Twelve Paces Away, One Seat Back -- Yaya/Hikari

[A Moment In Subtext]

Strawberry Panic!
Twelve Paces Away, One Seat Back
By. A Moment In Subtext

Their beds are exactly twelve paces apart. Yaya knows this because she walks those twelve every night, to stand watch over Hikari in the night. Sometimes, Hikari wakes up while she is watching, but she's used to it by now. She dismisses it as her spunky roomate being overprotective again. Yaya wonders idly, as she presses a light kiss to Hikari's sleeping temple, what she'll do when they graduate, and Hikari is no longer only twelve paces apart.

X ~ x ~ X

She always sits one seat behind Hikari, and always a seat to the left as well. Hikari believes that this, too, is a product of her overprotective side. Yaya is no longer sure why she started to do it. But now it is more from habit than anything else. She is, however, often grateful that Hikari cannot see the wistful looks she gives her from behind.

X ~ x ~ X

Sometimes, when Hikari sleeps, she has nightmares. Her face twists, creased by an upset frown, and her hands desperately bunch the blankets while she makes little noises in the back of her throat. On those nights, Yaya will crawl into the bed behind her, and hold her. She replaces the blankets crushed in Hikari's fists with her own hands, and pull the other girls back against her chest, whispering soothing, incoherent words in her ear until she calms. She's always gone before Hikari wakes up.

X ~ x ~ X

One thing Yaya likes about sitting behind Hikari is that she doesn't have to see the lovestruck look in her eyes whens he thinks about Ootari Amane. She can sit behind her at the alster while Hikari thinks of angels, and sometimes she hugs her, and helps her, all the while with an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wonders sometimes why she continues to give Hikari to her rival, but then she sees, out the corner of her eye, Hikari's smile, and she doesn't wonder anymore.

X ~ x ~ X

Other nights, when Hikari sleeps, she dreams of Amane. On those nights, she smiles in her sleep, her face arrayed in bliss. She clutches at the blankets while she tries to burrow into them, murmuring Amane's name. Yaya watches her with a sad little smile on her face, and a single tear rolling down her cheek, because as much as it pains her to let Hikari go, she's happy.

X ~ x ~ X

Yaya stands behind Hikari in the chorus, where, out the corner of her eye, she can see her joy at singing. She tries to let Hikari's joy warm her, all the while growing cold with the knowledge that Hikari is singing only for Amane. But seeing the smile on Hikari's face, hearing the laughter in her voice, makes the whole heartache worth it.

X ~ x ~ X

All Yaya cares about is Hikari's happiness, so she can be content to watch from a distance of twelve paces away, one seat back.