Playing With Fire *COMPLETE* (Obi x OC)

Playing With Fire

Chapter 29: Playing With Fire

~One Year Later~

The grounds are quiet, too quiet. The weather is stereotypically nice with the bright blue sky, puffy white clouds, and a cool enough breeze to keep the temperature from being too warm. Normally, this would make for a perfect day considering I don't even have a job to annoy me, but I'm bored. Master's been locked away in his office for several meetings, meaning Kiki and Mitsuhide are busy. Garak and Miss Shirayuki are in the medical buildings doing spring cleaning and inventory. I'd wandered down there a little over an hour ago and was instantly kicked back out. I've been lounging in a shady tree ever since.

My attention is stolen by a flicker of movement in a tree near the castle wall. The flicker turns into a woman wearing a painted mask but from a distance, I can't tell what it is supposed to be. It may be one of Rabbit's people delivering a message. I haven't seen her or Squirrel really over the past year except in passing. One night I went off the grounds with Garak, Mitsuhide, Master, and Kiki to a bar and ran into them and we all drank together with Master completely oblivious to them being criminals. Sobynne and Mitsuhide are still dating, though they don't see each other often. Master finally found out about it and let her have her secrecy since we confirmed she wasn't a criminal. To his knowledge, Loxley is dead. I'm honestly worried she is because I haven't seen her in over six months. We parted ways near the castle walls once she was able to move properly and she snuck over the walls a time or two, but then she disappeared. At the time, she still wasn't sure what she wanted to do now that she was free of Lex. She'd been staying with Sobynne off and on at the time but Mitsuhide said last time he was there, she wasn't around. I hope she's alright... I miss her.

I sigh and absently reach up to catch the needle sailing toward me. Perhaps it's not a messenger after all. Maybe I'll have a little short-lived entertainment before I kill them or have them hauled off. I don't know if I have the motivation to do anything though.

"Hey Stupid, did you get dumber over time?"

I open my eyes at the sound of Loxley's voice to find the masked person settled on the edge of the branch in front of me. Up close, I realize it's a bird of some sort, but I don't know what.

"Loxley?"

"No. It's Mitsuhide." She chuckles before lifting her mask. "It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

I grab her hand and pull her into my arms. "Where have you been? And what's with the mask?"

"I did some traveling and got into a little bit of trouble with Shenazard Castle." She shrugs. "I would've come by sooner but it took a bit to get Raji's merry little band of idiots off of me and then I had an idea one night a few weeks ago. I tracked one of Mel's members back to their base and she let me join."

"What are you supposed to be?"

"I got really drunk with her one night and we traded stories about my brother and a lot of mine involved fire, then she got an idea. I survived all of the fires and 'rose from the ashes' as she called it. We tried to think of an animal that fit that kind of description and Squirrel mentioned reading about phoenixes once and so I'm Phoenix."

"It's actually not a bad idea. I like it, but you were away for so long I thought you died."

"I know, Love. I'm sorry."

Her burns have fully healed now, leaving an even more intricate pattern of light pink to dark patches of skin mixing with her natural coloring. Her hair has grown out a lot, except for a small, slow growing patch near her right ear that had been burned in Lex's fire. She looks different, but still the same beautiful woman I fell for. I kiss her forehead before stretching and pulling her closer.

"You're smothering meee." She whines as she smacks my chest.

"Don't disappear for six months and I won't smother you." I shrug.

"You're insufferable."

"I know. So, me, Hide, and some of the others are meeting at one of the bars in the village to drink tonight, would you like to come along? Rabbit and Squirrel are supposed to come as well, and I think Sobynne too."

"Castle lackeys? Why would I want to party with them?"

"You'd be surprised. They're pretty fun when you get them drunk enough. I have a feeling you'll love Garak."

"Question. How exactly do you expect to sneak me out of the castle as you lot are leaving when we're currently in your bedroom?"

"I have a plan."

I watch with a poorly concealed smile as I watch Loxley dancing on the bar counter with Rabbit, Sobynne, and Garak while Squirrel worries over Rabbit's stability. I think they'll be fine. Loxley was worried about coming around considering her assassination attempt on Master, but she introduced herself as a different name and he accepted it without a second thought. He and Kiki never really got to see her back when Mitsuhide and I went after her so her appearance didn't matter. I told him that we've been dating for a while and that she's just a normal villager so he's okay with it. I'm glad because now I don't have to worry about hiding her existence from the castle. I help her down from the counter and spin her around as her laughter mixes with the music.

"Promise you'll never leave for that long ever again." I sigh as I hold her close and rest my head on top of hers.

"I promise. I missed you so much."

"I missed you too." I pull away enough to be able to gently cup her chin so she will look up at me.

"What is it?" She asks.

"I love you."

Her eyes widen but before she can question me, I lean down to kiss her. She pulls away and I arch a brow.

"Wh-?"

She cuts me off by standing on tiptoe to kiss me instead.

"I wanted to kiss you first." She smirks as she pulls away. "You got to kiss me first when you confessed you liked me, so I get this one, Love."

"You're insufferable." I huff.

"I love you too, Stupid."

A/N: THIS IS THE END! WOO! I feel like this book royally sucks, but I hope you all enjoyed it!<3 Stay tuned for new works to appear. -H