By Your Side, Until You Decide

By DrummondType2

Ran watched in horror as the giant church bell fell over her. There was a resounding clang that echoed in her head, and then, she saw fractures in the darkness, with light streaming through, and the bell shattered into dust, and she was wrapped in a suffocating coil, being dragged away.

"I will never let you go. You belong to me, now," she collapsed into Yukina's arms as they both fell to their knees. She looked at Yukina's face, and brushed a silver lock of hair out of her face with her hand, then leaned forward, her lips parting slightly.

Ran woke with a start, gasping for air. She was home, in her own bed. There was a weight on her stomach, albeit a familiar and not unwelcomed one. Moca was sleeping, her head on Ran's stomach. They always wound up like this during sleepovers. There was a faint blue light from the t.v. screen, and Ran reached for the remote control to turn it off. The other members of Afterglow were sprawled out on futons on the floor. The case for the Mai-HiME Blu-Ray was laying open on Tomoe's stomach.

"That's the last time I let you guys convince me to binge watch an anime after pigging out on pizza," Ran said to no one in particular. Even asleep, though, Moca seemed to have heard her, and chuckled to herself.

Across town, Yukina Minato sat up in her bed slowly, blinking. She yawned, a hand covering her mouth. She could no longer remember the dream that had roused her from slumber. She rose from her bed, padded quietly down to the kitchen, poured herself a glass of water. She drank it calmly, then set the glass in the sink. Then she returned upstairs, sat in her bed, pulled the covers over herself, and laid down again. An image appeared in her head of Ran Mitake in front of her, leaning forward to kiss her.

Yukina glanced at her notepad, where she'd written the lyrics for PASSIONATE ANTHEM, at the empty spot in her collection of DVDs and Blu-Rays, from which she'd loaned an anime classic to Tomoe Udagawa. She didn't much care for anime, but she did tend to purchase series scored by Yuki Kajiura and Yoko Kanno, seeking to learn from their various styles. The series she'd loaned to Udagawa had been a birthday present from Lisa not too long ago.

"Dreams are the place where all the things we think about get processed," Yukina shrugged, "And I had that chat with Mitake and Toyama after that concert the other day. Still…that was very random."

She gave a mental shrug, and went back to sleep. Whatever her mind was trying to tell her, she'd figure it out later. Right now, she just wanted to get to sleep.

"Besides," she said to herself, "there's no way that Mitake would even think about something like that."

"Here's your Blu-Ray back, Minato," Ran approached her during lunch at school a few days later, "Tomoe had a family thing, so I agreed to return it."

"Thank you. I hope you enjoyed it," Yukina said, taking a delicate bite of her food.

"Oh, it had her up all night," Moca grinned, "We all agreed that she's got a lot in common with one of the characters."

"I keep telling you, I do not!" Ran protested, blushing.

Yukina smiled, deciding that she would have fun with Mitake for a change of pace, "Now, now, Aoba. I don't think you're being fair. You can hardly compare Mitake with the character of Mai Tokiha. It's not a role she fills out at all."

Moca grinned, "Hey, it's not very Yuki-licious to tease Ran about her 'shortcomings', now."

Ran's face was now as red as the stripe in her hair, and she sighed, turning on her heel, "Ugh!"

After she stormed off, Moca smiled at Yukina, "Just so you know, I don't intend to lose to you."

Yukina looked confused, "I don't know what we're competing for, but I don't usually play to lose, either. I'll take this challenge seriously, you can be sure. Just as soon as I figure out what it is."

"That's fine. It'll be a whole lot of fun until one of us wins," Moca looked after Ran, smiling.

A/N: MocaRan? YukiRan? I'm on the fence. But where is Ran?