Story: The Great Shizuma (chapter 2)

Authors: Chiharu-ronin

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Chapter 2

Title: Confessions

[Author's notes: Tamao to Shizuma: "You need to learn how to knock." XD]

THE GREAT SHIZUMA

Chapter Two

Confessions

"Whaddya mean you're allergic to ragweed?" Tsubomi yelled. She started to pace the room.

"Gomen nasai," Yaya muttered. Her congestion made her apology sound like "gomed dathai." Why am I apologizing for having allergies? she wondered.

"Jeez, your voice…" The younger girl pulled her hair worriedly. "The concert's tomorrow. What are you going to do? Ohh, and you have that solo, too! Arrgh!"

"There's that other girl, Minako, on Alto I. She could fill in that solo for me." Yaya sniffled. "…Uh, well, my voice is out of tune. Horribly flat, I'm afraid…Probably just won't go…" She paused. "Wait. Why are you here? Did you come to my dorm specifically to yell at me?"

"Eh? No." Tsubomi straightened and put her hands on her hips, wore her trademark scowl. "I need a shower, and the pilot light's out in my dorm, and, well, n-nobody likes a cold shower." Oh, man. I didn't seriously just stutter? But the way her senpai fixed her with that gaze made her nervous.

Lying. Yaya knew. Every room in the Strawberry Dorms was connected to the same plumbing system. If Tsubomi's shower was cold, then hers would be as well. And the raven-haired girl had taken a shower not fifteen minutes ago, and the water had been pleasantly warm.

"Okay, now tell me the real reason you're here."

Tsubomi's topaz-colored eyes widened. She arced an eyebrow curiously. "What?"

"Are you here to see Hi-kar-iiii?" Yaya sang the Étoile's name teasingly.

The younger girl's cheeks pinkened to match the shade of her hair. "Of course not, baka! That's why you're here!"

"No. I'm here because I live here." Yaya grinned. Tsubomi was kind of cute when she was angry, which was more or less all the time. "Look at you. You got the hots for the Étoile! What would Amane say?"

"You're an idiot, Yaya-senpai!"

"Tsubomi, Tsubomi, Tsubomi. You wouldn't stand a chance with Hikari-sama."

"More of a chance than you. Hikari-sama doesn't go for stupid girls."

"Sometimes I doubt she goes for girls, period," Yaya grunted. "I mean, if she's dating Amane-sama…"

"Wow." The comment was offensive, but Tsubomi found herself giggling nonetheless. "You're an idiot and a bitch."

"Look, Tsubomi-chan, she's not pretty. Even you'll admit that."

"She's kinda pretty. Not gorgeous, but okay." The second year sighed and plopped down on the bed next to her senpai. "But seriously? I don't think Hikari-sama cares about all that. How people look and stuff."

"Everyone can be ugly if she sets her mind to it."

Tsubomi shook her head. "She'd think Amane's ugly, but not you." She stiffened. That did not come out the way she intended.

"Tsubomi-chan…" Yaya's voice sounded odd, different, unlike how the person in question had ever heard her. The name came out partly like a gasp, partly like a sigh. It terrified the youngster, who sat up straight and looked away.

"I meant that like you're her best friend," she frowned. "Of course she can think you're kawaii." Wince.

"I know what you meant," her senpai said softly.

Tsubomi gazed bashfully at her hands in her lap. She could feel the weight on the bed shifting, heard some springs squeak. She felt Yaya's fingers ever so softly on her chin and looked back up. The temperature of the room seemed to shoot up ten degrees. Why do I wear sweaters in June? Yaya's fingers slid gently along Tsubomi's jaw until the older girl was cupping the younger girl's left cheek in her hand. Then Yaya pulled Tsubomi toward her and the second year's breath froze in her lungs. And, just like that, Yaya kissed Tsubomi on the cheek.

---

Nagisa shivered under her covers. She felt ill. Her head, hands, and feet were cold, the rest of her body uncomfortably hot. Sweaty. How could one shiver and sweat at the same time? She was seeing spots. Her eyes hurt. Her heart lurched. Room tilting.

I can't believe she's back.

Tamao knelt nearby, preparing mint tea for her peaked room mate. The exact same thought occupied her mind. Admittedly, the poet didn't know much about Nagisa and Shizuma's relationship - not knowing probably had more perks than Tamao herself realized. What was that silver-haired fiend doing here? Tamao knew this at least: Shizuma broke up with Nagisa. So why was she back? Just…just why?

The poet sighed. So many questions, not enough answers. Maybe there was a couplet in that line somewhere. Tamao abandoned the water heater briefly to jot that down in her notebook. She then got water and fever reducers and held them out to the redhead.

"Take these."

Nagisa lifted her arm out and was punished by a searing cold pain lancing up her arm, her side. With an agonized moan, she withdrew her arm and burrowed deeper under the covers. The room just felt so damn freezing!

Tamao was normally delighted to see her love interest's troubled expressions, for it gave her a sense of duty. Obligated felt the blue-haired poet to take care of her Nagisa. But this was different. There was nothing cute about a sick Nagisa, shivering under two quilts in June, her normally vibrant eyes now dim and glassy. Also, it wasn't cute knowing what had made her like this. Tamao laid her hand gently on the redhead's hot forehead only to have Nagisa recoil with another moan.

"Your hand is so cold. It hurts…"

"Where does it hurt?"

"All over." Her voice broke. She sounded close to tears. "So much pain, it hurts just to move…"

Tamao tilted her head, grave concern showing in her deep opalescent eyes. She didn't know what to do other than offer the pills again.

"These will make you feel better."

Nagisa hesitated before sticking only her hand out from under the covers. The sight was truly pitiful, made her arm look short, like a T-rex. Somehow the pills and the water passed through her painfully swollen throat.

Her tea was ready then. Tamao set the cup on her nightstand, saying she didn't have to drink it if she didn't want to.

"I think I'm g-g-gonna try t-to sleep." Nagisa was shivering constantly now. Her spine ached. Damn cold. She pulled her knees up higher, hugged them closer to her chest.

Suddenly the poet found herself with a clever idea. It put her at risk of getting sick, but what was a little flu bug anyway?

"Nagisa-chan, if you feel cold, I could sleep with you to keep you warm."

The girl in question turned her garnet-colored eyes up toward Tamao. "A-are you sure?"

Tamao offered up a friendly smile, saying, "Of course. My body heat could make you feel warm without overheating you."

Nagisa said nothing, but slowly shifted a bit to make room for the poet. Tamao nearly gasped as she felt the shock of heat in the sheets her best friend had previously laid upon. She reached for Nagisa, to put her arms around her, to cuddle her, to comfort her, when she realized her palm had come in contact with the redhead's bare midriff. Nagisa had never put clothes on, and was laying in bed still in only her bra and underwear.

Am I taking this to far? she thought. "Nagisa-chan…?"

But her friend was out like a light.

---

Nagisa awoke with a start that morning. Last night's almost convulsive shivering was replaced by a heavy sweat this morning. Her auburn bangs were plastered wetly against her glistening forehead. Last night she felt cold. This morning she felt swelteringly hot. Her fever had broken.

She tried to sit up, but something weighed her down. Tamao's arm draped across her stomach. Oh yeah. She offered to sleep with me last night. Nagisa sighed and laid back down, in no particular hurry to get out of bed anyway.

It was awfully nice of Tamao-chan to take care of me last night. Tamao did a lot of nice things for her, Nagisa realized. She was probably the kindest, most gentle person she had ever met. The poet liked to engage in gossip, but the redhead had never heard her say anything bad about anybody. That was admirable. And the feeling of Tamao's body pressed against hers, skin to skin, was really quite nice. It felt like pressure. Good pressure.

It's like… It's like I'm in love…with Tamao. Nagisa couldn't help a smile creeping on her youthful features. She no longer felt a suffocating heat, but a boisterous warmth. She closed her eyes and brought Tamao's hand to her waist, pulling her closer.

Ever the light sleeper, the poet was awoken by the movement. With a drowsy sigh, she slowly raised her touseled head, squinting at the light. She smiled when she saw Nagisa.

"Ohayo," she greeted, throat clogged with sleep. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better," the redhead muttered, still grinning.

"That's good." Tamao settled back down, her head resting on Nagisa's shoulder.

"Tamao-chan…?"

"Yeah?"

"Do… Do you love someone?"

The poet propped herself up on her elbow. Her cerulean eyebrows knitted together in confusion. She squinted. "That was kind of random. Where did that come from?"

Nagisa didn't want to give an out-and-out confession. She shrugged. "Just curious."

Tamao's expression softened. "Hai. I do love someone." She laid back down. "The girl I love…" She sighed and pushed her azure bangs out of her eyes. "…is an energetic person who can't be held down for too long. The girl I love has large, beautiful eyes and an even larger heart." She looked at Nagisa, a certain warmth in her amethyst eyes. "The girl I love is laying here in bed with me."

Tamao had been scared as shit to finally tell Nagisa how she felt. But there was something in the way her best friend was acting that gave her the confidence. Tamao wasn't the kind of girl to be scared of being around someone she loved. She could be normal, sort of. She could gaze into Nagisa's face, which now had an indescribable expression on it.

The redhead had her hands on Tamao's trim waist and slid them up to her shoulders. The poet froze as Nagisa brought her face closer to her own. Nagisa then tilted her head and parted her lips slightly. Tamao closed her eyes, ready to intercept the kiss. But at the crucial moment where they could have come closest, a creaking sound came from behind. Both girls pulled apart and turned their attention warily to the door in which stood Shizuma.

The silver-haired vixen stood erect, stiff as rigormortis. Her normally narrow eyes were as round and wide as dinner plates. They remained so as her eyebrows came down angrily over them. She looked absolutely terrifying.

As said earlier, Tamao wasn't afraid. She smirked at Shizuma, "You need to learn how to knock."

[End notes: How d'ya like that, Hanazono?! Ahh I'm such a Shizuma-basher.]

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