Day 41: Women's Showers

[roseoverture]

Utena was very, very glad that the patients were finally being allowed to go to the showers. Even for a girl more used to sweating than many in her gender, two days without a shower was definitely enough to make her feel stickier and stinkier than she preferred to be. Especially after all the running around and tearing apart of rooms she, Celes and

Comments

[himetsuru]

"You and Kazuko are no longer allowed to shower together after what happened last time."

"The fuck we can't!"

"Rose! Language!"

"I don't give a fuck about you and your fucking rules. I will shower with whoever the fuck I want to. Just because you've got issues with what her and I do, doesn't mean it's wrong. Now fuck off and let me-- Wait a fucking moment. You're not going to stick me with that thing. Remember what happened last time..."

"Your threats have no affect on me, Rose. If you don't behave. we'll just send you right back to your room without a shower."

"..."

"I am done arguing with you."

"...but my hair--"

"I can help yo--"

"No. I'm not letting you fucking touch my hair. Fine. I'll leave Hok-- Kazuko to her own shower today."

"Language!"

"Whatever," Falis said as she shrugged the woman's hand off her arm and headed into the showers. She was glowering, clearly plotting the nurse's death, as she undid the thick band holding her hair back. Finding herself at a shower by Kagura, she nodded to the other girl.

"Hey."

[kagurazuki]

The loud shouting near the entryway was enough to turn a few heads, including Kagura's. She recognized one of the voices straight away and hoped Alita didn't get into too much trouble. She couldn't stand to see her friends hurt or bullied.

"A-Alita-hime," she said quietly. "Is... is everything alright?"

[himetsuru]

"No," Falis replied. "Fucking vultures have an issue with Hokuto and I showering together since last time Hokuto decided to distract me from my gloom by feeling me up."

Stepping under the spray of the water, Falis closed her eyes. "Fucking bitches. They need to butt out of peoples' relationships. Ain't nobody gonna tell me fucking another girl is wrong."

[kagurazuki]

"O-oh..." Kagura replied. Alita was always so abrupt, not at all the way she thought a princess ought to be, but there was no denying she looked like one, in appearance at least. Still, she'd proven to be a caring person, regardless of that, so... so maybe it was sort of like Kyo? Who was bristly on the outside and nice inside.

"I'm sorry. That's too bad," she said, trying to be sympathetic. She wasn't sure what she would do if someone tried to keep her away from the one she loved. Well... wasn't that exactly what this place had done? Then again, it was hard to imagine leaving and not seeing Bridget ever again either.

"At least you can still meet with Hokuto-san sometimes?" she offered. Even if it was once in a while, Kagura would've liked to see Kyo again. Or any of her family really. "There's a lot of things I really miss doing..."

[himetsuru]

Falis flashed a wild grin. "Oh yeah, there's plenty of time to spend with her. Especially some nights."

At Kagura's tone, the grin subsided and she looked over at the other girl with concern. "Like what?"

[kagurazuki]

Alita's suggestive smile was enough to cause a blush to rise in Kagura's cheeks. There were plenty of zodiacs from the Sohma family who had chosen to be with others of the same gender. With their specific problem, it made some things a lot easier, so it didn't phase Kagura, but the way she talked so openly about their relationship... boy or girl, it would've still made her blush.

"Ah..n... I-I'm happy for you Alita-hime," she said honestly. It was kind of impressive how well Alita was able to adapt, while Kagura still felt like she was floundering at the smallest things.

"Ah... w-well... little things. Going to school and... visiting my family I guess. Kyo-kun..." she trailed off. "I miss all the people back home. Sometimes though, I'm afraid they don't miss me at all." There were a million reasons why she knew Kyo wouldn't love her back, but it didn't mean she wouldn't miss him when he was gone. It was just... a very lonely sort of missing. It wasn't until Bridget told her things that... that she was nice or... that she was pretty that... that feeling started to go away, just a tiny bit.

[himetsuru]

Falis reached over to put her hand on Kagura's cheek.

"Don't you ever think they don't miss you," she said, completely unabashed about their nakedness or closeness.

[kagurazuki]

Kagura was pretty sure Kyo would never ever miss her, no matter how long she was gone, but she chose not to say so. She flinched ever so slightly when Alita touched her cheek; she'd seen Akito do the same thing to Yuki before, but this was different somehow. It wasn't easy to meet Alita's eyes, but there were few other places to look without making things even more awkward.

"Mm... I... I will try to remember that Alita-hime," she squeaked.

[himetsuru]

"Don't try to - do so," Falis told the girl. "Family is family and no matter how much you all might like each other or not, you're still fucking family and need each other."

Taking her hand back, something flashed in Falis' eyes for a moment, something that could have been sorrow if one believed the princess was capable of it. She turned back into the spray. "Hey, help me with my hair and tell me why you've got such issues with being touched."

[kagurazuki]

Kagura complied without even thinking about it. She nodded shyly to all orders before going to work. Alita's hair was much longer than hers and must require a lot more care. Carefully, she tried to make sure it was all falling properly and free of any big tangles before she got shampoo from the dispenser.

"It's not... that is..." she said with some hesitation as she started working the mixture into Alita's hair. "Where I come from, it's... kind of disrespectful to touch someone's face I guess... I'm not really used to it, that's all." She couldn't very well tell Alita about Akito or that there might be more to it than that, or the curse, or any of those awful dark secrets. If people found out about them, who knew what might happen?

"You have really pretty hair Alita-hime," she added, hoping the subject could be changed.

[himetsuru]

"It's not just your face, but when anyone touches you, like you're expecting to get hurt or something," Falis responded, her eyes falling shut as Kagura started working on her hair. As annoying as the princess' hair was, it sure felt nice to have someone else playing with it, brushing it or, in this case, washing it.

"But I'll try to keep that in mind and shit when I'm around you. No promises, though, since it's just kind of automatic that when i want to touch something, i fucking touch it."

She shrugged and also started on her hair. She hadn't had a shower since her fight with Ami; she wondered if there were clumps of dried blood in the mass of hair and what Kagura would do if she came across it.

"Eh. Thanks. It's okay. Gets in the way of fighting, though if I don't have it pulled back properly," she responded. "Too fucking long."

[kagurazuki]

Alita was way better at guessing than Kagura wanted to admit. Akito didn't like any of the Sohma women so far as she could tell. And there'd been enough injuries to the zodiac members for her to feel a decent amount of fear.

"That's kind of... a long story," she said, explaining in an off-hand sort of way. She couldn't say much more than that without worrying about slipping and mentioning the wrong thing.

She worked the shampoo all the way through, making sure to get as much of it as she could. "If it's in the way, maybe you should cut it," she offered. It would be really sad, but if Alita didn't like it, then she didn't have to keep it, did she? "Or... or does your girlfriend like it that way? I um... I heard that most people like long hair on girls..."

There'd been times she'd tried growing hers out past her usual length, but then it would snag or tangle and she'd get so frustrated... it was just a lot easier to keep it at just the right length. But maybe boys did like longer hair on girls. Tohru's hair was longer than hers and Kyo liked her best. But then Ayame was a boy who kept his hair very long too. And there were lots of people who liked him.

[himetsuru]

"I've got time, Kagura," Falis replied, but she wasn't going to push the issue.

"Mm. I've thought about it, but I can't; it's not mine," she replied automatically, not realizing what she'd just said. "I know Hokuto likes it long, though, I don't see why hair length has anything to do with liking someone."

[kagurazuki]

"Mm.... maybe another time," she said, stepping away from Alita now that she'd thoroughly scrubbed the girl's hair. She got another handful of shampoo and started working it into her own plain, dark brown hair. It wasn't that she didn't like Alita, or think she was trustworthy, but... she definitely didn't want anything to happen to her either.

"It's not yours?" she said, suddenly confused. She hadn't felt any extensions when she'd shampooed it. So what exactly did she mean?

"Er... w-well, of course it does matter. Some people like girls with long hair and others like short hair. And... wouldn't you want to be the kind of person that... the one you like would want? If it would make them happier?" Honestly, she'd all but given up on that, but it was hard to completely let go. Maybe she should cut it short; that was the trend, wasn't it?

[himetsuru]

Shit. Now how was she going to get out of this? She couldn't exactly tell Kagura that the princess' body wasn't her real one and so the hair really didn't belong to her, but to the princess. "Oh, I'm royalty, so hair length is a status thing; the longer your hair is, the more standing you have in Forland society." This was one of the reasons Falis was glad she was really Grandalian and not Forland, though she did love the kingdom; the hair thing was kind of stupid.

"No, it doesn't matter," Falis responded, giving Kagura a look. "You don't change yourself to be what you think someone else wants. You fucking find someone that likes you for who you are. Fuck the rest."

[kagurazuki]

Oh! So her hair had to be long for the sake of her kingdom. That made sense. Kagura nodded slowly before washing the shampoo from her hair. Royalty had plenty of rules she didn't understand, just like Alita didn't understand all of the customs of where Kagura was from.

When Alita gave her a look and what sounded almost like a lecture, she was a bit taken aback. Didn't most people want to change, even a little, if they liked someone? "Oh..." she said quietly.