—The Fool Flatters Himself (the Wise Flatters the Fool)—
—Third Person—
Akito is standing in the grassy field next to the path for the outdoor hallway, looking both regal and ominous dressed in the black long-sleeve and matching pants. Her hands are laced behind her back, expression oddly tense despite the warm smile.
Skylar and Aly freeze for a heartbeat, both taking their time preparing. Skylar counts to ten in her head, reminding herself that it'd be completely derange to start a fight with someone who's supposed to be a complete stranger to her. Aly is—of course—thinking, trying to find a way to keep Yuki as far away from this place as possible.
To no one's surprise, it's Skylar who breaks the silence.
"Oh, not really," she says brightly, smiling. "Just some talk about the new year and our classes—they're getting harder, y'know, and who knows how we're gonna pass? Did we scare you?"
"Not at all. I was just taking a stroll myself," Akito says lightly, seemingly unbothered by Skylar's carelessness as she steps towards them.
"Everything okay?" Skylar wonders, expression the picture of concern.
Akito smiles easily, though Aly notices the hard edge in it. "Oh, yes. I simply don't get out alone often, so I'm taking my time to enjoy it."
"Oh, good~" She lets out a relieved breath, returning the smile.
Aly is both impressed and terrified. On one hand, Skylar's managing to hold a conversation with Akito without screaming, and she even looks innocent, like she honestly has no idea who she's talking to.
But she does know, and that's terrifying.
"Oh, crap! I'm Skylar, by the way," she says, bowing.
"Nice to meet you, Skylar," Akito returns. "I'm the head of the Sohma Family, Akito."
She stops, eyes widening, and bows deeper, so Aly follows suit as Skylar gushes, "Mr. Akito! I'm so sorry! I had no idea—"
Akito laughs, waving her off. "It's quite all right; no reason to fret. I wanted to apologize for last time, actually."
"Last time?" Aly wonders as she straightens, finally entering the conversation.
"I'm sorry that I didn't talk to you when you went to the main house—I can be quite shy at times, you see."
Yeah, right.
"It's fine," Skylar chirps instead.
"We totally understand," Aly finishes.
"My my. Aren't you two kind," she says, leaning into Aly with a hard stare despite her nice words. "And cute too."
Instead of reddening, Aly's face pales, especially when she sees Skylar's mouth twitch.
Just hang in there, Sky.
Thankfully, she doesn't say anything.
"I would like us to be friends," Akito continues nicely, but something's off. Her face is smiling, but her eyes... her eyes are dark, menacing. "After all, we're family now."
Aly shivers as Skylar's smile tightened.
"Oh, yeah, and we can't thank you enough for that!" Skylar gushes, grinning as she grabs Akito's hands. "It's so selfless of you to help us out!"
Akito rips her hands out of Skylar's almost instinctively, the false niceties dropping off of her face as she grimaces and takes a step away from her.
Skylar's expression is so innocent, Aly almost believes it. "Whoops! I keep forgetting boundaries. I'll have to work on that~"
Akito's laughs off-handedly. "It's quite all right. I didn't mean to be so aggressive."
"Don't worry," Skylar chirps back. "Anyway, I hate to cut this short, but I gotta get going~ I forgot they needed me to help with some things for phys. ed. before first period."
She wants to find Kyo.
It takes Akito a few beats, but she recovers with a hard smile. "Of course. Aly and I can continue our conversation instead, right?"
Aly nods, smiling at Skylar. "Don't worry about us; we'll be fine."
Skylar mimics her and nods before turning around, going in the opposite direction of her classroom. She tries for a normal pace but ends up at a jog-type walk when she rounds the corner and is out of sight.
"Ms. Hayes," Yuki calls out to her, stopping her. "Where are you off to?"
"Oh, uh, I forgot I need to help out with some things for phys. ed., so I had to leave Als and Akito."
He freezes at the mention of her name, and Skylar mentally apologizes. "What?"
"I said that I need to help out with—"
"Not that!" he practically hisses, vaguely reminding her of Kyo. "Who is Aly with?"
"Akito," Skylar says easily, still playing dumb, though she noticed that Yuki called Aly by her name instead of her last name. "He stopped by, wanting to see everyone and what not, and we chatted, but I—"
He doesn't listen anymore, pushing past her and barreling down the hallway. Cussing, Skylar starts running, forgetting about how much trouble she'll get into if she's caught by a teacher, and scans the hall, looking for something to help. She nearly runs past an old, sliding door but stops just in time. Quickly, she throws the door open and pulls out two badminton birdies and a couple of racquets. Situating them under her arm, she continues running down the hall.
And nearly runs into Natsu.
"Woah there, Sky," he says, steadying her. "Where're you going in a hurry?"
She ignores his question, shoving a racquet in his hand. "Here. Take this."
He blinks, doing as she says. "What?"
Opening the window, she grips the racquet's handle and watches.
Akito's approaching Yuki in the distance, Aly's eyes void as the wheels turn in her head.
"Why did you skip out on New Years?" Akito asks, eyes sharp and metallic. "Why would you do something like that? It hurts me deeply that you would do something so cruel — and after I've been so lenient—"
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a feathery ball hit the back of her head, stopping her mid sentence.
"Oh, crap." It's Natsu, standing next to Skylar on the other side of an opened window. "Sorry, man, that was my bad."
Akito looks over at them, now openly glaring at Skylar, who doesn't react, choosing to smile and wave instead.
"We were trying to see if they were still as bouncy as they were last year," she explains. "Didn't mean for it to go out of the window."
Aly tilts her head, studying them. When she catches Skylar's wink, she quickly goes to Aktio's side.
"Are you okay?" she asks.
"Fine" is the curt reply she gets. "I guess I should be getting back to Shigure and the others anyway, lest they worry."
Akito looks towards the window one last time, but Skylar's gone. Natsu's the only one there, smiling apologetically.
Aly watches as Akito leaves, feeling all of her anxiety drop as she lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
By Gods, she's tired.
"Aly..." Yuki interrupts her thoughts, voice shaking, "About... about that..."
"It's okay," she says firmly.
But he shakes his head. "You don't understand, Aly. That person—"
"It's okay," Aly repeats, a hand on his shoulder. "No matter what happens, I'll be here."
He opens and closes his mouth like a fish, staring at her.
Her hand falls from his shoulder as she grabs his hand instead. "How about we go and have some fun?" she suggests, pulling him along.
His eyes widen. "What?"
"Classes are letting out early today, and I'm sure Skylar has some plan regarding those racquets Natsu was holding, so let's find out what it is."
"Wha—but, wait, Aly, what about—"
Suddenly, she stops, blinking. "Wait. 'Aly?'" she parrots, looking back at him.
His eyes widen, face dusting red, before he looks down. "Well, yes, about that as well..."
Quickly, she shakes her head, but then she realizes he can't see her. "No, I like it; I just wasn't expecting it," she clarifies.
"Oh, good, because I was thinking... Well, I was thinking that I would like to talk more informally."
"I'd like that as well," Aly says, smiling.
They don't say much afterwards, though they stay hand-in-hand the entire way to the courtyard. When they finally meet up, everyone's in a circle—even Haru and Momiji. The net's already set up, the racquets in a pile next to it, with a single birdie on top like a cherry.
"Alright! Aly and Yuki are finally here, so let's do rock, paper, scissors to choose who's on whose team~"
"Why do we gotta do that? Just choose who you want," Kyo argues.
"Be considerate, Kyo-Kyo," Natsu tuts. "Who would choose someone as clumsy as Skylar to be on their team?"
"Don't call me Kyo-Kyo!" Kyo growls at the same time Skylar says, "That's rude, Natsu!"
When everyone stops laughing at the two, Momiji gets the honor of counting to three. Everyone holds out their hands—some with rock, most with paper—and do a few rounds, getting the teams set-up.
"Why the hell do I gotta play again?" Kyo mutters.
"Quit your bitchin'," Uo states. "You're not the one who has to wear this stupid mask."
"No one's making you play!" he throws back at her.
"No one's making you play either!" she retorts. "You said yes to Skylar!"
"Ooo~" Natsu coos.
Kyo's face turns red. "It's not like that!"
While Skylar laughs at them, Yuki looks at Hana. "Now what happens? What are the rules?"
"What rules?" Hana's expression is blank. "Badminton doesn't need rules. Use the racquet to serve the ball, then use the racquet to hit the ball back. WHoever falls down first, loses."
"Clearly simplified," Haru compliments.
"Too clearly simplified," Kyo gripes.
"Let's start!" Tohru cheers.
Yuki blinks.
And Skylar and Aly smile at each other.
—x—
Everyone but Hana is sweating, breathing heavily as the sun starts setting.
"Time sure does fly when you're having fun," Tohru wheezes. "It's almost dark!"
"We'll see you tomorrow, Tohru," Hana says.
"How come electric girl is the only one who's not tired?" Kyo rasps.
"We're going home too," Haru joins, ignoring Kyo. "The car's been waiting for us for a while."
"Oh, you two are leaving already?" Aly wonders, standing up with a smile.
Skylar grins, waving. "Thanks for hanging out with us."
Haru returns it, his voice dropping. "I was worried about Yuki, you know, but it seems to be okay. Thanks, you two."
They share a look and smile at the same time. "Any time~"
After all, that's what they're there for~
—x—
"He said Skylar was a fool!" Shigure says, leaning on his leg as he looks at Hatori, who's sipping his tea tranquilly despite how worried he is. "In the car, he said she was hideous and poor Aly was mute!"
Hatori sets his cup onto the small saucer with a sigh. "That doesn't seem to be what's bothering you, though."
Shigure smirks, taking a draw from his cigarette. The smoke looks hauntingly beautiful as it floats into the cool, night air. "I wouldn't say it's bother me per se," he says, "More like an 'ah-ha' moment really."
Hatori raises a brow, waiting for Shigure to get to the point.
"The reason Skylar's a fool," he explains, still watching the wisps of smoke hanging in the air, "he said it was because she hadn't even known it was him when he stopped them, but I'm sure she and Aly both saw him when we visited the Main House right before New Years."
"You think she lied?" Hatori inquires, sounding more incredulous than anything.
"Not only because of that," Shigure defends. "As always, our Skylar has such impeccable timing, even her clumsiness seems perfectly coordinated." He takes another quick drag. "Just as Akito was interrogating Yuki, she somehow managed to hit him in the head. With a birdie. From a window over three yards away. Accidentally."
Hatori looks at him with wide eyes, panicked of what might befall the passionate blonde.
"Akito didn't seem suspicious, of course. Since he already had the notion that she was a fool because she didn't recognize him, the thought of her purposely hitting him never even crossed his mind." Shigure returns Hatori's look with a meaningful one of his own. "Leading him to believe she was nothing but a touchy fool was one of the most brilliant things she could've done."
His eyes darken. "Your theory may indeed be correct if that's the case."
"It seems that way," Shigure agrees. "I can't say I'm angry either. At this moment, I'm more impressed than anything."
"Because she hit him?"
"Oh, no, that's just a bonus." Shigure chuckles. "What impresses me more than anything is her strategy. Making herself seem carefree? Saying just enough to make everyone believe there was nothing before the surface? It's almost elegant."
"Elegant is one way to describe it, I suppose," Hatori says dryly. "There are certain things you don't have answers for, however. For one, how could she have known what Akito's personality would be to plan for it?"
Shigure shrugs. "Maybe she noticed how tense Yuki and Kyo were each time Akito's name was brought up."
"If you were right about one thing, you could be right about another," Hatori gives him reluctantly, "but it's not making sense. Why would she try so hard for a family she doesn't have to be in?"
This time, Shigure's smirk is devious. "Because," he says, putting out his cigarette, "she likes cats."
—x—
I know I promised this chapter a lot sooner than it came out, but I'm terribly sorry! I just couldn't get interested enough in this chapter after writing it halfway through. I basically went back and rewrote it before I was able to continue past a certain point. I wasn't sure how I wanted to do it, honestly. I wanted you all to see that Skylar has had a past of bullying, but I wanted it to be vague, kind of like the manga does for Yuki. Anyway, as a treat, a bonus part under this! Enjoy, cupcakes, and look forward to the next chapter~(:
Update (5/31/2021): Again, not much has changed~ Though, I will say that it flows better. Not great, but better~