rlm@2: Author's Notes: This is a short Nadeshiko/Sonomi fic, because, in my humble rlm@2: opinion, they make an absolutely beautiful couple. ^_^ This is mostly a rlm@2: Somoni sketch of sorts, but I hope you enjoy it. Please email me and tell me rlm@2: what you thought! rlm@2: rlm@2: ~Cali rlm@2: rlm@2: California Dumount rlm@2: rlm@2: Send all feedback, comments, or offerings (excluding firstborns ^_~) to: rlm@2: stone0virgin@crosswinds.net. rlm@2: rlm@2: Legal Disclaimer: I am not plural, I am not CLAMP. rlm@2: rlm@2: Personal Disclaimer: I'm not straight, and I'm not sane. rlm@2: ^_~ rlm@2: rlm@2: Gender Disclaimer: This fic involves two beautiful women. One of those women rlm@2: is in love with the other woman. If you have a problem with this, please rlm@2: evolve. rlm@2: rlm@2: Without further ado... rlm@2: rlm@2: ========================= rlm@2: Temporary One 1/1 rlm@2: by California Dumount rlm@2: stone0virgin@crosswinds.net rlm@2: ========================= rlm@2: rlm@2: "Sonomi...." rlm@2: rlm@2: She saw Nadeshiko's lips moving, pale coral parting to reveal that small rlm@2: pink tongue. Words reached her eyes, sung in the other girl's gentle, high rlm@2: soprano; but Sonomi had been staring far too long at the whole of rlm@2: Nadeshiko's china pale to register that her cousin was actually saying. rlm@2: rlm@2: "Sonomi..." rlm@2: rlm@2: Nadeshiko's pretty face fell to an expression of worry, her opal eyes rlm@2: focused more closely on Sonomi. The older girl felt a light, tingling warmth rlm@2: at the base of her spine, a typical symptom when she was the focus of rlm@2: Nadeshiko's attention. The pale girl leaned forward, bright eyes still rlm@2: worried; and in the swirling mix of her half-reality daydream, Sonomi leaned rlm@2: in too. rlm@2: "Are you feeling alright, Sonomi?" rlm@2: rlm@2: It was a rather rude awakening when she felt only Nadeshiko's cool hand rlm@2: against her suddenly burning forehead. rlm@2: "My, you ARE rather warm," Nadeshiko murmured, absently brushing away rlm@2: a rlm@2: stray lock of Sonomi's hair. rlm@2: "I'm fine!" the older girl sputtered, a feeling off horror sliding rlm@2: down her rlm@2: back, curling through her ribs and around her heart. She looked at Nadeshiko rlm@2: with wide, horrified eyes of sapphire, before her fear melted into a feeling rlm@2: of annoyance. 'That's the third time this week,' she though, thin, rlm@2: unartistic fingers coming up to massage her temple. 'Damn.' rlm@2: "Are you sure?" opal eyes narrowed, framed with ebony and utterly rlm@2: enchanting in their bland attempt at disbelief. rlm@2: "Very sure," Sonomi nodded affirmatively, lips moving in a smile she rlm@2: only rlm@2: willed herself to feel. rlm@2: "Oh, what if you *are* ill?" Nadeshiko wailed melodramatically. rlm@2: Mischief rlm@2: was written in her lithe form as she gasped in horror, "What if you have rlm@2: some mysterious disease from Africa!? What if there isn't a cure... Sonomi rlm@2: don't leave me!!" The smaller girl tossed herself into Sonomi's lap, rlm@2: 'weeping' onto her cousin's shoulder. There was a moment, stilled, when rlm@2: Sonomi felt that her bones had melted into her flesh, so that she might rlm@2: better focus on the feeling of Nadeshiko's breath on her neck, and rlm@2: Nadeshiko's little heart fluttering inside her breast, and Nadeshiko's soft rlm@2: hair and.... rlm@2: "Nadeshiko..." Sonomi gasped out, feeling that if she didn't say rlm@2: *something*, didn't take the glory rising up inside her and shove it into a rlm@2: word that it might travel through her blood and make her do something rlm@2: (wonderful, wonderful) stupid. 'Nadeshiko' was the only word that could hold rlm@2: such feelings and not turn in on itself. The younger girl giggled, but rlm@2: Sonomi didn't hear it, instead feeling the delicate vibration against her rlm@2: neck. Then it, and the all-consuming cloud of Nadeshiko and wide pink skirts rlm@2: vanished, returning to the other end of the picnic blanket. Nadeshiko's face rlm@2: still held a carefully made expression of vexation, but there was a naughty rlm@2: light in her eyes that made Sonomi giggle despite herself. rlm@2: "See, now you're all better!" Nadeshiko chirped happily, "No rlm@2: strange rlm@2: African diseases for my Sonomi-chan, nuh-uh!" The mock-gravity in her rlm@2: cousin's words only made Sonomi laugh harder. rlm@2: "Thank you," she said between giggles, "I needed that." rlm@2: "You certainly did," Nadeshiko said seriously, "For a minute you rlm@2: looked rlm@2: like the world was going to end." rlm@2: 'Iie,' Sonomi thought, feeling chilled in the shade of the tall elm, rlm@2: 'You're the end of the world.' The tenderness in her mind soothed the words, rlm@2: but did nothing to combat the sudden bout of sadness that colored them. rlm@2: "Well it's not," she replied with an air of authority, "At least rlm@2: not today. rlm@2: Let's finish up and get going. Don't you have a shoot this afternoon?" rlm@2: "Probably," Nadeshiko said, reaching into the picnic basket for the rlm@2: container of cherries. After struggling with the lid, she popped it open and rlm@2: plucked out a cherry, holding it above her mouth and batting at it with her rlm@2: tongue. rlm@2: "You're so silly, Nadeshiko-chan," Sonomi grinned, giggling when the rlm@2: other rlm@2: girl paused in her game and crossed her eyes. She looked like a kitten rlm@2: caught playing with string. rlm@2: "That's why you love me!" Nadeshiko said, eyes candid. rlm@2: "Though heaven knows how I manage it," Sonomi forced past the beating rlm@2: of rlm@2: her heart. She leaned over and picked out a cherry, eating it quickly. rlm@2: Nadeshiko just rolled her eyes. rlm@2: rlm@2: rlm@2: "I don't see why we can't just stay out here all day," Nadeshiko rlm@2: pouted as rlm@2: they folded up the blanket and placed the empty containers in the basket. rlm@2: "You have a shoot later on," Sonomi reminded her politely. She rlm@2: thought rlm@2: perhaps her brain needed a few moments of Nadeshiko-less lucidity. rlm@2: "I know," the other girl stretched her pale arms and yawned like a rlm@2: cat, rlm@2: "But I just... I don't know, I want to *do* something today." Unable rlm@2: to rlm@2: think of anything uncompromising to day, Sonomi simply shrugged. rlm@2: "Oh, come on," Nadeshiko sang, spreading her arms as if to embrace rlm@2: the rlm@2: world and Sonomi in it, "Let's just stay a little while longer." Her rlm@2: slim, rlm@2: elegant hands captured Sonomi's, whirling her around in and endless circle rlm@2: of color and shadow. The scenery blurred, Nadeshiko was the only clear rlm@2: thing, smiling and laughing.... rlm@2: rlm@2: Without warning (as, Sonomi reflected, most of Nadeshiko's accidents were), rlm@2: the pale girl's foot slipped and sent the two cousins tumbling down the soft rlm@2: slope, and blinding whirl of gray, brown, pink skirts and blue slacks. rlm@2: Nadeshiko shrieked and shrieked, but to Sonomi's ears it sounded as if she rlm@2: was enjoying it. They rolled to the bottom of the hill, the older girl rlm@2: pressed against the softness of the younger, having landed on top. rlm@2: "Are you alright?" the question burst from Sonomi. Nadeshiko lay rlm@2: still rlm@2: beneath her, eyes closed and face serene. rlm@2: "Hai," the other girl murmured dreamily, eyes still closed, rlm@2: "That was fun." rlm@2: For a brief, paranoid moment, Sonomi considered that Nadeshiko was rlm@2: deliberately plotting, trying to force her to act the sweet impulses rlm@2: flooding through her veins. rlm@2: "Nadeshiko..." Sonomi's tone was suddenly sharp. She braced her rlm@2: weight on rlm@2: her arms, afraid to crush the delicate china doll beneath even her slight rlm@2: weight. rlm@2: "You're really warm, Sonomi-chan," sweet coral lips moving again, so rlm@2: close, rlm@2: and Sonomi felt herself once again drawn into the spell. There was no rlm@2: fighting it. All awareness suddenly flowed to her breasts, pressed against rlm@2: Nadeshiko's own full ones. The other girl's pink sun dress had slipped off rlm@2: her shoulders, revealing only soft ivory skin. Sonomi imagined it, the whole rlm@2: of Nadeshiko's flesh, covering the other girl's body with delicious satin. rlm@2: Her hands throbbed into protest from supporting all her weight, and against rlm@2: her will, Sonomi let herself lay more fully against Nadeshiko. The pale rlm@2: girl's face was calm and still, ebony lashes fanned against her cheeks, rlm@2: breathing light and airy. And then those small, full lips, naturally pink, rlm@2: and the warm cavern of Nadeshiko's mouth beyond their barrier. Sonomi rlm@2: thought desperately, trying to evade the ideas flooding her. rlm@2: rlm@2: .... she could reach down and brush Nadeshiko's soft cheek. rlm@2: .... or gather her up and cradle her, pretend that she though Nadeshiko was rlm@2: hurt. rlm@2: .... maybe she could cup Nadeshiko's pretty face, bring her lips down on rlm@2: the other girl's. Those lips would be warm and clinging, and somehow Sonomi rlm@2: might lift Nadeshiko into a sitting position, lean over her, thrust her own rlm@2: tongue into the other girl's mouth, run it along those pearly teeth, melt or rlm@2: shatter into a million tiny pieces reflecting only Nadeshiko, Nadeshiko.... rlm@2: rlm@2: "You're really warm, Sonomi," the pale girl said quietly, opening rlm@2: those rlm@2: moon-opal eyes, her voice worried. Sonomi quickly removed her weight, rlm@2: standing up and helping Nadeshiko to her feet. Once again, a slim pale hand rlm@2: came up to touch the other girl's forehead, feeling for a temperature. "Are rlm@2: you sure you're alright?" Sweet, innocent. rlm@2: "I'll be fine," Sonomi's voice was strangled, "Someday." rlm@2: rlm@2: She really wasn't sure how much had happened. rlm@2: rlm@2: rlm@2: