Author's Note for the people who also read my ongoing story and are wondering why the hell I posted this oneshot. The rest can skip this Note, I'd say. :)
Sorry for posting this OneShot instead of updating my other story, but I'm still in the middle of my exams right now (actually, I only had my first one today), and I really don't have the time to think about the rest of my plot right now. An oneshot, however, is easier to write and believe me, I needed the break. I hope to be able to update The Huntress by the end of next month.
Disclaimer: Don't. Own.
Sunday
It had been Noriko's idea. Not like it had been planned; the words had just come out of her mouth when she and her beloved onee-sama had been walking to school one morning in mid-spring, the sun shining down on them. The feeling of simple happiness and peace in her heart, and the desire of experiencing that more often – those were the elements that had driven Noriko to the idea, and express it.
Let's go out, Shimako-san. Let's go out every first Sunday of every month, not to visit Buddha shrines or churches or anything related to religion, but to go to places where other teenagers go to, and enjoy ourselves.
Somewhere normal teenagers would go to. The park, the cinema, the carnival, places like that. Shimako had been surprised by her soeur's unexpected suggestion, but it hadn't taken her too much time to come up with an answer.
That's a wonderful idea, Noriko.
Following that idea, the two girls had already gone to the cinema, to the amusement park, to the beach and the park together. Every first Sunday of every month, from June to September, they had visited a place where they had been able to mingle in with other girls of their age pretty easily. And every time, Noriko had experienced what she had wanted to experience on their monthly date: a feeling she described as 'being at home'. On their last date, a picnic at the park, she had been so completely at ease that when they were about to part, she had given Shimako a small peck on the cheek. Nothing out of the ordinary; many girls of their age did it when they greeted each other, or when they were about to leave. But if it had been nothing out of the ordinary, then why had she lost that feeling of serenity when giving Shimako that innocent kiss? Why had another sensation – the awareness that her onee-sama's skin was so incredibly soft and tasty, and the urge to experience that delicious flavour again – settled itself in her abdomen?
--
It was the last week of September. After several long days of rain and cloudy skies, the weather had changed for the better and the sun had found its way through the thick grey clouds again, although it was still far from warm. Noriko was sitting in her room behind the computer. She had received a mail from her dear friend Takuya Shimura, and was now looking at the many interesting Buddhist images the mail had included. So engrossed in her watching, she didn't even notice Sumireko creeping up behind her with the telephone in her hand. The soft touch of the older woman's hand on her shoulder made Noriko almost jump up in surprise.
"Rico, you were so busy watching those pictures that you didn't even hear me enter your room." Sumireko smiled. "Someone's on the phone for you. I hope you'll also give that kind of attention to the person on the other end of the line."
The woman handed over the phone to her relative and backed out of the room, still smiling. After her great-aunt had closed the door behind her, Noriko placed the telephone next to her ear and thought she heard the sound of shallow breathing.
"Nijou Noriko."
When the breathy voice of a person she knew very well reached her ears, a familiar feeling crawled into her stomach.
"I hope I haven't disturbed you with anything?"
Although she knew the person could not see her, Noriko still shook her head.
"You haven't. I was just looking at some pictures."
"Buddhist images Shimura-san sent you?"
"You know me too well."
There was a brief moment of silence before the girl on the other side of the phone line spoke again.
"Noriko, have you already decided on where you want to go to this Sunday?"
--
The evening of their picnic at the park, she had been restless. Even watching the new pictures Takuya had send earlier that day, hadn't helped her to calm down. The fuzzy mixture of confusing thoughts and images of the girl that caused the thoughts had made Noriko unable to sleep during the longer part of the night. The image of Shimako and her ever so soft and tasty skin had settled firmly in Noriko's head, and many deep-red blushes in the dark had been the result of it. Surprisingly, during the hours at school Noriko had managed to maintain her cool expression when being near the older girl. Not an easy task, but Shimako hadn't acted any differently, so she probably hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary either.
But acting normally at school, where they were mostly accompanied by other members of the Yamayurikai, wasn't the hardest task Noriko would be confronted with. And she had realized that herself.
--
"Noriko?"
"Ah, I'm sorry. I was thinking of possible places we could go to."
"Have you come up with anything yet?"
"Well, I thought it would be fun if we went shopping this time?"
"I think that would be fun too. Where shall we meet?"
"I think it's best if we meet up at the entrance of station K. There are a lot of shops near the K-station, so we could go shopping there."
"That's a great plan. Let's meet up at 11.00 o'clock then. Is that alright with you?"
"No problem."
"I'm looking forward to Sunday then. Ah, but I always look forward to days where I can see you, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow as well. See you tomorrow, Noriko."
Red was definitely the colour that dominated Noriko's face as she tightened the grip around the phone.
"See you tomorrow, Shimako-san."
--
It was the Sunday of their shopping date. A few minutes before the clock read 11 o'clock, Noriko was already standing near the entrance of station K. People were busy walking to and from the station, almost bumping into each other in their haste. The weather had not changed during the last week only to get warmer, and it was a weekend. Needless to say, it was very crowded.
Spotting a Japanese doll-like person, Shimako hurriedly made her way through the mass of people and reached her destination unscathed. She greeted the person and together they moved away from the jam-packed station.
"Did you have any problems arriving here?" Shimako asked. "It was very crowded in the train; I think I accidentally stepped on someone's foot during the ride."
Noriko giggled. "It was also rather crowded in my train," she answered. "But luckily, I managed to keep my feet away from someone else's."
Shimako stared at the girl before she began to smile. Not saying a word, she merely continued gazing at Noriko, and the latter was aware of a pair of dark blue eyes watching her. She had never been so conscious of those eyes looking at her before. Trying hard not to, but failing nevertheless, Noriko turned crimson.
"Yes, it is warm today, isn't it," Shimako remarked.
Noriko was surprised but glad that the other girl had mistaken her red face as being a result from the heat.
"I guess so," she said, touching her cheek and feeling the flushed skin. It definitely had not been the warmth of the sun that had made her face turn red.
They walked to the shopping district in comfortable silence. As most of the people, they were just window-shopping at first, until Shimako saw a blue blouse she very much liked. Encouraged by Noriko, the girl went into the shop and got herself a piece of the clothing to try on.
"I'll wait outside while you try it on," Noriko said, failing in blocking out a vision of Shimako undressing. Shocked by how vivid the image was Noriko turned around, not being able to see and be seen by the object of her affections that way. Only when she heard the sound of curtains being drawn the girl relaxed a bit, and once again lifted her hand to touch her cheek. If possible, they were even warmer than last time.
After a few minutes, in which Noriko had been able to regain her normal colour again, Shimako stepped out of the small room and with a questioning expression on her face looked at the younger girl.
"Wah, it really suits you, Shimako-san! You look so beautiful in it! Ehm, not that you aren't beautiful when you not wear it, ah, I mean…" Noriko could not believe she was ranting. She had tried so hard to give Shimako a compliment like she'd normally would, but instead she had started jabbering all over the place because of her nervousness. And also because of the simple beauty that stood before her. Still trying to formulate proper sentences, Noriko failed to notice the slight blush on her soeur's face.
After having changed into her own clothing again, Shimako returned the blouse to its place.
"Aren't you going to buy it? It really looked great on you," her petite soeur said, this time without a jumble of useless sentences accompanying her words.
"The day is not over yet, I'm first going to look in other shops," the Rose replied. "You don't mind coming back later on, if we don't find anything else?"
Noriko shook her head. "We have all day," she said, smiling. "Are you hungry, Shimako-san? It's already past 12 o'clock. We could grab lunch first before shopping again."
"So you're hungry?" Shimako said with twinkling eyes. Noriko nodded, grinning sheepishly.
"Then let's eat first." Shimako grabbed her soeur's hand and smiled at her.
"Let's look for a restaurant."
Noriko merely nodded, not wanting to speak in case something ridiculous came out of her mouth. Shimako's hand was soft, as soft as her cheek had been. Noriko took a deep breath; remembering what her lips had touched a month ago wasn't the best way to make it through the day.
Shimako didn't let go until they went into a restaurant.
--
"How's your Kare?"
The two girls were sitting opposite of each other in a small restaurant where exclusively Japanese dishes were served. It was not very crowded, but it was cosy.
"It's very good. Do you want to try some? Here, open your mouth." Shimako put some of the dish on her spoon and offered it to a dumbstruck Noriko, who was staring at it with big eyes.
"Noriko? Aren't you going to open your mouth?"
Shimako continued holding the spoon in front of the younger girl's mouth whilst trying to meet her eyes. Bewildered, Noriko looked up and instantly met her soeur's burning gaze; she immediately felt her neck and face growing warmer and warmer when she saw those dark eyes staring at her. Trying to cover up for the sudden explosion of red pigment on her face, Noriko moved her head closer and opened her mouth only to close it again, this time around the end of the spoon. Shimako, who had clearly seen Noriko's drastic change of colour, was surprised by the girl's sudden action and let go of the spoon, leaving it to hang in her soeur's mouth. She stared a few moments at the comical sight in front of her – Noriko with big and surprised eyes, a flushed face, spoon in her mouth, body slightly bent forward – and then burst into a fit of laughter.
Noriko took the spoon out of her mouth, swallowed down the lump of food and joined the girl in her laughter. She was not laughing for the same reason as Shimako was; she was not even laughing to hide her embarrassment; she was laughing because Shimako was laughing and looked so beautiful while doing so, her wavy hair bouncing on her shoulders as her body was shaking slightly and a gentle yet amused expression on her gorgeous face, and Noriko was simply happy that she was together with this beautiful girl, happy that she was a part of her life.
They both fell silent at the same time. It was the Noriko who broke the silence.
"You're right, Shimako-san, the Kare is very good. Even though I didn't have much time to enjoy the taste." She grinned, gave back the spoon and turned her attention to her own dish, one second too early to notice the change of expression on her friend's face.
"Don't worry, there'll be plenty of other occasions to eat Kare again," Shimako muttered absent-mindedly, and without scooping up food first, put the spoon in her mouth.
--
"What do you think of this?"
Shimako was holding a pink skirt with elegant fringes and looked at her soeur quizzically.
"I think it would look great with this white blouse." Noriko held out the cloth in front of Shimako. The latter took it, tried to see how it would match the skirt and nodded her head slightly, as if to say she approved.
"Okay, then I'll go to the fitting room. Are you going to try on that shirt now?"
"Yeah, I haven't seen anything else I like, so…"
The girls walked to the fitting rooms together and went into two small chambers bordering on one another. After a few minutes, Noriko stepped out of her fitting room and waited patiently until Shimako was also finished changing herself. Finally Shimako stepped out of the small room in a completely new outfit. Noriko had been right: the blouse and the skirt did match quite well, and if Shimako wore them, it was even prettier.
Before she could say something about the outfit however, Shimako was standing behind her fixing the collar of her shirt, accidentally brushing her slender fingers over the girl's pale neck.
"This shirt looks pretty on you," she said softly after having finished her job. Noriko said nothing but just stood there breathing very fast, still feeling Shimako's touch on her neck. It had been too sudden; the contact of those delicate fingers on her sensitive neck had just been too sudden.
Shimako didn't question her soeur's sudden loss of speech, but stepped in front of her and twirled slowly, showing her outfit.
"Noriko?" she said quietly when the girl didn't react; in fact, she hadn't moved at all since her collar had been fixed. She was just staring, staring at the person in front of her with a glazed look. Only when that person made a hesitant step in her direction, did Noriko snap out of her daze and move a step backwards herself.
"I-It looks great on you," she muttered hastily, tearing her gaze away from the girl who caused all of the feelings, all of the emotions she felt at the moment. "The blouse and the skirt… They really do match well…"
She scolded herself internally; it hadn't been her intention to take a step backwards, it had been a stupid reflex. A reflex to avoid touching Shimako, because in the back of her mind Noriko knew she was afraid to feel that soft skin again. But she also knew it was the thing she desired to do most.
"Are you alright?"
The sound of worry in Shimako's voice made Noriko look up, but she immediately cast her eyes away.
"I'm… I'm feeling fine, don't worry about me," the younger girl replied, looking at Shimako's feet rather than her face.
"Those clothes… They really suit you, you should buy them. I think I'm going to change again."
And with that, Noriko quickly went into her fitting room and drew the curtains, not taking notice of the unreadable look her soeur was giving her. After taking a deep breath, she sat herself on the small chair next to the mirror. For the third time that day, she touched her cheek. It was absolutely not surprising to feel her skin glowing.
Noriko quickly put on her own clothes and stepped out of the fitting room, holding a neatly folded shirt in her hand.
"Shimako-san, I'm going to return this shirt, okay?"
She was already walking away, when she heard Shimako's voice.
"Ah! Wait, Noriko! Could you help me with this first?"
Retracing her steps slowly, Noriko asked "What do you mean?"
Shimako's head appeared from behind the curtains.
"Come and help me, the zipper of this skirt is stuck."
She ushered her soeur to join her in the fitting room. Noriko slowly walked in Shimako's direction and the latter moved aside so the girl could slip past the curtains into the small chamber. Shimako checked the curtains to see if they were fully drawn, then turned to Noriko, who was getting increasingly more nervous.
Shimako had not put on her own shirt yet, meaning she was standing there with only her white, satin bra covering her upper body. Noriko was feeling highly uncomfortable and felt her cheeks glowing again, but if Shimako did see that discomfort, she kept her mouth; she merely turned around so her back was facing the other girl and looked over her shoulder to the zipper at the back of the skirt, pointing at it.
"I tried to pull the zipper myself, but it seems to be stuck. Could you try unzipping me?"
Unzipping me… Noriko could not believe the situation she was in now; she had tried so hard to make it through the day without thinking too much about whatever feelings she had for her soeur, but here she was, standing in a small fitting room together with a half naked Shimako whose back was turned to her; the girl had already turned her head so Noriko could not see her face.
Heart pounding fiercely, the bouton moved closer to her friend until she could hear her breathing. Slowly lifting her hand, Noriko noticed that her fingers were only millimetres away from Shimako's back, only millimetres away from that soft skin she so badly wanted to touch again. She could not grasp what she was doing nor stop herself; she could only hold her breath while her fingers were slowly stretching themselves until they touched the back of the girl standing before her.
Noriko heard a small gasp when the fingers made contact, and when she stroked the skin lightly to feel the softness of it, she felt Shimako shiver slightly.
"N-Noriko?"
Shimako's voice was breathier than usual and she slowly turned around to face her soeur, who looked up in shock and backed away quickly.
"S-Shimako-san! I'm so sorry!" Noriko cried out in embarrassment, a furious blush on her face, avoiding her soeur's gaze. "It wasn't my intention to-"
"Noriko, do you like the feel of my skin?"
Unable to decide whether she had heard correctly, Noriko stared at her soeur with her mouth slightly open.
"Do you?"
Shimako was blushing and her chest was moving up and down, as if she was breathing in slow, deep breaths. Mesmerized by the sight in front of her, Noriko could only feel herself nodding slowly.
A gentle smile appeared on Shimako's face and the girl crept a bit closer.
"I'm glad," she said softly and before Noriko could register what was happening, she felt the girl's arms around her neck and soft brown curls against her cheek; Shimako was hugging her.
"S-Shimako-san?" Noriko whispered wide-eyed and flushed-faced; Shimako's chest, only covered by a bra, was pressing against her own. Feeling numb, the girl could not move let alone feel her arms. She could do nothing but stand there with Shimako hugging her.
"Do you like this feeling, Noriko? Of us embracing?" the older girl breathed.
Again, Noriko could only nod while slowly inhaling the scent of Shimako's hair; it reminded her of spring and cherry blossoms and it was utterly intoxicating; unconsciously, her eyelids lowered a bit.
Shimako shifted her head a little so her mouth was next to her soeur's ear.
"I like this feeling too," she whispered in the girl's ear; Noriko could not stop the tiny gasp that escaped her lips when she felt the warm air of Shimako's breath brushing her ear.
"But what I like more," the older girl continued, "is the feeling of your soft lips against my cheek."
Shimako slowly moved her head so she could face Noriko; her face was only millimetres away but the girl's arms were still around her neck, and Noriko noticed she could not continue breathing. Shimako's body was sending out a heat she had never felt before, and she discovered that her own body was also burning. Something was building up inside of her, yet her brain was too preoccupied with trying to understand Shimako's words and keeping her head sane to notice it. So close, her face was so close…
"But you know what I would like even more than that," Shimako whispered so quietly it was barely louder than her unsteady breathing, "…the feeling of your lips against mine."
Noriko's eyes widened and she drew in a sharp breath before she could feel something soft, something wet and luscious on her lips. It had been no more than a second before Shimako started pulling away already, but Noriko had regained her senses and followed Shimako's movement to capture the girl's lips with her own, feeling the fullness of them as they made contact again.
Finally understanding what they were doing, Noriko wrapped one arm around the older girl's uncovered waist while the other moved a bit lower; she pulled Shimako closer, not caring that they were in a small fitting room with only curtains separating them from the other people in the shop.
Murmurs could be heard when the girl moved her lips to Shimako's neck, finally tasting that delicious flavour of her skin again.
"Nori... ko", Shimako panted and gripped tighter, both of her hands in her soeur's hair by now; Noriko was taking full advantage of the moment to savour Shimako's taste.
Noriko felt the blood rush to her head when she heard the other girl moan softly; afraid she could not stop herself if she continued, the young girl pulled away, leaving the skin red where her lips had been. She felt Shimako, who was breathing raggedly, loosening her grip a little.
It seemed that the bouton had stopped just in time, as they suddenly heard a woman ask "Is there someone in here?" from behind the curtains. The two girls jumped away from each other in surprise before they hurriedly answered "Yes!" in unison.
Their faces became even more flushed.
--
Shimako and Noriko were sitting on a bench not far from the store they had just left. Shimako was holding a bag in her hand; she had decided to buy the white blouse and the skirt, but not after first having tried on a new skirt without a broken zipper.
"The day is almost over already," the girl commented.
"I guess so," Noriko said calmly. She glanced at the beautiful person sitting next to her and smiled, realizing – not for the first time – that the person's beauty actually came from the inside.
"Ehm, Shimako-san…?"
"Yes?"
Shimako turned her head to look at her soeur.
"How long?"
It was a short question, but Shimako understood what Noriko had meant.
"I don't know myself. If I had to guess… Always."
Noriko's eyes widened as she realized the same; she finally understood that she had described those feelings as 'being at home' simply because whenever she was with Shimako she was at home. And she had always felt that way.
Shimako smiled.
"I'm glad you proposed to go out every month, Noriko. It has been almost half a year now since that day. Time goes by very fast, don't you think?"
Noriko nodded.
"I'm also glad I proposed it to you. Shimako-san, we've made a lot of good memories together." Noriko paused for a moment before she blushed slightly. "I think my favourite memory happened not so long ago."
Shimako giggled and nodded in agreement, absently stroking the side of her neck where a faint red spot could be seen.
"Yes, that's my favourite memory too."
As they were sitting on the bench in comfortable silence, enjoying each other's company, their fingers entwined.
Next month's Sunday could not come soon enough.
A/N: Kare is Japanese curry, a very popular Japanese dish, eaten with a spoon.