The door had closed. He had left. Forgetting her hair, grabbed the towel and dried herself off, wrapping it around herself before stepping out of the showers and seeing, true to her suspicions and to the shattering of her heart, no one there.

---

‘Stop,’ she told herself. ‘It’s… it’s okay. I’m sure… I’m…’

But no words came to mind. No self-comforting words came to mind. Her head dipped down and her tail drooped as she swallowed, her mouth dry and slightly agape as she came to terms with this. What was she expecting? One night of fucking and she was going to go ask him out? He was probably leaving to go have a drink with his friends and tell them how he’d bagged a girl, made her make a fool of herself, then left.

---

… She needed something… she needed someone to talk to. She needed support and she didn’t- Wait, was that something on the bed? She sat down beside the towel she had prepared for him and saw a small note, handwritten by Maigo himself if the signature at the end was anything. As she read it, her hands tightened around the piece of paper, but her stormy emotions didn’t calm down.

‘Leaving unannounced?’ she thought. ‘Dinner? Who does he think he is?!’

---

She didn’t know what to think. He had left. He had something more important to do and he- Why was she so worried about this!? She was Aizou Kitsuchi, she shouldn’t be- But she was, why was this happening to her why why why whywhywhywhy-

---

“Stop!” she cried out, her hands balling into fists and hitting the bed on either side of her, with her left hand slamming onto the towel she had left for him and in the process tearing up his note. “Stop you stupid little girl!” she cried out again. “Just stop and shut up and listen to yourself! Why are you being so worried about a guy you’ve just met?! You idiot!”

---

“WHY AM I LIKE THIS?!”

---

Fire chakra fueled her arms as she felt heat begin to spark on her fingertips, desperate for something to burn burn burn so she could get rid of some of her anger. Burn burn burn burn burn burn burn-

---

And then she dropped onto the ground on all fours, all energy lost. “What’s wrong with me, acting like a child over some stupid emotion? I… I should be stronger than this…”

---

That had been an hour ago. Aizou sat at the table beside the huge window that led to her balcony, the morning sun striking into her room through the window and filling it with light. She was looking downcast at the table in front of her, the sleek shine of the mahogany mocking the loss of shine from her day after what had just happened. She looked at her left hand. There were some scrapes on it where she had accidentally slammed her hand into the sharp remains of her lamp while her right had been busy holding the phone she spoke with Hyouga through, and it was that small yelp of pain that had him immediately putting the phone down and rushing to meet her.

However, it had been an hour ago. She knew they lived almost painfully apart, with the Kouri clan compound almost pitifully away from the commercial districts of the village if only so they could practice their Ice Release arts in secret and safely, and without a sanctioned reason Hyouga had no excuse to travel in any way other than a civilian, i.e. using the painfully slow roads and public transport like any other civilian who couldn’t utilise chakra but needed to get somewhere quick had to do. But damnit why couldn’t he get here faster!?

God fucking damnit… Fucking hell Maigo.. What the hell was he thinking!? What the hell was she thinking, letting her emotions play her like that, so foolishly so naively so childishly. Fucking hell!

She stood up, both palms on the table as she felt chakra channeled through her body again. She wanted to let it out. She wanted to let it out. She wanted to let it out and make everything burn like she had burned his body. Like she had burned him in his sleep until he was nothing more than a crisp who couldn’t stop her from taking all his money… Burn burn burn burn burn burn burn burnburburnburn BURN-

Her left hand hit the table in a fist. Fucking hell. She was supposed to be stronger than this… She should’ve been able to survive alone… After all those years of being alone and having no one to count on but herself and her body she should’ve been used to surviving alone… So why was it that she could let others into her life so easily?

Shuuji… Hyouga… Maigo… It was just three people on her short list but that was already three people too many in her books! Too many! Too many! She shouldn’t even need one! She… She’d called Hyouga and he didn’t turn up. Maybe he was like them. Maybe he was like all the guys that she had seen in her life. Maybe Shuuji was the same. They all played her. The same way she played them. It was the only way things in this world worked. You were either playing someone for a fool or they were playing you. There was no different.

She dug her claws into her hands as she slumped back into the chair.

And this time, she was played.

Word count: 949/949

Hyouga rushed through the packed streets of Kirigakure, wondering what it was exactly that had befallen his friend, Aizou Kitsuchi.

Aizou was a woman whom he had met while one day returning home from a day of trying to find his foster parents’ actual daughter, and having no luck, he had went home. However, it had begun to rain heavily, and he had seen someone’s silhouette through the heavy rain, and doing what he had learned to do from his foster parents, Hyouga immediately attempted to see if there was anything he could do to help her get out of the rain, and to make sure that she stayed safe until she went home.

The woman that he had bumped into on that very rainy night was none other than his current friend, Aizou Kitsuchi. That night that they had both first met, they had walked slowly to Aizou’s apartment, and Hyouga had attempted to make friends with her, but it had almost been impossible to do so because the woman had been so quiet. She had refused to answer most of his questions and in the end Hyouga had decided that it was better off if he just kept silent during their entire walk to her house, and the rest of the journey was as he had thought very silent except for the rain falling down around them.

However, he had met her on one occassion after that, and that had been when they had bumped into each other during a mission to catch a cheater at a gambling place. The two of them had worked together very well on that mission, and afterwards the two of them had found themselves good friends, having gone out several times when they were off missions, but it was fortunate for Hyouga that the two of them knew that there was nothing more to their relationship than friends, for he didn’t know how he would be able to balance a relationship like that.

However, just because he was not in a relationship of any unique kind with her, did not mean that he was not going to care about her like his other friends. Hyouga hurried and made sure that he was able to get to the hotel that she had given him directions to, now already moving into the lobby of said hotel and moving up to her penthouse suite. He tapped his foot impatiently on the elevator as it rose floor by floor, before he put on a burst of speed as the door opened, feeling his skin scrape harmlessly against the door as it opened, knowing that he had already wasted enough time travelling here, and not wanting anything further to afflict Aizou.

He arrived at her penthouse, and double-checking that it was the correct one, rang the doorbell before barging into the room, seeing Aizou sitting at the table. The sight of a broken lamp on the floor made him worry, especially when he saw the red bits on her hand.

Rushing to her, he asked in a worry, “Aizou! Are you okay? What happened?”

He came.. He actually came… she thought.

Realising that he was standing behind her chair, Aizou gestured to another chair at the table at the sides, so that he could sit while she got into her tale, though with how pitiful she was feeling at the moment, she wasn’t even sure that she could get into the entire tale again without suffering the bouts of tears that she had experienced in the last hour, without going on and on about how she was played played played played played, and without getting into exactly why she was feeling so down… But she also didn’t want to have brought him here for no reason…

“Hyouga… I’m... “ she began, but didn’t know how to continue. What was she supposed to say? That she fucked someone and felt bad because it was a one-nighter, when he knew all too well that she always did the same and waved them off when they asked for more than just sex? “I don’t know. I mean… You know me, right? I’m… I’m cold. I’m the girl who plucks guys off the streets and plays with them for a day, and then throws them aside.”

Now that the words were out of her mouth, she almost laughed in pity at herself. Almost. She reached for the fruit basket on the table, taking a green apple and staring at it, but not taking a bite out of it, before she rested her left hand on her thigh again, still holding onto the apple and tainting the glossy green surface with the red of her blood.

“But now…” And this time, she did let a chuckle escape her lips. “Maybe this is just the universe getting back at me. It’s all so stupid.”

It was here that her eyes lay on the apple, and she realised that Hyouga likely had no clue what the problem was. She hadn’t mentioned Maigo, she hadn’t mentioned anything about any guy, only strongly hinted at it… and if this morning was any indication, then boys were definitely not the best at picking up hints. Although… maybe if this morning was any indication, the problem lied with her. Maybe she just wasn’t as good at dropping hints as she thought she was… or maybe she just wasn’t as desirable as she thought she was. After all, here sat Hyouga, who didn’t think about her sexually in even the slightest way just because he was searching for someone whom he hadn’t even met.

“Sorry…” she apologised, before getting onto the story in detail. “Yesterday, I met this guy. We came home. We slept together… And this morning, he asked if there was an us and then he left while I was in the shower and I… I don’t know…” she ended, realising that the middle had sounded rather rushed as her emotions stirred. “I’m stupid, aren’t I? I’m not even in a relationship with the guy and I’m already being so worked up over this! I’m… I’m stupid…”

Aizou, I apologize for leaving unannounced and all. You'll have to venture this morning without me, but if you are interested in getting to know each other and all of that, then meet me in the lobby of this hotel tomorrow afternoon. 6:00 sound okay? You can drag me all over shopping for fancy and expensive boots then, if you'd like. Or maybe just a nice dinner. Your choice~

Maigo

Aizou stood up, pushing the table away from her and the chair sliding forcefully backwards, though neither making a sound due to the carpeted floor of her penthouse. Her fists balled up again, and her lips grew into a snarl as her eyes narrowed, finding something to hit before they landed on Hyouga, and she lost her fury again, realising that she shouldn’t have let out her anger when someone else was in the room. She pulled the chair back towards herself, placing herself gently back on it as she cradled her arms.

“... I’m sorry you have to see me like this…” she said, and she meant every word, not wanting him to see that the normally strong woman she held herself as around him being reduced to… this... but not really being able to change anything either.

Word count: 738/1687

Hyouga accepted her offer for a seat… but that was where his composure stopped. Hearing her entire story… Seeing her so broken, so out of shape, so uncontrolled of her own actions and emotions… It was like looking at a whole other person. Hyouga frankly had a hard time believing that this was the very same Aizou whom he had walked home, and whom had swiftly directed him to the different corners of the casino to help the two of them catch the thief. The girl in front of him, crying and cradling herself and begging for comfort just seemed so… different.

“Wow… Aizou…” Hyouga began after hearing her entire speech. Although… that was the problem. He didn’t know where he could begin. What did he say to this girl? He knew she had a very playful attitude when it came to guys, and it was only a very specific set of circumstances that had led the two of them to becoming friends instead of those with benefits who never saw each other again after one night together. He almost thanked the rain for having dulled her mood sufficiently that she hadn’t invited him up to her room that night, or he would be down one important friend. “You know,” he finally said, “It’s okay to feel bad for yourself every once in awhile…”

He really was clueless as to what he was supposed to say. He didn’t think this was helping her at all. In fact, he didn’t think this was in any way going to help her at all. She seemed so heartbroken that he didn’t know what he could say to make her feel better. This was Aizou’s department. Emotions, manipulation… it was all right up her alley, and it was her specialty, not his. His was punching things, being the muscle, and showing utter loyalty to the people he cared about, not going out of his way to manipulate people for the fun of it like Aizou did.

Sinister as it sounded, it wasn’t too bad. She was a great person on the inside, and it was because of this that Hyouga really wanted to make sure that she felt better. With this empowering him, he pulled his chair closer to Aizou in hopes that his words would be able to reach her better.

“Listen, Aizou… I’m sorry you had to go through that… But the thing is, maybe it wasn’t meant to work out.”And then, he stood up, spreading his arms for dramatic effect and causing the chair to slide backwards. “But that’s not a bad thing! You’re crying now, yeah, but in a few days, I’m willing to bet my month’s pay that you’ll be plucking guys off the street again and rejecting those who try the other way! Come on, this is just one guy! And yeah, maybe you have a crush on him, but that doesn’t make him any different from all the other guys! You just haven’t found it yet but there are plenty of guys out there! You’re sure to find another one who you feel like this for! So trust me! Cheer up, Aizou!”

He finished his monologue with a playful punch to her shoulder, feeling slightly proud of himself for having come up with all that on the spot. Of course, though, his punch was only very weak, for he too was frankly, terrified out of his mind of Aizou, especially if she was still mad.

At the end of Hyouga’s monologue, Aizou found herself chuckling, especially so when he punched her on the shoulder. She could feel the punch weak, as if he was scared, and she understood why. She’d just explained it after all, she was cold. She wasn’t someone to just waltz with someone else, she was picky as all hell and right now, Hyouga probably thought her emotions made her all the pickier, instead of just jumping to the first sign of comfort that she could find.

“Hyouga…” she replied. “I… I don’t know… I mean, I got this letter from him…”

And her eyes widened a fraction when she realised she had, again, yet to go through the bulk of her issue as she hadn’t even shown Hyouga the letter yet. Actually, she hadn’t even spoken about the letter yet until now, and she decided to rectify her small mistake, producing the letter from the side of the table, which up till now he probably thought was just a grocery list of some sort.

“He… he left me this note saying he had to leave unexpectedly and he wanted to meet the other night…”

Her ears drooped when the words came out of her mouth. She was stupid, wasn’t she? Maigo hadn’t actually left her… did he? He simply wanted to go get some time to think about it was… all? But… was it though? Aizou didn’t know. Her normally sharp and keen mind was working overtime to sort through her storm of emotions, leaving little brainpower available to tackle this new, but obvious, realisation that struck her like lightning.


“I’m so stupid, aren’t I? A guy wants to meet and had to leave early and I overreact…”

Her head drooped down to the table, before flickering to the left and seeing shards of broken glass from the lamp that she’d smashed onto the ground.

“And I broke hotel property while I’m at it… I… I just… I don’t know what’s wrong with me!” she cried, holding her head in her hands, and her fox ears folding down over said hands. “I’m acting so stupid, so uncontrolled, I’m losing so much of myself over a guy I plucked out of the mission reception building!”

Word count: 390/2077

“Oh my god,” Hyouga replied. “Oh my god you’re in love.”

It all made so much sense now. Why Aizou was acting the way she was. Even if it should have been obvious to anyone that someone losing their mind over one person would meant that they cared a lot about them, and were very confused by their actions, Hyouga’s previous experiences with Aizou had left him believing that she [couldn’t fall in love.

“Oh my god, you’re in love,” he repeated again. “You’ve never been in love before, and you’re in love. Okay, maybe not love, but you really like this guy, and you’ve never liked anyone like this before.”

This was a very delicate situation. He remembered his foster parents’ words. A woman’s heart was most fragile when it was most ready to change, and he didn’t want her to change for the worse. He didn’t want to ruin Aizou’s relationship with this guy, even if he would, from a third person’s perspective, admit that the guy had already done that for himself by bailing out on Aizou. Nevertheless, his words now had to be very, very carefully thought out, so that he didn’t accidentally tweak something in Aizou that he shouldn’t have touched, but even as he threaded with a lot of caution, he found that the words escaped his lips almost naturally, like he knew exactly what to say, simply because he knew exactly what he wanted to do.

He pulled up his chair to her, sliding it just an inch or two closer, as he had already done so before. “Aizou, what you’re feeling right now is completely normal. You’ve had crushes, yeah, sure, but that’s not what liking someone is. It’s… it’s a step further from that. It’s okay to be completely stupid over this, hell I’m surprised you didn’t raze the entire room!” he chuckled. “I mean, not that I want you to or anything. But, yeah, I guess it is confusing and yeah, maybe you’re not used to it but forget this one small moment and focus on what’s coming up next! And, if he left you a note as you said he did, well then… I’m sure he wants to meet you again as well.”

There was always the chance that this person was just leading her on though, to put her down gently when things were less awkward between them, and Hyouga wondered if doing so and filling Aizou with false hope was beneficial to her well-being in the long-term, before deciding that what she needed wasn’t the long-term, but the short-term, and proceeding with what he had on his mind.

“Go meet him, Aizou, and I can promise you that he’ll have this whole thing explained. About why he had to leave early, about what he was doing… it will all be explained, Aizou, trust me.”

Following the course of Hyouga’s attempt at cheering her up, Aizou felt herself stop sniffling. The tears just stopped flowing even if the burden in her heart remained. Maybe she was finally at the point people referred to as ‘having cried so much you can’t cry any more’. Considering the close distance between the two, Aizou pulled Hyouga in for a hug, not sure how else to express just how thankful she was that he had rushed over, even if it had taken him an hour, how he had tried to cheer her up and get her back on her feet when it had been obvious that she needed someone there, and most important of all how valiant his efforts were despite him showing absolutely no experience in this field prior.

“Thanks, Hyouga… I…. I honestly didn’t know what I was doing. I feel so stupid now,” she said, ears drooping once more chagrin that she’d been able to miss something so easy. For someone who played with emotions as much as she did, something like that should have been clockwork! “Have… have you had breakfast? I think Maigo didn’t finish his in the kitchen…”

It was likely somewhat stupid, directing him to eat food prepared for someone else, and it had probably gone somewhat cold by now, but in all honesty Aizou only realised the stupidity of her statement or offer after it had left her lips, and right now, she felt a little too abashed to simply take it back, just like that. Unsure of what to do, she would remain sitting at the table, still recovering from the onslaught of her emotions, something she has never had the displeasure of feeling before.

She would remain sitting there, no longer crying, but no less lost.

Word count: 302/2379

“Woah, you want me to eat your boyfriend’s food?” Even as he teased, Hyouga would stand up, ignoring any dirty looks she may have thrown his way for the use of the ‘B’ word. It was probably something he shouldn’t have done, considering she had just been fretting over him, but at the same time, considering she was most likely at peace with the issue, he supposed he could try to poke fun at her to try and bring back her previous, snappy attitude that he liked about the old Aizou, not this… well, not Aizou as she was.

He would walk into the kitchen, awkwardly trying to find his way in her hotel room, a place he’d never been to. Hell, he’d never even been to this place called ‘Muraoka Road’, considering that it was one of the most expensive places to shop, much less live in, much less live in a hotel, so one could forgive him for stumbling around in such a foreign environment. Plus, he had also been stumbling around in a philosophically unfamiliar environment as well, what with him spouting almost absolute nonsense (to him, anyway, but he was sure it was the type of words that Aizou needed to hear).

Walking into the kitchen, he picked up the cup of noodles and took a bite, before reeling from the taste and texture. They were cold and sour, but he swallowed it anyway, making a satisfied face as he walked up to Aizou. She probably didn’t want to know her food tasted like absolute crap right now. Then again, if it had been an hour since it was prepared, that was probably the reason why.

“This is-” he forced another swallow and put on another grin. “This is really good!”

Putting the cup noodles down on the table as he sat back down, he inhaled to get rid of the taste in his mouth, something that was not good at all, and instead focused on the fact that she had mentioned ‘Maigo’ had been the one who had left her house. ‘Maigo’ sounded like a familiar name, and it took Hyouga a while to realise that it was the name of one of the Chunin exam participants who had got kicked out in the first round.

“Wait, did you say your boyfriend’s name is Maigo?” Hyouga asked. “The Maigo? The guy who got kicked out of the Chunin Exams the first round?” he would continue asking, hoping to try and break the ice with her and, if possible, annoy her back to being her old self.

Aizou couldn’t help the laugh that came out of her mouth at the sight of Hyouga walking back to their seat, the cold cup of soggy noodles in hand, and the other holding the chopsticks which brought said noodles into his mouth. When he had lied about the state of the noodles, she had only laughed even more. She had practically lived off of this stuff when she was young; no one could lie to her about the distaste that came with eating soggy noodles. They were painful to eat.

“You seem to like those noodles really well. They’re not good for you, though, so I’d stop before they killed you,” she teased.

It surprised her when she realised that Hyouga had heard of Maigo in the first place. “Wait, what? You know him? He got kicked out of the Chunin Exams?” Aizou couldn’t even hide her surprise at this. Talk about being in a small world; if her friend Hyouga had heard of Maigo, then surely the man couldn’t be that bad, right? After all, the worst thing he had to say about him was that Maigo had failed the Chunin exams in the first round, and that wasn’t really too big of a deal to her. He had strengths in… other departments. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to meet him again. However, she couldn’t say the same about her treatment of the friend who had rushed over. He had wasted his morning to try and help her out, even when he had not known exactly what was happening, and he wasn’t even getting anything out of it except for… soggy wet noodles. With a sigh, she realised that, perhaps she should begin treating him better. “Come on, Hyouga, I’m taking you out to Muraoka Road. I was supposed to take Maigo today but… well, he was busy, as you know. Besides, I don’t think you even have plans for the day, so consider this your reward for being such a good friend. I’ll even pay for everything, too.”

Word count: 353/2732

–Exit–