The Other Takino

Not-as-Thrilling-as-Advertised
16. Where the Ocean Meets the Sand

Rated: M - English - Humor/Drama - Reviews: 77 - Updated: 11-02-10 - Published: 05-09-08 - id:4246838

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Tomo threw the covers off of her sleeping sister and dragged her out of bed and onto the floor by her leg. "Wake up call!"

"AaaaaaaOOOWW!" Torako yelled as she hit the floor with a thud. "What the hell!"

Tomo stood back as she got to her feet and rubbed the back of her head. It had been over a week since her fight with Ohzawa and her flunkies, and life had more or less returned to normal around the Takino household. What passed for normal, anyway; in the Takino family what constituted normal sometimes differed dramatically from the common definition. "Asagi called me," Tomo said before Torako could yell at her some more. "She said you weren't answering your phone."

Torako looked at her phone on the nightstand. "Probably because I keep it on vibrate," she said as she leaned down and picked it up.

"Anyway, you're supposed to call her."

Torako had already opened her phone, nodding as she looked up Asagi's name in her contacts. "Yeah, yeah, okay."

"Torako!" Asagi's voice said into her ear. "I was getting worried."

"I doubt that," Torako said and looked at Tomo. Why hadn't she left yet?

"Anyway, I hope you don't have any plans today, because we're hitting the beach."

Torako glanced out the window at the cloudless sky. "And if I do have plans?"

Asagi laughed. "Nice try, but Tomo-chan already told me you didn't." Her voice became uncertain. "Why, did you not want to go?"

"Just keeping up the routine. Yeah, I can go."

"Great!" Asagi said, a smile in her voice. "I'll be right over."

Torako closed the phone and looked down at her sister. "No, you can't come."

Tomo shrugged and turned to leave the room. "I didn't want to anyway. I'm going to Chiyo-chan's with Yomi and Osaka."

That can't be her real name, Torako thought as she began to get ready.

Asagi was waiting at the gate when Torako stepped outside into the sunlight, squinted, and put on her sunglasses. "Morning," she said, though it was getting closer to noon. As they headed down to the train station Torako lit a cigarette and glanced over at Asagi. It had been a just over week since they'd both confessed their feelings for each other, but so far their relationship didn't seem to have changed much outside the occasional kiss or affectionate touch. Not that either of them seemed to mind; Torako was content to let things progress at their own pace, and so far she was happy with simply knowing that someone cared for her as more than just a friend or a sibling. If Asagi was unhappy with the way things were going, she was keeping it to herself.

For her part, Asagi couldn't decide whether she was happy with the current situation or not. She'd staked her claim, making Torako more or less hers. Whether anyone aside from Yuko-chan knew about it was merely details; she was still treating it as official, whether anyone recognized it or not. And now that she'd gotten hold of her, there was no rush to make anything happen. She knew Torako was in no hurry, so there was no worrying about her getting tired of waiting for their relationship to progress and backing out. (Not that Asagi would let her if she tried, of course.) On the other hand though, she couldn't deny that a certain part of her dearly wanted to bring their level of intimacy beyond just kissing.

"Hey, there's a taiyaki stand on the way that I wanna stop at," Torako said, breaking the silence. "I haven't really eaten yet."

Asagi looked at her. "Torako, I absolutely forbid it."

"Yeah, just try and stop me."

"Hey." Asagi jerked a thumb at her chest. "If there's gonna be an abusive one in this relationship, it's gonna be me."

"I can actually see that," Torako said, eyeing her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Asagi asked, putting on a mock defensive tone.

Torako shrugged. "You're just pushy, is all."

"And you obviously like being pushed around, so I fail to see the problem."

Torako chose not to confirm or deny that claim. "I didn't say it was a problem, I just said you were pushy," she said.

"Yeah, but you like it," Asagi reiterated.

"I wasn't complaining, though." Torako said.

"Then why'd you bring it up?"

"All I was saying was that you're pushy." Torako was getting a little annoyed now.

"Yeah, but you like it," Asagi repeated again.

"I . . . that wasn't my point." What about this was so hard to grasp?

"Then what's your point?" Asagi asked, trying not to smile. This was fun.

"That you're pushy."

"But you like it, so why are you complaining?"

"I'm not complaining, I'm just saying that-"

"Why are you getting so upset?" Asagi interrupted her. "I mean clearly you like it when I boss you around, because otherwise you'd have told me to take a hike a long time ago."

"I'm . . . not getting upset!" Torako shook her head.

"You seem pretty upset right now."

"I'm not . . . you're . . . you . . ." Finally she just shook her head. "Oh, never mind."

"You'll never win an argument with that attitude," Asagi teased.

"Oh shut up."

"So I was talking with Yuko-chan the other day," Asagi was saying as they chose a spot under a beach umbrella and spread their towels. "I was wondering if it would be considered masturbation or incest if two clones had sex."

Torako sat down on her towel "Why would you wonder about that?"

Asagi shrugged and sat down beside her. "I was bored. Anyway she said it would be like if two identical twins did it, since identical twins come from the same egg so they're basically clones of each other anyway."

Makes sense, Torako thought, though her grasp of genetics was admittedly slippery at best. They'd never really covered that in school. I suppose they're genetically identical if they both come from the same set of DNA. "I'm sure there's a better way to learn that piece of trivia." She said as she dug through Asagi's bag for the sunblock.

"So then I was wondering if two identical twins had sex, would that count as incest or masturbation?"

Torako glanced around to make sure there was nobody close enough to overhear their conversation, then saw that Asagi was looking at her. "What?"

"Well what do you think?"

"About what?" She had a pretty good idea, but thought it better to feign ignorance in this case.

"Incest or masturbation?"

"I can't see that question ever coming up in my life."

"Really?" Asagi asked with a leer.

Torako looked at her for a moment before the gears clicked and she leaned away with a look of disgust. "Oh you are sick!"

Asagi began laughing. "Took you long enough." She waved her hand. "Don't worry, I'm just messin' with ya."

"Tomo and I aren't identical twins anyway, so that wouldn't apply whatever you decide it is."

Asagi reached over and took the sunblock from Torako. "Lay down, I'll do your back." As she squirted lotion onto her palm she added, "Try not to enjoy it too much, ya pervert."

Torako just rolled her eyes as she felt Asagi's hands on her back.

"So you're two-egg twins, huh . . ."

"Have you looked at us?"

"So it would just be plain old incest if you two got it on, then? Well that's pretty kinky too."

Torako raised herself on her elbows and looked back at her. "Seriously, you're really starting to weird me out here."

Asagi laughed. "Sorry."

Torako rested her chin on her folded arms and stared ahead as Asagi rubbed the lotion into her skin. She was pretty sure she was sufficiently lotioned up by now, but she didn't feel like saying anything just yet.

"So does she know about us yet?" Asagi asked as she paused to pull her hair back into a ponytail.

"I'm kind of afraid to tell her," Torako admitted. "I don't really know how she'd take it."

"Afraid she wouldn't approve?"

Torako shook her head. "More like jealous. When I got that first note and started hanging out with you she got all weird and clingy for a while."

Asagi cooed. "Aww, that's adorable, she doesn't want me to steal you away from her."

Torako made an irritated sound. "Yeah, anyway, if she took it bad I could definitely see her trying to punish me or sabotage us."

"Yeah, that wouldn't be good," Asagi said as she sat back. "Okay, my turn."

Torako got up and squeezed some sunblock onto her palm. She looked down at Asagi's back and hesitated a moment. Oh calm down, it's no different from when you put lotion on Tomo. She put her hands on Asagi and started rubbing. That's a lie and you know it, she thought to herself.

"Try not to enjoy it too much," Asagi said back at her.

So far they hadn't done much actual swimming. As Asagi had said when they were getting off the train, girls their age didn't go to the beach to swim so much as to show off the goods. Which apparently involved laying on their towels in the shade of the beach umbrella and listening to the little battery-powered radio Torako had brought.

"Isn't this nice?" Asagi asked, breaking a twenty-minute stretch of silence. "Nice and quiet."

Torako nodded, opened her eyes, and took a drag from her cigarette. "Peaceful," she said as she tapped the ashes into a hole scooped in the sand. The last time she'd come to the beach with Tomo she'd spent ten minutes getting a beach ball bounced off her head.

Asagi took a deep breath and let out a contented sigh as she folded her arms behind her head and brought her legs in halfway and crossed them. As she swung her foot in the air to the tune of the sickeningly upbeat pop song on the radio she closed her eyes and smiled. This was turning out to be a good day.

"Hey, look over there," she said.

Torako raised her head. "Hm?"

"Don't look, stupid!" Asagi said urgently.

She put her head back down. "But you said . . . !"

"Yeah, but you can't just look, it's too obvious," Asagi told her.

"I don't even know what I'm supposed to be looking at," Torako said.

"Two guys were checking us out just now."

"Okay." Torako feigned indifference, but she felt her pulse quicken a little.

"They went off somewhere though."

"Uh-huh."

"You can't fool me, you know," Asagi said. "You're excited you got checked out, don't deny it."

"Okay."

Asagi made a rude noise at her and turned over onto her stomach. Torako smiled a little and listened to a seagull fly overhead.

It was early in the evening when Torako finally walked in the door at her house.

"Get any phone numbers?" her mother asked from the living room.

"No," Torako answered back as she headed up the stairs.

She heard a That's too bad noise. "Well, there's still time for you."

Torako rolled her eyes and opened the door to her room. As soon as she'd shut it behind her it banged open again and Tomo stood in the doorway. "Torako!"

"You're too loud," she said as she set her bag down and stretched out on her bed.

"Torako!" Tomo repeated and stood over her. "Chiyo-chan has a beach house!"

Torako closed her eyes. "Who's Chiyo-chan again?"

Tomo smacked her on the face.

"Ow!" Torako sat up. "Hey, that hurt!"

Tomo looked at her with lowered eyelids. "You're supposed to be jealous."

Torako sighed. "Fine, I'm jealous."

Tomo grinned smugly. "And she invited me and Yomi there for a couple days and not you."

"That doesn't surprise me, seeing as we've never met."

Tomo smacked her again.

"Would you knock it off?" Torako yelled.

"Quit trying to be all grown up, dammit!" Tomo said angrily. "You're supposed to beg me to take you along."

"Who said I wanted to go anyway?"

Tomo smacked her a third time. "It's a beach house, woman!" she said before Torako yanked her shirt up over her head and shoved her out of the room. Tomo was falling backwards onto the floor in the hall when she closed the door and locked it. Damn she's loud, she thought as she sprawled out on her bed and listened to the crickets outside. A couple days at a beach house did sound like it could be fun, but she didn't want to impose. And besides, it would be a couple days at a beach house with Tomo. She could probably get the same effect by just flooding their yard and pretending it was the ocean.

Torako stretched her arms and yawned. She heard Kuro whine at her door, but she didn't like having him in her room very much. It became a moot point when she heard Tomo's door open and Kuro went trotting over there. More her dog than mine anyway, she thought as she yawned. She was just closing her eyes when their mother called up that it was time for dinner.