Chapter Eight - Sea

I lay in the dark room listening to the quiet breathing of the girls around me, staring through the open curtain at the nearly full moon as it drifted higher into the dark sky. It was moments like this, when the whole world felt like it was wrapped in a dark fleece blanket drifting off to sleep, I felt the most at peace. Oddly, though, I felt somehow restless, like something nibbling away at my thoughts I couldn’t quite put my finger on. With a soft sigh I slipped out of the blanket. I padded across the room, carefully avoiding the still forms lying on the ground and opened the balcony door. I stepped onto the small platform, closing the door silently behind me and leaned against the railing. I shivered slightly as the soft autumn wind blew off the ocean. It was surprisingly warm but still chilled me through the thin shirt.

The small collection of buildings around us were silent and dark, vague shapes in the moonlight. I could hear the waves, I thought, though at this distance it was probably my imagination. It was, after all, half a kilometer to the water’s edge. I closed my eyes and could almost see them rolling in from the Sea of Japan one after another. Colliding with each other, breaking apart, reforming, slapping gently on the sand before rolling back out to see, replaced by others, all drawn inexorably to shore by the gentle tug of the moon. I sighed deeply in contentment.

My head was a mess. The rest of the evening had gone on as normal. Normal conversation, normal movie that became quickly incomprehensible as characters were added that were most probably just relatives of sponsor companies. Then there had been scary stories that hadn’t been that scary. And all through it there had been Aria sitting a short distance from me. She laughed at things that were funny, gasped at the proper time, fit in with our little group perfectly and, somehow, made me acutely aware of her presence without doing anything out of the ordinary. It was exhilarating and bothersome at the same time.

“Couldn’t sleep, either, huh?” I heard a voice from behind me. I yelped in surprise and leapt to the side, nearly falling over as I whipped my head around to find Aria standing in the doorway sheepishly. “I am so sorry! I thought you heard me!”

“A-Aria chan, I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were there!” I breathed; heart pounding like it wanted to escape my chest and go hide under something.

“I see that!” Aria giggled quietly, closing the door behind her. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just saw you come out and thought I’d say hi.”

“I-I’m glad you did,” I stuttered, trying to calm myself down. Aria leaned over the balcony and stared up at the moon in silence for a long moment.

“What were you doing?” Aria asked, turning her head toward me as I recovered my composure, though my heart still pounded, and stood beside her, leaning on the railing as well.

“Just enjoying the moonlight and seeing if I could hear the waves,” I replied, the soft breeze playing in my hair.

“The waves? I love the sea!” She asked, enthusiastically.

“I like the ocean, too,” I replied. If I had to choose one, though, I’d have to choose the moon, though. It was a constant, a kindly little sister that would look over her onee chan no matter what. I always felt when I looked at the moon that my problems really were exceedingly small in the grand scheme of things and that everything would, somehow, all be ok. Not to mention I was, honestly, terrified of the dark ocean. When I was little a typhoon had hit our little town head on and I had seen the dark, angry water roiling at the top of the beach and it felt like a dark, vast maw hungrily trying to devour everything.

“The moon always seems so lonely, doesn’t it?” Aria asked, looking toward the pale globe drifting through the night sky. She seemed to shudder. “I’m terrified of being alone.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, glancing over at her. She lowered her head, long hair painted silver by the moon partially covering her face.

“I just hate being lonely. I don’t know,” Aria shrugged slightly. “It makes me feel like I can’t breathe properly. Like there’s cotton in my lungs or something.” She chuckled, waving her hand to try to brush her fear off. “I know it’s stupid and weird, but I get all panicky.”

“It’s not stupid,” I assured her. “How you feel is never stupid.”

“Thank you for that, K-chan,” Aria replied, shaking her head slightly. “It may not be stupid but it’s definitely troublesome.” She chuckled mirthlessly and seemed to sag slightly. A brief silence overtook us, not necessarily an uncomfortable one, but one I wasn’t sure how to break without sounding foolish. I felt it was never a good idea to tell anyone that ‘everyone felt this way’ or ‘I know how you feel.’ The truth of the matter was I didn’t know how she felt since I didn’t live in her head and I don’t think everyone did feel that way and to say they did almost seemed like I was diminishing how she felt.

“I have a question, if I could,” Aria said, cocking her head and looking at me curiously.

“Sure,” I answered with a shrug.

“Why did you lie earlier?” She asked. I glanced over at her suspiciously. She was looking at me, the moon’s light throwing half of her face into shadow.

“What do you mean? What did I lie about?” I demanded, getting more defensive than I would have thought I’d be.

“I don’t mean to upset you!” Aria protested, raising her hands. “It’s just that when you said you didn’t have pubic hair; why did you lie?” I blushed fiercely, subconsciously tugging my shirt down slightly in embarrassment.

“How do you know I was lying?” I huffed.

“I saw you when you sat down,” Aria admitted. I blushed fiercely. “You already have luxurious pubic hair.” She giggled softly. My blush deepened to the point I was sure I was probably glowing.

“I-I,” I stopped and started a few times, trying to get my reeling mind to focus on anything at all. I took a deep breath to steady myself. “I didn’t want Emi to feel bad. I didn’t want her to think she was weird.”

“That’s what I hoped,” Aria said with a smile, nodding. The silence returned and I turned back to face the moon, closing my eyes against the light, and listening for the distant sound of the ocean and trying to ignore the very concept of pubic hair. I couldn’t hear it. All I could hear was the sound of my own breath and heart. “That was really sweet of you to do, you know.” Aria finally said, breaking the silence.

“It really wasn’t,” I replied, waving my hand, my blush not diminishing in the least. “I just didn’t want her to feel isolated is all it was.”

“That’s kind of the definition of really sweet,” Aria replied with a grin. “I don’t know if I would have done it.”

“Well, that doesn’t mean anything,” I said. “It’s not even a big deal.”

“It was to Emi,” Aria protested. “Did you see the look on her face? The look that said, ‘I’m not strange.’ That look spoke more than just words.”

“Well,” I blushed at the compliment. “I just didn’t want her to be sad.”

“I bet you made her happier than the porno mags, and that’s saying something,” Aria giggled. I smiled with her and shrugged.

“A happy Emi is a happy world,” I finally replied, feeling my face blush slightly. It was true, in my humble opinion. To my knowledge Emi had never had a negative thought about anyone in her entire life, unlike me whose head seemed filled with snark and bitterness. As such, hers was a smile I felt needed to be protected. I scowled at the knowledge that my sister was right about me.

“It sounds like you care for her very much,” Aria said softly. I stole a glance at Aria as she stared at the pale sister riding high in the starry sky. She really was pretty, I thought. Her long lashes were plainly visible in the silvery light, her lips were full and pouty, and her cheeks had a youthful roundness to them that made her even more attractive. What the hell am I thinking? I demanded, blinking. These were not the thoughts I wanted to be having right now. I sighed slightly and turned my attention to the moon as well.

“I don’t have many friends, but I cherish the ones I have,” I finally replied with a shrug.

“How about me?” Aria asked, turning to face me full on, her eyes glittering in the deep moonlight.

“I’m not sure I understand,” I admitted. Was she asking if she cherished the friends she had? How was I supposed to know something like that?

“Am I your friend?” She asked. I studied her face for a long moment and finally smiled.

“I thought we’d already decided you were, A-chan,” I replied.

“I just wanted to be sure you still felt that way after I saw your kitten and all,” Aria murmured. I scowled and cocked my head to the side.

“Eh?” Aria grinned wickedly and pointed to her groin. My face flushed; I could feel my cheeks blazing hot in the cool night air. “T-That’s…what are…” My words tumbled from my mouth, but my brain had shut down. Americans certainly lacked couth. At least this one did. Kitten? What the hell? Aria giggled into her hand.

“Don’t worry! Over half the world has one! It’s nothing to be ashamed of!” Aria giggled harder as I smacked her shoulder.

“I am not ashamed of my vagina!” I hissed, my cheeks burning even more brightly.

“Good! Neither am I!” Aria chuckled, enjoying my embarrassment. What was this girl, I asked myself, a sadist? “Maybe one day we can compare notes.”

“On vaginas?” I asked.

“On lots of different things! I think ours will be a beautiful relationship, K-chan,” Aria grinned, her eyes flashing in the moonlight.

“I suppose,” I replied noncommittally, turning away. I wasn’t certain if ‘relationship’ was the right word in that context.

“You have a great butt by the way, K-chan,” Aria suddenly said, changing the subject abruptly to focus on yet another of my body parts. This girl seemed obsessed with mentioning unmentionables. What was coming next, fallopian tubes, or perhaps a lengthy discussion on the many uses for the uterus?

I turned to find her face a few millimeters from my own, her lips so close I could smell the sweet berry scent of her lip balm and feel her warm breath on my own lips. I gasped, which turned quickly to a ragged cough as my gasp dragged saliva down my trachea. She giggled again, pulling her face away slightly and patting my back until I was able to catch my breath.

“Th-Thank you,” I said with a blush, fidgeting in embarrassment, not sure at all how to respond. Her face drew closer to mine again, her lips hovering so close I could feel her heat. I glanced down at her slightly moist lips then back at her eyes. Was she going to kiss me?

“Can I touch your butt again?” Aria whispered seductively.

“You may not,” I managed through my suddenly very tight throat.

“Aw, why not?” Aria’s full lips curled into an adorable pout. It wouldn’t have been possible for her to get closer to me than she was without touching and my heart was now positively pounding in my chest. “I heard Japanese girls have skinny butts, but you have such a nice one I want to touch it again.”

“Um, th-thank you?” I stammered, wanting to step back but not sure my body would do as it was told under the current circumstances.

“It has some nice volume to it without being too big,” Aria whispered, cocking an eyebrow lasciviously, once again engaging in an awkward conversation about things I was not comfortable discussing with seeming ease.

“O-Ok?” I murmured. My gaze dropped again to her lips and my breath caught in my chest. She really had amazing lips.

“What are you doing out here?” A sleepy voice said from the doorway. I jumped with surprise and stepped back in panic.

“Oh, thank god you’re awake, Emi!” Aria spun and folded the smaller girl in her arms. “K-chan was sexually harassing me!”

“Wh-?” I stammered in disbelief.

“There there,” Emi patted Aria’s head softly. “K-chan is a bully sometimes.”

“I didn’t do anything!” I snapped defensively.

“See?” Aria turned to look at me with smiling eyes. “She didn’t do anything at all which made me so sad and sexually frustrated!” How was that sexual harassment? What was even going on right now?

“It’s a common problem with that one. She’s refused to sexually harass me for years,” Emi yawned, patting Aria’s arm in solidarity. “Let’s go to sleep. We’ll see if something happens tomorrow, A-chan.”

“Wait…what?” I muttered.

“Thank you, Emi-chan,” Aria sniffled, flashing me a winning grin, and blowing me a kiss as Emi led her back inside. Yeah. Aria was definitely trouble.

“Just remember, it’s only sexual harassment if it’s unwanted, A-chan,” I heard Emi say from inside.

“Don’t encourage her delusions, Emi,” I warned, joining them back inside.