sigelphoenix

Title: Practice
Characters: Sae, Reika, Ichiro
Warmakers Adventure: 17
Word Count: ~400
Summary: An alternate ending to Sae and Reika's conversation about kissing.
Notes: For the Valentine's Day kiss drabbles.


Reika's attitude toward teaching to her sister how to kiss is a lot more optimistic than Sae's. As Reika takes Sae's head in her hands and turns her this way and that, all the while making encouraging remarks about "just doing it," Sae's expression, rather than getting more hopeful, falls farther into despair.

"Can I kiss you? For practice?"

Reika frowns and lets go of Sae's face. "That wouldn't be right, oneesan. Your first kiss should be with Gu - um, the person you like."

"But whenever I'm with -" Sae stops, looks around the empty hallway, and drops her voice to a fierce whisper. "Whenever I'm with ... Gunnar ... I get all nervous and nothing comes out right. What if I mess up?" She grabs her sister's hand and looks at her pleadingly. "Please?"

Reika sees Sae's expression and caves. She hugs her sister and laughs. "Okay, oneesan. Here." She pulls back slightly, keeping her arms wrapped around her sister, and touches her lips to Sae's in a gentle, slow kiss.

Sae blinks and seems to consider the experience. "I guess you were right. That was warm."

"Now you try."

Sae nods, eyebrows coming together in a determined frown. She puts her hands on Reika's face to help her aim, then swoops in like she's attacking something.

Reika pulls back, laughing. "Not like you want to bash his face in, oneesan. Be gentle."

"Right." Sae tries again. This time, Reika puts her hand on her sister's face, too, to make sure she doesn't move too fast. Under Reika's guidance, Sae uses her lips in something closer to a caress than a strike.

"That's better. But you have to remember that he's tall." Reika stands up on tiptoe, giggling. "So it'll be more like this." Swaying, she leans forward, and she and Sae meet for another, slightly wobbly, kiss.

Sae hears a noise and turns her head sharply. Ichiro is standing there, mouth hanging open, the only movement on his body a slight twitching of his eyebrow. The noise that caught her attention appears to be the sound of him choking faintly.

"What?" Sae snarls, while Reika just waves and calls, "Hi, dear!"

Ichiro is still trying to come up with something to say when Reika claps her hands, inspiration lighting her face. "You can help! You're a boy!"

"What?"

"Help oneesan practice kissing."

"What?" This time Sae's voice joins Ichiro's.

"You should try it with a boy," Reika explains to Sae. And, to Ichiro, "Don't worry, it'll be just like kissing me, so it's not a big deal." And with a bright wave, she disappears down the hallway.


Title: On Loan
Characters: Sae and Ichiro
Warmakers Adventure: 17
Word Count: ~400
Summary: Sequel to the previous drabble.
Notes: For the Valentine's Day kiss drabbles.


Somehow Sae doesn't think it's right that she'll kiss both her sister and her sister's boyfriend before she actually tries to kiss Gunnar, but they're the ones with a relationship, not her, so she can't argue with their authority. Or, rather, she can't argue with Reika's authority. Ichiro seems as skeptical of this venture as Sae is.

"So. Do it."

Ichiro's eyebrow twitches. "That's hardly the way one goes about this sort of thing."

"Neither is kissing my sister's boyfriend," Sae snaps, just to see him flinch. "Just show me what to do." She puckers her lips.

"You are trying to get kissed, not imitate a fish."

"I don't know what to do," she snarls. "Stop making fun -"

"Just." Ichiro puts a finger to her lips, and she is startled into silence. "Quiet."

He takes a breath, and Sae can almost hear the click as Ichiro's suave, polished persona snaps back into place. The hand on her mouth shifts to cradle her chin, and the frown disappears from his brow, leaving him to meet her gaze directly with gentle, slightly hooded eyes. The transition is sudden enough to make Sae want to laugh, even if the effect does work on her. Just a little.

"Just relax," Ichiro says as he moves closer, but the fact that his face is getting nearer to hers makes her not want to relax. He's so close that she realizes he's about to do it, and she tenses up in anticipation.

"Close your eyes," he says softly, and she is so surprised by the feeling of his breath on her mouth that she does.

The kiss is soft, and, she realizes, not all that different from kissing Reika. Boy lips feel pretty much like girl lips. But it does feel strange to be kissing someone she isn't as intimately comfortable with as her twin. The newness of it all - of being this close to someone whom she isn't already intensely close to - does make her heart beat faster, and when Ichiro pulls away she can feel herself blushing.

She tries to think of something to say. "It's just like kissing a girl, but at least you're not my sister," is what she comes up with. From the look on Ichiro's face, that isn't quite what he expected to hear.

"Uh ..." she tries again. "Thanks?"

"... Right."