Together - A Senku Ishigami Love Story (Dr.Stone)

Chapter 29

"You know who would have liked you?"

Tachi was now sitting back as Senku was; their arms slightly behind them, legs sprawled forward and heads tilted upwards to watch the small fractals of light breaking through the thick thatching of the roof. She tilted her head, admiring them, while Senku made a note to patch them up before less agreeable weather arrived. The scientist kept his eyes upwards as he spoke.

"Who?"

"My grandma, the one from Japan."

He lilted his head to the side, Tachi doing the same to allow their eyes to meet, Senku smirking at her widely as he so often did. "What makes you say that? Because I'm intelligent?" Tachi chuckled and turned her head back towards the slivers of light above them, taking a deep breath. "Nope, because you're crazy. Grandma loved crazy." Senku continued to watch her for a moment. Tachi's grandmother was someone she had spoken about extensively before. She lived in Japan alone, with only Tachi as company when her father would send her to stay with his mother. The old woman lived in a secluded area by the sea, and had a whole mess of hobbies from caring for the stray cats that so often came rolling by, to tending the abandoned shrine a few miles away, and of course, her greatest passion, sailing. She had grown up in the centre of Tokyo, and according to Tachi, hated it there. The moment she came of age she left, without a penny or a plan, for a small rural town where she met a local fisherman who took her on as a boat hand despite her lack of experience, the man who would one day be Tachi's grandfather. After her father moved to a larger city for college, they retreated even further into seclusion, to their custom built small home by the sea. When Tachi had first told him the story he had chuckled and compared the two, it wasn't hard to see that 'fuck this, I'm out.' was an inherited trait for Tachi. Her grandmother was every bit as bold and apparently as brash as Tachi was herself, and there was no doubt in Senku's mind that while her father had sent her away in hopes of pulling her into line...the time she spent with her free spirited grandmother likely had the opposite effect.

"You mean the hermit crab?"

Tachi glowered at him in annoyance. It wasn't the first time he had referred to her grandmother as the hermit crab. She herself may have called her an old crazy bat, many times to the womans face even, but she would be damned if she ever let anyone else away with calling her anything like that. Snapping her hand out she slapped Senku's leg forcefully, the scientist whining as he rubbed the now tender spot. It had been made so much worse by the fact that she had hit the very edge of her gift.

"Only I get to call the old psycho bat names, we've discussed this."

"You should be more careful, you could have damaged your gift."

Tachi's brow furrowed tighter and she raised her pointer finger towards him slowly.

"You better not be insinuating that you're my gift, because if I traded Ruri to you for you, then I feel seriously ripped off."

Senku chuckled darkly and shook his head, his long thin fingers reaching into his pocket and wrapping carefully around the wrapped item inside before he freed it slowly, Tachi's brow quickly unfurrowing to instead allow her pale eyes to widen in curiosity and wonder, her suspicious frown easing into a wondering smile. He held the parcel up to her, Tachi sitting forwards and crossing her legs before taking the tan item into her hands. She held it softly, by only the edges of her finger tips, and carefully pulled at the thin piece of string holding it closed, the stiff fabric unfurrowed quickly, a sure indication that it hadn't been wrapped for long. Senku's smirk widened when he saw the way her gaze lit up, that small smile growing just a fraction wider as she pulled the fabric away.

"This...this is so nice."

In all of Senku's time knowing the woman seated beside him, one thing had become desperately clear to him about Tachi...the strands of hair which fell across her face drove her to madness sometimes. It was on one occasion in particular, after she had tied, undone and retired her plait 3 times and still couldn't get the strands to stay clear of her field of vision that the idea had come to him. Tachi's hair was thin, and due to the lack of hair products, likely brittle, meaning that as fast as her hair was growing, it was probably snapping too. She would always have hair in her eyes, unless she had something to hold it back. The comb he and Kaseki had constructed wasn't anything elaborate. A thin rod of metal twisted into 3 teeth to hold it in place, the top neatly decorated with 3 red glass circles, coloured with cinnabar from Chrome's hut, and the only part of the gift that Senku had crafted on his own. Tachi turned her head to Senku, her smile stretching into a grin as she pulled the comb in her hands closer to her chest. Honestly she had been expecting something a little more robust or practical, like a knife, or the offer to punch him once full force for fun. She hadn't expected something so...pretty. While it was true that Tachi had received many gifts she appreciated in her life, they were almost always a little boyish...likely because she was a little boyish. She couldn't recall anyone ever giving her something as delicate as a hair comb.

"Noone's ever given me something so elegant. Thank you Senku."

Senku pursed his lips tightly, why did she have to look at him like that? And did she have to thank him in the quiet, affectionate tone? He could already feel the tips of his ears burning, a fear flooding through him that he was about to turn embarrassingly scarlet. In an effort to remove the gentle image of her grateful face from his field of vision he carefully took the comb from her grasp, his calloused fingertips brushing against her warm, worked palm before he knelt up, allowing him to see the top of her head. With his other hand her ran his short nails cautiously through her pale locks, from her forehead to where her plait started at the back of her neck, one, two, three times...it was softer than he had been expecting it to be, by no means free of tugs and tangles, but much softer and even with a slight shine. In the back of his mind he wondered what it smelled like before he sighed at himself quietly, pulling the comb up and running it through her hair carefully before pushing it into place at the back of her head neatly. Smelling her hair, really? He was going to make the jump from attracted to creep just like that?

He sat back slowly onto his knees, Tachi letting out a small laugh.

"That felt amazing."

She laughed again, grinning brightly to go along with it, Senku nodding and inhaling deeply but slowly in an attempt to keep his blush under control, geez this was absolutely ridiculous! He shouldn't be reacting like this! Her comment wasn't lewd nor provocative, she had said much worse to his in the past without him even batting an eyelid. Then again, they weren't usually in a closed off space alone in the past, nor had he just given her a gift that he had worked on for 4 hours to make sure it was just right, he hadn't been trying to just minutes before tell her he cared for her, he hadn't just ran his fingers through her long fine hair, nor had he wondered just for the briefest of moments how those thin, smirking lips would feel, of how she would react if he were just to reach across and inquisitively run his thumb over the slightly chapped, pink skin...He blinked quickly, unfocusing his eyes and releasing the tight grip on his thighs that he hadn't realised he had. What was he doing letting his thoughts wander like that? That had never happened before... Tachi cocked her head at the way Senku's brow knotted in displeasure suddenly, her hand raising up to touch the comb with a look of worry settling across her face.

"Does it really look that bad?"

Senku exhaled shortly as the tone of her concerned words pulled him out of his thoughts before he shook his head, doing his utmost to relax his unintentionally distasteful expression.

"No it doesn't..."

"You look amazing. You look beautiful. You are beautiful. I love you."

He froze on spot as the words echoed in his head. He what? He loved her? Did...did he really? It was a fast fire suggestion and logically, that made it true but...He loved her?! Tachi's grin returned as she remained oblivious to the thoughts currently crippling Senku's sharp mind and she jumped to her feet, her hands quickly grasping a hold of his arm as she attempted to pull him after her. The thin streams of light that had been permeating the roof had disappeared. It was officially after sunset, and their attendance at the village's celebration would now be acceptable.

"Great! Then let's get to the village! You're gonna miss your own party!"

Senku didn't say anything nor struggle against her and she pulled him after her, causing him to stumble over his own feet while she pulled the door of the hut open, the last remnants of the sun's bright rays settling behind the mountains in the far distance, bright starts already visible in the darkening sky. He couldn't really take any of that in though, not right now, not while shock and realistation were still gripping at each and every corner of his expanded mind, clouding his normally sharp, concise thoughts.

He loved her.