Note: First Kuragehime fic, brainstormed and co-written with the lovely Messica. :'D
Includes hand holding and Tsukimi gazing longingly at jellyfish. Enjoy!
There was nothing unusual about it really. Just two people and a documentary about Jellyfish. Normal enough, right? That's what Kuranosuke thought right before he realised that he was alone with Tsukimi. Again, nothing unusual, normal enough. What was that jellyfish doing? Well whatever it was doing it still managed to put sparkles into Tsukimi's eyes.
Tsukimi did look very interested indeed. To Kuranosuke, the jellyfish just appeared to be awkwardly bobbing through a clump of... what was that stuff called again? Plankton or something? But Tsukimi explained that the jellyfish was actually feeding. Damn those things moved slow.
To be honest though, he couldn't really feel as bored as he might have if he had been watching some nature-y show like this at home. With Tsukimi beside him, every image of the creatures on the screen reminded him of the dresses he and Tsukimi had worked on with the rest of the Amars, and Tsukimi's determination as she had entered her "awakened mode", totally absorbed in creating a dress in the image of a jellyfish.
"That one is a... moon jellyfish, right?" he asked, taking a handful of popcorn from the bowl sitting between them on the sofa.
No answer. She was long gone, lost in her little fantasy of jellyfish and whatever else: maybe Shu. No, not Shu, that slow as hell (maybe moon) jelly fish bobbing around aimlessly. Kinda like how a distracted Tsukimi's hand bobbed around awkwardly for a handful of popcorn, failing of course, she was far too pre-occupied with that blob of jelly fish awkwardness. Not Kuranosuke, not even Shu. Somehow, in some strange way, it aggravated him.
But why was he so irritated, anyway? It was Tsukimi, after all. He'd scored with supermodels, for gods' sake, and yet he was getting this aggravated over the attention, or rather the lack thereof, of some perpetually awkward jellyfish otaku. It was impossible that he could be feeling something like...
He gaze travelled to her hand, still poised over the rim of the bowl, long since having given up on grasping the fluffy bits of popcorn. He was suddenly seized by a strong impulse. He reached his hand towards Tsukimi's, glancing at her face to see if she noticed. She was still completely absorbed in the program. Turning his face towards the screen once more, Kuranosuke gently brushed his hand against Tsukimi's. Her hand twitched back slightly, but she seemed to discount it as an accident, still not turning her gaze away from the jellyfish onscreen. God, that really pissed him off.
Didn't she even realize that he was in fact a guy, and an exceptionally attractive one at that? Why did Tsukimi have to be so damn different from every other girl on the face of the planet? But then again, if she were the same as most other girls... she wouldn't be nearly as interesting as she was like this, gazing adoringly at those glob-like creatures, or imagining that the night sky held them all at the bottom of the ocean. Suddenly full of the former impulse once again, Kuranosuke took hold of Tsukimi's hand, quickly but not roughly, and gave it a gentle squeeze.
It wasn't much, just a soft little movement, but it was enough to send Kuranosuke's mind into overdrive. Did she just...? He dared himself to glance at the girl but he seemed to be doomed to this fate of never being able to separate her from those stupid, needlessly floaty jellyfish. Seriously, just what the hell were they doing what was so damn interesting? They weren't even swimming in that stuff anymore, what was it, plankton? Well, whatever, it wasn't important. What was important, what Kuranosuke failed to realise, was that her hand was still locked with his. In other words, they were holding hands... How long had they been holding hands?
He felt his skin catch fire, his face redden, heat up- when did it get so warm in here? When did he become so aware of the little hand within his? When did it become all he could focus on? Not even a new elaborate jellyfish could draw his attention, but it certainly did Tsukimi's. Again, this irritation. God, she hadn't even flinched. Just a little was all he asked for! Usually she'd have turned to stone or something stupid like that but NO, she had to be this freakin' little, innocent, awkward little... cute little otaku girl. Wait. Cute? What the hell did he just...?
What the hell was this even about! There was no way that Tsukimi could be so deeply absorbed in the program that she couldn't feel his hand wrapped around hers... right? Right? This otaku girl... was she playing some kind of prank on him? Maybe this damned virgin geek wasn't half as innocent as she let on. No, he realized with a frustrated sigh, that couldn't be true. If she was anything, Tsukimi was pretty honest. It was literally impossible to snap her out of her jellyfish-induced daze. But Kuranosuke was sure as hell gonna try. He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. That always got a response out of chicks... but there was nothing. She didn't. Even. Flinch.
Huffing irritatedly as he stared at Tsukimi's distracted expression, her glazed over eyes, he considered what he could do to get her attention. Never removing his hand from hers, he shifted the popcorn bowl slightly, inching ever so slightly closer to her on the sofa.
Still: nothing. Maybe if he moved closer...? No. A bit closer. Still no? Closer then.
What a great idea that was- not. Now he's stuck, latched onto some geek gawking at jellyfish; his arm around her, and sweet, innocent little Tsukimi having no idea whatsoever. Brilliant. He was getting nowhere with this. If he really wanted to get her attention, and behind his stubborn denseness he really did, he'd have to try harder, much, much harder.
An almost evil smirk appeared on his face, his hands sliding onto her shoulders; he tried to ignore the complete ignorance as he moved his face inches apart from her glazed over eyes. It pissed him off how he could see the jellyfish reflected in them rather than him, the guy standing right in front of her!
Now was his chance! He'd use the element of surprise- a sneak attack! The little otaku had no idea what was coming; he even let out a small chuckle at the thought. As he got closer and closer, the tension grew. He knew exactly what he was going to do.
"Tsukimi, jellyfish suck."
Now, Kuranosuke's train of thought was pretty much knocked off its tracks at this point. Before he could even process what was going on, he was already flying through the air at an impossible speed, smashing into the floor almost as hard as where she had hit him.
"You suck," Tsukimi grunts, chomping down the biggest clump of popcorn Kuranosuke had ever seen in his life. He'd awakened her, DARK TSUKIMI.
That damn otaku! He'd get her back for this. No one hits Kuranosuke's pretty face and gets away with it. Just when he was about to start round 2, he noticed the otaku get drawn back into the trance of the jellyfish... Wait... How long had it been on the adverts?
THE END.
