Creation of the Spirits, a Chrno Crusade fanfic

AN: In which Chrono and Rosette are told to get a room, please.

Chrono

Rosette spent the day accidentally torturing Chrono with daydreams. Very detailed, very vivid, sensual daydreams, with himself as the star of the show. Her imagination dwelt on his mouth, his hands, the way his eyes fluttered shut when they kissed. She daydreamed about kissing him, of feeling him arch beneath her hands, of the sounds he made when she touched him. She thought about how soft his hair was, of his skin, of the way he shivered when she stroked him between the shoulder blades, or when she kissed his neck. She dreamed of being kissed, of his hair falling like a curtain as he covered her. She daydreamed about his touch, of his kisses, of the warmth of his body, of using his shoulder as a pillow, and the way the woke up in the morning, sprawled across each other, or tangled together.

He wouldn't have minded if there was anything he could do about fulfilling those fantasies--but he'd been stuck in a meeting for most of the morning. "Rosette!"He protested for the tenth time that morning, "You're doing it again!"

Under other circumstances, Rosette's embarrassment might have been funny. "I'm sorry!" She said. She was in another part of the City, attending classes; history, math, politics, language. "I can't concentrate!"

Chrono didn't think it was lack of concentration that was the problem. "Rosette, if you want we could take a break?" He offered. Again.

"No!"Rosette said, horrified. "Leave just to--no! Just no, and anyway, I don't think I could, not with Sister Kate and Joshua being around."

Chrono stifled a groan."They already know, and it's not like they'd be watching," Chrono pointed out.

"Chrono!"Rosette protested, even more horrified now.

He was about to reply, when he realized that he was being stared at. Apparently his silence had gone on for too long. "The Master is conferring with the Queen concerning the issue," Duffau said, covering for him, much to Chrono's relief and embarrassment.

"The Queen is undecided," Chrono said at Duffau's prompting. "She would like to arrange a meeting with you," he said to the delegates, and arranged the appointment.

The meeting was adjourned, and once the last of the delegates had left the room Duffau turned to him and said, "I would not presume to advise you on this matter, but you and the Queen need to spend time alone together. All meetings and classes have been cancelled." Like an echo, Chrono could hear Gilgamesh giving a similar speech to a protesting Rosette.

That made him smile. Rosette, demanding school work? She wasn't a bad student, not really, just impatient, and easily bored, and she regarded schoolwork that didn't involve gymn class or a firing range as something to be put off until the last moment or avoided entirely. "I'd think that you didn't love me any more, if I didn't have evidence to the contrary," he told her.

Rosette was chagrinned."Chrono! You know I--" Then she realized he was teasing her. "Ooh, just you wait!"

In response, he sent her all of the frustrated desire he'd been feeling for the past few days. "I think that's the problem," he told her. "The waiting." Her response to that was inarticulate. Grinning, he exited the room.

Chrono reached their quarters first, taking shameless advantage of his greater speed. He had just enough time to key the music and drop to one knee, head bowed as Rosette burst into the room. "I hate it when you do that!" She said. "Don't kneel!"

"It makes you uncomfortable, but you don't hate it." He glanced up, and tried not to grin. Rosette was blushing.

"Yes I do!" She declared. "Now get up, before I smack you!" She took him by the hand, and drew him to his feet.

"Yes Your Majesty," he said teasingly, and laughed when she swatted him. Before he could dodge aside, she jumped up and wrapped an arm around his neck, making him stagger as she noogied him with her free hand. He struggled, but not very hard, because he was laughing.

"You're too damned tall," Rosette complained. "And stop laughing at me!" She noogied him harder. Chrono stooped, and picked her up, ignoring her indignant "Hey!"

He carried her over to the couch, and set her down. Chrono knelt at her feet, and started to untie her boots. "Let me do this," Chrono said when she started to protest. He smiled up at her. "We're taking a break."

Rosette flushed again. "Gil told me I was too distracted to concentrate," she grumbled. "He said, 'you need to engage in intimacy with your partner, Miss Christopher,'" she said, deepening her voice as she quoted Gil.

"Is that so bad?" Chrono asked glancing up at her. He tugged off her boots and socks and with that task completed, he settled onto the couch beside her. She snuggled against him, letting him cradle her in his arms.

"Yes--I mean, no." Rosette sighed, and knocked her head against Chrono's shoulder. "It feels weird, knowing they know--Joshua and Sister Kate, I mean. That probably sounds dumb, but I can't help it. They know we're...together. Joshua doesn't mind, and Sister Kate didn't yell at me. But it still feels weird."

"Mr. Sack decided we had a common-law marriage," Chrono said, referring to the farmer who had let them stay on his land.

Rosette smiled at him. "I would have liked a Church wedding, but that isn't going to happen."

Chrono sighed. He had known their situation would be difficult from both a religious and political viewpoint. The governments of the world might grudgingly recognize a nation of demons, but they weren't likely to recognize a marriage between a demon and a human. On the religious side of the equation--well, he'd heard from Sister Kate that the debates about the possible ramifications were still going on.

To his own kind, the concept of marriage was entirely superfluous--the Queen and the Master were bound by ties stronger than any oath or geas, nothing more needed to be done or said. The only thing the demons really cared about was that none of the Queen's or his "bizarre Christian notions" rubbed off on them. "We don't really have marriage anyway," Chrono said. "The closest thing would be having a partner, or being part of a cadre."

"You were part of Aion's cadre," Rosette said, working through the implications. Her eyes widened. "You were married to your brother?"

Chrono sensed horrified fascination from Rosette, like a child watching a mantis eat a grasshopper. "Rosette, we're trained from an early age to think of other demons as our siblings, whether or not we're actually genetically related," Chrono said, giving her an exasperated look. "You could just as well say I was married to my sisters."

"I think that's almost worse," Rosette said, and reached up to stroke his hair. "So I got married to you when we became partners?" She asked teasingly. "Cradle robber. You didn't even propose."

"You proposed to me," Chrono corrected with a slight smile. "You were so insistent, I couldn't say no."

"I proposed?" Rosette asked, and flushed. "When we made the Contract?"

He could sense her remembering a cold evening in autumn, himself dropping to one knee before her. I will make a Contract with you, Rosette Christopher. She had been so frightened that night, so determined and brave. He had been frightened too, frightened for Rosette, frightened for Joshua--and frightened for himself, because he hadn't been sure he could survive the death of a second Contractor. Yet swearing to protect, to serve Rosette had been the easiest thing in the world.

"And when you woke me from sleep, and when we kissed in San Francisco, and when I tried to punish myself for living," Chrono said. "You ask, and the answer is always 'yes.'"

Rosette smiled, and turned in his arms, kissing him on the mouth as she straddled his lap. "And now it's your turn," she said with a whimsical smile. "The guy is supposed to ask the girl, you know."

Rosette's words warmed him all the way through. "So," he said, pretending to consider it. "You are asking me to ask you to marry me--I'm not sure it works that way, Rosette." He gave her an earnest, wide-eyed look, and laughed when she smacked the top of his head.

"Grr. Smartass." She kissed him again, her hands smoothing the front of the tabard he was wearing. She reached under it to tug at the shirt he wore beneath it. In return, he began to unfasten the dress she was wearing. "You only think you're funny."

"I think you're beautiful," Chrono murmured, helping her out of her dress. "Your soul belongs to me, and I belong to you. Will you marry me?"

Rosette smiled. "Yes." She leaned her forehead against his. "I want a ring though. And a reception, at least."

"You just want presents," Chrono accused with a teasing grin.

"You damn betcha."

Reviews, please.

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