@keisthename: Ah! I'm glad you came out of hiding! I've enjoyed your fics so much, too!
I can't give Atsumina a bad ending, so it came out cutesy and fluffy since that's what I do.
Nothing wrong with causing you fits of giggles with that, though, right?
@O r i g a m i: You too? What's with people all of a sudden coming out of hiding with that chapter?
Not like it's my best work or anything.
@Haruko: Atsumina is definitely more important!
@Tanchan: I am flattered if you say that you love me! I also really like the praise you give about how affection can be expressed with more than just smut. I really try to show that in my fics and draw a line between those I post here and those I post in the perv forum. I think this stems from that two of my three relationships have been purely non-physical in the past, so I understand that just cuddling and being close to another person is such an intense feeling... or something.
I want to express that.
@hidden_player: And I officially thank you! More fics are coming!
@kahem: Awww, don't cry! It's a happy ending!
@saeyukilover: They already get away with so much.
@anonymousdowner: YOU! I don't even know what to say to your monster of a comment except "hgeawfihewa;oghewa;feawg
". You hit all the parts in the stories and chapters that I meant to have stick out. AND NO THERE'S NO SMUT FOR OF KISSES PART 2 THEY DIDN'T HAVE SEX YOU PERVERT!
Ahem. You crazy person. Come out of hiding more often!
I have a new one-shot! I hope you all like going back to before Acchan's graduation!~
Of HaircutsWhen Atsuko heard the news about Minami's haircut, she was away, filming on location for a drama.
She had received a frantic text from Miichan, alerting her "wife" that something was most definitely wrong with the tiny woman Atsuko was "having an extra-marital affair with". To further stress this point, the toothy girl described in her text that "not only is the midget's ribbon gone, but so is the hair that it's supposed to tie up!"
Of course, the image this put in Atsuko's head of a completely bald Minami wasn't quite accurate, but the shiver that went down her spine chilled her thoroughly, even though the spring weather was warming up. This fear didn't let up throughout the entire day of shooting, and only amplified when the director informed her that since the filming was behind schedule, she'd have to stay on location to finish up the next day, as well. And even though she tried to rush through the next day's scenes, another actor showed up late in the morning, beginning a string of setbacks that she had no control over.
Which all meant that by the time she could finally visit her girlfriend, it had been 32 hours since the life-changing haircut.
Atsuko didn't even waste time knocking on the door of Minami's apartment. Instead, she unlocked the door with the spare key that had been entrusted to her, and without even muttering the polite, "Shitsurei shimasu," rushed into the entryway, frantically kicking off her shoes and bypassing the house slippers she kept lined up next to the coat-rack on the wall. Her purse was hastily dropped, her keys next to it rather than having taken the time to tuck them back into the inside pocket of the fancy bag.
"Oh? What is—" Minami poked her head out from her bedroom, a volume of manga in one hand. "Oh, Atsuko! You should have said something when you came in. I thought that—"
As Minami was rambling on, having been taken by surprise, Atsuko took in the sight of her tiny girlfriend. Thankfully, the small girl still seemed to have some hair on her head, something which brought momentary relief to the younger girl, although sadness and worry still showed in her eyes as her gaze traveled from the roots of the light strands down to the shoulder she wasn't used to being able to see. Crossing the distance between them in half as many steps as it should, Atsuko reached up to twirl the soft strands around her fingers, causing Minami's speech to stop in surprise.
"Your hair—" Atsuko choked on her words as she forced them out of her drying throat. "Miichan texted me that you cut it, but..."
Minami found herself consumed in a fit of giggles, knowing how much of a troublemaker their mutual friend could be. In fact, this entire visit had been most likely orchestrated by a vast amount of misinformation contained (or missing from) said text message. A lecture would have to follow at their next rehearsal or photo shoot or whatever they had next, but she'd worry about that later.
For now, she simply responded, "It wasn't some crazy decision I made or anything. My hair caught on fire when I was out shopping, and so I—"
A strangled sound made its way up Atsuko's throat, something between a gasp and a scream, and the taller girl instantly stepped back, pulling the manga volume out of the tiny hand grasping it, before spinning the girl around, carefully but quickly examining the soft skin of Minami's neck, looking to make sure there were no burns or otherwise marred spots marking her skin.
"H-Hey, I'm fine!" Minami insisted, swatting the prying hands away. "Don't you think I would have let you know otherwise?"
Atsuko pouted, dropping her hands to her sides reluctantly. "I was still worried. You didn't tell me anything."
"Well..." Minami tilted her head, trying to come up with an excuse while not meeting her girlfriend's disappointed stare. The truth was that due to this drastic change, she had been accosted left and right by members and staff, and she was just sick of talking about it. Besides... "You were supposed to get back last night, so I was going to tell you then?"
"And when I didn't, you didn't think to tell me about it?" Atsuko asked, her face falling further.
"No, that's not it, really..." Minami weakly responded. Then, after a moment, she realized. "Hey! You said you were worried, so why are you whining about me not texting you? You should have texted
me!"
Atsuko gasped in surprise, the fake hurt expression completely leaving her face, replacing it with complete shock. "Did... When you cut your hair, did you cut your denseness and failing personality off, too?"
"Eh?" Minami widened her eyes at the question. "I didn't... What? That's not something I can just 'cut off'!"
As Atsuko realized she wasn't really getting anywhere, she changed her tactic. "Anyway, you made such a big change without telling me, and you're not upset at all!"
"Hm..." Minami thought for a moment, leaning against the bedroom door-frame. She began to subconsciously nudge the dropped manga volume with her foot as she thought aloud, "I've thought before about what shorter hair would be like, since y-you look so nice with it and stuff, but everyone knows me with the ribbon and all. But my head feels a lot lighter and it's easier to brush and stuff. I really like it right now."
Atsuko's hand reached up once again to the newly cut hair and ran her fingers down the strands until she reached the end, her hand resting against the base of Minami's neck, her thumb caressing back and forth. A soft blush crossed her face as she admitted, "I'll have to get used to it."
Minami giggled, "Me, too. I won't be able to wear all of my ribbons anymore."
At that statement, Atsuko froze, remembering something very important from a few days earlier. It wasn't very well-known, but quite a few of the tiny girl's ribbons were special gifts from her girlfriend. Since they were often apart, whenever Atsuko had to travel somewhere for a few days to shoot scenes for a drama or a movie or something else not AKB related, she would return with a ribbon as a souvenir. It even got to the point where instead of chocolate or flowers or other things that girls stereotypically liked to receive on anniversaries and Valentine's Day, Atsuko would buy Minami an extra-special ribbon.
And so, inside of the purse that had been forgotten in the entry way was a small wrapped box with a ribbon inside.
Continuing on, not noticing a pained expression crossing Atsuko's face, Minami said, "Maybe I'll make a collage with them or something. Wouldn't that be really nice over the bed? All of the different colors and sizes and..."
Blinking for a moment, Minami was brought out of her musings by realizing that Atsuko was no longer standing in front of her. She nearly tripped over the manga volume on the floor, but she left the doorway to find her girlfriend. Since her apartment wasn't too large, it only took a turn of her head to spot the younger girl crouching in the entryway, digging through her purse. Her lips were tightly pressed together in a determined expression as she finally found what she had been searching for.
It was a small box, wrapped in shiny pink paper, that Atsuko had brought back from her trip. In one swift motion, she straightened up to stand and marched over to the confused girl standing in the bedroom doorway. If it were anyone else, the stomps would have echoed throughout the hallway, but Atsuko seemed graceful in everything she did, and her sharp steps glided her body next to Minami's before she pushed the smaller girl further into the bedroom until the two were standing in front of the mirror that was used each morning in the "ritual of ribbon picking" as it was so often called by the teasing AKB members.
The shiny pink paper was hastily torn off, even though Atsuko had asked the shopkeeper sweetly if the carefully hand-picked present could be nicely wrapped for her dearest friend. After dropping the box's lid to the floor, Atsuko gently lifted the pink ribbon from the padded base of the box, the soft pastel hue complemented by white lace trim becoming visible to the intended recipient of the gift.
It was truly a beautiful accessory, but Minami wasn't given time to appreciate it, because Atsuko roughly spun her until they were face-to-face. A hand gathered her bangs together and pulled them atop her head before the ribbon was clipped around them, fastening it to the hair atop her head. A few stray strands fell down, but the intention of the hastily done hairstyle was clear: to show Minami that even though her hair was short, she could still wear the special gifts from her girlfriend.
When Minami looked back from her reflection in the mirror to Atsuko, she noticed for the first time that the younger girl's eyes were glassy with unshed tears, partially out of sorrow at the thought that the years of mementos of her love would be confined to a dresser drawer, but now also partially out of relief that the previous fear was no longer something she had to worry about. And so, Minami tentatively took a step closer to her girlfriend, pulling the waiting girl into her arms, her shoulder instantly becoming a resting place for Atsuko's soft cheek. A breathy sighed escaped the taller girl's mouth at the motion, the breath tickling Minami's neck. It was an unfamiliar sensation, as her hair was usually in the way. The gasp that left her body without her control caught Atsuko's attention, and she tightened her grasp.
"I should have thought about how sensitive your neck is," Atskuo giggled. "I could have some fun with this."
Minami's eyes widened in horror at the implication and she struggled in the embrace she had initiated. The hold on her didn't lessen for a few moments, but she was eventually released to stare into the playful eyes of her girlfriend.
"Relax," Atsuko continued giggling. "I wouldn't do something like that... in public, anyway. In fact, I have to be a lot more careful not to leave marks anymore—"
"You used to give me hickeys?!" Minami screeched.
Atsuko blinked a few times before tilting her head to the side innocently. "You mean you didn't know? I guess you really couldn't see them with all your hair in the way, but..."
At the revelation, Minami backed away a few steps to sit on the bed behind her. How many photo shoots had been close to compromised because of Atsuko's... well, her possessiveness, would it be? Not like she knew a lot about this stuff or anything...
A laugh interrupted her mind from spinning out of control, and her eyes shot up to see Atsuko trying to hide it behind her hands, an effort which was obviously unsuccessful. "You really will believe anything, won't you? I'm just kidding. Though someday, I'd love to see your reaction if I do..."
Minami shook her head frantically as a blush colored her cheeks. The fast movement caused the clasp of the ribbon that had been not-so-carefully clipped to the hair atop her head to loosen, and the ribbon was soon hanging down her forehead between her eyes. After nearly giving herself a headache trying to focus a cross-eyed gaze on it, she plucked it off of her bangs and looked down at it in her hands, admiring the detail of the trim and the softness of the material.
As she did so, Atsuko moved to site beside her, leaning her body against Minami's side as the small girl appreciated the gift. Atsuko's head rested against the shoulder she was so comfortable leaning against, waiting patiently. It wasn't really a wait she minded, as this closeness was something she treasured.
"If... If I would have made a collage of ribbons," Minami began, breaking the silence, "it's not like I'd have just put any of them up. I'd put this one up for sure."
Knowing Minami and the way she expressed her feelings, this statement was much deeper than it appeared to be. While she only mentioned the ribbon from today which was held in her hands, she was, without speaking, also including the fuzzy white ribbon Atsuko had bought last Christmas (of which Nyaachan had received a matching one, but unlike his owner, the small cat hated wearing ribbons), the striped blue ribbon Atsuko had bought near the ocean the summer before...
A smile slowly formed on Atsuko's face. "Good. They're all special, aren't they?"
Minami blushed at the realization that her girlfriend had seen through her words. In response, Atsuko playfully poked the flushed cheek closest to her, earning a surprised squeal from the tiny girl as she nearly jumped off of the bed, dropping the ribbon in the process. Atsuko's breathy giggles furthered this embarrassment, but she threw her arms around the older girl, knocking them both backwards on the bed. She ended up with her head nestling in the crook of Minami's neck, the ends of the newly-cut hair tickling her nose in such an uncomfortable fashion that she had to rise up, hovering over her blushing girlfriend.
"As long as you don't cut it any shorter," Atsuko warned in a dark voice.
Looking up with wide eyes, Minami nodded. Her reward for agreeing was to be completely crushed in a warm embrace as Atsuko's contagious grin spread to her own face as well. While the special ribbon Atsuko had given her laid forgotten on the bedroom floor, the cuddle she was receiving was a fantastic present, too, though she'd never tell that to the younger girl who was currently lying completely on top of her, eyes closed in happiness.
Despite everything, being interrogated by her friends the past few days, being the subject of all sorts of crazy rumors in the papers, she decided something in that moment.
Getting her hair caught on fire was so worth it.
Topic: Calyrica's Atsumina Offerings~ Update: 11/15/12 (Read 25655 times)