[EDIT : I fixed an inconsistency which came with adding an extra scene before already written one, sorry about it, if you got there before I could rewrite it.. Also, for some reason, few words here and there seem to go lost in cyber space while uploading, add that to me leaving out words if writing fast it totals into a probable mess. Som in case an error enough to obstruct reading occurs, please let me know.]
/AN: Thanks dearly jaylesmis, I solemnly hope this will be nothing but satisfactory (truth be told, that part's one of the guidelines I'm supposed to follow, but no telling, ay?)
Also, given how just many peeps out there are actually reading a humble work of mine, this one comes as awfully embarrassed y'know, so take responsibility dogburnit! (:
Anyhow, my musings aside, the randomly hit author's mp3player references are (+them song included)
Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX - Fancy (referenced as a ringtone)
Cypress Hill - Lowrider (scene outlay reference [reference can be understood without the specific song in question])
With these words, this one bids thee good evening and offers a chance to enjoy another fabulous chapter of Strike Love.
Disclaimer : Now, if I owned a thing of this, this series would be a real series not a damn fanfiction, so in other words, this one holds no effing rights whatsoever to any part of MSLN-franchise, and (unfortunately) that be final, ay.
You know the feeling you get sometimes, the one telling you something's quite not right, while you still can't put your finger on just what exactly is amiss, or the moment when you actually could if you really wanted but fall short just because it's so much easier to pretend you can't see it?
And the nagging voice you silenced turned out to be your reason instead of the memories and emotions you tried to run away from.
Some call it irony, some twist of fate.
Me?
I named it reality, the biggest bitch ever.
~Takamachi Nanoha.
MSLN FF – Strike Love
May 8th – Afternoon
Central Midchilda – Cranagan
Hotel Augusta – Parking Lot
"Sorry.. *Puff* to have *Huff* kept you waiting," Fate managed to utter in her ragged breath. It may have been only may, but damn if it was hot in the sun. Especially running. She could have taken it a bit easier, but for some mysterious reason she felt compelled to sweat her way to the hotel. It might or might not have had something to do with the message taunting her she got from a number she had saved under the name 'Takamachi' who had been given an honor of having a customized ringtone of her own with Fancy by Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX set to play should the unstable girl ever call her just to make it more compelling to pick up the device and answer. And also to match the character her childhood friend had turned out to have grown into.
"Your face says you're making some really disrespecting comments inside your head just now, I hope it was just about Nanoha," Hayate gave an inquisitive look at the blonde girl that stopped at a short distance apart to try and catch her breath, before turning her eyes back on the girl who was less than happy about the way it was implied that her dignity was less relevant, leaving the girls to fight a silent battle of myriad stares and gestures.
Fate could not decide if it was funny, or just sad, and decided to simply shrug it off and focus on the question that had been bothering her now that she saw the two brunettes the first time after they had left the school premises while she made a quick visit to the student council.
The shorter brunette had given up on her fluffy cap and opted to part her hair to her left with barrettes that were arranged to form the letter H. She wore a size too large white jersey that read Don't Fuck With Me! under a gray light hoodie accented with Belkan letters that Fate did not recognize. On her legs she wore gray college pants that Fate felt much more fitting to be worn in than outdoors and a pair of white, black and pink shaded skate shoes with pink laces that were most likely borrowed from Nanoha. The what the blonde dubbed as kid of gangsta rap look was topped with a golden necklace spelling QUEEN. The kid part, however, was probably not intended and was better left unsaid. Or so she figured by the brunette's attitude, and swore it wasn't anything like prejudice, no, her mother would hang her should she ever be caught stating something resembling it.
Precia Testarossa, as loving mother as she was, was still a woman whose rules weren't to be fucked with. And one of them just so happened to ban prejudice, with the option of walking the walk of shame or suicide by hanging, if one was to be caught thinking something even remotely resembling it. The blonde shrugged as she shivered and moved along, shifting her attention on the girl she both wanted not so didn't want to pay more attention to.
The taller of the pair was almost the exact opposite of her shorter counterpart, not wanting to hide even an inch of her sexy body shaped by intense athletic exercises. The taller well shaped brunette had chosen herself a black bikini top covered with a peach colored tank top that left a whole lot of skin exposed at the top side in addition to being nearly see-through. The way the red round jewel left lying on top between her breasts offered an obvious cheap getaway for the gazes drawn in the region. And on her hips she wore a gray hoodie tied around them (so this time's it's on hips, and not around waist, the blonde felt compelled to add in her own inner description) almost covering her blue washed denim shorts which left a view to a pair of fine toned athletic legs that were this time left bare without the high socks she wore at school.
Fate had a hard time deciding where to lay her eyes at, with all the smooth peach creamy skin that seemed to glisten in the sun. In the end, she decided that the gray and white flat shoes were the safest place to look at.
She could really feel the heat rising within, and she blamed it on the hot and still air and the blazing sun. She was so not turned on by the brunette, neither of them, and never would be. Not even if the taller one of them pushed her down and let her hand slide under..- Focus, the question, yes. She took a calming breath and returned to the surface of the real world, raising her eyes back on the girls that had stopped their bickering having found no apparent winner on their mock battle.
"How did you manage to get changed and arrive first? I mean I didn't take that long," Fate managed to hide most of her wild running thoughts behind her cool voice.
"I'm fast when needed, and slow when wanted," Hayate gave a wink to emphasize the low sweet tone she purred the last half with, hell bent on acting out the chosen character fully through, whatever may come.
"I live along the way, we popped by.." Nanoha referred to her small school affiliated apartment just across the bridge that ran over the lake connecting the capitol and the TSAB Academy grounds. "..Oh, I thought you knew~ You fail as a stalker.." Resuming with a voice filled with sarcastic disappointment. "..Then again, you totally win as an ogler," And finished with a smirk and a wink raising a flush on Fate's heated face as she realized her staring had not gone unnoticed.
Damn her wide perception.
"It was purely platonic admiration, don't think too hard on it," I hate you, but I'm not blind. In an aesthetic sense it looked good. Although, I will never admit that out loud.
"Oh, so which one was who caught your 'platonic' eye?" The taller brunette purred and turned to pose wiggling with her back on the shorter.
"I'd kinda like ta know too, your platonic type?" The shorter followed the suit with her voice matching her outfit.
"I bet it's the hot fluffy mama.." Nanoha started with a singing voice glancing at Hayate.
"..Or is your dream night lover.." Who again followed her taller friend leading the girls to sway to the rhythm they made on the go.
"..The one with less cover?" Hayate faked a gasp at Nanoha's words
"..Don't kill us, give a holler," The taller brunette made a shooting motion with her shorter friend's words.
""Oh~"" The girls murmured simultaneously going for a smooth change in flow. If the blonde would not have felt it made to mock her, she could have appreciated their little show, especially the way they could match each other without even looking. Although somehow, the matching part just made her grit her teeth all the more.
"Was it the skin that shone?" Nanoha swayed even wider with her whole body shaking along.
"Or the sweet sexy tone?" Hayate joined in the rhythm of the other girl.
"Was it this all along?" Nanoha emphasized her hips exaggeratedly.
"You dirty chaperon~" Hayate gave a few teasing winks.
"You like the way we roll?" Nanoha seemed to roll her every joint in a very sexy circular motion.
"Let's hear it, be bold~" Hayate surprisingly showed a bit more moderation, that is until she blew a kiss at the girl watching their show signaling her partner the end of it with a wiggle of her butt. Having finally stopped, the brunettes turned to face the blonde with expectant looks on their faces.
Fate felt irritated by the display, and thought that even if she had been, hypothetically speaking, aroused, it would now have been long since gone. If she had been, a big if, she swore, a big if, big enough to necessitate saying it twice, at least.
"Oh no no no, You got it all wrong, I was admiring your coordination.." Fate shocked herself with the tone she was using and how her mouth did not obey. "..You make so adorable couple," I just did not sound like a jealous bitch! OMG!
"Somebody wears a pair a size too tight."
"Nuh-uh, it's just her way of saying 'please come take 'em off I can't take this anymore'."
The brunettes glanced at each other and giggled, irking the blonde just a bit more. She was already regretting having come along and for once she agreed with Nanoha that she was stupid, at least at the moment when she honestly thought something good could come out of this trip.
"C'mon relax honey, is all good, we friends here. We come in peace," Hayate had stepped next to Fate giving her a tap on the shoulder and offered her right hand for a shake while talking with a really weird mixed fake accent that felt copied from all too different kind of characters.
"We make jokes, get over it," Nanoha rolled her eyes raising a stern glare from both of the other girls.
"Lotta shit's gone awry. Choices have been made. And I ain't gon' apologize. But WE-" The short 'gangster' made a dramatic pause, the background music would have stopped if they had been in a TV-Show. "Need to stick together. As a team."
After receiving no reaction from the girl beside her other than a bored look, Hayate kept going on raising her voice as she was swept in in her own theatrics.
"There's a whole goddamn jungle out there, y'know. Everybody's outta get whatever the points they can get from you. They come up right at'cha from a dead angle 'n strike right thru your defenses the moment when you think you had 'em down and all figured out, stealin' your honey you've worked and fought hard for the chance of making sweet love to once you get back home. But together – we can prevent it. Together we are stronger. Together – we can aspire to achieve our dreams and shine on the silky smooth bed laid at the highest stage. As a team."
"I.." The blonde was at loss of words. She had not expected this, it was.. a passionate speech. Mostly about volleyball... and casual sex. And she could not take it seriously because of it.
"We can't go back.." The shorter brunette spoke and gave a sudden hug to her blonde former friend, before she stepped back a step giving a wink in the mean. "..So let's rooooll on~" She shook her body matching the rhythm she stretched her words in turning around at the end and started walking with a confident swagger ill-suited for someone of her size.
Fate blinked astonished and blinked again before her blank stare met with a face of Nanoha who sighed, deep, and smiled an unreadable mysterious sad smile while giving the blonde a faint nod motioning her to come along.
It all happened too quickly for her to properly react, and most of it made no sense whatsoever, but Fate felt like she had just been offered a 'fresh start' or a something similar but not quite. However you named it did not matter, and while she could not place her trust entirely on the two girls, for the first time in a long while she was feeling.. included with the two. It made her smile to herself, chose a random song from her device that turned out to be the one her former friend had become to call her 'theme-song', before she snapped out of her daze and started running after the girls who did not bother to wait for her.. At all. Tch! So much for inclusion. *Puff* And so much confusion.
MSLN FF – Strike Love
EPISODE 3 : Surprises, Secrets & Shrugs
(It's never just sports in Midchilda 2)
May 8th – Afternoon
Central Midchilda – Cranagan
Seat Sports Center – Indoors Arena
The stomps and screeches of multiple sneakers echoed on the hall along the rustling of clothes, smacking sounds of ball hitting against flesh, and girls shouting orders, requests, cheers, and complaints to each other. The intense training session had been going on for two hours, and it began to show on everybody's faces. The damp sweaty fabric clinging on their skin didn't help the mood. Athletes the may be, but it didn't mean they enjoyed being wet, stained, and dirty, and feeling sore, and spent on the blissful pain out of breath at a dopamine high, and no matter how you formed it to sound like they were all more than anxiously awaiting the chance for a refreshing shower and the feel of set of clean clothes on them.
However, there was two notable exceptions. Two girls were so lost immersed in their own war waged on each other that anything else came second. Especially modern day comforts that had no place on the battlefield. For them, getting a nice and warm shower after their sweaty exercise wasn't even a nice reward or a bonus on their minds. Their attention was all on the other party, and the shower they felt like taking would be cold. They felt hot enough as it were. In various ways.
The red pierced into blue as the gleaming stares collided when Fate jumped up in the air to spike the ball fast and hard towards Nanoha, who without taking her eyes off the girl trying to assault her with a volleyball, returned the what was supposed to be a set skillfully and calmly showing a level of control comparing to what one could see displayed at a national level. The brunette wasn't as cool and collected as she appeared, however, but felt burning and seething inside, the blonde was so going to get a killer spike right back at her sooner than later. She so wasn't going to turn a peaceful hobby into a war zone without paying the price.
The captain simply stared at the girls, burning with jealous envy for all the skill shown, and feeling frustrated that both of the obviously top class players were so low class in following orders. The practice was supposed to be about teamwork and set up play, not total annihilation. She felt even worse knowing that she had no hope in matching their stamina. The girls had been going full speed for over an hour and still showed no signs of being worn out while she had been almost too exhausted to fully focus on the simple exercise she had been dutifully performing with everyone else besides the blonde and the brunette dueling, and their short friend who lazily threw the ball around while flirting with her teammates without a single care in the world. That was almost just as infuriating, considering the short brunette who claimed to overtake her position as the captain, while lacking the refined control of the other two, she showed exceptional skill in positioning and strategics as well but didn't seem to be that interested in actually working hard to polish the rough edges from her technique.
The difference between talent and working hard was shown there, loud and clear, and the results weren't in the favor of the current captain.
"Alright, everyone hold up! Good work, that's just about enough for the day! Pack up, hit the showers and we'll meet back at the hotel in an hour."
With the words of the captain left echoing, Nanoha grabbed hold of the lightning fast ball flung to her, smirked smug with a level of such handling and reaction that would earn her an instant place as the starting goalie in the Olympique Lyonnais Féminin as well in the Nadeshiko Japan if she ever wanted to change sports from volleyball to soccer.
Both the captain and the blonde sending to ball to the grinning brunette frowned in unison, each for their reasons, before proceeding to the locker room to hit the showers and head back hotel.
Hayate approached Nanoha, and as her face left everyone's field of vision, she showed her displeasure at her taller friend.
"What the fuck was that foreplay there? You can't keep your fucking panties on for a single moment? This is our best chance to show the seniors who's who, and who's to be left out and who included. Work hard for two days, and party the hell out the third, that's the plan, ya feel me?"
"I'd rather not feel anyone at the moment, sorry, but it's kinda too icky this drenched in sweat.. *sigh* Okay, yes, I get it.. But you gotta tell it to the stupid blonde, she started it!"
The blonde referred to twisted her head and pulled out her tongue hearing the shout, before swaying her hips exaggeratedly while stepping inside the locker room, raising an involuntary grin on both of the brunettes' faces at the sight of the wiggling butt.
"Oh, damn I'll have my threesome, one day for sure, cross my- OW!"
Hayate's declaration was cut short with the hand bumping on her head. Nanoha was not going to allow such promises to be made at her presence, at her expense, not if it involved her. The short brunette could go get her threesomes elsewhere with other women, and preferably, would leave advertising it while she was some place else not hearing a word of it. The few shows her friend had arranged on weekends when the taller brunette's judgment had been clouded by just a little bit too spiked punch were all more than enough, and she had sworn not to have anything to do with anything even remotely similar, no, not ever in her life again.
"Don't get ahead of yourself. And unlike you, I wasn't slacking off, just not following orders. So you get your act together and stop giving me weird ideas.. It's-"
"Get your cute butt showered up, and stop moping about things you can't help. We'll got a surprise back at Augusta."
It was the shorter brunette's turn to cut in her friend's dialogue, she had better things to do than having her friend starting to sulk in confusion. That was a topic for another day, at another location, not then and there, and to further change the atmosphere, she put her arm around the taller brunette while taking side glances on her friend's butt she honestly felt enviously cute, and sexy, yes definitely sexy.. If only she wasn't so against the idea of a little menage a trois.. Lost in her fantasy, she felt compelled to lightly slap and squeeze her friend's butt as they headed to the locker.
*SMACK!*
"Stop hitting me, I'm already your friend!"
"You hit me first."
"It's a sports thing. And it was a quick light tap, not a hit!"
"It's sexual harassment, that's what it is," She didn't even feel the need to bother adding that the other girl squeezed right after the 'little friendly skinship'.
"Oh, just you wait 'till we get to the showers. I'll show you sexual harassment. Oh, I'll show you good~ Good, I tell you."
Nanoha picked up her pace, hurrying inside, took off her clothes faster than eye could catch, and made sure she showered as far away from her friend as it was possible. The mad gleam in the shorter brunette's eyes were not to be taken lightly, and was one of the few things even the White Devil felt a bit cautious about. For a good reason, she reasoned.
Having showered faster than she felt comfortable, but slower than she felt safe, to much of her fortune, and a strange sense of dismay, her friend's attention had shifted from harassing her to the shy senior who seemed to blush a lot more happily than a victim should.
Nanoha shook her head, tried to rid her mind from all the weird thoughts that kept awakening, and put her clothes on in a hurried fashion, deciding to give the two girls left behind their soon much needed privacy.
Trying to leave everything just witnessed behind, she swayed her hips as she danced on the hallway outside the locker room, and only by a sheer chance she missed hitting the blonde left awaiting her former friends. Luckily the blonde stood far enough to not hear how she hadn't actually put her music back on and had been only pretending to listen just to have a valid excuse in case somebody needed to be ignored..
"So, lost little puppy-chan, where you left your mistress?"
"She's right there, waiting for a random blonde to appear and fulfill her little 'awesome threesome'.. Or whatever..."
..And she totally ignored that same option right from the get go in a situation crying out for it. She, however, couldn't ignore the vivid, steamy mental image popping in her head with the thought of Fate actually following the suggestion made in jest.
Seeing the brunette fidgeting and averting her eyes once again, a strange spark lit inside the blonde compelling her to walk up close and blow a whisper into her ear.
"Wouldn't you rather we had our own?"
Face heating up accompanied, and marked loud and clear by the obvious and furious blush the brunette stuttered a few sounds only barely resembling words in a human language. Until she remembered just why she had fought a little war during their training session which led to the discussion striking weird ideas in her head, thoughts she couldn't get rid of no matter how she wanted, and oh did she want, a lot things, right then and there, most of them at odds with each other, and all of them included the blonde murmuring in her ear, in one way or another.
"Stop hitting on me, stalking hentai yuri onna! Or I'll start hitting you, for real!" Only the curious glances the passersby threw at them kept her from kneeing the arrogant self-serving taller girl that she felt compelled to insult inside her head to even out the times she had to at least try to act civil around her. The descriptive terms like hentai-yuri-onna were somehow not considered insulting in her own mind, especially if spoken in random Japanese without any valid reason whatsoever. "Besides, I'd rather something else, like hear an apology."
"Demanding an apology while threatening with violence really suits you, but I hate to break it to you, that's not how it works in the real world outside your pretty little head."
The brunette blushed involuntarily hearing the word pretty associated with her while she wasn't even wearing her usual make up, and began fidgeting even more, until she came to conclusion that the blonde was obviously mocking her, and started fuming in rage instead.
Nanoha lifted her gaze along with her left hand holding up two fingers, ready to explain a few things to the taller girl about things working around here in and outside her head. She leaned in close enough to almost taste Fate, not that she would want it, no way, it was just for dramatic effect, no matter how it looked like from afar. She opened her mouth to spit her words of truth..
"It's best if you leave that to the hotel. While I don't mind getting good a view, some other people might."
..However, she was cut short by the sudden voice from behind, causing her to twist her neck in an extremely awkward looking manner, almost whipping the blonde in the face with her ponytail in the mean. Luckily the taller girl had sharp reflexes and reaction speed matched by none, and managed to dodge the threads of hair threatening to hit her.
"Aw, ack, ugh, um, ehh.."
Nanoha fell a few proper words short on her explanation, but to her fortune, Hayate had bought the copy of Embarrassed-Girl – Midchildan dictionary and was able to translate it perfectly. However, unfortunately for her, her friend didn't care about that, and was far more keen on to cling on the juicy misconceptions.
"Now, now, it's not that a long walk back to hotel from here," The short brunette stepped in close and lifted her thumb up while giving a wink to almost just as stunned blonde. "Fight on~!" And began laughing at her own mannerisms while patting the other girls on their backs briefly and pushed them on to start moving ahead.
For a second Nanoha felt the sudden turnaround in her friends attitude a bit, or a lot, odd and examining her friend's expression closer she saw the short brunette devoid of the afterglow she usually gleamed in after engaging in skinship a few stages deeper than what the taller brunette felt comfortable thinking about. She, however, couldn't help but perceive it strange, even if she didn't want to sink too deep into the thought.
Shaking her head to get rid of the unnecessary thoughts, she picked up her pace to match her friend's, pushed her on the shoulder, almost tripping her while taking a quick glance over her shoulder seeing the blonde following silently a few steps behind. With the two brunette engaged on another weird mixture of jokes, war of glares, light pushing, and laughter, and the blonde watching it while shaking her head and rolling her eyes, the three girls ventured on their journey back to the hotel from the day's training session at the sports center.
MSLN FF – Strike Love
May 8th – Evening
Central Midchilda – Cranagan
Hotel Augusta – Parking Lot
The three girls walked through the parking lot heading towards the hotel topping the central view in mostly silent atmosphere. Nanoha did not have anything to say, while starting to get accustomed to, she was still far from being happy about how she had to keep running into the girl she so wanted to have nothing to do with, and how she had to drag her along for reasons she could only see as scheming against her. Her friend might have all the good intentions behind her actions, she knew, but it did not make her feel less betrayed. Nanoha – was so not amused.
Fate on the other hand, was confused, a bit wet, not yet fully dried from showering, and for no other reason, obviously, or that would be how she would respond if and when asked about it, but most of all she was – annoyed. She was not coping all that well with her hormonal reaction to the taller of the two brunettes and she had just as hard a time trying to figure out the shorter one. After their fall out, Hayate had remained mostly indifferent. She was not mean, but she sure had been cold to her. And for whatever reason she appeared dead set on patching the relationship between the two girls at war without getting all too emotionally involved at the same. That just did not feel right.
The most annoying part was, however, how the air around smelt like trouble. The two highly unstable brunettes had gone from flirty to cocky, and the crowd hanging around their rides at the other end of the lot did not look like company parents wanted their kids to play around with. The worst part – the brunette duo was heading right at the direction that boomed Lowrider by Cypress Hill. This was so not good. And not just because Fate wasn't a fan of gangsta rap. Most definitely not. Well, mostly not.
Seeing the trio arriving, a tall man with green hair wearing a white suit rose up from one of the cars and headed a few steps front with a few guys standing close behind him with a whole lot of mean looking girls, or young women, she couldn't decide, anyway the crowd on the back all turned their attention on the scene starting to play out with the man in the suit acknowledging the presence of the smaller brunette that went a step ahead the two other girls. The man frowned, cleared his throat, and shifted his full attention on the small girl coming to confront him. Oh, great now the kid of gangsta rap tried to act a gangster.. Fate became ever less happier with the direction things were heading into.
"What brings your ugly ass down here? What? You think you're welcome?"
"Heard a bird causing up trouble, but seein' again – it's just a raccoon," The guy smirked back.
"Ya wanna get down here? Too bad you ain't gon' get down on this, even if you begged."
"I was just about to say the same."
Fate was at loss of what was going on when Nanoha simply watched the scene like it was all in day's business and when the blonde threw an inquiring look, the brunette just shrugged and turned her attention elsewhere and waved at a few girls that were wearing a black striped red and white skirt and a pure white sleeved, red, black and white shirt with an imposing emblem on the chest indicating it was a part of Belkan High's school uniform and began approaching from behind the boy and the girl engaged in their stare down. The blonde altered her gaze between the oncoming girls and the bickering pair, and as her eyes fell back on the green haired older boy, she saw him smirking and.. Hayate gave a loud laugh in return while spreading her arms open wide.
"Come on, give your sister a hug."
"Right, come here," The tall man grabbed the short girl in a tight hug lifted her in the air, spun around and put her back down. "Good to see you haven't changed a day."
"Wish I'd say the same. What's up with the suit?" Hayate stared in genuine surprise.
"Long story, but you'll probably want to hear it anyway, so let's get back on it later."
Watching the two exchange their pleasantries and get immersed in their own conversation Nanoha took Fate by her arm sending a small jolt through the blonde's body. After resisting the instinct to pull back and cower, she met the sapphire eyes shining oddly warmly given the person she was looking at, and followed as she was dragged closer to meet the strange green haired man.
"..from the streets that Scaglietti's back in charge. I take it you can guess the implications?"
"Shit, so they're not just tackling sports, huh.. Damn if I knew that bitch-school was up to no good. I thought they were just fronting Saint Hilde with that name, but ah, nothing we can do about it now. Thanks for the heads up, though. Really appreciated. Anyhow, say hello to the next superstar of volleyball team at the TSABA's High-School Section," Hayate seemed really vexed about something she had just heard, but quickly assumed her usual cheery self when her two companions stepped in closer.
Nanoha pushed Fate a bit forwards as the tall man turned to take a look at the blonde while extending his hand.
"Verossa Acous, at your service, my fair lady," Verossa gave a wink that send shivers down the blonde's spine and raised a small frown on Nanoha's face. "Now if you was straight, I'd definitely hit on you."
"Fate Testarossa," Fate was bit taken aback for the man's words but due to having been in all too many formal occasions she could maintain her cool posture. "I appreciate your restraint." The situation still called a few words.
"Hahahah! Love her already! Alright, lemme know if you ever need anything, any friend of lil' raccoon is a friend of mine," He gave another wink at the end with a wave of his hand thrown in the mix. The man patted Hayate's head shuffling her hair for a bit raising a fake frown on her, before he turned to dance his way back to his large American car not forgetting to spin around to wink one last time for the girls.
"What was that about?" Nanoha gave a worried look to her shorter friend.
"Nothing too bad I hope, this shit is messing my groove," Hayate pulled her I-Dev out as she sighed to herself and glanced at the horizon. "I'll give Rein a call just in case. Meanwhile, why don't you go grab a drink, and hang around or something, in case you don't feel like standing around holding the doors open. And don't worry about helping out the boys, it's their job to do the heavy lifting.. Well most of that stuff ain't ours, anyhow."
"Don't give me that face, you know I take care of my girls, relax. It's all going to be alright. With this crew right here, nothing can go wrong," The shorter brunette gave a small hug for the taller and a reassuring smile at the blonde, while nodding at the three girls standing a bit apart from them, before heading some steps apart from her two worrying friends to make a phone call.
Fate looked at Nanoha who seemed just as puzzled about the situation and wondered if it should be just shrugged off as any other. There was something unpleasant in the air and not just the intoxicating perfume the brunette had on her. She had seen enough gangster movies to know that something bad was going on, or about to happen.
"I wonder why it's never just sports in Midchilda.. Sometimes I just feel like I am in some bad anime conversion that keeps throwing stuff in the mix at random with no apparent plot.." The brunette frowned to herself waving her ponytail on the side and bouncing right back to her familiar self, she stepped right next to the girls who had stopped approaching a short distance apart and were standing still chatting with some guys carrying a large set of electronic equipment from the white vans near the entrance.
"You can go keep the doors open! I trust that's not too much for you!" She turned to yell at the girl left behind.
"I don't know, being a decoration is more fitting for you," Fate answered with a smirk.
"Yeah, that's why I'll just hang around here, stupid~!" Nanoha gave a heartfelt laugh and jumped to hug a short girl with a long azure hair Fate vaguely remembered having seen posing with her former friend on a few, or a lot of photos actually, and it so did not make her jealous, no, not one bit. Not even when the brunette started hugging the short redhead beside her as well. Or when she saw do the same to the third, who was not only a lot taller than the others but also bore a striking resemblance to a young woman she worked with at her part-time job last summer.. And now that she looked at her closer, she indeed looked a lot like Signum, too similar to be a coincidence. The only question left was why was an adult wearing a school uniform?
The blonde took a deep breath and began approaching the girl she deemed too old to pose as a high-school girl, even if there were many people with a joshikousei or JK-fetish, something that had somehow carried over here from Japan, along with other things. In fact, a whole lot of stuff had been taken from there recently, with a bit western spice in the mix, what a strange country this was turning into, she thought..
"Ah, Testarossa.. Seems you got in after all," The young woman with her long pink dyed hair tied on a high ponytail stepped forth greeting the approaching blonde.
"That I did.. And.. You? Um, sorry, don't take this the wrong way, but I thought you were a bit older.."
"Oh, well.. I.. *ahem*"
"Signum got pussy whipped back to school," The short girl with a braided red hair and large fluffy cap cut in explaining in Signum's stead.
"That's.. one way of putting it. I'd prefer it said that my girlfriend wants me to graduate," Who clicked her tongue and shook her head at the way Vita had phrased her situation.
"The same fucking thing, stop fussing about it, you're the captain this year, so woman up girl," And the foulmouthed redhead shook her own head with a shrug as well as she scolded the older girl.
"Yeah, we need to put on a performance like no other from the get go, a clear cut sign stating Belkan High ain't a school to be messed with, yeah," The azure haired girl stepped forth posing in a manner that so did not suit her appearance, nor her character, which even Fate, who didn't know the girl's true character, knew instinctively.
"Oh.. Zwei.. Don't try too hard, it's just us," Nanoha hugged the imposing girl tightly from behind and rustled her hair while taking sneaky inhales enjoying the scent the shorter girl emitted. "Nyahahaha~! Cute Lil' Rein get!"
Watching her new teammate slash former friend playing catch and release with the blushing shorter girl really pissed the blonde off, and she felt like she had just seen enough and started to head inside while rolling her eyes and clicking her tongue barely hearing Reinforce moaning complaints at the mannerisms of the brunette toying with her.
"Ungh~! Takamachi...! I'm not a little doll.. or pokemon.. seriously.."
"Um, yeah, well, let's catch up later.." Fate turned to yell at the girls leaving them stunned at the sudden retreat, before they decided to simply shrug it off and resume their usual chattering.
Having left the cheery 'sickly-sweet' scene behind, the blonde walked around the entrance trying the ask if there was anything she could have helped with just to shift her attention, but all she got was 'go grab a cold one', 'wes got dis' or 'just be there lookin good babe' with a wink, each and every time. No wonder Hayate's eyelids never rested when all her friends do is wink around. She could swear she saw them communicate with just winks alone. Sighing at the lack of partakeable activities, she decided it would probably be best if she just checked back in her room and idled the rest of the evening away, if there was nothing else, she could even try to get to know her seniors from the team better. That was sort of the point of camping out after all. More than hanging out with kids from the school they were going to face on the field a week later.
"Yo! You friends with the 'Queen'?" A sudden strong voice of young woman made Fate turn around to see three girls wearing unfamiliar school uniform.
"Isn't you Testarossa?" A girl about Fate's age with her short her hair dyed in odd shade of turquoise gave a questioning look.
"She is." Shorter girl with a long white hair turned her golden eyes to her friend at her side for a brief instance and then right back to meet Fate's "May we have a moment?"
The blonde felt a bit cautious, she had already made it clear to herself not to judge people without getting to know them, but something about these three was.. off.
"You're friends of Y- Hayate?" She almost called the shorter brunette by her last name, but felt it would be better to just use her first name casually. This situation seemed to scream foul just as much as their style.
"Yeah.." The three gave an odd glance at each other, before the tallest of the trio turned to speak first "So, where's the little raccoon? Somewhere 'round?"
The way they talked lifted up another red flag. If they tried to sound Belkan, it was off by a light year, although they did have an odd east-side taste to their accent.
"Yeah, I suppose. Unless she ran away to hide from all the hard work." Fate wanted to play safe and keep throwing random responses hoping the girls would reveal something that would be helpful to know if they could or should be trusted. She might have been a bit paranoid, but a little caution never hurt anyone. The dating tips from her mother now actually came to be of use.
"Haha! Wouldn't be the first." The turquoise haired gave a laugh that seemed.. forced? This was seriously starting to worry Fate. Three strikes, you're out. Unfortunately, she played volleyball, not baseball. Oh shoot.
"You don't mind if we hang around and wait?" The shortest of the girls asked.
"Sure.. Whatever, I couldn't stop you anyway. It's not like I own the place." The blonde felt she might have already given enough chances to find out if they were trustworthy people or not. Which they failed, but seeing how Hayate's friends would probably not let any suspicious characters loom around a place with rooms reserved to them. So.. If she took the girls upstairs, the truth would out, hopefully. "Want to go see if she's up there? I could take you."
The girl with the short purple hair, who seemed to be the most commanding of the three, took a quick look around, gave Fate a nod, and motioned her to lead on.
Hoping to pass by as many people as possible, Fate made a point of choosing the busiest stairs to climb up. She did not want to go around assuming that every tattooed, pierced, weirdly dyed, or street fashioned guy would just happen to know who was trouble and who was clean and what not, so she had to try and circle in front of as many eyes as she could. She was frustrated that none of the people inside the hotel wore Belkan High's uniform. That way she could have at least gotten a hint on who to look for questions. Assuming that everybody at Belkan High knew Hayate. And speaking of that..
Would Nanoha know? She cursed how the girl was nowhere to be found again. Just like earlier at school, when she wanted to find the brunette, she disappeared, and appeared again just at the wrong time. Then Fate remembered. Right, I can send a message. I just hope I can understand whatever she answers, if she answers. She was not confident on being able read the girl's unique language.
She started typing as they went by.
[~Takamachi:
Are you busy?]
*Bling*
[Takamachi:
mayb y?]
*Bling*
[Takamachi:
shoot]
[~Takamachi:
Just asking. How much you know about Hayate's friends?]
*Bling*
[Takamachi:
(¿~_~?)]
*Bling*
[Takamachi:
their gud ppl (^_^)]
*Bling*
[Takamachi:
y?
any1 specific?]
[~Takamachi:
One is tall with short purple-ish hair.
Two shorter, somewhere between you and Hayate?
The shorter has long white hair, and the last is it turquoise or aquamarine? Anyway really weird color.]
[~Takamachi:
And it's they're not their, stupid.]
*Bling*
[Takamachi:
LMFAO]
*Bling*
"You know, it's not very polite.." A voice awakened Fate from her thoughts and drew her attention from Nanoha's messages to the three girls she was asking her about. And then she knew, they had to be bad people. Nobody starts a conversation with 'you know', Nobody!
"You asked us along, then ignore us.. How rude~" The girl with the very odd colored hair squirmed in an awkward manner. Apparently, they stopped caring about all the red flags, well too late to be honest now.
"Which was it? 'Queen Yagami' or..?" The tallest of the girls wore a stern inquisitive glare that so did not fit in well with the air quotes.
"Takamachi I suppose.. Lessee.." The shortest stepped in.
"Hey! Wa-!"
Before Fate could react the three girls had surrounded her and were reaching for her device. She tried to look around for help, but no one was there to see. She had no idea on what floor they were in. She had trained for self-defense, a lot, but apparently so were they, she recognized it from the way they started moving with light steps. Plus there were three of them, the odds were against her, badly. She needed to find a way to either get help or run away.
The taller girl drew in with a faint and a sidestep, Fate dodged rolling by just under her arm, when..
"Gotcha! Okay.."
..The one with the odd turquoise colored hair grabbed her from behind. How and when the Hell she moved there? What is she a ninja? And took her device starting to go through Fate's messages after taking a candid shot through the reflection on the floor. A peeping ninja?
"You got it right, Cinque, it was Takamachi, guess what she wants, a picture how sweet~, let's send her one right away."
The two taller girls held her tightly locked in their arms holding one hand on her mouth stopping Fate from screaming help in case someone came close enough by.
"*Ahem* Let's send a better one.." The shortest took Fate's I-Dev and pressed a snapshot, and sent it to 'Takamachi', and proceeded to delete the previous shot taken by the other girl. *Tch!* Fate could have sworn the girl with the turquoise dye just clicked her tongue when her peeping shot was erased.
"Wonder how long it takes for her to come down running?" "Five bucks for five minutes. Would've been faster with my shot." "10 for 1 and no she wouldn't" While the two holding Fate started betting on Nanoha's arrival, a thought suddenly ran through her head.. They're after HER! They want Nanoha! I have to-
"Cavalry's here. Aren'cha one lucky blonde." Fate was not sure who was speaking what. She was thinking, hard. Some very weird people had kidnapped her, lured Nanoha in running and she had to warn her but she could not do anything. She only hoped that even a fracture of the rumors about the White Devil were true. And not the part where she would just laugh at Fate getting captured and pose with the people who did it and upload it to a website gathering people that had been SLB'd. Yes, there was a rumor like that. And why the Hell my brain won't work when I need it!?
And just as she was pulled inside a dark room she saw a visage of a brunette jumping through the door leading in from the stairway her sideways ponytail swinging as she ran.
Nanoha had no idea what was going on. Only thing she knew, was that for some reason, this brought her back memories she had forgotten. Memories she had made herself forget. Ones that were not pleasant. Other than the ones involving the blonde in an embrace tighter than she wanted to be thinking about, she could not remember exactly what it was, but it had something to do with a girl held in arms against her will. It sent a shiver so bad she wanted to vomit. One another thing she was also sure about was that she recognized the uniform the two girls were wearing.
"Sankt Kaizer Girls' School, right? What do you want with Fate.. Testarossa?" Even in as serious a situation she found herself in, she felt the need to correct the way she had addressed the blonde referred to.
"Oh, you've heard of us, how nice, it means our plan is working." The white haired girl holding Fate's device spoke calmly, as if the situation had been completely normal.
"Are you really this desperate for some stupid sport, honestly? That's.. Weak."
Nanoha tried to look for her.. friend? Was it alright to use that word now? Former friend? Childhood friend? Hated friend? They all had the word friend and even frenemy was based on the word, so anyhow, friend or not, they had Fate, somewhere, surely, as she wasn't the kind of girl who would have found something like this a funny joke, if the blonde could even think of a joke in first place, no no no this is not the time for that. First, I help her, then she owns me, I mean I own her. Yes.. No! Calm down! Brain, work!
"Weak? Do you have any idea what kind of money goes around on these circles? Do you? If you want to see weak, come here." Tall girl with purple hair talked provocatively luring Nanoha in closer just by a door she had seen close the moment she entered the hallway. The brunette tried to act brazen, but she felt alarmed. Something's amiss here..
Nanoha was about to lean in in her death glare when the door was suddenly flung open. Wait a minute..
"Now that's weak." The purple haired girl pointed at the open door.. Shit! Where's the third?
..The stupefied brunette saw a blonde girl holding her head shaking it with a dumb look on her face..
"Watch out!" ..and hearing the girl shout a warning she turned around to see a girl with a short aquamarine hair sliding closer..
"Quattro sends her regards!" ..and felt herself kicked inside the room as her attacker continued with a grin. "Have fun~"
*Click*
Having received the greetings sent from a girl Nanoha so did not want to spend any moment reminiscing, she saw the door closing locking the two girls in the unused room's dark embrace. Oh, just great!
"This is your fault, I hate you! Stupid!" Nanoha screamed. Why can it never be just sports in Mid-fucking-childa!
/AN : There's a hint of truth here as well, and that is...the fact that showers can be fun, believe me, or join a sports team, your choice, but the result is same. ;)
Also, this ain't much on service, but I'd bet y'all be smart enough to figure just where this is leading..
..And just in case, the next chapter's more than 'M' warranted.
So stay tuned for our next episode of MSLN FF - Strike Love : Miss Take Mistake (It's never just sports in Midchida 3)
"You guys seen Takamachi and Testarossa?"
"Stop talking about my buttocks!"
"It's kinda cute...the way you can't help yourself."
*Shivering with anticipation, Innocent Raccoon bows humbly, and licks her lips with the words compelling the keyboard to seed future chapters*