"Do you understand me?"
Ruby's eyes snapped open at the sound. That same, soft voice calling out to her.
She had heard it before.
Kirakishou.
"Do you understand me?"
It repeated again. Same whispery tone. Same inflation.
She would hear it every night, ever since she had met Kirakishou.
The first time she had heard the voice, it had frightened her a little bit. The dream was so utterly unlike any of her regular dreams, so utterly different from her day-to-day life, that she always found herself on high alert whenever it happened. She had always believed dreams to be simple things, really. They were silly and didn't make sense most of the time, but there was a simplicity to them behind it all. Something that just clicked. You didn't feel anything, you didn't experience anything, but you could just barely understand what was going on. It was almost like a poorly written film playing out before your very eyes.
These dreams with Kirakishou's voice whispering in her mind were not Ruby's typical dreams.
It felt as if she were floating in a void. An abyss. Yet it was not the all-encompassing darkness that her mind assumed it would be. It was infinite, yet it was limited. Ever-growing. All for her.
It was beautiful.
Crystalline. Reflective. Refractive. It swallowed her whole and, no matter how hard her body tried to send her conflicting signals, she would feel a sense of comfort at its presence. There was a kind of freezing aura within the crystal field, one that nurtured her very spirit. It kept her safe. It kept her happy.
The first time she had seen it, she had been overwhelmed.
"Do you understand me?"
The same question would be asked to her in a language she did not know, but could somehow understand. Every night. It was not a dream where she was falling, nor one where she was fighting or running from something. She almost wished that it was, so that she could make some sense of the whole thing.
Ruby was just… there. Existing within this crystalline world, warmed by a cold chill in a place with no wind. Breathing air that doesn't exist in a place that she knows is false.
The only part that would change would be how much she would witness before she awoke.
She would originally find herself in a forest of ivory. Ashen trees and bone-white plants growing in a field without colour, held tightly by a thick fog that obscured her silver eyes. It had almost looked like some twisted mockery of the Emerald Forest, albeit one with less monsters. There would be a densely packed cluster of crystals in the distance that she could barely make out, growing deep into the sky and towering above everything else.
A palace.
A Palace of Beginnings.
Eventually, she would find herself in the palace itself. There was no furniture within this palace in her dreams, no hallways to guide visitors, nor any personalised touches of any kind. Just a long plane of cut crystal with which to stand upon where strange growths of crystal grew at odd intervals across the ground, walls, and ceiling. These growths shimmered with a brilliant glow unlike any she had witnessed in the waking world, illuminating the pale surroundings for her.
Kirakishou would always be there in the very centre, waiting for her. Ruby would shiver when that lone amber eye would rake across her body. But she would never hesitate. She would find herself finally responding to the doll's constant repeating question, yet she could never hear the words she said. She could never understand.
But she could most certainly see the effect that her nonsensical response had on the blonde girl within her dreams.
Every night, her doll would smile for her. She would never reply verbally to whatever it is that Ruby said, but her smile was always there for her.
It was heartbreaking to witness that smile, again and again, day after day as more and more of Kirakishou's history was revealed to her. Each time, her smile would pain her. Each night, the smile on the blonde-haired girl would hide a different meaning. Fear, hope, worry, desire, longing. They warred within her smiles and reflected against her very being.
Kirakishou was a unique girl, she knew that now. Despite her status as an artificial creation, she was still just a young little girl who had aspirations and dreams like everybody else, regardless of her body's origins. She was still able to experience the world and, no matter how much Ruby had wished it hadn't occurred, her doll had witnessed terrible things throughout her life. Things that Ruby could see had warped her in ways she was still figuring out herself.
In the end she was just a broken, lonely girl trying to put herself back together. She had chosen to bond with the one girl that had bothered to take an interest in her; Ruby. Her darling doll had chosen her.
Kirakishou would pull her close. A breath would escape her involuntarily at the motion. She would always find herself getting lost in that lone amber eye as it came ever closer, to the point where Ruby could swear she could almost see her own reflection staring back at her.
The dream would end and she would awaken in her dorm room. She would forget immediately, only to remember when she inevitably fell asleep the next day. And so the cycle would repeat, over and over and over again.
However, it was on the fourth night, that Kirakishou spoke back to her when their faces were mere inches apart.
"...Let me embrace you."
Ruby awoke in a cold sweat, her heart hammering in her chest. She was sweating all over, the sheets clinging tightly to her pyjamas.
She could still vaguely recall a dream of some kind. It had to have been something pretty crazy to startle her awake like this. Probably something really cool. She wished that she was better at recalling her dreams, though. Ruby figured with an imagination like hers, her dreams would probably make some good movies or something.
Or at least a small cartoon series. It wouldn't have the best financial backing in the world and would probably air on TV during the same time as another major series that would steal most of her would-be viewers, but it would still manage to be a damn good series nonetheless. Though probably only a short-running series. A cult classic, perhaps?
With an internal groan at her wayward thoughts, she rolled over on her side, glancing down from her bunk bed towards the tabletop sat below the curtains in the middle of their dorm room.
3:10am. Eugh. Of course.
The rest of her team wouldn't be up for a few hours yet. Whilst it was technically a school day, Beacon Academy thankfully didn't start even their earliest classes until an actual respectable time so that students had enough time to wake up and have a nice breakfast before getting ready for class. It was one of the many countless things that had made Beacon Academy her number one choice for a Huntsman academy back in the days.
She remembered that they had, without a doubt, the most weirdly informative brochure ever. A bunch of her friends from Signal had been put off by it all, but Ruby had loved how much attention they placed into their school. Especially because a certain birdy had told her that her own mother and father had once been Beacon students, along with her Uncle Qrow and Yang's mom.
To think I'm actually here, two years early, following in the footsteps mom once took… it's still hard to wrap my head around it sometimes. I wonder if you're proud of me, mom. I hope you are.
But even if you weren't, I wouldn't have it any other way.
For once in her life, Ruby felt as if things were finally turning in her favour. That all of her hard work, all of the countless hours she had dedicated to her goal of becoming a huntress just like her mom… were actually starting to pay off. So what if she didn't talk to the old gang back at Signal anymore? If they weren't going to bother sending a single message to her, then she was going to bother with them at all.
She had new friends. New teammates. People who she could rely upon. She didn't need fakes. Ruby was on a path to becoming a true huntress. She didn't have time for people like that. She was going to make her mother proud.
…3:12am. Wellp. That was nice whilst it lasted, I guess.
Might as well get out of here. No way I'm just laying here waiting for crabby-pants to wake up first.
With a skill born from years of escaping her older sister from their joined room back in Patch, Ruby quietly exited the Team RWBY dorm room in nought but her pyjamas. It wasn't like it really mattered, anyway. Nobody ever got up at this time, especially of all the teams she knew. She had a few hours to herself to clear her mind.
The corridor was barely lit and it was a little bit difficult to see. Most of the lighting came from small fixtures in the ceiling that remained dimmed until later in the evening when students were heading to bed. The rest of the light came from natural lighting let in by the windows on either side. Yet it was clear that the sun hadn't risen yet. Probably wouldn't for another couple hours. There was, however, a nice amount of moonlight illuminating the area for her.
Regardless of visibility, it was nice to wander the halls without any deadlines or obligations of any sort to tear her focus away. Ruby had always possessed a curious mind, after all.
If she listened closely, she could hear what sounded like Nora's snores coming from across the hallway. At least, they were probably Nora's. Could be Jaune's for all she knew. Or, oum-forbid, Pyrrha's. Whilst the so-called 'Invincible Woman' was actually rather shy in person, Ruby had the sneaking suspicion that there had to be something going on with her.
What was it that her big sister would say..?
It's always the shy ones.
Yes, that was it. Or, at the very least, it sounded right to her.
Ruby continued wandering around, no real goal in mind as she let her feet take her on her own little journey. She had forgone bothering to put any slippers or anything on in fear of accidentally waking up her team, so the cold of the ground was beginning to get to her a bit. Though it did feel kinda nice in a weird way.
She made her way towards the window in the far corner of the corridor. Each storey of the Beacon Academy dorms held a small balcony for students and faculty to relax and enjoy the beautiful views offered by the surrounding area. If she remembered from the brochure, this set of dorms presented a view over the… Emerald Forest..?
Huh. There was somebody out there, sitting on the stone bench and staring up at the moonlit sky. Guess she wasn't the only one who had trouble-
A small gasp escaped her.
Kirakishou.
There she was.
Following the event at the docks with her mother, it had been made clear that Kirakishou had been considerably drained. To the point where the doll had been too bedridden to actually attend the first classes of the new semester with Ruby. Whilst she had tried, valiantly, to stay by the doll and tend to her as she recovered, Miss Goodwitch had assured her that her desire to help her friend was not a valid reason to skip classes.
...Miss Goodwitch was kind of a jerk sometimes, now that she thought about it.
But still, inconsiderate teachers or not, Ruby had quickly become far too busy to have any time to visit the doll once the term had started up. Oftentimes, she would find herself being forced to communicate with the doll by her scroll, but even those messages were few and far between. On the other hand, Kirakishou had without a doubt, the fastest response times ever.
Like, down to the second fast. It was crazy. But it certainly wasn't reliable. Ruby was just too busy to hold a proper conversation, no matter how much she wanted to. Especially after everything that had happened.
Yet now, there she was. Just sitting there without a care in the world.
She seemed rather melancholic, if Ruby could put a word to it. Though that may be simply because she'd searched up the word earlier on in the day to use in one of her assignment. Yet still, it seemed to fit.
Ruby almost laughed. Here she was, finally seeing the doll again… and she didn't even know what to say.
"You found me." Kirakishou's frail voice called out amongst the cold night air, startling her something fierce. "You sensed me and followed your thoughts." the doll shifted, glancing over at her with a tiny smile.
Ruby tried not to swoon at the sight that greeted her.
It was almost something out of one of those picturebooks that Yang used to show to her when she was a kid. The beautiful princess, sitting solemnly in a serene moonlit landscape. Kirakishou sat there on the stone bench, clad in her silken pyjamas that Ruby had seen the night of her mom's resurrection.
"Welcome, my beloved Ruby Rose. Welcome to this single, abandoned moment held within your Beacon Academy. I am glad to see you can experience this moment by my side. Please. Come. Sit with me. I need you."
She tried not to appear too eager, but she wasn't entirely sure if she succeeded in her quest. Admittedly, she had been longing just to spend some quality time alone with Kirakishou and sort out everything that had happened with them. Oum, she didn't even know what to call them. What even were they? Friends? Acquaintances? Fellow students? A couple?
Looooovers~ Yang's teasing voice called out to her in some dark corner of her mind.
With wobbly legs she made her way to the stone bench sitting atop the balcony, shivering slightly from the cool air against her skin. Whilst her own pyjamas covered a lot, they didn't do enough to prevent the wind from getting to her.
Whilst she attempted to sit on the opposite side, Kirakishou merely pulled her closer and snuggled up beside her. Ruby merely giggled a little and rested her head against the girl whom had somehow captivated her thoughts amidst all the chaos of the past few days.
"It is beautiful, is it not? The cycle between day and night. Production into tranquillity. Violence into silence. Despite all that happens in this world, the song always remains the same. It amazes me how so many can take such a thing for granted." Kirakishou murmured, glancing down at the landscape below them. Her voice sent pleasant vibrations down Ruby's spine and she found herself struggling to hear the girl.
"W-Well, I guess..." she muttered.
Whether Kirakishou heard her or not, she wasn't entirely sure. "...I have watched people for many years, Ruby." the blonde continued, her voice distant. "People work and work and work, yet they never have the time to truly appreciate their achievements. They never see the world that they have forged together. They never can see the fruits of their labour, only the hardships of their own existence. It is a baseless, lonely existence that for most ends meaninglessly. How can a garden hope to thrive, when every seed is the same?"
The blonde fell silent after those words, opting instead to wrap an arm around Ruby's side as she continued to stare out towards the landscape.
To Ruby, it was becoming pretty obvious that Kirakishou wasn't exactly a normal girl compared to everyone else. Even with her obviously traumatic past and her sudden appearance of Beacon, the blonde doll held an inquisitive mind and a keen desire to observe and understand the world around her.
It reminded her a lot of herself, but Ruby was more interested in weapons and huntresses compared to Kirakishou's more philosophical discussions. But still, it was really cool just to have someone who seemed interested in the world, instead of going through the day-to-day motions just like she said everybody else seemed to be doing.
It was nice to meet another curious mind.
A hand cupped her cheek, startling her out of her thoughts. She turned to see Kira glancing down at her. Oh. It seems in her thoughts she'd slumped down on the bench, resting her head on Kira's lap without even noticing it. Her cheeks burned in embarrassment and she went to move up, but the doll held her tightly.
She most certainly didn't expect that from Kirakishou. If anything, those delicate little doll limbs of hers clearly held considerable strength even in her weakened state. Not nearly as strong compared to some of her sister's bear hugs, of course, but it was still enough to stop her in her tracks momentarily.
"…Don't leave." Kirakishou called to her. "Stay with me in this moment. Please. Just for a little longer."
Something about those words almost made her melt. "...Okay." Ruby hesitantly responded, trying to relax as much as she could whilst inwardly dying of embarrassment at her current position. Of the brief times she'd managed to sneak a glance at the books that Blake was always reading in her spare time, Ruby was suddenly reminded of a particular passage involving a couple characters in a position just like this one.
...Ruby inwardly wondered if it was really so much of a bad thing to occasionally have thoughts like that, especially those featuring a girl she only met at the end of last term. They had kissed after all. They were clearly more than friends, even if they hadn't exactly given a name for their relationship yet. But still, it wasn't like she was thinking these thoughts about some random person or whatever.
They held a connection, Ruby realised as she glanced at the rose ring held on her finger, a connection so utterly fierce that it made her body tingle at times. It had come out of nowhere, blindsided her in the middle of a team crisis, yet she would not deny that it felt wonderful to experience.
Ruby wanted more.
She snuggled a little closer, cheeks aflame. Kirakishou merely hummed at the motion, idly running her ball-jointed fingers through her hair in a way that she could slightly feel the little seams of Kirakishou's artificial joints against her own scalp at times. It was oddly relaxing in a way.
Did headpats count as a 'base'? Ruby had heard her old friends back in Patch saying that things like handholding and headpats were special in a way. Intimate. She hadn't really been listening at the time (or even cared about such things) and Ruby was certainly regretting putting all that aside to focus on building her weapon. She wondered if all that intimacy applied, or if it was just a friendly gesture on the doll's part.
Either way, it felt nice. So Ruby decided to just shut up and enjoy it whilst she can. She'd focus on all the weird relationship stuff later, when she wasn't laying out on a balcony in her pj's with her crush.
But she had to say something. She didn't want to be awkward.
"W-Will everything be okay with Mom? I mean… if people realise she is a doll..."
The idea scared her more than she would like to admit. Whilst she was accepting of Kira's situation and understood why she did what she did for Summer, Ruby doubted that many would understand. A lot of people thought of dolls as either a children's crutch or uncanny valley stuff. She didn't want to… rock the boat, so to speak.
"Nobody else will realise. I have made sure of it." Kira stated softly, continuing to rub her hair with a slow, repetitive movement. "Only you will know her truth. The rest will see her as nothing but a human woman. It is a simple illusion. Regardless, I built her. No matter where she goes, I will always be able to find her. I'll always know where she is. She will be safe, held within my garden's nurturing glow."
An illusion. Ruby fell silent as she digested the words. It was probably the same as whatever Kira did to keep others from seeing her own doll form, considering the sheer number of times she should have been discovered before all this occurred. She was probably just too weak after resurrecting her mom to hide even herself at the time that Ruby found her.
...What to say, what to say… she definitely didn't want to focus on the weird little sensations her body was experiencing at the time. Let alone voice them.
"-Did you hear about the big food fight we had in the cafeteria before, Kira?" Ruby blurted suddenly, before flushing in embarrassment and forcing herself to continue. "I-I wish you were there to see it! It was so crazy! There was this big fight and we all used our aura to make the food into makeshift weapons! Like… Weiss was fighting with a swordfish!"
She was only just realising how weird it was that the Academy staff served a full swordfish for a midday lunch. Let alone some of the other crazier things that were there.
"It was soooo wild! Team JNPR -I'll introduce you to them later- made this whole big fort out of the desks and chairs and stuff and we were fighting them with all the stuff… I was all like 'ka-chow!' and 'thwish!' and-"
A small finger tapped her on the nose. She blushed in the middle of her babbling, her tirade crawling to a halt as the doll leaned down and pecked her cheek softly. It brought back a sudden reminder of their first kiss and it was more than enough to stop her speech in its tracks.
"I saw your fight, beloved Ruby. My sight extends far. You were very proficient with your red rose petals. You were beautiful."
Kira saw the whole thing?! Her mind screeched in alarm. Wait, what did she-
"T-Then why didn't you say anything!" she forced out with reddened cheeks when Kirakishou's words dawned on her. Honestly. Beautiful. Her. Ruby really wished that Kira would stop calling her all those things. She knew she was kind of plain in comparison to all of the other girls in Beacon. Especially considering they were two years older than her. The age gap certainly wasn't doing her any favours.
"But it's more than that, Ruby." Kirakishou pressed on, seemingly oblivious to Ruby's innermost thoughts. It took her a moment to realise what the doll was talking about. "You defeated them, Ruby. The invincible woman. The dead-last. The stoic and the unstoic. You defeated them all, and by doing so proved yourself the superior rose."
Ruby tried to fidget and shy away from the overwhelming praise, only to remember her current position offered her no safeties from the doll's amber-eyed gaze.
"I… um… I don't…. I don't think unstoic is a word." she eventually settled for calling out the doll on her weird choice of words. It wasn't as if she could argue with Kira on anything else. She was the worst at receiving praise. Let alone, oum forbid, talking about it.
She'd rather do something, no, anything else.
"Nevertheless, it is a rather accurate assumption of her character, is it not?" Kirakishou countered, gazing out into the distance oncemore. "Passion versus melancholy. Glee verses apathy. Nora Valkyrie is everything that Lie Ren is not. They are two sides of the same coin. A matched set."
Welp. That does it then. Ruby figured she had a pretty good idea of which side of a certain betting pool that Kirakishou was on.
"B-But still!" Ruby vehemently denied, perhaps sounding more than a little petulant than she intended, "I didn't really defeat them. It wasn't like an actual fight or anything. I just got lucky with my semblance. My team won in the end. I-I just did the final, er, blow." she responded, cringing internally at the inadvertent pun.
Kirakishou ruffled her hair, giggling cutely. "Oh no, Ruby. It was more than that. You were the final one left standing. You were the one who stood atop them all. You became the 'Queen of the Castle' in that single, infinitesimal moment. You should be proud of your accomplishment, game or not. It was a sound strategy that defeated them all." she elaborated, cocking her head slightly and smiling in an endearing manner. "...Nothing less than what I would expect from my darling red rose."
Ruby went to challenge the girl, but the embarrassment was too much. She knew that, no matter how much she tried to dissuade the doll otherwise, Kirakishou was utterly convinced that she had achieved some crazy thing in beating Team JNPR. But it was just a simple game! Argh.
"...Are you feeling better, Kira?" she decided to ask instead, pausing midway to let out a yawn. It was three in the morning after all. It was probably better to move the conversation away from her supposed achievement, even if a tiny part of her did really really enjoy all the praise coming from the girl she was crushing on.
Kirakishou didn't respond for a while and her 'petting' paused momentarily, Ruby quickly getting the impression that the doll was trying to think of a way to explain things.
"...I will." the blonde answered eventually. "...It will take time. I'm sorry."
Ruby smiled, opting to be a little bold and reach up, placing one of her own hands on the girl's cheek in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. She felt the tips of her fingers brush up against Kirakishou's flower and giggled at the little twitch that came from the blonde.
"Take all the time in the world, Kira. You've done something amazing. Really. I have no idea how such a thing is even possible, really, and I doubt I ever will figure it all out… but no matter what I'll always be thankful for what you've done. Mom was… is, everything to me. I became a huntress because of her, you know?"
Kirakishou closed her eye and smiled, nuzzling her cheek against Ruby's hand. She remained silent, seemingly content to let Ruby sort through her thoughts; something that the young reaper was incredibly grateful for.
It was difficult to talk about her mother, even to Kira. Something about the look on the doll's face had told her that Kira knew this and was simply waiting for her to continue. She appreciated the gesture, but it did little to ease the pain. Even after so long, thinking back to those first few days hurt. She had only ever confided to dad and Yang about these things before. But she felt that after everything that Kirakishou had done for her, she deserved to know a little bit about it all.
Ruby allowed her hand to fall back down, Kirakishou's lone eye trailing the movement intensely.
"...I lost her when I was very young. She was all I would think about. The idea of her just… vanishing one day was crazy to me. But she did. And… I never really recovered. I'd lock myself in my room and… well. It's not important. It's over now."
Kirakishou's lone amber eye stared deeply into her own silver eyes.
"You were alone, as was I." Kirakishou answered, grabbing Ruby's hand that had been caressing her cheek and holding it softly. "...I knew it from the first moment that you glanced my way, that you had experienced a loss." she admitted, much to Ruby's surprise. "You had experienced that same agony of abandonment as I did, long ago. Yet you broke out from your prison. You began to walk on your own two feet. The world began to turn for you. For that, I cannot help but to admire you and the strength of will you possess. You truly are a wonderful rose."
Ruby stared up at the doll, something bordering on wonder shining in her tear-stained eyes.
She didn't exactly understand how Kirakishou could glean all of that from a simple glance of all things. Perhaps it had to do with her status as a doll, or perhaps she was just that good at reading people. Or maybe it was some weird saying she didn't understand. It didn't matter.
It was still embarrassing as all heck, though.
The words resonated with her, though. Some time in the past, Kirakishou had been confined and abandoned. Clearly before the whole 'Jun' thing. From what it sounded like, though, hers had been a lot more difficult to escape than Ruby's bedroom. At least, physically.
...The agony of abandonment… her mind repeated. She did not like that phrase.
Kirakishou gazed down at her hand, which Ruby belatedly realised was the hand wearing the ring that she had been given. "You were correct, when you stated previously that I had brought your mother back so that you would not leave me. I wanted you to choose me as your doll. I craved for it. Yearned for it, more than anything else in this world. And then..."
"...I kissed you." Ruby finished.
"You kissed me."
There had been a tiny part of her that still didn't believe that she'd done it in the first place. To think that she had taken the first move was so utterly out of character for Ruby. But she had relished the opportunity.
It had overwhelmed her very senses at first. In that single instant, nothing else had mattered in the world to her. She had felt like she was on cloud nine, nestled close to a shining beacon of love.
...That may have been one of her sappiest thoughts ever, but it was nothing less than the truth to what she was feeling.
Ruby felt, more than saw, the Rozen Maiden turn her attention oncemore to the ring held on her finger. Whilst she wasn't entirely certain on how she'd ended up with it after their last… session, she knew that Kira was behind it all somehow. Admittedly things had gotten a bit heated after their first kiss and her memories were still a little fuzzy.
"...Rozen Maiden are able to bond to others." Kirakishou began, fiddling with the ring in a way that made Ruby giggle from the ticklish sensation. "It was, originally, how Father intended his dolls to exist. When he confined me to the N-Field, I grew scared. I was alone. Trapped. How can I hope to bond with others when my presence cannot even be felt? How can I become a pure rose? After Jun, I gave up on the idea of bonding properly. With you, Ruby, that all changed. I wanted you, my lovely, precious red rose."
The doll moved to intertwine their fingers. The little creases in her ball-jointed doll hands felt just as weird against her skin as they had felt against her hair before.
Yet she didn't dare stop Kira from her movements. Ruby doubted she could even if she wanted to. She was transfixed by the doll, dazzled, and she wouldn't have it any other way.
Ruby had never been in a relationship with someone, especially not a girl, but… with Kira… well, a rather large part of her was giddy at the idea of being with the doll. If that was even a possibility.
Yet it was clear she had a lot more to learn about her doll.
"You, Ruby Rose, wear the contract ring of Rosen Maiden #7, Kirakishou. Me. You wear my ring... I can understand now, what the other dolls were feeling when their mediums gazed upon them. I can finally be like my other sisters, without their interference. And it's all due to nought but a single glance at a chance moment. I can only wish that I had met you sooner. Thank you."
Kirakishou leant down and planted her lips against hers in what was clearly intended to be a small, chaste kiss. And just like that, her idle thoughts and worries came to an abrupt halt as pleasure relentlessly assaulted her senses. It set her very nerves alight. Eagerly, she pulled the doll closer and leaned her body into the kiss as much as she could, a moan ripping itself from the depths of her heart as she tried to prolong the feeling as long as possible.
Her lips were soft. Cold, yes, but so inexplicably soft against her own.
She loved it.
The blonde doll pulled back, smiling at her even as the slightest of pink hues filled her bone-white cheeks. "...A doll shouldn't like that as much as she does..." Kirakishou murmured, her voice a mere whisper.
Ruby, meanwhile, was trying to calm her hammering heart. Her vision had blurred a little for a moment there, but thankfully she hadn't passed out this time. So that was a plus. Her nerves were on fire, though. Gosh, she was shaking and it certainly wasn't because of the cold air. But at least she was still improving! Hopefully Kirakishou thought she was a good kisser. Because, by oum, that doll was amazing.
"...When you say it like that, it really makes me want to kiss you again, you know." Ruby admitted huskily, trying to resist the urge to, well, do exactly that.
Kirakishou gazed at her then. It was a different look that what she normally received from the doll. She liked to think that she was getting rather good at judging Kira's facial expressions. That one, however… Ruby could easily admit that she had never had someone look at her like that before.
It served only to accentuate the need rushing through her.
"…You might pass out if we do, dearest rose."
"…If I say, 'worth it' will you continue?"
Kirakishou's lips curled into a small, mischievous smile.
Yes.
This. This was what she had been wanting, ever since she arrived in Beacon Academy. Ever since she had begun to weave her vines throughout this institute built to train the defenders of humanity and faunuskind alike.
Ruby Rose.
My lovely, precious Master.
You're all mine.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
Kirakishou gave a small, childlike giggle as she shifted Ruby's weight slightly, so that the young huntress-in-training would be more comfortable in her embrace. The warmth of her body was quite intoxicating against her pure frame.
Poor Ruby had passed out some time midway through their third kiss, her senses overwhelmed by the entirety of the N-Field pressing down around her- sans her Palace of Beginnings, which remained rooted within her dorm room. The energy that Ruby possessed, her aura, flowed freely now that Ruby had become her medium. It was a beautiful, nurturing warmth that both Kirakishou and her Palace of Beginnings craved ever more.
She was growing stronger, her Ruby. To endure the weight of her pure form and a rapidly expanding N-Field for so long proved just how special Ruby Rose truly was. Any other Master would have been drained dry and collapsed from the strain. Yet where others would fall, Ruby Rose proved to her again and again that she could stand on her own two feet.
For now, she allowed herself to relish this moment of tranquillity between Master and Rozen Maiden. She basked in the sensations offered to her by the sleeping girl in her lap, stroking her crimson-tipped hair much in the same way she had seen the girl's mother do when she was younger. Ruby unconsciously smiled and murmured nonsense, snuggling closer.
It was beautiful.
A beautiful moment.
The time would come when this instance of Beacon Academy would suffer greatly. She knew that. Whether it be by the hands of the conspirators who meet in the shadows of dark, by her own power or even by the machinations of her very own Father, she knew that eventually this fragile peace would become undone.
There were too many variables to control. Too many minds set on the destruction of this place, each possessing a sense-of-self easily strong enough to resist many of the subtle pokes and prods of her meagre N-Field.
Father would become an issue. That much was certain. She knew this, deep within her core.
Father was not one to let a Rozen Maiden slip from his grasp.
Father would be forced to act.
Father would realise what has occurred, how the Alice Game has been torn asunder.
Father would send his pet.
Father would try to manipulate Ruby Rose.
F-Father…
Father would have to go.
She giggled softly, careful not to wake her precious master. Her shoulders shook with unadulterated mirth, even as she fought to contain the excitement welling up within her pure form at the very thought.
This world she had made her home, it was finally beginning to turn, as she knew it would.
And with Ruby Rose by her side…
Kirakishou would finally be able to walk on her own feet, as the perfect girl.
All that she needed to do, was to grow stronger.
The oncoming calamity would be made to nourish her. It was the only way. All Kirakishou needed to do was determine the most effective method.
Hina-Ichigo's purity, Kanaria's pleasantry, Shinku's nobility, Suigintou's gallantry, Suiseiseki's ferocity, Souseiseki's sincerity…
Father… I wonder… When you see my pure form, will you smile?
Because I will.
A/N:
Development in a fluff chapter is really fun to write. We get a glimpse of Kirakishou's dialogue at the current events and a small little display of her Palace of Beginnings. We're moving into Volume 2 with the food fight being referenced in this chapter.
But seriously, who in the world stocks a full swordfish in a school cafeteria?
Thank you all the recent reviews. See you all next time!