Another chapter: bit shorter then the last ones. ^^;; Opps.~~~~~
" I'm bored." Izaya whinned. Sitting at his desk, Nakago stiffened, stifling a sigh at the same time. He spent an idle glance over at his unwelcome guest. The priestess of Seiryu had made her way into his office with a book some few hours ago, saying she wanted to read there. He'd agreed to having her stay, since it was better then letting her run around like a petulant child, but that didn't make her any less annoying to deal with.
" I told you when you came that if you wanted to stay here, you had to be quiet." Nakago spoke through grinding teeth, working furiously at his paperwork. She turned a scowl at him, letting the book in both of her hands lay against her chest.
" I know," chiding, she arched her neck to send a glare up at him around the side of the desktop from her place on the floor, " don't be cranky; I'm not the one that put off doing paper work until the last minute." Nakago snorted, not once looking over at her, gaze focused on the pages he'd set out in front of himself.
" I'm only behind because of you." he sniffed, signing off on one page before pushing it to the side and focusing his eyes in on another.
" Neh, neh! Blaming me will get you no where!" she insisted, wagging her index finger side to side before laughed, not seeing the glare that Nakago sent down at the page which was intended for her.
It had been some time since the priestess of Suzaku attempted to "rescue" Izaya. In that time, Izaya had become increasing popular among palace residents. Not that she seemed to take much notice of it; since taking up the position of priestess of Seiryu, Izaya had been keeping her nose stuck in books. Her regular pattern up until that point had been completely disrupted, the morning hours being used for sleep since Izaya had begun to spend nights reading by candle light. The first meal of her day became lunch, and she would take her third and final meal from the cooks several hours prior and eat it during the night hours while reading. When Nakago found her sleeping, nine times out of ten she was using the open book or scroll as a pillow. This might not have been so much of a problem if not for the fact that Izaya forgot to, or rather never got around to, blowing out candles. There were several small incidents where either her hair, clothes, or the books and scrolls she was looking at were about to be set on fire. Needless to say the small number of her new caretakers were rather alarmed and concerned for her well being.
What was perhaps slightly more unsettling in Nakago's eyes was the Emperor's utter fasination with her. He was constantly asking about her or asking to see her. The reason for his interest in her seemed beyond comprehension; Izaya bladently disregarded the majority of the Emperor's requests for an audience. The few times that Nakago forced her to meet with the Emperor, Izaya not only made openly snide, vulgar remarks, but she often outright ignored the older man completely. If she was at a meal, she would speak to servers, but if it was a simple meeting or walk with the Emperor, she would find someone, anyone else to talk to. Gardeners, scholars, advisers to the Emperor, it didn't matter. Izaya would wave and smile, extending a hand of greeting to any of them and physically turn herself away from the Emperor.
It made no difference what Nakago said to her about the subject. One day she had even been bold enough to tell him outright:
" I will not pretend to like that man for the sake of political appearance."
Following these words she had promptly spun on her heels and walked away, pulling the thread of a scroll free and yanking it open to read as she went.
Needless to say, Nakago had been less then pleased with this response.
" Neh, neh, Nakago?" her voice interrupted his work yet again, grating on the general's nerves more then fingernails on a chalkboard. " I was thinking-"
" Lady Izaya-"
" NEH NEH, NAKAGO," she raised her voice level over his, sitting up and glaring at him for a second before going on, " we should do something get that one feather head back here." Having been glaring back at Izaya while she was speaking, by the time she finished, Nakago raised a brow.
" 'Feather head'?" he prompted, curtly. Izaya smiled, nodding in return.
" Yeah," she said, waving her hand in a nonchalant fashion as she added, " you know, the one that showed up with that bird brained priestess. The one that nicked you." then, she patted the side of her body, elaborating on the event to indicate what she meant. The general gazed at her, silent for a few moments, his expression so unreadable that the Izaya frowned at him, adding. " Suzaku is a bird, isn't it? Or was Byakko the bird? No." she corrected herself, lowering her head, frown directed more towards herself. Running a hand through her short black hair, she brows arched downward as she placed a finger to her lower lip.
" You've- been reading up on the legends of this world?" the general inquired, and Izaya glanced back up at him.
" Neh?" the question was met with silence until she finally went on. " Yeah, I've read up on the legends here. That and a lot of other things as well; I'm half way through Kuto's history right now." reaching out she patted the book that lay open against her stomach. Waving her hand again, she caught his eyes with her own as she persisted. " Suzaku is the bird, right? Right?" Frowning deeper, Nakago gave a nod at her, seeing Izaya's face light up right afterwards. " Then those were feather heads and that priestess that showed up was a bird brain."
After that, she seemed to assert her words to herself by nodding twice before allowing herself to drop back against the floor yet again. Swinging her legs over the seat of the chair that sat opposite of the general, her legs kicked at the open air back and forth, as though she were trying to swim in it. Nakago wrinkled his nose and turned his attention back down to his work.
That was, until Izaya turned her eyes back onto him.
" Well, what do you think?"
" Of?" this response earned him a scowl from Izaya.
" Bringing that feather headed guy that clipped you here to play with." she insisted, pouting. Seeing the general roll his eyes, Izaya pushed herself up onto her elbows, quickly going on. " It's not as though I'm asking you to take care of him personally, Nakago. He'd just be taking up a little space. Like an awkward house guest." Stifling a sigh, Nakago rubbed his temple, tender, keeping his head down and his eyes on the page in front of himself. He could feel Izaya's eyes burrowing into the side of his face, feeling her peel away the skin to dig at his flesh of his cheek with those stone steady gray irises. Giving a heavy sigh herself, Izaya finally flopped back down onto the floor. Grabbing the edges of the book, she held it up in front of her face.
There was a short pause, one where the two were silent once again. It wasn't long after that Nakago chanced a quick glance down at her from over the side of his desk. He couldn't see her face, not that he really needed to see it to know what sort of expression she wore. There was no doubt that there was a deep frown on her lips, narrowed eyes moving along each line of the book in a swift action. Her brows were most definitely furrowed, and her entire attention focused on the soul task of reading. . .
" I can bring him here," Nakago said these words casually, as though commenting on the weather, " if that is what you wish Lady Izaya?" Dropping the book onto her stomach again, Izaya was up on her elbows yet again, gazing wide eyed up at the general. He didn't look up, didn't seek her gaze in even the smallest way. She was looking at him intently though; those shove eyes were digging at his flesh once again, he could feel it. Holding his brush aloft, Nakago raised his head only slightly, meeting her eyes. After a short staring contest, one of his brows lifted up as his mouth twisted into a smirk.
Izaya giggled then, letting her torso fall to the floor once more as she began to laugh all the harder. Her legs kicked at the air, the tips of her toes appearing exactly opposite of the desk that Nakago sat at. Sliding the book off of herself, Izaya pushed the chair her legs had once rested on further away from herself, allowing her enough space to turn over onto her stomach. Shimmying a short distance, she planted her elbows on the floor and her chin in both her hands grinning up at the general.
" A clever one aren't you, Gen-er-al~?" she giggled on, gazing at him intently for a time. He held her eyes for a few seconds longer before returning his attention to his work. Izaya didn't say anything, just grinned at him for a moment longer. Then, she twisted around, grabbing her book and planting it in front of where she lay, reading with that smile plastered across her face.~~
It took a bit of time and persuasion for Nakago to bring in the Suzaku warrior that Izaya had requested of him. She never failed to ask him about it once each day. Izaya never asked him more then once, either: always exactly one time and the rest of the day was her usual babbling around her new habitual reading and eating patterns.
When finally the day before Tamahome would be brought to the Kuto palace came, the day started out in its usual way. Nakago was performing his regular inspections of the officers around the palace grounds. As he was finishing up the last of his inspection beside the gardens within the palace walls, Nakago caught sight of something out of place among the throngs of bushes and trees. Blinking, Nakago stopped where he was. Gazing out across the garden, he frowned, not quite sure if what he was seeing at the time was true or not.
Glancing around for a second, he headed across the garden, eyes focused in on the sleeping girl. Izaya lay in the grass under one of the trees, her torso slowly rising and falling in a steady pattern. She was curled up on her right side, both of her hands a few inches from her nose, side by side on the ground. Her short black hair clung to her head, the tips of it shaking hands with the tops of the blades of grass around her head. Nakago noted at that time that there was a collection of silver rings and bands attached to her ears, lining the entire outer curve of it. Her thin white shirt hung, limp and worn, against her body, the sleeve of it crumpled in such a way that the dragon tattoo on her shoulder glared up at him. The bottom of her shirt had wrinkled in a similar fashion around her hip, her low riding black pants doing all the more to tease the eyes and imaginations of any immature man within the palace.
She almost looked worth the time if not for the fact that the hilt of a dagger sticking out from the back of her pants.
Scowling, Nakago bent down and nudged her shoulder, pulling her conscious back to the present. Opening her eyes, she blinked slowly, lazily. Her eyes didn't seem to register exactly whom she was looking at at the time, and she yawned widely, groaning and rolling over. Shoulders tightening, Nakago set his jaw in place and continued to push her around, preventing her from getting the sleep she seemed so desperate to cling to.
Finally, after much annoyed moaning and her small hand swatting the general's far larger one to the side Izaya finally began to push herself up off the ground. Rubbing her eyes, the light finally seemed to return to them and her pupils seemed to shrink while the whites grew greater in size when she realized that Nakago was standing over her.
" Neh, Nakago." she greeted once she'd regained her composure to some degree, pushing herself up onto her butt. A smile passed her face, her hands attempting to knock what grass that clung to her grayed t-shirt as she added. " Good morning." The side of her body that had been laying against the ground was lined with indentations of where the grass had been if it didn't still have grass clinging to it at the time.
" If you're tired, Lady Izaya," Nakago began, voice holding its typical coolness, " there's a room set aside for you in the palace." Grinning, Izaya hummed and nodded her head, lifting up her other hand and rubbing her other eye.
" Yeah, yeah, I know," she agreed and watching her, Nakago raised a brow, " it's too nice of a day to be cooped up inside. Besides," twisting around, she threw herself to the ground once again, letting her legs flail around in the air for a second, " the grass out here is very comfortable. I wouldn't have been able to fall asleep if it wasn't, neh?" Nakago was silent and Izaya took it with a giggle. Slowly, she began getting to her feet, Nakago straightening up as she did so.
Dusting away the last of the grass that clung to her clothes, Izaya looked into Nakago's face and went on. " So, everything is progressing smoothly, I assume? With Tamahome and the fail-safe that you refuse to tell me about?" The general opened his mouth to answer, then closed it, realizing something.
" How did you-?" he stuttered, but Izaya simply laughed, patting him on the arm. When she touched him, Nakago drew his arm away, as though touching her could only mean death for him. Scowling, Izaya crossed her arms, shaking her head.
" Come on now, Nakago, it's not that hard of a thing to think of." she sniffed, giving a wave of her hand. " Since preventing Suzaku from being summoned is our objective right now, it would only stand to reason that we can sit here, not searching for our own Seiryu warriors," shrugging her shoulders, she spoke nonchalantly as she went on, " obviously you've got something in mind. Aside from the Tamahome thing," she wrinkled her nose briefly, " since that was my idea that I brought up a few days ago. Since you were calm for all those days in between, there's got to be something behind it, though what that could be, I have no idea." After these words there was a short silence, one where Nakago was either too shocked or too proud to say something to her. A grin spread wide across her face.
" You'll learn not to count me as any old fool." she insisted, turning her back to him, rocking up on her toes then back on her heels, head held high. It was looking at a child, one that was entirely proud of herself. Except she was much larger in size, giving these motions an almost awkward appearance.
When finally he did respond to her, it he simply nodded, beginning to walk back over to the palace hallway. Izaya turning quickly and followed at his side smiling and humming, thoughtfully.
" Neh, neh, I wonder what I should do to entertain him while he's here?" she mused aloud, placing a finger to her chin and pouting. Her eyes looked upward at the ceiling of the hallway as she seemed to think about this idea seriously.
" You don't need to do a thing." Nakago stated, bland. Turning, face puffed up, Izaya crossed her arms.
" The hell I don't need to do anything." she replied, scoffing. " It's common courtesy to entertain someone you invite as a guest, and I happen to be the hostess of this little event." Placing a hand on her chest, she spoke in a huff. " It's my duty to make sure that he receives the utmost of care and amusement during his stay here and I'll do my job to its fullest." She then raised a fist to the sky and let out a short cry of determination. Then she replaced her finger on her chin. " Now all I need to do is decide what to do. A game maybe? No," she shook her head at herself, " a show. Definately has to be a show." Nodding her head firmly this time, Nakago watched and she perked up, looking almost excited.
" Just what sort of show are you planning to amuse him with?" he inquired, raising his brow at her. Grinning, the tip of her tongue stuck out and ran across her lips as she gazed intently at him with those storm cloud eyes.
" I'm- not- telling!" she said, lifting her index finger and placing it against Nakago's mouth. Nakago's expression dropped and he glared at her, earning himself a laugh from the girl. She skipped ahead of him down the hall and spun around, walking backwards as she talked to him. " Don't worry; I'll make sure not to interfere with your fun. " Turning around to face forwards, she spoke over her shoulder as she added. " I'm just going to have a little fun of my own while he's here. You don't always get the opportunity to fuck with the enemy in situations like this, neh, Nakago?" Then, swinging her arms, she skipped away, humming a tune as she went.~~~~~~
lol, and nothing really happened this chapter either. . .*avoids tomatoes and pointy objects* Please don't kill me! Read and Review!