MoonMan
Inactive Member
"... I win."
Almost as though the phrase that Laj Vinross Yu had congradulated her with was the pistol at the beginning of a footrace, life sprung back into Cassefin Montreal's body as soon as the words crept from her lips. "I win. I win!"
There were smiles. There was a leap or two as well. Several leaps, most certainly of joy. Her hands flailed in to air triumphantly as she continued to repeat the phrase that stated her achievement. "ME! I WIN!" More joyous jumps, followed by the most uncoordinated and impromptu victory dance even conceived by a rational human being. Single red ponytail and tail-end of her labcoat flailing around her spinning form, Cassefin laughed with herself as she spun around, repeating her new mantra as she whisked herself skillfully through the piles of mess scattered about her study and humming in incredulous happiness inbetween breathes and screeching "I WIN!" This cavalcade of bliss continued at that pace for several minutes, the woman absolutely entralled in her terrible victory spin.
Which, not surprisingly considering the condition of Cassefin's quarters, ended rather abruptly as one of Cassefin's twirls caught her foot against a pile of thick textbooks. Her laughter-filled jubilation interuppted with a surprised squeak as she fell down, face first, into the carpeted floor with a graceless thud. And that was where she continued to lay, face buried into the floor, both of her legs bent at the knee and pointing straight up, the tail of her labcoat flapped and finally came to rest unceremoniously over the top of her head and upper body. After a few seconds, one single, drawn-out groan escaped from the white tent above Cassefin's noggin.
Kokuten's cheeks puffed outward, suppressing laughter at the subsequent demise of Cassefin's celebration. Luckily, he had been to the back of the Head Administrator at the moment of her fall, so he was able to hide it well. Seeing the ever-composed, ever-audacious woman have one of her Cassefin moments was hard to resist laughing to. Just staring for that moment brought him back to the first one he had seen.
If he remembered correctly, it had been the same day Laj and Marissa raided the station, and this entire diabolical situation began. The fact that chapter of the Cirrus', Cassefin's, and even his own life was over with was enough to be more than happy.
"Indeed, Indeed," sighed the Captain as he carefully navigated the messy room, shaking wood-chips from the recesses of his armor. He stepped over the falllen woman, and then crouched in front of her, pinching the tail of her labcoat. He lifted it off her head and tossed it back over her legs. Then, with a careful touch, he scooped her shoulders up in his hands and helped her up, "I was going to celebrate a little myself, but it looks like you did enough dancing for the both of us."
The laughter sputtered off his lips a little bit, causing him to turn his head. When he pulled back his composure, he got his attention back on her, also taking a moment to brush off one of her cheeks with the back of his hand, "I will say, I was stunned at how amazingly well you carried all of this out. To think, all of those little cloud pins were cameras!" His chuckling played off into a little smile, clearly in a good mood himself, "Here I was, being all worried for your sake, when you were, in fact, handling it all with that beautiful brain of yours!"
"Oh goodness no," Cassefin replied as she was assisted back into an upright position. There was a red splotch on her forehead from the area of soft carpety impact, however beyond that the red-haired Head Administrator seemed perfectly fine. The smile across her mouth did a good job of cementing a mood that even an embarassing spill couldn't dampen. Cassefin seemed genuinely happy, if not relieved, by the outcome. "Cameras for half of my staff? I don't have that kind of budget... or, rather, I didn't," Cassefin corrected herself with a slightly menacing slant of her eyebrows and minorly malicious tone. "Just a select few. A few people I knew Laj would target to possibly get to me. I just didn't expect it to work so well. Wait. Of course I did!" She added once again, puffing her chest out with self-served pride.
"Ah," hummed Kokuten, putting a hand to his chin as he thought back to the weeks of worry, especially about the pins themselves. Three weeks. Three weeks of his work being much more miserable than he normally had it. He didn't let it dampen his spirit too much, considering what had just happened, though his eyes did turn blue. "So, all this time, you've just been lying in wait? Gambling a few cameras on a few certain people? Purina ought to be relieved, though I'm not sure how she'd feel about having a device like that stowed in her little cloud pin."
"Well, I don't intend to tell anyone else," Cassefin stated, turning her head away from Kokuten with her nose held high. "The plan was to keep them only until Laj Vinross Yu started his inevitable meddling. I don't intend on spying any further."
"Then, what am I supposed to tell her?" came Kokuten's own query, a gauntleted hand scratching a particularly itchy part of his head.
Cassefin didn't reply immediately, her face turning back down from the sky and her eyes furrowing in thoughtful consideration. "... well, you can't tell her what happened. You... can't really tell anybody," she said after a short while. It seemingly only dawned upon her at this point that her entire scheme could potentially be toppled should Kokuten feel the need to blabber to those of a higher authority. Cassefin turned her eyes back to him. "Obviously, if this agreement I forced upon Vinross Yu-Cranker goes public, everything falls apart. But... perhaps it's better this way?"
The Head Administrator raised a hand and rested her chin into her palm, letting her slender fingers touch lightly against her cheek; another sign of her potent cranial nuerons firing in several directions. "I didn't have time to ask for your opinion on what I should do. I... wasn't even sure if Laj would use you, Chiaki. I would have guessed Purina. Did Laj... say anything about that?"
"Hm," Kokuten stared over Cassefin's head for a few moments as he recalled the meeting down in the 'alleyway' of the station. "About Purina in particular, or why he sought me out?"
"Either," Cassefin said, seemingly genuinly interested in his answer. "Anything that stands out. I need to make sure I know I have that man by the shorthairs."
"Purina never actually came up. I was on my way here, when I was clonked out and drug into the maintenance area," recalled Kokuten as he put a hand to his forehead, thinking carefully of what details were pertinent. "He blamed me for unfurling his operation, and struck me once," the Doctor extended a single finger, "Then twice," another finger. "We argued about who was right, and then he spun this tale about having you killed, saying he was going to use Odette to assassinate you and clean up the operation. He claimed you were either dead or a threat to the people he had on the station. Then spun another lie about hired Marines here to drag me off to some distant back-water assignment, and then he ran a moment after he dismissed his aide to supposedly kill you."
Kokuten took a short, yet sharp inhale, and let out similarly sharp sigh as he finished, "That's everything."
"Tch, suicide," Cassefin rolled her eyes at her mention of the word. "I mean, yeah, I was a little depressed for a day or so. But I got over it, and then I did this," the woman spread her arms out wide, attempting to portray the grand master scheme, and perhaps not the obscene mess that she had made with her intelligent snooping. "Still... it was enough to make you come running. He knew how to play it, I'll give him that much."
"So," Cassefin returned her gaze back to Kokuten, turning her body completely into his direction and crossing her arms at her midriff. Her red stare burned up at him, her smile all but gone. "You know what's coming, Chiaki," Cassefin said, giving him a serious look.
"Hmm," Kokuten black eyes rolled aside, and narrowed before turning a crimson red. The expression on his face something of a less-than-honest individual. His normally warm smile spread into something that looked like was cut and pasted from Laj's face, "You're right, I could ask for quite a bit right now, considering my position."
Cassefin didn't seem to appreciate the situation near as much as Kokuten did. Her shoulders tensed a bit, her body drawing itself inward in a vaugely familiar fashion. "You know what's at stake here. It was unfair of me to not include you, but you understand that I had to keep this to myself for it to work. I needed to cut the strings," she explained, stern eyes keeping in sync with Kokuten's bright mechanical oculars. "If you are willing to remain quiet about this, I can accomodate your compliance. If you, however, think that this should be taken to the authorities..."
"Then I'm not in any position to stop you," Cassefin continued, her brow furrowing at the end of her sentence. "You have all the reason to report this. I, for a time, considered it myself. It ended up as you saw; and I-"
Kokuten quickly clasped Cassefin's shoulders, his face having wilted into deadpan from the scientists's continued reservations. "Cassefin, I'm joking. I'm not going to report you, and I'm not going to ask for anything." His hand rose, ever so carefully, and thumbed the red mark on her forehead, "I'm just glad that all you came out of this with were a few clumsy cuts and bruises. From here, we can just go back to work, and pretend this never happened."
Although her shoulders dropped an inch or so back into a relaxed state, the expression on Cassefin's face was filled with nothing but skepticism. She gave Kokuten a strange look, as though she wasn't entirely sure she understood his words. "What... just like that?" She asked quizzically. "You don't want anything? At all? I don't believe you. Why the hell not?"
"Because some of us weren't in this for ourselves," answered Kokuten curtly, not liking to be questioned too much, at least, not recently. His hands slipped down to her arms, and he gave one a pat.
Cassefin looked at his hands as they casually gripped her. Her head slowly began to crane backwards, her expression growing visibly uncomfortable. "... your not going to ask me to do something... weird, are you? Because, you know... I-I'm not gonna..."
The Captain's arms dropped to his sides as he sighed, though he looked a tad pained, there was a small smile to be seen. One his gauntlets came back up to his forehead, carefully cradling it, "Anything like that, and I'd have to show you how to do it, and I'm tired enough as is. So no."
A rather innappropriately large sigh of relief escape Cassefin's lips. She didn't argue with him, but a sharp glance instantly reminded him that she did indeed understand what he was implying. "... if you don't want anything, how am I to know you will keep this to yourself? You could turn myself and Laj Vinross Yu in at any time. I know how blackmail works, Chiaki; I'm performing some of my own as we speak."
"Do I look like someone who's interested in blackmail?" answered Kokuten honestly, and with a bit of building frustration. "Yes, very much I could have you over the table, if I wanted, but I'm just not that kind of person. Perhaps, at this point in your life, you can't seem to find much trust in anyone, but you're just going to have to trust me."
He made a strong shake of his head as he turned, and made for the door, his saunter being very tired and mellow. For some reason, going back to his position felt so natural, and for a second, that bothered him. With all of his experience thus far on the Cirrus, just going back into the motions became easy even after something like this. Instead of reflecting on the big things that transpired, and things that would, he was brought back to something he had discarded not so long ago, "I left my helmet down somewhere half-way here. I'm going to go look for it, and then I'm going back to my shift."
Cassefin looked surprised as Kokuten brushed past her, clearly agitated. She didn't say anything, watching him speak his piece before reaching the door. The expression of shock quickly turned to annoyance as Cassefin pressed her lips together, cheeks growing hot, indignant at Kokuten's own indignation. "FINE! Go on then! I'm not gonna chase after you or anything silly like that! If you don't want anything, then you don't GET ANYTHING!" Cassefin said with a raised voice, stomping her foot against the floor at her final string of words.
He turned just for a moment, at the door-way, holding up both his hands, as if dropping it all right there, "You're welcome."
Then, he left her there, trying not to heave his boots too much from how much she seemed to dig under his nails. Sure, he could've asked for something, but keeping a secret like this was on the limits of his nature enough. A part of him wondered if he didn't ask for anything, because that's what he was used to, in return for anything he did. He dismissed that depressing thought quickly as he mashed his thumb into the call button of the elevator. In a few moments, he'd be able to put all of this behind himself, and settle himself into his position again.
The elevator began to descend at a normal pace, Kokuten's last experience with it still somewhat fresh in his mind. The off-white walls of the elevator groaned slightly, the soft hum of the elevators movement keeping things moving along. With the notably slower speed, Kokuten spent roughly a minute standing there by himself. His chest rolled over a bit, and then again as the nature of their goodbye settled in. Though, even with so much time to reflect, he decided to put himself in favor the doldrums of his duty, rather than the events of recent. The only thing that really stood out to him, was what he was going to tell Purina.
Honestly, he hoped she just wouldn't ask.
Suddenly, the elevator shook to a halt, jostling Kokuten out of his thoughtful contemplation. It remained deathly still for a second or so, before quickly and abruptly beginning to rise... at a familiar, break-neck pace. Kokuten's body felt heavier as the elevator's soft hum was replaced with a worrysome VRRRRR. The rapid ascension lasted a much smaller amount of time than his previous descent, coming to an equally abrupt conclusion as it stopped all at once, back at the Head Administrator's floor. The sudden stop propelled Kokuten a foor or so into the air, as it had done previously. The doors remained closed, but the soft telltale ding reminded Kokuten that he had reached his destination once more.
The sudden nature of the movement had left the Captain unprepared, so when the sudden stop came this time, his legs flailed. Then, he lost his balance, fell back, and hit his head on the wall before crumpling onto his his rear-plate, dazed for a moment. With a hiss he grabbed his head before throwing a furious fist into the ground, "God damn it!"
After seething for a moment, and getting past the pain, Kokuten leaned forward onto one hand and stumbled up to the keypad. He wasn't sure what was happening, but he was quick to press the number of his deck, once more.
A soft negative buzzer indicated that, apparantly, this floor was unavailable. No big deal. The Cirrus Station had plenty of turbo-lifts. He'd just go to the deck above, and take a seperate elevator. So, postively, he pressed the number of the floor above the one he had intended. Another buzzer, with no movement.
It was very visible, that twitch of his eyebrow. So this time, he flattened his hand and pressed ALL of the buttons with one quick sweep. A multitude of buzzing noises followed his gesture, followed by a long, flat buzz that seemed to drone off and sputter out. Not surprisingly, a small volumetric error sign pulled itself over the floor selection panel; Kokuten must have broken the device with his hasty actions. The panel, programmed to be as helpful as possible, illuminated the Call For Help and Door Open buttons for Kokuten's pushing pleasure.
Unfortunately for the panel, Kokuten's Nepleslian blood was running red hot. So he indeed offered a press for the helpful panel. With his fist; all 1000 pounds of it. He let a furious howl in the exertion before shoving his fingers between the elevator's doors and forcing them open.
The doors slid open to Kokuten's machinations, revealing Cassefin Montreal's bright red ponytail atop her head. She was standing at the entrance to the elevator, her clothing and crimson hair in sharp contrast to the cream-white walls. She stood up, stiff as a board, her eyes glancing off to the side, a look of extreme agitation curled across her mouth. Her annoyed state was difficult to notice, however, beneath a heavy layer of what appeared to be unabashed embarassment; her face was flushed red, either from the extreme anger or some other equally distressing emotion. Her grimace twitched slightly from time to time, and her eyes seemed to want to look anywhere other than towards the armor-clad figure she stood before. It would appear that she hadn't lied; she didn't have to chase after the man, but rather had forced him to return to her.
"You're impossible!" heaved Kokuten, forcing the doors the rest of the way open, before dropping his arms to his sides. He spent a few moments just collecting his breath, and wiping a bit of sweat from his brow, before running a hand down the length of his jaw to the tip of his beard. "I would've come back if you had asked."
Cassefin avoided looking at him the best she could. "... sorry."
That left him silent for a moment. She might as well have slapped him. "Wha--... We-... You're... sorry? Well... ah..." He looked back at the caved in panel, somewhat abashed, "... Don't be. I destroyed your elevator."
All at once, Cassefin lunged forward, clasping at the front of Kokuten's armored exterior. She attempted to wrap her arms around his back, but due to the bulkiness of the CSS security suit, her reach fell short a few inches. She settled for gripping at whatever purchase she could find as she held him in an awkward hug. Cassefin's white labcoat fluttered behind her speedy embrace, coming to a rest as she pressed her cheek against Kokuten's cold chestplate. "I'm sorry, Chiaki. I trust you. I do," Cassefin managed to mumble beneath her hushed breath. "I'm sorry you got involved in this. I am. But I am glad that you are here. I'm glad... it was you."
Once again, he was caught off-guard by a woman he wasn't even sure was the real Cassefin. His gaze remained straightforward for that moment, running what she was saying through his mind, combined with the rushed embrace. After he managed a breath, he looked down at her, imaging how hard it may have been to admit such a thing, with all that pride she kept clogged in her chest. His armored arms went around her back, and tugged her in, in a silent acceptance of her admittance.
"I'm not sorry I got caught up in this at all," came his modest answer, a bit of honesty settling a small warmth in his chest.
Despite being pressed against a rather uncomfortable ceramic exterior, Cassefin couldn't help but snort a single, weak chortle. "Well... that's kind of stupid. You got shot. And punched. And made a fool of... I'm sorry for all of that too," Cassefin quickly rectified her amusement with a quiet apology.
He loosened her a bit from him, gripping her arms once more with that gentle touch. "You know, that's true. Looking back, it was a lot of embarassment and pain, but... Looking at the results?" His smile spread a little more, "It was worth it, every bit of it."
Cassefin sighed quietly. "That's really stupid," she said in a hushed tone, ever so slightly nuzzling the plate of armor she was resting her face upon. The red-haired scientist couldn't help but smile, if only a little, at how big a fool her security captain was. "You're a real idiot, Chiaki."
"You wouldn't think it's stupid if you had any concept of romance," whispered Kokuten sharply, his eyes cutting to the side. This woman. Really.
Although she didn't reply immediately, Cassefin allowed herself to sink a bit closer to Kokuten, remaining still for another couple of moments. "I suppose," she started, her eyes wandering the floor of the elevator as she paused and cleared her throat quietly. "If you're only a complete fool when you're around me, that... would be alright, I guess. It wouldn't do, having you cause problems for everyone else..."
"Is that why you were shadowing me the other day?" he mentioned quietly, leaning back just so to get a look at her face. The man suppressed the smile that threatened to give away his intentions. "Going back and forth on your hover pad."
"W-well, that was different," Cassefin said, her body growing a bit rigid at her being caught red-handed. Kokuten was no doubt referring back to when she essentially stalked him and Purina during his work shift... right before Purina pounced upon her as an expression of friendship. "You talk to Purina way too much anyway. I was just making sure you were doing your job correctly."
"You should be a little more honest with yourself," was the response illicited in Kokuten as he listened to that downright lie. Even if Purina hadn't told him of Cassefin's stalking habit, he'd still know better. He curled his back to leaned down a little bit, getting them closer on eye level. He smirked, his verdant green eyes trying to find her expression, "Although, it is pretty cute when you start tripping over yourself when you're not. You're like a self-embarassing snowball rolling down a hill once she gets started."
Cassefin abruptly lifted her head from Kokuten's chest and leaned back only slightly, her face starting to grow into an indignant scowl as it furiously fought back turning even deeper shades of red. "I-I don't know what you're talking about, Chiaki. You'd best watch your tone, too; I'm still your boss, you know! I don't have to take these verbal attacks."
"Is that all?" asked Kokuten, his eyes turning a curious shade of blue.
"Yes..." Cassefin said in a vaguely cautious tone of voice, her brow wrinkling ever so slightly as she watched the change in Kokuten's ocular implants. She never was sure what the purpose of the colors were. Feeling partially satisfied with her apology, the red-haired Head Administrator began to slowly withdraw her arms from behind Kokuten's back. "That is all."
"Just... Administrator and Captain?"
His words were a little hesitant as the color in his eyes darkened, occasionally rustling into brighter hue, but staying dim. Those heavy hands of his stayed on her arms, gently tightening, as if to protest. If anything, his face spoke more of his curiosity than his eyes did.
"Wh..." A hesitant look spread across Cassefin's face, her mouth curling slightly in a questioning method as her body seemed to shrink ever so slightly inwards towards the center of her mass. The shorter young woman didn't give Kokuten anything in the ways of a reply, instead choosing to carefully examine his face. Her eyes glanced over his features, attemping to discern a proper meaning to his question, a myraid of possibilities coming to mind. In the end, however, she still didn't have an answer for him, and chose to simply remain as she was.
The short intake of breath, and the palloring sigh wouldn't help much to alleviate confusion. Kokuten pulled his hands off as he tried to think of something to say. Whenever he ended up like this, he could never pull out the proper words, and even if he did, Cassefin had her strange way of misunderstanding everything. So, bounced his knuckles in his palm as some words frothed to the top.
"I..." came the first, sending his gaze skyward in thought, before it came back to her, resolute, "Want to know you better than that."
Cassefin watched Kokuten's attentions carefully, a curious yet hesitant look glazed across her eyes as they fell upon his. Being no longer bound in his grasp, the woman pulled her hands up to her stomach and lanced her fingers together tentatively, her eyes quickly flitting about Kokuten's face, from feature to feature. "Ah... well..." Cassefin managed to murmur out, her tone of voice quite difficult to read beyond the display of uncertainty. "... okay?"
"Augh!" the Captain threw his armored hands up in the air as the frustration took hold on his face. Those hands took flight right and left as he began to jibber inconsistently, like a machine processing a paradox. Then, he sucked in a deep breath, before almost literally pulling the words right out of his mouth, "I am in love with you, is that so hard to put across!?"
All at once, Cassefin's body seemed to seize up onto itself, the little hairs on the back of her neck seemingly standing in sudden shock. Eyes widenening, Cassefin's uncertain stare melted into surprise as a wave of red washed across her face. She returned no answer for quite a while, her mouth slightly agape as she rushed to process Kokuten's horrendously blunt confession. "Ah..." was all Cassefin could muster, a short, breathless exclaimation of her emotionally-induced shock.
"Really?"
The look on Chiaki's face was lop-sided surprise, mixed with a pained disbelief.
"Every. Subtle. Measure." Slat, Slat, Slat. Kokuten's metal hands slapped top-end into palm, in succession to each word, "Every time I've tried to hint to something close you have missed the point. Every. Single. Time. I have tried through actions, through words, through intent, through body language. Every single subtlety, lost on you!"
The hands went up again, before he cut back to her again, "I didn't want to just come out and say it. I... I thought you'd at least catch on! But... really? Never? You never caught on? Not even once?"
Almost as if on que, Cassefin's eyes snapped back to attention, her brow furrowing as her lips twisted into an indignant pout. "What?! I was not LOST!" Cassefin admitted, her ruby red irises glancing back up in opposition of Kokuten's suggestion of her apparent ignorance. "Lost!" She exclaimed, seeming to be annoyed at the very association of the word to her own name. "Tch! I'm not an idiot, Chiaki!"
"Oh yeah? Oh yeah?" came Kokuten, bowing up to Cassefin as she did to him. He threw his hands to the center of the room, then to the door, and then back to the floor, and then up into the air, almost nonsensically, "Then why did I have to spell it out for you? Huh? I had to rip the words right out of my mouth, just so you could see it! Ten year olds catch on easier than you!"
"Well I didn't tell you to say it, stupid ass!" Cassefin shot right back instantly, her sudden anger reaching an all-time high. Hands unfurling and balling up, her arms reaching down her sides, the red-haired Administrator continued to stand defiantly at Kokuten's harsh words, the both of them having seemingly forgotten what had brought the conversation to this point in the first place. "And I most certainly did not ask you to say it so ungracefully, either! I just-..." Cassefin's continued tyrant-sized tantrum halting suddenly at the edge of her rebuttal.
"Just what? What?" Kokuten's shoulder-guard surged up and then back down in a shrug as he looked up into the ceiling, "What was I supposed to say?"
"You...!" With her abrupt pause interrupted by Kokuten's own reply, Cassefin's expression softened slightly. Her clenched fists relaxed as her fingers fell downward, and her angry scowl shrank back, if only a bit. As her eyes cast themselves far, far away from Kokuten, Cassefin gave a short, peaceable reply, still indignant, but barely above a mutter. "... I just didn't know how to react is all."
That response garnered a bit of weakness in the fierceness of the Nepleslian's particular frustrations. He cocked his head to angle, taking a short breath as he began to realize how much he had just let out. With a sigh, he worked his fingers through his hair, his attentions turning to white paneled walls. Then, as they sat there, not looking at each other, he spoke, "Well... I could never figure out how to say it, either."
Kokuten's reply gathered only a continue silence from Cassefin. She kept her eyes trailing off to the side of the elevator, her chin lowering a bit from its standing position staring back up at Kokuten's own as she drew her hands in towards her stomach once more. A short cough escaped her closed lips, her throat clearing in the sudden awkward silence that their replies had inspired.
The Captain broke the silence first, but slowly.
"Cassefin, let me say it again," came a less frustrated string of words, as he settled his metal hands on her shoulders. She'd find the height between them becoming less meaningful as he leaned in, looking her square in the eyes. "I love you." And then, their lips met.
Upon being clasped into Kokuten's metallic grasp once more, Cassefin's eyes turned back to face the man with a quizzical look. She was seconds too late in noticing Kokuten's face descending upon her own, the distance between the two shrinking at the same rate of her own eyes growing wider. As trembling lips met, Cassefin's body shot up rigid once more as a short, abrasive "Hngh!" escaped the confines of her trapped mouth. With lips locked as they were, and given precious time to grasp the situation being forced upon her, Cassefin's eyes followed Kokuten's face in a frantic manner.
As time went on, however, the few short seconds of time past allowed Cassefin to ease her stiffened posture. Her eyes took on a lidded glaze until they closed altogether as she slowly, cautiously leaned towards Kokuten's abrupt display of affection. "Hn..." Another simple second, seemingly drawn on for much longer, allowed the red-haired Administrator a quiet sigh of content relief as she carefully drew a single hand up along the contours of Kokuten's armored chestplate and let it rest upon the smooth material. At the end of her ministrations, limited as they were, Kokuten could feel the faintest of returning affections from Cassefin pass through her lips; fumbling, inexperienced and awkward, but still there all the same.
The moment was like a crowning victory amidst the burning wreckage of every single obstacle Kokuten had to tear through to get to it. Yes, Cassefin wasn't that great of a kisser, but who was on their first shot? The important part is that she was easing into and getting into it! The excitement almost boiled upon onto his features, before he pushed it back down. Every little ache and pain he felt washed away with every reciprocated affection, and he worked his arms around her to seize more of it, a single gauntlet sinking to the middle of her back, and one cradling the back of her head.
He savored it, oh yes he did. Maybe he savored a little too long, but he didn't care. There was no proper length of time for this kind of thing, no measure on how it had to be done. So he let it go on comfortably, until he felt the right moment to split their lips apart. With a sigh, a contented one, he opened his eyes to look at hers, and spoke, softly.
"I think you reacted rather well."
Cassefin's face remained in the position that Kokuten had left it for a moment, her eyes still closed and her lips still oh-so-slightly parted, as though his were still on her own. Her face, red as a round tomato, softened after the seconds passed by, Cassefin's eyes fluttering open softly and resting back onto his. Her eyes searched his face, his words passing over here in her growing, unsettled fluster, soft excited breaths escaping from her parted mouth.
"Again... Kokuten..." Cassefin whispered in a hushed tone, her features expressing her her anticipation pouring from her quiet plead. "Again..."
That next breath was like gravel rolling down the back of his heart. He couldn't imagine a better answer than that. So, he gave her just as she wanted, only with a little more fire this time. The tension boiled over as his arms wrapped around her tightly. Their lips came together again, and they shared another moment there in that quiet hall with the broken elevator. Only this time, Kokuten was letting the passion spill through, everything feeling a little heavier, a little hotter, and a little more meaningful. His hands, and fingers played up and down her back, one daring to go below the rear of her waist to explore the contours, all the way down to the thigh, and then back up.
Seemingly all too happy to enjoy another intimate moment, Cassefin's figure conformed into Kokuten's grasp, her eyes closing against as she savored his ministrations. The wandering hand elicited a shiver up her spine, a short squeak of surprise emitting from her throat. The red-haired administrator sighed into Kokuten's mouth, her tension relaxing bit by bit as time drew on. Cassefin seemed, for the most part, quite content.
Then, a sudden rush of movement erupted from Kokuten's chest. Cassefin's clasped hands at her midsection sprung forward, thrusting Kokuten off of her with a less-than-gentle gesture. Their faces parted, Cassefin's eyes shot wide again and a single hand raised to her mouth, pressing against her lips as she cautiously wiped remaining moisture from around her mouth. Her face strewn in a deep shade of red, Cassefin watched Kokuten stumble back a couple steps back into the elevator, a single hand on the door frame keeping him from crumbling in, crimson eyes staring back at his. Her expression wasn't angry, however, but it was hard to tell what with the back of her hand covering her mouth.
"Ah..." the young woman muttered from behind her palm, eyes searching Kokuten's features as she stammered for a couple moments, looking in vain for words she didn't have. "Um..."
The security captain held himself in place for a moment, bracing himself there. He looked back into the elevator, and then back at her. A certain awkward air wafted in from the sudden separation of a joining he was enjoying quite much, and so had she. He opened his mouth to speak for a moment, before straightening himself, and putting a hand on the back of his neck.
"Did I go a little too fast, there?" said Kokuten, rather innocently in the midst of quiet moment. The doctor turned soldier took a few steps back over to the Administrator, feeling a lot more comfortable in her space since their little moment.
A sharp narrowing of her eyes at Kokuten's words revealed the telltale signs of Cassefin's rising indignation. The fact that his assessment was most likely true did not help her mood either. In response to his advance, Cassefin's other hand shot out and gripped Kokuten by the cuff of his CSS suit and yanked him down to her eye level. Hand still drawn to her mouth, Cassefin's eyes glared at Kokuten's features for a moment, giving off the intention of a set of beratting comments. The comments, however, did not come as the seconds passed, and as time went on, Cassefin's furrowed brown softened back into normal. "... maybe," the Head Administrator admitted in a low, slightly embarassed tone of voice.
His mouth squeezed together as the urge to smile almost became too much for him. Kokuten had to think of ways to put it back down, but the grin came nonetheless. Seeing Cassefin in such a way was a sight that he didn't get to drink in like this. Seeing Cassefin without anything to say was double points.
"Well, maybe next time you can kiss me," suggested Kokuten, not making any effort to move from his current position of restraint.
Slowly lowering her hand from her mouth at Kokuten's thinly-veiled suggestion, Cassefin allowed herself to smile a bit in response. She released a sigh, rolling her eyes back slightly and lolling her head to the side, her exaggerated response to his request for more sugar not all that difficult to pick up. In response, Cassefin leaned forward and pressed her lips on Kokuten's forward once more, her sign of affection almost immediately tied with another forceful shove back into the elevator. "Maybe. If you behave. Like a good dog."
Kokuten stumbled a bit, his heavy boots stomping back into the elevator. The sudden surge of movement made him think back to how many times, just that day, he had been shoved into things. He gripped the opposite wall to keep himself up, before throwing a look back at the administrator, a little smirk. "Then it looks like I'm just going to have to make all the moves here. If I've got to wait for that judgement."
"Ah ah!" Cassefin said sharply, a single delicate finger rising up to gather Kokuten's attention. Cassefin's eyes brightened a bit, her face still quite red. "Stay."
Much like a dog trained to stay, Kokuten froze in place. Unlike that same sort of animal, though, the Captain took one sauntering step forward, leaning in Cassefin's direction like an annoying little brother.
Cassefin smiled slyly at his testing of her patience, her finger straightening in response until he had come to a complete rest. She let the moment hang there for a moment, enjoying the return back to something that wasn't completely outside of her normal behavior. Not that she didn't enjoy going outside the box. "Good boy," she chided at him, lowering her hand and crossing her arms at her midsection, giving the security captain a long look that started at amused and ended in a strange wistfullness.
"Thanks. For... coming to save me? I guess?" Cassefin attempted a thankful gesture at Kokuten's somewhat-failed attempt to rescue her from an imaginary assassin. Clearing her throat and doing her best not to stare at him, Cassefin continued. "And... well. All the, ah, other things, too."
"I love you, too," said Kokuten, plainly, and with a grin on his face.
The red-haired administrator visibly went rigid at Kokuten's words, a fresh patch of crimson spreading across her cheeks. Her eyes seemed to stare everywhere at once, only coming to a stop a few moments later as she cautiously turned her head back to Kokuten. Allowing herself to smile, if only slightly, Cassefin shook her head side to side, once, sending him back down the elevator with one last, simple well-meaning wish. "...good night, Kokuten."
