Disclaimer: I do not own Tomb Raider or any material related to Core, Eidos, or Crystal Dynamics in any way or form.

Note: This is my first written venture into the realm of yuri/shoujo-ai. Translation: lesbianism, girl-love, whatever you'd like to call it. That said, if such topics make you uncomfortable, then please hit your "back" button on the browser. I'll not think any less of you for it, I promise.

This is also a companion fic I wrote that I spread over three parts of a XNALara render series I made and posted on deviantart under the same title and author/artist as here.

For kamilszy.

"Can you teach me... to be more like you?"

Lara heard the real question behind her mirror's words, but as the redhead was virtually a blank slate in terms of experience, the tomb raider wasn't entirely sure how to proceed.

She withdrew her Desert Eagles from their holsters, flipping them to offer the butts to the redheaded copy of herself. Lara stepped around the other, keenly aware of the luminance of her double's golden eyes.

"You know how to handle weapons: how to fight, how to maim, how to kill," Lara murmured, sliding her fingers down her Doppelganger's arms to the hands curled around the grips of her pistols. She walked around to face her clone, who instinctively lowered the weapons, clicking the safeties back on as she holstered them.

"Being human is not only a matter of survival..." The look in Lara's eyes was unreadable, but the Doppelganger saw the changing glint that passed through those brown eyes, and her heart sputtered inexplicably as a cool, calloused hand cupped her cheek.

At Lara's touch, her Doppelganger's eyes flickered uncertainly, feeling a bubble of... something... forming in her stomach. Something... like emptiness. Confusion. She fought against the automatic response to swat the hand away and return with an offensive gesture.

The two halves of herself—perfected primal instinct and muddled human awareness—warred with each other. Her skin suddenly burned for a reason she couldn't articulate, and she lifted a hand to cover Lara's. Hesitantly.

"What is this that I... feel?"

Lara's only answer was to press her lips against her copy's. The Doppelganger's eyes flickered with an orange glow, a dam of power within her cracking, letting loose what she could only describe as flaws. Strangely enough, Lara's double didn't shy away from the new feelings and sensations-she embraced them.

Lara drew away, and the Doppelganger blinked, golden eyes adjusting-though to what she didn't know. Yet.

"I believe the word you're looking for is 'human'." Lara's smile brought a new warmth to the Doppelganger's face, and for the first time since Natla created her, she smiled.

Human...

She could definitely get used to this.