Spoilers: none yet. PoA, shortly. Warnings: shoujoai, character death, mention of rape and abuse. Disclaimers: J.K. Rowling might recognize some of these characters, even after I've mauled them. Takeuchi Naoko might recognize others. Miyuu's mine. Blanca Marina is nickamano's. -<{ An End to Deviltry }>- Chapter Two PT By St. Suika Roberts In Response To nickamano@btinternet.com's "Draco Devilism" Stories Miyuu leads the girl back to the Slytherin dungeons, `Let's get you settled, hey?' she asks, stopping at a blank patch of wall. `OK,' Natsuko says, stepping closer to the young woman. `Jellylorum,' Miyuu tells the wall, which fades quite out of the way. Natsuko blinks at the effect. Her eyes widen a little more when they step through into a narrow corridor, rather than the Slytherin common room. Thin lines of light show in the dust of their passage, a foot or so over their heads. Miyuu waves at them, `You can guess where those lead, I do assume,' she says, turning to look at Natsuko. Natsuko nods, `Have you ever looked?' `Not really. I scouted it out, and checked lines of sight, but most of them don't interest me, and the ones that do,' she shrugs, `It'd be inappropriate. The others really aren't a threat.' `Inappropriate?' Natsuko asks, `And why do they interest you?' `They're kinda neat, but they're kids. If they're a threat, it's surveilance, if they're interesting, it's stalking.' `Stalking?' `Obsessive behavior,' Miyuu pauses as she starts down a flight of stairs, `Romantic pursuit that doesn't acknowledge reality or the meaning of "no". Tends to lead to the death of either the stalker or the stalkee.' `How?' Miyuu stretches up on her toes, presses her hands to the wall on either side, lifts her legs and presses them to the walls. With a quick, jerky movement she lifts her hands to a higher position, then her feet more slowly. She lifts herself one more time, then peeks out. She drops to the ground in a rustle of skirt, robe, and poncho. She taps the wall, and steps out into the empty hall. `Think about it,' she walks to the door of the second-year-girls' room, `A scary person who thinks they love you comes calling, spies on you, threatens you, your friends, for you not loving them back. They tend to be very jealous, and often get violent. When that happens,' Miyuu shrugs, `You call your friends and their friends, if they have any, and try to talk it out. If they start threatening to kill you, don't assume they don't mean it, and react appropriately if your life is in danger.' `Why would that lead to the death of the stalkee?' `If you don't believe they'd do it, if you let them, if you just don't practice enough,' Miyuu looks at the door. Natsuko opens it, `Could you help me get my stuff?' she waves Miyuu inside. `Why?' Miyuu steps in. Natsuko steps over to one of the beds, and drags the trunk to the vanity, `I don't want to stay here. Goyle just walked in, grabbed me, and carried me out.' `Oh,' Miyuu says, drawing her wand from her belt, `I understand,' and brings it back, splined end out, over her left shoulder, slowly back across her body, then a quick flip back towards the center. Scattered items fly into the trunk, settling themselves quickly, compactly, and randomly into it. `Did I miss anything?' Miyuu says, `That spell doesn't work too well on new things.' Natsuko looks around, then pulls a broach from the chest, `I gave this to Mayline,' she sets it down on a vanity. `You might want to leave a note?' Miyuu draws her Bic and pad of sticky-notes from her bag. Natsuko nods, `Mayline,' she pauses, `I've moved to the basement. Nats.' Miyuu sticks the note next to the broach, then recaps her pen and pulls her bag around to stuff it into a pocket, and drops the pad into anther one. She adjusts her bag under her poncho, then picks up her wand from where it was leaning against her knee. She waves it at the trunk, concentration written firmly on her face, `Eat Slugs!' The trunk lifts from the floor, and moves to Natsuko's side. Natsuko's eyes are wide, rather sparkly, `How?' `Wand-magic is so easy,' Miyuu says, `I like to play with its rules.' `Easy? I turned a beetle into a ballon, yesterday!' Miyuu smiles, `I turned a hobnail into a handgrenade, day before. McGonagoll turned _purple_,' she skips a moment, `I've not had a chance to see how well I did, though. I hope I got it right,' she turns, walking backwards, `Would you like to come with when I try it?' Natsuko smiles, `What's a handgrenade?' Miyuu goggles, then starts down the stairs, still backwards. After a few steps she stumbles slightly, then turns and hops down the stairs, feet together and knees straight. She waits at the bottom, `A handgrenade is an explosive device, about the size of a fist. Most often, it has an explosive liner, and an outer case. The outer case is thick, and fragments when the liner explodes. The resulting fragments will kill or injure people.' `This is what your mother jumped on,' Natsuko says. Miyuu nods. `How does one "cook" a grenade?' `There are many ways to set off grenades, but most now have a mousetrap-fuze,' she notes Natsuko's puzzled look, `A lever holds back a spring-loaded striker,' she opens the door to her room, `Do you want your own room? We've plenty down here.' Natsuko shakes her head vigorously, `No,' she says, `I want to stay with you.' Miyuu winces, just a tiny bit. `If that's OK?' Natsuko says, much less sure. `Yes,' Miyuu says, stepping into her genkan, and dropping to one knee in the small open area. She pulls the knot open on her right boot, and starts pulling the laces loose. Natsuko sheds her uniform shoes, and arranges them neatly near, but not with, Miyuu's. Miyuu arranges her boots where she'd gotten them, and hangs her poncho back up, then her bag, then her robes. `Would you like a vanity or anything?' `I wouldn't want to impose too much,' Natsuko says. `Is that a yes or a no?' Miyuu asks her, looking around the room. `Um,' Natsuko says, `Yes.' `Accio Vanity!' Miyuu says firmly, waving her wand towards the door. The door across the hall opens, and a vanity wafts out, into Miyuu's room, and settles on the left wall, just beyond the swing of the door. Miyuu hooks the door with her wand, and swings it closed. Natsuko settles her trunk next to the vanity, and starts to unpack. Miyuu settles on a pillow next to the kotatsu, and continues where she left off, `When the lever is released, the striker hits a primer, and lights the fuze. Seven seconds, for most grenades, later, the ignition-charge blows up, and that sets the main charge off, blowing the grenade up. Cooking the grenade refers to holding it while the fuze is burning, so that it will explode sooner after one throws it.' `Why would you want to do that?' `If one's throwing a grenade, one doesn't want to have it thrown back.' Natsuko pauses, holding her cauldron, then slips it into the bottom drawer of the vanity, `I suppose you wouldn't.' After a while of watching Natsuko, Miyuu gets up, opens one of her tansu, and drops a few textbooks on the kotatsu before changing clothes. Shortly later, clad in green shorts, a green t-shirt, her grey hair pulled back, tied with a small bunji-type cord, a silver-set cabochon emerald the size of a radish adorning the multicolored band, she settles into _Theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration_. `Wow,' Natsuko says, a while later, when she notices, `Why are you reading that?' `If you transfigure a beetle into a button, and then back, do you have the same beetle?' Miyuu asks. `Of course!' Natsuko says. `What happened to your balloon?' `McGonagoll changed it back.' `And was it the same?' `I didn't notice anything different,' `So you don't know.' Natsuko frowns, `I guess not.' `That's why I'm reading this,' Miyuu says, and turns back to her book. Natsuko watches her for a little while, a tiny smile on her lips and in her middle-brown eyes, her fingers slipped into her black hair as she rests her head on her hand. Miyuu's eyes dart over, then she turns her head and smiles, golden eyes sparkling, `Don't you have potions tomorrow?' she asks. Natsuko starts, jumps up, and grabs her potions book. Miyuu's smile broadens, and she turns back to her dry, technical, and obfuscated book on Transfiguration. After looking for, and not finding, definitions for three more words, she underlines them on the sheet of paper she uses for a bookmark, sets it in her place, and closes the book. She lays her head on the top of the book, and laces her hands over it. `What's wrong?' Natsuko asks. `Nothing,' Miyuu says, but doesn't move. `Then why are you hiding your head under your hands?' `I hate my dictionary.' Natsuko blinks, `Why?' `Because it's missing so many words. It doesn't help that Wizard-English standardized a hundred and fifty years before Muggle-English,' Miyuu slaps her hands on the table, her rings adding firmness and volume to the sound, and pushes herself back, her mouse-gun printing more noticeably on her shirt for a moment. [Printing is having the shape of one's concealed weapon show through one's clothing. This, too, can get one the attention of the gendarme --S] `I can guess the meanings, but some passages hang on the meaning of words I just don't know. I prefer potions,' affecting not to notice Natsuko's disbelieving look, she gets to her feet, `Would you like to come for a run? I'm sick of this,' she waves at her books. Natsuko looks contemplative, `Sure. What should I wear?' `PT clothes,' Miyuu says, dismissively, sitting down at the edge of her genkan, then pulling up her black wool socks. `PT clothes?' Natsuko says, confused. Miyuu spins around on her butt, and looks up at the older girl with utter disbelief. She blinks a couple times, `You know, clothing for exercising in.' Natsuko still looks blank. Miyuu stares a little longer, then, `I could loan you a PT uniform, if you're not squicked by the thought,' she offers. `Squicked?' Natsuko asks, `And why would I be?' `Grossed out, embarrased, scared,' Miyuu says, `But those last two are much less accurate. Something squicky is something that'll make you go "Eww, ick".' `Oh. Right. Why would wearing your PT uniform be squicky?' `'Cause one doesn't wear underwear with it. A lot of the guys are really squicky about it, and some of the gals. Some of them really enjoy the idea, though, so . . . ' she shrugs. `It'd be a clean one, right?' Natsuko says. `Of course,' Miyuu says, `It's not like I have to wash them myself.' `Then I don't see anything to worry about,' Natsuko says firmly. Miyuu waves her hand, and one of the tansu pops open, exposing a small stack of PT uniforms. Natsuko blinks, but walks over and picks up a shirt and shorts. Miyuu's turned her back, and is pulling on her jungle boots again. By the time Natsuko finishes changing, Miyuu's about asleep, her head pillowed on her knees, her hands clasped about them. She rouses as the girl walks up. `Do I need boots?' Natsuko asks. `Do you have running shoes or sneakers?' `Sneakers,' Natsuko says. `Those'll be better for a newbie,' she twists around, waving her hand at the open tansu, which closes, `Tuck the shirt in,' she tells Natsuko. `Right,' Natsuko digs her sneakers out of the trunk, and walks back to the genkan to put them on. She drops them, then tucks the shirt into the shorts. A knock sounds on the door, and Miyuu opens it. She smiles, grabs her laundry bag, and sets it inside her room. She grabs a small foil-wrapped lump from a copper pot mostly hidden under a black coat by the door, and sets it beside the door, which she closes again. `What was that?' Natsuko asks, tying her left shoe again. `Almond Rocca,' she notes Natsuko's questioning glance, `A muggle candy. The house-elves adore muggle chocolate.' `So?' Natsuko asks. `So they do me favors, and I give them chocolate, and everyone is happy.' `Can't you just yell at them, and make them do you favors?' `I could, but it doesn't cost much to be nice, and they don't complain.' `They don't complain, anyway,' Natsuko says firmly, getting to her feet. `That's what you think,' Miyuu says, with a little smile. Natsuko follows her to the surface, puzzling over that. They step out into the bright chill of a mid-October morning. Miyuu smiles, and Natsuko shivers. `Come along,' Miyuu leads them around towards the lake, then starts to stretch in the lee of a large boulder. The black rock is warm around them, the wind wafting softly by a few feet away. Natsuko tries to imitate her, but can't bend as far. When she reaches for her toes, her fingers wave a few inches up, while Miyuu's elbows almost touch the ground. Miyuu's feet slide apart, as she drops until her legs are quite parallel to the ground. Natsuko stops a good distance from the ground. Miyuu rises by drawing her feet back in. Natsuko collapses in disgust. Miyuu looks down at the girl, then says, `I've been doing this for most of my life, of course I'm more flexible. It's OK,' she starts a calf-stretch, `this is the calf-stretch,' she explains, `Left foot forward, right foot back, front knee bent, hands down by one's side, facing backwards,' she waits for Natsuko to get back up and copy her, then drops, until her back leg is almost parallel to the ground, her foot still flat. Natsuko stares while Miyuu holds the stretch, then rises, `Change over,' Miyuu says in a loud, almost sing-song voice, switching feet, `that means switch feet, or arm, or whatever. I've not done PT with anyone else for a while,' she smiles apologeticly. Natsuko switches feet, and stretches her left calf. After a little bit Miyuu says `Relax,' and straightens up, `The next stretching exercise is the Thigh Stretch!' she calls, then tells Natsuko, `You're supposed to echo the exercise when we're doing this formally.' Natsuko says, `Thigh stretch.' `Sound off,' Miyuu tells her, `You'd think you're embarrased or something,' she smiles, `Left foot, right hand!' and pulls her left foot up, tight against her butt, left hand out to mess up her balance, `and stretch,' Natsuko manages the awkward position after a few fumbles and a bit of hopping. `Relax,' Miyuu lets just a moment pass, `Change Over!' `Change Over!' Natsuko yells back, a little blush dusting her cheeks, and grabs her other foot. `Relax!' Miyuu calls, then in a more normal voice, `That's generally enough for running. Let's go,' she waves for Natsuko to follow, and starts off slowly. Natsuko charges after her, arms churning and legs flailing. Miyuu turns around, and jogs back, `Gentle,' she says, `Don't put so much effort into it. This is just a little jog, nothing big,' she draws her wand, and touches Natsuko's arm, `Drop your arms a bit, and relax your hands.' Natsuko does, churning less, breathing hard. `Good,' Miyuu says, and turns around, jogging backwards, `Want me to call cadence?' `Cadence?' `Running songs,' Miyuu smiles, `Two years as a corporal means I've called a lot of them,' she spins around, then continues to run backwards, `I'm not sure if I know any English ones that are appropriate, but I can try.' `If you want,' Natsuko says. `You'll have to sing along,' Miyuu says. `But I don't know them.' `Most of them are call-and-responce. The rest are call-and-repeat.' `OK,' Natsuko almost gasps. Miyuu spares a moments thought to wonder how that word made the transition to the Wizarding World, then calls, firmly, `When I say One you say Two.' Natsuko says nothing. Miyuu says, `Repeat that,' `When I say One you say Two.' `When I say Red, you say Blue.' `When I say Red, you say Blue.' `One,' Miyuu gestures to Natsuko. `Two.' `Red.' `Blue.' Miyuu smiles, and continues the cadence. About four laps around the castle past the point Natsuko thought she would collapse if she took another step, Miyuu slows. `We'll walk back to the rock, let your pulse settle,' she says. Miyuu leads them back to the boulder they started at, halfway around the castle. Natsuko can feel herself swaying back and forth, her pulse rattling like a drum-roll in her ears slowing slightly as they walk. Once out of the wind Natsuko sags to her knees, sweat dripping from her nose, chin, down her belly under her shirt, down her arms, through her hair. `Up,' Miyuu chides her gently, `We need to stretch out, then you can collapse for a little while before chow.' Natsuko sways, but doesn't fall, as Miyuu leads them through stretches again. She staggers after the smaller woman, up through the big main doors, then back down into the dungeons, vaugely noticing that that wasn't they way they'd gone out, but a little too tired to care. She almost passes out when Miyuu stops for a bathrobe at her room, but manages to get up mostly under her own power, and walk to the bathroom. Miyuu strips her quickly, and sloshes a few buckets of water over her. `Don' wanna,' she mumbles when Miyuu tries to hand her a washcloth. Miyuu frowns, then sheds her shirt and dumps a few more buckets of water through the girl's hair, quickly but carefully rinsing the sweat out. She gives the rest of the girl a quick rinse, then a rough dry, and wraps her in the robe. The girl is sleeping on her shoulder by the time she gets back to her room. Miyuu drops the bundle of sweat-soaked clothes on the floor, standing on each foot in turn as she sheds her boots, then lays the girl on the pillows by the kotatsu. Going back to the door, she pulls her clean laundry from the bag, and throws the uniform Natsuko wore into it. She picks up her shirt, and feels the now-damp fabric. She gives it a sniff, then frowns at the enticing scent of the girl's sweat. She throws it in the bag with a scowl, and puts up her clean laundry. She glares a little at the bag, then sets it outside the door with a Hershey's Kiss on top. She turns back towards the center of the room, and scowls at the pretty girl, exhausted sleep softening her cute features even further, the lovely curve of her waist, the faint curve of her breasts against the terrycloth robe, the smooth flesh of her chest where it shows between its sagging edges. She closes her eyes, shakes her head, and walks around the kotatsu, grabbing a pillow, and laying it out near the girl's head. She lays down, just barely able to see the girl in her peripheral vision, and looks at her watch. 10:30. An hour to lunch. With that, she lets herself sleep. `Hey,' she shakes Natsuko's shoulder, `Wake up, it's time for lunch.' Natsuko whines, `Do I have to?' `Yes, you have to,' Miyuu says, her voice firm. Once she is dressed, Natsuko sneaks towards Miyuu, who's back is still turned. She reaches out - And Miyuu whirls counterclockwise, catches Natsuko's hand, wand in her right hand, drawn back for a quick, downward blow, `You shouldn't sneak up on me,' she says, softly, slipping her wand back into her belt. Natsuko nods, `I'll try to remember that.' Miyuu fishes out a black shirt with a well-rendered green anaconda wrapped around it, and pulls her boots back on before leading the way out of the room. `You're really good at that,' Natsuko says, leading the way up the stairs. `Scaring people?' Natsuko darts a look over her shoulder, `No, taking care of people. It's like you're someone's mother.' Miyuu laughs, `I'm a corporal. That means I get to put far too much time into babysitting drunk privates.' `Oh?' Natsuko asks, `Why is that?' `'Cause privates are generally dumber than dirt, and just barely old enough to drink. The worst ones go home, but that takes a little while. The thing I like most about coming to Hogwarts is not getting woken up at three in the morning to make sure some dumb kid doesn't drown in his own vomit.' `Oh.' `Hey, don't worry, it's nicer when I'm taking care of someone who's just tired themselves out.' In the entrance hall, two Hufflepuffs have blocked one of the second-year Ravenclaws. One of them says something to the thin blonde girl, who mostly ignores him. The girl says something, finishing with `don't you think, Loonie?' as Miyuu and Natsuko walk up. `You should stop that, and go to chow,' Miyuu says, firmly, her right hand half-raised, faint blue sparkles ghosting around her fingers. `Oh?' says the boy. `Yes. Picking on those weaker than oneself is inappropriate,' she turns her hand over, bringing her palm up and spreading her fingers slightly. The sparkles are joined by green tendrils of light, wrapping about her fingers. `What about picking on people stronger than *oneself*?' the girl asks, stressing the pronoun with something like distain. `That tends to be a self-correcting problem,' Miyuu smiles. `Lets go,' the girl says, grabbing the boy and hurrying away. Miyuu's hand drops back to her side, and the lights vanish. `You didn't need to do that,' Luna Lovegood says, turning to face the young woman. `No. But I wanted to.' `Thank you,' Luna says, then walks into the great hall. `Shall we?' Miyuu asks, turning to Natsuko, but not fast enough to catch the entranced look on the girl's face. `Let's,' the girl smiles. At the table they are given a little bubble of space, no one wanting to sit too close to them. Natsuko blinks, a slightly sad expression flittering over her face. Miyuu catches the waft of energy, and turns, `They'll recover. I'm just a little scary for them right now.' `Why? You saved me,' Natsuko says softly. `They only know what they've heard, rumors. I doubt those are anywhere near the truth.' `What is near the truth?' the black-haired woman says, shedding her cape over the back of the chair next to Miyuu's. `The current rumors,' Miyuu turns to Natsuko, `This is Tomoe Hotaru,' she gestures, then to the pink-haired woman next to her, `Her wife, Major Tsukino Usagi,' and then she waves at the woman on Natsuko's other side, `and Special Agent Chika Beryl.' `Nice to meet you,' Beryl smiles, sadly, then turns back to the front. Food appears on the golden dishes, and Natsuko stares. Most of the large platters have a lump of roast beef, which is eagerly being served. In front of Miyuu is a roast leg of something else, from about knee to halfway up the thigh. `What is that?' `Venison,' Miyuu says, as Usagi takes up the carving knife and serves, first Hotaru, then Natsuko, Beryl, Miyuu, and herself. `Why?' Natsuko asks, passing the bowl of mashed potatoes. `It is,' Beryl pauses, `Bad form, for one of us to eat an animal who was raised to be eaten.' `Bad form?' Natsuko asks, cutting herself a bite of the meat, then chewing it vigorously. `It isn't good for one, neither physically nor spiritually,' Hotaru shrugs, `And hunted meat is more valuablee, so one eats less of it, and appreciates it more.' `That leaves aside the fact that every pound of modern beef takes sixteen pounds of grain, and ounces of tetracycline, in a world where people still starve, and antibiotic resistance is threatening to wipe out one of the miracles of the muggle world,' Miyuu cuts herself another bite, `Ideally one would only eat what one caught or bartered for oneself, but that can't always be done.' `Who?' Natsuko waves at the stripped bone. `Hagrid,' Miyuu looks up, then raises her right hand, fingers extended, thumb out a bit, index and middle finger together, spread from her ring and pinky, which were also together. Beryl looks suddenly in the direction of the Gryffindor table. Hagrid matches the sign, then replies with quick, elaborate gestures using both hands. Miyuu gestures back, and Hagrid smiles. Both return to their meals. Natsuko looks suitably impressed. Miyuu looks across Natsuko, `What's wrong,' she asks, softly. `That obvious?' Miyuu slowly shades a little green, then snaps back to her normal skin tone. `Half-youma. I keep forgetting that. The girl over there, with the,' Beryl gestures with both hands at her shoulders, palms facing in, `hair, looks just like Tespia did when she was younger.' `That's Hermoine Granger,' Miyuu says, and reaches behind Natsuko to squeeze Beryls shoulder, `How's Tespi doing?' Beryl pats Miyuu's hand, `Calida is walking, and getting into everything. Both her and Lian are rather frazzled.' `Do you have picutes?' `At home.' `Send me copies?' `I will,' Beryl smiles, and Miyuu retrieves her hand. Natsuko looks thoughtful. After lunch the older women gather their coats and head off. Back in their room, Natsuko turns to Miyuu, `Who is Tespia?' `Beryl's daughter. She's half-youma, like me.' `Lian's her husband?' `Wife. Chinese. They met during the initial conquest of Manchuria, months before I was born. Calida's their first child, though.' `Who's the father?' `Lian.' Natsuko pauses a moment, then asks, `Why does Hermoine looking like Tespia did when she was younger make her sad?' `I think Tespi reminds her of Tetis, her beloved.' `What happened to him?' `Her. She came up with what she was sure would be a wonderful way to gather energy, and proposed it to Jadite, Beryl's general at the time, and it got her killed by the Sailors. Jadite's in Eternal Sleep for that.' `What? Eternal Sleep?' `It isn't really sleep, and it isn't really eternal, but it is extremely frightening. He's somewhere in the shrunken pocket-universe the Dark Kingdom inhabited, and will be there until he stops being frightened, and lets it colapse the rest of the way.' `Isn't that a little too close to torture?' `Almost.' Natsuko looks a little disturbed, `How did Tetis get killed? Isn't Beryl a Sailor?' `Yes, but she'd forgotten that. Long ago, very long ago, a powerful entity named Metallia arrived, and corrupted her, turned her against the ruling party, who were a bunch of bastards, true, but they tried not to be too horrible to the peons. She lead a coup, with Metallia's backing, and killed a fair number of the ruling party, including the queen's daughter. The queen went a little nuts, and burned the entire solar system out powering a brute-force attack against Metallia's forces. Metallia folded them out of the way, mostly, but they were pretty much sealed in for a long time. She kept her favorites alive the whole time, and modified the rest over generations, into modern youma. Beryl and her generals dated from the original attack, but Tetis was youma, gentle, loving, very pretty, and determined to have Beryl.' `So she did,' Natsuko nods, `Why was she attacking the Sailors?' `She wasn't. She was just draining random people who showed up for the free cruise. The Sailors got suspicious, and showed up for one of the cruises. She tried to fight them.' `Why?' `Because she thought she could win, because she loved Beryl, and wanted to remove the threat to her, I don't know. But she did, and she died.' `So Beryl put the General into eternal sleep then?' `No, she gave him one more chance, then did it.' `Why did she wait?' `Tespi said she thinks it's because she wanted to protect her, didn't want to risk letting anyone know just how important Tetis was to her.' Natsuko closes her eyes and looks down. Miyuu cups her hand in her own, `It is pretty sad, I know.' Natsuko raises curious eyes, `How do you always know when someone's in pain?' `Emotion or stress interferes with one's normal energy flows, and one dumps more energy. I,' she pauses, `Taste it. Pain is a different flavor than happiness or anger or fear.' Natsuko leans forward, just a little bit into Miyuu's personal space, then threads her fingers into the woman's hair, and leans forward the rest of the way, pressing her lips softly to the other's. Miyuu sits frozen a moment, then gently draws Natsuko's fingers from her hair, breaks the kiss, and flees the room. --- log: 3169/Bureaucracy/45: Started. 3169/Bureaucracy/57: Continued. 3169/Aftermath/33: Continued. 3169/Aftermath/66: Tiny edit