Tokudosan! or: A Tiger, A Jellyfish, and a Dragon Together At Last (Toradora)

[TortugaGreen]

Not many would call Ryuuji fortunate, or consider his life a good one, but he would disagree. It hadn't been the easiest, but he had always been able to appreciate the good around him. A clean house, fresh ingredients, maybe even clothes he hadn't had to fix upon purchase; all things others might just take for granted, he knew to be good and appreciated in turn.

Right now, however, there was nothing good to be seen. Raining on and off for days, the house had been soaked. Water was leaking from the ceiling and had seeped through the floor, promising mildew given time. The food situation wasn't much better. The fridge was empty, and Ryuuji had been making do with mostly canned goods for the last couple weeks. Lately he'd had to do his fair share of sewing as well, although that was thankfully less centered on mending raincoats and more on padding dresses.

The fact that the dresses were not his own did little to help in this situation, however; there was a typhoon rolling up, and it wasn't a small one either. Predictions had put its landing pretty far away thankfully, but for Ryuuji that wouldn't help much. More importantly, the last time a typhoon had landed, Ryuuji had spent the entire time worrying whether the flooding or the water damage would bring the house down first. That had been ages ago, before the new apartment building- Taiga's apartment building- was put in downhill. Now that it was there, nothing on the lot could drain properly.

With this weighing heavily on his mind, Ryuuji rolled into school dead-eyed Saturday morning. By the time lunch rolled around, even Yuusaku had noticed - and if even he could tell then it was almost certain Taiga would too. Whatever happened after that, it was almost certain to be painful. If he was really lucky, her current flustered state as she tried to talk with his friend would distract her enough and for long enough to save him.

Today, no such miracles could be found, as Taiga looked at the weather bulletin the Student Council had run off for the class. On it was printed the typhoon warnings, as well as a mess of other odds and ends.

"Gonna need to ride out the storm at my place again?" Yuusaku said, frowning at the ominous weather report. "I remember last time was pretty bad."

"Yeah." Ryuuji muttered. "We're not gonna get nailed again, but I don't like the looks of this."

"You never like the looks of this." Yuusaku said, before sighing. "Still, I know your place has issues when it rains."

"I just hope I don't need to replace all the floors this time."

"What about your mom?"

"She's got a friend near work she stays with." Ryuuji muttered. Moments later, Taiga slipped in next to him, accepting her bento wordlessly. As she started to nibble, the conversation continued.

"I'm pretty sure we can scrounge up the spare futon for you." Yuusaku said, thinking out loud. "It might be tight for space if you need to bring over a lot of stuff."

"Nah, all my important things are already in waterproof boxes." Ryuuji chuckled. "All I need to bring is some bedding and clothes. It'll basically be like sleeping over again."

It was at this moment, a future Ryuuji would realize, that he had completely and totally accidentally poked a sleeping palmtop tiger. "Wait, if Ryuuji's going to Yuusaku's, do I have to have leftovers?"

"I've told you before, it's not leftovers if I make it specifically to go in the fridge." Ryuuji grumbled, his temper rising at this well-worn argument.

"Yeah, but it counts as leftovers if I need to put it in the microwave to make it tasty!"

"You have a stove, you don't need to use the microwave!"

Tossing her head back, Taiga glared at Ryuuji imperiously. "I refuse! I can't live without your cooking. If I can't have it fresh, you'll just have you stay at my place! What a lucky dog, to ride out the storm in such luxury!"

"Luxury? I remember when that place was a pigsty!"

"Hold up, hold up!" Minori said, waving her hands. "Taiga, you just can't invite a boy over to your place for a few days like that! What if he gets up to something lewd?"

Taiga just sniffed. "Please, the worst he'd do is hump the furniture. C'mon, Minori, you can tell me what you really want."

"Well, I mean, it's just…" Minori said, twiddling her thumbs and looking bashful as Ryuuji tried to hide his stare at Taiga. "I worry so much about you, Taiga; I don't know what I would do if you two actually did do something you'd regret. And besides, you always say Ryuuji is a really good cook…"

"Hah! I knew it! You wanted my hound's cooking!"

"No! I just want to make sure he's not up to mischief! You know how it would look, right?" Minori babbled, holding up her hands. "It's not that hard to notice he makes at least your lunches, but if he stays over it's going to look like you're dating!"

Taiga went cold, before shivering a minute. "You have a point. Fine! As long as you don't get in the way of my sleep, you can stay."

"I'll try, but you know I have to get up early! I can't make any promises."

Taiga shook Minorin, not happy with the idea of getting up at all early but Yuusaku just grinned wryly at Ryuuji. "Well, looks like you've got your housing sorted out without me! I'll leave you to it- one of my friends is coming back to town soon, and I might have to look into housing myself."

Yuusaku just shook his head mournfully and retreated. Ryuuji was stuck now, with Taiga pinning him down by the arm so he couldn't run away from the impromptu planning session that had sprung up around him. Taiga had started planning with Minori, and neither of them were listening to him.

"So… what do you want for dinner the next few nights?" Taiga asked Minori. "We might as well start planning now!"

"Ooh! I really like curry rice, so maybe we can make some pork chops to go with it! Tuna Onigiri would be nice if we wanted a light lunch sometime, and it's been ages since I've had Bao..."

Bereft of other options, Ryuuji carefully noted the contents of the conversation and prayed softly that he wasn't expected to make it all himself.

After school, things did not get noticeably better, because the hour of shopping was nigh. If it were morning shopping, it would be easy enough: just keep Taiga staring at the meat while Ryuuji got everything else put together, grab the meat, and trundle on through the checkout. Afternoon shopping was a good bit harder, but he could manage with some carefully timed snacks. Taiga normally wasn't a pain in the wallet.

"Oooh, they've got a sale on pork cutlets! And look at this price for tuna!"

"Yeah, but if we get the kilo of tofu, we can fry it, put it in soup, and then there's the green onions over there and that goes wonderfully with everything! And look! Fresh garlic!"

Taiga and Minori together, however, was like getting dragged along by undertow at the beach. Sure, you thought it was a calm swim, but then the next thing you knew you had been dragged out to sea never to be seen again. The only difference between the two was that in this case the sea was debt, and Ryuuji's one hope at salvation was that he only had two arms to hold baskets or bags with.

On the plus side though, as long as this typhoon didn't take longer than three days to blow through they'd eat like kings all the way through it - and Ryuuji's increasingly bare refrigerator (if it survived) would finally be refilled. They had finished picking up the vegetables, when Minori smiled at Ryuuji, and asked a question.

"Hey, is there anything you want?"

Ryuuji stopped to blink, before starting to develop a slight flush. "Ah, I mean, well… spicy tuna is nice. And karagedon?"

"Well, we already have the meat… did you grab fry oil, Taiga?"

"Yeah, and we have plenty of chicken!"

Minori laughed, and nudged Taiga a little. "Remember the last time we tried to make chicken? It went horribly!"

"I still say we'd have succeeded if we tried again!" Taiga shot back. "You just gave up and went to get KFC because it was getting late."

"And we'd run out of chicken anyway!"

Ryuuji's blush at getting to spend time cooking with Minori warred with the much more horrifying prospect of Taiga attempting to cook too. Soon, however, he was distracted by the much more pressing issue of money - they'd arrived at the checkout, and it was time to decide how to split the bill. Taiga had forgotten to hit the ATM today, no major problem. Minori had plenty of cash- or would have cash, it turned out, as she scratched her head and smiled abashedly, when payday rolled around next week.

Counting out the bills, Ryuuji winced. So far on the altar of good cooking, he'd sacrificed his socks budget, most of his new sewing supplies, and any hope of another cartridge for his ancient SNES-

"Don't worry, Ryuuji, I'll make sure Taiga remembers to pay you back." Minori said with a smile.

"Hmph. My dog doesn't need to worry about paying for things with me here."

Minori's eyes flashed dangerously at that. "Really?"

"Of course! I take care of him, he guards me!"

"Then why is he out two thousand forty yen for our food?"

"What was that, Ms. 'I'll get to you after payday?'"

"Don't try to escape your failures!" Minori replied, leaning over to grab Taiga by the head. "You know what this means, Palmtop Tiger!"

"Why don't you try saying that to my face!" Taiga yelled, flailing around. "Ryuuji! Get the boken!"

"I am saying it to your face, Palmtop Tiger!"

Sighing amidst the chaos, Ryuuji turned to the cashier, who had been looking on in exasperation. Their faces mirrors of mutual agony, both nodded slowly in understanding as Ryuuji collected the bags. Taiga and Minori were so deep in debate that neither of them realized that Ryuuji had handed off the bags to them. By the time either of them noticed anything, they were out in front of Taiga's apartment, with the sky looking decidedly overcast.

"C'mon, it's going to rain any minute now, and I want to get the fridge organized since you all wanted to buy nothing but meat and I've still got things in mine that should be moved over." Ryuuji said, glancing at the sky.

"Give me a minute, I need to find my keys." Taiga grumbled, fishing through her backpack. "Minorin, can you hold this bag?"

"Wait, I thought Ryuuji's been carrying the bags?"

"No, he made us carry all the groceries because… hey, wait a minute!" Taiga exclaimed, glaring at Ryuuji. "Why'd you make us carry all the groceries?"

"Because I need to run over to my house and get my stuff." Ryuuji replied, getting ready to head that way.

"No, you just said you need to sort the fridge." Taiga said, shooting a long wink at him, before nudging Minori. "I can't help, I need to take a bath."

"Alright, alright, fine." Minori said, rolling her eyes playfully. "I might join you, though. This weather's making everything so hot and sticky."

Laughing a little, Taiga kept looking for her keys. She kept chuckling, right until the first raindrop hit her.

"Taiga…" Ryuuji said, looking up. An ominous roll of thunder pealed out, cutting off anything he might have said next.

"I know, I know!"

The rain picked up, with a lighting flash in the distance. "Taiga, check under your math book." Minori said, watching the middle distance as the wall of rain loomed closer.

"Oh! Thanks, Minori!" Taiga said, letting them all into the apartment lobby after a few rather damp moments of rummaging. With moments to spare, the three got into the building- right before the lobby air hit them like a brick, forcing them together in a huddle for warmth as they trundled to the stairs up to Taiga's apartment.

Looking out the window on the way upstairs, Ryuuji could see that the typhoon had truly landed. Even now, water was flowing rapidly off his house's roof and down the walls; no doubt substantial amounts of that would be going in the many poorly sealed joints to ruin what it could. Getting a futon tonight was a moot point. Hell, he might not even find dry clothes to wear tomorrow. At the very least he should be able to clean his current set of clothes. A thought occurred to him, prompting a side-eye to Taiga.

"Hey, Taiga?"

"Yes?"

"Did I ever get my sewing machine back from you when I came over to-"

Cutting him off aggressively, Taiga tried to be stern, but between being soaking wet and standing too close to the AC, she was shivering too hard to pull it off. "N-n-no, it's still there. It's all still there. W-w-why do you ask?"

"That's a relief. That means I don't need to rescue it from the rain."

That also meant he still had some clothes left over as well. Sure, they had issues, but they were wearable at least. And besides, they were there because they could be fixed; nothing there was a lost cause.

Still, dry clothes or no, there were some leftover issues that needed to be dealt with. For one, sleeping arrangements. Ryuuji had a spare futon, which he had planned to bring over. This would have been a fair amount of work, if it hadn't been raining, and the futon was packaged up right, and a dozen other things went according to plan. When had things ever gone according to plan, though? Now, Ryuuji would be stuck on the couch.

If Taiga had a couch, that is. She certainly didn't have a guest futon, or anything like it. Even a tatami mat or properly laid out spare blanket would be tolerable at this rate, but everything in this apartment was the sort of sterile hardwood that was easy to clean and looked nice with no other virtues. Not that being easy to clean was bad, necessarily, but it was so hard and stiff!

"I-I'm freezing." Taiga said, shivering. "G-g-gonna take a bath. That'll warm me up! Keep an eye on Minorin, Ryuuji! She always puts the sweets on the top of the fridge!"

"I do not!" Minori shouted back, before noticing she was shivering too. "Although I might get a shower soon! I'm cold!"

Bustling over to the fridge, Ryuuji shook his head. Bathing was for later, he had food to handle. He had perishables on the counter, and they needed to go in the fridge. Meat first; the pork and the chicken slotting in neatly. Those could get prepped as they needed them. The tofu was next, and the onions and the ginger went in too. The garlic could live on the counter, but there was a fair amount of other fruits that could go in. Just not next to the onions, or the smell would contaminate them-

"Here!" Minori said, grinning as she came up behind Ryuuji with a set of drinks. Taking them, he slotted them into the door rack, before turning around to accept the next item. It was relaxing, working with Minori, until they were done and the crippling awkwardness set in.

"So…" Minori said, smiling a little. "Taiga told me you know how to sew."

"Yes."

Scratching her head bashfully, Minori flushed a little and smiled. "I used to come over a decent bit, but I… uh… grew."

"Well, I can probably let some shirts or pants out a little." Ryuuji said, stroking his chin and moving towards the table in the living room. "It depends on how much taller you got."

"It wasn't so much that I got taller." Minori said, putting her fingers together before blushing more. "I started really training for softball, and then well…"

The lightbulb, at this point, was going off for Ryuuji. "Ah, yeah, and now they're too tight through the shoulders? I can fix that, no problem."

"Something like that, yeah!" Minori agreed, before perking up. "Ah, Taiga's out of the shower! That means I can get warm!"

Smiling to herself, Minori started walking towards Taiga's bedroom, towards her bath. Like everything else in this apartment, it was absurdly large, with a truly titanic tub and a well-appointed shower stall that Minori liked to joke could hold half her softball team. Since Taiga was happily ensconced in the tub with a little stereo playing, it was a piece of cake to get in the shower.

On Taiga's part, she didn't really notice anything wrong. Between the sound of the rain and her little radio playing a nice piece of guitar music, it was hard to tell the shower was on. Right up until Minori heard the radio enough to hear the song, at least.

"Europa, right?" she asked, still washing her hair. "I didn't know you liked this sort of thing."

Naturally, Taiga had only the most eloquent of replies. "Gyah! Minorin, what! You! How?"

"I mean you were done in the shower." Minori replied, starting to rinse out the conditioner. "And I was cold. You should really invite me over some more, it's been a while and it's so nice here!"

"Minorin, you! My shower!"

"I know, I love it."

"Why are you in my shower!"

"Because you were done with it."

Sinking her head down beneath the surface of the tub, Taiga burbled angrily. She wanted to complain, but, well, Minori. Her best friend never had much body modesty. It had been funny, a few years ago, but then puberty hit, and, well, Taiga's bustline had somehow managed to go down when she joined a kendo club. That hadn't had any lasting effects, no sirree.

The worst part was Taiga couldn't complain. Minorin looked good: tall, taut, and her chest was bound to be fluffy. It wasn't- not that Taiga was jealous or anything! Taiga had worked hard to stay lean herself, and it was an even match between her and Ryuuji for who had more slack in their skin. Still, for just one day to have a rack like that!

As the shower turned off, though, Minori stepped out and Taiga couldn't stop herself from staring. She hadn't shared a locker with her best friend for long enough- or, in the privacy of her own mind, could admit she hadn't tried to see how Minori had changed- to be as intimately familiar as she could be. Now, though…

"Hey, Taiga, do you mind if I share the tub with you?" Minori asked, fidgeting slightly. "I kinda want to make sure we're both done in a reasonable amount of time, so we can let Ryuuji get warmed up too."

A small, trivial part of Taiga's brain managed to squeak out a "Sure, I don't mind.", whilst the rest of it just gibbered insensate thoughts about just wrapping herself up in Minori and never, ever letting go.

Minori couldn't even bother to think; the bath was much too relaxing. Worrying right now just seemed like too much effort. With Taiga's loose hair floating over her lap, she could finally let her mind spin down peacefully. There was nothing to worry about, with her smallest friend next to her to push onwards. Minori could rest like this forever.

"This is nice." Taiga said slowly, relaxing totally. Reaching forward, she picked up a strand of her hair, before pulling it back and drifting freely in the bath. Moments later, she just allowed herself to be taken in next to Minori, leaning on her like all was right with the world.

"You know…" Minori said, sighing. "I forgot why I stopped letting you drag me over here."

"I forgot why too." Taiga admitted quietly, letting her head rest against Minori's chest. "I should bring you here more often."

"That sounds good."

Of course, good things were not meant to go on forever. Banging on the door, Ryuuji growled. "Hey! Taiga, where's your AC control? I'm freezing out here!"

"Eh? We'll let you have the bath in a minute!" Taiga yelled back. "Don't touch my AC!"

"It's been a half hour, c'mon! The soup's done even!"

At this, both girls in the bath perked right up. "You made soup?" Taiga asked.

"Just some miso, but come on!" Ryuuji begged.

"Alright, alright, just give us a minute to get dried off!" Taiga groused. "Minorin, you can wear my bathrobe. I know my towels are a little short on you."

"Alright, but let me help get your hair done up." Minori said carefully, pulling out a towel to make certain sure all that luscious blonde hair dried true.

"Thanks." Taiga said, making sure her own towel was tied nice and tight so Ryuuji didn't see anything he didn't need to. She was comfortable around him, sure, but there was a difference between being comfortable with him and giving him more of that handsy moment at the pool! On turning around, though, she had to gasp. "M-M-Minorin…"

Smiling bashfully, Minori clapped her hands together in front of the much-maligned fluffy bathrobe she'd put on. "Well, it… if I belted it down at the waist... it doesn't really cover everything…"

The worst part was she wasn't even wrong. Minori's decision to belt the fluffy bathrobe under her bustline might have preserved her modesty, but in exchange the hemline was well clear of her knees, and there was still a deep V-neck with the new arrangement. For an inexplicable moment, Taiga was overcome with jealousy at her bathrobe, but quickly stuffed it away. It wasn't much work to grab a spare bath towel and tie it off around her waist, ensuring there wouldn't be any unfortunate moments, and then they were off.

Right into a shivering Ryuuji, who quite honestly looked like he was freezing to death. Minori looked at Taiga, who nodded. Then, with the grace only a pair of athletes could muster, they pushed him into the bath, pulled his shirt off, and very nearly chucked him in the tub before leaving with Taiga's personal imperial air.

Out in the kitchen, the order of the day was some of Ryuuji's soup, and the sorts of contented smiles that came from enjoying something fundamentally good in life. He'd used the big nine and a quarter liter pot for this, and it was full of miso with more tofu and green onion and garlic than they could shake a stick at. Combined with the happy 'ding!' of the rice cooker, it was something to soothe the soul.

When Ryuuji came out, dressed in the spare housecoat Taiga had decided to get him out of the magnanimity of her heart and not just because she thought it would be good to see him wearing something with 'Aisaka R.' on it, Minori had already plated him up a respectable portion, and she was shuffling a deck of cards expertly.

"Oh ho ho ho!" she laughed dramatically, throwing her head back and covering her mouth with the back of a hand. "I see you have joined me for the most important of all card games: poker!"

"Please help, she's been like this for the last half hour." Taiga groaned.

"Ah, but you seem to think I don't already know how to play." Ryuuji replied, grinning. "So lay out some five-card stud and I'll get some disposable chopsticks for betting, and we can teach Taiga how to play."

It took a few hours to get it so Ryuuji and Minori weren't cleaning Taiga out every few hands, and another few after that to teach Minori Texas Hold'em. Eventually, the bed was calling oh-so-sweetly, and the group stumbled away from the table in a friendly mob. As they moved away, though, Ryuuji stopped, and had a thought. It was not a good thought, and he peeled off from the girls towards the box in the corner with his sewing machine and a few of his clothes he'd decided to fix here. Even with Taiga's high standards for fit, it was still easier to do his stuff here instead of at home sometimes- if only because there was more room to work here.

Thankfully, there was a clean t-shirt and some shorts in there. Saying his blessings to Past Ryuuji, he rolled them up and started moving for the toilet. Getting changed was simple enough, and after that he came up to the bedroom door. Knocking received a simple enough answer.

"We're a little tied up!" Minori called out cheerfully- almost a little too cheerfully. "Taiga just forgot something is all!"

"Give me that back you are not wearing my favorite hoodie to bed!" Taiga called out, forcing Ryuuji to flinch.

Inside the room, meanwhile, a small war was raging. Minori, naturally, didn't have anything to wear to bed. Taiga was not accepting 'sleep commando' as an acceptable option. There were few objects in Taiga's closet that were anywhere near fitting a girl twenty centimeters taller with even more in the hips and bust.

Thus, the current debate on what would be sacrificed to Minori's sleepwear needs. Would it be Taiga's favorite oversized hoodie she never let anyone wear, or would it be one of Ryuuji's button-up shirts he'd declared unsalvageable?

"I still say you should wear the shirt!" Taiga hissed. "He'll never know, and you'll cook in that hoodie!"

"Mou, but I like the hoodie!" Minori replied, zipping it up to her chin. "Why did you never tell me you have a red bunny rabbit hoodie?"

"Because I knew you'd steal it!" Taiga said, lying as easily as she breathed. Still, if it looked cute on her, it looked amazing on Minori, along with the pair of matching booty shorts that had been dug out of a long-forgotten drawer that still had a neat piece of tape in Ryuuji's handwriting that read "Misc."

Speak of the devil, though, and he'll knock on the door. "Taiga, c'mon, it's the hoodie isn't it?"

Both Minori and Taiga locked up at that. "How did you know about it?" Taiga said, frantically shoving the plan B shirt under the bed.

"You had me patch a rip in the collar from your bokken once."

"Oh."

Grinning, Minori just took her victory, and opened the door to let Ryuuji in. As he entered, a cool draft followed from the body of the apartment, serving as a reminder that bedding had yet to be figured out.

"Well, since it's my bed, I call dibs on center." Taiga said authoritatively, before laying herself down there. "Minori may naturally have the place of honor next to me."

"Thanks…" Minori said, smirking a little. "I'll make sure my little Princess Tiger stays safe from the big, bad hound she has at the foot of the bed."

"Hey, I wasn't gonna just put Ryuuji at the end of the bed!" Taiga protested. "I was just… gonna…"

Moving over to the end of said bed in question, Ryuuji sat down, before blinking. "This is a really nice bed."

Ignoring him completely, Taiga harrumphed, before tossing a pillow down by her feet. "I trust you not to get up to mischief, even if you are a dog."

"Well, we could put me in the middle, and let him sleep up here?" Minori suggested. "If he gets up to anything, I'll just throw you at him!"

"Nah, look." Ryuuji said, shaking his head before stretching out and positioning the pillow just so. "I fit down here with room to spare, and if you two don't sleep in the dead middle of the bed, it'll be fine."

"Well, I'm where I sleep at, so it'll be fine." Taiga said with a sniff, before patting the bed with a positively feline smile. "Unless you're chicken."

Minori's eye twitched. "Chicken? You'll choke on this cock then, Taiga!"

It was at that moment that Taiga stood up to her whole hundred and forty-ish centimeters atop the bed with Minori charging her. As the two grappled amicably, Ryuuji just did the smart thing and rolled out of the way. It would settle down in a minute, right?

"I claim center spot as right of conquest!" Minori called, pinning Taiga's arms behind her and grinning.

"Cheater!" Taiga growled. "You were suffocating me!"

"Not my fault you put your head in there!"

Ryuuji, as the smartest person in the room, just facepalmed and walked over to the wall. "I'm shutting off the light now." he warned, before the room was pitched into darkness. Stumbling towards the bed, he eventually found it, crawling in happily. It really was an excellent bed, he mused, finding a good and open spot before grabbing a pillow. The last thought he had before drifting off was simple, wondering why he could hear Taiga's breathing from next to him.

Ah well. It was probably nothing important.

---

Credit to @7734 for the vast majority of the above, I didn't do terribly much writing for this first chapter. Also, while it's not surprising given the anime was from 2008, it's still disappointing nobody's written something like this before b/c Minori did not deserve the kicking she got in canon.

 

[7734]

Credit to @7734 for the vast majority of the above, I didn't do terribly much writing for this first chapter.

Click to shrink...

We're gonna work on that, don't worry.

 

[Alstreim]

I'm a simple woman. I see OT3, I read OT3.

 

[Xomniac]

Hell, I see Toradora or any other romcom on SB/V, I read. Honestly, too rare by half. I get it, explosions are fun, but sometimes you just want da fluff!

 

[7734]

Hell, I see Toradora or any other romcom on SB/V, I read. Honestly, too rare by half. I get it, explosions are fun, but sometimes you just want da fluff!

Click to shrink...

Does Taiga having a moment count as an explosion?

 

[Spectral Waltz]

Does Taiga having a moment count as an explosion?

Click to shrink...

She doesn't cause actual combustion often enough.

 

[7734]

She doesn't cause actual combustion often enough.

Click to shrink...

We'll put this in the 'things to fix' list then.

 

[TortugaGreen]

The next morning, Minori groaned softly. There was no sun streaking through the windows, no sounds of siblings or other life. In their place was a rolling drone coupled with an ever present chill, unpleasantness offset only by a pressing warmth against her chest and a set of strong arms clasped around her back. Cracking one eye open revealed nothing more than a mane of dishwater blonde hair. No explanations there, but it wouldn't be the first time life had moved past her.

A boom of thunder washed away the morning confusion however, and in a pleasant stream yesterday started trickling back. Shopping with Taiga and Ryuuji. Getting soaked outside the apartment. Taking a bath with Taiga. Playing poker with Ryuuji, and being so, so happy she hadn't put her money where her mouth was. Figuring out the bed.

Trying to work a hand up, Minori finally got her eyes clear to start drinking in her situation. Taiga had, somehow, gotten herself nuzzled into Minori's bosom, resembling a cat trying to figure out if a hole housed any mice. By all rights, it shouldn't have been as cute as it was. Behind her, curled around Taiga like she was his pearl, was Ryuuji. It was his arms, Minori deduced, that were what held her in place for Taiga's affections to take root.

As pleasant as this all was, however, there was one- well, two, now that Minori thought about it- problems with this scenario. Problem one, she really had to get up and text her folks that everything was okay. She'd told them about this, but they had still expected her to come home yesterday. Best to let them know she's still alive before they started renting the room out on her.

Problem two was entirely more pressing, because the bathroom was calling and neither Taiga or Ryuuji were letting go! Wriggling a hand up slowly, Minori pried one of Ryuuji's hands off her, releasing Taiga to reflexively knee her in the thigh. Wincing, Minori just let out a quiet hiss. That hurt! Still, Ryuuji's other hand was easily transferred to the tiger that was mauling her mid-escape. Freedom was within her grasp, if she could just-

"Minorin… where'd you go?" Taiga asked in her sleep, reaching out. "Come home…"

Blinking, Minori paused for a second. It wasn't a long second by any means, but it was still long enough for a sleepy Taiga to reach out and grab a leg. Pulling free with a jerk, Minori rushed off to use the toilet. As heartwarming as being wanted like that was, there were still things she needed to do!

Ryuuji hadn't been asleep, but he wasn't awake either. It was more a state of warm semi-consciousness, entwined within a comfortable weight and warmth aside him. He held that weight; as something pulled at it, he tightened up without a second thought. This was his; he couldn't let it go away. Then again, why would someone try to take it? He needed an answer.

Thus, his eyes opened into a forest of Taiga's hair, rich with her scent. This inconceivable scenario forced everything into high alert, shaking away his drowsiness and causing a reflexive recoiling away from Taiga. There was no way Ryuuji had spent the night spooning her! There had to be an explanation for why he'd been wrapped around her, right? Or why it felt so right to have her pressed into him like that, nestled into his arms like a precious jewel.

While this was racing through Ryuuji's head, Taiga had started rolling about in her sleep. It would have been adorable, if not for the confused and lost expression on her face and brief attempts to grapple Ryuuji before pulling back and resuming her tumbles. As Minori returned from the toilet, she took in the scene.

"My, I didn't think you'd taken to Taiga so much." Minori faux-chuckled, putting her hand up by her face like a rich old lady. "How cute!"

Between the choice of forming a coherent response including, presumably, informing her that her front was very exposed between the unzipped hoodie and lack of bra, or simply staying quiet, Ryuuji bravely took the third option of choking on air and trying to scrape out a coherent sentence with the resultant noises. Minori just grinned, moving over to the head of the bed and the pile of slightly rumpled pillows that laid there.

"Watch this," she muttered, before taking a pillow and gently dangling it in front of Taiga's arms. Moments later, Taiga had grabbed it, snuggling up with it in a tight embrace. "She'll be distracted by this for five minutes, easily-"

Unfortunately, Minori's bragging was interrupted by a thrown pillow, catching her right in the face. Taiga's search resumed unabated, rolling and flailing across the bed.

"Well, that's new." Minori muttered around the pink pillow. "Have you been teaching Taiga any bad habits?"

"What? No, I didn't do this-" Ryuuji denied.

"Awfully suspicious thing for a boy to say who was all over her when I got up!" Minori said, poking Ryuuji in the chest. Flailing backwards in alarm, Ryuuji landed on the bed with Minori pursuing him, crouching over him aggressively. "Just fess up, it'll be quicker!"

Minori pounced on Ryuuji, or at least she would have if Taiga hadn't happened to roll into them at that exact moment. With the presence of Taiga, it was less a pounce and more of an awkward tripping followed by a sideways tumble, as the Palmtop Tiger dragged her and Ryuuji into herself in an impression of a comatose tumbleweed. Stopping at the head of the bed, the duo sat speechless, pressed together by the jungle cat between them and unable to come up with anything clever to say.

In the end, it was Ryuuji who broke the silence.

"I'm not sure what I expected."

"Yeah, you get used to it." Minori chuckled. "She's been like this as long as I've known her."

"I wonder why she's grabbing at me, though." Ryuuji asked, taking time to stroke Taiga's hair. It was rich and full, well tended and an obvious point of pride. "I'm her friend, but-"

"-she calls you her dog, I know." Minori chuckled. "She was like this for a while last year too. I was always 'that dolphin' then, since I kept trying to drag her to the pool."

"Seriously?"

"Not my best idea, yeah!" Minori chuckled, rubbing her head. "Still, being her dog means you're one of her closest friends. She'd move the world for you now."

His thoughts flashed back to the day in the classroom, and its double-ended promise. Was it strange to think that even a sleepy Taiga could fulfill her end of the deal, while he had barely secured her any time with Yuusaku? Ever since Ami had entered the picture, his work had just become a comedy of errors.

"Don't think about it," Minori advised, seeing the look of pain on Ryuuji's face. "Don't slow down, don't stop. If you slow down, you have time to think, and if you have time to think you just can't help thinking about things. It's better to just keep moving and ignore it."

Tugging at his hair, Ryuuji looked away, down into Taiga and the all-consuming tresses of her hair. By now, both he and Minori were attracting the strands, bundles of lines connecting them both to Taiga. "Even if it's right in front of us?"

"If it weren't in front of you, you wouldn't have to avoid it."

As Ryuuji was about to respond, Taiga started to rouse herself, bringing her face up to gaze into her best friend's eyes. Minori reorientated herself in response, allowing the Palmtop Tiger to slowly crawl into the arms and lap of her softball ace. Content and comfortable, Taiga looked up innocently and uttered but a single word:

"Coffee."

Minori blinked a little. "Er?"

"Coffee."

Stepping in, Ryuuji started gently untangling himself from Taiga. "She's like this most mornings if I get her up early enough, though I'm usually able to avoid being grappled like this. I'll go make coffee and breakfast if you can get her to the table."

"Alright! She's too adorable to say no to like this!" Minori declared. "Up! C'mon, Taiga, food and coffee awaits!"

"Coffee?"

"Yes, coffee, c'mon!"

Smiling, Ryuuji just went out to the kitchen and started scrambling around the fridge. He had options today. Still, as the rice cooker dinged and the soup pot slowly came back up to temp, Ryuuji grinned at the coffee maker on the counter. He'd made up several pre-prepared coffee packs, so all he had to do was to pull out the oxygen absorber packet, throw the coffee filters full of coffee in the machine, and get on with breakfast. The moisture in the air was stealing the heat from all of them, so the first order of the day was getting the soup back up to temp, after which came some rice and little omelettes. Everyone liked omelettes. Warm food and hot coffee would do wonders to push away the cold, damp reality of their day.

The coffee got done quickly, and it wasn't long before everyone was nursing a cup. Good tea was better than coffee in Ryuuji's opinion, but good coffee was much easier to make at this early in the morning. The omelettes weren't much work, and sneaking in some tofu American-style meant they were a very sturdy breakfast. By the time everyone was done eating, Taiga had turned from a bloodthirsty jungle beast into a human, Minori had turned restless, and Ryuuji was simply happy with the current state of his kitchen.

"Think the storm's winding down a little?" Minori asked casually, looking out towards the concrete patio where the rain was dancing.

As lightning casually flashed in the distance, Ryuuji shook his head. "We're still not going out in that mess."

Taiga smirked around her cup of coffee, before looking at Ryuuji. "Minorin's just worrying about her conditioning. I hope she remembers that she's the only one here in softball though, this time..."

"Taiga, I know you don't like joining me on morning runs, but it's so much better to get it out of the way early so you don't need to do it when it's warm out and there's people!" Minori complained. "I only woke you up that one time, and that was years ago!"

"You called me at six in the morning." Taiga replied smoothly. "We're friends though, so of course I forgive you for it."

Minori just rolled her eyes. "C'mon Ryuuji, you have to agree with me. Getting it out of the way in the morning means you have the rest of the day to do stuff you like!"

"Does it really matter? With this kind of weather, you're going to get soaked either way, and I really don't want to have to deal with more wet clothes." Ryuuji said, shrugging, before side-eying the storm outside.

"What am I supposed to do then?" Minori asked, holding her hands out."I don't think Taiga would appreciate me doing laps around her living room very much."

"Why not join me for sword practice then?" Taiga asked rhetorically around a stolen bite of Ryuuji's omelette. "It's Sunday, and I normally run through some katas to stay sharp."

"Do you have spare equipment for that?" Minori asked. "I know you've got your boken, but actually doing things with two people takes practice armor."

"Good thing I have some, then." Taiga smirked.

"You have two sets, neither of which will fit any of us unless I tie you into them." Ryuuji snarked, fully brought to life by the power of breakfast.

"So just tie us in then!" Taiga announced.

"Alright, fine. You hung it all up in the coat closet, right?"

"Yes?"

Walking over to the closet, Ryuuji sighed. The padded gi and breastplate sets were still where he'd put them when he was cleaning the apartment the first time, next to a few relatively fresh shinai. Taking it all back to the living room, it went on a clean part of the table, before Ryuuji looked at Taiga expectantly. Grumbling, Taiga put down her drink, and went over to the kitchen counter to grab a bag of hair ties.

"Minorin, can you do up my hair?" Taiga asked, before standing on a chair calmly. For anyone else, this would be ridiculous, but for Taiga it brought her to a more manageable height.

"Just a ponytail for this, right?"

"You can be a little fancy," Taiga said, smiling a little. "Just a little, though!"

As Minori started raking Taiga's hair into a more manageable braid, Ryuuji started dusting out a gi, inspecting it for damage before pronouncing it fine. That done, he got the far more important part; a small bag of light twine from his sewing kit. Getting Taiga into the gi wasn't hard; even though he had to wrap it halfway over itself to get it around her. Still, once it was belted on, the Palmtop Tiger deigned to smile. She was in her element, now.

Moving up to the top, it was a simple matter to bring the collar up, and then tie off a bite in it to bring the shoulders in. More ties brought the sleeves in, and a topmost tie under the armpits kept the chest secure. A quick pat-down made sure the gi was well-fitted. Under the padding, though, Ryuuji felt a taunt and trim form, before a stiff glare from Taiga caught his attention. Moving away before she got up to anything, he got the breastplate and quickly attached it, strapping it down tight. Stepping down from the stool, Taiga picked up a shinai, before starting to run through her forms.

It was easy to see Taiga had put a lot of practice into this, as she moved quickly from kata to kata. The armament felt natural in her hands, and the bamboo blade whispered promises in the air as she wielded it.

"Ryuuji, Minorin, grab a shinai. I need to show you two the basics." Taiga said cleanly, preparing herself. "Never had to teach this before…"

What followed was a rough series of demonstrations of Taiga's art. The roughness didn't mean it was fast or easy, though. The cuts had to be covered, and then the moves between the cuts, and finally the katas. A half hour, gone, before they could even start to consider a spar.

"Either of you think you stand a chance?" Taiga asked, grinning slightly.

"Nope!" Minori said cheerfully. "Ryuuji, you go first!"

"Eh?"

"Taiga wouldn't hurt you since you're the cook, and I need a minute to figure out some of the transitions."

"Wait, crap, Ryuuji's doing the cooking!" Taiga said, eyes flashing.

"Only now do you remember this." Ryuuji muttered. "Still, I'll go first. Auntie taught me a little bit of stuff for the naginata once upon a time, so it might carry over."

"You have aunts?" Taiga asked.

"My mother has more friends than I can count on both hands, and before we got the apartment after Dad died we bounced around a lot." Ryuuji admitted sheepishly. "They're where I learned a lot of things, like sewing and cooking when Mom was burnt out after a bad day at work."

Taiga nodded, before looking over at Minori. "His mom's a hostess at a club. Late work, long hours."

Before the other two could keep talking, Ryuuji pulled on the padded gi and started buckling on the breastplate. It was a bit small on him, but after some fiddling he got it into a position that seemed workable enough. Given some time he could definitely make it more comfortable, but it wasn't too bad. He'd have to hand it over to Minori soon anyway.

"So, you remember what I just taught you?" Taiga brought Ryuuji back to the present, taking up her position. At his hesitant nod, she continued. "Get ready then. I don't want to wait all day."

After a moment, Ryuuji stepped forward. A traditional guard was never a bad plan: sword forward and upright. Against Taiga's powerful shoulder form, it could probably withstand a hit. Breathing deeply, half-formed hints and practical advice flew through Ryuuji's mind, but all of it was devoted to the wrong weapon. Still, one thing came to mind- accept the enemy's stroke. Never lock weapons, but keep moving, and try to redirect the strike.

The first swing came whistling in, and it wasn't hard to feel the attack's purpose. Taiga was bored, probing, seeing if Ryuuji had paid attention, or just dismissed her like so many others. The response, to whip in and brush the blade up and over, came quickly, if not easily, and the strike went wide.

Behind them, Minori leaned in, and Taiga smirked under her mask. The parry hadn't even finished before the next blow was circling in, a center thrust. Everything with the naginata had been thrusting, though, and this maneuver was far more ingrained. Bring the attack out of line with your own weapon, and bring yourself out of line with your own feet. Bamboo cracked, and the next step followed through with a basic downward strike. Taiga blocked, naturally, but her next cut was sloppy, and ceding ground kept Ryuuji safe.

"Taiga, is something throwing you off?" Minori asked.

There was silence for a moment, as the world halted around Taiga, and she breathed deeply. "No," she answered, dead calm. "I've just been a little too relaxed about this."

One more breath, and then she moved. A low cut, hard to block, caught Ryuuji out of position, before a simple reversal disengaged Taiga's shinai to let her come in for a high chop. It was only a brute-force dodge that let Ryuuji avoid the attack, and it tied his feet back. He was out of position, defenseless against the backhanded high strike that caught him hard in the mask. After that, falling to the ground was the less painful option, ending the match.

After a minute just resting on the floor, Ryuuji finally levered himself back up, grumbling quietly. "Going to need a bit after that." Once upright, with some help from Minori, he walked off to lean against the counter. Ryuuji wasn't one to take chances, and if that hit was any indication he didn't want to be at risk of more.

Minori, however, was considerably more enthusiastic. Being hit with a stick looked painful, sure, but she also wanted to see how the techniques Taiga had taught her worked in practice. A half hour of practice was not nearly enough morning exercise! Ryuuji might be backing out now, but that was okay. He had other responsibilities; but now it was her own time to shine. It took a bit to transfer the gi and breastplate off Ryuuji and onto her, where they fit much better, but once it was done she stepped forwards eagerly.

Just like the last time, Taiga assumed her opening stance. Copying it, Minori looked carefully. No time like the present to attack, right? Stepping in with a strong side cut, Taiga parried in a strong upward motion, before coming in with a down-cut. Cracking off Minori's shoulder as she tried to dodge, the bubbly redhead hissed. Yeah, that hurt a little. Not as bad as catching a softball with her boobs, but it was enough to need to notice.

"Try again, Minorin?" Taiga asked, grinning under the mask.

"You're on!"

Stepping up with Ryuuji's textbook blade forward stance, Minori lunged in quickly, trying to score that fatal hit. This time the parry swept down and out, and Taiga frowned a little bit under her mask.

"You're overextending pretty bad." the more experienced of the two said, before coming back in. This time, though, Minori managed a snappy block- right until Taiga smiled, her sword seeming to twist like a serpent as it cracked against the top of her shoulder and the slat of the breastplate there. Arm tingling, Minori stepped back, shaking it to get the feeling back.

Before Minori could get back in the game, Ryuuji walked over, standing next to her. "You want to always think about what comes next." he said, miming a series of cuts. "If Taiga parries, move out of the way. If you block, move into the next attack. Stopping to think is how you lose."

Smirking, Taiga whipped her shinai through a figure eight, before sheathing it in her belt. "Pretty much. Most of my practice is just making sure I always remember what to do next."

With a low chuckle, Minori stood up straighter. "Ah, now that I know what I'm doing-"

A knife-hand cracked out, thunking against Minori's mask. "Don't get silly about this!" Taiga barked. "If you start showboating you'll lose every time!"

Minori slowly straightened up, and Taiga stepped back, resuming her pose. Amateurs were always difficult to fight against, especially rank amateurs- and as much as her feelings might have been doing loop-de-loops after her morning wakeup, pressed into Minori and feeling safe and warm in a way she had never felt before, this was still a fight. Years of practice, still mostly sharp from the dojo back in elementary and middle school, were snapping on.

This time, this time for sure, it would be her turn to attack first. Moving forward with a low swing, Taiga blinked as Minori stepped out of the way, before coming up with her own high strike. A quick fan up and out parried the blow, but the second, the very second that Minori got her shinai back under control, it came ripping down again. There were a lot of options about dealing with this in theory, but Taiga was always aggressive to a fault- so she charged in. Shoulder-checking Minori, the pair fell to the ground, banging together in a tumble on the ground.

Breathing deeply, Taiga made sure she hadn't hurt herself before checking over Minori. They both knew how to fall- softball and kendo both left strong marks- but it never hurt to check. Under the kendo mask, Minori was flushed heavily, smiling with eyes aglow. It was beautiful, and for a moment Taiga was entrapped. There was no mystery, then, why Ryuuji wanted her so bad! Energetic joy sparkled in Minori's eyes, moments before that tell-tale smirk came back with the soft 'bonk' of a shinai on the top of Taiga's mask.

"I finally won a round!" Minori cheered, hugging Taiga. "I finally got you!"

"Technically I won when you fell…" Taiga corrected, petulant, before smiling a little. "But it was a good bout. You really fixed your problems there!"

"Let's call it a tie, then! After all you fell too, unless landing on me makes it not count." Minori forged on stubbornly. She certainly felt like she'd won anyway - she'd done a lot better than last time, and she'd even been awarded a Taiga for her efforts. A Taiga who looked quite cute as she stood there looking back at Minori. Taking a minute to remove her mask and breastplate, she claimed her similarly unarmored prize and walked over to the chair to rest.

Taiga wasn't really sure what to make of this. On the one hand, she wasn't some child or pet to be carried around and cuddled! On the other, she was a bit tired, and Minori's warm grasp as she sat with Taiga was surprisingly comfortable. Maybe she'd wait a bit before getting free; being held like this wasn't unpleasant, and she'd need a bit to gather the energy to properly object to it.

After a while, it began to occur to them both that they were quite sweaty, and sitting in a pile like this - while cozy - was not really helping that. Minori poked Taiga, getting her attention. "You want to start showering? We should probably get clean, and it is your apartment after all."

With a few muttered grumbles, Taiga hoisted herself from the chair and off Minori. She really did need a shower, and she was feeling a fair bit less tired now. Heading to the bathroom, she noticed it was distinctly closed - by the looks of it Ryuuji'd gotten started with cleaning up early, and hadn't gotten clear yet. "Hey! Dog! Don't stay in there forever, other people need to shower too!"

Once Ryuuji emerged in a towel and a scowl, Taiga ducked in, trying and failing to blot the mental image of Ryuuji's lean muscle from her mind. Why did her friend, her loyal hound, have to be so damn hot! Sure, some people might complain about his fierce expression, but they were idiots. That fierce expression was just intensity, and Taiga liked intensity. Strong emotions burned brightly, and they could light up the world with their power: not like some of the limp-wristed sycophants she'd seen suck up to her mother and father like the jellyfish they were.

Starting work on her hair, Taiga hemmed and hawed. Even if Ryuuji was passionate, he couldn't hold a candle to Minori. She felt everything without reservation, not even pretending to hide. It was her most attractive quality, bar nothing. Taiga could spend the rest of her life, just basking in that light if she wanted to. Minori wouldn't say no, after all, and they were more than the sum of their parts together. Of course, Ryuuji was going for her for these same reasons. It wasn't hard to blame him- a beautiful young woman who held the sun in her hands was his dream. Trying to stop him would hurt Taiga, and she knew this well. Worse, it would hurt Minori.

Despite her ironclad hatred of mornings, Taiga was not a complete sloth upon getting up. She knew exactly where and what she was doing once her eyes opened, it's just that before the power of coffee and food she didn't care. It was an important difference, since she was fully aware she'd spent a decent amount of time with her face pressed into Minori tight, warm abs while her legs ensnared Ryuuji so he couldn't escape. Letting her nuclear blush free, Taiga finished her hair and toweled off before getting her spare bathrobe out. Her spare bathrobe she had bought when she was twelve, and optimistic as to her future growth.

The fact it had three centimeters that trailed on the ground and could be wrapped around her twice over was immaterial, really. Moving out, stately as a queen, Taiga allowed an assumption of authority to fall over her. Everything was going right for once.

Then the apartment was cast in a harsh, white aura as lightning rained down around them. Thunder shaking the building, Taiga gulped. Things seemed to be calming down, right until Ryuuji burst in with a confused Minori behind him, grabbing Taiga before diving into the bed.

Feeling her loyal hound shaking, Taiga looked over at her best friend, before sighing. She really should have seen this coming.

---

words go Brrrr. once again, credit to @7734 and Spacefox - who doesn't have an account on SV - for very large portions of this.

 

[Spectral Waltz]

Cuddles are good. Very good.

 

[The Sandman]

I like this; Toradora fics are a rare thing to find, though that's probably because the source material is harder to squeeze fanfiction into than a lot of other works.

 

[7734]

I like this; Toradora fics are a rare thing to find, though that's probably because the source material is harder to squeeze fanfiction into than a lot of other works.

Click to shrink...

That's because the original is about as tightly packaged as a German sports car that started shooting meth last week. Trying to figure out where to worm fanfiction in is incredibly tricky, considering the dozens of moving parts there are in this show and the litany of foreshadowing you have to rebalance.

 

[TortugaGreen]

On schedule, here's the new chapter. This'll be the last chapter devoted to monsoon (is it a monsoon in this case? IDK) shenanigans.

---

Curled up next to Minori and Taiga, Ryuuji shook slightly. There was something deep in him that remembered the last terrible typhoon, and the flooding that had come with the lightning. He'd been seven or eight at the time, holed up on his bed waiting for the water to go down. The wind had shaken the building he was in, tearing at the walls and terrifying the young Ryuuji. This time, however, he was in a much better place; not in a ramshackle apartment falling apart from lack of maintenance, but next to his crush and his best friend.

The rain still scared him regardless.

"Afraid of lightning?" Taiga asked, eyes bright. Ryuuji refused to answer. Minori chuckled.

"I was gonna come in here anyway, but Ryuuji beat me to it." she admitted. "It was pretty scary!"

It took Ryuuji a moment, before he sighed, sitting up. "Sorry." he admitted, looking away.

"Well, I'd rather a dog that protects its master." Taiga finally said, taking a minute to rub Ryuuji's head. It felt comforting, for some reason.

"Besides, it was kind of cool." Minori said. Blinking, Ryuuji turned to her, and she continued. "I mean, there was no hesitation! I wish half my batters were like that when they were up to hit!"

It was a moment before Taiga started thinking about what to do. It was difficult: Minori's presence was less than conductive to rational thought on a good day, and there was something about Ryuuji that just made everything else grind to a halt. "We can just stay in here for a while," she said, getting out of the bed to go over to her cavernous closet. A moment later, she pulled out a dusty old portable DVD player, as well as a few movie cases. "I've got some movies in here somewhere!"

As with many of Taiga's plans, however, reality set in quickly as most of the cases turned out to be empty, leaving them with a choice between a copy of Godzilla vs. Megalon, or something with an English title none of them could quite make out. As such, the ideal solution was the ancient monster movie… right up until everyone was heckling it and laughing at the horrible plot.

"So let me get this straight." Ryuuji said as Jet Jaguar got decked in the face during the battle with Megalon. "A nuclear detonation under the Aleutians managed to severely damage an underground city under Italy? How? Those two places are almost half a world apart! Do these people not know anything about geography?"

"Well, I'll tell you how when Megalon here throws a good punch!" Taiga yelled, trying to strangle a pillow. "C'mon, clean his clock so we can see Godzilla get in here already!"

"You just gotta have faith in Jet Jaguar, he's trying his best!" Minori complained. "I know I wouldn't do so well in a two-on-one like this!"

"You wouldn't get in a two-on-one like this though." Taiga groused. "I'd be there, and so would Ryuuji, and then we'd kick their asses together."

"Even if I'm at work or something?" Minori chuckled weakly.

"Especially if you're at work or something. You have a phone and can call both of us. We'll come running."

The bed descended into silence for a minute, before Minori slowly wrapped Taiga up in a suffocating hug.

"Ack!" Taiga exclaimed. "Help! Stupid dolphin is all over me! Ryuuji, help!"

"If you don't let go of Taiga, I can't have her help me cook lunch." Ryuuji said, smiling slightly. His threat was effective- too effective, as Minori just choked up on Taiga more.

"You dare threaten the sanctity of my lunch? Ryuuji, I thought you were my friend!"

"I am your friend!" Ryuuji shot back, before starting to blush a little at the admission in the heat of the moment. Fidgeting with his hair, he looked over at the door back to the kitchen, then at the girls. The thunder had died out, thank heavens, but there was still an undercurrent of aggressive tension in the air outside as the rain kept hammering down.

Minori blinked, a moment of shock coming over her as the realization sunk in. "Ah, er, well," she hemmed, before Taiga managed to slip free. Without her hostage, she just shrugged. "I guess I can make lunch?"

"Why do you want to make lunch?" Taiga asked, putting herself equidistant from the two. "We can just go with Ryuuji and do it that way."

"Well, he seemed nervous about it, and I know how to make a few things." Minori shot back. "It's no trouble, we can't just make him go cook everything!"

Ryuuji just breathed deeply, before swinging his legs off the bed. "I'll be fine to cook-" he said, as a stray roll of thunder echoed out. "-just. It'll take a little longer. Don't worry. I'll be fine."

Getting out of bed rather artlessly, Taiga got out of bed to follow Ryuuji, stepping up close enough to him their arms touched casually. Gulping a little, Minori saw the little gesture, and read the subtext.

She's helping him, Minori thought, gulping. I haven't seen this side of her for a long time. When did Ryuuji find out how to cross those walls in her heart? I haven't figured out how to help her myself, and he's just-

"Minorin, come on. If my poor dog keeps shaking like the Stupid Chiuhauha, he's going to make a mess of my kitchen!"

"Should be my kitchen by now, considering how much work I had to put into cleaning it up." Ryuuji muttered, before getting a hip-check for his snark.

"How rude!" Taiga barked. "In recompense, I demand chicken curry."

Smiling at Taiga's simple choice, Minori followed them to the kitchen. "I'll start making the roux." she said, moving over to the stove, getting a pot. "Can you cut the chicken up, Ryuuji?"

"That'll be fine." Ryuuji said, moving up to the counter, getting a knife and cutting board. "Does anyone have any preferences for this?"

"Extra spicy!" Minori called out, before Taiga walked over, moving to the pantry. As Ryuuji pulled out the chicken from the fridge and took it over to the cutting board, the curse of the Palmtop Tiger struck. As her foot caught the side of the island, she went down cursing, hands flying out for anything to help save her. Since Ryuuji was on the other side of the sink, this meant she hit Minori- and on catching her friend, Taiga's slammed into her, face-first. The last thing Taiga saw was the back of Minori's pants.

Turning, Ryuuji muffled a laugh as he saw Taiga holding on to Minori for dear life, head pressed against Minori's ass. Putting down the knife, he walked over to help her up, before looking around at the roux.

"Minori. You dumped in half a carton of chili powder." he said, looking at the roux with despair. "This'll be fun to fix…"

"Do we have to pitch it?" Minori asked, as Taiga picked herself up, blushing all the while.

"No, I can fix it." Ryuuji said, digging around. "This is just gonna be a really strong curry."

"Okay."

As Minori and Taiga got to work on the chicken, Ryuuji breathed in deeply. It would take some work to fix this, alright. Pulling the roux out of the pan and dumping it into a stockpot, his next move was to start dumping in some stock and the prepared vegetables. It would turn out thick if he started simmering everything down now, but the solution to overspicing was more cooking time, and finding ways to thin out the mixture. Normally, most people would add potatoes, but there was a simpler trick his mother had taught him. Digging around, he quickly found a small jar of peanut butter that he dumped in and stirred vigorously. A splash of cooking wine, next, and then the bulk of the stock.

Stirring quickly, everything started blending together. The curry would be a lot richer than normal, but that was fine. Everything would be going-

-KRAK! went the lightning, and Ryuuji twitched, slapping the side of the too-full pot. As the hot soup hit his hand, he hissed, stepping back to clean it off with a towel. Everything was going to be fine. He had Taiga and Minori counting on him. He could do this.

That didn't mean his eyes didn't drift over to the storm shutters that had been latched down over the glass patio doors, though, looking for the telltale signs of their locks.

Once everything was ready and dished up at the table - which involved some care, given the limited space - everyone sat down to eat. The curry was definitely very rich and had a few unmixed blobs of one ingredient or another, but it wasn't bad. Spicy, like Minori wanted, while still sweet like Taiga preferred.

While a few attempts at conversation were made, the lunch passed by quietly and peacefully, up until mid-dish cleanup. "Actually, what're we supposed to do now?" Minori asked. "We can't go outside, and my and Ryuuji's houses are on the other side of that storm."

"Why don't we play a board game? I remember digging some up when I first cleaned things up, and it should still be in the closet somewhere." Ryuuji observed. It didn't take him long to unstack the closet, before raising an eyebrow. "Well, looks like we've got… Monopoly, Catan, and a pack of cards we could use. Any preferences?"

"I haven't played Catan in a few years." Minori said, smiling. "But I'm willing to give it a shot!"

"Any preferences Taiga?"

"Catan's fine," Taiga confirmed, prompting Ryuuji to get it out and set it up on the recently cleared table. After playing for a bit it was becoming clear that Ryuuji was not doing very well; Taiga hadd blocked off his sole clay supply, and without that he'd been near completely incapable of doing pretty much anything. He'd been able to upgrade a town to a city, but that didn't do much good given the biggest tile it was attached to was the same one that had remained blocked most of the game.

Upon Minori's turn, however, it finally happened: she rolled just right, and now she'd finally unblock his clay! After all, it wasn't like keeping it there was worthwhile given how far behind he'd become.

"Hey Ryuuji, I've got a deal for you. I'll let you have your clay back, if you work on fixing up my old clothes." Minori offered, smugly. Well, he'd been planning to get to that anyway, it shouldn't be an issue to push it up the queue.

"Sure," he agreed. At least now, assuming the dice cooperated he'd finally be able to get some supply redundancy, as he'd saved up more than enough of the other resources to set up a new settlement.

Of course, that's when Taiga flipped over a Knight, putting the robber right back in the middle of Ryuuji's settlements, and it all went downhill from there. Still, he'd made an agreement and whatever else he was Ryuuji wasn't one to back out of promises.

The sewing machine had been put in the same closet Ryuuji pulled the games out of, so the only real work it took getting it out was moving a couple things that he'd put on top of it while digging out Catan. With that and the rest of his sewing kit, he got everything set up carefully. Watching him with a hint of anxiety, Minori gulped.

"So, ah, you're going to do my clothes now?"

"I said I would, yeah." Ryuuji said, sighing as he plugged in the little machine. Checking his thread caddy, he pulled out a tape measure. "Now, let's just get a quick fix on what I need to change…"

"Are you sure? Can't we just play another game?" Minori asked, backing up, before hitting the wall. "Or get cleaned up after lunch? Maybe polish the stove?"

"Don't worry, Minori, he's perfectly safe." Taiga said, smiling slightly. "He did some tailoring on my-"

Cutting off with a jerk, Taiga gulped, and Minori stared. There was dirt there. Paydirt that could get her out of this, even!

"C'mon, Taiga. Just spill the beans!" Minori pressed, closing in on her friend. "You can tell me! I know how to keep your secrets! Like that one time we were goofing off in the-"

It was at that very moment, as Taiga smirked in a most feline way, that Minori realized that Everything Was According to Plan. A thin line of fabric tape was being held to her back, and behind her, and Ryuuji was scribbling out a number. "Lift your arms up please?" he asked, before dropping down to measure from her but to the floor.

Jumping forward a little, Minori gulped. "H-hey! You're not doing any pants!"

Ryuuji blinked, before blushing. "Right, I'm only doing shirts. Sorry…"

"Although if you're doing shirts, there's something that would probably be better for me to measure." Taiga said, eyes aglow. "After all, I know you grew in more directions than just up!"

"Eh, well, hold on now Taiga!" Minori protested. "I'm sure it didn't change a huge amount!"

"Even a little bit is worth a tune-up though!" Taiga said, smiling, before catching a tape measure that Ryuuji tossed her. Slipping it under Minori's breasts, she clinically read off the band, before moving it up to the bust… only for it to fall off. Trying again, it slid away from the cusp of Minori's breasts in a dramatic dive for the floor. On the third try, Taiga just muttered, and slapped a hand over it to hold it still while she lined up to take the measurement- until Minori chuckled.

"I know you like holding onto me, Taiga," Minori said, grinning, "but you know the rules."

Taiga slowly looked up, before a nuclear blush rose over her face. "Um, well, er, are you sure? I mean, I'm just helping my dog make you some better clothes, after all! I'm totally innocent!"

Huffing, Minori chewed that fact over while considering the old, straining sports jersey from middle school she was wearing- and the far more critical fact that it was showing more than a few centimeters of her abdomen that were getting cold in the damp of the apartment. Finally, huffing, she just went over to the nice chair in the front area that was some small distance from the dinner-turned-sewing table, and curled up in it. "Oh, woe is me, for I don't have anything to keep me warm!" she wailed dramatically.

"Really?" Ryuuji muttered, looking over the list of measurements he had, augmented by Taiga. "Gonna have to completely take that apart. Ugh. I should buy a serger. T-shirts are a mistake."

Grabbing a pack of colored pencils and a lap-board, Taiga just rolled her eyes and crawled up in Minori's lap. It took a minute or two of adjusting, but finally she could start to trace her way through a coloring of expanded manga panels.

"I see you still like that," Minori said, smiling.

"I still can't draw reliably, so this works." Taiga replied, snuggling up against her best friend. As Minori's fingers clicked away at her cell, making sure her other friends and teammates were okay, Ryuuji hummed as he worked. It was peaceful, for a while.

Of course, Mionori finished her mail soon enough, and then she was left with nothing to do. It wasn't long before boredom set in, and once that line was crossed peace was never again an option.

"Ne, Taiga, you remember when you raced Ami in the pool?" Minori asked, smirking.

"Yeah, why?" Taiga asked.

"Well, I happened to notice something interesting," Minori casually posited, stretching out her hands. "Your swimsuit was a lot more full than normal, after all."

Taiga froze, before trying and failing to smile nonchalantly. "Really? Must be puberty, ah ha ha- oh no!"

Shrieking a little, Taiga tossed her art supplies as Minori's hands shot up her shirt and fondled her with an uncomfortable precision. Rolling out of the chair, the Palmtop Tiger hissed, before calculating trajectories and weighing how much dignity in not getting into a catfight in front of Ryuuji was worth as opposed to getting her own back.

"That's it! I knew you had to have done something to that swimsuit when Ryuuji dived in after you!" Minori yelled, laughing and standing up proudly. "You can tell me you padded it, you know! My lips are sealed!"

"Shut up you C-cup titty monster!" Taiga shot back. "It took a lot of work to get Ryuuji to fix that up so I wasn't as flat as a shark!"

"You know I wouldn't care, though!"

"It's not about what you think, Minori, it's about how everyone else sees me!" Taiga cried. "I'm just their violent kid sister who wrecks hell wherever she goes! They never look at me!"

Minori stopped dead before falling backwards. Words failed her, as Taiga balled her fists, eyes puffed red in rage. This, this was the devil of the heart that those walls around her existed to entrap. Was it malchance that today was the day that Minori had found this deep wound, or some ill fate? Either way, their relationship had been struck strongly with careless words. It was the scrape of a chair on floor that brought Minori out of the horror of realizing what she had done, though, when she saw Ryuuji approach.

Standing there, Ryuuji just huffed quietly, before leaning forward into Taiga's space. The fist that flashed out was expected, really, just another expression of that deep, old injury. What wasn't expected was the careful catch and roll, or Ryuuji taking a step back with a final thud. That wasn't just a random move- that was him taking the punch, Minori thought to herself, and making sure it moved him instead of hurt him.

The question, however, was why? Lashing out didn't help Taiga at all, and she knew Ryuuji wouldn't try and hurt her. If anything, he was the one who helped her the most, more than Minori had ever managed to do herself. With her feet glued to the floor, all she could do was think. There had to be a key here, somewhere! There had to be a reason she trusted him so much-

-wait. Minori was thinking about this backwards. It wasn't that Taiga trusted Ryuuji to help her, it was that Ryuuji had helped Taiga, and that's why she was willing to extend so much faith to him. Of course- the swimsuit! The swimsuit that he padded, and helped save her while she was wearing. If that didn't build a rock-solid trust, then nothing else would.

As the realization caught up to her, Minori realized that the Ryuuji had returned to the sewing table, and Taiga had slunk out back to her bedroom. There was silence, tense and heavy, for a few minutes, until Ryuuji finished the shirt he was working on.

"Here." he said, before flushing a little bit. "It's just a t-shirt, so I couldn't be too fancy. Can you try it on?"

"Of course!" Minori said, trying to smile and mostly succeeding. Ducking into the hallway to the bath and Taiga's room, she pulled off the old jersey, before gulping. Taiga had come out of her room, catching her topless and off-guard.

"T-Taiga?" Minorin asked. "I'm sorry about-"

"Don't apologize for it." Taiga said brusquely, before gulping. "I-I-I over-reacted. A bit, just a little, there was a mistake, nothing serious."

"Oh." Minori said, gulping.

"S-so, did my dog finish m-making that shirt for you?"

"Yeah!" Minori said, perking up.

"Try it on, then!"

Pulling the shirt on, Minori gulped. It was- it fit! The last time she'd worn this shirt, she'd been nearly as flat as Taiga, and now it fit nearly perfectly. The trick was a pair of side panels, where Ryuuji had pulled out the original seams and added extra fabric to let the shirt have more depth. On one side, the fabric was a mother-of-pearl pattern; the other, a shadowy jungle pattern. Both colors rose up Minori's flanks, twisting around the sleeves, and cosying up to her neckline. What had started as a blue t-shirt with a bubble pattern had become a multicolored creation, made now just for her.

"It's... warm," Minori gulped. "And it fits perfectly."

"Of course it does!" Taiga boosted. "Now we show it to him so he knows how well he did!"

Pushing her best friend out of the hall, Taiga grinned at Ryuuji. "Take a look at how you did!"

Minori blinked. When Ryuuji smiled like that, it made his usual roguish handsomeness come out in spades, and- was he blushing? He was!

"It looks good on you." he mumbled, barely audible. "I like it."

Taiga just smirked. "I knew you'd make her something good. You always do your best, after all."

"Not worried about me stealing your tailor, Taiga?" Minori joked. "After all, if he can do this with some t-shirts, just wait until I point him at my blouses. We could start an entire business together!"

"Go ahead!"

The other two stopped dead. This wasn't in the script! Taiga would normally get defensive, or demand something, not this warm acceptance-

"After all," she continued. "I trust you with him, Minori. Just because he's with you doesn't mean my dog is at any risk, and I'll always have you anyway."

"Oh."

Smiling lightly, Taiga brushed her hair back with her left hand, the cascading stream down her back catching a rare peak of sunlight. As the clouds closed, though, a rumble sounded out, before being joined by two more.

"Say, Ryuuji," Minori said, smiling. "When's dinner?"

"I can start prep now, I guess?" Ryuuji said, shrugging. "It's just pork cutlets."

"Ah!" Taiga said, smiling. "For once, my dog is exceeding every expectation placed on him."

This earned an askance look, but Ryuuji didn't bother to argue. Instead, he just started cooking calmly. As the cutlets started frying, he took out some cabbage, saucing it up with a practiced hand as the rice cooker pushed along on the counter next to him. The shake and stutter from lunch was gone, now, and it was just like normal as the most culinary of dragons pulled out a tangerine and zested it lightly over the cabbage sauce. It was always the little things, the tricks that made the difference between his cooking and everything else.

Whether it was late or early for dinner was immaterial, as another ray of sun blessed the event. Things were quiet as the lot of them ate, and as tea was poured after dinner there was a tranquil air. As the rumble of thunder resumed and the rain moved from a intermittent drizzle back to the rolling pour, the silence broke with a ringing phone.

"Hello?"

"This is Sudohbucks. Are we speaking to one Kushieda Minori?"

"Yes, yes, of course!" Minori said happily. "Kushieda Minori, that's me!"

"Good, good." the phone said, speaker blaring. "We've looked over your application, and we'd like to offer you a part-time position. Can you come in for an interview today?"

"Of course!" Minori said, cheery, unaware of the panic she was causing. Taiga's face was buried resolutely in her hand, while Ryuuji was gaping like a fish. Was she insane?

"Well, don't worry guys!" Minori continued on, not realizing the can of worms her actions had opened. "I'll probably be back soon!"

"No!" Ryuuji exclaimed, jumping up. Blushing at the curious look he received, his animated hands scrambled for the TV remote, clicking on the TV and frantically going through the channels. "Listen, let's just make sure it's not going to get bad."

"The sun was out a few minutes ago, I'll be fine!"

"Weather's on Channel Nine, Ryuuji." Taiga said absentmindedly, before turning on her best friend. "And as for you! Why would you even think about this, Minorin? It's nearly eight o'clock!"

"I know, I know, but it's calmed down now!" Minori promised. "Besides, you know I can't just mooch off you!"

"Just, let's wait for the forecast, alright?" Ryuuji asked, trying to mediate. "It might actually be lightening up."

Naturally, hopes were dashed as the radar map came up. They were in a clear window between bands of heavy rain, and the next one was screaming in fast. There was going to be an hour of good weather, and then it would all be going right back down the tubes. Naturally, this sated nobody.

Pacing back and forth, Minori started thinking aloud. "Alright, it's ten minutes to get to Neuroi street, then another five to get to Kazuto Alley. Fifteen minutes there, fifteen minutes back. I can do this."

"You can't do this, the interview will take at least an hour!" Taiga snapped. "If you get trapped out in the storm, then we can't do anything to help you!"

"I don't need help, though!" Minori snapped. "I can't just stay here and do nothing!"

"Why are you so worried about it?" Ryuuji asked carefully from the floor, a half-patched sock in his hands. "We can always play another game or something-"

"That's not it!"

Throwing in her two cents, Taiga glared at her friend from her chair. "Then what is it? Hell, you know we'll move heaven for you!"

"I can't just sit around here, soaking up your hospitality, and just getting fat and lazy on all of it!" Minori shouted. "I have to pay you back for it, and I- this- it's too much! Why would you-"

At this point, gulping back a sob, Minori bolted for the door. Taiga was on her like a shot, flying out of her chair fast enough to nearly trip up Ryuuji behind her. The second Taiga's hand wrapped around Minori's, the softball ace stopped dead, afraid of hurting her friend. No such hesitation informed Ryuuji, however, who slid past the pair frozen together, before barreling the three of them into the ground.

"Ryuuji!/Stupid dog!" the girls cried. As Minori considered the pros and cons of unwrapping Taiga' hold, jostled together as they were, Taiga stole the opportunity from her by wrapping around her back, head next to hers as they faced Ryuuji together.

"No." muttered the containing dragon. "I'm not- you don't need to pay me back for anything, Minori. You never have to."

"But-"

"Never." Ryuuji pressed, before realizing he was quite literally leaning over where she lay. Backing up to let the snarl of girls sit upright (Taiga making sure to have at least one arm and both legs still secured around Minori, though), Ryuuji started blushing slightly. Looking out the window, he caught one last glimpse of the peace before the typhoon resumed, and gulped.

"Listen... Minorin," he said, slipping into Taiga's intimate nickname. "What do you think about rainbows?"

"Rainbows?" Minori asked, confused. As she craned her head, she caught the last one fading out of the corner of her eye, before the clouds worked to choke it out.

"Yeah. Rainbows." Ryuuji said, voice taunt. This was something hard to explain, an old wound that had scarred over with time. "They come after rain, and the worse the storm is, the prettier the rainbows. We'll probably get a few good ones after all this."

Taiga stayed silent, and Minori nodded. "Probably?"

"Definitely." Ryuuji said back, sitting back. "This was a pretty bad storm, and it's not over yet. I might have to move again."

Taiga's jaw dropped, and Minori's eyes widened. Ryuuji just grew laconic, sighing. "I liked this apartment, too. It was easy to walk to school, and, well, now I know it's right next to Taiga. All good things come to an end, though."

"You could always move in here." Taiga protested, before realizing her faux-pas. "I mean, the apartment building always has openings!" she shouted, correcting herself.

"We don't make that much money, Taiga." Ryuuji grimaced. "That's why I like rainbows. They're free, and you can share them with everyone. My friends, my family, we can all take a moment after the storm and look at them together."

"Ryuuji…" Taiga muttered, gulping.

"So when this is all over, we can go back to my apartment, and see what's left. I'll probably have to replace a lot of stuff, but that's life." Ryuuji shrugged. "I can replace lost clothes or books. I can't replace people, you know? If anything happened to you, Minori, I'm not sure how Taiga would take it."

Minori's face was flushed, and she nodded. Behind her, Taiga's face was stony, her mind trying to process. It was obvious that Ryuuji was using her as a shield for himself, true, but why was her heart racing like that? It must still be the rush from thinking Minorin, her Minorin, would run out in the typhoon like a damn fool idiot, dragging her hound to clean up the mess like he always did-

Slumping down in front of her, Minori gulped. "I'm- I'm sorry." she said, blinking away a handful of tears. "I didn't think- I couldn't do that to you-!"

It was a short moment of panic on Taiga's part to realize this was her line, but she recovered by moving in front of Minori to hold her friend. "I know." Taiga murmured. "I know."

"But you- Ryuuji-"

"I said I'll always have you, and I mean it." Taiga said, forcefully. "Always."

Clearing up her sniffles, Minori took one last look out the windows, sun slipping below the horizon over Ryuuji's home as the rain started to mist down like a falling cloud. "Can we go to bed?" she asked, gulping. "I'm just... tired."

There wasn't any discussion on that point, just tired nods. There was little discussion as everyone got into bed, and none at all about naturally flanking Minori in the middle of the affair. Only the sleep of the exhausted, as a hundred emotional stones continued rolling after a landslide of a day.

 

[7734]

If I have to write one more cooking scene I'm legally allowed to bill this as a Dinner with the Emiyas crossover.

 

[Rakan]

Man I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed Toradora. This is bringing back all sorts of good memories, and I'm hopeful to upgrade them with an OT3.

 

[TortugaGreen]

We live! Barely! Have like half a chapter of undiluted Ami thonkery, plus some normal people content. It's on christmas, to boot, at least from where I am on the west coast.

---

Sitting down at the Sudoh-bucks table, Ami smirked into her coffee. She'd stayed over with Yusaku, laughing at his pining and with his dumb humor as he cackled over her bad scheming. Of course, nobody would know her apartment had nearly gone underwater, or the fact that she'd hiked over soaking wet after things had gone horribly wrong trying to save part of her shoe collection, but well. That was what insurance was for.

Either way, the current diagnosis? Storm over, three days left until Summer Break, and there was mischief to make. After the whole debacle about 'My Ryuuji' from Taiga, Ami realized that she could no longer sit around playing the temptress. Ambiguity had shielded Taiga and Ryuuji from each other, and despite its problems this had kept a door open for her. Taiga had cracked that ambiguity with their bet at the pool however, and that meant it was time to reassess things.

Claims had been staked and Ami had to tread more carefully now. Perhaps if she were more honest at the start, she could have gotten her foot in the door first; that ship had sailed, however. Now that Taiga's feelings had been forced out into the open, Ami had nothing to fall back on; no amount of playing the coy bombshell could outweigh the emotional impact of that scene by the pool. Taiga was in position to win, and without cheating Ami wasn't going anywhere.

Ami was always ready to play dirty though, and bringing on co-conspirators was a big part of it. Ami had a menagerie of henchmen and informants to pull from every time she ran a big con, but this time help had come to her. Yusaku was there, a very useful pawn, and up to his particular brand of 'helping.'

Unfortunately for Ami, this brand of helping (pronounced in an over enunciated 'harupingu' for some kami-forsaken reason) was often less than helpful, and required a delicate balancing act to leverage properly. If the plan was made with him in the right place, however, Yuusaku could probably move mountains.

Of course, that required a plan, and right now there wasn't much of one to speak of. Aside from a few vague particulars, Ami had decided just to wait and see what happened before thinking anything further up. Taiga's statements aside, there had been a number of other chaotic elements shaking up the status quo, most notably the typhoon. It had been bad enough to even force her into a building at higher ground, and if she remembered the ramshackle frame holding up the facade of Ryuuji's apartment then it must have done a number for him as well. If something had happened during that to drive him into the arms of the Palmtop Tiger, Aisaka's position would be ironclad short of divine intervention; given that Ami hadn't seen too many miracles lately it was probably time to draw up a new strategy. Still, this required thought, laying down machinations to prepare for a lightning offensive-

"Ami, Your evil is showing again." Yusaku said, bumping her with his elbow. "You might want to hide it; they'll be here any moment now."

"Fine." Ami said, grinning as she leaned back in her chair. Here they came now, in fact, right on schedule- though she hadn't quite expected them to come as a group. Something was up. As the trio got their drinks on Taiga's dime, Ami took the time to take a better look. Their muted posture, full of little bumps and blushes just tickled something at the back of her brain. "Something's happened," she muttered, steepling her fingers and leaning in. "They all came together, and they're acting weird. Something's definitely up."

"Well of course something's up, you're mumbling again." Yusaku said, candidly. "Oi, Ryuuji! Over here!"

Walking in through the door, Ryuuji sort of gently led the mob towards their table, prompting another grin from Ami. She hadn't expected them to arrive like this, but that was fine. She could use it. "So!" she said, looking forwards. "About summer vacation at my family's beach house. Ryuuji, you're obviously invited, since I did win the bet, even if there was some irregularity in the contest."

Taiga simmered, but said nothing, while Ryuuji spoke up. "Actually, Ami-"

"At-tat-tat!" Ami said, cutting him off. "Please leave all questions to the end! Now, continuing on, I'd also like to invite Kushieda, because as much as I appreciate Yusaku's company, he really does best with someone to bounce off of, and someone has to keep him from accidentally getting lost in a cave. Again."

"It was one time, Ami!" Yusaku complained, rolling his eyes.

"And I'll never let you forget it!" Ami snapped. "And finally, well, if I'm bringing a dog, I might as well bring along a handler. Aisaka, I'm sure you've got nothing better to do for vacation, right?"

"This is some trap to make up for when you stayed over, isn't it. Stupid Chihuaua." Taiga muttered, staring daggers over her drink.

"I mean, yeah, I suppose it could be." Ami said, grinning. "However, I think I'll just be the bigger person, and just– let it go. Gotta grow up sometime, right?"

Ami could see the blistering response forming behind Taiga's lips before her phone went off. Digging the thing out of her purse, the Palmtop Tiger stared at it with a glaring hate that made her reflexively look for the incoming weapon.

Still, Minori didn't flinch, nudging her friend with a shoulder and putting a hand on her leg. The pressure of malicious intent fizzled, fading away as Taiga looked up and realized the position she was in. Shooting a look over at Minori, then at Ryuuji, soon enough a downright feline smile started creeping up her face, far more calm and collected than before.

Rage could be accounted for; Taiga was frequently angry, and anger could be manipulated in any number of ways. Such confidence, however, was new for Taiga, something Ami didn't yet know how to handle. While Ami had come here relatively unprepared, it looked like Taiga had a plan. The last time that girl had a plan had resulted in the Hundred Impressions- a worthy sacrifice of her acting talent, but still! This was dangerous. She'd need to play it carefully from here on out.

"You know what, Stupid Chiuahua, you're right." Taiga said smugly. "I am a pretty good dog handler, and you might just slip your leash out there in the wild. While I'm sure Yusaku can put up with your habits, I would hate for you to start humping the furniture- or worse, my dog- so I'll have to just keep an eye on things. And hey, it's a beach house! I'm sure we'll have a ball, despite any accidents."

With her most welded-on modeling face, Ami smiled pleasantly, while underneath she laughed raucously. Well played, Taiga! Sure, she'd lose some points for the fact that it was an elaboration on a rather childish insult, but that delivery was dead on target. Everyone had to start somewhere, and for all Taiga was a ball of breast envy and barely concealed feelings, those feelings were real. When everything in your world was pretty lighting and colored powders, well, it wasn't bad to appreciate something real, right?

As the conversation continued, though, something kept gnawing on a corner of Ami's mind. Taiga had displayed a degree of hitherto-unseen anger at her phone, and only her phone. More importantly, it caught Ryuuji by surprise, but not Minori. It hadn't been hard to mine the people around herself for information when she'd arrived, and Ami had quickly brought up her mental chart of who was who at her school once she'd transferred in. Minori and Taiga had been thick as thieves their first year after some incident with a ramen stand the former had been working at. Conversely, things with Ryuuji had been much more strained, and everything had actually started fairly recently. The how wasn't well-defined, but the result? Dragon and Tiger, coming together in unison. A force to be reckoned with, if they ever got their heads out of each other's respective business.

Therefore, whatever this was had been old news coming back around for a second pass, and could be used to drive people together or break them apart. Considering it would take an actual crowbar to separate Minori from Taiga at this point, though, it would have to be either driving Minori closer to Taiga, or breaking Ryuuji off from the pair. For as much as that dragon looked like a gangster, he was much more down to earth than the others.

Although, Ami had to admit, if Ryuuji was a grounding anchor, Minori was the wind, the whimsical, wondrous, imaginative portion of the trio. Driving the sports girl into Taiga's arms wouldn't take much work, considering she had nearly pulled her diminutive friend right into the abyss of her lap. Although, looking at how little Taiga objected, it didn't seem she minded the least.

Actually, there was a thought. Could the pair have something deeper going on? Girls loving girls wasn't an entirely foreign thought to Ami, seeing as more than a few of her coworkers used it as a way to maintain intimate relationships without worrying about a baby bump, but the thought of seeing it in the wild was quite new to her. And yet, if Minori and Taiga really had that kind of relationship, would it be more interesting to trick it into blooming? Then, perhaps, Ryuuji would be more open to her advances, or maybe even-

-did she dare go for more? Ami had, through the years, orchestrated more than a few convoluted relationships through her morass of model, photographer, and fashionista friends. How many of the cutthroat old biddies stewing in their sewing rooms could say they organized a true, proper, menage a trois?

Besides, if and when it broke down, Ami could take her pick of the pieces. A fling with a sports star, a daring night out with… whatever Ryuuji planned on becoming, it wasn't like he was limited for options; or even tricking the Palmtop Tiger into the modelling business and watching her hide behind Ami's skirts as the skeevy modellers came after her looking for blood! Oh, the rewards for failure were almost as grand as the ones for victory!

As Yusaku finished up a terrible joke about rose colored glasses and red cards, Ami made her move.

"So, scheduling." she said, smiling. "The big thing about me getting to use the beach house is I have to clean it out. If we go up Wednesday morning, we should be able to have it good and cleaned out by dinner, and then we can have fun until we need to go home on Sunday."

"That's good by me." Ryuuji said, followed by a manly nod from Yusaku.

"So, by morning, you mean the eleven o'clock, right?" Taiga asked hopefully.

"No, I mean the seven forty-five." Ami smiled. "It's a long way out, alright? We need to have some daylight left when we get there!"

"Oh, that's not so bad!" Minori said. "I thought you meant the six-ten train out! I can sleep in for once!"

Everyone looked at Minori for a moment with mixed horror and pity, before Ryuuji dragged things back on topic. "Do we need to bring any common supplies?"

"Just clothes and some basic hygiene stuff." Ami said, shrugging. "We can get food while we're up there, and I'll spring for the good hair stuff, but the house is fully furnished so you don't need to worry about that."

"Then I think we're good." Ryuuji said, wrapping things up.

-/-/-/

As Ryuuji stepped into the station with tickets in hand, he blinked. Of course Yuusaku and Minori were already here. His best friend's responsable nature was strong, and Taiga's best friend had a suicidal schedule. Still, as they were goofing around playing chopsticks, it wasn't a bad time to come in.

"Oh, hey guys!" Minori called out, seeing them first. "Glad to see you're here!"

"Yeah, c'mon!" Yuusaku added. "I brought coffee; we need everyone awake for this to work!"

Looking behind him to the barely-awake Taiga that was three cups of coffee in, Ryuuji gently shook her loose from where she was holding on to his duffel. As she moved forward to accept a styrofoam cup of coffee from Yuusaku, it didn't take a telescope to see that the close proximity to her crush was enough to wake Taiga up.

"T-th-thanks, Yuusaku." Taiga stammered out, before taking a sip of her coffee.

"No problem!" he said cheerily. "That said, I do have something I need a little help with…"

"It'll be fun, trust me!" Minori said, grinning. "Besides, you remember when we did that octopus crowd dance?"

"Yeah…" Taiga said, before screwing up her brow. "Wait, we're doing that one?"

"She'll never see it coming!"

Ten minutes later, as Ami came into the station, she saw a group of absolute idiots bobbing and weaving in a very summery, lighthearted dance. Looking at them with the look of the never-to-be-sufficiently-caffeinated, she sighed.

"Good morning to you too, Yuusaku."

"Morning, Ami!" he replied, smiling widely as the mass of arms he was directing spread out in a great flower motion. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling like we should get on the train." she replied, sighing. "Did you bring food?"

"I made orinigri for everyone, relax." Ryuuji said, smiling faintly.

Nodding with finality, Ami led the way on to the train while everyone else followed her. It was a short order to find their seats, a set of rows facing each other in the middle of the car. Settling in wasn't hard, but as the train took off, stomachs started rumbling. Fortunately, Ryuuji had packed lunch.

Handing out food with aplomb, Ryuuji smiled as everyone started eating. Making food everyone liked always felt good. As Ami dug in, she sighed happily.

"Gah… so much better than work or school food! You could make this every day, Ryuuji!"

"Thank you." he replied, eating his own happily. "I made two for everyone, if you want more."

"Is it really that much better than work food, Ami?" Yusaku asked. "I know I'd take it over anything the cafeteria's ever made, but that's not a high bar."

"Work food might be better than school food, but you haven't had to eat it since the start of summer vacation." Ami groaned. "This is the first good meal I've had in months!"

"School food is definitely better than home food, though." Minori opined calmly, while reaching past Taiga to grab her second onigiri. "Mom sucks at cooking, and so do I, so there's a lot of bento boxes and takeout."

Taiga just shuddered. "Minori, I promise, you're always welcome to come over for dinner. Unless it's Sunday. Then you have to call ahead."

"Aw, thanks Taiga!"

Smiling, the Palmtop Tiger leaned back in her seat, fiddling around with her iPod. "I will say this for Ryuuji- he is an amazing cook. Better than even my old private school, and they weren't slouches!"

"You went to a private school, Taiga?" Yuusaku asked, curious.

"Ah- well, it was just the Catholic school."

"That's still pretty nice." Minori said, smirking. "Although I've heard rumors they get up to things there, you know?"

Taiga just shrugged. "You mean the girls getting lonely and looking for companionship? Yeah. It happened. Only thing I had to do for it was get strapped into a penguin suit for some of the dances."

The entire group of friends stared at Taiga with various expressions from bemusement to naked curiosity. Finally, Yuusaku grinned a little. "You can't just leave us hanging, Taiga."

"Alright, alright! It was just for a dance or two, geeze. When the boy's school couldn't come over because of scheduling issues, some of us had to wear tuxedoes." Taiga said, harumphing mightily. "I had to learn the guy's part of the dance too, and then it'd be dance, dance, dance. I was the only one still on the floor at the end of the night, too!"

"Are you telling me that you, Trip-a-minute Taiga, can dance?" Ami asked sarcastically. "Please, I'll believe it when I see it."

"When we get where we're going, I'll show you. I'll show everyone! Wait, no, that sounds like something Ami would say." Taiga promised, modulating her tone to ensure that everyone there heard the implied "there will be blood" that went along with it. Aiming to prevent the impending violence, Ryuji interjected with anecdotes of his own.

"When I was younger, I attended a dance once. Some of my mom's friends were getting married, and so they stuck me in a tuxedo and dragged me along..."

Ryuji trailed off as the others turned on him with rabid curiosity. The image of a tiny Ryuji dancing with a girl was too adorable to let it go. They were obviously very eager to hear more, and as it kept them distracted from mutual jabs he did his best to comply.

"...It was fun, and western style. There was lots of cake and sweets and good food-"

"But you danced? With a girl?"

Ryuji lifted his nose and looked out into the Isle, blushing.

"I danced with some of my Mom's friends. A lot of the couples there were girl-girl anyways, so I took turns dancing with each of them."

Taiga blinked.

"Giri-giri?"

"What? Yeah, I suppose you could say they were giri-giri..."

"Do you have pictures?"

The shy Ryuuji proffered his phone for Minori, who snatched it and immediately began sorting through. Taiga and Ami bent over to watch as image after image flitted over the screen.

"After the last rain, I took pictures of all the Polaroids. It's probably a good idea to have backups-"

Ryuji's words faded into the background as it was overtaken by the various "Oooh's" and "Aaaah's" and other words of approval that were slung from across the table. Reaching the album of photos from the wedding, Minori paused momentarily on an image of two smiling women holding hands before moving onto a picture of the same two women standing together and ruffling a small delinquent's hair.

"You look adorable, Ryuuji!" she squealed.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, fidgeting with his hair with a smile. "Don't… don't mention it."

"Don't mention it?" Taiga said, smirking. "No. If they get to talk about me in a tux, they get to talk about you in a tux."

Ami and Minori nodded in affirmation. "Small suits are cute." Minori said imperatively.

"Indeed." Ami said. "When it comes to suits, flatness is desirable. You want to present as masculine a profile as possible, to play off other elements of femininity."

Taiga and Ryuuji stared at each other, silently vowing to each other to never let this come up again. Still, as the conversation petered out, the group of five just let the train rattle on.

After the train ride finished, everyone had to grab their bags and get on the bus, transferring lines twice to get out to the secluded chunk of beach that Ami's family owned. Standing tall there was the beach house, and as Ami fumbled for the keys the smell of the sea washed over them all.