Drabble Batch #3!
sob writing why can't I quit you-- only five this time because I'm tired. :(
Jealous Emiri
---
Emiri was realistic; she could measure up a girl with a calculating eye and determine whether her chest was larger, her legs were longer, her hair was better-maintained, and so forth. It had nothing to do with self-esteem, since she was too comfortable with her own body to want to change-- and Minato had told her multiple times that he liked her precisely because she wasn't as girly and delicate as most girls he knew.
She still wasn't sure how she felt that it wasn't her "feminine" charms that had snagged attention, but she chose not to let it bother her.
Much.
Or, at least, not until she'd paid a visit to his school and met the other females he was acquainted with. Yukari and Mitsuru she knew and liked, Aigis was... strange, Fuuka had been quiet but seemed nice enough, and then she had met Chihiro-- who was flushed and happy around Minato and continued to glower at Emiri. Yuko, the manager of the kendo team, had seemed subdued at first, but when she heard Emiri was the captain of her school's track team, she didn't hesitate to open up and engage her in lively conversation about training and coaching methods.
It wasn't just those girls who'd all shown some interest in Minato, of course. Nearly every girl in the school, those with curvaceous bodies and pretty eyes and soft voices, seemed eager to get his attention. Not one to be rude, Minato had responded courteously to all of them, and Emiri had gradually withdrawn her hand from his so she didn't wind up breaking every bone in his palm.
By the time evening rolled around, the doubts and jealousy had worn her out, and she'd excused herself to sit outside on one of the benches. There had been a few people who'd wandered by to speak with her, and no one she was familiar with, but somehow, that had just made her feel worse.
"Ugh," she muttered, pushing her fingers into her hair and lowering her head. "What the hell, me... he's known all these people before he even knew you existed, get over it."
And they weren't all on the island, were they? Her doubts reminded her. If they were, he probably would have...
"I don't need you-- er, me-- being my own worst enemy here."
"Emiri-san?"
"Huh--" Her head flew up, and her face automatically burned. "Minato-kun!"
Minato took a seat beside her, hands (as usual) in his pockets. He sat there silently for a moment, letting her adjust to his presence and get her normal coloring back, and then he sighed and shifted slightly.
"If there's something bothering you, you know you can talk to me about it, right?"
Emiri blinked at him; to be honest, she hadn't thought he'd noticed... but then again, she hadn't really been too subtle about it either. "You're just really popular," she replied, which... also could have been more subtle. "Any of the girls would probably jump for the chance to date you, and there are a lot who're... I mean, I'm not even from the same time, so if you were here, and..."
Minato gave her a direct stare. "Then you would give me up?"
"Hell no!" She snapped without thinking-- and blushed again when he laughed quietly.
"Then there's nothing to worry about." He smiled at her, reaching over to smooth her hair down from where she'd ruffled it with her fretting. "You're the only one I'd want to date, and you're the one I'm with. That won't change, Emiri-san. Besides, you shouldn't compare yourselves to them. There were a lot of guys who thought you were cute, too."
Emiri stared at him blankly. "... There were?"
"... You didn't notice?"
She shook her head, then tilted it in consideration. "I think after that one woman came up to me and said you'd 'boldly accepted' her and told me to try my best, I had other things on my mind. And speaking of that woman..."
Minato audibly swallowed.
Brat Amu
--
For months, Laharl had been dropping heavy hints that it would be nice if his vassals were a little more... well, evil. Amu in particular had been stubborn about doing the occasional mischievous deed and really only did anything violent to the tall feline-like boy who followed her around and seemed to enjoy flustering her.
"Can't you at least try to annoy somebody?" Laharl finally growled.
Amu stared at him, and then sighed and rolled her shoulders back.
"I think the world should be aaaaaaaaall about LOVE and FRIENDSHIP and PEACE and JUSTICE, and then everyone could get along and make flower crowns and hold hands and sing along with the birds, and the world would be filled with rainbows and sunshine and--"
"NOT your Overlord."
She grinned, almost wickedly. "You're as good a place to start as any."
Laharl almost regretted bugging her about being more of a brat in the first place.
Almost.
Confused Yellow
--
Chuchu had discovered it first, and her trainer preferred the shade of a tree, but she had to admit that there were certain advantages to sitting on the shoulder of a giant robot alien-- or the roof of the giant robot alien's vehicle mode, whichever form he so chose to be in. Either way, the sun was nice and warm, she had a great vantage point for sketching the scenery, and Bumblebee made for great company when her Pikachu was dozing and soaking up the warmth. He'd patiently answered all of her questions about his way of life, and why he was one of the smaller robots-- Autobots, and how there were good robots and bad robots, and what they ate and all sorts of things.
But there was still one thing that she'd never been able to figure out, and it was something she'd been leery about asking-- if she thought hard enough about it, she could almost relate anyway. Still, curiosity was a powerful motivator, and so she one day brought it up.
"Hey, Bumblebee?"
"Yes, Yellow?"
"... If you're a boy robot, why is your hologram a girl?"
The Autobot made some kind of clanking choked noise, but before he could answer, Guy Cecil came running towards them with outstretched arms.
"BUMBLEBEEEEE CAN I TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR INTERIOR AND YOUR SERVOS AND--"
Between the fleeing of the Autobot and the chasing of a machine-loving swordsman, Yellow never really did get her confusion on the matter resolved.
Incarcerated Kazuha
--
"Oiiii, Kazuha-chan! 'Zuhaaaaa?" Kaito waved a hand in front of his former roommate's face, but her eyes remained glazed over and she didn't so much as blink. With a sigh, he leaned back and shrugged at their cellmate. "No go-- I think for an officer's daughter, getting tossed in jail was too much of a shock for her."
Indeed, Kazuha had never been paler, and had spent a good ten minutes yelling at the guard that there had been a misunderstanding before the reality had sunk in and rendered her nearly catatonic. None of the trio had anticipated appearing in some kind of throne room, where they'd been immediately accused of being assassins sent to kill King Ingobert ("Not in England then," Kaito had murmured) and thrown in a cell to await their fate.
"Nah, she'll be fine," Crow said now, grinning confidently. "You just have to know the right thing to say to her." To prove his point, he leaned closer to the girl until their noses were nearly touching and began conversationally, "So hey, Kazuha, if you wanna pick up where we left off with the mistletoe--"
He wasn't quite fast enough to dodge the fist that crashed into his cheek, but he'd accomplished his goal: Kazuha was now pink, annoyed, and back in the moment.
"And she says there's nothing going on... welcome back, Kazuha-chan." Kaito smiled at her and moved his hands behind his head. "They'll probably bring lunch down here soon enough-- unless they're planning on starving us, of course, but--"
Kazuha winced at the thought and gave her head a shake to clear it. "You're way too cheerful about this, Kaito-kun. Spiky-han over there I could get, since he's been hauled in a few times--"
"Hey! Be a little more respectful, I've got the experience here!"
"... But this is still bad," she finished, as though Crow had never spoken in the first place. "We didn't even do anything, and now who knows what they're gonna do!"
Crow snorted skeptically. "Let us go at best, kill us at worst-- but like hell I'd let 'em do that, so we can always make a break for it! There's not a facili-- jail, whatever, that can hold Crow the Bullet for long, and Kaito's never been--"
Kaito cleared his throat pointedly.
"... In jail, like you, so we'll definitely get outta here. We'll just jump the guard and--"
"Crow? Kazuha? Kaito?"
Three heads turned in the direction of the familiar voice-- and three sets of eyes lit up.
"Tear!"
Tear approached the cell, setting a key in the lock and opening the door. "I thought something was odd when they said there had been an assassination attempt, and when they provided descriptions, I... that aside, it's wonderful to see you all again."
"Likewise," Crow said amiably, as Kazuha ran forward to enfold the other girl in a hug. "We might've had to tear the place down if you hadn't come along."
Tear arched an eyebrow.
"He's joking," Kaito clarified, adding a "maybe" under his breath. "So if you're here, Tear, then..."
She nodded and gave him a soft smile. "Welcome to Baticul."
Overprotective Judith
--
"It could be better, I think," Judith murmured, seemingly engrossed in sharpening the end of her spear as she sat outside the Fiertia. As the newcomer coughed, she glanced up and gave him a faint smile that didn't make him feel at all at ease.
"Hello, Adell," she said mildly. "Are you here to pick Estelle up?"
"Y-yeah... hey, Judith." Adell rubbed the back of his head and gave a nervous laugh, which served to make her smile appear even more dangerous. "I just thought I'd show her a place-- I found it, and I really think she'd like it, and since we might not be back until later, maybe we'd get something to eat, but we really wouldn't be out too late--"
The look she gave him made him shut up, highly aware he was babbling out of nervousness.
"It sounds like fun," Judith agreed. "And I'm sure you'd like your privacy for... whatever activities you might be planning."
Adell blanched. "A-activities? H-hold on a sec, Judith--!"
"You were planning on continuing the sword training, right?"
"..."
"Oh, was that not it? Then the privacy would be for--"
"N-nothing! Nothing!! N--"
Judith held up a finger to quiet him. "It's fine, I don't expect anything else. But just know that..."
The spear tip gleamed.
"If anything happens, and I'm sure it won't, and Estelle somehow returns upset, Ba'ul and I will have something to say about it. And of course you wouldn't mind verifying Brionac's sharpness, hm?"
Estelle bounced out to greet her date as Adell gaped at Judith, who waved them off cheerily.
"Have fun!"
"Judith's so nice, isn't she?" The princess asked as they set off. "I really think she's-- Adell? A-are you all right? You're looking a little ill!"
He honestly wasn't sure what was scarier: Judith when she was teasing, or Judith when she was making threats with the exact same smile.
Jealous Emiri
---
Emiri was realistic; she could measure up a girl with a calculating eye and determine whether her chest was larger, her legs were longer, her hair was better-maintained, and so forth. It had nothing to do with self-esteem, since she was too comfortable with her own body to want to change-- and Minato had told her multiple times that he liked her precisely because she wasn't as girly and delicate as most girls he knew.
She still wasn't sure how she felt that it wasn't her "feminine" charms that had snagged attention, but she chose not to let it bother her.
Much.
Or, at least, not until she'd paid a visit to his school and met the other females he was acquainted with. Yukari and Mitsuru she knew and liked, Aigis was... strange, Fuuka had been quiet but seemed nice enough, and then she had met Chihiro-- who was flushed and happy around Minato and continued to glower at Emiri. Yuko, the manager of the kendo team, had seemed subdued at first, but when she heard Emiri was the captain of her school's track team, she didn't hesitate to open up and engage her in lively conversation about training and coaching methods.
It wasn't just those girls who'd all shown some interest in Minato, of course. Nearly every girl in the school, those with curvaceous bodies and pretty eyes and soft voices, seemed eager to get his attention. Not one to be rude, Minato had responded courteously to all of them, and Emiri had gradually withdrawn her hand from his so she didn't wind up breaking every bone in his palm.
By the time evening rolled around, the doubts and jealousy had worn her out, and she'd excused herself to sit outside on one of the benches. There had been a few people who'd wandered by to speak with her, and no one she was familiar with, but somehow, that had just made her feel worse.
"Ugh," she muttered, pushing her fingers into her hair and lowering her head. "What the hell, me... he's known all these people before he even knew you existed, get over it."
And they weren't all on the island, were they? Her doubts reminded her. If they were, he probably would have...
"I don't need you-- er, me-- being my own worst enemy here."
"Emiri-san?"
"Huh--" Her head flew up, and her face automatically burned. "Minato-kun!"
Minato took a seat beside her, hands (as usual) in his pockets. He sat there silently for a moment, letting her adjust to his presence and get her normal coloring back, and then he sighed and shifted slightly.
"If there's something bothering you, you know you can talk to me about it, right?"
Emiri blinked at him; to be honest, she hadn't thought he'd noticed... but then again, she hadn't really been too subtle about it either. "You're just really popular," she replied, which... also could have been more subtle. "Any of the girls would probably jump for the chance to date you, and there are a lot who're... I mean, I'm not even from the same time, so if you were here, and..."
Minato gave her a direct stare. "Then you would give me up?"
"Hell no!" She snapped without thinking-- and blushed again when he laughed quietly.
"Then there's nothing to worry about." He smiled at her, reaching over to smooth her hair down from where she'd ruffled it with her fretting. "You're the only one I'd want to date, and you're the one I'm with. That won't change, Emiri-san. Besides, you shouldn't compare yourselves to them. There were a lot of guys who thought you were cute, too."
Emiri stared at him blankly. "... There were?"
"... You didn't notice?"
She shook her head, then tilted it in consideration. "I think after that one woman came up to me and said you'd 'boldly accepted' her and told me to try my best, I had other things on my mind. And speaking of that woman..."
Minato audibly swallowed.
Brat Amu
--
For months, Laharl had been dropping heavy hints that it would be nice if his vassals were a little more... well, evil. Amu in particular had been stubborn about doing the occasional mischievous deed and really only did anything violent to the tall feline-like boy who followed her around and seemed to enjoy flustering her.
"Can't you at least try to annoy somebody?" Laharl finally growled.
Amu stared at him, and then sighed and rolled her shoulders back.
"I think the world should be aaaaaaaaall about LOVE and FRIENDSHIP and PEACE and JUSTICE, and then everyone could get along and make flower crowns and hold hands and sing along with the birds, and the world would be filled with rainbows and sunshine and--"
"NOT your Overlord."
She grinned, almost wickedly. "You're as good a place to start as any."
Laharl almost regretted bugging her about being more of a brat in the first place.
Almost.
Confused Yellow
--
Chuchu had discovered it first, and her trainer preferred the shade of a tree, but she had to admit that there were certain advantages to sitting on the shoulder of a giant robot alien-- or the roof of the giant robot alien's vehicle mode, whichever form he so chose to be in. Either way, the sun was nice and warm, she had a great vantage point for sketching the scenery, and Bumblebee made for great company when her Pikachu was dozing and soaking up the warmth. He'd patiently answered all of her questions about his way of life, and why he was one of the smaller robots-- Autobots, and how there were good robots and bad robots, and what they ate and all sorts of things.
But there was still one thing that she'd never been able to figure out, and it was something she'd been leery about asking-- if she thought hard enough about it, she could almost relate anyway. Still, curiosity was a powerful motivator, and so she one day brought it up.
"Hey, Bumblebee?"
"Yes, Yellow?"
"... If you're a boy robot, why is your hologram a girl?"
The Autobot made some kind of clanking choked noise, but before he could answer, Guy Cecil came running towards them with outstretched arms.
"BUMBLEBEEEEE CAN I TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR INTERIOR AND YOUR SERVOS AND--"
Between the fleeing of the Autobot and the chasing of a machine-loving swordsman, Yellow never really did get her confusion on the matter resolved.
Incarcerated Kazuha
--
"Oiiii, Kazuha-chan! 'Zuhaaaaa?" Kaito waved a hand in front of his former roommate's face, but her eyes remained glazed over and she didn't so much as blink. With a sigh, he leaned back and shrugged at their cellmate. "No go-- I think for an officer's daughter, getting tossed in jail was too much of a shock for her."
Indeed, Kazuha had never been paler, and had spent a good ten minutes yelling at the guard that there had been a misunderstanding before the reality had sunk in and rendered her nearly catatonic. None of the trio had anticipated appearing in some kind of throne room, where they'd been immediately accused of being assassins sent to kill King Ingobert ("Not in England then," Kaito had murmured) and thrown in a cell to await their fate.
"Nah, she'll be fine," Crow said now, grinning confidently. "You just have to know the right thing to say to her." To prove his point, he leaned closer to the girl until their noses were nearly touching and began conversationally, "So hey, Kazuha, if you wanna pick up where we left off with the mistletoe--"
He wasn't quite fast enough to dodge the fist that crashed into his cheek, but he'd accomplished his goal: Kazuha was now pink, annoyed, and back in the moment.
"And she says there's nothing going on... welcome back, Kazuha-chan." Kaito smiled at her and moved his hands behind his head. "They'll probably bring lunch down here soon enough-- unless they're planning on starving us, of course, but--"
Kazuha winced at the thought and gave her head a shake to clear it. "You're way too cheerful about this, Kaito-kun. Spiky-han over there I could get, since he's been hauled in a few times--"
"Hey! Be a little more respectful, I've got the experience here!"
"... But this is still bad," she finished, as though Crow had never spoken in the first place. "We didn't even do anything, and now who knows what they're gonna do!"
Crow snorted skeptically. "Let us go at best, kill us at worst-- but like hell I'd let 'em do that, so we can always make a break for it! There's not a facili-- jail, whatever, that can hold Crow the Bullet for long, and Kaito's never been--"
Kaito cleared his throat pointedly.
"... In jail, like you, so we'll definitely get outta here. We'll just jump the guard and--"
"Crow? Kazuha? Kaito?"
Three heads turned in the direction of the familiar voice-- and three sets of eyes lit up.
"Tear!"
Tear approached the cell, setting a key in the lock and opening the door. "I thought something was odd when they said there had been an assassination attempt, and when they provided descriptions, I... that aside, it's wonderful to see you all again."
"Likewise," Crow said amiably, as Kazuha ran forward to enfold the other girl in a hug. "We might've had to tear the place down if you hadn't come along."
Tear arched an eyebrow.
"He's joking," Kaito clarified, adding a "maybe" under his breath. "So if you're here, Tear, then..."
She nodded and gave him a soft smile. "Welcome to Baticul."
Overprotective Judith
--
"It could be better, I think," Judith murmured, seemingly engrossed in sharpening the end of her spear as she sat outside the Fiertia. As the newcomer coughed, she glanced up and gave him a faint smile that didn't make him feel at all at ease.
"Hello, Adell," she said mildly. "Are you here to pick Estelle up?"
"Y-yeah... hey, Judith." Adell rubbed the back of his head and gave a nervous laugh, which served to make her smile appear even more dangerous. "I just thought I'd show her a place-- I found it, and I really think she'd like it, and since we might not be back until later, maybe we'd get something to eat, but we really wouldn't be out too late--"
The look she gave him made him shut up, highly aware he was babbling out of nervousness.
"It sounds like fun," Judith agreed. "And I'm sure you'd like your privacy for... whatever activities you might be planning."
Adell blanched. "A-activities? H-hold on a sec, Judith--!"
"You were planning on continuing the sword training, right?"
"..."
"Oh, was that not it? Then the privacy would be for--"
"N-nothing! Nothing!! N--"
Judith held up a finger to quiet him. "It's fine, I don't expect anything else. But just know that..."
The spear tip gleamed.
"If anything happens, and I'm sure it won't, and Estelle somehow returns upset, Ba'ul and I will have something to say about it. And of course you wouldn't mind verifying Brionac's sharpness, hm?"
Estelle bounced out to greet her date as Adell gaped at Judith, who waved them off cheerily.
"Have fun!"
"Judith's so nice, isn't she?" The princess asked as they set off. "I really think she's-- Adell? A-are you all right? You're looking a little ill!"
He honestly wasn't sure what was scarier: Judith when she was teasing, or Judith when she was making threats with the exact same smile.