Strawberries and Cream, an Ichigo Mashimaro fic

It was finally the day of Nobue's birthday. Chika was still rubbing her eyes blearily as she stumbled from her room to the bathroom.

She was already on the toilet by the time she woke enough to realize that someone was in the shower. She tried to hurry along and was just pulling her panties up when the water shut off and the birthday girl exited the shower, reaching for a towel. Both stared at each other for a moment.

Since Nobue hit puberty and especially since Chika had started to show signs of it herself, they had done a very effective job of keeping privacy. Nobue blushed as she saw her little sister, half-naked with an oversized shirt not completely covering the lower curves of her body. She was surprised, however, to see Chika turn as red as a tomato as she saw everything her older sister had to offer. Then reality kicked in.

"Chika! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Sorry onee-chan! Sorry! But you were the one who didn't lock the door!"

"You should've noticed someone was here!"

Both of them finally broke eye contact and looked away at this point. Chika quickly pulled her panties back up and raced from the bathroom, leaving Nobue to dry off and get dressed.

Back in her room, Chika wasn't sure what to think.

'Auuw... I didn't even get a chance to wash my hands... Why is it so weird now?' Before sex-ed, she hadn't thought anything of seeing her sister in the nude. Now it elicited strange feelings that she couldn't really define. Even Miu acted more modest now when it came to nudity, and the few times she had seen her best friend shed her clothes (not always for a good reason, as it was Miu after all) she was definitely blushing about it. 'I hope it's just a phase...'

She heard Nobue finally open the bathroom door again, and she made a beeline for the bathroom so she could wash her hands.

"Chika... sorry, I'll make sure to lock it next time."

"Ahh.. it's okay"

"..."

"Eep! Happy Birthday, onee-chan!"

Nobue smiled knowingly. "Thanks, omouto. Love you too." She ruffled Chika's hair. "I'll see you around 3, right?"

Chika nodded. "Yep! Have fun with your friends!"

"Will do. Make sure you make a good birthday celebration. Maybe a giant strawberry shortcake..."

"Um. Something like that..."

"It will weigh a hundred kilos and cover the kitchen table, and taste delicious but still be low calorie."

"That's impossible!"

Nobue walked downstairs still muttering delusional things about Chika's cake-baking abilities. Chika sighed and walked back to the bathroom.

"Just wait till you see what we do have planned..."


oOo


Miu jumped through Chika's window an hour later, as Chika was finishing getting dressed.

"Hiiiiiiiiyah! Ready to take on the world!" Miu cried out, as she went flying past Chika and hit the kotatsu. "Ow..."

"Morning, Miu-chan..."

"Where's the rest of the workforce?"

"I think Matsuri-chan said they'd be here in another half hour. Should we wait?"

"Nah, let's start now. Then we can tell them they're not doing their fair share if I get tired and leave!"

"At least you're honest... well, let's go."

They picked up cleaning supplies and opened Nobue's door. Even with Nobue not really smoking anymore, the cloying smell of smoke was obvious. The room was in worse shape than she thought, too.

"Open the windows, Chika... it's pretty bad in here."

"Yeah... where should we start?"

"Ooh, I'll sort her CDs!"

"No! You always sort it by your favorite bands, or by some obscure reasoning..."

"Just because you don't appreciate CDs being in order of the number of letters in the name of the production studio doesn't mean everyone's like that!"

"Actually... oh, never mind, how about you pick up and sort her clothes? At least those don't need to be in any real order."

"Nonsense! I sort my clothing by the third letter of the brand name!"

"Oh for crying out... okay, I'll sort the stuff under her bed and by her dresser."

"Great!"

Chika just rolled her eyes. Shortly after, Matsuri and Ana joined them, and Ana was let loose on the CDs, while Matsuri would sort the papers on Nobue's desk.

Miu, of course, had to complain, "Why does Ana get to play with the CDs?"

"She does it right... and doesn't mess with them at all."

"It was just the one time! She eventually found the CD she wanted, right?"

"After having to search through all her CDs, mine, and Mom's."

All of them agreed Matsuri was the best for sorting the papers on the desk. She knew far too well what should and shouldn't be thrown out, and had the best understanding of Nobue's homework, English studies, and regular mail. Even Miu knew better than to risk repeating -that- particular incident.

Chika was halfway through her sister's random discards knocked on the floor, dresser and under the bed when she found it. Tucked not-quite under the bed and not really put back right was a shoebox that just said "Private" on it. Moving it dislodged the cover, and she gasped softly when she saw its contents.

Sure enough, as if Miu had been psychic, there were a couple items she was very sure were vibrators. One was nothing more than a short and fairly thin purple rod that looked like a really fat purple marker, but the other one was pink, large and definitely modeled after the male genitalia she remembered from her anatomy workbook. Her hand closed on the only other item in the box, a small envelope marked 'Chika' in large letters, with a quick scrawl of 'also Matsuri and Ana' below it. Her face was as red as a tomato for the second time that day, and she was opening the envelope when suddenly from behind her she heard a shout.

Miu had noticed what was going on. "Ahhh! You found your sister's dildo stash! Guess she didn't need another one considering---"

Chika went even redder, if possible, and quickly tucked the envelope in her pocket. "Gah! Miu-chan! Matsuri-chan and Ana-chan don't need to hear about that!"

Matsuri and Ana were both getting a bit pink in the face. Matsuri, surprisingly, was the first to speak. "Um... we kind of read ahead, we know what that is..."

Miu had a terrifying grin on her face. "So, have you masturbated yet, Matsuri-chaaaaan?"

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!?"

Chika put her head in her hands.

oOo

It took over an hour to calm Miu down after the 'dildo incident', as Miu insisted it be called. She eventually let Chika replace the lid and put the box back where there was a space cleared under the bed for it, and they were able to finish cleaning up the room before noon.

The group trooped downstairs in high spirits, and were greeted by the Itoh parents with a satisfying lunch. Mrs. Itoh had laid out the ingredients for a strawberry shortcake, as had been suggested, but Chika was of course the one to prepare it.

After the third time Miu tried to help by dropping ingredients, Mrs. Itoh finally decided they should visit their Matsuoka neighbors and bring the kids there, so Chika could bake without further interruption.

"Thanks, okaa-san," Chika whispered to her as the others got their shoes on.

"No problem dear, I do know how Miu can be when she's excited. Your father will be out back raking the yard if you need him." Chika nodded.

And then Chika was alone with the kitchen.

The budding pastry chef was in her element when she could work without interruption, and this was no exception.

"And... into the oven, timer set, perfect!"

She smiled victoriously as she sat down, the cake part in the oven and the strawberries, glaze and whipped cream ready to go. Something uncomfortably poked her through her pocket.

"Oh. The envelope..."

Chika went up to her room, making sure the timer was set so she could hear it from upstairs. Sitting on her bed, she took out the envelope again and removed the contents.

"Pictures... but what..."

She had a stack of about two dozen pictures. A couple she recognized, embarassing pictures that her sister had taken of her, Matsuri and Ana in the bathhouse, but most of these she had never seen. She didn't know they'd even existed.

There were several more pictures of the girls bathing at odd times. One featured Miu on top of her in an embarrassing pose that didn't make it obvious whether they were clothed or not, and if she wasn't sure that no kissing was involved she would've been sure there was.

The next one made her eyes widen considerably. Matsuri and Ana were kissing, on the lips. She wasn't at all sure if this was some sort of innocent experimentation or something more. Matsuri's admission about reading ahead inspired her imagination. No, there was no way to be sure right now.

There was a second picture of this, featuring a strand of drool connecting their mouths as they pulled apart. Chika was totally red for the third time in one day, and she felt oddly warm despite the fall weather and open window. Her heart was pounding as she changed to the next image.

And let her jaw drop as she realized what she was looking at. It was a picture of herself, fully nude on her bed. She didn't have to look for the date on the picture to know when it was taken- it was the week after their sex-ed class had covered masturbation, and she had finally gotten up the nerve to try it on herself. It had been an oddly satisfying experience, though she felt guilty enough that it had only happened a couple more times since.

Had Nobue been using those dildos while looking at these pictures? Had she been getting off to the thought of her younger sister? Oh kami-sama...

But as she stared at the picture, she felt herself getting wet in the same way as she had that time. Only without having actually been touching herself. "Kuso..." she swore.

She flipped quickly through the last few pictures, which consisted of several more shots from that day and one candid shot of herself, fully clothed.

Her hand was on one of her small breasts at this point, and she started rubbing a bit, taking the enjoyment of being so oddly turned on.

And then...

Then...

Then the buzzer went off downstairs, signifying that her cakes were done and ready to be prepared.

Mentally trying to push aside her feelings of lust and slow down the pace of her heartbeat, she shoved the pictures under her pillow and rushed downstairs to rescue the cake before it burned.

oOo

The cake was perfect, Chika noted happily, and Mrs. Itoh brought the other girls back just in time to arrive before Nobu-onee-chan could return.

Chika was a bit frustrated that she had no time to also take care of her... itch... and the feeling had not really gone away so much as been shunted aside so she could do what she needed to. But she couldn't very well do anything about it with everybody there, so it had to take a back seat for now. She was fairly quiet as the others chatted about what they'd done at the Matsuoka's, though, pondering how to confront her sister about the pictures. About the ones of Matsuri and Ana. About the ones of HER.

Then Nobue walked through the doorway, and it didn't matter for the moment.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NOBUE!!!"