Hope Springs Eternal…

Another Invidia Short by AMI MEITSU

 

“Invidia…Come on it could be fun…” Nova said as she followed Invidia into her kitchen. Nova had spent about an hour trying to convince Invidia to come with her on vacation to a hot spring. The next week Arty and Derek would both be off and Nova thought they needed some time to relax, Derek had agreed, but so far the other half wasn’t going…

 

“No!” Invidia snapped. “I don’t like Hot Springs!”

 

“Have you ever been to one?” Nova asked.

 

“No.”

 

“Then how can you not like it?”

 

Invidia looked at her. “Look, hot springs are stupid! Who takes a bath outside? And with other people?!”

 

Nova sighed. “Invidia, it’s not a big deal, unless you’re family the men and the women bathe separately.”

 

“You’re still with people, and it’s still wrong!”

 

“Invidia you’re going…”

 

“Huh?” They turned around as Arty walked into the kitchen.

 

“No I’m not!” She snapped.

 

“Yes you are…” Arty told her.

 

“Make me…” Invidia hissed as she headed down the hall.

 

Nova and Arty looked at each other.

 

“I have an idea” Akira said as she came in.

 

“Huh?” They looked at her.

 

“Let’s not tell her when we’re going, I say we put in the car when she’s asleep, that way when she wakes up she’ll already be there.” Akira smiled one of those mysterious smiles.

 

A couple days later, they decided to actually go through with it, and considering that they had to leave around two o’clock it would be easy, Invidia had a habit of taking naps then anyway…

 

“Remember, you have to be careful when you pick her up…We don’t want to move her too much.” Akira whispered as they entered the room.

 

Arty looked at her “I know that, It’s not like I haven’t picked her up before.” He went over, uncovered her and gently picked her up, trying not to move her around too much.

 

“Grab her blanket…” he told Akira.

 

“What about the rest of her stuff, I mean if we’re going away then…”

 

“I took care of it a couple days ago when she was out with her Father. Now let’s go, Derek’s waiting for us…” He said as he left.

 

Akira grabbed the blanket and followed him out, luckily there weren’t that many people out, so there were no weird looks or explanations for what was going on. Outside Derek, Nova, Setsuna and Ryou were busy putting the last of the stuff in the car. It was a nice afternoon, not too cold, not too hot, and there was a slight wind blowing. Akira sighed.

 

“Aw, she’s so cute…” Setsuna said as Arty approached them.

 

“Yeah, I know, Derek take her.” Arty said as carefully placed her in Derek’s arms.

 

“Why?” he asked.

 

“Three reasons, One, I have to drive, Two, I have to get the rest of this stuff in the car because you’re taking forever. And three, you’re the only other one here who can hold her.”

 

Nova glared at him.

 

“What?” Arty said.

 

“Just because I’m a woman that does not mean I’m weak.” She stated.

 

“I know that, I’ve seen you in action, but I’ve never seen you really carry anyone but Setsuna, and she’s probably a lot lighter than Invidia.”

 

“What are you saying?” Akira asked, she figured since Invidia was asleep that she’d come to her defense.

 

“Nothing.”

 

“Are you saying she’s fat?” Akira put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot.

 

“Akira…”

 

“Hm?”

 

“No! Why would you think that? Technically if she’s younger, Setsuna would probably weigh less…”

 

“Sure…” Akira muttered.

 

“Okay that’s enough!” Ryou said. “Let’s just go.”

 

“Right” Arty nodded. “Derek you’re gonna have to hold her for awhile, we can’t exactly lay her out in the car.”

 

“Fine…” Derek muttered, though he wasn’t exactly pleased, and neither was Nova, she wanted to be the one that got to cuddle with Derek!

 

Derek looked at her “It’s all right; we can spend some time together later.”

 

“Dad, not in front of the children” Setsuna joked.

 

“Oh, be quiet you!” Nova laughed.

 

A little while later, they were almost halfway to the hot spring when Invidia began to come to…

 

‘Where am I?’ she thought, Invidia had no idea what was going on, but she was warm and the place smelled of cologne… She looked up. “Derek..?” She muttered.

 

“Hi, Princess…” he whispered as he moved a strand of her hair aside.

 

“Hey! She’s my Princess not yours.” Arty said.

 

“Arty?” Invidia looked around. “What the hell?! Where am I?!” she asked.

 

“On the way to the hot spring.” Akira said. She was sitting next to Derek.

 

Artwork: Derek and Invidia © 2008 by AMI MEITSU

 

‘How could they do this? They knew I didn’t wanna go...They know…’ She looked at herself for a second, realizing that not only was she in Derek’s lap, she was half naked in Derek’s lap. She blushed and pulled her blanket up in an attempt to cover part of her slip.

 

“You okay?” Nova asked.

 

“No! I told you idiots that I didn’t want to go! Why doesn’t anyone listen to me?”

 

“Because we can’t take you seriously dressed like that.” Akira said.

 

“Hey!” Invidia hissed.

 

“Invidia calm down.” Derek hugged her. “It’s no big deal, and you need a break anyway.”

 

“He’s right, getting away from home may be good for you.” Ryou said.

 

“No! I belong in the city!” Invidia pouted.

 

“Actually, you probably need to get dressed.” Setsuna said.

 

Invidia glared at her “Hell no.” She stated flatly. “Not here!”

 

“I meant when we get to the hot spring, you need to get dressed before we go into the place, I don’t think you want to greet your host half-naked.”

 

“And I don’t think you understand-I don’t want to be here!” Invidia snapped.

 

“Don’t snap at her!” Nova said.

 

Invidia ignored her and looked up at Derek “Cuddle me…” she whined.

 

“I am not going to cuddle you.” Derek stated.

 

She looked at him with her ‘sad eyes.’

 

“No.”

 

Invidia sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. After a minute or two she began to fall back asleep, and she stayed asleep for the rest of the trip. Arty got her up when they arrived.

 

“Invidia? Come one, get up…” He gently shook her.

 

Invidia whimpered and turned away from him.

 

“Invidia…” He sat her up. And she moved off of Derek.

 

He left and Arty handed her one of her red gowns. “Here…” he said.

 

“But I wanted one of the blue ones…” Invidia said.

 

“Put it on” Arty said.

 

“Fine…” Invidia muttered. She quickly slipped the dress on over her slip and Arty zipped up the back of it. “Uh, Arty…You do realize this makes me…bra-less right?”

 

“You can fix that later, I just needed you to look presentable.”Arty said as he took her by the hand and pulled her out of the car.

 

“But Arty, My hair…my…”

 

He handed Invidia her shoes “You can fix it later, just put these on and come with me.”

 

She did and he took her hand again.

 

‘I don’t like it here…’ Invidia thought as they headed up to the main gate. ‘Too much sun, bugs too I bet…I hate hot springs…’

 

“Hi!”

 

“Huh?” Invidia’s thoughts broke, in front of her stood a middle-aged woman in a kimono.

 

“I’m Kamura I own the place.” She stated.

 

‘Kamura…Just like…Shamura…’ Invidia thought. Shamura used to be her bath servant, but she went with the first comet when it blew up. Though Shamura’s official position was a bath servant she had been so much more than that. Invidia sighed.

 

“Let me show you to your rooms.” Kamura said as she walked off. The group followed her down a couple of hallways, looking around as they did so.

 

“It’s so peaceful…” Setsuna whispered.

 

“It’s so stupid…” Invidia muttered.

 

“Invidia…” Arty whispered.

 

“Well, here’s one of them…” Kamura opened the sliding door of a huge room, there were chairs outside and a kneel table in the middle of the room.

 

“Where’ the bed..?” Invidia asked.

 

“Invidia…” Nova started. “They don’t have any beds at hot spring resorts, you sleep on the floor.”

 

Invidia looked at her “The floor?”

 

“She can do “it” there but she can’t sleep there…” Akira whispered.

 

Setsuna laughed silently.

 

“Hey…” Invidia looked at her.

 

Akira shrugged.

 

“Never mind that…” Nova said. “There’s still time to take a bath before dinner and I think we need to relax.”

 

“Sounds good to me.” Setsuna said.

 

Invidia just sighed and went into the bathroom with her stuff, Arty said she needed to look presentable and she didn’t…so she just left them to their baths.

 

After a couple minutes she went out with them-but not for a bath, she sat on one of the rocks and just watched the girls. ‘Bathing with other people…it’s just wrong.’ She thought.

 

“Invidia-Mama are you going to get in the water or just stare at it?” Akira asked when she noticed her.

 

“Stare at it.”Invidia said.

 

Akira shrugged.

 

“Oh come on, it’s not that bad.” Nova told her.

 

“No.”

 

“But…”

 

“No!”

 

“Okay…” Nova backed off, it was no use arguing with her, they were supposed to be on vacation.She sighed and they sat there until dinner time.

 

Dinner was huge, there so much on the table…

 

“Isn’t that a lot of food?” Setsuna asked.

 

“Not with the way Ryou eats!” Akira said.

 

“Hey…”

 

“Don’t start!” Arty said as he placed bowls or rice in front of them.

 

“But do they really expect us to eat all of this?” Invidia asked.

 

“Maybe not you.” Derek said.

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

 

“Nothing, I just know you’re picky, that’s all…”

 

“Yeah, yeah…” Invidia muttered as she picked up something off one of the plates.

 

“He is right you know…” Setsuna said.

 

“Hey! Would you stop picking on me?! There’s nothing wrong with my eating habits!” Invidia snapped.

 

“She’s right, just leave her alone alright?” Arty said.

 

“Thank you…” Invidia whispered.

 

He kissed her head “You’re welcome, Princess…”

 

She smiled at him, and after dinner she stood outside looking at the place. ‘It’s such a beautiful night and the steam looks so nice…maybe I could try a bath…’ Invidia thought. She figured that since no one was around it’d be easier for her to relax, and that this was probably one of the few times she’d get to be by herself.

 

A couple minutes later she stood in front of the hot spring in only a bath towel. She glanced around for a moment, and stepped in. It felt nice…

 

‘Nova’s right, this isn’t so bad…it feels nice…’ Invidia sighed and looked up.

 

Meanwhile, Arty was trying to find Invidia; she had figured that he’d figure out she was outside on his own, but he didn’t.

 

“Derek, are you sure you haven’t seen her around?” Arty asked.

 

“No, I haven’t seen her since dinner, but if you want I’ll look outside, it’s a big place and there’s a chance she could be around.”

 

“Okay but don’t get lost, we can’t afford the search party rates.”Arty joked.

 

“I’ll keep that in mind, but if I don’t come back, tell Nova I love her,” Derek played along; he knew there was no real search party.

 

“Will do.” Arty went down the hall and Derek went outside where Invidia had actually gone…

 

“I don’t know why I didn’t do this earlier…” Invidia said to no one in particular. “It feels nice…” She sighed again, but this time it was meant in a good way, she was content and she liked it…

 

Unfortunately that contentedness was about to be broken…

 

‘Let’s see…If I was Invidia…where would go at a hot spring…’ Derek stopped and pondered for a second. “Wait a minute…Awhile ago Arty did say she liked baths…could that be where she is?” he muttered as he walked on. He was right. After a minute or so he found her where the girls had been earlier. “Invidia?” he said.

 

She turned around and looked at him-standing up, she was covered partly by the water, but most of her upper body showed… “Derek…”

 

“A…uh…” He was trying not to look at her, she was pretty but he didn’t want to have to explain things later…

 

Invidia then realized what was going on; she quickly went back down in the water with her arms covering her breasts.

 

Derek looked around the other way, and she actually stepped out of the bath.

 

“Were you…looking for me?” she asked. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you…I just…”

 

“Here” He threw her towel toward her. “You need to cover up.” He said, then he walked off, but not before tripping over one of the rocks.

 

Invidia went over, using the towel to cover up the front of her body. “Are you all right?” she asked.

 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just…”

 

“Uh, would this be bad timing?”

 

“Huh?” They looked up to find Setsuna looking at them.

 

Invidia blushed and pulled the towel around herself. “Nothing…Really, he tripped and I wanted to see if he was alright that was all…” Invidia stammered.

 

“I hope so, or else someone’s gonna be mad at him tonight…” Setsuna teased.

 

“Hey! There’s no need to tell your mother. It was just an accident.”

 

“You better hope so…”

 

“Oh, be quiet you…”

 

“All right, all right, let’s just go.” Setsuna laughed.

 

When they got back Arty was waiting for Invidia. “So? How was your bath?”

 

“How’d you find out?”

 

“Nova.”

 

“That’s right I did tell her…” Invidia muttered.

 

“And she told me.”

 

“I like it here…” Invidia admitted.

 

“I knew you would…” he hugged her.

 

Later that night she looked at the ceiling as Arty slept. She found out that sleeping on the floor wasn’t so bad.

 

‘I think the only thing I was worried about was being with all these other people…but it’s not really that bad…it’s peaceful here…and I like it…I really like it…’