Authors Note: What the hell is wrong with me? I know, I know. Four stories at once? I'm a baka. But I can't help it when inspiration strikes, and then my attention span wanes. I'm a year 10 student, cut me a little slack eh? lol, we're supposed to be scatterbrained and uncommitted. Okay - I'll stop - the 'teenager' excuse is getting a little old, huh?
Anyway, on a different note, this is my first Mai-HiME fic. It's a Shiznat - because they are the shit. I don't care if people hate the pairing because Shizuru 'raped' Natsuki. I personally think the girl just didn't want to have to sleep in a Kimono. Can you blame her, honestly? There was one bed, and the shadow only makes it look like she got on top of Natsuki because she was laying adjacent to her. Use a little brainpower people. Also there was only one bed-futon-mattress-whatever, where else was she going to sleep?
Enough with my rant, I hope ShizNat fans enjoy my fic. I haven't come across anything like this on here, so I'm pretty sure it's a unique idea. If not, then I apologize to whoever had written anything similar.
Baka - Idiot, fool, moron.
Toroi - slow, not very bright, stupid.
Read on...
The impressive Ducati DRIII vibrated with power as the rider twisted the throttle back completely. Natsuki clutched at the handle bars with a firm grip, hating the fact that she had to wear gloves. Though, if she didn't, her hands would most likely turn blue from the cold. But the feeling of her skin being bitten at my the wind while zooming along at life threatening speeds on her bike was amazing, too feel the rubber grips underneath her palms, exhilarating. How she wished she didn't have to wear her stupid helmet, so she could feel the air whipping around her dark hair.
Leaning to the side on her bike, she took the sharp turn in the road with ease. As she rounded the corner, she twisted her throttle back quickly. The tires spun, not making good grip with the tarmac, causing her rear end to slide out just slightly. Just how Natsuki wanted it. She loved the thrill of making her heart rate jump purposefully because her body prepared itself for a fall that would never come.
It wasn't good to her tires to do things like that, she mused, as the smell of burning rubber wafted into her proximity. The friction of her spinning tires and the tarmac making the rubber melt slightly because of the heat caused. The bike suddenly shot forward, as her tires finally found it's grip. Natsuki leaned forward, bettering her aerodynamics so the roaring machine could become even faster.
Passing outraged people in cars and pedestrians, who as she sped by, shouted out insults and threats. One business man even went so far as to open his door in the crowded street, just as she was speeding past his expensive silver Mercedes Benz. This forced Natsuki to bring her bike to an abrupt halt, almost sending herself headfirst over the handle bars.
Enraged at the mans obvious stupidity, Natsuki killed her engine and took off her helmet. Once she had gotten off her bike, she stalked over to the man's drivers side window. The baka, as Natsuki had so lovingly dubbed him, saw her stomping towards him and started trying to wind up his window desperately, fearful expression of his stubbly face.
But before he could complete his task, Natsuki had thrust her right hand through the gap, and grabbed the pitiful man by the collar of his over expensive pin stripped suit. Pulling him so his face was inches from her own, Natsuki gave one of her most venomous glares.
"Are you toroi?" she growled at the rapidly paling man. "Or are you just wanting to get yourself hurt?" Natsuki couldn't believe someone would be such a moron. The man risked not only her life, but his own and the innocent bystanders now crowding around the scene. It was unbelievable.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he begged, shaking in her grip. "I don't know what I was thinking. Please don't hurt me. I have children!" Her lips curled up at disgust at his lack of dignity. Shaking her head, she gave him a final sneer before pushing his upper body back into his expensive car.
"Tell your children I'm sorry they have such a pathetic excuse for a father." Natsuki hoped that this baka's children at least had more common sense than him. Shaking her head in lingering disbelief, Natsuki took her leave and got back onto her bike. Starting it up, she gave a loud revving of the engine, making the people still hanging around give a few startled gasps.
Smirking slightly, Natsuki pulled on her helmet and put her bike into gear before taking off towards Fuka Academy. Riding through the ostentatious gates, Natsuki rolled her eyes behind the tinted visor of her helmet. Of course, she gets sent to some preppy private school.
She payed little attention to the perfectly trimmed hedges that were on either side of the road, and continued to ride until she found the schools office parking lot. Kicking down her stand and once again taking off her helmet, she let her silky locks cascade down her shoulders, reaching her waist. Hanging her black and red patterned helmet on her handle bars, Natsuki then proceeded to enter the reception.
There, she was greeted by a young girl, looking fresh out of high school. Natsuki's first conclusion that she was working here part time so she could pay for college. The biker wasn't oblivious to the way the girls dark brown eyes roamed her form, sometimes Natsuki hated how tight her riding suit was.
"Hi!" the blonde girl greeted enthusiastically. A tint of pink on her cheeks. "I'm Ujini Hitorami, please call me Hitorami. How can I be of your service today?" the girls dark eyes ran over Natsuki's impressive physic once again, and her voice dropped a few octaves towards the end of her sentence.
Deciding to keep a facade of politeness, Natsuki resisted from rolling her eyes at the flirty girl. "A pleasure, Hitorami-san. I am Kuga Natsuki. The new transfer."
Natsuki watched calmly as Hitorami's eyes widened in recognition. "Oh! Of course Kuga-hime, please follow me, Kanzii-sama is expecting you."
Natsuki bit back a sharp reply stating that she already knew he was expecting her. After all, she had been the one to organize the meeting. Following the short, blonde receptionist, she was led into a large office. It looked elegant, with a large mahogany desk situated in the middle of the room, a few shelves with various books, and deep maroon carpet. Sitting behind the desk, was Fatomi Kanzii. The principle of the prestigious Fuka Academy. A broad shouldered, balding man that looked to be in around his late thirty's. He wore a perfectly in place and pressed dark gray business suit and a large, welcoming smile.
"Ah," he started, standing up to greet her while adjusting his navy blue tie. His voice was deep and smooth. It was soothing, and Natsuki was sure it helped a lot when calming down irate students. "Princess Kuga, how lovely to meet you at last. I trust you've had suitable accommodation for the last few days? I apologize for that, by the way, it was terribly unfortunate the timing of your arrival. I have made arrangement's for you now though, so that's all cleared up."
Natsuki gave him a faint smile. "Yes of course," she nodded. "Arigato, Kouchou-sensei. Please call me Natsuki, or Kuga-san if you prefer."
The principal bowed respectfully, his shaven head glinting in the light, "If you could follow me, Kuga-san," he led her out of the room, through the reception and into the schools deserted hallway. "As you know, you share your dorm with two other girls. I will introduce you to them shortly. First though, a tour of your new campus."
Looking around curiously, Natsuki couldn't help but wonder where all the student's were. "Kouchou-sensei, where is everyone? It's rather... quiet."
Kanzii gave a rumbling chuckle, Natsuki cocked a perfectly arched eyebrow, her green-eyes inquisitive. The principal, not a blind man, couldn't help but notice how elegant, though still rather informal the girl was. Undeniably aristocratic features, passed down from her rather noble heritage, a beauty no doubt, but a rather cold one. She gave off and aura of distrust, and constant suspicion. Guarded.
"If you're inquiring about the student's whereabouts, they, along with all the staff are currently at the orientation assembly." he explained, gesturing towards some rather large doors of what looked like a hall.
Natsuki's brow furrowed in slight confusion. "Shouldn't I be in there then? Since I am a new student and everything."
Kanzii shook his head with a smile. "No, it's really only for the freshmen. They have already moved into their dorms, you on the other hand still need to. You're luggage has already arrived, and uniforms have already been placed in you're closet by our staff - all the sizing correct. Text books are provided by the school and you have already read the schools code of conduct, I assume?"
Natsuki nodded silently, and Kanzii clapped his hands together cheerfully. "Good, good," he grinned, straight white teeth glinting. "That's all the assembly is really about. Oh-and introducing this years student council, but I'm sure you'll have found out who they are by tomorrow anyway if your room mates have anything to say about it. I'm quite positive you'll recognize who got elected as well." The older man had an almost mischievous look in his eye.
Natsuki narrowed her eyes at him slightly, but before she could speak, Kanzii had continued. "Also," he gave her a knowing look, "A select few students here get rather... excited... when it comes to those of status. Some have even got their own 'fans'. You, because of your families political and royal standing, will most likely be swarmed by admirers and such. I advise you to be tolerant, as I would prefer my school to stay peaceful. Fuka Academy is a school of the highest rank; it is sophisticated and prestigious, but more then that, it is a polite, friendly community. So seeing as you seem like a rather... private person and probably wouldn't like that privacy violated, we think it would be best if you kept your family name a secret."
"What-?" Natsuki scrunched her face in confusion and slight disbelief. "Can you actually do that?"
Kanzii nodded his head slowly as they continued to walk towards the dorms. "Yes, well, your father enrolled you here under your mothers maiden name. For your safety of course."
Natsuki froze, coming to an abrupt halt. Her face had gone from confused, to incredulous, to furious. "What?" she growled, her politeness disappearing instantly. "And I'm guessing my father 'advised' you not to tell me this before hand, didn't he?" she gnashed her teeth together, trying to hold back her rage. She reminded herself that it wasn't the principles fault her father was an arrogant fool.
Kanzii looked rather uncomfortable now, "Well, we thought you wouldn't mind."
"I do," Natsuki hissed angrily, before breathing deeply and calming herself down. "This probably wont work. Natsuki is a rather unusual name, but I guess the media has been backing off a little. I can't believe father didn't tell me. Some warning would have been appreciated."
The bald man frowned, looking slightly thoughtful before shrugging, "Ah, well it will be worth a try. Too late to change everything now." they continued to walk in silence for a few drawn out moments before coming to a stop outside a door marked 204.
"Here we are," Kanzii smiled, unlocking the dorm and ushering her in. "Home sweet home for the next few years," he added jovially. Natsuki couldn't hold back her eye roll this time.
"How charming." she said sarcastically, looking around the rather average looking kitchenette. There was four separate beds, two obviously that had been in use and two untouched. Natsuki grimaced when she realized she would have to be making her own bed. She had never done that before; there had always been maids at home, and her last school had the staff do it.
Overall, the dorm was a far cry from her mansion back with her father. But she would prefer Fuka Academy then spending time back in that lonely place.
"Well that's it then." Kanzii tugged at his tie. "I'm sure you'll make friends quickly, but I must be off now. I have to at least make an appearance at the assembly. Would you like to join me, Kuga-san?"
Natsuki shook her head, "No arigato, I think I'll start unpacking. You go ahead."
With a calm nod and another smile, the principal left the room and Natsuki, to her own devices. Her grimace was back on full force as she stared at her luggage, sitting unmoving beside one of the unused beds. With a sigh of resignation, she got to work.
Half an hour later, Natsuki had unpacked all her clothes away, and successfully made her bed, with her own 1000 thread count sheets. She wasn't happy with the thought of sharing her dorm. She'd never had to share anything in her life. She was also unused to the fact she only had a single bed. The smallest she had ever slept in had been a double and that was once when she was a small child. This was unheard off.
Oh, how her grandmother would be rolling in her grave. A Kuga, in a single bed? What an atrocity. Natsuki chuckled slightly at her thoughts and collapsed tiredly into her bed. Just as she was just about to drift off loud giggling and the sound of the door being opened reached her ears. Scowling in irritation and standing up, Natsuki straightened her clothes; just a t-shirt and some cut off denim shorts. She composed herself to meet her roommates.
The first girl she caught sight of was that of a voluptuous body shape. With a large bust and long legs. The girl had short, cropped red hair and light amethyst colored eyes. The girl accompanying her was small, even for a Japanese girl, with dark spiky hair, which was styled unusually with the top short and two long braids hanging down either side of her head. Her face was almost cat-like, with wide yellow-amber eyes.
"Hello," Natsuki said slowly, standing straight with her hands clasped behind her back. Her disinterest was obvious. "I'm Kuliino Natsuki. I'm guessing you two are my roommates."
"Hi Kuliino-san," the redhead stepped forward towards her grinning, "I'm Tokiha Mai and this," she gestured to the cat-like girl standing behind her shyly, "Is Minagi Mikoto. Call me Mai."
"And me Mikoto," Mikoto squeaked, before hiding behind Mai again. Natsuki gave them a small smile before nodding.
"Of course," she softened her posture slightly so she didn't seem so threatening. She noticed when she did so, Mikoto relaxed as well. "You may call me Natsuki. I actually hate all these formalities. Useless, if you ask me."
It wasn't a lie. She did hate formalities, but with her family, honor and etiquette was top priority. Don't slouch, don't slur, and don't dishonor was her family's mantra.
"They are, aren't they?" Mai grinned at her, before unclasping Mikoto's arms from her waist and moving to sit of her bed. Mikoto wasn't far behind, seating herself in Mai's lap. Natsuki raised an eyebrow at that.
"Uhm," Mai, finally realizing how they acted might look to a stranger. "Don't worry, she's like my little sister."
Mikoto nodded, blushing as well, "Yeah, she saved me when I was drowning..."
"And hasn't left me ever since..." Mai grinned down at her little friend, who poked her tongue out at her older companion.
Natsuki couldn't help but feel slightly jealous at their carefree relationship. She had never known real friendship. Growing up as royalty tends to do that, as all her 'friends' were more like business associates. Enemy's that were her friends; all untrustworthy worthy, power hungry, social ladder climbers.
"So," Mai looked over at Natsuki, who was now lounging on her bed again. "Tell us a little about yourself, Natsuki."
Natsuki closed her eyes for a moment as she tried to think of a cover story. This was half the reason she was pissed at not being notified of her 'secret identity'. She needed a background story. Now she had to improvise.
"Well I have a motorcycle. My mother died when I was seven. My fathers a baka, and I'm an only child. I have an eclectic taste in music, and hate hot weather. You?" Natsuki gave herself a mental pat on the back. The only thing she really left out was the fact that she was royalty, coming from one of the richest families in Japan. A true blue blood. Actually, thinking about it, she was surprised her father hadn't sent some bodyguards with her. He never usually let her leave the house without one.
Well, she'd be damned if she'd say anything. Don't go looking a gift horse in the mouth, was the saying right?
"Oh," Mai said quietly, obviously unsure how to reply. Natsuki realized she probably shouldn't have said her mother was dead, so... bluntly. She was unused to people not knowing about it already. She'd never actually had to tell someone much about herself, come to think of it. Her entire life had always been practically broadcast to the public. But the last few years, her father had been paying a lot of money to keep her identity out of the news, because she had been bringing such bad publicity to her family.
Every time she messed up, Japan knew, every time she and 'daddy' got into one of their infamous fights, Japan knew. When she got done by the police for driving while intoxicated, Japan knew. Natsuki was glad he was starting to make sure she was out of the spotlight. Using her mothers maiden name was actually a good idea. Hopefully none of the student's here would recognize her here without Kuga as her surname.
Why the hell did I not think of this before? she wondered to herself incredulously.
"... and I'm really good at cooking." Natsuki blinked as she realized she had been tuning out Mai while she had been thinking. Reprimanding herself internally, she acted as if she had heard every word the other girl had said and nodded accordingly.
"Cool," she smirked, turning her attention to Mikoto, who head was resting on Mai's chest. She almost looked asleep. "What about you?"
"Uh.. er... I-I like Mai's cooking?" after she finished the sentence, she seemed to perk up and looked at Mai with a pleading expression.
"When's dinner?" she bounced slightly and stared at Mai, who sighed and nodded.
"I'll do it now. Wow, it still blows my mind how much you can eat..."
Twenty minutes later, Mikoto was inhaling her second plate of food, while Mai and Natsuki made some friendly small talk, getting to know one another. Soon enough, the topic of the assembly came up, along with the elected student counsel.
"I feel so bad for Suzushiro-san," Mai sighed, picking at the food on her plate. "I mean, she wanted to be student council president so bad. That's all she's ever talked about. And then, Fujino-san just crushes her in the election. 12 to 817." Mai paused, frowning. "The worst part is, Fujino-san doesn't even seem to even want it that much. Not that she even needs it. I mean, I don't really know either of them, but..."
Natsuki froze, her fork inches from her open mouth. Emerald eyes were wide with surprise and disbelief as she registered what Mai had said. "Fujino? You don't mean... not... do you mean Fujino Shizuru?" Natsuki stuttered out finally, blinking rapidly.
Mai looked up from her plate and nodded, "Yeah. The famous one. She's like from some big, practically royal family. I'm guessing you've heard of her?"
Natsuki put her fork down, swallowing. "You could say that." she answered vaguely, her mouth feeling dry. She couldn't believe this. What were the odds? The Fujino's have been the Kuga's rivals for centuries. Both fighting over who deserved to be recognized as actual royalty. The Kuga's had won eventually, but the hostility between both families was still present. Grudges had been passed down each generation.
Basically, Shizuru Fujino was Natsuki's arch rival, enemy, nemesis. Heck, she wouldn't be surprised if her father sent her here for the sole purpose of killing the only heir to the Fujino family. Frowning, she hoped that wasn't the reason.
Natsuki had never actually met, Shizuru. But her childhood consisted of stories about how dishonorable their family was. How they were thieves, slanderers, gold-diggers, barbarians. All it did was serve to make Natsuki resent her father more though, because instead of bedtime stories, Natsuki got hate-filled tales of the Kuga vs Fujino age-long rivalry.
End Note: Yes, this is going to be slightly Romeo/Juliet-ish. There's not going to be nearly as much tragedy. Plenty of angst though, rest assured.
Would love some REVIEW's. I've seen maybe half of episode 22 of Mai-HiME, so I don't know the characters that well so if their acting a little unusual... you'll have to deal with it.