Act of Love

By Ah Poke

"Ah not there, it's sensitive."

"You sure are sensitive everywhere Fate-chan."

"It's natural!"

"Kiss me again. I know you want to."

The sun rose and peaked thru the slit in the curtains of the dark room, exposing two bodies semi-covered with the same blanket, almost hugging the bodies, revealing the generous shapes of their bodies. Slowly as the pale sunlight met that of their eyes, one of them awoke, rubbing her purple blue eyes, she tumbled out of the bed as the leftover blonde shifted at the unusual amount of freedom in the bed. As Nanoha begun to dress, she put on her usual uniform, before checking on her daughter in the next room, who had requested that she sleep in a separate room or bed from her mothers as she could not put up with their constant shifting in bed. Soon after, Fate also awoke and put on her own uniform as she proceeded in the same manner as her partner and checked upon their daughter then moving on towards the mess hall for the morning meal.

"Right it's time for the morning exercises, good job yesterday, however we have something different today. Scattered throughout the simulator are copies of the instructors. Your objective is to find the original using team work, however the copies hurt as much as the originals, so it won't be easy." Announced Nanoha to the forwards of section six as she disappeared without a trace.

"But that's not fair! You could be anywhere!" Complained the forwards as they reluctantly begun to ready for the exercise.

"Life isn't fair, but copies are different from the originals, this exercise will test you're perception skills as well as combat skills. Begin!" was the reply in Nanoha's voice.

Above the simulator grounds, four flying figures hovered above the grounds laughing at the forwards as they slowly discerned which of the instructors were fakes and which were not.

"I guess they've gotten a hang of our combat styles." Commented Vita as she watched Subaru perform a maneuver to counteract a copy of Vita's strike. "But I'm not a copy, I would not have fallen for that trick."

"Do you think this training might have been a little too harsh?" Asked a concerned Fate.

"No problem, they should be fine, even if they won't realize that we're really up here." Replied Nanoha, easing her lover's fears for the safety of the forwards.

As Nanoha finished her sentence, Caro appeared from behind riding on her dragon as Erio used Strada to wing its way around the four instructors extending a capture spell around them after which he landed gracefully on the sliver dragon's back. The images of them on the ground immediately disappeared revealing them to be mirages created by Teana, who had created them to fool the instructors into thinking all of them were on the field.

"Not bad, though you were supposed to find us, not capture us." Commented Vita with a little spite in her voice.

"Good job guys. How did you realize that we were here?" Asked Nanoha.

"Four spots in the sky are a little too obvious, though we had to look for quite a while before noticing the specs in the sky." Commented Teana.

"I guess you're right, we'll make it more difficult next time." Replied Nanoha. "See I told you so Fate-san." Added Nanoha with a matter-of-fact tone.

"Fine…" Was all Fate replied as she walked off faster then normal.

"Wait up Fate-san!" As Nanoha chased after her with the forwards in tow towards the mess hall for lunch. "Are you angry at me for something?" Asked Nanoha as she caught up with Fate.

"No, I'm fine."

During lunch, as they sat with Hayate and the Wolkenritter, Fate remained quiet during the duration of the meal, and since it didn't vary from her already silent nature, no one really noticed that Fate was a little angry at Nanoha's minor comment earlier, and since she did not express what she felt, she felt as if no one cared. As Vivio stumbled in a little while after they started lunch, rubbing her dual colored eyes as if she just woke up.

"Nanoha ma ma… Morning… Fate ma ma… Morning…" Said Vivio almost dreamily.

"Mou! Vivio, you shouldn't sleep until so late." Nagged Nanoha.

"I think it's alright to sleep in, she's still a growing child." Commented Fate.

"But she'll develop a sleeping problem in the future."

Fate held her tongue against Nanoha as she did not want to fight with her in front of Vivio, she kept her fury in and kept quiet, constantly keeping her normal facial features on. Nanoha took that as an issue resolved and happily went back to her meal, but not before helping Vivio get her brunch. Fate, who had finished her meal proceeded to feed her.

"Say 'ah' Vivio, you need to eat all these to be strong and healthy like you're mothers." Cooed Fate in a sing song tune as she fed her with a spoonful of vegetables and rice.

"Don't want." Pouted Vivio who dislike vegetables. (Author's Note: Personally as a kid I hate vegetables, but veggies are good, and I like them now.)

"But if you don't eat you're vegetables, you won't get any dessert later." Added Nanoha.

"Nanoha-san, you shouldn't condition her like that."

"But it's a good way to make her eat, also Fate-san, you should let her be independent and eat on her own."

"She's still young." Sighed Fate.

"Vivio, learn to eat on your own alright?" Asked Nanoha in her sweetest voice she could manage.

"Alright Nanoha ma ma." Smiled Vivio, eager to please her mother.

Fate had enough, she gently placed the spoon back onto the plate and immediately left with her empty plate and a word of 'I'm done' and placed it inside the collection basin and left the mess hall without a word. The rest thought that since she had finished her meal, she left as she had something else to do, thus they did not pursue her as they would have if they had known she was angry.

She rushed on towards the training grounds and set the simulation to the highest level of difficulty and begun to train alone, and contrary to what she and Nanoha had constantly reminded the forwards, she recklessly executed dangerous life threatening maneuvers. Swerving between targets, using high stress skills and spells, she completed the training in record timing and after lying sweaty and in pain for a while, she dragged herself back to the building before Nanoha and the forwards came back from lunch and saw her like that. She wanted to forget the sharp comments that Nanoha had made, even as Nanoha didn't realize that they were sharp, it had cut Fate deeply and it hurt. The physical pain might have had hidden the mental pain, but yet she still felt the sting of those words and even the physical pain she was experiencing was nothing compared to what was bleeding in her mind.

As she spent her time in the warm showers of the nearer barracks' toilets, she took her time in the showers washing off the grim of the earlier training, but even as she was clean, she did not leave and instead sat in the cubicle crying, as her wet hair dripped and covered her face. She cried to herself as she slowly dried herself and dressed back into her uniform and walked slowly to the room she shared with the person she hated most at the moment.

Walking into the room, she saw that Nanoha had not returned from the training with the forwards. She wandered about aimlessly around the room, not knowing what to do, she felt as if she were being torn in two, on one hand, she was angry with Nanoha for making such comments, on the other hand by replying in anger, she would be hurting her lover, was it an act of love to withhold the anger that remained in her, or was it really just her pride that didn't want her friend's comfort. Did she think that Nanoha was being ignorant on purpose, or was it that she didn't express herself enough, after all she did tell Nanoha that she was not angry. She decided to sleep over her problem and decide later or perhaps tomorrow, after all, they slept in the same room, on the same bed, to avoid Nanoha was as good as sending the signal flare that she didn't want sent out. Thinking about all that, she drifted to sleep, the kind where you can only reach when your mind is in turmoil.

Strong hands held her, as she awoke with a startle, staring into the face of her beloved Nanoha as it was riddled with a frown. She looked straight, and then her eyes shifted to the right then the left, starting around as if the surroundings were unfamiliar to her. Her eyes finally shifted to the clock that was at their bedside, and to her surprise it was already past eight in the night. She avoided Nanoha's casual gaze for a moment.

"Are you alright Fate-chan?" Inquired a frowning Nanoha.

"I'm fine." Casually replied Fate as she avoided Nanoha's concerned stare.

"No you're not, look, you're sweating buckets as well as when I came in, you were restlessly tossing about in bed, if there is something wrong, you should not hide it, you should tell me, the more you hide it from me, the more I feel saddened by you're hurt and discomfort, the best way is to share you're pain with me."

"I'm fine, really…"

"Let's have a bath together then, since you're all sweaty, or perhaps you would like some dinner first, since you missed dinner again."

"I'll have a bath then…"

"That's great, we could have a bath together. I'll help you wash up." Cheered Nanoha as she went towards the toilet and prepared the bath as well as started to strip.

Fate hadn't counted on talking to Nanoha about her feelings before she had the chance to think about it properly, so she simply striped off her clothes and proceeded towards the bath with Nanoha.

"Ah. This feels great doesn't it Fate-chan."

"Erm… Yea…" Aimlessly answered Fate as they relaxed in the average sized bath that was exclusively installed in the Commander's rooms after the first attack on the section six headquarters.

"You still seem aimless, almost unhappy."

"I might be…" Admitted Fate as she fidgeted under the water.

"Have I done something to make you sad Fate-chan?" Asked Nanoha as she half swam towards Fate. As Nanoha approached Fate, she put her hands around Fate and whispered into her ears, "I'm all ears Fate-chan."

Fate squirmed away and Nanoha caught the hint that Fate was more then slightly angry with someone, namely her. She let Fate escape for a while and enjoyed the warm bath before speaking again.

"You can tell me anything Fate-chan, even if it was about being angry, even if it was you being angry at me."

"I hate your comments about the way I do things! Is everything I do always wrong! We may have different opinions on how to bring Vivio up, but that doesn't mean that I'm wrong! You don't have to talk so superiorly when you think I'm wrong! Was all we've been thru just an act of love, was last night an act of love!? Or was it really acts of love? Think about it Nanoha!" Shouted Fate angrily as she let loose all the anger she had kept within herself and stormed out of the bath and dressed in her black lacey pajamas and hid under the sheets of the bed sobbing her poor heart out.

Nanoha had no idea that the issue that had been bugging Fate was all about the way she spoke, she had selfishly expected everyone she knew to accept the way she spoke, no matter how they may feel about it. She had least expect Fate to blow up about how she spoke, but yet had expected such a rift would come along the path if she did not correct her poor habit of not watching what she said, but yet actions were harder to do then thoughts alone. She laid in the bath a while longer, thinking back on why she had refused to change her speech. She then made up her mind to apologize and see what she could do for Fate.

"Fate-chan, are you awake?" Softly whispered Nanoha even though she knew that Fate was awake from her sobbing.

"What do you want…" Mumbled Fate from under the covers.

"Mou, Fate-chan, I'm sorry if the comments I made hurt you, I didn't notice, honest!"

"I'm sorry Nanoha!" Sobbed Fate all of a sudden, embracing Nanoha and burying her face in her exposed chest.

The sudden burst of emotion surprised Nanoha as she returned Fate's embrace and stroking her long hair. "It's alright to show you're emotions Fate-chan. There's nothing embarrassing about it."

"I didn't mean to be so angry! Honest! I was just so angry…"

"It's alright Fate-chan. I understand. I'm not angry honest."

"But I…" Before Fate could finish her sentence, Nanoha gave a wet kiss.

"Feeling better?" Smiled Nanoha.

"I guess…" Sobbed Fate as she wiped her teary eyes. "Kiss me Nanoha."

Nanoha followed on with another kiss for Fate, after which she returned the favor twofold, slowly as they struggled out of their clothing that loosely clung onto their bodies.

"With that I forgive you Fate-chan."

"Was there anything to forgive me for Nanoha-san." Giggled Fate.

"I guess not. Kiss me Fate-chan."

"I guess it really wasn't an act of love, I know you really love me."

"Did you have any doubts?"

"Maybe." Kissed Fate smoothly.

Author's Note: Inspired by love and discipline. If you've read it, but are feeling a little confused over the play of words? Read the next chapter for an explanation. Please read and review, thanks. Your viewership is highly appreciated.