I really enjoyed Bofuri and I wanted to do a quick little thing for Maple and Sally, and then Tom asked for a little scene of Koromu also so then this happened haha! It jumps around a little bit to juggle the different scenes and characters.

I tried my best! Hope I got the characters and world down all right. Also I could not think of a good title...

Disclaimer: I do not own Bofuri.

Rest And Recuperation

Another bright sunny day in NewWorld Online finds the Maple Tree Guild members out training in the forested area around their home base. There are no events or competitions today, so the eight of them are training and doing as they please for fun.

In this case, Sally had asked them all to help her out with perfecting her skills to make her reflexes even more top-notch.

"As if they aren't amazing enough already!" Iz had said.

But everyone in the guild respected Sally's unflagging motivation to keep getting better at everything she did, and they all were in agreement that she was an incredibly important asset to their team for a lot of different reasons. Not only was she constantly energized and in love with the game, but she was also ridiculously smart in thinking two steps ahead, on top of being physically quick and sharp.

All in all, in spite of Maple's stats, it was indisputable that the guild never would have been half as successful as it was if not for Sally. So everyone is more than willing to help her out today.

Sally's request had been that they all come at her at the same time with a variety of different attacks. Her goal was to try to predict, anticipate, avoid, counter, and outsmart as many of them as she could while taking as little damage as possible in the process.

May and Yui charge at her with their hammers, Kanade uses her spell books, Kasumi and Koromu uses their swords, and Maple uses her Hydra. Iz has chosen to sit out and observe for the sake of making some mental notes about everyone's outfit designs and how they might be improved to help them move more efficiently in battle.

Needless to say, the forest is filled with the sounds of their mock fight. There's lots of shouting and spell-casting and crashing and roaring. But somehow, Sally manages to counter or evade everything they throw at her. And it's certainly no easy feat to accomplish something like that, especially with multiple skilled opponents (three of them being massive poisonous dragon heads).

"Come on you guys!" she goads them. "You're being too predictable! Don't hold back on me!"

"We aren't!" Kasumi tries to land a blow on her with a whirlwind of slices, but is parried every time by Sally's daggers. "You're simply just that good!"

"Aw, you're just saying that!"

"She ain't kiddin'!" Koromu grunts, just barely managing to shield himself from one of Sally's power attacks. Immediately afterward, May and Yui rush in to try and land hits on her, but Sally twists out of range with a series of handstands and flips.

"Wow!" Maple calls out. "Sally, I swear you just get more amazing every day!"

"Aw, Maple, you're gonna make me blush!"

"All right!" Iz shouts out and claps her hands to get everyone's attention. "That's enough training for now. Everyone take a break."

"Yes, ma'am!" May and Yui say with a salute.

"Aw…" Sally sighs but puts her weapons away. "I was just getting into it."

"It's okay!" Maple grins, recalling her Hydra. "We can practice more later, but it's important to take breaks. You forget to do that a lot, even in real life, Sally."

"Eheh heh, yeah sometimes…"

As everyone sheathes their weapons, Kanade waves them over.

"I learned a new cooking spell," she announces. "Lunch is on me." After a few quick words from her, the next thing they know an entire picnic appears before them out of thin air. Everyone squeals and cheers as they sit down to choose what they want.

Koromu waits until the girls have all picked before he grabs a sandwich for himself. But as opposed to the rest of them who have been training and exploring all morning, he'd logged on a bit late and hadn't gotten to enjoy the day much yet. So instead of sitting down with them, he takes a bite of his sandwich and steps back.

"I think I'm gonna do a quick solo quest," he says.

"Ehhh?" Iz whines. "Koromu, you just logged on and you're leaving us already?"

"Yeah, just for a bit."

"You're gonna do a quest?" Maple parrots around a mouthful of virtual cookies. "Oh! Why don't you take Syrup with you, Koromu-san?"

The little turtle looks up from the carrot he'd been munching on and coos.

Koromu admits he almost smiles at the offer. He really likes that little guy.

"Y-You sure?"

"Of course!" Maple beams at him. "Syrup loves going with you, right Syrup?"

"Kame!" The little turtle coos again and gives a bounce.

Koromu tries not to sound as happy as he feels.

"Thanks, Maple. I'll take good care of him."

"Aww, what's this?" Iz teases him. "You're happy about this, aren't you?"

"Not really…"

The girls giggle a little bit as Maple takes off her ring and hands it to him. Syrup waddles over to Koromu and coos again.

"Hey, Syrup. You ready to go?"

"Kame!"

"Have fun, you two!" Maple waves after them.

So Koromu sets off with Syrup behind him, eating the rest of his lunch as he goes. Seeing Sally take on the entire guild and pushing herself to new limits had really inspired him to start doing the same. The girls are all so amazing and he doesn't want to get left behind in terms of leveling up his skills.

So he completes a small solo quest for the time being, just slaying some monsters as per usual and strengthening his attacks. Syrup meanders on behind him and offers a few assists here or there when necessary.

Koromu finishes his quest fairly quickly and begins heading back to Maple Tree within half an hour. They pass a pond along the way, and he doesn't miss the excited little sound Syrup makes. Koromu pauses, looking down at his companion who is fixated on the water. He grins.

"Wanna go for a swim, little guy?"

Syrup looks up at him with bright eyes and coos.

"Kame!"

Koromu laughs.

"Go for it. I'll take a quick break."

"Kame!"

The turtle waddles off into the pond as quickly as possible. Once he hits the water, he starts swimming much faster than he could ever walk or float.

Koromu sits down in the grass to watch his companion swimming laps. His whole guild is full of amazing and hardworking members, even down to their pets. He really is starting to view them as family, even if he's never actually met any of them in real life.

He closes his eyes for a moment of meditation, listening to the sounds of the water lapping against the grass…

"Hyaah!"

There's a yell, a harsh clang of metal, and suddenly a blow strikes Koromu on his back.

"What the-?!" Out of nowhere, he gets bowled clean over into the dirt, hearing several deep voices coming from behind him.

"That was too easy!"

"Hey, we got bonus damage for sneaking up on him!"

"He's not so tough!"

Koromu spits the dirt out of his mouth and swiftly tries to push himself up and ready his sword and shield, but instantly realizes that he'd been paralyzed.

"Shit…"

Crude laughter sounds from behind him. His opponents are a band of three guys all armored up with various knives and daggers.

"Hey, now," Koromu growls. "That's pretty shitty common courtesy to ambush a player when there isn't even any game-wide competition happening."

"Screw that shit," one guy laughs. "Just give us your loot!"

All three of them charge him at once, and Koromu grits his teeth. He can't do anything but take their hits for a few seconds before the paralysis wears off.

Damn it...

These are just the kind of people he'd wanted to protect his friends from; these no-good trolls who don't abide by the basic level of manners in-game.

But before they can land more than two hits on him, a massive explosion of water erupts from the lake. The bandits all yelp and scramble back.

"Wh-what-"

"What the hell is that thing?!"

Koromu glances back over his shoulder and smirks. A huge turtle is hovering high over their heads now, dripping water and glaring down at the bandits as menacingly as possible.

The attackers are frozen for a second in his shadow.

"A-A lake monster?!"

"Do something!"

One of them throws a small dagger at Syrup. It bounce against his shell and leaves a tiny scrape, but nothing more. Syrup gives a loud cry and stomps one of his feet, nearly crushing one of the bandits in the process.

"Wh-What the hell?!"

"I didn't hear about a lake monster in this place!"

"Let's get outta here!"

And just like that, the cowards flee as quickly as they'd come. Koromu laughs as he watches them go, leaning back against Syrup.

"Thanks for the help, buddy."

"Kame!" The big turtle coos, rubbing his head against him. Koromu pets the turtle appreciatively.

"Well, since I'm still stunned, mind giving me a ride back to base?"

"Kame!" Syrup happily helps bump Koromu up onto his shell before floating slowly off back toward the guild.

"Again!" Sally calls out.

Maple is standing several yards away from her with her great shield in front of her.

"A-Are you sure?" she asks. "I've already accidentally poisoned you five times, Sally!"

"That's all right! I've gotta get better at dodging! Come at me!"

"O-Okay!" Maple does as her best friend asks and sends out her Hydra yet again. She lets it loose, snapping its teeth and spitting out strings of blazing purple goo.

Sally had hardly rested for 2 minutes during lunch before asking Maple to train with her some more. The other girls are all still eating a good distance away to watch them now.

Sally kicks off at top speed to avoid the three pairs of ferocious biting jaws. The ground underfoot is already seeped with poison and is turning purple, and she's starting to take some damage just from standing on it.

So she increases her speed to the max, moving so quickly now that she isn't even touching the ground long enough for the game to register her taking that damage during each step. She parries the monsters with her daggers, leaping forward and flipping back, maneuvering in ways the other girls have never seen before.

Maple maintains her focus, trying her best not to marvel too much at her friend's incredible skills and get distracted. Sally had asked her to attack her and help her train, so that's what Maple wants to do.

She concentrates, following the Hydra's movements with her eyes, but she can barely even see Sally at all. She's just a flash of blue and white blurring the air every few seconds.

But even in spite of Sally's enthusiasm and seemingly never-ending vigor, Maple can't help but feel worried about her now. On top of all the training they'd done this morning with everyone attacking her all at once, Maple has been attacking her with Hydra for at least fifteen minutes now nonstop.

It's easy for Maple, because all she has to do is stand here and call out the command. But overall she's pretty sure Sally hasn't caught her breath even once in the past hour or so.

The dragon heads continue spiraling and spitting at her, and Sally evades them by a hair each time. Maple can barely follow her movements anymore, and if not for Sally calling out the names of her attacks every now and then, she might've thought she'd vanished altogether.

Maple is just about to nervously shout out and ask her if she wants to stop yet when a big green shape catches the corner of her eye.

"Ah! Syrup!"

And just for a split second, she loses focus. Her sudden shout also surprises Sally, who ends up slipping on a puddle of poison.

"Wah-!"

And then all at once, all three heads fire out a full round of deadly poison right onto her. All of the other girls gasp and jump to their feet.

"Sally!"

"S-Sally-san!"

Maple whirls back around to her friend just as she sees it all happen.

"O-Oh my gosh! Sally!" She recalls Hydra and drops her shield, running over as quickly as her low agility allows.

Sally is lying on her side in a pool of steaming poison, and fumes are wafting off of her. Maple shrieks as she watches her health bar drop into the yellow and then the red.

"S-Sally!" She drops to her knees and picks her up into her arms. "W-Wait, Sally! I'm so sorry! Please don't die!"

"Here!" Kasumi reaches them and breaks a healing crystal over Sally, restoring half of her HP instantly. It buys Kanade enough time to cast a spell to restore her to full health again. Maple sighs in relief, but is still worried since Sally hasn't moved yet.

"Sally? Sally? Are you okay?" She gives her a gentle shake. Iz kneels down beside them and touches Sally's shoulder to try and asses her while the others look on nervously.

"She'll be all right," Iz announces. "I think she just blacked out for a second here."

Just as she's saying it, Sally opens her eyes again slowly.

"Guys…?"

"Oh thank goodness…"

Everyone sighs in relief. But Maple wails out loud, throwing her arms around her tightly.

"Waaah Sallyyyy! I'm so sorry! I almost sent you back to respawn on level one!"

"That's okay," Sally chuckles. "I would've just made my way right back here."

"B-But still!" Maple whimpers. "I've never killed one of my friends before, even by accident! I never wanna do that!"

"You didn't, so don't worry about it." Sally returns the hug by giving her a good, firm squeeze. "I'm okay, Maple."

Maple sniffles and nuzzles into her shoulder

"If you're sure…"

"But what was it that distracted you?"

"Oh! That's right!" Maple whirls around. Syrup is there in his massive form with Kuromu on his shell. From here, Maple can see her turtle's health bar has taken a sliver of damage.

"Waah! S-Syrup! What happened?!" She jumps to her feet, leaving Iz and Kasumi to help Sally up. Maple rushes over to her turtle and throws her arms around as much of him as she can grab. "Syrup! Are you okay?"

"We got ambushed," Koromu says, sliding off the turtle's shell. He lands awkwardly, and the others notice right away that he's paralyzed and has taken significant damage.

"Geez!" Iz exclaims. "You, too?"

While Maple is busy fretting over Syrup, Sally finds her balance and goes to Koromu.

"Heal."

"Thanks, Sally." Both of them then look to Maple. Sally rolls her eyes.

"She's worried about you too, I'm sure. Give it a minute."

Once Maple is done wailing about the 4HP Syrup has lost and once she restores him back to full health, she whirls around to her guild member.

"Ah! K-Koromu-san! Oh no!"

"And there it is," Sally sighs, then gets to soothing her like a trainer trying to calm down a wild animal. " Easy, Maple. I already healed him."

"It wasn't that bad," he shrugs. "Some jerks just attacked me and paralyzed me. I think Syrup scared 'em off back to level one, though."

"Thank goodness!" Maple sighs, and Syrup shrinks down to his normal size. "I'm glad you guys are okay."

"Someone ambushed you?" Iz growls. "The nerve! I'd like to meet them…"

"Like I said, I don't think they're coming back," Koromu laughs.

"Either way," Kasumi says. "I think this would be a good time for everyone to relax. For longer than 3 minutes," she adds, looking pointedly at Sally.

"Ehehe, y-yeah. Don't worry, I think I'm gonna log out for now, actually. Maple's over at my house today. We figured we could watch some movies and stuff after playing here."

"Yeah!" Maple cheers, throwing herself onto Sally in another hug. "We're having a movie date!"

"That sounds nice!" May smiles.

"Have fun!" Yui adds.

"Thanks! You guys too!"

"Oh, Maple." Koromu holds out her companion ring for her to take. But Maple just smiles and shakes her head.

"That's okay! You can look after Syrup while I'm gone, Koromu-san!"

"R-Really?"

"Heyy~" Iz purrs. "Are you blushing?"

"What? You're imagining things."

"Aw, don't be like that! It's okay to admit you love that turtle!"

Koromu doesn't say anything, but he does smile when Syrup waddles back over to him and crawls onto his boot.

The others wish Maple and Sally goodbye for now, and the two of them sign out.

Maple has always liked the sensation she feels while logging out from the VR. It almost feels like a little mental roller coaster ride. The next time she blinks, NewWorld Online has vanished and all she sees is the black of the VR goggles snd helmet. She reaches up to take them off, letting out a big sigh.

"Ahhh, that was fun~"

She'd been lying on Risa's bedroom floor with her head on a pillow until now, and sits herself up to stretch. Risa is on her bed, also just removing her helmet and putting it aside.

Kaede peeks over the side of the bed as Risa pushes herself up. She's smiling too, but before she can say anything, a sudden haze crosses her features. Kaede yelps and reaches up to grab onto her just before she sways into the wall.

"Sally! No- sorry, Risa! Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah…" Risa clings onto her friend's arm for support and brings her other hand to her temple. "I just sat up too quickly and got a little dizzy."

"Are you sure?" Kaede moves up to sit on the bed next to her. Risa shakes herself off and smiles.

"Yeah! Now like you said, we're having a movie night, right? I'll go get us some snacks and stuff."

"Risa-"

Risa is already on her feet and stepping toward the door. But she only makes it a couple of steps before another, even bigger wave of lightheadedness slams over her. Kaede can see her wobble even before she starts to collapse.

"R-Risa!" Kaede jumps to her feet to try and hold her up, but her friend is already swaying. All Kaede can manage is to gently help her down to her knees on the carpet. Risa clutches her head in both hands, moaning softly.

"Ow…"

"Are you okay? You're totally not okay!" Kaede frantically rubs a hand up and down her friend's back and starts fretting. "W-What should I do? Do I have any heal crystals? Oh wait- um, sh-should I get your mom?"

Risa chuckles a little bit when Kaede tries to instantly heal her with a crystal.

"No. I'm okay. I think I just need to lie down and not dive into VR…"

"Yeah... Here, lemme help you. Hold onto me."

Slowly, Kaede braces her arms around Risa and helps her find her balance. She still staggers a bit when she gets to her feet, so Kaede leans into her. She guides her back to her bed and sits down with her, patting her back softly. Risa continues massaging her head, keeping her eyes closed for a minute.

"I don't know what happened," she mutters. "I'm not sick or anything…"

"We've been online for a while," Kaede points out. "You haven't actually eaten or drank anything since before then."

"Neither have you," Risa moans. "And you seem fine."

"Well, yeah…" Kaede shifts a little closer to her and pulls Risa in, letting her rest her head on her shoulder. "But you told me yourself at the beginning, remember? That the things we do in one world can affect our performance in the other? All you did today in-game was train and train and train nonstop! Which is really amazing! But like the time during the guild war, you pushed yourself so hard you just passed out. Even if you weren't actually moving around that much physically in real life, it still had a mental effect on you… Did I get all that right?"

Risa heaves a sigh.

"Yeah… you're right, Kaede." She closes her eyes for a moment and tries to ignore the pounding in her skull. "Geez… to think I gave you the lecture about being careful about this kind of thing, and yet here I am…"

"It's okay! As long as you'll be all right after you rest." Kaede nuzzles her head against Risa's gently and reaches down to cover her hand in her lap. "Now you know in the future maybe you should take it a little easier, right?"

"Right."

"That's good."

"But I don't want this to ruin our movie date…" Risa's posture slouches, and Kaede knows she's pouting.

"Don't worry! It's one 5PM! You can rest for a while, and we'll still have plenty of time for movies after! Let me go get you some water. I'll be quick as your Super Speed!"

"Heh. Just don't trip down the stairs, please."

"I won't! Probably!"

Risa chuckles and gives her hand a squeeze.

So Kaede very slowly eases herself away, gathering Risa into her arms and helping her pull her legs up onto the bed. She lies her down on her back, making sure the pillow is positioned comfortably under her.

"I'll be right back! Promise!"

"Take your time."

"Roger!" Kaede dashes out the door, and Risa listens to the flurry of her footsteps go down the stairs, stumble slightly followed by a soft "waah!", and then continue.

Risa sighs hopelessly and stares back up at her ceiling for a moment before closing her eyes. Her head is still pounding, and she thought the softness of the pillow might help. But somehow the fabric feels like it's just amplifying the throbbing of her head somehow, like she's sinking deeper into the pain.

Ah geez-!

"Risa?"

She reopens her eyes groggily to the sound of Kaede's voice. Her friend enters the room quietly with two bottles of water in her hands. She makes her way over to the bed and sits down on the edge again.

"Does your head still hurt?"

"A little…"

"It looks like a lot." Kaede scoops her into her arms again and helps Risa sit up slowly, handing her a bottle of water.

Risa drinks carefully, and she has to admit now that she's drinking it feels like she hasn't had any water all day. She finishes half the bottle all in one go before capping it. Kaede takes it from her and puts it on the floor.

"Better?"

"Yeah. Much better."

Kaede takes a drink from her own bottle before putting that aside well. She then pulls her legs up onto the bed and moves up beside Risa.

"Here. I'll take your ponytail out for you so it doesn't hurt your head so much!" She does as much, carefully sliding the tie out of her friend's hair. Risa can't help but moan in relief when her hair is free.

"That feels nice…"

"I'm glad! Now then…" Kaede grins and opens her arms, pulling Risa into a soft hug. Risa is puzzled, but not complaining.

"What's this about?"

"I don't know! I just felt like it," Kaede says. "I feel like you're always looking our for me, Risa. So when you're not feeling well I wanna look out for you, too!"

In spite of the aching in her head, Risa cracks a tiny smile as she rests her chin on Kaede's shoulder. She lifts her hands to hug her in return, leaning forward against her a little.

Kaede holds her for a minute. She loves getting to play and be with Risa in-game, but nothing could ever compare to her warm, real-life hugs. She closes her eyes to enjoy the feeling of Risa snuggled up against her, her breathing already becoming a little slower and deeper. But then her weight starts slumping forward a little bit more, and Kaede has to straighten up so they both don't fall over.

"Risa?"

"Hm? Sorry…"

"Don't be sorry!"

Kaede pulls her legs underneath herself and kneels on the mattress. She eases Risa back a little bit and pats her lap invitingly. Risa blinks tiredly and tilts her head.

"What now?"

"Lie down, silly!" Kaede supports her and carefully guides her back down, letting Risa's head lie in her lap.

Risa blushes.

"Th-That's all right, Kaede. You don't have to-"

"But you looked uncomfortable before," she points out. "Just see if this feels better."

Risa complies and closes her eyes, trying to get her blush under control. To her surprise, the firmness of Kaede's lap is enough to lessen the throbbing in her head, but not so much that it makes her neck hurt. She relaxes instantly and lets out a long breath.

Kaede smiles, letting her hands drop down to curl around Risa's face. She brushes her fingers very gingerly across her forehead and along her temples, playing through her loose hair a little bit. Risa doesn't stir or make a sound other than her breathing for a few minutes. Kaede leans down a little bit and whispers to her.

"Risa~?"

"Mmn…"

"Do you feel any better now?"

"Yeah…" Risa turns her head a little bit toward her, but her eyes remain closed. "Kaede…?"

"Yeah?" Kaede leans down a bit closer, cradling Risa's head in her hands and stroking her thumbs along her cheeks.

Risa sighs again.

"Thank you…"

Kaede grins even wider and giggles.

"Risa, you're so cute."

"Mm…"

But Kaede can't even be sure if she'd heard her or not, because Risa falls asleep almost immediately after.

Kaede watches her, glad to see that the tight-knit expression on her brow has gradually loosened and come undone. She doesn't look like she's in pain at all anymore.

Like she'd said, they can have their movie night and snacks when Risa wakes up. For now, Kaede just holds her fondly, cupping Risa's face as she dips forward and presses a small, gentle kiss to her forehead.

"Have a good nap, Risa."

And she kisses her one more time for good measure.

A/N: I just really wanted to whip up a little something for these two dorks. Maybe I'll add some more later with a season 2 on the way, who knows!

Please review!