Alright, I gave it my best effort, but I know it doesn't do them justice. I should wait for Clamp to do it right, but I'm not that patient. We all know it's gonna take forever ;)
I don't own anything as awesome as Fujimoto or Kobato... it really is a shame :9
Of Swimsuits and Serendipity
o.O.o.O.o
Fujimoto Kiyokazu had never been one to do things half-assed.
When he set his mind to accomplish something he went about it with the kind of unwavering determination that is often lacking in the younger generation.
Of course, that same drive also meant that when he screwed up he did it royally.
And unfortunately he was learning that when it came to love he had gone and done it in a similar no-holds barred fashion.
Although he couldn't say for certain when things had originally started to change, he quite clearly remembered the incident he considered the beginning of the end.
It was hard to believe that, looking back, he'd been so busy and oblivious that the only thing that had come to mind when Sayako had told him about the upcoming field trip was that it would be a hassle keeping track of fourteen kindergartners on a beach.
Only later did he realize that that should have been the least of his worries.
Even when he heard that only six of the students had signed up and he haphazardly tossed items in his own duffel bag it still didn't register. In fact, it only finally sank in when they were all settled on the bus and Sayaka asked whether everyone had remembered their swimsuits and towels. He waited to hear a chorus of six childish voices answering in the affirmative, but, as he should have expected, an additional voice responded with an enthusiastically raised hand.
It was on him before he'd even had a chance to process – a startlingly clear image of Kobato in a pale yellow – why yellow? – bikini… looking – shit – looking pretty damn hot – was what.
Damn it all, he so didn't need this, he groused silently; he had enough on his plate without some perpetually cheerful girl suddenly invading his life and making everything complicated.
He was so caught up in his internal musings that it was only after the real Kobato glanced up at him with her innocent smile that he realized he'd been staring, probably for quite awhile.
With an incoherent mutter he sat back in his seat, arms folded across his chest and feigned sleep.
In truth, that forbidden image kept him awake the entire trip.
o.O.o.O.o
It was still mid-morning when they arrived and the beach appeared to still be mostly deserted. Likely the larger crowds wouldn't arrive until later in the season when families would begin taking their vacations.
Once free from the confines of the bus the boys immediately scrambled off to the sparkling water, already hollering about who could make the biggest splash.
Grabbing the heaviest of the bags, he followed close behind them with a warning not to get in the water just yet. It wasn't that they didn't know how to swim – they had all taken the requisite swimming classes for a trip like this – he just wanted them to understand the ground rules first.
Once everyone was together and understood the boundaries he settled down on the nearby blanket to keep watch.
Kobato was already helping build a large, albeit lopsided sandcastle with a number of the students near the water's edge. He couldn't help but smirk when an errant wave lapped up near her legs, causing her to shriek and jump up in surprise. Her thought process was clearly evident as she first examined the dripping edges of her sundress and then inspected the children who had already shed their outer clothing in favor of their more convenient swimwear.
Hesitantly she lifted the soaked edge of her skirt, glancing around while shifting from one foot to the other. Thankfully Sayaka noticed her distress and directed her to the nearest changing tent. He shook his head, wondering if her lack of common sense would ever cease to amaze him.
Within moments, a red-faced Kobato emerged, clutching her discarded sundress against her chest. But her embarrassment was fairly short-lived upon seeing Sayaka in her own swimsuit and sarong and as soon as the children called her over to help rebuild their wave-battered castle, she seemed to relax and went over to join them.
On the way she stopped and knelt by his blanket, gently setting her folded dress next to him. Refusing to meet her eyes, he instead turned to rummage noisily through the cooler for a bottle of water. As she finally went back to the students, he let out the breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding.
"Not too bad, ne?"
He choked slightly on his gulp of water, having been so distracted that he hadn't even heard Sayaka sneak up behind him.
Ignoring her soft chuckle he refused to acknowledge the rhetorical question and took off to distract the boys from their new game of donning pieces of seaweed to play ocean monster. And try to focus on something other than the pink-haired girl and her revealing white and yellow swimwear.
o.O.o.O.o
It had been an okay plan, as plans go. It just hadn't been very realistic. For it seemed that every time he turned around there she was, doing some new activity that revealed different and intriguing glimpses of flesh.
Although it was a one-piece suit and not a bikini as he had imagined – thank kami for small favors, he supposed – it didn't exactly cover a great deal. The top was cut in small, gathered triangles leaving a small gap in between which was distracting enough, but to top it off, the cursed thing also tied around her neck and back with strings, leaving large portions of her flawless skin exposed.
Not to mention that when she knelt to dig for sand-crabs, the sides crept up her hips; when she pulled her long hair back into a pony-tail the triangles slid to permit just the slightest peek of curve to show; and when she bent over to gather seashells…. well, he had to excuse himself for a moment, against the children's whiny pleas.
Sayaka's knowing grin didn't help either.
When he returned, the seashell gathering activity had stopped and Sayako was helping a number of the kids out of the water.
He couldn't help but notice that Kobato's gaze kept drifting out to them, though she was supposed to be helping fill a bucket with sand she was missing the bucket more often than not.
"You can go out, if you want…" he informed her without preamble and nodded towards the kids, "I'll watch them up here."
He'd apparently startled her as her plastic shovel went flying with a "meep!" of surprise, "Ah, no, that's okay…"
"Why not? You know how to swim, right?"
Her eyes immediately cast down to her sandy knees and she shook her head ever so slightly.
He sighed, how could he have been so careless? After they'd been so diligent to ensure that all the students knew how, to neglect such an obvious issue was completely inexcusable. What if one of the kids had needed her?
But it was pointless to dwell on what-ifs.
He grabbed her slender wrist, drawing her up to standing. "Everyone – go help Sayaka-sensei get lunch ready." As the kids obediently sprinted back up to the blankets, eager to be able to assist with the food preparation, Kobato turned to follow but was stopped short when he pulled her abruptly back.
"Nope," he chided, shaking his head as he gazed down at her, "Not you." He stalked off in the direction of the water with her in tow, "You're learning to swim."
"Ahh, no, Fujimoto-san," she protested, making a futile attempt to escape his grasp, squirming every which way.
"Stop it," he scolded as she continued to twist her feet in the sand, "Give me one good reason why not."
"I-I don't like it…"
"What? The waves? The fish?" He paused, catching a glimpse of his fingers still curled around her wrist and immediately released her, "…or this?" After spending a large portion of his energy trying to avoid her he hadn't considered the possibility that she didn't want him to be that close.
Dropping her arm abruptly, he turned away, "Fine, I'll get Sayaka to show you lat-"
"No!" she interjected emphatically as a couple of beach-goers turned to stare at them.
Taken aback at her uncharacteristic tone, he was momentarily at a loss for words.
"It isn't that; I-I just don't like not being able to see the bottom is all…" she muttered, still staring down at the sand.
"I'm not going to throw you in and run away, dummy."
She gazed at him for a long moment.
"Don't look at me like you're trying to decide whether I'd let you drown!" He exhaled loudly. "C'mon."
With only slightly less resistance she allowed him to pull her knee-deep in the waves. When the first wave hit she clutched at his hand as if she thought she'd be swept away.
Wiggling his rapidly cramping fingers, he managed to rearrange them so they were intertwined – although tightly – with hers.
Right, well, now they looked like lovers. That certainly hadn't been his goal… no matter what his subconscious may or may not be trying to tell him.
Glancing around he spotted a small cove about 50 meters away. With a tug on her hand he indicted the secluded spot, "Over there – the waves won't be as bad…"
Nodding with that determined furrow etched in her brow they set out through the surf.
The water was slightly warmer in this area and when he ventured out he determined that at the deepest point it only reached about chest high. With a lazy crawl, he swam back over and pulled on her hand, "Right then."
Still ill at ease, she tentatively allowed him to pull her out to the center of the water, fingers still tightly gripping his.
When he could tell she'd relaxed slightly he floated back and instructed her to kick her legs as he directed her around in a small lap.
Needless to say the first few laps he ended up drenched from her erratic and uncoordinated kicking. Ignoring his own discomfort and her pitiful pleas that she was just not any good any swimming, he pressed on.
"If you give up now, it will all be for nothing right?"
She continued to pout and eye him pathetically, "I'm sorry Fujimoto-san, I think I'm hopeless at most sports."
"Well, luckily for us, knowing to swim is also a safety skill."
She still looked doubtful.
"If one of the kids needed you and you couldn't help because you quit, wouldn't that be terrible?"
That seemed to strike her as an important goal and she looked somewhat less defeated.
"And you'll be safer too," he muttered without thinking.
Now she stared at him, as if uncertain she'd heard him correctly. Fighting off embarrassment at the careless slip, he merely pulled her back out to the middle and hoped to pick up with the lesson.
After the initially slow start, she turned out to be an acceptable student, and even managed to pick up most of the basic movements within a reasonable amount of time.
He was about to suggest they call it quits and get back to work when she suddenly shrieked and flung herself at him as though she was attempting to literally climb all the way out of the water.
"Oi, get off!" he snapped, not intending it to come out so sharply but needing – for personal reasons – her to cease squirming against him.
She settled and slid back into the water, though her fingers still dug into his shoulders as she glanced around furtively.
"What is it?" he ground out shortly, his patience rapidly wearing thin.
"Something touched me!"
He rolled his eyes, exasperated, "Are you hurt?"
"No…" she admitted quietly.
"Is it still stuck to you?" he couldn't help but mock her.
"Whaa – no!" she shrieked and shuddered dramatically.
"Well, I think you'll survive."
Realizing for the first time that he'd instinctively wrapped his arms around her when she'd grabbed on to him, he suddenly became intensely aware of the fact that they were close – no, not just close – intimately, embarrassingly embracing on a public beach.
And she wasn't moving. In fact, she had grown quite still and was gazing at him looking rather puzzled.
Impossibly long lashes fluttered to brush her cheeks as she blinked slowly at him, only the hint of color touching her skin to suggest their dangerously close proximity affected her. In fact, she actually looked rather peaceful, almost as if she wouldn't mind staying right where she was all day.
Frowning he chased the image from his clearly heat-stroked brain. Intending to extricate himself and the apparently spaced-out girl, he made the mistake of glancing down at her lips. As if sensing his scrutiny, she pulled the bottom one between her teeth, nibbling self-consciously.
All thoughts of leaving instantly fled, deeper instincts threatening to override his rational judgment, mesmerized by the contours of her mouth. The fingers still around her waist tightened as he struggled against his more base inclinations.
Seemingly unaware of his ongoing struggle, she tilted her head up, shading her eyes from the strong sun with one hand.
Looking back he realized that if he'd been paying more attention and not fighting back the urge to tackle her on the warm sand, he might have noticed the troubled way she continued to chew on her lip.
As it was, three things happened at once: he leaned in slightly as she murmured, "Fujimoto-san..." and before he could even process the too-sparkly way her eyes had misted over and the slight tremble in her voice, Tashihiko-kun had called out for them to come eat lunch and he forced himself to release her and lead the way back to the beach.
He was absolutely torn between being grateful to Sayaka's timing and being furious.
The mere fact that he was even debating terrified him.
o.O.o.O.o
Whether through pure innocence or a conscious desire to not acknowledge what had happened between them, Kobato hadn't mentioned the near-miss at the beach. If perhaps she was a little more subdued at work, to him it was a welcome change and he didn't even consider it as related in any way.
What he had considered - many more times than he'd care to admit - was the way her impossibly soft skin had felt under his fingertips and the light, familiar scent of her hair as he held her close.
He'd even pondered that strange look she'd given him there at the end, right before they'd been interrupted. She'd looked half scared, half hopeful and at the last moment blushed brighter than any person should be able.
Either way it was an enigma and even a week later he was no closer to figuring out what - if anything - he wanted to do about it.
A soft knock broke through his concentration, sending his conflicting thoughts scattering like hundreds of dust bunnies scurrying away from a broom.
Not entirely disappointed by the interruption and the promise of a distraction, he rose to answer the entreaty.
She stood there, framed by the simple wooden doorway, looking as forlorn and pathetic as he'd ever seen her. Eyes that seemed unusually red and swollen fixed on him and he shifted awkwardly; clearly she'd been crying. He could barely handle the crying preschoolers at the nursery nevermind the tears of a full grown woman.
Especially one who managed to look every bit as adorable with puffy eyes and a slightly pink nose as she did in a white and yellow swimsuit, his subconscious eagerly reminded him.
Since she didn't seem at all inclined to begin speaking any time in the near future he shifted his feet awkwardly. How in the world was he going to deal with this? As if he had the slightest clue how to deal with an upset and apparently mute girl stranded on his doorstep.
Unable to deal with the uncomfortable silence any more, he ran his hand roughly through his hair, "Well, what's wrong?" he demanded.
She flinched at his harsh tone and he could only shake his head and focused on gingerly shutting the door behind her. Damn it all – he really didn't do crying!
"Sorry," he muttered in the general direction of the floor. "Tea?" he tried, more in an attempt to keep himself busy than from any specific desire for refreshment.
The idea of something as normal and familiar as tea must have settled her, for she nodded and arranged herself on one of the pillows. It was undoubtedly the most awkward pot of tea he'd ever brewed; Kobato maintained her silence and even when he glanced over at her she was intently studying her hands which were folded neatly on the table.
An eternity later the water finally boiled and he placed a gently steaming cup on the table with a barely audible clink.
Glancing up only long enough to whisper "thank you" she turned her attention to her beverage, tracing her fingers around the smooth ceramic surface.
Realizing it was apparently not going to be a quick visit, he fixed himself a cup as well and settled down to wait. At least he'd intended to wait. But in no time his own cup was empty while hers remained untouched and he was no closer to getting his apartment back to himself.
"So…" he trailed off, not really certain how to direct this abrupt and seemingly pointless visit to its purpose.
Slowly she raised her eyes to meet his and he was glad he'd already set his cup down as it would probably be in pieces right now. He hadn't taken a good look initially, but the gaze that met him was so tortured and pitiful that he immediately felt his stomach twist. Anger normally held so carefully just under the surface broke free.
"Did someone hurt you??" he ground out; restrained, but only just.
"Ah! No, no!" she interjected, emphatically waving her hands back and forth.
Had he been thinking more clearly he would have immediately thought to move the still-full mug out of the way, but he had been preoccupied and watched almost in slow-motion as one of her flailing arms hit the side of the cut and set the contents pouring across the table.
Sighing, he stood to retrieve a dishrag but she beat him to it, frantically scurrying around the tiny kitchen looking in any number of absurd places, all the while muttering "towel, towel, towel!" and looking increasingly panicky by the second.
Intending to calm her down, he clasped her wrist in the hopes that merely forcing her to slow down would be enough to distract her from panicking.
Although she did stop, he definitely hadn't expected to find an openly weeping girl to be attached to said slender wrist.
In that moment he very nearly ran the other way but valiantly fought the urge and did something he'd never done before. He pulled her close and did his very best to comfort a crying girl.
Despite the fact that he clearly hadn't a clue what he was doing and even half thought she might run away, she melted bonelessly into his arms. The tears which had been steadily streaming down her cheeks were already beginning to subside, a fact for which he was most profoundly grateful.
Sniffing most noisily against his shoulder, she managed to choke out a muffled, "I'm sorry, Fujimoto-san, I'm so clumsy…"
Still helplessly out of his element he shifted his feet, "You're always clumsy – not sure why you're crying about it now…"
She clung to him, shaking her head vigorously, "T-that's not really it…"
If she was hoping he would prompt her to continue she'd be waiting a long time. He was already hugging her, dammit. Not that he really minded, but that really was a lot for him…
Her slender frame twisted slightly and he was reassured that indeed, he really didn't mind the hugging, especially since she'd stopped the waterworks. Try as he may, he honestly couldn't complain about the softness of her slight curves pressing against him or the way –
Her tentative voice broke through his thoughts, "It's just that… when I think about you my chest hurts, but when I'm near you it only hurts a little…" She took a deep shuddering breath, "…and when you hold me it doesn't hurt at all…"
What the hell… he couldn't even process – had she just confessed to him!?
Glancing down, her face was still hidden from view but the bits of skin he could see had clearly flushed a bright pink shade. Shaking his head he exhaled fully, "Kobato..." he honestly wasn't sure what to say in response, it was just so unexpected.
Peering up at him through those impossibly long lashes, he watched as her emotions seemed to swing between hopefulness and despair. In the end she merely nodded quickly and murmured, "I understand, I'm sorry to have bothered you."
She squirmed slightly as if to extricate herself but he didn't release her from his grasp, not ready to give up the contact that – although he'd never admit it aloud – had the exact same effect on him that she'd just described.
"I never said I minded," he grumbled softly as she stared at him in surprised. "I said you could come to me if you needed anything. Or did you think I didn't mean it?" he demanded, a touch irritably.
"Ah – no!" I mean, I didn't... not, I mean – " she flustered about, her face growing increasingly red, her hands flapping a bit as she struggled to reply.
With a sigh, he shook his head. How this perpetually cheerful, hopelessly clumsy girl had worked her way into his heart he would never know.
Still flustering, he tilted her chin up ever so slightly and it was only when his lips finally claimed hers and finished what they'd started in that secluded pool that she was finally calm. He froze momentarily when he felt her grow impossibly still in his arms, realizing that he really hadn't thought this through. But she wasn't struggling and when he cracked one eye slightly open to peek at her, both of hers were closed and she appeared quite content.
Cursing himself he realized that this was almost certainly the innocent girl's first kiss and here he was barging in as usual, without any thought for delicacy.
He eased back so her lips were like a feather's touch and slanted his head, hoping to teach her without actually having to speak. He heard a soft sigh as she caught on, relaxing in his arms as her hands released their death-grip on his T-shirt.
Giving his best effort to remain restrained, he broke away slowly, not wanting to overwhelm her.
For a moment she merely blinked at him, her eyes unfocused, the hint of an amazed smile touching the edges of her mouth. Then someone flipped the switch and she noticed that the tea was still dripping onto the tatami mat.
"AHHH, Fujimoto-san, the tatami mats!" she tried to make a dash for the mess but again he held her back, tucking her head under his chin, finding she fit just perfectly.
She didn't fight and he could only sigh as he thought of how impossibly complicated he had just made his life.
Even with that realization and the knowledge that the tatami would likely permanently smell like tea he found it difficult to be too terribly annoyed.
No, not too annoyed at all.
o.O.o.O.o
A/N - omg Fujimoto is hard to write and obviously I didn't even try Kobato, I feel like such a cop-out :/ Well, hope you enjoyed even if it is a bit OOC ~