Darkness.

The kind of darkness you get when the sun has just set and there's still a tiny bit of light left in the sky, just enough to let you see things that are close to you.

It was like that now.

Nitori probably should have turned on a light or at least lighted a candle by now, seeing as there wasn't much sunlight left in the room she had sat in for the past eleven hours or so, but she couldn't waste any time. And it wasn't as if she couldn't see what see was doing, even if she did have to squint a bit.

Just a few hours ago, Marisa had given her this strange thing that resembled one of those mobile phones, only bigger, and ever since then Nitori had been sitting at her desk, taking the device apart just so she could put it back together again.

So how could she possibly waste time that she could be spending on finding out what this thing was just to turn on a light?

Though maybe it would have helped. It was getting darker now and much harder to see.

Not yet. Maybe once she was finished dismantling the thing. Maybe...

Knock. Knock.

"Hey, Nitori?"

The door creaked open, "It's getting really late..."

Nitori turned around to see Hina standing at the door, hugging herself in the same way she did whenever she felt nervous. She walked towards Nitori, feeling her way through the room that was still fairly dark, even with the door wide open.

"It's midnight," she said in a soft voice, "You've been in here all day."

The kappa waved a hand dismissively at Hina. "Yeah yeah, give me five minutes. I just need to finish with this."

"Well, at least turn a light on." Hina reached over and flicked the switch of the desk lamp on before pulling her hand away quickly. She still didn't fully understand all these... electronics yet. They scared her.

"Thanks."

…

Silence.

Hina stepped closer to Nitori and sighed.

She was getting all too used to this silence. It was like this nearly everyday; Nitori would be busy working on one of her projects, Hina would try to talk to her and she'd just get this silence. No "how was your day?" or even an "I love you."

They were supposed to be in love. They were supposed to be in a relationship.

Why didn't they act like it?

At first it had been nice; they would hold hands, kiss, and actually spend time together. Even though Nitori was shy about it, at least she acted like she cared about Hina. She'd talk to her and be around her as much as she could, not spend all day hunched over some stupid device. Most of the time Nitori would just fall asleep at her desk now and they rarely slept together any more. In fact, they hadn't kissed each other for quite some time.

Sometimes Hina thought that maybe Nitori cared more about her tools.

"Everything okay Hina?"

"Huh? O-oh yeah, I was just wondering..." The curse goddess tried to think of something, anything to get Nitori to talk to her. "... what that thing was. It looks... interesting."

The kappa's eyes lit up as she pushed her chair back so Hina could get a better look at the contraption. "Well... I'm not too sure of what it is yet but I think it's like one of those mobile phones..."

And at that moment.

"... I'll try turning it on once..."

As Hina, instead of looking at the thing on the desk, looked at Nitori's face.

"... it's one of the more complicated..."

She realised that the look she was seeing now.

"... I took me forever to find a screwdriver that..."

Was the same look Nitori used to look at her with.

"... and if you look here..."

The same happy eyes, the same sincere smile.

"... I know I'm probably boring you but..."

The same look she had whenever she told Hina that she loved her.

"... I'm gonna start putting it back..."

But now it was directed at these... these objects. These stupid inanimate objects. She loved these stupid things more than she loved Hina.

And it hurt.

It hurt that the woman who was supposed to love her would rather... would rather sleep with one of her wrenches! Not only did it hurt, it made Hina furious. Why was she even putting up with this? How did she not notice this earlier?

Nitori didn't love her any more.

"Hina? Are you sure you're okay? You've gone aw-"

"D-don't talk to me!" Hina choked back a sob as she turned around and ran out of the room, covering her face with her hands. She threw herself into the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her as she collapsed onto the floor and sobbed.

How could Nitori love her stupid little toys more than she loved Hina? They couldn't love her back, they couldn't even feel anything. Why couldn't she just forget about them and pay attention to Hina again? Why couldn't it be like it used to be?

The curse goddess lay flat on the floor and cried herself to sleep, too miserable and tired to move.

Hina woke up to the feeling of a hand tenderly stroking her hair with her head resting on someone's lap. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, her back aching from sleeping on the hard, wooden floor all night.

"Hmm? Nitori?"

Nitori looked at her and smiled."Hina! Y-you're finally awake! I was so worried after you ran out like that last night. Is everythi-"

Then she remembered what happened and started to cry again. Of course it wasn't all right, and the fact that Nitori still hadn't figured out why she was so upset made her cry even harder.

"N-no! Of course I'm not a-all right!"

The kappa pulled her into a hug. "Please tell me what's wrong, Hina. Did I do something wrong?"

"Yes!" Hina cried, pushing Nitori off of her, "You did! But of course you wouldn't know that, would you? Because all you've done for the past month is sit in your room with your stupid little tools! And that's the problem. How can you not see that?! You love those.. those devices more than you love me!"

It was becoming harder to hold back the sobs.

"You don't talk to me any more, you don't kiss me any more, you don't even sleep in the same bed as me. Don't you love me? Do you even care about me now? I-I... just want..."

"Hina..." Nitori pulled her onto her lap and hugged her. "I'm so so so sorry. I didn't know you felt that way... s-sweetie."

Hina snivelled, but smiled a little bit and hugged her back. It was nice to hear that nickname after so long.

"I love you. I love you so much, Hina. You're the most beautiful girl I've ever met... a-and nothing can replace you."

"I love you too."

At that moment their eyes locked. Nitori stroked Hina's cheek, looking into her tear-filled green eyes.

"You're so beautiful..." Her hand moved from her cheek to her chin and tilted Hina's head up, before leaning down and kissing her softly. Hina kissed her back and wrapped her arms around Nitori's neck, intensifying the kiss. After a few seconds they both pulled away breathless.

"I'm really sorry," Nitori said again, still holding Hina on her lap.

"It's okay." Hina suddenly smirked and a small blush spread across her cheek as she leaned in closer, " Could we move to somewhere... more comfortable?"

Nitori blushed bright red but nodded. "W-whatever you want..."

(A/N:) Hnnng I really don't like how I wrote the last section but it's late now, and I'd like to get this posted tonight. Another pairing that needs more fanfics. I hope you enjoyed reading it!