doesn't slap him away like she usually would.

"You shouldn't say things like that. It's a lie."

Shinku gazes levelly back at him.

"If a doll did come to love a human, those feelings would be what you call a lie. They aren't real, they are created and manipulated."

"All feelings are made or caused by, or changed because of someone else. The fact that you are feeling them is enough to make them real, human or not. Don't deny your own emotions, Shinku. They define you. As long as you believe in them...doesn't that make them true?"

The blonde doll stares into his eyes for a long time, cold blue against blazing dark brown.

"If you believe in it, even a lie becomes the truth. Is that it?" She smiles, but it doesn't quite reach the sadness that stains her eyes. "Will you believe in these lies of mine with me, Jun, so that one day I can come to love someone and not be afraid to say it?"

He nods once, a firm, determined, decisive gesture that assures her he won't back down or turn back.

I was lying when I said I loved you.

"Still, Shinku, I mean it when I say you shouldn't joke about stuff like falling in love with someone."

The intensity in the air seems to evaporate suddenly, leaving behind a sense of displacement, as if they had gone somewhere far away and returned all in the passing of a heartbeat.

Idiot.

"Oh, so you actually thought I was joking."

"Wait – what? You weren't?" The blood rushes rapidly to Jun's cheeks, making him feel hot and dizzy. Shinku shrugs dismissively.

"Who knows?"

"Stop doing that, goddammit! You're confusing me! Answer me, were you joking or weren't you?"

Shinku pauses for a fraction of a second and Jun isn't quite sure how to interpret her hesitation.

"Well, of course I wasn't serious."

He seems to deflate, the blush receding from his face.

"Oh," he almost sounds disappointed. "Right."

Shinku sighs, and an achingly bittersweet expression flickers across her eyes, to quickly for the clueless medium to see.

"You are too gullible, Jun. If you are going to believe my lies, at least believe in the right ones."

"Wait – what's that supposed to mean?"

"One day, I will fall in love with someone who is at least ten times smarter than you. Someone like Kunkun."

"I'm pretty sure you're already in love with him," Jun snaps, slightly irritated.

"Yes, we are connected by the red string of fate. But you know, Jun," Shinku's eyes flicker s if some untold secret lies hidden beneath them, behind a thin veil of blue that reminds him of sky reflected on the ocean, "You can change fate."

Was that supposed to mean something? Jun doesn't know. Shinku will continue as she is, but he will choose what it is in her that he believes. He will keep on believing in her feelings until she realises the truth that they were never a lie in the first place.

Love can't be false if you both believe in it.

I may have said my words are lies,

But my feelings are not.


So, I hope that was...bearable?

Thanks so much for reading, guys. I can't express in words how much I appreciate it. :D