- Later That Day -

Oh, this hurts. This hurts a lot.

"I know, I can feel it too. Would you like me to help you up?"

I'm pretty sure I can do it myself.

Clenching her teeth to dull the throbbing soreness in her arms, Ryuko lurched up off the shredded remains of the punching bag she'd passed out on. Though her vision was still a bit blurry, she could tell by memory that there was nowhere left to sit that hadn't been chopped in half or diced to pieces, so she stumbled over to the wall and braced herself against it until she slid to the floor, energy sapped.

"Ugh…" She wiped the crust out of her eyes, wary of the knowledge that she could accidentally slice her own face off with a simple reflex. "How long was I out?"

"About five hours," Senketsu said over the newly risen pounding in her ears.

"Always feels like months."

"Beside the point," he grunted. "Anyway, Satsuki asked me to tell you that there is a heretofore unscheduled gathering in-"

Ryuko's mind was still catching up to the rest of her, but she was able to at least muster up a quick interjection even as she slurred the words together. "Wait… Satsuki came in here, but instead of waking me up, she just asked you to give me a message when I woke up?"

"I doubt she wanted to risk speaking with you right after your… emotional outburst, especially since said outburst involved you learning that you could summon large weapons from your arms. "

"Outburst?" Her eyelid twitched at the word. "What outburst d'you mean?"

Senketsu's blouse tightened slightly, but the normally warm gesture was stiff and awkward. "Do you not recall nearly going catatonic at the mere thought of having to continue being bonded with me, and then storming down here and refusing to say more than a few words to me while you trained?"

"That wasn't-!" Ryuko started, but the angry reply died on her lips as her waking mind processed his tone. Swallowing her bitterness with some difficulty, she tried again. "I didn't freak out just because of that. I'm sorry if it felt that way."

"Well, considering I am more in tune with your emotions and brainwave patterns than I have ever been before… yes, it did feel that way. Vividly, crushingly so. But you needn't have apologized; I can brush this kind of thing off fairly quickly by now."

Ryuko sighed and stretched her aching muscles, busily sorting her jumbled thoughts into something she hoped was coherent. "Look, Senketsu… I've been dealing with a lot lately. You obviously know that. Between everything that's happened in the last week and the whole 'turning into a monster and murdering my asshole father' thing, I have barely had a faint shred of normalcy or calm in my life."

Senketsu was silent, but she could feel immediately that he was just listening, without having to confirm it or get his attention. She had little idea how she knew – it was simply understood.

"So when I woke up after everything," she continued hesitantly, "I was hoping for one moment's rest. I just wanted to see everyone, make sure all my loved ones were okay, and then rest while we got ready to finish off Ragyo and Nui. And after we got through with that and this whole war was wrapped up in a neat and tidy bow, I wanted more of that. Normalcy. Calm. You follow?"

"A quiet life," he replied after a moment's pause.

"Pretty much. My dream for the world after this one, the world without any other Life Fibers except you and I, was… quiet and peaceful and normal. I wanted to be able to relax with my sister and my best friend, drinking tea and goofing off and never having to worry about anything again. I wanted to be able to shower without it having to be about coping with stress, and I wanted to be able to wake up on a comfortable bed instead of in an infirmary. Normal shit, you know?"

"I figured. It is the natural goal to strive for when you've lived a life like yours. I just fail to understand how being with me precludes you from any of that."

"It's not… being with you, Senketsu. I don't hate you. I thought we established that after the Grand Festival."

"We established that I do not hate you. That I cannot hate you, and I never will… no matter how hated I feel in return."

"Senketsu… I'm trying to…" She bunched her legs up against her chest and pressed her face into her knees; whether out of frustration or because she didn't want to admit that she was close to crying again, she didn't know. "I never planned on not wearing you anymore. You're closer than a friend, closer than family to me. You're me. Wasn't that the whole point? We're… We're one and the same. We wore each other for so long, and we've been through so much, I mean… I could never picture living without you close to me. And if someone had walked up and given me the option to never take you off again until we're both rotten clumps of Life Fibers, you know I'd accept in a heart… h-heartbeat."

Senketsu was silent again as she started to choke up, but again, she knew he wouldn't just ignore her. Maybe before, but not now. She struggled to get her voice stable again, but once she felt a cold tear trickling down her cheek, she gave up and just tried to force the words out.

"But w-when it was forced on me, just… forced on me while I was knocked out, and I couldn't do anything, I didn't have a choice, I… that was my whole plan torn up. I c-c-can't have that anymore. Having you permanently here wasn't a choice, it- no, it's because you have to be on me or I'll die. They turned you into a reminder. A… sorry… A reminder of everything we've suffered, everything we lost, because of Ragyo or Nui or Dad or my blind fucking st-stupidity… And I can NEVER take you off! Not to shower, not to sleep, not to look at you across from me and pretend you have a body of your own so we can… ugh…"

She didn't know how hard she was sobbing until she lost her voice to the tears. She did know that Senketsu understood.

You do, right? I can't hate you either, Senketsu. But every time I talk to you, or I find some way to clean myself with you still on, or I go to bed fully dressed, I just know I'm going to think about how it could be if I hadn't fucked up. And I'll hate myself for it, just like I do now. That'll be their last victory. Every time I'll have even the slightest trouble adjusting, I'll hear Ragyo and Nui and Dad laughing because they all got me to see you as anything other than part of me.

Senketsu was still silent, leaving only her own pitiful noises to resonate in her ears.

Please… Senketsu, please understand…

"I don't mind getting wet."

Huh…?

"You can still take your showers. I do not mind getting a bit soaked, if it helps you feel even slightly better about having me around."

The sobbing slowly dulled down to a quivering, involuntary whine from the back of her throat.

"Ryuko, let me ask you something. We know that Satsuki still experiences traumatic flashbacks to her abuse at Ragyo's hands. We also know – and are continuously reminded – that she and Jakuzure maintain a healthy sexual relationship. When Satsuki is reminded of her molestation during intimacy, do you think of this as her being weak, or Ragyo gaining a permanent victory over her?"

What? No. No, of course not.

"Then what makes my permanent bond to you a lasting victory for our enemies, or something worthy of hating yourself over? We have suffered, certainly, but I have been here with you every step down this bloodied path. Yes, life may be more inconvenient if you can never take me off under threat of death, but I will devote myself to helping you be as comfortable in life as possible. I will work out solutions to every problem with you, and I promise I will never hold anything you may think or feel against you. I will not stand for anything less than a state of comfortable near-normalcy in our life together, and living that kind of life is the most monumental victory any of us could gain over Ragyo and Nui."

I don't know what to say. Er, think.

"Does that kind of life sound like a life you want to live?"

Yeah. It's not ideal, but… I would like it.

"Then that is the plan. We bring Ragyo and Nui down, avenge those who have fallen, and then we live however we can manage. Just as Satsuki and Jakuzure have found happiness together, we will find the solace you dreamed of. Together, by choice or not, I will make sure we thrive."

The noise long gone, Ryuko sniffled and smiled awkwardly. "Thank you, Senketsu."

"Thank you, Ryuko. That whole monologue got a way worse reaction from you in my mind."

"Wonderful," she chuckled, rubbing her eyes some more to dry them up. "Senketsu, can we also make a vow that this is the last time we'll have to do one of these big emotional exchanges with each other about the core of our bond? I'd much rather we settle anything that comes up in our peaceful lives quickly and calmly."

Senketsu chuckled as well, and tightened his blouse in a far more familiar embrace. "Of course, Ryuko."

She crossed her arms over her chest and hugged him to her skin as tightly as she could, imagining the reality of their life together now, relieved that she was starting to get everything sorted-

"Oh, h-hi! I didn't mean to interrupt!"

Ryuko jolted at the voice and scrambled to her feet, suddenly terribly self-conscious. When she realized that it was Mako standing next to her, either having teleported in or just walked over the debris while the conversation was going on, the embarrassment barely drained away.

"I just… I wanted to talk to you about something, and then I came in here and everything was messed up, and I walked to you and saw you kind of groaning and cupping your boobs, and I'm sorry I just didn't expect-!"

"It's fine, it's fine," Ryuko said through her involuntary and poorly stifled laughter. "And don't worry, I wasn't doing anything like that. I was just talkin' to Senketsu, and caught us at a sensitive moment."

"I can confirm this," Senketsu said out loud, keeping his sudden snickering to Ryuko's ears alone.

Mako blushed and looked down at her feet. "Oh. Ooookay. Then I completely screwed this up, didn't I?"

Ryuko tilted her head, curious. "What did you need?"

"I was just… wondering…" She hesitated for another few moments, only to take a deep breath and suddenly shift her posture dramatically, puffing her chest out and meeting Ryuko's stare. "I was hoping we could eat something together."

"… Huh?"

Wincing and blushing furiously, Mako looked off to the side, like she was pretending to see something more interesting. "You know, like… I wanted us to have dinner together. After Satsuki's speech is done, I'm going to get some food the base doesn't need, and I'll… um… cook. For us."

Ryuko could feel a light blush settling into her cheeks, for reasons she wasn't sure she wanted to comprehend right now, and she was just about to answer when Senketsu tightened around her shoulder. She took it as silent advice.

"Y… Yeah, sure. Sounds awesome. I'll meet you after Satsuki's thing."

In an instant, Mako's entire face lit up reddish-pink, and it looked like a blood vessel in her nose popped. In the next instant, she rippled and disappeared, most likely into the next room over, leaving Ryuko standing in the corner of the ruined room with her heart hammering and her ears filled with bizarre Senketsu noises.

I'm still way too tired for this.


- Thirty Minutes Later -

Here they all were. Everyone in her charge, every active agent of Nudist Beach from the footsoldiers up to Ryuko and Aikuro, was gathered before her all at once. Every life she was meant to place on the line in the name of freeing this world from her mother's grasp.

She stood overlooking them from the balcony at the end of the commons area, where once her father had sent valiant, devoted men and women to their deaths for eighteen years of fruitless assaults and sabotages. She had always been able to see it from the other side – the groups he sent out were always nuisances, occasionally serious problems, but they had never seriously threatened REVOCS's reign over Japan and the world at large. He'd functionally had the war on pause until Ryuko joined the fold and her own plan to betray Ragyo was drawing near. All of those soldiers sacrificed for the sake of a plan that had ultimately failed.

Now she was on his platform, taking his reins for the whole organization rather than the infinitesimally smaller team she had taken to rescue Ryuko, and she felt… What was it? Not crushing responsibility, but not quite confidence, either. Definitely not pride.

She shrugged to herself; it was unimportant right now. She could ramble to Jakuzure later and instantly get an answer. For now, she was here to do her job.

As she had at the retrieval mission presentation, she took a step forward to make herself more visible to the crowd. Complete silence fell over the room, despite the lack of her usual entrance theatrics. She could only imagine what most of them were feeling right now; watching their former sworn enemy up on their commander's spot, wearing his eyepatch, arm in a sling against her exposed and scar-covered chest, shaking slightly from the anesthesia and occasionally bracing herself against Bakuzan's sheath. She either looked pathetic, or she already commanded complete respect.

"Welcome," she said into the microphone, managing to make her voice sound almost as steely as it normally was. "You all know who I am, and I imagine those of you who were not privy to the reason why I am here have already been informed. I am Satsuki Kiryuin, daughter of Ragyo Kiryuin and Soichiro Kiryuin-slash-Isshin Matoi, sister of Ryuko Matoi and half-sister to Nui Harime… and I am your new commander."

The massive chamber was dead silent, but there was not a single distracted eye in the audience. She swallowed, took a quiet breath in through her nose, and kept going.

"I have gathered you here in the aftermath of our recent rescue mission for two purposes. One, the one I imagine most of you have caught on to, is simple: to establish myself as my father's successor. I know many of you have already accepted me, but there are just as many who are more than justified in holding a grudge against me for how I have acted against you over the years. I can only hope that those people, however many or few, will leave this room thinking differently.

"Since my late father explained everything rather clearly in his confession, there is no need to further elaborate on his sins." Her chest tightened as the words left her mouth, but she knew what had to be said, and she had no problem saying it. "He was a brilliant strategist whose planning is the only reason we are all still alive right now, but he was also a war criminal. A cold, callous manipulator whose actions led to nearly as many innocent deaths as they helped to prevent. In many ways, though he left me before I even started school, I shared those traits with him. I maimed and killed to maintain my position at my mother's side, all so I could strike when the time was right.

"And, as is so evident… both of us failed in our plans. Our numbers have dwindled, my body has been ravaged, and Ragyo and Nui still walk this earth. The Original Life Fiber is on death's door, but only due to the intervention of Ryuko. And it is because of my injury that we cannot immediately strike back and finish the job. I admit to all of this, and I claim sole responsibility.

"But… I am not my father. And here is my first step toward proving that to you."

Scanning the crowd with a quick swipe of her eye to make sure everything was in place, Satsuki raised Bakuzan and brought it down once, sharp and forceful enough to echo out into the rest of the area. The suddenness of it seemed to rouse everyone from hypnosis, and many in the crowd began to look around, searching for meaning to her action.

4… 3… 2… 1…

She raised and slammed Bakuzan again, and everything was set in motion.

The Nudists erupted in chaotic shouts – confusion, dismay, and rage, she imagined – as fights seemingly broke out at random throughout their numbers. Being as honorable and loyal as most of them were, many tried to break up the conflicts, only to back off or be shoved away. With gaps cleared in the throngs of soldiers, it was now clear that there were sixteen Nudists involved, eight writhing soldiers each restrained by another. Those nearest to the balcony looked up at her, begging for the answers that would soon come – Ryuko looked especially alarmed.

"Clear space at the center!" Satsuki shouted, to the awkward obliging of the staff. As the crowd parted, the soldiers doing the restraining forcibly marched their targets into the new space and lined them up to face her. At a silent motion of her hand, they were forced to their knees, handcuffed, and stripped of their equipment with practiced ease. The standing Nudists then backed away, leaving the eight subjects of discussion in plain view, but kept their guns trained on each one just in case.

The process was, much like her subduing of the assassin, over in the span of a few seconds.

With another gesture behind her, she was joined on the balcony by just that assassin, still glaring at her and weakly trying to force curses through the duct tape wrapped around his mouth. Jakuzure clung to him and held a knife tight against his throat, as she once had Aikuro; Satsuki was pleased to see that the man had only a few more bruises, even though her lover had been visibly ready to murder him as soon as she'd found out what had happened.

"Earlier today," Satsuki called to quell the rising shouts, "this man made an attempt on my life that I was only able to avert by recognizing him on sight. He was working as a medical operative, but in reality, he is an agent of REVOCS, embedded in Nudist Beach for years to carry out Ragyo's bidding."

The dead silence had returned as everyone started to stare at the kneeling Nudists, clearly starting to put the pieces together. Satsuki could barely contain her grim smile.

"Of course, by my father's own admission, this agent is not the only one of his kind. Nudist Beach has been infested with Kiryuin Conglomerate spies since its beginning, perfectly disguised as your friends and colleagues even as they stole information, sabotaged equipment, killed problematic operatives in the heat of battle, and… any number of other tasks my mother required them to carry out. And your leader? My father? He knew all along. He not only allowed the spies to rot Nudist Beach from the inside, but he encouraged their involvement, utilizing them in his plans to strike a blow at Ragyo, no doubt at the cost of numerous avoidable casualties. Over time, whether due to death in battle or simply fleeing back to their mistress, their ranks have decreased dramatically… but these nine remain a threat.

"Well… no more. I am not my father, and if I am to truly take command of Nudist Beach and guide you to the end of this war, I WILL NOT allow our ranks to be corrupted for one moment longer!"

She was greeted with a smattering of applause, but most of the Nudists were visibly too stunned to react. Just as well, since she would have requested their silence regardless.

"I can promise you that the men I have targeted today are the last vestiges of the REVOCS spy network. With them out of the way, we can make our plans to strike at Ragyo's heart without fear! We can finally put an end to this war!"

More applause this time, and a few approving shouts. Still, she was not finished.

"But I repeat… I am not my father. And so, these spies… will not be killed."

As she paused, she could feel the approval suddenly being sucked out of the room. Some of the kneeling spies grinned up at her, smugness plastered over their faces. Before any conflict could break out, she slammed Bakuzan down once more.

"But they will not be granted mercy. They are murderers, saboteurs, traitors to this organization and to humanity. We will make them victims of their own designs. We will disfigure them until they are unrecognizable, and we will give them new identities complete with charges of crimes against humanity. And then… then… I will have them shipped to separate prisons around the world, without trial or any chance of squirming to freedom, through the same under-the-radar networks used by REVOCS to support their illegal actions. They will live out the rest of their lives wallowing in the despair they tried to inflict on us, and they will watch helplessly as we rebuild this world atop the Kiryuin Conglomerate's grave!"

In an instant, the approval returned tenfold. The roar was deafening, vastly dwarfing her reception at the previous speech, enough to rattle the air up on this balcony. It was just like the applause her mother received every time she made a public appearance, except this felt… cleaner.

She looked to her right, meeting the beaming pride of her lover and the enraged glare of her assassin, and smiled despite herself.

It was finally time to change things.


- Two Hours Later -

"No table?"

Mako felt herself blushing, and hoped it was just a pinkness in her cheeks; if her entire face was reddening already, she doubted she could keep herself composed through this whole thing. "I thought we'd have it how traditional people have it. It's… how my family and I used to eat, and considering the food…"

"No, no, it's cool," Ryuko hurriedly said through her toothy grin. "I'm more used to a huge banquet table, but I've eaten like this once or twice before. And this is your quarters, so I wouldn't expect you to haul a whole thing in here just for me."

With some awkward stiffness, Ryuko got down to her knees and folded her hands over her skirt. The stance drew attention to her legs and thighs, but Mako tried not to let her mind wander.

She's really sexy, though.

She sighed softly and shifted a bit, trying not to betray her feelings. This was more than just another in an endless line of chances to admire Ryuko's body. This was her chance to finally let out all her feelings, in desperate hopes that they were reciprocated, or at least that Ryuko wasn't shocked and disgusted by the idea. One way or another, she was going to finally bring the tension to a close.

By venting her feelings onto a woman who – in the span of the last day, give or take a few hours – had watched one of her friends and mentors die, learned her father was a manipulative monster, turned into a literal monster, tried to kill her remaining friends, almost died, and learned that she was fused to her clothes forever. Exactly the kind of calm, soothed emotional state that would welcome a sudden love confession.

Just shut up, me.

"May I?" Ryuko asked, chuckling and reaching for the mound of steaming buns between them.

Mako realized with a start that she'd been drifting off and hadn't spoken for a few seconds, and she felt her face flush an even deeper shade. "O-Of course! This is for us, and only us. Help yourself!"

Unless…

A horrible thought flashed into her mind – what if the food was poisonous to her now? Mako had no idea how a human body that was only half-human in the first place, now even more fused to Life Fibers and dangerously close to dying at any given time, would react to the mishmash of ingredients that went into the buns. What if her stomach couldn't process it? What if – god forbid – eating them killed her? Or what if her taste buds were just so altered that she thought they were terrible? Crap, what if she would have always thought they were awful, regardless of whether she was-

"Mako?"

Once again, Mako snapped back from her anxieties, to the sight of Ryuko clutching two buns between her fingers and half-wiping crumbs around her lips. "Sorry, what?"

"I said these are delicious." Ryuko slotted one of the buns into her mouth, chewing it bizarrely quickly and swallowing as she grinned. "Weird, but really good. What are they made of?"

"Oh… stuff. Various meats, vegetables, spices, things. Most of them aren't even put together the same way." Mako smiled nervously. "My, um… my mom taught me the 'recipe'. It's how we used to eat most of the time, if we couldn't afford to buy or make proper food. I felt like introducing them to you."

Ryuko gave her a look – understanding, awkwardness, probably a little bit of pity – and quickly ate the other bun in her hand. "Well, your mom taught you well. These are great, and I'm starving, so it's good that every one feels like I'm randomly pigging out at different food carts. You know, it actually kind of reminds me of back before Dad brought me home, when I was sort of a vagrant and I stole cheap food a lot."

They exchanged small smiles.

"Not that I'm calling this food cheap," she hurried to say, stuffing another into her mouth for effect.

Giggling despite her nerves, Mako finally reached out and took one. "Don't worry, they are cheap. If I used expensive ingredients, it wouldn't be the same. But just for you, I added a little bit of lemon in some of them, even though we rarely got a lot of fresh fruit. I know you had a weird thing for them a while back."

"That explains what I'm tasting!" Ryuko exclaimed, smirking through a mouthful. Mako knew enough about her voice after all this time to know that she was exaggerating to please her, but she let it slide. There was something a little too enthused in her voice, even if she wasn't lying about what she felt – maybe she was really as anxious as Mako was.

"I'm glad you're happy with them," she said, taking a bite of her handiwork.

For the briefest moments, as the assorted meats and scraps and salts exploded into her mouth, she let herself imagine she wasn't in the Nudist HQ. She was just sitting on the floor of a ramshackle house in the No-Star District, surrounded by her ridiculous family as they chowed down on her mother's cooking. She smiled at her father, and at her mother, and at the unscarred Mataro, and even at Guts, who looked at her obliviously as only a dog could.

Then she let the vision pass, and managed to smile instead of cry.

"So how are you?" Mako said, trying to be ready to confess. "We haven't… really talked that much since you woke up."

Ryuko was silent for a minute, chewing contemplatively on another bun, and wiped her mouth again before answering. "I'm pretty good, all things considered. Senketsu and I had a talk that's been a long time coming, and then Satsuki got me hyped up to kill our mother and half-sister, and now I'm getting to relax and eat good food with my best friend. It helps dull all the bullshit I've been through… and, um… what I put you all through, too."

An awkward silence fell over them, but Mako cut through it before it could risk sabotaging the atmosphere. "Don't worry about that anymore, all right? You didn't kill any of us, you didn't cripple any of us, and you didn't do too much damage to the environment other than setting the Suicide Forest half on fire, which will probably be better in the long run. It's water under the bridge."

"It's just… kind of surreal to think that I turned into a monster and killed my dad barely a day ago."

"Well, I don't think you should feel bad about that."

Ryuko nodded in solemn, calm agreement, which was better than Mako had been expecting. As furious as she'd been at Dr. Matoi, she'd thought his daughter would be experiencing some healthy sadness at his death. Maybe she was, and she just wasn't showing it.

After another awkward silence, it was Ryuko's turn to intervene. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

Not quite grinning, but doing something close, she raised an eyebrow and stared her in the eyes. "Everyone's been fawning over me and how I'm doing, but it's not like you've been perfectly fine recently. You seemed pretty nervous earlier, too. How are you holdin' up?"

Not too long now.

"Honestly," Mako sighed, savoring another momentary flash of the past as she swallowed another bun, "once I processed what the tape said, everything made sense. And when things make sense, they're a lot easier to deal with than the idea that Nui just randomly showed up at my door and killed my family for giggles. I'm obviously not over it, and I don't know how long it'll take me to deal with the idea that both of your parents helped temporarily ruin my life, but… I'm not focusing on it for now."

After another silent beat, Mako realized she and Ryuko were now sitting side by side. Whether she'd unconsciously teleported closer or Ryuko had edged over, she didn't know, but whatever the case, Ryuko took the chance to reach over and put an arm around her shoulder. The feeling of her skin almost made her spill everything right then and there.

They sat still and silent like that for… she didn't even know. She'd given up on keeping track of time. The war between her anxieties and her fantasies was too powerful, too exaggerated this close to the subject of both. She felt tingly all over, hot flashes one minute, chills she had to keep from shivering against the next. At some point, she started resting her head on Ryuko's shoulder; she didn't know when she started, but it felt completely natural, and she felt no indication of discomfort from Ryuko.

For what might have been the first time since Nui had shown up at her home, Mako felt completely, unreservedly safe.

"You okay?" Ryuko eventually whispered.

She nodded gently, not wanting to lift her head. "Better."

Through her half-closed eyes, she saw Ryuko lift her other arm and smoothly shift it into its Scissor Blade shape. With a surgeon's grace, she pushed the end of it into one of the buns, spearing it, and pulled it back until it was in front of Mako's mouth. It took her a few seconds to realize what Ryuko was doing, but when she got it, she smiled, slightly leaning forward and pulling the cooling food free with one clean bite.

There wasn't a memory to go along with it this time.

"You want another?" Ryuko asked, goofy but quiet.

"I'm fine for now."

The blade arm melted and warped back into skin, settling by Ryuko's hip. Then, after another few moments of precious silence, Mako heard the words she'd kind of been waiting for since the 'date' began. "What's really on your mind, Mako?"

Here we go.

She remembered what Jakuzure had told her – she could still hardly believe she was taking the romantic advice of the girl she'd almost beaten to death not long ago – and swallowed. "I didn't… I didn't just ask you here so we could catch up."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that." Ryuko gently lifted Mako's head away from her shoulder, but didn't move away, instead leaving them face to face with one arm still around Mako's shoulder. "Senketsu's been courteously silent through most of this, but I can pick up what he's feeling, and it's… weird. What's up?"

Mako remembered how they'd been this close this morning, atop Fuji, recovering from their battle, just before that kiss had happened. Even framed by clinical overhead lightning rather than a gorgeous sunset, Ryuko was still more stunning than ever. Her deep blue eyes, even ringed with barely noticeable stress lines, were enough to daze her. Her skin was so smooth she wanted to stroke it for hours, and her hair stripe was more oddly dazzling than ever before. Even the few crumbs and stains she still had around her mouth were sexy in a weird way.

It was time.

She took a deep breath.

"I… I asked you to dinner because I love you, Ryuko-chan."

The moment the words were out of her chest and into the air, she felt instantly lighter, yet even heavier than before.

Ryuko's eyes widened, and her mouth went slightly slack. "Uh… huh?"

Point of no return. Just lay it all out. No more hiding, no more drama. It's time.

"I love you. I'm bi, and I've had some feelings for you ever since you took me in, but now I know I love you, and it's been hellish waiting to tell you. I'm… in love with you, Ryuko. I love everything about you, flaws and all. Everything. Your personality, your energy, y-your power, your devotion to keeping everyone you care about safe… and I think you're impossibly sexy, too. I can't think of anyone I would rather be with than you. But if you don't feel the same way, I understand, I just wa-"

Ryuko's lips were on hers.

The kiss was so quick and shallow that Mako barely got to enjoy it, but it still sent her reeling when Ryuko pulled back. Everything else she was going to say – if she was going to say much more – evaporated from her mind. She had no idea what to do next.

And from the look on her face, it shocked Ryuko just as much. She was rapidly blinking and blushing heavily, and it looked like there was a drop of blood glistening in one of her nostrils, but she couldn't quite tell. "W-Why did I just do that? Why did I do that? Why? Why did I just… Why?"

Mako blinked, her breath coming slow and shallow. "Why… did you?"

They stared at each other like strangers, visibly sharing only alarm and not much else. Apprehension filled Mako's heart, and most of her body was going numb from anxiety.

Then Ryuko broke the silence. "C… Could we do it again?"

Mako had no response, other than to oblige. Their lips met again, and this time, it was slow. Gentle. Blissful. Just like her fantasies, just like the kiss on Fuji, only this time there was no doubt about Ryuko's consent. She was so taken aback that, rather than the rippling sexual ecstasy she'd expected of their first real kiss, she just felt blunt, overwhelming joy.

That was… easier than I thought it would be.

They parted, again, quicker than she would have wanted, but Ryuko's expression calmed her. Gone was the deer-in-the-headlights shock, replaced by mere surprise and dawning understanding.

"Huh."

"Huh?"

Ryuko gulped. "This… explains a lot, I guess. Why the hell was I so sure I didn't like girls? And what are the odds that both my sister and I would turn out to like girls? That's… that's weird. This is so weird."

"Kind of," Mako whispered, still stumbling over herself trying to process what was going on. "How… How do you feel?"

"… Disoriented. I-I didn't, um… I feel… nice." Touching her ever-reddening cheeks, Ryuko took a deep breath and drew slightly back, but then jerked forward and pulled Mako into a tight hug. "Give me a minute, okay?"

Mako nodded, exerting her own strength to give herself slightly more room to breathe, and there they waited in each other's arms again. It was strangely funny to see the unstoppable badass she'd grown attached to since that day reduced to awkward stuttering, but she could empathize with Ryuko's state; her head was spinning, and she would have felt like she was having a panic attack if she didn't know she felt the exact opposite of panicked.

Had she really just confessed her love to Ryuko, and gotten reciprocation so easily? She wasn't dreaming, was she? If she woke up now, she was going to be so upset after she took care of her sexual frustration.

Finally, after even more time had passed that she couldn't keep track of because her mind was swimming, Ryuko slightly loosened the embrace and pulled Mako into another nervous kiss. Mako was still too drained from the surprise to do much in return, but Ryuko seemed happy to do most of the work.

When they parted, still holding each other beside the plate of cold buns, Ryuko fixed her with a stare both firm and visibly unsteady. "Mako… I… I could launch into a big speech right now about how I feel the same way, and I was stupid to suppress and ignore my feelings for no reason other than to… prove Senketsu wrong or not ruin our friendship or avoid distraction or whatever. I could tell you how much I'd like to cherish this, and how much I feel like I don't deserve you because of how much I've screwed up over the course of us knowing each other. I could thank you for having the strength to take the plunge first even though you had no idea whether I felt the same way."

"… But?" Mako whispered, her heart fluttering.

"But I'm honestly too busy trying to get Senketsu to go into his little bubble so you can pull my panties off and flip my skirt up without it being weird." Ryuko swallowed again, letting out an unsteady breath. "Okay, saying that made him do the closest thing he can to turning around and covering his ears. I hope you don't mind."

Mako minded so little as she tore off her uniform and did what Ryuko asked, she would have let all of Nudist Beach watch.


- Several Minutes Later -

"Okay," Jakuzure whispered, giggling uncontrollably. "I think they stopped."

After a moment's hesitation, Satsuki lifted her working hand from her ear and turned over on the pillow, fixing her dainty lover with an impassive stare; she'd been so fired up from the speech that they'd decided to try taking her eyepatch off before sex just to see what it was like, so the empty socket gave the impression of a huge black eye in the darkness. The expression could have fooled anyone else, but not her.

"You're super embarrassed." Jakuzure giggled louder, not even caring how much she sounded like a 9-year-old schoolgirl when she did it. "My unbreakable darling Satsuki, slayer of Life Fibers and future disemboweler of evil old ladies, got flustered! This is amazing!"

"Hush," Satsuki groaned. Her voice was so adorably meek, it almost turned Jakuzure on as much as when she was belting out loud commands, and her other arm still being in the sling and strapped against her chest only complemented the image. "If you were in my position, you'd understand."

"I was in your position just a minute ago, babe. And a lot of other ones too." She smirked her most intentionally rage-inducing smirk. Part of her felt a bit sorry for Satsuki, but a much bigger part wanted to draw this out as long as possible.

"Must everything I say be about sex with you?"

"Not everything, but we were just having it. Passionately and vigorously, if I may compliment your technique, my Lady." Smirking even wider, Jakuzure slid closer until their bodies once again touched. "And theeeeen your little sister started doing it too, loudly enough for the whole base to hear, and I totally understand why it killed the mood for you."

Satsuki's glare got even more withering, but she said nothing.

"Ryuko got laaaaaid, Ryuko got laaaaaid," she chanted, booping her seething love's nose. "And I helped make it happen! Aren't I just the best?"

Turning overdramatically away, Satsuki flipped up her pillow and folded it over her head. "You're a brat."

"I am, but you love me," she purred, hugging tightly to Satsuki's skin.

Satsuki responded by flipping the pillow up in one effortless motion and smacking it into her face, which would have been agonizing on her burns if she hadn't just taken her latest painkiller dose. As it was, it just felt like an especially rough love tap.

"I do love you," Satsuki grunted. "Remind me again why that is?"

Smirking one last time, Jakuzure let her expression completely drop until she looked calm and serious. "Because I was your first friend and your most loyal soldier, I know more about you than anyone and I understand you like nobody else, I refuse to go to sleep until I'm positive you feel safe, and I will always be there whenever you need to hug me or sob in my hair?"

The bedroom was dead silent for a few seconds, but Jakuzure waited patiently until Satsuki finally rolled back around to face her. "I was… not expecting you to give an honest answer, Nonon. You know I wasn't actually angry with you, right? Sarcasm and playfulness are still not things I am particularly well-versed in."

If Jakuzure's heart could possibly melt any more than it already did when she was in her Lady's arms, it would have evaporated. "You're doing a great job of being adorable, though. I need to get you flustered more often! What should I do next, praise Ryuko's stamina or guess at some of her kinks?"

"I can and will use this pillow again, Nonon."

"Fiiiine," she groaned, theatrically flopping back onto her own pillow. "I'll stop talking and let you go to sleep."

By her count, she kept true to her word for about five seconds.

"So how about that part when she screamed-"

She expected – welcomed – another pillow in the face, but instead, Satsuki rolled over and passionately kissed her. Despite them both still being naked from the interrupted lovemaking, the one kiss and the delicate teasing of her tongue was more than enough for her. She would have even been satisfied with a peck on the cheek, but she certainly wasn't complaining.

Just when she was getting into it, Satsuki pulled away and smirked back at her. "No more unless you promise to stop."

"Cross my heart."

They exchanged flushed smiles, and Jakuzure had a faint glimmer of hope that they'd resume – until Satsuki's communicator went off.

"Do you have to answer right away?"

"Being the new commander of all Nudist Beach operations… yes, I do."

Sighing, she sat up and grabbed it, tapping open the message for what Jakuzure could only assume was yet another-

"Nonon."

Jakuzure froze. "What?"

"Get dressed, hurry!" Spitting the order in a tone Jakuzure had rarely heard before, she lurched out of bed and quickly strapped on her eyepatch, but struggled with her holsters until Jakuzure helped her. Gradually panicking, Jakuzure tugged her own uniform on and rushed to Satsuki, who took her by the hand and sprinted down the hall so quickly, she was almost carrying her.

Wh-What the hell is going on?!

Within seconds – even in such a time as this, Satsuki's speed never ceased to impress – they came to a halt outside of the war room, inside which Jakuzure could already see most of the high-ranking Nudists gathered. As she was practically pulled inside, she saw Aikuro staring grimly at them, and he pointed to the screen above without a word.

Glancing up, she heard Satsuki hiss only a moment before she processed what she was seeing herself.

The screen displayed the view from a helicopter, whether belonging to the news or one of the Nudists' own, hovering over a vast stretch of industrial buildings surrounded by dim white fog. She recognized the place instantly, as any citizen of Japan would: the headquarters of REVOCS, most likely the place where Ragyo and Nui would be hiding out considering Ryuko's assault on Kiryuin Manor. But its most recognizable feature, the towering central dome that constantly projected light through its gaudy orange glass, was… obscured?

No, not obscured, as she quickly understood with a jolt. It was covered. By COVERS.

An enormous mob of COVERS hovered flattened against each other, shrouding the dome in an even bigger dome through which there seemed to be no openings. The creatures were completely unmoving, none splitting off from their shape to attack the helicopter, and as the footage zoomed in, she could see that none of them had any human hosts; they were all still in their basic forms, connected to each other by long strands of glistening Life Fibers. However, rather than the flimsy drifters they were supposed to be, these COVERS were completely immobile, some seeming almost metallic. And if Jakuzure's pattern recognition was up to snuff, she could guess from a few close-ups of the seams between the creatures that there were even more stretched out in layers behind this dome.

It was an impenetrable barrier, and within it, she already knew for sure from the stifling grimness of the room, waited Ragyo and Nui.


- REVOCS HQ; Timeframe Unknown -

Ragyo had been a little girl once.

In that era, that blur of years that now felt hollow and devoid of importance, her father had left her in the kitchen while he took an important business call. She had stood obediently where she had been left, listening to his muffled voice in the next room over until the bubbling of the pot on the stovetop drowned him out.

When he returned to the room nine minutes and twenty-three seconds later, he returned to the sound of screaming and the sight of his child clutching her hand in a pool of steaming water. She was driven to the hospital, quickly sedated and given grafts for the third-degree burns all across her arm. She was back home before midnight, and within time, it became a distant memory, an innocent little childhood tale of poor timing and an overheated pot.

Her father would never learn that she had held her arm over the boiling water for the duration of those minutes, silently observing as each popped bubble splattered onto her skin, then watching curiously as the flesh crackled and melted beneath the heat – until she deliberately spilled some water onto the floor and waited to start sobbing.

He would never learn that her immense pain, which would render that arm mostly numb for that year, had been overpowered by another sensation: discovery. The feeling of a new experience, a deeper agony than she had ever felt or would feel for some time, something she had no reference point for and from which to form a new one. Something powerful, and horrifying, and wonderful.

Ragyo flashed back to this memory now, among others throughout her years, in a desperate bid to understand what she was feeling now.

Control yourself. Breathe. Cycle. Pressure in, pressure out.

It hurt.

Oxygen to the blood. Oxygen to the brain. You are okay. You are stable.

No, that was the wrong way to think about it.

It worked. It worked. Your body is collapsing and ravaged and pure and whole.

It was excruciation the likes of which no one on this pitiful planet, no sapient being in existence since the universe was young and unspoiled, could ever have hoped to imagine. It was a hot coal being forced into every subatomic particle that made up her being, only growing trillions of times worse than that analogy as the milliseconds dragged by. It was, she imagined, the closest thing to nonexistence and omnipotence.

Thank you so much, my lord, my love.

She stood up and began to walk past the unseeing eyes that filled the chamber. Her flesh and bones screamed, agonized and rejoicing, with every step. Her heart – her heart – no longer beat; it was too efficient now to do so. It twisted and reshaped itself to send precious blood through her body at a speed so quick that every drop would have cut through a lesser mortal's body.

Time was shifting in her eyes, imperceptibly fast and unbearably slow, each period gradually moving closer to the other, her mind desperately attempting to return to normalcy. It was no matter – she looked outside at the dome of COVERS shielding the headquarters from intruders, an unbreakable wall of all her children, and knew that she had more time than she needed.

Control. Let it burn. Let yourself accept the new reality.

Everything was so… small. So intricate. Shinra-Koketsu seemed like a distant dream, a hammer she could use to destroy the system and feed it to Him. Now she felt as if she could reach out with these bare hands, pluck a piece from the laws of this reality, and mold it until the system itself was nothing more than Life Fibers. She was an emissary. She had been chosen as a messiah all along. It had been her fate to reject her plans and take this desperate measure, from birth to rebirth to rebirth again. It never could have turned out another way.

This is purity. This is deification. This is to be consumed.

She curled her hand into a fist, and felt the agony lessen by the most insignificant degree. And then another. Slowly, so slowly, it was being drowned out. It was being replaced by the power.

Her fist had been halted by the abomination that was Ryuko Matoi, the abomination that still walked the Earth and soiled it for the higher beings. Were she to touch that abomination now, its armor would melt away and its flesh would be as powder to her fingers.

This is our utopia made true.

Smiling, she marched to the next room, indistinguishable in the chrysalis that her headquarters had become…

… And she helped her daughter get dressed.