DB Sommer wrote:

Cast Adrift of Memories Bliss
(A Marmalade Boy fanfic)


 

$Never seen Marmalade boy, although I am vaguely aware that it's about 
some girl and some boy who's parents remarried each other.  I think.  
This fic does kinda bear that out, though, even though I don't recognize 
any of the characters at all.

Or R+C books at:
http://www.fanworks.org

Writer�s forward:

$Is it fore word, or forward?

This one came about as a result of seeing the first 
four episodes of MB at Otakon last year. Having only seen 4 eps, I might 
be contradicting some canon here, but I haven�t been able to find 
anything to contradict this, so here we go.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I remember the epiphany. It was on a Wednesday between noon and one. I 
was eating lunch at the weekly get together with four of my oldest 
friends from when we were in high school. It was a ritual we developed 
to keep in touch with one another after we graduated and moved on in our 
lives. Sixteen years and I missed it maybe a total of four times, one of 
them when Miki was born. We were as regular as clockwork. It was as 
though the years had never happened and we were in high school selves 
once again. Over lunch we�d talk about many things. How our lives were 
going. Our marriages. Raising children. Sex. Anything. No subject was 
forbidden, that was how open we were.

$Miyabi:  So there we were, and then he asks for a rim job!
Others: *gasp*

No guys allowed either. Not ever. 
That was the one unbreakable rule. It was so we wouldn�t have to worry 
about putting on airs and looking good for them. This was a time for us 
to just be ourselves.

It was Miyabi who said it. She was always the crudest out of all of us. 
If someone in our little gathering of hens swore, it was her nine times 
out of ten. We always attributed her coarse behavior as the principal 
reason for why she was still single.

Miyabi was talking about some guy she was dating. She was going into 
great detail about him being a major hunk, and confessed to us she was 
having great sex with him. When I asked if she was going to marry him, 
Miyabi laughed and said it was nothing romantic, and that the two of 
them were just �fuck buddies.�


It was the perfect term to describe my marriage to Jin.

 

$You know, as I read this, I was struck by the notion that fanfic 
notwithstanding, if you changed the names, removed the falling in love 
with the other couple part, and just had it be their efforts, successful 
or not, to rekindle a failed marriage, this would be a really easy sell 
to a women's magazine as an original story.  Judging by the stories I've 
read in women's magazines, this would be eaten up with cream and sugar, 
and seconds asked for.

Oh, and damn this is clean.  I'm not finding much to quibble about.

And then it all came into focus with one brusque phrase. A fuck buddy. 
Someone you sleep with while lacking any real sense of attachment. The 
more I thought about it in conjunction with myself, the more I felt like 
that was what I had with my husband. While we loved each other, it 
wasn�t with any sense of infatuation. There was little in the way of 
passion between us. It wasn�t so much a marriage as much as a business 
partnership. We didn�t dislike one another, on the contrary, we liked 
each other very much, but at the same time it seemed we never cared 
intensely about one another. That was why I had never minded it when he 
told me a dress made me look fat: I didn�t love him so deeply that I 
would feel automatically hurt by a non-flattering comment he made about me.

 

$Sheesh.  What's wrong with that?  Some people have always got to pick 
at the good things in their life and make them not so good.

It was like my life was built on a lie, but that wasn�t exactly true. It 
was an illusion, one I created and fooled myself into believing was 
something it wasn�t. I found myself not with a husband, but with a fuck 
buddy. It was nothing like a true marriage. If I did love Jin before, I 
certainly didn�t now. Cared, but not loved, and there is a world of 
difference between the two.

It was horrifying to me, but it was the truth. And as much as I cared 
about Jin, at the same time, I couldn�t pretend nothing was wrong. On 
the contrary, the very nature of our relationship, and the trust (which 
was a real thing) made it so I had to tell him how I felt, even if, for 
the first time in my life, I really and truly hurt him. But that honesty 
was the foundation of our relationship (unlike passion, which was what 
marriage was supposed to be about)

$Like hell. 

, and without that, we truly had nothing.

 

The suite we had was truly romantic. Flower petal were scattered across 
the room, heart-shaped chocolates on our bed. Everything was in 
valentine red.

$Why that's considered romantic escapes me.  I've never felt like 
shagging when the room looks like the scene of a horrific demonic 
slaughter, with all that blood red color everywhere.  Heh, and my 
impulse to comment on that in rooms like those is probably why my wife 
doesn't think they're very romantic, either.

The mood was perfect, but I felt no desire to do anything 
with Jin. We made a weak attempt at making out, but it was obvious 
neither of us had our hearts in it, despite intentionally avoiding 
having any sex since our discussion. But even now, with the setting and 
atmosphere ideal, our love making would have been perfunctory. We both 
realized it, so we dropped the matter and went to sleep. Only if things 
occurred naturally could it possibly work out between us.

The next day we were a good distance out on the ocean, gaining the 
solitude we wanted. However, whatever we were hoping for wasn�t there. 
Nothing seemed to jump start the feelings we had hoped would be 
triggered on the trip. It was still early, but we were not off to a good 
start. There was little to talk about, since we knew each other so 
intimately. We simply couldn�t figure out where to begin.

 

$They should have tried an S&M escape instead of a cruise.  It 
definitely would have given them something to talk about.

By the time dinner rolled around, we were frustrated at being stymied so 
easily. Also we were becoming bored. If nothing else, this was a 
vacation, and we both wanted to enjoy it, but the palpable cloud of 
worry that hovered between us prevented anything but misery from seeping 
in.

During dinner we were seated at a table with another married couple the 
same age as us: Youji and Chiyako Matsura. Being naturally outgoing, Jin 
and I struck up a conversation with them. They both turned out to be 
just as friendly and sociable as us. We were quickly talking with each 
other as though we were lifelong friends.

While my initial intention was to talk primarily with Chiyako, I found 
Youji just as interesting as his wife, if not more so. I don�t know what 
it was about him, but there was something fascinating about his 
presence. He was extremely handsome, witty, and interesting as well. 
Honestly, he was unlike any man I had met since Jin, but while we got 
along almost as quickly as Jin and I had, there was something else 
there, a tension that had been lacking when my husband and I met as 
teenagers.

$She wasn't married and contemplating cheating on her husband then.  
That adds a bit of forbidden spice.

I was eager the next day, my thoughts turning to breakfast with Youji 
and Chiyako. Jin was just as excited as I was. I managed to grab the 
bathroom first, taking extra time to make myself presentable.

$That's pretty inconsiderate.  She knows she's going to take extra time, 
yet she makes sure to make Jin be the one to wait.

It was a 
bit odd, me trying so hard to look good for our new friends, but for 
some reason I wanted to look my best when meeting them, though my 
thoughts were more in line with impressing Youji.

This time we arrived first. We grabbed a quartet of chairs on the deck, 
next to the ship�s swimming pool. The Matsuras weren�t long in a 
appearing, and I learned I didn�t have to worry about how much flesh I 
was showing when Chiyako removed her shirt and showed off an even 
smaller bikini than I did. While her bust was slightly larger than mine, 
my hips were narrower.

$And that's a good thing?  Chiyako sounds much more attractive to me.

I�d say we were about even in the looks 
department, and since I was getting along so well with her, I didn�t 
feel jealous at all.

 

Despite the unusual seating arrangement, we got along well. We went 
rambling on with one another for a while, until I needed to roll over. 
Having second degree burns on the second full day of my vacation was not 
my idea of a good time. While it would have been more proper for Jin to 
apply the lotion to my back, Youji was closer. It seemed simpler to 
allow him to do it.
 

Not wanting to trouble my husband, who was in deep conversation with 
Chiyako, I held out the bottle of lotion in offering to Yuji and asked 
him if he would reach those hard to get places on me. There was 
eagerness in his eye that I hadn�t seen in Jin�s for years, if ever. 
While it should have made me uneasy, instead it only excited me. Youji 
seemed to come to his senses as he reluctantly asked Jin for permission 
to lotion me up. Jin just gave a dismissive wave, as though it was the 
most trivial thing in the world and he would just as soon not have been 
troubled by it. Chiyako interrupted though, by telling her husband it 
would be all right if Jin was allowed to do the same to her. Youji 
laughed and said it was fine trade off. Now Jin seemed attentive and 
eager as he grabbed a bottle of lotion and Chiyako happily rolled over 
for him.

The men really worked the lotion into our bodies. I was thrilled at the 
very touch of Youji in ways I couldn�t possibly describe. I felt like a 
little girl with how giddy I was. Youji was hesitant for just a moment 
once he got to my bottom, but there was no way I wanted those magic 
fingers of his to stop their dance upon my flesh.

$Just how small is that bikini?  Inquiring perverts want to know.

I urged him to go on, 
even being so bold as to say he had permission to rub the lotion in 
wherever he�d like. He laughed and took me up on my offer. Chiyako 
wasn�t any better, telling Jin he�d better do the same to her as she 
didn�t want to get burned in any sensitive places either.

I can�t imagine what Chiyako and I must have looked like, being touched 
in such a familiar manner by men other than our husbands, while the men 
in question watched, no less. Had something like this happened in our 
neighborhood, it would have been borderline scandalous. Instead, I 
didn�t care. There was something about being in the presence of Youji 
that made me throw all my concerns to the wind. Slowly, insidiously, the 
rest of the world was ceasing to matter, and it was only Youji who I 
could focus on.

 

$Naughty girl.

It was my turn to lotion up Youji. I took my time, savoring the feeling 
of his taut muscles under my fingertips. He was a lot like Jin, 
physically, and in as good a shape. Very little fat, and lean, but not 
in a skinny way. Despite the fact they were very physically similar to 
one another, I had no doubt there was something about Youji that was a 
bigger turn on than Jin had ever been.

 

$Yeah, he's forbidden fruit.  This obsession with other women's husbands 
could be detrimental to her and others happiness.

We lay like that for some time, rotating a couple of times to keep from 
burning, talking the entire time as we got to know each other better. I 
found Youji fascinating. Not just in the life he led, but his 
personality, his caring, even the way he talked with a faint Kansai 
accent that was just barely detectable. If there was a downside to the 
man, I couldn�t tell what it was. He was incredible in every way. I had 
never met anyone like him.

There was also something else, an almost instant connection between us. 
Even Jin and I hadn�t hit it off as powerfully as this. There was 
something much more basic, almost instinctive, which caused me to be 
drawn to him. I found myself envious of Chiyako, having a man like this 
as her husband. I wished Jin was exactly like Youji, and then I wouldn�t 
be so dissatisfied with my life. I�d never be dissatisfied with anything 
ever again.

$Bet she would.

That was the effect he was having on me.

My ruminations were interrupted by someone shouting about a pod of 
dolphins that were flitting about on the other side of the ship. I had 
always loved dolphins, and fantasized about seeing some on the vacation. 
I was up in an instant, declaring to the others that I wanted to watch 
them.

That was all I needed to know. Lacking any reservations, we began 
pulling off what few clothes we had, and nearly threw each other onto 
the bed. For the next two hours we made engaged in what was the finest 
lovemaking of my life. I finally learned what other girls meant when 
they described their own relationships and the passions that sustained 
them. Being with Youji was indescribably wonderful. It was the fireworks 
and the love and the bliss that everyone gushes about when they�re with 
the person they love. I had never felt a sensation like it before, and 
never wanted it to end. It made what I did with Jin seem boring by 
comparison. Having our lovemaking end was the saddest moment in my life. 
Nothing was as tragic as that. Nothing.

 

$Not even the japanese fishing boats drowning dolphins in their nets off 
the port bow.

It was while we were lying in bed, that Youji began talking. He became 
serious, and I thought I knew what was to come. I heard from a couple of 
single girls I knew who had affairs with married men, about how the men 
broke it off. There would be excuses and apologies and explanations of 
how it was a one time fling and he could never leave Chiyako. We got 
caught up in the heat of the moment and let our emotions run out of 
control. Now we would have to go back to the others and act as though 
nothing had happened so we could continue moving on with our lives. It 
was all going to end forever. He hadn�t said a word and I already hated 
him more than I had ever hated Jin. And we weren�t even married.

And then he said the words that would live with me for the rest of my life.

�My marriage to Chiyako is over.�

 

$But I bet she gets the house, since he cheated on her first.

Youji began explaining that they had only taken this trip as a last 
ditch effort to save their floundering marriage. It wasn�t an exact 
mirror image as mine and Jin�s had been, but it was close. He and 

I walked over to the sheets and looked them over. I noticed the wet 
spots immediately, and it didn�t take a genius to figure out the origin 
of the wetness. All of a sudden, my brain managed to process information 
that had just been lying around, all of my higher functions that had 
been focused solely on Youji. Now that I thought about it, I suppose the 
attraction between Chiyako and my husband had been obvious from the 
beginning. His interest in her was as great as my interest in Youji. And 
now, knowing what the Matsuras� relationship was like, reflecting Jin 
and mine�s in so many ways, it seemed obvious that they too had taken an 
interest in one another. A very deep interest.

 

$Exactly one body part deep.

Rather than feeling jealous, I felt relieved. I was happy for Jin, and 
for Chiyako. Now that I had fallen truly in love with someone (for 
perhaps the first time in my life), I didn�t have any anger left in my 
body. I only hoped they came to the same decision Youji and I had. 
Perhaps they were even looking for us now to tell us what had happened. 
It was strange, no, bizarre was perhaps the better word, of what had 
happened between the four of us. But it seemed to be the best answer to 
all our worries and concerns.

We�d have to take some time off to be with each other, to make sure our 
emotions aren�t a transient thing, but deep in my heart, I knew they 
weren�t. Understanding Jin in every way for over half my life, and the 
seeming instant connection I had with both Matsura�s, I can�t help but 
feel that what seems to have happened between the four of us is meant to 
be lasting. It�s the perfect solution to all of our problems.

$While I still think it'd have been more entertaining if they'd have 
gone to an S&M club, swinging is still pretty neat.

I hadn�t 
been a proponent of Fate until that moment, but it was the only 
explanation. The odds that the four of us found each other during the 
greatest crisis of our lives were astronomical. Better a chance to find 
a needle in a haystack. There was only one complication from this 
seeming perfect solution that had me worried.

How were we going to explain what happened to Miki?

 

$Well, she could always write a really good first person narrative 
explaining her thought, hopes, fears, and reactions every step of the 
way from her meeting with Jin to her discovery of her new love, print it 
out, and hand it to her as an interesting work in speculative fiction 
and let her figure it out.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[End notes] There�s my little take on the thoughts of some of the 
underused characters in the series. Someone might have actually done 
this before, but if so, I was unaware of it. It�s just something that 
came to me and I had to write it down. Don�t count on me doing anymore 
MB fics. I still haven�t seen much of the series, and it doesn�t look 
like I�ll have the time to watch more. Still, it was a neat little thing.

DB Sommer
 

$I really enjoyed this.  Never seen the series, as I said, but this was 
still pretty fun.  Kept finding myself hoping they'd rekindle their 
relationship, though.  Very clean, no mistakes to speak of.  Good job.

-Nugar



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