Friends with Benefits (FwB) (GirlxGirl)(COMPLETED)

Chapter 19: Touch

"Shinji…"

"Let me think!"

The elder male Kaioh's head spun and he couldn't for the life of him stop it or make it slow down. Why? Why did she give up? Why now? Why when…everything's within reach…?

He opened his mouth as if to say something and closed it, the frown in his face growing deeper.

"Why?" he asked loudly, to no one in particular, especially not his ex-wife.

"We pushed her too hard…"

"But…she…she's strong! She's not supposed to just…back off like that! That's…ridiculous!"

"Face it, we thought she would back down sooner—

"And when she didn't, it could only mean we needed to push harder—

"Well we pushed too hard dear husband, what do you want me to say?"

His hands clenched into automatic fists as he shoved it in his mouth, biting one of his balled fingers thoughtlessly. "We should just…just tell them?"

"How would you like to do it? 'Tenoh-san, Michiru-chan surprise! We've been testing you this whole time and we believe you've met the criteria to pass! The wedding is hereby canceled and you two may go on the way you want to.' Do you realize how…heartless that sounds?" Shina asked forcibly as they evenly stared at one another. "This isn't some sort of…job interview in which they either pass or not Shinji—

"I'm not saying it is! Just…why?? Why the hell did she give up??"

His wife sighed loudly and plopped on the sofa, her hands going up to her temples to massage it roughly. He stood in front of her for a bit, still mechanically biting his hand before sighing as well and sitting down beside Shina.

"Alright," he said softly, his frown still marring his face as he gave a thoughtful look. "Let's look at the bright side for a second. Tenoh-san's not leaving…she'll only try to get away from Michiru-chan…or start to pull away, whatever. The point is, she's still here…which means it doesn't matter as to whether or not she gave up. As long as we know they still pretty much love each other…that's all that matters. Our daughter loves her…she doesn't know this. The fact that she doesn't know this is our trump card. Michiru-chan will not let her just…pull away. She's…her so-called 'best friend,' but we both know our daughter's feelings are more than that and if that's so…she won't just sit back and let her go away. She'll notice the difference in Tenoh-san…and then…maybe they'll talk about it…or something…"

"What if Michiru-chan takes Tenoh-san's pulling away in stride and lets her go for our sake? What happens then?"

Grays locked with sapphires seriously as Shinji gave an audible gulp.

"Then…that would be our definite cue to yield."

They sat in relative silence for a moment, sinking in to their own thoughts about the wedding and all the problems that surrounded it until Shina broke it with a question.

"Shinji…do you have a problem that they're both women?"

"I know you do…"

"Do you?"

He contemplated the question, but of course they both knew it wasn't the first time the thought had graced either of their minds; it was the main problem with their daughter's relationship in the first place!

"I…did…"

"You don't anymore?"

"She's not…normal…" the aqua haired man said with a shrug. "I think I did before because I didn't know her. Tenoh-san has a huge reputation for just…being a boisterous playboy. Regardless if that's true or not, there's always some truth when you hear things from the grapevine and…I didn't want something like that around our daughter. But this whole time, Michiru has been trying to show us something…and although she and Tenoh-san think that they haven't done so yet, they have…successfully. I think…if it were any other girl, I would not give it another thought and just shove her out of the picture. It would be easy enough. But we're dealing with…Tenoh Haruka…and although we've tried to bluntly and blindly push her…it obviously hasn't worked…which means everything that we've heard about her isn't true, and everything she and Michiru are trying to show us is."