Flower and Willow: Chapter 7
Sep. 20th, 2011 08:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timelord1Well, it took longer than I wanted it to, but here's Chapter 7! Hope you enjoy! I got a bit muddled, and want to send a shout-out to my pal ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kelkat9 for the beta help on this one! :)
When they stepped out of the TARDIS, having parked it in the okiya’s garden, they found Sumiko waiting for them on the back steps leading to the second floor of the okiya, holding a broomstick across her lap. She eyed them warily as they came to the stairs. Her lips were pursed so tightly they were almost white. When she stood up, she held the broom like a weapon.
The Doctor dug another packet of Jelly Babies out of his pocket and offered it to her. “Lovely night, isn’t it, Sumiko-chan?”
“I heard you say to Ichisumi that you’re not human,” she said, brandishing the broom. “What are you? A demon?”
“Oh dear,” the Doctor said with a sigh. He handed the Jelly Babies off to Rose and put up his hands. “I am not a demon, I promise you.”
“What are you, then?” she asked.
“I’m your friend,” he answered. “Just the same as I was before.” He took a step towards her and she swung the broom. She would have clobbered him if he hadn’t used his natural speed to dodge her. Instead, he caught it and slipped it out of her hands before she knew he had a hold of it.
“Easy, now. How about we just talk?” He set the broom down and turned his attention back to Rose for a second. “You might be surprised to learn that I spend more time doing this sort of thing than nearly anything else in my life. It’s really a secondary profession, convincing people I’m me.”
“Well, it shows. You’re a fair hand at it,” Rose said. “Get to it before she finds a mop or something, will you? It’s cold out here.”
He turned back to Sumiko and put up his hands again. “What will it take for you to trust me? Bear in mind, please, that you are a girl, and a small one at that. I could get by you without any trouble at all. If I were someone who wanted to hurt you, I wouldn’t bother to stop and talk to you, would I?”
“Tell me what you are,” Sumiko said through clenched teeth.
“Okay, here’s the short version: I’m an alien,” the Doctor said.
“Too short,” Rose muttered.
“Quite right,” he said. “I’m from another planet. Do you know much about planets?”
“Rude,” Rose put in.
The Doctor shook his head. “Japan, 1940. Widespread women’s educational reform doesn’t come to this country until after that little event we are not going to discuss anymore since I cocked up so badly at dinner already. Do you know the planets, Sumiko-chan?”
“Yes,” the girl answered.
“I’m from one that’s very, very far away, called Gallifrey. The aoi hako is actually called a TARDIS, and it’s how Rose and I travel amongst the different worlds in the universe. May I ask you a question?”
She nodded.
“You accept the TARDIS and the fact that I can change my face, but when you hear I’m not human, you’re scared of me? What did you think I was?”
Sumiko looked down at the steps “Magic.”
He grinned. “Well, I am that, to be sure.”
“And humble,” Rose snarked.
Sumiko let the Doctor sit on the step next to her without trying to hit him with anything. He put his hand out to Rose and she tossed him the packet of Jelly Babies. Opening it, he offered a green one to Sumiko, who took it after a slight hesitation. He threw a pink one into the air and caught it in his mouth, which made the girl smile.
“Are you going to be all right with us staying in the okiya?” he asked.
“It’s not for me to be all right with anything,” Sumiko said. “I am only a shikomi.”
Rose caught the Doctor’s eye with a questioning look.
“Early stage of training. Shikomi work as sort of servants in the okiya when they’re not taking geisha lessons,” he said, chuckling. “Kind of like you.”
“Shut up,” Rose said, folding her arms and leaning against the railing.
He looked back at Sumiko. “You’re also a person who lives in this okiya, and if we frighten you, we’ll stay in the TARDIS.”
“You stayed in the okiya the last time you were here, Abunai-san. You did nothing to harm us then. I think you will not harm us now,” Sumiko said.
“Never,” he said, putting his arm around her and giving her a squeeze. “In fact, I’m more the protecting sort than the harmful sort. Can you show us to our rooms?”
Sumiko stood, and the Doctor followed her. “There is only one guest room,” Sumiko said. “Ichisumi-san said that you would not mind sharing.”
The Doctor turned to Rose with a look on his face that got a warning scowl and a quick shake of her head in response. They went up into the okiya and were shown to a small guest room with tatami mats on the floor, a low dressing table, and one mattress in the middle of the floor.
“Futon,” the Doctor said to Rose.
“Yeah, I’m not thick,” she said, giving him a wink. “I’ve seen one of those before.”
“Roomy,” the Doctor said, turning to the girl with a bow. “Thank you, Sumiko. Please tell Ichisumi-san these accommodations are delightful, and that we wish her good-night.”
Sumiko left with a shy good-night and another bow. Rose and the Doctor stood on opposite sides of the futon, looking at it and each other in turn.
“It’s about a queen size,” Rose said.
“I like the, erm, blanket-thing,” the Doctor said, pointing at the coverlet.
“Yeah,” Rose replied. “Looks…cozy.”
“I’ll just pop back to the TARDIS and get my jim-jams,” the Doctor said. “Wouldn’t do to sleep au naturel with so much awkward in the bed with us already.”
“Yeah,” Rose said. “I’ll go with you.”
“Yes, there will be plenty more room in the TARDIS for the gigantic elephant that has deposited himself in the middle of the futon.” He said, offering her his arm. They walked together in easy silence, the Doctor feeling so absurdly out of his element that he felt not only human, but also about sixteen years old, all elbows and bad angles, taking the prettiest girl in the class out for an evening stroll.
“I love those little trees,” Rose said, indicating the manicured junipers lining the garden path.
“Bonsai,” the Doctor said.
“Yeah, I know,” she said, squeezing his elbow. “Mum had one in the flat that she bought from a street vendor and killed a week later. I should get one while we’re here and bring it back for her.”
“So she can kill an authentic one?” he asked. He unlocked the TARDIS and let her go in first. He found Jackie’s ex-beau Howard’s pyjamas that he’d borrowed the first Christmas after his regeneration and never returned, stuffed them into a satchel, and went to wait for Rose in the control room.
It would have been nice, after that kiss, to have a little distance from Rose so he could digest all that had happened. The one thought that would not stop chewing on his brain was the knowledge that no matter what, at some point in the future he was going to be standing outside the windows of the okiya alone, longing for a glimpse of happier times. It would not work out with Rose, for whatever reason. For all he knew, taking things as far as he had taken them now with her could be the eventual reason for their separation.
Then again, he couldn’t live his life hiding from his own feelings. It would be a waste of centuries to never let himself truly feel anything again. Humans had a scant allotment of years, didn’t they? Yet, somehow they fashioned epic romances in the mayfly spans of their existence. Why couldn’t he, at least once?
It had been so long since he’d been in a real relationship, he couldn’t remember how to do it. Courtship on Gallifrey was completely different from the way humans did it; he doubted Rose would have much interest in tests of intellectual compatibility or genetic synchronization rituals. The more he thought about it, the more alien he began to feel. By the time they walked back to the okiya, he had to stop and think about how to speak English. Rose went to the bathroom to change, and he slipped out of his suit and into Howard’s jim-jams in the time it took Rose to walk to the bathroom.
She came back into the room, wearing pink plaid pyjamas, her hair in two sloppy braids. She sat on the futon cross-legged, beaming up at him, and he couldn’t help smiling in return.
“So,” he said, “do you want to give each other facials now, or would you first like to ring a random stranger and ask if their refrigerator is running?”
“Me and Shireen always asked if they had Prince Albert in a can,” Rose said. “Which side d’you want?”
“Would you prefer if I slept on the floor?” he asked.
Rose chuckled. “Can’t get much more on the floor than this thing, can you?”
“I suppose not,” he said, putting out the light and sitting on the mattress beside her. “I don’t sleep much.”
“I know,” she said. She pulled down her side of the covers and got under them. He followed suit and they lay on their sides, facing each other. There was exactly nineteen inches of space between Rose’s lips and his. Their pillows were touching.
“Good night,” she said. She leaned forward, crossing from her pillow to his, and graced his lips with a light kiss. Every neuron in his brain sang hymns at her touch.
“Good night,” he answered, his voice cracking a little. He cleared his throat and closed his eyes, staying to the far edge of his half of the mattress. The floor beneath the thin mattress was ridiculous, and before long Rose flopped onto her other side, away from him, in an effort to get comfortable. As she turned, her arm brushed his. Gooseflesh flared where she’d touched him, the thrill going all the way to his hearts.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, adjusting her pillow.
“No, no,” he said. “You’re fine.” He lay on his back and stared at the moonlight on the ceiling. The last thing he needed was sleep. Usually he worked on the TARDIS or other little projects while Rose slept. Even when he was a guest in someone’s house he would stay up most of the night, but the okiya was quite close quarters and every time he shifted it felt like the whole building creaked, so he tried to stay as still as he could. It wasn’t long before Rose’s breathing shifted into easy regularity and he was alone in the room. To keep himself from going mad with boredom, he went through the complete works of Shakespeare in his head. In reverse. It took him twenty minutes.
…Violets of bank a upon breathes That/ sound sweet the like ear my o’er Came…
Rose rolled over onto her side, grunted, and put her arm across his chest.
…Something, something, die, something…surfeiting, that, it of excess me Give/;on play, love Rose, I…
“Roll over,” Rose purred, nudging him in the side. “Lay that way…”
He turned onto his side and she pressed herself against his back, draping her arm over him. She snuggled her face against his left shoulder blade and kissed him there. In that moment the world felt to the Doctor like Gallifrey rediscovered. All that mattered in the universe spun in the space between the two of them, cradled by her sleeping stillness. He felt her chest rise and fall against him and he matched his breathing to hers. He was asleep in moments, the rest of the Shakespeare forgotten. When he opened his eyes next the room was bright with sunshine and he was clutching Rose against his chest, his face buried in her hair. He smiled, kissed her on the neck, and went back to sleep again.
kelkat9 for the beta help on this one! :)When they stepped out of the TARDIS, having parked it in the okiya’s garden, they found Sumiko waiting for them on the back steps leading to the second floor of the okiya, holding a broomstick across her lap. She eyed them warily as they came to the stairs. Her lips were pursed so tightly they were almost white. When she stood up, she held the broom like a weapon.
The Doctor dug another packet of Jelly Babies out of his pocket and offered it to her. “Lovely night, isn’t it, Sumiko-chan?”
“I heard you say to Ichisumi that you’re not human,” she said, brandishing the broom. “What are you? A demon?”
“Oh dear,” the Doctor said with a sigh. He handed the Jelly Babies off to Rose and put up his hands. “I am not a demon, I promise you.”
“What are you, then?” she asked.
“I’m your friend,” he answered. “Just the same as I was before.” He took a step towards her and she swung the broom. She would have clobbered him if he hadn’t used his natural speed to dodge her. Instead, he caught it and slipped it out of her hands before she knew he had a hold of it.
“Easy, now. How about we just talk?” He set the broom down and turned his attention back to Rose for a second. “You might be surprised to learn that I spend more time doing this sort of thing than nearly anything else in my life. It’s really a secondary profession, convincing people I’m me.”
“Well, it shows. You’re a fair hand at it,” Rose said. “Get to it before she finds a mop or something, will you? It’s cold out here.”
He turned back to Sumiko and put up his hands again. “What will it take for you to trust me? Bear in mind, please, that you are a girl, and a small one at that. I could get by you without any trouble at all. If I were someone who wanted to hurt you, I wouldn’t bother to stop and talk to you, would I?”
“Tell me what you are,” Sumiko said through clenched teeth.
“Okay, here’s the short version: I’m an alien,” the Doctor said.
“Too short,” Rose muttered.
“Quite right,” he said. “I’m from another planet. Do you know much about planets?”
“Rude,” Rose put in.
The Doctor shook his head. “Japan, 1940. Widespread women’s educational reform doesn’t come to this country until after that little event we are not going to discuss anymore since I cocked up so badly at dinner already. Do you know the planets, Sumiko-chan?”
“Yes,” the girl answered.
“I’m from one that’s very, very far away, called Gallifrey. The aoi hako is actually called a TARDIS, and it’s how Rose and I travel amongst the different worlds in the universe. May I ask you a question?”
She nodded.
“You accept the TARDIS and the fact that I can change my face, but when you hear I’m not human, you’re scared of me? What did you think I was?”
Sumiko looked down at the steps “Magic.”
He grinned. “Well, I am that, to be sure.”
“And humble,” Rose snarked.
Sumiko let the Doctor sit on the step next to her without trying to hit him with anything. He put his hand out to Rose and she tossed him the packet of Jelly Babies. Opening it, he offered a green one to Sumiko, who took it after a slight hesitation. He threw a pink one into the air and caught it in his mouth, which made the girl smile.
“Are you going to be all right with us staying in the okiya?” he asked.
“It’s not for me to be all right with anything,” Sumiko said. “I am only a shikomi.”
Rose caught the Doctor’s eye with a questioning look.
“Early stage of training. Shikomi work as sort of servants in the okiya when they’re not taking geisha lessons,” he said, chuckling. “Kind of like you.”
“Shut up,” Rose said, folding her arms and leaning against the railing.
He looked back at Sumiko. “You’re also a person who lives in this okiya, and if we frighten you, we’ll stay in the TARDIS.”
“You stayed in the okiya the last time you were here, Abunai-san. You did nothing to harm us then. I think you will not harm us now,” Sumiko said.
“Never,” he said, putting his arm around her and giving her a squeeze. “In fact, I’m more the protecting sort than the harmful sort. Can you show us to our rooms?”
Sumiko stood, and the Doctor followed her. “There is only one guest room,” Sumiko said. “Ichisumi-san said that you would not mind sharing.”
The Doctor turned to Rose with a look on his face that got a warning scowl and a quick shake of her head in response. They went up into the okiya and were shown to a small guest room with tatami mats on the floor, a low dressing table, and one mattress in the middle of the floor.
“Futon,” the Doctor said to Rose.
“Yeah, I’m not thick,” she said, giving him a wink. “I’ve seen one of those before.”
“Roomy,” the Doctor said, turning to the girl with a bow. “Thank you, Sumiko. Please tell Ichisumi-san these accommodations are delightful, and that we wish her good-night.”
Sumiko left with a shy good-night and another bow. Rose and the Doctor stood on opposite sides of the futon, looking at it and each other in turn.
“It’s about a queen size,” Rose said.
“I like the, erm, blanket-thing,” the Doctor said, pointing at the coverlet.
“Yeah,” Rose replied. “Looks…cozy.”
“I’ll just pop back to the TARDIS and get my jim-jams,” the Doctor said. “Wouldn’t do to sleep au naturel with so much awkward in the bed with us already.”
“Yeah,” Rose said. “I’ll go with you.”
“Yes, there will be plenty more room in the TARDIS for the gigantic elephant that has deposited himself in the middle of the futon.” He said, offering her his arm. They walked together in easy silence, the Doctor feeling so absurdly out of his element that he felt not only human, but also about sixteen years old, all elbows and bad angles, taking the prettiest girl in the class out for an evening stroll.
“I love those little trees,” Rose said, indicating the manicured junipers lining the garden path.
“Bonsai,” the Doctor said.
“Yeah, I know,” she said, squeezing his elbow. “Mum had one in the flat that she bought from a street vendor and killed a week later. I should get one while we’re here and bring it back for her.”
“So she can kill an authentic one?” he asked. He unlocked the TARDIS and let her go in first. He found Jackie’s ex-beau Howard’s pyjamas that he’d borrowed the first Christmas after his regeneration and never returned, stuffed them into a satchel, and went to wait for Rose in the control room.
It would have been nice, after that kiss, to have a little distance from Rose so he could digest all that had happened. The one thought that would not stop chewing on his brain was the knowledge that no matter what, at some point in the future he was going to be standing outside the windows of the okiya alone, longing for a glimpse of happier times. It would not work out with Rose, for whatever reason. For all he knew, taking things as far as he had taken them now with her could be the eventual reason for their separation.
Then again, he couldn’t live his life hiding from his own feelings. It would be a waste of centuries to never let himself truly feel anything again. Humans had a scant allotment of years, didn’t they? Yet, somehow they fashioned epic romances in the mayfly spans of their existence. Why couldn’t he, at least once?
It had been so long since he’d been in a real relationship, he couldn’t remember how to do it. Courtship on Gallifrey was completely different from the way humans did it; he doubted Rose would have much interest in tests of intellectual compatibility or genetic synchronization rituals. The more he thought about it, the more alien he began to feel. By the time they walked back to the okiya, he had to stop and think about how to speak English. Rose went to the bathroom to change, and he slipped out of his suit and into Howard’s jim-jams in the time it took Rose to walk to the bathroom.
She came back into the room, wearing pink plaid pyjamas, her hair in two sloppy braids. She sat on the futon cross-legged, beaming up at him, and he couldn’t help smiling in return.
“So,” he said, “do you want to give each other facials now, or would you first like to ring a random stranger and ask if their refrigerator is running?”
“Me and Shireen always asked if they had Prince Albert in a can,” Rose said. “Which side d’you want?”
“Would you prefer if I slept on the floor?” he asked.
Rose chuckled. “Can’t get much more on the floor than this thing, can you?”
“I suppose not,” he said, putting out the light and sitting on the mattress beside her. “I don’t sleep much.”
“I know,” she said. She pulled down her side of the covers and got under them. He followed suit and they lay on their sides, facing each other. There was exactly nineteen inches of space between Rose’s lips and his. Their pillows were touching.
“Good night,” she said. She leaned forward, crossing from her pillow to his, and graced his lips with a light kiss. Every neuron in his brain sang hymns at her touch.
“Good night,” he answered, his voice cracking a little. He cleared his throat and closed his eyes, staying to the far edge of his half of the mattress. The floor beneath the thin mattress was ridiculous, and before long Rose flopped onto her other side, away from him, in an effort to get comfortable. As she turned, her arm brushed his. Gooseflesh flared where she’d touched him, the thrill going all the way to his hearts.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, adjusting her pillow.
“No, no,” he said. “You’re fine.” He lay on his back and stared at the moonlight on the ceiling. The last thing he needed was sleep. Usually he worked on the TARDIS or other little projects while Rose slept. Even when he was a guest in someone’s house he would stay up most of the night, but the okiya was quite close quarters and every time he shifted it felt like the whole building creaked, so he tried to stay as still as he could. It wasn’t long before Rose’s breathing shifted into easy regularity and he was alone in the room. To keep himself from going mad with boredom, he went through the complete works of Shakespeare in his head. In reverse. It took him twenty minutes.
…Violets of bank a upon breathes That/ sound sweet the like ear my o’er Came…
Rose rolled over onto her side, grunted, and put her arm across his chest.
…Something, something, die, something…surfeiting, that, it of excess me Give/;on play, love Rose, I…
“Roll over,” Rose purred, nudging him in the side. “Lay that way…”
He turned onto his side and she pressed herself against his back, draping her arm over him. She snuggled her face against his left shoulder blade and kissed him there. In that moment the world felt to the Doctor like Gallifrey rediscovered. All that mattered in the universe spun in the space between the two of them, cradled by her sleeping stillness. He felt her chest rise and fall against him and he matched his breathing to hers. He was asleep in moments, the rest of the Shakespeare forgotten. When he opened his eyes next the room was bright with sunshine and he was clutching Rose against his chest, his face buried in her hair. He smiled, kissed her on the neck, and went back to sleep again.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 01:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 02:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 01:36 am (UTC)Was amazing characterization. <3333 So much love for you! So much love for your family! So much love for your cow!
no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 02:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 01:41 am (UTC)And this totally made me laugh:
“So,” he said, “do you want to give each other facials now, or would you first like to ring a random stranger and ask if their refrigerator is running?”
“Me and Shireen always asked if they had Prince Albert in a can,” Rose said.
Even when they take a new step in their relationship and are awkward, they can still take a moment to laugh together. You capture them perfectly.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 02:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 02:31 am (UTC)*Brain shorts out*
no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 02:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 04:18 am (UTC)This is my fave part! The whole thing was adorable and the sadness was all sad. Rose is so adorable and totally understands she can't push her Doctor... kind of hoping the whole seeing himself thing will change things and make the Doctor not stupid in Journey's End. *puppy dog eyes* What is fic if not to F**k canon, I ask you?! More soon please! I salivate over this! Gross I know but there you have it. XD
no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 05:18 am (UTC)Seriously, thank you. I'm so glad you're enjoying it. More to come very soon!!!
no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 02:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 11:38 am (UTC)Then again, he couldn’t live his life hiding from his own feelings. It would be a waste of centuries to never let himself truly feel anything again. Humans had a scant allotment of years, didn’t they? Yet, somehow they fashioned epic romances in the mayfly spans of their existence. Why couldn’t he, at least once?
BTW, I was up until midnight last night, and I never got the chapter update alert! EVIL LJ! GRRRRRR!!!!!
no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 01:19 pm (UTC)Anyway, thank you very much. :) I've built up my one-chapter buffer so hopefully I'll post another this afternoon! :)
no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 11:58 am (UTC)AWWWW! love love love :-) Your Doctor and Rose are, like, twenty kinds of awesome. Possibly more :-)
Absolutely adore the lines about so much awkward in the bed :-) made me LOL. Can't wait for more!
no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 01:20 pm (UTC)