Disclaimer: I do not own Chihayafuru but please.

To most people who knew her, Ayase Chihaya wasn't all that much.

Beauty in vain. Airhead. Weirdo. That model's little sister. Those were her identifiers for the last few years but she didn't mind. As sharp as her hearing goes, she was able to block out all the things she found no interest in. People assumed that that was all she was. They just assumed they knew her, knew what she did, knew what she didn't do. She could prove them all wrong but that would require effort and she didn't believe in wasting energy in the things she has no interest in.

To most people who actually spent time with her, Ayase Chihaya was more than what people assumed.

She was childish, blunt but passionate. She was determined although she could only focus on one thing at a time. She was pure, honest, and transparent. People around her appreciated that. In a world where confusion and deceit were unavoidable, where mind games are guaranteed, it was refreshing to look at someone and know exactly how she felt and what she was thinking. There was no need to guess and people found comfort in that, in her. There she was a passionate karuta freak, their passionate karuta freak.

To Ayase Chihaya, it was uninteresting what most people thought about her. For her, what mattered was how she was thought of by the people who she cared for: her family, her karuta team, the members of the Shiranami Society, and Wataya Arata.

She knew her family saw her as second best to her sister Chitose who has achieved so much with her beauty and it was okay. It was painfully obvious with all the volumes of achievements Chitose had, neatly stored by their father in his scrapbooks. If they supported her playing karuta, she was okay.

Her karuta team says she had a greedy karuta obsession and that was all well and good. It did hold some good. Ever since she learned how to play, she had dedicated all her time to karuta and in karuta, they were bound, they dreamt, they were united. They adored her for her fire and igniting the fire within them. She was their captain.

To the members of the Shiranami Society, she was a young beautiful girl who had so much potential for karuta. They were fond of her because she truly loved karuta. She excited them thinking of the places she would go.

She knew all these things because people were honest with her too but not everything they assumed was true. She always thought there were keywords to describe her accurately.

Karuta. Passion. Obsession. Greed. Wataya Arata.

Chihaya has always been passionate even as a child. Her fire burned for her sister to be the best model in Japan. She was her biggest fan. She applauded for her, cheered her on, supported her and shared her dream but one rainy day, she was introduced to a whole new world.

Without Wataya Arata, she wouldn't have cherished karuta the way she does now. She has always been passionate but he redirected her desires. He told her that she could be Queen and be the best in the world. She believed him and she hasn't stopped working for it since that day. She found her dream in his and she would forever be grateful. To Ayase Chihaya, the keywords had to be in order to make sense.

Passion Wataya Arata Karuta Obsession Greed

Obsession and greed was relatively a fresh sensation to her. It followed after she has been introduced to karuta by a kid with glasses that hid his deep blue unrelenting eyes.

It was ironic, really. Wataya Arata's opinion about her mattered to her the most and yet it was the one thing she wasn't sure of. She had no idea on how he saw her. Was she good enough? She made it to Class A, after all. He was her opposite. He wasn't readable, he wasn't transparent and the more she dwelled on that, the more she wanted to uncover, the more she wanted to unravel, the more she wanted to conquer. She was obsessed with karuta and greedy for this boy who was a few hundred miles away from her and she didn't even know what he thought of her... If he ever did.

Then there was Mashima Taichi. She didn't particularly cared what he thought of her because he knew who she was. She knew he was always watching her. He knew that she wasn't transparent or obvious. He knew that she had depth and layers that he willed his eyes to see.

There was a side to Chihaya that he craved, that he recognizes. She could be childish, yes, but she had matured over the years but people around her failed to notice. She wasn't a little girl anymore. She was a woman who just occasionally has tantrums. They haven't taken the time to observe that she perfected that wide unblinking innocent expression of hers. She had everyone fooled but not him, never him. He played the fool the longest. They don't see her as he does, and, in his opinion, that look belongs in her heavy arsenal. She wasn't a little girl anymore. She knows what she's doing. She knew what she was doing to him when she licks her lips slowly before peeking through her long lashes to look at him with her voice, a pitch lower than usual – sometimes on the tatami where they would kneel and practice, sometimes, more.

She could be an idiot, definitely, but she was devious. For so long, Chihaya was known to be a ditzy airhead but there's little truth to the word. What Chihaya was is selective. She doesn't see the value of school and academics, therefore, doesn't pay attention to it but if she would, she would belong to the top 5 in the class. He was ashamed that he didn't realize it sooner if not because of that one afternoon.

They were waiting for the others in their clubroom when he was having trouble with a math problem from his cram school. Chihaya stood behind him as she felt the distress in his expression. She took his pencil, her face inches from his, her breath on his cheeks as she wrote the computation on his paper. Before he could enjoy her scent, she was done and had pulled away. He was confused and amazed. It was a college-level problem that would have taken a few hours for him to solve, not to mention, he would have needed a calculator. He snapped his head in Chihaya's direction.

"What did you do?"

"Huh? I solved it."

"I know but how?"

She just shrugged. "Would you believe me if I said I saw the answer behind your textbook?" Her lips curved into a sly smile. What would you rather believe, Taichi? And when he was ready to shoot her another question, the others arrived. It happened a few more times after. Not just Math but English, Science, and History. She wasn't an airhead as many claimed. She had different priorities, she was preoccupied.

The only claim that people had gotten right was that she was passionate, red hot burning passion coursed within her veins but passionate is not enough. The word itself wasn't enough to contain all the intensity Chihaya possessed and contrary to what most people believed, her passion went beyond karuta and he cursed himself for not finding out sooner.

He knew Arata was also in love with Chihaya without having said a word about it. He knew what he knew without having to look at her for too long. Arata just saw her the way she is, without claims, without prejudice. He saw her depths and secrets and that's what frustrated Mashima Taichi because he had to work hard to see Chihaya.

He had the looks, the wits, and the money but why couldn't he have the girl alone? Is it the luck of the draw?

Arata and Taichi have always known that Chihaya belonged to the both of them and that they belonged to her, even after all these years. They were all lonely and yearning when they found out together how greedy Chihaya can be, how her passion exceeds the meaning of the word.

Ayase Chihaya was never the same for them. She belonged to them and they belonged to her. She conquered. She wasn't innocent or stupid but she let people believe she was. It was enough that the three of them knew who she was. Taichi and Arata never bothered to correct people's beliefs about her. It was their well-kept secret. It gave them the satisfaction that the real Chihaya was hidden beneath them, was hidden for them and was hidden from the rest of the world. Ayase Chihaya laid bare but just for the two of them – greedy, insatiable, feverish Chihaya.

Author's message:

Hello! I updated this story and corrected some of the grammar issues since Chihayafuru is getting another season! I'm so excited for Season 3 but I secretly hope they diverge from the manga and just make Chihaya, Taichi, and Arata a threesome canon! I'm still in the search for the best Taichi/Chihaya/Arata lemon fic because the itch has not been scratched. Indulge me please. Anyway, I hope to write more in the future. Check out my Ghost Hunt story as well. Arigatou!