Love Is
They exchanged a smile in the hallway, there two seeming
opposites. The short, cheerful brown haired girl and the tall, dark
haired warrior were so very different, but something bonded them
together. The taller one watched the other girl move off for a few
moments, standing there in the relative concealment of her doorway.
Angela stepped from the apartment building's brightly lit
hallway into the darkness of her room, setting her sword down by the
door. Or perhaps it would be best to say the former darkness. The old
couch still sat like a lump in one corner, the heavy chair still
rested by the window, the roof was hung with wires, but somehow it
seemed brighter than it had once been.
Out on the window ledge it sat, the little artificial flower.
It was strange, how such a small thing could bring on such a great
change. She reached out a gloved hand to it, stroking the petals
before she sat down beside it. Long purple hair, the dark purple vest,
light purple sleeves on her usual uniform, the visor that concealed
her eyes and her expression.
Angela slid the visor up with one hand, revealing a set of
surprisingly soft violet colored eyes, an oddity for such a capable
warrior. She looked over at the flower, remembering a blood red rose
and her fellow android Lavinia's words to her, "I fight for the girl."
She hadn't understood it, in fact Angela didn't even want to
try to understand it. After Lavinia was betrayed, then slain by those
humans that she had so believed in, Angela had avenged her friend. She
slew the promoter, nearly being destroyed by the humans who guarded
him in the process. For a long time she had held all humans in
contempt, and had been shocked when her companions Spike, Cleric,
Reeves and Trigger revived a human girl to serve.
Angela had spoken out against it, sure that the human child
would be nothing but trouble for them all, and in a way she had been
perfectly right. Haruka, with her reddish brown hair and cheerful
manner, her pure, honest kindness, shook Angela to her very core.
Around the child coldness became Angela's chief form of
protection, and a gruff manner her greatest weapon. She ignored each
and every offering of friendship Haruka extended, every attempt at a
kindness. But Haruka remained unchanged, and oddly Angela felt.. drawn
to her.
When Haruka had sneaked out of their home without telling
anyone where she was going, Angela had been the first one to find her.
When the killing machines attacked the two of them Angela had fought,
her sword singing as she cut them down one after the other, constantly
telling herself that it was only for her own protection that she
acted.
Somehow, that rang false to Angela, even then.
But more and more the memories of Lavinia haunted Angela's
thoughts. That final duel to the death in the gladiatorial arena, the
purple blood that splattered on the pure white floor, Lavinia's body
being dragged away from her. She had slain her friend, believing that
she would be repaired, but she wasn't. Instead, the former champion
had been scrapped, a fate that Angela believed awaited all androids
that served humans.
Tormented by the past she had gone to Reeves, asking him to
remove all of those painful memories. Even at the cost to herself, her
identity, she wanted to be free of the past. But Haruka reached out to
her, planting a seed for a rose to give to Angela. Even after she had
crushed it beneath her boot Haruka had worked to save it, a gift for
Angela.
Angela picked up the flower, twirling it thoughtfully. Haruka
had ventured into an abandoned building looking for it, to replace the
flower that died. Angela had been in there too, striking out in anger
against statues of humans there. Meeting Haruka's eyes she had felt
shock and dismay, the conflicted feelings rising up in her again.
The base of the nearby column shattered, the great stone
pieces fell, and Angela moved without thinking.
A few moments later Angela awoke to find Haruka crying,
looking down at her in fear and alarm, concerned for her welfare.
Looking up from where she had fallen after pushing the girl to safety,
Angela was struck by a simple but profound realization. This girl
would never turn on another, would never betray a trust given. It
simply wasn't in Haruka's nature.
Angela felt a burning shame then, understanding how cruelly
she had treated the girl. Forcing herself to sit up, she reached for
the flower. Taking it into her hand Angela had said to Haruka, "I
think the artificial one suits me better."
Angela smiled to herself, setting the flower back into it's
little cup. It had been such a little gesture, but Angela felt the
walls around her lower just a bit, for this most special person. Her
gruff manner remained, but she gave Haruka the occasional smile, a
wave.
Angela chuckled to herself softly, the sound echoing in the
room. The other androids were more thrown off by her change in
behavior than Haruka was, quietly speculating if she was injured, or
damaged in some previously undetected form.
The trip to the beach, the very first time that she had
actually volunteered to go out on an excursion with them, raised even
more questions. "There might still be some danger," probably wasn't
the best excuse to have come up with, either. But Haruka smiled that
cheerful smile at her, and Angela just couldn't help herself.
The ocean brought such an innocent pleasure to Haruka, the
band doing the traditional activities of a family at the beach. A
swimsuit was even offered to her, and feeling herself blush Angela
turned it down hastily. The idea of her body being exposed to their
gaze, and especially to Haruka's made her deeply uncomfortable, but
why she didn't know.
When heatstroke struck Haruka down Angela had been full of
fear, especially after Cleric's warning that it could be fatal. Spike
had panicked loudly, while her fear was more quiet, gazing down at the
feverish girl worriedly. She had loudly protested when Reeves intended
to leave her there watching over Haruka, not because of any
indifference, but instead out of the stark fear that Angela's care
would not be enough to help her.
Nightmares haunted the restlessly sleeping Haruka, and Angela
fretted by her side. A dampened cloth across her brow seemed to help,
but the fever dreams tormented the girl, her whimpers making Angela
gaze down at her in fear. Bolting awake Haruka shuddered, and Angela
reached out a comforting hand, sliding her visor up to reveal violet
eyes.
"I had a bed dream," the shaking of Haruka's voice making this
an understatement, "a very bad dream." With a cry Haruka pressed her
face to Angela's front, clinging to her, tearfully pleading to stay
like that for awhile.
After a moments stunned shock Angela had wrapped her arms
comfortingly around the smaller girl, holding her close. Silently she
wished that she could make everything all right for Haruka, to make it
all well. When the others returned she returned to her cool poise, but
the gratitude from the girl was unmistakable.
The sun was going down, and Angela smiled to herself. In just
a little while Haruka would be standing at her door to remind her that
it was dinner time, and they would walk down together. They talked
quietly, about the day that past, Haruka warm and engaging, and Angela
trying to keep up with her youthful exuberance.
Angela still didn't understand all that Lavinia had said, not
entirely. But she knew that she fought for someone, too, and that
person was Haruka. She would watch over her, protect her, and if they
actually found other surviving humans, she would let her go.
It would break her heart, but Angela would do it.
There was a human word, one that Angela had only recently
began the study of: love. The definition that most struck her was
caring for another more than your own welfare. If that was so, then
she knew that she loved Angela, loved her enough to give her the
fellow humans that she would need to survive, for her species to
survive.
A tapping at the door, and Haruka's cheerful voice, "Angela?"
She could feel herself smiling as Angela answered her, "Yes?"
Haruka pushed open the door, beaming at her. "Dinner's ready,"
she smiled happily.
"Then lets go," Angela stepped up beside her, picking up her
sword and then slinging it over her shoulder. 'I will protect her, no
matter what,' she vowed to herself silently as they moved down the
hallway together.
End.
Author's Notes: I based this around the first DVD of Kurogane
Communication, and is a interpretation of Angela and Haruka's
relationship shown there. While I'm a big shoujo-ai fan, I really
didn't see how there two could have a real relationship in the context
of the series, but I could easily see a deeper feeling developing in
Angela for Haruka. Hope you enjoyed this, and try my other fics!
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