Chapter Text
written by: nebulachan edited by: milkteahaochi illustration and design: @weewle31 and @itscoartee german translations: @steelsharkz
butterflies
Raora hated going to the playground. She wanted to stay home and draw but her parents forced her to go outside and start meeting the other kids in the neighborhood.
“You’re new here patatina,” Mama would say when Raora started crying, “How else will you make friends at your new school?”
She didn’t want to go to a new school. She wanted to go back home to Italy. Nonna was still there and Raora missed how she would let her drink a soda sometimes with her breakfast no matter how much Mama protested. And she would bake Raora such delicious sweets too! She missed coming down to the kitchen after waking up to find her Nonna had arrived early in the morning by smelling her fresh made maritozzi or tiramisu and being greeted by a hearty chuckle and hug. But she was too old to move to Vienna and needed to stay and work so Raora had to go with Mama and Papa and missed her Nonna badly.
She barely even had friends back in Italy, she liked what she was doing currently; sitting in a quiet corner of the playground and drawing with her crayons. Art made her happy. She liked drawing the pretty buildings found around the city, or the dogs people would walk down the cobblestone streets, or even some of the people in fancy dresses or suits she would see walking into cafes from her flat window. Raora wasn’t sure if she liked to draw or run more. When she ran she felt so free, like it was her calling in life, but when she drew she felt like she could make anything real.
She was sort of mad at running too because it was a “talent scout” that had seen her running on the playground back home in Italy that made Mama and Papa want to come to Vienna. It was a big city for junior horse girl racing in Europe, Raora had overheard them discussing in the living room one night. The scout said that Raora had a lot of talent that needed to be trained from a young age. It was what was best for Raora. What gave Raora the best chance at a good life. Raora cried when she had to get on the train and wave goodbye to Nonna. Raora put down her crayon and looked at her drawing of Nonna’s tiramisu with a proud smile on her face. It made her hungry just looking at it.
"Hey, schaut euch mal die neue Umamusume an!" Raora’s ears perked up at the sound of a couple of boys who had approached her while she was thinking about her Nonna. They were speaking German; Raora could barely understand them since she was just learning German, but their tone made her scared. She froze, only managing to collect her art supplies, but before a hand grabbed her by the back of the shirt and yanked her to her feet.
“Schaut euch die mal an!” One of the boys, the one who had grabbed her by the shirt collar, was giggling excitedly. Raora felt her heart drop and she tried to wrestle herself free. “Die ist so winzig!”
“Und schaut euch die pinken Haare dazu an,” came the voice of another boy, who came closer now that Raora had been secured. “Ich frag mich wie laut sie winseln würde wenn wir an ihrem Schwanz ziehen.”
Raora wanted to cry; she kept trying to yank herself away, but her legs were failing her and she couldn’t get good traction with her shoes on the soft playground turf. The boys laughed, hands getting closer, threatening her fluffy pink tail. Raora felt panic rising in her chest. She wanted to run but couldn’t, she wanted to scream for help but couldn’t make any noise.
Someone… Mama, Papa, Nonna… Anyone…
One of the boys, the one who was reaching for her tail, caught a foot in the ribs and went flying away. Raora’s eyes went wide. The hand on her collar released and Raora turned to see the other boy taken by the collar by an older, orange haired horse girl who was yelling at him in German.
“Spinnst du?! Nur weil ihr größer seid denken du und deine Freunde ihr könnt mit ihr machen was ihr wollt?” Raora couldn’t understand her, but thought she had the most beautiful voice on the planet. “Sag auch deinen Freunden, wenn ihr an sie ran wollt müsst ihr erst an mir vorbei.”
The boy stammered slightly before she punched him in the jaw and he and his friend ran away crying. The orange haired girl turned to her and smiled, and it was like the sun broke through the clouds and filled Raora’s heart with warmth for the first time since she’d come to Austria.
“Alles gut bei dir?”
Raora stared at her blankly. She still couldn’t understand her well, but was familiar with this phrase. She gave her best answer that Mama had taught her.
“Geht.”
The girl stared at her for a minute before she broke out laughing. Her laugh was so beautiful… Raora had no idea what was funny, and tightened her arms around the art supplies she had pinned to her chest. Almost immediately, like a sense, the girl calmed down and softened her tone as she spoke. “Oh, du musst eine Austauschschülerin sein.” She cleared her throat, thinking for a moment.
"Welche Sprache sprichst du? Ah, warte," she tipped her head to the side, thinking for a moment, before her eyes lit up.
“Language?”
Raora’s eyes widened slightly. She knew English; her Papa spoke it to her since she was a baby. He was an American.
“I-I can speak English…” she murmured shyly, “Th-Thank you for saving me from those boys.”
The orange-haired girl’s eyes gleamed, so pink and full of fire and life that Raora was suddenly unable to meet her gaze and looked down at the ground. She chuckled proudly. “Those boys won’t pick on you again!” She giggled as she shook out her knuckles with a slight wince. “Stupid boys… Hurt my hand on his face, even. At least I saved you!”
Raora nodded, eyes sparkling as she looked at her hero. “You were like a knight in shining armor… It was so cool.”
The girl snorted triumphantly. “Of course! I’ll be your knight, then. You can be the princess!”
Raora stepped forward and took her by the hand, stopping her. “Wh-What’s your name?”
The girl smiled. “Kiara. Takanashi Kiara!”
Raora’s face went flush. “Kiwawa…”
“What about you?”
“R-Raora Panthera,” she mumbled.
Kiara grinned. “If I’m Kiwawa, then you can be… Waowa!”
Raora was bright red now.
She took Raora’s hand in her own and squeezed gently. “C’mon, Waowa! Let’s go play on the swings!”
Raora watched as Kiara ran around the track with a pout. She was sitting underneath the tree, chewing on her tongue as she observed her with narrowed eyes. She came to a stop and Raora watched her for a long moment while her pencil moved. She wanted to capture the profile of Kiara’s face, how bright her smile was as she chatted with the girl she was partner running with, the way the sweat on her face caught the afternoon sunlight, the way her pink eyes burned with determination. For some reason her heart ached whenever Kiara was paired with different horse girls at their club, even though she normally liked sitting out because it let her draw her without interruption.
The way her body moved, the way she ran, it was just really pretty. She carefully traced lines into her sketchbook, trying to perfectly capture Wawa’s running form. How she ran just a little bit bent forward. The way her legs chopped through the turf like it was a part of her body. She was so amazing. Everyone was talking about how it wouldn’t be long before she was scouted to the junior leagues. She was nearly ten. Her legs were long and awkward but powerful from her dance lessons. She was one of the few girls to actually take dance seriously, making her more coordinated than the rest. She was just so amazing.
Raora looked between her art and Kiara, trying to make it perfect. Erasing and redrawing, erasing and redrawing, her eyes were barely leaving the page now as she pictured Kiara. Kiwawa… She needed to make this perfect. She-
“Waowa! Hello?”
She blinked and looked up. Kiara was bent over her and looking down at her. When Raora finally met her eyes, Kiara’s face lit up. “Guten Tag, Prinzessin.” Raora frowned back. It was how she liked to tease Raora. She’d only been in Vienna for two years and her accent was still so obvious. Kiara would always greet her or say random sentences in German during their conversation like she was testing her. At first, Raora thought she was just teasing her like the rest, but she never made fun of her accent a single time. “An was arbeitest du?”
Raora sputtered a bit, covering her sketchbook with her hands. “Nichts wichtiges…” She felt herself faltering on the “ch” noise and frowned.
“Ah, ah, ah!” Kiara swiped the sketchbook from Raora’s lap and she squeaked. She rested her palm atop Raora’s head to keep her an arm’s length away. “Let’s see, what was the little princess drawing today…” Her eyes widened as she looked at it. Her face went completely still. “R-Raora…”
Raora felt like she should be buried alive. “D-Don’t look at that! It’s-”
Kiara looked back at her and beamed a bright smile. “This is so cool!”
Her cheeks instantly went redder than Kiara’s. “I-It’s not… I’m sorry, Wawa,” she murmured, trying not to meet her gaze. “It’s not close to good enough.”
Kiara stared at it with wide eyes, a smile on her face. She turned to Raora, her tail wagging excitedly. “Can I keep it?”
Raora blinked a few times. “I-I don’t know…” This was the first time Kiara had caught her sketching her during practice. It looked so wrong to her; the lines wrong, the form wrong, the eyes in the wrong place, the nose was all wrong… It was ugly compared to the real Kiara standing in front of her.
“Waowa… This is amazing, I can’t believe it.” Kiara’s eyes gleamed as she stared at the drawing again. “It’s like looking at a picture. You gotta teach me to draw!”
Raora finally seized the opportunity to swipe her sketchbook back with a huff. “It wouldn’t be fun to, because you’re too impatient to learn.” She raised an eyebrow at Kiara when she started to protest. “Do you remember when your mom tried to teach you how to make rhubarb cake?” Her face flushed a bit remembering it. “You didn’t count the eggs properly and-”
“Enough, enough!” Kiara groaned. “Don’t remind me of that! It was so embarrassing.”
Raora grinned. “It was so dense! And the look on your mom’s face was so funny!”
She punched Raora on the shoulder gently and pouted. “If you thought it was so bad, why did you eat so much of it then, huh?” She glared. “Just to… To make fun of me?”
“W-Wait, not like-” She ate so much of it at the time because of how sad Kiara looked.
Kiara swiped Raora’s sketchbook again while she floundered. She grinned. “Great, so give me that drawing you made of me so I can hang it up in my room!”
“W-Wawa!” Raora flailed for her sketchbook as Kiara held her at length with an arm on her forehead again. “Wawa, the drawing looks so bad, though! Please, let me make a better one, and-”
“I think it looks amazing.” Raora froze, eyes widening. Kiara was looking at it again, this time with a soft smile on her face. “You’re really talented. It’s amazing.”
She fidgeted with her thumbs as she stood upright again, kicking her feet along the ground as she tried to summon the right words. “I… I messed up right here.” Raora pointed to one of the lines on the profile of Kiara’s jawline. She had brought it too low and it gave Kiara’s face a rounded appearance. “I’m not special, Wawa… I can’t even draw right. I’m not special like you are, with how all the other girls are so excited to run with you.”
“That’s not true!” Kiara stomped her foot. “You’re the most special person to me!” Raora’s cheeks flushed as Kiara settled down. “You’re… You’re my best friend. You’re the most special in the whole world.”
Raora nodded slowly, unable to make any words to reply with. Kiara went home with the drawing after practice.
“Mama, wir sind zu Hause!” Kiara shouted up the stairwell of her flat, kicking her shoes off in the entryway. “Ich hab Raora mitgebracht, ihre Mutter meine es ist okay wenn sie bei uns übernachtet!” She took Raora by the hand the moment her shoes came off and yanked her up the stairs. “C’mon, Waowa! I gotta show you the new idol magazine my mom got me!”
“Oh natürlich Schatz! Ich fange direkt an mit dem Abendessen.” A soft voice called back in reply from the kitchen.
“Ist Papa noch am schließen?” Kiara shouted still, despite being halfway up the staircase. “Ich wollte ihn noch was fragen.”
Raora was pulled along up the stairs with a sigh. She was almost always at Kiara’s house, but it was the first time in a while she was allowed to stay the night. At least her German was getting good enough to understand what they were saying.
“Ja, dein Vater verteilt noch das restliche Brot von heute bei den Nachbarn. Ich denke er sollte in so einer Stunde zurück kommen. Ah!” The pair made it to the top of the stairs as Kiara’s mother stepped out of the kitchen, wiping her hands with her apron. She looked exactly like Kiara, only much taller, and the moment she saw Raora she crossed over and gave her a hug. “Good evening, Raora! Did your mother like that brioche I sent home with you last time?” She beamed at Raora excitedly.
Raora nodded quickly. “She did, Mama,” Raora said, a bit stilted. “Th-Thank you for having me over tonight.”
Kiara’s mother laughed and gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “No, no, my dear! It’s our pleasure. Kiara has been wanting to have you over for a sleepover for a while now! It’s been so long since you last stayed the night.” Her mother continued as Kiara started turning red beside Raora. “You’re the only thing she ever talks about. It’s so sweet!”
“Stop it, Mama,” Kiara groaned, “You’re embarrassing me!”
Her mother’s ears flitted excitedly. “And it’s just so sweet, she’s always asking us about what kinds of sweets from Italy we can make here, or if she could learn to speak the language a little bit-”
“Bye, Mama!” Kiara grabbed Raora by the wrist and pulled her down the hall into her room while her mother watched with a giggle. She groaned again and slumped backwards onto her bed.
“My mom is so embarrassing!”
Raora chuckled a bit as she set her bag down, taking a seat on the floor near the table. “Your mom is always so sweet to me.”
Kiara covered her face with her hands. “But what she said… So embarrassing!” She kicked her feet angrily off the side of her bed. “I swear she’s makes me sound so lame.”
“I don’t think you sound lame.” Kiara sat up to see Raora shake her head. “I think you’re really cool, Wawa. And your mom and dad are so nice, too!” She giggled. “They usually give me some extra cookies before I leave, too.”
Kiara gasped. “Cookies?! That’s not fair! Maybe I should start showing up to your place so your Mama can spoil me too!” She crossed her arms and snorted.
Raora laughed. “No, no, they just want me to grow! They always say, ‘Du musst groß und stark werden um viele Rennen zu gewinnen!’”
“Your German is getting so good,” Kiara said, narrowing her eyes. “When are you going to teach me Italian? I want your parents to spoil me like mine spoil you…”
“Oh so you have a secret reason to learn Italian?” Raora quickly crossed over to the bed and crawled up next to Kiara. She laid on her side and watched her through a fake glare. “I thought you wanted to learn Italian so you could talk to me more. I’m so hurt, Wawa.”
Kiara flipped onto her side and glared back into Raora’s eyes. “And I thought you wanted to hang out with me so you could be with me, not get treats from my parents.”
The pair held glares for a while, even growling a bit, before they burst out laughing and rolled onto their backs. “Oh! What did you want to show me?” Raora turned to look at her.
“Right!” Kiara bounced up and grabbed something from her desk. “My mom got me this copy of a magazine covering the URA in Japan.” She sat next to Raora. “They did a special on Lucky Lilac!”
Raora’s eyes gleamed. Lucky Lilac was her favorite. Her rivalry with Almond Eye was something that every horse girl whispered about on the playground. They flipped through the interview together and read with wide eyes. “She’s so cool…” Raora let out a happy sigh. “So beautiful and elegant, too. I wanna be just like her.”
Kiara flopped onto her back and stared at the ceiling. “It must be so cool to go to Tracen Academy. I wish we could be in Japan so we could try out.”
Raora laid next to her, scooting over slightly so her head rested against Kiara’s. “It would be so awesome… Imagine running the Tiara tour together…”
She laughed. “You’re terrible at anything longer than a mile, Raora! How would you win the Japanese Oaks or Shuka Sho?”
“Hey!” Raora turned onto her side. “I just wanna run it with you, Wawa. We could be Ai-chan and Lala-chan and be in magazines too.”
Kiara turned her head to look at her with a smile. “That would be a lot of fun. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of fun staying in Europe. As long as we can run together, Waowa.”
Raora nodded excitedly. “Yes! I want to run with you forever, Wawa.” She blushed a bit saying it.
“I wish I could be an idol in Japan, though.” She groaned and looked back at her ceiling. “Being an idol in Europe is so much more boring! Have you seen the concerts from Japan?”
“You would look so pretty performing over there!” Raora let out a happy sigh at the thought. “You already have such a pretty voice when you sing, imagine how it will sound when you’re old enough to perform.”
“I’m just happy when I get to sing for you. It wouldn’t be fun singing in Japan if you weren’t there too, Prinzessin.”
Raora blushed. “When are you gonna stop calling me princess all the time? I’m almost eight, you know.”
“Never!” Kiara sat up and crossed her legs, smiling brightly. “I promised to be your knight forever, Princessin.”
Raora sat up onto her knees and stared back at her. “Then calling you ‘knight’ isn’t good enough.” She scratched her chin. “If you’re insisting on calling me your Prinzessin, I’ll call you mio cavaliere then. Since you like Italian!” Raora saw Kiara’s cheek flush, but before she replied Kiara’s mother called them for dinner. She stood and reached out for Kiara. “C’mon! Your mom is calling, mio cavaliere.”
Raora was practically vibrating as she jogged home after training. Her trainer praised her today! Not only that, but her trainer said that if her times kept improving, she would get to run with the older girls more. The thought made her tail swish excitedly as she ran.
“Keep up, Wawa!” She called over her shoulder. Kiara was lagging behind a bit, watching Raora pull further ahead. Raora giggled. “You gotta catch me, mia cavaliere! You’re letting your Prinzessin get away!”
“Slow down Waowa!”
She picked up the pace a bit more. The wind felt amazing through her hair, and she could feel Kiara running behind her, and it felt amazing. It was the kind of feeling she wanted to have forever. “C’mon, Wawa!” She looked back at Kiara.
As she turned, she saw Kiara’s footing slip and her body start to fall sideways. Raora turned on her heel and stumbled as she ran back to her, arm outstretched as Kiara hit the ground.
“Are you okay, Wawa?” She was beside herself, kneeling down at her side, arms flailing as she tried to assess Kiara. “Did you hurt yourself?”
Kiara shook her head. “It’s not that bad, I think. S-Sorry, Waowa… I must have tripped on something.” She winced as she tried to stand on her own. “I-I’m okay, honest.” The way her voice cracked made Raora’s heart sink. “I think I was just tired from practice and I didn’t pay attention to where I was going.”
Raora could see her knees were scraped badly and was blood pooling on the surface of her skin. “M-Maybe we should wait a minute, and call your mom and-”
“No,” Kiara insisted, resting her hand on Raora’s shoulder.
“I-I’m so sorry, Wawa, I should have waited for you and-”
“C’mon, help me up. We’re almost home, I can get a bandage there and-” The moment she put weight onto her right ankle she faltered and fell into Raora’s side who caught her with a yelp.
“W-Wawa! Are you-” Raora looked down and could see the scrapes on the side of Kiara’s ankle. “You hurt your ankle, Wawa, you can’t walk on it! What if you broke it?”
Kiara sniffled a bit. “I’ll be okay in a minute, if I just-” She squeaked as Raora scooped her up in her arms. “R-Raora! What are you doing?”
She smiled. “You can’t walk home like this.”
Kiara’s face was bright red as she looked around wildly. “You can’t!”
“It’s my fault you got hurt.”
“It’s too far to carry me like this, and what if someone sees… I’m eleven now; I can walk on my own…”
Raora shifted a bit with Kiara in her arms. “I know how old you are but-”
“But nothing! Look, you can barely hold me like this anyway!” She started squirming in Raora’s arms. “Shorty! Idiot! Let me down!”
“Wawa… You can’t walk like this.” Raora let her down, holding her arm as she balanced on her good ankle. “At least let me carry you on my back.” She watched Kiara with a soft expression.
She looked away with a pout. “Fine… If it’s on your back…”
Raora smiled and knelt down in front of Kiara, allowing her to climb on as she hiked her up higher onto her back, holding underneath her knees. She looked back over her shoulder with a grin. “Are you comfortable, mio cavaliere?”
Kiara frowned. “If I’m a knight right now, does that mean you’re carrying me into battle?”
“I’ll be your noble steed,” Raora said with a smirk. She started walking again and she felt Kiara settle in, leaning forward and letting her arms hang off the front of Raora’s shoulders while she rested the side of her head on Raora’s back. Raora heard her sniffle again. “How does your ankle feel now?”
“Better.” Her voice was soft, like she was trying to stop herself from crying.
“I’m sorry you fell, Wawa.”
She nodded against Raora’s back. “It’s okay…”
Raora looked over her shoulder. “I’m sure your mom will wrap you up and you’ll be ready for practice tomorrow! So you don’t need to cry, okay?”
She shook her head, refusing to meet Raora’s gaze. “I’m not crying.”
“I can hear it, Wawa. Why are you still crying?” She mumbled her reply into Raora’s back. “Wawa… I can’t hear when you-”
“I’m supposed to be the cavaliere!” Raora smiled as she shouted in embarrassment. They walked in silence for another minute while the words hung in the air. “I don’t want you to worry… You’re supposed to be my Prinzessin…” Raora could feel her shaking. “I’m supposed to keep you safe, and I got too tired and I couldn’t keep up with you… And I was stupid and I hurt myself and…”
Raora felt a tightness in her chest. It was like this anytime Kiara was sad. Like a hundred million punches in the stomach. “Wawa…”
“I’m sorry I’m such a bad knight, Waowa…”
“I think you’re the best, most bravest knight in the world Wawa.” She felt Kiara’s ears twitching as she spoke. “I would be really sad if you fell and I wasn’t here to help you go home.” Raora smiled as she walked on. “I’m really happy you’re my friend, Wawa… I have so much fun playing with you, and spending time at your house, and running at school with you, and I’m happy every day that I get to be your princess.” She felt Kiara’s head lift off of her back and looked over her shoulder at her, beaming a bright smile. “I love you, Kiwawa! You’re my best friend in the world!”
Kiara’s arms suddenly tightened on her as she pulled herself tight to Raora’s back again for a hug. “I love you too, Waowa… Thank you for helping me.”
Raora hiked Kiara higher on her back as she rounded onto her street. “Hey, Wawa… We’re almost there.” No reply. Raora smiled. Kiara was softly breathing with her cheek on Raora’s back. Raora carefully pushed open the door leading up to Kiara’s apartment and carried her up the stairs.
“Mama,” Raora whispered, poking her head in the kitchen. “Mama, Wawa fell on her way home.”
She turned from the sink, voice low to match Raora’s tone. “Is she hurt?”
Raora shook her head. “She said she was okay. But she got scraped up a little bit so I carried her home.”
“That’s very sweet of you, Raora.” Her mother giggled. “Alright, let me get a look at her.” Raora turned Kiara towards her mother, who knelt down and examined her ankle.
“Is she gonna be okay, Mama?” Raora’s voice shook a bit. “She has a race this weekend and she was really excited about running in it and-”
“It looks like just some scrapes. She’ll be fine before long.” She stood and pet the top of Raora’s head, smiling warmly. “You’re such a diligent little horse girl, Raora. Thank you for watching over Kiara for me.”
Raora blushed at her praise. “Th-Thank you. You’re very nice to me.”
She shook her head. “Not at all dear. If she had fallen and you weren’t there, it could have been so much worse.” Kiara’s mother nodded toward the hall, “Go put her in her bed. I’ll have dinner for her when she wakes up. You can eat something before you go home, too!” Raora nodded once and took Kiara to her room, gently letting her down on the bed.
Kiara groaned, rubbing her eyes and yawning. “Waowa?”
“I’m right here, mio cavaliere,” she murmured, kneeling on the ground in front of her with a smile. “You fell asleep on the way home.”
She nodded absently. “Are you staying tonight?”
Raora shook her head. “I need to go home, my Mama is expecting me.” When Kiara looked away, Raora giggled. “Don’t pout, Wawa. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”
“Okay…” Kiara sat up to hug Raora, but winced when she moved her scraped knees. “Ow…”
“Oh!” Raora’s eyes gleamed. “I know a trick for this!” She cleared her throat. “Il dolore se ne va!” She leaned forward and kissed Kiara’s scraped knee before looking up at her with a wide grin. “Do you feel better?”
Her cheeks were red. She smiled back at Raora. “Yeah… Thank you.”
Raora threw her arms around Kiara’s shoulders and hugged her. “I can’t wait to run again tomorrow, Wawa.”
She giggled and hugged her back. “Goodnight, Prinzessin.”
“Oh, Tachyon-san, without you as my rival I couldn’t possibly compete in the-”
Raora watched the TV through half closed eyes, curled up under a blanket with her head resting on Kiara’s shoulder. Kiara had pulled a romantic rivalry movie off of the shelf; one that Raora wasn’t sure she’d like but she could never say no when Kiara got this excited anyway. It was the first time Raora had been able to stay the night in weeks and she wanted to make sure Kiara got to watch something she enjoyed. She snuggled in a bit closer, enjoying the feeling of Kiara’s warmth radiating off her side.
“I really like the winning concerts in this movie,” Kiara said quietly, wiping her face with the back of her hand. “The stages look so pretty.”
Raora nodded, head still resting on Kiara. “I can’t wait to see your winning concert. It’s going to be so amazing…”
Kiara giggled. “That’s so far away, Waowa!”
The movie continued until one scene finally caught Raora’s attention fully. When the two leads finally confessed and kissed, Raora’s eyes widened. She felt her heart flutter in her chest, the hairs on her tail stand on end and her ears flit excitedly. The way the two characters looked at each other, how they told each other how they loved each other, the way they looked when they kissed… It was amazing. Raora felt her face growing red at the thought. Raora sat up and paused the movie when the actresses finished kissing.
“Do you wanna try it?”
Kiara blinked. “Try what?”
“Kissing.”
Her face immediately turned bright red and she began to sputter. “Y-You wanna kiss me?”
Raora nodded. “Yes, Wawa, I wanna kiss you.” Her face was reddening as she stared into Kiara’s eyes.
Her eyes were fidgeting, barely able to meet Raora’s gaze. “M-Me?”
“Yes, you.”
“Why?”
She pointed at the TV. “They said they loved each other, right?”
Kiara nodded slowly.
“And I love you.”
“Wh-Why so suddenly, though?” She held her face in her hands.
“They always kiss in the movies and say I love you and stuff… And my Mama and Papa say it too and kiss and… And I love you, Wawa! And I want to kiss you…” Her voice trailed off as she felt her own cheeks flushing at the idea.
“Waowa…”
“The two girls looked so happy and…” Raora sat back on her feet, eyes on the ground. “It made me feel very excited to think about… They looked so happy, and they love each other, and I thought-”
Raora was cut off when Kiara grabbed her shoulders and pulled her in, pressing her lips against Raora’s for a moment before pulling away and looking at the ground. Raora just stared at her for a long moment.
“W-Wawa, I-”
A sudden voice from across the flat; Kiara’s mother was calling them for dinner. Kiara bounced to her feet and held out her hand, face bright red as she couldn’t meet Raora’s gaze.
“C-C’mon, we can’t keep my mom waiting.”
Raora took her hand and the moment Kiara yanked her, Raora pulled her back in and stood on her toes, kissing Kiara again. She smiled as she lowered back onto her feet, dragging Kiara, head spinning, toward the kitchen.
Kiara knocked on the door of Raora’s flat, her tail swishing excitedly. It had been a few days since she’d seen Raora; school was on break and Kiara was too busy catching up on her homework to be able to hang out with Raora, forced to text her instead. But now that she had the evening off, she could finally surprise her and come to see her. She’d even painted her nails! They were teal with little white bows on her ring fingers. She couldn’t wait to show Raora… Kiara knocked again, a little louder this time.
“Un momento!” The syrupy sweet voice of Raora’s mother sounded from the other side of the door. Kiara stood at attention when the door opened and she saw the large Raora-double standing in the doorframe, practically purring in delight at the sight of Kiara. “Ciao, piccioncina! What brings you over today, dear?”
Kiara smiled. “Buongiorno, Mrs. Panthera.”
“Ah, buon pomeriggio anche a te, Kiara!” She clapped her hands together delightedly. “And what brings you to our home?”
“I was wondering if Raora was home? Since I haven’t seen her in a few days.”
She tipped her head to the side. “Raora said she was going to see you this morning. Is she not with you?”
Kiara frowned. “I must have missed her on the way here.”
She laughed, petting the top of Kiara’s head. “Ah, you two are so cute together. Make sure she gets home in time for supper tonight, okay?”
Kiara smiled at her. “Thank you, Mrs. Panthera.” When the door closed, Kiara trotted down the street. It was strange that Raora would come over without saying anything. Maybe she wanted to surprise her… Her pace quickened as she thought excitedly about a surprise. She arrived home and pushed open the door to the bakery.
“Mama, hast du Raora gesehen?”
Her mother turned from behind the counter and tipped her head. “Nein, hab ich nicht. Sollte sie denn hier sein?”
Kiara fidgeted slightly. “Oh, dann muss sie wohl noch ein paar Minuten entfernt sein. Danke, Mama.”
Her mother thought for a moment. “Ist sie an der Rennbahn?”
“Ich geh nachsehen.”
She turned and headed back outside. Mama was right; if Raora wasn’t here she must be at the track. Kiara trotted in the direction of their school, a little faster than before, unease starting to set in, her heart dropping into her stomach as she reached the track at school. There was no one there. It was a day off, of course no one was there. Kiara turned on her heel and ran back the way she came. Raora was missing. She asked Kiara to come with her everywhere. Kiara was always with her. Always. Her heart thudded in her throat as she ran back towards her house.
Kiara checked the corner store. The clerk hadn’t seen Raora all day. She checked by the river where they would jog home. She ran by the bakery again to see if she could spot Raora through the storefront windows and just saw her mother talking to a customer. Her panic was getting worse. Kiara stopped and took a quick breath. They were older now, and it had been months since the last time, but maybe Raora was back at the playground. She ran as quickly as she could.
“Raora!”
Kiara called out as she got closer to the playground. She slowed her pace slightly, peering down alleys as she went. Her heart was pounding. Thank the goddesses the streets were basically empty today.
She stood at the entrance of the playground where she had met Raora years ago, catching her breath. She walked by the swings they’d played on that day. She passed the tree she had first seen Raora under. She walked to the domed jungle-gym in the back corner of the lot. It was the place they decided would be their castle. Kiara could hear quiet sniffling coming from inside the dome, and with it a quiet relief setting in.
“Hey, Prinzessin.” Kiara poked her head through one of the holes of the dome. Raora was seated against the far wall, her art supplies sprawled in front of her, hugging her knees to her chest.
Raora didn’t look up. “H-Hi, Wawa…” Her voice sounded raspy, broken. Kiara ducked inside the dome, crawling over until she was sitting next to her.
Kiara looked at the sketchbook she left open on the ground. Half drawn portraits of an older woman, some scenes of her on cobblestone streets and one of her working at a stove in a kitchen… All of them were beautiful, only unfinished.
“These look so pretty Waowa… Who is she?”
Raora’s ears perked up, slowly lifting her head. She blinked at Kiara through bloodshot eyes, trying to force a smile for a moment before it fell into a small frown.
“It’s my Nonna…” She tightened her arms around her knees. “I can’t get her face right. No matter what I do I can’t get her right… I-I keep trying to get her right but I just…”
Kiara nodded slowly. “Doesn’t your mom have pictures of her in the house?”
She looked down. “Every time I look at them, I cry.”
Kiara blinked. “Why?”
Raora started tracing her finger in the dirt. “When I lived at home, we all lived right next to each other… Nonna would always make me a big breakfast in the morning before I had to go to school, or yummy desserts to take with my lunch… And for my birthday, she would always make me a giant cake… And for her birthday I would always draw her a picture and she would put it up on the fridge… I haven’t seen her in so long, Wawa.” She sniffled, and Kiara reached out to take her hand. “And I was gonna go see her for her birthday this year but we can’t because my Papa has a business trip in America, and… And I really miss my Nonna.” Raora was biting back tears the whole time, finally unable to stop them as she finished her thought, hiding her face against her knees as she sobbed.
Kiara felt so cold all of a sudden. She squeezed Raora’s hand.
“Raora…”
She looked up and sniffled. “Wawa…”
“I promise, we’ll bring your Nonna to Vienna.”
Raora’s eyes widened. Kiara wiped her own eyes, wet with tears, and built up her determination. “I promise we’ll bring your Nonna to Vienna and we’ll all live happily together again.”
“Wawa, we-”
“I’m gonna be a famous idol, one that the whole world will know, and… And I’m gonna win a bunch of races and make lots of money, and I’ll help you bring your Nonna here so she can make you sweets again. And, and… And I’m gonna make this your home, Raora! I promise just…” She bit her own lip, the words catching in her throat. “Please, Raora… Promise me you’ll never leave me. Promise me.”
Raora stared at her from a long, silent moment, before giving a slow nod. “I promise.”
Kiara threw her arms around Raora and pulled her in tight, pressing the side of her face to her chest. “Please be my Prinzessin forever…”
She nodded against Kiara’s chest. “I will, mio cavaliere.”
“Waowa! Waowa!” Kiara’s tail was wagging excitedly as she threw her arms around Raora’s shoulders and hung off her back. “What does yours say? What does it say?”
She giggled a bit. “Wawa, you’re getting too big to hang off me anymore!” It was true. Kiara grew a lot in the last year. She didn’t even leave her feet after draping herself on Raora’s back.
“But, Prinzessin, you’re so strong!” Kiara teased her with a grin. “I know you could hold me if you really wanted to.”
Raora scoffed. “Some cavaliere you are. You’re a no good knight!”
Kiara tightened her arms around Raora and yanked back. “C’mon! You’re keeping me waiting! Just tell me what your letter says.”
She unfurled the paper, revealing the crest at the top and center of the page.
Central European Racing Association: Paris Campus
Just seeing the crest and the fancy font on the fancy cream-colored paper was enough to make Kiara excited. She’d gotten her acceptance letter weeks ago, while Raora was placed high on the waitlist until a final decision would be made. Kiara woke up to a text from Raora today about the letter, and she ran over before breakfast was done. Kiara yanked on her again.
“Hurry up Waowa! I’m so excited, you definitely got in so why are you waiting?!”
Raora snickered. “Maybe I just like to tease you, mio cavaliere. Did you ever think of that?”
She unfolded the paper more, and Kiara could make out the first words. “Dear Raora Panthera…” Kiara started mumbling as she read along. “Thank you for applying… We appreciate your dedication to racing and your skills…”
The two of them froze. In bold text, near the bottom of the letter:
We are delighted to welcome you into our school for our twelve and thirteen year old junior levels.
We are looking forward to seeing you in the fall.
Sincerely,
Venus Paques
Dean of Students
“Wawa…”
She was already squealing in delight.
“You did it! You got in Waowa!” She released Raora and stepped next to her, swiping the letter from her hand to read it again. “It was a matter of time! You’ve been crushing the times of the other girls at school, you haven’t lost a race in months… Oh, I’m just so excited! We’re really going to go to Paris together, Waowa!”
Raora wore a small smile as Kiara turned to her. “Yeah, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
“We have to tell your mom! She’s going to be so excited for you Prinzessin!” Kiara grabbed Raora by the wrist and pulled her out of the room toward the kitchen, yelling “Mama, Mama!” the whole way. Raora followed quietly behind her.
Raora’s mother was seated in front of a small television while dinner was in the oven. “I hear you, piccioncina,” she said with a chuckle. “What are you so excited about?”
Kiara handed her the letter with a bright smile. “Look, look! Waowa made it into the Paris School too!”
“Oh…” Raora’s mother read the letter while scratching her chin. “This is incredible, patatina… Oh, my beloved girl!” She stood and scooped Raora up in her arms and squeezed her tight. “Your father is going to be so proud of you as well!”
Raora felt the life being squeezed from her. “Grazie, Mama.” She choked a bit as her mother squeezed again. “Mama, you’re going to kill me!”
“Oh!” She released Raora. “Now we’ll talk more about it when your Papa gets home, but you two will need to be on your best behavior in Paris! You’ll have the school and your trainer watching over you, but you’ll still need to make sure you behave yourselves!”
“We understand, Mama!” Kiara chimed in.
“You two better promise me!”
Raora chuckled quietly. “I promise. We’ll be model students.” Raora took Kiara’s hand.
Kiara’s nose twitched. Something was off. She couldn’t place what it was, but the way Raora’s words sounded made her ears flit impatiently. She squeezed Raora’s hand a bit. “Mama, can I steal Waowa away for a little bit?”
Raora’s mother smiled and waved them off. “I’ll call you when your Papa is home, Raora! You can tell him the good news.”
“Okay, Mama.” Raora managed to get that out before Kiara yanked her out the door into the hall.
“You two go have fun!” Raora’s mother called after them with a snicker.
Kiara released her and walked beside her, looking over with a smile.
“I wonder if they’re gonna let us paint the walls of our dorm room.”
Raora didn’t look at her and gave half a shrug. “Would they let us? It’s not like we own the room or anything…”
Kiara frowned. “Well… I’m sure they’ll let us decorate, at least!”
She still wouldn’t look at Kiara. “Yeah, I wonder how big the room will be…”
Kiara forced a smile, bending forward to try to get a look at Raora’s face. “We can hang up all your drawings! It’s going to look so nice.”
“Yeah…” Raora wore a small smile but was too busy looking at the ground to look at Kiara. “That’s going to be nice.”
Her ears flattened to her head. Since she opened that letter, something felt off. Her vibe, even her smell was wrong. Kiara entered Raora’s room first and the moment she heard the door close she spun to face Raora.
“Raora.”
She blinked a few times as she looked at Kiara.
“Hmm?”
Kiara stepped up and put her face very close to Raora’s, meeting her gaze and forcing her to look back. She frowned. “You’re acting strangely. You have been for a while.”
Raora’s face flushed red. “Wh-What? I’m fine. Promise.”
She shook her head. “You can’t lie to me, Prinzessin.” Kiara took Raora’s hand and led her to the bed, sitting down and looking up at her.
“What’s wrong?”
Raora sat beside Kiara, still holding her hands.
“I feel so guilty.”
“Why?”
She chuckled awkwardly. “W-Wawa, I-”
Kiara only stared at her with a gentle expression.
Raora watched her for a moment before her eyes fell. “You’re so excited to go to Paris, but… Every time I think about it, I get so nervous I want to puke. And, and I want to be excited, but I…” She bit her lip. “I keep thinking about my Nonna… And now I’m leaving my parents behind too… I wanted to open that letter the moment it came in, but I was so nervous about what it would say. If it said yes, I’d have to leave my family. If it said no, we wouldn’t be able to go to Paris together…”
“Oh, Waowa… If you want to stay in Vienna, we can stay here.”
She shook her head. “No. No… I want to go to Paris with you, Wawa, and I want to see you be a famous idol, but I…” Raora finally squeezed her hands back as she bit back tears. “I’m so scared to go. I cried for days when…” The words caught in her throat. “And now, I’m leaving my home again.”
Kiara let out a gentle sigh and leaned forward, resting her forehead against Raora’s. “Raora… You promised to always stay by my side.”
“Yes…”
“And I promised to make Vienna your home.”
She sniffled and nodded her head.
Kiara smiled, freeing one of her hands and reaching out to hold Raora’s cheek. “We’re both going to become famous in Paris… And we’re gonna make so much money, and we’re gonna be so popular, and when we get back we’re gonna bring Nonna home to Vienna. And we’ll all live next door to our family, and we’re gonna live happily forever after. I promised you Prinzessin, I’ll keep my promise forever.”
Raora allowed herself to slump forward, resting her head on Kiara’s shoulder. “Thank you, mio cavaliere.”
Kiara threw her arms around Raora and pulled her in tight, resting her cheek against the top of her head.
“I love you, Waowa.”