Stupid Tsumugu

Tsukaki! \(./^/.)/ I finally finished the first chapter of my two/three-shot. I've been wanting to finish this for weeks - months maybe. Tsukaki-shippers, hope you will enjoy this one!

Disclaimer: Nagi no Asukara and its character do not belong to the author although she wished she did so she could add more fluffy moments on Tsusaki.

"Tsumugu!" The petite, dark purple haired girl called out to the collage boy from downstairs. "It's your turn to use the bath."

She heard his curt reply before resuming her task of brushing her hair. It was slightly longer than before. She ran a hand through it. Should she let it grow? Was it better to keep her usual length? Now that the quartet of best friends from the sea village were back together, she thought it was safe to move on and not let the past waver her.

The boy appeared seconds later at the door. Kihara Tsumugu stepped inside the laundry room before fixing his eyes on the only child of the Hiradaira family.

He was glad that her parents and the elders of the sea village finally woke up after the hibernation. It had been five years since then and he thought she had waited long enough. At the same time, he was afraid. He was afraid that one day, she would go somewhere he could not reach. Although he could swim and go under the sea now, that still did not change the fact that he was from the surface.

He was prepared for it. As prepared as he thought he could be. To let her go back and be with those who she treasured was the last thing he wanted to do for her. Imagine his surprise when she chose to stay and live with him on the surface. He smiled remembering her excuse.

"Chisaki," he called out to her and she turned to face him.

"Hmm?"

"Your hair. It has grown longer."

She nodded at him. She had thought the same.

"It's beautiful."

"Eh?!" She gaped at him, her cheeks grew hot under his comment. "It's not..."

He stepped closer until he was an elbow's length from her. Chisaki had to lift her head in order to look at him. He reached out a hand to touch her strands and brought them to his lips. She tried her best to suppress the blush that was deepening by itself and failed to do so.

It had been two months since he confessed to her. Chisaki had been rattled at first, crying out that she did not love him the same way he loved her. She later realized she felt the same for Tsumugu after she reminisced how she fell for him in just 5 years under the care of Kihara Isamu when she had been with Hikari and her best friends all her life.

They had started going out but she still found herself easily flustered by him. Even when he called her name, she felt giddy just hearing his voice. She sometimes mused about her well being. She was acting like a silly high school girl in love when she was already at working age.

"T-Tsumugu!" She cried out.

He did not respond immediately. He instead stared at her with longing in his orbs and that made her breath hitch. This was not the time to do that! She frantically pushed him away and eyed him anxiously, her cheeks burning, "Y-You have to get in the bath or the water will get cold!"

She started pushing him from behind and ushering him into the bathroom. She closed the door in her haste and leaned against it, her cheeks still red as she tried to regulate her breathing.

Tsumugu... He was serious. The way he stared at her was so intense that it made her heart leap in an unhealthy rate. She heaved a sigh and clenched the front of her light purple pajama top. She needed to calm down.

It was almost dinner time and she had yet to prepare for it. Tsumugu must have been starving after the long train ride from his university back to Oshiooshi. She worried he did not even get to eat his meals properly. Knowing Tsumugu, he would easily get immersed into his study and forget about eating regularly. She sometimes had to remind him on the phone. It was worrisome to leave him alone. She could not imagine doing so.

Yosh! She had decided. She would splurge a little and prepare a bit of a feast as response to his return. Tangerines and coffee jellies for dessert. She hoped Tsumugu would be pleased.

The door behind her slid open. Chisaki did not have the time to leap away in surprise because a hand pulled her into the bathroom. Of course, there was only Tsumugu in the room and it was quite obvious that he was the one who pulled her in.

Her heart skipped a beat and began to race rapidly as her back came in contact with a warm front. She could not stop the yelp that escaped her lips.

"Tsu-Tsumu-Tsumugu..! What are you-!"

He hugged her, placing his arms around her waist and locking his fingers against her midriff. Chisaki gasped silently as he placed his chin on her right shoulder.

"Chisaki," he whispered into her ear and she shuddered under the feel of his breath on her skin. "I want you."

He started to kiss her ear and nipped her skin, eliciting a silent gasp from the purple haired.

"T-Tsumugu..," he was moving slowly as if to tantalize her. Wait, what was she thinking? It was not the time for this. Tsumugu had just got home and he needed a good dinner and some rest. Not this!

She held his hands that were secured around her waist and broke the link. She turned in his arms to face him and held his face in her hands. She had to tiptoe in order to lay a kiss on his cheek. "You have to eat and rest first."

Tsumugu stared at her before slowly nodding. She smiled at his response. "I'll be waiting for you in the kitchen."

##

Chisaki restlessly waited for Tsumugu at the table. She glanced at the clock on the wall. It had been fifteen minutes since she left Tsumugu in the bathroom and he did not usually take that long.

Did he perhaps fall asleep in the bath tub? The thought was not impossible. Chisaki stood up and walked to the bathroom to check up on him. Of course, it was not a good idea to go inside the sliding doors just like that. Especially at this time. He might still be... In an improper state. She simply decided she would knock first.

"Tsumugu, are you still in there?"

No response. He really did not fall asleep, did he? She made a move to open the door but the young man on the other side beat her to it.

"Chisaki?" He was standing there in front of her with his hair dripping wet and his torso naked.

She was supposed to be used to the view since she had had occasional run in with him in the almost 6 years she had been living with him. That was when she was still oblivious to her feelings and when she did not consider Tsumugu as a potential love interest. Now, she was starting to become aware of his very existence; his breathing, his silent stare, his sea salt scent, his dripping wet tousled hair, his lean torso and his mahogany eyes meeting her deep sea blue ones. She wondered if he was always this muscularly built. He was painfully attractive in her eyes.

He slid the door close behind him. "What's the matter?"

"Huh? Oh, it's just that-that... Ah, d-dinner's ready!" Chisaki could not believe she took her sweet time staring at his toned body. Her stuttering was the outcome of that. She lightly slapped her cheeks to hide her embarrassment.

'What in the world was I doing?'

"Okay." He walked past her and took his shirt which he placed on the lid of the dryer. He put it on and briskly turned to her. "Dinner?"

She made an abrupt sound of approval, her smile at the end seemed forced but Tsumugu did not pry on it.

##

They ate dinner in silence that night. The silence was not out of the ordinary but for some reason, Chisaki felt it was too silent. She wanted to talk to him, ask him about his trip, his progress, if he was making new friends in the university. She wanted to ask the last one especially.

However, it felt too heavy to say anything. She wondered how she could always survive the silent dinners with Tsumugu. She thought hard. Maybe it was because she could survive without knowing his feelings for her and that it was just like him to be silent. Now that she knew...

Chisaki found herself staring at him.

It did not mean that there should be a difference though she was secretly hoping for it. She wanted him to talk more with her, to have those dark orbs that had been watching what was beneath the sea since young gaze at her, to hear that voice that told her that he loved the sea. Chisaki felt her cheeks warm.

He loved her.

"Chisaki?"

She almost hit her knees against the table hearing him. "Y-yes? Tsumugu."

"What's wrong?" She lost count how many times he had asked what was up with her.

She clenched her hands into fists at that. Stupid Tsumugu, she thought inwardly while she rolled her eyes upward to look at him but her head lowered. He should have known. No. He knew.

He was practically the one who figured out her feelings for him. At this, she glared at him but her blushing cheeks made her falter. She quickly shook her head and picked up her chopsticks, resuming eating as if none of her thoughts and his inquiry happened.

Stupid Tsumugu.