It's a thin pink line

This was the third time I've met up with Shoukaku in the evening, after lights out, and this time it was her choice what we got up to. And here I am climbing a ladder up the side of one of the port buildings, in the dark, with only moonlight to guide me. As I look up to and ask, "Are you sure that you going first up the ladder was a good idea?" I get an eyeful of her undergarments from below and nearly lose my grip on the ladder.

"My, my, are you trying to peek under my skirt? I wonder what a proper lady would say in response to such an indecent act." She laughs and I can almost feel that she's looking at me with a giggle and a smirk

"You demanded to climb up the ladder first! I have to look up to see the next rung!" I say with my lips pressed together as I struggle to keep a good grip on the ladder.

"Ara, are you enjoying the view, Shikikan?" She giggles as she seems to stay in place, preventing me from going up.

Snorting out a breath, I climb faster and gain on her, my head colliding with her butt as I ask, "Did you enjoy that?"

"Ah, my, how lewd! Did you do this on purpose, Shikikan?" she asks with mock offense in her voice, given away by her laughter at the end as she adds, "I would say you got as good as you gave."

"So, are you going to keep going, or do you want me to keep giving it to you in the stern?" I joke right back, fully aware of the lewdness that could be taken from my words.

"Hm, Are you suggesting we should switch places? I certainly will not object." Shoukaku chuckled as she slowly make her way up the ladder.

I pick up my pace and purposely bump into her rear again and tease, "So soft."

Shoukaku goes a little stiff, but not as much as I would've expected, almost like she was pretending to not enjoy the bump, she turns slightly to look at me and ask, "I wonder what would happen if I let go?" she laughed again as she leaned back a little, hold the ladder more loosely.

Raising an eyebrow I decide to see how far I can push this as I tease, "There are easier ways to get on top of me, Shoukaku."

"Is there, now?" She says with a grin that flashed in the moonlight, a second before my insides dropped and she let go of the ladder. As we both fell off the ladder, she gave this squeal of delight.

With a solid thump, I landed on my back, with Shoukaku pressing against my front and I groan in pain as I say in a deadpan voice lacking in amusement, "Really?"

Shoukaku started to laugh, but her laughter quickly changes into giggles as I groan in pain "I am not sure whether I should apologize or continue laughing..." her expression has a bit of mischievousness in it.

With a sigh and an eye roll I say, "I guess I should've said, there were less painful ways for you to get on top of me." I pause and give her a mischievous look and started to stroke the back of her thighs, as I add, "But I'm not complaining."

"Ahhh, there's that cheeky commander I know." She giggles giggle into the nape of my neck as I stroke her thighs, "Hmm, not complaining? Or enjoying it, perhaps?" She asks with a wink.

With a chuckle, I whisper while I slide my hands higher up the back of her thighs, "I think you're the one enjoying this. Still I kind of wonder what was on the roof."

"Mm, maybe so, Shikikan..." she lets out a contented sigh as I slide your hands up and she continues, "You know, I do have a few secrets up there... You are welcome to find out for yourself, but I'm afraid that will require something from you." she whispers into my ear.

"Yeah? Up your skirt or on the roof?" I ask breathlessly while adjusting how she's laying on me.

Shoukaku laughs at my cheeky response and says, "Why not both?"

Nodding my head and stopping just short of sliding my hands up her skirt I ask, "So which first? Skirt or roof?"

"Why, the roof of course, silly." she gives me a cheeky wink while getting off of me and going back over to the ladder as she adds, "I want you to work a little harder before getting the main reward."

Running a hand down my face before getting off the ground I make my way over and follow her back up to the roof as I look up and smirk at the sight of her from below I ask, "So, are those your usual pair, or a special pair you wore for tonight?"

"Hehehe, you really are that interested in my panties, Commander?" She giggles while climbing up the ladder and onto the roof.

Following her up to the roof and getting my hands on top of the ledge I say with a groan before cresting the top, "Maybe, or maybe I'm more interested in what's under them."

Shoukaku walks close enough so that she is in front of me, and looks down at me before bending at her hips to whisper in my ear in a teasing fashion, "Let me answer with another question..." She pauses pause for a bit, and then continues, "What would you do if I was to let you take them off me?"

I lose my grip and fall to the ground, again, and again, letting out a grunt of pain.

"What the?! Did you let go of the ledge?!" Shoukaku says before she quickly jumps to the ground to check on me but she starts laughing at my clumsiness in a clearly amused fashion and asks, "Are you okay?"

I give her a sideways look before sitting up I tease her right back, "Maybe I wanted another look from below."

She turns red as a tomato, and says with a smile, "Oh, is that so? You are so bad, Shikikan..." She pauses to lean down and whisper into my ear again, "I may just have to punish you if you keep acting like this..."

With her this close I turn my head quickly to kiss her cheek as I ask with a teasing tone, "Promise?" Before she can react, I'm already starting to climb the ladder.

"Y-You just can't resist the tease, can you, Commander?" she stutters out from behind before it sinks in I'm halfway up the ladder, "H-Hey! Wait for me!" I was kind of surprised at how fast she could climb this ladder when she started to give chase.

Cresting to the roof first, I turn and kneel by the ledge, and wait for her to head to come up; just as it does I kiss her quickly on the forehead to see what she does. It seems to startle her and she turns a crimson red. Shoukaku looks me in the eyes, almost like she daring me to repeat before she shifts to a confident tone and says, "Oh, you have no idea what you're getting yourself into." As she gives me a cheeky wink as she gets onto the roof.

"Well, you got me up here, trapped now. If you're going to punish me, now's your best chance." I tease with a pause to look around, I see a mat laid out and a picnic basket and I ask, "So, why the blanket and basket?"

Shoukaku blushes deeply in the moonlight as my words hit her, after a second or three she recovered from what I said and responds with an air of cockiness, "Well, what would you do if I told you this picnic basket and blanket was for us?"

Looking around and realizing this was about the most amount of privacy that was possible outside of my quarters on this base I as I say with a suggestive tone, "I'd wonder what it is you have planned for us under the moonlight, 'alone' like this."

She burst out in a chuckle, holding her sides, before giving me a reply with a bit of mischievousness in her voice, "Hmm... Well, I certainly have a few ideas of my own." She leans a bit closer to me, and asks in a teasing whisper, "Do you want me to give you a preview?"

I swallow hard, I'd be lying if I said I didn't find her silver hair and deep blue eyes attractive, out of all the kansen here, she really did seem able to go round after round with me. Regaining my composure I move to sit on the blanket as I ask, "What did you have in mind?"

She grins while sitting next to me, her voice lowers to almost a whisper as she says, "I could put the picnic basket aside and we would have all this space for... well, you know, right?" she nudges me playfully, before looking at me in the eyes with a wink that tells me that the answer is clear as to what she's dancing around.

I smirk at her, lean in, touching the side of her face, like I'm going to kiss her, our lips almost touching as I whisper, "I'd hardly call that a threatened punishment." Before I lean back and tap her on the tip of the nose.

Shoukaku has a deep blush her entire face has turned pink as she takes in your words. Her mouth opens to respond, but it's almost like she cannot find any words and only stutters. She blinks a few times in rapid succession, clearly taken by surprise by my assault, once again she tries to respond, but the only thing that escapes her mouth is a slight noise of frustration before her face turns even redder. After a few more moments she lets out a sigh and a giggle, putting up her hands as she says, "You win that round, Shikikan."

"And what did I win?" I ask with a sly grin.

She tilts my head in confusion, before realizing what I'm asking and responding with the same amount of mischief, in a cute voice: "A kiss."

The next thing I know, Shoukaku is pressing herself against me, our lips pressed against one another, when it breaks, I tease her, "If that was all the prize was, I could've had that on the ground."

Shoukaku blinks a couple of times before she burst out with a loud laugh, shaking her head. Once her laughter subsides, she looks down at me, with an air of defiance and a cheeky smile as she says, "The other prize... is this." she leans in again and puts her lips against mine. When the kiss ends, she speaks in a teasing voice and asks, "Did you enjoy that?"

I smirk at her as I tease with a wink, "I don't kiss and tell."

She chuckles again, before leaning even closer to me, this time her lips are against your ear. "Do you want another one?" she whispers to me in a voice full of mischief.

Deciding to see how far I can push this, I want to see which one of us breaks first; I place a hand on her thigh that is closest to me and whisper, "Maybe I want something else."

She lets out a surprised gasp at my contact, and the color of her face turns a deep shade of red in an instant. Shoukaku bit her lips in an attempt to suppress that reaction, but the sound she let out is just clear evidence that I'm affecting her. She looks down at my hand and whispers, "Oh? What would you prefer?"

"This." I say full of confidence as I lean into her space, leaning her back before I reach for the picnic basket to see what she packed for us.

"H-Hey! That's cheating..." She almost sounds mad, but a giggle that escapes from her betrays that. Out of the corner of my eye, I see that she's looking at me as I inspect the contents of the basket: a couple of sandwiches, some juice boxes, some cookies, and a few pieces of fresh-looking sushi. "Hmm, all this food, a nice view, and me... a perfect date, do you not agree?" She purrs out from beside me, still lying on her back.

"Oh, this is a date now?" I ask with a teasing note, while I move to lean over her as I ask, "Since when did we start dating? Or is this your way of suggesting we're more than just partners in crime?"

She lets out a chuckle at my teasing, and nods her head vigorously, as if to say this is no suggestion. "It's very much a date." She grins, before leaning her head close to my cheek, and with a teasing whisper, "Would you prefer if it weren't?"

Shifting how I'm leaning, so that I have one hand across her, I lean in and whisper in her ear, "I just wanted to be clear, Shoukaku, about expectations. What is it that you're expecting out of this?"

She seems to wait for a few seconds for a dramatic effect, before responding in a whisper, "A good time, of course..." Her voice sounded a little off, then her face breaks out in a wide and devilish smile before bringing her face closer to mine to whisper directly into my ear, "And for you to admit that you are mine, of course."

Leaning her back more and moving so that I'm between her thighs I ask, "And how are you going to make me yours?"

"Like this..." she whispers while leaning forward and kissing me passionately, her whole body pressed against me. When the kiss ends, her chest rises and falls and she whispers to me in that same devilish tone, "Now it's your turn to answer..." She gives me an eyebrow-raising smirk, as she waits for me to answer.

"I have a few ideas." I whisper in her ear, while my right-hand slides up her left thigh.

A soft moan escapes her throat when my hand touched her thigh, her blush getting deeper as she whispered, "What are your ideas?"

"Something I'm sure we'll both enjoy." I breathlessly whisper in her ear as I start to kiss her neck.

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"Nee-san? Shikikan?" I hear a voice that I'm not totally familiar with ask.

Coming around from a deep sleep, I blink a couple of times and roll my head in the direction of the voice I hear, taking a moment to brush some of the hair out of my face and mouth. In front of me, I still feel Shoukaku pressed against me, her robes being used as a makeshift blanket. Blinking the sleep away from my eyes I see a woman in a red dress with a large white coat, her long brown hair in a ponytail, golden eyes wide and bouncing between me and Shoukaku.

Shoukaku sits up, stretched smiled at me before looking at this other kansen who was now pointing at both of us as she stumbled out, "Yo… you…. You're…"

"Yes, that tends to happen when you're intimate with someone Zuizui." Shoukaku says as she gets up and starts to search for her underwear. She pauses and kisses me quickly before saying, "Last night was fun, Shikikan. But it would seem I need to get going for an exercise if Zuizui has come looking for me."

As she gets her underwear on, she tosses me my underwear and says, "Might want to put those on, I'm going to need my robe."

"Right, yeah." I say before slipping them on and asking, "Do you need the blanket and basket back?"

"Later I will just bring them to your office later, I'll pick them up from Kako." She tells me while getting her robes on.

"You're naked?!" Zuikaku finally shouts.

Smirking at her sister before walking up and patting her on the head as she says, "Yes, and for that, you've earned some tempura tonight."

As the two of them get off the roof, I lean back, my hands behind my head as I look out at the sunrise and start to wonder what the implications from last night will be.

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A/N: A pretty strong indication where things are going, but what bumps in the road will there be from here on out?