Title: Ache in my bones
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth
Rating: Teen (nudity, implied sex)
Length: 1200 words ish
Content notes: None
Author notes: Fits somewhere into a set of fic where some of the Rayearth characters are wandering around space trying to meet new people.
Summary: It's been a long day, and Umi is feeling it all through her shoulders.

oOo

Umi flopped back onto the bed with a groan, all the tension of the day aching through her muscles. The gentle vibration of the ship around them was enough to remind her that they were in a spaceship whenever she stopped moving, but the novelty had worn off that now, and it wasn't enough to act as a massage chair and get rid of any of the aching.

Nor was there the ability to have a bath on this ship. It was showers only, and those were more of a 'cleaning mist' than decently hot water.

She heard the chime of the door as Clef hit the lock on it, and then the thin mattress dipped very slightly by her feet as he sat down, and there was the thump of his boots hitting the floor. "Long day," he said.

"Very long day," she agreed. "I didn't think we were getting out of there without a fight. My shoulders ache so much."

Clef sounded bewildered at that. "What did you do to your shoulders?"

"Got too tense all day and now I feel like I'm-" she paused, lips twitching, and opened her eyes to look up at him. "At least your age."

"Umi."

"Maybe even older."

"Umi." His voice was flat, but his lips were twitching. "Do I really seem like I'm creaking all the time?"

"No, bless Cephiro." Umi reached out with her foot and tried to hook it about him, not wanting to sit up but wanting to pull him closer. "Hey, come here."

"You could ask before kicking me," he said, but as he caught hold of her ankle with gentle hands and slid his fingers under the cuff of her trousers, caressing her skin, he was rather undermining any protest. "What do you want me to do?"

"Make my stupid shoulders stop hurting." She said it as a demand, and glared at him when he laughed, but he did clamber up on the bed beside her and gently push at her until she rolled onto her stomach. The raised pillow-ish end of the mattress was uncomfortable laying this way, so she wormed slightly further down the bed. She would have rested her head on her arms instead, but her shoulders shouted far too much at raising her arms.

"If you'd asked before we got back on the ship, I could have done something more useful," he pointed out. "I'm not allowed to cast anything on here. Zazu yells at me. Also things break."

"The engines are a little bit important I guess," she muttered, as his hands pressed warm against her shoulder blades - and she immediately flinched. "And you're terrible at healing, and I'm not sure it wouldn't be worth it anyway-"

"What have you done to yourself?" Clef shifted closer, running his fingers up her spine, pressing carefully through the material of her top. "Seriously, I don't think muscles are meant to-"

"Ah!" she flinched away from his touch as he hit a particularly sore spot.

"-be this solid, and that is a lump. Seriously, Umi!"

"I thought they were going to shoot you or something! I was a little tense!" Umi rolled over, into him, shoving up on one elbow - which hurt - and wrapping her other arm about his neck. She pulled him down far enough she could wrap her arms about him and press her face into the curve of his neck as he wobbled.

"Hey-"

"You and Presea both, they were so about to shoot you-"

"I don't think they had guns," he said, apparently giving in as he settled down onto the bed and wrapped his arms about her. "I mean, I think we would have noticed."

"But-"

"And I'm pretty good at yanking a shield about myself. And other people. And occasionally a whole castle." He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "And you were right there for back-up. We'd have been okay, even if they tried something."

"But-" she tried again.

"Who won our last five sparring sessions?" He asked, tone teasing, as he pressed a kiss to her cheekbone, and then shifted to reach her jaw.

Umi's breath caught, heat starting to spark through her at his touch. "I still don't think throwing a shield up and then just sitting there for the rest of the match is a proper sparring strategy - what are you doing?"

"If a strategy works, it's a good strategy. If it works repeatedly…" he grinned against her neck, she could feel it. "Anyway. You want me to help you relax, right?"

"Yes?"

"Well, I have no real idea how to give a massage, so I'm going to have to do something different…" He lifted his head far enough to smile at her. "Or we could go raid the first aid area for a muscle relaxant?"

"Maybe after," Umi told him, breathlessly, and pulled him into a kiss, arching up against him in spite of the pain across her shoulders.

oOo

Some time later Umi relaxed into the mattress, still trembling, and pulled Clef back up the bed with one shaking hand. "Come here," she murmured. "It's cold now."

"That would be the lack of clothing," he told her, but he obliged anyway, clambering over the mattress to drop beside her then wincing. "…Forgot the join in the beds is right here," he muttered, and shuffled closer. The bed they were sharing was two of the standard ones bolted together - which was normal practise for these ships, as was taking down the bulkhead between two compartments to give them a two-person room, and there was a special cover bridging the gap. It still made a little bit of an uncomfortable ridge down the centre of the bed.

She'd managed to get him out of his top, but he'd distracted her well before she reached his lower half, so the legs resting against hers were still clothed. His arms were warmer than the air, at least, and she curled in closer.

"I should probably have grabbed the cover," Clef said, but showed as little sign of moving as she felt herself.

"…Do you want," she started, feeling very reluctant to move, but also like she felt very good and that offering to return the favour was only right. But Clef started shaking his head before she could even ask the question. "…You already-"

"I enjoyed pleasing you very much," he said, sleepily. "You can make fun of my lack of stamina if you want, but it's working in your favour right now."

Umi hummed. "True. I'm not feeling very coordinated right now."

For several long minutes they curled up together, and Umi did actually feel better - even her shoulders had relaxed and felt good right then.

"We should shower," he murmured.

"…In a minute." She curled in closer, closing her eyes, perfectly content.