Yes, I finally got round to writing another Fate/Nanoha fic! The A's manga is an excellent source of inspiration.

This fic will be mainly told from the viewpoints of Arisa and Suzuka. I like an outsider's point of view. Oh, and this is set after the first season obviously.

Well, here we go! And no, I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha! If I did, there would be many more Fate/Nanoha moments, and Yuuno will just be a ferret. -cough- Ahem, excuse me.

Ribbons

Arisa Bannings was frowning. Not in displeasure or distress or any other sort of discomfort though. She was thinking, and thus her forehead currently had fairly deep furrows running across it.

Tsukimura Suzuka waited. If she guessed correctly (and she was rarely wrong about these things), Arisa would speak up soon enough to voice her thoughts.

The cat-loving girl was right, as always.

""I don't get it." Arisa's nose was slightly crinkled as she appeared to scour deeper into her memories. "Since when did Nanoha wear black ribbons?" She was obviously scanning through her memory of Nanoha's ribbon collection. "She didn't have any black ones the last time we took a look at her drawer!"

"Well, she could have bought it you know." Suzuka, as always, came up with the most placid and obvious possibility that would explain the existence of the new type of ribbon. Arisa huffed and folded her arms over her chest. "But Nanoha doesn't like black. Or rather, she doesn't seem the type to like wearing dark colors anyway." Arisa puffed out an exasperated breath. "We should know, we're her best friends!" As if to reaffirm the statement, the blond girl nodded emphatically.

"Oh I wouldn't know, she might have changed her tastes?" Suzuka suggested calmly. The darker haired girl folded her arms on her desk, leaning forward just slightly. "Someone else could have gven the ribbon to her too, you know." She offered a new option to placate Tropical Storm Arisa, in an attempt to ensure "tropical storm" didn't get upgraded to "hurricane". Arisa could get a little rash at times after all.

"Well I thought about that already, of course!" Arisa leant back to seat on the edge of her desk. "But her family knows her well enough not to get her black ribbons, and I know neither of us gave that to her. And I checked around already, so I know that none of our classmates have given Nanoha anything lately, much less black ribbons." Suzuka would have raised an eyebrow at that last revelation, but she had enough self control not to do so. Arisa might have a rough-at-the-edges attitude to the people around her at times, but she cared deeply about her friends, and Suzuka wouldn't put it past the girl to go around checking with everyone to verify something, especially if it had to do with Nanoha. Still, it was a little surprising for Arisa to react like this over a mere ribbon...

"Why are you so worried? It's only a ribbon." Suzuka knew it was a mistake before it was even halfway out of her mouth, but it was too late to take back what has been said. Predictably, the innocent statement managed to set Arisa off into rant-mode. Suzuka sighed inwardly and braced herself for what was to follow.

"Only a ribbon?" Arisa's eyebrow twitched. "Yes yes, it's ONLY a ribbon, but the point is that Nanoha has been wearing it for 11 days!" Suzuka twitched involuntarily, but only a very trained eye would have noticed (basically, not Arisa in her current state). The sports ace knew that Arisa paid a lot of attention to Nanoha, but wasn't this a little...over the top? She knew better than to voice that opinion out loud though...

Building up momentum, Arisa continued with her line of logic. "Nanoha usually alternates between her ribbons every other day! It's just not normal for her to keep wearing the same one over and over again!" Suddenly deflating, her shoulders sagging as she continued, "I wonder what's so special about that stupid ribbon..." Arisa growled under her breath, pouting adorably.

Conveniently, Suzuka remembered that Arisa had given Nanoha a green ribbon some time last year. That little tidbit of information told her everything she needed to know, and she resisted the urge to smile widely. Poor Arisa was probably just feeling a little...left out. A tiny grin peeked out at a corner of her lips, despite her best efforts. Thankfully, Arisa didn't notice.

"I'm sure there's probably a good reason for it..." Suzuka soothed her fuming friend. "If you're really curious, why not ask Nanoha?" Again, the most logical and obvious way out.

Arisa blinked. Evidently, asking Nanoha directly had slipped her mind somehow. Suzuka hid another smile. 10 points to the resident peacemaker.

"Ask me what?" As if on cue, the subject of their discussion appeared with a characteristically bright smile on her face. And as Arisa had groused so eloquently before, she was indeed wearing those black ribbons in her hair again.

Deciding to step in before Arisa started a confrontation in her usual straightforward way, Suzuka beamed at the brunette. "Nanoha-chan! Nice to see you!" She paused, then added as if as an afterthought. "Those are very nice ribbons. How did you get them?" Yep, subtlety was the way to go.

"Yeah, where'd you get them from?" Arisa asked sullenly, her voice almost tipping over on this side of hostility, which was an achievement in itself, considering her sometimes quick temper. Suzuka was duly impressed. A year ago, Arisa would have started an argument with Nanoha by now. People, the dark haired girl opined, probably do grow up after all.

Now, Suzuka expected a variety of responses. She was prone to being open-minded and flexible in any situation, given her retiring and passive nature. Still, she was partially surprised when Nanoha blushed and ran a careful finger over said ribbons, caressing them almost tenderly.

"Um...I got them from a friend..." The blush grew almost imperceptibly stronger as Nanoha's smile got a little wider and more giddy, her eyes already drifting off into her own thoughts.

Arisa stared at her. Really really stared at her. She never could stay upset with Nanoha for long, and the other girl's statement had gotten her curiosity peaked. What friend? A new friend? Who was it? Why didn't Nanoha tell them earlier?

Such were the thoughts running through that blonde's head as she continued staring at Nanoha, who was obviously still happily lost in her daydream world.

Not surprisingly, Suzuka filled in the gap. "A friend? Do we know them?"

Momentarily distracted by the question, Nanoha snapped back to reality. "Ah...um...no, not really." Nanoha could never really deal well with such situations. Especially when caught offguard. That much was known by her two best friends, who exchanged a mutual searching glance before turning back to their usually cheerful and easygoing friend.

Nanoha was speaking again, obviously uncertain as she approached a topic. "Well...actually...I made a new friend lately...ah...that's why I've been a little distracted...ahahaha..." She trailed off with a sheepish laugh, a clear indication that she wasn't telling the whole story.

They waited though. Nanoha didn't like lying to people, so she would eventually tell them everything once she felt comfortable with it. Arisa was the first to volunteer an encouraging question to coax more information out of the reluctant girl.

"New friend? You should introduce her to us!"

Nanoha smiled weakly. "Well, she's ah...a foreigner, so we can't see her for now..."

"Oh." Arisa looked directly at Nanoha's lavender eyes. "Well, you can start by telling us about her, can't you?"

Nanoha paused for a moment, then looked up and smiled. "Yeah! I'll tell you all about her!" (to herself: well, almost)

Taking a deep breath, she began, her eyes dancing in obvious delight as she did so.

"Her name's Fate-chan..."

Yay finished. I tried to keep them in character as much as possible. And yes, Arisa does seem to have a soft spot for Nanoha in both the anime and the manga. Interpret that as you will. And if it isn't obvious by now, I like Suzuka very much. The girl has hidden depths, I tell you. Appearances are definitely deceiving in her case...

Might be a 2nd chapter in the works. After all, I'm SURE Arisa would notice immediately that Fate is wearing one of Nanoha's ribbons when they meet up face to face for the first time. We'll see what happens then. Teehee.