miari | Swindler Chapter 4

Title: Swindler
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Kurosaki/Shizuna
Summary: Kurosaki swindles the Ariakes because their parents killed his parents (and he desires revenge.) Unfortunately for him, he underestimates them and a battle of wits ensues. In the midst of all this, Kurosaki and Shizuna fall for one another, causing serious plot complication... Based on

kirakirakingyo 's Swindler trailers. Please go watch them.

~~~

Chapter 4

Kurosaki had wanted the date with Shizuna to be perfect. “Date” meaning interrogation session disguised as a good time. He wanted her to feel like she was worth the millions of dollars she had swindled but comfortable enough to tell him a little (if not all) about her childhood.

And so, this was how he had wanted to find himself at lunch the next day: at his favorite restaurant in the heart of Shibuya sitting across from Ariake Shizuna who he thought, despite the mental slaps he would be giving himself, was actually quite beautiful. But alas, fate had other ideas.

How he actually found himself was hiding from the damnable detective Kashima Masaru while Shizuna sat in his favorite restaurant looking beautiful as she stirred a cup of coffee waiting for him. Kurosaki wanted to punch something. Hard.

Instead, he pulled out his phone (while peaking around the potted tree he was hiding behind) and sent Shizuna a message.

~I’m here, but scary ex’s bf is out for blood. Waiting until he leaves before I join. Gomen!!

He watched as she pulled out her phone and read the message before typing out a response.

~Take your time. [wink] [thumbs up] I’ll wait [grin]

~So understanding

~I have stalkers too [sad face] [sweat drop]

Kurosaki smirked to himself as he typed his response. Really? I hope you’re not thinking of me.

He watched her smile as she read it and he ignored a sudden twisting in his stomach. You’re seducing her so you can humiliate her and her brothers, the swindler reminded himself, stop feeling things for her.

~You’re too kind to be a stalker. [flower] [smiley face] [thumbs up]

Kurosaki rolled his eyes.

~Where are you hiding? [binoculars] [question face]

~Himitsu

~You’re terrible. [tornado] [mad face] [lightning] I’ll find you. [glasses]

Kurosaki found himself getting annoyed with the excessive amount of emoticons. Why couldn’t simple words suffice? He looked back to her and found her carefully scrutinizing the room. He slid farther behind his tree and patted himself on the back mentally when her eyes slipped past him.

~Passed me

~Liar. [tongue out] [frown]

~He’s not leaving. Meet you at the ramen stand down the street?

~Tired of our game? [dice] I could do this all day. [thumbs up] [running]

~I can’t. Your emoticons are making me ill.

Kurosaki swore at her reply; all sorts of different emoticons flooded his message inbox. He hadn’t even known half of these existed.

~Five minutes, employee of mine. I’ll be there in five minutes and if you don’t promise to stop using so many silly animations, I’m taking that phone away from you. Texting is expensive.

He watched her as she laughed, picking up her purse and leaving money for the coffee. After she left he pulled his hat low and walked over to the table replacing her bill with one of his own. She’d trust him a little bit more if he gave it back to her, he was sure of it.

“You’re just like my brother,” Shizuna informed Kurosaki as he slurped up a particularly large swath of noodles.

“Sorry?” He managed to ask around his lunch.

“Nii-chan. He hates emoticons too.”

“Any sensible person would,” Kurosaki informed her and then laughed at her very adorable pout. “I don’t mind a few, but what you do could constitute as spam.”

“What can I say? I’m just that good.”

“I’m sure you make your brothers very proud, Shizuna-chan.”

“That’s Shi to you.”

Kurosaki paused, watching Shizuna suck up noodles at an amazing speed. “Okay,” he said carefully, almost to himself, “Shi it is.”

On their second date, (Kurosaki couldn’t get anything out of her during the first,) Shizuna was balancing carefully as she walked around the edge of a fountain. After she had almost tripped over her own feet three times, Kurosaki insisted rather vehemently that she come down. But instead, eyes glinting, she took hold of his hand and used it as balance. He laughed.

This time, Kurosaki took her to a proper restaurant, but all he discovered about her was she loved spicy Korean food.

On their third date, Kurosaki learned that Shizuna had held 15 different jobs in the past month. He had taken her hand in his and smiled, assuring her that she would be keeping her current job for some time.

Their fourth date was a week later after Shizuna had successfully aided him in selling the first two apartments, one to a college girl and the other to a small family of three. They toasted champagne in an expensive restaurant and Kurosaki learned that Shizuna loved her brothers more than anything else in the whole world. He tried to ignore the stab of guilt in his gut.

Kurosaki finally worked up the courage to ask her on their fifth date.

“Shi...tell me about your family.”

She smiled over the rim of a wine glass. “I have. Nii-chan, Tai-nii, and me...and George sometimes but he only half counts.”

Kurosaki set his fork down and regarded her carefully. “I mean...your parents.” Her face fell and Kurosaki placed his hands in his lap so that she couldn’t see how much they were shaking. “You’ve-you’ve never mentioned them.”

“They were murdered.”

A cold chill crept down the center of Kurosaki’s back and forced himself to say, “I’m sorry.”

“You had to find out sometime. I’m sure you were curious.”

“I...did wonder. Can you - what happened?”

Kurosaki wasn’t sure what he wanted Shizuna to say. Practically all his life, he had wanted someone to say something that would give him peace of mind, someone to fill in the empty boxes that said “guilty, sign here.” But now...now sitting in front of the person who might possibly give him peace of mind, he thought maybe it might be overrated.

“My-my parents weren’t the most...law-abiding citizens. They...owned a restaurant...a western food shop. And it was good. Really good. But...it didn’t bring in enough money...so...they swindled on the side...”

Kurosaki didn’t hear much of what Shizuna said after that just, “swindling caused their deaths,” and then he had to close his eyes to keep the fury from his face. The next thing he heard was, “want to open a restaurant,” and he forced himself to open his eyes, allowing his swindler side to completely take over for fear that he would burst into tears...why he wasn’t so sure.

Shizuna was staring at her dinner and Kurosaki assumed that she hadn’t been looking at him for as long as she had been talking.

“I’m sorry Shi, you said you want to what?”

Shizuna finally looked at him and had it been five minutes earlier he would have felt pity for her tortured features. “We-we want to open a restaurant, the three of us. We’ve been saving and saving and we have enough money...we just need a building.”

Kurosaki’s brain was racing. Perfect. Positively perfect. “I’m sorry I asked, Shi. But...that’s a wonderful goal to have, especially since you have such a wonderful cook for a brother.”

Shizuna smiled at him and whichever parts of him were still Kurosaki and not Kurosagi, died.

After Kurosaki had been home for some time (staring blankly up at his ceiling) his phone beeped. He sorted through the pile of phones on the table before pulling it out and saw that he had a message from Shizuna.

~Thank you for listening to me!!! Talk to you later [heart]

He stared at it for awhile and then sent her back a smiley face, thinking that it would make her smile.

Five minutes later he finally realized exactly what it was he had heard that evening and for the first time in ten years he allowed tears to soak his pillow.

A/N - Sorry this took so long. I had to finish Corners of my Mouth, which I did and you should go read it and tell me what you think. I was going to put this up last night, but I found out that I'm graduating in the top ten of my class so I decided to celebrate instead of write lol. Hopefully I'll write the next chap. soon...shit ton of school work coming up this week...damn profs...everything is always due at the same time...

Comments please!! *puppy eyes*

Swindler Chapter 4

no subject

no subject