Author's Notes: OMG WTF LOL! [Ahem] Hey kids! Say hello to your best friend, "another chapter"! Love it! Worship it! I'm a bit of a spaz. This chapter is chockfull of—you guessed it—Sora and Mimiru fluff. And for a limited time only, available only to S/M fans, WAFF all around!
The last chapter was a bit unclear, and it makes this seem like a bad follow-up. So reread chapter 3 again—it's been edited quite a bit.
[SO FULL OF ANGST!]
A little short, but it gets the job done.
Love took me by the hand
Love took me by surprise
Love lead me to you
Love opened up my eyesDrop In the Ocean – Michelle Branch
Sora was not at all surprised or shocked to hear muted sniffles and curses as he ascended the staircase to the rooftop of the Elf's Haven—one of the more logical decisions he had made. Jumping would startle her—it would have been like ambushing a caged animal. (Normally, Sora the Nuisance had little against ambushing caged animals. Today's scenario had a different sort of impact on him.) And, even as his feet trudged up the cold, stone-crusted stairwell, he made an effort to be as silent as humanly possible—which was actually quite difficult. The hollowness of the well made echoless climbing a challenge.
"Dammit… Damn this whole thing…"
Another sniffle. He did not falter in his steps, though he commanded his ears to be attentive. They perked, as a feline's fuzz-riddled ears do when netting distinct sounds.
At first, when he bid Tsukasa to enter the dungeon room from which Mimiru had escaped and Subaru had been forcefully ejected, he thought Tsukasa's reaction was that of sheer stupidity, as in not being able to discern the tidbits of conversation. But then, as the Wavemaster's shoulders sank, Sora knew that he had read into it well. Better than he'd hoped.
Unfortunately, Subaru's innocent inquiries had pushed Mimiru to the brink.
And Sora knew that she knew that he would show up sometime. The intent of this visit was unclear, even to him.
"Damn Subaru."
A pause, a sniffle, and a loud thud indicated she had probably smashed her fist on the floor of the rooftop. He continued to ascend until he was faced with light, and then the faint outline of Mimiru's curled-up, miserable form.
"Damn everything—"
"Now, now," he said airily, announcing his presence as he toddled out of the corridor, hands folded behind his head. "Damning isn't nice, you know. And on the same note, neither are vulgarities."
…
"Go away."
"No."
"…Please go away?"
"No"
"…Pretty please?"
It became obscenely clear that Mimiru did not wish to be seen in her momentary state of weakness. She turned away from him, still hugging her knees and hiccupping and sniveling. Her armor grated lightly against the bricks, sparking faintly. Sora kept an even control over his facial expression. Even he, a seasoned warrior and a jester-y character, found the entire situation to be…pathetic…and all the while worthy of the great Sora-sama's sympathies. He sighed inwardly, making a note to kill her later. He was losing his grasp on his insanity.
He vaulted in the air, propelling himself flawlessly before landing in a crouching position next to Mimiru, knees bent in a rather catlike position to absorb what little impact there was.
"Don't look at me," the Heavy Blade ordered, inching away from the poof-pants Twin Blade. She inhaled, as if it was a difficult task—dry sobs wracked her thin frame, and had also done little to keep her voice at an even pitch. "I look pathetic. I feel pathetic. And I don't cry. Leave me the hell alone." She thrust out one hand to shove him back a little. Much to her dismay, he didn't budge. He didn't even flinch. "Dammit, Sora," she cursed him, moving away. "I'm tired and hungry… I really want to log out, but nobody's home and I'll be bored… I wanna talk to somebody, but Bear isn't online…hell, neither is BT…"
"Don't you get tired of complaining?" he asked dryly, laying down and propping himself up on his elbows. Mimiru's back tensed.
"What do you think!?" she snapped, clearly affronted. Sora raised an eyebrow, obviously not expecting his offhanded comment to trigger a vehement response. Her fingers swiped at the spots beneath her eyes again, smearing her tanned face with drying tears. "I-if I could get a hold of these feelings, then I would, okay!? I didn't ask for this!"
Sora stared at the sky, suspended in the lighter hour before dusk. The sky was only slightly orange; he had read on the BBS (right above a topic lamenting on some of his homicidal handiwork) that the ageless Root Towns would soon experience the variations of night and day.
It kind of sucked, in his opinion. But he couldn't very well change the decision of the programmers.
He became distinctly aware that she had continued.
"I never wanted to love Tsukasa in the first place!" she belted out, smashing her fist against the ceiling again. The collision vibrated in the foundation of the rooftop floor.
He turned to look at her. She didn't notice, vocalizing her torment to the reeling skies. He snorted, shifting his weight to his elbows. "You're quite the slave to your emotions," Sora told her, tilting his head backwards and allowing strands of green to lilt over his shoulders and sweep the eroded roof. "Girls have a knack for that, don't they?"
Mimiru drew in another fluctuant breath and swallowed thereafter. And she sniffled for what must've been the twentieth time. "Would you feel better if I blamed it on my hormones?" she shot back. She then scoffed, rolling away from him again. "Ah, why am I talking to you…what do you know… I'm going. I have some complaining to do."
She stood, rather wobbly on her twiggy legs. Before she could make her grand angry exit, Sora's hand shot out and yanked her ankle back. Naturally, a level 46 Heavy Blade has little, if anything, against a level 90 Twin Blade with impeccable reflexes. Her leg gave out, and she toppled to the ground with a high-pitched yelp that prompted some of the citizens of the Aqua Capital to look up quizzically.
She sat on the floor, rubbing her throbbing rear upon which she had fallen. "That hurt," she whined.
"You scream loudly. Actually, it would've been better if you hadn't screamed at all. Stupid is as stupid does."
"Thanks," Mimiru said apathetically. "Sora, I mean it. I'm going. It's been…less than fun."
"Not even going to stay and chat? I thought you had more etiquette than that," he crooned. "Hey, I'm rhyming. I've got great timing. I—"
"O-kay, that's enough outta you, Shakespeare," Mimiru cut in with a sharp gesture of her hand. "I think Bear will log on soon," she murmured, more to herself than Sora. "I need to talk to him."
"About Tsukasa-kun?"
A weak smile. "Who else?"
"How 'bout you talk now?" he supplied.
"Huh?"
"Better sooner than later, am I correct?"
"Maybe," she confessed, drawing her knees to her chest again and glancing out of him out of the corner of her eye. The wetness had faded somewhat, leaving a tired, smudgy look. "But I wouldn't… I mean… Why you? I…I mean, no offense, Sora, but you're…not the kind of person I'm really going to talk to about my problems." The Heavy Blade appeared faintly apologetic, but her lack of remorse for the comment simply reinforced the idea that she didn't care much for him. A shame, too; Tsukasa wasn't the only true-blue enigma in The World.
Instead of voicing his disesteem, he merely shrugged, bobbing his shoulders. "I'm here," he said so unceremoniously, he appeared to be telling her what color the sky was at lunchtime (sans rain or snow or sleet or hail). "So talk."
He was greeted with silence, and he turned to look at her.
"You tell me to talk," she said finally with a disheartened smile, "and I don't know what to say. You tell me not to complain, I complain." A now friendlier (but still rather solemn) Mimiru locked eyes with him. "I'm hopeless, aren't I?"
"Quite."
"Rhetorical question, Sora."
"Ah. Well, in that case, not at all. I can see it now. You've got a bright and glorious future ahead of you."
"That was sarcasm, wasn't it?"
"Is this the face of someone who would lie to you?"
"Hell yes."
"Now that's untrusting. I'm hurt, Mimiru-chan."
"You're pathetic."
"But charming."
"Manipulative."
"Clever."
"Arrogant."
"Rightfully so."
She threw her arms in the air, exasperated. "You're hopeless!"
"Quite," he countered at last with a cheeky smile.
Her gaze sifted through the adequately indecipherable lights in his eyes, and it held for a few breathless seconds, before she burst into laughter, all traces of her depression gradually leaving. The laughter subsided after a short while, and she rocked back and forth in her sitting position, Sora lying lazily beside her, withdrawn to his shrewd thoughts once more.
After a substantial moment of silence, the Heavy Blade, with a newfound burst of adrenaline, retracted her legs and then sprang to her feet. "That really was fun," Mimiru conceded, cracking her knuckles and stretching her slim back.
Sora nodded absently, standing up slowly and deliberately.
"I guess I'll see you around, Sora."
She paused, becoming faintly aware of his presence somewhere behind her, looming loftily overhead like an infringing shadow. She jerked around to look at him for a second; his hands were behind his head, and he, too, looked prepared to leave the town (and go address-hunting, no doubt). She stared at him as he glanced idly over the edge of the roof, uncaring and flippant.
The Heavy Blade awkwardly wrapped her arms around his midsection, around the lean torso with the belts crisscrossing it in a leather X formation. "Don't tell me you're gonna fall again," she chided him quietly, a slight flush creeping onto her tanned cheeks.
He smirked. "Only if you push me."
In the stairwell, a Wavemaster clad in variegating shades of brown and tan and gray stood in the frigid shadows. His violet eyes twinkled with something unreadable, and, head hung low, he exited, footsteps muffled by the soft structure of his shoes.
Of course Sora noticed. He would be a fool not to.
But he reveled in the position for a little while longer.