681/Fox Hunt

Fox Hunt
Date of Scene:	07 December 2015
Location:	Infinity University - Classrooms
Synopsis:	Ayana wants pettings. Kunihiro Saito is somewhat less than cooperative. And a jerk. Definitely a jerk.
Cast of Characters:	Ayana, Kunzite

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Kunzite has posed:
Less than three weeks before the end of the term; it's an increasingly busy time for students and staff alike. That doesn't mean that students are in the halls yet, not when the staff is still in the process of trickling in. On the one hand, that means it's Much Too Early for certain parties. On the other hand, that means it's perhaps the best possible time for cornering a target with minimal interruption from clamoring teenagers or from other staff. Well. Not till the morning meeting before school starts, anyway.

And it also means that a particular teacher is easier to spot. He wouldn't have been that hard anyhow; even if he's dressed to blend in with the rest of the staff, he's too tall to quite pull that off, and the bone-white hair is recognizable from the far end of a hall. Meticulously early, precisely calm, he opens up the homeroom he's responsible for in case of any students having an inexplicable urge to rise even further predawn than usual. In some senses, it's a waste of his time; his target has already gone to ground. In other senses, that makes it still more important to make everything look completely normal. At least till the end of the -- well. Call it the end of the term.

Ayana has posed:
Early to bed, early to rise, makes the fox healthy, well-fed, and ... surprise! Ayana alights on the roof of Infinity's dorms. She peers down at the lecture hall and smiles to herself. "He's here," says the little stalker excitedly when she spies movement in the classroom she's been watching.

A leap across to the other rooftop brings Ayana closer to her goal. Down through the doorway, padding on feet so silent not even a mouse could hear them, the kitsune slips through the empty halls of the campus towards her destination. She's spent weeks trying to figure out the best way to go about this plan. Thanks to Takashi's recent reminder on taking what you want in life, and Hannah's reassurance that she's doing the right thing, she's decided today is the day to enact her plan.

Cautiously, cautiously, Ayana ensures no one is watching as she prowls through the halls until, at the last, she reaches the hallway where his classroom is located. Ayana glances down at her outfit, and then smoothes her hands over herself from head to toes. Everywhere her hands cross, she changes. Her twintails are pulled up into a fashionable design, with flowers in her hair. A pair of silver butterfly charms dangle from her ears, and another butterfly has been painted on her cheek, small and pretty. Her sheath dress and shorts are replaced by a much more beautiful blue ballgown, with butterfly wings in the back and ruffled lace at the hem. Another for her wrist, and several more threaded in. It's the very same gown she wore to the charity ball, but a few weeks ago.

Ayana inspects herself quietly, then smiles and finally takes the last two steps into his classroom. "Good morning, Saito-senpai," she says, stars in her eyes as she basks in the view of him.

Kunzite has posed:
There's someone at the door, and he didn't hear steps in the hall. Saito turns, collected and steady, ready for --

-- not the person he actually sees. The lift of one hand that began as the preparation of a defensive measure to deflect an unwelcome Crescent Beam becomes, in the absence of an actual attack, a hand put smoothly to his chest to accompany a bow more appropriate to that charity ball than to a schoolroom. "Ayana-san," he says gravely. "Forgive me; I wasn't aware that we would have the pleasure of a visit. How has Seishou sinned against you, then, that you deny them your company?"

Ayana has posed:
He thinks her visits are a pleasure? Maybe this will be easier than she thought! Ayana grins at the professor, slowly meandering closer towards him. "Oh, I don't attend there, anymore," she says pleasantly. "They always made me go to detention for stupid things like sleeping in class, or just being myself. It was dumb, and I don't need it."

When she reaches him, Ayana steps just within what might be considered appropriate and comfortable space, and tilts her chin back so she can peer up at the taller man. "I decided I wanted to come see you, today. So here I am."

Kunzite has posed:
"A bold move, on such short acquaintance," Saito replies. ... she's playing hooky from one school, to go to another school. In a ball gown. Less than three weeks before he has the option of letting the instructor he's substituting for recover from his 'medical condition,' and giving up the extra energy he's obtaining from the human sounds better every single day. "But the effort you've taken is not unappreciated. You do look lovely." If somewhat ... larval. The words are just as calm even with Ayana's new proximity, and lean toward courtesy rather than attraction; his body language projects a polite wall. Whether the young woman is going to pay any attention, or even notice, is an open question.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana leans up just a little onto tiptoe. "Well," she says to him with a smile, "I've been reminded, recently, that I should take what I want, and not ask permission. Forgiveness is easier to acquire, and not really important anyways." She smiles at him fondly, blinking her big blue eyes.

"Thank you," she says of his compliment. "You also look lovely. And I was thinking it would be very nice if you would pet my ears." Wait, her what?

Kunzite has posed:
"That's generally a situational question," Saito replies, as steady as if she were oh, say, a step back farther from him, not on tiptoe, and not batting eyelashes. Or in that dress and those butterflies. "There are certainly times when that's the best tactic. There are others when permission may be more important; for instance, when the thing that you want in the moment is less important to you than keeping the goodwill of the one you're asking for it." He's not particularly worried about the forgiveness part. This may be a minor failure in his suitability to help foster civic-mindedness in young individuals.

Her request makes his eyebrows twitch upward even before he reminds himself that while he knows about the ears, Saito probably shouldn't. "-- pardon, I don't think I quite heard that last."

Ayana has posed:
Ayana leans back jut a little as she studies him, then grins a little. "My ears," she says, then points up towards her chin with a finger. A pair of foxlike ears unfurl atop her head, from beneath her hair, as if they'd been hidden there all along. "I want you to pet them."

Kunzite has posed:
Those ears. Yes. This is, granted, not a situation Kunzite had expected to encounter, not based on either of his two previous run-ins with the foxgirl. On the other hand, this isn't a situation Saito would ever have expected to encounter, either; staring at her for a moment is a completely acceptable response.

Which is good, because there's a brief impulse in him to do it just to see whether it might somehow pull Zoisite out of hiding to hunt Ayana down and try to murder her out of jealousy.

Sanity, or whatever he uses for it, prevails. But mostly because that reminder Ayana said she'd gotten suggests that she's part of some larger grouping, and irritating those unnecessarily would involve a waste of energy at this juncture. "I. Ah. I won't tell you not to want that," Saito says, as he permits the teacher-mask to regain some sort of equilibrium. "But I'm ... reasonably certain that would be inappropriate behavior on my part, given your age."

Ayana has posed:
Ayana scowls just faintly at the teacher. "My age?" she replies, then rolls her eyes. "Age is an illusion. I could be three, or thirteen, or thirty for all you actually know. I merely appear thirteen because it is convenient. Do you want me to appear older? Would that allow you to pet my ears?"

Kunzite has posed:
"Convenient," Saito agrees, "and a reasonable way to tell the people around you that you're still acquiring familiarity with social conventions, and to be shown some lenience. Not, of course, that it's a necessity for you to abide by social conventions. But the skills can be useful. For instance, knowing that some kinds of physical contact are considered inappropriate for teachers on school grounds, and some kinds of behavior inappropriate for people who appear thirteen -- that would have made you able to make a much more effective approach." He's not answering the question about age. He's not thinking about why he's not answering, either.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana's ears fold back sharply, and the brilliant starry-eyed light in her eyes dims down to more of a smouldering ember. "So you're saying that you're not going to pet my ears," she says with false calm in her tone. "Because you think I look too young. I have fox ears, and you're worried abut how it might look because I look too young."

Ayana huffs irritatedly, then pokes Kunehiro Saito in the chest. "I put on this pretty dress for you. I did my makeup, I did my hair, I got all these butterflies. You're no better than Chiba-san. Here I am, all dressed up for you, and you ignore me." She pushes him gently and turns away. As she crosses her arms, the wings on her back flutter just a little. "You're a jerk, Saito-senpai."

Kunzite has posed:
Can't argue that last one. Out of all the questions on this test, she has his nature down one hundred percent. The poking and the gentle push are accepted without protest, all the same; the twitch at the corner of his mouth is concealed, not by anything he does, but by her turn away. "Should it matter to me that you have fox ears?" he answers. "I have no reason to believe they make you either less or more of a person. You want other people to do things for you. That means that you need to learn how to make them want to cooperate. If you've stopped attending Seishou, then you've cut yourself off from the easiest way to learn; but until you do learn, you'll keep having this problem. I wouldn't be doing you any favors by letting you think otherwise."

He lets himself pause for a moment, then adds, "But -- Chiba-san. You were upset about him at the dance. Were you a friend of his?"

Were?

Past tense?

Ayana has posed:
Ayana's ears perk up a little at the question, and she turns to glance over her shoulder, arching one black brow at Kunihiro Saito. "Maybe," she says, surly. "Maybe not. What's it matter to you?"

Kunzite has posed:
"I thought you might want to know," Saito replies. He's not smiling now. "He's ill. Badly enough to miss the rest of the term, most likely. Even with the focus he keeps on his grades, he's not expected to be in."

Ayana has posed:
Ayana's ears perk up fully, and she turns to regard him curiously. "Yeah?" she asks, then grins. "Good, I hope he got some awful disease from that ugly-faced girlfriend of his." She wrinkles her nose, then sticks her tongue out at Saito. "I'm going to figure you out," she notes to him. "But I should probably leave before your students get here." Pause. "Just one little pet?" she begs, batting those big blue eyes.

Kunzite has posed:
"And one would lead to two, and three, and ten? I'm still not about to reward misbehavior," Saito replies. "Not today, at least. Try again later." ... but that little curve at the corner of his mouth has shown itself again. And this time, she can see it.

Ayana has posed:
Ayana glares at Saito for a long, long moment, then hmphs again and turns to flounce away. With every step, the outfit melts, replaced instead by the uniform of an Infinity middle schooler. "I'll be back," she promises as she disappears into the hallway, leaving behind only a small butterfly pin on the eraser holder near his blackboard.