Jigsaw Puzzle

"..you make me wanna strain at the oars, and soon.."

1. Nanoha wasn't any stranger to her own feelings; she had known, even from a very young age, that boy or girl - they make no difference to her. She met Yuuno, first, and was completely filled with curiosity and couldn't help but find his ferret form adorable, but it was Fate and her dark burgundy eyes that completely took her in.

2. Fate loved Nanoha since she was nine. But it wasn't until the damnable accident that crippled Nanoha that those feelings grew into something more. Something different.

3. Unlike Nanoha, Fate wasn't ever truly aware of her feelings until she was nineteen. She only recognized it as physical attraction and shoved it aside (and it wasn't as if the distance didn't help).

4. Back then, it was hard, and so incredibly painful, for Fate to watch Nanoha struggle as the brunette try to walk, and walk, and walk. Fate had felt useless, and so at a loss, and the injuries, the scars that she saw (she had walked in while Shamal was changing Nanoha's bandages by accident) crushed her. It was the point when she knew, deep down, that she never want to see Nanoha in pain anymore. It was also the point when she begun to work and train harder than she ever had.

It was also the point when Fate knew she could never bring herself to fight or even spar with Nanoha, not ever, not after all that she saw.

5. Nanoha came to a realization about her own feelings a couple days before Fate left for her first long-term mission as an enforcer during high school. She couldn't work up the courage to confess before the blonde left, much to Hayate's exasperation.

6. Interestingly enough, Hayate and the Wolkenreitter had known long before she knew about her own feelings; Yuuno knew from the start, Arisa and Suzuka suspected since early high school, Lindy and Chrono noticed, her parents sensed something, and even her device had to say something about it in its monotone; and Nanoha couldn't decide if she was relieved over the fact Fate remained blissfully unaware, of mortified that people (and her device) saw.

7. And actually, Nanoha never did manage to bring herself to confess. Arisa (and Vita, to a lesser degree, who actually just wanted to laugh and call her an idiot) wanted to strangle her.

8. During high school, there were many, many times when Nanoha would manoeuvre herself to the roof when classes were over; because this was where she would often find Fate, particularly after her missions. She would find her sitting by the wall, sometimes, and other times, she would see her leaning against the railings as she stared distantly at the sky. It was here that Nanoha would find herself rooted to the floor, because that image - that very image of orange, reddish light soaking into Fate's skin - never failed to make something in her stomach clench tightly.

Maybe it was because there was just something so raw and brokenly beautiful about it.

9. Nanoha almost strangled Hayate over room and bed arrangement when they were transferred to Riot Force Six, especially after the shorter brunette gave her a secretive wink.

10. Fate had blinked at the arrangement, mused over it briefly (while Nanoha got edgy at her not-so-enthusiastic-response), and then gave Nanoha a crooked smile. "Why not?"

11. No one really knew why Fate was agreeable to the arrangement (but they suspected certain things), even if it was really as simple as the fact she missed her best friend dearly. Or so Fate thought, and she hadn't thought much about how appealing the idea was to sleep together with Nanoha, only that it is.

Literally speaking, of course.

12. Vivio will never really realize what she did, but it was her tripping over evil objects that made Nanoha-mama and Fate-mama knock their lips together for the first time (because they stumbled while trying to grab Vivio before she crashed to the floor).

13. Coincidentally, that was also the time when Fate was beginning to suspect something amiss, both with Nanoha's furious blushing, and the strange stirring in her chest.

14. The second time they kissed, it was by no accident or evil objects. When Fate saw how battered, bloody, and exhausted Nanoha was after saving Vivio from that damned massive ship - and, god, they were alive and safe, the blonde showed her relief by literally crashing their lips together with a sharp tug of Nanoha's collar.

15. Lindy won the betting pool. Fate did make the first move, after all. If asked why she placed her bet on Fate and not Nanoha (who, really, was the one expected to do something first), the lady would just smirk and say, "She's my daughter."

16. Fate didn't actually realize what she had done until moments later when their second kiss became (very) involved, but by then, Nanoha refused to let her go, and when they did part, Fate - predictably - fled the scene with a furious blush and nervous stammering.

17. The cat and mouse game ensued. They walked on egg shells, long enough to exasperate their closest companions. Yuuno sighed, Hayate pinched the bridge of her nose, Signum's eyebrow twitched, Vita smacked her forehead, Shamal looked vaguely amused, and even the forwards looked like they wanted to...do something that shouldn't be done to superiors. (Notably, Erio and Caro.)

18. A week later, it was actually Zafira who threw the two idiots into a room and locked it, stating (politely) that they were both being obstinate, vexatious, and dim; and that they were going to sort out their problem, or not get out of the room at all.

19. When Teana opened the door to pick up some documents - she had no prior knowledge of Zafira throwing her superiors into the room a couple hours ago - she was completely, and utterly, mortified.

20. If colors are used to describe a person, soft, rusty colors would be for Fate; the color of autumn leaves that is always falling away, yet always there - because that is what autumn is, always fading, but never truly be gone. Colors don't describe Nanoha, not anymore. Now, she is bright, bright, white and black, shades of grey - but perhaps these shades of grey speaks of more colors than any other colors ever do, especially when it is a combination of colors that creates white.

They are different in so many ways, similar in other ways, and they aren't direct opposites, and maybe that's why they fit together so easily...like pieces of a puzzle.

-o-

A/N: I'm bad at tenses, so please excuse the errors and point them out to me, if any. It's also been a while since I've written, and I suspect this to be really choppy and just off, so hopefully it's not a terrible read.

Thank you for reading, and reviews appreciated.