In regards to the girls' physical descriptions, I'm too lazy to look up heights and stuff in Japan, and since this story is in English I'm guessing most of my readers would like heights comparable to people we see every day, yeah? So their heights, etc. will be based on American standards (e.g. I'm five foot four, which makes me just below average—my Sakurako is about five one, which makes her fairly short). Cup sizes (while only mentioned for descriptive purposes) are American sizes as well—I know Japanese sizes are smaller. I hope this was helpful!

As always, thank you so much for your supportive reviews! Please continue to let me know what you liked/your thoughts in reviews—while I will never threaten to withhold chapters or anything like that (I mean, come on), it really helps my motivation! You guys are the reason I'm still writing this! :)

Even the Stars Grow Older

Two: TsunTsun(Dere?)

It was gray and silent outside, save for the peaceful sound of rain falling against the pavement. The roads were wet and relatively abandoned, and the streetlights had come on early to illuminate the clouded skies. The cold air was free of sound, save perhaps for the buzz of one particularly persistent cicada—it was a day that would have been more fit for several months earlier, in March. As it was, though, the city was cold and wet this evening, and everybody was content to stay shut up inside the warmth of their homes and discuss summer plans.

"Augh! Get your monster breasts off of me, you booby-monster!"

"S-shut up, Sakurako-baka! I can't help it that my chest is…l-larger than average…any more than you can help being flat as a washboard!"

"WHAT WAS THAT, BOOBAWARI?"

"You heard me, you loud, inconsiderate little—"

Well. Almost everyone, then.

As per usual, Sakurako had been sprawled on top of her bluenette frienemy's bed, a manga in one hand, a bag of Doritos in the other. Himawari had leaned over her to confiscate said paraphernalia, and in the process, had accidentally pressed her breasts against the dirty-blonde's arm, and, well…suffice it to say, the situation had escalated.

"If you'd been concentrating on your homework like you're supposed to, my breasts would never have been anywhere near you to begin with," Himawari finally huffed, arms folded over her chest, her hands still full of Sakurako's 'provisions', her cheeks tinted a light pink. Her gaze was trained determinedly out the window, which was a good thing for Sakurako, as the latter had flushed well and beyond 'light pink' when she'd felt the soft pressure against her shoulder—fire-engine red might be a more appropriate description of her face, as the blonde was blushing all the way to the tips of her ears.

She'd immediately jumped away from Himawari when the bluenette had committed said unforgivable offense and had scooted as far back away from her as she could, currently pressed against the wall behind Himawari's bed. Her reaction, however, was only partially out of indignation and jealousy—the majority of her outburst had stemmed from the tingles that had begun in the pit of her stomach and shot up until they hit her full in the chest like a bullet train. It confused her and, if she was being perfectly honest, scared her. She'd never felt like this back then, and there had been times when she'd been in the situation—there was always the accidental touch or the rare, reluctant hug (both of which she'd subsequently started fights over, but just because she was Sakurako, not because she was actually upset). Now, whenever she thought about Himawari or her stupid breasts, instead of eliciting rage, it elicited something much harder to describe—something weird and abnormal that kind of made Sakurako want to be closer to the bluenette, to hug her, to 'accidentally' fall asleep in her arms. Even just now, she'd jumped away more out of instinct than anything else—if anything, she'd kind of (maybe) not completely hated the feeling of the warm, heavy orbs resting against her shoulder.

Sakurako was starting to wonder if there was something seriously wrong with her. Until she could figure that out, the new, strange feelings just made her hate Himawari and her big, stupid breasts more than ever.

"Whatever," she finally replied haughtily, flopping back into the bed, having pitched what she dubbed to be a sufficient fit.

Himawari huffed in response and returned to her book—Of Mice and Men, Sakurako mouthed to herself. It must have been for the one of the bluenette's AP courses. When Himawari had first started taking said classes, there'd been hell to pay from Sakurako, who had made a point of shouting at her over not having as much time to help her with her homework; in reality, however, the blonde had just been terrified of being separated from Himawari in any way. She needn't have worried; Himawari was incredibly intelligent, as she'd known for some time, and this meant that she didn't need to put much extra effort into studying, despite the college-level courses she was taking. So Sakurako experienced no shortage of nagging, and, though she'd never admit it (not even to herself), she was happy that way.

There were a few minutes of comfortable silence. Despite their rivalry, the fact that the two girls had known each other for more than ten years now meant that they didn't have to say anything to spend time together. This wasn't to say that they were silent often—with Sakurako being Sakurako, and Himawari being unable to ignore her jibes, the peace rarely lasted more than five minutes.

"…are you going to go with Akari-chan and Chinatsu-chan and them?" Sakurako asked out of the blue, lifting her head slightly so that she could see Himawari. The latter sighed and snapped her book shut, running her fingers through the single thick, loose braid that fell over her right shoulder, tapering off just below her chest. She knew better than to even try to continue studying at this point—it would be easier to just give up now. "You know, to that Comuket thing?"

Himawari made a face to herself, remembering the contest Kyouko had set up between the student council and the amusement club back in middle school. She'd never been so embarrassed… She turned to meet Sakurako's inquisitive gaze. "I am," she said, only half paying attention as she lifted both hands, absently adjusting the thin headband keeping her bangs in place. As long as I'm not the one doing the cosplaying. "It seems like a fun way to spend our last free summer with our senpai."
As if reading her thoughts, a grin that could only be described as positively sadistic appeared across Sakurako's delicate features. "I bet you just want to dress up at Rivalun again, Himawari," she teased, sitting up cross-legged and leaning towards the bluenette, who was already flushing with the memories. "'Ganbo-samaaa~!'"

"S-shut up, baka!" Himawari snapped, grabbing the first thing in reach (Of Mice and Men) and lobbing it at the cackling blonde. Sakurako, however, was already long gone, rolled onto her side and giggling madly. Himawari rolled her eyes, knowing she'd just have to wait it out. She folded her arms over her chest and glared at the blonde, waiting for her to calm down.

This proved to be a mistake, however, as she caught herself doing something she'd been catching herself doing more and more as time went on. Her eyes began to roam over Sakurako's features, from her wild dirty-blonde hair that now reached mid-back, restrained only by a clip that held it back behind her right ear, to her angelic face that disguised her true playful and self-absorbed nature. She hadn't grown much, Himawari noted absently. She was a little bit taller, but only just over five foot in comparison to Himawari's commendable five six. Despite the height difference, Sakurako still appeared fairly scrawny when compared to the bluenette, whose body had grown proportionate to her height. Though she wasn't washboard-flat anymore, Sakurako was a mere A-cup, which led to continued resentment toward Himawari, despite the fact that the bluenette's chest was not so much larger than average at this point. Once her body had a chance to catch up with her chest after puberty, Himawari was only about a C-cup or a small D—just slightly larger than average. Still, compared to Sakurako, she was positively huge; an offense of the highest caliber in the blonde's eyes.

Even not considering all that, Sakurako still looked rather young for her age. She'd lost some baby-fat, but that was about it. Her features were still young, eyes still wide and cheeks still a little plump, unlike Himawari, whose features had matured significantly, leaving her with slightly narrower eyes, longer eyelashes and plump lips. The bluenette had really made the leap from 'pretty' to 'beautiful' sometime during their freshman year, attracting the attention of her own fair-sized flock of boys alongside Chinatsu, much to Sakurako's annoyance (for more than one reason). They were always together, and that meant that Sakurako was only ever seen in comparison to the bluenette, and while it pained Himawari greatly to think it, she sometimes wondered whether Sakurako would rather they spend less time together, if only so she could finally stop comparing herself. After all these years, Himawari had come to learn that the only way she'd be able to stop Sakurako's own self-deprecating comparisons would be for them to split up completely.

Struck by a sudden, intense wave of something that was tugging insistently at the pit of her stomach, Himawari stood up and crossed the room, and, in a fluid motion, pinned the still rolling Sakurako against the bedpost. She'd been intending to wrestle the manically giggling girl into submission just to shut her up, but apparently the universe had something else in mind. In a momentary lapse of judgement, hazel met amber and she stopped in her tracks, heart thudding painfully in her chest as she just stared into wide eyes that, for once, stared back at her almost submissively, as if waiting for her to do something—anything.

A beat, and Himawari let out a long sigh.

"…calm down, you're messing up your hair," she finally murmured, reaching around and unclipping the clip that held Sakurako's hair separate from her bangs. She tucked the wild, now mussed, blonde hair back behind her right ear and slid the clip back in, running her fingers slowly through Sakurako's long locks before releasing her.

Sakurako still seemed to be in a state of shock, just blinking up at Himawari with wide eyes. Finally, she seemed to snap out of it, shoving her hands against the bluenette's chest, though the force only sent Himawari back a few inches. "Geez, what's your problem, Boobawari?" she spat, flushing from head-to-toe. "Stop acting all weird!"

"Call me that again," Himawari snapped back, tightening her grip on Sakurako's left wrist until the girl winced. Her eyes, which had become greener with maturity, narrowed on the girl, as if daring her to continue. "Go on, do it."

"S-sorry," Sakurako squeaked. "Sorry, Himawari-sama, please let go! Itaii~"

The bluenette rolled her eyes and released Sakurako all at once, sending the girl careening back onto the bed. Himawari stood and turned her back to the blonde. "Just do your homework, Sakurako," she replied coolly, her tone masking the twinge of hurt she'd felt at Sakurako's accusation, and the room fell into silence once more.

…

…

"…breasts."

"Die."

…

"…are you going to attend Comuket, Sakurako?"

The blonde in question gave an obnoxiously overdone laugh. "Of course I am—if I weren't there, who would keep Himawari from making an idiot of herself in her excitement to play Riva—"

Sakurako's comment, which was sure to have launched another full-fledged argument, was thankfully cut off by a well-aimed pillow to the face.

I'm sorry if there was too much description in this chapter- I'm trying to get all the technical stuff out of the way so that when everything really starts you guys can all picture it well—I find it helps when I'm reading things to have a good feel of how the characters look. I'll hopefully do most of the rest (including more Chinatsu and Akari) in the next chapter. Special thanks to SriaLghtft, who pointed out to me that I've been overlooking the descriptions a bit!

As you can see, I've changed Himawari's hairstyle a bit- instead of two little braids, it'll be a single thick braid (like, fairly loose at the top, kind of like she has in the anime, but a thick braid off to the side and over the shoulder...I don't know how to describe it...think Alicia from "Aria" except without long loose hair at the front and significantly shorter) with a thinner headband...maybe I'll try to draw it?

Thanks for reading, and please leave a review if you want it continued! I promise it'll get interesting soon—this is just the boring period where everything has to get off the ground, you know?