Samurai Sentai Shinkenger: The Hidden Feeling
Sonfaro
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It happens in the middle of training.
As always, Takeru Shiba is the first to realize it. He is mid swing during the Shinkengers daily sparring session when it hits him like a ton of bricks. The feeling is hidden beneath the determination coursing through Shinken Pink's face, but Takeru sees it clear enough. It's in the way Mako Shiraishi looks at him when they spar. The way her eyes pierce through him as she avoids his slash. The way her head tilts when she nearly catches him. The way her mouth widens just enough to give away the smile hiding beneath years of training, prayers and lost dreams. For a moment he doesn't know what to do about it, caught between parrying her next blow and trying to make sense of what he has deciphered. The ringing of bells and a Gedoushu sighting dispels the session, and Takeru finds himself actually relieved. The feeling can't be correct after all, and time away will definitely clear his mind from the matter.
He hopes.
It returns to them after the fight, after Ika-ShinKenOh has formed and the nation again saved from another demonic monster. By now Mako notices it too. The feeling is hidden beneath Takeru's tempered glare, but the warmth that fuels it has already begun melting through the cold façade. It's in the brief moments she sees him that she notices it most. The quiet nod he gives her on a job well done. In the sigh that escapes when she calms Ryuunosuke and Chiaki down from another one of their arguments. How quickly he turns away when she catches him staring. She is elated and curious and a little bit frightened when it hits her, and she isn't exactly sure what to do. The call for sushi from Genta Umemori distracts her for a little while, though she knows that sooner or later she and Takeru will have to have a discussion about this hidden thing they feel.
She hopes.
It stays with both of them well into the night, after Kotoha has made a mess of Genta's sushi and Ryuunosuke finishes arguing with Chiaki about the merits of the Sentai rollcall. Jii announces that he will be retiring to his quarters, and that the others (and by that of course he meant Chiaki) should soon do the same. As if by fate, they find themselves alone in their meeting room, their companions all asleep, or reading, or cleaning up the mess she made. They smile politely at each other, each waiting for the other to make a move. Neither does.
And after a while it dies down a little. Mako is disappointed with herself for getting so worked up. Takeru is disappointed with himself for not having the courage to take the chance. Defeated, they tell each other good night and go their separate ways, both telling themselves inwardly that their instincts are wrong and that whatever they may have felt wasn't real.
But the moment they are alone, their eyes gazing at the ceiling, it returns, stronger than ever. They see each others face. They see each others smile. They see each other together, years from now maybe. But in happier times. Long after the Gedoushu are defeated and Chimatsuri Dōkoku sealed away forever. They see each other. Together. And that thought makes Mako wrinkle her nose, and makes Takeru fight a smile. They sleep with each other on their minds, knowing that tomorrow that hidden feeling will remain.
It happened in the middle of training, that Takeru and Mako fell in love.
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Ippitsu Soujyou!
AN: Couldn't sleep. Wrote this in an hour. Hope you like.