A/N: After the flaws in "Come What May" were pointed out to me (very kindly, by atlantian_magic on LiveJournal), I decided to try again. It came out a lot sexier.
I'm aware that the use of cherries in a sexy fic about a teenage girl is going for the low fruit, both literally and figuratively.
Disclaimer: I do not own any any of the characters used in my fanfiction, nor profit from my work.
It was as if winter had never existed.
The memory of cold was vague, unsatisfying, doing nothing to soothe flaring tempers. The yellow-white ball of the sun roiled and seethed overhead, washing most of the color from the sky. Not even a wisp of cloud offered the slightest hope of relief in the blank, pale blue expanse. In this oppressive humidity, breathing was more like drowning, and the wise retreated indoors. Superheated air shimmered on the horizon, threatening a mirage.
The hilltop grove was the realization of that mirage. It could have been another world, galaxies away from Kyoto baking uncomfortably below. Here, the harsh sunlight turned every color vivid and jewel-like, as though the scene was freshly painted. The trees were covered by a thick, leafy canopy, making spotty shadows on the uncut, slightly withered grass, sprinkled here and there with what seemed to be rubies: little dark red orbs, glimmering seductively in the dimness.
There was no hint of a cool breeze to stir the still leaves, just the same sticky, humming heat. The rubies glowed darkly in what sparse sunlight peeked through the heavily leaf-clad branches. Beyond the boundary between the tree shadows and the sunny meadow, the rubies became tiny, round fruits, two to a stem: cherries. This was summer's last bounty, heavy with unctuous sweetness, their red as vibrant as the sky was pallid. Few remained on the branches, hiding shyly behind leaves, hinting at the innocence of spring. Only a few months before, this hilltop had been resplendent in pale pink and white, the promise of new beginnings.
She loved summer. She loved the heat and endless sunshine. She thrived where others wilted, soaking up the heat as the essence of life itself. It seeped down through her flesh and into her marrow, revitalizing her from within. Though her petite slenderness should have been hidden in the tall grass, her presence was as fiery, as intense, as insistent as the pounding sun above.
She was a huntress, satiated only for the moment by sun-warmed sugar.
The golden of her skin was inseparable from that of the sunlight as she basked, glorying in the suffusing heat. Warmed into a rising cloud by the sun, she exuded the scent of the cherries she'd devoured, mixed with the musky-honey scent of female flesh. Though her limbs were slender, almost waifish, there was a hint of muscle rippling beneath luminous skin, a predatory grace in her movements as she stretched. Blue fabric clung to the ripening suggestion of curves, reluctantly slipping away from sun-warmed skin to slide up her thighs as those questionable little ninja shorts became downright indecent.
A pile of white cloth sat discarded nearby, littered with cherry stems deprived of their fruity payload. More blue fabric draped over her chest, but now caught on twin mounds of delectably creamy flesh, rising and falling slowly with her sleepy, contented breaths. A drop of sweat rolled inexorably downhill in the vaguely shadowed valley between. Sun-warmed velvet peaks, as pink as the now-forgotten blossoms of spring, peeped from the edges of top, a teasing hint of what lay beneath.
She turned onto her stomach to let her back warm, seeking a brief respite from the slightly scratchy grass. The girlish pink bow at her waist was now suggestive, highlighting the firm bottom that seemed to grow rounder each day, echoing the ripe promise of the cherries that still winked from behind dark foliage in the trees overhead. Ready to be plucked, squeezed, savored. The slightly sheer fabric skimmed over the backs of her knees, tanned flesh peeking seductively from beneath. Little glints of silvery metal entwined in the pink were a perpetual hint of danger, a reminder not to take playful innocence lightly, but for now she cared for nothing but the sunlight and the sweet fruit.
Her mouth was small, perfect, caught halfway between her near-perpetual smile and a pout. Their softness was stained lurid red, as suggestive as any geisha's, with the juice of her many cherry victims. As she nibbled idly on a stem, her delicate pink tongue escaped, testing her lips for any hint of sweet juice that may have remained. They were glossy now, seductive, begging silently to be kissed.
A sigh reverberated through the thick air, part contentment and part longing. Her breath thrummed under the nearly transparent flesh of her slender throat. Its hollow beckoned as surely as her mouth. Curving gracefully below, mostly exposed by her undone uniform top, her collarbone was perfect for a trail of warm kisses downward.
Spiky, black lashes lifted. The glow of her eyes beneath the fringe was deep blue-green, the depths of a tropical ocean, seductively cool in the inferno around her. She was too lazy from the heat and sugar and searing light to keep them open for long, letting the sticky pleasures take her once more. Her features were sharp but pretty, softened temporarily by her grogginess. Her upturned nose twitched delicately as it took in the scent of sun-warmed grass; her cheeks blossomed with a candied pink flush even as her lips quirked fully into a knowing smile.
What was she daydreaming about?
One slim arm was pillowed behind her head. The black satin rope of her long braid twined around it and outwards, the ends brushing the grass, the sinuous length glowing faintly crimson in the intense sunlight. Her bangs skimmed her forehead, shadowing her eyes, warm against her closed eyelids, yet not enough to block the intense white light of the sun above. Her free arm trailed across the grass, slim fingers fanned out, utterly relaxed. The tips were stained deep pink with cherry juice; even her sharp little nails were tinted with their blush.
At last, a breeze sailed through the trees, rustling the leaves into a whisper of motion. She opened her eyes again, revealing that deep turquoise glow once more. They stayed open; the sun was no longer so blindingly bright as to force them closed.
A sprawling mountain range of clouds, edged in deep silvery gray, had covered the sun, expanding in billowing rolls across the darkening sky. A few fat droplets of rain, gently warm from the summer sun, began to fall. They slid across her still-hot skin, cooling it ever-so-slightly, trailing down in caressing rivulets.
She shivered a little, then smirked. It didn't matter.
In her mind, it was always summer.