The sun was about halfway through its descent into the horizon. The skies above the glass dome of Mistilteinn were of a pure blue hue, speckled with the odd white cloud here and there. The fresh breeze that came through the big crack in the ceiling contrasted with the warmth of the grassy field surrounding the lake that ran across the plantation.
A young man was sitting under a tree in that very same terrain. He had a book on his hands, with a grey cover and gold letters. His eyes ran peacefully across the page, mostly unaware of the surroundings.
A young, long haired girl with cherry blossom locks came jogging closer to the boy with a spring on her step, still away from him and outside of his field of vision.
As she spotted him, her smile turned into a smirk that quickly left her lips. With light footsteps she snuck behind him in a way that the tree trunk wasn't between them. He still hadn't noticed her by the time she was little over a foot near him.
The girl placed both of her hands over his eyes taking care not to hurt him. The boy shook in surprise before hearing her voice.
"Who is it?" Zero Two asked with a sweet girly tone.
"Who else could it be but you, Zero Two?" Hiro replied, smiling.
"You're no fun darling!" She gave him an exaggerated pout as she sat down with him on the grass, "I've rarely seen you reading before. What is so interesting about that one?"
"Well… not much really." Hiro turned his gaze away from his partner.
"Come on darling! I won't laugh at you if you tell me, I promise!" She placed a hand on his shoulder and moved to look him in the eye.
"Actually, it is a book about stars."
"Stars? I think they are pretty."
"They are. And they also have names"
"Ohhh!" Zero Two said excitedly "That explains a lot. Ichigo once told me you used to give other children names just like you did to me so long ago. Only you could ever have the sensibility to remember that, darling." Her comment made Hiro blush. The boy scratched his face before speaking.
"I've always believed that everything and everyone deserves a proper name that is unique to them. How else are we going to distinguish things? But names are not the only thing this book is about. It also says that adults, long, long ago used the movements of the stars to predict the future."
"Predict the future?" Zero Two's face expressed her bemusement "How is that called? Starfuturology?" She asked with a cheeky smile.
"It is called Astrology. Want me to try to predict our future, Zero Two?"
"No, don't bother. I wouldn't believe it, really. Most likely it isn't true."
"Perhaps. But we'd never know if it is true or not."
"It doesn't matter. I think our future is ours to shape with our hands, no matter what anyone says." Zero Two said, looking distantly to the river, before looking at her partner back again. He had a more serious expression.
"Do you remember when we were kids and bound to other people's whims? We were little more than tools for them and yet, besides everything that we were told, everything we thought was right, you broke my cage and took me too see outside of it. We broke the adults' rules. We were fugitives for almost a month. Nothing can stop us from chasing our dreams and our freedom. Even if in the end we fail, we will fail on our own terms."
"Zero Two…" Hiro said. "You truly are a force of nature."
"Maybe I am. But I am your force of nature!" She said with a smile, gazing deeply into her beloved's eyes for a while. He did the same, and they ended up sharing a long deep kiss.
Once their lips parted, Zero Two rested her head on Hiro's chest and he in turn placed his arm around her shoulders, as they looked into the lake where they had reencountered each other again after their memories were lost. It truly was a beautiful place. Zero Two was glad she decided to take a swim in it that day and Hiro was happy that he found her in there.
The couple stayed still for a while, as well as the climate, conspiring to keep them together for as long as possible. The grass leaves gently swayed back and forth with the breeze, the tree leaves above them occasionally produced rustling noises and the lake in front burbled ever so slightly.
A blonde boy could be seen in the distance. He had two empty iron buckets in his right hand and two fishing rods on his left one. His forehead had a few drops of sweat, from doing tasks before coming to the lake. He smiled as soon as he detected the couple being lovey-dovey.
Not really wanting to disturb them, Goro approached the tree without haste. As soon as he was within hearing distance, he spoke to them.
"Hey guys, sorry to interrupt you but Ichigo asked me to tell you, Hiro, that today is our fishing duty. I will start in a while, but I can wait a bit if you want me to. I will be just down there."
"There is no need for that, Goro. We were about to leave, we've been here for a while." Hiro said, getting up and setting the book aside from his lap near the roots of the tree.
"Give me a rod and we will start right away."
"Wait, darling!" Zero Two said. "Now is a great time for me to teach you how to fish properly. I can't have you being hungry, now can I?" She finished her sentence by putting her hands on her hips. Hiro responded to her with a nervous laugh.
"Alright. Just don't be too rough."
"I am never too rough! Come, let's go. You too Goro. We can't have miss bossy pants get too anxious."
Hiro and Goro looked at each other and shared an awkward smile as Zero Two was walking closer to the river with a childish stride. As soon as the guys reached the margins, Goro gave the couple a fishing rod and a bucket. Hiro placed the bucket in the ground near Zero Two. She had the rod in her hands before he even noticed.
"Right, darling. Do you know how to throw the hook?"
"No, not really…"
"Here's how you do it," Zero said, handing Hiro the rod and getting behind him, placing his hands in the right places. "You first must unlock the reel. Yes, right there. Now, place your left hand below the reel and with your index finger hold the line close to the rod. That's it! Now, hold out the rod behind your back and then throw the rod to the front. Don't forget to release the line midair! And wait, wait! Let me get away from you first!"
Zero Two stepped a few feet away from her beloved, before he threw the hook. As soon as she gave him a nod, he did. It was a fairly decent throw, not the best Zero Two had ever seen, but fair enough for a beginner.
"I did it, Zero Two!"
"Awesome darling! Now you just have to wait for the fish to bite in. Stay sharp! We will bring a ton of fish back to the table, you'll see… Although it would be faster if I caught them with my mouth."
Hiro laughed at her remark. Soon enough, he had caught a fish. Then another, and another. Smiling to each other throughout the whole process. Goro, who was a dozen feet away from them, couldn't help but notice them and smile. He was happy that all of them were finally at peace after their whole ordeal.
By the time the sun had its feet halfway through the horizon, Goro and the couple returned to the main building. They came in by the front, through the main field, where they found most of the other members of the squad.
They had set up a huge rectangular table a feet away from the building, which was covered by a white cloth and had plates, cutlery, cups and napkins setup for every member. Closer to the trees that surrounded the building there was a fire already burning inside a circle of stones, which had a stick contraption around it that allowed an iron grill to be placed on top of it to cook things more easily. It was one of Futoshi's finest inventions, if he could say so himself. The chubby boy was tending the fire with care.
Next to him was Zorome, chopping up some wood Mitsuru and Ikuno had brought to the camp from around the birdcage earlier that morning. Miku and Mitsuru were sitting at a smaller table next to the fire, resting after finishing their cleaning tasks. That smaller table was where Miku and Ikuno were supposed to be cooking and spicing up the food later in the evening.
"We are back, guys!" Goro announced.
"And we've brought a lot of fish!" Zero Two added. Hiro was behind her with a bucket overfilled with fish, so much so that he could barely carry it. Goro's bucket was also about full, however not nearly as much as Hiro's.
The group that was in the field came closer to greet them. As soon as they saw Hiro's bucket, Miku, Zorome and Futoshi's eyes widened in surprise.
"How in the hell did you catch so many fish Hiro?" Zorome asked.
"Zero Two taught me how to." Hiro simply replied, looking at Zero Two, who let out a big grin for all to see.
"I am glad you guys caught so many! But you must be tired. Why don't you go inside to refresh yourselves and change clothes? Ichigo must have finished the laundry duties by now." Miku said.
"We will be making bread in the meantime. We'll start up with the fish when you come back." Mitsuru added.
"See you in a bit then." Hiro said, before going inside, followed by Zero Two and Goro.
Once inside, Goro first took a shower by himself and changed his clothes, before going out to the field again to help out Ichigo bringing the spices from the storage room to the table.
Then it was Zero Two and Hiro's turn. As usual, they took a bath together, with each washing the other's back in turn. Fishing sometimes could dirty up someone more than they expected.
Once ready, Hiro got dressed in his usual squad uniform. Zero Two on the other hand settled for a female version of the uniform, since her spare red clothes were still drying. She was lucky that there were some uniforms laying around that fit her well enough.
"I like seeing you in that." Hiro complimented her.
"Thank you." Zero Two said, blushing and looking down for a second.
"Shall we go?" Hiro said, offering her his hand. She took it and he guided her outside.
On the outside, the sunlight was mostly gone. What illuminated the field was the fire burning in the distance, the outside lamps and a set of lights spiraled in the balcony with many different colored lamps, which they had found in the attic some days ago. The squad members were mostly sitting except for the ones that were on cooking duty. Hiro and Zero Two approached the table.
"Oh, hey guys!" Ichigo greeted them. "The food will almost be ready, so sit down with us. It won't be long."
As the leader had said, it wasn't long before Ikuno and Miku were bringing trays of grilled fish to the table. The smell of it danced around in the air, since the breeze from noon had already stopped.
As soon as Zero Two got her plate, she tried to soak her portion with the honey that was supposed to be used in the tea. She was happily bringing her concoction to her mouth before Miku and Ichigo stopped her.
The girls explained to her that honey was not a good condiment to go with fish. Zero Two listened to them with suspicion. Somehow, Miku convinced her to try to put some salt and salsa on another fish. She did so as Ichigo encouraged her.
When she took a first bite, Zero Two's face was a mirror of pure delight. She looked like a child who had discovered candy. Hiro and Ichigo smiled at the scene. Miku, Zorome and Goro laughed at the scene ever so slightly. The others looked on fondly, before starting to eat again.
A few minutes after the fact, Zorome stops eating for a moment.
"What is the matter, Zorome? Is everything alright?" Futoshi asked him.
"Yes… It's just that it feels odd not having a prayer before eating." He said, looking downwards. "We did all the work ourselves again."
"I somewhat understand you, Mitsuru. It is in fact something hard to get used to." Kokoro said.
"It may be so. But we can live on our own. Even when our food storage ends, we will pull it through." Goro added
"That's right. When we all work together we can make anything happen, no matter what. Thank you guys for working so hard!" Ichigo weighed in.
"All we have is each other. We are a real family right now." Hiro said, raising his glass of juice. "To us!"
"To us!" All the others raised their glasses, except Zero Two, who looked at her feet.
"Zero Two?" Hiro asked, facing her with concern. Ichigo noticed Zero Two's expression as well
"Zero Two, don't forget that you are also one of our own, it doesn't matter what happened before."
"It doesn't matter if you are a bit different from us, Zero Two. You are also our family." Goro added.
"Yep! Just don't go hitting our asses so hard again when you disagree with us again!" Zorome said, making everyone laugh. Zero Two's eyes were watering and a few tears ran down her cheeks.
"Thank you, everyone!" She said.
"There is nothing to thank us for. Let's celebrate while we can!" Miku told Zero Two. Hiro looked
Afterwards, the squad settled down for a while and focused on their meals. Between loud voices, laughing and the sound of the cicadas, the night sky grew darker and darker as the time passed.
Futoshi was the first to have his plate completely empty. Normally he would go for a second or even a third serving, however he decided against it. He promised himself he would cut down on his weight and fully intended to keep that promise. As such, he placed his plate away and exchanged pleasantries with Kokoro and Mitsuru, who responded with a smile, before retiring to his bedroom.
Next it was Zorome and Miku's turn to leave the group. They competed to see who was the fastest to put the plates away neatly, all while arguing about petty matters, as they often did. It was as if that was their normal mode of communication, because neither took the other's insults to heart. Sometimes it seemed they welcomed it. Nonetheless, they walked to the dorm area together and talked with each other for a few minutes before going their separate ways to their respective rooms.
By the time every plate had been empty for a while, Kokoro excused herself from the table, saying she was tired from her daily chores. Mitsuru, as a good partner, followed her right after bidding a goodnight to the other members of the group.
That only left Ikuno, Goro, Ichigo, Hiro and Zero Two on the courtyard. It was Ikuno's turn to clean the table and the plates. She did so without wasting much time while the two couples kept bantering. She left the table bare, took the plates and silverware to a washbasin near the wall, cleaned them with soap and left them to dry before returning to her seat on the table.
When Goro noticed that Ikuno had finished her duties, he revealed a deck of cards and asked everyone present if they wanted to play a game amongst the five of them. All accepted, and Ichigo distributed the cards.
They played a few rounds of Asshole, a game Zorome taught them, while the night grew darker and quieter. Ichigo won some rounds, Ikuno did so as well, while struggled to win first place, even though he was never the worst. In the end, Zero Two won most rounds, followed by Goro.
The pink haired girl was not shy about showing her smug smile while she played, teasing her opponents, who reacted with delighted laughs, jabs and counter teases. Even Ikuno with her usual cool demeanor was influenced by Zero Two.
After setting the cards and other miscellaneous things in order, Ikuno excused herself from the group before going to bed. She had an unusual smile on her face on her way to it.
Ichigo and Goro stayed a bit longer, talking with Hiro and Zero Two about the next day's tasks, before they themselves left the courtyard. Finally, the couple left as well. Hiro turned all the lights off before going inside and locking the door of the atrium. He took Zero Two's hand and guided her to her room in the attic.
The couple entered the room, leaving the door about halfway closed. The window had the shutters opened when they arrived, letting in a view of the yard below and of the night sky. Zero Two sat on the carpet, and Hiro did the same, facing her and looking into her cyan eyes.
"Did you have a good day, darling?"
"Yes. I don't remember being so interested in books for such a long time. Perhaps recovering my memories helped me remember my interests."
"Perhaps. I think I changed a little when I got mine back. Maybe the same happened to you."
"I've felt different ever since I found you in the lake. It's like I have a purpose other than being a tool for adults."
"Who knows what else they did to us back then? I'd rather not think too much about it."
"I'm sorry, Zero Two, I didn't mean to…"
"It's alright." Zero Two shook her head and gave him a smile, before resting her slender hand on top of his.
"Did you have a good day too?"
"I did!" Zero Two replied in an excited tone "I had fun fishing and hanging out with everyone." Her reply made Hiro smile.
"I like seeing you getting along well with everyone. They seemed to have enjoyed having you around, being so happy."
"I like them a lot. I didn't mean to have been so cold to them before. It's just that I'm not used to being around people who act so warm amongst themselves and to myself. It felt odd to me"
"I think they somewhat understood that about you. Besides, I don't think any of them took any true offense to anything you have ever done." Hiro told her in a quieter, softer voice. Zero Two looked down to the floor, her big eyes seemed larger with the water that threatened to fall down her cheeks.
"I just don't know if I'll ever forgive myself for hurting them before, when I thought they were stealing you away from me. I was so stupid… they didn't deserve that."
"Hey, Zero Two…" Hiro said, placing a hand under her chin and lifting her head so that her eyes were in front of his.
"Don't be so hard on yourself. You weren't in the best state when that happened, and we now know you didn't do that out of malice. It is a pretty normal thing humans do. We aren't made only of good things, you know."
"I am not truly human though."
"It doesn't matter what you are. What matters is what is inside of your heart. In that regard, you are the same as any of us. You are a part of our family now, Zero Two."
"Darling!" Zero Two said before nuzzling her head on Hiro's chest. The stamen took the opportunity to run his fingers through her hair, which he liked so much.
The couple stayed in that position for a while, neither bothering to break their silence because the feeling of sharing warmth was all that they needed at the moment.
After long moments had passed, Hiro felt a need to speak to her again.
"You know, you don't have to pretend to always be aloof and cold among us so often when the pressure is unbearable. We will not think less of you if you show your emotions."
"I know."
"You don't have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders alone. We are for you."
"I know, but…"
"No buts, Zero Two. Our real enemies are the kalaxossaurs and those who want to limit our lives and our freedom. If we want to see the world together, we will all need to trust one another if we want to stand against the world and break free of our circumstances. Can I count on you?"
"Of course you can, Darling!" Zero Two said, looking into Hiro's eyes. Her response made Hiro smile.
"Great! Then you can count on me for anything, just be sure to talk to me, alright?"
"Alright."
"Pinky promise?"
"Pinky promise!" Zero Two said, giggling. Hiro got up and in the pistil's form as she sat down, marveled by her beauty, which was enhanced tenfold by her smile. She was too much of a temptation that he could not resist.
Hiro leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the forehead.
"I should be going back to my room. Goro is probably worried that I haven't gone back to my bed yet. See you tomorrow, Zero Two."
"Wait!" She said, reaching out for his arm and stopping him in his tracks, "Could you please sleep here with me again? I get lonely without you"
"Alright. But when the others ask us why I stayed here tomorrow, you tell them that I fell asleep because I was tired. I don't want to be answering questions about kissing all morning like last time." Hiro told her, making her giggle.
"Ok, I'll do it. Now come over here, boy!" She said, throwing herself at him. Thankfully he was able to catch her in time. He could never get enough of her when she laughed, and she felt happy she had someone to share in her playfulness.
After their laughter and giggles had died down, Zero Two laid down in her bed, under the blankets. Hiro followed her, covering both of them. He turned the lights off and snuggled closer to her.
The only light that came into the room came from the window. Outside, the waning white moon was bright and very visible between the darker clouds. The yellow stars twinkled softly in the sky, as if at peace.
A/N: I've found this old practice oneshot from around March 2019 in a folder of mine, and I never got around to posting it. So here it is, out in the open instead of gathering digital dust!
Please do share you comments and criticisms freely, I want to improve. Cheers!
