ON:
The Miharu had been steaming for a full two days out in space, now, and finally Yuzuki's mental clock was rolling over to the next. Up until this point, she had been timing the days - even the days before and during their brief docking - without really caring because there was a lot of work to do, but now the major checkpoints on her list were finished or in progress. It had been one heck of an effort, on everyone's part, but they had finally got the Miharu back up to battle capabilities. Thanks to the Juni's odd qualms about a rough-looking work environment, even the interior paneling had been replaced. Yuzuki still thought it was stupid and wasteful, but it did look good.
Now she sat in her nightclothes on the edge of her bed, head in hands, her mind in a state of unthought. 'Unthought' was thinking about not thinking. It wasn't meditation - definitely not. She was really just trying to go to sleep and failing, chasing the thoughts out of her head with a determined will, and struggling over the emptiness that resulted. Down in the plant the other engineers were picking up the slack, and she did not have to be as active as she had been over the last few weeks, but she was having trouble convincing her body it could rest. Even after a good, long shower, she did not feel like sleeping. All she could do was doze in a state of mindlessness, too afraid to go any further. Scarily enough, all Yuzuki could ever remember accomplishing had been a daze. She had never even used her bed until now.
The sheets were crisp and new, neatly folded on the edge. The pillow was fluffed prettily at the head. The mattress yielded invitingly to her when she lay back upon it. It was comfortable. But somehow it wasn't enough.
The quiet room made her nervous. It wasn't even really hers; ever since her birth, Yuzuki had just left the place empty, and when Rin had been born and moved in, it had been her room. They hadn't even needed to talk about it being that way, it had just so happened. Now that Yuzuki had time to rest it could be hers, too. She could put things in it; pictures, or maybe souvenirs, or possibly a warmer blanket with small animal print or something on it if that wasn't pushing it too much.
But that wasn't really something she felt strongly about.
The door was open, which made it easy for the black-haired Ichigo to see the sprite just sitting on the bed, not actually sleeping. Instead, it looked like she was just staring. "Staring off into space" would have been accurate, save for the fact Yuzuki was looking at a wall, with the open doorframe in her periphery vision. The sprite had only part of her body in view of the space beyond the edges of the open portal to Yuzuki's room, part of one leg and most of her head above her neck, cutting her into an abstractly framed painting. "Still life Ichigo."
"Yuzuki-san," she said. "You look kind of dead."
Immediately, Yuzuki sat upright and turned to the door. Finding Ichigo there, she visibly relaxed, again. "Sorry, it's been a long couple of days." After a few seconds, she added, "How long have you been standing there?"
"About three seconds," the sprite said, breaking the boundary of her painting to stand for a more complete portrait, leaning against the doorframe. "You work too hard, you know! How will the Juni-san use you if you're all used up?"
Yuzuki shook her head; she didn't honestly have a reply to that. She rubbed at her face, trying to restore some of her presence of mind. "I must look like a mess. Could you close the door, please?"
Ichigo nearly did, but stopped. "You want me to sit with you, or just close it so you can be alone?" Yuzuki dropped her head again, then pushed her hair back out of her face, and held it there. She remained silent for several more moments, considering which it was, before sighing somewhat raggedly.
"Come in, please," Yuzuki said, quietly, "If you have the time."
"Don't mind if I do," Yuzuki's superior said with a pleased smile, pushing the pillow on the bed up into the corner of the room so she could lean against it. She promptly took up most of the bed with a leg draped across it, her other half-hanging off the bed. "I'd have to go tool around the power armor again and get them ready for combat. As if I haven't done that twice already. The Taii and Shosa know what they want and what they want everyone else to have; why do I have to keep checking it? It's silly, but that's the military for you."
"There's a decent reason, I expect," Yuzuki offered over her shoulder, eventually taking a cue from Ichigo and leaning her shoulder on the wall. Even though it was her bed, she didn't take up any more space than the edge. "I caught Nakamura-Hei trying to modify his armor a few days ago. He is a good guy, but stuff like that, you know?"
"I'd catch all that before the big battle. It's busy work is what it is, but if the Juni-san asks me to do something, I'll always do it." Her eyes get a little glassy as she looks up toward the ceiling. "He's a man I respect, not like that hardass Taii. The Juni-san's firm, but he's always kind and fair. Can't say that about everyone in the Star Army! If you think about it, our officers are all a little out there. We've got a princess, a Neko-in-denial, the Hardass ... I guess since the Shoi Kohosei's not around now, that's it. But still, that's three. It could be worse; we could be on a carrier!" Ichigo laughed, a little too loudly.
Yuzuki nodded along, trying to put names to all of Ichigo's refrences. The princess was the captain, obviously, and the Neko-in-denial could be the Shosa. The hardass didn't ring a bell, particularly, so she naturally ticked it off to the one officer she'd never actually met. "Wouldn't know," she said after considering it, "A lot of people, on a carrier."
"A lot bigger chance to have more hardasses," Ichigo said with a firm nod. "That's why these small ships are better. I was born here, sure, but I'm still confident it's the best ship out there. After all, you're here, the Juni-san's here, and my sister's here. Even with the Taii, we can't lose. No matter what we do!" She brought her eyes back down to Yuzuki, who she believed could be pushed over and fall on the ground in the same position, like a mannequin. "Sorry. I'm used to talking with my sister. She just lets me talk and talk and talk and she'll only listen. Her fists do the talking. Did you see when she beat the crap out of Hinoto? That was something."
"I didn't," replied Yuzuki, honestly, "And I don't mind if you talk. If anything, it's me that should be sorry, for not talking more." She shifted around, putting her back against the wall, and drawing her legs up into her chest, hugging them while she talked. "So what is she like, anyway? Nimura, I mean."
"Silent, first of all," Ichigo said. "Ruthless, too. She's a killer. Which makes sense, when you think about me. I love things! It's part of who I am. Not Nimura; she's the kind of Neko that one Taisho, Kessaku Irim, would like, I think. I've read about her. 'Bloody butcher of the 2nd'. At least our princess isn't like that. But, let's see, Nimura ... I think she likes the Taii, actually. Which makes sense. He's a killer, too. You can see it in his eyes. Not the Juni-san though; he's way too nice."
"I don't understand that sort of person," said Yuzuki, returning to her visual dissection of the opposite wall. "I heard some of the things that happened on the last mission, when everyone went over to that enemy base. I took a look at the damages, too. They were terrible, and everyone looked... like they had seen ghosts. I am not sure I could do something like that. What do you think?"
"Oh, you will, if you have to." Ichigo snuggled a little more into the pillow. "Part of your head will just shut off, and another part turn on, and you'll be gunning stuff down in no time. That's what my sister says, anyway. I don't think the part that is supposed to not shoot at stuff is working in her, but she says she's used to it. Besides, what else can we do when guns are pointed at our heads?"
Yuzuki shrugged. She didn't know, and hoped she never would, but facing down what she knew about the future - which wasn't a whole lot, since nobody bothered briefing her on that sort of thing - it was looking a lot like she'd be out there mixing it up with the horrors of war soon enough. "Don't know. It's... well, to be honest, it's..."
Awkwardly, she trailed off, ending up at another sigh, reluctant to continue.
"Don't worry. It'll be natural. You'll see the enemy, you'll know they're coming for you, and poom! You'll fire at them until they die. Natural!" Ichigo seemed perfectly at ease with the concept. "After all, if my sister can do it, I can do it, and so can you. My sister's not the learned one of us. Besides, you have to help protect your sisters. I know who I'll be protecting ... " Her eyes went a little glassy again, and Ichigo looked up.
Yuzuki glanced sidelong at Ichigo, narrowing her tired eyes slightly, and smiling suddenly. "You like him. Like that."
"Like who?" Ichigo's eyes snapped onto Yuzuki, her smile bending down into a suspicious frown, body leaning in toward the other sprite. "The Juni-san? Who doesn't like the Juni-san. He's our boss! We almost have to like him, but he always makes it easy. He's not a hardass, remember?"
Pausing, pulling back just a little from Ichigo, Yuzuki looked away again, her mischief defeated. "Yea, OK. You have a point. You just get to be around him a lot more often than the rest of us."
"Yeah. I make sure of that, you know. I'm pretty lucky, huh?" Ichigo retreated into the corner, practically beaming in some internal fantasy, the glass filming over her eyes again. Her speech was breathy. "Yeah. Really lucky. And the Juni-san trusts me to handle the rest of you, because he likes me. Right? That has to be it. Not like that crazy Neko-in-denial ... You shouldn't worry though, Yuzuki-san. After we're done with this mission, we'll get to visit beaches! I've heard that's what you're supposed to do after a mission, and there's lots of men out there on them."
Staring at the opposite wall was getting progressively harder. Yuzuki looked up. Then, Yuzuki looked down. Eventually she found herself looking at Ichigo again, watching her as she spoke. Unconsciously, she began to scratch at her scalp, then messed with her hair again, flushing slightly. "That sounds pretty cool, I guess."
"Cool? That's what the Juni-san says sometimes, huh. 'Cool.' Heh. It's cute." Ichigo's head lulled to the side a bit on the pillow, a lazy, dreamy smile on her face. "Very cute. He uses all kinds of strange words and phrases. I have to stay up late to study them all and know what he's talking about. I think he's got some Nepleslian in him or something. Wouldn't that be something? No wonder he's so tall ... "
"Slang," provided Yuzuki, helpfully, "It's just something that some people do. He does say a lot of weird things, though, like..." And here Yuzuki paused, feeling on the edge of her consciousness a little pull that was trying to get her attention. She blatently ignored it, wondering only briefly at its meaning before continuing; "Last time we talked, he said to meet him in his quarters naked, later that day. I don't think he was being serious."
Ichigo's eyes snapped back onto Yuzuki. This time, however, her brownish-black eyes looked like molten rock, hard and devoid of any life. Her dreamy smile was flattened into a line as sharp as a sword. Her eyelids narrowed. "Yeah. Joking. I'm sure he was. I'm pretty sure you're not his type anyway, Yuzuki-san. The Juni-san likes his girls really slim and girly, like me."
Unconsciously, Yuzuki hardened her expression slightly, and her tired, relaxed posture became a little more rigid and defensive. "Yea, he was joking. But, I don't recall him ever having said who he likes and who he doesn't like. Just because you're thinner than I am doesn't mean anything."
Ichigo almost laughed. "You're kidding, right?" The sprite fell back into her pillow and seemed to roll her whole head in disbelief. "He trusts me, Yuzuki-san. He talks to me about his troubles. And I know he looks at me; my sister told me he does. He must like how I look, and since you are a little, um, bigger than me, I think it's safe to say he's into my type. But that's what the beaches are for, Yuzuki-san! I'm sure there are some out there."
Yuzuki bit her lower lip and settled her head back on her knees, seething to herself, flushing more than ever, this time from bitterness. She knew that the Juni also trusted her, but listening to Ichigo, it seemed to be a different sort of trust; a more technical, work-like trust. That was good, but suddenly it was gnawing on her. Just how much did she do on a regular day, and Ichigo got all the face-time?
"Don't worry," Ichigo said, her voice dipping into some kind of conspiracy she wanted to drag Yuzuki in. "What matters is that he likes us more than he likes the Neko-in-denial. She hurts him mentally and physically, I think. I've heard him groan about how sore his hips are, and then he blames her for it! He protects us, Yuzuki-san, so we should be ready to protect him. Right?"
Yuzuki relaxed her grip on her knees, and rested her forehead against them, closing her eyes without replying solidly. She was still stuck a few sentences behind Ichigo, lost in the contemplation of her prospects, rather than the current subject. "I guess."
"You've got it," Ichigo said firmly, then slipped more off of the bed than on it, and brought the pillow down to a place where it would actually benefit its owner. "Now, you look way too tired to be protecting anyone, even yourself. So why don't you get some rest, huh? I'll keep Rin-san busy for a while so you can sleep in peace. Sound good?"
"I can't sleep, anyway," Yuzuki murmured - almost whined, really, "I keep thinking about the plant."
"Plant? What plant?"
Yuzuki unfolded an arm, and pointed down to the deck. "That plant. We put in a new piping run or two, and replaced all those battle repairs with real repairs, but we had to replace some of the parts with materials that we had on hand, rather than the perfect equivalents. The compounds were all stress-tested, and it should be to spec, but I can't help worrying."
"Hm. Well, let me put it like this, and maybe it will help you sleep: If you don't rest, you're going to be too stupid to fix it if it does break. Kinda means you need to rest now, or we're all dead later." Yuzuki refolded her arm, returning to her open-eyed, curled-up daze.
"You know," Yuzuki said, softly, "He looks at everybody."
Ichigo's eyes did that turn-to-stone thing again, the thing that made her more similar to her sister than anything else, especially since she'd let her hair grow out a little. "Who looks at everybody?"
Looking up, Yuzuki met Ichigo's brown-black stone eyes with eyes of clearest ice, framed by a flush red as fire. "Tom. Or Freeman-Juni, if you feel like being formal. He doesn't just look at you."
The sprite's face was consumed with a very un-Nimura-like anger, and since she wasn't Nimura, Ichigo didn't know how to handle it very well. "What? You're lying. You're not supposed to lie! I've seen him. I've never seen him look at you that way before."
"How often do we work together?" asked Yuzuki, pointedly, stretching one of her legs out, "You've never had the chance to see it, but I know he looks."
"I ... I review logs and visuals! I know he's not looked at you. Don't lie. He doesn't. No. He looks at me. He doesn't even look at the fake Neko like that. You lie." Flustered, embarrassed and angry, Ichigo got up from the bed and stormed to the door, which opened before her. She looked back at Yuzuki, eyes molten coal now just slightly lighter than her hair. "He wouldn't like a, a, A FAT-WAISTED Neko like you over me. EVER." The door shut behind the sprite as she blustered off.
Yuzuki glared at the door for a while before taking a deep breath. Fat-waisted? Although she suspected Ichigo was just trying to find some way to dig at her, since Yuzuki knew there were not that many cameras on the subdeck to watch even if Ichigo did watch them, Yuzuki still snuck a peek in the mirror.
She turned, slightly. Her nightclothes gave her a pretty good perspective. She did a few more turns.
Eventually, she threw herself back on the bed, and concluded, "I'm not fat."
Then she passed out.
END
The Miharu had been steaming for a full two days out in space, now, and finally Yuzuki's mental clock was rolling over to the next. Up until this point, she had been timing the days - even the days before and during their brief docking - without really caring because there was a lot of work to do, but now the major checkpoints on her list were finished or in progress. It had been one heck of an effort, on everyone's part, but they had finally got the Miharu back up to battle capabilities. Thanks to the Juni's odd qualms about a rough-looking work environment, even the interior paneling had been replaced. Yuzuki still thought it was stupid and wasteful, but it did look good.
Now she sat in her nightclothes on the edge of her bed, head in hands, her mind in a state of unthought. 'Unthought' was thinking about not thinking. It wasn't meditation - definitely not. She was really just trying to go to sleep and failing, chasing the thoughts out of her head with a determined will, and struggling over the emptiness that resulted. Down in the plant the other engineers were picking up the slack, and she did not have to be as active as she had been over the last few weeks, but she was having trouble convincing her body it could rest. Even after a good, long shower, she did not feel like sleeping. All she could do was doze in a state of mindlessness, too afraid to go any further. Scarily enough, all Yuzuki could ever remember accomplishing had been a daze. She had never even used her bed until now.
The sheets were crisp and new, neatly folded on the edge. The pillow was fluffed prettily at the head. The mattress yielded invitingly to her when she lay back upon it. It was comfortable. But somehow it wasn't enough.
The quiet room made her nervous. It wasn't even really hers; ever since her birth, Yuzuki had just left the place empty, and when Rin had been born and moved in, it had been her room. They hadn't even needed to talk about it being that way, it had just so happened. Now that Yuzuki had time to rest it could be hers, too. She could put things in it; pictures, or maybe souvenirs, or possibly a warmer blanket with small animal print or something on it if that wasn't pushing it too much.
But that wasn't really something she felt strongly about.
The door was open, which made it easy for the black-haired Ichigo to see the sprite just sitting on the bed, not actually sleeping. Instead, it looked like she was just staring. "Staring off into space" would have been accurate, save for the fact Yuzuki was looking at a wall, with the open doorframe in her periphery vision. The sprite had only part of her body in view of the space beyond the edges of the open portal to Yuzuki's room, part of one leg and most of her head above her neck, cutting her into an abstractly framed painting. "Still life Ichigo."
"Yuzuki-san," she said. "You look kind of dead."
Immediately, Yuzuki sat upright and turned to the door. Finding Ichigo there, she visibly relaxed, again. "Sorry, it's been a long couple of days." After a few seconds, she added, "How long have you been standing there?"
"About three seconds," the sprite said, breaking the boundary of her painting to stand for a more complete portrait, leaning against the doorframe. "You work too hard, you know! How will the Juni-san use you if you're all used up?"
Yuzuki shook her head; she didn't honestly have a reply to that. She rubbed at her face, trying to restore some of her presence of mind. "I must look like a mess. Could you close the door, please?"
Ichigo nearly did, but stopped. "You want me to sit with you, or just close it so you can be alone?" Yuzuki dropped her head again, then pushed her hair back out of her face, and held it there. She remained silent for several more moments, considering which it was, before sighing somewhat raggedly.
"Come in, please," Yuzuki said, quietly, "If you have the time."
"Don't mind if I do," Yuzuki's superior said with a pleased smile, pushing the pillow on the bed up into the corner of the room so she could lean against it. She promptly took up most of the bed with a leg draped across it, her other half-hanging off the bed. "I'd have to go tool around the power armor again and get them ready for combat. As if I haven't done that twice already. The Taii and Shosa know what they want and what they want everyone else to have; why do I have to keep checking it? It's silly, but that's the military for you."
"There's a decent reason, I expect," Yuzuki offered over her shoulder, eventually taking a cue from Ichigo and leaning her shoulder on the wall. Even though it was her bed, she didn't take up any more space than the edge. "I caught Nakamura-Hei trying to modify his armor a few days ago. He is a good guy, but stuff like that, you know?"
"I'd catch all that before the big battle. It's busy work is what it is, but if the Juni-san asks me to do something, I'll always do it." Her eyes get a little glassy as she looks up toward the ceiling. "He's a man I respect, not like that hardass Taii. The Juni-san's firm, but he's always kind and fair. Can't say that about everyone in the Star Army! If you think about it, our officers are all a little out there. We've got a princess, a Neko-in-denial, the Hardass ... I guess since the Shoi Kohosei's not around now, that's it. But still, that's three. It could be worse; we could be on a carrier!" Ichigo laughed, a little too loudly.
Yuzuki nodded along, trying to put names to all of Ichigo's refrences. The princess was the captain, obviously, and the Neko-in-denial could be the Shosa. The hardass didn't ring a bell, particularly, so she naturally ticked it off to the one officer she'd never actually met. "Wouldn't know," she said after considering it, "A lot of people, on a carrier."
"A lot bigger chance to have more hardasses," Ichigo said with a firm nod. "That's why these small ships are better. I was born here, sure, but I'm still confident it's the best ship out there. After all, you're here, the Juni-san's here, and my sister's here. Even with the Taii, we can't lose. No matter what we do!" She brought her eyes back down to Yuzuki, who she believed could be pushed over and fall on the ground in the same position, like a mannequin. "Sorry. I'm used to talking with my sister. She just lets me talk and talk and talk and she'll only listen. Her fists do the talking. Did you see when she beat the crap out of Hinoto? That was something."
"I didn't," replied Yuzuki, honestly, "And I don't mind if you talk. If anything, it's me that should be sorry, for not talking more." She shifted around, putting her back against the wall, and drawing her legs up into her chest, hugging them while she talked. "So what is she like, anyway? Nimura, I mean."
"Silent, first of all," Ichigo said. "Ruthless, too. She's a killer. Which makes sense, when you think about me. I love things! It's part of who I am. Not Nimura; she's the kind of Neko that one Taisho, Kessaku Irim, would like, I think. I've read about her. 'Bloody butcher of the 2nd'. At least our princess isn't like that. But, let's see, Nimura ... I think she likes the Taii, actually. Which makes sense. He's a killer, too. You can see it in his eyes. Not the Juni-san though; he's way too nice."
"I don't understand that sort of person," said Yuzuki, returning to her visual dissection of the opposite wall. "I heard some of the things that happened on the last mission, when everyone went over to that enemy base. I took a look at the damages, too. They were terrible, and everyone looked... like they had seen ghosts. I am not sure I could do something like that. What do you think?"
"Oh, you will, if you have to." Ichigo snuggled a little more into the pillow. "Part of your head will just shut off, and another part turn on, and you'll be gunning stuff down in no time. That's what my sister says, anyway. I don't think the part that is supposed to not shoot at stuff is working in her, but she says she's used to it. Besides, what else can we do when guns are pointed at our heads?"
Yuzuki shrugged. She didn't know, and hoped she never would, but facing down what she knew about the future - which wasn't a whole lot, since nobody bothered briefing her on that sort of thing - it was looking a lot like she'd be out there mixing it up with the horrors of war soon enough. "Don't know. It's... well, to be honest, it's..."
Awkwardly, she trailed off, ending up at another sigh, reluctant to continue.
"Don't worry. It'll be natural. You'll see the enemy, you'll know they're coming for you, and poom! You'll fire at them until they die. Natural!" Ichigo seemed perfectly at ease with the concept. "After all, if my sister can do it, I can do it, and so can you. My sister's not the learned one of us. Besides, you have to help protect your sisters. I know who I'll be protecting ... " Her eyes went a little glassy again, and Ichigo looked up.
Yuzuki glanced sidelong at Ichigo, narrowing her tired eyes slightly, and smiling suddenly. "You like him. Like that."
"Like who?" Ichigo's eyes snapped onto Yuzuki, her smile bending down into a suspicious frown, body leaning in toward the other sprite. "The Juni-san? Who doesn't like the Juni-san. He's our boss! We almost have to like him, but he always makes it easy. He's not a hardass, remember?"
Pausing, pulling back just a little from Ichigo, Yuzuki looked away again, her mischief defeated. "Yea, OK. You have a point. You just get to be around him a lot more often than the rest of us."
"Yeah. I make sure of that, you know. I'm pretty lucky, huh?" Ichigo retreated into the corner, practically beaming in some internal fantasy, the glass filming over her eyes again. Her speech was breathy. "Yeah. Really lucky. And the Juni-san trusts me to handle the rest of you, because he likes me. Right? That has to be it. Not like that crazy Neko-in-denial ... You shouldn't worry though, Yuzuki-san. After we're done with this mission, we'll get to visit beaches! I've heard that's what you're supposed to do after a mission, and there's lots of men out there on them."
Staring at the opposite wall was getting progressively harder. Yuzuki looked up. Then, Yuzuki looked down. Eventually she found herself looking at Ichigo again, watching her as she spoke. Unconsciously, she began to scratch at her scalp, then messed with her hair again, flushing slightly. "That sounds pretty cool, I guess."
"Cool? That's what the Juni-san says sometimes, huh. 'Cool.' Heh. It's cute." Ichigo's head lulled to the side a bit on the pillow, a lazy, dreamy smile on her face. "Very cute. He uses all kinds of strange words and phrases. I have to stay up late to study them all and know what he's talking about. I think he's got some Nepleslian in him or something. Wouldn't that be something? No wonder he's so tall ... "
"Slang," provided Yuzuki, helpfully, "It's just something that some people do. He does say a lot of weird things, though, like..." And here Yuzuki paused, feeling on the edge of her consciousness a little pull that was trying to get her attention. She blatently ignored it, wondering only briefly at its meaning before continuing; "Last time we talked, he said to meet him in his quarters naked, later that day. I don't think he was being serious."
Ichigo's eyes snapped back onto Yuzuki. This time, however, her brownish-black eyes looked like molten rock, hard and devoid of any life. Her dreamy smile was flattened into a line as sharp as a sword. Her eyelids narrowed. "Yeah. Joking. I'm sure he was. I'm pretty sure you're not his type anyway, Yuzuki-san. The Juni-san likes his girls really slim and girly, like me."
Unconsciously, Yuzuki hardened her expression slightly, and her tired, relaxed posture became a little more rigid and defensive. "Yea, he was joking. But, I don't recall him ever having said who he likes and who he doesn't like. Just because you're thinner than I am doesn't mean anything."
Ichigo almost laughed. "You're kidding, right?" The sprite fell back into her pillow and seemed to roll her whole head in disbelief. "He trusts me, Yuzuki-san. He talks to me about his troubles. And I know he looks at me; my sister told me he does. He must like how I look, and since you are a little, um, bigger than me, I think it's safe to say he's into my type. But that's what the beaches are for, Yuzuki-san! I'm sure there are some out there."
Yuzuki bit her lower lip and settled her head back on her knees, seething to herself, flushing more than ever, this time from bitterness. She knew that the Juni also trusted her, but listening to Ichigo, it seemed to be a different sort of trust; a more technical, work-like trust. That was good, but suddenly it was gnawing on her. Just how much did she do on a regular day, and Ichigo got all the face-time?
"Don't worry," Ichigo said, her voice dipping into some kind of conspiracy she wanted to drag Yuzuki in. "What matters is that he likes us more than he likes the Neko-in-denial. She hurts him mentally and physically, I think. I've heard him groan about how sore his hips are, and then he blames her for it! He protects us, Yuzuki-san, so we should be ready to protect him. Right?"
Yuzuki relaxed her grip on her knees, and rested her forehead against them, closing her eyes without replying solidly. She was still stuck a few sentences behind Ichigo, lost in the contemplation of her prospects, rather than the current subject. "I guess."
"You've got it," Ichigo said firmly, then slipped more off of the bed than on it, and brought the pillow down to a place where it would actually benefit its owner. "Now, you look way too tired to be protecting anyone, even yourself. So why don't you get some rest, huh? I'll keep Rin-san busy for a while so you can sleep in peace. Sound good?"
"I can't sleep, anyway," Yuzuki murmured - almost whined, really, "I keep thinking about the plant."
"Plant? What plant?"
Yuzuki unfolded an arm, and pointed down to the deck. "That plant. We put in a new piping run or two, and replaced all those battle repairs with real repairs, but we had to replace some of the parts with materials that we had on hand, rather than the perfect equivalents. The compounds were all stress-tested, and it should be to spec, but I can't help worrying."
"Hm. Well, let me put it like this, and maybe it will help you sleep: If you don't rest, you're going to be too stupid to fix it if it does break. Kinda means you need to rest now, or we're all dead later." Yuzuki refolded her arm, returning to her open-eyed, curled-up daze.
"You know," Yuzuki said, softly, "He looks at everybody."
Ichigo's eyes did that turn-to-stone thing again, the thing that made her more similar to her sister than anything else, especially since she'd let her hair grow out a little. "Who looks at everybody?"
Looking up, Yuzuki met Ichigo's brown-black stone eyes with eyes of clearest ice, framed by a flush red as fire. "Tom. Or Freeman-Juni, if you feel like being formal. He doesn't just look at you."
The sprite's face was consumed with a very un-Nimura-like anger, and since she wasn't Nimura, Ichigo didn't know how to handle it very well. "What? You're lying. You're not supposed to lie! I've seen him. I've never seen him look at you that way before."
"How often do we work together?" asked Yuzuki, pointedly, stretching one of her legs out, "You've never had the chance to see it, but I know he looks."
"I ... I review logs and visuals! I know he's not looked at you. Don't lie. He doesn't. No. He looks at me. He doesn't even look at the fake Neko like that. You lie." Flustered, embarrassed and angry, Ichigo got up from the bed and stormed to the door, which opened before her. She looked back at Yuzuki, eyes molten coal now just slightly lighter than her hair. "He wouldn't like a, a, A FAT-WAISTED Neko like you over me. EVER." The door shut behind the sprite as she blustered off.
Yuzuki glared at the door for a while before taking a deep breath. Fat-waisted? Although she suspected Ichigo was just trying to find some way to dig at her, since Yuzuki knew there were not that many cameras on the subdeck to watch even if Ichigo did watch them, Yuzuki still snuck a peek in the mirror.
She turned, slightly. Her nightclothes gave her a pretty good perspective. She did a few more turns.
Eventually, she threw herself back on the bed, and concluded, "I'm not fat."
Then she passed out.
END
