This is a bit of a short chapter. I say this before I even write it because I know it. It was short enough to be part of chapter 3 or the unwritten 5, but the ideas presented here warrant a chapter by itself. In any case, I hope you enjoy.

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Pink Camellias
04 – Out of Body Experience
SethSolare

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"Will you actually be making dinner?" Keitaro asked Su. Since Shinobu was going out on her date, someone had to make food. Though Keitaro wanted to make dinner for the girls, Su insisted on doing this. She had been pleading since lunch and had even shown Keitaro the cookbook she was going to use.

"Yes!" Su exclaimed, following him into his room. Naru sat on the floor going through an old photo album. "I even learned stuff that Shinobu taught me!"

"Not everyone can eat that spicy stuff," Keitaro went on.

"Don't be such a wuss; it's not that spicy. And besides, I'm not even using my own ingredients," she said, folding her arms. She stood in the doorway hoping for him to cave in after an hour of persuading.

"You nearly burned my tongue off last time, Su," Naru said, looking up from the book. "It was like eating bananas and fire."

"You should eat more bananas, anyway. They're healthy for you. Both of you," she retorted matter-of-factly.

"Naru could always cook. Her crap may not look good, but at least it tas-OOF," Keitaro's words were immediately halted by a gigantic album being thrown at his head. From the force of the blow he flipped over and fell to the floor with a loud thud.

"I didn't hear you complain last time I cooked for you, you unromantic dork," she yelled at him. Naru looked over at the pile of Keitaro on the floor and nodded as if she had completed a good deed.

"Can you get past your lovey-dovey crap and get back to how you guys are treating me like I'm still a middle school kid?" Su asked impatiently.

"Alright, well, if you promise to not attempt to kill us," Naru breathed in before continuing. "Then you can do it."

Su nodded in thanks to Naru and looked over at Keitaro who had started brushing himself off. "And thanks, Kei. Next time I'll know not to ask you." Su smiled appreciatively at Naru before walking off toward Shinobu's room.

From behind, she heard Naru speaking, "So my food's crap, huh?" And then she heard a loud crashing sound from behind.

"They should just get married already." She had always hoped that she would see them get married. Though she perceived herself a very beautiful woman, as did many of the boys at school, she hadn't actually been on a date since the one time Keitaro took her out nearly two years ago.

Su loved to love everyone, though that part of her personality led some guys to think that she might have had a crush on them. But she, kind as she was, always wanted to help out in everyone's love life. "Shinobu wouldn't even be with Keisuke if I didn't push him to ask her," she thought to herself. "Though, Keisuke did like me first," she smiled to herself.

Su knocked on the door to Shinobu's room. She slid the door open to a half-naked Shinobu, running from the closet to the mirror and back again.

"This isn't your first date with him. You can look a little less perfect, you know," Su offered Shinobu a yellow t-shirt from the floor. On it was a green, anime frog. "And you need an excuse to wear this."

"It looks stupid," Shinobu said, head buried in the closet.

"Here," Su said, picking up some khaki pants from the floor.

"We should go out shopping since we have some free time, Su," Shinobu suggested after taking the clothes from Su. She began dressing herself, checking herself in the mirror.

"Yeah, that's fine." She tried to feign interest. "Can I borrow your cookbook?"

"Sure." Shinobu pointed with her head to the shelf containing the book. "So they're going to let you cook?"

"Naru did. Keitaro only agreed," she giggled her response.

Shinobu straightened out the shirt and pants and looked at herself in the mirror. She turned from side to side checking each aspect of her body. Without looking at Su, she asked, "What do you think?"

"You look okay," Su said plainly. She sighed and started for the door.

"Okay? What do you mean 'Okay'? And where are you going?"

She flipped around with a bored look on her face, "I mean you look like you're going on a casual date." She turned once more for the doorway. "And I'm going to the market. We don't have all the ingredients here. So, hopefully, you still won't be here in when I get back. It's almost four o'clock, too."

Shinobu glared at the parting figure, and then realized what she had said. "Four? No!" she screamed, darting to and from her closet once again.

- -

"So tell me," Haruka started, "how're things with the rest of the girls? I mean, my room looks nice. The teahouse looks nice. From the stairs, the dorm looks nice. And Keitaro is with Naru, so we know he's happy." The two sat on the floor of Haruka's old bedroom above the teahouse.

"Well, since you've been gone for a year, Shinobu's got a boyfriend. Motoko doesn't. Su doesn't. Mutsumi doesn't. And I don't," Kitsune answered with a straight face. "I assume that's what you really meant to ask."

Haruka laughed at the answer. "Well, have you thought about anyone in particular?"

Kitsune shook her head.

"Are you lying?" she persisted in a lower, slower tone.

"Of course," Kitsune responded. "And I think you know who it is then."

Haruka sighed. For the past few years, she had been corresponding with Kitsune more than the other girls. Phone calls and e-mails from Haruka were mainly directed to the current manager of the teahouse. However, most of these social calls were only about Kitsune, not the other girls. Otherwise, she asked about the health of the shop, paranoid for its safety.

"So does she know?" she asked.

"Well, remember when, like, way back when Keitaro left for America that one time?" Kitsune asked. "Like when I told you I kissed Motoko?"

Haruka nodded.

"It's like she's forgotten all about it." Kitsune's mind began to drift back to that moment. After being turned down by Keitaro, she felt this great need to be with someone, anyone at all. And the only person who even felt as lonely as she did was Motoko. And Kitsune, who had never actually kissed another girl, managed to get Motoko to let down her guard. Someone as conservative as Motoko had allowed another girl to kiss her. But, realizing what she was doing, she rejected Kitsune.

It was only a few hours later that Motoko had forgiven Kitsune for manipulating her loneliness to fill her own. In the end, Motoko had her first real kiss. She had an intimate experience with someone. But, Kitsune felt hurt even more. Her being rejected twice in just a few days caused her to feel a bit more withdrawn. And, until recently, she had been able to keep up her appearance of happiness.

Haruka tapped Kitsune on the shoulder, "You're not even listening to me, are you?" she asked. She had been talking for several minutes while Kitsune relived that kiss in her head.

Kitsune apologized. "Go on. I'm listening again."

"Well, as I was saying," Haruka gave a roll of her eyes before continuing, "she did kiss you. And, for all you know, she did enjoy it. I mean, she wasn't utterly repulsed by you, if that makes you feel better."

It didn't.

"And if you ask me, she'd make you very happy." Haruka smiled. She stood from her position and moved over to the window.

"She has a date, today," Kitsune spoke, quietly.

Haruka looked quizzically over at the other woman, "What do you mean? I thought you said she didn't have a boyfriend." She turned her head to the side, "But does she have a girlfriend?"

"No!" Kitsune exclaimed. "It was just some guy she met. Just some random guy that's in her cram school and he served her tea."

"What do you mean, 'served her tea'? Does he work here? Don't tell me you hired someone without asking me," Haruka gave a dismayed look on her face.

"No, she went to some other place."

"Well, okay. That's good."

Kitsune looked up with a curious expression. "Good?"
"Good that you didn't hire anyone." Haruka put on a satisfied look on her face before seeing a demoralized Kitsune. "Wow, you're pretty messed up over this, huh?"

"What gave you that idea?" Kitsune returned, sarcastically.

"You know," Haruka said, feeling uncomfortable, "I don't exactly know what to tell you. I mean, I've never dealt with this before. I mean, you know, a lesbian who loves a straight girl. Or at least bi girl who wants to be with a straight girl." She felt weird even figuring out Kitsune's situation. "I mean, it's not just that she may or may not like you, but it's like another layer."

"I'm not asking for your help, Haruka." Kitsune whispered. She looked exasperated. Tired. And she felt like her heart was already broken before she even started. "It can't really be fixed."

Haruka sat on her bed and looked out the window. She stared at the distant Hinata house and could feel Kitsune's sadness wash over her. "There's really nothing I can do, this time," she thought. "What a way to greet a friend."

The two sat in silence in the empty room.

- -

Su walked through the market searching for a good fish. The market was open-air and vendors would set up booths for their wares. Colored awnings and wooden displays for all sorts of things encroached on the loud, people-filled street. She went here with Shinobu and Motoko constantly, though it was mostly Shinobu who did any shopping.

She bounced along down the slim, crowded pathway, carrying with her a backpack with Shinobu's book and her already collected ingredients. The music from her MP3 player, which she built just three days ago, managed to get her completely sidetracked as she had totally forgotten to even look for fish. Content with the day in general, she moved along toward a flower stand. She stopped at the stand and looked at all the beautiful flowers.

"Hey, Su. How're you?" a voice next to her asked. Su turned to her right and removed one of her earphones. She smiled at the person and bowed.

"Good afternoon, Keisuke. Buying flowers for dear old Shinobu?" she teased.

Keisuke brushed back his brown hair, using his hand to cover up his blushing. "Just like her," Su thought.

"We're going out, today," he said.

"I know. I live with her," she gave her straightforward response.

"Didn't think I'd see you here at all."

Su turned away from him and grabbed two roses from the tables. Each one had a small vial of water at its stem. At the top, the bright red petals had water droplets reflecting light into both Su's and Keisuke's eyes. Su paid the vendor and handed them to Keisuke.

"Don't spoil her too much. And don't tell her I paid for these," she smiled a wide smile at him.

"You're so cute, Su," he said, smiling back.

"Aww, thanks! Girls like to hear that kind of stuff," she, too, began to blush a little bit. "Anyway, Shinobu'll probably see you really soon, so I better get on going."

Keisuke looked at her for a second, seemingly gathering his thoughts. Then, he exhaled and said, "Do you think we would've made a great couple?"

Su's smile instantly changed at the question. True, three months ago, Keisuke was head-over-heels in love with Su. But, instead of her, Su passed on Keisuke to Shinobu, who she thought was far more compatible with him. He wasn't anything she'd really go for, and Shinobu was far more deserving girl than she was.

Su, however happy and friendly as she was, suddenly felt very uncomfortable. "I-I don't know," she said, trying to be kind to his ego.

"I think we would have," he responded.

"Well, that's all in the past, right? I mean, Shinobu's definitely the better girl," Su said, trying to evade what could be a huge problem. Her mind searched quickly for a good excuse to leave, but none came.

"She's nice, yeah. She's a great girl," he said. He handed her one of the roses she had given him. "But, you know." He didn't continue.

"Yeah," she whispered, her words almost inaudible in the crowd. "Anyway, the girls are expecting me home at any minute now. And Shinobu is really looking forward to this date. And if you don't get going now, you're going to be late." Her words streamed out of her mouth as fast as she could get them out.

His mouth moved as if he were going to say more but she had already bowed to him. He smiled at her again before bowing and turning away from her. Her previously happy, sunny expression had turned into a worried look.

"I hope she doesn't invite him over tonight," she thought. And she headed back to the Hinata House, picking up a random fish along the way.

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As I said, really short chapter. Well, short to me. I barely passes as 3 and a half pages in Word. In any case, I feel I need to explain the name of the chapter. Most of the situations in this chapter are pretty abnormal for each of the characters. Shinobu getting ready for a date. Kitsune talking about her desire for a relationship. Su and her deal with her friend's boyfriend. Hence, the name of the chapter.

Anyway, there's a lot to write. But, chapter 5 will be coming soon.

SS