Lonely No More
by Cyberchao X

Chapter 23

Disclaimer: This is starting to actually resemble a fanfic again, so there's even more of a need for a disclaimer.

*late October*

"So what is it you wanted my help with, Suki-tan?"

"I'm going to be holding a Christmas party. I don't really have much experience hosting something like this."

Arisa was surprised. "It's only October. Although…I was kind of considering hosting one myself this year. Bring together all of my loved ones… Or more likely, Suzu-chan would be hosting, since I really don't have any experience with this, either."

"Don't look at me; I'm the hostess for New Year's."

"My thoughts exactly," Suki said, in regards to Arisa's comments. "That's why I was planning to host one. Consider it a…preemptive strike."

"Preemptive strike?"

"I have to announce it early, because I expect Katsu-tan to try something and then I'd be without you."

"You could accomplish that just as well at my party. I'd be more than willing to allow you to bring Tatsu-kun as your date."

"…But then I'm without Katsu-tan."

"I was afraid that was what you'd say."

"Please, Ari-chan?"

"…Well, I wasn't referring to only two people either."

"I'm not inviting along your high school…friends. I don't really want to be confronted with the fact that I'm no longer your locker room shower toy."

"…That wasn't what I meant."

"…They're going to be coming back here?"

"There's… there hasn't been anything confirmed, but yeah…we expect to be together for Christmas for the eighth straight year. It's…a very special time for us."

"An eighth straight year? I thought you said that you hadn't even known Hayate-chan for seven years."

"That's right…I met Hayate-chan about seven years ago now, and Nanoha-chan and Fate-chan had met the Wolkenritter—those were the artificial constructs guarding Hayate-chan and her artifact—but the first time we all met, and when Arisa and I first learned about magic, was a little less than seven years ago…it'll be seven years this Christmas Eve."

"A special time. But…wasn't it also Christmastime when they left?"

"…Yeah. It'll be one year this Christmas." Suzuka had a sad look on her face.

"Well, if they do show up, they're welcome to come to my party."

"Thanks, Suki-chan."

"Don't mention it. I certainly wouldn't mind meeting them—really meeting them, not just vaguely knowing them as a sempai whom I recognize."

"Knowing them?" Arisa teased.

"…I wouldn't go that far."

"Haya-chan might, if you showed enough interest."

"She's not quite like that," Suzuka protested. "But yes, if you show even the slightest hint of being anything other than heterosexual you probably will get to second base with her."

"I'm fine with that as long as she's willing to allow reciprocation. If I remember correctly, Yagami-chan is fairly busty, isn't she? Like me."

"Well excuse us for being flat!" Arisa teased.

"Hey, I'm getting curvier every day," Suzuka retorted.

"I know," Arisa replied.

*Early December*

A whisper in Arisa's ear as someone covered her eyes. "Guess who."

"…Well, Suki-tan's with me, and Suzuka wouldn't engage in such silly antics…and Hayate-chan would probably put her hands over my breasts, small as they are, instead of my eyes…" She turned around and kissed the person who was covering her eyes. "Welcome home, Nanoha-chan. Didn't you say it would be closer to Christmastime, though?"

"…I was advised to take my leave now. They…don't want too many people on leave at once. I'm sorry…the five of us won't be together this Christmas. At best, you might get to see Hayate-chan, but I think she'll probably spend Christmas with us."

"…I'm just happy to see you, and to know that you're all safe."

"…I'm glad to see you too, Arisa-chan. You seem to be doing well." She turned to Suki. "Are you the young lady responsible for Arisa-chan getting so much better at kissing?"

"How would you know how good a kisser I was? You always had eyes only for Fate-chan."

"True. But you still managed to sneak a few kisses, usually around Christmastime under the mistletoe."

Arisa laughed. "Okay, I'll give you that."

"You know, it probably isn't too polite to be kissing other girls in front of your girlfriend," Suki said, "but I'll give you a pass this time. It's nice to finally meet you, Nano—Takamachi-san," she corrected. "Sorry, I feel like I already know you so well, with how much Ari-chan and Suzu-chan talk about you. I'm Makimaro Suki."

"Suzuka-chan… Should I tell Hayate-chan that she should come here for Christmas?"

"That's…a question you should ask her. I do get the feeling she's still got feelings for Hayate-chan…but then again, it might be even more painful to see her again, only to have her leave. Long-distance relationships are always the worst…"

Nanoha giggled. "I'll talk to her. You two have fun. It was nice meeting you, Makimaro-san." She started to walk off.

"You don't have to wait until you're out of sight. We eventually had to tell Suki-tan…she saw us worrying about the three of you too often to keep it from her anymore. Don't worry, she's the only one who knows…although there's another one who started probing, only to stop asking questions when she found out exactly when we met Fate-chan and Hayate-chan."

"…It isn't exactly surprising that the 'official' explanations of the Jewel Seed incidents wouldn't satisfy everyone. If she stopped asking, though, it means that she was only in it for her own curiosity. I think it would be troublesome if it became common knowledge, but…this will be faster." She took flight.

"…Wow. So now I've seen it with my own eyes. Magic is real. That's…so cool."

CCX: "Last Christmas" merely said that Hayate hadn't been there for the entire four years. Hell, I think Nanoha actually makes a canonical visit back to Earth during that time, in one of the StrikerS Sound Stages, so yeah, Nanoha and Fate are allowed to occasionally make appearances in person, albeit rarely.

Nanoha set down outside of the Tsukimura estate, unwilling to just fly on in in case Suzuka had guests who were uninformed as to the magic situation. She didn't. "Hey, Suzuka-chan."

"Nanoha-chan…I thought the three of you were all going to come in a couple of weeks."

"Sorry about that. For some reason, they didn't want us going on leave together. Fate-chan probably won't be on leave until after New Year's. Hayate-chan, though…she could be here for Christmas, but she's not sure if she wants to be. After all, she has a pair of close friends who will be stuck on Mid-Childa for Christmas…but she also has a couple of close friends back on Earth. What would you suggest she do, Suzuka-chan?"

"…It doesn't matter to me. Of course I want to see Haya-chan again…and it would probably be better for the two of you, too, if you could just be with each other for Christmas. But I've made a lot of new friends in high school…and not all of them know that I'm a—bisexual."

"'Bisexual'? You're not a lesbian like the rest of us?"

"No, I don't believe I am. Although I definitely seem to prefer girls. Not like Suki-chan—she seems equally happy with either."

"Eh? Arisa-chan's girlfriend?"

"You know her?"

"I just met her. She was with Arisa-chan when I went to talk to her."

"Yeah, she has a boyfriend as well. He and Arisa have an agreement because they know neither one can satisfy all of her desires by themselves."

"That's…different. So what about you? Do you have a girlfriend? Boyfriend?"

"Nope. I'm still technically single, even though I so rarely am."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, early in the school year, I was dating quite a bit, but it was someone different every time. There was one boy who I wanted a second date with, but he seemed to think we didn't have any chemistry and that we'd be better as friends. And we are. Friends, I mean; not necessarily better as friends. He has a girlfriend now, though, so I'm probably out of luck there. So, lacking a steady boyfriend, I've mostly been making do with female friends with benefits."

"Is Ari-chan one of them? Are you keeping her company when her girlfriend is busy with her boyfriend?"

"Yes to the first, no to the second. Actually, my body betrayed me when I was trying to just be innocently homoerotic—you know, the type of stuff that actual straight girls do because it turns boys on—and Suki-chan figured out that I'm not straight."

"You got too flirty with Arisa-chan?"

"Suki-chan, actually. So now she's one of those friends with benefits as well."

"Damnit. If Haya-chan finds out about that she'll be pressuring us even harder to have a threesome with her."

"…That's our Hayate. Speaking of perverted lesbians, I'd like to introduce you to my other friend with benefits."

"Is she the one who was curious about us and then decided she'd learned enough once you mentioned when you met Fate-chan?"

"…How much about the past year has Arisa informed you of?"

"Pretty much just that. We didn't talk too much, but obviously the topic of other people learning about magic came up when I was going to leave and Arisa-chan told me that I didn't need to hide my ability to fly from Makimaro-san."

"Well, then, I guess it's time for small talk. Care to guess what my club activity at high school is?"

"You mean it's not Library Club?"

"Nope. Student Council. I'm class rep."

"Is this friend of yours a member of your class?"

Suzuka nodded. "As is the male friend whom I kind of wish was more than just a friend."

"Well, good for you. I think you're perfect for that job."

"Not as good as you would be, I'm sure."

"Haha…my approach to negotiations wouldn't really work in a normal school setting."

"Miki-chan seems to make it work. Although I suppose it helps that she isn't an insanely overpowered magical girl."

"Oh? Another friend?"

"Yeah. The Class 1-O rep—I'm class 1-A. Her personality is a bit like yours—also a tad like Arisa's, but more like yours."

"I…hope that was a compliment."

"It is. Miki-chan's a sweet girl deep down, though she hides it well."

"That doesn't sound like a compliment."

"Well, underneath her obvious issues, she has deep-seated issues that most people don't even know exist and those few who do don't know the full extent of."

"But you do?"

"Nope. I know that her father is fiercely overprotective of both her and her sister, and that he never remarried after his wife's death some nine years ago. I know that the subject of her mother is so touchy that she doesn't talk about it to anyone, and that there's something that she's even keeping from her younger sister—I found this out because I nearly made the mistake of bringing up her mother before I knew that she was dead. And when I asked her boyfriend what he knew about this, he said that when he first met her, shortly before her mother's death, she didn't seem like a girl whose mother was dying, so it probably wasn't illness that claimed her life."

"And how many people know about this?"

"Probably not many. Anyone who had been in school with her all the way back to the start of primary school, like Izei-kun—that's her boyfriend, and the Class 1-N rep—would at least know about her depression right after it happened—Izei-kun said that she was 'more like a girl-shaped shell than a person'. But…let's put it this way: you now know more than any of my 'friends with benefits' do, and Kanna-chan went to junior high with her."

"I suppose it's okay for me to learn this, since I'm not even really a resident of this planet anymore?" Nanoha teased.

"I don't think of you like that, Nanoha-chan."

"I know, I know, but…it's the truth. I'm only here on a visit. This is my old home…but it's not my home anymore."

"…I'll call Kanna-chan and ask her to come over." Suzuka got out her phone. "Kanna-chan? Come on over to my place. There's someone I'd like you to meet."

"So, I finally get to meet the legendary Takamachi Nanoha. Shinamori Kanna," she introduced herself.

"L-legendary?"

"Kanna-chan!"

"Sorry, sorry. It's just that Suzu-chan talks about you so much…though not as much as she talks about Yagami-chan."

"You haven't even met her and you already feel you can use the '-chan' honorific?" Nanoha thought. "So, how did you know which one I was?"

"Family resemblance. Suzu-chan treated me to some sweets at the Midoriya for my birthday, so I've already met your parents."

"Ah…of course. So, why are you someone Suzuka-chan wanted to introduce to me?"

"Well, she's told me on more than one occasion that I'm the second-most perverted lesbian she's ever met, behind Yagami-chan."

"Well, you haven't groped me yet, so you're obviously not as bad as Hayate-chan."

"Would you like me to?" She didn't bother waiting for an answer before doing so.

Nanoha sweatdropped. "Okay, fine, you want to prove your credentials. Are you at least enjoying yourself?"

"Yep. These are pretty nice."

"Fate-chan and Hayate-chan are both bigger than me," Nanoha said, "and it looks like Suzuka-chan will have caught up to me before long."

"Nanoha-chan!" Suzuka blushed. "You have no right to be envious of others' boobs!"

"Yes I do. I live with Fate-chan and Hayate-chan. But I'm not envious, of course…because I get to be with those breasts every night."

"E-every night?"

"Aah! Not like that! We don't do that every night! But even when we're not making love, I still get to share a bed with my beautiful Fate-chan."

"That's what I've always admired about you, Nanoha-chan. Once you set your mind to something, you refuse to quit until you get it. When you first met Fate-chan, she saw you as a rival…and you fell in love with her. And now, she loves you back."

"Well, it worked out well then…but some would call that 'stubbornness'."

"Determination," Suzuka insisted.

"Well, let's see if I can't use that determination to bring one of my oldest friends a perfect Christmas gift."

*December 24th*

"Thanks for coming over beforehand to help out," Suki said.

"Like I said, it's no trouble. I just hope there aren't too many other early arrivals who would question me being here so early."

"Well, if you're so concerned, hide."

"That would be even worse, unless we staged a fake entrance."

"…Then just stop worrying about it." Suki gave Arisa a kiss. "Everything will be just fine."

"Yeah, by the time anyone who doesn't already know about your relationship shows up, there will be enough people here that it won't seem suspicious."

"Farisu-chan…? Wait, don't tell me: you're still having trouble getting times right, aren't you?"

"I've started writing down events a half an hour ahead of when they actually occur. Only problem is, I forget that I've done that, and so I end up actually showing up early."

Arisa shrugged. "Well, better early than late, I guess. You're not a first-year anymore, so Martin-sensei will be even madder if you're late to practices this year."

"Yeah, I know…"

"I should've expected to run into you here, Bannings-chan. You're looking lovely tonight," Atsuya Watagami told her.

"You know, I don't think I've ever been hit on by a gay guy before," Arisa cracked. "But surely you don't already have your license."

"Does it look like I got out of the driver's side of the car? This place was just closer; Oniisan is dropping me off at my party next."

"You have an older brother too?"

"I'm actually the second of four."

Arisa merely nodded, watching Hanna as she got out of the car. "Interesting…I would've figured it would've been Hayama-sempai who was the first guest here," Hanna said.

"Are you actively trying to be untrustworthy, or does it just come naturally to you?" Arisa asked.

"It takes one to know one. I'm sure that if you wanted to just be with Tsukimura-san, Katsu-tan could work out the same agreement with Hayama-sempai that you did."

Arisa took note of Hanna's choice of honorifics. "Nice try, Watagami-chan, but Suki-tan already knows all about Suzuka."

"I'm surprised you admitted to it that easily; it's not like I had any real proof. Now, just what about Tsukimura-san does Sempai know?"

"Like I'd tell you."

"Oh, I'm not the one you need to tell."

"Is this true? Were you not the only one I was sharing Suki-chan with?" Tatsuke asked, having just arrived.

"…The nerve of that bitch!" Arisa was ready to throttle Hanna. Suki held her back.

"…Yes, it's true. I've had some threesomes with Ari-chan and Suzu-chan. But don't get mad at them—I was the one who proposed the initial threesome. Well, I guess if you want to get mad at Arisa for being less than completely faithful to me, you could do that, but I wouldn't want you to because like I said, I didn't get mad…I talked them into having a threesome, remove any sense of competition."

"And it's clear that Suki-chan is the one that Arisa truly loves," Suzuka added. (CCX: She had been there all along, having come over with Arisa. She just didn't have any lines.)

"…Clear to everyone except me," Arisa thought.

Half an hour past the start of the party, the Himiya sisters had yet to arrive. "Where is she?" Suki asked.

"Patience, sempai," Mayu said. "She said something about being 'fashionably late'."

"As well as wanting to look perfect," added another member of their crew, Otsuka Yuriko. "Wonder why."

"T-to impress S-sempai, of course," Reina said. (CCX: I had to look back at Reina's first appearance to determine just how bad her stutter was. I think even after cutting down the number of stutters in that line, I may have overdone it; as flustered as she was, her first line contained no stuttering at all.)

"Oh? So Katsura-chan is a 'yuri-ko' too now?" Yuriko teased.

"Yuri-chan, that's quite inappropriate," Suki scolded her. "I assure you I have yet to gild her lilies."

Suki was soon snapped out of her thoughts, however, by a particularly energetic 11-year-old. "Oneesama!"

Suki was nearly thrown backwards by the flying hug she received from Natsume. "Hey there, little Natsu-tan. I was worried you wouldn't show."

"I was worried I wouldn't show, too. Neesan took forever getting ready."

"Oh really…" Suki instinctively turned to the door, waiting for Katsura to enter.

She was rendered speechless. As befitting the holiday season, Katsura was dressed in red, but unbefitting the winter season, her dress was slit up the side all the way to her hip. Her modest chest had been pushed up, and her dark hair was gathered on top of her head. She looked positively…sultry, though it seemed odd to think of her as such given that her skin was as pale as ever. "Oneesama…"

Suki struggled to put together words, before finally managing to find some that sounded suitably charming. "You look like you must be cold in that dress. Perhaps I could warm you up?"

Suki was pleasantly amazed to find that the only one blushing was her, and set out to get Katsura's blood flowing to the surface again.

CCX: Nanoha made an appearance! :D An honest-to-god appearance. And I made two chapters in the same day! That "full speed ahead" I'd said I hoped for at the beginning of the month seems to have finally arrived. Chapter 24 looks to be a climax (um, maybe that's a bad choice of words?), what with Katsura about to get her first lemony scene and Suzuka being forced to deal with Hayate's failure to show up. How long will the story extend after that? I don't know. But know this: I expect New Year's to be Chapter 26, not Chapter 25. This is CCX, signing off to complete another successful July.