Dirty Tricks
a Gravitation story
by Aimee

A knock on her heavy bedroom door made Judy Winchester look up from her vanity, fingers paused from her task of putting in a pair of gold hoop earrings.

"Judy-Sama? It's almost time for the dinner." Ark's voice was heard behind the door, causing Judy to laugh lightly. She never minded being late for anything, being notorious for her grand entrances already.

"Thank you, Ark." She called back and finished putting the jewelry in her ear. Standing up, she surveyed the room for anything else she would need. Grabbing a matching gold watch, her eyes stopped on a small box that had arrived for her a few days ago from Japan. She picked it up and looked at the return address. Of course it was from her husband, Claude, who insisted on putting his work name, "K", on it. Laughing softly at that, she opened the box and seen a small wrapped present inside with a note.

Judy,
Sorry I missed your birthday, hope this makes up for it. And really, no thanks are needed. It's my pleasure.
Love,
Claude "K"

Opening the present as she took a seat on the edge of her bed, she revealed a box of perfume. She was a little confused. It wasn't because of the fact that Claude sent her anything for her birthday, but that he would pick perfume. She usually kept to wearing body-spray or something light. She held up the box and frowned slightly. It was all in Japanese and even through she should speak it, she was bad at the reading part. She lifted the nozzle to her nose and smelled it. The smell was light and floral, mentally praising her husband on a job well done. Smiling, she sprayed it on her wrists and neck, after standing up from the bed. She didn't put anything else on yet, and figured it was good timing.

With a quick look into the mirror, fluffing her short wavy brown hair, she opened her bedroom door and began to walk down the stairs. She spotted Ark talking with a few of her other guards, he turned around when the clanking of her high-heeled shoes went down the marble stairs.

"Alright, Ark." When she hit the bottom, she met up with the tall bodyguard and picked her purse up from the table at the bottom. "Can you call down Maria for me? I have a few things to tell her before I go."

Ark bowed slightly, pressing his earpiece with his finger. "Send Maria down to the front foyer." He told one of the other guards on the other end of the piece. He lifted his hand to his face, using his write to rub viciously at his nose. Out of no where, an very annoying tickle began to build. He didn't pay much attention to it at first, sniffing as he put his arm down and turning back to Judy. "I'll go ahead and pull the car up for you, Judy-Sama." He started to bow a little before leaving, but the tickle kept his down there. He quickly pulled his hand to rest on his nose and mouth as a violent sneeze erupted from him. "Ha-tshhHOO! HAA-TCHOO!" Straightening up, he sniffed gently and dug in his back pocket for a handkerchief he usually carried with him. "I'm...sorry Ju...Judy..." His breath began to hitch faster, putting the soft white cloth over his nose and mouth. "Ahhh...HA-TCHHH!"

Judy frowned deeply, looking at Ark in the middle of his sneezing attack. "Ark? Are you alright? What's the matter?" She touched his arm gently in concern. Ark had been working for her a good amount of years and she had always seem him calm and collect, when he wasn't fighting, and never sick.

"It's nothing, just a tickle." Wiping his nose with the handkerchief. "Anyway, I'll pull up the car for you if that's ok?" He seen that the nanny of the house, Maria, had arrived for Judy's instructions. The insistent tickle was building some more and really didn't want to loose his cool again.

"Uh, yes. That will be fine, thank you Ark." She nodded to him, still a little concerned and looked at the nanny to tell her about her son's school project he was in the middle of.

Ark went into the garage, tucking back the handkerchief into his pocket. He rubbed at his slightly watering eyes as he opened the door and slid inside the black limo. He sniffed a few more times before pulling it around to the front of the house, getting out once more to open Judy's door when she was ready to go. He was still a little upset about the random sneezing attack, not knowing where it had come from. He firmly decided it was nothing and stood by the car waiting for Judy.

The starlet came out of the house, wrapping her back fur coat around her shoulders. She walked to the car, still looking at Ark with some concern. "Are you ok?" She stood next to the car, ready to slide inside.

Ark couldn't answer her right away, his nose tickling some more. "Ye...yeah, don't worry about it." He placed his hand on the door of the car, waiting for her to get inside, the tickle not letting up and growing more and more demanding. He tried his best not to show it, faint muscles in his lips twitching to stop the feeling.

Judy frowned, placing a hand on her hip. "You look like you are going to sneeze your head off." She caught him, a small smile curving her lips up.

"I...ah... I don't know what's the ma-matter..." Ducking his head into the crook of his arm, he eyes closed tightly, body shaking forward with a series of sneezes. "Ha-TCHH! Ha-AHTCCH...HSST! Uhh..." Lifting his head up, he pulled back out his handkerchief and blew his nose. His eyes definitely watering now, he turned to Judy. "I'b sorry, Judy-saba."

Judy raised an eyebrow. "Are you getting sick, Ark? If you are, you should stay here and get some rest."

"Doe..." Blowing his nose once more, he shook his head. "No, I don't feel sick." But Judy learned forward, placing her hand on his forehead as if checking. "Ju...Judy..." He was cut off by slight panting, an overpowering urge to sneeze shot through him. Both hands, as well as the handkerchief, placed over his nose and mouth, he released them. "Haahh... Hah-TCCH, TSSHT! Huhh...uhh..HA-TCCH!"

Judy stood by watching the painful sneezing erupt from Ark before pulling her wrist to her nose and sniffing it. "Maybe it's this new perfume Claude got me?"

Ark's eyes widened, then glared. He turned back to his boss and sighed. He kept the handkerchief covering his nose when he spoke, making his speech muffled. "Please don't tell me it was from Japan."

"Yeah, actually it was." Judy nodded. "I couldn't read it, though."

"Let me guess... It was in a yellow-green bott...bottle.. H'TCCH!" He rubbed at his watering eyes, insanely angry at this point.

Judy frowned slightly. "Yeah, it was...how did you know that?"

Ark took a few breaths, trying to starve off the next round of sneezes. "It's hamanasu... I'm really all...allergic to it... H'TCCH! Eh-CHHHT!"

Laughing softly, she shook her head. "Let me guess, Claude knows about that right?"

Ark nodded his head, still blowing his nose. "I came across it when we were training for some reason and I guess he remem...remembered... Huhhh...T'CCHH!"

Judy sighed and waved one of her hands. "Let me go wash up, then. I don't want you sneezing this whole time."

Ark lifted his head to tell her he would be alright, though he knew he wouldn't, he was bombarded with the scent still fresh in the air. "Ha...HA'TCCH! TSHH... Aahhhaa..A'TSCHHH! Da...damn you, Claude! I'll get you for this!"

Six thousand miles away in Tokyo, Japan...

That morning, Sakano walked up to K with Bad Luck's schedule in his hands, handing them to the blonde. "Shacho just sent these over, thought you'd like to see them."

"Oh, great. Thanks." K looked up from his PDA and reached out for them, nose suddenly twitching. He set the paper on his desk and turned his head into the crook of his elbow. "Hehh... Hiii'tscchh!"

Sakano frowned slightly, backing up. "I hope you aren't getting sick, K-san."

K laughed, rubbing his nose with the back of his head. "No, no. Karma's just one spiteful bitch." K picked up the paper with a smile, ignoring the highly confused producer.

I don't own Gravitation or any of their characters. They belong to the awesome Maki Murakami-sama.
Just a short ficclet of an idea I had swimming around in my head. Hee! This is something I can see K doing, that sneaky bugger. And, oh! Is it me, or is it really sexy for guys to carry around (clean) handkerchiefs? I think so. Lol. For spoilers, if you know who Judy and Ark are, it should be alright. ^_^