Toaru Kotoba no Sentaku

A Certain Choice of Words

Important reminder: remember Italics=Kuro. Few times Kuro "speaks" it is designated as coming from her, other than the italics.

Misaka awoke the next morning feeling quite rested. The clock read 7:33, the sun was shining brightly, the bird were chirping their sweet songs, and Kuroko was nestled comfortably in her chest. Misaka had a problem with one of those things, and it wasn't the time.

"Kuroko," she said in a sing-song voice, "you should probably get up now and get off of me before I get very angry."

The response came slightly muffled by flesh and fabric, "I would but it isn't too easy to do when you're holding me so tightly."

Misaka blushed a light shade of pink as she realised that it was indeed her that held Kuroko in a vice grip, pinning her roommate to her. She immediately withdrew her arms only to have them pinned to either side of her head the next moment by Kuroko.

She lifted her head from Misaka's chest and took a couple deep breaths. "Honestly Onee-sama, as much as I'd love to die in your embrace I'm a little too young to be doing that quite yet, neh?" Then she leaned forward and gave Misaka a short peck on the lips, making her blush deepen considerably, her pinned hands clenching into fists, "good morning Onee-sama," Kuroko said happily, her voice as cheerful and melodic as the birds.

"good morning," she said averting her eyes in embarrassment as she squirmed a little in Kuroko's hold. She was just about to yell at her to get off when she let go on her own, standing up and going into the bathroom to get ready for a new day.

After Kuroko finished Misaka did the same, and by the time she left the bathroom it was almost 8. Kuroko sat at her desk looking at her calendar. "School vacation is almost over," she remarked. She looked thoughtful for a second and then turned to Misaka, "when's our anniversary?" she asked.

The question caught Misaka off-guard. "Huh?" she asked confused.

"Well..." Kuroko began to elaborate, "it's just that I was wondering what day our anniversary would be on. 2 days ago would make sense but I don't really remember much and we didn't really seal our relationship until yesterday. The other option would be to wait until some other event to happen to call our anniversary. Like our first date or something similar."

It was a valid question but Misaka didn't know what to say. she wasn't even sure if they were a couple yet. Sure, yesterday she had said she had someone, and she didn't plan on half-assing this and giving up on the relationship halfway through... but she still had trouble saying that Kuroko was her girlfriend.

Kuroko saw the conflict on her face and knew that it was about more than just which day their anniversary would be on. What is there to be conflicted about?. "On second thought, don't worry about it," she said with a smile, "we have plenty of time to figure it out, right?"

Misaka smiled back, a little forced, but mostly genuine "right."

"I have Judgment work until around 5," Kuroko said, getting off the subject. "I also have something else I need to do after that." she sighed, "looks like I can't spend any time with Onee-sama today." She was disappointed, even if the extra work was her own decision. She needed to find out more about that suitcase and its contents. If it's what we think it is, then we should be the ones who look into it. Kuro agreed.

Misaka nodded. Her own schedule was pretty much empty, so she was just going to head out, maybe she would see if Saten was free again.

"Well then," Kuroko said, "I should probably go, I'll see you later." then she walked up to Misaka, "A kiss for the road?" she asked.

Misaka answered her with a solid, but soft (for her) hit on the head.

"oww..." Kuroko whined, rubbing the tender spot, Pereskia, "no kiss before I head off to my job? Some housewife you are." she teased, bracing herself for the next hit.

It came, this time with considerably more force, "Urosai!" she yelled, blushing.

Kuroko giggled, "gomen gomen," she apologized, "See you then." She said as she teleported out.

After disappearing from the room away from her slightly enraged lover (well maybe not yet but soon), Kuroko teleported 2 more times, arriving at the top of a tall building. She still had quite a long time until she needed to get to Judgment but she needed some time now to herself.

"Kuro," she called quietly, "we need to have a talk about yesterday."

You were in danger, I protected you. I see nothing else to talk about.

"Four concussions, 3 broken ribs, a dislocated jaw, and a fractured arm," she reminded her, "and you think that's nothing to talk about?"

No I do not. Nothing I do in order to protect you is unjustified.

"I can protect myself."

You couldn't yesterday. Yesterday that capacity down completely crippled you, if I hadn't stepped in you would have been hurt or killed.

"Why weren't you affected anyway?" Kuroko asked, wondering about that since yesterday.

The key to an ESPer's power is their personal reality, and your reality is your own. Even when I control your body I can not control your powers. You might be a level 4 but I'm not even a level zero[1]. While it means I do not have your potential there are still some things that I can do that you can not. Because of that very handicap I am unaffected by the other capacity down's that we're looking for.

"How do you know there are others."

Common sense. If there was only one of these things then there would have been far tighter security on it. A small group of trash like the ones from yesterday never would have gotten their hands on it.

She had a point. She always had a point. "ughh... whenever you go into common sense mode you make me feel stupid." she complained.

Better than acting stupid.

"... neh, Kuro,if you ever need to take control of my body again, will you continue hurting people as severely as yesterday?"

If necessary. I will refrain from killing except as a last resort, but I will not hesitate for a second to break a person's arm if they raise it against you.

"Thought so..." Kuroko said, sighing. Before teleporting off the building and walking down the street. She would need a way to end fights as quickly as possible with the least amount of effort and damage to the other person. It was a tall order but it should prevent Kuro from coming out again.

So she stopped by a nearby bookstore to pick up so material for research. ESPer powers had as many uses as the ESPer can think, but they still needed to discover them. After she chose a selection of books that she thought would be appropriate she walked out.

What exactly are you planning little Shiro?

"Shouldn't you know?"

While I can make a guess based off of what you chose, I cannot read your thoughts, no.

"Why is that anyway?"

I don't really know. It seems to run both ways though, you only hear what I express, not each and every thought I have.

"Probably for the best. Your thoughts scare me as is and I just hear a few of them."

I agree. Your infatuation and never-ending thoughts of that pereskia would drive me insane if I could hear them.

The thought amused Kuroko, "A product of my insanity going insane itself... would you get a little voice too?'

I fail to see the humor in that.

"You fail to see the humor in anything."

"Hey Kuroko," said a familiar voice coming from behind her. She turned around to see Saten-san jogging up to her, "hey the- oh, sorry." she said pointing to the phone Kuroko was holding up to her ear, "I heard you talking but I didn't know you were on the phone. Sorry to interrupt."

"I gotta go," Kuroko said, closing the phone. It had been Kuro's idea, and a good one. As long as people weren't listening to what she said then it wouldn't be suspicious at all. She looked at Saten "Don't worry about it. The conversation was over anyway. Was there something you wanted?"

"Not really, just wanted to say hi. I didn't see you yesterday after your trip, so I wanted to know how things went."

"They were just fine, if a bit boring."

"Ah, Misaka said the same thing. speaking of that, I was just heading to meet her, you off to work?"

"yes I am, so no need to brag over how much free time you have," she teased, "anyway I should get going, have fun with Onee-sama, try to keep her out of trouble."

"I don't know, that doesn't exactly sound easy," The black hair girl said with only half-fake hesitation.

"Holding back the tides couldn't be harder, but do your best," Kuroko said with a smile as she walked off.

Saten watched as the other girl disappeared in the distance and the crowd. 'Seems like she's not particularly upset or depressed,' she thought to herself, 'that means I'm the only one who knows about Misaka's boyfriend. Don't worry Misaka, your secret is safe with me.

After that the teleporter headed off to Judgment Branch 177 to begin her work. She walked into the office and sat down at her desk. Uiharu had yet to arrive but Konori-senpai was there already, drinking from a carton of Musashino Milk. Not that she needed any more. Kuroko on the other hand... well they would grow in time, she was sure. 'Oh well, Onee-sama loves me either way,' she thought to herself, 'maybe she even prefers them.' If she does it's only because they're smaller than hers.

"Oi, Kuroko," Konori called out to her, "I'll be needing your report on that incident yesterday as soon as possible."

"Hai," she responded, immediately getting out the necessary paperwork and beginning to fill it out.

Konori's gaze lingered on the girl though. She wasn't sure if it was her policewoman's intuition or her ESPer power, but something felt wrong about this whole thing. Kuroko was hiding something and it bothered her. "I read the initial report," she said nonchalantly as her glasses slid to the tip of her nose, "It was quite brutal what happened to the culprits wasn't it?"

Kuroko casually glanced in her direction, still typing up the report. Konori was peering intently at her over the rim of her glasses. That meant she was probably using her clairvoyance[2]. She was suspicious and looking for an answer, and with her ability Kuroko couldn't lie to her.

"The messes you leave for me Kuro," she whispered under her breath, she sighed and then said to Konori-senpai, "You're suspicious I take it? I understand, the events were a bit out of the ordinary and Occam's Razor would seem to point to my guilt, no matter how much you trust me. But I promise that did not injure any one of those culprits."Then in her head she added, 'Kuro did.'

Konori pushed her glasses back up. She wasn't lying, she really didn't hurt them it seemed. "I apologize. But it was an odd situation. It was reported as a robbery but nothing has been reported missing or stolen. The culprits were all found severely injured, some of them blithering about some demon that attacked them, and there was no recently stolen items found in their possessions." She sighed deeply, "I'm too old for all this ridiculous excitement." she remarked.

Kuroko giggled at that, "you've been in law enforcement too long, you're starting to sound like a police chief from a movie."

Konori smiled, "You're the loose cannon cop then I take it."

"Well he is the one that always gets things done isn't he?"

"Maybe, but the credits always roll before they show the mountain of paperwork and lawsuits he would rack up every case."

They shared a laugh, the heavy, troubled atmosphere long dispersed. Afterwards they got back to their own work. A short while later they were joined by Uiharu. They greeted each other before getting back to their busy day at Judgment.

Meanwhile Misaka and Saten had met up and were now hanging out at a nearby restaurant.

"Hey Misaka, is something the matter?" Saten asked the seemingly troubled girl.

"It's nothing important." she said dismissively.

"That's fine. We're friends, if we limited our conversation to important things we wouldn't talk much would we?"

"It's just..." she took a deep breath and averted her eyes from Saten's gaze before continuing, "on what day should an anniversary be?"

The question was sudden, but Saten was excited to hear it. It seems she had decided to take her up on her offer from yesterday and tell her about this guy. Saten was happy to have been chosen to be her source of advice and promised that she would do her best to provide it. So she gave it some thought before answering. "Well usually it's a month or year or some other significant length of time after the relationship starts."

"And when is that? When exactly does a relationship begin?" Misaka questioned, voicing her inner conflicts. It was a relief just to talk about this and maybe Saten could really help her sort things out.

"That question is a little more difficult," Saten said, "In manga and things there always seems to be one pivotal moment of romance, a confession, a kiss, or something similar that lets you know that they are a couple. I suppose you could choose something like that."

Misaka seemed to mull her answer over for a while before nodding, "I suppose that works. Thanks."

"No problem, though I'd be able to give you better advice if I knew the details. Can you at least tell me what he's like?"

"Annoying. (s)he's[3] a complete pest that bugs me almost constantly while I'm with him. He does what he wants with little regard to the feelings of others. He's stubborn, arrogant, and vain and he frequently tries to push his interests on others. Not only that but he's a pervert that frequently teases me," She ranted before muttering to herself, "who does he think he is... calling me a housewife."

Saten suddenly had the image of Misaka in an apron with a frying pan, smiling as she said, "welcome home dear." She tried hard not to laugh but it was too much for her to keep in and she burst out into laughter, attracting a few stares from the restaurant's other patrons and making Misaka blush at the attention. "Don't laugh," she said angrily.

"Gomen, gomen," she said getting a hold of herself again, "So does he have any redeeming features or are you just a masochist?"

Her blush deepened as she started to regret talking to Saten, but at the same time it felt good to talk about this, as if a great weight was being lifted off her shoulders. So she took a deep breath and continued, "He's unwaveringly loyal to the people he cares about and once he has found something or someone he likes he is completely and utterly devoted to it. He has an unshakable sense of justice and will risk his own life to help others. He's very kind and very forgiving."

"Sounds decent enough I suppose. When did you two meet?"

"A few months ago."

That came as a bit of a shock. 'She's managed to hide a guy from us for all that time? I must have been blind not to see it. Then again, maybe I just assumed that she wasn't the type to have a boyfriend.' Saten reasoned.

Misaka was getting a bit restless. She looked uncomfortable, like she didn't really want to continue. Saten was eager for more information but decided to leave it here. "Well I wish you two luck. I hope my advice turns out to be useful, and I'd be happy to give more sometime."

Misaka smiled, happy that Saten was dropping it here. If she had continued Misaka might have accidently let something slip. "Yeah, thanks a lot."

They continued to talk about light, inconsequential things, leaving the restaurant after a while and doing some window shopping before parting ways.

Misaka began walking home. She had had a good time and the talk had helped but there were still several unresolved problems. Talking to Saten had made her realize just how easily some detail could slip out and then the world would find out about her and Kuroko. After that... she didn't know what would happen. It wasn't purely out of shame that she kept it all a secret, though it would be a lie to say that didn't play a part in it, it was also because she didn't want everything to change. Her life was good right now, happy. She didn't want to lose any part of it. As long as no one knew about her and Kuroko nothing would change and they would stay happy, right?

The whole thing scared her, and that fear annoyed her. She wished she could just fix this problem like she could all her others, by pumping it so full of electricity that it stopped moving, the fact that she couldn't made her angry.

That's when she saw a familiar patch of spiky hair turn off from the crowd into an alley. Misaka smiled, 'this works' she thought to herself as she followed her unlucky little punching bag.

She didn't know how long she chased him or how many lightning bolts she fired at him to no effect. She didn't know how far they had run or where they were. She didn't care.

Right now she had him cornered in an alley. Lightning crackled in her hand as she wondered just how many volts she could sink into the little hand of his without causing another blackout. however, just before she could fry him, her phone went off. She frowned at the interruption but retrieved the device from her pocket, checking who it could be.

It was a message from Kuroko, "Just got done with Judgment for the day but I still have to finish my other work. I miss you and I wish that I didn't have to do this so I could spend some time with you. But you'll be in my thoughts, so keep me in yours XOXO. -Kuroko"

When she finished reading it she smiled. The workout/venting session had long since worn away her anger, leaving her feeling exhausted and happy. For some reason this simple text made her fell glad. 'Maybe this is what it feels like to be in a relationship,' she mused.

Then she turned on her heel and left the alley to find her way home, forgetting all about the confused little punching bag wondering what had been on that phone that had saved him from further onslaught.

"I will, so do your work well then hurry on home. -Misaka"

[1] that may sound impossible but there is a difference between a level zero and an ordinary person. A level zero emits AIM, even if it is a miniscule amount. Kuro doesn't emit any.

[2] As opposed to the common assumption that Konori's power is X-ray vision (it's what I thought it was) her power is actually a form of clairvoyance that allows her to see hidden things and prevents her from being surprised.

[3] Despite the fact that this fanfiction is in English the fact is that the people are still speaking Japanese, which (as far as my limited knowledge of Japanese goes) doesn't always differentiate between male and female third person pronouns. Misaka is being deliberately ambiguous in her speech because while she doesn't want to draw attention to herself, she feels that using the word boyfriend or male pronouns would be lying and showing that she was ashamed to be in a relationship with Kuroko. However, for the ease of the reader I will put male pronouns to signify what someone hearing it would presume.