The first thing she felt was nothing. The shock of those six words dulled the entire world around her. Everything went black for a second. The next thing she felt was intense euphoria. She’d done it. Suisei had just confessed. To her! She wanted to feel light and fuzzy. She wanted to feel like her heart was soaring.
The thorns were clipping her heart’s wings, keeping it locked against cold stone below a sea of turbulence. She couldn’t breathe, yet she was breathing. Her brain told her to breathe faster. She listened, breaths turning shallow. The world was blurring. Light was shooting across her eyes like a feverish dance of stars.
Two anchors slammed against her shoulders, grabbing onto her. They clutched at her while panicked tones rang through her head. Suisei… her voice was there. Was that what this was?
'Why am I so afraid of Suisei?' The question swarmed around in her head. Angry streaks of pain kept slashing her mind. Suisei’s voice was still there. It’s coaxing her even though she can’t hear what the comet’s saying; those kind words that she knows are trying to calm her down… they’re right there. She can feel the cool air brushing against her face from Suisei.
‘Maybe… maybe it’s not that I’m afraid of Suisei.’ She thought about that night when she’d saved Suisei’s life. Had she halted herself when she got into the bathroom with Suisei, washing the comet's hair for her and then holding her naked body against her own in the bath? No. So why was this making her terrified?
The echoing noise called out again. This time, it broke through slightly. “-ochi!...”
The thorns were still tight around her lungs. She forced air in faster. It wasn’t enough. She was suffocating.
‘Is it just… the idea of being together? Or is it something deeper?...’ Flashes of her past ran through her mind’s eye. The illness, the blizzard, the car crash, the funerals, the eyes all staring at her, it was too much, it was-
“MIKOCHI!!!!”
A piercing wail tore through the cotton in her head. She winced back in pain. Too loud. Way too loud. The anchors weighing her shoulders down wrapped around her body. It wasn’t suffocating. There was a soft gentle warmth to it. It was like a bed of flowers pushed itself around her.
“Breathe for me, Mikochi! Please!!”
She grit her teeth. Her lungs wheezed in pain as she forced out all the air she still had. She inhaled and her arms threw themselves around her lifeline. Her blue, star-adorned lifeline. The warmth surrounded her, a gentle supernova igniting her vision. The colors faded, returning to their natural hues.
In front of her face, tears in her sapphire galaxies, was Suisei. The woman she loved yet was too scared to do anything about it. She’d just confessed hadn’t she?
Miko tried to say yes. She was committed, ready to say it. When her lips parted, the word choked itself to a halt in her throat. The terror was clawing its way back up. Tears were pricking her eyes.
“Mikochi, hang on. I’m gonna get you inside.”
A bout of vertigo shot through her. The world spun. She could only put her head against Suisei’s shoulder, sheltering her eyes from the nauseating display around her.
A soft thud sounded. She was now in Suisei’s lap. The comet had her completely encapsulated. They were in a world of Suisei’s creation now, contained entirely inside of Miko's living room. Miko felt her hands groping for her own legs, grabbing them and hoisting her knees up to her chest. Suisei simply wrapped her arms around Miko’s legs, the distance between them impossibly close.
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In Those Deep, Starry Eyes, I See Cherry Petals Depressed but breathing
FanfictionShrine maiden Sakura Miko can read the eyes of those she helps. They come to her seeking advice, and she happily assists. When a blue-haired woman appears with eyes she can't read, how will she be able to help? What lies in store for both of them in...
