Lonely No More
by Cyberchao X

Chapter 8

Disclaimer: The usual.

CCX: And now for the flip side of leaving yourself a clear path to the next chapter: backing yourself into a corner. I haven't had this much prime time to just work on my fanfics in a long time, because the call of the internet is strong, but the problem is…my "prime time" is kind of early in the morning. And you really have to be in the right frame of mind to write a lemon. This is why a lot of my ideas don't get published—often the "lemon frame of mind" comes late at night, when I don't want to be writing.

*The day after Chapter 7*

"Arisa! You've got a guest!"

Arisa was surprised when she came home to learn that someone was waiting for her. "…Suki-san?"

Suki giggled. "It's okay; you can call me 'Suki-tan' like you normally do." Arisa had evidently forgotten that she had referred to Suki as such when speaking to her parents two chapters ago.

"You showed up much earlier than I expected."

"I just couldn't wait to see you." She kissed Arisa, who returned the gesture.

"Did something happen between you and your boyfriend?"

"…Arisa-chan…do you really not have enough self-confidence to think that someone would want to be with you?"

"Of course not," she replied, blushing and thinking about the previous night, the warmth of Suzuka's body beside hers…it was the first time that she'd truly "slept with" someone…and yet, here she'd be doing it again tonight, with Suki. Had Suzuka planned it that way? She certainly wasn't acting like her normal self… She smiled, happy to have an explanation for Suzuka's uncharacteristically forward behavior.

"Good," Suki said, "because I want you to know that I'm not going anywhere."

"…You surprise me sometimes, Suki-tan."

"What? You're my girlfriend, Arisa-chan, and I…" She trailed off. Arisa didn't respond immediately, wondering if she was going to finish that word. When she did answer, it was to point out that Suki had never called her "Arisa-chan" before. "Well, we're not in the same school anymore, so you're no longer my sempai."

"Fair enough."

"…I told him."

"What?" Arisa wasn't entirely sure what Suki meant.

"My boyfriend. I told him that I'm bisexual, and I want to be upfront with him, because he's still very important to me, but there are certain things he can't do."

"So something did happen between the two of you."

"No! He was a bit shocked at first, and we didn't immediately see eye to eye about whether it's cheating to have one boyfriend and one girlfriend, but…he ultimately ended up accepting it."

"Let me guess: there's going to be a threesome eventually, right?"

Suki grinned. "The possibility was never even brought up, you dirty girl!"

"Are you serious? So I was the first one to suggest it?"

"Yes, you were."

Arisa blushed. "Forget I said anything."

"I figured you'd say that, since you've got the least to gain from it."

"So I guess that means you're…"

"Confident in my identity as a bisexual? Yeah, I…I think so. I'm still a little scared of how I'll be perceived, but…I can't deny my feelings."

"I'm…glad."

"You don't sound glad."

"I am!" Arisa insisted. In truth, she wasn't unhappy…but she felt that this would complicate things. Suki was very special to her, but Suzuka was… Suzuka was…

…Suki was her girlfriend. And one who had been very concerned about the notion of "cheating", and yet, Arisa was the one cheating on her, and without any sort of mitigating circumstances like Suki had for her technical failure to be faithful to a single person. That was that, then, wasn't it? Suzuka would have to understand, at least for a bit… But how would she go about just making it "for a bit"? It wasn't like a relationship between two high schoolers when one goes off to college, where eventually it can just become sort of a thing to have a more open relationship…Arisa wasn't actually going anywhere. Which meant there was no logical reason that Suki would become any less a part of her life, barring them actually breaking up.

"Fine, fine; I won't push it. So, where to first?"

"Huh?"

"Well, I didn't think you just wanted to spend the entire day in your room…though I suppose that could be fun as well."

"Ah…you're right. I'm sure there's plenty for us to do at the mall."

"That sounds great. I could always use some more clothes…and I certainly wouldn't be against modeling them for you! "

"I'm sure. To both parts."

"Of course, it wouldn't be any fun if I was the only one shopping. You've got to get some pretty outfits too!" Arisa wasn't sure what to think of this statement. She wanted to react negatively, feeling as though her fashion sense was being insulted, but she knew Suki didn't mean it like that. Besides, part of her was a bit self-conscious about wearing casual clothes that showed off too much, because she was a bit more muscular than most girls.

Suki seemed to pick up on this, though, and picked out clothes for Arisa accordingly—nothing sleeveless, at least not without a second piece to pick up the slack, and either long pants or skirts that went past the knee. For herself, on the other hand… "At the rate you grow, Suki-tan, that skirt will probably be obscene within a month."

"Really? I was kind of hoping it was obscene now." She grinned.

Arisa laughed. "You know exactly what I meant. And yes, you look gorgeous. Really hugs your curves."

"Good."

"I'd been meaning to ask you…how'd you get like that, anyway? Your name sounds Japanese, but you certainly don't look Japanese."

"Just lucky, I guess. I'm three-quarters Japanese, but I guess all of the American traits just lined up for me. The rest of my family looks considerably more Japanese than I do." (CCX: I'm not sure how the curriculum works over there—by seventh grade, we'd at least be starting to learn about how inheritance of traits works—so I'm saving the brunt of the exposition for an author's note. Since the traits that Suki expresses are recessive, it would stand to reason that she'd have to have them on both sides—which is, in fact, the case; both of her parents are also three-quarters Japanese, with fully Japanese fathers and half-Japanese, half-American mothers. And yes, actually, we have gotten to the point where a middle schooler whose grandparents were born during the post WWII "baby boom" is totally plausible—which kind of makes me feel old because my parents are considered "baby boomers", albeit not quite so immediate and on top of that both are the babies of their families.)

"Huh."

"Yeah, that's pretty much the way I feel. But aside from people who see me with my family asking me if I'm adopted, there isn't really much reason to be unhappy about it…after all, foreign traits are considered exotic and by extension attractive."

"I suppose I can relate to that," Arisa said.

*That night*

"Su—ki!" Arisa found herself grateful that both of her girlfriends' names started with the same syllable, allowing her time to correct her near-slipup. She liked this name; it meant love, though not in quite in the strongest sense, and transposed, it became "kisu", kiss. A very good name for romance. All the same…everything about this felt wrong. It shouldn't have been like that…she loved Suki, right? And she didn't let her doubts show—far from it, she was by no means merely going through the motions, and was in fact taking charge—but all she could think about was Suzuka. These were the same moves she'd performed the previous night, some of them moves that Suzuka had taught her—Hayate's moves, she supposed. Somehow, in the midst of making love to Suki, Arisa actually found herself thinking about what might have happened between Suzuka and Hayate at that Christmas party, and again getting mad at Hayate for giving Suzuka that taste of sweetness just before leaving—or was she just getting jealous of Hayate, who still seemed to be as important to Suzuka as Nanoha was to Arisa? But…but that was just perception, wasn't it? Arisa teased Suzuka about Hayate, and Suzuka teased Arisa about Nanoha and Fate, but those two had barely entered Arisa's thoughts at all. How strange it seemed, that neither Nanoha, her lifelong beloved, nor Fate, beautiful Fate with the long blond hair and the ample bust just like the girl beneath Arisa at this very moment, were in her thoughts at all unless she consciously put them there, which she had only done in relation to the duo she was thinking about? However, this last thought gave Arisa another reason to question her relationship with Suki. While it was by no means a perfect match—Suki was taller, her eyes blue and her hair a lighter blonde, but in many ways, it seemed as though subconsciously Suki might have been a surrogate for one of the two girls that Arisa truly desired but was unable to ever have.

…No, she was reading into it too much. Suki was a girl who had been curious and wanted to experiment. If Arisa had truly been searching for a surrogate for an object of her desire, she would've found a girl who resembled Nanoha, for it had always been Nanoha that she'd fantasized about, even after Fate's arrival. But she quickly dispelled that image from her mind before it had even fully formed, and concentrated on the girl in front of her, or underneath her as it were. "Suki Suki-tan." Beloved Suki-tan. (CCX: I have a feeling it should be the other way around, but it sounds better this way.)

Suki smiled, swallowed hard, and said what she'd been unable to before. "Aishiteru."

CCX: Uh…there wasn't really a lemon here at all! Lime, sure; though that might not be accurate because a lime is supposed to be "implied sex" and there's nothing implied about this, but…there's no detail! Not to the sex itself, anyway. Instead, it's all about Arisa wondering if she's with the wrong girl. I have no idea how long this story is going to be, but it definitely seems like we're nearing the official start of AriSuzu! Cyberchao X, signing off with his second completed publication (and sex scene) of the day.

Also, there had originally been a fairly decent-sized author's note near the end of the first section, but it was removed for being too…irrelevant? Tangential? Well, whatever it was, I didn't like it being there, so I axed it.