A/N: These are short stories just for fun and feels. Don't think about them too much. Stories may not be in chronological order. This fic is also available on Ao3.

"So it finally happened, huh?"

"Looks like."

"I think it's a fantastic achievement, don't you?"

"Can't call it an 'achievement' when it took them this long to hook up. They get points for effort, though. Kinda."

"Hush, Theo."

Raiden, Theo, and Anju all sat at their lunch table, steadily working through their plates of food with their eyes glued to the pair sitting a few tables away. The two were deep in conversation, and while they couldn't be heard over the din, the occasional laugh and relaxed smile told all that theirs was far from a serious conversation. His red eyes seemed to never leave her face, and her delicate hand brushed his more than once.

A new year had arrived, the cold winter and the feast now behind them. And just like the new year, where one road ended, another began.

"Out with the old, in with the new," Raiden attested, summing things up. Anju nodded her agreement. But Theo was of a slightly different mind.

"...But it doesn't really feel like it, does it?" he mused after a moment of silent observation.

"What do you mean?" Anju asked.

He tried to put it into words. "Like, obviously they're not the same as before, but if you think about it–besides the hand-holding thing–they're not really acting all that different, right?"

Offered this new perspective, Raiden and Anju spared another glance in the new couple's direction.

"Well, now that you mention it, I suppose he has always looked at her that way…" Anju murmured.

"And she only ever smiles like that when he's around, doesn't she?" Raiden added.

"They're flirting like they always were. The difference is now they do it knowingly," Theo grumbled. "This whole time, they were practically at the finish line. All they had to do was take that last step, and it took ages for that to happen." Hence why he didn't see their new relationship status as something to be lauded, not in the way Anju was thinking.

He likened it to an assembled puzzle whose last piece had been lost for some time. Looking at its incompleteness irritated him to no end. When the final fragment was recovered and included, he could only feel a sense of relief rather than accomplishment, as well as that lingering annoyance at the fact that it had taken so long to finish what should have been a simple task.

That being said, he was still happy for them. Of course he was. Anyone could see the effect they had on each other–positive and mutual–and that was definitely a good thing for both of them.

Not to mention that, unbeknownst to the pair, they had just unlocked a whole host of opportunities for Theo to mess with them about it. Or Lena, at least. Shin might be trickier on account of the fact that he tended to resort to violence against whatever got under his skin at the time. He didn't look it, but Shin had surprisingly little patience for certain kinds of teasing.

It'll be worth it, though, just to see the legendary Reaper get all flustered. Theo reckoned he would only have a few seconds to bask in the satisfaction before punishment was delivered, but it was a sacrifice he was ultimately willing to make.

"Well, everyone goes about life at their own pace," Anju said with finality. "It's better early than late, of course, but late is still better than never. I'm happy for them. But still, who knew all this could come about from a boar hunt, of all things?"

"Yeah, makes me feel a tiny bit better, knowing we didn't get our asses handed to us for no reason," Raiden chuckled. It was only the passing of time that allowed him to joke about it now. In the moment, the boar attack had truly been terrifying. He tapped his fork against the edge of his plate. "Well, I say 'us', but I really mean you, Theo."

"Drop it already," Theo grumbled. He had recovered quickly, much to his friends' relief, but that did not erase any of his ill feelings towards the subject and, as of a few weeks ago, wild pigs in general. His plate cleaned, Theo stood and gathered his utensils. "Forget all that. I'm off."

"C'mon, I was just messing with you," Raiden said. But Theo shook his head.

"I've got plans today, and I've gotta get going if I don't want to be late."

"The same as before?" Anju asked while twirling her spoon, curious.

"Yeah."

At least once a week, in the weeks following the winter celebration, Theo would leave around this time and go off to meet up with a friend to discuss art. He was always rather vague about the details, so his friends in Spearhead stopped asking about it. They were happy enough seeing him pursue interests outside of their work, so they let him be.

"Well, don't let us keep you, then," Raiden told him with a wave of his hand.

"Have fun," Anju called after Theo as he went on his way. "On that note," she said to Raiden, "I think we should get going, too. Willem wants us to get ready for the full moon tomorrow. I don't think he's willing to let us out of his sight just yet. Not after…that."

The werewolves, as it turned out, still had quite a bit of energy even after the celebrations had concluded. It hadn't been a full moon that night, but it may as well have, with all the howling and running through the streets that went on for a while afterward.

Raiden grimaced. "He really raked us over the coals for that, didn't he? 'Humans have a hard enough time trusting us without you wolves dragging our reputation through the mud'. Something like that. It wasn't just us, though. I know I saw a coyote or two back there."

"I'm sure he got to them too, eventually," Anju said. "He may be one himself, but if there's anything I can say about Willem, it's that he hardly plays favorites." Animali from the Aquila group–the Jets, the Onyxes, the Eisens–usually fell into the canine category, but Raiden doubted Willem felt any sort of allegiance towards them just because of that. If anything, he was even harder on them than anyone.

"Maybe," Raiden admitted. "We probably shouldn't go out of our way to piss him off for a while, though. Otherwise he'd tell Ernst, and then we'd have to deal with him and his 'sad dog' eyes." Literally.

While the two of them chatted, Anju snuck a glance across the room, and found that Shin and Lena had already left. It made her feel warm inside, thinking about how far they had come together. But the fuzziness faded somewhat as those thoughts led to something else.

"You know," she began, walking alongside Raiden as they left the mess hall, "I'm happy for those two. Really, I am. But…I think we should talk to Kurena."

He didn't have to ask what she meant. "Yeah."

"Have you seen her around lately?"

Raiden shook his head. They passed by a full-length window, and through it he watched a few stray snowflakes drift on the wind, a sign that the cold season has not yet fully relaxed its grip on the nation. He thought back to that night. "She was there at the party for a little bit, but I don't think I saw her much after that."

She hadn't vanished, per se; she still attended briefings and the like without issue. But as time went on, it became increasingly clear that while Kurena was present in body, her mind was elsewhere. At first, Raiden had thought the best thing to do would be to give her space and time to process, but now he wondered if that had been the right choice.

Anju appeared to be of the same mind. "I think I'll go and check in on her. Maybe I can help talk her through it."

"Well, it's up to her," Raiden said with a sigh. "Can't really force her to move on." That was the truth of it. There was not much any of them could do to bring Kurena closer to the truth. It was her choice whether to accept it or not. "Let's just give her some time. She'll come around eventually." Probably.

Anju laced her fingers together, her mind on their friend, their younger sister in all the ways that mattered.

"I hope you're right."

–––––––––

Kurena trotted along the dirt path, not having any particular destination in mind. Her red fur insulated her well against the cold, allowing her to venture further and further from the base.

She reached the edge of the forest in no time, and the wolf craned her neck up to look at the trees. Their branches were still bare. Winter was in the past, and yet the frost still clung, latching onto the plants and inhibiting their development. But they were still expected to push past it. To grow, to change, to become better versions of themselves. They were still expected to move on.

She pressed forward.

Kurena's paws took her deep within the forest, and there she sat beneath a tree, her thoughts, as usual, returning to that night. But rather than the obvious, they instead lingered on the immediate afterward, when she had been pulled aside by none other than Shiden Iida, and asked for a chat.

–––––––––

The icy outdoors would not usually be anyone's first choice to have a conversation, but the banquet hall offered little in the way of privacy, with its most ideal place being…occupied, at the moment. And with the temperature steadily lowering as the night wore on, Kurena's already short fuse was rapidly fraying as she hurriedly rubbed her bare arms, trying to instill heat in them.

"Jeez, Shiden, did you really have to bring me out here just to talk to me? Can't we do this inside?" Her breath rose in clouds as she voiced her complaints.

Despite Shiden's own dress offering about as much protection from the elements as Kurena's–that is, not much–the taller woman didn't seem to notice the cold. She reached up and stretched in a relaxed if less-than-ladylike pose.

"What a night, right?" She placed her hands on her hips. "We don't get to enjoy things like this often, do we? If there's ever a time to unwind, this is it."

Something about her demeanor felt a tad too cheery, as if she were trying hard to keep the mood light, and Kurena's hands tightened on her arms. "…You can just be honest with me, Shiden. What are we doing here?"

Shiden's grin turned sheepish. "Heh, caught me already? Well, I was never really good at the 'small talk' thing anyway." She went quiet, thinking about how best to proceed. "I guess I just wanted…to check up on you. See how you were doing."

"Why?" Kurena mumbled, sullen. "We're not exactly 'the best of friends'." It was a harsh truth, one they both knew. Shiden had joined the Spearhead squadron on occasion for various activities, but she hardly sought them out individually, least of all Kurena. It made her sudden concern, while well-meaning, feel out of place.

Not that Kurena didn't have an idea what this was all about in the first place. After all, Shiden had been there. She had seen it, too.

It was likely because of this that Shiden didn't take any offense to the statement. "Maybe not," she conceded, amused, "but try humoring me a little anyway."

Kurena's mood did not improve. "Fine," she muttered. "I'm fine." She wasn't.

"Doesn't sound like it," Shiden observed.

"Would you cut it out already?" Kurena snapped. "So I'm not fine. Who cares? It doesn't change anything." He had chosen her–some time ago, in fact–and nothing Kurena said or did would change that outcome. There was nothing else to do but accept it. It should have been simple.

"But it's not like you can just shrug it off and move on, right?" Shiden guessed.

Kurena hesitated…then shook her head. It may have been odd to admit, considering how she'd just told Shiden that they lacked closeness, but she had a feeling that if anyone knew what she was going through, it would be the person next to her.

Perhaps that was the real reason Shiden had come.

Realizing this, Kurena chanced a question. "…How did you do it? Move on, I mean."

Shiden seemed to ponder this for a while. Finally she said, "I didn't. Not in the way you're probably thinking."

The response caught Kurena off-guard. "Wait, really?"

Shiden smirked. "Surprised?"

That was putting it mildly. Kurena frowned. "But, you're always helping them. Shin, especially. Just like Raiden, Anju, and everyone else. You're always going out of your way to push them together. Why would you do that if you still…"

She trailed off, her confusion evident. Even though Lena herself had never figured it out, it was clear to everyone else how Shiden felt. It was especially obvious to Shin, and the two of them have always butted heads because of it.

Yet time and again, Shiden had thrown herself wholeheartedly into their plans to set Shin up with Lena. She had done so freely and without question, which led Kurena to believe that, at some point, Shiden had simply lost the feelings she'd once had. Maybe they had never been that strong to begin with.

But here was Shiden herself, telling her that this was not the case. She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall of the building, uncharacteristically pensive. "You ever wondered why I always call Lena 'Your Majesty'?" she asked suddenly.

Not expecting the question, Kurena shook her head. She had always just chalked it up to some nickname, highlighting Lena's status as the "queen" of the Eighty-Six.

"Well," Shiden said, "you probably have some idea already, but back when I first met her, Lena was...a different person."

Kurena, sensing a change in the atmosphere, listened wordlessly as Shiden spoke.

"She was always so stiff and somber, and she never smiled. Ever. It's like every day, she was mourning a new person. ...I think I started calling her that to get a rise out of her. A little emotion, you know? Something, anything. Even if it was just to tell me off. But it never happened. She was just the stone-cold commander of the Eighty-Six, twenty-four-seven. Try as I might, I just couldn't break through." Shiden gave Kurena a sidelong glance. "Then you guys and that Reaper came along."

Kurena waited, and Shiden continued. "It was like a switch flipped somewhere. Suddenly she's actually acting her age, laughing and crying, smiling and getting angry, and just being so...relaxed. I never thought I'd ever get to see that side of her. Honestly didn't know if she had one. So when she finally showed it to us, I thought it might actually be a good thing, having Li'l Reaper around." She snorted. "But then he, you know, started looking at her that way, and I got a little pissed. But you get the idea."

Kurena fiddled with the hem of her dress, unsure of what to say. She thought she knew what Shiden would say next, and she wasn't sure if she was ready to hear it.

Shiden appeared to be lost in a memory, but then she blinked and scratched the back of her head ruefully. "Sheesh, I really rambled there, didn't I? To answer your question, I helped him because he does something for her that I can't. He makes her happy. And as long as he does that, she has my full support to be with him, or anyone who can do the same."

"...Even if it isn't you?" Kurena asked in a small voice. She hardly noticed the cold anymore. All she wanted was the answer to this one question.

And with a gentle, slightly sad smile, Shiden gave it. "Never had to be. Either way, I'll still be there for her. Maybe I'm not him, but I can still stay by her side. As a friend, a subordinate, hell, maybe even a bridesmaid somewhere down the line. Any of those are good."

She looked up, and Kurena followed her gaze. Beyond where they stood, the city sparkled with lights. Her eyes on them, Shiden murmured, "As long as I get to see her find her own happiness, as long as I still get to be in her life...then I'm satisfied with just that."

Kurena bit her lip. Shiden had always been the tough one, but tonight she learned that her strength ran far deeper than just a muscular build or powerful jaws. She was strong in a way Kurena could only hope to be one day. As she was now, that level was still beyond her reach. So she replied honestly. "…I don't know if I can do that yet."

"And that's your choice," Shiden told her. "I'm just saying that, there's more than one way to love someone, you know? You don't have to feel like you lost a fight or something. We're still important to them, and I think that's what really matters in the end."

With nothing more to be said, the two women, more alike than they ever knew, stood in silence.

…Then, out of nowhere, Shiden reached out and ruffled Kurena's hair, undoing the curls that had been painstakingly styled for that day.

"Agh, Shiden!" Kurena cried, waving her arms in protest. "Stop, you're messing up my hair!"

"That's better," Shiden snickered. She turned and made her way back to the door, calling over her shoulder, "It's still a party, Gunslinger! Just for tonight, let's try to have a little fun, yeah? I think we deserve that much, at least."

And Kurena, unbalanced by the abrupt shift in mood and reeling from all that she'd learned, was left alone with her thoughts.

–––––––––

"…Who knew I'd get that kind of answer from Shiden of all people, though," Kurena said aloud. She'd had a lot to think about over the following weeks, and while she couldn't claim to have it all figured out yet, she had finally managed to come to terms with her true feelings.

For the longest time, Kurena hadn't wanted to acknowledge the effect Lena had had on Shin, the change she had inspired in him. She hadn't wanted to accept that there was something she could do for him that Kurena herself couldn't.

…And she hadn't wanted to admit that a part of her was glad. Glad that, at long last, someone had finally been able to reach him. To heal him. He didn't have to suffer as he did before, not anymore. Not ever again.

It was nothing short of a miracle, a gift more precious to Kurena than anything else in the world.

But where did that leave her?

Shiden was content to sit back and watch over the pair, stepping in only when she was needed. Perhaps, in time, Kurena could learn to do the same.

"Kurena?" A voice called out to her, some distance away. It belonged to Anju, and there was a note of worry in it. "Are you out here?"

I've made them worry about me, haven't I? She would have to apologize for that later. Sorry. I was a little lost earlier, but I think I've got the hang of it now.

Shin would continue to come into his own, to grow as a person with Lena by his side.

As for Kurena…

"Coming!" she barked, running back the way she had come, her steps swift with renewed conviction.

I'll be here for you, in any way I can. I'll cheer for you, like I always have.

A/N: I know there are a few characters who have yet to make a proper appearance here, but rest assured they'll have their day. In the meantime, please enjoy the sisterly bond that is Shiden and Kurena's relationship.

…Hamilton reference? I've no idea what you're talking about.