Hey guys! I've been…well, busy since August, but my schedule is a bit more lax now, and I've been writing a YuruYuri fic, so I'm going to try and continue with this fic!
To address the concerns of a particular reviewer, if you're still reading, I just want to let you know that if another love interest does enter to catalyze things between Noriko and Shimako, it will NOT be because Noriko is trying to make Shimako jealous. I cannot stress that enough—that would be horribly one-sided, among other things. I may use it as a plot device, but not as a character's personal plan. I apologize if this wasn't made clear earlier—any of Noriko's thoughts to the contrary were honestly just me remembering my being her age a few years ago. She would never actually do it, but that won't stop her from wishful thinking, right? We all like to think the person we like wouldn't want us dating somebody else. I won't write off any Touko/Sei scheming, though, just to make things interesting. Don't worry though, I don't do bad endings, and I do plan this to be romance/humor! If that still bothers you, you are of course welcome to stop reading—I just wanted to clear that up, as I thought your wording was perhaps just a little harsh. My pieces don't tend to be super serious or the kind that just ease into peaceful romance, just because I don't find that interesting. I sincerely apologize if anyone has a problem with that, and again, do feel free not to continue reading! To the readers who don't mind, or like the way my stories flow as they are, I hope you enjoy!
ANYWAY, I apologize for the LONG wait, and for those of you who are still reading, thank you so much for sticking with me!
If I Tell You I Love You
Chapter Two: Too Early for Talk
"So…do you have any idea where we're going?"
Touko huffed moodily. "As if," she replied sharply. Noriko only raised her eyebrows in response—somebody clearly was not a morning person. Although, in her defense, Noriko herself, who was generally quite patient when dealing with Touko (by comparison with other people), was about one huff away from strangling the drill-haired girl. Really, nobody in their right mind would be up at five in the morning, waiting on the steps of the Rose Mansion of their own free will.
Which probably explained why it had been Sei who suggested it.
"The sooner we get there, the sooner the fun can begin!" she'd cried with a…questionable glint in her eyes.
"Sei-sama didn't tell anybody—I think Youko-sama is the only one who knows, and even then I'm not sure if she was told or if she…coerced Sei-sama," Touko continued. "I think she wants to give Sachiko-oneesama an aneurism." She shrugged, as if the comment was self-explanatory. Noriko did understand the gesture, as it happened—if Sei kept springing things on them like this the entire trip, turning unhealthy shades of purple was going to be the least of the rather faint-hearted Sachiko's troubles. "Anyway," Touko said, her tone lifting somewhat, "what about your plan? Operation Jealousy or whatever?"
Noriko flushed bright red. "As if I'd actually do that," she stated hotly. "If I do end up dating someone, it's just to get over onee-sama." She sighed, and Touko's snarky response died in her throat.
"You really want to get over her? You don't even want to try?" she asked. "That doesn't sound like you, Noriko-san."
Noriko rolled her eyes. "Perceptive, aren't you?" she remarked. "But I guess you're right—it's just that I'm so straight-forward with everything else because I'm never really worried about what people will think, or what I've got to lose. If I approach this like that…well, you can imagine."
Touko sat back, thinking it over. She could understand why Noriko was hesitant, but it bothered her to see her usually blunt, cheerful friend so willing to give up on something that could potentially make her so happy. She'd never admit it, of course, but still…
There wasn't much time to dwell on that thought, however, as the echoes of familiar voices cut their conversation short. Moments later, the three boutons, along with a haggard-looking Rei, who was being dragged along by the overly enthusiastic Yoshino, appeared from the walkway hidden by a group of trees. Noriko flushed as Shimako smiled brightly in her direction and settled right next to her on the steps without hesitation. On her left, Touko scoffed loudly and, still smiling at her onee-sama, Noriko elbowed her in the side. Hard.
The drill-haired girl's muttering was interrupted by a somewhat…drunk-looking Yumi, who plopped down beside her without the slightest modicum of grace, prompting a mandatory eye-roll from Touko. "It's so early…" Yumi all but whined, her head falling heavily against Touko's shoulder, eliciting a fluorescent blush from the latter.
"Geez, sometimes I wonder who the onee-sama is in this relationship," she muttered. Yumi giggled in response, and Touko couldn't have stopped the hand that rose to comb through those chestnut locks if she'd wanted to. Wait…chestnut locks? Blinking, Touko's head whipped around to really take in her onee-sama, and for a moment, she actually lost the ability to breathe. It was like she'd gone from a warm house directly into a cold wind right in her face—the sight that greeted her literally knocked the wind right out of her lungs.
For whatever reason, Yumi had decided to wear her hair down that day, with just a little bit clipped in the back. The difference was jarring in more ways than one—while Touko was always attracted to Yumi in some degree, it was usually her personality and her cuteness that the drill-haired tsundere noticed. Now, with her hair down, in her casual clothes, Touko was struck by how very different the effect was. If Yumi in pigtails was cute, Yumi with her hair down was just…incredibly beautiful.
Feeling as though there was a rock lodged in her throat that would magically leave only if she touched her lips to those chesnut locks, Touko forced herself to look away, although she didn't so much look away as she did jerk her head as far in Noriko's direction as she possibly could. Where she found the aforementioned watching her with straining lips, as if she were trying very, very hard not to laugh. Touko shot her a lead-melting glare that would, under normal circumstances, have alerted the girl that this was no laughing matter—however, it seemed the look didn't carry quite the same weight when she was fire-engine red.
Noriko snorted, instantly bringing her hand to her mouth as she found herself unable to contain her laughter at Touko's predicament. Touko was just about to open her mouth and, very likely, completely blow her cover, when Shimako, having felt more than heard Noriko's snort, glanced in their direction. Instantly reading the situation because…well, because she was Shimako…she smiled gently at Touko at the same time as her left hand firmly grabbed Noriko's side, fingers giving the girl the slightest of pinches right at the waist. Noriko yelped, instantly shooting her onee-sama a look that was alarmingly reminiscent of a kicked puppy. Shimako, in turn, tugged Noriko to her side at the same time as she ducked her own head, pressing a firm kiss to the latter's hair in apology.
Which, of course, was enough to make Noriko forget that she ever knew a girl named Touko, let alone how entertaining it was to enjoy her embarrassment.
Sighing internally, Touko chanced another glance at Yumi and, realizing that her onee-sama was well on her way to falling asleep against her shoulder, leaned back against the steps, allowing her arm to fall from Yumi's hair down to her waist.
This paradise lasted for a good long ten seconds before more voices began to echo from the walkway, and Sachiko arrived, along with Suguru, with whom she was murmuring in hushed tones. The second the lapis lazuli of her eyes met with the sight of her Yumi all but cuddled up to her cousin (who was sporting an awkward expression that was something of a cross between infuriating smugness and hesitant defiance), it froze over like the arctic.
"Yumi."
As if someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over her head, Yumi jerked awake, only to find herself staring directly into the cold glare of her onee-sama. The look alone was enough to nearly paralyze Yumi—otherwise, she might have noticed that Touko's grip around her had tightened. "Oh…good day, onee-sama!" she offered bravely, with a dazzling smile that Touko really didn't think Sachiko deserved at the moment.
Sachiko's eyes narrowed. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked, her tone icy. "Falling asleep in public is bad enough…but falling asleep against your petite soeur—"
"And what's wrong with that, Sachiko-oneesama?"
Sachiko twitched at the obvious defiance in Touko's voice. She was falling back into the routine she'd taken up when she first began attending Lillian and had clung to Sachiko herself. This time, though, was different—this time, she was deliberately trying to spite Sachiko, if the inflection of her voice was anything to go by. "It is completely unladylike," Sachiko responded sharply.
"G-gomenasai, onee—"
"That aside, though," Touko volleyed back, still refusing to let Yumi go. "What's wrong with her leaning against me, really?" The others watched with wide eyes—Touko was walking a fine line, even as Sachiko's relative. The latter's lips were thin, her eyes narrowed dangerously, and the onlookers could tell she was on the verge of hysterics. "I mean, surely you've leaned against onee-sama before, right? Just because I'm the petite soeur doesn't mean that I can't care for her once in a while—she certainly wears herself thin caring for you."
"Um, Touko-chan, it's really okay…"
"How dare you speak to me like that?" Sachiko replied hotly, ignoring Yumi's soft-spoken protest. "Just because you are my cousin does not give you the right to speak to an upperclassman like that. Besides that, what happens between myself and Yumi is none of your business—"
"Yo, yo!"
Yumi, along with the majority of the other girls, let out a huge sigh of relief as Sei, Youko and, to everybody's shock, Eriko rounded the corner. "Aww, it looks like we missed something fun!" Sei continued as she strolled over to the group, easily pulling Yumi to her feet and into a giant hug, to which Yumi almost forgot to react with the relief coursing through her veins. She wasn't sure what was going on between her two soeurs—she understood why Sachiko had been upset with her to begin with, but she was totally lost as to why Touko had so obviously started a fight. "Oh, or not!"
Now both girls had redirected their anger at the other toward the girl currently standing between them and the girl they'd just been not-so-subtly fighting over. Sachiko's icy glare was to be expected—what Sei hadn't expected (and was overjoyed to discover) was the absolutely incensed glare she was receiving from Touko. The girl might as well have been on fire—her eyes were just about sparking, and her hands were clenched so tightly into fists that she would later discover crescent-shaped scratches on her palms. And on top of that, Touko, completing the fire-and-ice comparison between herself and Sachiko, was not about to keep quiet or make subtle remarks like her cousin.
"Let go of her, Sei-sama," she snapped.
"Touko!" Yumi instantly chastised, though her tone was more shocked than angry.
"Ah, let her speak, Yumi-chaa~n," Sei sang, thoroughly entertained.
Touko's nostrils flared, and Sachiko stared warily at her cousin. Touko was not nearly as schooled as Sachiko when it came to hiding her anger (which was, let's be honest, saying something), and she could easily imagine this getting ugly. What she didn't expect, however, was for her drill-haired cousin to puff up for a confrontation only to deflate moments later without saying a word. She raised an eyebrow and studied Touko for a split-second—that was all it took to see the fire still sparking angrily in her now-averted eyes, and she instantly looked to Yumi, whose expression was a silent plea directed straight at the now all but docile Touko.
Sei seemed to notice at the exact moment that Sachiko had. "Well!" she declared, releasing Yumi, who immediately began looking to her soeurs, as if trying to decide who to go to first. Sighing internally, Sachiko massaged her temples and gestured to Touko—even if they were in competition, the younger girl was still her cousin, and she very obviously needed Yumi more than Sachiko did at the moment. As Yumi went to Touko, Sachiko directed her attention to Sei, who was watching it all play out like a box office hit. "This is interesting, I—ow! Ouch! Owchie, Youko-chaan~"
A thoroughly unamused Youko had grabbed Sei by her ear and yanked her back to her side. "As Sei is clearly not going to fill you all in, I'll do so," the former Rosa Chinesis huffed, before her expression changed from one of annoyance to her usual serene, if not a little bit smug, expression. "In honor of your impending graduation, the three of us have arranged a trip to Disneyland!"
The response was instantaneous—the girls, who'd previously been slightly tense from the whole ordeal, instantly began buzzing with excitement. Rei was having to hold Yoshino, who'd already set off in the direction of the gates, back with all her strength, while Yumi had leapt to her feet and given Youko an enthusiastic hug, which the latter gladly returned, eyes twinkling with mischief as she raised an eyebrow at her petite soeur. Sachiko only shook her head, a smile teasing her lips, while Touko was trying valiantly to keep the pout on her face.
Shimako smiled serenely and then turned to Noriko, who'd actually managed to fall asleep during the whole ordeal, whispering something into her ear and causing Noriko to sit straight up—it was only thanks to Shimako's quick reflexes that she didn't get head-butted in the chin. "Really?" she asked, though the flush on her cheeks was decidedly not from excitement at the news.
"Of course, Noriko-chwaan~!" Sei crooned, throwing herself at the half-conscious girl and gathering her in a bear hug, having been deprived of her precious Yumi-time. Shimako, who'd been taken aback by her onee-sama's sudden movement, had leaned back just in time to avoid getting bulldozed by the blonde, and was now watching the two with an unreadable expression, lips pulled into something that almost looked like a pout.
Touko watched, amused, as Noriko complained half-heartedly from Sei's arms—too bad the girl was half-asleep, because she was almost sure that Shimako hadn't appreciated having her sleepy soeur stolen right out of her arms.
Standing back with Youko (whose arms were now Yumi-free, to the relief of the two Chinesis cousins) and Suguru, who had, apparently, just come along to watch it all pan out, Eriko watched the different interactions with a faint smile playing at the corner of her lips, her left arm supporting her right as she laid her cheek in her right hand thoughtfully. "This will be fun," she murmured, eyes twinkling with mischief.
I'm sorry if it's off D: I got a bit rushed toward the end because I'm not great at writing everyone at once—usually I stick to one pairing and a background pairing per chapter, which I'll be doing from now on. I just had to write the actual scene…anyway, I hope you guys like it—this chapter with Touko and Sachiko should give you a flavor of how far I'm willing to go with actual fighting. There will be little to none of it, I promise—I hate writing actual drama, and I'm not very good at it either (obviously :P)
For the record, I have no clue where in Japan Disneyland is, so I'm not going to be real detail-focused on that bit. I just figured there's a lot of opportunity for stuff to happen there with everyone, and I'm just kind of going to avoid the cost issue because let's face it, this is already completely unrealistic, and that would just make the hole in logic bigger :P Anyway, just enjoy it for what it is xD
Anyway, please leave a review if you liked it!