MariMite
Stuck With You
A light spring was in Sachiko's step as she weaved her way through the busy crowd of Tokyo, a small smile on her face as Yumi followed behind her. She had been quietly looking forward to this little trip for six days, trying to contain her excitement inside of her, so as to not let Rei gain three weeks worth teasing ammunition. But now that the day was finally here, and she was finally here, finally on another date with Yumi, the excitement got the better of her and her smile spread into a dazzling grin. She wasn't conscious of the passers-by who stopped in their tracks when the raven-haired beauty walked past them, their jaws hanging open in astonishment, eyes wide with wonder and their bags falling out of their slack arms. She also wasn't conscious of the glare that Yumi sent to every one of those people.
Sachiko paused as she came to a pelican crossing, waiting for Yumi, who took two steps to reach her side. Once she stopped next to her grande sœur, she shot her a small smile as she readjusted the position of her shoulder bag. Then, with a content look on her face, she stood still, waiting for the traffic to stop. Sachiko, with a small smile of her own, reached for Yumi's hand, intertwining their fingers. Yumi turned to look at her with a happy but confused look, and Sachiko said, "I know it's just a shopping trip, but thank you for coming with me today, Yumi."
Yumi just squeezed her fingers gently. "I wouldn't have missed this," she spoke, her cheeks tinted red, "We don't go out together enough. I'm glad that you asked me to come."
"Of course," Sachiko smiled, slightly stunning Yumi with her sincerity.
The traffic lights finally turned red and the cars pulled to a stop. The little green man lit up and the throng of people around the Chinensis pair began to move across the road. Sachiko grinned at Yumi once more, and started walking forward, tugging on Yumi's hand. The two walked in comfortable silence as they paced towards Seventh Heaven.
XOXOX
"Ara… It's a little bigger than I imagined…" Sachiko gazed in awe at the humongous building. Tall buildings did nothing for the seventeen year old, as she felt that they could quite easily just fall due to the weight – how could their structures possibly support their massive weight? – and they always seemed to loom over her menacingly. It intimidated her a little.
As the name implied, Seventh Heaven stood seven stories tall, each floor lined with rectangular glass windows which acted as walls. It was, by far, the largest department store in Tokyo, and it looked to be the most modern as well. The logo for the store was of an electric blue colour, with a martini glass after the last 'n' and a yellow halo over the first 'e' of Heaven. It looked inviting.
"It's not called Seventh Heaven for nothing," Yumi agreed, staring at the top row of windows in wonder, "It must have taken ages to build…"
"I'm glad I wasn't on the building team," Sachiko smiled at herself, "I think I would have passed out after the third floor was complete."
Yumi suddenly turned to her, her porcelain face panicked, "Oh no! I completely forgot about your vertigo!" She said quickly, alarm in her mocha eyes, "Are you sure you'll be okay? I mean, I could always come with Yoshino-san or Shimako-san another time, it's no bother, and I don't want you to feel pressurized into coming. Oh, no…" She put her hands on her cheeks, looking away from her sœur, "I can't believe I forgot! It's so shameful…"
Sachiko chuckled, prying away Yumi's hands, replacing them with her own, forcing the girl to look at her.
"Yumi," she smiled tenderly, "I wouldn't have come if I didn't think I could handle it." She paused, thinking. "Well, no, I would have come anyway. But we'll be inside the whole time, so I just won't look out the windows. And you'll be with me," her blue eyes softened, her fingers caressing Yumi's cheek absentmindedly "so I know that there's nothing to fear."
"Onee-sama…" Yumi breathed, blushing lightly. She loved it when Sachiko talked like that – like she was the only person who could make her feel that safe. It made a small warmth spread all over her body, heating her right to the core, leaving her feeling all fuzzy inside. It was a feeling that only Sachiko could make for her. "I'll remind you of that when we go back to the amusement park," she smiled, pulling out of her reverie.
"Don't you dare, Yumi," Sachiko laughed, pinching Yumi's cheek lightly, "It doesn't apply to roller coasters."
"Well then," Sachiko stepped back, moving her hands down from Yumi's cheeks to her hands, "shall we go?"
Yumi grinned at her, and the pair walked hand in hand through the automatic doors and onto the ground floor. They were greeted by a large bright pink counter around ten metres in front of them, with two pathways veering off either side of it, with large blue arrows on them. The left one had 'Perfumes' written across it, whilst the right had 'Make-Up'.
The counter itself had a six shelves behind it, with various cosmetics and perfumes on them – the 'try-me' ones – and had two young women standing in front of the shelves in blue uniforms, the one on the right had soft lilac hair pulled to the right in a drill, Sachiko noticed, rather like Touko's. She had lavender eyes, a content smile on her face, looked like she could be no older than fourteen, yet her eyes held definite knowledge and she had a perfect posture, which could hardly be said for the other woman. She seemed to be a great deal older than the lilac-haired girl, standing at around eighteen. She had been leaning against the counter, obviously bored, with her eyes shut and a disgruntled look on her face until the younger worker had murmured something to her and she snapped up with an energetic smile as the pair approached the counter.
"Hello there and welcome to Seventh Heaven!" The older girl spoke, her chocolate hair falling over her shoulders and she bowed her head courteously, "Is this your first time visiting us?"
"Yes, it is," Sachiko answered, brushing back some stray strands of raven hair from her eyes.
"Fantastic," the brunette smiled, her golden eyes shining with excitement, "then would you mind filling out a survey sheet as you go round the store?"
"Since we have only recently opened, it is in our main interests to gather as much data as possible from customers and clienteles, so that we may immediately start improving the outlet," the younger girl added in a soft but intelligent tone.
"So would you please take one of these?" The older employee picked up a sheet of paper, holding it out to the girls.
Sachiko, sparing a short glance at Yumi (who seemed amused at the girl's genuine enthusiasm) stepped forward to take the survey from the girl. Glancing over it quickly, she saw the typical questions on a survey: what gender are you, what age are you, what are your first impressions of the store, where did you hear about the store and so on. Silently, she folded the paper and placed it in her handbag as the girl looked at Yumi's hand which was still holding Sachiko's, unwilling to let go. A smile formed on the girl's face as she motioned to the perfumes behind her.
"Would you like to try a sample whilst you're here?" She asked Yumi.
Sachiko smiled as Yumi's eyes lit up excitedly. "Oh, may I?" She replied eagerly.
The lilac-haired girl giggled slightly at her response, "Of course," she took over from her co-worker, and turned to take a bottle off of the shelf, "This is my personal recommendation, La Muse. Would you like to try it?"
"Yes please!"
Sachiko was watching the brown-haired worker as the conversation was left to Yumi and the other girl. She saw the way her golden eyes softened as the youngest-looking of them happily squirted some liquid onto Yumi's wrist. So, these two are also… She thought, recognising the fondness in the gold eyes, having seen it so much in her reflection whenever she thought about Yumi. It was the look of utter adoration. Suddenly, those amber eyes turned to look at Sachiko, who realized she'd just been caught staring.
"So, you too, huh?" the girl said with a knowing smile.
"Almost," Sachiko agreed, "But not yet where you are."
"Ah," she noted, frowning. Then, a happy smile came onto her face, "What if you try my recommended perfume? That's what started us off."
Sachiko, amazed at the girl's openness, and at her own, as she never talked about her and Yumi's relationship with anyone, smiled back at the girl.
"Thank you, that would be nice."
The girl turned around and picked up a red bottle designed in the fashion of a large robot. "This is Donnerschlag," she said, uncapping the lid and holding it out to Sachiko.
"Isn't that German?" Sachiko took the bottle and squirted twice onto her neck.
"Yes, it means 'thunderclap'," the girl nodded, "What do you think of it?"
The Ogasawara paused as the scent rose off of her neck, up past her nose. She was pleasantly surprised. "I like it," She confirmed, "I haven't tried anything like this before."
"Right?" The girl nodded, "It's totally unlike anything that's out at the moment."
Sachiko smiled and handed the bottle back to the brunette. She turned to look at Yumi, who had just finished her conversation with the other girl.
"Are you going to try one, Onee-sama?" She asked, joy evident in her eyes. Sachiko melted a little at the look.
"No, not today Yumi," She smiled back at her, "But how did you like yours?"
"Mm, I really like it!" Yumi grinned and extended one oh her wrists, "Would you like to smell it?"
Sachiko's cheeks turned a little pink, but she took Yumi's wrist and leant over it, inhaling the fragrance. Her cheeks turned redder as she realised that she could smell beneath the perfume, and that she had breathed in Yumi's natural scent – strawberries – under the smell of the squirted-on peach and blossom. She could hear the brown-haired worker giggling at her, which she chose to ignore.
"That's rather nice," Sachiko said after pulling away somewhat reluctantly.
"Isn't it?" Yumi smiled happily.
"If you'd like to purchase La Muse, it is available at the perfume desk on this floor." The smaller employee cut in, smiling gently at the two.
"Yumi? Do you want a bottle?" Sachiko asked, thinking in her mind that she would buy it for her if she said yes.
"Hmm…" Yumi mused, a thinking expression crossing over her face, "maybe later on. Because I was thinking, Onee-sama…" she trailed off, blushing.
"Yes?" Sachiko wished she had a camera. That cute, humble expression of her petite sœur was just begging to be captured forever, though she knew that a photograph would never to justice to the real thing.
Yumi turned to the side slightly, her gaze not quite reaching Sachiko's eyes. "I, well… Do you think we could… do what we did last time? I mean…"
"Feng shui?" Sachiko guessed.
Yumi's reaction was instant – her head snapped round and her eyes were filled with excitement as Sachiko obviously guessed right. "Yes!" Yumi smiled, "Is that okay?"
"Of course," Sachiko nodded, and then teased, "I wouldn't want to disrupt your harmony with the environment."
And that gorgeous blush was back again, returning ten-fold. Sachiko felt her heart throb against her ribs painfully, and she then knew that all she wanted from life was to see Yumi's beautiful blushing face every single day.
Sachiko smiled, "Then shall we head to the top floor?" she turned to the Seventh Heaven employees, "Thank you for your help."
The two bowed to them, but as they started walking towards the elevator, the brunette quickly leant over the counter and caught Sachiko's wrist. "If it works out between you two," she whispered so that Yumi couldn't hear, "let me know."
Sachiko blinked once, then smiled and nodded. As she walked away with Yumi down the aisle, she heard the younger one say to the older; "A lady should really be more elegant," making her smile once more.
"You seem happy today, Onee-sama," Yumi's delicate words found her ears.
"It's hard not to smile when I'm around you, Yumi," came the swift, honest response, making the girl's cheeks turn red and her lips lift at the corners, "and it seems to me that we just made some new friends."
"Yes," Yumi turned to look behind her at the two girls now talking to the next customer, "I think so too."
Sachiko smiled down at the girl and interlaced their fingers as they stopped in front of the elevator. She then pushed the 'call' button, and shifted her weight onto her right leg as they waited for the lift to come down.
"It always makes me feel good when I make new friends," Yumi continued, "Every one of them is so precious to me."
"Yes, I know what you mean," Sachiko nodded, "I love every friend I have. But," she added, smiling wistfully, "I have to confess that I love someone more than the rest."
"… Onee-sama? There's someone that you love?" Yumi inquired quietly.
Sachiko just smiled mysteriously at her, not intending to reveal anything more on the matter. Yumi was about to ask more when a small ping sounded and the elevator doors opened. The pair moved to the right to let out the three people occupying it, and walked in themselves, Yumi pressing the '7' button gently.
They stood side by side, hand in hand as the doors closed slowly, unbeknownst to them that those metal doors would change the course of their lives forever.
Well, there we have it. The first chapter of Stuck With You. I hope it meets everyone's expectations.
This chapter is dedicated to Rista - this reviewer's Poll Vote decided that SWY would be the first to be written. Kudos to her.
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and put this on Story Alert so far! You're all brilliant x)
Also, a little challenge for you - the two employees are from a different anime, can you guess who they are? There are quite a few hints dropped in there.
Please, review and tell me what you think?