Marionette ¦¦ Chishiya Shuntarou x OC

Eight of Diamonds - Part One

Since her game with Niragi, Kurenai's reputation had been established in the Beach. Her history in Borderland spread like wildfire, the fact that she participated in a game almost every night since her arrival and cleared high level difficulty Hearts and Diamonds games. It was a reputation Kurenai could care less about, however. It irritated her, actually.

Members at the Beach would come up to her one after another, asking for her to join their group for the night though she declined each and every one of them. She had no obligations to participate in games with them, especially when she had plenty of days left on her visa. There was no guarantee the type of game they would get, and no guarantee that she would win for them. Most importantly, however, she had no interest in clearing games for others.

There was one person she could not deny, however.

Hatter.

Rejecting him would equate to betraying him, and that would mean death for her. Which was why since her arrival at the Beach, she had played three games with him to renew his visa. Fortunately, they had been low level games so far.

"What's on your mind?" Chishiya asked.

Despite straddling him and having him inside her, Kurenai had not moved for the past five minutes. Chishiya wanted to see how long it would take for her to come back, but he was getting a little tired of waiting. She was always the more passionate of the two, when it came to their activities in bed, but tonight she had been rather passive.

"Just that my life is full of assholes," she sighed, wrapping her arms around his neck. "My father, Hatter, Niragi..." She pressed her forehead against his and grinned. "You."

"Thank you for including me."

"I'm sick and tired, Shuntarou...as much as I used to enjoy these games, they are getting tedious. Especially with Hatter. He does nothing while I risk my life, and he takes my card. This is all your fault."

"How is it my fault?"

"You told me to come here."

"You didn't have to."

"And you didn't have to be so damn sexy that I couldn't resist."

As she leaned in for a kiss, Chishiya stopped her with two fingers on her lips instead. The frown on her face was meant to be intimidating, but he could never find her scary. Not after he had seen her cry, and seen her moan.

"What if I told you there was a way to get away from this place?"

--

"With this, we are one step closer to our goals."

Another card was crossed off the wall.

Compared to when she first arrived, the wall had a lot more crosses. Many of these were the results of the executive members' efforts, a handful Kurenai's. She could not help the glare in her eyes as she looked at Hatter, only snapping out of it when Chishiya bumped her with his elbow.

"Now, who among you needs to renew your visa?" Hatter asked, looking around the room.

Several members raised their hands, including Chishiya and An.

"Miss Chuya," Hatter called out, looking at her with a smile that she knew all too well. "I take it that you wouldn't mind if you participate in a game with An, would you?"

"Of course not," Kurenai replied, with a smile just as fake on her face.

WELCOME

GAME - CHESS

ENTRY NUMBER - SIXTEEN

PRIZES - NONE

ENTRY PERIOD IS OVER WHEN ALL SIXTEEN PLAYERS ARE GATHERED

An and Kurenai looked at each other. Including themselves, there were five Beach members. They had to wait for another eleven members before they could start the game. This was the biggest group Kurenai had to be in, and she was feeling a little uneasy.

Although they generally had no idea what the game would be until they were actively playing, the game title was a clue to what they could expect.

Kurenai knew nothing about chess.

It was a common game, chess. A game that anyone and everyone could play, and most people did play a little here and there growing up. Kurenai, however, never touched the game. They had chess sets back at home, expensive ones, but they were only for her father and his guests. She did not even know the rules, and could name perhaps two pieces.

Over the next hour or so, players were slowly gathering.

"This doesn't make sense," An said. "It says entry number sixteen, and the game is chess. I take it that we're the chess pieces. But chess has two sides, and sixteen pieces on each side. There should be 32 players."

"Maybe there's another team forming," Kurenai said, looking around the location.

They were at a shopping mall, but they could not see any other participants beside themselves.

Sixteen players were eventually gathered and they entered the venue together. Signs were pointing them the way and they found themselves on the rooftop that was transformed for the game.

The floor in the middle was replaced with glass, checkered like a chessboard. Coming from the other side was another sixteen-player group. So they were playing chess after all.

Eight of Diamonds

GAME - CHESS

RULES

- PLAYERS WILL CHOOSE A ROLE RANDOMLY

- ONCE CHOSEN, PLEASE STAND ON THE CORRESPONDING SPACE.

- WHITE SIDE WILL BE ASSIGNED TO GROUP THAT ARRIVED FIRST

- STANDARD CHESS RULES APPLY

- WHEN A PLAYER IS 'CAPTURED', THE PLAYER WILL BE DROPPED

- WHEN CHECKMATE OCCURS, GAME OVER FOR ALL PLAYERS ON LOSING TEAM

TIME LIMIT

- NONE

GAME OVER CONDITIONS

- PLAYER IS 'CAPTURED'

- DISREGARDING THE RULES

- CHECKMATE OCCURS

GAME CLEAR CONDITION

- CHECKMATE OPPOSING TEAM

PLAYERS MAY BEGIN PICKING ROLES