InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "somebody loves you"

Ikeda Kiriko | 池田妃凛子 (apathyisboring) wrote in disappear_rpg,
@ 2009-09-23 23:33:00

Entry tags:

kiriko, reizo

Who: Kiriko & Reizo.
What: On the way back from seeing Kiriko's folks.
When: Saturday, Early Afternoon. Or possibly I should have made that Sunday. IT'S A SCHOOL HOLIDAY KK.
Where: The... sidewalk.
Why: Why is a dumb question!

Had she been alone, Kiriko probably would have been skipping with an added twirl to every fourth step. It was difficult to supress her glee. Some of it bubbled to the surface in the form of the lilt in her voice and the apparently indelible smile on her lips, but despite any claim to the contrary, she remembered how her shadow had behaved and was eager to avoid even appearing to emulate it.

"Oh, did I tell you? They called Toshiro when we went to the private room and he told them about the dent you put in his face a few years back." She barely supressed a giggle. "They were mortified, it was wonderful." The sidelong glance she gave him was, she felt, appropriately embarassed of her good mood. Reizo was probably not good gushing company, but she was having a hard time helping herself.

"Anyway, you did well, I think. That hand-grasp thing was a nice touch." It fell a little short of a 'thank you,' but explicit thanks would probably be both awkward and pointless anyway.

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some_other_dog
2009-09-25 05:28 am UTC (link)

“Ya think?” He asked, head bent down and mouth -- but not his preening over the compliment -- hidden by the hand cupped around his cigarette. When he straightened back up and started walking again he kept a safe four or five paces back away from her and watched her warily, as if fearing that her jubilation was an infectious disease.

“I thought that was him,” he started, head tilted to the side in that thoughtful canine manner of his and long arms shooting up towards the blazing blue sky to stretch as a yawn overtook him. “But why the hell would they stick you with him again when you had that big falling out already?”

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apathyisboring
2009-09-25 05:57 am UTC (link)

She nodded merrily and stopped to wait for him to catch up. Why did he keep falling behind? His legs were certainly long enough.

"Yes, absolutely. You could really see the fear in their eyes." She was not oblivious to his preening, but didn't readily acknowledge it, either, as she was lost in fond remembrance of her parents horrified reaction to Reizo draping an arm around her shoulders.

"Well, I never told them about it, obviously," she answered a bit impatiently, waving a dismissive hand as she spoke. Toshiro was a marginally less happy subject, but he, too, had been satisfactorily appalled. "And if he said anything to them about it, he also must have said I was over it. He's the kind of guy they were looking for."

She paused, contemplative.

"Did you hear anything else from the other room? Because when you knocked over that vase in the other room, they were right in the middle of talking about transferring me from Nanakamado and I swear, they must have jumped half a foot and they changed the topic so fast..."

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some_other_dog
2009-09-27 06:20 am UTC (link)

Reizo, golden child of the Shirai-gumi, was no stranger to praise. His just happened to come in the form of booming laughs and thunderous backslaps from burly, scarred men in expensive, eye-catching suits and wicked smiles after any of his violence or vandalism landed him anonymously in the paper. So to hear a schoolmate praising him without a frozen smile or brittle enthusiasm accompanying was odd, and a wee bit worrisome that it was from someone as shrewd as Ikeda.

So he regarded her with a head tilt and gave her a wide berth but caught up to her anyway after so many furtive, impatient backward glances. “No, just lucky timing on my part. I got bored and it looked expensive and you guys were takin‘ an awful long time in there. Ain‘t nice to keep guests waiting.”

It was a good, solid fib: he hadn’t meant to knock the thing over, he’d just bumped into it strolling around the room with his head craned back to look up at all the pictures they had plastered high up on the walls, and no one else needed to know that it was a mistake. He probably would’ve done something like that anyway if he’d been more on the ball to begin with. Acting out that sappy little scene she’d cooked up and made him rehearse, with script and all, had drained him completely.

He came to another stop abruptly, leveled a flinty stare towards the back of her head, took a few cleansing breaths to steel himself and finally produced a small box out of pocket. He wasn’t sure how to explain the present he’d been too worried about others seeing at her birthday party, but he was tired of lugging the thing around and doubly so of the uncomfortable pressure it seemed to put on his chest sitting there in his breast pocket.

“I didn’t get a chance to put the cherry on top in front of your parents, but you might as well take this anyway.”

He was thankful his tone was as nonchalant as he’d wanted it to be and his voice kept steady . If Kiriko figured out he’d done this out of a shameful joy of giving presents, she’d have a field day, and he’d probably need to start hitting folks again at school.

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apathyisboring
2009-09-27 06:47 am UTC (link)

She had been well prepared to start chattering about how the vase certainly was expensive and so it was a wonderful stroke of luck, truly, and how proud she was that they'd made it through the script without bursting into laughter when he handed the box to her.

She took it curiously. For a few moments, she just stared. Why was Reizo handing her a box? Were the contents toxic? Maybe there was a severed finger inside. No, that was just overactive imagination, not sensible at all. But the presence of a box in her hand still left her baffled and vaguely worried. She glanced warily at him, then removed the lid. She was greeted by the sight of a handsome hairpin in the form of a kitsune mask, lying on a bed of white insulate.

Kiriko was gobsmacked.

What was this? She stared at the pin in confusion. The reason for the gift became no clearer to her, but the detail work certainly did. A belated birthday present? That made the most sense. She struggled to remember if he had gotten her anything for her last birthday. If she recalled correctly, he had, upon learning the significance of the date, removed his wristwatch and whipped it at her head.

On the other hand, it had been a pretty nice wristwatch.

"Wow," Kiriko said finally, figuring she ought to say something. "This is really nice. Where'd you steal it?"

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some_other_dog
2009-10-09 07:16 pm UTC (link)

Reizo watched the class rep -- EX-class rep he reminded himself with some relish -- open the plain black box with the coiled indifference of a bomb squad member; his eyes widened when the box clicked open and an involuntary sigh escaped him as images of the school headlines flashed through his head: Shirai, Yakuza Santa Claus! Complete with an embellished story about orphanage visits and accompanying illustration by Ishinomori.

He rubbed his temples tiredly preemptively, eyes clenched shut to shut out the light and the impending headache she was about to unleash on him over the gift, but the mundane response snapped his eyes open, rose an eyebrow, and lowered his hands back down to his sides to a neutral pose.

“Huh?”

He furrowed his eyebrows and peered at her curiously, leaning in to get a better look at her face and frowning severely.

“Whaddaya mean steal it? I just saw it and thought it’d be a pretty funny thing to give to you in front of your folks.”

The lie came easy, smooth, and was barely affected by the way his eyes dropped to the ornate and obviously expensive pin, its polished ivory catching the sun and glinting spectacularly.

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apathyisboring
2009-10-09 07:43 pm UTC (link)

Pretty funny to give in front of her folks? Yeah right. Reizo was rolling in it, sure, but this still looked too expensive for a throwaway joke gift... nevermind that it suited her tastes perfectly.

She grinned, turning her head up to make sure that he caught it, that she knew full well he was lying, and that she had decided not to contest it.

With a shrug, she took it from its box, replaced it with the pin she was currently wearing and started to fasten it in her hair. Exactly why he'd given her something so nice was still a mystery, but Kiriko thought it unwise to, as they say, look the gift horse in the mouth.

She pulled out a compact and flipped it open, murmuring her approval as she inspected herself in the mirror.

"When's your birthday again, Shirai-san?"

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