Disclaimer: I do not own Mai-Hime or Mai-Otome. All copyrights are reserved to the respective owners.

Title: Halloween for Natsuki.

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On a dark night where the cold wind billowed through the cloaks of the magicians, a great sage appeared before them, preaching his all holiness to those who embraced the dark arts. The moon was shining brightly in the sky, casting ominous shadows across the forest where the meeting was held. "Behold! Follow my advice and thou shalt be free from the reins of darkness! Face my wrath if thou remain unmoved! Wahahahaha!!!!"

"Oh, just shut up and get to the fighting, irritating minions that talk far too much."

Natsuki presses the "A" button furiously, trying to fast forward the whole conversation with the silly sage. This was her first try at the "Warriors of Darkness" and she was determined to finish this newly-acquired game before going to bed today. Strangely, this game was a present from Reito to her, but Natsuki didn't really care that much about his motives… especially since she was not about to attend any of the Halloween parties today.

"Just die will you, and let me complete the game!"

Working on the buttons on the controller desperately, she made her way through stage 6 with a bare minimal of her life left to fight the final boss. Whew, at least I didn't die. I'll hate to start over again. Gulping down a quick mouthful of the iced orange juice, she focused her attention fully on the boss. With the background music of the final stage booming, she prodded at the buttons with renewed vigour, swerving the control pad frenziedly in an attempt to dodge the boss's attacks.

"DIEEE!!! You idiot! Stop dodging my attacks!!!"

Happily, the monster boss performed a right uppercut which hit Natsuki's mage square in the face, dealing much damage.

"Damn. Curse you, curse you," muttered Natsuki.

Just another slight blow to the mage would render her useless, and Natsuki was trying her best not to lose the battle. Fingers moving at an unbelievable speed, she tried some special attacks on the boss… and missed repeatedly.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

A vein popped.

Natsuki shot a look of venom at the boss which refused to die.

Knock! Knock! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Yet another vein popped.

Natsuki shot another look of venom at her own mage, cursing it slightly for being not fast enough.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

The insistent thumping on the door still refused to go away.

"All right, shut it! I'm trying to play video games here! Go away! I'm not interested in Halloween!"

Somewhere in the midst of the shouting, the boss did a side rolling kick to her mage without Natsuki noticing. When the blue-haired girl turned back from the door to continue her game, she was faced with a white screen that had the two words she hated flashing in neon.

Game over.

"ARGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!"

Somewhere two blocks away, Mai tilted her head sideways, trying to clarify whether she'd heard a scream somewhere.

"Mikoto, Chie-chan, did any of you hear a scream just now?"

Chie gave a thoughtful look to Mai and smirked.

"A scream? Nope, I've heard nothing but the boom box, absolutely nothing at all."

Mikoto, as usual, felt that her stomach was more important that any scream she'd heard.

"Mai, I want more of the ramen."

"I guess I'm hearing things then, I was so positive that it sounded just like Natsuki. Oh well, since she's not even here at this party… Let's go to the kitchen if you want fourth helpings of the ramen, Mikoto."

Meanwhile…

WHO. Dares. To. Knock. On. My. Door.

Natsuki stomped her way to the door, resolute on giving hell to the person who dared tried to knock her door down and make her lose the game.

Of course, as an afterthought, Natsuki thought that she should greet the person very politely instead. Perhaps a punch in the face would be fair enough, or perhaps a slam on the face with the door would do nicely too.

Ha. That would be my Halloween treat for whoever that is.

Inwardly though, Natsuki was wondering where Shizuru was. "That woman" - in Natsuki's terms – had pulled a disappearing act on her ever since the early morning and had refused to answer any of her calls. Even as the boorish girl hates to admit it, she missed the presence of her lover for the whole day. The apartment had seemed lonely and cold without the chestnut-haired girl around.

If Shizuru had been home, she would have taken care of the Halloween groupies…

Natsuki disliked any form of celebration. She would be willing to trade up a day's worth of mayonnaise (that's a lot for her by the way) to keep herself at home, tucked safely away from the noise and cheer from the celebrations. It was selfish of her, but she had half-hoped that Shizuru would stay at home and accompany her today.

Not a word… not even a short note… where did you go, Shizuru?

KNOCK! KNOCK KNOCK!

The loud and crude sounds of knuckle versus wood brought Natsuki out of her thoughts, and back to the irritating fact that a pest had caused her to lose.

Jerking the door backwards with a force that slammed the door loudly against the wall, emerald eyes met brown eyes. Natsuki blinked, her rage temporary forgotten at the sudden sight. Standing in front of her was Tate Yuuichi dressed in a pokemon costume.

Psyduck, to be precise.

"Yo, Kuga. Long time no see."

"Nice costume. Did Mai get you to wear it as a dare or something?"

The yellow-haired boy flashed Natsuki with a sheepish grin, never noticing that another vein had popped on Natsuki's neck.

"Yea, kind of. Uh… silly, but trick or treat?"

Promptly, Natsuki threw out a punch at him, and true enough, she slammed the door straight into his face.

Letting a smile of satisfaction grace her face, Natsuki just had to feel sadness for the door which didn't have the chance to creak.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Still smiling, Natsuki opened the door once again.

"Oi, was there a need to punch me and slam the door in my face? I was just doing a dare."

"Well, if it was a dare, surely there has to be something challenging in it for people to use it as a dare isn't it?"

"Yea… but it –slam- OW! That hurts! Damn, I shouldn't have agreed to Chie's dare!"

At this, Natsuki couldn't help but let a grin escape her features. After all, Tate did let her blow off some steam. Perhaps she would make a note to thank him later, and Chie too. Perhaps.

Feeling considerably now better than before, Natsuki crossed the room and returned to sit on the couch next to the television, preparing for Round 2 of the battle between her and "Warriors of Darkness". All thoughts of Shizuru were temporarily lost in the fervor of the game.

However, it had seemed to Natsuki that the game was magically transformed into an easier one. She cleared the six stages of minion battle quickly, leaving her once again with the final battle with the irritating boss which refused to die just now - only with better stats this time. Natsuki poured in everything she got, her fingers moving in with practiced ease as her mage made move after move of special attacks which hit the boss accurately.

Unknown to her, someone had slipped into the apartment, silent as panther in a hunt. Garbed in a black cloak and wearing a tight fit one piece leather suit, Shizuru moved silently towards the unconscious prey. With grace, Shizuru snuck behind Natsuki – close, but not too close – and observed her in silence while she continued to be absorbed in her game. With a sly grin, she crept closer to the unsuspecting player, being extremely cautious as she didn't want to spoil the surprise.

Gently, Shizuru casually grazed her fake vampire fangs onto Natsuki's neck while blowing soft gusts of air at her sensitive areas.

"Wha… Shizuru?"

"Trick or treat, Natsuki?" Shizuru whispered while continuing her puffs of air and light grazing. "Trick or treat?"

Unconsciously, Natsuki let out a moan at her ministrations as the waves of pleasure started their pleasant rebel against her. Feather-light touches brushed up and down her exposed arms, the leather texture of the gloves adding to various sensations that ran rampant throughout Natsuki's body. Leaning into the warm body behind her, Natsuki lost all further thoughts about the game.

Shizuru…

"Trick or treat, Natsuki?"

"Shizuru…"

"Hmm…? There's no such option, Natsuki."

Arms snaked around the captured prey, bringing her closer and closer to the panther, to the warmth that they shared together. Tenderly, Shizuru pressed a chaste kiss to Natsuki's lips, cutting off her dazed reply. Feeling warm lips pressing against hers, Natsuki sank further down the abyss of enchantment. Probing her tongue against Shizuru's lips, she begged for entry into the heated orifice… but was denied by her playful smile.

"Then again… maybe Halloween's not as fun as this, don't you agree?"

"Umphmmm…… Shizuru…"

Shizuru leant in for another kiss, this time allowing Natsuki to take full possession of her. Feeling Natsuki's tongue flicking against the vampire fangs, she was glad that Natsuki liked the new teeth. Spilling chestnut tresses over the both of them, Shizuru eased them both into the couch… into each other…

There and then, Natsuki thought that Halloween perhaps wasn't that bad after all.

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Omake (of sorts) begins:

Natsuki: So, Shizuru, where did you get those nice fangs from?

Shizuru: Ara… Natsuki, did I ever said I got them from somewhere? Didn't you know that I had always been a vampire all along?

Natsuki: O.o OMG! I'm been staying with a vampire all along?!

Shizuru: Yup, did I forget to mention it to you?

Natsuki: -prod prod-

Shizuru: Natsuki?

Natsuki: -prod prod-

Shizuru?????

Natsuki: Can Ghostbusters really kill a vampire?

Shizuru: -sweats- Natsuki… have you been playing too much PS2?

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A/N: A little story for the Halloween, hope you've enjoyed it! First time writing a full 3rd person POV though… so if it's bad just let me know.

P.S: Pardon the mistakes (point it out to me if you see them though), I'll have to get back to studying now… T.T

Yay! Reviews are food for my plotbunnies! Do you have some to spare?

I've corrected the mistakes. Thanks, Naolin!