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

[himetsuru]

"Yeah. What good is it to change who you are to make someone else happy?" Falis didn't understand that at all. "The point is to make yourself happy first. If you aren't happy, ain't nobody else gonna be happy with you."

She sighed. "Eh. Doesn't your boyfriend like you for who you are?"

[kagurazuki]

It was all well and fine to say things like that, but applying them was another matter completely. Besides, she'd tried to tell herself that being with Kyo would make her happy, ever since the incident when they were still children, but in the end, had it done any good at all?

Kagura stared at the faucet for a long while, looking intently at the knobs and letting the water soak her hair. "I... am not the girl he is in love with," she said softly, shaking her head. It'd taken ages, but she'd finally said it out loud. Still, she wasn't sure if it made her feel better or worse to admit it.

[himetsuru]

That caused Falis to raise an eyebrow and turn toward Kagura. Hadn't the girl said her and her boyfriend were going to get married and all that shit?

"Huh. Then why is he your boyfriend?"

[kagurazuki]

"W-well... that is..." she replied nervously. She'd said that much already, shouldn't she just tell Alita the truth? "That was decided a long time ago. But... he's found someone else since and..."

It was a good thing they were in the showers; it made it much harder to tell if the water running down her cheeks was just from the showerhead or the beginnings of tears. "Even though she doesn't know him like I do... it's already as if I don't exist in his world."

[himetsuru]

Well now Falis was caught back in the position of knowing someone needed comfort and not exactly knowing how to give it. She fucking sucked at this thing, and she didn't want to make Kagura cry. Though she was getting the sense that the girl already was a little. Shit

[kagurazuki]

Simple and crude though it was, the message was easy to understand. Maybe she'd known it all along, maybe she'd just needed to hear it somewhere that wasn't inside her own head, but somehow it all clicked.

"N-no, no Alita-hime, I understand," she assured the other girl. Really, she was a far better friend than Kagura could have wished for in her own time and place.

"I have to find the right star for me, right? Even... even if it isn't easy now."

[himetsuru]

Relief washed across the princess' face when Kagura didn't start bawling and didn't give Falis a look like she was crazy. She smiled as she continued to rinse all the suds out of her hair; it was taking forever.

"Yeah, you do. And you'd be surprised what that star is and where you find it," she told the other girl. "There's a lot of men... a lot of women, too, in this world that could be your star. And sometimes, that star will find you, see you and grow a tail to swim the skies to you. And... I'm done with the fucking metaphor before I start sounding really stupid."

[kagurazuki]

Kagura nodded, giving a short laugh at Alita's attempts to keep up her story. She had a lot to think about, but it did feel better, to finally get that off of her chest.

"It's okay," she assured the other girl. "I just... it was what I needed to hear."

[himetsuru]

"Really?" Surprise was quite evident on Falis' face. "Huh. You know I fucking suck at this kind of comforting thing."

[kagurazuki]

She finished washing and picked up a towel, wiping her face and eyes before holding another one out to Alita.

"Mm, w-well, maybe you're better at it than you think?" she suggested, smiling slightly, but meaning it this time.

[himetsuru]

The princess wring her hair out, subtly taking a moment to look over Kagura's exposed body before accepting the towel.

"Huh," she said wiping her body down and then simply wrapping the towel around her hair. "Imagine that. Milano would be amazed." Well, not really since Milano knew her better than anyone, but still. The girl would give the princess that knowing look which would practically melt Falis' heart, but that was not something to think about here.