So, I'm kind of in love with Aoi x Nene, and I couldn't stop myself from writing this one-shot. I seriously love these two together, they are the second friendship in Beelzebub that I absolutely love (the first being Oga and Furuichi, of course). So, this is set during Oga and Furuichi's second year in Ishiyama (Aoi and Nene's third year), after entrance exams and the fifth Beelzebub side story. I was kind of inspired by the Amnesia Arc for this story. I hope you enjoy!
Warning, this is shoujo-ai/girls' love.
Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Ryuuhei Tamura, not me.
The Queen and her Commander
The door to Ishiyama's infirmary burst open, revealing Oga and Furuichi carrying something rather heavy. Lamia, who had been called to the infirmary, was startled by the sudden sound of the door bursting open. "You're here!" Oga said urgently. "We need your help Lamia!"
Lamia huffed, knowing that they needed her help. "You told me already, what is-" She was cut off when they placed what looked like a glass coffin in front of her, much to her surprise and confusion.
"What the hell is this?" she demanded as Oga, Beel, and Furuichi stood in front of her.
In front of her was a glass coffin, with none other than Kunieda Aoi trapped inside. Instead of her normal school uniform or anything like that, she wore a very intricate medieval dress, her long black hair braided into a side braid. Her hands were folded over her chest and a rose was clasped in her hands. Her eyes were closed, as if she were merely sleeping, making her look like a fairy tale princess cast under a sleeping curse.
"Oga, what happened here?!" Lamia demanded, her voice demanding an explanation. "How did this happen?! Why is she sleeping?!"
"Whoa whoa, calm down, Lamia," Furuichi said nervously. "We can explain."
And so, Furuichi explained the story to Lamia. Kunieda had gone missing the previous day and just this morning, Oga, Beel, and Furuichi were attacked by three demons from the Solomon Company. Apparently, these three demons were the ones who had abducted Kunieda, hoping to use her as a hostage to lure Oga into a trap because for some reason, they thought that she was an actual queen. Yeah, those guys definitely weren't the brightest. Hell, they even referred to her as Her Majesty Queen Aoi!
"Well, well, if it isn't Oga Tatsumi, the contractor of Master Beel," the first demon drawled, eyeing both Oga and Furuichi scornfully. They had been on their way to school when these three demons had attacked them.
"Huh?! Who the hell are you?!" Oga demanded, glaring at them.
The second one sneered. "You don't know?" he taunted. "We're the ones who took your little lady friend. Who was she, oh right, that girl, Queen Kunieda Aoi."
Furuichi perked up slightly upon hearing Kunieda's name. "Wait, you guys have Kunieda-senpai? Where is-" Before he could even complete his question, Furuichi received a blow in the face, sending him flying back into the wall.
"Silence, weakling!" the third demon snarled at Furuichi, glaring scornfully at him. Furuichi merely glared back as Oga tensed up slightly, glaring at the demons.
The leader sneered at Oga before a portal appeared on the ground and a figure started to materialize in the center of the portal, much to Furuichi's surprise. Oga, however, didn't care about that. He was angered that these guys had the nerve to try and hurt Furuichi, and he was pissed that these guys were in the way.
At that moment, the figure stopped materializing and the portal disappeared. Oga and Furuichi stared at it in shock.
It was a glass coffin. But that's not what shocked them. What shocked them was that Kunieda was in there, dolled up and dressed into the attire of what looked like a medieval princess, a single rose clasped in her fingers. Now both of them were really confused. What the hell happened to Kunieda? Why did she look like that? And why was she in a glass coffin?!
"Dabuh!" Beel exclaimed, surprised at the sight.
"Kunieda?" Oga said, just as surprised.
"What the- why is Kunieda-senpai dressed like that?" Furuichi asked. "What's with the Snow White getup?!"
The leader smirked. "You shouldn't be addressing your queen like that, boy," he taunted.
Okay, now he was really confused. "Wait, our queen?" he repeated, bewildered. "She's not our-"
"Oh really? Then why is it that she's known as Queen Kunieda Aoi of the Red Tails?" the second demon countered.
A bead of sweat rolled down Furuichi's forehead as he stared at the demons in disbelief. "You can't be serious," he said, dumbfounded. Were these guys stupid?! Kunieda was not a queen, that was merely a nickname!
"From now on, Her Majesty Queen Aoi is our hostage, and if you want-" A kick from Oga had cut him off and sent him crashing into the wall. Oga grinned demonically at the two remaining demons who prepared to fight him.
"How about you shut the fuck up and get outta my way!" Oga sneered.
Sure enough, the fight ended quickly with the three demons being buried head first into the wall. Now, Oga and Furuichi glanced at the glass coffin.
"Now what do we do?"
"And that's what happened," Furuichi finished.
Lamia stared at him in disbelief, a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead. "Seriously now…?" she muttered to herself. "I can't believe it… just how stupid are they?!" She stepped up to the coffin and opened it, a slight hiss of air escaping as the lid opened.
When the lid opened, it seemed like some colour returned to Aoi. However, she still didn't wake up, causing Oga and Furuichi to look at her in concern. "Is she alright?" Oga asked.
"She's been put under a sleeping spell," the pink-haired demon said, checking her temperature. "However, her temperature's normal and her heart rate's fine. She's also breathing normally, which is a good thing. Nothing else has been affected."
"Yeah, but how are we gonna wake her up?!" Furuichi demanded. "There's no point in her heart rate and all that being okay if she's under a friggin' sleeping spell!"
Oga nodded. "He's right," he said. "Kunieda won't be happy if she wakes up and we didn't tell her that her clothes have been changed."
"Dabu," Beel agreed.
"You're completely missing the point, you moron!" Furuichi and Lamia shouted in annoyance at him.
At that moment, the door burst open, revealing Oomori Nene, Hanazawa Yuka, Tanimura Chiaki, Asuka Ryoko, and Umemiya Kaoru, the five girls of the Red Tails. "We heard that you guys found Nee-san!" Nene said urgently.
"Lami!" Yuka squealed upon seeing Lamia, and rushed towards her, glomping her. "Oh, you're as cute as ever, your cheeks are so squishy!" she gushed as Lamia tried to break free.
Lamia struggled to get out of Yuka's embrace until Nene stepped up to her. "Oi, leave her alone," Nene chided. "We're not here for that now." She turned to Oga and Furuichi. "Where's Nee-san? Is she okay?"
Furuichi hesitated, feeling a bit nervous. "She's here, it's just…" he trailed off.
"She's over here," Oga said, pointing at the coffin.
Confused, the girls went to see for themselves. Upon seeing Aoi in the coffin, they were definitely stunned at the sight. "N-Nee-san!" Nene exclaimed in shock.
"What happened to her?!" Yuka asked.
"And why does she look so dolled up?!" Ryoko asked.
"Is she alright?! Lamia, tell us, is she okay?!" Nene pleaded.
How cute… Chiaki thought upon seeing Nene worrying over Aoi.
Lamia sighed. "She's fine. She's been put under a sleeping spell, that's all," she explained. "I just need to get in touch with Dr. Furcas to see if he has a cure for this."
"Hold on, Lamia!" Nene asked worriedly. "Who did this to her?"
"Some guys from that Solomon Company," Furuichi explained. "They abducted her yesterday to use as a hostage to lure Oga into some trap."
The red-haired girl looked even more confused as she turned to Furuichi. "Why'd they take her? And… why did they dress her up like this?" she asked.
A bead of sweat rolled down Furuichi's forehead. "Yeah… apparently they thought Kunieda-senpai was an actual queen because reports have had her known as Queen Kunieda Aoi of the Red Tails, so they thought that if she was an actual queen, then she would be a good hostage."
Nene stared at Furuichi in disbelief. "Wait, seriously?" she asked.
"Yeah, I know," Furuichi responded, agreeing with her.
"Oga! Furuichi!" Lamia called from the door. "Come on! You two are coming with me to find a cure to wake her up!"
"Wait, what about Nee-san?" Kaoru asked.
"We'll stay with her," Chiaki offered.
"Okay then," Lamia said. "We'll be back." She, Oga, and Furuichi left the infirmary, leaving Nene and the Red Tails with Aoi.
Nene sighed as she walked up to the open coffin. When she looked at it, she felt a rather sick feeling. She didn't like seeing Aoi lying in a coffin like that, it was too morbid of a sight. Slowly, she lifted her in her arms and carried her to one of the beds, much to the surprise of the other girls.
"Nene-san, what are you doing?" Ryoko asked her.
"I'm just laying her down on the bed," Nene said, gently laying Aoi down. "I don't like seeing her in the coffin, it's too morbid."
As she laid Aoi down on the bed, she couldn't help but admire her. Aoi looked so peaceful and gentle when asleep, even if she was under a sleeping spell. While she did look very beautiful in the clothes she was wearing now, it still took something away from her, made her look unnatural.
"Aoi…" she said softly, gently caressing her face as she moved a strand of her hair away from her face. Too lost in her thoughts, she failed to notice that the rest of the girls had left the infirmary, wishing to give her some privacy.
Nene sat down on the chair next to the bed, pondering over her thoughts. Aoi meant quite a lot to her, ever since she had become the leader of the Red Tails. The two of them had known each other for a long time, and had been very good friends, always looking out for each other. When Aoi had become the leader of the Red Tails and asked Nene to be her second-in-command, Nene had been overjoyed. She smiled slightly as she remembered when Aoi had become the leader.
"Congrats, Aoi-neesan!" Nene praised her, a proud smile on her face. It was their first year in Ishiyama and Aoi had just received the white trenchcoat that once belonged to the former leader.
Aoi smiled at her. "I can't believe it," she said truthfully. "I've become the leader of the Red Tails!"
"You'll be a great leader, Aoi. I know it!" Nene reassured her. "You'll do great!"
Aoi put a hand on her shoulder, a small smile on her face. "Thank you, Nene," she thanked her sincerely. "However, every great leader needs a second-in-command who will help them out with protecting the girls of this school. Nene, will you be my second-in-command?" she asked.
Nene was stunned. Aoi was asking her… to be her second-in-command?! "Wait… me?" she asked.
Aoi nodded, still smiling. Nene smiled excitedly.
"Why… of course!" she nearly cheered. "I'd love to! I'll be your second-in-command!"
She had been so excited, she hugged Aoi tightly, thanking her repeatedly. And since then, she had been her loyal second-in-command, helping Aoi with tough situations and with protecting the girls of Ishiyama. However, Aoi was more than just her leader.
Nene admired Aoi so much. She looked up to her, respected her, and enjoyed being around her. When Aoi had quit the Red Tails and gave her the title of leader, Nene had been absolutely devastated, especially because Aoi had quit because of her love for Oga. It was that reason why Nene had never truly embraced the title of leader. Aoi deserved it way more than she did.
On that subject, when Nene had learned that Aoi was in love with Oga, she had felt an ugly feeling clawing inside of her. She was appalled, of course, that Aoi was forgetting their basic rule: to never have intimate or romantic relations with a man. However, she had felt a bit hurt, as well as that ugly jealousy. She would never admit it to anyone, but she was jealous that Oga had somehow managed to steal Aoi's heart without even realising it (then again, he was too dense to even know that Aoi had fallen in love with him).
Nene wondered what Aoi felt about her. She wanted to spend her days by Aoi's side, but she didn't want to just be a friend to her. Everytime she thought about Aoi, her heart would beat faster and her face would heat up. She would never admit it to anyone, but she had fallen in love with her. So, when Aoi seemed to attract so many more admirers, like Aiba Izou in Okinawa, she felt rather jealous, wondering why Aoi didn't notice her.
Now though, Aoi seemed to have gotten over her crush on Oga. But Nene still didn't know just what Aoi felt towards her. She wanted to know. She had to know.
"Aoi… I hope you wake up soon," she murmured to herself.
Oga, Baby Beel, Furuichi, and Lamia had managed to obtain a video message from Dr. Furcas, who had found a cure to break the sleeping spell. And somehow, they managed to find a computer in the school that not only worked, but that also didn't have a plethora of obscene, NSFW content on it. Then again, they were in Ishiyama.
"It's amazing how there's one computer that hasn't been touched by the delinquents yet…" Furuichi said to himself, rubbing his eyes to try and rid himself of some of those disturbing images from the other computers.
Lamia shuddered. "This is like complete deja vu again after Hilda's memory loss, except instead of amnesia, it's a sleeping spell," she commented as she put the disc into the computer.
The screen went fuzzy for a moment before a live video-chat came up. Dr. Furcas appeared on the screen in his true form, a scowl on his face as he sorted through some paperwork. "You'd better have a good reason for interrupting me. I have a lot of patients to take care of now," he said, sounding rather irritated.
"Master please, this is serious!" Lamia insisted. "Kunieda's fallen under a sleeping spell and we need to wake her up!"
Furcas sighed. "Even if I tell you, it's only going to make you all angry," he said. "I've worked with patients under the sleeping spell and believe me, there is only one cure. And I'm really reluctant to tell you, especially Oga."
Oga glared. "Well, are ya gonna tell us or not?!" he demanded.
Furcas held his hands up, signalling Oga to calm down. "Fine, fine, but don't say I didn't warn you," he warned. "The cure to break the sleeping spell is Mouth-to-Mouth. And not CPR. I mean as in a kiss from her true love."
Furuichi and Lamia stared at the screen in disbelief. This again?! They both thought. Even Oga seemed to give an 'are you serious?' look to Furcas.
"Are you kidding me?!" Oga demanded.
"No, that's the cure," Furcas repeated. "And it's currently the only existing cure as well."
Silence filled the room. And barely even a second passed before a keyboard was hurled at the computer, completely destroying it. Oga glared at the wreck while Furuichi and Lamia watched on, paralyzed with fear. Oga turned to Furuichi and glared demonically at him.
"Did you see anything?!" he growled out. Terrified, Furuichi hastily shook his head.
Oga then turned to Lamia, glaring at her. "Did you hear anything?!" he snarled.
"No, not at all!" Lamia insisted, shaking her head.
A few seconds passed before Oga decided to drop the demonic glare. He still gave them a pointed look that clearly said 'I ain't gonna do it'.
Furuichi shook his head. "Man, out of all the things it could be, it has to be this?" he said in annoyance.
"Well, it shouldn't be so hard," Lamia said. "Doesn't Kunieda have multiple people who like her?"
Before Furuichi could answer, Nene suddenly entered and upon seeing the destroyed computer, she stared at them curiously. "What happened here?" she asked. "Why's that computer destroyed?"
A bead of sweat rolled down Furuichi's forehead. "It was Oga," he said. "And that was the only computer that hasn't been corrupted by delinquents yet. Wait, what are you doing here?"
"Have you found a way to wake Aoi up yet?" Nene asked.
Furuichi froze. This was the question he was seriously hoping she wouldn't ask. However, before he could say anything, Oga pointed his finger at Furuichi. "Oi Furuichi," he said. "Who's that guy from Okinawa, that guy from that, uh…"
"Chinpira High School?" Furuichi finished. "You mean Aiba Izou?"
"Dah!" Beel raised his hand as if confirming Furuichi's answer.
"Yeah, that guy," Oga said. "And then there's that other guy… that guy with Mammon."
"You mean Akahoshi?" Furuichi asked, raising an eyebrow. "Oga, what are you getting at?"
Oga ignored him. "And then, there's Agiel, right?"
"What the hell are you going on about?!" Furuichi demanded, clearly annoyed by Oga's ambiguity.
Oga grabbed Furuichi's shoulders, a satisfied smile on his face. "It's obvious, Furuichi," he said. "We get these people to kiss Kunieda awake!"
Furuichi was surprised. "Wait, what?!" he exclaimed.
"What's this all about?!" Nene demanded, stunned. At that moment, they realized that only she's been left out of the loop regarding this whole sudden discovery.
"Oh, right," Furuichi remembered, laughing sheepishly. "Well, you see, we've found a cure to wake up Kunieda-senpai. However…" He hung his head down. "She has to be kissed by her 'true love'."
The words barely left his mouth before a huge blush crossed Nene's face. "W-Wait… Aoi has to be… kissed?! In order to wake up?!" she demanded.
"Yeah. And Oga's planning on having all of the people who like her come at once to try and wake her up," Furuichi said.
At that answer, Nene's eyes widened in both shock and hurt. Not only was the cure a kiss from her 'true love', but there was a chance that it could be anyone, now that she's let go of Oga. Could it be Aiba? There was definitely a chance of Aiba being the one to wake her up, but even then… that means her chances of ever getting Aoi to notice her feelings had gone down the drain.
"Hey, Oomori, are you okay?" Furuichi asked in concern upon noticing the rather despondent look on her face. However, Nene didn't answer, instead, she walked out of the room, crestfallen.
Nene thought over the situation as she walked outside. Of course, she could take a chance and try kissing Aoi. But what if that was too late? What if someone else already kissed her and then she woke up? Then that means that Aoi would've been in love with that person, not her.
But even then… if I really loved Aoi… I'd want her to be happy, no matter what, right? she realized.
Nene had made her decision. It didn't matter whether anyone else kissed Aoi and she woke up. If Aoi was in love with Aiba, or Akahoshi, or Agiel, then Nene would be happy for her. After all, shouldn't you be happy for the one you love, even if you didn't end up with them?
"That's it," she decided to herself. "It doesn't matter who it is. Since Aoi might be in love with whichever person kisses her, then she'll get together with them. As long as she's happy, I'll be happy."
She smiled to herself, trying to ignore the slowly growing ache in her heart. However, she couldn't stop the small tears that formed in her eyes from dripping down her face as her walk slowly became a run.
After a while, as well as asking the Red Tails as to who liked Aoi, Oga, Furuichi, and Lamia had found the people who liked Aoi and now, several people were now lined up in the infirmary, eager to kiss the queen herself.
Aiba Izou was there, holding a bouquet of flowers to present to Aoi once she woke up (he was rather confident that she would wake up by his kiss); Akahoshi was also there, as well as Mikagami Koutarou of Teimo Tech. He was incredibly eager for this challenge, and Agiel also showed up, just as eager. However, Hecadoth had also shown up, mainly for the purpose of making sure Agiel only kissed Aoi and didn't try anything inappropriate.
Good Night Shimokawa was also there, since he apparently had a crush on Aoi, and so was Sakaki Mitsuteru from St. Ishiyama, surprisingly. Turned out that guy had a crush on Aoi after she had defeated him.
Oga and Furuichi stared at the chaos that was currently happening in the room, both of them not having a good feeling about this. Well, Furuichi, rather. Oga was confident that it would work.
"Oga, are you sure about this?" Furuichi asked nervously.
"Heh. Don't be stupid, Furuichi," Oga said confidently. "It's clearly gonna work."
"Dabu!" Beel agreed, giving a thumbs-up at Furuichi.
Hecadoth watched on, looking rather wary. "You think so? Look at this," he said, gesturing to the scene before them. Sure enough, there was a lot of tension among the possible 'suitors'.
Aiba looked at Aoi on the bed and smiled. "Don't worry, my queen," he told her. "You will be freed from this curse soon. One kiss, and you'll be freed."
"No way!" Mikagami shouted, glaring at Aiba. "Aoi-chan will never love you! Have you gone and trained with Aoi-chan in the mountains?! Have you had your wounds taken care of by Aoi-chan, after Oga buried you headfirst into a boulder?! Have you eaten some of Aoi-chan's onigiri?! I don't think so!"
"Shut up, baldy!" Aiba retorted. "You're only jealous that you didn't get to spend time with her in Okinawa!"
"Oh yeah? Who said that Kunieda Aoi liked guys?" Agiel suddenly interrupted. A grin crossed her face. "She might just like girls for all we know! Besides, Kunieda Aoi is mine!"
"I don't think so," Shimokawa interrupted. "She promised that she'd go out with me once, and I'm still waiting for that."
Sakaki just stared at Aoi, his face expressionless. "Mega… moe…" he said quietly.
"By the way, what are you doing here, Fish Face?" Oga asked Hecadoth.
Hecadoth rolled his eyes. "To make sure Agiel doesn't try anything inappropriate on your friend," he said.
Furuichi looked around nervously. "I have a really bad feeling about this…" he trailed off.
Meanwhile, from a bed near the far window, Nene just watched on as everyone formed a line beside the bed, trying her hardest not show any signs of sadness or dejection. She crossed her arms and stared forlornly outside the window.
Yuka and Chiaki stood on the other end of the room, observing Nene's actions. "Nene-san's been really quiet, huh," Yuka mused, playing with her hair flower. "Ever since they found the cure, she's been so quiet." She turned to Chiaki curiously. "Akichi, why do you think Nene-san's so quiet? It's not like Ogacchi's gonna kiss her or something," she said.
The petite girl turned to her. "Jealousy," she said softly. Indeed, she could tell that the second-year was jealous of those people going to kiss Aoi. Chiaki had known Nene ever since she had joined the Red Tails, the latter being somewhat like a mentor to her and defending her from some of the boys in Ishiyama, and she had observed her well.
Chiaki had seen just how devoted Nene was to Aoi. She had seen that even though Nene was made the new leader of the Red Tails, she still tried to get Kunieda to come back into the Red Tails. Frankly, she thought it was quite cute, the way Nene was so loyal to Aoi. In fact, she had to admit that Nene and Aoi were more compatible than Oga and Aoi.
"Wait, you think Nene-san's… jealous?" Yuka asked, surprised.
Chiaki nodded. "Haven't you seen how she acts around Nee-san?" A small blush tinted her face. "She's in love. How cute."
Yuka looked both surprised and thoughtful at that. True, she had seen how Nene was so dedicated to Aoi, but she never would've thought that Nene was in love with Aoi! Hell, she always thought she had a thing for Furuichi!
But then, she recalled an incident that had happened during the summer of her second year at Ishiyama. The Red Tails had all gone out for karaoke one night and Nene had wanted Aoi to sing a song with her. Aoi, despite being embarrassed initially, agreed to sing with her. Nene had looked so genuinely happy when Aoi agreed. In fact, they had sounded so happy to be together, even if they weren't the best at singing. In fact, Yuka had sworn she saw Aoi blushing when Nene hugged her afterwards. And on their way home, she saw how close Aoi and Nene seemed; almost like a couple, she had noticed.
"Will you guys wait your turn?!" Lamia's impatient voice snapped them out of their thoughts and they turned to see Lamia glaring in disapproval at the people lined up. "This guy's first so he goes first!"
Aiba smiled triumphantly as he made his way to the bed. "So, only true love's kiss can wake her up? Well, she'll be absolutely surprised when she wakes up!"
At that moment, Yuka decided that enough was enough. Grinning slightly, she grabbed Nene's wrist and pulled her out of her chair, dragging her over to the bed where Aoi was sleeping.
The red-haired girl was surprised at being suddenly pulled out of her chair. "O-Oi, Y-Yuka!" she stuttered, flabbergasted as Yuka made her way to the bed, dragging her along. "What… What the hell are you doing?! L-Let go of me!"
"Sorry, Aiba!" Yuka called as she pushed a surprised Aiba out of the way.
"Oi, what the hell was that for?!" Aiba demanded. Yuka ignored him as she stopped at the side of the bed, everyone watching in surprise.
"Yuka, what do you think you're-" Nene started to ask. With one hand, Yuka held onto her wrist and with the other hand, she held the back of Nene's head.
"Now kiss!" Suddenly, she pushed Nene's head down, causing her lips to connect with Aoi's lips, much to the bewilderment of everyone.
Nene's eyes widened in shock, too stunned to even move. Yuka grinned in triumph when she saw some movement from Aoi.
At that moment, Aoi's eyes fluttered slowly before opening slightly. And then they shot wide open when she realized that… Nene was kissing her!
"Mmph!"
Nene hastily pulled away, covering her mouth as a blush crossed her face. Aoi slowly sat up in the bed, a blush slowly crossing her face as well as she stammered in shock. "Wh-What h-happened? And why the hell am I dressed like this?!" she demanded.
Everyone in the room was equally stunned. Oga's eyes were wide with surprise, Furuichi was blushing brightly, Aiba looked absolutely dejected, Mikagami was also completely flabbergasted, Lamia was speechless, Shimokawa was taken aback, and Agiel was equally dumbstruck. Hecadoth also looked quite dumbfounded at the sight, and so did Ryoko and Kaoru. In fact, the only ones who didn't react were Akahoshi and Sakaki.
"Hold on… if her kiss woke up Kunieda-senpai…" Furuichi dropped his mouth open in realization. "Wait, so then… her true love was Oomori?!"
Oga shook his head. "I don't believe this… Kunieda really was into girls," he commented. "Who would've thought that?"
"No one was talking about that, you moron! Go die!" Furuichi shouted at him.
Aoi watched on in confusion at first, but then a smile crossed her face as she laughed slightly. "Well, it's good to be back," she laughed.
Nene smiled in relief. "Aoi!" she almost cheered, throwing her arms around her in a hug. Aoi hugged her back, smiling at the relief in Nene's voice.
Furuichi smiled slightly before he took Oga's wrist and led him out of the infirmary. "Let's give these guys some privacy," he suggested. Soon, everyone left the infirmary, leaving only Nene and Aoi in the room.
As Aoi stepped down from the bed, Nene handed her a fresh uniform to change into. Aoi took it, smiling gratefully at Nene. "Thanks, Nene."
Nene looked down, blushing slightly. "N-No problem…" She looked back up at Aoi, desperate to know something. How long has Aoi loved her for?
"Aoi… can I ask you something?" Nene asked.
Aoi looked at her curiously. "What?"
"How long have you…" she trailed off. "Have you… loved me for?"
The queen looked surprised for a moment. "Is this about how your kiss woke me up?" she asked.
Nene nodded. "So, if my kiss woke you up, how long were you in love with me for?"
Aoi looked thoughtful for a moment as she changed clothing before a sincere smile crossed her face. "I've loved you for a long time, actually," she admitted. "When you were nearly beaten by Ringo, I had felt something rather strange in me among the worry and concern. And at that time, I guess I had kind of realized that I couldn't be with Oga, no matter how much I wanted to."
"But then, I noticed how you were around me. I realized that I really like your company, Nene." She smiled at her, blushing slightly. "You've been real protective of me for quite a long time, and you've helped me make quite a few decisions when I was having difficulty. In all honesty, during the whole Akumano Academy incident, I wanted to become stronger so that I could protect you."
Nene gently caressed Aoi's face, moving a strand of hair away from her face. "Aoi, I have to tell you something," she started. "When you quit the Red Tails and made me the new leader… I was honestly devastated. You were such a great leader and when you quit, I could never embrace the title of leader because I didn't deserve it. In fact, I was trying to get you to come back because I… I missed you a lot." She smiled softly. "When you saved me from Ringo and became the leader again, I was so happy that you came back. However, you've saved me so many times, Aoi. So many times, I'm afraid I might be a burden for you. I want to become stronger so I can protect you as well, and save you when you're in trouble."
Aoi smiled at her. "You're not a burden, Nene," she said. "If I can't save you, I'll never forgive myself. That's what a lover does. She saves the one person whom she loves a lot."
Nene had never felt so happy before. Hearing such a sincere confession from Aoi had removed a large weight from her shoulders, as well as the guilt of harbouring a seemingly one-sided crush on Aoi. Smiling, she gently held Aoi's face as she leaned in closer to her, their foreheads touching and their lips inches apart. "I'm so happy, Aoi," Nene whispered as her eyelids lowered slightly.
Aoi also lowered her eyelids as Nene moved closer. "Me too," she whispered as she moved closer to her.
Soon, their lips met in a sweet, sincere kiss, their eyes closing simultaneously. Aoi wrapped her arms around Nene in a hug as she kissed her slowly and sincerely, inhaling her sweet, floral scent. As they kissed, Aoi felt a variety of emotions. Happiness, love, and fondness.
Even though I had quit, she was still so determined to get me to come back. Even though she had the title of leader, she still followed me. And now… Nene wants to become stronger so she can protect me… how could I have missed this for so long? Aoi realized.
When they pulled away, Nene smiled fondly at Aoi before hugging her. "You're so cute," she said as Aoi blushed. "Come on, let's go."
That night, as they walked home from school, Nene subtly bumped her hand against Aoi's. Getting the hint, Aoi took her hand, their fingers entwining together as they smiled. They had done a lot of things together: school, fights, and their entrance exams. And they would continue to be together, even after graduation.
After all, Nene was Aoi's lover and second-in-command. And no matter what life would throw at them, they would stay together, no matter what.
I hope you enjoyed this! Please let me know how I did :)! Thanks for reading!