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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE:
Are you trying to flirt with me, Kitagawa?
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

               There was an uncomfortable silence in the office air. The two of them sat behind their respective desks, filling in paperwork, occasionally sighing just for the sake of it. They hadn't spoke a word since they returned from the arms deal the day before. The car journey had been awkward to say the least—especially for poor Hirotsu, who had no clue what had occurred between them. He assumed it was one of their arguments. But it was far worse. They had kissed and for a moment, the world has stopped. Every single ounce of tension between them had been put into that shared kiss, a mixture of lust, hate and passion. It had made them lose their minds.

                Aki glanced up, chewing on the bottom of her pen. Her eyes found Chuuya, his nose deep in his paperwork. Look at me, dammit, fucking look at me. She wasn't mad—not really, at least, not at him. What had happened in that pool had made her entire body feel like it was on fire. She had got so lost in it that she had completely forgot herself. The moment Chuuya spotted those scars, it all came crashing down for her. The insecurities she tried so hard to hide came flooding out of her—pouring like a waterfall. She was supposed to be perfect, something crafted by the gods themselves. She wasn't supposed to have flaws and Chuuya wasn't supposed to see them. But he had.

                 Chuuya could feel her amber eyes burning holes into his skull. Don't look at her. Don't you dare look at her. He had been so conflicted since the kiss they'd shared in the pool. It was supposed to be a release, a way to get how he felt about her out of his system. But the moment he saw those scars on her stomach, he'd had the urge to kiss every single of them. Something so soft and intimate was against his nature—especially when it came to Aki. She was the woman who's throat he wanted to wrap his fingers around and squeeze until she couldn't breathe, so why had he wanted to ease some of her pain? Why did he want to kiss those scars over and over again until she understood just how beautiful she was? It made his stomach flutter. God, he felt sick.

                Aki began clicking the end of her pain. In and out. In and out. In and out. Chuuya felt his brows knit together in annoyance. Couldn't she just leave him be? It was bad enough he could literally smell her from across the room, but she just had to do everything to get his attention on her? He wanted to look at her. Fuck, he really wanted to look at her. He'd only caught a glimpse of her when she walked through the door before he averted his eyes. And dammit, did she look good. Knee high boots, short skirt, red blouse, hair tied into two low pigtails. She looked absolutely divine. But he couldn't bring himself to look at her, because if he did, he wouldn't be able to look away. And all he would think about was the moment they shared in the pool—about how he could still feel her lips on his, her hands tugging and pulling at his hair. Shit.

                 Aki sighed heavily, turning her gaze downwards. She only had a few more pages worth of her report to write up—if she'd just focus, she could be out of the office within a half an hour. But it was difficult, what with her mind lingering on how Chuuya's hands had had felt gripping her hips, his mouth all over her. She sat up a little straighter, crossing her legs, squeezing them ever so slightly. This is so fucking annoying. She wanted to argue with him, exchange verbal blows—literally anything. The silence was eating her alive.

                    "Can you stop that?" Thank god. Chuuya had caved first, being the one to use his voice for the first time in four hours. He hadn't even meant to speak, the words had simply slipped out against his own will, being far too used to arguing with the black-haired beauty. But it was exactly what Aki wanted—it made her relieved.

                   "Stop what?" She innocently asked.

                  "The sighing—it's the twelfth time you've done it. It's getting on my nerves." Oh, this was so much easier than silence, Chuuya thought to himself.

                   Aki scoffed, sticking her nose in the air, "Keeping count, are we?" She teased him, raising a brow.

                   "It's hard not to—you seriously have a compulsive sighing problem. You should really go to the doctors or something." He said with a shrug, not bothering to look at her as he wrote and spoke at the same time. Aki was incapable of such a thing, if she were to pick up her pen, she would start scribbling down the words that left her lips instead of what was in her brain.

                    "Maybe you should just shut up or something." Don't.

                    "Maybe I will." I don't want to.

                  Aki scoffed, "Like you would, you like the sound of your own voice far too much, Nakahara." She fired across at him. The use of his last name irked him and he knew she was doing it on purpose. That night in the pool, she'd called him by his name and it had made his heart drop in his chest. There was a time where Chuuya had thought she was too lazy to remember his name, hence why she always called him names or his last name. But no, she knew it, and she had spoken it aloud for a second time—and it had sounded like a fucking melody coming from her lips.

                     "And you don't? Please, Kitagawa. You love the sound of your own voice more than anyone I know." Maybe not anyone. Chuuya himself quite liked the sound of her voice—it was raspy, throaty, always sounding flirtatious. But there were times, like when she had spoken his name, where she sounded girlish. Her voice would soften, like butter melting and it would make Chuuya lose his damn mind

                    Aki laughed at him, a bitter look on we face. He'd also deliberately called her by her last name as if he hadn't called her by her first name in the pool, "Says the one who literally won't shut up." Despite her words, she didn't want him to stop talking. She wanted to go back and forth with him—insulting one another until it broke them down. She'd do it forever if it meant she could listen to him talk.

                    Chuuya put a hand to his face, letting out a groan, "You're seriously a pain in my ass, you know that, right?" He grumbled, still keeping his eyes off of her, refusing to give her what she wanted.

                    Aki gave him a sour smile, "It's my greatest accomplishment knowing that I can get under your skin this well." She cooed at him, straightening out her back, bringing a hand up to twirl her hair around her finger.

                   "You don't get under my skin." Chuuya made the mistake of looking at her. He had been glaring, but the moment his eyes landed on her, his features softened. She wasn't doing anything particularly remarkable—just sitting there and looking pretty, so very fucking pretty.

                  Aki felt a shiver roll down her spine. He was looking at her. He was finally looking at her. His ice cold stare was locked on her face, staring intently through dark lashes. Fuck, his eyes are so pretty. They were a colour of blue Aki could never quite describe—so bright, so colourful. There was a coldness behind them, but most of the time, they shimmered mischievously. They would narrow when he spoke, holding so much emotion, so much life. His eyes were like drowning in a pool of water and never wanting to resurface.

                  "You sure about that?" Aki challenged, feeling all the more revved up now that he was finally looking at her again. She sat forward, placing her elbows on the desk before placing her chin against her clasped hands. "Because all the evidence I've gathered proves otherwise." She added, tilting her head ever so slightly, amber eyes glowing, sucking him in.

                   Chuuya copied her move, though he put his chin in the palm of his hand, "Are you trying to flirt with me, Kitagawa? Because these mixed signals you're giving are really getting on my nerves." Aki's brows rose upwards, feeling a certain amount of amusement in her stomach.

                    "My mixed signals?" She repeated, earning a nod on Chuuya's behalf. She laughed. "Mines are nowhere near as bad as yours, Mr Executive. You boast about hating me, you make it your entire fucking personally and then—" her words caught in her throat, stopping her from saying what she truly wanted to say.

                   Chuuya rose his head, folding his arms at his chest, "And then?" He prompted. He desperately wanted to know the end of that sentence—he had to know, even if it meant having a conversation neither of them were ready for yet.

                    "You say you hate me—that you despise me," Aki went on, working up the courage to speak the words she wanted to say. She inhaled slowly. "And then you kiss me the way you did in that pool." Silence washed over them. Neither of them dared to speak another word. She was right—and he knew it. He glamourised his hatred for her, used it as a weapon, but in the end, when he had kissed her, he kissed her in a way he never had kissed another woman. The way he kissed her was for her and her only—he would never be able to touch another woman the way he had her. Never.

                     Aki narrowed her eyes, "What's the matter, Nakahara? Suddenly not such a fan of your own voice anymore?" She called out his silence. Silent from the mouth he might have been, but his brain was on overdrive, breaking and malfunctioning.

                   "You're right," He said after a long moment of not saying anything at all. Aki's lips parted. "I've never kissed anyone the way I kissed you that night—and I can't explain it. I can't tell you why I kissed you like that, all I know is that I couldn't give you anything less. But you weren't exactly innocent either—you kissed me like you were starving and I was a five course meal." He flipped the tables, turning it on her, mostly because he needed the heat off of him—and because he wanted to know why she had kissed him back so feverishly. He needed to know.

                    Aki swallowed hard, "What can I say—when I do something I give it my all."

                   "Bullshit," Chuuya called her out, making her body tense. "You've been wanting to kiss me. Ever since the first time you came onto me. I wasn't sure at first if it was all just an act, if you were just doing it to mess with me. But after the other night, I know the truth now—you wanted it just as badly as I did." Aki could feel her breathing growing heavier, her eyes narrowing.

                    "And? What if I did? What's the big deal, huh?" She hissed. "Last time I checked, it wasn't illegal to want to kiss someone." She said with a shrug, trying to play it off nonchalantly, but her heart was about to burst from her chest. Perhaps she should never have started those advances on him. At first, it had been to mess him, but over time she began to find she wanted it too. And now she was seriously regretting ever opening her flirty, stupid mouth.

                    "You're right, but it is strictly forbidden in the Port Mafia." He reminded her. Aki didn't care much for that rule—she hadn't been there long enough for the organisation to be her entire being, but Chuuya had. Going against rules and regulations was something he despised—he often chastised Akutagawa for it. But he was just as bad now, because he couldn't get enough of the Seismic Manipulator, even though it was strictly against the rules.

                   Aki shrugged, "I don't really care about that—"

                   "I do," Chuuya spoke over her, his eyes shining into hers. "I'm a Port Mafia Executive. I have to show a good example. I can't just go around kissing you whenever I feel like—" He froze. Dammit. Couldn't the words just stop pouring from his mouth? Just once?

                  Aki arched a brow, "So, you admit it. You've wanted to kiss me long before the pool?" She felt victorious. Finally, he had admitted that it wasn't one-sided, that she wasn't the only one that wanted it. He wanted her just as badly as she wanted him.

                   Chuuya gritted his teeth together, "You felt my heartbeat that night in the casino. You already knew that I did," He reminded her, his eyes locked on hers. "My question is: you've been instigating this from the beginning, so why did you stop?" He needed to know. Had it not been what she wanted after all? It was driving him mad. She had been all over him—and then she was putting as much distance as possible between them.

                  Aki stared at him.

                 She hadn't been expecting that. She didn't know what to say. She couldn't tell him the truth, couldn't admit that when he saw those scars she felt like a scared, insecure little girl. If she confessed such a thing, she would lose the years worth of power she had built up—it would all come crumbling down. She couldn't allow it. But if she made up a lie, and told him that the kiss simply hadn't been good enough, then what? Surely, he would never kiss her again. And that felt like a fate worth than death.

                   Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. An Angel. It has to be an Angel, she thought to herself in relief. The door creaked open and Akutagawa stepped in. Close enough, "Afternoon." He greeted, giving them both nods which they returned, slightly flushed from their previous conversation, though trying to hide it by returning to their paperwork.

                    The man's silver gaze drifted to Aki, "Gin's been looking all over for you, she said that it's—" He coughed into the palm of his hand, momentarily closing his eyes as if he were in pain. He straightened himself out. "She said something about... girls night?" It seemed it bothered him to say the words aloud—as if it were too trivial for him. He had been surprised when his younger sister told him that she was planning on having a girls night with Aki and Higuchi. Gin was typically shy and kept to herself, but it seemed that since Aki had joined the Port Mafia, she had grown quite comfortable with the women. They were a trio now, often together when they weren't working, spending time doing absolutely everything and nothing at the same time.

                 "Oh, shit," Aki said as she suddenly remembered they were supposed to go shopping to get snacks for their girls night. She stacked up her finished paperwork in a pile, leaving the ones she hadn't completed in a mess on her desk. "Thanks, Akutagawa. Can you tell Gin I'll meet her in the lounge?" She asked him, giving a big smile whilst Chuuya watched her every movement. He was beyond frustrated with himself, with Aki—with Akutagawa. Before the silver-eyed man had knocked on the door, he was close to getting an answer to his question. And now, he wasn't any of the wiser.

                   Akutagawa let out a sigh. He didn't plan on being the messenger for the female Port Mafia members—though, he quickly accepted his fate. He was an older brother to a girl after all, it was the least he could do, "Of course." He nodded, forever the most courteous person in the room before bidding them goodbye and slipping out of the room.l quickly. He himself could feel the tension in the air—he could cut through it with his Rashomon it was so thick.

                   Aki turned to Chuuya, grinning at him in victory, "Sorry, Nakahara, but it seems that I have a previous engagement," She said in a sing-song voice, making him narrow his eyes at her. She headed for the door, shooting him one last smug smirk, "Buh-bye!"

AUTHORS NOTE.

Aki is perhaps, my favourite character i've ever wrote. i just love writing about how her mind works because she's so complex?? girls out here with a god complex whilst also being massively insecure. it's so interesting to write!!

— taylor xx