A/N: Things are going very smoothly, I expect this story to be finished by the end of next week, since there are only two chapters left after this. When this is complete, I don't think I'll start on the sequel (I may not make it at all), instead I'll be focusing my attention onto another big Nanoha project. Since details are rather scarce at this time, I can only give you the general title of the story. "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha: Corruption." In this story, I shall be returning to the canon universe. I'm going to start planning it out right away, and I'll probably have something after the final chapter of this story is posted. That aside, this chapter I hope will provide lots of entertainment for you.

- Kode-Dekka

Chapter 10:

A Deal With The Devil

I took the day off work so that I could help Nanoha move. I left things at the office to Signum and Shari, I knew they'd be fine. We started early, and tried to finish as quickly as possible. Surprisingly, Nanoha had a lot of stuff, even though she lived in such a small apartment.

I hired a group of people to help and rented a large truck. As for Nanoha's landlord, I took care of that swiftly. All that was left was loading the truck and getting a move on.

Bit by bit, her apartment was getting emptier and emptier.

There were a few mishaps, Vivio dropped quite a few things, some of them broke. Nanoha and I also had a few too many intimate moments, which distracted us greatly. All in all though, we finished loading things by 1:00.

We drove to my home, a large and spacious place, much too big for someone who lives alone. I felt a little sad when I realized how much money I wasted to soothe my heart from Nanoha's absence. But those days were over now, I'd never have to be alone again.

By 4:00, Everything was completely moved in, and we were all settled in. Afterward, I let Vivio explore the house, she looked like she was in a candy store, her eyes were so wide. Nanoha and I just sat on my bed and relaxed. I wanted to do this for the rest of the day, but I remembered, the secret plans I made yesterday. That wouldn't be for two hours, so at the very least I could cuddle with my beloved for now, which I did.

The two of us laid on the bed and held hands, I felt so young again, even though I was getting rather old. The ordeal yesterday was still lingering on my mind, but I pushed it away in favor of a kiss from Nanoha. Whenever the two of us kissed, fireworks went off in my heart, and all I wanted to do was keep doing it.

Thankfully, Vivio came in while we were in the middle of things. She made a gagging noise, showing us that she was grossed out to see her mom doing such things like kissing. She then ran off and explored some more. After she left, we had a good laugh about it, and just pulled ourselves against each other in a nice embrace.

At 5:30, I left the house. Nanoha was in the middle of cooking dinner, so she was very curious as to where I was going. I made up a cheap excuse, saying I was going to the office to check on things there. She believed me right away and didn't suspect a thing, this was something I felt like I should kept to myself.

After I got out of there, I drove down the road alone, toward the meeting place. A familiar restaurant, the place where Nanoha and I had our date, on the night when we got back together. I was a little nervous. This person knew a lot about my life, and had been clearly watching me for a long time. I didn't really trust her, but she was the only one I could rely on for what I needed to be done.

She was at table 7, just like she said she'd be. She had long, chocolate-brown hair, which extended down her back. When she spotted me, I got a look at her eyes. She reminded me of a shark. Even though she had a smile on her face, she looked scary, and her presence was unnerving.

"Fate-chan, I'm glad you're here, have a seat." I sat directly across from her, her eyes pierced through me, it was so unsettling that I had to look away. She snickered at me. There was another woman here, a very pretty one, who stood beside us. She was asked to leave us be, and so she left. It was just me shark girl now. The smile on her face became even wider. "I forgot to introduce myself, how rude of me. I'm Hayate Yagami, nice to meet you." I hesitated to answer her,

"Fate Testarossa, nice to meet you."

Hayate ordered some food for us, I didn't say a word and just let her do what she wanted. To tell the truth, considering the kind of business that she was involved in, I was afraid of her, so I'd rather stay on her good side. While we waited, she yawned and continued to stare at me.

"It seems that I'm making you uncomfortable. Shall we get to business then?"

"O-Okay."

"Good. Now lets see..." She tilted her head from side to side, acting like a child. "You want me to follow little Nanoha-chan around and protect her, right?" I nodded. "Alright, well that's understandable, she was held hostage yesterday after all." Everything about this was creepy. Hayate Yagami was supposed to be a friend of Nanoha, and yet she acted as if her safety was no big deal, and seemed indifferent about the whole deal. However, their friendship was none of my business, so I made sure not to mention anything about it.

"Fate-chan, you are very polite, but you're emotions and thoughts really show on your face, has anyone ever told you that?" I sighed.

"Whatever happened between you and Nanoha is none of my business, I'm only thinking about what's going on right now." She snickered again, enjoying this.

"Well whatever. Fate-chan, you can rest easy, I'll help you, but on one condition."

"What is it?" Somehow, seeing her smile, I don't think I really wanted to know. However, this was for Nanoha, so I would do anything.

"Fate-chan~," She said my name playfully, acting cute, "In exchange for protecting Nanoha-chan, I want you to sleep with me." The request Hayate made sent my mind into a frenzy, "If you have sex with me tonight, I will grant your wish. What do you say?" This was insane, it was ridiculous. I was being forced to choose between Nanoha's safety, and my faithfulness to her. "I'm waiting, I have things to do too, you know." She tapped on her wrist to show me that time was running out.

What do I do? I wanted to protect Nanoha with any means possible, but in order to do that, I would have to betray her first. It was a horrible feeling, it was making me sick. From the beginning, there was only really one choice anyway.

"Alright. If I can keep her safe, I'd do anything, even if that means betraying her."

"How noble, it seems Nanoha-chan has bagged herself a nice catch. I'm so relieved, especially after the last time." I knew she meant Chrono, and I was starting to get pissed just thinking about him. "Hehe~, you're thoughts are so clear. Don't worry, you don't have to get so angry, I already took care of little Chrono-kun."

"What do you mean?" Hayate grinned at me, it was sinister, and I thought I might get chills. She took her finger, put it to her throat, and then swiped it across. "You do know don't you, what kind of business I'm in." I nodded, though I didn't want to think about that. Assassination. "Nanoha-chan is my friend, I wont let anyone hurt her. Don't worry, I really made him suffer. By the time I was done, he was begging me to kill him." She said it causally, as if she was talking about a shopping trip to the mall. Hayate really was the type of person I'd rather not associate with at all, she was just so overwhelmingly frightening. "Oh, in case you were wondering, that guy who robbed you yesterday, we took care of him as well, so expect a lot of money to come your way very soon."

"I-I see..." She didn't have to go that far. In the first place, what meaning is there to asking for protection, if she is just going to do it anyway. It doesn't make any sense.

"Fate-chan, you really should hide what you're thinking better. I was just repaying an old debt, that's all, we're even now. From this point on, someone is going to have to pay me, and that someone is you, my friend." She pushed her head forward across the table, leaning in a bit. "Now, about our deal, I believe its time for me to collect my payment." I understood what she was saying. I was going to have to sleep with her, and she would then protect Nanoha. Even though I understood, I didn't feel any less disgusted with myself.

"Okay..."

"Oh, don't be like that. Nanoha-chan is lucky to have someone like you, I really do envy her." Her tone sounded a little sad for a moment, but that was forgotten as she rose form her seat. Our meals had long since arrived, but we hadn't touched it.

Hayate grabbed my hand and led me out of the restaurant, bringing me to a jet black car. The door was opened for us by the woman who had left earlier. Before I could get in, someone put something over my head and blocked my vision. "Don't worry about this, its just a formality." Hayate said, but I still panicked as I pushed into the car.

As we drove, I felt someone's body against mine, it was most likely Hayate. She told me to relax a little and that we would get to our destination soon. I was being taken god knows where, to have sex with someone I just met, and she was telling me to relax. She's completely insane, she's out of her damn mind!

When the car stopped, I was taken out and guided along. We went through a door, up some stairs, possibly in an elevator, and down some kind of corridor. I had no idea, since I couldn't see a thing. At the end of the journey, I was led into a room, and released. I heard the sound of a door closing, and then it was quiet.

Someone's hand's touched my face, and pulled off whatever was obscuring my vision. It was Hayate, and I saw that we were all alone now, in a barely lit room. "Sorry about that, its sort of a standard practice."

"Its fine." I didn't care about that, or even about where I was right now. I just wanted to do this horrible deed and get out of this place.

"Impatient aren't we?" Hayate backed up and sat down on a mattress, which was the sole thing in this room other than us, a table, and some candles. "Its a little shabby, but its as good a place as any, don't you agree." I didn't respond, or do anything, I just stood there, looking a little angry. "Spoilsport." She sat in a refined position and crossed her arms. "Lets get started then, you may undress now." The small amount of light in the room made Hayate's eyes look even more scary than before, like the eyes of a demon.

This is for Nanoha... I started to take off my clothes, one by one. Within 30 seconds I was naked. As embarrassing as it was, I didn't bother using my hands to cover anything up, it wouldn't matter anyway.

Hayate got to her feet and inspected me carefully with her eyes. "Nice, very nice, I'm sure Nanoha-chan has had a lot of fun with these." She grabbed my breasts and gave them a squeeze. I tried not to make any noise, but a small breath escaped from my lips. She moved her hands up and took hold of my face. "Now, lets start having fun, Fate-chan..." She brought her face close to mine, drawing our lips close and closer. Just as our lips were about to touch, I closed my eyes and prayed for Nanoha to forgive me.

But nothing happened, Hayate's face just hovered there. When I opened my eyes, I saw our lips just centimeters apart. Hayate was smiling. "April fools." She said, letting go of me and taking a step back. When she saw my face, she laughed, my cheeks burned. In the first place, she said 'April fools', but it was January.

"What the hell is going on?" She only laughed harder when she saw how angry I was.

"It was a joke, I was just having a little fun with you. Actually, it was more like a test, and you passed, congratulations~!" She calmed herself down, taking in deep breaths. "I wanted to see how far you would go to protect Nanoha-chan, it was quite entertaining, you didn't disappoint me at all." The scary aura that Hayate had was completely gone now, she looked really happy and amused right now. I couldn't believe it, it was totally insane.

"You're awful, you're the worst." I gathered up my clothes and started to put them back on.

"Sorry sorry. Anyway, I'll definitely protect Nanoha-chan, so all you have to do is pay me my usual fee."

As I put on my clothes, I felt the urge to punch this woman square in the face for the humiliation and shame that she put me through. I restrained myself. Even if this was all a joke, even if she was having fun, she was still an extremely dangerous person.

After I was fully clothed, she sat down on the bed again and chuckled again, but then became serious. "You can rest easy, as long as I'm watching, nothing will happen to Nanoha-chan, you have my word on that." I nodded, I knew it was true. "Setting business aside; I shall entrust her to you, take care of her, she's a good woman and a good friend." I nodded again. I was glad this whole thing was over, but I was still pissed at Hayate.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to go home now."

"Sure thing, lets go."

She got up and escorted me to the door, it opened and we walked out the room and into a dark corridor. "Fate-chan, one more thing..." Suddenly, I felt the familiar sensation of having something put over my eyes. I growled showing my obvious disapproval. Rather than get a response, Hayate just started whistling.

When I got home, Nanoha immediately bombarded me with questions about my whereabouts. She called the office, and they sold me out, rather than covering for me. To be fair, I didn't bother calling them and explaining the situation, so it was all my fault. Instead of answering her questions, I pushed past her and headed toward the bedroom, flopping down face first on the bed.

"Something the matter, Fate-chan?" I leaned my face toward her and she was standing in the doorway.

"I'm just very tired."

"Wont you tell me why?" I rolled onto my back, and the extended my hands out to her. She walked up to me and I pulled her down on top, kissing her.

"Classified information. Don't worry about it, its nothing."

"Okay, if you say so." She wanted to question me further, but she was nice, and understood that it was something I didn't want to talk about.

She told me that dinner was ready, but I just wanted to lay here with her and stay like this. After she put Vivio to bed, that's exactly what we did. I was too tired to do anything tonight, so we just held each other. Our new life together would begin right now; and now that I had Hayate protecting her, I didn't have to worry about Nanoha's safety. We could enjoy ourselves from now on. I hoped that this peace wouldn't be disturbed ever, and that we could remain like this, until the end of time.

Hayate skipped with each step as she approached Vita's front door. She was so excited to see her girlfriend, you'd think she was going to have a heart attack.

When she reached the door, she knocked. Humming, she waited for an answer to come. Seconds later, Vita's face appeared. When the two of them made eye contact, it was like the world just stopped completely. Hayate smiled a bright smile that surprised Vita.

"Honey, I'm home."