~*~ Whee. Chapter Three's here. The conclusion to my little fic. Please leave me a review, I'll worship you, and bake you cookies. ~*~
Disclaimer: If I owned Chrono Cross I wouldn't be here, I'd be celebrating my riches and making real games with the storylines I constructed.
~*~
You Must Be Magic
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By: Carrot-Chan
~*~
"Hey Serge." Miki greeted warmly, having taken a liking to him immediately, "How's it going?"
"Good," He replied softly, "Is Nikki around?"
"Yeah, upstairs, I'll come with you…Nikki has a bodyguard that won't let in anyone." Miki smiled,
They trooped up the stairs and paused at the top where the bodyguard was being besieged by fangirls. Miki sighed almost sadly and kept going, pushing her way through them.
"I'd just die if he held me…"
"I've seen every one of his concerts!"
"I got an autograph!"
"Did you know that his favourite fruit is a kiwi?"
"Oh…yeah?" Serge looked bewildered which cheered Miki up,
"Hey, we're here to see Nikki, official business." Miki said to the bodyguard who grudgingly let her in.
Nikki was standing by his mirror with his guitar in hand, slamming the chords out and looking more than a little distracted. He looked up in surprise and then beamed,
"Serge!" He waved,
Serge nodded with a small smile, "Nikki, I was wondering if you'd like to help me,"
"What kind of help?" Nikki asked, his eyes flicking to Miki who was hiding in the background,
Now Serge blushed and he fidgeted, "Well…I ah, know you have a lot of fangirls…so you…ah, must've dated a lot of girls…and ah…There'sagirlIlikeandit'sherbirthdaycomingup."
"What?" Nikki asked a smile toying at his dark lips,
"There's-a-girl-I-like-and-it's-her-birthday-coming-up!" Serge managed in a small voice, eyes glued to the massive carpet with its giant 'N' scrawled across.
Nikki laughed, one of his rare real laughs that Miki had so often ached to hear. She bit her lip again and forced herself to look at Serge and not Nikki.
"So you want one of my ideas?" he asked
"I…ah…I want you to play a song for her…a concert or s-something." Serge was turning red,
"We could perform the new song with the dance, like a pre-show trial run-through!" Miki burst out, her eyes wide and her face soon matching Serge's
Nikki stared at her for a moment before a smile graced his face, "Rockin'!" he cried as Serge threw her a grateful grin.
Miki felt like she won the Termina lottery.
They practiced a lot more than usual after that. Miki felt her week had blazed past in a daze and the night before their trial concert it was all sliding to an end, allowing her to collect her thoughts. Balanced on top of the railing with her legs swinging over the edge and feeling at home aboard their ship, she discovered that in all that time while they were practicing she hadn't been nervous of Nikki at all.
"Only when I'm alone." She sighed,
"What happens when you're alone?"
Miki shrieked in surprise and nearly plummeted into the water. In fact she jerked forward so violently that it was only the two steadying arms that wrapped around her waist quickly that kept her on the rail.
"Y-you scared me!" Miki felt every muscle in her body tense up,
"I'm still scaring you." Nikki observed,
He didn't dare take his arms away, with her limbs frozen like this she could fall into the water and sink to the bottom without moving. Not to mention this was a position he had wanted to be in for ages but, really, not the time,
"No y-you're n-not." Miki stuttered with a bright red face,
Nikki leaned over her shoulder, his red and black hair tickling her chin, "Then why are you stuttering, face all a flush, and completely locked up?" he whispered,
"Er…" Miki shut her eyes, silently willing herself to say something intelligent, "You...ah…I thought I was going to fall."
"Right." Nikki hugged her tighter, now more fondly, "I couldn't let my lead dancer fall to her death, now could I? Come off the ledge Miki, you're scaring me."
He let go of her and backed away, but only enough for her to get off the railing and turn around sheepishly. Nikki suddenly sighed, a look of sympathy crossing his face,
"Miki, we've been practicing and touring with each other for years. Come on, drop the shy act." Nikki almost begged,
Swallowing hard and pressing her back against the railing Miki's brows drew together, "Act? You think this is an act?!"
Her incredulous tone made Nikki wince, he had made her angry, quite the opposite of what he had intended to do. Miki's cheeks heated and her eyes grew icy. Folding her arms over her chest and scowling at him she tossed her hair over her shoulder and glared,
"Is this fun for you Nikki? I don't mean to grow scarlet every time I see you! It's embarrassing and —"
"Miki!"
Miki stopped at his plea and was surprised to see him looking absolutely crestfallen. She drew in a deep breath but didn't lower her stance for a second,
"What?"
"I'm sorry, I had no idea, ah, you wanna talk about it?" Nikki asked hesitantly, "I—we could go up to my room, it's private."
Miki was glad she was off the railing, otherwise she surely would have fallen in. Biting her lip she followed him with her heart fluttering. He noticed her anxiety and stopped, halfway up the stairs,
"You don't have to…"
"No!" Miki cried instantly,
Nikki smiled and then lead her up into the suite where he dropped on to his couch and looked at her expectantly. Miki found herself twirling a lock of hair around her finger nervously as she sat opposite him on the couch.
"I'm really sorry Miki." Nikki said immediately,
"No, no, it's my fault Nikki, after all this time I shouldn't be so shy!" Miki gushed out,
The rock star nodded and then lowered his head as he smiled, making his red and black hair swish in front of his eyes, "You're right, there's no need to be shy. But, you're not always.
"During our practices you're a different person, Miki, your face is always glowing with happiness, you crack jokes, throw orders about, you're intense as ever and you're, well, happy. Around me you clam up, block out everything, escape by the nearest exit…if I've done something to offend you."
Nikki trailed off and stared at her levelly, waiting for her answer that could either make or break his heart. Any other girl he would have charmed up and gone for whatever he could, but not Miki. Miki was special, she would always be near him and so he was compelled to make sure he didn't ruin the bond they shared.
"You've never hurt me in any way." Miki said softly
"But…?" Nikki asked, feeling an inner wince come along,
Miki shifted on the couch, one leg underneath her and the other bent over the side of the cushion. One arm across the armrest, and the other was over the back of the couch playing with the same lock of hair, she looked relaxed, yet wanting to flee. Appearing troubled and flicking various places of the room, Miki's eyes finally rested on Nikki's amethyst orbs.
"The truth is, um," Miki turned red again,
"Miki, you're blushing." Nikki sighed sadly, "Am I really that bad?"
"No!" Miki sat bolt upright, shocking Nikki against the back of the couch in alarm
"Nikki, you're perfect! You're brilliant with your music but so sad and you always disengage yourself from the rest of us so we never know what you're thinking, I mean the only insight we have to you is from your songs!" Miki blew this all out in a rush
Nikki was staring at her with a peculiar look in his eyes, "But…Miki, I'm just a…a parentless…I mean…my music…"
The Dancer hissed at him, "You're not parentless, you have Fargo, and—"
Miki caught the pained look that flashed across his eyes, "Nikki?"
"We had another fight." Nikki whispered, "He doesn't want anything to do with Irenes, which is a problem because, well, obviously."
He rolled his eyes but it didn't conceal another look of pain. Miki felt her sympathy go out to him instantly. She crawled over to him and found herself embracing him before her actions had clearly registered in her mind. Nikki seemed just as surprised as she was but soon his arms wrapped around her as well.
"I'm sorry Nikki, if there's anything I can do, you know I will." Miki said truthfully,
"You're everything I need right now." Nikki whispered,
Miki looked up in surprise but her eyes caught little to nothing of Nikki's expression because she soon felt his lips pressing against hers and instinctively her eyelids fluttered closed. Her mind drew a complete blank as she melted in Nikki's strong arms and when they broke away she found herself speechless. Nikki was gazing down gently into her cerulean eyes softly and he had a glowing smile on his face. Miki summoned up her courage to lean up and kiss him again to which he obliged her tenderly. Miki felt her face slowly return to its normal shade and she snuggled against Nikki's chest.
"I can't help but notice that it only took two of my kisses to keep the blush off your face, Miki." Nikki whispered, sounding pleased with himself,
"What can I say? You must be magic, Nikki." Miki looked up and winked, as fiery as ever.