Title: Instructions! Or, How LaFarga Became Cephiro’s Most Popular Author
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth (AGAIN it’s like I’m obsessed OH WAIT)
Rating: Teenish?
Length: 1500 words
Content notes: Oblique discussion of sex?
Author notes: Fuu/Ferio and Caldina/LaFarga. Also CRACK. And really really flashfic, I have written this since lunch, it's barely edited, sorry. THIS IS ALL THE FAULT OF THE CEPHIRO FORUM. Whose denizens I love even when somehow THIS is the result…
Also for cottoncandy_bingo, 'sharing'.
Summary: Hikaru didn't wake up when Fuu slipped out of their room in the middle of the night

oOo

Hikaru didn't wake up when Fuu slipped out of their room in the middle of the night - unsurprisingly, she'd been dashing about the castle all day playing with the orphaned griffin which Clef had unwittingly adopted about a month back. (Umi was still worn out from her share of chasing it about - it couldn't fly yet, fledgling wings still more downy fluff than real feathers. Playing chase was going to get harder when it learnt, though...)

She giggled, turned over, and fell back to sleep.

When the door creaked again, dawn was emanating soft light over the castle, and Umi woke just enough to hear Fuu pacing quietly back to her own bed. She grinned at the curtains, eyes closing again - no point getting up to tease her now and maybe waking Hikaru up, but when it was a decent time to get up...

oOo

Of course, Umi then forgot all the way through breakfast, but when they were back in their room, packing up the last few things they didn't leave behind - they were staying over more weekends than not, now, but none of them quite trusted earth fabric and the cephiran laundry service to get along, so clothes came and went with them. Hikaru had already flung her stuff in a bag and pelted back out to play as much as possible before they had to leave, collecting Mira and Ascot (and several of his friends) as well as half the children of the castle on her way through. Even now, Hikaru wasn’t so much taller than the children – Umi glanced out of the window to see Hikaru grinning impishly at the centre of her gleeful court, directing them about into a new game.

“You went out late last night, Fuu.”

Fuu glanced at her, and back to her bag. “You were awake, Umi? I had thought you and Hikaru would both be fast asleep, after all your exertions…”

“Asleep enough so you could sneak out?” Umi gave in, and grinned, sitting down on the end of her bed and pulling her legs up. “Hikaru might have been, but that door always wakes me up – so I heard you come back in this morning as well-“

The door took that moment to creak open; Umi shut up, but it was Caldina making her way inside, arms full of the things which had been spread about the castle over the past two days – some books, Umi’s hairbrush, one of Hikaru’s jumpers. “Who’s been staying out at nights?” She asked, brightly. “You, Fuu?”

Fuu took her books as she was handed them. “It was nothing. I merely could not sleep. Thank you for returning these, Caldina.”

“They’ll end up lost in the Clef’s study somewhere if you don’t keep them safe, every book seems to.” Umi muttered, frowning at her hairbrush a moment before jamming it into her overfull bag and dragging the zip shut. It’d probably hold closed… “Anyway, you were gone all night. Did you and Ferio really..." Umi trailed off, raising her eyebrows, and trying not to giggle too hard at Fuu's immediate blush. “…How was it?”

“Umi! That’s…”

“What?” Umi waved her hands. “You don’t have to give details, but generally? Good? Bad? Disastrous is traditional, for first times- it was the first time, right?”

Fuu stared firmly down at her hands as she folded the last of her clothes. The red of her cheeks wasn’t quite hidden behind the wave of her hair. “It was… fine.” She said.

“…Fine?”

“Fine!”

Umi and Caldina blinked at each other. “They’re doing something wrong.” The two of them chorused, and Fuu looked up now, glaring at them. Umi shook her head at her friend, with an exaggerated sigh. “You shouldn’t sound bored.”

“I was not – it was just… alright. That’s all.”

Caldina reached over and patted Fuu on the shoulder, her eyes glinting. “Don’t you worry, missy! I’ll have LaFarga talk to him before you get back. We’ll sort him out.”

“LaFarga, really?” Umi asked, curious. Caldina’s smirk turned wicked.

“I’ve got him well trained by now!”

“Yeah, but he can’t even kiss you in public without getting flustered. You think he’ll actually manage to talk to Ferio?”

“Eh, he’ll do what he’s told.” Caldina waved a hand. “…You sure you’ll be able to handle Fuu all on your own?”

It was Umi’s turn to grin wickedly. “Yeah, we’ll be fine. On Earth, we have this thing called the internet…”

oOo

Three days later (days in which the Guards wondered about the permanent blush on their Captain’s face, and the way he flinched each time he saw the Prince – which had some pretty rumours flying about the castle - ) LaFarga stomped along to Ferio’s rooms. When Ferio opened the door, he shoved a handful of pages at him, turned on his heel, and stomped off again.

“…What’s this?” Ferio called out, bewildered.

“Instructions!” LaFarga yelled, voice gruff.

Ferio frowned, then unfolded the first of the pages.

His eyes growing round, he fumbled the door shut, still reading.

oOo

A few months later:

Caldina sauntered along to the Guard’s training rooms. LaFarga’s shift was over soon, and she had extracted a promise from Lantis that he would see to anything which came up that afternoon, so LaFarga would be free. She was a little early, though – the doors were still shut, the sound of metal-on-metal ringing out behind it.

And in front of it stood a huddle of young guards, their heads bowed over a hand-bound booklet held by the one at the centre. “See?” she was saying, pointing at the open pages. “That’s how you find it!”

“Oooooooh,” chorused the others, then one of the boys noticed Caldina and waved at her.

“Heya, Miss Caldina!”

Caldina’s adoption by the apprentice guards as a trusted source of mayhem always pleased her. “What’ve you got?” She asked them, and was slightly startled by the awed expressions turned on her.

“It’s the Instructions.” One said, voice wondering.

“What, some new fighting manual?”

“No, not fighting…” the girl at the centre said, though Caldina heard one of the others muttering ‘well, not just fighting…’.

Increasingly curious – or possibly suspicious, because she could have sworn Cephiro didn’t have anything like that, at least not left after the rebirth (the mostly complete disintergration of the land had taken a lot of books with it, and she doubted even Clef had managed to dig through all the books he’d scavenged. Besides, if he had something like that, he’d probably have decided it was unimportant. The man had no priorities. …Or hormones.) - Caldina held out her hand, and the entire group came over with the booklet as it was handed over. “…Huh.” She said, skimming across the words. “…Not bad. Why didn’t I know this existed? It’d have been handy…”

(She still owed LaFarga a favour for talking to the Prince. She’d have done it herself, but she had been curious how well he’d do… and given the smiles Fuu was wandering about wearing these days, he’d been very successful.)

“It only appeared a couple of months ago.” The apprentices explained, huddling closer to watch as she turned the pages. Caldina’s hands slowed, and she started to read over it more carefully. Only a few months ago, was it? And…

The whole thing was written in a blank tone, so completely matter of fact that it came off as terse, or maybe… embarrassed?

She looked up as the doors opened, and LaFarga let his exhausted students stumble out into the hall. He nodded, when he saw her, and she watched as he processed the group about her, and the book in her hands.

…She never was going to get tired of his ability to blush unnaturally red.

“Do you want a copy?” The girl who owned it asked. “…I bet you could improve it.”

“No, thanks.” Caldina grinned, handing it back. LaFarga was retreating swiftly down the corridor, but she was in no hurry – this would provide her with entertainment for months. “Don’t think I need it. See ya!”

As she set off after her errant author, she heard the group behind start speculating who could have written it, and grinned.

oOo

end

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