Thanks to a somewhat weird dream I had last night that included Romeo & Juliet... I came up with this idea of our twelve HiMEs and their friends being involved in the famous Shakespeare play, heh. Well, here's chapter one.. Hope you all like.

As for "Fallen Angel".. I'm STILL working on chapter two. ::Sheepish smile::

The Casting

"NO! I refuse!"

As expected, Natsuki disagreed to perform as the role of Romeo, or according to her, "The most embarrassing and stupidest role E-V-E-R!", in William Shakespeare's most famous play, Romeo and Juliet. Unfortunately for Natsuki, she was the first target for a such role since Tate was out of state, due to family emergency. Reito, well... naturally, he'd be chosen as Romeo but his schedule was full with classes and work, so he's out of the picture.

"Natsuki!" A gasp, "How could you insult one of the most beautiful and tragic plays written by--"

"--William Shakespeare, I know. But Mai, I'm a GIRL. Romeo is a BOY. There is a big difference between those two, you know."

"Oh my god, Natsuki actually knew something about plays that she never studied!" a sarcastic remark from Mai, which was dutifully ignored.

"Heh. Romeo looked like a tomboyish girl to me at first," a certain redhead retorted.

A smug smirk is presented by the mayo-addict, "Why don't you play Romeo, Nao? You'll be perfect for the part! Seeing how your chest is almost flat and all. Just put your hair up and put a wig on… then we'll have our Rom…"

That certainly did trigger a response out of the young delinquent as she glared daggers at her rival…and opened her mouth, "OH YEAH!? Well I have an even BETTER idea… why don't YOU be Juliet and your boyfriend, Takeda, can be Romeo!"

"Hey, that's a good idea!" Mai agreed, much to Natsuki's dismay.

Natsuki's face claimed a look of horror and flustered from anger at the mere thought of her spewing mushy lines and worse, kissing that idiot! AND even worse, Takeda was mentioned as her boyfriend!! Although, even so, Takeda was busy with kendo meets and Natsuki was relieved for that. Very much so.

Just when she started to open her mouth to blurt out obscenities towards Nao, a melodic voice echoed in the biker's ears, "Ara, I hope I'm not late for the meeting. I had family business to attend."

That voice… Kyoto-ben… WHA! Shizuru!? What is she-- "Ehhh!? Shizuru!? What are you doing here!? I thought you had classes at the University!"

"Mou… it sounds like Natsuki doesn't want me here.. ::sniff sniff:: I'll just go back home then…"

"OI! NO! It's not that--! It's just.. I thought you had classes…!" With a restrained 'arg', Natsuki, once again dominated by guilt, rushed to her chestnut haired friend and did something…unexpected. She instigated a physical contact for the first time by locking Shizuru in a hug… in front of everyone.

Burgundy eyes widened in surprise and fortunately for Shizuru, her back was turned to Natsuki and everyone else so no one saw her blushing face. Natsuki… her arms. Are around me. She's… hugging me. Finally…I can die a happy maiden. The warm smile that spread across the ex-kaichou's face did not remain long as it evolved into an playful smirk. She then sighed dreamily, "Fufu, if Natsuki really wants me to stay here... in her arms... then I'll be more than willing to do so. But if she wants to do more than that, we'll have to wait till we're alone."

Wha? AH! This woman--! AGAIN! ARG! Every shade of red that existed and didn't exist flashed over the ice princess's face within seconds upon realization, "B-BAKA!" Unlatching herself from Shizuru immediately, she spun around and crossed arms across her chest, scowling.

"So sweet," Mai sniffled and a low growl was received in answer.

Shizuru chuckled slightly and turned around to face everyone, her laughing eyes briefly roamed over Natsuki's shapely form before directing them to Mai. Undoubtedly, naughty thoughts were stirring up inside her head.

"Kannin na for my late arrival, Tokiha-san," she said with her famous disarming smile.

"N-no, that's okay! We haven't even decided on the roles...yet," Mai stuttered, obviously falling victim to the smile and nodded her head towards Nao and Natsuki.

Shizuru smiled in understanding and knew the two were probably too busy insulting each other, "I see... well, how about I'll be the fair lady Juliet and Natsuki can be R--"

"NO!" Natsuki flustered and narrowed her eyes at Mai suspiciously, "You invited her, didn't you!?"

Mai smiled sheepishly and sweatdropped, "Sorry! We're short on cast and Kaic-- Fujino-san was the only one I could think of to invite to join us!"

The biker just glared and huffed. Bullshit! I bet they're just doing this to torment me! I bet it on my supply of my precious mayo! Upon thinking that, her emerald eyes shifted and landed on Shizuru...and she started to reconsider. Wow... since when did Shizuru get more beautifu-- OH GOD! WHAT AM I THINKING!? Quickly before Shizuru caught her staring, Natsuki looked off to the side and desperately searched for anything else to fix her gaze on.

Little did Natsuki know, Shizuru noticed this and smirked slightly as Natsuki's face reddened some more.

"A-HEM! So, about the cast... I think Shizuru's suggestion is a good ide...a..." the ex-flame HiME trailed off as she felt icy glares on her, "...Or not. Come on! Just let's get this over with so we can start practicing!"

"Well since you mentioned that you were short on the cast, I asked Suzushiro-san to join us, is that okay?"

"Really?? Is she coming??" Mai beamed with hope while Natsuki and Nao grimaced at the thought of the blonde parading around in tights and hollering out lines and messing up words along the way.

"Hai. She's with Kikukawa at the moment, but they should be arriving shortly."

"That's great! Now all we need is two more people..."

"Isn't that so? Then you surely wouldn't mind if we joined you guys?" A voice rang out from the side entrance of the theater.

Everyone else turned their attention to the source of the voice to find two familiar faces, "Chie! Aoi! God, yes. Please do. I'll love you forever!" Mai exclaimed.

"Ah ha ha, it seems that we have our own fan, Aoi. I'm flattered," the gray-haired teenager smirked and glanced over at her blue-eyed companion.

Mai took a look at Chie, a good and long look... She could've sworn that she saw a flicker of affection flash by in the gossip-starter's eyes towards Aoi. A smile then slowly spread across her face, "I think..."

"Ara?" Shizuru glanced at Mai curiously, but it didn't take her long enough to figure out what Mai was thinking and smiled.

"...I think we've found our Romeo and Juliet."

TBC.