Sapphire and Emerald (Private - Ith and Xald - M(LEc))

Jessie's feelings were all upside-down, knowing she hadn't been rejected, but still not able to help feeling a little like she had been. She didn't know what to say or think, so she just nodded slightly, leaning in for another kiss, reassuring herself that everything was going to work out. Even then, she couldn't help herself enough, to prevent a single, hopeful tear from rolling down her cheek, hidden between the countless droplets of water running down her face. Then, finally, her heart told her the answer she needed to give. "I'll wait, until you know the answer, I'll wait, no matter how long." She looked into her beloved Sarah's eyes with a gaze full of hope, gently smiling at her.

"I'll try and be quick for you then..." She said, smiling back at her and giving her yet another kiss. Her arms held Jessie close, oblivious to the water dropping on them and focused on holding the girl whose heart she assumed she'd just broken.

Jessie no longer had enough strength in her to answer her meister, dwelling in her embrace, delving into the kiss, her feelings painfully unchanged. She still loved the girl in front of her and the biggest wish she had ever had was for Sarah to one day, return the feelings Jessie felt. She felt like melting into her meister, wanting to never seperate, unsure how she should respond to her meister from now on, once she was to let her go. No, silly Jessie, there was only one way to meet Sarah now, and that was with unchanged love, though she might have to suppress openly showing her feelings for a little while, to give the other girl the room she needed, after being confessed to multiple times on the same day. After a time that felt like an eternity to Jessie, in reality only lasting about 30 seconds, she raised her head, to meet with Sarah's beautiful eyes again, not able to contain a short moment of pleading. "Please be."
A split-second later she shut her mouth, unwilling to let any more pressuring phrases out. Sarah needed to decide this with her heart, not in response to Jessie's pathetic pleading. Her gaze shifted downwards, guilty.

Sarah gently cupped Jessie's chin, tilting her head back up to look into the soft green eyes with her light blue ones. Slowly, she leaned forward, planting a long, loving kiss on Jessie's lips. "I will... Promise." She whispered against Jessie's lips, her free hand snaking down to wrap her pinkie around one of Jessie's and giving it a small squeeze.

Losing herself in the kiss, Jessie only noticed what her beloved had said, when Sarah's pinky had wrapped around her own, making her mirror the gesture, squeezing and whispering the same word Sarah had just placed on her lips. "Promise." Her eyes regained some of the shine they usually had, when the promise had been sealed. Her face and heart lightened up, finally letting hope take it's firm hold on her.

With the mood beginning to lift, Jessie even regained some of her humor, when she remembered the mark she had left on her meister's neck. If Sarah was to decide to don her usual hair-style it would be clearly visible. Though wanting her mark to be seen, she still decided to give Sarah a hint, to at least make her aware. "Heh~ I don't know if you noticed... but maybe you should take a look in the mirror." Jessie's voice was back to her normal teasing, one finger slightly gesturing into the direction of her own neck, making a mental note, to also check her own neck for hickeys.

Sarah peeked out of the shower, her cheeks turning red when she caught sight of the mark. She turned to Jessie and gave a small, annoyed glance before suddenly lunging forward, her lips wrapping around the sensitive skin of Jessie's neck and sucking hard, intent on leaving just as visible a mark on her weapon.

At first, Jessie was amused enough to close her eyes, and stifle a wave of laughter, thus leaving her unaware and prone, and when Sarah's lips suddenly closed around her neck, sucking hard, the explosive feeling made her yelp out, hands darting up and grabbing into her meister's wet hair, taking hissing breaths while Sarah was leaving her mark on Jessie.
"Haaaaaannnn~~ S-Saraaahhh~~"
Her flashed mind barely managed to cross the mental note about looking for hickeys on herself, because as of now there certainly was one, and even if she had wanted to cover it later on, her methods on to how would be limited. For now she was content with the intense feeling on her neck.

Sarah continued to suck for another couple of moments before pulling her head away, inspecting the red mark on Jessie's neck. She smirked up at the girl. "There. Now we're even."

This time it was Jessie's turn to peek out of the shower, only the spot the red mark where she had just felt Sarah's lips. Still slightly flustered, a tinge of red on her cheeks, she returned into the shower, puffing her bare chest proudly, grinning at her meister. "Hehe~ Thanks~ Just so you know, there's no way in hell I'll cover this up, I'll present it to the whole world. So, don't you even dare to try and hide it either, okay~" Her words were phrased as a question, her voice however left no room for saying no or debating the matter.
Then she turned around to leave the shower, grasping for towel to dry herself with. "And I think it's about time we got out of the shower, I don't want us to catch a cold now."

Sarah turned the shower off, drying herself off as well and grabbing the replacement hospital gown. She fit it over her head, giving a small twirl and sending it spinning out around her. She laughed softly before exiting, leaving Jessie to dress in her more complex outfit.

After Jessie had finished drying herself off, she only had time enough to fit herself into her black-laced underwear, which still carried last night's scent, before she was left behind by Sarah, who had it much easier with her gown. She continued with fitting herself into her bra and dress, before she suddenly realized that a certain plastic bag was still lying around in the hospital room, and continued to rush into her thigh-highs, then leaving the bathroom, as her hoodie-jacket and sneakers were still in the other room. Luckily her hair wasn't too messy, though it could have used a few brushes with a comb.
She silently prayed to Shinigami that Sarah hadn't noticed the bag with the nurse uniform, or at least hadn't been curious enough to look inside yet. It was, after all, supposed to be a surprise for another time and at the same time, a memento. Another thought struck her. Hopefully no curious nurses had entered the room, while they had been showering. Either way, she was silently out of breath already after a few steps.

Sarah was resting in the bed, stretched out and smiling, eyes closed. Everything seemed to be in order, and the bag was right where Jessie had left it, undisturbed.

At the sight of the bag being how she had left it, Jessie sighed out of relief. She then approached the bed, placing herself on the chair next to it, elbows resting on the bed, her hands supporting her head, while she enjoyed the sight of her meister smiling, making a gentle smile appear on her face, too.
A lot had happened already, but Jessie had a feeling that this was only the beginning of a far greater and longer tale.

After some time there was a knock on the door. A nurse stepped in, holding Sarah's clothes in her hands. "Glad to see you're looking better. If you want to get dressed, you can get checked out before noon." She said with a cheery smile, setting the clothes on Sarah's bed. She scrambled up instantly, gathering her clothes and slipping into the bathroom. She exited 5 or so minutes later, fitting the small bobbles into the loose braids on the side of her hair.

Jessie had been playing with the thought of following Sarah, turning the change of clothes into another funny game, but she resisted herself and put her shoes and jacket on while she waited, noticing the "Weapon" plaquette, that was still pinned onto the jacket, removing it with a smile.
That also reminded her of something and when her meister left the bathroom, she turned to her, meanwhile having taken possession of the bag again.
"You know, I just remembered that we still have to make the whole partnership official..." A wry smile hushed over her face. "By the way, you look gorgeous." The last was obviously a play at their hickeys, fully visible and all, but also an honest compliment, seeing that her meister had recovered from a broken rip and a rahter adventurous night just splendidly..

Sarah ran her fingers through her hair, straightening everything out and tastefully covering her hickey with her long hair and sticking her tongue out at Jessie. "At least my hair is long enough to ~hide~ it." She teased.

Jessie had no retort but to pout. "Fine~"
She was obviously teasing, but the lingering thought that maybe Sarah didn't want anyone to see the hickey was nagging on her. She told herself off, reminding herself that that was nothing unusual, many girls were conscious of something like that. That she herself didn't care, or rather was proud, didn't mean that Sarah had to feel the same. "You feeling ready to go? I can't wait to start training~"

Sarah took in a deep breath, finding no issues with her breathing. She pressed her hand against her stomach and ribs, only wincing slightly and feeling minor pain. "Yeah, I'm ready." She said with a smile. She went over to a small console on the wall, pressing the 'call nurse' button and flopping back on the bed, stretching out.

Jessie placed herself next to her meister, enjoying the closeness. She was eager to spend even more time with Sarah, she wanted to start training, to go on missions, but she reminded herself of the fact that not only her meister was injured and probably tired, but that she might have plans already. She decided that asking was better than mulling. "So, do you have plans after this? If not, maybe wie could grab a bite?"

Sarah thought for a moment before turning to Jessie. "You live in the dorms, right? Or you're going to?" She asked, obviously having something planned. She broke into a broad smile. "Why don't you move in to my apartment. We wouldn't be able to be too loud because of my sister and her baby, but still, it would be nice to live together."

Jessie turned to Sarah with a slightly surprised expression. She had thought about living together with her meister earlier, not only because she wanted to be with her, but also because it was very practical. Though she had put the thought aside, when Sarah had mentioned that she needed time earlier, because living together with her wasn't exactly the same as giving her the room she needed.
Still, now that Sarah had brought it up, Jessie began to smile.
"Yeah, I was supposed to, but I haven't unpacked anything yet. And yeah, living together sounds really nice. We can inform the Academy when we go to make the partnership official, yeah? And don't worry about the noise, I'll just have to cover your mouth with something before we start..." After a moment though, another fact sank into her mind. "You live together with your sister?"

"Not... exactly. We live on different floors, but my sister has some social phobia's, so I managed to convince the building supervisor to put a small staircase between out apartments." She explained, legs kicking up and down. "Course, now that she's got Lucia, and her girlfriend Jasmine, she doesn't need me as much."

Jessie was listening intently, realizing that her meister was even more awesome than she had assumed 'til now. "All-girls residence, huh? Guess I'll look after her and the baby, too." Jessie's mind however was already drifting back to their noise problem, thinking of several possible solutions. "Hmmm... about the noise thingy... maybe we could get the supervisor to install some soundproofing around the bedroom? Or at least get his permission. I think I could get my family to organize something then... though the whole gagging thing seems interesting enough.." Jessie wasn't too comfortable about mentioning her family, because she didn't know her real parents and didn't consider any of the two distinguished houses she had lived in as her family. One had simply taken her in and not really treated her well, while the other had been a stuck-up lineage-based thing that only cared for her in the matter of the her weapon form, which was related to their lineage of weapons. While thinking about her ancestry she started scowling and twirling one of her bangs of grey hair, absentmindedly.

Sarah noticed the change in Jessie's disposition, looking over at her and frowning. "Hey, are you alright? You look a little... pissed." She said, laying a hand on Jessie's shoulder. There was no time for Jessie to explain, however, as the door opened and the nurse from earlier came in, a clipboard in one hand. "Alright, I assume you're ready to be discharged?" She asked kindly, offering the clipboard to Sarah. Sarah nodded, filling it out before handing it back to the nurse. The nurse smiled, nodding her head. "We hope you were happy with your care. Have a good day~." She said, leaving the room and leaving them able to leave.

Jessie was about to explain the whole thing, when the nurse came in, giving her the time to think the whole thing through, deciding that it would be better to keep that for a time when they had nothing else to do, becasue the whole story could get rather lenghty. While Sarah was busy signing the release note, Jessie's expression darkened once more before lighting up again, when she heard that they could leave. After the nurse had left, she turned around to Sarah to give her the explanation she had prepared in the case someone had asked, intenting to tell her the whole thing later.
"Mhm... it's just that thinking about my family.. isn't the most enjoyable thing... I kinda grew up in stuck-up, asshatty, traditional environment... and that's really not my thing, thus we were on kinda bad terms the whole time... I could go into details, but that would take some time, so I think I'd better tell you about it when we have more time, kay? Anyway, I guess we should be on our way then?" Jessie got up from the bed, grabbing the bag once again.