This chapter is much shorter than my original plan intended it to be (bout five thousand instead of an intended six thousand), for complicated reasons. At its most basic, I originally planned to have a lot more for this chapter, but decided it didn't make sense here and would work better later. They delay has mostly been me trying to work the bloody thing in before I finally decided to just cut it. Happily its still written and saved so that'll shave off time from the chapter it does eventually appear in.
It was difficult for Natsumi to think up a good excuse not to go into the changing rooms with him, but she eventually settled on claiming she'd forgotten her favourite soap before taking a very slow paced trip back to her room. Hopefully by the time she got back he would have already left for the other room, leaving her to undress in privacy.
Of course, there had always been the option of telling him that she was uncomfortable, but the idea of doing that just made her feel like a childish under-confident little girl.
She didn't even bother entering their dorm room, instead just standing outside awkwardly as she counted to two hundred, before starting back again. An empty changing area was her reward when she got back and it wasn't long before the redhead was peeling off the horrible sweat soaked clothes she'd been wearing all day. She was glad that she had at least had the foresight to bring a dressing gown so she didn't have to dress in the same dirty clothes she had come in.
Out of the corner of her eye Natsumi saw that Kotaro's own things had just been thrown randomly around the room. Pausing midway through disrobing - wearing panties but little else - she picked them up and was looking for somewhere to place them when she stopped to examine them.
His own shirt was drenched in sweat just like hers was, he had probably used it to wipe the stuff off of himself after he had undressed, but it was surprising to her the difference between it and her own shirt.
Technically they were both just smelly damp cotton. Yet looking at her own top she felt disgust, glad to be rid of it and recoiling at the memory at the short time she'd spent being hot and sticky inside of it. Looking at his in her hands she felt none of that.
It should have smelt terrible. Instead she couldn't say she minded his scent, not now on his clothes and certainly not when she had been standing near him in the park. Recalling the time Chizuru had joked about her smelling his shirts Natsumi decided not to read into the reasons why the smell of his sweat didn't seem to bother her and just continued undressing.
Picking up her bathing things from its basket the petite girl wrapped herself in the longest towel she had to hand – covering her body from neck to knee. For her at least nudity around other girls was bad enough, let alone letting a boy see her. Really she only ever felt comfortable around other people with her body shape - like Ako, Yue, Nodoka, the twins etc. Even though Chizuru had seen her naked plenty of times, just being around her when unclothed usually made the redhead feel at the very least mildly uncomfortable. Her best friend was supposed to be about the same age as her - she was a few months older - but compared to her Natsumi felt like nothing more than a little kid standing next to an adult.
After all, who would be interested in a girl when there was a real woman at hand?
"Hey Natsumi-chan, I got us some seats and water already." Kotaro turned and greeted her as she walked through into the baths, giving her a wide smile. Immediately Natsumi was thankful he was sitting down facing away from her. Unlike her he had no problems with nudity in the slightest even if he was the only one naked - and certainly not in the baths where everyone was.
The shy teenager almost choked as she saw he had placed her stool and bucket right next to his, where she would need to wash, next to him. Without her towel on.
The thought came to her mind that at the same time neither would he – immediately her skin flushed in response.
Blushing so much that even the top of her chest was turning red the embarrassed girl sat down beside him, taking glances to her right to ensure he wasn't looking at her. Whether it was disinterest in women at his young age or chivalrous intent he didn't even look in her direction when she sat down. When he turned to speak, Natsumi noticed his eyes stayed firmly above her chest even though she hadn't even taken her towel off yet.
"We don't usually bathe together do we Natsumi-neechan?"
"N-No… usually its Chizuru-chan who drags you into the baths…" She replied in a voice that came dangerously close to being little more than a squeak, trying to shake her head free of the embarrassing blush. "A-Actually, you don't seem to mind it too much right now, why do you struggle with her?" She asked curiously.
"Course I like baths idiot," He answered her indignantly. "I just don't like it when Chizu-neechan wants to give them to me." Oh yeah… when Natsumi thought about it, any time she got to see Kotaro washing or soaking himself he seemed to be enjoying the relaxing time a great deal more than Negi seemed to. It was only when Chizuru dragged him off where he'd struggle - which would invariably fail because he was too worried about hurting her to use full strength to break her grasp.
That fact always made her smile, that Kotaro could be pushed into seemingly anything by her best friend just showed how good a person he was. Of course the redhead knew for a fact that if Kotaro wanted he could do whatever he liked with his vaguely maternal tormentor - snap her in half, hold her head underwater, do what he wanted to do with a leek to her for a change. That last bit had been the basis for a pretty strange dream of hers actually - a pretty disturbing and X-Rated dream. One that had woken her in a start and made her blush tomato-red for the next week whenever she saw Chizuru, Kotaro or one of the offending vegetables.
'Isn't that just the perfect picture of my mind though?' She asked herself in her head pathetically. 'I have a dream about a boy I um... like a little, doing… naughty things with someone - and the someone isn't me."
He was part demon, capable of punching through a tree like it was paper. Hell, in one of his training sessions she had once seen him head-butt a boulder and leave the surface shattered - and that wasn't even the limit of his strength. She wasn't totally familiar with his abilities, but he also had spells and strange magics and mysterious Youkai powers that she couldn't even dream about! Yet he let Chizuru pressure him into things, but was it just because he didn't want to hurt her in resisting? Because he just accepted she was the boss? No, that didn't sound right. Certainly there were power struggles there which she usually came out on top off, but he would never accept she was truly in charge. Then did he feel something for her?
Natsumi's eyes flew open and she almost choked on her own tongue. That was a definite possibility - she often saw him blush around her sometimes, something she rarely saw him doing otherwise. After all what sort of person would want their crush having a bath with them. Probably only a pervert.
Realization dawning on her, the freckled schoolgirl made an expression of utter mental defeat before bringing her palm to her forehead, sighing. Everything she was doing was wrong to the highest degree - but she had to know.
"Kota-kun, why is it you don't like Chizuru-neechan giving you baths?" Her entire body was tense now, waiting for his answer with bated breath. Throughout however she was careful to make sure she kept her own eyes up just as he had for her, wanting to at the very least return his courtesy.
He looked up from washing his tail and scratched his head, thankfully without turning too much of his nude body towards her.
"Well, y'know… she's always touching me." He answered awkwardly, and Natsumi noticed his own face had gone red. It took a while for the full force of what he had said to sink in, whereupon it hit her like a brick to the face. Confused and admittedly terrified at what he had just said the poor fifteen year old didn't know what to think. Of course she ended up recalling their baths together. Chizuru had always had a case of wandering hands to some extent… but Natsumi had always just brushed it off because they were both girls. Perhaps that wasn't just kept to close friends, but also to people she was meant to be looking after?
"W-Where does she touch you??" She managed to say – barely..
"Um... Everywhere I guess." Oblivious to her suspicions but still quite red Kotaro began untying his almost ever present ponytail - allowing his long black mane to spread out over his back. At any other moment Natsumi might have remarked to herself how cool he looked with such long hair like that, but now was not the time. "And then sometimes she wants me to touch her as well…" He continued. "I'm just not used to the stuff she does," He had stopped washing now, just sitting with his head in his hands and a frown on his face. "And its not like she's ever given me any time to adjust to it."
"Whaa???" Natsumi sat on her stool, still quite firmly wrapped up in her towel - her eyes twitching and her mouth open wide. She couldn't have gotten a more shocked expression if she had tried. What the hell was Chizuru doing to their guest?? Was this why she had wanted him to stay with them? To… grope him? Worse?? Oh sure, half the things the other girls tried to do to Negi probably counted as borderline molestation but that was different. In those cases Asuna was always there with him to help beat them off and besides which, none of those girls held anywhere near the same hold over Negi as Chizuru did over Kotaro.
He felt indebted to her, guilty about hurting her even once the slightest bit. That was a powerful thing to have if you were an abuser.
Ayaka always waited for Negi to bathe, and she herself always washed by herself before meeting up with her two other room-mates to soak – too embarrassed to be nude near them out of the water. Whatever happened in the time between her leaving and coming back she had no idea, and that was now scaring her.
"S-She touches you in the baths?"
"Yeah."
"And she makes you do it to her?"
Another yes was forthcoming, but this time Kotaro looked even more awkward. Almost ashamed – a look that made Natsumi's stomach turn.
"K-Kotaro-kun..." She stuttered, terrified to ask. "J-Just tell me, very carefully, exactly how Chizuru-neechan and you touch one another."
He saw the seriousness in her eyes, along with stress, as her eyes glued to his and wouldn't let go. She on the other hand found only embarrassment and confusion in his.
"Well sometimes we use a wash cloth, but most of the time she rubs on the soaps and stuff with her bare hands." He explained. "And then she wants me to do it to her!!"
Most guys would have killed to perform that task, he said it like it was the most horrifying thing in the world.
"You mean, she washes you?" Natsumi asked very - very - quietly.
"Well yeah." The Hanyou answered, beginning to suspect at some point down the line he'd made a terrible mistake. Because right now he was getting the darkest expression his friend had ever given him.
"And sometimes makes you wash her back?" The young girl continued in the same voice.
Kotaro nodded. "Are you alright Natsumi-chan?"
"No I am not alright!!!" Rare but fiery temper flaring the redhead struck him across the forehead with her fist.
Even if Kotaro had been a normal boy it wouldn't have hurt very much - Natsumi was too small and slim to put any power behind her strike – but being attacked so suddenly with his guard down surprised the Hanyou enough to unbalance him. As he fell backwards over his stool the dog boy yelped when his head met the hard stone floor with a loud crack.
Instantly she was upon him.
"Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!!" Natsumi shouted, straddling his stomach and pounding on his bare chest with her fists. "I thought my best friend was some sort of molesting weirdo pedophile!!" Quickly the half-breed found himself in a conundrum, wanting nothing more than to cradle his aching brain but needing both hands just to stop the rapid flurry of stinging hits he was getting – some of those hits were nail scratches and they smarted!
"Natsumi-chan! Get off of me!!" He looked up to see his friend biting her lip and glaring down at him in rage – a scarlet face from a mixture of humiliation and pure rage. Kotaro could have thrown her away from him in an instant, but if he had gotten such a bad hit to the brain just from falling over he didn't want to see what she could get from being thrown off by a demon. All in all, he was just thankful she hadn't actually begun washing yet - the towel still firmly wrapped firmly around her slim body doing a great job of protecting her decency.
After a few more punches, scratches and a fair share of slaps she calmed down enough to stop attacking him, sitting on his stomach with her arms folded across her chest and a furious pout on her expression. Never before had anger been so cute – that much he was forced to admit even if it was only in the back of his mind.
"What the hell was all that for?!?" He shouted angrily, noting she wasn't in a hurry to get up. She tried to hit him again but this time he caught her hand easily in his, followed by her second. Natsumi quickly found his grip was like iron, completely unmovable.
"You made me think Chizu-neechan was a pervert!!" The girl shouted back. "Turns out she just washes you!"
"That's your problem if you thought that! And I don't like her doing it!" Kotaro returned enraged.
"Why not?!" She was shouting even louder now, moving her hands trying to hit him again.
"She's always grabbing me or touching me when I don't expect it! I keep thinking I'm getting attacked in the bath!! Kinda like this! Now get off me!!" This time when he replied his voice was a growl. A literal growl, a feral angry sound forced into the vague shape of words that immediately made her back off.
For a second Natsumi felt legitimate fear – the shape of his face twisted into a snarl burnt into her mind in such a way that she knew she'd be reminded of it for many days to come – but as quickly as it came it was dismissed.
Instead she felt utterly ashamed at herself, to even think of being frightened of a boy she thought of almost like her own brother just because he was showing anger. Whom thought of her like family too, and whom she thought of in other ways too. Kotaro wouldn't hurt her over a stupid little squabble like this. Hell, he wouldn't hurt a defenceless girl over anything as far as she knew. It had taken partial amnesia, a mind-rotting fever and very likely mild hypothermia coupled with innate fear of his pursuers before he had attacked the only girl she knew him to have harmed – and even then he had only scratched her when she knew damn well he had the power to drive his arm right through her and out the other side. To add emphasis to that, Natsumi could see the guilt in his eyes every single time he looked at her when their mutual roommate wasn't paying attention.
Kotaro watched as the redhead pulled away from him and decided to let her go, staying silent as he watched her turn her back on him and sit down on her stool without another word.
"Kotaro-kun?" She asked after a few seconds, her voice subdued and free of the anger from moments ago.
"What?" He answered gruffly, already feeling guilt that he had used 'that' voice on her – just glad she didn't seem scared.
"Sorry..." She turned to him and answered, a look of shame on her face as she was barely able to meet his eyes. Sometimes Natsumi really wished her rare temper didn't get the better of her. "Did I hurt you?"
Kotaro didn't even think about mentioning the hit to the head, instead bursting out with a loud laugh. "Yeah right, as if a little weakling like you could hurt me Nee-chan." He chuckled – sitting cross-legged on the floor. "But apology accepted. Sorry for makin' ya angry too."
"Thanks Kota-kun." There was a moment of silence where she smiled at him pleasantly, and the only sounds that could be heard was the bubbling of the water in the background. "Do you always assume someone's attacking you if they touch you?" She asked suddenly, curiously.
"Not always, that'd just be stupid." He shrugged at her from the floor. "But sometimes when I'm not prepared. Its just an instinct like anything else."
"But why?" She asked with a look on his face that made his stomach turn – a look of pity. For a moment Kotaro considered telling her off for it, but decided against it. As demonstrated Natsumi had a lightning temper – she could be angry and even mildly violent in the blink of an eye – but it tended not to show unless she was really stressed over something and it disappeared in a flash. Him complaining would only make her feel worse about whatever had gotten her riled up.
He didn't think his instinct was anything to be pitied over. So what if he got jumpy when someone surprised him. It had been useful more times than awkward so far in his life.
"Well, before I came here the major reason to get in arm's reach of me was to gut me or something. Anyone'd get used to being jumpy after that." Slowly Kotaro lifted himself from where she had knocked him and it occurred to Natsumi for the first time that he had been naked when she was on top of him. That he was quite, quite naked right now. Her eyes suddenly locked above his neck so the worst she could see was some of that hard toned muscle in her periphery. Which was much better of course. "So when people jump up behind me in the bath, pin me to the floor and start attacking me with soap I get a little jumpy, ya know?" He laughed awkwardly, and she joined in.
"I'm sorry about Chizu-nee. She's too used to being around other girls I guess... maybe she thinks she's got the right to grab anything she likes..." Natsumi almost mumbled the end, looking utterly sheepish. "Speaking of washing... I haven't even started!" She laughed again just as nervously as before. 'Why am I laughing?? I'm just going to look stupid in front of him...' She lamented inside her head. She was just like one of those awkward girls on TV romances, who giggled too loud and lost control when good looking guys even glanced at them. Not that he was especially good looking of course. 'Yeah right... as if I believe that.'
"Well I'm pretty much done, so I'll go soak in the bath for a while. Join me when you're ready 'kay?"
"Alright, enjoy yourself." She smiled as he left, before covering her eyes frantically with her hands.
He had simply walked forwards without a care for his dress, giving her an eyeful of muscled buttock – and adorably cute tail - before she had reacted. Except...
Her fingers parted and she peeked between them, wide eyes above crimson cheeks and a dry mouth as he disappeared into the steam and the water.
'This is so wrong... I've seen him naked before anyway so why do I react like this now?' Of course, back then she had been embarrassed – he was the very very first boy she had ever seen without clothes, though she hadn't seen his front. But then, back then she hadn't had these feelings either. 'Damn... am I admitting them now? I guess I already did back with the other girls, even if he didn't hear me...'
Still, it almost relieved her to just be able to concede that yes, maybe she did have feelings for him.
'Maybe I should say it out loud?' To the redhead it felt like saying it in her head didn't really count, for it to be real she had to actually say it with her mouth instead. Only then would she be truly acknowledging it, admitting once and for all - to herself at the very least - that she had a crush on her roommate. On a boy who was years younger than her, though it was still not as bad as what the other girls seemed to have for their teacher.
Then again, at least Negi was human. Kotaro certainly was not.
Still she looked around her carefully, making sure no one was watching before opening her mouth to the tiniest degree and whispering so quiet a person would have had to have had their ears to her lips to hear her.
"I'm in love with Kotaro-kun..."
It left a rosy feeling in her mouth that spread across her body, but she dared not repeat her words. Instead the lovestruck young girl hummed as she went about washing herself, proud of what she had managed to do that day even if she wasn't entirely sure what she was going to be doing about it.
The young Hanyou sighed as he sank deep into the water, his back against a warm rock as the soothing liquid came right up to his chin – the complaints of his aching muscles dying away. After a little thought he had decided to go as far into the baths as he could, then make sure he was facing away from the entrance. Even he wasn't completely dense after all, he had quickly found early on in his life that just because he had no problems being naked in front of people it didn't mean everyone did.
Of course, in his case it was more or less pointless to have any shame about that sort of thing anyway. A combination of size-shifting transformations, high risk fights and general lack of funds had meant that most of his clothes in his old life had been almost constantly falling apart. Other times he would need to enter a dog or wolf form and obviously couldn't bring them with him, so either way he spent a lot of time naked.
Besides all that though he also just plain thought that any man should always be proud and dignified about himself - especially in the baths. Covering up was something girls did.
Though when he thought a bit it seemed not all girls did. Chizuru certainly didn't, not from him anyway, and Ayaka was always stripping around Negi. But Natsumi seemed be more timid than his other room-mates and frankly he preferred that. It was way, way less embarrassing. Not to mention that in the end... despite the other's having far more mature... features – and Kotaro had to shake his head to get rid of the images that was conjuring - her shyness made her seem much more feminine than they did.
'Actually, something's been different about Natsumi-neechan recently. I can definitely smell it...' Unfortunately for him – but much much more fortunately for Natsumi herself - whilst Kotaro was perfectly capable of smelling the subtle changed in pheromones that all creatures gave off he was still having trouble matching up the right ones to the right situations. Some of them were easy, if you smelt a similar smell every time you were threatening someone it didn't take a genius to figure out that smell was for fear. It was the same with anger, and he was pretty sure he'd also gotten down one for happiness and maybe even disgust too. But beyond that he just hadn't been exposed to them enough to start matching the rest up.
But whatever that scent was, he liked it. He liked it a lot. The rest of them were just smells drifting there, no more important than anything else really. This one was interesting... and she'd only really started making it recently, over the past few weeks he'd have to guess. It was difficult to tell since girls insisted on wearing weird perfumes which messed up their aromas – though admittedly it did make it a damn sight easier when he had to track one of them for one reason or another.
Of course, that wasn't to say she smelled bad before – or now actually since her normal fragrance still lay just underneath the new one. Neither did Chizuru but when he'd told her this the mature looking girl had just giggled at him - so Kotaro had just guessed it probably wasn't a normal human thing to do and not mentioned it since.
'Just a good thing I'm not a stupid Human, or id never even have noticed it.' He pitied them really. To think, an entire sense that they more or less missed out on just because their noses were lame. 'Doesn't stop them from cooking good smelling stuff though. Or smelling good either I guess.'
Maybe he'd get to smell her more when this was done, when she was cooking the food maybe?
Ah... the thought of food made him drool. Usually Chizuru cooked, and that was good, but by no means were his other room-mates bad at it either. And Natsumi knew all his favourites off by heart.
Kotaro licked his lips and stretched out in the bath, letting out a long yawn as he crossed his arms behind his head. He wasn't always the most patient of people, but he was prepared to wait as long as Natsumi wanted right now – he could always wait patiently if a really good thing was going to be at the end.
Natsumi's a really great character in my opinion. I like how she just sits in the background and makes those cute little comments. Not to mention I'm always an adorer of the B-Type Tsundere. Also known as the DereDere. Sweet and cute as a button until she switches to that fiery temper for just a few glorious seconds. Just enough time to cause some damage and then regret it In a whirlwind of character developing awesomeness.
Anyway, the next chapter shouldn't take me as long to write at this one (which took me way longer than it should have) except bear in mind that ive also got an obligation to writing the sequel to my other fiction. And since that one got like 120 reviews in 6 chapters, I'm thinking I owe it to a lot of people to hurry up XD