A/N: Inspired by the events between them in Episode 12 . Kinda plotless and wishy-washy and confusing but I hope it still makes sense. My favorite thing about this couple is the sense of elegance around them. I wish I was better able to convey that in my story :(

Guardian
BE4UTIFUL

I know he's watching me.

My fingers tighten slightly around the rail, the cool metal sending a weak shiver up my arm. I keep my gaze on the scene before us: what seems like a sea of lush trees and grass surrounding the dormitory on each side. And in the distance, far and dim, a city unknown. An unknown forbidden to us. Us, forbidden to them...

Such thoughts used to trouble me. Used to make me turn in my bed, tumble toward the window, and gaze at lights of a city unknown in wonderment. Wonderment of a world I did not know of. A world that did not know me. Wondering how things would be different -- how I would be different -- if the world was different around me.

Silly thoughts they were, and it embarrasses me still today when I think about how naive I used to be. A city unknown. A city that would welcome someone like me? People like us?

We are the same only in ignorance.

She's pretending to ignore me.

I lean against the wall of the building, arms across my chest as a rough evening breeze creates ripples on my shirt. It's an unusually cold night, and yet she stands there unperturbed. Calm and seemingly at ease in nothing more than a thin purple dress to shield her from the night air. Her hair fans out across her back, swaying every so often while she stands still and stoic. Her dress flutters as if taking on a life of its own.

I wait a bit longer before approaching her. Before sliding away from the wall and into the vacant territory she had made for herself. Letting her know, that I know, that she knows, I'm here.

"Hey."

I glance at him only briefly, sighing before returning my gaze to the open landscape. He should've just stayed where he was. There's nothing I need to discuss with him, nor anything he has to discuss with me. Some things, I like to keep to myself.

"I heard you a half hour ago," I tell him, my voice steady and low. My hands are looser around the rail now, and my gaze has averted to the school courtyard.

He shifts slightly beside me before decidedly leaning against the rail, staring in my direction. His tone is just as same as mine. "I've been watching you for an hour."

I flinch at his response, grumbling quietly when I notice a subtle smirk on his lips. "I don't believe you."

"I don't believe you either."

"About what?"

He turns then, gesturing around the empty balcony before meeting my gaze. "That you want to be alone," he says, confident as ever.

I narrow my eyes at him, the cockiness in his voice and words starting to irritate me. He talks as if he can read me like a book. Knows me like the back of his hand. Can predict my actions as if he were the one dictating them. I don't like it.

"Then you've assumed wrong," I say, pushing back from the rail. I turn my back to him. "I want to be alone."

There's a pause before I hear his footsteps behind me. "If that were true, you would've asked me to leave a half hour ago."

"What do you want?" Her voice is colder than the air around us. She folds her arms across her chest, walking stiffly to a nearby bench and taking a seat. Her eyes are closed, as if hiding from her own lies.

Slowly, I follow her, but her legs suddenly swing over the side of the bench and the seat beside her becomes unwelcoming. I stand still in my spot instead. "Nothing you can offer me," I answer, sighing as another breeze floats by between us.

My reply seems to have stirred her curiosity, as her eyes open once more and she glances up to read my expression. "And what may that be?"

I shake my head, brushing my thumb against my chin before walking to the opposite side of the balcony. "Why do you care to know?"

She hesitates for a moment before pulling her knees up to her chest, contemplative. "Nevermind then." She taps her fingers quietly against her leg before realizing the edge of her dress has slid down to her waist. Quickly, she changes her posture. Her eyes dart up to catch mine, narrowing familiarly once meeting them. "What are you looking at?"

I let my gaze linger on her for only a second longer. "The lights," I tell her.

I turn around to understand him, the city unknown suddenly flooding my view. "Does it interest you?" I ask, standing.

"No." His voice is blunt and simple. "Yet you've been fixated on it for the past hour." He makes a confused face. "Is there something I'm missing?"

I shake my head, smiling faintly. "Just... reminiscing... A child's thoughts. Nothing more." I take in one final scan of the view before turning to leave. "We should get ba--" I stop suddenly when I find my hands pressed against his chest, his face staring down mine. His body blocking my escape. "Wh-What are you doing?" I can feel a warmth creep up to my cheeks.

His smile is gentle and knowing, and he doesn't answer. Doesn't acknowledge. He lifts a finger to trace the edge of my face instead. Slow and soft, guided and focused, before sweeping down the side of my neck. A strangeness stirs inside of me, a delicate, mixed feeling of uncertainty as his skin brushes against mine. He pauses at my shoulder, face unchanged. His finger resting against the thin strap of my dress, as if waiting.

I bite my bottom lip and turn my eyes to the ground. He knows better than this. "Don't play such games with me," I nearly spit out.

He doesn't seem surprised with my response as he steps back. "I don't." He's silent for a moment before turning back to me and holding out his hand. "Let me walk you back to your room."

The walk is quiet and awkward, and she trails behind me at such a distance that the whole point of accompanying her becomes lost entirely. I wait for her to catch up. She notices, and stops.

"You can leave me. I can go by myself."

"You wish to be alone again?" I ask, leaning against a window. The moonlight stretches out my shadow to lay on the floor in front of her.

She steps on it.

"Yes."

"Understood." I push myself off the ledge, hands slipping into my pockets as I walk past her. "Goodnight, Ruka."

I wait for her to pull me back. But she doesn't.

"Goodnight," she whispers.

I know he's watching me. Again.

Since when, I do not know. But I sense him now, so I turn around to greet him. He doesn't look too happy.

"Why are you back out here?" he asks, standing beside me. There's a tiredness in his eyes. Or perhaps concern... but I cannot tell.

"Why have you followed me?"

He doesn't answer, holding out his hand instead. "I'll take you back. You've been out here long enough. Get some rest."

I stare at his palm for a while, the strange feeling from before suddenly stirring inside of me. Hesitantly, I take his hand... and pull him towards me.

She's pressed up against my chest, pointing to the lights in the distance. "They're beautiful, don't you think?" she says absently. Her head sinks into my shirt. "There's so many of them..."

I think about plucking her limbs off of me, for her sake. Sometimes, she can be a bit reckless with her emotions. A bit reckless when she's vulnerable.

"Beautiful," I tell her, decidedly wrapping her in a loose embrace. I lean my chin against her forehead, and both of us stare at the city so far and so beautiful that it makes us say careless words. "I'll take you there one day," I whisper a promise.

"You'll what?" She glances up at me, a desperate look in her eyes that she's unable to mask. A child's look, she would say.

"I'll take you there one day," I repeat before gesturing at our surroundings. "So don't stand outside here anymore."

A smile flashes on her mouth before she leans into me. "You insist on playing games with me, don't you, Kain?"

I shake my head, running a hand slowly through her hair. "I don't." Then, truthfully, "I'd lose anyway."

There's a hint of amusement and hesitance to her voice. "I'm surprised you've given up so easily."

"I'm surprised you have too." I pull away from her, returning to the rail. "...Kaname is still awake."

There's a slight frown on her face that she does not hide well. And although she doesn't answer, she doesn't leave either.

-end.