Minerva.

What can Sting possibly say about Minerva? He sits down on the worn out sidewalk of the cobbled streets, glad that no one was around so late at night to see the mighty dragon sulking over the most important woman of Sabertooth. Yet again, Sting decided to reach for something that was out of his grasp, and, yet again, she rejected him with all the gentleness of a guillotine blade. Sting sighed. Oh, he can say a LOT about Minerva.

For one, she's ice.

Suddenly, he shakes his head. The spiky blond strands limp, moving around and flopping uselessly on his head. No, that's not right. Minerva is NOT ice.

Minerva is colder than ice: in fact, she's liquid nitrogen. She can flay the flesh right off your bones with a single look. She was always like that, for as long as Sting could remember. From what he knows, she's always been in the guild and she's always been the top.

Almost expected when your father is the master, but less so when he doesn't even seem to even acknowledge that fact. In all reality, Minerva doesn't have it as easy as she should. On paper, she's a beautiful, tall and slender woman with incredible magical power, money, fame, and an important father.

In reality, it's a bit deeper than that. In fact, much more so. Ever since Sting had met her, she had no time for him. It was always her pursuing a new mission, running off and coming back stronger, holding up her accomplishments so the Master could praise her and then deflating when he did not.

Hey, no one said Minerva was humble.

But that was okay with Sting; he wasn't humble either, really. Part of it was because of her. Since she never gave him the time of day, he'd MAKE her give him the time of day and he became one of the strongest mages in the guild so she couldn't possibly ignore him, flaunting what he did as a child and showing off often. He was plenty cocky, confident despite the fact that perhaps it would get him into trouble. Rogue told him so many times when he saw Sting sending smirks and taking eyefuls of the Sabertooth Queen.

"One day, she'll just cut you in two."

And Sting shrugged it off, because, well, he was Sting! The day he listens to Rogue's babbling and his responsibility is the day he wears a diaper on his head.

And he wasn't about to do that ANYTIME soon. In fact, he never would.

Never.

But, that's getting off topic, isn't it? Yeah, it is.

What can Sting say about Minerva? For one, not only is she liquid nitrogen, but she's also water. She moves like water, speaks like water, just acts like water. She is elegant, graceful, almost chillingly so, in fact. Once, she sent him her narrow eyed, soft lipped smirk, and he practically melted to the ground like he was some kind of woman.

And then she laughed.

Minerva is EVIL. Maybe Sting was over exaggerating just a tad, but there was no denying that she had a sadistic streak. In fact, she had more than just a sadistic streak. Minerva liked to play with her food.

And by food, he meant people.

Harmless enough when it was just random boys, but eventually, she seemed to have the entire guild under her thumb. A squaring of her shoulders here, a flirty eyed glimpse there and boom, any man was hers for the taking.

But she didn't leave it at just that. She had power and she flaunted it. Minerva was cold and cruel, sadistic, rude and snake-like. She didn't protest when Yukino was removed from the guild, even though she was so new and the two of them got along relatively well. She didn't hesitate to follow through with Master's request of bruising up the Heartphilia girl, she didn't even bother with gentleness.

She was a snake bite all right and it was filled with venom.

So why then did Sting chase after her?

Could it be that, despite the fact that Yukino had been kicked out, she didn't bother telling anyone when she found her in Rogue's room for the night? Or, maybe it was the fact that she could have put the girl in a coma but left it at a few horrid scratches?

No, it was definitely the fact that she didn't bother with gentleness, and she was a challenge.

Sting was not stupid, a bit overly confident, arrogant at times and headstrong, but never stupid and ALWAYS loyal. Sting knew what he was getting himself into when he decided to chase after her. How could he not? She was literally the gleaming, crowning jewel of Sabertooth: the woman everyone wanted and no one could have. So, why wouldn't he want to have her?

He was the dragonslayer of light, he LOVED things that shined. It was half of why he couldn't understand Rogue's fascination with Yukino, dull and uninteresting girl that she was. But then again, Rogue couldn't understand Sting's fascination with Minerva, bright, gleaming and blinding woman she could be. But Sting chose her, and Sting would succeed.

There was no other option BUT to win.

So, looking up after he heard her footsteps, seeing her dark smile and exotic eyes settled on his slumped over form, he knew that he was that much closer to winning.

"Are you out here sulking?" she taunted, narrowing her eyes and fluttering her lashes, her smile twisting into this sharp, dangerous kind of thing. "Isn't that just adorable!"

He smirked right back at her, smug expression careless and aloof. "Are you out here looking for me?" he asked, and for the briefest of moments saw her eyes widen from their narrowed points before they returned, deadly as ever. "Because that's just too good."

"Don't flatter yourself." She replied, flicking her head off to the side and letting him catch a whiff of her jasmine shampoo. "I don't care at all."

"Awful cold for you to be out here just for a stroll then, hm?" he asked as he stood, matching her up in height.

"Master wanted me to get you. Past your bedtime, you know."

"I wouldn't, nice of you to remind me though."

She glared, her arms folded. "You wouldn't know anything." She said simply, realizing how close they were. "That's just what kind of man you are."

A chuckle from deep in his throat resounded out, his eyes drooping down lazily. "You don't know what kind of man I am." He said, voice dropping to a deep whisper as he leaned in closer, his mouth closing in to her ear as she stiffened, her arms tightening around each other from where they were folded over her chest. "But you can find out, hm? We'll stay up past our bedtimes."

Her lower lip was dropped gently when he pulled away, giving her a clear look of his face before he lumbered off lazily to the guild, one hand up in farewell as he knew she would be staring at his retreating back. Two can play her game, anyway.

Minerva was like a jewel: bright, blinding, expensive and gorgeous, but Sting? Sting was like a sun and of course the only thing that could EVER match up with her could only be him. Just like a dull flame can glow in darkness, a shining star can dim next to the white light. They fit together, you see, like jigsaw puzzles and headstrong, similar and glistening people.

So what did Sting think of Minerva?

Well, he thought she was perfect.


I...love this couple. I love Sting with Minerva and I love Rogue with Yukino. From ST, those are my top two ships. Yeps, so, of COURSE I had to write a short little fic on the two of them!

While Rogue and Yukino are quiet, background people, Sting and Minerva are in the front. Rogue and Yukino would compliment each other and Sting and Minerva would totally challenge each other and I think they both love it.

Nothing ridiculously sappy (not in their characters anyway) but enough. Haha, seductive!Sting, I love it! XD Well, anyway, just adding to the (horribly, terribly, cruelly small!) fandom of these two. :)