Chapter 6 Part 3

Part 3

May 5th 2513

Custom Mode Activated - Bath Mode

Calm and silent Peace.

Notifications Silenced

Entire industries were built and maintained around exactly how good soap could feel, no two bodies were exactly the same but that didn't mean there weren't patterns to exploit.

And for her Allea 101 was the perfect mix of colourful foam to oiliness that made her swoon.

Others couldn't deal with the sensation, but she loved it so hard she wanted to wash her insides with it. It felt oily so it separated itself from the feeling of water. And the foam! It had a weighty stickiness to it that meant Kate had to remove the oil by scrubbing hard and any remaining the green foam told her where she hadn't cleaned. Kate scrubbed and scrubbed. Sakura's massive shower, bombarded her from multiple angles.

It made lathering tricky but the challenge!

The door opened and Kate's world froze.

And that was her fault, yes, Kate was the ridiculous one.

Of course Sakura was coming in! The very notion that Sakura wouldn't was insane. Would she stop Sakura?

Not at all. Because if she wanted to she'd have stopped her the moment before she'd entered the bath with the simple words, 'don't follow'.

Instead she'd taken her personally custom-made towels and soap and said nothing and had not so much as locked the door behind her. The situation was so incredibly vague Kate was surprised she'd even closed the door.

She turned the water down, Sakura's silhouette visible in the foggy glass.

"Sakura?" Kate ventured.

"Yes?"

Kate peeked through an opening in the glass door. Sakura sat next to a large mirror with a large comb, running it through her long black hair. She just looked busy, indifferent of what Kate was doing.

"Sakura?"

"Yes?"

Sakura kept combing, eyes forward.

"What? You don't want to see me anymore?"

At that Sakura turned, body and soul to stare, but the steam got in the way.

"I know what you're doing Sakura." Kate said.

"What am I doing?"

"Manipulating me."

"Oh?" Sakura stood and pull off the towel around her chest to offer it to Kate. Kate looked up, biting her lip to stay on mission. "Tell me about it."

Sakura's strategy changed.

Angling her gaze away, Kate reached out. It was so awkward, trying not to step out without revealing herself. She was on her toes leaning out, and because she was a demon, Sakura dropped the towel.

"Oopzie." She said, straight faced. Aany other situation, one might have seen it as a threat.

Kate considered her situation and looked for her specially prepped towel. There was no way of her getting by without actually asking Sakura to stop, closer her eyes or at least leave.

Kate was literally too awkward to speak. She couldn't say the word: Stop.

"I know what you're doing."

Sakura, straight faced simply nodded. Another moment passed. Kate took a breath and stepped out.

Sakura smiled, sitting to do her hair again. Kate left the towel on the floor to collect her personal towel, which was twice as large.

She dried up and wrapped that huge towel around her chest, covering up to her shoulders. Once she had some armour on she sat on a wide bath that jutted out the ground, like a strange little castle, her arms crossed. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and had to swallow the urge to recoil, her arms were so fat she looked buff. Kate needed to shut that down, pay attention!

"Sakura. I know this game. I used to play it, to prep, to win people over. You're shmoozing me."

Sakura rubbed her bottom lip. "Why would I?"

"That's my question. Why shmooze me?"

"Why not you?"

"Because look at me."

"Why do you think you are ugly!" Sakura complained.

Kate was wrong-footed. It was like Mother had moved them to a dream world, because clearly tact was a foreign concept to all of the people there! A normal person would have had to try think of something nice and careful, slow down maybe, oh not Sakura!

"I don't." Kate stammered.

"Then why can't I look at you?" Sakura demanded immediately.

"Because, look at you."

"Look at you!"

"I do."

Sakura grew a 'concerned face'

"Is it your mom? Is she saying-"

"No!" Kate squealed.

"Of course not. So then what? Because, look at you. I'm not lying to you! Your Mother isn't lying to you. Someone is lying to you, maybe it's you then!"

"You are not hitting on me Sakura. You're not! I am not an idiot."

Kate was standing, Sakura was standing and, thankfully, she'd long moved her head towel from her hair to her chest and becoming watchable.

She paced a moment, then took a breath.

"We told you already. We want you to be a part of our program. We want you to be a bad ass, to win! But with us!"

Kate put up a hand blocking her path.

"Stop. Again, I know what you're doing. You're working your way up to me and distracting me to get close."

"Dammit. I was hoping to go for the emotional kiss."

"Really?" Kate yelled, exasperated.

"Really." Sakura said in a huff. "I like it and it maybe gets you to calm down."

"It wouldn't have! You can't smash your way through everything!"

"Have you tried smashing me? Then you don't know what you're talking about!"

Kate's mouth opened, closed and she burst out laughing, her muscles pulling at the sudden change as she made a wheezing giggling noise. Sakura grinned, her arms crossed and she started laughing too. Kate was laughing so hard she had to sit back down and Sakura hugged her head, Sakura's chest against Kate's face.

Sakura started wiggling. Kate screamed.