Story Title: My Ribbon In Your Hair
Characters: Rio, Kotori||Romance: Kotori x Rio/Rio x Kotori
Word Count: 1,854||Chapters: 1/1
Genre: Romance||Rated: G
Challenge: Diversity Writing Challenge, E54, post-canon fic; Include The Word Boot Camp, #7, thread; Advent 2015-2016, day #17, write about something warm & fuzzy; YGO Femslash Week 2017, prompt: ribbons
Summary: With all the hair she has, Rio needs a little help now and then. Kotori is always willing to lend a hand, a ribbon, or a night out together.
Kotori carefully ran the brush through Rio's hair, enjoying the feel of the soft strands against her fingers. For someone who spent at least part of her time as a rock alien zombie demon sort of creature – no one really knew what to call the Barians when you got right down to it – Rio had the softest hair that Kotori had ever run across in her entire life.
Not that she spent much time comparing hair, but this was just a beautiful waterfall of wonder, and Kotori thanked every higher power she could imagine that she could touch it.
Rio didn't let many people do that. In fact, the only person Kotori knew of other than herself who could do so was Rio's own brother. If anyone else even looked at Rio the wrong way, they stood a chance of being iced the moment their back was turned.
Not that Rio used her powers in the open that much. None of them did. But not using in the open didn't mean not using at all.
Right now, though, Kotori enjoyed herself with that special honor, slowly brushing out each part of Rio's hair and trying not to swoon over how wonderful the long span of hair felt in her hands.
"Have you thought about putting a ribbon in this?" she asked, touching it with the tips of her fingers. "Tying it back, maybe? It could probably help with tangles if you did."
She didn't know what Rio did to get hair that hardly seemed to tangle at all, but a few did show up now and then, and with this much hair, Rio needed either four extra hands or one extra person to keep it under control.
Kotori offered only two hands, but together, they made it work.
Rio tilted her head and caught Kotori's eyes in the mirror they sat in front of. "I hadn't really thought about it."
Kotori frowned for a moment, putting the brush down and rummaging in her bag. She always kept a few extra on her, since hers had a tendency to slip out of her hair and fly away when the wind got too rough. Which meant right now she had extras she could lend out.
"What do you think of these?" She pulled out three of them and spread the ribbons where Rio could see them. One was her usual pink, one a dark gray, and one blue that nearly matched Rio's own hair.
Rio ran her finger down that one thoughtfully. "I'm not sure if this would go with your hair."
She wasn't wrong about that. Kotori admitted to herself – even if to no one else – that she'd bought it because it reminded her of Rio and carrying it around made her feel just a little closer to Rio.
"Probably not," was all she said now, though, laughing a little. "But it would with yours. Want to try it?" The idea of Rio wearing one of her ribbons sent delicious shivers all through her, ones she didn't think she'd get over for a while.
But they weren't bad shivers at all. The idea of feeling them for some time to come wasn't at all a bad one.
"All right," Rio agreed, settling herself back before the mirror, running her hand through her heavy weight of hair. "Thank you for this, Kotori."
"You're welcome," Kotori murmured, ducking her head behind Rio's to avoid any sign of the blush that burned across her cheeks. She brushed through Rio's hair a little more before she gathered up as much of it as she could and began to wind the blue ribbon through it.
There was so much hair there and just one ribbon, so there wasn't a great deal that she thought she could do with it. Maybe that was why Rio didn't bother with any. She'd need several to get more than a standard ponytail out of it, and while that would look sort of nice, it wasn't the best thing possible.
Still, Kotori worked on it anyway, once again enjoying the feel of Rio's hair in her hands, the scent of Rio's skin when she moved in a little closer – a soft whisper of a scent and nothing more, something that didn't remind her of shampoo but did put more and more thoughts of Rio and what it would be like to smell that on a regular basis…
Kotori behaved herself. Just being able to do this was all the pleasure that she could ever ask for. She'd never worried herself much over what sort of person Rio might wish to date, if she dated at all. She wasn't sure if she qualified, no matter what it turned out as.
Face it, she told herself as she started to wrap the ribbon up so it would remain in Rio's hair, you love her. And you're not the only person who does.
How could she be? Everyone who saw Rio loved her in some form or other. The only person she thought might not was Vector, and he was Vector. He didn't love anyone, except maybe Yuuma, and Kotori wasn't always sure about that.
At least I get to help her with her hair. It wasn't much but it made her happy, and even better, it made Rio happy, and that would satisfy Kotori for a long time to come.
Rio didn't let her gaze drift away from the mirror and what she could see in it. Watching Kotori move around satisfied something deep within her, far more than the help with getting her hair done.
She sort of suspected being a Barian had something to do with why she could manage her hair with only minimal help, and while being that had caused far more than its share of problems, if it meant she could have quiet time with Kotori, then it was more than worth it.
The ribbon did match her hair, sliding through the folds almost invisibly. It felt like having a little piece of Kotori next to her and she could get used to that.
She wanted to get used to that. She wanted to feel those skilled fingers moving through her hair and brush against her skin.
She didn't know what else she wanted, not just yet, anyway but she knew that she wanted to try and find out what it could be like to spend more time with Kotori.
There wasn't any time like the present to find out, either. She'd never been one to hold back when there was something that she wanted.
"Kotori," she asked, as the other carefully finished tying off the ribbon. Even if she never used it in her hair again, Rio made up her mind that she wanted to keep it. "Are you busy this weekend?"
Kotori blinked at her in the mirror, head tilting a bit to the side. "Not really. Why do you ask?"
Best to start with the basics. They could get into something more complex with time.
"Because there's a movie opening up and I'd like to see it." Rio turned so she could look into Kotori's real eyes instead of reflected ones. "I'd like to see it with you."
Kotori blinked a few more times, heat rising in her cheeks, and she ducked her head. "O-of course," she murmured, seeming to talk to the floor more than to Rio. "I always have time for you."
That sent a warm thrill of its own all through Rio, who reached to touch Kotori's hand. "Is that so?" She really didn't want Kotori to think this was just going out to a movie as friends. Not that she didn't see them with her friends, but that wasn't what she wanted. Not from Kotori.
Whatever it was that Kotori had planned to say, if anything at all, she seemed to lose the thread of it as Rio spoke. Her head jerked up, her eyes wide and round, quivering all over.
"Of course! Why wouldn't I? You're my… my best friend?" There was more of the cast of a question than Rio especially liked. She folded her hand a little more around Kotori's.
"I like being your friend," Rio said, not taking her eyes away for a moment. "But this isn't just a couple of friends going to the movies. At least, I don't mean it like that."
Kotori's lips worked but nothing coherent came out of them.
I think I'd better make myself clear. Rio leaned forward and brushed her lips softly over Kotori's, ready to move back at a moment's notice if Kotori didn't want this.
What she heard was a small mewl of pleasure and what she felt was Kotori's arms going around her as she kissed back, trembling from head to foot. As close together as they were pressed, Rio couldn't miss the dampness from Kotori's eyes.
"Tears?" That didn't make any sense to her, not if Kotori were as happy as the rest of her seemed to show. "Kotori?"
Kotori shook her head, reaching up to wipe them away, a smile on her lips, a little shaky but there. "I just never expected that. At all."
Rio nodded; she hadn't exactly gotten up that morning with intent to ask Kotori out on a first date herself. But now she wound their hands together and held them close.
"If you want, we can do something different." She wanted to spend time with Kotori, but if the other didn't want to try being out in public on a first date, then there were so many other ways they could do that.
Kotori raised her head enough to look into Rio's eyes. "No. I want to see that movie, too."
Rio wondered, just the faintest bit, if that was just a way to give herself strength to carry on with this. If so, she wasn't going to argue about it. There weren't many people who would bother her about what she wanted to do or who she wanted to do it with, but if it made Kotori feel better to tell people they were just seeing a movie, then so be it.
But the smile that Kotori gave her, one sweet and strong and full of hope for the future, told her that it wasn't an excuse, and Kotori wanted this as much as she did. They just had to work through it all together.
She thought the two of them could make it.
Kotori reached up to touch the ribbon in Rio's hair, dragging herself back from whatever distant mental place she'd been in since their kiss.
"This looks even better than I thought it would," she said. "Maybe you could wear it like that this weekend?" A tiny breath of nervousness wound through her voice and Rio smiled, hoping to relieve it.
"I think I can manage that, if you're willing to help me," she said. The feel of Kotori's hands on her hair sent chills through her that even she wasn't fully prepared to handle.
"I am," Kotori agreed, and Rio could not have been happier if she'd actually tried.
The End
Notes: I really find them so cute together. Just a little fluff piece tonight. But tomorrow we return to the world of the fae, with Rin and Ruri and what they're doing while Selena is off entrancing Yuzu.