"Are they really going to ignore you for the whole week?" Umi watched as the ginger's parents strictly associated themselves with Yukiho's side.
"This is normal," Honoka didn't really mind as she gazed at a couple of chirping birds.
"It's not right," Umi tugged the ginger's arm as if trying to convince her to attempt to break this odd behavior.
"Trust me, this is normal," Alisa stretched her way beside Umi, "I think they even locked the door last New Years just to scare Honoka off," Alisa remembered as she hiked with the two. She didn't see a point in staying with Yukiho seeing as she was busy distracting the unhappy pair.
"Oh yeah!" Honoka recalled the incident, but Umi didn't, "I was banging at the door for a while until I finally went home."
"Sorry about that," Alisa sighed as she held her cheek, "I would have opened the door, but I was taking a nap after placing Hanamaru to rest."
Honoka laughed as she brushed off the incident, "It's alright. They probably would have fought you if you had even tried," Umi didn't understand why they were making sense of such an action, but she tried her best to hide it. As if catching her grumpy mood, Alisa changed the topic to include her in the conversation.
"So you've been dating Honoka for two years? Right," And Umi nodded, "And she didn't tell you how bad her family problems were?"
"Well she did speak of her family, but I don't remember it being this bad," And Alisa shook her head.
"Honoka you have to tell your wife everything properly or else she won't know what she's getting herself into," the ginger rubbed her head nervously. Alisa sighed at the sisters similar qualities to her Yukiho, "You can't run away from this, not like before."
"I won't," Honoka felt the pressure growing. Her eyes looking at the gap between them and her parents. They're talk having allowed the distance to grow, "... I won't."
Umi grabbed her hand, a gentle squeeze warning the other that she wasn't alone, "That's why I'm here," she smiled encouragingly, "I will face everything with you."
"Aww Umi," Alisa could feel her heart skip a beat. Even though Umi's affection wasn't towards her, Alisa could feel the genuinity oozing off the other, "Honoka marry her already!" she slapped the gingers shoulders.
"M-My shoulder," Honoka whined at the ridiculous strength the small blonde possessed. The fact that she didn't even hold back was worrisome, "Shouldn't you help Yukiho right about now?"
"She could handle herself," Alisa looked towards her wife to prove her point, but immediately caught Yukiho giving an S.O.S. with her eyes, "Or not," she sighed, "These Kousaka women can't do anything without us," she waved at the duo. Though her attention was on Umi, "Work hard Umi," and she jogged up ahead.
Umi was still holding onto Honoka's hand, "This family of mine," the ginger sighed, "Maybe we should leave early."
"We can't," Umi felt obligated to get to the bottom of things, "Alisa is right. You can't just leave things with your family like this."
"It doesn't matter," Honoka watched as their gap grew, "It's not like they want to fix things."
"But-," and Honoka tugged at Umi.
"Why don't we ditch them?" A glint of adventure sparkled in those blue eyes and Umi decided they could get distracted just this once.
"Where are we going?" and Honoka stopped walking. They waited until they were hidden by the forest bark, before hiking towards a different direction.
"Anywhere as long as we get back," Honoka grinned and Umi didn't like that plan.
They hiked through the trails and jumped over upperward roots. Umi was always glancing behind her and Honoka was always facing forward. The duo pushed and shoved to the point where they ended up sliding down a mossy hill.
"You're just walking aimlessly at least stay at a certain direction," Umi hissed. Landing on her behind, she turned to see Honoka had landed on her back.
"But isn't it fun?" Honoka laughed as she dusted herself off. A leaf falling off her hair making the possibility of being lost a silly idea.
"What if we get lost?" Umi warned and the ginger pointed at the sky.
"We can just climb a tree and look for a mountain that looks like a chicken," the ginger knew these camping grounds better than anyone, "We always camp near the base of it."
"I'm done!" Umi planted herself at the mossy wall, "I won't move unless we're heading back."
"What are you scared?" and Umi glared the ginger down, "Alright, we won't move," she took a seat next to the bluenette.
The sun was rising on top of their heads. Their morning having been spent with the ginger's parent's clapping pans and drenching the ginger's tent with water to force her to wake. Luckily for Umi, she had been gathering wood with Alisa, so it was mainly Honoka's morning that got ruined.
"Hey Umi, do you have family?" Honoka didn't want to head back and if she was allowed to, they would have already be heading home. So, the ginger hoped that Umi would at least allow her to waste as much time out in the woods.
"Family? No, we are an alien race that-"
"Got it," Honoka interrupted, "I mean do you ever remember one species that felt like family?"
Umi paused in thought as she clearly remembered all her offsprings, "Well there were some that felt like family," and Honoka awed in confirmation, "If I had top pick one I guess it would be the one time I was a mammoth."
"Woah!" Honoka was flung backwards by the shock, "That's really far into the past."
"I'm not Kotori," Umi kept her composure, "I'm much more older then most of the other girls."
"Who's oldest?" Honoka couldn't help but put in her own predictions, "Is it Nozomi?"
"Nozomi?" Umi almost sounded offended, "Please she's still pretty young," the bluenette pulled her knees close to her chest. She didn't mind the small break away from all the distractions, "The oldest would have to be Rin."
"No way!" Honoka couldn't believe it was her gaming buddy, "You're lying!" but Umi shook her head, "... How old are we talking?"
And Umi snorted at the petrified yet intrigued look the ginger was giving her. Umi knew Honoka would freak out if she knew the age of the other, "Lets just say Rin was one of the first to be created."
"So…?" Honoka begged to be given a number.
"Hmm Rin was here way before the Earth was even officially a planet," Umi watched as Honoka grew silent in astonishment, "She was assign to Mars when that planet was just starting off."
"Wow," Honoka allowed a silence to pass through them. Her mind wondering if Rin would be willing to talk more about her past lives with her once they got back, "She really doesn't seem that old."
"You'd be amazed if she actually showed her DNA coding," And Honoka didn't know how to respond to such a comment, "Maybe she'll show you if you asked."
"Can i see yours?" Honoka wanted to get an idea what made such a thing so special.
"Eh?" Umi turned to find Honoka already searching her body, "W-Wait!" she placed a hand up to try to cover Honoka's eyes.
"What's wrong? Is this like the whole past vision thing?" The ginger didn't want to invade her privacy again. Being held still, Honoka waited for Umi to remove her hand.
"It's not that," the bluenette blushed as she held Honoka in place. The ginger scuffling in confusion as Umi finally let go. Placing her arms around her knees and pulling them closer to hold herself tighter, Umi continued, "It's just embarrassing having you see my code."
"I'm starting to think you like teasing me,," Honoka booed as she tried to tempt the bluenette, "It's just a code, right? I've seen plenty of computer codes, so let me see."
"I'm not a computer!" Umi denied as the ginger begged, "Fine, but under one condition," she couldn't look at the ginger. Her request was too shameless.
"What?" Honoka brighten up at finally seeing some part of Umi.
"Can you… can you kiss me?" And Honoka stopped functioning.
"Huh!" she coughed as the other hide her reddening face, "Uh-I-Uh," she didn't know what Umi meant as a kiss, "O-Ok."
Umi took deep breaths as she prepared herself mentally for her reward. Meanwhile, Honoka was running on emergency fuel as her brain went dead. Her inner Honoka's were in chaos as they thought about what kind of kiss was allowed. Some Honoka's were demanding a kiss on the cheek, others on the lips, and the truly criminally insane were locked away for their attempts of the unspeakable. Suddenly all thoughts went silent over the great echo, 'Am I attracted to Umi?' and all little heads popped in pure shock.
"Alright I'm ready," Umi turned to face the ginger. Her eyes determined and Honoka was now a nervous wreck.
"O-ok," her voice spiking up, but the other didn't notice.
…
"Piece of Junk," Maki whacked the motorcycle as the purple haired woman tried to flag down a car.
"Doesn't seem like we're going to get any help," Nozomi watched as the last car flew past them, "Should we try hiking towards the nearest town?"
"We have no choice," Maki lead the way.
"It could be worst," Nozomi smiled as she followed behind.
"How?" Maki glared and the other hummed.
"We could be lost and alone," and Maki raised a brow. Not really seeing how having each other was going to be of any help. Deciding to ignore the other, they both hiked up the dirt path alongside the pave road. The forestry providing enough shade for the two to avoid feeling the heat.
...
"Just look into my eyes and try not to blink," Umi held the ginger's shoulders as they kneed in front of one another, "Ready?"
"Ready," and yellow eyes began to glow.
It started off as a small faint light. Soon Honoka felt as if she had entered a void with how her whole vision went black. The only thing providing light was the rings of gold as small sparkles flickered closer. Honoka didn't have to wait long before she saw a private galaxy in the other's iris.
"The small dots of lights are my age in millenniums," Umi's rang out, but Honoka was too focused on the light show buzzing all around her.
"This is amazing," she awed as she stretched her hands out to touch. Having forgotten she was just looking into Umi's eyes, she ended up cupping the bluenette's face, "So beautiful."
Feeling hands on her, Umi shivered as her eyes flickered back. Honoka was now staring at Umi and her pulse quicken. Holding her close, the ginger swallowed as Umi waited for her reward.
Leaning forward, Honoka closed her eyes as she shook with anticipation. Their lips meeting awkwardly as they both were to shy to act on impulse. As they came apart, both women were unsatisfied with the kiss. Umi leaned forward retaking her lips and Honoka didn't resist.
"And here we thought you were lost," Yukiho's voice piped up and the two separated immediately.
"Yukiho!" Alisa slapped her arm, "We should have let them enjoy themselves."
"I'm not returning back to camp to tell our parents that Honoka was getting freaky in the woods with her girlfriend."
"We weren't!" Honoka stood up alongside Umi, "We were taking a break."
Both women were blushing like mad and Yukiho sighed, "Sorry for disturbing you. We'll leave so you can continue."
"We weren't doing anything," Honoka insisted and the two siblings fought.
Alisa smiled apologetically at Umi, "Sorry for disturbing you," she spoke once the siblings were a bit more ahead. The two too invested in a game of punch and run as they passed the blame onto the each other.
"You really weren't," Umi brushed away the topic. Too ashamed to talk about it anymore, "So how long were you searching for us?"
"Not long," Alisa looked at her watch, "We only started looking when our dad found a couple of hitchhikers off the road when he went on some emergency run."
"Hitchhikers?" Umi wondered and Alisa nodded.
"Yeah, he told them he would drive them back, but they insisted on spending the night."
"Really?"
"Yeah," Alisa laughed nervously, "I hope they're not some serial killers pretending to be lost."
"Don't worry I would never let anyone hurt my family," Umi confirmed, "I'll interrogate them myself once we arrive back at camp."
Alisa's heart melted, "Aww Umi!" she squealed as she held her arm, "Why couldn't I have met you first," she sighed blessfully.
"Yeah yeah," Yukiho rolled her eyes and pouted, "Go ahead and sleep with Umi for all I care."
"I was just kidding," Alisa lightly jogged towards her wife, "You know your the only one for me."
"Sure doesn't seem like it."
Umi smiled at their silliness before realizing Honoka was next to her. The fake lover grabbed her hand. Her face hidden by the angle in which she was facing away.
"Thanks for being here," Umi's mood brighten greatly by the muffled comment, "We can sleep together if you want," Her eyes catching the reddening ear tips and she leaned on the gingers arm. The ginger feeling a pinch of jealous from having Alisa hold Umi like it was nothing. So Honoka baited Umi with something they could do.
Umi giggled at the silliness of the other. Honoka would have never considered herself possessive, but seeing Umi not put off by it warmed her heart, "Then I guess we can share a sleeping bag together," Umi tugged playfully.
Honoka was riding off her instincts and chemistry, "But like… we can sleep closer."
Umi rested her head on the ginger's shoulder. This trip was already giving her the advantage she had hoped and prayed for since the beginning, "Alright," she smiled triumphantly. The scale was tipping towards her favor and although she felt a little bit ashamed of her sneak tactics, Umi wasn't about to let another girl win.
…
"Where are we?" Nico stood at the edge of the mountain's peak. The rest of the ganging huffing and puffing as they caught up with the black haired woman.
"I-Is H...Honoka here?" Kotori gasped as she took a seat on the rocky snow.
"No one's here," Eli took a large gulp of her canteen. Wiping the sweat from their one-way trip to the ginger's main camp.
"Honoka?" Rin looked at the group questioning, "Oh! We were suppose to find Honoka!" she laughed as she hit her head lightly to show how forgetful she was, "Oops I forgot."
"That's not cute at all!" Nico gripped her shoulders and shook violently, "You told us we were going to find Honoka! You even volunteered to lead us to their main camp!"
"Nico!" Hanayo broke them apart, "It's not like she lead us to a different mountain. Maybe she just somewhere out there," and she turned to get Rin to agree, "Right?"
Rin turned around, her eyes trained at the rocky terrain below sea level, "Isn't the view nice?"
"I'm going to kill her!" Nico pulled back her sleeves.
"Nico!" Hanayo held the black haired girl back, "Think reasonably!"
Seeing her chance to escape, Rin ran down the slope which was followed by an angry Nico and a worried Hanayo. Eli sighed, "Come on Kotori it looks like we're at the wrong mountain site."
Kotori nodded. She was not looking forward to the hike downwards, "i wonder what Honoka is doing with Umi," her head bowed in pain from imagining the two getting too close.
"I'm sure they haven't done much," Eli tried to encourage, "It's Honoka remember?" and Kotori nodded wanting to believe the blonde was right.
A/N:
Thank you all for the continues support! Please continue to enjoy this story!