On The Playground
Disclaimer: I don't own Crescent Moon.
Summary: She loved the sound of clapping rubber soles against concrete.
A/N: Weird little idea I thought of one day. It's actually a past fic with Mahiru when she's in eighth grade. But it hints toward M/M. Enjoy!
Swimming had always been her first love.
But she had to admit, she had an affair.
With a rope.
A jump rope.
Ever since they introduced it in her first grade PE class, she became addicted to it.
From Chinese jump rope to Double-Dutch, she loved it all. Just as long as it kept her feet hopping.
She had memorized as many cutesy jump rope rhymes as humanly possible, but she still wasn't satisfied with her knowledge.
Even though she was fourteen, her friends and she still jumped everyday at lunch and after school.
"Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around! Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground! Teddy bear, teddy bear, tie your shoes…" Mahiru and Junko chanted and turned the rope as Yumi jumped, performing each action mentioned in the song.
When she hit 'Teddy bear, teddy bear, go upstairs,' she jumped too early and ended up landing on the rope. She groaned and angerly kicked said rope. "I was so close!"
"Alright, alright, calm down already Yumi. It's Mahiru's turn now anyways," said Junko.
Yumi sighed and took Mahiru's end as she made her way to the side.
"What do you want?" asked Junko.
Mahiru paused for a moment to think before replying, "Any song that I haven't heard yet."
The two other girls locked eyes and silently agreed on the chant they would do. At Mahiru's nod, they began turning the rope.
She watched it with a trained eye, waiting for her opportune moment to enter. "One…two…three…" she whispered to herself and ran in at three and immediately began jumping.
"Strawberry shortcake, cream on top!" Yumi and Junko sang as their friend jumped. "Tell me the name of your sweetheart! Is it A, B, C, D…" They continued going through the alphabet, saying a letter each time Mahiru made a successful jump.
They went through the alphabet twice before Mahiru was finally growing tired and her hops were slowing down.
"…H, I, J, K, L, M - " Mahiru stopped there, too exhausted to go on. The rope hit against her ankles as she purposely missed the jump.
"M!" shouted Junko and Yumi in unison. Yumi noted her friend's tiredness and went to retrieve a water bottle.
"So what's that song about anyways?" inquired Mahiru as she rested in the provided shade of a tree for a minute.
Junko shrugged and explained, "Whatever letter you stop on is the beginning letter of your sweetheart's name." She smiled slyly at her. "So Mahiru, any guy-friends you know whose name starts with M?"
Mahiru rolled her eyes and said flatly, "No. I would've told if I did."
"Well you could be having a secret love affair."
"Junko!"
"I'm kidding, you know it. But seriously, if you ever meet Mr. M, you must tell us! If not, then I will be forced to use my dominatrix powers and turn that jump rope over there into a very useful whip."
Mahiru blinked a few times, not exactly sure how to respond to that particular statement. "Thank you for that mentally-scarring image, Junko. Now if you don't, I need to go and wash my brain out with soap." She made a move towards the restrooms, but Junko grabbed her arm and whirled her around.
"Promise me, Mahiru, that when you find Soul-Mate-M-Guy that you'll tell us? I'll need plenty of time to plan a surprise bachelorette party." She said it so seriously that Mahiru almost thought she wasn't kidding, until she saw her trademark smirk.
"Well it's not much of a surprise now, isn't it?" Both girls smiled and Yumi approached them, a couple water bottles in hand, and asked them what the heck they were all happy about.
"Nothing," they said, mischievous grins growing on their faces.
A/N: Weird, I know, but it's semi-cute, right? I hope so. And Yumi is mine since the only name of Mahiru's friends I could find was Junko. Review please!
"So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians 13: 13