Hi everyone!

This is a piece of writing I wrote a lot of time ago, when I started to read AnE. I'm aware that it now could be considered OOC, especially since it's been a while since the last time I went on reading the manga, but I had been my first attempt to write something simple and short, so I decided to post it anyway!

Truth to be told, Izumo e Shiemi weren't my favourite characters, but I wanted to write an insight of their relationship, which hadn't been really developped for what I can remember. I chose Izumo's POV because she is the closest of the two and I think that this let more space for interpretation. It can be seen both as friendship or as romance (I used to ship them, but I leave that to the reader discretion).

English is not my first language! Please, let me know what you think!

Silent Bond

"The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall"
Ronan Keating - When You Say Nothing At All

Izumo lifted her eyes from the steaming cup she was holding and peeped once again at the girl who was sitting next to her, busy sipping her own infusion. After Shiemi had saved Paku's life, their relationship had evolved considerably, crossing the limits that Izumo herself had set at the beginning. Almost without noticing, she had opened her heart to that shy, awkward and yet so determined girl as she had never done in her life. And the most disconcerting fact was that, for the first time, she had done it instinctively, without firstly considering the pros and cons as she usually did. For a moment, a mere instant, she had allowed her cynical rationality to succumb to emotions and had let herself enjoy the sweetness of friendship warmth. She still didn't know if it had been a mistake or not.

But, after all, who could say what was good and what was bad? The analysis of the consequences, perhaps? Or maybe something completely different, one of those emotions she had always fled from?

She looked back in front of her, her dark crimson eyes losing themselves in the rain of pink petals that fell slowly, driven by the gentle spring breeze that spread their delicate scent all around. She closed his eyes and savoured the fragrance that surrounded her, fresh and light like the summer rain, as she lowered the guard that usually was always and painfully raised. After all it mattered so little, what was right or wrong. It had happened and had brought her only pleasant memories. To protect the image she had built of himself she could always go on wearing her mask of despise. She knew that he wouldn't have Shiemi taken offence for her behaviour. The blonde understood her and her needs, and respected them without depriving her of her proximity in those lonely moments, when there were only the two of them and the cherry tree in the garden.

Could something so pure, however far away from what she was, harm her? Was it the fear that pushed her to keep on denying?

A small chuckle brought her back to reality. Izumo's eyes snapped open and she felt stupid for having been caught in that moment of weakness. However, when she moved her gaze on her companion, ready to address her with some sour joke, that bright smile and those cheeks lit by a shy blush made the words dying on her lips. Her blood-red eyes reflected in Shiemi's emerald ones, losing themselves in them. The blonde shyly reached out a hand to touch hers in a gentle caress, without breaking the eye contact, while her face became even redder in that innocent way that only she possessed. Izumo let the other girl draw her into her embrace, allowing her head to rest on her shoulder. Shiemi's honey blond hair brushed lightly against the face, as the sunrays that seeped in the cloud of pinkish petal, giving off the same scent of the flowers.

Didn't they describe angels like that in the stories, with eyes like gems, golden hair and pale skin? Carriers of love and peace, always pure and untouched despite the corruption of the world?

Perhaps, to gain those moments, it had really been worth to have let her armour break. Those instants shared silently to the core of the soul, made only of looks, subtle gestures and candid touches, all filled with deep meanings, never disturbed by the sound of the words, those words that she used to manipulate the others, those words that defended her by the indiscreet look of the world, those words that were her weapons and defences, but also her lonely prison. Only Shiemi had been able to overcome the boundary which had seemed so insurmountable, because only she had been able to express everything without ever saying anything.

How much did her pride matter in front of that new and never experienced feeling? And what were the strength and the will for once directed outward and not towards herself?

Izumo tightened her grip on Shiemi's warm body and knew that the other girl was smiling. Having someone at your side in every situation and circumstance couldn't be that bad. Not feeling alone, abandoned, having a hand that gripped at your own, without speaking. And she knew that the creature kind she was holding would never let her go.