Renegade
Happy Beginning
Disclaimer: I do not own Mai Hime nor Mai Otome, and none of the weapons involved in this story. AU, I would think?
Natsuki Kuga surveyed the home she and her family resided in. A two story house, on a mountain where virtually no one lived. The mountain, which Natsuki christened 'Duran's Mount', was beautiful, and gave Natsuki a view of a grand lake that stretched as far as the horizon.
Durable tall trees littered the mountain, and gave Natsuki enough firewood for the grand fireplace that awaited inside the house which was the exact color of the snow that slowly came from the darkening sky.
Clad in a warm black coat, a red and white long sleeved plaid shirt underneath, carpenter jeans and hiking boots, the cobalt haired woman swung the axe down for the final time that night, splitting the wood cleanly. Inhaling the sweet mountain air, Natsuki adjusted the baseball cap that kept her hair down in the slight wind.
Emerald eyes slanted as the cries of wolves were heard, and the cobalt haired beauty smiled wide. Natsuki walked a little away from the house, and gave an answering howl at the edge of the mountain, her heart warming when she heard the wolves howl right back.
"Natsuki." The emerald eyed woman jumped slightly, and whirled around, axe in both hands. A melodic chuckling followed as Natsuki blushed, lowering the axe at the sight of her wife.
Shizuru Kuga stood a few feet from her beloved, shivering slightly as all she had on was a silk purple robe. Natsuki took Shizuru's hand, intertwined their fingers together, and walked up to the house with her loving wife. After placing the axe by the door, the two entered their warm home, Natsuki making sure not to get snow on the beautiful wooden floors.
Hanging up her coat and cap, Natsuki turned and beamed at the enormous Christmas tree she had chopped down earlier in the week. Now it was decked out with all the ornaments, yet something was missing.
"Papa!" Natsuki looked from the tree to the kitchen doorway, seeing a blur of color before the blur hugged her leg. "Shizuki, there you are, my little cub." Natsuki placed a hand on her daughters head, smoothing out the long blue hair that was inherited.
Shizuki looked up into Natsuki's eyes, crimson eyes sparkling happily at the sight of her papa. Shizuru came from the room with a small plate of cookies, and placed them of the table by the tree, folding her hands in front of her and smiling at the sight of her family.
"Papa, I helped mama make cookies!" Shizuki proudly informed and Natsuki nodded enthusiastically, grinning ear to ear. Lifting the small girl into her arms, Natsuki faced the tree, finally noticing what was missing.
Shizuru offered Shizuki the star to put atop the tree, and Natsuki lifted her daughter so she could place the star perfectly. "Good job, Shizuki." Natsuki spoke, eyes dancing with mirth at the sight of her daughter laughing joyously.
The voice of the cobalt haired woman filtered through a listening device. The log it lay on was covered with snow, the camouflaged soldiers waited for their orders.
A short insane cackle was heard and a head of silver hair was seen peeking from the log, a broad grin on the face of one Nagi Homura. Standing to his full, but very short height, Nagi scanned the soldiers.
"Your orders are to take the child, and kill the rest." The soldiers saluted, and quickly disappeared into the forest as the sky darkened to become night.
Nagi smiled with a fiendish expression. This line of work could be so fun.
As Natsuki sat by the crackling fireplace, still dressed from chopping wood, she watched her loving wife take Shizuki upstairs to tuck into bed. A subtle vibration from inside her pocket caught her attention, and a porcelain skinned hand reached into her pocket and retrieved her phone.
"Hello?" Natsuki's brows knitted together at the sound of injured breathing, and stood, slightly uneasy. "Nat…suki…argh." The other person on the line was obviously in pain. "Mai!?" Natsuki was surprised, and very alarmed. Mai usually only called if…
"They…they got the information…get…out…" The line went dead and Natsuki pocketed the phone, an angry expression on her face. Creeping towards the front door, Natsuki shouldered it open, stunning the soldiers on the other side long enough to grab the axe she left against the wall.
With a powerful swing, the soldiers were no more, evaporating into the air like ghosts of the past. Natsuki, running on pure adrenaline, forced the axe into a section of the wall near the couch and pulled two desert eagles from the mess, along with ammo clips.
Placing the guns into the band of her pants, Natsuki raced up the stairs only to barely avoid colliding with Shizuru.
"Natsuki, is something wrong?" Shizuru spoke worriedly, Natsuki's face was ghostly white, she was holding an axe and some sweat had developed on the ivory skinned woman.
The sound of shattering glass was heard, and Natsuki raced past Shizuru up the stairs, with the Kyoto woman at her heels. Breaking the door to Shizuki's room, Natsuki aimed her guns at the men standing closest to the empty bed and fired.
Shizuru shrieked, hidden behind Natsuki. Caught off guard, the soldiers were quickly slain, but evaporated into thin air. A bullet caught Natsuki's left arm, but she grit her teeth and ran to the window, seeing nothing but snow with deep prints in it. Natsuki scanned the area, and threw the axe out into the night.
"They got Shizuki." Natsuki growled and turned to face Shizuru, who looked at Natsuki carefully. "What's going on?" Tears had welled up in Shizuru's ruby eyes, and Natsuki cursed herself for being so slow in taking action.
"Shizuru, you have to trust me. Can you do that?" asked Natsuki, as she held her hand out to Shizuru, guns holstered. "I will always trust Natsuki." Shizuru spoke, and took Natsuki's hand.
"Good." Natsuki led the way to their bedroom and suggested Shizuru get dressed in something that could handle the weather.
Natsuki strode to her closet, and kicked in the wall behind the perfectly hung clothes, revealing a cache of various weapons. Grabbing a bag, Natsuki stuffed it full of ammo for the desert eagles, along with a few knives. Reaching into the wall past the weapons, Natsuki felt the handle of a suitcase and yanked it out of the hole, opening it to reveal an enormous amount of money.
Satisfied, Natsuki placed the items on the bed and looked at Shizuru who was now fully dressed. Shizuru looked so confused, who wouldn't be if your daughter was just kidnapped and your wife revealed an artillery?
Natsuki strode to her, and took out her phone once more. Shizuru looked at it, noticing it wasn't like any other phones she had ever seen before. The golden haired woman took the phone in her hands, marveling its sleek obsidian color, and quickly found an insignia on the front of it.
"HiME?" Shizuru breathed, not quite understanding. "HiME is a secret society, and right now our nemesis is Searrs. I am a special agent of HiME, and am the one Searrs wants the most. Or…my genetics are what they want at least."
Shizuru's mouth opened slightly. "Shizuki…" Tears streamed down from rubies, and Natsuki embraced her wife. "We'll get her back, don't worry." Natsuki tried to comfort Shizuru as the Kyoto woman cried.
Natsuki vowed a vendetta upon Searrs, one that would be fulfilled no matter what.