Kilik paused as he waited for any potential follow up questions from the other councilmembers. None of the council spoke up. The few that hadn’t said anything yet seemed to have already made up their minds.
“If there are no more questions, then let’s move on to the vote,” he said. “Veronica, if you may.”
“Of course,” she nodded. “We will begin the vote of whether or not to accept Yuki’s proposition. I take it you are offering the version with the addition you made when you spoke with Vermilion?”
“Yes,” Yuki replied. “We move forward with the plan the described. If I cannot hold my side of the bargain, then we shall return to discuss a different course of action.”
“Then let’s proceed,” Veronica said. “We will start with Vernon. If you want to give reasoning for your decision, you may.”
“Thank you, Veronica,” Vernon said. “I think my stance on this is quite obvious. I vote aye. I agree that we should strike soon and since you guys would never go with my plans, this young lady’s plan is the closest thing. We must hit them fast and never let them see it coming. Then they will know. I yield.”
“One vote for aye,” Veronica said. “Next. Jared.”
“Thank you,” he replied. “I would like to say that I appreciate Yuki for trying to alleviate my worries about this plan. I am still worried though. This plan, as logical as it sounds, is still something that hinges on a number of unknowns. However, with the addition of the option to cancel the plan should something go wrong, I feel like there isn’t any harm in going forward with this. I say aye.”
Yuki gave Jared a small nod and smile.
“Two votes for aye,” Veronica counted. “I am next. I’ll keep this short as the decision seems quite cut and dry to my eyes. My point to the plan Yuki has laid out is ‘why not’. If the speech is given, then we did the correct course of action. If it wasn’t going to be given, we still did what we were aiming to do. The plan has many parts where we can back out should we feel like it will fail. So, three votes for aye. Kilik?”
“I will vote last,” he replied. “Move on to Vermilion.”
“I vote aye. There is nothing I want to add,” Vermilion said.
“Four for aye. Garen?” Veronica asked.
“Aye. I agree with your reasoning,” he said. Yuki let out a soft sigh of relief. Her plan would go forward. It didn’t matter what the rest voted now. “It wouldn’t hurt to try out the plan. It seems well thought out.”
“Five for aye. The proposition passes,” Kilik announced. “However, I will allow Halie to give her vote and reasoning. Go ahead.”
“Thank you, Kilik,” she said with a smile. She turned to look at Yuki. “I say aye. The Shikaku are much more of a threat than I had realised. I do believe we should strike quickly. My only reservation is that this will for sure pull attention to us. The fight won’t be a quiet one.”
“Thank you for your input,” Kilik said. He paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts. “I’ll give my reasoning now and my vote. I want to start off by saying I too vote aye. I agree with everything that Yuki said. I am surprised though, that none of you have brought up one possible problem. The lack of force.
“What Halie said about the battle drawing attention is true. There is no way around it. We must try to minimize it, but I doubt that we can. Because of that, there should be no reservation in how much force we hit them with. Yuki and her group are strong. That cannot be denied. But the amount of people that will be between us and their leadership along with the leadership themselves will be a tough obstacle for them to overcome. They will need help. However, there is not enough time for us to approve new members to the strike group.”
“I’m planning to bring Ember as well,” Yuki said. “If you are willing to lend her to me.”
“Of course, but that still won’t be enough. They have robots. A number of guards. And every person in the Shikaku knows how to fight. Their leaders are among the top of the three races. Fighting groups and fighting individuals are two different skills. Going after people trying to escape is another skill. You need more help.”
“What are you suggesting?” Veronica asked. “That one of us goes with the strike group?”
“Not one of you,” he said with a shake of his head. “I do not want to risk your lives. You have cities to attend to.”
He locked eyes with Yuki.
“I will go. I will lend my help to you.”
Yuna wasn’t sure what she was doing inside Yuki’s apartment. Normally, she would be back at her own place, preparing for the next day. She was going to be returning to the Libra Taskforce after a long break so she wanted to get a good night’s rest and maybe catch up on any reports sent her way.
But when Yuki invited her to stay for the night, she couldn’t refuse. Now, she sat on the couch staring at the television without really absorbing anything that was happening on it. It seemed that Akira and Erica were playing a game together and from their tone, it was becoming quite competitive.
‘What’s Yuki doing?’ she thought.
After making dinner and eating her serving, Yuki retreated to her room. Yuna hadn’t thought to ask what she was up to. Planning was her assumption, but that was hours ago and Yuki had already planned everything the night before. Yuna knew that for sure. She helped.
‘It wouldn’t hurt to look. Maybe I can help her?’
She got up from her seat, Akira and Erica not seeming to notice, and crept her way toward Yuki’s bedroom. The door was shut, but when she twisted the knob, it opened up easily.
The inside of the room was dim. The only light came from a soft yellow holographic screen. On the bed all curled up was Yuki with her eyes shut.
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‘So she is sleeping,’ Yuna thought. ‘I should leave. I don’t want to bother her.’
But something in her didn’t want to and her feet stayed planted on the floor. She was going back tomorrow and she wouldn’t see Yuki again for a day or two and when they did meet again, it wouldn’t be a friendly one. It would during the operation.
‘I want to say bye at least,’ she thought. ‘I’ll do that. Only that.’
She tiptoed to Yuki’s bedside and leaned over, intending to shake Yuki just a little. She paused though as she stared at Yuki sleeping so peacefully.
‘She’s so pretty,’ Yuna thought mindlessly. ‘Even without makeup.’
With all her training and the events of the last week or so, Yuna didn’t have many opportunities to talk with Yuki. And when they had, Yuna always felt a bit too shy to talk for long whenever she saw that smile. She had tried to be more normal, but it just wasn’t possible at times.
Her mind went back to what Yuki said at the meeting with the Dragon Council. When she said why she was fighting the Shikaku. She had said she was doing it to protect the ones she loved. Then she gestured at Yuna and the others.
‘She couldn’t have meant me,’ Yuna thought. ‘She was talking about Akira and Erica. Unless she was talking about familial love. I guess that’s possible.’
Unless she did mean it in that way. But Yuna just couldn’t believe that. There wasn’t anyway.
“Akira really was right,” a soft voice said.
Yuna started as she realised that Yuki had woken up. Yuki was staring at her with bright grey eyes that glittered with amusement and something else that Yuna couldn’t place.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to bother you,” Yuna said quickly. “I can leave if you want me to.”
She began to back away before Yuki hooked her fingers to stop her.
“No. Stay. Actually. Come here.”
She pulled Yuna closer and made space on the bed. Yuna hesitated a moment but gave in as Yuki tugged her a bit hard and laid down on the bed with her back to Yuki.
“What did you mean Akira was right?” Yuna asked quietly. If she turned around, she knew that Yuki’s face would be just inches away.
Yuki didn’t reply and instead gave Yuna a small hug while burrowing her face into Yuna’s neck. Yuna tensed for a moment before relaxing ever so slightly. It felt nice.
“About you,” Yuki whispered at last. Her mouth was right beside Yuna’s ear. The breath from her lips sent shivers down Yuna’s spine. “You really are oblivious, aren’t you?”
“What do you mean?” Yuna replied, her mind on autopilot as she tried to calm herself down.
“When I was gone, I did a lot of thinking,” Yuki said. “A lot of thinking. Thinking was all I could do. One of the things I thought about the most was about those dear to me. You know, Yuna. All you needed to do was ask.”
“Ask? Ask what?”
Yuki shifted around and Yuna felt herself get pushed onto her back. Yuki leaned over her with a soft smile.
“The question you always seemed to want to know. ‘Do you love me?’”
Yuna’s heart raced as her eyes widened. Her mind wasn’t too frozen that she couldn’t connect the dots of what was happening here.
“Is. Is this…?”
“It took something like this for you to see,” Yuki giggled. “I couldn’t wait any longer. I wanted you to get that confidence to ask, but no more. So Yuna. What do you think the answer is?”
“I...I don’t know,” she blushed, looking away.
“Then let me tell you. It’s yes, you blockhead.”
With gentle fingers, Yuki tilted Yuna’s head and leaned down brushing their lips together.
“And in case you doubt it,” she whispered, “let me convince tonight.”