D11 LE slumber party (Expecting)

[Kakita Haruhi]

Haruhi pulled her into her arms, holding her tight.

"I'm here," she whispered.

And then she gave her time. As much as she needed. Time to rest against her. Time to process. Time to unravel. Time with no pressure to do anything at all.

[Bayushi Senshuken]

They stay like that for a bunch of minutes. Various thoughts go through Senshu's head. Thoughts that she's not proud of having right this moment. It is unfair to both Haruhi and herself. And that brings shame and more disappointment mixed with all the bottled up feelings that she doesn't realise she has.

She takes a deep breath and gets nested even deeper in Haruhi's embrace. It's not time for self pity. It's not time for sadness. She has to turn these switches off and prepare herself for what she came here to do. Offer Haruhi a sweet night she will never forget.

It takes more time for the thoughts to clear out, but at some point Senshuken sighs softly, but deeply as if trying to trace all the fragments of sadness inside her and get rid of them for tonight. She perks her head up and looks at the other woman. "Thank you." She says softly. "Forgive me for this part of the night. I really want to hang out with you and watch romantic movies with a happy ending."

[Kakita Haruhi]

Haruhi listened to that sigh. To her words.

"There is nothing to forgive. I wish you had nothing to grieve, but I am not sorry to have shared a moment of something ... real and raw with you. I know you ... you are not someone I can hold onto tightly very often. I can have silly little dreams, but I know ... I know you are in motion in ways I cannot follow. It's okay."

"You are splendid in all your complexity. When you shine and when you stumble. I am just grateful for the minutes we get to share."

"I feel confident 'Two Princesses' has a happy ending. Though it's highly rated so I am sure it find ways to make that journey as complicated and uncertain, at times, as it is inevitable. I can put it on, and we can get lost in it. But if you want to talk later. Mid-movie. Tomorrow. Never... You know where to find me."

[Bayushi Senshuken]

She nods and it's a less groomy face she's now putting on.

"Right this moment, Haruhi chan, you fill my heart with memorable moments. With bits of yourself. Every word, every touch. They build a bond that will never make it possible to forget you."

She chuckles. "I am the type that always makes comments during a movie. I hope that this isn't a deal breaker for you."

[Kakita Haruhi]

She smiled. "Comments during a move are most welcome!"

"My sister would always comment on the outfits. And generally not kindly. But it did make me laugh."

"I like to guess the plot! Mostly on the theory that artists think about every detail, so if there is something ... like an object on the table ... that is curious, I am just sure it is intentional and will reveal all."

[Bayushi Senshuken]

In the meanwhile Senshuken has fully decided to force herself out of the pity. She sits up and now she's the one to wrap her arms around Haruhi. To hold and cherish her the way she deserves.

"A detective in the making then!" She smiles and plants a kiss on the top of her head. "I usually make funny voices and throw jokes in the mix, but I promise that I will behave this one time. We need romance tonight, not comedy."

[Kakita Haruhi]

"There must be room for a little comedy in romance. It would be too much pressure without a little laughter. Jokes are most welcome."

She snuggled back against Senshu. Mmmmm. It felt so good.

A kiss on her head! Ahhhhhhhh.

The arrival of their tea and snacks forced her to get up briefly, but she quickly returned to the snuggling position after they'd had their fill.

The show began. The key characters were a human princess and a dragon princess. The human princess' kingdom was threatened by a neighboring warlord who offered peace - and the excuse to entirely take over (and possibly enslave!) the kingdom - with the excuse of an arranged marriage to her as the opportunity to walk through the usually well-defended city walls and gate. As she fled to delay the match, pretending to be a peasant, she ran into the dragon princess, who was pretending to be a pipe-smoking traveling alchemist. Only time would tell how the spark of attraction between them would survive any revelations of their true identity, and both kept hesitating, thinking the truth would make the match impossible.

[Bayushi Senshuken]

"Oh no! Don't tell her, don't tell her!" Senshu urges the dragon queen when in a moment of weakness she seems ready to reveal the truth. Then the Scorpion sighs in relief when she doesn't.

"She would have destroyed the few days they have left before the truth is inevitably unleashed upon them. I think that the warlord will be one to tell them so that he can divide them. He can't beat them if they are united."

[Kakita Haruhi]

Haruhi lifts Raiju-kun to growl and roar (her dainty version of it, anyway) when the warlord is on the screen.

"That ancestral lightning sword has been mentioned three times. I can't imagine her papa's just going to come in with it at the last minute. It makes sense the dragon could take out the warlord alone, but maybe Sakura-chan can help, and prove a force in her own right. Oh, but maybe she *has* to fight him alone for a bit, because he's tricked them into being mad at each other."

[Bayushi Senshuken]

"She definitely has to fight him on her own or I don't see her keeping both her kingdom and the girl in the end. It's that prophecy about the Chaos Chosen One that worries me. Could it be the dragon queen?" Senshu is literally about to scream for the injustice the couple faces. "Look at them! Even at battle. Look at their eyes, swooning for each other!"

[Kakita Haruhi]

Haruhi leans forward, hanging on every word of dialogue.

"Oh no!" The human princess had only overhead half of what the dragon princess was saying. A terrible misunderstanding. "She's got it all wrong. At least she's running away rather than saying something awful but they'll never get it sorted if they don't talk it through."

"Wait! The letter!" The love letter! The exquisite confession of all that the dragon princess was feeling. "She could still give it to her. Or, oh, she" (now meaning the human princess) "could find it!"

[Bayushi Senshuken]

"Oh boy! I swear to the kami that if they don't end up together, there's no chance in this world for anyone to find love."

She drinks some water and squeezes Haruhi closer in her embrace. "Who do you like more? The daring, insolent attitude of the dragon queen or the sweet, quiet power of the human?"

[Kakita Haruhi]

She snuggled closer to her.

"They will find a way!"

"I find the dragon princess the most attractive. She is so brave and fierce and fearless. And those cheekbones ... honestly ... it's unfair."

She stole a kiss from Senshu's cheek.

[Bayushi Senshuken]

She grins happily when she's kissed and kisses her back on the top of her head. "The baby has a type then." She teases her. "Should I take up swordfighting or boxxing is enough to appear dashingly dangerous?"

[Kakita Haruhi]

"The racing is dashingly dangerous! You make it look so easy. But when I tried to join a team for the big cycle race, I did my part - I had that engine purring ship shape - but something happened with the driving and she stopped because we were at real risk of crashing."

"And I tried the jet boat racing, too, and I did fine, but I could see how potentially dangerous that was too."

"Have you ever gotten hurt with your racing?"

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Senshu presses pause on the movie.

“Here.” She says, tapping the faint white line curving around her ankle. “Rope burn from a stunt that should’ve been cool and was not.” A self satisfied grin. “Still finished the race, though.”

Then she lifts her crop top a little higher than she normally would, just enough to show a narrow slash across her lower abs. A clean scar that follows the lines of her muscles. “This one was worse. Wipeout on a corner I swear wasn’t marked right. Sora, my chief mechanic, says it was marked fine. Sora lies.”

She lets the top fall back into place, then hesitates and flicks Haruhi a side glance full of mischief and challenge.

“And the third…” Senshuken taps two fingers against her hipbone area, just above the waistband, not actually revealing anything. “The jewel of my racing crown. A story so glorious, so nonsensical and located in a place that is, let’s say, not compatible with polite viewing.”

Her smirk sharpens. “You can hear the tale. You just don't get the tour. Unless you ask very very politely."

[Kakita Haruhi]

Haruhi watched as she showed each spot. Transfixed by each section of skin.

Oh! It was as dangerous as she'd thought. She wanted to kiss each wound and make it better.

But the third wound...

Her heart was racing.

"I would hear the tale. And ... maybe... maybe I could kiss the scar at your ankle? To thank the Fortunes you were hurt no worse than you were."

[Bayushi Senshuken]

"I will allow it. I like kisses. Anywhere they wish to land." Senshuken says and leans in, lowering her voice as if preparing to unveil a state secret rather than a bad decision anecdote.

“Alright,” she says, “picture this. A night race on a half finished coastal highway. Wind howling. Track slick. My bike tuned so aggressively it was basically a divine punishment waiting to happen.”

She gestures broadly, warming up to her own legend. “I’m leaning hard into a bend when bam! My rear tire clips a floating construction tarp. Not just any tarp. A cursed tarp. A tarp personally handcrafted by the fortunes of Humiliation. It wraps around my leg and yanks me clean off balance.”

She pauses for emphasis. "And I, Bayushi Senshuken, future terror of the Nakahama circuits, go sliding. Really sliding, like in the movies, under a safety barrier and directly onto the decorative metal koi statue they had installed for a sponsorship event.”

Senshu grimaces in remembered offense. “Sharp little fins. Right in the upper inner thigh. The kind of place you don’t show outside of a very enthusiastic date or a medical emergency.” She lifts a finger. “And I was in neither situation.”

She straightens, flicking imaginary dust from her shoulder as if reclaiming her dignity across time. "So there I am, tangled in a tarp, impaled by civic art, bleeding in a way that made the medics swear creatively… and all I can think is that If I don’t finish this race, Sora will never let me live it down.”

She lifts her chin proudly. “So I cut myself free, limped to my bike and finished. Third place. Respectable, considering I had been personally assaulted by a koi fish.”

[Kakita Haruhi]

Haruhi listened reverently. This was the stuff of legend. Her determination to get back on that bike and finish the race...

"You are a wonder."

Many kisses and little flicking licks to her ankle scar.

"Nothing will ever defeat you. Not for long."

She daringly moved to kiss the narrow slash on her abs, one hand lifting the crop top but only just enough to trace the length of the scar.

[Bayushi Senshuken]

Senshu moans ever so softly. "You're killing me right now and it's so good that it is this killing that I will be seeking. Always."

She sits up to lean back against her elbows so that she can see Haruhi better. "How about you? Tell me a story of yours, please. Preferably without stopping. Thaat."