A/N:

I have returned from the bubble pit with my three Nozzas! Top tier! I pronounce myself the Bubble Queen™

Also, big big BIG shoutout to (doodlefox2) on tumblr for SOME FREAKING AMAZING DRAWINGS LIKE HOLY SHIT MATE HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!

Lautar - Pasha Parfeny

Umi drove to Eli's apartment, and saw a light on. Nozomi was clearly home. She pulled on Eli's hands to lead her up the cold staircase and made an attempt to get into her bag for keys to the place. Eli kept swatting her away like some giant child, so Umi gave up and knocked on the door.

"Nozomi!"
Footsteps came from the other side, and the door opened to reveal Nozomi with her hair down in pyjamas, e-cigarette dangling out of the corner of her mouth. She blinked at the scene in front of her: Umi with her arm wrapped around a slumped Eli. Both were red in the face, but one was clearly sober.

Nozomi raised an eyebrow.

"Oh now the tables have turned."

"That was uncalled for," Umi snapped back while Nozomi chuckled and moved to the side to allow the piercer to bring the drunken florist into the apartment.

"What's the damage?"

"Two baileys and half a bottle of champagne."

"Kotori-chan won, didn't she?"

"She always wins," Umi sighed, leaving the whining blonde on the couch and straightening out her own clothes.

"Here's your other half. I'll be back here at 9:25 tomorrow morning to pick you up."

"Ah yes, more meetings," Nozomi flicked through her tarot deck and puffed down the synthetic smoke.

"Umi-chan, just before you go," Nozomi flipped over a card from the top of the deck and flung it towards Umi, who caught it in one swift movement. The piercer turned over the card and blushed.

"Sh-shameless!"

"The cards are never wrong, Umi-chan," Nozomi winked, taking the lovers card back from Umi.

"I'll see myself out," Umi gave a quick bow, then stormed out of the apartment.

"Drive safely!"

"M-My ocean!" Eli whined from the couch, her cheek resting against the arm. Nozomi sighed and placed the card back onto the bottom of the deck.

"Looks like Niccochi will have to open the store for you tomorrow," Nozomi sat down next to her girlfriend and brush blonde bangs out of her hazy, unfocused eyes.

"N-No, I can open just fine~" Eli was slurring her words to the point of them being barely understandable. Nozomi sighed and lightly kissed her nose.

"C'mon, Elichi, let's get you to bed," Nozomi stood up and offered the blonde a hand. Eli whined in protest, but did get to her feet and took Nozomi's kanji-covered hand.

"Which hand is this?" She mumbled like a child and fell into Nozomi's embrace. The artist chuckled and smoothed the hair tie away.

"This is hope, Elichi," Nozomi gently led the stumbling Eli toward the bedroom. They barely got to the door before Eli halted.

"Nozomi,"

The artist turned around at the sound of her name. Eli's blush had spread to her ears, and her hazy eyes were still unfocused as she tried to look Nozomi dead in the eye.

"Tattoo me."

Nozomi's eyebrows flew into her hair again. With a small chuckle, she squeezed Eli's hand.

"We'll talk about it when you're sober."

It took more time than Nozomi thought to get Eli into her pyjamas and under the blankets. She finally managed to pin down Eli by wrapping her arms around her and stroking her blonde hair in a hypnotic pattern to get her to sleep.

"Shush, Elichi, we can play in the morning," Nozomi's low murmuring was enough to make Eli's eyes droop shut. Nozomi smiled and kissed her girlfriend's forehead lightly. The drunken giggle that came from Eli made Nozomi's heart flutter, and she drew the blonde closer to her.

When she was sure Eli was fast asleep, Nozomi pulled out her phone from between her breasts and quickly sent a text to Nico.

Nozomi, 23:58
Niccochi, you'll need to open the store tomorrow. Elichi is going to have a pretty bad hangover.

It didn't take long for a response

Niccochi, 23:59
R u serious?! What a phoney Russian. Kk I'll get Maki in then

Nozomi let out a soft chuckle and put her phone on the bedside table with her free arm, then returned to cuddling Eli. The florist was out like a light, but Nozomi was finding it rather hard to fall asleep herself. Her mind went for a wander about what was going to happen.

'I'll be in court for Friday...I'm going to have to see the man who made my childhood a living hell,' she thought, staring up at the ceiling. Her throat grew dry and started to clench up, and her eyes burned with tears.

Eli awoke the next morning and instantly groaned from the throbbing headache that greeted her. An unwelcome bed-guest, if you will.

With a painful squint at her phone, the current time was 8:45am. With another groan, she rolled onto her back and threw the covers over her head.

Someone was at the door, and Eli knew exactly who it was.

"Leave me alone, Nozomi."

"Well good morning to you too, Elichi."

Another groan. Eli refused to take the blankets off while Nozomi walked into the bedroom with a glass of water and two capsules.

"Take these, it will ease your hangover," she sat down on the side of the bed and nudged the lump that was Eli with her elbow.

"C'mon, you have to get up."

The third groan. Nozomi raised an eyebrow and placed the glass of water on the bedside table, next to the ashtray that had not been used for nearly a full week.

"Niccochi and Maki-chan have taken your shift today. The least you could do is get up,"

A single hand snaked out of the sheets and waved the concern away, "I trust Nico with everything but payroll." This was followed by the miracle of Eli actually pulling the blankets off of herself and sitting up slowly. Her long blonde hair was tangled from sleep, and her eyes were shut. Nozomi took in her girlfriend's current state, and let a lopsided smile form on her face.

"Let's try this again. Good morning, you filthy alcoholic."

Eli didn't open her eyes, and just let her head hang. Nozomi chuckled and placed the painkiller on the bedside table too.

"I'm not going to get angry at you for showing up on the doorstep held by Umi-chan."

Blue eyes instantly snapped open.

"I'm sorry, Nozomi," Eli looked away.

"Don't be, just take the painkiller and sit up straight," Nozomi had a teasing smile on as Eli obeyed.

Eli downed the tablets with one gulp of water. With her vision focusing, she thought that it could be a good idea to bring up one of the only things she could remember from the previous night's events.

"Hey, Nozomi?"

The artist looked up, her green eyes blinking curiously. Eli stared into her glass of water and twirled a lock of blonde hair.

"I...I want a tattoo."

Nozomi raised an eyebrow.

"Are you still drunk?"

"No-Nozomi!" Eli's nails tapped anxiously against the glass as she looked up at her girlfriend.

"I want you to tattoo me," She regained some form of composure.

"Elichi," Nozomi sighed and opened her bedside drawer for the e-cigarette charger.

"This is very sudden."

"I know, and I have an idea in mind," Eli continued, and made to get her phone from her bedside table, but instantly regretted the sudden movement and groaned.

"Do you now?" Nozomi grinned, clearly knowing what direction the conversation was heading. Eli nodded, giving up on the journey to her phone.

"I have all the flowers in mind, and when I'm at work tomorrow, I'll make a proper chain, take a photo, then send it to you. How much do you reckon a flower chain around my ankle will cost?"

Nozomi choked on her own breath. After several coughs and banging her chest with her fist, she wheezed for a minute.

"Elichi, your ankle?"

"Yeah, so? I can hide it that way."

"The ankle is one of the most sensitive areas on the body to get tattooed, not to mention extremely delicate and rather tricky to tattoo."

"Nozomi, I did ballet for my entire childhood, plus i deal with thorns everyday. I think I can handle it, now how much would it cost?"

"It depends on how big you want it," Nozomi sighed and twirled the charging cable in her hand. It was so sudden that Eli had decided this, that she knew there had to be some kind of trigger. But Eli seemed serious, there was a familiar glint in her eye that was identical to her expression on the day she became the manager of Bibi.

"I'll tell you what, Elichi," She raised a hand to cup Eli's warm cheek, smiling as the florist instinctively closed her eyes.

"Show me the design tomorrow, and I'll draw up a sketch for you. I'm going to be with the lawyer everyday this week but friday, since that's the actual court session.

However," she let out a small sigh, "If you really want the tattoo by Thursday night, I will take you down to Lily White and do it for you. How does that sound?"

"Mmm, sounds good," Eli mumbled, seemingly going back to sleep. Nozomi chuckled, and lightly tapped Eli's cheek with her hand.

"You can't go back to sleep, lazy-pants."

Nozomi answered the door when a knock came at 9:24am exactly. She knew who it was.

"How is Eli?" Umi stuck her head in and looked around. Nozomi laughed, picking up her bag and moving one twin-tail over her shoulder.

"She's alive and in bed, so you don't have to worry about her."

"Thank goodness," Umi sighed and turned around rather quickly.

"We better get going."

The car ride to Rin's home seemed rather stiff. Nozomi noticed Umi's collared shirt was rather high up around her neck.

She smirked.

"So, how's Kotori-chan dealing with her hangover?" Her voice was lilting slightly. Umi instantly went rigid.

"She's fine, she left for work when I left to pick you up."

"Good on her," Nozomi crossed her legs and pulled out her sketchbook from her bag.

"How was she last night when you went back home?"

Umi gulped, eyes glued to the road.

"Fine," was the response. Nozomi took out her pencil, trying her best to contain her giggles.

"It's rather warm in here, Umi-chan. Are you sure you're not boiling from your shirt?"

"I'm fine," Umi was turning red. Nozomi had to bite the inside of her cheek when Umi adjusted the collar of her shirt. For a split second, she saw a red area.

"You're a lucky woman, Sonoda-san."

That was all it took for Umi snap and let out a wail.

"She just dragged me to bed! She pinned me down and started to ravish me!"

Nozmoi lost it, too. The snorts of laughter that she had kept inside for the past few minutes were overflowing as Umi's face fell.

"She destroyed my neck and nibbled on my ears!"

"I'm surprised she didn't choke on your piercings," Nozomi held the sketchbook up to her face in an attempt to stifle her snorts.

"She nearly popped my gemstone out!" Umi pointed quickly to the blue stone in her stretched lobes. Nozomi was now wheezing - those things were heavy. Just how strong was Kotori's tongue?

Nozomi continued to snort and wheeze with laughter when Umi pulled up to Rin's apartment. The apprentice was standing outside already, hands in her pockets and bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

"Goood morning! H-Huh? Nozomi-senpai, why are you laughing?" Rin threw herself into the backseat, and was puzzled at the different expressions on her seniors's faces.

"You don't need to know, Rin," Umi instantly reversed and took off towards the law firm.

"Aww, but I wanna know!" Rin whined, seeing the tears form in Nozomi's eyes.

"So why is it that Eli is allowed to get smashed and take a day off work, but I can't?" Maki grumbled, setting down the pot plants and standing up straight.

Nico looked up from the counter, her pink apron wet from spilling water earlier.

"She's not, so when she comes back tomorrow, I am going to give her hell."

"There's a reason why you're called 'Nico-shit,'" Maki mumbled, and Nico batted her eyelashes and struck a rather sultry pose.

"You're damn right there is," she winked and stuck a hand up in the air.

"The great Nico Nii does not stand for bullshit!"

Maki simply, blinked, then turned back to the pots. It was hard to move them around with an engagement ring on her finger. Although the two were fairly low-key about their recent development, it didn't feel any different.

"Hey, Nico-chan," Maki lifted a pot onto the shelf and started to clean it. Nico hummed, indicating that she was listening. Maki stared into the pot, unsure of how to ask.

"Did you want to...you know...move in together?"

Nico looked up from the register, eyes wide.

"Didn't you just move into that flat with Rin and Hanayo?"

"Yes, but…" Maki's fist clenched out of awkwardness.

"Did you want to move in with me?"

A sad smile formed on Nico's lips, "Maki, I'd love to, but you know my situation at home."

"In that case, would you like me to move in with you?"

Nico froze, but the determination in Maki's eyes stated that she was not joking.

"I...Wow…" her breathlessness made Maki blush.

"I-It's just a thought, I guess…"

Another knock at the door. Eli hoisted herself up, and instantly regretted the sudden movement. Her head spun quickly, and she took a moment to settle herself. After that, she staggered to her feet and shuffled towards the door, not caring she was in her pyjamas.

When she opened the door, she wasn't expecting a familiar head of ginger hair and bright blue eyes.

"Eli-chan!"

"H-Honoka?" Eli blinked slowly as her friend invited herself into the apartment.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at work?"

"I'm on a lunch break right now, and Yukiho texted me to say that Alisa is sick and will not be going to ballet practice this afternoon."

"Lunch break? Afternoon?" Eli's brain was at a snail's pace trying to reciprocate everything the daycare owner was saying. Honoka pointed to the clock on the wall.

"Eli-chan, it's 1pm."

"W-What?!" Eli was instantly awake. She had slept for that long? Wait - she went back to bed after Nozomi left?

'Oh my God, I am the worst person,' she thought, slamming a palm to her forehead.

"I'm here to take you out to lunch and make sure you come to yoga with me!"

"B-But it's tuesday, and I went to yoga yesterday," Eli didn't want to put her body through anything physical.

"You're hungover and haven't been answering your phone, Eli-chan. This is your punishment: lunch and yoga with yours truley."

"What about work?"

"Kotori and Hanayo are there, and they can handle it. You on the other hand, can barely look at me properly, so you're practically a lost cause without me."

'Ouch,' what happened to the carefree, lovable, happy-go-lucky Honoka Eli knew? There was a fierce look in her eyes and her arms were crossed.

"So, get changed and grab your yoga mat."

"Be honest with me, Nitta-san, do we stand a chance?" Nozomi placed the document down on the table and looked up at the lawyer.

"I think we have enough evidence for the judge to take us seriously."

"...Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Rin asked Umi under her breath.

"A good thing, but I have the feeling we still have a very slim chance of winning."

"Don't be so certain about that, Umi-chan," Nitta grinned at the piercer. Their meeting with her was not so long, since they were just going over their evidence and getting their stories in order.

"You have some pretty strong evidence here which could potentially open up another case against Tojo-san, so you don't have much to worry about until you're on the stand."

"And why is that?" Umi asked as Nozomi fell silent.

"Some people tend to blank when they get up there. It's like public speaking. Others will make up things out of anxiousness, and some people are fine."

"P-Public speaking?" Umi paled and her clenched her knuckles until they turned white. Rin shook her shoulder lightly.

"Umi-senpai relax! It's not that type of public speaking...right?"

"Precisely! Forgive my weird terminology," Nitta scratched at the back of her head sheepishly.

"You will only be answering questions asked by me or the prosecutor's lawyer, or recounting your side of the story to the judge. I doubt many people will be there."

"Oh thank goodness," Umi slumped forward in her chair. Rin rubbed her back gently while Nozomi stayed silent and frozen.

Nozomi had not seen her father for five years physically, but she dealt with him on and off during her time as the owner of Lily White. This was the first time he had actually make a crack though. Nozomi tucked a stray hair behind her ear and brought her arms around herself.

"Senpai? Are you okay?" Rin moved from Umi to look at her teacher. Nozomi lifted her head, visibly holding back tears and forced a smile onto her face.

"I'll be okay, Rin-chan. Let's just work on the case," she picked up a piece of paper from the table and eyed it carefully. Rin did not look convinced, staring at her with narrow yet vibrant eyes. Nozomi let out a short breath from her nostrils and turned the smile into a smirk.

"Rin-chan, would you like to state a wager?"

"On what?" puzzlement lined the apprentice's features. Nozomi hummed in thought, looking from Nitta to Umi.

"If we lose the case, we'll both be out of jobs, so we'll have to look for new ones, right?"

"Yes, so?"

"Let's apply for a corporate job."

Umi choked on her own breath as Rin's jaw dropped.

"H-How far up is your nyass is your head?!"

"You don't have to worry about that, Rin-chan, because you won't lose the case," Nitta chimed in from behind her desk. Rin shot a pleading look at the lawyer.

"And if we win?" She asked Nozomi.

"If we win the case, you can tattoo me again. It can be anything you want,"

"Anything?"

"Anything."

Ankle tattoos hurt a lot. There's less skin down there so it tends to hurt more than the arm or back. But hey, it differs for everyone.

For people who keep asking what car Kotoumi own, it looks like this: . /sto/multimedia/dynamic/00411/Fiat-500-Cult-Twina_

It's a fiat 500 in mint green. (I despise fiats. Long story.)

Going back to Sunday updates now :D tumblr (tarot-tatas)