Work Text:
“Hey, do you want to go to the cliff?” Mitsuri asked as she was patting her wet hair with a towel. “Just you and me?”
Shinobu might have declined the offer in any other circumstance, but it was the last day of summer. She’d studied enough in the past few weeks to ace her exams and there was nothing demanding her immediate attention. Kanao was back on the beach with her friends and she had been planning to stay the night at the Kamados' place, so Shinobu didn’t have to worry about that.
“Sure, why not.”
Mitsuri smiled and Shinobu felt like she’d forgotten how to breathe. Even in a simple white t-shirt and shorts, with her hair messy from a quick shower and her cheeks red from a day at the beach Mitsuri looked stunning. And it wasn’t even from a merely physical point of view, there was a special kind of warmth to her, as if she was made of love and nothing else.
“Are you there?”
Mitsuri laughed, already at the door, and Shinobu snapped out of her stupor, looking for her shoes to avoid showing the redness she could feel on her face. She had, honest to God, never met a person as distracting as Mitsuri.
“Aren’t you going to dry your hair?”
Mitsuri shrugged, still smiling in that way that made Shinobu feel like she was drunk. “The wind will take care of it.”
By now, getting behind Mitsuri on her pink bike was a familiar gesture, as was holding onto her waist for safety, as was burying her face in her hair, surrounded by the sweet smell of her coconut conditioner. She just hoped Mitsuri had never noticed the rate of her heartbeat.
It was almost the end of summer and Shinobu felt like it had been years instead of months. Something in her had shifted, something big she had no idea how to describe. She didn’t dislike it.
Time in the city dragged on between university lectures, exams, crowds of people all over the place and too many worries to count. Summer had always been much the same, just with fewer responsibilities and a change of scenery. Spending two or so months in their seaside house was nothing special to Shinobu. She had always done it for Kanao’s sake because she could bury herself in work all she wanted, but deep down she well knew it was not healthy and inflicting that on her sister would’ve been cruel. They had different ways of coping and Kanao was happy by the sea.
This summer had been… unusual. She’d met Mitsuri, for one, and her weird, weird group of friends.
According to Uzui, Shinobu fit right in, with her dyed hair and caustic sarcasm, and maybe he was right. It felt a bit like having a very big, very loud family and Shinobu wasn’t sure she was ready to admit that she’d missed the atmosphere. It was fun.
They spent their days on the beach, playing cards, swimming, running around on adventures. They were all so different, there was always something to do. The majority of the group was slightly older than her, starting with Mitsuri, but some were younger too and even Kanao had had no problems fitting in. Having people around was good, for both of them.
And having Mitsuri around felt… right. She’d immediately caught Shinobu’s attention and had still to let go.
One of Shinobu’s first thoughts had been that she had a body to die for, and seeing her in a bikini certainly left little to the imagination. Together with Shinobu’s envy was the kind of attraction she’d felt for other girls, which was nothing new. She was used to envy and she was used to attractive girls.
But Mitsuri was so much more than a nice body and a pretty face. Mitsuri felt like warmth and safety, she always had a smile and kind words for everyone and seemingly had no problems just unabashedly being herself in front of the rest of the world.
Her quirks didn’t stop at her dyed green and pink hair either. She loved food and she ate a lot, but she did it with such joy it was impossible not to be happy too. She was impossibly strong, which didn’t stand out too much in the very athletic group she was in, but it only made her more intriguing in Shinobu’s eyes, who’d always wished she could be stronger. Having someone like Mitsuri next to her almost felt like the real thing and Mitsuri never looked at her with pity or contempt, she didn’t care that Shinobu was small, she was just there, beautiful and steady as a statue cut from marble.
There were so many layers to Mitsuri, so many stories and small details that were not there unless you really looked, and when Shinobu caught herself staring it was already too late. To her defence, Mitsuri was easy to fall for.
They’d played volleyball all afternoon that day, and Shinobu was starting to feel it in her arms, but Mitsuri had never given even the slightest sign of being tired.
When they had won the last game against Uzui and Giyuu, Mitsuri had lifted her up in a crushing hug, salty and full of sand, but Shinobu never once thought it was bothersome. It made her happy, instead.
Mitsuri felt like home.
They dismounted from the bike and settled on the grass, far enough from the edge to not accidentally fall, but close enough that they could enjoy the view.
“I’ll miss this place, it’s so beautiful,” Mitsuri said around the straw of her milkshake. After meeting her, Shinobu had quickly learned that she was always hungry, so seeing her with random snacks didn’t faze her anymore.
It was true, though, the view from the cliff they were on was almost magical, the sun sinking slowly into the ocean, setting fire to the waves and sky as stars slowly took its place.
They remained in silence for a while, ears filled by the sound of the water below, the wind ruffling the grass and their hair. Being with the whole group was amazing, but Shinobu appreciated these small moments she had with Mitsuri purely for the fact that it was only them, the rest of the world be damned.
They’d taken walks on the beach in the early hours of the morning, when the sun was barely up, they’d shared pastries and secrets in the dead of the night, when everyone else had been asleep, they’d shared a couch that was way too small for two people when they’d been the last to get drunk.
“It almost feels like this is the last sunset I’ll ever see,” Shinobu murmured, not really looking at Mitsuri. She was following the intricate flight of a seagull. It glided on a current, then dipped down to the water to come back up in seconds.
Mitsuri giggled, soft like the windchimes next to Shinobu’s window. “Right? It feels final.”
“It kind of is,” Shinobu replied, sneaking a glance at Mitsuri. She was leaning back, her tanned skin in contrast with the white of her shirt, her long hair cascading down her shoulders in waves. Shinobu always wanted to run her hand through it but had never asked. Mitsuri turned to her with a smile, straw between her teeth.
“Yeah, well, there’s always next summer,” she casually said, as if it didn’t mean they would be apart for almost a year. Shinobu had never been bothered by the end of summer, it just meant she would go back to her usual routine. Now it almost scared her because she had no idea what normal meant if Mitsuri wasn’t in it.
The last few days had flown by, almost as if they’d purposefully decided to spite Shinobu.
“Mitsuri.”
Mitsuri answered with a questioning hum and a faint smile. The sun had almost set, but the remaining light painted strokes of golden on her cheeks, highlighting the symmetrical moles under her eyes and making her look like a work of art. She was so beautiful, Shinobu’s heart ached.
Her left hand, with its perfectly french manicured nails, was resting on the ground between them and Shinobu gently covered it with her own. Mitsuri didn’t move, seemingly surprised by the physical affection, but not denying it.
“I’ll miss you,” Shinobu whispered, so faint it almost got lost in the sound of the waves crashing against the cliff.
Mitsuri smiled, both happiness and sadness at the corners of her mouth, and Shinobu suddenly felt the overwhelming need to kiss the sadness away. She didn’t get the chance to, as Mitsuri engulfed her in a hug, milkshake forgotten beside her.
“I’ll miss you too, Shinobu, you have no idea,” she said, tightening the hug. “I love you so much.”
Shinobu was used to the way Mitsuri said ‘I love you’ so casually. She said it so often because it was true, she loved everyone, everything. Her love was all-encompassing and Shinobu felt selfish for wanting it all to herself.
She took a breath and pulled out of the hug to look Mitsuri in the eyes, those eyes that looked like the smooth pieces of glass they found in the sand, vibrant but soft.
“Mitsuri, I... love you.”
Mitsuri’s hands in hers were grounding, as her touch always was. Even when she had laid all her cards on the table, Shinobu felt safe, vulnerable, but safe.
She saw the meaning of the words slowly sink in, Mitsuri’s lips revealing a bright smile that was all teeth and no bite.
“Oh, I thought you’d never say it,” she laughed, watery and incredulous. “I love you too, Shinobu.”
And suddenly Mitsuri’s lips were on her own, cool and soft against her chapped ones. She let her arms go up to Mitsur’s neck, pulling her closer as she felt Mitsuri’s warm hands on her cheeks.
When they parted, Shinobu pressed their foreheads together and simply stared for a moment. Mitsuri’s eyes were glossy and, judging by the sting she felt behind her eyelids, hers were too. Shinobu was smiling so hard she could feel her muscles strain.
“You taste like sugar.”
Mitsuri laughed, tears spilling as he closed her eyes.
Shinobu couldn’t resist and kissed her again, before quite literally throwing herself into her arms, nestling her face into her neck. She smelled like salt and sun, and Shinobu whished she could always have it with her.
Minutes passed in silence, the sun now fully below the horizon, its warmth still lingering despite the shadows of dusk. They’d promised to meet everybody at the usual place on the beach for one last round of drinks, but they still had some time.
After a while, Mitsuri pulled out of the hug and brushed her fingers on her jaw and she’d been affectionate before, but never quite this intimately.
“What does this make us?”
Shinobu blushed slightly but smiled. “Girlfriends?”
Mitsuri placed a kiss on the corner of her mouth, the redness of her cheeks evident despite the tan and the approaching darkness. “Yeah, I like the sound of that.”