KuroMiko

Part 2: Mikoto Stumbles Over It

"Touma..."

Misaka whispered his name as the boy closed in against her. The two of them standing alone under a dim streetlight in a deserted parking lot, surrounded by the city's ever-present curtain of fluorescent lights, made her feel so vulnerable; yet, it made her heart flutter in a way she never would have expected to enjoy. That annoying boy who was always ditching her and acting so irresponsible, the one who didn't falter against her iron-sand sword, that enigma who she seemed to keep running in to...wasn't running off now. Now he stood only inches away, his hand resting on her shoulder. The only hand in the world that she felt defenseless against. Touma looked into her eyes and smiled a calm and gentle smile.

He didn't say a word to explain himself, and Misaka couldn't tell how they had ended up like this, but she stood as if under a spell, anxious for reasons unknown to her. They had been fighting as was becoming typical for them, when suddenly the boy had stopped and silently walked up to her. A car horn sounded off down the street and one of the streetlights overhead flickered off, leaving them surrounded in an even more mysterious darkness. A few dozen feet behind Touma was a municipal pool, it's crystalline waters reflecting off the soothing teal and red hues of the skyscraper's lights above. The glow shimmered around Touma's silhouette, mesmerizing Mikoto all the more.

Slowly, the boy lowered his face towards hers, setting her cheeks blazing a brilliant pink and her mind racing. Her heart jumped a beat, and she closed her eyes...

"Onee-sama..."

Her eyes flew open and she stumbled back half a step. "Wha...why am I thinking about that now ?" she asked herself. She looked up at Touma, his lips forming a confident grin only inches away from her own.

The image of Kuroko's hair down; pink locks cascading freely across her perky little breasts; panting with raw lust. "Because, this feeling....it's the same as back then..." Mikoto's cheeks flared with a powerful blush.

"Um, Biribiri?"

The delirious feelings of control as she bit gently down one of Kuroko's swollen nipples, pushing the girl to her limits with light shocks delivered through her teeth. "No, it's not the same as back then at all..." She furrowed her brow, looking troubled.

Before Touma could figure out what had happened, they both perked up at the sound of quick footsteps piercing through the darkness on their left. Somebody was running over, fast!

"Ack!" Touma shouted. Mikoto saw a flash of red, and then he was gone. The footsteps were gone too.

"Eh?!" she gasped.

Within an instant, a roaring SPLASH and a huge spray of water from the pool off in the distance. Then, where Touma was only a second ago, stood none other than her roomate, Kuroko, breathing fast and hard as though she just ran a marathon.

"Eehhhhh?! Kuroko?!" Mikoto's jaw dropped.

"O..O...nee...sama" Kuroko gasped for air, doubling over on her knees. Despite her confusion, Mikoto felt a little flustered at the sight of Kuroko panting like that in front of her, and couldn't put together anything to say. There were too many conflicting emotions surging right now, and underneath all that, her body was feeling sort of warm too...

Kuroko regained herself and broke the silence.

"Thank goodness, Onee-sama! You were in danger! Please, don't go wandering these back alleys late at night, it's not safe! And it's certainly not a sound practice for a lady of Tokiwadai."

Mikoto smirked. "In danger? Don't be silly, Kuroko. I'm a level 5, remember? Besides, I know that guy. It's Kamijou Touma." It was dark, but she thought she noticed Kuroko's brow twitch at the name.

"Oh right, that boy. Well, I'm sure he's no good for you, Onee-sama. I can't imagine what his intentions are, calling you out so late at night." Kuroko nodded to herself. She looked so serious, the Railgun burst out laughing.

"You're one to talk about intentions!" she chuckled. Kuroko made a stern face.

"Hey," Mikoto said abruptly, "what happened to Touma anyway?" She held her hand to her brow and looked around. The twintail girl smiled.

"Well, he was looking kind of worked up, so I thought a swim might cool him off."

"You teleported him into the pool!?" she sighed.

"Indeed, took us into the air over the water, dropped him, and ported myself back!" Kuroko proclaimed proudly.

"Well, that's a really skillful use of your abilities, Kuroko. But seriously, that's kind of mean..." Despite everything, she felt a little disappointed. She was sort of looking forward to that kiss...it would have been her first. Well, her first real kiss, anyway. She could've had something really exciting to share with Saten and Uiharu tomorrow, and she kinda wanted it for herself, too...Well, she felt like she was supposed to at least...

The more she thought about it, the more frustrated she felt, and suddenly, all those thoughts of Kuroko from before disappeared from her head. What was Kuroko doing following her around anyway? It's not like they're....dating...or something! It's not like that!

"Kuroko! You really dumped Touma in the pool! Why did you do that, why are you here now!"

Kuroko stood stunned. Her Onee-sama, always so strong and together, was pouting like a little kid. Over what? Not only that, she was genuinely upset, so much that...

"Onee-sama? Are you..." She stepped forward and tenderly laid her hand on Mikoto's shoulder. "...crying?" Kuroko's expression went from amused to forlorn in an instant.

Sparks flew as Mikoto electrified the hand right off. Kuroko rubbed her palm. That wasn't playful like usual. This really hurt, a lot.

"Kuroko! What are doing?! Why are you being like this! I almost had my first kiss just now!" Misaka had regressed into pure shouting, tears and snot beginning to mingle at her cheeks.

"Onee-sama!" Kuroko gasped. She clenched her fists tight. Did Mikoto really just say that?

"Why can't you leave me alone ever, Kuroko! You know I like you, but...not...like that..." Images of their room in the crimson sunset, Kuroko's longing gaze. It had all felt so good...
"..that's just, way too weird though." Tokiwadai's number one ace was staring at her feet, looking as confused and sad as a lost puppy.

"Onee-sama..." Kuroko bit her lip. An intense silence, broken only by the quiet whoosh of the occasional car whizzing by in the distance, swallowed the parking lot. Unknown to both the girls, a soaking wet Touma was watching the whole scene from behind a car only twenty feet away. His jaw was almost on the ground.

"Onee-sama!" Kuroko shouted. She too, was crying now. "Onee-sama's first kiss was mine too! We shared that! How can you be so heartless?! I love you!"

At that, Mikoto collapsed into a squat on the ground, embracing her knees tightly and hiding her face in them. She was sniffling and sobbing so loud, Touma thought even people on the street could hear. The smaller twintail girl leaned over once again to try to comfort her, and was met with another roaring crackle of electricity to force her back. All was still for a few seconds, Kuroko wearing an unimaginably pained expression as though her entire family had just been murdered before her eyes. Then finally, she disappeared into thin air, without another word.

Touma sat watching Mikoto cry to herself amidst the vast stretch of dark, empty asphalt. He couldn't even begin to process what he had just heard. Those two...What the hell just happened here tonight? It couldn't really be as it seemed. Could it?

"Well, I guess it was kinda weird that she wears those boxer shorts under her skirt," Touma thought to himself.

As the moments passed, so did Mikoto's sobs, and eventually Touma was at a loss for what to do. He emerged from his hidden vantage spot and begin walking towards the girl.

"Whatever that was about, it IS late, so I should at least walk her home, I guess."

After a few paces, he stopped. He couldn't get a certain mental image out of his head. "Misaka, and that girl...."

He scratched his cheek for a while.

Then, he turned around.

"Hmmmm, she is a level 5. She can get home fine by herself, right?"

---

Uiharu's bloodshot eyes were illuminated by the cold dim glow of her computer screen while she tapped away at her laptop's keys from her bunk. Her roommate, Ruiko Saten, had fallen asleep unusually early tonight, so Uiharu turned off the lights to accommodate her. But she still had some Judgment work to attend to, herself.

"Let's see, this database is so poorly structured...how can I query for anything quickly like this?" she mumbled to herself. From the other side of their apartment, she heard a series of short taps. "I guess I could write an entirely new schema...what a pain though."

The taps grew a little louder until she realized they were emanating from the door. Someone was knocking. Her eyes drifted towards the time in the lower right of her screen. "Ahhh, 11:45 already?!"
She had no idea who could be showing up at her apartment this late, so she quietly crept out from her bed and quietly snuck towards the door to peer out of the peephole. "M-Misaka-san?!"

Through the fish-eye view of the glass, there was definitely none other than Misaka Mikoto, Shirai-san's roommate, hanging her head pitifully as she slowly rapped at the door. Uiharu loudly fumbled with the locks, causing Saten to stir and grumble something in a thick, sleepy voice.

"Erm, hi Uiharu-chan. I'm really so sorry to wake you up. But....I couldn't really think of anywhere to go..."

Uiharu ushered her friend in quickly, trying hard to reset the locks more quietly after she closed it. She was exasperated by the sound of Mikoto sniffling. Was she crying?

"My my, of course you are welcome here Misaka-san. But it is kind of a long way to come, this late at night. I'm glad you made it safely!" She waited politely as Mikoto kicked off her shoes, then gestured for her to sit in the main room, preparing a pillow as her seat. "Ah, are you cold, would you like some tea?"

Mikoto cleared her throat. It sounded phlegm-y, like she had been crying for awhile. "No. Um, no, it's okay, Uiharu. I don't mean to put you out. Thank you for letting me in, again I'm very sorry."

Uiharu sat down across the table from her and cupped Mikoto's hands in hers. "Come now, Misaka-san. A friend of Shirai-san is my friend as well. Don't apologize anymore, please."

Mikoto's lips quivered a little at Uiharu's mention of her roommate, and Uiharu noticed. She lowered her voice into a very gentle tone. "May I ask what is wrong, Misaka-san? ...Did you have a fight with Shirai-san?"

Mikoto slowly nodded. Then she shook her head violently. Lastly, she sighed. Uiharu's serene smile calmed her down a bit when she looked up.

Uiharu continued her prompting. "Would you like to talk about it?"

There was silence for a few seconds while Mikoto held her breath, looking like she was poised to say something but couldn't spit it out. At last, she heaved her shoulders and said, "To be honest, and I'm sorry to say this after bursting into your house in the middle of the night, but I'm not sure I can talk about it."

The flower girl wasn't taken aback at all. "I understand then. Well, you look really tired, would you like to sleep? Or I guess we could play some games if you're not able to sleep yet."

Mikoto smiled back at her weakly. "Some sleep would be great, Uiharu-chan."

Uiharu pointed Mikoto towards her 2nd level of the bunk bed. "I'm afraid we don't have a futon. You're welcome to sleep with me though, my bed's pretty big. I don't really mind."

Mikoto's face clouded over with an unintelligible expression, making Uiharu tilt her head in wonder. "A-actually, I'm sorry to be so rude, but I might prefer to sleep on the floor. I, um...toss around alot...yeah, that might wake you up."

"Mmm, well okay, Misaka-san. Here," Uiharu pulled off a rather thick blanket and gracefully spread it out on the floor. She followed up by handing Mikoto two pillows. "You can borrow these then. Don't let Saten-chan keep you up all night with her snoring!" she giggled.

"Really, I can't thank you enough, Uiharu."

"Stop, Misaka-san. Sleep well now, okay?" With that, Uiharu climbed up into her bunk. She'd wanted to do some more work, but with Misaka-san looking in such a bad state, she didn't want the glare of the monitor to keep her awake. There was a small series of beeps while she powered down her laptop, then the room was filled with silence.

Mikoto laid staring at the unfamiliar ceiling. Emotions had been crashing around in her mind like tsunami waves for the past two hours, and she was totally exhausted, but she still couldn't sleep. She thought of Touma. She'd been fighting with him several times over the past two weeks, and even though she never landed a definitive win in their little sparring matches, she felt herself looking forward to them eagerly every night. She pictured his face, just a few inches from hers..."Was he really going to kiss me?" she wondered to herself.

Frustrated, she rolled over onto her belly. "Damn, I bet he wasn't. I bet he was just coming over to say his typical dumb garbage, like 'Go home, Biribiri, it's too late for middle-school kids to be out playing.' Screw him! Who does he think he is!'

Mikoto laid in the darkness, grinding her teeth. Soon Touma faded from her mind, and she stared calmly into the abyssal night, desperately pretending to ignore another issue burning at the fringe of her heart. She anxiously flipped over onto her back again.

"Kuroko...."

Last night had been like something out of a drug-inspired dream. Actually, it did remind her of exactly the sort of intense hallucinations she used to have back when she first started in the ESP development program. The whitecoats used to give her some weird medications. And just as with those hallucinations, the events of last night...after she had awoken, taken a shower, gone to class, and eaten her dinner, felt more and more like water under the bridge. She hadn't really reflected on it all day, until Kuroko showed up in the alley. The thing was, it really did happen this time, and it couldn't be ignored.

Mikoto knew what her roommate was all about. This awkward little junior had been stalking her around, always staring at her from the corner of her eye, since the beginning of the schoolyear. Mikoto was used to people talking about her, she WAS the notorious level 5 Railgun of Tokiwadai, after all. But the twintail girl actually never said two words to her for a long time, despite Mikoto bumping into her literally around every corner. She recalled the time when the two of them were first assigned to what would later become a long series of punishment chores by the dorm mistress. Mops in hand, they cleaned the cafeteria's floor clean amidst the evening twilight. While Mikoto leaned back lazily against one wall, she counted the times Kuroko's stealthy gaze creeped over towards her direction, met her own, then averted. Over and over again for at least twenty minutes. She should have realized what it meant then.

Soon after they became roommates, and everything changed. Suddenly, Kuroko would never shut up, chatting to Mikoto incessantly as if having her attention was as vital to the girl as air or water. Kuroko's behavior only got weirder. She started teleporting into Mikoto's stall during showers, hugging her for no reason countless times per day, and getting genuinely upset when Mikoto talked with people other than her in her presence. Mikoto had never really known how to handle it.

As she'd confessed to Kuroko last night, she had thought about "it" before. Mikoto was young but smart, and definitely not clueless about sex, although she didn't really think of it much at all herself. She'd overheard about these "girls who liked girls" from the gossip circles. And as it turned out, now she was living with one, who had a blatantly obvious crush on her no less. More and more frequently, even when it was just the two of them in their dorm, Kuroko would make some painfully transparent sexual comment;
"Hey Onee-sama, if you put some vapor rub on your chest tonight it might help with your congestion. If you don't mind, I'll gladly apply it for you~ "
was one such line that Mikoto recalled from the time she'd had a cold.

Knowing Kuroko's feelings, how was she supposed to respond to things like that? Often she'd play it off with a light-hearted rejection, and then in the moments that followed, her idle mind would curiously consider what her roommate might actually do if allowed. She couldn't say the ideas really excited her, but the funny thing was, the more she was exposed to Kuroko's incessant attempts at her body, the more often she found herself wondering about it.

"And as it turned out, giving in to Kuroko actually felt pretty good."

Mikoto yawned and shut her eyes, a slight smile playing across her face. She still had a lot of apprehension in her heart about what it could mean for her if she and Kuroko started doing those kinds of things again. That was a difficult idea to address. But, above anything else, she knew that Kuroko genuinely loved her as a friend, and that they shared a relationship she absolutely didn't want to jeopardize. She felt a tinge bad now about handling tonight so poorly, and not returning to her dorm. Kuroko was probably wide awake with worry. As she drifted closer and closer into sleep, her defenseless mind gravitated back to scenes of last night's sex...Kuroko's hot tongue sliding across her skin...her piercing stare as she massaged their breasts together...the moan of "Onee-sama..." in her ear....

Shirai Kuroko. A headstrong girl who was an accomplished agent of Judgment and never handled her responsibilities like anything but a mature adult. Yet, around Mikoto, her eyes always held a terribly sad feeling of pleading desperation....

To Be Continued...