Chapter Two
Yearning Bodies
As their lips mashed against each other, Rin fumbled for the television remote on the couch where they lay. As great as Doraemon was, it wasn't exactly the atmosphere she and Gumi needed right now. Gumi, repositioning herself so that Rin was underneath her, caught on to what the girl was trying to do and, while continuing to run her lips along her girlfriend's exposed neck, slid her hand under Rin's back, where the remote lay, and quickly muted the television. Rin shivered as Gumi's fingers brushed against her back. The green-haired girl then tossed the remote away and focussed fully on her girlfriend, much to Rin's satisfaction. Rin ran her fingers through Gumi's hair, completely caught up in the other girl, until the door opened.
Rin and Gumi stopped what they were doing to look toward the door, where Miku and Kiyoteru stared back at them, Miku's feet lifted off the ground as she was held in a princess hold in the teacher's arms. They'd obviously been just as interrupted as Rin and Gumi. Rin's face turned a beet red as the four stared off awkwardly for a moment. Then, Miku descended to the ground and cleared her throat.
"Well, as this is Teru's house, I believe we should be first in line to use it to, uh . . . ." Even Miku wasn't brave enough to finish the sentence.
"Well, wicked-step-Miku," Gumi replied defiantly, still hovering above Rin, where they'd frozen when the other two had entered, "this is my home, too, and I have the right to spend as much time here with my girlfriend as I want."
"Gumi, let's just go," Rin mumbled, unable to make eye contact with the new arrivals. Gumi stared at her and pouted, not wishing to stop. Rin smiled delicately, making promises for a later date. Gumi sighed resignedly, and Rin told Miku and Kiyoteru, "We're going to Piko's and Iroha's. See you later, I guess."
Then, Rin had let Gumi lead her outside while the four avoided making eye contact. Once they were out of earshot, Gumi whined, "Why are we going there? We can't . . . you know, there."
Rin's face burned a deeper red and she replied, "Iroha actually wanted us to come over today."
Gumi sighed. "Fine." As they descended in the elevator, Gumi pointed out, "They're probably going to think we get turned on by Doraemon."
Rin smirked at her girlfriend, still feeling that sensation she'd had on the couch lingering, and reached up to loop her arms around her neck and kiss her. Pulling away, she looked up at the other girl through her eyelashes and smiled flirtatiously. "Does it really matter what turns us on, Gumi?"
"Not at all," replied Gumi with a smile, her eyes searching Rin's hungrily. Then, she glanced up at the camera. Rin decided to lock her gaze to it as well as Gumi proclaimed, "That's right, like real live porn, huh?"
Rin's entire face burnt at those words. Once again, she was reminded of something Gumi had told her when she'd been trying to teach Rin all she'd forgotten. Though Rin couldn't remember it, she knew that she was no longer a virgin, and the one she'd given it to was Gumi. She spent more time than she'd like to admit thinking about it, but, like today, something always seemed to happen the moment they even got close to it.
"Those don't look like innocent thoughts in your head, Rin," Gumi teased, drawing Rin out of her trance. "You might give us away."
"That's okay, your hair pretty much give us away, anyway," Rin stated coolly, walking out of the elevator quickly, bemused, as Gumi swiftly stopped to fix her tangled hair in the elevator's mirrored walls.
. . .
"Get out, get out, get out!"
That was what Iroha was screeching as Rin and Gumi made their way to her apartment. The two exchanged questioning looks as Piko stumbled out the doorway and had the door slammed shut against his back. He sighed and slumped against the door. Rin wondered why he wasn't trying to get inside. Surely he didn't plan on sitting out there until Iroha invited him back in.
"Yo, Piko," said Gumi to draw his attention. Piko looked up at her, startled. "Watcha doin' on the floor?"
Piko sighed. "Hey guys. Nothing to worry about, Iroha's just moody."
"Why's that?" Rin wondered curiously. Piko stared at her, confused. Then, he seemed to remember something and his expression changed to understanding. Rin hated that. She'd seen that many times since returning here. That meant it was something she would have known if she still had her memories.
"It's her time of the month," Piko replied. "I asked if she wanted me to go to the drug store and pick up anything for her, then she had a temper tantrum."
"Piko!" screamed Iroha, pulling the door open abruptly and sending Piko falling backward. "Piko, there's a spider, meow! Kill it for me!"
"Iroha," groaned Piko, rubbing the back of his head, which had banged against the wall. "Can't you give me some warning next time?"
"Kill it, kill it, kill it!" shrieked Iroha, running outside and cowering behind the fallen boy. "It's on my limited edition Spring 2009 Hello Kitty, meow!"
"Like I known what that is," replied Piko with a role of his eyes.
"It's gonna kill her, Piko! You have to save her, meow!" Iroha's eyes were teary as she looked down at him. Rin blinked to regain control of her senses after being so thrown off by Iroha's sudden appearance. The smaller girl had yet to notice Rin and Gumi standing there.
"I'm going," Piko sighed, laughing a little. Iroha stayed outside and peered to wherever he disappeared to before finally squealing with joy and running inside.
"Yay!" the girl cried. "I love you, Piko!"
Rin jumped a little when Gumi took her hand to lead her inside. Iroha was definitely having mood swings, for, when they went inside, she was practically purring as she rubbed her cheek against Piko's, repeating how much she loved him over and over again.
"Heya, Iroha," Rin said to get the girl out of her infinite cycle of I love you's. Iroha jumped over and attacked Rin with a hug that knocked her onto the ground.
"Rin!" she cried, looking down joyfully at the girl. "Rin, you and Gum-Gum were just making out, weren't you, meow?"
"W-w-what?" gasped Rin, her face going red again.
Iroha smirked at her. "You have lipstick on your neck, and I have no idea how else it would have gotten there. And it's Gum-Gum's colour."
"Quit causing trouble, idiot."
Iroha was quickly dragged off Rin as Neru and Haku entered the apartment. Neru grabbed the smaller girl by the collar and lifted her into the air to scowl at her as Iroha let out a hiss and swiped at the girl. Neru scowled at her.
"You're not a cat, idiot," she stated, unimpressed.
"I am, meow! Didn't you hear me hiss?" she questioned.
"Not very scary," Neru stated.
"You're so mean, meow!" Iroha dashed over to Piko and grabbed onto his arm, looking up at him with pleading eyes. "Piko, destroy her! She's a bully!"
"Please don't Piko!" begged Haku, coming to his over side and twining her fingers together as she clasped her hands before her. "Neru doesn't mean it, she really doesn't!"
"Meow, she did, Piko! Do it!" hissed Iroha, glaring at Neru, who had fallen onto the couch, relaxed, with a smirk on her face.
"Oh please, Piko, I'll do anything!" requested Haku desperately.
"Piko, remember which one of us you kissed!"
"I-I'll make you lunch every day!"
"I already do that so ha! C'mon, Piko, meow, you know you wanna!"
"So, Rin, Gumi, what's up?" Neru asked, drawing the couple's gaze away from the exasperated Piko and his harassers to where the yellow-haired girl lounged on the couch.
"We were kicked out of Teru's place so that he and Miku could be alone," Gumi replied casually. Rin's cheeks burned as memories of what they'd been doing flooded her brain, and Neru didn't miss it. The girl smirked at her.
"Don't call him Teru," Rin complained swiftly before Neru could speak. "He's still my teacher and it's weird enough as is."
"Ugh, too much time with Miku," replied Gumi, sticking out her tongue. She must not have noticed that she'd called him that.
Then, Rin felt her phone vibrate and pulled it out of her jeans pocket. She didn't bother to check the ID before answering and saying, "Hello?"
"Come shopping with me."
Rin smiled at the phone and laughed. "I'm already taken at the moment, Aoki. How about later?" She pretended not to notice Gumi carefully following her reactions. Rin turned her back to the group to concentrate on the phone.
"But we're going now, Rin!" whined the younger girl on the other side of the line. "I seriously don't know what I'll do if we go by that place! It'll be so mortifying if I have an episode, and I know I'd be okay if you were there with me! Please, Rin?"
In the back of her mind, the sound of a gunshot rang through Rin's ears. Her smile faltered for a second before she coated it was a false cheeriness. "What am I gonna do with you?" she wondered.
"So you'll come?" Aoki squealed joyfully.
"Yeah, I'll come," Rin replied with a small roll of her eyes.
"Yay! Meet me at my house in ten minutes, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be there."
"Hurry up!"
Rin withheld a giggle as she hung up and turned back to her friends, who she could feel watching her through their discussions which had continued while the girl was on the phone. Gumi's eyes on her were the worst of all. Her gaze was almost incriminating, as though she'd just caught Rin cheating on her or something. Gumi didn't understand. She didn't share that memory, the one memory that had remained in the back of Rin's mind to be dug up late at night when she was alone. She wasn't there when Rin had killed that man.
She'd killed two men now, actually.
"So you're leaving then?" Gumi questioned, her voice accusatory.
"Sorry," was all Rin said, bowing a little to her girlfriend. "Aoki really wants me to come."
"Where are you going?" Gumi drilled.
"Shopping. Calm down, Gumi," she couldn't help but add, feeling a little annoyed.
"I am calm. I just don't understand why you haven't invited me to come along. I'm your girlfriend, after all."
Rin shifted uncomfortably, but she kept her eyes locked to Gumi's, refusing to back down. "She's going with a bunch of friends, so it's not really my place to offer."
Gumi scowled a little. "Will I see you later tonight, at least?"
Gumi was offering her a way to make up for this, and Rin didn't want to fight, so she was quick to take it. She grinned flirtatiously and replied, "Only if you can get Hiyama-sensei and Miku out of the house."
Gumi smirked at her. "Is that so? Will do."
Rin waved a farewell to her girlfriend and left. The moment she was out the door, she heaved a great sigh. It was so hard to keep Gumi happy. She loved her, of course, but, sometimes, the girl was just plain difficult.
Rin let out a groan of annoyance when her phone buzzed again. She pulled it out, answered, and offered a swift greeting.
"Rin, when are you coming over?" Miki questioned. "We have to get to work on our college applications."
Darn it. Rin had completely forgotten about that. "Sorry, Miki," she apologized. "I completely blanked and made other plans."
"Gumi can come, too, it'll just be really boring for her," Miki offered.
"Actually, I'm going to see Aoki right now and then I'm going back to Gumi's after."
Miki went quiet for a minute, then she wondered softly, "Are you going downtown?"
Rin was equally quiet as she replied, "Yeah."
"Will you be okay?"
Rin smiled, even if the girl couldn't see it. "Of course. I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Okay. But you're coming home with me after school tomorrow, got that?"
"Got it."
"Good. Now go. Don't keep Aoki waiting."
Rin smiled again. At least someone understood. "Thanks. Talk to you later."
As the other line was replaced by a dial tone, Rin hung up. Then, left alone, she felt a familiar darkness take over her heart. For a minute, she stood still, trying to force her mind to remember things forgotten, but she couldn't remember anything. She didn't remember any of these people. They treated her like a close friend, someone they'd known for a long time, and she tried to treat them the same, but, in some cases, she felt like they were acquaintances at most. Especially the boys, Gakupo and Piko. She couldn't look at them and not see Len, his body falling limp as the poison made its way through his veins.
She had blood on her hands, and she couldn't get it off.
Author's Note: This is what happens when I listen to Hold It Against Me by Alex Goot while writing (whilst my mother laughed at the cheesiness of some lines). That is all. Other than the end, of course. That most definitely was not from the song.
