Happy 2016, errybody. Hope you guys had a great holiday :) Sorry I didn't get this out much sooner :(

Even the Stars Grow Older

Nine: Touch

Himawari was confused.

Ever since they had met up at the hotel about an hour before, Sakurako had been acting…well, for lack of a better term, weird(er than usual).

Himawari had, in fact, been forced into a very revealing Rivalun costume, as had Ayano, by an overeager Kyouko, who seemed determined to make this the ultimate Comiket (she questioned the blonde's motives here—surely, with her hair color, she would have made a better pre-transformation version). Sakurako, who was playing her counterpart, had settled into the chair next to her as they took their turn manning the booth. She seemed more fidgety than usual, which was saying something, and her fingers seemed to twitch every time Himawari leaned over her to hand out a comic. More to the point, every time the bluenette did anything, she could feel amber eyes tracing the action, only to narrow beneath furrowed brows whenever Himawari caught her in the act. The bluenette wondered whether she'd somehow done something to annoy Sakurako within the few words they'd exchanged since they'd met up again.

Standing to shyly greet a bright-eyed fan, Himawari felt more than saw Sakurako's gaze on her, and heard the distinctive crinkling of paper when the emotional girl suddenly hugged her. Returning the hug with little difficulty (emotions was where she excelled, after all), her gaze snapped back to Sakurako, who had been sitting cross-legged in her chair (despite the fact that she was wearing a skirt—typical Sakurako), reading and giggling at one of Kyouko's doujinshis. The blonde was now staring hard just past Himawari, her jaw obviously tight, and in her lap sat a very crumpled copy of 'Rival Hearts! Mirakurun'.

Himawari felt her own heart stop abruptly, only to pick up again a second later at triple pace. She knew the last thing she should be doing was getting her hopes up in regards to anything related even distantly to Sakurako, but still… Perhaps Sakurako wasn't annoyed with her at all? Maybe it was something…else…that had the blonde acting so strangely...?

"Sakurako?" she asked tentatively as she sat back down, the fan having moved on. The blonde grunted and kept her gaze steadily on the floor, so Himawari ducked down, trying to meet the amber eyes that suddenly seemed to want to look everywhere but at her. She watched them widen as Sakurako saw her, watched pale cheeks light up like a Christmas tree, and felt a twinge of pride in her chest. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Sakurako muttered. There was a pregnant pause, and then, "You know, I don't need your help manning this stupid booth." Moody, Himawari noted. Which meant… "All you do is get in the way with your stupid fat boobs."

Despite her concern (and her realization that in her mood, Sakurako was sure to bring up her breasts in some way, shape or form), Himawari's nostrils flared in irritation. "Right, because you've been doing so much to help," she snapped. "Maybe you wouldn't have to see my 'fat boobs' so much if you handed out some comics once in a while instead to sitting there reading them!" Her face was flushed in embarrassment, her hands clenched into fists. She took a deep breath, and let it out, slowly, in a long-suffering sigh. "Honestly, Sakurako—just once, can't you just tell me what's bothering you instead of starting a fight?"

"Why do you care?" Sakurako replied, her tone still sullen. "I meant, you don't have to stay here with me if you want to go and flirt with your number one fan—I'm sure she hasn't gone far."

Himawari had a very difficult time fighting back the urge to pull Sakurako into her arms and kiss that thick blonde head of hers. "Are you jealous?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, despite knowing it was bound to set Sakurako off again. Before she could stop herself, she had reached over and brushed a strand of curly blonde hair behind Sakurako's ear, letting her fingers linger for several moments too long.

Himawari's fingers seemed to paint red over Sakurako's face as they moved, the blush finally extending to the blonde's ears. "Don't be an idiot, Himawari!" she snapped, finally coming to her senses enough to shove the bluenette's hand away. "It's disgusting to watch, that's all! If I don't like romance movies, what makes you think I want to watch you mooning all over some nerdy fan at Comiket?"

Himawari frowned, retracting her hand until it curled into her chest. "If you have such an issue with me, Sakurako, why didn't you say something earlier? You could have just manned the stall with Yoshikawa-san."

Sakurako shivered unconsciously. She didn't like to admit it, but sometimes Chinatsu scared her. Like earlier, for example, when Akari had offered to stay and watch the booth with her, and the pinkette had shot her such a nasty look over the redhead's shoulder that Sakurako hadn't dared accept. Still, she wasn't about to let stupid Himawari get the last word. "I'd rather be here with Kyouko-senpai," she stated, puffing her chest. "At least she's fun."

Even if she's not nearly as beautiful as you and I don't want to curl up in her lap and bury my head in her b—WHOA, where did that come from?

Not privy to Sakurako's internal dialogue, Himawari flushed with a mixture of indignation and jealousy. She forced a hard breath through her nose, willing her blood to stop boiling. She was usually able to bite it back; she'd had years of practice, with Sakurako being as insensitive as she was. It was a good thing, too, because that despite her calmer nature (or perhaps, in some twisted way, because of it), Himawari was naturally protective and quick to jealousy regarding her idiotic best friend. Hard as it may be to believe, she tended to be even quicker than Sakurako to feel the familiar boiling in her veins when the blonde showed any real interest in somebody else. Sakurako would never let her hear the end of it if she knew, despite her own propensity for tantrums and foot-stomping and the like.

Still, this time, with Himawari already on edge, she was unable to swallow back all of the nasty, burning feeling rising into her throat from her chest like bile. "Well, I'm sorry that I'm not as fun as Toshino-senpai," she spat, her unnaturally snappish reaction shocking the blonde a little bit. "Unfortunately for you, though, she'd rather spend time with Sugiura-senpai than you—and I don't blame her."

In the heat of the moment, with her jealousy biting at the back of her throat, she had meant to hurt Sakurako. Still, Himawari didn't expect what happened next.

The blonde's eyes widened, and she recoiled as though she'd been slapped. Himawari felt a sharp pang in her chest at the severity of Sakurako's reaction—she hadn't thought Sakurako actually felt anything for Kyouko... Before she could say anything, though, the blonde had stood up so fast that her chair wobbled dangerously before clattering to the floor, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. Her body was stiff and her jaw was tight, but looking up at her in a state of stuporous shock, all Himawari's eyes registered was the amber orbs burning into them, glistening and red with unshed tears.

"Sakurako…" What was she going to say? Did she even want to say anything? Sakurako's obvious upset at what Himawari had said made the bluenette want to grab her and pull her into her arms and apologize for ever making her so unhappy, but… The words that had caused Sakurako's reaction rang through her ears and kept her from acting.

She wanted to comfort her, but she didn't—wanted to apologize, but couldn't. She didn't want Sakurako to want anyone but her; she hadn't ever even really, truly considered it before now (which she would later realize had been unusually short-sighted of her). The issue had always been that Sakurako was so dense, and didn't show any sign of feelings for anybody, and now a passing comment about Kyouko and Ayano had brought her nearly to tears? Himawari was shell-shocked and in the heat of the moment, without having time to step back and think clearly, she was ultimately too selfish to say anything to bring consolation to the girl she loved.

Even after Sakurako had stormed off and Himawari was left alone to process, she couldn't think of what she would have said. She could think of a hundred things she should have said, but she couldn't force a one of them past her lips. Her heart had belonged to Sakurako, and Sakurako alone, for so long (for so long) that, despite knowing that she should just want her beloved to be happy, she literally couldn't step back like that, even to console her blonde frienemy when she was so clearly distraught.

She couldn't believe she'd never even considered that Sakurako may one day develop feelings for somebody else; she'd gotten jealous, sure, but it was more of a gut reaction, more her body reacting before her brain got the chance. In the back of her mind, she'd always thought that the odds of Sakurako actually liking someone else were quite slim, but that reaction…

Himawari let out a long, heavy sigh and allowed her head to fall onto the table. If something didn't happen soon, these feelings were going to drive her crazy.

Across the center, Akari was torn between feeling entirely euphoric and completely confused. Since they had left the hotel, Chinatsu had stuck particularly close to her, even wrapping her arm around the redhead's waist for the duration of the car trip to Comiket, fingers playing at the soft, fabric-covered skin there.

The pinkette currently had her arm locked with Akari's, and refused to let go, as evidenced by the way her arm tightened whenever Akari would give any sign that she might be trying slip away. Judging from the context and Chinatu's demeanor, Akari was fairly certain that the pinkette's excessive (even for her) affection was for her sake, as opposed to Chinatsu's. She just couldn't figure out for the life of her what she had done to warrant such behavior. Maybe it was her aura…?

She was feeling slightly more self-conscious and invisible than usual…but for all Chinatsu's strengths, perceptive the girl was not. She wasn't dim, by any means, just...average, or possibly even below, in terms of noticing the little, hidden details. If Akari was acting strangely, the pinkette would notice eventually—she wasn't nearly as bad as Sakurako, who practically needed to be hit over the head with a two by four to catch on to anything—but it did take her some time. And Akari wasn't even acting strangely today! At least, she was pretty sure she wasn't…

And it wasn't as though she minded the extra affection, at all. Akari reveled in the feeling of Chinatsu's arm around her waist, or the sensation of warm skin against her own as their arms mingled. It's just that it wasn't normal, even for the naturally affectionate Chinatsu, and it confused Akari.

And that wasn't even counting the completely unsubtle migration to her waist and subsequent tightening of Chinatsu's grip when they'd stopped at that one stall and a boy had stopped Akari to compliment her on her outfit (Kyouko-mandated Mirakurun-wear, of course, though not a full-on costume, thankfully). Chinatsu had quickly headed him off, snapping something that sounded quite emasculating. Akari had to give the boy credit, though, as he shot her a small, understanding smile (of what, though?) and walked off, pride intacct—she'd seen the pinkette drive the toughest boys at their school to tears with less effort.

"Dumbass," Chinatsu muttered, and confused though the redhead was, she had to bite back a chuckle. Chinatsu was just, so…Chinatsu.

"That was a little mean, Chinatsu-chan," Akari finally said, once she felt like she could talk properly. Chinatsu looked at her incredulously. "What?"

"What—he was hitting on you, you know that, right?" The pinkette had come to an abrupt stop, jerking Akari with her due to their linked arms.

Akari's brows furrowed for a moment, and then she flushed full-on fire-engine red as Chinatsu's blunt words hit her like a ton of bricks. "Wh- I- really?" she stuttered, her eyes widening to the size of saucers. She'd never been hit on before, and, she secretly thought with just a hint of bitterness, was more likely to blend into the wallpaper than stand out enough to someone for anyone to actually try to make a move. Thus, only one word came to her confused mind. "But…why?"
At this, Chinatu's eyebrows furrowed, and she suddenly looked inexplicably angry. "What do you—oh, forget it," she said in a huff, abruptly starting to walk again, yanking Akari along behind her. She was leading them in the opposite direction they'd been headed, toward a large, cafeteria-like area. Akari felt her chest tighten, and not in the vaguely pleasant way it had been around Chinatsu recently. The pinkette seemed legitimately angry about something, and while this wasn't anything new in itself, her refusal to divulge the cause to Akari was something very uncharacteristic.

Akari wasn't left to worry for long, however. She'd been firmly ordered to sit at a two-person table they'd come across while Chinatsu veritably marched up to the register. The redhead allowed herself to watch the pinkette bully her way past the line of socially awkward otaku (one-hit KO, as Kyouko would have said—the majority of the customers had been cringing in fear of the pretty, confident Chinatsu even before she opened her mouth) for just a moment, unable to keep the fond feeling from welling up in her chest. Chinatsu could be such a bully, and Akari was sure it felt awful to be on the receiving end, but…what most people didn't know (and never would) was that deep down, Chinatsu was an amazing person. Protective, kind, funny…she'd been the best friend Akari had ever had in all of her sixteen years.

And still, selfishly, Akari wanted more. Selfish, because what did she have to offer? She wasn't cool, or particularly skilled at anything, and she tended to blend in with her surroundings more often than not. She'd thought it a hundred times on this trip, but still the mocking voice taunted her, as if it thought she hadn't tortured herself enough.

What could a pretty, popular girl like Chinatsu ever see in someone like you? You're lucky she even wants to be your friend. How dare you want more?

A loud clang snapped Akari from her self-deprecating thoughts as Chinatsu plopped unceremoniously into the seat opposite her. "I swear some of these morons have never heard of soap," she muttered, narrowing her eyes at the line she'd just escaped. She wrinkled her nose cutely, lifting the collar of her flowy blouse and sniffing before pulling back in disgust. "Now I reek of Cheetos and nerd-sweat."

"Chinatsu-chan!" Akari chided, though her giggles rendered it more or less invalid. She wanted to tell the pinkette that she smelled wonderful. Quite contrary to Cheetos and otaku-essence, Chinatsu's scent was warm, sweet and welcoming—cherry blossoms and vanilla. She'd come to associate the scent with Chinatsu, as comfort and safety and warmth and god, she's so pretty even when she's being mean, that's not right...

Growing suddenly quiet, she looked down at her lap, widening her eyes in disbelief and wondering what was wrong with her. Just how long had she been pathetically in love with her best friend?

Remembering herself all at once, she snapped her head back up only for ice-blue orbs to follow the movement, latching onto her own as soon as they reappeared. Chinatsu was watching her closely, with that same furrowed brow and expression from earlier (the one that Akari was growing to realize was more frustration than anger, as well as something else she couldn't quite place but felt sure she'd seen it somewhere). The pinkette was resting her chin on her fingertips, studying Akari as if there was some kind of ancient code written across the redhead's face that she wanted desperately to decipher.

Finally, she spoke.

"Akari, I think we need to have a little talk."

I have no excuse. It's been break for almost two weeks now (which means I'll have to go back to school in like, three days, and I'm super stressed as usual, nothing new there). I was just hit by a sudden wave of writer's block and this was the soonest I could get anything out… The writer's block is also unfortunately to blame for this relatively uneventful chapter…I am going to try for an exciting one for this next one, though, so please bear with me!

For those of you are still reading, thank you for being so patient with me! And thank you, everyone who left reviews! You guys motivated me to finally pick up and continue with this! So please, continue to read and please do leave a review!