The color of the sky is pure and unfiltered. The cleanest and most wonderful thing she has ever seen. It's enrapturing, almost like a fire because of the hypnotic effect it has on the girl. She leans forward, her elbows almost dangling over the railing, eyes unfocused.
"Hm," she murmurs softly as she rests her chin on her arms in thought.
"Nanoha." Nostalgia. Whenever she thinks of the owner of that voice she thinks of the ocean.
"Fate-chan," she greets quietly, still not turning around, eyes trained on the horizon where the sky meets the sea. Her shoulder suddenly feels very warm. A hand lightly tightens its grip.
"Ne, Nanoha, it's cold. Please go inside." It is then that Nanoha turns and stares at the girl . . . no young eighteen year old woman in front of her. The reason why this person reminds her of the sea was Nanoha could drown in Fate's wine colored eyes. They were so deep, so warm, so unfathomably kind and selfless.
The brunette exhales and watches her breath as it evaporates in mere seconds.
"It's fine, Fate-chan."
"Nanoha, please-"
"I'm fine. Really. Just because of that accident . . . Fate-chan I don't need to be protected." The blonde blinks and retracts her hand, reluctantly averting her gaze. The warmth is gone and Nanoha unintentionally shivers.
"Mm, I see . . ."
"Oi! Nanoha! OI! DON'T IGNORE ME!" Through half-lidded eyes the brunette peered into the face of a frenzied red-head.
"Did ya hear me? I said wake-up!" Wincing, Nanoha sat straighter, wiped at the corner of her mouth, eyes still bleary with sleep.
"Mou, Vita-chan, what's wrong?" Barely open slate blue gazed at frenzied sapphire.
"Look where you're sleeping ya idiot." Stretching tiredly Nanoha rubbed her eyes, glancing at her surroundings. Instantly she jolted up in surprise. She was on the couch of the TSAB lobby. Widening her eyes she swung her legs onto the ground.
"Why am I here?" she mumbled softly to herself, "I fell asleep on the park bench . . ." Her eyebrows creased in confusion. "Why?"
"Well it doesn't matter! What matters is you look like a mess and you have a class in half an hour. Do ya want me to save your butt again? Is this my job in life, to be Nanoha's gaurdian angel?"
"Well you certainly do look like a cherub," muttered Nanoha sheepishly.
"What?" was the redhead's sharp reply.
"Nothing, nothing." Winking a slate blue eye playfully she stood up and pat Vita's head, mussing the hair intentionally. "Thanks again." In a blur of wrinkled white and blue uniform and auburn hair she was gone.
"Geez, she's like a kid or something," Vita growled tersely. She scratched the back of her head irritably and glanced around in annoyance. She turned to the revolving doors and glared at the person who entered, a mousy looking girl with long brown hair and glasses.
"Sweeheart," the lady murmured in the cajoling voice an adult uses with a toddler, "this isn't a place for children. Did you get lost? The nursery is over-"
"Please." The woman stopped, frowning at the manner the child spoke. It sounded hardened and too annoyed to be a kid.
"I've had a pretty crappy day. And it's not even noon yet, damnit. So please before I hurt you . . . did you just imply that I am a child?" The woman gulped and readjusted her glasses nervously.
"Er . . . honey-"
"I'm not seven DAMNIT! God I need my coffee," Vita screamed, her eyes blazing with unnecessary rage. She stormed past the traumatized officer, roughly shoving her as she walked by. The woman's eyes widened in surprise. She stood there dumbly, eyes wide. It was as if she was waiting for the cameras and handsome man to come out, declaring the whole thing a bizarre joke. All she got was a few curious stares and whispers.
". . . yep she's the new girl. Shario Finieno."
Shario sighed and continued her walk into the enormous building. Today was going to be a long day.
. . . . . . . . .
"Good work everyone. We'll take a little break and then we can continue." The trainees sighed with relief and sprinted toward the rest facilities, eager to escape their infamous instructor. Nanoha smiled, wiping off the slight sheen on her forehead. Behind her she heard a soft patter of applause. Without turning around she smiled, knowing who it was.
"Two times in a whole week. My, Yuuno-kun, you seem to like taking breaks during your job." Her answer was a soft chuckle.
"Think what you will but I was having such an invigorating experience with the artifacts that I thought I would just spread the joy."
"Mou, you're so-" she turned grinning playfully, pausing mid-sentence.
"So?"
"So strange." She laughed softly and crossed her arms over her chest, eyes dancing like blurry headlights at dawn. Those eyes dazzled Yuuno. They made his whole world shift to one thing. Nanoha Takamachi.
"What is it? Do I have something on my face?"
"Oh, no, of course not." He blushed and gave her a lopsided grin. To Nanoha, Yuuno reminded her of the grass on a sunny day, lively grounded, and familiar. When he smiled she knew he meant it.
Her smile is fake, a well created facade that almost no one can see. Except Nanoha. She sees everything. The crack in the mask, the mistitch in the pattern, the missing part. It ruins the perfectness, brings the memory of her smile to shame. And it makes Nanoha angry. No that isn't a strong enough word. Furious.
"Nanoha. What's wrong?"
"Mm?" Nanoha blinked, trying to break from the dark thoughts, escaping from the dark corners of her mind.
"S-sorry. I just wasn't thinking straight. What were you saying Yuuno-kun?" The brunette beams and scratches her cheek in embarrassment. The man in front of her doesn't respond, instead sticking his hands into his pockets. His eyes became pensive in that quick second, darkening and narrowing in thought.
"Nanoha. Where is Fate-san? I haven't seen her around lately." Carefully he watched her reaction.
"Oh." Her face pinched like she had stepped on something sharp and was trying to mask the pain. "She's just been . . . busy."
The blonde boy frowned, not liking Nanoha's reaction. Something was wrong, he didn't like it.
"Nanoha, is-"
"Nanoha-sensei." The brunette turned in response to the student calling her. Quickly she glanced back at Yuuno.
"I'll see you later Yuuno-kun. Thanks for dropping by." She winked and ambled to the students who were beginning to come back out onto the large practice ground. He watched her talk to the young adults, trying to shake the feeling that clung to him like a bad odor. Yuuno waved at Nanoha even though he knew she couldn't see him and walked away. He wasn't clingy, he didn't like to hover. His frown deepened as he stuffed his hands deep into his pant pockets. Nanoha was hiding something. And it wasn't good.
. . . . . .
Fate leaned deep into her chair, allowing a sigh to slip from her lips. She was tired. The blonde wanted to sleep on a bed, not a desk chair. Her situation was ridiculous, almost amusing. Almost.
"Fate-san."
"Hm?" she asked softly, her eyes lightly closed.
"Someone asked for an appointment with you."
Tiredly she sat up, resting her arms against the wood of her desk.
"Is it possible that I could put that on hold?" she inquired in a gentle voice.
"I-I'm sorry Fate-san. This person is very persistent. He says he must speak with you."
"He?" The pronoun perked Fate's interest. "A man is looking for me? What is his name?"
"Yuuno Scrya."
Fate felt her teeth grind against each other.
"Isn't he gentle with them?" Nanoha whispers softly, pointing to the lanky boy as he painstakingly brushes off the dust from the artifact he holds in his hands. His bespeckled eyes are focused entirely on this object. Fate's eyes are focused entirely on the girl beside her.
"Yes, very gentle," she murmurs, unconsciously soaking in the brunette's radiant smile, burning it to memory for a later time. Nanoha must have felt the stare because she turns and beams at Fate.
"But, you're very gentle too, aren't you Fate-chan?" This elicits a blush from Fate and a laugh from Nanoha.
"Ha, that man is persistent, isn't he? Is he in the lobby, Sarah-san?"
"No, he is waiting outside-" Fate stood quickly and walked out the door passing her secretary with a quick thank-you. She wasn't going to keep him any longer. She stepped into the elevator and stared out the glass, gazing at her reflection. The blonde's eyes were angry. They were flecks of blood that stood out amongst the street lights and darkness of the night sky as the elevator zipped down the building. Fate's hand balled into a fist.
. . . . .
Yuuno was hunched over, sitting on the bench, his head in his hands. Answers . . . such elusive things. They were so difficult to get. And when you got them, sometimes you realized that it would have been better if you hadn't heard it in the first place. Shivering the young archaeologist breathed on his hands, warming them for a few seconds before they became cold again.
"Good evening, Yuuno," murmured a soft and husky voice that was akin to smooth velvet.
Slowly he pulled his head from his hands, eyes warily examining the girl he hadn't seen in months.
"It's been awhile, Fate-san."
"Has it?"
"A few months should qualify as awhile, right Fate-san?"
"It's been a few months already? My does the time fly by fast." The burgundy eyes became unfocused as they stared past Yuuno. They hardened imperceptibly.
This time Yuuno didn't shiver because of the cold.
"So Yuuno, what is it you wish to discuss?" The tone was calm. Fate was using her seasoned enforcer voice.
"I w-wanted. . ." stammered Yuuno. He couldn't quite break eye contact from Fate to gather his thoughts. Her eyes were that riveting. Maybe that was why Nanoha said the first things she had seen were Fate's eyes during their fated encounter. They were something almost impossible to look away from.
"Yes?" she asked, her voice almost inaudible.
"Nanoha is upset, Fate-san."
The blonde frowned.
"Why?"
"I-I think it's because of you."
"Really?"
"Er, yes. Yes I do."
"Why?"
"Because-" he stopped mid-sentence as one side of Fate's mouth pulled upward. Fate T. Harlaown was smirking at him. It was a look he had never seen on her face before.
"Fate . . ."
"Yes?"
"Why do you have that look on your face?"
"What look?"
"It's as if . . . you're smug."
Yuuno's teeth chattered when the most chilling laugh bubbled from Fate's lips. The sound was almost a mirror of the laughter of a woman he would rather forget. Precia Testarossa.
"I'm not smug, Yuuno." The wine red orbs narrowed in concentration. "I'm angry."
Yuuno straightened, standing from the bench.
"Excuse me?"
"Nanoha makes me angry. Since you are around her so often it makes me angry just looking at you. This look on my face," she murmured in a deathly calm voice as she gestured to her cheek with a finger, "is when I'm holding in my anger."
"Why on earth would Nanoha make you angry?" choked out Yuuno, disbelief clear in his confused voice.
"Why? Ask her Yuuno. You two seem very close." The slim arms covered by black sleeves crossed over Fate's chest.
"Fate-san, please tell-"
"No." The word was flat and emotionless but it made Yuuno stumble to a halt. God, why was it so cold out here?
"If you tell me I could help you Fate-san."
"Do you really want to know?"
No, I want to go back to Nanoha and forget this conversation ever happened. I want to go and spend all night studying my artifacts and searching through ancient tomes. I want to go have my dinner before I die of starvation.
"Yes."
Fate's gaze instantly sharpened and she wasn't staring at him like she was wearing blurry glasses.
"Nanoha is always so eager to do anything and everything. She trains herself, she works herself, and teaches herself to death. When she had the . . . . a-accident I was almost not surprised. Warnings are never enough. I care for her constantly, endlessly, but something always happens in the end. Right Yuuno? You wake up from the dream and have to live in reality."
"Fate-san, what happened?"
"Day after day it's the same dance, asking her to do this and that. Sometimes you just get tired of it. Helping her find a proper place to sleep for instance. She's so careless . . . At first she accepts it with a smile and then-" Fate swallowed and cut of her nervous and slightly crazed voice. She exhaled calmly and a look of complete serenity filled her features.
"Yuuno, I think I've answered enough. I have paperwork to do, so if you will excuse me. . ."
When Yuuno gripped the collar of her uniform she didn't even flinch. She just smiled like that was exactly what she had wanted him to do all along.
"Damnit Fate, tell me what's wrong. Spit it out. You can't bottle yourself up like this! You'll explode." The blonde grit his teeth and desperately stared at Fate, concern barely escaping his emerald green eyes.
"Ah . . ." The woman tilted her head backward, letting out a sigh that seemed to convey all of her emotions in one sound: happiness, sadness, joy, rage, elation, and disappointment. She smiled.
"Please do not touch me Yuuno. I don't like it when others touch me. Doesn't that always initiate conflict?" The man however didn't budge. He merely grit his teeth.
"Stop this Fate! Why are you acting like this? Like a . . . puerile child! Tell me why, hm? Please. If not me then for Nanoha!" Pleading emerald bore into apathetic burgundy.
Fate cocked her head to the side and the corners of her mouth lifted upward.
"I see . . . well do you want to play with me ferret boy?" Yuuno swallowed and answered with a slow nod. The smile plastered on Fate's face became more genuine.
"If I win . . . tell me why you're acting like this."
The woman's only response was a laugh.
. . . . . .
Hayate slowly sipped at her mug of warm tea, her eyes studying the chessboard in front of her. Its sixty four black and white squares were empty. The chess pieces were long discarded after that day. This board was all that remained. But she couldn't quite bring herself to throw it away. It was a memory, a physical memory. And the funny thing about memories was they couldn't be thrown away. They always lingered, always stayed, always burned.
"Stupid," she muttered softly, her sapphire eyes laughing in the dim lit office. So so stupid.
A/N Sorry it's been so long since an update. I should be studying for finals but. . . tee-hee. About the whole Nanofate, Yuunoha shipping thing . . . my story is fueled by characters and plot, it's not a shipfest. Nice ship filled fluff is nice but this is a story with characters with less focus on romance and more focus on interactions. Please review and tell me what you thought.