Making a Splash

Ranko crossed her ankles as they dangled off the edge of the gray concrete planter, holding her napkin-wrapped ice cream cone in both of her hands. "Where to next?"Giggling, Akane reached out with a napkin in her hand. "Um, baby, you've got a little…" She squeezed Ranko's nose gently with the paper, wiping away the bit of chocolate ice cream that rested on its tip.Ranko blushed, leaning into Akane's chest with her shoulder as another group of shoppers scuttled past them on their way to the next store in the mall on a leisurely Sunday afternoon. "You always take such good care of me.""And I always will, beautiful." Akane smiled brightly at the woman she was just a few short months from marrying. Sometimes, the very concept still boggled her mind, and she wasn't sure if it was more because she was marrying a woman, or because of the specific woman it was.The redhead smiled almost intoxicatedly, looking around to ensure no one was in earshot before turning her eyes back to Akane. "Have I told you today how much I love you?"Akane grinned, wrapping her right arm over the smaller girl, her left holding her pineapple ice cream as far away from their bodies as possible so that the rapidly-melting yellow treat didn't drip onto either of them. "If I say no, will you tell me again?"Tittering, Ranko reached up at lightning speed, poking Akane's nose with her ice cream cone. "Boop! Gotcha!""Hey!" Akane picked up another brown paper napkin, cleaning the frozen concoction from her nose. Her face was no longer brown, but it was turning red. "I'm gonna get you back for that!""Nuh-uh! I'm too fast!" Ranko laughed heartily, sitting up in case she needed to dart away."We'll see," Akane deadpanned. "You about ready?"Ranko popped her backside off of the planter and slid down to her feet, brushing the concrete dust from the back of her blue denim skirt. "Whenever you are." She looked around at the signs mounted to the archways above most of the shops in the little mall. "I don't even know where to start."Akane pointed to a shop with a large bay window. A mannequin was propped up in it, wearing a tee shirt, black board shorts and a neon green cap, its arm posed around a surfboard. "That seems like as good a place as any."Her fiancee nodded. "Makes sense to me. This is…" She exhaled heavily. "Pressure.""Oh, stop." Akane tossed the remnants of her ice cream cone in a nearby trash can. "You have to make my fiancee look pretty. There's, like, no easier job on the planet. Besides, you dress for the stage all the time. You should be used to it by now."Ranko blushed timidly. "Yeah, but this is…" She looked up at the string bikini on the mannequin next to the plastic man holding the surfboard. "...different. I don't have to, like…" She motioned to the mannequin with her hand.Giggling, Akane shook her head. "We can probably find something a little more conservative for you. But remember…" Akane poked her girlfriend's still-cold nose. "They do want you looking sexy out there.""But…" Ranko hid her face in her palms. "It's gonna be, like, on TV! Live! So many people will be watching!""Simple solution, I guess." Akane grinned, draping her arm around her lover's shoulders. "Just look straight into the camera, smile real big, and tell all the boys that no matter how much they're drooling, they can't have you, because you're mine."Ranko nodded quietly, looking down at her diamond engagement ring. What I'd give to be able to, Akane. There's nothing I'd rather do. But the guys forbid it, and the label would, too. Her eyes snapped back up to meet Akane's as the taller girl squeezed her right hand, pulling Ranko toward the store's open glass double doors."C'mon, you. Let's find you something cute." Akane led Ranko to the middle of the store, letting her hand go, but the redhead stayed frozen at her side like a deer in headlights. "Well, go on, silly girl. Go pick something." Watching her lover's reaction, Akane rolled her eyes with a little smirk. Every time I think she's gone full girl, something like this trips her up. It's adorable."Nuh-uh." Ranko hugged Akane's forearm tight with both of her arms. "I changed my mind. I don't wanna do the show."Laughing, Akane rolled her eyes and let her forehead drop onto her lover's shoulder. "Ranko, come on, now. Listen to yourself. You got invited to do a live interview and debut a song live on Bangers on the Beach, and you want to back out because you have to wear a bathing suit?""Mm-hmm." The redhead nodded meekly, her cheek nuzzling against the sleeve of Akane's shirt."Well," Akane said, "I'm not letting you throw an opportunity like that away. So if you don't pick something, I will." She pointed to a mannequin a few meters away, decked out in a hot pink string bikini with a yellow mesh cover-up draped over its shoulders. "There. We'll go with that.""Akane, that's…" Ranko's face was afire. "I'm wearing more than that under my clothes right now!""Nope. Too late. I'm gonna go buy it right now." Akane raised her hand in the direction of the sales clerk."Okay, okay! I'll pick something!" Ranko squeezed Akane's arm tighter, looking up at her, her wide blue eyes pleading for mercy.Grinning, Akane waved off the clerk with her free arm. "Good girl. Go on. I'll be right behind you. If you tell me what you want, I can help you look."Ranko released Akane's arm, slowly rotating to look around at the mannequins before pointing to one. "Would it be okay if I got one of the ones that are just one piece, like that one?"Akane rolled her eyes with a laugh. "Aww, don't wanna show off the goods too much, huh? Yeah, I think that'll be fine if that's what you want. Any idea what color you want?"Ranko shook her head. "No clue. Guess we'll just have to look around."Akane picked up a hanger. "Ooh, this is cute!" She turned to show Ranko, holding it up in front of her torso.Ranko looked down at the outfit. It was green, and only barely a one-piece; the top and bottom were connected only by small black rings on either hip. The bottom was striped in black to look like the rind of a watermelon, and the top was printed with watermelon slices.Ranko crinkled her nose, shaking her head. "Naaah."Returning the rejected swimsuit to the higher of the two racks mounted to the display island in the middle of the store, Akane pulled another one off the lower rack, a bright yellow one-piece covered with thick black diagonal stripes. "What about this?"Ranko turned to look at it, giggling. "That depends. Am I s'pos'ta be a bumblebee, or a traffic sign?" Her eyes shot upward from the outfit in Akane's hand, and she smiled a bit. "What about that?"Akane turned, looking up at the mannequin that stood atop the display, peering over the twin racks. It was modeling a black one-piece suit with two-centimeter wide shoulder straps. From the modest breast line down, it was plain black, but a tangle of pink hibiscus flowers and green vines draped down the shoulder straps, across the neckline and down around the left armpit. The back was open from the bra line up, but the two shoulder straps were connected with criss-crossing straps in the same swimsuit material.She turned back to Ranko, scrunching up her face a little with a smicker and nodding emphatically. "I think it'll look fantastic on our bedroom floor.""Akane!" Ranko blushed with a coy smile, gave her girlfriend a gentle whack on the shoulder with her small black purse. "You're such a pervert sometimes!""Oh?" Akane smirked mockingly. "Calling me a pervert? That's a new one for you, little miss dirty little freak again."Ranko pulled her behind the display rack and into a hug, speaking in a hushed tone. "I am what you made me, and that's a…"Akane dragged her index finger softly from the neckline of Ranko's blue crushed velvet tee shirt up her neck. She traced a path around the front of the white lace choker her girlfriend wore before continuing her upward trek until her gentle fingertip reached her lover's chin. She beamed proudly, satisfied with her work as Ranko's breath caught and her sentence died in mid-air. "Shhh."Her point made, Akane set about scouring the racks for the swimsuit Ranko had chosen in the appropriate size, leaving her fiancee to stand behind the rack alone and catch her breath. "Oh, look, babe, they have matching skirts for it, so you can change it up between the song and the interview. You want?"Ranko nodded, her face not yet having returned to its usual shade. Akane pulled the matching black above-knee yoke skirt, emblazoned with more of the hibiscus pattern snaking down the left side of the black spandex garment, down from the rack as well and draped it over her arm."C'mon, you." Akane grabbed a white wide-brimmed straw hat with a pink silk hibiscus flower poking out from the pale yellow ribbon around its crown, plopping it onto Ranko's head. "Let's get going before you change your mind."Ranko followed, fretting silently and rocking on her heels with crimson cheeks as Akane handed the swimsuit, skirt, and hat to the young man working the register and paid for the items. Only after they had exited the store, a pastel pink paper tote bag with white twine handles swinging from Ranko's left hand, did she speak again. "I'm sorry, Akane. I had no idea it was gonna be so expensive.""You're worth it, babe. And besides, like I said, this is a huge opportunity for you. It would be crazy to mess it up to save a few yen." Akane smiled reassuringly.Ranko nodded. "Yeah, I know, but money's already so tight with the wedding, and…"Akane stopped short, turning and laying her index finger vertically across Ranko's strawberry-glossed lips. "Hush. If I say you're worth it, it's because you're worth it. Now, are you going to stop apologizing, or do I need to march you into a lingerie store next just so I can watch you squirm?" She could physically feel the heat radiating from Ranko's face.Ranko nodded, casting her eyes down a little as Akane removed her finger from her face. Akane chuckled to herself, her own face flushing slightly. She shook her head slightly as they resumed walking. Gotta say, almost wish she'd have fought me on that one. The lingerie store sounded kinda fun."Well, thank you," Ranko said quietly, glancing down at her feet as they walked. She still felt bad, but Akane was right; it had been a need, not a want. A business expense, Nabiki would've called it."You're so welcome, Ran…" Noting that her lover was no longer beside her, Akane looked back over her shoulder, trying to determine what had made Ranko stop walking a few steps behind her. She trod back to the toy store window Ranko was staring into. "Whatcha lookin' at, babe?"Ranko didn't answer, not wanting to give Akane any encouragement to spend more money than she already had. She'd just begun to turn away, but Akane followed her eyes, beaming warmly as she guessed what almost certainly had been the thing that caught Ranko's attention."It's really cute! We should get it!" Akane threw her arm over Ranko's shoulder, starting to pull her toward the store's entrance."Akane! We can't! We just talked about the money thing. We've already spent way too much today!" Ranko planted her feet.Shaking her head, Akane turned to face Ranko, taking both of the songstress' hands in her own and letting the bag containing the swimsuit dangle on Ranko's wrist next to her silver dragon bracelet. "My girl – my actual, real-life girl, the one and only Ranko Tendo – picked out a stuffy she likes, for herself, and you think we're leaving without it? You're out of your freakin' mind, missy. I'll sell my damn shoes if I have to."Moments later, the pair walked out of the toy shop, the bag containing Ranko's new swimsuit now swinging from Akane's wrist. Ranko walked alongside her, cradling a half-meter wide red-and-orange plush phoenix against her chest with both hands."Come on, Burny. Let's go home."Akane giggled. "I love it!" She tilted her head in the direction of a drink cart in the aisle between the rows of shops. "I'm gonna grab a drink. You want anything?"Ranko shook her head, sitting on another planter to wait. She blushed yet again as she sat alone, speaking quietly as she stared down at her new companion in her arms. "I know, it's silly, but… you're a phoenix. I had to have you. It's 'cause, you know, I work at the Phoenix, and the album's called Phoenix Rising, and all that. You understand, right? It's totally not that I wanted another stuffy 'cause I'm a total friggin' chick now, and… oh gods, yes it is."Akane returned from the beverage cart, walking up to Ranko with a plastic cup of iced tea in her left hand. Her right was balled up in a loose fist at her side. "Getting to know your new friend?"Ranko turned over her left shoulder. "Yeah, he's greaAAAAAAHHH!!" She rocketed off the planter, Burny under her left arm, flailing her right frantically behind her back. Akane shook her hand, letting the ice water drip from her fingers as she watched Ranko squirm, trying to dislodge the ice cube Akane had slipped down the back of her shirt and into her bra strap."Get it out! G… get it out! Get it ouuuuuuuut!" Her voice quavered as she yelped for aid, the frigid sensation gripping the whole of her body courtesy of the Full Body Cat's Tongue.Akane giggled loudly, shaking her head in the negative. "I told you I'd get you back!"