The Issues of Attraction

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

XXX

Yui stared at the wall, trying to ignore how her vision was blurring at the edges and the feeling of something heavy and twisted wrapped around her insides.

So far, she wasn't doing very well.

Downing another glass, she gave a brief prayer that this glass would be enough. That this glass would make it all stop.

Her finger burned, but she ignored it, knowing better than to glance at the soft indent of where not long ago a tight piece of metal had been removed.

She couldn't remember how she'd lost it, exactly. She couldn't think straight.

One moment she'd been smiling. The next she'd been screaming. She'd been crying. She'd listened.

And that'd been the most damning of it all.

To learn of just how she'd been used.

To learn that it was over.

She would probably have been relieved that she hadn't been armed at the time, not wanting to be arrested as her consciousness had gone blank.

She must've moved, because she certainly hadn't been carried into the bar. More people would've glanced at her, curious, not simply dismissing her as another woman drowning her misery in cheap liquor.

And it was cheap liquor.

Horrible stuff.

She downed another glass, hoping that this glass would make it all stop.

It didn't.

She wanted to break down and cry.

She wanted to hurt someone.

She wanted to be comforted.

She wanted to forget.

She downed another glass, hoping that this glass would be enough.

It wasn't.

She reached for another glass.

Her hand stopped, was stopped.

Her eyes following the hand on her wrist up its owner's own arm she found herself looking into green eyes.

Konata tugged gently at her arm, trying silently to dislodge her insistence on the glass that just might make it all go away.

Yui wasn't sure what she was doing here. Konata disliked bars, always had, though she usually tried to blame it on her having to act like a big sister to Yutaka.

But here she was, trying to keep her from drinking, tugging her gently away from the glass, paying the bartender with a slight frown, comfortingly leading her out into the night air by her arm.

"How did you-...?" She finally croaked at her cousin.

"Kuroi-sensei called me." Konata said calmly. "Apparently you punched her when she tried to take away your bottle. Yutaka and Minami is taking her to get her nose looked at, it was bleeding pretty badly."

Yui flinched as guilt managed to penetrate through the horrified haze that still lay over her like a blanket.

"Come on." Konata ignored her wincing, continuing to drag her along the road. "We've got an extra bed."

Yui nodded dumbly, letting herself be dragged along, ignoring the blurring at the edge of her vision, ignoring the heavy twisting thing wrapped around her insides, she just followed.

XXX

Konata sighed as she sank down by the kotatsu.

"How is she?" Sojirou asked somberly.

"She's sleeping." Konata answered. "I tried to get her to drink and eat some thing, but she'll be feeling it in the morning."

Sojirou nodded quietly, understanding why she hadn't mentioned her mental state. She honestly didn't know.

He'd mourned the death of his lover, and that had been hard, even if he'd been able to latch onto his adorable daughter. He couldn't really imagine what she must be feeling right now, learning that the ring she'd worn with such pride didn't matter as much as she'd believed it did.

If his daughter hadn't stated with a dangerous growl that Yui's 'husband' would be her business, and that he shouldn't get involved unless he wanted to lose an arm, then Sojirou would probably have crashed the guy's living room with a baseball bat.

But, fact was that Konata had always been better with vengeance than he'd been, and she'd called dibs.

Hopefully, she wouldn't get herself arrested. Though, again, that's why he always believed her to be better at vengeance than him. Breaking in and demolishing the place – and potentially the guy's face, if at all possible – wasn't really subtle enough to slip under the radar.

XXX

Yui slowly made her way down the stairs, still only half-awake.

She'd been staying at the Izumi house for several weeks now, and though she could honestly admit that she'd tried very hard to drink herself into oblivion for the first week or so, she'd given up on trying.

Partly because Konata seemed to have a sort of sixth sense for whenever she found a bottle, and would show up to confiscate it almost immediately. It'd frustrated her immensely, Yui mused with a fond shake of her head.

Some of her closer work-comrades had volunteered to plant something incriminating at her former husband's residence, but she'd shot them down. It would be hard to top Konata.

Yui felt a small smile tug at her lips.

Really, her cousin could be surprisingly scary when she felt like it.

Still, she'd gotten a divorce, dragged his name through the dirt a bit in that way that all ex-wives who'd been cheated on were allowed to do, and then she'd apologized to Kuroi for apparently managing to break her nose on that first night.

Basically, she'd pretty much tried to get her life back together.

Yawning softly, she made her way to the kitchen. And, more importantly, the fridge. And, even more importantly, something that she could eat without running the risk of poisoning herself. Konata might be good at cooking, and Yutaka and Sojirou might both be halfway decent with cooking, but Yui had never been good with the whole housewife kinds of things.

A part of her had noted down that as a flaw, but she'd learned not to mention 'flaws' around her excitable cousin and her general declarations of what was or what wasn't attractive in a girl.

Truly, the girl was virtually a force of nature when she felt like it.

"Ah?" Yui blinked at the sight that greeted her as she finally made it to the kitchen.

The youngest of the Hiiragi twins were standing by the stove, wearing an apron and humming cheerfully to herself.

Yui blinked.

Had she fallen asleep in the wrong house?

"Oh, Yui-san." The short-haired girl smiled at her. "Good morning."

A small part of Yui considered pointing out that it was rapidly closing in on noon and that it as such could hardly be classified as 'morning', but she'd just woken up so that kind of comment would only serve to blow up in her own face.

"Good morning." She nodded in response, hoping that she didn't look all too horrible this soon after waking. She paused. "Why are-?" She waved her hand, trying to avoid sounding rude whilst still getting the question across.

"Hm? Well, Kona-chan invited neechan and me over, but the two of them had something they needed to do." She answered helpfully. "They should be back in an hour or two."

Yui nodded. That made sense.

"So? What are you making?" Yui asked curiously, her nose finally picking up on the fragrance that she hadn't bothered with noticing earlier.

"Oh, it was this recipe that Yuki-chan found." Tsukasa started, before apparently getting lost in the explanation, weaving in and out of explaining exactly what she was making, and talking about what the the four friends had been up to lately.

It was strangely soothing to listen to the girl talking in that cheerful tone, even if Yui wasn't sure she understood half the things coming out of her mouth. It was an odd conversation. Normally Yui would be the one to ramble endlessly about something, not be the one to listen.

Still, it didn't stop her from enjoying herself.

The fact that Tsukasa asked her to sample a few ingredients and some kind of tasty cream that supposedly played a big role in the recipe, was just making it better.

XXX

Konata raised an eyebrow at the scene in front of her as she entered the kitchen.

Huh. She'd never imagined that Yui would be setting off her yuri-radar. Weird.

Kagami didn't look quite as perceptive, but clearly seemed to have noticed something unusual in the air, judging by the way her nose twitched in that confused manner that it usually did whenever she didn't understand what was going on.

Needless to say, Konata liked seeing Kagami's nose twitch, it looked cute, so she did her best to be as confusing as possible. Kagami didn't seem to appreciate this, but she looked cute when she was annoyed too, so that was okay.

"Ah, oneechan, Kona-chan!" Tsukasa smiled brightly at them from by the stove, looking for all intent and purpose like a housewife.

"Good morning!" Yui waved happily from her seat, ignoring the fact that it was already afternoon, and managing to somehow nail the 'easy-going husband'-act on the spot.

Konata was impressed. This was the kind of amazing scene that could probably inspire Hiyori for weeks.

Of course, if she were to voice this, it'd be immensely awkward. Not only because Yui would probably do well to keep out of romance for a while longer, or because Tsukasa wouldn't have a clue what she was talking about, but also because Kagami would probably smack her over the head for insinuating things about her little sister.

She could be overprotective like that.

Still, the two of them seemed to be getting along...

Letting her eyes briefly glaze over in thought, Konata decided that anything that got Yui to smile was good and should be encouraged.

Besides, that'd probably give her an excuse for inviting the twins over, and then dragging off Kagami for herself. Yeah, that sounded like a plan.

With the tiniest of nods Konata returned to the present. "We're back!" She grinned happily at her elder cousin and the youngest Hiiragi.

XXX

Yutaka was amused.

It was so easy to see what her cousin was up to.

Tsukasa had become an almost constant presence in the house, as Konata found excuse upon excuse to drag Kagami away somewhere else, and even when she didn't quite manage that, the three of them would still somehow end up in the kitchen.

Though she supposed that Konata making up excuses weren't only for the 'benefit' of Yutaka's elder sister, but were also related to that one time when she'd walked in on the older Hiiragi when she'd been trying to remove her cousin's shirt.

Kagami had made a lot of excuses about that time, but never denied any potential feelings, or even if they'd ever been in such a situation previously. Konata had just smiled.

It was nice to see her cousin being happy, Yutaka mused, though she didn't really approve of the secrecy. But the situation revolving around Yui and Tsukasa was the cause for her current amusement.

Even Sojirou had picked upon the odd sparks that had been floating around whenever those two chatted happily together.

They would make a cute couple.

Not that she'd tell them that before Yui realized where her eyes always landed whenever Tsukasa bent over to get something.

She supposed that it was expected that she ought to be scandalized by such a thing, but she'd been around Hiyori long enough that it merely amused her. Not because of what Hiyori drew as much as because of her tendency to stare whenever Patricia undressed.

Though, admittedly, Minami in her underwear still made Yutaka's face heat up for some reason.

Yutaka had never really understood that.

XXX

Yui glared at the wall.

This was all Konata's fault.

She wasn't sure exactly how it was her fault, but she was certain of it nonetheless.

It might've been how her younger cousin had finally lifted her previous ban on alcohol just as Sojirou got ready for a week-long trip outside of town, resulting in Yui drinking a bit more than she supposed that she should've in order to celebrate. It might've been how she'd been twisting around her words until Yui had been very offended at the thought of not being able to handle a drunk Tsukasa. It might've been how she was absolutely convinced that Konata knew just what the short-haired girl was like when she got drunk.

Of course, it might've also been how Konata had stayed only long enough to get Kagami slightly dazed before disappearing away in search of what she could only presume was a nicer place to get undressed in.

Basically, Konata had convinced her to take her and the twins out to get drunk, and then she'd dumped the short-haired, horrible drunk on her, whilst she went off to have awkward drunk sex with her 'secret' girlfriend.

What kind of secret was that anyway? It was the lamest secret ever. Everyone knew that the two of them were doing the dirty. Hell, even if the looks they gave each other when they thought nobody was looking wasn't enough to clue someone in, then their recently developed habit of sneaking away into dark corners, with fantastically flimsy excuses, should've been a big hint.

Yui had a lot of reasons to blame her current situation on Konata.

And the damnedest, and most infuriating reason of them all was, quite simply, that at this particular moment in time, she felt like she was going to owe her cousin for this, rather than the other way around.

Her glare withered away as a Tsukasa made a slight humming noise from her lap.

Yui was still a bit unsure of how the girl had ended up with her head in her lap, but, like she'd stated previously, she blamed Konata.

They'd made it out of the bar without issue, except for Tsukasa leaning on her a bit more than she probably needed in order to walk straight. And except for the few moments when she'd suddenly twisted a bit, and Yui had found herself caught in between a frantic urge to scramble her hands away from there, and the dazed curiosity pleading for her to squeeze, just the one time.

They'd made it through the streets without issue, except for a few dirty old men catcalling. And except for the distracting way the girl's short hair kept falling into her face as the ribbon she usually wore had gotten loose, and how the streetlights danced across her skin in a hypnotizing blur of warmth that lay just barely out of reach.

They'd made it into the Izumi house without issue, except for balancing complications when faced with removing their shoes. And except for the way her blue eyes narrowed painfully at the bright lights of the house, making her seem young, innocent, sensual, and breathtakingly beautiful all at once.

They'd made it to the kotatsu without issue, except for how someone had turned it off and neither of them proved capable of figuring out how to turn it back on with their fumbling fingers. And except for how Tsukasa's warm body curled up against her underneath the table's blanket, searching out the warmth, and seemingly not noticing the fact that her breath was burning like smoldering coals at the crook of Yui's neck.

And now Tsukasa had her head in her lap, mumbling softly about something that Yui really wasn't paying attention to.

To be fair, it was difficult to pay attention to the young girl's incoherent mumbling when the girl's skirt had slipped up almost-but-not-quite enough for her to see what color she was wearing underneath.

This was actually fully possibly the absolutely most frustrating night of her life.

Sure, she'd had bad nights before, sure she'd had really really shitty nights before, but this hadn't been a bad night by any definition of the word. It was just tauntingly teasingly enough for her to wonder if it was too late to simply crawl back under her covers and not get up today.

She had a vague feeling that it was, but she couldn't be sure if that was just a feeling or not, because Tsukasa was shifting, turning to look back up at her with sky blue orbs.

"Yui-san..." She trailed off, seemingly searching for words, scrunching up her nose in thought, before smiling sleepily. "Kona-chan is really obvious, isn't she?" She giggled.

Yui blinked, not having expected those particular words.

She suppressed the thought that she'd been waiting for a more romantic choice of a sentence.

Then she realized just what it meant that Konata was being obvious.

Well, really, it could mean two things. Either Tsukasa was musing about the girl's relationship to her sister. Or she was thinking about the way that the small otaku had been spending so much of her time trying to get the two of them into the same room.

The first option was a safe, innocent option. The second option was a very much potentially loaded question, because Tsukasa's lips looked so astonishingly soft, and she wasn't sure if she wanted it to be the first option.

She settled for nodding, because either way, Konata was absolutely horrible at subtlety when sincere revenge wasn't involved.

Tsukasa smiled widened at her nod. "But she's really good at spotting things." Her voice was soft, like moonlight over silk.

Yui blinked, and almost missed the sneaky arm as it made its move.

The arm that had snaked itself around her neck pulled her downwards, until she reached a point in her descent when her eyes were caught by Tsukasa's, and suddenly the arm wasn't pulling, it was simply following.

Lips met lips, softness and warmth, the barest hint of her fragrance and the taste of alcohol lingering on her lips.

Yui wasn't entirely sure how Tsukasa ended up on top of her, or how her fumbling fingers actually managed to undo all those buttons, or which of them hissed out through the brushing of teeth that it was fine, and that they had the house to themselves.

It sounded like something she should've known to say, but she doubted that her strangled moans would've allowed her to speak anything remotely coherent. Other than the name of the girl with blue eyes, the girl who breathed liquid fire across her skin, the girl with a tongue so much better than any silver one could've been because it was hers.

Still, one of them must've said it, because she distinctly remember it being said somewhere in between one shuddering breath and another, between one intoxicating, breath-stealing kiss and another.

She remember it so very clearly, because that was when her fumbling fingers had finally found something underneath Tsukasa's shirt, and she'd been very pleased with knowing that there would be no stopping, since it had been a lot more difficult to find that stupid little clasp than it had any right to be. Not that Tsukasa's skin, so achingly hot to her touch, hadn't helped in distracting those same fingers from their goal.

But there'd been no interruption during the night, and though they'd needed to clean the floor a bit once stinging sunlight had made its presence known to hangover-muddled minds, there hadn't been any interruptions then either.

This had confused them slightly, once they'd stopped taking advantage of it by finding new and interesting ways of making and eating breakfast, until Yutaka had called, breathlessly stating that she would be staying at Minami's house for the day, in a voice that sometimes carried over into a pleasured whimper of the girl's name.

Yui made a mental note to have a talk with Minami about her little sister, but was distracted from this note by just how pretty Tsukasa looked when she blushed.

The note couldn't have been that important, could it?

Hanging up the phone with an unusually brief goodbye, Yui guessed that Konata would most likely be 'entertaining' her tsundere girlfriend for a long time yet.

Plenty of time.

She drew the smaller girl in for a kiss.

XXX

A/n: I always thought it sad that Yui never came home to a lit house with her loved one greeting them from the kitchen. And if anyone fit the image that was needed for that to happen, it was Tsukasa. Thus, this.