"Fortnight in Utopia"
by GrandMoff
Disclaimer/note: I'm not a member of Team Ninja. This fic has some graphic sexual situations and rather crude language. It features gay female relationships (yuri, shoujo ai). Please don't read it if it will offend you or if you aren't old enough. The story is based on the game DOAX2.
-Morning of Day Ten-
I woke and kissed Hitomi's forehead. Her warm body cuddled against mine almost made me stay in bed. I eased away from the gorgeous brown-haired woman and put my feet on the floor.
Hitomi shot upright, startling the hell out of me! I jumped reflexively, landing on the other side of the bedroom. For her part, Hitomi's eyes opened, as she shook off sleep abruptly. "Of course!" she said.
"G-good morning," I said.
"Oh, Leifang! You startled me!"
"That makes us even."
"I think I've got it though," my girlfriend continued. "Just give me a few minutes."
"I'll start my workout while you're doing that," I told her. "But I've got to ask—you've figured out what?"
"The numbers. Seriously, I'll be able to tell you what they mean very shortly."
"Cool!" I went out to the spacious living room and began my stretching. Within 30 seconds, I was aware of Hitomi's eyes on me. I, in turn, looked at her.
"I can't concentrate, knowing you're doing that," she explained sheepishly. "I'll watch you, then work on the numbers."
"Flatterer. But please do; I love when you watch me." I proceeded to work out, though I admit I sexed it up a bit for my audience; I would run my hands along my legs and torso, give Hitomi an occasional inviting wink, and other small actions.
"Oh you sexy girl!" Hitomi murmured. She crossed her arms and squeezed her legs together, obviously fighting the urged to touch herself or me.
I finished my workout and advanced on my girlfriend. The couch was big and deep enough; I kneeled, facing her, sitting on her thighs. I kissed her lovingly, and she kissed back with just as much tenderness. I lost myself in the feel, the smell, and the taste of her.
Eventually, I got up, pulling her with me. I slipped off her robe and we went to the shower. Despite our strong desires for each other, we were quite content to wash without having sex. Hitomi's hands washing my body felt so great, better than any orgasm I'd ever had masturbating. I hoped she felt the same about me, and listening to her quiet groans as I lathered her, I believed she did.
We split up to get dressed and ready for the day. I thought about wearing "Aquamarine" but decided to let people see it in the casino at night again before I wore it outside. Instead, I wore "Electra." Hitomi was coming back to my suite, so while I waited I checked my various cameras. I was glad to see that nothing looked out of the ordinary.
Hitomi was back in a few minutes. "Now to solve this cipher," she said, sitting next to me on the couch. "Lei, consider this: if you ignore the zeroes in the tens column, doesn't the typical date have a bunch of ones and twos?"
"We already know the dates of arrival, but yes," I answered.
"And if it's not the dates? Don't we also get a bunch of ones and some twos if we write the alphabet, ignoring zeroes except for the letters represented by 10 and 20?"
I understood. "It's a substitution cipher?"
"Uh huh. So the item was sent by someone calling herself Kiana. And it was delivered to someone using the name…"
"…Lisa," we said together.
"Fuck," I said.
"Hey, don't be concerned," Hitomi said sensibly. "Let me check the numbers a few other ways first."
Interested and a tiny bit worried, I helped her work on the numbers we had. Unfortunately, this was the only way that made sense. "That still doesn't mean anything," Hitomi told me. "There could be more than one Lisa, or someone else cautiously using her name instead of the real one—"
"—No, it's her," I murmured.
The lovely blue-eyed woman looked at me with puzzlement.
"I remember—things that didn't register at the time," I explained. "She mentioned seeing you get jealous when Christie kissed me, but was she there to see that? And she's been gone some of the time, and not even Tina knows where. Besides that, there's no way to know she wasn't the first girl to the island, but she definitely could have been. And who else would be making stuff from intricate machine parts?"
"You," Hitomi said. Then she tried to keep a straight face.
I glared at her. We knew it was a game now; I started making silly expressions to try to make her smile.
In less than five seconds, she giggled. She's so adorable! I tackled her to the cushions. "You smart ass!" I mock-chastised her. We kissed and wrestled around for a minute before getting serious again.
The German girl and I regained our composure and she said, "Lisa wouldn't be doing anything that could endanger us."
"I believe you're right. But then why the secrecy?"
"Maybe she just wants privacy."
"Hm, maybe we should ask her. But let's wait a bit; I feel like now we can go play without worrying."
"That's my Lei!" Hitomi jumped off the couch. "Let's have fun!"
We went to
the marina and found Christie and Helena. Christie was wearing
"Aquamarine," and in this environment, it looked less risqué but
just as sexy. And the sunlight affected the golden suit differently
than the artificial casino lights had. From different angles, at
different times, parts of the suit seemed to vanish completely.
This could be distracting. Thank goodness I had a race to win or I probably would've stared a while.
If Christie had worn "Aquamarine" to get an advantage, she was disappointed. A new course had been formed: the toughest one yet. No one could afford to break concentration; the waves were too tall and the turns were too sharp.
This race was fun, but it was also work. By the last lap, I didn't know who was behind me or who was ahead of me, just that I was going to charge one more turbo if it killed me.
I was amazed; when the race was finally over, I'd earned second and Helena had gotten first! Christie and Hitomi had each been disqualified, thanks to the numerous hairpin turns. Hitomi confessed to me afterward that she'd gotten completely turned around at one point.
As we were leaving the race harbor and heading toward the pool, we saw the Americans and the Japanese. "Hey!" Tina yelled. "Let's talk for a minute, girls." I noticed Kokoro and Lisa were carrying wickerwork baskets.
"Let's all eat together, ne," Kasumi said. "We've got our lunches to go and we're going to Bass Island to have a picnic."
"We'll wait for you, of course," Tina added.
Apparently, everyone was amenable. Hitomi and I got some grilled tuna, a couple of side salads, and a 12-pack of Kirin. Christie and Ayane joined the group just after we did and the nine of us strolled to the often-submerged little peninsula called Bass Island.
Someone—Kokoro, I guessed—had arranged for a shady pavilion. It was up and ready, and I for one was happy to be out of the strong sun. We all talked and ate and drank. I loved the atmosphere. We felt like comrades. Ayane and Christie were being more sociable than usual and we were all getting along with each other. I'd never really done this in my life, not with a group this size. Was this pretending, or were we becoming friends in spite of our quarrels and rivalries? Oh, who cared? It was nice, even if everyone was just ignoring the truth for a day or two.
We were drifting freely in and out of a bunch of different conversations when suddenly my ears fixed on something. "…won a jackpot on your machine last night," Lisa was saying to Christie.
"What did you think?"
"Not what I'd expected—but in a very good day. Unfortunately, I only won once before I got called away to a poker game. I'll be trying again tonight."
"So you approve?" the British woman stated more than asked.
"Oh yes," the dark-skinned American replied.
I was interested, but that was the end of their conversation about the slots. Oh well, I'd see for myself this evening. For sure, I silently vowed.
Every now and then during the long lunch, I found myself wondering what Lisa was thinking. She sure wasn't acting like a person with something big on her conscience. She must have a good reason for hiding what she was doing, but I couldn't help feeling a little slighted. She hadn't confided in me, but wasn't I her friend, and trustworthy? But I wanted to think that she must have a good reason not to tell me her secret activities.
The Americans had brought some sake and so had Ayane. Between that and our beer, we were pleasantly buzzing before we finished the luncheon party. (Some of us may have been more than buzzing; I thought I saw Christie having to bat Ayane's hands away from "Aquamarine" once or twice.) We played little games, like dizzy bat races and watermelon seed spitting contests. Was this all the island's influence, or had we reached a certain point of comfort?
I made up my mind to privately confront Lisa tonight, while the vibrations were so good. She was my friend; surely she'd tell me what she was up to when I told her how much I already knew.
With some reluctance, we broke up our gathering in the early afternoon. I felt closer to the other girls than I ever had. Kokoro, Hitomi, Lisa, Tina, and I even suggested that perhaps we should have a reunion next year, with or without a transparent invitation to a "tournament" from Zack.
"Oh, and Hitomi," Tina said as we were about to leave for the Sports Shop, "I'll take it personally if you and Leifang don't invite me to your wedding."
Hitomi and I blushed hard. Lisa and Tina laughed and I laughed embarrassedly as well. "Go do whatever you're doing and stop bugging us!" Hitomi stammered. The Americans were still chuckling while she grabbed my hand and pulled me into the store.
It had been a joke, but I could hear Tina's voice in my head. "Wedding."
Just what was I doing with Hitomi? How long would we last, once this vacation was over? Were we just playing? "Wedding." My parents had always expected me to marry some man they approved. I'd expected to marry a guy. But I'd said I love Hitomi and I meant it every time.
I've dreamed of having children of my own. But on the other hand, I'd never felt for anyone what I felt for Hitomi. I'd taken it for granted that my mom would find me a Prince Charming and I'd fall in love with him—now that I considered that, it was kind of crazy.
My parents love me and I love them. I try to be a good daughter, and do what they suggest (sometimes what they command.) But I've put my foot down with them before. "Wedding." There aren't many bigger moments in a person's life.
I'm not sure about almost anything that deals with emotions, but I'm sure I love Hitomi. I'd be stupid to look for Mr. Right, knowing that I'd found Miss Right.
But how about Hitomi? I haven't thought about it—probably because I haven't wanted to—but she was infatuated with Hayate. Did she see me as someone who could share her life with her? I know she didn't see me as a fling, but did she believe I could be her soulmate?
We'd said "I love you." But we hadn't talked, not for real.
Suddenly I felt rising panic and I forced myself to control my breathing and get a grip. "I've just got to talk seriously with her this evening," I told myself in a whisper. I caught sight of her at that moment, heading to the cashier's counter. My heart thumped.
Hitomi and I wound up playing Butt Battle after we shopped (she won but I did score once against her.) After that, we tried looking for a pair who'd play volleyball with us before sunset.
In the jungle, we came upon Christie and Ayane, who were happy to have a chance to play us. They got out to a 5-1 lead and we managed to claw our way back to a tie at 7-7 and another at 9-9. Christie knew she was a bit distracting, her tall curvy body mostly exposed in "Aquamarine." Even I got a little distracted at one point.
It was Ayane's serve. This point would determine who won the match. Ayane jumped and the ball hurtled toward us. We volleyed and so did they; there was a whole lot of digging and spiking. Christie was the best blocker on the court—I had a spike stuffed more than once. Finally, Ayane seemed to commit too much to the right side. Hitomi set and I spiked it deep—
—It was a trick. Christie turned and dug, putting the ball just barely above net height. Ayane slammed it to the ground to Hitomi's right, behind me.
"Good game," Hitomi and I said.
"Good game," Christie and Ayane answered. "I'm glad it was us," Christie added.
"I didn't think it would ever happen," Hitomi said. "It was my fault; I went too far left."
"No, I'm the one who fell for Ayane's trick. It's my fault," I said.
"Listen to you!" our violet-haired opponent huffed. "How about giving us some credit? That was a set play and we ran it perfectly. It's our fault."
Was Ayane actually helping us feel better about our loss? Hitomi said, "You're right. You two won, and it was because you played great."
"And we want a rematch," I put in.
"What a surprise," Christie said, rolling her eyes.
The four of us got a round of cool drinks at the poolside bar before we split up for the evening. Hitomi took my hand and we strolled to Niki Beach to watch the sunset. She put her arm over my shoulder. I put my arm around her waist. Her lips found my neck, then my ear. I squeezed her fondly. "You make me melt, baby," I sighed.
"Good," she answered, her voice huskier than usual. She move up to kiss my cheek. I turned and our mouths met. We kissed for a long time. Hitomi's lips are so soft and sweet, and she always smells so good.
When the sun was gone, we returned to our hotel. "It's early," I said, grasping her hand again. "Let's have a long bath and a late dinner, ne?"
"Hm, a couple of hours wet and naked with my personal Chinese goddess…what's in it for me?"
"You get me cleaning that bombshell body of yours, now come on!" I led her into my suite. We stripped off our suits and washed each other quickly so we could enjoy a nice long soak.
"We've got to think about Lisa," I reminded Hitomi. Her eyelids were shut while she relaxed, sitting in my lap, but she nodded.
"If she'd keeping her actions a secret so Interpol doesn't find out, it must be something big. They wouldn't come here except for murder, weapons, major drugs, or slave trafficking. But if she's not hiding from cops…"
"…what?" I said. "Who else could she be dodging?"
"I don't know," the lithe brunette sighed. "This feels so good."
"Yeah, it does." I stroked her shoulders and chest. "You might be onto something. This'd be the perfect place to develop a new energy source. No, the emission-bot probably would have noticed that. But the only other thing that powerful people who operate outside the law could want to stop or steal would be genetic research."
Hitomi stiffened a bit. "That could be it."
"Of course, it must be! It's so controversial, and there are many people who really fear it. International law has no real position on it because individual countries don't agree on whether it's right or wrong. Not a lot of space is needed for genetic research; you need money, time, and privacy. She's got those here, and a bunch of elite fighters whose mere presence deters all but the most determined investigator."
"But she doesn't have much time here," Hitomi pointed out.
"True," I said.
"That's means we're wrong…unless she's close. That's it; that's why here and now. She's at the part that can't be disguised as some other type of work. She's almost done!"
I felt it—she was right. I kissed Hitomi's hair. "See babe, you're way smarter than you give yourself credit for. But we still have to decide what we should do."
"Why do we have to do anything?"
"We don't have to, I suppose. But it would be nice to know what she's up to, if she's not finished already. We might be able to help her if she's not done."
"You're just curious."
"Well, if you wanted to say that, I guess you could," I said, pretending to be offended.
"There's no way I'll keep you from confronting her about this, so I wonder 'where, when, and do you want me to come with you' when you ask?"
"You know me pretty well, huh? Then you probably know when I'd like to talk to Lisa."
"The sooner the better," Hitomi guessed, "tonight, if you can."
I was impressed. "Yeah, I'm hoping we'll see her at the casino so I can invite her here afterward. Would you mind that?"
"Not at all. We won't have many more chances."
I kept rubbing Hitomi, moving one hand to her lower neck, the other to her breasts. "So that's one issue out of the way," I said.
"'One'?" the beautiful karate master murmured.
My mouth felt dry. I was about to say the most important words I'd ever said. "Hitomi, I have realized how much I love you. I want to be with you, to share your life and mine."
There was a very long silence. Nervous as I'd just been, I was calm now that I'd said it. The ball was in her court. I enjoyed the feeling of the warm water and Hitomi's warm, firm body where we touched each other.
"I can't thoughtlessly echo you," the young brunette finally replied. "What about our futures? Where would we live? Would we tell anyone? Everyone?"
"I don't know yet, love. What I know is that I can't let the most wonderful person who's ever been in my life slip away. I couldn't wait until I had answers; I had to tell you now. I hope that wasn't selfish. I hope you feel somewhat the same."
"Of course I do," she said, half-turning to face me. "But there are so many issues—"
"—and they don't need to be confronted yet. I wanted you to know so you could think about it and we could talk about it little by little," I interjected.
Hitomi turned back around, but I could tell she was smiling. She said, "Nothing about you isn't wonderful. I'll never know anyone who's as good for me as you are."
We sat in the bath for a while, just touching and relaxing. She and I were growing to understand each other more and more by the minute. When we emerged from the water, we simply dried and dressed, both of us in "Astarte." I sat Hitomi on my couch, her feet in my lap. I carefully painted her toenails sky blue, with pink and yellow flowers on her great toes.
She knew I didn't care too much about my nails, but she surprised me with a gift of a garnet ring, which she slipped onto the toe next to my right great toe. She also fastened my ankle bracelets around my ankles for me.
We strolled to the Gemstone restaurant, my arm on Hitomi's shoulders, her arm around my waist. Hitomi wondered aloud if we could be totally wrong about Lisa and any genetic research she might be conducting.
I chuckled, imagining how awkward the conversation would be if we were wrong. "Still, it might not be genetic research. Maybe it really is an energy production method that was too sophisticated for my robots to detect."
"If that's it, I don't want to be around when you find out."
"Why?"
"You're so proud of your technical skills—if your robots failed, you might melt down!"
"I would accept it
stoically," I argued playfully. "Just one tiny tantrum."
"Like
I said, I wouldn't want to be around!" The German girl hugged
me. "Unless I could help you find a creative way to work out your
stress."
We had a nice dinner of egg foo young, and afterward we went back to our suites to prepare for our casino outing. All Hitomi really had to do was get her white cowgirl hat and a gold ribbon. All I had to do was change into "Aquamarine" and get my white cowgirl hat. (Except for our swimsuits, we'd be in the same outfit.)
Hitomi surprised me by taking about a minute and showing up at my room not only ready to go out, but also with her biggest suitcase. I knew what that meant.
"I'll help you 'move' when we get back," I told my girlfriend.
"Cool, arigatou," she said, grinning. "On an unrelated note, you look absolutely gorgeous."
"Thank you, baby," I chirped. I gave her a really quick kiss. I took her hand and she led me out of the room.
When we got to the casino, I was slightly less ogled than I'd been the first time I'd worn this bathing suit. Christie was there ahead of us; that was the only explanation. People hadn't gotten bored of—or even used to—the outrageous suits. I certainly wasn't bored of wearing mine; my nipples were standing at attention and my heart was racing.
Hitomi read my body language. "Maybe you do have some exhibitionist in you," she whispered to me while we were taking our seats at the blackjack table. I simply ran one finger along her arm in response.
Half an hour later, I left Hitomi at the table. I was about 160,000 credits ahead and I wanted to play the slots. Hitomi was about 70,000 credits ahead, but she thought she had a good chance of earning more.
Christie's machine called to me. I selected the maximum bet and grabbed the handle. It was cooler and rougher than I'd expected. "Here goes nothing," I murmured. A small jackpot came up.
I guess it took about 15 tries, but just after I'd hit a big loser and promised myself I'd only try three more times…Christie, Christie, Christie! The major jackpot was mine! My breath caught and I watched 3 million credits flow into my account.
And Christie herself appeared! Not really her, but a state-of-the-art holographic video of Christie. She was dancing seductively, holding onto a pole. I vaguely remembered hearing that "pole dances" were popular in Europe and America, but I'd never seen one before. The recording was playing in a cleverly concealed space next to the slot machine, and only I could watch. The image of Christie sashayed and shimmied—but suddenly the video was over.
It was too abrupt. Christie had hinted that there was more, waiting to be viewed. I kept playing the machine.
Luck was with me. After another five or six pulls, I got another jackpot.
The video started the same way it had earlier. I was confused but curious, so I kept watching. Where the holographic recording had cut off last time, it kept going. I saw about 20 more seconds of the sexy dance, and then came another abrupt end to the scene.
Obviously, I was supposed to keep winning until I saw the entire dance routine. It was fairly early in the evening, so I could keep trying for a while. Hitomi knew where to find me.
I settled back, resolved to win more.
There's no point giving a full account of my play. The summary is that I took almost an hour. When I got done, I had over 11 million credits. I was also convinced I'd seen all seven parts of Christie's dance. It was pretty fun and now I was set for credits—but I still felt a little disappointed. I can't say why; I guess I just expected some final event.
To my mild surprise, I looked around for Hitomi and found her still playing blackjack. She looked kind of frustrated. "I'm done," I told her softly, and I gave her ear a small kiss.
"Thanks, beautiful." She patted my shoulder. She said, "Rejoin the game, okay?"
Amused, I did as she asked.
40 minutes later, Hitomi was in a better mood and she suggested we leave. We went to the dance floor and did some gyrating, bumping, and rubbing. There were plenty of envious eyes on us.
"Oh, there's Lisa!" my partner yelled above the music. "Go ahead and talk to her."
That meant cutting in on Kasumi, but I did it gracefully and she accepted gracefully. (Having Hitomi to dance with probably helped.)
I steered my sexy dance partner toward a corner. No time to be delicate, I charged directly to the point. "I want to talk about your genetic research," I said into her ear, just loudly enough to be heard.
She looked at me askance for just a moment, then smiled widely. She leaned into me and said, "You and your lover be at the base of the waterslide at 0700 tomorrow. Now let's dance!"
Eventually, Kasumi reclaimed Lisa and I went back to Hitomi and got in one more dance with her.
I helped Hitomi carry her belongings to my suite, as I'd promised. Then we undressed and began to massage each other. I told her what Lisa had said.
"Damn, that's early," the comely German complained. But if she specifically asked for both of us, I'll go."
"You're who I can count on," I told her. "Thanks, I think we'll be happy once we've done this; it'll be a successful end to our efforts."
"We'll have to got to bed really soon, of course," she remarked.
"That's true. I'll sleep on the right, okay?"
"Fine with me."
Once we were relaxed, our muscles soothed, we laid down on the huge bed and kissed each other goodnight. I snuggled closer to Hitomi and she welcomed me with a sleepy giggle. I never wanted to sleep alone again. I felt her warmth and softness. I yawned…I was out.
-End of Day Ten-
final note: i'm writing the whole vacation, a day at a time. school's over, and i'm job-hunting, so please be patient. i'll do my best to provide you with a fitting continuation and conclusion to this story—and the interval between this installment and the next shouldn't be as long this time. thanks again to those who have read and reviewed! i always appreciate it.