Disclaimer : I do not own any of Lucky Star Characters, nor any of the DC Universe Characters that may or may not appear in this comic.
Sorry for the time it took me to write this, I had a sort of Writer's block, and had to re-think about, well, the whole story. I will try to release chapters more rapidly from now on, but I won't promise it. Onwards with the story!
IoOoI
"Oh crap," was all Konata had time to mutter before she started to circle her own room, trying to find anything at least decent to wear. In a few seconds, she was able to find some black shorts, just baggy enough for her to find it comfortable, and a white T-shirt with the single image of a blue giant drop of water in the front. Satisfied with her comfort, she walked to the door, trying to calm her mind. After all, she had not seen Kagami's face in almost, what, two years? Way too much time, she thought sadly, way too much time.
How had she changed? Has she grown? Does her face still flares up when she is around her, or when she teases her? Insecurity was flowing through the girl's brain, and she did not like it.
With her heart trumping loudly in her chest, she opened the door, and there, outside, she saw someone. Not her Kagamin, she thought, unless she underwent surgery to become a middle-aged man, traded her luscious purple hair for a bald head, and just happened to be her Boss. One of them, at least.
"What do you want...?," asked the girl, sighing in both relief and annoyance. At least she would have more time to prepare herself for Kagami, she thought, as if more time would make her less insecure.
The man stood there, with an annoyed look on his face, as he took out a white communicator from one of his purple suit's pocket, tapping at the screen as if it was her duty to see it and understand.
And see it she did, crossing her eyes as to read what was printed in the small object's screen.
Fox, 36 unanswered calls.
Face-palming herself, she looked at him with an apologetic expression, pointing at her bandaged arm as if it would make as an excuse. It would, if she was lucky.
That was not the case.
"You know," he started, his deep and scratchy voice never ceasing to halt every thought going on inside her head. She quietly wondered, as she always did, if he was some sort of Empath. "He can't afford sending someone, sending me to check if you're okay every single time you forget your comm in whatever the hell you forgot it this time."
If she was happy before, she surely wasn't happy now, as being scolded by him was never high on her happiness list.
"Don't make me do this again," he threatened her, grabbing the collar or her shirt with some strenght, shaking her as if to make his words get inside her head. "You know how little patience I have for you, and I swear, if you weren't one of our best agents, I would have killed you already with my own hands," he spat, literally, at her face, anger printed on his wrinkled face. The blue haired girl didn't even flinch.
Instead, she grabbed his own arm with strenght enough for him to remember that, despite her being a pretty small woman, she was still stronger than him in every way.
"John," she began, glaring daggers at him, her grip tightening. "Don't forget the many times I saved you, despite your stealing and killing without reason to."
If John, a.k.a " Boss ", wasn't so strict about his drinking issue, he would think, for a moment, that he was drunk, for he started to see whirlwinds dancing inside Konata's eyes, so fast that he quickly found himself unable to stare outside those green swirling orbs.
Her face started to shatter in living pieces of meat and skin, falling to the ground and burning in the darkest of flames, and from the very core of the flames he could see a bald man, trying to give him money, he saw the flash of a gunshot, he heard it, he saw it when the bullet penetrated the man's suit, breaking the skin, piercing the meat, shattering his bones and he felt it happening to him too. He panted, holding his chest as if to protect his heart from leaping forward, sweating. And just as quickly as his vision started, it was gone, and he was looking again to Konata. A somewhat angry Konata.
"That, John, was Hughes Barkley, the man you had me killing yesterday, despite my telling you that I didn't want more jobs like this. I thought I made myself clear when I said I wanted recon missions alone, John, but no, you had me kill another criminal, another human being." she spat at him, a single tear crossing her face, contrasting with her anger. Three hours she spent trying to convince her superiors to send her everything but missions that would require her to kill, they knew how she hated it, and yet they sent her.
The bald man stepped backwards, getting away from that girl, that demon, he thought." Whether you like it or not, you're still one of the best. We cannot...afford to lose someone with your expertise," he said, taking his time to fix up his suit and wipe away the sweat on his shiny head. He looked at her, and smiled a teethless smile, way too smug for the girl's taste. "And you sounded like you enjoyed it yesterday when you reported the job."
"Listen...just, go away, okay? I'm expecting someone today, someone much more important than your baldy self," she said, almost holding back a giggle when he frowned and stared at her face, or at her hair, she could not tell." One more mission, and I will quit. And don't make that face, you know I'm serious."
The old man shrugged, and pressed a button on his own communicator, and suddenly he was covered in waves of red light, his smirk now appearing.
"No one can leave Chimera, Fox. You should know that better than anyone...," his voice trailed, as his figure disappeared from the front of Konata's house, leaving her somewhat awestruck. They finally developed their teleportation system?, she thought, her confront with the man now but forgotten inside her mind, taking on some more pressing thoughts, like when would she see her Kagamin again, and what game system should she put on. Shrugging, she went inside, and with a grin, she ran all the way to her bedroom, and with a small yelp of happiness she jumped in the bed, yawning lightly at its softness. Maybe a quick nap will sort everything out, she thought, barely supressing another intrusing yawn with her hands, as her sight fell into darkness, and her mind, into purple heaven.
IoOoI
There were many things that could make Hiiragi Kagami impatient, and Konata was among the top five. Especially when she called her and left her waiting at the door for more than five minutes. Sighing, she pressed the doorbell for the fifth time, quietly praying for the gods to hear her pleas, and kick that goddamned Otaku in the butt. A smile crept into her face as she imagined it, soon followed by a small giggle. That ended rather quickly, when, again, nothing appeared in front of her. Literally steaming with rage and impatience, she kicked the door with unneeded strenght, lots of it, she thought, as the door flew open, hitting the wall.
"Oops."
"Excuse me," said Kagami, rather lamely, to absolutely no one in sight, which was weird. Usually, this house was full of life, light, and the sounds of pictures being taken. What greeted her, however, was a dark, dusty and soundless house. Soundless, except for light snoring sounds, probably coming from her bedroom, she thought. 2 years without seeing each other, and finally when they get the chance, she sleeps! How dare that...that...!
Stepping, quietly, the purple haired girl made her way to her friend's bedroom, trying to figure out how would she punish her. As she entered Konata's bedroom, she could see the other girl sleeping on the bed, her messy hair falling to the ground, together with limbs and most of the girl's comforter. That, she thought, was pretty normal. But those bandages on her arm weren't, as she had never seen Konata actually get hurt, to see her in the need of those...
"What happened, Konata...?" she asked, softly, as she walked towards the otaku's bed, to get a better view of her friend. Despite her clothes and the blue sea that seemed to cover the girl - and most of her bed -, Kagami could still see some bits of skin here and there, and she would blush, had she not seen the many scars that covered them. Scars that seemed old, yet she clearly remember her skin to be scarless. Soft and perfect and...Ugh, I can literally feel that blush now.
Pushing those thoughts away, and taking some moments to pull herself together, she finally touched one of those scars, just under her navel, tracing it lightly, as to let the other girl sleep.
She could very well feel her face and neck burning, and she could predict how awkward this situation would be if the very girl she was touching was to wake up right now. Awkward to me, at least, she would probably enjoy it, and make the rest of my day a living hell with her teasing, thought the girl, frowning if but a bit. She knew those scars were real, yet she still had to touch them, feel the differences in the skin, she had to believe.
"Mmmh, Kagamin, I know you couldn't wait to get your hands on me, but you could have waited for me to wake up..." mumbled the blue mass, sleepily, barely containing a huge yawn.
" Konata!" literally screamed said girl, jumping off the bed "When did you...Did I wake you up?" Smooth, Kagami, really smooth.
"Hmm, you helped" she flashed one of those cat smiles, before another intruding yawn interrupted her.
She couldn't help but smile at the sleepy blue haired girl, even after all this time she still seemed like the same old Konata. Of course, thought Kagami as she eyed the girl, she did grow a bit. Looked more mature, more feminine. Definetly more athletic. And the scars...
"How did you get those...?" asked her, in a faint whisper, as her finger trailed yet again one of her scars.
"Too sleepy, will tell you later." replied her, sounding sleepy indeed.
"Oh...okay..."
"Kagamin?"
"Hm?"
"Missed you." and with that she smiled, and despite her messy state, Kagami couldn't help but think that she had never seen Konata look better. And to Konata, Kagami had never been so red.
"What?" asked the embarassed girl when giggling sounds filled the room. Of course, said giggling sounds stopped when the source received a rather painful smack in the head.
The girls then proceeded to talk about the past, remembering the " Good old times ", as Konata said, imitating an old woman rather well. The conversation led to hungry, and quickly deciding to bake something, Konata ran to the kitchen, leaving Kagami alone in her bedroom.
Out of boredom, she decided to look around, finally allowing her mind to absorve what was around her, and, again, she was met by the unexpected. There were no piles upon piles of comics or games on the floor, or bed, or, well, about everywhere. It almost felt like a normal room, but she could see the many posters that filled Konata's walls, and lots of action figures, that and a single round thing to her left, probably made of metal or plastic, she couldn't tell.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
" What the..." said Kagami, startled. She definitely was not expecting it to start beeping at her randomly, and in her shock, she found that it didn't want to stop. Groaning, she picked it up, realizing it was some kind of cell phone. Much to her surprise, the metallic surface of the communicator was replaced with a small screen. Black, at first, but quickly regaining color and shape, showing the face of a young woman. Her eyes, focused somewhere Kagami could not see, were small and brown, and her face was round, sporting a small nose, and lips covered in black lipstick. Her brown hair was cut short, way too short for it to look cute, she thought, it must have been for functionality.
"Fox? You got another mission tonight, 2000 at the meeting place, got...it...? " her voice, sounding robotic through the device, trailed on as her eyes locked up with Kagami's.
Then, the brown haired girl panicked, and the screen went off, leaving a somewhat flabbergasted Kagami sitting in bed, thoughts racing so fast inside her head she couldn't even decide which one she needed to attend to first.
"What the..."
"Kagamin? What are you doi..." she heard the voice trailing behind her, "Oh. What are you doing with that?"
Slowly turning around, Kagami could see a frowning Konata, her grip on the metallic tray that was surely holding delicious treats a little too strong and stiff. She was confused, was that thing important? Who was the girl on the device's screen? Who is Fox? With her mind blazing, she asked the thing she thought was the most important.
"Konata?"
"Yes?" came the answer, way too fast, and Kagami could swear she heard a bit of nervousness pouring over her friend's voice. Probably her imagination, she thought, dismissing the idea.
"Who and what is " Fox " ?"
What followed, was yet another surprise for the lilac-haired girl. Konata actually looked thoughtful and serious, as if she was pondering, trying to find the best answer to give the girl. She was relieved when the business-like expression faded from the older girl's face, replaced with a grin, her eyes now closed.
"Fox is my IGN, Kagamin."
"Your what?"
"My in-game nick, the nickname I'm now using on my online games."
"...Oh."
"Disappointed, Kagamin?"
"You...you could say that." she answered truthfully, she was expecting something way bigger than just her In-game nick. And "Fox". She almost giggled at how fitting it was for Konata.
"You probably saw a girl too, right?" the startled look in the younger girl's face was all Konata needed to continue. "She was a friend of mine, she is the tanker and I'm the DPS. She was probably talking about a mission, right? This game of ours keeps a kind of events callendar, so she was reminding me of a Raid we need to go through. Lots of high-end equipments, and lots of experience!" she finished, throwing her arms in the air as if she just acquired some sort of major achievement.
Kagami could only stare as the girl spewed useless knowledge, and she fairly sure she would be brainwashed if Konata was allowed to talk for another minute. Ouch, my head...
"So...," Konata began, her cheerful smile now replaced with her usual sly grin. "Are you going to eat any of those, or will I have to throw away them, after all that hard work I had preparing them especially for my Kagamin-sama?"
Kagami quickly turned her face to the right, using the purple locks of her hair to hide her rising blush, saying nothing more than a "Shut up.", earning a smile from Konata. "I'm glad you didn't change, Kagamin," she said, in a somewhat sweet tone, albeit a little sad.
"Konata...?" she asked, surprising herself with how fast her tone changed from embarassed to concerned. It's her fault, she thought, soon enough she will drive me insane.
She sat by her side, holding the metallic tray that contained a plate full of simple oatmeal cookies. Simple, yet delicious, she thought. "Go ahead," she offered, "They won't bite you."
"Hah, hah, very funny." answered her, as she took one of the cookies, looking suspiciously at it. After about, what, 5 seconds of looking, Kagami gave up and took a testing bite of the treat, and was surprised - well, not so much - to find out their simple, yet delicious and comforting taste.
"Those are..." she began, now too busy chewing the whole cookie, savoring the flavor. "Really good, Konata!" she then grinned, after licking her lips to clean any remaining cookie crumbs. "Glad you're good at cooking, otherwise you'd be just about useless!" she finished with a larger grin, mocking the older girl.
"Useless, eh, Kagamin? Are you sure?" she answered, striking a tang of curiosity from her friend. She was expecting Konata to frown and mumble something while pouting, or reply in kind, like she used to do.
"What do you mean?"
"Well," she began, wetting her lips after the pause. "I could always have hidden...qualities that you're not aware of, Kagamin." she said, tone a tad too sweet for Kagami's taste. She knew Konata was trying to bait her into a trap, but she could not do a thing, for her curiosity was already trapping her, one way or another. "Oh, and what kind of qualities are we talking about? Since it's you we're talking about, it's probably something otaku-related, like cosplay or something, right?"
Konata didn't answer right away, instead, she leaned against Kagami, leaving her more than a little uncomfortable. She'd always feel that way when the blue-haired girl started to get too close, even though she never really understood why. It was one of the many thoughts that swirled inside her mind, and one of the few she rightfully chose to ignore. Her mind was driven to a sudden halt, however, when she realized how really close they were. Their bodies were more than just lightly touching now, Konata was practically on top of her, and she could smell the sweet aroma of chocolate literaly oozing from the older girl. With each hot breath that greeted her face and neck, she felt goosebumps rising from the tips of her toes to her neck, and that felt absolutely delicious, and that terrified her.
"Ko...Konata...?" she said, a little alarmed, and more than a little flustered, her heart was beating way too fast for her tastes, she felt as if her stomach had twisted in many knots, and her face was in flames.
"Shh, Kagamin..." she said in a quiet, seductive tone, one that Kagami never heard before. It made her face burn more as she started to get more nervous, so nervous she was starting to sweat. Just what is she doing, kept thinking Kagami, afraid that if those thoughts stopped, other thoughts, more embarassing ones, would surely follow in. "Just close your eyes..." she said in that tone again, and she felt as if she could not disobey it, not even if she wanted. Her eyes closed with the printed image of Konata's face getting closer in her mind, and a thousand butterflies started flying inside her stomach. She waited, and waited for something she was not quite sure to come, but the only thing that greeted her was the loud laughing of her friend, who was now rolling in the bed, holding her stomach.
Her flustered state was quickly forgotten, the red of her face and ears now because of anger. That little annoying midget...UGH! She tricked me! I can't believe it, and I fell for it with such gusto, raced her mind, as she prepared to pounce on her unsuspecting prey, and, literally growling in anger and frustration, she pounced on Konata, quickly holding and immobilizing the now quiet girl's hands.
"Not so funny now, is it?" she said, a smug grin slowly appearing to mock her prisoner.
And to Kagami's surprise, she grinned, one of those "You fell for my trap again" grins. "It's always fun to see you blushing, Kagamin" she said almost dreamily, never breaking eye contact. "But I didn't know you liked these kinds of games, Kagamin...Please be gentle." she finished shyly and quietly, her hands now covering her face, and although Kagami knew that was an act, she couldn't help but feel a little nervous. She looks so innocent...No, wait, she is everything but innocent! Concentrate! she ordered inside her mind as a captain would to to his soldiers. And was with that thought in mind that she realized she no longer kept Konata's hands in check, as they were now covering her faux blush. When and how did she do that? thought Kagami, perplexed, for she clearly remembered using enough strenght to hold even her father's arms in place. She didn't look like, but when she wanted she could be quite strong for a girl of her age, and for he lack of martial training. Or any training, for that matter.
"Surprised, Kagami?" said the now free girl through her hands. "I said I could have some hidden qualities, didn't I?" moving her hands from her face to cup one of Kagami's cheeks, she showed her one of those big smiles again, and the lilac haired girl could feel all her anger, confusion, everything that swarmed her head slowly melt away under the gaze of the happiness her friend was showing, despite all that happened.
"Yeah...I guess you really have something under that thick gamer's head of yours, huh...?" she couldn't help but smile in return.
"So..." Konata begun, looking at somewhere ahead of Kagami's head. "When did you had to leave again? It's pretty late now..."
"Eh?" she said, and Konata couldn't help but snicker at how she looked like Tsukasa in that moment. Turning her head to gaze at whatever the other girl was looking at, she saw a digital clock, and was shocked. It was already 20:45. It was already night, and she didn't even realize it. Oh, mom is going to kill me for not telling her I was going to be out 'til so late!
The blue haired girl just watched with a smirk as Kagami leaped from the bed to the floor in an unlady-like way, and scrambled through the room, grabbing two cookies from the tray and shouting a quick "See you later, Konata!", followed by heavy stepping, and the loud sound of the door closing, or smashing, she couldn't really tell.
"Way to ruin a sweet moment" the girl said to no one in particular, face now sobering from all the fun she had with her friend. Best Friend. Unfortunately for Konata, such time was already way too limited without her bosses appearing out of nowhere and giving her craploads of assignments. She cringed at that thought, she was beginning to fall into the same pit every single one of her comrades had fallen, she was beginning to think of life as nothing more than a job. She had to get away, from her job, from Chimera, from everything. Everything except Kagami. And maybe some mangas, that wouldn't hurt, too.
And, like every single time she caught herself thinking that, her communicator started to beep like crazy, begging for her attention. Sighing, she grabbed it and flipped it open, hopefully wanting for it to be Kira's face to appear through the static mess of the screen.
"Fox, do you copy? Do you copy?" came a familiar, feminine voice that caused a rush of relief in Konata's mind.
"Yes, I'm here Kira, and I still don't understand why you're still so formal with me. Thought we were friends?"
"Yes, we're, Fox, and I told you not to call me by my given name, someone could be listening!" answered the girl quickly, her face now appearing in the screen, eyes covered by her brown hair.
"If someone was listening, they'd know it now that you told them." she smirked as Kira's face became hidden by a facepalm. "So, what do I have to do now?"
"Oh, right. Just a moment." she said, typing in something that vaguely remembered a notebook. "That earlier job, with the Hughes guy, do you remember what they were after?"
"Yeah, something hidden in one of the experimental Wayne Enterprises labs. Why?"
"Your job is to infiltrate in said lab and steal whatever they were after to."
"So no one will attempt to steal it again?" she was almost disgusted by the sense of hope in her voice, for she already knew what would be the answer. She always did.
"Err...no, so we have the technology."
"No surprises here" she sighed. "When do I have to deliver whatever I will find there?"
"Confident as always, heh? Don't worry, you have 'til tomorrow, 00:00 to deliver it. Good hunting" and with that, the screen went dead.
"I want vacations too..." she whined tiredly to no one in particular, suddenly feeling very sleepy. Yawning, the girl turned off the lights and rested her head in her pillow, closing her eyes slowly, as if to savor the moment, and embracing the darkness as if it was a part of her, a part still untouched by the world's cruelty, where that particular ray of hope could still glow at its brightest. And as she was slowly dragged to the world of dreams, the only image remaining in her mind was that of her shiny ray of hope.
Of her Kagamin.
IoOoI
Whew, that took me a while. Since I had to think about the story as a whole and re-do it, I decided to change its rating to T, since I will not include something extremely shocking or gruesome to deserve the M rating.
As you can realize by now, I'm mostly using the DC Universe, and not the characters, although some of them will appear in this comic, and some of them will have an important role, they're just secondary characters, the primary ones being Konata and Kagami.
As Omegahugger said, it will be hard to maintain the series' original feeling, with Konata being a mercenary and everything. She WILL have emotional backlashes, as you saw in this chapter, she is emotionally unstable, as she tries to remain as human as possible while still doing her job. I won't spoil much of this fanfiction's future, but a major struggle in this story will be Konata's attempt to leave Chimera, the Mercenary organization she works for.
Well, no more explanations, see you all next chapter.