Why do I have two idiot friends? One too stubborn to face her feelings and one too dense to know her feelings. After all these years and she still think what she feels for her is friendship. Why can't she think of it as something more than friendship anyway? What can I possibly do to help these two? Maybe Vivio would be willing to help. And that letter too. I hope by the end of this, we still have them in one piece.

Fate III: Unknown Variables

By

Kanoko

"Maybe, it's time to let go." Those words rung in Yagami Hayate's head as she sent the report she had just finished.

After Fate had said that, Hayate was left speechless. There was nothing she could say. She couldn't say whether what Fate wanted to do is truly a smart move or not. Shaking her head lightly, the brown haired woman opened her desk drawer and picked up a sealed envelope that she had kept ever since it was nearly thrown away by its' owner three years ago.

On the front of it says "To Nanoha" in a very neat cursive writing that belonged to Fate. Sighing softly, Hayate replaced the letter back to it's original spot in her drawer when someone knocked on her door.

"Come in." She answered simply. The door opened and revealed a blonde haired woman with a frown on her face. The frown on the woman's face caused Hayate to smile.

"So Nanoha-chan finally asked to come back from vacation?" She asked even though she knew the answer to it anyway.

"Are you going to approve it? As a doctor that has taken care of the three of you ever since all those years ago, I don't approve of it." The blonde woman said seriously yet it failed to break Hayate's smile.

"Shamal, I'm sure it's going to be fine. Besides we don't have to allow her to go on missions. She is a combat instructor after all so she can do what she does best. Train our trainees." Hayate met Shamal's gaze and didn't break it to show the blonde haired knight how serious she was.

"I still don't approve of it but if you say so Hayate-chan. However, I want Nanoha-chan to continue to come get a monthly check up even when she goes back to work." Hayate nodded exasperatedly and laughed.

"I'm sure she'll be thrilled, Shamal." The brunette said as she mind briefly wandered back to the letter. "I'm sure she will be thrilled."

Looking at the clock, Fate hurried down the hallway. She hadn't expect the meeting to drag on that long. She had promised Vivio that she would meet her at the gym where she practices her strike arts with her friends.

"That being said... Just how exactly am I suppose to get there?" She murmured to herself and she brought up a holoscreen to check her mail. Checking the one sent by Hayate, a smile made itself to her face.

"Always trust Hayate to be the best stalker on the planet." She said to herself as she opened her drawer and found her car keys where the email had said they were.

Finally making her way out of the building, she went to where Hayate had parked the car this morning to get it. On the windshield wiper was a sealed envelope. Fate felt her heart stop beating for a moment when she saw clearly written on the front was the words "To Nanoha". Stuck on the letter was a post-it note that says "Even if you throw it away again, I would always have a way to get it back. Give it to Nanoha-chan!" Swallowing thickly, Fate shoved the letter into the glove compartment as she got in and drove out of the parking lot.

Fate stood shocked by her car when she arrived at the gym. Sure Vivio was there along with her friends but so was the Nakajima family, Hayate and her knights, her mother and the former Mobile Section 6 Forwards members and last but not least, Nanoha.

Vivio excitedly ran up to Fate and gave her a hug then pulled her to the crowd. Her mother was the first one to approach her and gave her a long hug. Even after that, Fate still couldn't process just what is going on.

"So did you like this surprise? We did turn the entire gym into a place to give you, our favorite enforcer a welcome back party." Turning her head to the one that spoke to her, Fate wondered if she should ask her about the letter or not. Trying to not ruin this happy moment, she decided not to anyway.

"I bet it's your doing too isn't it, Hayate?" Shaking her head, Hayate pointed to Nanoha. "It was Nanoha? I thought she was mad at me." Fate said while remembering what happened last night.

"You're so silly. I'm sure Nanoha-chan would payback today." The short haired brunette said as she walked away leaving a bewildered Fate.

Luckily for Fate, the rest of the party went by fairly safe with both her and Nanoha keeping their distances away from each other. However, that didn't last long as when it was time to go, she was responsible for getting Nanoha and Vivio home. Which she figured Hayate had done something yet again.

As soon as everyone left and only the three of them was left, Vivio was already tired from everything she had helped do that day. Fate helped Vivio into the car and the girl soon fell asleep before the car was even started. Standing by the driver's side of the car, Fate watched as Nanoha got on and feeling as if everything is always having her face Nanoha even when she wasn't ready to.

Getting into the driver's seat herself, the blonde nearly slammed her head on the ceiling of the car as she heard Nanoha call her name. Trying to act as normal as she can, Fate answered her meekly. "Y-Yes?"

"Fate-chan, do you have medicine in the car? I feel a headache coming." If Nanoha had noticed the blonde's odd behavior, she sure didn't say anything about it.

"A-aah. It's in the glove compartment." She said without thinking and started the car.

As soon as Nanoha opened the compartment, Fate wanted to jump out of the car. She had completely forgotten about the letter she shoved in there and since the compartment wasn't even big to begin with, Nanoha was going to see it!

"Fate... There's no medicine in there." Nanoha said and if Fate wasn't driving she was going to jump out.

"A-Ah, let's stop by the store and get som-... Nanoha?" Fate stopped the car at the curb and looked at the brunette. "Nanoha, are you alright?" The blonde was worried, Nanoha seemed like she was in pain.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Fate-chan worries too much. Let's just go home okay? I'm sure we have medicine at home." Nanoha wasn't looking at Fate. She was afraid that if the blonde saw her eyes, she would find out everything.

"Fate-chan, Hayate-chan said you had something for me from a long time ago. Was it the letter in there?" Nanoha inquired lightly while pointing at the glove compartment.

Fate nearly slammed her foot on the gas pedal as she felt her palms grow sweaty. "Damn you Hayate..." She muttered quietly.

"E-Eh?"

"A-Ah, it's nothing... We're there. Do you... Do you need help?" Fate asked as she watched Nanoha get out of the car unsteadily. Vivio also got off and looked at Nanoha worriedly. "Help Nanoha-mama inside will you, Vivio?"

"Un!" The girl made a sound of agreement as she nodded.

Fate could feel Nanoha's eyes on her but she didn't look at her. Walking over to the front passenger seat, Fate opened the glove compartment and took out the letter. She was starting to loathe the "To Nanoha" that was written in neat cursive on the front. She was suppose to let go of her feelings not make it more complicated. She didn't want to know of the unknown variable that was sure to accompany the giving of the letter.

"Just what am I going to do?"

Oh mi gosh! I finally finished this chapter (it's also the shortest chapter so far). I apologize for that though I do hope you liked it cause I certainly don't. At least not that much. Everything in the chapter seems to come and go as quickly as the Tasmanian Devil come and go. Now I'm sure some people would be wondering why Hayate has the letter after three years. Well in the A/N of the "Itami" I only said that Fate might have did one of the following things: destroy the letter, didn't give it to Nanoha, gave it to Nanoha or something. Well, I didn't say she couldn't have tried to trash it and being the stalker that Hayate is in my story, she so happened to have found it. Well, did you have fun reading this chapter? I sure didn't while I was writing it. I even tried a new tactic and that's to put drafts of what I plan to write on my blog at yozorakeshiki dot wordpress dot com If anyone is interested, you are welcome to browse there but other than about the fanfic, it's of stupid things.