Nozomi awoke to the sound of splashing nearby, the warm sun beating down against her skin. She rubbed at her eyes, quietly yelping in pain when all she managed to do was rub sand into them.

Eli woke up soon after hearing her wife's cry of pain and went to soothe the irritated spot. "Nozomi, you should be more careful…" They turned to find the rest of their crew, at first unable to spot them. "Wait, is that-?" The blonde pointed to a large pile of what appeared to be nothing but sand and seaweed. However, beneath the large amount of drying kelp and sand mounds, lay Tsubasa, Erena, Anju and Honoka all entangled with each other.

"What are y'all doin'?! That doesn't look comfortable or sanitary at all."

Honoka was the first to be startled awake, the heavy seaweed making it hard for her to sit up. "Wh-wha? Where am I?..."

Anju was the next to wake up; she blinked a few times to get used to the bright sunlight. "O-oh my God, Honoka, there's something in your hair!" Panicked, Honoka reached up and sure enough she felt something wriggling in a knot of her hair.

"A-ahhhhh!" Honoka let out a high pitched screech, causing Tsubasa and Erena to be woken up with a jolt as well.

"Honky what's wrong!?" Tsubasa cradled Honoka closer trying to calm her down.

"There's something weird wiggling in my hair!"

Tsubasa frantically tried to snatch the crab out of Honoka's unkempt hair, Erena quickly aiding the pair as well. Finally, it wound up being Anju who dislodged the shellfish and threw it back into the churning waves. "There there, Honoka-chan, the crab's gone now~." Anju kissed Honoka on the cheek while Tsubasa lovingly stroked the girl's hair and Erena loosely wrapped her arms around Honoka's waist.

Now that the excitement had calmed down, Eli rolled her eyes with a grin and pulled herself out of the sand. "You coming with?" She held out her hand for Nozomi to grab hold of.

The shorter girl beamed in return, tightly gripping Eli's hand and allowing the blonde to hoist her off the ground. "And what exactly do ya have in mind, Elicchi?"

Eli shrugged, then wrapped her arm around Nozomi's shoulder to guide her along the shoreline. "I guess we could walk along the beach until the others are in better condition to swim back over to the ship; how does that sound?"

Nozomi nuzzled Eli's neck contently. "Sounds fine to me~." She clung to her wife's side, slowly leading the girl down the shoreline. Nozomi furrowed her brow at the sound of distant yelling, and the pair sprinted toward the source.

Eli squinted against the bright sunlight and raised her hand to provide a bit of shade. "Hey, Nozomi, can you see anything?"

Nozomi shaded her eyes as well, "Hmmm… Oh hey, it's the crew from last night." She watched as an orange blur landed in the water with a large splash. "And they're naked too!" She smirked in Eli's direction, "Looks like we walked in on bathin' time; should we stay and watch?"

Eli playfully smacked Nozomi's shoulder, "Nozomi, why do you want to spy on a bunch of girls bathing?"

"Is that a rhetorical question?" Nozomi giggled as Eli rolled her eyes. "C'mon, I saw you eyeing the captain up while we were on the ship; don'tcha wanna see her muscles again?"

Eli shook her head in denial, "I was not eyeing up the captain. Though, I suppose that maid-looking one was pretty cute."

Nozomi nodded in agreement, wrapping an encouraging arm over Eli's back. "Now you're talkin! Now let's go hide behind that rock so they don't start chasin' us." She placed a finger over her lips to hush Eli, who nodded in understanding. Nozomi sat down on a comfortable spot where it wasn't very rocky, and made sure she could still see everything that happened. She patted the sand next to her, but Eli chose to take her lap as a seat instead. "Feelin' possessive now, are we?"

"Oh please, your lap's just more comfortable than the sand." Eli situated herself against Nozomi and made sure to lean her head beneath Nozomi's chin in order for the shorter girl to see properly.

"Sure sure, if you say so~." She stroked Eli's windblown hair, absentmindedly humming. For awhile not much interesting passed; watching blurred figures of naked girls wasn't quite as fun as they'd thought it'd be. "...I thought this would be more interesting." Nozomi pouted as she tangled her fingers within Eli's hair. "Wanna sneak off and do somethin' more fun?" She stroked Eli's side, coaxing the girl to lay back with her.

"Huh? This was your idea in the first place!" Eli said, but there was no force behind her words.

"Yeah, but this is just boring. Unless, could it be that Elicchi's more interested in the captain's muscles? My my, I'll just take my soft hugs over to somebody else then~." Nozomi teased.

"No, wait!" Eli tackled Nozomi and caused the both of them to fall backwards. "I want soft Nozomi hugs!"

Nozomi smirked, leaning up to press their lips together. "You're just too easy to mess with, Elicchi~." Eli would have scolded Nozomi had the girl not rolled them over to where she was pinning the blonde down.

"H-hey now…" Eli unconvincingly muttered, but soon found Nozomi gently taking her bottom lip between her teeth. She gasped softly, allowing Nozomi to explore with her tongue. She wrapped her arms around Nozomi's waist, digging her nails into the girl's hips.

Nozomi responded by biting down into the tender flesh.

"Wait…" Eli pulled away from Nozomi, who pouted intensely.

"Hey, what'cha gettin' away from me for?" Nozomi huffed and poked the younger girl's cheek.

"I hear somebody yelling…" Eli turned and watched as a blurry, blue-haired figure berated the gray-haired girl from the night before.

Nozomi playfully tugged Eli's hair, "That's not important; we're kinda in the middle of somethin' already, y'know…"

Eli still remained dense to Nozomi's intentions. "Yeah, but it really seems like something's going on over there…" The two turned just in time to watch the gray-haired girl take possession of the red-haired girl.

"Hmmm, some kinda love triangle bullshit; now ain't I more interesting than that?"

Eli had no trouble answering that question with a kiss to her forehead, and an even softer kiss to her lips. "Very; so, if you're still in the mood..."

Nozomi wasted no time in planting butterfly kisses along the taller girl's collarbone, and at first, she'd won the attention of Eli. But soon after, Eli was yet again distracted by the distant sounds of arguing. "Y'know what, we'll continue later; I guess we can go see what's goin' on over there, since you're so damn curious."

Eli gulped as she watched Nozomi stand up, dust herself off and annoyedly march away. "Looks like I really did it this time…"

"You probably just wanna look at the captain again, anywho. I just ain't muscular enough for your tastes," Nozomi huffed indignantly.

"N-Nozomi, no! It's not like that at all," Eli threw herself at Nozomi's feet. "I'll do anything, please! I love you, and you're really cute, and-"

Nozomi cut her off by pressing her finger against her lips, and smugly winked. "I dunno, Elicchi, I think I'm just too heartbroken~."

Eli shook her head vigorously, clinging to Nozomi's thigh. "I'll um- I'll give you a massage, or anything else you want!"

Nozomi nonchalantly freed herself of Eli, still feigning that she was making her decision. "Hmmmm… I suppose that'll do for now, but I best not catch ya starin' at that captain then~."

"I definitely won't!" Eli pulled herself up and clung tightly to Nozomi.

"Yeesh, you're so spoiled~." Nozomi reached behind to pet the girl's hair and guided her to the edge of the water.

The captain of the Ocean Shadows' figure grew more prominent the further they went into the water, but as promised, Eli averted her eyes and instead focused on the seaweed wrapping around her ankle. The blue-haired woman grumbled under her breath, visibly angered by whatever the three had been arguing about. She huffed and kicked the ground with her bare heel like a child throwing a tantrum.

Nozomi watched curiously, noting that the captain was obviously more bothered by the situation than what she let on, not that she'd been hiding it all that well in the first place. She grew more visibly angered when the gray-haired girl smugly pressed her lips against the taller girl beside her.

"Oh, she went there." Eli raised her eyebrows and Nozomi observed the scene in mild amusement.

"I s'ppose you were right, Elicchi, this is interesting. Ya still gotta give me that massage though," She teased.

"I wouldn't dream of neglecting that," Eli responded with a small grin. "Say, what if we make bets…"

"Huh? Bets?" Nozomi raised an eyebrow. "...On who the red-haired chick'll wind up with? That could be fun, actually," She grinned mischievously. "I'm placin' mine on the one that just kissed her, she's really harnessin' her gay."

Eli shrugged, "That may be so, but the captain's playing the long game. I have a feeling she'll wind up winning."

"Are ya just sayin' that cause she's got nice muscles?"

"Again, it is not because of her muscles! I just think she has a better shot at it," Eli defended. "You know what, if I win this bet, I get to be on top next time."

Nozomi playfully smirked up at Eli. "Sure, if you win, but I think you'll just keep bein' the power bottom that ya are~."

Eli puffed her cheeks out and wrapped her arms around Nozomi. "Hmph, we'll see about that…"

"Ehem~." A voice from behind startled them with its sudden appearance. "If you could be ever so kind and stop spying on us, that'd be really nice. Then I wouldn't have to punish you~." Nozomi and Eli slowly turned to find the gray-haired girl all too cheerily grinning at them. Without dropping her smile even once, she effortlessly snapped a hunk of driftwood in half.

"Say, Nozomi, I think we need to go um, check on how the other girls are doing." Eli stammered as she gently pulled Nozomi in her direction.

A/N: Hey folks, Tuba here! I know this looks pretty short, and that's because it's probably going to have more added onto it soon. ^^;; We thank you so much for your patience!