…scorching the stone of the floor dark, powdery gray and filling the room with a dull, smoky scent that the wind wouldn't be able to push out until sunrise. A sound between a low growl and a chortle resonated in the room as Tatiana opened her eyes. She was greeted with the dragon's bony white teeth, exposed in a grin.

"So you understand now what separates a dragon's fire from nature's fire," it said. "If I felt like it at the time, you'd just be a charred pile of bones right now. Maybe even dust. Fortunately for you, princess, I can't kill you yet."

Tatiana looked around her. She'd seen the flame envelop the entire room with her own eyes, but aside from the blackness of the floor and a few small, dying fires, it was as if nothing had been touched. The wooden table, its silk tablecloth, the four chairs around it and the bed in the corner—they looked exactly the same as they did before the dragon had entered the room. It was as frightening as it was eerie, and Tatiana could still feel her heart racing in her chest, shaken by the suddenness with which the dragon revealed its powers, but somehow her voice was steady—strong, even—as she answered.

"And why's that?" she asked, fisting her hands at her side. "You didn't bring me all the way up here just to gloat about kidnapping royalty, right?"

The fires on the floor died as the dragon snarled. "I don't see why you humanfolk would have any reason to—

"Ack!"

Something cold touched the base of Shiena's neck, forcing her to recoil to the side instinctively. A glance to the side revealed to her that the offending object was a pair of Otoya's scissors, thankfully closed.

"Takechi!" she yelled. "Don't put your scissors so close to my neck like that!"

From her place atop the bed, Otoya pouted. "But Shiena-chan," she said, making a few snipping sounds with her scissors, "I'm so bored!"

Shiena adjusted her glasses. "Isn't there something better for you to do than put weapons near peoples' vital spots?"

"No," Otoya said. "Around this time of the night, I usually go take short a walk around the campus, but look." She pointed at the large window at the side of the bed area. The curtains were partially drawn, giving them a view of the outside, with its heavy dark clouds and the even heavier rainfall, drumming on the windowpanes and falling at an angle thanks to the strong winds. "I can't do that in this weather, which is why I'm here instead."

"I can see that," Shiena said, "but really, can't you do something quietly?"

Otoya laughed. "I was pretty quiet when I snuck up on you earlier."

"Without bothering me, thanks. And please stay off my bed." Deciding not to spare another moment for Otoya's games, Shiena opened her book and returned to reading. Before she could even find her place on the page, Otoya spoke up again, putting her head over Shiena's shoulder.

"What's it about?" she asked.

Shiena sighed. It was as if Otoya didn't even hear her requests from a few seconds ago, but as incensed as she was, she couldn't help but answer the question. "It's one of those stories where a dragon kidnaps a princess—"

"Sounds like one of those super cliché western fairy tales."

"—so her prince friend and her peasant friend both try to rescue her before the other, like a race or something. Since it also takes place in a futuristic environment, it's technically a sci-fi fantasy."

Otoya grumbled. "Slightly less cliché," she corrected herself, "but that book looks really thick, and the font's tiny too. How do you make such a long story about something done so many times before, even if it is a little different?"

"Well, I accidentally spoiled myself a little while reading about it online," Shiena said, lacing a sigh into her tone, "but around a third of the way into the story, the princess sympathizes with the dragon and tries to keep it and her two friends from killing each other somehow."

"Ooh, the Stockholm syndrome, eh? Sounds like an interesting twist!" Pushing herself forward a little, Otoya wrapped her arms around Shiena's shoulders to get closer to the book. Shiena tried to ignore that their cheeks her touching. "Can I read with you?"

"No way," Shiena snapped. "We probably don't read at the same pace, and I don't want to wait for you, nor do I want you to wait for me. Besides, if you start from here, then you'll have missed the beginning."

The grip Otoya had around Shiena's shoulders slightly tightened. "Please, Shiena-chan? It's fine with me if I skip the beginning, anyway. It'll be like that 'in medias res' thing or something."

"I said no. Now get off me." Shiena pried one of Otoya's arms away. "And that's not exactly how 'in medias res' works."

While she retreated back to Shiena's bed, Otoya made some a whining sound, like a child deprived of a toy. "You really aren't any fun," she said.

"Didn't I tell you to get off my bed?"

With that definitive remark, the room finally fell into a quietude that was only disrupted by sudden claps of thunder and rises and falls in the rain's intensity. Briefly, Shiena wondered if maybe she'd been a little too harsh on Otoya, but concluding that her persistence practically made it a necessity, she continued with her book.

"I don't see why you humanfolk would have any reason to mind our concerns. You see us as little more than monsters, after all."

"I know I have a reason," Tatiana said. "I deserve to know why you can't kill me. I deserve to know why I'm being kept here. And I also deserve to know who my captor is."

For a moment so brief it might've been imaginary, the dragon's eyes—

"Your pillow smells really nice, Shiena-chan!"

Shiena practically jumped. "Takechi!" she exclaimed, yanking the pillow out of Otoya's arms. "Quit that!"

On Shiena's bed, Otoya was curled up along the middle, her arms vaguely placed in a hugging position. "What did I do wrong this time?"

"Obviously you were sniffing my pillow." To make a point, Shiena held the pillow in front of her. "Not only are you ignoring what I'm telling you, you're being really creepy about it, too."

Otoya pushed herself upright and shrugged with her shoulders. "I don't see how it's creepy," she said. "When you're on a bed, you put your head on a pillow, and if it happens to smell good, then be honest and mention it. Also, aren't you the one ignoring me?"

"You're impossible to ignore," Shiena said, "and I don't mean that as a compliment."

"Just please let me read with you, Shiena-chan," Otoya said. "I'm so bored I can feel my brains melting and beginning to drip out of my ears."

With a sigh, Shiena tossed the pillow back to her bed. "I said no already. Now just let me read in peace, okay?"

After receiving no reply more than a pout, Shiena cautiously turned around to return to her seat on the floor, but was suddenly stopped by a pair of arms encircling her waist. She was pulled backwards, onto her bed, and an instant later she could feel her back pressed firmly against Otoya's front.

"T-T-Takechi!" As much as she wanted to push herself off, she was too secure in Otoya's arms, and one of her hands was occupied with holding a book.

Behind her, Otoya giggled and began to nuzzle her face in the base of Shiena's neck while playing with one of her braids. "You're mine now, Shiena-chan!" she said through a chuckle. "So why are you wearing braids even when you're in your PJ's? I mean, it's cute, but isn't it a hassle to have to tie it up after a bath? Once it's dry, of course."

A few fruitless seconds of struggling forced Shiena into compliance with Otoya's hold, and she sighed into a slouch. "My hair gets in the way sometimes when I read," she answered. "By the way, you don't call assassins 'cute.' I could kill you if I wanted."

Otoya's voice became softer. "Don't forget, Shiena-chan, I can kill you, too." It descended to a whisper. "In fact, under these circumstances, you're more likely to die than I am."

One of Shiena's eyebrows arched as she shot Otoya a glare that was met with a glare. "It certainly looks that way, doesn't it?"

They were frozen like that for a few moments, silently looking into the other's eyes as the air around them hung thick and cold. Outside, lightning flashed, and they had both been so absorbed in the other's gaze that for a split second they saw their pupils contract in response to the brightness. The thunder that followed even sounded somehow muffled. Neither of them knew how long it had been when a smirk appeared on Otoya's face. Shiena couldn't help the urge to ask what it was about.

"What are you smiling about?" she blurted.

The smirk grew into a full-blown grin. "You really are cute, Shiena-chan!"

Shiena's palm connected with her forehead, and she groaned in exasperation. "You are so hard to deal with, you know that?"

Otoya laughed as she hugged Shiena tighter. "We're alike that way!"

"Whatever, can I just read now?"

"Yeah, but you have to let me read with you."

"Is that still what this is about?"

"Yep!"

Defeated, Shiena sighed. "Okay, but you have to keep up. I'm gonna read like you aren't even there."

As soon as Shiena opened her book, Otoya's hand descended to Shiena's elbows, her wrists, her hands, until they were both holding the book open. With all her usual suddenness, Otoya began to read aloud.

"As sudden and shockingly as the thunder from lightning you couldn't see, a cloud of white fire burst from the dragon's mouth, forcing Tatiana to flinch behind her arms, scorching the stone of the floor dark, powdery gray and filling the room with—" She was cut off by Shiena bumping her shoulder onto her chin.

"Stop," she said. "I've read past that part already."

"Oh," Otoya said. "So which part are you on?"

Shiena moved her index finger to the beginning of a particular line on the next page. "Here."

"Okay, then I'll just start from—"

"Wait."

Otoya rested her head on Shiena's shoulder as she hummed an inquiring "Hm?"

"I never said I was okay with this," she said, "so I'll say it now. This… actually isn't a bad idea."

"Ohhh?" Even without looking, Shiena could imagine the grin on Otoya's face. "So are you admitting that I thought of something good, Shiena-chan?"

Shiena closed her eyes and knit her eyebrows. "As scared as I am that it'll give you an ego boost you don't need, yes, basically, that's what I'm saying." She pulled the book closer to them. "Having you read aloud basically forces me to read at your pace, so there's no waiting involved and you're also doing something that's—apparently—entertaining for you."

Otoya did a little more nuzzling, this time closer to Shiena's face, pushing the glasses out of position. "Isn't it great?" she said. "To be honest, I actually did the reading aloud thing on a whim, but it worked out really well, huh?"

"I guess it did," Shiena offered as she set her glasses back in place. "But as good an idea as it might be, it's pointless if it isn't put to work. So get to it."

Chuckling, Otoya made a salute with her arm and Shiena's head. "You got it!" For effect, she cleared her throat before she began.

"For a moment so brief it might've been imaginary, the dragon's eyes widened with a hint of surprise before it growled. 'We'll have a chat about that some other day. I will take my leave, princess.' Without a moment's notice, the dragon leaped over Tatiana's head, through the wide window behind her, and glided away somewhere beyond the tower's view."

"The gibbous moon hung high and bright in the cloudless sky that evening… Shiena-chan, what's a gibbous moon?"

"You know what a crescent moon is, right?" Shiena felt Otoya nodding behind her. "It's like the opposite of that."

"So that's what it's called. Okay." Otoya adjusted her grip on the book. "The gibbous moon hung high and bright in the cloudless sky that evening. As Tatiana listened until the flapping of the dragon's wings faded into the howls of the wind, she wondered about the dragon, the tower, Daniel, Maxwell, and, to her surprise, the day she'd be able to speak with the dragon again." They turned the page. "Chapter 6. Oh, hey, we're in the next chapter already?"

As she took a deep breath, Shiena unconsciously slackened and leaned into Otoya. "Yep. Pretty convenient that the chapter ended right at the bottom of a page. Could've fooled me."

"Hey, hey, Shiena-chan, how far do you think we can get in one night?"

Shiena's head tipped to the side as she thought. "I dunno… I think reading a whole novel aloud could get pretty tiring eventually, so I guess it depends on how long you think you'd be able to read without tiring yourself out."

"That's no problem," Otoya said. "We can take turns reading to go twice as far, right?"

"I guess that means I'm taking the next few paragraphs, huh?" Despite not having any real reason to do so, Shiena readjusted her glasses. "Alright, let's do this. Never in his life did Daniel ever expect to miss the rough, aged fabric of his old hammock…"

Neither of them were particularly keeping track of the time, but they knew that once they'd reached the eighth chapter, at least an hour or two had passed. Very little changed over that uncertain span of time. The rain outside seemed to have strengthened, and the flashes of lightning and cracks of thunder became more frequent, at least, but once the sound of Otoya's voice became as familiar as her own breathing, Shiena absently noticed that somehow, they'd both ended up lying down on the same pillow, on her bed.

Normally, Shiena would've voiced some kind of complaint—something about disrespecting personal space or whatever—but at this point, where they'd been in such close proximity for so long, it seemed like such an inane and petty thing to do that she hardly gave it a second thought.

Before she knew it, her turn had come up again, but before she would even utter the first word on the page, she felt a hand on hers.

"Shiena-chan…"

It was only then that Shiena noticed the grogginess in Otoya's speech. She turned her head to look at Otoya, finding low eyelids and a dull gaze, and she smirked. "Tired already, Takechi? I thought you said you were a bit of a night owl."

Otoya yawned. "I am. But I usually get a boost from walks outside. I wasn't able to take one today." She groaned and pressed herself to Shiena's side. "Not to mention, it's really relaxing when I'm holding you like this."

"Uh-huh…" If Shiena wasn't aware of how closely packed they were before, she certainly was now. "…Uh, so, you wanna finish things here, I'm guessing?"

At this point, Otoya's eyes were shut. "Hnngyeah, that's what I mean…" And now, Shiena could tell that she was nearly out cold.

It mildly amused her how Otoya could go from hyperactive to lethargic within mere minutes. Smiling to herself, Shiena closed the book and placed it on the nightstand before sitting up to undo her braids. As she did, she looked at Otoya. "You know, you should've at least gone back to your bed before falling asleep," she told her, expecting no reply. "Now I have to go sleep in your bed…" She sighed.

As she got up, she felt something brush over her fingers, and she paused to look back. Otoya's arm was outstretched on the bed, apparently trying to grasp at Shiena, who raised an eyebrow in interest. "Takechi?"

She heard a grumble as Otoya's hand quirked. "Don't leave… It's cold tonight…"

"Don't you usually sleep with the sheets off?"

Otoya responded with a pleading groan. "…Please…"

A smile appeared on Shiena's face, and she pretending to sigh. "Alright, just let me turn the lights off." A trip to the corner of the room allowed them to be enveloped in darkness, and, carefully, as her glasses were already off, she lied down next to Otoya, pulling the sheets over both of them. Sleeping on Otoya's bed wasn't much better an alternative anyway.

As Shiena became grateful of how excessively wide the pillows were, for the second time that night she felt a pair of arms encircling her. She really should've expected these things by now.

There was a whisper. "Shiena-chan, can you turn around for a minute?"

"Why?" Shiena asked.

"I need to talk to you about something."

After a pause, Shiena pushed herself around until she and Otoya faced each other. "I hope you're not hiding a pair of scissors somewhere so you can stab me from the front," she said in an effort to veil how awkward she was feeling. "In the dark, without my glasses, I'm practically blind."

"I don't want to stab you," Otoya said as she found Shiena's hands under the blanket. "See? I can't hold my scissors when I'm holding you like this."

Shiena shifted. "You're being weird again," she said. "But that aside, what was it?"

"I gotta…" A yawn. "…I gotta tell you before… Pinch my forehead, would ya?" Shiena complied after feeling around for Otoya's head. Her flinch was a little slow and understated. "Okay, I'm a little awake now." Before continuing, she made sure to find Shiena's hand again. "Around halfway through, I, uh, kinda stopped taking it in."

It took Shiena a moment to process what Otoya was referring to. "About the reading?"

A drowsy smile graced Otoya's features. "Yep, that's it," she said. "I mean, I wasn't really… paying attention to what was going on after that."

For one reason or another, Shiena wasn't as affected by the revelation as she thought she'd have been. A small part of her even felt as if she had been expecting it, knowing Otoya. "Okay… Is that all?"

"No, no, no," Otoya muttered as she shook her head, despite her eyes being half-lidded. "See, there's been something on my mind, and I gotta ask you about it."

"What is it?"

Otoya grumbled, and Shiena didn't know if it was because she was thinking or if she was so sleepy that words became too hard to form. "So… the dragon… I forgot what they said his name was, but he and Tatiana stopped being enemies after he explained why the kidnappings were happening, right?"

"That's right," Shiena said. "Tatiana understood that it was a pretty bad situation that the dragons couldn't escape from."

"But the important thing," Otoya said, "is that she saw it a less of a monster after understanding why it was doing the things it did."

Shiena shrugged. "That's basically what happened. What about it?"

"Is it really that simple?" Otoya's grip on Shiena's hand tightened without either of them noticing. "To change how you see a person after understanding them, I mean."

Though thinking about the answer was certainly Shiena's priority, her thoughts at that moment couldn't help but split in several directions. When did childish, annoying, hyperactive, carefree Otoya suddenly start thinking about things like these enough to ask about them aloud? Why did that particular aspect of the story strike her the way it did? Why, of all people, did Shiena wind up as the first person she talked to about it? In spite of all the mental turmoil and confusion, she somehow managed to string together an intelligible answer.

"Sometimes it is," Shiena said, "and sometimes it isn't. There are a lot of factors, like how long someone's held an opinion on another person, or how stubborn that someone is about what they think. Sometimes understanding someone might just confirm what you thought about them instead of putting them in a different light. There's no way to tell what a person would think after 'understanding' anything, especially people."

"Oh. I see," Otoya said. For a second, Shiena thought she heard disappointment. "Then, say you met someone who... did bad things because it was the only thing that could make him happy. What then?"

Shiena snorted. "That's oddly specific," she said. "I think it'd be pretty troublesome. On one hand, you'd want to stop him, but on the other, it's not fair to keep him miserable when it's not his fault." A flash of lightning illuminated the room for a split-second, and Shiena allowed the thunder to roll by before speaking again. "Maybe it's just the romantic in me," her eye twitched at the idea, "but it'd be best if he could find some other source of happiness."

Silence followed. At first, Shiena thought that Otoya had fallen asleep during her answer—which was rude, but still something very Otoya to do—but when she did a test by squeezing Otoya's hand, she received a squeeze back.

"I'm awake," Otoya said, as if understanding Shiena's intentions. "I've just been thinking about what you said, and…" Without a word, she let go of Shiena's hands to pull her into an embrace. "Thanks, Shiena-chan."

Shiena squirmed in awkward discomfort. "T-Takechi? Wh-what did I do?"

Chuckling lightly, Otoya let go and pushed her back to her original position to look her in the eye. "You just made me happy, that's all."

The befuddlement on Shiena's face widened Otoya's grin. "What?"

Otoya pretended not to hear her, instead pulling her back into a hug. "Actually, can we sleep like this? I really like the way your hair smells, Shiena-chan."

"Takechi!"

So this is just a(n excessively long) test fic for me to get a handle on Shiena and Otoya and how they'd interact. I made such a thing because I have a multi-chaptered AU fic idea that I may or may not try out sometime in the future. Speaking of AUs, this one takes place in an AU where Otoya wasn't the first one to go. If anything here seems unnatural, then it's because there's very little for me to go on when it comes to how these two interact, based on both the manga and the anime. (Manga Shiena seems to canonically hate Manga Otoya's guts to some degree, but I'm taking that in stride one way or another. XD)

I've also developed a few headcanons to flesh them out in the process of making this fic, and I'll mention a couple of them here. First, Otoya's strikes me as an outdoors type of girl (since she seems to know about insects[arachnids?], and poisonous plants), and when she tries to be close to someone, she holds their shoulder (she does it in episode 3 with Shiena, Haru and Mahiru, and that's just one episode). Finally, the reason Otoya acts the way she does in the last part is because some people are more honest when they're sleepy and she's one of them.

Shiena's the kind of person who says she'll get to bed at [insert relatively early time here] but becomes so focused on something by that time, she stays up to get it done, and she's also the kind of person who usually somehow expresses discomfort over Otoya's affection but doesn't actively do anything to avoid it for some reason.

As for the story within the story, it's just an old project of mine that I tried to make relevant for this. I was also gonna add a tiny additional scene somewhere in the middle, but it got too long so I cut it. :I

Anyway, I hope the fic wasn't too long and uneventful. Feedback is welcome and appreciated. :D