Hey guys! First off, thank you SO much for the continued support! I hope this chapter is better than the last one, because you guys definitely deserve it to be :) Also, that's why this came out slightly later than I had originally intended—at first I wrote like 3 chapters right after the one I posted, but by the end of the third, I was like, "Man, this is turning into a drama piece, ugh!", so I didn't want to post any of it unless I could find a way to fix it. I think (read: hope) I pretty much fixed this one, so I'm gonna go ahead and post it. I hope you guys enjoy, and please remember that reviews are love and motivation for me to continue! :)

Even the Stars Grow Older

Four: Tsundere Spats and Impending Doom (?)

Himawari was upset.

Or, rather, she would have been, had the situation not been so completely and utterly predictable.

Because of course she would get stuck sharing a room with Sakurako, just like always; just like all the Christmas 'dates' Kyouko had set up in which the selection had been completely random and they'd still gotten stuck together. It was like the universe was playing a perpetual joke on Himawari, and it was really starting to get just a little bit old, if she was being completely honest. And really, she should have expected Kyouko not to have thought far enough ahead to reserve rooms meant for two (platonic) individuals.

(Although at this point in her friendship with the blonde, half of Himawari wondered whether the blonde wasn't stupid at all, but instead extremely cunning and maybe just a little bit sadistic.)

The only situation that sounded worse than her current one was Sakurako having been paired with someone else in the cozy, single-bed hotel room. This line of thought made Himawari feel slightly nauseous, both at the idea itself and at the fact that said idea made her feel sick in the first place. But these conflicting feelings were, unfortunately, nothing new for the bluenette, either. While Sakurako was certainly louder and more obvious in her disapproval of Himawari spending any significant amount of time with anyone besides the blonde herself, Himawari was decidedly the more possessive of the two, being more in tune with (and aware of) her feelings. Luckily, she was also significantly better at controlling said emotions.

Of course, despite possessing near super-human patience (she'd have to, having been practically joined at the hip with Sakurako for going on 12 years now), Himawari was still human, and she did slip occasionally. Looking back, there had been that time in middle school, with the play and the pudding and Sakurako being an insensitive glutton, resulting in her unwittingly stealing Ayano's indirect kiss with (Toshino) Kyouko (!). Himawari had openly snapped at the chestnut-haired girl for that little stunt, and while she kicked herself for it later, she also congratulated herself on showing a remarkable amount of restraint—snapping at the girl had been the very bare minimum of what Himawari had been tempted to do.

And then there had been a similar test to the bluenette's control just a few months ago. Himawari was helping Sakurako with her homework and Sakurako had made some stupid comment about her breasts, and in response, Himawari had made some critical (and sadly accurate) remark about Sakurako's grades, and the fight had escalated into Sakurako loudly proclaiming that she would just get Kyouko to help her with her homework, because she was way more fun than Himawari. That incident had been slightly more trying on the bluenette's patience, as Sakurako was always going on about how fun their blonde senpai was, even outside of arguments.

But this was ridiculous. Sakurako hadn't been paired with someone else, and even if she had, the joke would be on them, Himawari decided as her frienemy shoved past her (she'd been so shocked that she'd paused in the doorway for the few seconds which apparently comprised the whole of Sakurako's patience threshold) and immediately catapulted herself onto the bed, appearing not to share Himawari's misgivings. The bluenette's eye twitched, envious of and, though she'd never admit it, slightly hurt by, Sakurako's complete lack of reaction.

"I'll be taking the bed," she huffed, setting her suitcase (and Sakurako's, as she had dropped it in her race to get to the bed) delicately off to the side. "It's not like sleeping on the floor will cause you any problems," she added, gazing pointedly at Sakurako's still relatively-flat chest. She chastised herself immediately after the words escaped her lips; what was she doing, picking a fight? And Sakurako actually seemed to be in a fairly good mood…it wasn't as though it had been a lie, because with Himawari's breast size, sleeping on the floor would certainly cause back discomfort. Still, such blatant honesty (bordering on insulting) was much more Sakurako's shtick, and apparently, her blonde friend thought so as well, if the confused and hurt look painted over her still childish features was anything to go by.

True to form, though, Sakurako quickly bounced back. "Too bad I got here first, Boobawari," she retorted, sticking her tongue out at Himawari. "It's not my fault you've got two ginormous wads of fat strapped to your—" She was cut off by the bluenette, who had crossed the room and leapt onto the bed with all the grace of an Olympic sprinter. In less than a second, Himawari had the blonde pressed against the headboard, one hand supporting her frame against the headboard, the other clamped tightly over Sakurako's (surprisingly small) mouth.

Sakurako's amber eyes met her own hazel orbs just as they had less than a week before, and Himawari felt her chest tighten—whether it was in rage or…something else…she wasn't entirely sure. But whatever it was, it did nothing to hinder the adrenaline pulsing through her veins. "Do not finish that sentence," she repeated lowly, eyes dark and threatening. And then whatever had possessed her in that split second left as quickly as it had come, and Himawari hesitated, eyes wide and cheeks flusuhed, for just a half-second before quickly pushing back onto her knees before Sakurako could react.

Before she could jerk away; before she could reject me.

She had no idea what had come over her—what kept coming over her—recently. Why was her omnipresent self-control waning so rapidly?

"Himawari?"

The bluenette blinked, her gaze snapping back to the amber eyes of her best friend as if magnetized. The dirty-blonde was frowning slightly; she'd pushed herself up onto her elbows, and had moved closer to Himawari. "Are you alright?"

"W-what? Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know, just…recently…" Sakurako flushed, trailing off mid-sentence. Her eyes flickered down to her lap in embarrassment, but quickly flew back up to meet the bluenette's, her gaze firm and determined despite the faint redness in her cheeks. "You keep spacing out and you seem kind of distant…" She paused, uncharacteristically observant, and Himawari grew nervous. Despite everything, Sakurako was quite intelligent, much like her sisters. She was just easily distracted and incredibly lazy; it's what made her dangerous, as the blonde's inherent stupidity always lowered Himawari's already weakened guard.

"You've got a crush on someone, don't you?"

Tooclosetooclosetooclosetooclose

"Saku—what? I do not!"

Sakurako smirked, though her lips trembled just slightly, and the amusement didn't quite reach her eyes. "Himawari's got a boooy~frieeend," the blonde sang, grinning toothily.

And just like that, the fear fled Himawari's body in great waves—the stupid had returned.

"Once again, I do not!" Himawari snapped, failing to notice Sakurako's subtle mood shift—the slight furrow of a blonde brow marring what was otherwise any other cheerful, teasing smile—in her embarrassment. "And even if I did, at least people consider dating me, unlike you, who's never so much as been asked out!"

"You've been asked out?" The blonde's tone was both shocked and blatantly accusatory now, and Himawari wasn't entirely sure whether to be offended that Sakurako apparently thought her too unattractive to have been asked out even once in all their going-on 17 years of life, or shocked dumb, because…

"Oh, for God's sake, Sakurako—and how would I have this supposed boyfriend if I hadn't been asked out, hmm?"

The two were still bickering as they entered the room that Yui and Chitose were sharing (at the request of the silver-haired girl herself, glasses in one hand, a blood-soaked tissue in the other).

Yui hadn't been even a little shocked when, a few minutes before the two had arrived, Kyouko had shown up at her door, a furiously blushing Ayano in tow, declaring that she'd invited everyone over. Even when they all had separate, adult-free hotel rooms, it seemed as though she was doomed to play the hostess.

And now, it appeared as though she would need to referee what could very well escalate into an all-out fistfight between their two favorite tsunderes (all of theirs with the exception of Kyouko, that was, who seemed to have taken a particular liking to one purple-haired trope exemplifier in particular).

"I still fail to see what concern it is of yours if and who I choose to date, Sakurako!"

"Of course it's my concern!" Sakurako shouted in response, hands balling into fists at her sides, eyes flashing with what was equally likely to be brimming fury as it was barely restrained tears. Then the blonde appeared to rethink whatever incriminating words had been about to pour from her lips (for once—Himawari would have been proud, were she not so busy being annoyed), quickly redirecting into more familiar (safer) territory. "If you go all stupid and boy-crazy, you won't be able to help me with my homework!"

"I swear, Sakurako Oomuro, you are the most pig-headed, selfish, lazy—"

"Alright, alright, enough," Yui said, swiftly stepping between the arguing duo, hands outstretched, separating the two. "Whatever this is about, it can wait, yeah? Let's just hang out and have fun, okay?"

Sakurako scoffed and stomped over to the couch, throwing herself down and turning on the television to some random channel. Himawari just heaved a large sigh and shook her head, turning her back and running fidgeting fingers through her thick, loose side-braid, her free arm curled around her stomach, supporting her elbow. Unbeknownst to her (but not to a suddenly not-so-bored Chinatsu, who'd been lounging at the table in the corner of the room, inspecting her already perfect fingernails), Sakurako's gaze followed the trail that the bluenette's fingers carved through dark-blue tresses (before drifting decidedly lower) her expression soft and blank, almost as if she were in a trance.

The pinkette rolled her eyes and turned to Akari, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed across from her. "What did I tell you?" she asked, wryly, and Akari quickly realized she wasn't meant to respond, as the pinkette continued, "I'll bet you anything, if they'd both just stop being stubborn for two seconds and fu—"

"Truth or dare!"

Chinatsu blinked, her gaze shifting to the door of the hotel room (which had just banged open, revealing a blonde who had apparently left at some point?), while Akari let out a sigh of relief at having gotten out of hearing more of her best friend's 'theories'. Usuallly, she quite liked listening to Chinatsu talk, even if it was about nothing at all. Akari was naturally quieter, and while that seemed to annoy some extroverts, Chinatsu never seemed to have an issue with talking enough for the both of them. She never got tired of watching the pinkette's expressive features, either, and on top of that, if Chinatsu was talking to her, she could watch her for hours without anyone thinking anything of it… Akari shook her head, hard. All this sexual tension building up within their group was palpable, and was apparently starting to effect the redhead's own hormones. Why else would she suddenly be noticing how nice Chinatsu smelled, or how pretty she was even when being terribly mean?

Anyway, the point was that while she usually enjoyed Chinatsu's voice, she was just somewhat uncomfortable with the level of vulgarity that Chinatsu's theories could potentially reach. It always ended up with Chinatsu in stitches, because it never failed to leave Akari red-faced and stuttering, and apparently the pinkette found this embarrassed reaction quite entertaining. Once, when the redhead had puffed out her cheeks and ignored Chinatsu for long enough (about 30 seconds, which was about twice Akari's usual limit), the pinkette had giggled and rolled over to her, wrapping her in a tight hug (and that was another thing, Chinatsu gave the best hugs…ANYWAY) and telling her she was adorable when she got all embarrassed.

Which had proceeded to make a previously strawberry-red Akari flush full-on fire-engine.

No, stop it! That's got nothing to do with anything!

After chastising herself mentally and resolving to ignore any further misplaced feelings, Akari followed Chinatsu's gaze (and totally didn't take a pit stop to trace the line of the girl's collar bone, which was beautifully on display thanks to her slip-shoulder blouse, with her eyes). Kyouko had barreled back into the room from…wherever she'd gone…with an empty bottle in hand. "Puss—I mean, people who back out of dares," she corrected herself after a kick to the shin from an unamused Yui, "have to take a shot!" She produced another bottle from behind her back, this one full of a clear liquid, and suddenly it was very clear where she had gone.

"T-Toshino Kyouko!" Ayano exclaimed, genuinely shocked. "We're all underage! Wh-why do you have that?"

"I'm more interested in how she got that," Yui commented lowly, finding Ayano's question to be somewhat unnecessary. It was, after all, well within the scope of 'normal' for Kyouko to do something like this. "Kyouko, we're not playing some stupid drinking game," she said, louder this time. "We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow, and—"

"Pshaw, you sound like my mother, Yui," Kyouko interrupted, waving her hand dismissively. Yui's hands clenched into fists, eyes narrowing at the perceived challenge. "Don't be such a killjoy—here, have a shot."

Yui pushed the proffered bottle out of her face, where the blonde had been dangling it like a shiny new toy. "Fine," she said, shortly. "I'm kicking you out of my car when you start puking up your guts on the way to Comuket. Even if we're on the highway going 90 miles an hour and there's nowhere to pull over."

Five Minutes (and Eight Shots, at Kyouko's Insistence) Later…

"Alright, normal rules apply! You can't do more than two truths in a row, and if you chicken out of a dare, you have to take the penalty, which will be…" Kyouko paused in her instructions, nose wrinkling in thought, before a mischievous glint appeared in her eye, one devious enough to make shivers run down the spines of several of the girls, despite the tingling they were already experiencing from the shot of pure rum they'd all taken. "To do a lap around the floor…butt-naked."

"Kyouko!"

"T-T-T-Toshino Kyouko!"

Two protests sounded immediately, but the blonde just waved Yui away and winked at a practically glowing red Ayano, whose mouth opened to continue to protest, before snapping shut in defeat. The magenta-haired student council president let out a tiny huff, falling back to her position cross-legged on the floor, proceeding to fiddle nervously with her long ponytail.

"Alright, now that's out of the way…Super-Revealing, Heart-Pounding Truth or Dare (of love)…Start!"

"Yeah, whatever…wait, what was that last part?"

Thanks for reading! Please leave a review and look forward to Super-Revealing, Heart-Pounding Truth or Dare (of love) next chapter! ;)