TODAY
By: Aijou

Mature content warning. * You have been warned.

It wasn't like she never took things seriously. No, Yaya could be serious. Deadly so. And thoughtful. She put a whole lot of thought into a lot of things, believe it or not. Sometimes. Whenever she felt like it. Sure, she joked around and, yeah, even now as she was getting stared down by the Headmistress, she couldn't keep a straight face on (oh, a straight face - like you ever had one). Hey, laughing beat having a blubbering face, much like her pink haired friend's current expression.

It beat staying up in your room all night, hiding under the covers and wishing, hoping, praying that things had turned out differently. Differently, huh? What else could have happened? Think about it. Look at you, you still can't get over the fact that she rejected you, you can't stop thinking about it, you can't stop thinking about her, you're desper

Shut up.

Why cry when you can just shrug everything off? Yaya never looked like she was trying at anything, not for any particular reason. Right? The way the Headmistress's voice kept interrupting her thoughts was starting to gnaw at her nerves.

Yaya was half an inch away from screaming the words in her head at everyone in the Headmistress's familiar office. Tsubomi. The Headmistress. Anybody listening at the door. All of them - tell them to all go shove it. Yeah, Tsubomi, too. Crying about things got you nowhere.
hypocrite
Fed up and ready for whatever was to come next, she rose up out of her seat.

"Miss Nanto, sit right back down this instance!"

She did. Like the obedient little girl she was supposed to be, she did. St. Spica had conditioned her well.

The mistress said something about being a proper lady and not condoning such lewd and crude behavior.

Tsubomi sobbed. Sob, sob, sob.

The mistress kept blabbing on. "--your attendance record has been brought to my--"

Cry, cry, cry. Her body shook with every breath she choked in.

Proper ladies, neither seen nor heard. Classy ladies with skirts to the knee, attached to a man's arm. Think about your future.

"--it's worrisome; you were such a good student and now--"

Whimper to another hiccuping cry. It took her all of the restraint she had left in her to keep from holding Tsubomi until she cried it all out. What are you even crying about? C'mon, you're not the one in trouble here. I should be the one crying. Stop, please, just stop. I'm the one who can be expelled here, not you. Stop crying, you idiot! This isn't about you right now.

"--you don't want to fail, do you? Do you?" The Headmistress's words began to swirl into a great mess of blah-blahs. "--you better be listening--"

Yaya nodded her head every now and then, faking interest and making disdain. The lady mentioned things about having a good attitude towards life. Don't shy away from a challenge. Think of this as a challenge in life. Blah, blah. Don't get bored with yourself. Such and such. Yaya rolled her eyes. A challenge? Oh yeah, that's totally the best way to look at life. Tsubomi cried some more.

A challenge, yeah, right. It's not that simple.

"I was sick," Yaya put in as soon as she got a chance to. "Ask Tamao and Nagisa. I wasn't trying to skip, I just was trying to be courteous to the other students by not showing up to class contagious." It sounded like a good enough answer.

"Oh?" The Headmistress tapped her fingers on her desk. Her forehead vein pulsed. She obviously wasn't buying it. "Being sick doesn't dismiss you from completing your studies as soon as you are feeling better. You shouldn't be participating in such...such vulgar acts." When she said the word vulgar, she glanced over at Tsubomi, getting her to cry even harder than she already was, if that was even possible. "Seeing as you are better now, you should promptly start attending your classes tomorrow, lest you want to be temporarily suspended from our schools. This is a fine prestigious academy and we uphold education on the highest level and if you're not--"

"Okay, I get it." Yaya cut the woman off before the vein in her forehead exploded. Ew. "I understand what you mean, Headmistress, and I apologize for any of my rudeness and for dragging Tsubomi into my mess. I take full responsibility for any punishments she may receive as a result of this." Everything she said came out almost alien to her. It was tough sounding so well-to-do, and the thought of fancy dinner tables and posh accents filtered into her mind.

("Oh, would you like a spot of tea, midear?" Ruffles. Ruffles everywhere. Expensive rosewood tables as long as her imagination - no - suffocation allowed.
"Oh, yes, please." Pour the tea into the cup for your man, like you're supposed to. Sit down, smooth your skirt, and that's that.
Everything, everything so fake.)

She had no idea how that Miyuki girl did it.

The Headmistress exhaled. "Fine. Consider this your final warning, Nanto-san. If I find you here again, I may find myself with no choice other than to suspend you off of these premises until you decide to become an active member of the student body. As for Okuwaka-san, you're let off with a light warning, as well." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't let me catch either one of you again. That kind of behavior is deeply frowned upon, do not forget that. Next time you're in my office, you may find yourself with a much harsher punishment. Both of you are dismissed."

"Thank you, ma'am." She practically ran out of there, dragging Tsubomi out with her and going as fast as her uniform let her. Behind them, a pack of bewildered girls stared as they ran by. And another, and another, until they stopped in front of Tsubomi's door, both gasping for breath.

"Well, that was fun, wasn't it?" Yaya smiled. "I thought for sure that that thing on her head was gonna pop open. Jeez, she needs to get laid, am I right?" No response. She knocked on Tsubomi's head. "Hello?"

"Do you care about what just happened at all?" Tsubomi wiped her face. "Do you care?" Her voice cracked, threatening another breakdown. "I mean, I told you to stop, but you didn't even stop, and then we got in trouble for it. You suck, Yaya-sempai. You really, really suck." No -chan suffix anymore. She was back to being the senior to her junior. The distance in that age gap slapped Yaya in the lungs.

"Hey, wait a minute!"

"No, you wait a minute. You never think about anyone but yourself, do you?"

Yaya's voice squeaked. "What brought this on?"

"You did, you idiot. You never take anything seriously." Tsubomi bit her lip, glaring for a moment. She gave Yaya a second to talk and when it wasn't taken, her tone was more furious than before. "What if you had been kicked out of school? What if I had and what if my parents find out about what we did? Huh, Yaya-sempai? Now, the whole school knows about us. Do you know how embarrassing that is?"

Too many questions all at once. Yaya didn't know which one to tackle first. "I...I don't know. Do we have to do this here? We can talk about this in your room."

"I asked you the same thing before you practically assaulted me in the hallway. You - you suck! You're so selfish."

"No, I'm not. Tsubomi-chan, let's talk inside." She opened the door, only to have it shut again. "What?"

"It's not fair," Her voice dropped in volume and anger, settling down to a quiet sadness. "It's not fair that I have to care so much, while you don't care about anything at all. You never look like you - you know, what? Whatever, Yaya-sempai. You can do whatever you want with your life. I don't care, either."

"It's not like that." Yaya tried opening the door again. Once more, Tsubomi put her hand on it, closing it. "I do so care. Just 'cause I'm not freaking out about things or being super hyperactive about stupid stuff doesn't mean I don't care. You shouldn't be telling me how I'm feeling because you don't know."

Do I even know? - (hide, hide away from everyone)

"You're right, I don't know how you feel." Tsubomi opened the door herself and walked inside. Her roommate was out doing whatever it was that girl was always doing, thankfully. Yaya closed the door behind her, leaning against it in silence. "Look at us. We're fighting already." The pinkette sat on the bed. The blankets were cutesy, like the kind that would belong to a little girl, such a juxtaposition to Tsubomi's usual mature front. "We've only been together for, like, an hour and a half or something and we're already fighting for real."

"We always fight, though. It's our thing." Yaya fidgeted in her spot.

"But not like this. We're not supposed to be fighting like this." She sighed. "I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"It's okay." Not really. When you were yelling exaggerations to get a point across, when was it ever okay? At least, in this instance. It was too random. But maybe it couldn't have happened at a better time.

Yaya's mind was still trying to breathe after that attack from the physically young girl. Mentally, Tsubomi was a different story. It was like she had changed all of a sudden. When did you go from being an annoying, snotty brat to being a real, live Tsubomi? Somehow, this girl was on her level now. Maybe it was that kiss that had did it, the one that proved that being Yaya wasn't as bad as it seemed. "You're cool, Tsubomi-chan..."

"Um, thanks, Random-chan."

"Aww, look, you're blushing!"

"Shut up, no, I'm not. You're such a freak."

"Yes, you are blushing. Look how red your face is." Yaya walked over, arms out stretched to hold the girl down.

"Get away, aghhhh, monster!" She shielded her face along with her laughter.

"You know what monsters like to do to pretty girls, don't you?" Yaya pushed Tsubomi down against the bed. It was easier this time than the second time. "Don't you?" Tsubomi gave no struggle, only nervous giggling as Yaya sat on her waist, a leg on either side of her. There was a term for it, but Tsubomi's thought trains were shutting down. Oh, wait, yeah, straddle, that was the word. She liked that word as much as the feeling it gave. "You're trapped, Tsubomi-chan. What're you gonna do, now?" Yaya put her hands on Tsubomi's wrists, pinning them to the bed.

"Die," It made her feel lame that Yaya had this much power over her, but it was exciting, too. Something inside her chest fluttered like crazy to the point that it was almost scary.

Yaya teased her, her mouth hovering over the other girl's lips. In the next second of split agony, her tongue stole inside, spinning Tsubomi's world. The taste was cool, definitely cool and with ease, it took her over, causing her to buck up against Yaya in need. Everything swirled inside of her, reaching for another touch.

She gave it, her breath down her girl's throat leaving her feeling like she was drowning under an intense, oceanic wave. Free from Yaya's hold, her hands reached up, her fingers entangling themselves in her long, dark hair. When their lips separated, she lost all of her composure and that tough façade she was so used to having faded away beneath another warm kiss.

Lips moved together rhythmically, never mind the novice inexperience. Pull away. Tsubomi felt the weight on top of her shifting into a lying position, covering her and eliciting a brief moan as another kiss was taken, this time deeper than the others. Arms wrapped around one another, locking the other in gentle place. Breathing turned harsh, erratic. That fluttery feeling from before spiraled downwards inside of Tsubomi, reddening her face a shade to match Yaya's own.

Yaya ran a hand up and down Tsubomi's side. Her body responded, rubbing into her friend's palm. A short gasp escaped her when Yaya's hand ventured underneath her sweater, below the neat shirt beneath it. Skin to skin, she shuddered as she felt her hand explore across her stomach, then upwards, then back to her stomach. Up, down, up. Torture. Tsubomi wiggled a bit, giving herself room to pull her shirt and sweater up enough just to expose her stomach. The air in her bedroom was cold on her, but she was shivering for a different reason.

The older girl's hand rubbed circles into her abdomen. The circles widened in size, touching the waistband of her skirt and going right beneath her breasts. Her eyes were growing cold, heavy. Yaya lowered herself down onto Tsubomi, her tongue trailing up and down Tsubomi's belly. She trailed kisses all around with strong licks in between. All Tsubomi could do was moan, her breath hollowing from the unexpected pleasure.

Then, there was Yaya again, her mouth pressed over Tsubomi's. She pulled away and this time, both hands were left to wander over Tsubomi's slender form. They stopped to push Tsubomi's shirts further up to get a better view of her bra. Teddy bears. Yaya wanted to laugh, but a stronger part of her didn't want to ruin the moment. Her fingers walked themselves on top of Tsubomi's bra, resting on what was making poor Tsubomi thrust and rub herself against Yaya's hands.

"Please, Yaya..."

But her hands lifted away, taking a different course along little Tsubomi's thighs. A finger against her matching teddybear underwear - she let out a low exclamation. Yaya ran her finger up and down that sensitive area, more than enjoying all of the girly squeals. Her legs kicked out on their own accord, and that only made Yaya quicken her movements, except for when she stopped to remove the cutesy pair of panties. She started to pull them downwards until Tsubomi blocked her hands.

"It's okay," Yaya murmured. "Trust me."

She put her hand inside Tsubomi's underwear - a panicked purr - a finger inside of her - a severe pant, her breath tripped over itself on contact. Slowly, gently, she pulled it out, then thrusted it back inside without warning. Tsubomi screamed out in pain. Going on instinct, Yaya tried again. The cries were supposed to stop eventually, right? And, they kind of did around the sixth try. And --

Rrrring ring ring riiing

Tsubomi pushed Yaya off and away from her.

Rrrring ring riing riing

She picked up her cellphone, conveniently on her bed stand. It was easy for Yaya to tell how much she was shaking, not only in her movements but in her voice as well. "H...h-hello? Yeah. Oh, hey. I didn't know you had a cellphone. ...Um, sure. I can go." Tsubomi fixed her clothes as she talked. "Mmhm. Okay, see ya." She hung up, her eyes going around the room at everything but Yaya.

"Ready to start again?" Yaya's hands were swatted away. "Hey, is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." Tsubomi's eyes landed on the clock. Ah, look at the time. "It's getting late. You should probably go. I don't want you getting in any more trouble." In her eyes, flashed a familiar look that froze Yaya's blood cold. She got it. With one look, she understood the real meaning behind those words. "I'll, um, I'll see you tomorrow. My friends want me to do something with them and then...I'll see you at Choir. You're coming tomorrow, right?"

"I don't wanna know what will happen if I don't go," Yaya smiled weakly. The room was tilting. "Um, okay, guess we'll talk tomorrow at practice." She didn't know of any better way to say goodbye. Goodbyes and Yaya never had much to-do with one another. Always one to hide under covers, she was the type to wait until everything was over than to face it.

I should probably talk to Hikari. We probably gave her the shock of her life
(second shock - you were the first)
this morning.

They exchanged a brief wave and then, Yaya was gone.

Tomorrow's too soon...

A/N: Chapter finished 01/03/09, a loooong time away from the first and second chapters. Hopefully, there's been an improvement in my writing since then. :P Thank you for all the reviews and all your kind words. Reviews are always nice. :D I'll keep this note short and just wish you a happy day. Later~