Yuetchi:: Define Love Series [Bonus Three Up In A Hotlink]

[Yuetchi Farandole]

"Define Love" Series
Period One: Longing and Surprise

Why did alarms have to blare so loudly in your ears that way? A fitting first thought to have waking up in the early morning. It was true, for a blonde just opening her eyes to the noise of her alarm and the morning light pouring into her dorm room from the window. That alarm was entirely too loud for her sensitive beastgirl ears, which were long and pointed out from the sides of her head and slightly furred. Eventually, she reached out and shut the darn thing off, and managed to pull herself out of her bed. Standing, she stretched and let out a small yawn, tiny tears coming out of the corner of her eyes. Her yellow tail behind her wagged a bit as she woke up her body from its night’s recovery. One could see she had the common trait in Mundus Magicus of tanned skin, and her body structure was her proof that her daily training kept her well in shape and very fit. Grabbing her uniform from where it hung on her closet door, she proceeded to change her clothes. There was a light knock on her door, followed by a familiar light voice she knew immediately. "Ojou-sama?"
Emily turned her head a bit and called out. "Come on in Beatrix." The door opened, and then shut as a human girl with navy hair and calm expression entered the room with a small bow. Emily finished buttoning her long sleeved uniform and picked up her hair brush. She half-frowned, looking at Beatrix through the mirror in front of her. "Really, how early do you wake up?"

"As early as necessary."

Right…Emily decided maybe she should just not ask anymore about that. The girl really did wake up impossibly early, while still being alert through the day. Who did that? She instead busied herself with tying her hair into the double ponytails she was so recognizable with now. Her mind was somewhere else entirely anyway. She had had a dream. It was a normal dream, of hosting another one of her squad’s training days. They were drilling, until Beatrix and Collet had to leave early, leaving Emily to help the shortest, purple haired cadet with her training alone. Nothing strange there. But what was weird, what weighed heavy on her mind, was how often she had been having these simple yet confusing dreams. Yue was always somewhere near her in all of them. It was frustrating. Not only did she have to put up with the annoying cadet and rival, but she had to see her at night in her dreams now? Just ridiculous, and annoying. They were perfectly normal dreams, but for some reason she kept waking up feeling the same sense of confusion.

"Ojou-sama?"

The voice of Beatrix had snapped her out of it. She realized she was just staring at her mirror, kind of gazing at nothing. Nervously, she cleared her throat. Beatrix just seemed worried. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Just, make some tea or something if you want." Emily waved it off. Beatrix just nodded obediently. Emily sighed and rubbed the side of her face, eyes closed. Why…did she feel embarrassed about that just now?

Routine, routine. Emily was getting far too used to the same thing every day. Daily school life, unless that once in a while interesting thing popped up, whether it was something with the students or just something in class or academic. Class's lecture was about the founding of Ariadne itself, the great independent city-state they lived in, and their involvement in the war and how they became to be the neutral military that they were. It was a little dull and dreary. But she still listened. Everyone did, except of course, much to Emily's irritation, the dog beastgirl sitting in the back of the classroom next to Yue, who was sleeping soundly. After class Emily had made sure to give Collet Farandole a stern scolding about what she had done. And of course, after that class they had to leave for their outdoor class that day. In the locker rooms, they changed into their outdoor uniforms. Emily overheard Collet’s voice nearby.

"Yue…you took notes of the lecture today, right?"

Emily scoffed after she pulled her white hoodie over her head that read Sevensheep across the front of it. "You wouldn’t be asking that if you had kept your eyes open today."
The other tanned blonde turned where she stood to look at Emily with distraught green eyes.
"Aww, c'mon, Class Rep! I said I was sorry! Like, a hundred times already."

Emily put her hand on her hips and her tail flipped upwards. “How is saying sorry supposed to make up for the time that teacher wasted trying to teach you about our very own history? Maybe if you went to bed earlier instead of goofing off, or maybe even using that time to study something, you would have better grades.”

Collet’s longer dog ears jumped up into the air when Emily said that. “Hey! Are you trying to start something?” She growled at Emily, who glared back. Beatrix and Yue stood next to each other, exchanging glances for a moment. Surely if neither of them stepped in at some point then some sort of fight really would break out again, as usual. Yue was the one to take the shot.

“Collet…she’s just saying that you should try harder to be on our level. But, Iincho, give her a break. The only reason why she didn’t get a lot of sleep last night was actually because I was helping her study.” Both girls looked at Yue, and Collet nodded. “Yeah, that’s right!”

Emily frowned. Damn that girl! Always! Emily found herself always in the middle of the petty arguments she hated wasting time on, while Yue had to step in with her compromises. Emily was squad leader and class representative. What kind of image was she setting? “Fine! Whatever, can we just go before class starts?” Emily watched them leave before her, staring after Yue. She despised how the girl could so easily take over Emily’s supposed roles like that. They all headed outside and joined the other students already on the field as the teacher announced their assignment. A marathon around the field perimeter for the class period. Not too difficult, just tedious after a period of time. All the students took flight on broomsticks, soon after going at the pace they all felt comfortable with. Emily and Beatrix led at the front, Yue behind them, with Collet...somewhere behind them.

“Uh…Iincho, are we going to have drills today?” Emily could hear Yue’s shouts over the flying. It was indeed her job as squad leader to assign the days they practiced their drills as a team and their techniques.

“Likely. Just make sure you get here.”

“Collet’s worried that you’re going to give her extra because you’re so mad at her.”

“And so what if I do?”

“Aren’t you being a little unreasonable?”

Emily turned her head to the left, annoyed now. “I don’t think so. Must you keep defending her?”

“Yeah, because you’re too harsh on her.”

Too Harsh!? What? Emily scowled. “Just what are you-” Bea’s voice sharply cut into her sentence. “Ojou-sama! Watch it!” Emily blinked and turned her head just in time to see the front of her broom jam into an outstretched branch. She had been veering off course for not paying attention. Emily gasped as the momentum threw her forward and off her broom headfirst. She was sent flying. She heard Beatrix yell out again, but she was too focused on the fact that she was plummeting right for the ground far below. Crap! She closed her eyes and braced herself for a mighty painful impact with the ground. Instead…she felt her descent slow, and then the warmth of another body. Confused, she opened her eyes and looked up. Yue had used magic to save her and catch her in her arms. “Iincho, are you okay?”

No…no, she wasn’t. Not at all. She forgot how to speak, her face was heating up, and her pulse was speeding up. She couldn’t stop staring at Yue’s violet eyes, which wasn’t helping at all. “Class Rep?” Emily blinked. She shook her head and snapped out of it, looking away from Yue’s face. Any longer and her blush would have become obvious anyway. What had just happened there?

“P-put me down, I’m fine.” Yue nodded as they lowered to the ground slowly. Yue let lowered Emily, letting the girl stand. Beatrix landed nearby, along with Collet.

“You’re sure out of it today.” Collet said as Beatrix handed Emily her broom. Emily frowned. “Nobody asked for your input, Farandole.” Her neck hurt a little bit. Likely from the way she was just mercilessly whipped off her broom like that. She rubbed the back of her neck as Yue and Beatrix both looked at her. She blushed a bit. “What?”

Beatrix frowned. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Emily waved it off and mounted her broom. “I’m fine. Now quit using me as an excuse to skip on class.” She said before taking off.

Really, the neck injury wasn’t a big deal. She thought it wasn’t, anyway. After classes, Emily was ready to go meet back up with Yue and Collet at the now empty field. Beatrix stood next to her by her dorm door, looking at her with concern as Emily rubbed her neck. “Ojou-sama…your neck is sore. Perhaps it would best that you cancel today’s training.”

“No, no…I’m fine. Let’s just go.”

She needed the distraction from all the crap so far. It was all right she guessed. Collet fell behind as usual, Yue tried to help her, she eventually got back into the swing of things, Emily just thought it was all very irritating and wondering why she had been stuck with these two in the first place. Beatrix just did as she was told, also as expected. “Ow!” Collet had mishandled an incoming strike from Emily and earned herself clean hit to the knee by the blunt side of Emily’s student sword. Emily frowned. “You’ve got to pay more attention than that.” She sighed. “How is it feeling?”

Collet winced and her sword disappeared. “That…really hurt.” She was moving her weight off of her knee. Emily noticed that much. She nodded and gestured for Beatrix to come over. “Help Farandole get back to her dorm…I guess we’re done here for today. The sun is going to go down soon anyway.” Beatrix nodded and helped the limping beastgirl get her things and leave. Yue sighed and stood next to Emily.

“You were forgiving today.”

Emily frowned. “I just felt like turning in early, that’s all.”

Yue titled her head, looking at Emily as the girl once again lifted her hand to her neck and rubbed it. She lifted her hand, initially to move Emily’s hand. Emily blushed faintly and reacted by moving away. “W-what are you doing?”

“You look like you’re still hurt. I was just checking. Come on, Iincho, let me see.” Yue reached again. Emily panicked as Yue gently grabbed her hand to move it, and threw her hand into the air. Unfortunately, the smaller girl had an oddly good grip, and Emily only ended up pulling her closer. She yelped as Yue crashed into her, pushing them onto the ground. Emily grunted as her neck hurt a lot more from the fall, but mostly noticed the smaller figure falling on top of her. Yue’s head was on her collarbone and they were both pretty much in a tangle with each other. Yue groaned, moving a bit. “Ugh…” Emily turned ten different shades of red. With a rush of panicked energy she heaved Yue off of her, causing the girl to hit the ground next to her. Emily winced despite the discomfort at the added pain of moving her neck. "Ah!" She didn’t curse out loud, but surely in the back of her mind she had a colorful word for what she felt. Yue sighed and picked herself back up. “Ow…well that was just pleasant.” She said with sarcasm. She looked at Emily, and concern was back on her face. “All right. No more arguing Iincho. Come on, I’ll help you to the dorms and try to help you out.” Still blushing, Emily let Yue help her stand and followed the girl off the field.

“Okay, okay. Sit down.” Emily had let Yue into the dorm, since the girl seemed so willing to help her out. “If you don’t do something about it, it’s just going to hurt more tomorrow.” Was her argument. A damn valid one too, so Emily accepted. Emily sat down on the edge of her bed and watched Yue grab a folded towel and boil some water to place the towel in for a while. She walked over to Emily and climbed into the bed, moving behind Emily. Emily looked at the floor and blushed as Yue placed her hands on her neck and shoulders. She kneaded, massaging Emily’s sore muscles. Emily’s tail waved around on the surface of the bed while she sat there, a bit nerved, yet feeling better as Yue worked on her muscles carefully. She winced, blushing more. Oh great… Why was this happening? Her nerves were firing up, and if she hadn’t had her hands tightly holding the edge of her mattress, she was pretty sure that her arms would have been shaking. But the things that she felt and her twisting stomach horrified her more than anything else ever had before. She’s your rival! Below you! Those kinds of thoughts are simply uncalled for! She realized this was probably the farthest thing from relaxing that could possibly happen. After a bit of time, Yue stopped and wrung out the now somewhat hot towel, and placed it around Emily’s neck and over her shoulders. The sudden small shock made her jump, but afterwards she felt a bit relieved, not only from her neck pain, but also because Yue was no longer freely touching her. “Keep the towel there for a while, okay? Just rest up and don’t move your head too much, I’m sure you’ll be fine tomorrow.” Emily tried to be subtle in calming her flaring face with her deep breaths as she nodded.

Yue smiled a bit. “Okay. I’ll leave you alone since you’re just going to kick me out if I stay along enough anyway. I’ll see you tomorrow Iincho.”

“F-fine…good night, Ayase.” Emily said as Yue left.

Emily folded her arms over her stomach and frowned. Sighing, she slowly laid down, careful not to hurt herself again or let the towel fall off her neck. She laid on her side, staring at the wall as she pondered it all. What was going on? Why was she still asking that question? She knew what it was. But she just…she couldn’t accept such a thing, never. Damn it all. Why did she feel such an unwanted longing for that big-forehead, ridiculous human girl? She scowled. There was nothing likeable about how she was able to one-up Emily if she wanted to, or her constant need to challenge her decisions. What could Emily find attractive about her passion in pursuing what she wanted and her persistence in protecting people close to her? Emily closed her eyes and grimaced. No, she was making it worse now.

So the morning repeated itself like before. But…there was something else. Emily was so out of it. She couldn’t get it out of her head all night. Ugh, what was wrong with her? She drifted through her routine of getting ready for class. By the time she stepped out of her dorm, Beatrix was waiting for her. “Ojou-sama. Are you feeling better?”

Of course, Yue told Beatrix what was wrong with Emily. Emily nodded. “Yes…let’s just go.” Beatrix blinked. Did Emily sound…somber?

She seemed distracted. With plenty of time before class, they took their time getting there. Walking the classroom hallways, students were wandering all around.

“Iincho!” Emily’s tail twitched as she turned her head. Yue and Collet were heading over to them. Emily felt…she felt happier seeing Yue approaching. Lighter. She couldn’t begin to understand any of this, but she really, kind of liked it.

Yue stopped short of them and nodded to Emily. “So, no pain this morning?” Emily shook her head. “No…thank you. Um, it really did help out.” She said quietly. Yue smiled. She seemed so proud that she had been able to do something to help Emily out. Even more so that Emily felt need to thank her for it. Emily blushed faintly, frowning a little bit.

“Glad to help, Class Rep.”

“Right…you dullard, you don’t have to call me that all the time.” Emily said, crossing her arms. Yue blinked, and Collet and Beatrix both looked confused. That had never been an issue before.

Yue seemed to take a moment before stammering her reply. “W-what…huh?”

“I said, stop calling me that.” Emily said it firmly. Well, firmly enough to make some of the students stop and look.

Emily resisted the urge to run off under the eyes of so many witnesses. “Just…call me by my name, idiot.” She said, annoyed. Yue opened her mouth, seemingly unable to say anything right away in her surprise. Emily lowered her arms, eyes narrowed through her blush of embarrassment. Her hands were shaking, and her tail wasn’t moving at all. How was this so hard? All of the exams, all of the drills, all of the griffin dragons in the world…none of it was more difficult than what she was trying to force herself to do.

“Yue…Y-Yue, have lunch with me. A date.” She said, looking at the ground. Just what was she doing? Staring at the ground like some weakened girl who couldn’t look someone in the eye? The students began to murmur amongst themselves. Had the class rep, the heiress of the Sevensheep family, just asked the human girl from the Old World on a date? Beatrix was still shocked, not having been certain at all about what was bothering Emily until now.

“Iin-” Yue was cut off when she was about to call Emily Iincho again. Emily had grabbed her shoulders and swiftly leaned forward, pressing her lips to Yue’s. Now there was a unified gasp from all of the students around, including Collet and Beatrix.

Yue was so annoying. She was equal to Emily in skill, and that made Emily mad. Emily couldn’t stand how Yue seemed to know everything, in intelligence and common sense. She was absolutely frustrated when she had to help the girl understand a training maneuver she didn’t understand, and she hated it when Yue had to defend the people Emily freely pushed around before. Yue was forcing Emily to change, without even trying to.

Emily stopped and looked at Yue with her softened amber eyes. Yue just looked lost, confused, and…she was blushing.

“E-Emily…” She uttered, even surprising herself. Emily smirked.

Yue’s friendly personality irritated her, her cute voice was a pain to her. She hated that Yue looked so amazing when she was blushing like that, or how wonderful her name sounded when Yue said it. Emily pulled Yue by her arm into an embrace, placing her hand on the back of Yue’s head and stroking her hair once.

She hated how much she wanted to be with Yue.

 

[Yuetchi Farandole]

Define Love Series
Period 2: Comfort and Safety

It was probably about five months since the day the students all over campus still like to chatter about now. Collet Farandole sat on the railing on the edge of the Ariadne campus walkway, a thick book in her lap open with a left hand on the middle of it to keep the slight breeze from blowing the page over. The wind whipped every once in a while at her hair and uniform, but she wasn’t paying attention to the book she was supposed to be studying. She raised a hand to hold down her blonde hair and long right dog ear as the wind blew again. Through her small oval glasses her green eyes were watching a couple of girls a small distance away. There was a girl with darker skin like her own who had longer blonde hair, who was complaining about something to a shorter classmate who just patiently smiled and nodded. Class Rep never ran out of things to complain about it seemed, but Yue Ayase always had the patience for it somehow. Collet frowned a little, her stomach feeling a bit tighter than before. They seemed so happy with each other…it was strange to Emily so mellow.

It wasn’t until a lighter female voice spoke directly to her that she was able to shake herself out of the daze she had put herself in.

“Farandole-san?” Navy blue hair, cool expression, it could only be Beatrix Monroe, family-and personal-servant to Emily Sevensheep.

“Oh, hey. Morning Bea.”

“Studying?”

“Oh…I’m, uh, trying to, I guess.” Collet sighed, downcast. “It’s hard to understand this without help.”

“Our next practical test is going to focus on this heavily.”

Collet stood up and shut her book. “I know, I know.” She groaned. The next voice made her ears twitch in irritation.

“Well maybe this time she won’t light the classroom on fire.”

Collet frowned and turned around. A slightly taller girl with long pink hair and sharp blue eyes stared at her with a smirk on her face and her arms crossed. Honestly, she was worse than when Emily used to harp on her. Selene was a year older, and a wolf demon. She was also as arrogant as could be. She seemed to take more unexplained enjoyment out of Collet’s torment than anyone else in school. “Selene.” Collet muttered.

Selene chuckled lightly, wrist over her mouth. Her gray tail whipped around. “Oh wait a minute; you’ve already lit it on fire once.”

“Ah! Hey, that wasn’t a fire! It was just an accidental spark!”

“Yeah, that lit your sleeve on fire afterwards.” Selene’s comebacks made Collet shut up and merely stare at her, embarrassed. Selene rolled her eyes. “Face it, Failure; you’re not going to graduate. At least, not with the rest of your little classmates.”

“Would you just leave her alone Selene-san?” Collet heard another voice interject from behind Selene. Selene scowled and turned around to see Yue staring at her calmly. She had left Emily to see what was going on, since it was obvious it wasn’t a good thing. “Just what are you gaining out of your insults?”

“Why you—go back to your rich brat of a girlfriend and leave us alone.”

“Not until you leave too.”

Selene scowled. She hated Collet, and she hated Yue just as much for always standing up for the girl. Collet never really understood it. She held Yue down, relied on her for everything far more than she wanted to admit, but Yue never said it bothered her, never showed signs of irritation about it. It was an amazing show of patience.

“Oh whatever.” Selene breathed out, annoyed that the human had felt the need to interrupt. She unfolded her arms and brushed past Yue to leave.

Yue sighed and smiled at Collet. “Are you okay Collet?”

Collet felt a small blush heat her face as she nodded. “Y-yeah…thanks.”

Yue nodded, and headed back over to Emily. Collet watched her go. Beatrix looked from Yue and Emily, to Collet, raising a brow curiously at the girl’s bewildered expression. “Farandole-san?”

Collet gasped quietly, and held her book to her chest with crossed arms. “Um…I should go. You know, study in my room. It’s quieter there.” She quickly said before briskly walking away from Beatrix.

Before she turned the corner, she slowed and glanced at Yue and Emily once more. There was a small exchange of concerned words before Emily lightly kissed Yue. Collet gripped her book a bit tighter. Her blush that was still on her face refused to cool, and now her chest felt tight too. It was a recently familiar feeling. But when she saw Yue and Emily together, she could feel her usually upbeat and cheery attitude break. It cracked, and she could feel something oddly…cold, in her heart. She didn’t like seeing them together. But why was that?


In her dorm room, Collet laid back in her bed, open textbook face-down on her stomach. She stared at her ceiling instead of studying. She really couldn’t focus anymore. She couldn’t focus in the first place, but that wasn’t the point. Looking at the time, Yue was late. Well, that was expected. She was either out with Emily or in the girl’s room. Either option, Collet didn’t really want to dwell on. She sighed heavily, closing her eyes. She still remembered so much from before. It wasn’t that long ago anyway. Meeting Yue for the first time, just before inadvertently giving her amnesia through a loose spell. The attack on Ostia and the rest of Mundus Magicus, Ala Alba restoring the world as it was, and even Yue leaving with the rest of her Old World companions. But…she had come back later. About a year passed before any of them saw her again. It was surprising, because they didn’t expect to see her at all, unless she wrote them a letter. She told them she couldn’t leave forever. Ariadne and the magic world were too familiar to her, too much a part of her to leave behind for a dull human life. It was a mystery. She had left behind her friends, her family, all to come back to them. She left behind so much. It was an entire life. All for a life among magic. For them. But…at the time, Collet had been far too happy about her return to think about it a lot. She really couldn’t stop herself from thinking about it now though, all the time.
Hearing the door open, Collet sat up quickly with her arms behind her, causing the textbook to flip over onto her lap. Her ears twitched a little upon hearing Yue walk in and shut the door. “Hey Yue.”

Yue smiled a little bit and waved. “Hey there. Still up?”

“Y-yeah…studying.”

“Really? Wow, very nice.”

“D-don’t sound so surprised!” Collet whined, frowning. Yue laughed and shook her head.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s just that you usually never spend this much time trying to study with me around to make you.”

Collet blinked, and then laughed too. “Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

“Need any help?”

“Ah, um, no…not right now. But thanks.”

Yue shrugged and looked at the calendar sitting on Collet’s desk. She flipped it over to the next day. There was a tiny red star in the corner of the dated page. “Hm? Hey, what’s going on tomorrow?” She asked, looking at Collet and gesturing to the mark.

Collet looked at the calendar for a moment. There was a glimmer of…something, in her eyes, before she smiled a little.

“It’s nothing important…I think I made that mark on accident.”

“Oh…okay.” Yue left it alone at that.

Yue’s smile fell a little as she sat on the foot of the bed. “Hey…um, about earlier today…if Selene keeps bugging you too much when I’m not around, let me know. Okay? I mean…I just have a bad feeling about her.” She said, her purple eyes showing worry for Collet.

Collet nodded to her. She shouldn’t have had to worry about her. Collet needed to…she needed to cut her ties. Maybe not completely, but she had to stop relying so heavily on Yue’s protection. To keep this up, it wouldn’t end well, for either girl.

Collet’s chance came the next day after class. Still in the classroom, Collet was gathering her things as the others talked nearby. Yue approached her as the others left. “Collet, we’re going to go on a short little outing. You want to come along?” Collet looked at her, and shook her head. It was a bit backwards. She was usually the one offering free time to Yue and being shot down. But she wanted to try studying again. Yue understood, and left her to gather her things alone in the classroom.
Alone for a little while at least.

“None of your little posse around today?” Collet closed her eyes as she shut her bag. Today, of all days. She stood up as Selene leaned on the desk next to hers, smirking as usual.

“What is it today, Selene?” She asked quietly, not in the mood for this.

“Snippy aren’t we? I saw your friends leaving. What, they don’t want you hanging around anymore, cramping their style?”

“I just didn’t want to go. What does it matter to you?” Collet reached out for the textbook still on the desk to carry it.

Selene placed her hand on the desk between Collet and the book, her outstretched arm blocking her path. “I don’t know why you try so hard. It’s obviously not helping.”

Collet stared at her. This was it. She had to do something, had to take care of this by herself. She took a breath before speaking up. “You know what, Selene? You’re a lot of talk for no bite.”

Selene scowled, though surprised at the sudden insult. She glared at Collet. “What did you say?”

“We should settle this. At least in a fair fight. If I win, you leave me alone.” She stated seriously, staring back. Selene blinked, and then started to laugh.

“Really now!? You would really want me to humiliate you in public so everyone can see? Well, that’s fine with me!” She said, sneering. “Meet me on the practice field in five minutes then, if you’re feeling so brave.” She said in a lowered voice right in Collet’s face before backing off and leaving. Collet finally realized…she was trembling. Oh god, what did she just do? This was so out of her league, and she let herself get too carried away. Why did she have to do something so stupid!? She swallowed nervously and grabbed her broom, looking out the window. There was nothing she could do now. She had started it, and if she backed down now, she’d never hear the end of it, not from Selene or anyone else on campus.

Great…a crowd. Collet’s first thought when she was finally at the practice field was this. She set her bag down by one of the large pillars, looking around. The other students whispered and looked at her, some of them speaking directly to her, saying she didn’t stand a chance or just telling her outright what an idiot she was. Yeah, yeah, she was an idiot all right. But a challenge out of the blue between the school dunce and the class bully was nothing to miss.

Ignoring the stares from the judging crowd, Collet strode out onto the field. She gripped her broom far too tightly in her right hand, before she realized it and loosened her grip. She had to calm down. No doubt Selene was going to notice if she was shaking like a leaf about this. Several feet across from where she stood, Selene was already there, left hand on hip and right holding her own broom. “You sure are one brave idiot, I’ll give you that.” She announced, chuckling. Collet grimaced, and Selene suddenly grew serious, angry.

“What are you thinking? That this is the less painful route for you to take? That it’s the safest possible solution? You’re really not the smartest girl around, are you?”

Collet wasn’t going to satisfy her with an answer. She just mounted her broom and lifted a bit into the air, hovering. She stared at Selene, her mind somewhere between incredible fear and unexplained bravery. She pulled out her wand. This was instantly answered by Selene pulling her own out. She had already had an incantation in progress in her mind, because as soon as she waved it, four magical arrows materialized around her and then homed in on Collet. Collet gasped and darted to her left, staying close to the ground for now as two of the arrows hit the ground where she stood and the last two followed close behind her trail. ‘Annet Ti Net Garnet…’ She thought of her activation key, and she felt some of her magic burst into life. She turned her body a little bit and pointed her wand behind her. “Black Throwing Stones!” Basically magic arrows, but black. Five of them appeared. Two hit the oncoming arrows and canceled them out in small bursts of magic, and the other three were effortlessly dodged by Selene. Selene took off after Collet in a chase.

The spectators already knew before this started that Selene wouldn’t hold back against Collet. Collet had never really seen Selene in action before, but the girl was a year higher than her, and her arrogance had to come from somewhere. Selene lifted her wand again, and Collet grimaced. “Flans Exarmatio!” A burst of wind twisted itself at Selene. “Flans Saltatio Pulverea!” Selene summoned a bigger gust of wind to cancel Collet’s disarm wind completely, and more. Collet shut her eyes and felt the gust of wind hit her, nearly knocking her off her flight path. Gaining control back, Collet pulled up and flew higher into the sky. Muttering an incantation for the basic sagitta magica spell, she turned where she was, surprising Selene. Selene tried to stop her flight as ten black dark element arrows appeared around Collet and came at her.

“s**t!” The older girl cursed as they converged on Selene and hit her, causing a cloud of smoke. Collet watched, hoping she had hit. However. Selene jumped off her broom from inside the cloud, bursting out of it in time to snatch Collet’s uniform and pulled the girl off her broom. Collet yelped as they both came tumbling into the ground. The brooms hit the ground nearby as Selene stood up and forced Collet onto her feet. The dog girl caught her breath as she broke Selene’s grip on her shirt and stepped backwards out of her reach. Selene summoned the long cadet sword into her hands and jumped at Collet. Collet reacted by summoning her own and lifting it horizontally just in time to block the swing at her. She struggled to hold it back, one foot behind the other to brace her and keep her from falling. Selene sneered. All at once, she let off, and swept her foot behind Collet’s closest leg to screw up her balance, and spun around the girl and grabbed her tail. With a strong pull, Collet felt a sharp burst of pain and shouted before Selene elbowed the middle of her back. Collet grunted and fell forward. “That…ugh, that was a dirty move!”

“You expected me to fight you fairly!?” Selene shouted, scowling. Her sword disappeared as she lifted Collet up onto her feet and then tossed her a couple of feet away again. Collet hit the ground, grimacing in pain now. Why did she do this?

“You know what I figured out today? You’re ‘celebrating’ an anniversary, aren’t you?” Selene asked loud enough for the other students to hear. Collet’s eyes widened a little bit.

“Little miss failure thought she would be better off keeping it a secret. Tell me, how come you wouldn’t tell anyone you were a poor, unfortunate little war orphan?” Selene asked as she grabbed a handful of the back of Collet’s uniform, forcing her onto her hands and knees. She swung her foot at Collet’s head. It hit her square on the side of the head, and Collet rolled over onto her back, hands on her head. She wanted it to stop. Both the beating and Selene’s mouth. But it didn’t.

“Wrong place at the wrong time, eh? That you and your family happen to cross some of the demons of the war. What was it, a family vacation turned into a battle?” She placed her foot on Collet’s chest. Collet gasped and grabbed her shoe in an effort to lighten the pressure she was already pressing onto Collet’s body. Selene scowled. “And you know what part of your family slaughter really disgusts me? The fact that even after all of that, you still can’t sum up to even a little bit of what they were. You’re a pathetic failure, and that’s just sad.” She said angrily. Collet whimpered, her eyes shut tight. As much as this hurt, the words hurt more. Selene might as well take her sword back out and shove it right through Collet’s chest.

“S-stop it…” She breathed out barely. “Sh-shut up!” Collet screamed at her. It wasn’t going to help. Selene wouldn’t listen. She saw Selene’s sharp glare, judging her. Anguish flooded the physical pain she felt. She didn’t want to hear what Selene was saying. She didn’t want to think it was true. She pushed harder, feeling the heel of the girl’s shoe digging into her, as her vision started to blur. Not here…as if this wasn’t enough, she was going to cry in this already hopeless situation.

“Fulguratio Albicans!” Someone shouted out a spell. Selene stepped off of Collet and sidestepped, barely, a lightning spell that passed her head so closely it singed some of the strands near her ear. Yue held her wand up, standing in front of the small crowd of students, glaring at Selene. “Back off now or the next one won’t miss!” She threatened, serious. Selene growled and picked up her broom.

“Whatever. I’m done with her anyway. I think my message was clear enough.” Selene mounted her broom and hovered into the air. “She wanted me to put her in her place, and I did.” Turning, she flew off, leaving Yue to run over to Collet’s side. Kneeling down by the injured beastgirl, Yue frowned.

“Collet…just what were you thinking?” She gently scolded as she slowly and carefully helped Collet stand. She was holding Collet’s broom in her hand. Collet heard herself mutter Yue’s name as the girl mounted the broom and used the magic of the airlift to carry Collet easier as they flew back to the dorms. It was a quiet flight but no doubt the questions would come later on. The priorities mostly included getting a staff member to come by the dorm and check on Collet, and help Yue take care of her. It wasn’t too bad, aside from the aches Collet felt. She had a bruise on the side of her head and on her back where Selene had elbowed her. She received an order to skip classes tomorrow and take the rest of the evening and tomorrow to just rest up.

After Yue said goodbye and thank you to the teacher, she shut the door, and sighed. “Collet…” She walked over to the bedside, where Collet laid on her side, not looking at Yue. Her voice came quiet though. She was staring at the calendar date.

“How much of it did you hear out there?” She asked Yue. Yue looked at the ground, frowning.

“I heard all of it after she mentioned today’s date.”

Collet closed her eyes and tensed. Yue could see her hands gripping the sheets tighter than normal. She walked closer and sat down next to where Collet laid. “I’m sorry.” Yue said quietly. Collet shook her head, not opening her eyes.

“Don’t be…it had nothing to do with you.”

“But it was out of your control too.”

“I know…but she’s right. My family…fought so hard to save themselves, to save me and the rest of the family.” She pulled the sheets close to her head and buried her face in them. “I can’t even do the simplest things…I’m nothing like they were. I failed them.” She whimpered. Yue’s expression saddened. She reached over and gently pulled the sheets from Collet’s face. Carefully, she pulled the glasses off the girl’s face so they wouldn’t get damaged, and set them on the bedside table.

“Collet…” She put her hand on Collet’s shoulder and could feel her trembling. “Listen…I don’t know a lot about your past…and while I do understand the pain of losing a loved one, I couldn’t imagine how it felt to lose an entire family. But, you cannot honestly think that what Selene said about you is true. Collet, if you believe you failed your family, than you really have.” Collet blinked and looked at Yue, a few tears already falling down her face. Yue looked away for a moment, sighing. “Do you really think they would have cared if you grew up to be some successful big shot or a low-scoring cadet? All that matters is that you haven’t given up. You’re still alive, after everything we’ve all been through, that you’re giving it your all.” Yue took Collet’s hand and had her sit up. She stared her in the face, gently speaking.

“You are the hardest working, most valiant cadet in this entire school. Did you know that? You may not have the highest grades, and you may not be the most graceful among us, but you try so hard, it tires me out just watching you.” She said with a light, breathed out chuckle. Collet stared at her, in disbelief. Yue continued. “No doubt, you may be weak now, but you’re not going to stay that way. At least, I really believe that.”

Collet blushed a bit, staring at her. After everything that had happened, Yue was still sitting here, helping her, encouraging her. Even after she had tried to stop it. It still happened. And it felt good. To hear proof Yue wasn’t giving up on her, still believed in her, it meant so much to her. What had she been thinking, to try and cut that out of her life? She closed her eyes and wiped them with the back of her hand.

“Y-Yue…” Her other hand was raised against her chest in a fist. She couldn’t separate herself from Yue. Even if Yue wasn’t going to be hers, even if she was going to be with Emily, Collet could never bring herself to let the girl go. She needed Yue, who encouraged her like no one else had for as long as she could remember; who made her feel so safe all this time. Even if she wasn’t born in this world, it felt almost natural to want Yue with her. Yue comforted her and made her feel better about even the worst possible things that she never knew how to cope with before the mysterious human arrived here on their campus. Shaking her head, she lowered her hands and leaned forward. She tilted her head into a sudden, soft kiss on Yue’s lips. Yue blinked, both hands raised in surprise for a moment, before slowly lowering onto Collet’s shoulders.

Collet drew back, blushing madly now with a shy expression on her face. “She was right though. I was stupid to do what I did. I tried…I tried to depend on you less by trying to handle it myself. But…I don’t want to stop needing you around Yue. I love you too much to end that.” She admitted it before she could stop herself and change her mind about it. Yue stared at her, confused.

Regardless of the reaction, Collet felt lighter having admitted it. But it was true. It was her first time confessing it out loud, or even in her own mind, but she loved Yue. She watched the girl grow into the stronger and confident mage she was now, they walked side by side this whole time, and Collet had somehow let a small feeling of admiration and affection grow into something she couldn’t possible stop once it started. She was impossibly in love with her, had hopelessly fallen for her.

“Collet…you…I-you love me?”

Collet’s face still burned as she nodded. “I-it’s understandable…if it makes things weird. I-I can arrange for you to stay somewhere else if it makes things better, b-but yes, I do…” She stammered, unsure of what to do now.

“Wait.” Yue stopped her from rambling on. Collet’s ear twitched as she stopped talking, or at least trying to, and looked at her. Yue closed her eyes, then opened them and smiled softly at Collet. “I don’t want to stay anywhere else…Collet, I’m…I’m not as sure of what’s going on as you seem to be now, but for as long as we’ve been friends…I do know…” She rubbed the back of her neck, now also the shy one. “That this isn’t something my common sense is telling me to pass up on.”

Collet’s eyes widened a little bit. Was she really saying what she thought she was saying? Her tail flickered. “Yue?”

Yue sighed and lifted a hand. Collet flinched as Yue gently slipped it in her hair, under her ear. “But…you like Class Rep…” As amazed as she was, she couldn’t wrap her head around Yue picking her over Emily. No one would pick Collet over Emily, would they?

“I do…but what I feel right now…” Yue trailed off, averting her eyes, as if trying to figure it out. “It’s different. But, somehow, being here with you like this feels different than when I’m with her. I like you too…and I think that I may like you a lot more.”

Collet couldn’t really find the words in her head to say for that. But a giddy feeling bubbled in her stomach that she simply couldn’t contain as she made a small squeak of a sound and suddenly pounced. She threw her weight into a tackle forward at Yue. Yue yelped in surprise as it threw them both off the edge of the bed and onto the floor. Collet landed on Yue, and they both laughed. It looked so normal, but there was something different in the air between them. Their laughter softened into quieter laughter as Collet’s bright green eyes gazed at Yue. Her familiar wide smile broke across her face as her tail wagged furiously. Yue couldn’t help but laugh at her puppy-like behavior, then her light laughter was slowly cut off when their lips gently met once again.

 

[Yuetchi Farandole]

Define Love Series
Period 3: Jealousy and Devotion

Disclaimer: I don't own any of Negima and its characters or locations in this story. Ken Akamatsu is pretty damn lucky.

“Oh mother, please don’t do this to me…”

Beatrix’s small fist stopped just before it hit the door to give it a light tap. Emily could be heard through the wooden door that led into her dorm room, and she sounded upset. Her mother? She got an upsetting letter then? She hesitated a moment before finally rapping on the door gently.

“Come in.”

Emily would know who it was asking to come in this early. Only Beatrix, right? She let herself in and shut the door slowly, glancing at Emily. Emily folded a letter in her hands and slipped it back into an envelope, before leaning back in her chair and sighing. “It was a letter from my mother.” Beatrix walked over to her, looking at the envelope. Emily gave her a quick glance before sighing once again. “She said that I’m 17 now, and I’m of proper age to begin searching for a potential Mr. Sevensheep.” She frowned and folded her arms.

“Is that so?” Beatrix responded, her face showing little to no change. She merely lifted her eyebrows a little. Emily nodded. “Mhm…ugh. I knew that it was coming sooner or later, but I never looked forward to it. I mean, who magically finds love on a blind first date? The concept is so…storybook silly.” She complained. Emily’s eyes cast down onto her desk as she fell silent. She had her moments, sure, but in reality Emily was a very rational girl. True, the idea of being sent on set up blind dates with potentials wasn’t realistic at all. But Beatrix would do as she should, and bite the comment back. Both of them understood it already. Sure, it was nice to think it was better than reality, but where would such a belief land you in the end, other than foolish and alone?

“I never want to set myself up to just get hurt later on.” That was something Emily once told Beatrix. Any of their real conversations never left the walls of Emily’s dorm room, or her bedroom at her home. Everything she said to Beatrix was said in confidence. “How long until class?” Emily asked suddenly. Beatrix looked at the clock. “Half an hour…” She nodded, and stood up. “I’ll just go get ready then.” Beatrix stepped back to let Emily by.

It had been maybe three days since Emily’s breakup with Yue. Apparently it had something to do with the incident with Selene. Whatever had happened, Yue ended up confessing to Emily that she couldn’t ignore how she felt about Collet, and ended what she had with Emily. Emily took it…surprisingly well. Sure, she was upset for a bit, but she got over it. Emily told Beatrix, she’d never expected it to last that long anyway. They admired each other, but there was nothing…really that deep there. Beatrix found herself wondering about that, and about the blind dates her Ojou-sama was now going to be set up on. It seemed she always belonged to somebody else. Yue, her own family, her duties as an heiress…whoever or whatever. And now it was whoever was going to see her during these short blind dates. Sometimes she wondered how Emily really felt about all of that. Not just the blind dates, but the idea of how she lived. Did she ever rest? Did she never care, or did it hurt? Beatrix and Emily were close, but there were some things that they just…didn’t discuss.

“So when is your first date?”

“She’s already set me up for a date this afternoon…so, can you take over squad drills for me today?”

“Yes, Ojou-sama.”

This afternoon. Her mother’s way of saying Emily had no say in this matter. “Ojou-sama?”

“Yes?”

“Have you ever considered perhaps talking to your mother? Reason with her, maybe tell her about Yue.”

Emily grabbed her books and her wand. She didn’t answer. “We should get going so we’re early enough.” Beatrix watched Emily carefully. The beastgirl didn’t look at Beatrix once as she opened her door and left. Beatrix moved her legs forward and followed, noting how Emily had dodged the question without any subtlety at all. Right…one of the things Emily decided she wasn’t going to discuss. Not with Beatrix, and surely not with her mother. No matter how kind and forgiving the Sevensheep matriarch was, or seemed to be, Emily was skeptical she would get positive response if she told her mother she wanted to be with a girl, and not a handsome and rich man.

-

Classes felt as they always did. Students drifted through them, taking notes, participating when they had to or wanted to, until lunch came around. Then came the socializing and gossip. Beatrix and Emily didn’t really talk too much, and soon Emily was off to get ready to leave campus for her date. Which left Beatrix to meet Yue and Collet on the practice field for their squad drills. Beatrix looked out at the field, and then lifted her wand. She began an incantation, pretty lengthy, that caused the air to chill in condensed areas, until icy pyres formed in a straight line, spaced evenly apart from each other. “The practice she set up for us today was supposed to strain acceleration and maneuverability. Basically it’s to see if you can wind through this line of pyres, and try to gradually pick up speed with each run.”

The explanation started today’s practice. Yue and Collet were the ones running it. Yue didn’t seem to have problems. She may have accidently hit a pyre once or twice, but she handled it mostly with the odd ease that always seemed to come too easy for her. Collet was the opposite. She had several mistakes, often beating her broom or the pyres when she cut a turn too short or long. Beatrix watched her carefully. Collet attempted to turn around the last pillar. It was too wide of a turn, she could already see that. The tail of Collet’s broom hit the ice, which threw her off balance. Spinning off course, Collet crashed-landed on the ground, her broom landing nearby. Yue slowed down to a stop before rushing to where Collet had hit the ground. Beatrix sighed as she walked over to Collet and offered a hand to help her stand up again.

“Oww…s-sorry.” Collet winced and apologized to her. Beatrix shook her head. “It’s fine…You made too wide of a turn. You’ve got to slow down when you make your biggest turn or that’s what’s going to happen. Deceleration will help make the turn sharper.” Collet nodded. Beatrix picked up her broom and handed it to her. The dog girl sighed and scratched the back of her head. “Thanks Bea…you’re a lot more forgiving than Iincho. Seriously.” She chuckled nervously. Beatrix merely waved it off. Though, Collet gave her a slightly uncomfortable curious stare.

“Where is she anyway?” Collet finally asked.

“She’s attending an arranged date with a suitor her mother selected for her.” To that, Collet’s ear jumped slightly. “Suitor? You mean, like, finding an engagement?” Beatrix nodded. Yue walked over to them, hearing the conversation. “That’s pretty normal for upper class. Like tradition. Right, Beatrix?”

Beatrix nodded to that one as well. Yue seemed to frown though. “Wow…I kind of wonder how she must feel about it. I don’t see her as someone who’d like it at all.” Suddenly Collet spoke up right after Yue’s statement. “More importantly, doesn’t it worry you at all?” She asked Beatrix, tilting her head to stare at her again. What was with that stare? Though Yue looked at Collet too. What was that supposed to mean? “No…not really.”

“But…you’ve always seemed so close. And you’re so protective of her. It doesn’t worry you at all that’s she’s spending time with some weird stranger?”

Beatrix blinked. She didn’t know how to answer that. Yue immediately knew Collet had mentioned something she shouldn’t have. She grabbed Collet’s arm. “Come on, Collet. We have to keep training.”

“Wha? Oh, but—oh, all right.”

Yue forcibly dragged Collet away from Beatrix to leave her to her thoughts. Beatrix looked at the ground, unsure of what to say. She was upset. But why, she didn’t know. Some of her emotions were just…irrational. She could make sense out of being a little upset over this, but what she couldn’t rationalize was the twist in her stomach and the pain in her chest. She couldn’t explain it, nor did she believe she wanted to try.
Beatrix looked back upwards and watched Yue and Collet train. Yue led slowly, teaching Collet how to run it better. They connected so well. They had something between them that didn’t need words to express. No one saw what they did in each other, and it didn’t matter. Yue had to let Emily go, but she this special bond with the dog-eared beastgirl that she didn’t have with Emily. Beatrix thought about Emily, and where either of them would end up finding such a thing. Looking at the two above again, she could see Collet whining about a cut on her cheek from her fall earlier. Yue gave her a sympathetic smile and seemed to mess up Collet’s hair a little bit. The tail began to wag, making Yue laugh and then kiss the small cut on her cheek. Beatrix felt a small smile on her face. Certainly…she thought Collet was really quite lucky.

-

“Ojou-sama.” Beatrix announced her arrival outside of Emily’s door after practice was finally over. It was nearly evening, which meant Emily should have been back by now. She grasped the door handle. To her surprise, it pushed down, unlocked. “Ojou-sama?” She spoke up a little bit as she opened the door and walked in. Slowly shutting the door, she looked around. Emily left her door unlocked? Beatrix got an idea of why once she saw Emily. The beastgirl was still in the clothes she changed into before the date, and laying on her bed, asleep. She must have been tired when she got back, and didn’t think of much else before she drifted. Beatrix stared at Emily quietly, before taking Emily’s small blanket off the back of one of her chairs and pulling it up to the sleeping figure’s shoulders. Her hand drifted slowly up to Emily’s head, brushing some of her blonde hair out of her face. Emily didn’t stir. Her long ear did twitch, very slightly. Beatrix didn’t feel much like moving her gray eyes from the class representative’s peaceful expression as her own facial expression grew a little softer. She let a slither of a smile show through, a small part of her feelings become acknowledged as her fingers rested softly on the side of Emily’s face.

Beatrix felt a twinge of pain at what she was thinking. Her smile immediately fell back into its neutral frown as she drew her hand back slowly and her gaze averted to the floor. She stepped back and swiftly turned her back to gather Emily’s personal belongings that were tossed onto the desk and put them away properly. Her eyes narrowed. Why? Why was this happening? Should she feel so bothered at the idea that Emily was finally participating in something they both knew was coming for years? She reached up to the shelf over the writing desk, and her hand knocked over a couple of picture frames. She kneeled down to pick them up, feeling relieved the clatter of them hitting the floor didn’t stir Emily. She only saw the faintest movement of her tail underneath the blanket. Beatrix looked back at the photos curiously. One was their class photo, with Emily, Beatrix, Yue, and Collet in the middle of the front row. Beatrix picked it up, and then picked up the second to place on top of the class photo. She stared at the other photo for a moment. How old was she when this was taken? It was in the Sevensheep mansion’s gardens, when they were maybe six or seven. Emily had a now rarely shown chuckling grin on her face. An arm was around Beatrix’s shoulders and her other hand next to her hair, holding a small white flower in her dark hair. Beatrix herself was standing awkwardly, looking at the camera with her sharp gray eyes and straight expression. She stared at the photo, both of the childish faces staring back at her. Her hand reached up and touched the white flower in her hair now. She closed her eyes. It wasn’t fair. She never once, modest girl she was, admitted anything in her life was less than fair or deserved. But…this…this wasn’t something she wanted, it wasn’t something she wanted to accept or adapt to.

It wasn’t right. She merely wanted to be by Emily’s side. As a friend, and as a loyal protector. This wasn’t part of it. Just what was it? Beatrix tilted her head down. Emily meant a lot to her, she was special to her. She was…it really could only be one thing.

Beatrix quickly stood up. She put the photos back where they were, a frown apparent on her face. Never. She would not admit it, she won’t even think it. She was a devoted friend to Emily. She wasn’t going to strain their friendship over such a pointless matter. A matter that couldn’t even be true.

-

“I’m actually going on a second date with the same boy from yesterday.”

Beatrix stared out the window of the classroom. Class had been dismissed, but she still sat there. That sentence just echoed in her head. Emily had said it this morning. Her face gave away nothing as her head sorted through its thoughts. Why? Why the first suitor, too? He couldn’t have been that great, could he? She shut her eyes and sighed heavily, her hand running through her hair, the flower getting pushed out of her hair in the process. A few seconds passed. When she opened her eyes, a hand was holding the flower in front of her face. She quickly drew back to see Yue sitting across the table, looking at her. “Yue-san!” She said in surprise.

Beatrix took the flower back and placed it back in her hair as Yue studied her face. “Sorry about yesterday during drills…Collet wasn’t really thinking when she asked you those things.” She apologized. Beatrix shook her head.

“It’s fine, really.” Beatrix said quietly. She looked at Yue, feeling a bit unnerved under the stare of the fellow human cadet. “What is it?”

“How long have you known Iincho?” She suddenly asked. Beatrix blinked. Where did that come from? “…fifteen years.” She answered carefully, watching Yue nod. Yue was still staring at her. Why did it feel like she was being analyzed? But knowing Yue, she probably was.

“Honestly, how do you feel about the whole dating thing? You know I’m not telling anyone, I just…want to know.”

Beatrix looked at the table and frowned. Her fingertip was scratching against the table. “I just think…Ojou-sama needs to be careful. She can’t be certain that all these suitors aren’t just after her money, or even…” Beatrix trailed off. Yue tilted her head a bit, now curious that Beatrix gave away just that much.

“And the boy she’s apparently seeing again?” She suddenly asked. Beatrix gasped quietly and looked up at Yue, who just shrugged. “Iincho told me.”
“I don’t know…I’ve never met him. I’m simply being cautious, that’s all.”
“Mhmm…that’s all?” Yue asked, prodding her further. Beatrix sighed and looked off to the side, out the window. “What are you trying to make me say? That’s all I’m worried about. Otherwise, if he’s respectable, and Ojou-sama is happy, then it does not need my interference.” She finally said. Yue didn’t look very convinced.

“All right.” Yue said, dropping it much to Beatrix’s surprise. That was it? Yue stood up. “I was just wondering, that’s all…are you and Iincho at least going to come with the rest of the students for today’s outing?” Beatrix nodded. Emily had said that much, that she was going to take this needed break. Yue nodded and took Beatrix’s sleeve. “Then come on, I’m sure she’ll meet us there.” She made the quiet girl stand and follow her out of the classroom. They headed to the end of the walkway through the main area of the academy, which led to a roofed and larger space that allowed the students to take off the edge on their brooms to wherever. Collet waved them over, greeting them with her usual grin and wagging tail. “Look who I picked up on the way here.” She pointed her thumb to the girl a short distance away, Emily. She was dressed today in a light red blouse with a pair of white shorts she had just simply thrown on right after leaving from her date. Emily’s frown softened a bit to a straight expression as she nodded to them.

“Afternoon.” She said in a calm tone. Beatrix bowed to her in respect for a brief moment and straightened up as Yue and Collet left them. “How was your date?”

Emily sighed and shrugged. “It wasn’t bad. Not horribly exciting either, though.” She rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. Beatrix stared at her for a moment, trying to read something in her face. How did she really feel? She could tell when her Ojou-sama was holding something back, and that’s what she was doing. “Ojou-sama…” She stopped. Emily looked at her, confused. “What is it?” ‘Don’t.’ Beatrix shook her head with an unchanging stoic expression. “It’s nothing. Let’s go.”

They both mounted their brooms and took off for the city outskirts. Not a horribly crowded place, and for some reason it’s just where Emily was going. She was merely following Emily. Once they got there, Emily didn’t say a word for maybe the longest five minutes Beatrix had ever experiences in her so far pretty short life.

They just walked side by side silently, paying little heed to the passing citizens of the city-state, until Emily reached into her pocket. They didn’t stop walking as she handed something over to Beatrix. Taking it, Bea looked over what appeared to be a photo of a boy, about Emily’s age, with a gentle smile on his face and a family crest on his jacket.

“That’s him…Zaine Tsukioma. Their power basically is the equivalent to my own family’s power back where they live, in a neighboring city. My mother is…ecstatic, because if we marry someday the combination of our families would be just what they were hoping for.” She explained it all in…nothing short of an uninterested tone. Beatrix stared at the photo.

“Do you like him?” She asked suddenly. Not an appropriate question. Not at all. But…

“He’s nice. Kind, polite, is the very definition of perfect gentleman and chivalry. He really would be one’s dream guy.”

That wasn’t what Beatrix asked. She didn’t respond to Emily’s answer. She dodged the question entirely. But why did she do that? She wanted to think of a more subtle way of finding out, until Emily spoke up again. “And I just don’t want to be with him.”

Beatrix stopped and looked at Emily. Emily stopped walking as well, holding her right upper arm with her left hand. She grimaced and looked at the ground. “He’s wonderful. Perfect. But I don’t see him as anything more than a friendly acquaintance. ” She admitted it all with…a sad look on her face. She rarely showed such emotion on her face. Was this how she felt? Beatrix raised her hand slightly, only to lower it again. She resisted the impulse to raise her hand to Emily’s face, her hair. She didn’t like to see her in that kind of pain. “I feel horrible. It’s like I’m leading him into something that’s not anywhere close to what he really wants. I’m lying to everyone.”

“Then…why have you been seeing him?” Beatrix couldn’t stop herself from asking another inappropriate question. Emily looked to the side, as if mulling over her options of how to answer that.

“After my first date, my mother found me and talked to me about it. I…told her about Yue.” She said in a quiet tone. The human girl’s eyes widened a little bit in surprise. What? “She wasn’t happy. She was rather…upset with what I had to tell her. We argued for a while…in the end, I told her that I would see Tsukioma-san and give him a chance. Made her think her daughter could possibly still fall for a man.”

Beatrix didn’t say anything. She couldn’t think of anything she could say to Emily to make it better. She couldn’t make it better so easily this time. It was partly her fault. She had suggested Emily tell her mother, and now look what had happened. She only made Emily’s life harder. She should have known better than to think it would all just happen so easily.

“I’m sorry.” She said, since there was really nothing else she could say. Emily shook her head. “No, it isn’t your fault.” That was wrong. Beatrix knew it was. It was her fault. But she didn’t say anything more about it. Not for a while. They just kept walking. But there was an oddly soothing air when they just walked in silence. It had been a while since they did this, just had time to talk to each other, or hang around each other.

“I…” Beatrix stopped. Emily threw her a curious side-glance. Beatrix looked down, not sure what she was about to say. Emily closed her eyes for a moment and tilted her head upwards. “Listen, don’t worry about me, okay?”

Beatrix looked over at her, a hint of surprise on her face. Emily peeked over at her with one open eye before shutting it again and folding her arms behind her head. “I can handle myself. I’ll figure out a way through this, really. I don’t want you worrying yourself sick over my state. That won’t accomplish a thing.” She said curtly, her tail whipping around a little bit with her words. Beatrix nodded slowly, and faced forward again. Don’t worry…how could she not?

-

That might have led to her…possibly irrational decision the next morning. To call ahead without making Emily aware of her actions and excuse herself from classes and practice after lunch. To pack a set of clothes to change into later on in her bag.

Everyday Emily’s date seemed to be scheduled for after homeroom. Before lunch. “If I may ask, where are you two going to today?”

“He said he was going to treat me to lunch at that nice little outdoors café we saw yesterday while we were out.”

Emily said her goodbyes before lunch and left the campus to meet Zaine. Beatrix gave it maybe five or so minutes. Let herself be sure Emily was off campus completely, before excusing herself from the rest of her lunch and leaving to change in one of the bathrooms. She smoothed her clothes out and looked at herself in the mirror once she was out of the bathroom stall. Black blouse and a pair of dark blue jeans. What made it a disguise were the glasses. She couldn’t get it out of her head, how different she looked with them on. The glasses were charmed. As long as she kept them on, no one would recognize her as Beatrix Monroe, but someone else entirely. Just a stranger. One more thing. She wasn’t sure why she was going to do it, she really didn’t need to do much else since the glasses were the key. She removed the flower and carefully put it away, and took out a hair tie. Keeping the tie between her lips, she reached behind her head. She had just enough hair in the back to pull off a short ponytail. She took the tie and she secured her hair in a small ponytail in the back. Her eyes wandered back to the mirror. She looked…strangely different this way. She looked at the clock, and got moving. She went to drop her bag off at her dorm room and rushed to leave the campus with her broom. The secretary of her class, second to their class representative, and she was sneaking around school officials to follow her friend like an obsessive stalker. Quite a role model.

But it was easy. Beatrix was stealthy, and fast. Those were good strengths. She was soon off the campus and soaring through the air on her broom, towards the outskirts of the city, where she and Emily had gone yesterday. She touch downed gently, and nodded to one of the waiters outside of the building in question. She picked a table, maybe three or four tables from the people she was here to see. Emily and Zaine. They sat at their table next to each other and seemed to be engrossed in conversation. Indeed, Zaine had the appearance of a wealthy heir, but there was a subtlety about him. He didn’t flaunt it, nor did he have a pretentious attitude. He actually had a gentle look to his face from what Beatrix could see. ‘I see…he really is nearly a perfect guy, isn’t he?’ Maybe…Emily could be happy with someone like him. Was there a chance? Beatrix let her eyes wander on the scenery, not making it obvious she was watching anyone. She heard Emily’s laugh. A light laugh, just loud enough for Beatrix’s human ears to pick up very slightly. Zaine was saying something to Emily with a small laugh on his face, pointing out a dot of white on Emily’s face. The milkshake she had in front of her. Emily blushed a bit as he took a napkin and wiped it off her nose, where it was. Beatrix watched from the corner of her eye, her expression calm and steady. So why did her nerves fire at their…what could be called cheerful closeness? Her hands fidgeted with the menu in their grasp.

Beatrix blinked. Zaine…stared at Emily for a moment. Easy to see past that stare. Emily saw it too, apparent from the surprised and slightly awkward look in her eyes. Beatrix’s hands stopped and kept completely still now. Zaine leaned in, and tried to kiss Emily. Their lips a mere inch apart, Emily suddenly drew back and turned her head away with a slight frown. Zaine blinked, and backed off, apologizing when he realized he’d done wrong. Emily shook her head, insisting it was all right…Beatrix looked at her menu. So much for that. Emily was really never going to give her mother what she wanted. To fall for a nice guy and marry him. It wasn’t Emily’s interest, to marry some rich boy, even if it did mean more wealth and influence for her family and his. It wasn’t about politics, and it wasn’t about riches. Someone came over and gave the two a bill, and Zaine made the move to pay for it. Beatrix should just go. Besides, if she wasn’t back on campus before Emily came back, then she would seem suspicious. Emily and Zaine both stood up to leave, and so did Beatrix. She turned but immediately she felt herself collide with the body of another waiter. She grunted as the glasses slipped off her face and hit the ground, and she fell backwards onto the ground. She groaned a little bit, hurting a little bit from the impact of the hard ground. “S-sorry…” She muttered to the waiter, who also insisted he was sorry as well.

“Bea?” Beatrix opened her eyes. Her glasses were…not on her face anymore. In fact, they were on the ground next to where her right hand rested. Oh. Beatrix turned her head to see Emily looking at her, confused, and her date as well, who just looked lost. “This is Beatrix?” He asked, as if Emily had mentioned her before in conversation. Emily nodded. “Yes…she is. And I’m wondering what she’s doing here.” Emily offered a hand and helped Beatrix stand up. The human girl brushed herself off and picked up the glasses, holding them carefully as she bowed to Emily and Zaine.

“I…I apologize. I never meant to intrude or make a scene.” She said, looking at Emily. Showing respect. She wanted to avert her eyes, but that would have been rude. But now that she had been caught in her inexcusable behavior, she had no explanation she could give. Zaine shook his head, raising a hand. “No, it’s fine…I’m just surprised, that’s all.”
Emily stared at Beatrix steadily. “Yeah…so am I.” She stated in agreement. “You never answered my question, Bea.”

Beatrix finally did avert her eyes and look at the glasses on the table. How could she possibly explain what she was doing here? “I…I’m terribly sorry, Ojou-sama.” She said quietly. “I wish I could give a more…dignified reason. But, I simply wanted to see…if you were really happy seeing him.” She felt shame in admitting it. Why did she feel ashamed? She didn’t know why. Zaine looked at them both, still confused. “I’m sorry, but…what’s going on?”

Emily shook her head. “Zaine-kun…I think our date is over anyway. You don’t mind do you?”

“Not at all.” He answered with a slight smile. “Tomorrow then?” Emily stared at Beatrix a bit longer, then looked at the ground and at Zaine, finally. “I can’t. I’m so sorry, but…we’re not going out again. I like you, Zaine, but…I’m not attracted to you.” She admitted, looking him in the eye. “Honestly, I…I like someone else.” She told him. Zaine seemed surprised, but he sighed. He grinned at her.

“I see. Well…that’s going to be one lucky person, huh? It was nice, though. Perhaps we can stay friends? Keep in touch?” He offered. Emily returned his smile with her own and nodded. That would be nice at least. Zaine excused himself and let the two girls leave while he offered to take care of their bill and the mess. Beatrix hung the glasses on the collar of her blouse and they both left the café. It was a silent trip, the flight back to the campus. Neither Emily nor Beatrix spoke to each other. Beatrix was thinking about what Emily said back at the café. Did she lie? About liking someone else, to make Zaine feel better? No, Emily was honest, if she really needed to let Zaine down, she wouldn’t have sugar-coated it with something like a white lie. So who was she referring to? Did she still have feelings for Yue? It could have been possible Emily had lied about being over Yue. She did seem awfully fond of the other human when they were together.

Emily landed softly in the walkway of the academy. Some of the stray students looked at the arrival of Beatrix and Emily both, all looking a little confused. Beatrix looked at Emily, who turned to her and gestured for her to keep following. She blinked. What did Emily want? She nodded and obediently followed her Ojou-sama through the winding hallways. The silence was unsettling. Emily didn’t even say anything as she unlocked her dorm room and walked inside, leaving the door open.

She walked into the girl’s dorm, shutting the door but standing where she was against the door. Emily set her money purse on her desk and placed her hands on the desk, sighing. Beatrix felt as if she was upset with her. She sure acted like it.

“Beatrix.” Emily’s voice cut through the silence like a gunshot in the middle of a quiet night. Beatrix lifted her head and stared at Emily’s back. “Be honest with me. Why were you so keen on finding out how my date was going?” Emily asked, turning to lean backwards against her desk and stare at Beatrix.

She flinched. Of all the things she could handle, she found herself nervous, being interrogated by Emily. Being interrogated about her hard to explain actions, at that. How could she possibly answer her Ojou-sama? She couldn’t answer honestly without risking Emily at worst becoming angry with her, or even disgusted with her.

“Monroe, answer me.” Emily said firmly. An order. A real one. Emily rarely gave Beatrix real orders. Technically, she had the full ability to do so. Beatrix served Emily quite willingly, and if ordered to do something, she did it. But Emily never gave her orders. Just told her to do something casually, and she would do it. Emily was serious, if she was directly commanding Beatrix to answer her. Emily stared her down.

“I…had to know. If Ojou-sama was really happy with this boy.” Beatrix said quietly, looking to the side. Emily didn’t respond. She expected there was more to that answer, considering it was just a repeat of what Beatrix had said several times before. Beatrix walked over beside her, and reached up to take the photo of her and Emily when they were children. She looked at it, her gaze…not stoic as it was usually, but softer. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you, Ojou-sama, since we were only children. I want to know you’re happy with your decisions, even at the cost of my own happiness.” She put the photo on the desk, speaking quietly, but she was standing close enough to Emily for her to hear anyway.

“Your own…happiness? Beatrix, just what have you been going through?” Emily asked. All this time, not once did Beatrix made it obvious to the others that anything was really wrong. She was as bad as a martyr, bearing weight she didn’t even tell anyone about. Emily put her hands on Beatrix’s shoulders and made the girl stand in front of her, which gave her no choice but to at least try to look at her.

Beatrix hesitated. “I really care about Ojou-sama, and…not her safety, and not her family’s health…but her feelings.” She admitted. “I wanted you to be happy. I don’t mind if you’re powerful, nor do I care that you’re still in high position. I only want to be sure that you aren’t…sad.” She frowned. She shook her head. Sad, like Emily had been looking since this started. She raised her hand, her right hand gently placed against Emily’s face as she gazed at Emily’s confused face. “I’m so sorry. I…didn’t want you to know. I didn’t want anyone to know what I was thinking…because it’s an inappropriate taboo.” She grimaced.

Emily frowned. She didn’t understand. “But…what are you talking about? Beatrix, what’s inappropriate?” Where had this conversation gone?
Beatrix lowered her hand, narrowing her eyes a bit and looking at the desk behind Emily. The letter from Emily’s mother still rested on the desk. ‘My sincerest apologies Sevensheep-sama, for what I am about to do. But, if I don’t get this out now…’ Beatrix leaned her body closer to Emily’s, and before the real shock of it all could set into the beast girl’s mind, Beatrix pressed her lips against Emily’s firmly. Emily’s eyes widened, her hands still holding onto the desk. She was leaning back and Beatrix was pretty much leaning into her. Her eyes drifted closed, red spreading across her face. But Bea’s face was warmer too, because she couldn’t help but blush as well. She stopped, pulling away. Never once, had she felt this…vulnerable. Or insecure. She was quiet, she kept her weaknesses and emotions to herself. When someone was open like this…

“Sorry.” She said. Emily turned her head to the side, silent. Why did she do that? This was what she was trying to avoid. Now what would her precious Ojou-sama do? What could she do, but cast Beatrix out of her life in order to keep the order in her own life? She had made herself nothing but another obstacle. She couldn’t stay here to wait for Emily to say such a thing. She moved to step back and away from Emily, but Emily’s hand darted forward and snatched the front of Beatrix’s blouse. It kept Beatrix from backing from Emily as the girl’s other hand came around behind Beatrix’s head. She pulled the tie free of Beatrix’s hair, letting the bit of hair in the back free. “You say you’re sorry far too much.” The human girl looked confused. Emily’s hand lowered from her hair to the back of her neck as she moved her face closer. Her lips brushed Beatrix’s again, softly. She lured the girl’s lips apart before kissing her. Beatrix’s hands trembled as they rested on Emily’s waist. This was…an unexpected development. A part of her wanted to stop and ask just what was happening. The winning side of her didn’t care. That was the side of her that made her lean into Emily’s frame again and deepen their kiss. She had to stop, and she didn’t want to.

It all clicked into place. It made sense. Emily liked someone else, so she couldn’t like Zaine. She was over Yue, completely. She left the only possible answer to who she was attracted to, to be Beatrix. The last person Beatrix suspected it to be, was herself. Emily liked her. Beatrix loved her. For years, she loved her in secret. Her love was what fueled her devotion to Ojou-sama. And it was her jealousy. That ugly emotion. Her jealousy that drove her to do something about this.

Beatrix stopped, their faces still close, and foreheads together as Beatrix took a breath. “I love you Emily.” She breathed out, her words softly spoken against Emily’s lips. Emily slipped her arms under Bea’s arms, and wrapped them around the slender girl. All this time, and she had finally said it. It meant that much more said with Emily’s actual name. It sounded like a soft-spoken melody, coming from Beatrix.

“I know.” Was Emily’s response. She knew…yeah, she knew. She’d always known. Only a fool wouldn’t notice. Yue saw it, even Collet saw it, at least a little. All that was left was for Beatrix to say it to Emily. And now she had. And Emily didn’t care at that moment what her mother had told her about her attractions. She didn’t care that her mother would be furious to know Emily would only want Beatrix. All the doubts in Bea’s head were useless paranoia. That her feelings would block her better judgment, or they would weaken her. That they would make the two grow apart. What ridiculous notions. Beatrix kissed her again. No turning back here, right? Emily knew now, and she accepted it. She was letting Beatrix in. “What now?” Beatrix found herself asking as Emily’s hand moved up again to toy with the dark blue hair on her head. Emily smiled a little bit, placing a kiss on Bea’s jaw. “You stay here with me for the rest of the day. We still have the rest of the day, and night, and you sound so pretty when you call me by my name. I want to hear you tell me you love me, a lot more.” Make her believe it. And that was Emily’s next, and last, command for Beatrix.

 

[Yuetchi Farandole]

Define Love Series
Free Period: Anger and Attraction

Disclaimer: I don't own Negima or any of its characters and locations.

Infuriating. One was an overly-confident show-off, and the other was a bumbling dullard. At least that’s what they thought of each other most of the time. It had been two years since they’re pretty strange seventeen-year-old adventures that eventually led to now. When Emily had turned eighteen, she stood up for herself and Beatrix to her mother, who still pushed her to date the suitors that she wished for her daughter. There would be no man for her to fall for, she loved Beatrix. She chose Beatrix. Beatrix was going to be her chosen suitor, and no one else. Eventually, her mother had to listen, because Emily wasn’t about to just give up. She was the only child of a family that needed an heiress, and couldn’t very well argue with their only one.

Collet and Emily had one thing in common. Yue. Yue knew that, and in turn, made them swear to at least try and tolerate one another, if not get along. Collet loved Yue, and Emily still had a certain respect towards her. So they agreed to try. Was it easy? In absolutely no way, was it easy. There wasn’t even a reason for it anymore. They were just conditioned by now to not get along. No one could fight that kind of anger with logic or reasoning, because one girl was as stubborn as the other. Quite honestly, neither Yue nor Beatrix, both as collected and reasonable as they were, could figure out how to get their significant others to stop fighting constantly. However, Beatrix claimed that they should just leave it alone. It would work itself out, both girls were simply too stubborn to try and figure it out right away.

But it was just infuriating, that was all Emily thought as she was stuck on afternoon, spending the day she could have had with Beatrix on their outing, training Farandole instead. And she knew the bumbling dog girl would keep her here all day. It was like a punishment she had done nothing to deserve. Collet thought that too though, since she could have been with Yue right now, carefree and laughing over something instead of sweating it out while getting the pleasure of Emily’s grating commands while she tried to follow directions. Yue had gotten used to the task of training Collet. She took different methods to teach Collet so she could follow, unlike Emily, who simply shouted orders and expected the others to follow effortlessly without the daunting task of explanation. However, today Yue didn’t get her own outing day, being sent on a mission in a neighboring city with the company of Beatrix, and leaving Emily to deal with Collet. It was like luck had died that morning and rotted, leaving both the beast girls alone with each others faults and displeasure.

“Farandole!” Emily’s voice rang through the air, laced with her irritation. Collet stopped mid-flight, hovering to glance down at Emily, who stood on the ground, watching her movements. “I told you, your dive is too steep! You dive that way and you’ll come crashing to the ground, and likely take the rest of us with you!” What a headache, having to constantly correct Collet’s incorrect movements and actions. She was starting to get tired of hearing herself shout, even. She picked up her broom and sighed as she mounted it, lifting herself into the air to join Collet. “The angle of the dive is going to determine where you go and how fast. You get it even a little bit wrong, and you end up ruining the entire formation, and you’ll probably end up hurting yourself, or god forbid someone else.” Collet frowned. Emily gestured for her to get back into position. They both rose high into the sky slowly, wind picking up around them. “I’ll lead like I usually lead the formation, I want you to follow directly behind me, understand? Follow my path exactly.” She instructed, speaking over the air currents of their height. Collet nodded. Emily gave her a firm nod, and looked down towards the ground far below. She held up a hand at Collet. Collet hovered to a space right behind Emily, watching her hand carefully. Emily held up three fingers, then two, and then one. She motioned forward with her remaining finger before grabbing onto her broom and darting forward. Collet grabbed the front of her broom and ducked as she followed behind Emily, tracing her path as Emily slowly traveled in a wide circle in the air, picking up some speed in the process.

Once positioned directly above the field again, Emily lifted her head and quickly leaned forward, shifting her weight forward as her broom tipped downward. She sped towards the ground at an exact angle, Collet right behind her. If there was one thing about this maneuver that Collet could not seem to understand, it was the angel she had to dive at. She’d gone too steep again. Emily cursed under her breath as soon as she noticed, but it was hard to stop yourself once plummeting fast in the already existing gravity. Collet’s steeper dive caused her to catch up behind Emily too fast. Emily screamed for her to slow down inside of her head, though it wouldn’t have done much good said out loud either. She quickly pulled out her wand, an air current suddenly circulating on the ground that was fast approaching. She finished the spell just in time to feel Collet’s trajectory interrupt her own, her straight and direct path thrown off as her broom began to waver.

“Let go!” She shouted. It was the only way they would get out of this without getting too hurt. Just as their brooms collided, both girls let go. Emily felt her body weight break free of the broom’s riding spell that usually helped keep its rider on the broom while in flight, and freely get thrown forward. She closed her eyes and braced herself. She hit the air current over the ground, softening the collision of her shoulder and the ground. Her shoulder skid along the dirt and grass before it finally caught and she found herself caught in an uncontrollable series of flips. Finally, dirt was thrown into the air as she stopped, sprawled in pain on her back. A few distressed shouts, and to add to her pain Collet ended up colliding with her, resulting in Emily grunting in pain, and a dog beastgirl tangled on top of her.

“Ugh…damn it; get the hell off of me!” She shouted, giving Collet a hard shove, practically throwing the girl onto the ground before getting up and straightening her clothes out. Collet pushed herself onto her knees and shook her head, rubbing it. “Well that hurt…” Collet muttered, wincing. Emily rolled her eyes and turned towards her. “Of course it hurt, you insufferable dullard! You stupid little half-wit, how is this so hopeless for you!?” She shouted, her glare following the movements as Collet stood up and fixed her nearly knocked off glasses. At least there were no other students around the area to hear Emily’s shouts. The last thing they needed were witnesses if Emily decided she wanted to end Collet’s life early.

“Iincho, stop screaming…” Collet said, frowning. Emily scowled, her tail giving a swift flicker before lifting a little.

“I’ll stop when you get your head out of the damned clouds and start paying attention, instead of being the stupid little ninny that you are!” Emily shouted as she stepped towards Collet and jabbed the tip of her wand into Collet’s chest. Collet stepped back, her own voice rising with challenge to Emily’s. “Yeah, and like your annoyingly pompous screaming is going to help, Miss Better than Everyone! If you just stopped enjoying the sound of your own stupid voice, maybe I could stop and think about your orders for once!”

“If this wasn’t just a drill and it was the real thing, we would all be either overtaken by the enemy or dead because of you!”

Collet scowled, stepping forward again. “Don’t give me that crap! You’ve been on my back ever since we first met! You harp on me constantly like you’ve got some sort of vendetta against me, and I haven’t done anything to you! You expect me to want to listen you all day when all you do is find the first excuse you can get your hands on to scream and yell at me some more!?”

“What the hell is your point, Farandole!?” Emily growled, reaching out. She grabbed the fabric of Collet’s uniform, by her shoulder, and jerked her closer. Collet narrowed her eyes. “Why? Why haven’t you given me…one minute of peace? Just…leave me alone.” Collet pleaded to her. Emily frowned.

“I can’t stand your constant positive attitude, your annoying bubbly words, and I just…don’t like you.” Emily matched the slightly shorter girl’s challenging green gaze with her own dark red one. “You piss me off. Everything in my nature tells me that I ought to hate you and your ridiculous optimism, that I’m better than you.” She said to Collet quietly. Her anger was still slightly lacing her tone, but…her hand reached for Collet’s ear. Collet flinched, closing her right eye, as if expecting something violent or painful. Her hand lightly rested on Collet’s right ear and brushed down, brushing the grass off her furred ear gently. Collet opened her eyes to look at Emily, confused with her mouth hanging slightly open. “Huh?” Emily’s frown lightened a little bit, just a contemplating expression as she tilted her head. “As annoying as you are, I really should hate you.” Her hand loosened its tight grip on Collet’s uniform. Collet’s eyes widened just a little bit as Emily closed the gap between their faces and pressed her lips to Collet’s. Collet raised her hands, but lowered them again. She wasn’t sure what to do with them. She wasn’t even sure what was going on right now. She finally rested her hands on Emily’s shoulders and pulled away, still with a look of utter confusion on her face. “W-w-what…”

Emily scoffed and shook her head. “I don’t know.” That didn’t really help, as Collet started to properly panic. “What!? What do you mean you don’t know? You just kissed me! You get it!? You were yelling at me, and then you just kiss me out of nowhere!”

“Collet, will you just--” Emily was interrupted by Collet, who wasn’t done talking. “W-what am I supposed to do with that!? And I mean, you like Beatrix, and I like Yue, and what you just did, I don’t know--” Emily groaned and rubbed her face with her hand a moment in irritation. “Oh my god, will you just shut up?” Emily stated firmly, staring at Collet with a frown on her face. Collet’s ear twitched. “But…why?”

“Please shut up.” Emily pulled Collet by the shoulder and kissed her again. Collet’s ears once again jumped briefly into the air. Why? Emily didn’t know why. But once, just once, this was going to happen. She was curious about the strange flicker between them when they fought. What was it? Both of the beast girls were so vaguely aware of a faint attraction there between them. That made them fight harder than usual. It made them hostile towards each other, because they distracted each other from what was really going on. That they wanted to know what it would be like to just once, let it show. Emily thought that maybe if she did it now, then that would be that. Her hand rose to Collet’s neck and rested against it, holding the girl there as her other arm slipped around Collet’s waist and forced her to stumbled closer. Collet clumsily kept her footing despite Emily refusing to let her pull away. There was a strained muffle, and Emily stopped. Collet gasped, blushing. “I-I couldn’t…breathe…” Emily rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed with her. “Kiss me back you dolt.” She said firmly. Without much warning, her hand slipped behind Collet’s neck and she gave Collet a more aggressive kiss. Okay, this was the third time right? Collet would have to figure out some way to react by now. Her face was still red as she closed her eyes and her hands rose to Emily’s sides. Nothing to do but do as she was told, Collet now reluctantly returned the kiss. Emily’s tail whipped through the air a little bit. Well, now things were getting interesting. Emily persistently kept control of the kiss as she deepened it. She could feel a faint hint of fight from Collet to take over, but strangely enough that felt natural they would still be arguing over this.

The intensity slowly passed when Emily moved her hands to Collet’s stomach and gave a light push to make Collet stop and back up a bit. Collet stumbled a little bit again, feeling a little light-headed too. Emily had a faint blush on her face as she raised the back of her hand across her mouth.

“We…don’t tell anyone a word of this. Understand?”

Collet nodded nervously, her tail wagging once in a while. Emily frowned and jabbed her finger at Collet’s chest. “I’m dead serious. You tell anybody, and you’ll regret opening your mouth. Got it?” Collet nodded a bit more vigorously now. Emily sighed briefly, and then nodded, picking up her broom. She tossed Collet’s to her, and motioned for her to go ahead and get off the field. Practice drills were over for today, and Emily headed back to her dorm to meet up with Beatrix once the human girl returned from her mission, all the while hoping she would never end up having to deal with private training with the endlessly irritating dog-girl ever again.

 

[Yuetchi Farandole]

Define Love Behind The Scenes
Bonus Two: Not Always Sunshine
Negima and its characters belong to Ken Akamatsu. The members of Collet’s family? They belong to my imagination.
Short Recollection on Collet’s part of her past and what’s left of her family. Straying off the cute and getting surprisingly serious for a chapter, just a fair warning.

It’s not always sunshine and rainbows. If you really see past the exterior, you can see it’s all coping and getting over the past sometimes that keeps such a happy and upbeat girl moving the way she does. The strength never lied in how well she could pull off a maneuver or how strong and skilled she was in battle. It was finding about what happened before, and wondering how much it took to let it go and move on with a nearly constant smile and laugh.

Despite what could be, Collet never wanted anyone else to know. Not even Yue, or a while. She only knew as much as Selene had spread around school just to spite Collet. That something years ago when Collet was a child left her with an uncle as a guardian and no other family. As if it didn’t hurt enough just to recollect, which Collet had done a great job of avoiding for the past several years, but she felt if the others knew, nothing really good would come out of it. Pity would only make them judge her, not by everyone else’s standards, but by sympathy. Then there were the students who would just dislike her even more for how she handled it. She couldn’t understand those angry girls, but that was just how their minds worked. They just assumed Collet would use her past as some excuse for her poor performance somehow.

Even now Collet couldn’t bring herself to tell her squad the whole story. She couldn’t even get the words out to tell Yue when she asked out of pure concern. Maybe she could tell her someday. But for now, Collet was willing to tell Yue anything but that. Anything but what could be called the worst possible case of “wrong place, wrong time.”

It was just a short vacation away from their home in city-state Ariadne. Mother, father, eldest brother, and two younger sisters had left to pay a visit to Ianthe, little Collet Farandole’s uncle on her father side. He had a cabin he usually visited, that they usually visited too, but this time they were seeing him in his actual home with his wife.

Collet was no older than six, the small dog-girl’s hand in her mother’s hand as she looked around. She marveled at the appearance of the small village, compared to the city-like setting of Ariadne. They were so different! But they walked on, until the house in question appeared. It was a subtle home, humble and well kept, small flower patch in the front yard that made it really sort of jump out. Collet’s brother and sister, Christopher and Genny, seemed less interested in the flowers than she did at the moment, as she was easily distracted by the various colors. “Collet.” Her ears twitched as she looked up at her mother, who tugged on her hand and smiled a bit to let her know they had to keep moving. Collet’s tail wagged as she nodded and kept up with her mother’s slow pace. The front door opened, revealing Ianthe, a man over six feet with brown hair and matching brown dog ears and colored tail. Collet always liked him; he was a really nice man. He had all sorts of interesting stories about when he was younger, though he couldn’t have been much older than in his forties now.

“Kon! Brother, how are you?” Ianthe greeted her father happily with a half hug and pat on the back. He then smiled at her mother. “And his lovely woman, Marise. So good to see you both and your kids again.” He ushered them inside. Collet heard some noise in the kitchen, which she guessed was her uncle’s wife. She didn’t really talk to the lady that much. She was actually one of the rarer pure human race, nothing special about her blood other than it was the blood of a human’s. But she was very nice, and she was really pretty. Collet curiously walked off, heading down a hall. She had a habit of getting too curious too soon. With an attention span shorter that her own arm, she usually had to be watched most of the time. Which, at this time, no one was really watching her. She pushed a cracked open door, peeking inside as the door creaked open. Her small hands held the door frame, and what she had stumbled across was what looked like some mostly empty study. There was simply a desk, a single twin bed, and a few belongings here and there. But what caught her eye, was what was resting against the wall. It was a sword. The sheathe had a shoulder strap attached to it, and was simple black, and the revealed hilt of the sword had a design on it. She stumbled into the room, walking closer to it to get a better look at the design. It almost looked like someone carved wind into the hilt, the way it looked, and the middle of it looked kind of like an eye. A dog’s eye, or maybe a wolf’s eye, if there was much difference. She stared at it, her hand lightly touching the side of the sheathe as she did so. When she did, however, the sword moved a bit, and slid onto its side, falling noisily onto the wooden floor. Collet yelped, jumping back and falling onto the floor in fright at the sudden noise that filled her sensitive ears.

“Hey squirt, you’re not supposed to be wandering around other people’s houses, you know.” Collet turned her head, her expression still scared near tears as she saw her brother Christopher standing in the doorway. Chris walked into the room, lifting Collet onto her feet carefully. “What do you think you’re doing anyway? Uncle’s going to get mad if you hurt his sword.”

That was when they both heard Ianthe behind them. “Haha, Bane’s much stronger than that. It can handle a little fall to the floor.” The grown man walked over to the fallen weapon, bending over to pick it up and straightening up to let them see it better.

“Bane?” Chris asked. Ianthe nodded, and Collet looked at both her brother, then her uncle, curious. Ianthe pulled the blade out of its protective sheathe, revealing the fascinating blade. Its steel was entirely jet black, and the edge of the blade was only very, very faintly serrated.

“I’ve had this sword for years. Served me well in my years fighting as a mercenary you know. Heh, maybe if you play your cards right, Christopher, I’ll let you have it when you’re a bit older.” He suggested.

Chris seemed to grin at that. “Seriously? That would be great…” He seemed as interested in the sword as Collet felt. It almost made her feel jealous that he got to get it. But…he was older than she was after all. Ianthe nodded, and eventually Chris heard their father call for him. Leaving Collet and Ianthe in the room, her uncle looked at her, and smiled as he ruffled her hair a bit. “Don’t worry, Collet. Maybe someday you’ll get it too, or maybe even something better. That is, depending on what you decide to do when you’re older.” Collet grinned, tail wagging again. What she was going to do? She didn’t really know. There were so many options, and she was still so young, it mostly just confused her.

It only took a single day for everything to go horribly wrong.

A notorious band of bounties led by a beastly dragonfolk had been on the loose for a while. They somehow always either eluded the hunters after them, or they defeated them easily. Their leader, Bran, was a dragonfolk, though he was more built and beastly, and also in appearance more dragon than human. The band of demons were wanted for heavy bounty because of the destruction they were known for causing, sometimes to pillage, and sometimes just because they got bored.

So it was only natural their target be such a small and weak village. And so the next day met Collet and her family on fire, and immediately plunged into danger. Collet felt panic overtake her as she heard a crashing noise near the front of the house, seeing figures out the window and various parts of the yard and house on fire. Tears formed in her eyes as her older brother grabbed her arm and pulled her from the window and out of the room. “Come on!” He shouted, urging her to move. She stumbled behind him, hand gripping his sleeve and not wanting to let go. Genny was missing. Christopher wasn’t about to tell Collet that their middle sister was already dead. They ran towards the other hallway, Christopher abruptly halting as someone smashed into the wall across his path. Collet gasped, seeing it was her father. Blood covered his shirt, and he was just barely hanging onto life as heavy footsteps started approaching. Chris cursed, covering Collet’s eyes and picking her up. “Don’t look, come on!” He said, fleeing down the hall, keeping his hand over Collet’s eyes, intent on keeping her not only safe from whatever was attacking them, but also from the things she would have seen in the hallway. Their uncle’s bedroom, with the human wife dead inside of it, or their mother burning at the end of the hall. He stopped, taking a sharp turn into the study from before, shutting the door with a slam. He let go of Collet, pushing her into the closet.

“C-Chris!” Collet pleaded, scared. She didn’t want her brother to leave her. Christopher kissed her forehead and nodded to her. “Shhh, just hide, okay? Whatever you do, do not make a sound, got it Squirt?” Collet whimpered, and nodded. Christopher slid the closet shut before backing away from it and turning to the door. Collet watched through the cracks of the sliding door, seeing the door get bashed open and off its hinges as it hit the floor. First one in was an actual magical beast. It resembled an oversized bulldog, except that its tail was dragon-like, and its ears were longer and resembled antennae. Its claws dug into the ground, snarling at Christopher as a dragonfolk stepped into the room, ducking under the doorframe. He sneered. He was a large dragonfolk, his body build was beastly, and his long green tail behind him whipping at the frame. The green beast sniffed the air, staring at the beastfolk across from him. “A house full of dog-folk. Ain’t nothing but a waste of my time, I swear. Not even much worth takin…Damn weak fighters too, that old b*****d wasn’t even worth my damn time.”

“Don’t you dare talk about my father that way!” Christopher interjected.

Bran sneered, and then burst into laughter. “Your father? Boy, you sure don’t have a lot to look forward to when you grow up then!” Christopher growled and ran at Bran. However the dragon man grabbed him by his neck and lifted him into the air. Chris choked a bit, his hands on bran’s wrist and his feet kicking. “You disgusting dog. How about you join the rest of your family, then?” Bran spun, slamming Christopher into the wall. Chris shouted, the impact creating a crater shaped like his head and top half of his back. Bran pulled a sword out from behind his back, a large broad sword, and drive it straight through Chris’s chest, pinning him to the wall with it. Collet felt tears spill from her eyes as she clamped her hands over her open mouth, trying to keep her sobs from escaping her. She stepped back once as Bran began looking around. He walked towards the sword against the wall. “Hm? Well, well, something actually worth bringing with me then?” He was reaching for her uncle’s sword. Without thinking, Collet suddenly opened the door fast and stumbled out of the closet, still crying but now protective of what seemed so important to Ianthe. “D-d-don’t touch that!” Bran stopped. He turned his head, surprised at the extra guest. “Hm? Ohh, looks like I missed another young’n.” He growled a little, turning to look at her. The dog-like dragon beast with him suddenly snarled, running at Collet. Collet gasped and yelped as she hit the floor painfully, her arms pinned by the weight from the beast’s front claws. She whimpered, trying to wriggle out to no avail.

“Girlie, you should have just hid like I’m sure that boy told you to. Now it looks like you’re going to join him.” Bran said, sneering a bit. He raised his hand, snapping his fingers to allow the beast to finish her off. Collet turned her head and shut her eyes as the thing raised its massive claw to bring it back down on her. But it never happened. Instead, she felt the weight suddenly lift, with the shout of another voice. A familiar voice. Magic blasted into the wall next to her. Collet turned onto her side as the beast was thrown into the opposite wall, and the air magic that blasted the wall in calmed. She opened her eyes and looked to see Ianthe picking her up off the floor. Bran had been knocked backwards from the blow too. Ianthe quickly grabbed the black sword as Collet wrapped her arms around his neck and fearfully held herself close to his chest. “It’s all right Collet. Let’s get out of here before they recover.” He said, running out through the hole he had created in the wall. Collet barely opened her eyes as they ran from the house, her vision blurred by her tears as she watched the house full of now late family members get smaller and smaller.

Collet opened her eyes. She’d stayed in from class because wasn’t feeling well. Slowly, she rubbed her eyes and sat up, realizing she was in her dorm room at Ariadne Academy. The time said it was probably just after the end of classes. Sighing, Collet laid back down, raising her hand to her face. Her fingers touched the bottom of her eye, and looked to see moisture on the tips of her fingers. She frowned. God, why did that dream have to be so vivid every time she had it? Probably because it wasn’t a dream, but a memory. A horrible, frightening memory she never liked reliving when she closed her eyes sometimes. It made her almost not believe that she was able to smile like she did every day. Ianthe had been the one who raised her after that, and taught her not to let it ruin her. After all, if he could get past it, so could she. He lost the love of his life, and they both lost their family. All they had been trying to do was take a vacation, and it turned into the worst timed decision of their short lives.
Why had she become a Valkyrie cadet at Ariadne? She could have just been a regular student, take regular classes, and not undergo Valkyrie Brigade training. But she told Ianthe to enroll her not as one, but as a potential cadet. She wasn’t someone who was born to fight. That had been obvious since the day she was born. Yet she denied that nature and felt driven to make herself someone able to be useful. Christopher was gone, and there was no doubt Ianthe’s age and health would take him one day as well. 'Maybe one day you’ll get it too, depending on what you choose to be when you grow up.' Ianthe should be proud of her for something before he died. She wanted him to be proud of her. She would prove herself enough of a person to inherit something like Bane, and carry on not only Ianthe’s name, but also her family’s name.

“Collet? Are you awake?” The voice on the other side of the door was her roommate’s, Yue. The door opened, and the human cadet walked into the room. With a click, the door shut and Yue walked over to the bedside. “Hey, feeling any better?”

“Yeah…I guess, a little.”

“What’s wrong? You look like you were crying.” Yue suddenly look worried. Collet blinked, then shook her head with a faint smile. “No, it’s nothing. I’m fine.” She assured Yue. But Yue didn’t look like she wanted to drop it. “Are you sure? I mean, with everything that’s happened lately—”

Collet lifted a hand to stop Yue’s words, waving it off with a single movement of her hand. She then placed it on Yue’s sleeve, and it slowly brushed down to Yue’s hand. Her fingers brushed Yue’s hand before taking it, holding it firmly. Collet flashed a calm smile, giggling lightly.

“Yue…thank you, for worrying. You seem to always be here for me, and…it means a lot. A lot more than you know.” Yue blinked. Collet was quiet for a minute, the somber feeling from when she woke up returning to her for just a moment. A moment too long though. “Does Iincho want you back for any training?”

Yue shook her head. “No, she let me off today.” Collet thought about it. She nodded. “Then…could you stay in here with me? I’ve…got something I want you to know.”  

[Yuetchi Farandole]

Bonus Three: Her Decision

Hotlinked due to mature content. I'm too uncertain about Gaia, so I won't post the actual chapter up, so you'll have to follow the link and read it on fanfction.net, instead.
It's not that bad, but it's still half a lemon anyway.