(BL) Taming the Field Guide

Chapter 198: Sakura, smart and dumb at the same time

Veronica looked rather nervous, her bottom lip jutting out slightly. Sakura watched her as she put down her pen and adjusted the way her papers were laying. She was cute when she was nervous, but right now Sakura was on edge.

What did she want to ask her?

"Well, um, this isn’t about me, alright?" Veronica said, glancing at Sakura with those big, pretty brown eyes. Sakura nodded easily.

"Okay. A personal question, but not about you. I understand." Sakura said and Veronica’s cheeks flushed.

"Well, I’m just-I’m trying to see what other people think. I’m asking around for a friend and you seem to be, uh, quite knowledgeable in this area." Veronica said, her cheeks flushing a pretty shade. Sakura watched, nodding as she put down her own pen.

"I see. Well, I’m not sure if I am as knowledgeable as you think I am, but I can certainly offer my opinion. Ask away. I needed a break from staring at these papers anyways. My eyes were going a little cross-eyed." She said. Veronica gave a small smile, before her face fell into a serious expression.

"My friend has been having some issues lately with someone they thought they were close to." Veronica began and Sakura felt her chest tighten painfully.

"Is this a friend or...something more than that?" Sakura asked carefully and watched Veronica intently. Veronica blushed, which told Sakura the answer before Veronica even spoke.

"Well, they...aren’t quite sure. Everything’s rather confusing and that’s part of the problem." Veronica admitted. Sakura sat back in her chair, taking her hands off of the desk because she was worried she might break it. Instead she folded her hands into her lap, squeezing them tightly while also hiding them from the view of Veronica. She didn’t need to know how tightly she was squeezing them right now. "They think they get along quite well with this person. They have actually known them for quite a while but...things are rather...strained, as of late." Veronica was choosing her words carefully.

Sakura watched, listened, feeling each little soft breath she breathed as if it was right in her ear. Sakura let out a soft breath of her own.

"I see. That’s not good. Do they have an idea of what the strain could be?" Sakura asked and Veronica shook her head.

"No. Nothing obvious. That’s why they are asking others for input. They’re getting worried, however. It feels like this person is pulling away from them rather suddenly when everything had felt fine up until recently. They had even thought..." Veronica trailed off, her expression dropping suddenly. "Well, it doesn’t exactly matter what they thought, but it makes one feel rather sad when she explained it. Do you have any idea why someone would suddenly pull away?" Veronica asked. Sakura stared at the woman.

The pretty, wonderful Lieutenant who was comfortable in her place by Sakura’s side, who was the heart and soul of the Peach Guild even when the Captain’s changed, and gave a soft smile. Of course people came to her with these kinds of questions. That was so...Veronica.

"Why would someone suddenly pull away, hmm?" Sakura said thoughtfully. "Well, there are several I can think of, all of them rather painful to consider. The first? Maybe the other person just doesn’t like the person who is asking the question in the same way? My gut feeling is that the asker is in love with this person, right?" Sakura asked, turning to look at Veronica.

Veronica looked a little shaken, but she gave a shaky nod.

"There’s a chance." Veronica admitted. Sakura smiled bitterly.

"Well, there is a chance that the other person might have noticed their feelings and pulled away as an easier way to not hurt them." Sakura said. "There is also a chance that they have no idea that the other person considers them that way and thinks they are just friends." Sakura added. "They might not even be aware that they are pulling away either. After all, if they aren’t a civilian and live in this city, we’re all terribly busy right now." Sakura added.

Veronica gave a slow nod, the colour returning to her face slightly.

"Well, there is a chance that could be the case. She did tell me that they were both Espers." Veronica muttered. Sakura was impressed.

"Two Espers who like each other? You don’t hear of that often." Sakura said. Veronica gave a bitter smile.

"I know, right?" She said with a slight laugh. Sakura laughed in response.

A tense, awkward silence followed after.

"So, uh, is this friend uncertain about their own feelings? Have they known each other long? Are they the same sex, different? All of these things could be factors." Sakura said, trying to get to the bottom of this. Veronica hesitated.

"They haven’t known each other since they were kids or anything like that, but they apparently have been working together for a long time. They are the same sex and it appears that only recently they have come to understand their own feelings." Veronica said.

Sakura spun in her chair, turning her face away from Veronica for a moment. Her heart was in her throat, and damn it, she needed to keep her composure.

Sakura knew what was going on. Veronica had done this a couple of times before now, but it hadn’t related to anything romantic before now either.

Sometimes, when Veronica was a little lost emotionally, she would propose questions to Sakura as if she was asking about a friend. Sakura knew it was never about a friend, it was about her, but Sakura normally liked these moments. Normally she was happy to help Veronica work through her feelings since she normally wasn’t comfortable asking others for help.

She was the heart and soul of the Guild. Who else could she turn to but the Captain for help? But hearing that Veronica was slowly realising feelings for someone she had known for a while, who was the same sex, and who had been distancing themselves from her? That hurt. Deeply.

Sakura let out a shaky breath.

"Does the other person like the same sex romantically?" Sakura asked through a strained throat.

"Well, that part isn’t obvious. They haven’t dated much publicly." Veronica said. Sakura was a little relieved to hear that. At least Veronica wasn’t falling in love with a womanizer.

"Hmm. Are they close in age?" Sakura asked.

"Well, my friend is older, I think. Not by a substantial amount." Veronica said and Sakura felt even more bitter. A younger woman at that? Fuck.

"I think, truly V, that your friend is just going to have to ask the other person their feelings. As much as we can debate everything and run a bunch of different scenarios, they aren’t going to be enough. They’ll have to muster up the courage to speak to them about this. It might hurt to know the truth, or things could go wildly well." Sakura said, spinning back to face her Lieutenant with a smile. "And on that note, the world is spinning and I’ve kept you long enough." Sakura chuckled. "If you’re asking me questions like this, I truly have to call it a night." Sakura said.

Veronica, who had been pensive before, stood up suddenly as Sakura pushed her chair back.

"Y-You’re just going to leave?" Veronica asked and Sakura slid her a rather confused look.

"Of course. We’ve been working nonstop all day, every day, for several weeks now, V. You deserve a break, especially if you’re asking around for your friend. Heaven forbid I might be the reason your friend can’t enter a relationship." Sakura shivered as she stood up. She grabbed her coat, which she had draped over the back of her chair and began pulling it on.

"You would never do such a thing intentionally." Veronica said, sounding defensive about Sakura to Sakura. Sakura grinned.

"Only you would say something like that, V. I appreciate it, but I don’t want to be hated. You need your rest about as much as I do. You’re a hard worker. I also don’t want you to quit on me any time soon." Sakura said with a wink, her soul aching.

She needed to get out of this room and go to her personal gym. She needed to work off this emotion that was threatening to choke her. Sakura barely glanced at Veronica as she slipped out from behind her desk.

"Good night, V. Have sweet dreams." Sakura said, Veronica watching Sakura flee the room helplessly. She raised a hand as if to try and stop her but closed it as Sakura rushed out of the room.

Veronica stood there for a long moment before she reached up and took off her glasses, closing her eyes and sighing heavily.

"How am I supposed to do that when you flee the room, Sye?" She muttered, annoyed. Sakura didn’t hear it, or intentionally turned her powers away from Veronica. She didn’t want to hear what the other woman was lamenting, wanting to give her some privacy.

Especially when it was about something that she didn’t want to hear.

Tragically, Sakura and Veronica didn’t get to spend their nights relaxing as this was the night that the bitch who had hurt their people finally woke up.

Sakura came running down into the dungeon in her workout uniform, sweat pouring from her body as she dabbed at her face. She had wanted to be more presentable, but they had certainly taken their time to wake up.

Veronica met her in the elevator, still in her uniform as they traveled down. Veronica was informing the other Guilds of what had happened as they headed into the belly of the dungeon used to keep the ’bad guys’.

Not many knew that the Peach Guild was the new holders of the bad Espers and Guides. Sakura herself hadn’t known until it was too late, but she took her duties very seriously.

No one was going to get out and hurt her people if she could help it, and unfortunately for the E.A.G. member, they had a few new potions to try out. Potions that could block an Esper’s powers, and she seemed like the perfect candidate.

"Are you ready?" Veronica asked, as if their previous conversation had never happened. Sakura gave a wry grin, chuckling.

"Of course, V. Just...keep the smell of burning flesh to a minimum, please?" Sakura asked. Veronica’s eyes shifted from brown to a fiery red.

"I can’t make any promises, Sye. She hurt our city." Veronica told her. Sakura shivered. God she was a wonderful woman.