"If, if I'm allowed to live after this battle, I'm going to buy a small mirror somewhere and practice smiling"

Disclaimer: I don't own Eureka seveN, Anemone, Dominic, and any other characters mentioned in this fanfic. You will not sue.

Anime: Eureka seveN

Pairings: AnemoneXDominic. How can you not love these two?

Anemone frowned, a deep, angry frown that pulled down the corners of her small pink mouth, tilted the mirror in her pale hands this way and that. No matter which way she looked at her reflection, it still looked odd. It didn't look like a smile, it looked like what it was; an awkward looking girl pulling up the ends of her mouth.

Snarling, she slammed the thing down on her bed and buried her face in a pillow. Well, it was stupid anyways, right? Letting loose a whine, she flailed her arms and legs about, hitting fluff-filled sheets until she felt satisfied, then rolled over and lay limply, hanging over the bed.

The world look strange upside down, and her small bedroom, with only a bed, clad in the fluffiest, cutest blankets and pillows, and a desk upon which only photographs and gifts from Dominic sat seemed to be glowing in the soft morning light. The wood walls looked almost like shimmering gold in the light, and it gave off a romantic, cabin-like secluded feeling.

Even the harsh shadows that she saw at dawn had softened, bathing everything in a light wash of pastel colors. She rested her bare feet on the windowsill above her bed, the light curtains billowing softly in the crisp morning breeze.

"Stupid," she muttered to herself one last time, as if saying the word would really make it true.

With one last lingering glance at the mirror, gleaming in the morning light, she turned over and groaned loudly into her pillow so that nobody would hear the cry of frustration.

She had pulled herself up, revived and ready to try again, when the door to her room swung open to reveal a familiar black haired ex-lieutenant.

"Anemone," he shouted, too loudly for her poor ears, which were still in hibernation from their long rest.

"Knock," she shouted out of reflex, and launched a rather large and fluffy pillow at the door. To her surprise, he was actually knocked off his feet and landed with a thud in the doorway, though more out of fright than from the pillow the pastel-pink haired girl had thrown.

"A-Are you okay," he stuttered after recovering from the initial shock of having a large pillow launched at his face.

"I'm fine, stupid," she snapped, crossing her bony arms and turning away from him, nose pointed up and bottom lip stuck out. "You worry too much," she continued, earning a sigh from her companion.

Companion? Lover? Is that what they were? Lovers? Or companions? Or both?

She'd asked him about it once; if they were lovers or companions or friends or boyfriend-girlfriend, if they were dating, or was it called going out?

He'd asked what she preferred calling it, and when she replied she didn't really know, he'd just smiled wisely and said something about roses smelling the same no matter what they were called. She looked at him funny; she wasn't a rose.

He'd laughed and said no, she was Anemone, and that was even better than a rose.

Even if she didn't fully understand it, Anemone didn't dwell on the thought for very long; she never did. Because every time the smallest speck of a doubt arose in her mind, he would smile that painfully innocent, bright smile of his, and then she knew, it didn't matter what they were in name, because she knew where this man was in her heart, and that was all she needed.

Now, Dominic was smiling again, and it made her heart flutter, just like always.

"Wh-Why are you smiling," she demanded, returning to a normal sitting position, cheeks flushed, mouth quivering in joy.

He broke out into a full-blown grin, the kind that could light up any kind of darkness, laughing lightly as he sat down next to her on the bed.

He took her slender hands in his, and gently tapped his forehead to hers, then captured her lips for half a second before pulling away and bestowing upon her another one of his brilliant smiles.

And his happiness must have been contagious, because she began to feel her doubts were rather silly, and before she knew it the corners of her mouth had turned upward, revealing small dimples and shining teeth.

"You have a beautiful smile already, Anemone," his voice was soft as the morning light streaming in through her open window.

She blinked, almost confused that he knew the source of her stress, and yet couldn't help but to smile once more.

"Thank you."

And just like that, all her doubts flew out the window on the back of the bird on her windowsill.