Sukeban (Discontinued)

Chapter 8: Confessions

Tomomi leaned over slowly, setting the glass of water down in front of Mami. She was careful not to touch the blonde as she pushed herself back up, turning on her heels and walking back over to the sink. From behind her, Mami stayed sitting at the kitchen table, her fingertips gently rapping on the wooden tabletop. She stared at Tomomi, carefully watching her every movement.

The girls had made it back to Tomomi’s house. It took a bit of convincing, but Mami finally got Tomomi to agree to come downstairs with her and give Haruna and Rina some alone time. Mami knew that Tomomi was uncomfortable with the boss being in her house and she knew it made her even more uncomfortable now that the boss was alone in her house and in her bedroom nonetheless. But in a way, Mami found it kind of amusing. Tomomi’s reactions to things were just entertaining, she overreacted to so much.

Mami watched as Tomomi retrieved another glass from the cupboard, pouring herself some water from the tap. She watched the younger brunette take a small drink before she turned around, leaning herself against the counter. Mami could see the way Tomomi’s eyes widened when she saw the blonde observing her.

“You’re so nervous,” Mami pointed out. Tomomi’s feet shifted uncomfortably beneath her, her grip on the glass tightening. “You can calm down you know.”

“That’s easier said than done,” Tomomi mumbled. She didn’t think she had said it loud enough for Mami to hear, but Mami had heard anyway. The blonde let out a small chuckle at the brunette’s words, shaking her head.

“Tomomi, about the fight earlier… I’m really sorry you had to see that but you’re going to need to get used to it. You’ve been with us for long enough already, you should know this. What happened today is part of being with us; if you want to stay then you need to learn to deal with it. But you don’t have to be scared of me; I’m not going to hurt you. I don’t know what more I can do to make you see that.”

“W-who said I was scared of you?” Tomomi asked in a sudden motion, a soft squeaking sound coming out in her voice as she said them. Tomomi winced from the sound of her own voice, she hated it when she did that, it always gave her away.

Truth was though, Tomomi wasn’t scared of Mami. At least, she wasn’t scared of her anymore. At one point after the fight, she had been scared of the blonde after she’d seen what Mami was truly capable of. What she’d seen at the fight wasn’t what was keeping her away from Mami. What was keeping her away was the feelings that Mami’s hug from earlier had given her. One simple hug had brought up all of these things in her mind. It was so small and simple, it shouldn’t have meant anything. But it had meant so much that Tomomi was beginning to get scared of what her real feelings for the blonde could be.

But she would never tell the blonde that. She could only imagine the fun someone like Mami would have with a confession like that. She didn’t even know why she was thinking about it anyway. She knew Mami had only done it because she felt sorry for her. She could tell by the way Mami was acting now that she was back to her usual self, that moment of sweetness was long over.

“Well, you won’t come near me and you’re acting like I’m going to do something wrong. Call it a hunch,” Mami replied with a hint of sarcasm to her tone. Mami hated it when people tried to lie to her, so she wasn’t very pleased with Tomomi at the moment. “I saw the way you were looking at me earlier. You were terrified of me. I thought the fear had worn off by now but… I guess not.”

Tomomi took a small drink of the water she held, her throat beginning to dry up from the nervousness that was really washing over her body now. Taking slow steps, she went back over to the table, taking a seat across from Mami. She sat the glass down on the table, the water inside it wavering as her hand shook.