Sector Seven Hallways

Noel could not help but giggle happily as Mai gently caressed her back. She REALLY want to kiss her right now, but she saw that she was simply too tired for it.

"It's no problem, Mai." She answered in kind as she pulled back to gaze lovingly into her eyes, feeling herself get lost in those lovely brown orbs. "You would have done the same for me."

Mai smiled back at her friend- and now her lover, with an estatically happy, although tired expression, and couldn´t bring herself to let go of the blonde´s hand.
"Ehehe, i guess i would, wouldn´t i?" She giggled, slightly flushed by the whole situation... but still, before it was too late and she might pass out...
"...Noel, uhm... i need a nap, maybe a longer one.. would you.... would you take a nap with me? I...i mean, next to me, in the s-same bed? J-just sleeping though, you know, i mean... i nearly died just now." She was really flushed pink now.

"Of course"

Noel nodded as she held Mai up by the shoulders, determined to support her in every step of the way. The giddy feeling she had inside seeped out in the form of a radiant smile. And can you blame her? She and Mai were dating now. The love they shared serve to be a great source of joy.

"I wonder what our friends would say?" she wondered aloud with a fond giggle.

Still blushing red, but considerably happier than before, she tried not to lean onto Noel too much as Mai was aware of their weight difference.. she would probably cause the blonde to fall over if shed try to support her whole weight on that tiny girl.
"Oh, Makoto would be suprised, but then she`d be estatic. She`s an easily exciteable squrriel."
Mai giggled, trying to imagine her bouncing off the walls in hyperactive shock when hearing that.
"As for the others... Tsubaki would probably be shocked and Cajun would just write that down in her notebook, but...."
She looked into those emeralds she found to love.
"You´re smiling brighter than i´ve ever seen you smile before, Noel. If they´d see that, they would understand." The bluenette said, nuzzling her a little bit, while her weakened limbs dragged themselves through the hallway. Her heart was still pounding... mainly because of what she was thinking of. She told Noel they would sleep, just sleep, together.. but they could still kiss...

Noel nodded, her smile never leaving her as they walked in contented silence. Eventually, they managed to find an empty room with a single bed and went in. The blonde gently lay Mai down on the bed, making sure to get her comfortable.

Seeing this as an opportunity, the smaller girl got on top of her and, after straddling the bluenette, bent down and gave her a kiss on the lips.

Mai smiled gently as Noel took care to lay her down as comfortable as she did, like a nurse treating her patient- or a mother nursing her child. Either way, it meant she was precious to Noel, so precious that she didn´t want to hurt her even by simply lying her down too hard.

...then the blonde climbed onto her and their lips collided, making her eyes snap open.
Love. Lots of it. The sweet cinnamon taste of love. As well as... fear? Its an aftertaste, but... hm, fear of the unknown maybe. Or because i was about to bite the dust there... whats that marshmallow taste though? Soft sweetness, like cotton candy.. hm...
A shiver went through her body as she tasted more and more of those satin soft lips, her arms wrapping around the blonde and pulling her closer while her eyes were closing... and tearing up.
Cotton... candy taste... desire?
To be honest, it did feel pretty damn amazing to feel Noel`s sleek and small frame against her own, but... That was too soon, wasn`t it?

After what seemed like an eternity, Noel pulled back, her green eyes gazing down at Mai while her lips were curled into a loving smile.

"A taste of what's to come." She giggled before nuzzling Mai's shoulder, taking in the other girl's scent. "I'm sorry it took this long, Mai. But I'll make it up to you from now on~."

Mai didn´t say a word, she just gave off a gasp an wrapped her arms tightly around Noel, staying that way for several minutes- just feeling her lie on top of her body, hearing her heartbeat, feeling her breath stroke against her skin... feel that tingle on her lips where she kissed the bluenette before.
"This feeling... this love feels so strong. I´ve never felt anything like it." Mai brought out finally, her eyes coming open to gaze into Noel´s.
She couldn´t help it, she had to taste Noel`s lips once more. A brief and soft kiss, followed by one on her cheek, another on her ear, on Noel`s neck, where she nibbled a bit on her skin... then she pulled back, flushed pink.
"S...sorry. Its... too early for that kind of stuff... my supertaste is going haywire though."

"It's okay. I just wanted to give you my first kiss as your girlfriend, is all." Noel giggled before getting of Mai and lying beside her. She removed her beret and placed it on the nearby table, her honey blonde hair flowing as a result.

"You know..." she began as she nuzzled her lover's shoulder "I'm still scared. Scared of Captain Hazama...scared of what he called me..."

Her expression was somber, though the smile never left her "But you know what?"

Mai stroked through the strands of her hair, combing it with her fingers. Her beret was long gone, lost in the fight with Nu and with Hazama, so her own blue strands roam free on the bed. She smiles at her lover, trying to comfort her, revoke her fear.
"No, but i´m sure you`ll tell me." She said with a grin, answering her question.

Nodding gently, Noel gazed into Mai's eyes and gave her the warmest smile she can muster "Knowing that you love me...makes me stronger somehow."

After pausing to collect her thoughts, the blonde gunslinger continued to speak "I've always been scared and timid...always afraid to face what fear the most, especially now. I've always known that I can depend on you and the others for strength, but this is different somehow. It's like you give me courage to fight on, to never give up! And..."

She stopped mid-speech when she realized that she was rambling. "O-oh!" she felt her cheeks turn red "S-sorry! I started to ramble, didn't I?"

Mai laughed softly and poked her cute little nose, before sealing her lips with a short kiss. Noel was honestly embarressed at this, she thought Mai might be annoyed by her.. like hell. "Its fine, Noel. How can i be annoyed by listening to you say that?" She smiled, pulling Noel closer to her into a hug of her own. "I could ramble too. I could tell you how much you make me feel at ease when i´m around you, how normal you make me feel compared to what i feel like around others. Like my gender problem... i could never tell that to anyone, but you made no big deal about it.. You helped me out so many times in the past, and that kiss you gave me before.. really made me appriciate that."
She looked down, hearing little response from Noel, and saw the poor girl`s face somewhat buried in her massive chest.
"O-oh! Uhm, s-sorry." Mai said, letting go of her quickly to give her some space to breathe.

Noel flailed her arms frantically as the bluenette's chest enveloped her face. As such, she was somewhat relieved when Mai let go.

"I-it's fine." the blonde said after taking some breaths "I'll get used to it."

Noel nodded appreciatively at what the other girl said, never losing that smile of hers "And thank you for being there for me. For defending me when Captain Hazama attacked..."

It was then she remembered what she had been called..."Child of the Azure", "Eye of the Azure"; both were uttered by Hakumen and Hazama respectively. That, coupled with that familiar sensation she had when she was around Ragna.

What did they all mean?

"I need answers." the blonde thought aloud as she stared into the ceiling.

Mai´s hand held Noel´s gently, then squeezed it reassuringly, as she smiled at Noel.
"I´ll help you get answers. I promise." She said, giving her a light nod.. before a yawn came out.
"I`m getting tired, Noel... i lost a truckload of blood, and all that fighting.. i need some rest."

Noel nods with a good measure of understanding, responding by bringing Mai's head close to her chest. She smiled as she held her lover gently, as if wanting her own heartbeat to be the bluenette's lullaby.

To be able to hold Mai this intimately, being able to caress her long, blue hair with her delicate fingers, was definitely the best feeling in the world.

"Get some rest, then." The blonde giggled as she closed her eyes as well "I'll see you when I wake up."

Tiny or not, Noel´s chest being so close to her face brought a blush to Mais cheeks. She longed to touch it, feel her lover shiver and tremble under affection- but was too much of a chicken to do it and risk Noel being scared and mistrusting. So, she simply closed her eyes, hummed and slowly drifted into a dreamworld of her own.
"Sleep well.. Noel~" She muttered with a smile, then went out like a light.

"You too, Mai~" Noel yawned happily as she wrapped her arms around Mai in a tender embrace. Despite all that had happened, all the mysteries regarding her past popping up left and right, she was happy. She had never felt a love quite like this, not even from her best friends Tsubaki and Makoto, and she didn't want to let go as a result.

With that in mind, she closed her eyes and drifted off into a blissful slumber.

Ten hours later, Mai stirred awake as a gust of cold air stroked her cheek. The window was open, and so it woke her quite easily... while her body rejected to be woken up before.
She was still on Noel`s chest, having drooled on it, and with a blush, she rose up, smiling a tiny bit as the girl was peacefully sleeping there. Kissing her finger and then Noels lips, she rose from the bed and finally slipped out of the sweaty, blood soaked uniform and let it down on the ground, before heading to the nearby shower to freshen up.
It isn´t a dream... Noel and i are lovers now... Imagine that..!
She giggles to herself as water began to rinse down her supple curves, and sighed in relaxation.

"U-uwah?"

Noel slowly awoke, rubbing her eyes sleepily as she looked around haggardly. She smiled as she touched her lips, the warm sensation that lingered causing her to smile.

"It definitely wasn't a dream." She murmured happily. After she stretched, which resulted in a tiny yawn, she got to her feet and walked towards the bathroom, too sleepy to think that Mai would probably be there.

As the water rinsed down her body, Mai lost all sense of time, space, direction and empathy- she was simply there, enjoying the sensation of being washed off, and leaned back a bit to make the water pearl down in a curve that her body made.
...it wasnt until she heard the door open that she opened her eyes a bit, not yet realizing what was going on.

Noel's senses woke a little at the sound of the running water, but not enough to shake the blonde out of her groggy reverie. As such, she began to disrobe, slowly discarding every article of her uniform until she was in her bra and panties.

Yes, despite what many believe, she simply doesn't have the nerve to go commando.

As Mai slowly came to her senses, seeing a blonde figure on the other side of the milk glass door, taking her clothes off in front of it, very clearly showing off her figure bit by bit... Mai`s heart stopped for a moment, and she began panting erratically, her cheeks flushed red.

Oh god, that was so hot to watch.

Unaware that she was giving Mai an impromptu striptease, Noel slowly undid the strap of her bra and let it fall down to the floor. With that accomplished, she began pulling down her cream white panties in a slow pace that was surely agonizing to the bluenette.

Turned redder and redder, despite the milk glass obscuring the naughtiest bits, she was damn near sure what Noel was doing, and it was driving her insane. She wanted to call out, tell her to stop and wait for her turn to shower...

...instead her hand ran down to her thighs, and she had to bite her lip not to guide it inbetween to get off of this sight.

Once Noel was fully naked, she walked slowly towards the shower area, completely oblivious to Mai's presence. She stopped at the door and began to open it slowly...