Prince Charming

By Smash41KMF

Disclaimer:Although I do not own Library Wars: Love and War, I do own this story, and the plot that goes with it.

Chapter One: Oblivious

Iku yawned, it was Friday morning and her birthday, and somehow their team was given the day off. However, like she did on most of her off-days, Iku had decided to get up early and run (rather than sleep-in), a habit Shibazaki had always found a bit strange. The clerk had figured that once the girl was out of school, the ritual, four-mile morning run would cease to exist; but alas, after seeing the blond leave at 7:00a.m. in a pair of running shorts, a loose hooded-jacket, and sneakers every morning of her off-days, the librarian assumed old habits really did die hard.

Though, so did some of the soldier's newer habits, like forgetting her room key. And, in such situations, Iku was grateful to have Shibazaki Asako as her roommate because, knowing the soldier most likely wouldn't be back for at least an hour or so, the librarian kindly hid a spare key behind the slot on the door registry before leaving for her own job as an intelligence analyst.

However, today, Shibazaki found her friend acting a little strange. The young clerk glanced at the wall clock and frowned. It almost 7:00 a.m., the same time the blond usually left for her morning run, and a quick glance out their dorm room window cleared any suspicion of the weather being the cause for the blond's apparent anxiety. Rather, it seemed like Iku was expecting something, but what it was was beyond her, and the girl eventually gave up, heading for the door. "See you, later, Shibazaki." she called, opening the door and closing it behind her with a soft click.

Observant as ever, the clerk paused in her morning routine, Iku rarely left without saying something like, "Have fun at work!" or "I'll be back in about an hour," even though they both knew Shibazaki wouldn't be there when she got back. Either way, the lack of enthusiasm in her friend was a bit unsettling, because, despite how bad of a day she was having (or thought she was going to have), Iku always left with a smile, and a cheerful good-bye. Shibazki looked over her shoulder at the door, her eyes narrowing slightly, calculatingly, as she tried to remember anything important, or upsetting, about the particular date but nothing came to mind. With a sigh, she pulled her blouse over her and tugged it down past the waist-band of her skirt, still bothered by the feeling, like she was forgetting something, something really important...

Determined, Shibazaki walked over to the calendar, the one they had posted to the refrigerator, and ran her perfectly manicured index finger down through the days leading up to today. Eventually, her finger landed on the present date, and she gasped silently; her eyes growing slightly.

"Oh dear, no wonder she seemed so anxious for me to say something..." she said to herself, mentally scolding herself for forgetting how much the girl had be mumbling about it in her sleep the past few nights. "Well... it's Friday, so maybe not all is lost..." she mumbled, straightening up and grabbing her things off the table, before going to the door, turning off the lights, and locking the door behind her. The only problem was that she would most likely not see her roommate until she got off from work at the end of the day.

"I'll think of something." she said confidently, ideas already popping into her head, as her co-workers gave her a queer look at the vocalized encouragement. She sighed to herself, laughing inwardly as she ran a hand through her silky locks. "Oh my, I think she's rubbing off on me." And with that, she set to work, half her mind pleasing the costumers for the Library and helping her co-workers, while the other half was focused on making it up to Iku, because (as much as she would like to deny it) the blond had grown on her, and now Shibazaki didn't feel like she had the heart to pry her off.

Sergeant Atsushi Dojo let out a huge yawn, normally, he wasn't too privy to waking up early, unless it was for work, but he wasn't able to fall back to sleep, despite how many times he had tried. Rolling himself out of bed, Dojo let out another yawn, stretching his stiff limbs, before walking drowzily over to his closet. He stood there, contemplating for a few seconds, before lazily selecting a pair of worn blue jeans, a black cotton tank-top, and a sleeveless pull-over. Glancing at himself in the mirror, he couldn't help but frown slightly at the sight of his too long hair; yes, he liked it on the longer side, and even Komaki had teased him by saying it made him look more rugged and appealing to the ladies, but the only thing that was keeping him from cutting it was the comment Iku had made about it the other day...

He was sitting in the break-room, lazily trying to shoot crumbled up pieces of paper into the recycling bin from his chair, which happened to be located across the room, and currently, he had yet to make any, when Iku walked in. Although it was their break-time, she hadn't expected to walk in on his little game, and ducked as a paper ball merely missed her head, before whipping around and glaring at him.

"What the #!*% ? What was that!" she snapped, glaring at him as he spared her but a shrug and continued, until she moved forward to catch one of the paper balls, but instead found the man standing in front of her.

"Chill, I was bored. But of course, you ruined the fun." he sighed, walking back over to the recycling bin and gather the crumbled paper balls and then sitting back down in his chair to continuing, ignoring Iku's presence.

"That hasn't seemed to stop you." she muttered, moving away to put a few things away, all the while trying to avoid getting hit by the airborne paper balls. She sighed for the umpteenth time she entered the room; normally she would let this type of thing go, despite how much it annoyed her, but what was really bugging her was the fact that his target and trajectory were located in a straight line through the middle of the room, and was making it hard for her to concentrate on her work. She sighed again, setting her things down and pulling up a chair beside him, watching him miss the bin in slight amusement. She giggled softly, and Dojo gave her a sharp look, and she bit her lip, holding back another soft laugh, causing him to sigh and turn his attention to her.

"What?" he asked, and Iku gave him an innocent look, only causing him to glare at her.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing, sir." she replied, shaking her head as her blonde hair swished back and forth before falling in her face, distracting her. It was amusing, what all could distract her, and now it was her hair.

Dojo watched as Iku pouted, attempting to blow her long bangs out of her eyes, and then trying to tuck them behind her ears with the rest of her hair, only to have it slip out a few seconds later. He chuckled, catching her attention and halting her actions to fix her hair, causing her bangs to fall askew in her eyes again. She froze as he reached up, licking his thumb and index finger and shifted himself in his chair to face her. He reached over, taking the troublesome strands of hand pressing them together, before tucking them into the golden hair already tucked behind her ear. However, for some reason, he wasn't able to stop there, and his hand continued back, his fingers slipping through the silky soft locks of blonde, fingertips gently grazing the smooth skin of her scalp. But further it went still, and he heard her inhale sharply, causing him to freeze, startled by his own actions when he realized his hand was stroking the hair that now reached her shoulders and was now holding her cheek gently.

"U-u-um... sir?" she whispered, eyes huge as he slowly began to remove his hand.

"If it bothers you so much, you should get it cut. It's obviously distracting, and you're distracted enough as is, you don't need anything else to help you lose focus, Kasahara." he said a smirk, looking away from her as he slowly straightened up, flipping his hair out of his face with a shake of his head, and earning himself a small giggle. 'What now?"

"Nothing, I was just thinking that you really shouldn't be the one telling me to get a haircut, sir." she replied, and he gave her a peculiar look, forcing her to smile and reach forward, pointing childishly to his over-grown locks.

"True, but I don't get as distracted as you do." he said coolly, and she scowled playfully, causing him to smirk gently and reach out again, this time casually enough that Iku didn't jump in surprise when his fingers found their way back into her thin locks. She gave him a soft look, and the corner of his mouth turned upwards as she allowed him to play with the gentle tresses of gold that framed her face. "But it'd be a pity..." he mumbled to himself, and she blinked in confusion.

"I don't follow, sir." she said, and he gave her a small shrug, his gaze remaining on the soft locks his hand was entangled in. He knew she had complained about her hair before, thinking it was too blonde, or talking about the jokes she was victim to because of the color, but to him, they were beautiful, luminous locks that looked more like a halo in the afternoon sun than the bleached yellow others claimed it was. He would never admit it aloud to anyone else, but...

"I think it looks...nice...longer..." he said gently, and Iku's cheeks grew slightly pink as she lifted her gaze to meet his, surprised by the gentle, even peaceful, look that made his eyes sparkle. She then looked away, amusing him more, as he tucked her hair behind her ear idly, before taking hold of her cheek and turning her head so that she was looking at him. "Honest."

"Th-Thank you, s-sir..." she whispered, unsure of what else to do, when she noticed his bangs kept falling in front of his eyes, causing her to smile slightly at the rugged look it gave her gentle instructor. "Your hair is still in your face, sir." she giggled, reaching forward and sweeping it out of his eyes, pushing it to the side. "It makes you look more... mysterious?" she added with a soft giggle, "Like one of those men who lurk in the corners in the movies; you know, the ones who end up kid-napping someone?" He said nothing, resisting the urge to yell at her for the brutally honest opinion, and instead only hung his head slightly, accidentally causing the hair to fall in his face again, and he growled, glaring at it as Iku snickered.

"Stop that." he grumbled, tugging gently on a small section of her hair, and she glared at him, scowling at him before retaliating, and tugging his hair in return. However, the playful atmosphere seemed to evaporate when he rose, and to her surprise, he pulled her along with him.

"Sir, I didn't mean-" before she could apologize, Dojo placed a hand on top her head, silencing her. She closed her mouth, her large eyes causing the harshness in his to soften slightly as his hand slipped back to gently hold the back of her head. Still so puzzled with such an innocent expression on her face, he felt himself guiding her down slowly as he lifted his head in return. Then, opening his mouth as they came within a few inches of making contact, he felt his control slipping away; and although the actions had not yet gone wild, he could feel the longing begin to build up as her eyes fell shut and his free hand slid off her wrist and onto her waist. They were so close that he could smell the sweetness of her strawberry shampoo and the mint of her toothpaste that stood as clear sign that she had yet to eat anything since breakfast. The thought made him swell with pride for his hand-working protege as they came within an inch of each other, only to have the heavy footfalls of co-workers resound into the empty room, setting off his alarms. He had then pushed her back and turned away, ending up on the other side of the room by the time the door opened and Komaki and Tezuka entered the room, completely oblivious...

Chuckling to himself, Dojo thought over the girl's words. The comment had meant to be encouraging, he could understand that much, but the girl had the unfortunate inability to express her opinions by using the correct words; yet another flaw that seemed to speak to him. He chuckled, since that day in that small bookstore, he had thought of her, originally praying that he'd see her again, but she had found him, and now he looked forward to seeing her every morning. Since that day, she hadn't changed much at all, and it was slowly dawning on him, that neither had he. Back then, almost five years ago, he had wanted to protect her, not the bookstore, not even the books. Just her. Even now, five years later, he kept a close eye on her, and was ready at any moment to rescue her. He would always be her Prince Charming.

She let out a small sigh, zipping her jacket up and pulled it closer around her as she stepped out of the dormitory's lobby; she hadn't expected it to be so cold that morning, but she might as well continue with her plans, considering there wasn't any point in going back upstairs.

Yawning, she shook her head to help wake herself up as she began jogging, and to her mild-surprise, her blonde hair caught in her mouth, making her hesitate as she recalled the... moment she and Dojo had in the break-room the other day...

She had been taking a few files to the break-room to look over, as a favor for Shibazaki. Normally, she wouldn't have done the girl the favor during her break, but it was a Wednesday and the break room had a strange tendency to be empty on that particular day of the week, so when she opened the door and found a wad of crumpled up paper being lobbed past her head, she jumped. Of course, she was often told that she over-reacted to things, she couldn't help it, and she turned to look in the direction of the paper, ready to glare, only to find it was her immediate superior, and instead yelled.

"What the #!*% ? What was that?" she blurted, glaring at him as she ignored her and continued with his tossing. She sighed, moving forward and glancing at the copier across the room; she needed to make these copies, but his little game was in the way of it all. She then had the idea to catch the next one he threw, but as she moved forward to do so, he stood up and her breathing became slightly unsteady.

"Chill, I was bored. But of course, you ruined the fun." he said flatly, before walking around her and picking up the crumpled paper balls and seating himself back in his chair and continued.

Iku sighed, she knew she wasn't going to be able to concentrate on her work, so she decided to pull up a chair and watch him attempt to throw the paper successfully into the recycling bin. However, she couldn't help but giggle at several of his failed attempts, until he stopped and turned to glare at her.

"What?" he asked irritably, and she simply gave an innocent look and shook her head.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing, sir." she replied, slightly annoyed as her hair fell in her face for the umpteenth time that day, no matter how many times she tucked it behind her ear or tried to brush it out of her eyes.

Her hair was becoming a nuisance, and she couldn't wait to get it cut. Growling, she glared at the offending section of bangs and was about to try again, when she heard her instructor chuckle beside her, a sound that easily caught her attention. However, it was his actions that had her rooted to her spot as he licked the pads of his thumb and index finger and leaned over. To her surprise, he took the troublesome section of hair between his fingers and pressed it together, before tucking it gently behind her ear with the rest of her hair. However, his hand hadn't stopped there. Instead, it continued, and she had to refrain from sighing at the unexpected sensation of his calloused, yet gentle fingers wove their way through her hair, tracing a thin line around the side of her head, to the nape of her neck, and then follow her hair to its ends at her shoulders. His hand then went back up into her gold locks, gentler than she had ever expected, and his fingers brushed the back of her ear, causing her shiver slightly, until her cheek found a way into the warm palm of his hand. Her eyes grew, she had never expected this of him, and she could feel her cheeks grow slightly pink, before she lifted her gaze to meet his and nearly gasped. His eyes held no trace of their usual harshness, or even amusement at whatever stupid thing she was doing. Instead, they were gazing intently in hers, but they seemed slightly dazed, as if he were deep in thought. However, what startled her most was that he had a gentle smile on his lips, one that she had never seen before. She couldn't quite identify it, but his eyes held an expression that she had seen before; one of admiration...affection... Perhaps it was the involuntary spark of hope in her heart at the thought that made her gasp, or maybe it was the slight feeling that one of them was getting closer to the other, but either way, it brought him from his trace, and his lips parted as he began to remove his hand.

"U-u-um... sir?" she asked quietly, unsure of what to say, but he ignored her question, looking away as he slowly straightened up.

"If it bothers you so much, you should get it cut. It's obviously distracting, and you're distracted enough as is, you don't need anything else to help you lose focus, Kasahara." he said, smirking that bemused smirk of his that always got on her nerves, but before she could respond, he flipped his own hair out of his eyes with a swift shake of his head, only causing her to giggle softly. "Now what?"

"Nothing, I was just thinking that you really shouldn't be the one telling me to get a haircut, sir." she said with a soft laugh as he looked away with a slightly annoyed look when she pointed to his longer hair as it fell in his eyes again. "See?" she said childishly, and he sighed.

"True, but I don't get as distracted as you do." he replied, his voice now beginning to adapt the tone it usually had before he started yelling at her. However, rather than continuing, he let out a sigh, regaining his composure as his chair rolled closer to hers and his fingers found their way back into her hair. She had offered him a small smile, and in return the corners of his mouth twitched upwards in a small smile of its own, so she dismissed the lulling feeling the tips of his fingers made on her scalp and resisted the urge to close her eyes. "But it'd be a pity..." blinking, she looked at him peculiarly, he barely said it any louder than a whisper, but she still caught it.

"I don't follow, sir." she said, and he gave her a small shrug, but he continued to watch as his hand teased her hair. Blinking, she watched as he twirled a lock or two around his finger, before muttering, "I think it looks...nice...longer..." It was soft, gentle, and she beamed inside while her cheeks grew a little pink and she nervously met his content gaze. It was odd, she had never seen him like this before, and he only chuckled softly, leaning over as his eyes sparkled and she was forced to look away for the fear of her face growing any redder. This only seemed to amuse him more, as he tucked her hair behind her ear idly, before taking hold of her cheek and turning her head so that she was looking at him. "Honest." was all he said and her heart began to thump inside her chest.

"Th-Thank you, s-sir..." she whispered, unsure of what else to do, when she noticed his bangs kept falling in front of his eyes, causing her to smile slightly at the rugged look it gave her gentle instructor. "Your hair is still in your face, sir." she giggled, reaching forward and sweeping it out of his eyes, pushing it to the side. "It makes you look more... mysterious?" she added with a soft giggle, "Like one of those men who lurk in the corners in the movies; you know, the ones who end up kid-napping someone?" He said nothing, and instead only hung his head slightly, and she giggled again she his bangs fell back in his face again; especially as a deep growl rose from his chest and he glared pointedly at the offending hair."Stop that." he grumbled, tugging gently on a small section of her hair, and she glared at him, scowling at him before retaliating, and tugging on his hair in return. However, the playful atmosphere seemed to evaporate when he rose, and to her surprise, he pulled her along with him.

"Sir, I didn't mean-" she started, but before she could apologize, he placed a hand on top her head, silencing her. She closed her mouth, her large eyes watching his soften slightly as his hand slipped back to gently hold the back of her head. She was still so confused by his actions, but felt herself drifting away as she gradually felt him getting closer. Eyes falling shut, she awaited her dreams to come true as his hand slipped from her wrist to hold her waist and his forehead slowly began to press against hers; then, their noses until she could feel his breathing against her lips and wanted nothing more than to lean in the rest of the way, when he pushed her back and turned away. Dumbstruck and feeling slightly used, she was forced to calm herself down as he made for the other side of the room and she continued to grab her roommate's files, curtly ignoring her co-workers as they walked in and were hit by the thick air of tension, before she left again and closed the door behind her. They had been so close that it was almost scary.

Stifling yet another yawn, Dojo stretched his arms over his head, before grabbing his wallet, phone and keys of the bedside table and heading for the door. Tucking his wallet in his back pocket, and his phone in the front, Dojo opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. Scratching the back of his head, Dojo squinted at the early sunlight pouring in through the main hallway's windows. Shrugging off the inconvenience, Dojo then began towards the lobby and started over to the young woman sitting politely behind the receptionist desk. Nodding her a silent good-morning, Dojo signed-out and started his trek towards the quaint little diner that also served an early breakfast for a cheap price and was located only a few blocks from the base.

Nodding again to the young guards at the gates, Dojo slipped out into the chilly morning and sighed. Walking at a easy pace, Dojo let a small, content smile grace his lips as the blue-jays began to sing to the rising sun. It was nice weather for a morning walk, much to his own surprise, but the distance was passing slowly, and so, thinking it'd be best to pass the time, Dojo amused himself by breathing out small puffs of air that seemed to float off and disappear into the cold morning air.

Normally, he didn't have the luxury of being outside at the time of day when it always seemed the most peaceful. Looking around him to make sure he was going in the right direction, Dojo's thoughts began to drift towards his childhood. He paused then, standing patiently until the traffic light turned green and he was permitted to cross the street. Quickly scampering across the street, for the sake of the vehicles full of people on their way to work, Dojo reached the other side relatively quickly, but just as his foot hit the cement on the other side, a familiar figure shot past him and into the way of the oncoming cars.

Dojo turned to shout, to yell, to warn the person, to do something; but he was too late, and the light turned to green and the world came to a eerie stop. And then, it all seemed to happen at once. The shrill sounds of car horns that blared through the air, when the heavy sound of impact broke the tension as his heart stopped in his chest. Chaos broke loose as car doors flew open and slammed shut as a stampede of panicked footfalls shot forward, shouts and gasps erupting from the gathering crowd.

But all Dojo could do was look on in horror... at the beautiful young girl lying in the street at the foot of a car, a small pool of scarlet slowly began to form beneath her as her consciousness began to slip away. He wanted nothing more than to run to her, push through the people that began to obscure his view of her and hold onto her as someone else dialed for the ambulance, but his feet were rooted in place, and he felt the spirit and soul being sucked straight out of him at the sight of her limp body on the cold asphalt.

And of all the most gruesome and gut-wrenching details about the scene before him, was the crushing revelation that she had been turning around to face him, and now that she lay unconscious before him, he could see her face with a painful clarity that brought him to his knees. He had wanted to doubt, to believe that it wasn't her; that it was a coincidence that the person looked similar, but his stomach constricted as the image replayed over and over in his mind.

Laying on the ground before him, the blue hem of her jacket absorbing the liquid as it continued to leak from her wounds, with blonde locks that were now dirtied with dust and bits of gravel, and soft skin that now was scratched and scraped red; lying on the ground, a crowd of people gathered around her, while her prince sat immobilized only meters away, was Iku Kasahara.

There you have it folks! The first chapter of Prince Charming! I hope everyone liked it! I've been working very hard on it, and because I've already gotten some great responses to Retracing Steps, I wanted to write a different Dojo x Iku.

Well! Reviews are much appriecate, and I have finally gotten my laptop! It was my birthday yesterday, by the way!

Anyways... Enjoy!