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9:00 am.
Sun was peering its way through the apartment curtains. In the light's projection, Asuka laid quietly waiting for her girlfriend to wake up. She sat rather anxiously as Rei slept softly. Looking at the time on the clock, she worried that they would be too late for her plans. But as she looked at Rei in her slumber, she decided that it didn't matter if they were late getting up, as long as Rei got to rest well. No matter how impatient it made Asuka.
Asuka extended a hand towards Rei's face, running her fingers gently down her cheek softly enough not to wake her. After minutes of staying like that, Asuka felt Rei stir. Her eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly and her eyes slowly fluttered open, her striking red eyes covered with a film of haziness.
"Good morning, sleepy head." Asuka snickered as she waited for Rei to regain consciousness.
"Good morning...Asuka..." Rei spoke through small yawns.
Asuka waited for a moment before speaking, not wanting to be too demanding of the girl.
"Do you have any plans today, Rei?" She asked as she ran her hands through Rei's hair and taming her bed head.
"No. Why do you ask?" Rei answered.
"....It's your birthday, idiot! I have something special planned for you, and you'd better come along!"
"I will if I'm ordered to." Rei said nonchalantly, before flashing a smile. She seemed to be proud of making a joke.
Asuka flicked Rei's nose playfully. "Well that's too bad, because you're coming either way." She grinned.
After their morning routines and getting dressed, Rei finally asked, "What is this 'surprise'?"
Asuka reached into her pocket and pulled out a wad of money, rolled up and marked with a sticky note that read "Zu Rei's Geburtstag".
Rei stared wide eyed.
"I'm taking you to go shopping. You can pick out whatever you want as long as I can afford it." Asuka blushed as she waited for Rei's reaction.
"Why?" Rei asked.
Not the reaction she had expected, by any means.
"Are you stupid?"
Rei tilted her head slightly in confusion. Asuka couldn't be aggravated, despite how much she wanted to be. Rei was too endearing.
"You only own two outfits, your uniform and your pajamas that look like you've had them for centuries. You're gonna go get clothes that you want to wear, and you don't have a choice."
Rei smiled kindly, and it seemed as if the sun outside began to shine a little bit brighter.
"Thank you, Asuka."
"Yeah yeah, now let's get going." Asuka grabbed Rei's hand and turned towards the door, hoping that Rei didn't catch the blush all over her face.
Asuka led Rei to a boutique in the streets of Tokyo-3, hoping that it would have enough variety for Rei to find a type of clothing she likes. Inside there were rows upon rows of clothes in different shapes and colors. Rei looked for approval from Asuka, and she gave her the go ahead to look around. As she slowly looked through each one, Asuka admired her from a distance while she pretended to look at the clothes opposite from Rei. The blue haired girl would study each one individually, staring at it as if she were putting all the patterns to memory. She looked like an excited puppy who'd just had a butterfly land on their nose. Was this truly the first time she'd ever bought clothes?
She eventually froze at a yellow button up shirt with tiny white flowers all over it. She turned around to Asuka, showing it to her and saying, "I think that I like this one."
"Then it's yours." Asuka smiled.
Rei looked at her, and then down to the shirt in her hands. She clutched it a bit, and smiled slightly.
"Don't get hung up on just one. There's plenty more to look at, idiot." Asuka teased as she ruffled the top of Rei's hair with her hands.
The stayed there for about 2 hours, going through every rack. Rei wasn't a big fan of things that were gaudy and attention drawing, she rather liked the flowy, light and bright colored things. She picked out a white dress embossed with a simple floral pattern. Maybe she really liked flowers? Asuka set it in a mental file filled with little things about Rei. She also found that Rei was fond of the color yellow. She picked out a yellow t-shirt with cats on it, and a yellow knit sweater. She also found a set of a white collar shirt with a lavender bowtie and matching lavender skirt which made her eyes light up when she saw it. It was quite possibly the happiest she'd ever seen Rei, apart from when Asuka admitted she loved her through words choked by tears. And today, she discovered that she loved her even more than she thought was possible.
As they walked hand in hand back to their apartment, Rei held Asuka's hand a little tighter.
"Asuka?" She asked.
"What is it, Wondergirl?"
"No one has ever been this kind to me, or given me something for the sake of my birthday. I am grateful for you is all."
Before Asuka could respond, Rei pressed her lips against Asuka's. The red haired girl jolted in shock, before returning the kiss. Asuka cupped Rei's face with her hands as they pulled apart.
The next day, Rei changed into her yellow button up after their sync tests. And from that day on, Asuka decided that yellow was her new favorite color.