A/N :

hey there all of you reader. here is chapter 47! I know the title may be a bit weird but just read the whole story and you may get it.

About the song in Chapter 46, it is Akatsuki no Kuruma (the car of dawn) and is part of the OST for the anime MS Gundam Seed. The song will have some significance later in the story.

Review:

The AvatarFennix: well it is the only good free position for a colorful character. After all the previous tenant wont be needing it. I'll try to keep it up, thanks!

Josi55: Well it's pretty obvious I think. After all the position had to be filled and oh! A new character arrives! And there will be some tension at some point but not as bad as it was no worry. She's not a psychopath!

DebraSmith: Glad you do!

Announcement :

In a few chapters I will hit the 200 000 words for this story. For the occasion I'm planning a special bonus. I'd like to make a chapter that would be some kind of interview of the "Life has No Meaning Without You" cast. Basically, I'll imagine that every character mentioned in the story are actors having a special episode as we sometimes see in TV series when they reach 200 or 300 episodes.

To write this I'll need your help!

I would like to ask you to send me questions through PM. The questions shall be directed to one or a small group of characters (2 or 3 at most) Every character mentioned in the story can be interviewed, from Max and Chloe to Jefferson or Officer Jones and Cooper (cf chapter 8). You can even ask question to Azumi!

I'll ask you to submit those before Chapter 49 is released so I have time to work this out.

depending on the numbers I get I'll make a selection and keep the remaining questions for a futur bonus.

Have fun reading the story!


Chapter XLVII – A Pink Unicorn, Cats and mice

The last days had been hard on Victoria, harder than she thought it would be. She had expected the difficulties to sleep and the remorse as she had started to keep her distance with the girl. What she had not expected was the pain and the constant knot in her stomach each time the blonde would look down with disappointment and sadness as she was sent away.

Kate had tried to make contact several times, each time more hesitant, with more shyness and hurt in her eyes. With each of her rebuke, she had felt a pang in her own heart. Each time, pushing the girl away, trying to act cold and bitchy became harder. She actually wanted to smile, to pounce and hug the girl, to have her sit beside her and listen to her voice as she looked at her sweet smile. But she knew she couldn't let herself follow this path.

I'm sorry Kate… I can't risk you sacrificing so much just for me… I don't deserve it…

She looked down at her meal, ignoring the wall of noise, the constant chatter in the cafeteria. She wasn't that hungry, had no interest in the food that lay on the tray in front of her. She just poked at the peas and carrots in front of her with her fork, her elbows on the table as her head rested on her free hand.

"Everything okay, Tori?"

Victoria jerked her head up looking as she got pulled out of her own thoughts.

No, I'm not okay, I'm pinning over a girl that would clearly not be interested in this kind of relationship and all I can do to not just jump her is to avoid her like an asshole!

She saw Taylor looking at her with concerns and she just nodded softly. "Oh, yeah sorry… just trying to decide on what I'll do for the photography project of the month."

Taylor looked up a moment and winced. "Yeah, sure is rough. Kurosawa sure got some strange ideas. I mean have each of us bring one picture per month, so they get shown on the displays around the campus. I'm not sure I'm ready to have everyone in school look at my work. Bad enough I have to show it in photography class!"

Victoria nodded softly. She wasn't really listening at first, but she decided to take the discussion in stride so as to push her growing longing for the small blonde out of her mind. "Yeah, I just dunno what kind of picture I wanna show… I mean it's quite a lot of pressure!"

Taylor nudged her with her elbow. "Come on, Tori! You know you got talent, you won the Everyday hero contest after all, and you already send submissions to magazines and galleries!"

Victoria winced as she remembered the night the winner had been announced. She had not told this to anyone, even Kate, but she had started to feel like she only had won so as to give Jefferson a chance to kidnap her, not because she was talented. She shook her head softly, brushing the thought away. "It's not the same, the people who will be judging me in galleries and magazines aren't here beside me all the time to mock or criticize me you know."

Taylor pondered a moment. "I hadn't thought of that… But well you will make it, I'm sure! Your picture will be perfect compared to mine."

Victoria looked down at her food again sulking a bit. "Yeah we will see, I guess." She responded softly.

I would need to actually be able to take said pictures for it to be perfect…. And I still can't press the button…

"Hey Katie!" Courtney's greeting pulled Victoria from her thought. She looked up and saw the smaller blonde smiling at Courtney. The smile was slightly forced, the girl's eyes red and her hair missing their usual neatness.

"Hi Courtney! Hi Taylor!" The voice paused a short moment before sounding a bit more tensed and shier. "Hi Victoria…"

Victoria grunted and dropped her fork on her tray. "Sorry, I got to go." She stood up brusquely and picked up her tray, leaving the cafeteria as Kate, Taylor and Courtney looked at her confused.


Max looked up from her notes as the bedroom door opened and her girlfriend came in, a beer bottle in her hand.

"Welcome home!" She smiled warmly at the blue haired girl.

Chloe moved in the room pulling her arms out of her jacket's sleeves, swapping her bottle from hand to hand as she let the leather vest fall on the floor. "Hey Maxipad! Still awake?"

Max frowned a moment and looked at her phone. Chloe's usually worked late, but judging by the time, the punk had finished early. "Well it's not that late, and I sleep better with my Chloe beside me anyway." She responded softly as she closed her notebook and slid toward the edge of the bed.

The punk leaned down to her and their lips met in a loving kiss, their usual greeting whenever they been parted for more than a few minutes. How mushy does it make us that we have to kiss whenever one of us had to go to the bathroom? Max thought for the umpteenth time. They both pulled back from their kiss and she smiled at her love. "How was your day?"

Chloe chuckled. "Max, we saw each other a few hours ago, remember? I'm the one who took you home from school."

The smaller girl rolled her eyes. "Fine! How was your evening?"

Taking a sip of her beer, the bluenette smiled. "Oh, the usual, boring waiting, couple of drunk tats and Steph whining… The tats weren't too bad although I think one of them will be lased off soon."

Max quirked an eyebrow. "Why?"

The older girl smirked evilly. "Well let's say it doesn't sit well for a big bicker dude to have a pink unicorn on his lower back."

The pinkette put her hand on her mouth as she burst out laughing. "A tramp stamp? On a biker? You kidding, right?"

Chloe nodded. "Nope! All true, swear to Dog! And it was his idea! Well maybe more the idea of his drunken pals!"

Max giggled at the silliness of the drunk bikers. "Gosh, some people are really bad!"

The punk shrugged responding, "Hey, at least it's making bank for me!" before she took a sip of her beer.

"Right! Oh, by the way, wasn't today the day Steph got to touch my teacher again?"

Chloe snorted softly. "Yeah! Talk about awkward… "

"Hey! I got to see her nearly every day at school you know! It's even more awkward to me knowing she's having inappropriate relations with a friend of mine!"

The blue-haired girl rolled her eyes. "You mean having hot monkey sex! Can't you say it straight?"

Max shook her head. "Nope! Not a straight bone in me sorry!"

Chloe chuckled. "Guess I left the door open for that one. Anyway, it was very weird. The chick was her usual exuberant self I guess, although you could feel she felt a bit weird being there. As for Steph, well she was so tensed and stiff I kept expecting hearing a loud crack and see her fly across the room like some broken rubber band!"

"Did they talk it out at least?"


Steph raised her head looking at the clock on the wall for what may have been the hundredth time in the past twenty minutes, when Chloe had left the store, taking a break to pick up Max at school. The news that the school day was over had been the beginning of the rising tension in her. She felt like a spring slowly getting coiled tighter as a key turned in her belly.

There was a big reason to her predicament. Well not that big, Azumi was about as tall as Max, maybe a bit taller, something like in between Max and herself, and she certainly didn't have any excess of fat. What she had though, was an appointment with Steph to keep working on the dragon tattoo. Appointment that was to take place right after her job. Job that, by the weirdest coincidence, was to teach her friend Max during her photography class. Class that she had learned from Chloe would be Max' final period of the day. Which meant that with Max leaving school, Azumi would be leaving school and coming to Steph's store.

Steph felt as tensed as she had felt for the first session with the Asian woman, albeit for very different reasons. The first time, her attraction, her lust for the woman had caused her to breakdown. But in the end Azumi had been attracted to her too, after all one does not spend nearly 48 hours doing the nasty with someone one is not attracted to. This time, it's the idea that the said woman wasn't attracted to her in the same way, or to be more exact, was only seeing her as a one-night thing.

And that would be bad for Steph. One thing her parents had never understood when she came out, was that even if she was gay, Steph remained rather prudish in a way. She never had one-night stands. She only slept with people she loved and with whom she was having a relationship, a real one. In fact, Azumi had been the first to hit homerun on the first day, and Steph had mixed feelings about that.

The sound of an approaching motorbike brought her out of her thought. She looked at the window and saw the white and pink bike park in front, its owner stepping off as she turned the engine off. Steph took a deep breath, trying to steady herself as she moved to prepare the tattoo station.

The door chimed as it opened, and Steph felt her body stiffen.

"Hey Steph! Am here as planed!" The Asian girl called as she moved putting her helmet on the table.

"Oh… hi Azumi! Nice to see you again…" Steph started looking at the woman.

Azumi moved toward Steph and started removing her jacket. She walked beside Steph without stopping and dropped her jacket on the chair placed in the corner. "Nice to see you too!" She simply responded before she pointed at the station beside Steph. "This one?"

Steph bit her lip a bit. She felt a bit hurt. She had expected some kind of mushy moment, being greeted with a kiss, or something intimate. But no, the girl had just moved around like she was used to the store. Steph took a deep breath pushing away her feelings and taking back her professional persona. "Yes. Can you take the shirt off too? I'll check how it healed."

The woman pulled her tank top off, revealing she had been going braless for the day apparently.

"I heard you took up a teaching position at Blackwell." Steph said starting small talk.

"Hai… Was surprised to see Max there. I thought she was college girl."

Steph shook her head. "Max' only 18. But then I thought you were about her age too so …"

Azumi chuckled. "Yeah, people around here always think I'm younger and I often tend to think Americans are older than they are. Guess it's hard to judge."

Steph nodded. "It is. I'm 20 by the way. In case you wondered."

"Chloe told me already. Not that you look much older to me."

Steph kept looking at the work she had done the previous week. "I'll take that as a compliment." She bit her lip trying hard to control herself as her brain kept rushing about the questions in her heart, the disappointment, the lust, and the feelings. "Looks like it healed well… we should be able to start the coloring."

Azumi smiled. "Great!" She lay back on the seat getting ready while Steph move to open a new needle pack and set it on the machine.

Steph looked up a moment. "Still going for the red one or do you prefer shading?"

Azumi looked at her and pondered. "I thought you had planned it red no?"

Steph nodded. "Yeah I drew it red on paper but looking at the outlining I feel like a black and white shading would actually suit your skin better."

Azumi, pondered a moment. "Well whatever you think best, you're the artist."

Steph looked down a moment then turned and moved to pick the bottles of black and white ink, breaking the seals and filling the disposable containers. "Shading it is." She made sure to clean the woman's skin before she started to work, the machine's soft buzzing filling the store.

Like last time, she had started with the head of the dragon. It was actually the longer part for she had to work all the little details of the head's shape and shadows. She worked carefully, in short bursts pausing to wipe the skin with a clean tissue. She had just finished the crest leading to the creature's neck when the door chimed again, and Chloe's voice called to warn her. "Steph, it's just me."

She raised her head and called back. "Ok, thanks for letting me know!"

The sounds of boots crossing the room covered the buzz from the tattoo gun. Chloe just pushed her head through the curtains. "Well I figured I'd save you the pain of regloving because you had to check if it wasn't a customer." She pondered a moment "You may need a front desk person if the tattoo part of the jobs keeps growing you know. Oh, and hi!"

Steph nodded softly. "Thanks, and I can't afford to pay someone."

Chloe frowned. "You're paying me though."

Steph shook her head. "No. Not anymore. Chloe, you're getting enough customers that I don't have to pay the guaranteed part of your wages anymore. Just as our deal says, I put in your paycheck the amount put in the register for your work minus my commission." She looked down and sighed. "Let's talk about that later though… I'm kinda working."

Chloe smiled. "Sure! She looked at Azumi "Cya later… Oh, and take care of my girl while she's in your class, kay?"

"Hai! Will do!"

As Chloe pulled her head back from the partition Steph called out. "By the way your license is in the mail on my desk! Make sure you make a copy for the store and put the original somewhere safe!"

"Aye aye Boss! Thanks!"

Steph resumed her work in silence, the buzz from the tool and the music, the only things breaking the silence. It felt awkward to her. She wondered how it felt for the woman she was inking. She was about to start the work on Azumi's back when the door chimed, and she heard Chloe greet the customer. She looked up at the clock as she heard the slurred speech that responded to her friend. A little early to be that drunk already, pal.

As they heard the guy ask for a big heart with 'Gina' inside, Steph and Azumi bit their lips trying not to laugh, especially because the guy was sitting just on the other side from a curtain. Soon, a second tattoo gun starts buzzing alongside hers followed by grunts of pain. Both girls looked at each other again puffing softly when they heard Chloe's voice calling. "Dude! I barely started! There's a girl in the station beside you she's having a full body one and she's like sleeping in the chair! Man up Dude!"

The hour passed with Chloe's customer's sobs and hisses joining the buzz of the machines. Soon Chloe stirred behind the curtain explaining to her customer how to take care of the new ink. If the guy is drunk, it may be moot, though. After a moment the door of the store chimed and they could hear the sound of Chloe cleaning her station.

Steph was around the middle of Azumi's back, working on the claws and digits of the dragon that pointed down her spine, when Chloe passed her head through the curtain again, rolling her eyes. "Can you believe this guy?"

Azumi looked up "Heart on his butt?" she asked with as smirk.

Chloe shook her head. "Could have been on his balls from the way he cried. But no, was on his arm. My guess Gina just dumped him, and he was trying to show how much he loved her."

Steph scoffed a bit. Chloe looked at her and was about to say something, probably something sassy, when the door chimed again and several voices, drunken voice filled the store. A bit worried, this time Steph did push her head through the curtain, only to see three bikers, drunk as hell, talking with Chloe.

The punk seems unphased, and she just cheerfully talked to them before leading one of them to the station. "Okay guys, what will be it then?"

Several responses came back, starting with the usual biker stuff, like "A skull!" "A wolf!" and so on. Then the responses switched, probably as the alcohol killed more and more of the brain cells, going to, "A rainbow!" "A butterfly!" until finally one called out "A pink unicorn on his lower back!" followed by a chorus of, "Yeaaah!"

At the last one Steph had to pull the tattoo gun away from Azumi as both girls just puffed loudly. To Chloe's credit, she did ask several times if the guy was sure before she actually got started.

Steph was working her way around Azumi's ribs, putting the shades and filling on the dragon's body curling under the woman's breast toward her stomach, when the buzz in the neighboring station stopped and the biker cheered loudly.

With a frown Steph looked at the clock on the wall and winced. As the voices got further into the store, probably moving to the register, Steph sighed and looked at Azumi. "I'm not sure we can finish it today. Do you want to pause here and work the rest in a week?"

Azumi lifted her head from the cushion turning to look at Steph. "Fine by me. Same day same hour?"

Steph pondered a moment and nodded. "Should work. I'll confirm with you at the register." She moved to clean the part already made. "Check what we already did in the mirror before I cover it up." She says before biting her lips as the woman stood topless and went to look at herself.

"Subarashi! You were right it's way better like this!" Azumi walked back and sat on the chair letting Steph start to cover the raw skin.

The brunette hesitated a moment before she started to speak. "Azumi, can… I ask you something?"

"Hai? Sure, you can."

Steph took a deep breath closing her eyes for a moment before she continued. "Would you… go on a date with me this week end?"

The woman tensed on the chair turning her head, her black eyes looking at Steph. "Do you mean… a date date?"

The brunette nodded shyly as she finished the bandage.

The white-haired girl pursed her lips, saying nothing for a moment. She fiddled with her hands nervously. "Steph… You're a great person… Really… But…"

Steph felt her stomach churning and her heart sinking as she heard the beginning of the woman's response. "But?"

Azumi shook her head softly. "I don't date people… I'm sorry." She reached for her shirt and looked at the artist as her head and shoulder dropped. "You're a great person Steph… We had a great moment and I do like you… But I never get involved."

Steph looked down shaking her head. "Don't tell me I'm a great person, please! Not when you just shot me down!" she hissed softly raising a hand to wipe her eyes. She took a deep breath, straining to keep control of her emotions as she just added. "See with Chloe for the next appointment." She then stood and left the station with brisk steps heading for the back office.


Chloe pondered. "I… I think so… I mean when the chick left she looked uncomfortable and Steph went to her office right away… She stayed there till I left… She closed the store early too."

"Not good I guess…"

The punk shook her head. "I think Steph was crying. I didn't hear what they said, and I didn't ask Steph about it, but…" She shrugged sadly. "I'll ask her tomorrow… Maybe she will be more… ready to talk about it."

Max nodded, feeling a pang in her heart for her friend, for the girl who helped her understand her own sexuality and feelings. "Do that please… "

The other girl nodded and took a sip of her beer. "Since we are talking about our friends, romantic lives… How is it going for Kate?"

The pinkette winced a bit. "I'd say, it's not that good…"

Chloe frowned a moment. "Did Dicktoria break her heart?"

Max shook her head. "No, at least I don't think so seeing that they haven't talked yet." She sighed. "No, the problem is more that Victoria is working very hard to keep Kate away."


Kate was sitting on her couch, her violin tugged under her chin as she slowly brushed the strings with the bow, while tears slowly ran along her cheeks. For once she was happy to be the only student in that part of the dormitories, at least Max would not hear the sadness filling the notes she slowly coaxed from the instrument.

She somehow felt like she was back in October. It was not the same kind of pain, not the feeling of having the whole world turning against her and pounding at her with hatred and evil. It was more a feeling of longing, of missing something or someone important. And while the new pain wasn't pulling her mind into the abyss she had fallen into in October, this new longing brought to her an unknown sensation of emptiness and sorrow.

That same sensation could be felt through the soft weeping of her violin, her music full of sorrow, lacking the warmth of her good days. It wasn't dark per se, but one could hear the bleeding heart and confusion of its interpreter.

Kate's week had been a roller coaster so far. She had strangely felt her heart soar every time she had seen the figure of Victoria, her hopes building as she saw the blonde's eyes catching her as she got closer, only for everything to crash painfully down as the girl would escape or make a move or a remark that would push Kate away.

The words weren't mean or bullying as they had been before. But they had hurt nonetheless by adding to Kate's growing confusion. She had slowly lost sleep as days went by, her brain unable to rest as it kept running its cogs trying to process the small blonde's feelings. Because this was the crux of Kate's pain, not knowing what her feelings were. She knew she had strong feelings for Victoria, but being unable to confront the girl, to discuss them, she wasn't sure if they were love or just a strong friendship.

Instead, Kate found herself weeping. Weeping for the lost friendship, the lost discussions. Weeping for the comforting presence at night she had grown into expecting and grown into needing to fully rest. Weeping for the focus that helped her forget the events of October and the loneliness now that Max wasn't living in the dorms anymore.

As her fingers slowly danced on the violin's neck, she started to remember every time she had tried to approach Victoria, trying to catch her in the dormitories' halls, in the school's corridor, trying to talk to her right after the bell rung the end of class; trying to see her during lunch, or even sending texts asking to meet her which even turned into just a time and location and a supplication. And she remembered every response she received, or lack of thereof; Victoria increasing her pace to escape, Victoria suddenly changing direction; Victoria suddenly striking a conversation with the first comer, who usually felt baffled and confused; Victoria suddenly raising and moving away abandoning her lunch or work; and Victoria never showing up, leaving Kate waiting seated on a bench alone in the campus' park. A bit before she came back to her room, she even had knocked on Victoria's door. She knew the girl was in her room, mainly because she had seen her enter the room as she arrived. But Victoria never answered any of the knocks, or supplications from Kate and the girl had been forced to return to her room, head hanging low.

Everything hadn't been bad during the week. Max had stayed with her for most classes, they had chatted, and the pink-haired girl had tried to be supportive and comforting after each of the failed attempts. "She's probably just confused and needing her own time to think it out before she talk. Chloe's like that too, closing up whenever she is confused." Max had tried to explain. "It doesn't mean she doesn't like you."

Each time, Kate had smiled. Each time, she had felt like some warmth had tried to thaw the ice slowly building in her chest. But each time, she had felt it fail leaving only coldness and emptiness.


"And how is Katie holding?" Chloe asked softly.

"She's trying to be strong, but I think it's eating at her…" Max responded with a sigh. "It's not as bad as it was in October, you know… But still…"

"I'm gonna kick that bitch's ass, if she keeps hurting Kate!" The punk's voice full of anger.

"Victoria's not really doing better you know."

Chloe lifted her head quirking an eyebrow. "What're you saying?"

Max raised a hand palm up. "She's not acting like everything is right either. I'm not sure why, but she looks more and more tired and edgy. Even Taylor and Courtney are starting to ask questions."

The punk reached and pinched the bridge of her nose. "That idiot is probably tearing herself apart for nothing too."

"Probably… Like she used to bully others because she feared she wasn't good enough… She's probably avoiding Kate because she's afraid of something that doesn't exist."

Chloe scoffed softly. "Yeah, I bet the bitch is having wet dreams of little Katie but is too much of a coward to admit it!"

Max frowned. "You think? But then why would she avoid Kate?"

"Fuck if I know. But I tell you, all this is hella annoying." She took a sip of her beer settling the half empty bottle on the desk before lighting up a cigarette. "Between that mess with Steph and your teacher, and that cats and mice dance between Kate and Victoria… I'm starting to wish I could just grab each pair and lock them into a room until they humped like bunnies!"

The younger girl chuckled at the image. "Oh god! I can't imagine Kate humping anyone like a bunny!"

Chloe smirked and winked, reaching for her beer to take a sip. Max reached for the cigarette box on the corner of the bed and lit up a cigarette, her first of the day. She sighed after taking a small drag, looking at the floor as her mind started to get lost in her own thoughts. She was halfway through her cigarette when her voice let out her inner interrogation.

"What does sex feel like?"

SPURRRTTTTTTT!