[Hello, everyone. My name is Ashon, and I'll be your author from here on forward. This is my first submitted fan fiction, so I hope you enjoy it. If you don't…well, I don't particularly care if you don't like it so long as you don't flame it. If you don't want to read any yuri (though I consider it fairly soft) don't read past the page break. Please note that Loveless is copyrighted to Yun Kouga, not me, because if I DID own Loveless, there would probably be much more sex and angst and Soubilove in it. That is all. Carry on.]
The door burst open in an explosion of sound, but Seven didn't bother to turn around. She already knew who her unexpected visitor was - who else could it be? Only Nagisa ever barged into her private lab. Seven's attention remained fixated on the glowing computer screen in front of her, though she was secretly pleased at the intrusion. She so rarely got any visitors.
"Stupid Ritsu! Idiot jerk face!" Nagisa screeched, hurtling into the dark room on Lolita style platform shoes. Seven noted from her peripheral vision that today's outfit seemed to sport a lot of frilly lace. A lot of pink frilly lace. The abundance of it made Seven glance down at her own outfit of shorts and a tank top. Nagisa certainly had a talent of making one feel underdressed. "Who does he think he is?!" Nagisa continued, standing in the middle of the room with her fists clenched at her sides.
Seven pulled harder at the lolipop stuck precariously in her mouth. It was almost finished - nothing but a small, cola-flavored bead of candy left on the stem. Which one should I have next? The pudding, or the vanilla flavor? Seven asked herself. She sighed, reaching over to the nearby stack of interlocking white lolipop sticks. Nagisa made an unintelligible sound like a muffled scream and snatched at the nearest object to vent her rage on.
"Leave Puu-chan alone," Seven admonished, finally swiveling her chair around and acknowledging the Lolita scientist as the pigtailed woman attempted to dismember a small bear plushie. Nagisa shot Seven a sullen look, but she dropped the plushie. Seven sighed, using her hand to push a long tendril of hair out of her eyes and shove her glasses farther up on her nose in one practiced movement.
"What did Ritsu do now?" Seven asked obediently, her tone noticeably flat. She turned back to the laptop in front of her, tapping on the keys as Nagisa answered enthusiastically.
"He said that my dress was 'cloying'! Cloying! This outfit took me weeks to make, and is the height of Lolita fashion right now! What does Ritsu know?!" The volume of Nagisa's voice rose steadily throughout her tirade, until she was once again shouting at the top of her lungs. "Ooooh, he makes me so mad!"
"Uhm hmm," mumbled Seven, lines of code reflecting off her glasses. Oops, wrong character, she thought, pressing the delete button a few times and going back to fix a line of text.
"Nanaaaa," Nagisa whined, distinctly changing tact. "You're not listening." She glared at the back of Seven's head, then gave it up as a lost cause. Seven was never very sympathetic to her troubles with Ritsu. "What are you working on?" she asked, moving closer to Seven's chair so that she could rest her arms on the back rest. She peered with interest at the oversized monitors.
"Just a routine check," Seven answered. She voluntarily paused and turned to Nagisa as her right hand crept towards her stack of snacks. "What were you doing before Ritsu-sensei came along and insulted your clothes?"
"Nothing much. Tinkering with the Zero genetic code a bit, but nothing too major," Nagisa responded with a depreciating shrug. Her face suddenly brightened as she was hit by an idea. "Hey, wanna go to the cafeteria and get something to eat? I haven't had anything since this morning."
"Hmmm, not really. I'm fine with this stuff." Seven waved her hand to indicate the stockpiled lines of junk food, but her eyes were sharp on Nagisa's face. "Or are you bored again, Nagisa-sensei?"
"No way! I told you, I don't get bored! I'm never bored. Seven-tan, don't insult me, or you'll start to remind me of Ritsu." Nagisa added the last bit threateningly after exploding at Seven's gentle taunt. Seven smiled slightly and pressed a few keys on her keyboard without looking. The screen went black, and Seven snapped the notebook shut with one hand as she stood up.
"Alright, Nagisa-sensei. I won't let my only friend eat alone." In reality, this request was hardly unusual - they usually ate together at least twice a week. Although the little lunch breaks detracted from her time to work, and took her away from the familiarity of the computer room, Seven found that she didn't mind those things all that much.
Nagisa was ecstatic, of course, though her face turned bright red at Seven's last sentence. She quickly recovered, though, and a large smile sprung onto her features. "Right! Yaaaay! Lunch time!" She slipped her arm through Seven's and, arms linked, led them out of the room and through the hallways to the cafeteria.
Seven took it in stride, allowing Nagisa to steer her around the corners. She noticed belatedly that her feet were bare - she hadn't bothered to put shoes on this morning, and hadn't thought about doing so before Nagisa had shown up. The trop to the cafeteria was both quiet and cold, the chilly tile assaulting her feet. She was concentrating on walking through the hall of ice shards, so when Nagisa suddenly spoke, Seven blinked rapidly in momentary surprise.
"Hey, Seven-tan? Do you remember my sister?" Nagisa's voice was surprisingly sober, and far softer than her usual hyper yell. She was almost whispering.
"What?" Seven gaped in shock - this was the last topic she thought Nagisa would bring up. "Your sister? Senae?" Nagisa nodded solemnly in confirmation. Seven remained horribly confused. "Of course I remember Senae. She was your Sacrifice, wasn't she?" Another nod from Nagisa. Seven didn't think that the older woman was planning on contributing much more to the conversation, so she continued, searching back in her memory. Nagisa must have had a reason for bringing up her deceased sister in the conversation so unexpectedly. "You two were the Speechless pair. I remember seeing you in battle, once. 'Power so great, it will leave our enemy speechless.' That was your catchphrase, wasn't it? I always thought it was one of the better ones." Seven glanced at Nagisa to gauge her reaction, but the teacher's eyes were hidden by her bangs.
"Why the sudden urge to reminisce?" Seven asked. Nagisa halted, and by default Seven stopped too, her arm caught in Nagisa's grasp.
"I wanted to see…if I was the only one who still remembered. If I was the only one who still cared." Nagisa was looking at the floor as she spoke. "It's been seventeen years since then, but it feels like so much longer sometimes." She paused, and her next words were so soft that Seven almost thought she imagined them, "It's her birthday today." Seven studied Nagisa for a long moment in silence, before the other woman suddenly picked her head up with a smile.
"Aarg. Forget this! Sorry, Seven-tan. Let's go eat now," she chirped, apparently back in good spirits. Seven allowed her to drag her along.
"Uhm hmm," she mumbled in wordless agreement to Nagisa's renewed interest in lunch, though her mind was still troubled and worried for Nagisa's sake.
They arrived at the cafeteria shortly thereafter. Nagisa, as per usual, ordered the special combo plate. Seven decided on a large, three-tiered ice cream sundae, which Nagisa hotly objected to.
"What was the point in coming out for lunch if you're just going to eat the same junk you do in your room?"
"I didn't come here to eat; I came here to be with you," Seven replied carelessly. Despite her words, however, she attention was quickly consumed by the desert in front of her. So much so that she failed to notice the scarlet blush that was rising on Nagisa's cheeks.
"Whaaat? Seven-tan, don't say it like that!" she fumed, and then proceeded to shovel down her food in order to cover up her embarrassment. Seven smiled secretly and turned to her with a raised eyebrow.
"Why not? It's true. I wouldn't be here if we weren't friends," she explained, and then proceeded to analyze what she'd just said as Nagisa picked apart her rice ball. It was true, anyways. Having a friend was a novel concept for her, seeing as how she'd never had one before. She spent most of her time in the computer lab, ensuring the security of the Seven Voices Academy, as well as doing her job as a member of Septimal Moon. It was quite fortunate that she didn't have a Sacrifice of her own - she might drive anyone crazy with inactivity. But recently, she'd been aware of the change in the dynamic between herself and Nagisa, and was wary as to it's new nature.
"Hey, Seven?" Nagisa spoke up almost shyly, hiding her face with her soft drink. Seven still flinched guiltily, but managed to compose herself as Nagisa glanced at her.
"Yes?" Seven hummed through a mouth full of sticky-sweet ice cream, holding the spoon on her tongue for an extra moment as Nagisa struggled with her words.
"Well…how come you don't have a Sacrifice? I mean…" she faltered as Seven blinked in surprise. The long-haired hikkikomori slowly swallowed her mouthful of ice cream as Nagisa flustered. "Never mind! Sorry, that was kind of random, wasn't it? You don't have to answer."
"Why do you want to know, Nagisa-sensei?" Seven asked carefully. Nagisa flushed for the third time that day, her pale skin flooded with the color of raspberry. "No, forget it, never mind! Forget I asked, it's not important."
Figuring that this was related to their conversation in the hallway somehow, Seven allowed the silence to continue only for a few moments before shrugging and pulling the spoon out of her mouth so she could answer.
"It's not that I don't have a Sacrifice - it's just that I never found mine. Oh, don't look surprised, Nagisa-sensei. It's really not all that rare. Besides, I'm not too good at fighting, so even if I found my Sacrifice I doubt it would change anything." Seven punctuated her words by waving her spoon around in the air. Once she finished explaining, though, she returned to her task of decimating the tower of ice cream in front of her.
Nagisa, who had listened to Seven's explanation with wide eyes, could not understand the other woman's nonchalance about her situation. Not having a sacrifice was like missing half of yourself - some Fighter's had gone mad if they didn't find the other half of their pair in time. The bond of a name was deeper than any other - how was Seven able to treat it like it was only a minor inconvenience?
"Oooh, this is good. I wonder, is it real ice cream, or that cheap packaged stuff? Maybe I should ask - "
"Seven-tan, you're talking to yourself again," Nagisa interrupted, smile reluctantly reappearing on her face.
"Uhmph," responded Seven eloquently, swallowing the last of her desert. She then stood up, picking up Nagisa's half-finished combo plate with her. "Let's go back to the lab. I still have some stuff I need to do."
"Hey!" Nagisa exclaimed as her lunch was taken away from her, but bustling to her feet nonetheless. "I wasn't finished with that, Seven!"
Back in the dimly lit computer room, Seven resumed clicking away at the keyboard, while Nagisa lingered around and hung over her shoulder. Seven knew that Nagisa still had something to day - usually she bounced off to her own suite right after they ate - but she didn't try to weasel it out of the other woman, knowing that Nagisa would speak in time. Her patience was rewarded with another surprising question.
"Seven, do you think a Fighter could have more than one Sacrifice?" Nagisa blurted out, after pausing in her pacing directly behind Seven's chair.
"Like Soubi?" Seven responded, her attention seemingly riveted upon the screen in front of her while in fact she was striving to catch everything Nagisa said.
"Soubi doesn't count!" Nagisa exclaimed, and Seven nodded in acquiescence. Soubi was indeed a special case. "No, I mean regular Fighters - like me. Do you think maybe I could have another Sacrifice out there somewhere?" Nagisa continued hesitatingly.
Seven nodded thoughtfully, though she felt like her ribs were constricting around her heart. The reaction surprised her, and she struggled to keep the conflicting emotions off her face and out of her response. "It's possible, I suppose. Never happened before, though. But I thought you didn't approve of things like that." Click, click, went the computer keys.
"Well, I-I don't, really. But I thought, maybe, if it was you…" Nagisa mumbled, her words trailing off. Seven's fingers on the keyboard froze, and she slowly swiveled her chair around so that she could see the furiously blushing Sensei. Wow, four times in one day - must be a record. "It's just," Nagisa stuttered, obviously having some trouble articulating, "You don't have a Sacrifice, and you don't like fighting, so maybe if you became my Sacrifice - " Seven stood up from her chair, and Nagisa fell silent. "Are you being serious, Nagisa-sensei?" Seven asked levelly.
"Of course I'm being serious, why would I joke about something like-" Seven stepped forward, and whatever Nagisa had been about to say was swallowed in an unexpected kiss. Nagisa froze in shock, and Seven took advantage of the other woman's reticence, sweetly invading Nagisa's mouth with her tongue. Slowly Nagisa began to respond, meeting Seven's efforts gently at first, and then rougher, nipping at Seven's lips.
Seven drew back slowly, and Nagisa made an inarticulate sound of protest as their lips parted. "I am your Sacrifice," Seven spoke breathlessly, and Nagisa gasped as she realized what the other woman was doing. It was the start of the binding ritual. "You are my Fighter," Seven continued, her arms roaming down Nagisa's back to clench the other woman's rear and draw her possessively closer. Nagisa let out a breathy gasp. "There is no other Fighter for Endless."
Nagisa's eyes were wide in shock as she felt the sparkling piano-wire strings of their new bond tighten and attach, caressing her body like an invisible hand. Never had anything like this been attempted in the history of Seven Voices Academy - she and Seven were breaking several rules. Strangely, though, Nagisa found that she didn't particularly care. She took Seven's hand. "Your name is Endless?" she asked, awed. Never would she have thought that her long-hidden attraction and admiration of Seven would have progressed this far. And now she even knew Seven's name.
Seven leaned forward with a small smile. "We are Endless," she whispered against Nagisa's lips. Nagisa shuddered as she felt the word - her new name - twine around her wrist in an antiquated script font, even as she felt her old name disappear from the skin of her shoulder. The word 'Endless' appeared on Seven's wrist, too, as she breached the last centimeter of distance between their mouths to continue their earlier kiss.
Seven leaned into Nagisa's body, slowly walking them backwards towards the long fainting couch tucked into the corner of the lab while managing to get her hand underneath the pink frilly lace to cradle one of Nagisa's breasts. Their tongues dueled in mutual passion even as the back of Nagisa's knees hit the side of the couch and they both tumbled onto the firm surface.