Lonely No More
by Cyberchao X
Chapter 7
Disclaimer: The usual. More original characters, but also more copyrighted characters.
CCX: Sure enough, with Chapter 6 out of the way, we're flowing once again.
*March, or perhaps early April*
Spring had come, and with it, graduation. A time of joy for some and sadness for others, as friends very well could be separated. Doing her best to hide her status as one of the latter group was Suki Makimaro. She went over to Arisa, giving off the air of someone merely saying goodbye to a friend (albeit a very close one, judging by the kiss on the cheek), but asked in a whisper, "You'll invite me over later, right?"
"Of course," Arisa said, before heading off to see other friends/acquaintances.
"Hey," Suzuka said, putting something small into Arisa's hand, "I thought you deserved to get one of these, too. Even if you don't exactly get any male suitors."
Arisa looked at it. It was a button. "Whose second button is this?" she asked.
"Hell if I know. They all look the same."
"And you still have doubts about your true sexuality?"
"The buttons, you dope, not the boys! I could tell you the names of all ten of the boys who gave me their second button." A boy with his mouth open promptly shut it and walked away. "Which apparently would've become eleven if I hadn't opened my mouth just then."
"You're such a heartbreaker, Suzuka-chan."
"Aren't I? You're coming to my graduation party, of course."
"Of course…oh, crap, I've got to reschedule with Suki-tan!"
"One last fling before you part ways?"
"Th-there's no reason that we'd have to part ways just because we won't be going to school together…I mean, yeah, it'll definitely limit how often we see each other, but…"
Suzuka chuckled. "Of course not. My mistake."
Suki answered her phone. "Sempai?"
"Suki-tan…I'm sorry, but we're going to have to postpone that 'get-together' until tomorrow. I've got…other obligations."
"It's fine; you hang with your friends."
"I'll be thinking of you. That soft, voluptuous body; those beautiful blue eyes…"
"Surely you're not only attracted to me for my looks."
"Of course not. I'm not that shallow, and you've got a lot more going for you than just looks."
"Well, thank you."
"See you tomorrow, beautiful."
Suki laughed. "Yeah…I can't wait."
"My, you certainly know how to sweet-talk a girl. If only the boys could be that charming…"
"Kaburagi-san? Were you listening to that entire conversation?"
"No, not the entire thing. Why? Are you embarrassed by who was on the other end?"
"Hardly."
"So then your girlfriend must still be in the closet."
"You could say that."
"Hmm? Bannings-san, it's a simple yes or no question…ah. She's still seeing a guy as well, isn't she?"
"Yes, and I'm perfectly fine with that. He can fulfill needs for her that I can't, just as I can fulfill needs that he can't."
"Yeah, but the difference is that he doesn't realize that he's not fulfilling all of her needs."
"…You have a point there. But, well, not everyone can be as open about their sexuality as me."
"You're only 'open' because attempting to conceal it would've been fruitless. Sometimes I wonder how that little group of yours managed to stay together."
"What do you mean by that?"
"…You're right, that was insensitive of me. A group of girls of mixed sexuality shouldn't be any stranger than a group of friends containing both boys and girls. But I can't help but wonder what it's like to have a crush on someone who isn't even interested in your gender."
"I wouldn't know."
"Really? You seemed to fancy Harlaown-san almost as much as you did Takamachi-san. I always did feel kind of bad for you that Takamachi-san never even seemed to notice your feelings…"
"…Nanoha-chan and Fate-chan are a couple. You thought Fate was straight?"
"…Yeah, I did. I guess that was a tad closed-minded too, because now that I think about it there really wasn't much for me to go on one way or the other, but yeah, she didn't really seem quite as gay as the three of you." Evidently Kaburagi was referring to Arisa, Nanoha, and Hayate.
"She does kind of keep her emotions close to the vest," Arisa conceded. "And you're absolutely right about me having an unrequited crush on both of them. I knew it could never happen; they only ever loved each other; but still…"
"Yeah. Unrequited love is something I can relate to."
"Takamachi-san! Have you heard from Nanoha-chan at all since she left?" Arisa asked.
"Well, I'm probably not the best one to ask since I don't live with my parents anymore, but no, I don't think she's made contact with anyone here. If you're really so curious, though, why don't you just stop by the Midoriya some time?" Since this was another party at the Tsukimura residence, it was only natural that Nanoha's older brother Kyouya would be there, as he and Suzuka's older sister Shinobu were married. (CCX: This is somewhat of an assumption on my part, as they're stated to still be together in one of the StrikerS sound stages, quite a bit after the original series.)
"That's…a very good point. I guess it just felt weird going there if it wasn't to see Nanoha-chan, since that's also where your house is…well, not yours, anymore, but…" Kyouya just smiled and nodded.
"Geez, I could've told you that," Suzuka said. "You really haven't gone to the Midoriya even once since Nanoha-chan left?" Arisa shook her head. "You're hopeless."
"Why? How many times have you gone?"
"…Too many, I think. What do you think?"
"How should I know, when you haven't given me a number?"
"I'll take that to mean you disagree. Well, thank you."
"Huh? Oh—OH! Yeah, you're definitely fine."
"I just wish the excess weight were distributed a bit differently."
"Give it time. You're probably just a late bloomer."
"You're just saying that to cheer me up."
"No, it's true," another voice interjected. "I wasn't much different than you when I was your age, and I filled out just fine."
Suzuka turned around. "Onee-san!"
"You're looking well, Suzuka."
"Yes, well, to new beginnings, right? I already went through the separation business three months ago." (CCX: More or less. I'm not exactly sure where graduation would fall, but if it isn't in March, it's probably the very beginning of April at worst—so while the calendar may have turned to a new month four times since Nanoha and the others left, it's probably still closer to three months than to four.)
"…Just because your closest friends are already gone, you shouldn't ignore all of your other friends."
"I'm not. But three of my four closest friends are already gone, and the fourth will still be with me." She put an arm around Arisa, who to her credit didn't change her expression in the slightest. Suzuka saw this and smiled—Arisa was becoming quite adept at covering for her closeted girlfriends. Besides, there'd be plenty of time for Arisa's tender side later.
…Had she actually just thought that? Certainly, it did seem that Arisa had been more receptive to Suzuka's feelings as of late—ever since Valentine's Day, really. But…Suki was Arisa's girlfriend. Suzuka was…just a friend. A close friend, one with whom she could talk about just about anything. They talked about relationships—Suzuka and all of her male admirers, and Arisa's…female admirers. Which, though they rarely talked about that, included Suzuka.
*The same day, approximately half past 10 PM*
"…Hey, Arisa?"
"Yes, Suzu-chan…Suzuka?" Arisa was actually a bit surprised that Suzuka had addressed her without an honorific. Offended, not in the least, but coming from Suzuka, it was definitely a surprise.
"Would you…like to know what happened between me and Hayate-chan on Christmas night?"
"Well, I have been curious, but why are you bringing this up now?" Suzuka's response indicated that her intentions were not mere exposition; that she was looking for something a bit more…demonstrative. "S-Suzuka-chan…" Arisa didn't resist as her nightgown was removed, her feeble protestations more out of surprise that Suzuka was being so forward. Had Suzuka been able to remove herself from the situation and observe her actions, she'd probably be a bit surprised by her forwardness as well, and would probably be able to determine the motive behind them, something which Arisa was blissfully unaware of—that Suzuka's earlier question about Arisa and Suki having "one last fling" wasn't so innocently worded, but a leading question tinged with a desperate hope, and Arisa's answer in the negative filled Suzuka with a considerable amount of negative emotions, primarily jealousy. Suzuka, in fact, now explicitly viewed Suki Makimaro as a rival, though she was not consciously aware of feeling this way. And by trying to follow Hayate's lead—Hayate was still very important to Suzuka, still an object of affection, but in some ways she was also somewhat of a mentor now, on the subject of making love to a woman—with Arisa, she was trying to exert some sort of influence over the blonde girl, to make herself an object of desire to rival the more well-endowed junior. "S-Suzuka—!"
"Not so loud," Suzuka said with somewhat of a teasing grin as she continued to gently massage Arisa's breasts, "Someone might hear."
"Sorry. Was this what you did to her, or what she did to you?"
"What she did to me, of course. Naturally, she was the experienced one…but you're not a neophyte at this, are you? Come on," she said, leading Arisa's hands to the buttons of her own nightie. Arisa did as she was told. Seeing Suzuka's nearly naked body…Arisa could understand why Suzuka had been concerned, as her body did seem slightly fuller than before, but it was in a good way, one that made her seem more lively rather than fat. And it hadn't entirely gone to the "wrong" areas, either—Suzuka was by no means as well endowed as the trio of mages, but she had a clear advantage over Arisa. She looked beautiful…and those panties looked extremely out of place breaking up the flow of Suzuka's pale skin. Arisa quickly removed them. "Anxious, aren't you?" Suzuka teased.
"Just wanted to properly appreciate this work of art."
"You force my hand, my dear," Suzuka replied, slipping her fingers into Arisa's panties…and then not removing them, instead going directly to tease at the blonde girl's sex.
Arisa would have none of it, pulling her own panties off. "Okay, Tsukimura, you win." It shouldn't even require my narration to reveal how much sarcasm this statement was dripping with, the decision to forgo first name basis juxtaposed with yobisute. "You obviously had a bad teacher, because that sort of teasing is very rude."
"Haya-chan was a great teacher!" Suzuka protested, though in truth she wanted Arisa to take command of the situation. Arisa was more than willing to oblige, guiding Suzuka's hands while she nipped at the girl's neck, up and down before finally culminating in a long deep kiss. Once she was confident that she'd given Suzuka enough guidance, she moved down to the purple-haired girl's chest, suckling on one nipple, then the other, then the first again. Suzuka cried out and wrapped her legs around Arisa's, pulling their pelvises into each other and starting a rhythmic grinding. "A-A-Arisa…chhhian…!" (CCX: It was really tough to figure out how to properly corrupt that honorific.)
"Th-there, that's…much better, Suzuka-tan." Suzuka didn't comment on it, but she was extremely pleased to hear herself addressed with the same honorific Arisa used when speaking privately to Suki.
"Well…I have a great teacher. Teach me moooore, Arisa-sensei!"
"As long as you promise to never attempt a seductive moan like that again. That was absolutely ridiculous, Suzuka-chan." Back to "-chan"; it seemed that the -tan suffix was just something that came from the heat of the moment, and that when Arisa was thinking clearly, Suzuka was still "Suzuka-chan".
"All in good time, though. All in good time."
CCX: The toughest part about sex scenes is ending them. There were a couple of points during the chapter where I thought I was getting stuck, but I've made it through and set out a clear path to the next chapter. Definitely a chapter I'm proud of. Oh, and I've also left myself an opening for the continuation of a running gag, if I so desire. This is a very self-satisfied Cyberchao X, signing off.