An older idea of mine, and after putting it on paper, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
I do not own BlazBlue.
"So bored~" Rachel loudly sighed as she set her book down and rolled over to look Ragna in the eye. The pair were sprawled out on the couch in one of Rachel's living rooms, and as comfortable as it was, the novelty was beginning to wear thin.
"Hm? That right?" Ragna peaked an eye open to look down at the older woman. She may have grown weary of laying around and relaxing, but Ragna personally didn't mind with the right kind of company—namely hers. "What do you want me to do about it?"
"Why don't you think of something? I count on you to entertain me, you know?" Rachel pouted and pinched Ragna's cheek. He grumbled a bit to himself, but complied anyway. Sitting up on the couch, and pulling Rachel with him, Ragna stretched his limbs as he pondered Rachel's question. The steady rain outside the window caught his eye.
"If you wanna cool it with the showers we could probably find something to do in the garden." Ragna offered.
"No, not yet. I want the rose garden and pond to be freshly watered for at least another hour." Rachel replied.
"Mm, yeah, I hear ya. The frogs would probably be pretty bummed…" Ragna commented. Rachel had always made a point to take extra care of the family of frogs that lived in a pond out in her garden. Ragna had to admit it was pretty cute how Rachel liked them so much. Still, wasn't gonna do much good to keep her entertained for the moment. "Here, scoot."
Prompting her to move with a light pat to her thigh, Rachel shifted off of Ragna's lap and let him get to his feet. There had to be something lying around this dusty old castle they could use for fun, Ragna figured. Strolling over to one of the cabinets, the criminal pulled the doors open to poke around inside. He moved things around as gently as possible, seeing as he didn't want to break anything of Rachel's and incur her wrath. It didn't take long for Ragna to spot something peaked his interest.
"Hey, how about this?" Sliding the box out of the cabinet, Ragna glanced over his shoulder and held it out for Rachel's approval.
"My father's chess set?" Rachel blinked in surprise.
"Sure, why not? A couple games should be able to eat up some time, right?" Ragna reasoned.
"I…suppose so. Very well, bring the set to me. Do well to handle it with care as well." Rachel reminded Ragna.
"Yes, ma'am." Ragna walked back across the room and set the box down on the coffee table in front of Rachel.
"There we are." Rachel smiled as she opened up the box containing her father's chess set. It had actually been some time since she last saw the pieces. When she was younger, she used to play with father quite often as well as Valkenhayn on occasion. She took a second to muse how she had never once managed to beat her father, but their constant matches made her rather exceptional at the game.
As she was careful with all of her late father's possessions, Rachel took her time setting up the board much to the tangent of her lover.
"C'mon, already Rachel. I'm growing old over here." Ragna whined.
"Hm? Oh yes, I think I can see it now. Your hair is stark white!" Rachel feigned shock and ruffled his hair.
"Tch, smartass." Ragna clicked his tongue as he leaned back in his spot on the couch out of her reach.
"In all honesty I am surprised, Ragna." Rachel commented as she put the pieces where they belonged. Rachel had given Ragna the white pieces so that he may go first. "I would never have thought you would be interested in partaking in a game of chess with me."
"Yeah? And why is that?"
"Well…it is just that… Do you even know the names of the pieces?" Rachel asked tentatively.
"Of course I do! I played a couple of games with Kagura before, okay?" Ragna barked back. Though despite his confidence, he still took a minute as he picked up a piece and turned it over in his hand. "Hey, uh, remind me—what does the horse do, again?"
"That is a knight." Rachel replied without even looking.
"Looks like a horse to me… Well, whatever. What's it do?"
"The knight moves on an extended diagonal from one corner of any two to three rectangle of squares to the furthest opposite corner." Rachel explained easily from memory.
"…Right, silly me." Ragna mumbled as he set the piece down. Eager to change the subject, Ragna picked up another piece. "I like this one—the castle, yeah?"
"That is a rook." Rachel said, once again without looking.
"You're pulling my leg, right? This is totally a castle." Ragna said as he waved the piece around.
Rachel snatched the piece out of Ragna's hand.
"Rook." She repeated as she poked Ragna in the nose with the 'castle' before putting it back where it belonged. He wasn't the brightest, but his antics were making Rachel smile.
Still, Ragna chastised himself lightly for having struck out twice. Seeing as Rachel was still taking great care to set the board up properly, Ragna continued to find ways to distract himself. Another piece caught his eye in a funny way so he picked up what was known as a bishop.
"Hey…" Ragna began. "You know, this one kinda looks like a—"
"Don't." Rachel interrupted.
"You don't even know what I was gonna say."
"Yes, I do. Don't." Rachel repeated as she took the bishop out of his hand. His befuddled ignorance she could stand—enjoy even, but she wasn't about to humor his crude jokes.
Meanwhile, Ragna kept on simmering. Okay, so maybe he didn't exactly know all the pieces, but could you blame him? It's not like he was just tripping over chess sets in his daily life. Despite that, he knew he would get the next one right for sure.
Picking up two ornate looking pieces, one in each hand, Ragna held them up with a cocky grin.
"Alright, alright I got this one. This one is the king, and this is the queen."
"Actually…" Rachel began as she reached out and switched the pieces between his hands. "This one is the king, and this one is the queen."
"…Fuck you."
Ragna's expression dropped as he glared at the two pieces in his hands. Rachel, bless her kind heart, actually had the decency to suppress her giggles behind her hand.
"Come now, Ragna, no need to take it so seriously. Look, I have the board set and ready for our match. Would you, perhaps, like a…reminder of what the pieces do?"
"F-Forget it. Let's just play." Ragna replied. The moves were easier to remember, Ragna reasoned with himself. Well, at least aside from the horse.
"Very well then. You have the white pieces so the first move is yours, Ragna." Rachel said.
"Right, let's see here…" Ragna muttered as he stroked his chin. Now, he was by no means a master and Rachel was probably going to win, but Ragna was going to show her he could at least hold his own. He scanned the pieces, thinking how to make his first move, but decided not to worry about it. Not like the first move was all that critical or anything, right? "How 'bout this?"
Ragna grabbed a random pawn, the third from the right, and moved it one space forward.
"Pawn to e5." Rachel said as she made her move in the blink of an eye.
"H-Huh!?" Ragna stammered out. No sooner than his fingers left his piece was Rachel already finishing her turn. Ragna's gaze shot up to look at Rachel, but as expected she sat there passively without a hint of expression on her face—save the small smile that formed when their eyes met.
Unlike Rachel, who was cool as a cucumber, Ragna was getting pretty frazzled. He knew Rachel was smart, likely the smartest person he ever met, but that was still really fast! It was as if she knew the move he was going to make even though he just picked it at random. Alright, so maybe the first move was slightly more important than he gave it credit for, but he wouldn't make that mistake again. Leaning in to look over the pieces, Ragna began considering his options a little more. He didn't have many choices as things were. He could always just pick another pawn, although a horse would work too. He steadily reached his hand out and let it hover over a piece, but abruptly brought his hand back when his eyes met Rachel's again.
"No need to rush yourself, Ragna. This game is only for fun, after all." Rachel said.
"I-I know! I just…changed my mind, is all." Ragna rationalized. He told himself he had to relax. Like Rachel said, this game was for fun. Besides, it wasn't like this next move would be his last. So long as he could take a couple of Rachel's pieces he would call it a moral victory.
Reaching his hand back out, Ragna grabbed the pawn that was second from the right and moved it two paces forward.
There, let's see how fast she—
"Queen to h4… Oh!" Rachel blinked a moment after realized what she just did. "Checkmate."
"What!? Are you kidding me!?" Ragna shrieked.
"Not at all. Look, there is my queen's direct path to your king. Your king also happens to be boxed in by your own pieces, and thus is unable to move." Rachel explained as she pointed at the board. "So, once again, checkmate."
"I mean… How is that even possible!?" Ragna was flabbergasted. He didn't win any of his previous games with Kagura either, sure, but he didn't think a game that short was possible.
"Actually, Ragna, this is referred to as a Fool's Mate." Rachel spoke up. "It is the shortest possible game in chess, with both players only making two moves each. However, I must admit I have never seen the such a game play out in person. Well done!" Rachel didn't even bother hiding this laugh.
"Screw you, rabbit!" Ragna yelled, with his face as red as his trademark coat now. He felt so embarrassed part of him wanted to just kick that coffee table out of his sight, but he could luckily smother the impulse. Instead, he just crossed his arms and pouted.
"Oh, my poor baby~" Rachel cooed as she wrapped her arms around Ragna and pulled him close to nuzzle against him. "No need to be so down, Ragna. I have played this game a good deal in my life, while you have only participated in a few games yourself, correct?"
"…Yeah." Ragna mumbled.
"And besides, you did exactly what I asked you to do. You've done wonders for my mood, Ragna, just as you always do." Rachel punctuated her point with a gentle kiss on the lips.
"Mmm…" Ragna hummed, unable to really stay all that mad. Extra affection aside, he supposed a little embarrassment was worth brightening up Rachel's day. "Alright, sure, you win."
Rachel situated herself in Ragna's lap and tapped her chin inquisitively. "You know, Ragna, if you like I could teach you how to play chess properly. We can have you practice on other opponents and when you are ready you can try your hand at me once more. What do you think?"
"Hm… Alright, let's do it! You're on, Rachel!"
Later that day, once the rain was quelled, the pair moved out to the garden while Rachel taught Ragna the finer points of chess. She then pulled George the Thirteenth from the pond to be Ragna's opponent, to which Ragna assumed was Rachel's idea of a joke…
Yet defying all odds, George was still victorious.
Thanks for reading and review if you like.
