Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.
Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.
A/N: Finally, I updated. Sorry for being so late. I was reading the novel, Gossip Girl. I'm addicted to it. Anyway, hope you'll enjoy this chapter! By the way, MSLN StrikerS rocks!
Anon: Thanks for reviewing! And regarding the describing and expressing, well, I hope it'll improve in this chapter. After all, I did read books. Enjoy!
FlareKnight: Sorry for the rip-off from Digimon, my creativity juices just dried up back there. Anyway, I'm really glad you are enjoying this story so far. Hope you'll continue to like the future chapters!
Hikori: Well, I did try to go to your story URL, but it doesn't seem to work. Do you mind giving me your URL again? Anyway, I hope you will enjoy this chapter!
KazeNoTsubasa: At first, I have forgotten all about it. I only remembered when I was lost for ideas for chapter 13, so it was kind of random. Enjoy this chapter!
tanminhhuynh: Thanks for reviewing! It is because of you I can continue my chapter 14 because it was the 5th review! Thank you! Enjoy this chapter!
AngelicSong: Sorry for the late update! I promise I'll make this chapter extra nice, ok? Enjoy!
NOTE: This is edited. I couldn't stand the bad quality of this chapter anymore!
Chapter 14: How to Tell
"AHHH!" Nanoha shouted as she was crashing onto the tree. With a loud 'thump', she knocked on the pine tree, sending the pile of snow resting on the branches falling down. "Are you okay, Nanoha-chan?" Fate asked worriedly as she skillfully skied to her friend, inquiring about her status.
"Barely." Nanoha muttered as she took Fate's extended arm and got up with her help. "Skiing is almost impossible!"
"Don't give up yet, Nanoha-chan." Fate encouraged. "Egypt wasn't built overnight." She paused and looks over Nanoha's shoulders. "Maybe he can coach you on skiing. He looks pretty well."
Nanoha turned her head and saw what Fate saw. Yuuno was surrounded with girls who were begging him to teach them how to ski. She noticed Yuuno's usual nervous smile, certain that he wasn't that pleased, but he was such a gentleman that he couldn't refuse them. Nanoha saw the yellow-haired boy taking a girl's hand and leading her with each step. How she wished that the girl was her. Her face immediately turned crimson red and she pout at Fate. "That was a funny joke." Nanoha said sarcastically.
"I'm serious!" Fate insisted. "You're only asking him to teach you skiing. Unless you're thinking of something else." Fate gave Nanoha a sly expression, a mischievous glint playing in her eyes. Nanoha quickly turned away, "Of course not! I wasn't thinking about anything else."
"Then go ahead. Ask him." Fate pushed the uncooperative Nanoha towards where Yuuno was.
"Yuuno-kun, can you please teach Nanoha-chan how to ski?" A voice called Yuuno from behind. He turned around to respond but saw that it was Fate and Nanoha.
"Hey, we were here first!" A Yuuno-fan-girl protested.
"You can't help who Yuuno decide to teach, can you?" Fate shot back at that girl and received no reply. Apparently, what she said was true. However, Nanoha deeply wanted Yuuno to teach her, mainly for two reasons: she wanted to be with Yuuno and she didn't want Fate to be sniggered at by that girl.
Yuuno seemed to see through Nanoha's thoughts – only the second reason – and he nodded, "I guess I'll just have to teach you first, Nanoha. Do you also need help, Testarossa-san?" Yuuno offered politely.
"Of course not! I'm just here to ask you for help on Nanoha-chan's behalf." Fate explained. "Teach her well! I don't want her to bump into another tree." Fate added the last statement while walking away. Nanoha made a face and suddenly, remembering Yuuno, she faced him and laughed nervously.
"Shall we start?" Nanoha asked.
"Can we find a different spot?" Yuuno whispered to her.
"But…" Nanoha began but was stopped when she understood Yuuno's point; he didn't like his fan-girls 'stalking' him.
Then, swiftly and without warning, the two quickly dash out of the crowd and into a safe place. The girls who they dashed past looked shocked and immediately scattered all over the place, looking for them – or rather their dear beloved Yuuno. After much running, Nanoha was out of breaths and pulled Yuuno's hand to stop. Yuuno turned around to look at the panting Nanoha, growing worried about his friend.
"Are you okay, Nanoha?" Yuuno asked in between quick breaths. He collapse on the ground beside her and asked with concern, "You have no asthma or anything, do you?"
"Of…of course not!" Nanoha said. After successfully catching her breath, she gave a small assurance smile. She looked at the warm hand she was holding and a red crawled up to her cheeks. Yuuno was gripping onto her hand tightly as if she was going to slip off any moment.
Yuuno faced Nanoha and noticed that she was blushing. Suddenly, he realized that he was holding onto her hand. He quickly took his hand away and muttered a sorry. An awkward silence hung in the air and the cold breeze past them.
"Shall we start now?" Yuuno broke the uncomfortable silence.
"Start what?" Nanoha looked at him with round confused eyes.
"Skiing. Testarossa-san said you're bad at it." Yuuno explained while he stood up. He patted the snow from his long sleeve coat and took up his skiing items.
"I'm not bad." Nanoha retorted with a shrug. "I'm just inexperienced."
"Come on, let's start." Yuuno said quickly, stifling his giggles on Nanoha's cuteness.
Yuuno extended his hand to Nanoha, offering a bit of help to her. However, his hand was rejected by her with a simple 'no thanks'. Nanoha stood up by herself, trying hard not to blush; she had already been so embarrassed and excited when Yuuno held her hand without noticing it. If she were to reach out her hand to accept Yuuno's help, she might just blurt out the fact that she like him for ages. Somehow, Yuuno felt upset; there was no apparent reason why so, but he just felt…rejected when Nanoha refused his help.
(A/N: Lazy author. Plus, I don't know anything about skiing so I'll just have to skip this whole part!)
After moments of practice, Nanoha could feel her foundation in skiing firming. She tried to ski from one spot to another, and then back to the original spot again. In fact, this time, she didn't crash onto the tree and she had the tiniest pride of herself – though she knew that the reason she didn't crash was because there was Yuuno. But she still tried, did she? Surely she deserves some effort points.
Then came the biggest challenge; Yuuno wanted to test her on whether she was fine on her own. He wanted her to ski from a point down the slope. Although it wasn't very steep, it was quite a challenge, considering that she was only a beginner – a beginner who could master skiing well enough.
"Go on." Yuuno pressed her when she was at the starting point. "Just relax and remember all my pointers."
Nanoha nodded. She have no problems trusting Yuuno, and earning a concerning tone from Yuuno wasn't very bad either.
Concerning?
Nanoha quickly raced down the slope, encouraging herself with Yuuno's concern – if he was even concern about her at all. Anyway, she wanted to impress him and also herself.
As Yuuno watched Nanoha trying her best to reach the ending spot he had set for her, he gave a small smile. Looking at Nanoha made him feel…warm. Maybe – just maybe – he had, under unknown circumstances, already…
"AHH!" The voice of Nanoha's anxious voice, breaking through the thoughts of Yuuno. Immediately, the yellow-haired boy looked down and across the slope, searching for Nanoha. The bright orange hair allowed Yuuno to find her and he instantly ran towards her.
"What happened?" Yuuno asked anxiously.
"It…It's nothing!" Nanoha waved her hands about. "I just fell down, that's all!"
"Are you okay?" Yuuno asked with so much concern that Nanoha looked at him with question. "I mean, since you fell down or something, you must have hurt yourself somewhere." Yuuno looked away with no apparent reason.
"Don't worry, Yuuno-kun." Nanoha reassured him with a small smile. "I'm fine!"
"Oh." Yuuno found himself suppressing his blushing.
Just as Nanoha stood up, she felt a sharp pain at her ankle. She grimaced silently and stayed on the cold snow-covered ground. "Are…are you okay, Nanoha?" Yuuno asked uncertainly as he saw Nanoha not moving.
"Umm…" Nanoha timidly. She knew she had sprained her ankle because of that rough fall just now. But it was indeed very embarrassing to add to the burden of others, more ever, it was Yuuno. What would he think of her if she really complains? A spoilt child? Not that she was one.
"Did you really hurt yourself?" Yuuno asked suspiciously, looking at the area where she was holding onto; her ankle.
"I…well, I think I sprain my ankle." Nanoha gave a sign and a small groan because of the pain.
"I see." Yuuno said slowly, then with a smile, he suggested, "Why don't I carry you back to the resort?"
"EH?!"
"I can't possibly leave you here." Yuuno reasoned, seeing the shock face of Nanoha. "If I leave now and get the teacher's help, I'll probably lose your location and you might be stuck here in the cold. You wouldn't want that, do you?"
"That's true." Nanoha said softly. But the thought of Yuuno carrying her excites her. Her face blushed ruby red and reluctantly but excitedly, she agreed.
"Climb on my back." Yuuno instructed and Nanoha did so, minimizing her actions on her leg so that the pain would not strike. "Is your ankle alright?" Yuuno asked once more, concerned for his friend.
"It's not too bad." Nanoha said with a small blushing smile. And slowly, Yuuno carried her with caution, worry that her pain would strike again.
As they walked towards the resort, Nanoha looked attentively at Yuuno, studying his features; his fair complexion, his mesmerizing eyes and breathed in his scent deeply.
Somehow, Nanoha couldn't care less how she was going to tell Yuuno about her feelings. There and then, she couldn't care the least at all. The answer to how to tell him wasn't important anymore.
As long as he was with her. With her alone.
A/N: Do you think this was an improvement? Hope you all like this edited chapter!
Please review!