#OIJALJAKFKJGKJ

[dnangelic]

a grin , a laugh ---

sakura's trouncing determination is the highest form of flattery to someone like him . how many other voices had he heard swear their promises and roar their threats out over and over ? of reverse target and capture ; an ambition even greater than merely witnessing or touching the sort of mythos that shaped itself as phantasmal a ghost . for all his mockery , he still loved to coyly flick his tail in a lure and play .

a dangerous game . if he didn't take care while indulging his own greed for a chase , then the likes of his poor tamer truly may have ended up with any sort of unpleasant mark , the worst offense and greatest shame . it should have been unlike him to make mistakes ; he wants to retort that he could , should have , and easily would bob and weave forever , just as he had in and out of ceaseless centuries . but he leaves the thought to himself --- even so much as covering up the endless rows of graves lining the circumference of his thoughts with pride seemed too tactless . it drew too close to his history , to his mystery ; a thing too that sakura's words , knowingly or otherwise , threaten , and that he graciously attempts to meet .

' right , right ~ who knew that sakura-san was so much of a fan of sherlock holmes ? ' he watches her sort out thoughts and possibilities while continuing to spin up his own teasing story , dramatically regaling them both . ' sa-ku-ra , sherlock , come to think of it , they're pretty similar . it's not an alias , is it ? a super genius detective undercover at bofurin ... who meets the one and only great phantom thief dark ! '

the devil was in the details , the saying supposedly went ... but didn't he have his own hidden , secret cherub to protect ? ( you can never really know people's true feelings . you can only ever guess . ) he neither confirms nor denies anything ; offers up nothing , not even his wary respect . nothing but a brief , quiet stare accompanies the crooked curl of his smirk .

stealing uniforms was the very first line , he thinks , that sakura had so expressly drawn right before him . for just a moment , the thief's voice lowers . ' someone like me doesn't have any real reason to abide by that rule ... ' and rigid as it was , he could think up a hundred different sort of loopholes around it : stealing a uniform that didn't belong to anyone , fairly purchasing a size for himself with or without a few cleverly told lies , or even being haplessly gifted one by the likes of his ( daisuke's ! ) mother , the same way that she readily obtained and produced various supplies , costumes , and blueprints all for the sake of her darling son's success .

' but --- fine . ' a shrug ; he seems to sincerely relent before he maliciously continues . ' the next time i impersonate you , i'll be sure to leave your uniform alone so that you aren't left chasing me through the streets in your underwear . '

( heh heh heh --- ! )

in the midst of his mischief , he's still listening to sakura's words . tasteless , too serious , if only thanks to their truths . the buzz of his own impishness feels to take a dulling blow , and he can't help but feel his thoughts quiet for an instant . error : as if sakura herself knew what was and what wasn't when it came to himself ? ( ... what did you do when your birth itself was a mistake of a mistake ? )

or the bitter-sweet rest . the faint throb and ache in his chest . a pang of hurt , a pulse of terror . who wouldn't have been disappointed in "really" knowing him ?

( you're only ever attractive and interesting to others until all of the sudden , you aren't . )

... in the end , no words come out . scarlet gaze runs ; his breath heaves out in an immense and untraceable sigh . all the way until sakura's shout and fist come suddenly racing his way , and the thin narrow of his eyes morphs into a bird-like surprise . reflex takes over for him ; he rolls and leaps to his feet to leave sakura's limbs whiffing the air and landing soft into the futon . at her outburst too , the gloom that had briefly possessed him in grim shadows lightens .

red pleases . her fury turns him fond , until once more the tips of his beastlike teeth poke out from the press of his lips , which curl just as they always had . ' --- of course , ' he finds his voice again , the devil's lyrechord strum . what was ever in a name ? he's not so sure that he could ever dare to reach into his heart and call her something else . ( ... like friend . ) he can't help but wonder , too , what she would have done the instant she learned of his own other .

' i'll shut it and forget everything like you say , so cool your fists . ' he readily brings himself to a lie back down onto the futon , daring yet still trusting the other to allow him at least this much . exhaustion faintly slips into the thief's expression , the weight of a different sort of blow . ' ... let's get to sleep already . ' his back turns away from the apartment's owner , and his eyes immediately shut . in the morning , like usual , he'd vanish --- and so would any pointless , plaguing worries .

' but you know ... ' he lends the other one last remark , without looking . ' it's a nice name . sakura . '

“You can’t bob an’ weave outta my way forever, I’ll getcha eventually!!” Finality colours her voice, genuine belief that, at least once, she’ll be able to grab the little bastard. Even world-famous thieves would get tired out, at some point—at least, she’s pretty sure. “And you never know, I might getcha good one of these days, too. I’ve caught more than enough people off-guard before.”

If nothing else, pure fact lent itself to make her believe that she should be able to do it. Statistics and all that good stuff, surely it would count.

She can’t go worryin’ about math, though, not with him sayin’ that—even though she’s sure she would notice any alterations to her own uniform, whether they have been done because the material was stretched and someone wanted to hide that fact, or simply because it’d gone stretched at all, she has the feeling that Dark would find a way to try and hide that; true to his own word of not leaving ‘messy tracks’ behind. It also doesn’t even help that, despite her being shorter, he isn’t as muscular as she is; unless he really managed to fuck up gettin’ into it, there probably wouldn’t be a whole lotta damage done to the material.

Then again, this is the same asshole who went around throwing calling cards out to whoever so much as asked—if the tracks he leaves behind ain’t messy, then that’s all they manage to be.

Geez.

“Ya never know, I might still have more attention to detail than ya think.” Her own musing, true in a number of ways. “And I wear it so much, you’d never have the time to grab it.”

...though, it’s kinda worrying that if it wasn’t her own uniform he used, then that meant it was a uniform he happened to find; would he go through the trouble of buying one just to be able to walk around town? Urgh, forget it, this’ way more trouble that it’s worth to think about; relenting more than she probably should, all she can think to add on is, “You better not have taken someone else’s, though, either; you wanna steal random shit, that ain’t my business, but stealin’ uniforms is crossin’ a line.”

As if a Furin student saying this wasn’t the same as being sacrilegious, as committing a sin—and she hasn’t exactly stopped him from stealin’ at all, either!! She knows that could cause problems of their own right, but that’s really only if he actually did take a uniform and if they got caught for it; and, at the end of the day, she could just not be givin’ him his due credit. It isn’t like she knows how he prepares for these heists of his.

(Again, a lot more trouble, more than she wants to think about right now. Too much for this atmosphere around them, the one where they’re just talkin’ with each other. She can get mad at him another time, find a way to warn him with a threat of violence she doesn’t wholly mean, one she hasn’t even said now for a line he may have crossed another day.)

“You already have legends, though...” A swift move-on from herself, not even addressing his expectation of applause (not that she’d be giving him any, he better know!!!). “Are ya sayin’ you want even more?”

Someone always talkin’ about him, always mentioning him, is that what he wants? She finds that suffocating; even though she’s always wanted to be at the top of Furin, at the top of the food chain, she doesn’t think she would want people talkin’ about her forever.

“Wouldn’t there be too much room for error if you had too many stories? One or two, even three, ’s good enough to be talkin’ about ya, but there’s such a thing as too much. If things get outta hand, then who can really know you?”

Not that she’s unaware of just how much she herself doesn’t know him, but that’s because she doesn’t press as much as she’s heard him mention others do. She chooses that (for whose sake she does so is up to anyone); with legends, with stories, he probably wouldn’t be the one spreadin’em around, so he can’t go choosin’ what people know and what people say for him.

The thought’s honestly really sad. Even if to him, it’d mark himself as being well-loved...

But, okay, wait. Wait a minute, wait a minute, waitafuckin’minute. He cannot be fucking serious. He’s absolutely playing in her face right now.

Not that knowing that keeps her face from going red.

“Y-Y—You, you shut your damn mouth!!!” Oh, how she once again wishes she had something to throw at him!! Right now, all she can do is lunge forward with a fist, but at least this’ always been her preferred method!! “Forget it, forget I said shit; just call me Sakura from now on like you had been!!! That’s all my name is, you don’t get to call me nothin’ else anymore!!!!”

‘Sakura-nyan’, ugh!!! What the hell’s he thinkin’!!?