Last Christmas
Introduction: This story is set shortly after end of
the Read or Die OVA and TV series, and therefore may
contain some spoilers for that series. If you do not
want to know how the series ends I recommend skipping
over this story.
Nenene Sumiregawa smiled slightly as she walked up to
the familiar square building, using her key to open
the front door and let herself in. The light brown
haired woman went inside, breathing deep the scent of
books and shook her head, carefully inching past piles
of books in the hallway over to the book lined
stairway.
"Sensei," Nenene yelled as she walked, adjusting the
canvas shoulder bag she was carrying, "I'm coming up."
As Nenene reached the top of the stairs she could hear
Christmas music playing, frowning as she recognized
the song.
"Last Christmas I gave you my heart, but the very next
day you gave it away,
"This year, to save me from tears, I'll give it to
someone special."
Yomiko Readman sat on the bed in between piles of
books and magazines, clothes rumpled from sleeping in
them as she eagerly read away. With her glasses
perched on the end of her nose and long black hair
slightly messed up she looked absolutely adorable, or
at least she did to Nenene.
"Sensei," Yomiko looked up, cheeks red from happiness,
"you've got to read this!"
Nenene had to smile at that, carefully navigating
through all the piles of books that littered the floor
and covered up almost every available piece of
furniture. "I'm glad you like it," Nenene said as she
cleared some books and sat down on the bed beside
Yomiko, "I tried to keep up with the sort of books
you'd like while you were done."
Nenene looked over at Yomiko and felt that surge of
joy at seeing her once again. For over five years
Yomiko had been on the run, fleeing her former allies
at the Library with the clone of Nancy. Leaving Nenene
without a word Yomiko had plunged the other woman into
despair, only the hope that they could someday be
reunited keeping her going.
"You don't have to call me Sensei," Nenene hesitated
before adding, "Yomiko."
The blush that lit up Yomiko's cheeks was charming,
the other woman setting her book down carefully.
Taking a breath Yomiko answered, "Thank you,
Sumiregawa-san."
"Nenene," she reminded her and Yomiko repeated it,
blushing cutely all the while.
Yomiko held the book close to her heart, looking
around at the books all around the room as she said,
"You've done so much, I don't know what to say..."
Nenene felt herself blush, pushing up her own glasses
nervously. "It wasn't so much," she answered, swiftly
changing the subject with, "How is it, being a member
of the new Paper Sisters detective agency?"
"I like it, and they even brought Drake-san in, too,"
Yomiko beamed, "we've been very busy with book
retrievals, now that the Library and Literary Mystics
are both gone." She blinked, "Oh, that reminds me..."
Yomiko nearly fell off the bed as she rummaged beside
the bed, coming up with several presents that she
passed over to Nenene, "Here."
Nenene smiled wryly as she recognized the names of the
paper sisters and quickly unwrapped them. Both
Michelle and Maggie had given her books, of course,
while Anita had sent her a plush chibi-frog. Drake,
surprisingly, had sent a lovely hand thrown clay bowl.
"Not what I would have expected," Nenene mused,
thinking to her occasional meetings with the tough,
blonde haired man.
"Drake made it himself," Yomiko confided cheerfully,
"though I don't think he wants the others to know he
does something like that."
Nenene chuckled softly at that. "And how's Junior?"
she asked curiously, carefully watching for Yomiko's
reaction. Engineered from the clone of Nancy, the girl
that Yomiko once loved, Junior was a reminder of the
past that Nenene would much prefer stay buried.
Yomiko just smiled cheerfully as she related,
"Michelle is taking care of him, that and Anita is
keeping an eye on him."
Sighing a bit in relief Nenene added, "Are Anita and
Junior...."
"No," Yomiko shook her head vigorously as she
continued, "actually, I think Anita is closer to her
friend Hisami."
Nenene smiled, thinking of the cute little girl who
had accompanied Anita home one night. Hisami had quite
a crush on Anita, though the spunky redhead had seemed
to be pretty much unaware of her best friend's
feelings. "I like Hisami," Nenene admitted, "so I'm
glad."
"I got a postcard from Nancy," Yomiko said and Nenene
felt herself tense.
Nancy Mukahari had been paired with Yomiko on the Ijin
investigation, the two developing a close relationship
that might have been growing into love. When Nancy had
been revealed as an Ijin agent Yomiko had been
heartbroken, her grief only deepening when Nancy
sacrificed herself to defeat the Ijin along with her
evil clone. Her memory gone Nancy's clone had been
held by the library, her DNA used to make Junior.
Yomiko had helped save the young woman from the
Library, going on the run with Nancy for over five
years.
"How is she?" Nenene kept her voice level.
"She's not coming back," Yomiko said softly, "Nancy's
settled in England, apparently, found a job and
everything...."
Nenene wanted to jump for joy but she firmly
restrained that reaction, respecting Yomiko's
feelings. "I'm sorry," she said awkwardly.
Yomiko looked up to Nenene and smiled, "No, I think
I'm happy for her." A breath, "I know that she's not
the Nancy I knew, and I can't keep holding onto the
past forever."
Nenene looked down at her hands, then hesitantly
reached out to take Yomiko's hand, squeezing it
gently. Yomiko squeezed back as they sat there in
silence for a moment, both listening to the Christmas
carols still playing on the radio.
"I wanted to bring your gift over early," Nenene set
her bag down and reached inside, handing over a neatly
wrapped flat package to Yomiko.
"Oh!" Yomiko quickly pulled the wrapping away, her
eyes widening happily as she saw the novel that lay
within. She beamed as she saw Nenene's name as author,
turning it over wonderingly. "I haven't seen this
one," she murmured.
"Proof copy," Nenene answered, feeling warmed by
Yomiko's reaction in a way she had missed for so long,
"you're one of the first people to read it."
"Thank you!" Yomiko startled Nenene by throwing her
arms around her in a hug, accidentally knocking them
both right over.
"Hey!" Nenene laughed, looking up into the sparkling
eyes staring down at her. Then they clouded suddenly
and Nenene worriedly asked, "What's wrong?"
"I didn't even get you a gift," Yomiko confessed
tearfully, "how could I be so forgetful..."
Nenene reached up, laying her finger on Yomiko's lips
as she quietly said, "You've already given me the best
gift I've gotten this year."
Yomiko looked confused, "What?"
"Having you back, Yomiko," Nenene said softly, dead
serious, "having you back in my life has made me
happier than I've ever been."
"Nenene," Yomiko smiled, her eyes glistening with
unshed tears.
Carefully she reached up, wiping those eyes with the
back of a finger. Nenene smiled slightly, "Do you
remember when we first met?"
Yomiko sighed softly as Nenene cupped her blushing
cheek, the young woman's hand resting there gently.
"Yes," she answered, "you were writing away so
passionately, I was in awe."
"I wanted to write a kiss," Nenene gently pulled
Yomiko down, "but I hadn't been kissed before, didn't
know what it felt like..."
"Then you kissed me," Yomiko smiled, her breath coming
a bit faster.
"You were my first kiss," Nenene murmured, "and I've
always wanted to do it again."
With that Nenene closed the distance, pressing her
lips to Yomiko's. She slid her arms around the other
woman, feeling Yomiko pressing close, both of them
clearly enjoying the kiss. They were breathless as
they finally separated, snuggled close on the bed.
"I'm too old for you," Yomiko finally murmured, "there
are a thousand reasons why we shouldn't do this...."
"I'm a writer, I'm sure I can come up with a thousand
and one why we should," Nenene answered, holding on to
Yomiko, "but there's only one reason that matters."
"What's that?" Yomiko asked.
"I love you," Nenene answered, kissing Yomiko again.
Yomiko returned that kiss eagerly, shivering under
Nenene's gentle but surprisingly knowing touch. "I
love you, too," she said happily.
Authors Notes: Thanks go out to the members of the
Read or Dare yahoo group, who offered various
suggestions for the Christmas gifts. The Sisters
restarting their detective agency seemed like a
reasonable idea, considering, and bringing in Yomiko
as a partner would be pretty smart. And before anyone
asks, I have no plans to do a 'New Paper Sisters'
series, though this can be thought of as a sequel of
my "Read or Die or maybe to Dream" fanfiction.
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