Love Hina: Once Again
Ten
"So," Usagi Tsukino puffed tiredly as they walked up the stone steps, "how much farther is it to the dorm now?"
"It shouldn't be too much farther," Makoto Kino said with barely concealed amusement, her brown hair flowing in a long ponytail. She wore a simple green dress and carried their lunch, a large cooler with snacks, drinks and a few treats, just in case.
"If I knew it was going to be this bad," the blonde haired Minako Aino noted, her blue eyes twinkling, "I would have suggested we meet Ami and Rei somewhere else."
"Somehow, I can't imagine Ami walking this every day," Usagi noted, her twin ponytails glittering golden in the sun.
"I suppose you get used to it?" Minako guessed.
"Do you see the top of a building up there?" Usagi asked, shading her eyes from the sun.
Makoto nodded, her green eyes laughing a bit as she said, "Yes, I think we've made it."
With a burst of energy all three women hurried up the next secion of steps, reaching the top of the hill where the Hinata Inn perched with a view of the town below it. The old fashioned building was three stories tall and well maintained, giving it a bright and cheerful air, almost vibrant with the life within.
"You know, I think I can see why Ami might have chosen this place," Minako said as they stopped by the main gate to take in the view, the beauty of the place and a odd feeling of serenity around them...
BOOM!
"What in the..." Usagi nearly jumped as foot as they heard the explosion coming from inside the building.
With instincts they had honed from fighting youma for years Usagi, Minako and Makoto raced up to the Inn and hurried inside, sweeping the place with their eyes as they tried to find the source of the disturbance.
"Su!" they heard the distinctive voice of Rei Hino yell, "Turn that robot off and get the fire extinguisher!"
Minako, Usagi and Makoto exchanged looks. "Should we go up or...?" Minako asked.
"Hello," a young woman looked at them timidly and all three realized they'd barged right in without permission.
"Ah, hi," Usagi smiled winningly art the girl as she said, "we're looking for Ami and Rei. Are they home?"
"I'll go get them," the black haired girl said, seemingly charmed by Usagi's sweet manner as she hurried off.
A few moments later a visibly singed looking Rei Hino arrived, her simple clothes covered with soot and a bit of smoke curling off of her. "What in the...?" Makoto blinked.
"Don't ask," Rei sighed.
"Rei," Usagi quickly stepped forward, throwing her arms around her friend and utterly unmindful of the mess.
"Damn it, you'll stain your dresses," Rei tried to sound gruff as she was hugged by all three of them, but she hugged them back fiercely.
"Looking good," Minako teased as she used a finger to wipe off some of the black ash from Rei's cheek.
"Oh shut up," Rei shook her head. Leading them down the hall she said, "Ami and I have a corner suite, just up this way."
Ami hurried up the hall, the blue haired girl much less messy than Rei. "Good to see you," she laughed as she too was engulfed in hugs.
"I see your guests have arrived," a calm woman's voice mentioned. The black haired woman had a matching cat perched on her shoulder, her clothes blending into the shadows to almost make her seem ghost-like.
"Kanako Urashima," Ami made the introductions, "these are our friends Usagi, Minako and Makoto."
"Sisters?" Kanako asked, nodding towards Minako and Usagi.
"Sorry, no," Rei fought back a smile, "though they do act like it at times."
"Rei!" Usagi protested, stamping her foot.
Kanako hid a smile as she said, "Well, I hope you have a nice visit." With that she left, only pausing a moment to give Makoto a lingering, questioning look.
"What was that about?" Minako asked as they entered into the corner room Ami and Rei shared, a large window looking out over the city below them.
"I'm not totally sure," Ami admitted as she pushed Rei into the next room to clean up, "but I think Makoto is the type she likes."
"Should I tell her I'm married?" Makoto asked, eyes twinkling, "because I'm pretty sure Haruna would be pretty upset if she tried something."
"She's not quite that bold," Ami chuckled. She smiled, "You made quite a impression on Shinobu, by the way."
"The girl that met us?" Usagi smiled, "She seems nice."
"She's actually a bit older than I," Ami sounded amused as she explained, "but she's small for her age, I guess."
"I thought she was still a high schooler," Minako blinked, surprised.
"Don't tell her that," Rei returned, looking much neater than before, "she get's mistaken enough for a kid as it is."
Makoto grinned at her impishly as she asked, "So, what happened to you?"
Rei groaned softly. "Su is our local tech wizard," she explained, "she built a new robot with a flame thrower."
"Inside?" Usagi squeaked.
"Su doesn't always think little details like that through," Ami explained.
"I can imagine," Minako blinked. "How old is she, by the way?"
"Old enough to know better," Rei grumbled.
"This from the woman who got in a drinking match with Kitsune," Ami teased.
"Really?" Usagi looked surprised even as Rei blushed. "Oooh, I wanna hear about this," she said eagerly.
"Ami," Rei whimpered.
"We were over at the café next door, in which Miss Kitsune runs," Ami impishly explained, "and drinking and Rei's grandfather came up. Then, Rei's occassional drinking with him was mentioned and..."
"Things kind of went from there?" Minako guessed.
"Exactly," Rei sighed. She winced, "I swear, I have never had such a headache as I had the morning after that."
After a bit of light conversation Usagi looked at both girls searchingly a moment. "So you're happy here, so far?" she asked the two of them.
Ami took Rei's hand, squeezing it gently, "I think so."
"Yes," Rei agreed.
To be continued...
Eleven
"So how did it go?" Shinobu asked gently, the group that had gathered in the café Hinata listening eagerly. The younger girl delivered their drinks, her short black hair gleaming as she sat down to join them.
Anthy Himemiya gave her friends a wry look. "Not bad, actually," the purple haired young woman confessed, "Utena was surprised to see me, but we talked about what happened between us."
"And are you going to see her again?" Kitsune asked, grinning as she brought over some breakfast orders for them. With her sandy hair and boyish look she was quite handsome, but she seemed to rarely notice others' interest.
Anthy actually blushed faintly. "She's promised to visit me here," she explained, "and I have her phone number too."
Motoko nodded, the black haired swords woman looking thoughtful. "Good, I'd like to meet her," she said, "to determine if she's worthy of you."
"Playing big brother again?" Kitsune teased.
"Something like that," Motoko agreed.
Kanako Urashima sighed softly, studying the intense warrior for a moment. 'She's lovely,' she admitted, pulling her eyes away reluctantly.
Anthy gave her a sympathetic smile, pausing to drink some of her tea. "Thank you," she addressed Motoko, "but I doubt that'll be needed."
As the chime above the door rang out Tennyo Masaki entered, her silvery white hair flowing gracefully. "Morning all," she smiled, heading by them to the main counter, "good morning, Mutsumi."
Mutsumi Otohime beamed as Tennyo walked up, the busty brown haired woman calling out, "Morning, Tennyo-san. What can I get you?"
"My regular, thanks," Tennyo answered. She found herself thinking of Kitsune's comment earlier and had to agree, it did look like Mitsumi had a crush on her. 'I just wish I knew what to do about it,' she mused.
"Here you go," Mutsumi said as she cheerfully dropped off the food then lingered to talk.
"What happened?" Tennyo asked as she nodded towards where their fellow inn residents were gently grilling Anthy.
"It seems Anthy finally met her long lost sweetheart," Mutsumi revealed excitedly, "and it went pretty well."
"I'm glad for her," Tennyo nodded as drank a bit then munched through her breakfast. Looking at the other girl curiously she asked, "Has anyone else met this paragon of virtue?"
Mutsumi giggled, "According to Su, she's no paragon."
"Oh?" Tennyo asked. Koalla Su was their resident mad scientist and techno whiz, so it wasn't surprising she'd be able to find out a great deal about someone if she wanted to. 'Besides, she's the type who'd want to look into a mystery like this,' she mused.
"It seems Miss Utena is quite the crusader, having been arrested several times helping other people," Mutsumi revealed, "her file reads like a adventure novel."
"Remind me to ask Su if I can borrow it," Tennyo chuckled.
Mutsumi hesitated a moment, "I have it back at my room," she said, "you could stop by later to read it."
Tennyo blinked, wondering if this was a pass or a friendly offer. "I'd like that," she said, smiling slightly.
"I'll have it ready for you," Mutsumi said cheerfully, only reluctantly moving off to help out another customer.
Meanwhile, two young women tiredly made their way up the steps to the Hinata Inn. "I wonder how long it'll take us to get used to this?" Ami Mizuno puffed, the blue haired girl pausing to rest.
Rei Hino took a deep breath, the black haired miko looking nearly as tired as her companion. "I don't think you do get used to it," she grumbled tiredly, "you just learn not to show it to others."
"Maybe," Ami admitted as they made themselves go up the final set of stairs. "How did training at the shrine go?" she asked curiously.
"The old coots a fake," Rei admitted, "but Kagome is the real thing. We've been exchanging demon fighting methods for the last few days."
"Oh really?" Ami asked, a slightly dangerous tone in her voice.
Rei reached out to squeeze Ami's shoulder once they began to walk across the flat top of the hill and towards the Inn itself. "Yeah, too bad her boyfriend hangs around all the time." A bit teasingly she added, "You'd think he didn't trust having a lesbian around his girlfriend."
Ami blushed, "Sorry."
"It's all right," Rei admitted, "I felt a few twinges when I met your professor and found out she was a babe."
"But she's married," Ami blinked as they walked through the main entrance and slipped out of their shoes.
"Jealousy does not understand logic," Rei answered, passing Ami her slippers and putting her own on.
"I'll try to remember that," Ami agreed.
"Rei, Ami!" Koalla Su exclaimed, the dusky skinned blonde haired girl bounding down the hall, "Anthy's back!"
"Did her trip to Tokyo go well?" Rei asked, fighting back a smile at the young girl's nearly infinite amounts of energy.
"I think so," Su agreed, "the others have her over at the café, questioning her about it."
"Poor Anthy," Ami looked amused.
Rei looked at Su curiously, "So why aren't you over there?"
"Akiko Taichi is over," Su explained, "we're playing deathmatch games for fun."
"Well, I hope you enjoy yourselves," Ami said as Su scampered off to get some snacks for her and her friend.
"That girl scares me at times," Rei confessed as she slid open the door to their room, waving Ami through first then following her in.
"Was that before or after she tried to burn us with the blowtorch?" Ami wondered, setting her bags on the desk.
"Both," Rei chuckled, moving up behind Ami and wrapping her arms around her.
"Oooh, Rei..." Ami murmured as she kissed the back of Ami's neck.
"I've been waiting all day for this," Rei murmured as she squeezed gently, then nibbled Ami's ear.
"What if someone comes by...?" Ami gasped softly.
"I bet questioning Anthy should keep most of them busy," Rei slid her hands up to caress Ami's breasts.
Ami purred, arching her back. "You are a bad girl, Rei..." she murmured happily.
Rei grinned, "And you wouldn't want me any other way."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Should we really be watching this?" Akiko asked as they watched the feed from the spy camera Su had planted on them. The brown haired girl's twin ponytails bounced as she munched on the crackers Si had brought them.
"When are we going to have the chance to otherwise?" Su asked cheerfully.
"Wow," Akiko blinked, "I didn't know you could bend like that."
"Really," Su agreed, making notes.
To be continued...
Twelve
Ema Maeda's long brown hair fell around the young woman's shoulders as she sat outside in the sun and used her laptop to update her webpage. 'News of the weird' was actually becoming fairly popular, containing stories she found on the web, her personal blog and stuff from Kitsune's ghost busting operation.
'Demons walk among us!' one title screamed. In a otherwise seemingly normal shrine a mysterious being was haunting the inhabitants, popping up without warning. A slim, white haired boy with dog's ears and clawed fingers has terrorized the neighborhood, tho reports of his activities vary. While most say it's a monster, several witnesses claim to have been rescused by the mysterious boy.
Ema smiled in satisfaction as she noted how many hits that article had gotten. 'The blurred photo helps,' she noted, 'though I wish I got a better shot.'
Scrolling down a bit she clicked on another story. 'Sailor Senshi seen in Kanagawa Prefecture! The famous heroes of love and justice were seen fighting alongside our own local band of heroes, the Phantom Quest Corp!'
Ema winced a bit at that blatant ad. Kitsune could be really forceful, and it didn't help that she was paying part of the costs for the site. 'Well,' she mused, 'at least I tried to be objective, mostly.'
The article continued, 'The Sailor Senshi successfully defeated the steam creature, primarily assisted by the sword work of Motoko. Along with Sailor Mars they banished the creature, generating mild flooding amid the hot springs shops. A lawsuit is pending against PQC, but management are confident they will prevail.'
'Motoko-sama,' Ema sighed dreamily. If she was going to crush on anyone it would be the striking, black haired swordswoman. Sadly, she didn't seem to be inclined that way. 'If only Motoko was a boy,' she thought.
Saving her files Ema closed her laptop and stretched, the slim girl sighing happily. "Come on Leon," she picked up her chameleon and headed inside.
The typical morning bustle of the Hinata Inn was a little different this morning as a guest followed Anthy to the kitchen. She was about Anthy's height with bright pink hair and laughing blue eyes along with a gentle but warm smile. Introduced to them as Utena Tenjou Ema noticed a mysterious aura about her, a strange feeling of nobility like some long lost prince.
"Hello Shinobu," Ema smiled as she walked by the two older girls, "is there anything I can do to help?"
Shinobu smiled cheerfully, the black haired girl rinsing the cooked rice. "Everything's nearly ready," she answered, "could you help set the table?"
"Sure," Ema agreed.
Now theoretically they were all supposed to be sharing kitchen duties... well, except for Anthy as she couldn't cook food, period. But Shinobu was so good and eager to cook that they all just let her do that, and in return everyone else tackled most of the other household duties. As Ema and Anthy readied the table Ema snuck glances at the new woman, wondering what her story might be.
"So you're Ema?" Utena asked as she carried cups and plates over, "Anthy told me a bit about you."
"Nice to meet you," Ema nodded. She smiled as she added, "I'm glad to see you and Anthy have been reunited."
"Thank you," Utena actually blushed faintly.
Within short order the rest of the residents trickled in, coming in ones or twos to the table. TEnnyo Masaki entered talking to Mutsumi Otohime, the white haired woman gesturing animatedly as they went to sit. Kitsune staggered in, probably hung over, and smiled greatfully as Ema poured her some tea.
"Thanks," Kitsune admitted as she sat down, her short brown hair spiky from how she had been sleeping.
Kanako Urashima stalked in, the girl dressed all in black at usual. She had a intensity that could be off putting, but Ema had been pleasantly surprised by her humor. The black cat perched on her shoulder looked at Ema's Leon and purred, "Hmm, food on the hoof."
Ema jumped a bit. Now, according to rational thinking the cat couldn't talk, and therefore must be just Kanako throwing her voice. But somehow the cat sounded very different from Kanaki, almost like a separate person. To be safe she addressed the cat as she clutched Leon, "Don't even think about it."
Kero just snickered softly.
"Myah!" Tama-chan commented as the turtle flapped by.
"Damn turtle," Motoko visibly shuddered.
'I forget some times that she doesn't like them,' Ema noted as she watched Koalla Su easily scoop the turtle out of midair.
"Can I make Tama soup?" Su asked perkilly, the dusky skinned blonde looking a bit like a overgrown monkey.
"No," Shinobu said forcefully, "just put her outside."
"Interesting place," Utena commented to Anthy softly as they settled down.
"I like it," Anthy nodded as Rei and Ami hurried in. Rei Hino was dressed in her miko uniform, the red and white garb suiting the black haired woman, while Ami Mizuno was in more casual school wear.
"Morning," Tennyo said, the older woman's eyes sympathetic as she addressed Ami, "long night?"
"Studying for a quiz on gastric disease," Ami grimaced, "trust me, the less you know the better off you are."
"I can imagine," Kitsune winced.
Kanako said firmly, "No discussion of gastric disease at the table." She smiled slightly, letting everyone know she was joking.
"Breakfast is ready," Shinobu announced as she carefully carried the rice in first, then the rest of the breakfast dishes. With skills that would impress any mother she dished up the food, humming to herself cheerfully.
"This is great," Rei smiled, eating quickly but still neatly.
Anthy looked over at her, "Heading over to the shrine today?"
"Actually, Kitsune has a job for us," Rei noted wryly.
"Oh?" Utena said, looking over at Kitsune as she nibbled toast.
Kitsune drank some tea, "There's a haunted house the owner wants us to look into. I don't expect serious trouble, but I want all the bases covered."
"We do ghost busting," Anthy explained to her girlfriend softly, "as a extension on Phantom Quest Corp."
Utena nodded thoughtfully as she looked over at Kitsune, "Do you mind if I tag along?"
Kitsune raised her eyebrows, "Is that safe?"
Utena smiled back, but her eyes were haunted. "I have certain... talents," she finally said with a shrug.
Kitsune looked at her a moment then decided just to accept it. "All right," she said, "but if anything goes wrong I'm not responsible."
"Worried about another lawsuit?" Ema teased.
"Oh shut up," Kitsune sighed.
To be continued!
Thirteen
Naru Narusegawa smiled as she finished her class, the brown haired woman watching happily as the children filed out. She tidied up her desk and headed out of the small school on the island, hurrying over to her friend who was waiting nearby.
"How's teaching the kids going?" Haruka Urashima asked, the darker brown haired older woman having her usual unlit cigarette dangling from her mouth.
"They're young enough not to talk back," Naru chuckled softly.
Since coming to the island with her husband Keitaro and their friend Seta Naru had put her teaching skills to good use. Joining a improvised school for the children of the archeologists Naru assisted where she could, in the process gaining credit she could use towards her advanced degree work.
"Hey, Naru!" Sarah McDougal yelled, the little blonde laughing as the young girl broke away from one of the other class groups to race over to their side. "When are you coming to teach us?" she demanded.
"When your teacher gets too scared to come back?" Naru teased her impishly.
"Yeah, right," Sarah scoffed before pelting off in another direction.
"That girl's got way too much energy," Haruka laughed softly as they left the improvised school buildings and headed for the nearby archeological site.
"Got that right," Naru chuckled, "I'm almost dreading having to teach her."
Haruka raised her eyebrows, "I thought you two got along?"
"We do, but...," Naru shrugged and Haruka grinned in understanding. Sarah was going to be a handful, no doubt about that.
This pacific island was the latest site where traces had been found of the long lost Turtle civilization that Seta had devoted himself to finding. While the discovery of the civilization's capital Todai had helped the research immensely, Seta and his crew of misfits were determined to prove that the Turtle civilization had been wide spread and vital in the region.
"Ho!" Seta called from one of the pits the group was carefully digging, cautiously removing layers of dirt to reveal the secrets beneath them. The gangly but athletic Seta bounded up the ladder and swept up the startled Haruka in a hug as he said, "Good news!"
Wham! Without even thinking about it Haruka hammered Seta with her fist, barely fazing the man but making him let her go. "What have you found now?" she asked, grinning.
"Keitaro fell into a abandoned well," Seta grinned at them, "and tracing it we found a series of water carrying canals, too. Looks like we might have found the key to mapping out the whole settlement."
"Good for you," Naru chuckled, glad to see Keitaro's uncanny gift for archeology was continuing to do it's work. No matter where he was Keitaro could seemingly fall into a hole, trip over something or some other accident and somehow end up finding a valuable artifact or discovery. It was positively uncanny, and Seta had learned to use him like a dowsing rod to find what he was looking for.
"He all right?" Haruka asked mildly. One of Keitaro's other gifts was a near miraculous ability to survive injury, but it never hurt to check.
"He's fine," Seta waved that off casually as he continued, "in fact, I left him digging near the central fountain."
Just then, they felt a low rumble deep in the earth, and everyone paused to look at one another. "Where's the fountain?" Naru yelped as Seta bolted off, both women quickly following after him.
The village they had excevated was roughly circular, but so far only the town center had been fully uncovered. The homes were stone walls, the thatched roofs long having surrendered to decay, and in the center of the city was a large fountain, presumedly fed by channels from the well and canal system they had already discovered.
Apparently, they were wrong about that.
Keitaro smiled sheepishly as water geisered up from the fountain, raining down on the workers around them, many of whom were dancing under the water after dealing with so many got summer days. "Sorry, Seta," Keitaro said sheepishly, the brown haired man still holding his shovel, "I was clearing some rubble when..."
"Well, that solves our water problems," Haruka noted wryly, tilting her head back to let the cool water splash her face.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Meanwhile, in another part of the world the group of weary warriors returned home, a bit battered but otherwise unharmed. "All right, everyone out," Kitsune said briskly, the sandy blonde haired woman sliding the door to the battered van open.
"If we're going to do this more often," Rei Hino noted as the black haired miko climbed out stiffly, "we need more seats."
"I'll try to budget for that," Kitsune promised. She looked up at her guest, "Nice support work, miss Tenjou."
Utena Tenjou smiled back coolly, the pink haired woman climbing out then offering her hand to help Anthy down. "Glad to help," she answered honestly, smiling as Anthy stood close to her side.
Ema Maeda sighed softly, 'Those two are SO cute.' Shaking herself the brown haired girl patted her laptop lovingly as she said, "I think I got a lot of good footage today for the website."
"I still find it hard to believe that people watch such things," Makoto frowned slightly, her long black hair still tied back like when she went into battle, her katana resting at her side.
"You're very popular," Ema blushed faintly as she elaborated, "in fact, the polls rate you as top member of the Phantom Quest Corp."
"Ehh?" Makoto blushed brightly.
"I'm not surprised," Kitsune murmured as the group tiredly trooped inside the Hinata girl's dorm and inn. Taking their shoes off at the door they broke up to head to their rooms, as well as heading out to the baths for a after work dip.
"Welcome back," Ami Mizuno smiled as Rei entered their room, the smaller blue haired woman squeezing her in a hug.
"Have a good study session?" Rei asked as she hugged her back then quickly began to change out of her white and red miko's garb.
"We've moved from gastric to colon," Ami said dryly.
"Enough said," Rei agreed as she slipped into a towel. She smiled charmingly, "Want to join in at the hot spring?"
"Depends," Ami winked, "what are we doing after?"
"We'll be here in our bedroom all alone," Rei grinned back, "guess."
"Then I'll certainly join you," Ami laughed, stripping out of her usual blue skirt and white top and grabbing a towel too.
When they emerged they saw Anthy talking to Kitsune, "I'm sorry, but Utena and I will wash up later."
"Oh?" Kitsune looked curious.
Anthy hesitated a moment, "She has... scars. Utena's not exactly comfortable showing them to people yet."
Kitsune's eyes widened a bit, "I'm sorry. Do you want us to clear out in a hour or so, that way you can bathe in peace?"
Anthy smiled, "We'd appreciate that."
'Should I mention it to the others?' Kitsune thought as she, Ami and Rei went out into the hot springs. 'No,' she decided, 'they deserve their privacy.'
"Where's Utena and Anthy?" Ema asked curiously.
"They'll be down later," Rei said mildly.
To be continued...
Fourteen
Kanako Urashima paused as the black haired woman collected the mid-morning mail delivery, holding the package for her close as she dropped off each person's items at their rooms. Su got her regular technology magazines, Shinobu got a letter from her mother, Motoko got a letter from a romance publisher, and so on and so forth.
Returning to the manager's rooms Kanako sat down by the small table there, unwrapping her package a bit nervously. As ordered there were several novels from a prominent lesbian publisher, as well as two guides to coming out.
'I'm still not sure about this,' Kanako sighed, thinking of the flutter in her chest she felt when she looked at Motoko. A blush colored her cheeks and she picked up the coming out book, settling down into reading.
Returning to her room Motoko blushed faintly as the tall black haired woman saw the letter. With unseemly haste she opened it, her eyes widening a little as she read the typed page. "Very impressed with your work..." she read from it aloud, "will send contract?! They're publishing my story!"
"What story?" Ema Maeda asked as the younger, brown haired girl passed by, the open door having carried Motoko's voice out into the hall.
Motoko blushed redly, "I submitted a short story I wrote to a small publisher, they want to include it in their magazine."
"Congradulations!" Ema beamed.
"Thank you," Motoko managed to smile, still blushing furiously.
Noting her friend's embarrassment Ema asked, "Do you want me to keep it a secret?"
Motoko smiled a bit sheepishly, "Could you? I'm still getting used to the whole idea of being published..."
"It's fine," Ema said as she hugged her pet lizard close, "Leon and I can keep a secret."
"Thank you," Motoko chuckled as both girl and lizard headed off.
Upstairs two figures snuggled close together, laying in a tangle of sheets on the futon. "Utena," Anthy murmured as the dusky skinned girl looked over at her fondly, "it's time to get up."
"Do we have to?" Utena asked softly.
Anthy kissed her softly. "Sorry," she said, "but we both have to work."
"Augh," Utena made a regretful sound as she got up, her short pink hair standing up oddly as she stretched.
"Get some clothes on," Anthy's voice became husky as she looked at her pale lover, "or I won't be responsible for my actions."
"I wouldn't stop you," Utena winked as she picked up her shirt and pulled it on.
"Tease," Anthy laughed warmly as she got up and wrapped her arms around Utena from behind. She rested her head on Utena's shoulder as she added softly, "Thank you."
Utena turned a bit as she looked down at Anthy, "For what?"
"Forgiving me," Anthy said, burrying her face against Utena's neck. "The things I did...," she murmured, her voice muffled.
"Anthy," Utena eased a arm around her comfortingly, "you thought that was the only choice you could make. It wasn't your fault he lied to you..."
"You're too kind, Utena," Anthy said as she looked up at her tenderly.
"I love you," Utena answered seriously, "it makes forgiving easier."
Listening with a mildly disgusted look Koalla Su put the small device away as she sighed, "I don't think we'll have a repeat of last night's fun."
"You really shouldn't be listening to them," Shinobu said disapprovingly, the black haired girl also blushing furiously. Despite having a crush on Motoko she was still not used o the idea of two women in love like Utena and Anthy were...
"How else are we supposed to learn things?" Su shrugged casually, clearly not very bothered by the idea that spying was wrong.
Deciding it was best not to pursue the argument Shinobu mused, "It's nearly time for lunch, I'd better get to it."
"Yeah," Su grinned, "after what they did last night they'll need to regain their strength!"
Shinobu blushed brighter, "Su!"
Hurrying downstairs to the kitchen Shinobu shook her head in dismay. Sometimes she really didn't understand her friend Su, especially her attitudes around privacy. As far as she could tell Su didn't care about her own privacy, therefore she didn't understand other people worrying about their privacy.
"Hello, Shinobu," Rei Hino nodded as she left the front living room, the black haired priestess in casual shorts and a loose white blouse.
"Hi Rei," Shinobu smiled as she bustled about making soup.
Rei Hino smiled to herself, glad to see the girl looking less stiff than she once had. While her and Ami living together had generally been accepted without too many problem there was a degree of nervousness still lingering.
"Where's Mizuno-senpai?" Shinobu asked curiously.
"Upstairs studying for a quiz," Rei revealed, "we got tipped off about it by a assistant teacher." She looked a bit pleadingly at Shinobu as she asked, "I was hoping I could bring some lunch up to her?"
"I'll make you a tray," Shinobu promised as she finished up the preparations. Not long afterwards she had a tray set up with soup, rice and crackers too, all ready to go.
"Thank you," Rei said with a grin, "now I just have to pry Ami away from her textbook long enough to eat."
"Good luck," Shinobu waved as she walked off.
"Excuse us," Utena called as she and Anthy hurried in, both looking rather scruffy in night shirts and pants.
"Slept in?" Shinobu asked, unable to resist teasing the happy couple.
"Something like that," Utena blushed faintly.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Anthy offered to Shinobu politely.
"No, no," Shinobu answered quickly, "everything's fine." One of the things the Hinata house residents had learned was that Anthy was truly frightening in the kitchen. It wasn't just that she was a bad cook, she had a seeming gift for cooking disasters including fire, flood and randomly exploding curry.
"Heh," Utena smiled as she was served her soup.
Tennyo Masaki came in dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, looking healthy with her muscles and faint tan. "Yard's been swept," she reported, "anything else?"
"You sure you want more to do?" Shinobu asked as she poured some soup for her as well.
"I've been doing a lot of office trips and not doing chores," Tennyo took the soup thankfully, "I want to do my share."
Anthy paused in spooning up her soup, "I think Mutsumi mentioned she could use a hand cleaning up around the café.":
"Mutsumi, huh?" a faint blush colored Tennyo's cheeks, "I think I'll see if she still needs help then."
"Good idea," Shinobu said, hiding a smile.
To be continued...