"To serve you, and no one else." he said. Steadfast and unwavering, Kanon held his gaze to Ringo. She has her glasses folded up neatly sitting on the window sill, her eyes seemed like they were just a bit out of focus, but she met him as well.
She knows him, and trusts him. He was her Tuner, and as such, they'd shared many things. Things that she would never share with anyone..save for one person. She wasn't embarrassed much about her body anymore. Not with him. He knows this, and respects her wishes if she protests. He was her instrument, after all. A Tool. His kind exists for the purpose of servicing the King's Regalia, as well as the Kings themselves, often times. That's the way it works. One cannot know another person so intimately and remember exactly where all the lines are, and it doesn't help that Tuners are known to be very..willing.
"Then, you'll know what I'm about to say next.."
He knows. Of course he knows.
He bows, and nothing else is said. As he exits the room, Ringo feels like a part of her left with him. He was a cute boy, and sensitive, and had an angelic voice. He'd be a hit at her school for sure. But through all of those things, he wasn't him.
-A week ago-
"When I find my "real wings", I'll come back"
She is weak, but this was a turning point in her life. If ever she would tell him about how she felt, it would be now. She knew him for a decade, and lived with him for almost as long.
"Ikki.." she started, slumping against the sliding door that divided them. "there's something you should know about Kanon"
With that, she opened the door and planted her lips to his with all the speed that her Sonia Road allowed.
"It's you I love, not him", but she didn't have to say it.
She looks out the window and smiles.
-Two days ago-
"You love her, don't you?", the lavender haired girl asked quietly. "Ringo-san loves Ikki as well."
Her heart ache just to say the words. It was cold out, but she could still remember how it felt to be in his embrace. That grand battle over the roofs and river. For that time, she could feel his heart beating against her skin, his breath on her neck, and as she looked up at him, she saw nothing but unbreakable resolve. She wanted to kiss him.
The two swings that separated them seemed so far.
He started to throw his weight a little and began to gather momentum. "I didn't know until the other day. When I looked into her eyes and saw that they saw only me."
"He's so oblivious.", she thinks.
She started to swing as well.
"What about the Law of the Trophaeum? She is the leader of your opposition, your enemy.."
A few more passes, and he starts to answer.
"We'd decided that our lives as Stormriders will be separate from our personal lives. We will each pursue our Roads with no regret, because her beliefs are her own. And I-" he reaches the apex of his swing and jumps. She jumps after him.
"You are my Sky King!" she shouts, coating her bitterness with feigned elation.
His attention was completely stolen by this girl, who'd declared such a thing. He lands badly.
She does not. "And as your Link Tuner," she says, walking towards his sprawled body. "I will know you better than a blood relative," she walks closer. "than a friend," He manages to prop himself up to a sitting position. "than a lover." With that she is down on a knee and kisses him on a cheek.
"Because that is my Ring Road."
-Five days ago-
"You missed school." he says.
"So did you."
The awkwardness was definitely there. Silence, but not really. The sounds around them were the background of a lazy afternoon. A gentle wind rustling the trees around. The seemingly rickety scaffolding that lead up to here creaked and moaned. The calls of unseen birds and the ever present cicadas.
"Were you here the whole time?"
"I come here to think, sometimes."
More silence. What is there to say, what can be said, to someone so dear for so long..
"I don't regret it."
He takes a seat on the opposing side, his back to hers.
For once, he has nothing to say.
So she talks. She says everything she'd want to say since forever, and it felt so, so good.
By the time she finished, he was on his back. His eyes were closed tightly, tears on his cheeks.
"Are you listening to me?!" she demands. She moves from where she was, now hovering over him, blocking out the sun. Her arms were shaky, and threatened to give out at any moment. Her body was still recovering from the battle they'd had the other night.
As he opens his eyes, he sees the outline of her body towering above him. Glistening drops fall onto his face and mixes with his own before rolling off.
"Have I ever told you..how beautiful you are?"
At this memory, she clutches her chest, for her heart may explode from the sheer joy that life is right now.
-A couple hours from now-
The two were at "that" place again. Upon the rock that had seen so much, they sat and talked. The cityscape below was lit with the familiar glow of streetlights and and homes. Above, far off, a pair of red and green lights joined the stars that twinkled in the sky.
It wasn't that cold of a night, but a bit chilly nonetheless. But even if it weren't, they would still be cuddled together. Everything they'd said was in murmurs, the language of lovers..and there a few chuckles, and the occasional sigh. Neither had been in a relationship yet, and although she had Kanon, that was totally different. If anything though, they both knew with every fiber of their beings that this, this was right.
This wouldn't last for long, they knew, and whatever time they could steal together, they took. Between Sleeping Forest, Kogarasumaru, and Genesis, there weren't enough hours in a day in which they could sneak away. But they would have to manage.
In another hour, both of their excuses would expire and they would have to part.
What happens in the next few days are nothing compared to the next fifty nine minutes.