Author's Note: Merry Christmas everyone! I know I haven't been writing as much lately, but these two lovely ladies and all my fans still mean so much to me that I just had to come back. This fic will probably have just one more chapter to it, unless it ends up going long, and I hope to have that out by Christmas day.

A special thanks to everyone who's commented on my fics in the past year - It really warms my heart to see people still enjoying my work, even now.

Enjoy!

Tomorrow Today

Rating: T

Chapter 1: Today

It took Natsuki's mind a few minutes to realize that something wasn't right. With nothing urgent like an alarm or Orphan attack to wake her up, her body defaulted to being a slow waker, which meant that for most of those few minutes, she was simply comfortably dozing in bed, snuggled up with what she thought was a pillow. It wasn't until she shifted her position that she realized that the pillow was a fair bit more human-shaped than she was expecting, and her face was currently buried in her bedmate's soft, sweet-smelling hair.

Problem is, she was pretty sure she had not gone to bed with anyone else the previous night… or any night since she was a kid, for that matter. The last thing she remembered was lying down for a well-earned good night's sleep after dealing with an Orphan that had gotten loose in downtown Fuuka. So either someone had sneaked into her room overnight and she'd snuggled up with them - possible, but very unlikely given her building's security system - or she'd somehow lost at least a day's worth of memory, at the end of which she'd gone to bed with someone else - again, possible but unlikely. She'd heard of people - which is to say, Midori-sensei - getting so drunk they lost memories, but she'd never heard of it affecting anything from before they started drinking. It might still have been possible… but even drunk, how could she have ended up in bed with someone else?

She didn't sense any danger right now, but if there was something going wrong, that might change. Probably best to play it cool and try not to alarm the person she was sharing this bed with. Maybe she was at this person's home - this certainly didn't feel like her own bed, after all - and she could sneak out before she was noticed.

Natsuki pulled her head back from her bedmate's hair, then peeled her eyes open and gave them a chance to adjust to the dim light. This definitely wasn't her own bedroom. Okay, time to escape and pretend this never happened. Moving slowly in the hopes that she wouldn't awaken her bedmate, Natsuki began by peeling her right arm back from the hug. That was the easy part, though - her left arm was pinned beneath the other person, so it would be a lot harder to remove without waking them. Damn it, why did she have to be such a cuddly sleeper?

Letting out a sigh, Natsuki shifted her weight on the bed to try to make room for her arm to easily slide out. It helped a bit, but she still found herself making more contact with this other person than she was comfortable with. As she did this, part of her mind began to wonder just who this was, but she pushed it aside. The less she knew, the better. That would make it all the easier to pretend none of this had ever happened. She was at least slightly relieved to find that both she and her bedmate were wearing nightgowns right now, as that meant things probably hadn't gone too far, but she let that be the end of her thoughts on the matter. With any luck, this person would have gotten just as drunk as Natsuki and wouldn't remember any of this either.

"Mm… Morning, Suki…" spoke a mumbled voice. Even as sleepy as that voice was, its sound was one very familiar to Natsuki: Fujino Shizuru, the only person in her life she'd actually call a friend, although she'd never once called Natsuki "Suki" before. It was possibly just a result of her mumbling sleepily, though.

Natsuki had to resist the urge to curse as thoughts rushed through her head. Shizuru definitely remembered the previous night if she knew that it was Natsuki in bed with her, and she was the one person who would never let her forget this. Already, Natsuki could feel her cheeks filling with warmth as she imagined the teasing she would get for this. Was there any possible way out?

She could accuse Shizuru of taking advantage of her… which might have been the case, but her heart told her it probably wasn't. Natsuki getting drunk and stupid was still more likely. But with Shizuru here, that did raise the possibility that Natsuki had gotten injured in a fight with an Orphan, maybe getting hit in the head and losing her memory, and Shizuru had taken care of her. That… the lack of any noticeable physical injuries aside, was probably the best explanation. She could forgive Shizuru sharing a bed with her in that case, if she'd needed it.

"Um, Shizuru…?" Natsuki said. She bit her bottom lip for a moment as she waited to make sure Shizuru was awake enough to understand her. "Did something happen to me last night?"

Shizuru was silent for a few seconds, and Natsuki briefly wondered if she hadn't heard her. But then she rolled over onto her back and turned her head. "Natsuki doesn't remember?" she said with a raised eyebrow.

"...No…" Natsuki said. "Um, was I hurt?" Hopefully it wasn't anything too serious… she certainly didn't feel any ill effects right now, at least.

Shizuru's eyebrow rose even higher on her forehead. "Ara? No, Natsuki was very heroic… I don't think she got even a single scratch on her when she took down that mugger."

"Wait… what!?" Natsuki said, nearly jumping out of bed as she heard this. She had absolutely zero memory of that, and it didn't give any explanation as to why she might have lost her memory. For that matter, what was she doing with Shizuru where they might have gotten mugged? They'd never met up outside of school before. And why would she have come home with Shizuru if she wasn't injured, or even drunk?

Shizuru winced at this outburst, prompting an immediate pang of guilt in Natsuki's heart. Shizuru's expression quickly turned to concern, though. "Is something the matter, Natsuki?" she asked.

"Umm…" Where to start? Natsuki glanced away, looking around the room in the private hope that perhaps escape was still an option. It wasn't though, she had to remind herself. For better or worse, Shizuru wasn't going to forget this. But maybe she'd just let it drop, if Natsuki told her to forget all about it… whatever it was. However Natsuki had ended up losing her memory and in bed with Shizuru. ...Okay, that really didn't sound like something that could simply be ignored. Natsuki glanced back at Shizuru and said, "Could you… tell me what happened after that? How did we end up back here… you know… together…?"

Okay, Shizuru was definitely concerned now. "We came home together," she said slowly, "and then… not much. You were pretty tired, so you went to bed early. I got a bit of work done, and then came to join you."

Natsuki's eyes steadily widened as she heard this. It was pretty much a losing battle to keep herself from panicking right now, but she had to at least try to keep her composure. "Okay," she said, forcing herself to breathe deeply and steadily. "I don't remember any of that. The last thing I remember is fighting off an Orphan in downtown Fuuka, then going home… Not here, my apartment… alone."

Shizuru blinked a couple times. "Ara, Natsuki… there haven't been any Orphan attacks in years now. And it's been just as long since your apartment was destroyed."

This did it. Natsuki pushed herself back from Shizuru and scrambled to her feet. She'd been assuming she'd only lost a day or so of memory, but years!? That was… there was no way. And what the hell had happened in that time? Why had the Orphan attacks stopped, and why was she living with Shizuru now? "Okay, Shizuru, if this is some type of tease, it's not funny," Natsuki said. She could feel her blood pulsing in her neck as she spoke. "Seriously. Cut it out."

Natsuki held Shizuru's gaze for what felt like minutes. Her friend's expression made it obvious this was no tease. It was also obvious that Shizuru was hurting right now, though Natsuki was hard-pressed to determine why. Slowly, Shizuru pushed herself up from the bed, and she stepped toward Natsuki. She reached a hand out toward Natsuki's shoulder, but Natsuki instinctively pulled back. Another pang of hurt appeared in Shizuru's expression, but this time her friend tried to cover it up. "Natsuki…" she said. "Whatever's happening, please let me help you figure it out."

Natsuki broke Shizuru's gaze, forcing herself to look downward so she could try to concentrate. Deep breath in, deep breath out, repeat… Okay. She could handle this. "Shizuru… I don't even know if any of this is real right now. For all I know, I've been attacked by some Orphan which has trapped me in an illusion, and I need to break out of it."

A few seconds of silence, and then Shizuru spoke, "Alright," she said.

Natsuki looked back up at Shizuru. "Wait, really?"

Shizuru nodded. "I know I'm not an illusion, but I can't expect you to believe that. And I know of at least one… 'Orphan' that can do something like that, so I understand why you're concerned. I'll just have to find some way to convince you that this isn't an illusion, and then we can figure out what really is happening."

Natsuki's eyes blinked rapidly. There was something odd about the way Shizuru had said "Orphan," and… wait, how did Shizuru even know about Orphans at all? "Oi!" she said. "Don't pretend to know what I'm talking about with Orphans just to placate me!"

Shizuru's eyebrows raised for a moment, and then she gave Natsuki a soothing smile. "Ara… My mistake. I should have remembered: The Orphan attacks stopped before Natsuki learned that I was a HiME too. Of course you wouldn't expect me to know any of this."

Shizuru… was a HiME too? That was… not impossible. Natsuki shook her head. "Okay, fine, whatever. The point is, if this is an illusion, I have to break out of it." Natsuki paused, her eyes glancing from side to side for a moment. "How do I do that?"

"Hmm…" Shizuru furrowed her brow for a moment. "Let me see… I know Mai-san was able to break out on her own… Haa, forgive me, Natsuki. I don't know if I ever heard how she did it, or if I might have forgotten. It's been quite a long time now."

Of course it wouldn't be that easy. With a slow nod, Natsuki said, "It's alright, Shizuru. If you are part of the illusion, I'm not sure I'd want to trust you anyway. Okay…" Well, if she could break out on her own, what could she do? She was already questioning if this was an illusion, and that didn't seem to be doing anything to help break it. So what did that leave?

Well, there was one obvious thing to try. Natsuki reached over and gave her forearm a sharp pinch, followed immediately by wincing from the pain. Okay, so it was at least more real than a dream. Unless… Was it really impossible to feel pain in a dream, or was that just a myth? She couldn't exactly remember testing that out for herself. She was pretty sure that dying in a dream would force you to wake up, but she wasn't exactly keen to try that one out here. Besides, even if this were an illusion, her dying in it might just be the goal of whatever was causing it.

"Ara, Natsuki?" Shizuru said. Natsuki looked up, seeing that her friend had moved to the door. "I'm going to go make some breakfast. Is there anything you'd like?" The expression in Shizuru's face showed lingering concern, but it looked like she was resolved now to push forward.

Maybe that was it. "Something I've never had before," Natsuki said. "Er, that is, something I never had before I lost my memories. A dream or illusion can't come up with something new like that, right?" She wasn't entirely certain that was the case, but it seemed logical, especially with a taste. Her mind could easily conjure up a sight or sound, but she couldn't exactly imagine a taste in the same way.

A sparkle appeared in Shizuru's eyes at this. "I know just the thing," she said with a grin. Winking at Natsuki, she ducked off through the doorway.

Natsuki raised an eyebrow at this. She was curious what Shizuru would come up with, but in the meantime, perhaps she could look around the bedroom for information. She headed to the doorway and flipped the light switch, then turned around to take in the room.

It was obvious that Shizuru's decorating sense was at play here, judging by the subtle lilac design on the walls, though the room had far more of a Western layout than she might have expected from Shizuru. And it didn't seem to be only Shizuru's design sense here… the flat screen TV facing the bed certainly didn't seem like something Shizuru would set up.

Natsuki found her eyes drawn to the dresser, and the photos set up on top of it. Her and Shizuru, together in each one. One of the photos was a group shot with Mai, Mikoto, Yukino, and Haruka as well, but the others were of just her and Shizuru. Given that she'd woken up here, it really shouldn't have been a surprise to think that she and Shizuru might be roommates, but it was still hard to wrap her head around that possibility. Even if Shizuru was right, and Natsuki's apartment had been destroyed… this seemed a bit much. But in those photos, she really didn't appear to be awkward at all around Shizuru. She looked… was she actually happy?

"Breakfast is served, Natsuki," came Shizuru's voice from the doorway, causing Natsuki to nearly jump a foot in the air.

"Gah! Shizuru, what are you- I thought breakfast would take longer!" Natsuki said, trying to regain her composure and ignore the warmth rushing to her cheeks right now.

Shizuru raised an eyebrow at this, and it was quite obvious that she was working hard to stifle a laugh. It took nearly a minute before she spoke, and even then, her voice seemed uneven. "Well, this was rather simple. It just required toasting some bread."

Still embarrassed, Natsuki eagerly took the excuse to look away from Shizuru's face, focusing instead on the plate she held in front of her. Toast was indeed laid out on it, with some sort of thick brown syrupy substance on it. As Shizuru approached, the pungent smell from it seemed to be two steps ahead of her. Well, Natsuki had asked for something new, so she really shouldn't be surprised that she didn't recognize this. That didn't make her eager to taste it though.

"Okay…" Natsuki said. It honestly didn't look too appetizing, but then again, that wasn't the point. This might indeed be something she hated, but as long as it was new, she'd have proof that this wasn't just a dream, and probably not an illusion. She reached out and took the fork and knife from the plate, then cut herself a piece of the toast. Nervously, she brought it up to her mouth.

Natsuki didn't think it was possible to fit so much taste in so little substance. It was salty beyond measure, tasting like beefy soy sauce if she had to describe it. "Fuck, what is this?" Natsuki said with widened eyes. Even as she spoke, she found herself cutting another piece of the toast. She didn't know what this was, but she had to have more of it.

"It's called 'Marmite,'" Shizuru said. She was probably smiling, but Natsuki wasn't looking at her right now. "Natsuki first tried it when we went on our… vacation to New Zealand last year, and she hasn't been able to have enough of it since."

"Mm, I can see why…" Natsuki said. She grabbed the plate from Shizuru and moved back to the bed, taking a seat on it so she could rest the plate on her legs and have both hands free for her utensils.

"Ara, Natsuki?" Shizuru said. "Have you forgotten the reason you wanted to try this?"

"Hmm?" Natsuki looked back up at Shizuru, a piece of Marmite-covered toast halfway into her mouth. She pulled it in and chewed on it as she tried to rewind her thought process. "Mm!" Natsuki gulped down the toast and nodded. "So this is real then. Okay, so…" The excitement of discovering a new food she liked began to give way to concern. "So wait… that means I really have lost my memory… But how? You said nothing happened last night that could have caused this."

Shizuru approached Natsuki and sat down beside her on the bed. She placed a hand gently on Natsuki's knee and gave it a squeeze. The gesture was unusually intimate for Natsuki, but she didn't find herself recoiling from it. "I have some other ideas," she said. "Perhaps you can tell me everything that you remember from yesterday, starting from the Orphan attack, in as much detail as possible."

Natsuki furrowed her brow. She wasn't sure what Shizuru was getting at, but she was willing to play along. "Alright. Well, the Orphan… it was this black thing, kind of shaped like a person. I was returning home for the night on my bike, and I spotted it on the sidewalk attacking a woman. I gunned my bike straight for it, then I skidded to a stop and jumped off just as I reached the sidewalk. I summoned my Elements just as it ran off, trying to use my body to block them from view of anyone else on the street. I fired some shots at it as I ran it down, but it didn't seem to slow down any. It wasn't too fast though, so I was able to catch up to it before long.

"I was able to knock it to the ground and take it out with a shot to the head. After that, I turned back to check on the woman it had been attacking to make sure she was alright. She was fine, so I righted my bike and got ready to go home. Just as I was about to leave, the woman grabbed my arm, saying she insisted on thanking me for my help. I told her I didn't need any money, but she was insistent. She said something about finding another way to help me, and…" Natsuki paused, trying to dredge memories of words she wasn't really paying attention to at the time. "She said she could show me something as thanks… some nonsense about showing me what I was missing, I think?"

Natsuki looked over at Shizuru, who'd raised her eyebrow at this. "Natsuki," she said. "What day was it?"

"Christmas eve, 2004…" Natsuki said. "What day is today?"

"Christmas day, 2009," Shizuru said. "Exactly five years into the future for you. That doesn't sound like a coincidence, now does it?"

"No," Natsuki said, narrowing her eyes. "But… what does that mean?"

"I think…" Shizuru said. "It means that perhaps there was more to that woman you rescued than met the eye, and this is her way of thanking you."

"Thanking me!?" Natsuki said, nearly knocking the plate off of her lap as she reacted to this. "By stealing five years of my life?"

Shizuru shook her head. "I don't think that's it," she said. "My best guess right now is that she's showing you a day from your future, to give you a happier Christmas than you otherwise had planned."

Natsuki grit her teeth. She had to look away from Shizuru right now. Who was that woman to decide for her that her Christmas wasn't good enough? If she wanted to spend it alone, that was her choice. She didn't need anyone else for it, and the thought that someone else would force otherwise on her was frankly insulting. She took a deep breath to try to calm herself, but it wasn't going to be that easy. "Just… leave me alone right now, okay Shizuru?" she said.

"...okay…" Shizuru said. The tone of her voice caused a pang of pain in Natsuki, and she instinctively turned toward her friend. For just a moment, it looked like Shizuru's eyes might be tearing up, but before Natsuki could say for sure, Shizuru stood up and stepped away. Natsuki could hear her swallow heavily before she spoke again. "If Natsuki needs me, I'll be in the living room. It's… the one at the end of the hall, to the left."

"Wait," Natsuki said. She shot her hand out to grab Shizuru's and stop her friend from leaving right now. No matter what was going on, she couldn't stand to see Shizuru hurt like that… especially if she might be the cause. "Shizuru, I… It's just, I don't know what any of this is. I… I'm sorry, I just…"

"I understand, Natsuki," Shizuru said, her back still turned to Natsuki. "I know this has to be harder for you than it is for me, so I'll be strong for you if you need me to. Don't worry about me."

For a long while, Natsuki couldn't find the strength to say anything. She didn't let go of Shizuru's hand though. In fact, her gaze was focused on their clasped hands, where a twinkle of light had caught her eye. Her eyes focused on her own finger, for the first time noticing the ring on it.

Natsuki could feel her heart pounding in her chest. It was too much to take in right now, so she wasn't even going to try. But right now, she knew one thing: She wasn't going to let Shizuru be in pain like this. "Shizuru, please look at me," she said.

Slowly, Shizuru turned. Natsuki was right; she had been crying. And no wonder, with what had happened. But Natsuki was going to make the most of this, for Shizuru's sake if nothing else. She met her friend's eyes and gave her her best reassuring smile… not that she had much practice at that, so it probably didn't come across well, but she was trying, at least.

"Merry Christmas, Shizuru," Natsuki said. "I didn't have any plans for it, and it looks like yours might have fallen through, so… do you want to celebrate together?"

Shizuru nodded, a smile slowly spreading across her face.

To be continued...