Author's Notes: This is a short Nadeshiko/Sonomi fic, because, in my humble

 opinion, they make an absolutely beautiful couple.  ^_^ This is mostly a

 Somoni sketch of sorts, but I hope you enjoy it. Please email me and tell me

 what you thought!

 

 ~Cali

 

 California Dumount

 

 Send all feedback, comments, or offerings (excluding firstborns ^_~) to:

 stone0virgin@crosswinds.net.

 

 Legal Disclaimer: I am not plural, I am not CLAMP.

 

 Personal Disclaimer: I'm not straight, and I'm not sane. <sticks out

 tongue>

 ^_~

 

 Gender Disclaimer: This fic involves two beautiful women. One of those women

 is in love with the other woman. If you have a problem with this, please

 evolve.

 

 Without further ado...

 

 =========================

 Temporary One 1/1

 by California Dumount

 stone0virgin@crosswinds.net

 =========================

 

  "Sonomi...."

 

  She saw Nadeshiko's lips moving, pale coral parting to reveal that small

 pink tongue. Words reached her eyes, sung in the other girl's gentle, high

 soprano; but Sonomi had been staring far too long at the whole of

 Nadeshiko's china pale to register that her cousin was actually saying.

 

  "Sonomi..."

 

  Nadeshiko's pretty face fell to an expression of worry, her opal eyes

 focused more closely on Sonomi. The older girl felt a light, tingling warmth

 at the base of her spine, a typical symptom when she was the focus of

 Nadeshiko's attention. The pale girl leaned forward, bright eyes still

 worried; and in the swirling mix of her half-reality daydream, Sonomi leaned

 in too.

  "Are you feeling alright, Sonomi?"

 

  It was a rather rude awakening when she felt only Nadeshiko's cool hand

 against her suddenly burning forehead.

  "My, you ARE rather warm," Nadeshiko murmured, absently brushing away

 a

 stray lock of Sonomi's hair.

  "I'm fine!" the older girl sputtered, a feeling off horror sliding

 down her

 back, curling through her ribs and around her heart. She looked at Nadeshiko

 with wide, horrified eyes of sapphire, before her fear melted into a feeling

 of annoyance. 'That's the third time this week,' she though, thin,

 unartistic fingers coming up to massage her temple. 'Damn.'

  "Are you sure?" opal eyes narrowed, framed with ebony and utterly

 enchanting in their bland attempt at disbelief.

  "Very sure," Sonomi nodded affirmatively, lips moving in a smile she

 only

 willed herself to feel.

  "Oh, what if you *are* ill?" Nadeshiko wailed melodramatically.

 Mischief

 was written in her lithe form as she gasped in horror, "What if you have

 some mysterious disease from Africa!? What if there isn't a cure... Sonomi

 don't leave me!!" The smaller girl tossed herself into Sonomi's lap,

 'weeping' onto her cousin's shoulder. There was a moment, stilled, when

 Sonomi felt that her bones had melted into her flesh, so that she might

 better focus on the feeling of Nadeshiko's breath on her neck, and

 Nadeshiko's little heart fluttering inside her breast, and Nadeshiko's soft

 hair and....

  "Nadeshiko..." Sonomi gasped out, feeling that if she didn't say

 *something*, didn't take the glory rising up inside her and shove it into a

 word that it might travel through her blood and make her do something

 (wonderful, wonderful) stupid. 'Nadeshiko' was the only word that could hold

 such feelings and not turn in on itself. The younger girl giggled, but

 Sonomi didn't hear it, instead feeling the delicate vibration against her

 neck. Then it, and the all-consuming cloud of Nadeshiko and wide pink skirts

 vanished, returning to the other end of the picnic blanket. Nadeshiko's face

 still held a carefully made expression of vexation, but there was a naughty

 light in her eyes that made Sonomi giggle despite herself.

  "See, now you're all better!" Nadeshiko chirped happily, "No

 strange

 African diseases for my Sonomi-chan, nuh-uh!" The mock-gravity in her

 cousin's words only made Sonomi laugh harder.

  "Thank you," she said between giggles, "I needed that."

  "You certainly did," Nadeshiko said seriously, "For a minute you

 looked

 like the world was going to end."

  'Iie,' Sonomi thought, feeling chilled in the shade of the tall elm,

 'You're the end of the world.' The tenderness in her mind soothed the words,

 but did nothing to combat the sudden bout of sadness that colored them.

  "Well it's not," she replied with an air of authority, "At least

 not today.

 Let's finish up and get going. Don't you have a shoot this afternoon?"

  "Probably," Nadeshiko said, reaching into the picnic basket for the

 container of cherries. After struggling with the lid, she popped it open and

 plucked out a cherry, holding it above her mouth and batting at it with her

 tongue.

  "You're so silly, Nadeshiko-chan," Sonomi grinned, giggling when the

 other

 girl paused in her game and crossed her eyes. She looked like a kitten

 caught playing with string.

  "That's why you love me!" Nadeshiko said, eyes candid.

  "Though heaven knows how I manage it," Sonomi forced past the beating

 of

 her heart. She leaned over and picked out a cherry, eating it quickly.

 Nadeshiko just rolled her eyes.

 

 

  "I don't see why we can't just stay out here all day," Nadeshiko

 pouted as

 they folded up the blanket and placed the empty containers in the basket.

  "You have a shoot later on," Sonomi reminded her politely. She

 thought

 perhaps her brain needed a few moments of Nadeshiko-less lucidity.

  "I know," the other girl stretched her pale arms and yawned like a

 cat,

 "But I just... I don't know, I want to *do* something today." Unable

 to

 think of anything uncompromising to day, Sonomi simply shrugged.

  "Oh, come on," Nadeshiko sang, spreading her arms as if to embrace

 the

 world and Sonomi in it, "Let's just stay a little while longer." Her

 slim,

 elegant hands captured Sonomi's, whirling her around in and endless circle

 of color and shadow. The scenery blurred, Nadeshiko was the only clear

 thing, smiling and laughing....

 

  Without warning (as, Sonomi reflected, most of Nadeshiko's accidents were),

 the pale girl's foot slipped and sent the two cousins tumbling down the soft

 slope, and blinding whirl of gray, brown, pink skirts and blue slacks.

 Nadeshiko shrieked and shrieked, but to Sonomi's ears it sounded as if she

 was enjoying it. They rolled to the bottom of the hill, the older girl

 pressed against the softness of the younger, having landed on top.

  "Are you alright?" the question burst from Sonomi. Nadeshiko lay

 still

 beneath her, eyes closed and face serene.

  "Hai," the other girl murmured dreamily, eyes still closed,

 "That was fun."

 For a brief, paranoid moment, Sonomi considered that Nadeshiko was

 deliberately plotting, trying to force her to act the sweet impulses

 flooding through her veins.

  "Nadeshiko..." Sonomi's tone was suddenly sharp. She braced her

 weight on

 her arms, afraid to crush the delicate china doll beneath even her slight

 weight.

  "You're really warm, Sonomi-chan," sweet coral lips moving again, so

 close,

 and Sonomi felt herself once again drawn into the spell. There was no

 fighting it. All awareness suddenly flowed to her breasts, pressed against

 Nadeshiko's own full ones. The other girl's pink sun dress had slipped off

 her shoulders, revealing only soft ivory skin. Sonomi imagined it, the whole

 of Nadeshiko's flesh, covering the other girl's body with delicious satin.

 Her hands throbbed into protest from supporting all her weight, and against

 her will, Sonomi let herself lay more fully against Nadeshiko. The pale

 girl's face was calm and still, ebony lashes fanned against her cheeks,

 breathing light and airy. And then those small, full lips, naturally pink,

 and the warm cavern of Nadeshiko's mouth beyond their barrier. Sonomi

 thought desperately, trying to evade the ideas flooding her.

 

  .... she could reach down and brush Nadeshiko's soft cheek.

  .... or gather her up and cradle her, pretend that she though Nadeshiko was

 hurt.

  .... maybe she could cup Nadeshiko's pretty face, bring her lips down on

 the other girl's. Those lips would be warm and clinging, and somehow Sonomi

 might lift Nadeshiko into a sitting position, lean over her, thrust her own

 tongue into the other girl's mouth, run it along those pearly teeth, melt or

 shatter into a million tiny pieces reflecting only Nadeshiko, Nadeshiko....

 

  "You're really warm, Sonomi," the pale girl said quietly, opening

 those

 moon-opal eyes, her voice worried. Sonomi quickly removed her weight,

 standing up and helping Nadeshiko to her feet. Once again, a slim pale hand

 came up to touch the other girl's forehead, feeling for a temperature. "Are

 you sure you're alright?" Sweet, innocent.

  "I'll be fine," Sonomi's voice was strangled, "Someday."

 

  She really wasn't sure how much had happened.