Disclaimer: All recognizable plot and characters belong to Kaili Sorano. No copy-right infringement intended.

Companion to The Neverending Infinity

50 word theme: Beta - Chasing Love and Tomorrows

#01 -- Walking

Aya never quite forgot the day when she had been innocently walking down the path between the deserted factories, trailing behind the boys when he suddenly appeared behind her and actually had the audacity to look up her skirt.

#02 -- Waltz

Sometimes, he thinks it is like a game they play, two steps forward, one step back, neither daring to get any closer to the other, yet challenging the other to retreat.

#03 -- Wishes

They both wish for peace, to return to the calm and unchanging past, yet both are aware that the present was what brought them together.

#04 -- Wonder

Sometimes, she wonders what really goes through his head, whether behind all his flirting and innuendoes, there was some real feeling which could be trusted.

#05 -- Worry

She doesn't say, but leaving him behind to fight the kokuchi alone does make her worry for his safety.

#06 -- Whimsy

It was on a whim that Kou bought her a flower on Valentines' Day, and even though he got punched in the face for that, he thought it was worth it to have seen her flush.

#07 -- Waste/Wasteland

"For someone who lives in such derelict surroundings, your house is not half bad," were Aya's first comments when she stepped into Kou's house.

#08 -- Whiskey and Rum

Once he found out that Aya had never drank before, much less gotten drunk, he had made it his personal goal to be the first one to do so; and after a disastrous incident at Master's Bar, she had wisely learnt to be wary of anything he offered her, especially when it came in a glass.

#09 -- War

She hates it and detests all the endless fighting, and at the end of day when she collapses onto her bed, drained and tired, his silent presence through the window and stopping at the edge of mattress makes it all a little easier.

#10 -- Weddings

He was hospitalized for three days on that one occasion when he had decided to tell Aya that they will have a 'romantic seaside wedding with wicker chairs and tables and lots and lots of pink cupcakes'.

#11 -- Birthday

She was so shocked when he kissed her on the cheek that night after the party and everyone had gone home that she had forgotten to punch him or even retaliate.

#12 -- Blessing

"You know," said Master innocently one day at the Bar, "The two of you compliment each other very well."

#13 -- Bias

"Aya is the prettiest girl in the world."

#14 -- Burning

Because she had no idea what to do when he teases her and she flushes, she deals with it by hitting him.

#15 -- Breathing

Having him close somehow always made her breathe a little quicker, enough that her balance feels a little off during Kendo training and her strikes miss.

#16 -- Breaking

"I don't want to fight anymore, Kou. I don't want to hurt anyone anymore, or to get hurt anymore. I- I'm tired of it all."

#17 -- Belief

She confidently faces her opponents, a burning determination in her eyes despite the fights going on beside and behind her, because she knows that Kou can take care of himself.

#18 -- Balloon

Somehow, Aya thinks that the dog shaped balloons reminded her very much of Kou.

#19 -- Balcony

He found that she had escaped from the party going on in the Bar below to watch the stars from the balcony, and silently he joins her.

#20 -- Bane

He is the bane of her existence, but even if she could, she would never get rid of him.

#21 -- Quiet

Kou, she realized, was surprisingly silent when drunk, and although she greatly resents going to the bar due to unpleasant past experiences, she does not object so much if Master serves them (Kou in particular) extra strong Tequila.

#22 -- Quirks

Biting her lips when she was confused was, Kou realized, one of Aya's rather endearing little habits.

#23 -- Question

"Why are you asking me that?! Of course I will not marry you!"

#24 -- Quarrel

"You know," Shirogane murmurs, "They bicker like an old couple," and Akira gives the barest nods of his head in assent.

#25 -- Quitting

"I give up. Won't you tell me what color your underwear is today?"

#26 -- Jump

At Kou's innocent suggestion that there was a ghost behind her, Aya fairly shrieked and leapt a foot into the air, before proceeding to heartlessly beat up the laughing Rei.

#27 -- Jester

He was like the clown of the group, always the silly one who says things at the most inopportune moments if only to relieve the tension and make everyone relax.

#28 -- Jousting

On rare occasions when Aya did not complain so much of his presence in her house, they end up practicing a little, she with her swords and him in his Rei form.

#29 -- Jewel

Unlike most girls, Kou quickly learned that Aya was not so easily taken in by money and frills, or jewels for that matter, not even when he got her a pretty sapphire necklace for her birthday.

#30 -- Just

It really is unfair, Kou thought, how Aya always seemed to hit him harder than she hit anyone else when he tried to seduce her.

#31 -- Smirk

Nothing made her blush harder than that annoying smirk of his.

#32 -- Sorrow

He was almost never sad, and it sometimes make her wonder how he can keep his levity even in such dire life-and-death situations they usually faced.'

#33 -- Stupidity

"You know... all the things he does for her, it really is quite foolish," Akira commented rather dispassionately one day.

#34 -- Serenade

It depressed Kou greatly that amongst Aya's top-ten-rules made out specially for him included 'No singing outside my bedroom window" which Kou thought really was quite a pity since it seemed like a really good idea to him.

#35 -- Sarcasm

"Of course I'll go to bed with you, Kou, so long as you agree to let me murder you afterwards."

#36 -- Sordid

She always thought that the reason she disapproved so strongly of Kou's flirtatious nature was because it was quite immoral, and not because of any of her own personal issues.

#37 -- Soliloquy

Kengo never did mention the one time he had come across Kou-nii muttering to himself about strategies to get Aya into a (revealing) swimsuit, mostly because of his great fear of what the prefect would do to him if word of such a plot ever travelled out.

#38 -- Sojourn

Their momentary truce lastly for all of five seconds before a perverted comment from Kou had her lunging at his throat again.

#39 -- Share

She was never going to share her umbrella with him, not even if it was positively pouring outside and he might fall sick and die of pneumonia.

#40 -- Solitary

There were times, she realized, when even Kou liked his solitude, like when she came across him sitting on one of the rusted beams of the abandoned factory gazing almost thoughtfully at the setting sun.

#41 -- Nowhere

"Someday," he said, "I'll run away. From Shin and from Rei, and from everything else."

#42 -- Neutral

She made no comment to his words, because she partly understood, and really, it no longer mattered so much which side won, as long as all the fighting and all the blood and killing and dying stopped.

#43 -- Nuance

Although Kou never realized, there was an affectionate tone in his voice whenever he spoke of Aya.

#44 -- Near

She could not bear to be near him, which is why it surprised her that it bothered her so much when he occasionally did not turn up for their early morning meetings at Master's Bar.

#45 -- Natural

He dislikes it when Aya is nervous, because she starts acting much too self-conscious, making her seem not so much the daring and out-spoken Aya he knew and more like another person.

#46 -- Horizon

They are both running, with each other, without each other, together and apart, chasing and yet fearing the destination they cannot see.

#47 -- Valiant

"Kou-nii is amazing," Kengo muttered, as the dark-haired Rei bravely stood up to an enraged Aya's abuse.

#48 -- Virtuous

In a rare act of forgiveness, Aya decided not to hit Kou too hard at his rather obvious innuendo, especially since he had only just recovered from a serious wound on his back.

#49 -- Victory

Her giving in and accepting his love will be his greatest victory,

#50 -- Defeat

And her own admittance of this weakness will be her greatest defeat.

A/N:

And thus ends set-beta of my 1sentence series, featuring Aya and Kou. They are my second (?) favorite pairing from Monochrome Factor. :3

Nowhere and Neutral are meant to be read together, and Victory and Defeat are to be taken as a single sentence.

I shall now start of set Gamma, pairing not yet determined.

MoonMyst