trans_9 | when did this place become like home? [closed]

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when did this place become like home? [closed]

They'd gotten back. In the end, that's all it felt like. A group of thirty had gone to a planet, have things gone poorly since being greeted, then found themselves lied to, exploded, and abducted in the same twenty-four hours. Then they'd set up a confrontation that'd taken days to reach fruition, broken into teams to achieve mission objectives that were, at heart, still not entirely the mission, and ended up in a fight involving clones of themselves, clones of people on Galilee, and the clones who ran everything under the guise of not having been clones at any point at all.

Here she'd thought Orochimaru had come up with a convoluted way of attaining immortality.

Still, they were back, she didn't have any official duty to file anything, she ached and hurt like hell, and after the shower she'd just taken (she'd discovered far more bruises, nicks, cuts, and really taken a look at the big burn on her upper thigh) she was ready for some selective downtime before reporting back in for duty at Medical Bay proper. She figured she needed to look at the Active Crew registry, too, after hearing mention of a recent pod release.

It just felt like effort she wanted to postpone spending for a good half hour nap or something, to take the edge off the uncertainty of walking into open combat with this group of misfits in the future. They'd survived, but they'd been lucky. No one'd been unscathed, and they weren't even facing the Ohm. Four days on one world, and this is how they'd come out?

Walking gingerly into her room, towel wrapped around her, she contemplated reviewing the files Kanner had left on the datapad she'd found in her medical kit. Different from any of the ones they had on ship, but there none-the-less. Actually...

Sakura looked over to the medkit itself, part of what she'd dragged back without paying attention once everyone had been sorted out to where they needed to be. It reminded her to do the responsible thing and finish dressing her wounds, if part of her grumbled and knew that the only reason she wasn't doing this in Medical Bay was a stubborn wish to be disassociated from the alien (familiar, she couldn't lie anymore) environment for a little while longer. "I hate breaking new boots in."

Yes. Focus on the simple realities. "The blisters you get are so annoying." She moved toward her bed after closing the door firmly behind her.

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Unfortunately for Marco, the ropes that weren't that much of a bother while in dragon morph were considerably more hassle once he'd demorphed to human. They'd ended up all tangled around his neck, and even before he'd completely finished demorphing he was reaching up to try and pull them up over his head. At least he didn't have to worry about knots so much - by now, they were loose enough to slip off completely.

Except then when they were off and he looked up, he found himself staring at Sakura's now visible back. And she didn't have a bra strap. Which meant Sakura wasn't currently wearing a bra. Which meant she hadn't been wearing one this whole.

Suddenly his mouth felt dry. He gulped. "Right," he said, his voice sounding distant to his own ears.

Sakura pulled her arm free, then worked on her other arm. It only took her a moment longer to shimmy out of the bottom half of the harness, not giving much thought to Marco being slightly less chatty than normal. It'd be momentary, whatever it was.

Still, when she'd gathered up the harness section and started picking up the loose line between the both of them, it was only a matter of steps before she was holding out a hand for the loops Marco had pulled off himself. "See? Easy enough, and the rope's still intact. No point in wasting resources around here."

She smiled, just a touch pleased with herself. "If yes, you're right. Flying is a lot of fun." She paused, then grinned. "And relaxing if you're not doing any of the wing-work."

That was a blatant lie, if she wasn't going to own up to it.

"Uh-hmm," Marco said, only half listening to what she was saying. Well, maybe only listening a little. Or not at all.

Did she often do that? Just decide not to wear a bra that day? Had she even been wearing one all the other times they'd hung out?

Oh man.

He bit his lip, and tried to not be too obvious about the fact that he was trying to sneak looks at her chest.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. For one, he wasn't giving her the rope back, and for another, he was being blatantly less than verbose. Seriously, it was like his brain had decided to suddenly migrate south for the wint--

Oh.

Oh.

That was so... predictably male. And perverted!

She frowned and tossed her bundled rope at Marco's chest. It didn't have to be hard -- the rope weighed enough to be an impact at perfectly normal levels of strength. "Quit being a pervert already! Seriously, maybe it's a good thing you missed that beach party. It doesn't look like you'd have been able to string sentences together if you'd been there." Seriously, she wasn't dressed down all that much from her standard gear. And the plant suit was a lot more -- well, revealing. Very little left to the imagination there!

Her logic failed in the face of the fact that she'd been out with him after the beach, wearing less than this (or showing more skin, rather). Then again, maybe it was -- naaawh.

In case you hadn't noticed Sakura, Marco was male. And sixteen. And girls not wearing bras would always, always, cause his brain to migrate south for the winter.

He grabbed the rope after she flung it at him. Well, so much for trying to not be obvious about it. But having been found out, he didn't bother with any more pretense.

"Hey, I can't help it," he grinned, shamelessly. "How am I supposed to pay attention to anything else when you're so totally hot today?"

She felt herself blushing, and desperately wished she wasn't. Considering the last time someone had told her she was attractive (and been serious about it) had probably been Sam when under the influence of the clock, she wasn't prepared for a blunt response out of Marco.

Nor really out of anyone, let alone in her favor. (Unless they wanted something. Hey, everyone could do flattery if they needed to.)

"You -- what -- you say that after I've been hanging on to your neck for the last however long?" She ran a hand through her hair, which was decidedly windblown, and looked away. "Flatterer." Not that she minded. It felt nice to have some version of womanly merit now and again, especially considering it was usually the elderly, dead, or afflicted who commented on it.

Unless Marco went temporarily crazy after morphing a few times in a day, she figured he didn't qualify for any of those three things. Not yet, anyway, and she'd prefer a never on the dead part. General preference for everyone, really, even to a degree the heartless bastard villains who quite probably lived among them. Zedd's wavelength, and the manipulators who craved whatever it was they got out of their manipulations.

Marco's grin widened. Maybe it was because of the fact that Sakura always seemed to be putting so much effort into being all composed and formal that Marco found it so much more fun when she lost that. Either way, she was blushing, he'd made her blush, and Marco couldn't but help but feel a kind of glee at the fact of provoking a reaction.

"What's not to like about you hanging off of my neck?" he said, smirking. "And you know, the disheveled look is good on you. You should try it more often." She should try the bra-less look more often too, but Marco wasn't stupid enough to say that out loud. He wasn't joking about the disheveled look suiting her though - there was just something about it that Marco found appealing. Very appealing.

That shot her eyebrow right up, and she glowered, half meaning it. "I already do every morning when I wake up. See if the ship sends you out on mission sometime if you like it so much." See how deftly that wasn't an invitation, Marco?

She was so on to him. Sort of. Okay, she's a teenager, so she was as aware as he was about implications and innuendos, if pretending to be above either of them.

Looking him over very clearly, she shook her head. "I don't know, Marco." Stepping closer, she held out her hands for her rope. "It's not like you can usually hang off someone the same size as you." She might still be blushing, but she could give as good as she got, with a hint of a smile. If that smile edged toward self-amused smirk, so be it. "I'd hate to drag you down. In most circumstances."

Fighting was something else entirely! And that's all she meant!

Totally!

Edited 2011-08-13 09:42 (UTC)

"Why can't I just see you in the morning here?" Marco quipped back, cheeky. Who cares if she was onto him? That just made it even more fun. But he totally didn't buy that she was 'above' any of this. She might pretend to, but she was human, just like him.

Smirking, Marco didn't move at all to give the rope back to her. If she wanted it, then she'd just have to come a little closer now, wouldn't she? "You're a ninja. I'm sure you could figure it out." Oh, he saw that blush. Even the jab at his height wasn't enough to kill Marco's grin right now. "And that's funny, because I'd love for you to drag me down."

Edited 2011-08-13 10:03 (UTC)

"For one, we don't have set mornings here, and for another, I doubt you get up before I do." She had no real idea, but Marco struck her as more the sleep in sort than the bright and bushytailed kind. She ticked both points off on her fingers, noting he didn't bother handing her rope over.

Stepping closer, she actually laid hand on it, not quite tugging yet. She figured she wouldn't need to. "Oh, I can think of a few ways. Most end with you saying, "Ouch."" She grinned. "Is that an invitation?"

Sadly for Marco, any yes would lead to her sweeping his legs out from under him rather than anything nice, but she was feeling somewhat contrary. She'd probably catch him. Maybe. It wasn't like he had far to fall, after all.

Okay, so Marco was generally more of a night owl than a morning person. But that wasn't really the point right now. "You could always try sleeping in," he suggested, still keeping that rope to himself.

"Maybe," he smirked. But unfortunately for Marco, right now he didn't suspect that Sakura actually would go and knock him off his feet...

"What'd be the point to that?" she asked archly, if she was somewhat serious. Sakura rarely slept in for any reason other than sheer physical need these days, or the last few years.

That which he didn't expect would be his downfall. Tugging on the ropes to pull him toward her, Sakura abruptly let go. As she did so, she stepped to his side and ducked down into a leg sweep that was meant to send him sprawling backward. She moved to catch him before he hit the ground, still smiling in that cat caught the canary way that meant she was pleased with herself.

"Looks like I caught you... off guard," she said. "You might have wanted to say no to the invitation."

Marco was surprised when she tugged him forward - for a fleeting moment, he wondered if she was pulling him forward to kiss him, and his heart rate sped up - but then there was that foot behind his leg, and Marco was suddenly going in a whole different direction. He didn't even have time to brace for the impact before she caught him.

For a moment, Marco just blinked, mouth hanging open, completely stunned. Then, struck by the complete absurdity of the situation (and the fact that Sakura had made a pun!), he burst out laughing.

"Okay, okay, you win," he said, crawling to the side so that he was sitting on the ground. He looked up at her as if he was about to say something else, but then he started shaking with laughter, and ended up just shaking his head at her.

Edited 2011-08-13 10:50 (UTC)

"When don't I?" The question wasn't as rhetorical as it sounded. Straightening up, she smoothed her shirt down. Largely unnecessary, but a good distraction for her hands.

Sakura might not have been laughing like he was, but she was smiling. Augh, all this moving reminded her of how her inner thighs were starting to feel -- and tomorrow! Something to look forward to, in the most tentative sense of the phrase.

Be as it may, she had worked enough past her own embarrassment and was in a good enough mood to offer him a hand up. "Be glad I didn't go for the ouch option. It was tempting." And she was teasing.

Marco just rolled his eyes without answering. Maybe it wasn't completely rhetorical, but Marco took it as such. Still, the lingering grin on his face indicated that he wasn't really annoyed by it.

"You mean that wasn't the ouch option?" he said, grabbing her hand and letting her pull him up. Now on his feet, he found himself standing close to Sakura. Normally, if he ended up this close to anyone else, he would have moved back. But right now, he didn't move.

Marco wondered if she could hear his heart beating. "So," he said, feeling weirdly breathless. "You said that I should ask. You know. If I wanted to kiss you." He still thought that rule was stupid, oh man, right now he didn't care as long as she said yes.

"Trust me, you'd know if I was going for the ouch option." She didn't wonder at him not stepping immediately back, if she probably should have. He was as careful with his personal space as he was anything else -- and careful was a nice way to say paranoid.

She could have wondered if today had been an effort in this, if she knew otherwise, when he asked. She was mildly surprised, eyes widening a fraction, and she swallowed reflexively. That sounded embarrassing for some reason she couldn't quite define. "Are you asking?" For all it was obvious, Sakura wanted to make sure.

And be damned if she didn't acknowledge entirely why she didn't step back and away right then. Too much exploration of reasons and motivations and insecurities on her part that she wasn't willing to delve into.

She found herself unwittingly holding her breath, and made herself exhale softly waiting for a reply.

A question for a question; but it wasn't a no. And she hadn't moved away yet.

"Yes."

Now it was Marco's turn to hold his breath.

Breathe, kid. The advice might as well go both ways.

She didn't let herself think. It was hard to do, but if she let herself think, it'd be no. It always had to. Yet it was obvious to her this didn't carry the kind of weight for him (maybe even his world) as it would have on her own. No promises, no concrete obligations, and there she went thinking anyway.

"Mmm." She nodded her head. "Okay."

Marco exhaled.

Okay.

She said okay.

Somehow, on a certain level Marco hadn't actually been expecting her to agree. And now she had, and for a freeing moment his head was crowded with a host of competing thoughts - should he just go ahead? What should he do with his hands? What if he completely sucked, and she hated it?

But no, he had to stop thinking too. So before he could start second guessing himself, he brought his hands up to hold her face and just kissed her. But unlike the last time, he didn't just give her a peck then pull back; instead, he pressed forward.

Hard to tell what Sakura's response was at first, and it was probably better for him that his hands were on her face, and not her shoulders, as he may have missed the tensing when he finished bridging the gap between them. After a moment where she didn't seem to be doing anything at all, she tentatively responded in kind.

Kissing did go something like that, right? She wasn't just supposed to stand there and do nothing? After a moment her hands came to rest on his arms, not really sure what else she was supposed to do with them.

She wasn't pushing him away, or punching him in the face at least - which meant that at least something had to be going right.

Not that Marco was really thinking too hard about that. Or thinking about anything, really, other than trying to figure out what the hell he was supposed to do now. Just...keep doing what he was doing? Try and do something else? (Would she let him try something else?)

Then he just went 'screw it', and decided to throw caution to the wind and try to be more adventurous. (And hey this stuff worked in the movies, to it had to be good...right?)

The movies were not, however, real life, and Sakura's reaction to that was to (not so subtly) jerk back and look a little confused and affronted at his definition of adventurous. Even if this wasn't outside of her comfort zone, they weren't in private, and she didn't exactly want to --

Okay she didn't really know what she wanted to --

Which didn't matter because right now --

"Okay," she said, stepping back to help reclaim her face from his hands and letting go of his arms. Where was the rope? The rope was a good focus. She kind of wanted to glare. "That was more than just a kiss."

She tried to only sound censoring, if it was hit and miss on how well she pulled that off.

Edited 2011-08-15 05:22 (UTC)

Marco felt kinda disappointed that it was over. But still - he'd kissed her. Again. Which meant that by now, they had kissed three times.

Really, as far as Marco was concerned, the more kissing, the better.

And okay, so she hadn't been that keen, but maybe next time...and come to think of it, for all that she was stepping back and trying to tell him off for it, she didn't didn't really sound too convincing. Marco smirked. She might have protested, but that didn't necessarily mean that she didn't like it.

"It still counts as kissing," he teased, grinning.

She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "You know what I mean, and I know you know."

That amazing clarification out of the way, she looked around for the rope. When she saw it (right by their feet, or close enough), Sakura snagged it with one hand and pulled the whole mess into her arms.

"As fun as it's been," oh, that was probably not the right thing to say, and she only realized that too late to do much of anything about it, "I'm one adrenaline crash away from sleeping the next three days we don't have." The bright side being at least some of those dreams should be better than they would have been before he bothered her into being a reasonable human being, and then all the rest.

Dreaming of flying would be nice. Dreaming of -- other things -- Stop it, brain! She didn't do disconnected dialog in her own head so much now, but if she did, she'd be telling herself hell yes she knew she'd be having better dreams.

Mixed in with the usual nightmares, but she always expected those. Most often they barely left an impression, if they could leave her crabby in the mornings. She didn't let herself think about them often. Too many other things to be preoccupied, nightmares could sort themselves out during themselves.

All that thought as she half turned to -- bow? wave? kick in the shins? -- wave to Marco and excuse herself back to the sanctity of what passed as lent personal space.

"You know that I know what?" Marco said, with mock innocence, clasping his hands behind his back and grinning at Sakura like a Cheshire cat. And she'd just said that she'd had fun.

Mission totally accomplished.

"I'll see you next time then," he said. "We can have some more 'fun'." Yup, that definitely wasn't the right thing to say, Sakura.

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