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 Four Dinner By St. Suika Roberts In Response To nickamano@btinternet.com's "Draco Devilism" Stories Miyuu closes the door to her potions room. `How many of these have you taken over?' Natsuko asks, waving her hand up and down the hall. `Most of them. Bryant lives there,' Miyuu points to the room across the hall, next to the stairs, `Mantabahn next to the latrine,' Miyuu indicates the outward-opening door next to her poitions room, `Montague two doors down the hall,' Miyuu indicates the door next to her potions room, `The rest are mine for now, Beryl's taken the end room, and Hotaru-tachi the one across from the one I sleep in.' `How? How did you get so much space?' `Mudbloods live here, don't you know? No one else was down here when transportation arrived with my stuff, so,' Miyuu shrugs, `I could have packed it all into one room, but then I'd be sleeping on top of things, and moving furniture around to get at my stuff.' `How much stuff are we talking about?' Miyuu starts opening doors. The first, between Mantabahn and Montague's room, is full of bookshelves. Natsuko blinks, wondering how anyone could have that many books. The next, on the other side of the stairs from Bryant, is empty, and dark, with several more mud-green trunks. The next, on the other side of the room Miyuu pointed out as Hotaru's, is filled with thick soft-looking mats, covering the entire floor about a foot and a half deep. `Two more doors,' Natsuko says. `Male latrine,' Miyuu points at the door at the end of the hall, `and unoccupied.' `Why do we have so many rooms?' Natsuko asks, `I've wondered. I mean, the Gryffindors live five to the room, and here you've got five rooms to yourself.' `Maybe we're less able to cope with crowding? And it's eight rooms to myself, normally,' Miyuu smiles. `Miser,' Natsuko says, and grabs Miyuu's hand, impulsively bringing it to her lips and kissing it. Miyuu smiles, `You want one?' `No,' Natsuko shakes her head, keeping Miyuu's hand wrapped in hers. `Class two uniform for dinner,' Beryl says, startling them. `Gotcha,' Miyuu says, dipping her head in acknowledgement, but not taking her hand back. `Class two?' Natsuko asks, once Beryl has left. `Dress browns,' Miyuu says, opening her door and stepping in, still one-handed. She sheds her slippers and leads the way to one of the tansu. Natsuko lets her have her hand back as Miyuu opens the tansu. She watches as the woman starts extracting garments, a red-brown coat on a hanger over a matching set of trousers, a paler red-brown shirt with clip-on tie, a white t-shirt, black belt with brass buckle, shiny black shoes, thin socks, an elaborate arrangement of red-brown webbing. She examines the decorations on the coat while Miyuu dresses, t-shirt, then shirt, trousers, socks. `What are these for?' she asks, fingering the rows of little bronze, copper, and silver medals on the coat's left breast. Miyuu shrugs into the webbing, which resolves into an LBV, with many empty pockets. She starts at the bottom right medal, a small copper sunburst, `This one is for passing my Tests,' the next, a bronze eight-pointed star, `Volunteering for deployable status,' a silver square, point down, `Wounded in combat,' a bronze circle, `Bravery,' a copper five-pointed star, also point down, `Master of combat magic,' a bronze swirl, `Achievement,' a silver arrowhead, `Marksmanship,' a bronze rifle round, `Sniper,' a copper mushroom, `Special Weapons,' a silver triangle, point down, with a rounded top, `Airborne,' a silver modified oval, with a t-shape at the top, the crossbars longer than the riser, `Air Assault,' a bronze helmet of strange design, `Viper,' a strange, almost lemon-shape in silver, `Afganistan,' another rumple-edged shape, `Iraq,' the last, a silver crescent, `Special citation for clandestine ops.' She touches the bronze disk at the right collar, `Branch insignia, the crook and rifle of Hostage Resources,' the crescent moon at the right, `all enlisted personnel wear the crescent moon here,' the single black stripe on her left sleeve, `Good conduct medal, one black stripe for every three years you stay out of trouble. Every ten stripes, you trade them in for a gold one. `Left shoulder is current unit of assignment,' she points out the Hogwarts patch, `Right shoulder and sleeve are combat patches,' she indicates the five patches on her sleeve, first a buxom woman with bat wings, then a circle with the number 69 in it looking almost like a taeguk, then a rose, a building with minarets in a lozenge, and finally a strange almost grasshopper-looking thing, in three-quarter profile, on an arrowhead. `Combat Patches?' Miyuu straightens her tie, then opens her trunk, setting the top drawer aside as she answers, `If you go into combat with a unit, you get to wear their patch on your right sleeve.' She puts the Kel-Tec in its slot in the foam, loads one of the 1911s, works the slide, and lifts the safety. She reaches back, over her shoulder, and holsters it, snapping the thumb-break. That done, she stuffs a magazines into each of the LBVs front pockets. She shrugs, adjusts some straps, raises her arms over her head. Satisfied, she puts the top drawer back in her trunk, and closes it. Natsuko hands her the coat, and she puts it on, buttons it, and fastens the belt. She walks over to the genkan, and sets down her shiny shoes, then bounces back up, and pulls a black leather tube out of the tansu, and fastens it to the left side of the belt, the tube's little steel chains latching to a pair of rings sown inside the belt. She slips her wand into the tube. `There, all ready but the shoes,' Miyuu turns to Natsuko, `What do you want to wear?' `Do I need to dress up?' `Not really, but it wouldn't hurt.' Natsuko looks pensive, then pulls a roll of shiny green from her trunk. Miyuu watches with interest as she shakes it out into a short tunic and trousers, then looks away as Natsuko pulls her shirt off. `You can look now,' Natsuko says, a little smile in her voice. The clothes are loose and flow easily, despite being heavily embroidered, and even more heavily spelled. Miyuu frowns a little, staring, trying to figure . . . protection, both magical and physical. Lots of it. `Nice,' Miyuu smiles, and holds out a hand. Natsuko takes it, wondering why the drape of red-brown over pale red-brown over Miyuu's pale skin bothers her . . . `Blood,' she says, `Dried blood, and white cloth stained with it,' her fingers brush over Miyuu's sleeves. `My blood is actually closer to the color of your clothes, when fresh,' Miyuu says, `But that is what the color is supposed to match.' She pats her pockets, `Good, got my gloves,' she rushes over to her tansu, and pulls out a green beret, `It's about this color, actually.' `Really? Why are your lips pink, then.' `It's just something we do. When we're very young, within days of being born, we learn to mask, and turn pink. Once we grow up a bit we learn how to drop the mask,' she says, brushing lint off, and checking to make sure her unit crest, a Slytherin badge, is firmly attached to, and straight on, the flash, a green circle with a white crescent moon. `Oh?' Natsuko asks, smiling when Miyuu looks up at her, `What do you look like?' `I thought you saw,' Miyuu says, fitting the green dyed plume into its socket behind the flash, then twitching it. `When?' `When I flashed Beryl,' Miyuu folds her beret, and carefully tucks it in her belt. `No, or I didn't notice.' `You'da noticed,' Miyuu says. She takes a breath, and her face changes hue, from palest pink to palest green, with lips the shade of mint candy. Her eyes are framed in deeper green, with little green veins through the whites. Natsuko reaches out, then stops, `You're so pretty,' she says, softly, eyes shimmering, `May I kiss you?' `Yes,' Miyuu breathes, then freezes as Natsuko's fingers cup her face. Natsuko leans in, tilting Miyuu's head slightly, back and to the side, and stops, at her look of wide-eyed fear. `May I kiss you?' Miyuu closes her eyes, then nods and opens them again, `Yes, but no tongue.' `Aww,' Natsuko whines, with a little smile, then brushes her lips gently, gently, gently along the woman's nose. Miyuu moans, softly, eyes wide, and twists, pressing her lips hard against the girl's. Natsuko shifts closer, pressing softly against Miyuu. Miyuu jerks back, whimpering, `Sorry.' `Shh,' Natsuko gathers Miyuu back into her arms, and tucks Miyuu's face against the side of her neck, `It's OK. Shh.' `Sorry,' Miyuu mumbles, after a while, and pulls back. `Why?' Natsuko asks. `Because,' Miyuu pauses, `I set boundaries, and then I broke them.' Natsuko doesn't look entirely convinced, but nods, then darts forward and places a quick peck on Miyuu's lips, `Shall we go?' `Let's,' Miyuu says, pink again, `Just let me get my shoes on.' Natsuko watches as Miyuu ties her shoes, then slips her own on quickly, and follows her from the room. Beryl, Hotaru, and Usagi are waiting at the foot of the stairs. `After you,' Usagi waves them forward. `No, after you, Hime-sama,' Miyuu demures, stressing the _princess_. Natsuko just stares. Usagi has, she counts again, twelve gold stripes and three black ones on her sleeve under her unit patch, which is full moon surmounted by a lightning bolt. The left breast of her coat is completely covered in a wash of silver, bronze, and copper. A mace with a small spherical head is thrust through the tube at the left side of her belt. `But it is your school,' Usagi counters. `But-' Miyuu starts. `Wakatta,' Hotaru says, and starts up the stairs. Beryl follows, and Natsuko blinks at her uniform as Usagi darts up the stairs around her. Usagi has patches all the way to her right wrist, and wrapping most of the way around her sleeve. Beryl has nothing, no patches on either shoulder, no medals, nothing on the collar, just the shoulderboards, black fabric with a insignia embroidered in silver thread, the very stylized mother and child of a CPS Special Agent. The katana hanging from her belt is scabbarded in unadorned black lacquer, the tsuba blued steel, the grip black synth leather wrapped in black cord. She looks behind her, and Miyuu's shoulderboards have a four-pointed star on each one. The Great Hall goes silent when they walk in, slowly working back up to a normal volume. Usagi helps Hotaru into her seat, a graceful act, more symbolic than physical. Hotaru has a full moon on her shoulderboards, and Usagi the four crossed bars of a major. Both have a full moon surmounted by a lighning bolt on their left shoulder. Natsuko watches her companions eat. Hotaru eats at a ladylike pace, just slightly awkward with fork and knife. Beryl cuts her food into little pieces, then eats as many as she can impale on her fork at once. Usagi and Miyuu eat the same way, with quick, sharp movements, stuffing their mouths, then washing their food down with a quick drink. They are on their thirds by the time she finishes her plate. All four of them eat more than she would have expected, and she cups her mug in her hands, and looks around as Hotaru mops at her plate with a bit of bread. Malfoy is seated next to Filius at the high table, a sort of resigned expression turning down the tips of his thin lips. The Great Hall empties quickly when Albus releases the students, until only the staff, Malfoy, the Sailors and a few students remain. Beryl approaches the head table, `Are you satisfied that the accused is guilty of the crimes he's confessed?' `Yes,' Severus says, and the rest of the staff nods. The students blink. `Are you satisfied that we've extracted all the information we can without infringing on his right to expeditious handling?' `Yes,' Filius says, `I know far more than I'd like.' `Are you sure that you will continue,' Beryl asks Malfoy, `To engage in acts harmful to children.' `Yes.' `Are you sure you do not want a lawyer or other counsel?' `Yes.' `Do you accept that your behavior is inexcuseable, and are you ready to answer for it?' `Yes,' Malfoy stands, `I want the little one to do it.' Miyuu closes her eyes, looks down, then looks up at Malfoy, `Why?' `I want everyone to see what kind of person you are.' Malfoy leads the way outside with great dignity, stopping on the lawn, facing into the sunset. Miyuu swallows, and stops two meters in front of Malfoy, reaches back over her shoulder. `Don't use that.' `Any other way is liable to hurt more,' Miyuu says. Someone sobs from the small clump of onlookers. `That's fine,' Malfoy says. Miyuu nods, and draws her wand. Malfoy nods back. `Kneel.' Malfoy sinks gracefully to his knees, still a little taller than Miyuu. `Make your peace with your gods.' Malfoy smiles, and nods. `Look up.' Malfoy raises his face to the sky. *krack!* a surprised expression flickers onto his face for just an instant when Miyuu's wand smashes his jaw, then he drops down, unconscious, a small trickle of blood on his cheek. She grabs him firmly by the back of the head and his jaw, and twists. Vertebrae fail with a series of small pops and crackles. She flicks her wand, and slips it back into the scabbard. The students part like water at her approach. Natsuko blinks at the look in her eyes, and wraps her in a hug before she's even thought about why. The Sailors follow suit. Albus lays a hand on her shoulder, `I'm sorry you had to do that.' `So am I,' Miyuu says, and buries her face against Natsuko's neck. --- log: 3170/Chaos/16: started, log added 3170/Chaos/23: Continued. 3170/Chaos/70: Continued. Maybe I'll finish this chapter before the end of the month (three more days) but likely not. 3170/Discord/32: Half a month later. Sigh. Continued.