Title: Liquid Diamonds
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth
Rating: pg
Length: 2300 words
Content notes: Post-canon by a few years.
Author notes: For Milieva BECAUSE. UNREPENTANT FLUFF again always whoops completely unchecked and once more I'm pushing the deadline SORRY ^^; I need to keep a template for posting so I don't end up flailing and failing at coding at the last minute each time... Title from a Tori Amos song which has nothing to do with the fic?
Summary: Clef/Umi. Umi's going to be late for a reception, Clef goes to find her - and gets a little distracted.
oOo

“Umi? Are you- ah. There you are.”

Ryuuzaki Umi turned away from watching the fish leaping out of the water and twisting through the air, fins spread like crystalline wings and their scales glimmering in a rainbow of colours, gaudy and strange. She blinked up at Clef as he stood beside her on the riverbank. The ribbons on his staff were fluttering slightly in the breeze, drifting towards the water until he took hold of them. “What is it?” She asked, attention still half in the wide spill of the river, the water cool on her feet as they dangled down from her perch on a rock. The rock was tall enough that a month ago Clef would have been looking up at her, even standing. It was warm from the mid-afternoon sunlight, smooth under her hands, and a most convenient place for watching the water run by.

“You were meant to be back at the Castle an hour ago. Caldina sent me after you, you’re going to be late.” Clef told her, and Umi bolted upright so fast she nearly ended up in the water with the fish. She flushed, and scrambled up the bank, grabbing her shoes as she went. Clef’s grin didn’t help with the embarrassment. “Ah, so you do remember the reception for Chizeta is this afternoon, then?”

“Why didn’t anyone come get me earlier?” Umi wailed, hopping on one foot and trying to brush the water off the other with her bare hand. A moment more, and then she glared down at the water with a growl rolling in her throat; the water shivered and ran off her skin in a hurry. She hadn’t been expecting it to work, and nearly tipped over again in surprise. This time Clef caught her arms to keep her from stumbling back into the river, letting his staff clatter to the ground . She blinked up at him, still flushed, breathing a fraction too fast – with adrenaline, that was all.

He was grinning at her again. She glared at him.

“If you can’t keep track of time, Umi-“

“Oh, shut up.” She stepped away and yanked her shoes on. “All the preparations I could help with were finished, I just came for a walk!”

“And sat down and watched the fish for an hour, I know. It’s a good thing that the Princesses also know you so well; you’re never going to get changed and there on time, even transporting back. Do you want to go straight to Caldina’s rooms?” He picked his staff back up and then held his free hand out, to translocate them, but Umi shook her head.

“I’m not going to be late, I’ll just – um.” She was about to say ‘wear this’, but on looking down at the water and the grass stains on her dress, thought better of it. And Clef was shaking his head as well.

“I doubt Tarta or Tatra would mind, but Caldina would have a fit if you don’t dress formally. And now I’m involved she’s going to blame me, too.”

“I know, I just – wait.” She looked down at his staff, the ribbons wrapped about his hand. “...My armour. I’m a knight, I can wear armour, right?”

It was Clef’s turn to pause. “…Yes, I suppose so.”

“Well, I’ll do that! I don’t need to bother with jewellery or anything if I’m in armour, so hand it over, and we can go back, and neither of us will be late. Or in trouble.” She waved her hand at his staff. “You’ve still got the gauntlets in that thing, right? You said you would keep them for us.”

“I have, but – oh, well, why not.” He muttered, and raised it in the air, closing his eyes. Umi closed her eyes against the flash of light which seemed to go with nearly every spell Clef had, feeling the warmth of his magic flash about her, the weight of her gauntlet settling back onto her hand and her clothing changing form-

Though, wait a second-

Umi opened her eyes, and stared down at herself, confirming her suspicion. Her dress had been replaced, but not with any of the forms of armour she knew – in fact, not by any kind of armour at all. There were a set of more abbreviated shoulder guards, and the overskirt and belt remained, but…

“This is a dress.” She announced, feeling betrayed.

Clef tried to turn a laugh into a cough, and didn’t manage it. “It appears to be so, yes.”

Folds of soft pale blue fell almost to her feet, the over-skirt lengthened to match, and the tabard-front was held at each side by the stones holding the shoulder-guards in place. It was rather nice, she supposed, but it was not armour. “Make it turn back! I can’t wear this without doing my hair or anything, it’ll look wrong!”

“I can’t do anything, it’s you it’s reacting to.” Clef waved a hand, lips still trying to twitch into a smile. “Apparently you think it’s too formal an occasion for your armour. …At least you don’t have to change now?”

“Do you know how long Caldina took trying to make my hair stay in those little clip-things last time?” Umi waved her hands again, and Clef dodged backwards as one came rather close to him. “It took an hour! Plus, my head hurt, and-“

“So you ran away this afternoon before she could start doing your hair?” Clef asked, looking far too amused. Again. He needed to stop doing that, it was driving her insane.

“…Maybe.”

Clef rolled his eyes, and set the staff back down. “Sit.” He said, pointing to the rock. Umi blinked, eyes going wide, as he twisted one hand and a comb appeared in it, spilled from the stone in the ring he wore.

“Um?”

“Sit.” He said, again.

Umi waved her hands, stepping back to the rock before hesitating again. “If I get this dirty I can’t change again- okay! I’m sitting!” She said, when he frowned at her, and sat down in a hurry. She folded her hands in her lap, and looked down as he stepped to the other side of the rock – not quite in the water – and tried not to wriggle too much as he combed out the knots which the breeze had twisted into it. He was… surprisingly good at it, for someone whose own hair was so short and… not precisely neat.

“It might not be up to Caldina’s standards, but this will have to do.” He murmured, twisting a few sections back from her face, and beginning a swift braid. “I’m out of practise, but…”

“…How are you planning to make it stay? Do you have clips in your ring as well as a comb?” Umi’s voice was softer than she had meant it to come out, settling down under his hands.

He hummed quietly. “No, but I have another plan – after all. You are the knight of water, aren’t you?”

Clef stepped around so she could see him, and the end of the thin braid still held in his hand, as he held the other out to the river and… beckoned?

A droplet of water rose, glittered in the air, and drifted towards them. Umi’s breath caught; Clef let it rest on one fingertip and held it where she could examine it, the thin line of light wrapped inside it, then pressed it to her hair. The drop clung, holding the braid together, and glittering like a diamond with the light inside it.

“Just a spark of electricity to hold it in place. You could probably do without it, but I’m no water mage.” Clef told her, softly, and she turned from the braid to stare at him at the tone in his voice, so very…

So very something.

She was wearing his magic. That was… yes. Definitely something. “Will this do?” He asked, still so quietly, and Umi swallowed. She nodded, and he stepped back to where she couldn’t see him, his hands in her hair.

oOo

They made it on time to the reception for the Princesses, just, and Umi passed muster with Caldina though all she wore was her armour and water in her hair, one final twist of it about the bare skin of her right wrist.

There were mirrors on the walls of the reception hall, and the ballroom later, where there was dancing and a chance to chat with the friends she hadn’t seen for years, and each time she caught sight of herself her breath caught at that glittering scattered through her hair. Clef had vanished to his official duties the moment they appeared back in the castle, but she caught glimpses of him as well, here and there, in the crowds – but never close enough for her to reach him before someone else started talking to her, or called him away.

It was almost enough to make her regret getting to know people in the years since the rebirth of the land. Almost, but not quite, because even though she wanted to find Clef again… she wasn’t sure what she would say if she did, and the uncertainty was making her nervous. More nervous.

Every time people complemented her magical accessories, she blushed.

But the evening couldn’t last forever, and slowly the room cleared, the music getting calmer and lower as the musicians played more for themselves than the dancers, passing melodies back and forth between the instruments and laughing when their arrangements fell apart.

Fuu and Hikaru had to have noticed how distracted she was, but they both wished her good night without comment, and Tarta and Tatra were away to sleep as well. Umi drifted through the last swaying dancers, and she had been right. Clef was still here, not leaving before the room was cleared, talking quietly with LaFarga. But he stopped when he saw her, and LaFarga turned, nodded at Umi, and stepped away.

Umi halted a good three paces from Clef, uncertainty coming back. “You, um. Have you had a good evening?”

“Well enough, though there was rather more talking than I would have preferred.” He stepped closer, and Umi bit her lip – he hesitated, then nodded at her. “It doesn’t look so bad, I think.”

“No.” She swallowed again, her throat dry, and beginning to get very irritated with herself, jittery with it. “Thank you, it’s- lovely. Everyone kept on saying so. …I told them all it was my idea, of course.”

“Of course.” He grinned, and the teasing was an easy pattern to fall into – but before she could say anything else, he was holding his hand out to her. “I interrupted your walk, earlier – not that you were doing much walking. But I could do with some fresh air. Would you like to accompany me?”

“Yes, of course.” She said, startled, taking his hand and letting him lead her out through the doors into the gardens about the castle, empty of everyone else. He sighed as they got through the doors, and his shoulders relaxed.

He kept hold of her hand. Umi glanced at it, then at him. The thought hit her again, the one which had teased her every time she caught sight of her wrist, her hair. She had spent the evening wearing his magic wrapped in her own element, and when Caldina had seen it, when Ferio had seen it – they had stared, when she said Clef had done that for her. It meant something.

Plus, she’d spoken with Caldina, earlier.

“Clef, why did you come looking for me?” She asked, quietly.

He stopped walking, and he wasn’t looking at her. “I told you, Caldina sent me looking for you. I could transport to your location, it was the most efficient choice.” His voice was casual, but he tried to let go of her hand.

Umi held on. “Lantis could have done it just as easily. So could Ascot, for that, or Fuu or Hikaru- Caldina said you came looking for me. She said you offered to go look.”

“…Ah.”

It was hard to tell in the thin light, but she was certain he was blushing. Her uncertainty was easing into a new conviction, one which eased all the jittering. “Clef- what did you want?“

“To ask you to dance. Only- then there was this.” He reached with his free hand for one of the braids, for the bead of water at the end of it. “And then I didn’t dare.”

“Why not?” She asked, beginning to smile, stepping closer. She could see well enough to watch Clef bite his lip, and he let go of her hair but let his hand fall onto her arm, instead.

“Because I couldn’t dance with you wearing it without giving in and doing this.”

He leaned forwards, and Umi tilted her head the small fraction needed to bring their lips together, eagerly, her fingers tightening on his hand as she pulled him closer with the other. A moment later, she pulled back just far enough to murmur “I wouldn’t have minded.” Against his lips, and then stopped his laugh impatiently with another kiss, swaying further into him.

His hands were in her hair again, and she felt the braids unravel as he ran his fingers through them, loosening the strands and letting the water fall away, sinking into the ground below them. She didn’t object. She was planning on getting him to do it again, after all, but right now she had him and his magic under her hands. The entire population of the castle could have trouped out to watch, and she wouldn’t have cared.

But he probably would have, and he pulled back now as the laugher of someone inside drifted out to them. “Umi…”

The musicians were still playing. Umi stepped back, tangling their fingers together. “You owe me a dance.” She told him.

“…So I do.”

“Well?”

Clef smiled, and followed her inside.

oOo