Before The End

Antics

Kenji

I rub my eyes, and stretch my neck. Nazeera's standing at the corner of the bed, the bandage wrapped around her upper body is poking out her short shirt.

"How are you feeling?"

She smiles lightly and nods.
"Better, thank you."

Ugh I love her smile so much.
Shoving off the blanket, I almost freeze to death.
I wrestle my shoes with their stupid laces back on and trudge towards the door.

"I'm going to my room to change." I inform Nazeera, my hand hesitant on the handle.
"It'll be fast."

She looks at me for a second, clears her throat and directs her gaze to the floor.
"It would be more...logical, if you bring some of your things here."

I let the grin take over my face,
"More logical huh?"

Her teeth slide over her bottom lip and she looks back up at me.
"Convenient. Less time consuming."

She's obviously right, I'm always with her and hate having to go and come back so many times.
But I love that she doesn't want me to go either. Even if she isn't going to admit it outright.

I walk to her and give her a quick peck.
"Then I'll do that."

Nazeera smiles once more.
That smile could convince me to do anything.
—————————————————————

I rush through my shower, almost slip on the water. Someone knocks on my door as I get into a pair of pants.

Pretty sure it's Nazeera, so I swing it open. She's grinning at me, wearing a simple grey flowy tunic.
"Hey."

Pulling her into the room, I frown at her outfit.
"Naz, it's the freaking tundra outside. Where's your jacket?"

She shrugs,
"My jackets are tight. Tight clothes will prevent my burns from healing properly."

Oh right.
I kiss her cheek, I'm beyond relieved that she's helping herself now. But freezing isn't an option either.
Scouring through my drawers, I grab myself a shirt and one of my jumpers for her.

"Put this on. It won't be tight." I hand her the black clothing and her lips curve up.

"Thank you." Nazeera does so. She eyes my bare chest and raises an eyebrow,
"If you wear the same thing, I'm taking it off."

I mockingly gasp, pulling on my shirt.
"You don't want to match with me?"

"It would be an insult to my fashion sense." She lifts her chin and crosses her arms.

"Wow."
Shit she's so cute I want to just kiss her all over. 

I lean in closer but she stands her ground, as expected. Beautiful face expressionless. Nazeera would never let anyone win against her, of course.

Picking up a different jacket for myself, I nod,
"Fine. Just don't take anything off."

Then with a smirk, I whisper in her ear,
"I can do that for you later tonight."

She stills, eyebrows shooting up.
It's crazy how I can make her flustered. I love it.
The way her steely composure slips for just a millisecond because of me.
Nazeera rolls her eyes a beat later,
"Don't get your hopes up, Kishimoto."

She spins on her heels and yanks open the door to leave. While I stumble after her, grinning victoriously.
————————————————————————

Juliette and Warner are sitting with everyone else when we reach the dining tent.
At this point we kind of own this tent, not many Sanctuary dwellers around us, opting to sit away from our group.
Some folded tables are connected to each other so all ten of us can sit.

"It's like a cult." Nazeera comments as we take our seats.
I chuckle, "Or a high school clique."

If you asked me whether I was happy or not about a year ago, I would've lied and said yes.
Those days pale in comparison to the elation I feel sitting here holding Nazeera's hand and laughing with my friends.
It's all so unbelievable. They are memories I want to capture in a snow globe, shake it every once in a while just to relive the moment.
I didn't know I could be as happy as I am right now.

Sadly we still have a shit ton of things to do and our peace is short lived.

"Kenji." Juliette calls my name as everyone's chairs get screeched back. She walks towards me with a grin, I'm so glad that J is also so happy. Haven't seen a frown on her face since she woke.

"Who's that?" I answer, intertwining my fingers with Nazeera's. It's instinctive to touch Nazeera whenever I can. My body's drawn to her, desperately seeking contact like it's life or death.

J speaks with her hands on her hips,
"I want to see your reconstruction progress in the sector. There's a few things I think we should do."

"I'm not hearing a 'please'." I look Juliette up and down.

"Please."

"Please what?" I cup my ear and she groans annoyed.

"Nazeera, do you mind if I punch him in the face?" Juliette gazes at my girl.

Naz shrugs, "Go for it."

"Why am I being attacked?" I glance at my gorgeous woman.
"What did I do to deserve this?"

"Do you want a list?"

With a huff, I turn back to Juliette.
"Lead the way princess. I'll just need a minute to pick up the broken pieces of my heart."

Nazeera sighs as J shakes her head and begins to walk.

"You're so melodramatic." Nazeera mumbles, kissing my cheek then dragging me along with her.
Yeah, my life's going great.
——————————————

Juliette has laid out an annotated map of Sector 241. Lines, writing and arrows scribbled around messily indicating her vision.

"Damn Jello." I say nodding at her work,
"Pablo Picasso would be impressed."

"Kenji focus." My best friend gestures to a set of drawn houses. Well they're more like boxes. Wait, that's the neighborhood Nazeera and I visited the other day.

I follow along some arrows while Juliette continues to explain. The arrows lead to bigger blocks with their own labels. Basically, J has constructed her specific plan on what the sector is going to look like.

"This is important, Kenji. This sector is our base of operations, it's where we start the beginning of a new world."

I glimpse at Nazeera who's studying the layout very closely. Her brows are slightly furrowed and honey eyes calculating.
Everytime I look at her, I notice something new to love.

While she's distracted, I sneak a kiss on her cheek. Nazeera's lips curve up but she doesn't break her train of thought. She's so beautiful, my brain literally cannot handle it. Cannot comprehend how the hell someone is as gorgeous as her.

"KENJI." Juliette snaps at me and I blink startled.

"What?"

J sighs, "Do I need to kick you out?"

"Why?" I cross my arms and sigh,
"Am I distracting you with my handsomeness again?"

Juliette looks at me flabbergasted,
"Wha- you're the one not paying attention."

"Dammit J. You can't like me like that, I have a girlfriend." I pinch the bridge of my nose as her jaw drops.

"You are so annoying." J huffs, and I hear Nazeera let out a whistle.

"Wait until I tell Warner." She clicks her tongue, shaking her head disapprovingly at Juliette.

Juliette turns shades of bright pink and Nazeera laughs, squeezing her shoulder apologetically