Blumenkranz
By SMYGO4EVA

"Hey…what if we just kissed?" Mana said suddenly.

She was sitting cross-legged on the bed, her hands resting lightly on her knees. Serenity was lying on the floor, fingers dug deep into the thick pile of the carpet rug, because if she didn't hang on to something, she' was going to start reaching for Mana, and she was pretty sure that once she started, she wouldn't stop.

She felt like this was the beginning of something, like she was standing on the edge of a cliff, vertigo terrifying and enchanting all at the same time, and all she wanted to do was to jump, to fall.

"I..." Serenity started, stopped for a second, and took a deep breath.

"I don't know if that's a good idea," she replied, her voice was even, almost deliberately calm.

"Please?" Mana spoke, and she sounded almost desperate, like she would cry, and Serenity couldn't just say no.

Serenity was never been able to say no.

"All right." she replied back, and climbed on to the bed, careful, tucking her feet up under her and trying to act like this was no big deal.

It was nothing, right? It doesn't mean anything, two friends experimenting, nothing at all.

"Just kissing?" she asked.

"Just kissing," Mana replied back, smiling slightly, and Serenity was sure they both know that there would be no such thing. Not for them.

"Okay," Serenity said, again. She moved closer to Mana, leaning in, and as she closed her eyes, she could swear she felt the world shift, change.

There was no going back for either of them.

Nothing would ever be the same.