Queen to Pawn

The game of chess. There are two team, one black and one white. The pawn always moves first. Then, the other pieces follow. A few get captured as the game progresses. The object is to capture the king from either side. The most powerful piece in chess is the queen. She can move wherever she wants and as far as she wants. But sometimes, the queen has to be sacrificed to protect her king.

December 1st, 2009.

Kazue got the mail at Wisteria House. Nothing looked interesting so far. Bill, bill, bill, junk mail, bill, bill, but then something else caught her attention. Hm? Kazue picked up a rose-scented white envelope. She looked at it front and back. No return address, but this letter was addressed to Tsuzuki. The demon rolled her eyes.

That old mailman needs to get some glasses, she thought. Still, the demon was a bit curious. Kazue took a quick look around the yard. Won't hurt to look. She used her nails to tear open the letter. The demon quickly read to herself. Her lips curved into a smirk.

Oh, Anna's gonna want to read this! Kazue flew all the way down to Kimoto Manor.

-Anna-

I had just gotten up for the day when I heard a tap on the kitchen window. I looked up from the sink and saw Kazue grinning at me. She pointed at me to let her in. Puzzled, I unlatched the window.

"Uh� there is a front door, you know," I said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Kazue brushed off. "There are more pressing matters at the moment."

"More pressing matters?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said. Kazue crawled through the window into the kitchen. She handed me an open envelope. I gave her a stern look.

"You went through our mail?" I asked. "You could get arrested, you know?"

"Not after you read what was written to your boy toy," Kazue said boldly. "You'll be glad I opened it." I took the letter and read it for myself. I turned to see her waiting for my reaction.

"Well?" she asked. I didn't speak at first. Kazue didn't wait for me to.

"What are you going to do?" she asked. I looked up at her with a grin on my face.

"I'm going to handle it!" I said. That peaked Kazue's interest as she grinned at me.

"Ooo and how will you do that?" she asked.

"By whatever means it takes," I said.

"I like the sound of that," Kazue said. "But how exactly?" I still grinned at her.

�I'll think of something," I said.

"In other words, you don't know?" she asked me. I clenched my teeth as I tried to keep myself grinning.

"Please shut it," I mumbled to her. My demon friend put up her hands.

"Okay. Okay," she said. I exhaled.

"Thank you for that," I mumbled.

-------

The rest of the day went without incident. Rihoko and Yoko-chan went to visit some friends in Toshiba for the evening. I don't know where Seita went. He probably went to hang out with that Jules girl. I'll have to deal with that later. Right now, I have a bigger problem to deal with.

Asato-kun and I stayed and had take-out Chinese for dinner. He looked at me with those sweet little puppy eyes of his.

"We didn't have to pick up food," Asato-kun told me. "I could have just cooked you something." I kindly smiled and shook my head.

"It's okay," I lied. "I don't mind it." In truth, my love is a shit cook. I haven't had any myself, but I have heard the stories. Frankly, I'm not brave enough to take that chance. I'm not any good either. I didn't really learn how to cook for myself. I just do take-out and microwave meals. Yeah, we're pathetic. As long as we order take-out and TV dinners, we will survive.

"No," Asato-kun insisted. "Next time, I will cook dinner for you!" I tried to keep smiling.

"Oh, you don't have to!" I said.

"No," he kept pressing. "I want to!" Sensing that he won't back down from this idea with whatever protest I could come up with, I force myself to keep smiling.

"Okay�" I said as I hid my discomfort. Asato-kun lowered his chopsticks.

"Ah! Now I want dessert," he said. I gave him a coy look.

"Well, I'll see what we have in the fridge," I said in a matching tone. But when I rose to go into the kitchen, I felt his hand close around my wrist. I turned to see my love grinning at me like a hungry cat. He shook his head at me.

"You don't need to do that," Asato-kun said in a low voice. I blinked at him.

"But you said you wanted dessert," I said.

"Yeah," he said. "I'm looking right at it." Before I could utter another word, Asato-kun playfully nudged me down to the floor and began kissing my neck.

"Okay," I said. A soft moan escaped from my lips. His tongue met with my collarbone. My eyes happened to wander over the microwave clock. 10:00 already? I remembered the appointment that I had from the letter tonight. I pushed Asato-kun off of me as he was going down to my bust. He looked up at me confused.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"There is something I have do tonight," I said.

"Aw, can't it wait until tomorrow?" Asato-kun whimpered at me. I shook my head at him.

"I'm sorry," I murmured. "I will make it up to you tomorrow night." Asato-kun whimpered at me.

"You promise?" he asked. I gently patted him on the head.

"I promise," I said. I kissed him on the forehead as if to give him my word. I slid out from under him and walked out of the kitchen.

-------

-Outside-

Muraki walked out to Tokyo gardens close to midnight. He had a date tonight. A date with a Shinigami all dressed in black with violet eyes. He sent him that the letter at Kimoto Manor since Tsuzuki seemed to frequent there lately. Muraki would not have this. Thus this date tonight. The demented doctor came by the winter statue display right on time. He walked over to the stairs and his face dropped in disappointment at what he saw before him.

-Anna-

I sat before the doctor on the stairs dressed in black. I looked at him with a smirk on my face.

"What's the matter?" I asked. "Not who you were expecting?" I saw the burn in his heartless eyes. He hates me. I can tell. He hates me because I will marry the one person he wants. That's why he sent the letter.

"Where is Tsuzuki-san?" Muraki asked me. I gave him a cold smile.

"He's back at my house," I said. "Safe from you." I reached into my coat and drew out the letter he sent my lover. "It's funny," I went on. "He never did get this letter. It made a little detour to me." I ripped it to shreds and threw it at his feet. "You know," I said. "I fucking hate roses. They have no real meaning to me anymore, you know? Everyone uses them for everything. How boring." The heat built up all over his face.

"You bitch!" he hissed. I held up my hand to him.

"Now, now," I said. "I don't want a fight. I just want to talk." He had didn't show any emotion on his face what so ever. Not in a talking mood, huh? Oh well, I would just have to go on whether he wanted to or not.

"Are you familiar with the game of chess, doctor?" I asked.

"What exactly are you getting at Kimoto-san?" he asked.

"Humor me by answering the question," I said with my cocky tone in check.

"Yes," he replied.

"Good," I said. "So I don't have to explain the basics of the game to you."

"What exactly are you getting at, Kimoto-san?" he asked again.

"Shhh!" I cut in. "I will get to that, bear with me here." I had to sell this in a punch as proof that I could protect my Asato-kun when the need rose for it. I felt nervous, but I did my best to bury behind a stoic face. I pushed back my hair from my eyes.

"Each side in chess has a queen," I went on. "Do you know the objective of the queen in the game?"

"To protect the king," Muraki answered through clenched teeth.

"That's right," I said. I twirled my hair between my fingers. "That job falls to all of the other pieces in chess, am I right?"

"I still don't see the point, Kimoto-san," Muraki replied. That gentleman tone is starting to chip away. I think he wants to kill me. Yeah, that's it. Show me the real you, you bastard.

"Am I right?" I asked again.

"Yes, yes," he said.

"Very good," I replied. "You see, all of Asato's friends are like chess pieces. We all share one goal: to protect him from you."

"So you say," Muraki replied, calming down again. "And what purpose do you serve to him?"

"I am his queen," I said without a thought. I paused for a long moment. Muraki studied my face.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Oh my!" I said in a fake sweet voice. "You don't look so well!"

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"You look so pale and sweaty," I went on. "I really think you need to lie down."

"No, I don't," Muraki said. "You must be losing your�" Suddenly, the doctor stopped mid-sentence. He gasped aloud in pain as he grabbed his chest, panting. He sank to his knees in a cold sweat. I watched with no emotion on my face through heavy concentration. I warned him.

What the hell is this?!

The best way to make you listen, I replied.

But how are� Oh, I see. 

I fought to keep control as I heard him snicker in my mind. What?

You're using your powers, aren't you?

So what if I am?

But you can't use your powers without killing yourself as well!

This shocked me to my core. How did he know this? The only people that know this are the demons, Shinigami, and I. There had to be a leak somewhere. But, I couldn't worry about that now. I couldn't show him any cracks in the emotion shield I put up.

That may be, but I will at least die knowing my Asato is safe from you!

No.

Oh yes. I drove up his pain higher. He gasped as he coughed up blood. I couldn't help but to smirk at such a pitiful sight before me. So beautiful! This is almost better than when Asato-kun and I make love. Almost. But, I have to end this now or I will, as Muraki-sensei stated, kill myself as well. Time to wrap it up.

Stay away from my husband! Promise that you will!

Never!

Say it! I pushed another painful spark through his body.

Okay! I will never bother Tsuzuki-san again! Please stop! Stop!

I drew back the spell. Muraki crumbled to the ground, trying to catch his breath. I stood over him, shaking my head. Right now, he's not the mythical monster that Asato-kun and Hisoka have described to me. No, the man crumpled before me is just a sad, pathetic addict chasing a fix that he can never have. It's really sad.

"Good night, doctor," I said as I walked away. I have done it. I have protected the man I love on my own. Not without a price, however.

-------

The next morning, I sat in the kitchen with a crushing migraine. Maybe I shouldn't have overdone it last night. No, that was perfect. I got my point across loud and clear, didn't I?

"Anna-chan?" I heard someone ask me. "What happened?" I glanced up to see a worried Asato-kun looking at me. I sighed and waved him off.

"Asato-kun, please," I whimpered. "Stop shouting. My head hurts." It didn't take him long to figure out what I had done.

"You used your powers again, didn't you?" he asked. "Didn't you?" No use in hiding it.

"Fine, yes," I replied.

"Why?" he yelped.

"I'll explain later. Can you please get me some aspirin?" I brushed off. My lover gave me a quick nod.

"Right," Asato-kun said. He dashed away to the bathroom. I watched him do so with a nasty little doubt in my mind. What I did to Muraki last night was just a slap on the wrist. He is an addict and addicts just don't quit that easily. He'll come back after Asato-kun until he has him. I will just have to be ready to fight back out of love.

Checkmate