All Alone on the Beach [Akira]

[Karin Norling]

It was already evening by the time Karin had gotten back to Hapuu Town and healed her Pokemon up. By the time she went back to Haalele Town, it would have been too dark to do much exploring. Not that that usually stopped Karin, but with the rough terrain and overgrowth everywhere, not being able to see where she was stepping was incredibly dangerous. Even with a flashlight, going through the overgrown ghost town was just asking for trouble. So instead, she'd decided to take the shorter trip out to the beach to relax for awhile before turning in.

And what a beach it was. It wasn't exactly hidden, not with multiple signs pointing her in that direction and a park at the top of a rocky trail down to the beach, but it still seemed like a real hidden gem. With the sun already well through setting, the beach was completely empty. And just like the name suggested, it was black sand perfectly matching the volcanic rock walls to either side. Karin had to take a moment to marvel at the scene before descending the trail to the beach.

She let out her Pokemon to have their own fun while taking a dip. Shiranui and Skull Kid immediately ran off to play in a small cave at the edge of the beach, while Roman decided to explore the vegetation growing along the cliffs and Aya took a nap. Karin, meanwhile, stripped down and left her clothes on top of a mostly dry rocky outcrop. As for a swimsuit...well, she'd neglected to unpack it, so she decided to go without. It wasn't like anyone else was there. And once she was in the water, it didn't matter too much anyway.

[Akira Mikan]

Unfortunately for Karin, it turned out there was someone at the beach. Though, to be fair, she was only out here by pure chance. She couldn't sleep, so she decided to take a walk to wear herself out, and happened upon the beach. Initially, she was completely wowed by the black sand, having never seen anything like it. She couldn't even begin to guess how such a thing was possible, but whatever it was, it was amazing. As such, she found herself just walking along the beach, close to the water, but far enough away to avoid getting splashed by the waves.

It wasn't until she had been wandering for a while that she noticed someone swimming around in the water. Though she couldn't get a good look at her from where she was, it was definitely another person, and they were definitely female, based on what glimpses of their body she could catch. Ironically, she had yet to notice that she was completely nude. She couldn't help but watch her for a bit, mostly out of curiosity than anything else. After all, it's not every day you see someone out swimming this late at night...not that she had much of an excuse to be at the beach, of course.

[Karin Norling]

It didn't take Karin too long to remember that such phrases as 'spoke too soon' and 'shouldn't have opened my mouth' could also be applied to a person's train of thought. She did have some time to herself, but before too long she looked towards the beach to see someone standing there. A girl of about her age, if her intuition and ability to see in low light hadn't failed her. Karin had to wonder why anyone else was out and about at this time, but she could easily guess that someone had just had the same idea as she did. Namely, go out to the beach when no one else was there.

"Oh, hey," Karin said, drifting back towards the shore. She stayed in the water, although her current swimsuit-less state would be quite a bit more obvious from this distance. But she didn't mind too much. It wasn't like anyone else was out here, and if she was somehow wrong about that again she could re-dress fairly quickly. "Sorry, I didn't expect to see anyone else out here." She let those words sit for a moment, gauging the girl's reaction before adding "Join me?"

[Akira Mikan]

Oh whoops. She hadn't meant to bother the girl who had been swimming, though she didn't seem to be bothered by it. As she moved closer to the shore, Akira got a better look at the person in the water. She was actually quite attractive, and...wait. "...e-eh?!" And that was when she noticed what the girl was wearing. Or rather, what she wasn't wearing. Averting her eyes, her face was completely red as she tried to process what was happening right now, and she was visibly resisting the urge to continue sneaking a peek at the nude girl in the water. One could practically hear how hard her heart was pounding.

Then came the offer to join her, which flustered the poor girl even further. "E-eh? N-no thank you...I...er..." Her mind was blank for a moment, but she finally came up with an excuse. "I..er...I didn't bring a swimsuit...so..." After a brief pause, there was a look on her face that made it clear that she had immediately realized the irony in the comment she had just made. 

[Karin Norling]

Oh my. This girl sure could blush. Even in nothing but moonlight, Karin could tell that her face had gone completely red. And it was adorable. Karin wasn't normally one to tease people...much...okay, that wasn't actually the least bit true, but either way she was certainly having a hard time resisting in this case. And despite the fact that the girl was trying her best not to sneak peeks at her, Karin could tell that she was having a hard time of it. But that was just fine. Karin didn't mind another girl looking. Especially not a cute one.

And of course, when Karin made her offer, she could tell the girl had gotten even more flustered. She came up with an excuse after a moment of stumbling over it, but it was quite possibly the worst one she could have used for this particular situation. "Hey, neither did I," Karin said, smiling innocently. "I didn't think I'd be needing it today, but look, here I am. I wouldn't mind at all if you wanted to do the same."

[Akira Mikan]

Okay, that was a fair point. Still, it took a level of "really goddamn brave" to even consider doing something like this out in the open. Even if the place was empty, it was still technically a public place. Either way, Akira was nowhere near confident with herself to do something like that. "E-eh...I-I don't know...wh-what if someone else comes along?..." Regardless, the lack of confidence was apparent in her voice even as she voiced her (still rather valid) concern regarding someone else coming along and seeing them.

Meanwhile, she was still resisting the urge to just stare at the nude female. It wasn't that she didn't find her attractive. Actually, it was completely the opposite problem. She didn't to end up staring and come off as a pervert, but the urge was rather strong.

[Karin Norling]

"Ah, don't worry about that, it's late enough that I don't think we have to worry about..." Karin stopped, realizing that this girl had done exactly what she was about to say wouldn't happen. "You know what, I'm not going to finish that. Never mind," she said, laughing. Yes, it was late enough that nobody else was likely to be around. Yes, traveling the Hapuu Highway at night was asking for trouble, and most people wouldn't even attempt it. But if even one person had stumbled on Karin like this, there was nothing to say that someone else might as well.

It seemed from her tone that the girl wasn't particularly confident in herself either, so Karin decided to just leave it at that without trying to push it. Still, Karin didn't feel like getting out yet. And as long as the girl was still here, Karin figured she might as well try to talk to her a bit more. "Anyway, sorry about that. My name's Karin. What's yours?"

[Akira Mikan]

Akira let out a sigh of relief when Karin seemed to back down from insisting that she join her in the water. It wasn't as though the thought of that was unpleasant, either. It's just that it would have taken a lot of convincing for her to even consider doing it. Were it not for the fact that someone could see them, she might have been a little more willing, but that was obviously not the case; after all, Akira found Karin, which proved her assumption that there was no one around to be rather false; even if it was, admittedly, a fair one.

Either way, now that the initial shock was wearing off, Akira was beginning to relax a little. She still couldn't quite bring herself to look directly at Karin while she was nude, but she wasn't quite as flustered as she initially was. At the very least, it was a start. As Karin introduced herself, she smiled and nodded "N-nice to meet you. My name's Akira..." For just a second, Akira looked at Karin, not wanting to be rude as she introduced herself. It didn't take long for her face to turn red again, causing her to once again avert her gaze.

[Karin Norling]

"Nice to meet you too," Karin said, smiling back at Akira. She was starting to relax a bit, thankfully, and Karin caught her looking directly at her when she introduced herself. Just for a moment before turning red and looking away again. Interesting reaction. She was definitely trying to keep herself from staring, which brought up a lot of interesting questions. Not only was she completely adorable, Karin could hazard a guess that she might be into other girls as well. Just knowing that, Karin had to forcefully keep herself from teasing the poor girl more. Of course, it would make things pretty awkward if she was wrong, but she could have her fun.

"Akira, huh? That's a pretty name," Karin said.

[Akira Mikan]

Akira let out a soft sigh. This really couldn't be any more awkward, could it? You'd think someone would be a little more concerned about a random stranger seeing them naked. But no, apparently not this girl. Every now and then, she'd peek a quick glance, and she was able to gather that Karin had a rather nice body. Honestly, she was slightly jealous. Akira was, by no means, unattractive, but she was rather lacking when it came to "feminine charm". Well, physically, at least. The blushing awkward mess she was right now probably more than made up for it.

Either way, when she heard the compliment, her face flared up in an even brighter blush than before. "E-eh? I-I...er...th-thank you...y-yours is a lot prettier, though..."

[Karin Norling]

Now that Akira had looked, just for that one moment, Karin could tell that she had liked what she saw. How? Because she was still looking. Just quick little glances that she probably hoped Karin didn't see. But now that Karin was giving Akira her full attention, she noticed a few of them. The girl was probably sneaking more that Karin didn't notice, but a few was all she needed. That was enough to put Akira squarely in either 'curiosity' or 'checking her out.'

Then came her response. "Is it?" Karin asked, blushing slightly. "Thanks..." For a second, she thought the girl would slip and say something else with the way she was stammering. No such luck. It still threw Karin off just a little bit though. But only for a second. After that, Karin bounced back and said "Hey, you're pretty cute like that, you know? Not very good at hiding where your eyes are wandering though."

[Akira Mikan]

Okay, this wasn't so bad. All things considered, at least. She was still feeling pretty awkward over how the other girl was naked, but she was more or less done questioning it. At this point, there wasn't really much of a reason to. Nevertheless, she was almost actually calmed down...until Karin made that last comment about her "wandering eyes". Almost immediately, her blush flared back up, and she was back to being the awkward stuttering mess that she was a moment ago "A-ah! S-sorry! I...I...er..."

Wait. Why was she apologizing? Karin had already made it rather obvious that she didn't mind being seen naked. At least, she was pretty sure she didn't. Probably. In the end, her poor heart eventually reached the point where she couldn't take much more "S-sorry...I...er...i-it's hard to concentrate...w-with you like that, I mean..."

[Karin Norling]

Karin couldn't help but laugh a bit at Akira's renewed flustered speech. Actually it was more like a giggle, at least in intent. She really didn't mind being seen like this, but Akira's awkward to response was just too cute. Best to apologize though, before she went too far in teasing the poor girl. "Sorry, sorry. I was about done in here anyway, so I guess I can cover up a bit if it'll help."

Not thinking the next part through at all, Karin stood up in the water and casually walked back up onto the beach as though it was the most normal thing. There, she made her way over to where her clothes sat and started re-dressing. Strangely enough to most likely anyone but Karin, she put her hat back on first, then started dressing properly. She was still in plain view of the beach while she did this, but at least afforded Akira the opportunity to turn away in case she was capable of resisting the urge to sneak more glances.

Once she got her undergarments back on and the rest at least on, if not fully done up, she asked "Better?"

[Akira Mikan]

Akira let out a quiet sigh of relief as Karin seemed to realize that she would make this whole thing a lot less awkward by actually putting on some clothes. Though she wasn't out of the woods just yet. Despite her best efforts, she ended up instinctively looking over at her as she heard her come out of the water, and got a good look of Karin's whole body, now that she was completely out of the water. Her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly looked away, but the image was fresh in her mind now. She wasn't going to be forgetting that sight anytime soon. Not that she particularly wanted to.

Either way, she managed to keep herself from peeking as Karin got dressed, and took the question as a sign that it was safe to look. Letting out a sigh, she smiled sheepishly. "Much better...n-not that you don't have a great body of course. I-it was hard not to get...er...distracted while you had nothing on..."

[Karin Norling]

Karin smiled back at Akira. So her body was that distracting, huh? Very interesting. "Thank you," she said with confidence, despite still having traces of a blush. "I'm very glad you think so, actually. The first part, I mean, although I can understand being distracted too."

She finished doing up the buttons of her shirt, putting her in a state resembling fully dressed. She still left her shoes off, preferring to stay barefoot and sit where the waves could still wash over her feet. Once she was settled down again, she looked back at Akira. "So what brought you out here this late, anyway?" she asked. "Most people I don't think would try going through the rainforest at night, even over a pretty short distance. I mean, I'm here, but I'm just kind of crazy like that."