The New Girl {Darling In the Franxx}

Chapter 23: I love you

Third Person's POV

"WHY THE HECK ARE YOU HERE?!" Zero Two yells as she quickly turns around and sits down, the water covering her figure until her shoulders.

"I-I didn't mean to... I d-didn't want... I SAW NOTHING!" Hiro yells as he also turns around.

Zero Two turns only her face to see his expression. Even though his back was facing him - he only had a towel on - she still could see his ears reddening.

"IF YOU DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING, THEN WHY ARE YOU BLUSHING?!" The pinkette quickly picks up her towel and wraps it around her body tightly and turns around to him.

"W-Well, maybe I saw just a p-peek but I didn't even had time to..." Hiro trails of.

The girl raises an eyebrow. "Time to what?"

She sees him tensing. "N-Nothing!"

Zero Two blushes slightly and places a hand on her hip. "You can turn around now."

"Are you sure?"

"I wouldn't say it if I'm not."

Hiro hesitantly faces her and it took all his strength to hold her glare and not let his eyes wander to where they wanted.

"Why are you here?" Zero Two asks, this time, in a calm tone. But Hiro didn't know why, but he preferred hearing her yelling.

"W-Well, I saw the other girls leaving from here but you were not with them. So I wanted to check on you to see if you were a-alright." Hiro moves his gaze to the ground.

"What if I was just on my period?"

Hiro blushes. "I-I didn't think on that. Is that what is happening? Then I-I'll leave." Hiro turns around and before he could take one step, he feels arms wrapping around his torso.

"Zero Two? Is everything okay?"

He feels her head on the back of his neck. "I was just thinking on how happy I am that you worry about me."

The boy's eyes soften. "Of course. I care about you."

"Even if it means you invading my privacy." She adds with a smirk.

This time, the boy decided to gave her back the teasing. He turns around in her arms and wraps his arms around her waist, making Zero Two's eyes widen.

"I will invade your privacy as much is it takes if it means to make you feel better about something." Hiro makes a warm smile and transforms into a proud one when he notices his girlfriend's cheeks reddening.

"A-Ah, o-okay..." The male found her stuttering very cute. He was sure that he was the only one who had ever seen this side of Zero Two: the side where she gets embarrassed and blushes and stutters. It was good to see that she truly trusted him to show her those sides.

He didn't want anyone else to see those sides.

And now, in a blink of an eye, he was sure about how he felt.

"Zero Two..." The girl looks at him in the eyes and an unwillingly shiver ran down her spine.

"Yes?"

"I love you."

His eyes were determined, his voice sincere. His face was warm and Zero Two felt her heart race and melt, at the same time.

Small tears appear in corner of her eyes and she smiles brightly.

"I love you too, Darling."

This was not the first time he had heard those words from her mouth but the last time she was drunk and didn't remember that she said it. But now, she had plenty of consciousness of what she was saying.

This feeling, this love... It had to be said out loud.

"I really love you. Ever since we were children." Zero Two adds with a blush over her cheeks.

Hiro caresses her cheeks with his thump and his other hand goes to her back, pulling her closer to him. The sensation of his lips together wasn't new but it was always electrifying to both of them.

They wanted this to last forever.

Hiro's hand went higher on her back and he felt his girlfriend's body tense. They both pull away and join their foreheads.

"I want to see them." Hiro says.

Zero Two's eyes widen and she quickly steps back, covering her chest.

"Pervert! Hentai!" She exclaims.

What a way to ruin the moment.

Hiro waves his hands in front of them. "T-That's not what I meant! I want to see... your scars."

"My... scars?" Zero Two repeats slowly.

"Yes. If you don't mind, of course." Hiro was unsure about what her answer would be.

Zero Two looks suspiciously at him, her eyes darting from him to her feet. She trusted him, but her scars were something that she didn't like to show.

But she also loved him.

"Okay." She murmurs. She goes to the hot spring and sits in the water, making sure that it was covering everything that she wanted. Hiro just follows her, nervousness suddenly running through him.

Then, she takes her towel off; Hiro gulps. He actually tried not to but his eyes wondered around her body. To her content and to his strange sadness, he couldn't see anything beneath half of her back.

He gently pushes her hair to her side, seeing the marks on her skin. There were numerous scars, ones bigger and smaller. He slowly traces her scars with his fingers, feeling the different texture of skin beneath them. Zero Two shivers again. She wasn't used to be touched like this and she felt like her heart was going to explode.

So much meaning, so much pain those scars were carrying. It was a sign of what she had overcome but was also a forever reminder of her origins.

Anger starts to flow on Hiro's veins by just thinking that the man who was supposed to protect her, to love her, was the one who made the exact same scars he was touching right now.

"They look terrible, don't they?" She tries to laugh but failed.

Without realizing, he leans in and places his lips on one of the biggest scars, kissing it gently. He heard a gasp from the pinkette.

His lips travel through the numerous scars, making sure to kiss each and every one of them.

"D-Darling, you don't need to do that to make me feel better." Zero Two squeezes her eyes shut when she feels his lips moving again.

"I'm not doing this to make you feel better. I'm doing this because I want to." He says before kissing another.

"How did you make them?" He asks between kisses.

"I-It was from the various surgeries I was submitted to. I had smithereens of glass on my back from the accident."

"Oh, so the scar I have must be also from the accident." Hiro murmurs but the girl heard.

"Scar?"

"Hmm. I also have one."

Zero Two picks her towel and cover her chest. Then she turns around. "Where?"

Hiro really didn't want to talk about that; he preferred to continue what he was doing.

Even so, he lifted his hand to his head, pushing his hair to the side and showed his scar.

Zero Two gently touched it with her hand before kissing it. "I didn't know you had it. It seems that we both have marks form that day."

Hiro takes her hand in his. "You are not alone. Not anymore."

Zero Two's eyes soften and she smiles.

"Yeah."