Title: That's A Little Awkward, Part 1
Characters: Kagurazaka Asuna, Max Linell, and Jennifer Minindry
Genre: General
Rated: G
Timeline: After the Darkness arc
Spoilers: Pretty big ones for the Darkness arc, so read this after Chapter 21: Darkness: Rikki
"So what are you going to do about it?" Asuna asked.
Max Linell, former agent of the American Division, frowned. His looks made him the sort of person who, when he frowned, people tended to notice. And run away from.
"You can't just ignore it," Asuna said from where she was seated on a small boulder.
Max grunted as if to say 'See if I don't' and swung his sword again, as he had all morning.
Asuna never got tired of sparring with him. Though her sword skills far outmatched his, he approached things differently than she did and, often enough, surprised her. On this day, however, he hadn't wanted to spar, and instead had taken up his biggest sword and started sword swinging practice first thing in the morning. Asuna glanced over at Jennifer, who was sleeping in the shade of a tree, a contented look on her face.
Max had been swinging his sword for almost eight hours.
Asuna heaved a sigh and flopped backward over the rock to lie on the ground so she could look up at the false sky of Eva's resort. "Damn," she muttered. If only that Rikki woman's ghost hadn't shown up... While she and Max Linell had little in common beyond being fond of the sword, she counted him among her close circle of friends. They had known each other for six years, a good third of her life. In spite of the culture difference, in spite of the age difference, in spite of the gender difference, the two of them just clicked, much like she did with Ayaka, or with Setsuna. It was just one of those mysterious things about life, she supposed...the sort of thing that made no logical sense, and yet was so anyway. She heaved another sigh, listening to the sound of her friend grunt each time he swung the heavy sword.
'At least it isn't as bad as it could be,' she thought, recalling Negi's condition. Konoka had done her best to heal the damage that damn Rikki had done to his body, trying to use it as a conduit for shadow elemental magic. Asuna knew the ghost couldn't use her magic without a body, but why did she have to choose Negi?! Asuna's hand bunched up into a fist and tore up a handful of grass. That woman had a ton of explaining to do, in Asuna's opinion. "Why she latched onto Negi and why she didn't find a way to tell Max she hadn't moved on after she died would make a good start," she said aloud.
Negi's situation was bad enough, but at least he would recover and end up as good as new; she knew Max's situation wouldn't be anywhere near so easy.
Rikki Suvari, the girl who had grown up with Max back in California, had been more than a friend; the two of them had been in love for a long, long time; her sudden death during a botched mission after they had joined the American Division had struck Max hard. Asuna didn't know all the details, but she thought she had pieced the situation together well enough for basic understanding through information gleaned over the years from conversations with both Jennifer and Max. She didn't know the whole story, not by a long shot...but then again, neither did Akira, the only woman as close to Max as Jennifer was.
"This won't end well if you don't do something about it," Asuna said loudly enough for her friend to hear.
"I already settled it, back in California," Max growled out as he swung his sword as if at some unseen enemy.
Asuna supposed he was just trying to wear himself out so he wouldn't have to think about how his pleasant life here in Mahora would have to change. She didn't think she could stand seeing Max and Jennifer and Akira and everyone else tiptoeing around the situation for months on end with nothing being resolved. She had read too much manga over the years to find such a situation appealing; that was more to Nodoka or Yue's tastes. Haruna's answer to such a situation was best left unconsidered for the sake of decency.
She heaved another sigh. Why did everything have to become so complicated, especially right before the trip they had been planning for the Magic World? Poor Ako's kidnapping, Negi's health problems—hopefully solved now—and now this. She was tired of dealing with problems she couldn't solve by slicing something up. She would even prefer facing down a demon to...to this! At least with a demon, she knew what to do! But no, there wasn't anything so simple to deal with here, oh no! Perish the thought!
Asuna rolled her eyes and climbed back up onto the rock. She had already talked to Akira about the problem, and her old friend, while shyly evasive, had agreed that a meeting between the two was necessary. A quick glance back at Jennifer showed the other woman was still asleep under the tree. 'Okay, I've got to at least get the two of them to talk', she thought as she looked back at Max. 'Preferably without Jennifer around.' Jennifer was a bit of an enigma; even after six years, Asuna still didn't know the woman well enough to really call her a friend...the only ones who did were Akira, Yuuna, Makie, and Ako, and she knew Nodoka sometimes watched movies with her. Asuna had never quite been able to bring herself to totally trust the other woman; something about her presence made Asuna want to watch her back whenever Jennifer was around.
"Okay, I give up," she said in disgust, throwing her hands in the air as she rolled her eyes. "You win. I won't talk about it anymore. Just...you can't leave it like this. For your own sake, for Jennifer's sake...for Akira's sake. You just can't leave it like this."
Max kept swinging his sword, so Asuna heaved a disgusted sigh and turned to go. She had made it maybe twenty feet when he spoke.
"...alright."
Asuna stopped walking and grinned wide; she couldn't help it. With her back still toward Max, she gave her reply. "I'll call you tonight with a time and a place, so clean yourself up; you stink like sweat," she said, shooting him a devilish grin over her shoulder. 'Heh, I can read you like a book,' she thought, secretly amused.