Disclaimer: I do not own the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha franchise and am making no money from this story.

Chapter II – White Day

As Nanoha walked the steps that lead up to the school roof she could feel a weird sensation in her stomach. It was like it was being twisted into knots but at the same time had that light, airy feeling that was sometimes referred to as having butterflies. There was also a curious sensation in her chest, like it was itching on the inside. In her left hand she held a small piece of plain, white paper and even though she had only received it that morning it was very creased. This piece of paper was in fact a letter, and it was because of what was written in this letter that she was on her way to the roof.

Dozens of thoughts danced around in her head some that sent the butterflies flapping faster, some that caused the knots to tighten. All of them revolved around her blonde best-friend. She knew she would make the journey back down in tears the only question was, what would those tears mean?

When she reached the door at the top she placed her hand against the metal bar but then her stomach lurched suddenly and she hesitated. Her heart began to pound harder and faster and she could almost feel her blood racing in her veins. She took several deep breaths and with some mental effort push the door open. The sudden influx of light shocked her eyes and she raised a hand to guard against it. After several moments her eyes adjusted and she could see again.

There standing against the chain-link fence surrounding the rooftop was the one who had called her out here. The one who was currently her best friend and in a moment, Nanoha hoped would become her girlfriend. Despite her nerves she felt a smile spring to her face when she saw her and felt the same happy sensation she always felt at the sight of the other girl. She bounded forward with a spring in her step, that hadn't been there before.

"Fate-chan!"

The sun was shining merrily in the sky as she slowly she walked the path to school, her head bowed in thought. It had been exactly a month since she'd given Fate-chan those chocolates and in all that time nothing had happened. Her best friend had stopped acting quite so nervous around her and things had gone back to normal more or less, so she knew she had at least managed to avoid ruining their friendship. Still, when she had given Fate that gift she had expected something...more.

Had she been wrong?

No, she didn't think she had, she definitely hadn't imagined that morning in Fate-chan's bedroom. The way her friend had crawled up her body so very slowly, it had been like torture. The mixture of emotions in her rich, crimson eyes as she had leaned in for the kiss and the feel or her warm breath on her cheek. Most of all Nanoha could never forget the way she had felt as she lay there; in that moment she had wanted nothing more than to kiss her, she had needed it. She had been completely aware of what she was doing when she raised her own head to meet Fate-chan's. Her body had tingled all over and she could have sworn her heart was about to burst. Then the moment had been ruined and the flame had died down, although it didn't go out.

The rest of that day hadn't been nearly so nice, Fate-chan had spent the rest of the day looking half-terrified and half-ashamed. She watched her, stealing glances whenever she could and the sight had made Nanoha's heart ache. She'd had a longing then that had surpassed even the the longing of that morning, she'd wanted to run over to her friend, wrap her up in her arms and whisper soothing words in her ear. She'd have done anything to make Fate-chan smile again. Unfortunately she'd had a sinking suspicion that she was the problem, or at least part of it. After all she had been the one to chicken-out, turn tail and run. Although it was not because Fate-chan had almost kissed her, no it was because she had wanted it so very badly and the strength of that want had scared her.

That night she had lain in bed unable to sleep, a dull tingle had been running over her skin and her stomach had felt hollow. Her thoughts kept turning to Fate-chan and every time she imagined that look of misery on her best-friends face it had made her chest hurt. But what could she do to make her feel better?

As she had stared at her bedroom ceiling trying to come up with a plan, memories of the last week came to her:

That incident on Monday when Fate-chan had smacked her soundly on the bottom. At first she'd freaked out, thinking some pervert had somehow managed to sneak-up on her. Then she'd spun around and seen Fate-chan sitting on the ground, she'd been about to ask what had happened but froze when she'd noticed how red her friend had gone and how wide her eyes were, she had looked completely mortified. She had sprung back to her feet almost instantly and apologised in a rush of words, Nanoha hadn't been able to make out everything but she had gotten the gist. Fate-chan had looked so embarrassed Nanoha had made sure to tell her it was an accident and not to worry about it. The blonde had looked so relieved and Nanoha had released a breathe she hadn't even known she was holding.

Strangely some small part of her couldn't help being a little saddened, as though she was disappointed that it had only been an accident.

Then Tuesday...oh God Tuesday. She had tripped, she didn't know on what all she knew was that her foot had connected with something hard and she had gone tumbling right into Fate-chan. Somehow the two of them had managed to land lying atop each other with her back pressed to Fate's chest. It hadn't taken Nanoha long to realise there was a light pressure on her own chest, she had looked down to find at some point during their fall Fate-chan's hands had somehow reached around to cup her breasts!

She had opened her mouth to speak but something had held her back, something deep inside her had not wanted to move from that position. Then Fate-chan's hands had started...moving and a violently surge of electricity and heat had rushed through her body; a ragged breath escaped her lips, carrying Fate's name. But the other girl hadn't stopped and Nanoha had felt something growing at the back of her throat shortly before a moan had reverberated in the air, a noise that had been low and hungry. She wouldn't realise that noise had come from her until later that night; and when she did she was both shocked and embarrassed. Her blush had been so bright that her mother had sent her straight to bed after dinner, fearing she may be ill.

She hadn't been able to concentrated on her homework that evening, instead she had kept replaying the days events in her head. She had enjoyed it, she couldn't deny that but why had she enjoyed it? Was it just..did she just like being touched there; or was it because it was Fate-chan who did it? She thought she would have freaked out if someone randomly groped her breasts but she trusted Fate-chan with everything. In fact it was getting harder and harder , almost impossible really, to imagine a day where Fate-chan wasn't there.

It was that night, that for the first time, Nanoha wondered how she felt about her best friend and every night that week she would lay in bed and ask herself the same question.

The next day during P.E. Nanoha had felt someone staring at her. Normally this wouldn't have been that unusual, after all she was playing it was to be expected, except this had felt more like a pair of eyes boring into her back even when she wasn't actively participating. She looked around to see who it was and it hadn't taken her long to spot Fate sitting on the bench, all flushed and squirming. She'd actually wondered if her friend was ill before noticing the peculiar way her legs were crossed and how tense she seemed.

In that instant a wicked idea occurred to her and she had to fight hard to suppress a grin, she had decided to tease her friend a little. Nothing to obvious, she didn't want everyone to know; just pushing her chest out a little more than was strictly necessary when she took a deep breath or that time she had made sure Fate was directly behind her when she'd bent over to pick up the ball. When she'd sent a small smile her way, the blonde had had a glazed far-away look in her eyes. She wasn't ashamed to admit that she had gotten more than a small amount of satisfaction from the blush on Fate-chan's cheeks.

The day after Fate-chan had been caught staring at her in class, the teacher had even made a joke about it (teachers weren't supposed to behave like that!). The look on the girl's face afterwards had made Nanoha's stomach sink like a stone, she'd actually felt a compulsion to rush over to the her desk and hug her. The thought had crossed her mind that maybe she'd gone a bit too far with her teasing the day before.

That Friday lunchtime Fate-chan had invited her to spend the night. This wasn't anything abnormal, the two of them had slept over at each others houses a lot over the last few years, but for some reason that time had felt different for her. Fate-chan had been blushing ever so slightly and had obviously been struggling to maintain eye contact, Nanoha had actually felt her heart skip a beat. Thankfully the bell had rung at that moment so Nanoha had only given a quick yes before rushing to her seat to conceal her own flame-red cheeks.

It hadn't taken much for her to fall asleep that night, for some reason lying next to Fate-chan just made her feel so comfortable. Then the next morning that had happened.

There couldn't be any doubts now, she liked Fate-chan like that. Oddly the thought didn't seem to bother her like she'd thought it might, or like it might have bothered other girls. She had wanted, more than anything, to kiss her when they had been lying on the ground. She had blushed at Fate-chan looking all cute and found herself caring about the girl's well-being more than almost anyone else. For the last week when she wasn't busy thinking about something important she was thinking about her. After the incident on Tuesday the girls mere touch sent a spark through Nanoha's body that made her feel...nice. No, not just nice, exhilarated, alive.

If she knew her best friend she was probably beating herself up over the events of past week. Nanoha needed something to cheer her up and let her know she liked her back.

She'd took a look at the display of her phone and noticed that it had gone midnight, she was about to place it back on her desk when she noticed something else; the date. It was the fourteenth of February, Valentines Day. She'd laid the phone down slowly as she'd thought to herself, she had a plan.

She'd trudged into the entrance hall trying her best not to feel depressed. However when she opened her shoe locker, something pink slipped from inside and softly touched down on the ground at her feet. She'd picked it up and read, which had lead to her being here on the roof at this moment.

She felt her heart begin to pick-up its pace as she moved towards her best friend. It started gradually at first before growing more and more frantic, eventually racing as though she had just run a marathon. She did her best to bring it back under control, trying to discretely take slow, steady breaths. Somehow she had the feeling that Fate-chan had noticed anyway. As she came to a stop next to her best-friend she noticed that the girl had both hands hidden behind her back.

"Fate-chan..." she whispered.

"Nanoha." came the reply, this close Nanoha could see that her cheeks were bright red. "I...want to give you this." The blonde brought her hands out from behind her back and presented a white box, "It's not as good as yours but please..."

Nanoha took the box and gently pried off the lid, inside were around a dozen small, white chocolates. They were home-made judging by the irregular shape but still Nanoha felt moved that the other girl had actually gone to the effort to do something she had probably never done before. She felt the tightness in her chest release and suddenly she felt all light and airy as though at any moment she could just float away. At the same time a pressure was building behind her eyes and it was all she could do to hold it back.

"Thank you, Fate-chan."

"And there's something else." Fate reached into her coat pocket with her right hand and when she brought it out again t was holding a white ribbon. Nanoha was struck speechless, a white ribbon meant that...

Slowly Fate reached towards Nanoha's head, stopping briefly to look her in the eyes as though seeking permission. When Nanoha inclined her head she continued, untying the binding holding the ponytail on the side of the brunette's head together before redoing it with the ribbon in its place.

With that the damn broke and Nanoha could no longer hold back the tears. She sprung forward wrapping her arms tightly around the taller girl in a fierce hug and burying her face in the crook of her neck. In return Fate wrapped her arms lightly around Nanoha's middle and rested her head lightly on top of hers.

The two would stand there sharing that embrace and talking to each other in whispers for a while longer, before drying their eyes and heading home.

Well that took much, much longer than I had intended and for that I apologise.

So was it good? As always constructive critiscm is appreciated, so pleas read and review.