A Weird Thing
What It Means To Touch

"Hiro."

Stopping short in his tracks, a confused Hiro blinked as the door to the changing room opened to reveal a very cross Ichigo. Her gaze was firm with conviction, but the blush in her cheeks and the rising and falling of her shoulders suggested she was anything but calm. Behind, the back of Nana vanished past a turn in the corridor.

"We need to keep training. C-Come with me." C-Come with me." Going along with her, Hiro was surprised to see her not head back towards the simulators, but instead she took a right turn… Towards the bathrooms.

.

"Why does bathing with you have to be part of this?"

"I told you already!" Ichigo said, holding her towel around herself, "'Skinship' encourages pilots to relax around each other! Synchronisation is more than just piloting the FranXX. You- We have to accept each other's mind, and be c-c-comfortable in each other's presence…"

The fact that both of them were still holding towels around their genitals spoke volumes of the progress they were making.

"Well then, I'll go first." Ichigo's teeth chattered, as she stepped into the private bath.

Struggling to control the tremor in her hands, Ichigo lowered herself in the warm waters of the bath. Her back was to Hiro, but she knew he was staring at her. Slowly, she loosened her white towel and let it sink into the steaming waters, but kept it clutched to her chest.

"P-Please come inside, Hiro," she said softly.

Awkwardly raising his leg over the tub's edge with his own towel around his waist, Hiro got into the tub as well, sending little ripples of water towards Ichigo, where they lapped at her hands. The tub was too cramped for the two of them, and even when Hiro's back was pressed against the opposite edge of the tub, there was simply no space for their legs.

Something lightly brushed against Hiro's fingers, then his legs and his inner thigh, causing him to gasp. "W-What was that?" he exclaimed. He made to grab the offending object - no sooner had his fingers wrapped around it and he pulled it out of the water, than Ichigo's bath towel slipped out of her hands.

"What are you doing- Ahh!" she shrieked. The clear water of the tub exposed her pert, small breasts to Hiro for a tantalising second, as did her bare navel and vagina. "Give it back!" she cried, as she clawed the air for her scant cover, and leaned forwards.

"Sorry!" Hiro said as he dropped her towel in the water. The cramped tub, however, did not allow for much gymnastics to be performed; the smooth tub sides and Ichigo's frantic movements were just enough to tip her over and directly on top of Hiro, pushing his head underwater with a large splash and a faceful of pubescent chest.

In the violent struggling and splashing that ensued, somehow Hiro managed to surface for air. A dripping wet Ichigo stood over him, still holding her towel, but now her crotch was dangerously near his face. "Are you okay?" she asked. "Let's not do that again. This is such a bad idea, I shouldn't have listened to Nana-" she hoisted a leg up, splashing Hiro with yet more water, and her feet slapped against cold tiles as she left him alone in a half-empty tub.

"Well, that was awful." he said to no one in particular."

.

"Go back." Nana sternly insisted. "Go back and try again."

Ichigo made a strangled sound of protest. "But why? He pulled my towel, he did nothing he could have done to helped the situation, he's not willing to do anything-"

Nana silenced her with a raised finger. "You will take responsibility as Squad leader and get in the tub with him, or I will take responsibility and supervise you," she drew out the word with a long sigh. "Do you understand?"

Ichigo's face deflated as all her indignation left her expression. "Yes, M'am."

.

The door opened again behind him. Hiro looked round and was startled to see a forlorn Ichigo, hand still clutching her sodden towel with only half the spirit she had before.

"Ichigo, what was that about-?" he began, but she stepped into the tub wordlessly and turned on the taps to refill it.

"I will do what I must, Hiro," she said emotionlessly, "Please be quiet."

And she dropped her towel completely, once more presenting herself. The heat-lamp of the bathroom lit up every curve, every droplet that clung to her skin, and highlighted every strand of hair on her bare, petite shoulders. Hiro was stunned into silence; one naked girl was a sight to behold, but Ichigo? His leader and teammate? Wouldn't Goro be angry at him?

Words crept to the tip of his tongue, only to be swallowed back as his eyes roved up and down her undressed form. Sure, he had seen her backside in the cockpit of Delphinium, but this… This was different. Her buttcheeks wiggled slightly as she turned off the water and sat besides him, skin brushing skin. Breath whistled from between her lips and formed little clouds as she finally settled with far more gentleness and grace than earlier. The water's edge rippled around her breasts; she was trembling, and yet trying to remain still.

"Do I… What should I do, Ichigo?" Hiro whispered. His voice sounded a lot lower than it usually did to him. She blushed and looked away for a second, before answering in a soft tone of her own:

"Whatever you want to do."

"Wow." Hiro exhaled. Sitting to her right, he could examine all of her body in the clear waters of the tub. Slowly, afraid of rebuke, he inched his hand closer to her abdomen, and when he found no resistance, he touched her.

Ichigo shuddered, but remained silent. Despite the warmth of the bath, Ichigo's skin had a heat of its own, and it was marvellous by any account. It was neither rubbery like their plugsuits nor rough like their uniforms. Hiro ran his hand along her stomach, scraping his fingertips along her belly button, all while he felt her quiver beneath his touch.

"This in incredible," he thought. He brought his hand up, closer and closer to her chest, until it was millimetres away from her bare, uncovered breast. "M-may I?" he said.

Ichigo nodded, her face as red as an apple. Firm, yet soft. Supple, yet tough. It felt like his own backside, Hiro thought, but as he felt Ichigo's right breast, he immediately dismissed all comparisons to it. Her nipple, strangely similar but so different from his own, stiffened in the palm of his hand, and as he touched the tip of his finger to it-

"Don't do that." she said, but then quickly shook her head. "Hiro, it feels… It feels weird."

Hiro stared at her. "What kind of weird?" he asked. Ichigo's lips trembled, and he could just make out her thundering heartbeat beneath his hand. "I feel… I feel like there's tingling. In my…Breast," she stammered, "It's nothing like I've ever felt."

"Does it hurt?" His instincts came roaring back, the protective urges that training had drilled into Hiro. Pilots weren't supposed to hurt each other in training. But was this training?

"N-No." Ichigo admitted. "Just that… I feel weird here," she brought her hands to her her chest, directly over her heart, "My heart, it's beating fast. It's not like training at all. And down here…"

Ichigo brought her hands down, lower than even her stomach, until they came to rest between her legs, over her crotch.

"…I feel weird too," she moaned.

'Weird' was a word that was as foreign to Hiro as the concept of nakedness and kissing. Neither positive, nor negative, and certainly not in the training manual. If Naomi had ever come across something strange, she said it was 'not right', never that it was 'weird.'

So since it wasn't a bad thing, Hiro figured, it meant he could continue.

He leaned closer, taking in deeper breaths, and lightly squeezed Ichigo's breast again. She shuddered, shaking below his touch. Resisting, but accepting. Their clouds of exhaled breath mingled together in the bath as Hiro touched, and Ichigo moaned. Such was a testimony to the power of orders that Ichigo didn't move away when Hiro snaked his left arm around her to grope her left breast.

But their positions were getting difficult to continue. "Um, Ichigo… Would you please sit on my lap?" Hiro asked, anticipating the swiftest denial as usual. Once again, he was taken aback as Ichigo nodded meekly and shifted around. The warm water made delightful currents around their bodies as she settled on his bare thighs, with no towel to separate them. The sensation of skin on skin on skin… Hiro's head began to spin as he leaned forwards and rested his cheek on her left breast.

"Ichigo?" Hiro murmured as the bath began to spin his his stupor, "This might sound strange, but…"

"But?"

"You feel… Wonderful." he closed his eyes. Wallowed in a warm world of pure, unconditional bliss. His hands drifted from her breasts and sank in the water, settling at her hips and thighs.

Ichigo shuddered again. Hiro didn't so much hear her moan as he heard it - the subsonic sound reverberating through her body, going from her throat to her chest, and from her breast to his face, and deeper into his ears. Every movement she made, he felt. Every breath she took, he inhaled. They had fallen into step with every breath and he hadn't even noticed.

"Is this what it means to be in sync?" he whispered, but then a whine from Ichigo cut him off.

"H-Hiro, give me your hand," she said. Without waiting for him to respond, she took his right hand in both of hers, and pressed it to her crotch. What else would the evening surprise him with? Hiro's eyes widened and his senses cleared as Ichigo took his hand and guided it… Guided him somewhere else. He knew not what he was touching, only that it was soft and warm and every little movement made Ichigo squirm on his legs and make foreign, weird sounds he had never heard her make.

Sure, Hiro knew boys has penises and girls had vaginas. The split anatomical drawings in their syllabuses barely covered that topic, instead focusing on a breakdown of the various scientific terms of the reproductive system. Boys were different from girls, that's all he knew from the books.

No one could have ever told him a vagina was so pleasant to touch. Ichigo was running his finger up and down two thin flaps of flesh. Her breathing was fast and laboured. As he adjusted to the rhythm, he slowly began to take over, doing the same up-and-down repetition Ichigo was making him perform. When he bent his finger inwards to stroke, she bucked a little, sending ripples everywhere in the bath.

"Are you okay, Ichigo-" he began to say, but she grabbed his hand again. "J-Just keep doing that!" she exclaimed. "It's- It's good!" her moans echoed off the bathroom tiles. Was the water this hot, or was it just their bodies heating up?

So Hiro continued. Up, down, little left, little right. Digging in gently. A little bulb surfaced from between her flaps, and Ichigo convulsed with every little movement. As his own face began to heat up, Hiro was seized by a primal desire to touch her more, and he groped her left breast while continuing to touch her below the water. The guttural moans she uttered were impressive - impressively positive.

Somewhere between his legs, a new kind of pressure had begun to overtake Hiro. His penis was hurting, but it wasn't pain. A kind of tension that sought release. But with the girl in his arms practically writhing on top of him, Hiro put his own body's 'weird thing' aside. "Harder, Hiro, harder!" she moaned. He eagerly obeyed, and slid his fingers in deeper. Squeezed her breast with just a bit more force. Toyed with her nipple as it danced under his fingertip like the spring-loaded button of the Franxx's controls. Ichigo had long cast aside whatever restraint she had, and Hiro marvelled at the wonders of his touch.

"I'm- Uhh!" she groaned. Ichigo grabbed his right hand and shoved his finger deeply. His digits entered somewhere warm and slimy to the touch, and yet it beat in sync with her heart. Hiro himself was panting with exertion, his mind hijacked by instincts and her orders. She quaked on his hips, letting out a little squeak every other second or so-

And then it passed, whatever weird thing it was. Strength fled her body and Ichigo slumped, releasing his hand. As she groaned in what sounded like ecstasy, she wiggled her backside just enough to force his legs open and gain a seat - just as she did so, Hiro's penis unfurled, and he gasped. It looked nothing like its natural state - stiff as a rod, positively shaking as though indignated at its fleshy prison.

"Is- everything- alright?" he panted, as he drew back his hands. Now Ichigo didn't even say anything - she merely nodded and leaned back. Her azure hair was rich in a heavy scent of sweat. Hiro raised his right hand out of the water, inspecting it as though he expected it to have changed colour.

Nothing, on first glance. The surface of his fingertips was slightly wrinkled, due to its prolonged underwater expedition, but its appearance was unremarkable. As the water dripped from his skin, however, he saw what looked to be a clear film stuck to it, not unlike mucus from his nose. A tentative sniff revealed that it was… It was Ichigo's scent. Again, he concluded, this was something that defied comparison, like her breasts.

He brought his finger to his tongue and licked - nothing. He put in his whole finger now, trying to taste something besides bathwater…

"Salty," he murmured. "Ichigo, you taste salty."

If she had heard him, she made no comment about it. "I… I need to pee," she said, and hauled herself out of the bathtub and to the nearby toilet. And so Hiro looked down at his throbbing penis. The sounds of urine hitting the water filled the air as he looked at it, unsure of what was happening… And slowly, to his relief, his penis 'calmed down' and reverted to its natural state. Just like how it was drawn in the textbooks.

"That was weird," he said again. Ichigo returned from her toilet, her face still visibly flushed. Strands of hair stuck to her face - she swept her hair back over her ear, and Hiro noted that that very hand had just been pushing his fingers into her… Her vagina just minutes ago.

They stared at each other for the longest moment without speaking. "So…" he began, "Have we become in sync?"

Ichigo's green eyes stared into his, then she looked away in embarrassment.

"I think we did."

.

tbc

A/N: Can't wait for Episode 3 to tell us more about the origins of the children!