Author's note: Plenty of thanks to all who read and reviewed :) Here's the next chapter of Lyrical Academy. It's still a sort of a little introductory chapter but the next chapter would be where story actually starts to "move", hopefully.


Lyrical Academy

Chapter Two
~Surprise House Visit~

The shrill ringing of an alarm clock rang throughout the bedroom at exactly five in the morning, jarring the sleeping figure awake. A slender arm immerged from under the covers and pressed the button located on top of the device, shutting it off. Rubbing her eyes sleepily while sitting up, she wrapped the covers around her body, slid off her bed and made her way to the door. Jogging lightly along the corridor, she a took a quick peek into the bedroom beside hers, satisfied to see that the person inside soundly asleep, unperturbed by the loud ringing earlier.

Quietly, she made her way to the bathroom and went through the daily routine of brushing her teeth and washing her face. Feeling refreshed, she headed back to her room and discarded the covers and her shirt for a matching black jacket and track pants. She tied her hair in a high ponytail and with a final check in the mirror, grabbed her iPod and cell phone and proceeded downstairs. A woman with long, wavy taupe hair seated at the table looked up from the papers at the sound of footsteps.

"Good morning," Precia greeted with a smile. "I see you're up early as usual."

"Morning, Mother," Fate bent her body slightly and gave the woman a kiss on the cheek.

"Is she awake?" Her mother asked in a slightly hushed tone. "No," Fate replied. "I checked and she's still asleep." Precia sighed with relief, "Good. I wouldn't want to deal with your sister's sleep derived tantrums so early in the morning." She took a sip of coffee and returned to her reading.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Fate took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the fresh, cool air as she stood on her porch. While most people were still snuggled in the warmth of their beds and snoring away on a Sunday morning, she was already up and about, getting ready for the intense run ahead. She enjoyed running in the early morning, without bothersome cars and the carbon monoxide they emit, having the road and air all to herself. With a final stretch, she put on her earphones, switched on her iPod and began her morning run.

She started off slowly, following to the beat of a series of soothing music that was on her playlist. Her speed increased when it was replaced with fast paced techno songs. Drops of sweat formed on her forehead and her breath became ragged, feeling the pull of her muscles in her thighs and legs. She closed her eyes. The feel of cool air against her warm skin was just exhilarating.

She was abruptly interrupted, however, when a yell, loud enough to be heard through her earphones, cut through the air. She snapped her eyes open to see an out of control bicycle charging directly at her, with its rider screaming hysterically.

"Get out of the way!"

Fate managed to shun the bicycle just in time as it zoomed pass her, travelling a few more meters before it crashed into a low parapet. The contents that was in the basket in front of the bicycle exploded like a massive display of fireworks as the rider was flung into the air, landing in the hedge of somebody's garden.

"Oh my God!" came out of Fate's mouth as she ran to survey the damage, praying for the safety of the rider. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as the rider emerged from the bushes unscathed.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Fate-chan?" Nanoha gasped, surprised to see the blonde, hands full with groceries, at her doorstep at - she checked the clock on the wall – six-thirty in the morning. "What are you doing here? Why are you here? How you'd know I live here? And what's with the bags?"

"So you're Fate-chan," the other brunette who had been standing beside Fate spoke. "Nanoha's been telling me all about you."

"Mom!" Nanoha gasped again, just noticing Momoko's presence and the disheveled state she was in, with leaves stuck in her hair and her clothes crumpled. The state of the bicycle beside her was worse. "What happened?!"

"Ah," She scratched her cheek sheepishly. "I crashed and flew into a bush on my way back."

Nanoha opened the door wider, allowing the two to step into the house. Fate placed the bags on the kitchen counter and took a look around the house while Momoko explained to her daughter about what happened earlier in detail. It had a pleasant atmosphere, and was much smaller and cozier as compared to her home.

She then turned her attention to the brunettes where the youngest of the pair was helping the other cleaned up, recalling how taken aback she was to see a drowsy Nanoha at the door. Then again, how she never realized the possibility of them being family was beyond her as they clearly shared some distinct features, from the colour of their hair and eyes, right down to their - does she dare say - klutziness.

Nanoha accidentally pulled too hard as she tried to remove a stubborn leaf that had tangled within her mother's hair and both their foreheads collided when Momoko's head jerked forward, earning each of them a yelp of pain. They rubbed the sore spots and apologized at the same time.

"Nyahaha, sorry."

No doubt about it. They're a hundred percent related.

"Please stay for breakfast," Momoko said to Fate as she moved behind the kitchen counter to unpack the groceries. "As my way of thanking you for carrying these all the way here."

"Thank you and you're welcome for the help Takamachi-san, but I'm afraid I have to be going now," Fate said as she rejected the offer politely. "Sorry to intrude so long."

-o-o-o-o-o-

She coughed and shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"Nyahaha, sorry, I'm staring aren't I?"

A short 'yes' was what Fate wanted to say, but that would be somewhat rude. "It's okay. You can stare as much as you want."

That… didn't sound right either and it was proven so when Nanoha's face turned red at the unintentional flirting and Fate tried to cover up her own embarrassment with another cough. In the end, she stayed for breakfast, thanks to the strong insistence of the brunette seated across of her.

Note to self: Nanoha can be quite the stubborn girl.

"Sorry, it's just that this the first time I've seen Fate-chan aside from school hours," she said shyly. "Do you always wear clothes such as those when you go out?"

"Only when I'm doing runs," Fate replied with a smile, grinning when a playful thought came into mind. "I could say the same to you. Is that what you usually wear at home? Pink pajamas with little bunny imprints? And equally matching pink fluffy bunny slippers?"

First came confusion and then came horror and cue - the different shades of red on Nanoha's face. Fate chuckled and gazed at the brunette. With her brown hair free from its usual side-ponytail, Nanoha looked somewhat different, a little more feminine, so to speak. She noted, too, that she was rather pretty, now that she had a good look at her.

A couple of weeks had passed since the awkward incident. Fate wasn't really freaked out by her actions, she just didn't know how to respond, thus gave the impression that she was ignoring her. In fact, it was quite the opposite as she found her interesting, even before they were classmates, having heard about her culinary disasters from others. And when the brunette made her declaration of friendship, she was delighted.

"Erm," the brunette interrupted her thoughts. "Is something wrong?"

"N-nothing," the blonde, having caught staring, stuttered. Both girls fell silent shortly afterwards. "So…" she started, breaking the silence. "Are you an only child?"

"Nope. I have an elder brother and sister," Nanoha replied with a smile. "They are helping out at Midori-ya with Dad right now. Ah! Midori-ya is our family-business, a bakery. Maybe you can visit the shop sometime."

Nanoha looked like she was about to ask something when Momoko placed a plate stacked with freshly made pancakes on the table. "Looks like you girls are enjoying yourselves."

"Mom! Where'd you come from?!" Nanoha jumped in her seat and then blushed. "Er, I mean... Oh wow! The pancakes look great!"

A tinge of pink spread across Fate's face as she, like Nanoha, had momentarily forgotten about her presence.

Momoko sighed. "Why do I get the feeling that I'm being ignored again?"

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Really, you don't have to."

"It's fine. Besides, I'm only accompanying you half the way." Nanoha said as she took a few quick steps and stood in front of Fate, smiling. "So let me walk with you, alright?"

The blonde nodded, blushing slightly. They fell into step with each other and walked side by side to Fate's house in comfortable silence. Over in the distance, a paperboy was distributing the morning papers, slotting them into mailboxes. Fate quirked an eyebrow at his attire: a white collared shirt with suspenders, a pair of brown shorts, white knee-length socks paired with black shoes and finally, a grey beret adorned his head, positioned low enough to cover his eyes.

It wasn't long before they passed each other, both girls pretending not to stare. The brunette shot a glance behind her. "Wow," Nanoha spoke as she regarded the boy's outfit. "It's so… unique."

A beeping sound distracted them and Fate took out her cell phone.

"Your mom?"

"Yeah."

It was a message asking about her whereabouts and telling her to come home soon. She typed a short message and pressed 'send'.

'That reminds me…' Fate fiddled with her cell phone. 'I haven't asked for her number yet…'

With her eyes closed and a deep breath, she turned presenting her cell phone to the girl beside hers. "Can I have your number?"

"Funny, I was just thinking about the same thing."

'Wait… I recognize that voice anywhere! It's…'

"Hayate-chan!" Nanoha shrieked, startled by the sudden appearance of said girl who had placed herself between the two of them. Fate instinctively covered her chest and took a few steps backwards, distancing herself from the girl.

"Aww… C'mon," Hayate pouted. "Is that how you greet a friend?"

Even though the girl hadn't laid her hands on her since the Mark of Friendship, Fate wasn't going to let her guard down, in fear of yet another attack. It was then that she noticed what Hayate was wearing.

"You're that paperboy!"

"Girl, you mean, though I don't think there's such a thing as a papergirl," Hayate pondered for a moment before she sobbed, feigning a hurt look. "Nanoha-chan and Fate-chan failed to notice me, even when I walked by them."

"Anyone would when you're dressed like that," Fate pointed out. "Right, Nanoha?"

"I'm sorry!" the brunette apologized as she ran towards her friend and enveloped her in a bear hug. Fate face-palmed.

"You're forgiven," Hayate said as she patted Nanoha on the head. "As for you," she eyed the blonde with a grin, "How about giving me that number of yours now? Ah, I know! Let's exchange numbers."

Fate sighed as she exchanged cell phones with the girl, deciding to ask for Nanoha's number when she got her own cell phone back. She entered her name and number and hit 'save'. She was about to return the cell phone back to Hayate when the girl suddenly burst out laughing.

"I never knew Fate-chan is into funny faces," she clutched her side with mirth. "You've got to see this, Nanoha-chan!"

Fate almost died of embarrassment that morning.


Author's note: I couldn't resist writing a chapter on Fate, since her role was small in the previous chapter lol.