I think that this one is my favorite to write so far ;P Do not own Soul Calibur Characters.
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Chapter 5: Awkward Situations (Thoughts jump between the two)
Taki awoke before Sophitia did, being not exactly sure of whether to wake the blonde-haired girl or not. Whenever she woke up early, she didn't like to lie in bed because it would start to bore her, so she stood up and tried to decide what to do until the blonde woke up. 'Might as well grab my Mekki-Maru while I'm waiting.'
She left to one of the temple's hidden rooms and pulled her long since used medium-sized sword Mekki-Maru out of a slab of stone. It was normally kept there to weaken the demon's strength and abilities if they ever came near the temple. The Sword of Light wards them off, which makes it a little more useful.
Sheathing Mekki-Maru and placing it behind her back along with Rekki-Maru, she then after walked back to the main room, noticing that the foreigner with twisting around in her futon and grumbling to herself.
'Oh, I've never went so far out like that. That must've been the deepest I've ever slept.' Sophitia raised herself from the futon as she brushed her bangs out of her eyes. She looked over to Taki's futon to find it vacant. 'Huh? Where's Taki?'
"Who're you looking for?" Taki asked playfully. 'Where the hell did that come from?'
Sophitia whipped around to find Taki on the first level, who held a small smirk. Sophitia smiled back.
"Ready to go yet?" Taki asked as she walked closer to Sophitia.
"Whenever you are." Sophitia stood herself up and walked down the steps. "We're still going to that lake right?"
"Actually it's a hot spring, and yeah, we're still going." Taki nodded slightly. The two walked out of the old shrine and headed for the hot spring through the woods.
The two stayed silent for a small while until the silence became awkward, which came quickly. Sophitia just eyed the sunlight as it hit the ground in different spots, the leaves shadows waving about in the very soft breeze. It was amazing how tranquil the forest looked in the morning despite the fact that demons still hid themselves within it.
"Erm, what is a hot spring exactly?" Sophitia asked nervously. 'I'm sure to her that's a stupid question with an obvious answer.'
Taki looked at her; Sophitia could tell she was right for the most part by the expression Taki held.
'She's a foreigner, so I guess that's understandable to not know what a hot spring is.' Taki thought to herself before she answered. "Um, think of it as a public bath like your Romans had, only it's outdoors. It's natural mineral water. You'll see what I mean when we get there." Taki explained simply.
After half-an-hour of walking through the woods, Taki finally relieved Sophitia by saying that they made it to the hot spring.
"It's just like you said, an outdoor bath." Sophitia stared in amazement. "We have nothing like this in Greece."
"Yeah, I come here once and a while when I really feel like it, or when I just want to think. It's very relaxing when you-... oh Kami, what are you doing!" The ninja had noticed in the corner of her eye that this warrior of the gods right next to her had started stripping herself of her armor and clothes. She was about halfway through getting all of her clothes off when Taki asked her what she was doing. Sophitia looked at Taki's face of both stunned and nervous surprise and nearly burst into laughter.
"I haven't bathed myself properly in days, I've never been given the chance. I was a little nervous, but now that somebody's with me, if feel much safer." Sophitia stopped stripping herself as she spoke. 'Why did you think I asked if there was a body of water around here for? To polish my armor?' Sophitia thought to herself as she raised an eyebrow. "Want to join me?" Sophitia asked as if it was a respectable question.
Taki, however, pulled back with an expression of extreme surprise at Sophitia's question. "Erm-I-uh..." The ninja stuttered. "I've never... ever... bathed... with somebody else before." Taki admitted as she turned around so that her back faced Sophitia and that her blush wouldn't deepen the more that she watched her strip herself.
"Well, there's a first time for everything you know." Sophitia stated with a rather cute smile as if she was amused with this demon hunter's timid self. She dipped herself into the hot spring's clear water, letting out a slight groan at the feeling of the warm water soothing her spine and higher. "Are you sure you don't want to join me?" Sophitia spoke in a voice that would lure anyone in.
"I...I know I'd feel uncomfortable. So I'm sorry..." Taki remembered watching the contours of Sophitia's shadow as she had stripped herself and the image of the contours of Sophitia's slender and extremely attractive body. "Sooo sorry..." She cursed herself for the large exhale, deep voice and more emphasis that her 'Sooo' held. 'Ugh! I'm sure that she's going to use that against me now.' Taki sat herself down on the ground, still turned away from Sophitia.
Sophitia sighed and let her head fall forward slightly, taking her eyes off of Taki for a few brief second before resting them on her again. 'She is stubborn, isn't she?' Sophitia raised an eyebrow to herself. 'I won't make her come in if she really doesn't want to, but... somehow I get the feeling that she needs this interaction; she just looks so lonely over there by herself.' Sophitia's gaze softened as she stared at the likes-to-be-isolated woman in front of her. "Are you sure? You don't know what you're missing." Sophitia tried to lure Taki in again. To Taki, Sophitia was making progress, only very slowly.
"You're not going to stop nagging at me to come in, are you?" Taki asked as she looked over her shoulder slightly.
"What do you think?" Sophitia replied with a smirk. Taki began to like Sophitia's playful side.
"Oh alright!" Taki answered as if she was annoyed, when in fact she was nervous and excited at the same time. She reached for the openings of her body suit then stopped when she noticed that Sophitia was staring at her, waiting. Taki brought up her finger, pointing towards the ground and started making little circles with it. "Turn around."
Sophitia held an expression of confusion as she cocked her head to one side. "Why? I don't mind."
"Yes, but I do. I turned around for you, it's only fair." Taki leaned forward slightly as she spoke as if the explanation was obvious. Sophitia agreed, although a little reluctantly, with a nod and turned around, crossing her arms and laying them on the ground at the spring's edge and rested her chin on them. She looked about the woods as she heard shuffling sounds and small grunts from Taki's throat.
'Her body suit looks so tight, must be why she's grunting.' Sophitia thought to herself. It took a minute for Taki to get out of her body suit, Sophitia got the idea that she was finished because of the footsteps and something breaking into the water's calm state.
"Alright, you can turn back around now." Taki informed nervously. Sophitia turned and saw that Taki's hair was down and that her fair white skin really brought out her brown eyes.
"Oh, you look... very... pretty... when your hair is down." Sophitia stated, she didn't seem very embarrassed; she didn't look away at all, although her cheeks did fluster a bit. Taki blushed a bit as well.
'She must be the first person to complement me with such honesty in their voice.' Taki thought to herself, a small and unavoidable smile appeared on her face. "Thanks. You look even prettier when your hair isn't in a braid." Her blush turned into a darker shade of red, she never complemented anyone like that in her entire life.
Sophitia couldn't help but have a small smile appear on her face as she blushed. "I do that just so that if a fight should ever come my way, it'll keep my hair out of my face."
"Same with me." Taki nodded in understanding then slowly looked over to the side.
Silence took over the forest again besides the slow rustle of the leaves in the winds.
Taki actually decided to speak up this time. "So... have any siblings?" Her gaze slowly drifted back to Sophitia, knowing that that question was kind of an early one to ask.
"Yes, actually... one sister, Cassandra, and one brother, Lucius, both are younger than me."
"Are they both as mild-mannered as you?" Taki asked with a smirk, but slowly became nervous. 'I hope I didn't go too far by calling her 'mild-mannered'.' Taki didn't have to worry about that however. Sophitia just smirked in return.
"Lucius is, a little. Cassandra definitely isn't." Sophitia looked over to the side.
"How so?" Taki asked with lowered eyebrows of curiosity.
"Well..." She looked up with narrowed eyes as she tried to think of a good example. "She doesn't really believe in the gods as most of the other Grecians do. She's quite the troublemaker. Once she made a lot of noise in front of the temple of Harpocrates, who was our god of silence, and was scolded by one of the priests. When the priest left she turned back at him and yelled 'why don't you take a vow not to speak like you supposed to!? Drop it like the bad habit that it is!!!' and she started going on and on and... well, let me just say it didn't turn out pretty." She let out a sigh as she ran a hand down her face as if the memory still gave her the same feeling she got back then when the event happened. Taki couldn't help laughing at her story as well as Sophitia's face.
"Oh, I see." Taki's laughter settled down to a mere giggle.
"What about you? Have any siblings of your own?" Sophitia asked. Taki's giggling stopped abruptly and she looked down.
"Um, I have people that I consider as my brothers and sisters, although I don't see them that much." Taki stated in a low voice.
"They're demon hunters as well?"
"Yep. They enjoy it, all except the younger ones in the clan. They find it a waste of time and too bloody for their taste at least the girls do, the boys hardly pay attention at all."
"So, basically you spend all of your time alone huh? It must be very lonely for you." Sophitia spoke softly.
"....Sometimes." Taki spoke in just a low tone that it was almost a whisper. Sophitia cocked her head to one side and her expression looked like one of pity. She slowly walked over and sat herself next to the ninja, who watched her with nervous anticipation while trying to look away from Sophitia's top half of her body that came into view when she stood up.
"You don't have to let it continue like that you know... You have somebody else with you this time." Sophitia wrapped her arm around the ninja's and laid her hand on Taki's. Taki, who was unsure at first but wanted to reply to this gesture, slowly turned her hand so that she could grasp the foreigner's hand in her own, Sophitia entwined her fingers with the ninja's in response. Taki, within her bliss of comfort, let her head drop onto the Greek's shoulder and rested it there while Sophitia laid her head on the demon huntress'. Both felt more warmth than the hot spring itself could possibly give.
Neither of them wanted to move, so they just stayed there until they felt it was time to break from this unforgettable moment.
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How'dja like it? Check out my othe fanfic "Meeting of the Dirty Minded". It's dirtier that this one and more humorous.
