Just Like That: Can I Ask A Funny Question?

By: NightCracker Artie

[EDITED] 15Jul'15 || Minor grammatical errors ||

(Le Disclaimer)

This story involves elements from Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha recreated and manipulated by the author only for the purpose of artistic display. Neither the author nor the party stands to represent or disparage any of the franchise's original plot and copyrights. Shall arise some instances where the story tends to relate to the real world or other fictional works, consider it pure coincidence.

THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS THEMES AND SCENES NOT SUITABLE FOR THE GENERAL AUDIENCE (Mature/LesRo).

Hello to you. And thank you for giving time for this Lesbian Romance (LesRo) fanfiction to be read.

"Just Like That: Can I Ask a Funny Question?" contains full-blown NanoFate YURI instances in an alternate timeline.

This fiction is dedicated to readers, members and staff of the site , and to the million others in between who simply love NanoFate, and to you whom I hope to reach someday with striking Lightning and falling Stars.

Special thanks to my very first reader (notBETA) who pointed out how this fiction is very closely themed with Gloriana's song, "Best Night Ever". Thank you, sis (even though you were snorting midway reading the draft). It inspired me in writing the bungs for the conceivable emotional holes.

Influenced by the Before Trilogy (especially to Before Sunrise, '95). So get the idea that this story is full of talking, staring, talking, walking, staring, and falling in love.

May you find contentment with this amateur piece of literature.

Can I Ask A Funny Question?

"'Wasn't even trying to fall in love but just like that, 3…2…1…" — Best Night Ever, Gloriana

...

TakamachiNanoha sat on the barstool, admiring the relaxing ambience of Armando. It was the bar famous among Bureau officers trying to shove off the week's stress from worldly pressures and unworldly superiors' reprimands. Bureau officers much like her. Not only is it near the Headquarters Grounds, their drinks are more than just stress-quelling — at least to the ones who could accompany the drink with silent profanities.

As she listened to conversations led astray to her ears by the roister surrounding her, she began contemplating about her stressful yet boring life as an Aerial Combat Instructor. She ran a finger on the brim of her glass, feeling the cold trace of the green fluid where her lips had been. Inadvertently, her attention was completely consumed in by her absinthe tequila.

Today, like any other week-end examination day, she ran around with trainees, shooting them down. She flew around evading counter-attacks, ran some more like she was struggling. And by the end of it all, she gave them an approving 'good work!' with a beaming smile like white spot in a black canvass of her trainees' spent looks. She had lunch in the cafeteria with co-workers and friends from other departments. And by the afternoon, she did the same work all over again. For an hour now since five o'clock, she has been sitting here in the bar with nothing far more important to do than ponder over her day's work, comparing it to the previous weeks that weren't so different in any way.

Such boring weekly life with no other desires. Such routine life without much exciting except sporadic field deployments which aren't too thrilling to her either: they come, comrades sortie, she shoots, they fall. Even her drink has become part of her mundane weekly schedule. Every week, this introspective absinthe that didn't quite match her rather cheerful surroundings falls into her hands.

Squad Captain Takamachi Nanoha, Aerial Combat Training Instructor of the Armed Forces has mulled about all of this once more, just like yesterday, and she figured…

"What sad boring life…" She muttered.

Just then a sudden surge of restlessness visited the back of her mind. Takamachi Nanoha is nowhere near the happy life she could reach if she tried. Chewing on her lip, she contrived the most bizarre of ideas that she could ever come up with in her most sober state of mind. She smirked and downed the remaining green liquid in her glass almost hastily, as if it would drain out all her frustrations about her previous thoughts. Still swallowing, she pulled out a bill from her purse and readied herself to leave.

"Now this is rare. Just once, Nanoha-san?" The lanky old bartender across the counter expressed his surprise with wrinkled forehead. "Are you feeling unwell?"

The instructor slipped her payment next to him. "Don't worry about me. I'm ecstatic." She replied with a wink before turning away towards the door.

She headed straight to the next block before her mind could give the idea of backing out. She slowed down as she neared the target building. There, by the entrance of a stairway that leads to an underground clubhouse, she stopped.

She leaned her hip on the sidewalk's railing as she rebuilt her resolve to go on. She'd never been here before but the place had always stirred up her curiosity every morning as she passed by this street towards work. This place had been a part of her mundane ordinary life before she could even have the chance to be introduced to it.

But this time, for sure…

In search for resolve, she loosened her left side ponytail then tightened it back in place. Taking in a deep breath, she rubbed her sweaty palms together, undid all the buttons of her instructor uniform's jacket and fanned her shirt's chest to herself, mustering all the confidence she could. Snuffing another lungful of air, she looked up at the city skies.

It has started getting darker that Saturday, late in July. Above the stairway's overhang, the sign flickered to a lively neon gold and pink outline.

Sin City is open for business as well tonight.

Biting her lower lip, Armed Forces Aerial Combat Instructor Squad Captain Takamachi Nanoha pushed her hip off of the rails and strolled down the steps that were dimly lit by incandescent lights anchored on the brick wall. Each step further down towards this very unknown world made her heart race faster.

After giving the entrance fee to the lone man guarding the doorway, he smiled and pushed the black doors open. The party music pounded like her heart's heavy rhythm. The club was celebratory. The ambience reeked only of alcohol and perfume. Her eyes travelled from the arced bar straight ahead, then to the dance floor nearer on her left, to the tables for groups further, and finally on the drinking cubicles lined up with every walls of the club.

Merrymaking, sultry drinking, held-back lovemaking, mild arguing, all of it were spread about in the controllable intensity though they don't go unnoticed; just as the familiar military uniforms picked her attention.

She swallowed hard to fight the anxiety. Bless the demons of her unspoken identity for being outstanding than she ever made herself to be. For a moment, she thought her face was written with a broad marker that says NEWB. For now, she thought, a seat would be good. As she avoided the visual initiations from every corner, she trailed off towards the barstools and settled herself on a free spot away from the next person there was.

She sighed in relief with a victorious grin. Somehow, upon storming her way through lusty simpers and snickers, she felt achievement with her bare hands—in the form of the cold countertop drowning in disco and bar lights.

"Excuse me. May I take your order?" Suddenly, a femme bartender approached her and leaned over the counter. She was wearing a black tux buttoned in a way too revealing—and revealing meant none more but to cover so little of what's underneath. Nanoha had to lean her body back to look away from the glistening groove of the bartender's breasts and divert her attention to her daring red eyes instead.

The bartender scrutinized the newcomer's clothes and face very closely. "May I take your order, instructor?" She corrected, lifting up her dark brow seductively.

"Oh!" Nanoha exclaimed, surprising even herself that she had been holding a deep breath. "I'll…" She tentatively began. Clearing her throat, she leaned closer. "I'll just have martini, please."

The bartender smiled at her. "One martini it is." The brunette said and then she chucked at Nanoha's chin before pushing herself away from the counter.

Nanoha stared at the leaving bartender for a second. There was definitely an unknown discomfort from the way she was touched just now. It was uncomfortable, indeed, but it was not an unpleasant kind of discomfort. Blood rushed up her face upon that realization.

Ignoring the uneasiness surrounding her in general, Nanoha surveyed the bar while she waited for her drink. To the deepest rightmost corner of the clubhouse there was a door with a neon green sign indicating bathroom. On the other corner was a staircase where waitresses shuffled to and fro. On the wall before it was another sign that read Reservations Only. More should be upstairs, she surmised. More intense, she thought.

"Here you go, instructor." The bartender's voice pulled her back to the counter.

"Thank you." She replied with a queasy smile. The woman stayed in front of her for a moment, staring down at her. Nanoha instantly looked away to her right and sipped from her drink.

Getting the idea that she didn't seem too sociable, the bartender turned away to attend to the other guests and bid, "Enjoy the night."

Nanoha eyed at her. Then she shifted her attention to three more bartenders serving the guests, one femme and the other two butches. They were currently busy flirting with other customers. Nanoha sipped from her glass again with narrowed eyes. The backfire of her whimsical actions was beginning to eat at her senses now. What did she really want here, anyways? Now she just wanted to flee from this place and go back to her peaceful nothing-but-ordinary life.

Placing her glass back on the countertop, she turned her head to the left with the intention of examining the rest of the club. But her vision was blocked by a woman who occupied the seat next to her. The arrival immediately gathered the attention of two nearby bartenders and a few more passing waitresses. They stared at her gawking as she removed her black Enforcer jacket and draped it over the counter. Her long golden locks, tied low with a black ribbon, swayed with her every movement. Every gesture seemed to playe in slow motion to the eyes of her spectators, Nanoha included. Then, comforting herself on the barstool, the blonde customer rolled her white shirt's sleeves up, revealing her toned and silky-smooth-looking forearms. She puffed her cheeks next and blew a slow exasperated sigh. For some reason, the bartenders sighed with her. Finally shifting her attention to the two bartenders, the blonde flashed them a gentle smile. Burgundy eyes flickered with intensity as they caught the bar's mellow lights. Promptly, the butch out of the two bartender observers turned away. Her red ears were noteworthy for her extreme embarrassment. The femme other sighed in a hopeless manner before approaching the blonde guest with a smile stretching from ear to ear. She was the same bartender who had served Nanoha earlier. But it was too easy to tell that her more refined movements had been polished to give the best impressions out of her faked mannerisms.

The bartender brushed her dark forelocks behind her ear before sitting on the countertop, revealing bleached hot pants that covered too little of her long legs. The blonde looked rather uninterested though. Her red mellow orbs remained stuck at the shelves of bottles in front of her. The bartender leaned close to her nevertheless and went whispering something to her ear. Seemingly amused about what she said, the customer lifted her blonde brows before she gave her a whispered reply.

It was too late for Nanoha to realize that she'd been staring since the beginning. The blonde caught her gaze for a split second before she managed to turn away. It was inevitable, she thought. It was all happening only half a meter away from her.

The bartender hopped down from the countertop then, and met Nanoha's gaze with a contemptuous smile. The instructor returned a coy smile and nervously sipped from her glass. Aware of the stare coming from her left too, Nanoha kept her eyes fixed on the shelves of bottles across the bar, her mind overloading with attempts to leave. Before she could put the thoughts to actions, however,

"...Excuse me, are you new?" The blonde asked out of curiosity, though she already knew the answer judging from the drink Nanoha was nursing in her hand. But at the same time, because she knew so, she felt the need to ask.

Nanoha looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Sorry, what?" Politeness won over awkwardness—or maybe it was because of the awkwardness that she felt obliged to be polite—and Nanoha inclined her ear to the blonde.

The blonde moved closer as well and repeated to beat the rage of the techno music, "Are you new here?"

Nanoha hesitantly replied with a shy nod. "Yeah. Yes, I am."

The blonde's eyes flickered with amusement. She threw alternate glances to Nanoha and her drink.

"What is it?" Nanoha asked, hiding the wary tone in her voice.

The blonde retracted upon realizing her ill-mannered reactions. "Ah! I'm sorry…" Hesitantly, she offered, "Do you mind if—?" Right then, she was interrupted with the presence of the bartender who had just returned with the drinks.

"Here's your usual." Said the bartender in her utmost sensual tone. A short square bottle of bourbon, a shot glass of ice and a tall cocktail glass of Red Barn mix landed in front of her.

"Thanks, Saia." The Enforcer returned with a pleased tone.

The bartender winked at her before sauntering back to the previous business with another new customer. As soon as their connection was cut, the blonde turned back to Nanoha.

"I was actually thinking if you could drink this?" She asked, raising the short bottle with a little exhibition.

Nanoha tilted her head. She didn't mean to be obvious so she remained silent at first. But her eyes were filled with suspicion that she didn't have to speak it aloud.

"This is what the bar brags about. Since you're new…" The blonde trailed off for defense. She gripped the bottle's cap open and poured a shot of the brownish amber spirit to her glass of ice. "…you have to try it." Then she raised her glass towards Nanoha.

Amidst little timidity, the instructor held her hands up submissively. "N-no. You don't have to…"

"You never had bourbon before?" The blonde's shoulders drooped.

Still in internal debate, Nanoha replied, "…I do, I mean, I guess... but… I-is this really okay?"

The blonde softly smiled again. "I just love this place. Advertising what they're best at is my social duty. And a special skill." She explained as her smile stretched a little wider.

When Nanoha raised her hand reluctantly, the blonde gently took her wrist and placed the shot glass on Nanoha's palm.

"I'll pay for your drinks if you find it bad." The blonde promised. Nanoha looked at the bourbon and the blonde alternately, contemplating over it for a little more.

Then raising her brows, the blonde pled, "Just a sip?" Joining her palms together and smiling her most hopeful smile.

Nanoha nodded in defeat and smiled. "You've tried hard enough."

Her reply made the blonde nod as if victorious over something. "Thank you, ma'am."

Smiling, Nanoha raised the glass for a toast. "Judgment time."

"Judge away." The blonde waved a hand.

Promptly, Nanoha held the glass under her mouth, breathing in the aroma. The strong flavor of vanilla and matchsticks made her mouth water for the promising taste. Then she sipped and closed her eyes to only fully attend to its taste. She rolled her tongue and chewed on the bourbon before swallowing it completely. The instant the liquid slid past her tongue, the hot bite crawled around her mouth and throat. It was a fierce feeling but not a painful sting. It left a lingering taste that was strong but not foul. It was sweeter the more seconds pass.

With knitted brows, she stared at the spirit in her glass then looked at the blonde who was already wearing an 'I told you so' expression.

"I guess I don't get any free drink then." Nanoha licked her lips as she returned the glass on the countertop.

"How does it fare, instructor?" The blonde asked before waving a bartender over to them.

"It surprised me." The instructor appraised.

"The cocktail saves you if you ever found something lacking anyway." She told Nanoha before the bartender's arrival. Nanoha's immediate complaining response for the trap was easily ignored while the blonde spoke to the bartender. "One more set." She ordered before the woman could do any more flirting. Frustrated, the bartender complied.

Nanoha gave the enforcer a skeptical look for what she just heard.

"Trust me. You wouldn't pass on this chance." The blonde winked. "Advertisement." She said and slid the glass back in front of Nanoha.

"Advertisement, huh?" Nanoha echoed under her soft snicker.

"It's a passion." The blonde slowly nodded and mouthed, "Advertisement."

Shortly, they received another short glass of ice and a tall glass of the same cocktail. The blonde enforcer poured bourbon to her shot glass and held it up towards Nanoha. "To more lovely customers to come."

Nanoha followed and raised her own glass. "Is that a threat? Or a condition?" She asked, gaining a small chuckle from the blonde.

Their glasses clinked and they sipped simultaneously. The blonde closely remarked how Nanoha drank her spirit with passion she found tantalizing in itself.

With closed eyes, still basking the kick, Nanoha asked, "How old is this?"

The blonde replaced her glass on the countertop. "Ten years." She replied, receiving a gawk from her copper-haired guest.

"Goodness!" The blonde chuckled at the instructor's precious reaction. "How much does a shot of this cost?"

The blonde sipped from her glass again before answering, "Make a guess."

"No. I won't." She replied flatly. "I'm too afraid to guess drink prices I can't reach from my back pockets."

"Okay, I'll give you a hint." The blonde boisterously inhaled and cleared her throat. Slowly, she revealed, "How much did it cost you coming from…" She paused first to scrutinize Nanoha's uniform. "…Aerial Combat Training Grounds?"

The instructor snorted then pointed at the black uniform across the counter. "You know I walked here."

The blonde dismissively shook her head, "If it cost you a cab to get here."

"Who gets a cab from that short travel?" Nanoha paused and puzzled herself. "…That's a bluff." She leaned back and pointed at the bourbon bottle. "What's this, illegal produce?"

The blonde shushed Nanoha quickly with a finger raised up to her lip, "That's rude to the place!"

Nanoha leaned closer to her to argue in a softer voice, "Minimum cab fare equals a shot of this?" She half-whispered in disbelief.

"Cab fare is more expensive in Central Bureau grounds." The blonde matter-of-factly rebutted in defense.

Nanoha joined her in her soft chuckle. "That's true… but that's still cheap... and unbelievable. I've been working here for…" she paused, to count, "almost nine years, training aside, and I've been missing this all along?"

"You can't count illegal drinking age." The enforcer reminded her.

"Right. So five." She corrected with a smile.

"We're the same age." The blonde informed her with a bemused look.

Nanoha pursed her lips. "Hmm. I fell for that… in purpose."

The blonde hummed incredulously. "For that, I salute your apparent good moral records at training school."

"What?"

"It's no wonder you wouldn't find the goodies with the honor-student attitude. Anyways, it's a given for combat instructors to…" She stopped herself and hung her jaw remorsefully. It was too late to stop herself or to take her words back though.

Narrowing her eyes, Nanoha challenged. "You finish that sentence, Enforcer."

Laughing softly, the blonde replied, "No, no… … …I was about to say they don't dance. They can't." Ignoring Nanoha's curling brows, she continued, "They usually just sit on drinks, laugh loud, curse, throw up, drive home, curse again… throw up again…"

Nanoha sipped from her glass of cocktail, glowering both at the sudden tartness and at the blonde's bluntness. "You'll have to take that back." She said hoarsely.

"Alright, most." She corrected. "I did use they. Combat Instructors do that." Nanoha could only frown at her. "It's always about students and exams. They don't get to explore beyond natural worlds."

"And enforcers get to explore these worlds beyond natural?"

The blonde simpered and extended out her hand and pointed around the club. Then she smiled contemptuously before turning her hand to point at Nanoha.

The instructor nodded and held her hands up submissively. "It's my first time here. I haven't tasted better drink than these, and well," she shrugged, "I've to admit that I've only drank to drink. I've never gone drinking and talked as much as now. Let alone to a stranger."

"Well that's a shame." The blonde replied without much reason for saying so herself.

"What? Why is that?"

The blonde paused, lost for words. She tilted her head to the side in wonder. "I'm not sure why I said that either."

Nanoha chuckled. "Enforcer Explorer can't handle much rye and corn?"

They were interrupted by the music that began booming at top volume. Conversations were lost and the patrons began dancing wild steps into the dance floor.

"What's this?!" Nanoha yelled on top of her voice.

"It's Saturday!" The blonde replied, "Dance Party begins at seven." She informed her as she waved at a passing waitress to come. When the said waitress arrived, she leaned over and the blonde whispered something to her ear. In the process of it, the enforcer slipped a folded bill into the waitress's revealing uniform's neckline. Nanoha observed it in her periphery as she sipped from her cocktail glass, mindful but not too obviously amused.

"Now that's a sight to see." She said to herself almost nonchalantly. Then the waitress left. The blonde caught Nanoha raising an eyebrow at her.

"What?" She asked and sipped from her bourbon. The copper-haired instructor shrugged it off.

And on cue, the deafening sounds of party starter music faded out in the background as the DJ announced, "Alright, ladies and hotshots! We'll start the party like usual, slow-sexy and end it with a BAM! Let me hear ya!"

The crowd cheered. Then a slow pop song slowly picked up the volume. The disco balls turned mellow and the ladies began dancing with its easy-paced rhythms.

Nanoha has had her head turned as if surprised. When the aftereffects of the previous loud music subsided from her eardrums, the blonde leaned in to tell her, "Surprised. Obviously."

Nanoha looked at her without intending to cover up. "I thought that was going to be the music for the rest of the night."

"Dance here is slow to wild. That was just the warning signal. Some patrons here don't like seeing sultry dance party…" She explained. Much to Nanoha's discomforted look. "I'm sorry. But that wasn't a joke. It's a warning signal for people who aren't likely to mingle."

"People in relationships?"

The blonde nodded. "It's an unwritten policy here to never go any farther down the night that it will blow off your commitments rights. It's easy to keep yourself away if you don't drink too much though." Then she drank from her cocktail.

Nanoha laughed at her. "So that's really how it goes here?"

The enforcer was about to nod again until she looked at Nanoha and found out that she wasn't referring to the dance. Nanoha was gesturing her hand, imitating the previous act of tipping the waitress who had just came back and comforted herself on the stool next to the blonde.

Embarrassed first, the blonde tittered softly then replied, "That was a reservation for the private booths." She pointed behind Nanoha to the stairway that had a Reservations Only sign.

Nanoha returned her attention back to the blonde. Before she could form an uneasy comment, the blonde began to explain. "Karaoke are upstairs and I am going next time with officemates."

"Oh. That's cozy for a club." Nanoha said.

"And weren't you saying you can dance?"

Nanoha's brows quirked in an arch. "I never said I could—" Seeing Fate's modest jeer, Nanoha bit her lips shut.

"We could use some assistance in looking after our spot." The enforcer added and stood up, offering a hand to Nanoha and bobbing her head to come with her to the dance floor. Nanoha looked at the waitress. She wasn't all too pleased in the get-go but was sooner smiling at them.

"Come on." The blonde pressed and leaned to whisper. "Treat it as repayment for the drink?"

"That's a bad deal." Nanoha replied with a smile despite reluctantly holding the blonde's hand. "The drink was worth minimum cab fare."

Grinning, the enforcer backpedalled as she led them down the slight slope towards the dance floor. It was quite amusing how they didn't bump into someone in the process. As they settled in a less crowded area, the new song was cued in. Nanoha found herself being pulled closer to the blonde. Queasy, the instructor rested her hands on the blonde's shoulders. The blonde in turn brought her hands on Nanoha's hips.

"This place is nice." She commented as they swayed easy with the rhythm. "I didn't know a club can alternately make you uneasy and calm. Newcomer perspective, that is."

The blonde smiled and quietly asked, "What brought you out here in the beyond anyway, instructor?"

Nanoha grunted and shook her head.

"Tell me. I'm… just curious."

"I don't think I want that undisclosed." Nanoha replied.

The blonde looked at her with a sudden hint of frustration. "I understand, ma'am." They both kept silent for a while. And to Nanoha, that small silence was becoming more awkward than speaking out.

"Fine." Nanoha conceded. Her dance partner instantly smiled. "You're too proud of yourself, huh?"

The blonde shrugged. "I'm an enforcer. I extract what truth there is." Nanoha laughed contemptuously.

"It was mere whim. I was just bored." Nanoha confessed. "…bored with life."

The blonde furrowed her brows. "I always thought teaching offered various ways to be enjoyed."

"It's not that it's not enjoyable." She replied. "I enjoy it. It's my dream job since… being a mage." Nanoha's eyes suddenly fell solemn to the taller woman's shoulder. She's as if internalizing all her feelings and trying to convey them at the same time with no chance to analyze what she thinks about them in between processes. Freely, as her feelings flow into thoughts, they spill out first before she could realize that it might sound awfully bizarre when conveyed. Unbeknownst to herself, Nanoha was talking to this blonde stranger with no reins, without intending to polish her feelings according to how her own thoughts might affect them.

Might it be an effect of her being an Enforcer? Was that called peace within one's garden? Or has she just become too accustomed to people through instructing? Has she simply been too friendly to not count this one strange? To friends whom she could talk to anytime, she never let herself complain about the life she was living. Then perhaps it's because she was with someone who barely knows her and she barely knew in turn. Perhaps she knew that the blonde wouldn't dissuade her from the thought because she knew nothing of her. Or, perhaps, it was something else. Whatever it was, nothing has come yet in mind to properly word it out. For now, knowing that silence offers more awkwardness than truth was enough to make Nanoha speak.

"It's just that it's lacking in suspense anymore. I'm happy. But I feel trapped in the dream that has become too mundane. Everyday's just the same." She said in a voice so quiet, yet, to her lone listener, it sounded more powerful, more melodic than the loud music in the air.

The blonde enforcer's huge grin had somehow vanished as Nanoha talked. Something about the change in Nanoha's tone made her words so calming, so thoughtful, so truthful that it's all so soothing. She was somehow caught in it like a bewitching tune she simply enjoyed hearing. She remembered Nanoha telling her earlier how she's never talked so much before. And just then she figured where her reaction towards it had come from. Truthfully, she thought, what a shame.

"I was at Armando earlier." Nanoha continued.

"I guessed right about drinking and instructors then." The blonde said and they both smiled.

"I admit to that, remember?" The blonde nodded to urge her to continue. "I was drinking absinthe tequila. It's the same routine every week. I sit there. Think of my weekly exercises if they ever went out as planned. And then I find out it did, just as last week, and the other before that. I begin feeling bored about it. Then I think how I'd go home, sleep, not really looking forward to the empty Sunday."

Nanoha furrowed her brows, still preoccupied by the pads of the blonde's shoulder. "Only this time, it scared me. I was thinking about it all over again. And I wasn't doing anything at all. And I just…" She paused to finally look at the blonde's eyes. She sighed and shrugged. "I just walked out and ran away from the same old introspection."

The blonde looked at her deep slate-blue eyes. They flickered with the changing colors of the disco balls. But for some reason, there was light in them different from what they could reflect from their environment. They had a distinct glow she has never once knew existent.

"What about you?" Nanoha asked, voice still silent.

Snapping out of the trance, the enforcer blinked. "What about me?"

Nanoha cracked a smile. "You're always here, I guess?"

The blonde smiled lopsidedly. "Half-true. But I wasn't supposed to be here tonight."

"Why is that?"

"Three weeks ago after a mission…" She shrugged first the thought of whether it was alright to reveal herself to a total stranger. She continued nevertheless, feeling it unfair not to equally confess. "Ah…" She chuckled nervously and needed a breath to encourage herself. "I needed to stay in the hospital for a while. I was slightly injured." Nanoha frowned. "You know where I'm going. The doctor says blah, blah, blah, so on, and therefore, don't go to Sin City for a while."

Nanoha laughed softly. "And what exactly are you doing breaking rules?" She asked, making a polished angry instructor face.

The blonde felt cornered, like a teenage schoolgirl caught red-handedly running down a hallway. "But it's not even a relevant proscription… ma'am. I don't drink that much. It was a physical injury in the first place." She argued.

"Hmmm?"

The enforcer sighed in defeat and looked away with a spoilt pout. "I needed to get the stress out …" Nanoha cocked her head and leered at the blonde. "W-what?"

"I was just thinking… Maybe the doctor wasn't restricting you for the drinking?"

The blonde gaped at the implied accusation. "H-huh?" She said with a bad display of feigned innocence.

Nanoha patted the blonde's right cheek playfully. "Well, for one you get too much attention." Then she looked around and said, "I counted. I couldn't keep it up." The blonde's abashment suddenly began climbing up from her neck to her cheeks. Nanoha laughed to fight the embarrassment from her own remark. She captured the blonde's chin with her thumb and index finger and observed the enforcer's face left to right.

Then Nanoha continued. "Definitely knows more ladies than a handful," she added and the blonde furrowed her brows as if to protest about the irrational basis. "The doctor must simply be reminding you to keep out of more trouble like how it did badly before."

The blonde fell silent afterwards and pursed her lips.

"Oh my!" Nanoha exclaimed. "I just hit some pots of gold there, didn't I?" She said slyly.

When the blonde opened her mouth to defend herself, the louder dance music replaced the slower-paced song. They heard the DJ dedicate it for the party people around. And to get out of the pooling dancers, the two officers returned to their seats. The awaiting lady in mini skirt met them with a smile and left the barstool. Fate thanked the waitress who settled herself farther away to give the ladies their privacy.

"…okay," finally seated, the blonde explained herself. "That accusation might… not… be false." Nanoha began laughing at her tone, "but that was cold case from two years ago."

"But it still hits the spot, doesn't it?"

"Because they keep bringing it up… And now you join in, too. People should get a move on." She complained and drank from her bourbon that has become ice on spirit more than the other way around.

As she was sipping, Nanoha dared ask, "So how did your troublemaking career-gone-bad resurrect three weeks ago?"

Fighting the urge to spew out the contents from her mouth, the blonde gulped the bourbon hard, making her cough uncontrollably afterwards. Half-alarmed with worry, half-amused with the blonde's lack of defense, Nanoha signaled for a bartender for a glass of water.

"I'm sorry! I—pfufu!" Nanoha stifled her laugh as she ran a hand against the blonde's back. She offered her the water that came immediately afterwards. "Sorry. It was that bad, huh?"

Barely recovering after drinking, the blonde replied hoarsely, "Not as bad as this." She pointed at her neck that was currently caught in fire and needle pricks.

Nanoha remorsefully frowned. She pulled some tissue from the counter and wiped the blonde's mouth dry. "Again, I'm sorry. But now I'm more curious."

The blonde grunted. Straightening herself back, Nanoha exhorted, "It's a cold case from two years ago... wasn't it?"

The blonde glowered at her. "Are you an investigator?"

"…" Nanoha sipped from her cocktail then let the silence consume a little of their time.

After a deep sigh, the blonde began, "Six months ago after mission, I came here with friends with usual intention: sing-along." She pointed a hand at the stairs. "And then she— two-year cold case —was there. Apparently, she was friends with a new member of my ground unit. It was madness." Then she took a swig from her cocktail.

"What did you do that drove her mad?"

Before continuing, the blonde took another sip from the glass of water as if searching for the resolve to go on. "We... couldn't kiss." She reluctantly replied with all mustered brazenness, regaining her gentler voice from her previously panicked state. "It was a drinking contest. My friend won me over, kissed me on the cheek. I was freed from the dare."

Nanoha lifted her chin in amusement marked with skepticism.

"Then later on she got too drunk." She scoffed but her voice's stability was almost wavering. "She started bringing up cold case." She looked at Nanoha with disbelief. "Two years flashback, she started from the very day we met." She sighed deeply then shook her head. "And that's where madness began. Her memories were tampered with by the alcohol." Nanoha listened intently with a small smile whereas the blonde's expression was emptied of feelings, at least feelings she couldn't recognize; or couldn't yet. "She began blaming and cursing instead. The others were trying to calm her down…"

As the blonde drank from her cocktail again, she waved a hand of dismissal.

Nanoha pried further, "How'd the day end?"

The blonde arched her brow in disbelief. Nanoha looked away again and sipped from her glass. The enforcer stared at the counter, letting the awful memory freely flow by in her mind. "You already have a guess though, haven't you?"

The instructor kept her eyes on her drink. Then she asked, "…How did you end up in the hospital?"

The blonde shrugged. She slowly took the bottle of bourbon from the countertop and lightly tapped its hard base to the rear of her head. Nanoha grimaced.

"Drastic experience. It was scarier than getting the injury out of a mission instead." She slowly shook her head and returned the bottle to the counter. "Three weeks ago, after having discharged from crossfire's injury, doctor told me to stay out of Sin City because they heard she's back in town. It's become a joke to my unit that after every mission, cold case will return any time later." She said with a glower. "And I just needed time alone to relieve myself from stress and the tease… so I snuck in here tonight."

Nanoha stared at her with bit lip and a squint. Half of her was purely shocked at the horrid story. But it was too obvious that she was trying to stifle her laugh that was winning over her pity.

"It's not funny!" The blonde groused. It was too ironic how her overly serious expression was tied with the story that it made Nanoha laugh even more.

"You're horrible…" The blonde spat as she observed Nanoha in her laughing fit. Moments later, though a little unaware of it, the enforcer let her lips curve into a small smile. Soon, she was shaking her head with a small laugh.

When Nanoha's laughter finally subsided, she rested her head on her elbows over the counter and softly spoke, "Must be nice… having all fond memories to recall."

The blonde quizzically looked at her as she drank her Red Barn. "It most definitely is not." She flatly rejected after swallowing.

Nanoha smiled. "I know it's unpleasant. But to have memories filled with excitement and emotions, I can't help thinking it must be nice."

The blonde stared back at her. Again she saw that flicker in Nanoha's eyes similar to, but distinctly apart from, what she saw a little while ago. They hinted envy, they were touched with desire, they were tinged with hunger for life, for the adventure the enforcer had which Nanoha's instructor life lacks in. For a moment, a distant and alien feeling about bewildering ideas was conveyed through them. It was almost as if… her eyes were cold enough to hint death; like they were kept untouched by the life they were surrounded with.

No matter how they looked, those eyes looked horribly lonely. And though the enforcer doesn't know why, they never seem to deserve it.

The blonde inadvertently shifted her gaze towards her glass and stared at it for a while. Nanoha mused if she was pondering over her experiences. Enforcer experiences. The darker side of those days. And as her eyes flickered with the bar's lights like wine being stirred in a glass, they were suddenly too distant. Remorse momentarily crept up Nanoha's spine for bringing up what nice memories she had.

"When I'm at work," The blonde began, "field work, that is… I admit that its dynamism builds so much excitement in me. In all pleasant and unpleasant ways, the suspense and surprises keep me… exhilarated." She narrowed her eyes as if to internalize her own words' depth. "It's lively in a way. But those lively feelings are only there at that moment of time." She leaned over with her elbow on the countertop. She rested her chin on her palm and then looked at Nanoha. As silently as she began, she continued, "When I sit here and reminisce about all excitements during those moments… While I remember what the feeling was, while I realize how exhilarated I was during those times… I could only feel it like I was a different person at the time. Then I feel sad about it." She paused and looked away again. "The idea of feeling so strongly attached to life all because of the impending death was…" she shook her head then returned her gaze back at Nanoha. "…it feels empty."

Then there was nothing but silence between them that followed. They just looked at each other but not directly in the eye. A few moments later of contemplation, the blonde spoke again. "Feeling life the most while in the verge of death is a good feeling only during that ephemeral time of adrenaline rush. It's most meaningful to fight for life if it's next to death than when living the life as it is instead."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…" Nanoha apologized. The blonde just smiled at her. Looking away from the so distant burgundies of red, Nanoha began, "I just envy the fact that you can always go ways as far as you can… Just that."

Her words, her very fond tone, made the blonde look at her again and listened intently as Nanoha continued.

"I…" Nanoha trailed off. She sipped from her bourbon first and then let a moment of silence fly by before beginning again. "…I was… I can't do that." She said in a soft scoff meant to hide her wavering voice. "Going full power, full throttle… like my life is at stake." She looked at the blonde's eyes with solemnity, with utter insecurity and repeated, "I can't do that. Not anymore."

The blonde furrowed her brows. A surge of feelings similar to fear consumed her. The instant those looks in Nanoha's eyes flashed before her, she almost wanted to just pull the instructor and hush her into a tight embrace.

"Why?" The blonde asked; her voice almost cracked in hesitation. But just almost for the sake of knowing.

Nanoha looked away again and she smiled despite the opposite meanings her eyes conveyed. "When I was younger… Twelve." She clarified, "I was in an accident during a mission. I just passed Instructor First-Grade exams too…" Nanoha closed her eyes as if to let the memories drown her thoughts. Creases formed on her forehead as she swallowed.

And then she continued, "I thought I'd been doing all my best, too. But it was carelessness." She took another long sip from her bourbon glass before looking at the blonde again. "It was because I failed to fear the impending death at that ephemeral moment of time. I was in the brink of actually tipping over. And it was just a minor case to resolve."

Nanoha tilted her head, conjuring her thoughts into mere feelings again and letting them flow loosely. "Maybe that was the reason as to why I couldn't find the same vigor in teaching as time passed… I teach all I could. Carve good reasons in the students so they fear what I failed to do so. And it wasn't so bad at first. But as time passed, I begin missing those that they achieve… Of course it's also lonely at times of parting. But the saddest thing of all is to see them fly ways in the sky which I couldn't reach by my own ragged wings."

All of a sudden, Nanoha felt strange warmth crawl against her cheek. But before she could act on it, the blonde's palm had reached out to wipe the hot tears that spilled from her eyes.

Fearing what those burgundy irises held for her, fearing that they opt to show her the pity that weighed her down every time, Nanoha closed her eyes, never to dare look at the enforcer.

Nanoha backed away as she dried her own tears. She softly laughed as she spoke again, "Goodness…" She silently cussed before snuffling. " Nyahaha! I'm…whew. Sorry about this… I feel lucky if anything… Really, sorry about this…"

And though inadvertently, she looked at the blonde. Her fears for sympathy, her fear to see her weakness reflected in the blonde's eyes, the fear to see her failures that could flashback through the pitiful gaze… were all washed away.

The blonde looked at her with glimmering eyes. The comforting softness was indeed present there. But something in that smile surprised Nanoha. Was it adoration that was winning over sympathy in the blonde enforcer's eyes? Or was it envy that far surpassed Nanoha's own insecurities towards an enforcer's exciting fights? That fear earlier that was wiped away by the blonde herself, was replaced with another deep-rooted feeling. If anything it was scarier that Nanoha couldn't put the name to it.

"There are things we lose…" The blonde replied as if she was convincing Nanoha to believe in her words despite being a stranger. "In the rarity of opportune times, we retrieve them. In some ways they don't come back the same." She then looked far away into Nanoha's eyes, searching, looking for a perch to roost her restless stare. "Some of what we lose, we can't retrieve at all."

The blonde looked away and smiled askew, scratching her nape. "—That, was a phrase my mentor used to tell me; just a reminder that our job has risks but we have to always come back in one piece for those we might lose, and might lose us."

Suddenly feeling reverence upon hearing the blonde's deep thoughts and having spoken out herself, Nanoha straightened herself back up from the counter and held her cocktail up to the blonde. The enforcer followed and their glasses clinked.

They drank in silence with feelings too consuming to push away, yet too deep to understand in a flash. Their conversation was lost. The music and the loud partying consumed them. The blonde kept silent for a while after that. And at one point, Nanoha finally saw the obvious faraway fear in the blonde's eyes; as if they were speaking in the dead ones' stead. And how come, the instructor thought, she felt so closely attached with what feelings those burgundy eyes hold?

To lighten up the mood, when the dance music turned to the new slower song, the copper-haired instructor downed her bourbon. And then she took the blonde by the wrist. Without further explanation, she pulled her into the dance floor. As they strolled right in the middle, Nanoha was already swaying to the rhythm of the song. A little surprised, but more thrilled, the blonde smiled and let herself be led amidst the crowd.

Nanoha turned and hung her arms around the blonde's neck more familiarly than the previous dance they shared. She noted the brightened mood of the enforcer and slyly commented, "Easy to make smile, yet claims she's detached to life."

The blonde shut her lips with her teeth to keep herself from grinning even wider. She let out a small chuckle finally and replied, "We're having fun. It's a different matter. It was in the general viewpoint of looking over past experiences."

"Oh," Nanoha hummed, "So you were analogizing death to women of cold case, as you deem them?" She narrowed her eyes threateningly.

The blonde sped up their dance steps and quipped, "Not quite. But now I'm considering the idea."

They danced for the next few songs, faster ones, and those too slow or too loud even. After a while, they were dancing with other patrons who had managed to switch themselves with their own partners. And among the few who managed to do that, one of them conversed with the blonde.

By the time they got back together, they were returning to their seats. The enforcer was first to speak to Nanoha.

"Hey… Uhm… Can I ask you a funny question?" Nanoha gave her an inquiring look. "Y-you don't mind returning to that life and life-and-death subject, do you?"

The instructor looked genuinely confused.

"Actually, not that. I was thinking something ironic about it." She nervously reworded.

"What?" Nanoha replied out of utter curiosity.

"It just mystifies me," she paused.

"Mystifies?" Nanoha echoed with a little contempt.

The blonde accepted the ridicule and slowly closed her eyes. "Yes, it mystifies me how the same works in a lot of things in irony. When something is not meant to be accompanied to another thing, it's rather magical than the life and life-and-death issues I have."

Nanoha brushed off her little surprise about how the blonde was being so blunt about herself. "What do you mean?" She asked. "…like how things go together unnaturally and they become magical more than anything drastic?"

"Unh. Like reasons and purposes." Nanoha chuckled softly. The blonde mustered her resolve and clarified herself, "Okay. Think about magic's reasons and purposes."

"…Gadgets and cartridges. Magic circles. Combat strategies… Military... TSAB in general?"

"Right?" The blonde smiled, prolonging her matter-of-fact tone. "That's what comes up naturally right?"

"Yeah… naturally… Where does unnatural come in then?"

The blonde cleared her throat. She narrowed her eyes as she slowly formed the words. "When magic isn't used for what it's meant to be and it becomes even more magical as magically salvaging one's soul does."

Nanoha squinted at her too. "Are we talking about staged magic tricks and such?"

The blonde grunted.

"Just tell me what you have in mind." Nanoha begged in surrender.

"Alright. I give up." She sighed. "Will you accompany me to the Light Exhibit?" She said without pause.

"Light Exhibit?"

"It's on the next block." The blonde paused and pointed at the direction with an outstretched arm. "They exhibit dynamic light shows using mana."

Nanoha unmindfully nodded. Then she tilted her head at the mention of mana.

The blonde ran her palms along her black pencil skirt. "Erm…" Then she queasily scratched her nape. "Y-you know? Grain of lights? Floating magic aurora… remnants of…" She trailed of and sighed desperately. "I feel like I'm trying to kidnap you like I'm some pedophile with a candy." Her shoulders sagged forward. Nanoha began laughing softly, biting her lip at the blonde's genuine panicked state.

"—But I'm not!" The enforcer immediately defended. "No… I— I mean, yes I am not, of course no, I am not—! Wait, what? Anyway, you're not even an underage— That's! Not it—Erm…"

Laughing louder, Nanoha brought her hands on the blonde's shoulders. "Okay, stop. Calm down. Breathe…" She instructed slowly. The blonde complied and sighed before letting out a nervous chuckle.

"Light Exhibit next block?" Nanoha asked.

The blonde nodded with a hopeful glint in her eyes. She held her palms together and mouthed "please."

Nanoha brought her hands on her hips and snickered. She tilted her head while basking the look on the enforcer's face before nodding her head in approval.

…

A few minutes later, they exited the club, the two of them were laughing softly. The blonde had her enforcer jacket on and Nanoha had her instructor jacket draped on her shoulders. They thanked the guard on their way up the stairs towards the sidewalk.

As they climbed, the blonde consulted, "When you said you've never watched fireworks before, you were bluffing, right? So that the waitress would think you were weird and leave you alone."

Nanoha shook her head. "Yes and no. Yes, I wanted her to think I was weird and leave me alone. And no, I wasn't bluffing. I've never been in any live Mid-Childan fireworks display."

They stopped as they emerged on the sidewalk. The city lights were already bright and the pavement beneath their soles absorbed the summer heat to cool the night down.

"Which world were you from again?" The blonde asked.

"Unadministered world no. 97." Nanoha replied.

"Surprisingly rare…" The enforcer commented. "…Earth."

"I'm not surprised that you are. So where's this exhibit you were bragging about?"

The blonde pointed to their left and they began walking. "I was actually planning on going by myself. Out of solitude." She hissed upon seeing Nanoha's sympathetic expression. "And I even parked my car nearby because that was how my day would end."

Nanoha smiled and squeezed the blonde's shoulder. "I'm glad I agreed to come then."

"T-thank you very much…?"

After a short silence, the blonde spoke again. "Can I ask you a funny question?"

Nanoha cocked her head. "Not about women and death?"

The blonde glowered and threw her head back. "I knew it! You think I'm weird."

The instructor laughed out her apology and replied, "Ask away…"

The blonde met her gaze and ventured, "What's your name?"

At her question, an inexplicable kind of warmth surrounded Nanoha's chest. But it was inevitable to ascribe it to the alcohol beginning to kick in more than to anything else; more than to other things that haven't yet come to mind.

"Nanoha." She replied.

The blonde fell silent when the name rang a bell. She tied together the facts that she was an Aerial Combat Instructor and she was from unadministered world no. 97. She opened her mouth only to find her words hanging. Tilting her head and curling her lips, she puzzled herself for a few more moments.

"I-Instructor Takamachi." She finally confirmed to herself.

Nanoha looked at her with surprise but it easily faded with a forlorn sigh. "Good guess, Enforcer."

The blonde replied in disbelief, "I… met the White Devil in the most astounding of ways."

Nanoha shuddered at the mention of the nickname. "I'm surprised that name's not yet notorious in the Investigative Department." She sarcastically said.

"I'm actually attached to the Dimensional Navigation Bureau. But Nanoha sounds notorious enough in itself, regardless of where you hear it." The instructor glared at her. "Nanoha." The enforcer repeated as she kept her sight to the front. "Takamachi… Nanoha…"

Feeling somewhat embarrassed as she continued calling out her name, Nanoha interjected, "W-what?"

The blonde looked at her with a smile. "Nanoha…" Ignoring the glare from the instructor, the enforcer added, "You could actually get used to it the more you say it though, Nanoha. Saying it has a finer nuance than hearing it."

"What?" She said again, this time, with a tone more demanding. "I thought you're from the Navigation Bureau? Where do you hear my name, exactly?"

"I hear it all the time when I'm around our Headquarters." She said slyly.

Nanoha momentarily stopped walking. Thinking about it, she is here on the Bureau grounds. Being a full-time Navigation Officer would've kept her in the Main Branch instead of the Ground HQ. She resumed when the blonde didn't seem to have any intentions to elaborate what she just said. Nanoha waited for a little more, just looking at the blonde questioningly.

And when she couldn't wait any longer, she demandingly said, "This is the time when you introduce yourself to me too."

The blonde smiled with lips shut by her teeth. Nanoha instantly punched her to the shoulder.

"Ow!" The blonde giggled. "It's Fate."

Nanoha gave her another inquiring stare. "Fate…?"

A little frustrated about her lackluster response, the blonde replied, "That doesn't ring a bell, huh?" Nanoha dropped her hands in defeat. "…Fate Testarossa-Harlaown. Dimensional Navigation Bureau Executive Officer. In rank, a Captain. I'm a legal representative, if you could call it that, for the Marine Defense Force Investigative Squad…" She paused. Nanoha still looked at her without any hint of recollection. "We work for the same field superior, Commander Yagami Hayate?"

"Oh." Nanoha raised her chin up and shifted her gaze towards the sidewalk. "I see."

Fate's brow twitched. "T-that's it?"

Nanoha put a finger on her chin as she pondered over it. "I've heard of a higher superior being an Admiral Harlaown." Fate looked at her with nonchalant eyes. "And the Director General of Central Administration Bureau's Ground HQ is Lindy Harlaown… I think I've heard Commander Yagami speaking about a talented Enforcer Harlaown being under her Special Investigative Services once. But, I guess that's about it."

Nanoha's wide achievement-smile turned into a nervous lopsided smirk as she turned to face the blonde who was then lazily looking at her. "N-nyahaha…? S-sorry…"

"I feel disparaged." She heavily sighed. Nanoha's shoulders jerked. Then Fate smiled. "…rather than being notorious I guess that is fine."

The copper-haired instructor glared at her with puffed cheeks. "Had I known you were a bully…"

"You would never have accepted that bourbon?" Fate offered.

Nanoha snobbishly faced away. "I would still have because you were pushy. Just to get rid of the annoyance." The blonde cocked a brow, amused and slightly irate. "But I would've declined the offer to that exhibit."

Fate chuckled scornfully. "Had I known you were The White Devil…"

"You wouldn't have offered your bourbon?"

The blonde shook her head. "I still would have. I was advertising, remember? But I would've fled first before considering a stroll alone with you."

Nanoha let out a small growl which Fate found cute rather than anything else.

"Well we can care less…" She said before snatching Nanoha's hand and dragging her to a dash to catch the pedestrian lights. "…Because we're near."

Running across the intersection, Nanoha commented, "You're still horrible!"

As they reached the sidewalk, they slowed down. Smiling at Nanoha, Fate replied, "Consider that a lie." Nanoha's glare faded after the confession she just misconceived with regards to the stroll offer. "You're the horrible one." Fate's smile vanished from her face the same instant. "You called me pushy and annoying."

Nanoha shrugged. "You are. So much that we couldn't get to ask each other's name firsthand."

"Well, thank me. We wouldn't be here now otherwise."

"Thank you." Nanoha patted her shoulder with a smile.

"Ehem!" The blonde proudly responded. Then after a while, Fate tilted her head. "You realize you were talking most of the time too. Right? …and laughing."

"Well, thank me."

Both of them giggled. "Thank you." Fate replied then looked at Nanoha expectantly. When the instructor tried to ignore her, the blonde nudged her shoulder lightly, and again, when Nanoha forced to disregard it.

With a tinge of shyness, Nanoha closed her eyes and puffed out her chest. "E-ehem!" Fate laughed. "Y-you're… unbelievably childish too." Nanoha replied but she was easily ignored.

"Oh, look! We're here!" Fate exclaimed and led them both towards a certain theatre-like building's entrance.

…

Fate examined the pass they bought from the booth they just been through. It was a three-by-three cardboard ticket that had no other print but the exhibit's name and a red stamp that read: ADMIT TWO.

"It feels cheap." Nanoha commented from over her shoulder.

Fate flipped the ticket and squinted at the unreadable rules and regulations list. "Tell me about it." She sighed. "I loved this place until five years ago. They used to have smart cards for tickets and twenty galleries. Now they only have… three…?"

Nanoha patted Fate's back. Aside from frustration, the rueful hint of nostalgia was written in the blonde's face. For a moment Nanoha was silently repentant for bringing up her previous blunt comment. It felt to her like spoiling Santa Claus's identity to a child waiting eagerly under the Christmas tree.

"I'm sure the three will worth twenty." Nanoha consoled, wrapping her left arm around Fate's waist.

"Thank you." Fate replied with a lousy act of drying her invisible tears. "It's alright that Papa was Kriss Kringle… fufu! Just kidding."

Nanoha wrenched her head with arrant surprise. Had they just been thinking the same thing all along?

Fate blinked. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She replied with a small chuckle.

Soon they were admitted into a dark, sound-proofed hallway with only emergency neon lights on the floor. They followed the arrows and found another door. And they entered the first exhibit room. It was a long gallery lit up with blue and red flecks of mana floating in the air. The flecks danced in slow motions like lumps of fluids suspended in the atmosphere by low gravity. They formed various irregular shapes as they floated around freely.

Nanoha observed in awe, gaping. She slowly held out a hand towards a nearing red speckle. Upon contact with her skin, it shattered like glass. They diffused into grains of yellow and white. Then they diminished into tiny glitters before completely vanishing.

Fate was following her shortly behind, shattering a blue fleck by flicking her fingertip and watched its bursting transitions with a contented smile.

Reaching the next door, Nanoha turned back to wait for Fate and they both entered at the same time.

They found themselves in a larger square room. Strands of luminous smokes spun and swirled in the air. It was pink and purple everywhere. In the middle of the room was a set of green and orange magic circles spinning and contracting, then revolving, countering the previous direction and expanding. As the circles expanded, a ring of grains of amber mana spew out from their intervals. The ring shot outwards like an asteroid belt consuming the rest of the room's exhibit lights, breaking them into more grains. They reform again into different shapes as the ring pass. The amber belt went on like a wave crash by the beach, like a sudden gust of summer wind. As the surge reached Nanoha, she braced herself. The impact felt like a breeze. But caught in the unexpected feeling, she suddenly held her step back. Her sudden halt caused Fate to bump into her.

"Ah! I'm sorry." The blonde gently held her shoulders. "Are you alright, Nanoha?" She quietly asked.

Again, that inexplicable warmth surrounded her body like a gentle embrace emanating from the grasp on her shoulders. And the feeling was tightening as she heard the silent voice. Tilting her head, she found ruby irises tinged with the wave of amber ring stilling in the corners of the room before disappearing completely. As the lights swirled and blinked around them, her orbs darkened, steadied and they trembled and flickered back to the kindest lights. Easily consumed, Nanoha's thoughts blanked for an immediate response.

Then Fate smiled at her tenderly. "When I first came here, I fought the urge of drawing out a protective shield." Softly, Fate chuckled.

With her senses still fuzzy, Nanoha pulled away from the blonde. She gave her a small smile she could produce from her still hazy mind. A new wave of golden ring of grains passed through them then, blowing the blonde forelocks away from Fate's face and lightening up her skin and hair.

To push the uneasiness that grew from the sudden sight, Nanoha looked down.

Concerned about her queasy actions, Fate brought a hand on Nanoha's shoulder. "We can leave now if you don't like it."

"No. I'm alright!" Nanoha immediately snapped out of the trance. She looked around first, recharging her senses with the reality. "I was just awestruck." And it was the complete truth despite only having considered it as a lie; ascribed with a different subject. Her eyes relocked with the burgundy orbs. And just then, a new kind of torrent began to swirl through her chest, making it harder to breathe as she drowned deeper into those eyes.

Nanoha looked away and shook her head. "There's one more..." She informed herself.

"Okay, let's go then." Fate led the way, taking Nanoha's hand. They trudged towards the end of the room but Nanoha's thoughts were still in disarray.

Nanoha looked at their hands, then back up to the profile of the contented-looking blonde. The instructor shallowly sighed before inhaling deeper.

Then Nanoha slipped her hand away from Fate's grasp, leaving Fate at the brink of despair for the loss of her warmth. But shortly, Nanoha's touch came back to steal Fate's senses once more. Fingers slid past Fate's palms. Approvingly, Fate stretched her digits apart. Nanoha interlocked her fingers with the blonde's, molding them firmly as Fate slowly tightened her hold.

They stopped by the final door next. They spared each other a quick glance and a meek smile before pushing themselves to the final exhibit.

The room was the largest. It was a dome. Fate and Nanoha had stopped near the wall, awestruck and agape. The room drowned with more colorful sparkling lights than the previous ones. High above was a pulsing lump of mana, looming like aurora in the atmosphere. From each pulse emanates cloaks of lights that swirled outwards, curtaining the whole dome's curve. The grains crawled from roof to walls. As they went, they left trails of glittering traces of grains of mana that rain down and disappear in the air. The curtains continue to crawl on the floor, lightening up the whole place like sleek glass. And then they meet in the center of the room and burst like water fountain that burns into flames and turns into smokes and then return to the mass of lights overhead.

The blonde recovered faster from the overwhelming beauty and found it opportune to gaze at her copper-haired companion. The instructor tightened her hold on Fate's hand again as she remained staring at the changing colors above them.

"It's beautiful." Nanoha softly whispered.

Fate found another amusement in the gallery as her attention was fixated on Nanoha's eyes. She found their shimmers more endearing than those lights surrounding them. They were nothing like she saw earlier tonight. They were now more powerful, more fervent, more alive.

Without thinking first, Fate whispered back a reply. "…Most beautiful."

Unknowingly, as if magnetized by the tender voice, Nanoha turned her attention back to Fate and instantly met those fiery burgundy pair of gaze.

Fate's face turned furiously ruddy as she realized the effects of her words. "...Among the three." She backed up nervously.

A violent wave of warm tempest surged throughout Fate's body. But she ignored it. She basked this moment of just drowning into shimmering dark blues.

Inhaling deeply, Nanoha upturned her head to watch the exhibit again. Then sighing a comforting amount of air, she asked in a steady and soft voice, "Can I ask you a funny question?"

Fate tenderly smiled and looked up as well. "What is it?"

"It's about the life and life-and-death thing." She smiled wider. Fate raised her brows amused. "I just realized the irony you were talking about…"

"That's one problem solved, then." Fate interjected.

Nanoha nodded before resuming, "So here are the preliminary questions…"

"Ask away."

Nanoha faced Fate and the blonde looked back at her. "You have your car nearby, right?" Fate nodded. "Will you let me show you something exhilarating and away from death-flee response?"

Fate contemplated for her words' meanings first. Swallowing hard, she slowly nodded.

"Here's the funny question." Fate parted her lips as if it could mend for her quickening breathing. "Can you take me to the mountains?"

Before Fate could respond, Nanoha leaned in closer and whispered directly to her ear, "Consider it repayment for accompanying you here." Then she backed away and began sauntering towards the exit, leaving the blonde stiff and dazed. Narrowing her eyes and mirthfully grinning, she inhaled deeply and followed.

…

As they walked towards the parking lot, they found themselves passing through a street of restaurants. It was already nine quarter and both couldn't help the hunger cave in. They easily chose to dine in first before riding out of town. It was a pizza-pasta chain that they opted over heavier diners. One with somber ambience accompanied with classical music background.

"We're spoiling our dietaries." Nanoha scolded Fate sarcastically as she sat on the wooden chair the blonde pulled for her. She took off her jacket and hung it on the armrest while Fate occupied the chair opposite of her.

"Well I passed real dinner." The blonde replied.

"I had Meal C back in Training Grounds cafeteria." Nanoha replied, earning a snort from Fate.

"So much for spoiled dietaries…" The enforcer said.

Nanoha shook her head and added, "…and real dinner."

A waiter came with the menu shortly. Comforting themselves upon ordering, Nanoha and Fate surveyed the place.

"Decent…" The instructor commented, noting that most of the customers were in pairs. "…romantic." She added, fighting the lurch in her stomach yet again.

Fate rested a chin on her palm with her elbow on her chair's rest. "I love the lights here." She commented, pointing at the solemn lights the chandeliers offer on each table.

Nanoha cocked an eyebrow. "You've been here?" The she furrowed her brows. "…wait, that wasn't supposed to be a question."

The enforcer faked a glare. "Once and it was family dinner." Fate noted how skeptical Nanoha's look turned. "This place's customers are in groups rather than in dates during early dining hours."

A little while later, a waiter came by and served them an appetizer breadbasket of onion breadsticks and warm and cold water in pitchers, and a couple of glasses.

Nanoha spoke as she poured herself a glass of warm water. "It's sad that I can't dine every after a day's work." Fate nodded as she motioned her glass for Nanoha to fill as well.

"It's because all we need is to eat."

"The working animals we are." Nanoha picked up a breadstick and held it up to Fate as if to propose it for a toast.

Smiling at the misunderstanding she took upon the gesture, Fate took Nanoha's wrist and fed on her bread. The instructor froze. Warm blood rushed to her cheeks promptly, much to the blonde's smug look.

As Fate backed herself against the chair, she pointed out, "Hungry animals eat… not dine." She then lifted a stick up to offer to Nanoha the same idea.

Shrugging, the instructor took the offer with her lips and nabbed the bread away from Fate's fingers. With narrowed eyes, she bit off from the stick's tip and held the bread away like cigar. Puffing out imaginary smokes, she replied, "Consume all you can." She said before chomping from each breadstick in both hands.

Fate softly laughed and stared long at Nanoha.

"What?" The copper-haired instructor slowed down her chewing. The blonde came empty for a reply. Nanoha didn't ask again. Both lost in thought, they indulged in the casual stare game. Fate finally broke their contact to get a piece of breadstick and nibbled it like a mouse. Nanoha smiled at her.

"Childish."

Fate ignored the second-time ridicule. As she chewed, she leaned over the table and narrowed her eyes at the instructor. "Have I told you about my favorite pizza-pasta restaurant?" She asked after swallowing. Then she took another stick.

Nanoha had just finished her first bread and replied, "The one in Rigate?"

Fate blinked in surprise. "Were you taking notes at the bar?"

The instructor proudly smiled. "And you weren't taking notes for your own words, I see."

Hesitantly, the blonde asked for confirmation, "I told you they serve unlimited bread appetizers there, didn't I?"

Nanoha squinted. "Not taking notes for herself."

"That goes here for now…" Fate held up her hands parallel to each other and gestured them from her side to the other to brush off the note-taking topic. "I have a confession to make." She said. "On my first time there, I'd just been taken in by the Harlaown family and it was supposed to be our first family dinner." Nanoha raised her brows. She has already had the gist of it that Fate was a step-child of the Harlaowns but she was never sure of it until Fate said this so. She shook the irrelevant new thought away and returned her full attention to the blonde's story.

Fate continued, "I was ten. A meek young girl."

"Now this is interesting." Nanoha crossed her arms over the table and hummed an amused tone.

Fate glowered at the incredulity of Nanoha's tone and she continued, "And let this be proof of my meekness: When mother—Lindy, that is—handed me and my brother the menu, she told me to order anything I find fancy. The menu was a two-page cloth-covered cardboard, canvas-print with images. The prices…" She waved her breadstick in the air, letting her words hang.

Nanoha smiled understandingly. Then Fate took a pamphlet from the side of the table and leaned back against the chair. "I was wide-eyed and stunned." She raised the pamphlet up to cover her face up to the nose. "And I stayed like this… studying how casually they were weighing their choices from the menu."

Nanoha began laughing softly. "What did you get?"

Fate returned the pamphlet on the tabletop and replied, "When the waiter came, the two of them ordered first. I was like a lost child wondering if they were summoning a dragon. I was gawking at their incantations. Then they all looked at me with expectant eyes. All flustered, I fumbled on the menu. I guessed anything would taste good. But the prices!" She yelled out in a form of a whisper. Nanoha began to stifle the louder surge of her giggling fit. "Rather than famished, I felt nauseous!"

Nanoha threw her back against her chair, chuckling out the laughter she couldn't keep for herself. Shaking her head, Fate took a bite from her breadstick. "I whispered to them in the end, Can I have soup with more of these?" She waved a hand over the breadbasket and began to softly chuckle as she continued, "Then there was awkward silence. After that we never celebrated in restaurants again. Ever. Years later, the memory returned as a funny joke. Chrono and mother told me they felt miserable for making me feel that way on the first day out with my new family. They were laughing hard when they told me that though."

Nanoha rubbed her palms on her cheeks to ease the ache from stifling her laughter. "You didn't get soup in the end, did you?"

Fate shook her head as she sipped from her glass of water. She swallowed then took a few moments of silence. "Mother ordered me tortellini… and soup." She replied with an inevitable grin. Nanoha laughed again before finishing off her other breadstick.

Then the waiter came back with their orders. Nanoha wiped her mouth with a tissue paper before commenting, "It's your favorite place, nonetheless huh?"

"Their dishes beat the bitter story of the past." Fate replied and nodded at the waiter as he went.

Nanoha smiled at her. "Another mystifying irony?"

As she arranged their plates, Fate answered with a smile neither too happy but not as well faked. Nanoha pondered over it for a second. Then somehow, she felt a brittle presence of a feeling conveyed through the blonde's expression. Like a distant reflection of the moonlight on the unstill surface of the ocean; its spasmodic shimmers that tell a long story of the night that last a blink of the eye.

…Ethereal, but nonetheless right there.

It was when the enforcer looked at her again that Nanoha realized her smile had faded away. She smiled again and cordially commented, "These look great."

"Let's dig in and dine." The blonde softly cheered.

…

After dinner...

A good thirty minute car ride later, Fate found herself driving through an open parking garage in the mountains ten miles off the city boundaries. From far off their left, spotlights beamed across the air. The echoes of a live rock performance originating from the arena pass through their open windshields.

As she drove slowly in search for a parking space, Fate took a glimpse at Nanoha on her passenger seat. The instructor was bobbing her head up and down to the beat of the music, humming along with its melody, lightly drumming her fingers on the dashboard. Nanoha caught Fate looking and she winked at the enforcer. Just as she did, she lip-synched with the last lines of the song she seemed to know by heart. Then Nanoha threw her hands up and synchronized her lips with the male vocalist's signature Thank You!

Fate giggled wholeheartedly as she returned her attention back to the driveway. They finally found a vacant spot by the edge of the hilltop parking lot from where a Landrover was just leaving.

They had left their jackets in the car, feeling it very bizarre if two Bureau officers in their uniform came rocking the night with the young and the feel-young. And Just as Nanoha was about to lead the way out of the lot, Fate called her back with a whistle. Realizing that she'd just been fished by one trial trolling, Nanoha glared at the enforcer.

Smirking, Fate tossed a windbreaker to Nanoha before shutting her black car's door closed and catching up to the instructor.

"It'll be colder later on." She explained as they began walking through a thin lineup of trees that opens towards the sloped walk lined up with food stalls.

Nanoha scoffed and tied the jacket on her waist. "Where we're going, you won't ever be chilly."

"Hmm? You're here often?" Fate asked as they went.

"Not in the past three years. It's not a place to venture alone…" Nanoha replied before she could realize her words' impact.

Fate knowingly nodded. "…So for the past three years, you were practically alone."

"You're horrible."

The enforcer laughed.

As Nanoha had promised, after thirty minutes or so of jumping and cheering with the thick audience, Fate was sweltering with the overwhelming torridity. What amazes her was that within that amount of time, she found herself in the very first row of fans nearest the stage. What amazes her even more was how her female companion to her right was yet to seize cheering when she was beginning to lose all the strength to carry on. During the fifteen-minute break before the next bqnd, she was thankful to still feel herself living and breathing.

"Are you alright?" Nanoha asked when she found Fate panting. The blonde's hands kept her propped over the rails that divided the audience at a distance from the stage.

"How are you managing this?" She asked Nanoha wide-eyed. "Remind me again that this wasn't supposed to be a life-and-death scenario." She wheezed, hunching herself over the front fence.

Nanoha leaned closer to the blonde. "'Scuse me for a while…" Then she untied Fate's black ribbon holding her hair in a low tie. Upon clipping the ribbon between her lips, the instructor began gathering Fate's locks with her hands. Each stroke of her combing fingers sent tingling aftereffects on Fate's scalp and neck. The light tugs as Nanoha gathered her hair into a right side ponytail made it through to her chest as if they were attached to her whole body like strings.

Her exposed damp nape instantly caught Nanoha's attention meanwhile. Blankly, she tied Fate's hair in place with the enforcer's ribbon. All the while staring at the glistening porcelain skin from the enforcer's ear and nape and her clavicle offered to the instructor by Fate's bent position, Nanoha tightened the ribbon with a slow pull that made Fate's chest ache for the air that she unknowingly missed breathing.

"…Thanks." The blonde straightened her back and she let out an exasperated breath.

"Easier for heatstroke than a heart attack." Nanoha replied with a wink.

Then Nanoha found time to scrutinize the enforcer's new form. She traced her sight from Fate's damp neck up to her sweaty forehead, then down to her parted moist lips and back to her burgundy orbs. And then she looked at Fate's side ponytail with arrant amusement. Nanoha snickered as she looked away, ignoring the evident blush on the enforcer's cheeks.

"W-what? How do I look?" The blonde warily asked with a nervous smile.

Nanoha leered at her, still smirking. "Huh…" She teasingly nodded slowly.

Embarrassed and uncomfortable, Fate looked down at her own clothes and shoulders. She faced Nanoha again, fumbling with her ponytail. "N-nanoha. E-erm…"

The instructor laughed at her pleading tone. She patted Fate's arm away from her masterpiece hair fashion and replied, "You're fine. Leave it be." Then she slowly shook her head. "Had I known you were a creep for looks…"

"Wha—?!" Blushing, Fate's brow twitched. "I'm not! I was just… It just feels weird if I don't— I mean, I'm usually…!" Realizing that she was being played into an argument she can't win, she tilted her head down while keeping the eye contact with Nanoha. "…Who's the bully now?" She said with a moue.

"Nyahaha…" Nanoha casually brushed aside Fate's stray bangs sticking on her cheeks. "It's very cute."

"Like a child, huh?" Fate heaved out a rather relieved sigh.

Nanoha furrowed her brows whilst smiling. "Not at all?" She pointed at her own hair tie to prove her words true.

Fate leaned forward to the rails again. "It's bad, isn't it?"

"What?" Nanoha herself leaned her side against the railing.

"I've always been like this… self-conscious during the most untimely moments, insecure about things big and small."

Nanoha tilted her head towards the stage. "Every normal person does that."

"Really?" Fate cocked an eyebrow. "How does The White Devil look when she's self-conscious and insecure then?"

The instructor smiled at her. "You're implying I'm not normal, aren't you?"

The blonde shook her head a few times in defense. "N-no! It's just…" She halted to scrutinize Nanoha closely. The idea she contrived with wouldn't come in her imagination with solid descriptions.

"…Captain Takamachi Nanoha, the White Devil… I just can't imagine you fiddling with your hair."

Nanoha challenged her with a fake glare. "That's a dare, isn't it?"

Fate shook her head again, slowly this time, before turning it into a slow nod. "It was a compliment… …yes, it's a dare." She instantly retracted her words, finding it more amusing to do so.

The instructor pushed herself off from the fence then. "Dare on."

Inhaling, deeply, Nanoha whipped her ponytail forward and caught a few strands with her fingertips. Then she began thumbing the ends of her hair in search for split ends.

"Fate…" She began, her voice suddenly turning into a childlike complain that seemed to surprise the blonde.

As Fate straightened herself from the fence to face her, Nanoha continued, "I worry about my hair. What do you do to make yours so pretty?"

Mildly mesmerized by the character Nanoha was turning herself into, the blonde cleared her throat. "N-nothing special… I don't worry much about it."

Then Nanoha gasped uncharacteristically, lifting up her shoulders and covering her mouth with an outstretched palm. "Do you think it's a syndrome?"

Blinking subsequently with a small laugh, the blonde played in her expected role. "No. I don't think so. You're fine, darling."

"Really?" Nanoha chimed with puffed cheeks. "You mean it?"

"Yeah." Fate inhaled and let it out in a small chuckle. "Your hair is beautiful… Nanoha."

"But…" Nanoha paused, biting her lips and making an upset expression. She began fiddling with her hair. She addressed its emphasis to Fate by squinting at the enforcer before looking away.

Like a parent pampering a child, Fate urged, "But…?"

Part of Fate's thought processes were already not working well for this bizarre situation. Whether they were still acting to point out Nanoha's insecurities or whether they were simply… … The next thought to fill the blank comes empty.

Snapping her back to the conversation was Nanoha. "But my boyfriend says it's sort of frizzy."

"Y-your boyf…?" Fate elevated her brows. At first, she was perplexed to draw the line to separate the reality from the act offered by Nanoha's words. But then a funny thought saved her from that growing discomfort. "Did he give you any suggestions or something?"

"..." Nanoha dropped her hands with a squint. "...You're supposed to be surprised that he told me that and tell me that he's unbelievable or something."

Fate tilted her head with an expression made out of mixed confusion and apologetic eyes. "But your boyfriend said it. It was the first thing that came to mind."

They both laughed. Then Nanoha explained. "You blew the self-conscious act. You owe me a drink."

Fate queried, "Now I owe you?"

Nanoha replied with pride, "You implied I'm abnormal."

"I didn't say anything like that." Fate defended with a hint of malice in her tone.

"You ridiculed my boyfriend, too."

"Oh! That was… true." Fate's expression somewhat lost their usual intense fervor. It didn't go unnoticed to Nanoha but it was too alien a feeling to be sad about.

"S-sorry. I owe you a drink." Fate smiled in defeat then turned her attention back to the stage side where the concert's sponsors were being advertised through a projected video hologram.

Nanoha smiled again too but its familiar echt was not there. Part of it might have been caused by the guilt for what she had just unfolded. Part of it was because she felt genuine frustration in the blonde's forlorn stare. The rest of it was because somehow, she felt like she just revealed something anticlimactic. Then Nanoha felt that she'd regret not saying anything about it; as if she'd lose something precious if the subject wasn't dealt with. Despite all the uncertainty, Nanoha decided she'd clarify it to the blonde she'd just met.

Ready to explain, Nanoha leaned against the fence again and blocked Fate's view. Fate held her in the eyes and the instructor was lost for words. The red orbs that reflected the lights that hid the stage flickered with something else. They glimmered like searching. They glowed like asking for words to be said. Not knowing it, the instructor's slate blue eyes mirrored the feelings that perfectly complemented those untold begging. However, none of them realized it. They don't will for the emotions to be asked, nor for them to be answered… at least not yet.

And just then, the stage lights shone on the entering band. The crowd cheered, accompanying the introductory music that began picking up volume. Everything was louder than ever. The night's main event music began to blast off the mountain Rockfest.

Fate and Nanoha's attention returned to the stage. But for some reason, they've lost interest and enthusiasm for the mainstream band that began warming up with instrumental music. Simultaneously, they looked at each other.

"Do you know their songs?" Fate asked.

Nanoha shook her head in response. "We're getting old, aren't we?"

Fate averted her eyes and looked around, pondering over the White Devil's comment. "Aw… …We are?" Her shoulders drooped.

"Let's get out of here!" Nanoha yelled on top of the blaring music.

"What?!"

Nanoha did not repeat herself. She immediately took Fate's hand and they began wrestling through the thickening crowd. They found it harder than entering. It was a struggle out to the thinner audience in the back.

Soon, as they cleared out of the open arena, they sauntered through the pathway of stalls, laughing at each other, hands clasped together.

"I'm buying you a drink first." Fate pulled Nanoha towards a random drinking booth.

"I'm surprised you were willing."

"Yeah. No kidding." The blonde replied with a sarcastic tone, earning a soft punch to her shoulder. Fate looked at her to pose a protest. Then the blonde noticed the red gem dangling out of Nanoha's neckline. It had been hidden all this time, she thought. It must have been hooked out while they were squeezing through the crowd.

"You've got a message." Fate stopped and informed her.

Nanoha looked down. "Oh… It couldn't be an emergency. Raising Heart would've informed me otherwise…" She said and she opened a small terminal between her and Fate.

"Go on and check with it anyway." Fate suggested with a smile. "I'll catch up with the drinks."

"…" Nanoha pressed her lips and gave Fate a defiant look. But shortly, her terminal opened up for a list of missed calls. "Aw… I'll…"

"Go." Fate nodded and turned around to face the booths.

"Thanks… Lime juice!" Nanoha chanted, backpedalling up the path towards the parking area. She waited for Fate to raise a hand in response before completely turning back.

As Nanoha passed through a thin lineup of trees, she opened up a terminal and typed in a brief message. She closed her holographic screen afterwards and jogged across the driveway towards Fate's black car near the edge of the hill. She circled around it and faced the darkness between her and the city. Then she leaned back against the car's hood and basked the contradictions of the silence in front of her and the thrill coming from behind her. She felt the liveliness consume the darkness. The resonance filled in the empty space, mixing in with the summer breeze.

A little while later, a screen popped up beside her. She snapped out of the deep thought and answered the audio-only message.

"Yes. Captain Takamachi Nanoha." She began. She was surprised at first that the audio connection was private. She was the only one who could hear the responses. Then again, she was relieved because she would've been too embarrassed of whatever this caller would say in front of Fate once the blonde comes back.

"Commander Yagami." Nanoha responded with stern voice.

After a long pause, Nanoha grunted. "No, Hayate. I'm… I'm actually at the Rockfest."

"Nyahaha!" She laughed before instantly turning her face into a frown. "...No. Why would you even consider him being here? ...I'm with… a friend."

Nanoha sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't have the chance to see your message about it… Coming now? It's eleven fifteen though, Hayate… … Unh. I think I'll pass. ...I'm having fun right now." A meek smile formed on her lips as her words sank into her thoughts. "I'm surprised too."

"Nanoha~!" She turned to her left and found Fate coming with two bottles of lime juice. The blonde froze upon realizing that Nanoha was still in the middle of a conversation.

The instructor signaled for Fate to come anyways and though reluctant, the blonde complied. As she neared, Nanoha turned to her connection.

"...Yes, that was her." Fate silently leaned back against the car's door beside Nanoha. Whilst the instructor returned cordial responses to her caller, Fate opened a bottle and handed it to her.

Nanoha mouthed a thank you and Fate returned a silent welcome. Then the instructor returned to the conversation.

"Her name…?" She looked at Fate. The blonde conveyed her concern with elevated brows. Then Nanoha giggled. "What? Mystery it is, then." She replied without breaking the eye contact with the blonde.

A pleasant moment of silence passed before Nanoha softly said, "…Sin City." As the other line replied censurably, Nanoha made a sour face that was rather mirthful than anything else. "Yeah. It's bizarre. We're off the mountains now…" She genuinely grinned at Fate.

Opening her bottle, Fate couldn't help but intently listen at the one-sided conversation with a small smile. And as the blonde raised her bottle up to her lips, they both inadvertently evaded each other's stare.

"Troublemakers?" Nanoha continued. "… I see, so that's what the place brags about?" The instructor curled her lips disapprovingly.

Curious, the blonde threw a quick glance at Nanoha and instantly returned her attention to the distant music spreading in the sky. Just now, though it was only a quick glimpse, Fate knew for sure. Nanoha was still looking at her. Self-consciousness instantly made it hard for her to swallow her tart drink.

Then Nanoha spoke again, "…She's a bully more than a troublemaker. Childish but complicated. A teenager who's fond of ornate words. A braggart of a poet at the same time. Not really the type women would last talking to."

Just as Nanoha was finishing the sentence, Fate tilted her head. The instructor cleanly averted her gaze at the final moment, just before their eyes could meet. The blonde narrowed her eyes in defiance to what she had just heard. But it instantly faded into a gentle echt smile.

Shifting uneasily, Nanoha replied to her caller. "She has the most ridiculous of stories… …I enjoyed listening anyway." She grinned and flung her sight the blonde's way. Just in time, Fate turned her head to face the dimly lit sky. Nanoha laughed at her caller. But her expression easily changed into comfort. Her eyes got stuck on the enforcer. Absently, she took note of the strong line of Fate's jaw and her slightly oily skin glistening with the light offered by the nearby post.

"…Alright… golden blonde locks." Fate smiled as she inclined her head, making her side-tail dangle. "A little taller than me. She has a quiet voice…" Nanoha continued and her tone became gentler unknowingly. "Red solemn eyes that are… rather… vibrant…" Fate turned her head, missing the eye contact when Nanoha swiftly looked away. Nanoha cleared her throat before trying to catch a glimpse of Fate's orbs again. But when she moved her head, the blonde shied to the tree behind the instructor and cleanly dodged Nanoha's direct stare.

Then after a few seconds, Nanoha replied again, "What? Hypnosis doesn't do that!" She said under a small laughter. "…Hmm? It works like that? …Nyahaha! …Like mystifying magic?"

As Nanoha made the comment, Fate dared for a connection again but Nanoha turned her head down, showing faked interest on her white stockings and blue instructor shoes. Nanoha threw her head back to look at the sky. Her neck's curve promptly took Fate's attention. It was exposed further by the wind that blew her hair away from her shoulder. And somehow, she needed to help herself with a deep silent sigh...

"I'm really sorry about today…" Nanoha said. "…I can't. I have to cook before my fridge turns to mold monster… …Alright. Have fun 'til tomorrow." After another laugh, she ended, "Good bye, Hayate."

Her terminal bleeped closed and finally looked at Fate who was now wearing a gape not too far from a nervous lopsided smile. "Hayate?"

"Yes, that was our Commander checking on her staff." Nanoha replied matter-of-factly. Before Fate could produce a reply, a screen appeared in front of her. On top of the blue frame was an Emergency notification.

Fate instantly accepted the incoming call. And to her surprise, a familiar brunette appeared on her screen. Shoulder-length brown hair, unbuttoned Ground Force jacket, and a glass of gimlet on hand. Fate stared at their smiling Commander with wide eyes. From that time on, they knew the call wasn't for official emergency business.

Nanoha closed her eyes upon seeing who it was. She murmured, "Hayate…" like a curse. "…how involved with the world are you?"

"Enforcer Fate Testarossa Harlaown, where are you?" The brunette on the other line said with a composed pleasant smile. "I hear bands playing in the air though." She cocked a brow as she drank from her glass.

Fate laughed and mustered all confidence for a dignified smile. "R-Rockfest, Commander Yagami." She replied with cracked voice.

"Oh, my Schwertkreuz! You're not there with—…" The brunette moved closer to the screen, desperately trying to widen the range of her monitor with arrant futility. Then she leaned back and cleared her throat. "Who are you with?" She asked with a reprimanding tone like a mother in doubt for her child's deviant actions at school.

Fate looked at Nanoha. The instructor waved her hand at her dismissively. "Act like I'm another person." She begged in a whisper.

Instantly realizing their dire situation, she replied, "I'm with a friend from work."

Hayate shifted on the sofa with a sheepish look. "You're not even trying to hide that you're with the woman, huh?"

"Who do you mean?" Fate asked with feigned innocence. "S-she went to buy us drinks."

Hayate leaned closer to the screen again with a glare. "Really? What's your friend from work's name? Black Angel?"

The blonde enforcer chuckled nervously. "…Hayate. Take it easy. I'm with Ginga." She said, almost begging. Nanoha noted how lousy she was acting and she scoffed.

"But… wait, Ginga?" Nanoha whispered to herself.

After a moment of silence, Hayate sighed. "I see. Ginga. "

Nanoha looked at them with pure astonishment. "She bought that?!" She hissed at herself again.

The brunette Commander pursed her lips in thought. "The White Devil's not with you?"

Fate shook her head. "What makes you think I'm with her?"

Hayate briefly paused and looked outside her screen, seemingly checking another terminal as she motioned her hand around amidst mechanic beeps.

Then she replied, "Nothing. So who are you with, really?" Fate swallowed hard. Hayate nodded with narrowed eyes. "That was Ginga's message… So who are you with?"

Nanoha closed her eyes in concession. She shrugged when Fate looked at her for help. Biting her lip, Fate straightened her back against her car's door. The blonde mulled over it for a second. Her thoughts instantly brought her back to Nanoha's boyfriend and her excuse was immediately contrived in mind to cover up for her.

"You remember that girl from GrooveMill?" Fate slowly spoke. Nanoha gave her a questioning look but Fate missed it.

At cue, Hayate's eyes grew wide. "You went out with that woman? No, Fate… She's a bimbo!"

"Words, Commander." Fate reprimanded nonchalantly. "I just got dragged into it by her group. And since I couldn't go to Sin City, I went for fun."

With a sad face, Hayate nodded. "How untimely. It's a shame you weren't at Sin City today."

"What? Why?"

The brunette shook her head. "Nothing. So you're not coming to tomorrow's barbecue?"

Fate pondered over it for a moment. Hayate immediately retracted, "Ah. On second thought, come tomorrow. Get a real day off!" She ordered, waving a dismissive hand. "If you can't come, ignore Shamal. Go to Sin City! Drown that night away tomorrow with your unit! Sing along for the Blessed Wind's sake."

Fate smiled at her. Then she could hear some troublesome reprimanding from the background. As the chiding voice of a female neared, Hayate anxiously ended the message with, "Bye, Fate. Condolences!"

As her terminal bleeped close, Fate heaved a heavy troubled sigh and then looked at Nanoha with puffed out cheeks. Nanoha was still looking at her with hanging jaw.

"How did GrooveMill get such impact on her?"

"GrooveMill is a club just like Sin City. But they're more… into hitting than drinking." Fate silently announced with a shrug. "…We just went there once and were offered to stay as regulars for some reason." She explained then took a swig from her plastic bottle. "We never came back again. I just lied big time."

Nanoha sighed. "You didn't have to do that."

"…?" Fate tilted her head as she swallowed her juice. "But wouldn't you be in trouble if I told her you were with me?"

"No. Not really… just the teasing." Nanoha furrowed her brows. "What makes you think I'll be in trouble?"

"D-didn't you have a boyfriend?"

Nanoha hung her head and helped herself with a small sigh. "Ex-boyfriend." She announced. Fate stared at her. Then Nanoha began explaining, "We were together for two years." She seized her upper lip and paused to debate with her thoughts about what to feel about it. "…Lost time, I say." She shook her head.

"What happened?" Fate asked with arrant concern. "…two years is a long time." She added. The enforcer studied Nanoha's eyes closely, searching for a confirmation to the doubt she didn't realize she was having. Doubt that Nanoha has moved on. Two years was a long time, she thought.

Nanoha held Fate's eyes and replied, "It's gone before it's even there."

"What do you mean?"

As they stared at each other's serious expression, Fate got lost in her search. There wasn't the spark she feared to see and she somewhat felt at ease. With one look, her doubt disappeared.

"We tried it because everyone else pressed that we should." Nanoha explained. "We're friends since we were young. I love him. He loves me. And the rest of the world thought that we were in love." She heavily sighed. "But after crossing the line from friendship to romance, we found ourselves nowhere." Fate nodded to urge her to go on. "…It should've been ideal to find friendship in a relationship, right? It should've…" She looked at Fate intently as if looking for a confirmation.

The blonde took her time, looking back, and finding nothing but tidbits of her past; never one thought as a whole. "Sorry. I… don't really…"

"O-oh…no, I—"

Fate shook her head. "So… the friendship changed after crossing the line?"

Nanoha closed her eyes and shook her head. "Nothing changed. And it was more detrimental than you would've guessed. It almost felt like school project sleep-over than commitment."

The blonde smiled understandingly.

"Our relationship was like tutelage if besides best friends. He was there to teach me, I was there to listen. And we broke up when we finally clarified that we both acknowledge the fact. Later on he admitted that halfway through the relationship he met this girl and he couldn't bring himself up to confess to her or to me because he wasn't really sure how to handle it with what we have. I guess I was a sucker at romance. We both were. We figured we've been tiptoeing over the subject all throughout, for two years."

"And you're still friends now." The enforcer guessed, receiving an attesting nod for a response. "And it's not weird? After all those?"

Creases formed in Nanoha's forehead. "At first everything was awful. Mostly because everyone keeps pressing for details and blames for what he had during our relationship." She said matter-of-factly. "They even come querying for our sexual comfort with each other." Nanoha confessed despite the deep blush. "It's the worst level of their prying."

Fate managed a small laugh in return. "Well how was it?"

"F-Fate?!" Nanoha drew herself away from the blonde. Fate snickered at her. Suddenly feeling the eyes from some passers-by, Nanoha hissed. "You're—! The worst! If I asked you, what would you say?!"

"I've never been with a man before." The blonde shrugged.

Nanoha closed her eyes and tried to drown her embarrassment with the back of her eyelids. "I shouldn't have drunk your bourbon." Nanoha growled and took a big gulp from her tart juice.

Fate bit her lip with a not-so-sincere apologetic grin. "Throw me a tantrum question."

"That's another bad deal like your bourbon worth minimum cab fare…" Nanoha glared at her. "But better than nothing." She opted and took some moment of contemplation. Then after a while, she said, "Describe your first time using food and describe the person with it using a season."

"That, huh?" Fate looked away uneasily. "That's a taste from a long time ago."

"You reap what you sow." The instructor smirked. Out of happenstance, Nanoha noticed Fate's bright red ear tips. And she found it weird not to consider it cute more than the alien feeling closer to something uncomfortably unpleasant.

"For season, I guess it's… winter?"

Nanoha laughed. "A cold person, huh?"

Fate bobbed her head once. "Training roommate. And if it wasn't for her, I may not be a full-blown discloseted woman who cherished the curves of my own race."

Nanoha blushed. So much for brazenness she thought she had in her when she asked the question. "So the experience?"

Fate inhaled and replied, "Okay… food. Anything? Fruits or dishes?"

Nanoha nodded with a sly smile showing pure amusement over her torture. "Your call."

"Uh… for the feeling… Alright let's go with fruits…" Fate tilted her head as she stared at the open air. She inhaled deeply and held it for a few seconds. "…Du-durian…?" Nanoha instantly laughed out loud and flung her head back. "Smells like hell, tastes like heaven."

"What?! You really are horrible. That's g…gross… or painful, rather. But…" Nanoha mouthed with creased forehead, "seriously?!" Then she pronounced slowly, "smells like hell, tastes like heaven?!"

Fate opened her mouth and let it hang for a couple of seconds before actually forming words. "W-What? Were you expecting me to answer sour strawberries or sweet coffee beans?" Fate stammered. Then she paused. Then she realized all her words that spilled out from her mouth. "Goodness!" She then exclaimed and turned around, throwing both hands to cover her face onto her car. "Aagh… I can't believe I said all that!" She moaned and growled and grunted, trying to keep herself on her feet. "…ugh."

Still laughing, Nanoha patted Fate's shoulder. "That was worth the deal. I take back my words."

"You white devil…" She growled then flipped herself straight back to face Nanoha. "You tell me." She dared with a ruddy glare.

Nanoha smiled at her contender. "Autumnal equinox. He's like the colors of change in the seasons." Fate loured at her.

"What?"

Nanoha ignored her disbelief over the poor sense of elaboration. "The experience is… bland porridge."

"And you're not horrible more than I am?" Fate leaned her hip back on the car and crossed her arms. "Bland porridge," she echoed sarcastically under her soft laughter.

"Sticky and hot." Nanoha added which made Fate stare at her with revolt. "Tastes like tissue paper dissolved in water." The blonde grunted and looked away. Nanoha laughed again, enjoying the sight of every reddening bit of the blonde.

"I can't believe I'm with the White Devil. This is a nightmare." She shut her eyes tightly and shook her head.

"You asked first." Nanoha defended.

Fate chewed on her lip in remorse. "…I've deeply reflected. That was a big mistake."

"Offering your bourbon?" Nanoha asked, crossing her arm over her chest.

"No!" Fate instantly deflected. "…No." She repeated in a softer tone. Taken aback, Nanoha studied the enforcer's flustered expression. The blonde took another swig to chase the lurch of her stomach away. Then there was deep silence between them.

"I'm thankful for that bourbon." Fate began again and made a thankful gesture. "Thank you for accepting. Thank you for this… wonderful mystic night." She added with a small laugh that soon faded away into a genuine smile.

Nanoha locked her eyes with the blonde's deep red irises, searching for what sparkle her words convey. And looking at them alone told her that Fate was smiling and thanking her for the pleasant precious memories unlike how they spoke for her past earlier the night. Under the open summer midnight sky, they twinkled as if they were directly looking at the stars overhead. Somehow, though vaguely, the idea that those beautiful reflections were caused by Nanoha herself warmed her heart.

Fate lifted her bottle towards Nanoha and the instructor knocked her bottle to the cheer. Silently, Nanoha looked away with the lightest daze she's ever had as she drank from her lime juice.

"You're welcome." Nanoha replied. "And I should be the one thanking you." She whispered, almost just a sigh.

Their conversation was lost in the pleasant echoes of the music in the air. They remained for a while just standing there, listening to the band's numbers, staring blankly at the distant cities and the star-filled skies.

Later, the band's song ended. The call for one last encore erupted. And they heard the mob go wild. The female vocalist asked the audience, "Still thrilled and alive?!"

Seemingly ridiculously addressed directly to her, Fate smiled. Then the crowd cheered louder than ever as the Mountain Rockfest peaked as the first encore song began. The midnight was caving closer. The day was ending. The moments were fading…

"Can I tell you a funny confession?" Nanoha broke their silence. Fate simply hummed in response. "…I feel like Cinderella. As midnight approaches I feel like the magic is slowly vanishing."

Fate turned her head to find out Nanoha still staring at the sky. "Who's Cinderella?"

Nanoha finally looked at her with a smile. "Earth thing. That's why it's a funny confession."

The blonde chuckled softly then they turned silent again. Fate took the moment to ponder about the idea the instructor presented. And honestly, she found it hard to accept that the magic was leaving them just like this.

"Nanoha…" The instructor blinked and raised her brows in response. Then Fate heaved a sigh before placing her bottle on the roof of the car.

"Can I ask you a funny question?" Fate began. A hint of tension was evident in her voice and expression. Her voice was low and soft like never during the earlier hours. But rather than feeling estranged about it, her tone felt like familiar music to Nanoha's ears; like a ballad that she can't help but sing along with.

"What is it?" The instructor queried with equally silent voice, almost like a whisper.

"Preliminary question…" Fate paused. "Sin City… Been anywhere similar in nature before?"

Nanoha shook her head. "No."

"Here's the funny question…" Nanoha waited. Her searching slate-blue eyes locked with seemingly lost reds.

Fate pondered over the vexing question she couldn't get herself to ask confidently. She looked weary and unsure. Closing her eyes and clenching her jaw first, she let herself loose a sigh.

"Have you…" Fate paused again, the suspense draining out Nanoha's strength from the knees. "Have you kissed a woman before?"

Nanoha's lips parted then closed, then opened again. She internally debated whether to answer that question. Yes felt safe. But no was the truth. Yes opens the opportunities. But no locks their gates.

"Have you?" Fate asked again with utter plea for the truth.

Nanoha shook her head and whispered, "No."

Fate nodded and looked away. Nanoha opened her mouth again. She, too, wouldn't accept the fading mystical feeling. And she opted to chase after the closing doors.

"I've always wanted to drop by the place though. Every morning as I pass by Sin City I couldn't help but look and wonder what's inside. I mean, I know what's inside. Just that I haven't been inside…"

Blonde brows slowly rose. Fate looked at her with a hopeful gape. Nanoha smiled at her. Then Fate returned the smile that slowly grew into a huge grin. She had to look away just to keep her blush from growing. She let out a sigh in a relieved chuckle.

Nanoha watched her with a small giggle. "What, Fate? You think anyone would dare enter that place without the natural reason to be there?"

The blonde wriggled her head happily. "Well you only ever mentioned being there at… whim and… having a boyfriend. And you're…" She sighed again. "…you don't seem like… interested."

Then once more, silence reigned and the band's last song engulfed them. Fate was the first to realize that the few people near them had already left. She looked to her side just to make sure, then to Nanoha's side.

"What are you doing?" Nanoha asked. Though she already know what's in the blonde's mind.

Awkwardly, the blonde scooted near the instructor. "Nothing…"

Nanoha began blushing at the not-so-used-to-it act she was seeing. Seizing her lips between teeth, she pressed her knuckle against her cheek. Fate inched closer again then froze completely when she was just an inch away from Nanoha's shoulder.

The instructor wholeheartedly laughed away the turning in her stomach. "Now I'm left wondering how your troublemaking days went bad."

Blushing, the blonde bit her lower lip. There was a precious hint of self-disdain as Fate replied, "Yeah… no kidding." She looked away, smacking the base of her palm to her forehead and shamefully, she whispered to herself, "What's with this? Dang it!"

Regaining her composure, Fate rapped her fingers on her car. She inhaled deeply first and then ventured again, "So I'm going to ask you another funny question." Nanoha turned to face her. Momentarily, Fate wavered upon meeting Nanoha's fixed gaze. She blushed even closer to the dangerous levels.

"C-can I…?" Fate seized her lips with her teeth. Hesitation won her over at the final moment.

Barely keeping the ever growing blush to herself, Nanoha shamelessly urged, "Can you what?"

The blonde shrugged. Her desperate brain functions were forcing her to ignore the creeping warmth all over her face. "…you get it." She said, slowly shutting her eyes in her own disbelief. Nanoha kept her gaze fixed on her, barely managing to breathe a lungful.

As her thoughts ran hazier each passing seconds that those slate-blue eyes were piercing through her soul, Fate met her gaze and finally she asked, "May I kiss you, Nanoha?"

That instant, Nanoha lost to the swirling heat that's turned her heartbeat too fast, too loud. She looked back to the night sky and smiled widely. "I'll think about it. Give me a minute."

Fate looked down at her black shoes and waited impatiently. She was counting. Shamelessly conscious, at that. Nanoha studied her in her periphery and deeply inhaled. Fate's sporadic glances and stares made Nanoha way too self-conscious. They were consumed by the beats and lyrics the crowd was cheering with for the next minute.

And the impatience that built in the blonde enforcer urged her to move as soon as her count reached a minute. Fate nudged Nanoha's shoulder, making the latter yelp in surprise.

Not in the least guilty about it, Fate whispered, "Sorry."

Nanoha frowned at her, beet red and stunned. "…Have you thought about it?" Fate asked with a bashful toothy grin.

One last time, Nanoha fought the surge of emotions ignited by Fate's sudden actions she found too irresistible. Nanoha closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Then she placed her bottle down on the car's hood before facing the blonde who was now pulling her lips in a victorious smile. Nanoha, wearing an abashed stare, grabbed Fate's shirt's collar. Surprised, the blonde blinked.

And before she knew it, Nanoha had pulled her into a deep passionate kiss full on the mouth. Surprised, elated, hazed, Fate returned the kiss. And their lips danced with the last song's climax.

An outburst of pleasant waves out-powered the instructor the instant Fate pulled her tighter, clutching the instructor's uniform's back as she did. Nanoha moaned into the kiss. The hunger was immediate and Nanoha pushed Fate hard against the car, making the blonde groan in pure rapture. Nanoha's hands snaked around Fate's exposed neck then travelled so very slowly to clutch a fistful of golden hair. The taste of lime had never been any sweeter. Breathing had never been harder and at the same time pleasant. And as the song's repeating chorus slowly faded out, they both began to crave for air.

Pulling back for oxygen, their kisses softened to gentle pecks, from nips, warm grazes and tender butterfly touches until the last song ended and the silence became pure and seemingly endless. The sounds of their lips meeting and parting, their soft pleasurable hums, and their erratic sighs took over.

With eyes still closed, they rested their foreheads against each other, basking still the brushing heavy breaths and each other's loud heartbeats.

"You've kissed a woman before, haven't you?" Fate accused, eyes still closed.

As breathless as Fate was, Nanoha replied, "Once."

Slowly, simultaneously, they opened their desire-doused eyes to let themselves drown into the mesmerizing flickers concluding their best night ever. Embers of blue and red kept growing with billowed fervor.

And then Nanoha closed their lips' distance again, smiling into the kiss before pulling away and adding, "Twice."

Fate contently grinned.

They shared another firm, gentle kiss that last longer than intended. Nanoha pulled away again and buried her face into the crook of Fate's neck, letting the blonde's warmth engulf her completely. In turn, Fate let herself melt into their embrace, pulling Nanoha closer and breathing her in.

In their minds was a prayer that kept flashing with every loud beats of their hearts: For this moment to never be over.

…

On the outermost lane of the open-air parking lot, a black car was left parked. Its roof had been retracted. In the backseat was a couple of Bureau officers nestled against each other under a black leather jacket. Listening to the passing cars and the echoing closing of the stalls, they silently watched the stars.

The copper-haired in instructor in blue skirt and white shirt shifted, comforting her bosom against the blonde enforcer's shoulder.

"Hey, Fate…?" She whispered.

Fate kept silent for a while, just stroking Nanoha's copper strands. Then she hummed a response.

"I've got to ask." Nanoha began. "Why did you advertise your drink to me?"

"Now that you ask…" Fate replied quietly, pressing the side of her lip against Nanoha's head. "I don't know…"

Nanoha turned to face her. "Really? You don't just do that to every newcomer?" She asked with more of begging tone than of threatening.

Sincerely, Fate shook her head. She brushed the instructor's bangs to the back of her ears. "To tell the truth, I still would've offered the drink to any newcomer. The thing about advertising for the club was true. But…" Fate comforted Nanoha by wrapping her arms around her torso. "I wouldn't have talked more than to offer the product and not my own glass."

"What? Why… then? Why me?" Fate blinked. Nanoha dismissed her forlorn thoughts first. "I just wonder. I'm glad we met… But I just…"

"…I don't know. It's not every time a newcomer comes alone. So I guess I was…" The blonde shrugged.

"Thrilled?" Nanoha smiled and arched her brow. "Mystified?"

Fate smiled as well. "Back then, maybe I was. Right now, I sure am." She replied, pecking on Nanoha's forehead.

"So if I came one other day before, I would've still caught your attention?"

Fate leaned her head back to the seat in wonder. "No. I don't think so…"

Half-hurt, Nanoha puffed her cheeks.

Fate explained, "I always drink there without the intention of connecting too much with the partying downstairs."

Now that she thinks about it, Nanoha puzzled over the fact that they only bumped into one woman who seemed to be friends with Fate. Aside from the waiters and bartenders, despite being a regular customer, she should've known more people around other than her usual companions from work.

"I usually have reservations for the private cubicles with office friends." Fate added.

Nanoha's eyes flickered in realization. "…The karaoke upstairs."

Fate smiled. "I told you, right? I wasn't supposed to be there. I snuck in so I don't have any reservations. My friends would've been with me otherwise."

Nanoha's breathing quickened. "You're saying that…"

Fate shook her head and offered to fill in the blanks. "I wouldn't be at that barstool during usual day. I would have been upstairs. We would never have seen each other there."

Nanoha cupped Fate's cheeks with a smile that slowly faded. "That's ridiculous."

"I know it's weird." Fate tightened her hold on Nanoha. "We could've still met one day at work. But thinking about the possibility of having missed the chance for this night scares me…"

Nanoha bit her lips, aware of the feeling Fate was talking about. Her sigh came out in a shudder as another thought came to her mind. "Do you think if Hayate had introduced us to each other at work, we'd be connected somehow?"

"Oh, we'd be friends." Fate winked but her assuring smile soon died. "…But I don't know afterwards…"

"I get the feeling that we'd be crime-busting buddies." Nanoha tried to vouch but she didn't say it so with a confident tone. She later on sighed in defeat. "Ten out of eleven people think I'm stern at work. I don't think we would end up being in friendly terms in one night."

"Neither do I." Fate took Nanoha's hand and kissed her palm. "And if we had met in the office, I'd be looking at you just as others do. There's no way I could've seen you otherwise. We're worlds of departmental issues and responsibilities apart."

"You're right." Nanoha replied with a soft tone of cursing.

Brushing her thumbs along Fate's cheeks, Nanoha placed a gentle kiss on the enforcer's lips. Then she pulled away.

Fate traced Nanoha's face with her sight. From the slate-blue eyes, she lowered her gaze to her parted moist lips. The blonde sighed, already yearning for those lips that had just left hers. The silent plea was easily conveyed to the instructor, making Nanoha's irises darken in the new forming desire.

She kissed Fate again, pushing the enforcer back against her car's door. The kiss was slowly deepening, picking up further fire until their quickening breaths were accompanied by soft moans.

But suddenly, they were interrupted by a honk from a car that just pulled over near them. Instantly retracting, still dazed and flushed, Nanoha looked up only to find quite the evening's shocker. Curious about what kept Nanoha frozen, Fate propped herself up from the cushion and tilted her head.

"G-ginga?!" Fate was first to react.

A blue-headed twain was staring at them from their jeep. The driver with long hair snickered at them. "I-I'm sorry, Fate-san. I recognized your car and thought I'd say hello…" She said with an apologetic face that slowly turned into a sly grin. "Actually the Commander told me about you and that GrooveMill woman and we were a bit worried." The couple could only stare back with mouth agape, barely breathing.

"…I guess our worry was unneeded, right Subaru?" Ginga nudged her short-haired passenger who was only unmoving but dumbfounded.

"Na…noha-san…? Nanoha-san!?"

Before she could yell any louder, the older sister smacked the back of Subaru's head. "You're exaggerating!" Ginga reprimanded. Her younger sister didn't seem to feel her though as she remained frozen and dumbstruck.

Composing a nervous and ashamed smile, Nanoha waved her hand. "Hey, Subaru… Ginga too."

The jeep's driver kept smiling as the awkward silence consumed their exchanges. Finally getting enough of it, Ginga honked at them. "I'll see you on Monday, Fate-san. Have a good night! To you, too, Nanoha-san! See you both around."

Then they drove away. Subaru kept her eyes stuck on them until she can't tilt her head back any further.

Bewildered and mortified, Nanoha and Fate kept staring at the distance where the jeep had just disappeared into.

"I'm guessing you trained Subaru?" Fate asked as they turned to look at each other.

Nanoha nodded. "Ginga?"

"We usually work together for joint ops. Major Nakajima's a family friend too."

They kept silent for a while, still letting their stupor fade out. Nanoha recovered first. She rested her forehead against Fate's and they both laughed.

"What's funny?" The blonde asked despite chuckling herself.

Nanoha pushed herself off of Fate, much to the enforcer's dismay. The instructor then threw herself over to the passenger's seat, leaving Fate still leaning on the backseat, curling her upper lips in frustration.

"Fate~ it's Sunday." Went Nanoha's chant-like reminder.

Grunting, Fate flipped herself up and out of the car. On her way to the driver's seat, she fixed her ponytail to the base of her neck which was surprisingly more stunning than Nanoha's matching side-ponytail. As she shut her door, Fate looked at Nanoha who was staring hard at her.

The blonde scornfully lifted a brow "Were you expecting me to jump into the stunt like you just did?"

Nanoha squinted at the smirking enforcer. "You're boring."

As Fate turned on the ignition, she leaned over the gearbox to closely match the instructor's glare with a smile. "You just up and left. How are you not?"

Nanoha moved closer to Fate, noses almost touching. And she whispered, "You wouldn't leave me alone."

"You run, I chase." Fate replied before hitting the car roof's button. "I stop, you pursue."

"I guess…" Nanoha smiled. The opening in the roof disappear just as their eyelids close, just as their lips' distance vanish, just as their worlds' separations blur once more.

It wasn't until a few more while later that the car finally left the silent parking lot.

…

And Afterwards...

Pulling Fate by the hand, fingers still intertwined, Nanoha led the way out of the parking lot and towards the elevators of their residential complex. It was in the very first hour of Sunday. They have the wide elevator car all to themselves. It didn't matter to the only passengers though. They only needed space for two.

From behind Nanoha, the blonde protectively wrapped the shorter woman with her arms the minute the elevator doors shut. The copper-haired instructor leaned into the tightening hug, letting the blonde explore her porcelain neck with her mouth. Fate's touch, Nanoha found, was too endearingly dangerous to be left alone. She tilted her head and captured Fate's mouth full. They molded perfectly against hers, and as if so new to the feeling offered by the position, Nanoha separated her from Fate slowly, letting their lips sensually linger.

Bewitched, Fate breathed a satiated sigh. The woman in her arms had her heart ensnared by her mere stare. Before they knew it, they were high up the tenth floor. Hands on Nanoha's hips still, the blonde found herself being dragged along through the silent corridor drowning in fluorescent lights.

Fate's eyes got stuck on the back of Nanoha head. Wild thoughts began making her heart clench every step towards the instructor's room. She's had her best night. She's kissed the best woman. And now they neared to the door of their first goodbyes.

Shortly, Nanoha stopped and slid her right hand to grab Fate's. With her free hand, she opened the door to her room with a keycard. The click of its locks felt like the gunshot that ends it all. Turning around, Nanoha met the wishful burgundy orbs.

"I guess we're here." Fate said with trembling heartbeats.

Nanoha nodded. "Thank you."

Their hands let each other go. It was a discouraging feeling of loneliness for each other's hold. Fate smiled at Nanoha. The blonde cupped the copper-haired instructor's face.

"Thank you." Fate said and leaned over to kiss Nanoha on the cheek. It was long and lasting. Fate felt frightened to ever let go. And before she could pull away with heartbreak, as if a prayer that's been heard, Nanoha wrapped her arms around her and held her real tight.

"Stay…" Nanoha whispered as if a desperate begging.

Fate shuddered and sighed. "Nanoha… I'm an Enforcer. I'm not sure if I can—"

"—We don't need to if we can't." Nanoha interjected and released Fate, capturing both of the blonde's hand instead. In silence, Nanoha backed against the door and pushed it open.

All the while, Fate accepted the pull to get her inside. And as the door closed, she was wrapped again in the warmest embrace. Her thoughts for protest waned instantly. Fate returned the embrace and she spoke so breathlessly, "This is really bad… Nanoha… I'm… most definitely…"

In love.

They both could have known. From the time that glass of drink landed on the countertop… or maybe a little few seconds even before that, they could've known how to deal with this to make this outrageous progress stop. But they talked and laughed and frowned. And everything of each other's was accepted. Every little thing of each other imbued their hearts completely. Before they knew it, the desire that doused them grew too much, too strong to keep from flowing. Now they're in a whirlpool. They could let go now and accept the impending natural disaster that shall lead them worlds apart, separated and torn to different islands unknown.

Amidst the silence that grew in the dark entry hall, unknown even to themselves who made it happen, they found each other's soft lips meld together. They found their hands exploring their clothed curves. In the process, Nanoha began unbuttoning Fate's shirt. And in turn, the blonde pulled the green ribbon off of the other's copper hair, the soft strands that were meant to fall freely for Fate to bury her fingers into.

Nanoha parted her lips, inviting Fate's tongue in. The dark room felt like spinning around and around as if in perfect rhythm with their tongues mingling and rolling against each other's sweetness.

Whatever magic there'd been as they kissed, mystically they found the sanity to leave their shoes on the entryway before they sauntered through the spinning hallway. Soon, Nanoha was lying back on the bed. Fate was atop of her, her hands on either side of Nanoha to prop herself up.

The blonde relished at the beauty underneath her. Copper strands pooled around her invitingly, Nanoha looked at her so defenselessly, like a feeble thread that was currently holding Fate into the world in one piece. Her heaving chest looked as if they were with Fate's in harmony. And as if she had been called forth, she undid the buttons of Nanoha's shirt with utmost care.

Nanoha slid off the black ribbon from Fate's hair. Golden locks fell from Fate's shoulders. They were like curtains meant to emphasize the billowing desire Nanoha found in the blonde's flickering burgundy eyes; or wings that had just been spread for her only, inviting all her feelings to be kept in a tender place. Smiling, Nanoha caressed Fate's neck. She slid her hand past Fate's shoulders and cupped the blonde's cheeks. With every inch, every touch that sent shivers to Fate, the blonde's angelic look won't disappear.

Then slowly she pulled Fate down for a short lingering kiss.

Fate's lips travelled down to Nanoha's neck, leaving kisses that meant more than just touches, felt more than just contact. All the while undressing the blonde, Nanoha was pulled to sit up so Fate could shed her uniform as well. And they busied themselves for that for a while, smiling at each other as they carved each other's form in mind.

And Nanoha was back on the bed under Fate's undying fervent gaze.

"Nanoha…" Fate huskily whispered. She ran her fingertips from Nanoha's cheek, down to her neck and all over her skin. "You're beautiful…"

Nanoha shuddered and squeezed her thighs together. The ache in her core was evidently pushing her to close madness. With begging eyes, she held Fate's stare.

Then she answered in yet another breathy whisper, "Fate…" She grabbed the blonde's exploring hand and led it to her thigh. Fate's left hand rubbed forth and back and around against the smooth skin. Nanoha trembled. And it was all that Fate needed to confirm. She wanted more than this. She wanted to feel her further… closer… deeper into her world.

Fate kissed Nanoha's chest, right between the soft mounds of her breast. Nanoha raised her chest for more contact. The blonde instantly withdrew for a second only to seize one of Nanoha's breasts with her watering mouth. Her exploring fingers promptly invaded Nanoha's throbbing wet core. And the instant twitch there, Nanoha's louder moan, her thrusting hip, made Fate wanting to do more. She left Nanoha's breast that instant and traced kisses down her taut abdomen, pausing to swirl her tongue on the instructor's navel. As she moved down further, Nanoha's legs seized her by the torso.

Bewildered, Fate looked up with agonized questioning.

"Y-you can't… I…'ve been running around all day…" Was the abashed instructor's husky explanation.

Fate smiled like a sleek marauding feline, sending more chills all over Nanoha's body.

"I-I'm serious! You can't!"

Fate sighed and slowly moved back up, casually letting her skin rub against Nanoha's most sensitive bundle.

"—! Hngh!"

The blonde halted and spoke, "Let me…" She said in a convincing tone. "I want to…"

"…" Nanoha could only look away with desperate protest.

"…Alright." Fate conceded. Nanoha blinked but could only feel chagrined over her own decisions.

Fate pulled Nanoha's hand and let the instructor's palm caress her cheek. Then she took the index finger between her teeth, pushing it deep into her mouth where her tongue conveyed to Nanoha the sensations she was missing for declining.

Nanoha's breath shuddered, watching Fate sensually pull out her finger and put it right back into the hot depth of the blonde's mouth.

"…Okay?" Fate asked, pulling away the finger from her mouth.

"What do you mean okay?" Nanoha defiantly answered despite the cracked voice. "…I don't… …" She murmured the rest of the words softly. Fate furrowed her brows and leaned closer to hear.

And at what she was saying, Fate genuinely smiled, wide enough that she had to gently close her eyes. "That's what you're worried about?" She asked almost in a chuckle.

Nanoha closed her eyes tightly, teeth grinding too hard for a response but a growl. Fate kissed her gently on the jaw and spoke, "I'll have all of you wholeheartedly. I won't find you bad at all."

Red as she already was, Nanoha opened her eyes thinly. She instantly recognized the very warm eyes gazing upon her, begging for trust, leaving no hint of opinion but a trace of anticipation and need.

Nanoha loosened her jaw and replied in a form of a little nod. Fate pressed her lips on Nanoha's and grazed them over her chin and neck. She retraced herself back down slowly so that each peck on Nanoha's skin would be the most endearing kiss to ever fall upon her body. Down she went, leaving shivers from the ghosts of her warm lips. Every inch of Nanoha's skin tingles with every agonizing departure and every expectant return of her sweet soft touch.

Reaching below Nanoha's taut abdomen, Fate wrapped her arms around the instructor's slender, tense thighs. She moved closer to Nanoha's core to breathe in the warm musky scent that stirred her newborn burning ardor.

"Nanoha…" Fate sighed, making Nanoha's walls tighten with just her breath touching her outer flesh. And just as the lurch on Nanoha's stomach and the buzzing in her ear were dissolving away the specter of Fate's call, a hot wet tongue slid down up across her silkiness. A new wave of more powerful pleasure drove Nanoha's mind spinning. Moaning against the back of her palm wasn't enough to stifle the heat that kept bursting out from her center. Purple and red dots lit up behind her eyelids like fireworks in the night.

Fate found the pleasure in the taste of her flowing sweetness. Hearing the copper-haired instructor kept her wanting more. Fate shoved herself in, not minding the suffocation, desperate to reach deeper against Nanoha's tightening walls. Deeper, she reached in, rolling, sliding, until Fate was almost melting inside of Nanoha. The growing moans signaled Nanoha's nearing limit.

Completely losing to the rhythm which Fate gained control over, Nanoha held on Fate's hand which kept her still by her pelvis. Nanoha sent her head back against her pillow. Her whole body tightened for a flash. At the same moment, her thoughts were swept blank out of her mind. And the hot pleasant quakes made her madly convulse the next instant she heaved her shuddering breath.

Just barely recovering, Nanoha opened her eyes thinly and again, from the uncertainty of the emptied thoughts, she was saved by the loving gaze in the form of intoxicating deep red gems.

And despite still breathless, Nanoha managed to push Fate down on the bed. The blonde ground her teeth at the intensity that pierced her in the form of slate blue fireballs. She swallowed heavily as Nanoha straddled her. The copper-haired instructor then showered kisses all over the blonde, from her shoulder to her chest, to her neck and back up to her ear.

Nibbling on Fate's earlobe first, Nanoha whispered, "I'm inexperienced, however…" Nanoha began tracing wet detailed kisses on the blonde's skin. From Fate's forehead, her nose and lips where she lingered, until her hand crept down the blonde's tight abdomen. Nanoha pulled her mouth away and let her breath brush against the enforcer's. Nanoha's hand had reached down between Fate and her, to the blonde's crotch, sensually sliding her teasing fingers over the wet folds. Nanoha felt Fate's anticipation all over her goosebumped skin. Adding it up to the sweltering slickness against her digits, Nanoha sighed at her own pleasure.

"Nano—…hah…" Fate sighed and gasped with little shudders.

Smiling for a response to the blonde's begging, Nanoha slid down and nibbled on Fate's hard nipple. She gained a stifled moan as she let her tongue dance around the firm bud, flicking it and teasingly biting with gentle loving pull. As if the elicited moans were summoning more of her want, two of Nanoha's fingers slid incompletely into Fate's entrance. The blonde's eyes shut tight and her arms flung across Nanoha's shoulders, squeezing the instructor against her body as if to brace herself for the waves that were threatening to ignite her to explosion. The pleasant torture of Nanoha's slow insertion caught Fate's chest in fire, stealing her oxygen slowly until Fate thrust up her hips in surrender.

The heat and twitches around Nanoha's fingers, and the exotic tone Fate called her name with, were almost driving Nanoha at the madness of wanting to lose the reins and just make Fate burst right then and there. She kept a steady pace of pumping, moving halfway, reaching in deeper, and doing it all over again at a faster motion, slower another time. Her pace was entrancing, as it was agonizing. The deeper Nanoha went, the higher, the closer to limits Fate was brought to. And amidst Fate's tiptoeing around her pit's edge, Nanoha leaned on to her for a deep kiss before moving to the blonde's ear, sensually brushing her bosom against Fate's. She licked her there, gaining gasps of her name as Nanoha worked faster in and out of her prey.

"Fate… Do it for me." Nanoha huskily whispered. The words shook Fate over to the edge. For a blink of an eye, there was the feeling of only uncontrollably falling straight down before the earthquakes consumed her senses. With only the tightening hold onto Nanoha to brace herself with, she moaned out Nanoha's name inevitably. The intense fervor in her voice shook even Nanoha's mind numb. Fate's dull fingernails that dug into Nanoha's skin struck her in fire like a match would against a piece of flint.

Nanoha kissed Fate's shoulder and cheek as the blonde slowly regained her thoughts with heavy pants. Her senses eased. Her arms limped around Nanoha. The copper-haired instructor slowly released her fingers free from Fate's hotness. Licking her digits clean, Nanoha pulled herself up to find Fate's eyes and body in their most delicate, most fragile of forms. And as if to cover her from the unpleasant world, Nanoha rested her head against the enforcer's chest, relishing the loud heartbeats that felt like a lullaby soothing her senses.

"Nanohaaa…" Heaving another long sigh, Fate squeezed Nanoha around her arms. The instructor grunted at the very tight embrace and Fate simply laughed frailly in return.

Their bodies remained meld in each other's warmth for a while until Nanoha pulled herself up.

Smiling contently, "Fa~te…" She called. The blonde opened her eyes. Instantly, Fate was enveloped with the smile that caressed her soul to contentment and security.

Snuffing in a lungful of air, Fate managed to smile at the angel that has descended as if to save her. Nanoha cupped Fate's cheek and the blonde held her hand. And they shared another gentle kiss that held a distinct feeling from the ones they've shared so far in a night. They kissed for the sake of comforting each other to the feelings they found so true as one. So very true that it would've driven them insane if it weren't for this one firm confirmation.

They smiled promptly into the tender kiss of most secure love they've found.

Just like that, like a countdown, through the most inconceivable of events, from the whim of wanting more and the stubbornness of fleeing from the world, they found themselves falling into the traps of destiny. And it was the pits of coincidences they wouldn't fall into any other way.

~Ende

…

PS: I used Kriss Kringle to represent Mid-Childa's version for Santa Claus though they are basically the same thing.

PPS: Let me know what you think about the emotions that drove the progression. I'll definitely learn from them a lot!

Afterword

Doesn't this smell like a prequel?

Yes. But not everything we smell is palpable. This is a feelings-oriented progress. I could only see heavier drama to come after having carved the idea of Nanoha being a little mesmerized to danger and Fate being the opposite. There'll be aggressiveness, submissiveness, possessiveness, obsessiveness and what-nots. This stands alone in senses and sensibilities so I'm in no rush or in willingness to create a sequel that leads to heavier slower progression…yet. The possibility stands but we better never hope it gets done. There are still pending one-shots on deck anyways. What with hectic work and university. But no deadlines or schedules for the next story, sad to say. I've duties.

And with all that said, NightCracker is signing off!

SemperFi!