A/N: For now, a (short) one-shot, since I won't be avaiable to update for the next 4 months... XD
also, this is the MANGA-verse, set just after the end.
Disclaimer: If I owned Mai Hime, I'd make a second season... ^_^
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Natsuki was pissed, completely and utterly. More than that, she was heartbroken. Again. Tate Yuuichi, who was supposed to be HER Slave-kun, was making out with her arch-rival, Tokiha Mai, in the dorm room they all shared. Again. And she just happened to walk in on that.
Now she was walking swiftly in the direction of the school flower garden, after being kicked out of her own room by two equally pissed off roommates. So she shouldn't have tried to shoot Slave-kun in the face with her twin pistols, but he totally deserved it.
"I wish...I had a better Key than him...then I'd show both of them." She told herself.
As Natsuki approached the vibrantly colorful expanse of flowers, she noticed someone else in the area. Sitting calmly under a tree not too far away was her sometimes friend, Shizuru. Natsuki debated with herself, whether to approach Shizuru in order to gain a little comfort (and a lot of teasing), or turn off into another direction to continue her solitary thinking.
After a moment's hesitation, Natsuki turned around in order to quickly escape the area before Shizuru noticed her presence. A few steps away and she stopped cold as the sound of Shizuru's (surprisingly elegant and dignified) scream of alarm came from the place she knew Shizuru had been sitting moments ago.
It was an Orphan. Attacking Shizuru. Process, scan, action. Save Shizuru. Natsuki was on autopilot. She was running at full speed, pistols materializing. The faintly humanoid (but entirely too gigantic) Orphan was about to take a swipe at the helpless Shizuru with its massive left forepaw, but Natsuki was fast (in fact, faster than she can remember ever being before).
Natsuki tackled Shizuru, effectively knocking her out of the way just in time. As the two of them went down, Shizuru accidentally bushed her hands against Natsuki's element, causing a faint white light to shine around them.
"Duran!" Natsuki called, grinning ecstatically, even as she sheltered Shizuru with her own body. And Duran came, towering massively (much much larger and more powerful than he'd ever been when summoned with Slave-kun) and quickly destroying the Orphan with practically no effort at all.
"Ara..." Natsuki heard faintly from the girl under her. Realizing her current position after a few seconds of staring blankly into amused red eyes, Natsuki turned a wonderful (in Shizuru's opinion) shade of scarlet.
"Is Natsuki planning on helping me up, or would she prefer to continue our cuddle here for a few more minutes?" Brain, short-circuit. A few more seconds of staring into red eyes that just get more and more amused by the moment. Then, a yelp and Natsuki scrambled off of Shizuru, still blushing a lovely pink shade (also in Shizuru's opinion).
"S-sorry..." Natsuki apologized hesitantly. Another few seconds of silence. Natsuki was trying to think of a way to word her next statement correctly, while Shizuru just continued to gaze at the adorable thinking expression Natsuki was currently using. Finally Natsuki just came out with it (upfront is always the way to go, right?).
"Shizuru...Stay by my side from now on."
