#yodochou

As usual, the shop was empty. She glanced around, idlywondering how the hell they were still in business when, in all the times she’dvisited, she’d never seen more than three people browsing the aisles at once. Yodoinsisted that metalheads, while not overly abundant in the general population,were extremely dedicated to their genre, however Sarada had explained that Yodocame from a wealthy family and had a doting adoptive father who was very generouswith his money and would do anything for his children.

Just another surprising discovery and another butterfly inher stomach.

When a thorough search of the shop floor revealed no Yodo, shecasually hopped over the counter and poked her head in the storeroom.

A smirk immediately spread across her face. The short blondehad her back to her and apparently hadn’t even realised that anyone was there,judging by the bright wires trailing down from her ears; Chouchou could hearthe muffled drumming the earbuds were emitting from across the room.

She stepped closer. “You know, it would be really easy forsomeone to rob you right now,” Chouchou said.

Yodo didn’t respond, just kept sorting through CDs andnodding her head along to whatever she was listening to. Raising an eyebrow,Chouchou snapped her fingers experimentally. Yodo mumble-sang a fewincomprehensible words and started tapping her foot.

Oh, she’s just asking for it!

Hovering just behind her target – who was still utterlyengrossed in the bass thudding through her earphones – and before she couldthink better of it, she lightly pressed a finger to the middle of her spine andran it all the way up to her neck.

“HAH!” Chouchou barely registered the surprisingly gruffshout, before Yodo spun on her heel, fist already swinging.

Incredibly, she managed to land her hard, bony knucklesright on Chouchou’s elbow.

“AGHHH FUCK! WHAT THE-” Yodo ripped out her earphones “-Chouchou?What the fuck are ya doing? I nearly beat the shit outta you! Fuck, my fist.”

Gripping her arm like it was about to fall off, she had tofight through the shudders racking her entire body before she could reply, “Howdid you hit me right on the funny bone? Fuck.” They were both still swearingand groaning, clutching their respective aching body parts tightly.

Chouchou sucked in a sharp breath as the last of the shakes fadedto nothing. Elbow still hurt though. “Ok, learned my lesson, never doing thatagain,” she said, laughing through the pain.

“What were you even expecting to happen?” Yodo asked, ajustifiably annoyed look on her face.

“I dunno, was kinda hoping I might get a cute little squealout of you or something-” which she still desperately wanted to hear, but waswilling to accept that she would have to find a different tactic in the future;maybe she was ticklish? “-I’m sorry, I promise I won’t sneak up on you anymore,but you do realise that your shop is open, right? Maybe you should turn downthe volume enough that you can hear when the door opens.”

Cheeks puffing up like a hamster, Yodo replaced the earbuds,picked up the box of CDs she had been sorting and pushed past her, shoutingbehind her as she disappeared through the door, “Y’know I don’t come into yourshop and criticise your work habits.”

Trailing behind her, Chouchou leaned against the counter andwatched her friend return to her task, occasionally glancing at the empty store.

“You should at least turn down the volume a little, my earsare hurting in sympathy.”

“God, you’re worse than my dad,” she mumbled, thoughher hand did drift down to her phone and the loud, heavy beat faded to a faint,tinny noise. It was mostly drowned out by the clacking of plastic cases as Yodomoved albums into incomprehensible piles. Chouchou stared at the band names tryingto find some link – or even a single familiar name at all – but came up blank.

She picked up the top CD in the pile closest to her and casuallybegan reading through the track list. “So, what’re you listening to?” she asked.

“Oi, don’t be messin’ up my system.” She didn’t try to take itback though. “And none of your business.”

“C’mon, tell me!”

“You wouldn’t know them anyways.” For someone who wasgenerally down-to-earth, Yodo had an amazingly pretentious streak in her.

She raised a brow, but Chouchou was still grinning uncontrollablywhen she said, “Wow, music snob much?” Dropping the CD back on the appropriatestack, Chouchou turned all her attention to her new game. “Gimme a hint, rock?Metal? Punk?”

“You’re not gonna get it-”

“Just because I’m not hugely into this stuff, doesn’t mean I’mcompletely ignorant.” In fact, she had quite a good knowledge of classic rockand metal; her dad played it all the time when she was a kid and she still hada nostalgic soft spot for the genre, even if she had mostly gravitated towardpop, funk and soul as she’d gotten older. “I’m not going to stop bugging youuntil you tell me.”

Yodo gave her an unplaceable look and silently picked up apile and quickly stomped toward the ‘grindcore’ aisle.

She wasn’t about to give up that easy. Chouchou followedher, playing a very one-sided game of twenty questions as she went, pushing thelimits of her knowledge of Yodo’s favourite music. Outside of the occasionalgrunt and assertions that she was never going to find out who it was, Yodoremained unresponsive.

Well, she couldn’t be having that, the whole point ofher teasing was to get a reaction, to get her attention, with the nebulousend goal of eventually kissing her and hopefully things would just carry onfrom there.

Disaster gay she might be, but she was at least self-awareabout it.

But, until she found the courage to confess, she had anurgent mystery to solve and she’d just thought of a brilliant plan.

Asking what decade the song was from in her whiniest voice,she pulled her phone out and tapped out a quick message. Just a few secondslater, Yodo jumped and frowned down at the pocket of her tight jeans, the onesthat were ripped to the point of being non-existent. Chouchou was veryfond of those jeans.

Leaning over her shoulder, Chouchou snickered at the textYodo had just received – a simple ‘hey girl’ – and, before she could ask whatthe hell she was messaging her for when she was literally right next to her,she reached over and snatched the phone out of her hand, tugging the wire ofthe earbuds with it.

“Hey!” Yodo spun around, glaring up at her with thosebeautiful eyes, that could look anything from green, to blue, to grey,depending on the light. But, right now, they just looked… apprehensive?

That gave her pause, just for a moment, but when her friendgave no sign that she was truly angry, which she knew from experiencewas a valid concern, she decided to push her luck and grin. “Hey, you weren’ttelling me, so I’m just gonna listen for myself to find out.”

“NO!”

She held the phone high above Yodo’s head – not exactly adifficult feat, she barely reached her elbows, even when she wasn’twearing six-inch heels – and stuck her tongue out at her, before catching oneof the dangling earbuds and sticking it in her own ear, all the while, nudgingYodo’s grasping hands away.

The tone was an immediate shock, much softer and lighterthan what she’d been expecting, as was the perfectly clear, lilting voice ofthe female vocalist.

It was also very familiar and she found herself singingalong for half a second before slowly saying, “Wait… I know this song, this is…”Suddenly, it all clicked together and she was biting her lip trying not tolaugh. “Awwww, the scary punk rocker likes sugary bubble-gum pop!”

Yodo slapped a hand against her mouth and glanced around the– still empty – shop. “Not so loud!”

She raised her brows and gently peeled the hand from herlips, maybe revelling in the skin contact a little longer than appropriate. “Seriously?You’re that embarrassed?” she asked, watching in mild amusement as her friendkept looking over her shoulder, as though a horde of metalheads was going to materialisebehind them any second to mock her taste in music.

It was a little cute, in all honesty. Or maybe it was justthat Yodo was so cute that everything she did gained an air ofadorability.

“No, I just…” She bit her lip and, god, thatwas just unfair, because Chouchou really wanted to lean down and try it forherself. “You were raving ‘bout her new album the other day, figured I’d checkit out, see what the fuss was about.”

Literally clapping her hands in joy, she released the mostgirlish squeal she’d probably ever made in her life. “Oh, that’s so sweet ofyou! So, what do you think?”

“It’s-”

Chouchou unconsciously leaned forwards, eyes almost poppingout of her head as she waited in terrified anticipation for the verdict. Shedidn’t know when Yodo’s opinion had become so important to her, but she was silentlypraying that her taste in music had impressed her crush; or at the very leastthat it hadn’t made her decide that she was absolutely not cool enough to behanging out with her and could she please leave the shop before her glitterypop songs scared off any customers.

“-really good. The middle’s a bit weak, but that guitar workis surprisingly solid for a pop artist and that song Paradise Sunsets probablyhas some of the best lyrics I’ve heard all year.”

She didn’t release a sigh of relief, mostly because she wasalready spewing out a rush of words that even she herself only half understood,so rushed and tripping over her words was she. “Right? I dunno that she’llever make another song that good, but it’s definitely one of my all-time faves.”

“Yeah, I’d never really paid much attention to her before,but I did skim through some of her older stuff too, there’s some really greatstuff in there!” Those ever-changing eyes were shining with the same kind ofexcitement she always got when she spoke about discovering a new band, or whenshe sang on stage in front of a crowd of dozens, as though it were a crowd ofthousands.

Music was such a huge part of her life – Chouchou’s tooreally – and seeing how much she loved and cared about a singer she hadintroduced her too…

“You know, I can think of a few similar artists I couldrecommend you, if you’re interested.”

Yodo gave her a blank look for a second, before her cheeksdarkened and she gave a wide grin. “Sounds fun, but if you’re subjecting me to themainstream, then I’m gonna be giving you a crash course in the history of metalin return.”

Even more time spent in the company of the cutest, coolestwoman in the world, bonding over their shared passion for music? Yeah, shecould live with that.

She settled for nodding along and tapping her foot, singingunder her breath as she focused on organising some new stock instead.

“Oh! Yeah we’re gettin’ wise and you push much further we’regonna fucking rise, tear down your constitution ‘cause we’re done withsubjugation, better count your days ‘cause they… ‘re…. huh?” Trailing offawkwardly when the music came to an abrupt halt, she glanced around until shefound the source.

Sarada was glaring darkly behind her glasses, hand still onthe sound system’s power button. “Fucking hell Yodo, would it kill you to turnit down?”

Rolling her eyes, she went back to sticking CDs intoalphabetical order, shouting over her shoulder, “What? No one’s here, I’mdrawing customers in.”

“By deafening them the second they enter the door?”

She puffed her cheeks up, putting away the last album beforejogging over and jumping onto the counter, glancing down at her co-worker. “Anyoneput off by loud music isn’t a truemetalhead, we don’t need people like that shopping here.”

Dark eyes narrowed at her, before she scoffed, “Tell that tothe ledgers.”

“Well you got any better ideas?” she asked, picking at thechipping paint on her nails, idly wondering what colour she should go for next– midnight black, jet black, or maybe void black?

“Actually yes-” aheavy thump jolted the table top beneath her, as Sarada dropped a thick pile ofpaper down, “-here, go stand outside and pass these out, do try not to look so sour, we want peopleto actually come to this thing.”

Frowning, she peeled away the top flyer and examined it; apparentlythe store was hosting a gig featuring local metal bands so small-time even Yodohad never heard of them – and she liked to keep her ear to the ground when itcame to music. “Since when were we doing this? And what the fuck’s with thesebands, Six Paths of Pain? Bloody Mist? BubblegumBang?”

“Since last month, I told you about it when I got the ideaand you said, and I quote, ‘sure whatever,’ maybe if you’d actually paidattention and helped out we might’ve landed some-”

“Ok, ok, fine,” she said, leaping to the floor and grabbingthe stack of paper, “but we’re playing too, right? Gotta get some talent up there, actually it’sprobably best it’s a bunch of nobodies playing, wouldn’t wanna embarrass anactually good band by upstaging them so bad.”

Sarada snorted, flashing that nasty grin of hers. “Obviously.We’re gonna wreck ‘em all!”

Cackling and slapping her hand against her friend’s outstretchedone, Yodo trudged out onto the street, her smile instantly dropped into a glarethe second the bright sun hit her eyes though.

This part of town wasn’t particularly busy, never had been,which meant that she didn’t actually have many people to grumpily pass flyersto, but that was kind of the problem; it was hard enough for a specialist musicstore to get off the ground in the first place, let alone one in such a quietarea, especially when…

Fuck, there shewas.

Yodo and Sarada’s little start-up wasn’t the only music shopon the street, just three shops down there was another one, one with a muchbroader and more mainstream stock than their rock, punk and metal, which ofcourse made them way more popular with customers and a thorn in Yodo and Sarada’scollective sides.

And it was run by the most beautiful woman she’d ever laideyes on, who was right now standing on the street, cheerfully calling out to passers-byand waving bright flyers in their faces until they relented and accepted one.

She was looking gorgeous, as usual, long, copper hairflowing free over her shoulders, beautiful curves concealed by baggy dungarees,though tantalising glimpses of the tight crop-top she wore underneath weredefinitely making her mouth a little dry and, worst of all, her full lips –painted that deep plum colour that she loved – were wrapped around a goddamned lollipop, each subtle shift and fleetingglimpse of tongue successfully driving Yodo further and further into madness.

Her arch rival, in both business and music taste, and shewas completely smitten.

If Sarada didn’t have a banshee’s screech loud enough tomake her shudder just thinking about it, she would have immediately marchedback inside to hide under the counter until she’d regained control of herheartbeat, however, since she did, Yodo decided to just walk behind the helpfulblock of greenery in the middle of the footpath and hope for the best.

Apparently her mood was still showing on her face though, judgingby the way that people flinched and rather pointedly started jogging in the otherdirection the second she so much as glanced their way.

Why did Sarada think it was a god idea to send her out to promote their shop anyway?

After another minute of failing to even draw someone closeenough to throw a slip of paper at them, she gave up with a groan and sat downon the short brick wall, leaning back into a thick bush, ignoring the twigsstabbing at the back of her head.

Maybe she’d be better off just taping the flyers to lamppostsinstead, or just calling up her friends – though Sarada had probably alreadydone that, they ran in the same circles after all – hell, maybe if she justchucked a load out of a high window people might get curious and pick some up,actually, that wasn’t a bad idea, surely it couldn’t be that illegal, besides her dad could always-

“Hey girl, I thought I saw you just now!”

Blinking rapidly, mind still half focused on advertisements,Yodo turned to glare at whoever had disrupted her thought process.

The speed at which blood rushed to her cheeks probably brokethe sound barrier.

“You stuck with flyer duty too?” the beautiful woman asked,flopping down next to her. “Super sucks, doesn’t it?” Her eyes – amber, theyjust had to be contacts, surely –were sparkling in the midday sun and she had a huge smile aimed right at her.

“Uh-huh…”

If she was bothered by the utter lack of response, she didn’tshow it. “Not as if people actually look at shit some stranger throws at themon the street, might as well just stand out here with a megaphone, it’d atleast be cheaper.”

“Mmm…”

“So, what’s happening at your place anyways?” she asked, questionnot even fully out her mouth before she leaned across Yodo to snatch a handful ofpapers.

Slightly panicking, Yodo stumbled for some words that wouldmake the gig seem less lame than it looked. “Oh, uh, just a gig to… promotelocal rock bands, an’ stuff… y’know, helping small groups get out there a lil, nothingbig.”

The woman was clearly trying to stifle a laugh as she readthrough some of the band names. “BubblegumBang? That’s a joke, right?”

“I fuckin’ wish,” she groaned, “never even heard of ‘embefore I saw the flyers today.”

Her laughter was warm and husky and sounded like moltencaramel; Yodo couldn’t help shuddering slightly. “Well, this Jinchuriki Stompgroup sounds pretty cool at least.”

Great, as if her cheeks couldn’t get any redder. “Actually…that’s my band.”

Steadfastly refusing to look her companion in the eyes, Yodoglowered at the man walking by in his sharp, neat suit instead – his purposefulsteps faltered for a moment, before he scurried off down the road, head downand walk uneven – idly picking at her nail polish again and just waiting forthe inevitable snickering to start.

“No fucking way-” here it comes, “-that’s so cool! What sortof music do you play? What do you play, no, wait lemme guess, bass? Ooh, do yousing too? I bet you’ve got a gorgeous voice.”

Unable to get a word in edgeways, Yodo just nodded along,admiring the way her lipstick shimmered and wondering if the taste of whateverflavoured lollipop she’d been sucking earlier was imprinted on them – was it raspberry?Yodo dearly hoped it was.

“Well,” the woman finally took a breath as she handed backthe flyers she’d stolen, though not before keeping one back for herself and carefullyfolding it to fit in her pocket. When she stood up to leave, she gave Yodo awink and a smile, calling a cheerful, “Guess I know what I’m doing Fridaynight!” over her shoulder as she walked away, disappearing in a flash of copperand gold.

When Sarada finally came out to find her co-worker, brightblue paper was strewn across half the street and Yodo had long since lost touchwith the world around her.

Chouchou frowned as she studied her reflection, twisting andspinning and still not finding what she was looking for.

It might’ve helped if she’d actually known what that was exactly, but,unfortunately, she’d been relying on instinct to guide her. Instincts sheapparently didn’t possess.

Groaning, she stopped trying to twist her neck a fullone-hundred and eighty degrees to see her back, instead flopping down on herbed face-first. She had to move just a few seconds later, sitting upright sothat the multitude of metal spikes decorating her leather jacket would stopdigging into her skin.

Needless to say, her ‘punk’ experiment was a resoundingfailure.

She couldn’t see how anyonecould find this comfortable… well, anyone except Yodo, who had presumably emergedfrom the womb with steel-toe boots already clad, kicking in the teeth of thepoor bastard delivering her.

Chouchou stared at the reflection before her, of a woeful girldressed in ill-fitting leather, denim that was more hole than fabric and tackyfishnet sleeves and tights, draped in enough metal chains and spikes that shecould probably make herself a serviceable suit of armour, who couldn’t lookmore out-of-place and uncomfortable if she tried. There was entirely too muchblack in this outfit, had punks never heard of accent colours? And how the fuckwas it that all the things that made her heart pound and cheeks burn when hercrush wore them, just made her look like an angsty teenager trying way too hard to piss of her parents.

This was the last time she went to Inojin for advice.

She would’ve spent even longer wallowing in misery, had herphone not chosen that moment to go off. Not bothering to tear her gaze awayfrom her miserable reflection, she blindly swatted the bed behind her until herhand closed around hard plastic and brought the mobile to her face, frowning atthe way the movement the half-dozen chains hanging from her sleeves jangle andclink.

“Yeah?”

“Hey girl-” Yodo’s scratchy voice immediately brought asmile to her face “-you sound fuckin’ dismal, not to worry though, I’m here nowto wash all your worries away! So hurry up and lemme in.”

Immediately jumping to her feet, she was almost out the doorbefore the rattling of metal stopped her in her tracks. Chouchou glanced backat her mirror, grimacing at the state she was in. “Actually… now’s not a greattime, maybe come back in like, fifteen minutes?”

“Whaaaat, no way! C’mon it’s freezing out here and it’d take me more than that just to walkhome.”

She toyed with the hem of her frayed t-shirt, wondering iffacing her best friend’s wrath would be better or worse than her hystericallaughter. “Then get me some sweets from the shop?”

“Hell no!”

“I’ll pay you back,” she rushed to say, already fighting toshrug off the jacket, but only succeeding in getting her arm caught in one ofthe many unnecessary straps hanging from it, “just gimme ten minutes to change…”The faint rip as she struggled against fabric almost made her want to scream.

And the slam of a heavy door made her want to cry.

“Too late-” Yodo’s voice now came from inside the house,slightly muffled by walls and doors, with an unsettling echo from the phone “-alreadypicked the lock, thought I told ya to get a deadbolt?” The footsteps creepingever closer had Chouchou panicking as she tried to both shed the goddamned jacket and lean against the doorat the same time. “Hey, you listenin’ to me? You better say if you’re nakedright no-” the door swung open, but came to a jarring halt as it collided withher back “-the fuck? Really?”

Chouchou shoved it back, though the resistance from theother side was extreme. “I told you not to come in!”

“An’ I ignored you.” Another shove, she had to drop herphone to fight it. “What’s wrong with you today?” She grunted as Yodo made afull-body slam against the door. “I’ve got two brothers, you ain’t winnin’ thisbattle.”

“Don’t care, just go sit in the kitchen while I get dressed!”

There was a long pause, though the pressure against her didn’tlet up for a second, before she heard a sigh and the crackling of plastic. Shewas just about to try for another push when a skinny hand slipped through thecrack between the door and its frame, handles of a plastic bag coming with it,though the main bulk of it remained trapped behind the door. “I already boughtsweets on my way here…”

She stared hard at the bag, mind rushing with all possibleoutcomes. “What kind?” Chouchou muttered, mentally cursing her unquenchableappetite.

“Gummies and chocolate raisins for you, sugar almonds and sourcandy for me.”

Her head made a heavy clunk as she slammed it back againstthe wood. “Ok, fine, but you’re notallowed to laugh, got it?”

“Yup, now lemme in!” Yodo shouted, already pushing againstthe door again.

Shaking her head, Chouchou carefully stepped back, catchingit before it could slam into her dresser. Her crush stumbled slightly, but wasquick to regain her footing and give her an intense up-and-down. She tried notto fidget under those hard, green eyes, instead focusing on Yodo’s expression,trying to gauge her reactions before the inevitable laughter.

The expected widening of eyes, her mouth dropping into atiny ‘o’ for a few seconds, before her lips pulled back as she tried – and failed– to conceal a smirk, a tiny shaking of shoulders and faint snort.

She sighed, rolling her eyes as she snatched the bag fromYodo’s slack grip, collapsing back onto her bed, before remembering why thatwas a terrible idea and dragging herself back up. “I told you not to laugh.”

“I ain’t laughing!” she said, utterly failing to sound likeshe wasn’t laughing.

“You’re a terrible liar,” Chouchou mumbled, digging for hersweets in crinkling plastic, “just thought I’d try and get into the spirit ofthings for the concert, but clearly punk is notmy style.” She didn’t bother to mention that she’d also hoped that maybeappealing to her secret crush’s taste in fashion might get her to see her in anew, more alluring, light.

Yodo finally released the laugh that she’d been holding back,but surprisingly it was more of a chuckle than the howling cackle she’d beenexpecting. The blonde jumped next to her, playfully shoving their shoulderstogether. “C’mon, it ain’t that bad, you’ve kinda got the right ide-”

Her words cut off suddenly, leaning back to study her a littlecloser; Chouchou chewed on a gummy snake and raised a brow.

“Actually,” Yodo said, leaping up and marching over to herfriend’s wardrobe, “Let’s see, no, no…”

Watching the short woman as she rifled though her things, noteven bothering to complain when she started throwing tops to the floor as shesearched – her dad had been trying to train her out of her messiness for over adecade with little success, Chouchou wasn’t even going to bother – just casuallyworking through her treats, wondering why the fuck she found that scrawny assso attractive.

Finally, she seemed to have found what she was after,throwing a t-shirt and skirt over her head. “’ere, change into this, keep thetights and boots though.”

Rolling her eyes, she escaped from the fabric and startedshuffling out of the distressed skinny jeans she had on. She didn’t worry aboutbeing watched, as her friend had already flopped down on the mattress and wasentertaining herself with her sugared almonds, besides, she wouldn’t reallymind if she did want to look…

The next twenty minutes was a flurry of changing tops until Yodowas satisfied, then she was ordered to sit still as she worked on her makeupand hair, singing along to her favourite rock playlist the whole time.

When she was finally allowed to look at herself again, she’dbeen completely transformed.

She stared for a long moment, then walked right up to themirror as though that would somehow make her reflection change to what she actually looked like, because there wasno way she could ever look so… badass.

“Oh.” She stepped back again, just to properly admire theway that her skirt – the long velvet one she’d never found an excuse toactually wear before – hugged her hips, the high slit revealing a long, toned,fishnet-clad leg, how her bright, jewel green crop top showed off a generousamount of skin, and added a splash of colour under the jacket she’d so hated justhalf an hour ago – though the fact that her friend had somehow managed toremove half the needless metal from it probably had something to do with that. “I…look fucking hardcore, damn girl, underall the studs and eyeliner you’re actually a total fashionista, aren’t cha?”

There was no reply.

Glancing over her shoulder, she was about to say something,but the way her crush was staring at her, jaw hanging open, eyes unfocused andcheeks definitely darker than usual stoppedher dead.

Yodo, upon realising that she was being spoken too, finally managedto unfreeze. “Uhh… oh! Shit! We’re gonna miss the show if we don’t get goin’! C’monlazy-butt, race ya!” She fled the room like she would flee from the scene ofher pranks, rather pointedly not looking back at her.

She couldn’t have stopped the wide grin stretching acrossplum-painted lips if she’d tried. Maybe Inojin knew what he was talking aboutafter all…

“Sooo, what do you think?”

Yodo’s face scrunched up as she considered the sight beforeher, but she still had no idea what reaction was expected of her. “I dunno, ‘s prettycool, I guess?”

Her friend shoved her shoulder hard enough to make herstumble and let out a snotty little huff, crossing her arms before saying, “Whatkinda reaction’s that? I bring you outto see a real river and you don’t have anything to say!”

“I literally just said it’s pretty cool,” she said, frowningat the landscape once more. It waspretty cool – swiftly running water clearer than she’d ever seen outside of atap, cresting over scattered rocks and reflecting the green of the trees toeach side of it, there were even some bright, glittering insects flitting aboutthat she was actually quite interested in getting a closer look at – but it reallywasn’t anything particularly special. “…The water looks nice and cold.”

Chouchou was gaping at her; she bit her lip to keep herselffrom laughing.

“That’s it? The water looks cold? Seriously?”

She rolled her eyes and casually ambled a little closer tothe river’s edge – though really it was more of a stream than anything else. “Yup,”she said, flopping down and peeling off her sandals, “an’ there’s some coollooking animals around.”

Wriggling her toes as they were freed, she gingerly dippedone foot into the water, shivering at the immediate chill against her skin, butnot enough to convince her to pull it back.

The longer she left it there, the less drastic the clash ofcool liquid and stuffy air seemed, she dared to shuffle forwards until thewater was lapping at her ankles. She grinned at the not-quite-pleasant,not-quite-unpleasant sensations, glancing over her shoulder to where her friendwas still staring at her like she’d just claimed the sky was a beautiful shadeof red today.

“Are you gonna sit with me or what?”

Finally shaking free of her stupor, the other girl huffed againand strode over, dropping next to her and kicking off her shoes, arms stillcrossed the entire time. “Can’t believe you’re so calm about this.”

Yodo leaned into her slightly, snickering as she kicked atiny wave to wet Chouchou’s feet, her speech was broken up with giggles as shefinally managed to say, “Did you seriously think I’d never seen water before?”

“No, I thought you’dnever seen a river before-” she nudged her back and slapped her feet into the rushingwaters hard enough that the splash reached both of their faces, dotting theirtops with little droplets and making herself splutter for a few seconds beforecontinuing, “-you live in a desert! How is this not the most amazing thing you’reever seen?”

“Uhh, probably because we do actually have rivers and shit?”

Chouchou’s mouth dropped. “No way.”

She groaned and fell onto her back. “C’mon it’s not justsand everywhere, it’s not even sand most places,there’s way more rocks than dunes, and there’s loads of oases about and there’srivers an’ lakes in the south and east- wait… do you think we don’t have any plantseither?”

“…Maybe.”

Her long, exaggerated sigh almost drowned out the rushing ofthe river. “Of course we do, we got cacti and grass and trees and flowers andeverything; even in the sandy places, after a rainy season whole dunes arecompletely covered with flowers! Seeing something like this-” she waved a handvaguely at the view “-is just a daytrip for us.”

It wasn’t like she was unused to feeling frustrated – honestlythat was her default mood – but this was one of the rare times it was directedat someone she considered a friend.

Was this how everyone in Konoha thought of her homeland?That it was barren and empty and had nothing beautiful in it? Sure it wasn’t themost hospitable place in the world and the weather went from one extreme to another,but people had been living there for thousands of years, the idea that it was dulland ugly and that no one would ever choose to live there when there were ‘prettier’places around was more than a little insulting.

She was about to try and explain that to the other girl, butthe look on her face immediately derailed her train of thought and had hersitting bolt upright, arms flapping wildly as she tried to figure out what waswrong.

Chouchou turned away, unsubtly wiping a hand over her eyes beforeturning back, a smile plastered across her face. “Sorry, I was getting all overexcitedabout showing you something totally new, didn’t even bother to ask…”

“It’s still cool though, look!” she shouted, standing up andleaping further into the river, ignoring the freezing cold and the way her jeanswere sticking uncomfortably to her skin as she splashed around.

Her friend started snickering immediately. “I can hear yourteeth chattering from here.”

She stopped fighting to restrain her shuddering as shetrudged out of the stream, kicking her dripping legs like a dog to dry them alittle – grinning at the squeal Chouchou made as she was caught in the splash-zone– before flopping back down and leaning heavily against the other girl. “Okfine, this is kinda sucky, but thanks for tryin’ anyways.”

“Wow, you sure know how to make someone feel better.”

Yodo pouted, tilting her head to stare up at the cloudsabove, when an idea came to her.

“Hey,” she said, knocking their heads together lightly, “ifyou really wanna show me somethingcool, I’ve never seen snow before.”

The way Chouchou’s face went from shock, to disbelief, tohope, to determination was well worth it.

She held out a hand, little finger already extended. “Thiswinter you’re definitely coming back so I can show you the snow.”

Yodo grinned back, eagerly entwining her friend’s pinky withher own. “You got it!”

“Oh, I got low for a minute…”

Consciousness came to her gently, running soft fingers upand down her back as she shifted out of sleep.

“Oh, I’ve gotta let go of tomorrow…”

Chouchou buried her face a little deeper into the pillow,curling up into the tightest ball her long limbs would allow, trying to placethe song filtering in through the walls.

“Come and shake me awake…”

Ah, that one, shesmiled against rough cotton, wondering if Yodo had chosen to sing that one on purpose or not – probablynot, the songs she sang were almost always purely based on mood, though havingspent the night together, she felt confident assuming that she’d had somethingto do with it.

“I’ve had about all I can take, so take me far away…”

Even distorted by thin walls and the low hiss of the runningshower, her voice still sounded beautiful, normally her voice was sohigh-pitched and squeaky, but when she sang it was low and husky and shesounded utterly calm.

It was rare for her to show that side of herself, she’d muchrather pretend that she was all hard edges and aggression all the time.Chouchou couldn’t adequately express how lucky she felt that she’d let her pastthose mile-high walls to see the softer girl who liked to sing in the showerand still had the first stuffed animal her dad had ever got her and who’d writecute, silly messages in eyeliner pen on her girlfriend’s arms as she slept.

“'Cause when we arrive, oh honey honey, wherever we’re goin’,we may never want to leave, so just stay a while with me …”

Chouchou snorted at the ‘u were drooling again, but dw urstill cute’ scrawled across her forearm, poking at the little heart dotted atthe end.

The singing died down for a moment, replaced by the ringingsilence of a constant noise ending abruptly and the shuffling of cloth anddripping water. If she really stretched her senses though, she could just about hear Yodo still singingunder her breath, her breath catching a little, probably as she scrubbed at herhair with a towel.

She stretched out a little, yawning wide and listening tosoft, damp footsteps just outside the door, closed her eyes as it opened,listened to that lovely, beautiful, serene voice creeping closer to the bed.

“Oh, I gotta let go of tomorrow, or I never would’ve, neverwould’ve, never would’ve, never would’ve, never would’ve-”

“Missed today.”

The singing paused, just long enough for Yodo to lean down apress a soft kiss to Chouchou’s cheek and whisper, “Mornin’ beautiful,” in herear.

“Hey girl, sleep well?”

She snorted and flopped down beside her onto the bed,still-wet hair tickling at her skin. “Mhmm, always, when you’re there,” Yodomumbled, lazily humming under her breath, “wake up well?”

Chouchou grinned and pulled her girlfriend as close as she possiblycould, damp hair, skin and towel be damned.

“Always, when it’s your voice waking me.”

Chouchou sucked in the cool night air like she’d just beendrowning, and, in a way, she had.

The room was tiny, packed full of – by-now utterly wasted – partygoers,several bain maries, which were still radiating heat even though the food had long-sincebeen served, and a blasting music system that was probably causing globalwarming all by itself with how much needless shit was plugged into it.

And she still had to finish carting leftover food and emptytrays back to the kitchen and clean down, before she could finally escape and collapse into bed, hopefully not having to move aninch for at least two weeks.

But she had a few precious moments now to hide by the ventsand flap the hems of her stuffy uniform to get some cool air circulating aroundher.

The smell of smoke still lingered here, but it wasapparently too cold for any of the customers, in their thin shirts and shortdresses, to bother walking out to the designated smoking area, instead loiteringa few feet from the doors; she had briefly considered directing them to theright place, but if the managers and front-of-house weren’t gonna bother thenshe didn’t see why she should either.

At least it gave her a little time to let the exhaustion pullat her limbs and her face fall from its forced smile for a few minutes.

God her head waskilling her, she slammed it – way harder than she’d intended – against the coldmetal air duct beside her, the jolt it made shuddered and rang, shocking her migraineaway for a split second of relief and the cold soothing it once it tried toreturn.

“Ow.”

It took a few moments for her to register the tiny voice, blinkingat the dark metal in front of her eyes.

She glanced around, hoping that she hadn’t just been caughtlooking unimaginably unprofessional by a customer, but there were no darkshapes of a person hiding against a wall anywhere.

Was she just hearing things? Feeling more than a little stupid,she called out softly, “Uhh… hello?”

“…Wassup.”

Ok, that sounded veryclose, where the hell was this voice coming from? Maybe if she kept themtalking she’d be able to locate them and work out if she should be apologisingor calling the cops. “Not much, working, you?”

“Y’know… Stuff.”

There was a tiny cough, one that sounded weirdly… echoey. Shestepped back from the duct warily, eyeing the grille at the base of it – or rather,the black space that was supposed to bea grille.

One hand already sliding into her pocket to unlock her phone,she glanced around for any potential weapon, even as she crouched down, but, unableto find anything, she decided her fists would probably be good enough if itcame to that.

Chouchou took one last deep breath, before leaning over,bringing her phone to the opening and turning the torch on.

She didn’t quite catch the string of curses that were hissedat her, focused on scrutinising the face before her intently. A woman, young,dark skin, mess of short, curly hair that might’ve been blonde, or might justbe dusty from the vent, the blue of her eyes just visible as she squinted atthe blinding light.

Well, what the fuck now?

At least she wasn’t making any move to attack, the strangerjust slowly blinked until her eyes adjusted, looking over her the way Chouchou just had been.

“…Hey girl, do all angels glow so bright, or is that justyou?”

She honestly didn’t know whether to raise an unimpressedeyebrow, or snort; she settled for both. “I dunno, do the police know that theworld’s most inept heart-thief is on the loose?”

The woman winced, but she still managed a wide grin. “Ouch.”

Shuffling into a slightly more comfortable position,Chouchou examined her a little further, moving the light to try and see alittle further than her annoyingly cute face, but she couldn’t see very farbefore her body disappeared into pitch black. She could see enough to tell thatshe was wearing some kind of formal suit though.

“So. What the fuck. Are you with the wedding?”

The tiny hands squashed awkwardly between the floor of theduct and the lady’s chest waved in a way that was probably supposed to be dismissive,but just looked ridiculous. “Yeah. Ok look, ’m not actually a thief or anything,if I was then I’d use the wide-opendoor fifteen feet thataway-” one hand tried and failed to point in thedirection of the kitchen Chouchou had just left “-or, y’know, use the unlockeddoors in the bar.”

“Uh-huh, for someone who’s not a thief you’ve sure put a lotof thought into this,” she said, not quite sure why she was still here and notrunning for a manager, or security, or something.

Now that she was getting used to the light, she noticed thather big, clear eyes weren’t so much blue as green, with maybe a bit of grey inthere too, it was especially obvious when they rolled like that. “Yeah an’ hereI am, lying in a vent instead, so clearly I’m not a thief.”

“So what are you doing in there?”

It was a little hard to tell in the bad lighting, butChouchou was sure she could spot alittle blush on those freckled cheeks. “Uh… I was gonna… play a prank onsomeone…”

Her back was starting to ache a little from being bent overlike she was, but the longer she was down here the less and less inclined shefelt to get up and go get help. She couldn’t help grinning as she tried to makeherself a little more comfortable; almost certainly getting enough dirt on hertrousers to have the hotel’s food hygiene rating knocked down at least twopoints, but she’d deal with that problem later, right now she had much moreinteresting things to focus on.

“What, were you gonna wait for someone to wander past andleap out or something?”

The woman’s snort was loud, but she didn’t seem at allembarrassed by it. “Or somethin’, waiting for my uncle to come out for a smoke,I’m gonna grab his ankles and scare the living shit outta him!”

She could picture it in her mind already, skinny, clawinghands reaching out of a dark vent, it probably would be terrifying to the poor victim. “Sounds funny, but I’m afraidall the guests are just smoking by the doors. How long have you been in there?”

“…Uh, I dunno, can’t get my phone out of my pocket.”

Chouchou was trying so veryhard not to laugh. “You’re stuck, aren’t you?”

“No, I can get outany time I want!”

“Prove it.”

Well, that glare of hers was deadly alright, but on such acute face, Chouchou couldn’t find it in herself to be scared off by it.

Her laugh was verypoorly hidden. “Do you want me to call… someone? Who do you even call for thisshit? An ambulance?”

“Oh-eight-hundred-hey-babe-I’d-love-to-get-stuck-in-your-vent.”

It took almost four minutes for her cackling to die down enoughto accept.