Okay, so I've decided to screw whatever that rule was about not replying- I feel bad only replying to direct questions since all of you took time to review my story.
BrosephStalin: Thanks =) One of my biggest concerns is always whether I'm in character or not.
MalokaiKuhlua: If I haven't posted the new chapter by now, I am working on it, at least to the point where Miyuki's fiancé turns up, since it felt weird leaving off there =P
Huggler: Thank you! And I have to thank my mom for the skills I have today- it's obvious that schools don't teach enough about fiction writing and style given some fanfiction that I've read. The only reason my grammar is a high point is because she was so adamant on teaching me. Probably the only good part about having two English majors for parents xD Guess what my major's going to be this fall? xD Tamao is actually one of my favorite characters for this story. She'll be going through some interesting things…
Stavri: We talked over messaging, but I wanted to say that I've decided her cousin will be the only other person coming, though there might be mention of other boys, and that I'll probably build on the plot we discussed over messaging.
Hazel Liebovsky: On Astraea Hill- I felt like I messed up the entire storyline with the last chapter, so I'm not sure…I probably won't update unless I get smacked in the face with some serious inspiration. I hate leaving fics unfinished but too often I lose motivation. As for your question on Shizuma/Chikaru…it's my personal opinion that Shizuma doesn't deserve Chikaru. Not that any of the characters really do, but I always thought Shizuma could be quite cruel. Such as when she kissed Miyuki- I was and still am under the impression that she knew how Miyuki felt for her. Yes, she has every right to not be over Kaori, but she needs to learn that just because she's heartbroken doesn't mean she has to break everyone else's heart. I can see how Chikaru could 'save' Shizuma, but overall, I think Chikaru deserves someone who wouldn't put her through that pain, because she's not invincible. Again, it's my opinion, so I don't mean to offend ANYONE by it. Also, something I wanted to comment on- your English is fine. I've actually noticed that people on this site who admit that English is not their first language actually write a hundred times better than people whose first language it is. It's sad, how people can be so oblivious to the rules of their own language, but it's true.
GoddessShizu: Well, I've got this next chapter out, so I'll try my best =)
I might not be updating as frequently because I've just started posting a Maria-sama Ga Miteru fanfiction here for the first time in what feels like forever. I got tired of "Sachiko-oneeeeesama!" and was frustrated at the fandom for a while before I remembered- if you want to change something, you have to do it yourself. Time for shameless advertising of my favorite couples- ShimakoxNoriko FTW! They're just too adorable together! And I've decided that Touko deserves Yumi much more than Sachiko. If any of you have ever watched Marimite, Season 4, you've seen how she changed, and I feel that all Sachiko really does is make Yumi upset, whereas Touko, once Yumi earned her trust, I believe would do anything to make her happy.
If you could, tell me if I'm doing Momomi's character justice? I've never written for a character like Momomi before.
ON TO THE FICCY!
Strawberry Triangles
One: Arrangements
Disclaimer: Nothing's mine but the plot!
Come on, baka, like she's going to care, the way she's always hanging off of you.
Shut UP.
You're just pissy because you're too scared to make a move, even though she does the same kinds of things all the damn time.
Tsubomi growled at the voice inside her head- why was it going on like that, anyway? Shouldn't she be in control of all her thoughts?
Then again…
She glanced at the girl next to her- Yaya's eyes were closed and Tsubomi could just barely make out the beat of the song that was playing on the brunette's iPod. She almost never got to see Yaya like this: innocent and expressionless. And the urge to close the miniscule space between them and cuddle into Yaya's shoulder under the pretense of being asleep was overpowering.
"Something on my face, Tsu-bo-mi-chan?" Tsubomi started at the sudden noise beside her, jumping and hitting her head against the window. Yaya grinned. "Or am I just that sexy?"
"Shut up, baka," she muttered, rubbing her head and pretending she didn't know her face probably matched her hair right about now. Yaya grinned.
"That's no way to talk to your senpai, now is it, Tsubomi-chaaan?" she cooed, invading Tsubomi's personal space so that she was about an inch from the pinkette's ear. "You should learn some respect." Tsubomi grumbled, and Yaya laughed, her breath warm against Tsubomi's cheek, causing the pinkette to darken even further. Seeing this, the brunette leaned over just a tiny bit more and pressed a kiss to the very red shell of her ear before thrusting an arm lazily over Tsubomi's shoulders.
The pinkette's eyes widened as she felt the unmistakable pressure of a kiss and the warm, heavy weight of Yaya's arm over her shoulder. "Let go, baka!" she snapped on reflex, instantly regretting her words. She didn't want Yaya to let go- she wanted to stay in Yaya's arms forever. And if Yaya let go of her, she might cling to someone else and…Tsubomi shivered at the thought.
But Yaya didn't let go- she just pulled Tsubomi closer and pressed her lips to the top of her head, running her hand down the pinkette's arms. "You should just give up, Tsubomi-chan," she said with a smirk, feeling the younger girl's struggle weakening.
"Hmph!"
Yaya laughed loudly at Tsubomi's petulant huff, tightening her arm around the pinkette, ignoring the small part of her brain that asked her if maybe she was enjoying the feeling of Tsubomi in her arms a little too much.
PGBR
Momomi leaned back in her seat, arms folded over her chest and one leg crossed over the other as her deceptively wide eyes took in the scene, analyzing every last detail.
First there was Shizuma and her latest conquest- they didn't interest Momomi enough for her to truly dissect their relationship, but even if they had, everything was so on the surface that it could be summed up in one word. Cliché.
Not-so-cliché was the girl who should have been- the bluenette who played the mandatory part of the overlooked lover. She should be bitter, spiteful, and plotting. Cunning, conniving, and willing to do whatever it took to break them apart. But what Momomi thought she should be seeing and what she saw were two entirely different things. Tamao adored Nagisa- so much was obvious, even to that daft Nanto-san. But Momomi couldn't detect a trace of bitterness in the girl's entire being- and on top of that, Chikaru, who was sitting beside her at the moment, seemed quite fond of her. And everyone knew that Chikaru's intuition was always, always right. Momomi took one last look at the fated love triangle- Shizuma had an arm draped possessively over an oblivious Nagisa's shoulder, while Tamao smiled sadly and pretended not to see the smirk the ex-Etoile sent her way. Briefly, Momomi relived the moment when she realized that her Kana-chan didn't love her, and the way she would have reacted if Kaname had gotten together with that horse-loving Amane right under her nose.
For a poet, she's not so smart.
But if you really wanted pathetic, you'd focus your gaze on the tiny tsundere and the girl who masked her true emotions behind a lion's grin. It didn't take a rocket scientist to read the pure adoration in Tsubomi's eyes when she looked up at her Yaya-senpai when she thought the other wasn't looking. No, that's not what was so sad.
Yaya-chan was a favorite subject for Momomi, simply because of how unnecessarily complex this girl had to make every little before she was smacked upside the head by the truth. As a playful, flirtatious girl, she was the ultimate irony. First, there was that whiny Hikari, who Yaya had purposefully pushed towards her Amane-senpai before turning tail at the last second and deciding she wanted Hikari for herself. And now with the pink-haired midget…it was a little harder to detect than the utmost adoration that Momomi saw reflected in the pinkette's eyes, but Yaya certainly wasn't a master when it came to hiding her feelings. She saw the way Yaya looked at Tsubomi when she wasn't looking- with a mixture of love and fear, and there was always a brief flash of terror, as if she was reliving that night over and over again.
What Momomi saw was a girl who was so terrified of showing that she had emotions beneath all the teasing that she would ruin any and every relationship she ever had by pushing her loved ones away only to realize she couldn't go through with it in the end.
She was a coward beneath all the grinning and goading and fearless façades, and perhaps that was what made her so interesting. A coward who was afraid to be named as such and therefore hid from the world. Her lips curled into a slight smirk. How would she ever find true love if she was afraid to let go of the unhealthy, immobile relationship she imagined herself in with Hikari?
Momomi's lips parted slowly, as if she had just found a very simple solution to a math problem she'd spent hours working on.
"Kana-chan?"
"Hmm?" Kaname mumbled, not looking up from her 'observation' of Amane.
"We're done."
PGBR
Tamao blinked several times, fighting back the instant headache that came from the sun hidden behind the gray clouds. It took her a moment to realize her surroundings, but when she did, she snapped up into an upright position before bending over and holding her aching head. "I'm sorry, Minamoto-san," she said as she sat up, blushing profusely after having realized that she'd been sleeping against the girl's shoulder for the past hour.
Chikaru just smiled enigmatically. "I don't mind," she said lightly, "as long as you call me Chikaru, hmm?"
If possible, Tamao's blush deepened. "Hai…Chikaru-sama," she said, her gaze shifting towards the two girls across from her. Immediately she wished she hadn't looked- Shizuma was sitting lazily in her seat while Nagisa was curled up in her lap like a sleeping kitten. Judging from Tamao's recent position with Chikaru, that was just yet another reason that she and Nagisa weren't compatible. She couldn't be strong like her Nagisa-chan needed.
Chikaru smiled at the use of her name. "Perhaps if you tried to stop thinking about Nagisa-chan for a moment…?"
Tamao sighed. "I wish I could," she said, watching the two girls with sad eyes. Her mood did lighten slightly when her eyes flickered to Yaya and Tsubomi for a moment and she caught them in a similar position, with the sleeping Tsubomi's arms tight around Yaya's waist, her head pressed against the older girl's chest while Yaya had an arm wrapped lazily around her tiny waist and a very smug smile pasted across her features. "She'd have a heart attack if she knew she was doing that," Tamao said with a gentle smile, referring to the slumbering pinkette. Then she paused for a moment, her eyes furrowing in thought. "Then again, knowing Yaya-chan, she'll never let Tsubomi-chan live this one down."
"People can surprise you, Tamao-chan," Chikaru said softly from the seat beside her, smiling sweetly when Tamao turned to face her with a confused expression. She scooted closer to the younger girl, whose breath hitched with the sudden contact, and took hold of her shoulders. "Watch Yaya-chan's expression carefully," she whispered, her breath warm against Tamao's ear. The younger girl tried to do as Chikaru told her, but the sensation of the older girl's warm body pressed against her was very distracting.
No- not again, Tamao-chan.
Seemingly oblivious to Tamao's internal debate, Chikaru tightened her hold on the bluenette's shoulders. "There," she whispered, and Tamao watched in awe as Yaya opened her eyes for a moment and glanced down at the pinkette draped over her. The brunette reached down to carefully brush a stray hair from the younger girl's face, allowing her fingers to linger for just a second too long before her arm relaxed around Tsubomi's waist again. "Somehow, I think Yaya-chan will keep this to herself, at least for now." The Le Rim president paused for a second, her arms wrapped gently around the bluenette before slowly pulling away, running her hands along Tamao's sleeve as she went.
From the back of the bus, a pair of violet eyes flashed green.
PGBR
So that's who it is, Miyuki thought mildly, watching her Spican counterpart glare daggers at the poor, innocent Tamao-chan. Out loud, she said, "Careful you don't melt the wrong girl, Tomori-san."
Shion jumped about a foot in the air, and Miyuki hid a smirk behind her hand that had been supporting her chin. It would never get old, this business of teasing the Spica-kaichou. "You don't know what you're talking about, Rokujou-san," Shion muttered, though her cheeks were quickly turning red.
"Hmm," Miyuki hummed with indifference. "Whatever you say, kaichou."
Shion grumbled under her breath, folding her arms over her chest, and continued to glare at Tamao.
PGBR
"Go 'way," Tsubomi muttered, batting clumsily at the sensation pressing against her cheek. "I'm sleeping."
A tell-tale giggle greeted her, and suddenly the pinkette was wide awake, leaping away from Yaya only to almost fall to the ground because she was so entangled with the older girl. But the brunette caught her easily and pulled her back into a sitting position. "Who knew Tsubomi-chan was such a cuddler," she murmured thoughtfully, her eyes flashing mischievously as she glanced at Tsubomi out of the corner of her eye. "I'd better be careful around her…"
Tsubomi scoffed despite the growing red tint staining her cheeks. "That's rich, coming from you, hentai," the pinkette muttered with a scowl. Yaya grinned and poked her puffed-out cheek.
"Gather 'round, everyone!" Shizuma called from a few feet away, causing Miyuki to shoot her an annoyed glare. "We're going to have to pair up in groups of two for sleeping arrangements."
"She only says that because she wants to sleep with her Nagisa-chan," Tsubomi muttered under her breath, squealing when Yaya thrust an arm over her shoulder.
"I call Tsundere-chan!" the brunette yelled with a wide smile, barely wincing when Tsubomi smacked her upside the head.
"Baka! I didn't agree to this!"
"You don't have to," Yaya said with a grin, ruffling her pink hair. "I have seniority."
Tsubomi scoffed, but said nothing else, figuring that this was better than Yaya sharing a room with Hikari.
"Right," Shizuma said, "Well then, it'll be me and Nagisa, Yaya and Tsubomi, Kaname and-" She paused, a shiver rushing down her chest right as she was about to say Momomi. The girl in question was looking at her with a feral grin, almost daring her to pair them up together. "Um…Miyuki," Shizuma hedged, not wanting to mess up any of her other pairings. Miyuki and Kaname scowled, and Momomi smirked. "Then…Momomi with Tamao and Chikaru with Shion. Everyone happy? Good. Go find a room or whatever, and don't bother me for the next two hours."