Original: Unthief, Fic: The Devil of it All [Rikkai/Maou]
Because I seem to be incapable of writing anything but crack-that-is-not-really-cracky these days; why, brain, whyyyyyyy.
Anyway, before that, here's an old scrap of a fic I found in my folder while pulling up the Rikkai/Maou fic. It's about a year or two old, methinks - title only seems unrelated because the scrap never made it that far. Hopefully it'll counter the lameness of the following fic? 8D
Unthief
The fire crackled as they tumbled the dry wood unto it, spitting out sparks like fireflies, little pieces of brightness that flitted through the air before the darkness reached out and engulfed them greedily.
She, Arich realized, was quieter now, a welcomed change from the squalling, kicking bundle he had snatched from the village. Lit only by the whims of the firelight, she was smaller than he'd thought she was, with solemn grey eyes fringed with dark lashes as she watched him. She had rounded cheekbones, with the soft contours of the very young where the shadows darted across them. Small moccasin shoes peeked out from under a cloak far too large for her small frame.
She was still staring. Something was obviously required of him.
"Sorry about that," he said conversationally. "Couldn't have you waking up everyone else, y'see."
She didn't answer him, merely looked at him with those eyes that seem too old for her body. Well, two can play at that game.
He was near going cross-eyed when she spoke, a soft voice that the fire almost drowned out in its consuming glee. "You're not a God."
"No," he agreed affably, stretching his legs out before him. "But try telling that to the people on my back."
"You're not a God," she repeated, and her voice was almost a wail now, thin and reedy as she rocked back and forth on her heels. "You're not a God. You're. Not. A. God."
"Hel, Is that the only thing you know how to say, kid?" Arich got to his feet, dusted himself off. "Look, I didn't mean to take you - child abduction's not exactly up my alley. So if you want to go back, your home should be somewhere over-" he gestured vaguely at the woods behind him," there. Feel free to take off any time. Though you might want to watch out for-"
Exactly when she had gotten up from the rock, he didn't know but short fingers tugged at his sleeves and she lifted her face to his incredulous one. "Perhaps I'm wrong," she said, and again those eyes searched his. "Perhaps you are...but you don't have it."
-end scrap-
...So!
Rikkai if 'Maou' were aired in the Tenipuri universe: Rikkai, gen, crossover of a sorts. Possible OOC warning and major spoilers for 'Maou': SHIELD THY EYES, CHILDREN.
The Devil of It All (aka ‘The Great Maou Fic’)
It started as a challenge: most problems in Rikkai tend to.
"Of course I don't do anything as stupid as that!" Kirihara huffed, looking disgusted. "Seriously, Yagyuu-sempai, you should get a cooler hobby; we're Rikkai, you know."
Yagyuu calmly picked up the copy of 'Hana Yori Dango' that had, by accident, fallen out of his locker and started the entire debate. "Oh? Are you implying that my enjoyment of Japanese dramas is not 'cool', Kirihara-kun?"
"I," Niou drawled lazily from where he was on the bench, "am surprised that brat even knows the meaning of the word 'cool'. He wouldn’t know what ‘cool’ is if it hits him in the face with his racket."
Yanagi chuckled as Kirihara immediately rose up to the bait and began ranting about his extensive knowledge on that single word. "They’re debating the relativity of a person’s personality and Japanese dramas this time," he said conversationally for the benefit of the person who had just entered the clubroom. "The chance of someone being forced to into a dare related to that is a probable 80 percent, I'm afraid."
"As long as it doesn't affect their performance on court, spare me," Sanada said dryly as he pulled open his locker. "I don't need the extra headache."
"FINE!" Kirihara yelled, irate in the background. "FINE. WE'LL SEE WHO'S COOLER THAN WHOM. I WILL WATCH ONE OF YOUR STUPID JDRAMAS AND PROVE MY COOLNESS TO ALL OF YOU, JUST YOU WAIT AND SEE."
"You really don't need to shout, Kirihara-kun; my hearing is still relatively sound." Yagyuu placed the DVD back into his locker before shutting it crisply. "But, if you're so adamant about it, I suppose I could take you up on that challenge."
Niou snickered. "Someone's already lost the plot, hasn't he?"
Sanada forcibly resisted the urge to slap certain people back into sensibility as Yanagi smiled. "Akaya does have a way of issuing his challenges, even if they do deviate from their original intent 90 percent of the time. Still, this should be interesting to observe. Don’t you agree Genichirou?"
Just then, Marui burst through the front door, face expectant. "I thought I heard something about being 'cool' just now. For the record, this genius happens to be cooler than all of you squared-"
"FIFTY LAPS AROUND THE COURTS AS WARM UP," Sanada bellowed, slamming his locker (and the topic, as far as he was concerned) close. "NOW."
-
Kirihara came to the next practice radiating smugness as he practically bounced into the clubroom with his sports bag. "I found a J-drama cooler than all the weird shows you've been watching, Yagyuu-sempai," he announced magnanimously. "It has the word 'devil' in it, just like me."
Yagyuu looked up from where he was reading a book. "I take it you're referring to 'Maou'?" he inquired mildly. "That drama is interesting enough; I follow it every Friday night."
Kirihara looked slightly put out. "Well, I don't watch it on TV. I watch it on the Internet."
"Score one for the brat," Niou laughed from where he was idly knotting Jackal's shoe laces together. "He actually knows what the Internet is."
Kirihara ignored Niou in his pride at his discovery of a not-lame drama. "It has a proper mur-murd-murderer guy who goes around killing people," he elaborated cheerfully. "He's kinda cool, for a person in a J-drama, I guess. The other guy's a wuss though; all he does is run around and look kind of like my opponents when I serve into their knee."
"He's not just 'running around', Kirihara-kun." Jackal pulled his shirt over his head, straightening out his collar. "And he has a reason to look miserable. Niou..."
"Hmmm?"
"...Never mind." Jackal sighed, picked up his shoes and began untying Niou's complicated knots.
"I didn't know you watched 'Maou as well, Jackal," Yagyuu said, shutting his book with a light snap.
The half-Brazilian shrugged his shoulder, looking dismally at Niou's handiwork. "It is fairly interesting. And I have spare time on Friday anyway. Tell Sanada I'll do the extra fifty laps, Yanagi."
"I already have," Yanagi said serenely from where he had pulled open the door to the clubroom. "You might want to hurry though; he's not in a particularly good mood today, judging from the creases in his forehead. There is a high probability that he'll double the number of laps if all of you are not on the court -"
"ONE HUNDRED LAPS FOR ALL THE REGULARS OF THE RIKKAI TENNIS TEAM!"
"-now."
-
"Maou should come stalk Sanada-fukubuchou," Kirihara panted later. "Then they can have a showdown and maybe we won't have practice for once. Ugh, I can't feel my legs anymore."
"Idiot," Marui snorted from across the net. "We'd be the ones dead first. Honestly, don't you watch the show properly? I'm serving; be prepared to lose to this genius."
Kirihara lost the first point as the realization struck him. "Oh. Yeah. Dammit."
-
"'Maou' is officially lame," was the first thing Kirihara announced a few days later, looking disgruntled as he dropped his schoolbag on the bench. "There is a girl."
"Girls aren't 'lame', Akaya-kun," Yanagi said, amused.
"Well, this one sure is," Kirihara groaned, slumping bonelessly all over the bench. "She's kind of useless and sapping out Naruse's resolve to kill people. How is that not lame, Yanagi-sempai?"
Sanada rubbed his temples hard, aware that it was too early in the day to have a headache. Yanagi chuckled. "Ah. I thought you might say that by episode four after all."
"You're weird when you say stuff like that, Yanagi-sempai,” Kirihara grumbled. “Can't you keep it for like, practices and matches?"
"I'd suggest reserving your judgment on Shiori until you’ve watched more of 'Maou', Akaya. My data suggest that you might experience a change of heart sometime after episode seven."
"Well, I'm definitely going to prove your data wrong this time, Yanagi-sempai. Just watch me." Kirihara folded his arms and stared at his senior defiantly. "Shiori is lame. L-A-M-E. Though her psychic power thing is kinda cool. But she's still lame."
Yanagi merely smiled. "If you say so, Akaya. Come on, we have a hundred laps to do.”
"WHAT??? But practice hasn't even started yet-"
"A hundred and fifty if you're not running in ten seconds," Sanada growled. “Today and tomorrow.”
"Going, going!-"
-
The practice after the airing of Maou's last episode was a fairly subdued one.
"I can't believe it ended that way," Marui groaned, flopping over on the bench. "Ugggh. What a rip-off."
Jackal nodded his agreement, looking slightly dismal as well as his fingers tapped an unconscious tempo along his racket handle.
"There was a sixty-five point two chance it would resolve the way it did," Yanagi admitted, looking wry. "Still, even I must profess my dissatisfaction at the way the problem was dealt with."
"In short, you didn't like it either, did you, Yanagi?" Yagyuu's lips quirked. "I wasn't overly surprised though."
"Says the one with the most experience with Jdramas after all," Niou grinned suddenly. "Probably predicted the ending from a mile away."
Sanada pulled his cap lower over his forehead, closing his locker with more force than necessary. "Fifty laps today, then practice matches. Niou against Marui, Yagyuu against-"
"BOTH OF THEM DIED!!!" Kirihara wailed as he burst into the clubroom, looking utterly distraught. "NARUSE AND SERIZAWA DIED, HOW THE HELL CAN THIS HAPPEN!!..."
"Kirihara-"
"AN-AND SHIORI!!! WHY COULDN'T SHE GET THERE IN TI-IMMME!-"
"Kiri-"
"I CANNOT BELIEVE IT; I MEAN, IT'S LIKE A REPLAY OF THE ORIGINAL MURDER, ONLY WORSE-"
"Akaya-"
"AND NO ONE GETS A HAPPY ENDING!! THAT'S IT; I'M NEVER WATCHING LAME J-DRAMAS EVER AGAIN-"
"KIRIHARA. TWO HUNDRED LAPS AROUND THE COURTS. NOW."
As Marui hurriedly dragged a gaping Kirihara out with the others trooping after, Yanagi nodded at Sanada apologetically. "I apologize on Akaya’s behalf - he is unfortunately ignorant when it comes to matters such as this. We did try to prevent him from leaking too much information but our precautions were perhaps too lax. I suppose you still want the taped copy of the last episode?"
Sanada glared and silently swore to never again watch any form of Japanese drama ever again. Not even for Yukimura’s sake.
owari
Anyway, before that, here's an old scrap of a fic I found in my folder while pulling up the Rikkai/Maou fic. It's about a year or two old, methinks - title only seems unrelated because the scrap never made it that far. Hopefully it'll counter the lameness of the following fic? 8D
Unthief
The fire crackled as they tumbled the dry wood unto it, spitting out sparks like fireflies, little pieces of brightness that flitted through the air before the darkness reached out and engulfed them greedily.
She, Arich realized, was quieter now, a welcomed change from the squalling, kicking bundle he had snatched from the village. Lit only by the whims of the firelight, she was smaller than he'd thought she was, with solemn grey eyes fringed with dark lashes as she watched him. She had rounded cheekbones, with the soft contours of the very young where the shadows darted across them. Small moccasin shoes peeked out from under a cloak far too large for her small frame.
She was still staring. Something was obviously required of him.
"Sorry about that," he said conversationally. "Couldn't have you waking up everyone else, y'see."
She didn't answer him, merely looked at him with those eyes that seem too old for her body. Well, two can play at that game.
He was near going cross-eyed when she spoke, a soft voice that the fire almost drowned out in its consuming glee. "You're not a God."
"No," he agreed affably, stretching his legs out before him. "But try telling that to the people on my back."
"You're not a God," she repeated, and her voice was almost a wail now, thin and reedy as she rocked back and forth on her heels. "You're not a God. You're. Not. A. God."
"Hel, Is that the only thing you know how to say, kid?" Arich got to his feet, dusted himself off. "Look, I didn't mean to take you - child abduction's not exactly up my alley. So if you want to go back, your home should be somewhere over-" he gestured vaguely at the woods behind him," there. Feel free to take off any time. Though you might want to watch out for-"
Exactly when she had gotten up from the rock, he didn't know but short fingers tugged at his sleeves and she lifted her face to his incredulous one. "Perhaps I'm wrong," she said, and again those eyes searched his. "Perhaps you are...but you don't have it."
-end scrap-
...So!
Rikkai if 'Maou' were aired in the Tenipuri universe: Rikkai, gen, crossover of a sorts. Possible OOC warning and major spoilers for 'Maou': SHIELD THY EYES, CHILDREN.
The Devil of It All (aka ‘The Great Maou Fic’)
It started as a challenge: most problems in Rikkai tend to.
"Of course I don't do anything as stupid as that!" Kirihara huffed, looking disgusted. "Seriously, Yagyuu-sempai, you should get a cooler hobby; we're Rikkai, you know."
Yagyuu calmly picked up the copy of 'Hana Yori Dango' that had, by accident, fallen out of his locker and started the entire debate. "Oh? Are you implying that my enjoyment of Japanese dramas is not 'cool', Kirihara-kun?"
"I," Niou drawled lazily from where he was on the bench, "am surprised that brat even knows the meaning of the word 'cool'. He wouldn’t know what ‘cool’ is if it hits him in the face with his racket."
Yanagi chuckled as Kirihara immediately rose up to the bait and began ranting about his extensive knowledge on that single word. "They’re debating the relativity of a person’s personality and Japanese dramas this time," he said conversationally for the benefit of the person who had just entered the clubroom. "The chance of someone being forced to into a dare related to that is a probable 80 percent, I'm afraid."
"As long as it doesn't affect their performance on court, spare me," Sanada said dryly as he pulled open his locker. "I don't need the extra headache."
"FINE!" Kirihara yelled, irate in the background. "FINE. WE'LL SEE WHO'S COOLER THAN WHOM. I WILL WATCH ONE OF YOUR STUPID JDRAMAS AND PROVE MY COOLNESS TO ALL OF YOU, JUST YOU WAIT AND SEE."
"You really don't need to shout, Kirihara-kun; my hearing is still relatively sound." Yagyuu placed the DVD back into his locker before shutting it crisply. "But, if you're so adamant about it, I suppose I could take you up on that challenge."
Niou snickered. "Someone's already lost the plot, hasn't he?"
Sanada forcibly resisted the urge to slap certain people back into sensibility as Yanagi smiled. "Akaya does have a way of issuing his challenges, even if they do deviate from their original intent 90 percent of the time. Still, this should be interesting to observe. Don’t you agree Genichirou?"
Just then, Marui burst through the front door, face expectant. "I thought I heard something about being 'cool' just now. For the record, this genius happens to be cooler than all of you squared-"
"FIFTY LAPS AROUND THE COURTS AS WARM UP," Sanada bellowed, slamming his locker (and the topic, as far as he was concerned) close. "NOW."
-
Kirihara came to the next practice radiating smugness as he practically bounced into the clubroom with his sports bag. "I found a J-drama cooler than all the weird shows you've been watching, Yagyuu-sempai," he announced magnanimously. "It has the word 'devil' in it, just like me."
Yagyuu looked up from where he was reading a book. "I take it you're referring to 'Maou'?" he inquired mildly. "That drama is interesting enough; I follow it every Friday night."
Kirihara looked slightly put out. "Well, I don't watch it on TV. I watch it on the Internet."
"Score one for the brat," Niou laughed from where he was idly knotting Jackal's shoe laces together. "He actually knows what the Internet is."
Kirihara ignored Niou in his pride at his discovery of a not-lame drama. "It has a proper mur-murd-murderer guy who goes around killing people," he elaborated cheerfully. "He's kinda cool, for a person in a J-drama, I guess. The other guy's a wuss though; all he does is run around and look kind of like my opponents when I serve into their knee."
"He's not just 'running around', Kirihara-kun." Jackal pulled his shirt over his head, straightening out his collar. "And he has a reason to look miserable. Niou..."
"Hmmm?"
"...Never mind." Jackal sighed, picked up his shoes and began untying Niou's complicated knots.
"I didn't know you watched 'Maou as well, Jackal," Yagyuu said, shutting his book with a light snap.
The half-Brazilian shrugged his shoulder, looking dismally at Niou's handiwork. "It is fairly interesting. And I have spare time on Friday anyway. Tell Sanada I'll do the extra fifty laps, Yanagi."
"I already have," Yanagi said serenely from where he had pulled open the door to the clubroom. "You might want to hurry though; he's not in a particularly good mood today, judging from the creases in his forehead. There is a high probability that he'll double the number of laps if all of you are not on the court -"
"ONE HUNDRED LAPS FOR ALL THE REGULARS OF THE RIKKAI TENNIS TEAM!"
"-now."
-
"Maou should come stalk Sanada-fukubuchou," Kirihara panted later. "Then they can have a showdown and maybe we won't have practice for once. Ugh, I can't feel my legs anymore."
"Idiot," Marui snorted from across the net. "We'd be the ones dead first. Honestly, don't you watch the show properly? I'm serving; be prepared to lose to this genius."
Kirihara lost the first point as the realization struck him. "Oh. Yeah. Dammit."
-
"'Maou' is officially lame," was the first thing Kirihara announced a few days later, looking disgruntled as he dropped his schoolbag on the bench. "There is a girl."
"Girls aren't 'lame', Akaya-kun," Yanagi said, amused.
"Well, this one sure is," Kirihara groaned, slumping bonelessly all over the bench. "She's kind of useless and sapping out Naruse's resolve to kill people. How is that not lame, Yanagi-sempai?"
Sanada rubbed his temples hard, aware that it was too early in the day to have a headache. Yanagi chuckled. "Ah. I thought you might say that by episode four after all."
"You're weird when you say stuff like that, Yanagi-sempai,” Kirihara grumbled. “Can't you keep it for like, practices and matches?"
"I'd suggest reserving your judgment on Shiori until you’ve watched more of 'Maou', Akaya. My data suggest that you might experience a change of heart sometime after episode seven."
"Well, I'm definitely going to prove your data wrong this time, Yanagi-sempai. Just watch me." Kirihara folded his arms and stared at his senior defiantly. "Shiori is lame. L-A-M-E. Though her psychic power thing is kinda cool. But she's still lame."
Yanagi merely smiled. "If you say so, Akaya. Come on, we have a hundred laps to do.”
"WHAT??? But practice hasn't even started yet-"
"A hundred and fifty if you're not running in ten seconds," Sanada growled. “Today and tomorrow.”
"Going, going!-"
-
The practice after the airing of Maou's last episode was a fairly subdued one.
"I can't believe it ended that way," Marui groaned, flopping over on the bench. "Ugggh. What a rip-off."
Jackal nodded his agreement, looking slightly dismal as well as his fingers tapped an unconscious tempo along his racket handle.
"There was a sixty-five point two chance it would resolve the way it did," Yanagi admitted, looking wry. "Still, even I must profess my dissatisfaction at the way the problem was dealt with."
"In short, you didn't like it either, did you, Yanagi?" Yagyuu's lips quirked. "I wasn't overly surprised though."
"Says the one with the most experience with Jdramas after all," Niou grinned suddenly. "Probably predicted the ending from a mile away."
Sanada pulled his cap lower over his forehead, closing his locker with more force than necessary. "Fifty laps today, then practice matches. Niou against Marui, Yagyuu against-"
"BOTH OF THEM DIED!!!" Kirihara wailed as he burst into the clubroom, looking utterly distraught. "NARUSE AND SERIZAWA DIED, HOW THE HELL CAN THIS HAPPEN!!..."
"Kirihara-"
"AN-AND SHIORI!!! WHY COULDN'T SHE GET THERE IN TI-IMMME!-"
"Kiri-"
"I CANNOT BELIEVE IT; I MEAN, IT'S LIKE A REPLAY OF THE ORIGINAL MURDER, ONLY WORSE-"
"Akaya-"
"AND NO ONE GETS A HAPPY ENDING!! THAT'S IT; I'M NEVER WATCHING LAME J-DRAMAS EVER AGAIN-"
"KIRIHARA. TWO HUNDRED LAPS AROUND THE COURTS. NOW."
As Marui hurriedly dragged a gaping Kirihara out with the others trooping after, Yanagi nodded at Sanada apologetically. "I apologize on Akaya’s behalf - he is unfortunately ignorant when it comes to matters such as this. We did try to prevent him from leaking too much information but our precautions were perhaps too lax. I suppose you still want the taped copy of the last episode?"
Sanada glared and silently swore to never again watch any form of Japanese drama ever again. Not even for Yukimura’s sake.
owari