Chapter 20: Get out of the WayRisa awoke to a shifting in bed that indicated her lover was rising once again. The first time had been to work out and take a shower, which the gunner vaguely remembered dozing through, but then Ai had climbed back in beside her and slept for a few hours more. Now, the older was moving about the room, gathering her things for the day. “Where are you going?”
Ai jumped, startled at the unexpected voice, spinning around with her hand over her chest, “Risa!” she let out a breath, “Whew, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. The therapist isn’t going to even get here until one, so you can sleep in if you like.”
“Where are you going?” the gunner repeated, sitting up in bed, “It’s not even seven yet.”
“I have an appointment at eight, then another at ten, twelve, three and five.” Ai recited, looking up as she recalled the information, “Then I’ll be here to oversee preparations on the attack.”
“I can do that for you.” Risa offered, but was immediately rebuffed, “Why not? I’m not dying, Ai, just sitting around isn’t very strenuous. At this rate, the only thing that’s going to kill me is boredom.”
“Well, I don’t know.” Where it was cute and sweet before, Risa now found her over protectiveness annoying, “How will you get around?”
“Ai, no matter what you say, I’m going to do as I please. You’re my lover, not my keeper, it’s not your responsibility to tell me what I can and can’t do.” The older girl looked a little shocked at her tone and Risa softened her voice, realizing that she wasn’t doing it on purpose, “I know you worry about me, but I know my own limits better than anyone.”
Crawling onto the bed and embracing her gently, Ai sighed into her sweet smelling hair, “I do worry about you and I love you. I want to be here for you while you’re healing, but I can’t be and I know how taxing the therapy is for you. I don’t want anything to happen to you, I don’t think I could live without you again.”
They sat together in each other’s arms for a long moment before Risa reluctantly broke away, “You should go, don’t want to be late.”
“I’ll be done soon, I only have about eleven more after today is done. Then I’ll be home.” Pulling back, Ai finished getting ready, aware of her lover’s eyes on her as she did so. Without turning to face her again, she left, meeting Saki in the hallway, “Let’s go.”
Breathing deliberately, Ai tried to completely erase her mind of thoughts, finding herself unable to forget the sight of Risa’s face this morning. Unbidden, an old memory surfaced from her childhood.
It had been three weeks since Risa first kissed her, three weeks since the younger girl abruptly found herself without a home. It had only been about an hour, though, since Ai had seen her, curled up inside the old condemned house where both had spent the better part of their younger years. Ai simply couldn’t stay away from her, despite the fact that her stubborn pride wouldn’t let her apologize.
Sitting in her lonely room, everything around her reminded her of her companion. In the corner were Risa’s books, in her drawer were Risa’s clothes, the futon that she used was rolled up in the closet. Memories filled her head of them talking all night when they should have been asleep, playing games with each other and laughing comfortably. With a sigh, Ai realized that the only way Risa would ever come back was if Ai went to her first.
It wasn’t pride that kept Risa from coming to her, after all, it was fear. Fear of Ai being mad at her and fear of any retaliation she might incur. Flopping over on her bed and hugging her knees to her chest, the girl sighed again. She really missed Risa and she did want her to come back, but at the same time that kiss still bothered her. The baby bean was so innocent in her affection, never trying to hide it and always happy to show it. Really, this development shouldn’t have been any surprise to Ai, but it was and now she wasn’t sure how to feel.
On the one hand, her heart ached in emptiness without Risa’s presence, but on the other the thought of being with another girl when she’d been taught that it was a bad feeling to have just didn’t sit well with her. What’s more was that she wasn’t sure if she felt uneasy because she didn’t think two girl’s should be together or if she actually felt the same way and was afraid of what other people would think.
Her head was spinning with the weight of her confusing thoughts, not knowing what was right or wrong, not knowing the consequences of feeling the way she was feeling, not even knowing exactly how she was feeling. The only thing she knew for sure was that she wanted Risa there with her.
Looking over to the side, Ai could imagine Risa, laying on her stomach and smiling gently at her, reaching out to affectionately stroke her hair. The younger girl always knew just what to say to make her feel better, she really had a way with words. Unable to stop herself, a happy smile lit up her own face at the thought of her companion, only to fade when she realized what she was doing.
Risa’s birthday was coming up in two days, Ai remembered, and she had originally been planning an elaborate party, now she wasn’t sure what to do. Putting her head down into her folded arms, Ai sighed yet again, flashing back to the day at the creek. They’d been sitting quietly, comfortable in each other’s presence, and Ai had turned, feeling eyes on the side of her face. Risa had been staring at her with a soft smile that made a warmth swell in her heart.
Slowly, the future gunner reached out to draw Ai in close, staring straight into her soul with those chocolate colored orbs and the older girl had been powerless to resist. Gently, lips as soft as silk pressed against her own, moist and inviting, and Ai shifted closer as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Then, all at once, what she was doing hit her and before she could think, Ai was up and running. Now, when she thought back on it, she felt a deep regret and sorrow fill her. Rolling over and pulling a pillow over her head, Ai groaned loudly, torn about what she wanted to do.The memory poofed away under Ai’s mental exercises, her mind clearing of all thoughts and uncertainties. Now, she was just an actor playing a part, she was no longer Takahashi Ai, whose heart belonged to Niigaki Risa, now she was Takahashi-dono, who had work to do.
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Sitting on a bench in the manor’s gym, Aika watched attentively the two girls in front of her. As the second part of their ‘Make Lin Cool’ quest, Jun and her had decided to teach the girl some solid self defense. Currently, the oldest girl was showing Lin how to bob and weave, but instead of looking like a boxer, the hacker just looked like a spaz. Aika couldn’t help but laugh, “Maybe we should come back to that later?” she called out, to Jun’s agreement.
Moving on to other lessons, Aika observed and occasionally threw in her thoughts, but since fighting was the hitter’s expertise, there really wasn’t much for her to say. With nothing in particular to occupy her mind, her thoughts inevitably turned dark. Even though, with Jun and Lin’s forceful help, she was out and about, her trauma was not so easily forgotten. It was obvious in the way she jumped at random noises or if someone touched her.
A figure entering the gym caught her eye and Aika turned to see Reina making her way around some equipment towards her. She acknowledged the cop with an affectionate grin, her thoughts melting away under her pleased surprise at seeing her aneki. They’d become quite close over the holidays, both of their rather aggressive personalities fitting together easily.
“Hey kiddo,” Reina greeted a bit seriously, “How are you holding up?”
Aika blinked at her in surprise, the straightforward nature not bothering her so much as the fact that the older girl knew she was feeling down, “What do you mean?” She feigned ignorance and earned herself a stern look.
“I noticed that you were looking blue at breakfast, do you want to talk about it?” It appeared as though the older girl wasn’t going to take no for an answer and Aika thought hard about how to phrase her answer.
“I’ll be fine.” she began slowly, “I mean, really, it’s still hard, how does one get over something like that, after all?” Reina nodded in understanding. “Jun and Lin have been a real help, dragging me around and keeping my mind off of everything, but I still think about it sometimes. How can I not? It was a close call, if you guys had been five minutes later, then…” She shivered and Reina laid a hand on her shoulder.
“Hey now, we weren’t five minutes later, we got to you in time-” the cop was cut off by Aika shaking her head.
“But what if you weren’t?” She insisted, “I dream about it every night, each nightmare more horrible than the last. The things she could have done to me in just five minutes. Sometimes in my dreams, I don’t get the marker stuck to the window and you guys spend hours searching for the right apartment. Sometimes she kills me afterward and, worse yet, sometimes, she keeps me alive.” She didn’t even realize that the more frantic her speech got, the more tears threatened to spill from her eyes, until Reina’s hands gently cupped her face, bringing her attention to the older girl.
“We weren’t late, Aika, we’d never be late. It was a close call, true, but we all live our lives by close calls. There will be other times and it may sound harsh, but you need to get used to it.” As if to offset her blunt words, Reina stroked her face gently. “Now, what are you doing sulking over here? You should be out there, helping Jun.”
“She doesn’t need my help with that, I’m not nearly as knowledgeable. Lin’s in good hands.” Aika countered.
“I beg to differ. Teaching is good and all, but the only way to really learn is through experience, don’t you think? And you need to train, too.” Reina pointed out, “Why don’t you go spar with Lin Lin?”
“Spar?” Aika blinked at her, “Is that really a good idea?”
“Yeah, sure. Put on some gloves, a helmet and we’ll scrounge up a mouth piece or two, I know I saw some still packaged around here somewhere.” The cop ‘hmm’ed. “Hey Jun!” she called out to the taller girl, catching her attention as she caught Lin’s fist, “Let’s let these two gear up.”
The Chinese girl hesitated, but eventually, Reina talked her into to helping Lin into the bright red pads and soon the two youngest girls were facing each other on the mat. “I can’t hit Lin Lin.” Aika finally said after the two had a long stare down, “It just doesn’t seem right.”
“Yeah, I don’t want to fight against Mitsui-san.” Lin agreed, “I mean, it’s hard enough to throw a punch at Jun.”
“Well, why don’t you just pretend Lin is Miyoshi? It’ll give you a chance to work out some anger.” The little yankii suggested, “And Lin, pretend Aika is a cheeseburger.”
“Cheeseburger?” The hacker asked incredulously, not noticing Aika’s eyes unfocus at the mention of her former assailant, “Do you want me to fight her or try to eat her?” she didn’t even get a chance to chuckle before she was tackled to the ground by a possessed Aika, fists flying.
Blinking in surprise on the side lines, Jun and Reina watched the one sided battle, “Who’s bright idea was this?” The hitter finally asked dryly, going over to pull the thief away, the girl beginning to scream obscenities about Miyoshi.
Rubbing the back of her head sheepishly, Reina followed, looking down at the unconscious hacker, “Whoops, my bad.”
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Later in the evening, Reina knocked on the door to Risa and Ai’s bedroom, entering when she got the go ahead. The two were curled up together on the bed watching a movie, Lin Lin between them, cuddled into Ai’s side and sporting a black eye. They looked like a family and the cop was surprised at the scene for a moment, before remembering her original intention for coming here, “Gaki-san, I need some advice.”
Turning towards Ai, Risa motioned silently for her to give them a moment. The demo expert gently led the still sore hacker out to the sitting room, “Is this about Sayumin?” Risa asked once they were alone.
Nodding, Reina sat down gingerly on the side of the bed, “I don’t know what to do about her. I was hoping you could give me some ideas.”
The gunner looked upwards as she thought for a moment, “I think you should pursue her.”
“Eh~?” Ai exclaimed from where she had been eavesdropping at the door, coming fully back into the room, “Pursue? That’s the last thing you should do. You need to give her space!”
“What the- she asked for my help, not yours!” Risa pouted at her lover.
The demo expert rolled her eyes, “Well, you’re giving her the wrong help.”
“What? You- Get out of here!” Risa shooed, throwing a pillow at the woman. The fluffy projectile impacted against the quickly closed door. “Don’t listen to her, go after Sayumin.”
“What makes your advice right? I was actually leaning towards giving her space.” Reina countered, eliciting a huff.
“That’s the last thing you should do for someone like Sayumin, if you back off, she’ll think you’ve lost interest. What you need to do is be there, let her know how you feel, let her know that you desire her.” Her words made Reina blush slightly.
“Desire.” she murmured and the bean nodded.
“Yes, get her alone tomorrow and corner her, state you feelings bluntly and honestly, take charge. She’ll melt, but it will take her time before she’ll come to you. Keep it up, let her know that you’re waiting, get up close and personal if you have to, but don’t go farther than she’s comfortable with or it will scare her away. The trick is to be in control while letting her feel that she is.”
“How do you know this will work.” Reina asked, just this side of desperate.
Risa smiled wryly, “Because she’s just like Ai-chan and this is the same advice your father gave to me when I asked for his help with her.”
That got Reina’s attention, “My father?” she repeated to make sure she’d heard right. Risa nodded and they sat in silence for a moment, “How did you two end up getting together? When my father and I went to Yokohama that time, you were living in the old house again. We had thought Ai-chan had put you up.”
“Ah, you never did get the whole story did you? I was living there because Ai freaked out on me when I kissed her. It took a whole month for her to let me come back, but when I did, I told her I loved her every chance I got. At first, she was surprised and I thought she might just kick me out again, but she didn’t. It took months before she stopped getting that wide eyed deer in headlights look when I said it.” Risa recalled with a smile.
“When she got used to it, then I stepped it up; I kissed her, on the cheek at first and whenever she wasn’t paying me any attention, which was often. Ai was a spacey kid.” The gunner chuckled, eyes getting cloudy in her memories, “The first time, well, second time I kissed her on the lips, I thought she was going to hit me, but instead, her face just turned completely red.”
“I waited six weeks before I did it again, then a month, then two weeks. Eventually, I was kissing her every day until I got into the habit of waking her up with a kiss in the morning.” Risa paused and Reina tilted her head curiously, fully engrossed in the story.
“When did it change for her?” She inquired eagerly and a love struck smile spread across her companion’s face.
The bean slowly came into consciousness, groggily becoming aware of herself and her position laying face up in bed. Just as her eyes began to flutter open, a soft pressure against her mouth caught her attention. Instinctively, she moved her lips, feeling the warmth try to mimic her actions. Finally, she realized just what was going on and focused on Ai’s face right in front of her.
Startled, she broke away, panting lightly, “Ai? What-?” but she was cut off when those lips fell upon her own again. This time, much more awake than before, Risa threw herself into the kiss, overjoyed when Ai responded in kind and even poked her tongue out to run across the bean’s lips. Before things could get too heated, the older girl parted from Risa’s mouth.
“I love you, too.” she said simply, before diving back in again.Both girls sighed dreamily as Risa retold the story, “That’s so sweet.” Reina commented.
“I don’t think you’ll have to wait as long as I did.” The gunner replied, coming back to the original reason for their gathering, “Just keep telling her how you feel, push her boundaries a little and let her come to the inevitable conclusion on her own time. I know she likes you, she looks at you the way Ai looks at me. It will just take some time”
“Thanks for the advice, Gaki-san.” The cop impulsively hugged the older woman, “I’ll do my best.”
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The pounding music echoed in the large VIP section, the Tanaka lieutenants laughing and talking as girls danced on silver poles in front of them. The room was large, half the size of the regular club and twice as nice, it rested on the second floor, overlooking the main area from the catwalks above, where the flashing lights hung. There were two entrances to the room, one door that led into the pounding club itself and an emergency exit that opened onto a small fire escape with a roof access.
The VIP room itself had it’s own bathrooms, nestled in between two of the stages on the left side of the room. There were six stages total, two each on the left and right walls and one each on the front and back walls. In the empty spaces were comfortable chairs, big enough to seat two people on top of each other. The top right corner was empty to keep from blocking the exit and the bottom right corner was filled with armless chairs for lap dance purposes.
Currently the room was filled with skimpily dressed women, some on the stage, some as accessories for the VIPs and a few walking around serving drinks. The Tanaka lieutenants, plus Maimi, were spread out in small groups around the room, Chion the only brother in the corner enjoying a lap dance. Maimi and Erino were leaning against the wall next to the bathrooms, talking to each other easily, while Fujita stood nearby, looking a little out of place.
The lieutenants weren’t the only VIPs in the room and there was a scattering of business suited men about, all seeming to enjoy themselves. The brothers laughed and drank and music filled the air with a pounding beat, blending into the din of conversation. Everyone appeared to be completely relaxed.
The atmosphere suddenly exploded into chaos as the door leading from the main club burst open and four familiar young women armed to the teeth pointed angry looking assault rifles at the crowd. The Tanaka gang wasted no time in grabbing hostages and taking cover, their movements seeming to snap the civilians out of a state of shock, for they immediately scattered into screaming masses for the emergency exit.
Before anyone could even reach the other exit, it flew inward and banged against the wall, three more young women standing there, dressed similarly, the middle one speaking up in an intimidating timber, “Hit the floor! Now!”
Her waving assault rifle convinced them to follow her instructions and everyone dove for the floor, crawling as far away from the drawn weapons as possible. By now, the oldest five brothers were clutching half dressed women to them as shields and aiming their pistols over their shoulders at their enemies. The hulking Toshio stood half crouched next to a stage cracking his knuckles, while Maimi, Erino and Fuji had overturned some chairs and peeked over them, weapons bared at the girls.
Chion and Akio exchanged a look and simultaneously aimed upwards, shooting out as many flashing lights as they could. The already dim room darkened to almost complete blackness, illuminated only by the small bulbs that surrounded each stage. The brothers wasted no time in firing towards the girls’ last known locations, muzzle flashes illuminating them in the dark room for an instant.
Screams echoed around the room as a few bullets tore into some innocents, sending even more panic rippling through the crowd. As per the plan, the girls split up, aiming to separate the brothers to make them easier to deal with. Saki and Jun headed towards where they had seen the bathrooms, while the others darted at the huddled group, swinging their rifles life bats and clobbering most of the brothers away.
Jun grabbed Erino and Fuji, and threw them as hard as she could away from Saki. About that time, the emergency lights flicked on, bathing everything in a red glow. Saki and Maimi froze, staring at each other for a long moment. Then the taller girl lunged forward, hands gripping her girl’s shoulder and tossing her bodily through the bathroom door. Saki regained her footing quickly and tackled Maimi into the sink, fists flying into her sides.
The taller girl tried ineffectually to stop her before finally bringing a knee up sharply into her gut, eliciting a gasp and forcing Saki to back away. Maimi wasted no time in slugging her girl in the jaw, sending her flying back again, falling to the floor. As she went over to start pounding her, Saki kicked her hard in the knee and Maimi fell on the floor next to her.
Saki rolled over on top of her and drew back her fist like she was going to punch her, Maimi glaring up at her defiantly. The captain paused, locking eyes again, fist slowly falling to her side. Then, she lunged forward, but instead of attacking in the conventional sense, she instead sealed her lips to Maimi’s, the other girl returning the kiss fiercely.
The taller wrapped her arms tightly around her girl, rolling them over so that she was on top. “Oh god, Saki.” Maimi sighed when they parted, “I’ve missed you so much. We haven’t even spoken since this whole thing started.”
“I know, I’ve missed you, too.” Saki replied, fingers running through her girl’s shoulder length hair. She tilted her head back to expose her neck submissively, an action she only did around Maimi, and the girl placed gentle kisses along the smooth expanse.
Meanwhile, out in the main room, it was looking like a free-for-all, Jun was expertly keeping Erino and Fuji from making any contact with her while simultaneously wearing them down with a series of quick blows. Reina was duking it out with Akio, using her assault rifle like a bludgeoning tool and having long ago knocked his pistol away. Ai was taking a beating from Etsuo, but was still managing to hang in there.
Eri and Sayu were pretty even with Daisuke and Baku, frustrating the men to no end and Chion was still across the room, trying his damndest to get a shot in, but there was so much movement, he couldn’t tag anyone. This left Aika with the hulking Toshio, the only one to rival the head of the Tanaka clan himself in size.
They stared at each other for a moment, Aika holding her rifle in a death grip and Toshio sizing her up. Then the big man smirked, reaching out a meaty paw to grab her. Aika snapped out of her fear and dove to the side, having to move again immediately once the man proved to be faster than he looked. The little thief could only dodge his enormous paws, his frustrated growl rumbling in his chest. She could barely get out of the way, much less think about actively going on the assault.
Finally, Aika stumbled and knew that he was finally going to grab her, probably intent on crushing the life out of her with his bare hands. At the last moment, Toshio shifted, unconsciously giving Aika the second she needed for her body to react. The loud report of her rifle sounded over the din of fighting and everyone froze on the spot in surprise. The most stunned would have been the eighth lieutenant himself, looking down at the blood that was quickly oozing out of his chest, where four holes had been punched out.
Toshio stepped forward jerkily, still reaching for his prey, but fell to one knee instead, hands going to his chest, “You shot me.” he mumbled in confusion, slumping down onto his butt and leaning against a chair behind him, “You killed me.”
Aika gaped at him, assault rifle falling from limp fingers, “I shot you.” she repeated, “I killed you.”
Ai, thinking quickly, darted forward and grabbed the young thief by the wrist, “Go! Go! Go! Now!” she called out boomingly, the whole group, including Saki, who had come from the bathroom at the sound of gunfire, made for the fire escape door. The Tanaka lieutenants all gathered around their fallen comrade, unable to do anything but watch as they life drained out of him. No words were spoken in the aftermath. None were need to know that they would not take this lying down.
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Live~! I command you to live! *zaps this thread*
@Beecubed - You read the whole thing in two days?! Holy crap!
Thanks for the praise, though I'm not sure how I feel about the pressure, lol, but I'll do my best.
Risa really does dominate, but she's my personal fav, so why not
Ah, thanks for more praise, you know, I could really get used to all this ego stroking.
Thanks so much for your review, it was really thought out well. Kind of embarrasses me to think someone put that effort in for little ole me.
Topic: Black and Blue (Ch 34 6/4 The End!) (Read 153884 times)