#eriena

Title: Slap Characters: Ena, Eliphas. Some others are involved. Rating: K+ (I think? Hitting and arguing is involved.) Wordcount: 859 Spoiler warning: As always, post canon. {part 1 - part 3}

“That was way too dangerous.”

Ena couldn't say anything else. The silence was heavy and unbearable, occasionally interrupted by Kotori's soft sobbing. Yuma, Astral, Eliphas, the Barian Emperors. They all got heavily injured, and some of them were still unconscious.

The woman was watching outside the window with her arms crossed, nails digging in her own flesh. She didn't want to see any of their faces. “I did tell you not to go.” She wasn't shouting. Her voice was low and icy cold. Ena was simply furious.

“We had to.” Ena turned to see Eliphas standing right behind her. “You had to.” she was looking straight into his eyes. “Is that your best excuse?” she asked. “Look at them. Look at yourself.” her voice's tone had slightly raised.

“It was unavoidable. Sacrifices have to be made if--”

Ena's hand hit Eliphas face before he could notice she had raised her arm. He didn't even flinch; she didn't slap him that hard, after all. Yet, for some reason, he felt deeply hurt. “May I ask for an explanation?” he said, slightly irritated. She brought her hand to her chest, looking down for a moment while she realized what she had done.

She raised her head back up. “On my travels to the human world, I learned a lot.” she started. “They are irrational beings. And because of this, they are able to express their feelings in a multitude of ways.

“I have learned that sometimes, hitting people you care about is a way to show you love them.”

Eliphas didn't understand a word out of her mouth. “If you care about people, why would you try to hurt them?” “Did it hurt?” “No.” “That's because I didn't want to do that.”

Eliphas was exasperated. “Couldn't you be a little more clear? This whole discussion isn't making any sense.”

“I wanted to show you how angry I am. To show you that you may not care about getting hurt or even getting killed, but I do. Referring as yourselves as sacrifices? Are you crazy?!”

“Just because we are friends of human beings now, that doesn't mean you should act like one.” replied Eliphas. “Only stupid beings such as them could think that you can show affection through pain. And you must be just as stupid as they are, if you think so too.” “But I didn't mean to- I wanted to-” she looked for Kotori's aid, but the girl, who was watching over Yuma across the room, was staring at the floor, lost in thought. She had always hit Yuma, albeit not in a serious way, but never once she questioned the other's feelings about it. And after all, was her behaviour even excusable?

She could understand how Ena was feeling, but she couldn't help but think that Eliphas wasn't exactly wrong, and she had took his arguments very personally.

The astral woman felt a little lost, without the human's support. Eliphas took advantage of that. “Hitting only means hurting, and that's that. You're only using humans as an excuse.”

Ena was fuming. “Only hurting, you say?” she shouted. “Well, I'm going to show you the difference!”

She was ready to punch Eliphas right on his nose, but someone had put a hand on her shoulder. Alit was still injured, but he was able to walk towards them to try to make them stop bicker. “Lady, I know his face looks like the perfect punching ball, but I must ask you to stop.” he said in a suave voice. “There are people trying to rest, here. May I suggest you to bring this outside?”

She shook his hand off. “I'll tell you what's going outside.” “Now, now, violence almost never solves things. Why don't you apologize and restart your argument from zero?” suggested the barian. “I'm not apologizing when there's no need for me to.” replied Ena and Eliphas in unison. They looked at each other and then let out an irritated snort.

“Actually, fair lady and grumpy sir, you both need to do that. Both of you are, allow me, acting pretty“stupid”.” He marked quotations with his hands while saying that last word. Eliphas glared down at him. “Ena may have misunderstood a fair amount of things, but that is nothing you can't solve with a nice explanation and a good “I'm sorry for hitting you”. Eliphas, on the other hand, insulted both her and the whole human race. Now, don't you think an apology is needed?” The answer was a firm and cold “No.” They both got offended by the boy's words, and they absolutely meant to hold their ground.

“It's all useless, Alit.” said a voice. “They're both idiots, how do you expect them to get any of it?” Vector was laying down, his arm covering his eyes. He woke up to Ena and Eliphas' bickering, and was less than pleased.

Title: Valentine’s Day Chocolate Rating: K Wordcount: 1015

{part 2 - part 3}

Ena was holding some of those small, brown and strangely shaped things that took Kotori so much time to cook. Kotori had asked for her cooperation, that day, and so she changed her plans and stopped by her house instead of visiting the human world together with Yuma and the others.

The day passed fast as she helped Kotori with ingredients and tools. "Kotori, could you please remind me what these are?"

"These are Valentine’s Day chocolate hearts." explained the girl as she put her apron away. "We will give them to everyone, tomorrow. But first!" Kotori approached Ena and picked one heart from her hands. They were as big as a coin, and there were no cracks in any of them.

"All right, looks are really important for sweets. But they must taste good, too." She brought it near the astral being’s mouth. “Here, Ena-san! Try this one and tell me what do you think!”

The woman was confused by Kotori’s actions, but she understood that she had to eat it from her hand. She slowly opened her mouth, and grabbed the heart with her teeth.

"This…" she chewed slowly and let the chocolate melt in her mouth. "This tastes really good…" She actually liked them so much that she had to stop herself from getting another one right away.

"Why do they have this strange shape? And why do you have to give them away? It took you a lot to make them."  She knew that this "Valentine’s day" had to do with it, but she didn’t quite understand why yet.

"Well… This shape is called 'heart'. It's symbolizes love!" Kotori blushed a little.  "At Valentine’s day, you give chocolate to people you care about. For example, Yuma… A-and Astral and the others, of course"" she added.

"But… why?" "Well… because they’ll be happy about it." The girl didn’t quite know how to explain it. "That’s the main reason."

"I see… We can’t keep them because they’re meant to be a gift." muttered Ena while looking at the pile of heart laying on the table. "You wanted to keep them all for ourselves?" asked Kotori with a small laugh. "If you like them that much, you can take a couple more, Ena-san!"

"Eh? No, I…" Ena was slightly embarrassed, but decided to accept Kotori’s offer and reached out for the chocolate. Apparently, if you wanted to eat them by yourself, you could take them with you own hands. By sharing these love symbols, you are able to give joy to the others. she thought. Human beings can be weird, sometimes, but even so, they manage to do amazing things.

As Ena grabbed a second heart, they heard the front door opening.

"Kotori? It’s us! We're coming in!" Yuma had arrived together with Astral and Eliphas and, as usual, he was making himself home. "Ooh, what’s this smell? Kotori, you made chocolate?!" the boy asked, as he rushed to the kitchen.

"Yes, we-- Yuma! Don’t be greedy!" she shouted as he tried to grab a whole handful of sweets. "These are for Valentine's Day, and they're for everyone!"

"Come on, you made this many…" protested Yuma, as he caressed the hand Kotori had slapped to stop him. "Yuma, be careful." Astral warned him. "She seems to be very protective towards this odd stuff." "I know, I noticed, shut up."

Ena didn’t even noticed they were arguing. She was staring at her hand, and at the little heart in it. She raised her head, and approached Eliphas. "Ena, what is going on?" he asked. "What are those?" "You give them to those important to you." She handed out the chocolate just as Kotori did with her. "These symbolize love, and are gifts able to give you joy. I want you to have this." "Joy?" Eliphas was confused to say the least. Ena's talk about wanting to give him love and happiness, completely out of the blue, floored him.

Kotori, who was threatening Yuma with a nasty looking spoon, gasped quietly. Is this a love confession?! Yuma blinked. What was Kotori all worked up for, so suddenly? He tried to sneak a hand behind her back. She smacked it with her spoon, without taking her eyes off Eliphas and Ena. "You should give up." said Astral, as clueless as Yuma.

"You have to eat it. You must open your mouth." explained the Astral woman, seeing Eliphas puzzled face. He had no idea why he should have done that.  Yet, for some reason, in that moment he just couldn't say no to Ena, and he hesitatingly obeyed. (Kotori had to cover her mouth to stop a squeal.)

"So? What do you think?" Eliphas answered after a couple of seconds. "It feels… warm." Kotori punched Yuma’s arm. "Is it normal?" The question was aimed to the two human beings. "Yes, yes it is!" quickly answered Kotori, before Yuma could say a word.

"That’s happiness! Ena’s feelings have reached you!" "Ena’s feelings…?" the man looked at Ena. She seemed proud of herself. "Kotori, what are you even--" The girl glared at him, and Yuma stopped in the middle of the sentence.

"Just get your chocolate and get out." she blurted out as she went back spying on Ena and Eliphas. They were now having a normal conversation about human world, but who knew, maybe some more interesting things could have happened!

Yuma finally got his hands over some tiny hearts. "Sometimes I don’t understand you at all." he said as he handed some chocolate over to Astral.  "It’s almost like when you're watching those romance movies and the character are about to- OH!" he shouted. He just had an epiphany.  "You want them to--" "YUMA!"