in the shade of trees ; n. chuuya

.dix-sept

A comfortable silence ensues as they both sit on the curb, watching a car slowly drive by- the driver a little high. There isn't a breeze; the cold drowns out everything else. 

"You can't sleep, can you?" Ineko's voice is unusually subdued. Her breath frosts in the air. 

"Can you?" His reply is terse and she swivels around to glance at him, finally noticing the deep bags under his sleepless eyes. His breath smells faintly of wine, and his eyes are a little bloodshot. 

"I did," she replies but doesn't say more. The swirling feeling is only getting worse. She's starting to get a headache with all of the information crammed into her head. She doesn't know what to do with it either, and she can't exactly ask Boss because this is supposed to be her proving her own worth. 

"Then why are you here?" 

"I can't get rid of this feeling," she says, clutching her jacket, her fingers tightening. 

"What feeling?" 

"That something seriously bad is going to happen." 

Chuuya looks at her, about to laugh it off, but he sees the seriousness in her eyes. 

"Oh." There's an awkward silence. 

"Chibi?"

"Oi, don't call me that," he says tiredly but he knows she pays no heed. 

"What exactly do you think of me?" 

He suddenly sits up in alarm. "Why do you care?" 

"Because even though I hate you, I'm still your subordinate, right? And I remember the angelic shit telling me to respect higher ups or something." Ineko looks away, her cheeks filling in red, though she convinces herself that it's just the cold. Chuuya's cheeks turn pink too, but he scowls it off. 

"Well first, you're annoying, and you have no idea what the word 'listen' means. Then you run off, disobeying any order, and do whatever you want, and pretty much ruin every mission you're set on." He smirks at her distaste. "Then, seadog, what do you think of me?" 

"Well first," she mocks, "you're the worst senpai possible, and you have no idea how to respect other people's heritages and their cultures." She stops, then chuckles, "even though I can't say anything about respect." She pauses and mockingly snickers at his distaste too. "But, I'm jealous," she admits. Chuuya's eyes widen for a bit before narrowing. 

"Why would you be jealous of me?" 

"Your ability- and this is probably the sleep talking- is..." she squints her eyes, trying to spit out the word 'amazing', but she settles for, "above average." Chuuya looks offended for a moment, but then smirks. "And, you're a Port Mafia executive. You must have it so nice, being able to command so many people, and being so powerful." 

Chuuya scoffs. "You're jealous of me because I'm an executive?" He snaps, "Do you even know how many assassination attempts have occurred simply because I am a higher up? Do you know how many sleepless nights I have had because of writing reports of confirmed deaths? Do you even understand the concept of 'grief' whenever one of my subordinates die because I ordered them to take action?" Ineko looks taken aback as his blue eyes blaze. "Not everyone is like you, seadog. Not everyone is immune to death like you are."