"Why am I not surprised to hear that?" Zuikaku looked over at Soyuz as the two walked back toward Zuikaku's dorms. Night had fallen hours ago, and although it was dark, Zuikaku could easily make out her friend's face in the moonlight. She'd felt relaxed and happy in the past, but all that seemed irrelevant now. Zuikaku hadn't really expected to hear from Soyuz at all after she left Vladivostok. However now suddenly she was back, and Zuikaku hadn't realised until now how much she missed her good friend. Soyuz seemed just as happy, even if she didn't show it as much.
"Ah well, ever since you left, I'd thought more and more about those two songs you really liked and I was kinda hoping I'd get to see you again, eventually." Soyuz's face flushed slightly as she spoke, and Zuikaku chuckled. "So I bought myself a guitar and started trying to teach myself how to play. Kirov helped me after a while."
"Ah neat. I've never really had an opportunity to learn how to play an instrument. Or listen to much music of any sort." Zuikaku said softly. "Things got pretty crazy here not long after i returned. And that's putting it lightly."
Soyuz raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? You'll have to fill me in tomorrow when I'm away enough to understand everything." Zuikaku nodded. "But anyway," Soyuz went on, "About those drinks I mentioned earlier…"
"The ones that you brought but wouldn't open until we'd had some time to catch up?" Zuikaku asked. Soyuz nodded, before stopping and slinging her bag off her shoulder. She pulled out two bottles of vodka. Zuikaku grinned. "I knew you were hiding something. That bag seemed heavier than if it just had clothes and stuff in it."
Soyuz smiled, then headed towards Zuikaku's dorms. As she drew nearer, Zuikaku noticed the outline of a case sitting on the porch. "What's that?"
"You'll see," Soyuz said with a smirk. She grabbed the case and stood aside so Zuikaku could open the door for her. As Zuikaku hung up her costume and got settled on her couch Soyuz set about getting Zui and herself some drinks. After looking for a few minutes for the glasses, she came over and sat beside Zuikaku and handed her her drink. Zuikaku took it with a smile. Soyuz raised the glass. "To our friendship"
"To our friendship."
The two clinked glasses, then drank. Zuikaku felt complete. She'd never realised how much she'd missed Soyuz. "Hey Soyuz?"
"Yea what's up?"
Do you ever wear something besides that style of clothing?" Zuikaku gestured to Soyuz;s outfit, which didn't seem to have changed in the few months since they'd last seen each other.
"Not really. I like the looks of it," Soyuz shrugged. She stood and brought the bottle out to the living room. "Which brings me to something else I wanted to check off early."
"Oh?" Zuikaku didn't hide her surprise.
Soyuz walked over to her bag and rummaged around for a moment, before pulling out a smaller bag and handing it to Zuikaku.. "It's not much, but at least it's something…"
Zuikaku took the bag and looked it over. 'For my sister.' "S-Soyuz...did you mean to write that?"
"What you need to understand Zui, is that unlike you, I don't have any actual siblings, so those that I become close to are usually friends that I connect with in some way." Soyuz's voice had gone from a light-hearted and cheery tone to sounding like she was ready to cry.
"So you kinda think of me as a your sister now?" Zuikaku asked.
Soyuz nodded. "Sorry if that bothers you. You do have Shokaku after all…" Her voice trailed off and she wouldn't meet Zuikaku's eyes.
"Hey-" Zuikaku reached over and put a hand on Soyuz's shoulder. "It's fine. I can have two sisters. I don't think Sho is gonna mind, after she saw how kind and welcoming you were towards me."
Soyuz looked up, slightly worried. "Are you sure you're ok with me considering you my sister? That is getting quite personal."
Zuikaku said nothing, then slid closer to Soyuz, and pulled her friend into a hug. Soyuz said nothing, only returning Zuikaku's gesture.
"So you're really ok with me calling you my sister?" Soyuz still seemed to be struggling to accept that Zuikaku was ok with everything.
Zuikaku nodded. "I'd be honoured to call you my sister. You're slightly younger than me, so I won't be the 'little sister' anymore, eh?" She added with a tease.
Soyuz looked up and gave a watery smile. "Alright then, sis." She pinched Zuikaku's cheek, causing the other girl to squirm and laugh. "Open your present."
"Yes ma'am," Zuikaku laughed. Soyuz poked her again, but said nothing. Zuikaku smiled, and untied the knot. Her eyes widened. "D-did you get these especially for me? They're the perfect size…" Soyuz still said nothing. Zuikaku set aside the shirt and pulled out a pair of ripped black jeans, nearly identical to what Soyuz was wearing. Zuikaku turned to her in astonishment.
"There's more," Soyuz said eagerly. Zuikaku's eyes widened and she reached down and pulled out a black leather bomber jacket, and a small box. She set the box on the table and stood, pulling on the jacket as she did. It fit her perfectly. Speechless, she stood there wearing the jacket, dumbfounded. Soyuz pushed the box into her hands. "Open it," she whispered.
"A-alright," Zuikaku stammered. She untied the ribbon, and opened the box. She pulled out a bottle of hair gel and a necklace. Setting the gel aside, not wanting to think about Soyuz's motives for bringing it, she unwrapped and slipped the necklace around her neck, finally fastening it with Soyuz's help.
"You look awesome," Soyuz said. "But you can be better. Go change and put everything on, then I'll help you with your hair."
Zuikaku grabbed her stuff and hurried to change. Once Zuikaku was out of sight, Soyuz hurried over to the closet, where she'd hidden the last piece of her gift. Setting the box under the table, she sat down with her guitar, set her phone on the armrest next to her, opened her tuning app, and set about finalising the last piece of her plan. As Soyuz played though the first few lines of "Famous Last Words", her mind drifted off and she played on autopilot for a few minutes, only to be pulled from her dream but Zuikaku's voice.
"You, uh, said something about my hair when I was done?" Soyuz looked up and almost did a double take. She nearly didn't recognise Zuikaku expect for her hair. Which she planned on fixing. Otherwise Soyuz suspected even Shokaku wouldn't have noticed her.
"Oh, right," Soyuz blinked a few times to refocus her thoughts. "I was gonna show you how to use this stuff, but the directions are on the bottle and I didn't have anyone teach me." She threw the hair gel at Zuikaku, who caught it in surprise.
"Uh, ok then," she said.
Soyuz grinned, then turned back to her guitar. "I do hope she doesn't get that stuff everywhere. It can be a bit hard to clean up." Shaking the thoughts away she picked up her guitar once more and lost herself again in the music.
After playing through the song twice to make sure she could teach it well enough, Soyuz waited for Zuikaku to return, which she soon did.
"Well?" Zuikaku sounded a bit unsure of herself. "How bad is it?"
"Not bad at all. Actually, pretty darn good for a first time," Soyuz said with a low whistle. "I do like how you left the tips of your hair undyed. Green highlights look good on you."
Zuikaku breathed a sigh of relief, and took a seat next to Soyuz. Something under the table caught her eye, and she bent down to investigate. "What have we here?"
"Oh. That." Soyuz set her guitar back in its case for the time being. "That, is the last piece I have to give you." She slid over to give Zuikaku room to open it.
"No way! How much did all this stuff cost you?" Zuikaku exclaimed, pulling out a pair of knee-height black boots and held one on her hands, gazing at it.
"A decent bit," Soyuz admitted. "But I'd be willing to bet it'll be worth it." Zuikaku quickly slipped her boots on, although she didn't take the time to lace them.
Soyuz watched her, before grabbing her phone and taking a quick picture, for posterity's sake. "I'd be surprised if anyone here recognises you at all tomorrow."
"They'll probably think I'm you or Kirov," Zuikaku agreed with a laugh.
"Yeah, probably," Soyuz agreed, smiling. She looked at her phone. "Well, it is getting late. I had more things I would have liked to do tonight but they can wait. We both need some sleep now I think."
Zuikaku nodded, stifling a yawn. "Yeah, I think so."
