This is my first ship fic. I hope you all enjoy it! Feedback is welcome.

'Geh…this is harder than I expected.'

Karin stared into the eyes of the figure standing in front of her. Although she was significantly shorter than Karin herself, Karin couldn't help but feel intimidated. Over the past months she had fought alongside her in many battles and spent her spare time with her as well, and as she watched her fight and live Karin's heart had softened towards her, then slowly filled with admiration. She had tried to keep her distance, emotionally speaking, from the others but despite her best efforts they had wormed their way into her heart and she had come to regard them as friends. At first she had worried that this would lead to weakness in battle, but the more she fought, the more she realised that having friends to rely on and protect in turn gave her strength, and she had embraced her feelings.

This was fine, it even made her happy, until the day she had realised with a start that her eyes and thoughts always seemed to linger on one particular individual longer than the others. At first she tried to convince herself that it was nothing more than admiration, but the more time that passed the less she could continue to delude herself. Every time she saw her Karin's heart sped up and her mouth dried out. While she wasn't exactly experienced in romantic matters she wasn't a fool, she knew what the cause of her symptoms was; the only thing she had to wonder about was what to do about them.

As a hero she had told herself to put her feelings aside and concentrated on defeating the enemy, but now that the Vertexes were defeated she didn't have an excuse to avoid the issue anymore. The only thing stopping her now was her own fears, namely the fear of being rejected, the fear of dealing with her crushes terrifying demon girl of a guardian and the fear of what the others might think about them…or more likely just her, seen as she was probably going to get rejected. It was unusual for a middle school girl to go after anyone but a normal boy after all. All things considered, it had taken Karin a while to gather her courage to confess, but she was a hero and she knew it, so there was no way she was going to chicken out.

She'd waited until the others were out of the club room before she made her move (of course she'd taken the appropriate supplements for this sort of thing earlier in the day) and when she'd took a few deep breathes she casually sidled up to her target.

"H-HEY, NI-uh, nice weather we've been having just lately right?" she squealed out.

'Oh my Shinju-sama, what the hell was that!?' she cringed internally in horror.

Said target looked at her rather oddly, which was entirely understandable really. Karin was, for a split second, suddenly glad that she couldn't talk…and then immediately felt guilty for thinking such an unpleasant thing. Not being able to talk just plain well sucked, she shouldn't be glad about something like that! What kind of hero was she!?

'Stupid, stupid, stupid! How am I meant to salvage this!?'

Suddenly realising that she had been standing there thinking to herself for the past minute while awkward silence reigned, she desperately tried to come up with a plan of action.

'Think, think, think, think, think! …Dammit, there's only one thing left to do. Direct action!'

"Uh, I actually w-wanted to talk to you!"

"…?"

"…"

"…"

"…...I-I really like you!"

"...!"

"I—I know this is kind of sudden, b-but you, er, you're c-cute and actually kind of cool too, and I kind of admired you on the battlefield, and then, like, uh, in everyday life too, and I think that, you know, since we're friends already and all, m-maybe you might feel the same way…?"

She trailed off hopelessly and fixed her eyes somewhere on the far side of the room. 'Holy shit, that was pathetic. Completely pathetic. Nice job, Karin. I'm sure she just fell head over heels for you.'

Chancing a glance at the other girl, she was surprised to see tears glistening in her eyes.

'W-Was it that bad!?'

"Hey, don't cry! I'm sorry okay? Let's just forget about this and go back to being friends like before-"

She was suddenly cut off as a pair of small arms wrapped around her cheeks.

'What- oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh…!'

Looking at the beautiful face hovering in front of her, she felt her legs go weak.

'Is she g-going to kiss me!? We haven't even been on a date yet! How disgraceful~…!'

The gap between their faces closed and then…their lips met.

'Kyaa…so soft…! This is heaven! I don't care how disgraceful it is! …Oh, it tastes like egg after all.'

Unfortunately, the pair of them were so engrossed in each other, that they didn't hear the door opening until it was too late.

"Gasp! Karin-chan! What are you doing to Egg-chan!?"

"Her name is Aobouzu, Yuuna-chan…wait, that's not the issue here! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY FAIRY!?"

"Geh…!" Karin and Aobouzu jerked away from each other at the sound of their friends voices.

'Oh shit!'

Yuuna and Togo were staring at her, Yuuna with a confused expression and Togo with an outright murderous one. She had to think fast to come out of this unscathed.

"I-It was kissing prac…tice…"

Karin had though that giving an excuse was the best course of action in the short term, but looking at Aobouzu's hurt expression she knew she had made the wrong choice.

'What am I doing? Tell her I like her, ask her out and not even five minutes later disavow our relationship!? I'm a lousy girlfriend, and a lousy hero too!'

"Okay, fine! I was kissing her, because I love her! And she loves me! And there's nothing wrong with that! It isn't even any of your business, okay!?"

"None of our business!? She's a fairy! My fairy! Kiss your own damn fairy if you're into that sort of thing!"

"Now, Togo-san, let's all calm down…"

"What are you trying to accuse me of!? This isn't some kind of weird fetish, its love! You damn bigot…!"

"You've got some nerve- huh?"

Aobouzu hovered in front of Togo's face, waving her arms around. She seemed to be communicating with her as best she could.

Togo's expression softened slowly as she looked at her fairy.

"I see…"

Karin chewed on her lip nervously. Maybe things were going to turn out okay?

Aobouzu finished talking-or whatever-and flew to hover next to Karin, arms folded defiantly in front of her. Togo stared at them for a moment, then sighed.

"I understand. If that's the way you both feel, then I've got no business stopping you…no matter how…odd, I might find this."

"Are you really okay with this, Togo-san?"

"Well, it's really more like 'it's none of my business'. It's not like faeries are our children or slaves after all."

"Huh, I guess not. Well, that's fine by me then!"

"Wait, really? You two are fine with this? I mean, I thought we'd have some serious problems here…"

"I'm just…going to not think about it. I'll let Aobouzu do whatever she wants."

"If Togo-san and Aobouzu-chan are fine, then I'm fine too!"

"R-Really…?"

Karin started to tear up. Having true friends really was the greatest after all.

Just then Fuu and Itsuki entered the club room.

"Hey everyone! Are you ready to get started?"

"Oh, yeah, sure…"

"Geez, what's up with this tense atmosphere? Did someone die or something?…Wait, no one actually died right?" Fuu asked, feeling a little on edge.

"Karin-chan and Aobouzu are dating now!"

"Seriously? Hah, I totally called it, right Itsuki?"

Itsuki nodded.

"W-What? Was I really that obvious?"

"Hell yeah! Any idiot could have seen it!"

"I didn't know…" Yuuna said despondently.

"Are you serious Fuu-senpai? You knew about this and you're okay with it?"

"Haha, don't be so uptight Togo! Love is love!"

Itsuki nodded again.

"Everyone…" Karin and Aobouzu were both crying now. What luck, to end up with such wonderful people to call their companions!

"Aww geez Karin, don't be such a baby! Group hug everyone!"

"Yaay!"

"Ridiculous…" Togo mumbled under her breath.

"What was that, Togo?"

"Nothing."

Karin and Aobouzu went on their first date that night. Their love grew day by day and they ended up getting engaged under a full moon. Their friends, even Togo, were supportive of them, despite a few awkward moments.

"Karin-chan, I came over to help with-Karin-chan? What are you doing in bed with Egg-chan?"

"…...Push ups."

"Oh, okay!"

One night, they were watching a movie together when Karin had a terrible premonition. She couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. Of course, the fighting was over so she must just be imagining things, but…

"Hey, Aobouzu…"

"…?"

"You know, if anything ever happens to me-"

"…!"

"No, don't be like that. I mean it. Even if the fighting's over, we can never know what's around the corner right? If something does happen, I want you to know that I'll always love you."

"…!"

"…You'll always protect me? Aww, I know, I know. I'll always protect you too. I'm just being silly. Love you."

"…"

Little did they know that soon, Togo Mimori would visit Nogi Sonoko in the hospital and learn the truth of their world, and their days together would end forever.

THE END

You were expecting a happy ship fic, but it was actually a tragedy of star crossed lovers. I'm sorry.

Everyone refers to Aobouzu as Egg-kun, but as far as I know it wasn't actually confirmed whether Aobouzu was male or female. At any rate, if it turns out that Egg-chan is actually Egg-kun officially then…it's an AU fic. Problem solved! Also, if you recommend this fic to anyone (God forbid), please don't spoil the pairing for them. It kills the tension of the reveal after all.