A/N: Hello! Sorry for the delay in updates! I had some tough decisions to make about this story, but I believe everything is worked out..for now. To warn those who may be wary, this chapter holds up the same content warnings as last chapter: sexual references and implications.

No alarm woke us up the next morning. It was Sunday, and not even the soldiers had any work to do.

I probably would've forgotten again that I wasn't in my own room, but my entire body felt different. Some dramatic change had been undergone, whether it was physical, or something else entirely.

To start, though, everything hurt like hell.

I didn't move much. My chest ached like an iron anvil was weighing it down. I knew it was from the blow of Tanya's rifle the other day. That was the most intense pain, but then there were subtler ones, like the strange soreness of my inner thighs and the rawness of my neck. Things that brought back vivid memories, one by one, of what kind of sin I'd committed the night before.

Tanya was facing me, her limp fingers curled up in front of her face. She looked so cute and vulnerable like that. I noticed that her eyes were open just slightly, shining with the mistiness of a half-asleep, half-awake state.

"Good morning," I said quietly.

There was a quiet moment between us, listening to the chirp of the birds outside. A clock near the door read 9:07 AM.

She rolled onto her back. "We had sex."

What a blunt way to put it. I did my best to laugh it off. "I understand a lot more now...thanks."

Tanya blinked a few times, staring up at the ceiling. "Since it's a mutual agreement, it's rather odd to say thanks. How about just, 'that was nice' or 'we should do it again sometime'?"

"You...would consider doing it again?"

She gave an amused little scoff. "Well, there's certainly nothing to lose at this point. There's no going back, either. Are you okay that we've done this?"

"Sure. I mean, It doesn't really change anything, does it?"

She shook her head slowly. "Our relationship has reached the maximum level of intimacy, some might say. But I don't really believe in such arbitrary institutions."

I knew "love" was a strong word, and Tanya didn't take well to it, so I worded my sentence carefully. "I...want to be with you forever."

"The probability of that depends on a lot of factors that are out of my control." She sat up and dropped her feet to the floor. I watched her open the closet and begin to pull out some clothes. "But if everything goes according to plan, you will be."

All of a sudden, there was a knock, knock, knock at the door. Tanya looked over her shoulder at me, and I at her. We were both still in nothing but underwear.

I stuffed on my nightgown and she didn't even bother buttoning her undershirt once she'd stuffed it on. Her uniform pants followed suit.

"Lieutenant? It's Serebryakov," Viktoriya's voice called. I had my nightgown on and Tanya grabbed the doorknob just as she slipped the last button of her jacket into place.

"Yes?" She opened the door.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but Colonel Zettour wants to speak with you as soon as possible."

Tanya's face lit up. "Oh, really?" She turned to me. "I'll be back, Lillia. You can stay here, or you can go. I don't mind."

I nodded, realizing how awkward it was that I had clearly slept here last night. Viktoriya could surely tell that much from my nightgown.

"Oh, hello again, Lillia!" She did look a little surprised.

"I'm going to go." Tanya waved goodbye and headed down the hall. She seemed to remember her hair was down and began to tie it up just as she turned the corner. Her hat and rifle had been completely left behind.

"Should I-" I motioned to them.

"It's fine," Viktoriya shook her head. "You're not supposed to wear a hat in a superior's office anyway."

"Well, okay."

Viktoriya looked like she was just about to go, but seemed to catch a glimpse of something that stopped her in her tracks. "H-hey...what's that?"

"Huh? I'm not sure what you mean…"

"On your neck." She stepped forward. "It looks like you must've...uhm…actually..." She put a hand on my shoulder and brought me to a mirror.

I felt it with the tips of my fingers. "Huh...w-what is that…?" My lying voice wasn't very convincing. I knew exactly what it was. Tanya had warned me about it, afterwards, of course. With an apology for the inconvenience. But honestly, I knew she got some sort of joy out of marking me up. She said it with too many hints of a smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth.

It was a purplish-red hickey, trailing all the way down from the point where my jaw ended to where my collarbone began. I inspected Viktoriya's expression carefully and waited for something to surface out of the initial shock on her face.

"...I-is that a hickey…?"

"What does that mean?"

"...Uhm...nevermind."

She didn't seem to believe my fake naivete. Viktoriya put a hand on her hip, probably trying to choose between asking more questions and staying out of this - after all, I imagined she knew she was meddling in the business of Tanya, her fearsome superior.

My body stiffened more with each passing second. I realized that I might need to do something brave if I wanted to make it out of this painful exchange.

The secret was out - if Viktoriya had even half a brain, she knew what was happening. I had clearly slept in Tanya's bed last night, I had a hickey on my neck, and - from what she'd said the other day - Tanya talked about me a lot.

I turned around with a fresh look of determination on my face. "Well, I don't know what you're going to think of this, but...Tanya - I - we're…more than friends."

Viktoriya had a blank expression on her face, and I couldn't get any sort of read on it, so I just kept talking.

"A-and it's not her fault or anything! I know it's not something people really understand, but I'm the one who came in and got her into this, this...relationship. So if you're gonna get anyone in trouble, or kicked out of the war college, or worse...it should be me." I put a hand to my heart. "It's my fault that Tanya's like this. I mean, y'know, w-with another girl."

A long silence. My shoulders were raised defensively, my hands balled into fists. It looked as if I was engaged in some sort of face-off. I could see it all just fading away. Everything I'd wanted so badly. I didn't want that to be ruined-

"Oh, sweetie, don't worry so much." She laughed slightly. "I would never do something like that."

"Really?" That allowed my body to relax a little.

"Of course. And besides, Tanya already told me about your relationship."

My eyes widened. "Wait, really?!"

"Yes! You're okay." She put a hand on my shoulder again. "You were willing to sacrifice your entire career for her just then, weren't you?"

I nodded slightly.

"...You clearly care a lot about her." She smiled. "A little bit of concealer should be all you need for the bruises, if it doesn't get covered by your collar."

"Thank you." I looked down at my bare feet for a second before asking, "so...how did Tanya tell you about our relationship?"

Viktoriya dropped her hands to her waist and clasped them together. "Well, to start, I suppose she believed the we were close enough. It's taken quite a long time to gain her trust. A few years, maybe. Besides, Lieutenant Degurechaff is much too intimidating for anyone to report her to the brass for any reason," Viktoriya chuckled nervously on those words. "Luckily, I wouldn't do that either way, so I guess she picked the right person to tell. She pulled me aside last night and told me, 'Lillia and I are...something romantic.'" Viktoriya giggled a bit. She seemed giddy about it, like she thought our relationship was cute. Like it wasn't weird to her. I began to really think of Viktoriya as a nice person. "This happened just outside in the dorm hallway, actually."

I had been with Tanya the whole night, so I tried to remember a point when she had stepped out. It was all a little bit confusing. "Do you know why she decided to tell you?"

"Well, she looked a little panicked when she found me. The lieutenant told me that she had hit you because of the whole uniform predicament, and I suggested getting an ice pack or two. I helped her gather some things to take back."

"Oh…" Now I remembered. Tanya did step out and come back with dinner and first aid supplies.

"Anyway, again, don't worry about a thing." She pointed to herself. "Your secret is safe with me!"

I felt the hickey on my neck again. "Thank you."

"Well, I should really go so that I get some studying done for classes tomorrow." With that, Viktoriya gave me a small wave and turned toward the door. "Oh! Before I forget, I'll bring you some concealer."

I gave a small "thanks again" and waved back as she pulled it shut behind her.

Okay, it was time to change into some actual clothes. When I slipped off my nightgown, I inspected my body to see what other marks I had to deal with. The mirror really showed the full extent of the bruising on my chest. A big blotch of blackish-purple covered the middle of my ribcage. It looked just as bad as it felt. Aside from the one hickey on my neck, there were also some scattered across my thighs and shoulders too. It was kind of unbelievable. I didn't know this would a side effect of lust. I didn't know there would be side effects at all.

And aside from the bruises, certain parts of my body - not even counting my chest - were surprisingly sore. This was probably the most embarrassing part of the whole situation because it was such a lewd reminder. Hopefully Tanya hadn't come out unscathed, either. Perhaps she was sharing in my pain at that very moment.

Was sex always such a violent act, or had Tanya just made it that way?

Viktoriya came back shortly after I'd slipped my doctor's coat on and handed me a little makeup spreader and a small circular case. I thanked her for it one last time, and while we weren't exactly the same skin tone, it worked pretty well. A little blotchy makeup covered by the shadow of my jaw, and no one would be the wiser.

I was alone for a while after that. It got so boring in there that I was just about to leave when Tanya finally came back.

She opened the door with a smug smile on her face. "Ah, you're still here."

I smiled back. "What happened with the colonel?"

"Well, I think I just earned some points with the higher-ups."

"Really? Awesome! What did they ask you about?"

"They wanted some strategic opinions of mine concerning the war. My words probably won't change much, but Colonel Zettour seemed impressed nonetheless. They may value me enough as a strategist to promote me to a more elite position, meaning I'm not likely to be sent back to a place like the Rhine."

"Really?!" I ran over and wrapped my arms around her. "That's incredible! I'm so happy for you!"

"Don't get too optimistic. But it's looking good." Tanya pulled out of the hug. She just looked me over for a moment, then snickered.

"What?"

"Hiding it, huh?" She smeared some of the makeup off my neck with her thumb. "No one's going to think a fourteen-year-old has a hickey. You're fine."

"There's really nothing else it could be. Viktoriya saw it, and she knew what it was." I pushed her hand away.

Tanya gave me a mischievous smirk. "She did, did she?"

"Yes! Thank God you already told her about our relationship, or things could've gotten really bad."

She shrugged. "Sorry again, I suppose. I'll try not to be so rough with you next time."

I wasn't even sure what to say to that. My cheeks just burned red, like usual.

Tanya began to unbutton her jacket. "This is off-topic, but something's been bothering me. I have to look in the mirror."

I crossed my arms and sat down on the bed.

She unbuttoned her shirt next, letting it slide down her shoulders. Then she turned around and glanced over her shoulder so that she could see her back in the mirror. My eyes widened as soon as I saw it. Then I just blushed a darker shade of red.

Pink scratches down her back - like human claw marks. I could see through the mirror that Tanya was smirking again. "Wow. Hypocrite, are we?"

"I-I didn't realize...oh my God…" I buried my face in my hands.

She slipped her shirt back up around her shoulders. "It's cute. I like it."

"Huh?!"

"It's like proof of how much I could make you-"

"Stop! This is too embarrassing!"

Tanya just snickered as she grabbed her uniform jacket off the floor.