Here it is, seven thousand words to make up for the delay. Please enjoy it.
Outside their dormitory the world had gone dark far faster than someone might have thought possible in summer, but it neatly explained why the day had been so hot and humid. Especially when heavy rain began hitting the windows hard enough to sound like pebbles instead of water.
'I guess it's typical our warmest weather would just be because of a summer storm.' Natsumi thought to herself feeling worried. The actress could only hope it didn't turn out to be a thunderstorm. Hearing those creepy booming sounds far above her was a sure-fire way to make sure she wouldn't get to sleep, plus she hated the idea that she couldn't leave the building. Mostly because just the thought of going outside during a thunderstorm was close to top on her list of most terrifying things in the world, right below big hairy spiders and heights.
Still, it wasn't long before she was pulled away from the window by the familiar prickling feeling on the back of her neck of someone watching her. She glanced around to confirm her suspicions and saw her room-mate looking in her direction unblinking.
"K-Kota-kun... stop staring at me like that." The girl told him quietly, a little embarrassed at herself.
"Like what?"
"Like you're so impatient you're just going to go ahead and eat me!" She giggled at him as she turned back to the pan she was stirring, feeling pleased with herself over how well the meal was going – the storm almost forgotten with the knowledge of his company. Honestly, she loved preparing food almost as much as she loved to act. Cooking a delicious meal for her friends and loved ones with a cute pink apron tied around her and a smile on her face – it was fun and it made her feel girlish in a household of people whose bodies were straining to prove their gender. And of course, it helped that she was making a meal for her crush... and that it was obviously driving him nuts with the wait.
Kotaro was standing just a few feet behind her, not even leaning against anything like he usually did. He was just hovering around the area, staring at the food she was preparing with wide saucer eyes and a mouth that was freely drooling. The only thing stopping him from making a mess on the floor was the fact he licked his chops every minute or so, but if it kept up the redhead wouldn't be surprised if that failed as well. It looked like it was taking all his strength not to push her aside and go at his meal how it was – and that was something that put pride behind a chef.
"Its not my fault I'm like this, you can't smell it!" He whined, licking his lips for the umpteenth time. "It smells delicious~~"
Natsumi could have just burst right there with that compliment, or at least that's what she felt like. The butterfly feeling in her stomach that she had held pretty much 24/7 around him for the past few weeks rose every time he made even the slightest friendly comment to her, a flat out compliment made it explode.
Really, it did smell good – there was cooking meat, spices, oil and a dozen other things easily enough to make her salivate just like he was. "I can definitely smell it Kota-kun." Even now she felt her stomach rumbling – the unladylike noise thankfully covered up by the hiss of the oil in the pan. Not that she thought he'd really care about that sort of thing.
"What? Ya call that smelling?" He mocked. "Compared to me you might as well not have a nose."
"Well it's already done, so why don't you set the table instead of making fun of us mere humans." She asked with a raised eyebrow and a cheeky smile, half-tempted to hit him with the spoon if he kept making fun of her species.
"Fine fine, you're just jealous you ain't a Hanyou." He smirked as he did as she asked, with only two spaces today since Chizuru was still away and Ayaka was out. 'Probably chasing Negi around again, damn creepy woman. Ah well, means more of Natsumi-chan's food for me...'
"Like I'd want to be a dog-girl." Natsumi laughed as she began serving the food out, mouth pursed and eyes raised to the ceiling as she imagined a dog-eared version of herself sporting a tail. The image was more appealing than she had first thought it would be and she couldn't suppress a small smile at the idea. "I guess I'd look all cute though..." Not to mention the fact she'd be the same species as Kotaro. That would have had benefits.
Having finished adding the ingredients Natsumi stood by the stove occasionally stirring the pot, waiting for it to finish cooking as Kotaro moved in and out of the kitchen area with the right things for eating. The rain was still hitting the window harshly and she was glad she wasn't outside like some people would be right now. 'Come to think of it, where is Iincho? I haven't seen her all day and I even made extra for her...' The class president didn't usually stay out late after all. She always spoke about setting a good example for the other students.
"I'm done here," Kotaro shouted to her from the other part of the dorm having finished his task in record time.
"Alright Kota-kun, its almost ready..."
Natsumi tried to convince herself that him bringing the heavy food filled serving pan in was an act of chivalry, instead of just him not trusting her to bring the precious cargo a few feet to the table. It didn't really work, but she was still glad he had done it. She was feeling a little drained even now from all the things she had done today, and she was always sleepy on hot days regardless.
Nevertheless Natsumi was more hungry than she was tired and sat down for the meal eagerly. Opposite her Kotaro looked like he'd start eating his own arm if he couldn't get something soon. To his credit though, he waited for her to finish serving herself before he began. Admittedly the gentlemanly act was ruined somewhat when he buried his head into the dish, but she didn't really mind and eventually he switched to using cutlery like a normal person.
The red haired girl couldn't keep herself from smiling so hard her – now reddening – cheeks actually began to hurt. In the time it took for her to finish off half her own meal he'd already gone for seconds, complimenting her cooking with words on the rare times his mouth wasn't full, and with loud moans of pleasure when it was.
"Ugh... so full..." He announced after a while, leaning back in his chair and groaning as he placed a hand on his now sated stomach.
"Well you did ate three full portions." The red-head pointed out, standing up to clear her plate away. She'd leave it by the sink for now, there was no way she had the energy to do the dishes tonight.
"It was too good not to..." He replied as he got up to help her – still running his tongue around his mouth to capture the delicious excess sauce. "I can't remember the last time I had something that good."
"You really like my cooking don't you Kota-kun?" Natsumi asked looking pleased with herself since she already knew the answer. People often said that the way to a boys heart was through his stomach, and honestly Kotaro usually seemed simple enough that that would probably work for her.
"Course I do," He replied sounding almost insulted. "My tongue works."
That remark made her giggle at him. "I'm glad you enjoyed it." She told him. "But you seem a little tired." She pointed out as he yawned.
"I always get sleepy after a big meal."
"Me too... though I was already tired. I think its time to get ready for bed."
"Sure." He shrugged. He wasn't like Negi, who always tried to stay up as late as he could (as long as he wasn't teaching class the next day anyway). Kotaro just went to sleep when he was tired and woke up when he wasn't – something which often left him with weird sleeping patterns but at least made him adaptable. If he woke up in the middle of the night he just went off for a walk or to train, or occasionally changed into his wolf form and went hunting. "Is Ayaka-neechan not coming back tonight?"
"I don't know." She answered truthfully. "I haven't heard anything from her. I might try calling her in a bit." Natsumi thought aloud as she walked into the bathroom with her room-mate in tow. Happily for them, brushing his teeth properly wasn't something she or Chizuru had had to work hard on to get him to do. Apparently he had done it even when he lived by himself who could tell where (since he usually avoided questions about himself). It was just the matter of reminding him to use toothpaste on his brush, something that he seemingly had never bothered to use in the past and hadn't been used to.
Still, the actress had to give him credit for his teeth – they were amazing regardless. They weren't just immaculately white, as he stood next to her brushing away in front of the mirror she could get a good look at a mouth that belonged in something that killed large game animals. He had real canine teeth in his mouth too, not the tiny little points that Humans got but big sharp fangs that only Eva could possibly rival. And if their resident vampire could beat him on those then there was no way she'd beat him on the rest of his teeth because every one of those looked sharp too. One thing was for sure, if he bit someone they would know about it.
Her wide green eyes caught his predatory purple ones in the mirror and Natsumi looked away in a flash, turning red as she stared at the floor instead and finished cleaning her own less impressive mouth. Once they were both finished she said goodnight to him and they split up at the bathroom door, she going left towards her bedroom and him going right back into the rest of the apartment. Their dormitory had two bedrooms, one larger one that she shared with Chizuru, and another smaller one on the other side of the place which Ayaka slept in. Kotaro on the other hand slept in neither, despite them offering to get him a bed of some sort. Instead he had taken to sleeping on the couch with a blanket over himself and seemed perfectly happy doing it.
Natsumi entered her room and sighed when she saw Chizuru's empty bed. It was nice to get some time alone with Kotaro, but she did miss her best friend.
The redhead quickly closed the door and stripped down to her panties – not one to wear a bra to bed. Not one to really wear a bra much at all in fact. There wasn't much point to have them in the end, except to help her feel less pathetic when compared to her friends. Nevertheless she owned a few she liked – and of course there was that one that she really really liked, though that one was less for support and more for... other reasons. The very thought of buying it had made her go rosy red and she kept it at the very bottom of her drawers with the matching panties, but it was nice to know even she had something to help her look good.
'Its a good thing Yue-chan wears such adult underwear, or I would have never have thought of ordering them online like she does...'
The flushed girl quickly started putting on her normal nightclothes before she got any... ideas. They were just a pair of pink pyjamas, insanely childish in comparison to anything her other female room-mates wore.
The light outside her room was now off and Natsumi guessed Kotaro had already lay down on the couch for sleep. Her own fatigued body soon begged her to follow his example and she moved to her bed on one side of the small room, falling onto it with a happy sigh. Almost as good as her comfortable bed was her discovery that the sound of rain and wind outside wasn't even really unpleasant. Without the loud crashes of thunder to scare her it just made her feel cozy to be resting indoors instead of out there with the weather.
Smiling to herself at her luck, the petite redhead snuggled into her comforter and slowly tried to fall asleep.
The boom resounded around the house like a bomb had gone off far above them, echoing around the landscape for miles around and completely covering over Natsumi's squeal.
As the now very sore girl picked herself up from the bedroom floor she at least thanked the fact it had been so loud. If Kotaro had heard her she would have died from shame. She collected together the comforter that had followed her off the bed and lay back down, eyes now wide awake.
"I guess I should have expected it to start just when I was getting to sleep." She moaned to herself sadly. Her luck had always been terrible.
There was another rolling bang above her and Natsumi instantly tried to curl up in her comforter again, pressing the fabric against her ears in the hope of getting rid of the noise. It didn't work. The next one that came was just as loud as the first.
It wasn't just the loud noise that she didn't like. It was the randomness, the not knowing when one would go off that got her. She'd be lured into a false sense of security and then it would come again. It didn't help that right now all Natsumi could think about was the fact that their room was on the top floor of the dormitory – that and that she was pretty sure the television aerial was above their room too.
"I really wish I hadn't just thought of that." The redhead said to herself, now wondering what would happen if it was right above where she was supposed to be sleeping and lightning hit. "And I wish Chizu-nee was here."
Things weren't so bad with Chizuru around. Ayaka made fun of her for being such a baby but Chizuru never said anything if she thought she was genuinely afraid. And even when she wasn't awake it wasn't too bad, Natsumi felt a little better just having someone in the room with her. Except now she was basically alone except for Kotaro and it wasn't like she could ask him to come sleep in Chizuru's bed just to make her feel better.
Could she?
"If he laughs at me I'll hit him!" She huffed turning red as she got up and turned her light on. It took only one glance in the mirror to stop her as she caught a look at herself in the childish pyjama nightwear and the look of obvious fear on her face. 'Aw... I don't want him to see me like this... I'm already acting like a child by asking him.' The actress whined at herself in her head. To look at her now she was sure people would think she was about 8 years old or something
No one wanted their crush to think they were so... babyish. If she was going to admit to him she was afraid of a simple summer thunderstorm she certainly didn't want him seeing her in this.
Slowly a very naughty idea blossomed in the young girls head.
The bottom drawer of her dresser was pulled open and the other clothes thrown aside so she could get at it. Just looking at it was grounds to make her turn the same colour as her hair, but the little actress was determined to put it on regardless. She had been a coward earlier that day when she hadn't been able to bring herself to ask Kotaro her real question, what he thought of her. She had been a coward and failed completely. But if she wanted her crush to ever become anything more than a stupid fantasy then that had to change. This would be her first step.
The stupid childish nightwear was thrown aside and her panties stripped off. It took her a moment to gather the courage she needed, but it wasn't as hard as she had thought it would be. Without Chizuru or Ayaka around it was just Kotaro and her, and she wanted him to see.
A few minutes later Natsumi slipped out of her bedroom and found the light-switch, turning the dimmer up only the tiniest bit so as not to startle her room-mate with blinding light. She walked through the apartment quietly until she rounded the table they had been eating on just a short while ago and came to the small but cozy living area. There lying on the couch was their resident dog Hanyo – wearing the same jeans and t-shirt he had put on after the bath – fast asleep.
She stood over him shyly - twiddling her thumbs in nervousness - not entirely sure what to do next. She had really been expecting him to still be up like she was, but then he always seemed to get to sleep easily. When he didn't have something specific to do he'd just take a nap. It was probably the reason she had never ever seen him tired.
'I guess I should just nudge him or something.' She thought to herself. There wasn't really much else she could do to wake him, but it seemed so unsubtle now she thought clearly about it all. If she had just walked in with him around then it seemed more natural, waking him up to look at her was just obvious. She didn't want him thinking she had changed her usual sleeping clothes just so he could see her in her new things – admittedly that was exactly what she was doing but she didn't want him knowing that.
"Well well well, I wonder what's going on in here then?" The voice was filled to the brim with humour and camaraderie and good will. It was therefore immediately bowel-wrenchingly terrifying. It was the voice a hungry cat would use while offering to help a mouse from a trap, already full on aware no matter how the conversation goes things will go it's way.
Natsumi stood straight up in shock, every muscle tensed and her eyes wide. Instantly the blush that had been dusting her cheeks extended to her whole body as she felt her skin burn with heat. Very slowly she inched around to face the front door, where Ayaka stood with a wet umbrella and the widest smirk Natsumi had ever seen in her life plastered across her face. And when the owner of the smirk had a life that existed as a succession of wealth, compliments and faculty-enforced power play over the rest of the student body then you knew that was saying something.
The redhead wasn't sure whether to burst into tears or just run away. She would have done both but there was only enough brainpower for one, the rest was devoted to trying to think up any sort of excuse that could explain her standing over the sleeping Kotaro wearing less fabric than you'd need to make a handkerchief. Although it'd have to be a very lacy handkerchief.
"The brat asleep over there?" The taller girl asked as she put her umbrella down and took of her coat.
Natsumi nodded.
"Alright then." The smirk was replaced with a friendly smile, and yet somehow that was kind of worse. "Come with me..." Before the smaller girl could say anything Ayaka had her by the hand, pulling her into the more mature girls bedroom and closing the door behind them. Natsumi sat down on Ayaka's bed, feeling week in the knees already.
"So," Ayaka began with her back up against the door – making it abundantly clear to the small timid actress she wasn't going to be escaping any time soon. "All this and you call me a pervert?" She giggled. "When it turns out you're double the pervert I am."
Natsumi looked down at herself with tears in her eyes.
"No no no, not that Natsumi-chan." Ayaka said shaking her head. "You look fantastic, really." She smiled. "I didn't think you could look so sexy... I've got more competition in this house than just Chizuru." The words made the redhead smile even if they were embarrassing.
"Yue-san helped me find them..." She offered up, surprised – and a little bit suspicious – that Ayaka was trying to be benevolent. Or at least seemed to be."In a magazine."
"You'll have to lend me it." Ayaka said truthfully, not quite under her breath. Her innocent adorable little room-mate was suddenly seeming a lot more like a woman and less like the timid little girl she was used to teasing. "But what I was talking about is who you're wearing it for." She continued. "I guess I don't have to actually say this, but it's for Kotaro right?"
"..." Natsumi was silent, just looking down at the floor, her eyes hidden under a long red fringe and some concentrated shame.
"Should I take that as a yes then?" There was a nod this time. "Alright, so you've got a crush on him don't you?"
There was a long long pause.
"Yes..."
Any moment now Natsumi expected the teasing, the laughs and the insults to come thick and fast. Ayaka was not a mean girl for the most part, but she wasn't gentle and if you did something wrong then she would make sure you knew about it. In the little actress's mind, few things could be more wrong than the feelings she was having right now.
Instead of the scathing criticisms and the mocking though Natsumi felt the bed move as her classmate sat down on the bed beside her. The next thing she knew her mostly-nude body was pressed up against Ayaka's in a warm hug, her face pulled in at chest height.
Nestled into Ayaka's generous bosom two wide green eyes looked up at an understanding face completely clean of malice.
"I'm glad you admitted that Natsumi-chan." The other girl said after a while, releasing her from the hug feeling a lot better. "You've gotten braver haven't you?"
"I've been trying to... so I can admit it to him." She answered quietly, ashamed of herself. "I shouldn't like him though. He's still a kid. This just makes me a pervert like you said I was."
Ayaka laughed. It wasn't a cruel laugh, but it was still strange for her to hear it now. "Natsumi-chan you won't hear any complaints from me. Besides, you're only fifteen yourself. He isn't that much younger than us you know. Just a few years."
"He's still just a kid."
"Still, I think your little seduction would work on him if you wear this..."
"I wasn't trying to seduce him!" She fumed, cheeks glowing.
"Then what were you doing?" Ayaka smirked again.
"I was going to ask him if he wanted to sleep in Chizu-nee's bed. So I didn't have to be alone with the thunder..." She explained, feeling ashamed at herself for being afraid this time. But if Ayaka thought it was funny though she didn't say anything about it.
"Oh... someone has been clever." She smirked again. "So you're just gonna try and catch his eye like this and see how he reacts?"
"I guess so..." Natsumi didn't let on that that had been her plan exactly. Ayaka was terrible when she knew she was right about something that embarrassed you.
"But you know..." And now the taller girl's voice sounded a lot more mischievous. "Even that's not what I was talking about when I said you're a perve you know." She giggled.
Natsumi looked up at her in confusion and worry. What else had she done that was apparently even worse than liking someone so young. Or dressing up like... this.
"So? You don't realise?" Ayaka asked, holding back laughs. "Its really easy to get."
"What?" The redhead asked her almost frantically. The more mature girl grinned at her and leaned down to whisper in her ear.
"The thing is," She breathed the words out with a voice like honey. Even without seeing her wide grin it would have been clear to anyone that she was loving every single second that she could spend drawing this out. "I'm pretty sure most teenage girls don't dress up in super sexy lingerie for their younger brothers."
The moment she said it Natsumi could have screamed.
Instead she leapt back like her ear was burning and struck her head painfully on Ayaka's bedroom wall, ending up in the foetal position on the other girl's bed cradling her aching brain with tears in her eyes. Beside her Ayaka tried desperately but ultimately in vain to stop laughing as she checked her smaller classmate wasn't too badly harmed by her own awkwardness.
'I can't believe I forgot about that!' Natsumi thought to herself, biting her lip to stop herself shouting out. Further along the bed dainty pale legs kicked back and forth in what was probably a coping mechanism for either moderate pain or extreme embarrassment.
The stressed out girl had completely forgotten that they had told Ayaka that Kotaro was her little brother so that he could stay in their dorm. It was so long ago, and it only came up every so often anyway that she only really remembered when someone brought it up. Now it was coming back to bite her in the behind.
'Why did it take her this long to bring that up?' She shouted at herself in her own mind. Beside her Ayaka had leaned back to watch the show of her room-mate having something close to a meltdown. At least, that's what it looked like from her perspective.
"B-B-B-B-"
"Relax Natsumi." The blonde interrupted before she could even get the first word out. "He's not your brother is he?"
She shook her head violently - with wide eyes and red cheeks puffed out.
"We... just sorta found him one day." She tried to explain once she had calmed a bit. "And Chizu-nee took him back here... and we got too used to him and asked him to stay." The girl managed once she realised Ayaka didn't really think she was trying to commit incest.
"So you and Chizuru just told me that so you could keep some random kid in our room? Well, I can't say I wouldn't do the same if it was Negi-sensei..." Her voice trailed off as she slipped into fantasies for a second before shaking her head free of them and returning to reality. "But I'm surprised you know."
"W-Why?"
"Well everyone else seems to like Negi-sensei. Half the class seems to be in love with him sometimes." She sighed, knowing the amount of competition. "But you don't seem interested in him at all all the time he's here, and then this mystery boy shows up and you go for him instead? Why do you like him?"
It took Natsumi a second to get over the fact Ayaka had asked a question that wasn't completely perverted, and much more than a second to try and figure out the answer.
"Um... I'm not really sure..." She admitted. Of course, there were loads of things she liked about him. But a lot of that she couldn't even tell to Ayaka – one of the slowly falling number of people in their class who didn't have any idea about the magical world. "He's nice to me I guess. And he's cool and collected and strong." She said timidly.
"Strong? He's not even in his teens."
"That doesn't matter, he's still super strong. Don't you remember the fighting tournament at the school festival?"
"I couldn't see any of the earlier matches." She had only managed to turn up for Negi's last fight – though she was glad to have seen it.
"Well even though he didn't get as far in that, he usually beats Negi-sensei in fighting and he trained with Ku Fei-san!"
"How do you know?"
"Um... I watch them training sometimes..." She confessed. "He's really good!"
Ayaka made a mental note to ask Negi if he was hurting anywhere at all. "So what else do you like then?"
"I like how he's um..." It was hard for her to find the right word, but she was trying.
"Oh... I think I know." Ayaka laughed. "Little Natsumi likes bad boys doesn't she?"
It made her stutter and blush, but she nodded. That was a good name for what he was.
"I guess the brat kind of counts as one of those. In a few years he'll probably be wearing leather and riding a motorcycle." Ayaka half-joked.
"Um... he also used to be hired out by people to hit other people for money..." Natsumi added, feeling she should rally to the defence of Kotaro. It wasn't like he was a normal little boy after all.
"What? Really?" Ayaka asked incredulously. The little redhead nodded.
"He doesn't really say much about the people he's worked for... but I think they must all have been criminal types."
"Wow. I guess the brat really does count then." She shrugged. "Kinda weird for someone so young but I guess if he's anywhere near Ku Fei in fighting then he'd get a lot of people hiring him."
"I don't think he got paid a lot though..." Looking back at what she'd seen he seemed like the type of guy who considered a roof that didn't have any holes in it high-class.
"Well, he better find some money for when you two are dating."
"Wha?" The petite teen asked, a little shocked. "I don't even know if he likes me though..."
"Hehe, he will if he sees you wearing that stuff." Ayaka winked at her, causing her friend to experience a bizarre mixture of shame and confidence at the same time.
"Do I really look good?" She looked up at her friend and studied her carefully to try to see if she was lying.
There was only smiles and honesty. "Cute, sexy, desirable. If Kotaro doesn't go nuts for you then he's not human."
'You had to choose that of all things to say...' Natsumi thought to herself. But she knew what her friend meant, and she was happy all the same. Ayaka didn't usually pull punches about this sort of thing, she definitely didn't give a compliment unless someone really deserved it.
"Thank you..." This time it was the smaller girls turn to hug the taller. "But couldn't he just not be interested in girls yet?"
"Oh please. All boys are interested in girls." She said it with the air of someone who had personal experience in that. "You've just gotta coax it out of the younger ones a bit. And you look very coaxing in that." She smirked.
Natsumi turned tomato-coloured for what seemed like the twentieth time in as many minutes. How many little boys had fallen prey to their class president's terrifying desires? Was Negi the first one? She hoped so. More importantly if he wasn't then why the hell hadn't anyone caught her yet? 'Though I guess I'm not any better now...'
Maybe she bought off the witnesses. With the amount of money her family had Natsumi was surprised she didn't have a little boy as a pet to keep in her room.
"Alright, so here's the plan."
"Huh?"
"The plan to get his attention." She smiled. "You want it to seem like you don't even care he's seeing you in that, okay? It'll seem more natural. So i'll go out and wake him up, then you can come in once he's awake and ask him to come sleep with you."
"Iincho!"
"I mean, sleep in the same room as you." She laughed. "So are you ready?"
"I guess so..." She answered in the tone of someone who couldn't be less ready.
"Alright. Here I go, good luck for your part." Ayaka winked at her before she left, loving how her friend got so shy when she did. Honestly, she was beginning to see why Haruna enjoyed doing this sort of thing to everyone. It really was a lot of fun to see her classmate almost wet herself every time something embarrassing happened. 'Enough fun though, I have a job to do.'
The tall blonde walked out into the living room and thought for a moment about how to wake him up before just deciding to crank the lights up to full brightness and see what that did. As she thought he soon started shifting around uncomfortably on his back before he finally grew conscious enough to grunt and flip himself over.
"Huh?" He mumbled sleepily as he raised his head from the couch and looked around to see Ayaka sitting on the other chair and flicking through TV channels with disinterest on her face. "What the hell are you doing?" He asked her, not awake enough yet to be angry but fast getting there.
"Trying to find something to watch Brat," She told him. "If you don't want people waking you up then you shouldn't sleep on the couch."
"Alright, maybe I'll go sleep in your bed instead." He smiled a toothy smile at her, but it was in no way friendly.
"Don't you dare! I wouldn't even let you sleep on my floor." She told him haughtily. "Besides, a brother should sleep in the same bed as his sister if there's nowhere else. Not just lie on the couch like some sort of homeless person."
"Eh? With Natsumi-neechan?"
In Ayaka's room the red-headed girl in question held her ear to the door listening intently to their conversation. Kotaro seemed surprised at the idea, but he hadn't sounded repulsed or anything. And she was only going to ask him to sleep in Chizuru's bed, not share hers or anything like that.
"Of course! Family members are supposed to be that close. Though I can see why Natsumi wouldn't want to ask someone like you." If Kotaro replied to her Ayaka didn't hear it, as at that moment a loud boom of thunder sounded through the tiny apartment.
The small boy looked to the window where rain was still pelting fiercely into the glass and gave a long whistle. "Wow, even worse out there now. I hope Negi's alright."
"Huh?" Ayaka asked, her interest instantly grabbed by the inclusion of her favourite teacher's name. "What do you mean? What about Negi-sensei?"
"Oh, well I'm just hoping he put his tent up in time to get out of this quick."
"Tent?"
"Yeah. He went with the midget and Nodoka-neesan to the big library island place." The boy explained to her. "Cept it's too dangerous to stay inside the place at night so he was saying he was gonna camp out on the island with them."
"C-Camping? With those two?" The blonde stuttered in shock as her imagination began running through the things Yue and Nodoka could be doing with her Negi-sensei - it wasn't exactly a secret that they both felt for him after all. Worse though was the fact they were best friends. Usually two people would oppose one another when trying to win a single person's affections, instead they tended to work together because they couldn't bare to hurt one another's feelings. The beauty of their strong friendship was somewhat lost on the class president who could only think that it meant one of them could hold him down as the other went to work.
An eye twitched.
"Yeah, the weather was so good earlier that they weren't gonna even bother putting up their tent. They probably got soaked putting it up late."
"Wet?"
"No spare clothes either. That's what happens when you don't plan properly I guess." The boy shrugged. "But I guess they'll be alright as long as they get out of their wet stuff before they catch something."
Beside him Ayaka's mind had just introduced nudity into the equation. Kotaro had to work hard to hide his smirk when he saw her hands gripping the armrests of her seat so tightly her knuckles had gone pale.
"Negi-sensei!" She stood up and shouted, tears running down her eyes. "I'll save you!"
The door had slammed behind her before Kotaro had even started to laugh, the blonde girl in such a rush that she hadn't even taken her umbrella – she'd just grabbed at one of her coats as she ran out.
Inside Ayaka's bedroom Natsumi shook her head and sighed. He was so transparent. Hopefully Ayaka would realise soon and come back before she did herself too much harm in the rain. No one could seriously run all the way to library island in this and not doubt his words after all. She'd probably be back in a few minutes once she had checked Asuna and Konoka's dorm room. For now though it was time for her to try and be brave again.
She opened the door and stepped out.
"Kota-kun... that was a mean thing for you to do..." She reprimanded him, though her tone didn't sound especially disproving. She was grateful for Ayaka's kind words towards her, but that didn't mean she condoned the frankly terrifying lust of their class president.
He laughed loudly." I know, I know. But damn funny too." The wolf boy replied as he turned to face her.
It was obvious to Natsumi from the way he had already opened his mouth that he had meant to say something else, but the moment his eyes locked onto her whatever sentence he had planned died before it passed his lips. Instead he stared directly ahead, his mouth still open.
The only way the young shy actress knew her heart wasn't currently in her throat was the way she could plainly feel it trying to burst out of her chest. She had felt something similar to this feeling before, when she had gone on stage in front of her very very first audience.
He still stared.
"K-Kotaro-kun?" She tried to say it naturally and smoothly, but his name came from her lips unsteadily and nervously. Meanwhile, the young dog Hanyo looked up and down his room-mate and tried to process what he was seeing.
In front of him Natsumi stood with her arms behind her back and a deep blush colouring her cheeks. But it wasn't really her cheeks he was looking at. Purple canine eyes followed down to look at her chest, at the black silken bra that was currently lifting two smaller than average breasts into a cleavage that could still have drawn any straight man's attention. He found himself momentarily completely unable to look away, staring at that milky white valley just above the rose red lace bow that decorated the front of the bra.
His eyes followed down again, over more delicate pale skin and a thin soft looking stomach until his gaze was on the second piece of underwear.
Natsumi's blush increased ten-fold as every inch of her skin began tingling with heat. She knew exactly where he was staring.
The panties matched the bra, black silk with red lace and a large bow. They were also extremely skimpy, looking more like a bikini than anything else and making sure as much of her thin creamy hips were on display as possible.
"D-Do you like my new underwear?" Natsumi stuttered. She twirled for him and for the briefest moment Kotaro got a glance of his room-mates firm shapely behind.
Blushing almost as much as she was, Kotaro could only manage a loud gulp and a stunned nod as he stared at his room-mate.
How does everyone else read fanfiction i wonder? I always minimize the webpage so its about half the screen - it makes it more like reading a book i feel. Actually i also write like that, so my writing format is tailored to that size. It probably looks really weird stretched out.