@ringo-hime: Thanks for the kind words. TakaGaki is my OTP♥ I'm glad you enjoyed the stories, I hope you enjoy the next one too. ^^
@stefy: Ari~ I find narration a lot easier to write than dialogue, that's why I usually narrate lots and use minimal dialogue. As for Sayu's answer... well, lets just say after reading Glass Slipper, I
really like Sayu x Koha.
This next story is something of a companion piece to my first Kids one-shot that's posted on the first page but follows Airi. :3
TAKEN
by Kuji 「９時」
Ask anyone who knew her and they’d tell you. Yes, they would definitely tell you, tell you one thing: Yajima Maimi might’ve been the densest person ever born. Her cool outward appearance utterly belied her total obliviousness to the intentions of the people around her. For instance, she didn’t notice Erika’s tentative advances, the motivation behind Nakky’s adoration and even Kanna’s bold declarations which while they did cause some embarrassment, did nothing to scale beyond the wall of friendship to something more. Airi had made a fair number of attempts of her own but to no avail because as has already been stated – Yajima Maimi was thick. Airi could only sigh. Somehow that just made the tall leader all the more endearing. Chisato had already called them all hopeless and washed her hands of the matter. In Airi’s opinion the other girl had no room to talk since the only reason she wasn’t in the same boat was probably because she was busy mooning over Maimai and though she hated to admit it, the younger girl was making better progress than the rest of them.
Brat.
It was pretty discouraging that the two youngest of their group were outdoing all the rest of them. Currently, the two of them were huddled together by the wall and giggling over something or other. They were probably up to some sort of mischief again but Airi had more important things to worry about than them sabotaging somebody’s lunch – like how today’s joint practice with Berryz Koubou meant that there were even more people vying for Maimi’s attention.
As usual, Maimi and the Berryz’s captain were taking the opportunity to catch up with each other. If there was one person from the other group that Airi had to say got on best with Maimi, it was Shimizu Saki. This came as a surprise to some because the two were about as different as night and day. Saki was a reliable person and she actually acted like a leader (even though she was called the ‘captain’). The down to earth captain and the airhead leader they didn’t have much in common besides leading Berryz and C-ute. The obvious height difference between the two only added to that, but there they were, joint at the hip and Maimi’s arm slung over Saki’s shoulders. Now Airi respected the Berryz Koubou captain a lot but at that moment, she really wanted to march over there and explain to them the concept of personal space – in other words, tell Saki to back off from her leader because there was enough competition already without a member of another group getting into the mix.
It was fortunate that before Airi could shatter her image with a display of unbecoming possessiveness, that someone… beat her to the punch. From seemingly out of nowhere (as Airi had not been paying enough attention to anything besides Maimi and Saki to have noticed the silent lurker), Miyabi shot out and pretty much abducted the short captain after a short exchange of words, leaving behind a somewhat confused looking Maimi who waved after the departing Saki.
Silently sending her thanks to her impulsive
Buono! group mate, Airi quickly made her way over to the taller girl before someone else could and her opportunity vanished. She pounced from behind to rest her head on Maimi’s shoulder – as was quickly becoming her habit.
Ah, the perfect resting spot, she thought and her face quickly took on a particularly satisfied look. From the corner of her eye, she could see Nakky looking disappointed before recovering enough to stick her tongue out in Airi’s direction. Of course, she had to send her own raspberry back.
“Airi, what are you doing?”
Although Airi had planned to come wipe the confusion from Maimi’s face, it seemed that she had only succeeded in prolonging the look. A confused Maimi was still cute though, she decided.
“I came over to see why you were just standing here with a weird look on your face.” To emphasize her statement, she poked Maimi on the cheek while still not moving from her spot.
“I think… Miyabi is mad at me for some reason.” Maimi frowned as she said this. “She was kind of scary just now…”
Airi hugged Maimi around the waist in what she hoped seemed like a reassuring manner.
Miyabi, you’re the best! Though she didn’t know the reasoning behind the other girl’s behaviour, somehow it felt like Miyabi was helping her. She’d have to remember to thank her group mate the next time she saw her.
“Why would Miyabi be mad at you?”
“I really don’t know but she dragged Saki away really fast.”
Maimi had a worried expression on her face. She was the type of person that really cared about her friends and it upset her to think that one of them could be angry with her. Gently removing Airi’s arms from around her waist, she pulled away carefully so as to not jar the head that until then had still been resting on her shoulder.
“I’m going to go after them.”
“Wait! I’m going with you!” This was not exactly how Airi had been hoping things would go with her chasing Maimi who was chasing after Saki and Miyabi.
Curse Miyabi, couldn’t she have made less of a scene? The sound of a rather indignant ‘Hey!’ – clearly in Miyabi’s voice, had them heading in what was probably the right direction down one of the various corridors of the building. Finally, they caught sight of the two Berryz members and froze at the scene that was taking place before them. Miyabi had the shorter girl pressed against the wall of the dead end.
“I’m hotter.” They barely heard Miyabi muttering before subsequently crushing her mouth against the Saki’s while her fingers tangled themselves with her senior’s and pinned the girl’s hands to the wall behind her.
“Oh my god!” Airi blurted in surprise, unable to stop herself. Maimi clapped her hand over her mouth in an attempt to muffle it but it was too little too late and Miyabi pulled away from Saki to glare at whoever had interrupted them. On recognizing who it was though, her eyes widened in surprise.
“Maimi? … and Airi? What are you guys doing here?” Miyabi had resumed feeling annoyed it seemed and Saki appeared bent on vanishing either into the wall or Miyabi’s back, seeing how she was sandwiched between the two and doing her best to remain hidden. Airi resisted telling her the obvious fact that they knew she was there.
“You seemed like you might’ve been angry when you left earlier. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t do something to make you mad… but I guess maybe I did now?” Maimi laughed a little nervously and wished Saki would stop hiding and come out to talk her girlfriend down.
“Ah.” For some reason, Miyabi’s face changed from annoyed to sheepish and she turned around to look at Saki who just gave her a prod and an encouraging nod.
“Actually… I’m sorry about earlier. I thought…” She trailed off before mumbling the end of her sentence, “I thought… youwerehittingonSaki.”
“What? Wait... No! …No offence.” The last part was directed at Saki.
“None taken,” Came the amused reply.
“I wouldn’t try to steal someone’s girlfriend. Taken is not my type.”
“Yeah… Saki cleared things up earlier so—“
“Clearly.” Airi butted in cheekily, now that her mind had pieced itself back together after her earlier shock.
Miyabi gave her the stink-eye and then glanced at her watch.
“There’s only ten minutes break left and
no offence but I have better things to be doing than giving you guys a show. Don’t you two have some place to be?”
Airi was about to open her mouth again but this time, Maimi’s hand was fast enough to prevent her from letting out any smart remarks.
“Yes, we
do, don’t we, Airi?” For once, Maimi was showing remarkable perception and grasp of the situation. “We’ll leave you two to… uh… you know. Do whatever.”
That said, she pulled took Airi with her to leave Miyabi and Saki alone. Once they were far enough away to not be heard by the pair, Maimi burst out laughing.
“Ahaha… So
that was why Miyabi was acting so off before. Saki sure has her hands full with that one.”
“Yeah…” Pondering over what just happened, it made Airi wonder how it was that she became the one speaking senselessly while Maimi became the perceptive one and how much longer this could last. Figuring that she should take advantage of it while she could, she stopped Maimi who was still pulling her along by the hand.
“Hey… you know what you said earlier about your type?”
Maimi nodded.
“I’m
not taken.” Airi said meaningfully.
“Why Airi, I don’t know if this is just Miyabi infecting me with her paranoia but… are you
hitting on me?” The teasing sparkle in her eyes however told Airi that Maimi finally got it. And it was about time.
========
Phew, I had a bit of a tough time with this one and bugged the heck out of Panick on MSN while trying to finish it.
But YAY MAIRI~~ I really need to practice writing more dialogue otherwise the characters in my stories are going to be mutes forever.
Topic: [1shots] #12 "Have Your Cake and Eat It" (Read 37020 times)