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Makoto puffed out her cheeks as she stood in front of the door to the spare room in Kokonoe’s lab. Fresh chicken curry and rice steamed up from a plate on a tray she carried, along with utensils, a napkin, and a tall glass of ice water. It wasn’t for her; she’d already had lunch with Kokonoe, Tager, and Noel. No, this was for the man who’d given up an arm to save her best friend, who’d gotten beaten more than half to death, who was recovering after getting his ass kicked and that lost arm regenerated... Ragna the Bloodedge.
Honestly, she didn’t know what to think of the guy. Previously, she’d thought of him as incredibly dangerous, creepy scum. That was before, on a whim, she happened to ask Noel how she’d fought off Captain Hazama, and she revealed that she hadn’t: she’d been smelted into the 12th Prime Field Device Mu, and Ragna had come to save her. That’d been a shock, second only to the news that he was at Kokonoe’s lab, right where they all were, to heal.
“I thought Kokonoe told you?” Noel had said, openly confused.
“Why is it my job to fill her in when you could tell your best friend yourself?” Kokonoe had countered, pulling a lollipop out of her mouth.
“U-um, b-but I thought you said I could leave everything to you--”
“Obviously I didn’t mean EVERYTHING everything,” Kokonoe had cut in. Then she’d walked off, waving a hand dismissively. “Whatever. It’s not like it matters.”
“Uhhhh, it SUPER matters!” Makoto had protested at her back. “Ragna the Bloodedge saved my best friend’s life and nobody thought to clue me in on it?! This changes everything!! GET BACK HERE!!”
Tager had cleared his throat while holding out a hand to keep her from charging after Kokonoe. “Pardon the interruption, Makoto, but... what, exactly, does it change?”
And, lucky for Tager and Kokonoe both, Makoto hadn’t known how exactly to answer his question. She just had a gut feeling that it was true. And in the moments that followed, once she’d calmed down and thought about it, she realized the only way to figure out how was... well, to see Ragna herself. That’s why she’d volunteered to take him lunch.
That being said, she still didn’t know what to think of him. Speaking as a former NOL operative, he was pretty damn scary! The Azure Grimoire was nothing to sneeze at, especially after he’d wrecked two NOL bases. But Noel really liked him, even before he saved her from Captain Hazama, and, well... Makoto couldn’t bring herself to dislike someone who literally risked his life to save her best friend, no matter how many of her fellow soldiers he’d killed. Plus, now that she’d ditched the NOL herself, he probably wouldn’t have any problem with her… r-right?
She sighed, then clapped her cheek with her free hand. “Aw, c’mon, Makoto! He’s just the Grim Reaper! Even SS-class criminals gotta eat!” she told herself. “Even Kokonoe didn’t seem scared of ‘im! Not that she’s scared of much of anything...” She shook her head, then made her decision and opened the door.
On the other side of the room, sitting on a bed, Ragna shot a stare up at her. Makoto nearly choked. His red coat, black jacket, and hand-gloves were both lying on the bed next to him. His right arm was wrapped in some kind of long black under-glove that went up to mid-bicep, and he was rubbing his left arm, which, like the rest of his torso, wasn’t covered by anything in particular.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he demanded, legs tensing as if he were about to stand and fight if need be.
“Hey, hey, chill out, I’m a friend of Noel’s!” she said quickly, waving a hand. “The name’s Makoto Nanaya! I brought you lunch! See?” She held out the tray like a peace offering.
He blinked twice as he stared at the tray; then the hostility faded from his expression. “Ah. I was getting hungry. Thanks.” He looked up at her face. “You... said you’re a friend of Noel’s? How’s she doing? All right?”
And that, right there, scored some points with her. She never thought she’d think this about the infamous Grim Reaper, but he couldn’t be that bad a guy if the first question out of his mouth after she introduced herself was about Noel’s well-being.
Also his bare chest was super hot with those sculpted abs, that chiseled six-pack, the manly curve of his-- “RIGHT, she’s doing just fine!” she chirped, all but shoving the tray at him. “Actually, she’s better than ever! I’ve never seen her with so much fire in her eyes before!”
He grabbed the tray, water sloshing in its glass and nearly spilling, but rather than snapping at her, he nodded at the news. “Good to hear. Tell her I said hi.”
“Right! Sure thing!! See you later!!!”
And she nearly zoomed right out, except she screeched to a halt right before passing through the doorway. Right. Dammit. There were more things she wanted to say to him. Oh, well... There were definitely worse things than having to ogle an SS-class criminal. Damn. Damn. And while her eyes had been roaming, hadn’t there been a tattoo just under his collarbone, like Noel had...? Maybe she ought to get a better look.
“Uhh,” she added, then cleared her throat. “You, uh... mind some company while you eat?”
“Knock yourself out.”
That probably means yes, Makoto mused, pursing her lips. She looked around for a chair, then pulled it over and sat next to him, the chair’s back to one side so she had space for her tail. As she did so, he’d put the tray to one side to pull on his black jacket, though lucky for her, he hadn’t pinned it shut just yet, opting instead to start eating. Up close...
“You don’t look anything like your wanted poster,” she observed.
He eyed her and swallowed a spoonful of curry. “I’ll, uh, take that as a compliment.”
She couldn’t help it; she laughed. “You should!” she said, folding her arms behind her neck. “For one thing, you’re way better-looking!”
He actually smiled at that, which helped make her feel better, that was for sure.
“How’s your arm?” she added.
He shrugged, eating a mouthful of rice and chasing it with a swallow of water. “Functional.”
Makoto furrowed her brows. “You’re not, uh... mad, are you?”
“Huh? Why would I be?”
“Uhh, isn’t it obvious?? You lost an entire arm!”
“Oh, that.” He shrugged again. “Whatever, it’s just an arm. What’s it to you? Noel’s your friend, isn’t she?”
“She’s my best friend,” she corrected him. “I love her more than anything. I’d have done anything to save her, if you hadn’t done it first.”
He squinted at her. “Then why’re you asking if I’m mad?”
“‘Cuz you’re not me! I don’t know if you’re going to guilt Noellie over losing your arm to break her out of that Mu state or whatever!”
Ragna’s mouth twisted in disgust. “What? Hell no! What kind of asshole would do that?”
And Makoto grinned, fully relaxing for the first time. She knew that kind of instant, knee-jerk honesty when she heard it. She did the same herself a lot. “Heheh. You actually are a good guy, Ragna the Bloodedge.”
“Seriously, what’s with you?”
She shook her head. “Nothing. Just... I wanted to thank you. Noel means a lot to me.” She quieted, leaning back on her seat. “Really--I can’t thank you enough.”
He settled too. “Is that what you came here to say...? Don’t worry about it. I did it because I wanted to. You don’t owe me a thing, and neither does she.”
“Noel must mean a lot to you, too, if you’d go that far for her just ‘cuz you wanted to,” she pointed out.
He made a low tch noise, but otherwise busied himself with eating.
“Noel mentioned she saved you last week, too,” Makoto pressed, deciding to try her luck with some of the other news she’d pumped out of her best friend after that earlier revelation. “Grabbed your hand when you were falling to your death, kind of thing.”
He swallowed. “Yeah? What about it?”
“Was that all it was? You just returning a favor?”
He peered at her. Then he stared down at his plate of curry, half-eaten. Then he looked at her again, this time with a deepening frown. “What’re you trying to get at?”
Man. What was she trying to get at? Makoto folded her arms and thought about it. “Noel likes you,” she decided to say. “But apparently you were a big jerk to her after she saved your life. I wanna know you aren’t gonna go right back to being a jerk this time around.”
“...Ah.” He scratched his head with the handle of his spoon. “I guess I don’t blame you for that. I was a real dick to her. But... Shit, how do I put this.” He shoveled a few more spoonfuls of curry and rice into his mouth, maybe to buy himself time to think. Once the plate was empty, he set down his spoon, drained his glass of water, and wiped his mouth with the napkin. “An arm was a cheap price to save her,” he concluded. “But just because the arm was cheap doesn’t mean Noel is cheap. Does that make sense?”
She smiled. “Yeah, it does, actually.”
“Good.” He offered her the tray. “Oh, and tell Kokonoe the replacement’s doing fine so far, and I want to hit the road by tomorrow. I don’t have time to waste on recovery.”
“Geez, you really are a monster,” Makoto said, taking it. “I heard you were bleeding out just the other day, and you wanna get going already?”
He glared at her. “You got a problem with that?”
“Well, no... But Noel wanted to talk to you before you left.”
“Hell. I said I wanted to leave tomorrow, didn’t I? Tell her to drop by whenever she wants today. I’m not going anywhere ‘til then.”
She grinned. Under other circumstances, she’d be annoyed he was treating her like a messenger girl, but all considered, she could let it slide. “Will do!” She stood up, but paused.
So he was leaving tomorrow, huh... Makoto didn’t know what Kokonoe was going to say to that, but she suspected it’d be something like, ‘Let the idiot do as he pleases.’ She wasn’t sure why Kokonoe had decided to help Ragna out in the first place, but she didn’t get the impression it was because she wanted his help or anything. So...
“Hey,” she added. “D’you mind if we talk for a while?”
He furrowed his eyebrows at her. “Huh? Why?”
“Hmmm... I dunno?” she admitted. She’d asked him more or less on a whim. “If Noel likes you, I wanna get to know you better, too. I guess that’s about it?”
“Tch... Well, whatever. I don’t mind.”
“Great!” she cheered. “Hey, how ‘bout we go for a walk while we do? I bet you’re getting stir-crazy in here!”
Ragna grinned and stood up. She admired the ripple of his muscles under his jacket. “You read my damn mind,” he said, pulling it closed to her disappointment and shrugging on his coat. “I don’t feel like gettin’ lectured by the cat, so how about we take a shortcut through the window?”
“Hell yeah!” Makoto cheered, pumping a fist and setting the tray aside. “Race you outside!”
“What--hey!”
But she already had a window open and was jumping out onto the branch of a nearby tree, cackling as she scooted up towards the trunk with all the grace and dexterity of her squirrel brethren. A moment later, Ragna appeared at the window, his big-ass sword in hand, looking somewhere between annoyed and, maybe, amused.
“I never agreed to a race!” he shouted, jumping out to grab that same branch as he hooked his blade onto his belt. The branch snapped under their combined weight, and with a bellow, he fell towards the ground below.
It damn near gave Makoto a heart attack to see--what the hell was she gonna tell Noel if Ragna broke his legs because of her?!--but she shouldn’t have worried; he twisted in midair, almost like a cat himself, and landed in a crouch on his feet. Then he glared up at her. She breathed a sigh of relief, then waved down at him jauntily.
“Better luck next time, Ragna!” she called down to him.
“Hey, you wanted me to go on a walk with you!” he yelled back. “The hell’re you on about, ditching me like that?!”
“Aw, c’mon, don’t be like that!” she chirped back, tail twitching with mischievous glee. “Catch me if you caaaaan!”
“You piece of--!”
He sprinted into the woods after her, and with a laugh, Makoto jumped from tree branch to tree branch, navigating deeper in with ease. When she looked back, she caught sight of Ragna jumping up the side of one tree, then kicking off it onto a trunk nearby, then again until he was high enough to snag a thick branch and pull himself up. Still, he wasn’t quite high enough to catch up with her.
“Hey, hey! Is that the best you’ve got, Ragna the Bloodedge?!” she taunted, cupping both hands over her mouth. “I’m falling asleep over here!”
“You damn squirrel!! You’re gonna regret talking shit!”
He grabbed his huge sword and swung it around in one fluid motion. The hollow blade rammed into the trunk, sending shudders all the way up the tree and damn near shaking Makoto off. She grabbed hold of another branch nearby and gawked as Ragna used his own sword as a foothold, grabbed the next branch up, and kicked his sword out as he pulled himself up.
“Are you serious?!” she yelped. She ran and jumped into the next tree, but that, too shuddered. When she looked down, Ragna was about five feet higher, ten feet closer, and looking awful pissed.
Makoto jumped one more tree away, but this time, she swung around and brought up her dukes. When Ragna leaped that last distance, closing the gap between the two of them and swinging his sword back onto its place on his belts, she bounced back and forth.
“All right, you caught up! But you better not underestimate me!” she declared.
He glared at her and reached out. “Cut the crap already--”
So she chucked him on the shoulder. When he snarled in pain, one eye squeezing shut as he bared his teeth, she remembered too late that her right was his left, and his left arm was supposed to be off-limits.
“Shit shit shit! Are you okay?!” she gasped, dropping all playful pretense. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you that hard!”
But Ragna shook his head, rolling his left arm in its socket with his right hand on his shoulder. After a few rotations, he flexed his left arm, squeezed his hand open and shut a few times, and nodded. “It’s fine,” he announced. “No harm done.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. It felt like she’d been doing that a lot today. “Sorry,” she repeated anyway, feeling a little like Noel. “I was just messing around. Guess I went a little overboard.”
“Yeah, you did,” he replied. He sat down on his end of the branch, one leg hanging off. “But whatever. It was good exercise.”
Makoto smiled and joined him on the same branch, letting both her legs dangle off the sides. “You’re pretty chill for a guy called the Grim Reaper. I’m kinda surprised!”
“Believe me, I’m not that easygoing. If you weren’t a friend of Noel’s, I’d have kicked your ass already,” he said dryly. Still, he didn’t look angry while he said it. After a beat, he added, a hint of a growl in his voice, “So--if you’re a friend of Noel’s, does that mean you’re with the Library?”
“I was with the Library,” she corrected him quickly, because you didn’t want the Grim Reaper misunderstanding that for even a second. “Me and Noel both quit.”
He visibly relaxed. “That so. Good.” Another beat. “Noel’s obvious enough, but--why’d you leave?”
Makoto frowned in thought, folding her arms. She... could probably tell him, but... how could she even begin to describe what she saw in Ikaruga...? She hadn’t even said anything to Noel yet. It wasn’t fair to tell him before she’d gotten a chance to tell her. “My friends are more important to me,” she decided on. “That’s all.”
He nodded once, approval in his odd-colored eyes. Whew, looked like she said the right thing.
“What about you?” she added. “Why’d you start your whole rebellion against the NOL?”
Ragna scowled, expression darkening. “You have to ask? ...Because they aren’t the good guys everyone thinks they are.”
Makoto nodded. Yeah... Yeah, she couldn’t argue there. There was probably a bigger, longer story there, but, well, if she wasn’t willing to share hers, she couldn’t expect him to share his. That was only fair.
“Oh, hey,” she uttered, following that line of thought. “I heard from Noellie--is it true you and Jin Kisaragi are brothers?”
His scowl deepened and slanted to one side. “Why do you care?”
“Because the three of us went to school together, that’s why!” she declared, planting her fists on her hips. “Us and our other friend Tsubaki, we were practically a team! Of course I’d wanna know about his family! His blood family,” she added at the look on his face. “Everyone knows the Kisaragis only adopted him.”
Ragna heaved an irritable sigh like other folks might heave a boulder off a cliff. “Yeah, it’s true,” he admitted all the same. “Jin’s my younger brother.”
“Hmm.” Makoto leaned in. “Hmmm.” She leaned in closer, until she and Ragna were almost nose-to-nose. “Hmmmmmmm.”
“The hell’s your problem?!” he demanded, leaning back.
She leaned away. “Now that I get a good look at you... I can see the family resemblance. You both have a handsome face.”
Ragna blinked at her, clearly thrown. “Uhhh... Thanks?”
“Man, you should’ve seen Jin during our school days! All the girls were crazy about him!” Makoto continued. “Even I maybekindasortamightahadacrushonhimonce.”
“Wait, what did you--”
“But he was totally unapproachable!!” she cut him off passionately, waving her hands. “There wasn’t even an inch of room between him and Tsubaki. Like, geez, you two, get a room!”
“Wait, what? Seriously?”
She nodded vigorously, encouraged by the surprise and interest on his face. “Apparently the two of them’d been friends since he joined the Kisaragi family! He was way nicer to her than literally anyone, and you could practically see stars in her eyes whenever she looked at him!”
“Are you telling me Jin has a girlfriend ? And it’s Tsubaki Yayoi!?” He threw both hands into the air. “What the hell’s he chasing me around for, then?! Fuck!”
“I KNOW, right?! That boy needs to sort out his priorities!”
He shook his head, then paused. “Wait. You said the four of you were a team, right?”
“Yeah?”
He was quiet for a moment. Then he asked, “That include Jin and Noel?”
Makoto suddenly got the funny feeling like Ragna knew. She couldn’t say how she got that impression... It was just something in the look on his face. “Nnnnnot exactly,” she admitted. “Jin was... polite enough, I guess? But Noellie used to tell me she had a feeling like he secretly hated her for some reason. And... I dunno. I say we were a team, and him and me got along okay, but honestly, the team was really her and me and Tsubaki. Jin was popular, but he also kept most people at arm’s length. He only hung out with us because Tsubaki was there.”
“I see.”
“Then he graduated and got sent to the Ikaruga Civil War, and when he came back, he was a giant asshole to... well, nearly everybody, but especially Noel. Like, wow, you should hear some of the horror stories she’s got of the days when she was his subordinate. If Tsubaki didn’t care about him so much, I woulda punched his lights out ages ago.” She grimaced and shook her head. “So I dunno. Maybe she was onto something. I can’t think of why Major Kisaragi would hate her, though? She’s literally never done anything to him.”
“...Great to hear he hasn’t changed any,” Ragna said, deadpan.
Makoto tilted her head. “Hasn’t changed...? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means he’s always been an asshole.”
“Oh. That sounds rough.”
“Tell me about it,” he groused, looking away towards Kokonoe’s lab.
She followed his gaze. Noel was somewhere in there. Who knew where Jin was right now. Even Kokonoe didn’t know that. Or if she knew, she wasn’t telling, which honestly was just as likely.
“Are you worried about him?” she wondered.
“What?” he uttered, startled. “Why the hell would you ask that?”
“‘Cuz I’m a big sibling too. I’ve got kid brothers and sisters of my own, so I know what it’s like. Even when they drive me nuts, I still care about them, y’know?” She scratched her head. “I dunno. Maybe it’s just me.”
Ragna looked away again. “Like I’d worry about that little shit,” he grumbled. “He was always a whiny crybaby, couldn’t ever stand to be alone, always tugging on my sleeve even when I was busy, and sulked when I told him to wait his damn turn. He always complained when it wasn’t important, and kept his mouth shut when it was. Taking care of him didn’t drive me nuts; it drove me straight up the wall.”
Makoto tilted her head the other way. Despite all he said, the look in his eyes... That pinched, distant, almost gentle look...
“You really are worried about him,” she observed.
He shut his eyes and made an irritable noise. “Shut up.”
She smiled and leaned back, hands on her hips. “Don’t worry! The Major’s not so weak he’ll get taken out by some random grunt! I’m sure you two’ll meet again someday!”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” he groused, rolling his eyes--but she caught how the corners of his lips turned up.
“So, hey, you two grew up together, right?” she pressed, leaning forward. She grinned wide, showing off all her teeth. “You got any hilariously embarrassing baby stories for me?”
He snorted and laughed. It was a full, rich sound, bursting with vibrant warmth. It genuinely startled Makoto to hear something like that out of the Grim Reaper’s mouth. Just hearing it made her feel...
But then he said, “Maybe another time.”
“Aw, c’mon! You’re leaving tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah, exactly. When am I supposed to hang with Noel if I end up talking to you all night?”
She deflated. “Oh, right. Good point.” Funny, or not so funny, but she found herself kind of disappointed by that--even as him wanting to spend time with Noel added more points in his favor. Sigh. Stupid sexy Ragna. “By the by, d’you like Noellie?”
“Huh? Well, yeah, obviously.”
She choked. “For real?!”
He frowned, peering at her. “Uh, yeah? What’re you getting so worked up over?”
She frowned back. “Just to make sure, when you say ‘yeah, obviously,’ do you mean you LIKE her, or you LIKE-LIKE her?”
“Wha--” he uttered, eyes flying wide. “WOAH, woah, woah, woah, where the HELL did that come from?!”
“Oh, geez,” she groaned. She’d asked without thinking it through, just letting herself follow her emotions, make sure of where everyone’s feelings laid so she could put her own budding ones to rest if need be, but... maybe that’d been a bad idea. “I’m, uh... Well, I’m asking... Geez!” Makoto huffed. “You’re really gonna make me say it flat-out?!”
“You already said it flat-out!!”
“FINE! I’m asking if you’re in love with Noel!”
“NO, I’m not goddamn in love with Noel!! What the hell is wrong with you?!”
“Why the hell would something be wrong with me?! Who wouldn’t fall for Noellie!?”
“ME, that’s who!!”
“Well, why not?!”
“Because she fucking looks just like my sister, that’s why not!!”
Makoto opened her mouth. It stayed hanging open. Ragna stared back at her.
“Shit,” he added.
“She looks just like your sister?!” she squawked.
He scowled, upper lip peeling away from his teeth, and turned his face away to glare a hole into the foliage.
She looked like his sister. Noel looked just like Ragna the Bloodedge’s sister. Ragna the Bloodedge had a sister?! But... the prime field devices, including Lambda and Nu, had all had Noel’s face, too. Or rather, it occurred to her, they all had his sister’s face. And Makoto had heard a rumor that, when the Grim Reaper had attacked the NOL bases, his true objective had been the Cauldrons deep below. The Cauldrons, where the prime field devices were being smelted. Where machines were being made in the image of his sister...
“Oh,” she uttered, subdued. Her hands squeezed hold of the branch beneath her. “Oh.”
“What’s that supposed to mean,” he growled.
She glanced to one side. “I just... realized something, is all.”
Jin, Ragna’s brother, had ended up a member of one of the Duodecim and a decorated member of the NOL military. And Ragna’s sister, whoever she was, had been built or cloned or whatever, over and over again, by the NOL. Based on Ragna’s personality, she doubted very much he would’ve just let the NOL take his kid siblings away. And... he had the Azure Grimoire, but there wasn’t anything on him that looked like it. Except, Grimoires didn’t necessarily take the form of books, did they?
“Hey, uh... This might be kind of personal, but... And just so you know, I’m not asking because I want it for myself, and I’m not gonna spread what you say around, either,” she added quickly. “But... where exactly do you keep the Azure Grimoire?”
He gave her a long, flat stare. She held it. Then, slowly, he raised his right arm.
“Right here,” he said.
She turned her stare to it. Earlier, when she’d caught him topless, he’d still had that weird wraparound glove thing on his right arm. She hadn’t thought about it too deeply at the time, just figured it was some weird fashion statement. But what was the point of something like that if you wore two layers of jackets over it, with an extra glove on besides? Unless--
She sucked in a sharp breath. “The Azure Grimoire is your arm? But that means...”
“Looks like you figured it out.” He rested his arm on his knee. “You’re pretty smart.”
She felt her face warm up. “I, uh, I don’t hear that one too often,” she admitted.
“No?”
“Yeah, you know, like, ‘there goes that beastkin girl’...”
“What’s that got to do with anything?”
Her heart skipped a beat as she gawked at him. He stared back. Then he slapped his forehead with his palm.
“Right, beastkin prejudice, I totally forgot that was a thing. Whatever. Fuck those guys,” he said. “Obviously they never spent any time talking to you.”
Ah, geez, she thought, feeling her face start to burn up. Her grades had never been the greatest, and she knew she didn’t think things through, and who knew, maybe he was only saying that because he wasn’t any smarter, but... damn. Not only did it feel really good to get complimented on her brains after a lifetime of being told she had none, but it felt even better to hear him all but say point-blank he didn’t care she was beastkin.
He was leaving tomorrow. There was a chance she’d never see him again.
She scooted closer, her knees brushing up against his.
“Uh... What’re you doing?”
“God, I wish I knew,” she muttered.
“What?”
“UHHH, I mean--I just wanted to thank you again for everything!” she said in a rush. “Not just for Noellie, but for me too. I know I’ve been pretty nosy, but you didn’t tell me to buzz off, and that made me happy. I’ve been having a lot of fun hanging out with you, you know!”
“Oh.” He paused. “...Me too, actually. You’re... easy to talk to.”
She lit up. “Really?”
“Yeah. I dunno why.” He scratched his head. “I guess... because you’re not playing games? You’re real direct, even when you’re beating around the bush. I like that about you. I deal with enough corkscrew secrets-inside-secrets bullshit, so it’s refreshing.”
She giggled, tail bobbing back and forth. “Reeeeeally?”
He eyed her. “Hey, I literally JUST got done saying I like you don’t play games. If you got something to say, spit it out already.”
Man. Man. Just spit it out, huh. He really made it easy, didn’t he. Makoto met Ragna’s eyes, hesitating only for a moment; then she took him up on it:
“Ragna... D’you mind if I kiss you?”
He stared back at her.
“Huh?”
“Look, I like you, okay?” she said defensively. “You’re a way better person than I expected, you care about the same people I care about, you’re easy to talk to, you’re prickly but you’re kinda fun too, you’re really attractive... I’m not expecting anything long-term, just so you know! I just wanna kiss you.” She paused. “So... can I?”
“I... uh... Shit.” He leaned his back on the trunk, visibly bewildered. He scratched his head, looking away for a moment, red creeping across his face like the dawn. Then he scrubbed his hand down his face, covering his mouth while his eyes narrowed, though he didn’t meet her gaze.
It looked an awful lot like ‘I ought to say no’ or something like that, so Makoto pulled herself closer, her knees slipping in under his. “Please?” she murmured, leaning in.
He lowered his hand and finally met her eyes, lips slightly parted as if to speak. But he didn’t--not to say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Tentatively, she rested a hand on his chest, and she felt him tense up under her touch, but he didn’t push her away or tell her to stop. She scooted in the rest of the distance, and her breasts brushed up onto his coat, and she could feel his breath on her lips...
But then she paused. This wasn’t the innocent, if enthusiastic, cuddling of some adorable little boy. That was just play, for funsies! A kiss… was a way bigger deal. Even if this was the Ragna the Bloodedge, she shouldn’t force herself on him. She ducked her chin down and eased away a bit.
“If you really don’t want me to, you can say so,” she murmured, heart hammering.
“Shit,” he breathed. “Do what you want.”
So she smiled, shut her eyes, and went the rest of the way.
His mouth was softer and smoother than she’d have ever expected. He didn’t respond, not exactly, but he also didn’t resist when she parted his lips with her tongue. The inside of his mouth tasted like curry. She sucked on his lower lip as she rolled her tongue against his, hand sliding down his chest and around onto his waist. She felt him tense up a little more, the breath stilling in his mouth as it caught in his throat. So she withdrew her tongue, but in return, pressed her lips hard on his, motions gentle as she tilted her head. Was he moving with her...? She pursed her moist lips, seeking the right interlock with his, but ultimately not finding it; so instead, she nipped at his lower lip and let her teeth glide along it as she finally pulled away.
He opened his eyes a half-second after she did, and her pulse jumped when she realized he’d had them shut to begin with. He swallowed hard, and she noticed his breathing was faster than before, now that he’d started again. The red hadn’t faded from his cheeks.
“Ah,” he uttered. “Hm.”
She snorted and broke into a giggle.
“The hell’re you laughing for?!” he demanded, the red deepening.
She grinned. Man, he really was attractive. “I can’t help it! You’re acting like this is your first kiss or something!”
“Something wrong with that?!”
The implication sank into her mind after a couple of seconds. “...Wait, that really was your first kiss?! Seriously?!”
He made a noise deep in his throat that was somewhere between angry, flustered, and embarrassed, and looked away. He was still blushing. “And who the hell am I supposed to have kissed, huh!? I never met any girls my own age growing up!” He paused, then eyed her in open suspicion. “Wait. You’re not gonna tell me you’re actually a thousand years old or something, are you?”
“What?! No! Geez!” She paused. “Well, me being beastkin, I guess it’s not an unreasonable question... Is, uh--is that a problem you’ve had?”
He grimaced. “Yes. STOP LAUGHING!”
Makoto thumped at her chest to break up the guffaws. “Sorry, sorry! It’s just--ahaha, wow, that really sucks!” She shone a mischievous grin at him. “So how was it? Your first kiss!”
“How was it--how am I supposed to answer that?! I don’t have any other experience!”
“Oh, that’s true.” She thought about it for a second; then her grin returned, more brilliant and lascivious than ever. “Theeeen in that case, how about I give you a few more? For comparison’s sake!”
He choked, or maybe laughed, or maybe both; it was a little hard to tell. “You’re insatiable.”
“So is that a yes or a no?”
He met her eyes and said nothing. That seemed like a positive sign to her, so she leaned in again--but then he grabbed her by the shoulder and held her there.
“Wh-what?” she asked, pausing.
He held his other hand to his mouth, fingertips brushing his lips, and glanced away briefly. Then he gently pushed her back until she sat upright.
“Look--it’s not like I hated it,” Ragna said. “And it’s not like I hate you. It’s just... You know damn well it’s a bad idea to get involved with me.”
She did know that, of course. But she pursed her lips into a frown anyway.
“So let’s just leave it at that, before we both end up doing something we regret,” he continued. “You can do better than a guy like me, anyway.”
Makoto narrowed her eyes. It made total sense, and she got where he was coming from. In a way, it was sweet he was trying to let her down easy. But...
With a roar, she pulled back her fist and slammed it forward into the tree trunk at his back. He bellowed back, jerking away to dodge her punch, but he hardly needed to; she hadn’t been aiming for him, after all. Still, it gave him a plenty good view of the way the tree split with a cra-cra-craaack under the force of her knuckles.
“What the fuck!” he uttered, eyes wide. “What the hell was that for?!”
“You think I didn’t know what I was doing when I hit on you, Ragna the Bloodedge?” she asked, voice deadly calm. “Don’t get me wrong; I appreciate that you were worried about me. But don’t you dare look down on me, either. I already said I’m not trying for something long-term here, and I’m no damsel in distress, primed to get chopped into little bits ‘cuz you spent more than five minutes with me!”
He stared from the deepening crevasse in the wood over to her. “Are you serious?”
“Damn serious.”
For a moment, their gazes remained locked together. Then the tree went cra-a-a-a-a-a-a-ack, and the both of them tilted to one side without moving.
“Uh,” they uttered in unison.
Then the now-limber split in opposite directions, and the both of them had to bail lest they go down with the ship. Makoto leaped from branch to branch to hop to the next three over, while Ragna ran along the length of the branch, leaped when it couldn’t support his weight anymore, then rebounded off another few branches before landing on his feet on the ground below. Makoto dropped down next to him in time for both of them to watch the tree they’d been in split all the way down to the roots.
Makoto laughed nervously. “Uhh. Guess I put a little too much power into it.”
“You call that ‘a little’?!” Ragna demanded, turning to her.
She laughed some more, feeling her face heat up.
Fortunately for her, Ragna just huffed out a breath and crooked a half-smile at her. One hand on his hip, he looked back at the tree she’d accidentally, and effortlessly, downed. “No damsel in distress... huh,” he murmured. “Not that I didn’t believe you, but... god damn. You sure know how to make a point.”
Her nervous laughter turned into a nervous giggle, and she swayed back and forth. “I sure do!”
He looked back at her, lips thinned. Long enough passed without a word that Makoto stood up straight, folding her arms behind her back.
“Do you just... not want to?” she wondered.
A low noise rumbled in his throat, and he ran his fingers through his spiky, white hair. “It’s not that. I don’t really know how to feel about this. No one’s ever come on to me like you have before. When I was a kid, the only girls I knew were my little sister and the old bag who took care of us. When I was a teenager, it was the Rabbit and a few other chicks I knew for a few hours each at best. Since I started wrecking the Library’s shit, I’ve run into a few women who wanted something from me, but it was easy to brush them off. I don’t know what to do with someone like you who knows what she’s getting into and doesn’t care.”
“Hmmm...” A slow smile curled up her lips. “You could always let me take the lead?”
“That’s not the problem here at--”
But she hopped forward a couple of steps and wrapped her arms around his neck, cutting him off. “Of course it’s not the problem, dummy! It’s the solution!” she chirped.
He snorted, half-smiling. “You’ve got some nerve, calling me a dummy.” His smile faded. He didn’t push her away, but he didn’t make any move to embrace her, either. “How did you handle it? The first time a guy confessed to you, I mean.”
Makoto’s smile faded too, and she slid her hands back down his shoulders. “Uhh...” Should she lie or should she come clean? No, he deserved an honest answer. Besides, knowing her, she’d get caught in the lie in two seconds. “I’ve, uh... Nobody’s ever confessed to me before, actually. I’ve confessed to a few guys andmaybeacoupleofgals before, but they all turned me down.”
His eyebrows flew up. “What? Seriously? A cute girl like you?”
“Oh, geez,” she uttered, feeling herself grin and blush. “You’re not making this easier, you know!”
“O-oh, right. Sorry.” He paused. “Wait a second, that means you’re in the same boat as me!! And you made yourself sound like you were so damn experienced!”
She settled back onto the balls of her feet and jabbed a finger onto his chest. “Hey, I’m more experienced than you!” Although that was between her and her vibrator. She wasn’t about to tell him that, though.
“Well, that’s--probably true. Shit.” He grimaced and scrubbed his hair with one hand. Then he frowned at her anew. “...Seriously, why me? We barely know each other.”
“Pretty sure I already told you why,” she pointed out. “Besides, I never said I was madly in love with you or anything, just that I like you and I want to kiss you. You don’t have to know someone that long to go, ‘Wow, he’s cute, I wanna smooch him.’”
“I... guess that’s true.”
She grinned and bent at the waist to cup a hand around one twitching ear. “Ohhh? Do my ears deceive me, or do you sound disappointed?”
“Shut up,” Ragna grumbled. Still, his expression softened. “Still... that actually makes things a lot easier in a lot of ways, if we’re talking about ‘like’ and not ‘love.’”
Makoto had to admit, that was true for her too. Neither of them could really afford to commit to the other. “Right,” she affirmed, nodding once. “We’re just making some new experiences, as a couple of people who like each other! Er. If you do like me back?”
He rubbed his scalp. “...Hell. I guess I do like you.” He gazed at her for a moment; then, to her surprise, he took a step forward, slipped an arm around her waist, and pulled her in close. Makoto pressed herself against his broad chest, excitement making her tail (and certain other parts) twitch. Ragna leaned in, their foreheads touching, and murmured, “Nothing long-term, right? Just two people who like each other, gaining experience.”
Makoto draped one arm around his shoulders, cupped the back of his head with the other, and kissed him. This time, Ragna wrapped his other arm around her back and returned the favor. Their lips pressed together and parted, and when she sent her tongue questing forward, his met it partway. She flicked the tip around his, twirling, twisting, and teasing; when he responded by tilting his head down and pushing his tongue deeper into her mouth, she raked her teeth along it and sucked hard. A quiet, gruff noise sounded in Ragna’s throat, and encouraged by it, Makoto pressed her face harder against his and sent her tongue past his into his mouth to run along the back of his teeth.
His tongue slid around its underside, and he retreated enough to suck on her bottom lip like she had earlier. His hands stroked her back, tracing some sensitive spots on her skin, and she groaned into his mouth and hooked her right leg up to arch at his hip. His left hand dropped to support her thigh, and he bit her lip hard enough to sting but not to draw blood. She pulled away first with a high-pitched little yelp, somewhere between a moan and a squeal. He let her go, and both of them took a moment to catch their breaths.
“S-so,” Makoto panted, “now what d’you think of your first kiss?”
Ragna snorted and laughed, releasing her thigh to trace his fingers up to her waist. “The second time was better.” Then he leaned in. “Let’s see how the third time goes.”
Time melted together like honey tea after that. They went much further than just kissing, and every moment of it was delicious. At the end, the two of them sprawled side-by-side in the forest underbrush, sweaty and satisfied, their afterglow keeping things bright as the blue skies overhead started to darken.
“Guess... we oughtta start heading back,” Ragna rumbled.
“Guess so,” Makoto agreed, a touch of lament there.
They both sat up, Makoto adjusting her top back over her breasts, Ragna re-tying the front cord of his hakama pants. Once they were done settling their clothes back in place, they each stood up and stretched. The stretching was sooooo good, Makoto noted with a wide smile. Almost as good as everything it’d followed.
“Are you seriously a beginner?” he wondered as the two of them began the walk back. “You seemed like you knew exactly what you were doing.”
She favored him with a sparkly-eyed grin. “Yup. I’ve just got a dirty, dirty imagination.”
He snorted and laughed. “That so? Guess I can’t complain.”
“If you did, I’d have to smack you!”
“Shit, better keep my mouth shut then.”
“Hey, does that mean you’ve got complaints after all?!”
He laughed, rich and relaxed and sincere, when Makoto chased him in a torus, fists flailing playfully. Ragna easily dodged her punches, though that was because she wasn’t really trying to hit him anyway. She broke out into giggles herself soon too, and the next few moments devolved into a game of tag. It only stopped when the forest dark got a little too dense.
Specifically, Makoto skidded to a halt when she realized she could barely tell where the shadows ended and the shrubbery began. “Ah, geez,” she said, looking around. She had better night vision than most, but squirrels weren’t exactly nocturnal creatures. “We really ought to get back. I’m sure Noellie’s starting to worry.”
“Shit, you’re right.” Ragna came to a stop and looked around too, frowning. “Yeah, let’s get back. Don’t want Kokonoe giving me shit... or deciding my business is her business.”
“Ooh, yeah, good point.” Makoto grimaced, then paused. She tilted her head at him. “...Ragna? About... you know, this afternoon...”
“It’d be better if we kept it to ourselves,” he said, blunt and unhesitating. “I’ve got a lot of enemies. You know that, and you don’t need that shit.”
“Yeah... you’re right,” she admitted, reluctant as she was to do it. They were just two people who liked each other, gaining experience. And if she’d seen a tattoo at his throat that reminded her of something she’d seen on Noel, well, it probably wasn’t any of her business, right? “Would you ever wanna do that again, though?”
He blinked at her. “Well--yeah,” he admitted. “I liked it. And...” He scrubbed his hair, scowling. “I like you. But we already established that.”
Makoto grinned. She couldn’t help it. “I’m sure we’ll at least meet again sometime.”
He smiled back. “That’s true. I’ve got a hunch our paths will cross even more in the future.” His smile faded, something flickering in his heterochrome eyes. “...But, and not to sound like a broken record, we’re just two people who like each other’s company. It’s nothing serious, and nothing more than something we do for fun occasionally. Right?”
Makoto hesitated. Then she nodded. “Right. Exactly. Glad we’re on the same page.”
He relaxed. “...Yeah. Same here.”
“...But as long as we’re still out here in the woods, you don’t mind if I hold your hand on the way back, do you?”
“What’re you, five years old?” he grumbled. Even so, he held a hand out to her. “...C’mon. Let’s get going.”
She grinned again and took his hand in hers. “We’d better work on a good excuse for if anyone asks~!”
“Easy,” he said as they resumed the trek back. “I wanted to test my new arm out, asked you to spar when you brought lunch, we lost track of time. Speaking of which, I’m starving. Wonder if they got dinner ready...”
“Ha, same here. And works for me.” She squeezed his hand. “Who won?”
He snorted, a hint of humor in his voice. “Me, obviously.”
“Whaaaat? No way! At least let me win a couple of the matches!”
“What, you think you’re a match for the Grim Reaper?” he teased.
“A really hot one, too!” she shot back.
He laughed. “Shut up!”
“Neverrrrr.”
They chatted and joked and messed with each other like that all the way back to Kokonoe’s lab, fingers interlaced. Once they actually were back, Ragna climbed a tree to sneak back in through his room window, and Makoto wound around the front to be a distraction, as they’d agreed.
When they parted, she let herself sigh a little. She already missed what they had--missed it a lot more than was smart or wise--but no one could snatch away the afternoon they’d shared from them now. Even if nothing like it ever came again, that just made it that much more precious. Everything had changed, after all, and she knew everything would continue to change. When she thought about it like that, then no matter what the future held, she couldn’t help but get excited all over again.
The chaotic future Ragna the Bloodedge would wrest from the stagnant NOL... Makoto could barely wait to see what part of it she’d rip out for herself and her loved ones too.