A/N: WARNING: Um, before you read this, I would suggest you go to your nearest store and pick up a box of P*cky and then enjoy.
Nagisa walked with Tamao to where the last section of the duel was being held. Although the first two events were publicized through whispers and tumors, this one was kept more of a secret. What was actually going to happen, well except for a select few, no one really knew including Nagisa and her roommate. Even though the duel was about her, Nagisa felt out of the loop about the whole thing. In the first two events, she was more informed than this last one. The only thing she knew was that she was to go to some empty room on the top floor. Past that, it would be a total surprise to her, although Tamao had theorized quite a few scenarios about what might happen. However, the red head only took what Tamao said with a grain of salt.
As they approached the room, they noticed two other girls standing outside the door. Looking more closely told them these figures were Kaname and Momomi. Momomi wore a pink silk night gown, where Kaname looked as if she was going out clubbing or something. She wore a pair of black knee high boots, stylish faded ripped blue jeans, a sleeveless red polo shirt with a dark brown suede jacket and a pair of sunglasses.
Upon seeing Nagisa, Kaname's face lit up; of course, it was hard to tell with her eyes hidden behind her sunglasses, but it showed on her lips when she gave a sexy little smile. The red head found herself blushing from the sight of the smile. As she and Tamao drew closer to the two older girls, Nagisa was going to make a comment on how nice, Kaname looked, but her chance was stolen from her by the presence of Shizuma coming from the opposite direction from where the red head came from.
The young girl's eyes grew wide as she took in what the Etoile was wearing. Just like the blunette Spica girl, she didn't wear her PJs. Instead she wore a traditional yukata, black with red roses and pink cherry blossoms. Upon her feet, she wore black house shoes. Her long flowing hair was held back by a pair of chop sticks. Needless to say, the word elegance described the silver wolf to a tea.
Stopping by the door, she asked, "Shall we go in?"
Kaname smirked, "I would, but it seems like we're missing a member of our party."
"No you're not," said a voice from behind the group, who were all facing the door before this point. Every head turned towards the direction of the voice to find Chikaru standing there in black teddy. (A/N: It's possible, look at her swim suit in the summer school episode.)
Except for Nagisa and Tamao, who were a bit embarrassed to see an upperclassman in such a seductive appearance, Shizuma, Kaname and Momomi nearly drooled at the sight. They kept staring until they heard a soft cough from Tamao. The older girls looked over at their underclassman trying to understand why they were interrupted from seeing such a terrific view. "Shall we proceed inside the room?" the poet asked as she indicated the door.
"Ah, yes," said Shizuma as she pulled out of her thoughts and a key to unlock the door.
The room was a standard double bedroom. In the center of the room was a low table surrounded by six cushions. Upon the table was a small package (playing cards), along with several boxes P*cky sticks and cans of juice, etc.
"What's all this?" asked Kaname rather suspiciously.
Shizuma, who had knelt by the table, looked at the blunette and answered, "Since Chikaru is neutral in this whole thing, I had asked her to come here and prepare the room for us. She agreed."
Kaname only nodded her head and took her place at the table. "My guess is that she'll also be our dealer."
"Correct, so shall we get started?" asked Shizuma once everyone sat down.
"Hanazono-san?" piped up Tamao.
"Yes, Suzumi-san?"
"What's going to happen tonight?"
In a very nonchalant voice, the Etoile replied, "Strip poker, but don't worry it would only be between Kaname and me."
The poet looked over at her roommate, who looked as if she seen a ghost. In a comforting manner, Tamao wrapped an arm around Nagisa to ease her worries. The red head nodded to Tamao's unspoken words as she looked around the table. She found herself sitting between Chikaru and Tamao, who sat next to Shizuma. To Etoile's left was Momomi followed by Kaname.
Chikaru picked up the packet of cards from the table and took them out to shuffle, "Here are the rules," she said as cards were scrambled. "It's going to be straight out poker, nothing special; however, Jokers are wilds. When someone looses a hand, they must take off an article of clothing; if they win they put on a piece of clothing or if it ends in a drawl nothing happens."
The duelists nodded their head in approval of the rules. Seeing as how things were now settled, Chikaru got down to business and handed out the cards for the first round. Both girls looked at their cards, trying to figure out their next move. After much mental debating, Shizuma asked for two cards, where as Kaname asked for three. Once seeing their new cards, Shizuma laid down hers to reveal two pairs: A pair of sixes and a pair of nines.
Seeing her opponent's cards on the table, Kaname gave a smirk and showed that she had managed to get three of a kind, winning her the first hand. Sighing, Shizuma took the chopsticks out of her hair and laid them on the table. The cards were then picked up and were placed face up next to Chikaru, who didn't bother to shuffle them back in the deck. Once the cards were secure, she continued to pass out five more cards to each of the duelists. (A/N: when I had this scene in mind, I thought "heck it would be easy to write," but it's surprisingly difficult.)
After the first hand, Momomi began to be bored. A part of her wished to join in the fun, but the other part wanted to enjoy the show, but she was bored now. She looked across the table to watch Nagisa and Tamao. The latter looked nervous as she glanced from one poker player to another dreading what might happen next. Having paid a little too much attention to Nagisa, she jumped in surprise by a loud thunk behind her. Turning around at the source, she saw that Kaname had managed to lose a shoe and Shizuma tucking the chopsticks behind her ears. Putting them back into her hair would have taken too long.
Feeling a little hungry because of what was happening, Nagisa picked up a box of P*cky and opened it. So as to not appear like a pig, she turned towards Tamao and offered her a stick. The poet obliged and pinched two out from the foil wrappings in the box. As they finish off the box Kaname had managed to lose another shoe.
Upon seeing the red head and her roommate across from her sharing a box of P*cky, Momomi found herself taking up a box of her own to nibble on. As she slipped a stick into her mouth to suck the chocolate off, an idea came to her. She stood up and walked over to the girls she had been studying. As she knelt down, her presence sort of scared Nagisa, who found herself snuggling up to Chikaru for protection. Her actions didn't go unnoticed by her upperclassmen. Shizuma was confused and a little ticked off that Chikaru had managed to score some snuggling time with the girl she loved. The girl in question rather enjoyed the touch, but she didn't show it. As for Kaname, she had shot her ex-lover a piercing warning glare which said watch it. Momomi just shrugged. Needless to say, both duelists folded and Chikaru had to shuffle the deck again.
Still feeling weary of Momomi, Nagisa stood up and walked over to take the vacated seat between the fighting ones on the pretense of there being a juice drink there which looked tasty. She picked up a can of a carrot/strawberry mixture and took a gulp. Although it might have sounded as if it would be terrible, it was quite delicious, but at the same time, it kind of tasted like something a baby food. While she enjoyed the refreshing drink, Kaname had her luck turned as Shizuma once again lost her chopsticks.
Momomi on the other hand took over the red head's seat and studied Tamao. She would hate to admit it, but when she was studying over her part in Carmen, she had found the whole thing well written. She was impressed by Tamao's writing skills. As far as the story, it was something she truly enjoyed, since there were tons of back stabbing and death. At one point, she had thought she would have made a better Carman, than the girl on her right, but at the same time, she knew she couldn't pull off that sexy Carmen costume. Lost in her thoughts about the play, Shizuma had taken off both of her house shoes leaving Kaname fully clothed.
Having someone watching her was starting to freak Tamao out. She tried her best to look at those around the table so she could avoid paying attention to the brunette beside her, but it was starting to take great effect on her. After watching Shizuma standing up to remove the sash to the yukata, she turned towards Momomi and asked in a whisper, "Is there something on my face?"
Momomi looked at her for a moment before shaking her head, "I was trying to burn the image of your face into my memory."
Tamao looked taken aback by all of this, "Why?"
"It's not for any particular reason; it's just you have pretty face."
"Okay?" she said skeptically. The poet had no idea how to respond to the comment since she didn't know if Momomi was being serious or putting her on. In any case, she decided to change the topic. "Why did you scare Nagisa-chan away?"
A twinkle lit up in the brunette's eye as she explained quietly, "I didn't mean to scare her away, although, I should have expected it. Actually she wasn't my target."
"Really?"
Momomi waggled her eyebrows and said, "Of course. I had my eye on you. I thought you might like to play a game with me."
Tamao raised an eyebrow at the comment, "What kind of game?"
Before Momomi could answer, she looked behind the poet to see Shizuma once again standing up to take the rest of her yukata off. As soon as the yukata slid off of the silver fox's shoulders and on to the ground, the tall woman revealed how she wore a pair of black nylon knee highs and matching colored lacy underwear and bra set. Upon her neck hung a necklace, but what hung on it wasn't revealed (A/N: can you guess?). Momomi couldn't believe how inciting the Etoile looked; of course, she wasn't the only one in the room who thought so. Unfortunately, as soon as she sat down, the spell broke for those, who were mesmerized by her.
Once she looked away from the Etoile, Momomi once again gave her attention back to Tamao, "I'm sorry, what did you ask?"
Tamao looked at her incredulously and shook her head. Moments before when she found the brunette's eyes were no longer on her, the poet had turned her head slightly to see how come. A part of her could understand Momomi's distraction, after all Shizuma had a great body, however great the Etoile's body was it nothing for the poet. The fact was tall people didn't do anything for her; she preferred someone about her height or shorter. Her preference in height was due to her over protective desires. She liked the idea of being a knight who could protect the one she loves. With Nagisa, she had fit the description, but the blunette couldn't see herself romantically involved with her. It wasn't because she wasn't attracted to her, it just felt wrong. At first she was confused with her feelings until she realized they were ones she would have for a sister. After the whole cutting incident and hearing some of Nagisa's woes, Tamao had declared the girl her sister. She also suggested that she could ask her parents to talk to Nagisa's to see if they would be willing to sign over their parental rights so her family could adopt her.
The red head felt torn. She liked the idea, but at the same time she didn't want to leave her parents. In the end she only said that she would think about. Tamao had nodded her head as if saying 'you could take as long as she wanted.'
After a moment lost in thought, she turned her attention back to Momomi, "I was wondering what type of game you wanted to play."
With a wicked smile, Momomi placed a stick of P*cky in her mouth and sucked off the chocolate for a moment before pulling it out, "A little game I like to call chicken."
The poet looked at the brunette as if she were nuts, "Chicken, don't you need to use cars or some other motorized vehicle."
"Ah, not really," she said as she licked the stick again. "All we really need is our mouths and a P*chy stick."
The blunette's eyes grew wide at the sudden revelation. A part of her felt repulsed by the idea because of everything she knew about Momomi. On the other hand, she had seen how the girl could be caring in her own way. Of course, she could always break away from the stick if she felt too uncomfortable, and besides, she was kind of bored. She grabbed hold of the package in Momomi's hand and pinched out a stick of her own.
A gentle glee hit the brunette as soon as she seen the younger woman placed the chocolate coated stick in her mouth. Momomi quickly finished the stick she was eating, before placing her lips on the bare end of the stick in the other girl's mouth. Slowly she began to nibble on the end to move her lips closer to the other girl's. Just as she was close enough, the stick broke apart, but not by her doing. Suddenly, she felt rejected.
The actions of these two girls didn't go unnoticed by those in the room. Shizuma didn't really care. Chikaru was amused; after all it was the reason why she brought the treat. Kaname tested her own feelings to see if they held a slightly hint of jealousy, but she found none. Out of everyone, Nagisa felt the most emotions. She was freaking out to see her best friend getting to up close and personal with someone, who had tortured her since the play. Well, there were only two incidents, the play and the other one about a month or so ago. She remembered how Momomi had pushed her around like a slave and also literally pushing her which caused her to loose her balance and ruin the scenery that everyone worked so hard on. Due to her fright, she tried to stay away from her and anything else that was related to her from then on. That was until she started spending time with Kaname.
However, her fear came back tenfold as she was taken by surprised from Momomi's presence one day. The older girl had led her away so they could talk privately. Once they were alone, Momomi had pushed her to the ground and crawled on top of her. The brunette proceeded to slap Nagisa's on the face a few times while ranting about how a stupid girl like her couldn't have someone like Kaname. Momomi had also told her how disgusting she was and called her a whore along with other names. She then asked her, although not really wanting an answer, what Kaname could even see in a girl like her. Eventually, Momomi forcefully held the red head's hand above her head and fiercely kissed her on the lips. While still holding the girl's arms above her head with one hand, she moved the other one as it found its way towards the younger girl's chest, which was roughly handled. Having her fill of breasts, she moved from one intimate spot to another, the younger fought back and with all her strength and pushed Momomi away. It left her room to runaway.
She never felt so much self hatred, nor could she understand Momomi's actions. It confused her that Momomi would even consider her rival for Kaname's affections. When it came to her and the blunette, Nagisa only saw Kaname as just a friend. Of course, there was that one kiss…
Her thoughts were interrupted when she sensed movement coming from her left. Looking, she witnessed Kaname removing a shoe. The older girl looked a little relieved to see an article of clothing coming off. It confused Nagisa slightly. She looked from her towards Shizuma, who was frowning at having her yukata on again. This sight had relieved Nagisa greatly. When she had seen Shizuma without the yukata, she felt like digging herself a hole to crawl into. The embarrassment she felt from watching and staring at Shizuma was too much. Her heart had pounded in her chest as her eyes took in the sight on the Etoile's fair skin. Strangely enough, she found herself wanting to touch the skin, but at the same time it seemed wrong. She still liked Shizuma very much, but something in her affections for the older woman seemed to have died off. Just being in the silver wolf's presence unnerved her, well it always unnerved her. Before it was just intoxicating, but now it was uncomfortable.
She looked back over to Kaname and recalled her last conversation with Momomi. What did she feel for her? Kaname had come to her seeking for forgiveness. She had come to her when she desperately needed a friend. When finding out about the cuts, Kaname never truly judged her harshly. The older girl called her foolish but never with disgust. She felt more comfortable with Kaname. This blunette almost reminded her of what it was like to be in the presence of another, meaning Amane. It was more than her being tall and almost boyish, it was the fact she held a certain regal air about her. Nagisa smiled to herself as she thought about how she might have found a second prince in Spica. Maybe it more like a duke or something of that nature. Although this royal figure was completely arrogant, Nagisa knew it was only a front Kaname would use to hide her own insecurities. She liked the older girl, but could she really be in love with her. She sighed at the thought while she picked up another can of juice since she had emptied the first.
Chikaru looked at Nagisa with sympathy. "Are you bored, Nagisa-chan?" she asked.
The red head looked at Chikaru for a moment and shook her head, ""No, just lost in thought."
The Lulim girl smiled at her and nodded, "Ah, being lost in thought could be a sign of being bored. I'm sorry that I didn't think of planning any more activities."
The younger girl just smiled, "It's fine. I just have a lot to think about."
Chikaru left it alone for a minute to see Kaname take off her other shoe. Once it was placed to the side, Chikaru spoke up again, "You know a normal game of strip poker includes more than two people playing."
"What are you suggesting?" asked Kaname.
"Well, you could go on as you are, but it would probably take forever until one you… well you know. Or you could keep losing your clothes when you lose, but if you win instead of putting your clothes back on, you'll get to share a P*cky stick with Nagisa-chan. That is if she agrees."
Kaname looked from Chikaru to Nagisa and back again, "I don't you should put Aoi on the spot like that."
Shizuma looked at the blue haired Spica girl. It just bothered her to see Kaname's over protectiveness. She thought it over the top and uncalled for. Although, she didn't like the thought of Nagisa kissing some other girl, she could see Chikaru having a point, "Kenjo-san, who do you think you are? Nagisa's mother. It's not your decision to make; it's up to Nagisa."
Kaname bit her lower lip. She knew she was in the wrong, but still, she knew it would be hard on Nagisa. Instead of letting her anger get the better of her, she kept her cool and smirked, "You're right, Etoile-sama." She turned her attention back to Nagisa. "What do you say, Aoi?"
"Um, I don't want to, but…" began Nagisa as her eyes went from Shizuma to Kaname. Shizuma was her first love, but could she really love another. She had to know her true feelings for the Spica girl. "I'll do it."
Both Shizuma and Chikaru grinned, while Kaname only wanted to grind her teeth. "Let's play on."
Chikaru gathered the cards up and shuffled them. She passed out five cards to each competitor. The girls studied their hand before picking out some cards to exchange. Shizuma asked for a card and Kaname, two. After rearranging their cards, they laid them on the table. The blunette played a pair of kings and a pair of twos. Of course, Shizuma won by playing a full house. While Kaname pulled off a sock, Shizuma pulled out a stick and put it between her lips. Nagisa placed her lips on the opposite end. When their lips met in the middle, they kissed pretty deeply.
Shizuma had missed those lips terribly. They tasted so good and warm. Where she was enjoying the kiss, Nagisa wanted to feel what her feelings were telling her. So far she hadn't come to any conclusion.
Momomi had watched the new development in the game and felt sick. It was just wrong in her opinion. She saw the torment in her ex-lover's eyes, but she couldn't give any words of comfort. She hated how Nagisa was playing with both girls' feelings; of course, she didn't understand what was going through the red head's mind. Not wanting to witness this painful scene anymore, she turned back to Tamao, who had worry in her eyes. Curious, Momomi leaned in and whispered in the poet's ear, "What are you thinking about?"
Tamao gave her attention to the other girl and whispered in her ear, "Would you hate me if I said I want Nagisa-chan to end up Kenjo-san?"
This surprised Momomi greatly, "Why would you say that?"
"I don't know everything, but in the short time that I've gotten to know Kenjo-san, I've found a whole new respect for her. She truly loves Nagisa-chan and cares for her deeply. My roommate really needs someone like that."
The brunette nodded, "I hate to admit this, but I think Nagisa has been a good influence on my friend."
Tamao pursed her lips together as she couldn't help but question if Momomi have a nicer side as well. She pulled out a cookie stick and once the non-coated end was in her mouth, she offered Momomi the other end. With questioning mirth, Momomi placed her lips on the chocolate coated portion and chewed it on up. It didn't take long for their lips to meet. The kiss didn't last long, but it felt good. Tamao stared into the older girl's eyes and saw desire in them. An evil thought of her own crossed Tamao's mind as she took another stick and placed it in her mouth. Again Momomi took the bait, but as soon as they were about to kiss, Tamao broke off. At a lost, the brunette looked at the younger girl to catch the poet giving her a wink. She's such a tease! Inwardly, Momomi smiled.
Kaname had watched as her ex-lover kissed Tamao, she couldn't help, but wonder on what Momomi was thinking about or at least what the girl thought of Tamao. To see her friend finally showing interest in someone made the bkuette happy. What's more, she liked how Tamao seemed to being teasing her ex-lover. If there was someone Kaname could see her friend with, it would either be Shion or Tamao. Her ability to manipulate people is Shion's main draw card. However, Tamao didn't really manipulate people. From what the Spica girl observed about the poet as if the younger girl found something she liked, she would become obsessed with it. This would often lead the girl to become sneaky. Tamao once told her how she had wanted to get a recording of Nagisa screaming. To do this, she had arranged to scare her roommate during summer school. Kaname had taken a liking to the girl and knew she had great potential; whither it was for either good or evil.
Inwardly she smiled as she looked away from her friend to study her cards. After taking out two cards to exchange, she looked up to see Shizuma's brow furrowing. She took out three cards for exchanged. Once they picked up their new cards, Kaname felt better. Shizuma had put down a three of a kind built from fives. Kaname had also placed a three of a kind down, but of tens. Shizuma was once again without her yukata.
Kaname took a stick from her pack of p*cky and placed the strawberry end away from her towards Nagisa. Shyly the younger girl began to nibble on it until their lips finally touched. Before joining lips, the older girl was afraid of kissing the red head because of what happened the last time. However, as they kissed, Kaname was flooded with so much love and lust, but at the same time she felt complete. Somehow at the end of the kiss, she felt like crying.
It hurt her, but she couldn't blame Nagisa for her actions. The red head didn't know of Kaname's feelings. However, it didn't keep the Spica girl from questioning why Nagisa was doing this. The girl had said so herself that she didn't want to do this before she agreed. The brunette couldn't figure out why. It troubled her greatly. With Momomi, she knew what she was getting, but with Nagisa it was completely different. For the most part, she desperately wanted to get inside the red head's head to find out what made it tick. The younger girl seemed rather sporadic and somehow it was a frustrating turn on for the older girl. If she could have it her way, she would spend a life time getting to know the puzzle that was Nagisa.
The game continued on.
Nagisa watched as her roommate and Momomi were kissing and teasing each other. It became awkward just watching them, so she became tuned into the poker game more. Her eyes had roamed Shizuma's body. At one point she had found herself wanting to touch and feel it, but now she felt too afraid to. She chalked it up to her changing feelings.
From the Etoile, Nagisa's gaze went towards Kaname, who by this point had nothing on her feet, no sunglasses, no jacket and no pants. Her mind starting thinking about what the older girl would look like without any clothes on. In a way Kaname was beautiful, but like Amane, the best word used for her would be handsome. She recalled when Kaname had held her in her arms and comforted her because of the abuse she did to her own body. She hated how she caused the older woman distressed at that point in time and vowed to not do anything stupid like that again. However, within the older girl's arms, she had felt safe and truly wanted. With Shizuma, it felt more like a game at times, but with Kaname it wasn't. Oh and the kisses, she was receiving…
They felt like love's medicine running through her veins. She had wanted to kiss her more. She couldn't explain it. It just Kaname's kisses meant so much more to her then anything Shizuma gave her. Her lips were soft, and although they were not too sweet, they did taste yummy. Shocked at where her course of thoughts were taking, she found she couldn't stop them as she was wondering how it would feel like if Kaname were to kiss more than just her lips.
Her day dreams were interrupted as she witnessed the older girl removing her shirt. The red head's heart began to thump in her chest as she saw the girl's bare tummy, but her viewing pleasure was interrupted when someone turned her head away. Not having time to process anything, she found herself kissing Shizuma.
Once recovering from shock, Nagisa's heart fell. Even though the kiss was good, it felt just wrong. She loved Shizuma, and she probably would always hold a special place in her heart for her, but there was someone who needed her. In the moment of the kiss, she realized how much torture Kaname was willing to go through for her. To do this crazy duel, must have taken a lot out of the older girl. The red head knew that she needed to repay the Spica girl for her great kindness and there was only one thing she could think of.
She knew things were broken off between the blunette and Momomi, so that didn't cross her mind. Nor of the fact she would hurt Shizuma, the thing was she couldn't have cared less, since the Etoile had broken her heart before. The only person in her mind was Kaname and the only action she wanted to follow burst from her.
With great strength, she pushed away from Shizuma, who asked, "What's wrong?"
The younger girl shook her head, "I'm sorry, but I can't do this."
"What do you mean?" asked Shizuma confused.
Nagisa didn't say anything to her and pulled herself out of Shizuma's arms. Without any words, she threw herself at Kaname, who reacted on instinct caught her. The red head's actions caused the blunette confusion from the sudden affection. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.
The girl in her arms snuggled into her neck and took a sniff of her skin. She found she loved the smell. Without warning Kaname, Nagisa kissed older girl's neck, sending Goosebumps along the Spica girl's skin.
Kaname couldn't help but feel elated at the sensation. As she held onto the girl, Nagisa placed her lips against Kaname's ear and said, "I love you."
Uncharacteristic tears sprang forth from the blunette's eyes as she pulled Nagisa out of the embrace to look her in the eyes. For first time, she smiled a genuine smile. "I love you too." She brought the younger girl into a kiss. Both felt the love of the other as their lips danced.
Shizuma watched on with a broken heart. Chikaru looked on pleased with the situation. Both Tamao and Momomi looked at their friends and felt sincere happiness for them.