Note: From this point on, the chapters will either be titled "The Orchid" or "The Rose", which will follow the point of view of the either Reine or Alayna respectively. There isn't going to be a science to it – there may be five chapters in a row that follow Alayna, or maybe it'll be every other – so be sure to see who's chapter it is before reading to avoid confusion! Thank you!

Disclaimer: I do not own the K Project characters! I do own my characters however!

The Orchid and the Rose

Chapter 1: The Rose

For a long time, all was silent. It was as if no one really knew what to make of Reine or myself, of the two newcomers who somehow were welcomed into their lifestyle of Kingdom. With a small smirk on my lips, I peered sideways up at my longtime partner in crime and complete opposite: though we had both dedicated much of our lives to research, we had come from very different backgrounds. While I was of noble heritage, bred to be the perfect lady, she had come from a strict military family. Our differing backgrounds reflected in our diametrically different personalities; however, just as the generations before us, a single goal had driven our paths together and made us inseparable.

But unlike any generation before us, we were more driven. Years of toiling, researching, and hypothesizing has brought us closer than anyone in our families had ever come. Our goal would soon be realized.

"Queens, hm?"

Twirling my parasol in neat spins above my head, I peered up innocently at the intimidating-looking blue-haired man and his blonde friend before averting my gaze to Reine again. The purple-haired woman held the man's gaze with a similar sort of haughtiness glimmering in her dark eyes and crooked grin, as if daring each other to make the next move. I rolled my eyes at her, earning a quick but noticeable flicker of attention from Reine, and crossed my arms over my chest. I continued twirling the parasol between my fingers as my more mature and sultry other half began to explain our arrival. Shifting my weight to my right leg, I turned my attention back to the crowd of individuals with a bored expression while my team muttered behind me.

"What do you think they're saying?" One woman whispered in French, earning a couple incoherent murmurs of uncertainty.

"The blue man is nosy," I responded in sweet, child-like French, peering back at my white-clad team and earning their attention. "He wants to know why we are here. Miss Montbeliard is bull-shitting them." As the men smirked and the women giggled, I realized I'd gained the attention of the crowd before us. Next to me, a vein had burst in Reine's forehead and her jaw was noticeably clenched.

"And what did your friend just say?" The blue haired man asked, causing beads of sweat to form on my forehead. Clearly, I'd spoken louder than I'd thought, albeit in a language none of them could understand.

Before I could comment, Reine quickly interjected, "She is translating to our teams. Most of them are not fluent in Japanese and have a hard time understanding what we are saying. Right, Miss Belrose?" She spoke my name through gritted teeth and I smiled sheepishly.

"Miss Montbeliard is very unhappy that I nearly blew our cover," I continued narrating in French to the groups of men and women behind us, causing Reine to let out an exasperated sigh. I redirected my attention to the crowd in front of us, speaking in Japanese, "My apologies, dear messieurs et mademoiselles; I assumed you would have no problem with my translating. Please accept my apology." As I dipped my head down and curtsied, I could just barely hear a light, nearly inaudible scoff to my left. I smirked, before quickly replacing it with a sweet smile as a peered up at the crowd through my lashes.

And as I caught sight of the red-clad group, my heart stopped.

Eyes widening, I found myself begin to walk forward away from the protection of my group and Reine toward the allure of the red group. Behind me, Reine hissed in her harsh French tone, "Where do you think you're going?"

Ignoring her, I closed my eyes and closed my umbrella, holding it at my side as I felt warmth spread over me as the pink aura seemed to fill my very being. In a quick motion, my eyes flew open and I found myself leaping up in the air, higher than I had ever before. For a moment, I lingered above everyone like a bright pink flash of light. Just as gravity was about to pull me back down to Earth, I reopened my frilly pink parasol. And it was as if I'd become light as a feather, for I merely cascaded down in slow swoops with the breeze, landing just before a tall red-headed male and a short white-haired girl. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see everyone looking at me incredulously.

"W-What the hell..?!" An orange-haired boy just behind the tall red hair fumbled, looking back and forth between Reine and me.

"Mm…" The blue haired man adjusted his glasses, as if mildly confused and astonished by what had just occurred.

Without even looking back, I knew Reine was giving me an agitated glare. However, that was the least of my focus at the moment. As I stood in front of the red head and the white haired girl, I sunk down into a crouched position at the young girl's level and practically began gushing with adoration.

"You," I squealed, placing my hands on my cheeks, "are the absolute cutest little thing in the entire world! You're like a perfect little doll or something. Oh my goodness, I could just take you home and–" The hand she was holding notably tensed and, out of confusion and curiosity, I found myself peering up at the tall man and immediately regretting it. His red eyes were practically glowing and I felt a shiver roll down my spine as we stared at each other.

Behind us, I heard Reine sigh and comment, "Again, I apologize for my friend. She often speaks out of turn and without thinking. Right, Miss Belrose?"

Breaking away from the bone-chilling stare, I looked back down at the girl and began again, ignoring Reine and gushing "Truly! You just absolutely filled me with joy! I do not even really know what I just did but I knew I had to speak to you! Oh, we absolutely have to be friends, little mademoiselle!"

Silence.

Continuing to look at the young girl's face, I began to feel uncomfortable, wondering if I had said too much to the small individual. There was something exceedingly different about her than all the others, and I had found myself drawn to her and unable to control my emotions. However, as my eyes darted back in forth between hers, I couldn't help but think I'd frightened her with my boisterous nature. However, just as I was about to apologize, her lips moved.

"Your pink," she spoke sweetly, "is very pretty."

And despite her overall apathetic appearance, her eyes were happy, and that was enough.

xXxXxXx

"Idiot!"

With a sheepish grinned, I laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of my head. After our entrance event and my outbursts, Reine had practically dragged me back to our rented, hidden estate out in the countryside beyond Shizume City with our respective teams trailing behind us. From the moment we were out of earshot, the purple-haired woman had made it her duty to scold me in every way possible in both French and Japanese for my "stupidity". Because I'd "put the whole mission at risk" or something along those lines.

As I stared calmly out the window at the distant ocean and took a sip of peppermint tea, I noticed Reine's face contort and redden more. She hissed, "Put down the tea."

Placing it gently on a glass coaster, I turned to face her apathetically. Rein sighed, stepping forward to sit opposite to me and placed her chin in her hand.

"You know," she commented, eyes averted to stare out the window as I watched her carefully. "With how suspiciously you were acting, they're going to be watching us. And probably thinking you're bipolar, with the random manic outbursts." I giggled, retrieving my tea despite her previous request and sipped it gingerly.

"Maybe that's my plan," I commented, earning her attention. "Keep them on their toes so they never know what to expect from the Pink Queen. Or–" I paused, a dark grin spreading across my lips as I placed the tea down. "Maybe I am crazy. You know what they say about the Belrose women."

Reine shook her head, but I could see a smile toying at her lips, lightening the mood. However, she immediately spoke, "I'm just saying, be careful. You don't want to attract bad attention early on. I do need you and your team here. I can't be expected to do all the work."

"And you won't be doing all the work," I promised, resting my head on my hand and grinning. "I have an in now, you know." Reine raised a brow.

"The little girl?"

I grinned.

"Alayna, you cannot expect that she–"

"You could sense it too, could you not?"

Reine was quiet, and I knew she knew what I meant. Despite everyone in the crowd giving off an aura much unlike any average person, the little white haired girl's was even more incredible. There was something different about her, something that may just be the lead that we needed to succeed in our mission.

"Plus," I gushed, placing my hands on my cheeks and sighing. "She's just so cute! I just want to dress her up in beautiful clothes like my own little doll!" Reine rolled her eyes and snatched my teacup before I was able to grab it.

"Like I said," the purple haired woman instructed, sitting up from her seat and drinking the rest of my tea. "Keep your emotions in check. You'll give people vertigo with your fluctuating emotional rollercoaster. Or, worse, get us in trouble."

Reine placed the empty teacup on the table and sauntered out of the mostly empty study. I watched her leave, smiling, before standing up myself and uninterestingly peering around the room. There were a couple of filled bookshelves, a tea table I'd dragged in there because I'd enjoyed the view, and a writing desk; however, aside from that, the room was empty. With a bored sigh, I left the room and entered the hall, which was almost as stark as the room I'd just been in. Walking down the corridors, I would occasionally run into one of my men, who would greet me happily. However, as most of them were on the basement level conducting research, more often I ran into Reine's men who now, along with their purple get-up, had taken to wearing their dark masquerade masks. They would bow their heads to me out of respect, but would rarely speak to me. Which was fine, for their masked appearances made me a bit nervous.

As I reached my bedroom, I bypassed the pink, cutesy interior and lifted the window, stepping out onto the roof. Before shutting the window, I retrieved my pink parasol. Staring out at the distant Shizume City, I breathed in deeply and concentrating on my pink aura until warmth similar to early that day spread around me. Without a second thought, I leapt off the side of the roof and opened my parasol. Gripping it for dear life, I slowly opened my eyes and watched as the wind blew me quickly away from my and Reine's estate and toward the city like a feather in the wind. Occasionally, I had to land on a tree and leap up again to gain momentum; however, for the most part I was able to glide my way into the city. It was both exhilarating and horrifying.

I giggled at how preposterous this whole thing was as I sailed above the buildings. "I'm flying… Well, floating I suppose, but that's still pretty crazy, especially with a parasol as my parachute."

And then I spotted my target and immediately closed my parasol to drop rather ungracefully on top of a nearby building. Crawling to the side of the building I'd landed on, my grin spread as I read the words just above the door: HOMRA.

But just as quickly as my excitement had grown at the possibility of new leads in our mission, it succumbed to fear as my eyes dropped to a tall red haired male leaning against HOMRA bar, a cigarette lazily hanging from his lips, and his deep amber eyes trained on me. And in one quick motion, I flung myself back, heart hammering against my chest and face flushed.

Day 1: I was caught.

Thank you everyone for the sweet reviews: it was so nice to come on here and see so many people have favorited and followed this story, and that I had reviews! I cannot begin to explain how happy it made me. I'm hoping I can update faster than once a month (haha). I really like the idea that I have for this and I hope it looks fairly interesting so far! I promise it will get a bit faster and not stuck on one day once I get out of this exposition-y faze.

What do you think of Alayna? Of Reine? Do they have interesting personalities? Are you curious what exactly their "mission" is? I hope I haven't made it too obvious…

Again – thank you so much! I would love more reviews/favorites/followers if you enjoy this so far!