Where Dreams Might Lead

Urusei Yatsura fanfic. Dreams lead to some awkward but important realizations for Shinobu, and for the person she dreams about.
(Ryuunosuke/Shinobu)

Read Where Dreams Might Lead

Disclaimer: Urusei Yatsura and all characters thereof belong to Rumiko Takahashi and a bunch of other people, though who they might be I have no clue.

Having just picked up the anime again after a long time I rediscovered my fondness for the character of Ryuunosuke, the UY character that in a roundabout way contributed to my “Ryûchan” nickname all those (10+?) years ago. As I see definite subtext between Ryuunosuke and Shinobu in the series (as well as Benten and Oyuki, but this story isn’t about those two) I had to give it a go. Oh and I haven’t seen all of the anime just yet, but even the parts that I have seen I might very well have tossed around or changed to fit what I wanted to write here.




Where Dreams Might Lead
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by Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson





In the darkened mid-sized house that was home to the Miyake family one Shinobu tossed and turned in her soft bed, her thoughts too disquiet for sleep and her body still thrumming with the dreams that had wakened her. Groaning her frustrations into her pillow, Shinobu tried to make sense out of the whirling chaos inside her mind.

Although Shinobu was as skilled at self-denial as the next girl, perhaps even a bit more so, there was no use pretending she had not just experienced a very... intense dream about someone she considered a close friend. While not exactly the first such she’d ever had, it was the first time Shinobu had dreamt something quite so... elaborate about a person she knew, and that was both bewildering and embarrassing enough in and of itself; the fact that the person she had dreamt this about was female did not make matters particularly much easier on her.

Ryuunosuke. Shinobu had dreamt of Ryuunosuke. Again, Shinobu mentally added with a tiny snort and a faint sense of amusement, her classmate and good friend Fujinami Ryuunosuke had been making her way into Shinobu’s dreams a lot lately, and usually for very good reasons too. But this was something rather different.

Shinobu supposed that she should not be particularly surprised that she was somewhat attracted to her boyish best friend, Ryuunosuke’s popularity among girls their age was an awe-inspiring thing to behold considering the embarrassed girl had more female admirers than even the rich ‘prince’ of the school himself, Mendou, and Shinobu could well remember her own first reaction to what she at the time had thought to be an uncommonly handsome and beautiful boy. In fact she had been Mendou’s unofficial date at the time, but even he had faded once Shinobu had looked into those earnest, open and always glittering black eyes.

The truth had been revealed rather quickly, and Shinobu would not have been Shinobu if she had not promptly and actively forgotten all about her bout of instant attraction. Befriending Ryuunosuke she had seen perhaps a bit deeper than most tended to when it came to the brash and boyish martial artist, seen beyond the ‘man among men’ that Ryuunosuke’s father was so set on creating and seen the sensitive and awkward girl that longed to be acknowledged but could never reconcile the male and female aspects of herself enough to find some sort of peace.

Oh how Shinobu had ached sometimes to help Ryuunosuke past the confusion and teach her those things she knew the other girl wanted to know but never had the opportunity to learn with her father doing his best to beat every remotely female thought out of Ryuunosuke’s head. But there had been far too many people interfering on that score already, ironically most of them male, all of them trying to force Ryuunosuke into their preconception of what a woman should be, and so Shinobu instead defended Ryuunosuke’s right to be herself, whatever and whoever that might end up being.

To herself Shinobu could admit that she preferred the other girl the way she was, not yet another carbon copy of sugary sweetness but a person of complexity and layers, a strikingly handsome figure in her male uniform with breathtakingly beautiful eyes and a chivalrous nature underneath the rough male speech that even Mendou, with his high-class speech and affected mannerisms, could never hope to achieve.

Realizing that she was back to thinking of Ryuunosuke’s eyes, the way her black hair fell into those eyes or the cutely abashed smile she would have when embarrassed, and just what that was doing to her heartbeat, Shinobu turned onto her other side, frantically trying to get her thoughts back on track before she would accidentally picture something like the other girl’s, ahh, healthy figure when not wearing the boy’s uniform... argh, too late darnit! Shinobu hit herself in the head with her pillow, repeatedly. Stop that right now!

Well, yes, fact established, clearly Shinobu was not merely attracted to the more masculine traits of her friend. Sighing Shinobu clutched the pillow a bit closer. She had so prided herself on being a perfectly normal girl, too... knowing that she was a bit on the plain side compared to her more illustrious friends, being known as ‘the girl next door’ in all the chaos had eventually become her greatest merit. After all, no matter how sexy they were, what boy would willingly take a homicidal basket case home to meet their mother?

In Tomobiki, apparently nearly all of them. Aa, with all the trouble the males of her immediate surroundings put her through on a daily basis, was there any wonder Shinobu’s thoughts strayed to sweet, shy, kind-hearted Ryuunosuke? Shinobu rolled over onto her back to better be able to stare at the ceiling.

OK, so the normal was a bit of self-delusion on Shinobu’s part to begin with, she kind of knew that. She had gotten enough of the monster-treatment over time due to her great and unexplainable physical strength that she was well aware that normal wasn’t quite the word to describe her. When really angry a normal girl at school might throw a textbook or a pencil case – Shinobu would throw a desk. So what? Was that such a big deal? Ryuunosuke certainly never seemed to think so.

Just being in school was a constant battle, in every sense, but at least since the arrival of Ryuunosuke Shinobu had someone she could count on to have her back. In fact, during the more physical bouts at school that was exactly how they invariably ended up, back to back fighting off whatever was coming at them.

Blushing slightly Shinobu touched her lips. Back to back, yeah... that was how it had happened, Shinobu’s first kiss. By all accounts most likely Ryuunosuke’s first kiss as well, but as Shinobu knew Ryuunosuke had been on a date with that viciously conniving two-faced little devil called Ran, she couldn’t be altogether sure... and it was a bit too delicate a matter to just right out ask the other girl about it.

Sure, the kiss had been by accident, and thanks to that cursed magnetic lipstick that Shinobu still was not entirely sure how she had ended up wearing, but...

But. Ryuunosuke’s lips had been soft and warm, and the kiss, though brief, was nice and left Shinobu feeling tingly and rather confused. She hadn’t been the only one, as Ryuunosuke had seemed quite freaked out by it, but then again they’d had quite the audience at the time, the same people that were always on Ryuunosuke’s case about potentially liking girls, so it was to be expected. Afterwards Shinobu and Ryuunosuke had by mutual, unspoken, decision ignored what had happened, what was a little accidental kiss between best friends?

Not what Shinobu was beginning to realize she wanted it to be, at any rate.

It didn’t end there though, not if she was honest about it. That day when she had felt eyes following her as she was making her way home from school alone, what was it that really had prompted Shinobu to race over to Ryuunosuke, attach herself to the bewildered girl’s arm like a lover, and with a quiet plea ask Ryuunosuke to help her scare away whoever was stalking her? Shinobu had always, before and since, taken care of such things herself, and she had yet to meet the man she couldn’t discourage if she really put her back into it, err, put her mind to it.

Ryuunosuke had in her kindness agreed, and probably without realizing it herself as she held Shinobu and wiped a few tears away acted very much like a caring lover herself. It had warmed Shinobu’s heart so much that when a little while later she had found herself urged to go on a fake date to discourage some at that time unknown would-be suitor, Shinobu had eagerly grasped the opportunity to go on a date with Ryuunosuke.

It was just her typical rotten luck that the supposed fake date was not even that, though, but rather an endless string of posing for couple-like pictures with Ryuunosuke while constantly tormented by certain demented so-called friends determined to ‘save’ them both from forming any ‘unnatural’ relationships. As if that person in question would know anything natural if it hit him in the head. And why oh why couldn’t the males of Tomobiki be at the very least normal enough to simply drool and quietly dream of threesomes when faced with the possibility that two girls were dating, the way hormonal teenage boys everywhere were supposed to?!

Shinobu sighed again and tried to calm herself down before she threw her pillow across the room in a fit of pique. At least she had come away from the whole thing with a set of very nice pictures, and the memory of being held in Ryuunosuke’s strong arms like she was something precious. In truth Shinobu couldn’t quite remember why Ryuunosuke had lifted her up and held her like that, because from the moment the taller girl had scooped her up the world around them had just ceased to exist for Shinobu. Held like that with her arms around Ryuunosuke’s neck, Shinobu had felt like a fairytale princess in the arms of her prince.

Smiling to herself Shinobu remembered how Ryuunosuke had sparkled then, and how she had held and indeed carried Shinobu around for quite a bit before remembering to put her down again. Of course, Ryuunosuke had also tried to kiss her, something Shinobu now regretted that she had not held the courage at that moment to let her. Then again it would just have broken Shinobu’s heart to know that she had been kissed by Ryuunosuke twice and neither time had been intentional... since even this second kiss would have been just Ryuunosuke caught up in the posing and obeying the directives of the one holding the camera.

Hadn’t she? Shinobu would never know, she supposed. The date had ended in a spectacular fiasco involving a whole lot of people, including the not-at-all discouraged but oh so very much unwanted suitor, and upset and quite a bit confused Shinobu had stalked on home by herself, cursing men all the way.

Ryuunosuke had shown up outside her house the next morning, all sweetly apologetic and embarrassed, with a flower for Shinobu and an offer to walk her to school. Charmed beyond reason by the flower and the gesture, especially considering Ryuunosuke actually lived at the school and had no reason whatsoever to be walking around her neighbourhood as it was, Shinobu had accepted and linked arms with her friend all the way there.

They had been through a lot since then, and Shinobu had gone through several half-hearted attempts at sort-of dating, mostly with Mendou, again, but it never panned out and she couldn’t be bothered to put neither heart nor effort into it. The friendly outings she’d gone on with Ryuunosuke had been far more pleasurable and memorable, especially those when the two of them were on their own, but still, neither of them had ever alluded to those being dates.

In fact, though she wasn’t sure and couldn’t prove it, Shinobu suspected that Ryuunosuke had made at least one attempt of her own at dating with another girl, this time with the rough and roguish biker-girl Benten. It had burned quite a bit when the two tomboys had apparently made an instant connection and Ryuunosuke had taken off with chain-wearing Benten to spend the entire day doing who-knows-what. The last Shinobu had seen of Ryuunosuke that day had been her rapidly disappearing figure sitting on the back of Benten’s red motorbike even though school was still in session, and her frustration had not been lessened by the mutterings of her classmates about Ryuunosuke and Benten being ‘instant soulmates’. Shinobu had been short-tempered and snippy towards everyone for the rest of the day, although thankfully Ryuunosuke at least had not been around to witness that.

Lacking the guts to ask Ryuunosuke about it, Shinobu knew she would never find out what happened that day, just that Ryuunosuke was at school as ever the next day and Benten didn’t come back around for a while.

Fighting back a jealous growl Shinobu tried to bring herself back on track. Oh, right, her dreams about Ryuunosuke.

Was it the abject lack of even remotely passable – or for that matter, remotely sane – males in all of Tomobiki that had made Shinobu subconsciously turn to her best friend, the best friend whose bewilderingly good looks and manner incidentally wooed girls by the scores?

Something about that question just didn’t sound right to Shinobu, but if she was going to risk ruin a great friendship and face the inevitable onslaught of her insane schoolmates over this she had better be sure. Alright then, time for a little mental exercise as an experiment.

Setting aside emotions, personality, likeability and whatnot for now, Shinobu called up the images of a few of the females she knew to be considered the most beautiful by people in general. The first one was easy, Lum. While she supposed her most-times-friend, sometimes-adversary was pretty enough and that her exotic looks made her quite popular, Shinobu felt absolutely nothing at the thought of the other girl naked.

The second one was Ran, and all Shinobu could feel was a sense of revulsion for the clearly schizophrenic little puppet master and her saccharine façade, so Shinobu quickly moved onto contestant number three, the priestess-gone-nurse and also someone Shinobu considered a friend despite the age gap, the lovely Sakura.

That was a thought that gave Shinobu pause and caused a bit of blush in the process. Alright so Sakura was perhaps not the best test subject, given that even small inanimate objects and single-cell amoeba experienced palpitations and swooning whenever the raven-maned miko passed by. So perhaps a fourth test subject would be in order, since reacting to Sakura was clearly not going to be indicative of anything. Who to pick though?

At a whim Shinobu called up the image of the constantly man-hunting but much-desired Kurama, only to find that not only did the image of the snow-white wannabe not do anything for her in the sense of the experiment, but it also reminded her that this loud and obnoxious stranger was another strong contender for Shinobu’s Ryuunosuke-kun, in fact Ryuunosuke was Kurama’s ideal ‘man’ and the other woman had fully intended to marry her before that trifling little issue of gender got in the way. Shinobu seethed for a moment before collecting herself enough to move on.

Alright then, on the female side of the experiment the results were... nil, with one possible point for Sakura of course, Shinobu was still not convinced the older woman should count though. That left the male side of things, as loath as she was to consider it.

Attractive men in the general consensus would be Mendou, Rei and... Shinobu wondered who else the girls at school would put on that list. Clearly not Ataru, and Shinobu shuddered at the thought, but she honestly did not know of any other man that stood out from the crowd. Sakura’s boyfriend perhaps, though honestly Tsubame was a plain and uninteresting man and Shinobu couldn’t quite get what the miko saw in him. Nonetheless, Tsubame, Mendou and Rei it was.

Tsubame gave nothing but a vague sense of embarrassment that she even entertained the thought, and in her mind the image of the man apologised before disappearing, causing Shinobu to chuckle at her own imagination. Second was the one she had sort of pursued for some time, Mendou, the guy that had been the most popular person in school among the girls before the arrival of Ryuunosuke. Picturing him made Shinobu shudder slightly and feel grateful that she was past following him around, though she was unsure of whether her revulsion had anything at all to do with his looks, or if it had all to do with his wretched and lecherous personality.

Finally the last one on her list was someone that was virtually a stranger, but one whose looks had taken her in once before. Yes, Rei was a very handsome man and women of all ages swooned over him, and Shinobu was not quite unaffected herself even now. Strangely she was more inclined to think him attractive if with clothes than without, and a moment’s critical thought gave her the answer to that... it was the almost feminine parts of his appearance, in particular his eyes, that she had liked, and that illusion did not extend below his neck.

That was three nil versus three nil. How frustrating! In the end nothing was accomplished but to make Shinobu embarrassed and force her to avoid Sakura for the next couple of days at school so that she would not end up blushing and making a fool out of herself in front of the older woman... particularly so since it seemed Sakura had a habit of reading people’s minds.

So, Shinobu thought somewhat annoyed with herself, she was not interested in girls but she sure wasn’t interested in boys either. What did that say about her? More importantly, what did that say about her considering she did react to Ryuunosuke?

Before she could think better of it Shinobu summoned up an image of Ryuunosuke from the girls locker-room at school, naturally in the altogether.

WHOA!

Shinobu shot out of bed with such force the previously clutched pillow bounced against the far wall of the room, her face on fire with a blush of epic proportions. Shower! Shower, need shower now, cold water, shower!

Trying as best she could to calm herself down and not start hyperventilating on top of everything else, Shinobu felt like hitting herself in the head. How stupid was that? Well, if nothing else she could with absolute certainty say that she was physically attracted to her best friend – and how! – and also say with equal conviction that the pang of interest at Sakura’s beauty was negligent at best, and any assessment of Rei’s looks on her part was highly impersonal and meant absolutely nothing.

At the end of the day it seemed Shinobu quite simply was a Ryuunosuke woman, the thought bringing a half-hearted but amused chuckle and a slight clearing of the recently overheated thoughts. A shower sure would have been needed, though Shinobu realized she would wake her parents up if she took one in the middle of the night. As she’d rather not have to explain herself she’d better come up with something else to cool down.

Deciding on a walk to let the night air clear her head Shinobu craftily snuck through the hall, getting a jacket and her shoes before just as quietly leaving the house. There was a soda vending machine a block or so over, the walk there and back should do her good.

As Shinobu quietly stepped over to the gate and closed it behind her, studying the windows of the house carefully for any sign that she had woken anyone up, she considered splurging and having a can of juice once she reached her destination. A small sound made her turn around, an uncomfortable shot of adrenaline rushing through her system and her hands already halfway raised into fists just in case.

A pair of stunned yet ever-glittering wide black eyes stared into her own in the dim light of the street.

“R- Ryuunosuke-kun?” Shinobu stared in disbelief as the girl that had occupied her thoughts were standing there, looking terribly guilty doing so, leaning on the wall on the opposite side of the narrow street outside Shinobu’s home. “What are you doing here?”

A small blushing competition was underway in the darkened street, but the two competitors pretended not to notice.

“I-I... couldn’t sleep.” Ryuunosuke glanced up at Shinobu through her bangs, crouched over enough to make Shinobu the taller for once, but did not elaborate as to why the inability to sleep had led her to walk all the way over from school to stand in the dark outside Shinobu’s house. Shinobu realized this and felt a small flutter of hope ignite. “Must have walked here without thinking.”

“Were you thinking about me?” Shinobu smiled encouragingly, feeling just a bit bolder in the dark than usual, and knowing full well that Ryuunosuke was too honest not to answer one way or the other. “Or you wanted to see me, maybe?”

Bashfully the other girl looked away, her blush intensifying before she answered in a quiet, hesitant voice. “Y-yes.”

“Good... I was thinking of you too.” Shinobu blushed a little at her own admission but stepped forward all the same to link her arm through Ryuunosuke’s. “Would you like to come in, or should we take a walk?”

“A walk is fine with me...” Ryuunosuke answered absently as she eyed Shinobu getting attached to her arm, but she didn’t comment on it or move away. When it came to Shinobu, she never did. “Wait, you were thinking about me? W-what were you thinking?”

Shinobu giggled a little as she started them walking slowly. “Oh, I’ll tell you when I’m done thinking it.” She teased gently but meant it all the same.

They walked mostly in silence all the way to the vending machine that Shinobu had picked as her destination earlier, only a few quiet words exchanged and, at least on Shinobu’s part, basking in the pleasure of walking side by side with her arms wrapped around one of Ryuunosuke’s and her cheek lightly resting against the top of the same. Ryuunosuke looked a bit embarrassed when Shinobu leaned on her like that, but there was a tiny smile on her face and the taller girl again did not pull away.

It was when Shinobu treated Ryuunosuke to a can of juice, receiving a bright smile and honest gratitude in thanks, that it hit Shinobu just how much she would truly like to go on a real date with Ryuunosuke sometime. Indulging for a moment as they made their way over to a bench to sit for a while, Shinobu tried to imagine how that would be, the two of them on a real date.

It wouldn’t be anything fancy, she decided, mainly because any dating on their part would be paid for solely by her since Ryuunosuke was perpetually penniless, Ryuunosuke’s father always seeming to squander whatever means they had in mysterious ways that not even Ryuunosuke herself could fathom, but that would be ok. Ryuunosuke was a person that appreciated the simple things, so it wouldn’t have to be fancy to please her, and Shinobu would be happy either way. A dinner at some more inexpensive but still nice place, and then a trip to the movies, maybe? Or a day for the both of them at an amusement park, Shinobu was sure she could afford that for a special occasion. As long as it did not involve a trip to the seaside, it was probably safe.

But then again, Shinobu thought to herself with a widening smile, just sitting together watching the stars was nice enough. Ryuunosuke was doing just that, her head tilted back to study the night sky while carefully sipping her juice, and Shinobu decided to be bold.

Setting her can discreetly aside Shinobu eased even closer to her friend until she quite simply, with some attempt at casualness, leaned her head on Ryuunosuke’s shoulder with a little sigh. The taller girl tensed up for a moment, just long enough for Shinobu to doubt herself, then a hesitant and slightly trembling arm came up to rest around Shinobu. Resisting the urge to pump her fist and yell a hearty ‘YES!’ to the sleeping neighbourhood, Shinobu instead wrapped her arm around Ryuunosuke’s waist, snuggling in a fraction closer.

They sat like that in silence for some time before finally Ryuunosuke had to ask.

“Do girls normally do this a lot?” Ryuunosuke’s voice held no discomfort, merely curiosity, still Shinobu winced a bit inwardly at the phrasing. She also felt as if there was something in the question she was missing, but no matter, Shinobu would answer as best she could.

“N-normally? Well... with a boy they really like, sure. Someone they’re dating... something like that.” There was a brief pause, during which Shinobu could almost feel the questions forming in Ryuunosuke’s mind. “If you mean to ask if it is ‘normal’ for two girls to do things like this... I can’t really tell you, Ryuunosuke-kun. I think that it is up to everyone to find out for themselves if they think it is or not. To me I think it could be, but that is just my opinion and it doesn’t have to be yours.”

“I do know that for me, whatever else it might be, to be here with you is much more right than anything else I could imagine.” Whoops. Why not go ahead and say the words ‘I love you’ while you’re at it Shinobu?

Then it occurred to Shinobu that she was thinking of Ryuunosuke in terms of love. Wow, that was fast! An hour or so earlier and Shinobu had been trying to coming to terms with being attracted to her best friend, and already the love thing had slipped in. Drawing back just far enough that she could properly face the other girl it occurred to her that the love thing probably wasn’t something particularly new, just something she hadn’t thought that closely about before. Alright.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Miyake Shinobu, going all in!

“I-I guess what I’m saying is that I... have feelings for you, Ryuunosuke-kun.” Wincing slightly and biting her lip Shinobu gazed up at the wide-eyed girl. “Does that... b-bother you?”

Ryuunosuke looked stunned at first, then blushed and scratched her head in that strangely disarming gesture Shinobu had witnessed so many times before. “No...” She avoided Shinobu’s eyes. “Um, when you say ‘feelings’, you mean... ?”

Shinobu pulled her hands into her lap, suddenly feeling a lot less hopeful and a lot more scared of the consequences of her little declaration. “I-I mean feelings as in... going out on dates... holding hands... kissing... romantic sort of feelings.”

“Oh.” Here it comes. Shinobu tried to brace herself for a very awkward rejection. “Shinobu?”

“Yes?”

“...I’m a girl.”

“...yes.”

“...you know that I’m a girl, right?”

A soft sigh. “Yes, of course I know that you’re a girl, Ryuunosuke-kun. I don’t have these feelings because I picture you as a guy, or because of what kind of girl you could become if you wanted to; I like you just the way you are.”

A hand found its way to one of Shinobu’s, grasping it in a tentative grip that grew more sure when Shinobu did not draw her hand away. Looking up at Ryuunosuke Shinobu was startled to see a shy but happy smile meeting her.

“You know I’m a girl but you like me anyway. Right.” The smile widened and Shinobu’s hand was given a little squeeze. “I just wanted to be sure.”

“I-I...” Ryuunosuke cleared her throat. “really, really like you too, Shinobu.” Blushing furiously Ryuunosuke still managed to force herself to look Shinobu in the eye. “Really really really really.”

The hot flush of happiness that washed over Shinobu when she realized what Ryuunosuke was actually saying was almost overwhelming. The soft sound of happiness that slipped past her lips got muted by Ryuunosuke’s shirt when Shinobu, unable to help herself, grabbed the other girl in a long, firm hug.

When she after long moments of hugging the taller girl tightly eased up enough to create just enough space to be able to look at Ryuunosuke’s face, Shinobu discovered that she had somehow managed to all but crawl into Ryuunosuke’s lap in the process. Far too happy to even consider being embarrassed by that though Shinobu merely beamed at the shyly smiling girl she still had in a tight embrace.

“I guess that means that we’ll be dating now, doesn’t it?” Shinobu needed to make sure they agreed on this, one could never quite know when it came to the people of Tomobiki and the subject of relationships, she had too much personal experience in just how easy it was to misunderstand one another. “As in each other, only? Maybe even... girlfriends?”

Ryuunosuke nodded eagerly and smiled widely. “Yes! G-girlfriends! And... dating, just for real this time?”

Shinobu couldn’t help but laugh a little at that, and leaned forward a bit. “Yeah, for real this time, without the audience. Though we’ll have to be sneaky to avoid getting Ataru-kun or your father to follow us and interfere.” They shared an exasperated look and a small groan at the thought, neither of them quite sure which one of the people mentioned would be worst when it came to ruining things for them.

“Ryuunosuke?” Shinobu asked a bit more quietly after a moment, her fingers idly playing with the open collar of Ryuunosuke’s uniform jacket. “Do you remember... um... our first kiss?”

A renewed blush and a very emphasized nod was her answer, making Shinobu melt a little inside at how adorable Ryuunosuke could be sometimes. Gathering her courage despite the tiny voice in the back of her head that demanded to know what Shinobu thought she was doing, Shinobu leaned in some more, their faces now very close to one another. She touched Ryuunosuke’s face in a small, gentle caress.

“Would it be alright if...” The quiet question was interrupted as their lips met.

It was so soft, sweet and warm, everything Shinobu had remembered from their first kiss and so much more. This was no mere accidental press of lips, this was a real kiss... and everything else just faded away. By the time they reluctantly drew apart Shinobu felt strangely weak, dizzy and definitely out of breath... but oh so happy.

It took a few attempts before they could make themselves part long enough to stop kissing, stand up and start the slow walk back towards Shinobu’s home, because as much as they would have liked to stay there on their wooden bench by the vending machine all night, morning was not far away as it was and the coming day was a school day after all. They would more than likely fall asleep in class as it were, but that wasn’t as much of a problem as one might think, what with the usual goings-on at school. Still, staying out all night and get caught at it by their respective parents was perhaps not the best of ideas, so a slow walk back and a very reluctant parting it was to be.

Their parting kiss was a long and involved one, leaving Shinobu to float through the house to her room with a pounding heart and a general sense of euphoria, and Ryuunosuke – once she had seen Shinobu safely inside – to race the wind back to the small room she and her father rented, bubbling with happy laughter all the way.





Mr Miyake was just exchanging his morning newspaper for his briefcase getting ready to head off for work when he heard his wife’s hurried footsteps coming from the kitchen. He looked that way just in time to see her excitedly round the corner to peer out through the small decorative window on their front door.

“Dear! Dear!” Mrs Miyake cried and waved at him to come join her. “I think I just saw our Shinobu kiss that nice young boy that is walking her to school today, what was his name again? You know the one I mean, the handsome one that has no mother.”

“A well-mannered lad, as I recall...” Mr Miyake mused and peered out the window beside his wife. Shinobu and her companion had already disappeared behind the high wall edging the street though, but he didn’t mind much as he wasn’t particularly keen on seeing his little girl do things he frankly did not want to know about with her new boyfriend. “He has walked her to school before, and didn’t Shinobu mention that he had helped her out with something a while back?”

Mrs Miyake nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, yes, that’s him! He is so much nicer than those other boys she has gone out with... sweet, well-mannered and honest... much better husband material.”

“Didn’t Shinobu say that he was a hard-working lad, too? Some kind of small-scale family business, I think.” Mr Miyake considered what he knew of this lad and weighed him against the Moroboshi’s son and the Mendou boy, and then nodded decisively. “If you still think she is dating him by the end of the week, make sure Shinobu invites him over for dinner.”


Some distance away a young couple stopped for a moment by a wooden bench in order to properly put two forgotten juice cans in the trash, sharing a moment of secret looks, blushing and happy smiles before linking hands once more on their way to school.