The Pawn
(insert general disclaimers here)
Note: One day I'll write a Kanae/Kozue fic...for now you all just have to live with this.

After the piece had landed on the board it seemed an odd move, out of place amid the perfection of his normal game. His green eyes moved over his opponent’s options and he wondered if she would take the opportunity he had offered. She would still lose as he could see a multitude of moves that would correct his slight mistake, but he never actually made mistakes.

She did not know that though, because even though she was engaged to him she knew only what he wished for her to know.

He arched an eyebrow as her slender fingers curled about one of the black marble pieces. She hesitated and he smirked. It would have been an appropriate time for him to make a clever remark, or perhaps flirt, but she was nothing he really wanted. Winning such a match would be a useless victory, and he preferred his victories to have some semblance of a point. He wanted his winning to be meaningful, and for all his playing, toying with her, playing her fiancé, he had won by simply appearing. There was little point in making bolder moves. It would prove nothing.

With slight trepidation she moved the knight, letting her fingers linger on the piece before drawing them back. She looked up at him, her dark green eyes seeking something from his own. Seeking, those eyes were always seeking. She wanted love, but there was no one left to love her.

He grinned at her and said, “It’s getting late. We should continue this game again some other time.”

She grimaced, disappointment clear in her features. Nodding she said, “And you won’t be sneaky and move the pieces while I am away?”

“The board will remain as you left it, Kanae.”

She looked away and nodded again.

If he had any sense of the word he would have pitied her. There she was his fiancée, the discarded daughter of the academy’s sickly chairman, ignored daughter. Akio paid her about as much attention as he would a gnat. Shooing her way when she was clearly in the way of other things he wanted, like her mother. He fought a chuckle and it played in the color of his eyes, granting her something she could take as warmth.

Kanae stood up and straightened out the line of her skirt and Akio stood shortly after. He moved towards her and gave her a kiss, a simple and chaste peck on the lips. He could feel her despair swelling up behind her eyes. Tears she wanted to shed that she dare not because to cry would be to believe that he did not love her. She could not do such a thing. She was trapped by their engagement. She had little choice but to believe the lies she had created for herself.

She stepped away brushing a yellow-green lock of hair out of her eyes before stepping into the elevator.

Akio allowed himself the chuckle he had repressed and sat back down on the couch. He looked over the board at where things had been left. The soft sound of movement caught at his ears and he turned his head towards the noise, looking but not looking.

“Would you like to play a game, Anthy?”

Last edited by Alithea (04-21-2007 02:52:14 PM)