AN: I recommend "A Certain Scientific Railgun" (original spin-off of Index) to everybody who enjoyed the main series. Much more Misaka and Kuroko development. Kuroko herself is a very unusual character - she loves power and authority, but never lets herself be blinded by them. Her connection to Misaka is also interesting to watch.

This is a look at that special relationship and my contribution to the To Aru Majutsu no Index section. I hope you'll enjoy reading.

Wings of Eventuality

Kuroko's ESP first manifested itself in the ability to ground her sparring partners half a second faster than most. Some sore losers would later complain about how their training uniforms seemed to leap into the girl's hands the moment she so much as touched them.

Much use her power was, merely hastening the inevitable.

Half-stifling a grunt of annoyance, Kuroko let her fingertips form patterns in the air, tracing the flight path of an angry bee. This nonproductive action was the latest in a series of attempts to alleviate her growing frustration. It failed to provide even momentary relief – her mind immediately screamed at her to stop fooling around and get down to solving the problem at hand. However, the moment she listened to the advice, the ungrateful cognitive organ would revolt once more and refuse to do anymore work. She found herself in a pointless loop.

Always one second, one critical move behind. They could analyze the most probable future targets and she herself could be there in a single instant, but that was merely coming a second too late. Wash, rinse and repeat until whoever is behind the most recent series of incidents is filled with hubris enough to expose themselves. When that happened, Kuroko would be the first one there to smash the delinquent's face in. Too late and merely hastening the inevitable.

Her eyes were tired from staring at the static computer screen. She had facts: dates, places, names and occurrences, but those facts denied her any help and wouldn't speak to her. They weren't specific enough to single out a solution, or even worse, they proved contradictory and incongruous – people being seen in two places at once, changing appearances and abilities apparently whimsically, denying her any solid evidence.

A demon came at her. Claws from the darkness.

One eye closed – that was instinctive, involuntary reaction; the other one narrowed, scanned the area for her attacker – that was training turned habit. Likewise, one of her hands went forward to form a defensive stance while the other one leapt for the keyboard nearby – as long as she could teleport it, it was as deadly a weapon as any.

The assaulter, attracted to the glow of the screen and clumsy enough to collide with Kuroko's face, fluttered away in disorderly retreat. The tiny wings were those of a moth, transformed by her tired and nervous mind into something altogether more sinister.

Here she was, after all, abusing her authority and overstepping her competences, plowing through people's private data to solve a case she had already started considering personal, all that in a Judgment office long closed and technically off limits even to her. She was risking getting caught and severely punished, for the sake of pride. But her consciousness labeled it firmly as Duty.

If pride, then hurting pride. If Duty, than unfulfilled Duty.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, Kuroko pushed herself off of the chair she was sitting on.

The cold night air bit into her skin. Her hair danced, up it went, towards the sky, with the loving wind – but its embrace was fickle and already the strands were falling freely to her shoulders and face.

Kuroko's feet landed exactly where the designated goal of her teleportation was.

The bustling sounds of the street below reached her ears, giving her the uncanny feeling of breaking the surface of water and discovering the noise had always been there. It was past curfew – no students were present and only supply trucks made their runs at this hour. The noise climbed a long way up the glass surface of Academy City's tallest building to reach her. Still, each mechanic grunt was well-pronounced in the absence of other noise.

The flashing lights told a similar tale. They were always present, but certainly not unchanged. Light was not itself until it could illuminate darkness, until it could cast its spell and capture your eyes.

Kuroko absorbed it all, the rhythm and visage of her personal magic place, and felt completely disillusioned.

Her headache didn't abate. A shiver passed down her frame.

What she had always relied on for comfort wouldn't pull her through this night. The reverie of a sleeping city was too distant and her own powerlessness too real.

With pellucid finality, she realized she'd have to resort to the second of her two addictions.

She blinked.

She plunged herself into a new area, warmer but without the pleasant crispness in the air.

To her dismay, she had appeared some two steps away from her bed in her dorm room, and not a single one, as she had planned. She assessed distances through habit alone and irregularities like these put her on edge. They were proof of imperfection in her ability and easily made her uneasy. Just like the light in the room, out of place-

Light?

Kuroko's eyes sought the source and found their desk lamp was still turned on. It lent its shine to the features of the girl crumpled on the desk.

Now Kuroko took in all the details of the room – she could see out of the corner of her eye that neither of the two beds had been used that night – Kuroko had teleported out shortly after the evening inspection. Misaka had apparently chosen the hard wooden surface of the desk over a comfortable pillow. Her silly, silly, onee-sama.

Prodigy electromancer gives hope to paralyzed patients.

That was the newspaper headline on the day when Kuroko, still a near-powerless level one with a road of hardship ahead of her, decided to embrace Academy City for better or for worse.

She approached her sleeping roommate with an exasperated smile on her face, remembering to teleport her outdoor shoes off her feet to save time cleaning up the floor afterwards. She stepped lightly. It wouldn't do to wake the other girl up.

With a careful and controlled movement, she ran a finger down Misaka's short hair.

She would sometimes joke about a wake-up kiss, but this was quite enough for her. The proximity, being able to freely absorb her friend's serene beauty, those were the only things Kuroko really needed.

Misaka had everything Kuroko held dear. The electromancer had power (because, yes, Kuroko desired power – power to protect the innocent, power to prevent wrongdoings) and a heart uncorrupted by power.

Kuroko let her hand drop and took a step back. She felt becalmed, ready to tackle the odds once more. She closed her eyes and prepared her teleport designates.

"Kuroko."

It was at times like these, when words alone could pin her down as surely as iron nails, that Kuroko questioned whether Misaka's powers lied in electromancy alone.

"Did I wake you up, onee-sama?" Kuroko asked without opening her eyes "Please don't let yourself be bothered by the ruckus I made."

"Kuroko."

After a second of hesitation, Kuroko's eyelids fluttered open and she locked gazes with the other girl.

"Yes, Misaka-onee-sama?"

Kuroko was a born competitor and refused to stand down in any match. All the same, there were cases when even she admitted defeat was obvious, when her resolve melted like snow before the warm voice and eyes of her friend.

"You're still working on that case?" the scientific railgun asked before having to stifle a yawn.

Misaka was Kuroko's strength. By extension, she was also her weakness. She would ask for Kuroko to call off the search for the night, and Kuroko would give in, with no power to even consider opposing her friend's wishes.

Kuroko sighed.

"Yes, progress has been elusive."

Misaka stood up, stretched her arms with a low purr and walked past Kuroko to her bed.

"Promise me you'll take a break tomorrow."

Kuroko blinked in surprise.

Misaka grabbed a blouse she had prepared earlier and put it on, turning back to Kuroko as she tried to straighten it.

"It's not like you'll be able to sleep tonight anyway, so we might as well get something done," she crossed the distance between them and placed a hand on Kuroko's shoulder "I'll keep you company. If nothing else, I can at least make good coffee."

Kuroko stared speechlessly at the taller girl. She who had always fought for her own comfort, and even now could not get used to being showered with kindness.

She threw her arms around her partner in crime.

"With utmost pleasure, Misaka-onee-sama!"

Even in the toughest of times, it seemed inevitable Misaka would eventually come to her rescue.

END