Bloodless
Setting: After the magical world arc, the class, along with several of their enemies, end up returning to Mahora together in order to live a happy and peaceful life – well, as peaceful as 3-A ever gets anyway.
Disclaimer: I dont own anything.
XXX
Sayo glanced up at the sky through the classroom window.
Asakura had managed to free her from the school grounds, and she was incredibly grateful for it, but sometimes she'd still find herself sitting alone in the classroom where she'd already spent so much time.
This was her home, of sorts.
The sky was just a few moments from red, the sun beginning to disappear over the horizon, and the classroom was empty.
Everything had returned to normal once they'd gotten back.
Well, there had been a few new faces in class, but they quickly adapted to it. After all, this was 3-A, class extraordinaire. If anything, the class might've gotten a bit livelier.
Sayo smiled at the thought of the chaotic class actually becoming even more chaotic.
They were her friends, but every now and then, this kind of peaceful quiet was nice too.
Friends, a ghost with friends. She truly was lucky, wasn't she?
The door rattled open.
"Ah, there was someone here?" Sayo turned towards the voice, curiously wondering who might have a reason for being here.
Tsukuyomi was standing in the doorway.
Sayo froze to the spot, suddenly too terrified to move.
Despite the glasses-wearing girl having entered her class, she was one of those that she couldn't really call 'friend'. There were others who belonged to this list, mainly because they were all really scary to talk to.
Tsukuyomi however, didn't really seem to be approached by anyone, not even Negi.
Her terror having cost her the opportunity of immediately escaping, Sayo found herself casually ignored by the scary girl as she made her way to the window.
Tsukuyomi simply stood there, gazing at the reddening sky with a private smile.
Sayo wasn't really sure when it'd happened, but she ended up returning to her previous activity, enjoying the peaceful quiet.
It was hard to say how long they stayed like that, but once the red finally faded from the sky, Tsukuyomi stretched.
"I suppose that's it for today," she sounded a bit sad, yet still oddly content.
Sayo looked at the girl with a confused expression.
"Why were you...?" she let her question drift off, unsure of how to continue.
"Hmm?" she looked back at her, seemingly having forgotten that she'd been there. "Well, you can see the sky well from here, and it's just so wonderfully red." she had a dreamy expression on her face.
Sayo suddenly got that feeling of being frozen to the spot again.
"I mean, I'm not allowed to cut anyone here..." she sighed, "It's kind of depressing actually."
The only reason that the girl had come with them back to Mahora was due to Negi wanting to try and reform her. So far, he'd not succeeded in anything other than sealing away most of her strength, leaving her weak enough to be easily bested by... well, Yue might be forced to get serious before she'd be able to subdue her, but that was about it.
Still, that hadn't changed her idea of fun, and so the rest of the class avoided her like the plague – though apparently she got along quite well with Evangeline's bloodthirsty doll.
Of course, Sayo was safe due to the simple fact that she didn't actually bleed, but that didn't mean she couldn't be freaking out.
She watched the other girl's retreating back, feeling a bit strange at having her peaceful view of the sky translated into 'watching the sky bleed', but not being nearly as scared as she thought she would be.
XXX
Tsukuyomi came to the classroom every sunset, and sometimes at sunrise – she apparently had a tendency to oversleep – and Sayo had found that she'd actually gotten used to having the girl watch the reddening sky with her.
It was still a bit uncomfortable to hear the girl talk, but she wasn't frozen to the spot anymore, just sort of not seeing the point in moving away from her.
Asakura had begun to wonder where she ran off to during these times, but had had her fearsome curiosity quelled when she'd told her that she was enjoying the peace and quiet of the classroom. Sayo wouldn't be surprised if the reason was that she'd mentioned 'peace and quiet', something that the energetic member of 3-A had never understood the use of.
Humming a soft tune to herself, she looked up at the sky.
Would it be turning red soon?
No, that'd just be silly, they were still in class.
Feeling a bit embarrassed at the thought, Sayo turned her attention back to the lesson.
XXX
Tsukuyomi was sleeping, curled up at a desk with a good view of the sky.
The sky's red had faded to a deep blue, almost black.
Sayo was sitting next to her – or floating, if you wanted to be picky – feeling oddly comfortable for reasons that she couldn't understand.
Slow, heavy breaths escaped through the girl's slightly parted lips.
Asakura might worry if she didn't get back soon – she never stayed long pass the sunset – but she didn't want to leave yet.
The peacefulness was still so wonderful, as the first stars began to make their appearances.
Sayo had at first wondered why the girl could see her, but considering that she seemed to have been trained by exorcists, she supposed that it wasn't all that surprising.
A quiet mumbling noise roused her curiosity, and she drew nearer to the other girl, trying to hear what she was saying.
It was rude to listen to other people talk in their sleep, but Sayo hadn't been able to sleep herself for a very long time, so she was fairly certain that she could be excused.
"… senpai…"
There was only one person Tsukuyomi called that. Setsuna. She was dreaming about Setsuna.
Whilst this was hardly surprising by any stretch of the word, her tone was not one Sayo had heard before.
She sounded… like she was about to cry.
Sayo blinked as a lone tear slid down the sleeping girl's cheek.
She looked so vulnerable, curled up like she was, barely illuminated in the creeping night's gloom.
Was this really the girl who'd scared her so badly?
It didn't seem possible.
Her hand reached out, but she wasn't sure what she was planning on doing with it. She was a ghost, she might as well be made of mist for all that it mattered.
She wiped the tear away, barely even having time to register that she was actually touching someone before she was done.
She could touch her. The thought spread through her body in a way that she was certain would've made her toes curl if she'd had any.
A part of her wondered at her reaction. Shouldn't she be terrified at the thought that the scary girl might be able to touch her back? Instead, all she felt was a happy warmth, stretching all the way out to her fingertips, making them tingle pleasantly.
Tsukuyomi stirred a bit in her sleep. Moving, but not quite waking up.
Not really sure why, her purpose already finished, Sayo reached out for the girl once more.
She was warm. A soft warmth that slowly climbed her arm, burrowing its way into her chest.
Sayo leaned in, and, for a moment, everything stopped.
The world went blank.
She pulled back slowly, still dazed.
And then a deep red exploded across her face as she finally realized what she'd done.
She'd kissed her. She'd kissed Tsukuyomi.
And her lips had been so soft…
Suppressing that thought, the other girl was stirring, waking up.
Confusion turned to panic, and Sayo took off at a speed she didn't know she was even cap able of.
She wasn't sure where she was going, but it didn't matter as long as it was far from the classroom where she'd stolen her classmate's kiss.
XXX
It wasn't peaceful.
The class of 3-A was never peaceful. Peaceful in comparison to other days perhaps, but even then still more along the lines of being 'not utterly chaotic' rather than 'calm'.
Sayo glanced over her shoulder, out through the dorm window at the reddening sky.
She wasn't sure what the occasion they were celebrating was, but she'd joined them anyway.
A part of her was feeling guilty at the realization that Tsukuyomi wasn't there, meaning that the bespectacled girl was probably in the classroom alone, but she was also relieved that she wouldn't have to worry about the other girl confronting her about what she'd done to her whilst she slept. Which, in the end, translated into even more feelings of guilt.
Sayo had been avoiding her, unsure of how to face her without remembering how soft her lips were against her own.
She had good reason to be worried, the girl wasn't even within view, and she still thought of it. Imagine how it'd end up if she stood face to face with her. She was having a lot more sympathy for Nodoka all of a sudden.
Ignoring the implications of acting like Nodoka does to Negi, towards Tsukuyomi, Sayo tried to make a convincing smile as Asakura passed by – camera held high and posed to capture something interesting, or immoral, whichever came first.
Her friend was thankfully too distracted to notice any strain on her face, allowing her to continue watching the reddening sky, all by herself.
She felt kind of... lonely.
XXX
It was already dark when the party broke up, several people left feeling somewhat surprised at the lack of dawn. They were 3-A, the class of crazies, partying until dawn was what they did best – well, with the exception of saving the world and stripping people, they were quite good at that too.
Asakura had gotten distracted by a story of some kind and rushed off, meaning that she would probably be back by noon the next day at the earliest, if Sayo's experience was anything to go by.
This, of course, meant that the ghost didn't really have anything to do.
Whilst it might be dangerous for lone girls to drift around at this time of night, Sayo was quite convinced that being dead meant that any bad people she encountered would probably be more scared of her than she was of them – if they were even able to notice her presence.
So, she didn't feel all that bad about meandering across the school grounds, her path being illuminated more by the moon than any streetlights.
She wasn't really sure where she was going, having no real destination planned and being quite fine with it due to the circumstances, she simply drifted.
The campus lay dark, much like the school building itself.
Its corridors were just as eerie as they always were in the pale moonlight of night, strange noises causing her to flinch, much like they always did.
It wasn't until she stood in front of the door that she realized where she'd ended up. Their classroom.
Suddenly feeling a lot more nervous than she had during her movement through the creepy corridors, Sayo gulped.
Would she still be there?
She shook her head, dismissing the thought. The sky had stopped being red ages ago, so even if she actually had been here earlier, she would've left by now.
The thought made her sigh.
Feeling slightly confused when she realized that she couldn't tell whether it was a relieved or a sad sigh, Sayo floated through the door.
Tsukuyomi was sleeping again.
Her head was resting on her arms, once again curled up at a desk with good view of the sky.
Hesitantly making her way towards her, Sayo wondered why she was still here.
Pushing away any thoughts containing 'waiting', the ghost found herself watching her sleep.
She looked so peaceful.
It was difficult to imagine that she was really the same girl that had made an enemy of the entire class, and for the first time, Sayo consciously admitted that the girl was actually really cute when she wasn't talking.
As she settled in beside her, not really wanting to leave the girl alone, she was left feeling a bit awkward when she realized that the girl was shivering in the cold classroom.
Panicking slightly at this, Sayo finally located a blanket – she wasn't sure why there was a blanket, but she wasn't going to question it, recalling how a certain class president had at one point pulled out an entire futon from out of her desk.
Placing the blanket over the sleeping girl's shoulders, Sayo returned to her previous activity. Watching her sleep.
It was hard to tell how long they stayed like that, Tsukuyomi sleeping contently, curled up under her blanket, and Sayo watching her with a pleased smile that she wasn't quite aware of wearing, but the sky finally began to redden.
Having already been brought out of her own peaceful state by the breaking dawn, Sayo decided to wake her up as well.
Making a small noise that sounded a lot like a suppressed yawn, Tsukuyomi glanced up at her with sleepy eyes.
"Eh? It's already dawn...?" she scratched her head, "I guessed I spent the night." she didn't look particularly bothered by this thought, her eyes being drawn to the sky.
Sayo moved back a bit, not wanting to come between the girl and the thing which she was admiring.
Her movement however, caught the girl's attention, and their eyes met.
Sayo couldn't move, she wasn't even really sure if she wanted to move.
"What are you standing for?" Tsukuyomi patted the chair next to her, indicating that she should sit, and then turned her attention back towards the sky.
Her hesitation instantly vaporized, Sayo sat down next to her, oddly content with watching the dawn together.
They sat like that, not moving from their spots, as the red faded into blue.
XXX
Setsuna stared at the two of them with obvious disbelief.
Tsukuyomi had once again tried to provoke a violent reaction out of her, this time coming very close to insulting Konoka in the process, when a hand had been placed over her mouth.
A see-through hand.
Tsukuyomi looked vaguely peeved by the interruption, following the hand until she could raise an eyebrow at the easily frightened ghost. She was met with a calmly disapproving face.
"Konoka is a nice person, you shouldn't insult her."
"But-..." Tsukuyomi's voice was muffled by her hand, but it still sounded clearly, so she interrupted her again.
"No 'buts'." Sayo did her best to send a piercing stare at the other girl.
Tsukuyomi looked somewhat crestfallen, hesitantly glancing between her senpai and the ghost, before finally nodding, albeit reluctantly.
There would be no more provoking Setsuna – at least not in this way.
The non-provoked girl was still staring after them with a very confused expression as Sayo began to lead the blood-loving girl away by the hand.
XXX
3-A was never considered a calm class by any stretch of the word, and sometimes Sayo wondered if Negi would be scarred for life for trying to make sure that they actually learned anything during lessons. But today was an unusual day.
Today, Sayo was clearly the main focus of their attention, something that hadn't happened since that time when she'd first been discovered by the class.
The reason for this was quite easy to point out, as she was sitting a few seats away, sleeping in her seat, much like she normally did. Apparently the girl didn't care much for studying – unless, of course, blood was somehow involved in their teaching material, she'd usually force herself awake once that happened.
Sayo, the timid ghost, had tamed Tsukuyomi, the bloodthirsty demon.
Clearly, it was a story worthy of attention.
However, so far, Sayo hadn't really answered any of their questions.
When questioned of when this had happened, any answer she'd provide would be as vague as possible. When asked of how she wasn't scared of her, she would try and dance around the subject to the best of her abilities. And when asked how they'd become close, she outright refused to speak.
Asakura was clearly intrigued, which was never a good thing, but she seemed a bit hesitant in digging too deeply for answers, at least in front of the others. She was a good friend.
Negi had responded to the news by staring blankly at the person who'd told him for several minutes, before worriedly checking their temperature, asking them to lie down if they felt sick – which had caused a grateful derailment as Ayaka had been very insistent on lying down together with Negi, until Asuna tried to kick her out through the window.
Sayo knew that she wouldn't be able to keep it a secret from Asakura, and she felt a distinct feeling of dread at the thought of being cornered and questioned through a classic interrogation-like procedure.
The secret probably wouldn't leave Asakura's mouth once she'd obtained it, especially if Sayo asked her to keep it from the ears of the others, but she wouldn't stop until she had it in her grasp.
Sighing softly, she glanced out through the window.
The sky was still all too blue.
XXX
Tsukuyomi was sleeping again.
Sayo was sitting next to her, her face an embarrassed red, as the girl's head rested on her shoulder.
The sky was black. Scattered stars had already made their appearance on its immense expanse.
Being a ghost, touching was something of a rarity for Sayo, and right now she was happily reveling in the warmth of Tsukuyomi's body leaning into her own.
She wasn't sure of how long they'd been like this, but she couldn't bring herself to even consider waking the girl up, even if that meant that she'd have to spend the night like this.
It was difficult to tell when her feelings for the girl had started to change, but changed they definitely had. What once had been nervous terror, was now a longing.
She couldn't wait for class to end, so that the sky would be dyed red, and they could have a moment to themselves.
She'd always loved to spend time with Asakura, but this was... different. She... needed to spend time with this girl. Because, if she didn't, she felt as though she might suffocate, her unbeating heart clenching painfully in her chest.
Asakura was a dear friend, probably the closest one she'd ever had, even from back when she'd been alive. But, Tsukuyomi... she was in love with Tsukuyomi, that was the only explanation that seemed to make any sense.
She'd stolen a kiss from her when the girl was sleeping once, and though she still felt a bit guilty about it. She didn't regret it. She didn't regret the feeling of her soft lips at all.
Which was why her face was sort of a bit red right now.
The sleeping face of the girl she loved was so close to her own, completely defenseless, with those beautiful lips slightly parted.
Sayo did her best to ignore her, intently watching the sky, still feeling somewhat amazed at how she'd begun to pick up the different constellations of the stars from all the time she'd spent watching the sky lately, but it was proving to be a losing battle.
Tsukuyomi was dreaming again.
Tsukuyomi was mumbling in her sleep again, a wonderfully adorable noise that made her heart flutter.
"... senpai..."
It stung.
The girl she loved was dreaming of someone else.
Sayo might have become close to the girl, but she hadn't captured her heart. That heart was still far out of her reach, the girl's eyes were on someone else.
She already knew it, but to face it like this still stung.
Once again forcing her concentration back to the sky stretching out above them, Sayo tried to ignore the painful feeling in her chest.
XXX
Tsukuyomi's room was hollow, that was the best word Sayo could find to describe it.
It didn't look like there was anyone living there.
There were no clothes strewn about over the floors in that haphazard manner that Sayo had been expecting from the girl.
It looked as though the room had been stripped bare, and that someone had after this released a small-scale tornado on it.
There was nothing in the room, but it wasn't clean. It just seemed as if whoever might drop by didn't bother dropping anything there. As if whoever dropped by didn't have anything to drop there.
Unlike the casually collecting Asakura who'd filled her room with various things related to her endless stories, Tsukuyomi didn't own much. It wasn't really all that surprising, all things considered, but it gave off an unsettling feeling.
Sayo moved through the uncomfortably hollow room towards the large bed.
Tsukuyomi hadn't showed up for class, and though most of its inhabitants hadn't even noticed – and those who had hadn't cared – Sayo wanted to make sure the girl was alright, so she'd come to her room.
Ignoring that she was currently alone with the girl she loved – in her room alone – Sayo looked down on the bed.
Tsukuyomi wasn't there.
Suddenly panicking as all kinds of terrible scenarios played through her head – kidnapping, disposing of the body, exiled, lost – Sayo hurried around the rest of the room in a desperate attempt to locate any clues.
Tsukuyomi was in the closet.
She looked completely out of it, and even though she opened her eyes when Sayo tried to wake her, she only smiled dizzily and patted her head.
It felt wonderful.
Shaking off the hand before she forgot about her purpose, Sayo tried to check to see if the girl was injured in some way.
Tsukuyomi had a fever.
Tsukuyomi was delirious from fever.
Feeling a bit disappointed about getting patted on the head only because the girl was delirious, Sayo tried to maneuver her into bed.
This proved to be somewhat difficult since the girl was quite intent on trying to cook breakfast – which was why she'd been in the closet to begin with, since that was the only place where she could be safe from the watchful eyes of the plotting oven.
Doing her best to ignore that – because if she acknowledged it she'd laugh too hard to stop the feverish girl from trying to eat her own socks – Sayo finally managed to guide her back to bed by explaining to her that she could blackmail the oven into submission, and that there was no need to worry as she'd be the one to make breakfast.
Making breakfast however, turned out to be a lot harder than she'd been expecting.
Everything was heavy to move, and the electronics kept acting up whenever she tried to go all out to lift them.
Finally collapsing on the floor of the small kitchen, Sayo tried to believe that she'd done good work.
She was failing.
The toaster had become sporadic, spitting out untoasted toast at a speed that sent them into the opposite wall with a resounding thud. The oven had stopped working entirely – which she was grateful for since that meant that she didn't have to worry about it lighting anything more on fire. Several plates had spread their shards across the floor in a very dangerous manner, being joined by a few glasses as well. A strange goo was leaking out through the walls, and she was hoping that it could be removed without the involvement of priests. And, finally, a simple plate of plain porridge was standing on the counter, looking oddly out of place in the midst of the destruction.
She'd defeated the kitchen – in several ways – and had managed to procure what she'd come there for. Despite the many casualties on the way this ought to be considered good work, right?
Having caught her breath, Sayo picked up the plate and headed back to the bedroom.
Tsukuyomi was still in the bed, her blanket drawn up so high that only the top of her head was visible.
Carefully placing the plate on the small table beside her bed, Sayo sat down to rest.
The sky was still a clear blue outside the window, and it didn't take long before she found herself watching the girl sleep.
XXX
"It's kind of hard to describe..." Negi mumbled hopelessly to himself as he tried to explain it to his students.
3-A, who'd – as always – managed to stray from the subject the young magi was trying to teach, had begun questioning him about how living in his hometown in Wales was really like.
At the moment, he'd been forced to try and explain the 'refreshing smell of a winter morning'. And, as could be expected from previous experiences, he wasn't doing all that well.
Some helpful members of the class had suggested the smell of pine, but Negi had shook his head, explaining that though pine could smell very pleasant, it wasn't the smell he was trying to explain right at this moment.
"It's cold, making it sort of a prickly feeling in the nose... but, at the same time, it gives you a really 'fresh' sort of feeling..." he looked like he was developing a headache from all of the thinking he was putting into describing it.
"So, it's a smell that hurts?"
"Yes, well, no, but yes..." Sayo was willing to give his intelligence a pat on the back for surviving this long.
"Yes or no?"
"I suppose it might hurt a bit, but it feels sort of good?" now even Negi was getting confused.
"Eh? Sensei's a masochist?" this comment made Ayaka fall into serious thought, which was probably why Negi started waving his arms in desperate denial at that point.
"No! That's not it!"
They'd been at it for quite some time already, and didn't show any signs of stopping – especially now that they had a stepping stone in the conversation leading to their teacher's sexual preferences.
Negi, of course – innocent and young he may be, but he'd been with the class for a long time and had come to expect most of their insanity – desperately tried to steer the topic back to the smell before anyone managed to say anything bad that would result in utter chaos.
"So, it smells pleasant and fresh, and gives you a happily prickling sensation?" Nodoka managed to lend a helpful hand – much to her franticly sketching roommate's obvious frustration.
Negi, clearly desperate, sent the shy girl a warmly appreciating look – which almost caused said girl to faint – before thinking about it for a moment, and nodding.
"Yes, I suppose that's actually quite close."
"Eh~?" clearly disappointed noises stretched across the classroom.
"Wait," much to everyone's surprise, Tsukuyomi raised her hand in question, "Does that mean that it smells just like Sayo?"
The world froze as everyone stared at the girl who'd voiced the question.
Then all hell broke loose.
Half of the class were suddenly trying to get Tsukuyomi to explain her version of how Sayo smelled, so that they could compare it to what sensei had already mentioned. And the other half were trying to smell Sayo in order to experience the 'refreshing smell of a winter morning' – Sayo was quick to notice that the latter seemed to have a dreamy look about them that probably meant that they were fantasizing about exactly how they could be enjoying such a morning in the presence of the young teacher.
But as 3-A swarmed to life, Sayo noticed something.
Tsukuyomi, was... accepted.
Before, they would try to avoid the girl as much as possible, but now it was as if she was just another crazy classmate and potential rival for Negi's affection – though Sayo sincerely doubted that the latter part was really accurate for this student.
Smiling slightly to herself as Tsukuyomi looked somewhat confused at the sudden shower of happy attention, Sayo glanced up at the blue sky.
It was a nice day.
XXX
The sky was red.
The classroom was silent, the only interruption being Tsukuyomi's calm breathing.
Sayo was glad that the girl had been accepted into the class, but it was nice to be alone with her again.
Alone, together with the girl she loved.
She knew that her feelings weren't returned, she was simply a friend. A close friend, but just a friend nonetheless. But, right now, sitting together, watching the setting sun. It was so easy to push that knowledge aside.
Love was a funny thing, she supposed. Though that was hardly anything new. Endless poets had tried to describe it, in just as many ways.
Tsukuyomi was smiling.
It wasn't the smile she wore when she tried to pick fights, it was a calmer smile, a... soft smile.
The girl's eyes hadn't left the red sky, but it seemed as if her thoughts had.
Sayo found herself watching her, curiously trying to discern of what she was thinking. She came up blank, but felt oddly satisfied either way.
As the sky began to darken, the girl's eyes began to droop, and finally she fell asleep.
She'd begun falling asleep in the classroom more often as of late, and Sayo was feeling a bit pleased at being allowed to watch over her like this, but also worried about the girl's health. It couldn't be good to sleep by a desk in a drafty classroom on such a regular basis.
Once again pulling out the blanket she'd usually use when this happened, Sayo draped it across the sleeping girl's shoulders.
Then she sat down next to her, allowing the girl to lean on her as she slept.
She wasn't sure when it'd become common enough for her to almost view it as tradition for them to sit like this, one of them sleeping, the other one simply feeling.
Tsukuyomi would stir when the sky started to turn red once more, and then they'd watch it together, because that was how it always was. And, frankly, she wouldn't have it any other way.
The girl beside her smiled in her sleep, seemingly content, and the ghost turned her gaze out through the window to watch the emerging of the stars.
XXX
Sayo hummed happily to herself as she floated along the corridors, satisfied with how the day had played out so far.
There wasn't anything special about today, really. She was just starting to realize that beginning it by watching the girl she loved struggle to open her eyes, was just... wonderful, really.
Tsukuyomi had been a full member of class 3-A for a while now, and she seemed to have finally gotten used to being randomly selected as a target for their spontaneous enthusiasm. The result was that she'd lost all of her 'terrifying'-status, earning instead a 'kind of twisted'-status, meaning that she was now virtually on the same level as Evangeline from their point of view.
Evangeline didn't seem all too pleased at being compared to her, but gave up on protesting the point once Chachazero started to yell gleefully about making rivers of blood and mountains of mutilated corpses.
The rest of the class had ignored that, and had instead focused on the more important aspects of life, such as getting into Negi's pants.
Giggling to herself at the memory, Sayo finally arrived at her destination. Tsukuyomi's room.
Making a face as she realized that she'd be unable to knock, Sayo stuck her head through the door.
"Is anyone home?" she knew that it wasn't a very good question to ask – since the girl was definitely in there somewhere – but it was the one thing that first popped into her head as being reasonably comparable to knocking.
Not receiving an answer, Sayo hesitantly moved further into the room.
The kitchen had only been haphazardly cleaned since the last time she'd been here, and so there were still obvious signs of the terrifying chaos that had ruled it under her care.
Suppressing the guilt that resurfaced at the sight – she'd already apologized three times, and Tsukuyomi had seemed more amazed than angry at the effect she'd had on her kitchen – Sayo began to look around for the girl.
She wasn't in her bed, meaning that she hadn't caught a cold, probably, which was good news. She wasn't in the closet either, meaning that she wasn't delirious – not as funny, but definitely good news.
Finally, having searched under the table, chairs, bed, above the fridge, and in several other places where anything larger than a thumb would have difficulties navigating, Sayo turned towards the place that she'd been hoping she wouldn't have to check.
…
Okay, she'd totally been hoping, but she was trying to ignore that part of her brain.
The ghost slowly made her way towards the bathroom door.
She couldn't knock, due to her spiritual limitations, and the girl hadn't answered any of her calls as of yet, but she couldn't just waltz right through the wall... could she?
Taking a deep breath and steeling herself against whatever might be waiting on the other side of that door, Sayo floated through it.
Light brown hair, plastered to pale skin.
Tendrils of water caressing every curve with delicate care.
Her face being colored a tomato-like red, it took Sayo a few moments before she realized that Tsukuyomi had actually fallen asleep standing up, in the shower.
She wasn't sure how a person could manage to do something like that, but she supposed that if anyone could do it, it'd be her.
Not really sure if she should try and wake her up, or if she should move her to the bed, or if she should stare at her and try and etch this wonderful scene deep into her memory banks, Sayo found herself staring.
…
Yep, she was definitely staring. No denying that.
Desperately wrenching her eyes from the very much naked Tsukuyomi, before she succumbed and attempted to jump her, Sayo tried to think of something that might distract her from the current feelings that were bubbling their way through her chest at an alarming rate.
She came up short.
However, her combination of nervous whimpering and groaning in frustration was apparently strange enough to wake even Tsukuyomi from her sleep.
What followed was a very awkward explanation for her presence, some attempts at humor, and a seemingly endless amount of awkward silence.
Despite this, Sayo couldn't really bring herself to label her visit as anything but a success. Anti-peeping laws be damned.
XXX
Sayo stared at the small piece of paper in front of her in disbelief.
She'd won.
Slowly raising her eyes to stare at the girl responsible for the fairness of the draw, she couldn't help but wonder if Asakura had worked behind the scenes and pulled some strings. Though she really couldn't for the life of her – or ectoplasm, being dead made some idioms sound really weird – understand what had been going through the girl's head had she actually done so.
Sayo had just won the 'A date with Negi-sensei'-lottery, a lottery which she wasn't even sure how she'd ended up participating in, in the first place.
As the rest of the class swarmed around her, wondering what she'd planned for the date with the idolized young boy, Sayo chanced a glance over towards Tsukuyomi's desk.
Tsukuyomi was sleeping soundly, her arms acting as a makeshift pillow to bury her head into. Truly, the girl could sleep anywhere.
Wondering to herself at how the girl could sleep through both the night and the day, Sayo did her best to try and convince the girls that she really wasn't a threat to their potential romance.
XXX
After a bit of actual thought, it'd been decided that nobody would try and interrupt their date.
Not because she'd won fair and square, but rather because they realized that this would probably be the ghost's only chance at going on an actual date.
She couldn't be seen by most people, the only time she'd consider leaving the campus was once Asakura graduated, and she was much too shy to speak to boys, even in life – at least she was fairly certain that that was the case, it was hard to tell since she she couldn't remember it.
Basically, in order to allow their friend to gain a bit of romantic experience in her life, the entire class had decided to help out.
Haruna had made one of her golems, this one having its ending settled on the final stroke of midnight for an extra touch of romantic flair. Some of the others had been trying to do some sort of 'dating crash-course', which was thankfully ended by Asuna before something bad happened. And some of the girls were off trying to give Negi pointers on what he was supposed to do.
It was actually quite well thought-out, which was why Sayo was currently trying very hard to not suspect Asakura for rigging the entire thing for reasons unknown.
The date had been scheduled to last the entire afternoon, up until the midnight when her temporary body would run out of time.
Of course, this meant that she wouldn't be in the classroom by sunset.
Suppressing the urge to sigh at the thought of not being able to see Tsukuyomi, Sayo looked up as the young boy finally came into view.
It was obvious that he'd been waiting, and Sayo could see how the boy had manged to ensnare so many of his students' hearts. Even though she was suspecting that someone else had picked the outfit he wore, he wore it very well indeed.
Smiling slightly, Sayo made her way over to him. The others had arranged all of this for her to be happy, and she really didn't want to make them disappointed by moping about.
After a brief discussion on where they should go, they came to the conclusion that since neither of them had any clue, it'd probably be best to just walk around and see what happened.
Walking in itself was something unusual for Sayo, who was normally used to floating, and she didn't really mind spending time with the young teacher. But, even so... she found herself glancing up at the blue sky.
However, the calm walk didn't last for long before chaos broke out on the street as a person were more or less hurled at Negi.
Negi caught the unfortunate human projectile without any difficulties, until he realized whom he was holding, which promptly caused him to freeze up.
Eva looked down on him from what looked like a comfortable position in his arms, smirking evilly to herself.
"Sorry boya, it seems as if your playtime has been cut short."
Before Sayo could try to wrap her head around what exactly she meant by that, and who'd actually be crazy enough to hurl Eva at anyone, something grabbed onto her hand, and suddenly the surroundings turned into a blur.
Sayo had studied physics for several years, what with being stuck in school and all, and she was quite certain that even if someone grabbed your hand and took off at an immense speed, you would still have to run after them to keep yourself from hitting the ground.
Then again, maybe this was somehow magic-related, she'd never really grasped all of the concepts around magic.
When she finally came to a stop she realized that whoever had dragged her off in that physics-defying way, had yet to let go of her hand.
Pulling her arm in a way that forced the girl – considering the class of 3-A she wasn't really surprised that a girl could pull something like that off – to turn her way.
Sayo stopped.
Sayo paused.
Sayo wondered if she was seeing things.
Sayo rubbed her eyes.
Sayo opened her eyes.
Sayo paused.
Sayo opened her mouth.
Sayo closed her mouth.
In front of her stood a girl she really hadn't expected to see.
Tsukuyomi's face was red, a blush spreading across her entire face, and she looked like she wanted to say something.
Unfortunately, Tsukuyomi didn't seem to have the brain-capacity to form words, and she instead just kept on opening and closing her mouth.
Sayo could relate.
Finally seeming to give up on talking, Tsukuyomi tightened her grip on Sayo's hand, turned around, and started pulling her along the road at a much more sedate pace.
They walked in silence, hand in hand, for a long time.
"Ah, the sky." Sayo followed the other girl's gaze towards the slowly reddening sky.
During their seemingly aimless walk they had arrived at a park, a very empty-looking park.
As Tsukuyomi pulled her gently towards one of the benches, Sayo realized that she was actually starting to get pretty tired from walking so much.
They sat in peaceful silence as the sky turned red.
There was no need to say anything, this was how it always was. They would watch the sun set together, and then Tsukuyomi would fall asleep whilst leaning against her and dream of her 'senpai'.
The sky slowly darkened, the red fading away.
Yet, still Tsukuyomi's eyes were open, still she watched the sky, as if it was somehow vital that she imprint this sunset as deep into her memory as possible.
"I think I'm in love with you."
Her voice was barely audible, and if Sayo hadn't been so engrossed in looking at her face, she might have actually missed it.
As it was, Sayo simply blinked, and continued to watch the girl, wondering to herself if she'd fallen asleep in the middle of her date with Negi and was now actually in the middle of a really pleasant dream.
As she went over the girl's words once more she nodded to herself. Yes, she'd fallen asleep, that was the only thing that made sense. But, despite how nice it would be to continue to dream, she didn't want to.
Tearing her eyes away from the girl, before her will depleted, she looked up towards the slowly emerging stars.
"What of Setsuna-san?" the girl next to her winced, as if struck, and Sayo felt her chest sting from guilt at mentioning her.
"That's..." she shook her head slowly, "Senpai is..." she blushed a little, "Very attractive... but... I don't want to..." she made a small noise, looking like she really didn't know what she was trying to say.
Sayo raised an eyebrow at her problem. If this was her dream, why should Tsukuyomi need to think of words? She ought to know just what to say, right? It just didn't make sense.
As she was failing to wrap her mind around this slight complication, the girl next to her continued.
"Senpai is... sexy... and everything like that, but you..." she made another small noise of frustration as she tried to locate the proper words. "You make me feel... at peace..."
Sayo blinked.
"Just sitting next to you... it's so calm..." frowning to herself, she continued. "I'm not good at 'calm'... it's always been one blood-crazed battle after another... I'm never calm... it's just not... like me..."
Tsukuyomi finally turned towards her, watching her with eyes that looked just as confused as Sayo felt. But there was something in those eyes, something deep within them that made the ghost's heart skip a beat.
Softness.
A gentle softness that made her absolutely certain that this was not a dream.
Tsukuyomi, the girl she loved and who's heart she'd always believed to be out of reach, was telling her that she loved her. Not because of her looks, or because of pity. She was simply telling her that she loved her.
Sayo felt a deep blush spread across her cheeks as she slowly started to grasp what this meant.
So, as the echo of the first stroke of midnight resounded around them, she did the only sensible thing.
She kissed her.
XXX
A/n: I think that the strangest part of all of this, is that this couple actually makes perfect sense to me.
XXX
The Grand Epilogue
XXX
Time had been kind to the girls of 3-A, Sayo noted absently to herself.
Even so, there was gray hiding in most of their hair, and white in a few of the others'.
Even the young teacher had gotten a few gray spots, finally looking more like the age he'd always tended to act.
It was a beautiful summer day, but she didn't hear the birds that were singing pleasantly around them.
Tsukuyomi lay silent, her eyes closed as if she were sleeping. Slumbering eternally.
A part of her was still amazed at how she'd managed to die so peacefully, it just didn't seem possible that she would've changed so much from when they'd first met.
Smiling slightly at the memory of covering in fear from the beautiful girl, Sayo wondered how much she herself had changed during the years they spent together.
She'd glared down Setsuna, gotten away with lying blatantly to Asakura, and patted Chachazero on the head.
She'd had very good reasons for all of those things though. Setsuna had insulted Tsukuyomi – which in hindsight was probably well within her right, considering all that the girl had put her through – Asakura had asked how they did... you know... that... and Chachazero had begun shouting about blood and gore on a day when she hadn't been able to see Tsukuyomi for almost an entire week.
Sensible reasons every one of them.
She really looked as if she was simply sleeping, like she always did.
Finally, the lid to the coffin was closed, sealing the face of the woman she loved forever from view.
The sun was shining softly, and the sky was a warm hue of blue.
There were speeches, there were tears, for she had been a member of class 3-A, class extraordinaire.
Even Eva was there, looking just the same as always, though there was a hint of apprehension in her eyes. The first of her friends had fallen into the eternal sleep, it was a reminder of the mortality of those surrounding her.
Sayo understood, a part of her felt the same way, but most was still reeling from how she was the first to depart.
Tsukuyomi was buried in a field of flowers, the one next to the school's clock-tower.
It was a beautiful place in which to sleep.
The former members of 3-A slowly filed away, disappearing back to wherever they spent their time.
The funeral was over.
Sayo sat down next to the fresh gravestone of the girl she loved and looked up at the slowly reddening sky.
It truly was a beautiful day.
"Wonderful day for a funeral, really."
Sayo blinked.
Sayo turned.
Sayo rubbed her eyes.
"Apparently, I still had some regrets..." Tsukuyomi made a face to herself before turning and smiling down at her. "I couldn't very well leave the girl I loved alone, now could I?"
Relief washed over her as her arms wrapped themselves around someone as insubstantial as herself.
The constant warmth of a living person was gone, but something similar had taken its place.
She'd force Tsukuyomi to apologize later for not being present at her own funeral, but that could wait, because the arms of the one she loved were warm, and the sky was a beautiful shade of red.
XXX
A/n: I once lamented about how they'd never be able to be together forever, and then I remembered that ghosts are people that have died at some point – boy did I feel stupid... I hope that this was as enjoyable to read as it was to write.