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Rideback: Fire and Water
Chapter 6
Shouko Returns
Standing outside the open door to Okuakura's office Rin knocked lightly on the door jam.
"You need something?" said Okakura with out even turning his head.
"You officiate at those championship races right? asked Rin.
"Yeah." said Okakura still not turning his head.
"Do you have any pull with the people that organize the event?"
That question got Okakura to at least change the position of his head if not the expression and he looked at Rin and asked "Why do you want to know that?"
"Well, I had this idea about Tamayo and I doing an exhibition ballet on ridebacks between the preliminaries and the race." Rin explained.
"And of course you would want to use Fuego and Agua for that. Right?"
"Yeah."
"Absolutley not. Forget about it." said Okakura.
"But why not?" complained Rin.
"Look, I didn't make those ridebacks so you could show off with them so just forget it." said Okakura.
"Then What did you make them for. Look you know as well as I that the biggest problem facing ridebacks is that so many people just think of them as weapons. This exactly the kind of attention they need!"
Okakura slammed his fist down on his desk and yelled "I SAID NO DAMN IT! NOW GET OUT!"
"FINE!" yelled Rin as she stormed out of his office.
After Rin had left Okakura found himself thinking about it more. "Who am I trying to protect now. Rin and Tamayo aren't in any danger. Is this just about me protecting my secrets. She has a point about it being the right kind of attention. I don't know. It's risky but maybe this time it's a risk worth taking."
~RB~
Rin stormed into her dorm room still angry about Okakura's stubbornness "Big Jerk!" she said out loud. She collapsed on her bed and pouted for a moment and then looked over at Shouko's bed which hadn't been slept in for about a month.
"Times like this Shouko would always have something to say that would cheer me up. She always knew just what to say to make me feel better." she thought before getting up and walking over to Shouko's bed. She picked up Shouko's pillow and held it up to her nose inhaled deeply. sniff "Wow it's sill smells like her. I don't know. Maybe I could love her the way she loves me. I just wish I could be sure. I don't even know how to figure that out."
Just then her little red cell phone started to vibrate making a buzzing sound against the table top where she set it down. "If that's Okakura I'm not answering."
Rin put down the pillow and picked up her phone and looked at the screen to see who was calling before answering. An icon she had not seen in some time appeared on the screen, an icon with a cartoon likeness of Shouko.
"Shouko!" she yelled in excitement. before answering the phone. "Oh my god Shouko, Please don't hang up." she said.
"Rin, I called you. Why would I hang up." asked Shouko's voice from the phone.
"Oh my god Shouko I've missed you so much." said Rin climbing into the chair by the window and folding her legs in as if hoping the phone call would last a while, like she was curling up with a good book or something."
"So you don't hate me?" said Shouko.
Rin's voice took on a softness that would have betrayed her feelings had Shouko not been more focused on what her own feelings were doing.
"God no. I could never hate you. Oh Shouko, it's so great to hear your voice. So how've you been?" said Rin grinning from ear to ear.
"Well, Okay I guess. It's good to hear your voice too."
"Hey, Shouko? I love hearing your voice again and all but... do you think maybe we could meet? I really wanna see you. Please?"
"Yeah, That's kind of what this call is about. I think I've been feeling better and I just wanted to see how I'd react to hearing your voice and, yeah, I think I'm ready for a face to face. How about the cafeteria?" said Shouko.
"Oh, uhm..." Rin thought for a moment trying to think of a less populated place. "How about by the lake? You know by the campus road we use as part of our course? Could we meet there?" asked Rin.
"Okay, I guess. What's wrong with the cafeteria?"
"I just don't want to have this particular reunion in such a crowded place."
"Okay, I gotcha. Sure by the lake then. Is half an hour good for you?"
"Yeah, Half an hour is perfect. I'll see you then. Bye Shouko. And thanks so much for calling."
"Okay I'll see you then girly."
"YES YES YES, I'm going to see Shouko! Oh my god it's been so long. Oh crap! What am I gonna where? I can't just go in this plain white dress I'm always wearing. I wanna look nice for Shouko. I gotta find something better than this."
Panicking over what to wear Rin looked at the clock. "Damn I've got no time. I should have asked for more than half an hour. I've got just enough time to brush my hair at least."
~RB~
Half an hour later down by the lake Rin arrives just moments after Shouko. "Shouko!" shouted Rin running up and giving Shouko a big hug.
"Oh my god I've missed you so much." said Rin. "Wow, I think I am in love with this girl. Holding her like this feels so good." she thought.
"Rin, your.. crushing me." said Shouko.
"Oh god I'm sorry." said Rin letting go and then standing back to take a proper look said. "Wow, you look great Shouko."
"Thanks You look great too Rin."
"Oh no I don't. I barely had enough time to brush my hair. I wanted to look nice for you but here I am in this same old white dress. I'm sorry."
"Oh please Rin. You look the best in the simple things. I've always envied that about you. It's like you make the clothes look good instead of the clothes making you look good." said Shouko.
Rin blushed beet red at that compliment and hear heart skipped a couple beats and she thought. "Oh wow, Okay now I am sure. I am in love with her."
"Look I just wa..." they both said simultaneously and then laughed at the coincidence.
"Okay, you go first." said Shouko.
"No no, You go first. I insist." said Rin.
"Okay well, I just wanted to explain what I've been going through. You remember when you rescued me from that terrorist attack? Well, it seems there was another side effect aside from the brief traumatization and it seems I developed a minor crush on you. Well, okay a major crush on you. I realized it was the classic damsel in distress falls for her hero situation so I figured it would fade but it was just to hard to be around you and it was taking to long to fade so I just needed to get away. I'm sorry. Anyway i think I can safely say I'm over you now."
Rin's eyes widened in terror at that last statement. "What? No! God No! Please don't say that!" she said dropping to her knees and hugging Shouko around the waist. "Oh my god please! I don't want you to be over me!"
"Rin What's wrong? I thought you'd be happy?"
Rin looked up at Shouko with tears filling her eyes. "Shouko you've always been my hero. When my mom died you were the only reason I was able to go on and keep dancing and when I hurt my ankle and wanted to quit it was your light that lit my way and here now... I need you to save me again. My god I've been so lost without you Shouko. I love you. Please don't stop loving me."
"Oh god. Rin. I had no idea you felt that way." said Shouko dropping to her knee as well. "Of course I'll keep loving you Rin."
The two knelt there for a moment holding each other when finally Shouko looked around at there surroundings and said. "Uhm, maybe we should take this indoors before some one sees us like this."
Wiping tears from her eyes, Rin said "Yeah, Let's go back to our dorm room." emphasizing 'our'.
"Yeah, Lets." said Shouko.
~RB~
As soon as they entered their dorm room Rin turned and embraced Shouko again and whispered "Oh Shouko." before leaning in for the first kiss on her best friends lips. It didn't last long in fact it was nothing more then the briefest of pecks but the softness of Shouko's lips did leave a lasting impression. "Oh wow Shouko." she whispered again, "You're lips are so soft." Rin moved in for another kiss and then began chuckling to her self.
"What's so funny?" said Shouko.
"I'm sorry. I'm just laughing at myself. Back when I was trying to figure out if I could love you this way I tried so hard to imagine what it would be like to kiss you and hold you like this. But I never imagined it could possibly feel this good or this right." Tightening her embrace she added, "Oh Shouko. god I love you so much."
"Oh Rin. I love you too." said Shouko tightening her hold on Rin and continuing the kissing.
Rin was surprised to feel Shouko's tongue prying at her lips and even more surprised by how eagerly she welcomed it with her own.
After about a minute of that Rin broke away gasping for air, her breathing had become so heavy. "Oh my god... Shouko... This is all... happening so fast. I never imagined... your touch would... excite me so much."
"Oh Rin" said Shouko, her breathing also heavy. "Just the sight of you... has been exciting me... You're so beautiful Rin." she said.
With both of them feeling their knees weakening as things escalate they clumsily maneuvered towards the nearest bed with out breaking the kiss.
Collapsing back onto the bed with Shouko now on top Rin said "I want you so much... but I don't know... what to do."
"I don't either but... I know what... I want to do." said Shouko with her eyes barely open enough to see Rin.
"Oh god yes. Please... Please take me Shouko... Pleas make love to me... I wanna feel your hands on my body."
~RB~
A while later Rin and Shouko are both in Rin's bed holding each other. Shouko's bed remains untouched.
"Oh wow, Shouko. Thank you so much for that." said Rin.
"So I did okay then?" asked Shouko.
"Oh you were wonderful Shouko. That was... I... It..."
"At a loss for words huh?"
"Yes. A resounding yes. Oh my god how to describe that. I never felt anything like that. Not on stage. Not even on Fuego."
"Woah. I beat out the stage and Fuego?"
"Oh yes, by a mile. By miles and miles. I can't believe we went so far so fast. Once I had you in my arms I just couldn't stop myself. I didn't even want to stop myself." said Rin.
"Well, you know how I'm always saying you're amazing at everything you try? This was no exception." said Shouko.
"Awww Shouko. You always know exactly the right thing to say. God I love that about you."
"God I better not be dreaming all this." said Shouko.
"Well, If you wake up hurry back to sleep because I'll be here waiting." said Rin.
"So now we're officially a couple." said Shouko.
"Yup, we sure are." said Rin snuggling up closer to Shouko.
"Hey, Rin. uhm, I'm kind of thinking we should keep this between us for now. Is that alright with you?"
"Well yeah, Of course."
"It's not like I'm ashamed or anything. Actually quite the opposite. I'm so unbelievably proud of you I want to shout from the rooftops that Rin Ogata is my girlfriend but I'm thinking if anyone on the faculty found out I'm sure they'd try to split us up and give us different roommates but as long as we keep quiet about it we'll get to spend every night in each others arms like this."
"Yeah, that does sound nice. But I would like to tell Tamayo and the others down at the rideback club. I don't want to keep this from our friends and I'm sure we can trust them." said Rin.
"Yeah, I'm good with that. How is everybody down there by the way." asked Shouko.
"Oh good. You have to see Tamayo on Agua now. I'v been teaching her ballet moves on Agua and she's getting really good at it."
"No way! Tamayo doing Ballet on a rideback?"
"Yeah, just this morning we were dancing all over the campus on Fuego and Agua."
"Holy crap. I gotta see this." said Shouko in disbelief. "Oh crap I should really call my fiend and let her know I won't be coming back tonight."
Shouko got out of bed and Rin enjoyed the view as Shouko bent over to fumble through her discarded clothes looking for her cell phone.
After pulling the phone out of a pocket she dialed and waited.
"Yeah hi Megumi. It's me." said Shouko into the phone.
"I just wanted to let you know I won't be back tonight."
"Yeah, Actually I'm at Rin's, well, our dorm room right now."
"Yeah, we're all patched up here." said Shouko smiling at Rin.
"So I'll be by to pick up the rest of my stuff some time tomorrow. Okay?"
"Okay, cool. Oh and Thanks so much for putting me up and putting up with me all this time. You've been a huge help."
"Okay. See ya tomorrow." said Shouko before pushing the Off button and tossing her cell phone right back on the floor with he rest of her clothes.
Climbing back in bed with Rin she snuggled up against her and said. "So, wanna do it again?"
"Yeah." was the last word spoken that night.