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Ace Wo Nerae. Pre-series, because I'm obsessed with the idea of Reika/Chiba. Her father does not approve. 354 Words. Prompt: ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
31_days, 3 September 2005.
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Being as yet but a girl
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When they step through the door together, her father's face falls. Reika unlaces her fingers from Chiba's and lets his hand fall away. The silence is brittle but Chiba glances between father and daughter and knows neither one of them is going to surrender the first words of explanation for themselves.
"I'm Chiba Takashi, sir," he says, bowing as low as he can possibly go in front of Mr Ryuzaki without looking ridiculous. He senses something more than just regular disapproval. This is not a jealous father. This is not an only parent torn at seeing his daughter with her first real boyfriend, wondering if he is being somewhat replaced.
"Nice to meet you," Mr Ryuzaki replies eventually, stiff though it is. He stands very straight and tall, reminding Chiba of the ornaments surrounding them in the great hallway. Everything in its place, perfectly positioned. And amongst it all he has brought Reika home with her jacket unbuttoned and her curly hair in disarray, her bow slipping out unknowingly.
"Perhaps I had better be going," Chiba says eventually as the silences stretches into an eternity. "I mean, I do have to be home at a reasonable time after all."
"Very responsible of you," Mr Ryuzaki says, but he is looking at Reika the entire time he speaks. She looks back without blinking, a death stare.
"I'll see you out," she says, and it unnerves Chiba, the way he is the subject of their battle of wills, and even moreso the way nobody will look at him when they are speaking to him. At the door he expects Reika to stop and say goodnight, but she follows him outside and pulls the door almost shut behind them, almost.
She looks up into his face and makes the first move. The kiss is chaste, Chiba worrying in the back of his mind that her father is only inches away, behind the door, listening out for a sign. Reika pulls away before he is ready. She smiles, but it's a sad sort of smile
"Goodnight," she says softly, and to Chiba it sounds more like goodbye.
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31_days, 3 September 2005.-
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When they step through the door together, her father's face falls. Reika unlaces her fingers from Chiba's and lets his hand fall away. The silence is brittle but Chiba glances between father and daughter and knows neither one of them is going to surrender the first words of explanation for themselves.
"I'm Chiba Takashi, sir," he says, bowing as low as he can possibly go in front of Mr Ryuzaki without looking ridiculous. He senses something more than just regular disapproval. This is not a jealous father. This is not an only parent torn at seeing his daughter with her first real boyfriend, wondering if he is being somewhat replaced.
"Nice to meet you," Mr Ryuzaki replies eventually, stiff though it is. He stands very straight and tall, reminding Chiba of the ornaments surrounding them in the great hallway. Everything in its place, perfectly positioned. And amongst it all he has brought Reika home with her jacket unbuttoned and her curly hair in disarray, her bow slipping out unknowingly.
"Perhaps I had better be going," Chiba says eventually as the silences stretches into an eternity. "I mean, I do have to be home at a reasonable time after all."
"Very responsible of you," Mr Ryuzaki says, but he is looking at Reika the entire time he speaks. She looks back without blinking, a death stare.
"I'll see you out," she says, and it unnerves Chiba, the way he is the subject of their battle of wills, and even moreso the way nobody will look at him when they are speaking to him. At the door he expects Reika to stop and say goodnight, but she follows him outside and pulls the door almost shut behind them, almost.
She looks up into his face and makes the first move. The kiss is chaste, Chiba worrying in the back of his mind that her father is only inches away, behind the door, listening out for a sign. Reika pulls away before he is ready. She smiles, but it's a sad sort of smile
"Goodnight," she says softly, and to Chiba it sounds more like goodbye.
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