Summary: It's summer break and Mio wants to go on another training camp, but Ritsu has other plans...
Genre(s): Romance
Character(s): Ritsu T., Mio A., Tsumugi K., Yui H.
Disclaimer: I do not own K-ON!
Author's Notes: This story is set in some alternate universe where Azusa hasn't joined the club yet, which explains her absence from the story despite it being set during the summer of their second year, sorry Azusa fans!
* Camping Trip! *
The bright morning sun shined happily through the homeroom class windows of the Sakuragaoka High School. The class was buzzing with pre-class conversation as the female teacher entered the classroom and banged a ruler on her desk to get the attention of the students.
"Class, I don't think I need to remind you that summer break is a week away, so we really need to work hard-," The last part of her sentence was drowned out by loud cheers from the class. The Light Music Club girls all looked excitedly between each other, containing their joy as to not be disruptive like their classmates.
Lunch period had finally come and the girls had met up in the Light Music Clubroom to share their lunch together as they always did.
"Summer break! Summer break!" Yui chanted excitedly as she ate the sweets Tsumugi had brought.
"What do you think we should do this summer?" Mio asked the girls as she too enjoyed her share of the sweets. After a moment of silence amongst the girls as they pondered their options, Mio spoke up again. "I was thinking we could have another training camp-," Mio was unable to finish as Ritsu practically leapt from her chair and overdramatically slammed her hands down on the table.
"We should go on a camping trip!" she said with enthusiasm that only earned a mild glare from Mio. Mio cleared her throat before speaking again.
"I really think we should practice-," again Mio was cut off by Ritsu once again.
"All in favor?" Ritsu called for a vote as her own hand shot up into the air, followed quickly by Yui's. Mio paled slightly as things seemed to be going against her, images of monstrous grizzly bears and owls turning their heads three hundred and sixty degrees flashed through her mind. She timidly looked over at Tsumugi, silently begging her to agree with a training camp. Tsumugi slowly raised her hand as she smiled apologetically at Mio.
"I think it would be fun," she said gently. Mio took on a look of dismay.
'Traitor...' she silently cried in her mind.
"Alright! It's settled then, I guess you'll be coming with us, Mio-chuan?" Ritsu asked as she grinned victoriously at Mio, who slowly nodded her head in defeat. Yui patted Mio on the back.
"It'll be fun, Mio-chan!" she said, all too over enthusiastically to Mio's ears.
'Maybe...' she thought as images of trees eating her friends popped into her head.
* K-ON! *
The week prior to summer break passed by as any other week for the Light Music Club girls; with the exception of Mio, who was still dreading the trip, though not as much as she had been. However, she was still convinced that the trees would try to eat them. At last the first Monday of summer break arrived and the girls were all up early in the morning, ready to get going, well, except for Yui of course.
"Onee-chan, you need to get up! Your friends are waiting for you!" Ui said urgently as she shook the sleeping girl. Yui jolted up in bed, incoherently shouting something about 'cake' and 'pinecones', her hair a poofy mess.
"I'm up, I'm up…" Yui said bleary-eyed before she fell back onto her pillow and began snoring again.
"Onee-chan!" Ui cried desperately. It took a good twenty minutes for Ui to extract Yui from her bed, get her dressed in hike-worthy shorts and a T-shirt, and get her out of the door with her backpack, which had been packed by Ui.
The other three girls were waiting on the sidewalk near Yui's house, also wearing hike-worthy shorts and T-shirts. Excitedly they talked amongst themselves, with the exception of Mio of course, who still had images of rabid bunnies popping in and out of her mind. Ui waved Yui and her friends off.
"Be careful, Onee-chan!" she yelled after them.
"I'll be fine!" Yui yelled back before nearly tripping over herself, thankfully being caught by Tsumugi. Ui worriedly watched until the girls disappeared around the corner then went back into the house.
Despite Yui's tardiness the girls still managed to board the train that would take them out to the countryside on time. Yui plopped down in the window seat of the girls' designated seating area, followed by Tsumugi who sat down in the seat next to her.
"So Ricchan, where are we going?" Yui asked excitedly as Mio and Ritsu sat down opposite her and Tsumugi with Mio opting for the window seat. Ritsu, being the mastermind behind the entire trip, had decided the location.
"We're going to hike out into a nice forest area and find a place to camp, preferably by a river." Ritsu replied as Yui's eyes lit up at the mention of a river. Mio glanced at Ritsu, worry and fear evident in her eyes.
"W-we're going out into the forest? A-alone? W-with no one else around?" Mio asked with panic evident in her voice. Ritsu gave her a reassuring grin.
"Don't worry so much Mio, it'll be fun, I promise." Ritsu's assurance calmed Mio's nerves, but only a little.
A few hours into the trip Yui had drifted off to sleep, having only had a few hours sleep due to having to wake up so early in the morning. Tsumugi had soon followed Yui off into dream land, leaving only Ritsu and Mio awake with Ritsu off in her own world of air drumming and Mio staring out of the train window, watching the scenery flash by. Mio thought back to Ritsu's comforting words and then about the trip.
'Maybe it won't be so bad, I am here with Ritsu after all...' A smile began to spread over Mio's face, but she was startled out of her thoughts by Ritsu touching her hand to get her attention. The feel of Ritsu's hand against hers felt different than usual, nicer somehow. Mio turned her attention to Ritsu, who then pointed to the sleeping girls opposite them.
Tsumugi and Yui had slumped over in their seats towards each other in their sleep. Tsumugi was now resting her head against Yui's and both girls were snoring lightly.
"Would you...like more cake…Yui-chan...?" Tsumugi mumbled in her sleep as her hands moved slightly.
Yui almost immediately mumbled a dream-reply. "…More...cake please...Mugi-chan..." her mouth began to move slightly as if she were eating.
Ritsu had to contain her laughter at how funny the coincidence was that both girls were having a dream about each other at the same time. Mio simply stared at the two girls.
'They look cute together...' she thought, then immediately realized how her own thoughts sounded and blushed slightly.
"Ah, Mio?" Ritsu whispered, causing Mio to turn her attention to Ritsu again.
"Can I have my hand back?" Ritsu grinned playfully as Mio glanced down and noticed that she had been holding Ritsu's hand without even realizing it, upon noticing this she quickly released Ritsu's hand and her blush deepened.
Mio fixed her attention back on the scenery outside the train window as Ritsu leaned back in her seat, the grin still present on her face. The remainder of the train ride passed by in silence, with except of the occasional giggle from the two sleeping girls. Soon the girls arrived at their destination and disembarked from the train.
* K-ON! *
"We should catch a cab," Ritsu said as the girls made their way out of the train station. They hailed a cab and crammed themselves into the back seat. The cab ride to the entrance of the forest, really a national park, was fun for the girls, not so much for the cab driver. When the cab pulled up to the national park entrance the girls piled out, then the car immediately sped off.
"I wonder why he was so happy to get here, do you think he's going camping too Ricchan?" Yui asked as she watched the cab speed off with her head tilted to the side.
"He was probably happy to see us leave because you and Ritsu couldn't sit still," Mio said with an exasperated sigh as Yui and Ritsu grinned sheepishly. The girls entered the park under Ritsu's leadership and began to trudge through the brush and trees, searching for the perfect spot to camp.
After half an hour of hiking, the girls all stopped to rest under some shady trees.
"Look Ricchan! That tree looks like it has arms!" Yui said excitedly as she pointed to a tree near where Mio was resting, which naturally drew her attention. Two large branches on the tree stuck out in such a way that they looked liked two grizzly arms reaching out right for her.
Mio shrieked and turned to run away from the tree, but her foot caught in an exposed root of the tree she had been resting at, causing her to twist and start falling backwards towards the tree. Ritsu leapt forward and caught Mio just before her head would have banged against the tree. Mio unclenched her eyes when she felt she was no longer falling, opening them to see Ritsu's worried face above hers.
"You ok?" Ritsu asked as her face relaxed and she set Mio back on her feet.
"Y-yeah..." Mio responded as she looked into Ritsu's eyes, she could see the concern in them. Ritsu smiled.
"Alright then, let's keep going!" she said as she let go of Mio and turned to Tsumugi and Yui, who got to their feet.
"Yeah..." Mio repeated as she vacantly stared off where Ritsu had once been.
"Coming?" Mio snapped out of her trance at Ritsu's words to notice the girls waiting on her.
"Oh, yeah!" she said quickly as she ran to catch up to the girls. After another half hour of hiking, which was thankfully incident free, the girls stumbled upon the perfect camping spot, a small clearing surrounded by forest with a clear view of a nearby river.
"It's beautiful," all four girls said in unison as they took in the perfect surroundings. Yui and Ritsu immediately made a mad dash towards the river, dropping their packs along the way.
"Wait!" the two girls froze mid-dash. "We should set up camp first," Mio continued as she took over leadership of the group. Yui and Ritsu dragged themselves back with sullen looks on their faces. The girls proceeded to unpack their gear and set up their individual tents, with Yui requiring Tsumugi's help as her tent collapsed in on itself three times.
After the tents were finally erected, and barely so in Yui's case, the girls built up a fire in the center of their campsite to allow Tsumugi to prepare a late lunch.
"What would we do without you Mugi?" Ritsu said as she happily accepted a bowl of steaming rice topped with pickled radishes. Tsumugi blushed at the compliment as she handed out a bowl to Mio and Yui. The moment that Yui and Ritsu had finished their meal, they disappeared into their tents and popped out in their swimsuits.
"Alright! Let's go swim!" Ritsu shouted as she led the battle charge with Yui right on her heels. Mio shook her head and sighed as she entered her own tent to change as Tsumugi stacked the used bowls.
In no time all four girls were down at the river. However, Mio wasn't in the water with the rest of the girls, she could not take her eyes off of Ritsu as she splashed around with Yui.
'Ritsu looks really pretty in her swimsuit,' she thought, causing her to blush. Mio started to feel very awkward watching Ritsu. A slow motion fantasy of Ritsu splashing around in the water played through Mio's head, the sparkling water flying through the air and the sun shining off of Ritsu's wet hair and skin. As she was distracted by her thoughts, she did not notice Ritsu come up to her.
"Hey Mio, come join us!" Ritsu said playfully as she grabbed Mio's hand and tried to pull her towards the water. Mio was brought out of her fantasy but kept her eyes on Ritsu, she started to feel very embarrassed to be near Ritsu in her bikini. She pulled her hand away and covered up her chest as her face lit up in a blush.
"N-no, I'm fine right here," Mio said as she desperately tried to feel less exposed.
'This is just Ritsu, why do I feel this way? Why am I thinking of her like this?' Mio wondered as Ritsu stood in front of her with a perplexed look. Yui came up behind Ritsu and Mio and splashed them both which tore Mio from her reverie.
"Oh ho!" Ritsu launched a counter splash attack, the water war had begun. Mio smiled at Yui's antics and dismissed her thoughts as she joined in the war, but she kept finding her gaze wandering to Ritsu.
The war lasted an entire hour with no casualties on either side, it finally ended when Ritsu and Yui agreed to a truce. Both girls stared each other down as they shook hands in a truce agreement.
"The war was well fought, Ritsu-taichou," Yui said as she faked a deep authoritative voice.
"Your men fought admirably, Yui-taichou," Ritsu replied as she too faked a deep voice causing Tsumugi to look at Ritsu as if to say "who, me?". After the truce, the girls all dried off and changed back into their hiking clothes.
"Alright, next we're gonna go hiking!" Ritsu said as she dramatically swept her arms towards the forest.
Yui hopped up and down excitedly, Tsumugi clasped her hands together with a smile on her face and thoughts of demon-eyed deer ran through Mio's mind. With some slight protest from Mio, the girls finally embarked out into the forest, hiking up and down hills and across streams, making sure to mark their trail. The girls hiked for hours and the sun was beginning to set.
* K-ON! *
"M-maybe we should head back?" Mio said, worry evident in her voice as she watched the sun slowly set. Ritsu smiled sympathetically at her.
"Alright, let's head back," but no sooner had Ritsu spoken than a cute little white bunny rabbit hopped out of the woods and cocked its head to the side, seemingly examining the girls with its cute little eyes.
"Bunny!" Yui practically screamed which scared the bunny and caused it to go scampering back into the woods. Yui gave chase and soon vanished into the forest.
"Yui-chan!" Tsumugi shouted as she ran after Yui into the forest as well, leaving a stunned Mio and Ritsu in her wake.
Thirty minutes of searching later and Ritsu and Mio still had not located Yui or Tsumugi. The sun was setting fast and it was quickly becoming dark and the girls still had to hike back to camp.
"I-I'm scared R-Ritsu," Mio said as her knees audibly knocked together. Mio reached out and grabbed Ritsu's hand instinctively and squeezed it for comfort. "We'll find them, Mio," Ritsu said as she stopped and gave Mio a comforting smile.
'She's been so mature today, it's so unlike her...' Mio thought as she gazed into Ritsu's eyes.
"B-but it's n-nearly dark a-already," Mio said as tears welled up in her eyes, she was really scared now. Ritsu squeezed Mio's hand back and looked back into her eyes.
"You don't have to be scared with me Mio, I'll always protect you no matter what," Ritsu said firmly. Mio was momentarily shocked at Ritsu's seriousness and maturity. She had not tried to take advantage of the situation to spook her out at all.
"Ritsu..." Mio trailed off as she stared into Ritsu's eyes. Her comforting smile kept up and Mio felt herself compelled by some other force to slowly get closer to Ritsu. Slowly, she leaned towards Ritsu, their faces getting closer and closer.
"Ricchan! Mio-chan!" Yui's high voice broke the spell over Mio and she leapt back slightly.
'What did I almost do?' Mio internally panicked as her face lit up so bright that it shined. Ritsu just stood there grinning awkwardly as Yui and Tsumugi came running out of the forest. Mio tried to break her internal tension by turning on the newly arrived girls.
"Where were you two?" she questioned them, more like interrogated them, as Yui and Tsumugi grinned lop-sidedly.
"We were...um...looking for you guys too!" Tsumugi offered as Yui hastily nodded in agreement. Despite both girls being unusually flushed for just walking around in the woods, Ritsu and Mio bought it.
"Alright then, let's hurry and head back," Ritsu said as Mio was too busy internally interrogating herself now to notice what was going on. Ritsu simply grabbed Mio by the hand and pulled her along, with Mio subconsciously squeezing Ritsu's hand.
* K-ON! *
Despite it nearly being too dark to see, the girls safely made it back to their campsite, with more than one incident of Mio nearly falling over from shaking so badly. Upon arrival they quickly stoked the fire that had nearly died since their departure and before long Tsumugi had cooked them all up a delicious dinner.
"Now it's time for the most famous camping pastime," Ritsu said as she flicked on a flashlight that had seemingly materialized out of nowhere in her hand. "Ghost stories!" she said spookily as the light illuminated her face, her evil grin, at least from Mio's point of view, causing Mio to "Eeek!" in momentary terror.
Yui and Tsumugi too were shaking slightly, but not nearly as badly as Mio.
"P-please don't Ritsu," Mio said as her entire body trembled.
"C'mon Mio-chuan it's part of the camping experience, besides I have a captive audience now," she replied, to Mio's ears, with malicious intent. Mio cried internally as Tsumugi did not jump to her rescue.
'Traitor...'
Ritsu began to tell one terrifying ghost story after another, one in particular about a young girl that had been viciously killed by barnacles and that they say her very soul haunts barnacle covered caves and alcoves to this day. Mio grew increasingly pale as each story was told, even Tsumugi and Yui were shaking and holding onto each other for safety, but Ritsu was simply enjoying her mock power. After telling the last story Ritsu cleared her throat.
"This actually happened to me once at Mio's house when I was staying over," Ritsu said as she held the flashlight close to her face, and at the mention of the location Mio began to sob harder than she already had been.
"N-no Ritsu, not my h-house…" Mio whined as she tugged on Ritsu's sleeve, silently begging her not to go on; Ritsu simply grinned, the flashlight making her seem even more wicked.
"Once I was up late at Mio's house, watching TV..." Ritsu began, trying her best to sound scary. "And I saw an unusual shadow being reflected by the light from the TV, it seemed alive almost, like a person, and I could feel it wasn't right," Ritsu continued as Mio screwed her eyes shut and tried to think happy thoughts.
"After staring at the shadow it dissipated and I went to Mio's room to try to sleep, and as I entered Mio's room I saw the shadow there standing over her sleeping form." Mio screwed her eyes shut so hard that they began to hurt and she clamped her hands over her ears repeating her fear mantra in her mind, but somehow she could still hear Ritsu as she went on.
"I stared at the shadow…and it seemed to stare back...after a moment it let out a ghastly wail," Ritsu's voice seemed to be getting fainter and fainter. "MIOOOOO!" Ritsu was suddenly behind Mio and let out a ghostly wail. Mio turned whiter than paper and fell over like a statue while Ritsu giggled triumphantly. Soon her giggles of triumph subsided yet Mio was still laying on the ground, petrified.
"Mio…?" Ritsu asked cautiously as she stood above Mio and peered down at her. Mio blinked a few times, breaking her petrified state then jumped up and smacked Ritsu on the head.
"Stupid Ritsu!" she said with tears in her eyes as she turned and stormed off to her tent. Ritsu held her head in pain then saw the tears in Mio's eyes.
"Mio I'm sorry-" Ritsu started but was unable to finish as Mio tried her best to slam the flap of her tent.
* K-ON! *
Mio changed into her pajamas and laid in her sleeping bag, tears still in her eyes.
'Stupid Ritsu...and I thought she was so mature today too,' Mio thought as she turned on her side and hugged her body pillow.
The girls all dispersed after Mio's dramatic exit, each going to their respective tent.
Soon Mio lost track of how long she had laid awake in her sleeping bag before her anger began to dissipate, soon replaced by fear as all the noises of the forest seemed to grow louder; every chirp, every hoot seemed to boom in Mio's ear and invoke images of monstrous creatures.
Mio could even swear that at one point she saw a shadow moving outside her tent, at which point she pulled her sleeping bag up over her head. She tried her best to stay angry at Ritsu for making her so scared, but it was no use; instead all the moments throughout the day flooded into her mind.
Then Ritsu's words from earlier echoed in her mind 'I'll always protect you...' causing her to blush. Mio made up her mind and mustered as much courage as she could and got up from her sleeping bag. Steeling herself, she exited her tent, thankful that the campsite was still dimly illuminated by the dying fire.
She cautiously made her way over to Ritsu's tent as quickly as she could but could have sworn she saw a figure exiting Yui's tent and tip-toeing over to Tsumugi's; but she tried to dismiss it as to not lose her courage, and dashed into Ritsu's tent.
Ritsu was still awake and was laying back in her sleeping bag, resting her head on her hands. She propped herself up on her elbows as Mio entered her tent. Mio's eyes filled with tears.
"Ritsuuuuu," she cried as she fell to her knees. "Can I...sleep...with you?" she asked between sobs. Ritsu simply smiled and nodded and opened up her sleeping bag for Mio to crawl in. She immediately found herself clinging onto Ritsu for all she was worth, while Ritsu resumed her laid back position.
"Mio, I'm sorry for scaring you so badly earlier," she apologized sincerely as she glanced down at the top of Mio's head.
"It's alright," Mio said quietly as she clung to Ritsu even tighter, all her fears were slipping away as she held onto Ritsu, it felt so comfortable.
Nothing more was said after that and soon Ritsu was fast asleep, however Mio still could not sleep, but not due to her fears. She rested her head on Ritsu's stomach and let out a contented sigh.
'Ritsu is so warm and comfortable...' She thought as a blissful smile spread across her face. Ritsu's slow, soft breathing and heartbeat soothed Mio as she laid there wrapped up in her thoughts.
'Why am I taking such comfort in Ritsu now?' Mio thought as she absent mindedly nuzzled Ritsu's stomach. 'Could it be that I'm developing feelings for her…?' Mio blushed intensely at what her own thoughts suggested. Of course she had always liked Ritsu, she was her best friend after all! But still, she had never felt like this before.
Mio leaned up on one hand and looked at Ritsu's face. Ritsu seemed so tranquil when she was asleep.
'She's cute with her hair down,' Mio thought as her eyes wandered from Ritsu's bangs down towards her lips, they looked so soft and inviting. 'It couldn't hurt just to see how they feel...' Mio told herself as she leaned down towards Ritsu's face.
She paused for a moment and gulped as she felt Ritsu's breath against her lips. Mio hesitated for a moment longer then slowly closed her eyes and closed the distance, locking her lips against Ritsu's.
Mio felt a surge of electrifying warmth course through her as soon as her lips connected with Ritsu's, causing her entire body to tingle with pleasure, her heart to race, and her cheeks heat up in a fiery blush. She held the kiss for what seemed like an eternity and just as she was about to pull away, she felt Ritsu's arms encircle her waist and pull her tightly against her body as she felt Ritsu start to kiss back.
Mio opened her eyes and her eyes met Ritsu's; both girls stared deeply into the other's eyes. After a second eternity, Ritsu released her and she sat up, inhaling rapidly to catch her breath, Ritsu too was out of breath and very flushed.
"You were awake?" Mio asked once she had recovered her voice, though still flushed. Ritsu propped herself up again and grinned impishly.
"Yeah," Ritsu said with a guilty-as-charged look on her face. Mio's blush burned even brighter now.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Mio asked timidly. Ritsu looked straight into Mio's eyes.
"Well...I guess because I like you," she answered as if it were obvious. Mio was dumbfounded and touched her lips for a moment, remembering the kiss they had just shared. Then the day's events and how Ritsu had been acting all started to make sense.
"You...you had this all planned out didn't you!" Mio said as she pointed an accusatory finger at Ritsu, who only grinned even wider and shrugged her shoulders.
"What can I say? I really like you, Mio," Ritsu said as she playfully winked at Mio, whose mouth opened to make some kind of retort but no words came out.
"I think I like you too," Mio quietly confessed after a moments pause. On impulse Ritsu grabbed Mio and hugged her, startling Mio at first but soon she relaxed into the embrace. Ritsu laid back down, taking Mio with her. Mio soon found herself nuzzling Ritsu's chest with her hair being stroked by Ritsu.
"Well I'll help you find out for sure," Ritsu said playfully as all of the day's events suddenly hit Mio like a ton of bricks, and coupled with the soft lull of Ritsu's heartbeat she could not keep her eyes open any longer and, clinging tightly to Ritsu, she slowly drifted off to sleep.
END
Author's Commentary: I hope you all enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it! This is the longest and best (in my own opinion) story I've ever written. All feedback is happily welcomed!
Author's Commentary 10/30/10: I've released a tie-in to this story: 'Camping Trip!: Time For Us', be sure to check it out!